Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite which leads to widespread infections in humans and animals worldwide. Infection is typically asymptomatic in immunocompetent hosts, but may lead to severe symptoms in immunocompromized individuals. Apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death (PCD), is a highly regulated molecular process of cell suicide that is crucial to the development, homeostasis and integrity of multicellular organisms. During recent years, there has been increasing evidence for the occurrence of an apoptotic cell death in unicellular organisms including protozoan parasites. The mechanisms of how T. gondii dies are largely unknown but knowledge of putative regulated cell death pathways are of major scientific interest and may lead to the development of novel antiparasitic therapies.
Here, we demonstrated the occurrence of an apoptosis-like cell death in T. gondii. Staurosporine and miltefosine treatment resulted in the presence of apoptotic markers in T. gondii, including DNA strand breaks, reduction in cell size, and phosphatidylserine translocation. We found that apoptosis-like cell death obviously did not contribute to the regulation of tachyzoites density during acute infection in the peritoneal cavity of infected mice. However, TUNEL-positive parasites were detected in bradyzoite-containing tissue cysts from the brains of chronically infected mice, suggesting the parasites employed apoptosis-like cell death during chronic infection.  Furthermore, number of extracellular TUNEL-positive parasites increased after treatment with drugs commonly used to treat toxoplasmosis. Intriguingly, treatment with clindamycin led to the emergence of intracellular TUNEL-positive parasites that partially showed abnormal morphology.
Data mining of the Toxoplasma genome resource identified 17 putative cell death-associated genes encoding proteases, a nuclease and several apoptosis regulators. Here, we focused on three putative T. gondii Bax inhibitors: TgBI-1, TgBI-2 and TgBI-3. To unravel possible functions of TgBIs in the regulation of apoptosis, we stably transfected HeLa cells with the genes encoding TgBI-1, TgBI-2 and TgBI-3 and this was confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy. Measurement of caspase 3/7 activity demonstrated an inhibitory effect of TgBI-1 and TgBI-2 in HeLa cells after treatment with staurosporine and brefeldin A. Moreover, TgBI-1, TgBI-2- and TgBI-3-expressing HeLa cells showed a lower induction of hypoploid DNA (subpeak G0/G1) after treatment with pro-apoptotic stimuli as above. These results suggested that T. gondii Bax inhibitors might fulfill conserved functions in regulating an apoptosis-like cell death in T. gondii.
Furthermore, mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) in the majority of parasites remained intact and caspase-like activity increased only slightly during staurosporine-triggered cell death. In contrast, T. gondii lost their ΔΨm and rapidly presented strong caspase-like activity during miltefosine treatment. Consequently, protease inhibitors abrogated miltefosine-induced but not staurosporine-induced Toxoplasma cell death.
Together, the results indicate the existence of an apoptosis-like cell death mechanism in T. gondii which might play a role during chronic infection. Additionally, we proof for the first time that treatment of intracellular parasites with the chemotherapeutic drug clindamycin induces an apoptosis-like cell death phenotype in a small proportion of parasites. Our results on TgBIs indicate evolutionary conserved protective effects of BI proteins from T. gondii to mammals and suggest a role of TgBI proteins in regulation of T. gondii apoptosis-like cell death. Furthermore, distinct apoptosis-like cell death pathways appear to exist in T. gondii; one involves both a loss of ΔΨm and an activation of caspase-like proteases, which is specifically triggered by miltefosine. Further experiments to unravel precise mechanisms of PCD in Toxoplasma are required. A better understanding on Toxoplasma PCD might provide new possibilities to combat the parasite particularly during its persistent bradyzoite stage.


Although research on computer-assisted and online instruction abounds, researchers have expressed concern about the lack of theoretical frameworks for these studies (Timmerman & Kruepke, 2006). While ample research documents learning outcomes in individual courses, few attempts have been made to link computer-assisted or fully computer-mediated instruction with philosophical concerns pertinent to media, education, or cognition. Ironically, the same issue of the journal that contained this lament (Communication Education) included a major step toward its remedy.
In the first of the series of essays published in this journal, called "Raising the Question," Allen (2006, p. 122) asked whether online instruction is "setting our students up for failure" by depriving them of the social and intellectual stimulation present at the physical college campus. I seek to expand the discussion by going beyond the dichotomy of online versus on-campus instruction to probe when and why online instruction might be desirable. This essay addresses Allen's (2006) concerns about online instruction and student retention, extending the dialogue to examine how online coursework may reach students who might be bypassed by the traditional classroom instruction. The central issue for Allen (2006) and for me is how to offer online instruction according to the principles of effective pedagogy.


It first surfaced in the gripes of GIs during World War II and was captured early on by the typewriter of a young Norman Mailer. Within a generation it had become a basic notion of our everyday moral life, replacing older reproaches like lout and heel with a single inclusive category--a staple of country outlaw songs, Neil Simon plays, and Woody Allen movies. Feminists made it their stock rebuke for male insensitivity, the est movement used it for those who didn't "get it," and Dirty Harry applied it evenhandedly to both his officious superiors and the punks he manhandled. The asshole has become a focus of collective fascination for us, just as the phony was for Holden Caulfield and the cad was for Anthony Trollope. From Donald Trump to Ann Coulter, from Mel Gibson to Anthony Weiner, from the reality TV prima donnas to the internet trolls and flamers, assholism has become the characteristic form of modern incivility, which implicitly expresses our deepest values about class, relationships, authenticity, and fairness. We have conflicting attitudes about the A-word--when a presidential candidate unwittingly uttered it on a live mic in 2000, it confirmed to some that he was a man of the people and to others that he was a boor. But considering how much the word does for us, and to us, it hasn't gotten nearly the attention it deserves--at least until now.


In recent years, the recirculating aquaponics system has gained high attention and significant popularity for organic vegetables and fruits production which contributes to the sustainable aquaculture for tropical regions. This review aims to summarize the possibility for practicing intercropping in aquaponics to produce high-quality fruits, vegetables and fish without any chemical fertilizer and minimum ecological impact for a sustainable agriculture. Although many studies have addressed about aquaponics for producing high-value crops such as tomato, cucumber, and lettuce, there is still a lack of complete information to support the development of intercropping in aquaponics and limited focus on its commercial implementation. Moreover, this study will focus first on the requirements for inserting intercropping in aquaponics and technical improvements needed to adapt as potential for sustainable food production system to increase productivity around the world, especially in countries have deficiency in water and land resources as well as soil problem like salinity and reduce environmental emissions. Secondly, the insertion of intercropping in aquaponics must be for crops with high value and for crops that can complement together such as tomato with basil and tomato with lettuce. Thirdly, in technical improvement in this study will summarize the strategies and factors that affect the intercropping in aquaponics system such as the nutrients needed for crops under intercropping aquaponics, stocking density and feeding rate which are important to know the concentration of ammonia that is produced and converted to nitrate so that the plants can uptake it. Studying the requirements for inserting and improving intercropping in aquaponics will increase our understanding of needed for new agriculture technique that contributes to the sustainable aquaponics for tropical regions.


This book offers an integrated framework to study the theoretical and quantitative properties of economies with frictions in multiple markets. Building on analyses of markets with frictions by 2010 Nobel laureates Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen, and Christopher A. Pissarides, which provided a new theoretical approach to search markets, the book applies this new paradigm to labor, finance, and goods markets. It shows, in particular, how frictions in different markets interact with each other. The book first covers the main developments in the analysis of the labor market in the presence of frictions, offering a systematic analysis of the dynamics of this environment and explaining the notion of macroeconomic volatility. Then, building on the generality and simplicity of the search analysis, the book adapts it to other markets, developing the tools and concepts to analyze friction in these markets. The book goes beyond the traditional general equilibrium analysis of markets, which is often frictionless. It begins with the standard analysis of a single market, and then sequentially integrates more markets into the analysis, progressing from labor to financial to goods markets. Along the way, the book provides a number of useful results and insights, including the existence of a direct link between search frictions and the degree of volatility in the economy. (Publisher's abstract)


Law and War explores the cultural, historical, spatial, and theoretical dimensions of the relationship between law and war-a connection that has long vexed the jurisprudential imagination. Historically the term "war crime" struck some as redundant and others as oxymoronic: redundant because war itself is criminal; oxymoronic because war submits to no law. More recently, the remarkable trend toward the juridification of warfare has emerged, as law has sought to stretch its dominion over every aspect of the waging of armed struggle. No longer simply a tool for judging battlefield conduct, law now seeks to subdue warfare and to enlist it into the service of legal goals. Law has emerged as a force that stands over and above war, endowed with the power to authorize and restrain, to declare and limit, to justify and condemn. In examining this fraught, contested, and evolving relationship, Law and War investigates such questions as: What can efforts to subsume war under the logic of law teach us about the aspirations and limits of law? How have paradigms of law and war changed as a result of the contact with new forms of struggle? How has globalization and continuing practices of occupation reframed the relationship between law and war?


Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) use the Internet or other network service as a backbone to provide a secure connection across a potentially hostile WAN. Such security guarantees provide the motivation for VPN deployment. This security does, however, come at a performance cost brought about by the increased processing overhead. This paper presents an investigation into these overheads. In particular, this investigation will consider different user resource availability based on the client platform in addition to router type and encryp- tion algorithms.


Peshawar has various names in history, different from one account to another. There are fourteen different versions in addition to the one; the Chinese Pilgrims give in their diaries since antiquity. The city has played a vital role in various periods of its history in the development of the culture of the area. This research is based on literature review, archaeological excavations found from different areas of Peshawar like Bana Mari, Tahkal, Shah ji ki Dheri and Ali Masjid stupa, which are some of the main sites. However, the recent excavation at Gor Khuttree is the most important one from scientific point of view.
Gor Khuttree, located right in the heart of the city, is also the highest point thus ensuring a long and continuous cultural profile. The excavations at Gor Khuttree have exposed a profile covering about 2600 years, from the Achaemenian dynasty of 6th century B.C. through the Kushanas, Hindu Shahis, Islamic, Sikhs and British periods to date.. The antiquity discovered of the ancient past of Peshawar includes buildings, coins, inscriptions, pottery and terracottas etc.
The Achaemenian rule in Peshawar was followed by the invasions of Alexander the Great and then Indo-Greeks. Though the Macedonian rule was short but the valley of Peshawar retained many Hellenistic traditions, which can be seen in the art and architecture of the region. This was followed by the Buddhist Civilization of Gandhara under the Kushanas, which lasted for about five hundred years; the Buddhists monasteries and stupas were destroyed in the white Huns invasion of Gandhara in the 5th Century A.D.
Peshawar has always been at the crossroads of cultures and civilizations. Many people came and went; some settled, others carried on with their merry ways. Unlike other cities of the region, Peshawar has seen, for centuries, many ups and downs, and has embraced different civilizations. The ancient city of Peshawar gave refuge to many cultures, the impact of which can be seen in the archaeological relics buried in isolated mounds under the city and even in the present day buildings and ways of life of the people of Peshawar and the surrounding region.
Peshawar later became a fortified city and had a total of sixteen gates, of which, unfortunately, only two are there, and those too in a dilapidated condition. Over a period of time, different people migrated from the rural and tribal areas into the city, which has had an adverse impact on the ecology, archaeology and antiquity of Peshawar.
This research highlights the cultural profile of Peshawar based on the archaeological investigations, and thus connects itself with previous research. In the end, the research has put forward some recommendations to preserve and rehabilitate the rare and precious archaeological sites and historical monuments of this amazing city for our future generations.


Abstract. To evaluate the impact of biomass burning from Southeast Asia to East Asia, this study conducted numerical simulations during NASA's 2006 Biomass-burning Aerosols in South-East Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment (BASE-ASIA). Two typical episode periods (27–28 March and 13–14 April) were examined. Two emission inventories, FLAMBE and GFED, were used in the simulations. The influences during two episodes in the source region (Southeast Asia) contributed to the surface CO, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations as high as 400 ppbv, 20 ppbv and 80 μg m−3, respectively. The perturbations with and without biomass burning of the above three species during the intense episodes were in the range of 10 to 60%, 10 to 20% and 30 to 70%, respectively. The impact due to long-range transport could spread over the southeastern parts of East Asia and could reach about 160 to 360 ppbv, 8 to 18 ppbv and 8 to 64 μg m−3 on CO, O3 and PM2.5, respectively; the percentage impact could reach 20 to 50% on CO, 10 to 30% on O3, and as high as 70% on PM2.5. In March, the impact of biomass burning mainly concentrated in Southeast Asia and southern China, while in April the impact becomes slightly broader and even could go up to the Yangtze River Delta region. Two cross-sections at 15° N and 20° N were used to compare the vertical flux of biomass burning. In the source region (Southeast Asia), CO, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations had a strong upward transport from surface to high altitudes. The eastward transport becomes strong from 2 to 8 km in the free troposphere. The subsidence process during the long-range transport contributed 60 to 70%, 20 to 50%, and 80% on CO, O3 and PM2.5, respectively to surface in the downwind area. The study reveals the significant impact of Southeastern Asia biomass burning on the air quality in both local and downwind areas, particularly during biomass burning episodes. This modeling study might provide constraints of lower limit. An additional study is underway for an active biomass burning year to obtain an upper limit and climate effects.


In this paper, a novel and non-invasive stator inter-turn short circuit (ITSC) online detection method is presented for an induction machine (IM), driven by a two-level voltage source inverter (2L-VSI) via finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC). The main idea of the proposed method is to utilize the controller itself as an observer: under the presence of a fault, the distribution of inverter switching states significantly deviates from the original balanced case. Therefore, by inspecting the inverter switching vectors, which are the outcomes of the FCS-MPC routine's online optimization procedure, a stator fault can be detected efficiently. It is observed that both the zero-vector allocation over the complex plane and the allocation among the active vectors are influenced by the presence of a stator short-circuit fault. The proposed fault detection strategy introduces little to no extra burden for processor and memory. Experimental results verify the proposed method, and inter-turn short circuits of two and three turns are confidently detected and located for a 500 W, two-pole IM.


This study explored the ways in which women experienced non-facilitative communication with medical staff during a complicated pregnancy. Complicated pregnancy has been associated with a higher risk of mental health difficulties. The research was carried out in Ireland and focused on women's relationships with medical hospital staff during this time as they are ideally placed to offer relational support, and potentially prevent longer term problems.

In-depth interviews were conducted with six women. The qualitative methodology of interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to understand their experiences. Four superordinate themes emerged. These were 'Information difficulties' 'Disempowerment', 'Empathic failure' and 'Relational impacts'. Crucial information was withheld, private details were discussed in public spaces and key aspects of women's experiences were omitted from their hospital notes. Participants spoke of feeling disempowered and manipulated by staff. All participants referred repeatedly to feeling that the majority of staff failed to demonstrate empathy. Women felt isolated and unseen, with staff focused on tasks rather than holistic treatment and their infant's needs but not those of the women. Finally, women described how their relationships with themselves, partners, and crucially, their infants had been impacted.

Participants' accounts may represent a gap in the care of women who experience the trauma of serious pregnancy complications. Findings suggest a role for counselling psychologists in providing training and consultation for medical staff in order that they might develop the capacity to offer improved support to women and infants during this time when they are more susceptible to mental health difficulties.


No-tillage is looked upon by many as a way to enable sustainable cropping intensification to meet future agricultural demands. Although no-tillage suggests merely the absence of tillage, in reality several components need to be applied to a conservation agriculture system to guarantee equal or higher yields and better environmental performance than with conventional tillage systems. No-tillage/conservation agriculture systems research has now been performed for more than half a century in many countries around the world, primarily for economic reasons, but also to reduce labour and energy consumption and improve environmental outcomes. However, an integrated approach to understanding this system requires standardized research methodology based on site-specific conditions. We contend that broad understanding is lacking of what conservation agriculture systems research means. This has led to a situation of conflicting research results because different technologies, methodologies, and definitions of conservation agriculture systems have been applied. The term no-tillage has been used despite considerable soil movement in the previous crop, to inject fertilizer or to establish the current crop. Similarly, the term no-tillage has been used for systems with very little or no crop mulch cover, extended fallow periods, alternating tillage and no-tillage, or crops grown in monoculture. By not performing notillage research in a systems approach, many problems can be encountered such as reduced yields, high erosion, low infiltration, elevated fertilizer and high pesticide use. Materials and methods in an experiment are often not descriptive enough to unveil peculiarities. By analysing the function of components of conservation agriculture systems in monofactorial experiments, synergetic interactions among components can be overlooked. In this editorial, we discuss the need to thoroughly describe materials and methods to avoid confusing interpretations of results. We contend that standardization of research methodologies in no-tillage/conservation agriculture systems is needed based on a thorough description of the whole system so that results from different researchers and regions of the world can be


I present evidence on recent bankruptcy resolution and bankruptcy reform in Japan. Prior to bankruptcy, bank lenders are less likely to intervene than they did before. Most bankrupt firms experience abnormal president turnover around bankruptcy filings, regardless types of filings. Priority of claims is less violated in bankruptcy resolution in Japan than in the United States. A Civil Rehabilitation firm spends in bankruptcy substantially shorter than a Corporate Reorganization firm. Also, a Corporate Reorganization firms emerges quicker after the 2000 bankruptcy reform. The main difference between Rehabilitation duration and Reorganization duration is that leverage prolongs Civil Rehabilitation duration only.


This thesis explores the experiences of a group of social work students undertaking assessed academic writing as part of their professional training through distance learning in the UK in 2001. Drawing upon the concept of 'academic literacies' and informed by a psychosocial approach, this thesis explores the nature of students' writing within the context of the experiences of students and tutors.

Writing in social work requires students to include reflections on personal experience and values. Due to this personal aspect of writing in social work, I have taken a particular interest in the relationship between identity and writing. In doing so I draw upon current research based upon sociological perspectives on writer identity but also critically examine the potential contribution of concepts from what I will generally be referring to as a 'psychosocial' approach, which incorporates elements of psychology and psychoanalysis alongside a sociological world view. In particular I explore the ways in which a psychosocial approach to writer identity can inform our understanding of writing practices surrounding the creation of student texts in higher education.

My central argument is that academic writing in social work poses a particular challenge to student writers and their tutors due to its lack of transparency and the degree of self-disclosure required of authors. This thesis shows that, in common with higher education more generally writing conventions in social work are frequently implicit and contradictory. Additionally, the integration of personal experiences and values with theoretical discussion poses significant difficulties for students and tutors. Such 'self-disclosure' has implications which become evident when applying a psychosocial perspective to writer identity. I draw together these implications in relation to three features of writing practices, namely emotion, circularity, and human interaction. Emotion in this context refers to the emotion both experienced by students whilst writing texts and responding to feedback on them. This involves a circular process based upon not only the studentsi?½ actions but also their interaction with others, primarily the tutor. I conclude by offering some pedagogical implications and suggesting some future research arising from this thesis.


25% of the population have bad breath. This can be either Foetor ex ore (90%) or Halitosis (10%). Foetor is only perceptible in mouth breath and its causes lie in the oral cavity. Halitosis is detectable in oral and/or nasal breath and stems from either the nose/pharynx (local Halitosis; nasal breath only), the lung or, rarely, the stomach (systemic Halitosis; mouth- and nose breath). A respective differential diagnosis is prerequisite for causal therapy. Foetor ex ore is caused by volatile sulphur compounds produced by proteolytic microorganisms in the oral cavity, especially on the dorsum of the tongue. Prophylaxis and therapy consequently build on mechanical and chemical reduction of these bacteria. Bad breath may become a serious social handicap and shall not be turned into a taboo.


Mitochondria play an important role in apoptosis by releasing apoptosis-inducing factors such as cytochrome c, an activator of the caspase enzymes. Cytochrome c is released through the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP), which itself is controlled in part by calcium in the mitochondria. It is also known that calcium released from other intracellular stores in an IP3-dependent manner is taken up by mitochondria. In healthy cells, mitochondrial uptake of calcium stimulates ATP production. Szalai et al. show that in cells stimulated to undergo programmed cell death by exposure to the apoptosis-inducing agents ceramide or staurosporin, an "apoptotic switch" occurs in the mitochondria such that IP3-linked calcium signals cause PTPs to open, releasing cytochrome c and inducing nuclear apoptosis. When the calcium concentration in mitochondria decreased, PTPs closed and mitochondrial metabolism was restored. This event occurred with rapid and transient mobilization of submicromolar concentrations of calcium, indicating that small calcium spikes are effective to induce this response. Hence, IP3-linked calcium signals appear to regulate cell survival and apoptosis. Szalai, G., Krishnamurthy, R., and Hajnóczky, G. (1999) Apoptosis driven by IP3-linked mitochondrial calcium signals. EMBO J. 18: 6349-6361. [Abstract] [Full Text]


Postsynaptic responses are a product of quantal amplitude (Q), size of the releasable vesicle pool (N), and release probability (P). Voltage‐dependent changes in presynaptic Ca2+ entry alter postsynaptic responses primarily by changing P but have also been shown to influence N. With simultaneous whole cell recordings from cone photoreceptors and horizontal cells in tiger salamander retinal slices, we measured N and P at cone ribbon synapses by using a train of depolarizing pulses to stimulate release and deplete the pool. We developed an analytical model that calculates the total pool size contributing to release under different stimulus conditions by taking into account the prior history of release and empirically determined properties of replenishment. The model provided a formula that calculates vesicle pool size from measurements of the initial postsynaptic response and limiting rate of release evoked by a train of pulses, the fraction of release sites available for replenishment, and the time constant for replenishment. Results of the model showed that weak and strong depolarizing stimuli evoked release with differing probabilities but the same size vesicle pool. Enhancing intraterminal Ca2+ spread by lowering Ca2+ buffering or applying BayK8644 did not increase PSCs evoked with strong test steps, showing there is a fixed upper limit to pool size. Together, these results suggest that light‐evoked changes in cone membrane potential alter synaptic release solely by changing release probability. Synapse 70:1–14, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The U.K. has not yet experienced a confirmed outbreak of mosquito‐borne virus transmission to people or livestock despite numerous autochthonous epizootic and human outbreaks of mosquito‐borne diseases on the European mainland. Indeed, whether or not British mosquitoes are competent to transmit arboviruses has not been established. Therefore, the competence of a local (temperate) British mosquito species, Ochlerotatus detritus (=Aedes detritus) (Diptera: Culicidae) for transmission of a member of the genus Flavivirus, Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) as a model for mosquito‐borne virus transmission was assessed. The JEV competence in a laboratory strain of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae), a previously incriminated JEV vector, was also evaluated as a positive control. Ochlerotatus detritus adults were reared from field‐collected juvenile stages. In oral infection bioassays, adult females developed disseminated infections and were able to transmit virus as determined by the isolation of virus in saliva secretions. When pooled at 7–21 days post‐infection, 13% and 25% of O. detritus were able to transmit JEV when held at 23 °C and 28 °C, respectively. Similar results were obtained for C. quinquefasciatus. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that a British mosquito species, O. detritus, is a potential vector of an exotic flavivirus.


The new Swedish guidelines for the estimation of design floods for dams and spillways are presented, with emphasis on high-hazard dams. The method is based on a set of regional design precipitation sequences, rescaled for basin area, season and elevation above sea level, and a full hydrological model. A reservoir operation strategy is also a fundamental component of the guidelines. The most critical combination of flood generating factors is searched by systematically inserting the design precipitation sequence into a ten year climatological record, where the initial snowpack has been replaced by a statistical 30-year snowpack. The new guidelines are applicable to single reservoir systems as well as more complex hydroelectric schemes, and cover snowmelt floods, rain floods and combinations of the two. In order to study the probabilities of the computed floods and to avoid regional inconsistencies, extensive comparisons with observed floods and frequency analyses have been carried out.


The goals of the Lithuanian Health Programme (1998-2010) tuberculosis (TB) section were achieved, majority of planned measures successfully implemented, however, Lithuania ranks last or among the last on the European Union (EU) countries' list by the spread of majority of TB epidemic indicators. It is a signal for the reconsideration of TB programme's strategic goals, aims and measures in order to decrease the lag behind the EU countries. The matter in question is the continuity of the former Lithuanian Health Programme (LHP) and which new goals and aims should be included in a new LHP. Along with the main epidemic indicators (TB incidence, morbidity and mortality), which should be compared with corresponding EU countries mean in order to achieve it at the end of the LHP (2020), it is proposed to leave the non-achieved goal from the previous LHP – to cure more than 85 % of newly detected smear positive TB cases and increase this indicator to 90% by 2015. Non-achievement of this indicator incurs substantial financial costs to the country, because of poor cure of new cases increases amount the repeatedly treated TB cases and multi-drug resistant cases among them, which are considerably more complicated to cure, expensive and take longer time. That is why the decrease of a number of multi-drug resistant TB cases by one third by the end of the LHP (2020) as the effectiveness indicator is proposed as the third goal of the TB programme. The author proposes the aims and necessary measures to implement in order to achieve the main goals of the new LHP. One of the objectives is to implement the provision of the STOP TB strategy to provide patients with all necessary TB drugs fully free of charge. The importance of non-interrupted supply of second-line TB drugs, incentives for primary health care providers for sputum investigation, detection of smear positive TB case and cure of such cases are discussed as well. Other issues discussed in the article are: recommendations to screen TB patients for HIV and vice versa - to investigate HIV positive people for TB, notification of countries reference TB laboratory; strengthening the management of the National TB programme by clearly defining obligations of all participants and ensuring full financing of National TB programme.


Objectives:
To observe the GABA (A) receptor subunits and the c-AMP response element binding protein (CREB) changes and their relationship in low Mg2+ model of epilepsy.
Methods:
A total of 36 embryonic rats prepared from adult female SD rats at the age of 90-100 days were used as experimental subjects. Primary rat hippocampal cultures were prepared from the embryonic rats. The cultured hippocampal neurons were then treated with artificial cerebrospinal fluid containing low Mg2+ solutions to generate a low Mg2+ model of epilepsy. The low Mg2+ stimulation lasted for 9 hours, and three time points (3, 6, 9h after the neurons were exposed to the low Mg2+ solutions) were selected to observe the GABA(A) receptor and the CREB changes. The quantification of the GABA(A) receptor subunit α1, γ2, δ and the CREB were determined by a qRT-PCR and a Western blot method.
Results:
During the low Mg2+ stimulation, the GABA (A) receptors increased remarkably compared to the control after the neurons were exposed to the low Mg2+ solutions for three hours, and then it decreased gradually. A time-dependent decrease was observed during the period of observation. A significant difference was observed among the time points. The CREB decreased significantly compared to the control at 3h time point, and then it increased gradually in a time-dependent manner, and reached to a peak at 9h time point. A significant increase at 6h and 9h time point was observed as compared to the control. All the GABA (A) receptor subunit α1, γ2, δ increased at 9h time point compared to the normal control. The CREB displayed a similar result.
Conclusions:
The increase of GABA(A) receptors might be associated with the CREB expressions in cultured hippocampal neurons under low Mg2+ conditions.


We examine in this paper the transition from school to work and the transition to marriage among young men with at least a secondary education in Egypt, with particular attention to how the first transition affects the second. In examining the transition from school to work, we analyze the determinants of the duration of transition to first employment after school completion, as well as the type and quality of job obtained in such employment. We then move to an examination of the determinants of further mobility to a second job. In examining the transition to marriage, we investigate the effect of time to the first job and the time to the first good job, if any, on the timing of marriage, controlling for cohort of birth, education, family background and community-level variables. We find that the duration of transition to first employment has fallen over time, primarily because of the reduced availability of formal employment, especially public employment, making it less worthwhile for young men to remain jobless searching for such employment. Having access to work in a family enterprise reduces significantly the duration of transition from school to work as does the need to be the main breadwinner of the family. While education beyond the secondary level has no significant effect on the duration of the transition, it does significantly affect the probability of getting a good job and a formal job, as a first job. The hazard of transition to a second job is negatively associated with the time it takes to get a first job, but that is primarily because it is negatively associated with the quality of the first job and the fact that it takes longer to get good first jobs. Our findings relating to the transition to marriage confirm both the importance of early entry into the job market and of obtaining good jobs for early transition into marriage. However, if delayed entry (due to search) raises the hazard of getting a good job, it may actually be a worthwhile strategy, from the point of view of curbing the delay in marriage, for an individual to spend more time in job search.


This essay explores the American Sound Serial film as part of a continuum to which digital gaming may also belong. By drawing on concepts derived from the study of video games, this study broadens our understanding of youth-oriented films produced in Hollywood from the 1930s to the mid 1950s. In turn, this  provides a new vantage on continuities between old and new serial forms, and sheds light on digital gaming's pre-history.


In this paper, we describe the first-ever machine human collaboration at creating a real movie trailer (officially released by 20th Century Fox). We introduce an intelligent system designed to understand and encode patterns and types of emotions in horror movies that are useful in trailers. We perform multi-modal semantics extraction including audio visual sentiments and scene analysis and employ a statistical approach to model the key defining components that characterize horror movie trailers. The system was applied on a full-length feature film, "Morgan'' released in 2016 where the system identified 10 moments as best candidates for a trailer. We partnered with a professional filmmaker who arranged and edited each of the moments together to construct a comprehensive trailer completing the entire processing as well as the final trailer assembly within 24 hours. We discuss disruptive opportunities for the film industry and the tremendous media impact of the AI trailer. We confirm the effectiveness of our trailer with a very supportive user study. Finally based on our close interaction with the film industry, we also introduce and investigate the novel paradigm of tropes within the context of movies for advancing content creation.


This thesis is concerned with Local Discriminant Basis (LDB) algorithm, its properties, optimization and applications in feature extraction and classification. LDB algorithm targets features extraction from redundant dictionaries such as wavelet packets or local trigonometric bases at low computational complexity.

As the main contribution of this thesis, an optimization process is introduced to further improve the accuracy of the overall scheme in applications when a region of interest can be specified by the experts in the field of application (based on LDB selected features) to further characterize signal classes in smaller regions. Audio signal and textured image classifications are practical applications that are studied in this thesis to test the efficiency of optimally weighted local discriminant basis algorithm (OLDB) as a feature extraction scheme. Various properties of the algorithm such as noise behavior and stability analysis are studied from an engineering perspective. The implementation aspects of the algorithm in one dimension are reviewed as well as in two dimensions that serve as implementation guidelines.


Knowledge about the kinetics of chemical reactions in cells is important for an understanding
of signaling pathways and regulation. Even though there are many kinetic measurements
of in vitro reactions in literature, methods for in vivo measurements are sparse. With help
of Temperature Oscillation Optical Lock-in (TOOL) microscopy we measure the kinetics of
DNA hybridization inside cells and detect signicant acceleration or deceleration compared to
in vitro measurements, dependent on the DNA sample. The dierences can not be explained
by molecular crowding eects. Only models that take the background interactions with genomic
DNA and RNA as well as the activity of single stranded and double stranded binding
proteins into account, can be tted to data. The results imply that the biological relevance
of kinetic rates measured in vitro has to be rejudged carefully.
The RNA world hypothesis predicts catalytic molecules based on RNA, as for example
early replicators, as precursor of modern biology. But how can a pool of appropriate RNA
molecules arise under early earth conditions? In a Gillespie-model, we observe the length distribution,
secondary structure and sequences of a pool of RNA molecules in porous rocks like
they appear near sites of volcanic activity. We assume a monomer in
ux, a length dependent
out
ux, a random, non-templated polymerisation and a degradation that is much stronger
for single stranded than for double stranded RNA. After equilibrium is reached, the pool
is populated with many hairpin-like structures due to the selection pressure for hybridized
strands that can be bricks for RNA machines.
Once sequence motifs and their complements appear in the reactor, they protect each other
and are present longer than statistically expected. This "protection by hybridization" has
the same ngerprint as a weak replication. As a consequence, the pool does not cover the
full sequence space but includes more similar sequences, which is an important condition for
chemical reactions.
Replication of genetic information by RNA molecules is considered to be a key process in the
beginning of evolution. It is so crucial that traces of this early replication are expected to be
present in key processes of modern biology. We present a replication scheme based on hairpins
derived from the sequence of tRNA that replicates the genetic information about a succession
of sequence snippets. The replication is driven by temperature oscillations as they occur
naturally inside of porous rocks in presence of temperature gradients, and independent on
external chemical energy sources. It is selective for correct information and shows exponential
growth rates with doubling times in the range of seconds to minutes and is thereby the fastest
early replicator in the literature.
The replication scheme can naturally be expanded to longer successions by using double
hairpins derived from full tRNA sequences by only few mutations. By charging double hairpins
with amino acids or peptides, the proposed replication bridges the gap from the RNA world
to modern biology by oering a rudimentary translation mechanism, that sorts amino acids
to chains according to genetic information.


Abstract. It is well known that Korean marks clauses through the particles that occur at the end of sentences and also that there are many clause types. One can find as many as eleven clause types proposed in the literature. In this paper I examine all proposed sentence types and sentence end particles through Sadock and Zwicky's (1985) criteria on clause types and decomposition of the particles. The study lends the conclusion that there are at most 5 clause types; declarative, interrogative, imperative, exhortative, and promissive (the last three can even be grouped into one clause type, jussives). It also reveals that not all sentence end particles mark clause type and that they can be categorized into three categories: special mood particles, speech style particles, and clause typing particles. The paper concludes with the issue of the role of clause typing particles. While they are labeled clause typing particles in the sense that they are unique to the clause types they appear in, I argue that they are not markers of sentential force.


The purpose of this paper is to discuss in depth systems we use as a standard to sample natural gas liquids, or NGL's. Before we discuss the systems and methods used to sample these products, we must first clearly define what NGL's are. NGL's can be a combination of any fluid in liquid form that is taken from the pipeline under pressure. Typically, "NGL" refers mainly to ethane, propane, butanes, natural "gasolines" (pentanes) and condensates. Because of the broad range of products that can be claimed as NGL's, there are many different approaches to the methods by which we sample them. The common thread among all NGL's is that these products, in order to be maintained and properly sampled, require the use of specific sampling techniques unique to light liquid and NGL sampling.


The sisal industry in Tanzania generates large amounts of waste which is an un-tapped bioresource. Research was undertaken to establish appropriate technologies  for its valorisation to mushrooms, biogas and biogas manure (BGM).Physical and biological pre-treatments achieved methane yield increments of 23-30% whereas co-digestion with fish waste achieved methane yield increments of 59-94%. Sisal fibre waste was demonstrated to be a novel biofilm-carrier for treating sisal pulp leachate. With a loading rate of 9.0 kgVS/m 3 /day, the packed-bed bioreactor was operated without process stress. Sisal decortication waste (SLDW) and sisal boles (SBW) were found to be suitable for oyster mushroom cultivation. With water-pretreated SBW and saline-SLDW, biological efficiencies of  26-86% were obtained. SBW was utilized for commercial-scale mushroom cultivation and yielded 250kg/ton of wet substrate. Residues of mushroom cultivation (SMS) were anaerobically co-digested with cow dung manure and yielded 230-300L CH 4 /kg VS added which indicated  the potential of SMS for AD.Co-digestion of SLDW with cow dung manure in a 10m 3 continuous stirred tank reactor gave about 400 litres CH 4 / m 3 /day, and 260 L/day of BGM  which was superior to NPK fertilizer. In conclusion, sisal waste has potential for valorisation, and integrating mushroom and biogas production for better economics  is feasible. Key words: sisal waste, anaerobic digestion, mushrooms, valorisation


We present the discovery of debris systems around three Sun-like stars based on observations performed with the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of a Legacy Science Program, "The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems" (FEPS). We also confirm the presence of debris around two other stars. All the stars exhibit infrared emission in excess of the expected photospheres in the 70 μm band but are consistent with photospheric emission at ≤33 μm. This restricts the maximum temperature of debris in equilibrium with the stellar radiation to T < 70 K. We find that these sources are relatively old in the FEPS sample, in the age range 0.7-3 Gyr. On the basis of models of the spectral energy distributions, we suggest that these debris systems represent materials generated by collisions of planetesimal belts. We speculate on the nature of these systems through comparisons to our own Kuiper Belt, and on the possible presence of planet(s) responsible for stirring the system and ultimately releasing dust through collisions. We further report observations of a nearby star HD 13974 (d = 11 pc) that are indistinguishable from a bare photosphere at both 24 and 70 μm. The observations place strong upper limits on the presence of any cold dust in this nearby system (LIR/L⋆ < 10-5.2).


Improved genetic algorithms incorporate other techniques, methods or algorithms to optimize the performance of genetic algorithm. In this paper, improved genetic algorithms of optimum path planning for mobile robot navigation are proposed. An Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm (OAA) and a Distinguish Algorithm (DA) are introduced to generate the initial population in order to improve the path planning efficiency to select only the feasible paths during the evolution of genetic algorithm. Domain heuristic knowledge based crossover, mutation, refinement and deletion operators are specifically designed to fit path planning for mobile robots. Proposed genetic algorithms feature unique, simple path representations, and simple but effective evaluation methods. Simulation studies and real time implementations are carried out to verify and validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.


Gap junctional intercellular communication has been demonstrated in bone cells and may contribute to the mechanism by which osteoblasts integrate and amplify extracellular signals, both chemical (hormonal) and biophysical (electrical and mechanical). Connexin 43 (Cx43) is the predominant gap junction protein expressed by bone cells. Experiments with osteoblastic cells in which Cx43 expression was diminished by antisense transfection demonstrate that cell-to-cell coupling in osteoblastic ROS 17/2.8 cells is via gap junctions composed of Cx43. Cellular networks of these coupling deficient clones are dramatically less responsive to parathyroid hormone (PTH) suggesting that coupling contributes to hormonal responsiveness. Furthermore, PTH per se can upregulate cell-to-cell communication in these networks. Membrane deformation-induced Ca+ signals propagate from the deformed cell to neighboring undeformed cells. This phenomenon is blocked by octanol, a gap junction uncoupler. Physiologically relevant electric fields, i.e., induced by mechanical load, stimulate alkaline phosphatase activity in ROS 17/2.8 cells, but this response is greatly reduced in coupling deficient Cx43 antisense transfectants. Furthermore, electric fields per se regulate Cx43 expression in osteoblastic cells. Gap junctional intercellular communication appears critical for the regulation of osteoblastic behavior and thus bone metabolism by extracellular signals.


BACKGROUND
The package insert for nevirapine (NVP) cautions use in HIV-infected women (including pregnant women) with CD4 counts ≥250 cells/µl. However, recent studies showed that the CD4 count of pregnant women receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) was not predictive of NVP toxicity.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether ART-naive pregnant women initiating NVP-based ART at higher CD4 counts experience greater toxicity compared with pregnant women at lower CD4 counts.

METHODS
We reviewed studies comparing serious adverse NVP-related events among ART-naive pregnant women who commenced therapy at higher v. lower CD4 counts. Relevant studies were extracted from PubMed, SCOPUS and EMBASE, major journals and conference proceedings prior to December 2011. Authors were contacted for additional data. Data were independently extracted and entered into Review Manager.

RESULTS
Fourteen studies (2 663 participants) were included for analysis. The odds ratio (OR) for overall NVP toxicity among pregnant women with CD4 <250 cells/µl was 0.61 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43 - 0.85). When analysis was restricted to prospective studies only (7 studies, 1 318 participants), the results were consistent for overall NVP toxicity (OR 0.43; 95% CI 0.25 - 0.73) and severe hepatotoxicity (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.22 - 0.90), but not for severe cutaneous reaction (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.26 - 1.10).

CONCLUSION
Initiating NVP-based ART during pregnancy at CD4 ≥250 cells/µl increases toxicity risk and should be avoided, necessitating urgent revision of current guidelines supporting this practice.


The starting point for this study is the fact that globalisation and the transition to a knowledge-based economy are driving a transformation of the nature and structure of the world economy. The rise in the knowledge intensity of economic activities and the increasing
globalisation of economic affairs are driving pervasive change affecting every industry, firm, individual and region. This transformation is not a matter of one or two technologies or industries. Nor is it just another way of emphasising the ICT revolution or any particular new technology, such as biotechnology. These are all important, but they are not the whole story. Knowledge generated on a global basis is being applied to all industries, and many existing industries are very advanced. For example, the Australian mining industry is a global leader in innovation
and development. The response of existing industries will be as important as the creation of new industries, and will give rise to many new business opportunities. In seeking to understand emerging trends, much of the contemporary literature emphasises the systemic nature of relationships and activities in the economy. The systemic approach
recognises a whole range of non-market linkages that are central to the economic system (such as organisational and institutional persistence, cooperation, alliances, information exchange and mutual dependency), as well as the role of organisations other than firms. This systemic character is of three main forms. One is the persisting influence of past events on present and future outcomes (path dependence). The second is the complex linkages
between many different institutions and organisations at a given point of time, such as those that determine the level of innovation (the innovation system). The third is the linkages between the various aspects of a complex system involved in the creation, production and
distribution of a product, or a set of products (the product system). Recognition of this systemic character has many important implications for policy. They include the need to focus on a region's innovation system and on the positioning of its firms within global product systems. This systemic character also implies that, however urgent and transformative it is, change must be evolutionary, with a progressive strengthening of the organisations, institutions and systems supporting regional growth.
The major elements in the global knowledge economy all impact on the choices made by firms about where to locate their activities. These impacts may weaken the position of many economies. Indeed, the new technologies have made possible the consolidation of particular
aspects of the product system in preferred locations on a global basis. This has led to the 'hollowing out' of peripheral regions in many important respects.
Thus a central challenge facing many economies is to use the increased access to global markets and information sources that the new economy makes possible to offset the impact of global consolidation on the structure of their economies.


OBJECTIVE
To address the putative association between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking, drugs of abuse, and alcohol attending to potential confounding by familial ADHD, maternal depression, conduct disorder, and indicators of social adversity in the environment.

METHOD
A retrospective, hospital-based, case-control study was conducted with 280 ADHD cases and 242 non-ADHD controls of both genders. The case and control children and their relatives were systematically assessed with structured diagnostic interviews. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the adjusted effect of prenatal exposure to substance use and ADHD.

RESULTS
ADHD cases were 2.1 times (95% confidence interval = 1.1-4.1;p = .02) more likely to have been exposed to cigarettes and 2.5 times (95% confidence interval = 1.1-5.5; p = .03) more likely to have been exposed to alcohol in utero than were the non-ADHD control subjects. Adjustment by familial psychopathology, Rutter's indicators of social adversity, and comorbid conduct disorder did not account for the effect of prenatal exposure to alcohol or the products of cigarettes.

CONCLUSIONS
ADHD may be an additional deleterious outcome associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol independently of the association between prenatal exposure to nicotine and smoke products and other familial risk factors for the disorder.


Schafer & Roeper (2000) have traced the acquisition order of the various occurrences of there in English monolingual children. One of their claims is that expletive there triggers the emergence of there as a discourse anaphor. Taking their approach as a starting point, we report here on a similar search that we have carried out on files from Dutch corpora in CHILDES, focussing on the two Dutch counterparts daar and er. Dutch children face a particular acquisition puzzle in having to deal with both of these equivalents for 'there'. Our results show that discourse anaphoric daar and er emerge prior to expletive er. This clearly contradicts Schafer & Roeper's claim for the need of an expletive trigger. We argue instead that the discrepancy between the English and Dutch findings is caused by the much larger variety of discourse anaphoric constructions with daar and er in Dutch.


Several D -amino acids have been identified in higher animals including humans, and are now increasingly recognized as biologically active substances and/or biomarkers. Therefore, the presence of related compounds, such as dipeptides, containing D -amino acids in biological matrices is one of the recent topics of increasing interest. In the present study, on-line multi-dimensional HPLC systems combining a narrowbore reversed-phase column (KSAARP, 1.5 mm i.d. x 500 mm), a weak anion-exchange column (KSAAAX, 1.5 mm i.d. x 250 mm) and a Pirkle-type enantioselective column (KSAACSP-001S or R, 1.5 mm i.d. x 250 mm) have been designed for the chiral analysis of Ser-containing dipeptides in fermented products. As target analytes, Ser-Gly and Gly-Ser were selected. For the sensitive analysis, the dipeptides were pre-column derivatized with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) to form the NBD-dipeptides, which were detected upon their fluorescence. During the selective multi-dimensional analysis, the target dipeptides were separated from other substances by the reversed-phase and anion-exchange columns as their D/L scalemic mixtures and automatically introduced to the enantioselective column, where the D , L -forms were separated with selectivity / separation factor (α) and resolution (Rs) values higher than 1.07 and 0.71, respectively. The present 3D-HPLC system was well applicable to the analysis of Japanese traditional amber rice vinegar where relatively large amounts of the L -dipeptides and trace amount of D -Ser-Gly were observed.


Fundamental economic and societal transformations are necessary to avoid dangerous climate change. One broad policy approach that addresses the close relationship between conservation and climate change mitigation is based on correcting a market failure, that is, to establish a price signal for carbon, or more generally, greenhouse gas emissions. While many synergies between climate policy instruments and biodiversity conservation do exist, current policies often fall short of harvesting this potential. Here, we present six key challenges: (1) establishing a strong price signal for greenhouse gas emissions from all emission sources (including land‐use and the terrestrial biosphere) that takes into account long‐term societal and ecological costs; (2) expand carbon market instruments to cover the full range of greenhouse gases; (3) develop an ambitious, yet accountable architecture for rising emission prices; (4) develop guidelines and ensure enforcement to avoid greenhouse gas leakage; (5) improve greenhouse gas emission measurements from land‐use and the biosphere; and (6) integrate emission reduction as a priority into relevant policies. Substantial synergies, but also trade‐offs between climate policy and conservation exist, and we identify key risks and challenges. We call for (1) evidence‐based evaluations of policy options; (2) avoiding too narrow framings of contested issues such as forest plantations, biofuels, or land‐use decisions that exclude (or downplay) indirect effects (e.g., indirect land‐use changes or creating carbon debts); and (3) strengthening integrated analyzes beyond sector policy goals. We conclude that avoiding bio‐perverse impacts of climate policies on biodiversity will be crucial for the success of global climate change mitigation. WIREs Clim Change 2018, 9:e486. doi: 10.1002/wcc.486


Software architecture is a software engineering discipline that provides notations and processes for high-level partitioning of systems' responsibilities early in the software design process. This thesis is concerned with a specific subclass of systems, systems with a dynamic software architecture. They have practical applications in various domains such as high-availability systems and ubiquitous computing.In a dynamic software architecture, the set of architectural elements and the configuration of these elements may change at run-time. These modifications are motivated by changed system requirements or by changed execution environments. The implications of change events may be the addition of new functionality or re-configuration to meet new Quality of Service requirements.This thesis investigates new modeling and implementation techniques for dynamic software architectures. The field of Dynamic Architecture is surveyed and a common ground defined. We introduce new concepts and techniques that simplify understanding, modeling, and implementation of systems with a dynamic architecture, with this common ground as our starting point. In addition, we investigate practical use and reuse of quality implementations, where a dynamic software architecture is a fundamental design principle.The main contributions are a taxonomy, a classification, and a set of architectural patterns for dynamic software architecture. The taxonomy and classification support analysis, while the patterns affect design and implementation work directly. The investigation of practical applications of dynamic architectures identifies several issues concerned with use and reuse, and discusses alternatives and solutions where possible.The results are based on surveys, case studies, and exploratory development of dynamic software architectures in different application domains using several approaches. The taxonomy, classification and architecture patterns are evaluated through several experimental prototypes, among others, a high-performance scientific computing platform.


Multivariate process capability indices (MPCIs) are needed for process capability analysis when the quality of a process is determined by several univariate quality characteristics that are correlated. There are several different MPCIs described in the literature, but confidence intervals have been derived for only a handful of these. In practice, the conclusion about process capability must be drawn from a random sample. Hence, confidence intervals or tests for MPCIs are important. With a case study as a start and under the assumption of multivariate normality, we review and compare four different available methods for calculating confidence intervals of MPCIs that generalize the univariate index Cp. Two of the methods are based on the ratio of a tolerance region to a process region, and two are based on the principal component analysis. For two of the methods, we derive approximate confidence intervals, which are easy to calculate and can be used for moderate sample sizes. We discuss issues that need to be solved before the studied methods can be applied more generally in practice. For instance, three of the methods have approximate confidence levels only, but no investigation has been carried out on how good these approximations are. Furthermore, we highlight the problem with the correspondence between the index value and the probability of nonconformance. We also elucidate a major drawback with the existing MPCIs on the basis of the principal component analysis. Our investigation shows the need for more research to obtain an MPCI with confidence interval such that conclusions about the process capability can be drawn at a known confidence level and that a stated value of the MPCI limits the probability of nonconformance in a known way. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In advanced countries, where many of the most deleterious physical health effects of poor housing have been eradicated or substantially reduced, there has been increasing interest in mental health and psychosocial benefits as housing outcomes. Recently available data, based on a large-scale survey of social renters in Glasgow, have offered the opportunity to explore the psychosocial benefits of home in previously unavailable detail, over a range of property types and housing improvement interventions. Findings indicate that home improvements have mediating effects upon the psychosocial benefits, which occupants derive from their homes via their impacts upon perceived home quality. However, landlord relations and the quality of the wider neighbourhood within which improvements take place are shown to be important moderators of this relationship. In particular, landlords' overall service performance, how they keep tenants informed and how they take tenants' views on board, all make a difference to perceptions of home quality and to psychosocial status and control.


Different trailer flooring materials, including wood-based, aluminum, steel, and synthetic plastic floors, were evaluated in accordance with their durability and sustainability to our natural environment. Wood-based trailer flooring is an eco-friendly product. It is the most sustainable trailer flooring material compared with fossil fuel-intensive steel, aluminum, and plastics. It is renewable and recyclable. Oak, hard maple, and apitong are strong and durable hardwood species that are currently extensively used for trailer flooring. For manufacture, wood-based flooring is higher in energy efficiency and lower in carbon emission than steel, aluminum and plastics. Moreover, wood per se is a natural product that sequesters carbon. Accordingly, using more wood-based trailer flooring is effective to reduce global warming.


ABSTRACT Oligosaccharides may be employed to inhibit lung infections. Since these molecules are water soluble they may be administered directly to the lungs as aerosol droplets delivered by nebulizer. Two oligosaccharides, 3'-sialyflactose and lacto-N-neotetraose, were prepared as 1% w/v solutions and delivered using each of two nebulizers, the Acorn II or Aerotech II. The output characteristics of these nebulizers were characterized in terms of total mass output (208–253 ug/mL), mass median aerodynamic diameter (0.6–1.1 urn), fine particle fraction (83–95%) and ACGIH respirable fraction (72–86%). The nebulizer output was also evaluated following administration via a ventilator unit employed to administer aerosols to animals. The ventilator was employed in preliminary experiments to deliver aerosols to rabbits in preparation for subsequent experiments in which oligosaccharide administration to an animal model of infection may be studied.


The basic operational premise of the U.S. antitrust system posits that one can reliably demarcate business conduct into two distinct classes, specifically unilateral and concerted behavior. Professional sports leagues and other complex ventures confound this premise, engaging in arrangements that display both unilateral and concerted qualities. In 2010, the Supreme Court decided the American Needle case, which effectively asked in which category the conduct of professional sports leagues belonged. Rejecting the lower courts' determination that the IP-licensing activities of the NFL constituted unilateral action, the Court held that much intra- and extra-league activity is concerted, and thus subject to full rule-of-reason analysis. American Needle answered a simple question correctly, but failed to address a number of crucial issues about the permissible scope of joint-venture conduct, the nature of a "single entity," and the application of the rule of reason to sports leagues and comparable ventures. We argue that distinguishing a sports league's "core" activities from its other kinds of conduct is neither a workable nor a legitimate means of conducting antitrust analysis. If that distinction is unworkable for sports leagues, it is equally unworkable for other joint ventures. We offer some thoughts on how courts and scholars should interpret American Needle, and we formulate a framework within which to assess the antitrust legality of intra- and extra-league restraints. We conclude that, in analyzing the business conduct of joint ventures, courts should appeal to a hypothetical bargain that would occur ex ante between the prospective members of the relevant venture, at the time of the venture's formation and thus under conditions of economic uncertainty. To the extent that the members would agree to adopt a particular practice to promote the effective functioning of the league, where the league faced efficiency-ensuring competition, that practice should satisfy any antitrust concerns. This approach suggests that the NFL's exclusive licensing of its members' IP ought to pass muster under the rule of reason.


The facts of the case were quite simple. The applicant lived in a flat in a residential quarter of Valencia in Spain. Since 1974 the local authority, Valencia City Council, had allowed licenced premises such as bars, pubs and discotheques to open in the vicinity of her home. This made it quite impossible for people who lived in the area to sleep. Gomez claimed that this state of affairs amounted to a breach of her right to respect for her home contrary to Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights on the grounds that whereas the Council was not the direct source of the noise pollution, the Council had caused the noise pollution by issuing an unlimited number of licences to the offending premises. The applicant claimed that in sharp contrast to the circumstances in Hatton v The United Kingdom,1 her home was neither within nor adjacent to an area of vital importance such as an area which was relevant to strategic transport or communications infrastructure.2


We present an overview of corporate-finance models where firms are subject to exogenous market frictions. These models, albeit quite simple, yield reasonable predictions regarding financing, pay-outs and default, as well as asset-pricing implications. The price to pay for the said simplicity is the need to use non-standard mathematical techniques, namely singular and impulse stochastic control. We explore the cases where a firm with fixed expected profitability has access to costly equity issuance as a refinancing possibility, and that where issuance is infinitely costly. We also present a model of bank leverage.


Objective To explore healthcare providers' perspective on non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and management services provided through the NCD corners in Bangladesh and to examine challenges and opportunities for strengthening NCD services delivery at the primary healthcare level. Design We used a grounded theory approach involving in-depth qualitative interviews with healthcare providers. We also used a health facility observation checklist to assess the NCD corners' service readiness. Furthermore, a stakeholder meeting with participants from the government, non-government organisations (NGOs), private sector, universities and news media was conducted. Setting Twelve subdistrict health facilities, locally known as upazila health complex (UHC), across four administrative divisions. Participants Participants for the in-depth qualitative interviews were health service providers, namely upazila health and family planning officers (n=4), resident medical officers (n=6), medical doctors (n=4) and civil surgeons (n=1). Participants for the stakeholder meeting were health policy makers, health programme managers, researchers, academicians, NGO workers, private health practitioners and news media reporters. Results Participants reported that diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the major NCD-related problems. All participants acknowledged the governments' initiative to establish the NCD corners to support NCD service delivery. Participants thought the NCD corners have contributed substantially to increase NCD awareness, deliver NCD care and provide referral services. However, participants identified challenges including lack of specific guidelines and standard operating procedures; lack of trained human resources; inadequate laboratory facilities, logistics and medications; and poor recording and reporting systems. Conclusion The initiative taken by the Government of Bangladesh to set up the NCD corners at the primary healthcare level is appreciative. However, the NCD corners are still at nascent stage to provide prevention and management services for common NCDs. These findings need to be taken into consideration while expanding the NCD corners in other UHCs throughout the country.


Abstract This article constitutes a first attempt to systematically map the presence of women in the greatly changing Swedish advertising industry since 1930. The overarching aim of the study is to analyse how the gendered divisions of labour and business changed in relation to both business structure and the overall labour market in Sweden. While we conclude that women constituted around 40–50% of the workforce over time, we see an increase in the shares of women in higher positions and in women who were self-employed and managers. This upturn, however, stabilised during the 1990s. We argue that the changes in gendered divisions of labour and business coincided with a fast-changing business structure. First, the old cartel broke down in the mid-1960s. Then, the number of firms increased quickly during the 1970s and 1980s, and the market share for the largest firms declined. This, in turn, meant new business opportunities for women at the same time as their overall labour market participation increased. The article stresses the importance of both acknowledging women's presence in the industry development as well as the structures constituting gender divisions.


With regard to constant technological innovations in the bakery sector in order to increase bread nutritional value without affecting its technological and sensory characteristics, we applied pseudocereals/oilseeds to obtain an optimal formulation. A factorial design 33 was used and the independent factors were chia flour (levels: 0, 10, 20% flour basis), quinoa flour (levels: 0, 20, 40% flour basis), and amaranth flour (levels: 0, 20, 40% flour basis). Their effects and interactions were studied through the response surface methodology to optimise the bread formulation from a holistic viewpoint, which included the nutritional, technological and sensory characteristics. The optimum formulation with the highest quality was the blend made with 10, 4, and 20% of chia, quinoa, and amaranth, respectively. The results showed a significant increase in protein amount, ash, lipids, and crumb firmness compared to wheat bread. The calorie value of the control sample and the optimised formula were significantly similar, bearing in mind the high lipid amounts present in raw materials. Loaf-specific volume slightly decreased in comparison to control bread, as expected in formulations with gluten-free raw materials and a large amount of fibre. The optimised formula presented nutritionally/functionally higher indexes and similar overall acceptability to the control bread (p < 0.05).


Population structure, reproduction, condition, morphology, movements, habitat preference, and dynamics of the burrowing bettong were assessed on Dorre and Bernier Islands between 1988 and 1995. The data come from 982 captures of bettongs in 2661 trap-nights (an average of 37 captures per 100 trap-nights). Recaptures within a trip made up 39% of bettong captures. Bettongs were more abundant, as indexed by trap success, than were western barred bandicoots (the other species caught in considerable numbers on trapping grids). Sex ratio of bettongs (excluding recaptures) were skewed heavily towards males at 1.43: 1 despite approximate parity in pouch young. Production of young was concentrated in the wetter winter months and appeared to fall well below their theoretical capacity of 3 young per year. Bettong females were capable of producing young at 880–900 g (approximately 7–8 months of age) but incidence of females with pouch young or showing signs of recent lactation increased from 40% for females of 881–1000 g to 62% for females > 1000 g. The incidence of sub-adult bettongs in the population peaked in spring, but varied between years (range 0–14% of the population). There was an excess of males over females in the sub-adult population. Bettongs showed little sexual dimorphism but there were significant differences in morphology between the two island populations. Bettongs appeared to suffer substantial reductions in numbers in a prolonged drought extending from October 1986 to April 1989, reducing trap success for this species to 19% in the 1989 survey. Numbers grew strongly on both islands after the breaking of the drought in May 1989, showing an observed rate of increase of r = 0.75 on Dorre Island. Trap success had increased to 45% in September 1991. There was a high turnover of bettongs on trapping grids – 25–40% over 6 months to 80% over 3 years. Movements of bettongs appeared limited: the median distance moved by bettongs captured more than once within an 8-day trapping session was 160 m. Only 4% of recorded movements were greater than 1 km. There was no significant difference in movements between the sexes. Bettongs were widely dispersed in winter through the four habitats surveyed but tended to concentrate in dune and Triodia sandplain habitat in autumn and spring.


We consider a random time evolution operator composed of a circuit of random unitaries coupling even and odd neighboring spins on a chain in turn. In spirit of Floquet evolution, the circuit is time-periodic; each timestep is repeated with the same random instances. We obtain analytical results for arbitrary local Hilbert space dimension d: On a single site, average time evolution acts as a depolarising channel. In the spin 1/2 (d=2) case, this is further quantified numerically. For that, we develop a new numerical method that reduces complexity by an exponential factor. Haar-distributed unitaries lead to full depolarization after many timesteps, i.e. local thermalization. A unitary probability distribution with tunable coupling strength allows us to observe a many-body localization transition. In addition to a spin chain under a unitary circuit, we consider the analogous problem with Gaussian circuits. We can make stronger statements about the entire covariance matrix instead of single sites only, and find that the dynamics is localising. For a random time evolution operator homogeneous in space, however, the system delocalizes.


This paper presents and discusses data from a lesson study group for beginning secondary mathematics teachers. Participants in this group work in schools attended by low socio-economic status students from a wide range of ethnic, racial, and linguistic backgrounds. The lesson study group was a professional development and research initiative that engaged beginning teachers in framing, solving, and planning lessons around non-routine mathematics problems (NRMP) while exploring how these experiences impacted participant teachers' classroom practices. Included in the lesson study activities were: framing, solving, and discussing NRMP, analyzing student work, searching for NRMP in selected mathematics assessments, and placing NRMP within mandated pacing calendars and curricula. The paper begins with an overview of the lesson study context. We then discuss our framework for linking NRMP to mathematics curriculum planning and classroom instruction. Next we share data generated during three lesson study sessions. The first session concerned a sequence of non-routine problems involving paper folding; the second session focused on participant teachers reporting on their adaptation and classroom try out of paper folding problems; and the last one involved placing an assorted collection of NRMP within the secondary mathematics curriculum and aligning them with current standards. We conclude by reflecting on the challenges of making non routine mathematics problem solving a routine feature in beginning teachers' classrooms and discuss implications for teacher professional development.


Much of what we learn from empirical research is based on a specific empirical model(s) presented in the literature. However, the range of plausible models given the data is potentially larger, thus creating an additional source of uncertainty termed: model uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of model uncertainty on empirical research in HRM and suggest potential solutions to deal with the same.,Using a sample of call center employees from India, the authors test the robustness of predictors of intention to leave based on the unfolding model proposed by Harman et.al. (2007). Methodologically, the authors use Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) to identify the specific variables within the unfolding model that have a robust relationship with turnover intentions after accounting for model uncertainty.,The findings show that indeed model uncertainty can impact what we learn from empirical studies. More specifically, in the context of the sample, using four plausible model specifications, the authors show that the conclusions can vary depending on which model the authors choose to interpret. Furthermore, using BMA, the authors find that only two variables, job satisfaction and perceived organizational support, are model specification independent robust predictors of intention to leave.,The research has specific implications for the development of HR analytics and informs managers on which are the most robust elements affecting attrition.,While empirical research typically acknowledges and corrects for the presence of sampling uncertainty through p-values, rarely does it acknowledge the presence of model uncertainty (which variables to include in a model). To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first study to show the effect and offer a solution to studying total uncertainty (sampling uncertainty + model uncertainty) on empirical research in HRM. The work should open more doors toward more studies evaluating the robustness of key HRM constructs in explaining important work-related outcomes.


Thin cylindrical shell structures may provide an interesting breakthrough for deployable structures for small satellites. Its bi-stable behaviour allows two different stable configurations: coiled and deployed. Several projects worldwide are using tape springs for satellites and for the SEAM project, at KTH, 1 meter long tape springs will be used for booms. This thesis investigates the energy stored inside the tape spring according to its layup configuration and the different fiber orientations. With a thickness around 0.3 mm and a length of one meter, the booms will deploy sensors with a quite low deployment speed in order to minimize the shick load during the deployment phase. A Matlab code is written to compare the stored strain energy. Another aim is to find an adequate layout all along the tape spring, it means change the fiber orientation to decrease the energy released, but also generating main manufacturing issue.


The use of autonomous vehicles for material handling tasks in industry continues to grow because of higher productivity, improved ergonomics and safety aspects. Despite these advantages, the major drawback of implementing autonomous vehicles is their high cost, which makes it difficult to justify economically the automation of processes. Hence, there is a need to develop an affordable design of autonomous vehicle or Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV). AGVs designs and capabilities vary depending on the complexity of the task, the environment and the level of autonomy. As the AGV market is highly competitive, the designer and the manufacturer need to provide a low-cost solution without compromising the AGV functionality. An Autonomous Guided Cart (AGC) is one of variations of AGVs that provides automation of transporting tasks with a minimum level of control and complexity, and at an affordable cost. In this research, a low-cost AGC was developed specifically for a local automotive manufacturer. The AGC employs a line-following mechanism for navigation making use of a guide sensor in conjunction with a magnetic strip. An industrial PLC controls the motors of the AGC using the principle of the differential drive. A wireless communication module is used for interfacing with the host computer and other devices of the material handling system. SCADA software provides a versatile platform for the overall AGC control. The developed AGC was tested in the real industrial application and demonstrated the required level of performance for the material handling tasks. Due to its low cost, simplicity and flexibility the AGC can be economically viable for small and medium enterprises in a variety of industrial sectors. Key-Words: automation, AGV, material handling


In rural areas of most developing countries, intergenerational coresidence is both widespread and an important determinant of well-being for the elderly. Most parents want at least one adult child to remain at home (e.g., so they can work on the family farm or provide care and assistance around the house). However, children themselves may prefer to migrate when they grow up, and parents cannot directly prevent them from doing so. We present a model where parents may strategically limit investments in some children's education so that they will not find it optimal to migrate when they reach maturity, and will thus voluntarily choose to remain home. We provide evidence for the model's predictions using an intervention that provided recruiting services for the business process outsourcing industry in randomly selected rural Indian villages. Because awareness of these high-paying, high education, urban jobs was limited at baseline, the intervention increased the attractiveness of migration for educated children. Consistent with the model, in response to the treatment we find declines in school enrollment among children that parents reported wanting to remain home at baseline. Children that parents want to migrate have increased enrollment, and parents want more children to migrate.


Abstract. We report measurements of bromine monoxide (BrO) and use an observationally constrained chemical box model to infer total gas-phase inorganic bromine (Bry) over the tropical western Pacific Ocean (tWPO) during the CONTRAST field campaign (January–February 2014). The observed BrO and inferred Bry profiles peak in the marine boundary layer (MBL), suggesting the need for a bromine source from sea-salt aerosol (SSA), in addition to organic bromine (CBry). Both profiles are found to be C-shaped with local maxima in the upper free troposphere (FT). The median tropospheric BrO vertical column density (VCD) was measured as 1.6×1013 molec cm−2, compared to model predictions of 0.9×1013 molec cm−2 in GEOS-Chem (CBry but no SSA source), 0.4×1013 molec cm−2 in CAM-Chem (CBry and SSA), and 2.1×1013 molec cm−2 in GEOS-Chem (CBry and SSA). Neither global model fully captures the C-shape of the Bry profile. A local Bry maximum of 3.6 ppt (2.9–4.4 ppt; 95 % confidence interval, CI) is inferred between 9.5 and 13.5 km in air masses influenced by recent convective outflow. Unlike BrO, which increases from the convective tropical tropopause layer (TTL) to the aged TTL, gas-phase Bry decreases from the convective TTL to the aged TTL. Analysis of gas-phase Bry against multiple tracers (CFC-11, H2O ∕ O3 ratio, and potential temperature) reveals a Bry minimum of 2.7 ppt (2.3–3.1 ppt; 95 % CI) in the aged TTL, which agrees closely with a stratospheric injection of 2.6 ± 0.6 ppt of inorganic Bry (estimated from CFC-11 correlations), and is remarkably insensitive to assumptions about heterogeneous chemistry. Bry increases to 6.3 ppt (5.6–7.0 ppt; 95 % CI) in the stratospheric "middleworld" and 6.9 ppt (6.5–7.3 ppt; 95 % CI) in the stratospheric "overworld". The local Bry minimum in the aged TTL is qualitatively (but not quantitatively) captured by CAM-Chem, and suggests a more complex partitioning of gas-phase and aerosol Bry species than previously recognized. Our data provide corroborating evidence that inorganic bromine sources (e.g., SSA-derived gas-phase Bry) are needed to explain the gas-phase Bry budget in the upper free troposphere and TTL. They are also consistent with observations of significant bromide in Upper Troposphere–Lower Stratosphere aerosols. The total Bry budget in the TTL is currently not closed, because of the lack of concurrent quantitative measurements of gas-phase Bry species (i.e., BrO, HOBr, HBr, etc.) and aerosol bromide. Such simultaneous measurements are needed to (1) quantify SSA-derived Bry in the upper FT, (2) test Bry partitioning, and possibly explain the gas-phase Bry minimum in the aged TTL, (3) constrain heterogeneous reaction rates of bromine, and (4) account for all of the sources of Bry to the lower stratosphere.


We analyze the way women's education influences the effect of children on their level of labor market involvement. We propose an econometric model that accounts for the endogeneity of labor market and fertility decisions, for the heterogeneity of the effects of children and their correlation with the fertility decisions, and for the correlation of sequential labor market decisions. We estimate the model using panel data from NLSY79. Our results show that women with higher education work more before the birth of the first child, but children have larger negative effects on their level of labor market involvement. Differences across education levels are more pronounced with respect to full time employment than with respect to participation. Other things equal, higher wages reduce the effect of children on labor supply. Controlling for wages, women with higher education face larger negative effects of children on labor supply, which suggest they are characterized by a combination of higher marginal product of time spent in the production of child quality and higher marginal product of time relative to the marginal product of other inputs into the production of child quality.


The WorldFish Center and FAO are implementing a regional programme entitled "Fisheries and HIV/AIDS in Africa; investing in sustainable solutions", funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Uganda, the Department of Fisheries Resources will provide the institutional support. Considering its role of overseeing the mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS, the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) will play a key role in the national coordination of the project. The responsibility of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) will be to ensure that stakeholders from around the Lake actively participate in the discussions and that the recommendations arising from the project are of regional significance. The workshop objectives are to: 1) Create a shared understanding of programme objectives and processes 2) Develop an understanding of the technical programme focus and approaches (value chain, gender, pilot project, action research) 3) Agree on national programme outputs and targets, building on contributions by components, partners 4) Develop work plans and budget for the national component


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The Covid-19 pandemic has created large shifts in how people stay connected with each other in lieu of social distancing and isolation measures. More and more, individuals have turned to online communications as a necessary replacement for in-person interaction. Despite this, the research community has little understanding of how online communications have been influenced by the offline impacts of Covid-19. Our work touches upon this topic. Specifically, we study research questions around the impact of Covid-19 on online public and private sharing propensity, its influence on online communication homophily, and correlations between online communication and offline case severity in the United States. To do so, we study the usage patterns of 79 million US-based users on Snapchat, a large, leading mobile multimedia-driven social sharing platform. Our findings suggest that Covid-19 has increased propensity to privately communicate with friends, while decreasing propensity to publicly share content when users are out-and-about. Moreover, online communications have observed a marked decrease in baseline homophily across locations, ages and genders, with relative increases in cross-group communications. Finally, we observe that increased offline positive Covid-19 case severity in US states is associated with widening gaps between across-state and within-state communication increases after the onset of Covid-19, as well as marked declines in public sharing. We hope our findings drive further interest and work on online communication changes during pandemics and other extended times of crisis.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical manifestations of external auditory canal (EAC) cholesteatoma and evaluate the surgical outcomes of reconstruction using an inferior pedicled soft-tissue periosteum flap.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 28 patients were enrolled in this retrospective study conducted at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital in Taiwan between January 2004 and December 2013. EAC cholesteatoma was classified according to the disease extent. The surgery was performed to reconstruct a smooth contour of EAC.

RESULTS
The average age of the 28 patients (9 males and 19 females: 30 surgical ears) was 53.7 years. The most common clinical manifestations were unilateral otalgia (63.3%) and otorrhea (46.7%), and the most frequent locations of EAC cholesteatoma with bony invasion were the posterior-inferior (40%), inferior (30%), posterior (20%), and posterior-inferior-anterior (10%) aspects. Based on Naim's staging systems of EAC cholesteatoma, 26 ears (86.7%) were classified as stage III and 4 ears (13.3%) as stage IV. All patients received surgical management via a postauricular approach, and the average length of postoperative follow-up was 61.5 months (range 8-131 months). One patient had recurrence after surgery for 1 year 3 months.

CONCLUSION
Bony canaloplasty and obliteration with an inferior pedicled soft-tissue periosteum flap is a reliable procedure for EAC cholesteatoma.


As a vulnerable consumer segment, economically deprived consumers have received scholarly attention (e.g. Baker, Gentry and Rittenburg, 2005; Hill and Stamey, 1990; Lee, Ozanne, and Hill 1999). Realizing differences in the consumption behaviors of economically betteroff and impoverished consumers, some researchers explored how poor consumers cope with economic restrictions in a world of abundance. Lewis (1970), for example, argued that poor consumers did not behave according to the dictates of higher-income people, while others claimed that consumption values were the same regardless of consumer's level of income (e.g. Irelan and Besner 1966; Leeds 1971). On the one hand, poor consumers were seen as lacking the adequate level of income to provide themselves with proper consumption (e.g. Holloway and Cardozo 1969); on the other hand, they were perceived to be capable of finding their own ways to optimize their purchases in terms of assortments of products (e.g. Andreasen 1975). Overall, the expectation is that "necessities of survival" have to be met first; thus, most studies focus on understanding what constitutes the "basic needs" of the poor consumers (e.g. Hill 2002a; Richards 1966).


Liquidity backstops have important implications for financial stability. In this paper, we provide a microfoundation for the important role of liquidity backstops in mitigating runs (or, conversely, the role of the lack of liquidity backstops in exacerbating runs) based on a dynamic model of debt runs. We focus on the municipal bond markets for variable rate demand obligations (VRDOs) and auction rate securities (ARS). The different experiences in these markets during the recent financial crisis of 2007–09 provide a natural experiment to identify the value of a liquidity backstop in mitigating runs. Through structural estimation of the model, we show that the value of a liquidity backstop is about 14.5 basis points per annum. The results in this paper shed light on one central difference between shadow banks and traditional banks in terms of their differential access to public liquidity backstops.


This study set out to evaluate the use of a video based parent training programme (The Webster-Stratton Programme) in the management of children referred to child mental health services for treatment of behaviour problems. Following diagnostic assessment children were assigned to one of two groups: parents of both groups completed the parenting programme and, in addition, in the second group the child received an intervention appropriate to his/her clinical presentation. The waiting list control group waited 3 months prior to allocation to either treatment group. Standardised rating scales were administered pre-treatment, post-treatment and at 6-month follow-up to both treatment groups, and at an interval of 3 months to the control group. Improvement was significantly greater in both the treatment groups than in the control group. Parenting training programmes are an effective intervention in the management of clinic-referred children with behaviour disorders.