Objectives
1. To determine drug misusers' views about their primary health care and their relationship with
general practitioners.
2. To undertake a controlled evaluation of small group education of general practitioners in the
management of drug misusers.
Method
1. Drug misusers attending five treatment services in north east London - a general practice with a
special interest in managing drug misuse; a private drug clinic; a community drug team; a drug
dependence unit and a street agency - were interviewed using a semi-structured interview and
the Social Functioning Questionnaire.
2. All general practitioners who practised within the former North East Thames Regional Health
Authority were approached to take part in small group teaching about drug misuse. This was
conducted over two consecutive afternoons in a general practice, with four follow-up seminars.
The trained doctors were compared with two groups of untrained general practitioners. Outcome
measures included: Drug Training Questionnaire responses at the outset and 9 months after
training; evaluation of the training appraised on a ten point Likert scale; Home Office Addicts Index
and North Thames Regional Drug Misuse Database figures for notification of newly presenting
subjects, for each of the three groups of general practitioners, 8 months prior to training and 8 and
16 months after training.
Results
Ninety percent of the drug misusers were registered with a non-specialist general practitioner and
88% of these doctors were aware of their patients' drug use. Half of the non-specialist general practitioners aware of their patient's drug use were reported as prescribing substitute medication.
Sixty percent of misusers attending the non-specialist doctors perceived their general practitioners
to hold negative or neutral views about them. Doctors in the specialist general practice were more
likely to prescribe, compared to the other four centres, and 97% of their patients believed these
doctors had a positive view of drug misusers. The specialist general practice was more active in
providing counselling and/or education about drug misuse.
2. Forty doctors attended the teaching programme. Twenty-eight doctors comprised comparison
group one (interested but unable to attend the teaching) and 30 formed comparison group two(not interested in training but completed questionnaires). The about to be trained group were seeing and treating more drug misusers compared to the comparison groups. The overall ratings for the teaching programme were high (7.9 for usefulness and 8.0 for interest - maximum score 10).
Doctors in the trained group were found to be notifying significantly more drug misusers to the
Home Office and prescribing methadone more frequent1y 16 months after the teaching, than
doctors in the comparison groups. Over 9 months, the Drug Training Questionnaires
demonstrated no significant changes. The cost of the course per doctor was £127.
Conclusions
1. The majority of drug misusers attending treatment centres are registered with general practitioners
and regarded them as an important health resource in managing both their drug use and wider
medical issues, despite the reluctance of non-specialist general practitioners to be involved in
prescribing and a high prevalence of unfavourable attitudes towards drug misusers.
2. The participating doctors assessed the teaching programme positively and it was relatively cheap
to run. The self-report questionnaires as a single determinant of outcome revealed no significant
change in attitudes, knowledge or behaviour but when assessed by more objective means,
demonstrated a rise in notification rates and methadone prescribing by the trained doctors.


Objective: To determine and compare the microleakage of a conventional acid-etched, light-cured lingual retainer adhesive system with a recently developed antibacterial monomer-containing adhesive with and without etching. Methods: Sixty human mandibular incisors were separated into three groups of 20 teeth each, which received the following treatments: group 1 (control) = Transbond LR (3M Unitek), conventional lingual retainer bonding; group 2 = Clearfil Protect Bond (Kuraray Medical) with acid-etching; and group 3 = Clearfil Protect Bond without acid-etching. The wire in each was 0.0215-inch multistranded PentaOne (Masel Orthodontics). Samples were sealed with nail varnish, stained with 0.5% basic fuchsin, and sectioned. Transverse sections were evaluated under a stereomicroscope and scored for microleakage in millimeters at the composite-enamel interface. Statistical analysis was performed by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests with Bonferroni correction. Results: Group 2 had less microleakage (0.11 ± 0.19 mm) than group 1 (0.26 ± 0.30 mm) or group 3 (0.24 ± 0.27 mm). However, the difference in the microleakage of the composite-enamel interface among all investigated groups was not significant (P > .05). Conclusion: The findings of this study do not speak against using an antibacterial monomer-containing self-etching adhesive to bond lingual retainers. World J Orthod 2009;10:196–201.


The literature shows that studies related to the practice of creative writing in primary schools are scarce, especially in Chinese societies. This case study has the modest aim to understand the current practice of the teaching of writing in a primary school and examine the effects of a tailor-made training program of creative writing practice on teachers. Participants consisted of the principal, two panel chairpersons of the Chinese Language subject, and four Chinese Language teachers at primary four level. After the provision of a training program to the four teachers by a doctoral level expert for one year, the participants were interviewed using an eight-item semi-structured questionnaire. Results revealed various difficulties experienced by students in writing. Teachers basically adopted the traditional approach to the teaching of writing. In addition, the school did not support the practice of creative writing. The case study showed that the teachers were able to produce significant positive results in terms of the teaching of creative writing provided that an effective and tailor-made training program was given to them by qualified trainers. Apart from the positive changes of the teachers, students were observed to be more creative in their writings. Directions for further research are discussed.


Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an economically important crop for the Southern United States. The southern US also has a long growing season suitable for double cropping a second crop after small grains; however, the harvest date for the small grains typically occurs after the optimum planting window for cotton which reduces yield potential. A relay intercropping system was developed at Clemson University that allows interseeding of cotton into standing wheat 2 to 3 weeks before harvest with interseeded cotton yields similar to the conventional mono-cropped cotton. Therefore, the objectives of this study were 1) to determine the optimum tillage and planting methods for narrow row (76-cm) and wide row (97-cm) cotton, and 2) to compare narrow and wide row systems for conventional tillage cotton, cotton interseeded into standing wheat, and cotton planted into a terminated wheat cover crop on coastal plain soil. Two replicated tests were conducted to accomplish these objectives. In Study 1, conventional narrow row cotton combined with a deep tillage operation using Paratill yielded 23% more than conventional wide row cotton which had a deep tillage operation with a subsoiler just before planting. There were no differences between the conventional (97-cm row spacing) mono-crop and interseeded cotton yields. In Study 2, there was no significant difference in yield between narrow-row and wide-row cotton for each cropping system during the two years study. Both wide and narrow-row full season cotton had significantly higher yields than interseeded and cover crop planting systems in year two of the study. The two conservation cropping practices, wheat used as a cover crop and interseeding, showed considerable promise for reducing energy requirements, soil erosion, and wind-borne cotton damage associated with bare soil in conventional tillage. This research demonstrates the benefits of interseeding and narrow row spacing for sustainable cotton production in coastal plain soils of the Southern United States.


Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production sector globally, with production projected to double within the next 15–20 years. Future growth of aquaculture is essential to providing sustainable supplies of fish in national, regional and global fish food systems; creating jobs; and maintaining fish at affordable levels for resource-poor consumers. To ensure that the anticipated growth of aquaculture remains both economically and ecologically sustainable, we need to better understand the likely patterns of growth, as well as the opportunities and challenges, that these trends present. This knowledge will enable us to better prioritize investments that will help ensure the sustainable development of the sector. In Indonesia, WorldFish and partners have applied a unique methodology to evaluate growth trajectories for aquaculture under various scenarios, as well as the opportunities and challenges these represent. Indonesia is currently the fourth largest aquaculture producer globally, and the sector needs to grow to meet future fish demand. The study overlapped economic and environmental models with quantitative and participatory approaches to understand the future of aquaculture in Indonesia. Such analyses, while not definitive, have provided new understanding of the future supply and demand for seafood in Indonesia stretching to 2030. The learning from this research provides a foundation for future interventions in Indonesian fish food systems, as well as a suite of methodologies that can be applied more widely for insightful analyses of aquaculture growth trajectories in other countries or regions.


Encryption algorithms are known to be computationally intensive.They play a main role in information security systems. On the other side, those algorithms consume a significant amount of computing resources such as CPU time, memory, and battery power. This paper tries to present a fair comparison between the most common and used algorithms in data encryption field according to power consumption. It provides evaluation of six of the most common encryption algorithms namely: AES (Rijndael), DES, 3DES, RC2, Blowfish, and RC6. A comparison has been conducted for those encryption algorithms at different settings for each algorithm such as different sizes of data blocks, different data types, and finally encryption/decryption speed. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of each algorithm.


In the present study, the effect of main important factors affecting the headspace (HS) extraction efficiency of orange flavor compounds was investigated for the development of the solid phase microextraction (SPME) technique. The optimum HS-SPME conditions were established by using the diluted emulsion (1:100) including 15% NaCl, a 75 μm CAR/PDMS fiber at 45 °C for 15 min under stirring mode. Subsequently, the influence of different concentration levels of main beverage emulsion components namely Arabic gum (7-20% w/w), xanthan gum (0.1-0.5% w/w) and orange oil (6-14% w/w) on the physicochemical properties and release pattern of target volatile flavor compounds from orange beverage emulsion was studied using a three-factor central composite design (CCD). The main objective of this study was to determine the optimum level of the main emulsion components which led to the desirable response goals. The desirable response goals include: (1) the highest emulsion stability, viscosity, pseudoplastic behavior, turbidity, cloudiness, electrophoretic mobility and largest magnitude of ζ-potential; (2) the least turbidity loss rate, conductivity, size index, average droplet size, polydispersity index, pH and flavor release content; and (3) the target value for density. The results indicated that the physicochemical properties of emulsion and release behavior of target volatile flavor compounds from orange beverage emulsion were significantly (p 0.8) which had no indication of significant (p > 0.05) lack of fit in most cases, thus ensuring a satisfactory adjustment of the polynomial regression models fitted to the experimental data. The fitted models were accurately explained by the high variation of physicochemical properties of emulsion as a function of the proportion of main beverage emulsion components. In general, the predicted optimum for the orange beverage emulsion was 20% (w/w) Arabic gum, 0.3% (w/w) xanthan gum and 14% (w/w) orange oil. The results also indicated that CCD was found to be a very useful experimental design for investigating the variation of physicochemical properties of orange beverage emulsion and optimizing the proportion of beverage emulsion components leading to the desirable orange beverage emulsion. The results exhibited that independent variables had the least and most significant (p < 0.05) effects on the release of β-pinene and γ-terpinene, respectively. The effect of hydrocolloid concentration on volatile compound release was more pronounced with the negative effect of xanthan gum concentration on the overall release content. In the present study, the reduction in flavor release intensity may be explained by the different phenomena such as adsorption, complexation, entrapment, hydrogen bonds and encapsulation of target flavor compounds induced by their interactions with Arabic gum, xanthan gum and other matrix constituents. Consequently, the effect of different concentrations of pectin (1.5, 3 and 4.5% w/w), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5% w/w), glycerol (0.5, 1 and 1.5% w/w) and vegetable oil (2, 3 and 4% w/w) on the emulsion properties of the optimum beverage emulsion was investigated. The results indicated that these supplementary emulsion components (especially vegetable oil and pectin) could be used to modulate the physicochemical properties and release pattern of volatile flavor compounds from the orange beverage emulsion.


Romania in the past decades traversed a multitude of social and economic changes reflected in the increasing efficiently of its labour market in utilising and integrating young employees between the ages of 15 and 24 years old. This age group represents, in a broad economic view the future generations that will populate the labour market in the coming decades. Due to the effect of declining birth rates and lower fertility numbers this group is projected to shrink gradually. Thus, weakening over time, the total mass of adults that comprise the effective core of employees active on the labour market at one time or another. This decline is a direct result of population ageing through a decline in birth rates and fertility rates. Aim The aim of this paper is to explore the correlation and influences through a linear regression model between birth rates, employment rate and unemployment rate on the current status of Romania's labour market. Method:  The method used to present the links and influences is a linear regression model cupelled with correlation analysis. Findings: The expected results are that with the decline in birth rates and fertility a decline in the share of employees between the ages of 15 and 25 years old will occurs. Keywords: Population Aging (PA); Employment Rate (ER); Crude Birth Rate (CBR); Fertility Rate; Unemployment Rate (UR).


There is an urgent need to create a new generation of innovation-oriented agricultural that efficiently bring together agricultural research, training, commercialization, and extension. This paper calls for upgrading the training, extension, and commercialization functions of existing national agricultural research institutes (NARIs). This would build on a strong research tradition, ongoing training efforts, connections with the private sector and farmers, and extensive international partnerships. Upgrading NARIs in this manner would also lay the foundation for the emergence of the first generation of research universities in Africa with an initial focus on agriculture. The creation of agricultural innovation universities would serve as a starting point for broader efforts in Africa to strengthen the role of science, technology, and innovation in economic transformation. The paper provides a roadmap that can be used to guide the proposed reform efforts.


While the president's relationship to Congress has been carefully studied, the broader executive branch has received far less attention in that context. Scholars rely on assumptions about the relationship between the president and cabinet departments that remain untested. We construct the first statistical portrait of executive branch ideology by estimating ideal points for members of Congress, presidents, and the heads of cabinet-level departments between 1991-2004 in a Bayesian framework. We empirically assess claims about the composition of the president's administrative team and the influence of institutions on the ideology of principal executive decision-makers. We also test an important claim regarding the tradeoff between ideological congruence and budgetary authority to demonstrate the utility of our estimates for other scholars. Our analysis reveals a new picture of the executive branch as ideologically diverse, casting into doubt some essential assumptions in a substantial body of work on the separation of powers.


A reVIew of Australian meteorites, eliminating paired falls, gives a total of 184, compnsmg 67 irons, 9 stony-irons, and 108 stones (6 anchondrites and 102 chondrites); 10 of these were observed falls. Olivine and pyroxene compositions have been determined by microprobe analysis for most of the chondrites, and they have been examined microscopically and classified according to the Van SchmusWood classification. Additional data on mineral compositions are given for the enstatite achondrite Mt Egerton and the ureilites North Haig and Dingo Pup Donga; a bulk analysis of a small sample of the eucrite Emmaville has been made. Ringwoodite and majorite are recorded from the Coolamon meteorite, the third occurrence of these meteorite minerals. A list of Australian irons and stony-irons, giving Ni and Ge contents, structural type, and Ge-Ga class has been compiled, and the Ni-Ge data presented in a diagram.


Educational behaviour varies by age. One implication of this fact is that the value of aggregate education indicators such as enrolment ratios is influenced by the age structure of the population through a pure composition effect. This phenomenon is not generally acknowledged in educational statistics, much less accounted for. The scant treatment the question of age distribution has received in this context has been limited to examining it as a source of measurement error when comparing administrative and survey data sources. By using an age-standardization technique, the authors show how this very common demographic tool can straightforwardly be applied to educational metrics and how doing so alters the results. They conclude that the effect on net and gross participation ratios is moderate in general, but where comparisons are made between contexts with different cohort growth or school attendance profiles, lack of attention to population structures could bias conclusions.


Piston ring-pack-to-cylinder contact accounts for one of the major sources of frictional losses in internal combustion engines. The regime of lubrication alters during the piston cycle because of the transient nature of applied load and kinematic contact conditions. Ring geometry, surface topography, and lubricant rheology also play an important role. The aim is to attain full fluid film lubrication, thus reducing friction because of boundary interactions. Therefore, accurate prediction of lubricant film thickness and pressure distribution constitutes the first step in a proper analysis of piston ring—cylinder conjunction. The creation of a gap through elastic deformation is sought in order to inhibit asperity tip interactions. The generated contact pressures in the lubricant film are due to combined entraining motion and squeeze film effect. The integrated pressure distribution balances the elastic force due to ring tension and the applied combustion pressure acting behind the ring. The article highlights a detailed analysis, which forms the basis for its future expansion to include the study of mixed regime of lubrication, which may be prevalent in some real engines.


Corruption may affect voter turnout either by mobilizing citizens to go to the polls or by promoting voter disaffection. Using Spanish local and survey data, we study whether these effects depend on partisan leanings or the timing of scandals. Our results show that repeated episodes of corruption increase the boost abstentionism. Independent voters – those with no political attachments – are the only group that that abstains in response to corruption. The incumbent's core supporters fail to recognise corruption within their party, while both independent voters and the opposition's core supporters report higher corruption perceptions in response to a scandal.


Author(s): Johnson, Larry | Advisor(s): Ojcius, David M. | Abstract: Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria, have been identified as major contributing pathogens in the etiology of mild to acute periodontitis. They are opportunistic pathogens that are highly adapted to colonize the oral epithelial tissues. P. gingivalis has also been associated with a variety of other chronic and inflammatory conditions including orodigestive cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, liver disease, and diabetes. Whereas, F. nucleatum has been linked to Lemierre's syndrome and skin ulcers. Recognition and clearance of these pathogens are regulated by inflammation and host immune response. We aimed to study the mechanisms and inflammatory responses (focusing on the effect with intracellular complexes known as inflammasomes) used by P. gingivalis and F. nucleatum to survive and persist during infection in gingival epithelial cells (GECs). Our findings indicate P. gingivalis infection inhibits inflammasome activation and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines by secretion of nucleoside-diphosphate kinase (NDK) to hydrolyze extracellular ATP. By defining NDK as a key enzyme for influencing inflammation in P. gingivalis infection, therapeutic methods can be designed to possibly target NDK to prevent and treat periodontitis. On the other hand, GECs infected with F. nucleatum induce an opposite immune response of upregulated cytokine production and release as a result of inflammasome activation. In vivo studies with BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice also show pro-inflammatory response during infection. Our findings can be used as a model of invasion during F. nucleatum infection in vitro and in vivo. Expanding our understanding of host response to pathogenic bacteria is important for limiting progression of periodontitis and other emerging systematic disease linked to these bacteria.


The research aims to inform the OFFA Access agreement on the financial provision the university can offer and the impact of bursaries on students' lives.Findings from focus groups with 1st and 2nd year University of Brighton students receiving a bursary and students who are not entitled to a bursary with a parental income between £25.000 and £42.620 are reported. The research was commissioned by the University's Senior Management team and carried out by the School of Applied Social Science.


Th is paper presents the results of chemical composition and microbiological safety testing of dry cured meat products, fermented and semi-dry or pasteurized sausages produced by several meat industries from Herzegovina. In the period from 2016 to 2018, a total of 85 meat products were sampled.Th ese included 20 samples of fermented pork sausages, 10 samples of dry-cured pork loin, 5 samples of dry-cured pork neck and 50 samples of heat-treated sausages. Quality control testing of the samples included determination of meat protein, crude fat, moisture, sodium nitrite and polyphosphates content in sausages, using standard analytical methods. It was confi rmed that all analysed samples meet the requirements in terms of chemical composition, level of additives and microbiological safety. In comparison with dry cured meat products and sausages analyses results, with minimum requirements that are set forth in regulations for that product category. Th e above mentioned suggests that the analysed samples are good quality products and they are in compliance with the regulations.


This article considers the founding publications in what became W. T. Stead's 'Masterpiece Library', the 'Penny Poets', which were first published in 1895. It offers a detailed account of the series and its publishing contexts, and then proceeds to set that account within a larger inquiry into the canon created by and in Stead's series, and its relation to late nineteenth-century educational reforms. In doing so, the article interrogates Stead's own account of the success of the series in the Review of Reviews and elsewhere, used uncritically by Joseph Baylen in the only substantial account to date. By moving outside the critical 'intercommunication' that marks Baylen's approach, the article brings our account of the materiality of the Penny Poets up to date, and suggests areas where further research might now be directed.


In 1916, the United States of America entered into a treaty with the United Kingdom, acting on behalf of Canada, to protect migratory birds from unrestrained killing. Two years later, Congress enacted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) to give effect to this convention. The United States subsequently entered into similar agreements with Mexico in 1936, Japan in 1972, and the Soviet Union in 1976, which were thereafter incorporated into the provisions of the MBTA. The MBTA's prohibition against pursuing, hunting, taking, capturing, or killing any migratory bird, or any part, nest, or egg of such birds, however, is not motivated by the desire to protect human property interests. This Note explores America's attachment to wildlife as property under the terms of the conventions, the statutory language, the history, and the caselaw pertaining to the MBTA, with specific focus on the curious distinction between wild and captive-bred mallard ducks. Wild beasts and birds are by right not the property merely of the people today, but the property of the unborn generations, whose belongings we have no right to squander.1


FDOT, in pursuit of its role to assist in providing public transportation services in Florida, has made a substantial research investment in a travel demand forecasting tool for public transportation known as Transit Boardings Estimation and Simulation Tool (TBEST). TBEST incorporates supporting databases that allow users to model transit services for purposes of determining future needs and optimizing current resource deployments by targeting the best markets and route configurations. This research effort is designed to explore enhancements to TBEST to increase its predictive capability and further enhance its value to transit planners. Two key and related areas are targeted. First, the project explores model calibration with parcel-level data. This involves increasing the geographic precision of transit ridership modeling by using parcel-specific data on land use to understand the activity at the parcel level, and hence, the potential for transit ridership. Second, the project explores strategies to more robustly address the issue of special generators. The project determined that transitioning to a parcel-based model is a promising improvement for TBEST. It enables a more precise capturing of the accessibility of transit stops, which has been shown to be critical to transit use. In addition, it accommodates a shift to a trip production/attraction-based data framework that enhances the information on which one can base a transit forecast. In summary, increased computing power, improved databases such as the parcel property inventory, and a strong understanding of factors that influence transit use have enabled the development of more powerful tools to support transit planning. While transit ridership remains highly variable at the stop level and hence difficult to model, great strides are being made, and the full deployment of parcel-level transit models seems inevitable as a logical advancement in the state of the practice.


This book lays out a path leading from the linguistic and cognitive basics, to classical rule-based and machine learning algorithms, to todays state-of-the-art approaches, which use advanced empirically grounded techniques, automatic knowledge acquisition, and refined linguistic modeling to make a real difference in real-world applications. Anaphora and coreference resolution both refer to the process of linking textual phrases (and, consequently, the information attached to them) within as well as across sentence boundaries, and to the same discourse referent. The book offers an overview of recent research advances, focusing on practical, operational approaches and their applications. In part I (Background), it provides a general introduction, which succinctly summarizes the linguistic, cognitive, and computational foundations of anaphora processing and the key classical rule- and machine-learning-based anaphora resolution algorithms. Acknowledging the central importance of shared resources, part II (Resources) covers annotated corpora, formal evaluation, preprocessing technology, and off-the-shelf anaphora resolution systems. Part III (Algorithms) provides a thorough description of state-of-the-art anaphora resolution algorithms, covering enhanced machine learning methods as well as techniques for accomplishing important subtasks such as mention detection and acquisition of relevant knowledge. Part IV (Applications) deals with a selection of important anaphora and coreference resolution applications, discussing particular scenarios in diverse domains and distilling a best-practice model for systematically approaching new application cases. In the concluding part V (Outlook), based on a survey conducted among the contributing authors, the prospects of the research field of anaphora processing are discussed, and promising new areas of interdisciplinary cooperationand emerging application scenarios are identified. Given the books design, it can be used both as an accompanying text for advanced lectures in computational linguistics, natural language engineering, and computer science, and as a reference work for research and independent study. It addresses an audience that includes academic researchers, university lecturers, postgraduate students, advanced undergraduate students, industrial researchers, and software engineers.


This paper investigates the power of opposition parliamentary party groups when scrutinising their governments' decision-making concerning European Union issues, an important component in assuring democracy within the emerging multi-level system of governance in the EU. It first sets out the advantages that this provides to the political system, including improving government performance, improved democratic legitimacy, the channelling of disagreement and conflict into parliament, and preparing the opposition to govern. The article then proposes a set of criteria for measuring such power, which focus on the legal framework, institutional structures, and strategic behaviours, which give power to opposition parties when conducting scrutiny. Finally, the article considers these variables in four EU member states to evaluate empirically the power of opposition parties to scrutinise their government's EU decision-making. Because the power of scrutiny over EU matters must be seen in the context of the overall relationship of executive–legislative relations in a country, the four countries have been chosen to represent a country with a majority government (UK), two coalition governments (Germany and the Netherlands), and a minority government (Denmark). This analysis shows that opposition parties in parliaments with minority governments have the greatest power to scrutinise their government, followed by parliaments with coalition governments. Opposition parties in parliaments with majority governments have the least power.


The monument - a quadriga - the Athenians dedicated on the Acropolis for their victory over the Boeotians and the Chalcidians in 506 B.C. has always aroused great interest, both in antiquity and down to the present day: not only is the monument well attested by ancient sources, but it was also restored around the middle of the 5th century, as witnessed by inscriptions; consequently, the 6th century original and the 5th century restoration have been the subject of a long scholarly debate. This paper focuses on the topographical context of the victory monument and that of its restoration, trying to ascertain where they were dedicated. Accordingly, modern theories are critically reviewed and ancient sources thoroughly examined. The latter, together with epigraphical, religious and political reasons, suggest that the original quadriga and its restoration were erected on the same site inside the Acropolis.


We investigate the optical properties of a true three-dimensional metamaterial that was fabricated using a self-assembly bottom-up technology. The metamaterial consists of closely packed spherical clusters being formed by a large number of non-touching gold nanoparticles. After presenting experimental results, we apply a generalized Mie theory to analyze its spectral response revealing that it is dominated by a magnetic dipole contribution. By using an effective medium theory we show that the fabricated metamaterial exhibits a dispersive effective permeability, i.e. artificial magnetism. Although this metamaterial is not yet left-handed it might serve as a starting point for achieving bulk metamaterials by using bottom-up approaches.


This book tracks and evaluates the impact of the ECHR on eighteen national legal orders. As the reports demonstrate, national systems are increasingly porous to the influence of the ECHR and the case law of its Court. European States no longer embody insular, autonomous, self-defined legal systems, if ever they did. At the constitutional level, the systems of every country surveyed in this volume have experienced significant structural change. To take two dramatic examples, judges once prohibited from engaging in judicial review of statute now do so routinely, with reference to European rights; and the dualist features of many legal systems have given way to a sophisticated monism, when it comes to the Convention. Further, how the different branches of Government interact with one another has been changed, radically in some States, to the extent that the regime's evolution has served to undermine traditional separation of powers dogmas. This volume also examines the impact of the Strasbourg Court's jurisprudence on legislators, executives, and judges. Thousands of discreet legal and policy outcomes have been altered as a result of the influence of Convention rights. It is also clear that legal education and scholarship are also changing in ways that will help to consolidate the regime's domestic presence and legitimacy. The impact of the ECHR is organized by a complex social process that we call reception.1 The reports identify a diverse range of mechanisms of reception: those stable procedures that national officials construct and use in order to adapt the national legal order to the ECHR, as it develops over time. The reports show that no State can fully insulate itself from the regime's reach and influence. The best States can do is to build and maintain their own system of strong national rights protection, and to develop effective mechanisms of reception. The reports also show that the intensity of the influence of the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Court on domestic systems varies widely across States; and the Court's impact has increased over time, in some legal domains more than others, within each


Private minivans have come to be used to augment the public bus transportation system on larger islands or else to provide the only regular transportation on smaller islands. This minivan system has been exported by expatriate Caribbeans to some US towns, such as New York. As well similar systems have developed on other continents, as pointed out in a recent article on South Africa by Bertie Neethling. These minivans have been given names by their owners that are prominently painted on the vehicle or else displayed on the windshield. The names give an insight into local culture and tradition. I will deal mainly with the naming of such vehicles on St. Kitts and Nevis, but make some passing reference to other islands, such as Grenada and Carriacou.


This paper describes the air quality data products and services available through Giovanni, a web based tool for access, visualization, and analysis of satellite remote sensing products, and also model output and surface observations relevant to global air quality. Available datasets include total column aerosol measurements from numerous satellite instruments, column NO2 and SO2, vertical aerosol products from CALIPSO, surface PM2.5 concentrations over the continental U.S, and speciated model Aerosol Optical Depth. Giovanni was designed to make satellite and ground-based data easier to use; it does not require separate access to or downloading of data sets, making the visualizations and analysis services accessible to both the novice and the experienced user. Giovanni air quality data products are provided on a common grid and can also be obtained in KMZ format for Google Earth visualization. This feature allows collocation of datasets to aid in analysis of pollution events and to facilitate satellite/monitor comparisons and aerosol intercomparison studies in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods. Giovanni also supports multiple interoperability protocols which permit data sharing with other online tools, in order to enhance access to the datasets for improved air quality decision making. The Giovanni team is currently actively involved in several data networking initiatives with service oriented tools at other institutions such as DataFed.


Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM's) are used in many applications that require rapid torque response and high – performance operation. New developed materials such as magnetic materials, conducting materials and insulating materials as well as several new applications have greatly contributed to development of small and special purpose machines. Using such materials the size of the motor would considerably reduce and high performance motors can be built. Due to several new applications these motors are quite popular &use in a developing country such as India for Automotive application. In a permanent magnet synchronous motor, the dc field winding of the rotor is replaced by a permanent magnet. The advantages are elimination of field copper loss, higher power density, lower rotor inertia and more robust construction of the rotor. The demerits are loss of flexibility of field flux control and possible demagnetization effect. The PMSM has higher efficiency than an induction motor, but generally its cost is higher, which makes the life cycle cost of the drive somewhat lower. PMSM particularly at low power range are widely used in industry. Recently, the interest in their application is growing, particularly up to 100 KW, only reluctance motor are simpler in construction and in assembly procedure then PMSM, but reluctance motor generally developed less torque per unit of current and per unit of weight. Therefore, on a basis of power output per unit weight (and general, per unit volume) the PMSM is superior to all other brushless synchronous motor especially with the commercial feasibility of rare earth magnets. Section 1. describes the introduction section 2.describes Classification  of permanent magnet AC motor section 3. describes the conclusion.


The purpose of the quantitative, ex post facto, correlational research study was to describe a relationship between rural allied health care mean customer satisfaction scores and allied health care departments' generation of revenue for a hospital. The research method for the study was appropriate because it identified a relationship between two variables: the customer service skills of allied health care practitioners and a hospital's gross revenue. The study involved analyzing historical patient satisfaction surveys and corresponding hospital revenue statements from a rural hospital in northeastern Oklahoma for a 25-month period. The study revealed a correlation and impact of the allied health care practitioner on hospital survival. Revenue was positively significantly correlated with three of the satisfaction ratings from the Emergency Department. These correlations were for STD tests (r = .41, p < .05), courtesy of the person drawing blood (r = .40, p = .05), and concern of radiology personnel (r = .45, p < .05). None of the correlations between revenue and Inpatient ratings achieved significance. The trend tended to be in the same direction as the Emergency Department ratings, such that all of the correlations were positive with the exception of the Waiting rating (r = -.14, p > .05). The correlation was negative, but was rather small and insignificant.


SUMMARY This paper deals with the design and implementation of a visual kinematic control scheme for a redundant manipulator. The inverse kinematic map for a redundant manipulator is a one-to-many relation problem; i.e. for each Cartesian position, multiple joint angle vectors are associated. When this inverse kinematic relation is learnt using existing learning schemes, a single inverse kinematic solution is achieved, although the manipulator is redundant. Thus a new redundancy preserving network based on the self-organizing map (SOM) has been proposed to learn the one-to-many relation using sub-clustering in joint angle space. The SOM network resolves redundancy using three criteria, namely lazy arm movement, minimum angle norm and minimum condition number of image Jacobian matrix. The proposed scheme is able to guide the manipulator end-effector towards the desired target within 1-mm positioning accuracy without exceeding physical joint angle limits. A new concept of neighbourhood has been introduced to enable the manipulator to follow any continuous trajectory. The proposed scheme has been implemented on a seven-degree-of-freedom (7DOF) PowerCube robot manipulator successfully with visual position feedback only. The positioning accuracy of the redundant manipulator using the proposed scheme outperforms existing SOM-based algorithms.


This Comment addresses whether California's Vessel Fuel Rules, which require all foreign and U.S. flagged vessels traveling within twenty-four miles of California's coastline to use low-sulfur content fuels, is preempted by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. More specifically, this Comment addresses whether the Clean Air Act, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), the Submerged Lands Act, and/or general principles of federal maritime law prohibit the California Air Resources Board from enforcing its Vessel Fuel Rules against vessels engaged in maritime commerce in navigable waters, particularly waters beyond the three-mile band beyond the California coastline which marks the state's territorial boundary. This Comment argues that the Clean Air Act and MARPOL may preempt California's regulations, but that the Submerged Lands Act does not. It further proposes that the Submerged Lands Act informs the analysis of whether general principles of maritime law - a federal common law that prohibits state regulation from interfering with the uniformity of federal maritime law in its interstate and international relations - preempt the Vessel Fuel Rules. It concludes that the Rules are likely preempted by the general maritime law because they substantially interfere with the federal interest in a uniform maritime law. This Comment argues that the Ninth Circuit's panel decision in Pacific Merchant Shipping Association v. Goldstene, 639 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2011), erred by affording California's regulations a presumption against preemption because such a presumption is not generally afforded where state regulations bear upon maritime commerce. This Comment provides a comprehensive lens through which to view the application of case precedent and federal maritime law principles to state environmental regulations where such regulations are enforced in navigable waters beyond state boundaries.


West Michigan has endured and persevered through a considerable economic hardship throughout the past several years. Despite the odds, even the most troubled sectors of the commercial real estate industry have slowly recovered and are showing signs of further growth in the coming year. The following article will give a depiction of how the market has performed and where the recent trends are heading in the coming year. All information is based on a compilation of data collected for each division of commercial real estate for the 2005 year.


High fuel costs have encouraged producers of greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in the mid-Atlantic region to reduce air temperatures during the day. However, effects on fruit ripening and yield are not known, especially under the low light conditions found in off-season production. This 2-yr study compared fruit ripening and yield of tomato under two temperature regimes during the fall season. Two sets of 18 tomato plants, three rows of six, were grown in soilless culture under either a warm or cool temperature regime. Temperatures were similar during night hours but allowed to rise to at least 2124 oC in the cool greenhouse section and 23-26 oC in the warm section, depending on daily solar heating. Mean 24 hour temperature difference between zones was less than 2 oC. Ripe tomato fruit were harvested and weighed 3 times per week for 8 weeks and the remaining un-ripened green tomatoes were weighed at the termination of the experiment to obtain total fruit biomass. The warm zone produced significantly greater weight of ripe tomatoes (23%) than the cool zone. However, total fruit weight (ripe and green), was not significantly different. Thus, a relatively small increase in temperature (2 oC) during the mid-day was associated with a significant increase in fruit ripening but not in total fruit weight. This study showed that greenhouse temperature could be used to better manage fruit production to match weekly market demand without affecting total fruit weight and that consistently maintaining a cool greenhouse would delay tomato ripening and likely increase the potential for plant stress due to high fruit loads remaining on the vines.


This paper describes a teacher knowledge framework for technology integration called technological pedagogical content knowledge (originally TPCK, now known as TPACK, or technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge). This framework builds on Lee Shulman's (1986, 1987) construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to include technology knowledge. The development of TPACK by teachers is critical to effective teaching with technology. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the complex, ill-structured nature of teaching. The nature of technologies (both analog and digital) is considered, as well as how the inclusion of technology in pedagogy further complicates teaching. The TPACK framework for teacher knowledge is described in detail as a complex interaction among three bodies of knowledge: content, pedagogy, and technology. The interaction of these bodies of knowledge, both theoretically and in practice, produces the types of flexible knowledge needed to successfully integrate technology use into teaching.


Exaggerated cyclooxygenase (COX) and thromboxane-prostanoid (TP) receptor-mediated endothelium-dependent contraction can contribute to endothelial dysfunction. This study examined the effect of resveratrol (RSV) on endothelium-dependent contraction and cell signaling in the common carotid artery (CCA) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY). Acetylcholine (Ach)-stimulated endothelium-dependent nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-mediated relaxation in precontracted SHR CCA was impaired (maximum 73 ± 6% vs. 87 ± 5% in WKY) (P < 0.05) by competitive COX-mediated contraction. Chronic (28-day) treatment in vivo (drinking water) with a ∼0.075 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1) RSV dose affected neither endothelium-dependent relaxation nor endothelium-dependent contraction and associated prostaglandin (PG) production evaluated in non-precontracted NOS-blocked CCA. In contrast, a chronic ∼7.5 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1) RSV dose improved endothelium-dependent relaxation (94 ± 6%) and attenuated endothelium-dependent contraction (58 ± 4% vs. 73 ± 5% in No-RSV) and PG production (183 ± 43 vs. 519 ± 93 pg/ml) in SHR CCA, while U46619-stimulated TP receptor-mediated contraction was unaffected. In separate acute in vitro experiments, 20-μM RSV preincubation attenuated endothelium-dependent contraction (6 ± 4% vs. 62 ± 2% in No Drug) and PG production (121 ± 15 vs. 491 ± 93 pg/ml) and attenuated U46619-stimulated contraction (134 ± 5% vs. 171 ± 4%) in non-precontracted NOS-blocked SHR CCA. Compound C, a known AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) inhibitor, did not prevent the RSV attenuating effect on Ach- and U46619-stimulated contraction but did prevent the RSV attenuating effect on PG production (414 ± 58 pg/ml). These data demonstrate that RSV can attenuate endothelium-dependent contraction both by suppressing arterial wall PG production, which may be partially mediated by AMPK, and by TP receptor hyporesponsiveness, which does not appear to be mediated by AMPK.


Introduction Preterm birth is a dire complication of pregnancy that poses huge long-term medical and financial burdens for affected children, their families, and the health care system. The aim of the present study was to identify characteristics associated with preterm births at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos, Nigeria from 2011 to 2013. Methods We obtained Information from 5,561 maternal, fetal/neonatal and obstetric records from the labor ward. We excluded delivery at less than 22 weeks (0.25%), post-term birth at ≥42 weeks gestation (1.3%), and unknown gestation (1.4%). Additionally, we excluded records of multiple births (5.4%) and stillbirths (8.3%) leaving 4,691 records of singleton live-births for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed comparing preterm birth (22-36 weeks gestation) to term birth (37-41 weeks gestation). Multiple variable models adjusting for maternal age, parity, fetal position, delivery method and booking status were also evaluated. Multinomial regression was used to identify characteristics associated with preterm birth (PTB) defined as early PTB (22-31 weeks gestation), moderate PTB (32-34 weeks gestation), late PTB (35-36 weeks gestation), compared to term birth (37-41 completed weeks gestation). Results From our data, 16.8% of the singleton live-birth deliveries were preterm (<37 weeks gestation). Of these, 4.7% were early (22-31 weeks), 4.5% were moderate (32-34 weeks) and 7.7% were late (35-36) PTBs. Older maternal age (≥35 years) [odds ratio (OR) = 1.41], hypertension (OR = 3.44) and rupture of membranes (OR = 4.03) were significantly associated with increased odds of PTB. Women being treated for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV were at a significantly decreased risk for PTB (OR = 0.70). Sixteen percent of women in this cohort were not registered for antenatal care in LUTH. These non-registered subjects had significantly greater odds of all categories of PTB, including early (odds ratio (OR) = 20.8), moderate (OR = 8.68), and late (OR = 2.15). Conclusion PTB and risks for PTB remain high in Nigeria. We recommend that any high risk pregnancy should be referred to a tertiary center for prenatal care in order to significantly reduce adverse birth outcomes such as PTBs.


We present an approach to learning features that represent the local geometry around a point in an unstructured point cloud. Such features play a central role in geometric registration, which supports diverse applications in robotics and 3D vision. Current state-of-the-art local features for unstructured point clouds have been manually crafted and none combines the desirable properties of precision, compactness, and robustness. We show that features with these properties can be learned from data, by optimizing deep networks that map high-dimensional histograms into low-dimensional Euclidean spaces. The presented approach yields a family of features, parameterized by dimension, that are both more compact and more accurate than existing descriptors.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between Attention deficit hyperactive symptoms and temperament and character profiles among preschool-age children. Total 694 preschool age children (mean age=5.7±0.45) were recruited for the study. The preschool Temperament and Character Inventory (psTCI) and DuPaul ADHD rating scale (K-ARS) were applied to evaluate the children. Statistical analysis was done to explore the association between psTCI profiles and ADHD symptom domains. The total ARS score was positively correlated with novelty seeking and harm avoidance. Inattention symptom domain was positively correlated both with novelty seeking and harm avoidance, whereas hyperactive symptom domain was only correlated with novelty seeking. Novelty seeking might be a universal genetic background for ADHD, and the level of harm avoidance could potentially be used to classify subtypes of ADHD.


We present a framework for automatic grading of programming exercises using property-based testing, a form of model-based black-box testing. Models are developed to assess both the functional behaviour of programs and their algorithmic complexity. From the functional correctness model a large number of test cases are derived automatically. Executing them on the body of exercises gives rise to a (partial) ranking of programs, so that a program A is ranked higher than program B if it fails a strict subset of the test cases failed by B. The model for algorithmic complexity is used to compute worst-case complexity bounds. The framework moreover considers code structural metrics, such as McCabe's cyclomatic complexity, giving rise to a composite program grade that includes both functional, non-functional, and code structural aspects. The framework is evaluated in a course teaching algorithms and data structures using Java.


This paper argues that Web 2.0 tools, specifically wikis, have begun to influence business and knowledge sharing practices in many organizations. Information Systems researchers have spent considerable time exploring the impact and implications of these tools in organizations, but those same researchers have not spent sufficient time considering whether and how these new technologies may provide opportunities for us to reform our core practices of research, review, and teaching. To this end, this paper calls for the IS discipline to engage in two actions related to wikis and other Web 2.0 tools. First, the IS discipline ought to engage in critical reflection about how wikis and other Web 2.0 tools could allow us to conduct our core processes differently. Our existing practices were formulated during an era of paper-based exchange; wikis and other Web 2.0 tools may enable processes that could be substantively better. Nevertheless, users can appropriate information technology tools in unexpected ways, and even when tools are appropriated as expected there can be unintended negative consequences. Any potential changes to our core processes should, therefore, be considered critically and carefully, leading to our second recommended action. We advocate and describe a series of controlled experiments that will help assess the impact of these technologies on our core processes and the associated changes that would be necessary to use them. We argue that these experiments can provide needed information regarding Web 2.0 tools and related practice changes that could help the discipline better assess whether or not new practices would be superior to existing ones and under which circumstances.


Many functional electrical stimulation (FES) controllers have been developed using a simulation approach, the performance of these controllers depends on the muscle model accuracy. Realistic models of neuro-musculoskeletal systems can provide a safe and convenient environment for the design and evaluation of FES controllers. A typical FES system consists of FES controller, an electrical stimulator, electrodes and sensors.

During FES, the stimulation level can change in a continuous fashion such that different motor-units are recruited at different muscle lengths and at different times. Furthermore, it is also not accurate to use the instantaneous length as input to the force-length relationship in dynamic (non-isometric) situations. Although instantaneous CE length is commonly used in FES control studies, empirical data from the literature were reviewed and it was concluded that the CE length at initial recruitment is a key parameter influencing total muscle force.

The author presents a new multiple motor-unit Hill-type muscle model that accounts for different motor units being recruited at different CE lengths and different times. Hence the model can account for a continuously changing recruitment level whilst using the individual motor unit lengths at initial recruitment as input to the force-length relationship. Moreover, the model is capable of modelling fatigue and force enhancement & depression for the individual motor-units (i.e. the recruitment and time history effects). The model can also take account of the different force-length and force-velocity relationships for different fibre types by modelling these properties for the individual motor-units.

The new multiple motor-unit model is described in detail, implemented and tested in Matlab. Open-loop simulation protocols are made on single/multiple motor-unit models using different CE lengths for the force-length relationship; on single/multiple motor-unit fatigue sub-models; and on single/ multiple motor-unit force enhancement & depression sub-models.

A general model that can be used to represent all relevant models from the literature was developed. This model can also be used to build new models at different levels of complexity. Such a "General Model" could be used to study the effect of model complexity on FES controller design so that appropriate trade-offs between model complexity and accuracy could be determined. Results, limitations and possible future work are discussed.


This research models the interrelationship of service quality, perceived value for time and money, and satisfaction to establish a system of relationships that predicts repurchase intention and repeat visits in museums. With increased competition from many leisure pursuits and dwindling funding, museums have more constraints in managing and designing customer retention programs. As a sector that ranges in offerings from large diverse public museums to small themed regional venues, research into visitor behavior offers support for the sector. Even though some museum managers are moving to marketing focused approach, the focus on custodianship is the legacy of many smaller and underfunded museum offerings. Although, a system of relationships including quality value and repurchase have been explored in other contexts, knowledge of the predictors of customer judgments in repurchase intention in a service paradigm is undeveloped in the museums sector. This article applies a model previously tested in the cultural arts, to identify whether the findings are replicated or whether explicit idiosyncratic effects exist for each context. A survey instrument customized to the museum sector was administered to a sample of 412 past and present museum visitors and examined using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that customers determine their repurchase intention based on the quality dimensions of the experience and perceived value for time and money rather than customer satisfaction. Unlike most other repurchase intention research there is no direct relationship of customer satisfaction to repurchase intention suggesting that customer satisfaction is a single transactional measure in a museum context. A patron is satisfied with each single event with this unlikely to contribute to the intent to visit at another time. It is evident that the decision to revisit is based on the value, quality, and utility created by the event in the consumer's mind. This is the first known article testing and presenting this system of relationships in the museum context.


Objectives: The objective of this study is to profile the health technology assessments (HTAs) produced in Canada and other selected countries and assess their potential to inform policy making about health systems in jurisdictions other than the ones for which they were produced, and to develop and pilot test prototypes for packaging and assessing the relevance of HTAs for health system managers and policy makers. Methods: We compiled an inventory of all HTAs that were produced by nine HTA agencies between September 2003 and August 2006; coded the title and abstract of each HTA according to the technologies assessed, methods used, and whether or not context-specific actionable messages were provided; developed a prototype for a structured, decision-relevant HTA summary and for a relevance-assessment form; and pilot-tested the prototypes using semistructured telephone interviews with a purposive sample of Canadian healthcare managers and policy makers. Results: Our review of the 223 HTAs identified that: (i) 44 HTAs addressed health system arrangements (20 percent); (ii) 205 incorporated a systematic review (92 percent), whereas only 12 incorporated a sociopolitical assessment using explicit methods (5 percent); and (iii) 50 contained context-specific actionable messages (22 percent). Our interviews identified significant support for both the general idea of an HTA summary and the prototype's specific elements, but mixed views about using peer assessments of relevance. Conclusions: Those involved in supporting the use of HTAs in policy making about health systems may wish to produce structured decision-relevant summaries for their systematic review-containing HTAs to increase the prospects for their HTAs being used outside the jurisdiction for which they were produced.


This article describes the roles of mentors to meet the need for mentors in electronic learning (eLearning) environments. The existing literature has documented factors impeding effective eLearning and the multiplicity of the faculty's roles that demands too much time on the faculty within eLearning environments. This article argues for the need for mentors to assist instruction and facilitate learning within eLearning environments. The roles of mentors built around the multiple roles of the faculty are then identifi ed as teaching assistants, social connectedness initiators, and technical supporters. A guideline for mentors outlining mentors' roles, responsibilities, and contributions was proposed. This guideline may be adopted by mentors as a fundamental job-aid in practicing mentoring. An example of implementation of mentors in an eLearning environment, which resulted in higher learning achievement, was also presented. In conclusion, it is suggested that mentors should be employed within eLearning environments for assisting students overcoming eLearning barriers and achieving effective learning within eLearning environments.


"A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings" collects stories of matchless charm and enduring popularity that enchanted listeners at Charles Dickens's public readings. This "Penguin Classics" is edited with an introduction and notes by Michael Slater. Since it was first published in 1843 "A Christmas Carol" has had an enduring influence on the way we think about the traditions of Christmas. Dickens's story of solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, has been adapted into countless film and stage versions since it was first published. Dickens's other Christmas writings collected here include "The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton", the short story from "The Pickwick Papers" on which "A Christmas Carol" was based; "The Haunted Man", a tale of a man tormented by painful memories; along with shorter pieces, some drawn from the "Christmas Stories" that Dickens wrote annually for his weekly journals. In all of them Dickens celebrates the season as one of geniality, charity and remembrance. This new selection contains an introduction by distinguished Dickens scholar Michael Slater discussing how the author has shaped ideas about the Christmas spirit, original illustrations by 'Phiz' and John Leech, an appendix on Dickens's use of "The Arabian Nights", a further reading list and explanatory notes. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language, whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books, including "Oliver Twist", "Great Expectations", "A Tale of Two Cities", "David Copperfield" and "The Pickwick Papers", have been adapted for stage and screen and read by millions. If you enjoyed "A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings", you might like Dickens's "The Pickwick Papers", also available in "Penguin Classics".


This article suggests that some illness experience may require a reading practice less concerned with narrative coherence or self-authorship, and more interested in the value of textual fragments, episodes and moments considered outside a narrative framework. Chronic pain can pose multiple challenges to the narrative orientations celebrated in both 'survivorship' discourse and classic medical humanities scholarship. In its recalcitrance to cure, its often mysterious aetiology and its complex blend of somatic, interpersonal and affective elements, representations of chronic pain can require a richer vocabulary of temporality. I draw on contemporary affect theory to augment the available critical vocabulary for the textual representation of protagonists' temporal orientation within illness experience, identifying a language for the emergent present that resists a narrative form. Beyond identifying narrative 'incoherence', affect discourse gives a way to recognise the strained, equivocal labour of incoherence, of inhabiting a cryptic present moment. Affect theory's attention to the emergent present may give a way to read incoherent 'chaos' outside from a narrative framework, not only as a dark, formless stage in a personal story. To expand our vocabulary for this position, I offer a term for a particular affective experience of the present amid repeated marginalisation: the temporality of thwarted connection. I illustrate how these concepts can enable an alternative reading stance by offering a brief analysis of Lous Heshusius's hybrid autobiography and academic study, Chronic Pain from the Inside Out.


Exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) has attracted attention of many researchers in the last three decades due to the adoption of flexible exchange rate system by many countries. The objectives of this study are to make a comparative study by exploring the literature relating pass-through for import prices and domestic prices in Australia, China and India. In particular, we test whether the exchange rate pass-through to import prices is complete, estimate the pass-through to CPI to investigate whether there is any association between the pass-through and the average inflation rate across these countries. Using a structural VAR model we test the exchange rate pass-through over the period 1990-2011. The impulse responses indicate that exchange rates have less effect in the rising domestic prices in China and India. This will have important policy implication for the monetary authorities.


Methods for analysis of texts and separate sentences in a natural language are under discussion. Their main application is to study a written speech with the help of mathematical logic, syntactic rules and the morphology of the modern Russian literary language. Various algorithms for matching predicates and formulas of first order predicate calculus with natural language texts are considered. Also some finite models are matched with parts of text and the text as a whole. The results of this paper may be applied in computer-aided systems of extracting information from natural language texts, in intellectual systems of searching information in the Internet, etc.


The South African government is currently discussing various alternative approaches to the further expansion of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in public-sector facilities. Alternatives under consideration include the criteria under which a patient would be eligible for free care, the level of coverage with testing and care, how much of the care will be delivered in small facilities located closer to the patients, and how to assure linkage to care and subsequent adherence by ART patients.We used the EMOD-HIV model to generate 12 epidemiological scenarios. The EMOD-HIV model is a model of HIV transmission which projects South African HIV incidence and prevalence and ARV treatment by age group for alternative combinations of treatment eligibility criteria and testing. We treat as sunk costs the projected future cost of one of these 12 scenarios, the baseline scenario characterizing South Africa's 2013 policy to treat people with CD4 counts less than 350. We compute the cost and benefits of the other 11 scenarios relative to this baseline. Starting with our own bottom-up cost analyses in South Africa, we separate outpatient cost into non-scale-dependent costs (drugs and laboratory tests) and scale-dependent cost (staff, space, equipment and overheads) and model the cost of production according to the expected future number and size of clinics. On the demand side, we include the cost of creating and sustaining the projected incremental demand for testing and treatment.Previous research with EMOD-HIV has shown that more vigorous recruitment of patients with CD4 counts less than 350 appears to be an advantageous policy over a five-year horizon. Over 20 years, however, the model assumption that a person on treatment is 92 percent less infectious improves the cost-effectiveness of higher eligibility thresholds over more vigorous recruitment at the lower threshold of 350, averting HIV infections for between $1,700 and $2,800 (under our central assumptions), while more vigorous expansion under the current guidelines would cost more than $7,500 per incremental HIV infection averted.Granular spatial models of demand and cost facilitate the optimal targeting of new facility construction and outreach services. Based on analysis of the sensitivity of the results to 1,728 alternative parameter combinations at each of four discount rates, we conclude that better knowledge of the behavioral elasticities would be valuable, reducing the uncertainty of cost estimates by a factor of 4 to 10.


For demographers fertility intentions are a long standing source of both interest and scepticism. Scepticism has been expressed because fertility intentions regularly fail to precisely predict fertility and because they are liable to change across the life course. Here we demonstrate an additional consideration: simply changing the questions that precede fertility intentions questions can have a significant influence on responses. We illustrate this risk using a series of randomised experiments with different preceding questions; first, on mortality and risk in two convenience samples of UK undergraduate students. Secondly, we will present provisional results from a ground-breaking longitudinal experiment where the manipulated preceding questions are on close family and friends. As far as we are aware this later study is the first time that question ordering experiment looking at fertility intentions has been embedded in a representative survey, and the first longitudinal measurement of preceding-question effects using the same individuals.


A solution-processable electrode is a key component in flexible electronics. Despite recent studies on silver nanocrystal (Ag NC)-based electrodes with high conductivity, the absence of a strategy to control the work function has limited the development of low-cost and high-performance electronic devices. In this report, we introduce a chemical route to manipulate the work function of solution-processed Ag NC-based electrodes. The structural, chemical, optical, and electronic properties, as well as the work functions, of the Ag NC thin films treated with three types of halide ligands (Cl−, Br−, and I−) were investigated. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that the work functions are shifted to 4.76, 4.43, and 4.04 eV when the ligands are changed to Cl−, Br−, and I−, respectively. The trend in the shift induced by the halide ligands matches the results of atomistic density functional theory calculations and scales with the strength of the dipoles formed by the electron transfer at the NC/ligand interfaces. To demonstrate the impact of our strategy in device applications, we fabricated all-NC-based thin-film transistors and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor inverters. This study provides a fundamental understanding of the surface states of nanomaterials and also offers technological benefits for the construction of low-cost, high-performance electronic devices.A solution-processable electrode is a key component in flexible electronics. Despite recent studies on silver nanocrystal (Ag NC)-based electrodes with high conductivity, the absence of a strategy to control the work function has limited the development of low-cost and high-performance electronic devices. In this report, we introduce a chemical route to manipulate the work function of solution-processed Ag NC-based electrodes. The structural, chemical, optical, and electronic properties, as well as the work functions, of the Ag NC thin films treated with three types of halide ligands (Cl−, Br−, and I−) were investigated. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that the work functions are shifted to 4.76, 4.43, and 4.04 eV when the ligands are changed to Cl−, Br−, and I−, respectively. The trend in the shift induced by the halide ligands matches the results of atomistic density functional theory calculations and scales with the strength of the dipoles formed by the electron transfer at the NC...


The authors use international business strategy and regional development literature to inform a set of propositions about the links between direct employment by foreign-owned subsidiaries in the manufacturing sector and the development of embeddedness and autonomy in these subsidiaries. A large-scale survey of French, German, and US manufacturing subsidiaries in the United Kingdom is used to test the importance of embeddedness (host-country sourcing and use of networks) and autonomy (decisionmaking and operational autonomy) for the growth of employment by foreign-owned subsidiaries and the growth of skilled jobs in such subsidiaries. The results indicate that growth of embeddedness and autonomy factors are important, especially for the growth of skilled jobs, but those subsidiaries that have this attribute are a minority of foreign-owned subsidiaries. In the light of these results, the authors argue that policies need to be geared towards developing embeddedness and encouraging the growth of autonomy in subsidiaries that are likely to be regarded as central to the overall objectives of multinational corporations (MNCs). This requires policymakers to be aware of the internationalisation strategies used by MNCs, particularly in the light of the emergence of new, low-cost, countries which can easily provide high-quality but low-cost manufacturing operations. An important conclusion is that simple promotion of networking among firms and supporting agencies, and attempts to improve the local asset pool are unlikely to be effective in most cases.


We present a study of the ability of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to detect dark matter (DM) annihilation signals from the Galactic subhalos predicted by the Via Lactea II N-body simulation. We implement an improved formalism for estimating the boost factor needed to account for the effect of DM clumping on scales below the resolution of the simulation, and we incorporate a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the response of the Fermi–LAT, including a simulation of its all-sky observing mode integrated over a 10 year mission. We find that for WIMP masses up to about 150 GeV c−2 in standard supersymmetric models with 〈σv〉 = 3 × 10−26 cm3 s−1, a few subhalos could be detectable with >5 standard deviation significance and would likely deviate significantly from the appearance of a point source.


Scientific research data evidences that the number of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is growing in Lithuania, as general global trend, however, Lithuanian educators are still unprepared to learn students with ASD (Diržytė, Mikulėnaitė ir Kalvaitis, 2016). One of the reasons of this issue – students' behavior problems, which significantly disturbs the process of education. The education system in Lithuania has not yet found its unified model of education for effective intervention plans for students with problem behavior, while Functional behavior assessment (FBA) is already successfully used to reduce problem behavior of children with ASD in the United States and in part of Western European countries. The purpose of this article – to explore the practice of Western countries in the application of FBA procedures for the purposes of developing interventions for students with ASD. The meta-analysis of secondary data was performed for the purposes of this research. The article deals only with those studies' results, which are directly related to the core problem of this article. The overview of the foreign studies has clearly shown that FBA methods may be effectively applied in both – group and individual learning – to reduce problem behaviours of children with ASD. FBA is a process when the variables influencing problem behavior are identified and this allows you to identify an effective treatment for severe problem behavior. The FBA provides the means to reduce challenging behavior sets for students with ASD and to use the outcomes of an FBA to develop function-based intervention plans. Data is essential in determining the effectiveness of an intervention and its durability. Behavior problems of students with ASD have been addressed successfully by using reinforcement of alternative behavior and extinction of inappropriate behavior. Additional research is necessary in order to find out and justify the effectiveness of the application of FBA in the Lithuanian realm.


The national reform agenda for early childhood education and care across Australia has led to an increased demand for qualified early childhood teachers. In response, universities have developed innovative approaches in delivering early childhood teacher education courses designed to support existing diploma qualified educators to gain their teaching qualifications. One such course at a major Australian University incorporated a flexible multi-modal option of study which included community-based, on line e-learning and face-to-face intensive tutorials. This paper reports on a study examining the outcomes for students undertaking their studies using this course delivery mode. The study sought to examine the students' perceptions of the efficacy of the teaching and learning approach in meeting their learning needs, and the factors that were most influential in informing these perceptions. The findings indicated that it was the inclusion of contact and a social presence in the online learning environment which was most influential. Normal 0 false false false EN-AU ZH-CN AR-SA


A phenomenological theory describes radial evolution of plasma turbulence in the solar wind from 1 to 50 astronomical units. The theory includes a simple closure for local anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, spatial transport, and driving by large-scale shear and pickup ions. Results compare well to plasma and magnetic field data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft, providing a basis for a concise, tractable description of turbulent energy transport in a variety of astrophysical plasmas.


Model-Driven Development concepts are exhibiting as a good engineering solution for the design of ubiquitous applications with multi-device user interfaces and other context- aware capacities. The Web has become an ideal platform for the deployment of such applications and therefore traditional Web development techniques are rapidly adopting Model- Driven principles to cope with the adaptation issues imposed by context-awareness and multichannel solutions. This discipline is being known as Model Driven Web Engineering. However, at the same time that the use of the Web and the number of people with mobile devices is growing, users are demanding more and better user experiences through the user interface. Web vendors answered introducing Rich Internet Applications that take advantage of the single-page paradigm and expand traditional Web features, providing richer content types, richer controls, richer temporal behaviors, richer interactivity and richer communications. While many recent devices support some type of RIA technology, RIAs extended features are showing some limitations of Model Driven Web Engineering methodologies to cope with multi-device context-awareness at the presentation level. This paper presents the combination of two different methodologies, WebML and RUX-Method, both using MDD principles, to obtain multi-device context-aware Rich Internet Applications using a Model-Driven approach. While WebML provides context-awareness at the data and business logic levels, RUX-Method deals with the presentation issues introduced by Rich Internet Applications.


Haakon Mosby Mud Volcano (HMMV) functions as a spot emitter for methane in the sub-arctic ocean. Fluidised mud associated with large amounts of methane is expelled at the volcano?s centre (eye) ascending from its deep interior. At its surface HMMV is characterised by three key types of sedimentary environments, more or less concentrically arrayed around the eye.Large populations of small tube worms (pogonophora) are distributed along the volcano?s outer rim whereas the sediment next to the eye is covered by mats of sulfur bacteria. The later depend on the H2S released as a product of sulfate reduction by methane oxidizing microbial communities. The central area of HMMV consists of a fine grained grayish sediment uncovered by bacteria. In combination with bottom water data, our pore water investigations suggest the bacteria-covered sediments to be very efficient biofilters, prohibiting diffusive methane discharge into the bottom water. Thus, beside channelised methane release, the volcano?s eye is recognized to be the ultimate zone of methane emission.Partly ROV-guided in situ experiments and sampling were performed during 3 expeditions with R/V ?L?Atalante?/ROV "VICTOR 6000" in 2001, R/V ?Polarstern? (ARK XVIII/1b) in 2002, and R/V ?Polarstern?/ ROV "VICTOR 6000" (ARK XIX/3b) in 2003, respectively.A special bottom water sampler was deployed for bottom water sampling and bottom currents have been measured by ROV-operated current meters.


The goals of the second volume of the AHDR – Arctic Human Development Report: Regional Processes and Global Linkages – are to provide an update to the first AHDR (2004) in terms of an assessment of the state of Arctic human development; to highlight the major trends and changes unfolding related to the various issues and thematic areas of human development in the Arctic over the past decade; and, based on this assessment, to identify policy relevant conclusions and key gaps in knowledge, new and emerging Arctic success stories.

The production of AHDR-II on the tenth anniversary of the first AHDR makes it possible to move beyond the baseline assessment to make valuable comparisons and contrasts across a decade of persistent and rapid change in the North. It addresses critical issues and emerging challenges in Arctic living conditions, quality of life in the North, global change impacts and adaptation, and Indigenous livelihoods.

The assessment contributes to our understanding of the interplay and consequences of physical and social change processes affecting Arctic residents' quality of life, at both the regional and global scales. It shows that the Arctic is not a homogenous region. Impacts of globalization and environmental change differ within and between regions, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous northerners, between genders and along other axes.


From an automated planning perspective the problem of practical mobile robot control in realistic environments poses many important and contrary challenges. On the one hand, the planning process must be lightweight, robust, and timely. Over the lifetime of the robot it must always respond quickly with new plans that accommodate exogenous events, changing objectives, and the underlying unpredictability of the environment. On the other hand, in order to promote efficient behaviours the planning process must perform computationally expensive reasoning about contingencies and possible revisions of subjective beliefs according to quantitatively modelled uncertainty in acting and sensing. Towards addressing these challenges, we develop a continual planning approach that switches between using a fast satisficing "classical" planner, to decide on the overall strategy, and decision-theoretic planning to solve small abstract subproblems where deeper consideration of the sensing model is both practical, and can significantly impact overall performance. We evaluate our approach in large problems from a realistic robot exploration domain.


The Tenth Amendment is invoked whenever congressional powers threaten the independent law-making power of the several states. In that context, however, the Tenth Amendment does not tell us very much. After all, if powers are not delegated to the federal government, where else would they go but to the states? Accordingly, the Supreme Court has dismissed the Amendment as a truism.Although the Amendment is only deployed as a rather ineffectual check on congressional authority, it clearly applies to all branches of the federal government. However, according to the theory of inherent executive authority, certain powers are unique to the sovereign. Consequently, they reside in the federal executive and require no constitutional delegation. This theory of inherent executive power implies that the theory of limited government, which finds its clearest constitutional expression in the Tenth Amendment, applies only to the Congress. By attempting to provide an extra-constitutional source for executive power, advocates of the theory of inherent executive power transform the Tenth Amendment into a truism that isn't true. This Article contends that the theory of inherent executive powers cannot be reconciled with the theory of limited government embodied in the Tenth Amendment. The Article focuses on the allocation of war powers and maintains that because such powers are allocated to the Congress and not to the Executive, the Tenth Amendment (of all things!) makes it clear that the doctrine of inherent executive authority cannot provide a constitutional basis for the defense of unilateral, non-defensive executive war powers.


In Buy, Lie, and Sell High, Harvard Business School Professor Daniel Quinn Mills offers the first systematic analysis of both the Internet stock bubble and the Enron scandal. Drawing upon extensive new research and insider interviews, Mills uncovers both systemic causes and outrageous misbehavior. He demonstrates how each link in the "financial value chain" failed, from venture funds to auditors and regulators. Finally, he offers practical guidance for investors and policymakers seeking to avoid the "next" speculative disaster.


Meningitis post-administration of a central neuraxial blockade is although a rare complication but a potentially fatal one. Breach in aseptic precautions leading to introduction of bacteria is considered the most probable cause and haematogenous spread due to microscopic vessel injury in symptomatic or asymptomatic bacteremia is also one of the etiologies. Mostly, a single anesthesiologist may be seen with such cluster of cases. Sometimes defective drugs or faulty equipment used for the procedure may also lead to this complication. We report two cases where spinal anesthesia was performed by different anesthesiologist's in different operation theatres of the same hospital, which landed up with the complication of meningitis post procedure despite maximum sterile barrier maintenance during both the cases.


The authors use the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances to document a boom in home ownership and mortgage borrowing among young families in the years leading up to the recent financial crisis. Many young families lost more of their wealth during the downturn than middle-aged and older families. The authors find that about three-quarters of the decline in the average young family's wealth between 2007 and 2010 was due to its exposure to residential real estate. For middle-aged and older families, housing losses contributed about 53 percent and 40 percent of the total decline in wealth, respectively. Regression evidence suggests that young families' wealth, on average, was unusually highly concentrated in housing and these families' debt burdens were extremely high at the peak of the boom.


The paper is devoted to an investigation of two-conductor suspended-substrate resonators. For the purpose of miniaturization conductors of a resonator are folded. Four types of the resonator differing in conductors' configurations were considered. Their Q0-factors and resonant frequencies were studied. Based on results of the study two types of the resonator appeared unsuitable for an application in compact filters. Two other types were investigated in concern of their interaction: dependencies of coupling coefficients versus space between resonators and versus distance from substrate's surfaces, and package's covers were obtained. Based on the dependences a type of the resonator suitable for designing compact BPF was chosen. A four-pole BPF was simulated and fabricated. Good agreement between simulated and experimental results is observed. The main filter's characteristics are the next: substrate has ε = 80, thickness 0.5 mm, lateral sizes 0.13λg × 0.09λg (18.7mm× 13.2 mm). The central frequency is 305 MHz; bandwidth is 39 MHz; passband minimum insertion loss is 2.0 dB; passband return loss is less −14.6 dB; −40 dB stopband width is 480 MHz.


How the principles of freedom of expression, developed over the centuries, can be preserved and passed on, and how the activities of these powerful intermediaries can be aligned with the legal doctrines of fundamental rights are massive issues for the legal regulation and thus for the practice of the ECtHR in the case law related to Article 10 of the Convention – and seem certain to remain so in the coming decades. Although the ECtHR has dealt with relatively few cases on the above subject matter to date, reviewing these will be illuminating, as they seem to outline (albeit inconsistently) a theoretical base that is adapting the traditional questions of freedom of expression to the new media landscape, and on which the ECtHR can rely when delivering judgments in future cases. As such, the ECtHR can in turn influence the regulation of the European public sphere as a whole through its decisions.


Patients who have the rare hereditary condition known as Werner's syndrome begin aging dramatically while still in their twenties. Their hair goes gray, their skin loses its suppleness, and worse, they also develop cancer, heart disease, and many other diseases that usually don't strike until later in life. On page 258 of this issue, researchers now report that they have identified the gene at fault in Werner's syndrome, which apparently encodes a DNA-unwinding enzyme called a helicase. This suggests that the premature aging, cancer, and other problems associated with the syndrome may be due to failure of normal DNA repair, replication, or one of the other DNA activities that require a helicase.


Empowerment is a complex and multifaceted construct. It is understood to be a perception of ability that can be influenced by numerous factors. Due to the subjective nature of human perception, there is a potential for empowerment to mean different things to different people. Empowerment theory is also equally diverse. Several research approaches have attempted to measure empowerment. Most of these have assumed its meaning which is problematic given the fact that empowerment is interpreted at the level of the individual. Zimmerman (1995) asserts that empowerment is contextually determined. Because nurses and midwives, practice in complex environments, it is also possible that these contexts impact on their perceptions of empowerment.

This study aimed to explore perceptions of empowerment amongst ninety-three nurses and midwives. Ten focus groups were held across Ireland with representation sought from five branches of nursing and of midwifery. In total, ten themes emerged from the data, one antecedent theme, three empowerment themes and six impacting themes. Empowerment was found to consist of inherent beliefs of control, personal power and professional respect. Education for practice was found to be antecedent to inherent empowerment beliefs. Six impacting factors were also identified which determine empowerment beliefs. These are organisational factors, management, professional issues, interpersonal issues, individual factors and historical legacy.

The findings, while reflecting aspects of empowerment theory and research, suggest that empowerment is conceptualised more broadly by Irish nurses and midwives than previously thought. Education for practice as antecedent and professional respect as an inherent empowerment belief are new findings as is having a clearly defined role and willingness for empowerment. This study supports the view that empowerment is complex and contextually determined and as such, contributes to current understanding surrounding the meaning of empowerment amongst practising nurses and midwives in Ireland.


Centering disabled voices and leveraging disability studies as methodology within the construction of information systems can sharpen analyses of the design of information systems, algorithmic decision making, and their impacts. In this article, we put forth three main points: (1) thinking at the intersection of information and disability studies is productive and sharpens analyses about technology, bodyminds, and identity; (2) disabled people render themselves legible or illegible in information systems by creatively adapting to or resisting them; and (3) analyses of crip legibility are crucial to re-imagining the future of information systems. Together, these facets illustrate a move we call crip legibility: how disabled people flexibly respond to, contort, or collectively organize themselves to fit within (or be understood by) existing information systems while building new systems of resistance and care. This term considers the processes by which disabled bodyminds are disciplined, surveilled, or otherwise required to conform to standards set by existing ableist systems while holding space to reimagine otherwise. Information systems — like library call numbers that classify, document, and inform — might distill someone's experience or identity into a format that becomes readable for medical diagnosis, hiring, legal compliance, and is reproduced in other settings or systems. Using case studies from this special issue, we show how prevalent and harmful these systems can be, how disabled people have resisted or worked around them, and how we might imagine or build otherwise. Crip legibility, then, draws attention to both histories and contemporary embodiments of surveillance and classification — of both disabled and non-disabled bodies — and commits to reimagining information systems that resist technoableist norms.


Background: Influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by influenza virus which is highly contagious and spread easily. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of influenza (H1N1) type A in patients admitted to Tohid hospital, Sanandaj, Iran during 2013-2014. Material and Methods: This study was descriptive. Data were collected using a questionnaire which was designed based on study goals. The questionnaires were completed via interview, observation and performing clinical tests. After clinical confirmation of influenza by a specialist, genotype was determined by PCR. Results: Of the total 76 cases, 36 cases (48.6%) were male, mean age was 42.7 ± 16.3 and 13.5% were rural and 86.5 were urban dwellers. 52 patient (70.3%) were hospitalized and 22 (29.7%) were outpatients. Travel history was including, abroad 9.5%, domestic 16.2% and without traveling 75.3%. The average time between referring to the doctor and sampling for H1N1 was 2.7 days. The prevalence of influenza (H1N1 A) was 1.4%. Conclusion: The low incidence of H1N1 influenza type A in this study was probably due to travel to infected areas. Considering virus mutation, the readiness of health services to prevent an epidemic of this disease is essential and recommended.