Objectives: The extent and possibilities of spread of the HIV epidemic are not fully understood in Pakistan. A survey was conducted among men, women and transgender populations selling sex in Rawalpindi (Punjab) and Abbottabad (North West Frontier Province) in order to inform evidence-based programme planning. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed with participants recruited through respondent-driven sampling. Male and transgender sex workers were analysed in three gender groups; women were analysed as one group. Behavioural surveys were conducted and clinical specimens collected. Laboratory tests looked for evidence of acute infection (gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, syphilis, Trichomonas) and infection over the lifetime (HIV, herpes simplex virus-2, syphilis). Predictors of infection were explored using univariable and multivariable logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of HIV was low in 917 male and transgender sex workers and absent in 533 female sex workers in the study. High levels of current sexually transmitted infections were found, predominantly among transgender sex workers. Risk behaviours were common and knowledge of HIV was extremely low. Multivariable analysis found a large number of factors associated with higher levels of infection, including experience of forced first sex. Protection against risk was low, but those sex workers who reported using condoms at last sex had lower rates of infection. Conclusions: The HIV epidemic is currently in its early stages among people who sell sex, but there may be potential for a much greater spread given the levels of other sexually transmitted infections found and the concomitant low levels of both protective knowledge and risk-reducing behaviours. Action is needed now to avert an epidemic. Framing interventions by upholding the recognition and protection of human rights is vital.


This paper addresses the electoral consequences of the German government's anti-nuclear power policy shift after the Fukushima accident. Building on a cost-benefit framework and insights from political psychology, the theoretical analysis anticipates that the policy shift could not earn governing parties additional votes but could avoid vote loss. Utilizing data from multiple surveys and employing simulation techniques, the evidence demonstrates that voters, in particular incumbents' supporters, became more skeptical of nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster. At the same time, governing parties' supporters were particularly eager to perceive a credible change in the government's nuclear power stance. As a consequence, governing parties did not garner additional votes but inhibited their supporters from voting for other parties and thus avoided vote loss. Generally speaking, the novel approach proposed in this paper is suitable for shedding light on electoral effects of parties' policy shifts that have thus far gone unnoticed.


Drawing on my research among foreign religious workers and young converts, I explore here the changing religious landscape in the Kyrgyz Republic. Although many people in Kyrgyzstan are aware of the material benefits enjoyed by people who convert to new faiths (money, food and professional opportunity), to understand the appeal of these faiths among young people it is important to look beyond material factors. I argue that Christianity's success must be understood in the context of the current social and economic crisis and is a result of Christian leaders' ability to link young people's spiritual lives to projects of national renewal. The story of evangelical Christianity in Kyrgyzstan speaks to an ongoing debate in the social sciences about the usefulness of studying conversion as an individual experience of changed belief versus as a response to social and political realities. The emphasis, in Kyrgyz churches, on the importance of individual converts to national renewal reveals that the individual and social dimensions of conversion must be understood together.


Rightly, 2005 will be remembered for the huge public generosity demonstrated in the face of multiple disasters. It should also be remembered as the year when traditional philanthropy displayed how stagnant and ineffective it really is. Not since the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s have issues of philanthropy, disaster relief, the rich/poor divide, and foreign aid been more publicly prominent. From the widespread destruction of natural disasters, to the Millennium Development Goals, to debt forgiveness, every month of the year seemed to have its own compelling story about human need. All of the stories were accompanied, of course, by pleas for contributions. Within these pleas lies a painful irony. Though the massive scale of recent destruction demands efficient allocation of resources, hard data shows unequivocally that the methods we have for delivering help are seriously flawed. According to World Bank data, the world has pledged approximately US$36,000 per displaced person affected by the Boxing Day Tsunami in Indonesia. Although this is more than 10 times the per-capita GDP of the country, only a small fraction of money given has reached victims. Less than 25 percent of aid committed to Sri Lanka has been disbursed, and only 10,000 of 123,000 homes needed across the region have been rebuilt. Across the region 80 percent of those affected still do not have permanent housing, according to many estimates. The public response to the natural disasters of 2005 shows there is no lack of funds. In fact, the balance sheets of the various aid agencies have probably never been healthier. The poor, however, continue to suffer. Meanwhile, donors give blindly without demanding the accountability that ensures results. This is simply unacceptable. Whatever little attention is given to accountability is usually misplaced. Most donors and watchdogs have become attuned to being alert to fraud and theft. This has led to organizations like Guidestar that make it much easier to compare statistics on items such as "overhead" for non-profit organizations. These comparisons are useful but still somewhat suspect. An analysis by the Center on Philanthropy showed that 20 percent of charities raising more than US$5 million per annum reported no fund-raising costs. Fraud and theft are, however, no longer the real accountability issues. We should focus on avoiding waste and ineffectiveness. The problem with philanthropy today is that too much attention is focused on counting receipts and too little on outcomes. Philanthropy, like business, should have a bottom line. Any industry is going to degenerate in the absence of clearly defined measures of success. Despite the generally agreed difficulties of making philanthropy effective, there is a deep-seated human desire to reach out to those in need. So while a constant stream of books and studies in the last 20 years has detailed the failure of public and private charity to achieve measurable results, we still see demands for more giving. Would anyone tolerate such demands for more money with a concomitant failure to deliver results from an investment? Would an investor put up significant amounts of money with the same lack of research and due diligence that bedevils philanthropy? The answer, of course, is no. Approaching philanthropy as a form of investment is an important part of the solution to the problems of philanthropy. There is reason for optimism: increasingly, donors are treating their giving like their investments. Well-known examples include the Gates Foundation, Sir John Templeton and the Templeton Foundation, and the Omidyar's conversion of their foundation into the Omidyar Network so they could invest in any initiative that generates the results they seek, not just in non-profits. These philanthropists and many others have begun to see philanthropy as a capital market. They demand the same levels of transparency and accountability they expect from stock markets. …


Cow milk allergy is a common disease of infancy, often associated with atopic dermatitis (AD). Avoidance of cow milk (CM) implies the use of alternative dietary supports such as mammalian milks. In this study, we assessed the tolerability and clinical effect of ass's milk (AM), when compared with the largely used goat's milk (GM) in a single‐blind, controlled, randomized crossover. Twenty‐eight children with AD and ascertained allergy to CM were enrolled. The children were randomized to AM or GM for 6 months, then switched to the other milk for further 3 months. The SCORAD index (SI) and a visual analog scale (VAS) were evaluated blindly. After termination of the study, food challenges with GM and AM were performed. An SDS‐PAGE analysis of different milks was performed. Two children from the GM group dropped out after randomization and 26 completed the study. Ass milk invariantly led to a significant improvement of SI and VAS of symptoms (p < 0.03 vs. baseline and inter‐group), whereas GM had no measurable clinical effect. At the end of the study 23 of 26 children had a positive food challenge with GM and one of 26 with AM. Ass's milk had a protein profile closer to human milk than GM. Ass milk is better tolerated and more effective than GM in reducing symptoms of AD. It may represent a better substitute of CM than the currently used GM.


Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify any differences in the academic achievement of 7th-grade students who listened to music during instruction (experimental group) and those who received traditional instruction (no music during instruction--control group). The Social Studies Test (SST) was administered pre- and post-test to measure differences between the two groups. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) on the post-test results of the SST with the pretest scores as a covariate indicated significant differences at the .05 alpha level on academic achievement for the experimental group. However, differences in academic achievement were not found based on gender or the interaction between the method of instruction and gender. A number of theoretical and practical implications for the field of study are offered. Keywords: Music education, social studies, vocational approaches, academic achievement, human resource education, and Jordan. Introduction and Theoretical Framework Efforts to improve the quality of education are increasing due to globalization, educational reforms, and new approaches to teaching and learning. Schools are now held accountable by a number of stakeholders, including students, parents, legislators, and private and public organizations (Tagg, 2003). These changes have resulted in requirements to offer instruction via new teaching methods. The question of effective learning has been a key focus of educators for decades (Krigbaum, 2004). Over the years, teachers have witnessed many negative behaviors in the classroom, including students' lack of interest in and motivation to learning, limited discussions and interactions between students and teachers, and poor academic performance (Crosswhite, 2005; Emory, 2004; Smith, 1997). These behaviors have led teachers to seek corrective solutions (Gohlinghorst & Wessel, 2001). As one explanation of these phenomena, Hoerr (2002) contended that student learning requires the use of different approaches--traditional instruction alone does not help all students maximize their potential and interest in learning. The result sometimes is negative attitudes toward education (Governal, 1997). Perhaps the most often-used instructional technique is information delivery via lectures. It has been documented that lectures are not a perfect method because they place students in the position of being passive recipients of information and reduce their opportunity to be affective learners (Hallam & Price, 2002). Furthermore, this method does not take into account the variety of students' experiences, learning styles, and motivational needs that enable the creation of an environment that will provide every student with a rich and relaxing learning experience. Thus each year, many educators make hard choices as they seek educational improvements. Whether to invest in class-size reduction, teacher training, early childhood education, textbooks, or tests depends on their estimates of the effectiveness of these approaches (Schacter, 1999). Other researchers have focused on making alterations to class climate as a way to improve academic achievement. Some advocate listening to music during instruction as one way to ensure a relaxing experience during instruction (Braynt, Mariam, Kymberriey, & Vega, 2003; Hallam & Price, 2002). For decades, music has played an important role in daily life. As a universal language, it offers an effective approach to enhancing students' classroom learning (Huang, 2004). According to Lounsbury (1992), music may help students learn more effectively by, for example, enhancing students' self-esteem and creativity (Eady & Wilson, 2004). Using music as a teaching tool has been shown to make learning easier, faster, and more enjoyable, enabling students to be more focused and alert during lectures. It has being concluded by many researchers that music should be an essential part of education (Breeze, 2000; Brogla, 2003; Olson, 2005). …


An ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is an L-shaped orthotic device supporting the lower leg and foot. AFOs are used to remedy abnormal gait patterns, control ankle movement, and compensate for muscle weakness in patients experiencing drop foot. They are also used to treat patients with arthritis, adult acquired flatfoot deformity, and fractures. A junior biomedical engineering student was tasked to develop a custom fit AFO after she had independently gained 3D scanning and modeling experience. The following outlines the development process and pedagogical conclusions from the experience: • 3D Scanning: Utilizing a FARO Arm laser scanner, a point cloud replica of the lower leg and foot anatomy was generated. Multiple scans were manually registered and merged to create a single model, then globally registered to fine tune the anatomical data. • 3D Data Manipulation: Geomagic Studio software was used to reduce noise and outlying points while retaining the scanned detail. The Points Wrap command helped reduce the points and generate a uniform .wrap file. The Polygon Phase capabilities of Geomagic Studio were then used to repair intersections, fill holes, and refine floating data and edges. The Select by Curvature command was employed to relax the structure while retaining detail. A NURBS (NonUniform Rational B-Spline) surface was created to finalize the mesh structure and export it as an .stl file. Once the 3D mesh is generated, the number of triangles comprising the mesh must be reduced in order to lower computing lag. MeshLab software was utilized to reduce the number of triangles below 8,000. Autodesk Meshmixer allows for simple, yet detailed modification of .stl files through direct editing of a mesh geometry, a feature that is not available in SolidWorks. SolidWorks requires a subtraction command to generate the scanned structure onto a part. With Meshmixer, the AFO is produced directly from the patient's original scan without losing much detail or accuracy. After the .stl was imported, the Extrude command was used to produce depth for the 3D Printing Process. Next, the data was modified by removing excess material and utilizing smoothing and sculpting commands to produce a clean and detailed structure. • 3D Printing: The final .stl file was printed in scale for form checking in a UPrint SE machine. This lean process results in a custom-fitted AFO matching the patient's lower limb anatomy. The use of safe laser scanning technology produces data that will remain available for future reprints of the custom device in case of wear or lost equipment. The student was presented a set of Geomagic Tutorials and supplementing data after a FARO Arm demonstration. No further instructions were given. The student faced a large time commitment over several months but acquired strong background knowledge and great amount of skills in 3D Scanning, 3D Data Manipulation, and 3D Printing, along with AFO design knowledge while successfully completing the task. The student's competency and confidence also improved. After completing this project, she took an internship position with a high-tech tissue simulation/phantom company and performed successfully with the skill and knowledge gained from this project.


This paper investigates the origins of British Anglo-Saxon archaeology by focusing on the work of one early Victorian archaeologist: Richard Cornwallis Neville. The seemingly descriptive and parochial nature of Neville's archaeological pursuits, together with the attention he afforded to Romano-British remains, has impeded due recognition, and critical scrutiny, of his contributions to the development of early Medieval burial archaeology. Using his archaeological publications as source material, I will show how Neville's interpretations of Saxon graves were a form of memory work, defining his personal, familial and martial identity in relation to the landscape and locality of his aristocratic home at Audley End, near Saffron Walden, Essex. Subsequently, I argue that Neville's prehistoric and Romano-British discoveries reveal his repeated concern with the end of Roman Britain and its barbarian successors. Finally, embodied within Neville's descriptions of early Medieval graves and their location we can identify a pervasive Anglo-Saxonism. Together these strands of argument combine to reveal how, for Neville, Saxon graves constituted a hitherto unwritten first chapter of English history that could be elucidated through material culture and landscape.


This study was designed to find out how teachers and students of the public sector universities in Pakistan viewed the academic functioning of the universities in the country. For this purpose, the data was collected by administering two separate questionnaires, one each for teachers and students. 350 teachers and 700 students of seven public sector universities of Pakistan were selected as sample of the study. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed for sample selection. Subject division (science and arts) of the population was observed in the teachers' sample whereas both gender and subjects division was maintained in the students' group.

290 teachers and 568 students returned the completed questionnaires. Item-wise responses of each respondent were recorded in two separate work sheets for teachers and students. Reliability and validity of the research tools were established.

Factor Analysis was applied to the responses of both the teachers and the students. Five factors were extracted from teachers' and students' data through Principle Component Analysis technique. These factors were labeled as teaching, leadership development, research, staff development and evaluation in the teachers' whereas teaching, leadership development, research, curriculum and evaluation in the students' responses.

The frequency of the responses for each factor was worked out separately for the teachers' and the students' questionnaires through Contingency Table Analysis in SPSS. For each factor the percentage of agreed and disagreed responses were calculated both for the teachers' and the students' data.

The analysis revealed that both the teachers and the students were highly dissatisfied with the performance of the universities with particular reference to teaching and leadership development areas. The teachers indicated their high dissatisfaction whereas the students expressed their satisfaction with the facilities provided for conducting research. Both the groups expressed their satisfaction with the working of the present system of evaluation at the universities. Teachers' recorded very low-level satisfaction with the staff development programmes of the universities whereas the students expressed their moderate level satisfaction with the present university curriculum. There was no considerable difference among the science, arts, male and female groups of the respondents in both the samples.

It has been recommended that the concerned authorities should take serious notice of the unsatisfactory performance of the universities particularly in the areas of teaching and leadership development and implement concrete measures to improve the university functioning in the country, predominantly in the deficient areas.


The rapid advancement in IT communication enables the availability of demand data in a seamless manner. One manifestation of this technological advancement within the supply chain (SC) domain has been the emergence of a push-pull boundary (PPB). Push-pull boundary is a virtual demarcation point separating the portion of the SC under decentralized from that operating under centralized information sharing. However, the impact of key issues like adoption of inventory ordering policy characterized by the various echelons of a SC network structure while positioning the push-pull boundary need to be investigated comprehensively (Ahn and Kaminsky, 2005). This paper is concerned with the 'Average Fill Rate' and 'Average Total Inventory Cost' performance behaviour of a SC network structure. These performances typically results from different parameters that involves: (i) inventory ordering policy, (ii) push-pull boundary under the influence of information sharing, (iii) forecasting error, and (iv) lead time and their standard deviations. The study is accomplished via Taguchi experimental design framework and simulation analysis. The results suggest the effect of various factors on SC network system wide performance and identify the appropriate combinations of these factors for optimal performance concerned.


PURPOSE
We determined the prevalence of disc hemorrhage (DH) and the associated factors of DH in a large Korean population based on the data from the nationwide cross-sectional survey, the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES).

METHODS
We performed a retrospective review of the KNHANES dataset covering January 2012 to December 2012. A total of 5612 subjects aged 19 years and older had completed health interviews, physical examinations, and ophthalmologic assessment, including comprehensive glaucoma evaluation. Two masked graders evaluated the fundus photography to detect DH. The prevalence of DH in each subject was defined as the presence of DH in at least one eye.

RESULTS
The estimated prevalence of DH in the Korean population aged 19 years and older was 0.42% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26-0.67), which increased with age, 1.04-fold in 1 year and 1.54-fold in 10 years, according to Poisson regression analysis. The estimated prevalences of DH were 0.54% in subjects aged 30 years and older, 0.67% in those aged 40 years and older, and 0.71% in those aged 50 years and older. Glaucoma was diagnosed in 4.18% (95% CI, 3.58-4.88) of cases, and the prevalence of DH in glaucomatous subjects was 2.82% (95% CI, 1.53-5.14). In a multivariate analysis, the occurrence of DH was significantly associated with age (P < 0.001) and the presence of glaucoma (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
The prevalences of DH among Koreans are similar to the figures reported by previous population-based studies for the same age ranges. Associated factors were age and glaucoma. The presence of DH suggested the presence of glaucoma with a positive predictive value of 41.4%.


This fully updated seventh edition remains the pioneering text for practicing physicians and allied health staff confronted with the unique problems of an increasing elderly population. Dr Reichel's formative text is designed as a practical and useful guide for all health specialists. Emphasizing the clinical management of the elderly patient with simple to complex problems, this is a must-read for all practitioners who need practical and relevant information in a comprehensive format. Chapters have been updated and re-organized to reflect the clinical approach to aging, beginning with a general approach to the management of older adults, followed by a review of common geriatric syndromes, and proceeding to an organ-based review of care. The final section addresses principles of care, including care in special situations, psychosocial aspects of our aging society, and organization of care. Particular emphasis is placed on cost-effective, patient-centered care, including a discussion of the Choosing Wisely campaign.


Reber's axiom: "Any organism with flexible cell walls, a sensitivity to its surrounds and the capacity for locomotion will possess the biological foundations of mind and consciousness" does not seem to be supported by things we know and the logic of evolutionary biology. The latter leads to the conclusion that conscious species are flexible in their behavior (rather than in their cell walls), as argued in Ng (1995, 2016). Locomotion may be completely hard-wired and need not involve consciousness. It is hard enough to explain how consciousness could emerge in a sophisticated brain: Isn't it a harder problem to show or see how consciousness could emerge in a much more primitive organism, as Reber suggests? As we are unlikely to solve the hard problem of consciousness any time soon, surely a more immediate problem is to ascertain with high probability which species are capable of welfare (enjoyment and suffering).


The reduction in feed intake and growth rate that occurs following weaning is of major economic consequence to the pig industry. Currently, a range of antimicrobial products can be used to minimise the impact of weaning on piglet health and subsequent performance. However, the use of these products in pig diets is subject to increasing restriction worldwide because of perceived risks to public health and to the environment. Thus, alternative methods are required to mitigate the growth check that almost invariably occurs after weaning in most production systems.
Piglets produced outdoors are claimed to experience less of a growth check at weaning and to be able to thrive in relatively unsophisticated weaner accommodation. However, these claims have not been substantiated under Western Australian conditions, nor a scientific basis for these claims established. Consequently, a series of experiments was designed to test the general hypothesis for this thesis – 'the gut structure and function, and lifetime performance of the weaned pig are affected by its pre- and post-weaning rearing environments'.
Experiment 1 was conducted in two parts to quantify differences in the growth performance, health and gut structure of weaner pigs produced indoors or outdoors and reared in conventional or deep-litter pens. The weaner diet in the first part of the experiment contained 100 ppm of olaquindox and 3,000 ppm of zinc oxide (Exp1a). This experiment was repeated without using dietary antimicrobial products (Exp1b). Experiment 2 was conducted in conventional buildings to examine the effect of exposing piglets in lactation to similar substrates to those available to outdoor piglets used in Exp1a and Exp1b in the absence of other differences in the outdoor production milieu.
Pre-weaning environments in Exp1a (indoor production (IP) and outdoor production (OP)) appeared to have little effect on gut structure and overall growth rate but significantly affected carcass composition, whereas post-weaning environments (conventional (C) or deep-litter (DL)) affected both overall growth rate and carcass composition. Although feed disappearance was similar, OP pigs grew faster than IP pigs in the first 47 d after weaning in Exp1a but not in Exp1b. Lifetime growth rate (GR), P2 backfat, feed disappearance and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not significantly affected by the production environment in Exp1a whereas OP pigs grew slower with higher P2 backfat and FCR in Exp1b. Interestingly, OP pigs had heavier carcass weights and higher dressing percentages than IP pigs in both parts of the experiment. The effects of post-weaning environment were more consistent as DL pigs grew faster, were fatter, and had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than C pigs.
Villus height and crypt depth of IP and OP pigs were not different at 21 (weaning) or 28 d, but villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning. Pigs reared in C pens had greater faecal concentrations of volatile fatty acids than pigs in DL, indicating that the latter ingested sufficient straw to alter fermentation characteristics.
In Experiment 2, there were no differences in gut structure or pre-weaning and lifetime GR of pigs offered no creep feed (NC), a commercial creep feed (CF) or an 'outdoor' mix (OM) comprising of 1 part straw, 5 parts sow feed and 25 parts of soil taken from paddocks in which OP pigs used in Exp1a and Exp1b were farrowed. However, NC pigs grew slower in the week after weaning than the other two treatments. Backfat and feed disappearance were similar for all treatments but pigs on the OM treatment had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than pigs on the NC and CF treatments. Villus height and crypt depth were not different between treatments and, although the piglets were weaned at 28 d, villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning to an extent similar to that experienced by piglets weaned at 21 d in Experiment 1.
Although all piglets received intramuscular injections of 200 mg iron (Fe) dextran when 1 to 2 days old, piglets offered the OM during lactation had higher serum iron and blood haemoglobin (Hb) levels than those offered NC or CF. Furthermore, half the piglets offered NC or CF had Hb levels indicative of chronic Fe deficiency anaemia. The average parity of sows used in this experiment was 6.3 litters, suggesting that piglets may have been born with low Fe stores, possibly because of low Fe stores in their dams due to sub-optimal mineral nutrition over successive parities.
In summary, the findings from these experiments partly supported the general hypothesis for this thesis. Under the conditions of these experiments, access to outdoor substrates in lactation had little effect on gut structure and lifetime growth rate but increased both carcass weight and dressing percentage, whereas rearing in DL pens increased feed intake, FCR, growth rate, P2 backfat, carcass weight and dressing percentage.


JAVA is a general purpose concurrent class-based object-oriented programming language. This work presents an interactive program that interprets JAVA source programs directly. The cornerstone of its execution model is an execution graph, in which each node is constituted by three functions: a state transformer, a continuation and an exception handler.


BACKGROUND: Implementations of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems have previously been associated with either an increase or no change in hospital-wide mortality rates of inpatients. Despite widespread enthusiasm for CPOE as a tool to help transform quality and patient safety, no published studies to date have associated CPOE implementation with significant reductions in hospital-wide mortality rates. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the effect on the hospital-wide mortality rate after implementation of CPOE at an academic children's hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a cohort study with historical controls at a 303-bed, freestanding, quaternary care academic children's hospital. All nonobstetric inpatients admitted between January 1, 2001, and April 30, 2009, were included. A total of 80 063 patient discharges were evaluated before the intervention (before November 1, 2007), and 17 432 patient discharges were evaluated after the intervention (on or after November 1, 2007). On November 4, 2007, the hospital implemented locally modified functionality within a commercially sold electronic medical record to support CPOE and electronic nursing documentation. RESULTS: After CPOE implementation, the mean monthly adjusted mortality rate decreased by 20% (1.008–0.716 deaths per 100 discharges per month unadjusted [95% confidence interval: 0.8%–40%]; P = .03). With observed versus expected mortality-rate estimates, these data suggest that our CPOE implementation could have resulted in 36 fewer deaths over the 18-month postimplementation time frame. CONCLUSION: Implementation of a locally modified, commercially sold CPOE system was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the hospital-wide mortality rate at a quaternary care academic children's hospital.


Abstract Rangeland ecosystems cover approximately one-third of the land area in the United States and half of the land area of California. This large land area, coupled with the propensity of grasses to allocate a considerable proportion of their photosynthate belowground, leads to high soil carbon (C) sequestration potential. Annual grasslands typical of the Mediterranean climates of the western United States differ in their life history strategies from the well-studied perennial grasslands of other regions and thus may also differ in their soil C pools and fluxes. In this study we use the literature to explore patterns in soil C storage in annual grass-dominated rangelands in California. We show that soil C is highly predictable with depth. Cumulative soil C content increased to 2–3-m depth in rangelands with a woody component and to at least 1-m depth in open rangelands. Soil C within a given depth varied widely, with C content in the top 1-m depth spanning almost 200 Mg C · ha−1 across sites. Soil C pools were not correlated with temperature or precipitation at a regional scale. The presence of woody plants increased C by an average of 40 Mg · ha−1 in the top meter of soil. Grazed annual grasslands had similar soil C content as ungrazed grassland at all depths examined, although few details on grazing management were available. Soil C pools were weakly positively correlated with clay content and peaked at intermediated levels of aboveground net primary production. Our results suggest that annual grasslands have similar soil C storage capacity as temperate perennial grasslands and offer an important resource for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.


In complex health systems, the highest quality of care occurs when different elements of the system are joined up in a transparent way in order to meet patients' needs. In a primary-care focused system such as in the UK, the majority of care for children and young people (CYP) is provided in primary care, while most specialist expertise resides in secondary care organisations. Pathways for both acute care and long-term conditions must therefore necessarily cross institutional borders, often multiple times. This can be a source of adverse outcomes and poor patient experience.

In England, health system changes over the past 30 years have acted to fragment the system into multiple smaller institutions and strengthen barriers. The 2012 Health and Social Care Act contributed to fragmentation of the health system for children.1 Breaking down these barriers through better integration of care across the primary–secondary care interface has therefore become a key aim for the National Health Service (NHS) in England2 and the focus of much quality improvement work by paediatricians across the UK.3

There has been a dramatic take-off of interest in 'integrated care' over the past 5 years across many countries.4 Integration may be across institutional borders/barriers in the health system or across life course barriers, such as the transition from CYP health to adult health systems. There has also been growing interest in system integration, across borders/barriers between health and other systems such as social care and education.

Much has been written, including in this journal, on the benefits of integrated care.3–5 The benefits of more integrated care include the potential to improve safety, outcomes and patient experience and the potential also to reduce costs. One potential benefit of greater integration for …


To date, the written record of socially responsible librarianship chiefly concerns outreach to previously-disregarded constituencies and the relationship between library collections and the alternative press. Although librarians and activists have long shared a history, descriptions of their collaborations are scarce, and there is little to no documentation of the provision of reference and information literacy services in the context of socially responsible library work. In this article, we discuss the history of Radical Reference (RR), a collective of progressive library workers and students. We consider RR's evolution from a "street" and online reference collective to one that provides a variety of socially conscious information services. We also explore examples of RR members' forming extra-institutional bonds with activists and independent journalists.


Successful implementation of any government policy requires credible evidence in monitoring progress and in revising approaches as priorities shift with changing policy concerns. This means having sufficient national capacity to conduct policy analysis and research to fill key knowledge gaps. It also requires a demand for such research (by policy makers) to inform the national policy process and to improve the institutional architecture that supports the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the policies. The Feed the Future Nigeria Agriculture Policy Project is a project funded by the Nigeria mission of the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) to strengthen national capacity, promote and foster informed policy dialogue, and support Nigerian federal and state government efforts to improve their policy process. Underlying these objectives is the goal of the Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project to support efforts to improve the quality of agriculture and food security policy processes in terms of the institutional architecture within which these processes take place, the value of the discussions on the various policy, strategy, and program options being considered, and the degree to which objective evidence is used to guide decision making. This paper reports the results of a stakeholder survey undertaken in 2016 to serve as a baseline for the project to monitor progress in improving: 1) the quality of the agriculture and food security policy processes in Nigeria and, 2) the quality of the institutional architecture within which those processes proceed. One hundred and twenty-one stakeholders representing the government, NGOs, private sector, researchers, and donors completed a questionnaire that was designed to capture their opinions on a range of issues related to the current quality of agriculture and food security policy processes at federal and state level in Nigeria. The aggregate mean assessment score for the quality of policy process is estimated to be 1.37 at the federal level and 1.03 at the state level, and for the quality of institutional architecture is 1.4 at the federal level and 1.2 at the state level. On the scale of 0 to 3 used in this study, these scores represent stakeholder opinion on the policy process and institutional architecture to be close to 'somewhat dissatisfied.' The overall results indicate that while some elements of the policy processes and institutional architecture are in place, considerable improvements are still needed both at the federal, but especially at the state level to improve the overall quality of agricultural and food security policy processes and institutional architecture in Nigeria. There is need to ensure that Nigeria's policy process at the federal and state level, is better informed by effectively utilizing available empirical evidence and enabling the availability and accessibility of reliable sector performance data. This will in turn enable a consistent assessment of the performance of the sector and appropriate allocation of resources for policy implementation. A similar survey will be conducted in 2018 and 2020 to serve as the mid-line and end-line assessments to monitor whether and how the quality of these policy processes are improving in Nigeria.


In instances of collective violence — apartheid in South Africa, mass killings in Rwanda, and other crimes against humanity such as slavery — what response provides justice? How can justice be achieved under such a system? Legal justice through prosecution would be unjust. This opens the possibility of nonprosecution alternatives involving forgiveness. Helene Cixous's play about forgiveness as an alternative to criminal prosecution, The Perjured City: Or, the Awakening of the Furies, was written in response to an actual case of failed justice in France, known as the Bad Blood Scandal. The play provides a model of forgiveness and a forum for public catharsis. Her play addresses the legal system's failure to hold accountable several French physicians who exposed hemophiliacs to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The background of the Bad Blood Scandal is discussed in Part One of this Article. Cixous viewed the scandal as a genocide and responded by writing The Perjured City, a play that exposes the unjustness of the legal system. Part Two analyzes this play, in which the mother of dead hemophiliac children wants to avenge their deaths. The responsible doctors are hounded by the Greek Furies, who have been silently observing the legal system's injustice since they went underground to be benevolent goddesses after the trial of Orestes in Aeschylus' play The Eumenides. Cixous's play calls for the Furies' return, but her play does not depict simple revenge. Rather, her play depicts a ceremony of confession and forgiveness. Parts Three and Four of this Article summarize the goals and the theoretical debate surrounding nonprosecution alternatives such as the ceremony found in The Perjured City. Typically, nonprosecution alternatives attempt to provide therapeutic goals or restorative justice. Many theoretical questions arise when forgiveness is also sought as part of restorative justice. Should forgiveness be unconditional? Should forgiveness be sought in the public forum? Does forgiveness lead to forgiving? After considering these questions, Part Five of this Article considers an example of nonprosecution alternatives in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was a likely model for Cixous, who had written a book on Nelson Mandela. This Article concludes by arguing that while there is no simple answer to the question of what is just justice, society must remain open to nonprosecution alternatives and restorative justice, especially in the context of extraordinary crimes.


The dissertation reports results from numerical and analytical studies of convection and dynamo action in rotating fluid spheres and spherical shells. This research is motivated by the geophysical problem of the origin and properties of the Earth's magnetism. Extensive numerical simulations are performed in order to advance the understanding of the basic physical components and mechanisms believed to be responsible for the generation and the variations in time of the main geomagnetic field. Questions such as linear onset and nonlinear finite-amplitude properties of rotating convection, generation and equilibration of magnetic fields in electrically conducting fluids, nonlinear feedback effects of the generated magnetic fields on convection, spatio-temporal structures of magnetic and velocity fields, oscillations and coherent processes in turbulent regimes and other questions are studied in dependence on all basic parameters of the problem, as well as for various choices of the magnetic, thermal and velocity boundary conditions and for some secondary assumptions such as a finitely-conducting inner core and various basic temperature profiles. Because of the lack of knowledge of the properties of the Earth's core and the uncertain details of the processes that take place there, this research is necessary in order to provide the tools for extrapolation to realistic models of the geodynamo. Of particular interest are various types of oscillations of dipolar fields. In contrast to quadrupolar and hemispherical dynamos dipolar dynamos have been originally considered to be non-oscillatory. But the six different types of dipolar oscillations, among which is the "invisible" one, reported in this dissertation alter this view. Generation of magnetic fields by convection shows a strong dependence on the Prandtl number P of the fluid. But this fact has received little attention in the past. Convection-driven dynamo action at Prandtl numbers larger than unity is studied with the goal to test the validity of the magnetostrophic approximation. The latter is found to be poorly satisfied for P < 300. Dynamos in this regime require magnetic Prandtl numbers Pm which increase with P . The same trend continues to hold for values of P less then unity and this regime thus seems to be best suited to reach the goal of minimal values of Pm. For Pm = P = 0.1 a hemispherical dynamo is obtained in the case of a rotation parameter τ = 105. A further reduction of Pm leads to a decay of magnetic field irrespective of the Rayleigh numbers used. Apart from numerical simulations and parameter studies of basic physical mechanisms, the dissertation includes an analytical study of inertial convection in rotating spheres in the limit of small Prandtl numbers and large rotation rates. Explicit expressions for the dependence of the Rayleigh number on the azimuthal wavenumber and on the product of Pτ are derived and new results for the case of a nearly thermally insulating boundary are obtained. Limited comparisons with actually observed features of the geomagnetic field are also presented. An example are the torsional Alfvén waves found in the numerical simulations of this dissertation. They are geophysically relevant as a possible cause for the observed secular variation impulses of the Earth's magnetic field. Reversals of the magnetic field polarity have also been observed in our simulations. Dynamo intermittency and interaction between dipolar and quadrupolar components are preconditions for aperiodic dipolar reversals similar to those of the Earth's main field. However, the opportunities for quantitative comparisons with geophysical observations are rather limited by the complexity of the self-consistent dynamo problem and by the computational restrictions of our numerical simulations.


The internal model principle (IMP) states that perfect asymptotic rejection/tracking of persistent inputs can only be attained by replicating the signal generator in a stable feedback loop [1]. The signal generator is also called "internal model"of the inputs. W. M. Wonham summarized IMP as "Every good regulator must incorporate a model of the outside world."Based on IMP [1,2], this chapter presents the fundamental periodic controllers for providing zero steady-state error compensation for periodic signals and elaborates their general design methodology. These IMP-based periodic controllers include repetitive control (RC) [3-21], multi-resonant control (MRSC) [22-34], and discrete Fourier transformation (DFT)-based RC [26,35-36]. The general design methodology comprises a standard internal model for periodic signals and the synthesis methods for universal plug-in structure periodic control (PC) systems. The relationship among these three fundamental periodic controllers will also be demonstrated.


The author highlights Burma and recent events surrounding its nuclear program to present a case for the development of a UN technical body to investigate countries suspected of having weapons of mass destruction (WMD). International verification organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have no expertise in evaluating technologies outside their core missions, which, he writes, means no international organization can assess the technology of missile delivery systems. Using Burma as a backdrop, the author makes the case for an international technical body, which he outlines in structure, function, and scope.


Media literacy is defined as the ability to encode and decode the symbols transmitted via media and to synthesize, analyze and produce mediated messages. Media literacy raises questions about the impact of media and technology, which has the potential to increase individuals' awareness about the effects of media on daily life. The aim of media literacy is to help students become competent, critical and literate in media forms because they need to interpret what they see or hear and prevent the interpretation from controlling them. Therefore, perceptions of students about their media literacy is a topic that requires attention at various education levels. The present study aimed to identify preparatory year program students' self-perceptions about media literacy and to explore whether they benefited from mass media in learning a foreign language, English in this context. Data were collected using Media Literacy Level Determination Scale developed by Karatas (2008). Open-ended questions that aimed to reveal students' perceptions of media literacy were asked with a view to supporting the data obtained from the scale. Both data collection tools also aimed to find out the factors associated with media literacy. The findings of the study are believed to open a perspective for the stakeholders in language teaching process by providing insight into the university students' stance towards media literacy.


Recognizing emotions at better accuracy is very challenging task. Therefore, in recent time, the human-machine interaction technology has gained so much success for recognizing the emotional states depending on physiological signals. The human emotional states can be detected by using facial expressions, but sometimes the accurate results are not achieved. Therefore in proposed work, the emotions are recognized using Electroencephalogram (EEG) which work on the basis of brain signal. Here, the human emotional states data is collected using DEAP Dataset and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used as classifier. Five t ime domain features namely correlation, average, variance, kurtosis and skewness are calculated for three frequency bands theta, alpha and beta. The data for two emotional dimensions valence and arousal is taken from DEAP Dataset. The proposed work gives better recognition results for valence and arousal dimensions which are 85.60 % and 87.36 % respectively. So we get the success in achieving significant accuracy.


ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the relation among anxiety and family burden in primary first-degree relative caregivers of outpatients with mental disorders in Turkey. Data were collected with patients' primary first-degree relative caregivers via the Information Form, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Perceived Family Burden Scale (PFBS). In all, 481 caregivers (325 women and 156 men) participated in this study. Based on this study's results, primary caregivers of patients with mental disorders had a moderate level anxiety, and as anxiety increased, family burden also increased. Those results suggest that mental health nurses should plan interventions not only for patients, but also for their family member or their caregivers to decrease anxiety level.


What makes for effective civil rights legislation? This paper answers that question by exploring the obscured history of the Violence Against Women Act's (VAWA) civil rights remedy. Most scholarship on the subject focuses entirely on United States v. Morrison, the Supreme Court decision that invalidated the legislation on commerce clause grounds. This paper challenges this narrative and argues that Morrison was only one of many setbacks the civil rights remedy suffered in its short history. The civil rights remedy faced a multitude of obstacles that prevented it from achieving its goal of reducing rates of violence against women by providing a sophisticated forum for victims of gender violence to seek redress and making such violence a civil rights issue. The civil rights remedy's origins were radical and based on aspirational, but unrealistic, feminist jurisprudence. Additionally, the rhetoric surrounding the legislation largely focused on its symbolic, rather than practical, function. The few lawyers who did bring VAWA claims were not benefited by a broad-based litigation campaign because women's organizations did not lead such a charge. The lawyers then faced formidable opponents who quickly challenged the statute's constitutionality. Lastly, both the lower federal courts and the press did not bolster support for the remedy. On the fiftieth anniversary of the archetypal civil rights legislation of the twentieth century, Title VII, and the twentieth anniversary of the VAWA, this paper calls for a nuanced discussion of how civil rights legislation can be designed, and used, to provoke meaningful and effective change. Table of


"Television" refers to "seeing from afar." It describes a physical device, a cultural system, and a labor process that brings the two together and embeds them in the daily experience of half the world's population (→ Television). "Popular" signifies of, by, and for the people, offering transcendence through pleasure, but doing so by referring to the everyday (→ Popular Communication). "Culture" derives from agriculture (→ Culture: Definitions and Concepts). With the emergence of capitalism, it embodied instrumentalism and abjured it, via the industrialization of farming and the cultivation of taste...


The trends of faults and fractures in overburden next to a salt diapir are generally considered to be either parallel to the salt margin to form concentric patterns, or at right angles to the salt contact to create an overall radial distribution around the diapir. However, these simple diapir-related patterns may become more complex if regional tectonics influences the siting and growth of a diapir. Using the Sedom salt wall in the Dead Sea Fault system as our case study, we examine the influence of regional strike-slip faulting on fracture patterns around a salt diapir. This type of influence is important in general as the distribution and orientation of fractures on all scales may influence permeability and hence control fluid and hydrocarbon flow. Fractures adjacent to the N-S trending salt wall contain fibrous gypsum veins and injected clastic dykes, attesting to high fluid pressures adjacent to the diapir. Next to the western flank of the salt wall, broad (∼1000 m) zones of upturn or 'drape folds' are associated with NW-SE striking conjugate extensional fractures within the overburden. Within 300 m of the salt contact, fracture patterns in map view display a progressive ∼30°–35° clockwise rotation with more NNW-SSE strikes immediately adjacent to the salt wall. While some extensional faults display growth geometries, indicating that they were syn-depositional and initiated prior to tilting of beds associated with drape folding, other fractures display increasing dips towards the salt, suggesting that they have formed during upturn of bedding near the diapir. These observations collectively suggest that many fractures developed to accommodate rotation of beds during drape folding. Extensional fractures in the overburden define a mean strike that is ∼45° anticlockwise (counter-clockwise) of the N-S trending salt wall, and are therefore consistent with sinistral transtension along the N-S trending Sedom Fault that underlies the salt wall. Our outcrop analysis reveals fracture geometries that are related to both tilting of beds during drape folding, and regional strike-slip tectonics. The presence of faults and fractures that interact with drape folds suggests that deformation in overburden next to salt cannot be simply pigeon-holed into 'end-member' scenarios of purely brittle faulting or viscous flow.


This paper presents a review of the recent advances in damage mechanics aimed at developing a methodology for life prediction of composite structures. The discussion is organized in three areas: initiation of damage, evolution of damage and inelastic response caused by damage. A strategy for life prediction under long term loading is then discussed.


In 2015, the leaders of 193 governments promised to reduce inequality under Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without reducing inequality, meeting SDG 1 to eliminate poverty will be impossible. In 2017, Development Finance International (DFI) and Oxfam produced the first index to measure the commitment of governments to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. The index is based on a new database of indicators, now covering 157 countries, which measures government action on social spending, tax and labour rights – three areas found to be critical to reducing the gap. This second edition of the Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index finds that countries such as South Korea, Namibia and Uruguay are taking strong steps to reduce inequality. Sadly, countries such as India and Nigeria do very badly overall, as does the USA among rich countries, showing a lack of commitment to closing the inequality gap. The report recommends that all countries should develop national inequality action plans to achieve SDG 10 on reducing inequality. Explore the data with the CRI Index online data tool .


Animal production results in conversion of feeds into valuable products such as meat, milk, eggs, and wool as well as into unavoidable and less desirable waste products. Intensification of animal numbers and increasing urbanization has resulted in considerable attention to odorous gases produced from animal wastes. It is clear that animal manure was, and still is, a valuable resource. However, it may be a major obstacle to future development of the animal industry if its impact on the environment is not properly controlled. Poor odor prevention and control from animal wastes is related to a lack of knowledge of the fundamental nature of odor and its production by farm animals. Odor, like noise, is a nuisance or disturbance and there is no universally accepted definition of an objectionable odor. Thus, regulation and control of odors in the environment is difficult because of the technical difficulties of defining odor limits and their measurement and evaluation. A variety of direct (sensory) and indirect (analytical instruments) methods for measuring odor intensity and determination of individual or key odor components are discussed. The biological origins of the four principal classes of odor compounds, namely branched- and straight-chain VFA, ammonia and volatile amines, indoles and phenols, and the volatile sulfur-containing compounds, are reviewed. Because more than 50% of N from animals is excreted as urea, one strategy to conserve N in waste is to inhibit the urease enzyme that converts urea to ammonia. Laboratory studies to evaluate di- and triamide compounds to control urea hydrolysis in slurries of cattle and swine wastes are presented. Finally, a brief overview of various intervention strategies is provided. Multiple combinations of nutritional management, housing systems, treatment options as well as storage and disposal of animal wastes will be required to reduce environmental pollution and provide for long-term sustainable growth.


We estimate impacts of male job loss, female job loss, and male unemployment benefits on domestic violence in Brazil. We merge employer-employee and social welfare registers with administrative data on domestic violence cases brought to criminal courts, use of public shelters by victims and mandatory notifications of domestic violence by health providers. Leveraging mass layoffs for identification, we find that both male and female job loss, independently, lead to large and pervasive increases in domestic violence. Exploiting a discontinuity in unemployment insurance eligibility, we find that eligible men are not less likely to commit domestic violence while benefits are being paid, and more likely to commit it once benefits expire. Our findings are consistent with job loss increasing domestic violence on account of a negative income shock and an increase in exposure of victims to perpetrators, with unemployment benefits partially offsetting the income shock while reinforcing the exposure shock.


We need clever solutions that manage distributed network systems. LanStore is a highly reliable, fully decentralized storage system which can be constructed from already existing desktop machines. Our software utilizes the otherwise wasted storage capacity of these machines. Reliability is achieved with the help of a traditional erasure coding algorithm called the Reed-Solomon algorithm which generates n error correcting code items for each m data item. The distributed behavior is controlled by a votingbased quorum algorithm. These provide us with the capability of tolerating up to n simultaneously failing machines. As LanStore is intended to be used in LAN environments, instead of employing an overlay multicast solution we used an IP level multicast service. To use the bandwidth effectively, we designed a special UDPbased multicast flow control protocol. Our solution supports both IPv4 and IPv6. For the implementation platform we chose the Windows family and the .NET framework as they are the most popular platforms in offices and university departments. So far we have implemented a prototype version of this solution. We measured its performance and the results indicate that this solution can provide a throughput comparable to the currently used network file systems, its performance depending on the selected error correcting capability, the number of failing machines and the performance of the client machine. In special cases like video-on-demand with a high client number our solution can outperform the traditional single server solutions.


The Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) impacts a wide range of weather and climate phenomena. Current global coupled ocean‐atmospheric general circulation models exhibit considerable shortcomings in representing and predicting the MJO, specifically its initiation, due to a lack of in situ observations. Here we show, for the first time, that the MJO propagation can be detected from the newly launched NASA Aquarius Salinity mission. The magnitude and extent of sea surface salinity (SSS) variations during the MJO is established, providing a useful tool for data assimilation into models to correctly represent both oceanic and atmospheric processes during intraseasonal variations. Salinity observation allows for atmospheric conditions to be inferred from freshwater flux, on which surface salinity is highly dependent. Increased observations of global SSS from the Aquarius mission will be particularly valuable in remote regions of the tropics and will increase our dynamical understanding and advance prediction of the MJO through model improvement.


Exposure to oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may have lasting impacts on preservation of historic shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. Submerged steel structures, including shipwrecks, serve as artificial reefs and become hotspots of biodiversity in the deep-sea. Marine biofilms on submerged structures support settlement of micro- and macrobiota and may enhance and protect against corrosion. Disruptions in the local environment, including oil spills, may impact the role that biofilms play in reef preservation. To determine how the Deepwater Horizon spill potentially impacted shipwreck biofilms and the functional roles of the biofilm microbiome, experiments containing carbon steels disks (CSDs) were placed at five historic shipwreck sites located within, and external to the benthic footprint of the Deepwater Horizon spill. The CSDs were incubated for 16 weeks to enable colonization by biofilm-forming microorganisms and to provide time for in situ corrosion to occur. Biofilms from the CSDs, as well as sediment and water microbiomes, were collected and analyzed by 16S rRNA amplicon gene sequencing to describe community composition and determine the source of taxa colonizing biofilms. Biofilm metagenomes were sequenced to compare differential gene abundances at spill-impacted and reference sites. Biofilms were dominated by Zeta-, Alpha-, Epsilon and Gammaproteobacteria. Sequences affiliated with the Mariprofundus and Sulfurimonas genera were prolific, and Roseobacter, and Colwellia genera were also abundant. Analysis of 16S rRNA sequences from sediment, water, and biofilms revealed sediment to be the main known source of taxa to biofilms at impacted sites. Differential gene abundance analysis revealed the two-component response regulator CreC, a gene involved in environmental stress response, to be elevated at reference sites compared to impacted sites within the spill plume fallout area on the seafloor. Genes for chemotaxis, motility, and alcohol dehydrogenases were differentially abundant at reference vs. impacted sites. Metal loss on CSDs was elevated at sites within the spill fallout plume. Time series images reveal that metal loss at a heavily impacted site, the German Submarine U-166, has accelerated since the spill in 2010. This study provides evidence that spill residues on the seafloor may impact biofilm communities and the preservation of historic steel shipwrecks.


The communitarian conception of dispute-bargaining now popular with legal academics presupposes a world in which people are always at their best. Clients and lawyers share information about themselves and their situations candidly and honestly, construct agreements from the perspective of their common interests and resolve differences according to objectively derived and jointly agreed upon substantive standards. This is supposed to take the hard edge off their disputing and make it less antagonistic, less competitive, less deceptive, less manipulative and less mean-spirited than it otherwise might be. This is a wonderfully inspiring view and it would be a source of great comfort in an unfriendly and fractious world if it was true. But sadly, the assumptions communitarian bargaining theory makes about legal disputing are too idealized to serve as a guide to real-life bargaining most of the time and its tacit foundational dogma, that bargaining distributions are natural, self-evident and complementary, is based on a vision of humans before the fall. There is room for communitarian maneuvering in legal bargaining, of course. Bargaining is a complex social phenomenon in which the need to trust co-exists with the need to deceive, influence and trade, but an exclusively, relentlessly, or unqualifiedly communitarian approach to bargaining is another name for eleemosynary behavior and lawyers usually want to make deals rather than gifts. I illustrate the limits of communitarian bargaining theory by analyzing the behavior of a set of lawyers conducting a pre-trial settlement conference in a hypothetical employment discrimination lawsuit. I use a story about legal bargaining as a basis for my argument, not because of any strong belief in the efficacy of story-telling as an empirical method, but because a story situates one in the world of actual bargaining, face-to-face with the tactical and strategic decisions lawyers and clients must make and the consequences attached to making those decisions in different ways. From this vantage point, it will be apparent that most of the time lawyers and clients will be better off pursuing individual rather than communal ends and that they are more likely to do this successfully if they are secretive as well as open, argumentative as well as accommodating, suspicious as well as trusting, stubborn as well as flexible and combative as well as cordial. From the perspective of a skillful bargainer, the frequently self-defeating properties of a communitarian approach will be difficult to miss.


This paper presents a novel interaction technique for tabletop computer displays. When using a direct input device such as a stylus, reaching objects on the far side of a table is difficult. While remote pointing has been investigated for large wall displays, there has been no similar research into reaching distant objects on tabletop displays. Augmenting a stylus to allow remote pointing may facilitate this process. We conducted two user studies to evaluate remote pointing on tabletop displays. Results from our work demonstrate that remote pointing is faster than stylus touch input for large targets, slower for small distant targets, and comparable in all other cases. In addition, when given a choice, people utilized the pointing interaction technique more often than stylus touch. Based on these results we developed the TractorBeam, a hybrid point-touch input technique that allows users to seamlessly reach distant objects on tabletop displays.


The quality
 education is an indispensable and inevitable agent for change as
 education is a process of civilization and development. The issue of
 deterioration of quality in education in Pakistan, especially
 decline in quality of secondary education was the slogan of the day.
 The major purpose of the research was to compare the quality of
 education in public and private schools of Punjab. All the secondary
 schools, their heads, secondary school teachers and students of 10th
 class of public and private sector of the Punjab constituted
 population of the study. Punjab is generally distributed in three
 different stratus, which are North Punjab, Central Punjab, and South
 Punjab.Due to limited time and resources, the study was delimited to
 the nine districts of Punjab namely Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Attock,
 Lahore, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Mianwali and
 Sargodha. Two hundred and sixteen secondary schools (twenty-four
 secondary schools from each sample district) were randomly selected.
 The proportion of public sector schools and private sector schools,
 boys and girls schools was equal. All the heads of selected 24
 secondary schools of public and private sector from each district
 (the proportion of public sector schools and private sector schools,
 boys and girls schools was equal i.e. fifty fifty) were included in
 sample. One thousand and eighty teachers (one hundred and twenty
 from each sample district) constituted the sample of the study. The
 proportion of the public and private, male and female teachers was
 fifty fifty. Four thousand, three hundred and twenty students
 studying in 10th class in public and private high schools of already
 sampled district of Punjab were randomly selected as the sample of
 the study. The proportion of public and private and male and female
 students was fifty fifty. Three questionnaires, one each for heads,
 secondary school teachers and students, prepared and validated
 through pilot-testing, were used as the research instruments of the
 study. The researcher visited the target areas personally,
 distributed the questionnaires himself, and got filled
 questionnaires back from respondents. The data obtained was
 tabulated and analyzed by using simple percentage and two way chi
 square tests. Main conclusions of the study were: that private
 sector schools had actually less number of students and teachers at
 secondary level as compared to public sector schools. The results of
 10th class students in boards examinations of private schools were
 better than government schools. While with respect to ownership of
 building, almost 98% public sector schools had their own buildings
 and majority of private schools was running in rented buildings. In
 public sector schools student-teacher ratio was higher than private
 schools. Heads of private sector secondary schools were better than
 heads of public sector secondary schools regarding involvement of
 subordinate staff in decision making, keeping themselves as a part
 of team while leading them and carrying out the well- organized
 tasks. But the heads of public sector secondary schools were more
 qualified academically as well as professionally, having more
 administrative experience as compared to private sector secondary
 schools heads. Teachers of public secondary schools were more
 qualified academically as well as professionally having command over
 teaching methodology as compared to the teachers of private
 secondary schools. In public schools, in service training was
 provided to teachers and their selection was done on merit. They had
 also job security and their pay structure was well. In contrast,
 private sector was lacking these factors.Behaviour of teachers of
 private schools was motivating and they encouraged questioning and
 enhanced creativity among students, whereas public schools were
 lacking these factors.Availability of A.V. aids was excessive in
 public secondary schools as compared to private secondary schools
 but their use was more in private public secondary schools. Position
 of physical facilities was better in public secondary schools than
 in private secondary schools with respect to buildings, libraries,
 play grounds, furniture. While position of private sector secondary
 schools was better in availability of computer labs and gas.
 Respondents of both the systems were of the view that curriculum of
 both type of systems was not up-to-date, fulfilling emerging needs
 of neither society nor it was being revised regularly.
 The major recommendations are: more schools be established in public
 sector. School mapping be kept in mind before establishing new
 schools. The heads and teachers of school should take such necessary
 actions which may help to raise academic standard of their school.
 The heads of public schools should take seriously the problem of
 their low pass percentage. Teachers of public schools may be held
 accountable on showing poor result in examination. They must be
 given incentives for showing good results. Teachers of both systems
 be given opportunities to get training in order to improve their
 teaching skills.Libraries of public and private schools be kept
 well-maintained and all necessary treasure of books be present in
 them and students and teachers should be allowed to get benefit from
 library. Teachers should make more use of A.V. aids to make teaching
 process more effective.


Certain cells of the periodontium are necessary for the regeneration of tissues that are destroyed as a result of periodontal disease. There has been debate regarding which cells are the primary participants in periodontal regeneration. It is a well-known fact that osteoblasts are essential in new bone formation, but controversy surrounds the role that gingival fibroblasts may play in the regeneration of the hard tissues of the periodontium. If gingival fibroblasts could contribute to the regeneration of these tissues, they might provide an additional source of progenitor cells. The bone morphogenetic proteins are potent stimulators of cell differentiation and have been shown to induce new bone formation in many experimental models. This project investigated the ability of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) to (1) enhance the production of markers of osteoblastlike cells (osteocalcin and mineralization in culture) in human osteosarcoma cells (MG63) and to (2) induce the expression of an osteoblast phenotype in cultured human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs). MG63 cells and pooled HGFs were exposed to varying concentrations of rhBMP-2 for 24, 48, and 72 hours after 9 days in culture, and osteocalcin levels were measured by enzyme immunosorbent assay in the cell supernatants. In addition, the cells were exposed to rhBMP-2 for 72 hours after 18 days in culture, and mineralization was determined by the Von Kossa stain. The rhBMP-2 had an inhibitory effect on both osteocalcin production and mineralization (p < 0.05) in MG63 cells compared with untreated controls. In addition, increasing doses of rhBMP-2 inhibited both osteocalcin and mineralization in HGF cells. These results suggest that HGFs can express an osteoblastic phenotype when exposed to rhBMP-2; however, rhBMP-2 has inhibitory effects at higher rhBMP-2 doses in both cell types and may, in fact, be inhibitory to MG63 cells.


Algorithmic model building in artificial intelligence provides a contemporary method for explaining certain kinds of human behavior. The paranoid mode of thought and action represents a kind of pathological behavior that has been well recognized for over twenty centuries. This article describes a computer simulation model embodying a theory that attempts to explain the paranoid mode of behavior in terms of strategies for minimizing and forestalling shame-induced distress. The model consists of two parts, a parsing module and an interpretation-action module. To bring the model into contact with the conditions of a psychiatric diagnostic interview, the parsing module attempts to understand the interview input of clinicians communicating in unrestricted natural language. The meaning of the input is passed to an interpretation-action module made up of data structures and production rules that size up the current state of the interview and decide which (linguistic) actions to perform in order to fulfill the model's intentions. This module consists of an object system which deals with interview situations and a metasystem which evaluates how well the object system is performing to attain its ends. The fidelity of the simulation has been tested using Turing-like indistinguishability tests in which clinical judges attempt to distinguish the paranoid model-patient from an actual paranoid patient. Since clinicians are unable to make the relevant distinctions, the simulation is considered successful at the input-output level of functional equivalence. Issues of underlying structural equivalence and the nature of generative pattern explanations are discussed in the light of the model's potential value in guiding clinicial decisions and intervention strategies in paranoid disorders.


This dissertation explores the cultural production of homoeopathy as a 'vernacular science' in Bengal between 1866 and 1941. In mapping homoeopathy's vernacularisation, it studies the disparate ways in which the historical understanding of 'homoeopathy' and 'family' in late nineteenth- early twentieth century Bengal informed one another. It builds upon the historical literature published on homoeopathy and family in colonial Bengal in studying the myriad registers in which the two categories intersected. The first Bengal based private family firm investing in homoeopathic publications and in the importation and sale of homoeopathic drugs was established in 1866. In 1941 under the imperatives of the nationalist Congress Party, homoeopathy was formally recognised as 'scientific medicine' by the colonial state and a State Faculty of Homoeopathy was established. This dissertation looks at the interactions and conversations between North Calcutta based familial homoeopathic firms, sporadically dispersed mofussil actors, the British colonial state and the emergent nationalist governments to explore the ways in which homoeopathy was domesticated as a specific worldview, an ethic, a vision and regimen of looking at and leading life in Bengal in the period under study. Imbued with potent nationalist sensibilities and invested with deep religio-cultural resonances, homoeopathy managed to inhabit the liminal space between being a European science and an indigenous quotidian life practice. By examining such ambiguities inherent in Bengali homoeopathy this dissertation draws upon and speaks to the histories of nationalist imaginings, colonial modernities and governmentality. In so doing, it elaborates on the centrality and recurrence of the category 'family' in the history of homoeopathy by studying cultures of business practices, of biographising, processes of translations, indigenisation, and quotidian health managements.


Lord Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth I's lover, and Sir William Cecil, her chief political adviser, were the most powerful men in the country. As their rivalry intensified, they competed by creating ever more fabulous gardens for their queen. Dudley's aim was to woo her; Cecil's, to stop Dudley in his tracks. Dudley set out an intoxicatingly romantic garden, and threw spectacular outdoor parties for his queen; Cecil countered by building a sumptuous palace with amazing gardens overseen by the most famous gardener in the country, John Gerard. This is the beguiling story of a lifelong duel. For Elizabeth, these gardens were places for love and intrigue, power play and spectacular design.


Discrimination (for instance, along the lines of race or gender) is often prohibited in auctions. This is legally enforced by preventing the seller from explicitly biasing the rules in favor of bidders from certain groups (for example, by subsidizing their bids). In this paper, we study the efficacy of this policy in the context of a single object: independent private value setting with heterogeneous bidders. We show that restricting the seller to using an anonymous, sealed bid auction format (or, simply, a symmetric auction) imposes virtually no restriction on her ability to discriminate. Our results highlight that the discrepancy between the superficial impartiality of the auction rules and the resulting fairness of the outcome can be extreme.


So far legislative harmonisation of the copyright laws of EU Member States has left general subject-matter categorisation untouched. Yet recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) suggests that under EU law copyright protection should arise any time a work is its author's own intellectual creation. This questions the compatibility of enumerated systems like the UK one with EU law.After recalling that EU legislation does not provide a general definition of 'work', this contribution reviews a number of CJEU decisions and concludes that: first, the Court has de facto harmonised the notion of 'work' under Directive 2001/29/EC (the 'InfoSoc Directive'); secondly, in relevant instances this piece of EU legislation is bound to displace ad hoc directives, like Directive 98/71/EC (the 'Design Directive') and Directive 2009/24/EC (the 'Software Directive'); thirdly, automatic protection under the InfoSoc Directive means – among other things – that this might have stronger harmonisation effects than what has been understood so far. The latter appears confirmed by the Court's increasing reliance on the internal market objective, and diminished tolerance for diverging approaches at the national level in areas affected by the InfoSoc Directive. The article then reviews UK position in relation to subject-matter categorisation and the different legal treatment of the various categories of works. It discusses recent judicial dicta that may pave the way to a new approach to subject-matter categorisation in this Member State, possibly following a specific reference for a preliminary ruling that would ask the CJEU to clarify – once and for all – whether closed systems of copyright-protected works are (still) compatible with EU law.


Emotional events are often better preserved in memory than events without an emotional component. Emotional stimuli benefit from capturing and holding the attention of a perceiver to a higher degree than more emotion-neutral stimuli. Arousal associated with experiencing emotionally valenced stimuli or situations affects every major stage in creating, maintaining and retrieving lasting memories. Presented in this thesis were models delineating the behavioral and neurological mechanisms that might explain arousal-induced effects on subsequent memory outcome. Based on a study of relevant literature, findings were presented in this thesis that highlight amygdala activation as crucial for the enhancement of memory generally associated with emotional arousal. The amygdala modulates processing in other areas of the brain involved in memory. Heightened levels of norepinephrine, stemming from sympathetic nervous system activation, underlies observable arousal-induced memory effects and seem to be a crucial component in enabling glucocorticoid augmentation of memory. Arousal seems to further amplify the biased competition between stimuli that favors the neural representation of motivationally relevant stimuli and stimuli of a sensory salient nature. The aim of this thesis was to outline the impact of emotional arousal on different stages of memory processing, including processes for memory formation, strengthening of memory traces, and eventual subsequent retrieval.


Asia's energy security is usually defined in terms of oil-supply security, given the region's growing demand for oil, its flattening oil production, and its overdependence on regions such as the Middle East. Oil-supply security can be attained through long-term and short-term policy measures. Long-term measures include diversification of oil import sources, investment in alternative energy sources and technologies, and cooperation between oil producers and consumers. Short-term measures include information sharing, standby oil production, and drawdowns of emergency oil stockpiles. This study analyses the merits and demerits of oil stockpiling, which is regarded as an insurance against damage caused by any disruptions in oil supply. It also proposes a regional cooperation mechanism for oil stockpiling among ASEAN member states, Japan, and the Republic of Korea by ticketing and bilateral oil stockpiling mechanism based on market principles.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Noninvasive activity markers are extremely important in conditions, such as pregnancy, when endoscopy is not recommended. The aim of this prospective study was to determine fecal calprotectin (FC) concentrations in healthy non-pregnant and pregnant women and in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Healthy pregnant and non-pregnant women and patients with active and inactive IBD were prospectively enrolled in this study. Demographic and clinical parameters and clinical disease activity scores in patients with IBD were recorded. Blood and stool samples of every patient were obtained to determine C-reactive protein and FC levels. FC levels were measured with a quantitative lateral flow assay.

RESULTS
One hundred and thirty-five subjects were enrolled in the study (24 non-pregnant and 48 pregnant healthy women, 40 non-pregnant patients with active IBD and 23 non-pregnant patients with inactive IBD). FC was significantly higher in active IBD patients than in pregnant (p<0.001) and non-pregnant healthy women (p<0.001). No difference could be detected in FC concentrations between pregnant and non-pregnant healthy women.

CONCLUSION
Since FC levels remained unchanged during pregnancy, it may be a useful noninvasive diagnostic tool in pregnancy for monitoring mucosal inflammation.


Fluoride, which is commonly found in drinking water and nutrients, threatens the environment and human life. Fluoride damages cells by causing free radical formation and affects male reproductive function by preventing spermatogenesis, changing the activity of spermatogenetic enzymes, and consequently leading to reduced reproductive capacity. A sufficient amount of antioxidants should be consumed in order to prevent oxidative stress of free radicals and minimize their effect. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant owing to its strong reductant activity. In this study, we treated TM4 Sertoli cells with different doses of fluoride (4 ppm and 20 ppm) for different time periods (24 hours and 48 hours) and additionally with vitamin C (50 μM), and then analyzed the activity of enzymes involved in antioxidant and steroidogenic systems. According to our results, fluoride inhibits testosterone biosynthesis by reducing the activities of 3β-HSD and 17β-HSD enzymes, which have roles in testosterone synthesis in TM4 Sertoli cells, and vitamin C has a protective role against the damage of fluoride. Fluoride was found to cause oxidative damage in TM4 Sertoli cells by reducing the amount and activities of glutathione and antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx, GST, γ-GT), which function in the antioxidant system. A combination of fluoride and vitamin C was found to be protective against the damage by ROS and to cause an increase in the activities of enzymes in the intracellular antioxidant system. In conclusion, fluoride may result in harmful effects in TM4 Sertoli cells and vitamin C can be protective against these effects.


Excerpt] Fear of risking benefits is a major factor that keeps many individuals with disabilities from joining the workforce. When people with disabilities decide to seek employment, one of their key concerns is how employment will impact their Social Security and housing benefits. They feel certain that they will lose their benefits, including the public health insurance that so many rely on for themselves and their families. Benefit regulations can be complex and confusing. However, in many cases there are misunderstandings concerning the impact that employment will have on an individual's benefits. Many benefit policies allow for gradual transition into employment and provide "safety net" features in case the job does not work out. Work Incentive programs allow people to "set aside" or exclude certain expenses from earned employment income, resulting in less reduction of their cash benefits.


In this study, the designed dual stage membrane bioreactor (MBR) system was conceptualized for the treatment of cyanide and heavy metals in electroplating wastewater. The design consisted of a primary treatment stage to reduce the impact of fluctuations and the secondary treatment stage to remove the residual cyanide and heavy metal contaminants in the wastewater under alkaline pH conditions. The primary treatment stage contained hydrolyzed Citrus sinensis (C. sinensis) pomace and the secondary treatment stage contained active Aspergillus awamori (A. awamori) biomass, supplemented solely with C. sinensis pomace extract from the hydrolysis process. An average of 76.37%, 95.37%, 93.26 and 94.76% and 99.55%, 99.91%, 99.92% and 99.92% degradation efficiency for total cyanide (T-CN), including the sorption of nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) were observed after the first and second treatment stages, respectively. Furthermore, cyanide conversion by-products degradation was 99.81% and 99.75 for both formate (CHOO) and ammonium (NH4 ) after the second treatment stage. After the first, second and third regeneration cycles of the C. sinensis pomace in the first treatment stage, Ni, Zn and Cu removal achieved was 99.13%, 99.12% and 99.04% (first regeneration cycle), 98.94%, 98.92% and 98.41% (second regeneration cycle) and 98.46 %, 98.44% and 97.91% (third regeneration cycle), respectively. There was relatively insignificant standard deviation detected in all the measured parameters in the system which indicated reproducibility of the remediation efficiency in this continuous system. Keywords—Aspergillus awamori, Citrus sinensis pomace, electroplating wastewater remediation, membrane bioreactor.


The TDOA-based acoustic source localization approach is a powerful and widely-used method which can be applied for one source in several dimensions or several sources in one dimension. However the localization turns out to be more challenging when multiple sound sources should be localized in multiple dimensions, due to a spatial ambiguity phenomenon which requires to perform an intermediate step after the TDOA estimation and before the calculation of the geometrical source positions. In order to obtain the required set of TDOA estimates for the multidimensional localization of multiple sound sources, we apply a recently presented TDOA estimation method based on blind adaptive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) system identification. We demonstrate that this localization method also provides valuable side information which allows us to resolve the spatial ambiguity without any prior knowledge about the source positions. Furthermore we show that the blind adaptive MIMO system identification allows a high spatial resolution. Experimental results for the localization of two sources in a two-dimensional plane show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme


It is difficult to quantify the degree to which terrestrial evaporation supports the occurrence of precipitation within a certain study region (i.e. regional moisture recycling) due to the scale- and shape-dependence of regional moisture recycling ratios. In this paper we present a novel approach to quantify the spatial and temporal scale of moisture recycling, independent of the size and shape of the region under study. In contrast to previous studies, which essentially used curve fitting, the scaling laws presented by us follow directly from the process equation. thus allowing a fair comparison between regions and seasons. The calculation is based on ERA-Interim reanalysis data for the period 1999 to 2008. It is shown that in the tropics or in mountainous terrain the length scale of recycling can be as low as 500 to 2000 km. In temperate climates the length scale is typically between 3000 to 5000 km whereas it amounts to more than 7000 km in desert areas. The time scale of recycling ranges from 3 to 20 days, with the exception of deserts, where it is much longer. The most distinct seasonal differences can be observed over the Northern Hemisphere: in winter, moisture recycling is insignificant, whereas in summer it plays a major role in the climate. The length and time scales of atmospheric moisture recycling can be useful metrics to quantify local climatic effects of land use change.


This paper aimed to develop and evaluate an environment-aware locomotion mode recognition system for volitional control of powered artificial legs. A portable terrain recognition (TR) module, consisting of an inertia measurement unit and a laser distance meter, was built to identify the type of terrain in front of the wearer while walking. A decision tree was used to classify the terrain types and provide either coarse or refined information about the walking environment. Then, the obtained environmental information was modeled as a priori probability and was integrated with a neuromuscular-mechanical-fusion-based locomotion mode (LM) recognition system. The designed TR module and environmental-aware LM recognition system was evaluated separately on able-bodied subjects and a transfemoral amputee online. The results showed that the TR module provided high quality environmental information: TR accuracy is above 98% and terrain transitions are detected over 500 ms before the time required to switch the prosthesis control mode. This enabled smooth locomotion mode transitions for the wearers. The obtained environmental information further improved the performance of LM recognition system, regardless of whether coarse or refined information was used. In addition, the environment-aware LM recognition system produced reliable online performance when the TR output was relatively noisy, which indicated the potential of this system to operate in unconstructed environment. This paper demonstrated that environmental information should be considered for operating wearable lower limb robotic devices, such as prosthetics and orthotics.


The objective of this study was to compare the sensory profile and the chemical composition of four samples of Opuntia joconostle cultivated in Sahagun and Cuautepec, Hidalgo (Mexico). A group of ten trained panelists built the flavor profile of the samples according to ISO 13299:2003. The chemical composition was determined according to AOAC. The differences observed between sensory profiles and chemical composition of the four O. joconostle studied were significant even though all fruits belonged to the same specie and variety. The maturity stage, the chemical composition of soil and the geographic region could have influence on the results.


We have calculated transfer functions for frequency and intensity fluctuations in an injection-locked solid-state laser. At modulation frequencies well below the locking frequency we find significant frequency-noise reduction, and at modulation frequencies above the locking frequency we find that the frequency noise is that of the free-running slave laser. Our intensity-noise theory predicts substantial damping of relaxation oscillations in the slave laser. To verify these results we have measured the frequency and intensity noise of a 5-W, injection-locked Nd:YAG laser.


The Report of the Robens Committee (1972), the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations (1977) provide the framework within which this study of certain aspects of health and safety is carried out. The philosophy of self-regulation is considered and its development is set within an historical and an industrial relations perspective. The research uses a case study approach to examine the effectiveness of self-regulation in health and safety in a public sector organisation. Within this approach, methodological triangulation employs the techniques of interviews, questionnaires, observation and documentary analysis. The work is based in four departments of a Scottish Local Authority and particular attention is given to three of the main 'agents' of self-regulation - safety representatives, supervisors and safety committees and their interactions, strategies and effectiveness. A behavioural approach is taken in considering the attitudes, values, motives and interactions of safety representatives and management. Major internal and external factors, which interact and which influence the effectiveness of joint self-regulation of health and safety, are identified. It is emphasised that an organisation cannot be studied without consideration of the context within which it operates both locally and in the wider environment. One of these factors, organisational structure, is described as bureaucratic and the model of a Representative Bureaucracy described by Gouldner (1954) is compared with findings from the present study. An attempt is made to ascertain how closely the Local Authority fits Gouldner's model. This research contributes both to knowledge and to theory in the subject area by providing an in-depth study of self-regulation in a public sector organisation, which when compared with such studies as those of Beaumont (1980, 1981, 1982) highlights some of the differences between the public and private sectors. Both empirical data and hypothetical models are used to provide description and explanation of the operation of the health and safety system in the Local Authority. As data were collected during a dynamic period in economic, political and social terms, the research discusses some of the effects of the current economic recession upon safety organisation.