Abstract The paper deals with the structure and evolution of the Pieniny Klippen Belt in its classic area in western Slovakia. The so-called Peri-Klippen Zone provides a transition from the Pieniny Klippen Belt s.s. built up by Jurassic to Eocene Oravic units (Šariš, Subpieniny and Pieniny from bottom to top) to the outer margin of the Central Western Carpathians composed of Triassic to mid-Cretaceous successions of the Fatric and Hronic cover nappe systems. The Peri-Klippen Zone attains a considerable width of 15 km in the Middle Váh River Valley, where it is composed of the supposedly Fatric Manín, Klape and Drietoma units, as well as their post-emplacement, Gosau-type sedimentary cover. All these units are tightly folded and imbricated. The complex sedimentary and structural rock records indicate the late Turonian emplacement of the frontal Fatric nappes in a position adjacent to or above the inner Oravic elements, whereby they became constituents of an accretionary wedge developing in response of subduction of the South Penninic– Vahic oceanic realm separating the Central Western Carpathians and the Oravic domain. Evolution of the wedge-top Gosau depressions and the trench-foredeep basins of the foreland Oravic area exhibit close mutual relationships controlled by the wedge dynamics. The kinematic and palaeostress analyses of fold and fault structures revealed only one dominating stress system coeval with development of the accretionary wedge, which is characterized by the generally NW–SE oriented main compression axis operating in a pure compressional to dextral transpressional regime, interrupted by short-term extensional events related to the wedge collapse stages. Younger, Miocene to Quaternary palaeostress fields correspond to those widely recorded in the entire Western Carpathians. Relying on the regional tectonostratigraphic and structural data, the problematic issues of the palaeogeographic settings of the Manín and Klape units, presumably affiliated with the Fatric cover nappe system, and of the provenance of numerous olistoliths occurring at different stratigraphic levels are then discussed in a broader context.


Genug ist Genug: A Fetus Is Not a Kidney The Yiddish expression "genug ist genug" translates roughly into English as "enough is enough." Setting a boundary or horizon rather than advancing a fundamental rule, the expression is an aphorism rather than a moral principle. One suspects it is a universal aphorism, known to parents if not to philosophers in every culture. Its terseness conveys a sense of indignation at a request for tolerance pushed beyond some perhaps unspoken limit. Surprisingly, when considering the ethics of fetal tissue transplantation, "enough is enough" not only captures the predictable frustration of anti-abortion forces but also resonates strongly for many who are inclined to tolerate abortion politically and legally, if not to welcome it morally. For these individuals, the tremendous new potential for using fetal tissue to treat severe and all-too-common illnesses causes not anticipation but concern. Why should the development of a form of therapy predicted to be enormously beneficial trouble those who accept legalized abortion and most forms of fetal research? After all, patients with Parkinsons disease, and those with other diseases potentially treatable via fetal tissues, often suffer terribly, and fetal remains, if not used for transplantation, will probably only be discarded. Women have a legal right to abortion, and cadavers, whether fetal or otherwise, cannot really be said to have any interests one way or another. Why, then, should anyone not opposed to legalized abortion object to therapeutic use of fetal tissue? Framing the issue in this fashion, however, requires accepting a set of "moral blinders" formed by two assumptions: 1) that use of cadaveric fetal tissue for transplantation is fundamentally equivalent to its use in teaching or research; and 2) that this use of fetal tissue can be isolated from its origin in elective abortions such that judgments about the moral status of the fetus and abortion are immune from any bias introduced by successful transplants. A different moral vision would see in fetal tissue transplantation a problematic conceptual and linguistic amalgamation of transplantation and abortion that renews ambivalance about the legitimacy of society's claims on cadavers, magnifies moral tensions found in prior fetal research debates, and accents widespread concerns about the casual use of elective abortion as a primary means of family planning. The querulous response "enough is enough" results from an intuition that transplantation of tissue from fetal cadavers threatens ethical values and our social ethods much more powerfully than does either legalized abortion or modest fetal research. These difficulties require restraint in both our language and our practices to prevent harmful shifts in our attitudes toward fetuses and elective abortion while permitting pursuit of medical benefits for those desperately in need. Marvelous Uses for Fetal Tissue In order fully to appreciate the powerful motivations toward using fetal tissue, we must abandon any pretense that it holds promise for only a narrow range of diseases. Providing new tissues and cells is a logical response to many types of cellular dysfunction (for example, pancreatic cells in diabetes and dopamine-producing neural cells in Parkinsons disease). Since fetal precursor cells are undifferentiated, they probably have important advantages over fully developed cells. Fetal cells are likely to grow rapidly and integrated with recipients' tissues, producing needed cell products under normal regulatory control. The biological principle underlying these therapies indeed suggests a much vaster range of possible applications. [1] Other avenues for research include the use of fetal neural cells in the treatment of Huntington disease, Alzheimers disease, spinal cord or other neural tissue injuries, and possibly some forms of cortical blindness. …


The main sources of ozone precursors in the atmosphere of the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area (SPMA) in Brazil are emissions from gasoline-, ethanol-, and diesel-powered vehicles. Ozone is a significant air quality problem in the SPMA. To come into compliance with the National Ambient Air quality Standard for Ozone, emission reduction policies must be established. An adequate emissions inventory and a description of the meteorology and chemistry involved are needed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of methodologies that reduce the effect of vehicle emissions on ozone formation. During the period 10–12 August 1999, concentrations of ozone in the SPMA and the impact of the official emissions inventory were simulated through application of an urban-scale Eulerian model. We found that using the official inventory in simulations resulted in ozone values much lower than those observed and nitrogen oxide emission profiles that were overestimated by a factor of approximately two.


Dependent types can be used to capture useful properties about programs at compile time. However, developing dependently typed programs can be difficult in current systems. Capturing interesting program properties usually requires the user to write proofs, where constructing the latter can be both a difficult and tedious process. Additionally, finding and fixing errors in program scripts can be challenging. This thesis concerns ways in which functional programming with dependent types can be made easier. In particular, we focus on providing help for developing programs that incorporate user-defined types and user-defined functions. For the purpose of supporting dependently typed programming, we have designed a framework that provides improved proof automation and error feedback. Proof automation is provided with the use of heuristic based tactics that automate common patterns of proofs that arise when programming with dependent types. In particular, we use heuristics for generalising goals and employ the rippling heuristic for guiding inductive and non-inductive proofs. The automation we describe includes features for caching and reusing lemmas proven during proof search and, whenever proof search fails, the user can assist the prover by providing high-level hints. We concentrate on providing improved feedback for the errors that occur when there is a mismatch between the specification of a program, described with the use of dependent types, and the behaviour of the program. We employ a QuickCheck-like testing tool for automatically identifying these forms of errors, where the counterexamples generated are used as error messages. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework for supporting dependently typed programming, we have developed a prototype based around the Coq theorem prover. We demonstrate that the framework as a whole makes program development easier by conducting a series of case studies. In these case studies, which involved verifying properties of tail recursive functions, sorting functions and a binary adder, a significant number of the proofs required were automated.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The relationships between cerebrovascular lesions visible on imaging and cognition are complex. We explored the possibility that the cerebral cortical volume mediated these relationships.

METHODS
Total of 1906 nondemented participants (59% women; 25% African-American; mean age, 76.6 years) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study underwent cognitive assessments, risk factor assessments, and quantitative MRI for white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and infarcts. The Freesurfer imaging analysis pipeline was used to determine regional cerebral volumes. We examined the associations of cognitive domain outcomes with cerebral volumes (hippocampus and separate groups of posterior and frontal cortical regions of interest) and cerebrovascular imaging features (presence of large or small cortical/subcortical infarcts and WMH volume). We performed mediation pathway analyses to assess the hypothesis that hippocampal and cortical volumes mediated the associations between cerebrovascular imaging features and cognition.

RESULTS
In unmediated analyses, WMH and infarcts were both associated with worse psychomotor speed/executive function. In mediation analyses, WMH and infarct associations on psychomotor speed/executive function were significantly attenuated, but not abolished, by the inclusion of the posterior cortical regions of interest volume in the models, and the infarcts on psychomotor speed/executive function association were attenuated, but not abolished, by inclusion of the frontal cortical regions of interest volume.

CONCLUSIONS
Both WMH and infarcts were associated with cortical volume, and both lesions were also associated with cognitive performance, implying shared pathophysiological mechanisms. Although cross-sectional, our findings suggest that WMH and infarcts could be proxies for clinically covert processes that directly damage cortical regions. Microinfarcts are 1 candidate for such a clinically covert process.


We present a multitier system for the remote administration of speech therapy to children with apraxia of speech. The system uses a client-server architecture model and facilitates task-oriented remote therapeutic training in both in-home and clinical settings. The system allows a speech language pathologist (SLP) to remotely assign speech production exercises to each child through a web interface and the child to practice these exercises in the form of a game on a mobile device. The mobile app records the child's utterances and streams them to a back-end server for automated scoring by a speech-analysis engine. The SLP can then review the individual recordings and the automated scores through a web interface, provide feedback to the child, and adapt the training program as needed. We have validated the system through a pilot study with children diagnosed with apraxia of speech, their parents, and SLPs. Here, we describe the overall client-server architecture, middleware tools used to build the system, speech-analysis tools for automatic scoring of utterances, and present results from a clinical study. Our results support the feasibility of the system as a complement to traditional face-to-face therapy through the use of mobile tools and automated speech analysis algorithms.


Palaeoseismic records and seismological data from continental interiors increasingly show that these areas of slow strain accumulation are more subject to seismic and associated natural hazards than previously thought. Moreover, some of our instincts developed for assessing hazards at plate boundaries might not apply here. Hence assessing hazards and drawing implications for the future is challenging, and how well it can be done heavily depends on the ability to assess the spatiotemporal distribution of past large earthquakes. This book explores some key issues in understanding hazards in slowly deforming areas. Examples include classic intraplate regions, such as Central and Northern Europe, Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Australia, and North and South America, and regions of widely distributed strain, such as the Tien Shan Mountains in Central Asia. The papers in this volume are grouped into two sections. The first section deals with instrumental and historical earthquake data and associated hazard assessments. The second section covers methods from structural geology, palaeoseismology and tectonic geomorphology, and incorporates field evidence.


Charcoal rot is a post-flowering stalk rot (PFSR) disease of maize caused by the fungal pathogen, Macrophomina phaseolina. It is a serious concern for smallholder maize cultivation, due to significant yield loss and plant lodging at harvest, and this disease is expected to surge with climate change effects like drought and high soil temperature. For identification and validation of genomic variants associated with charcoal rot resistance, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on CIMMYT Asia association mapping panel comprising 396 tropical-adapted lines, especially to Asian environments. The panel was phenotyped for disease severity across two locations with high disease prevalence in India. A subset of 296,497 high-quality SNPs filtered from genotyping by sequencing was correcting for population structure and kinship matrices for single locus mixed linear model (MLM) of GWAS analysis. A total of 19 SNPs were identified to be associated with charcoal rot resistance with P-value ranging from 5.88 × 10−06 to 4.80 × 10−05. Haplotype regression analysis identified 21 significant haplotypes for the trait with Bonferroni corrected P ≤ 0.05. For validating the associated variants and identifying novel QTLs, QTL mapping was conducted using two F2:3 populations. Two QTLs with overlapping physical intervals, qMSR6 and qFMSR6 on chromosome 6, identified from two different mapping populations and contributed by two different resistant parents, were co-located with the SNPs and haplotypes identified at 103.51 Mb on chromosome 6. Similarly, several SNPs/haplotypes identified on chromosomes 3, 6 and 8 were also found to be physically co-located within QTL intervals detected in one of the two mapping populations. The study also noted that several SNPs/haplotypes for resistance to charcoal rot were located within physical intervals of previously reported QTLs for Gibberella stalk rot resistance, which opens up a new possibility for common disease resistance mechanisms for multiple stalk rots.


Information from the physical world is increasingly being digitalized and shared in social networks. We share our locations, tag photos and add different kinds of informal awareness cues about the physical world to our online communities. In this paper, we investigate the privacy implications of shared context cues in social networking services. We present an experimental mobile application, which allows users to add different descriptions of context information to their Facebook and Twitter status updates. The application was used by 12 persons during a two-week user trial using their own devices and Facebook accounts. The results indicate that user-defined abstractions of context items were often preferred over more accurate indicators due to privacy concerns or discomfort in sharing. We also found out that using shared context from friends in vicinity needs careful design to overcome the extended privacy implications.


Isokinetic assessment of knee extensors muscle group function in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis has exclusively been achieved using time-domain based variables. While useful, these analyses do not quantify the conspicuously irregular moment-time pattern exhibited by the involved knee when compared to the contralateral knee. The purpose of this investigation was to assess whether the frequency content of the isokinetic curve can quantify this latter phenomenon. Thirty two patients with knee osteoarthritis participated in this study. Each participant performed 5 maximal concentric knee extensions bilaterally at 60 � /s using an isokinetic dynamometer. For each time-domain extension curve, the power spectrum was calculated via Fast Fourier Transform and the maximum frequency content value contained within 99% of total signal power was extracted. Of the 32 participants, 26 exhibited higher frequency contents in the isokinetic curves obtained from their involved knee (p = 0.002, effect size = 0.35). The results suggest that the frequency content of iso kinetic moment-time curves may provide useful quantitative information regarding the smoothness of moment production, and as such, may be used in conjunction with traditional time-domain variables in the assessment of knee extensors function in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis.


The West Coast dusky kob Argyrosomus coronus is a commercially exploited fish with a distribution confined to the Angola–Benguela Frontal Zone (ABFZ) of the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. A previous study revealed that during a recent period of local warming the species extended its distribution into Namibian waters, where it hybridised with the resident and congeneric Argyrosomus inodorus. Environmental changes are a major threat to marine biodiversity and when combined with overfishing have the potential to accelerate the decline of species. However, little is known regarding the evolutionary history and population structure of A. coronus across the ABFZ. We investigated genetic diversity, population structure and historical demographic changes using mtDNA control region sequences and genotypes at six nuclear microsatellite loci, from 180 individuals. A single, genetically homogeneous population was indicated across the distributional range of A. coronus (φST = 0.041, FST = 0.000, D = 0.000; p > 0.05). These findings imply that the oceanographic features within the ABFZ do not appear to significantly influence population connectivity in A. coronus, which simplifies management of the species. However, reconstruction of the demographic history points to a close link between the evolutionary history of A. coronus and the environmental characteristics of the ABFZ. This outcome suggests the species' vulnerability to the rapid environmental changes being observed across this region, and highlights a pressing need for transboundary management to mitigate the impacts of climate change in this global hotspot of seawater temperature changes.


In this paper, we use research chains across the citation graph as the basis for journal impact analysis. While some existing measures take into account research chains that end in a given journal, we calculate the proportion of research chains that include a journal, obtaining a new index of journal impact, Outerfactor, that is directly related to Pagerank (Brin and Page, 1998), Eigenfactor (Bergstrom, 2007) and the Invariant Method (Pinsky and Narin, 1976). In this way, the Outerfactor score obtained by each journal is independent on its own citation pattern and its article share. To our knowledge, this is the fi�rst measure that satis�fes these invariance properties whilst accounting for both direct and indirect impact. Based on research chains that connect two journals, we also construct new measures for analyzing cross-impact. This cross-impact analysis results in a two-fold view of Outerfactor in terms of a journal�'s infl�uence (impact) on other journals, or a journal�'s contribution to all journals' �impact scores. Finally, we provide an illustration with 60 economics journals, showing how Outerfactor performs compared to other measures: apart from its cardinal invariance, Outerfactor behaves more robustly to ordinal manipulation than other eigenvector-based measures.


2.89% of the UK population cycled for the journey to work as measured by the census in 200I. This percentage is similar to the percentage from the 1991 census and indicates a levelling off in the decline that had been seen in the previous two decades in bicycle use for the journey to work, but does not demonstrate any increase in line with policy aspirations.

Choice is a complex issue and related to a wide range of factors including socio-economic variables and the nature of transport infrastructure and the physical geography of an area. As well as the rational and measurable factors, there are many much more complex and subtle factors including the influences of culture and social norms. Changes to behaviour probably take an extended period of time and require a range Qf conditions to be appropriate before a positive choice can be made.

Waldman (1977) undertook the last countrywide aggregate study of the variation in use of the bicycle for the journey to work, but a number of the variables he constructed were measured inappropriately, not the least of which was his measure for "danger", which he recommended
for further study. It is widely considered that perception of risk from motor traffic is a reason why many people do not currently use the bicycle. This is only one measurable attribute and European bicycle planners consider network coherence, directness, attractiveness and comfort
as other equally important issues when designing schemes to promote bicycle use. This research has used primary data collected on perceptions of risk. The particular contribution of the research is in the development of a methodology for the determination of perception of risk for a whole journey, including routes and junctions, and the extension of this methodology to create a measure for risk at an area wide level.

Measures that have been found to be significant in relation to the use of the bicycle for the journey to work are car ownership, socio-economic classification, ethnicity, distance to work, condition of the highway pavement, highway network density and population density, hi lIiness,
rainfall and mean temperature. In addition the length of bicycle lane, length of bus lane and length of traffic free route have also been found to be important in so far as it influences the perception of risk, which in turn influences the level of bicycle use. The length of route that is
signed has also been found to be important. In a sample of four districts for which appropriate data is available, a seven fold increase in route length with cycle facilities, or signed route, would create conditions suitable for an increase in cycle use for the journey to work by a factor
of the order of two. An elimination of highways with negative residual life would create conditions suitable for an increase of 10% in the number of bicycle trips for the journey to work.


Objective To evaluate the capability of ultrasound for preoperative localization in primary hyperparathyroidism. Study Design Prospective study. Setting Multi-institutional Midwest Head and Neck Cancer Consortium. Subjects and Methods Two hundred twenty patients who underwent preoperative localization and had parathyroid surgery were evaluated. The findings of preoperative localization studies were correlated with surgical findings. Results Preoperative ultrasonography, sestamibi scintigraphy, or both were obtained in 77%, 93%, and 69% of the patients, respectively. Preoperative ultrasonography and sestamibi scintigraphy localized an abnormality in 71% and 79% of patients, respectively. At the time of surgery, the localization by ultrasound was accurate in 82%. The accuracy of localization was similar for sestamibi scintigraphy (85%). In patients with inaccurate ultrasound localization, the sestamibi scintigraphy correctly identified the site of disease in only 45%. In patients with a nonlocalizing ultrasound, sestamibi scintigraphy was able to localize disease in only 47%, with 2 being in the mediastinum. Conclusions Ultrasonography is an acceptable initial localization study for patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. In patients with nonlocalizing ultrasound, sestamibi scintigraphy should be obtained, but can be expected to detect an abnormality in less than 50% of patients.


We present a model in which capital assets can only be owned by members of a relatively small politically connected elite ('the oligarchs'), each member of which faces a given risk of being expropriated, and we investigate the implications of such an imperfection of property rights for the transition to a market economy. At the start of the transition, the oligarchs are long on local capital assets but short on safe deposits abroad. This causes a depression phase characterized by acute liquidity constraints and large capital outflows at the same time. As the oligarchs acquire enough safe deposits, the economy enters a recovery phase, still accompanied by capital outflows. The model can parsimoniously explain both the steep decline suffered by the Russian economy in the first stage of its transition to a market economy and the subsequent turnaround. The decline could be avoided by allowing foreigners to own some domestic capital assets, but home-country oligarchs may not be able credibly to collectively commit to such a reform.


The process of innovation remains challenging for companies in general and for small firms in particular. Limited resources constitute an obstacle on the small firm's path towards market launch and the need for supportive measures is evident. Today, as the technology is developing at an exponential speed, the time-to-market shortens, underlining that the innovation challenge of small firms is an urgent matter. Given the limited resources of the small firms, this thesis defines the access to external competence as well as an established new product development process as crucial factors for successful innovation. Providing these necessary functions, a public intermediary, originating from policies, is considered a viable solution. The contribution of this thesis lies in investigating whether or not a private intermediary, not supported by policies, can provide the same functions as a public intermediary. In addition, the thesis expands the knowledge about the intermediary functions present in the innovation process by relating them to specific phases in a generalized new product development process.The results in this thesis are qualitative, based on a profound literary study as well as a comparative case study, examining two diverse kinds of intermediaries in a micro perspective. The first case is a public intermediary, operating with a strong business focus, as its mission is to economically strengthen the Swedish industry. The second case presents a technology based consultancy firm, acting as a private intermediary and centered on questions related to R&D. Applying Howells' (2006) intermediation functions to the two diverse cases, a comparative study of their offered functions has been performed.The micro perspective study has proved the acknowledged intermediation functions to be applicable to specific phases in a generalized new product development process. As several functions appear in multiple phases of the new product development process, the generalized process is observed to be iterative. This notion questions previous definitions of the intermediation functions during an innovation process, as the processes have been simplified as linear in prior research.Using the generalized new product development process as framework for a comparative analysis, it has been concluded that the private intermediary can provide the same functions as the public intermediary. In extension, the private intermediary is able to offer additional services, not legally permitted for the public intermediary, such as selecting external actors and negotiating agreements. As the private intermediary can provide an extended assortment of functions, while not being dependent on government funding, the question of whether or not the public intermediary still fills a necessary function has been raised. However, additional values, such as objectivity and a non-profit-interest have been linked to the public intermediary. As these attributes are valuable to the small firm, further studies on the support not incorporated in the investigated functions are needed.


Recent legal changes in Spain have led to an important increase in the number of men court-mandated to community-based partner violence offender intervention programmes. However, just a few of those interventions have been systematically examined. This study aims to predict success indicators of an intervention programme for convicted intimate-partner violence offenders. The sample consisted of 212 convicted intimate-partner violence offenders who participated in the Contexto Programme. Three "intervention gains" or target criteria were established (increasing the perceived severity of violence, increasing the responsibility assumption for one's actions, and reducing the risk of recidivism). A structural equations model was tested, fitting data appropriately. Participants with major gain in recidivism risk were those who presented lower levels of alcohol consumption, shorter sentences, lower impulsivity, and a higher degree of life satisfaction. The largest gain in perceived severity was found in younger participants, participants with shorter sentences, lower alcohol consumption, higher life satisfaction, higher participation in their community, and higher self-esteem. And, finally, participants with the highest gains in responsibility assumption were older participants, participants who presented higher intimate support, higher anxiety, higher sexism, lower anger control, higher depression, higher impulsivity and higher self-esteem.


Abstract: A hypothesis was examined that carboxypeptidase H (CpAse H), which is known to catalyse the release of lysine and arginine from the C‐terminus of peptides, can also release histidine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. Synthetic peptides terminating in ‐His‐Lys or ‐Tyr‐Lys were used as model substrates for the enzyme and amino acid analysis was employed to detect release of the terminal amino acids. With N‐acetyl‐β‐Ala‐Asn‐Ala‐His‐Lys and N‐acetyl‐β‐Ala‐Asn‐Ala‐Tyr‐Lys, which correspond to intermediates in the processing of porcine and human β‐endorphin, lysine was removed rapidly and quantitatively but no release of histidine or tyrosine could be detected. To allow more sensitive analysis, radiolabelled substrates were employed and the amounts of the products formed on incubation with CpAse H were determined after separation by ion‐exchange chromatography. With 125I‐D‐Tyr‐Ala‐His‐Lys‐Lys as substrate at pH 5.7, very small amounts of D‐Tyr‐Ala were released; the main product was D‐Tyr‐Ala‐His. At pH 5.0 the release of histidine from 125I‐D‐Tyr‐AlaHis took place 6,000 times more slowly than the release of lysine from l25I‐D‐Tyr‐Ala‐Lys. When the tripeptides were incubated at pH 5 with porcine pituitary secretory granules, the lysine was released rapidly but no release of histidine could be detected. The results demonstrate that CpAse H catalyses the release of C‐terminal histidine with great difficulty. Evidence is also presented that CpAse H catalyses a similar slow reaction in converting α‐neo‐endorphin to β‐neo‐endorphin, which involves removal of lysine from a Pro‐Lys sequence. These very slow reactions provide an explanation for the incomplete processing that is observed with neuropeptides terminating in histidine, tyrosine, or phenylalanine or in prolyllysine.


This thesis describes the synthesis, characterization and study of a series of organometallic compounds which all contain the same new ligand, l-phenyl-3-methyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindenyl. The ligand forms a chiral complex once coordinated, and is relatively bulky when compared with ligands such as cyclopentadienyl or 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindenyl.Chapter one of this thesis introduces cyclopentadienyl ligand chirality, cyclopentadienyl metal complex chirality and sterically demanding cyclopentadienyl systems. The synthesis and chemistry of tetrahydroindenes and some applications of chiral cyclopentadienyl metal complexes and their bulky analogues are also reviewed. Chapter two describes modifications to a literature preparation of the tetrahydroindenone precursor of the new tetrahydroindenyl ligand which lead to higher yields. The synthesis of the ligand itself is described, as well as the synthesis of a benzylidene-substituted hexahydroindene, which demonstrates a limitation in the flexibility of the synthetic route chosen. The synthesis, characterization and various properties of the following iron(II) compounds are discussed in chapter two; bis-l-phenyl-3-methyl- 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindenyl iron (II), 2.3, l-phenyl-3-methyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindenyl iron(II) dicarbonyl dimer, 2.4, and l-phenyl-3-methyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindaiyl methyl dicarbonyl iron(II), 2.5. For all these iron complexes, the solid state molecular structures and the absolute configuration of the chiral ligand were determined using single crystal X-ray d iffraction. For 23 and 2.4, three isomers are possible, two enantiomers that are collectively termed the rac-isomer and a third isomer, the meso- isomer. Cyclic voltammetric studies on 2.3 indicate that it has a reversible one electron oxidation at 0.187 V (with respect to a non-aqueous Ag/AgCl standard electrode). The difference between this and the reversible one electron oxidation for (η-C(_5)H(_5))(_2)Fe (with respect to the same standard) is -0.314 V, therefore 2.3 is shown to be much more easily oxidized than (η-C(_5)H(_5))(_2)Fe. The solution-state infi-a-red spectrum of 2.4 is explained, with reference to a literature analysis of the unsubstituted analogue [CpFe(CO)(_2)](_2). The steric forces present in the various molecular environments are discussed in connection with the degree of phenyl-ring tilt relative to the cyclopentadienyl mean plane and the deviation of the other cyclopentadimyl substituents away from the metal centre. Subsequent reactions of compounds 2.4 and 2.5 are described. Attempts to make linked analogues of the new ligand are summarized in chapter two. In chapter three, two Zr(rV) compounds are prepared, bis (l-phenyl-3-methyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindenyi) zirconium(fV) dichloride, 3.1, and bis (l-phenyl-3-methyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindenyl) dimethyl zirconium(TV), 3.2. Upon crystallization, rac-3.1 spontaneously resolves into crystals containing only one enantiomer. The similarities and differences in the spectroscopic data for the iron(n) compounds of chapter two and the zirconium(IV) compounds of chapter three are discussed and possible explanations offered . The solid state molecular structures of 3.1 and 3.2 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Experimental details are given in chapter four, whilst the characterizing data are presented in chapter five. Details of the X-ray structure determinations are given in Appendix A.


Access to and participation in university education is a key equity issue, with increased efforts to widen the participation of secondary school-aged students from low socio-economic status (LSES) backgrounds in many countries worldwide. In Australia, programmes aimed at widening university participation generally target LSES children and young people engaged in schooling. Access to such programmes thus demands a connection to schooling, yet not all school-age young people have such connections: they may experience what we term 'precarious' relationships to education. Without school connections, young people with precarious relationships to education have extremely limited opportunities to engage (or to imagine engaging) in higher education. This paper considers this issue from the perspectives of young people who have precarious relationships with school education. Drawing on qualitative research investigating disadvantage and university education, the paper reports on how the imagination of university education, which might be argued to be a 'silenced' border of social inclusion, is described by young people with precarious relationships to education. Drawing on Judith Butler's book Precarious Life (2004), the paper puts forward the argument that the precariousness of education is relational and that universities thus have a moral responsibility to recognize and respond to the educational precariousness of the Other.


Criminal street gangs are not a new phenomenon in America, but recent developments in technology and social interactions have changed the game -- gangs are increasingly using social media to accomplish gang objectives and commit crimes. This is no secret to law enforcement. In fact, police departments and prosecutors regularly use the Internet and social media networks to obtain incriminating evidence against gang members -- evidence that is often ruled admissible in court. Although the majority of the information seized in these investigations is highly personal and profoundly private, the details of the government's specific data-collection and data-storage practices remain shrouded in secrecy due to a glaring lack of regulation and transparency.Such clandestine government policies create a slippery slope -- one that could potentially transform the American society into a dystopia. Law enforcement is not necessarily breaking any specific laws through its current investigative and data-mining practices. But perhaps it should be.This Note argues that law enforcement is properly using social media to investigate active cases and past crimes, and, when brought to its attention, to prevent imminent crime. However, law enforcement is dangerously toeing the line of constitutionality by collecting the personal data of non-suspects (and their purported affiliations or associations with a gang), and congressional guidance is needed to monitor these Orwellian practices. Accordingly, this Note focuses on the government's unregulated digital surveillance of suspected gang members and their associations, and the potential chilling effect that such practices may have on the First Amendment rights to free speech and association.Specifically, Part IV.A asserts that the current shadowy state of the law regarding law enforcement's investigations and data-collection procedures leads to unbridled surveillance practices that lurk precariously close to the point of violating the Constitution. To prevent constitutional violations and the ensure that digital evidence remains admissible, Part IV.B proposes a federal statute that requires uniform reporting procedures for social media that would allow evidence of gang-related crime to be communicated to the administrator, who would then be directed to follow internal procedures and potentially notify law enforcement if the evidence of a crime is credible. But social media networks' policies must be clear, which the proposed legislation will ensure.The proposed statute further grants law enforcement the positive authority to collect data from social media administrators and the individual users' ISPs, if there is probable cause to believe that a crime has occurred, or there is a reasonable probability of "imminent lawless action." The statute explicitly prohibits data-collection based on a user's mere affiliation or association with a gang or gang member. This comports with the freedom of association, and, thus, the statute should be upheld if challenged on such grounds.


We have developed a two-step selection protocol to generate a population of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell variants that are plasmalogen-deficient, but contain intact, functional peroxisomes (plasmalogen-/peroxisome+). This involved sequential exposures of a mutagenized cell population to photodynamic damage by using two different pyrene-labelled sensors, 9-(1'-pyrene)nonanol and 12-(1'-pyrene)dodecanoic acid. By this procedure we generated several isolates, all except one of which displayed a severe decrease in plasmalogen biosynthesis. Further characterization of one of the plasmalogen-deficient isolates, NRel-4, showed that it contained intact, functional peroxisomes. Whole-cell homogenates from NRel-4 displayed severely decreased dihydroxyacetone phosphate acyltransferase, which catalyses the first step in plasmalogen biosynthesis. NRel-4 and another, recently described, plasmalogen-deficient cell line, NZel-1 [Nagan, Hajra, Das, Moser, Moser, Lazarow, Purdue and Zoeller (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A. 94, 4475-4480] were hypersensitive to singlet oxygen, supporting the notion of plasmalogens as radical oxygen scavengers. Wild-type-like resistance could be conferred on NRel-4 upon restoration of plasmalogen content by supplementation with a bypass compound, sn-1-hexadecylglycerol. NRel-4 and other plasmalogen-/peroxisome+ strains will allow us to examine further the role of ether lipids in cellular functions without complications associated with peroxisome deficiency, and might serve as an animal cell model for certain forms of the human genetic disorder rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata.


Various definitions have severally been adduced to poverty as the major cause of most environmental problems ranging from resources depletion, species extinction, deforestation, erosion etc. Majorly man's activities on the biosphere has tended to impact negatively on the environment, this activities are primarily carried out to sustain man's existence on the planet earth. These activities include faulty farming practices, indiscriminate use of agrochemicals including fertilizers for agricultural purposes, urbanization and industrial development. This research took a cursory look at the activities of rural farmers cultivating vegetables and other market gardening activities in order to sustain themselves during dry season as safety net for shortfalls in family income and food. These activities are done along watershed and this involves clearing, tilling, use of inorganic manure, herbicides amongst others. Researches including this have shown that these farming practices are detrimental to the ecosystem and have contributed greatly to affecting the ecological balance of the supportive ecosystem. This research therefore set out to assess how these dry seasons agriculture carried out within the study areas has affected the environment vis a vis climate and weather variation. The research adopted field experiment where data were collected twice per year for a period of five years from the farm site and the local meteorological station at Ogoja. The authors used bar graphs to present data from the field. Using rainfall, temperature and soil moisture content data for five years, the authors gathered that this farming activities has impacted negatively on the environment affecting both weather and climate variation. It was also observed by the researchers that though the data for five years was very minimal for any positive generalization, but findings shows that there were some noticeable changes attributed to these activities. It was recommended that hand dug well or boreholes should be used as sources of water supply to avoid destruction of the watershed. It was also suggested that farm yard manure should be used instead of the inorganic manure that has become detrimental of late to both the environment and human health.


The popular media of my youth told us that we were awaiting the messianic Age of Aquarius, the New Age movement described by Neville Drury in The New Age: Searching for the Spiritual Self (2004) as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology." The time, it seemed, longed for some kind of togetherness, unity despite all the differences, a wholeness that might engender shared joy. Certain drugs, it was hoped—then and now—would enable the process. That longing, I suspect, is as old as the human race. By our differentiating power of self-reflection, we human voyagers recognize our differences and long to be affirmed in them as unique. But overindulgence in that direction quickly throws us into existential loneliness and a longing to swing back toward communion. Anthony Godzieba, in his plenary address opening this year's meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America, presented a creative and stimulating treatment of the meeting's theme, "Identity and Difference, Unity and Fragmentation." Drawing on Vatican II's Unitatis redintegratio and its call to restore "unity among all Christians" and so to avoid the kind of divisions that make it appear "as if Christ himself were divided," Godzieba (together with the other CTSA presenters) argued that the Church's integrity is a both/and reality and vocation, not either/or. This should be obvious, since the human race itself requires, for integrity, the both/and of unique persons recognized as simultaneously one in their humanity. But this imperative has seldom carried the day, and for many still does not. Hence the seeming intractability of racism, among other consequences of fragmentation. But achieving the kind of unity called for and represented by Christ himself (Jn 17:21 et passim) is not a simple matter, given our concupiscent tendency toward egocentrism, a proclivity of self-defining groups as well as individuals. Holding identity and difference together is a matter of grace; the many forces driving them apart are what we call sin. Yet Godzieba illustrated the successful achievement of such a graced integration by a magisterial analysis of J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. It was not lost on me that for an audience of mostly Catholic scholars he had (presumably deliberately) chosen a committed Lutheran artist to illustrate the graced integration of identity and difference. I do not want to slight any of the fine articles in this issue of Theological Studies, but space allows me to highlight only two that especially bear on the discussions at the CTSA meeting. 543757 TSJ0010.1177/0040563914543757Theological StudiesEditorial editorial2014


In addition to knowledge, in various domains skills are equally important. Active learning and training are effective forms of education. We present an automated skills training system for a database programming environment that promotes procedural knowledge acquisition and skills training. The system provides support features such as correction of solutions, feedback and personalised guidance, similar to interactions with a human tutor. Specifically, we address synchronous feedback and guidance based on personalised assessment. Each of these features is automated and includes a level of personalisation and adaptation. At the core of the system is a pattern-based error classification and correction component that analyses student input.


The classic view of how the brain areas that control vision are connected is a complicated wiring diagram devised by manual sorting on the basis of existing anatomical data [D. J. Felleman and D. C. Van Essen, Cereb. Cortex 1, 1 (1991)]. Now, in this issue's Enhanced Perspective, Hilgetag and co-workers have used a computer algorithm to test whether there is a better way to organize the connections. They find that the brain is surprisingly indeterminate, and that no single hierarchy can satisfactorily represent the order implied by the anatomical data. A more detailed explanation of their analysis and a list of predictions derived from their hierarchies that will be particularly informative to test experimentally can be found on the home page of the authors.


Reversible adhesion is the key functionality to grip, place, and release objects nondestructively. Inspired by nature, micropatterned dry adhesives are promising candidates for this purpose and have attracted the attention of research groups worldwide. Their enhanced adhesion compared to nonpatterned surfaces is frequently demonstrated. An important conclusion is that the contact mechanics involved is at least as important as the surface energy and chemistry. In this paper, the roles of the contact geometry and mechanical properties are reviewed. With a focus on applications, the effects of substrate roughness and of temperature variations, and the long‐term performance of micropatterned adhesives are discussed. The paper provides a link between the current, detailed understanding of micropatterned adhesives and emerging applications.


Perfectly suited to the innovative Problem Design Solution approach, ASP.NET MVC is a new development model that separates code for the data, look, and business processes of a Web site. This nuts-and-bolts guide thoroughly covers creating a Web site with MVC and discusses solving the most common problems that you may encounter when creating your first application or trying to upgrade a current application. The material is based on the highly praised and widely used TheBeerHouse ASP.NET Starter Kit that was developed in the bestselling ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming: ProblemDesignSolution. Additional coverage includes registration and membership systems and user-selectable themes; content management systems for articles and photos; polls, mailing lists, and forums; e-commerce stores, shopping carts, and order management with real-time credit card processing, and more.


This research was focused on investigating the effect of multiple intelligence -based learning as a learning approach towards students' concept mastery and interest in learning matter. The one-group pretest-posttest design was used in this research towards a sample which was according to the suitable  situation of the research sample, n = 13 students of the 7 th grade in Nusa Laila Puteri  School in Bandar Seri Begawan. The students' concept mastery was measured using achievement test and given at the pretest and posttest, meanwhile the students' interest level was measured using a Likert Scale for interest. Based on the analysis of the data, the result shows that the normalized gain was .61, which was considered as a medium improvement. in other words, students' concept mastery in matter  increased after being taught using multiple intelligence-based learning. The Likert scale of interest shows that most students have a high interest in learning matter after being taught by multiple intelligence-based learning. Therefore, it is concluded that multiple intelligence – based learning helped in improving students' concept mastery and gain students' interest in learning matter.


The article analyzes the federal versus local struggle over deportation's deterrent effect on crime reporting by unauthorized aliens. There are now 11.1 million unauthorized aliens in the U.S., including five percent of American workers. They are victims of more than one million crimes per year. The Supreme Court has held that unauthorized aliens enjoy certain constitutional rights. Unauthorized aliens fear, however, that turning to local police for protection would result in their deportation by federal immigration authorities. The article describes how unscrupulous employers, common criminals, battering spouses, corrupt government officials, border vigilantes, and others exploit unauthorized alien fear of calling the police. Three special visa categories incentivize reporting by unauthorized aliens of certain crimes. But the categories' narrowness means that federal law offers no relief from the deportation-versus-crime-reporting predicament with respect to more than ninety percent of the over one million crimes committed against unauthorized aliens in the U.S. each year. Many of the largest U.S. cities have stepped into the breach with sanctuary policies prohibiting police cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The article finds that local sanctuary policies are ineffective in encouraging unauthorized aliens to report crimes. It also determines that several major city sanctuary policies are contrary to federal law. The article concludes by suggesting a more effective and legally viable way to encourage unauthorized aliens to report crimes. The article's analysis reverberates far beyond immigration law. The Supreme Court's new federalism, including the anti-commandeering doctrine, and conservative control of the federal executive and legislative branches have activists looking to the local level to advance civil rights agendas on issues including gay marriage, medical marijuana, and the war on terror. The federal versus local struggle over deportation's deterrent effect on crime reporting by unauthorized aliens contains important lessons for these other causes.


INTRODUCTION Authors of recent studies on abuse have proposed that trauma and related traumatic experiences within the family of origin have important implications for parent-child relationships, and may disrupt normal attachment behavior in children. These studies have primarily examined previous trauma and long-term sequela of severe childhood and adolescent psychopathology from the perspective of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980). The central premise of attachment theory is that the security of the early child-parent bond is reflected in the child's interpersonal relationships across the life span (Schneider, Tardif, & Atkinson, 2001). This article examines childhood trauma and attachment issues from the perspective of behavior analysis, and provides a forum in which the authors provide rationales for new cognitive focused or trauma-focused behavioral treatment approaches for abused children and their foster or adoptive parents. These new therapeutic models provide dyadic, cognitive, and emotive behavioral interventions that encourage positive behavior change with abused children placed in foster and adoptive families. Research studies focusing on mediating the long-term sequela of repetitive, intrafamilial abuse and neglect have repeatedly argued that a history of pathogenic care can interfere with secure attachment and disrupt healthy development in children (Howe, Brandon, Hinnings, & Schofield, 1999; Schneider, Tardif, & Atkinson, 2001). This is especially true in foster and adoptive families in which children have been abused or neglected as part of their early experiences. Research on foster children and problematic attachment has consistently found that long-term sequela of abuse leads to a complex array of emotional deficiencies and behavioral symptoms that reflect the traumatic effects of maltreatment on children, and create strain on attachment with their adoptive parents (Berry & Barth, 1989; Dyer, 2004; O'Connor & Zeanah, 2003). This strain in the children's lives, often across multiple placements and multiple caregivers, increases the likelihood of difficulties across a range of development. Research investigating abuse and insecure attachment behavior in foster and adoptive children has linked these factors to emotional and behavioral difficulties in these children. Statement of Problem Researchers investigating maltreated children have repeatedly found that neglected or abused children in foster and adoptive populations manifest different emotional and behavioral reactions to regain lost or secure relationships (Ainsworth, 1989; Hazan & Shaver, 1994), and are frequently reported to have disorganized attachments (Hughes, 2004) and a need to control their environment (Loyn-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 1999). Such children are not likely to view caregivers as being a source of safety, and instead typically show an increase in aggressive and hyperactive behaviors, which Berry and Barth (1989) suggest disrupt healthy or secure attachment with their adopted parents. These children have apparently learned to adapt to an abusive and inconsistent caregiver by becoming cautiously self-reliant, and are often described as glib, manipulative and disingenuous in their interactions with others as they move through childhood (Schofield & Beek, 2005). The major challenges reported in parenting maltreated children include their profound lack of trust (Schofield & Beek, 2005) and a distorted sense of security, often reflected in the child's poor interpersonal relationships across the life span. Researchers investigating children adopted at older ages report many of the same symptoms found in foster children with backgrounds of pathogenic care, including a failure to develop secure attachments. Behavioral and emotional descriptions of these older children suggest that they lack impulse control and normal conscience and moral development (Termini & Golden, 2007), and often present as superficially engaging or connected to others, emotionally aloof, and unwilling to participate in treatment, all possibly connected to impaired attachment (Dyer, 2004; O'Connor & Zeanah, 2003). …


In this paper we address the problem of robustness of speech recognition systems in noisy environments. The goal is to estimate the parameters of a HMM that is matched to a noisy environment, given a HMM trained with clean speech and knowledge of the acoustical environment. We propose a method based on truncated vector Taylor series that approximates the performance of a system trained with that corrupted speech. We also provide insight on the approximations used in the model of the environment and compare them with the lognormal approximation in PMC.


The Alphaherpesvirinae include the neurotropic pathogens herpes simplex virus and varicella zoster virus of humans and pseudorabies virus of swine. These viruses establish lifelong latency in the nuclei of peripheral ganglia, but utilize the peripheral tissues those neurons innervate for productive replication, spread, and transmission. Delivery of virions from replicative pools to the sites of latency requires microtubule-directed retrograde axonal transport from the nerve terminus to the cell body of the sensory neuron. As a corollary, during reactivation newly assembled virions must travel along axonal microtubules in the anterograde direction to return to the nerve terminus and infect peripheral tissues, completing the cycle. Neurotropic alphaherpesviruses can therefore exploit neuronal microtubules and motors for long distance axonal transport, and alternate between periods of sustained plus end- and minus end-directed motion at different stages of their infectious cycle. This review summarizes our current understanding of the molecular details by which this is achieved.


Objective: Currently, pharmaceutical treatment options for autism spectrum disorder are limited. Brain glutaminergic dysregulation is observed in autism spectrum disorder. N-acetylcysteine, which can be converted to glutathione and subsequently release glutamate into the extracellular space, and thus reduce glutamatergic neurotransmission at synapses, is considered a potential drug for autism spectrum disorder treatment. Here, we analyzed the treatment effects of N-acetylcysteine on autism spectrum disorder in randomized controlled trials. Study design: Updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: By systematically searching the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library, we obtained five randomized controlled trials. Study selection: Meta-analyses were performed to examine the improvement in autistic behaviors as measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, Social Responsiveness Scale and Repetitive Behavior Scale–Revised, using mean difference with a 95% confidence interval and a random-effects model. Data Synthesis: After 8–12 weeks of N-acetylcysteine supplementation, the pooled result of four trials revealed an improvement in Aberrant Behavior Checklist total score (mean difference = 1.31, 95% confidence interval = [0.42, 2.20]). When one trial was excluded, the sensitivity test result was stronger (mean difference = 1.88, 95% confidence interval = [0.92, 2.83]). The pooled results of three trials revealed significant improvements in hyperactivity (mean difference = 4.80, 95% confidence interval = [1.20, 8.40]) and irritability (mean difference = 4.07, 95% confidence interval = [1.13, 7.04]). Regarding Social Responsiveness Scale, the pooled result of two trials showed significant improvement in social awareness after 8–12 weeks of N-acetylcysteine supplementation (mean difference = 1.34, 95% confidence interval = [0.09, 2.59]). No differences were observed in the pooled results of two trials using Repetitive Behavior Scale, either in the total or the subscales. Conclusion: We concluded that N-acetylcysteine is safe and tolerable, reduces hyperactivity and irritability and enhances social awareness in children with autism spectrum disorder. However, further evidence should be sought before a general recommendation.


Zotero is a free, open-source reference management program compatible with Linux®, Mac®, and Windows® operating systems. Libraries are backed up online allowing sharing between computers and even multiple users. Zotero makes it easy to keep your reference library organised and 'clean'. Reference libraries are compatible with other reference management programs, and difficulties can be quickly addressed via online forums. For these reasons, Zotero can be a valuable resource to medical writers.


In this study, surface modification of both organic and inorganic substrates (in terms of cellulose and silica nanoparticles, respectively) has been explored using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP). The desire to modify bio-based materials to fit into new application areas and the need for bio-based materials with improved material properties is steadily increasing due to environmental concern. Superhydrophobic and self-cleaning cellulose surfaces were fabricated by combining ATRP with post-functionalisation. Glycidyl methacrylate was grafted from filter paper, and the epoxide groups were used as reactive handles to create a branched "graft-on-graft" architecture. Post-functionalisation of this architecture with perfluorinated chains or alkyl chains resulted in the formation of superhydrophobic surfaces. Grafting of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) from filter paper yielded cellulose surfaces capable of switching the wettability, from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, in response to changes in temperature. The wettability of cellulose surfaces grafted with poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) could be adjusted from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by changing pH. Furthermore, cellulose surfaces responding to changes in both pH and temperature were obtained via grafting of block copolymers of PNIPAAm and P4VP. The use of inorganic nano-particles in composites has attracted considerable academic and industrial interest due to their excellent mechanical and thermal properties. Styrene was grafted from the surface of silica nanoparticles using ATRP. The resulting organic-inorganic hybrid materials did not aggregate to the same extent as the un-modified silica particles. The polystyrene-modified silica particles were used for the fabrication of honeycomb membranes. It was evident that the pore sizes and the number of porous layers could be tuned by varying the conditions used for film casting. To broaden the range of polymers available for film casting into honeycomb membranes, a block copolymer of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) was grafted from silica nanoparticles. Polymer-blends of polystyrene-modified particles and poly(9,9´-dihexylfluorene) (PDHF) were also used as an alternative to incorporate functionality into honeycomb membranes.


Background: Dietary supplement use has not been studied well in non-Western societies. There have been no surveys on the prevalence of dietary supplement use among professionals, in particular, ophthalmologists, and is unknown to what extent ophthalmologists recommend dietary supplements to their dry eye patients.
Methods: A survey questionnaire was administered online and per mail in February 2017 to approximately 600 ophthalmologist members of the Dry Eye Society, Japan. The ophthalmologists were asked questions on their personal use of dietary supplements and whether they recommended dietary supplements to their patients.
Results: The 196 ophthalmologists who responded to this survey were aged between 28 and 77 years (mean age, 50.2 ± 10.1 years) and 59.2% were women. A total of 67.9% recommended supplements to their patients; the main target diseases were age-related macular degeneration (97.0%) and dry eye (45.9%). For dry eye, the three most commonly cited reasons for recommending supplements in practice included, 1) expectation of a positive effect, 2) requests by patients, and 3) availability of a product manufactured by a reputable company. The three most commonly recommended components included lactoferrin, the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and lactic acid bacterium. The ophthalmologists who reported not recommending dietary supplements cited lack of evidence (54.8%), lack of information on which supplements to recommend to patients (38.5%), and high cost (increasing the patients' out of pocket charges) (35.6%) as their main reasons. Regarding their own approach to a healthy diet and lifestyle, almost all ophthalmologists reported adopting a healthy lifestyle such as exercising, positive thinking, and implementing dietary restrictions. A total of 62.2% stated currently using dietary supplements. Those who reported not using any supplements cited sufficient evidence as the main prerequisite to consider using them (75.7%).
Conclusion: The majority of ophthalmologists in this study recommended dietary supplements to their dry eye patients following to macular degeneration patients. Many also reported using dietary supplements regularly as part of their own approach to a healthy diet and lifestyle. More evidence and data on their effectiveness and side effects on dietary supplements should be required for their appropriate and safe use.


The mental effort required to perform a simultaneous interpreting task or the cognitive load generated by it has attracted the interest of many a researcher in the field. To date, however, there is little agreement on the most suitable method to measure this phenomenon. In this contribution, I set out to discuss four of the most common methods of measuring cognitive load and the way in which they have been applied in interpreting research, providing examples for each and highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages. The main focus of the contribution will be on pupillometry, a psycho-physiological method I deem to be among the most promising approaches to objectively measure cognitive load during simultaneous interpreting in real time.


textabstractLeaders often have considerable control over the distribution of scarce resources within their organizations or groups. In the quintessentially interdependent organizational context these resources are typically needed to reach collective goals, and yet some leaders choose to enrich themselves at the expense of the group. In academic circles as well as in the forum of public opinion, leader self-serving behaviors have been proposed to be particularly destructive, because they carry the specter of negative consequences for the organization at large, as well as for individual followers' motivation and performance. In contrast, leader group-serving behaviors have consistently been depicted as a positive force, linked to increased leader effectiveness. Despite the considerable dysfunctional downstream consequences associated with leader self-serving behaviors, our understanding of when and why leaders choose to serve their own interests or to benefit their groups has been limited. This dissertation aimed to uncover factors that influence leader self versus group-serving behaviors by pointing to the value of (1) a self-concept-based analysis, as well as (2) a power-based analysis of leader behaviors.
In a series of experimental and field studies, across four empirical chapters (1) I have outlined how self-definition processes intimately tied to the leader role, as well as power-related processes influence leaders' framing of allocation situations and their subsequent behaviors, and (2) I have identified potential ways to mitigate some of the negative effects associated with elevated leader power. First, we found that self-definition as a leader and power influence the type of information used by leaders in resource allocation contexts. Contingent on the content of this information, more or less self-serving behaviors ensued. Importantly, power did not necessarily lead to increased leader self-servingness. Second, we identified systemic procedural justice, accountability, and perspective-taking as potential mitigators of some of the more negative tendencies associated with elevated leader power that could result in relatively self-serving leader behaviors.


Context. Recently, Abreu et al. (2012, A&A. 548, A88) proposed a long-term modulation of solar activity through tidal effects exerted by the planets. This claim is based upon a comparison of (pseudo-)periodicities derived from records of cosmogenic isotopes with those arising from planetary torques on an ellipsoidally deformed Sun. Aims. We examined the statistical significance of the reported similarity of the periods. Methods. The tests carried out by Abreu et al. were repeated with artificial records of solar activity in the form of white or red noise. The tests were corrected for errors in the noise definition as well as in the apodisation and filtering of the random series. Results. The corrected tests provide probabilities for chance coincidence that are higher than those claimed by Abreu et al. by about 3 and 8 orders of magnitude for white and red noise, respectively. For an unbiased choice of the width of the frequency bins used for the test (a constant multiple of the frequency resolution) the probabilities increase by another two orders of magnitude to 7.5% for red noise and 22% for white noise. Conclusions. The apparent agreement between the periodicities in records of cosmogenic isotopes as proxies for solar activity and planetary torques is statistically insignificant. There is no evidence for a planetary influence on solar activity.


We analyze the welfare implications of property taxation. Using a sufficient statistics approach, we show that the tax incidence depends on how housing prices, labor and other types of incomes as well as public services respond to property tax changes. Empirically, we exploit the German institutional setting with 5,200 municipal tax reforms for identification. We find that higher taxes are fully passed on to rental prices after three years. The pass-through is lower when housing supply is inelastic. Combining reduced form estimates with our theoretical framework, we simulate the welfare effects of property taxes and show that they are regressive.


In 2009 several environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate rulemaking to designate critical habitat for the Florida panther. In Conservancy of Southwest Florida v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the FWS's decision. The appellate decision hinged largely on language in the Endangered Species Act that grants discretion to an agency in deciding whether to designate critical habitat for a species listed as endangered prior to the 1978 amendments to that Act. This Comment argues that the language relied upon by the court creates an arbitrary timestamp under which species with similar protection needs have substantially dissimilar rights to such protection. Because this Eleventh Circuit interpretation of the Act's language is sound, a change in the Act's language is necessary to afford all endangered species the same protection.


We give a novel algorithm for stochastic strongly-convex optimization in the gradient oracle model which returns an O( 1 T )-approximate solution after T gradient updates. This rate of convergence is optimal in the gradient oracle model. This improves upon the previously known best rate of O( log(T ) T ), which was obtained by applying an online strongly-convex optimization algorithm with regret O(log(T )) to the batch setting. We complement this result by proving that any algorithm has expected regret of Ω(log(T )) in the online stochastic strongly-convex optimization setting. This lower bound holds even in the full-information setting which reveals more information to the algorithm than just gradients. This shows that any online-to-batch conversion is inherently suboptimal for stochastic strongly-convex optimization. This is the first formal evidence that online convex optimization is strictly more difficult than batch stochastic convex optimization.


Service creation in the Next Generation Network (NGN) is focused around software creation and borrows heavily from the Software Engineering community. In the NGN, telecommunication companies demand simple, rapid and economical service creation. The key to this type of service creation is software re-use. Software re-use is a conundrum where limited, dedicated solutions exists. These solutions include amongst others Enterprise JavaBeansTM (EJBs), design patterns and object-oriented programming. The Telecommunications Information Networking ArchitectureConformance And Testing (TINA-CAT) workgroup has done work on a functionality centric concept called RP-facets. This report proposes a redefinition of RP-facets, as Facets, for software re-use across the design and code level. We redefine Facets as functionality centric reusable components. A Facet is independent of the implementation language and the execution platform. Facets allow containment in a structured manner via a user defined Facet Hierarchy. Facets are resource, context and data agnostic. They also introduce a structured way to allow source code to be changed based on design level decisions. Also, possessing the ability to allow the simultaneous use of other reuse solutions and programming paradigms. Abstraction of detail from developers and platform migration can be achieved by using Facets. Facets are composed of a Generic definition and any number of Implementation definitions. The definitions are supported by an underlying informational model called meta-π. Metaπ is a model at the M3 meta-level that focuses on describing entities. Most of the Facet's capabilities are enabled by the meta-π model. An environment for developing Facets is created, called the Facet Development Environment (FDE). The Facet Developer (FD) role is introduced to develop and maintain Facets. The FD verifies programmes from programmers to be included into the catalogue of Facets via the FDE. The FD interacts with service creation teams to determine which Facets can be used in the service they wish to develop. Facets prove their capability in targeted areas, yet lack in other categories. It is recommended that the underlying informational model should be revised to form a more robust and flexible entity describing model. In addition, a cataloging capability to easily find


Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) encompasses a wide variety of cyclic and recurrent physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms that occur before menstruation and has negative impact on activities of daily living, social activities, sexual functioning and quality of life. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of omega-3 fatty acid and perforan (Hypericum perforatum) on severity of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). This study is a triple-blind clinical trial that was carried out across three groups with 150 students after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. The subjects of this study were randomly divided into three groups include omega-3 fatty acid group, perforan group and control (placebo) group. Every subject in this study took drugs during three subsequent cycles so they took capsules daily in the first cycle for one month and in the second and third cycles they took them from eight days before menstruation to two days after and recorded the severity of premenstrual syndrome questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 17. The repeated measures ANOVA, chi-square and Wilcoxon tests were used to compare mean differences in three groups. The data showed that there were no significant differences between 3 groups before the intervention but 1, 2 and 3 months after consumption of perforan and omega-3 capsules, the severity of PMS was significantly lower than that in control group (p<0.001). perforan and omega-3 significantly reduce the severity of PMS.


SUMMARY Forest certification raised a significant amount of interest around the world and it is now increasingly hailed as an incentive to improve community forest management and poverty reduction since it is associated with local economic, social and environmental impacts. We analyzed the impacts found after certification of Kalobhir and Lahare community forest user groups respectively of Dolakha and Bajhang districts of Nepal and assessed the implications for local forest and livelihood management. The subject forest user groups were sorted out and studied following stakeholders and key informants consultations, field observations and literature review. Forest certification found a vehicle for local value addition, income generation and it helped abate negative environmental consequences. Associate positive changes included sustainable collection of forest products and maintenance of transparency, accountability, and equitable benefit sharing. Local enterprises and entrepreneurship were emerged. The revised forest operational plans were in consistent with forest certification indicators resulting in maintenance of inventory of major traded non-timber forest products with management prescriptions, identification of major biodiversity threats and their management plans, provision of general environmental impacts assessment, and wise-use management objectives. However, forest certification is in the growing phase, and it takes some time to accommodate a large number of CFUGs, to be competent and to access the international market for acquiring and sharing benefits among all.


Abstract Growth rings of Mesozoic fossil woods have often been used for paleoclimatological inferences. Most of the studies, however, rest upon uniformitarian deductions based on the observation of conifers from the present boreal temperate realm, whereas warm climates dominated during the Mesozoic. We propose a new approach, based on the study of the distribution of growth ring types among 643 samples from the Jurassic–Cretaceous interval. A clear picture emerges from analysis, consistent with what is known of Mesozoic climates from other sources. Woods with no rings are encountered in a wide latitudinal zone, extending up to 75°N and 65°S during the Late Cretaceous. Woods with well-developed latewood do not occur at low latitude and disappeared from the Northern Hemisphere during the Late Cretaceous. Our data set also shows that the taxonomic distribution of growth ring types is not regular. Among the genera encountered, 40% can build only one type of ring. The genus Agathoxylon never displays thick latewood, although it ranges from 75°S to 70°N. This demonstrates that growth ring studies must include a taxonomic analysis.


BACKGROUND
The effects of users, glove types, and tourniquet devices on the performance of limb tourniquet use in simulated first aid were measured.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Four users conducted 180 tests of tourniquet performance in eight glove groups compared with bare hands as a control.

RESULTS
Among tests, 99% (n = 179) had favorable results for each of the following: effectiveness (i.e., bleeding control), distal pulse stoppage, and tourniquet placement at the correct site. However, only 90% of tests ended with a satisfactory result, which is a composite outcome of aggregated metrics if all (patient status is stable, tourniquet placement is good, and pressure is good) are satisfactory. Of 18 unsatisfactory results, 17 (94%) were due to pressure problems. Most of the variance of the majority of continuous metrics (time to determination of bleeding control, trial time, overall time, pressure, and blood loss) could be attributed to the users (62%, 55%, 61%, 8%, and 68%, respectively). Glove effects impaired and slowed performance; three groups (cold gloves layered under mittens, mittens, and cold gloves) consistently had significant effects and five groups (examination gloves, flight gloves, leather gloves, glove liners, and glove liners layered under leather gloves) did not. For time to bleeding control and blood loss, performance using these same three glove groups had worse results compared with bare hands by 26, 18, and 17 seconds and by 188, 116, and 124mL, respectively. Device effects occurred only with continuous metrics and were often dominated by user effects.

CONCLUSION
In simulated first aid with tourniquets used to control bleeding, users had major effects on most performance metrics. Glove effects were significant for three of eight glove types. Tourniquet device effects occurred only with continuous metrics and were often dominated by user effects.


One of the key components of the suspension of disbelief in real-time 3D simulations is the apparent authenticity of actions and gestures played by the individuals of the virtual population. This paper addresses this aspect of simulation, by investigating ways to improve the behavioral realism of virtual humanoid characters in groups and small multitudes. We look at the framework of ALife, identifying and analyzing existing bio-mimicking techniques that can be used in this context and contribute towards the improvement of the plausibility from the generated simulations. By looking at the literature, we identify some of the key elements from ALife that are being progressively incorporated in the simulations of groups and crowds. Then, we discuss a generative model for spontaneity and heterogeneity where bio-inspired agents are individualized with DNA-like strings and appear organized hierarchically exchanging token units of energy, mass, and resources. The result is a generative population of agents that self-organize and interact autonomously, exhibiting interesting social dynamics based on biological tenets and an economy of resources. We analyze this simulation quantitatively with the purpose of studying the impact of each of the previously identified techniques.


Previous research indicates that ostracism is a pervasive social phenomenon that affects four fundamental psychological needs (Zadro, Williams, & Richardson, 2004). The current study seeks to examine whether or not females experience heightened levels of stigma consciousness or gender-based rejection sensitivity through exposure to ostracism via Cyberball from outgroup members (e.g., males). Stigma consciousness was measured through the Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ; Pinel, 1999), while rejection sensitivity was measured through the GenderBased Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (London, Downey, Romero-Canyas, Rattan, & Tyson, 2012). Fifty-four female participants composed the final sample. Results indicate that previous research was replicated, in that significantly lower levels of the four needs were reported. Changes in stigma consciousness levels from preto post-test did occur, but were marginal. No significant results were found with regards to gender-based rejection sensitivity. Limitations and directions for future research will be discussed.


Modern 'nonscripted' theatre (NST) clearly owes much to improvisation. Perhaps less obviously, and more surprisingly, so too does modern law. In this article I will contend that, despite all the rules of evidence and procedure, statutes and legal precedents that fundamentally govern the decisions and actions of a judge, it is only through 'spontaneity' that judgment can take place. This claim may appear strange to those well-versed in the common law tradition which proceeds on the basis of past legal decisions, or reason where no precedent exists. NST, on the other hand, is assumed to rely heavily on the unprecedented and unreasoned. Therefore, when the public watches a NST production, it places its faith in the belief that what is being observed is entirely new and is being produced 'on the spur of the moment'.


Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (Rhamanaceae), commonly known as Chinese jujube, is a plant that is native to China and widely distributed in China and South Korea. Chinese jujube is a traditional Chinese medicine and food that has been used for thousands of years. From spring 2011 to spring 2012, Chinese jujube trees (<4 years old) from commercial orchards in Kashi and Akzo developed symptoms of severe wilting, chlorosis, and stunting. The taproot and lateral roots exhibited black, sunken, necrotic lesions, and progression of these symptoms eventually caused mortality of infected trees. In April 2011 and 2012, 15 trees with root rot symptoms were collected from different orchards, and a fungus was recovered consistently from symptomatic rhizome samples that had been surface-sterilized with 0.1% mercuric chloride and plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA). Thirteen isolates were obtained. Colony growth on PDA was initially white but gradually turned grayish yellow-brown, with the lower side of the plate turning a deep yellow-brown. Colony texture was felty and slightly raised with no concentric growth zones. Pycnidia formed abundantly after 30 days, and each exuded a dull orange cirrhus containing conidia. The conidiomatal stromata were immersed in the bark, erumpent, discoid, convex to conical, and 1.53 ± 0.13 mm in diameter. Discs were dark brown or grey, nearly flat, circular, and up to 0.6 mm in diameter, with one to eight lateral ostioles. Ostioles were brown, 40 to 80 mm in diameter, and located above the disc surface. Locules were globose, with four to eight in a stroma, undivided, and did not share common walls. Conidia were hyaline, eguttulate, and allantoid, with sizes of 12 to 20 × 1.0 to 1.5 μm. The agar culture and conidiomatal stromata morphology were in accordance with descriptions of Cytospora sacculus (1,4). PCR amplification of the internal transcribed (ITS) spacer region of rDNA (using primers ITS1/4), combined with amplification of the β-tubulin gene (using primers BT1a/BT1b) (2,3), followed by sequencing of the amplified DNA, led to identification of isolate 6T-17 as Valsa ceratosperma (anamorph C. sacculus). The sequence of the ITS1-5.8s-ITS2 region of rDNA (GenBank Accession No. JX560175) matched the ITS sequence of V. ceratosperma Accession AB369475 with 99% similarity, and the β-tubulin gene sequence (KC840674) resulted in a 99% match with that of V. ceratosperma Accession EU219136. Mycelial plugs of a culture of each fungal isolate on PDA were inoculated onto 10 rhizomes of 2-month-old seedlings of Z. jujube, and maintained in a greenhouse at 25 to 30°C. Ten rhizomes of 2-month-old seedlings of Z. jujuba were inoculated with non-colonized PDA plugs as the control treatment. After 2 months, all inoculated seedlings showed chlorotic leaves and root rot symptoms similar to those observed in the original commercial orchards. No symptoms were observed on the control plants. The pathogen was reisolated successfully from symptomatic plants but not from the control plants, fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. sacculus causing a root rot of Z. jujuba trees in China. References: (1) G. C. Adams et al. Stud. Mycol. 52:83, 2005. (2) G. M. Arruda et al. Plant Pathol. 54:53, 2005. (3) J. Baskarathevan et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 132:549, 2012. (4) J. B. Kepley et al. J. Arbor. 26:326, 2000.


In this vivid tale of adultery and intrigue, witchcraft and murder, Glenn Watkins explores the fascinating life of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo-a life suffused with scandal and bordering on the fantastical. An isolated prince, Gesualdo had a personal life that was no less eccentric and bewildering than the music he composed; his biography has often clouded our perception of his oeuvre, which music scholars have periodically dismissed as a late Renaissance deformation of little consequence. Today, however, Gesualdo's music, once deemed so strange as to be unperformable, stands as one of the most vibrant legacies of the late Italian Renaissance with an undeniable impact on a host of twentieth-century musicians and artists. The incendiary details of Gesualdo's life recede, and his grip on our musical imagination comes to the fore. Watkins challenges our preconceptions of what has become a nearly mythic persona, weaving together the cumulative experience of some of the most vibrant artists of the past century from Stravinsky and Schoenberg to Abbado and Herzog. Beyond questions of mere influence, however, The Gesualdo Hex offers a profound meditation on cultural memory and historical awareness: how composers attempt to shape the legacy they will bequeath to the world, and how music and history inevitably take on a new guise as they are revisited by subsequent generations and reinterpreted in light of contemporary experience. In examining Gesualdo's life, music, myth, and memory intertwine with one another to reveal an uncanny affinity with our own time. With his elegant and engaging prose, Watkins asks us to grapple with our understanding not only of art and the artists who create it but also of history itself.


Product Development (PD) is a multifaceted and challenging process, more so in Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) due to issues such as the resource constraints, high dependency on
suppliers and the modern day competitiveness. For countries such as New Zealand, where 99.54
% of firms belong to the SME category, the significance of improving the PD system is
enormous. These firms have to 'do a great deal with very little'. The various PD management
solutions that have been successfully deployed in large companies require "alterations" or
customisation for application in SMEs. The research work presented in this thesis addresses the
growing interest in the application of a distinctive best practice, one of the most recent, and
promising solutions to product innovation in SMEs: (Toyota's) 'Lean Product Development
System'.
The Lean philosophy has proven time and again as a holistic system to enhance efficiency
of the entire supply chain by optimising all internal processes; in addition to bringing about
responsiveness to external environment. According to studies conducted by prominent research
institutes across the world, Toyota's excellence is equally seen in its PD as in manufacturing,
where projects take half the time of its US equivalents, with four times the productivity, and
consistent top quality. In line with the industry trend in exploration of Lean system to PD across
the world, this study focuses on:
"Evolving a broad framework for PD that incorporates Lean principles for application in Small
and Medium Enterprises."

In-depth action research within a SME environment showed that Lean Product
Development Systems is one solution that provides ideal balance of being a systems based,
process oriented, interactive expert managed approach with a clear customer / value focus for
these firms. Aspects such as flexibility of engineering infrastructure, the CAD/CAM proficiency,
flat organisation structure aiding better communication, and the continuous learning attitude
prevalent within SMEs corresponds closely to that in Toyota, and were identified to be great
enablers for Lean deployment. On the other hand, few areas were found to pose challenges to the
Lean approach within SMEs: including resource scarcity, the dependency on suppliers, and lack
of concept reuse, among others. On the whole, the findings have led to the development of a
customized framework for Lean innovation in SMEs that addresses the knowledge, people,
process, leadership, management, and planning elements, topped with measures to minimize
effects of the identified obstacles.


Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a perioperative technique aimed at reducing the stress surgery has on surgical patients. ERAS was created in Europe in the 1990's by a professor named Henrik Kehlet of Denmark. Its protocols have spread from its origin to all over the world, becoming scientific-based medicine. In July 2015, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) began its own ERAS program as a physician lead initiative. UPMC ERAS program has seen impressive reductions in post-operative length-of-stay (post-op LOS), readmission, and patient controlled analgesia (PCA) utilization. In addition to patient care improvement, UPMC has received financial benefits from its ERAS program in the form of direct variable cost reductions. According to the CDC Foundation, "Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of the families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious disease." ERAS is relevant to public health because its protocols protect patients from the shock of surgery, improve their recovery time, and prevent complications after surgical procedures.


In the "Anfal trial," the Iraqi High Tribunal ("IHT") in Baghdad convicted five former Iraqi high officials of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 1988 against the Iraqi Kurds. The evidence presented at trial—which included both voluminous documentary evidence as well as eye-witness testimony—demonstrated the clear existence of a genocidal campaign by the former Iraqi government and military, which eliminated an estimated 182,000 Iraqi Kurds in 1988, including through the use of chemical weapons (the eight-phased "Anfal campaign"). Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti ("Majid"), known by the moniker "Chemical Ali," and four others were convicted—three of whom (including Majid) were sentenced to death. Saddam Hussein al-Majid al-Tikriti ("Saddam Hussein") was dropped from the proceedings after his execution following the verdict in the Dujail trial. In the Anfal Trial Chamber judgment, the judges explained fairly persuasively how genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed against the Iraqi Kurds. The primary weaknesses of the Trial Chamber judgment include: (i) a less persuasive job in examining individual criminal responsibility; and (ii) a failure to address fair trial problems that arose during the trial, such as insufficiently detailed charges. On appeal, the Cassation Chamber judges did not seriously grapple with the merits of the case. This article evaluates the successes and failures of this trial and judgments. WHY THE KILLING IN DARFUR IS GENOCIDE


October 2016 Challenges to closing the gap between findings from academic research and effective policymaking are not new, and they will not be solved overnight. However, as the entire education sector faces mounting pressure to provide high-quality education under tightening fiscal constraints, all while demonstrating improving student outcomes, the time may finally be right for a renewed spirit of collaboration between higher education researchers and policymakers. This Policy Insights is just one component of a partnership between the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) focused on how to better connect rigorous higher education research and appropriate state-level policy. This brief examines why research is not currently more influential in policymaking; how those in the academy can develop a cross-sector, statelevel research agenda that is more likely to affect policy change; what policy areas are wellsuited for collaboration between policymakers and researchers to increase equity and inclusion within postsecondary education; and what action steps can be taken by those in academe and the policy arena to improve the links between educational research and policy.


Information and communication technologies (ICT) have truly entered our everyday life, both work and leisure. This applies especially to the lives of our children: the children of today have been surrounded by ICT from their birth – personal computers, the Internet, mobile phones, video games, and social media have been an integral part of their everyday life from the early childhood. School should be able to adapt to this change, but this seems to be challenging to achieve: schools are lagging behind the recent developments in ICT. We inquire the reasons for these challenges as regards ICT adoption in the Finnish schools from the perspective of the school principals, i.e. the ones expected to lead their schools to utilize ICT in its full potential. This is a nexus analytic inquiry that first examines these principals' discourses on ICT and change, revealing several different discourses on them both, constructing the objects of talk in various ways. Afterwards, the study identifies influential participants helping or hindering in the process of change as well as broader societal themes or values that act as drivers of or barriers to change, as pictured in the principals' talk. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.