Regionalism has been conceptualised as a development strategy for integrating developing countries into the global economy, and there has been an increase in the number of North-South regional trade agreements (RTAs) being negotiated among WTO Members. Notified under Article XXIV GATT 1994, members of North-South RTAs must liberalize substantially all trade on a reciprocal basis, within a reasonable period of time, irrespective of their development status. Challenging the assumptions on which North-South regionalism rests, this article submits that Article XXIV has created a regulatory framework that sustains a monocultural conception of development which is synonymous with economic growth. Rejecting the economic model, this article argues that development should be understood as a multidimensional process, with an emphasis on equality of opportunities for all countries. Through a deconstruction of the textual interpretation of Article XXIV, and by analysing the practical application of this provision in the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements, the gradual erosion of development from the process of trade liberalisation will be revealed. This article argues that the 'rationalizing spell' of legal formalism must be broken in order to reinterpret the legal framework, so that a concept of development, grounded in equality, is facilitated by the multilateral trading system.


For centuries, the planet Mars has captivated astronomers and inspired writers of all genres. Whether imagined as the symbol of the bloody god of war, the cradle of an alien species, or a possible new home for human civilization, our closest planetary neighbor has played a central role in how we think about ourselves in the universe. From Galileo to Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Crossley traces the history of our fascination with the red planet as it has evolved in literature both fictional and scientific. Crossley focuses specifically on the interplay between scientific discovery and literary invention, exploring how writers throughout the ages have tried to assimilate or resist new planetary knowledge. Covering texts from the 1600s to the present, from the obscure to the classic, Crossley shows how writing about Mars has reflected the desires and social controversies of each era. This astute and elegant study is perfect for science fiction fans and readers of popular science.


While decellularized adipose tissue (DAT) has potential as an "off‐the‐shelf" biomaterial product for regenerative medicine, it remains to be determined if donor‐source body mass index (BMI) impacts the functionality of DAT. This study set out to comparatively characterize lean versus overweight/obese‐donor derived DAT hydrogel based on proteome and to analyze their respective effects on adipose stromal/stem cell (ASC) viability, and differentiation in vitro. Decellularized adipose tissue from lean (lDAT) and overweight/obese (oDAT) donors is produced and characterized. Variability in the fibril microstructures is found, with dense fibrotic fiber clusters and large pore area uniquely present in the oDAT samples. Proteomic analysis reveals that lDAT contains a greater proportion of enriched extracellular proteins and a smaller proportion of enriched intracellular proteins relative to oDAT. Biocompatibility studies show that ASCs cultured in lDAT and oDAT hydrogels remain viable. The adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation capability of ASCs seeded in lDAT and oDAT hydrogels is confirmed by an upregulation in marker gene expression and phenotypic analysis. In conclusion, this study establishes that DAT hydrogels derived from lean and overweight/obese adipose donors present similar physicochemical profiles with some distinctive features while comparably supporting the viability and adipogenic differentiation of ASCs in vitro.


'Work Discussion brings together a combination of close observation of, and personal and interpersonal responses to, the minutiae of the work setting and its dynamics, both internal and external. Such a model depends on the development of hard-won capacities, and the descriptions offered here, both by students and by experienced staff, fully demonstrate the immense relevance of the approach, both to training and to a wide variety of work situations. The book first outlines the process of the method itself, followed by descriptions of a range of settings, both in Britain and abroad, in which that method has been successfully applied. The contributors draw on experiences across age, culture, and race in, for example, schools, hospitals, residential homes, in a prison, and in a refugee community. The final chapter explores the implications of work discussion for research and policy-making more generally. Many of the situations narrated here are extreme, whether in terms of disturbance or of vulnerability, but these pages offer often moving insights into how effective the method can be and how truly impressive a developmental model it provides.'
- Margot Waddell, from the Series Editor's Preface


Biotransformation is the chemical modification/alteration of chemical compounds like amino acids, toxins, xenobiotic and drugs brought by an enzyme or an enzyme system of an organism to produce bioactive molecules were selected. Biotransformation of Diclofenac, Paracetamol and Aspirin (1% w/v) concentration of each by Basidiomycetes,Gleophyllum sp Brown rot fungi and Agaricus sp White rot fungi were studied. The said drugs are the most commonly used by human and have adverse effect on ecosystem when excreted. Post biotransformation metabolites of drugs were checked by TLC and HPLC. From the results of TLC and HPLC the metabolites of Paracetamol matched with Hydroquinone and Glutathione disulphide, metabolites of Diclofenac found to be 4-hydroxy diclofenac and unknown D2 and for Aspirin metabolites matches with Gentisic acid and unknown A2.Thus, Fungal biotransformation of the above mentioned drugs to less /nontoxic metabolite is an ecofriendly approach.


Continuous online adaptation is an essential ability for the vision of fully autonomous and lifelong-learning robots. Robots need to be able to adapt to changing environments and constraints while this adaption should be performed without interrupting the robot's motion. In this paper, we introduce a framework for probabilistic online motion planning and learning based on a bio-inspired stochastic recurrent neural network. Furthermore, we show that the model can adapt online and sample-efficiently using intrinsic motivation signals and a mental replay strategy. This fast adaptation behavior allows the robot to learn from only a small number of physical interactions and is a promising feature for reusing the model in different environments. We evaluate the online planning with a realistic dynamic simulation of the KUKA LWR robotic arm. The efficient online adaptation is shown in simulation by learning an unknown workspace constraint using mental replay and cognitive dissonance as intrinsic motivation signal.


INTRODUCTION
Secondhand smoke (SHS) is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It is responsible for an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually in never-smokers in the US. It also accounts for over 35,000 deaths annually from coronary heart disease in never-smokers. It increases the number and severity of asthmatic attacks in over 300,000 asthmatic children each year, and is associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and middle ear infections, in addition to other illnesses in children. The purpose of this study was to examine indoor air quality in a sample of hospitality venues in Paducah, Kentucky. The relation between indoor air pollution and the presence of on premises smoking was assessed.

METHODS
A Personal Aerosol Monitor was used to sample and record the levels of respirable suspended particles in the air. The SidePak uses a built-in sampling pump that draws air through the device and the particulate matter in the air scatters the light from a laser. Based on this light scattering, the device determines to assess the real-time concentration of particles smaller than 2.5 microm in micrograms per cubic meter, or PM2.5.

RESULTS
The average PM2.5 concentration in the eleven locations sampled in Paducah, Kentucky, was 177 microg/m3. The average fine particle pollution level in the non-smoking sections tested was 87 microg/m3, which is 29 times higher than the average fine particle pollution level in smoke-free air or 6 times higher than outdoor air in Paducah. The average PM2.5 level across all nine smoking-permitted hospitality locations sampled in Paducah was 200 microg/m3. For a full-time employee in the venues sampled in this study, the average annual PM2.5 exposure would be 46 microg/m3 (assuming exposure to 200 microg/m3 on the job, exposure to zero particles off the job, and a 40-hour work week). The EPA average annual PM2.5 limit is exceeded by 3.1 times due solely to occupational exposure. Of the ten locations visited that permit indoor smoking, the air monitoring was done in the non-smoking section of six of them. These locations included five restaurants and one public government office. The average fine particle pollution level in these non-smoking sections was 87 microg/m3, which is 29 times higher than the average fine particle pollution level in smoke-free air or 6 times higher than outdoor air in Paducah. It is also interesting to note that the average fine particle pollution level in the smoking section of one restaurant was actually less than the average fine particle pollution level in the "no smoking" section of two other restaurants.

CONCLUSIONS
The effects of secondhand smoke are substantial and rapid, explaining the relatively large health risks associated with secondhand smoke exposure that have been reported in epidemiological studies. This study shows that physically separating smokers and non-smokers is not an effective way to protect non-smoking patrons from tobacco smoke pollution. "No smoking" sections provided protection to nonsmokers that can be characterized as trivial at best. In fact, patrons in Paducah cannot be certain that their exposure will not be higher in the "no smoking" sections of certain venues when compared to the smoking sections of other venues. It is imperative that physicians and other healthcare providers actively and aggressively lobby local policymakers to pass regulatory and/or public health ordinances, which have been demonstrated to be effective in controlling exposure to secondhand smoke.


With the rise of urban population, many initiatives are focused upon the smart city concept, in which mobility of citizens arises as one of the main components. Updated and detailed spatial information of outdoor environments is needed to accurate path planning for pedestrians, especially for people with reduced mobility, in which physical barriers should be considered. This work presents a methodology to use point clouds to direct path planning. The starting point is a classified point cloud in which ground elements have been previously classified as roads, sidewalks, crosswalks, curbs and stairs. The remaining points compose the obstacle class. The methodology starts by individualizing ground elements and simplifying them into representative points, which are used as nodes in the graph creation. The region of influence of obstacles is used to refine the graph. Edges of the graph are weighted according to distance between nodes and according to their accessibility for wheelchairs. As a result, we obtain a very accurate graph representing the asbuilt environment. The methodology has been tested in a couple of real case studies and Dijkstra algorithm was used to pathfinding. The resulting paths represent the optimal according to motor skills and safety.


Preclusion rules prevent parties from revisiting matters that they have already litigated. A corollary of that principle is that preclusion usually does not apply to nonparties, who have not yet benefited from their own "day in court." But precedent works the other way around. Binding precedent applies to litigants in a future case, even those who never had an opportunity to participate in the precedent-creating lawsuit. The doctrines once operated in distinct spheres, but today they often govern the same questions and apply under the same circumstances, yet to achieve opposite ends. Why, then, does due process promise someone a "day in court" before she is bound by preclusion but not when she is bound—regarding the exact same matter—through precedent?
The doctrinal tension exposes a deeper and unresolved theoretical conundrum that cuts to the heart of what due process protects. This Article argues that two coherent, but distinct, visions of due process underpin the doctrines. Preclusion is rooted in a participation-oriented theory that values participation as an inherent good, whereas precedent reflects an outcome-oriented theory that emphasizes accuracy and reliance interests. This Article argues that the outcome-oriented theory is already the dominant approach in most areas of civil procedure and outside of the litigation context. Moreover, it is a normatively superior approach that holds the potential to resolve enduring problems of serial litigation in which real parties in interest get multiple bites at the litigation apple.


"Autophagy in Health and Disease" offers an overview of the latest research in autophagy with a translational emphasis. This publication takes scientific research in autophagy a step further and offers integrated content with advancements in autophagy from cell biology and biochemical research to clinical treatments. A necessary reference for the bookshelf of medical and scientific researchers and students, "Autophagy in Health and Disease" presents high quality, reputable information on autophagy, allowing the reader quick access to the most applicable information. It discusses current understanding of the roles of autophagy in health and disease. It covers the background of autophagy, the development of tools and therapeutics to measure and modulate autophagy, and autophagy in tissues and disease processes. It features an accompanying website with figures and tables.


Aims: The mental health of family members is influenced by the function of the family system and presence of a disabled child often leads to irretrievable damages to the family. Based in this issue, the aim of this study was to investigate the problems of families with disabled children and its indirect impact on their occupational function. Methods: This descriptive analytical study was performed in year 2009. Study units were the families of Sepah personnel who had disabled children and lived in Tehran. 200 subjects were studied in two groups of families having disabled children and families without disabled children as the control group. Data was collected by family function questionnaire, Bell adaptation scale and researcher-made questionnaire. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistical methods and independent T-test using SPSS 15 software. Results: Families with disabled children had statistically significant difference in family function (p<0.01); in other words the control group families had better family function than those with disabled children. Considering adaptability, there was a significant difference between the two groups in total score and minor scales. Conclusion Families with disabled children have weakness and trouble in terms of function and adaptability, therefore they need educational and consultation services and psychological supports


In general, the reconstructed image in coded aperture imaging is affected by the source configuration. Fenimore's balanced convolution method in conjunction with the uniformly redundant array can remove the interference due to the source configuration. As an extension of Fenimore's balanced convolution method, we present general conditions for designing an unbiased mean estimator for a far-field coded aperture imaging system with a random binary mask. As part of the general conditions, we propose decoding arrays whose elements are variable with respect to source directions. We also show that the unbiased mean estimator from Fenimore's balanced convolution method is a special case of the general conditions. We also present a practical example of designing restoring arrays for a coded aperture system with a random mask.


Gear selectivity has been a gold-medal goal for research and development in Fishing Technology, for the purpose to increase the target catch and to decrease the bycatch. In case of trawl fisheries, the gear designing by mesh size or shape modifications were only the tools for improving the species/size selectivity. Another approach for the aimed trawl is also practical through the strategy in locating the best fishing ground by use of catch data bases and acoustic devices. The better understanding on fish behaviour can be useful not only for both of the conventional strategies, but also for developing the bycatch reduction devices(BRDs) as the modification of the present gear designs. The aim of gear selectivity in shrimp trawls is classified into 4 categories as Monster excluder, Trash Excluder, Shrimp/Fish Separator, and Species/Size Selection. Another approach to classify the selectivity function is according to the positions for exclusion/selection, as between warps, sweep lines or wings, around net mouth, and in front or rear part of codend. now, varieties of use with ideas on size filtration and utilization of behaviour differences in species and sizes. For the size filtration purpose, the mesh size against the body circumference or the grid spacing against the body width inside the codend can be defined as the passive BRDs which may cause the stress and injury for escapees through the gear contact. The active BRDs ahead of the trawl mouth may be the best tool as the conservation strategy without the gear contact damage, by means of understanding for avoidance ability in gear recognition and swimming performance of target and bycatch species.


Public open data access has a direct impact on future IT entrepreneurs' perception of ability to execute their business plans. Using high quality (50%-98% response rate) survey data from 138 Swedish IT-entrepreneurs, we find that access to public open data is considered very important for many IT-startups; 43% find open data essential for the realization of their business plan and 82% claim that access would support and strengthen the business plan. The survey also indicates a significant interest in, and willingness to pay for, public sector information data from companies that do not intend to commercialize data themselves but intend to use it to support or test other business models. From the survey, it is possible to infer that the previous discourse on open data, viewing it as a means for government accountability or e-government, or as the foundation for the commercialization of public sector information data is too limited. Open data should instead be seen as an enabler of innovation outside these traditional sectors. This also indicates that the previously calculated societal values of open data might be underestimated.


Microcrystalline silicon is a composite material embedding silicon nanocrystals in an amorphous matrix [1]. It has attracted much research efforts in the photovoltaic domain [2], because of its potential for integration in a tandem cell concept as bottom cell with an amorphous silicon top cell. Efficiencies of micromorph tandem cells and modules well above 10% have thus been demonstrated [3]. However, due to its complex structure that depends on deposition conditions [1, 4] and substrate properties [5], and due to the difficulty of characterizing plasma deposition regimes, the impact of these parameters on the microcrystalline material quality is still an open field of research. In this paper, microcrystalline silicon thin films are deposited in different conditions of silane depletion following a recent publication [6] and the material quality is investigated. It is shown that by simply reducing the hydrogen flow, the microcrystalline material quality can be greatly improved. This improvement is correlated with the reduced ion bombardment energy in high depletion regimes, leading to lower defect densities in the microcrystalline intrinsic layer.


This paper explores employer attitudes towards drug testing in New Zealand to establish under what conditions adoption may be encouraged or discouraged. A survey of 162 New Zealand employers found that adoption rates of drug testing policies were low at 6 per cent. Exploring predictors of the likelihood of drug testing adoption in the next year found that firms that are more compliant to institutional pressures were more likely to seek adoption, as were firms that perceived positive benefits from adoption. Further, firms that perceived negative effects from drug testing, such as union pressures, were less likely to adopt drug testing in the future. Additionally, the moderating effects of organisational size was explored, and significantly affected likely adoption rates, with larger firms being more influenced by institutional pressures and positive effects. However, there was no significant moderation effect towards negative effects of drug testing, which remained strongly negative irrespective of organisational size.


Judicial decisions of public courts increasingly are based on "contract procedure," private rules of procedure that the parties draft and assent to before a dispute even has arisen. These rules govern such matters as the forum in which the proceeding will be conducted, whether a jury will be involved in adjudicating the dispute, the scope of rights of discovery, and rules of evidence. The practice deserves greater attention, and should raise more profound concerns, than the academic literature currently suggests. We argue that contract procedure operates as a form of privatization, a way of outsourcing government functions to private contracting parties. As such contract procedure has the potential to promote self-governance, encourage innovation, and secure efficiency. Yet it also permits unelected and unaccountable contract drafters to reshape the adjudicative function with virtually no meaningful oversight by Congress, agencies, or the courts. The lack of oversight is of concern because contract procedure has effects that spill over from the private world of the contracting parties into a world in which more public modes of deliberation and decision making have traditionally prevailed. Our argument that these spillovers may be negative draws from well-developed theoretical concerns about the potential inefficiency of the private production of public goods, the potential threats to political competition posed by allowing economic actors to influence the exercise of adjudicative power, the dangers of exit from public institutions highlighted by Albert Hirschman's theory of exit, voice and loyalty, and Michael Walzer's account of the appropriate boundaries of the different "spheres of justice." We suggest a package of reforms that are aimed at the system effects that we identify and that are designed to capture the benefits of privatization, while ensuring the transparency and information production that are essential to sound judicial administration. The two central reforms are 1) a requirement that litigants disclose in the civil cover sheet at the time of filing whether they have agreed to deviate from any public rules of procedure and 2) that the court consider and assess the likely effect of the customized rule during a pre-trial conference.


We show that a significant number of households can perform a tax arbitrage by cutting back on their additional mortgage payments and increasing their contributions to tax- deferred accounts (TDA). Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we show that about 38% of U.S. households that are accelerating their mortgage payments instead of saving in tax-deferred accounts are making the wrong choice. For these households, reallocating their savings can yield a mean benefit of 11 to 17 cents per dollar, depending on the choice of investment assets in the TDA. ; In the aggregate, these misallocated savings are costing U.S. households as much as 1.5 billion dollars per year. Finally, we show empirically that this inefficient behavior is unlikely to be driven by liquidity considerations or other constraints, and that self-reported debt aversion and risk aversion variables explain to some extent the preference for paying off debt obligations early and hence the propensity to forgo our proposed tax arbitrage.


Based on ethnographic research conducted with the wealthiest and most
powerful business owners and politicians in urban Pakistan from 2013 to 2015, this
article examines the particular set of epistemological and interpersonal issues that
arise when studying elite actors. In politically unstable contexts like Pakistan, the
relationship between the researcher and the elite reveals shifting power dynamics
of class, gender, and national background, which are further complicated by the
prevalence of rumor and the exceptional ability of elite informants to obscure that
which they would prefer remain hidden. Specifically, this article argues that the researcher's
positionality, and the inversion of traditional power dynamics between
the researcher and the researched, can ameliorate, as well as exacerbate, the challenges
of undertaking participant observation with society's most powerful.


This work was commissioned by Tagish, an independent company specialising in the delivery of ICT solutions and consultancy for the public sector (research funding £23k). The main audiences were the Isles' private and business residents and visitors, who require web standard and accessibility compliant design templates to work with their bespoke content management system. Taylor's design of the site therefore had to consider the purpose and use of the web site by a large cross-section of users. Creating and refining the interface design, this resulted in the creation of CSS and HTML templates, which were then handed to the development team at Tagish for final implementation into their bespoke web back-end system. A number of features have been incorporated into the website by Taylor to ensure that it is an empathic human-centred software, following good-practice in terms of usability and accessibility for all potential users. Specifically, it has been refined to suit assistive technologies. As a UK government web site, it must be compliant with a number of guidelines, including W3C WAI Accessibility Standards, W3C HTML/XHTML standards and RNIB accessibility guidelines. An invisible link was included to allow users of screen readers to skip the navigation and go straight to the content of each page. The new site was launched on 1st September 2005 and one month later was commended by independent website analysts SiteMorse on a 'massive' leap of 373 places to 16th in the league table of best-performing Local Government websites. Taylor presented the work at one of a series of UK-based World Usability Day events which happened simultaneously around the globe on 3rd November 2005. World Usability Day is an initiative designed to ensure that 'the services and products important to life are easier to access and simpler to use'. http://www.worldusabilityday.org


draft 2 Adolescent substance use and bullying: Is there a link? Vicki Edwards BSc (Hons)., Dip. Psych. Objectives. To investigate experiences of substance use, bullying and psychological distress in adolescents. Differential patterns of substance use and levels of psychological distress were explored according to bullying status (bullies,, victims,, bully-victims and controls). There is little previous research exploring the relationship between bullying and substance use. Design. A between groups cross-sectional design was employed. Method. Students aged 13-16 years were recruited from several inner city schools. 263 students completed the Revised Olweus BullyNictim Questionnaire, the Birlesen Depression Scale, the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and a measure of substance use designed by the researcher. Results. Victims and bully-victims were significantly more psychologically distressed, with higher levels of anxiety, depression and lower self-esteem, than bullies or controls. Those participants with higher levels of psychological distress used stimulants and hallucinogens more frequently than those with lower levels of psychological distress. There was no significant positive correlation between victim-hood and bully-victimhood with frequency of substance use. A negative correlation was found between victim-hood and use of hallucinogens and depressants. Being a bully was found to be positively correlated with use of depressants. Finally, reasons for substance use appear to vary according to bullying status. Bullies used substances to 'have a good time' and 'fit in with friends'. Victims used substances to 'block out bad things that had happened to them' and to 'block out negative feelings'. These results highlighted the unique identifiable patterns of substance use according to bully and victim status. However,, bully-victims did not appear to have a unique pattern of substance use. Conclusion. Clinical implications of the results include the recognition of a complex association between substance use and bullying. Clinical services are encouraged to consider the differential patterns of substance use according to bullying status, and the subsequent requirement for different interventions and prevention strategies.


With mucosal inflammation contributing to the pathogenesis of asthma, it is increasingly accepted that long term steroid inhalers may induce remission in chronic long standing asthmatics. The present study involved 44 stable asthmatics who were randomly given either beclomethasone dipropionate inhaler (50 ug) 2 puffs qds or salbutamol inhaler (100 mcg) 2 puffs tds in addition to their oral bronchodilators. Pulmonary function testing, bronchoalveolar lavage and complete blood count were done at basal and weekly intervals and at the end of the study. The absolute eosinophil count showed a significant drop in the beclomethasone group as compared to the salbutamol group. Serial lung functions showed a significant improvement in the pre-bronchodilator PEFR and the pre-bronchodilator FVC in the beclomethasone group as compared to the salbutamol group. There was no significant change in the lavage eosinophil count pre and post-bronchodilator in both groups. Steroid inhalers are thus useful in long term management of bronchial asthma especially with respect to reducing bronchodilator requirement.


This discussion paper overviews the different perspectives and approaches to measuring accessibility, reviews the strengths and weaknesses of different accessibility indicators and describes the use of accessibility indicators in the Dutch policy and planning practice. In choosing accessibility measures, there clearly is a trade-off between theoretical and practical strengths/weaknesses. Dutch transport planners have focused on infrastructure-based accessibility metrics. Only in recent years, increasing attention has been paid to integrated transport, spatial planning and more advanced accessibility measurements. A growing stream of studies explores the concept of accessibility in order to examine equity and distributive justice of transport policies. The choice and operationalisation of accessibility indicators for equity and distributive justice is currently still open for discussion. It requires a more complete understanding of accessibility than traditional indicators offer, and also depends on the theory of justice used.


Introduction: Sinningia warmingii (Hiern) Chautems (Gesneriaceae) is used in north eastern from Peru to relieve postpartum diseases and vaginal descents. The objective of the present study: to carry out morpho-anatomic analysis and extraction of the genomic DNA of the Sinningia warmingii "mother potato" species to identify the species. The sample was collected in Utcubamba-Amazonas. The morpho-anatomic study applied histological cutting techniques and genetic characterization with rbc-L, matK, ITS and trnH-psbA markers. Method: Morphologically, it is a herbaceous species, with opposite leaves, shortly petiolated, the apical: sessile, oval, symmetrical, regularly closed edges, obtuse base, and acute apex. Flowers with greenish bell-shaped calyx, lobes with acute apex; tubular corolla, pink-fuchsia and yellow inside. Pubescent capsule fruit. Anatomically, abundant filiform and glandular multicellular trichomes, anomocitic stomata and vacuoles of phenolic substances (anthocyanins and tannins) were observed in the stem and leaves. open vascular bundle the stem has woody vessels (helicollen tracheids) and open lateral vascular bundles. In the root ("papa madre"), ovoid amyloplasts and brachisclereids were recognized. Results:For the genetic characterization, genomic DNA was obtained, which was used to amplify by PCR: segments of the genes used for the bar code have been amplified with chloroplastidial markers (rbc-L, matk and ITS2) whose amplifications were positive. Sequencing has been performed with other species of the Sinningia genus that have confirmed the molecular characteristics of the genus. Conclusión: the morpho-anatomic characteristics of the studied species correspond to the Sinningia warmingii species, which with this biomolecular study confirmed its correspondence to the Sinningia genus.


As the endorsement of Enterprise Architecture (EA) modelling continues to grow in diversity and complexity, management of its schema, artefacts, semantics and relationships has become an important business concern. To maintain agility and flexibility within competitive markets, organizations have also been compelled to explore ways of adjusting proactively to innovations, changes and complex events also by use of EA concepts to model business processes and strategies. Thus the need to ensure appropriate validation of EA taxonomies has been considered severally as an essential requirement for these processes in order to exert business motivation; relate information systems to technological infrastructure. However, since many taxonomies deployed today use widespread and disparate modelling methodologies, the possibility to adopt a generic validation approach remains a challenge. The proliferation of EA methodologies and perspectives has also led to intricacies in the formalization and validation of EA constructs as models often times have variant schematic interpretations. Thus, disparate implementations and inconsistent simulation of alignment between business architectures and heterogeneous application systems is common within the EA domain (Jonkers et al., 2003).
In this research, the Model Driven Validation Approach (MDVA) is introduced. MDVA allows modelling of EA with validation attributes, formalization of the validation concepts and transformation of model artefacts to ontologies. The transformation simplifies querying based on motivation and constraints. As the extended methodology is grounded on the semiotics of existing tools, validation is executed using ubiquitous query language. The major contributions of this work are the extension of a metamodel of Business Layer of an EAF with Validation Element and the development of EAF model to ontology transformation Approach. With this innovation, domain-driven design and object-oriented analysis concepts are applied to achieve EAF model's validation using ontology querying methodology. Additionally, the MDVA facilitates the traceability of EA artefacts using ontology graph patterns.


Identifi cation of species of birds is fundamental to implementation of all management and mitigation issues involving bird–aircraft collisions (bird strikes). Methods of identifying bird remains have recently been enhanced to include the use of molecular techniques but the degraded condition of the fi eld sample remains problematic. The Whatman FTA® card is a novel way to instantly fi x DNA and inhibit degradation of DNA samples post-collection. During 2008–2009, we analyzed >200 FTA cards containing tissue blots, body fl uids, or blood samples from bird strikes to evaluate the performance of these cards in real-time situations. We analyzed the success of extracting DNA from the FTA cards, compared the FTA disc punch extractions to dried tissue extractions from the same birdstrike event, and evaluated the blotting density (heavy versus light) for each FTA card punch. FTA cards alone yielded successful extractions in 63% of the trials whereas dried tissue samples were successful 75% of the time. FTA cards that were scored as being blotted with dense (heavy) samples were more successful (63%) than the light or liquid samples (48%). We encourage the use of the FTA cards or similar products as a valid option for the collection of degraded birdstrike remains because the FTA cards resulted in successful extractions in >50% of the cases. The cards are ideal for shipping and require no special storage; the cards are dry and lightweight; immediate fi xation of the sample helps prevent mold and bacterial growth; and FTA cards are listed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) as an approved method of treatment for foreign shipments of bird remains.


Nemasys G and Nemasys H with the nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora as the active organism is applied for as a plant protection product in Norway. Nemasys G is intended for use against the garden chafer (Phyllopertha horticola) in lawns and Nemasys H against black vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) in strawberries and ornamentals.
VKM was requested by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority to consider the possible health and environmental risk related to the properties of Nemasys G and Nemasys H; in particular to evaluate if the nematode is naturally occurring in Norway, the potential for establishing and spreading under Norwegian conditions, possible taxonomic challenges and assessment of the health risk related to its use.
The assessment was finalized in October 2014 by VKM's Panel on Plant Protection Products.
VKM's conclusions are as follows:
Natural occurrence of the nematode:
The nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora has not been observed in Norway, but is widespread world-wide in regions with continental and Mediterranean climates. In Europe it has been isolated in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Moldavia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Potential for establishing and spreading of the nematode under Norwegian conditions:
The thermal preference of H. bacteriophora restricts its establishing. Short term establishment in the growing season is possible in parts of Norway. This nematode has however poor long term survival in soil, especially in the absence of suitable hosts, and the potential for long term establishment in Norway is considered to be low.
Taxonomic challenges:
There are no taxonomic challenges related to assessment of this nematode.
Human health risk for operators:
Exposure of user is considered to be low. The use of plant protection products containing Heterorhabditid nematodes against insects has not been associated with health effects on humans. The symbiotic bacteria Photorhabdus luminescens has not been linked to pathogenic effects in humans. It is therefore the view of VKM that the use of the nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora with the symbiotic bacteria Photorhabdus luminescens will have minimal health risk for operators.


It is a widespread view that democracy and the advanced nation-state are in crisis, weakened by globalization and undermined by global capitalism, in turn explaining rising inequality and mounting populism. This book argues that this view is wrong: advanced democracies are resilient, and their enduring historical relationship with capitalism has been mutually beneficial. For all the chaos and upheaval over the past century—major wars, economic crises, massive social change, and technological revolutions—the book shows how democratic states continuously reinvent their economies through massive public investment in research and education, by imposing competitive product markets and cooperation in the workplace, and by securing macroeconomic discipline as the preconditions for innovation and the promotion of the advanced sectors of the economy. Critically, this investment has generated vast numbers of well-paying jobs for the middle classes and their children, focusing the aims of aspirational families, and in turn providing electoral support for parties. Gains at the top have also been shared with the middle (though not the bottom) through a large welfare state. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom on globalization, advanced capitalism is neither footloose nor unconstrained: it thrives under democracy precisely because it cannot subvert it. Populism, inequality, and poverty are indeed great scourges of our time, but these are failures of democracy and must be solved by democracy.


Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts upon the unthinking. - John Maynard Keynes THE WILD FACTS In our time, it is the facts themselves that are more than a little wild and that constitute an assault on unthinking economic dogma. We need little help from wild rhetoric. The wild facts are summarized in calm words in the various State of the World reports put out by the World-watch Institute, and especially in the first essay of the 1987 volume by Lester Brown and Sandra Postel, entitled "Thresholds of Change." Some of the facts are: 1. There is a hole in the earth's protective shield of ozone. More ultraviolet radiation now reaches the earth and will predictably increase skin cancer, retard crop growth, and impair the human immune system. In an unprecedentedly wise response, representatives from thirty-one nations have agreed to a quantitative limit on the production of chlorofluorocarbons, the probable cause of the ozone depletion. 2. There is evidence that the C02-induced greenhouse effect has already caused perceptible warming of the globe. As recently as 1983, noticeable change was not expected for another 50 years. Now the warming is being connected by careful students to the 1988 drought in the Midwest. 3. Biodiversity is declining as rates of species extinction increase due to takeover of habitat, especially of the tropical rainforests, which support half the world's species on only 7% of its land area (Goodland 1987). In addition, acid rain kills temperate zone forests and raises the acidity of lakes above the tolerance thresholds for many species. Because of industrial accidents, people in Chernobyl, Goiania (Brazil), and Bhopal are dying from air pollution, toxic waste contamination of ground water, and radiation poisoning. All of these facts appear to us to be related in one way or another to one central underlying fact: the scale of human activity relative to the biosphere has grown too large. Over the period 1950-86, population doubled from 2.5 to 5.0 billion. Over the same time period, gross world product and fossil fuel consumption each roughly quadrupled. Further growth beyond this scale is overwhelmingly likely to increase costs more rapidly than it increases benefits, thus ushering in a new era of "uneconomic growth" that impoverishes rather than enriches. This is the fundamental wild fact that so far has not found expression in words sufficiently feral to assault successfully the civil stupor of economic discourse. Indeed, contrary to Keynes, it seems that the wildness of either words or facts is nowadays taken as clear evidence of untruth. Moral concern is "unscientific." Statement of fact is "alarmist." In An Inquiry into the Human Prospect (1974) economist Robert Heilbroner reflected about the meaning of this pressure of the human economy on the biosphere. He considered especially the political traumas that will be faced when economic growth is no longer possible. In a 1980 revision of his Inquiry, he projected a continuing (but gradually slowing) growth economy until the middle of the first decade of the next century. When that ends, he sees (as in the earlier 1974 edition) the need for highly authoritarian governments to control the transition to economic decline (Heilbroner 1980, p. 167 ff.). We appreciate Heilbroner's rare willingness as an economist to connect the growth economy and the physical limits of the ecosphere. This is at the heart of our project as well. But we believe that thought, foresight, and imagination can lead to a much less disruptive transition. Whereas Heilbroner assumes there are no realistic alternatives to capitalism and socialism (both growth economies), we do not agree. To conceive of a radically different economy forces us both to think through the discipline of economics as well as beyond it into biology, history, philosophy, physics, and theology. Part of the assault of the wild facts has been against the very disciplinary boundaries by which knowledge is organized (produced, packaged, and exchanged) in the modern university. …


We present our experience in the treatment of fractures of the tibial plateau with arthroscopic assistance. Between January 1997 and September 2001, we evaluated 23 patients with fractures of the tibial plateau. After their clinical and radiological evaluation, we included 17 patients in this study. Fractures were classified using the Schatzker classification. 14 patients were treated with arthroscopic reduction and percutaneous fixation, while 3patients underwent open reduction and osteosynthesis with platelets under arthroscopic control. The arthroscopic technique allows for a better articular visualization, decreases dissection of the tissues, and allows for an adequate diagnosis and treatment of the associated lesions. Arthroscopic reduction and percutaneous fixation can be considered the treatment of choice in a select group of fractures of the tibial plateau (Schatzker I and III). © EuroMediterranean Biomedical Journal 2018


EVEN THOUGH I fall outside its usual academic target-audience, I said yes to Lingua Franca's 1990 subscription offer, because it got to me personally. The offer featured an article, "The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax," purporting to debunk a myth regarding the number of words Eskimos, have for snow. It just so happened that I, -- many years ago, of course, you understand -- well, that I passed along such a "myth," if indeed it was, to other unsuspecting people. The Mathsemantic Monitor fells that good semantic practice requires him to search out and destroy his own unsound semantic habits, and when safe, even to help others in the same way. Accordingly, I felt obliged to say yes. My subscription, however, began with a later issue. The one that had motivated me was sold out. I seemed to have missed fate's hook. Then a 1992 University of Chicago Press catalog listed a book ($14.95, postage paid, paperback) by Geoffrey K. Pullum titled, The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax and Other Irreverent Essays on the study of Language. This time I connected. Professor Pullum's book consists of twenty-four short and seriously irreverent articles published originally as "Topic ...Comment" columns in Natural Language and Linguisic Theory, a journal whose existence, I confess, had previously escaped my notice. The title article was in chapter 19. Not wanting to rush to my reward without knowing something about my nemesis, I began at the "Foreword." Its author, James D. McCawley, quickly made clear that I'd purchased a collection of in-stories I might not understand: Each Pullum column [said McCawley] was an exquisitely crafted piece of criticism, satire, fantasy, and/or reporting, dealing entertainingly and provocatively with important issues relating to the ways in which we linguists practice our profession or to the ways in which the world beyond our journals, classrooms, and conferences impinges on linguistics and its practitioners. Like Freemasonry, the roles of insider and outsider admit of degrees. Pullum must rank as a 33rd-degree linguistics insider. I'm not any kind of linguistics professional (or professional anything else except aviation consultant). My dabblings in linguistics allowed me to recognize only about one is six of the people and publications Pullum mentioned. But that was enough to keep me going. And as I read on, averageing less than one short chapter per sitting, my appreciation grew slowly and irregularly. The first seven chapters, on "Fashions and Tendencies" in linguistics, were for me the hardest. Chapter six, for example, an interview of Noam Chomsky by Science Officer Spock on the Generative Enterprise, must be a scream for scholars in the linguistics space quadrant. I managed a polite but mostly uncomprehending smile. The next seven chapters, on "Publication and Damnation," began to tickle. By the time I started the next six chapters, on "Unscientific Behavior," I was ready to laugh. Chapter fifteen, "The Revenge of the Methodological Moaners", broke me up. As the author warns, in this piece he "rails against the tendency of linguists to write about the philosophy of science as applied to their subject instead of writing about what languages are like, which is what linguists are supposed to be good at." You could find similar tendencies in almost any social science. The last chapter in the "unscientific-behavior" section reminded me of the care with which Allen Walker Read tracked down the origin of "OK." In this chapter Pullum exposes and destroys "the great Eskimo vocabulary hoax." Because I should, and because I believe you'll find it interesting, let me pass along Pullum's assignment of credit. "What I do here," he says, "is very little more than an extended review and elaboration on Laura Martin's wonderful American Anthropologist report of 1986 [based in turn on a speech she gave in 1982]. Laura Martin is professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the Cleveland State University. …


Abstract. The quantification and understanding of direct aerosol forcing is essential in the study of climate. One of the main issues that makes its quantification difficult is the lack of a complete understanding of the role of the vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds. This work aims at reducing the uncertainty of aerosol top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) forcing due to the vertical superposition of several short-lived atmospheric components, in particular different aerosol species and clouds. We propose a method to quantify the contribution of different parts of the atmospheric column to the TOA forcing as well as to evaluate the contribution to model differences that is exclusively due to different spatial distributions of aerosols and clouds. We investigate the contribution of aerosol above, below and in clouds by using added diagnostics in the aerosol–climate model LMDz. We also compute the difference between the TOA forcing of the ensemble of the aerosols and the sum of the forcings from individual species in clear sky. This difference is found to be moderate for the global average (14%) but can reach high values regionally (up to 100%). Nonlinear effects are even more important when superposing aerosols and clouds. Four forcing computations are performed: one where the full aerosol 3-D distribution is used, and then three where aerosols are confined to regions above, inside and below clouds, respectively. We find that the TOA forcing of aerosols depends crucially on the presence of clouds and on their position relative to that of the aerosol, in particular for black carbon (BC). We observe a strong enhancement of the TOA forcing of BC above clouds, attenuation for BC below clouds, and a moderate enhancement when BC is found within clouds. BC above clouds accounts for only about 30% of the total BC optical depth but for 55% of the forcing, while forcing efficiency increases by a factor of 7.5 when passing from below to above clouds. The different behaviour of forcing nonlinearities for these three components of the atmospheric column encouraged us to develop the method for application to inter-model variability studies by reading 3-D aerosol and cloud fields from different general circulation models (GCMs) into the same model. We apply the method to the comparison of forcing due to the aerosols and clouds distributions of the general circulation models LMDz and SPRINTARS. The different amount of BC above but also within clouds is revealed to play a major role on the differences of cloudy-sky forcings between the two models, which can exceed 100% regionally.


Using the method of time-domain spectroscopy, we measure the far-infrared absorption and dispersion from 0.2 to 2 THz of the crystalline dielectrics sapphire and quartz, fused silica, and the semiconductors silicon, gallium arsenide, and germanium. For sapphire and quartz, the measured absorptions are consistent with the earlier work below 0.5 THz. Above 1 THz we measure significantly more absorption for sapphire, while for quartz our values are in reasonable agreement with those of the previous work. Our results on high-purity fused silica are consistent with those on the most transparent fused silica measured to date. For the semiconductors, we show that many of the previous measurements on silicon were dominated by the effects of carriers due to impurities. For high-resistivity, 10-kΩ cm silicon, we measure a remarkable transparency together with an exceptionally nondispersive index of refraction. For GaAs our measurements extend the precision of the previous work, and we resolve two weak absorption features at 0.4 and 0.7 THz. Our measurements on germanium demonstrate the dominant role of intrinsic carriers; the measured absorption and dispersion are well fitted by the simple Drude theory.


Abstract Tertiary ultrapotassic volcanic rocks from Serbia occasionally display low levels of K2O and K2O/ Na2O. In these rocks, analcime regularly appears as pseudomorphs after pre-existing leucite microphenocrysts. The process of leucite transformation in Serbian ultrapotassic rocks is very thorough: fresh leucite survives only in ugandites from the Koritnik lava flows as well as in rare inclusions in Cpx. This paper focuses on the impact of 'analcimization' on the mineralogy and geochemistry of the Serbian ultrapotassic rocks, using the samples where leucite survived as a monitor for the process. Analcimization has had a great impact on the geochemistry of the rocks, but affects only a restricted number of chemical parameters. These are the falsification of the original K2O/Na2O ratio, the decoupling of large-ion lithophile elements resulting in considerable depletion of Rb and K2O, but not of Ba, and sporadic, but extreme enrichment of Cs in some analcime-bearing samples (up to 900 ppm). Analcimization is also recognized by an increase in whole-rock S18O values of ~3‰ compared to fresh rocks, which correlates with the level of whole-rock hydration. Finally, the 87Sr/86Sr enrichment at nearly constant 143Nd/144Nd demonstrated by some rocks can also be explained by the analcimization of leucite. For samples with variable 87Sr/86Sr from the same lava flow, 87Sr/86Sr values correlate with modal analcime abundance (ex-leucite), loss on ignition of whole-rock and whole-rock δ18O values. The extreme depletion in K and enrichment in Na, together with modification of other geochemical parameters, may have led to the misinterpretation of the origin and geodynamic affiliations of the Serbian ultrapotassic rocks, had the effects of analcimization not been taken into account.


Disputes regarding the effectiveness of the patent system focus on the appropriate scope of patent rights. This Article departs from the traditional debate by looking instead at the players regulated by the patent system. The Article shows that the patent system fails to effectively encourage technological dissemination because it focuses on the patent owner and his competitors, while largely ignoring a crucial player: the ordinary user. The user in his everyday decisions of whether to adopt or not to adopt a technology plays a critical role in determining whether a new technology will be disseminated. Yet, patent law contains an overly simplistic view of the ordinary user. It views the ordinary user as motivated by price and availability alone. This Article uncovers the intricacy of ordinary users' decisions regarding technological adoption. It identifies two main sources of user resistance: resistance due to novelty and resistance due to perceived consequences. Many believe that the market rule should govern the adoption process of new technologies, that is, the market should decide which technology is adopted. Yet, this rule fails to recognize the multi-faceted nature of the ordinary user. This Article proposes that while government action to encourage user adoption should not be the norm, government action gently nudging the user could be particularly effective in cases of market failures. It concludes by suggesting two instances, in which government action is particularly warranted. First, when market failure occurs because a technology is dependent on network effects and the accumulation of a critical mass of users. Second, when time is of the essence and there is a critical need to disseminate a technology quickly.


A standard survey of the history of the Christian church fromA.D.33 to modern times, "The Church in History"by B. K. Kuiper has long been the textbook of choice for many secondary schools and Bible institutes, having sold well over 150,000 copies since first published more than a half century ago. Detailed and fact-filled yet balanced and readable, this volume offers a panoramic view of the church's growth worldwide throughout the past 2,000 years, including a comprehensive section on the church in the United States and Canada. With close to 300 photographs, maps, and timelines throughout and thought-provoking study questions at the end of each chapter, "The Church in History"is an excellent introductory resource for students or for anyone wanting to better understand the history of the church."


This paper reviews Finland.s growth strategy in the postwar decades. Finland was able to initiate an impressive mobilization of resources during this period, reflected mostly in a high rate of capital accumulation for manufacturing industries. This was achieved by an unorthodox combination of dirigiste means and a basic commitment to upholding the market economy. The state acted as a net saver, and credit was rationed to productive investment outlays. This policy package may have been boosted by the country.s precarious international position during the cold war, so that an economic failure would have been very risky indeed. We argue also that incomes policies and welfare reforms were important in sustaining the necessary political compromise that underpinned the Finnish development state.


There is no lack of information for diagnosing the development of an economy. The problem is more one of obtaining a concise summary. The IW Business Cycle Traffic Light captures at a glance the changes in important economic indicators for Germany, the Eurozone, the USA and China. This can only be achieved by establishing which improvements and deteriorations in the short-term development of the economy can be defined as relevant. Like its individual underlying indicators, the IW Business Cycle Traffic Light represents the status of information a varying number of months ago, thus partly reflecting the inevitable recognition lags in business cycle diagnosis.


Unrivalled in the way it makes the teaching of statistics compelling and accessible to even the most anxious of students, the only statistics textbook you and your students will ever need just got better! Andy Field's comprehensive and bestselling Discovering Statistics Using SPSS 4th Edition takes students from introductory statistical concepts through very advanced concepts, incorporating SPSS throughout. The Fourth Edition focuses on providing essential content updates, better accessibility to key features, more instructor resources, and more content specific to select disciplines. It also incorporates powerful new digital developments on the textbook's companion website(visit sagepub.com for more information). WebAssign The Fourth Edition will be available on WebAssign, allowing instructors to produce and manage assignments with their studnets online using a grade book that allows them to track and monitor students' progress. Students receive unlimited practice using a combination of approximately 2000 multiple choice and algorithmic questions. WebAssign provided students with instant feedback and links directly to the accompanying eBook section where the concept was covered, allowing students to find the correct solution. SAGE MobileStudy SAGE MobileStudy allows students equipped with smartphones and tablets to access select material, such as Cramming Sam's Study Tips, anywhere they receive mobile service. With QR codes included throughout the text, it's easy for students to get right to the section they need to study, allowing them to continue their study from virtually anywhere, even when they are away from thier printed copy of the text. Click here to preview the MobileStudy site (available late spring 2013). Education and Sport Sciences instructor support materials with enhanced ones for Psychology, Business and Management and the Health sciences make the book even more relevant to a wider range of subjects across the social sciences and where statistics is taught to a cross-disciplinary audience. Major Updates to the 4th Edition Fully compatible with recent SPSS releases up to and including version 20.0 Exciting new characters, including statistical cult leader Oditi, who provides students access to interesting and helpful video clips to illustrate statistical and SPSS concepts, and Confusious, who helps students clarify confusing quantitative terminology New discipline specific support matierlas have been added for Education, Sports Sciences, Psychology, Business & Management, and Health Sciences, making the book even more relevant to a wider range of subjects across the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences is taught to an interdisciplinary audience. An enhanced Companion Website (available late spring 2013) offers a wealth of material that can be used in conjunction with the textbook, including: PowerPoints Testbanks Answers to the Smart Alex tasks at the end of each chapter Datafiles for testing problems in SPSS Flashcards of key concepts Self-assessment multiple-choice questions Online videos of key statistical and SPSS procedures


This research explores shift-to-shift clinical handover and clinical handover improvement at the Royal Hobart Hospital's Department of General Internal Medicine using a user-centred approach and highlights the outcomes associated with using this approach. This research presents findings that contribute to an improved understanding of shift-to-shift clinical handover and to the role that an electronic tool can play in clinical handover improvement. Clinical handover involves the transfer of information, professional responsibility and accountability for patient care from one clinical team to another either temporarily or permanently. With changes in doctors' working hours and an increasing demand for flexible work practices, the need for mechanisms to support effective and efficient handover processes for transferring information, responsibility and accountability has become recognised as increasingly important for the delivery of high quality safe health care. Clinical handover has been identified as a high risk scenario for patient safety with dangers of discontinuity of care, medical errors, adverse events and the potential for legal claims of malpractice. With the emergence of debates on ehealth, a role for information systems has been promoted but there remains limited evidence on the impact of these systems on clinical handover. More broadly however, it is evident that the experiences of information systems in health care has not always been successful and that there might be consequences to patient safety after their implementation. In this context, one set of approaches for improving the uptake and use of information systems recommends acquiring a detailed understanding of users needs through direct user engagement. These user-centred approaches have been proven successful in the development and implementation of ehealth systems. Based in the Department of General Internal Medicine the user-centred approach led to the conduct of a case study grounded in clinician (particularly interns and registrars) experiences, attitudes and insights towards clinical handover. The methodology used in this research adopted a subjective ontology and an interpretive epistemology. The research strategy involved a three phased approach. Phase One involved the use of thirty-eight observation sessions and seventeen semi-structured interviews with three clinician groups - interns, registrars and consultants, to facilitate an in-depth understanding of clinical handover and clinical handover improvement within the Department of General Internal Medicine and also build rapport and trust with the participants. Phase Two involved the use of two focus groups with one group consisting of six interns and the other consisting of five registrars to validate the results obtained from Phase One before moving forward with design of the electronic tool. All participants were then invited to participate in four design workshops to work through the requirements of the electronic tool. Phase Three consisted of ten further observation sessions and fourteen semi-structured interviews three months after the introduction of the electronic tool to further explore the participant's understanding, expectations and experiences of clinical handover after involving them in the clinical handover improvement initiative.
The data collected through all three phases were analysed using open axial and selective coding drawing on the principles of grounded theory. After analysing the data independently in each phase, the data were then analysed and interpreted across the three phases to allow for the key findings to emerge. These key findings were then interpreted and discussed based on the researcher's understanding of the data and in relation to the available literature. The key findings that emerged are as follows:
 Clinical handover is a complex, dynamic and evolving clinical system and its status needs to be viewed from a contextual, clinical and user perspective.
 A formal education and training program with established standards is imperative for clinical handover improvement.
 Clinical handover culture is important in clinical handover improvement and the development of a clinical handover culture requires an incremental approach.
 The understanding of clinical handover amongst clinicians varies and this variability in understanding significantly influences the behaviours of clinicians during clinical handover and practice of clinical handover.
 The strongest personal attributes that influence clinical handover and clinical handover improvement are cultural background and individual personalities.
 Various factors affect clinical handover but it is the nature of these factors and their interrelationships that influence team dynamics which in turn influence clinical handover and clinical handover improvement.
 There is a significant difference between perceived and actual handover. This difference has a significant impact on clinical handover especially in the development of electronic tools.
 Clinical handover serves various different functions and these functions change after the introduction of electronic clinical handover support tool.
 An over-arching user-centred approach is important to engage all users before conducting user-requirements for electronic clinical handover support tool design and implementation.
 While a user-centred approach is extremely useful, there are many challenges associated with this approach in clinical handover improvement and quality and safety initiatives.
 If an electronic tool is to be introduced for clinical handover improvement, it is imperative to mandate the use of the electronic tool for all clinical handover sessions.
This research has made a number of contributions at substantive, methodological and theoretical levels. At a substantive level, it has contributed to the understanding of clinical handover and clinical handover improvement and provided guidance on how an Information systems researcher can conduct research in a clinical setting. This research has made a significant contribution to clinical handover improvement through the use of a user-centred approach as this approach has since been developed further and incorporated as the national guidelines for clinical handover improvement (OSSIE guide). This research has also informed further work conducted in the utilisation of electronic tools in clinical handover which has since been developed into the national guidelines for safe use of electronic tools in clinical handover (SafeTECH). At a methodological level, this research has illustrated the importance of using an over-arching user-centred approach within a multi-snapshot case study to understand clinical handover and clinical handover improvement. This research has suggested that the use of a user-centred approach within a multi-snapshot case study is very important in obtaining a clear understanding of clinical practice which is not clearly defined from the users' perspective. This research has also contributed at a methodological level by demonstrating that the use of qualitative research techniques drawing on the principles of grounded theory to generate an understanding of a clinical process which is not clearly defined is highly valuable. At a theoretical level, this research has developed a conceptual understanding of clinical handover from three perspectives: a contextual perspective, clinical perspective and a user perspective. This conceptual understanding of clinical handover opens up new areas for future research.


The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the recently published paper [1] dealing with little known facts and some new results on transmission lines is due to an incomplete interpretation of the nonphysical artifacts resulting from a particular mathematical model for the S parameters. These artifacts are not real and do not exist when a different form of the S parameters is used.The first objective of this paper is thus to introduce the two different types of S parameters generally used to characterize microwave circuits with lossy characteristic impedance. The first type is called the pseudo wave, an extension of the conventional traveling-wave concepts, and is useful when it is necessary to discuss the properties of a microwave network junction, irrespective of the impedances connected to the terminals. However, one has to be extremely careful in providing a physical interpretation of the mathematical expressions, as in this case the reflection coefficient can be greater than one, even for a passive load impedance with a conjugately matched transmission line. The power balance also cannot be simply obtained from the powers associated with the incident and reflected waves. Hence, this cannot be applied for broadband characterization of antennas. The second type of S parameter is called the power-wave scattering parameter. This is useful when one is interested in the power relationship between microwave circuits connected through a junction. In this case, the magnitude of the reflection coefficient cannot exceed unity, and the power delivered to the load is directly given by the difference between the powers associated with the incident and the reflected waves. Since this methodology deals with the reciprocal relationships between powers from various devices, this may be quite suitable for dealing with a pair of transmitting and receiving antennas where power reciprocity holds. This methodology is also applicable in network theory, where the scattering matrix of a two-port (or a multi-port) can be defined using complex reference impedances at each of the ports without any transmission line being present, so that the concept of characteristic impedances becomes irrelevant. Such a situation is typical in small-signal microwave transistor amplifiers, where the analysis necessitates the use of complex reference impedances in order to study simultaneous matching and stability. However, for both definitions for the S parameters, when the characteristic impedance or the reference impedance is complex, the scattering matrix does not need to be symmetric, even if the network in question is reciprocal.The second objective is to illustrate that when the characteristic impedance of the line or the reference impedances in question is real and positive, then both of the pseudo-wave and the power-wave scattering parameters provide the same results. Finally, a general methodology is presented with examples to illustrate how the S parameters can be computed for an arbitrary network without any a priori knowledge of its characteristic impedance.


This paper considers a variant of the classical online learning problem with expert predictions. Our model's differences and challenges are due to lacking any direct feedback on the loss each expert incurs at each time step $t$. We propose an approach that uses peer prediction and identify conditions where it succeeds. Our techniques revolve around a carefully designed peer score function $s()$ that scores experts' predictions based on the peer consensus. We show a sufficient condition, that we call \emph{peer calibration}, under which standard online learning algorithms using loss feedback computed by the carefully crafted $s()$ have bounded regret with respect to the unrevealed ground truth values. We then demonstrate how suitable $s()$ functions can be derived for different assumptions and models.


OBJECT
Surgical approaches to deep-seated brain pathologies, specifically lesions of the third ventricle, have always been a challenge for neurosurgeons. In certain cases, the transcallosal approach remains the most suitable option for targeting lesions of the third ventricle, although retraction of the fornices and wall of the third ventricle have been associated with neuropsychological and hypothalamic deficits. The authors investigated the feasibility of an interhemispheric 3D endoscopic transcallosal approach through a minimally invasive tubular retractor system for the management of third ventricular lesions.

METHODS
Three-dimensional endoscopic transtubular transcallosal approaches were performed on 5 preserved cadaveric heads (10 sides). A parasagittal bur hole was placed using neuronavigation, and a tubular retractor was inserted under direct endoscopic visualization. Following observation of the vascular structures, fenestration of the corpus callosum was performed and the retractor was advanced through the opening. Transforaminal, interforniceal, and transchoroidal modifications were all performed and evaluated by 3 surgeons.

RESULTS
This approach provided enhanced visualization of the third ventricle and more stable retraction of corpus callosum and fornices. Bayonetted instruments were used through the retractor without difficulty, and the retractor applied rigid, constant, and equally distributed pressure on the corpus callosum.

CONCLUSIONS
A transtubular approach to the third ventricle is feasible and facilitates blunt dissection of the corpus callosum that may minimize retraction injury. This technique also provides an added degree of safety by limiting the free range of instrumental movement. The combination of 3D endoscopic visualization with a clear plastic retractor facilitates safe and direct monitoring of the surgical corridor.


Background. Visual masking tasks assess the earliest stages of visual processing. This study was conducted to address: (1) whether schizophrenia patients show masking deficits after controlling for sensory input factors; (2) whether patients have relatively intact forward masking (when the mask precedes the target) compared with backward masking (when the mask follows the target); and (3) whether the masking deficits in schizophrenia reflect an accelerated age-related decline in performance. Method. A staircase method was used to ensure that the unmasked target identification was equivalent across subjects to eliminate any confounding due to differences in discrimination of simple perceptual inputs. Three computerized visual masking tasks were administered to 120 schizophrenia patients (ages 18–56) and 55 normal comparison subjects (ages 19–54) under both forward and backward masking conditions. The tasks included: (1) locating a target; (2) identifying a target with a high-energy mask; and (3) identifying a target with a low-energy mask. Results. Patients showed deficits across all three masking tasks. Interactions of group by forward versus backward masking were not significant, suggesting that deficits in forward and backward masking were comparable. All three conditions showed an age-related decline in performance and rates of decline were comparable between patients and controls. Two of the masking conditions showed increased rates of decline in backward, compared to forward, masking. Conclusions. We found age-related decline in performance that was comparable for the two groups. In addition, we failed to find evidence of a relative sparing of forward masking in schizophrenia. These results suggest that: (1) early visual processing deficits in schizophrenia are not due to a simple perceptual input problem; (2) sustained channels are involved in the masking deficit (in addition to transient channels); and (3) for the age range in this study, these deficits in schizophrenia are not age-related.


Potassium ferrate(VI) (K2FeO4) has advantageous properties such as a dual function as an oxidant and disinfectant with a non-toxic byproduct, iron(III), which makes it an environmentally friendly chemical for water treatment. This paper presents an assessment of the potential of ferrate(VI) to oxidize representative endocrine disruptors (EDs) and antimicrobials during water treatment using information about reaction kinetics and products. Selected EDs were bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), and estriol (E3), and sulfonamides and tetracycline were representative pharamaceuticals. The second-order rate constants, k , of the oxidation reactions at neutral pH were in the range from 6.50–11.8 × 102 M−1s−1 and 0.79–15.0 × 102 M−1s−1 for EDs and sulfonamides, respectively. At a 10 mgL−1 K2FeO4 dose, half-lives of the oxidation reaction would be in seconds at a neutral pH. The values of k , and the reaction half-lives, varied with pH. Oxidation products from the reaction with BPA and sulamethoxazole (SMX) at molar ratios of ∼5:1 were found to be relatively less toxic. Overall, ferrate(VI) oxidation could be an effective treatment method for the purification of waters containing these particular EDs and antimicrobials.


Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.


The applicability of the European Soil Erosion Model (EUROSEM) in Kenya was tested on two subcatchments: Embori, which lies within a large‐scale commercial wheat‐ and barley‐growing region on the slopes of Mt Kenya; and Mukogodo, a dry rangeland region used for communal grazing, which lies at lower altitudes. For both catchments, EUROSEM was used to simulate interrill erosion from single storm events on plots of 10 m by 2 m. The model was calibrated and validated for a barley crop at Embori and three treatments of bare, grass and shrub covers at Mukogodo. The results indicated that EUROSEM was applicable to the Embori catchment, as correlation coefficients of 0·91 and 0·84 were obtained between observed and simulated runoff and soil loss, respectively. However, for Mukogodo, the model did not adequately predict soil loss from vegetated plots having grass or shrubs, although it could predict runoff from bare plots and grass quite well (R2 = 0·97, R2 = 0·60, respectively) as well as soil loss from bare plots (R2 = 0·58), but the standard errors of estimate at 4·67 mm were rather high (P = 0·95). Thus, EUROSEM requires improvements in terms of being able to predict runoff and soil loss in semi‐arid regions of Kenya, so that it can accommodate multiple vegetation covers, rangeland conditions and soils with surface sealing properties. In addition, the model requires further testing to sample a wider range of climatic and land use types for it to be applicable to Kenya and rangeland conditions generally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We present results on superconducting and crystalline properties of NbN films with a thickness smaller than 10 nm. The films were deposited using reactive magnetron sputtering on heated silicon substrates. Zero resistance critical temperatures of about 9 K have been measured for films with a thickness of about 5 nm and reaches values ≈12 K for 10 nm thick films. A value of the superconducting coherence length of about 4 nm was estimated from the measurements of the second critical magnetic field. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy accompanied with electron-spectroscopy techniques was used to analyze the structure, thickness, and film-substrate interface of fabricated films. The interrelations between fabrication conditions, superconducting and crystalline properties of NbN films on Si substrates are presented and discussed.


Recent developments in both theory and practice have inspired a new understanding of public interest lawyering. The theoretical development is an intensified interest in Pragmatism. The practical development is the emergence of a style of social reform that seeks to institutionalize the Pragmatist vision of democratic governance as learning and experimentation. This style is reflected in a variety of innovative responses to social problems, including drug courts, ecosystem management, and "new accountability" educational reform. The new understanding represents a significant challenge to an influential view of law among politically liberal lawyers over the past 50 years. That view - Legal Liberalism - is less a creature of academic theory than an implicit popular jurisprudence of practicing lawyers. It consists of a cluster of ideas associated with the Warren Court, the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Ralph Nader, and the legal aid and public defender movements. This essay seeks to reconsider Legal Liberalism in the light of the Pragmatist approach and to offer a tentative appraisal of the newcomer. It begins by explicating the sometimes - tacit premises of Legal Liberalism and exploring its shortcomings. It then introduces the contrasting premises of the Pragmatist approach as they appear in a variety of recent works of legal scholarship. It illustrates the Pragmatist approach with a discussion of two case studies - one of drug courts and one of "second generation" employment discrimination remedies. It concludes with some comments about ambiguities and limitations of Legal Pragmatism.


Remarkable success has been achieved in the discovery of ceramic alkali superionic conductors as electrolytes in solid-state batteries; however, obtaining a stable interface between these electrolytes and electrodes is difficult. Only limited studies on the compatibility between electrodes and solid electrolytes have been reported, partially because of the need for expensive instrumentation and special cell designs. Without simple yet powerful tools, these compatibility issues cannot be systematically investigated, thus hindering the generalization of design rules for the integration of solid-state battery components. Herein, we present a methodology that combines density functional theory calculations and simple experimental techniques such as X-ray diffraction, simultaneous differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetric analysis, and electrochemistry to efficiently screen the compatibility of numerous electrode/electrolyte pairs. We systemically distinguish between the electrochemical stability of the solid-state conductor, which is relevant wherever the electrolyte contacts an electron pathway, and the electrochemical stability of the electrode/electrolyte interfaces. For the solid electrolyte, we are able to computationally derive an absolute thermodynamic stability voltage window, which is small for Na3PS4 and Na3PSe4, and a larger voltage window which can be kinetically stabilized. The experimental stability, when measured with reliable techniques, falls between these thermodynamic and kinetic limits. Employing a Na solid-state system as an example, we demonstrate the efficiency of our method by finding the most stable system (NaCrO2|Na3PS4|Na–Sn) within a selected chemical space (more than 20 different combinations of electrodes and electrolytes). Important selection criteria for the cathode, electrolyte, and anode in solid-state batteries are also derived from this study. The current method not only provides an essential guide for integrating all-solid-state battery components but can also significantly accelerate the expansion of the electrolyte/electrode compatibility data.


We are researching the design and control of robots composed of multi-DOF linkages that can perform jumping motions. We call such a robot the "multi-DOF jumping robot". We take a 5 link, 4 joint serial link in a vertical plane as an example of a multi DOF jumping robot. We discuss the process to determine its design parameters from the viewpoint of realizing actual mechanical models. The design parameters include not only mechanical parameters but also motion planning parameters, because the motion condition of each joint strongly depends on motion planning. First, we show the type of jumping motion that we deal with and derive the conditions to achieve that. Then, we propose the motion planning method for jumping motions on the basis of a boundary state between ground and aerial phases. Next, we deliberate the limit characteristic of DC motors that are suitable for multi-DOF jumping robot design, and show the equations that express the limit characteristic. Then, we present one set of practical design parameters, and show simulation results of two types of jumping motions, normal jump and somersault.


Membrane-bound ephrinB proteins bind to and activate EphB receptor tyrosine kinases on adjacent cells after cell-to-cell contact and regulate many processes, including cell adhesion. The activation of EphB receptors is considered a "forward" signal of ephrinB. In the cell expressing ephrinB, "reverse signaling" occurs and involves phosphorylation of the C terminus of ephrinB leading to the recruitment of the adaptor protein Grb4 (growth factor receptor-bound protein 4) and the activation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Sequence analysis of the ephrinB C terminus revealed the presence of the conserved YXXQ motif that is important for the binding and activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which led Bong et al. to investigate whether ephrinB might also activate STAT3. The authors performed a series of immunoprecipitation and Western blotting experiments in Xenopus oocytes (and mammalian cell lines) transfected with wild-type and mutant forms of ephrinB and STAT3. ephrinB was activated either by the addition of the EphB2 ectodomain fused to the Fc portion of human immunoglobulin or in response to fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor activation, which is known to lead to ephrinB phosphorylation. ephrinB that was phosphorylated at two specific tyrosine residues recruited STAT3, which resulted in STAT3 phosphorylation that was Janus kinase 2 (Jak2)-dependent. Reporter assays and gel-shift experiments showed that ephrinB activation also increased both the DNA-binding and transcriptional activity of STAT3. Immunofluorescence microscopy in mouse embryonic neuroepithelial cells showed that ephrinB activation resulted in the phosphorylation and nuclear localization of STAT3. Together, these data suggest that STAT3-mediated regulation of gene transcription may represent another "reverse" signaling pathway for ephrinB. Y.-S. Bong, H.-S. Lee, L. Carim-Todd, K. Mood, T. G. Nishanian, L. Tessarollo, I. O. Daar, ephrinB1 signals from the cell surface to the nucleus by recruitment of STAT3. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 17305-17310 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The existence of different varieties of the acquired reading disorder termed "phonological dyslexia" is demonstrated in this thesis. The data are interpreted in terms of an information-processing model of normal reading which postulates autonomous routes for pronouncing lexical and non-lexical items and identifies a number of separable sub-processes within both lexical and non-lexical routes. A case study approach is used and case reports on ten patients who have particular difficulty in processing non-lexical stimuli following cerebral insult are presented, Chapters 1 and 2 describe the theoretical background to the investigation. Cognitive models of reading are examined in Chapter 1 and the theoretical status of the current taxonomy of the acquired dyslexias discussed in relation to the models. In Chapter 2 the symptoms associated with phonological dyslexia are discussed both in terms of the theoretical models and in terms of the cosistency with which they are reported to occur in clinical studies. Published cases of phonological dyslexia are reviewed. Chapter 3 describes the tests administered and the analysis of error responses. The majority of tests require reading aloud of single lexical or non-lexical items and investigate the effect of different variables on reading performance. Chapter 4 contains the case reports. The final chapter summarises the different patterns of reading behaviour observed. The theoretical model predicts the selective impairment of subsystems within the phonological route. The data provide evidence of such selective impairment. It is concluded that there are different varieties of phonological dyslexia corresponding to the different loci of impairment within the phonological route. It is also concluded that the data support the hypothesis that there are two lexical routes. A further subdivision of phonological dyslexia is made on the basis of selective impairment of the direct or lexical-semantic routes.


Two different approaches for improving the representation of background error standard deviations have been developed and introduced into the HIRLAM high-resolution limited area model 3-D variational data assimilation scheme. One of the methods utilizes a horizontally varying climatological background error standard deviation field, estimated from a time-series of innovations. The second approach attempts to take temporal and spatial variations of the background error standard deviations into account by applying an Eady instability measure to the background field. The two approaches are described in detail and their functionality is demonstrated. Parallel data assimilation and forecasts experiments indicate a slightly positive impact on average verification scores, and in addition a positive impact is demonstrated for an individual synoptically active case.


This article approaches literary translation from a contact-linguistic perspective and views translation as a language contact situation in which the translator "moves" between the source and target language. The study touches upon the possible linguistic effects of the source text on the translated text and relates the translation-mediated cross-linguistic influence to other language-contact situations. The study investigates the use of Finnish passive in a corpus of literary texts consisting of Finnish translations from Estonian and German and comparable non-translated Finnish literary texts. The translated texts are compared with non-translated ones by using corpus-linguistic tools, and the results are related to a previous contact-linguistic study on the use of the Finnish passive in spoken interviews of Finnish migrants in Estonia. The main objective is to test methodological tools that could be used for this kind of comparative purposes. In addition, the study approaches the question whether translation as a type of language contact affects the use of the Finnish passive in a similar way as an oral language contact situation. All in all, the study shows that there are some features that differentiate the investigated literary translations from non-translated Finnish texts but the evidence is not unambiguous. The article discusses the possible reasons for the mainly non-conclusive results of the analysis and points out factors that should be taken into account in future studies, such as the size of the sub-corpora and the possibly biased text or genre specific stylistic characteristics. The methodology clearly has to be adjusted and more in-depth methods developed in order to acquire a fuller picture of the Finnish passive in literary texts and to confirm what is author, translator, genre or source-language specific in the use of the Finnish passive.


INTRODUCTION: DEFENCE AND SECURITYFor some time now, Canadians have not been overly concerned about national defence.(f.1) They have felt no threat of imminent invasion; they have not seen their core values or institutions under challenge by some foreign, or even some domestic, force; they have not been coerced into domestic or foreign policies inimical to their preferences.(f.2) Indeed, the idea of national defence seems to be of decreasing relevance to most Canadians, except for the perception by some that the movement for Quebec sovereignty directly challenges Canadian security.(f.3)But that does not mean that there has been no activity in this sector of public life. Since 1993 a series of government documents has emanated from the House, Senate, and the Departments of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and of National Defence (DND);(f.4) parliament has convened hearings; and the informed public has offered its assessments of foreign and defence policy.(f.5) To this list can be added the special reports commissioned to address specific concerns, including the Reserves, the Somalia Inquiry, maritime and naval issues, United Nations rapid reaction capability, procurement matters such as fixed wing and helicopter aircraft and conventionally powered submarines, the military justice system, and the 'quality of life' concerns of the families of members of the Canadian Armed Forces. What animates many of these efforts is a need to reorganize, reform, and refocus the Canadian military in the post--cold war world and to relocate it within Canadian society.Both DFAIT and DND undertook internal assessments in the late 1980s of their respective capacities to formulate and implement policies attuned to the dramatic changes unfolding during the period, especially around East-West relations. Already, then, some analysts in Ottawa and in the academic community were keenly aware of the need to rethink their ideas about international security.(f.6) But even with well informed reviews and reports, the analyses and sentiments have still not been codified or consolidated into an overall strategic view of Canada's place in the world of war and peace. This is not the place to pursue the larger issue, but it is worth noting that, in spite of much effort by people within and outside of official circles, no single statement or document clearly articulates for Canadians what it means today to have a professional Canadian Armed Forces. Why should a significant, albeit decreasing, proportion of the government's budget and taxpayers' dollars go towards maintaining a military force?(f.7)From Bosnia and Kosovo to Chechnya, the Great Lakes Region to Sierra Leone, Afghanistan to Sri Lanka, and Algeria to the Gulf, the use of organized force does not seem to have diminished. Enduring rivalries and protracted conflict and violence, whether intra- or interstate, are indicative of both the continuing utility and the perverse misuse of military force. It is equally obvious that none of these or, for that matter and to our good fortune, any other example directly threatens Canada - or at least only so far as it offends Canadian values and, for some, Canadian interests. Canadians and their government make that determination. For reasons ranging from the normative to the instrumental, they present these activities in ways that link Canadians to the event or to the outcome. These are not, in and of themselves, national defence concerns, though they are issues that are potentially within the mission and mandate of the Canadian Armed Forces.Of course, some analysts have perceived palpable threats to Canada or to Canadian interests in a number of recent cases: fish and maritime zones on east and west coasts; Arctic issues; questions about the penetration of Canada by non-Canadian cultural forces, which are at least as relevant as they were thirty years ago; and who really controls the economy. The same issues, with their own particular colour, inform much of the nationalist debate around Quebec and federalism. …


This paper provides a preliminary analysis of the variegated extent of financialisation of European economies since circa 1980. For this purpose, the broad characterisation of financialisation offered by Fine (2012) is adopted. This characterisation identifies eight features of the financialisation process. We focus in particular on the size of the financial sector within a selection of European economies. Data show that the financialisation process is not reflected in the share of employment in the financial sector. This is likely to be the result of the labour-saving nature of technological and organisational innovations introduced in the financial sector in the last two decades. By contrast, the increasing weight of finance in the economy is reflected in the ratio of the value added of the financial sector to total value added and by the ratio of the value of financial assets to GDP. Overall, we find that most European countries have undergone a process of financialisation in the last three decades. However, this process has been variegated, leading us to coin the term 'variegated financialisation'. The variegation of the financialisation process is likely to be explained by differences in economic and social structures between nations, regions and systems.