Pediatrician, writer, editor, and health policy expert Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, is perhaps best known as the founding editor of (and contributor to) the popular column "Narrative Matters" in the influential health policy journal Health Affairs. For many readers of the journal, the column—which features first-person narratives, or stories, that illuminate often-complex health policy issues—is the first thing to turn to when cracking open a new edition. When not writing or editing, Dr Mullan is the Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He is also a member of the medical staff at the Upper Cardozo Community Health Center in Washington, DC. Following graduation from Harvard University and the University of Chicago Medical School (1968) and an internship at the Jacobi and Lincoln Hospitals in the Bronx, New York, Dr Mullan began a distinguished medical, academic, and administrative career. It has included serving as Director of the National Health Service Corps in Washington, DC; Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute of Medicine; senior medical officer at the National Institutes of Health; Director of the Bureau of Health Professions; and, in 1991, promotion to the rank of Assistant Surgeon General (Rear Admiral). In 1996, he retired from the Public Health Service and joined the staff of Health Affairs, where he continues to edit the "Narrative Matters" section. In addition to his journal contributions, Dr Mullan is the author of White Coat Clenched Fist: The Political Education of an American Physician (Macmillan, 1977); Vital Signs: A Young Doctor's Struggle with Cancer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983), Plagues and Politics: The Story of the United States Public Health Service (Basic Books, 1989), Big Doctoring in America: Profiles in Primary Care (University of California Press/Milbank Fund, 2002). He is the senior editor of Healers Abroad: Americans Responding to Human Resource Crisis in the HIV/AIDS (National Academy Press, 2005). Story-Based Health Policy: An Interview with Fitzhugh Mullan, MD


ABSTRACT: From memories of his prenatal life the author presents a recollection, in the form of a poetic narrative, of how he started his heartbeat. He then gives a personal and transpersonal interpretation of the narrative in the adult-life context and proposes a theory of how an unborn may start its heart and what it learns from the experience. In support of his ideas he draws on examples from mythology, a modern-day ritual and common beliefs about the heart. INTRODUCTION Prenatal studies have been and will continue to be advanced in a major way through personal memories of people who have the courage and make the effort to journey back into their prenatal life. Usually, the purpose of such a journey is to retrieve personal knowledge. However, if the memory relates to a type of event common to everyone's life, the retrieved knowledge will also be of transpersonal value, i.e., of value to other people or all humankind. I believe that starting one's heart is such an event. I will use the personal "I" to express a personal experience or opinion and the transpersonal, collective "we" when my intent is to speak for the collective. First, I will present the memory of how I started my heartbeat as a narrative in a poetic form. This poem is part of a collection of poems about my prenatal life (Vlcek 1989). I will then interpret the content of the piece in an adult-life context, examining it from a psycho-physiological point of view, and then formulate a theory about how the human heart may be started and what this essential step in our development means to our subsequent psychological and spiritual life. I will then support the theory by discussing the fire episode of Prometheus from Greek mythology, the symbology of the dancing Shiva from the theology of Hinduism, the ritual surrounding the Olympic games and other images and common beliefs about the heart. INTERPRETATION The notion of the presence of consciousness and intelligence in the unborn child has a wide acceptance, I assume, among the readers of this journal. However, we still know very little about the scope and dimensions of consciousness and intelligence in the unborn. Based on my personal experience I would say that consciousness in the unborn is a paramount and wide-ranging faculty (if one can call it a faculty), with far greater depth and subtlety than that of the adult. I propose that consciousness is the unborn's primary tool of communication. For example, I believe that, via consciousness, the unborn can access and communicate with its physical parts and with external objects that it perceives through its delicate and finely tuned sensorium. Although we may lack understanding about how this is accomplished, for the purpose of interpretation of the above poem, I ask the reader to keep an open mind about the subject. In the poem, the developing unborn tells us how it "spark-jumped" its heart. First it became aware of an energetic "life-beaming source above" that kept inviting the unborn to join it. This "joyous force" is, I believe, the heart of its mother. The developing heart, as yet sleeping, hesitated at first, not feeling strong enough to accept the invitation, but after some growing it gathered enough "flame" to "leap" (in consciousness) to the mother's heart and "dance" with it and "celebrate friendship". Having learned the "step" the incipient heart tried it on its own, eventually succeeding in mastering the beat. The unborn then applied its "newfound power" to execute a move, succeeded, and looked forward to use "the power of the flame" in all its future life tasks. The ideas and images introduced in the poem describe not only the process in which the unborn started its heart but also, more importantly, they imply the psycho-spiritual meaning of this essential primal experience to its subsequent life. THEORY OF FIRST HEARTBEAT Based on the recollection of how I started my own heart beating I wish to propose a new theory on how the unborn starts its heart and what this experience means to us in our lives: * The unborn enters into heart-to-heart communication with its mother's heart that stimulates and encourages it to start its own heart beating. …


In this thesis I question whether social phenomena exist. Since social groups are perhaps the most widely recognised category of social phenomena, I focus my discussion on social groups. First I elucidate our common-sense intuitions about social groups. Thereafter, I distinguish between two problems: specifying the relation among the members of a social group (the individual-individual problem), and specifying the relation between social groups and their members (the social-individual problem). I argue that the individual-individual and socialindividual problems comprise the core concerns of social ontology, at least insofar as social ontology is applied to social groups. I then examine a number of possible solutions to the individual-individual problem, and argue that none of these positions convincingly captures our common-sense intuitions about social groups. I divide these solutions into Objectivist and Subjectivist accounts. Objectivist accounts of social groups exclude reference to the reflexive mental states of the individuals underlying the group, and focus instead on the patterns of interactions among group members, observable from a non-member's perspective. I argue that Objectivist accounts, including Elster's transactional account, the organic account, and the teleological account of social groups, are unable to capture adequately the distinction between a mere aggregate and a social group because they exclude reference to reflexive mental states, rendering the accounts vulnerable to a number of counterexamples. By contrast, Subjectivist positions, including Sartre's account, Gilbert's plural subject theory, and Searle's constructionism, hold that reflexive mental states provide the principle that unifies a collection of individuals into a social group. Subjectivists, however, are unable to account for the importance of the history of social phenomena. Thereafter I consider affirmative solutions to the social-individual problem, or positions that hold that social groups exist. These positions are divided into non-reductive and reductive accounts. Non-reductive accounts, including Social Dualism and Non-Reductive Individualism, hold that social groups are logically or conceptually distinct from the individuals that comprise them. Social Dualists posit that social groups and their members are distinct entities, while Non-Reductive Individualists hold that social properties are distinct from individualistic properties. I argue that Social Dualism problematically reifies the social, while Non-Reductive Individualism is unable to maintain the dependence of the social on the individual without collapsing into a reductive account. Reductionists hold that social groups are identical with their members, or with the intra-relations among their members. Logical Does the Social Exist? iii Individualists hold that this identity is conceptual: the concept of a social group is the concept of a collection of individuals. Type Individualists claims that types of social groups are identical with types of members (or types of member intra-relations). And Social Functionalists hold that social groups are just phenomena with a certain function, and those functional phenomena are in turn instantiated by individuals. I argue that none of the reductive accounts are successful, however: Logical Individualism cannot account for the holism of the social, Type Individualism faces the problem of multiple realisation, and Social Functionalists cannot adequately individuate groups diachronically. Finally, I tentatively support an alternative, negative solution to the individual-individual and social-individual problems: Eliminative Individualism. Eliminative Individualism is the position that social phenomena do not exist, that Folk Sociology is a radically false and misleading theory, and that social terms have no referent. I discuss a number of strategies for eliminating social phenomena, ultimately providing a psychological and neurological explanation that I argue might be used to explain away the appearance of social groups. That is, I make a case for the possibility that we can explain away beliefs in social groups the way we explain away paranormal, or errant religious beliefs. Finally, I argue that "thick" social phenomena, such as the wisdom of the crowds and the unintended consequences of intended action, may be explained using reason-based, statistical and possibly network-based explanations. I conclude that Eliminative Individualism, although it faces certain challenges, is worthy of serious attention as a contender to affirmative social ontologies in the literature. Does the Social Exist? iv


Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates, fabricated via anodization, have been widely studied in fundamental science and industry, for use as functional nanostructures in opto-electronics, membrane filters, energy storage devices, bio-applications, magnetic memory, etc. However, conventional AAO fabricating techniques have several disadvantages, such as the relatively long time required, inefficient usage of resources, and their toxicities, which restrict their practical application. This paper reports on a high-yield and environment-minded fabrication method for nanoporous AAO templates, accomplished through simultaneous multi-surface anodization and direct detaching of AAOs from an aluminum (Al) substrate by applying stair-like reverse biases in one electrolyte. These procedures can be repeated for mass production (i.e., high yield) using the same Al substrate. The nanoporous AAO templates fabricated here were used to synthesize gold (Au) nanowires (NW) with a diameter of ∼25 nm. This development, together with the modulation of physical properties of Au NWs, can enrich the potential of future nanotechnology based on nanoporous templates, and can also contribute to green technology owing to its minimized toxicity as well as its efficient use of resources.


The Chinese Communist welfare state was established with the goal of eradicating income inequality. But paradoxically, it actually widened the income gap, undermining one of the most important objectives of Mao Zedong s revolution. Nara Dillon traces the origins of the Chinese welfare state from the 1940s through the 1960s, when such inequalities emerged and were institutionalized, to uncover the reasons why the state failed to achieve this goal.Using newly available archival sources, Dillon focuses on the contradictory role played by labor in the development of the Chinese welfare state. At first, the mobilization of labor helped found a welfare state, but soon labor s privileges turned into obstacles to the expansion of welfare to cover more of the poor. Under the tight economic constraints of the time, small, temporary differences evolved into large, entrenched inequalities. Placing these developments in the context of the globalization of the welfare state, Dillon focuses on the mismatch between welfare policies originally designed for European economies and the very different conditions found in revolutionary China. Because most developing countries faced similar constraints, the Chinese case provides insight into the development of narrow, unequal welfare states across much of the developing world in the postwar period."


Component unit pricing (CUP) theory presents a fresh approach to item pricing, described as the process of distributing the overall price among its constituent component items. This theory provides explanation and proof that different distributions of mark-up among the items of a project produce different levels of reward for contractors, while exposing them to different degrees of risk. The theory describes the three identified sources of these rewards, namely those of improved cash flow, escalation in compensation and valuations of likely variations. In addition, it also provides the first explanation of the three risks involved, namely the risk of 'rejection', the risk of 'reaction' and the risk of 'being wrong'. In combination, it provides a means by which both the rewards as well as these risks can now be measured given any pricing scenario. This theory gives effect to fuzzy constraints on the price of each item, providing a scientific basis by which to identify more extreme prices when pursuing more profit and more restrained prices when seeking to reduce risk. Overall, it provides a basis by which to moderate these two objectives in the pursuit of the maximization of a contractor's utility. A test on a hypothetical project indicates an improvement of more than 150% on utility, if a contractor applies this theory, compared to the position when balanced prices are used instead.


The chitin obtained from the crab industries can be used as a source for production of chitooligomers which has an important biological activity. The aims of this research was to evaluate anti cancer activity of the chitooligomers obtained from enzymatic hydrolysis using chitosanase from thermophilic bacterium Bacillus licheniformis MB2 isolated from Tompaso Manado. Media for producing the enzyme contained colloidal chitosan 1% and the enzyme was harvested after seven days of incubation at 550C. The heat stable protein enzyme was coagulated with 80% saturated ammonium sulphate and purificated using hydrophobic interaction chromatography with butyl sepharose gel. Enzyme of 0.005, 0.0085, 0.10 dan 0,17 IU/mg chitosan on soluble chitosan 1% substrate with 85% degree of deacylation were used to produce chitooligomers through incubation for one and three hours. The reaction products were analyzed (and fractionated) using HPLC. The effect of this samples on cancer cells was evaluated using K562 cells (chronic myelogenous leukemia) and investigated after being treated with MTT (3-[4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide). In general, hydrolysates and fractionated chitooligomers showed better anti cancer activity than the 2- Bromo deoxy uridine used as positive control at similiar concentration (17 ?g/ml). Both of hydrolysates and fractionated chitooligomers (trimer to hexamer) inhibited proliferation of human K562 cancer cells line in vitro about 20.57% and 15.68% respectively.The apoptosis phenomena was found on K562 cells treated with chitooligomer hydrolysate which can be examined by Hoechts staining fluorescent method. Chitooligomers hydrolysate showed anti metastatic potential, the chitooligomers were found also as potent protease inhibitor. Keywords : chitooligomers, chitosan, anticancer


Abstract A survey of vascular plant species at Gooseberry Island Nature Preserve, a 5.56 ha forested island, was conducted during the 2004 growing season. This study was undertaken to document the composition and structure of the vascular flora and to provide baseline information for land management decisions. A young second growth wet floodplain forest and an old-growth mesic floodplain forest community was quantitatively sampled. The wet floodplain forest community was dominated by Acer saccharinum (silver maple) with some Salix nigra (black willow). The mesic floodplain forest was dominated by Aesculus glabra (Ohio buckeye), Acer saccharum (sugar maple), and Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak). Bur oak, a dominant species in the largest tree size classes, was only a minor element in the lower tree size classes and was absent from the shrub and sapling layers. Historical data from 1977 indicate that in the last 30 years there has been a significant increase in buckeye and sugar maple. A total of 162 species in 126 genera and 62 families were encountered, including 35 taxa near the northern limits of their range.


AIMS
The purpose of this study was to assess risk factors for sudden death after discharge from hospital for myocardial infarction in an era in which 50% of patients receive thrombolytic drugs.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We prospectively studied 708 consecutive survivors of myocardial infarction admitted to hospitals, which had registered their clinical, functional, and electrical parameters. A total of 83 patients died in the first 2 years (12%) after discharge. Sudden death was only observed in 12 patients. In multivariate analysis only NYHA class >I, and a filtered QRS duration > or =110 ms were important predictive variables for sudden death. A pre-defined high-risk group of 25 patients had no sudden death. When the strongest predictive variables in univariate analysis were combined to increase the positive predictive value for sudden death, we only achieved a maximal value of 27%.

CONCLUSIONS
In an unselected infarction population, the risk for sudden death is low in the first 2 years. Therefore, prediction and prophylactic intervention, such as defibrillator therapy become difficult. The event is related to cardiac dysfunction on admission, and with abnormalities in the filtered electrocardiogram.


Within the framework of the R&D studies for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, the first full size NbTi conductor sample was fabricated industrially and tested in the SULTAN facility (Villigen, Switzerland). This sample (PF-FSJS), which is relevant to the poloidal field coils of ITER, is composed of two parallel straight bars of conductor, connected at the bottom through a joint designed according to the CEA twin-box concept. The two conductor legs are identical except for the use of different strands: a nickel plated NbTi strand with a pure copper matrix in one leg, and a bare NbTi strand with a copper matrix and internal CuNi barrier in the other leg. The two conductors and the joint were extensively tested as regards DC and AC properties. This paper reports on the test results and analysis, stressing the differences between the two conductor legs and discussing the impact of the test results on the ITER design criteria for the conductor and joint. While joint DC resistance, conductors and joint AC losses fulfilled the ITER requirements, neither conductor could reach its current sharing temperature at relevant ITER currents, due to instabilities. Although the drop in temperature is slight for the CuNi strand cable, it is more significant for the Ni plated strand cable.


The aqueous-phase heterogeneously catalysed isomerisation of bio-oil derived glyoxal is herein introduced as a novel route for the sustainable production of glycolic acid. While commercial ultra-stable Y zeolites displayed only moderate performance, their evaluation enabled us to highlight the crucial role of Lewis acidity in the reaction. Gallium incorporation into these zeolites boosted the glycolic acid yield, although the best catalytic results were obtained over tin-containing MFI-type zeolites, reaching 91% yield of the desired product at full conversion. These materials comprised hydrothermally-synthesised Sn-MFI as well as a novel catalyst obtained by the introduction of tin into silicalite-1 by means of a simpler and more scalable method, i.e. alkaline-assisted metallation. In-depth spectroscopic characterisation of these systems uncovered a substantial similarity of the tin centres obtained by the top-down and bottom-up synthetic approaches. NMR spectroscopic studies gave evidence that the reaction follows a 1,2-hydride shift mechanism solely catalysed by Lewis-acid sites. The Sn-MFI analogue could be reused in 5 cycles without the need for intermediate calcination, did not evidence any tin leaching, and demonstrated suitability for utilisation under continuous-flow operation. The tin-based zeolites exhibited remarkable performance also in alcoholic solvents, leading to the one-pot production of relevant alkyl glycolates.


The starting point for this study is the facilitation of groups engaged in knowledge exchange and the ways in which facilitation in that context can be more flexible, more responsive, more creative and more effective. Only anecdotal evidence exists relating to what this study calls Improvised Facilitation and defines as the generation of a series of in-situ, micro-designs at each step and turn, independent of established formats and processes. The study attempts to understand better what those micro-designs might involve, by interrogating the practice dimensions of this emergent and poorly articulated form. Key assumptions underpinning both facilitation and improvisation were explored through a systematic review of the literature. The major works of theorists from group and team theory and those associated with the measurement of creativity were interrogated to construct and test emerging ways of working. Action Research was used to explore the aptitude, skills, techniques, competences and confidence required to perform the role of a facilitator who improvises as s/he flexes and turns in response to group needs and challenges as they emerge. Practice dimensions were explored through reflections on practice and with a cohort of professional facilitators contributing their experience through structured interviews. The theoretical approach shed light on the role and impact played by other factors in the facilitation process, almost as co-facilitators in the process itself. These factors include the facilitation environment, spatial configurations within that environment, restraints of time, levels of preparedness and the materials and resources deployed in the moment. This has enabled the synthesis of a streamlined competence framework for facilitation and the design of an entirely novel confidence frame for Improvised Facilitation. These products of the research formed the basis of the construction of an innovative two-stage approach to the evaluation of Improvised Facilitation that was then tested in dynamic, real-life group events. Driven by practice, experience-capture, passion and reflection, this study has addressed a significant knowledge gap through the design of these frameworks. In so doing, the research offers insights into what this might mean for facilitation, for facilitators and for the development of knowledge exchange processes more broadly.


AIM
The objectives were to find the incidence and topography of the occipital emissary foramina in skulls of South Indian Region.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In the present study, 78 dried adult human skulls were examined. They were analyzed for the gross incidence and position of the occipital emissary foramen. The observations were made in the squamous part of the occipital bone from the posterior margin of the foramen magnum to the external occipital protuberance.

RESULTS
From our observations, the occipital emissary foramen was present in 11 (14.1%) skulls. Left sided foramen was observed in 5 cases (6.4%), right-sided foramen in 4 (5.1%) and the median foramen was seen in 2 (2.6%) of the cases.

CONCLUSION
The occipital emissary vein is present in a small percentage (14.1%) of cases. It was also demonstrated that its location is variable as to left, right or midline. Its location was closer to the foramen magnum than to the external occipital protuberance in all the specimens. The morphology of this subject is important to the neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons. The knowledge is of importance in suboccipital craniotomies as this foramen transmits the occipital emissary vein and will keep awareness among the surgeons to avoid the excessive bleeding.


High energy-density rechargeable batteries are strongly demanded from the viewpoint of energy and environmental concern. This work is devoted to fundamental electrochemistry on a novel concept of rechargeable batteries, "rocking-chair type" Mg–Li dual-salt batteries (DSBs), where both Mg and Li cations are carrier ions. In this system, dangerous dendritic growth is drastically suppressed by co-electrodeposition of Mg and Li, and Mg–Li alloys can be used as anode materials with high electrical capacities. As a DSB cathode material that can accommodate both Mg and Li cations, we use a spinel oxide MgCo2O4, in which an eccentric insertion mechanism, the "intercalation & push-out" process, occurs. Mg insertion occurs at 2.9 V vs. Mg2+/Mg and Li insertion occurs at 3.1 V vs. Li+/Li, being consistent with ab initio calculations, and its capacity approximately amounts to 150–200 mA h g−1. In the combination of MgCo2O4 and Mg50Li50 alloys, the cell voltage during discharge is as high as about 2–3 V. The concept of rocking-chair type DSB systems provides a new strategy for future safe rechargeable batteries combining high energy/power densities.


Petroleum industries are burdened with the problem of handling large quantities of sludge having properties that depend on the nature of the crude oil, the processing capacity, the down-stream capacities, and the design of effluent treatment plants. Oily sludge is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, water, metals, and suspended fine solids. This composition makes management of the sludge a complicated and costly undertaking. The objective of this research is to develop a technique that would significantly improve the separation of phases so as to allow for their further reuse. This investigation focused on the application of electrokinetic phenomenon for the remediation of oily sludge. To assess the effect of surfactant on the electrokinetic mobilization of organic contaminants in oily sludge, an amphoteric surfactant was used. Tests were performed in a series of electrokinetic cells with different electrical potentials. During 32 days of the experimental, electrical parameters and pH were measured daily, while samples collected at strategic intervals were analyzed by UV/VIS and FTIR methods. This research lies at the forefront of electrokinetic technology and embraces a combination of several processes including electrocoagulation, electrocoalescence, desorption, electrophoresis, and electroosmosis. The results obtained permit an assessment of the thermodynamics of the proposed process and introduce new theories on the behavior of the colloidal component of oily sludge under different electrical potentials. The results demonstrated an excellent separation of phases; these consisted of water, hydrocarbon, and solid phases. The recovered solid phase exhibited high hydrocarbon content, so it could be reused. The separated liquid hydrocarbon could be reused in other processes. Some volatile hydrocarbons were released during the process. Advantageously, these gaseous hydrocarbons may be captured and burned as fuel. The results showed that the separated water had a low concentration of hydrocarbon, suitable for sending to the wastewater treatment plant. The method allows for the recycling of the hydrocarbon residue of a waste stream into a usable refinery product by achieving a 63% reduction in water content, and, thereby, reduces or eliminates the potential liability for environmental contamination arising from the disposal of waste stream products.


Drilling operations typically account for the largest percent of the expenses incurred in the exploration and development of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Modern well placement and real-time navigation methods take into account uncertainties in a predefined "earth model" to reach and produce hydrocarbon-bearing rocks in an efficient manner. Because the construction of the initial earth model is commonly based on low-spatial-resolution data such as seismic-amplitude measurements or is from extrapolation of conditions encountered in nearby wells, the well trajectory needs to be adjusted continuously as the drill bit encounters rocks formations, geometric conditions, and rock properties unaccounted for by the initial earth model. Most modern drilling operations are accompanied not only by measurements while drilling (e.g., rate of penetration, weight on bit, torque, and so forth) but also by logging-while-drilling (LWD) measurements such as electrical resistivity, density, neutron-porosity, acoustic velocities, an...


The present study examines preschoolers' judgments about responses to hypothetical aggressive provocation. Ninety-nine preschool children were read two stories, one depicting an overt provocation and the other depicting a relational provocation. Following each story, children were interviewed to assess their normative (what a peer would do) and prescriptive (what a peer should do) judgments about the victim's behavior. Additionally, perceptions about the relative degree of badness of different types of aggressive responses (physical, verbal, and relational) to the provocation were assessed. The results showed several significant effects with respect to aggression type, age, participant gender, and story-character gender. For example, in both of the provocation situations, participants reported that overtly aggressive responses (physical and verbal) would happen more often than they should happen. Moreover, in both the provocation situations, participants felt that relationally aggressive responses were more acceptable than verbally or physically aggressive responses. Additionally, female participants rated the relationally aggressive response as more wrong than did the male participants, but only in the relational provocation situation. The present results have important implications for the classroom setting. For example, teachers may address the subject of relationally harmful acts with their preschool-aged students.


In this paper, we present Dichotomy, a novel practical architecture that exploits channel diversity to improve wireless multi-hop network throughput with a single transceiver. Unlike previous link-layer multichannel work that requires complex coordination and is difficult to implement, Dichotomy operates without clock synchronization, and with greatly reduced switching overhead. The core idea is to strategically select a subset of nodes as anchors whose channels seldom change; while other nodes are hoppers that dynamically switch its radio among channels of neighboring anchors. Communications are enforced between anchor-hopper pairs or same-channel anchor-anchor pairs. It uses localized distributed algorithm to select anchors and assign channels to anchors, while maximizing the channel diversity and keeping the network well connected. We implement Dichotomy as a software shim layer between IP and MAC, and evaluate it in a real test-bed. Experimental results show that Dichotomy effectively boosts the network throughput up to 100%. We further conduct extensive simulations and demonstrate that the Dichotomy architecture is scalable and achieves better or comparable performance than other previous work.


There are a number of interrogation methods that can be used in optical Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensing system. For very high frequency signals interrogating the sensor signal from an FBG is limited to two intensiometric methods, edge filter detection and power detection. In edge filter detection, a broadband light source illuminates an FBG, the reflected spectrum is then passed through a spectral filter. In power detection, a narrowband light source with a wavelength corresponding to the 3dB point of the FBG is filtered by the FBG itself. Both methods convert the spectral shift of the FBG into intensity signals. These two categories each have a number of variations, all with different performance characteristics. In this work we present a numerical model for all of these interrogation systems. The numerical model is based on previous analytical modelling, which could only be utilised for perfect Gaussian profiles. However, interrogation systems can make use of non Gaussian shaped filters, or sources. The numerical modelling enables the different variations to be compared using identical component performance, showing the relative strengths and weakness of the systems in terms of useful parameters, including, signal-to-noise ratio, sensitivity, and dynamic resolution. The two different detection methods can also be compared side-by-side using the same FBG. Since the model is numerical, it enables real spectral data to be used for the various components (FBG, light source, filters). This has the added advantage of increasing the accuracy and usefulness of the model, over previous analytical work.


There is no consensus about the role of the gubernaculum testis (GT). Nineteen human embryos (Carnegie stages 15–23), 36 fetuses (9 weeks to term), and eight neonates were examined. All the embryos and 25 fetuses (from weeks 9–16) were processed for paraffin wax histology and serially sectioned at 10 µm thickness. The remaining 11 fetuses and the eight neonates were fresh specimens that were dissected under a surgical microscope. The GT appeared during the embryonic period (stages 17–23) with a horseshoe‐shaped mesenchyme condensation of the superior concavity, which was observed in four different topographical regions sequentially through development. The GT was not attached at either of its ends in any of the specimens, not to the gonad or in the scrotal sac. The inguinal canal differentiates around the inguinal portion of the GT during the late embryonic period. After stage 21, the GT appears enveloped by an evagination of the peritoneal cavity. It has few striate muscular fibers and vessels. Although the GT does not appear to have the role traditionally attributed to it, it is still an essential structure and indirectly facilitates the descent of the testes. It contributes to the formation of the inguinal canal and then forges the pathway that the testes will subsequently take through the inguinal canal as they migrate from the abdominal cavity into the scrotal sac. Clin. Anat. 30:599–607, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) works as a long-lasting, broad-spectrum physical sunblock, and can prevent skin cancer, sunburn, and photoaging. Nanosized ZnO particles are used often in sunscreens due to consumer preference over larger sizes, which appear opaque when dermally applied. Although the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of nanoparticles (NPs) in sunscreens in 1999, there are ongoing safety concerns. The aim of this study was to evaluate the subchronic toxicity of ZnO NPs after dermal application according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Test Guidelines 411 using Good Laboratory Practice. Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into eight (one control, one vehicle control, three experimental, and three recovery) groups. Different concentrations of ZnO NPs were dermally applied to the rats in the experimental groups for 90 days. Clinical observations as well as weight and food consumption were measured and recorded daily. Hematology and biochemistry parameters were determined. Gross pathologic and histopathologic examinations were performed on selected tissues from all animals. Analyses of tissue were undertaken to determine target organ tissue distribution. There was no increased mortality in the experimental group. Although there was dose-dependent irritation at the site of application, there were no abnormal findings related to ZnO NPs in other organs. Increased concentrations of ZnO in the liver, small intestine, large intestine, and feces were thought to result from oral ingestion of ZnO NPs via licking. Penetration of ZnO NPs through the skin seemed to be limited via the dermal route. This study demonstrates that there was no observed adverse effect of ZnO NPs up to 1,000 mg/kg body weight when they are applied dermally.


ETFs represent an important and unique financial product category. They are a valuable addition to securities markets and it is likely there will be continued growth in the number of ETFs available. They offer many unique features including several distinct trading advantages. In addition, this article discusses market liquidity, spreads, market depth and market timing. It also looks at the unique perspective of the individual investor and applications of ETFs. The article concludes with an in-depth discussion of ETFs and tracking error.


A sboth a clinician and an editor, one of the types of journal submissions I am always excited to send out for review is the clinical case report. In the medical literature, the clinical case report has always served an important role. This includes presenting to the reader a case that is rare or one that offers a particular set of findings that have not been previously reported. In all areas of medicine, there has been a notable decline in the number of clinical case reports published (Nissen and Wynn, 2014). As research methods in the medical field advanced and expanded in the latter half of the 20th century, enthusiasm for case reports diminished and has been replaced by quantitative evidence-based research studies (Nissen and Wynn, 2012). This has been further magnified by the pressure to perform well on the current metrics that academic journals use to determine the quality of their manuscripts. These metrics include the impact factor, Eigenfactor, h-index, and immediacy index, to name a few. Most of these measures have some type of relationship to the number of times articles are cited. Due to the fact that most clinical case reports are retrospective and consist of uncontrolled observations of symptoms, comorbities, and treatments, they are referenced less often than controlled hypothesis-driven experiments. Regardless of this fact, it has been argued by proponents that the clinical case report allows for clinical awareness, is highly educational, and may act to help providers identify similar patients. I wholeheartedly agree with this notion. As editors of the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology (JAAA), we consistently work to provide content that is of interest to our readers. JAAA is the official journal of the American Academy of Audiology (the Academy), an organization where 8 percent of the membership has earned a PhD that would be considered a research-oriented degree. Of course, there are AuDs and master's-level audiologists who are primarily involved in research and, likewise, PhDs who are involved primarily in clinic or administrative activities. The important point, however, is that the lion's share of the membership of the organization that JAAA serves is composed of practicing clinicians. At the Academy's annual convention, the grand rounds presentations that represent the oral analog of clinical case reports are always some of the most well-attended sessions. When themanuscript submissions for this year (so far) are tabulated, however, only 8 percent of the submissions are clinical case reports that are directly relevant to the practicing clinical audiologist. Is this the right balance? There is no question that there is a high degree of interest in the heavily research-oriented content in JAAA. When the full-text downloads of articles are analyzed, JAAA consistently ranks in the top 100 for the number of downloads out of more than 11,000 titles (at Number 19 in September 2019), according to the most recent report from IngentaConnect, the JAAA online content host. And, speaking of balance, in this issue of the journal we have a clinical case report focused on dizziness and hearing loss. Dizziness is extremely common, although it hasmany forms, some that are notoriously difficult to diagnosis and treat. The case report in this issue is titled ''Symptoms, Audiometric and Vestibular Laboratory Findings, and Imaging in a Concurrent Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome and Vestibular Schwannoma.'' In this report, Garrison and colleagues describe the complex presentation of two rare clinical entities occurring at the same time. The write-up includes an exhaustive case history and detailed images of the diagnostic findings, as well as treatments provided. I encourage you to read it—and to submit your own. Although there are limitations to case reports, such as bias and the inability to provide epidemiological


An anti-oncological active spiro-oxindole 7 was synthesized regioselectively via a [3+2]-cycloaddition reaction of azomethine ylide to exocyclic olefinic linkage of 4-piperidone 6, exhibiting properties against diverse tumor cell lines including leukemia, melanoma and cancers of the lung, colon, brain, ovary, breast, prostate, and kidney. Compound 7 crystallizes in the monoclinic system and P21/c space group with four molecules in the unit cell. The structure was also studied by AM1, PM3 and DFT techniques. DFT studies support the stereochemical selectivity of the reaction and determine the molecular electrostatic potential and frontier molecular orbitals.


This paper discusses the key issues of forestry workers training in Croatia, especially dealing with the providers of vocational training, their profile, training procedures and measures necessary for training improvement. A combined approach of literature review, internet search and questionnaire of training providers was applied in order to collect data on training programs conducted in Croatia. The research was conducted during 2016, and it included 94 legal entities authorized for occupational safety training in the Republic of Croatia, with respect to safe working practice training and vocational training for operating machinery (chainsaw and/or skidder). The analysis used basic descriptive statistics. Research results showed that 30.85% of the analyzed legal entities provide only training for safe working practice, 15.96% provide both trainings – safe work practice and vocational training for operating machinery, 5.32% of the analyzed entities provide only vocational training for operating machinery, 31.91% do not carry out any form of training in forestry, while 15.96% refused to answer questions. On the other hand, 15.56% of the legal entities, which do not carry out any training or did not answer these questions, have on their official website services posted for vocational training in operating machinery (chainsaw and/or skidder). The key findings of the conducted research have pointed out the great heterogeneity amongst providers of forestry workers training, and certain reductions or limitations in the current training programs, both from the aspect of duration of the theoretical and practical training, and the use of non-transparent criteria and standards in the assessment of training. As an example of successful solution in forestry workers training, European Chainsaw Standard model (ECS) is shortly presented in the paper. Discussion and conclusion sections provide an overview of legislative and organizational requirements for the application of previously developed European model (ECS) in developing the certification system for training of forestry workers in Croatia.


To examine the effects of soil pH on ectomycorrhizal formation and function on Eucalyptus urophylla S. T. Blake, seedlings inoculated with nine ectomycorrhizal fungi (seven isolates of Pisolithus spp., Scleroderma cepa and Laccaria laccata collected under eucalypt stands in Australia and the Philippines) were transplanted into pots containing a non-sterile acid (pH 4·6) sandy loam amended with four levels of CaCO3 that raised the soil pH from 4·6 to 6·6 (5 mM CaCl2). Pots were placed in temperature-controlled water baths (28 ± 2 °C) inside an evaporatively cooled glasshouse for 9 wk.

Increase in soil pH from 4·6 to 6·6 significantly decreased plant d. wt and shoot nutrient content of uninoculated and inoculated seedlings. Inoculation with four Pisolithus spp. (H445, H2144, M56 and H4003) significantly increased the growth of E. urophylla seedlings at pH 4·6. At pH 6·6, eight ectomycorrhizal isolates significantly improved total d. wt compared with those of the uninoculated seedlings. Pisolithus isolates stimulated seedling growth more than L. laccata whereas S. cepa was ineffective at all pH levels. Total d. wt of H445 inoculated plants grown in P-deficient (8 mg P kg-1 soil) soil was 147% more than that of uninoculated plants given the same P rate and was 70% that of plants fertilized with 64 mg P kg-1 soil (P64) at pH 46. At soil pH 5·8 and 6·6, M56 was the best growth-promoter for E. urophylla. These results indicate that soil pH can significantly alter the development and function of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Soil pH did not significantly affect mycorrhizal formation by the different ectomycorrhizal fungi. However, the percentages of mycorrhizal root tips formed by the different ectomycorrhizal fungi differed significantly. Pisolithus isolate H445 formed the highest percentage of colonized roots and highest total d. wt at pH 4·6 and 5·2, implying its potential for commercial use in acidic conditions.


Abstract— This study provides a complete data set of all five noble gases for bulk samples and mineral separates from three Martian shergottites: Shergotty (bulk, pyroxene, maskelynite), Zagami (bulk, pyroxene, maskelynite), and Elephant Moraine (EET) A79001, lithology A (bulk, pyroxene). We also give a compilation of all noble gas and nitrogen studies performed on these meteorites. Our mean values for cosmic‐ray exposure ages from 3He, 21Ne, and 38Ar are 2.48 Myr for Shergotty, 2.73 Myr for Zagami, and 0.65 Myr for EETA79001 lith. A. Serious loss of radiogenic 4He due to shock is observed. Cosmogenic neon results for bulk samples from 13 Martian meteorites (new data and literature data) are used in addition to the mineral separates of this study in a new approach to explore evidence of solar cosmic‐ray effects. While a contribution of this low‐energy irradiation is strongly indicated for all of the shergottites, spallation Ne in Chassigny, Allan Hills (ALH) 84001, and the nakhlites is fully explained by galactic cosmic‐ray spallation. Implanted Martian atmospheric gases are present in all mineral separates and the thermal release indicates a near‐surface siting. We derive an estimate for the 40Ar/36Ar ratio of the Martian interior component by subtracting from measured Ar in the (K‐poor) pyroxenes the (small) radiogenic component as well as the implanted atmospheric component as indicated from 129Xe, * excesses. Unless compromised by the presence of additional components, a high ratio of ∼2000 is indicated for Martian interior argon, similar to that in the Martian atmosphere. Since much lower ratios have been inferred for Chassigny and ALH 84001, the result may indicate spatial and/or temporal variations of 40Ar/36Ar in the Martian mantle.


Lower Carboniferous conodont faunas from shallow shelf and more offshore settings have few taxa in common and correlation is difficult. Consequently, reports of shallow shelf taphrognathid conodonts and indications that the Taphrognathus transatlanticus Range Zone may be recognizable in Lower Carboniferous sequences in Belgium (Conil et al., 1991) are potentially significant for international correlation using conodonts. Here we present a review of the usefulness of taphrognathid conodonts in international correlation and a brief summary of the current state of their taxonomy. Taphrognathus transatlanticus von Bitter & Austin, 1984 cannot be accommodated within Taphrognathus Branson & Mehl, 1941 and, until a new genus is erected, it is best referred to as aff. Taphrognathus transatlanticus. The status of T. rhodesi as a distinct species is uncertain. The affinities of T. alaskensis are currently obscure, but we strongly doubt that it is a species of Taphrognathus. Regarding Belgian taphrognathids, examination of specimens from the collection reported by Conil et al. (1991) reveals that Taphrognathus carinatus (Higgins & Varker, 1982) is present. This extends the geographical range of T. carinatus beyond the UK, but we are unable to confirm the presence of aff T. transatlanticus in Belgium.


The production of energy crops must be studied and evaluated in terms of environmental impact, in order to integrate them into a sustainable agricultural development. As bioenergy carriers they offer ecological advantages over fossil fuels by contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases and acidifying emissions. However, there could be ecological shortcomings related to the intensity of agricultural production. There is a risk of polluting water and air, losing soil quality, enhancing erosion, and reducing biodiversity. In the scope of the project Future Crops for Food, Feed, Fiber and Fuel (4F Crops), supported by the European Union, an environmental impact assessment study was developed and applied to the production of potential energy crops in Europe. The following variables were selected as categories: use of water and mineral resources, soil quality and erosion, emission of minerals and pesticides to soil and water, waste generation and utilization, landscape, and biodiversity. In addition, a normalization and weighting procedure was applied, which attempts to aggregate environmental impacts. Results suggest that growing energy crops does not inflict higher impact on the environment compared to potato and wheat farming (regarding the studied categories). Although the different indicators did not yield a common pattern, overall results suggest that woody and lignocellulosic crops have an advantage over annual crop systems, namely regarding erodibility and biodiversity. Some crop management options, such as pesticides and fertilizers inputs, can influence the outcomes. However, site‐specific factors should be accurately assessed to evaluate the adequacy between crop and location. Environmental hotspots in the systems are detected and options for improvement are presented. © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd


Walking has become an indispensable and sustainable way of travel for college students in their daily lives and improving the walkability of the college campus will increase the convenience of student life. This paper develops a new campus walkability assessment tool, which optimizes the Walk Score method based on the frequency, variety, and distance of students' walking to and from public facilities. The campus Walk Score is the product of four components. A preliminary score is calculated through 13 types of facility weight and 3 types of cure of time-decay, and the final score also factors in intersection density and block length. We examine the old and new campuses of Tianjin University to test the tool's application and evaluate the rationality of facility layout and walkability, and to give suggestions for improvement. The results show that the old campus' multi-center layout has a high degree of walkability, while the centralized layout of the new campus results in lower walkability. In addition, the diversified distribution of facilities surrounding the old campus promotes the walkability of peripheral places. This assessment tool can help urban planners and campus designers make decisions about how to adjust the facility layout of existing campuses in different regions or to evaluate the campus schemes based on the results of their walkability assessment.


This study investigates the Humic Acid (HA) degradation in aqueous solution by a Fenton-Like process using Fe2+ and Mn4+ as a catalyst. The effect of the independent factors: pH, [H2O2], [Fe2+], [Mn4+] and t (reaction time) at the efficiency of HA degradation were evaluated, aiming at obtaining the optimum conditions. The statistic arrangement adopted was the Central Composite Design, and the response variable was the HA relative concentration after the treatments. The inferences were made using variance analysis, the Pareto chart, the response surface method and the desirability function. The variables which were more significant at the HA degradation were: [Fe2+] (linear and square effects), pH (square effect) and the interactions between [Fe2+] vs [H2O2] and [Fe2+] vs t. The addition of Mn4+ did not provide a significant improvement to the efficiency of HA degradation. Nevertheless, it was observed that the conventional Fenton process proved to be an efficient alternative for the HA degradation. The optimal and most economical condition is pH 5, [H2O2] of 6.17 mmol L−1, [Fe2+] of 0.54 mmol L−1, reaction time of 120 min and no added Mn4+.


Donors support a number of targeted food-based programs in Bangladesh that are widely credited with providing poor people access to food and improving their food security. However, inefficiency in the food distribution system may be hindering the realization of the full benefits of these programs. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) conducted a comprehensive study of the efficiency of food distribution in food aid-supported programs in Bangladesh. The study has three components: (1) food discharge at harbors, (2) the public food distribution system, and (3) food distribution to program beneficiaries. The capacity and efficiency of the food distribution system was assessed from entry ports to targeted beneficiaries. The study identified problems in the whole food distribution system, determined the level of losses, leakages, and other lapses at various stages, and recommended solutions.


This study presents a method for optimal selection of sampling stations for representative and effective water quality monitoring of a reservoir on the basis of information theory. We adopt an objective function used for the design of other hydrological monitoring networks such as rain gauge networks. Unlike rain gauges, in which only a single variable of rainfall is of interest, water quality monitoring stations measure multiple water quality variables. To consider this nature, a new concept of multi-variate weighted total information is proposed. This allows us to consider the relative importance between multiple water quality variables in the design of water quality monitoring networks. The proposed methodology is applied to Lake Yongdam, South Korea, where water quality has been extensively observed at several points. The optimal combination of sampling sites selected with the proposed method is found to show little redundancy in comparison with a previous independent study that presents statistical analysis of the same dataset. Further, the water quality data averaged over all stations are very close to those averaged over the selected sites only, implying that the optimal combination of sampling sites is representative of all sites.


Enormously diverse real and nominal ex post returns on equity and short and long term debt securities have accompanied substantial variations in inflation and resource utilization during the past half century. This paper contains an examination of the relationships among these security returns and an analysis of the effects of inflation and resource utilization on the relationships. The three major results are the following. First, prior to the Treasury-Federal Reserve Accord in 1951, nominal yields on one-month Treasury bills were reasonably stable, while real bill rates were incredibly volatile. Since 1952, the reverse has been true. Nominal bill rates have cycled around a rising trend, and real bill rates have stayed near zero. Second, changes in yields on new-issue, long-term bonds have been largely unanticipated, and these changes have dominated the realized returns on bonds relative to Treasury bills. Because bond rates have risen with (unexpected) inflation during the last fifteen years, bonds have earned negative real returns. Third, the relative returns on equities and bonds are greatly affected by the business cycle with equities performing very well around troughs and very poorly around peaks. This has been true for all ten troughs since 1926 and all six peaks since 1946.


The creation of a new European level social policy and globalization of common social problems determined the development of sociocultural work in Lithuania. It is a new field of study and practice in our social system, though Western societies have extensive experience in the social-cultural work. However, while creating leisure, recreation, arts, and culture management strategy it is more important not to intercept, but to adapt the content to Lithuanian social work context. While organizing the activities, events, social projects of art and culture it is necessary not only to exercise the hedonistic function but also to reduce the social exclusion of risk groups, to help them to socialize and integrate themselves into society. The substantial changes in the society, a new attitude towards social education require the specialist is able to implement leisure, recreation or creative interests and demands to have high professional competence, to be learned and knowledgeable in all kinds of science. This requires theoretical and methodical knowledge about functions of leisure structure, ability to find out community interests and demands in different fields of cultural leisure activities, and competence to involve children, adolescents, disabled and elderly people in active cultural recreational activities. The article review the situation of sociocultural fields, such as recreation (relaxation and leisure) and arts, as well as culture, emphasizing the role of social workers as organizers of leisure in the social system. The author analyses the research data on social workers'attitudes towards leisure quality in social care institutions. This article also presents educational studies of leisure and recreation in Western universities and forecasts perspectives of sociocultural work in Lithuania.


This paper describes the construction of a large panel data set covering about 2600 firms in the U.S. manufacturing sector for up to twenty years which contains annual data on financial variables, employment, research and development expenditures, and aggregate patent applications. This data set is to be used in a larger study of R&D, inventive output and technological change. In the present paper we present preliminary results on the R&D and patenting behavior of the 1976 cross section of these firms. We find an elasticity of R&D with respect to sales of close to unity, with both very small and very large firms being slightly more R&D intensive than average. Because only 60% of the firms report R&D expenditures, we attempt to correct for selectivity bias and find that though the correction is small, it increases the estimated complementarity between capital intensity and R&D intensity. In exploring the relationship of the patenting activity of these firms to their contemporaneous R&D expenditures, we look with some care at the choice of econometric specifications since the discrete nature of the patents variable for our smaller firms may cause difficulties with the conventional log linear model. The choice of specification does indeed make a difference, and the negative binomial model, which is a Poisson-type model with a disturbance, is preferred. Substantively, we find a much larger output of patents per R&D dollar for the small firms, with a decreasing propensity to patent with size of R&D programs throughout the sample. However, this conclusion is highly tentative both because of its sensitivity to specification and choice of sample and also because we expect that errors in variables bias due to our focus on R&D and patent applications in a single year is far worse for the small firms.


Do Black lives matter to the Constitution? To the original Constitution, premised as it is on white supremacy, they plainly do not. But do the post-Civil War Amendments, sometimes characterized as a "Second Founding," provide a basis for a more optimistic reading? The Supreme Court's application of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection guarantee, shaped by the long discredited (and now formally overruled) decision in Korematsu v. U.S., has seriously diminished the likelihood that our basic law can redeem the promise of racial equality. Korematsu's embrace of a purely formal account of racial discrimination, its blindness to the history and present reality of societal discrimination against racial minorities and its identification of racial antagonism (or animus), as opposed to racial subordination, as the primary evil evidenced by discriminatory laws together assure a very limited reach for the Equal Protection guarantee as it applies to race. By contrast, Justice Ginsburg's approach to sex inequality (set out in her opinion in U.S. v. Virginia), by distinguishing measures which enforce the political, economic, or social inferiority of women from those which dissipate such inferiority, offers a more promising account of Equal Protection. Application of her approach to the Constitutional law of race discrimination would markedly improve the prospects for achieving the Second Founding's aspiration to end racial subordination in our country.


R&D funded by the business sector increased in the EU by 5.6%, below the 6.1% global rate and the US R&D growth (7.2%). The worldwide growth of industrial R&D in 2017 is slightly higher than that recorded in 2016. This growth is largely driven by ICT and health industries. As in previous years, the industrial R&D growth in the EU is led by Germany, with France showing a stronger R&D increase compared to the previous year. In the EU, R&D inflows and outflows for Health industries were nearly equivalent in 2017 (€9.6bn versus €9.4bn) and showed a significant positive trend with respect to 2016.


Potency of the cathode material is an important feature for upgrading lithium-ion/sodium-ion battery technology for next-generation applications such as in electrical grids and advanced electric vehicles. Various limitations related to electrochemical and socio-economic issues of these batteries are current research challenges. Amongst the various possible solutions to address such issues, developing nanostructured cathode materials, such as one-dimensional nanostructures, by versatile and easily scaled-up processes could be one of the options. Consequently, in the present study, Li1+x(Mn1/3Ni1/3Fe1/3)O2 one-dimensional nanofibers have been fabricated via a simple and low-cost electrospinning technique and used as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries, which showed an improved initial reversible capacity (∼109 mA h g−1) and cyclic stability at the 0.1 C rate when compared to the performance of Li1+x(Mn1/3Ni1/3Fe1/3)O2 nanoparticles. On the other hand, the feasibility of this low-cost and eco-friendly material was also tested in sodium-ion batteries, and the same trend is observed. The enhanced electrochemical and structural features in both systems could be ascribed to the exceptional features of one-dimensional nanofibers such as efficient electron transport, facile strain relaxation, and short Li+/Na+ diffusion pathways.


A number of recent policy reports have suggested that Canadian universities and community colleges should play a more significant role in response to the adult education and training needs of Canada'Aos workforce. This article discusses the results of a study that examined investment trends and the characteristics of non-formal adult learner programming at Canadian postsecondary institutions. Public universities and community colleges were surveyed, and a purposive sample of key informants, representing the broad spectrum of postsecondary education in Canada, was interviewed. The results indicated that institutional investments in non-formal programs for adult learners have trended upward over the past decade. Colleges reported larger average annual institutional expenditures on and larger enrolments in non-formal adult learner programs. However, adult learners comprise only a small minority of the overall student population at post-secondary institutions. Financial barriers at both the institutional and individual levels were identified as key barriers to increasing access and participation. Limited operational funding at the institutional level has influenced the nature and scope of offerings and, for many institutions, has resulted in program offerings that do not necessarily target the needs of nontraditional and disadvantaged adult learner groups. The study findings have important public-policy implications for improving access and participation in non-formal adult learning, including the need for greater incentives for individuals (e.g., tax incentives) and increased support for disadvantaged learners to enhance basic-skills training.


Amortized inference allows latent-variable models trained via variational learning to scale to large datasets. The quality of approximate inference is determined by two factors: a) the capacity of the variational distribution to match the true posterior and b) the ability of the recognition network to produce good variational parameters for each datapoint. We examine approximate inference in variational autoencoders in terms of these factors. We find that divergence from the true posterior is often due to imperfect recognition networks, rather than the limited complexity of the approximating distribution. We show that this is due partly to the generator learning to accommodate the choice of approximation. Furthermore, we show that the parameters used to increase the expressiveness of the approximation play a role in generalizing inference rather than simply improving the complexity of the approximation.


Objectives: Obesity is a documented comorbidity that is prevalent in the elderly population and a known predictor for surgical site infection (SSI). Body mass index is a convenient method to classify obesity, but it fails to account for fat distribution. The objective of our study was to evaluate the association between surgical site infection and a subcutaneous radiographic measurement (SRM) in elderly hip fracture patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted to compare SRMs at the hip in patients diagnosed with surgical site infection after hip fracture surgery with patients that were not diagnosed with surgical site infection. Each case was matched to two controls. An SRM was defined as the distance from the tip of the greater trochanter to the skin following a perpendicular line to the femoral diaphysis in anteroposterior hip radiographs. Clinical diagnosis of acute surgical site infection was based on Tsukayama criteria. Results: Patients with an SRM greater than 6.27cm had a 7-fold increase in the odds of surgical site infection (OR=7.42, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)=3.01-18.28, p<0.001) compared to those with smaller measurements. The odds ratio (OR) for infection of patients with an ASA score of 3 was 15.82(95% CI=5.11-48.9, p-value<0.001) A statistically significant difference between cases and controls was also found when SRM at the hip was analyzed as a continuous variable. Patients with an infection had a 2.24cm (95% CI=1.59 - 2.90; p<0.001) greater mean SRM. Conclusion: Results of our study suggest an association between the SRM at the hip and the risk of SSI in elderly patients with surgically treated hip fractures. SRM may be a helpful tool for evaluating the risk of SSI in elderly hip fracture patients.


Despite the increasing inequality between rich and poor, there is resistance towards proscribing discrimination on the basis of socioeconomic status. This resistance is marked in Anglophone countries, namely, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, the US and South Africa, countries that are located in the high inequality/low mobility extreme in terms of socioeconomic status. This article argues that the resistance is associated with the embrace of neoliberalism, a political value system that extols the free market, individualism and profit maximisation. The commitment to competition policy necessarily produces inequality in contradistinction to equality, which informs the philosophical underpinnings of anti-discrimination legislation. Even in the comparatively few jurisdictions where legislation on the basis of social status or a cognate attribute exists, the legislative model is restrictive and the number of complaints minuscule. Most notably, an overview of the Anglophone countries reveals that there is a dearth of complaints involving national and multinational corporations, the primary wealth creators of the neoliberal state that are also major employers. Although employment generally gives rise to the preponderance of discrimination complaints on grounds such as race and sex, it is suggested that the resistance to social status discrimination serves to protect private corporations from scrutiny.


SNP is a method of nonparametric time series analysis. The method employs a polynomial series expansion to approximate the conditional density of a multivariate process. An appealing feature of the expansion is that it directly nests familiar models such as a pure VAR, a pure ARCH, a nonlinear process with homogeneous innovations, etc. An SNP model is fitted using conventional maximuml likelihood together with a model selection strategy that determines the appropriate degree of the polynomial. A Fortran program implementing the SNP method is available via anonymous ftp at ftp.econ.duke.edu (22.214.171.124) in directory ~ftp/home/arg/snp or from Carnegie-Mellon University e-mail server by sending a one-line e-mail message "send snp from general" to email@example.com. The cose is provided at no charge for research purposes without warranty. The program has switches that allow direct computation of functionals of the fitted density such as conditional means, conditional variances, and points for plotting the density. Other switches generate simulated sample paths which can be used to compute nonlinear functionals of the density by Monte Carlo integration, notably the nonlinear analogs of the impulse-response mean and volatility profiles used in traditional VAR and ARCH analysis. Simulated sample paths can also be used to set bootstrapped sup-norm confidence bands on these and other functionals. The purpose of this Guide is to provide an expositional review of the underlying methodology and to walk the user through an application. Our hope is that the Guide will be essentially self contained and that very little reference to the cited literature will be required to use the program and the SNP method.


Grapsid crabs can play a considerable role in the predation of mangrove propagules and possibly are a threat to the regeneration of mangroves, whether natural or artificial. Experiments consisting of artificial plantation of mangrove juveniles were set up in Gazi Bay (Kenya). Grapsid crabs, particularly Neosarmatium meinerti in the most landward fringe and N. smithii and Sesarma guttatum in the middle fringe of the mangrove forest, were found to be a regeneration-limiting factor. Almost 100% (n = 40) of the landward plantations were cleared. There was a slight initial preference for Rhizophora propagules lying horizontally on the mangrove floor, which simulates the position of a stranding propagule. In Mida Creek (Kenya) the snail Terebralia palustris was observed predating mangrove propagules. This study shows that crabs may affect the regeneration potential of mangroves, and snails might also be a factor in predation. A need to actively search for ways to protect re-afforestation plots from predators of mangrove tree juveniles is necessary.


In order to offer green solution to the removal of heavy metal ion from aqueous medium, sorghum waste was found to be effective for the removal of Cu2+ and Zn2+ metal ions from aqueous solutions. The result obtained shows that the extent of metal ion removed increases with increasing contact time, increasing adsorbent doses and increasing metal ion concentrations. Different adsorption models including the Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich were used, to described the adsorption characteristics of sorghum waste for Zn2+ and Cu2+ ions. The extent of interaction was established through the values of their respective adsorption constant. The kinetic of the adsorption process best fitted the pseudo second order kinetic model. Functional groups linked to the adsorbent before and after adsorption experiments were identified through FTIR analysis and they were found to differ for the different metal ions. The adsorption of these metal ions from aqueous solution was consistent with the mechanism of physical adsorption. Sorghum waste was found to be an excellent adsorbent for Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions in aqueous environment


Abstract : Supply chains are usually thought of as manufacturing and delivering physical items, but there are also supply chains associated with the development and operation of a software system. Software supply chain research does not have decades of evidence to draw on, as with physical-item supply chains. Taking a systems perspective on software supply chain risks, this report considers current practices in software supply chain analysis and suggests some foundational practices. The product and supplier selection criteria for system development depend on how a product is used in a system. While many of the criteria for the selection of product suppliers and system development contractors are the same, there is also a significant difference between these kinds of acquisitions. Product development is completed in advance of an acquirer?s product and supplier assessment. There is no guarantee that current supplier development practices were used for a specific product. For custom system acquisitions, acquirers can and should actively monitor both contractor and product supply chain risks during development. This report suggests contractor and acquirer activities that support the management of supply chain risks.


A great effort by the editor-in-chief, Dr. A. M. Kadri, a well-known academician and teacher as well as the secretary general of IAPSM for more than three years, to compile the work of over 200 authors who are subject experts and teachers of Community Medicine from all over India. This book exhibits expertise of the subject from every nook and corner of India. It is nicely framed and the font size, print, tables, diagrams are reader friendly and pleasing to the eyes.


In today's consumer oriented markets, companies should have a privileged position in target markets' memories in order to preserve and increase their market shares. Increasing intense competition forces companies to invest on their brands more. Companies should know the dimensions that affect consumer based brand equity and should form strategies that can improve these dimensions. There is severe competition in automobile sector like in other sectors. Automobile companies are evaluated to have sustainable strategic advantage if they find the most important dimensions that affect consumer based brand equity and improve them. The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between consumer based brand equity of a foreign automobile brand, and its dimensions by means of structural equation modeling and to propose marketing strategies according to the modeling results. Convenience sampling method is used in the research and 394 questionnaires are collected for the analysis. According to the research findings, it is obtained that after sales service has a positive impact on perceived quality and consumer based brand equity; brand associations and perceived quality dimensions have a positive impact on the brand loyalty and brand loyalty has a positive impact on consumer based brand equity.


SUMMARY: Studies on the beneficial effects of vitamins E and D supplementation on functions of caput and cauda epididymides, their spermatozoa, vas deferens and seminal vesicle of sodium fluoride (NaF) treated (10 mg/kg body weight) male mice (Mus musculus) were carried out. The NaF treatment resulted in significant decrease in the body and epididymis weight but those of vas deferens and seminal vesicle were not affected. NaF treatment brought about alterations in epididymal milieu as elucidated by the significant decrease in levels of sialic acid and protein as well as activity of ATPase in epididymides. As a result, the sperm maturation process was affected leading to a significant decline in cauda epididymal sperm motility and viability. This caused a significant reduction in fertility rate. The cauda epididymal sperm count was also significantly reduced. The data obtained suggest that fluoride treatment induced significant metabolic alterations in the epididymides, vas deferens and seminal vesicles of mice. The withdrawal of NaF treatment (30 days) produced incomplete recovery. On the other hand, sup-plementation of vitamins E or D during the withdrawal period of NaF treated mice was found to be very beneficial in recovery of all NaF induced effects, thus elucidating their ameliorative role in recovery from toxic effects of NaF on the reproductive functions and fertility. On the whole, a combination of vitamins E and D treatment was comparatively more effective than that with vitamin E or D alone. Therefore, vitamin therapy could be beneficial for the amelioration of fluoride induced changes in reproductive functions.


The possible role of aerobot missions as new vehicles for Mars exploration has been recently emphasized. The unique combination of proximity to the surface, and mobility exceeding tens of thousands of kilometers complements the capabilities of orbital platforms and surface rovers. Recent progress in the multi-center JPL-led Mars Balloon Validation Program (MABVAP) provides a foundation for feasible planetary aerobot missions. The MABVAP effort builds on previously studied large-scale Mars balloon missions (Russian-French Mars Aerostat, Mars Aerial Platform proposal and Mars 2001 Aerobot/Balloon Study and related technology development. The proposed approach is to develop a first generation small-scale focused science mission that features ample performance margins in the balloons, entry, deployment and inflation system, materials, instrumentation and communication. This paper describes the implications of Martian atmospheric and surface conditions on balloon mission performance. The first missions should operate in the relatively benign environments of mid-season and near the poles. They are of a micromission class with a 35-60 kg entry vehicle mass and could be launched as an auxiliary or piggyback payload. The second generation of aerobots with an entry vehicle mass of 150-200 kg will deliver aerobots with science payloads of 10-20 kg that will carry a complex of science instruments that will support a rich suite of observations of the surface and atmosphere. A part of the payload could be used to provide a degree of trajectory control for the aerobot.


In order to address non-local effects in turbulent transport of magnetic-fusion devices, the gyrokinetic code GENE has been extended from a flux tube to a more global geometry. This global version of GENE includes radial variations of temperature and density profiles, as well as of magnetic equilibrium quantities. Non-periodic radial boundary conditions allow for profile evolution. Thanks to an interface with the MHD equilibrium code CHEASE, as well as the implementation of various types of source and sink terms, the global GENE version will provide a realistic model for carrying out gyrokinetic, quasi-stationary, microturbulence simulations over a major fraction of the core plasma. Validation of the code has in particular been ensured thanks to detailed comparisons with the global PIC codes GYGLES and ORB5.


In intelligent transportation systems, wireless connected vehicles moving in platoons can improve roads' throughput. For managing driving status of the platoon, a lead vehicle transmits driving information to following autonomous vehicles by using multi-hop data dissemination. We study a novel data dissemination protocol which investigates a chain-based transmit rate control to reduce data dissemination latency. The optimal resource allocation algorithm is formulated to minimize the total dissemination latency of the platoon under guaranteed bit error rates, and can be judiciously reformulated and solved using standard optimization techniques. A novel dynamic programming algorithm is presented to solve the platooning resource allocation optimization, which uses backward induction to significantly reduce the resource allocation complexity. In addition, we interpret the vehicular platoon as one-dimensional Markov chain, and derive a closed form of dissemination latency. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed dynamic programming algorithm. The numerical results show that our algorithm achieves optimal solutions with cutting off the complexity by orders of magnitude, while improving dissemination rate in the vehicular platoon.


Abstract Purpose This study aimed to document the treatment trajectories and clozapine use in first-episode psychosis patients and to document the underlying reasons for using or not using clozapine in patients not achieving psychosis remission. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart audit of patients aged 18 to 30 years having DSM-5 diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum psychotic disorders treated in 3 Canadian early intervention programs for psychosis. The severity of the patient's illness (using the Clinical Global Impression Severity [CGI-S] scale) and remission of psychosis were rated before and after each antipsychotic trial. Results One hundred and forty-seven patients were included in the study. There were 19.7% patients exposed to clozapine after an average of 2.4 antipsychotic trials and a mean delay of 470.8 days. There were 75.9% patients who improved their CGI-S score (mean improvement, 2.5) after the clozapine trial and 62.1% achieved a CGI-S score ≤3. Full remission of psychosis on clozapine was achieved in 69.0% of the patients. Clozapine was successfully used for some patients with a nonadherent profile in our sample (eg, personality disorder, substance use disorder). Although the mean duration of clozapine trials during the observation period was 688.6 days, no patient discontinued clozapine because of adherence issues. Conclusions Clozapine use in these early intervention programs were at a rate consistent to what is expected from the literature and allowed a majority of patients to achieve remission of psychosis and to experience a robust improvement of severity of illness.


The scale of what happened under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 is difficult to deal with (over one million Cambodians lost their lives), but efforts are now underway to bring at least some of the surviving leaders of the regime to justice. This essay explores the reasons for delay of the trials, citing: The absence of international precedents prior to the 1990s; The show trial of two Khmer Rouge leaders in 1979; and The obstacles to a trial arising from geopolitical considerations in the 1980s (in which some powers now calling for a trial, including the United States, were effectively allied with the Khmer Rouge against the Vietnamese-imposed regime in Phnom Penh). In the 1990s, following the Paris Peace Accords and the brief UN protectorate over Cambodia, demands for a trial came from overseas and from Cambodian human rights groups. The Cambodian regime considered the show trials of 1979 sufficient, however, and in 1998 Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen urged his compatriots to "dig a hole and bury the past." Eager to regain foreign support for his regime after several brutal incidents in which political opponents were killed, Hun Sen has more recently agreed to limited international participation in a trial. A procedure targeting a few Khmer Rouge leaders seems likely in 2000, but Cambodian government control of the proceedings means that nothing like a truth commission or a wide-ranging inquiry will result.


The Films of Scotland Committee (1938 and 1954-82) produced one hundred and sixty eight documentaries on Scotland and Scottish life; the thesis is an archaeology of those documentaries. The thesis breaks from a film theory discourse that has marginalised documentary to argue that the genre should be understood as a cultural technology, an exhibitionary apparatus that draws on a variety of discursive formations in its production of knowledge. Similarly, the thesis argues that the representation of Scotland should not be understood as an aesthetic failure to represent the reality of life in Scotland, but as a distinct discursive practice that emerged at a specific historical period, a practice regulated by the rules of formation of the discourses within which it operates.

The thesis outlines the history of Scottish film culture before 1938, and examines the formation of the Committee by the Scottish Office, arguing that this needs to be understood in relation to the history of public cultural policy in Britain since the mid nineteenth century. It examines the Committee's commitment to 'the national interest, and its relation to the mechanics and legitimation of state authority. A discursive analysis of The Face of Scotland (1938) begins to identify the discursive regimes on which Films of Scotland documentaries draw in their production of knowledge. The thesis argues that this film occupies a space of representation opened up by the discursive formations of ethnography and history, and a discourse of nationhood, and traces the formation of this space by looking at the earlier surfaces of emergence of these discourses. It also begins to suggest the ways in which these discourses engage with the construction of cultural and national identities.

Arguing that the figure of the tour is central to the Films of Scotland documentaries, th e thesis traces the emergence of the tour as a cultural technology in Scotland from the eighteenth century travel writing of Martin Martin and Boswell and Johnson, to the apparatuses of tourism established by Thomas Cook. The last part of the thesis focuses on the travelogue as a sub-genre of documentary, mapping out both the technologies of vision on which it draws, and its generic 'regime of verisimilitude', structured, it is argued, by an oscillation between the discourses of history and ethnography. Finally the thesis argues that what remains hegemonic in Scottish culture are not particular images and narratives, but the very concept of national culture itself, and the nature, rather than the content, of national identity.


Panel studies typically suffer from attrition. Ignoring the attrition can result in biased inferences if the missing data are systematically related to outcomes of interest. Unfortunately, panel data alone cannot inform the extent of bias due to attrition. Many panel studies also include refreshment samples, which are data collected from a random sample of new individuals during the later waves of the panel. Refreshment samples offer information that can be utilized to correct for biases induced by non-ignorable attrition while reducing reliance on strong assumptions about the attrition process. We present a Bayesian approach to handle attrition in two-wave panels with one refreshment sample and many categorical survey variables. The approach includes (1) an additive non-ignorable selection model for the attrition process; and (2) a Dirichlet process mixture of multinomial distributions for the categorical survey variables. We present Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for sampling from the posterior distribution of model parameters and missing data. We apply the model to correct attrition bias in an analysis of data from the 2007–08 Associated Press/Yahoo News election panel study.


It is well established that sleep spindles (bursts of oscillatory brain electrical activity) are significant indicators of learning, memory and some disease states. Therefore, many attempts have been made to detect these hallmark patterns automatically. In this pilot investigation, we paid special attention to nonlinear chaotic features of EEG signals (in combination with linear features) to investigate the detection and prediction of sleep spindles. These nonlinear features included: Higuchi's, Katz's and Sevcik's Fractal Dimensions, as well as the Largest Lyapunov Exponent and Kolmogorov's Entropy. It was shown that the intensity map of various nonlinear features derived from the constructive interference of spindle signals could improve the detection of the sleep spindles. It was also observed that the prediction of sleep spindles could be facilitated by means of the analysis of these maps. Two well-known classifiers, namely the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) were used to distinguish between spindle and non-spindle patterns. The MLP classifier produced a~high discriminative capacity (accuracy = 94.93%, sensitivity = 94.31% and specificity = 95.28%) with significant robustness (accuracy ranging from 91.33% to 94.93%, sensitivity varying from 91.20% to 94.31%, and specificity extending from 89.79% to 95.28%) in separating spindles from non-spindles. This classifier also generated the best results in predicting sleep spindles based on chaotic features. In addition, the MLP was used to find out the best time window for predicting the sleep spindles, with the experimental results reaching 97.96% accuracy.


OBJECTIVE Minimally invasive anterior and lateral approaches to the lumbar spine are increasingly used to treat and reduce grade I spondylolisthesis, but concerns still exist for their usage in the management of higher-grade lesions. The authors report their experience with this strategy for grade II spondylolisthesis in a single-surgeon case series and provide early clinical and radiographic outcomes. METHODS A retrospective review of a single surgeon's cases between 2012 and 2016 identified all patients with a Meyerding grade II lumbar spondylolisthesis who underwent minimally invasive lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) or anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) targeting the slipped level. Demographic, clinical, and radiographic data were collected and analyzed. Changes in radiographic measurements, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and visual analog scale (VAS) scores were compared using the paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test for continuous and ordinal variables, respectively. RESULTS The average operative time was 199.1 minutes (with 60.6 ml of estimated blood loss) for LLIFs and 282.1 minutes (with 106.3 ml of estimated blood loss), for ALIFs. Three LLIF patients had transient unilateral anterior thigh numbness during the 1st week after surgery, and 1 ALIF patient had transient dorsiflexion weakness, which was resolved at postoperative week 1. The mean follow-up time was 17.6 months (SD 12.5 months) for LLIF patients and 10 months (SD 3.1 months) for ALIF patients. Complete reduction of the spondylolisthesis was achieved in 12 LLIF patients (75.0%) and 7 ALIF patients (87.5%). Across both procedures, there was an increase in both the segmental lordosis (LLIF 5.6°, p = 0.002; ALIF 15.0°, p = 0.002) and overall lumbar lordosis (LLIF 2.9°, p = 0.151; ALIF 5.1°, p = 0.006) after surgery. Statistically significant decreases in the mean VAS and the mean ODI measurements were seen in both treatment groups. The VAS and ODI scores fell by a mean value of 3.9 (p = 0.002) and 19.8 (p = 0.001), respectively, for LLIF patients and 3.8 (p = 0.02) and 21.0 (p = 0.03), respectively, for ALIF patients at last follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Early clinical and radiographic results from using minimally invasive LLIF and ALIF approaches to treat grade II spondylolisthesis appear to be good, with low operative blood loss and no neurological deficits. Complete reduction of the spondylolisthesis is frequently possible with a statistically significant reduction in pain scores.


On March 10, 2015, the Payment Cards Center hosted a workshop on the development and performance of Blueprint, a set of money management features developed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase) and available with several of Chase's credit cards. The workshop featured presentations by Thomas O'Donnell, managing director of Chase Consumer and Community Banking Quality, and Florian Egg-Krings, general manager of the Slate and Blueprint portfolios. O'Donnell discussed the development of Blueprint, a process that began during the financial crisis and the Great Recession of 2007‒2009. Egg-Krings then shared some insight on the adoption and success of several Blueprint features. Lastly, both O'Donnell and Egg-Krings briefly discussed their expectations for the evolution of Blueprint in the coming years. This paper summarizes the presentations of O'Donnell and Egg-Krings, supplemented by additional research.


Blogger and librarian Ross Horsley delivers a wickedly satirical children's dictionary for today's warped bibliophile, comprised of sunny illustrations from a real 1940s kids' book paired with irreverent-and often twisted-definitions. At once cute and darkly funny, Horsley's My First Dictionary is perfect for fans of The Book of Bunny Suicides, Grandma's Dead, The Three Martini Playdate, Cyanide & Happiness and Little Billy's Letters-and will fast-track your inner child to becoming the corrupted youth you've always hoped for.


We present a new implementation of anisotropic mean curvature flow for contour recognition. Our procedure couples the mean curvature flow of planar closed smooth curves, with an external field from a potential of point-wise charges. This coupling constrains the motion when the curve matches a picture placed as background. We include a stability criteria for our numerical approximation.