SYNOPSIS
Primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention programs effectively reduce ACL injury risk in the short term. Despite these programs, ACL injury incidence is still high, making it imperative to continue to improve current prevention strategies. A potential limitation of current ACL injury prevention training may be a deficit in the transfer of conscious, optimal movement strategies rehearsed during training sessions to automatic movements required for athletic activities and unanticipated events on the field. Instructional strategies with an internal focus of attention have traditionally been utilized, but may not be optimal for the acquisition of the control of complex motor skills required for sports. Conversely, external-focus instructional strategies may enhance skill acquisition more efficiently and increase the transfer of improved motor skills to sports activities. The current article will present insights gained from the motor-learning domain that may enhance neuromuscular training programs via improved skill development and increased retention and transfer to sports activities, which may reduce ACL injury incidence in the long term.


Our view of which individuals should be the subjects of our moral actions is expanding to include more people and more species. Animal welfare is the subject of rapidly increasing concern in most countries in the world, and this concern is resulting in changes in the ways in which animal users keep and treat animals. Ethical decisions about whether the killing of an animal is justifiable should be considered separately from those about how poor welfare can be and still be acceptable. The term 'euthanasia' should be restricted to killing an animal for its own benefit. Quality of life (QoL) in humans is generally taken to include: physical condition and any impairment of this resulting from injury or disease; capacity to function; perception of functioning; and satisfaction with functioning in relation to what is believed possible. If the welfare of an individual is its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment, then welfare is essentially the same as QoL. Both include the state of the individual's coping systems, including those responding to pathology, various behavioural and physiological responses, and cognitive processes associated with suffering or pleasure. Hence, both welfare and QoL include health and the extent of positive and negative feelings. Many papers referring to animal welfare include objective quantification whilst few papers referring to QoL do so. Some human studies assess QoL by the less objective method of questions asked of subjects. Neither QoL nor welfare should be assessed using solely subjective measures. Assessment of welfare must take account of the wide variety of coping systems and coping strategies used. A range of measures including those of behaviour, physiology, brain function, immune system function, and damage is needed. The ease or difficulty of coping should be interpreted within the framework of the abilities of the animal. Animals with more sophisticated cognitive functioning may have the best abilities to cope with problems. The scheme presented here for assessing welfare over time facilitates ethical decisions regarding whether welfare is good or whether it is unacceptably poor.


BACKGROUND
Previous research has shown that public transit use may be associated with active transportation. Access to a car may influence active transportation of transit riders.

METHODS
Using the 2009 United States National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), transit users ≥ 16 years old (n = 25,550) were categorized according to driver status and number of cars and drivers in the household. This typology ranged from choice transit riders (ie, "fully motorized drivers") to transit-dependent riders (ie, "unmotorized nondriver"). Transit trips, walking trips, and bicycling trips of transit users are estimated in negative binomial models against the car availability typology.

RESULTS
Sixteen percent of participants took transit in the past month; most (86%) lived in car-owning households. As income increased, car availability also increased. Transit user groups with lower car availability were generally more likely than fully motorized drivers to take more public transit, walking, and bicycle trips. Transit riders have varying levels of vehicle access; their use of combinations of alternative modes of transportation fluctuates accordingly. Transit-dependent individuals without cars or sharing cars used active transportation more frequently than car owners.

CONCLUSION
Policies to reduce vehicle ownership in households may enable increases in the use of alternative modes of transportation for transit users, even when cars are still owned.


The inhibition and the effect of temperature and concentration of 3-phosphonopropionic acid (3-PPA) on the corrosion of mild steel in groundwater was investigated by weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization experiments at temperatures ranging from 30 °C to 60 °C. The studied inhibitor concentrations were between 6 ppm to 18 ppm. The percentage inhibition increased with the increase of the concentration of the inhibitor. The percentage inhibition reached about 66.2% at the concentration of 12 ppm at 30 °C. On the other hand the percentage inhibition decreased with the increase of temperature.


Abstract Increasing reliance on artificial and non-sustainable methods of agriculture had resulted in negatively affecting both the soil and the health of agriculturists. Organic agriculture abhors such conventional agricultural practices and inculcates the implementation of safer, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. This paper analyses the stakeholders' perception of responsibility and environmental sustainability by conducting qualitative research using case studies of several organic food supply chains based in Kerala, a state in the south of India. The interviews with key stakeholders along the supply chain network illustrate that the rationale for organic agriculture is based on principles of fairness, responsibility and sustainability. Furthermore, the results depict that perceptions of ethics vary amongst stakeholder groups. Thoughthe literature is extensive on business ethics and sustainability, research on stakeholder perception along the entire industry is minimal within academic literature and the paper contributes to this area. Furthermore, from a managerial perspective, this paper sheds light on the influence of business ethics within an industry and exhibits the importance and influence of social responsibility and environmental sustainability within an industry.  Keywords: Ethics, food, sustainability, responsibility, agriculture, organic


PPARα, β/δ, and γ regulate genes involved in the control of lipid metabolism and inflammation and are expressed in all major cell types of atherosclerotic lesions. In vitro studies have suggested that PPARs exert antiatherogenic effects by inhibiting the expression of proinflammatory genes and enhancing cholesterol efflux via activation of the liver X receptor–ABCA1 (LXR-ABCA1) pathway. To investigate the potential importance of these activities in vivo, we performed a systematic analysis of the effects of PPARα, β, and γ agonists on foam-cell formation and atherosclerosis in male LDL receptor–deficient (LDLR–/–) mice. Like the PPARγ agonist, a PPARα-specific agonist strongly inhibited atherosclerosis, whereas a PPARβ-specific agonist failed to inhibit lesion formation. In concert with their effects on atherosclerosis, PPARα and PPARγ agonists, but not the PPARβ agonist, inhibited the formation of macrophage foam cells in the peritoneal cavity. Unexpectedly, PPARα and PPARγ agonists inhibited foam-cell formation in vivo through distinct ABCA1-independent pathways. While inhibition of foam-cell formation by PPARα required LXRs, activation of PPARγ reduced cholesterol esterification, induced expression of ABCG1, and stimulated HDL-dependent cholesterol efflux in an LXR-independent manner. In concert, these findings reveal receptor-specific mechanisms by which PPARs influence macrophage cholesterol homeostasis. In the future, these mechanisms may be exploited pharmacologically to inhibit the development of atherosclerosis.


Making concept decisions is a crucial activity for product-developing companies since these decisions have high impact on the subsequent development and launch of the product. Consequences of unsuccessful concept decisions can be severe, e.g. missing out on business opportunities or spending money on rework. This thesis investigates concept decision making in product development practice and contributes by enhancing the understanding of what is actually happening, the difficulties experienced in the process, and how to manage and improve concept decision making. Such enhanced understanding should serve as a basis when support methods for concept decision making are developed. In-depth studies have been conducted in a Swedish automotive company, focusing on the technical system level of the product. The concept decision process was found to be a web of interconnected activities, embedded in the concept development process, and with several actors on different hierarchical levels. An overarching challenge identified in concept decision making was to achieve compatibility before completeness, meaning that compatibility between product systems must be met before the system solutions are completely developed. In addition, a number of conflicts intrinsic in the process were revealed, pointing to underlying causes of the difficulties in managing concept decision making. These conflicts are omnipresent due to the product and organizational complexity and have to be handled by the product developers in their daily work. The thesis identifies key elements for improving an organization's concept decision making: Create meta-knowledge and awareness regarding what influences the process and the actors in the process since there is a general lack of knowledge regarding one's own and the organization's decision-making processes; Ask questions to ensure that aspects, previously neglected, are considered; Provide visualizations to enhance understanding of both process and solutions; Provide vision as guidance in everyday decision making and trade-offs; and Ensure reflections since there is a need for actors in the process to reflect on the own decision-making process. In conclusion, a model to improve the concept decision making in practice is proposed. The model includes a set of proposed activities that are designed to address the previously identified challenges, and was developed in collaboration between researchers and practitioners.


Portability of social benefits across professions and countries is an increasing concern for individuals and policy makers. Lacking or incomplete transfers of acquired social rights are feared to negatively impact individual labor market decisions as well as capacity to address social risks with consequences for economic and social outcomes. The paper gives a fresh and provocative look on the international perspective of the topic that has so far been dominated by social policy lawyers working within the framework of bilateral agreements; the input by economists has been very limited. It offers an analytical framework for portability analysis that suggests separating the risk pooling, (implicit or actual) pre-funding and redistributive elements in the benefit design and explores the proposed alternative approach for pensions and health care benefits. This promising approach may serve both as a substitute and complement to bi- and multilateral agreements.


Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a hereditary autoinflammatory disorder characterised by acute attacks of fever and serosal inflammation. FMF primarily affects Jewish, Armenian, Turkish, and Arab populations. The disease is accompanied by a marked decrease in quality of life due to the effects of attacks and subclinical inflammation in the attack-free periods. Untreated or inadequately treated patients run the risk of amyloidosis, which is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. In this review, the current information available on FMF is summarised.


We describe a general method of transforming arbitrary programming languages into probabilistic programming languages with straightforward MCMC inference engines. Random choices in the program are "named" with information about their position in an execution trace; these names are used in conjunction with a database holding values of random variables to implement MCMC inference in the space of execution traces. We encode naming information using lightweight source-to-source compilers. Our method enables us to reuse existing infrastructure (compilers, profilers, etc.) with minimal additional code, implying fast models with low development overhead. We illustrate the technique on two languages, one functional and one imperative: Bher, a compiled version of the Church language which eliminates interpretive overhead of the original MIT-Church implementation, and Stochastic Matlab, a new open-source language.


BACKGROUND--It has recently been shown that large tidal volume ventilation accelerates the alveolar clearance of insoluble particles and this may be related to accelerated surfactant evacuation from the alveolus into the airway. The aim of this study was to investigate if the effect of large tidal volume ventilation is modified in an experimental model of surfactant dysfunction. METHODS--Fluorescent latex particles of 0.63 microns diameter were administered in aerosol form to 30 rabbits during anaesthesia with thiopentone and mechanical ventilation. Six animals were killed immediately after aerosol administration in order to show the initial deposition of particles. Twenty four animals were divided into two groups and ventilated for three hours with either large tidal volume (mean tidal volume 30 ml/kg) or conventional ventilation (mean tidal volume 12.5 ml/kg). Six rabbits in each of the two groups were administered either the synthetic detergent dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate in aerosol form or aerosolised vehicle. After the period of experimental ventilation the lungs were removed and dried in the expanded state. Particles in the alveolar region were counted with fluorescent microscopy in sections of the lung. RESULTS--Compared with the baseline group (mean (SD) 24.8 (9.9)) the count of residual alveolar particles was lower after large tidal volume ventilation in the absence of detergent aerosol (13.2 (6.5)). Particle count after large tidal volume ventilation and detergent treatment (23.3 (6.4)) was similar to that in the baseline group and to that in the groups exposed to conventional ventilation. CONCLUSIONS--The increase in alveolar clearance of insoluble particles caused by large tidal volume ventilation is inhibited by detergent aerosol. This might be due to reduced stability of the surfactant film after detergent aerosol.


Two kinds of analyses were undertaken to study fresh sea
fish commodity in Indonesia, namely,consumption of fresh sea
fish in Indonesia and the pricing efficiency analysis of fresh
sea fish in Java.
The data for consumption analysis were collected from Biro
Pusat Statistik (BPS). A consumption equation was estimated and
the adjustment coefficient was found to be 0.6186 suggesting
that the adjustment to optimal consumption level was quite
rapid. The results also suggest that in the short-run, the
elasticities of demand with respect to price of fresh sea fish,
income and price of SUbstitute are -0.00035, 0.15379, and
0.00003 respectively ,which were in elastic.


Since the advent of keratorefractive surgery and its rising popularity, irregular astigmatism has become an increasingly important issue for ophthalmologists and optometrists. Despite the success of LASIK and PRK, there are more and more patients experiencing visual quality problems due to the non-physiological modification of the corneal structure. Among these complications, irregular astigmatism is perhaps the most difficult to treat.The first of its kind, "Irregular Astigmatism: Diagnosis and Treatment" synthesizes our knowledge and understanding of irregular astigmatism and addresses state-of-the-art technology in management and treatment. Dr. Ming Wang, assisted by Dr. Tracy Swartz, has led a team of internationally known experts in the field to produce this innovative, comprehensive, and logically presented text, which includes more than 300 illustrations to supplement the information provided.This book contains: history and optics of regular and irregular astigmatisms; useful criteria for diagnosis and classification; current state-of-the-art technologies for treatment; suggestions for future direction in treatment technology. Every physician who performs keratorefractive surgery understands that in reducing a patient's refractive error, there is a possibility of creating irreversible effects on visual quality. "Irregular Astigmatism: Diagnosis and Treatment" is intended to help prevent and reduce the iatrogenic creation of irregular astigmatism, as well as provide effective treatment when postoperative complications do arise.Treatment technologies addressed herein are: discussion of complications including: decentered treatment; small optical zone; central island; oblate cornea; destablized cornea; UV corneal cross-linking; intacs intracorneal rings; penetrating and lamellar keratoplasties; C-CAP; custom wavefront- and topography-driven treatments; lens surgery and toric IOL; and conductive keratoplasty.In addition, this text systematically separates two distinctly different etiological groups of irregular astigmatism - that of a structurally stable cornea and that of a structurally unstable weak cornea - and comprehensively presents all treatment modalities for each.With the maturation of keratorefractive technology in recent years, effective treatment for iatrogenic irregular astigmatism is quickly developing. "Irregular Astigmatism: Diagnosis and Treatment" provides everything refractive surgeons, ophthalmologists, and optometrists need to know about this important topic.


Development of homology modeling methods will remain an area of active research. These methods aim to develop and model increasingly accurate three-dimensional structures of yet uncrystallized therapeutically relevant proteins e.g. Class A G-Protein Coupled Receptors. Incorporating protein flexibility is one way to achieve this goal. Here, I will discuss the enhancement and validation of the ligand-steered modeling, originally developed by Dr. Claudio Cavasotto, via cross modeling of the newly crystallized GPCR structures. This method uses known ligands and known experimental information to optimize relevant protein binding sites by incorporating protein flexibility. The ligand-steered models were able to model, reasonably reproduce binding sites and the co-crystallized native ligand poses of the β2 adrenergic and Adenosine 2A receptors using a single template structure. They also performed better than the choice of template, and crude models in a small scale high-throughput docking experiments and compound selectivity studies. Next, the application of this method to develop high-quality homology models of Cannabinoid Receptor 2, an emerging non-psychotic pain management target, is discussed. These models were validated by their ability to rationalize structure activity relationship data of two, inverse agonist and agonist, series of compounds. The method was also applied to improve the virtual screening performance of the β2 adrenergic crystal structure by optimizing the binding site using β2 specific compounds. These results show the feasibility of optimizing only the pharmacologically relevant protein binding sites and applicability to structure-based drug design projects.


Purpose of review To review recent literature on second trimester abortion with medical methods. Recent findings Across studies published in the recent past, it is apparent that women prefer shorter procedures and procedure times. Several randomized controlled trials have confirmed adding mifepristone to the second trimester medication abortion regimen results in shorter abortion intervals from first misoprostol administration to complete fetal expulsion. A study of simultaneous administration of mifepristone and misoprostol yielded shorter mean 'total' abortion times, presenting several logistical advantages. Recent studies on the continuous dosing of misoprostol have produced critical evidence to support continued dosing until expulsion. These studies had a more practical design compared with previous protocols that capped the number of misoprostol doses. Summary Second trimester surgical abortion is well tolerated and increasingly expeditious. Further research is needed to refine second trimester medical abortion methods, specific to the mifepristone, misoprostol dosing interval. A 12-hour mifepristone to misoprostol interval may be the optimal interval balancing patient preferences and logistical considerations. Pragmatic dosing, including continuous dosing of misoprostol, could yield results that better inform clinical guidelines and reduce burden on patient, provider, and health facility.


The purpose of this DNP project is to describe the development of a free health clinic in the western North Carolina community. The process will include the use of a community needs assessment to influence the formation of an inter-professional leadership team for the purposes of providing chronic and primary care to the underserved and uninsured of the community. This will include a clinic start-up checklist, budget overview, a cost analysis, and organizational strategies for this program for persons interested in developing a free health clinic.
This paper will describe process for clinic startup, resource referrals, community partnerships, clinic relationship with a local academic medical center, and lessons learned during the process of development. Outcomes for this project will include demographics and number of patients seen, volunteer recruitment and retention, and a cost analysis after the first six months of operation.


Some animals use humanmade objects for building and constructing nests or shelter and even for play. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) gather and use humanmade objects discovered in their natural environment. Gathering humanmade objects is a peculiar behavior particularly when there is no immediately apparent benefit to survival or reproduction. I opportunistically documented 46 different types of humanmade objects with plastic bottles and aluminum cans being the most common items found at wolf pup-rearing sites. Many objects were made of materials that appeared suitable to alleviate pain in teething pups. For some objects, however, it was not immediately obvious that they would alleviate teething pain due to their unpliable material. Additionally, such objects were quite rare in wolves' natural environment although it was not uncommon to find them at pup-rearing sites. Rare humanmade objects may provide a novelty that stimulates pups more than common objects. I hypothesize that objects used by wolf pups 1) alleviate pain from teething, and 2) provide adults respite from energetic pups. The latter is an important distinction because it implies the benefit of object play is to the adults and not the pups per se. Gathering novel objects that occupy energetic and hungry pups may influence the overall ability of social carnivores to leave young unattended while they hunt, to rest upon their return, and ultimately rear young successfully.


Background Body Mass Index (BMI) is negatively correlated with subjective well-being and positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Whether these associations reflect causal effects or confounding is unclear. Methods We examined causal effects between BMI and subjective well-being/depressive symptoms with bi-directional, two-sample Mendelian randomization using summary-level data from large genome-wide association studies. Genetic variants robustly related to the exposure variable acted as instrumental variable (two thresholds were used; p<5e-08 and p<1e-05). These 'instruments' were then associated with the outcome variable. Pleiotropy was corrected for by two sensitivity analyses. Results Substantial evidence was found for a causal effect of BMI on mental health, such that a higher BMI decreased subjective well-being and increased depressive symptoms. No consistent evidence was found for causality in the other direction. Conclusions This study provides support for a higher BMI causing poorer mental health. Further research should corroborate these findings and consider non-linear effects and sex differences.


Literary translation, especially poetry translation has been debated over by scholars engaged in this field throughout the history. The author has focused on the problems arising in poetry translation from Azerbaijani into English, i.e. between languages with quite different literary patterns belonging to different language families. The poetical examples provided in this article have been translated from Azerbaijani language into English, and present the real scene of the existing problems of poetry translation such as idiomatic phrases in the original for which the authors could not find any corresponding idiom in the language of translation. The author emphasizes the necessity of cooperation between a mother tongue translator of the original language and a mother tongue translator of the target language in order to make the translated poetical samples sound like a poem to the native speaker's ears. The conclusion is that literary samples best present the culture, art and lifestyle of the people, so more poetical samples should be translated from the Azerbaijani literature into other languages to enable the Azerbaijani literary world to integrate the world literature and be a part of it.


This article introduces the five substantive papers in this special issue on Lesson Study. It begins with a short description of the practice and the assumptions behind it, highlighting features that may not be easily appreciated by an international audience. Reflections on each of the contributions in this special issue follow.


Purpose: This paper aims to analyse in depth the determinants of disclosure of corporate social activities. In particular, it is focused on a barely considered factor: ownership structure. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of Spanish listed companies in 2008 we employed a OLS model to analyse how the identity of the largest shareholder as well as other firm characteristics may influence the disclosure of social activities. Findings and Originality: Contrary to our expectations, the findings suggest that the identity of the main shareholder does not affect the disclosure of social activities. On the contrary, firm size, leverage and general level of disclosure seem to explain the information provided by the firms related to their social activities. Research Limitations/implications: Our results should be considered with caution because we have used a specific measure of disclosure of social activities and our study is carried out in a specific country and period of time. Originality/value: A reduced number of studies have analysed the influence of firm ownership structure on the disclosure of social activities, and the existing studies have mainly considered the ownership concentration but not the identity of the largest shareholder.


This paper discusses part of my PhD research, which focuses on live client clinics and clinical legal education in Europe. My research aim for my literature review was to find all the literature available to me regarding clinical legal education and the knowledge, skills and attributes it can provide students with and analyse it. To do this I conducted a systematic review, searching various databases, using keywords and other searching techniques, to locate both qualitative, quantitative and conceptual research. A systematic review in this area has not been done previously. It has allowed me to bring together all the literature surrounding which knowledge, skills and attributes are necessary for the practice of law and how law schools have been working to meet these demands. Whilst my empirical research has been conducted within law schools in Europe, I wanted to look at the literature from a global perspective. Much influence to clinical legal education has come from US, Australia, UK and Canada and I thought it necessary to include these perspectives.

The systematic review did not only look at peer reviewed journals for data. The grey literature, which was mainly comprised of legal education reports from the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, was also sourced and analysed, bringing in another global perspective. Looking at this literature has enabled me to acknowledge what knowledge, skills and attributes legal education and practice regulators wish our students to graduate with and what is expected of legal educators. By comparing this with the peer reviewed literature found I have could analyse what it is that legal regulators want and how we, as legal educators, are responding. Are we meeting the demands laid down in policy? Is it even possible to meet these demands in a swiftly changing legal and economic climate?

By exploring the literature in this way, I could see the connections between what regulators want (grey literature) with how law schools have responded (qualitative, quantitative and conceptual literature). Law schools today use a variety of teaching methods, both experiential and not, to help better prepare our students for practice. However, these innovations seem to not be enough, and reports are continuously calling for law schools to further close the academic and practice divide. By tracking how law schools have responded to the demands of a changing legal world, I explore whether regulators and those with a vested interest in legal education are simply asking too much.

The epistemological framework which guided this research was mixed. When I was searching the literature I was very much using a positivist approach, following a strict methodology and deducing the results, moving from the general to specific reasoning. However, when I was synthesising and analysing the data I changed to a more interpretivist framework, exploring the literature, becoming more inductive, and moving from the specific to more general and broader theories.

Method
The systematic review followed the Cochrane Collaborative methodology, originally designed for use into medical research. The method followed included:

-Mapping the field through a scoping review
-Comprehensive search
-Quality assessment
-Data extraction
-Synthesis
-Write up.

All of these steps were recorded on a spreadsheet, allowing me to log which databases had been searched, the search results and how many articles I used from each search result. I then quality appraised all articles, giving them a score based on their content, extracted the data from them and synthesised the results.

The results will be presented in a PRISMA flow diagram, displaying how many peer reviewed articles I searched and the journey through which I selected those included in my literature review. This methodology claims to add more rigour to literature reviews, and to help eliminate the bias that can be associated with traditional, narrative reviews.

As this method was originally designed for quantitative studies it was imperative that I made some changes and adapted it for mixed methods systematic review. The stages of the method which are effected the most include the data extraction and synthesis. There is still no one established way to quality appraise and extract data from qualitative research, as there is with quantitative, within a systematic review. Thus, I used materials and influences from many different sources, including guidance provided by the UK Centre for Social Research. I also incorporated the Cochrane Qualitative Methods Group's guidance on conducting quality appraisals, including their indicators of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Hopefully there will one day be a consensus of how to conduct mixed methods systematic reviews and a uniform methodology will be available. However, I believe that by incorporating different sources and influences I have established a good methodology for this research.

The synthesis and write up of this research was as visual as it was narrative. I used the aid of the visual to relay my findings and highlight the areas in which legal educators may not be focusing on within their curriculum, but which legal regulators and employers deem necessary for practice. However, by also incorporating conceptual papers and qualitative studies, I can discuss the reasons for the results in more depth, with the narrative complementing the numbers.

Expected Outcomes
I can see from the literature that law schools are attempting to respond to these reports. Legal education has undergone many changes, with a call for the gap between academia and practice to be less distinct. We can track the growth of law clinics throughout the world, which are designed to teach students the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for practice, bridge their academic knowledge to procedure and to install a social justice ethos for more responsible future lawyers.

We are developing our pedagogy in line with various reports, exploring and creating innovative ways to teach a holistic legal education, which can be seen in the peer reviewed literature. However, this still does not seem to be enough, and the issues surrounding the preparedness of those starting practice is continuously the burden of law schools globally. This begs the question of whether regulators are asking for too much from legal educators. Even where we respond to the reports and adapt our pedagogy, can we keep up with demands? Is it possible to provide the competent lawyers the market is demanding upon graduation? The findings of this systematic review will help to answer these questions, concluding that regulators are simply asking for too much that is not always realistically attainable. The link between policy and education is closer than one may think in legal education. This paper highlights the importance of a working relationship between them, for legal education to appropriately respond to the recommendations and for the recommendations to be reasonable. This relationship is not restricted by borders, and the similarities of what legal regulators wants from law schools is blatant. By working together and sharing our innovations legal education will continue to move forward and strive to meet the demands of the modern legal world.


The aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of applying Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) to evaluate the effects of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) ablation on Subcutaneously Implanted VX2 tumors in rabbits (R-SIVX2). The tumor hardness in a total of 20 R-SIVX2 models was measured at different time points using SWE following HIFU ablation treatment. In SWE images, the VX2 tumor appeared to be a homogeneous blue, and the average tumor hardness (Emean) was 10.48 ± 0.33 Kpa. Tumor hardness on D1 was the highest (Emean=97.45 ± 23.08 Kpa), and decreased gradually over a 30 d period, with tumor hardness on D30 being similar to that on D0. The hardness uniformity (ESD) in the Region of Interest (ROI) increased significantly as compared to before the ablation, indicating that HIFU ablation can cause acoustic environmental changes in the organizations of the ROI. There were significant differences among Emin, Emean, Emax and ESD at different time points (P=0.00). There was no significant difference in Emin (Emean) between D0 and D30 (P<0.05), but there was a significant difference between D0/D30 and D1/D7/D14 (P<0.05). The Emax values among different time points showed statistical significance (P<0.05), but the difference in ESD between D3/D7 and D0/D1/D14/D30 was statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition to 2D ultrasound and color flow signals, SWE can provide tissue hardness information when used for evaluating the efficacy of HIFU ablation, which can provide useful information for evaluating the effects of tumor ablation.


The aim of the present study was to clarify whether an EHV-1 induced abortion can be prognosticated by an increase of antibody titres, virus shedding and/or viraemia and whether the current abortion diagnostic is suitable. In this context the immune response post immunization and a possible reactivation were of great interest. For this purpose blood samples of 32 mares between the ages of 5-21 years were regularly investigated during a period of two years before and after vaccination and pregnancy. Neutralization tests, indirect immunofluorescence tests as well as PCR and virus isolation were used for EHV-1 diagnostics. It could be shown that the horses reacted individually to vaccination. In 14 cases a EHV-1-reactivation was suggested. An abortion prognosis was not possible even using serological, virological and molecular biological parameters. In addition, virus shedding and antibody titres were individual. An acute infection was detectable by a significant rise of antibodies and viraemia as well as virus shedding in the secretions. For the abortion diagnostics the antigen detection in combination with virus isolation and PCR from fetal lungs gave reliable results. In addition, the virological and serological investigation of the mare is recommendable. For prophylaxis we would advise a regular vaccination and strict hygiene.


Proposes an approach to object recognition that facilitates the transition from recognition to understanding. The proposed approach begins by segmenting the images into regions using standard image processing approaches, which are subsequently classified using a discovered fuzzy Cartesian granule feature classifier. Understanding is made possible through the transparent and succinct nature of the discovered models. The recognition of roads in images is taken as an illustrative problem in the vision domain. The discovered fuzzy models, while providing high levels of accuracy (97%), also provide understanding of the problem domain through the transparency of the learnt models. The learning step in the proposed approach is compared with other techniques, such as decision trees, naive Bayes methods and neural networks.


Thousands of individuals each year seek refugee status and the question of who can be accepted requires politicians within democracies to seek a public mandate. Unlike other socio-political categories individuals cannot self-identify as refugee; the category must be bureaucratically conferred. Therefore sustained humanitarian public concern is vital to the acceptance of refugees. This article sets parameters on this public concern. It examines how public narratives reify the refugee category. Showing how this reification constrains the citizenship, integration and opportunities of individuals, now safe, yet continually categorized in everyday public discourse as refugee. Interviews, focus groups (Study 1) and ethnography (Study 2) were conducted in Sweden and the United Kingdom (N = 57). The article introduces a counterposing dialogical analysis where public positioning of refugees is counterposed against dialogue by "refugees" anticipating their positioning. The analysis uncovers an hegemonic social representation of humanitarianism indexing "the refugee" as the passive recipient of help framed by a public narrative diachronically frozen in the initial act of flight. Three objectifying reification processes stabilize the category. "Refugees" in turn employ counter-positional tactics of distancing, compensation and future-orientation. The limited success of these tactics suggest the need to scale up such tactics to collective-level communication strategies. Success of communication strategies requires questioning the underlying function humanitarian-talk serves in creating a sense of European identity. Together these strategies could re-work the temporal features of the refugee category facilitating a repositioning and enabling the emergence of post-refugee narratives.


Registered Report, Stage 1:Road crashes are a leading cause of death worldwide. In many countries, it is common to see spontaneous roadside memorials constructed in response to road fatalities. These memorials are controversial and are explicitly banned in many jurisdictions. Advocates argue that the presence of memorials improves safety, by making other drivers aware of an especially dangerous road where others have died, whereas opponents argue that they are distracting and decrease safety by diverting drivers' attention away from the road. However, almost no previous research has examined the effects of roadside memorials on road user behavior and safety. In this study, 40 drivers will view videos of road scenes
with and without memorials, to examine how the presence of roadside memorials
in a driving scene influences drivers' attentional allocation (as indicated by
eye movements towards the roadside area), and their safety-related behaviors
(as indicated by their ratings of how risky the road is and their preferred travel
speed for the road).


Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) impairs thymus-dependent T-cell regeneration in recipients of allogeneic bone marrow transplants through yet to be defined mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate in mice that MHC-mismatched donor T cells home into the thymus of unconditioned recipients. There, activated donor T cells secrete IFN-gamma, which in turn stimulates the programmed cell death of thymic epithelial cells (TECs). Because TECs themselves are competent and sufficient to prime naive allospecific T cells and to elicit their effector function, the elimination of host-type professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) does not prevent donor T-cell activation and TEC apoptosis, thus precluding normal thymopoiesis in transplant recipients. Hence, strategies that protect TECs may be necessary to improve immune reconstitution following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.


BACKGROUND
Adequate sleep is paramount to athlete recovery and performance, however little is known about the typical sleep patterns of professional rugby union players during home based training and match play in the competitive season. The aim of the present study was to monitor changes in sleep quantity and efficiency of elite male rugby union players over a twelve-night period, which included training and two competitive matches.

METHODS
A total of ten elite male rugby union players from a selected team, participated in the study. Athletes' sleep quantity and efficiency was monitored over a twelve-night period using the BodyMedia SenseWear units (BSU).

RESULTS
There was a significant difference in sleep quantity (P<0.05) on game nights compared to non-game night, with players sleeping less on game nights. Time to sleep on game nights was also significantly (P<0.05) later than non-game nights. There was no significant difference in sleep efficiency or time at wake over the twelve-night period. Sleep efficiency is defined as a percentage score calculated by incorporating movement and physiological measures over the sleep duration as determined by the BSU. Also there was no significant difference between sleep parameters on the game nights. The findings show players have significantly (P<0.05) reduced sleep following a home game, which is of concern considering the established negative influence of sleep deprivation on cognitive and physical performance.

CONCLUSIONS
This data may assist coaching, medical and performance staff to develop and implement team and individualised sleep monitoring regimes to optimise training and on-field performance.


How big is the 'too big to fail' (TBTF) problem? Different approaches have been developed to estimate the impact being perceived as TBTF might have on banks' costs of funding. One approach is to look at how the values of banks' equity and debt change in response to events that may have altered expectations that banks are TBTF. Another is to estimate whether debt costs vary across banks according to features that make them more or less likely to be considered TBTF. A third approach is to estimate a model of the expected value of government support to banks in distress. We review these different approaches, discussing their pros and cons. Policy measures are being implemented to end the TBTF problem. Approaches to estimating the extent of the problem could play a useful role in the future in evaluating the success of those policies. With that in mind, we conclude by outlining in what ways we think approaches need to develop and suggest ideas for future research.


Adjoint Monte Carlo can be an effcient algorithm for solving photon transport problems where the size of the tally is relatively small compared to the source. Such problems are typical in environmental radioactivity calculations, where natural or fallout radionuclides spread over a large area contribute to the air dose rate at a particular location. Moreover photon transport with continuous energy representation is vital for accurately calculating radiation protection quantities. Here we describe the incorporation of an adjoint Monte Carlo capability for continuous energy photon transport into the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS). An adjoint cross section library for photon interactions was developed based on the JENDL- 4.0 library, by adding cross sections for adjoint incoherent scattering and pair production. PHITS reads in the library and implements the adjoint transport algorithm by Hoogenboom. Adjoint pseudo-photons are spawned within the forward tally volume and transported through space. Currently pseudo-photons can undergo coherent and incoherent scattering within the PHITS adjoint function. Photoelectric absorption is treated implicitly. The calculation result is recovered from the pseudo-photon flux calculated over the true source volume. A new adjoint tally function facilitates this conversion. This paper gives an overview of the new function and discusses potential future developments.


"A good book for people who deal with SAP systems for a living. I haven't read another book like this. It's technical but it's also an entertaining read. A pleasant departure from the norm." -David C. Gilliland, Senior Consultant, SAP America, Inc. "Clearly, this book could be used as an excellent development tool and could help a company like mine perfect performance tuning steps and standards." -Dennis Prince, SAP Development/Support Specialist, Hewlett-Packard "SAP optimization is one of those subjects that developers struggle to find time for and managers don't know is necessary. Presenting the value of the process up front serves to give the developer ammunition to win time for optimization and the manager an education in the value and necessity of optimization. Even if the manager types don't read past chapter 3, George's job is done. They should be convinced that someone technical in their IT department needs to be reading this book. Anderson explains the value, then the core technology, and then when we're all on the same page, the process. To me, that was very helpful." -Crew Reynolds, Software Development Manager, Daydots "This book features good discussion on performance tuning the mySAP suite that no other books have so far. This is the perfect book for SAP Stress Test Project Managers, SAP Stress Test Project Teams, SAP Basis Administrators, Oracle DBAs, Unix Administrators managing SAP systems, and project implementation teams. Those who stress test their systems well with the help of this book will have significant returns." -Sanjoy Rath, SAP ConsultantDrive maximum performance and value from your SAP investment!In this book, a leading expert on SAP performance walks through every facet of tuning and optimizing mySAP Solutions, and the technology layers underpinning these solutions, to maximize performance and value. George W. Anderson covers the entire testing and tuning process: planning, staffing, developing, testing, executing, validating, evaluating...and acting on what you've learned.Anderson offers unparalleled guidance with regard to predicting the impact of system changes-from new hardware to updated NetWeaver-enabled business processes. Along the way, he shows how to make the most of countless optimization and monitoring tools-from free and low-cost technology stack-based utilities to comprehensive, automated SAP testing suites. His vendor-neutral, unbiased coverage includes: Quantifying concrete performance requirements-even for complex, cross-application business processes Testing and monitoring daily system loads, month-end or seasonal business peaks, key transactions, and complex multi-system business processes Conducting comprehensive server, SAN/disk subsystem, and database testing Managing the testing process, leveraging proven best practices and techniques Analyzing, verifying, and quantifying SAP availability, scalability, and TCORegardless of the technology infrastructure underpinning your SAP solutions, if you're responsible for deploying, managing, maintaining, refreshing, upgrading, or supporting SAP technologies, you need this book-now.


Feedback effects from asset prices to firm cash flows have been empirically documented. This finding raises a question for asset pricing: How are asset prices determined if price affects fundamental value, which in turn affects price? In this environment, by buying assets that others are buying, investors ensure high future cash flows for the firm and subsequent high returns for themselves. Hence, investors have an incentive to coordinate, which may generate self-fulfilling beliefs and multiple equilibria. Using insights from global games, we pin down investors' beliefs, analyze equilibrium prices, and show that strong feedback leads to higher excess volatility. Copyright (c) 2008 The American Finance Association.


Among the factors contributing to food shortage in Africa are lack of appropriate preservation and storage facilities, tropical heat and poor road network for marketing produce. High food spoilage caused by high temperatures of the tropical areas necessitates storage for all householders. Marginal areas of Lake Victoria often suffer protein deficiency due to dependence on narrow base sources of protein, most of which get spoilt during storage. The lake region is endowed with plenty of edible insects. Edible insects can provide partial solution to food insecurity. The aim of this project was to promote entomophagy for food security by adding value to termites and lake flies, enhancing taste and preference of edible insects, and improving shelf life of edible insect products in marginal areas with food insecurity. Two specific objectives examined were to add value by processing termites and lake flies into readily acceptable consumer products; and to test acceptability of processed products of termites and lake flies across different audiences. Samples of termites and lake flies were collected and processed in the laboratory under different types of cooking methods such as baking, boiling and steam cooking under pressure. The processed products included crackers, muffins, sausages and meat loaf. The products were tested among convenient sampled respondents. Processing the products added value based on organoleptic tests and minimized the fear of eating insects among many people. Not only marginal areas with limited protein foods but all areas with these insects can improve their food situation by value adding to these available resources. Mostly, people are familiar with these insects, therefore, the processed products of lake flies and termites were readily accepted, which could make their commercialization easier. It was concluded that processing edible insects into conventional consumer products encourages entomophagy and has potential for income generation and food security within the lake region.


Abstract Kaolin wastes from the Capim and Jari regions (Brazil) were used to produce sodalite under the same conditions used in the Bayer process, in order to control its formation when necessary. Of the two kaolin source materials, the kaolinite from the Jari region was more reactive in the synthesis of sodalite, which is attributed to the low degree of structural order of this clay mineral which increased its reactivity. At a temperature of 150°C and with a Na/Al ratio of 2, although the kaolinite did not react completely, sodalitewas the primary reaction product. An increase in the temperature to 200°C provoked the complete reaction of the kaolinite only for the products in which carbonate and sulfate were used. With a Na/Al ratio >2 and for both of the temperatures, the kaolinite reacted completely to form sodalite.


Different diversity techniques such as Maximal-Ratio Combining (MRC), Equal-Gain Combining (EGC) and Selection Combining (SC) are described and analyzed. Two branches (N=2) diversity systems that are used for pre-detection combining have been investigated and computed. The statistics of carrier to noise ratio (CNR) and carrier to interference ratio (CIR) without diversity assuming Rayleigh fading model have been examined and then measured for diversity systems. The probability of error (p_e) vs CNR and (p_e) versus CIR have also been obtained. The fading dynamic range of the instantaneous CNR and CIR is reduced remarkably when diversity systems are used [1]. For a certain average probability of error, a higher valued average CNR and CIR is in need for non-diversity systems [1]. But a smaller valued of CNR and CIR are compared to diversity systems. The overall conclusion is that maximal-ratio combining (MRC) achieves the best performance improvement compared to other combining methods. Diversity techniques are very useful to improve the performance of high speed wireless channel to transmit data and information. The problems which considered in this thesis are not new but I have tried to organize, prove and analyze in new ways.


DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) defines a domain-level
authentication framework for email to permit verification of the
source and contents of messages. This document specifies an adjunct
mechanism to aid in assessing messages that do not contain a DKIM
signature for the domain used in the author's address. It defines a
record that can advertise whether they sign their outgoing mail, and
how other hosts can access those records.


We design two computationally-efficient incentive-compatible mechanisms for combinatorial auctions with general bidder preferences. Both mechanisms are randomized, and are incentive-compatible in the universal sense. This is in contrast to recent previous work that only addresses the weaker notion of incentive compatibility in expectation. The first mechanism obtains an O(√m)-approximation of the optimal social welfare for arbitrary bidder valuations -- this is the best approximation possible in polynomial time. The second one obtains an O(log2 m)-approximation for a subclass of bidder valuations that includes all submodular bidders. This improves over the best previously obtained incentive-compatible mechanism for this class which only provides an O(√ m)-approximation.


The first rule to develop new microbial control agents that may be alternnative to chemical pesticides in agricultural pests control are to isolate entomopathogenic fungi (EPF). EPF are originate from soil and microorganisms which are friendly to human and environment. In order to develop the new mycoinsecticides we have carried out a project between 2014-2016. Our aim was to isolate the insect pathogenic fungi found in agricultural land and invertebtrata. Soil samples were collected from agricultural areas (vegetable fied, fruit field, sugarbeet and barly-weat field) and other fieds (pasture, grassland and forest area). As a result we obtained 78 fungal isolates and fungal culture consit of the 63 isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vull. and 15 isolates of Metharhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin. Factors affecting the occurence and distrubution of entomopathogenic fungi in 60 soil samples collected from cultivated and natural (forest, pasture) areas at Erzincan were examined. EPF were isolated from 18 of the 60 soil samples. We found however, an association between M. anisopliae and soil has been found from cultivated habitats. M. anisopliae found only cultivated habitats. We also isolated totatly 44 entomopathogenic fungi ısolates from insect that 29 ısolates of them is B. bassiana and 15 isolates from them is Metharzium anisopliae.


This multi-authored article collects a range of position statements made by leading scholars/practitioners in the fields of theatre aurality, music theatre/opera and sound design. Contributors independently prepared short statements in response to a central provocation – namely, the mooted 'scenographic turn' and its implication for theatre sound studies. The article provides snapshots of current opinions about theatre sound design and scenography. It does not advance a single, unified argument but rather outlines some key ways in which sound/music and scenography are operating, and have operated, in theatre, and have been discussed in aesthetic theory. The article ultimately reinforces the importance of attending to sound and scenography as co-constitutive elements, and suggests there is no single or best way of doing this.


Photography beyond simple proof, became full research material (Bateson & Mead, 1942). It remains less investigated as a methodology in information and Communication Science (SIC) and particularly for the study of library use. However, the photography is a method of gathering information on the lived space that involves elements that tend to complicate the analysis. Therefore we can ask if photography is a medium, in the sense of support, of scientific data collection (Tardy, 2007), if it allows us to account, to signify the semiotic meaning (Barthes, 1980), of the actors expression. Our paper proposes to think on this methodological tool for data collection. It is based on a study of the "learnings centers" in France. This study analyzes the use of these new models of libraries in connection with the enounciation proposed by theses devices as a "work of reconciliation and confrontation of saying pictures" (Bonaccorsi, 2013). A focus on the occupation of spaces and movement of professionals and users will realize the trace of uses and intentions. The collected data furnish "a space waiting for configuration of the pictures by researcher [...] ephemeral support work and always in change [...] that offer an instrument for reflexivity [...] by linking meaningful shapes to practice who gives them status and quality" (Bonaccorsi, 2013). Face to methodological difficulties in use observation, photography can indeed be a means of investigation that serves two objectives - one on the variety of tools for collecting traces and another on taking into account different representations. The sensitive approach to qualitative methods that we specify gradually, built the empirical receptivity of the researcher involved in the process of "significance" (Leleu - Merviel, 2008). Keywords : Photography – Documentary Space - Use - Learning Centre - Qualitative Method


From book description:
Though competition occupies a prominent place in the history of economic thought, among economists today there is still a limited, and sometimes contradictory, understanding of its impact. In Competition and Growth, Philippe Aghion and Rachel Griffith offer the first serious attempt to provide a unified and coherent account of the effect competition policy and deregulated entry has on economic growth.

The book takes the form of a dialogue between an applied theorist calling on "Schumpeterian growth" models and a microeconometrician employing new techniques to gauge competition and entry. In each chapter, theoretical models are systematically confronted with empirical data, which either invalidates the models or suggests changes in the modeling strategy. Aghion and Griffith note a fundamental divorce between theorists and empiricists who previously worked on these questions. On one hand, existing models in industrial organization or new growth economics all predict a negative effect of competition on innovation and growth: namely, that competition is bad for growth because it reduces the monopoly rents that reward successful innovators. On the other hand, common wisdom and recent empirical studies point to a positive effect of competition on productivity growth. To reconcile theory and evidence, the authors distinguish between pre- and post-innovation rents, and propose that innovation may be a way to escape competition, an idea that they confront with microeconomic data. The book's detailed analysis should aid scholars and policy makers in understanding how the benefits of tougher competition can be achieved while at the same time mitigating the negative effects competition and imitation may have on some sectors or industries.


The perfect companion to any flight - a guide to the science on view from your window seat. There are few times when science is so immediate as when you're in a plane. Your life is in the hands of the scientists and engineers who enable tons of metal and plastic to hurtle through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour. Inflight Science shows how you stay alive up there - but that's only the beginning. Brian Clegg explains the ever changing view, whether it's crop circles or clouds, mountains or river deltas, and describes simple experiments to show how a wing provides lift, or what happens if you try to open a door in midair (don't!). On a plane you'll experience the impact of relativity, the power of natural radiation and the effect of altitude on the boiling point of tea. Among the many things you'll learn is why the sky is blue, the cause of thunderstorms and the impact of volcanic ash in an enjoyable tour of mid-air science. Every moment of your journey is an opportunity to experience science in action: Inflight Science will be your guide.


For my graduation assignment the 'Nederlands Adviesbureau voor Risicomanagement1' (NAR) asked
me to do research on how risk management has been filled in at housing associations in the
Netherlands. The term 'Risk Management' is since World War II an evolving concept in Business
Economics and risk management is often present in organizations. Different areas of attention, which
are also included in the frameworks of standardization organizations as COSO and AIRMIC, that come
with risk management in organizations include:
• Identification of risks that threaten people, material and immaterial interests and activities.
• An analysis of the probability and effect that risks can bring with them.
• A study on the methods to diminish or eliminate the risks. And based on this study, taking
measures to avoid, prevent and lower losses.
• Studying risk financing to bear the potential losses. Think of bearing losses directly from
current assets, specially created reserves or provisions, or by agreements and insurances.
• Regularly testing of the decided policy whether the policy is effective in the –changinginternal
and external environment.
Dutch housing associations are non profit organizations (often foundations) with a public function to
provide social housing to let affordable houses. Due to the stricter regulation (BBSH) and the
introduction of corporate governance codes (Aedescode and Dutch Housing Corporate Governance
Code) it has been noticed by e.g. the Dutch Central Fund for Housing (CFV) that risk management is
becoming a major point of attention for housing associations. The problem statement of my research
was therefore: To what extent do housing associations in the Netherlands know and manage their
risks? To provide an answer on this statement the following research questions were set up:
1. What techniques do associations use to identify their risks?
2. What techniques do housing associations use to analyze their risks?
3. What organizational provisions have been made to manage risks effectively?
A survey was sent to all financial managers of 449 housing associations in the Netherlands to get
answers on these research questions. The resulting valid response of 20% was used to analyze the
results in order to provide a decent picture of the use of risk management at associations. We must
note that asking financial managers can give a bias in the results, as this is voluntary response from
managers who may have relative more interest in the subject of risk management. But it was also
noted that the resulting sample was found representative for the whole population of housing associations. After analyzing the results of the survey, a model has been setup to determine in what
extent risk management is present at housing associations. This model assigns a Risk Management
Score for each housing association. The scores were given on the presence of aspects of risk
identification, risk analysis and organizational provisions.
The general conclusion is that most housing associations have a great opportunity to improve their
risk management on these elements. The results show e.g. that just 34% of respondents who claimed
to have risk management introduced ('risk management adopters') have a list with risks and just 40%
has a formal written risk management policy. The lack of presence of these basic risk management
aspects is also coming back in their Risk Management Scores. The results in general show that risk
management is often not filled in at these organizations in the way it should be done according to
literature. A reason could be that the corporate governance codes applying to associations do not
give strict guidelines on how 'good governance' should be filled in and that risk management is not
perceived to be fully necessary. Another reason may be that the Aedescode is considered as more or
less as a piece of paper, since the code is a product of self regulation of the industry and there is no
real maintaining of this code by any external or independent body outside the industry.
Housing associations use mostly 'internal audits' and 'analysis of financial reports' to identify their
risks. In identifying project risks 'scenario analysis' is a common tool. But it can not be concluded
from the results how these techniques in particular are used. This in general holds for all used
techniques. It is very likely that the respondents may have different understandings on identifying
risks with a particular technique.
To assess risks, most associations analyze their risks in a qualitative way. But one of the real strengths
of risk management is actually to quantify the risks to better able to choose for the right risk control
strategy (avoidance, retention or transfer). So associations can improve a lot in risk analysis by using
relative and even better, quantitative methods to analyze risks.
At 'risk management adopters' (respondents who claimed to have introduced risk management in
their organization) the risk management process is mostly part of administrative organization /
internal control mechanisms or the part of the planning & control cycle. Risk management is also
often a point on the agenda in consultations and horizontal and vertical communication on risks is
often supported by the (line) management. These organizational provisions which are already
present can provide a decent base for improving risk management on aspects as risk identification
and risk analysis.
The general attitude on the effectiveness of risk control - in the way that the benefits of the risk
measures weigh up against the costs of the risk measure - has a positive relation with the Risk
Management Score. But the results also show that these 'benefits' are not easily translated to a
perception of lesser losses or a perception of more financial continuity. Future research must make
clear whether the attitude of respondents on the effectiveness of their risk control has a positive
correlation with the actual risk control or that that risk control is just giving some 'peace of mind' by
knowing to have done something against the risk.


Recent research largely focuses on measuring the outcomes of strengths-based coaching but fails to consider coachees' individual experience of the process. This study aims to deepen the understanding of the experience of coachees when they explore their strengths and to examine what insights this provides for the application of strengths-based approaches in coaching. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse data from semi-structured interviews and coaching sessions with six female participants. The findings suggest that strengths-based coaching could be improved by taking account of several key factors that appeared to influence how participants responded to exploring their strengths. These were: the relationship between strengths and key life experiences; the level of comfort when talking about strengths and weaknesses; and the timing and perceived relevance of strengths to the participant's situation. The study concludes that an understanding of the coachee's experience has implications for many aspects of the coaching process including the coaching relationship; structuring coaching interventions; the skills and role of the coach and the issues for which strengths-based coaching may be appropriate.


Background: Hysteroscopy is considered the gold standard in assessing the uterine cavity for pathology. Uterine factors contribute significantly to etiology and treatment of infertility. Objectives: To compare hysteroscopic findings among infertile Nigerian women and their Indian counterparts, determine if there are any differences and attempt to explain why the differences exist. Methods: A retrospective study conducted at Nordica Fertility and Endoscopy Centre, Lagos, Nigeria and Dr. Ramesh Gynae, Endoscopy and Infertility Centre, Bangalore, India. The biodata and findings at hysteroscopy of 100 consecutive infertile Nigerian women who had hysteroscopy between January and December 2010 and 111 consecutive infertile women who also had hysteroscopy at about the same time at Bangalore, India were reviewed and compared. Analysis was done using SPSS version 17.0. Results: There was a significant difference (t=10.7, P-value=0.00001) in the mean (±sd) age (years) of the Nigerian women at 39.3 (5.8) compared to 30.7 (5.9) among Indian women. Primary infertility (73.0%) was a common finding among Indian women while secondary infertility (66.0%) was more prevalent among Nigerian women who were over five times more likely to have this condition compared to Indian women (χ2=32.2, P-value=0.0001, OR=5.2, 95% CI: 2.9, 9.4). In all, 30 (27.0%) and 78 (78.0%) of Indian and Nigerian women respectively had abnormal hysteroscopic results. Nigerian women were about 10 times more likely to have an abnormal hysteroscopic outcome compared to Indian women (χ2=54.7, P-value=0.0001, OR=9.6, 95% CI: 5.09, 18.01). Intrauterine adhesion (44.9% vs 13.3%) and sub-mucous fibroids (21.8% vs 6.7%) were more pronounced among Nigerians while polyps (30.0% vs 24.4%) and complete septum (6.7% vs 5.1%) were more common among Indians who had abnormal hysteroscopic findings. Indian women were 1.3 times more likely to present with polyps (χ2=0.36, P-value=0.55, OR=1.33, 95% CI: 0.52, 3.40) and 1.32 times more likely to present with complete septum (χ2=0.02, P-value=0.75, OR=1.32, 95% CI: .23, 7.62) than Nigerian women. Conclusion: Sub-mucous fibroid and intra-uterine adhesion were more pronounced among Nigerians while polyps and complete septum were more common among Indian women.


Background: Chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease (CHD), have been associated with ingestion of drinking water with high levels of inorganic arsenic (> 1,000 μg/L). However, associations have been inconclusive in populations with lower levels (< 100 μg/L) of inorganic arsenic exposure. Objectives: We conducted a case-cohort study based on individual estimates of lifetime arsenic exposure to examine the relationship between chronic low-level arsenic exposure and risk of CHD. Methods: This study included 555 participants with 96 CHD events diagnosed between 1984 and 1998 for which individual lifetime arsenic exposure estimates were determined using data from structured interviews and secondary data sources to determine lifetime residence, which was linked to a geospatial model of arsenic concentrations in drinking water. These lifetime arsenic exposure estimates were correlated with historically collected urinary arsenic concentrations. A Cox proportional-hazards model with time-dependent CHD risk factors was used to assess the association between time-weighted average (TWA) lifetime exposure to low-level inorganic arsenic in drinking water and incident CHD. Results: We estimated a positive association between low-level inorganic arsenic exposure and CHD risk [hazard ratio (HR): = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.78] per 15 μg/L while adjusting for age, sex, first-degree family history of CHD, and serum low-density lipoprotein levels. The risk of CHD increased monotonically with increasing TWAs for inorganic arsenic exposure in water relative to < 20 μg/L (HR = 1.2, 95% CI: 0.6, 2.2 for 20–30 μg/L; HR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.2, 4.0 for 30–45 μg/L; and HR = 3, 95% CI: 1.1, 9.1 for 45–88 μg/L). Conclusions: Lifetime exposure to low-level inorganic arsenic in drinking water was associated with increased risk for CHD in this population. Citation: James KA, Byers T, Hokanson JE, Meliker JR, Zerbe GO, Marshall JA. 2015. Association between lifetime exposure to inorganic arsenic in drinking water and coronary heart disease in Colorado residents. Environ Health Perspect 123:128–134; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307839


In the present study 40 dry skulls from the Kasturba Medical College Manipal were examined to obtain the morphometric data of the hard palate. Mean palatal length, breadth and height for the total sample was 49.13mm, 4.04mm, and 0.8mm respectively. The contributions from the premaxilla for the hard palate being 9.4mm and palatine process 39.76mm.The palatine index showed that 40% of the skulls had wide (brachystaphyline),37.5% narrow (leptostaphyline), and 22.5% intermediate (mesostaphyline) palates. The greater palatine foramen was found to be at the level of third molar in 75%, in between second and third molars in 22.5%,and at the level of second molar in 2.5%.The distance from greater palatine foramen to middle maxillary suture was about 14mm.In majority of the skulls (62.5%) only one lesser palatine foramen was found and about 30% of the skulls had two lesser palatine foramina and 7.5% of skulls had 3 lesser palatine foramina. These data will be helpful in comparing these skulls to those from various regions as well as comparing the skulls of different races.


This study is being conducted in the interest of discovering changes that can be made in transportation and workforce policy to promote economic development. These changes will revolve around the amalgamation of place-based and people-based strategies with an emphasis on investment in people. The people-based strategies will relate to transportation policy, while place-based strategies will pertain to workforce policy. The following research questions will be answered: What people-based policy changes need to occur through collaborative efforts to foster environments in urban areas that synthesize upward mobility through workforce development? What are the advantages of place-based and people-based strategies? How can transportation policy like Job Access and Reverse Commute grant programs, a people-based strategy, be changed to produce greater outcomes? What lessons can be learned from products of workforce development policy such as one-stop centers, a place-based strategy, in terms of performance? To answer these questions, the investigation uses case studies of Job Access and Reverse Commute grant and one-stop center programs, with the intent of deriving a framework for interagency coordination strategies. addition, one-stop centers within the same three regions were examined for potential connections. A comparative analysis of all the case studies will be performed focusing on six major components in order to propose a policy framework that includes federal influence, governance structure, mechanism to connecting with the marker, feedback mechanisms, incremental career step provisions, and accountability systems.


Using the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea area as a case study, we showed how stock-assessments and trophic models can be useful and complementary tools to quantify the fishing impacts on the whole food web and to draw related diagnoses at the scale of marine ecosystems. First, an integrated synthesis of the status and trends in fish stocks, derived from ICES assessments, was consolidated at the ecosystem level. Then, using the well-known Ecopath and Ecosim and the more recently developed EcoTroph approach, we built advice-oriented ecosystem models structured around the stocks assessed by ICES. We especially analysed trends over the last three decades and investigated the potential ecosystem effects of the recent decrease observed in the overall fishing pressure. The Celtic/Biscay ecosystem appeared heavily fished during the 1980–2015 period. Some stocks would have started to recover recently, but changes in species composition seem to lead to more rapid and less efficient transfers within the food web. This could explain why the biomass of intermediate and high trophic levels increased at lower rates than anticipated from the decrease in the fishing pressure. We conclude that, in the frame of the Ecosystem approach to fisheries management, trophic models are key tools to expand stock assessment results at the scale of the whole ecosystem, and to reveal changes occurring in the global parameters of the trophic functioning of ecosystems.


Projections of future climate change partly depend on the assumptions made for future emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). These emissions are typically represented through an emis- sions scenario that posits a particular trajectory of development for the global society over the time of the projection. Since GHG emissions have a substantial impact on climate change, a relevant issue is what theories provide a good framework for addressing the drivers of GHG. We address 2 key research questions in this context: (1) Are carbon emissions attributable to structural change? If so, is it necessary to focus on the trajectories of carbon intensity or also on total emissions? (2) Does the development path of developing countries follow that of industrialized nations (convergence hypo- thesis) or is it suppressed in some areas and augmented in others due to world hierarchy and hetero- geneity? Two development theories that have been applied to understand the drivers of GHG emis- sions are the modernization theory (MT) and the world economy theory (WET). In this paper, we use a statistical cluster analysis of economic data at the country level to test these theories and explore the convergence hypothesis with respect to GDP and GHG emissions. Results show no evidence of con- vergence among countries' welfare and emissions in the near term as a consequence of the MT. These results suggest that caution should be exercised in using the MT as basis for developing future emissions scenarios and that more attention should be paid to the WET.


A lecture presented at the Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston University, as part of the FLOW Conference 2011.

The lecture is part of a larger mixed media project 'Like Vessels' (2011 – ongoing) exploring ideas around abstraction and interiority, and taking the architecture of Bologna as a starting and reference point.

Abstract:

An interior/exterior duality is implicit in any discussion of Giorgio Morandi's work. On the one hand, a collection of domestic objects was the artist's primary source of subject-matter for most of his career, during which time he worked, from 1910 to 1964, in an apartment on Bologna's Via Fondazza, in a small studio bedroom facing onto a rear courtyard. Morandi's images of bottles, vases and containers, however, were architectonic 'constructions' as much as still-life studies – their umber volumes and tower-like forms suffused with the atmosphere of the city. But Morandi's work has never been discussed, in English, with specific and detailed reference to the architectural feature so unique to Bologna: the 37 km matrix of colonnaded streets, or portici, that likewise participate in a very particular and striking dialogue between interior space and exterior urban fabric. In disrupting the usual division of private and public, the portici set up a quasi-theatrical space between, reconfiguring boundaries and physical proximities. The obscuring of a 'frontal' view of the cityscape ahead also directs a shift in perspective – a sideways pan, through the arches and into the passage that adjoins the far side of the street. And, in functioning as conjunction between one interior space and another, the portici interact with the imaginative experience of the individual traversing the city. The continuous – at times barely perceptible – re-configurations of plastic vocabulary (vault, support, decoration), coupled with the contrasts and modulations of changing light, trace a multivalent and unfolding space in which to project and 'abstract'. This paper will explore some of the interior/exterior relationships in operation in Morandi's work, his home and recently reconstructed studio, and the architectural landscape in which both are contained. The paper will interweave discussion of relevant texts with a descriptive (and visual) account of a visit to the city.


The paper offers a contribution to the understanding of the relations between incentives, satisfaction and performance of employees in social enterprises. It starts by criticizing the general hypotheses of the principal-agent theory and especially that employee satisfaction is determined exclusively by the level of salary received. These criticisms are explained both by looking to the organizational definition of job satisfaction by Locke and by taking a behavioural economics perspective. Job satisfaction is thus assumed to derive from a composed mix of incentives received on the job, equity perceived and employee motivations. It is no longer possible to assume that the wage is the sole (not even the most important) variable influencing worker performance. This claim is especially valid in social enterprises, where worker performance is difficult to monitor and evaluate, while high intrinsic motivations can better explain job satisfaction. The empirical analysis helps to shed light on the determinants of job satisfaction and individual performance. Data was collected on 4,134 employees working in 320 Italian social cooperatives. The paper introduces the methodologies of categorical principal components analysis, factor analysis, and Rasch models to group the items of intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, motivations and fairness. The data was then analysed by means of linear regression where the dependent variables are not only the stated degree of job satisfaction, but also satisfaction with extrinsic and intrinsic aspects of the job. The models come to demonstrate the particular relevance of employee motivations and fairness perceived in explaining job satisfaction and its sub-dimensions. Furthermore, organizational perceptions and the work environment are found to be significant as are individual perceptions and motivations.


ABSTRACT Autophagy plays an important role in the removal of membrane bound organelles during the last stage of erythropoiesis as the enucleate reticulocyte matures into the erythrocyte. Autophagic vesicles are expelled from the reticulocyte as intact, inside-out, phosphatidylserine (PS) decorated vesicles and are subsequently removed during splenic passage. Failure to remove these vesicles causes the elevation in PS exposed red cells in Sickle Cell Disease.


Abstract. This work focuses on the analysis of the use of Twitter by different weather services around the world. During the last few years the availability of mobile phones connected to the Internet has become a global reality. Likewise, the use of different social networks has been popularized and extended with different purposes including social communication. In this context most meteorological weather services have been using some of these social tools in order to improve their services for the general public and specific users. Twitter is a social tool that enables users to post messages (tweets) of up to 280 characters (up to 140 before November 2017), supporting a wide variety of communicative practices. Twitter is an opportunity not only to spread messages without intermediaries, but also interact in real time with users. Here we present a study of different aspects related to the use of Twitter in diverse weather services worldwide and their evolution during the year 2016.


Our interactive, 3D stereo display helps guide clinicians during endovascular procedures, such as intraoperative needle insertion and stent placement relative to the target organs. We describe a new method of guiding endovascular procedures using interactive 3D stereo visualizations. We use as an example the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure. Our goal is to increase the speed and safety of endovascular procedures by providing the interventionalist with 3D information as the operation proceeds. Our goal is to provide 3D image guidance of the TIPS procedure so that the interventionalist can readily adjust the needle position and trajectory to reach the target on the first pass. We propose a 3D stereo display of the interventionalist's needle and target vessels. We also add interactivity via head tracking so that the interventionalist gains a better 3D sense of the relationship between the target vessels and the needle during needle advancement.


Using 200 paired responses from managers/supervisors, and their subordinates working in three big organizations in Nigeria, this study validated the factor structure for servant leadership and combined the motivational and behavioral approaches in the servant leadership model to enhance the predictive power of servant leadership. Cross sectional survey design was used to acquire data. Principal component factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis both confirmed that 7-factor structure was adequate for servant leadership behavior. Hierarchical regression analysis justified the combination of the motivational and behavioral approaches, since more variance in leader-member exchange was explained, compared to when only one approach was used in a model. The implications of this study are: to be effective, high motivation-to-serve is associated with low motivation-to-lead. However, in an environment of low motivation-to-serve, the secondary motive, motivation-to-lead, did not improve the prediction of leader-member exchange. Servant leadership was found to be a universal construct and not limited to any culture.


This paper presents an inversion methodology where acoustic observations of infrasound waves are used to update an atmospheric model. This paper sought a flexible parameterization that permits to incorporate physical and numerical constraints without the need to reformulate the inversion. On the other hand, the optimization conveys an explicit search over the solution space, making the solver computationally expensive. Nevertheless, through a parallel implementation and the use of tight constraints, this study demonstrates that the methodology is computationally tractable. Constraints to the solution space are derived from the spread (variance) of ERA5 ensemble reanalysis members, which summarize the best current knowledge of the atmosphere from assimilated measurements and physical models. Similarly, the initial model temperature and winds for the inversion are chosen to be the average of these parameters in the ensemble members. The performance of the inversion is demonstrated with the application to infrasound observations from an explosion generated by the destruction of ammunition at Hukkakero, Finland. The acoustic signals are recorded at an array station located at 178 km range, which is within the classical shadow zone distance. The observed returns are assumed to come from stratospheric reflections. Thus, the reflection altitude is also an inverted parameter.


The objective of this study was to develop a qualitative detection method for genetically modified (GM) soybeans using the multiplex PCR technique. Potential applications for using the developed detection method to analyze GM material in soya and its products were also evaluated. Four primers for the detection of transferred genes in Roundup Ready soybean artificially synthesized for this study included 35sP (Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter), nosT (Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline synthase terminator), and 35sP/CTP (Petunia hybrida EPSPS chloroplast transit peptide). In addition, Lec (Lectin) primers were used to detect soybean species specificity. The results showed using either 35sP or 35sP/CTP as a primer obtained a detection limit of 0.01% (w/w) and using either primer nosT or multiplex PCR with 35sP/CTP obtained a detection limit of 0.1% (w/w). Furthermore, the transferred genes in Roundup Ready soybeans were confirmed through the isolation and sequencing of their genes. By using the multiplex PCR method developed in this study, we detected GM soybean material in 14 of the 21 soybean products obtained from the open market for this study. In addition, samples with 20%, 10%, 5% and 1% GM-soya and 5% GM-soya standard were quantitatively analyzed with SYBR Green I, with an R 2 of 0.9683 when regression analysis was applied. Our results showed that, in addition to readily detecting GM soybean material, the multiplex PCR method reduced detection time and costs. The multiplex PCR method proposed in this paper may offer a useful tool to detect and monitor GM foods.


Most modern studies of Athenian religion have focused on festivals, cult practices, and individual deities. Jon Mikalson turns instead to the religious beliefs citizens of Athens spoke of and acted upon in everyday life. He uses evidence only from reliable, mostly contemporary sources such as the orators Lysias and Demosthenes, the historian Xenophon, and state decrees, sacred laws, religious dedications, and epitaphs. "This is in no sense a general history of Athenian religion," Mikalson writes, "even within the narrow historical boundaries set. It is rather an investigation of what might be termed the consensus of popular religious belief, a consensus consisting of those beliefs which an Athenian citizen thought he could express publicly and for which he expected fo find general acceptance among his peers." What emerges in Mikalson's study is a remarkable homogeneity of religious beliefs at the popular level. The topics discussed at length in Athenian Popular Religion include the areas of divine intervention in human life, the gods and human justice, gods and oaths, divination, death and the afterlife, the nature of the gods, social aspects of popular religion, and piety and impiety. Mikalson challenges the common opinion that popular religious belief in Athens deteriorated significantly from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth century B.C. "The error in understanding the development of Athenian religion has arisen, it seems to me, because scholars have failed to distinguish properly between the differing natures of the sources for our knowledge of religious beliefs in the earlier and later periods," Mikalson writes. The difference between those sources "is more than simply one of years. It is a difference between poetry and prose, with all the factors which that difference implies."


The colonial translation of the "nation-state logic" to Southeast Asia is commonly understood to have superseded what O.W. Wolters called the pre-colonial mandala model, in which power was exerted by a sort of central "sun king" whose gravitational pull weakened with distance and was overlapped by other spheres of power in a complex system of tributary relationships. The historian David Biggs has argued that, in accepting the undeniable importance of national sovereignty in contemporary political analyses of Southeast Asia, there has been too definitive a break with pre-existing understandings of power relations, which may prove useful to explaining the particularities of politics today. In political science, the translation of nationalism and sovereignty to Southeast Asia is reflected in an entrenched "methodological nationalism," whereby the nation-state is frequently taken for granted as the central unit of analysis. Paying attention to the "margins" of society still implicitly assumes a national centre, for example. Historians of Vietnam, including Keith Taylor and Li Tana, have made significant advances in loosening the "stranglehold" of nationalist historiography. Anthropologists and geographers of cosmopolitanism and migration have also long questioned the analytical usefulness of bordered nation-states. Building on these insights, the article calls for a paradigm shift in political enquiry and playfully proposes the "post-modern mandala" as an alternative to methodological nationalism applied to Southeast Asia.


Bolivia is a country with a reputation, writes James Dunkerley. Not so long ago it was for Che Guevara, for whose death its citizens are on occasions held to be collectively responsible. More recently it has been for cocaine. But in general it is for political disorder. "Rebellion in the Veins"demonstrates that behind the succession of coups lies an exceptional and coherent record of political struggle. The country s location at the heart of Latin America has not, however, guaranteed it the attention it deserves. Dunkerley here redresses the balance in a masterly survey of Bolivian society since the early 1950s. The revolution of 1952 was, with the Cuban revolution, the most radical attempt in the western hemisphere since the Second World War to break the cycle of capitalist underdevelopment. It was channeled into a more familiar pattern of repression and dictatorship only after bitter struggles, and Dunkerley analyses the pressures that compromised it, providing lucid accounts of the country s economy, political history and class structure, as well as its relations with the United States. The succession of military dictatorships from 1964 to 1982 are described, but this period was by no means one of unrelieved quietude. There was an extraordinarily vital popular resistance, and the unusual sophistication of working-class politics forms a stirring narrative. The tragic death of Che, after a doomed rural guerrilla campaign in eastern Bolivia, had a profound effect on the country s politics. The fate of his imitators, and the eventual resurgence of more classical forms of mass struggle, has provided valuable lessons for what Dunkerley predicts will be a second Bolivian revolution. The story is carried through to the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1982, presided over by Hernan Siles Zuazo, who first came to power in the revolution thirty years earlier."


Methodological issues arising from the estimation of tariff equivalents of barriers to services trade are very relevant for policy. These equivalents are used extensively to compute welfare gains and resource reallocations associated with partial liberalization of the sector; any measurement errors will strongly affect the estimated gains. Using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database, we rely on socalled quantity based methods to derive tariff equivalents from a gravity equation estimated at sectoral level for 9 services sectors and 65 countries. We also estimate trade equations for services using cross section data, and improve on the methodology of Park (2002). We investigate whether relying on cross section rather than panel data leads to differences in the estimated equivalents. Finally, we compare the estimations based on reconstructed and actual data. We conclude that although use of partially reconstructed data (such as GTAP) affects the results, the equivalents obtained are good representations of the magnitude of protection for services in the various countries analyzed, although with larger deviations for developing economies.


Ginseng Radix, the dried root of Panax ginseng, is easily confused with other herbs of the Panax species by appearance. In Chinese medicine preparations, it is difficult to identify misuse of Ginseng Radix. In this study, the nested PCR and DNA sequencing methods were established for the identification of Ginseng Radix, whereas the combination of nested PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) could differentiate Ginseng Radix from other Panax species and thus certify the use of impure raw material of Ginseng Radix in Chinese medicine preparations. Nested PCR and DNA sequencing methods were applied to verify ginseng ingredients in the preparations. Of the 58 samples analyzed, 48 samples contained P. ginseng, 8 P. quinguefolius, and 2 P. notoginseng. Utilizing restriction enzyme BstYI and DdeI, nested PCR products of the samples were digested for restriction fragment lengths of polymorphism (RFLP). It was proven that 23 of the 58 samples contained a mixture of Ginseng Radix and Panacis quinquefolii Radix. Twenty-five samples contained pure raw material of Ginseng Radix. Ginseng components of 10 samples were confirmed using a substitute of P. quinguefolius or P. notoginseng. The RFLP results were consistent with those of the sequencing method results.


At the request of the Washington State Department of Highways a study was conducted to evaluate three computer models specifically designed to predict carbon monoxide (CO) concentration at receptor points along roadways. The models were evaluated on their ability to predict values obtained from a monitoring network established along various roadways in the State of Washington. Monitoring consisted of 12 ground level CO stations, 2 meteorological stations and traffic counters. Traffic speeds were sampled for conformity during peak hours. The final selected models, CALINE II and EPA's HIWAY, were given calibration factors to be used when calculating Receptor Concentrations for Impact Assessments.