While each phase of the test development process is crucial to the validity of the examination, one phase tends to stand out among the others: the standard setting process. The standard setting process is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. While it has received the most attention in the literature among any of the technical issues related to criterion-referenced measurement, little research attention has been given to generalizing the resulting performance standards. This procedure has the potential to improve the standard setting process by limiting the number of items rated and the number of individual rater decisions. The ability to generalize performance standards has profound implications both from a psychometric as well as a practicality standpoint. This study was conducted to evaluate the extent to which minimal competency estimates derived from a subset of multiple choice items using the Angoff standard setting method would generalize to the larger item set. Individual item-level estimates of minimal competency were simulated from existing and simulated item difficulty distributions. The study was designed to examine the characteristics of item sets and the standard setting process that could impact the ability to generalize a single performance standard. The characteristics and the relationship between the two item sets included three factors: (a) the item difficulty distributions, (b) the location of the 'true' performance standard, (c) the number of items randomly drawn in the sample. The characteristics of the standard setting xii process included four factors: (d) number of raters, (e) percentage of unreliable raters, (f) magnitude of 'unreliability' in unreliable raters, and (g) the directional influence of group dynamics and discussion. The aggregated simulation results were evaluated in terms of the location (bias) and the variability (mean absolute deviation, root mean square error) in the estimates. The simulation results suggest that the model of using partial item sets may have some merit as the resulting performance standard estimates may 'adequately' generalize to those set with larger item sets. The simulation results also suggest that elements such as the distribution of item difficulty parameters and the potential for directional group influence may also impact the ability to generalize performance standards and should be carefully considered.


In this paper, we aim to create generalizable and controllable neural signed distance fields (SDFs) that represent clothed humans from monocular depth observations. Recent advances in deep learning, especially neural implicit representations, have enabled human shape reconstruction and controllable avatar generation from different sensor inputs. However, to generate realistic cloth deformations from novel input poses, watertight meshes or dense full-body scans are usually needed as inputs. Furthermore, due to the difficulty of effectively modeling pose-dependent cloth deformations for diverse body shapes and cloth types, existing approaches resort to per-subject/cloth-type optimization from scratch, which is computationally expensive. In contrast, we propose an approach that can quickly generate realistic clothed human avatars, represented as controllable neural SDFs, given only monocular depth images. We achieve this by using meta-learning to learn an initialization of a hypernetwork that predicts the parameters of neural SDFs. The hypernetwork is conditioned on human poses and represents a clothed neural avatar that deforms non-rigidly according to the input poses. Meanwhile, it is meta-learned to effectively incorporate priors of diverse body shapes and cloth types and thus can be much faster to fine-tune, compared to models trained from scratch. We qualitatively and quantitatively show that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art approaches that require complete meshes as inputs while our approach requires only depth frames as inputs and runs orders of magnitudes faster. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our meta-learned hypernetwork is very robust, being the first to generate avatars with realistic dynamic cloth deformations given as few as 8 monocular depth frames.


Aging is associated with a decline in natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cell function that may contribute to increased susceptibility to malignancy and infection. A preliminary investigation was conducted examining the hypothesis that arabinoxylan rice bran (Biobran/MGN-3), a denatured hemicellulose with known immunomodulatory activity, could counteract this decline in NK/NKT cell activity in geriatrics. A total of 12 healthy geriatric subjects of both sexes and over 56 years old, participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. A total of six subjects served as control and six subjects ingested Biobran/MGN-3 (500 mg/day) for 30 days. The effect of Biobran/MGN-3 supplementation on NK/NKT cell activity was assessed using the degranulation assay. All study subjects were monitored for the development of any inadvertent side effects. In addition, the pharmacological effects of Biobran/MGN-3 on blood cell components and liver and kidney functions were also assessed. Results demonstrated that Biobran/MGN-3 had no effect on the total percentage of NK cells, however it enhanced the cytotoxic activity of induced NK cell expression of cluster of differentiation 107a, when compared with baseline values and with the placebo group (P<0.05). Furthermore, there were no side effects observed, indicating that Biobran/MGN-3 supplementation was safe at the utilized dosage and for the duration of administration. Various additional beneficial effects were observed, including improved mean corpuscular volume and reduced hepatic aspartate aminotransferase enzyme levels, which suggested improved liver function. It was concluded that Biobran/MGN-3 induces a significant increase in NK activity which may increase resistance to viral infections and cancers in the geriatric population. However, additional clinical trials should be conducted in the future to verify these findings.


The complexity associated with reducing inequality in Indigenous education incorporates a multitude of causal factors. Issues associated with education delivery and outcomes in remote Indigenous communities are endemic nationally, yet the communities of the Northern Territory are uniquely disadvantaged due to their geographical and cultural isolation. By looking at the factors affecting the quality and continuity of teachers in remote Indigenous communities, as well as the need for institutional collaboration, targeted recruitment strategies and a reorientation of expectations, this article will consider one strategy developed in order to recruit and retain effective teachers in these communities.


Many patients have to travel long distances to receive treatment and support for cancer, which can lead to increased anxiety and fatigue. Tenovus, the cancer charity, working with the NHS, has developed a new concept of closer-to-home delivery for chemotherapy and other cancer support - a mobile cancer support unit (Bus). Researchers at Cardiff University evaluated the Bus during its first year of operation. The evaluation aimed to determine who was using the Bus and to explore patients' perceptions about having their appointments on the Bus. Data were collected from patients, social care clients and their family and friends using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected using postal surveys and qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. In its first year, 3487 people visited the Bus, which included the delivery of 549 chemotherapy treatments. Patient attitudes towards the Bus were extremely positive. Respondents rated highly key aspects of the Bus including comfort and the level of care provided. This evaluation demonstrates that all users are highly receptive to this model of service delivery and agree that the Tenovus Bus is a unique mobile unit, providing excellent clinical and social care to cancer patients and their families.


This paper provides some evidence on the evolution of marginal and average costs of dairy farms in Belgium between 1990 and 2007. It investigates the effect of the 2003 Mid-Term Review by adding time trends and linear splines to an augmented multi-input multi-output symmetric generalized McFadden cost function and estimating it using a panel of Belgian dairy farms. Existence of size, scale and scope economies in the dairy sub-sector is also examined. This exercise increases our understanding of dairy farm responses to reforms and helps envision the possible effects of ending the milk quota system as it is now planned for 2015.


In New on the Job, experts Toor and Weisburg helped newbies make the transition to real-world school librarianship. Being Indispensable is all about staying one: without a proactive approach, school librarians, facing a severe economic downturn and budget cuts, run the risk of becoming an endangered species. In clear, simple, and practical language, this book empowers school librarians by helping them Understand what other stakeholders in a school need and want Demonstrate their importance to administrators, teachers, and parents Plan strategically in both their personal and professional lives Master important tools like advocacy and marketing Making the case for the vital role school librarians play in learning, this book gives readers all the strategies they need to become the kind of leader their school can't do without.


Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, is a keystone species in the Antarctic ecosystem, being a major food source for most predators and the target of a substantial fishery. Despite being a critical component in the Southern Ocean, limited information exists on krill growth, maturation and physiology under various light, diet and temperature regimes throughout a full year. Without a comprehensive understanding of these factors, forecasting adaptations in a changing environment is hampered. This study examines the effects of the key environmental parameters (light, food availability and temperature) on growth, maturation and physiology in krill.
Krill were incubated for an annual cycle under natural light (emulating the field environment), and constant food supply and temperature. Krill showed a clear seasonal cycle of growth and maturity in all three temperature treatments (-1°C, 1°C, 3°C). Sex significantly affected the relationship with growth over a year. Overall, females showed higher growth rates than males, and growth rapidly decreased after the peak growth period towards the end of spring. Males peaked in growth and matured earlier than females and decreased growth at a considerably slower rate. Negative growth occurred towards the end of January for both sexes, coinciding with the regression of external sexual characteristics. There was a significant decline in intermoult period (IMP) with increasing temperature and some evidence to suggest that 1°C was optimum for krill growth. The IMP was significantly lower at 1°C than at -1°C, but the difference in growth increment (GI) between the two temperatures was not significantly different, with all growth variables significantly lower at 3°C. For the first time, this study has confirmed that compensation mechanisms do exist between IMP and instantaneous growth rate (IGR) for krill, resulting in short IMP/small IGR to long IMP/large IGR.
Based on external sexual characteristics (female – thelycum; male - petasma), krill exposed to a natural Antarctic light cycle or a fixed light/dark regime, progress under a natural maturation cycle of regression and re-maturation. However, when krill were maintained in complete darkness during sexual regression, the rate of regression accelerated and re-maturation occurred three months earlier in the following season. This flexible maturation cycle in response to conditions of total darkness at the time of regression means that krill can flexibly adjust their seasonal physiological cycle. Overall, light (in this case darkness) appears to be one of the most important factors influencing the krill maturation cycle. There was a strong significant increasing trend of respiration rates in krill with month in all experimental conditions; natural light cycle versus complete darkness, fed versus starved and different temperature regimes (-1°C, 1°C and 3°C). The interaction of treatment with month, as well as generally the main effect of each treatment, was non-significant. Overall, from this study, it appears that light, food availability and temperature may not be the dominant environmental variables influencing the observed seasonal changes in metabolic rates.
There was no significant difference throughout the year (except February) in total lipid and fatty acid content and composition of immature krill, and also between mature males and females in summer. The lipid and fatty acid concentrations were near depletion in February for all krill, indicating these reserves were possibly used for reproductive purposes rather than as an overwintering source. Mated females were only observed at -1°C in November. Lipid and fatty acid levels were lower in mated compared to un-mated females, indicating utilisation of lipids during the mating process. There was no clear temperature effect on lipid and fatty acid content and composition at the various time points sampled; however, krill at the lower temperature, -1°C, generally contained higher lipid and fatty acid content.
This study has provided a solid basis for understanding the life history of krill over an annual cycle, which will enable more robust modelling for accurate assessments and management for the krill fishery. This research has further helped elucidate the effects of key environmental parameters on the growth, maturation and physiology in krill. It is crucial to expand on this knowledge so as to comprehend seasonal adaptation and survival of krill in a changing habitat, in light of predicted climatic change.


This article addresses the challenge facing law students to preserve some sense of individual voice and ownership of their writing as they enter a professional discourse community and negotiate its formal structures and idioms. It conceives of this challenge as equally a project for clinical, lawyering, and legal writing teachers. Each of these teaching communities plays a role in acculturating law students to the conventions of practice-based writing and identifies strategies to help them develop confidence in their capacity as communicators. The question of student voice is particularly a consideration for clinical teachers who supervise student work in live-client settings and continually must balance the need to ensure that a student's work product meets the standard of competent representation against the educational imperative of preserving the student's individual voice and sense of personal efficacy. Informed by these considerations, the article proposes pedagogic approaches that can help emergent lawyers undertake the delicate negotiation between professional and personal voice, and argues that there is a good reason for clinical simulation-based, and legal writing pedagogies to be in conversation on the questions of cultivating individuality and bolstering confidence in student writers.


The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented shutdown in social and economic activity with the cultural sector particularly severely affected Restrictions on performance have arisen from a perception that there is a significantly higher risk of aerosol production from singing than speaking based upon high-profile examples of clusters of COVID-19 following choral rehearsals However, no direct comparison of aerosol generation from singing and speaking has been reported Here, we measure aerosols from singing, speaking and breathing in a zero-background environment, allowing unequivocal attribution of aerosol production to specific vocalisations Speaking and singing show steep increases in mass concentration with increase in volume (spanning a factor of 20-30 across the dynamic range measured, p-5) At the quietest volume (50 to 60 dB), neither singing (p=0 19) or speaking (p=0 20) were significantly different to breathing At the loudest volume (90 to 100 dB), a statistically significant difference (p-5) is observed between singing and speaking, but with singing only generating a factor of between 1 5 and 3 4 more aerosol mass Guidelines should create recommendations based on the volume and duration of the vocalisation, the number of participants and the environment in which the activity occurs, rather than the type of vocalisation Mitigations such as the use of amplification and increased attention to ventilation should be employed where practicable


In this article, a floating robotic emulation platform for a virtual demonstration of satellite motion in space is presented. The robotic platform design is characterized by its friction-less, levitating, yet planar motion over a hyper-smooth surface. The robotic platform, integrated with sensor and actuator units, is fully designed and manufactured from the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Team at Lule\aa\ University of Technology. A detailed design description along with the mathematical modeling describing the platform's dynamic motion is formulated. Finally, the proposed design is validated in extensive simulation studies, while the overall test bed experimental setup, as well as the vehicle hardware and software architectures, are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the entire design, including 3D printing CAD model and different testbed elements, is provided in an open-source repository and a test campaign is used to showcase its capabilities and illustrate its operations.


Sequential decision models are an important element of expert system optimization when the cost or time to collect inputs is significant and inputs are not known until the system operates. Many expert systems in business, engineering, and medicine have benefited from sequential decision technology. In this survey, we unify the disparate literature on sequential decision models to improve comprehensibility and accessibility. We separate formulation of sequential decision models from solution techniques. For model formulation, we classify sequential decision models by objective (cost minimization versus value maximization) knowledge source (rules, data, belief network, etc.), and optimized form (decision tree, path, input order). A wide variety of sequential decision models are discussed in this taxonomy. For solution techniques, we demonstrate how search methods and heuristics are influenced by economic objective, knowledge source, and optimized form. We discuss open research problems to stimulate additional research and development.


We examine the ex ante effect of an exogenous reduction in secured creditor rights on corporate financial and investment policy. We find that firms increase corporate leverage using both the reduced distress costs of secured debt and the positive externalities the lower secured creditor rights transfer to the borrowing costs of unsecured credit. Further, firms discard investments that reduce the risk of uncovering distress costs but are, however, less profitable. Our results suggest that firms eliminate unproductive protection mechanisms previously set in place to contract around costly bankruptcy legislations. This interpretation is confirmed by higher levels of risk and profitability. After establishing the average effect, we also show that the financing and investment response is highly dependent on the firm types which attract heterogeneous intensities in the positive (reduced distress costs) and negative (increased secured borrowing costs) effects of the weakened secured creditor rights. This result suggests that a uniform bankruptcy infrastructure that balances positive and negative effects of secured creditor rights is unsuited to be the optimal solution. Our finding rather points to a menu of bankruptcy procedures in which a debtor- and creditor-friendly code co-exist and thus allows different types of firms to contract for preferred procedures.


In this work we derive an approximated no-arbitrage market valuation formula for Constant Maturity Credit Default Swaps (CMCDS). We move from the CDS options market model in Brigo (2004), and derive a formula for CMCDS that is the analogous of the formula for constant maturity swaps in the default free swap market under the LIBOR market model. A "convexity adjustment"-like correction is present in the related formula. Without such correction, or with zero correlations, the formula returns an obvious deterministic-credit-spread expression for the CMCDS price. To obtain the result we derive a joint dynamics of forward CDS rates under a single pricing measure, as in Brigo (2004). Numerical examples of the "convexity adjustment" impact complete the paper.


Abstract In March 2017, Save the Children International complied with the reinstated Mexico City Policy, banning US funding to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that inform about, advocate for, or provide abortion services. Several of its member organizations, among them Save the Children Norway, strongly opposed this decision, arguing that reproductive health is not solely about health but also concerns rights. This article explores how Save the Children's pragmatic choice of going global and becoming an international NGO creates various ideological dilemmas for Save the Children Norway, challenging its identity as a civil society actor. It draws on fieldwork conducted within Save the Children Norway 2014–2017, to identify some internal and ideological dilemmas faced by Save the Children Norway and staff as they try to preserve their autonomy and identity while being part of a one of the world's largest NGOs – Save the Children International.


China's trade patterns are evolving. While it started in light manufacturing and the assembly of more sophisticated products as part of global supply chains, China is now moving up the value chain, "onshoring" the production of higher-value-added upstream products and moving into more sophisticated downstream products as well. At the same time, with its wages rising, it has started to exit some lower-end, more labor-intensive sectors. These changes are taking place in the broader context of China's rebalancing—away from exports and toward domestic demand, and within the latter, away from investment and toward consumption—and as a consequence, demand for some commodity imports is slowing, while consumption imports are slowly rising. The evolution of Chinese trade, investment, and consumption patterns offers opportunities and challenges to low-wage, low-income countries, including China's neighbors in the Mekong region. Cambodia, Lao P.D.R., Myanmar, and Vietnam (the CLMV) are all open economies that are highly integrated with China. Rebalancing in China may mean less of a role for commodity exports from the region, but at the same time, the CLMV's low labor costs suggest that manufacturing assembly for export could take off as China becomes less competitive, and as China itself demands more consumption items. Labor costs, however, are only part of the story. The CLMV will need to strengthen their infrastructure, education, governance, and trade regimes, and also run sound macro policies in order to capitalize fully on the opportunities presented by China's transformation. With such policy efforts, the CLMV could see their trade and integration with global supply chains grow dramatically in the coming years.


The muon densities at 450m from the core for showers above $10^{17.5}$eV and zenith angle between $0^\circ$ and $45^\circ$ are presented. Results are based on 1 year of calibrated data collected by the engineering array of the Auger Muons and Infill for Ground Array (AMIGA) detector. Taking into account systematic uncertainties as well as attenuation effects, the observations suggest that the current hadronic interaction models fail in reproducing the measured number of muons with energies ${>}1$GeV. Simulations at $10^{17.5}$eV and $10^{18.0}$eV show that for EPOS-LHC an increase of 38% is required at both energies, while for QGSJET an increment of 50% and 53% is needed at respective energies. Data have been combined with previous results on muon densities at higher energies showing the match in the evolution of the composition derived with the measurements of depth of the maximum development of the showers in the atmosphere ($X_\text{max}$). The current AMIGA observations show that the variation of the primary masses has no sudden changes in the
energy range $10^{17.5}$ to $10^{18.0}$eV.


What is best criterion for determining statistical significance? In psychology, the criterion has been p < .05. This criterion has been criticized since its inception, and the criticisms have been rejuvenated with recent failures to replicate studies published in top psychology journals. Several replacement criteria have been suggested including reducing the alpha level to .005 or switching to other types of criteria such as Bayes factors or effect sizes. Here, various decision criteria for statistical significance were evaluated using signal detection analysis on the outcomes of simulated data. The signal detection measure of area under the curve (AUC) is a measure of discriminability with a value of 1 indicating perfect discriminability and 0.5 indicating chance performance. Applied to criteria for statistical significance, it provides an estimate of the decision criterion's performance in discriminating real effects from null effects. AUCs were high (M = .96, median = .97) for p values, suggesting merit in using p values to discriminate significant effects. AUCs can be used to assess methodological questions such as how much improvement will be gained with increased sample size, how much discriminability will be lost with questionable research practices, and whether it is better to run a single high-powered study or a study plus a replication at lower powers. AUCs were also used to compare performance across p values, Bayes factors, and effect size (Cohen's d). AUCs were equivalent for p values and Bayes factors and were slightly higher for effect size. Signal detection analysis provides separate measures of discriminability and bias. With respect to bias, the specific thresholds that produced maximally-optimal utility depended on sample size, although this dependency was particularly notable for p values and less so for Bayes factors. The application of signal detection theory to the issue of statistical significance highlights the need to focus on both false alarms and misses, rather than false alarms alone.


Gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to make healthy choices about sexual behavior as adolescent learners transition to young adulthood is key to controlling the potentially devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2015 South Africa's Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Education Development Center (EDC) with support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) invested in developing and piloting scripted lesson plans (SLPs) and supporting activities to increase the rigor and uniformity of the life skills program. Before rolling out the program nationally DBE and USAID tasked MEASURE Evaluation to conduct an impact evaluation of the activity in two South African provinces. The evaluation aims to describe the effect of the SLP on herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) incidence or change in prevalence of pregnancy among a cohort of Grade-8 female learners in 2016 as they progress to Grade 10 in 2018. This report describes the methods of the impact evaluation of the South African school-based sexuality education program and documents findings from baseline data collection undertaken between August and October 2016.


Environmental pollution has a harmful action on bioresources, including agricultural crops. It is generated through many industrial activities such as mining, coal burning, chemical technology, cement production, pulp and paper industry, etc. The toxicity of different industrial wastes and heavy metals excess was evaluated using crop plant assays (germination and hydroponics seedlings growth tests). Experimental data regarding the germination process of wheat (from two cultivars) and rye seeds in the presence of industrial wastes (thermal power station ash, effluents from a pre-bleaching stage performed on a Kraft cellulose – chlorinated lignin products or chlorolignin), along with use of an excess of some heavy metals (Zn and Cu) are presented here. Relative seed germination, relative root elongation, and germination index (a factor of relative seed germination and relative root elongation) were determined. Relative root elongation and germination index were more sensitive indicators of toxicity than seed germination. The toxic effects were also evaluated in hydroponics experiments, the sensitivity of three crop plant species, namely Triticum aestivum L. (wheat), Secale cereale (rye), and Zea mays (corn) being compared. Physiological aspects, evidenced both by visual observation and biometric measurements (mean root, aerial part and plant length), as well as the cellulose and lignin content were examined.


Abstract The first line nurse managers' opportunities to lead nursing care seem to be diminishing. The aim of this study was, therefore, to gain an understanding of the first line nurse managers in their experiences in the development of nursing care as part of a wider research programme. Finnish nurse managers wrote narratives at the beginning of five different leadership courses in this grounded theory study. 'Preparing the Air for Nursing Care' emerged as a core category. It was formed by two major categories. 'Being Concerned about Nursing Care' describes the nurse managers' focus on the development of nursing care, the nursing caregivers' health and knowledge and a concern for the whole organisation. The second major category 'Creating the Direction and Content of Nursing Care' describes the nurse manager working together with the staff to create individual and family-centred best practice, initiating relationships and dialogues for nursing care, and a culture of caring. A typology was created that explained the four main modalities to emerge from the data: 'the Active Developer', 'the Passive Thinker', 'the Impulsive Creator' and 'the Routine Manager'.


This article explores the potential role of sustained social media use in longitudinal qualitative research. We introduce the research design and methodology of a research project exploring sustained use (five or more years) of the social network site Facebook among young people in their twenties. By focusing on this group, we seek to uncover how 'growing up' stories are told and archived online, and how disclosure practices (what people say and share on social media) change over time. We question how we can understand the 'digital trace' inscribed through the Facebook Timeline as a longitudinal narrative text. We argue that 'scrolling back' through Facebook with participants as 'co-analysts' of their own digital traces can add to the qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) tradition. QLR and the scroll back method attend to a similar set of concerns around change over time, the depth of inquiry, and uncovering rigorous, rich life narratives. We explore limitations (especially around intentionality) and ethical challenges, while also arguing for the inclusion of these often highly personal, deep, co-constructed digital texts in qualitative longitudinal research. We also consider how the scroll back method could apply to other digital media, as the sites and applications that people use diversifies and changes over time.


BACKGROUND: The average age of patients with lung cancer is increasing and there are large numbers of elderly symptomatic patients with this common disease. However, there are few data on how the treatment of this group differs from that of younger patients. METHODS: From 1 January 1990 information was collected for the Southend Lung Cancer Registry on all patients with a diagnosis of lung cancer in a geographically well defined health district of the UK with a population of 325,000. Every effort was made to find new cases from all departments of the hospital, including all clinical diagnoses, histopathological and cytological reports, and necropsies. All death certificates in the district were examined, irrespective of age, for any diagnosis of lung cancer. This therefore included any patient not seen by the hospital services. The differences in initial treatment have been analysed for three age groups: under 65, 65-74 years, and over 75. RESULTS: The 563 cases of lung cancer diagnosed during a 30 month period were included in the study, of whom 240 (43%) were aged over 75 years. The overall mean age was 71 years (range 31-95). The incidence of lung cancer in the general population was 69 per 100,000, but in men over 75 years of age it rose to 751 per 100,000. For all patients the active treatment rate (chemotherapy, surgery, or radiotherapy) was 49%, but for patients not reviewed by a chest physician (n = 86) it was only 21%. There were large differences in initial treatment between age groups. For patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) reviewed by a chest physician, surgery was undertaken in 18% of those under 65, 12% of the 65-74 age group, and 2.1% of those over 75. For patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) reviewed by a chest physician, 79% of those aged under 65, 64% of the 65-74 age group, and 41% of patients aged over 75 received chemotherapy. In patients with NSCLC reviewed by a chest physician, chemotherapy was given to 21% under 65, 6.4% in the 65-74 age group, and none over 75. If no histological diagnosis was made 37% of patients aged under 75 and only 5.4% of those over 75 received either surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. Patients not reviewed by a chest physician were less likely to have had a histological diagnosis. Differences in treatment rates with age persisted even after allowing for performance score status at presentation. CONCLUSIONS: Lung cancer is a common disease in the elderly and, in our district, 43% of patients were aged 75 or over at presentation. Age alone appeared to be a major factor in influencing treatment choices, and treatment was more likely if histological confirmation was obtained. Further detailed analysis of the reasons for the differences is needed. Patients referred to chest physicians were more likely to have both histological confirmation and active treatment. This study supports the contention that all patients with a diagnosis of lung cancer, irrespective of age or condition, should be assessed by an accredited chest physician.


Insight-DCU participated in the instance search (INS), semantic indexing (SIN), and localization tasks (LOC) this year.
In the INS task we used deep convolutional network features trained on external data and the query data for this year to train our system. We submitted four runs, three based on convolutional network features, and one based on SIFT/BoW. F A insightdcu 1 was an automatic run using features from the last convolutional layer of a deep network with bag-of-words encoding and achieved 0.123 mAP. F A insightdcu 2 modied the previous run to use re-ranking based on an R-CNN model and achieved 0.111 mAP. I A insightdcu 3, our interactive run, achieved 0.269 mAP. Our SIFT-based run F A insightdcu 2 used weak geometric consistency to improve performance over the previous year to 0.187 mAP. Overall we found that using features from the convolutional layers improved performance over features from the fully connected layers used in previous years, and that weak geometric consistency improves performance for local feature ranking.

In the SIN task we again used convolutional network features, this time netuning a network pretrained on external data for the task. We submitted four runs, 2C D A insightdcu.15 1..4 varying the top-level learning algorithm and use of concept co-occurance. 2C D A insightdcu.15 1 used a linear SVM top-level learner, and achieved 0.63 mAP. Exploiting concept co-occurance improved the accuracy of our logistic regression run 2C D A insightdcu.15 3 from 0.058 mAP to 0.6 2C D A insightdcu.15 3.

Our LOC system used training data from IACC.1.B and features similar to our INS run, but using a VLAD encoding instead of a bag-of-words. Unfortunately there was problem with the run that we are still investigating.


The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is closely monitoring developments linked to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across its member countries. To assist its member associations and individual hospital pharmacists in this critical time with the provision of the best possible care for patients, EAHP has decided to gather and make available information on COVID-19 relevant for the hospital pharmacy profession. The collected information has been included in EAHP's COVID-19 Resource Centre accessible via the Association's website (https://www.eahp.eu/hp-practice/hospital-pharmacy/eahp-covid-19-resource-centre).

The COVID-19 Resource Centre seeks to ensure that hospital pharmacists are provided with up-to-date information and guidance on protection measures, surveillance and treatment options for patients infected with the disease. The initiator of the resource collection, EAHP President Petr Horak outlined: "Hospital pharmacists across Europe, are together with other medical personnel, at the forefront of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The decision to launch EAHP's COVID-19 Resource Centre was taken to support the efforts of the hospital pharmacy profession and to facilitate the exchange of knowledge among different European countries. Sharing of best practices is vital to ensure the best care for our patients."

EAHP is encouraging hospital pharmacists to submit useful resources via the following email: firstname.lastname@example.com. Materials in native languages can be shared. They should, however, be accompanied by a short English description and a translation of the name of the document into English to ease the orientation …


Electroless low-phosphorus Ni–P coating was deposited on a wrought ZE10 magnesium alloy including an advanced pre-treatment of the material surface before deposition. Uniform Ni–P coating with an average thickness of 10 µm was formed by 95.6 wt % Ni and 4.4 wt % P. The content of Ni and P was homogeneous in the entire cross-section of the coating. Applying the Ni–P coating to the magnesium substrate, the surface microhardness increased from 60 ± 4 HV 0.025 to 690 ± 30 HV 0.025. Using the scratch test, it was determined that deposited Ni–P coating exhibits a high degree of adhesion to the magnesium substrate. Electrochemical corrosion properties of Ni–P coating were analyzed using the polarization tests in 0.1 M NaCl, while the deposited Ni–P coating showed an improvement of the corrosion resistance when compared to the ZE10 magnesium alloy. Using the scanning electron microscopy analysis, it was determined that the fine morphology of the deposited Ni–P coating did not contain visible microcavities. The absence of macrodefects due to the adequate pre-treatment before coating was reflected on the mechanism of the coated ZE10 degradation in a 0.1 M NaCl solution.


Assistance needs after large catastrophes often exceed available resources. Effective resource allocation is paramount to support emergency management and recovery, particularly within infrastructure networks. However, network optimisation problems exhibit high computational complexity, becoming intractable at a global scale. This paper successfully handles complexity through a systems approach, which uses a description of networks at different levels of abstraction through a hierarchical structure. The community structure of networks is unravelled via clustering algorithms that successively partition them hierarchically. A resource allocation problem is formulated adding information from the hierarchy, leading to a reduced solution space. Besides computational improvement, decisions are enhanced due to the topological information provided by the hierarchy-based optimisation. An example regarding the allocation of support centres aims to maximise assistance, at minimum cost, in case of emergency events. Solutions that respond to the network topology are obtained in a fraction of the time required by standard formulations.


This essay begins with the proposition that the battle over the exercise of eminent domain as a question of the extent to which we accept local economic development as a proper exercise of local governmental authority. In light of the reality that economic development seeks to accomplish redevelopment to meet the social needs and consumption tastes of the affluent, the issue of local governments' autonomy to engage in redevelopment for economic development purposes is suffused with socioeconomic class struggles over land use. Therefore, the changes wrought by redevelopment challenge us to think and talk about class in ways for which we are inadequately prepared. The class issue is possibly most difficult to acknowledge in the redevelopment context because class permeates the existing system of property ownership and land regulation. As a first step in addressing the inherent conflicts surrounding class in the issue of redevelopment, this essay delineates a typology of four dimensions of class as it affects, interrelates, and operates with land use law and argues that the dimensions illustrate points of tension that must be considered and resolved in formulating redevelopment practices.


The qualities of yarn have been studied by analyzing the fibre migration in the yarn body. The effects of spinning method and raw fibre property on fibre migration have been studied using the tracer fibre technique. Compact-spun (60s Ne), ring-spun (60s and 10s Ne) and rotor-spun (10s Ne) (cotton) yarns have been prepared. However, for the compact-spun yarns, both pure cotton and polyester/cotton blended yarns have been prepared. Two mixing steps have been used, namely (i) the dyed cotton fibre mass is homogeneously mixed with the undyed cotton fibre mass by hand, and (ii) the mixed fibre agglomerates are then subjected to carding to obtain a more uniform mixture. Finally, five sets of yarns are obtained through the consequent spinning process. Fibre measuring system is used to watch the movement of tracer fibres and to get the migration parameters as well as their envelope lines. The results show that the fibre migration of the ring spinning yarn is the most obvious, followed by the compact spinning yarn. The rotor spinning yarn has so many wrapped structures that the fibre migration is not obvious. Polyester/cotton blended yarn, which has better yarn levelness, higher breaking strength and less hairiness, shows higher degree of fibre migration than the yarn made of pure cotton.


Maternal immune activation (MIA) via infection during pregnancy is known to increase risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear how MIA disrupts fetal brain gene expression in ways that may explain this increased risk. Here we examine how MIA dysregulates fetal brain gene expression near the end of the first trimester of human gestation in ways relevant to ASD-associated pathophysiology. MIA downregulates expression of ASD-associated genes, with the largest enrichments in genes known to harbor rare highly penetrant mutations. MIA also downregulates expression of many genes also known to be persistently downregulated in ASD cortex later in life and which are canonically known for roles in affecting prenatally-late developmental processes at the synapse. Transcriptional and translational programs that are downstream targets of highly ASD-penetrant FMR1 and CHD8 genes are also heavily affected by MIA. MIA strongly upregulates expression of a large number of genes involved in translation initiation, cell cycle, DNA damage, and proteolysis processes that affect multiple key neural developmental functions. Upregulation of translation initiation is common to and preserved in gene network structure with the ASD cortical transcriptome throughout life and has downstream impact on cell cycle processes. The cap-dependent translation initiation gene, EIF4E, is one of the most MIA-dysregulated of all ASD-associated genes and targeted network analyses demonstrate prominent MIA-induced transcriptional dysregulation of mTOR and EIF4E-dependent signaling. This dysregulation of translation initiation via alteration of the Tsc2-mTor-Eif4e-axis was further validated across MIA rodent models. MIA may confer increased risk for ASD by dysregulating key aspects of fetal brain gene expression that are highly relevant to pathophysiology affecting ASD.


Airline transport generates a growing share of global greenhouse gas emissions but as of late 2016, this sector has not faced U.S. fuel economy or emissions regulation. At any point in time, airlines own and lease a set of durable vehicles and have invested in human and physical capital and an inventory of parts to maintain these vehicles. Each airline chooses whether to scrap and replace airplanes in their fleet and how to utilize and operate their fleet of aircraft. We model these choices as a function of real jet fuel prices. When jet fuel prices are higher, airlines fly fuel inefficient planes slower, scrap older fuel inefficient planes earlier and substitute miles flown to their more fuel efficient planes.


The US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) led to a drastic reduction in the corporate tax and improved the treatment of C corporations compared to S corporations. We study the differential effect of the TCJA on these types of corporations using key economic variables of US banks, such as the number of employees, average salaries and benefits, profit/loss before taxes, and net income. Our analysis suggests that the TCJA increased the net-of-tax profits of C corporation banks compared to S corporations and, to a lesser extent, their pre-tax profits. At the same time, the reform triggered no significantly differential effect on the employment and average wages. JEL: H2, G2


A growing number of studies identify "morality policy" as a distinct category of public policy and have tested several related hypotheses. This article reexamines morality policy as a conceptual category and an empirical phenomenon. As others have pointed out, we should distinguish morality policy from other policies by how political actors frame issues rather than by its substantive content. In the first part of the article, I argue that we should view morality "policy" as one of two broad strategies for framing issues, rather than try to fit it into existing policy typologies. Next, I move beyond viewing morality policy as a single, broad category by identifying several distinct subtypes of morality frames. In the second part of the article, I challenge a basic assumption of the morality policy paradigm—that advocates frame morality policy issues by engaging in moralistic discourse that reflects their basic beliefs and values. Gay rights issues are a strong test of this claim because the literature cites them as typical examples of morality policy, and gay rights opponents would seem especially likely to engage in "morality talk" in framing these issues. Very few studies of morality policy actually observe framing behavior and what it reveals about the political strategy of each side. Congressional and state-level data reveal that opponents usually do not frame gay rights issues in terms of the morality of homosexuality or religious injunctions against it, even in most states where we would expect to find it. Instead, they emphasize frames that focus on alleged negative social consequences from gay rights and procedural arguments about who should make policy and how it should be made. Although many opponents of gay rights disapprove of homosexuality on moral and religious grounds, their framing behavior reflects more complex strategic considerations. I speculate that opponents deemphasize morality talk because it is politically disadvantageous compared with other kinds of frames, and because of greater acceptance of gays in society. In reducing gay rights debates to moral and religious judgments, the morality policy perspective obscures the complexity of advocates' framing strategies and ignores many of their most important arguments.


OBJECTIVE
The authors aimed to determine the efficacy of open-door laminoplasty with stand-alone autologous bone spacer for preserving enlarged lamina in patients with cervical myelopathy.

METHODS
Patients who underwent open-door laminoplasty for cervical myelopathy with stand-alone autologous bone spacer and underwent CT 1 week and 1 year after surgery were included in this study. There were 20 men and 13 women, with an average (range) age of 65.0 (37-86) years. Seventeen patients were younger than 70 years, and 16 patients were older than 70 years. Autogenous bone spacers made from spinous processes were used in all patients. Slits were made on both sides of the spacers. The lamina was raised with a curette, and a spacer was inserted without any sutures. Before surgery and 1 week and 1 year after surgery, the anteroposterior diameter (APD) of the spinal canal was measured using midsagittal-plane CT-multiplanar reconstruction. The bone union rate of the hinge side and autogenous bone spacer of each lamina was determined using CT images obtained 1 year after surgery. Results 1 year after surgery were evaluated using Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score.

RESULTS
The mean ± SD APD increase rate was 56.3% ± 21.3% 1 week after surgery and 51.7% ± 20.6% 1 year later. The average APD decrease rate was 2.9% ± 3.8%. The bone union rate on the hinge side was 100%, and that of autologous bone spacer was 93.8% 1 year after surgery. The mean APD decrease rate was 3.3% in patients younger than 70 years and 2.3% in those older than 70 years. There was no significant difference between the two groups (p > 0.05, nonpaired t-test). The JOA score averaged 10.1 before surgery and 13.3 a year after surgery (total score 17). The average improvement rate was 46.3% ± 26.4%.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors devised and implemented a technique for inserting an autologous bone spacer between the opened lamina and lateral mass without sutures. The enlarged spinal canal was maintained 1 year after surgery. This simple method does not require any instrumentation or additional cost to stabilize the opened lamina.


Asset Finance investments have expanded over the past years in terms of assets under management, the breadth of investment opportunities as well as their geographical distribution. Currently, an estimated 400 managers are assumed to be active in this space. However when identifying and quantifying the Asset Finance universe on an aggregate level, one is confronted with a number of challenges. The primary reasons for these challenges include semantics (what exactly qualifies as Asset Finance?) as well as the "nicheness" of the space. This article seeks to demystify Asset Finance first by defining its boundaries and then by clarifying the distinguishing characteristics of the primary investment strategies which fall under this umbrella. The performance and risk characteristics of these strategies are also explored.


Flowering is a critical stage in plant life cycles, and changes in phenology might alter processes at the species, community and ecosystem levels. Therefore, likely flowering-time responses to global-change drivers are needed for predictions of global-change impacts on natural and managed ecosystems. Predicting responses of species to global changes would be simplified if functional, phylogenetic or biogeographical traits contributed substantially to a species' response. Here we investigate the role of growth form (grass, graminoid, forb, subshrub), longevity (annual, perennial), origin (native, exotic) and flowering time in determining the impact of elevated [CO2] (550 μmol mol-1) and infrared warming (mean warming of +2°C) on flowering times of 31 co-occurring species of a range of species-types in a temperate grassland in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Warming reduced time to first flowering by an average of 20.3 days in 2004, 2.1 days in 2005 and 7.6 days in 2007; however, the response varied among species and was unrelated to growth form, origin or longevity. Elevated [CO2] did not alter flowering times; neither was there any [CO2] by species-type interaction. However, both warming and elevated [CO2] tended to have a greater effect on later-flowering species, with time to first flowering of later-flowering species being reduced by both elevated [CO2] (P < 0.001) and warming (P < 0.001) to a greater extent than that of earlier-flowering species. These results have ramifications for our predictions of community and ecosystem interactions in native grasslands in response to global change.


We have developed a Java-based teaching tool, "Appreciating Hubble at Hyper-speed" ("AHaH"), intended for use by students and instructors in beginning astronomy and cosmology courses, which we have made available online. This tool lets the user hypothetically traverse the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) in three dimensions at over 500x10^12 times the speed of light, from redshifts z=0 today to z=6, about 1 Gyr after the Big Bang. Users may also view the Universe in various cosmology configurations and two different geometry modes - standard geometry that includes expansion of the Universe, and a static pseudo-Euclidean geometry for comparison. In this paper we detail the mathematical formulae underlying the functions of this Java application, and provide justification for the use of these particular formulae. These include the manner in which the angular sizes of objects are calculated in various cosmologies, as well as how the application's coordinate system is defined in relativistically expanding cosmologies. We also briefly discuss the methods used to select and prepare the images in the application, the data used to measure the redshifts of the galaxies, and the qualitative implications of the visualization - that is, what exactly users see when they "move" the virtual telescope through the simulation. Finally, we conduct a study of the effectiveness in this teaching tool in the classroom, the results of which show the efficacy of the tool, with over 90% approval by students, and provide justification for its further use in a classroom setting.


It is not surprising that the financing of early-stage creative projects and ventures is typically geographically localized since these types of funding decisions are usually predicated on personal relationships and due diligence requiring face-to-face interactions in response to high levels of risk, uncertainty, and information asymmetry. So, to economists, the recent rise of crowdfunding—raising capital from many people through an online platform—which offers little opportunity for careful due diligence and involves not only friends and family but also many strangers from near and far, is initially startling. On the eve of launching equity-based crowdfunding, a new market for early-stage finance in the United States, we provide a preliminary exploration of its underlying economics. We highlight the extent to which economic theory, in particular transaction costs, reputation, and market design, can explain the rise of nonequity crowdfunding and offer a framework for speculating on how equity-based crowdfunding may unfold. We conclude by articulating open questions related to how crowdfunding may affect social welfare and the rate and direction of innovation.


A new version of this book is now available. The striking thing about surprise attack is how frequently it succeeds--even in our own day, when improvements in communications and intelligence gathering should make it extremly difficult to sneak up on anyone. Ephraim Kam observes surprise attack through the eyes of its victim in order to understand the causes of the victim's failure to to anticipate the coming war. Kam analyzes eleven major surprise attacks that have been launched since the outbreak of World War II (by no means the only ones that occured), starting with the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940 and ending with the Eyptian-Syrian attack on Isreal in 1973, in a systematic comparative effort to find the elements that successful sorties have in common. He tackles the problem on four levels: the individual analyst, the small group, the large organization, and the decision makers. Emphasizing the psychological aspects of warfare, Kam traces the behavior of the victim at various functional levels and from several points of view in order to examine the difficulties, mistakes, and "idees fixes" that permit a nation to be taken by surprise. He argues that anticipation and prediction of a coming war are more complicated than any other issue of strategic estimation, involving such interdependent factors as analytical contradictions, judgmental biases, organizational obstacles, and political as well as military constraints.


Until recently the two standard reference works that included information on the insect pests of vegetables in South Africa were Annecke & Moran's Insects and Mites of Cultivated Plants in South Africa, published some 30 years ago, and Crop Pests in Southern Africa, a series of five booklets that appeared between 1986 and 1990. Both of these have been out of print for many years and Diedrich Visser's new, up-to-date guide could thus not have been produced at a more opportune time. A Complete Guide to Vegetable Pests in South Africa is a follow-up on his highly popular Guide to Potato Pests and their Natural Enemies in South Africa, published in 2005. The author set himself the onerous task of providing detailed information and high-quality macro-photographs of all vegetable pests in South Africa, in addition to an up-to-date list of all species likely to be encountered on vegetables in the country.


Introduction Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant. In general, toxicity effects develop within 30 min of overdose and peak from 2 h to 6 h. Anticholinergic effects predominate in cases of low dose ingestion. In cases of high dose ingestion, marked depression of the central nervous system is coupled with cardiotoxicity, seizures and hypotension. Patients and methods Amitriptyline-intoxicated patients admitted to the emergency department (ED) of Dicle University Hospital were evaluated between January 2005 and April 2007. Social and demographic status, clinical and laboratory findings, treatments and outcomes were recorded. Age, sex, marital status, time of hospital admission, consciousness levels, ECG findings, requirement for respiratory support, follow-up periods and antidepressant overdose risk assessment (ADORA) criteria were analysed using SPSS software. Results A total of 110 cases of overdose by amitriptyline was evaluated. Suicide attempts by amitriptyline overdose in adult single women were the commonest finding. The commonest symptoms seen during initial examinations were sinus tachycardia (66.3%), altered mental state (78.1%) and hypotension (7.3%). Mechanical ventilatory support was required in 9.1% of cases. Most patients (n=76, 69.1%) were treated in the ED (p=0.001). 60 (54.5%) patients were discharged from the ED within 24 h after admission (p<0.0001). Conclusion Most of the patients were young single women. Altered mental state and tachycardia were the commonest symptoms. The initial symptoms of amytriptyline overdose patients may be life threatening, but effective supportive treatments were helpful. There was high correlation between ADORA criteria and the dose ingested.


Real-world processes often undergo improvements to meet certain goals, such as coping with changed requirements, eliminating defects, improving the quality of the products, and reducing costs. Identifying and evaluating the defects or errors in the process, identifying the causes of such defects, and validating proposed improvements all require careful analysis of the process. Human-intensive processes, where human contributions require considerable domain expertise and have a significant impact on the success or failure of the overall mission, are of particular concern because they can be extremely complex and may be used in critical, including life-critical, situations. To date, the analysis support for such processes is very limited. If done at all, it is usually performed manually and can be extremely time-consuming, costly and error-prone. There has been considerable success lately in using static analysis techniques to analyze hardware systems, software systems, and manufacturing processes. This thesis explores how such analysis techniques can be automated and employed to effectively analyze life-critical, human-intensive processes.
In this thesis, we investigated two static analysis techniques: Finite-State Verification (FSV) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). We proposed a process analysis framework that is capable of performing both FSV and FTA on rigorously defined processes. Although evaluated for processes specified in the Little-JIL process definition language, this is a general framework independent of the process definition language. For FSV, we developed a translation-based approach that is able to take advantage of existing FSV tools. The process definition and property to be evaluated are translated into the input model and property representation accepted by the selected FSV tool. Then the FSV tool is executed to verify the model against the property representation. For FTA, we developed a template-based approach to automatically derive fault trees from the process definition. In addition to showing the feasibility of applying these two techniques to processes, much effort has been put on improving the scalability and the usability of the framework so that it can be easily used to analyze complex real-world processes. To scale the analysis, we investigated several optimizations that are able to dramatically reduce the translated models for FSV tools and speed up the verification. We also developed several optimizations for the fault tree derivation to make the generated fault tree much more compact and easier to understand and analyze. To improve the usability, we provided several approaches that make analysis results easier to understand.
We evaluated this framework based on the Little-JIL process definition language and employed it to analyze two real-world, human-intensive processes: an in-patient blood transfusion process and a chemotherapy process. The results show that the framework can be used effectively to detect defects in such real-world, human-intensive processes.


The Jaccard Coefficient, as an information similarity measure, has wide variety of applications, such as cluster analysis and image segmentation. Due to the concerns of personal privacy, the Jaccard Coefficient cannot be computed directly between two independently owned datasets. The problem, secure computation of the Jaccard Coefficient for multisets (SJCM), considers the situation where two parties want to securely compute the random shares of the Jaccard Coefficient between their multisets. During the process, the content of each party's multiset is not disclosed to the other party and also the value of Jaccard Coefficient should be hidden from both parties. Secure computation of multiset intersection cardinality is an important sub-problem of SJCM. Existing methods when applied to solve such a problem can lead to either insecure or inefficient solutions. Our work addresses this gap. We first present a basic SJCM protocol constructed using the existing secure dot product method as a sub-routine. Then, as a major contribution, we propose an approximated version of our basic protocol to improve efficiency without compromising accuracy much. We provide various experimental results to show that the proposed protocols are significantly more efficient than the existing techniques when the domain size is small using both simulated and real datasets.


Background: B cells are key pathogenic effectors in multiple sclerosis (MS) and several therapies have been designed to restrain B cell abnormalities by directly targeting this lymphocyte population. Objectives: Moving from our data showing a Toll-like receptor (TLR)7-driven dysregulation of B cell response in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and having found a low serum level of Thymosin-α1 (Tα1) in patients, we investigated whether the addition of this molecule to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) would influence the expansion of regulatory B cell subsets, known to dampen autoimmune inflammation. Methods: Serum Tα1 level was measured by enzyme immunoassay. Cytokine expression was evaluated by Cytometric Bead Array (CBA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). B cell subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: Tα1 pre-treatment induces an anti-inflammatory status in TLR7-stimulated RRMS PBMC cultures, reducing the secretion of pro-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and IL-1β while significantly increasing the regulatory IL-10 and IL-35. Indeed, Tα1 treatment enhanced expansion of CD19+CD24+CD38hi transitional-immature and CD24low/negCD38hi plasmablast-like regulatory B cell subsets, which likely inhibit both interferon (IFN)-γ and IL-17 production. Conclusion:: Our study reveals a deficient ability of B cells from MS patients to differentiate into regulatory subsets and unveils a novel anti-inflammatory and repurposing potential for Tα1 in MS targeting B cell response.


In this study, 236 heavy-drinking college students completed measures of self-efficacy for limiting drinking, specific coping skills for limiting drinking, outcome expectancies associated both with expected effects of drinking and expected effects of limiting drinking, and retrospective drinking behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine reliability and validity, as well as serving as a prerequisite for structural equation modeling (SEM). Results were generally consistent with predictions and supported the distinction between self-efficacy and outcome expectancies. One notable exception was that positive expectancies for limiting drinking did not load heavily on the predicted expectancy construct. Three models predicting drinking were compared utilizing SEM. The first was a model in which all constructs predicted drinking with no indirect effects. The second was based upon the ideas of Kirsch (1995) and predicted that outcome expectancies influence self-efficacy judgments. The third was based upon Bandura's (1986) theory and predicted that self-efficacy judgments would instead influence outcome expectancies. Both the models based on Kirsch and Bandura appeared to better fit the data than the model with no indirect effects. Differences in model-fit between models based on Kirsch and Bandura were not large, but slightly supported the Kirsch model. Additional analyses also supported the importance of outcome expectancies in predicting drinking behavior. Implications for theory and future directions for research are discussed.


Objective: To describe a longitudinal leadership program involving all students and report the perceived impact.
Design: The program included a first year Leadership Interview, a third year Report of Leadership, and a fourth year Professional Business Meeting Attendance. Activities involved guided reflection.
Assessment: Students (n=138) indicated the activities helped them recognize the importance of leadership and their leadership potential (e.g., 72.5% and 62.3% of students due to meeting attendance, respectively). Students participated in leadership activities that they would not have pursued otherwise, either in response to the activity (27.7% due to interview) or as a requirement of the activity (51.1% for leadership report). Students reported developing specific leadership skills through the activities. Most students planned to be involved in a district/regional (72.5%), state (84.1%), and national (51.4%) meeting in the five years following graduation.
Conclusion: Students reported a positive impact on leadership perceptions and participation. The report is a preliminary step in the development and assessment of a longitudinal curricular initiative involving all pharmacy students.

Type: Case Study


Background COPD patients have high pulmonary and systemic oxidative stress that correlates with severity of disease. Sulforaphane has been shown to induce expression of antioxidant genes via activation of a transcription factor, nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2). Methods This parallel, placebo-controlled, phase 2, randomized trial was conducted at three US academic medical centers. Patients who met GOLD criteria for COPD and were able to tolerate bronchoscopies were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive placebo, 25 μmoles, or 150 μmoles sulforaphane daily by mouth for four weeks. The primary outcomes were changes in Nrf2 target gene expression (NQ01, HO1, AKR1C1 and AKR1C3) in alveolar macrophages and bronchial epithelial cells. Secondary outcomes included measures of oxidative stress and airway inflammation, and pulmonary function tests. Results Between July 2011 and May 2013, 89 patients were enrolled and randomized. Sulforaphane was absorbed in the patients as evident from their plasma metabolite levels. Changes in Nrf2 target gene expression relative to baseline ranged from 0.79 to 1.45 and there was no consistent pattern among the three groups; the changes were not statistically significantly different from baseline. Changes in measures of inflammation and pulmonary function tests were not different among the groups. Sulforaphane was well tolerated at both dose levels. Conclusion Sulforaphane administered for four weeks at doses of 25 μmoles and 150 μmoles to patients with COPD did not stimulate the expression of Nrf2 target genes or have an effect on levels of other anti-oxidants or markers of inflammation. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01335971.


Individual decision making in computer security risk plays a critical role in successful information security management. This paper describes a study that investigated how individuals make tradeoffs regarding computer security risk. The study asked subjects to make decisions on two hypothetical scenarios in which subjects were asked to choose between avoiding computer security risk and accepting a reward. We found that individual computer security risk perception, culture and security skills have an impact on their decisions regarding trading off computer security with rewards.


An annuity is an arrangement in which an individual makes a one-time payment (the premium) to an insurer in exchange for a lifetime payment stream. Ideally, the expected present value of the payment stream matches the premium, making it a fair annuity. In practice, the payment stream is smaller than that, providing the insurer with a profit margin. This paper proposes a fair tontine annuity (FTA), an arrangement that provides a lifetime payment stream whose expected present value matches that of a fair annuity. The FTA is based on a fair tontine. In a fair tontine, a group of members contribute to a pool, and each time a member dies, her contribution is divided among surviving members. The distribution to surviving members is made in unequal portions, according to a plan that provides each member with a fair bet, meaning a bet whose expected gain is zero. We show that, under broad conditions, such a plan exists and is readily constructed. Members may be of any age and gender and may contribute any desired amount. New members may join at any time, allowing the fair tontine to operate in perpetuity.The FTA is formed by adding a few enhancements to the fair tontine. The result is something that closely resembles an annuity. The member makes a one-time contribution and receives payments on a fixed schedule (e.g., monthly) that last for his lifetime. The value of each payment is a random amount, with an expected value that is identical to the payment that would be made by a fair annuity. Thus, the FTA offers a higher expected payout than an insurer-provided annuity, since no profit is being extracted. Simulations show that the FTA outperforms a typical insurer-provided FTA not just on the average, but for virtually every member who lives more than just a few years, even with a pool as small as a few hundred members. Since the FTA imposes no risk on the provider, it can be offered by vendors other than insurers, such as mutual fund houses, retail brokers, etc.


This study employs panel analysis to examine the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) and Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey (MINT) using data for eleven years i.e. 2001 – 2011. First, it uses pooled time-series cross sectional analysis to estimate the model on determinants of FDI for three samples: BRICS only, MINT only, and BRICS and MINT combined; then, fixed effects model is also employed to estimate the model for BRICS and MINT combined. The results show that market size, infrastructure availability, and trade openness play the most significant roles in attracting FDI to BRICS and MINT while the roles of availability of natural resources and institutional quality are insignificant. Given that FDI inflow to a country has the potential of being mutually beneficial to the investing entity and host government, the challenge is on how BRICS and MINT can sustain the level of FDI inflow and ensure it results in economic growth and socio-economic transformation. To sustain the level of FDI inflow, governments of BRICS and MINT need to ensure that their countries remain attractive for investment. BRICS and MINT also need to ensure that their economies absorb substantial skills and technology spillovers from FDI inflow to promote sustainable long-term economic growth by investing more in their human capital. The study is significant because it contributes to literature on determinants of FDI by extending the scope of previous studies which often focus only on BRICS.


In some languages, segments bearing a potential harmonizing feature trigger harmony while other segments bearing that feature do not. This paper examines such a case in Classical Manchu tongue root harmony, in which some advanced tongue root (ATR) vowels idiosyncratically trigger a process of ATR harmony while others do not. I propose that this pattern and others like it are best accounted for by an analysis in which a segment's status as a trigger of harmony is encoded within its subsegmental representation, and a phonological grammar shapes a language's inventory to include both harmony-triggering and non-triggering segments. This analysis is implemented within the Gestural Harmony Model, in which the assumed units of phonological representation are dynamically-defined gestures.


Investigates what approaches to quality lead to best quality and financial performance across different regions of the world. Reports a survey of 977 firms in Asia/South Pacific, Europe, and North America. Fifty‐two items that suggest how a firm might improve quality were factor analysed and grouped into 11 factors, each factor a broader approach to quality improvement than any one item. Actual quality was measured eight different ways. Each approach to quality improvement (factor) was correlated to each quality measure, as well as to several financial measures. The results suggest that a company's approach to quality correlates to actual quality and to a lesser extent to financial performance. The major factors found to influence actual quality were the organization's knowledge of quality management, its degree of customer focus, and management involvement. When the task was to predict performance outcomes in any region, the specific factors that best predict performance were found to vary from region to region. That is, there were specific models within a region that better predicted performance than the model which predicted performance across all regions.


The UK government is actively encouraging the transfer of science and technology innovation to the business sector through a range of initiatives (http://www.ost.gov.uk/enterprise/knowledge/sec.htm). In part, this is seen as a 'third mission' for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), alongside teaching and research; HEIs are seen as pivotal in encouraging the growth of new businesses by supporting the start-up and growth of spin-out companies based on innovative ideas developed by students and faculty within the universities. It is recognised that academics face a steep learning curve associated with the process of company development. Although the availability of support services for technology transfer is increasing, the process of entrepreneurial learning is not well understood. This paper aims to shed light on the spin-out development by focussing on the learning experience of academic inventors involved in the establishment and development of a spin-out company around their research outcomes. The process is framed as one of identity in transition for the academic/inventor, who to different extents is constituted as an entrepreneur through the practice of spin-out development: finding resources, creating management teams and carrying our market-driven research and development. Theoretically, this approach is underpinned by the notion of the Community of Practice (CoP). In carrying out their business activities, inventors engage with the university's 'innovation community', whose members interact with one another, thus acknowledging and legitimising each other as participants. Using the CoP conceptualisation, academics are undergoing a process of 'becoming' part of this community, not just 'encountering' it – in other words, they are undergoing a transformative social process involving the negotiation (and re-negotiation) of identities. Four case studies of nascent, or existing technology spin-out companies are presented in this paper. A qualitative, interpretive methodology is used to explore the extent to which the academic inventors 'became' entrepreneurs during the spin-out process, focussing particular on the learning processes they underwent as the engaged with the university CoP. The insights generated in the paper contribute to theoretical understandings of the spin-out process. Practically, there is benefit to those involved in supporting and promoting spin-out activity. Ultimately, better understanding may improve the success rates for spin-out companies, through development of better practice.


The National Student Survey (NSS) frequently highlights students' dissatisfaction with feedback. Data collected over the past two years by tutors working on a Batchelor of Arts (Honours) Primary Education 5-11 programme, leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), shows increasing satisfaction as students engage with and use feedback. The initiatives outlined in this longitudinal, action research study have shown that face-to-face, oral communication is at the heart of student satisfaction. Speaking with students is key in helping them to reflect upon the variety of feedback, understand its relevance and consequently to act upon it in practical ways. The research suggests that rather than searching for a perfect model of feedback, we should work towards changing the way that students view, access and respond to the variety of feedback offered. The study shows enhancing student engagement with feedback through a range of improved measures, can impact on student satisfaction ratings such as those in the NSS. The paper argues that by working together in partnership, students and tutors could move closer to achieving the elusive 100% satisfaction for feedback.


The dissertation analyses the possible welfare-enhancing role of severance payments when labour markets are non-competitive. Chapter 1 introduces the material in the thesis. Chapter 2 presents a short survey of the results of the existing literature on dismissal costs. Chapter 3 uses a strategic bargaining model to show that, once dismissal costs are correctly modelled as a payment which takes place only in case firms sever the relationship, firing costs cannot affect the separation rate in models featuring voluntary severance in the absence of restrictions. Firms will always find it profitable to induce workers to quit whenever separation is efficient. Only if some other source of inefficiency prevents firms and workers to split the rents from continuation can firing costs result in a reduced number of separations. In this case they may be efficient. Chapter 4 analyses non-contractible firms' investment in general training in the presence of frictional unemployment. It argues that consensual layoff measures and other institutions that oblige firms to share the total separation payoff result in higher training. Since general training is vested in the worker on separation, in the absence of such measures, the firm would not capture any return to training in case of separation. Chapter 5 shows that in a dynamic efficiency wage model the time-inconsistency of firing decisions implies that severance payments increase aggregate employment and are second-best Pareto optimal as they induce firms to internalise the negative externality, in the form of foregone rents, that they impose on workers on severance. Chapter 6 concludes.


Background - Planning occupies an important position in business literature. It is a well-investigated area with a long and extensive research tradition. However, the findings of the research are not consistent. In the planning literature there is a strong debate among researchers which results in two opposing points of view. On the one hand, proponents of planning in business, also known as the planning school, claim that planning plays an important role and has a positive impact on companies. On the other hand, opponents challenge these claims and suggest that a company should instead focus on flexibility, learning and resource utilization. These claims may be of particular interest in new ventures. The environment in which new ventures usually operate may be turbulent with a high degree of uncertainty and a lack of resources. This setting may create problems for the application of planning procedures and can contradict suggestions in existing literature. In addition, the entrepreneur plays a crucial role in every new venture. He or she is the one who founds the new venture and is the main decision-maker. Planning activities compete for resources and time, which are scarce commodities in new ventures and can cause entrepreneurs to allocate less time to the business itself.Purpose - The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the changes in business planning in new ventures. In addition, we endeavored to explain the reasons why these changes occur and what sparks them. Our aim was to gain in-depth understanding of the business planning change phenomenon in new small-sized firms and add additional knowledge to the existing planning literature.Method & Theory - Semi-structured interviews with six entrepreneurs in the Jonkoping region were conducted to collect the empirical data on business planning within the service industry. The collected data was analyzed together by applying the theoretical frame of references.Conclusion - The thesis concluded that three main business planning situations occur in new ventures. These were at first a smooth or volatile increase during the beginning period of new ventures and resulted in the presence of the stabilised business planning pattern in the later stage of new ventures. This study also observed three main drivers behind those changes: business planning experience, economical factors and customers.


Background. The purpose of this study was to identify determinants of renal disease progression in adults with Fabry disease during treatment with agalsidase beta. Methods. Renal function was evaluated in 151 men and 62 women from the Fabry Registry who received agalsidase beta at an average dose of 1 mg/kg/2 weeks for at least 2 years. Patients were categorized into quartiles based on slopes of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) during treatment. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with renal disease progression. Results. Men within the first quartile had a mean eGFR slope of –0.1 mL/min/1.73m2/year, whereas men with the most rapid renal disease progression (Quartile 4) had a mean eGFR slope of –6.7 mL/min/1.73m2/year. The risk factor most strongly associated with renal disease progression was averaged urinary protein:creatinine ratio (UP/Cr) ≥1 g/g (odds ratio 112, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 4–3109, P = 0.0054). Longer time from symptom onset to treatment was also associated with renal disease progression (odds ratio 19, 95% CI 2–184, P = 0.0098). Women in Quartile 4 had the highest averaged UP/Cr (mean 1.8 g/g) and the most rapid renal disease progression: (mean slope –4.4 mL/min/1.73m2/year). Conclusions. Adults with Fabry disease are at risk for progressive loss of eGFR despite enzyme replacement therapy, particularly if proteinuria is ≥1 g/g. Men with little urinary protein excretion and those who began receiving agalsidase beta sooner after the onset of symptoms had stable renal function. These findings suggest that early intervention may lead to optimal renal outcomes.


Visual information is sent from the retina to central visual targets through the
optic nerve which is formed of retinal ganglion cells' (RGCs) axons. In rodents, the
superior colliculus (SC) is the major site of termination of retinal axons and the
lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is another target of retinal axons. Glaucoma is a
progressive optic neuropathy, characterized by RGC death. Dendrites are fine
neuronal processes which support postsynaptic contact elements and are responsible
for receiving synaptic signals. Accordingly, the morphology of dendrites has a
profound impact on integrating neuronal input to the central nervous system from
peripheral targets. Previous studies have documented dendritic changes in neuronal
degenerative processes including those occurring in ageing and diseases. However,
the morphological changes of dendrites in the visual pathway in glaucoma have not
been well characterized.
This thesis characterizes morphological changes of dendrites in the retina and
the central visual targets in an experimental rat model of glaucoma for the first time.
Dendritic labelling was achieved using the fluorescent dye DiI with in vivo
and in vitro techniques. Dendrites of neurons in the SC and LGN were labelled in
vitro using 0.1% DiI solution, and those of the RGCs were labelled using the biolistic
technique. Confocal microscopy was next performed to image neurons, and dendrites
were traced and quantified using Image J. Dendritic parameters including the mean
dendritic length and the number of dendrites per neuron were analyzed in baseline,
glaucoma animals and age-matched controls. Dendritic morphologies were studied in five types of neurons in the SC (including horizontal (H); piriform (P); narrow field
vertical (V); wide field vertical (W) and stellate (S) cells), two types of neurons in
the LGN (including the relay neuron type I (LG1) and type II (LG2)) and three types
of RGCs (including type I (RI), type II (RII) and type III (RIII)).
In this thesis, both age-related and glaucoma-related dendritic changes were
demonstrated in the RGCs, SC cells and LGN cells in our rat model of experimental
glaucoma. Firstly, the mean dendritic length and dendritic number of RGCs, SC cells
and LGN cells were significantly reduced during ageing in normal animals, and more
pronounced changes were observed in glaucoma animals. Secondly, significant
dendritic shrinkage and losses were also shown in glaucoma animals compared with
age-matched controls. Thirdly, the RGC was the first site to show dendritic changes
following elevated IOP, but the most prominent changes were visible in the SC.
The results in this study implicated that both the RGC and SC are potential
sites for an early diagnosis strategy. Additionally, the glaucoma-related dendritic
degeneration was demonstrated not only in the RGCs, but also in the SC and LGN,
indicating that both the retina and the brain should be targeted when considering
therapies for glaucoma.
In conclusion, this thesis characterizes dendritic changes in the visual
pathway in rats with chronic glaucoma, demonstrating that both ageing and elevated
intraocular pressure (IOP) can affect dendritic morphology in the RGCs, SC cells
and LGN cells. The findings in this study have contributed to the understanding of
retinal and central neuronal degeneration in glaucoma, providing new insights into
potential diagnosis and therapeutic strategies.


This paper has two simple underlying theses. The first is that it is impossible to understand the relation of any variable to criminal responsibility without having in place an account of criminal responsibility. Otherwise, one simply begs questions. The second is that discovery of genetic or of any other physical or psychosocial cause of action raises no new issues concerning responsibility, and discovery of such causes does not per se create an excusing or mitigating condition for criminal conduct or any other type of behavior. The paper begins with a brief description of the phenomenology of addiction, describing generally what we know about the behavioral aspects of addiction in addition to the basic criteria of craving, seeking and using. It then addresses the contrast between the legal and scientific images of behavior, using the disease concept of addiction as a prime example of the contrast. The paper next offers a general model of criminal responsibility to guide the analysis of responsibility for addiction-related criminal behavior. It suggests that the essential criteria are behavioral, broadly understood to refer to actions and mental states. The next part deals with persistent confusions about responsibility. The paper then describes those aspects of addiction, if any, for which persons might be held morally or legally responsible. It concludes that only actions related to addiction are appropriate objects of legal responsibility ascription. Next, it addresses the causal role genetics plays in explaining addiction. This discussion is deferred until this point because, as earlier parts explain, no particular causal explanation of any behavior, including biological explanation, entails necessary legal consequences. The following part addresses individual and social responsibility for the addiction-related actions. It begins by considering in detail the meaning of those features of addiction - subjective craving and compulsion - that seem the most likely predicates for excuse or mitigation. It argues that understanding the biological roots of craving does not yet yield valid information concerning the strength of craving and seemingly compulsive behavior. This part next addresses the two leading theoretical and legal candidates for an excusing condition, internal coercion and lack of the capacity for rationality. It concludes that most addicts should be responsible for most criminal behavior motivated by addiction, but that addiction can in some cases affect the agent's ability to grasp and be guided by reason. The last section of this part considers whether society is responsible for addiction-related actions. I conclude that even if most addicts should be held responsible for addiction-related behavior, sensible social policy can do much to reduce both the prevalence of addiction and concomitant criminal behavior. The final part of the paper discusses three legal proposals for reducing the costs associated with addictions and for treating addicts fairly.


To design and implement a program, programmers choose analogies and metaphors to explain and understand programmatic concepts. In source code, they manifest themselves as a particular choice of names. During program comprehension, reading such names is an important starting point to understand the meaning of modules and guide the exploration process. On the one hand, understanding a program in depth by looking for names that suggest a particular analogy can be a time-consuming process. On the other hand, a lack of awareness which concepts are present and which analogies have been chosen can lead to modularity issues, such as redundancy and architectural drift if concepts are misaligned with respect to the current module decomposition. In this work-in-progress paper, we propose to integrate first-class concepts into the programming environment. We assign meaning to names by labeling them with a color corresponding to the metaphor or analogy this name was derived from. We hypothesize that aggregating labels upwards along the module hierarchy helps to understand how concepts are distributed across the program, collecting names belonging to a specific concept helps programmers to recognize which metaphor has been chosen, and presenting relations between concepts can summarize complex interactions between program parts. We argue that continuous feedback and awareness of how names are grouped into concepts and where they are located can help preventing modularity issues and ease program comprehension. As a first step towards an implementation, we define criteria that help to detect names belonging to the same concept. We then investigate how techniques from natural language processing can be re-used and modified to compute an initial concept allocation with respect to these criteria. Eventually, we show design sketches how we plan to arrange and present concepts to programmers through tools, and what kind of information they can provide to help programmers make informed implementation decisions.


The purpose of this work in progress paper is to report on the method development of the Shared Priorities measure to include content analysis, as a way of gaining a deeper understanding of team work in crisis/emergency response. An experiment is reported where the performance of six trained teams is compared with the performance of six non-trained teams. The experiment was performed using an emergency response microworld simulation with a forest fire scenario. Dependent measures were simulation performance, the Crew Awareness Rating Scale (CARS), and content analysis. Trained teams performed better and scored higher on measures of team behaviors.


Abstract More than 70 macrofossil taxa (including 14 bivalves, 6 gastropods, 8 corals, 4 echinoderms, and 10 barnacles) are recorded from early Miocene (Otaian) Kawau Subgroup strata (Cape Rodney Formation and Motuketekete Limestone, lower Waitemata Group) at Motuketekete Island, Hauraki Gulf, north of Auckland City. Both in situ and transported fossils occur in deposits of greywacke boulder conglomerate, cobble to pebble conglomerate/sandstone, bioclastic calcareous grainstone, and an allochthonous breccia debris event unit, which correspond to lithofacies A, C, D, and E, respectively, of Ricketts et al. Greywacke boulders accumulated at the base of a greywacke paleocliff or sea stack that was planed off at its top to form a shore platform during the Miocene. A >2 m long, 16 cm thick coral colony grew atop a mixed substrate of boulders, pebbles, and sand, and exhibits two successional regrowth phases following debris‐influx events. Boulders and cobbles bored by pholadid bivalves (Parapholas aucklandicum Powell) are common in these basal bouldery talus deposits. A diverse suite of macrofossils, including chaliciform corals, occurs in somewhat finer grained deposits that buried the greywacke basement and boulder talus pile, and indicates either slightly deeper or more turbid conditions in the shallow photic zone. The cross‐bedded, bioclastic Motuketekete Limestone overlies these coarse‐grained Cape Rodney Formation units. Its fauna indicates deepening, with replacement of shallow by offshore taxa (e.g., Crenostrea with Bathylasma), as the Waitemata Basin underwent rapid tectonic subsidence and redeposition of sediments with the onset of subduction along the Hikurangi convergent margin. A newly identified lens of "upper breccia" (lithofacies E) in the Motuketekete Limestone contains rounded blocks of colonial coral and Tertiary siltstone. The Motuketekete occurrence of lithofacies E extends the known geographic range of this geologically instantaneous deposit; it records a regional tectonic event that is interpreted as an avalanche/debris flow triggered by faulting. The breccia appears to be a reliable marker for local lithostratigraphic correlation in lower Waitemata strata exposed north of Auckland. Appendices provide a systematic analysis of the barnacle fauna and the description of a new gastropod species, Bolma (Bolma) ballancei. The overall biotic content of the Kawau Subgroup, especially those taxa associated with hard substrate community development, indicate warm subtropical conditions similar to those found elsewhere in northern New Zealand during the early Miocene.


We describe a natural language parser that uses type information to determine the grammatical structure of simple sentences and phrases. This stands in contrast to studies of type inference where types and grammatical structure play opposite roles, the former being determined by the latter. Our parser is implemented in Haskell and is based on a linguistic theory called applicative universal grammar (AUG). Our results should be interesting to computer scientists in the way in which AUG relates to types and combinatory calculus, and to linguists in the way in which a very simple, brute force parsing strategy performs surprisingly well in both performance and accuracy.