The dynamical evolution of the matter content of the universe is modelled throughout this study as that of self and mutually gravitating Lagrangian fluids in the so called ΛCDM-Concordance cosmological framework which leads to the Hierarchical Clustering paradigm for the formation of cosmic structures. As a numerical tool for investigating galaxy formation scenarios in this context, we employed GADGET2 (see Springel 2005) and the more recent GADGET3 (see Springel et al. 2008): we describe the numerical solvers implemented in the code and test their behaviour in both gravitational and hydrodynamical setups of relevance for cosmological calculations (Tasker et al. 2008). Using the outputs of the MILLENNIUM simulation and the relative Semi Analytical galaxy catalogues produced by Croton et al. 2006, we developed an algorithm aimed at the identification of large spherical underdense regions in the simulated Large Scale Structure (LSS), at z = 0. Focusing on this peculiar environment, we found a confirmation in numerical simulations for the observations by Trujillo, Carretero & Patiri (2006). The Tidal Torque Theory can predict the spatial distribution of the orientation of both the angular momentum vector of Milky Way size galaxies located on the surface of large spherical voids, and of their host DM halos. We re–simulated the 5 GIMIC regions (Crain et al. 2009) following the gravitational evolution of the CDM component only. We then applied a Semi Analytical Model (SAM) of galaxy formation (De Lucia & Blaizot 2007) obtaining the galaxy catalogues and merger histories for the 5 different volumes simulated. It is not yet well understood if and how the LSS environment can influence the Star Formation (SF) histories of galaxies. Starting from the stellar mass content of semi–analytical galaxies at z = 0, we defined characteristic epochs for their build up and, as a preliminary study, investigated how these distribute as a function of different LSS environments.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of inclusion of by-product of fresh fruit (pineapple, guava, papaya, mango and passion fruit) used in the diet for bovines partly replacing corn silage on intake and total nutrient digestibility, on the production of microbial protein and the nitrogen balance and on prediction of digestible fractions and total digestible nutrients (TDN) of these by-products. All animals received corn silage and the urea/ammonium sulfate (9:1) mixture so diets would remain isonitrogenous. The intakes of dry matter (DM) (kg/day), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and TDN, and the digestibility of CP, non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC) and ether extract (EE) were affected by the source of the by-product. There was an effect for the level of inclusion of products in the digestibility of CP and EE. The by-products of papaya, mango and pineapple showed energy values of 23.1, 18.0 and 7.1% respectively, higher than corn silage. The source of the by-product influenced urinary excretion of derived from total purine, purine absorbed and production of microbial protein, in addition to the intake (g/day), the excretion in feces and urine (g/day) of nitrogen compounds and nitrogen balance (g/day). The level of inclusion of the by-product in the diet affect the urinary excretion of derived from total purine, purine absorbed and microbial protein production. The by-products of pineapple, papaya and mango have energy value higher than corn silage and they can partly replace energy concentrates in diets for ruminants. The by-product of passion fruit has the potential to partly replace roughage in the diets of ruminants. The by-product of guava has use limitations in diets of ruminants.


Several studies were intended to evaluate ICU risk factors, but only few integrated the impact of illness severity variation in their study. The aim of the present study is to explore the illness severity variation for patients having contracted an ICU-acquired infection and to check if this variation correlates to the nosocomial episode. The study is mono-centric, retrospective and non interventional. It is a case control type with matching approach 1 case vs. 1 control. It is based on a total of 250 patients, at least of 16-year-old, who spent a minimum of 72 hours in the ICU of Timone University Hospital. The severity of the illness was measured according to the following scores: Logistic Organ Dysfunction (LOD), Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE). These scores were calculated retrospectively each day, from the day of admission in ICU to . the day of discharge or death, except for APACHE score, which is interesting only for the first 24h of admission. The ability of the models for predicting ICU mortality was determined by examining their discrimination. Forty-six patients developed one or more nosocomial episodes, and 65 died. The matching of cases was successful for 71.73% of them. All SOFA scores values are higher in the case's group: IS (6.652±2.946 cases vs. 5.795±2.494 controls), H48 (6.652±2.767 cases vs. 5.077± 2.082 controls), H72 (6.957±2.944 cases vs. 4.538±2.258 controls). It is quite similar for the LOD score IS (6.087±2.889 cases vs. 5.821±2.72 controls), H48 (5.870±2.864 cases vs. 5.154±1.94 controls), H72 (5.761±2.677 cases vs. 5.256±2.074 controls). As far as APACHE II score is concerned, it counts: 20.478±7.938 cases vs. 24.23±7.938 controls. Among the four documented scores, only SOFA H48 has foreseen a nosocomial risk.


ABSTRACT Chinese women are among the most frequent users of fitness technology, and yet the least likely to adhere to a fitness regimen. Little research has been done on preference, use, and perceptions of mobile health tools. Research, however, has shown that women's adherence to fitness technology has been low, and that relationship management theory might hold a key to understanding how perceived relationships might increase adherence to exercise regimens. This study uses relationship management theory as a framework to explore user-technology relationships developed by Chinese women who use mobile fitness technology for exercise and nutrition guidance. With 32 one-on-one in-depth interviews, short-term and long-term users were categorized and asked about trust, commitment, involvement and investment. Among the findings were three types of perceived relationships found, that of acquaintance, coach and buddy. The findings also highlighted three factors to facilitate long-term relationships between users and mobile fitness technology. These were social motivation, high perceived efficiency, and synchronized verbal feedback. Findings support the application of relationship management theory in digital health contexts and to increase fitness outcomes among young Chinese women.


This work analyzes constrained black box optimization in which the functions defining the problem are periodic with respect to some or all the variables. We show that the natural strategy of mapping trial points into the interval defined by the period in the Mesh Adaptive Direct Search (MADS) framework can be easily done in practice, and the convergence analysis does not suffer any loss if some minor algorithmic conditions are met. The proposed strategy is tested on a nonsmooth classification problem and on a bi-objective portfolio selection problem for which MADS is repeatedly used on mono-objective problems.


We discuss the use of carbon nanodots (CNDs) as sensitizers in mesoscopic solar cells. The CNDs are synthesized using a one-step, bottom-up microwave approach with citric acid, urea, and formic acid as precursors in aqueous media. Their light-harvesting capabilities can be tuned by adjusting the synthetic parameters. Comprehensive spectroscopic and theoretical studies allow us to rationalize the nature of their absorption features. Promising power conversion efficiencies (η) of 0.24% can be achieved from these cheap and eco-friendly sensitizers by optimizing the solar-cell assembly process. Interestingly, we found that extending the light absorption towards longer wavelengths does not necessarily improve the performance of the solar cells, since the longer-wavelength absorption features hardly contribute to the cells' photo-action spectra, so that the overall power conversion efficiency is actually worse. The origin of the lower performance is corroborated in transient absorption spectroscopy and photovoltage decay measurements. Our work points, on one hand, to the limits of as-synthesized CNDs as photosensitizers and, on the other hand, to possible improvements.


GOAL models have been widely used in Computer Science to represent software requirements, business objectives, and design qualities. Existing goal modelling techniques, however, have shown limitations of expressiveness and/or tractability in coping with complex real-world problems.
In this work, we exploit advances in automated reasoning technologies, notably Satisfiability and Optimization Modulo Theories (SMT/OMT), and we propose and formalize:
(i) an extended modelling language for goals, namely the Constrained Goal Model (CGM), which makes explicit the notion of goal refinements and of domain as- sumptions, allows for expressing preferences between goals and refinements, and allows for associating numerical attributes to goals and refinements for defining constraints and optimization goals over multiple objective functions, refinements and their numerical attributes;
(i) a novel set of automated reasoning functionalities over CGMs, allowing for automatically generating suitable realizations of input CGMs, under user-specified assumptions and constraints, that also maximize preferences and optimize given objective functions. We are also interested in supporting software evolution caused by changing requirements and/or changes in the operational environment of a software system. For example, users of a system may want new functionalities or performance enhancements to cope with growing user population (requirements evolution). Alternatively, vendors of a system may want to minimize costs in implementing requirements changes (evolution requirements). We propose to use CGMs to represent the requirements of a system and capture requirements changes in terms of incremental operations on a goal model. Evolution requirements are then represented as optimization goals that minimize implementation costs or customer value. We can then exploit reasoning techniques to derive optimal new specifications for an evolving software system.
We have implemented these modelling and reasoning functionalities in a tool, named CGM-Tool, using the OMT solver OptiMathSAT as automated reasoning backend. More- over, we have conducted an experimental evaluation on large CGMs to support the claim that our proposal scales well for goal models with thousands of elements. To access our framework usability, we have employed a user-oriented evaluation using enquiry evaluation method.


The current study examined the effect of advertisings portrayal of the thin ideal on Irish females' body image. The nature of this study was to collect information regarding Irish females' body image before and after exposure to stimulants in relation to advertising's portrayal of the thin ideal and its effect on Irish females' body image. A quantitative method in the form of a within participants design was used. This involved a number of pre and post-tests with exposure to print and television advertisements prior to completion of the post-tests. A number of important pieces of literature related to the current research question are included and discussed in extreme detail in the literature review. The findings of the current study reinforce the results of the research studies discussed, in that advertisings portrayal of the thin ideal does in fact lead to negative body image and physical appearance related thoughts in Irish females'. The results of the current study therefore add to the social knowledge in this topic area.


This essay explores the contradictions and puzzles of modern juvenile justice, and illustrates the enduring power of the child-saving philosophy of the juvenile court in an era of punitiveness toward offenders both young and old. The exponential growth in incarceration in the U.S. since the 1970s has been more restrained for juveniles than adults, even in the face of a youth violence epidemic that lasted for nearly a decade. Rhetoric has grown harsher in the wake of moral panics about youth crime, juvenile codes now express the language of retribution and incapacitation, yet the growth in incarceration of juveniles was attenuated and declined more responsively to declining crime rates. Almost no states have lowered the age of majority, even in the face of wholesale removal of juveniles to the criminal court. States have embraced the ideals and practice of small institutions, yet conditions in juvenile corrections often remain harsh and are common targets of litigation. Racial disparity still pervades juvenile incarceration, despite Congressional support of a collaborative project to reduce racial inequalities in juvenile detention and corrections. These conflicting trends portray an institutional and normative landscape that at once fears child criminals and seeks to punish them harshly, but at the same time pulls its punches as it adheres to the transcendent and enduring philosophy of child-saving.


Clathrin-mediated endocytosis involves the coordinated assembly of clathrin cages around membrane indentations, necessitating fluid-like reorganization followed by solid-like stabilization. This apparent duality in clathrin's in vivo behavior provides some indication that the physical interactions between clathrin triskelia and the membrane effect a local response that triggers fluid-solid transformations within the clathrin lattice. We develop a computational model to study the response of clathrin protein lattices to spherical deformations of the underlying flexible membrane. These deformations are similar to the shapes assumed during intracellular trafficking of nanoparticles. Through Monte Carlo simulations of clathrin-on-membrane systems, we observe that these membrane indentations give rise to a greater than normal defect density within the overlaid clathrin lattice. In many cases, the bulk surrounding lattice remains in a crystalline phase, and the extra defects are localized to the regions of large curvature. This can be explained by the fact that the in-plane elastic stress in the clathrin lattice are reduced by coupling defects to highly curved regions. The presence of defects brought about by indentation can result in the fluidization of a lattice that would otherwise be crystalline, resulting in an indentation-driven, defect-mediated phase transition. Altering subunit elasticity or membrane properties is shown to drive a similar transition, and we present phase diagrams that map out the combined effects of these parameters on clathrin lattice properties.


This study sought to scaffold administration performance of a standardized bilingual screener to sufficient levels of accuracy for data collection using principles of Cognitive Load Theory by managing task complexity when training pre-service clinicians. Before training administration skills, two students were given copies of the manual for the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener (BESOS) and asked to administer the protocol independently. During the intervention phase, students were scaffolded through administration tasks of increasing complexity and given explicit instruction, which included tailored goals, modeling and feedback. Performance for four skills was assessed using a fidelity rubric and analyzed using visual analysis. Performance varied per skill but overall scores were higher during the intervention phases than during the baseline phase for both students. In addition, accuracy of performance maintained across client participants showing patterns of generalization. Although the data are limited, scaffolding training skills for pre-service clinicians appears supportive in training administration skills for bilingual tasks. The level of support may vary per skill and per language. Future research may seek to investigate other clinical skills and tasks.


This paper describes two children from birth to their third birthdays in contact with books, and briefly their subsequent learning to read. The children's vocabulary acquisition, book handling skills and knowledge of print and reading, all happen without direct instruction or teaching. They are in control of the reading sessions. It recommends trusting the book to instruct and the child to reach understanding from repeated readings. It responds to Ezell and Justice's Shared Storybook Reading (2006), and builds on my work in Stories, Pictures and Reality (Lowe 2007).


A study on application of data-driven models namely the rule-based model based on mamdani Fuzzy Logic and Artificial Neural Network model in predicting dissolved oxygen in an effluent-impacted urban river is presented and compared. Combined rule bases were formed from the generated fuzzy rules for input – output mapping. Predictability of both the models was good with better performance for the ANN model. With ANN model, it is possible to obtain an output by simulating the model with the parameters of the best-fit model. A relationship connecting the selected parameters not considered previously to assess dissolved oxygen could also be established.


This thesis explores what is experienced as difficult, and potentially threshold, concepts in prosthetics. Prosthetics and orthotics education is an under-researched area and this research assists in filling this gap. Consideration is given to the reasons why students have difficulties in learning certain concepts. Attention is also given to why every student does not experience the same concepts as difficult, another under-researched area. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as both methodology and data analyisis method, with interviews and questionnaires with staff and students for data collection, five difficult concepts were identified in prosthetics. Two concepts are suggested as troublesome but not threshold and three suggested as threshold concepts. Curriculum design is suggested as an additional form of troublesome knowledge affecting students' engagement with, and their perception of the relevance of a concept to their discipline. Tacit troublesome knowledge is much broader than the episteme of a discipline including mental images, memories, and shortcuts taken by experts. The variation in what is found difficult and by whom is suggested as being due to differences in the prior experience of students. In order to differentiate threshold concepts from other concepts it is suggested that they require both integration and ontological transformation together with procedural concepts and associated contextualised memories, and disciplinary concepts. Several implications for practice are suggested. Curriculum design should be considered, especially for supporting concepts, with learning experiences contextually appropriate for the students' discipline, an important consideration for multi-disciplinary modules. Due to differences in prior experience, learning activities should be created which both enable students to get to the starting point for the acquisition of, and then further develop their understanding of the threshold concept. Finally further research into threshold concepts should consider a whole programme approach including both staff and students.


SMITA BOPCHANDE Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada university Nanded Maharashtra, India. ..................................................................................................................... Abstract: Wireless sensor nodes along with Base Station (BS) constitute a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Nodes comprise of tiny power battery. Nodes sense the data and send it to BS. WSNs need protocol for efficient energy consumption of the network. In direct transmission and minimum transmission energy routing protocols, energy consumption is not well distributed. However, LEACH (Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy) is a clustering protocol; randomly selects the Cluster Heads (CHs) in each round. However, random selection of CHs does not guarantee efficient energy consumption of the network. Therefore, we proposed new clustering techniques in routing protocols, Location-aware Permanent CH (LPCH) and User Defined Location-aware Permanent CH (UDLPCH). In both protocols, network field is physically divided in to two regions, equal number of nodes are randomly deployed in each region. In LPCH, number of CHs are selected by LEACH algorithm in first round. However in UDLPCH, equal and optimum number of CHs are selected in each region, throughout the network life time number of CHs are remain same. Simulation results show that stability period and throughput of LPCH is greater than LEACH, stability period and throughput of UDLPCH is greater than LPCH.


Social enterprises (SEs) have formed a naturally conscientious atmosphere in Taiwan, which has not only diluted the boundary between society and enterprises, but also transformed the inherent thinking of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). SEs operate under cross-organizational and cross-departmental models. For years, the rapid economic development of Taiwan has focused on the pursuit of profit without focusing on the development of NPOs. Only after the economy began to slow down did society gradually see a new trend based on the concept of SEs and the cultivation of community self-sufficiency to solve social problems. Its successful implementation is of great significance to the sustainable development of Taiwan. Community industry is based on the community and it is people-oriented. From the perspective of sustainable development, community industry is invested in economic activities and creates multiple benefits to a sustainable community and to social, environmental, cultural, financial, and other developments. From the early "production and welfare construction" to the "new hometown overall construction policy", Taiwan has placed emphasis on inherent local industry activation, such as the establishment of local industrial exchange centers, local industry sustainable mechanism construction, local characteristic small community enterprises, as well as economic plans, including "Sustainable Employment Hope Project" and "Diverse Employment Development Program", promoted by the Labor Commission since 2001. All of these are focused on building and developing a community industry, and relevant authorities look forward to the vitality of the community industry to create more job opportunities and community interests. Based on literature review of social enterprise, this paper leads small- and medium-sized community industries to meet the development of business models from the economic perspective of commercialization and the social perspective of social innovation in order to solve the quality crisis that is faced by nonprofit organizations and to maintain the sustainable development of the enterprise. By the design of a nonprofit and mutual-assistance mechanism, poverty relief results can be obtained. SEs, which are similar to regular enterprises, can encounter challenging business environments and they must also possess the ability to assume business risks. Specifically, SEs must consider the dual goals of having a social mission while achieving economic goals. This study provides a detailed understanding of the existence and operational characteristics of SEs in Taiwan.


This paper presents a PID controller design method for stable minimum-phase systems. The approach is similar to the one proposed in the so-called modified Ziegler-Nichols method, where only one point on the frequency response of the plant is measured and then moved to the desired position on the unit circle. This technique provides the specified phase margin and crossover frequency to the closed-loop system. However, the ratio between integral and derivative time is not fixed prior to the design in the proposed approach. This ratio is chosen is order to obtain the desired loop slope at the crossover frequency. Constraints on the infinity-norm of sensitivity functions are used to shape the loop transfer function and to determine the corresponding loop slope value. The proposed method, which is based on Bode's integral relationships for the slope adjustment, does not require any parametric model of the plant and can be applied with only modest effort


Hashing method becomes popular for large scale similarity search due to its storage and computational efficiency. Many machine learning techniques, ranging from unsupervised to supervised, have been proposed to design compact hashing codes. Most of the existing hashing methods generate binary codes to efficiently find similar data examples to a query. However, the ranking accuracy among the retrieved data examples is not modeled. But in many real world applications, ranking measure is important for evaluating the quality of hashing codes. In this paper, we propose a novel Ranking Preserving Hashing (RPH) approach that directly optimizes a popular ranking measure, Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain (NDCG), to obtain effective hashing codes with high ranking accuracy. The main difficulty in the direct optimization of NDCG measure is that it depends on the ranking order of data examples, which forms a non-convex nonsmooth optimization problem. We address this challenge by optimizing the expectation of NDCG measure calculated based on a linear hashing function. A gradient descent method is designed to achieve the goal. An extensive set of experiments on two large scale datasets demonstrate the superior ranking performance of the proposed approach over several state-of-the-art hashing methods.


Previous studies on World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement suggest different aspects as to how developing countries tend to fail in executing their bargaining power in dispute settlement. One aspect that has yet to be analyzed is developing country bargaining power with respect to likelihood of settlement in such international disputes. A further analysis on the topic sheds light on another dimension on how international dispute mechanisms do not necessarily bring forth ''right'' over ''might''. This thesis focuses on International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a platform on which developing countries face foreign investors, and highlights how the established mechanisms of dispute resolution cannot protect the bargaining power of developing countries due to their dependence on further foreign direct investment (FDI). This study adds another dimension through which one can observe the relative weak stance developing nations have when it comes to international disputes. A simple formal model emphasizes the role of reputation as a factor in determining the bargaining power a country has with respect to an investment dispute case. The indications of the model are tested by running a logit model on the outcomes of these dispute cases. Findings suggest potential loss of reputation increases the likelihood of observing a settlement as the bargaining power of the developing country decreases. Additional factors that affect the bargaining power are the country's income level, level of available FDI in the world and the extent to which the state faces external turmoil.


While white light imaging (WLI) of endoscopy has been set as the gold standard for screening and detecting oesophageal squamous cell cancer (SCC), the early signs of SCC are often missed (1 in 4) due to its subtle change of early onset of SCC. This study firstly enhances colour contrast of each of over 600 WLI images and their accompanying narrow band images (NBI) applying CIE colour appearance model CIECAM02. Then these augmented data together with the original images are employed to train a deep learning based system for classification of low grade dysplasia (LGD), SCC and high grade dysplasia (HGD). As a result, the averaged colour difference (∆E) measured using CIEL*a*b* increased from 11.60 to 14.46 for WLI and from 17.52 to 32.53 for NBI in appearance between suspected regions and their normal neighbours. When training a deep learning system with added enhanced contrasted WLI images, the sensitivity, specific and accuracy for LGD increases by 10.87%, 4.95% and 6.76% respectively. When training with enhanced both WLI and NBI images, these measures for LGD increases by 14.83%, 4.89% and 7.97% respectively, the biggest increase among three classes of SCC, HGD and LGD. In average, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for these three classes are 88.26%, 94.44% and 92.63% respectively for classification of SCC, HGD and LGD, being comparable or exceeding existing published work.


This study aims to explore the perception of students with special needs on inclusion in physical education and identify the factors that facilitate or inhibit their inclusion. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 students with various special needs from five secondary schools in Shanghai. Content analysis was utilized to analyze the interview data. Interview results indicated that the majority of students with special needs are negative on their inclusion, and restricted participation in physical education activities was common. Using a social relational model of disability as a theoretical framework, this study identified personal factors (i.e., impairment and self-efficacy), physical context (architectural barriers and provision of modified facilities), and social context (i.e., teacher support, peer support, and modification) that facilitated or inhibited the inclusion level of these students. The study concluded that intervention is necessary to eliminate architectural barriers, grant financial support, and offer adapted training programs by the government and schools.


The purpose of this paper is to present the potential advantages of using blockchain technology in the field of international trade. Blockchain, known as one of the disruptive technologies of the moment, will bring important changes to the process of specific foreign trade operations. In this paper, there are presented elements specific to the blockchain technology, its underlying principles, but also the areas in which this technology can be applied. Referring to the academic literature and various online sources, we identified blockchain-based applications in the international trade field (logistics and financial scope) and we highlighted the potential benefits of this technology.


The Khmer Rouge Tribunal is expected by many in the international community to bring a sense of reconciliation to a nation still grappling with the aftermath of more than thirty years of civil war. Yet the gap between national and local reconciliation initiatives tests post-conflict reconstruction efforts to meet the needs of Cambodian citizens who feel unconnected to the tribunal. This article inquires into the interrelationship between national reconciliation processes and grassroots peacebuilding in the form of conflict resolution trainings. Noting that retributive justice processes cannot take the place of restorative justice, genuine reconciliation in Cambodia will need to incorporate culturally-based ritual derived from Buddhism in order to be relevant to local people. The Khmer Institute of Democracy (KID), a Cambodian NGO, serves as a case study for the successes and obstacles to local peacebuilding initiatives. Key words: conflict resolution, Cambodia, NGO programs, human rights - East Asia Introduction Cambodia today stands at a historic crossroad. The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT), opened in 2007 after many years of accumulated expectations. While the KRT is poised to deliver retributive justice at the national level, it may leave the majority of Cambodians bereft of an experience of restorative justice, namely reconciliation in their local communities. This article explores the gap between national and local healing by asking the question: What is the relationship between national reconciliation and local, grassroots-level peacebuilding efforts in the form of conflict resolution trainings? Through a case study of the Khmer Institute of Democracy (KID) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I examine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are providing civil society with conflict-focused capacity building to complement the elite, retributive justice mechanism of the KRT. I describe my quest to identify tools and techniques to culturally integrate democratic practice and conflict resolution techniques that honor indigenous knowledge and stress the possibility that these trainings could enhance reconciliation efforts nationally. I address the question by first unpacking the dynamic between former victims, perpetrators, and alienated community members in a brief historical review of the Cambodian conflict. I then present barriers to reconciliation in the post-conflict political environment. The example of KID is next drawn upon to highlight the role of NGOs in civil society capacity building, with specific attention to the potential for conflict resolution training to facilitate reconciliation. I present Buddhism and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as tools to move local communities toward their own healing processes and thereby contribute to genuine national reconciliation. The article concludes with a positive assessment of the ability for localized capacity building to contribute to national reconciliation. Fostering local cultures of peace with increased awareness and utilization of the power of communication may be the path to Cambodia's psychosocial rehabilitation. Contextualizing Violence: The Legacy of the Khmer Rouge Cambodia does not have a gentle past. In the last half century its people have experienced violence from the U.S. bombings during the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1973, followed by two epochs of civil war, most notably from 1975 to 1979, when more than a million Cambodians, at least one of every eight citizens, died from starvation, overwork, or execution under the Khmer Rouge regime.1 The idealistic teenagers and former schoolteachers who fueled the Khmer Rouge movement saw forced revolution as the only antidote to U.S. imperialism. Yet their agenda of gender and age-divided collective living and hard labor impacted the country long after their overthrow in 1979 and beyond the subsequent decade of Vietnamese occupation. …


One of the most important persons in an A/E organization is the PM. There may be one or many, but they are the lifeblood of the firm. How are PMs trained, or are they? What directions are given to them on their first assignment? Do they even know the basics? Probably not. The PM is usually given an assignment because of his or her previous acceptance of responsibility, experience in similar work, and the quest to rise in the company. Training for the framework of project management in many companies is nonexistent. A philosophy on the approach and helpful hints for project management are usually given after the fact or not at all. Young PMs can learn the process from a variety of sources, but hopefully not after an embarrassing situation has arisen. This guide is designed to assist any PM who is given an assignment without proper instruction, education, or supervision.


Existing controller-based approaches for centralized and decentralized POMDPs are based on automata with output known as Moore machines. In this paper, we show that several advantages can be gained by utilizing another type of automata, the Mealy machine. Mealy machines are more powerful than Moore machines, provide a richer structure that can be exploited by solution methods, and can be easily incorporated into current controller-based approaches. To demonstrate this, we adapted some existing controller-based algorithms to use Mealy machines and obtained results on a set of benchmark domains. The Mealy-based approach always outperformed the Moore-based approach and often outperformed the state-of-the-art algorithms for both centralized and decentralized POMDPs. These findings provide fresh and general insights for the improvement of existing algorithms and the development of new ones.


The purpose of this study is to provide an insight on current trend of research in the area of online channels for distribution of accommodation products across mid-market hotels from the hoteliers' perspective and to suggest future research avenues. The study was based upon analysis of 12 relevant research papers published in peer-reviewed international tourism-hospitality journals during the period of 2004 - 2015. The selected papers were critically reviewed to update on ongoing researches in the area and to point out significant research gaps that indicated further research scopes. It is evident, online hotel booking is steadily growing since the inception of internet and its adaptation for distributing accommodation products by the lodging industry across the globe. Some studies attempted to determine the performance of online distribution channels (ODCs), as the choice of channels is critical for mid-market hotels in order to secure reservations and revenue. These hotels need to constitute a portfolio of ODCs to sustain and counter competition. The study sought to outline the existing strategies for managing distribution through online channels and subsequently to identify the areas of due attention. It may, therefore, provide new ideas to hospitality marketing managers and recommendations to academia for future research.


We accurately perceive the visual scene despite moving our eyes ~3 times per second, an ability that requires incorporation of eye position and retinal information. We assessed how this neural computation unfolds across three interconnected structures: frontal eye fields (FEF), intraparietal cortex (LIP/MIP), and the superior colliculus (SC). Single unit activity was assessed in head-restrained monkeys performing visually-guided saccades from different initial fixations. As previously shown, the receptive fields of most LIP/MIP neurons shifted to novel positions on the retina for each eye position, and these locations were not clearly related to each other in either eye- or head-centered coordinates (hybrid coordinates). In contrast, the receptive fields of most SC neurons were stable in eye-centered coordinates. In FEF, visual signals were intermediate between those patterns: around 60% were eye-centered, whereas the remainder showed changes in receptive field location, boundaries, or responsiveness that rendered the response patterns hybrid or occasionally head-centered. These results suggest that FEF may act as a transitional step in an evolution of coordinates between LIP/MIP and SC. The persistence across cortical areas of hybrid representations that do not provide unequivocal location labels in a consistent reference frame has implications for how these representations must be read-out. New & Noteworthy How we perceive the world as stable using mobile retinas is poorly understood. We compared the stability of visual receptive fields across different fixation positions in three visuomotor regions. Irregular changes in receptive field position were ubiquitous in intraparietal cortex, evident but less common in the frontal eye fields, and negligible in the superior colliculus (SC), where receptive fields shifted reliably across fixations. Only the SC provides a stable labelled-line code for stimuli across saccades.


Ninety-three (93) cases of acute leukemia were assessed using flow cytometry and cytochemistry and assigned to one of four categories: myeloid, lymphoid, biphenotypic, and non-diagnostic. In leukemias designated as ALL or AML by both methodologies, there was lineage agreement in all but 3 of 71 cases (95.8%). However, when nondiagnostic or biphenotypic diagnoses made by either methodology were included, complete agreement occurred in only 77.4% of cases. Of 37 cases designated myeloid origin by flow cytometry, 33 (89.2%) were read as myeloid by cytochemistry. The four discordant diagnosis were read as lymphoid (2) or as non-diagnostic (2). Eighty percent of lymphoid leukemias were diagnosed as such by both flow cytometry and cytochemistry; one early B cell ALL was diagnosed as myeloid and 8 as non-diagnostic. Fifty percent (50%) of flow cytometry defined T-cell ALL were considered non-diagnostic by cytochemistry as compared to 17% of the total ALL group. Of the remaining four designated non-T cell ALL by flow cytometry and non-diagnostic by cytochemistry, three were read by flow cytometry to be standard pre-B ALL and one an early B-cell ALL. Only 2/9 leukemias considered biphenotypic by flow were identified as such by cytochemistry. Given (1) the potential importance of non-lineage expression in the prognosis of myeloid and lymphoid leukemias, (2) cytochemistry's impaired ability to diagnose biphenotypic, T-cell, and promyelocytic leukemias, and (3) the increased costs incurred in diagnosis when both modalities are used, perhaps it is time to re-examine the utility of performing both flow cytometry and cytochemistry as initial testing for leukemia categorization.


This study examines the individual and social factors influencing the participation intention of viewers and posters in virtual communities. Trust, reward, structural capital, and cognitive capital play significant roles for both types of user. Reputation and reciprocity have a positive impact only on posters' participation intention, while viewers are also affected by enjoyment. The only social factor having no effect on posters' participation intention is identification. Viewing behavior is not correlated with reciprocity and identification. The positive relationship between reward and participation intention is stronger for posters than for viewers. In addition, managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.


Gender occupational segregation, or the concentration of women in low-wage occupations, is known as one of the most important sources of gender inequality in the labor market. However, it has rarely been closely examined in both Japan and Korea. We analyze gender occupational segregation and its effects on the wage gap in Japan and Korea. The main data set for Japan is the Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey of 2005 (SSM 2005) and we use the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study (KLIPS) from year 2009 to 2017 for the analyses of Korea. By using two types of counter-factual decomposition methods (Yamaguchi 2017), we reveal that most of the gender occupational segregation cannot be explained through gender disparities in human capital. In fact, gender occupational segregation increases as human capital is equalized across gender in both countries: this is known as occupational segregation paradox. Women are doubly disadvantaged in both countries, through intra-occupational wage gaps and inter-occupational wage gaps. However, the relative magnitude of the two disadvantages is different in the two countries. In general, Korea shows greater intraoccupational gaps than Japan, which means that women with the same qualifications are paid less than men within the same occupation. However, inter-occupational gaps, meaning women's under-representation in high-wage occupations, are larger in Japan. JEL classification: J24, J31, J71


This thesis describes a combined analytical and experimental investigation into the influence of human occupants on the dynamic properties of civil engineering structures. This is an increasingly important issue in the design of assembly structures against human-induced vibrations. An analytical parametric study demonstrated that a damped single degree of freedom (SDOF) model of one or more human occupants can explain (1) natural frequency increases and decreases, (2) additional natural frequencies, and (3) response reductions, reported in the literature. Experimental investigations employed a lightly damped simply supported prestressed concrete beam spanning 11 m and weighing 15 tonnes. The influence of up to five stationary humans on the modal properties of this laboratory based, but realistic, full-scale test structure was quantified. For this purpose, natural frequencies, damping ratios, mode shapes, and modal masses were estimated by curve-fitting of measured frequency response functions. It was shown that the occupants affected the three investigated vertical bending modes of the test structure (at about 4.5 Hz, 17 Hz, and 38 Hz). The occupants most significantly increased damping and it was established that the location, the posture and the number of occupants were important. Within the range of low-level vibrations studied, the level of vibration of the structure had only little effect. The combined analytical studies and experiments demonstrated that the presence of groups of stationary humans can be modelled by a damped 'human' SDOF system attached to the 'structural' SDOF system representing a well separated mode of an empty assembly structure. Based on the obtained experimental data, the mass, frequency and damping properties (mH, f and ýH) of a damped SDOF model of groups of sitting occupants were derived. It was established that these properties varied with the natural frequency of the structural system. It was found that mH decreases while fH and ýH increase with increasing natural frequency of the empty structural system. Based on these findings, mH should be assumed to be greater than 60% of the total mass of occupants, fH smaller than approximately 9 Hz and ýH less than 40% in the case of empty structures with natural frequencies below about 17 Hz. The derived damped SDOF human model was used to quantify the influence of occupants on the dynamic response of a range of structures modelled as SDOF systems. These data are provided in the form of design charts. They can, until further information becomes available, be used to estimate dynamic responses of civil engineering structures occupied by sitting humans to sinusoidal excitation.


Over the last three decades, Norway has experienced two fundamental reforms in hospital organization and direction. In 1970 the nineteen county authorities took over ownership and budget responsibilities for hospitals within their areas, replacing a highly varied and complex structure of ownership, typically generated locally. In 2002 hospitals were transferred to the state and amalgamated into five regional government enterprises. These, in turn, have organized all hospitals in their region under local health enterprises. Both regional and local enterprises are separate legal entities, with their own executive boards and managing directors. The Minister of Health appoints the boards of the regional enterprises, while their directors and the boards of the local enterprises are appointed by the regional boards. Both regional and local enterprises are supposed to have full autonomy for day-to-day operations, while being subject to strategic and political decisions by the Minister of Health as the ultimate authority of the enterprise assembly (foretaksmøte). The "enterprise" concept is, of course, borrowed from private business, modelled on companies of limited liability. The choice of this organizational model must be understood at least partly within the context of a general politico-administrative reform, inspired by the worldwide New Public Management movement. Each enterprise is a separate economic entity with a clear responsibility for balancing its budgets. Privatization (or part-privatization) and bankruptcy, however, are out of the question, as the state in the end retains full economic responsibility.


Background: Promotion of appropriate complementary feeding practices is important in reducing malnutrition in infants and young children. Yet, India has dismal rates of optimal complementary feeding practices which are not rising. Aim: This study aimed to find the impact of the educational intervention directed through peer counselors to promote optimal complementary feeding practices. Methods and materials: This is an Interventional study, which has been conducted in an urban slum of Delhi using multi-stage random sampling. From the study area two sectors were randomly selected. From one sector, 54 pregnant women were selected who were not given any counselling forming the non-intervention group. From the other sector, 159 pregnant women were selected to form the intervention group (Igr) which were further divided into 3 sub-groups; one sub-group was imparted counselling by a nutrition professional (Igr A; n=53) and the other two (Igr B1;n=53 and Igr B2; n=53) by the peer counselors who where the local health workers trained for promoting optimal infant feeding practices. The infants were followed up till their first birthday and in order to study the impact of counseling, the complementary feeding practices of the intervention and the non-intervention groups have been compared Results: In the intervention groups, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months was significantly higher as compared to the non-intervention group (67.5 % vs. 4.2 %). In the intervention groups, 2.6 per cent infants received semisolid/ solid foods before the age of 6 months, 75.1 percent between 6 - 7 months and the rest by the age of 9 months. However, in the Non-Igr, the respective figures were 48.9, 19.4 and 25.4 per cent; and at the age of one year, 6.4 per cent infants were still being given predominantly mother's milk. 99.3 per cent infants in the Igrs as compared to 82.3 per cent in the Non-Igr (P<0.05) continued to receive breast milk till the age of 12 months. Conclusions: The promotion of optimal complementary feeding through appropriately trained peer counselors is feasible, although it is can only be achieved through consistent efforts and adequate training/monitoring of such interventions.


Always a thorny issue but it had to be asked. Who was next in line? Management succession is a significant issue in many firms. Executives put all their energy into the business. But how much time is spent on bench strength planning? And what happens if the CEO is not ready to hand the reigns over and begin a life outside the office? This case presents transition challenges that many companies currently face - the retirement age of baby boomers and the takeover of the C level suite by the next generation.


Three foliar fertilizers containing calcium were applied at first bloom to evaluate effects on late planted (June 1) cotton in the Palo Verde Valley. Application of Calcium Metalosate resulted in increased retention percentages when compared with other foliar fertilizers at 21 days post treatment as well as more nodes/plant and calculated fruiting structures/plant. Yields did not reflect these differences however, as highest overall yields were from the untreated check, which yielded about 100 lbs. of lint/acre more than foliar fertilizer treatments. Foliar treatments did result in numerically lower micronaire and longer fibers from first pick cotton. Cotton from the first pick Calcium Metalosate treatment was strongest, but similar to other treatments. Foliar treatments did result in increased cotton value/acre by $65-95/acre, but differences noted were not consistent across field. Increased value noted for fertilizers was associated with areas of field with lowest retention rates in the untreated check at three weeks post application, and further reduction in lint quality value of untreated cotton, due perhaps to crop stresses.


This paper reports on the result of a user study to assess the impact of resolution and frame rate of video on the quality of experience of the users, when the video is rendered inside a 3-D virtual space, and consequently viewed from arbitrary perspectives. A mathematical model for video rate is presented that expresses the total rate as the product of separate functions of spatial and temporal resolutions. Results from the user study are combined with the model to predict the rate parameters which will result in perceptually acceptable quality using the 3-D features of the virtual environment. The results show that by exploiting the insensitivity of users to controlled quality degradation, the downstream network load for the client can be significantly reduced with little or no perceptual impact on the clients.


The main aim of this book is to address a fundamental question in linguistics, namely why languages are similar and why they are different. The study proposes that languages are fundamentally similar when they encode the same meanings in their grammatical systems and that languages are different when they encode different meanings. Even if languages encode the same meaning, they may differ with respect to the formal means used to code those meanings. This approach allows for a typology based on functional domains, subdomains and functions coded in individual languages. The outcome of the study is a unified approach to language theory, linguistic typology, and descriptive linguistics. The argumentation for the hypotheses and the proposed approach is supported by analyses of data from more than a dozen languages, including English, Polish, French, Wandala, Mina, Hdi, and several other Chadic languages. The study is accessible to a wide variety of linguists.


Objective: The objectives of the present study were to investigate and compare the knowledge and attitude among general physicians in primary health-care centers and medical interns. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based observational study design was implemented to assess and compare the knowledge and attitude of physicians and medical interns regarding pediatric hearing impairment in setups that have speech and hearing services and that do not offer these services. Results: The general physicians and medical interns showed a positive attitude toward different issues such as importance of hearing in development of speech and language, importance of hearing as a sense, need of hearing screening in newborns, consideration of suspicion of hearing loss by parents, and need of speech therapy. Conclusion: Even though the participants showed adequate knowledge and attitude toward pediatric hearing impairment, there are certain areas that need attention and awareness development. There is also a need to introduce speech and hearing settings at all hospitals as this will ensure a better awareness about the role of the professionals and enable more referrals.


Sepsis is a serious medical condition that occurs in 30% of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Early detection of sepsis is key to prevent its progression to severe sepsis and septic shock, which can cause organ failure and death. Diagnostic criteria for sepsis are nonspecific and hinder a timely diagnosis in patients. Therefore, there is currently a large effort to detect biomarkers that can aid physicians in the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis. Mass spectrometry is often the method of choice to detect metabolomic and proteomic changes that occur during sepsis progression. These "omics" strategies allow for untargeted profiling of thousands of metabolites and proteins from human biological samples obtained from septic patients. Differential expression of or modifications to these metabolites and proteins can provide a more reliable source of diagnostic biomarkers for sepsis. Here, we focus on the current knowledge of biomarkers of sepsis and discuss the various mass spectrometric technologies used in their detection. We consider studies of the metabolome and proteome and summarize information regarding potential biomarkers in both general and neonatal sepsis.


Purpose: Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of cancer in the adult kidney, and the prognosis of metastatic ccRCC remains poor with high mortality. In ccRCC, microRNAs (miRs) differentially expressed in tumor tissue have been identified and have been proposed to predict prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate candidate miR markers identified from analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets in a large RCC cohort and to elucidate whether a ratio of miRs provided additional prognostic information. Experimental Design: Deep sequencing data from TCGA datasets were analyzed using biostatistical methods to identify candidate miRs that correlate with factors such as survival and stage of disease. Candidate miRs were analyzed by RT-qPCR in a cohort of 198 RCC tumors (ccRCC, n=152) and 50 normal kidney samples. Results: Four candidate miRs (miR-10b, miR-21, miR-101, and miR-223) were selected from the TCGA analysis and analyzed in our cohort. Of these, miR-21 and miR-10b were differentially expressed in RCC subtypes and in ccRCC nuclear grades. Individually, the two miRs demonstrated a non-significant trend to correlate with survival. Importantly, the ratio of miR-21/miR10b (miR 21/10b ) correlated significantly with disease severity and survival, a high miR 21/10b being associated with poor prognosis ( P = 0.0095). In particular, the miR 21/10b was found to be an independent prognostic factor in metastasis-free patients ( P = 0.016; CI 1.201-5.736). Conclusions: We have shown that the miR 21/10b ratio is an independent prognostic factor for M0 ccRCC patients, which could be useful to identify high-risk M0 patients who could benefit from increased surveillance.


The purpose of this study was to understand how in-camp activities and experiences relate to campers' reported intentions to return to camp. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior this study examined how campers' perceptions of behavioral control attitudes toward behavior and perceived subjective norms related to their reported intention to return to camp. This study attempted to isolate the camp activities that were most associated with intention to return to camp. Change in intention to return was measured using pre-camp and post-camp questionnaire. The study was guided by the following research questions: RQ1. Does intention to return change from pre-camp to post-camp? RQ2. Which antecedent (e.g. perceived behavioral control social norms and attitudes toward behavior) is most strongly associated with intention to return to camp? The population for this study was residential campers (ages 10 - 12 or rising 5th through 7th graders) who attended a week long session at an American Camp Association accredited camp in western North Carolina. Consent from the parents/guardians and assent from the campers was obtained by the researcher. Questionnaires were administered by the researcher on the first day of camp and then again on the last day of camp.  At the end of the camp session all respondents were asked to identify the top three activities that made them want to return to camp in the future. The top three activities were: water-based activities with cabin all camp outdoor activities and all camp water-based activities. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if campers' intentions to return to Camp Hanes changed from the start of camp session to the end of the camp session. Intention to return to camp significantly increased from pre- to post-camp. The second goal of this study was to determine which antecedent--perceived behavioral control subjective norms attitudes toward behavior--was most strongly associated with intention to return to camp. The results indicated that all three of the antecedents significantly related to campers' intentions to return. Of the three antecedents attitudes toward behavior influenced intention to return to camp the most. With the knowledge of the significant influence that the antecedents had toward intention the implications for practice for camp practitioners particularly those who work at camps that are similar to the study setting--ACA accredited camps YMCA camps residential camps with weeklong sessions--were addressed.


Defoe's Review played a significant role in the birth of the modern press. It was not a newspaper dealing in facts but a journal of opinion and discussion. This series is the first complete scholarly edition of the entire run of Defoe's Review. It is fully reset and supported by full editorial apparatus.


This research aims to determine the interaction between EFB compost with LCC compost and P fertilizer mixture on P uptake and production of sorghum. The research was carried out by experiments using a completely randomized design (CRD), which consists of 2 factors and 3 replications. The data obtained were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance and tested further to the test of Duncan's New Multiple Range test (DNMRT) at 5% level. The observations made are analysis P uptake, age out panicle, harvesting, number of branches panicle, number of seeds per panicle, grain weight per panicle, weight of 1000 seeds, the results per plot and the ratio of seed and straw. The results of P fertilizer treatment mixture of 60 kg/ha and EFB compost1.25 tonnes/ha with LCC compost 3.75 tonnes/ha is that it can increase the uptake of P sorghum at 42 DAT is 9.98 mg. The highest yield was obtained on treatment with the proceeds 882.72 g/plot  (2.45 tonnes/ha). Keywords : Compost, EFB, LCC, P, Sorghum


Evaluation of lifetime productivity is sensible to target interventions for improving productivity of smallholder dairy systems in the highlands of East Africa, because cows are normally not disposed of based on productive reasons. Feeding strategies and involuntary culling may have long-term effects on productive (and therefore economic) performance of dairy systems. Because of the temporal scale needed to evaluate lifetime productivity, experimentation with feedstuffs in single lactations is not enough to assess improvements in productivity. A dynamic modelling approach was used to explore the effect of feeding strategies on the lifetime productivity of dairy cattle. We used LIVSIM (LIVestock SIMulator), an individual-based, dynamic model in which performance depends on genetic potential of the breed and feeding. We tested the model for the highlands of Central Kenya, and simulated individual animals throughout their lifetime using scenarios with different diets based on common feedstuffs used in these systems (Napier grass, maize stover and dairy concentrates), with and without imposing random mortality on different age classes. The simulations showed that it is possible to maximise lifetime productivity by supplementing concentrates to meet the nutrient requirements of cattle during lactation, and during early development to reduce age at first calving and extend productive life. Avoiding undernutrition during the dry period by supplementing the diet with 0.5 kg of concentrates per day helped to increase productivity and productive life, but in practice farmers may not perceive the immediate economic benefits because the results of this practice are manifested through a cumulative, long-term effect. Survival analyses indicated that unsupplemented diets prolong calving intervals and therefore, reduce lifetime productivity. The simulations with imposed random mortality showed a reduction of 43% to 65% in all productivity indicators. Milk production may be increased on average by 1400 kg per lactation by supplementing the diet with 5 kg of concentrates during early lactation and 1 kg during late lactation, although the optimal supplementation may change according to milk and concentrate prices. Reducing involuntary culling must be included as a key goal when designing interventions to improve productivity and sustainability of smallholder dairy systems, because increasing lifetime productivity may have a larger impact on smallholders' income than interventions targeted to only improving daily milk yields through feeding strategies.


A $signed graph$ (or $sigraph$ in short) is an ordered pair $S = (S^u, \sigma)$, where $S^u$ is a graph $G = (V, E)$ and $\sigma : E\rightarrow \{+,-\}$ is a function from the edge set $E$ of $S^u$ into the set $\{+, -\}$. For a positive integer $n > 1$, the unitary Cayley graph $X_n$ is the graph whose vertex set is $Z_n$, the integers modulo $n$ and if $U_n$ denotes set of all units of the ring $Z_n$, then two vertices $a, b$ are adjacent if and only if $a-b \in U_n$. For a positive integer $n > 1$, the unitary Cayley sigraph $\mathcal{S}_n = (\mathcal{S}^u_n, \sigma)$ is defined as the sigraph, where $\mathcal{S}^u_n$ is the unitary Cayley graph and for an edge $ab$ of $\mathcal{S}_n$, $$\sigma(ab) = \begin{cases} + & \text{if } a \in U_n \text{ or } b \in U_n,\\ - & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases}$$ In this paper, we have obtained a characterization of balanced unitary Cayley sigraphs. Further, we have established a characterization of canonically consistent unitary Cayley sigraphs $\mathcal{S}_n$, where $n$ has at most two distinct odd prime factors.


ABSTRACT Aim: Melanoma has high clonal heterogeneity which follows a geographical pattern. The advent of therapy involving BRAF-specific inhibitors has enabled many efforts at exploring these neoplasias' genotype around the world, documenting V600E and V600K alterations in about 50% of affected patients born in the USA, Western Europe and Australia. Few studies have evaluated the presence of alterations in the BRAF and KIT in the Hispanic population, finding a frequency between 39 and 77%, and 0%, respectively. Methods: 216 patients were explored for BRAF (V600E/V600K), NRAS (exons 1 and 2) and cKIT (exons 9, 11, 13 and 17) mutations using sequencing and RT-PCR (COBAS) techniques, following confirmation of histology and micro-dissection. Several outcomes were recorded in 98 cases. Results: median age was 55.4 years old on average (SD ± 13.8), 62% were older than 50 when diagnosed and 112 cases (52%) were female. When ascertaining the origin of the tumors 30% of the melanomas were found in skin which had been chronically exposed to sunlight, 43.1% could not be typed, 13.9% were acral-lentiginous melanomas, 7.9% were primary mucosal melanomas and 0.5% were uveal tumours. Tumour representation in paraffin-embedded tissue was good (80%), the site from which the sample was taken was usually the skin (43%), lymph nodes (24%), soft tissues (7%) and the lungs (6.5%). Tumour stage was greater than III in 75% and unknown in the rest. BRAF mutation frequency was 32.5% (67/206), 8.4% (11/131) for cKIT and 6.9% (9/131) for NRAS. KI67 was greater than 20% in 57% (101/175); this finding was greater in patients suffering lesions in chronically-exposed skin (p = 0.054) and in those carrying a BRAF mutation (p = 0.038). Median follow-up was 14.5-mo (95%CI 4.0-42.0) and overall survival was 18-mo (95%CI 16.8-19.1). Survival was modified by Clark (p = 0.036) but not by different genotypes. Conclusions: The mutational profile of Colombian melanoma patients reported in this study differ with that described previously in other Western countries, especially for BRAF; however, such findings did agree with greater prevalence of mucosal and acral-lentiginous lesions. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


The article includes five parts: 1. Introduction – information about the book promotion event held in Warsaw on December 19, 2019 on the Polish edition of Xi Jinping's Governance of China vol. I. The book launch was great not only because of the editing and the contents of the book, but also because it was a political, economic, cultural and international event, since the author is the number one politician not only in China but also in the contemporary world. The introduction includes information about the book content and demonstrates its importance for the theoretical generalizations and recognition of the main problems of contemporary China. 2. According to the authors of the paper, problems mentioned in the book are especially important. The original Chinese way of building socialism and the early stages of Chinese revolution were national, anti-feudal, anti-capitalist, democratic and socialist. Mao Zedong established class-based Maoism as a Marxism-Leninism in the Chinese version, while Deng Xiaoping and his successors established and developed the socialist market economy, which is the continuation of Maoism in the new era and they created the Chinese path to the anti-capitalist revolution and the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The perspective of the development of China till 2021 and 2049 (as a modern and developed socialism) and its influence on the national rejuvenation is not only Chinese but also an international issue. 3. Third part of the paper is devoted to the problems of building socialism in China, the analysis of the theory of Xi Jinping, the leading role of the CPC, the economic role of the owner and foreign capital in economy and policy, and the socio-economic contradictions in the contemporary PRC. 4. Forth part concerns Confucianism and Marxism as theoretical and practical problems in China; the original Chinese culture and civilization; the continuation and discontinuation of the historical development in contemporary epoch; the original development; the policy of opening- -up; the necessity of considering human contents of Confucianism in building and developing of socialism in China. 5. Fifth part of the paper is on the future status of the Communist Party of China's Economy. Since the emergence of state-owned economy, it has played a huge role in the economic development of all countries. However, under the way of neoliberalism, state-owned economy has gradually been associated with backwardness and inefficiency. On the forum of state-owned economy enterprise reform in China, General Secretary Xi Jinping gave out important instructions. State-owned enterprises are an important force for strengthening the comprehensive power of the country and safeguarding the common interests of the people. State-owned enterprises must be made stronger, better and bigger. Academia has had a huge disagreement on this, and some scholars believe that this is an act of favoritism toward state-owned enterprises. This paper analyzes China's state-owned economy from the perspective of total factor productivity (TFP), Marx's historical materialism, national productivity, and social development, clarifying that state-owned economic reform is diff erent from the system of "profit based demands" rooted in the private economic market, but a system based on national productivity and the "needs" of the people. Making state-owned enterprises "stronger, better, and bigger" is in line with the historical development of socialism and material productivity, resolving doubts on the direction of state-owned economic


Double standards are nothing new. Women deal with them every day. Take the common truism that women who sleep around are sluts while men are studs. Why is it that men grow distinguished and sexily gray as they age while women just get saggy and haggard? Have you ever wondered how a young woman is supposed to both virginal and provocatively enticing at the same time? Isn't it unfair that working moms are labeled "bad" for focusing on their careers while we shake our heads in disbelief when we hear about the occasional stay-at-home dad? In 50 Double Standards Every Woman Should Know, Jessica Valenti, author of Full Frontal Feminism, calls out the double standards that affect every woman. Whether Jessica is pointing out the wage earning discrepancies between men and women or revealing all of the places that women still aren't equal to their male counterpartsbe it in the workplace, courtroom, bedroom, or homeshe maintains her signature wittily sarcastic tone. With sass, humor, and in-your-face facts, this book informs and equips women with the tools they need to combat sexist comments, topple ridiculous stereotypes (girls aren't good at math?) , and end the promotion of lame double standards. "


A flashing light emitting diode (LED) stop sign is essentially a normal octagonal stop sign with LEDs on the stop sign's corners. A hierarchical Bayes observational before/after study found an estimated reduction of about 41.5% in right-angle crashes, but with 95% confidence this reduction could be anywhere between 0% and 70.8%. In a field study, portable video equipment was used to record vehicle approaches at an intersection before and after installation of flashing LED stop signs. After installing the flashing stop signs, there was no change in the relative proportion of clear stops to clear non-stops when minor approach drivers did not face opposing traffic, but the relative proportion of clear stops increased for drivers who did encounter opposing traffic. Random samples of 60 minor approach vehicles were selected before and after installation of flashing LED stop signs and speeds for these vehicles when about 500 feet from the intersection, and average deceleration rates over the final 500 feet, were estimated using trajectory-based methods. Average approach speeds tended to be highest in June, somewhat lower in July, and lower yet in September and November, with September and November having roughly equal average speeds. The average deceleration rates showed a similar pattern.


The knowledge and scientific history of maternal and paternal aspects of reproduction dates back several decades, though only recently are fishery scientists and managers giving this subject area greater attention in the provision of management advice. This paper outlines and summarizes several recent advances made in understanding the importance of variation in gadoid reproductive output as a function of spawner age, size, maturation, condition and reproductive history. An assembled score-card applied to 45 Canadian Atlantic gadoid stock assessments conducted from 1985 to 1998 portrays the evolution and current degree to which this scientific knowledge has been incorporated into fishery advice in eastern Canada. For future research, recommendations are made which promote the integration of basic reproductive biology into groundfish stock assessments. These emerging policies encourage managers worldwide to initiate relevant sampling programs which will lead to improved stock conservation reference points. A new term referred to as stock reproductive potential (SRP) is introduced. Compared to spawning stock biomass and population fecundity, SRP more accurately represents the annual variation in a stock's ability to produce viable eggs and larvae that may eventually recruit to the adult population or fishery. SRP is a term (concept) which will likely evolve in such a manner as to provide a more accurate measure of a stock's reproductive potential.


We study high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from various lowly ionized laser plasmas. We study harmonic generation from targets of Al (Z=13) to Bi (Z=83). Varying the wavelength, chirp, and pulse duration of the femtosecond pump laser resulted in the change in the harmonic distribution, cutoff, and conversion efficiency of HHG. We also study the use of doubly charged ions, and resonances for some materials. We were able to obtain high HHG conversion efficiency and harmonic cutoff by implementing the above approaches and by observing the time-resolved spectra of the laser plasma.


This paper analyzes individual decision making under risk. It is assumed that an individual does not have a preference relation on the set of risky lotteries. Instead, an individual possesses a probability measure that captures the likelihood of one lottery being chosen over the other. Choice probabilities have a stochastic utility representation if they can be written as a non-decreasing function of the difference in expected utilities of the lotteries. Choice probabilities admit a stochastic utility representation if and only if they are complete, strongly transitive, continuous, independent of common consequences and interchangeable. Axioms of stochastic utility are consistent with systematic violations of betweenness and a common ratio effect but not with a common consequence effect. Special cases of stochastic utility include the Fechner model of random errors, Luce choice model and a tremble model of Harless and Camerer (1994).


This wide-ranging, multidisciplinary collection examines how advances in medicine and technology are affecting the aging process and the lives of elderly persons. In analyzing the state of biotechnology, these essays applaud the positive-extended longevity and the potential for greater quality of life-while probing such ethical quandaries as presymptomatic genetic testing, therapeutic cloning, antiaging technologies, and the transhumanist movement. The volume includes discussions about the respective roles of health care professionals, government, and individuals in shaping a workable regulatory framework and unifying multiple perspectives to make the biotechnology revolution beneficial to all. Featuring contributions from renowned scholars of religion, ethics, philosophy, psychology, law, medicine and nursing, and gerontology, Aging, Biotechnology, and the Future illuminates the promises and perils of growing old in the biomedical age. Contributors: George J. Annas, Jessica Brommelhoff, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Margaret Gatz, Pamela J. Grace, Robert C. Green, Fernando A. Guerra, Rose M. Harvey, Kathy J. Horvath, Ann C. Hurley, Robert Lanza, Karen Lebacqz, Erin Linnenbringer, Maxwell J. Mehlman, Toni P. Miles, Sarah Moses, Thomas T. Perls, Leonard W. Poon, Catherine Y. Read, J. Scott Roberts, Diane Scott-Jones, Thomas A. Shannon, Richard L. Sprott, Rosemarie Tong, Laurie Zoloth


In 2003, over 148,300 people were expected to be diagnosed and 56,000 to die from colorectal cancer (CRC). First-degree relatives (FDRs) of people with colon cancer have a two- to eight-fold increased risk for CRC. Despite evidence that screening is effective, adherence with screening recommendations in this at-risk population is low. This study's purposes were to (1) identify perceived benefits and barriers of fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy, and (2) compare demographic characteristics and perceived benefits and barriers by stage of adoption for CRC screening. Participating FDRs (n = 257) completed a 40-min structured telephone interview. Despite high rates of agreement with the benefits of screening, most FDRs were not contemplating being screened. Of those 50 and older, most were in precontemplation for FOBT, sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy. Older age was related to stage for FOBT and sigmoidoscopy, but not colonoscopy. Lack of provider recommendation also was related to stage. Consistent with theoretical predictions, precontemplators had (1) higher rates of endorsement of specific barriers to screening and (2) lower rates of endorsement of benefits than contemplators or actors. For morbidity and mortality reduction, participation in routine, periodic screening is imperative. These findings can guide development of screening-promoting interventions.


The effects of divorce on individuals and on society as a whole has been widely debated in public discussion of American life. The dialogue was sparked by the dramatic rise in the number of U.S. divorces which began in the 1960s: Figure 1 illustrates that the divorce rate doubled from 10.6 to 20.3 divorces per 1,000 married women between 1965 and 1975, and continued to rise until 1981. Scholars have also debated the implications of the 'Divorce Revolution' of this time period: the liberalization of divorce laws in a large number of states to a unilateral regime, which made divorce easier by requiring the consent of only one spouse to dissolve a marriage (e.g., Friedberg 1998, Weitzman 1995). Some policymakers, 14 social scientists, and advocacy groups have argued that this sweeping policy change was an important factor in a general decline of the American family (e.g., Kirkwood 1996, Parkman 1993). Gruber (2004) found that children exposed to the unilateral divorce laws have poorer outcomes in young adulthood. On the other hand, the easing of divorce laws made it easier for people to leave toxic marriages, and arguably increased the bargaining power of abused partners within marriages; Stevenson and Wolfers (2006) find large declines in domestic violence in states that adopted unilateral divorce. This paper contributes to the evaluation of the change in divorce laws by examining a less studied area: the long-term effects of this policy change on the well-being of men and women who were young adults when the laws were changing...


In 2014, architecture Professor Margaret Crawford and Associate Professor of Art Practice Anne Walsh taught the first University of California, Berkeley, Global Urban Humanities Initiative research studio course, called "No Cruising: Mobility and Identity in Los Angeles." What occurred during the course had both varied and unexpected interpretations as ten students majoring in art practice, art history, architecture, and performance studies each selected a dimension of mobility they wished to identify on field trips to LA. One goal of these field trips, or research studios, was to get students out of their comfort zones to explore new approaches and methods. We encouraged students to draw on each others' disciplines, so art students undertook archival research while architectural history students, like Noam Shoked, used interviews and photography to investigate contemporary conditions. The stories here are from Shoked as he comes to interpret and interact with the cyclist of LA.


Microsatellite enriched library of Hyriopsis cumingii was constructed according to the strong affinity between biotin and streptavidin. One hundred clones with foreign inserts were sequenced and 65 clones were screened for usable microsatellites, of which 36 were deemed unique, of sufficient length (more than 8 repeats) and possessed adequate flanking regions for primer designment. Among 36 primer pairs designed, 25 yielded scorable amplification products. Upon testing 30 individuals were sampled using the 25 pair primers from Dongting Lake of Hunan Province, China. Then thirteen polymorphic microsatellite markers were isolated and characterized. These loci exhibited high levels of genetic polymorphism, so the observed number of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 9. The ranges of observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.2543 to 0.8913 and 0.3629 to 0.8217, respectively, and the average polymorphic information content was 0.5198. Two microsatellite loci were significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium due to the presence of null alleles, and no linkage disequilibrium found. These microsatellite loci will be useful for assessing the


Countries in all stages of development have long expressed concern over what they perceive to be a low level of achievement attained by students of mathematics. The concern over mathematical deficiencies has general educational import viz. application of the mathematics that has been learnt. "They can do a thing in mathematics but cannot do the same thing in physics". Through consideration of this situation, I formulated my research problem: the search for a feasible improvement, however partial, in this achivement through modifying the current methodology of mathematics teaching-learning situations. I have confined this study to secondary school mathematics in Kuwait. This notwithstanding, if this study appears to be convincing, then implications could be drawn for curriculum design, methods of teaching and the setting of tests and examinations as well. This is at both secondary school and university levels of education. In satisfying the research problem, it was indicated that, if the construct 'achievement' is assigned a numerical value A, then A is a function of the independent variable R consisting of the variant component of the 'contents' of a teaching-learning task. Nevertheless, it was viewed that a true change in R is due to a change in the 'structure' S underlying R. However, a modification may result from the interaction of S with another structure H or some part, U, of H in underlying the methodology of mathematics teaching-learning situations. S was identified as a set of instances which do not explicitly make use of a constant of implicit form, 'a' say, other than the variables if any: H on the other hand contains only such instances that make use of one or more of such constants. Empirical studies showed that behaviour is not necessarily consistent in two instances - governed by a unique behavioural objective - one in S and the other in H. In this context a concept of space of knowledge (W,0) was introduced consisting of a set W of structured knowledge - identified by a finite set of rules - which is expected to diffuse a particular piece of knowledge through a certain normal population 0. It was also noted that a space of knowledge (S,0) - the learning space of current methodologies - is influential but insufficient for diffusing the required knowledge either in achievement or application. However, it was argued that a part U (of H) - identified by instances in H which include a unique constant - could feasibly contribute, with S, to a modification in the methodology. Furthermore, it was viewed that learnability in U should be subject to certain conditions that make U 'docile' i.e. applicable. Finally, a modification in the methodology of teaching-learning situations was proposed which relied on S + U as a learning space in the form of a model based on an algorithm. Evidence based on experimentation supports the notion that the achievement of students in mathematics under a tehcnique based on S + U is superior to the conventional based on S.


Just as physicians can object to providing services due to their ethical and/or religious beliefs, medical students can have conscience-based objections to participating in educational activities. In 1996, the Medical Student Section of the American Medical Association (AMA) introduced a resolution calling on the AMA to adopt a policy in support of exemptions for students with ethical or religious objections. In that report, students identified abortion, sterilization, and procedures performed on animals as examples of activities that might prompt requests for conscience-based exemptions (CBEs). In response to the student initiative, the Council on Medical Education recommended the adoption of seven "principles to guide exemption of medical students from activities based on conscience." The House of Delegates adopted these principles in their entirety.


Supporting
the Student Experience

The
student experience encompasses many aspects; academic and intellectual development,
social and emotional life which is typically supported by both academic and
professional support service colleagues.

This
section of the repository seeks to share strategies and experiences from across
the sector that serve to support the delivery of exceptional and distinctive
student learning experiences. Areas may include but are not limited to:

• Academic
and pastoral support to equip graduates with the expertise and attributes they
need to achieve their full potential.

• Inclusive
and personalised approaches to learning, frameworks for enhancement and support.

• Curricular
development opportunities including the development of graduate attributes,
employability and study abroad.

• Mechanisms
for student support including induction and transition, peer mentoring and
student ambassador programmes.

Curators:

Michael
Haslam, The University of Central Lancashire, Dr Richard Bale, Imperial College
London and Dr Dawne Irving-Bell, Edge Hill University


We consider optimal control problems with ordinary differential equations that are coupled by shared, possibly nonconvex, constraints. For these problems, we use the generalized Nash equilibrium approach and provide a reformulation of normalized Nash equilibria as solutions to a single optimal control problem. By this reformulation, we are able to prove existence, and in some settings, exploiting convexity properties, we also get a limited number or even uniqueness of the normalized Nash equilibria. Then, we use our approach to discuss traffic scenarios with several autonomous vehicles, whose dynamics is described through differential equations, and the avoidance of collisions couples the optimal control problems of the vehicles. For the solution to the discretized problems, we prove strong convergence of the states and weak convergence of the controls. Finally, using existing optimal control software, we show that the generalized Nash equilibrium approach leads to reasonable results for a crossing scenario with different vehicle models.


Imagine that a medical board revokes a doctor's license both because he has been peddling thousands of pills of opioids and also because he was caught with a few grams of cocaine. The doctor is a family physician, not a pain management specialist. Yet, during a one-year period he wrote more than 4,000 prescriptions for opioids – roughly 18 scripts per day. Patients came from multiple states and from hundreds of miles a way to get oxycodone prescriptions. And the doctor prescribed large quantities of opioids – up to 240 pills per month – to patients with no record of previously needing narcotic painkillers. Both federal and state law provides an option to charge the doctor as a drug dealer. When a physician writes a prescription for a controlled substance with no legitimate medical purpose, federal and state law considers it to be the same criminal offense as a street dealer selling drugs in a back alley. Prosecutors however did not charge the doctor with dealing opioids. They instead indicted him for possession of the small amount of cocaine and ignored the opioid distribution.

Prosecutors (and physicians) claim that there has been a massive crackdown on doctors for improper opioid prescribing. This article challenges that claim by detailing dozens of recent cases in which state medical boards revoked doctors' licenses for improper opioid prescribing but in which prosecutors never brought any criminal charges for drug dealing. After detailing the egregious conduct of dozens of opioid prescribers, this article explains why prosecutors are reticent to bring drug distribution charges against doctors and offers a roadmap for reform.


One of the major open issues in semantics and pragmatics concerns the role of convention in relating sentence types with illocutionary acts and perlocutionary effects. For the type-to-illocution connection, some degree of force conventionalism seems to be widely accepted. In contrast, Austin (1962) and many subsequent researchers have assumed that perlocution is not a matter of convention, but rather arises inexorably from illocution, content, and context. In this paper, we challenge this fundamental assumption about perlocution with evidence from a new perception experiment focused on perlocutionary effects relating to the listener's conception of the speaker as a social actor. We find that these effects are predictable from sentence type plus intonation ('type + tune'), that they vary by type + tune, and that they are consistent across a wide range of sentence contents, contexts, and illocutionary inferences. We argue that these conventions are naturally incorporated into existing work on sentence-type conventions.


During the past eighteen months The Library at the University of Salford has been developing a number of Open Access digital collections, using our currently hosted EPrints repository as the infrastructure to enable access to them. We have concentrated our efforts on digitising images and documents from our Library and University owned archives collections, as well as working with the local community to make other collections available.
There are currently live collections relating to the Richard Badnall Papers and the University of Salford Photographic Collection (both owned by the University) and the Working Class Movement Library Collection. New collections are under development for the Worsley New Hall Collection and the Mike Craig Comedy Archive.
Many steps have been taken to develop the digital archive; and new collaborations and relationships have been formed in order to make these new collections happen. Metadata workflows were specifically developed to accommodate the differing collections, closely working with the curators of each collection, as well as EPrints, in order to make these appropriate to the content. The user-interface was created, making use of the Kultur plug-in and a zoom function was developed for closer inspection of the content.
The poster examines how a repository can be used to deliver non-traditional content, and how the repository has been opened up as a shared and collaborative service with neighbours in the local community.


The reverberation time (RT) and the early-to-late reverberation ratio (ELR) are two key parameters commonly used to characterize acoustic room environments. In contrast to conventional blind estimation methods that process the two parameters separately, we propose a model for joint estimation to predict the RT and the ELR simultaneously from single-channel speech signals from either full-band or sub-band frequency data, which is referred to as joint room parameter estimator (jROPE). An artificial neural network is employed to learn the mapping from acoustic observations to the RT and the ELR classes. Auditory-inspired acoustic features obtained by temporal modulation filtering of the speech time-frequency representations are used as input for the neural network. Based on an in-depth analysis of the dependency between the RT and the ELR, a two-dimensional (RT, ELR) distribution with constrained boundaries is derived, which is then exploited to evaluate four different configurations for jROPE. Experimental results show that—in comparison to the single-task ROPE system which individually estimates the RT or the ELR—jROPE provides improved results for both tasks in various reverberant and (diffuse) noisy environments. Among the four proposed joint types, the one incorporating multi-task learning with shared input and hidden layers yields the best estimation accuracies on average. When encountering extreme reverberant conditions with RTs and ELRs lying beyond the derived (RT, ELR) distribution, the type considering RT and ELR as a joint parameter performs robustly, in particular. From state-of-the-art algorithms that were tested in the acoustic characterization of environments challenge, jROPE achieves comparable results among the best for all individual tasks (RT and ELR estimation from full-band and sub-band signals).


In contradistinction to a widespread belief, Wigner'e theorem allows the construction of true joint probabilities in phase space for distributions describing the object system as well as for distributions depending on the measurement apparatus. The fundamental role of Heisenberg's uncertainty relations in SchrSdinger form (including correlations) is pointed out for these two possible interpretations of joint probability distributions. E.g., in order that a multivariate normal probability distribution in phase space may correspond to a Wigner distribution of a pure or a mixed state, it is necessary and su_cient that Heisenberg's uncertainty relation in Schr/_linger form should be satisfied.


An intensive study of the zooplankton community of Mirror Lake, New Hampshire, was undertaken over a 3-yr period. Our objectives in the lake study have included measurements of a number of attributes of the zooplankton community that integrate structure and function at the ecosystem level; among these are dispersion, biomass, productivity, respiration, and nutrient cycling. Eight species of rotifers and 3 species of cladocerans were successfully cultured. Generation time for planktonic rotifers was -8-10 days (170C). The effect of higher food levels on rotifers was to shorten generation time and to increase brood size. In cladocerans, high food levels caused an increase in length and brood size. A curvilinear relationship existed between zooplankton community respiration and temperature in Mirror Lake. Mean monthly zooplankton community respiration ranged from 96.0 kg C/ha/mo in June of 1969 to a low of 20.5 kg C/ha/mo in April of 1970. Over a 3-yr period, respiration was 79.9% of assimilation. The 0 to 4.5-m strata (;epilimnion) contributed 68.5% and 46.5% of the annual zooplankton production and biomass. Zooplankton community production ranged from 22.3 kg C/ha/yr to 29.3 kg C/ha/yr with a 3-yr mean of 25.2 kg C/ha/yr. The annual zooplankton biomass ranged from 1.4 to 2.6 kg C/ha with a 3-yr mean of 2.0 kg C/ha. A linear relationship was found to exist between net phytoplankton and zooplankton production in various lakes of the world. Ecological efficiency apparently increases with the trophic status of the lake. It is recommended that the term ecological efficiency be refined to include both autochthonous and allochthonous inputs of reduced carbon into the lake. Rotifers assume a major role in intrasystem nutrient cycling and energy transfer within the lake ecosystem. Of the total amount of P incorporated into the organic matter of zooplankton community each year, 33.5% is assimilated in rotifer tissue. The annual turnover rate of P by rotifers is 30.9 and is high compared to crustaceans (10.1). Copepods comprise 55.4% of the total zooplankton biomass. However, the copepods, with their slow growth over an entire year, represent only 19.3% of the zooplankton production, while rotifers account for 39.8% of the zooplankton production annually in Mirror Lake. Also, evidence is presented that rotifers play a major role in energy transfer in lakes of varying trophic status (oligotrophic to eutrophic).


Abstract The adsorption of sulphur dioxide (SO2) on two bentonites from Unye, Turkey (Kavaktepe and Yemişlitepe deposits - denoted below as BK and BY) and on forms treated with 1 and 2 м HCl solutions was investigated. The bentonite samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), thermogravimetry (TG-DTG), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and nitrogen adsorption methods. Adsorption capacities of SO2 were obtained using a standard volumetric apparatus at 293 K and 106 kPa. The SO2 adsorption capacity of the BY-2 (1.263 mmol g-1) sample was much greater than the BK-2 (1.126 mmol g-1) sample. As the concentration of acid increased, the specific surface areas and the uptakes of SO2 gas increased.