OBJECTIVES
To evaluate hospitalisation data for patients with a primary or secondary fibromyalgia (FM) diagnosis. We estimated the number of men and women with an FM diagnostic code and compared them across a number of demographic and hospitalisation characteristics; examined age-specific, population-based FM hospitalisation rates; and determined the most common co-morbid diagnoses when FM was either the primary or secondary diagnostic code.

METHODS
Hospital discharge data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) were used. Records were evaluated between 1999 and 2007 that contained the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification FM diagnostic code (729.1, Myositis and Myalgia, unspecified), the FM criterion used in large-scale health services studies.

RESULTS
There were 1,727,765 discharges with a 729.1 diagnostic code (FM) during this nine-year span, 213,034 men (12.3%) and 1,513,995 women (87.6%). Discharges coded for FM increased steadily each year. The population-based rate of male FM discharges rose gradually across the lifespan; the rate for women rose sharply but then declined after age 64. Few differences between men and women across demographic and hospitalisation characteristics were evident. The most common co-morbidities with FM as the primary diagnosis were non-specific chest pain, mood disorders, and Spondylosis/intervertebral disc disorders/other back problems. Most common primary diagnoses, with FM as a secondary diagnosis, were essential hypertension, disorders of lipid metabolism, coronary atherosclerosis/other heart disease, and mental disorders.

CONCLUSIONS
A substantial number of U.S. residents with FM were hospitalised over the study period. Further analysis of hospitalisation data from patients with FM may provide guidance for both research and treatment, with the goal of improved care for FM patients.


The influence of the leader's perceived quality of life, of his/her health habits and socioeconomic characteristics on his/her leadership practices was assessed. All of these dimensions are included in the framework of the quality of life model as an intervention strategy (Juarez, 2000, 2010). The Leadership Practices Inventory (version by Robles, de la Garza, & Medina, 2008), the Quality of Life Questionnaire -WHO (1998, 2004) and the Health Indicators Questionnaire (Jimenez, Martinez, Miro, & Sanchez, 2008) were administered to 60 participants in charge of personnel. Participants were grouped according to their socioeconomic characteristics. The increase in the overall quality of life and perceived health of the quality of life both augmented the transformational leadership practices of Modeling, Inspiring, Defying and Enabling and the transactional leadership practice of Encouraging. An increase in the perceived health of the Health Indicators Questionnaire augmented the transformational leadership practice of Modeling, while the increase in the behavior associated to alcoholic drinks intake reduced the leadership practice of Defying. No other variable was significant. Different theoretical explanations are discussed.


"A lovely, unsettling family story and a vivid traversal of modern Japanese history that will impress the jaded Japan scholar and inspire the curious general reader or memoir fan." -- Library Journal Helm was the Tokyo correspondent for the Los Angeles Times when he realized that the majority of the articles he had written were "critical of Japan in some way." This was surprising considering Helm was born in Japan and is part Japanese himself. In this lovingly researched memoir, he sifts through five generations of Helms living in Japan...history buffs will relish Helm's painstaking detail and impressive command of the material. -- Publishers Weekly "Yokohama Yankee is a marvelous and eloquent work of family history. What makes it more remarkable is this family's history also sheds light on the political, economic, cultural, and racial interactions and tensions between Japan and the United States for more than a century and a half, right up to the present day. This is a humane and insightful book that will be read many years from now." -- James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic and author of China Airborne "Like a sword cleaving a bittersweet fruit, Leslie Helm's saga of his mixed-blood family in Japan cuts to the inescapable isolation of being white in a country where blood still means so much. Yokohama Yankee is a painfully intimate story that spans more than a century and brings the wrenching history of modern Japan into a focus that is both razor sharp and deeply human." -- Blaine Harden, author of Escape from Camp 14 and former Tokyo bureau chief of The Washington Post "Leslie Helm has written a lively and engaging account of his remarkable family history and its intertwining with Japan ...It is a warm and human story that will charm its readers." -- Kenneth B. Pyle, Henry M. Jackson professor of Asian history and Asian studies, University of Washington, and recipient of Japan's Order of the Rising Sun "One of the finest correspondents to have reported on Japan, Leslie Helm tells the riveting, sometimes painful story of his multinational, biracial merchant family. Living in Yokohama for generations in war and peace, the Helms are at the heart of Japan's long modern history without ever actually becoming 'Japanese.'" -- Sheldon Garon, Nissan professor of Japanese history at Princeton University "Helm mines the many treasures of his family's past, and the multicultural futures of his adopted, Japanese children, to investigate the mysteries of identity that are locked away inside all of us. The family fortune disappears, and relatives scatter in the winds of war and reconstruction. But this lovely story remains, about an erudite man trying to make sense of the world, of the past, and of himself." -- Alex Beam, Boston Globe columnist "[A] wonderful work full of pathos, insight and humanity." -- Fred G. Notehelfer, emeritus professor of Japanese history at UCLA and author of Japan Through American Eyes: The Journal of Francis Hall, 1859-1866 Leslie Helm's decision to adopt Japanese children launches him on a personal journey through his family's 140 years in Japan, beginning with his great-grandfather, who worked as a military advisor in 1870 and defied custom to marry his Japanese mistress. The family's poignant experiences of love and war help Helm overcome his cynicism and embrace his Japanese and American heritage. This is the first book to look at Japan across five generations, with perspective that is both from the inside and through foreign eyes. Helm draws on his great-grandfather's unpublished memoir and a wealth of primary source material to bring his family history to life.


Numerous treatments have been proposed for Peyronie's disease (PD). As the evidence base has expanded, the field of operative and non-operative options for patients has narrowed. Collagenase clostridium hystolyticum (CCH) injection now comprises the medical option, and surgical possibilities entail penile plication, plaque incision/excision and grafting, and prosthesis implantation. Still, questions abound regarding the optimal approach and indication for each of these treatments. We conducted a review of literature exploring the contemporary management of PD with a particular focus on work since the last American Urologic Association's (AUA) guidelines update for PD. Recent results and discussion indicate trends toward minimal invasiveness, toward a more holistic approach to the PD patient, and away from algorithmic management, galvanized, in part, by data challenging long-held beliefs.


We present a detailed study of mode-field adapters (MFA) based on multimode interference in graded index multimode fibers. We have fabricated and characterized MFAs from a selection of commercially available single-mode and graded index fibers. Compared to existing techniques, the presented MFAs can be fabricated very quickly and are not limited to certain fiber types. Insertion losses of <; 0.5 dB over a spectral range of several hundred nanometers have been obtained, which is comparable or better than the industry standard.


In this paper we study the motion planning problem for multiple objects where an object is a 2-dimensional body whose faces are line segments parallel to the axes of $R^{2}$ and translations are the only motions allowed. Towards this end we analyze the structure of configuration space, the space of points that correspond to positions of the objects. In particular, we consider CONNECTED, the set of all points in configuration space that correspond to configurations of the objects where the objects form one connected component. We show that CONNECTED consists of faces of various dimensions such that if there is a path in CONNECTED between two 0-dimensional faces (vertices) of CONNECTED then there is a path between them along 1-dimensional faces (edges) of CONNECTED. It is known that if there is a motion between the configurations. Thus by the result of this paper the existence of a motion between two vertices of CONNECTED implies a motion corresponding to a path along edges of CONNECTED. Hence we have reduced the motion planning problem from a search of a high dimensional space to a graph searching problem. Searching the graph of vertices and edges of CONNECTED for a path has a prohibitive worse-case complexity because of the large number of vertices and edges. However, if the search generates edges and vertices only as they are needed, a practical and efficient algorithm may be possible using some effective heuristic. From this result it is shown that motion planning for rectangles in a rectangular boundary is in PSPACE. Since it is known that the problem is PSPACE-hard we conclude it is a PSPACE-complete problem.


The Project arose during a period in which the World was still coming to terms with the effects and implications of the so called 'energy crisis' of 1973/74. Serck Heat Transfer is a manufacturer of heat exchangers which transfer heat between fluids of various sorts. As such the company felt that past and possible future changes in the energy situation could have an impact upon the demand for its products. The thesis represents the first attempt to examine the impact of changes in the energy situation (a major economic variable) on the long term demand for heat exchangers. The scope of the work was limited to the United Kingdom, this being the largest single market for Serek's products. The thesis analyses industrial heat exchanger markets and identifies those trends which are related to both the changing energy situation and the usage of heat exchangers. These trends have been interpreted In terms of projected values of heat exchanger demand. The projections cover the period 197S to the year 2000. Also examined in the thesis is the future energy situation both internationally and nationally and it is found that in the long term there will be increasing pressure on consumers to conserve energy through rising real prices. The possibility of a connection between energy consumption and heat exchanger demand is investigated and no significant correlation found. This appears to be because there are a number of determinants of demand besides energy related factors and also there is a wide diversity of individual markets for heat exchangers. Conclusions are that in all markets, bar one, the changing energy situation should lead to a higher level of heat exchanger demand than would otherwise be the case had the energy situation not changed. It is also pointed out that it is misleading to look at changes in one influence on the demand for a product and ignore others.


Abstract Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, treatment, and prevention focus increasingly on developing personalized interventions based on personal genetic, biological, phenotypic data, for early intervention (EI) to limit harm. This approach has much to recommend it, but important ethical and philosophical challenges follow that should be considered, which we analyze here. We argue that advancing understanding of the causes of AD undermines the clarity of the distinction between primary and secondary prevention. This makes it increasingly unclear how primary and secondary categories can be appealed to as the basis for making judgements about what interventions are permissible, and for distinguishing between acceptably vs unacceptably early points in life to intervene. Timely efforts at prevention are vital for limiting harm from AD and given the logic of EI is that, in presence of risk, earlier is better, one might assume that earliest is best. This may or may not be the case; however, the permissibility of intervening in different ways at different stages of life is complex and turns on numerous contextual factors. We consider the particular ethical implications of intervening at different points in the life course, presenting a valuable resource for negotiating clinical and policy implications of EI in AD.


Although the prevalence of chronic HCV is lower in children than adults, an estimated 5 million children worldwide have active HCV infection (Gower, 2014). Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected between 2003 and 2010 indicates that 0.2% of 6to 11-year-olds (31,000 children) and 0.4% of 12to 19-year-olds (101,000 adolescents) in the US are chronically infected with HCV (Denniston, 2014).


Over the next decades, agricultural production practices will change significantly and become more sustainable while they also respond to the need to contribute to reducing malnutrition and hunger and meeting the challenges of climate change. The enhanced use of agricultural biodiversity will play an essential role in this process, providing improved adaptability and resilience in agro-ecosystems. Plant genetic resources, a major component of agricultural biodiversity, play a key role in improving agricultural production and productivity. They are also essential to coping with climate change. As a result of climate change, increased efforts will be needed to conserve the diversity of crops and their wild relatives, and both in situ and ex situ conservation strategies will have to be adapted to meet changing environmental conditions and the need to secure biodiversity threatened by changing climate and altered production practices. Improved use of plant genetic resources will be essential, and this is likely to require increased national and international movements of resources to ensure that adapted germplasm is available to meet changing production environments. Greater emphasis will also need to be placed on evaluation for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and on properties such as adaptability, plasticity, and resilience, which can help maintain productivity under changing environmental conditions.


Translating the DCFR and drafting the CESL have been extremely complex enterprises, and closely dependent one on the other. The volume takes a pragmatic approach in describing them. Structured in four parts, it sets out the historical and philosophical background of legal translation, and then focuses more narrowly on the legal translation processes adopted in the DCFR and the CESL. The volume provides legal and linguistic scholars as well as legal translators with a deeper understanding of the complexity of legal translation processes, which involve many institutional and non-institutional actors, each applying different methods of translation.


The estimation of demographic parameters in wild populations is strengthened by individual identification. For amphibians, various techniques are used to either temporarily or permanently mark individuals for identification. Photo-identification of body patterns offers a non-invasive technique. However, the reliability of photo-recognition software is key to the reliable estimation of the true demographic parameters. In the current study, we assessed the effectiveness of fully-automated and semi-automated software: Wild-ID and APHIS. We used the cryptic salamander Hydromantes strinatii as our study species. We used the False Rejection Rate (FRR) of Top 1, Top 5 and Top 10 matches of chest and cloaca pictures. Finally, we assessed the bias induced by our FRR for the estimation of population size through simulation. Wild-ID FRRs ranged from 0.042 to 0.093 while APHIS' ranged from 0.227 to 0.547. Wild-ID was equally efficient with pictures from the chest and from the cloaca, while APHIS was significantly more efficient with chest pictures than cloaca pictures. Cropping pictures did not significantly improve Wild-ID effectiveness. Our Wild-ID FRRs are among the lowest ever obtained from pictures of an amphibian with a complex chromatophore pattern. Simulation showed that the Top 10 FRR from selected software Wild-ID induced a low bias 2.7% on the estimation of population size. The effectiveness and plasticity of Wild-ID provides opportunities for reliably monitoring amphibian species with complex colour patterns.


This point layer was created from Detailed Annual Sales Reports by Borough published by New York City Department of Finance. It represents locations of all properties sold in New York City. Several Python scripts were written to read-in each borough's sales data and combine them into sales for New York City as whole. NYC Geoclient API, developed by NYC DOITT, was used in a script to geocode locations of the properties sold. Locations geocoded by the script were matched by property address or by property block and lot information, if the address was missing or incomplete. For some properties lot information has changed from the year of the property sale (e.g. lot has been split and renumbered) and doesn't exist in the city's current property and address database. Manual matching was performed for those records by examining archival tax maps. Due to the vertical nature of the real estate market in New York, multiple points / transactions may coincide in the same location. The coordinate reference system for this layer is NY State Plane Long Island in feet. The unique identifier of the dataset is Sale_id. Bbl_id is a unique identifier for the property and may repeat in the dataset if the property was sold more than once in the same year. The user should be cautious of sales with values less than $10 or equal to $0, which are marked as non-usable in this dataset. These sales are transfers of property and are not considered representative of true market conditions. This layer was created as a part of the NYC Geocoded Real Estate Sales data series.


Scholars have long expressed concern that the ascendance of the modern presidency since the New Deal and World War II, by hastening the decline of political parties and fostering the expansion of the administrative state, portended an era of chronically low public engagement and voter turnout and an increasingly fractious and impotent national politics. Presidents' inattentiveness to the demands of party-building and grassroots mobilization, coupled with their willingness to govern through administration, were seen as key obstacles to the revitalization of a politics based in widespread political interest and collective responsibility for public policy. This article argues that George W. Bush's potent combination of party leadership and executive administration, foreshadowed by Ronald Reagan's earlier efforts, suggests the emergence of a new presidential leadership synthesis and a "new" party system. This new synthesis does not promise a return to pre-modern party politics; rather, it indicates a rearticulation of the relationship between the presidency and the party system. The erosion of old old-style partisan politics allowed for a more national and issue-based party system to develop, forging new links between presidents and parties. As the 2006 elections reveal, however, it remains to be seen whether such parties, which are inextricably linked to executive-centered politics and governance, can perform the critical function of moderating presidential ambition and mobilizing public support for party principles and policies.Sidney M. Milkis is Professors of Politics (firstname.lastname@example.com) and Jesse H. Rhodes is a doctoral student (firstname.lastname@example.com) at the University of Virginia. The authors would like to thank the anonymous readers who reviewed the manuscript for their thoughtful and constructive comments.


In a connected graph, spanning tree centralities of a vertex and an edge measure how crucial they are for the graph to be connected. In this paper, we propose efficient algorithms for estimating spanning tree centralities with theoretical guarantees on their accuracy. We experimentally demonstrate that our methods are orders of magnitude faster than previous methods. Then, we propose a novel centrality notion of a vertex, called aggregated spanning tree centrality, which also considers the number of connected components obtained by removing the vertex. We also give an efficient algorithm for estimating aggregated spanning tree centrality. Finally, we experimentally show that those spanning tree centralities are useful to identify vulnerable edges and vertices in infrastructure networks.


Introduction: Nowadays use of computers in necessary for tasks and less work can be found with no use of the computer. Based on previous studies prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in computer users is high. The aim of this study was evaluate the risk of musculoskeletal disorders using Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA) method in computer users. Methods: This cross-sectional study carried out on 96 computer users in Isfahan University. Data collection tool was Nordic questionnaire and checklist of Rapid Office Strain Assessment method. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 20 and descriptive statistics and ANOVA tests were used. Results: Results showed that the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the shoulder (62.1), neck (54.9) and back (53.1) is more than in other parts of the body of studied computer users. based on the level of risk assigned by ROSA method 19 individuals were in low risk region, 50 in warning rejoin, and 27 in danger and need for ergonomics interventions rejoin. Also ANOVA test showed that There is direct and significant correlation between gender, age, and working hours experience with a final score ROSA (P<0/001). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that ROSA method for evaluation of musculoskeletal disorders in computer users is a suitable method. It was also revealed that computer users depending on their jobs are at risk of musculoskeletal disorders and must use ergonomic interventions such as education of ergonomic principles for computer users, reduction of working hours with computers, and performing stretch exercise to reduce musculoskeletal disorders carried out.


The long-term bond rate is cointegrated with the actual one-period inflation rate during two sample periods, 1961Q1 to 1979Q3 and 1961Q1 to 1995Q4. This result indicates that in the long run the bond rate and actual inflation move together. The nature of short-run dynamic adjustments between these variables has, however, changed over time. In the pre-1979 period, when the bond rate rose above the one-period inflation rate, actual inflation accelerated. In the post-1979 period, however, the bond rate reverted back and actual inflation did not accelerate. Thus, the bond rate signaled future inflation in the period before 1979, but not thereafter. The results here indicate that in the period after 1979 Fed policy prevented any pickup in inflationary expectations (evidenced by the rise in the bond rate) from getting reflected in higher actual future inflation.


INTRODUCTION In this paper the species of spiders belonging to the families Lycosidae and Pisauridae, known from the Netherlands, are described and figured. In addition a number of species, which possibly may occur in the Netherlands though they have not yet been found here hitherto, are mentioned in the keys. In order to make the keys useful also for identifying immature specimens, I have based these keys not only on the well-known differential characters in the adult sexual organs, but also, as far as possible, on characters derived from colour-pattern and chaetotaxy. The system of notation, used to indicate the situation of the spines on palps and legs, is briefly stated as follows (Wiebes, 1956, pp. 408, 409) : d, 1', 1", v', and v" indicate dorsal, prolateral, retrolateral, anterior ventral, and posterior ventral rows of spines respectively. The indices 1, 2, and a refer to the situation of the verticils on the parts of the legs concerned, 1 is the most basal verticil, a the apical one. Distinct verticils are placed in square brackets, pairs (consisting of an anterior and a posterior spine) in round brackets. Some parts of the joints sometimes bear two spines instead of the normal one; the notation is then with extra indices, a, b, or, in the apical verticil, with the additions, s (superior), or i (inferior). The figures in this paper were made with the aid of a camera lucida. In order to figure the female epigynes, these chitinous plates were taken out, and cleared in a 10 % solution of caustic potash in water. Temporary preparations were made in alcohol (70 %), and the outlines were drawn as seen under an ordinary microscope.


Abstract. The role of clouds remains the largest uncertainty in climate projections. They influence solar and thermal radiative transfer and the earth's water cycle. Therefore, there is an urgent need for accurate cloud observations to validate climate models and to monitor climate change. Passive satellite imagers measuring radiation at visible to thermal infrared (IR) wavelengths provide a wealth of information on cloud properties. Among others, the cloud top height (CTH) – a crucial parameter to estimate the thermal cloud radiative forcing – can be retrieved. In this paper we investigate the skill of ten current retrieval algorithms to estimate the CTH using observations from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) onboard Meteosat Second Generation (MSG). In the first part we compare ten SEVIRI cloud top pressure (CTP) data sets with each other. The SEVIRI algorithms catch the latitudinal variation of the CTP in a similar way. The agreement is better in the extratropics than in the tropics. In the tropics multi-layer clouds and thin cirrus layers complicate the CTP retrieval, whereas a good agreement among the algorithms is found for trade wind cumulus, marine stratocumulus and the optically thick cores of the deep convective system. In the second part of the paper the SEVIRI retrievals are compared to CTH observations from the Cloud–Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) instruments. It is important to note that the different measurement techniques cause differences in the retrieved CTH data. SEVIRI measures a radiatively effective CTH, while the CTH of the active instruments is derived from the return time of the emitted radar or lidar signal. Therefore, some systematic differences are expected. On average the CTHs detected by the SEVIRI algorithms are 1.0 to 2.5 km lower than CALIOP observations, and the correlation coefficients between the SEVIRI and the CALIOP data sets range between 0.77 and 0.90. The average CTHs derived by the SEVIRI algorithms are closer to the CPR measurements than to CALIOP measurements. The biases between SEVIRI and CPR retrievals range from −0.8 km to 0.6 km. The correlation coefficients of CPR and SEVIRI observations vary between 0.82 and 0.89. To discuss the origin of the CTH deviation, we investigate three cloud categories: optically thin and thick single layer as well as multi-layer clouds. For optically thick clouds the correlation coefficients between the SEVIRI and the reference data sets are usually above 0.95. For optically thin single layer clouds the correlation coefficients are still above 0.92. For this cloud category the SEVIRI algorithms yield CTHs that are lower than CALIOP and similar to CPR observations. Most challenging are the multi-layer clouds, where the correlation coefficients are for most algorithms between 0.6 and 0.8. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the SEVIRI retrievals for boundary layer clouds. While the CTH retrieval for this cloud type is relatively accurate, there are still considerable differences between the algorithms. These are related to the uncertainties and limited vertical resolution of the assumed temperature profiles in combination with the presence of temperature inversions, which lead to ambiguities in the CTH retrieval. Alternative approaches for the CTH retrieval of low clouds are discussed.


The purpose of this study was to determine the quantitative and qualitative level of Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) of Senior Phase learners in Potchefstroom, South Africa. A total of 239, 13 to 14 year old learners were randomly selected from eight schools. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2 (BOT-2), was used to assess six fundamental movement skills quantitatively, and the Fundamental Movement Pattern Assessment Instrument (FMPAI), was applied to analyse the same skills qualitatively. The results of the quantitative assessment showed that the total group of learners, including the boys and girls separately, performed below the norm for their age. The qualitative analysis showed that balancing on one leg on the balance beam was the skill in which the participants performed poorest. The quantitative and qualitative assessment results showed no statistically significant correlations in the tests of bouncing and catching a ball in the total group, nor in the boys' and girls' groups, and ball dribbling in the boys' group. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that the mastering of FMS should be included in the Senior Phase Physical Education curriculum, and that both quantitative and qualitative assessment should be used when assessing these skills. Keywords: Fundamental Movement Skills, Quantitative, Qualitative, Assessment, Adolescents


The literary project of the Angolan writer Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, from the collection of poems Chão de oferta (1972) to the metafictional trilogy Os filhos de Próspero (2009), along with his work as an anthropologist, filmmaker and intellectual, is animated by a research for a conjunction between subject, geology, landscape and politics, which rejects Western epistemological categories and their underlying powers. At the end of his life, this trait of his personality and work took the form of an unfinished neo-animist project, based on a decalogue in which he criticises the humanist paradigm for the sake of recovering an "equilibrium politics" relying on "[o]ther paradigms set aside and hidden from consideration because they originate in cultures dominated or annihilated by the Western world". The aim of this essay is both to trace the origins of Carvalho's neo-animist project in his early poetry and narrative and connect it with a broader African criticism, both literary and philosophical, in order to include his thought within the African approach to posthumanism.


Alcoholysis reaction between triolein and oleyl alcohol catalyzed by Lipozyme
and Novozyme was carried out to produce oleyl oleate, a wax ester. Several reaction
parameters were studied in order to get its optimal condition such as effect of time,
reaction temperature, amount of enzyme, molar ratio of substrates (oleyl alcohol/trioleib),
various organic solvents used, initial water activity (aw), continuously controlled water
activity and addition of silica gel.
The optimal condition to produce wax ester for Lipozyme are incubation time of
5 h, temperature of 50°c and using 30% (w/v) of Lipozyme. The molar ratio of substmte
was 6:1 (oleyl alcohol/triolein) in heptane and at aw 0.33 (initial water activity) or 0.32
(continuously controlled water activity) with the addition of 0.25 g of silica gel. For
Novozyme, the optimum incubation time was 5 h, at reaction temperature of 60 °c using
30% (w/v) of Novozyme. The optimum molar ratio of substrates (oleyl alcohol/triolein) was also at 6:1, in heptane at aw 0.33 (initial water activity, aw), 0.32 (continuously
controlled water activity) and with the addition of 0.50 g of silica gel.
A scale up reaction was then carried out using the optimum condition catalyzed
by Lipozyme. The percentage yield of wax ester produced at optimum reaction condition
was 58.48% when determined by gravimetry method and 75.66% when determined using
gas chromatography.


The Tibetan Plateau is an extraordinary topographic feature which exerts a major impact on regional and global climate. Its glacierised mountain ranges attain extreme altitudes and represent an important water resource for more than a billion people in Asia. Understanding the past glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau therefore is important to understanding global and regional climate and glacier hydrological evolution. A regional glacier modelling study has been initiated as part of an umbrella project aiming towards reconstructing the Quaternary palaeoglaciology of the Tibetan Plateau. On the basis of field studies which includes cosmogenic exposure-age dating, it is now generally recognised that former glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, while more extensive than today, were still restricted to individual mountain areas. In contrast, a handful of previous modelling studies (Kuhle et al. 1989; Calov & Marsiat 1998; Bintanja et al. 2002; Casal et al. 2004) yield a bifurcated result with either 1) the growth of plateau-wide ice sheets (thus overshooting field evidence) or, 2) virtually no ice (which undershoots field evidence).We apply and test a positive degree day (PDD) model across the Tibetan Plateau to explore the parameter sensitivity and potential issues of grid-dependence. Utilising the 1km mean monthly (1950 – 2000) distributions of temperature and precipitation from the WorldClim database as a contemporary reference climatology, a suite of PDD experiments are run to predict present day ice cover. At a resolution of 1 km the algorithm nicely identifies zones of positive mass balance (accumulation) across most major contemporary glaciarised areas. Unsurprisingly increased grid resolution yields a significant decrease in the predicted accumulation area with a 40 km grid completely failing to predict accumulation across the domain. Such mesh dependence with larger grid-resolutions yielding less accumulation illustrates a major flaw in large-scale, low resolution ice modelling in areas of high topographical relief where adequate sub-grid parameterisation of accumulation/flow/melt processes have not been accounted for in a meaningful manner (e.g. Marshall & Clarke 1999). The result of the 20 km resolution PDD model can be manipulated to converge by applying extreme perturbations in temperature (c. -10 K) or precipitation (c. + 8000 %) but this yields plateau-wide accumulation areas far exceeding field evidence of glaciation. Our results indicate that the bifurcation in Quaternary ice extent identified in previous ice sheet modelling studies of the Tibetan Plateau are very likely a consequence of grid-resolution related issues implicit to the models applied.ReferencesBintanja R., van de Wal R.S.W., Oerlemans J. 2002: Global ice volume variations through the last glacial cycle simulated by a 3-D ice-dynamical model. Quaternary International, 95-96, 11-23.Calov R, Marsiat I. 1998: Simulations of the Northern Hemisphere through the last glacial-interglacial cycle with a vertically integrated and a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet model coupled to a climate model. Annals of Glaciology, 27, 169-176.Casal T.G.D., Kutzbach J.E., Thompson L.G. 2004: Present And Past Ice-Sheet Mass Balance Simulations For Greenland And The Tibetan Plateau. Climate Dynamics, 23, 407-425.Kuhle M., Herterich K., Calov R. 1989: On the Ice Age Glaciation of the Tibetan Highlands and its Transformation into a 3-D Model. GeoJournal, 19, 201-206.Marshall S.J., Clarke G.K.C. 1999: Ice sheet inception: subgrid hypsometric parameterization of mass balance in an ice sheet model. Climate Dynamics, 15, 533-550.


The forest sector is a high-risk economic sector in Latvia, one in which manual work, awkward postures, the tightening up of individual muscle groups, and work monotony still exists. The aim of this study was to analyse the physical workload and fault modes, and their effects on the sawing and packing processes in woodworking when considering potential ergonomic solutions. Results show that packing operators and saw operators alike are exposed to severe loads, and these results coincide with survey results in which employees in these professions complain about the physical load and mention lower back pain. Fault modes and their effects on the sawing and packing processes were analysed using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, and the main errors which were revealed in packing operations were related to machinery and lifting equipment, as well as to ergonomics and errors involving the human factor. The risk priority was calculated in terms of a figure. Financial indices were compared before and after any potential improvement in the sawing and packing processes. Analysis proves that investments in the improvement of ergonomics in relation to the automation of the production process saves human resources and is economically favourable when it comes to ensuring the sustainable development of the business in question.


We present a high-order discontinuous Galerkin method for the solution of the shallow water equations on the sphere. To overcome well-known problems with polar singularities, we consider the shallow water equations in Cartesian coordinates, augmented with a Lagrange multiplier to ensure that fluid particles are constrained to the spherical surface. The global solutions are represented by a collection of curvilinear quadrilaterals from an icosahedral grid. On each of these elements the local solutions are assumed to be well approximated by a high-order nodal Lagrange polynomial, constructed from a tensor-product of the Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto points, which also supplies a high-order quadrature. The shallow water equations are satisfied in a local discontinuous element fashion with solution continuity being enforced weakly. The numerical experiments, involving a comparison of weak and strong conservation forms and the impact of over-integration and filtering, confirm the expected high-order accuracy and the potential for using such highly parallel formulations in numerical weather prediction.


Approaching the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers in 1805, Lewis and Clark marveled at the "almost inconceivable multitudes" of salmon hurling themselves through the roiling waters, but worried at the "emence numbers" of bruised, battered, and dead fish farther upriver. The American explorers, unaware that Pacific salmon die after an orgy of spawning, were mystified at the frenzied spectacle of life and death before them.

An estimated 16 million salmon once swam the ancient migration route from river to ocean and back again, sustaining then-abundant bear, eagle, mink, and river otters along the way and releasing nutrient-rich compounds to replenish Columbia Basin streams and forests as their spent bodies decayed. By 1930, decades of overfishing, unchecked mining, logging, and engineering projects pushed wild stocks into serious decline—just as the US government resolved to fully exploit the hydroelectric and irrigation potential of the Columbia with a massive system of dams.

Today, just under 2% of salmon retrace the improbable journey of their forebears; 13 Columbia salmon stocks are listed as threatened or endangered. Most researchers and environmentalists believe that the extensive network of dams poses the biggest threat to salmon recovery. But a new study by David Welch, Carl Schreck, and colleagues suggests that factors other than dams may also be vital to the survival of ocean-going juveniles (called smolts).

Because salmon declines continued after 1938, when the first dam was built, and were particularly sharp after 1977, when the last Snake River dams were built, recovery efforts have focused on mitigating threats posed by the hydropower system (including warmer waters, fish-grinding turbines, and new predators). These efforts helped reduce the dam-related carnage reported in the 1960s and '70s. But migrating salmon must also contend with habitat destruction, detrimental encounters with hatchery fish, and large-scale changes in ocean climate, which were first detected after dam construction ended in the 1970s. Understanding the primary drivers of the declines is essential for increasing the value of scare resources for salmon recovery.

Efforts to measure the survival of finger-sized smolts have long been limited by the technology used to track them. Short-range radio tags required steering fish near receivers, which can't be done in an undammed river. Only recently were longer-range acoustic and radio tags made small enough to implant in tiny fish without harming them. In this study, Welch et al. used the recently developed Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array, an acoustic telemetry system that works in both marine- and freshwaters.

To gauge the effect of dams on survival, the researchers compared the fate of Chinook and steelhead migrants leaving the heavily impounded Columbia–Snake River system with those leaving the unfettered Thompson–Fraser River system to the north, in south central British Columbia. Smolts implanted with acoustic tags migrating some 240 km from the Thompson tributaries down the undammed Fraser River were monitored for three seasons, starting in 2004. The researchers compared these results to two sets of survival data previously collected on smolts navigating the Columbia system. In one set, smolts outfitted with PIT (passive integrated transponder) radio tags had swum 516 km through eight dams; in the second, smolts with the same acoustic tags used in the Fraser River system traveled through the undammed lower Columbia.

Whole-river survival through the Columbia system was calculated by combining estimates based on the PIT tags in the impounded upper river with those from acoustic tags in the undammed lower river. For a direct comparison of whole-river survival estimates between the dammed and undammed rivers, the researchers also implanted smolts with acoustic tags to track them down the 910-km length of the Snake–Columbia system. (This analysis also allowed them to compare survival results from the acoustic tags with studies using PIT tags from the same year to ensure similar performance for both methods.)

Surprisingly, smolts fared just as well negotiating the heavily dammed Columbia as they did going down the free-flowing Fraser. Comparing the rivers section by section, Chinook smolts traversing the dammed system actually had higher survival rates than their cousins in the Fraser. Adjusting estimates to consider the distance and time smolts had to migrate to reach the river mouth revealed that average survival rates were much higher for both species from the Snake River than for those in the undammed Fraser. In fact, no matter how they analyzed the data, the researchers reported, "survival is not worse in the Columbia despite the presence of an extensive network of dams."

These results challenge long-held assumptions about the impact of dams and suggest that removing dams may not accelerate salmon recovery, as widely believed. The researchers caution, however, that it's not clear whether the similar survival rates indicate that improved dam management has aided smolt passage through the Columbia or that the Fraser poses unrecognized problems. Although the researchers found that about 20–30% of smolts made it through the dammed river to the river mouth, as few as 0.5% of adults return to spawn.

Clearly, threats beyond the rivers are taking a heavy toll on salmon. The bleak conservation status of Thompson River steelhead has been blamed on inhospitable ocean conditions, which may explain the poor return of both Chinook and steelhead to the Snake River as well. Whether it's the ocean conditions per se or the rigors of dam passage that leave salmon ill-equipped to deal with marine life remains an open question. The researchers argue that it may be time to shift conservation focus away from helping smolts pass through the hydropower system to understanding how dams affect ocean survival.

This steelhead smolt (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was surgically implanted 7 months earlier with an acoustic tag. Two acoustic tags are visible externally; tags identical to the smaller one were used for most of the research reported in the paper.


The impetus behind California's Proposition 187 clearly reflects the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in this country. Many Americans regard today's new immigrants as not truly American, as somehow less committed to the ideals on which the country was founded. In clear, precise terms, Bill Ong Hing considers immigration in the context of the global economy, a sluggish national economy, and the hard facts about downsizing. Importantly, he also confronts the emphatic claims of immigrant supporters that immigrants do assimilate, take jobs that native workers don't want, and contribute more to the tax coffers than they take out of the system. A major contribution of Hing's book is its emphasis on such often-overlooked issues as the competition between immigrants and African Americans, inter-group tension, and ethnic separatism, issues constantly brushed aside both by immigrant rights groups and the anti-immigrant right. Drawing on Hing's work as a lawyer deeply involved in the day-to-day life of his immigrant clients, To Be An American is a unique blend of substantive analysis, policy, and personal experience.


This thesis is concerned with degree moments and degree variance in random graphs. The degree of vertex i in a graph is the number of edges incident to vertex i.In the first paper, degree moments and functions of degree moments are investigated for three random graph models. In statistical applications of random graph models the degree moments, and functions of the degree moments, have been found useful both as summary statistics and for inference on particular random graph models. Exact and asymptotic formulas are given for various degree statistics, in particular the degree variance.The second paper focus on the degree variance. Exact and asymptotic distributions of the degree variance are investigated for Bernoulli graphs and uniform random graphs. For graphs of large order, we show that the degree variance is approximately gamma distributed with parameters obtained from the first two moments of the degree variance. The usefulness of the results is illustrated by a graph centrality test with a critical value obtained from the gamma distribution.The third and last paper is concerned with extreme values and other attained values of the degree variance among graphs of fixed order and size, and among graphs of fixed order. The structure of the extreme graphs is investegated and it is shown that the maximum value of the degree variance can be obtained from integer sequences associated to the triangular numbers. Explicite formulas for the number of possible values and recurrence relations for the attained values of the degree variance are developed.


The Karst Hydrogeochemistry of the Carboniferous Limestone of North Derbyshire b y : N.S.J. Christopher Water samples were collected from 20 representative sites in North Derbyshire and N.E. Cheshire at intervals varying from hourly to monthly over a three-year period. All samples were analysed for all major and some minor components. The results were used to evaluate controls on temporal variability, to examine water classification techniques and to identify aquifer types. Additionally, the results from 62 further sites were used with other published results to evaluate geochemical controls on water composition over the whole Derbyshire karst. A complete spectrum of water chemistry types related to hydrological regime was identified by indicators suggested by other workers and new parameters discovered and developed during the present work. The complete spectrum that previous studies have only partly characterized includes highly variable surface streams, intermediate types and saturated diffuse flow resurgences whose variability approaches the precision of the analytical methods. Particularly successful new indicators were the ionic ratios (Ca + Mg)/(Na + K); Ca/(Cl + SO^); Cl/(Na + K) and relative entropy. The final concentration of dissolved calcium was related to the solubility of calcite, calcite precipitation under open system conditions and ion exchange. The dominant control on temporal variability of conduit resurgences was rainfall during the preceding 48 hours. The dominant geochemical^progess was limestone solution and erosion rates of 5512 m /km /yr were deduced, of which 40% occurs at the surface. Other geochemical controls were contact with or the presence of shale, dolomite or lava in the catchment. Further, pollution by road salt or fertilizer and open or closed system evolution were factors. Thengnodynamic^ studies h ^ e shown : the dominant ion-pairs are CaSO^ , CaHCO^ and MgSO^ in non-thermal waters; the waters are stable with respect only to kaolinite and saturation levels to calcite and dolomite are influenced by the Ca/Mg ratio. . Flood pulse and dye tracing studies have shown the Castleton aquifer to be dominantly of a fractured rock type, with some preferential flow paths and many previously unsuspected crosslinks between known caves.


Objective: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease. Clinical findings in repeated attacks are cough, wheezing, respiratory difficulty, and airway obstruction. The first and most important stage in the control of asthma is the family physician. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge of family physicians on asthma and to raise awareness on the subjects of diagnosis and treatment of asthma. Materials and Methods: The study was implemented with the voluntary participation of 210 family physicians. A pre-prepared questionnaire was completed in face-to-face interviews. The questionnaire had been prepared with the aim of measuring the skills of family physicians in diagnosing and treating asthma patients. With the correct answers provided, it was examined whether or not there was a relationship with the duration of professional experience of the family physicians. The participants were evaluated in two groups, those with 1-10 years of professional experience and the ones with 11-30 years of experience. Results: A total of 210 family physicians were evaluated in the study, comprising 124 (59%) males and 86 (41%) females, with a mean age of 38.28±7.76 years. The group with 1-10 years of professional experience comprised 45 (52.3%) males and 41 (47.7%) females, with a mean age of 30.84±3.03 years. Those with 11-30 years of experience comprised 79 (63.7%) males and 45 (36.3%) females, with a mean age of 43.44±5.51 years. A statistically significant difference was determined between the groups of less and more experience in only three items: "asthma symptoms recover with bronchodilator drugs" (p=0.011), "I treat children with an acute attack of asthma with nebulizer bronchodilator treatment" (p=0.040), and "I do not feel confident to start treatment for any patient that I think has asthma"(p=0.019). Conclusion: Increasing the confidence of family physicians and encouraging them to increase their levels of knowledge on the subjects of diagnosis of asthma and especially acute and preventative treatment could contribute to better control of this disease, which causes high morbidity and mortality.


Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes a diverse spectrum of neurologic complications: aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, cerebral infarction associated with granulomatous vasculitis, myelitis, and cranial polyneuropathy. These VZV-associated central nervous system (CNS) diseases usually result from reactivation of latent infection in immunosuppressive conditions, such as old age, diabetes mellitus, cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and the use of immunosuppressive drugs. However, they also occur in immunocompetent subjects. Since VZV antigen or DNA is often detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of these patients, it is thought that reactivated VZV reaches the central nervous system by direct spread from latently infected sensory ganglia. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid by PCR is important for the diagnosis of VZV-associated CNS diseases particularly in the absence of exanthema/herpes zoster. Clinicians should be aware of the neurologic complications of VZV infection, because early acyclovir therapy is necessary for these disorders.


This thesis examines the quantitative genetics of intra- and inter-specific
hybrids of E. globulus ssp. globulus and E. nitens. The trials established to make
this study are unique in forestry, due to the fact that the same parents have
been used in open-pollination, intra- and inter-provenance (or intra-species)
crosses and inter-species F1 hybrids. This has allowed direct comparison of
genetic parameters derived from different cross types. The traits examined
include frost resistance using an electrical conductivity method, growth
(diameter at breast height over bark DBHOB, at ages 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10 years)
and Pilodyn penetration at age 6 years as an indirect measure of wood density.
The results demonstrate that the measured performance of frost, growth and
Pilodyn traits in the inter-specific Fi hybrid E. nitens x globulus is always
intermediate or comparable with one or other of the parent species. In the
frost trait, the inter-specific hybrid was no better than the frost sensitive E.
globulus, so there is no overall advantage in producing the hybrid for this trait.
Negative mid-parent heterosis was observed for early age growth traits in
inter-specific E. nitens x globulus FI hybrids involving Taranna E. globulus male
parents. The inter-specific FI hybrids demonstrated generally poor survival
and a high proportion of abnormal and slow growing phenotypes, which
eventually died. This latter phenomenon was not evident in pure species
crosses, either within or between provenances.
It is shown that in E. globulus open-pollinated progeny estimates of additive
genetic parameters are inflated and that breeding values for growth in E.
globulus are poorly estimated, possibly due to the confounding effects of
variation in inbreeding. This was not the case for traits of high heritability
such as Pilodyn. Within the E. nitens population studied, open-pollinated
estimates compared well with control-pollinated estimates for all traits.
Genetic parameter estimates from control-pollinated progeny indicate low
heritability for growth in E. globulus which diminish over time. Dominance
effects were low and comparable with additive genetic effects but were site
specific. In E. nitens heritability for growth is moderate to high, tending to
increase over time with significantly low levels of dominance, which diminish
over time. Pilodyn has low to moderate heritabilities with low levels of
dominance in both species. Moderate levels of heritability were demonstrated
for frost resistance in both species, but dominance effects could not be
accurately estimated.
The correlation of performance of parents in intia-specific crosses through
their General Combining Ability (GCA) is compared with performance in
inter-specific hybrids through General Hybridising Ability (GHA). It is shown
that there is little or no correlation between GCA and GHA in inter-specific F1
hybrids for growth or frost resistance, but there was a good correlation for
Pilodyn. This indicates that, for growth and frost resistance, there may be
different genes, which contribute to expression between species and these may
not combine according to classical quantitative genetic theory. In contrast,
within E. globulus there was very high correlation of within-provenance GCA
with between-provenance GHA for growth and Pilodyn, indicating the same
genes are acting within the species, regardless of provenance.
It is demonstrated that standard quantitative genetic models do not cope
adequately with inter-specific F1 hybrid populations for growth traits in this
case. In addition, the implication for breeding and deployment of interspecific
Fi hybrids is compromised by the lack of ability to predict
performance of potential hybrid combinations from pure species performance
of parents.


Introduction: Intractable bleeding is one of common adverse events after cardiac surgeries. Recombinant activated factor VII (rVIIa) showed efficiency in controlling postoperative intractable bleeding (1). Its usage after cardiac surgeries should be more investigated. Patients and methods: - All patients received rVIIa post cardiac surgeries over a period of two years were included in a retrospective descriptive study. All patients were evaluated for base line laboratory results and comorbidities, operative details, dose of rVIIa received, total chest drains pre and post rVIIa administration, total blood and blood products given pre and post rVIIa, post rVIIa laboratory results, complications of rVIIa, length of stay in intensive care unit. Results: -. We recruited 19 patients with a mean age of 49±18 years who received RVIIa in a dose of 90 mcg/kg. Packed red blood cells transfusion post rVIIa administration was decreased from mean of 10±6 units to 3.7±1.7 units P<0.0001. Chest drains post rVIIa administration were decreased from median of 2000 ml and IQR of 1200 to median of 500 ml and IQR of 500 P<0.1 .No complications related to rVIIa administration were observed. Discussion: - The study highlight the following findings: Efficiency and safety of rVIIa in the control of intractable bleeding post cardiac surgeries. Usage of rVIIa saves blood bank resources, decreases the need of surgical reopening and decreases morbidity. More studies needed to elaborate clinical guidelines for the usage of rVIIa in the management of intractable bleeding post cardiac surgeries. Conclusion: - There is increase need for clinical guidelines for the usage of rVIIa post cardiac surgeries. In our experience at Qatar heart hospital recombinant activated factor VII is safe and efficient treatment to control intractable bleeding post cardiac surgeries. Reference: - (1) Conrad V. Bishop, William E.P. Renwick, Chris Hogan, Michael Haeusler, Annabel Tuckfield and James Tatoulis: Recombinant Activated Factor VII: Treating Postoperative Hemorrhage in Cardiac Surgery. Ann Thorac Surg 2006; 81:875-879.


The last decade has witnessed Turkish foreign policy transform from a status-quo oriented stance to one that aggressively asserts Turkey's preferences aboard. This structural break in Turkish foreign policy coincided with two significant domestic developments. First, Turkish economy has experienced a sustained period of growth during the first decade of the new millennium. Concomitant with Turkey's economic growth, the country also took substantial steps towards democratization, an important consequence of which has been the popularization of foreign policy. Turkey has become an important aid donor in Africa, stepped up its ambassadorial presence across the globe, and had a successful bid for a seat in the UN Security Council.
Motivated by the inadequacy exhibited by conventional theories of international relations in explaining the multifaceted change in Turkish foreign policy, this paper highlights the strengths of the Two-Good Theory of foreign policy to explain Turkey's increasing involvement in world affairs during the last decade. In doing so, it extends Palmer & Morgan's formal model of foreign policy production to explain how the two aforementioned developments resulted in a multifaceted Turkish foreign policy that (a) puts less emphasis on the use of militarized force, and instead (b) employs a larger portfolio of foreign policy tools. Insights from this analysis can also help scholars to explain the peaceful rise of regional leaders elsewhere around the globe, such as China and Brazil.


In "Indo-European Sacred Space", Roger D. Woodard provides a careful examination of the sacred spaces of ancient Rome, finding them remarkably consistent with older Indo-European religious practices as described in the Vedas of ancient India. Employing and expanding on the fundamental methods of Emile Benveniste, as well as Georges Dumezil's tripartite analysis of Proto-Indo-European society, Woodard clarifies not only the spatial dynamics of the archaic Roman cult but, stemming from that, an unexpected clarification of several obscure issues in the study of Roman religion. Looking closely at the organization of Roman religious activity, especially as regards sacrifices, festivals, and the hierarchy of priests, Woodard sheds new light on issues including the presence of the god Terminus in Jupiter's Capitoline temple, the nature of the Roman suovetaurilia, the Ambarvalia and its relationship to the rites of the Fratres Arvales, and the identification of the "Sabine" god Semo Sancus. Perhaps most significantly, this work also presents a novel and persuasive resolution to the long-standing problem of "agrarian Mars". Roger Woodard is Andrew V. V. Raymond Professor of the Classics and professor of linguistics at the University of Buffalo (The State University of New York). Among his many books are "Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer" and "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages". This is a volume in the "Traditions" series, edited by Gregory Nagy.


Previous studies have shown that negative selection of T cells to sheep erythrocytes (SRC) after adoptive transfer to irradiated mice requires a sharing of H-2 determinants between the donor T cells and the selection hosts. This paper examines which part of the H-2 complex controls selection. The results show that, in the case of T cells of the H-2k haplotype, complete selection occurs with donor host matching limited to the I-A through I-E subregions of the H-2 complex. Selection to SRC was partial in I-A compatible, I-E incompatible hosts, minimal or not detectable in I-A incompatible, I-E compatible hosts, but near- complete in hosts matched at both the I-A and I-E subregions. Consecutive selection in hosts matched solely at (a) the I-A subregion and (b) the I-E subregion led to incomplete selection. From these and other findings it is argued that H-2k T cells comprise a mixture of T cells restricted by I-A and I-A/E hybrid molecules.


Natale, G.S., Alcalde, L., Herrera, R., Cajade, R., Schaefer, E.F., Marangoni, F. and Trudeau, V.L. 2011. Underwater acoustic communication in the macrophagic carnivorous larvae of Ceratophrys ornata (Anura: Ceratophryidae). —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 92: 46–53.

We provide the first evidence for sound production by anuran larvae. In this study, we describe the sounds, their context-specific emission and the structures related to sound production of the carnivorous larvae of Ceratophrys ornata (Amphibia, Anura, Ceratophryidae). Tadpoles emit a brief, clear and very audible metallic-like sound that consists of a short train of notes that occur at all stages of larval development. Tadpoles make sound only when a conspecific tadpole is preying upon it or when touched by an object. Ceratophrys ornata larvae possess the basic required anatomical structures for sound production via expulsion of atmospheric air from the lungs through the open soft-tissue glottis. The glottis is opened and closed via the larval laryngeal muscles (constrictor laryngis and dilatator laryngis). The arytenoid cartilages appear at stage 40 and the cricoid cartilage does at stage 43. Adult laryngeal muscles differentiate from the larval ones at stage 46 together with the vocal sac formation from the adult interhyoideus muscle. We demonstrate (n = 2160 conspecific predator–prey interactions) that larval sounds occur always under predatory attack, probably serving to diminish the chances of cannibalism. These data raise the possibility that other macrophagic carnivorous anuran larvae may produce sound.


With the growing realization that current Internet protocols are reaching the limits of their senescence, a number of on-going research efforts aim to design potential next-generation Internet architectures. Although they vary in maturity and scope, in order to avoid past pitfalls, these efforts seek to treat security and privacy as fundamental requirements. Resilience to Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks that plague today's Internet is a major issue for any new architecture and deserves full attention.
In this paper, we focus on DoS in a specific candidate next-generation Internet architecture called Named-Data Networking (NDN) -- an instantiation of Information-Centric Networking approach. By stressing content dissemination, NDN appears to be attractive and viable approach to many types of current and emerging communication models. It also incorporates some basic security features that mitigate certain attacks. However, NDN's resilience to DoS attacks has not been analyzed to-date. This paper represents the first step towards assessment and possible mitigation of DoS in NDN. After identifying and analyzing several new types of attacks, it investigates their variations, effects and counter-measures. This paper also sheds some light on the long-standing debate about relative virtues of self-certifying, as opposed to human-readable, names.


With the growing number and significance of urban meteorological networks (UMNs) across the world, it is becoming critical to establish a standard metadata protocol. Indeed, a review of existing UMNs indicate large variations in the quality, quantity, and availability of metadata containing technical information (i.e., equipment, communication methods) and network practices (i.e., quality assurance/quality control and data management procedures). Without such metadata, the utility of UMNs is greatly compromised. There is a need to bring together the currently disparate sets of guidelines to ensure informed and well-documented future deployments. This should significantly improve the quality, and therefore the applicability, of the high-resolution data available from such networks. Here, the first metadata protocol for UMNs is proposed, drawing on current recommendations for urban climate stations and identified best practice in existing networks.


In this paper we present analog current mode Euclidean distance calculation (EDC) block, which calculates the distance between two current vectors. The proposed circuit is an important part of the CMOS-implemented Kohonen's neural network (KNN) designed for medical applications. The input data vector is compared with the weights' vector in each neuron in proposed KNN. The neuron, whose weights are the closest to the input training vector becomes the winner and in the next step changes its weights. Proposed EDC block performs several operations such as: subtraction, squaring and summing of the current signals. The output current is the exact measure of the Euclidean distance. Proposed circuit dissipates power 15 muW from 1.5 V voltage supply, working with 20 MHz input data frequency. The signal frequency as well as the power dissipation may be scaled down to 1 MHz and 300 nA. Proposed EDC circuit, in CMOS 0.18 mum technology, occupies area about 500 mum2.


Fresco restoration includes the integration of missing plaster. Restorers use different tools and materials for the intervention. Recent research shows that restored plasters have different thermo-hygrometrical behaviors at low temperature and high ambient humidity rate. Field observations of the hygroscopic behavior of different mortar textures showed that textures obtained with hard tools (spatula, wooden float, trowel) have harder, denser surfaces, which favor vapor condensation, while soft tooled finishes (sponge, sponge float) have a rough surface that facilitates absorption and evaporation of moisture. In case of contiguity between two different finishes, the edges of the rougher surface (around a more compact texture) show more damage than the smoother and compact surface. Despite chemical compatibility of mortar compounds, the effect of changes in water state on the surfaces causes differential damage, starting from the edge of replastered areas. The durability of plasters applied with different tools, resulting in heterogeneous textures, can be shorter than that of homogeneous textures. Early detection of risk areas, by means of infrared thermography at transient conditions, is very helpful for the preservation of historical buildings without a controlled heating/cooling system, and it offers an improvement in restoration techniques of precious surfaces.


Metal nanogratings as one of the promising architectures for effective light trapping in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been actively studied over the past decade. Here we designed a novel metal nanowall grating with ultra-small period and ultra-high aspect-ratio as the back electrode of the OPV device. Such grating results in the strong hot spot effect in-between the neighboring nanowalls and the localized surface plasmon effect at the corners of nanowalls. These combined effects make the integrated absorption efficiency of light over the wavelength range from 400 to 650 nm in the active layer for the proposed structure, with respect to the equivalent planar structure, increases by 102% at TM polarization and by 36.5% at the TM/TE hybrid polarization, respectively. Moreover, it is noted that the hot spot effect in the proposed structure is more effective for ultra-thin active layers, which is very favorable for the exciton dissociation and charge collection. Therefore such a nanowall grating is expected to improve the overall performance of OPV devices.


The territory of Italy is seriously afflicted by hydrological risk, with 82% of its area affected by this phenomenon. In recent years, technologies and advanced research have played an important role in realizing complex automatic systems devoted to landslide monitoring and to alerting the population. Sometimes, the cost of these systems (communications network, sensors, software, technologies) prevents their use, and in particular the cost of sensors has a large impact on the final investment. For example, geodetic GNSS receivers are usually employed to conduct landslide monitoring, but they are costly. Nowadays, new technologies make it possible to use small and efficient low cost single frequency GPS receivers, which are able to achieve a centimetric or better level of accuracy, in static positioning. The rapid development and diffusion of the GNSS network to provide a positioning service has made it possible to use single frequency receivers, thanks to the use of virtual RINEX. This product is generated by a network of permanent stations. In this research, the actual performance of a mass market GPS receiver was tested, with the purpose of verifying if these sensors can be used for landslide monitoring. A special slide was realized, in order to conduct a dedicated test of the detection of displacements. Tests were carried out considering two factors: acquisition time and distance from the Virtual Station. The accuracy and precision of movement determination were evaluated and compared, for each test, considering the different factors. The tests and results are described in this contribution.


Skokie, Illinois, 1978. A retired black and white police car is stuck in traffic before a bridge where a political rally is being held by Nazis of the American Socialist White People's Party. In the car, two men, wearing black suits, black hats, and black sunglasses, stand idle. The Nazis' venomous leader delivers a racist and violence-mongering speech, which infuriates the onlookers. The Nazis are protected from the angry crowd of hecklers by a line of police. One of the men in black calmly states: "I hate Illinois Nazis," as the other slams the gas pedal, charges the ranks of the brownshirts and stampedes them off the bridge into the water, to the cheers of the crowd. As they drive off, the soaked Nazi commander vows revenge. (THE BLUES BROTHERS (Universal Studios 1980). Long Synopsis).This scene from the 1980 blockbuster comedy The Blues Brothers is a popular cultural expression of a uniquely-American legal provision: the constitutional protection of hate speech by virtue of the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The legal regime for hate speech in the United States has no equivalent anywhere in the world and is baffling to non-Americans. Europeans, in particular, whose countries served as the locus of Nazism's horrors, tend to hold the U.S. constitutional protection of hate speech in disbelief, before shaking their heads in contempt and concluding something along the lines of "those crazy Americans." This protection of hate speech, however, makes a lot of sense in the American context. In this paper, I argue that the aforementioned scene from The Blues Brothers has great potential to elucidate the meaning of the constitutional protection of hate speech, and, more broadly, of the First Amendment, for a non-American audience. I propose that the scene be used by comparative jurists teaching the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. I focus the comparison between the United States and France, for "France and the United States start from such different assumptions regarding freedom of speech and the relationship between speech and other rights that it is virtually impossible to reconcile their competing approaches," a situation that creates deep cultural misunderstandings, which in turn can be reconciled using this case study. France is also relevant because it is one of the countries that has taken the most aggressive stance against American companies in the context of Nazi speech distributed globally over the Internet, which has resulted, in particular, in Yahoo!, Inc. and its executives being criminally prosecuted in France for violation of anti-hate speech laws. Fostering mutual understanding between the U.S. and France is therefore particularly important in this age of global digital information distribution.In Part I, I first theoretically ground the argument that consumption of cultural artifacts is a prerequisite to understanding the law of a country, and beyond it, the country's people and society themselves (I). Part II involves a detailed case study of the aforementioned scene from The Blues Brothers as such an artifact, in order to lift the veil on the cultural signified hidden beyond the legal signifier that is the First Amendment, and foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other peoples (II). I conclude that the Blues Brothers' Nazi scene should be used by comparative jurists teaching the meaning of the First Amendment to foreign audiences, as an aid to shine a light on the cultural, social, and political principles that ground the constitutional protection of hate speech in the United States.


This research paper aims to examine key antecedents in consumer responses to CSR to determine a link between CSR activity and consumers' reactions to it. In this research proposal, key words are listed and briefly described as to their impact and benefits. A set of pre-tested structured questionnaires will be administered to 320 subjects. The responses to the items of these questionnaires are measures of the constructs under consideration, namely customer perception, customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, customer choice, corporate brand/influence, customer attitude and customer purchasing behavior. Measures for the constructs used in the study will be available in the literature, and will be adapted to suit the specific context. To validate the constructs, a confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis will be conducted. It is expected that the research will support the hypothesis that consumer buying behavior is affected by a company's CSR activities. Part of the discussion will address the results and implications on CSR activities as well on future research. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR 3


Biological processes in seagrass meadows are regulated by the exchange of momentum, heat and mass between the surrounding water and the plants and thus may strongly depend on the characteristics of water flow and turbulence. Comparisons of mean flow profiles, turbulence distribution and mixing in meadows of the seagrass Thalassia testudinum colonizing 2 hydrodynamically different sites (wave-dominated and tide-dominated) suggest that the hydrodynamic microclimate and consequently mixing within seagrass beds strongly depend on the hydrodynamic forces (waves and currents) acting on the plants. Unidirectional flows deflect the water over the meadow (skimming flows), which potentially leads to lower mixing between the water above and within the meadow. In contrast, waves cause the blades to move back and forth, increasing the exchange between the water column and that within the meadow. Therefore, the hydrodynamic conditions prevailing in the seagrass habitat (waves, tides) change the pattern of flow attenuation and mixing within the vegetation.


Two-dimensional near-wavelength microstructures have been fabricated on copper film by femtosecond vector optical fields with different spatial polarization distribution, at a central wavelength of 800 nm, a pulse duration of ∼70  fs, and a repetition rate of 1 kHz. In the induced microstructures, fine structures with interperpendicular orientations have been observed under the irradiation of a few pulses. Under the irradiation of the multipulse femtosecond vector field, differently from on the dielectric and semiconductor surfaces, the induced microstructures on the metallic copper surface exhibit an anisotropic extending feature dependent on the polarization distribution of the vector field. The physics behind this unique feature are the anisotropic excitation and propagation of surface plasmons, caused by the coupling of the subsequent irradiation pulses with the existing microstructure.


� Abstract - The Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) has been the standard in higher-power computers for some time thanks to their better cooling capability and less use of motherboard space compared to VR down. Physical size keeps diminishing to allow for more space savings and so the trend is to go for a small form factor such as 1U. The scaling down of CPU voltages demands more current from the VRM to meet ever-increasing power levels. This paper presents some low-cost methods for improving thermal capability while still allowing for excellent electrical design. The use of these combined improvements led to a 9% decrease in peak device temperature and 18% decrease in system average temperature which is enough to eliminate the need for a heat sink with 400 LFM airflow, 25°C ambient and no derating. The VRM is used as an example but the process is generalized so that it can be applied to may other systems.


We address how to conceptualize and measure intentional self-regulation (ISR) among adolescents from four cultures by assessing whether ISR (conceptualized by the SOC model of Selection, Optimization, and Compensation) is represented by three factors (as with adult samples) or as one "adolescence-specific" factor. A total of 4,057 14- and 18-year-old youth in Canada, Germany, Iceland, and the US participated. Confirmatory factor analyses did not confirm a tripartite model of SOC in any sample, whereas a single (nine-item) composite fit in all samples. A partial weak factorial invariance model showed a roughly equivalent meaning of the nine-item composite among German, Icelandic, and US youth. We discuss the need for further examination of the relative importance of items among Canadian youth, and possible problems using reverse-coded items with adolescents. The similarities that were observed across age and cultural groups suggest that a single factor structure of SOC, as measured by nine items, may be robust for youth in Western cultural settings and that SOC processes are not fully developed until adulthood.


We study robust subspace estimation in the streaming and distributed settings. Given a set of n data points {a_i}_{i=1}^n in R^d and an integer k, we wish to find a linear subspace S of dimension k for which sum_i M(dist(S, a_i)) is minimized, where dist(S,x) := min_{y in S} |x-y|_2, and M() is some loss function. When M is the identity function, S gives a subspace that is more robust to outliers than that provided by the truncated SVD. Though the problem is NP-hard, it is approximable within a (1+epsilon) factor in polynomial time when k and epsilon are constant. We give the first sublinear approximation algorithm for this problem in the turnstile streaming and arbitrary partition distributed models, achieving the same time guarantees as in the offline case. Our algorithm is the first based entirely on oblivious dimensionality reduction, and significantly simplifies prior methods for this problem, which held in neither the streaming nor distributed models.


This study examined the influence of phonotactic information on spoken language recognition in adults. Subjects performed a lexical decision task on 120 phonotactically legal bisyllablic CVCCVC nonsense words that varied in their phonotactic probability and primary stress placement. Subjects responded faster to nonsense words containing low probability initial syllables and slower to nonsense words containing high‐probability initial syllables. On the other hand, subjects responded faster to nonsense words containing high probability final syllables and slower to nonsense words containing low‐probability final syllables. Our results suggest that two phonotactically based processes may be used during word recognition. The first process is a winnowing of candidate words based on their phonotactic probability. The second process is a confirmatory process in which the lexical status of the sole candidate is confirmed based on the phonotactic probability of the item. [Work supported by NIH‐NIDCD.]


Networking is a viable career self-management strategy. Most studies so far in the networking domain have focused on long-term consequences and used a between-person trait approach. To address recent calls for more time-oriented approaches in career research, we extend the existing research by conducting a diary study over five consecutive working days (N = 59 employees). Specifically, we examined the within-person relationship between networking and career-related outcomes (i.e., task performance and career optimism). Further, adopting a motivational approach, we investigated whether need for affiliation moderates the daily networking career-related outcomes association. Our findings lend support to the moderating role of the need for affiliation in the relationship between daily networking and both daily task performance and daily career optimism. Our study connects motivation research with networking research by means of a dynamic approach that helps to understand the short-term effects of networking.


Interdomain routing on the Internet is performed using route preference policies specified independently, and arbitrarily by each Autonomous System in the network. These policies are used in the border gateway protocol (BGP) by each AS when selecting next-hop choices for routes to each destination. Conflicts between policies used by different ASs can lead to routing instabilities that, potentially, cannot be resolved no matter how long BGP is run. The Stable Paths Problem (SPP) is an abstract graph theoretic model of the problem of selecting nexthop routes for a destination. A stable solution to the problem is a set of next-hop choices, one for each AS, that is compatible with the policies of each AS. In a stable solution each AS has selected its best next-hop given that the next-hop choices of all neighbors are fixed. BGP can be viewed as a distributed algorithm for solving SPP. In this report we consider the stable paths problem, as well as a family of restricted variants of the stable paths problem, which we call F -stable paths problems. We show that two very simple variants of the stable paths problem are also NP-complete. In addition we show that for networks with a DAG topology, there is an efficient centralized algorithm to solve the stable paths problem, and that BGP always efficiently converges to a stable solution on such networks.


This thesis explores changes in medical professional work and regulation in the context of emerging 'patient safety' health policies. The study engages with three components of this policy. First, to what extent is the concept of error promoted in theory and policy being taken up within managerial practice and is this coterminous with the medical interpretation and construction of error? Second, how do medical professionals regard the introduction of new reporting systems to collect information about errors in their work? Third, what new organisational systems are being developed to analyse and control errors and how do these diverge with those approaches advocated and practiced by medical professionals? It has been estimated that one in ten of all inpatient admissions experience some form of error in the delivery of care, totalling 850,000 events a year. Given such findings a new policy framework is being developed to improve 'patient safety' in the NHS. Following the Human Factors approach a new error management system is being introduced that consists of incident reporting procedures for the collection of information about errors, matched by techniques to identify the "root causes", and promote organisational change. Of importance for this thesis is the impact of policy on established forms of medical regulation. Through predominantly qualitative research techniques, this study has been carried out within a single NHS hospital case-study involving medical and managerial occupational groups. The empirical findings suggest, firstly, that the medical construction of error is indeed divergent from that advocated in policy and practiced in management and leads to distinct trajectories for the control of error. Secondly, medical professionals are generally disinclined to participate in managerial forms of incident reporting, and where such a system is in place there is a high degree of localised professional leadership. Thirdly, it was found that alongside new managerial systems for the control of errors, there were also a range of professional-led systems embedded within medical work and the local organisation of the hospital that had precedence of other centralised hospital systems. In consequence, the ability of managerial systems to penetrate the working environment of medicine was negligible. In conclusion, it is argued that while this policy could appear to challenge the basis of medical professional regulation the social, cultural and structural context of medical work is adapting to maintain a high degree of medical control and resist managerial encroachment.


Get thoroughly up to speed on Android programming, and learn how to create up-to-date user experiences for both handsets and tablets. With this books extensively revised second edition, youll focus on Android tools and programming essentials, including best practices for using Android 4 APIs. If youre experienced with Java or Objective-C, youll gain the knowledge necessary for building well-engineered applications. Programming Android is organized into four parts: Part One helps programmers with some Java or iOS experience get off to a fast start with the Android SDK and Android programming basics. Part Two delves into the Android framework, focusing on user interface and graphics class hierarchies, concurrency, and databases. Its a solid foundation for understanding of how the most important parts of an Android application work. Part Three features code skeletons and patterns for accelerating the development of apps that use web data and Android 4 user interface conventions and APIs. Part Four delivers practical coverage of Androids multimedia, search, location, sensor, and account APIs, plus the Native Development Kit, enabling developers to add advanced capabilities. This updated edition of Programming Android focuses on the knowledge and developer priorities that are essential for successful Android development projects.


Methodologies on fire risk analysis in road tunnels consider numerous factors affecting risks (risk indicators) and express the results by risk measures. But only few comprehensive studies on effects of risk indicators on risk measures are available. For this reason, this study quantifies the effects and highlights the most important risk indicators with the aim to Support further developments in risk analysis. Therefore, a system model of a road tunnel was developed to determine the risk measures.
The system model can be divided into three parts: the fire part connected to the fire model Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS); the evacuation part connected to the evacuation model FDS+Evac; and the frequency part connected to a model to calculate the frequency of fires. This study shows that the parts of the system model (and their most important risk indicators) affect the risk measures in the following order: first, fire part (maximum heat release rate); second, evacuation part (maximum preevacuation time); and, third, frequency part (specific frequency of fire). The plausibility of These results is discussed with view to experiences from experimental studies and past fire incidents.
Conclusively, further research can focus on these most important risk indicators with the aim to optimise risk analysis.


The three-dimensional geometry and kinematics of piggyback stacks of imbricate thrust sheets are illustrated and discussed using a single model shortened in a squeeze box. Strike-parallel geometric elements simulated include lateral ramps, eyed sheath folds, splays, and thrust/thrust interference. Fine details of these structures were exposed by eroding a shortened wedge of sand using a newly developed vacuum-eroding technique. A kinematic analysis of the model shows a stepwise increase in imbricate thrust spacing and/or a decrease in rate of nucleation of imbricate thrusts in the direction of thrust transport. Despite the steady forward advance of a rear wall, the piggyback wedge accreted episodically, recording different strain domains in longitudinal cross sections. Strain partitioning in single layers by bed-length balancing showed an increase in layer shortening with volume loss and a corresponding decrease in imbricate thrusting and ramp folding with depth.


Calibration weighting was introduced as a tool for reducing the standard errors of many, if not most, finite‐population estimates produced from a survey sample by mildly adjusting the sample's inverse‐probability weights. Calibration weighting does this by forcing the weighted sums of certain 'calibration' variables to equal their known (or better‐estimated) population totals. In the absence of unit (element‐level) nonresponse, the weight‐adjustment function produces an adjustment factor for each inverse‐probability weight that tends to unity in large samples. When there is unit nonresponse in a survey, however, the weight‐adjustment factor in calibration weighting need no longer be near unity. Instead, it can implicitly estimate the inverse of each unit's probability of response under an assumed response model. As a result, calibration weighting can remove, or at least greatly reduce, the potential for nonresponse bias in the resulting estimates. Moreover, if the survey variable of interest is assumed to be random variable with an expectation linear in the calibration variables and unaffected by whether or not the unit responds when selected, then calibration weighting produces an unbiased estimator for the survey‐variable's population total whether or not the selection model implied by the weight‐adjustment function holds. When the response model contains variables with values known only for respondents, the situation is a bit more complicated. WIREs Comput Stat 2016, 8:39–53. doi: 10.1002/wics.1374


This is a letter from the Charles B. Moore Collection. It is written by W. J. McKinley and is addressed to Claude D. White. In this letter, McKinley discusses Mary Ann Moore's cancer diagnosis and details that there is a doctor in his area who treats cancer successfully with electricity. He states that if Birdie visited with the baby and Mary Ann became more ill, it would be a lot for Linnet and Claude to handle. He suggests that Linnet and Mary Ann should stay with them and assures Claude that they will be taken care of to the best of the family's ability. Mary Ann would be able to receive the care she needs as well as the emotional support of Linnet, Birdie, and Alice. He asks Claude to think it over and notes that Claude is most welcome as well, if his work schedule permits him to visit for a length of time. He closes by noting that the White family must write them soon and update them on any recent news on Mary Ann's condition.


In 2014, China became the world's third country to realize shale gas commercial development, following the United States and Canada. So far, there has been a lack of comprehensive discussion on risk perception related to shale gas in China. This paper aims to understand Chinese residents' risk perceptions toward shale gas exploitation. A survey was conducted with 730 interviewed participants in two counties of Sichuan province (Weiyuan County and Gong County). This study shows that, in China, an elderly female tends to perceive lower risks, and a higher education level is commonly associated with lower risk perception. Besides the socio-demographic characteristics, two major findings are also explored in this study. First, household's perceived benefits from shale gas exploitation do not statistically significantly affect their risk concerns. Second, the respondents' environmental consciousness, including their anticipation of environmental impacts and their perceptions about environmental degradation, plays a crucial role in their perception of the risks of shale gas exploitation. This implies that local residents' judgments on the severity of environmental impacts significantly contribute to their risk perceptions. These findings therefore contribute to local authorities' policy making in protecting local residents from the risks of shale gas exploitation and in better communicating about risk with the residents.


Purpose: Strategic management has been developing in business theory and practice for over 50 years. Presently, it constitutes the main area of research interest in management science. The contemporary conditions of business operations create new challenges for strategic management, such as the use of dynamic capabilities in strategy building, relational strategies, networking of organizations, technology development and automation of processes, and global strategies. These challenges are often referred to as neostrategic management. The purpose of this publication is to present the findings of research concerning new strategic management concepts and challenges. Methodology: The main research method of this article was a narrative literature review. On the basis of the research, the development of the concepts as well as contemporary trends and challenges of strategic management were characterized. There is also a synthesis of the problems and research results presented in the articles in this special issue of JEMI. Findings: Various schools and approaches to strategy formulation have been created. They indicate different factors that allow for success in strategic management such as: setting long-term goals, selection of programs and their execution plans (planning school); connection of the enterprise with the environment (evolutionary school); focusing attention on competitive advantage and achieved performance (position-based school); focus on one's own resources and competences (resource school); use of opportunities and creating innovation (simple rules school); selection of the best option and orientation in business management (real options school); or eclectic perspectives, integrating the listed approaches. The strategic management concept has two dimensions. The first dimension is related to the emergence of subsequent, new strategic management concepts, which often hark back to the previous schools and approaches. The second dimension of development applies to operationalization and adjustment of the previous concepts to the changing conditions. Implications for theory and practice: The paper characterizes the research results presented in the articles included in this JEMI issue. They deal with various problems and challenges in the field of strategic management, such as the relationship between market dynamics, market orientation and performance of enterprises; the innovativeness of companies as a contemporary strategic orientation of companies; the strategy implementation and the management of the organization change; problems of strategic management of the development of the city. Originality and value: The problems presented in the study relate to challenges and new concepts in strategic management. They enrich the existing knowledge on the development of strategic management, and also create inspiration for further research in this area.


Occupant packaging practice relies on statistical models codified in SAE practices, such as the SAE J941 eyellipse, and virtual human figure models representing individual occupants. The current packaging approach provides good solutions when the problem is relatively unconstrained, but achieving good results when many constraints are active, such as restricted headroom and sightlines, requires a more rigorous approach. Modeling driver needs using continuous models that retain the residual variance associated with performance and preference allows use of optimization methodologies developed for robust design. Together, these models and methods facilitate the consideration of multiple factors simultaneously and tradeoff studies can be performed. A case study involving the layout of the interior of a passenger car is presented, focusing on simultaneous placement of the seat and steering wheel adjustment ranges. Tradeoffs between adjustability, driver accommodation, and exterior vision are explored under this paradigm. These results are contrasted with those obtained using boundary manikins.