An epidemiologic survey of the whole adult Micronesian population of Nauru in the Central Pacific conducted in 1982 has confirmed that Nauruans, along with Pima Indians, suffer the highest rate of abnormal glucose tolerance yet recorded. To establish the morbid effects of hyperglycemia in this population, all responders to the diabetes survey were concurrently examined for diabetic retinopathy. In diabetic subjects, the crude prevalence of retinopathy was 24%. Specific rates were determined at various levels of the following characteristics: age, two-hour post-load plasma glucose, body mass index, duration of diabetes, and systolic blood pressure. Prevalence was found to rise with increasing two-hour plasma glucose and duration, to fall with increasing body mass index, and to have a quadratic relationship with age and systolic blood pressure. The multiple logistic regression model was used to determine whether the selected characteristics were significant in increasing the risk of retinopathy. Body mass index and systolic blood pressure did not contribute significantly to this risk after controlling for age. Increasing two-hour plasma glucose significantly increased the risk of retinopathy, and duration of disease was the strongest predictor variable. This study shows that the consequences of hyperglycemia in this Micronesian population are comparable to those already documented in European and American Indian communities.


A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thought and feeling, as something separated from the rest─a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in this beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation of inner security.


BACKGROUND
Special Operation Forces (SOF) operate regularly in extreme environmental conditions that may affect tactical and physical performance. The main aims of the present study were to elucidate the impact of a long cold-water swim on SOF recruits' dexterity, performance, and reaction time.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Eleven recruits from Norwegian Naval Special Operation Command (NORNAVSOC) that were participating in a 10,000-m open water swim with a dry suit in 5°C cold water volunteered to participate in this study. The exercise was part of their training. Grip strength, lower body power, and dexterity were measured before, immediately after, and 24 hours after the swim. In addition, core and skin temperatures were measured continuously during the swim and until 45 minutes after the swim.

RESULTS
After the swim, moderate to large reductions in core temperature, lower body power, and reaction time were observed. Moreover, very large to extremely large reductions in skin temperature, grip strength, and dexterity were also observed.

CONCLUSION
These results demonstrate that exposure to a 10,000-m swim in 5°C water using standard equipment led to a significant drop in the recruits' temperature and performance. These findings could have a meaningful impact on the planning of training, operations, and gear used for SOF.


This paper discusses the characterization of temperature-dependent flexural rigidities of Dyneema® HB80, a cross-ply thermoplastic lamina. The properties are then used in the modeling a thermoforming process. A vertical-cantilever experimental setup is presented to characterize the bending behavior at elevatedtemperature conditions. The material properties derived from the test data are implemented in a finite element model of the cross-ply lamina. Thickening of the lamina resulting from shear deformation is investigated and incorporated in the model. The finite element model uses a hybrid discrete mesoscopic approach, and deep draw forming of the material is simulated to investigate its formability to a hemispherical geometry. Simulation results are compared with an experimental forming trial to demonstrate the capabilities of the model to predict the development of out-of-plane waves during preform manufacturing and to inform the design of multiple-ply thermoforming with thickness variation data.


An experiment is proposed which begins to systematically explore the potential contribution of discourse theory to the design of interactive systems. The experiment involves implementing and comparing two versions of a very simple system for planning air travel itineraries. One version of the system includes facilities based on discourse theory, the other does not. Neither system uses natural language. The long-term goal of this research is to develop a toolkit that can be used to add discourse capabilities to any interactive system.


Ecomorphological studies often seek to link morphology and performance to relevant ecological characteristics. Varanid lizards are unique in that species can vary in body size by almost four orders of magnitude within a single genus, and a question of considerable interest is whether similar ecomorphological relationships exist when constraints on body size are reduced. We studied sprint speed in relation to size, shape and ecology for 18 species of varanid lizards. Maximal speed scaled positively with mass 0.166 using least squares regression, and mass 0.21 using reduced major-axis regression. However, a curvilinear trend better described this relationship, suggesting an optimal mass of 2.83 kg with respect to speed. Including data for the komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis moves the optimum mass to 2.23 kg. We use this relationship to predict the sprint speed of the Komodo's giant extinct relative Varanus (Megalania) prisca to be 2.6–3 m s 1 similar to that of extant freshwater crocodiles Crocodylus johnstoni. When differences in speed were compared to ecological characteristics, species from open habitats were significantly faster than species from semi-open or closed habitat types, and remained so after correction for size and phylogeny. Thus, despite large variation in body size, varanids appear to share similar associations between performance and ecology as seen in other lizard groups. Varanids did, however, differ in morphological relationships with sprint speed. Differences in relative speed were not related to relative hindlimb length, as is commonly reported for other lizard groups. Instead, size-free forefoot length was negatively related to speed as was the size-free thorax–abdomen length. While shorter forefeet were thought to be an adaptation to burrowing, and thus open habitats, rather than speed per se, the reduction in the thorax–abdomen length may have significant advantages to increasing speed. Biomechanical models predicting this advantage are discussed in relation to a trade-off between speed and manoeuvrability.


INTRODUCTION: The effectiveness of low power lasers for incisional wound healing, because of conflicting results of previous research studies, is uncertain. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate low power laser effects on incisional wound healing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Incisional wound was produced on thirty-six mature male guinea pigs under general and local anesthesia. In half of the cases, He-Ne laser radiations were used for five minutes and the rest were left untreated. Animals were divided into six groups of six animals each that were killed after 3, 5 and 14 days. After histopathology processing and H&E staining, specimens were examined for acute and chronic inflammations, epithelial cell migration, epithelial seal and barrier formation, fibroblast migration, fibrosis, clot formation and granulation tissue formation. Mann-Whitney U and the Wilcoxon tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found between fibroblast migration, acute and chronic inflammation of radiated groups and the control group at 5 days interval (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference at 3 and 14 days between laser radiated and control groups. CONCLUSION: This study showed that He-Ne laser had beneficial effects on incisional wound healing particularly at 5 days interval; however, further research on chronic ulcers is recommended.


We work with a multi-period system where a finite number of agents need to share multiple monetary risks. We look for the solutions that are both Pareto efficient utility-wise and financially fair value-wise. A buffer enables the inter-temporal capital transfer. Expected utility is used to evaluate the utility, and a risk-neutral measure is essential for determining the risk sharing rules. It can be shown that in the model setting there always exists a unique risk sharing rule that is both Pareto efficient and financially fair. An iterative algorithm is introduced to calculate this rule numerically.


Traditional insulators made of glass and porcelain (ceramic insulators) used in power transmission and distribution systems ruled the market till the introduction of polymeric insulators which have potential to replace the ceramic insulators because of lightweight, aesthetic, hydrophobic properties, and superior anti-contamination performance. However, the field experience of polymeric insulators is relatively short which demands that further studies on the performance of these insulators under actual and simulated environmental conditions be carried out before their full scale application on real power systems.

This study contains the pioneer work carried out on polymeric insulators in Pakistan. The prime objective of this investigation is to determine how feasible polymeric insulators are for use in Pakistani environment so as to offer suitable recommendation to the national electric utility company (WAPDA) about the possible use of polymeric insulators on real system. Towards that end, polymeric insulators were exposed to lab and field aging representing Pakistani environmental conditions.

The laboratory study addressed aging under environmental parameters individually as well as collectively. Moreover, weather cycles, simulating Pakistani conditions were designed and corresponding aging performance was investigated. The environmental stresses used in the study included UV radiation, temperature, electric stress, low pressure and humidity. For field aging the samples were installed at two typical locations representing a clean environment as well as a heavily polluted industrial area of Hatta Industrial Estate. The aged samples were periodically analyzed using advance techniques such as FTIR and SEM. Hydrophobicity characteristics were also studied and samples were critically checked for any obvious surface degradation. The investigation revealed that the polymeric insulators follow a periodic degradation and self-restoration cycle and no irreversible degradation such as tracking or erosion was observed. In multi-stress aging, the samples were exposed to accelerated aging to represent an actual exposure of 12.67 years in the field. The insulators retained their characteristics throughout this period.

Based on very promising I results of this pioneering investigation which simulated environmental conditions prevalent in Pakistan, it appears that polymeric insulators made of silicone rubber have 1 bright future for application on real transmission and distribution systems of Pakistan W APDA. The matter will accordingly be taken up with decision makers to build some new distribution lines equipped with polymeric insulators to convert the benefits of polymeric insulators into a practical reality.


This article describes the motivation, design, and progress of the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS). JOSS is a free and open-access journal that publishes articles describing research software. It has the dual goals of improving the quality of the software submitted and providing a mechanism for research software developers to receive credit. While designed to work within the current merit system of science, JOSS addresses the dearth of rewards for key contributions to science made in the form of software. JOSS publishes articles that encapsulate scholarship contained in the software itself, and its rigorous peer review targets the software components: functionality, documentation, tests, continuous integration, and the license. A JOSS article contains an abstract describing the purpose and functionality of the software, references, and a link to the software archive. The article is the entry point of a JOSS submission, which encompasses the full set of software artifacts. Submission and review proceed in the open, on GitHub. Editors, reviewers, and authors work collaboratively and openly. Unlike other journals, JOSS does not reject articles requiring major revision; while not yet accepted, articles remain visible and under review until the authors make adequate changes (or withdraw, if unable to meet requirements). Once an article is accepted, JOSS gives it a digital object identifier (DOI), deposits its metadata in Crossref, and the article can begin collecting citations on indexers like Google Scholar and other services. Authors retain copyright of their JOSS article, releasing it under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. In its first year, starting in May 2016, JOSS published 111 articles, with more than 40 additional articles under review. JOSS is a sponsored project of the nonprofit organization NumFOCUS and is an affiliate of the Open Source Initiative (OSI).


This timely and vibrant edition of essays about Roberto Benigni covers the bases of Benigni's foundations as a comedian, from his directing debut You Upset Me, his brilliant comedyJohnny Stecchino, the apex of his work as a comic actor in The Monster, even musings about the ethnocentricity of the reception of Pinocchio. This collection wisely focuses on Benigni's Oscar winning La vita e bella/Life is Beautiful, a film which has set off continuous and often bitter debate about Holocaust representation and historical consciousness. The topics covered in the collection offer rich insights from critics around the world in a compelling forum for the consideration of the wider issues that Benigni's films provoke. The contributors are: Rebecca West, Umberto Taccheri, Mirna Cicioni, Victoria Kirkham, Erminia Passannanti, William Van Watson, Laura Leonardo, Vittorio Montemaggi, Gefen Bar-on, Janice Fernheimer, David Scott Diffrient, Grace Russo Bullaro and with a Preface by Carlo Celli.


Colombia has shown a strong commitment to the achievement of the CBDs biodiversity target, by promoting the conservation of at least 10% of its natural ecosystems. Protected Area categories in Co- lombia are undergoing a standardization process that should enhance the countrys capacity to protect its natural ecosystems. In this study we use a spatial analysis to examine how the legislation and the civil societys initiatives help in the conservation of natural ecosystems in the Colombian Orinoco Basin. We found that differentiation in use restriction legislation limits the conservation potential of some Protected Area categories. The only fully Protected Areas in Colombia are the Natural National Parks System Areas, which protect only 10% of the area of natural ecosystems and less than 50% of the natural ecosystems in the Colombian Orinoco Basin. Indigenous Reserves help significantly in the conservation of the natural ecosystems in the Colombian Orinoco Basin, but are not a Protected Area category, making it difficult for indigenous groups to aid in the accomplishment of conservation goals in Colombia. A small percentage of ecosystems of the Colombian Orinoco Basin fall outside of any Protected Area or Indigenous Reserve and urgent actions may be needed to protect them. Future similar studies should use current and updated information on Protected Areas and take into account changes in land cover, for a better understanding of the role of different categories of Protected Areas in the achievement of conserva- tion objectives in Colombia.


In a microcanonical ensemble (constant NVE, hard reflecting walls) and in a molecular dynamics ensemble (constant NVEPG, periodic boundary conditions) with a number N of smooth elastic hard spheres in a d-dimensional volume V having a total energy E, a total momentum P, and an overall center of mass position G, the individual velocity components, velocity moduli, and energies have transformed beta distributions with different arguments and shape parameters depending on d, N, E, the boundary conditions, and possible symmetries in the initial conditions. This can be shown marginalizing the joint distribution of individual energies, which is a symmetric Dirichlet distribution. In the thermodynamic limit the beta distributions converge to gamma distributions with different arguments and shape or scale parameters, corresponding respectively to the Gaussian, i.e., Maxwell-Boltzmann, Maxwell, and Boltzmann or Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution. These analytical results agree with molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations with different numbers of hard disks or spheres and hard reflecting walls or periodic boundary conditions. The agreement is perfect with our Monte Carlo algorithm, which acts only on velocities independently of positions with the collision versor sampled uniformly on a unit half sphere in d dimensions, while slight deviations appear with our molecular dynamics simulations for the smallest values of N.


Our work presents a novel technique to encode information onto terahertz metasurfaces comprised of geometrically identical unit cell arrays. Previous demonstrations on metasurfaces or frequency-selective surfaces have shown interesting concepts to engineer electromagnetic radiation, but such designs often require a spatial arrangement of geometrically varying unit cells, either by shape, size, orientation, etc. In some cases, the output response can be mapped by examining the arrangement of atoms. Here, we show that by fabricating an array of resonant structures that are nominally identical visually, but where individual structures can have different conductivities, we can hide image information that is revealed when imaged using the appropriate terahertz frequency and polarization. This is achieved because changes in the structure's conductivity correspond to changes in the depth of the resonant absorption observed in transmission. Using the simplest unit cell consisting of a single dipole, we create images that have up to 9 different discernible gray levels when interrogated at a single frequency. When a slightly more complex cross structure is used in the unit cell, 36 discernible levels are encoded in the image using two different polarizations. Finally, when the unit cell consists of multiple dipoles designed for multiple frequencies, we observe 64 unique colors in an encoded image. We believe our results present a unique approach for hiding information that could be applied to security-related applications.


Combining System Dynamics model simulation and data analysis long-term development of electricity industry can be observed and anticipated regarding its reliability and total production cost under different assumed scenarios. In particular, different portfolio concepts to mitigate GHG emissions and to reduce fossil resource consumption are evaluated based on our highly aggregated electricity production and consumption model. Generally speaking, this innovative System Dynamics approach has not been widely used as a tool for optimizing asset structure of an energy portfolio yet. Nevertheless we favor a renewable load management concept which aims at the reshaping of load profile to fit the renewable electricity production output profile. In this context accurate forecasts of both load and production profiles are prerequisite for a well functioning load management. In the case of Germany our preliminary results show that a renewable load management concept may reduce the total production cost by up to 2.7 B€/year or 4.80 €/MWh in 2025 while improving mitigation of GHG emissions from 31.2% to 34.7% (compared to 1990).


This is my master thesis done at PPL in Stanford under the supervision of Prof. Kunle Olukotun. It improved LMS, a framework for embedding DSLs (domain-specific languages) into Scala which features many general optimizations that can be used by any DSLs for free. I implemented a more powerful and cleaner version of the loop fusion optimization from the compiler world. Loop fusion is an important performance optimization for all languages that feature list comprehensions and translate their high-level operations into loop-based representations. It can decrease runtime, memory footprint and code size through two different fusion cases: The simpler one is called horizontal or side-by-side fusion and fuses adjacent loops iterating over the same range, enabling further optimizations. The second one is vertical or pipeline fusion, where a producer and a consumer of data are fused, removing the need for the intermediate data structure.


The competitiveness of industry in the Central Java Province need to increased in view of the implementation of the AEC is getting closer.The purpose of this research are identifying leading industry in Central Java Province, knowing condition of leading industry competitiveness, and formulating strategy to improve that industry's competitiveness to face AEC 2015. Results of this research shows that leading industry in Central Java Province are beverage, tobacco processing, textile, apparel, wood, printing, furniture and other processing industry. Textile, apparel, wood, printing, and furniture industry has competitiveness, both at national and ASEAN. The strategy formulated among others S-O strategies that optimize the use of local raw materials and the appropriate technologies, W-O strategies that improve production efficiency, S-T strategy is to improve the quality of products and ensure the supply of raw materials continuously and W-T strategy is provide incentives to industry are increasing the proportion of local raw materials. Keywords: AEC; Competitiveness; Leading Industry. JEL Classifications : R11; R50; R58


Here we demonstrate the Argo System, a massively parallel neural recording system based on platinum-iridium microwire electrode arrays bonded to a CMOS voltage amplifier array. The Argo system is the highest channel count in vivo neural recording system built to date, supporting simultaneous recording from 65,536 channels, sampled at over 32 kHz and 12-bit resolution. This system is designed for cortical recordings, compatible with both penetrating and surface microelectrodes. We have validated this system by recording spiking activity from 791 neurons in rats and cortical surface Local Field Potential (LFP) activity from over 30,000 channels in sheep. While currently adapted for head-fixed recording, the microwire-CMOS architecture is well suited for clinical translation. Thus, this demonstration helps pave the way for a future high data rate intracortical implant.


Kinetic studies on the homo- and copolymerization of 2-methoxycarboxyethyl-2-oxazoline (MestOx) with 2-methyl-2-oxazoline (MeOx) and 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline (EtOx) were performed. For the homopolymerisation of MestOx an increased propagation rate constant was observed compared to MeOx and EtOx while the copolymerization of MestOx with MeOx or EtOx unexpectedly revealed slower incorporation of MestOx. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that nearby MestOx residues in the living chain can activate both the oxazolinium chain end and the attacking monomer, stabilizing the propagation transition state, leading to faster homopolymerisation of MestOx. These effects also accelerate incorporation of both monomers in the copolymerisations. However, since MeOx is shown to be more nucleophilic than MestOx, the incorporation order is reversed in the copolymerisations.


The fast-changing digital media environment has provoked new communication processes in contemporary society. In particular, younger generations engage in new ways of interacting with each other thanks to the constant emergence of digital technologies and mobile communication outlets. New habits arise every year, changing not only our interpersonal communication, but also our overall consumption of information and entertainment content, with video and instant messaging apps being particularly popular among younger populations. This study employs a mixed method approach to measure young Hispanics' motivations to use smartphones in Chile, Mexico and the U.S. The subjects, 18 to 25 years old, participated in focus groups and surveys conducted in 2015: 55 Hispanic smartphone users joined focus groups whilst 1,403 respondents completed surveys in Chile, Mexico and Texas (U.S.). Results show similarities and differences in young Hispanics' motivations and uses of smartphones, including the personal and commercial value they ascribe to information, time spent on social networks, and their preferences for mobile devices compared to other media. The findings are used to develop three archetypes of young users, based on smartphone's motivations and uses. Utilizing factor analysis scores, a linear regression analysis was conducted to identify the main traits of these three archetypes: "always connected," "entertained," and "secure."


Communal farmers often struggle with low birth and survival rates amongst their livestock. Determined to change this, empowerment company, Mngcunube Development, is now in its third decade of supplying animal health products to farmers. Mike Burgess visited the Elundini municipal area of the former Transkei.


In the decades around 1500 composers learned to combine the new style of imitative polyphony with the older practice of basing a work on a cantus firmus. By applying Peter Schubert's technique of modular analysis and his descriptions of common contrapuntal techniques to Heinrich Isaac9s Inviolata integra et casta es Maria and Alma redemptoris mater, we can learn a great deal about compositional process in the period. Inviolata, which features a cantus firmus in strict canon after two measures, consists of two-, three-, and four-voice modules. Moreover, understanding the modular construction of the piece makes it possible to reconstruct the missing contratenor 2 part. In Alma redemptoris mater, which features a tenor cantus firmus that uses both long-note presentation and free paraphrase, Isaac uses four-voice modules, imitative presentation types involving modules, and nonmodular contrapuntal techniques probably derived from improvisatory practices. Understanding and labeling the contrapuntal techniques used in composition of this period allow us to analyze the music with a new precision, and to describe the differences between composers and genres.


The abundance of senile plaques (SP) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) was studied in cortical and subcortical regions from 30 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) expressing different apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotypes. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to identify the most important neuropathological variations between individual patients and to determine whether these variations were related to apoE genotype. The first two principal components (PC) accounted for 60% and 40% of the total variance of the SP and NFT data respectively. The abundance of SP in the frontal and occipital cortex and NFT in the frontal cortex, amygdala and substantia nigra were positively correlated with the first principal component (PC1). Analysis of the SP data revealed that the apoE score of the patient (the sum of the two alleles) was positively correlated with PC1 while analysis of the NFT data revealed no significant correlations between apoE score and the PC. The data suggest that apoE genotype was more closely related to variations in the distribution and abundance of SP than of NFT. In addition, a more rapid spread of SP into the frontal and occipital cortex may occur in patients with a high apoE score.


After Machiavelli is an examination of the triangular relationship of "re-writing"--a dynamic process encompassing both creative newness and awareness of historical profundity"--the "hermeneutic attitude: ' and Machiavelli's poiesis. Specifically, it addresses four questions: First, to what degree can we speak of intersection (interaction) among this triad? Second, what common ground do all three actually share? Third, in what particular manner do the act of "re-writing" and the "hermeneutic attitude" manifest themselves in the writings of Niccoli Machiavelli? And last, what bearing does this have on the reader, heir to Machiavelli's literary legacy?


A detailed study has been made of the formally
Neolithic pottery of south-eastern England. Fourty-two
new or previously unclassified finds have been added to
published lists. The text is accompanied by an illustrated
catalogue recording all material known in the Spring of
1956.
The results of the study may be summarized under
headings referring to the three ceramic groups with which
it is concerned:
The Windmill Hill complex: The characteristics and interrelationships
of the three major styles of decorated wares
In the area are distinguished more precisely than hitherto.
The Peterborough complex: A refined definition of the two
styles already familiar, and the recognition of a third,
has disclosed an evolutionary and chronological sequence.
In the light of this, peculiarities of the later Neolithic
wares of Ulster and Scotland and of developed Peterborough
ware can be explained more economically in terms of culture
contact between the groups concerned than by postulating
foreign Influences, and the relationship between Peterborough
ware and Overhanging-rim Urns can be more clearly understood.
It is further suggested that Peterborough ware is not so
associated with an assemblage of distinctive archaeological
traits as to represent a culture of Baltic or Mesolithic
origin, or even an independent culture, but in its earliest
form is associated with traits regnlarly occurring in the
Windmill Hill complex, as if its makers sprang from the
same Western Neolithic stock. It Is the survival of this
stock, after the disappearance of the Windmill Hill culture,
that is attested by the Peterborou,h ware of the Late
Neolithic and its Bronze Age successors.
The Rinyo-Clacton complex: A third stylistic group Is added
to the two now recognized In the south of England. he
cultural individuality of the Rinyo-Clacton complex over
against the Windmill Hill-Peterborough complexes is brought
out more clearly. A genetic relationship between Rinyo-
Clacton ware and biconical urns is suggested.
A revised chronological framework for the Middle and
Late Neolithic periods in south-eastern England is put
forward.


"Many people believe the only way to get in shape is by putting a lot of money into trendy fitness centers, or spending hard-earned cash on a variety of workout videotapes. In the end, these methods seldom provide the results we're all looking for. But don't get me wrong - I am not demeaning gyms or workout tapes; In fact, I still enjoy the benefits of a gym to keep fit. Weight-lifting rooms and other facilities can be extremely beneficial. However, to obtain and maintain supreme cardiovascular fitness and a rock-hard body, I must continually use the training regimen I learned as a member of the Navy SEALs' - from "The Navy SEAL Workout". As the world's most elite combat unit, the Navy SEALs have long been known for their tremendous physical fitness and mental stamina. Their training program has also carried somewhat of a mystique, as so few people actually enter and stay in the program.Now Navy SEAL Mark De Lisle reveals the no-frills workout that has conditioned some of the best bodies around. From stretching through cooldown, including a variety of running and swimming workouts as well as tips on top-notch nutrition, "The Navy SEAL Workout" can improve any committed participant's cardiovascular fitness and overall shape and tone. 'After 27 years as a Navy SEAL, I feel "The Navy SEAL Workout" program is the best one on the market, encompassing the physical training regimen required of a Naval Special Warfare Warrior. The levels of intensity, from beginner to advanced, are so well laid out that both the biggest 'couch potato' and professional athelete can see improvement after a short period of time' - Allan Starr, Command Masterchief, Naval Special Warfare Command Group One.'In "The Navy SEAL Workout", Mark De Lisle has developed a program soundly based in a state-of-the-art knowledge of exercise physiology and principles. This book would be a valuable addition to the library of anyone who is interested in peak performance' - W.K. Prusaczyk, PhD, Exercise Physiologist, Navy Health and Research Center. 'It has been interesting to note the numerous SEAL-related materials that have come out in recent years. As a former Marine, I salute you for your fine work with the SEALs and in promoting fitness to the masses' - Harvey Newton, Director of Program Development, National Strength and Conditioning Association. Mark De Lisle became a U.S. Navy SEAL at age 27. He lives in San Diego, California.


In Northern France in 1941, while under German military occupation, 100,000 miners went on strike from the 27th May to the 9th June. This strike not only cost the German war machine half a million tonnes of coal, but also had long-term consequences for the development of the Resistance in the area. Starting from a dispute with their employers over working conditions, the reality of living under Nazi occupation soon gave the struggle a political dimension, convincing the miners that their social aspirations were inextricably linked to the outcome of the war, thereby preparing the ground for what was to arguably become the most active underground resistance movement in wartime France.
 In organising a strike to resist the employers' offensive in the mines, rather as they might have done in times of peace, the miners showed everyone, themselves included, that the defeat of Nazi Germany was an essential prerequisite for any social progress. They thereby started a process that built a Resistance movement in the region that everyone had to recognise as second to none.
 Given the overwhelming level of collaboration amongst the French employing class and the way they used the German authorities to repress their employees, rather in the same way as other groups of employers elsewhere used their own native fascist organisations, the social question cannot be disentangled from the national question. Those who would keep the analysis of the Second World War restricted to a conventional war between two rival power blocks have only understood half the problem. The question of democracy and the struggle against fascism cannot be forgotten as a Nazi German victory would have meant the smashing of all working class organisation and this gave workers on the continent another motivation to resist and also gives the analysis of the war another complication. The collaboration of the employing class gave the Second World War an element of civil war which many commentators wish to forget.
 The strike gives valuable insights into the process whereby workers in struggle under repressive regimes move from industrial action to the armed struggle and parallels miners' actions in the Ludlow and Harlan County strikes in the USA, the Asturian Miners in 1934 and the Bolivian miners in the 1950s.


To reduce counterfeit fraud in the card-present environment, the United States started migrating to EMV chip technology in the mid-2010s. Since October 2015, merchants have been liable for counterfeit fraud committed using EMV cards if the merchants had not adopted EMV chip-readable terminals. In particular, merchants are held liable through chargebacks. {{p}} This study examines the initial effects of the EMV liability shift on fraud chargeback and merchant loss rates using data from merchant processors and PIN debit networks. Combined with gross fraud rates?overall fraud rates regardless of who incurs fraud losses?estimated in other studies, the results of our study suggest that merchants have faced a significantly higher share of fraud losses since the shift; however, this spike will decline if merchants continue to adopt EMV. Merchant fraud loss rates for signature-based transactions in the card-present channel increased sixfold, but the rates significantly vary between magnetic stripe and chip-to-chip transactions. While merchant fraud loss rates for magnetic stripe transactions are over 9 basis points in value for all merchants combined and vary across merchant categories, the rates for chip-to-chip transactions are very low, around 0.02 basis points, across all merchant categories. Because the gross fraud rates for magnetic-stripe transactions did not increase after the liability shift, our results suggest that the higher merchant fraud loss rates for magnetic-stripe transactions are mainly due to the liability shift. {{p}} Compared with signature-based transactions, fraud chargeback rates for PIN debit transactions in the card-present channel are much lower. Our results suggest that both EMV and PIN are effective in reducing merchant fraud loss rates. However, we need detailed gross fraud rates to examine how effective EMV and PIN are in reducing fraud more generally in the card-present channel. {{p}} Our results for card-not-present fraud chargeback and merchant loss rates are mixed. Both rates increased for some merchant categories, but the rates for all merchants combined actually decreased in our data. This decline is likely due to the underrepresentation of signature-based CNP transactions in our data. The gross fraud rates for card-not-present transactions increased over the same period, and merchants are generally liable for card-not-present fraud.


You're beyond the basics, so dive right in and customize, automate, and extend Accessusing Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). This supremely organized reference is packed with hundreds of time-saving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and workarounds. It's all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts use VBA to exploit the power of Accessand challenge yourself to new levels of mastery! Enhance your application with VBA built-in functions and SQL code Use the Access Object Model to work with data in forms and reports Manipulate data using SQL, queries, and recordsets with Data Access Objects (DAO) Create classes for handling form and control events Connect your Access database to different sources of data Effectively plan how to upsize an existing Access database to Microsoft SQL Server Dynamically update Microsoft Excel spreadsheets from the database Migrate your Access database directly to the cloud using SQL Azure


PURPOSE: United Arab Emirates (UAE) is part of the GCC countries and ranks 18 on 2007 WHO list of the fattest countries with 68.3% of its citizens with an unhealthy weight. The WHO data in 2008 state that the prevalence of overweight in UAE is 71%, while it is 61% in the UK, 54% in Germany, and 45% in France. The increasing overweight and obesity in the UAE are closely related to high social-economic development. Accordingly, the medical authority has observed that the rates of hypertension and diabetes mellitus type 2 appear to be one of the highest rates worldwide. We presume that the increase prevalence of obesity in the UAE would be linked to the increase in prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of symptoms and risk of OSAS in women followed up in the primary health care (PHC) setting in Dubai and the relationship between obesity and sleep apnea in females in the UAE. DESIGN: Prospective observational community-based survey. SETTING: 20 primary health centers in Dubai. PARTICI-PANTS: Consecutive female patients who were older than 14 years, regardless of the reason of their visit. METHODS: In this prospective survey, trained medical nurse administered the Berlin Questionnaire (which includes questions about self-reported snoring, witnessed apneas, daytime sleepiness, hypertension, and obesity) to a consecutive random sample of female patients in the age group older than 14 years, attending the PHC center in Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE, from September 2011 to March 2012. Based on the questionnaire, individuals were

 classified into high-risk and low-risk groups for OSAS. RESULTS: Based on the responses and measurement of the Berlin Questionnaire of 704 female subjects studied, 137 respondents met the criteria for the high-risk scoring. This gives a prevalence rate of 19.5% while the remainders of the participants were classified as low risk. The overall mean age of the high risk for OSAS female respondents was 39.95 ± 11.73 years. The highest prevalence was noticed between age group 51 to 60 years. 70% of the high risk group patients had Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2 and nearly 75% of the low risk group had BMI 2 and the Mean BMI was 33.59 ± 6.44 kg/m2. CONCLUSIONS: One in five women in Dubai, UAE is at high risk of having OSAS. Awareness by the primary care medical community about this disorder in females should be increased so that the patients would benefit from proper evaluation and treatment of OSAS.


This paper explores the extent to which retirees can and do insure themselves against longevity risk in private pension plans. We first review the theoretical and empirical results on the value of annuities, and discuss reasons why households may choose not to further insure themselves against longevity risk. We then analyze current trends in the private pension market, and find that the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans is likely to reduce annuitization rates among future retirees. This is driven primarily by the fact that the majority of DC plans, such as 401(k) plans, do not even offer participants a life annuity option at retirement. Thus, individuals who wish to annuitize generally must do so in the individual market where payouts are lower due to a healthier mortality pool. Hence, we can forecast that in the coming decades, absent institutional and regulatory changes, overall annuitization rates may fall and households may be increasingly exposed to the risk of outliving their financial resources, while the currently small private individual annuity market may witness significant growth. Finally, we discuss several policy options designed to increase annuitization of retirement resources.


Field trials were carried out using two types of package units designed for the treatment of domestic sewage from individual households. One of the units was a commercially available rotating biological contactor (RBC) system. The other was a newly developed sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system. Trials were carried at the site of a local sewage treatment plant where degritted raw sewage from a combined sewerage network was fed to the two units for a period of four months. Both units produced good effluent quality, well below 20/30 (BOD/SS) during steady-state performance. However, shorter start-up time was observed with the SBR unit together with better effluent quality (up to BOD<10 mg/l and SS<15 mg/l). Furthermore, the SBR unit produced effluents with ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus levels of 3 mg/l and 2 mg/l respectively, for influent levels that varied from 20 to 60 mg N-NH3/l and from 15 to 17 mg/l of total phosphorus. On the other hand, significant nutrient removal did not seem tohave occurred in the RBC unit. During testing to meet the requirements of British Standard (BS 6297), it was observed that the SBR can tolerate shockloads and periods following zero flow better than the RBC unit.


Insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) is a tyrosine kinase receptor mediating cell growth and survival. IGF-1R signaling has been implicated in malignant behavior of tumors and drugs targeting the IGF-1R as anticancer treatment have been developed. We aimed to determine clinical indicators of IGF-1 dependency and responsiveness to IGF-1R targeted therapy in breast cancer in two large cohorts of breast cancer patients and in breast cancer cell lines. We found that IGF-1R was frequently expressed in hormone receptor positive tumors and in those tumors related to a favorable prognosis, while IGF-1R expression was associated with a shorter disease-free survival in triple negative tumors. Overall, IGF-1 plasma levels in breast cancer patients did not show a strong relation to prognosis, however, in the subgroup of patients treated with endocrine therapy high IGF-1 levels were related to worse overall survival. We tested sensitivity of breast cancer cell lines to IGF-1R tyrosine kinase inhibition (TKI). IGF-1R TKI resulted in reduced proliferation in all cell lines but the extent of the effect was not directly related to IGF-1R expression. Both synergistic and contrary effects were seen when IGF-1R TKI was combined with several conventional systemic anti-(breast)cancer drugs. In conclusion, our study may support approaches of combining IGF-1R-directed antibodies with endocrine therapy in breast cancer and the use of IGF-1R targeted therapy in triple negative breast tumors. However, selection of patients who could benefit from IGF-1R-targeted therapy is likely hampered by the complex interrelationships of the IGF-1R system and lack of biomarkers to predict response.


The effect of alpha adrenergic block-ade on coronary blood flow regulation at rest was studied in 11 normally innervated patients and 8 cardiac allograft recipients by measuring arterial pressure and coronary sinus blood flow by thermodilution before and after alpha adrenergic blockade with phentolamine. Coronary vascular resistance was calculated by using coronary sinus blood flow and mean arterial pressure, and metabolic demand was estimated by the product of systolic arterial pressure and heart rate. In addition, the coronary sinus blood flow response to tachycardia was examined in 9 innervated patients and 12 denervated patients, with measurements repeated after phentolamine in 8 of the 9 innvervated patients and 6 of the 12 denervated patients. There was a 7.3+/-4.4% increase in coronary sinus blood flow in the innervated patients in response to alpha blockade, whereas the transplanted patients had an 8.2+/-1.8% fall in coronary sinus blood flow, despite equivalent changes in rate pressure product. The innervated patients also demonstrated a significantly greater increase in coronary sinus blood flow than did the transplanted patients during the first 5 s of an abrupt increase in heart rate (26+/-4 vs. 8+/-2.5 ml/min, P <0.001). This early response was blunted after alpha adrenergic blockade. We conclude that there is basal alpha adrenergic tone present on the coronary vasculature in man that is withdrawn by a sudden increase in heart rate.


There is an ongoing debate about the tectonic evolution of southeast Australia, particularly about the causes and nature of its accretion to a much older Precambrian core to the west. Seismic imaging of the crust can provide useful clues to address this issue. Seismic tomography imaging is a powerful tool often employed to map elastic properties of the Earth's lithosphere, but in most cases does not constrain well the depth of discontinuities such as the Mohorovičić (Moho). In this study, an alternative imaging technique known as receiver function (RF) has been employed for seismic stations near Canberra in the Lachlan Orogen to investigate: (i) the shear-wave-velocity profile in the crust and uppermost mantle, (ii) variations in the Moho depth beneath the Lachlan Orogen, and (iii) the nature of the transition between the crust and mantle. A number of styles of RF analyses were conducted: H-K stacking to obtain the best compressional–shear velocity (V P /V S) ratio and crustal thickness; nonlinear inversion for the shear-wave-velocity structure and inversion of the observed variations in RFs with back-azimuth to investigate potential dipping of the crustal layers and anisotropy. The thick crust (up to 48 km) and the mostly intermediate nature of the crust−mantle transition in the Lachlan Orogen could be due to the presence of underplating at the base of the crust, and possibly to the existing thick piles of Ordovician mafic rocks present in the mid and lower crust. Results from numerical modelling of RFs at three seismic stations (CAN, CNB and YNG) suggest that the observed variations with back-azimuth could be related to a complex structure beneath these stations with the likelihood of both a dipping Moho and crustal anisotropy. Our analysis reveals crustal thickening to the west beneath CAN station which could be due to slab convergence. The crustal thickening may also be related to the broad Macquarie volcanic arc, which is rooted to the Moho. The crustal anisotropy may arise from a strong N–S structural trend in the eastern Lachlan Orogen and to the preferred crystallographic orientation of seismically anisotropic minerals in the lower and middle crust related to the paleo-Pacific plate convergence.


Sensorimotor neuroscience with non-human primates usually mandates partial movement restraint to confine behavioral parameters and protect recording equipment. We present the Reach Cage and a versatile visuo-haptic interaction system (MaCaQuE) for investigating goal-directed whole-body movements of unrestrained monkeys. Two rhesus monkeys learned to conduct instructed reaches towards targets flexibly positioned in the cage. 3-D wrist movements were tracked in real time with video motion capture. We wirelessly recorded up to 127 broad-band neural signals at single unit resolution from three cortical sensorimotor areas. We demonstrate that repeated movements show small enough trial-to-trial variation to allow grouping of data for sufficient statistical power, and single neuron activity is selective for different reach movements. In conclusion, the Reach Cage in combination with wireless recordings allows correlating multi-channel neural dynamics with trained repetitive simpler movements, equivalent to conventional experiments, but also more complex goal-directed whole-body motor behaviors, like walk-and-reach movements.


The choice of sanitation technology in humanitarian crisis is based on various factors including the terrain, social and cultural norms and agency experience. There is the continued need for humanitarian response mechanisms to factor the environmental impact and sustainability of the technologies used in the provision of safe water supply and sanitation to affected communities. The acceptability of using ecological sanitation technologies such as Urine Diversion Dry Toilets (UDDT) in refugee contexts needs significant exploration. Using refugee camps in Dollo Ado as a case study, this paper outlines how the UDDT technology has been implemented in the context of protracted refugee camps, the successes and the areas needing further exploration to make it better able to be adopted across various refugee programmes and contexts.


DP A Specialist Consulting Engineers is a relatively small firm specialising in materials technology in the specialist civil engineering consulting and contracting industry. The organization has experienced many positive and negative changes over its history, and is currently in a precarious position, faced with numerous environmental opportunities and threats, while exhibiting significant strengths but also critical weaknesses. The firm does not have a formally crafted strategic plan from which to base its managerial decision making. It is widely held that strategic planning is critical for the success of a competitive business in today' s turbulent environment. In this study, pertinent theories pertaining to strategy development and evaluation are explored, and relevant models are adapted for the purpose of analysing and evaluating the organization and its circumstances. The facts provided in the case study pertaining to the organization are then analysed through the developed body of theory and the models presented. The theoretical models utilized provide the criteria by which it is possible to determine the areas in which the organization is performing well or poorly. At the same time, strategic options are developed and are evaluated in the context of the case study, and recommendations are provided with respect to the appropriate courses of action. It is shown that a competitive strategy of focused differentiation will be appropriate for the organisation. An assessment of available grand strategies reveals that the organization will be best served by an initial turnaround strategy, followed by a strategy of concentrated growth and innovation. It is also shown that a strategy of concentric diversification, in terms of the spin-off of the contracting business is appropriate under the circumstances. However, it is also evident that unless the recommendations pertaining to the turnaround strategy are followed, the firm's critical weaknesses and environmental threats will severely threaten the sustained survival and success of the organization.


Abstract. The Soft X-ray Spectrometer onboard the Astro-H (Hitomi) orbiting x-ray observatory featured an array of 36 silicon thermistor x-ray calorimeters optimized to perform high spectral resolution x-ray imaging spectroscopy of astrophysical sources in the 0.3- to 12-keV band. Extensive preflight calibration measurements are the basis for our modeling of the pulse height–energy relation and energy resolution for each pixel and event grade, telescope collecting area, detector efficiency, and pulse arrival time. Because of the early termination of mission operations, we needed to extract the maximum information from observations performed only days into the mission when the onboard calibration sources had not yet been commissioned and the dewar was still coming into thermal equilibrium, so our technique for reconstructing the per-pixel time-dependent pulse height–energy relation had to be modified. The gain scale was reconstructed using a combination of an absolute energy scale calibration at a single time using a fiducial from an onboard radioactive source and calibration of a dominant time-dependent gain drift component using a dedicated calibration pixel, as well as a residual time-dependent variation using spectra from the Perseus cluster of galaxies. The energy resolution was also measured using the onboard radioactive sources. It is consistent with instrument-level measurements accounting for the modest increase in noise due to spacecraft systems interference. We use observations of two pulsar wind nebulae to validate our models of the telescope area and detector efficiency and to derive a more accurate value for the thickness of the gate-valve Be window, which had not been opened by the time mission operations ceased. We use observations of the Crab nebula to refine the pixel-to-pixel timing and validate the absolute timing.


The purpose of this paper is to explain the measurement of natural gas for custody transfer applications through the use of ultrasonic meters. Specifically, this paper explains the operation of ultrasonic meters, issues surrounding their performance in natural gas, calibration procedures, and proper installation considerations. Additionally, the electronics making the measurements generate calculated values relating to the operation of the meter and as a result a database is available to provide analysis of the meter's ongoing performance. Meter health parameters can be evaluated to verify the meter's operation and these principles are explained.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the microshear bond strength (μSBS) of several universal adhesive systems applied on five different indirect restorative materials.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Five CAD/CAM materials were selected: 1) indirect resin composite (LAV); 2) feldspathic glass ceramic (VTR); 3) leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic (EMP); 4) lithium disilicate ceramic (EMX); 5) yttrium-stabilized zirconium dioxide (CZI). For each material, 15 blocks were cut into 4 rectangular sections (6 × 6 × 6 mm) (n = 60 per group), and processed as recommended by the respective manufacturer. For each indirect material, the following adhesive systems were applied according to the respective manufacturer's instructions: 1) AdheSE Universal [ADU]; 2) All-Bond Universal (ABU); 3) Ambar Universal (AMB); 4) Clearfil Universal (CFU); 5) Futurabond U (FBU); 6) One Coat 7 Universal (OCU); 7) Peak Universal Bond (PUB); 8) Prime&Bond Elect (PBE); 9) Scotchbond Universal Adhesive (SBU); 10) Xeno Select (XEN, negative control). After the application of the adhesive system, cylinder-shaped transparent matrices were filled with a dual-curing resin cement (NX3) and light cured. Specimens were stored in water (37°C for 24 h) and tested in shear mode at 1.0 mm/min (mSBS). The failure pattern and μSBS were statistically evaluated (a = 0.05).

RESULTS
LAV, VTR, and EMP showed a greater number of cohesive fractures than EMX and CZI (p < 0.0001). PUB was the only adhesive for which the mean μSBS reached the highest ranking of statistical significance for all five substrates. When each adhesive was compared across the five substrates, 8 out of 10 (ADU, ABU, AMB, CFU, OCU, PUB, PBE, and SBU) reached the statistically highest mean μSBS when applied on CZI.

CONCLUSION
The specific chemical composition of universal adhesives was not the decisive factor in the bond strength values measured for different CAD/CAM indirect materials. There was a wide variability in mean μSBS when different universal adhesives were applied to the several CAD/CAM indirect materials. Most universal adhesives bonded well to air-abraded zirconia.


ABSTRACT Within the Illinois basin, the northern Wabash Valley seismic zone (WVSZ) and adjoining La Salle anticlinal belt have produced three moderate‐sized earthquakes ranging from m b  4.7 to m b  5.2 in the past 50 years. However, few smaller events from this area are recorded in regional catalogs. The Wabash fault system extends from the junction of the Rough Creek and Cottage Grove faults in the south along the Wabash River into the La Salle anticlinal belt to the north. These faults extend through the Paleozoic and into the Precambrian basement. Two of these moderate‐sized earthquakes occurred north of the terminus of the Wabash Valley fault system where it meets the La Salle anticline. The La Salle anticline, a Precambrian basement feature, is oriented northwest to southeast. The La Salle anticline creates up to a 750 m uplift in the above Paleozoic strata. This uplift creates faults within the Paleozoic strata and within the La Salle anticline. This study uses a nine‐seismograph phased array near the southern terminus of the La Salle anticline to monitor the microseismicity of the region. Analyzing the seismicity of the region over a six‐month period found 834 events. The vast majority were determined to be mine blasts or otherwise human induced. Two small earthquakes ( M L ∼1.0) located near the La Salle anticline. These earthquakes likely occur on faults associated with the anticline. The lack of microearthquakes suggests the b ‐value of the La Salle region is lower than the typical value of 1. The b ‐value is consistent with other intraplate regions and previous studies of the WVSZ finding values nearer 0.7 or even potentially as low as 0.6.


This paper describes a collaborative action research study in which peer assisted learning was deployed simultaneously across a range of disciplines in two institutes of technology in Ireland.The aim of the research was to determine if peer assisted learning enhances the learning experience of first year participants. An action research approach was selected and involved three phases between 2009 and 2011. The implementation of each phase was informed by a review of the previous phase. The third phase also incorporated the rollout and evaluation of a new peer assisted learning student leadership module (an elective 5 ECTs European Credit and Accumulation Transfer System) in both institutes.This paper focuses on both quantitative and qualitative data from the first year experience student survey, which was designed and deployed in phase one and repeated in phase two. The survey is supplemented by data from focus groups with student leaders and session reviews. Qualitative data was analysed using both the constant comparison method and text analysis.Our findings illustrate the challenges associated with implementing and embedding a long-term peer assisted learning program as part of the first year student experience. In addition, we found wide ranging benefits for the two institutes of technology that collaborated on the development, rollout, and evaluation of the program. An evidence based model emerged, which involved a partnership between management, academic staff, student services, and learning and teaching advocates. These partners continue to work together to sustain the program.


From the Publisher:
The book covers XSLT and Xpath (as a part of XSLT), as these topics have everything to do with processing XML. It will also cover XML from an XSLT processing and design point of view. Other XML technologies will not be discussed as superset of XSLT, most notably XSL. XSL Formatting Objects alone is enough material for an entire book. Apart from that, XSLT and Xpath form the processing/programming section of the entire XSL specification. This book presents an overview of XSLT and guides readers through transforming their first XML data. In this book you will also learn:

Selecting Data-Stylesheets and Xpath Basics;
Inserting text and elements in output;
Copying elements from the source and inserting text;
Conditional processing basics and expressions;
Modularizing stylesheets;
Understanding, creating, and using templates;
Controlling output, as well as creating more advanced output;
Using multi-file stylesheets, variables, and parameters;
Working with numbers, strings, multiple XML sources, and namespaces;
Selecting data based upon keys;
Recursion;
Creating computational stylesheets;
Working with parses;
Designing XML and XSLT applications;
Extending XSLT.


More than a century after the identification of the tubercle bacillus and the first attempts at vaccination, tuberculosis (TB) still remains one of the world's most serious infectious diseases. TB, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is typically a disease of the lung, which serves both as port of entry and as the major site of disease manifestation. The currently used vaccine, BCG, is administered parenterally and induces a systemic immune response. However, it fails to protect against pulmonary TB, thereby raising the question whether vaccination targeting the mucosal immunity in the lungs could be favourable. The respiratory mucosal surfaces represent the first line of defence against a multitude of pathogens. Secretory IgA, in mucosal secretions has an important function by blocking entrance of pathogenic organisms and preventing infections. Additionally, a role for IgA in modulation of immune responses is currently being revealed. In this work, we investigated the relevance of mucosal IgA in protection against mycobacterial infections using mice deficient for IgA and the polymeric Ig receptor, the receptor responsible for mucosal secretions of IgA. Gene-targeted mice were more susceptible to mycobacterial infections in the respiratory tract and displayed reduced production of proinflammatory, and protective, factors such as IFN-γ and TNF-α in the lungs. The mechanisms explaining the defective proinflammatory responses in the lungs of deficient mice might involve impaired signalling through Fcα receptors, or homologous receptors, which could lead to inadequate activation of pulmonary macrophages. This could subsequently result in suboptimal induction and production of cytokines and chemokines important for attraction and migration of immune cells to the site of infection. Induction of optimal adaptive immune responses to combat mycobacterial infections requires prompt innate immune activation. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are vital components of the innate branch of the immune system, ensuring early recognition of invading pathogens. Using TLR-deficient mice we demonstrated an important role for TLR2, and partly TLR4, in protection against mycobacterial infection in the respiratory tract. TLR2-deficient mice failed to induce proper proinflammatory responses at the site of infection, and macrophages derived from the knockout mice displayed impaired anti-mycobacterial activity. Experimental evidence has concluded that the immune response upon an infection can influence the outcome of succeeding infections with other pathogens. Concurrent infections might additionally interfere with responses to vaccinations and have deleterious effects. We developed an in vitro model to study the effect of a malaria infection on a successive M. tuberculosis infection. Our results demonstrate that a malaria blood-stage infection enhances the innate immune response to a subsequent M. tuberculosis infection with a Th1 prone profile. Reduced infectivity of malaria-exposed dendritic cells implies that a malaria infection could impose relative resistance to ensuing M. tuberculosis infection. However, a prolonged Th1 response may interfere with malaria parasite control. The outcome of this work emphasizes the importance of generating effective immune responses in the local mucosal environment upon respiratory mycobacterial infections. It furthermore puts new light on the immunological interaction between parasites and mycobacteria, which could have implications for future vaccine research.


Elucidating the neural basis of social behavior is a long-standing challenge in neuroscience. Such endeavors are driven by attempts to extend the isolated perspective on the human brain by considering interacting persons' brain activities, but a theoretical and computational framework for this purpose is still in its infancy. Here, we posit a comprehensive framework based on bipartite graphs for interbrain networks and address whether they provide meaningful insights into the neural underpinnings of social interactions. First, we show that the nodal density of such graphs exhibits nonrandom properties. While the current analyses mostly rely on global metrics, we encode the regions' roles via matrix decomposition to obtain an interpretable network representation yielding both global and local insights. With Bayesian modeling, we reveal how synchrony patterns seeded in specific brain regions contribute to global effects. Beyond inferential inquiries, we demonstrate that graph representations can be used to predict individual social characteristics, outperforming functional connectivity estimators for this purpose. In the future, this may provide a means of characterizing individual variations in social behavior or identifying biomarkers for social interaction and disorders. . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license perpetuity. It is made available under a preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in The copyright holder for this this version posted February 20, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.20.432051 doi: bioRxiv preprint


Up to 10% of cytosolic proteins are dependent on the mammalian heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) for folding. However, the interactors of its endoplasmic reticulum (ER) paralogue (gp96, Grp94 and HSP90b1) has not been systematically identified. By combining genetic and biochemical approaches, we have comprehensively mapped the interactome of gp96 in macrophages and B cells. A total of 511 proteins were reduced in gp96 knockdown cells, compared to levels observed in wild type cells. By immunoprecipitation, we found that 201 proteins associated with gp96. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that these proteins are involved in metabolism, transport, translation, protein folding, development, localization, response to stress and cellular component biogenesis. While known gp96 clients such as integrins, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and Wnt co-receptor LRP6, were confirmed, cell surface HSP receptor CD91, TLR4 pathway protein CD180, WDR1, GANAB and CAPZB were identified as potentially novel substrates of gp96. Taken together, our study establishes gp96 as a critical chaperone to integrate innate immunity, Wnt signaling and organ development.


Inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease in particular, is a common cause of intestinal failure. Current therapeutic options include home parenteral nutrition and intestinal transplantation. For most patients, home intravenous therapy including parenteral nutrition, with a good probability of long-term survival, is the favoured choice. However, in selected patients, with specific features that may shorten survival or complicate home parenteral nutrition, intestinal transplantation presents a viable alternative. We present survival, complications, quality of life and economic considerations that currently influence individualised decision-making between home parenteral nutrition and intestinal transplantation.


It is difficult to integrate Computational Linguistics (CL) techniques in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) artefacts. The Computational Linguistics Integrated in CALL for Irish (CLICI) research1 presented in this dissertation aims to re-use existing CL resources and where suitable ones do not exist, to build its own modular, re-usable resources. The research question addressed was: can existing CL resources be integrated successfully in useful CALL artefacts for Irish for English-medium primary schools in Ireland? Irish is a compulsory subject in Irish primary schools but there are complex socio-cultural issues surrounding the teaching and learning of the language and in general CALL resources are not available for this group of learners.

CL techniques and resources generally do not have CALL as a primary focus. There are often technical and pedagogical problems when CL and CALL researchers aim to integrate them in CALL artefacts. The CLICI project aimed to learn from previous CLICALL projects and determine the pedagogical needs in the deployment context first, and then to consider how CL techniques and resources can be used in CALL artefacts to address these needs. The project followed a structured approach to CALL design and development, using the Analysis Design Development Implementation Evaluation (ADDIE) courseware lifecycle. The CLICI project consists of three components: a Lesson Generation Component (LGC), a Verb Conjugation Component (VCC) and a Writing Checker Component (WCC). The LGC is a tool that facilitates the development of CALL lessons. The VCC enables automatic creation of animated verb conjugation lessons. The WCC enables students to enter free-form texts in Irish and provides feedback.

The CLICI project demonstrated that it was possible to integrate existing CL resources in useful CALL artefacts for Irish in English-medium primary schools. However, the main determiner of success lies in the hands of the teachers and students.


The present publication is a summary of the results from the five case studies including an overview of the methodology. VPS/ESG is further examining the possibilities of this methodology to use it for prospective purposes, as the basis for land use management and other potential applications in the development of infrastructure projects. The potential value of the methodology examined is based on being able to take into account the specific conditions of the respective cases, relevant drivers and their strength and the potential enabling effect of a project. This work complements other ex post analyses of infrastructure projects based on project documents, published as IDB Technical Notes titled "Managing the Environmental and Social Impacts of Major IDB-Financed Road Improvement Projects." VPS/ESG will further explore the use in its work of remote sensing and, in addition, study the options of modeling land use and land cover change.


Visual (graphic) designers lead their work with the creation of artifacts for presentation and dissemination of concepts, information and marketing propositions. Their process is governed by a dialectic between sensemaking and strangemaking methods that facilitates their understanding of a problem space. Visual thinking-models developed first as sketches, facilitate the creation of final, carefully rendered artifacts. The aim of this paper is to expose and mine these processes and techniques for their deeper sensemaking utility. For my case study I chose to focus on the outcomes from research that was conducted by the Alzheimer Society of Ontario and their partners. Their research was designed to engage various stakeholders in the creation of visualizations that capture the essential features of the "dementia journey". The resulting visual metaphors were then critically examined and restructured by employing my visual design expertise, visual design principles and with reflection on participant response in semi-structured interviews. The new visual interpretation was developed through both a sensemaking and strangemaking lens that inform final illustrations. The subjective techniques a visual designer uses to create artifacts can be loosely correlated to objective visual design principles, thereby combining the visual novelty and impact of strangemaking, as in making the familiar highly differentiated, with the convergence on shared meaning of sensemaking. Nigel Cross (1982) formally describes this as "designerly ways of knowing". I conclude that the visual thinking process, as a subset of a strangemaking mind-set, has valuable and under-utilized sensemaking features that aid in the comprehension of a problem space and clear the way for creative discovery.


An annotated checklist of 165 described species of Tasmanian Tortricidae is presented. There is a single endemic genus, the monobasic
Symphygas, and the genera Coeloptera, Isotenes, Neohermenias and Tracholena are recorded for the first time. At least 60 species (i.e. about
one-third of the fauna) are endemic to Tasmania. The majority of species belong to the rortricine tribes Archipini (66 species) and Epitymbiini
(49 species) while only 26 native species of 0 lethreutinae are recorded. Two species are introduced from Europe. The plant families Asteraceae
and Myrtaceae are pre-eminent as foodplants. New foodplants are recorded for a number of species and the degree of monophagy is shown
to be high. Foodplants are now known for about one-third of the fauna.


Background: In this highly competitive world countries are working hard to brand them by creating positive image to attract world's share of business, investment, tourism, students, events etc. There are many factor involved to create soft image of a country like environment, people, tourism, business, governance, politics and others. But one factor, which countries are implementing but not considering as a part of country's branding strategy that is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is about showing social responsibility for society and environment by corporate sector/companies. Purpose: The purpose of our thesis to focus on relationship between CSR and country branding that how CSR helps to create soft image of a country and become part of country's branding strategy. We also investigate the case of Pakistan that how CSR can play a role in branding Pakistan by the help of corporate sector in close collaboration with government. Methods: On the basis of our research area we used qualitative approach. The secondary data have been collected through literature review of research papers, magazines, websites and books. The primary data have been collected by conducting interviews and Sweden as case. Result/output: As a result of our research we will present a model of relationship between CSR and country branding in general. Then we also present a customize model for Pakistan. Conclusion and Recommendations: We have interpreted and analyzed the collected data together with the theories and thereafter drawn the conclusion that CSR is successfully adopted by many countries but nor considered as part of country branding. As it is having vital role creating soft image of a country by having positive impact on society and environment, so it must be a part of country's branding program. To achieve this target, close collaboration of government and corporate sector is necessary. Pakistan's corporate sector also needs to have collaboration with government to effectively implement the CSR program in the country.


Hedgehog signaling in mesenchymal cell clusters dictates formation of villi from the intestinal epithelium. The intestine absorbs nutrients from ingested food, a function that is facilitated by fingerlike projections of the epithelium called villi, which increase the surface area of the intestine. Formation of villi is attenuated in mice with decreased signaling through the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway. Using mice with LacZ reporter genes to indicate expression patterns of Patched1 (Ptc1) or Gli1, which encode a receptor and transcription factor involved in Hh signal transduction, Walton et al. found that clusters of Ptc1- or Gli1-positive mesenchymal cells appeared before formation of villi, which subsequently emerged directly above the clusters. Platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRrα) is required for formation of villi, and in mice with a reporter gene to indicate the expression pattern of Pdgfrα (in which a fluorescently tagged protein was driven by the Pdgfrα promoter) as well as the LacZ reporter gene for Patched1 or Gli1, the majority of cells in clusters of Ptc1- or Gli1-positive mesenchymal cells were also positive for Pdgfrα. Villi emerge in the intestine in an anterior-to-posterior wave, and the mesenchymal clusters of Pdgfrα-positive cells formed in a similarly oriented wave, but before the emergence of villi. Statistical analysis of the distribution of the mesenchymal clusters indicated that they emerged in a nonrandom, patterned array. In an explant system using intestines from embryonic mice expressing the reporter gene for Pdgfrα, inhibition of Hh signaling with the antagonist cyclopamine attenuated the formation of mesenchymal cell clusters and villi, whereas stimulating Hh signaling with the agonist SAG increased the size and width of the clusters and villi. Thus, Hh signaling in clusters of mesenchymal cells dictates villus formation from the intestinal epithelium. K. D. Walton, Å. Kolterud, M. J. Czerwinski, M. J. Bell, A. Prakash, J. Kushwaha, A. S. Grosse, S. Schnell, D. L. Gumucio, Hedgehog-responsive mesenchymal clusters direct patterning and emergence of intestinal villi. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109, 15817–15822 (2012). [Abstract] [Full Text]


It was recently demonstrated that Stillinger–Weber silicon undergoes a liquid–liquid first-order phase transition deep into the supercooled region (Sastry and Angell 2003 Nat. Mater. 2 739). Here we study the effects of perturbations on this phase transition. We show that the order of the liquid–liquid transition changes with negative pressure. We also find that the liquid–liquid transition disappears when the three-body term of the potential is strengthened by as little as 5%. This implies that the details of the potential could affect strongly the nature and even the existence of the liquid–liquid phase.


Experimental measurements of pairwise connection probability of pyramidal neurons together with the distribution of synaptic weights have been used to construct randomly connected model networks. However, several experimental studies suggest that both wiring and synaptic weight structure between neurons show statistics that differ from random networks. Here we study a network containing a subset of neurons which we call weight-hub neurons, that are characterized by strong inward synapses. We propose a connectivity structure for excitatory neurons that contain assemblies of densely connected weight-hub neurons, while the pairwise connection probability and synaptic weight distribution remain consistent with experimental data. Simulations of such a network with generalized integrate-and-fire neurons display regular and irregular slow oscillations akin to experimentally observed up/down state transitions in the activity of cortical neurons with a broad distribution of pairwise spike correlations. Moreover, stimulation of a model network in the presence or absence of assembly structure exhibits responses similar to light-evoked responses of cortical layers in optogenetically modified animals. We conclude that a high connection probability into and within assemblies of excitatory weight-hub neurons, as it likely is present in some but not all cortical layers, changes the dynamics of a layer of cortical microcircuitry significantly.


We discuss the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared properties of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) sources detected by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) as part of its All-sky Imaging Survey Early Release Observations. Virtually all (>99%) the GALEX sources in the overlap region are detected by SDSS; those without an SDSS counterpart within our 6″ search radius are mostly unflagged GALEX artifacts. GALEX sources represent ∼2.5% of all SDSS sources within these fields, and about half are optically unresolved. Most unresolved GALEX-SDSS sources are bright (r < 18 mag), blue, turnoff, thick-disk stars and are typically detected only in the GALEX near-ultraviolet (NUV) band. The remaining unresolved sources include low-redshift quasars (z < 2.2), white dwarfs, and white dwarf–M dwarf pairs, and these dominate the optically unresolved sources detected in both GALEX bands. Almost all the resolved SDSS sources detected by GALEX are fainter than the SDSS main spectroscopic limit. (Conversely, of the SDSS galaxies in the main spectroscopic sample, about 40% are detected in at least one GALEX band.) These sources have colors consistent with those of blue (spiral) galaxies (u - r < 2.2), and most are detected in both GALEX bands. Measurements of their UV colors allow much more accurate and robust estimates of star formation history than are possible using only SDSS data. Indeed, galaxies with the most recent (≲20 Myr) star formation can be robustly selected from the GALEX data by requiring that they be brighter in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) than in the NUV band. However, older starburst galaxies have UV colors similar to those of active galactic nuclei and thus cannot be selected unambiguously on the basis of GALEX fluxes alone. Additional information, such as spatially resolved FUV emission, optical morphology, or X-ray and radio data, is needed before blue GALEX colors can be unambiguously interpreted as a sign of recent star formation. With the aid of Two Micron All Sky Survey data, we construct and discuss median 10-band UV through infrared spectral energy distributions for turnoff stars, hot white dwarfs, low-redshift quasars, and spiral and elliptical galaxies. We point out the high degree of correlation between the UV color and the contribution of the UV flux to the UV through infrared flux of galaxies detected by GALEX; for example, this correlation can be used to predict the SDSS z-band measurement, using only two GALEX fluxes, with a scatter of only 0.7 mag.


Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can be used in a wide variety of biomedical applications like contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic labeling, controlled drug release, hyperthermia, and in cell isolation. Most of these applications need distinct and controllable interactions between the MNPs and living cells and can be made possible by a proper functionalization technique. This paper describes a computational approach for the identification of magnetic nanoparticles for the development, design, and demonstration of a novel, incorporated system for selective and rapid removal of biological, chemical, and radioactive biohazards from human body. The attraction between an external magnetic field and the MNPs facilitate separation of a wide variety of biological materials. This principle can be used for the isolation and aggregation of wandering cancer cells from the blood or the bone marrow to make a proper and early diagnosis of leukemia. Similarly, toxins, kidney stones, and other unwanted particles in the human body can be easily diagnosed and removed by the same technique. Nanoparticle-sized iron oxides have been studied in this work by computational modeling and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation techniques. Structural, thermodynamic, and magnetic properties have been formulated. In this work, nanoparticles of size varying from 0.5 to 2.5 nm have been analyzed. Cell isolation ability of the nanoparticles has been compared based on the computational results. MNPs are biologically activated and permitted to bind with the targeted cells through various pathways, thereby allowing certain cellular compartments to be specifically addressed. Once the cells are identified, the preferred cellular compartments can be magnetically isolated and removed with the help of an external magnetic field. Out of the iron oxides analyzed in this work, 1.1 nm Fe3O4 is found to be most interacting with leukemia protein. Hence, leukemia cells can be effectively targeted, separated, and removed using Fe3O4 of the suggested dimension.


In this article we present communication theory as a conceptual framework for conducting documents research on tobacco advertising strategies, and we discuss two methods for analysing advertisements: semiotics and content analysis. We provide concrete examples of how we have used tobacco industry documents archives and tobacco advertisement collections iteratively in our research to yield a synergistic analysis of these two complementary data sources. Tobacco promotion researchers should consider adopting these theoretical and methodological approaches.


This paper presents a novel conceptual framework for assessing design research projects. Present-day design research is typified by projects, which traverse disciplinary, methodological, and conceptual boundaries that often have wide-ranging social, cultural, and economic impact to industry, government bodies, and the wider public. Given design's application in addressing serious issues ranging from antimicrobial resistance to mobility, from ageing to migration it can be difficult to understand and unpick the exact nature and scale of design research and the roles that design researchers and designing (both processes and outcomes) play. The design research conceptual framework has been developed as a communicative tool for illustrating levels of design involvement in a project. The paper highlights the design input involved in current design research and provides a comparative measure of design's role in a wide range of projects that fall under the umbrella term of "design research" in the UK.


We evaluate the performance of a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm on a class of dynamic routing problems with a single vehicle. In particular we focus on relating algorithmic performance to the most prominent characteristics of problem instances. The routing problem considers two types of customers: mandatory customers must be visited whereas optional customers do not necessarily have to be visited. Moreover, mandatory customers are known prior to the start of the tour whereas optional customers request for service at later points in time with the vehicle already being on its way. The multi-objective optimization problem then results as maximizing the number of visited customers while simultaneously minimizing total travel time. As an a-posteriori evaluation tool, the evolutionary algorithm aims at approximating the related Pareto set for specifically designed benchmarking instances differing in terms of number of customers, geographical layout, fraction of mandatory customers, and request times of optional customers. Conceptional and experimental comparisons to online heuristic procedures are provided.


The U.S. EPA has indicated they are considering additional SO2 and NOx emission reductions, and EPA is under a consent agreement to propose mercury reduction regulations by 2004 for the utility industry. The boiler manufacturers and the utility industry have developed improved combustion modification techniques to reduce NOx emissions. These advanced combustion modification techniques, plus selective catalytic reduction (SCR), offer the potential to reduce NOx emissions at reduced cost. Wet and dry FGD systems have been shown to reduce SO2 emissions by up to 95%. CONSOL has shown that conventional wet FGD and ESP systems can remove an average of 67±6% of the inlet mercury. These data show that utility boilers equipped with ESP-scrubber combinations are removing two-thirds of the mercury in the as-fired coal at no added cost. The mercury speciation data show that 80 to 95% of the oxidised mercury, as determined by the Ontario Hydro method, is removed by the scrubber. The average mercury material balance closure at the six plants was 103±8%. The mercury removed from the scrubber reported to the scrubber by-product. Standard leachate testing conducted on fixated and unfixated scrubber by-product from one test showed no mercury leaching. Mercury volatility was evaluated by heating the scrubber by-product 140°F for eleven weeks. After eleven weeks, no loss of mercury was reported. Based on these findings, there may be combinations of environmental control systems that can achieve significant SO2, NOx, and mercury reductions at lower cost than the conventional approach of three add-on processes FGD for SO2 control, selective catalytic reduction for NOx control, and carbon injection for mercury control.


Citrus stubborn disease is considered one of the most destructive
diseases of citrus in the Mediterranean. It caused by Spiroplasma citri
(Mollicutes, Order Entomoplasmatales, Family Spiroplasmataceae).
Preliminary detection of S. citri of infected plants from Kafr El-Sheikh and
El Qualubia governorates, Egypt was carried out using Dienes' stain of
stem sections and electron microscope of ultrathin sections of leaf
midribs. Spiroplasma citri was isolated from common orange (Citrus
sinensis) trees showing typical symptoms of citrus stubborn disease and
previously detected by Dienes' stain and electron microscope, one each
from Kafr El-Sheikh and El-Qualubia. They were referred to as Fewa and Qualubia isolates, respectively. The organisms were isolated from young
leaves. Fried-egg shape colonies were obtained when S. citri was
subcultured on C-3G solid medium. S. citri was confirmed using
darkfield microscope, electron microscope and ELISA from S. citri
cultures. Small helical filamentous and small round bodies were
observed by dark field microscope, whereas electron microscope
inspection detected helical structure of the filamentous organism and
vesicular blebs on the filaments. The isolated organisms were confirmed
by a positive reaction in ELISA test. Differences between the two S. citri
isolates were detected by crossed immunoelectrophoresis (CIE) with
intermediate gel and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In the
homologous reactions of Fewa isolate, eleven precipitin peaks were
detected using CIE. Identical homologous reaction of Qualubia isolate
was produced. One antigen (a) was specific for the Fewa isolate and one
antigen (b) was specific for the Qualubia isolate when CIE with
intermediate gel was used. One-dimensional electrophoresis analysis
demonstrates very similar patterns of protein with two different minor
protein bands between the two isolates of S. citri. Two Egyptian isolates of
S. citri (Fewa and Qualubia) were studied based on nucleotide sequences
of their spiralin and16S rDNA genes and 16S/23S rDNA intergenic
spacer region. The 16S rDNA of the two isolates comprised 1529
nucleotides with a similarity between them at 99.80% where only three
nucleotide differences were observed. Both have more than 99.67% similarity to three published strains of S. citri, the R8A2HP, Car4 and
Car6. Their 16S/23S rDNA intergenic spacer region has 305 nucleotides,
with a similarity of about 99.76 %, where only one nucleotide difference
was observed. The 16S/23S nucleotide sequence of Fewa isolate was
identical to that of strains 169, Maroc and ATCC 27556. Five nucleotide
differences were observed in spiralin gene sequences of the two isolates,
which have 99.30 % similarity. The two spiralins comprised 241 amino
acids with only three amino acids differences were observed between
them, and their amino acids similarity was about 98.75%. Our findings
indicated that both Fewa and Qualubia isolates have high similarity in
the nucleotide sequences of their 16S rDNA, 16S/23S rDNA intergenic
spacer region and the nucleotides and amino acids of spiralin gene.
However, they were not identical and could be differentiated by using
restriction enzyme BfaI that digested at the recognition site CTAG within
their spiralin gene sequence. Therefore, based on the above studies the
two Egyptian isolates of S. citri (Fewa and Qualubia) are not identical.


The objective of partial satisfaction planning is to achieve an as valuable as possible state, tacking into account the cost of its achievement. In this work we investigate the computational complexity of restricted fragments of two variants of partial satisfaction: net-benefit and oversubscription planning. In particular, we examine restrictions on the causal graph structure and variable domain size of the planning problem, and show that even for the strictest such restrictions, optimal oversubscription planning is hard. In contrast, certain tractability results previously obtained for classical planning also apply to net-benefit planning. We then partially relax these restrictions in order to find the boundary of tractability for both variants of partial satisfaction planning. In addition, for the family of 0-binary value functions we show a strong connection between the complexity of cost-optimal classical and optimal oversubscription planning.


The capacity of small firms for developing and applying innovations in products, processes and organisation has long been a major driver of national and EU public policies in support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Generally, support for the innovative SME has been nested within a wider policy thrust to promote SME growth and, as a consequence, overall economic growth and competitiveness. Unfortunately, initiatives to develop the capacity for innovation among SMEs and the growth potential of innovative SMEs have tended to be overshadowed by programmes aimed at job-creation and at boosting the counter-unemployment potential of SMEs. However, it is clear that only a minority of SMEs have a strong growth motivation or the management capacity for growth and innovation. Taking growth-oriented firms as proxy for those with high potential for innovation, studies conducted by the Open University Business School (OUBS) suggest that the capacity for innovation in SMEs is strongly linked to strong formal management development policies within small firms. Indeed, the second Community Innovation Survey across the EU reveals that management issues concerned with organisational rigidities, staff development and information management are perceived as the strongest barriers to innovation; more important than exogenous factors such as economic risk, market demand or even lack of finance (though, arguably, this too reflects managerial ability). The importance of management and staff development to the development of an effective capacity to innovate and apply innovations has also been confirmed by recent studies in Britain. This article examines the role of management education in developing the innovative potential of SMEs through an analysis of:(1) the growth SMEs in a recent wider management development study conducted by the OUBS, (2) appropriate quarterly surveys conducted the Small Business Research Trust and (3) the patterns of continuing professional development expectations of MBA graduates (including some of the 7,000 or so OUBS MBA alumni). This will also serve to evaluate the role that business schools might play in developing SMEs' capacity for innovation.


Abstract Purpose: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is effective in improving walking in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) with foot drop. There is limited research exploring people's experiences of using this device. This study aims to explore the utility, efficacy, acceptability, and impact on daily life of the device in people with MS. Methods: An interpretative phenomenological approach was employed. Ten participants who had used FES for 12 months were interviewed. Transcripts were analysed, and emergent themes identified. Results: Nine participants continued to use the device. Three relevant super-ordinate themes were identified; impact of functional electrical stimulation, sticking with functional electrical stimulation, and autonomy and control. Participants reported challenges using the device; however, all reported positive physical and psychological benefits. Intrinsic and external influences such as; access to professional help, the influence of others, an individual's ability to adapt, and experiences using the device, influenced their decisions to continue with the device. A thematic model of these factors was developed. Conclusions: This study has contributed to our understanding of people with MS experiences of using the device and will help inform prescribing decisions and support the continued, appropriate use of FES over the longer term. Implications for Rehabilitation People with multiple sclerosis using functional electrical stimulation report benefits in many aspects of walking, improved psychological well-being and increased engagement in valued activities. A number of challenges impact on functional electrical stimulation use. Factors such as; a positive experience using the device, access to professional help, the influence of others, a strong sense of personal autonomy and an individual's ability to adapt, influence an individual's decision to continue using functional electrical stimulation. Clinicians prescribing functional electrical stimulation should be aware of these factors so that the right support and guidance can be provided to people with multiple sclerosis, thus improving outcomes and compliance over the long term.