Abstract

In Upper Katanga region (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Wild Edible Fungi (WEF) are an important source of food and income. This study is the first to present the trace metal content of six edible mushrooms collected from the mining region around Lubumbashi. Samples were taken in places where local people collect fruit bodies for consumption. Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry (ICP-OES,) was used to determine concentrations of ten trace metals (Al, Cr, Cu, Co, Pb, Cd, Fe, Ni, Mn and Zn) in Amanita loosii, Amanita pudica, Cantharellus congolensis, Cantharellus densifolius, Cantharellus platyphyllus, and Cantharellus ruber. Concentrations of Cr, Ni, and Pb are under the EU norm in all six species, but values for Al, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, and in some cases also for Zn or Cd are above. Significant differences between species were observed for Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, and Zn. Large variations for Al and Fe concentrations are likely partly explained by soil dust contamination, as these two elements are very abundant in soils. Co, Cu, and Mn are abundant in soil samples of MMG-Kinsevere, Cr is abundant in soil samples of Mikembo. Cd concentrations are highest in Amanita while Al and Co reach the highest concentrations in Cantharellus species. Recommended tolerable, monthly, weekly or daily intake of metals and average metal concentrations in edible fungi were used to calculate the safe weekly consumption (SWC, in kg fresh weight/week) for a 60 kg person. Cd limits the consumption of A. loosii and A. pudica to 0.6 kg-1.2 kg FW/week, Fe limits Cantharellus congolensis and C. platyphyllus to 2.2 kg-2.5 kg FW/week and Al limits C. ruber and C. densifolius to 3.5 kg-3.8 kg FW/week. Recommendations are listed to further reduce the intake of metals through the consumption of wild edible fungi.


The work of Sutton & Watson (1951) was one of the cornerstones in the interpretation of the evolution of early Precambrian (Archaean and early Proterozoic) gneiss complexes and in the documentation of mafic dyke swarms that intruded recently accreted Archaean cratons. Since then, the concept of geological terranes and terrane accretion has been extended back to the Archaean, and different events can be distinguished by increasingly precise isotopic dating techniques. There is growing evidence that, with certain clear provisos, the principle of uniformitarianism can be applied as equally to the early Precambrian as it can through the rest of the geological record. In terms of mafic magmatism, there are similarities between some ancient and modern suites, both intrusive and extrusive, but there are also some major differences, such as the presence of komatiites in the Archaean and the formation of large-scale layered intrusions and extensive dyke swarms at the end of the late Archaean and in the early Proterozoic. The mantle has evolved continuously with the progressive extraction of mafic magmas but, allowing for this, continental tholeiites appear to have changed little with time. Ancient mid-ocean ridge basalts are elusive because of their poor preservation record. The geochemistry of mafic volcanics occurring in many greenstone belts commonly suggests a continental contamination component and that these volcanic rocks are most closely akin to those from present-day arc systems. The relative abundance of early Precambrian intrusive mafic suites parallels the crustal growth curve, reflecting the global crustal accretion–differentiation superevent towards the close of the Archaean. Bimodal tholeiitic–noritic mafic magmatism associated with many of these intrusive suites stems from this rapid turnover in the mantle–mafic crust–continental crust system. This, in turn, gives a possible link between the respective evolutions of Archaean to Recent komatiitic, noritic and boninitic suites.


The management of small rookeries is key to conserving the regional genetic diversity of marine turtle populations and requires knowledge on population connectivity between breeding and foraging areas. To elucidate the geographic scope of the populations of marine turtles breeding at Bonaire and Klein Bonaire (Caribbean Netherlands) we examined the post-breeding migratory behavior of 5 female loggerheads Caretta caretta, 4 female green turtles Chelonia mydas, and 2 male and 13 female hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata during the years 2004-2013. After leaving Bonaire, the 24 tracked turtles frequented foraging grounds in 10 countries. The distances swum from Bonaire to the foraging areas ranged from 608 to 1766 km for loggerhead turtles, 198 to 3135 km for green turtles, and 197 to 3135 km for hawksbill turtles, together crossing the waters of 19 countries. Males represented the minority in this study, but we made 2 key observations that require further research: males remained in the vicinity of the breeding area for 3-5 mo, which is 2-5 times longer than females, and males migrated greater distances than previously recorded. Although the turtles dispersed widely across the Caribbean, there appeared to be 2 benthic foraging areas of particular importance to all 3 species of marine turtles breeding at Bonaire, namely the shallow banks east of Nicaragua and Honduras (n = 8 tracked turtles) and Los Roques, Venezuela (n = 3). Marine turtles breeding at Bonaire face threats from legal turtle harvesting, illegal take, and bycatch in the waters that they traverse across the Caribbean.


Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed.


In this paper, we report the first large-scale, systematic study on the security qualities of emerging push-messaging services, focusing on their app-side service integrations. We identified a set of security properties different push-messaging services (e.g., Google Cloud Messaging) need to have, and automatically verified them in different integrations using a new technique, called Seminal. Seminal is designed to extract semantic information from a service's sample code, and leverage the information to evaluate the security qualities of the service's SDKs and its integrations within different apps. Using this tool, we studied 30 leading services around the world, and scanned 35,173 apps. Our findings are astonishing: over 20% apps in Google Play and 50% apps in mainstream Chinese app markets are riddled with security-critical loopholes, putting a huge amount of sensitive user data at risk. Also, our research brought to light new types of security flaws never known before, which can be exploited to cause serious confusions among popular apps and services (e.g., Facebook, Skype, Yelp, Baidu Push). Taking advantage of such confusions, the adversary can post his content to the victim's apps in the name of trusted parties and intercept her private messages. The study highlights the serious challenges in securing push-messaging services and an urgent need for improving their security qualities.


This paper reports on the findings from discrete choice experiments designed to estimate farmers' perceived costs of land use restrictions, i.e. crop restrictions, additional fertilizing restrictions, and usage restrictions, as opposed to having no such restrictions. To this end, hypothetical land purchasing decisions were simulated based on the information about productivity, lot size, distance to other land, driving time to home, land use restrictions, and price. Farmers from the Campine area (Belgium) were invited to participate in the survey as the agricultural land in this region still faces the effects of historical heavy metal contamination resulting in crop restrictions. For identical pieces of land, we estimate the perceived cost, calculated as a change in the consumer surplus due to having a land use restriction, to be about 46,000 €/ha for the crop restriction, 50,000 €/ha for the usage restriction, and 70,000 €/ha for the fertilizing restrictions.


Elite interviewing is an established research method in the social sciences. It offers researchers a number of advantages, particularly when the motivations and perceptions of participants are the subject of inquiry. I used elite interviews in my research on local government transnational networking. While I was confident this approach was well suited to the aims of my study, I remained uncertain about the practicalities involved in arranging and conducting interviews, and I was afraid that such practical aspects would have a detrimental impact on the reliability of my results. This case outlines the practical issues I faced when arranging and conducting interviews. This highlights the importance of these practical considerations in the success of elite interviews, in addition to its methodological suitability to a study.


Background: Struma ovarii is a rare monodermal ovarian teratoma composed predominantly of mature thyroid tissue. Of these cases, 5–8% are clinically hyperthyroid and 5–10% of these tumors are malignant. Case Report: A 53-year-old female presented with a 19 × 5 × 5 cm pelvic mass that was treated with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, pelvic and para-aortic lymph node sampling, omentectomy and appendectomy and staging for an ovarian tumor. There was no evidence of distant metastases or lymph node invasion. Re-evaluation of the patient after surgery revealed that she was clinically euthyroid and there was no thyroid malignancy. Histopathology revealed papillary thyroid carcinoma arising in struma ovarii (malignant struma ovarii). Conclusion: Malignant struma ovarii is a very rare malignant ovarian teratoma. In young patients unilateral oophorectomy and complete surgical staging should be considered when the tumor is confined to the one ovary (stage Ia). Long-term follow-up for the detection of metastases or tumor recurrence by serial serum thyroglobulin and 131I scan or positron emission tomography/computed tomography may be required in selected patients with this rare tumor.


Water resources are unevenly spread in China. Especially the basins of the Yellow, Hui and Hai rivers in the North are rather dry. To increase the supply of water in these basins, the South-to-North Water Transfer project (SNWT) was launched. Using a computable general equilibrium model this study estimates the impact of the project on the economy of China and the rest of the world. We contrast three alternative groups of scenarios. All are directly concerned with the South-to-North water transfer project to increase water supply. In the first group of scenarios additional supply implies productivity gains. We call it the "non-market" solution. The second group of scenarios is called "market solution". The market price for water adjusts such that supply and demand are equated again. In the third group of simulations the economic implications of China's capital investment in infrastructure for the water South-North water transfer project is analyzed. Finally, the investment is combined with the increased capacity of water. If an increase in water supply in China leads to an increase in productivity of their water-intensive goods and services (non-market solution) this would result in a huge positive welfare effect from increased production and export. The effect on China's welfare would still be positive, if a market for water would exist (market solution), but the world as a whole would lose. The negative effect for the rest of the world is largely explained by a deterioration of its terms-of-trade. Well functioning water markets in China are unlikely to exist.


This paper investigates how the location behaviour of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) is shaped by the economic institutions of the host countries. The analysis covers a wide set of geographically proximate economies with different degrees of integration with the 'Old' 15 European Union (EU) members: New Member States, Accession and Candidate Countries, as well as European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries and the Russian Federation. The paper aims to shed new light on the heterogeneity of MNE preferences for the host countries' regulatory settings (including labour market and business regulation), legal aspects (i.e. protection of property rights and contract enforcement) and the weight of the government in the economy. By employing data on 6,888 greenfield investment projects, the random-coefficient Mixed Logit analysis here applied shows that, while the quality of the national institutional framework is generally beneficial for the attraction of foreign investment, MNEs preferences over economic institutions are highly heterogeneous across sectors and business functions.


Impurity doping often alters or improves the properties of materials. In alumina, grain boundaries play a key role in deformation mechanisms, particularly in the phenomenon of grain boundary sliding during creep at high temperatures. We elucidated the atomic-scale structure in alumina grain boundaries and its relationship to the suppression of creep upon doping with yttrium by using atomic resolution microscopy and high-precision calculations. We find that the yttrium segregates to very localized regions along the grain boundary and alters the local bonding environment, thereby strengthening the boundary against mechanical creep.


The Bangor Gambling Task (BGT, Bowman & Turnbull, 2004) is a simple test of emotion-based decision making, with contingencies varying across five blocks of 20 trials. This is the first study to characterise BGT performance in survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) relative to healthy controls. The study also aimed to explore sub-groups (cluster analysis), and identify predictors of task performance (multiple regression). Thirty survivors of TBI and thirty-nine controls completed the BGT and measures of processing speed, pre-morbid IQ, working memory, and executive function. Results showed that survivors of TBI made more gamble choices than controls (total BGT score), although the groups did not significantly differ when using a cut-off score for 'impaired' performance. Unexpectedly, the groups did not significantly differ in their performance across the blocks; however, the cluster analysis revealed three subgroups (with survivors of TBI and controls represented in each cluster). Findings also indicated that only age and group were significant predictors of overall BGT performance. In conclusion, the study findings are consistent with an individual difference account of emotion-based decision making, and a number of issues need to be addressed prior to recommending the clinical use of the BGT.


In Vol 35 (2) we wrote about what we had learned as editors regarding case research, writing, and publishing in this journal. Throughout that article, we focused specifically on what we thought stakeholders might be interested in reading about the art and craft of case research from the editors' view. We were appreciative of the positive comments about that article, and we received questions that focused on the teaching note. So, we decided that stakeholders might be interested in reading about what we learned along the way as it pertains to the teaching note, and we have referred to teaching notes that accompany cases in the current and past publication issues. We hope you will find valuable points to assist you as you develop and improve the craft of writing excellent teaching notes.


There are movements internationally towards curricula that incorporate values and citizenship education. In Australia, this movement has been illustrated with the adoption of a national curriculum in values education. This has arisen from the perceived need for citizens to hold values around the rights and responsibilities of functioning within a democracy. The Making News Today programme has been designed to develop a range of literacies enabling learners, for example, to read the media beyond the interests of the elite. The programme incorporates a journalistic process for television news production for middle school students using laptop and handheld video technologies, with embedded ethics and values education. The article reports on an analysis of the implementation of this programme with middle school students in Australia with reference to student adoption of ethical stances in the journalistic process and the implications for the use of this project in developing ethics, values and citizenship as part of the curriculum process.


AbstractTheists are inclined to assert that human life would be meaningless if there was no personal immortality and God did not exist. The present paper aims to evaluate the truth of this claim. The author first explores the conception of meaning that is at the roots of the theistic position. After pointing out some difficulties with it, the author shows that, on a plausible alternative interpretation of what it is for an activity to have meaning, human life would fully qualify as meaningful even if it were not inscribed in a universal divine plan.


This paper focuses on the development of Academic Skills Centres (ASCs) at an English University and their impact on the achievement and success of attendees, a high proportion of who are from lower socio-economic groups and Black Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

The ASCs aim to meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles and encourage academic skills development through active participation in the learning process. Staffed by both students and lecturers, they adopt flexible approaches and techniques to meet the academic needs of students in a less formal environment than conventional lecturers or seminars.

Associations between student success and ASC engagement have been measured through linking attendance records to student profile data using the institutional student record system, enabling analysis of retention, progression, and attainment of users and non-users against a range of profile variables. The results suggest that this is a flexible scheme, able to accommodate the needs of students by creating an environment in which a proactive attitude and dialogue are developed where students are able to enhance their general skills, resulting in greater social mobility through improved retention, attainment and employability.


The severe consequences of not achieving Annual Yearly Progress standards established by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 have resulted in schools developing programs designed to address the academic needs of students at risk for failing the assessment. Focusing on one reading class comprised of two teachers and 15 tenth grade students enrolled in such a program, I inquire into the impact students and teachers have upon one another's epistemological understandings, particularly regarding their beliefs about the source of knowledge. Employing grounded theory methodology informed by microethnographic discourse analysis, the author analyzes transcripts of classroom conversations, interviews with students and teachers, and students' written texts, including their written responses to the reading section of the state's high stakes assessment. While both teachers establish an inherently hegemonic institutional discursive context, positioning themselves as the source of knowledge, student behavior evidences resistance to this epistemological stance. Intersubjectivity, intertextuality, and interdiscursivity in students' discourse indicate persistent attempts to modify the discursive context. Students refuse to accept institutional devaluations of their worldviews and identities as they continue to reference their own personal experiences, perceptions, and interpretations in their literary analysis. Concurrently, students' discourse has no discernible effect upon the teachers' epistemological beliefs. The study ends with suggestions for creating curriculum designed explicitly for the activization of alternative epistemological resources that would empower this population of students.


Although treatment dropout is common among patients with eating disorders, very few studies have examined predictors of non-completion in day treatment. We investigated various potential predictors of dropout from adult day treatment. Participants were 295 adult patients with a diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa (restricting or binge-eating/purging subtype), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder, or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Predictors included eating-disorder characteristics, motivation at the commencement of treatment, Body Mass Index (BMI), time spent in treatment and personality dimensions. Logistic regression analyses showed that for patients with a BMI of less than 20 at the start of treatment, low BMI was a significant predictor of staff-initiated termination due to not meeting weight gain goals. Furthermore, completing less than 6 weeks of treatment was associated with staff-initiated termination. For the whole sample, those with higher changes in weight over the course of treatment were less likely to terminate prematurely. None of the other predictor variables yielded significant results. Results of the current study highlight characteristics of patients who are more likely not to complete day treatment and can help identify patients who may be at risk for not succeeding in multi-diagnostic day treatment programs.


The celebrated tenfold-way of Altland-Zirnbauer symmetry classes discern any quantum system by its pattern of non-spatial symmetries. It lays at the core of the periodic table of topological insulators and superconductors which provided a complete classification of weakly-interacting electrons' non-crystalline topological phases for all symmetry classes. Over recent years, a plethora of topological phenomena with diverse surface states has been discovered in crystalline materials. In this paper, we obtain an exhaustive classification of topologically distinct groundstates as well as topological phases with anomalous surface states of crystalline topological insulators and superconductors for key space-groups, layer-groups, and rod-groups. This is done in a unified manner for the full tenfold-way of Altland-Zirnbauer non-spatial symmetry classes. We establish a comprehensive paradigm that harnesses the modern mathematical framework of equivariant spectra; it allows us to obtain results applicable to generic topological classification problems. In particular, this paradigm provides efficient computational tools that enable an inherently unified treatment of the full tenfold-way.


Didemnid ascidians are notorious marine invaders, fouling infrastructure in many ecosystems globally. However, there have been few reports of direct interactions with native species in their natural environment. The invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum perlucidum was discovered in the Swan River estuary (Western Australia) growing on the native seagrass Halophila ovalis. Given the known effects of other related Didemnum species it was expected that D. perlucidum could adversely affect the seagrass, with possible flow on effects to the rest of the ecosystem. This study aimed to document the distribution and abundance of D. perlucidum in the estuary, and to determine whether this species had a negative impact on H. ovalis or associated flora and fauna. D. perlucidum was largely present near areas of infrastructure, particularly mooring buoys, suggesting these were the source of D. perlucidum recruits on the seagrasses. It showed a clear seasonal pattern in abundance, with highly variable cover and colony size. D. perlucidum had a measurable effect on H. ovalis, with colonies enveloping all plant tissue, likely restricting the photosynthetic ability of individual leaves and total plant biomass. There were also significantly less seagrass-associated mud snails (Batillaria australis) where D. perlucidum cover was high. These results demonstrate the ability of invasive ascidians to colonise and affect native seagrasses and associated biota. Seagrasses are pivotal to the ecological function of many urban estuaries world-wide. Biodiversity in these systems is already vulnerable to multiple stressors from human activities but the potential stress of fouling ascidians may pose an additional and increasing threat in the future.


CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Examining the moment as one of the primary motifs of Beat writing, Erik Mortenson offers the first book to investigate immediacy and its presence and importance in Beat writing." Capturing the Beat Moment: Cultural Politics and the Poetics of Presence" places an expanded canon of Beat writers in an early postmodern context that highlights their importance in American poetics and provides an account of Beat practices that reveal how gender and race affect Beat politics of the moment. Mortenson argues that Beat writers focused on action, desire, and spontaneity to establish an authentic connection to the world around them and believed that living in the moment was the only way in which they might establish the kind of life that led to good writing. With this in mind, he explores the possibility that, far from being the antithesis of their times, the Beats actually were a product of them. Mortenson outlines the effects of gender and race on Beat writing in the postwar years, as well as the Beats attempts to break free of the constrictive notions of time and space prevalent during the 1950s. Mortenson discusses such topics as the importance of personal visionary experiences; the embodiment of sexuality and the moment of ecstasy in Beat writing; how the Beats used photographs to evoke the past; and the ways that Beat culture was designed to offer alternatives to existing political and social structures. Throughout the volume, Mortenson moves beyond the Kerouac-Ginsberg-Burroughs triumvirate commonly associated with Beat literature, discussing women such as Diane di Prima, Janine Pommy Vega, and Joyce Johnson and African American writers, including Bob Kaufman and Amiri Baraka. With the inclusion of these authors comes a richer understanding of the Beat writers value and influence in American literary history. "


The war over private life spreads inexorably. Some seek to expose, invade and steal it, others to protect, conceal and withhold it. Either way, the assumption is that privacy is a possession to be won or lost. But what if what we call private life is the one element in us that we can't possess? Could it be that we're so intent on taking hold of the privacy of others, or keeping hold of our own only because we're powerless to do either? In this groundbreaking book, Josh Cohen uses his experience as a psychoanalyst, literature professor and human being to explore the concept of 'private life' as the presence in us of someone else, an uncanny stranger both unrecognisable and eerily familiar, who can be neither owned nor controlled. Drawing on a dizzying array of characters and concerns, from John Milton and Henry James to Katie Price and Snoopy, from philosophy and the Bible to pornography and late-night TV, The Private Life weaves a richly personal tapestry of ideas and experience. In a culture that floods our lives with light, it asks: how is it that we remain so helplessly in the dark?


This paper examines the characteristics of online social networks. The researcher collected the data used in the study between January 3, 2007 and January 10, 2007. 150 networks were collected from MySpace.com, an online social networking site, along with six features from the profiles of those in the networks—race/ethnicity, education, religion, reasons for joining, profile background, and music. Two regression models were used to determine the effects of homophily on network density and network embeddedness. The regression models show that homophily for race/ethnicity, religion, music, and reasons for joining did not significantly affect network embeddedness or network density. Background and education homophily were the only significant variables in the models. These results support current research that suggests individuals are becoming friends online for very different reasons than in face-to-face contexts.


We report the results of experiments and numerical calculations of compression and coalescence in a monodisperse oil-in-water emulsion upon centrifugation. A custom-built setup allows in-situ monitoring of a rotating bilayer of emulsion droplets using an optical microscope. The oil volume fraction in a compressed layer of oil droplets stabilized against coalescence was measured experimentally as a function of time for different radial accelerations. The sedimentation was simulated using CFD in order to test the applicability of the computationalmethod and the Ishii-Zuber drag law for very high dispersed phase volume fractions. Quantitative agreement of emulsion sedimentation as a function of time between the experiments and simulations is good at higher accelerations, but decreases with decreasing accelerations. Coalescence in a centrifuged emulsion, which was destabilized prior to centrifugation by adding sodium chloride, was also quantified. The growth of a pure oil phase on top of the droplet layer was measured as a function of time. From the growth rate, a characteristic time for droplet coalescence with the pure oil phase was deduced The experimental method may serve as a tool to study the compression and coalescence kinetics of emulsions under enhanced gravity, which may be of use to assess emulsion stability for industrial applications. Possible improvements of the current experimental setup are also discussed


This work examines the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 as it regulates police powers and their use. The legislation was passed in the aftermath of the Scarman Enquiry into the Brixton riots, and Parliament's acceptance of most of Lord Scarman's recommendations, coupled with Home Office proposals for updating and extending police powers in areas like road blocks and search and seizure of premises. The text provides annotations and commentary on the provisions as they regulate a number of key areas of policing such as stop and search in the street; powers of entry, search, and seizure; arrest and detention; and the questioning and treatment of detainees in the investigation of crime. Consideration is given to processes for obtaining and using evidence in proceedings, and the use of Codes of Practice to supplement the legislation.


Associated childhood obesity risk factors are not well established in developing countries such as Zimbabwe and this information is essential for tailored intervention development. This study aimed to identify prominent risk factors for overweight/obese and overfat/obese among primary school children of Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted using multi-stage random cluster sampling approach (30 × 30). Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was employed and identified the risk factors for overweight/obese and overfat/obese. A total of 974 participants were enrolled in the study. Prominent significant risk factors of overweight/obese after multivariable adjustment were higher socio-economic households; parental diabetes status; and living in Makonde, Zvimba, Sanyati or Mhondoro-Ngezi district as opposed to Hurungwe district. Risk factors for overfat/obese that remained statically significant were children in urban areas (aOR = 3.19, 95% CI: 2.18−4.66, p = 0.000), being one child in a household, and parents who have diabetes mellitus. Living in Makonde, Sanyati, and Zvimba district remained associated with overfat/obese compared to Hurungwe district. This study has identified prominent proximal determinants of overweight/obese and overfat/obese among primary school children in Zimbabwe, to better assist policy guidance. Aggressive education on good nutrition activities should be tailored and targeted to most affected urban areas within high-risk districts.


On the Darling Downs in Queensland stands one of the most majestic and charming homestead residences from the nineteenth century called Jimbour House. Best known for its homestead complex, comprising heritage listed buildings and ancillary structures, the property at Jimbour has a lesser known but equally significant relic: an expansive dry-stone wall. Built during the 1870s, this wall was recently listed separately on the Queensland Heritage Register and it stands as lasting testimony of the skills and tenacity of our European forebears. It is a rare and significant reminder of nineteenth-century land management techniques, a technology that has few examples in Queensland. This article looks at the story behind this truly fascinating landmark, revealing its importance as a reminder of our past and as a symbol of the rise of the modern-day heritage industry.


There is currently a revival in the art of stone sculpture-along contemporary lines-of the Golden Age in Greece and the Renaissance in Europe. Many noted twentieth-century sculptors are now working directly in stone. This book explains how to create modern stone sculpture, with hundreds of examples by today's top sculptors. Included are sculptures by Jean Arp, Constantin Brancusi, Max Bill, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and many others, illustrated and explained with hundreds of clearly detailed photographs. This is also a how-to book, giving specific, step-by-step instructions for creating stone sculpture; describing various types of stone, how to select and transport it; telling how to carve the stone with hand tools and electric or pneumatic power tools; and providing the methods of finishing the work. Contemporary Stone Sculpture is important for the inspiration of art collectors and working artists alike.


This paper brings together empirical studies in hospitality literature focusing on understanding the drivers of hotel performance and combines them with experts' opinions on the most important drivers of performance in the hospitality industry. The first step focused on studying more than 60 papers available in hospitality literature focusing on hotel performance. The second step involved the Dephi method on a pool of 10 experts from the hospitality industry in order to explore their opinion on major drivers of hotel performance. The results showed that literature is mainly focusing on examining the impact of HRM practices, organizational culture, ICT, brand equity, environmental practices and hotel facilities on performance. However, experts did not find those drivers to be the crucial factors of hotel performance. They emphasized the importance of location, product segmentation, company flexibility and cooperation between tourist service providers. Those drivers have not caught the attention of academia so far and they represent a potential new avenue for future hospitality research on understanding hotel performance. Both literature and experts found that market orientation, customer satisfaction, service quality and business processes are important drivers of hotel performance that require further research and examination.  DOI: 10.15458/85451.70


In economy nowadays, the act of innovation is in general social; it requires the management of knowledge, and the techniques and methodologies to drive it. Innovation is not the product of one isolated intelligence, instead, it is the result of a multi-disciplinary workgroup lead by a process or a methodology. The conceptual design, which is found in the first stages of the innovation process, represents one of the most important challenges in industry nowadays. One of the main challenges faced by chemical industries related to the conceptual design phase is to provide the means in the form of methods and computational tools, for solving problems systematically, at the same time that benefiting from the collective efforts of individual intelligences involved. Hence, the main objective of this work is to provide a solution to improve the creative capacity of a team involved in the innovation process, in particular the preliminary (critical) phase of conceptual design. Consequently, it is important to understand the techniques, methods and tools that best support the generation of novel ideas and creative solutions. In addition, it is necessary to study the contribution of information and communication technologies as the mean to support collaboration. Web technologies are considered as complementary tools to implement methods and techniques in collaborative design, and particularly in the conceptual design stage. These technologies allow setting up distributed collaborative environments to bring together the resources and the experts who can relate the existing pieces of knowledge to new contexts. It is the synergy created in this kind of environment, which allow producing valuable concepts and ideas in the form of Collective Intelligence. Nevertheless in most existing solutions for collective intelligence or crowdsourcing environments, they do not report the use of a particular methodology to improve the participants' creativity. The solution in this work describes a social network service that enables users to cooperatively solve problems oriented (but not limited) to the phase of conceptual design. In this work we propose that the use of Collective Intelligence in combination with the model TRIZ-CBR could lead the creative efforts in a team to develop innovative solutions. With this work we are looking for connecting experts from one particular field, TRIZ practitioners and stakeholders with the objective to solve problems in collaboration unlashing the collective intelligence to improve creativity. This work uses the basis of the concept named "Open CAI 2.0" to propose a solution in the form of a theoretical framework. The contributions seek to move the development of the field in Computer Aided Innovation a step forward.


Objective: In a simulated combat vehicle, uni-, bi-, and trimodal cueing of direction to threat were compared with the purpose to investigate whether multisensory redundant information may enhance dynamic perception and performance. Background: Previous research has shown that multimodal display presentation can enhance perception of information and task performance. Method: Two experiments in a simulated combat vehicle were performed under the instructions to turn the vehicle toward the threat as fast and accurately as possible after threat cue onset. In Experiment 1, direction to threat was presented by four display types: visual head-down display, tactile belt, 3-D audio, and trimodal with the three displays combined. In Experiment 2, direction to threat was presented by three display types: visual head-up display (HUD)–3-D audio, tactile belt–3-D audio, and trimodal with HUD, tactile belt, and 3-D audio combined. Results: In Experiment 1, the trimodal display provided overall best performance and perception of threat direction. In Experiment 2, both the trimodal and HUD–3-D audio displays led to overall best performance, and the trimodal display provided overall the best perception of threat direction. None of the trimodal displays induced higher mental workload or secondary task interference. Conclusion: The trimodal displays provided overall enhanced perception and performance in the dynamically framed threat scenario and did not entail higher mental workload or decreased spare capacity. Application: Trimodal displays with redundant information may contribute to safer and more reliable peak performance in time-critical dynamic tasks and especially in more extreme and stressful situations with high perceptual or mental workload.


This paper addresses the link between effective knowledge management in an organization and the organization as a complex adaptive system, which is required to deliver a rapid and high-quality response to social, media-related and technological changes in the environment. In an organization that possesses the characteristics of a complex adaptive system, it is legitimate for each employee and manager (as a fractal) to operate individually in the face of demands and changes in the environment; at the same time, constant processes of integration are at play among the employees and vis-a-vis the managers. The research hypothesis was that the combination of the employee's independence as a fractal and a self-activated integration between the fractals is essential for maintaining effective knowledge management processes in the organization. The study was performed using qualitative research, enabling investigation of behavior within the organizational reality as it occurs, analyzing interviews and observation sessions conducted with about 60 employees at six private, government and public organizations. The study analysis relied on five criteria based on the functioning of the complex system and included synchronization of the goals of each employee as a fractal with the system as a whole, the ability to cope with the environment, decentralization of resources, work processes and knowledge transfer, and self-development of each fractal. The findings indicate that managers were perceived by employees and by themselves as leaders of organizational processes and as the parties responsible for synchronizing the resources, and not as the owners of specific 'knowledge'. Employees were perceived as specific knowledge owners and as bearing direct responsibility for the process of updating employees and managers and keeping abreast of the organizational information. This was found to be a condition for the employee becoming a fractal/knowledge worker. The conclusion of the study is that organizations that possess the characteristics of a complex adaptive system will achieve proven knowledge management capabilities, while improving the processes of knowledge performance and integration between employees. These organizations will be better able to respond correctly and quickly to dynamic changes in the environment. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Viewing the medieval period as an era of constant change rather than as a monolithic whole, Robert S. Sturges examines a wide variety of English and French literary works within the cultural contexts of the early and late Middle Ages.Sturges analyzes these medieval works in roughly chronological order, thus providing a sense of historical change within the general period. Seeking to discover which critical methods best serve each work, he also compares medieval with postmodern approaches to interpretation, pointing out, of course, where current critical practices do not apply.Examining the "Chanson de Roland, "and Chretien s "Charrette, "Sturges reveals how belief in an indeterminacy of literary meaning grew between the 12th and 15th centuries. He argues that whereas the earlier Middle Ages Neoplatonic cultural context produced the "directed vision" of the early genres (chanson de gest, saint s life), changes introduced in the 12th century and later allowed a second vision to emerge.Supplementing rather than replacing the Neoplatonic view, this new mind set emphasized a multiplicity of possible literal meanings in the world and in language. Authoritative truths no longer could be revealed through allegorical interpretation.In his second chapter, Sturges compares Chretien s "Conte del Graal "with the "Queste del saint Graal "to counterpoise the levels of interpretation required by allegory against the potential multiplicity of literal meanings possible when interpreting nonallegorical works. Chretien, he notes, rejects allegory in favor of ambiguity.Chapter 3 compares Marie de France s "Lais "with Machault s "Voir-Dit, "making an analogy between the erotic activity of the represented lovers and the reader s interpretation of the literary works. Sturges points out that by the 14th century semantic indeterminacy in love and in reading was expected, conventional, and enjoyable. Still, both Marie and Machault suggest the dangers of uncertainty in human relations: if true knowledge of the other (lover or text) is impossible, how can we communicate?In his fourth chapter, Sturges examines "The Book of the Duchess, Troilus and Criseyde, "and "The Wife of Bath s Tale" to determine how at various points of his career Chaucer responded to the essential question: how can any truth be communicated among people or between texts and readers?Chapter 5 approaches such questions of truth and communication from the perspective of alterity and historical understanding in both "La Mort le roi Artu "and the final sections of Malory s "Mort Darthur, "two works that present themselves as works of history. Yet the ambiguity introduced from 13th-century romance on through the 15th century undermined the historical foundation such works rest on.Sturges considers four centuries, two nationalities, and the genres of verse and prose romance, allegory, Breton lay, "dit, "dream-vision, and frame-story. He convincingly applies his study of medieval literature to issues vital to 20th-century literary theory, issues ranging from the interplay of speech and writing to the reader s role in the production of meaning."


When dhurrin [p-hydroxy-(S)-mandelonitrile-tJ-D-glucoside], the cyanogenic glucoside of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], is hydrolyzed by autoclaving, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (P-HB) is released. The spectrophotometric determination of p HB concentration in autoclaved sorghum leaf extracts provides a measure of the hydrocyanic acid potential (HCN-p) of leaf tissue. Extracts of field-grown sorghum leaves contained sub stances that interfered with this procedure, but ether extraction effectively separated p-HB from these interfering materials. We observed that when flag leaf tissue from field-grown sorghum was dried at 75°C and then autoclaved, HCN-p values were about three times as high as those based on tissue that was autoclaved without drying. Investigations of this apparent enhancement supported the conclusion that when fresh field-grown sorghum leaf tissue was autoclaved, dhurrin was extensively altered or lost, but neitherp-HB nor HCN was produced. Drying the tissue at 75°C prior to autoclaving effectively reduced this loss. Inclu sion of tissue drying and ether extraction steps in the spectro photometric assay made this procedure, which was designed for use with sorghum seedlings, satisfactory for use with field-grown sorghum leaves.


A simple, rapid and sensitive batch and flow injection spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of paracetamol in pure form and pharmaceutical preparations. The proposed methods are based on the oxidative coupling reaction of paracetamol with 4-aminoantipyrine in presence of ammonium persulfate in alkaline medium to produce an orangereddish product that having absorptivity maximum at 461 nm. The optimum reaction conditions and other analytical parameters have been evaluated. Linearity was observed from 2-16 and 100-700 g mL -1 paracetamol by batch and flow injection procedures, respectively. Statistical analysis of the results and comparison with results by the British Pharmacopoeia method are also reported.


Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) have been used to promote bone formation in many clinical scenarios. However, the BMPs are inherently unstable in vivo and therefore need to be combined with carriers for controlled delivery. In this study, an innovative and efficient fibrin glue/fibronectin/heparin (FG/Fn/Hep)-based delivery system was developed for controlled release of BMP2. The incorporation of heparin can significantly slow the release of BMP2 without substantially affecting the structure and stiffness of the FG/Fn. The BMP2 release from the FG/Fn/Hep-BMP2 hydrogel is largely dominated by hydrogel degradation rather than simple diffusion. In vitro release experiments and MC3T3-E1 cell induction experiments showed that BMP2 can be released steadily and can induce MC3T3-E1 cells to differentiate into osteoblasts efficiently. This process is characterized by the significantly increased expression of calcium deposits, alkaline phosphatase, runt-related transcription factor-2, osteopontin, osteocalcin and collagenⅠ in comparison with the negative control. In vivo assessments revealed that the FG/Fn/Hep-BMP2 hydrogel significantly promotes bone regeneration in a rat calvarial critical-sized defect model. Our investigation indicates that FG/Fn/Hep-BMP2 hydrogel holds promise to be used as an alternative biomaterial for the repair of bone defects.


Diffuse arterial calcification is characteristic of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), particularly in diabetic patients. In diabetic patients, the rates of PAD and the more advanced forms of vascular disease such as critical limb ischemia are higher, and vascular intervention is known to be more difficult and less effective. For 1 in 6 patients, below-knee amputations can result from microvascular disease without traditional PAD. Microvascular disease occurs in vessels with a diameter around 100 µm and is most commonly present in diabetic patients. Calciphylaxis is a life-threatening complex disorder that presents with painful ischemic skin lesions caused by occlusion of blood vessels in subcutaneous fat and dermis. Mönckberg's arteriosclerosis results in extensive calcium deposits in the tunica media without obstruction into the lumen. This case highlights a young diabetic patient with rapidly progressing acute onset ulcers of the bilateral lower extremities status post beginning peritoneal dialysis. The patient underwent upper and lower arterial noninvasive studies, angiogram, computerized tomography angiography, and punch biopsy. The arterial duplex examinations were normal with the exception of noncompressible calcified vessels. Microvascular disease was correlated with angiogram. Computed tomography angiogram findings were conclusive for calciphylaxis and Mönckberg's arteriosclerosis. Punch biopsy was performed to confirm calciphylaxis and patient was started on the appropriate treatment regimen. Unfortunately, limb salvage was not possible and amputations were ultimately performed. There are other vascular pathologies that are not associated with traditional large artery atherosclerosis, such as calciphylaxis and Mönckberg's arteriosclerosis. Even with seemingly normal arterial testing, the prognosis can be catastrophic. Although rare, these additional disease processes should be considered in dialysis patients with acute ulcerations.


For software development professionals and computer science students, Modern Operating Systems gives a solid conceptual overview of operating system design, including detailed case studies of Unix/Linux and Windows 2000. What makes an operating system modern? According to author Andrew Tanenbaum, it is the awareness of high-demand computer applications--primarily in the areas of multimedia, parallel and distributed computing, and security. The development of faster and more advanced hardware has driven progress in software, including enhancements to the operating system. It is one thing to run an old operating system on current hardware, and another to effectively leverage current hardware to best serve modern software applications. If you don't believe it, install Windows 3.0 on a modern PC and try surfing the Internet or burning a CD. Readers familiar with Tanenbaum's previous text, Operating Systems, know the author is a great proponent of simple design and hands-on experimentation. His earlier book came bundled with the source code for an operating system called Minux, a simple variant of Unix and the platform used by Linus Torvalds to develop Linux. Although this book does not come with any source code, he illustrates many of his points with code fragments (C, usually with Unix system calls). The first half of Modern Operating Systems focuses on traditional operating systems concepts: processes, deadlocks, memory management, I/O, and file systems. There is nothing groundbreaking in these early chapters, but all topics are well covered, each including sections on current research and a set of student problems. It is enlightening to read Tanenbaum's explanations of the design decisions made by past operating systems gurus, including his view that additional research on the problem of deadlocks is impractical except for "keeping otherwise unemployed graph theorists off the streets." It is the second half of the book that differentiates itself from older operating systems texts. Here, each chapter describes an element of what constitutes a modern operating system--awareness of multimedia applications, multiple processors, computer networks, and a high level of security. The chapter on multimedia functionality focuses on such features as handling massive files and providing video-on-demand. Included in the discussion on multiprocessor platforms are clustered computers and distributed computing. Finally, the importance of security is discussed--a lively enumeration of the scores of ways operating systems can be vulnerable to attack, from password security to computer viruses and Internet worms. Included at the end of the book are case studies of two popular operating systems: Unix/Linux and Windows 2000. There is a bias toward the Unix/Linux approach, not surprising given the author's experience and academic bent, but this bias does not detract from Tanenbaum's analysis. Both operating systems are dissected, describing how each implements processes, file systems, memory management, and other operating system fundamentals. Tanenbaum's mantra is simple, accessible operating system design. Given that modern operating systems have extensive features, he is forced to reconcile physical size with simplicity. Toward this end, he makes frequent references to the Frederick Brooks classic The Mythical Man-Month for wisdom on managing large, complex software development projects. He finds both Windows 2000 and Unix/Linux guilty of being too complicated--with a particular skewering of Windows 2000 and its "mammoth Win32 API." A primary culprit is the attempt to make operating systems more "user-friendly," which Tanenbaum views as an excuse for bloated code. The solution is to have smart people, the smallest possible team, and well-defined interactions between various operating systems components. Future operating system design will benefit if the advice in this book is taken to heart. --Pete Ostenson


Understanding the location and nature of Quaternary active crustal faults is critical to reduce both the impact of fault rupture and strong ground motions hazards (when these faults rupture causing earthquakes). It is also important for understanding how and where deformation related to plate tectonics is accommodated along geological structures (oftentimes faults and folds). In Chile, work on active tectonics in the upper crust (neotectonics or earthquake geology) is relatively new, in particular regarding fault-focused studies. Therefore, any effort to further progress in our understanding of active fault systems for the benefit of the public, and for aiding local and regional governments and the earthquake engineering and scientific community with mitigation strategies should be applauded. Demonstrating where active faults are located through careful mapping, and to determine how fast they accommodate tectonic deformation and their seismic and fault rupture hazards are key questions in neotectonics. Recently Santibanez et al. (2019) explore active fault systems in the Chilean Andes. In their paper they outline active and potentially seismogenic (i.e., earthquake producing) fault systems in the Chilean Andes through a review of the literature, seismicity, case studies (earthquakes), and modeling data and then they define potential tectonic domains for subdivision of Chile. These domains were suggested to allow "a first-order approach for seismic potential assessment" (Santibanez et al., 2019). The three subdivisions they suggest, i.e., domains are the External Forearc, Inner Forearc and Volcanic Arc, were proposed based on several fault parameters (e.g., fault length), case studies, the morphotectonic setting and seismicity. Their paper generates a great foundation to build upon for both the active tectonics and geological hazards community, in addition to being useful for potential end users such as the Chilean local and national government from a planning perspective. Although the Santibanez et al. (2019) paper takes steps in the right direction, and should be considered an important contribution to the scientific community, this comment addresses three potential issues with their analysis and conclusions that should be reflected upon by the seismic hazard and active tectonics community. These ideas are summarized below and expanded on in detail thereafter.


Women with recurrent breast cancer face many difficulties and challenges, from clinical symptoms of disease progression and treatment to a range of emotional responses. Guided by grounded theory methodology, we explored the main concerns of women with recurrent breast cancer, and how they were dealing with their situations. Data were collected from 40 in-depth interviews with 20 women diagnosed with recurrent breast cancer. The core category illustrated the process of "making sense of living under the shadow of death," and was based on the women's experiences of adjusting to living with a persistent life-threatening illness. Confronting a recurrence of breast cancer was a life-altering event. Moving through a difficult and challenging time, women eased their distress by letting go of losses and reassessing important values. Through a personal transition women transcended living with a life-threatening illness. These findings emphasize the importance of recognizing existential distress in clinical practice.


A testament to a rich but often overlooked part of history, this work captures the stories of barrier-breaking African American pioneers in all fields -- arts, entertainment, business, civil rights, education, government, invention, journalism, religion, science, sports, and more. With hundreds of illustrations and a daily calendar of firsts, this chronicle reveals stories of those who overcame adversity to emerge triumphant and celebrates those who have won personal victories against the forces arrayed against them. A vital collection of over 4,000 entries, this book is proof that the celebration of African American accomplishments is ongoing.


Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the associations between clinicians' self-reported sampling technique and the detection rate of gonorrhoea at the oropharynx and anorectum using a highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). Methods We analysed oropharyngeal and anorectal gonorrhoea swab results among men who have sex with men attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) between March 2015 and December 2016. Swabs were tested by NAAT using the Aptima Combo 2 transcription-mediated amplification assay due to its high sensitivity. Clinicians at MSHC were invited to complete a questionnaire on sampling techniques in November 2016. Univariable generalised estimating equations (GEE) logistic regressions were performed to determine the association between gonorrhoea detection rates and clinicians' sampling technique. Patients' epidemiological risk factors were included in the multivariable GEE logistic model. Results A total of 2605 oropharyngeal gonorrhoea and 2392 anorectal gonorrhoea swab results were analysed. There was no significant difference in the detection rates of gonorrhoea between the 23 clinicians at the oropharynx (range 3.6%–16.9%, median 8.2%, P=0.302) or and anorectum (range 2.4%–17.3%, median 10.5%, P=0.177). Variations in clinicians' self-reported sampling technique were not associated with oropharyngeal or anorectal gonorrhoea detection rates after adjusting for patients' epidemiological risk factors. Conclusions This study shows that differences in clinicians' self-reported sampling technique did not result in measurable differences in the detection rate for oropharyngeal or anorectal gonorrhoea when using NAAT.


Military veterans that are wounded, injured, and/or
sick (WIS) face significant physical, mental, and social challenges following
discharge from their military service; often leading to mental health issues
and suicidal ideation. The principal aim of the research reported in this
thesis was to develop a better understanding of physical activity behaviour
among veterans that are WIS, and provide practical recommendations by which it
can be increased, through the development, implementation, and evaluation of a
community-based physical activity intervention. To achieve this, the United
Kingdom Medical Research Council (UKMRC) Complex Intervention Development and
Evaluation Guidance and the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) were utilised as
guiding frameworks. An evidence base was established related to the likely
effects of a physical activity intervention through a systematic review, which
identified a number of positive psychosocial effects for the target population.
Following the identification of the evidence-base, the BCW was used to inform
two separate, yet related studies. Firstly, a qualitative semi-structured
interview methodology explored the perceived barriers to, and benefits of
physical activity among a sample of veterans that are WIS (N=9). A range of
perceived barriers and benefits were identified in this study. In particular,
physical capability, psychological capability, physical opportunity, and
reflective motivation were prominent barriers to physical activity engagement.
The second study was designed to overcome the limitations of the first study by
developing and distributing a questionnaire based upon the themes identified in
the first, qualitative study, to a larger sample of veterans that are WIS (N=
105). In contrast to the findings of the qualitative study, quantitative
statistical analyses revealed that physical activity self-efficacy was the key
barrier to physical activity engagement. Based on these findings, a walking
group intervention was designed to overcome low physical activity self-efficacy
barriers while providing an environment where physical activity self-efficacy
could be developed. Unfortunately, despite the researcher's best efforts in
planning and preparation, the intervention did not commence due to the COVID-19
public health crisis. However, the intervention design was evaluated for
acceptability and feasibility and found to be highly acceptable among
participants who had expressed interest in participating in the walking group
intervention (N=10). These findings were compared to a similar acceptability
and feasibility evaluation of an existing group-based exercise intervention
(N=5) which led to the refinement of the walking group intervention and the
development of eight recommendations for future practice and intervention
design. The findings stemming from research reported within this thesis
provided several novel contributions to knowledge. Most notably, the research
is the first to apply the UKMRC guidance and BCW in relation to a physical
activity intervention aimed at military veterans that are WIS. In combination
with knowledge from the wider literature, research findings reported in this
thesis can help inform the design of future physical activity interventions,
leading to increased physical activity behaviour among veterans that are WIS.


Abstract. Dramatically increasing collection of point clouds raises an essential demand for highly efficient data management. It can also facilitate modern applications such as robotics and virtual reality. Extensive studies have been performed on point data management and querying, but most of them concentrate on low dimensional spaces. High dimensional data management solutions from computer science have not considered the special features of spatial data; so, they may not be optimal. A Space Filling Curve (SFC) based approach, PlainSFC which is capable of nD point querying has been proposed and tested in low dimensional spaces. However, its efficiency in nD space is still unknown. Besides that, PlainSFC performs poorly on skewed data querying. This paper develops HistSFC which utilizes point distribution information to improve the querying efficiency on skewed data. Then, the paper presents statistical analysis of how PlainSFC and HistSFC perform when dimensionality increases. By experimenting on simulated nD data and real data, we confirmed the patterns deduced: for inhomogeneous data querying, the false positive rate (FPR) of PlainSFC increases drastically as dimensionality goes up. HistSFC alleviates such deterioration to a large extent. Despite performance degeneration in ultra high dimensional spaces, HistSFC can be applied with high efficiency for most spatial applications. The generic theoretical framework developed also allows us to study related topics such as visualization and data transmission in the future.


In the architectural history of world great cities, main public squares have been referred to as important elements of urban design. These often magnificent squares have generally been built with a view to the over all design of the surrounding buildings and monuments. They also serve as the most open and accessible part of the city and are utilized according to the cultural needs and traditional values of the nation. Great Iranian cities have also been marked by the presence of this distinct urban feature. It was particularly during the Safavid period in the 16th and 17th centuries that constructing great public squares became an important part of royal projects for urban development. Indeed, Safavid architectural legacy can be deemed as the most lasting and historically significant achievements of the period.
In the capital, as well as other major cities, the main town square was often part of the royal quarters and an integral element of the urban planning and development. These main squares functioned as the staging ground for many of the royal ceremonies and feasts, sports competitions, including horse racing, polo matches, and arching. In time, religious rites, fireworks, and food fairs were held in these squares. Furthermore, these expanded squared became the staging grounds for military parades and maneuvers that had traditionally been conducted in the outskirts of the city.
Naqsh-e Jahan square in Isfahan is a unique architectural masterpiece and has been considered as such by European travelers. These travelers have also referred extensively to other such historic sites in other major Iranian cities of this period, including Meydan-e Shah and Meydan-e Asb in Qazvin.


The world economy undergoes through big changes and enters into the restructuring and reorganization process, which bring some countries into the new situations and faces them and their enterprises with new tasks. Knowledge has primary role, both for the individual and overall economy in this changing world, while the land, work and capital become of secondary importance. Creation and innovation enter into the way of production as its most important parts. Globalization brought by the scientific-technological revolution radically change the picture of the world, being result of increase of inter-relations in technololgical progress, which is especially important for the countries that are developing on information technologies. Globalization process is usually linked to the market, financial system, competition and corporate strategy. The globalization process enables and stimulates the removal of custom and non-custom barriers and deregulation of market expansion, what results with accelerated increase of supply, stabilization and often with decrease of prices. Such effect is determined as "supply shock", what means that the demand is in upturn by increase of supply and pressure on prices, opening the room to the enterprises for increase of production and turnover and simultaneously stimulates the adjustment to the changed market terms and qualification for European and world competition. Meanwhile, in order to realize such globalization process, it would be necessary to coordinate the macroeconomic context and economic policies of individual countries, which have been reducing macroeconomic limitatiosn and open room for global movements. As a result of coordination of macroeconomic contexts, the global economic regions on regional basis are being formed, while the customs, monetary and fiscal systems have the central place as result of coordination of macroeconomic policies and macroeconimic coordination, out of them the monetary, customs and foreign exchange rate policies being in the function of the economy stabilization and achievemnt of the high economic growth rates. Since globalization has the large impact on the economy as a whole as well as for their companies, in this paper we will try to analyze its advantages and usefulness, fears and uncertainties brought along with it , as well as the place of Croatia in such a process.


Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria leaf blotch (SLB), the most important foliar disease in winter wheat in Northern Europe and the UK. Chemical control of Z. tritici has seen a continuous introduction and substitution of fungicides with distinct mode of actions, due to the development of fungicide resistance. Emergence of diverse resistance mechanisms and their fixation in field populations of Z. tritici represents a constant threat to the control of SLB by fungicides. The aim of this research was to determine the biological potential of Z. tritici to adapt to the multi-site inhibitors chlorothalonil and folpet, and the single-site succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) fluxapyroxad. In vitro microtitre plate based fungicide sensitivity assays indicated that there was evidence for reduced sensitivity to chlorothalonil or folpet in the Z. tritici field isolates tested. Field isolates obtained from plots treated with solo applications of chlorothalonil or folpet were less sensitive to the fungicides compared with isolates sampled from non-treated plots. No evidence was found for reduced sensitivity to fluxapyroxad in the same set of field isolates. RNA sequencing analysis of the genome-wide transcriptional response of the reference Z. tritici isolate IPO323 after exposure to chlorothalonil or folpet in the lag and log phase of growth revealed a compound-specific "functional gene expression signature". In addition, several genes encoding glutathione S-transferase (GST), ATP-binding cassette (ABC) or major facilitator superfamily (MFS) efflux pumps were significantly overexpressed in response to chlorothalonil or folpet exposure. In vitro evolutionary studies determined the course of evolution of resistance to the succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) fluxapyroxad in replicate populations of Z. tritici derived from the sensitive isolate IPO323. Resistance to fluxapyroxad arose mainly through alterations in the target protein that also often conferred cross-resistance to other SDHIs (e.g. fluopyram and carboxin). Additionally, overexpression of an ABC transporter or a GST gene was associated with resistance to fluxapyroxad and lower sensitivity to fluopyram or carboxin in a mutant without target-site alteration. The frequency of six amino acid substitutions in the target protein subunits sdhB, sdhC or sdhD – determined by SNP pyrosequencing assays – indicated that evolution of resistance was driven by a successive substitution of fitter mutants carrying distinct amino acid substitutions as selection at increasing concentrations of fluxapyroxad continued.


The objective of this study was to clarify the process of socialization of mothers who have twins, one of whom has a disability, and to examine their interactions with their husbands, children, and people around them using the Grounded Theory Approach. The subjects were 14 mothers with a spouse and twins, one of whom had a disability. The mothers with a disabled twin followed the socialization process of (1) beginning of nursing of twins, (2) perception and assumption of the role of a mother with disabled and healthy twins, (3) relief from conflict with the stereotype of twins, and (4) becoming a person who is helpful to others. They first "acquired the stereotype of twins" during the period of pregnancy, felt "bewilderment due to the unfamiliarity with the disability" and "preciousness of life regardless of the disability" characteristically of parents of disabled children, experienced "looking squarely at the disability by comparing the twins" and "being busy with nursing twins one of whom is disabled" characteristically of parents having a disabled twin, and eventually "perceived differences between their own consciousness as a parent and that of their husbands." The mothers established their independent attitude of "developing mental strength" and "assuming the responsibility to support their disabled children" and acquired the role as a mother by "overcoming the temptation to hide the disability" and "understanding the two worlds simultaneously." From the dilemma of "not being able to love the twins equally" and "feeling that it was fortunate that they were twins ," the mothers also thought that "the twins were not twins in reality because of the wide difference in their development" and that "it was natural to discipline them differently even though they were twins." The results of this study facilitate the determination of the timing of nursing support for mothers with a disabled twin, and suggest the necessity of the establishment or improvement of a family nursing system them.


Cordilleran granitic batholiths (sensu lato) preserve information about time scales and processes of upper crustal magmatic arc construction during Mesozoic subduction and mountain building. The Bald Mountain batholith in northeastern Oregon (USA) is a classic example of a composite, incrementally constructed batholith that formed during terrane amalgamation outboard of the western U.S. Cordillera. Whole-rock geochemistry and zircon trace element, U-Pb, Lu-Hf, and O isotopic data reveal that batholith construction occurred over ~15 Ma, commencing with the syncollisional emplacement of small, low-Sr/Y ( 40) tonalite-granodiorite mag matism that produced the main mass of the batholith, including the granodiorite of Anthony Lake (147 Ma) and the tonalite of Bald Mountain (145‐141 Ma). Zircons from the norite-granite suite display a narrow range in initial eHf of 7.2‐7.7 and elevated δ 18 O (Zrn) ranging from 8.2‰ to 10.0‰ (excluding one outlier). Zircons from the later granodiorite-tonalite suite show a similar range of initial eHf values (6.3‐8.9) and δ 18 O (7.1‰‐10.0‰), indicating a similar history of interaction with evolved crustal material. Modeling of whole-rock and zircon geochemistry indicates that both the low- and high-Sr/Y magmas composing the main phase of the batholith were generated by dehydration‐partial melting of mafi c arc crust (e.g., amphibolite), leaving behind a plagioclase-poor restite, which was garnet granulite in the case of the high-Sr/Y magmas . Final magma compositions in both suites were affected by assimilation of supracrustal material either at depth or during ascent. We suggest that high-Sr/Y magmas in the Bald Mountain batholith were generated by partial melting of thickened arc crust ~10 m.y. after arc-arc collision began at 159‐154 Ma. Heat to drive lower crustal melting was conveyed by an increase in mantle power input as a result of renewed subduction-related magmatism. Mixing and homogenization in the lower crust involving mantle-derived basalts and crustally derived partial melts can account for the geochemical variation we observe in tonalites and granodiorites in the Bald Mountain batholith.


INTRODUCTION Electronic commerce (EC) is defined by Zwass (1998) as a way of "sharing business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of telecommunications networks". EC has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years. Forrester Research Inc. projects that Internet business will grow to $1.3 trillion in 2003, compared to $43 billion in 1998 (Frook and Karpinski, 1999). As the concept of EC and e-business increasingly influences the form of organizations' business strategies, business schools around the world react to the market demand for quality graduates with an EC background by creating electronic commerce and e-business mainstream courses and degree programs within business schools. However due to the dynamic nature of the field, most colleges lack a standardized curriculum for EC. Educators are struggling to keep up with the technological and business rate of change, hence EC courses are often planned in an ad hoc fashion. As the result, many EC courses and programs lack the rigor and comprehensiveness sought in higher education due to their offering a piecemeal coverage on EC issues. Competing programs and various approaches to EC education are making it even more difficult to choose the program that is right for students' and job market's needs. EC is an interdisciplinary field that is composed of a wide range of business and technical issues. In the 11th annual Electronic Commerce Conference in 1998, researchers in this field identified 174 issues pertinent to EC that were clustered into 22 categories (Electronic Commerce Conference, 1998). As an interdisciplinary field, the education of EC must include the discussion on a variety of topics including information technology (IT) and other managerial areas, most notably marketing. EC courses involve topics that do not have any of the traditions that underlie most business school courses. As such, typically no individual discipline area is ready to provide a comprehensive coverage on these topics. Therefore, a successful EC curriculum requires cross-functional integration and a change in pedagogy. Information Systems (IS) and Marketing are the two fields that have the most intrinsic connections to EC. The current practice of most schools of business can be divided into the following two categories: 1. IS and Marketing departments offer separate EC courses that focus on topics most related to each discipline. 2. Joint teaching effort by instructors from different academic disciplines to provide a more comprehensive coverage of EC. One recurring question is how effective each approach is. Despite its importance, little research effort has been devoted to the EC curriculum development. To partially fill this void, this study attempts to provide a snapshot of the current EC curriculum programs and recommendations to EC-related educators (e.g., Marketing educators). This study is designed to render insights to the following questions: 1 Is joint teaching by instructors from different academic disciplines (e.g., IS and marketing) a viable solution for the education of interdisciplinary fields like EC? 2 What improvements need to be made to the current EC curricula? 3 What are the preferred teaching approaches for EC? 4 What are the viable strategies for EC program design? By discussing the finding of this study, the authors investigate means of improving future EC curriculum development. RESEARCH DESIGN The primary research methodology of this study is syllabus analysis. By analyzing the syllabus of a sufficient number of EC courses, the authors expect to identify the trends in current EC curricula. The further analysis of these trends will generate valuable insights about the pros and cons of the EC curricula today. Data regarding course topics, course focuses, and teaching methods are collected via the analysis of syllabuses. …


miRNA expression in African American compared to Caucasian PCa patients has not been widely explored. Herein, we probed the miRNA expression profile of novel AA and CA derived prostate cancer cell lines. We found a unique miRNA signature associated with AA cell lines, independent of tumor status. Evaluation of the most differentially expressed miRNAs showed that miR-132, miR-367b, miR-410, and miR-152 were decreased in more aggressive cells, and this was reversed after treatment of the cells with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine. Sequencing of the miR-152 promoter confirmed that it was highly methylated. Ectopic expression of miR-152 resulted in decreased growth, migration, and invasion. Informatics analysis of a large patient cohort showed that decreased miR-152 expression correlated with increased metastasis and a decrease in biochemical recurrence free survival. Analysis of 39 prostate cancer tissues with matched controls (20 AA and 19 CA), showed that 50% of AA patients had statistically significant lower miR-152 expression compared to only 35% of CA patients. Ectopic expression of miR-152 in LNCaP, PC-3, and MDA-PCa-2b cells down-regulated DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) through direct binding in the DNMT1 3'UTR. There appeared to be a reciprocal regulatory relationship of miR-152/DNMT1 expression, as cells treated with siRNA DNMT1 caused miR-152 to be re-expressed in all cell lines. In summary, these results demonstrate that epigenetic regulation of miR-152/DNMT1 may play an important role in multiple events that contribute to the aggressiveness of PCa tumors, with an emphasis on AA PCa patients.


The data library of optical properties of hexagonal ice crystals for radiative modeling, Cirrus Optical Properties (COP), is introduced. It includes phase functions, asymmetry parameters, extinction cross sections, and single scattering albedos. Furthermore, lidar ratios and depolarization are given. The dependence of these parameters on wavelength, particle size, and shape is calculated, and different particle orientations are considered. In addition, a simple FORTRAN code is provided to calculate the corresponding properties of size distributions. Thus the data library is a very flexible tool for determining the optical parameters of ice clouds for climatological purposes and remote sensing. The data library and the FORTRAN code are distributed through electronic mail.


The use of warm season turfgrasses is a consolidated trend in the climatic transition zone of Mediterranean countries, in particular St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) begins to be widespread in warm coastal areas. However, little is known about the performance of the different cultivars of this species in southern Europe. In 2016-2017 a trial was carried out in three locations in Italy, Padova, Pisa, and Palermo, located in the north, center and south of the country respectively. Four cultivars (Floratine, Captiva, Sapphire, Palmetto) and five ecotypes (CeRTES 201, CeRTES 202, CeRTES 203, CeRTES 204, CeRTES 205) were compared in terms of their growth characteristics and morphological traits during establishment. The results highlighted that stolon growth was significantly affected by the location, as well as green colour retention. Stolon growth rate, internode length and internode volume and turf quality were, however, significantly determined by the accession effect. The quality of the ecotypes was also in some cases comparable to that of the cultivars. In Padova, winterkill occurred in most of the accessions, while in Pisa and Palermo, all the entries survived. In conclusion, St. Augustinegrass is suitable for turf use in the central and southern coastal area of Italy.


Abstract: Twenty-two wells on the Norwegian continental margin have penetrated underlying basement. We present U–Pb zircon, whole-rock geochemical, and Sm–Nd and Rb–Sr isotopic data from nine wells in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea with relevance to the offshore continuation of the Norwegian Caledonides, and their correlation throughout the Caledonian–Appalachian orogenic belt. Palaeozoic magmatism in the North Sea can be divided into two groups. The older group consists of 460 Ma calc-alkaline granites with evolved isotopic compositions, correlative with similar rocks in the Uppermost Allochthon. The younger group consists of a 430 Ma dacite and a 421 Ma leucogabbro, with less evolved isotopic compositions. In the Norwegian Sea, isotopically evolved granitic magmatism at 437 Ma and more juvenile dioritic magmatism at 447 Ma are correlative with magmatism in the Bindal and Smøla–Hitra Batholiths in the Uppermost Allochthon. Metasedimentary basement rocks from the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, dominated by Late Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic grains, resemble rocks found in the Caledonides of Scotland, Greenland and Svalbard. The new data, along with studies elsewhere along the belt, suggest that similar rocks may exist along much of the orogen. Supplementary material: U–Pb isotopic data are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18471.


The use of evaluation to examine and improve the quality of teaching and courses is now a component of most universities. However, despite the various methods and opportunities for evaluation, a lack of understanding of the processes, measures and value are some of the major impediments to effective evaluation. Evaluation requires an understanding of what to evaluate, how to evaluate it, how to collect and analyse the information and how to action and implement what has been learned. The aim of this paper is to describe an instrument to document not only the evaluative process, but also evaluative outcomes. The Course Improvement Flowchart (CIF) provides a template for the application of an action inquiry framework. Throughout this process, the CIF template can be used to document key recommendations emanating from multiple sources of feedback so that a proactive statement of intent or action plan for teaching and course improvement is written. The resultant improvements that may be achieved in teaching and course quality may lead to more satisfying teaching experiences, improved student outcomes and heightened professional growth as a teacher.


Since the Second World War there has been considerable growth in the importance of non-manufacturing based forms of production to the performance of many Western economies. Many countries have seen increased contributions being made by industries such as the media, entertainment and artistic sectors.

Gathering together a leading international, multi disciplinary team of researchers, this informative book presents cutting-edge perspectives on how these industries function, their place in the new economy and how they can be harnessed for urban and regional economic and social development.


In light of the expansion of punitive "get tough" policies for juvenile offenders, some researchers have uncovered evidence that juveniles who are waived to the adult court receive more severe sanctions than retained juveniles. Theoretically, the transfer status of delinquents may serve as a cognitive heuristic in criminal justice system (CJS) actors' "focal concern" judgments. Understood through this framework, transfer status may signify to CJS workers, and especially Whites, that a juvenile offender is especially dangerous or blameworthy, thereby justifying harsher punishments. To examine these relationships, two experimental vignettes were embedded in a national survey of CJS workers in which the transfer status of the offender was randomized. Analyses reveal that respondents did not prefer harsher sentences for the transferred violent male delinquent, but they did recommend significantly harsher sentences for the transferred nonviolent female delinquent. White respondents, however, were especially punitive in their sentencing preferences for the transferred violent male delinquent. The findings are partially consistent with the theoretical expectation that transfer status functions as a heuristic in CJS actors' assessments of juvenile offenders. The results also suggest that White CJS workers may racially typify violent youth who have been transferred to adult court.


4,000 journalists and photographers gathered in Genoa during the third week of July 2001 to cover the 26th meeting of the official discussion club of the leaders of the industrialized nations of the world: the G8. Among them was American photographer Joel Sternfeld, who came to Genoa as an artist with a commitment to planetary sustainability. What did those banner-waving, song-singing, globally-wired, "anti-global protesters" actually want? Sternfeld set out to find out. Walking and running the streets with the demonstrators, photographing and recording the comments of individuals as circumstances allowed, he made the series of quick portraits and accompanying statements that forms the heart of this book. In their own words, they give an understanding of the world of concerns that brought them to Genoa in the first place. At the final unfolding of events--the death of protester Carlo Giuliani and the terrifying Saturday night raid on the Genoa Social Forum, in which sleeping protesters were beaten, leaving pools of blood on the floor of the Armando Diaz School--Sternfeld understood the urgency of reporting what had occurred.


Natural and constructed rocky
reef habitats constitute important areas for lithophilic spawning fishes and
their embryonic and larval offspring. Interstitial spaces created by the
structure of rocky reefs create micro-environments where incubating embryos and
juvenile fishes are potentially protected from predators. However, if
interstitial spaces are filled or blocked by sediment deposition or biofouling,
the reef structure may lose the protective benefits for embryonic and larval fish
survival. Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and walleye (Sander vitreus) are native Great Lake
lithophilic broadcast spawning fish that use rocky spawning habitats that are
vulnerable to degradation caused by deposition of suspended sediments. To
restore degraded rocky reef habitat, common practices include addition of
material to existing reef structures or construction of new reefs, but both of
these practices can be costly and time intensive. In this study, we measured the
effect of different types and amounts of sediment cover on hatching success of walleye
eggs and assessed if differences in female walleye (female length and egg size)
account for tolerance to sediment cover. Additionally, we explored an
alternative approach for reef restoration, custodial maintenance, in which we
created two novel devices to potentially clean rocky reef habitat. We carried
out two laboratory experiments in 2018 and 2019 to test the effect of sediment
cover on hatching success of walleye eggs (2018) and to test how female
identity and female length or egg size may interact with sediment cover to
influence hatching success (2019). We exposed walleye eggs to instantaneous
sediment cover (0 mm – 7mm) of either sand (course) or silt (fine) sediments
from fertilization until day 15 of incubation. Our results indicated that walleye
eggs were sensitive to silt cover (71% mortality- 2 mm cover silt) but not sand
(47% mortality- 7mm cover sand). While there was an indication that hatching
success was marginally related to female length and egg size, we concluded that
sediment cover seemed to have similar effects on eggs, regardless of female
length or egg size. The susceptibility of walleye eggs to mortality caused by
sediment cover underscores the need for non-degraded spawning habitat. Our two
cleaning devices used either propulsion or pressurized water jets to clean
sediments from the rocky structure as they were towed behind a small vessel
(i.e., did not require the use of SCUBA divers). We used devices to clean two
natural rocky reefs in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron in 2018 and 2019. We measured
relative hardness before and after use of devices on cleaned and uncleaned
study plots to determine effectiveness of devices. In addition, we measured egg
deposition by fall (lake whitefish) and spring (walleye) lithophilic spawners
on study plots to determine potential differences in fish usage of cleaned and
uncleaned areas. We found that cleaning devices contributed to changes in
relative hardness among study plots. Egg deposition was also variable on study
plots but in general, egg deposition was consistently highest on treatment plots
cleaned by our device that used propulsion. The practicality of cleaning
devices was seemingly related to the magnitude of degradation of rocky reefs,
nevertheless, our results show that the use of these or similar devices may
potentially increase egg deposition by creating areas of higher-quality
habitat. While more testing is necessary to fully understand the potential of
our reef cleaning devices, this two-year study suggests that these devices may
be capable of restoring degraded rocky spawning habitat which could potentially
minimize the negative effects associated with sediment degradation on
lithophilic spawning fish.


Introduction: Injectable in situ gelling solutions are novel implantable systems that combine the advantages of a prolonged release subdermal implant and the convenience of administration of an aqueous solution. Objectives: The aim of the present investigation was to formulate and evaluate a thermo-reversible injectable in situ gelling system of rivastigmine tartrate. Methods: Injectable in situ gelling solutions loaded with rivastigmine were formulated using the thermosensitive polymers: Pluronic F127 and Pluronic F68. The thermo-reversible gelling solutions were evaluated for gelation temperature, gel strength, syringeability and injectability, drug content, in vitro drug release studies, and ex vivo studies using extensor digitorum muscle of Gallus gallus domesticus. Results: Gelation temperature and gel strength increased with increasing concentrations of Pluronic F 68. All six formulations showed adequate ease on withdrawal and injection. The viscosity of formulations also increased with increase in the percentage of Pluronic F68 both in sol and gel form. An initial burst effect as a result of the immediate drug release from the sol form of the preparation before conversion to gel was observed from all formulations. Drug release was slower with an increase in the concentration of Pluronic F68. Ex vivo drug permeation studies for over 27 h exhibited slower release patterns from the selected formulations as compared to in vitro release. Conclusion: The developed formulations are capable of prolonging release of rivastigmine with the potential of achieving greater therapeutic success in Alzheimer patients compared to the conventional oral dosage forms.


Flood runoff models of urbanization from farmland based on the physical characteristics of a basin have been minimally used in previous research until today. Consequently, the runoff analysis has not been performed that is based on physical basis. Therefore, this research undertook flood discharge analysis from urbanization using the unit flood discharge concept that is enhanced the previous research. The study area was selected at the Kurabe River basin, which is 17.5 km2 in area having a very steep landscape. Twenty-one rainfall events at 10-minute intervals were selected, and five urbanized years were tested. From 1976 to 2009 during 35 years, the flood discharge increased approximately 2.0 times, in which residential areas increased from 23% to 48%; the maximum specific discharge was 21.7 m3·s-1·km-2 in a some block, which is a remarkably large amount. Furthermore, following issues investigated: changes in the hydrograph were associated with urbanization, the effect of a small reservoir aiming to cut down the peak discharge and the relationship between the unit discharge, and the relationship between our method and the discharge estimated by a "Rational Formula". In particular, the effect of the small reservoir for flood control was found to be remarkably efficient. Finally, the validity of our method was confirmed at the study area in the observed discharge. This result is very useful for estimating runoff discharge changes by urbanization from farmland.


Microsoft is developing wide-spread software solutions like the Windows operating system and the Office suite. In order to improve security of their products, they have introduced the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (MS-SDL). Ample documentation about the MS-SDL is available, thus, allowing other companies to adopt the lifecycle as well. We were wondering whether an adoption of the lifecycle is possible and useful for real small development teams, e.g., for a single developing person. In order to find out, we have done a practical test, i.e., we have used the MS-SDL for the development of a small, but real-world software project. The findings will be presented in this paper.


Abstract. Disaster risk reduction efforts traditionally focus on long-term preventative measures or post-disaster response. Outside of these, there are many short-term actions, such as evacuation, that can be implemented in the period of time between a warning and a potential disaster to reduce the risk of impacts. However, this precious window of opportunity is regularly overlooked in the case of climate and weather forecasts, which can indicate heightened risk of disaster but are rarely used to initiate preventative action. Barriers range from the protracted debate over the best strategy for intervention to the inherent uncomfortableness on the part of donors to invest in a situation that will likely arise but is not certain. In general, it is unclear what levels of forecast probability and magnitude are "worth" reacting to. Here, we propose a novel forecast-based financing system to automatically trigger action based on climate forecasts or observations. The system matches threshold forecast probabilities with appropriate actions, disburses required funding when threshold forecasts are issued, and develops standard operating procedures that contain the mandate to act when these threshold forecasts are issued. We detail the methods that can be used to establish such a system, and provide illustrations from several pilot cases. Ultimately, such a system can be scaled up in disaster-prone areas worldwide to improve effectiveness at reducing the risk of disaster.