With the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as many as 25 million individuals are expected to gain insurance coverage over the next five years, creating an increase in demand for health care services. At the same time, as many as 31 million individuals will remain uninsured. Safety-net primary care clinics, including community health centers (CHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs), are being counted upon to meet the anticipated increase in demand while also continuing to serve the remaining uninsured. While these clinics are afforded new opportunities under the ACA, they also face significant potential challenges. The research described in this issue brief aimed to determine the current capacity of CHCs and RHCs in Iowa and their expected capacity to respond to the opportunities and challenges of the ACA. We utlilized an online survey to gather data on current and future needs related to safety-net workforce, service provision, integrated care delivery, and organizational change. We found that both CHCs and RHCs have current staff vacancies that they report difficulty filling and that both report difficulties referring patients for specialty care. We also found that both groups anticipate the demand for their services to increase in the wake of the ACA, and that both CHCs and RHCs face resource constraints that may limit their ability to respond to the opportunities and challenges of the ACA.


Background This paper challenges the dominant story of Protestant and Catholic conflict by illustrating the critical role that mission schools played in creating denominational consensus in the West. Focus Protestant and Catholic missionaries cast aside their differences as they worked toward common goals to "civilize," Christianize, and "Americanize" natives on reservations like Rosebud. United as whites against indigenous "others," these predominantly female missionaries forged new, interdenominational conceptions of American identity through their work in western mission schools. Research Design The article offers historical analysis and interpretation. Conclusions Despite a long historiography emphasizing conflict between these groups, this study of a Protestant school and a Catholic school on Rosebud at the turn of the twentieth century provides new perspectives on the Americanization process at the center of schooling during this period. This examination of missionary education adds to our understanding of educative efforts among Native Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by illustrating how religion, and religious denominationalism, operated on the frontier. Against a long history of missionary work in the West and denominational conflict in the East, Protestants and Catholics alike affirmed their own "American" identity through their work on Rosebud.


The project Testing Platform for Tidal Turbines is an ambitious and thorough work which was undertaken in September 2013 under the intended purpose of following up and complementing a project arisen in the context of a subject which focuses on the procedure of developing a project from start to end. Additionally, this provides the engineering students a holistic approach to cope with a technological need or demand.
The work gathered herein tries to give response to a matter of growing importance all around the globe, but more precisely in the French region of Poitou-Charente. Such matter is the necessity of clean energies that gradually replace part of the energy production, which is currently led by nuclear energy in France.
As regards the previous fact, several coastal regions of France are nowadays fostering their tidal industry, among others, in order to share the leadership of this energy transformation.
Be that as it may, what are the elements that can contribute to foster the tidal turbine industry in a certain zone? In all likelihood, such a technological business needs to test their new design and components to have a feedback that helps to somewhat link the Finite Element Method assessments with the actual behaviour in a real environment. One of the main troubles when tackling a testing procedure in fields concerning large machinery such as aeroplanes, hydroelectric turbines, vehicles, and so forth, consists in the aforementioned size of the elements to be tested. Generally, the costs of due infrastructure for testing purposes exceed by far the limits which would allow the investment to have final benefit.
Therefore, the need for a shared testing infrastructure stems from an economic reason, and so happens in the field that concerns this project, the tidal turbine business. Nowadays, specific projects to build up new testing sites for tidal turbines are carried out in response to the increasing number of new companies that need to test their innovative designs, as the tidal technology is still in its first stage, chronologically speaking.
Additionally, according to the awareness of slow tidal currents around the zone in question which are not bound to be sufficient, the need of a platform to accelerate the stream velocity is set as initial hypothesis, even though this is to be verified.
In a nutshell, the Testing Platform for Tidal Turbines project is a feasibility study from a technical perspective to build a testing site in the Poitou-Charente to foster the tidal energy industry throughout said zone.


BACKGROUND
One-stop clinics provide comprehensive diagnostic testing in one outpatient appointment. They could benefit patients with conditions, such as cancer, whose outcomes are improved by early diagnosis, and bring efficiency savings for health systems.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the use and outcomes of one-stop clinics for symptoms where cancer is a possible diagnosis.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Systematic review of studies reporting use and outcomes of one-stop clinics in primary care patients.

METHOD
We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library for studies assessing one-stop clinics for adults referred after presenting to primary care with any symptom that could be indicative of cancer. Study selection was carried out independently in duplicate with disagreements resolved through discussion.

RESULTS
Twenty-nine studies were identified, most were conducted in the UK and observational in design. Few included a comparison arm. A pooled comparison of the cancer conversion rate of one-stop and multi-stop clinics was only possible for breast symptoms, and we found no significant difference. One-stop clinics were associated with significant reductions in the interval from referral to testing (15 versus 75 days) and more patients diagnosed on the same day (79% versus 25%) compared to multi-stop pathways. The majority of patients and GPs found one-stop clinics to be acceptable.

CONCLUSION
This review found one-stop clinics were associated with reduced time from referral to testing, increased same day diagnoses, and were acceptable to patients and GPs. Our conclusions are limited by high levels of heterogeneity, scarcity of comparator groups, and the overwhelmingly observational nature of included studies.


A proper flood forecast of river flows can provide communities and/or governmental agencies with a quite effective tool for flood warning and in turn reducing/mitigating the negative impacts of incoming flood events. This research presents a new approach for flood forecasting of the Pomahaka River in Otago, New Zealand. This methodology is based on the projection in Hilbert Space of hourly flows of the Pomahaka River at Burkes Ford on the span of hourly rainfall data and/or previous flows of the same flow site or other flow sites. The projection theorem in Hilbert Space guarantees that the estimated parameters will produce a model with the least mean squared error. The Pomahaka catchment has rural aspects and its land use is mainly agricultural activities. The Pomahaka catchment is about 1871 km 2 , and has several flow and rainfall sites. Only 3 rainfall sites and 3 flow sites have been used in this research due to data availability. Hourly flows and rainfall data for this catchment have been investigated and 26 high flow events of the Pomahaka River at Burkes Ford, have been identified for the modelling process. A new model for simulating hydrologic abstractions have been developed and compared to the commonly used NRCS method. Results of the flood forecast modelling process, based on projection in Hilbert Space, for producing a 10 hr forecast model for the Pomahaka River, achieved an overall value of 0.76 for R squared and 0.87 for Filliben correlation coefficient.


Since its inception in 1863 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pursued its mandate to bring succour to victims of war by strict adherence to its core principles of neutrality and impartiality when dealing with belligerents. The problems of carrying out this mandate during the Second World War were manifold. This was owing not only to the brutal nature of the conflict, but the numerous restrictions under which the Committee was permitted to operate. Although much has been written of the restrictions placed upon the ICRC by the German and Swiss governments and indeed, the Committee's own principles and statutes, the role of the British in determining the success or failure of the ICRC's mission has been mostly ignored by historians. This thesis addresses this problem by analysing the often difficult diplomatic relations between the ICRC and the British government during the Second World War.

Through examining these relations this thesis provides new insights into several key wartime events concerned with International Humanitarian Law, neutrality, prisoner of war history, espionage studies and the history of the British blockade in Greece and France. A new perspective will also be offered herein, on the ICRC's controversial and much maligned vice-president Carl J. Burckhardt, who was both the bane of British-ICRC relations and the Committee's most influential wartime member. In conclusion this thesis will argue that the role of the British government in the ICRC's wartime activities was both far more damaging than has been acknowledged and, paradoxically, of great importance for the long-term development of the ICRC into the multifaceted humanitarian agency it is today.


The dominant view of inflation holds that it is macroeconomic in origin and must always be tackled with macroeconomic tightening. In contrast, we argue that the US COVID-19 inflation is predominantly a sellers' inflation that derives from microeconomic origins, namely the ability of firms with market power to hike prices. Such firms are price makers, but they only engage in price hikes if they expect their competitors to do the same. This requires an implicit agreement which can be coordinated by sector-wide cost shocks and supply bottlenecks. We review the long-standing literature on price-setting in concentrated markets and survey earnings calls and compile firm-level data to derive a three-stage heuristic of the inflationary process: (1) Rising prices in systemically significant upstream sectors due to commodity market dynamics or bottlenecks create windfall profits and provide an impulse for further price hikes. (2) To protect profit margins from rising costs, downstream sectors propagate, or in cases of temporary monopolies due to bottlenecks, amplify price pressures. (3) Labor responds by trying to fend off real wage declines in the conflict stage. We argue that such sellers' inflation generates a general price rise which may be transitory, but can also lead to self-sustaining inflationary spirals under certain conditions. Policy should aim to contain price hikes at the impulse stage to prevent inflation from the onset.


In August 2017, hundreds of white supremacists came to Charlottesville, Virginia, ostensibly to protest the city council's decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. This Essay argues that Charlottesville's vulnerability in the face of white supremacist invasions is a feature of all cities' liminal status in American law. Municipal corporations neither enjoy the full power of the state nor the rights accorded individuals and private corporations. Among other limitations, state law restricts Charlottesville's authority to remove Confederate war memorials or to regulate firearms. So too, our current constitutional doctrine does not easily permit cities to assert First Amendment rights against state-mandated local government speech. Nor can cities readily assert a collective civil or constitutional right to be free from violence and intimidation. The lack of either municipal power or municipal rights means that a city faced with the symbolic and physical "takeover" of its downtown by heavily armed aggressors has limited legal resources with which to respond.


Existing international legal literature recognizes that parties to armed conflicts and individual combatants are legally required not only to refrain from deliberately attacking non-combatants and civilian objects, but also to take care to ensure (to the extent feasible) that such persons are not killed or injured, and such objects not destroyed or damaged, by accident or incidentally during military operations. This thesis looks at the practical application of this latter principle during a twenty-five year period following the entry into force of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It contends that although the rules in this area are not easily susceptible to judicial enforcement, they are nevertheless sufficiently flexible and realistic to be capable of effective implementation without detriment to military effectiveness. Examination of the practice of parties to various conflicts during the period under review suggests that if and to the extent that belligerents are ready to devote time and resources to training, leadership, internal accountability procedures, and to the provision of appropriate military equipment, they can, so long as they are not too impatient for quick results, comply with the Protocol I rules on precaution in attack without the need for combatants to take unreasonable risks for the sake of enemy non-combatants. Efforts to enforce the law externally have, however, met with mixed results, revealing more about the selectivity of international justice than about its effectiveness as a tool for ensuring fair treatment for victims and alleged violators of the rules on precautions in attack. The most potentially effective form of enforcement of these rules appears set to remain, for the time being at least, the influence over belligerents which some third party states and other international actors retain, but are perhaps sometimes hesitant to exercise in the interests of promoting respect for the law of armed conflict.


Between 1794, when he was 19, and his death at the age of 75 in 1851, Turner was involved in the production of over 800 prints based on his paintings, watercolours and drawings. The object of Turner Prints is to survey this corpus of graphic work and to place it in the context of Turner's art as a whole. The book provides ample evidence for the author's claim that the 'prints with which Turner was involved for over half a century must be considered as one of the major factors of his long working life'. The eight chapters into which the book is divided provide a broadly chronological survey of Turner's engraved work, ranging from the early topographical engravings of the 1790s to the marvellous copper and steel plates of his final years. One chapter is devoted to the Liber Studiorum, the most important of all Turner's printmaking ventures, and one to the later mezzotints. Two more deal with the topographical and illustrative steel engravings of the later 1820s and 30s, which formed the basis of his international reputation in the last years of his life. Another chapter discusses the great topographical series, such as Picturesque Views in England and Wales, in which Turner made his most influential contributions to the development of British engraving. Each chapter is fully illustrated, and great pains have been taken to achieve the highest quality of reproduction in the plates. The book includes two appendices, providing lists of all the engravings based on those in the relevant catalogues of W G Rawlinson and A J Finberg, a biographical outline and a glossary of Printmaking Terms. The first modern book devoted exclusively to its subject, Turner Prints will be essential reading for all those interested in the art and life of England's most popular artist.


Cytochrome cd1 (cd1) is a soluble, diheme enzyme located in the periplasm of denitrifying bacteria that catalyses the one-electron reduction of nitrite ion to nitric oxide. Paracoccus pantotrophus cd1 undergoes an unusual coordinated ligand switch upon reduction to the
diferrous state, whereby a distal tyrosine ligand dissociates from the active site d1-heme, while the ligands at the c-heme switch from bis-histidinyl to histidine/methionine. The
processes that take place following re-oxidation of this enzyme have been studied using a combination of electronic absorption, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopies. Rebinding of tyrosine to the d1-heme,
and loss of the bound product occurs concomitantly with a switch back to bis-histidinyl ligation at the c-heme at a rate of ~ 0.24 min−1 at pH 6.50. However, this does not
represent a return to the "as-prepared" conformation: the two c-heme histidine ligands are in a novel 'parallel' conformation.
MCD spectroscopy has been used to characterise the state formed when reduced cd1 reacts with stoichiometric nitrite ion, a one-electron oxidant. A pH-dependent equilibrium between two forms of the semi-reduced product-bound enzyme is observed, [d1 2+-NO c3+]
⇌ [d12+-NO+ c2+]. A pKa of 7.10 is assigned to protonation of a distal histidine residue. It is proposed that in the protonated form His-H+, this residue stabilises the d1
2+-NO form of the active site.
Ligand binding to the enzyme SoxAX, a tri-heme thiosulfate oxidase from Rhodovulum sulfidophilum has been studied using a combination of electronic absorbance and EPR spectroscopies. The enzyme proved to be resistant to ligand binding in the 'as prepared' state. Only by redox cycling in presence of excess concentrations of potassium cyanide (KCN) has it been possible to achieve ligand binding to at least one of the three c-type hemes.


Today, there is consensus that the current system of calculating and enforcing support obligations does not work well for disadvantaged families, most of which are nonmarital. Nonmarital children are less likely to have support orders established than marital children, and they are much less likely to experience full payment. In this paper, we report data on parenting time, child support calculation, and enforcement actions in a population of nonmarital children for whom paternity actions were brought, in 2008 or 2010, in St. Joseph County, Indiana. The computerized, court-based record system we utilized to collect data gave us access to information on parental characteristics and child outcomes that other researchers investigating child support practice in disadvantaged populations have been unable to obtain. Our research thus offers an unusually data-rich window into current outcomes in a population where problems are large and new solutions are desperately needed. Our findings demonstrate that recent changes in federal child support regulations and programs, which post-date the orders in our study, were very much needed. Our findings also reveal both the need for additional reforms and the difficulties that lie ahead as the states begin to grapple with applying the new federal standards.


Abstract. We studied the concurrence of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction in surface sediments (0–25 cm below sea floor) at six stations (70, 145, 253, 407, 990 and 1024 m) along the Peruvian margin (12° S). This oceanographic region is characterized by high carbon export to the seafloor creating an extensive oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) on the shelf, both factors that could favor surface methanogenesis. Sediments sampled along the depth transect traversed areas of anoxic and oxic conditions in the bottom-near water. Net methane production (batch incubations) and sulfate reduction (35S-sulfate radiotracer incubation) were determined in the upper 0–25 cm b.s.f. of multiple cores from all stations, while deep hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (> 30 cm b.s.f., 14C-bicarbonate radiotracer incubation) was determined in two gravity cores at selected sites (78 and 407 m). Furthermore, stimulation (methanol addition) and inhibition (molybdate addition) experiments were carried out to investigate the relationship between sulfate reduction and methanogenesis. Highest rates of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction in the surface sediments, integrated over 0–25 cm b.s.f., were observed on the shelf (70–253 m, 0.06–0.1 and 0.5-4.7 mmol m−2 d−1, respectively), while lowest rates were discovered at the deepest site (1024 m, 0.03 and 0.2 mmol m−2 d−1, respectively). The addition of methanol resulted in significantly higher surface methanogenesis activity, suggesting that the process was mostly based on non-competitive substrates – i.e., substrates not used by sulfate reducers. In the deeper sediment horizons, where competition was probably relieved due to the decrease of sulfate, the usage of competitive substrates was confirmed by the detection of hydrogenotrophic activity in the sulfate-depleted zone at the shallow shelf station (70 m). Surface methanogenesis appeared to be correlated to the availability of labile organic matter (C ∕ N ratio) and organic carbon degradation (DIC production), both of which support the supply of methanogenic substrates. A negative correlation between methanogenesis rates and dissolved oxygen in the bottom-near water was not obvious; however, anoxic conditions within the OMZ might be advantageous for methanogenic organisms at the sediment-water interface. Our results revealed a high relevance of surface methanogenesis on the shelf, where the ratio between surface to deep (below sulfate penetration) methanogenic activity ranged between 0.13 and 105. In addition, methane concentration profiles indicated a partial release of surface methane into the water column as well as consumption of methane by anaerobic methane oxidation (AOM) in the surface sediment. The present study suggests that surface methanogenesis might play a greater role in benthic methane budgeting than previously thought, especially for fueling AOM above the sulfate–methane transition zone.


A plethora of empirical studies, such as the Institute of Medicine's Unequal Treatment report, have shown that racial inequities in health care continue at the same level as in the Jim Crow Era. Innumerable reasons have been offered to explain the continuation of these health inequities, including racial discrimination. Congress enacted Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to put an end to racial discrimination in health care, but it still persists. Given the regulation and enforcement mechanisms established under Title VI explicitly aimed at remedying racial discrimination such as that directed at elderly African-Americans it is unbelievable that these practices continue. Thus, one must ask whether the protections offered by Title VI are more illusory than real in the health care industry? Based on a review of the empirical data and governmental action in this area the answer seems to be that Title VI offers little more protection against racial discrimination than a broken umbrella during a hurricane. In this article, I use empirical data to examine the United States' failure to provide African-Americans with equal access to quality health care by using the problems with the long-term care system as a case study. Section II reviews the history of de jure discrimination in health care institutions. The government's solution to eradicate racial discrimination in health care is examined in Section III. The continuation of de facto racial discrimination in health care is examined in Section IV, and the failure of the government to eradicate this discrimination is discussed in Section V. Finally, Section VI suggests solutions to induce the government and the health care industry to diligently enforce Title VI. In the past, health scholars have written articles concerning racial inequities in health care based on data analysis, while legal scholars have written articles regarding the inadequacies of government enforcement and private rights of actions under Title VI. However before this article, no one has combined data analysis with case law to show that government enforcement of Title VI is not effective in preventing racial discrimination in health care, particularly in the long-term care system.


For much of the twentieth century scholars tried to reconstruct various cultic hymns beneath the surface of NT texts. With the rise of rhetorical criticism the focus of research has shifted to the properties of epideictic rhetoric. Exegetes, therefore, often tend to contrast 'encomia' with 'hymns' or 'psalms'. To avoid any shadow boxing one has to consider which descriptive language would fit best the texts. A brief examination of ancient hymnic traditions and their treatment in rhetoric demonstrates that while encomia interact strongly with hymns each genre has its own characteristics; hymns, whether in poetry or prose, consist especially of praise of divinities and are addressed to divinities. Future formgeschichtliche analysis has to distinguish carefully between 'hymn' (in a narrow sense), 'hymnic praise' and 'encomion' (which does not refer particularly to divine beings). In early Christian literature, as far as it relates to the textual surface, we find beside hymns to God only a few hymns directed to Christ. Nevertheless Christ's divine status is praised with rich hymnic rhetorical devices. This amazing tension corresponds exactly with what we call 'Christological monotheism'.


Survivalism, the practice of preparing for a crackup of civilization, tends to evoke a certain picture: the woodsman in the tinfoil hat, the hysteric with the hoard of beans, the religious doomsayer. But in recent years survivalism has expanded to more affluent quarters, taking root in Silicon Valley and New York City, among technology executives, hedge-fund managers, and others in their economic cohort.2


A primary function of trade policy is to restrict imports to benefit the targeted domestic sector. However, a well-established theoretical literature highlights that the form of trade policy (e.g., quotas versus tariffs) can have a significant impact on how much trade policy affects firms' abilities to price above marginal cost (i.e., market power). The US steel industry provides an excellent example to study these issues, as it has received many different types of trade protection over the past decades. We model the US steel market and then use a panel of data on major steel products from 1980 through 2006 to examine the effects of various trade policies on the steel market. We find that the US steel market is very competitive throughout our sample with the exception of the period in which they received comprehensive voluntary restraint agreements (i.e., quotas) and were able to price substantially above marginal cost. All other forms of protection were in tariff form and had little effect on market power, consistent with prior theoretical literature on the nonequivalence of tariffs and quotas. We also find evidence that market power eroded over time in steel products where mini-mill producers gained sizeable market share, highlighting the role of technology in the market as well.


Public health surveillance data is critical as it provides actionable information to guide public health response. Thirty interviews were conducted across North Carolina from May to September, 2009 with local public health department staff to describe the use of routine syndromic surveillance data during a local outbreak and compared this to usage during a large, statewide outbreak, during which the state disseminated syndromic data. The study examined the use of the syndromic surveillance system (NC DETECT) and the reportable communicable disease system (NC EDSS) during the 2009 novel influenza A (H1N1) pandemic and during another respondent-selected infectious disease outbreak. A larger percent of local health department (LHD) staff reported using information from NC DETECT (52%) during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic than during another infectious disease outbreak (20%) (P value = 0.01). North Carolina local public health staff used information from syndromic surveillance data more when the state health department disseminated summary syndromic surveillance reports than when this summary information was not provided. State aggregation and dissemination of timely and disease-relevant syndromic surveillance data may facilitate greater usage of such information at the local health department level.

 Key words: Public health surveillance, public health practice, outbreaks, influenza A virus (H1N1) subtype.


Essay 1: Stage Financing and Syndication in Venture Capital Investment: The combined use of stage financing and syndication is one of the most remarkable characteristics of venture capital financing. In particular, the majority of later-stage venture capital investments rather than early-stage are syndicated. The paper presents a theoretical rationale for this financial arrangement. The model shows that tight control (i.e. efficient refinancing or continuation/liquidation decision) of the venture capitalist by stage financing can achieve ex-post efficiency but may disincentivize the entrepreneur's effort provision ex-ante. Hence, the project value is not maximized. I show that the combined use of later-stage syndication with stage financing is a mechanism that can realize the optimal tradeoff between high effort ex ante and efficient continuation ex post thus maximizing project value. The model offers testable empirical predictions. Essay 2: The Capital Structure of Private Equity-backed Firms: In this paper I study one fundamental tension between venture capitalist and management in private equity-backed firms and show capital structure (of private equity-back firms) is a mechanism to resolve the tension. The paper gives rationale for several financial arrangements in private equity investment. (1) Private equity deals are typically partially outside financed even though the private equity fund may not be financially constrained at the deal level. (2) The optimal security for outside financing is debt. (3) The maturity of outside security is long-term. The insight of the paper has applications outside of private equity. Essay 3: Market Transparency and the Accounting Regime: We model the interaction of financial market transparency and different accounting regimes. This paper provides a theoretical rationale for the recently proposed shift in accounting standards from historic cost accounting to marking to market. The paper shows that marking to market can provide investors with an early warning mechanism while historical cost gives management a "veil" under which they can potentially mask a firm's true economic performance. The model provides new explanations for several empirical findings and has some novel implications. We show that greater opacity in financial markets leads to more frequent and more severe crashes in asset prices (under a historic-cost-accounting regime). Moreover, our model indicates that historic cost accounting can make the financial market more rather than less volatile, which runs counter to conventional wisdom. The mechanism shown in the model also sheds light on the cause of many financial scandals in recent years.


Extracted from text ... Management Today June 2006 55
Coaching:
management development tool
A
Mel Brooks is an executive coach. He has
many years experience in industry, has
taught finance for non-financial managers
and has been involved in teaching at
the Wits Business School.
Any investment should be judged on the
return on that investment - what is the cost
of what we put in and what will be the
value of the return. For the more familiar
financial investments the calculations are
relatively simple.
A group management development programme,
on the other hand, is also an investment
and the most important consideration ..


Europe needs change. The financial crisis has exposed long-neglected deficiencies in the present growth path, most visibly in the areas of unemployment and public debt. At the same time, Europe has to cope with new challenges, ranging from globalisation and demographic shifts to new technologies and ecological challenges. Under the title of Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe – WWWforEurope – a European research consortium is laying the analytical foundation for a new development strategy that will enable a socio-ecological transition to high levels of employment, social inclusion, gender equity and environmental sustainability. The four- year research project within the 7 Framework Programme funded by the European Commis- sion was launched in April 2012. The consortium brings together researchers from 34 scientific institutions in 12 European countries and is coordinated by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO). The project coordinator is Karl Aiginger, director of WIFO. For details on WWWforEurope see: www.foreurope.eu Contact for information


What is the relation between infrequent price adjustment and the dynamic response of the aggregate price level to monetary shocks? The answer to this question ranges from a one-to-one link (Calvo, 1983) to no connection whatsoever (Caplin and Spulber, 1987). The purpose of this paper is to provide a unified framework to understand the mechanisms behind this wide range of results. In doing so, we propose new interpretations of key results in this area, which in turn suggest the kind of Ss model that is likely to generate substantial price rigidity. The first result we revisit is Caplin and Spulber's monetary neutrality model. We show that when price stickiness is measured in terms of the impulse response function, this result is not a consequence of aggregation, but is due instead to the absence of price-stickiness at the microeconomic level. We also show that the "selection effect," according to which units that adjust their prices are those that benefit the most, is neither necessary nor sufficient to account for the higher aggregate flexibility of 5s-type models compared to Calvo models. Instead, the key concept is the contribution of the extensive margin of adjustment to the aggregate price response. The aggregate price level is more flexible than suggested by the microeconomic frequency of adjustment if and only if this term is positive.


Abstract In the early 2000s, developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) was declared a priority by the Russian state-controlled energy company Gazprom. As Gazprom had limited experience of LNG production, a logical solution was to establish partnerships with foreign companies. Despite ambitious goals, no major Gazprom-led LNG projects have emerged so far. While this can mainly be explained by market fall-out, scholars have also pointed to weaknesses in Gazprom's approach to foreign partners. This article analyses the partnership dynamics between Gazprom, Total, and Statoil in Russia's most ambitious LNG production project, the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea. The three companies established a partnership to develop the field in 2008, but only four years later the project was shelved. In addition to objective parameters, this paper finds that some of the challenges to the partnership resulted from differing norms, ideas, and world-views. These difficulties might, however, have been overcome had the field been commercially viable.


Recent studies suggest that body height has an effect on the intensity of jealousy among men and women. Since short men and both short and tall women are regarded as less attractive, they could be at greater risk of being cheated by their partners and therefore more jealous. Numerous studies have documented sex differences in jealousy about a partner's sexual and emotional infidelity with a person of the opposite sex. However, the partner's ex as a rival has been neglected in the literature. Therefore, in this study the relationships between height and jealousy about two types of infidelity among 112 heterosexual men and 314 women were investigated. Infidelity scenarios included two types of rival: new rival and partner's ex. As expected on the basis of prior studies, men were more jealous of sexual infidelity and women of emotional infidelity. Both sexes reported greater jealousy over a new rival than over partner's ex. Among men, there were no relationships between height and jealousy, while among women...


This paper proposes a framework to analyze competition in the banking sector using Jordan as an example. In particular, the paper pursues a multi-pronged approach to analyze competition including (i) an examination of the extent to which the market is contestable (that is, has low barriers to bank entry and exit), (b) an evaluation of the behavior of bank spreads, and (iii) an assessment of non-structural and direct measures of bank competition such as the H-statistic and the Lerner Index. This approach provides a more comprehensive framework to examine competition in the banking sector, compared with the commonly used alternative of looking only at bank concentration figures. In the case of Jordan, the analysis indicates that although concentration has declined, competition in the country is low and has decreased over time.


Transgenic herbicide-resistant cultivars of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) have been developed and are being considered for commercial release. Concerns regarding transgenic species include potential for outcrossing of the crop, which may produce novel genotypes with increased weediness. Persistence and multiyear growth of interspecific hybrids between creeping bentgrass and velvet bentgrass (A. canina L.), colonial bentgrass (A. capillaris L.), dryland bentgrass (A. castellana Boiss. and Reut.), and redtop bentgrass (A. gigantea Roth) and the backcross progeny of the hybrids were compared with the parental species in field experiments. The plants were evaluated over 2 yr in residential Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and a low maintenance roadside turf of mixed species. With the exception of redtop bentgrass by creeping bentgrass interspecific hybrids, all interspecific hybrids between creeping bentgrass and colonial, dryland, and velvet bentgrasses were equally or less competitive relative to their parental species. Backcross progeny of interspecific hybrids, including those of redtop bentgrass by creeping bentgrass hybrids, were equally or less competitive than parental species. Bentgrasses that were highly competitive in residential turf were also competitive under roadside maintenance, suggesting bentgrasses have weediness potential regardless of management intensity.


We present a simple heuristic for finding a small connected dominating set of cubic graphs. The average-case performance of this heuristic, which is a randomised greedy algorithm, is analysed on random $n$-vertex cubic graphs using differential equations. In this way, we prove that the expected size of the connected dominating set returned by the algorithm is asymptotically almost surely less than $0.5854n$.


Since its appearance in the mid-1990s, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) has become one of the leading research methods in British qualitative psychology. Its success within this short time frame can be attributed to factors specific to the method (such as its demystification of the qualitative research process and its consequent accessibility) and to the historical context within which it was developed (that is, a context of increasing interest in and openness to qualitative approaches within British psychology), as well as the committed promotional work undertaken by the method's originator. In accordance with its phenomenological commitment, much IPA research has examined how people understand and make sense of significant events in their lives, usually with participants who have themselves experienced the (often psychologically challenging) phenomena that constitute the research focus. However, IPA has also been used to explore clinical practitioners' accounts of their practice with particular client groups, focusing on practitioners' understandings of client issues and practice challenges. Both types of research carry considerable potential for informing and enriching clinical practice. Following a brief overview of the principles and practicalities of IPA, this paper presents an example of the latter type of study, which examined seven psychotherapists' accounts of working with clients who were experiencing spiritual struggles following traumatic life events. Seven super-ordinate themes were discerned relating to therapists' perceptions and interpretations of clients' presenting and related issues: relevant therapeutic tasks; therapists' own therapeutic and religious stances; professional and ethical issues around neutrality, sameness and difference and self-disclosure; the challenges of 'finding the language' in which to discuss and understand spiritual concepts within a psychological framework; useful therapeutic resources; and the reported impact of this work on therapists' spiritual struggles, journeys and meaning-making. When considering the potential clinical value of IPA work, standard questions (faced by most qualitative research) need to be addressed concerning, for example, its transferability beyond its context of generation. These are considered in relation to the focal study, although the possibility of accessing the universal through a systematic analysis of the particular also needs to be acknowledged. Parallels and divergences between IPA research processes and therapeutic processes (especially within humanistic models) are noted. However, caveats are provided concerning the interpretation of practitioner data as straightforward reflections of client experiences. Particular attention is paid to how the focal study, despite its specific topic, yielded fully contextualised themes that related to standard concerns across psychotherapeutic practice contexts. It thus serves to reassure therapists who may be uncertain about their competence to engage meaningfully with issues of spirituality that they may already possess the resources for such engagement.


Background The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled prostate cancer prevention study funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and conducted by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). A total of 35,533 men were assigned randomly to one of the four treatment groups (vitamin E + placebo, selenium + placebo, vitamin E + selenium, and placebo + placebo). The independent Data and Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) recommended the discontinuation of study supplements because of the lack of efficacy for risk reduction and because futility analyses demonstrated no possibility of benefit of the supplements to the anticipated degree (25% reduction in prostate cancer incidence) with additional follow-up. Study leadership agreed that the randomized trial should be terminated but believed that the cohort should be maintained and followed as the additional follow-up would contribute important information to the understanding of the biologic consequences of the intervention. Since the participants no longer needed to be seen in person to assess acute toxicities or to be given study supplements, it was determined that the most efficient and cost-effective way to follow them was via a central coordinated effort. Purpose A number of changes were necessary at the local Study Sites and SELECT Statistical Center to transition to following participants via a Central Coordinating Center. We describe the transition process from a randomized clinical trial to the observational Centralized Follow-Up (CFU) study. Methods The process of transitioning SELECT, implemented at more than 400 Study Sites across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, entailed many critical decisions and actions including updates to online documents such as the SELECT Workbench and Study Manual, a protocol amendment, reorganization of the Statistical Center, creation of a Transition Committee, development of materials for SELECT Study Sites, development of procedures to close Study Sites, and revision of data collection procedures and the process by which to contact participants. Results At the time of the publication of the primary SELECT results in December 2008, there were 32,569 men alive and currently active in the trial. As of 31 December 2011, 17,761 participants had been registered to the CFU study. This number is less than had been anticipated due to unforeseen difficulties with local Study Site institutional review boards (IRBs). However, from this cohort, we estimate that an additional 580 prostate cancer cases and 215 Gleason 7 or higher grade cancers will be identified. Over 109,000 individual items have been mailed to participants. Active SELECT ancillary studies have continued. The substantial SELECT biorepository is available to researchers; requests to use the specimens are reviewed for feasibility and scientific merit. As of April 2012, 12 proposals had been approved. Limitations The accrual goal of the follow-up study was not met, limiting our power to address the study objectives satisfactorily. The CFU study is also dependent on a number of factors including continued funding, continued interest of investigators in the biorepository, and the continued contribution of the participants. Our experience may be less pertinent to investigators who wish to follow participants in a treatment trial or participants in prevention trials in other medical areas. Conclusions Extended follow-up of participants in prevention research is important to study the long-term effects of the interventions, such as those used in SELECT. The approach taken by SELECT investigators was to continue to follow participants centrally via an annual questionnaire and with a web-based option. The participants enrolled in the CFU study represent a large, well-characterized, generally healthy cohort. The CFU has enabled us to collect additional prostate and other cancer endpoints and longer follow-up on the almost 18,000 participants enrolled. The utility of the extensive biorepository that was developed during the course of the SELECT is enhanced by longer follow-up.


Literature suggests that job satisfaction and health are related to each other in a synergic way. However, this might not always be the case, and they may present misaligned relationships. Considering job satisfaction and mental health as indicators of wellbeing at work, we aim to identify four patterns (i.e., satisfied-healthy, unsatisfied-unhealthy, satisfied-unhealthy, and unsatisfied-healthy) and some of their antecedents. In a sample of 783 young Spanish employees, a two-step cluster analysis procedure showed that the unsatisfied-unhealthy pattern was the most frequent (33%), followed by unsatisfied-healthy (26.6%), satisfied-unhealthy (24.8%) and, finally, the satisfied-healthy pattern (14.3%). Moreover, as hypothesized, discriminant analysis suggests that higher levels of job importance and lower levels of role ambiguity mainly differentiate the satisfied-healthy pattern, whereas overqualification and role overload differentiate, respectively, the unsatisfied-healthy and satisfied-unhealthy patterns. Contrary to our expectations, role conflict also characterizes the satisfied-unhealthy pattern. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these findings.


A scheme for photonic generation of ultra-wideband (UWB) pulses using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and an electro-absorber (EA) in parallel is proposed and numerically demonstrated. By adjusting the time delay between two pump signals incident into the SOA and the EA, we can obtain monocycle pulses with reversed polarities and different bandwidths. The proposed method is flexible in pulse shaping and easy in practical optimization.


SUMMARY
Skins and skulls of Babyrousa babyrussa have been studied ; the species is divisible into three living subspecies : B. b. babyrussa (syn. frosti) from Buru and Sula, B. b. togeanensis from Malenge, and B. b. celebensis from the northern arm of Celebes. A skull from near Kulawi, central Celebes, tends towards babyrussa, and may represent a surviving population of the inadequately characterised B. b. bolabatuensis, known as a subfossil from the southern arm of Celebes. Teeth of the latter form decreased in size through time. The possibility of the species having been introduced into Buru and Sula is discussed.

INTRODUCTION
The remarkable babirusa (genus Babirousa Perry, 1811) attracted early notice in western scientific circles, despite its restricted distribution (see Mohr, 1958 for a brief pre-Linnaean history). It commanded attention because of the bizarre appearance of the male, not only for Europeans but also, perhaps, for Indonesians (see below). Modern zoology has confirmed that it is indeed no "ordinary pig", as shown by the anatomical study of Davis (1940): alone among the Suidae it retains four terminal tendons to M. plantaris; the arrangement of tendons to M. extensor digitorum communis resembles the peccaries; M. coracobrachialis has two heads, as is usual in ruminants; the stomach is complex, and the origin of M. omohyoideus again resembles the peccaries (Saban, 1968). While Deninger's (1909) claim that it had descended from a Miocene anthracothere can surely no longer be maintained, Thenius (1970) could see no common ancestor with the other Suidae more recent than the Oligocene, justifying its allocation to a separate subfamily, Babyrousinae.
HISTORY OF TAXONOMY


Laminated glass fulfills the demands on safety and security in transparent structural elements used in architecture and other fields of engineering. It can be constructed as forced-entry, bullet, or blast resistant. The basic three-layer configuration consists of two glass panes connected with a polymer or ionomer interlayer; the advanced products contain also other layers. The foil ensures shear coupling and provides post-breakage resistance and damping. For the design of laminated glass structures and their analysis, knowledge of mechanical properties of interlayers is essential. In numerical simulations, the interlayer is most typically described by the generalized Maxwell chain ‒ a classical viscoelastic model which can capture the time/temperature-dependent response of polymers under shear. Its parameters can be found for common interlayer types in the literature. However, they differ even for the same material, because of a slightly different content of additives, different test setups, and different data processing procedures. In this contribution, the dependence of the response of a laminated glass element on the material parameters of the polymer interlayer is studied by means of numerical modelling and experiments. Two examples are shown and discussed, i.e., quasi-static analysis of a simply-supported beam and modal analysis of a free-free beam. Numerical predictions are obtained by a layer-wise model based on the finite element method. These predictions are validated against the detailed experimental data. We demonstrate that using the Maxwell model parameters from the literature determined even for the same material type but not for the concrete foil may lead to unrealistic predictions.


In this study, LIDAR snow depths, bare ground elevations (topography), and elevations filtered to the top of vegetation (topography + vegetation) in five 1‐km2 areas are used to determine whether the spatial distribution of snow depth exhibits scale invariance, and the control that vegetation, topography, and winds exert on such behavior. The one‐dimensional and mean two‐dimensional power spectra of snow depth exhibit power law behavior in two frequency intervals separated by a scale break located between 7 m and 45 m. The spectral exponents for the low‐frequency range vary between 0.1 and 1.2 for the one‐dimensional spectra, and between 1.3 and 2.2 for the mean two‐dimensional power spectra. The spectral exponents for the high‐frequency range vary between 3.3 and 3.6 for the one‐dimensional spectra, and between 4.0 and 4.5 for the mean two‐dimensional spectra. Such spectral exponents indicate the existence of two distinct scaling regimes, with significantly larger variations occurring in the larger‐scale regime. Similar bilinear power law spectra were obtained for the fields of vegetation height, with crossover wavelengths between 7 m and 14 m. Further analysis of the snow depth and vegetation fields, together with wind data, support the conclusion that the break in the scaling behavior of snow depth is controlled by the scaling characteristics of the spatial distribution of vegetation height when snow redistribution by wind is minimal and canopy interception is dominant, and by the interaction of winds with features such as surface concavities and vegetation when snow redistribution by wind is dominant.


Companies often hire consultants because of their external, that is, impartial view and expert opinion, expecting consulting intervention to improve their performances. Beside the need for consulting activities in the fields where the managers' knowledge is insufficient, consultants can be hired for one-time-only or additional, but very sensitive business activities such as new product introduction, overseas market penetration or aggressive competition struggle. At the same time, the assistance of consultancy organizations can be needed when the company's management is burdened with other numerous activities, in case of company diversification when the existing, real management capacity does not provide simultaneous optimization of business activities. Consequently, consultancy organizations enable companies to achieve their goals, solve business and management-related problems, identify and exploit new opportunities, improve their knowledge and put into practice the proposed changes. The level of use of consultancy services in serbian agro-sector was researched in these paper, the representation providers of consulting services by type, the future demand for consulting services and financing models for consulting services.


Network analysis models (or Network Psychometrics) have been widely used in psychology research in recent years. Unlike latent variable models which conceive observable variables as outcomes of unobservable latent factors, network analysis models apply the graph theory to construct a network to depict the associations among observable variables. The observable variables are treated as nodes and the associations between them are treated as edges. As such, network analysis models reveal the relationships among observable variables and the dynamic system resulted from the interactions between these observable variables. With indices reflecting individual nodes' characteristics (such as centrality) and network structural characteristics (such as small-worldness), network analysis models provide a new perspective for visualization and for studying various psychological phenomena. In the past decade, network analysis models have been applied in the fields of personality, social, and clinical psychology as well as psychiatry. Future research should continue to develop and improve the methods of network analysis models, making them applicable to more types of data and broader research fields.


At each node of the search tree, Branch and Bound solvers for Max-SAT compute the lower bound (LB) by estimating the number of disjoint inconsistent subsets (IS) of the formula. IS are detected thanks to unit propagation (UP) then transformed by max-resolution to ensure that they are counted only once. However, it has been observed experimentally that the max-resolution transformations impact the capability of UP to detect further IS. Consequently, few transformations are learned and the LB computation is redundant. In this paper, we study the effect of the transformations on the UP mechanism. We introduce the notion of UP-resiliency of a transformation, which quantifies its impact on UP. It provides, from a theoretical point of view, an explanation to the empirical efficiency of the learning scheme developed in the last ten years. The experimental results we present give evidences of UP-resiliency relevance and insights on the behavior of the learning mechanism.


A fan support casting failed unexpectedly while running at 1800 rpm in pulp at 65 deg C (150 deg F). The leading edge of the blade exhibited deep spongy holes leading to reduced section and finally to fracture of the part when the remaining section size was insufficient to support the load. Analysis showed the support casting to be a standard 8620 type composition with a hardness of 311 HRB. The design of the casting was not streamlined. There were several square corners present where great pressure differences could be generated. This was a case of erosion-corrosion with the classic spongy appearance of cavitation. Two changes were proposed: streamlining the part to avoid abrupt changes in fluid flow; and a change in alloy to a more corrosion-resistant material (304 or preferably 316) to increase the tenacity of protective films.


The main aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and performance of firms operating in Cyprus and to apply these findings to a private university in Cyprus, namely the Frederick University of Cyprus (thereafter FUCy). The main objective of the research is to apply the research findings to the
improvement of course programmes in accounting and finance and business administration. The research focuses on firms operating in Cyprus. However this research is supported by overseas research in the area.
In contrast to most previous studies it was found that family firms (thereafter FFs) have a negative impact on firm performance however the results of the study provide significant evidence that the implementation of corporate governance mechanisms by FFs can lead to performance benefits. It was found that FFs that operate in markets where there is full compliance with the CGC have a positive impact on firm values. Ensuring more effective corporate governance practices and adequate information disclosure are likely to increase the confidence of investors in the firm and make the FFs less risky to invest in. This will
result in lower costs of capital and higher firm values as a result. Furthermore, the results of this study generally suggest that the adoption of corporate governance mechanisms has some important implications for FFs in the CSE. Corporate governance can greatly assist the FF sector via the introduction of better management practices and greater opportunities for growth through the utilisation of non-executive directors.
Effective corporate governance mechanisms are likely to result in boards exerting much needed pressure for improved performance by ensuring that the interests of the firms are
served. Empirical evidence also shows differences in the effect of corporate governance mechanisms for firms operating in the Alternative Market compared to the Main and
Parallel Markets. For firms in the Alternative Market, a market with low corporate governance standards, the effect of several corporate governance variables was significant. For firms operating in AM, it was found that leverage and board size had a significant negative impact on Tobin's Q value, in contrast to the firms operating in the MM & PM. In addition, the number of meetings, insider ownership and the presence of audit committees plays a more important positive role in the AM compared to MM&PM.
Substantial differences between markets are also shown for the relationship of corporate governance factors and ROA.
However in contrast to this there is significant evidence from the perception of CSE managers that the benefits of corporate governance are not fully understood. Further to
this there is also evidence of a lack of corporate governance education to students on accounting and finance and business administration degree programs in Cyprus. This
evidence is based on data received from a sample of students and faculty interviews at FUCy, one of three private universities operating in the Republic of Cyprus.
The main recommendation of the research is that a new module be introduced for both the accounting and finance and business administration degrees to meet the increasing
need for corporate governance education. This will meet the needs of the Cyprus business world where the role of corporate governance in business is increasing. This module will cover the main aspects concerning corporate governance. It should be mentioned that in recent years major professional accounting bodies have increased the coverage of corporate governance in their courses and their syllabi. This addition will result in benefits to the students and improvements in the relevant degree programmes.
The research is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction concerning the research area. Chapter 2 outlines the research statement, objectives, theoretical
background and literature review on the subject. Chapter 3 outlines the methodology of the research whereas Chapter 4 outlines the actual project activity and what helped and
hindered the activity. Chapter 5 provides an analysis of the findings of the research whereas Chapter 6 provides the conclusions, suggestions for future research and recommendations. Finally chapter 7 is a reflective account of the researcher's personal and professional learning. It also discussed the impact the project has on the various
stakeholders.


There are limitations in how we try to describe a performance with words. And yet, we set the performance free by exposure to more witnesses, in the role of readers, who enact the performance as they read. Calling on Marvin Carlson's explication of the cyclical relationship between theatre and memory, I assert that performance-as-writing-as-research becomes more helpful when we acknowledge that its purpose is to evoke. It is re-searching for the connection between people through memory. The act of writing, as a mode of unearthing truth, is then a digging for knowledge in the dirt of a performance. As such, writing about performance is performative in itself. When we write about performance we are performing and creating a piece that can, among other things, generate awareness that there was another, previous performance; in essence, creating memory. Looking specifically at performance reviews from a recent journal publication, I focus on how the language is used and how it creates phantom audiences that haunt the review and the reader.


Since 1990, stocks with strong inflation-hedging abilities have had higher average returns than stocks with low inflation betas and have tended to be drawn from the technology and oil/gas sectors. The authors found substantial time variation among stock inflation betas, which makes it difficult to construct portfolios from stocks that are strong out-of-sample inflation hedges. This finding holds for sector portfolios, portfolios constructed on past-inflation betas, and portfolios constructed from high-dividend-paying stocks.


This paper unpacks Tanzania's investment laws and their impact on the development of the country's agricultural sector. It discusses current government-led policies and initiatives that aim to stimulate growth in Tanzania's agricultural sector while improving the socio-economic conditions of smallholder farmers. Tanzania is attracting significant private sector interest in its agricultural sector; whether these initiatives are successful at balancing investors' needs with development goals remains questionable. The paper discusses some of the successes and difficulties surrounding public–private partnerships and their inclusion of smallholder farmers in growing value chains. It also offers policy recommendations that identify how farmers can be better incorporated into value chains, and identifies the remaining bottlenecks in policy reforms and integration processes.


We study spectra of one-dimensional multiple quantum well photonic crystals. Properties of these structures depend on interplay between spatial modulation of the refractive index and interaction between light and excitons. We described this interplay for an arbitrary angle of incidence and polarization by renormalizing exciton-light coupling strength and optical path.


The significance of increasing leisure time in modern society has generated an awareness amongst the social scientists of the importance of this phenomenon. This study deals with two basic problems in the field of leisure behavior research. The first problem concerns the treatment of the numerous and heterogeneous leisure activities under general headings: can dimensions of leisure behavior be empirically determined? What instruments can be developed for the measuring of these dimensions? The second problem deals with the social factors which determine the nature of leisure behavior: which variables explain the most of the observed variance in the dimensions of leisure behavior that have been distinguished? In view of the aims of this investigation, the concept of leisure has been deflned with considerable latitude (see also LUNDBERG, KOMAROVSKY & McInerny 1934; WHITE 1955). 'Leisure' is defined as the total period of time which is not used for regular professional employment or other regular daily occupations, going to and returning from work, sleeping, eating and care of the person. The term 'leisure behavior', therefore, includes all activities taking place in the leisure time. This broad definition prevents certain groups of the population (e.g. housewives, the unemployed, the sick) or certain activities (e.g. doing nothing, practical activities) from being excluded prior to the investigation...


In the tritone paradox, listeners perceive octave-related complexes separated by tritones such that tones from one half of the pitch class circle are heard as higher in pitch and tones from the opposite
 half are heard as lower. It is theorized that listeners compare these tones to a pitch class template, which has an orientation with respect to height that differs among listeners, in making these relative
 height judgments. In the present experiment, listeners heard octave-related complexes presented one at a time (rather than in pairs), in addition to tone complexes separated by tritones. On the basis of
 the pitch-class-template theory, it was hypothesized that pitch class would have a similar influence on perceived height for both sets of stimuli and that perception of the single tones would correspond
 to perception of the tritone paradox. The results supported these hypotheses.


The " cusp proper " is generally understood to be the region enclosed by the outermost magnetospheric field lines as they map to low altitudes. It is therefore a weak-field region with continuous contact with magnetosheath plasma. Data from the recent Astrid-2 Swedish microsatellite are presented which show a new, unique signature (dubbed the " true cusp ") during cusp crossings that can now be shown to be consistently present and with which one can redefine the physical meaning and topology of the cusp. Similar crossings made by the DE-2, UARS and DMSP-F10 satellites also show this same, unique signature although in most cases the spatial resolution was much less than that of the Astrid-2 MEDUSA spectrometer. The presence of concurrent features of the same scale size as the plasma in the energetic particle, field and wave power data shows that this is a real structural feature and not a coincidental structure among plasma instruments. The persistence of this feature may lend new insight into the dynamics of the cusp and magnetospheric particle entry.


The second edition of this well establised textbook provides a readable, comprehensive and accessible account of the law governing health care in England and Wales. In contrast to other texts, it examines the full range of health care but not merely its medical context. The narrative is clear and succinct with full references to legal sources to meet the needs of law students and practitioners. However, excessive use of legal jargon is avoided ensuring that the law is also accessible to health care professionals. The text sets out the law on public health, the NHS, the health professions, clinical negligence litigation, patients' rights, and research and health care ethics. Major developments since 1997 have led to substantial revisions throughout the book, which now takes account of such organisations as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the Commission for Health Improvement. Professor Montgomery addresses the legal and regulatory responses to a series of 'scandals' (Bristol babies, Alder Hey etc); the development of medical techniques and regulatory bodies; the impact of the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act; the Blair administration and NHS reforms


In this thesis, I propose a practical way to stabilize half passivated graphene (graphone). I show that the dipole moments induced by a hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) substrate on graphene stabilize the hydrogen atoms on one sublattice of the graphene layer and suppress the migration of the adsorbed hydrogen atoms. I also present the substrate effect of h-BN that reduces distortion induced by fluorination of graphene and stabilizes half-passivated graphene in a single sublattice. Then using spin-polarized density functional calculations I investigate magnetic properties of graphone. I show the system has different magnetic order which can be described by either super-exchange or double exchange mechanisms depending on the type the of add atom. The hybridization of graphene changes from $sp^2$- to $sp^3$- type hybridization due to the buckling induced by passivation. The change in hybridization together with add-atom orbitals induces a fairly large spin orbit coupling (SOC). Based upon first principle spin-polarized density of states calculations, I show that the graphone obtained in different graphene/h-BN heterostructures exhibits a half metallic state. I propose to use this exotic material for spin valve systems and other spintronics devices.


The cities infrastructure is being populated with a large number of Internet-connected devices used for monitoring and management to create a Smart City system. A large part of the city infrastructure has linear form, such as e.g. roads, energy or water distribution networks. In this paper, we present a solution for representation, processing and providing to external IT systems the data related to linear infrastructure. We present the idea of representation of such networks in a form of a multigraph that is stored in graph database and the graph generator which merges the data gathered from monitoring devices with network topology and other representative structures. We propose the architecture of a sample linear infrastructure management system based on multi-graph representation and discuss how it proposes a performance evaluation method based on data generation on the example of a district heating system.


The quantum mechanical bespoke (QUBE) force field is used to retrospectively calculate the relative binding free energies of a series of 17 flexible inhibitors of p38α MAP kinase. The size and flexibility of the chosen molecules represent a stringent test of the derivation of force field parameters from quantum mechanics, and enhanced sampling is required to reduce the dependence of the results on the starting structure. Competitive accuracy with a widely-used biological force field is achieved, indicating that quantum mechanics derived force fields are approaching the accuracy required to provide guidance in prospective drug discovery campaigns.


Work life balance has been the hottest initiative to hit business in a long time and has failed in many companies because of its ambiguity. It has been another "Concept" which employers adopted in word but rarely in deed. Demographic changes, a more diverse workforce, business imperatives and government policy have been driving work life balance up the agenda. The principle at stake here says that there should be a balance between the individual's work and their life outside work and that this balance should be healthy. Among employees, those with caring responsibilities clearly have particular needs. Benefits accrue to organisations who provide and take measures to provide good work balance options to their staff.
The biggest challenge lies in developing the type of culture which supports work life balance programmes and ensures that benefits are delivered to employees. I plan to explore the culture of work/life/balance options in my research in relation to the H.S.E. an conduct my research through an Action Research Method.
What is important at the conclusion of the action research project is that the complexities of all the data are drawn together and engagement in a sense making activity of personal learning as well as what took place in the system in which the researcher was engaged in. As cited by Coghlan and Brannick "Feeling the story, making sense of it, applying a rigorous methodology to that sense-making are directed towards the generation of useful knowledge, which must produce the outcomes which are of value to others" Coghlan & Brannick "Doing Action Research in your own Organisation" Page 133.
Friedman (2001) suggests four attributes for students engaged in action research in their own organisation.
Be pro-active and reflective.
Be critical and committed.
Be independent and work well with others.
Have aspirations and be realistic about limits.
Nursing shortages in Irish Health Service Executive is having ripple effects on delivering a high quality service. Healthcare delivery is undergoing a startling metamorphosis. Changes expected to occur during this shortage will set the stage for nursing practice and development for years to come. Resulting staffing concerns are a high priority. Providing holistic care for the patient and family could be compromised by reduced professional staff. A creative focus on recruitment, orientation and retention strategies is needed to achieve a positive balance between recruitment and retention of nurses.


Background: The Danish public healthcare system provides comprehensive care based on the principle of equal access. However, it is well documented that patients with low socioeconomic position are less likely to participate in cardiac rehabilitation. More knowledge is needed to understand this phenomenon. The aim of the study was to explore the patient experience of barriers to completion of phase II cardiac rehabilitation, and to investigate the impact of socioeconomic factors on completion of cardiac rehabilitation. Methods: The study had a qualitative explorative design using semi-structured individual or dyadic interviews with patients (n = 24) and close relatives (n = 12). Informants were sampled from a quantitative prospective study of 302 patients with acute coronary syndrome and data were analyzed using the framework method. Results: Patients in different socioeconomic groups were challenged by a rigid and non-individualized rehabilitation program. A total of five themes were identified that might explain non-participation in cardiac rehabilitation: exclusion by time and place, exclusion by health beliefs, exclusion from counseling, exclusion by alienation, and exclusion of relatives. The themes were described in a matrix of socioeconomic factors of age, sex, education and employment. Conclusions: Patients in various socioeconomic subgroups felt excluded from cardiac rehabilitation for different reasons. This study supports earlier findings and provides examples of real-life issues that need to be addressed to prevent attrition and encourage participation. Equal access to cardiac rehabilitation can only be reached if the physical and psychological needs of patient and family are met by tailoring therapy to consider age, sex, education and employment groups.


Introduction: Evaluation assists to make changes, modifications, improvement and enhancement of teaching and learning quality. The objective of this study was to determine the formative assessment of internal and surgical residents and compare them with each other. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. By using random cluster sampling, seven universities were selected. By using simple random sampling, 98 residents participated in this study. A questionnaire which was made by the researcher was used to collect the data. The reliability of this questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha was 82%. The data were analyzed by using descriptive, inferential statistics, and SPSS 16. Results: From the perspective of internal residents, about the six key elements of formative assessment, the physical presence of residents in time shift, on time at presence patient's bedside and clinical analysis were, respectively, the most evaluated items. From the point of view of surgery residents, the physical presence of residents in time shift, on time presence at patient's bedside and teaching junior residents were respectively, the most evaluated items. There was a significant difference about the on time presence at the patients' bedside and the patient care domain between internal and surgical residents. Conclusion: It is suggested that the Ministry of Health and Medical Education managers pay more attention to formative assessment, and do the best to strive for improving the program's condition. They should not consider to some items such as just physical presence of residents and they should consider respect for patient privacy, moral obligations of patients, and clinical analysis more than before.


The development of the World Wide Web, the emergence of social media and Big Data have led to a rising amount of data. Infor¬mation and Communication Technol¬ogies (ICTs) affect the environment in various ways. Their energy consumption is growing exponentially, with and without the use of 'green' energy. Increasing envi¬ronmental aware¬ness has led to discussions on sustainable development. The data deluge makes it not only necessary to pay attention to the hard‑ and software di¬mensions of ICTs but also to the 'value' of the data stored. In this paper, we study the possibility to methodically reduce the amount of stored data and records in organizations based on the 'value' of informa¬tion, using the Green Archiving Model we have developed. Reducing the amount of data and records in organizations helps in allowing organizations to fight the data deluge and to realize the objectives of both Digital Archiving and Green IT. At the same time, methodi¬cally deleting data and records should reduce the con¬sumption of electricity for data storage. As a consequencs, the organizational cost for electricity use should be reduced. Our research showed that the model can be used to reduce [1] the amount of data (45 percent, using Archival Retention Levels and Retention Schedules) and [2] the electricity con¬sumption for data storage (resulting in a cost reduction of 35 percent). Our research indicates that the Green Ar¬chiving Model is a viable model to reduce the amount of stored data and records and to curb electricity use for storage in organi¬zations. This paper is the result of the first stage of a research project that is aimed at devel¬oping low power ICTs that will automa¬tically appraise, select, preserve or permanently delete data based on their 'value'. Such an ICT will automatically reduce storage capacity and reduce electricity con¬sumption used for data storage. At the same time, data dispos¬al will reduce overload caused by storing the sa¬me data in different for¬mats, it will lower costs and it reduces the po¬tential for liability.


Abstract. It is expected that by the year 2050, 66% of the world's population will live in urban areas, necessitating the efficient management of land and urban space, namely the requirement for multi-dimensional land management systems (MLMS). In most countries, current LMS are two dimensional, representing the reality on a plane. This research aims at outlying guidelines designed for augmenting existing 2D LMS to multi-dimensional ones, by investigating theoretical (conceptual) and technical inferences related to the adding of the height dimension, the time dimension and the scale dimension (scale dimension may also refer to levels of details). Sustainable multi-purpose land management systems for serving various end-users is essential, therefore, our study is based on a Delphi questionnaire, which aims at understanding the perspective of diverse stakeholders and experts who may use LMS, as well as mapping their requirements and expectations from the LMS. Questions were categorized into two groups: i) theoretical, focusing on semantic and mathematical definitions; and, ii) technical, focusing on functionalities, databases, data collection, etc. As a preliminary assessment, responses of eight experts, from different fields and countries, to the questionnaire were analysed and summarized. The results are presented in this paper, including the main issues that experts pointed out, as well as suggested classes, fields, procedures and functionalities that might be required from a multi-purpose MLMS.


There is an expanding interest to study psychosis in the realm of daily life. The study of the person in the context of daily life may provide a powerful addition to more conventional and cross-sectional research strategies in the study of psychosis. This article first discusses the nature of experience sampling research in psychosis and demonstrates the feasibility and validity of studies using the experience sampling method (ESM) in this patient group. Second, the article presents a review of all ESM research in psychosis with a special focus on (a) the phenomenology, (b) the etiology, and (c) psychological models of psychosis. Variability over time and the dynamic interplay with the environment were found to be essential features of the positive symptoms of psychosis, whereas behavioral patterns as well as self-reported affect in daily life reality might be essential when studying negative symptomatology. ESM contributes to a better understanding of the interplay between psychotic experiences and environmental features, such as stress or cannabis exposure. Finally, the study of symptomatic variability may fuel new research into psychological models and treatment of psychosis and the study of the person-environment interplay may foster new Gene x Environment interaction studies.


Despite many years of intensive research there still remain many unresolved questions in powder and ceramic technology. A majority of these issues are linked to interfacial phenomena of atomic scale origin, which makes their experimental investigation very difficult due to limitations in the spatial resolution of the available analysis techniques. Computer simulations at the atomic scale provide with the advent of more and more advanced methods and increasing computer power an ever more powerful tool for the investigation of these phenomena. The understanding of experimental systems gained at a fundamental theoretical level will help target key experiments in a knowledge based fashion for the rapid advance in top-performance materials development, saving time and resources with simulations showing the most promising routes and key parameters to be explored in experiments. The present thesis investigates several key steps in the production cycle of a ceramic material using atomic scale computer simulation techniques, leading to advances in the understanding of the underlying atomic scale phenomena in each case. Instead of treating a single material throughout the ceramic production process, a series of different systems of experimental interest are looked at in order to show the generic nature of the approach. Very often ceramic powders are produced by precipitation from solution, where many powders properties can be modified, amongst them the particle size, morphology and state of agglomeration, all of which have an important effect on the quality of the final ceramic. Growth can be modified by the reactive environment (temperature, pH) or extrinsic species such as ions or molecular additives. Growth modification of hematite (α-Fe2O3) by phosphonic acid molecules was simulated by energy minimization and experimentally validated, making the method useful as a predictive tool for other phosphonic acid molecules. Significant changes in morphology were predicted and experimentally observed, the main reason for preferential adsorption being the surface geometry and topology, major distortions of the molecule leading to unfavorably high adsorption energies on some faces. Since experiments showed calcite (CaCO3) particles grown in presence of polyaspartic acid (p-ASP) to have a higher specific surface area than with polyacrylic acid (PAA) despite the same functional groups on both additives, molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate this difference. The presence of charged surface defects at steps was found to be the key requirement for adsorption, the molecules' approach being hindered by the highly coordinated water at the surface and the additive even desorbing without the attractive electrostatic force. PAA was found to form more complexes with counterions in solution and a more negative enthalpy of adsorption was found for p-ASP, both of which will lead to more marked growth suppression by binding of p-ASP to steps, which are expected to be the main growth sites. Further the adsorption conformation of p-ASP results in a better colloidal stabilization than PAA, preventing particle agglomeration. These three aspects can explain the higher specific surface area for powders precipitated in presence of p-ASP. These computational approaches can thus explain subtle differences between additives as well the same additive on different surfaces helping in the targeted use of additives and the design of new additives. Dopants may be added to ceramics during powder synthesis or before sintering either as sintering agents or to add specific properties to the final material. Often dopant ions are oversized compared those replaced in the crystal lattice leading to segregation towards defects where their incorporation is facilitated. Interface segregation was studied for industrially relevant dopant ions in alumina and zinc oxide using energy minimization and microstructural models to help compare with experimental findings. The results show a strong tendency for surface and a slightly lesser tendency for grain boundary segregation in all cases, however with important differences between different interfaces. As a key result one possible reason for the microstructural homogenization effect of magnesium was found to be its capacity to narrow the grain boundary energy distribution resulting in more equiaxed grains due to isotropic grain growth. The segregation of luminescent neodymium ions in YAG ceramics for laser applications was investigated and dopants were shown to accumulate at grain boundaries where their high concentration will make them inactive for lasing and result in light scattering due to slight local variations of the refractive index. Using microstructural models the proportion of inactive dopant ions was found to increase with decreasing grain size, making nanoceramic lasers less powerful. Optical models based on atomistic segregation results on the other hand show that light scattering is more severe for larger grains, nanoceramics thus being more transparent. There is therefore an optimal grain size where laser power and transparency will result in the best possible laser performance. Different microstructural models could be linked to the sintering procedure, predicting that the best laser performance should be obtained by slow conventional sintering rather than by novel rapid methods such as spark-plasma-sintering (SPS). These results are key in understanding the role of interfaces in this novel class of laser materials and will help improve their fabrication methods. Experiment and simulation of oxygen self-diffusion in alumina so far showed large discrepancies, the simulations predicting diffusive jump activation energies by a factor five smaller than experiments. In this thesis a novel simulation approach based on Metadynamics allowed to determine activation free energies of individual jumps, then using these in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to predict the macroscopic diffusion coefficient. The key result is that the activation energy for the diffusion dominating jumps is of the order of the experimentally determined one, the so far reported simulated jump energies not forming a continuous diffusion network. The calculated diffusion coefficient correlates relatively well with experimental results. The developed approach is generic and can be applied to investigate a variety of diffusive phenomena in solids providing answers to many more of the remaining questions. While atomistic simulation approaches give very interesting results on local atomistic phenomena and allow understanding and elucidating which processes occur spontaneously in a system, for predictions on experimental length and time scales the use of larger scale models is immensely important to extrapolate atomistic results to these scales. The combination of techniques from the electronic structure through the atomistic and mesoscale to the continuum level in a multi-scale modeling approach seems very promising for material science applications, where the goal is to understand experimental observations and to target the next key experiment in a knowledge-based fashion.


Vanhouttea (Gesneriaceae) is a genus from Brazilian rock mountains. Two species, Vanhouttea hilariana Chautems and Vanhouttea brueggeri Chautems, are very similar, differentiated just by the calyx morphology. The hypothesis of hybridization between these species was suggested by many authors mainly by the observation of individuals in the populations with intermediate morphology. The aim of this work was to determine the chromosome number and to evaluate the meiosis behavior and pollen viability of these two species and the putative hybrid. The analyses of the putative parental and hybrid revealed that all individuals have 2n=26 and a normal meiosis behavior. Nevertheless, although the pollen grains of possible parental has been viable, it was observed around 92.87% of unviable pollen from all putative hybrids analyzed which reinforce the hypothesis of hybridization between V. hilariana and V. brueggeri.


Objectives In recent years, issues related to physical health took on a major role in the care of youth who experienced a first episode psychosis (FEP). Compared to the general population, people with a psychotic disorder have a reduced life expectancy of 15 years, with physical health problems accounting for 60 to 70% of that part. With the increased awareness about these issues, physical activity is considered as a new prevention and intervention strategy in the recovery process for youth with a FEP. The objective of the present article is to summarize the different physical health issues in FEP and the impacts of physical activity. Methods Narrative review addressing physical health issues, the role of antipsychotics, the need for metabolic monitoring, and for improvement of lifestyle habits (e.g., smoking, sedentary lifestyle, physical inactivity, poor diet) in youth with a FEP. The impact of physical activity on physical and mental health, on smoking cessation as well as the interest of adventure therapy in the recovery process will be discussed. Finally, we will propose motivational strategies and tools to promote physical activity. In the different sections, we will support our arguments with the highest levels of evidence available (e.g., meta-analyses, systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, N-of-1) and highlight implications for clinical practice. Results Metabolic health problems progress rapidly after the initiation of antipsychotic treatment, and inadequate lifestyle habits contribute to the development of these problems. In an early intervention context, several types of physical activity have shown benefits on physical health, psychotic symptoms, functioning and more generally in the recovery process. Nevertheless, few patients spontaneously engaged in regular physical activity because of low motivation. Physical activity interventions should be adapted to the FEP population and several factors taken into consideration such as the type of physical activity, its context, intensity, frequency, motivational parameters, and support/supervision from health professionals. Conclusion From a physical and a psychiatric perspective, the years following treatment initiation for FEP are critical. Considering its positive impacts on different dimensions of recovery physical activity interventions should be integrated into the range of services offered in early intervention services.


Owing to its widespread availability, fast foods have managed to attract people from all social and economic backgrounds. This growing menace is causing widespread destruction in terms of human health. A recent study published in Environmental Health Perspectives suggests that fast food may be a significant source of noxious chemicals that may damage the reproductive system and cause infertility. These chemicals are phthalates, which are currently a hot topic of discussion. Phthalates which are mainly used as plasticizers are known to have many perverse health impacts. Procedures like food processing and packaging require equipment that contains phthalates which may leach into food.


Unicellular cyanobacteria have recently been recognized for their contributions to nitrogen fixation in marine environments, a function previously thought to be filled mainly by filamentous cyanobacteria such as Trichodesmium. To begin a systems level analysis of the physiology of the unicellular N2-fixing microbes, we have sequenced to completion the genome of Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142, the first such organism. Cyanothece 51142 performs oxygenic photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation, separating these two incompatible processes temporally within the same cell, while concomitantly accumulating metabolic products in inclusion bodies that are later mobilized as part of a robust diurnal cycle. The 5,460,377-bp Cyanothece 51142 genome has a unique arrangement of one large circular chromosome, four small plasmids, and one linear chromosome, the first report of a linear element in the genome of a photosynthetic bacterium. On the 429,701-bp linear chromosome is a cluster of genes for enzymes involved in pyruvate metabolism, suggesting an important role for the linear chromosome in fermentative processes. The annotation of the genome was significantly aided by simultaneous global proteomic studies of this organism. Compared with other nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, Cyanothece 51142 contains the largest intact contiguous cluster of nitrogen fixation-related genes. We discuss the implications of such an organization on the regulation of nitrogen fixation. The genome sequence provides important information regarding the ability of Cyanothece 51142 to accomplish metabolic compartmentalization and energy storage, as well as how a unicellular bacterium balances multiple, often incompatible, processes in a single cell.


In video background modeling, ghosting occurs when an object that belongs to the background is assigned to the foreground. In the context of Principal Component Pursuit, this usually occurs when a moving object occludes a high contrast background object, a moving object suddenly stops, or a stationary object suddenly starts moving. Based on a previously developed incremental PCP method, we propose a novel algorithm that uses two simultaneous background estimates based on observations over the previous n1 and n2 (n1 C n2) frames in order to identify and diminish the ghosting effect. Our computational results show that the proposed method greatly improves both the subjective quality and accuracy as determined by the F-measure.


We examined 96 museum specimens belonging to 14 species of Carnivora from the Mexican State of Puebla. In addition, four species were documented based on literature records and by indirect evidence. The carnivorous mammals of Puebla belong to 5 families, 18 genera, 18 species and 23 subspecies. Eight of these 23 taxa are reported herein for the first time from the state of Puebla. Of the 18 species, Herpailurus yagouaroundi, Lontra longicaudis, Taxidea taxus, and Galictis vittata are considered by Norma Oficial Mexicana as threatened species, Leopardus wiedii and Eira barbara in danger of extinction, and Potos flavus is under special protection. We found Lynx rufus, Canis latrans, Taxidea taxus, and Bassariscus astutus were found only in the Nearctic region of the State, whereas Herpailurus yagouaroundi, Leopardus wiedii, Lontra longicaudis, Galictis vittata, Eira barbara, Potos flavus, and Nasua narica were found only in the Neotropical region of the State. The remaining seven species (Puma concolor, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, Mustela frenata, Me- phitis macroura, Spilogale putorius, Conepatus leuconotus, and Procyon lotor) have been taken in both the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Localities in the Sierra Norte de Puebla had the greatest species richness and abundance of individuals. The carnivores confront serious conservation problems in the state because they are hunted indiscriminately as trophies and by the local residents as harmful species. Moreover they are hunted for eco- nomic benefit by the sale of theirs skins or as living pets. The carnivores in some areas are used as food items and for therapeutic proprieties of their fat, skin, or bones. Unfortunately at this time we can't assess the full impact of these activities on the local populations.