A single case of accidental fatal poisoning by Dieffenbachia picta, (dumb cane) (Araceae) in a 9-y-old female Poodle is described. Clinical signs included severe, locally extensive erosive/ulcerative glossitis accompanied by marked dyspnea of acute onset. The animal did not respond to emergency procedures to relieve severe respiratory distress; fatal asphyxiation ensued from edema of the glottis a few hours after the first clinical signs were observed. According to the owner, the dog had access to a tall, potted dumb cane plant and chewed the thick stem of the plant intensely. The owner did not authorize a necropsy of the animal. The diagnosis of Dieffenbachia picta poisoning was based on the history of accidental consumption of dumb cane and clinical signs. A comparison of this single case with other reports of dumb cane poisoning suggests that dogs poisoned by Dieffenbachia species usually recover uneventfully with conservative management and that death from asphyxiation is a rare but possible consequence of this intoxication. Severe edematous swelling of the glottis with occlusion of the larynx airway passage can occur in those cases in which large amounts of sap are quickly squeezed from the plant during intense chewing. Death would occur if owners do not seek veterinary care immediately and if emergency procedures are not instituted on time.


The four narratives which make up this posthumous collection draw upon William Styron's experiences in the US Marine Corps, and give us an insight into the early life of one of America's greatest modern writers. William Styron earned a commission as second lieutenant in the U.S Marine Corps in 1945, shortly after his twentieth birthday. He was scheduled to participate in the assault on mainland Japan, most likely as the leader of a mortar platoon, but in early August the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war. Before he was discharged Styron served a six-week stint as an officer at the military prison on Harts Island in Long Island Sound. In December 1945 he was mustered out of the Marine Corps, and lived with his father and stepmother at their home in Newport News, Virginia, before completing his bachelor degree at Duke University and embarking on his first novel, "Lie Down in Darkness". Early in 1951, as he was composing the last two chapters of his manuscript, Styron was recalled into the Marine Corps for service in Korea. The stories of "The Suicide Run" are set in the gruelling camps and sweltering training fields that marked the limbo point between civilian life and the horrors of war. Fictional yet autobiographical, the narratives of this collection focus on young men who, broiling in the claustrophobia of military life, always conscious of the imminence of action, try to maintain their sanity in the wake of their abrupt removalfrom normal life. In "The Suicide Run", two young men at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina embark on suicidal 36 hour leave periods - crossing the 500 miles to New York and back at breakneck speed for a few hours with their mistresses and a reprieve from the 'sexual famine' of army life. In "Blankenship" a young idealist and deserter at a military prison hits a nerve in a model officer, with disastrous consequences for both, and in "My Father's House", the young protagonist returns home from war to be met by the cold war of his stepmother's disapproval, and be haunted by all the battles he almost fought...Imbued with a sense of frustration and looming fear, keenly rendered in Styron's pithy and acutely observational prose, this collection is a fascinating insight into military life and the 'mysterious community of men' that comprises the US Marine Corps, and a posthumous glimpse into the mind of a mighty writer.


This thesis investigates the three-dimensional kinematics at the ankle joint complex in rheumatoid arthritis. Previous studies have identified the rearfoot as a common site for inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis resulting in painful and disabling deformity for which there are no proven interventions.

A generic electromagnetic tracking system was developed to undertake three-dimensional kinematics at the ankle joint complex in the bare and shod foot during gait. A joint simulator was designed, manufactured and commissioned in house to test the accuracy of the system. The results indicated errors of less than 1° in rotation and 1 mm in position measurements. Clinical testing of the measurement system was undertaken in both normal healthy adults and rheumatoid arthritis subjects. The technique was able to measure the characteristic three-dimensional kinematics for the ankle joint complex in the normal subjects and detected accurately abnormal angular rotations in the rheumatoid arthritis group. In both cohorts the within day repeatability of the measurements were good, and over a longer period data were stable in the rheumatoid
arthritis group allowing the technique to be used in longitudinal studies. Finally, skin movement artefact where the electromagnetic sensor is attached on the heel was investigated using a magnetic resonance imaging technique and found to be less than 1° across the range of motion
for the joint complex.

Kinematic measurements were undertaken in two cohorts of rheumatoid arthritis subjects randomised to receive or not custom manufactured foot orthoses to correct early valgus heel deformity. The orthoses were constructed in rigid carbon graphite and modified to offer the correct degree of movement control for each patient. Kinematic data were compared between the rheumatoid arthritis groups and that measured from an age- and sex-matched healthy adult
population. In both rheumatoid arthritis groups abnormal kinematics were easily detected with significant alteration of inversion/eversion and internal/external rotation. With foot orthoses the inversion/eversion angular rotations were almost fully restored to normal, but little effect was
observed for internal/external rotation.

The rheumatoid arthritis patients underwent repeat kinematic measurement over a period of 30-months. In the control group the angular rotations improved slightly from baseline, although in comparison with normal healthy population remained abnormal. In the intervention group the
orthotic control of inversion/eversion was sustainable for 30 months. Furthermore, coupling between inversion/eversion and internal/external rotation was partially restored towards the end of the study. In barefoot walking the intervention group demonstrated a substantial correction of
the deformity in the frontal plane. It was attempted to explain the results in terms of soft-tissue laxity and adaptation following correction of joint deformity. Three-dimensional kinematic measurements were also conducted at the knee and calcaneotalonavicular joint complex.
Abnormal rotations and orthotic response were demonstrable at these joints but with less satisfactory results because of technical limitations of the measurement technique.

Plantar pressure distribution was also studied using an in-shoe measurement technique. Custom designed orthoses were found to alter the pressure and force distribution at the interface with the foot. The largest effects were observed at the heel and midfoot regions and these were sustainable
and significantly different from the non-intervention control group.

The clinical effectiveness of the foot orthoses was also evaluated. A pragmatic randomised controlled trial was undertaken and serial measurements of foot pain and disability, using the Foot Function Index conducted at baseline and 3,6 12,18,24 and 30-months. The results
revealed an immediate and significant reduction in foot pain and disability with foot orthoses. Minor adverse reactions were reported but overall comfort levels and compliance were high. The overall reduction in foot pain and disability was sustained up to 30 months.


Abstract Volcanic rocks are widespread in middle Silurian to Lower Devonian rocks of the Lachlan Orogen in southeastern Australia. In the Yass–Canberra region, the Silurian succession consists of two S-type dominantly ignimbrite suites with the lower Hawkins/Goobarragandra and upper Laidlaw volcanics separated and overlain by clastic-carbonate intervals, and unconformably overlain by Lower Devonian silicic volcanic rocks. In the Talmo area, 30 km west of Yass, the Goobarragandra Volcanics are overlain by a clastic-carbonate succession of the Talmo Formation, which has a partly faulted boundary with the Lower Devonian Mountain Creek Volcanics containing rheomorphic welded ignimbrites. The contact of the Mountain Creek Volcanics and the Talmo Formation coincides with the margin of a prominent ovoid gravity low. Dip patterns in the Talmo Formation indicate two orientation domains divided by a northwest-trending faulted boundary. The domain to the southwest consists of gently northeast-dipping interbedded limestone and mudstone whereas the domain to the northeast has steep to moderate dips to the south and southeast with interbedded limestone and mudstone overlain by massive mudstone and quartz-rich turbidites. These contrasting domains are interpreted as a result of subsurface differential downsag, possibly a caldera, accommodated by downwarping in the adjacent Talmo Formation and accompanied by movements across a northwest-trending fault and potential ring faults.


This paper investigates the certified organic handler sector, a specialized component of the middle part of the farm-to-table marketing chain, and documents the impacts of firm agglomeration (or firm clusters) on firm-level performance or firm-level decisions. After accounting for endogeneity in firm clustering, our findings confirm that firm clusters have significant impacts, though the estimate of the impact depends on how a firm cluster is defined. For example, significant impacts on sales per employee range from an additional $0.17 million to $1.47 million, depending on whether a small or large number of firms is used as the minimum number to define a firm cluster.


This book considers the motivation behind why people pierce, tattoo, cosmetically enhance, or otherwise modify their body, from a psychoanalytic perspective. It discusses how the therapist can understand and help individuals for whom the manipulation of the body is felt to be psychically necessary, regardless of whether the process of modification causes pain. In this book, psychoanalyst Alessandra Lemma draws on her work in the consulting room, as well as films, fiction, art and clinical research, to suggest that the motivation for extensively modifying the surface of the body, and being excessively preoccupied with its appearance, comes from the person's internal world - under their skin. Topics covered include: (1) body image disturbance; (2) appearance anxiety; (3) body dysmorphic disorder; and (4) the psychological function of cosmetic surgery, tattooing, piercing and scarification. This book provides a detailed study of the challenges posed by our embodied nature through an exploration of the unconscious phantasies that underlie the need for body modification, making it essential reading for all clinicians working with those who are preoccupied with their appearance and modify their bodies including psychotherapists, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists.


Circulating immune complexes (CICs) isolated from sera of patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) consist of undergalactosylated, mostly polymeric, and J chain-containing IgA1 and IgG antibodies specific for N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) residues in O-linked glycans of the hinge region of IgA1 heavy chains. Antibodies with such specificity occur in sera of IgAN patients, and in smaller quantities in patients with non-IgA proliferative glomerulonephritis and in healthy controls; they are present mainly in the IgG (predominantly IgG2 subclass), and less frequently in the IgA1 isotype. Their specificity for GalNAc was determined by reactivity with IgA1 myeloma proteins with enzymatically removed N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuNAc) and galactose (Gal); removal of the O-linked glycans of IgA1 resulted in significantly decreased reactivity. Furthermore, IgA2 proteins that lack the hinge region with O-linked glycans but are otherwise structurally similar to IgA1 did not react with IgG or IgA1 antibodies. The re-formation of isolated and acid-dissociated CICs was inhibited more effectively by IgA1 lacking NeuNAc and Gal than by intact IgA1. Immobilized GalNAc and asialo-ovine submaxillary mucin (rich in O-linked glycans) were also effective inhibitors. Our results suggest that the deficiency of Gal in the hinge region of IgA1 molecules results in the generation of antigenic determinants containing GalNAc residues that are recognized by naturally occurring IgG and IgA1 antibodies.


Introduction After working on the Red Beds (Chugwater formation) of western Wyoming for four summers, the writer is convinced that some recent investigators are assigning their origin too largely to subaerial forces. He has found proof of such origin in one member about 60 feet in thickness, evidence of aeolian origin in another member of about the same thickness, and abundant indications of subaqueous origin for all of the rest. The writer's investigations were made during the summers of 1904 and 1905, when he worked on the Red Beds from about 20 miles south to about 35 miles northwest of Lander and examined the exposures about 15 miles north of Rawlins, and in the summers of 1911 and 1913, when the studies were continued from about 25 miles south of Lander to near Dubois, a distance of about 100 miles; but the investigations on the Red Beds were incidental to . . .


User errors cause or contribute to most computer security failures, yet user interfaces for security still tend to be clumsy, confusing, or near-nonexistent. Is this simply due to a failure to apply standard user interface design techniques to security? We argue that, on the contrary, effective security requires a different usability standard, and that it will not be achieved through the user interface design techniques appropriate to other types of consumer software.

To test this hypothesis, we performed a case study of a security program which does have a good user interface by general standards: PGP 5.0. Our case study used a cognitive walkthrough analysis together with a laboratory user test to evaluate whether PGP 5.0 can be successfully used by cryptography novices to achieve effective electronic mail security. The analysis found a number of user interface design flaws that may contribute to security failures, and the user test demonstrated that when our test participants were given 90 minutes in which to sign and encrypt a message using PGP 5.0, the majority of them were unable to do so successfully.

We conclude that PGP 5.0 is not usable enough to provide effective security for most computer users, despite its attractive graphical user interface, supporting our hypothesis that user interface design for effective security remains an open problem.

We close with a brief description of our continuing work on the development and application of user interface design principles and techniques for security.


This study compares chloride concentrations and a series of corrosiveness indexes to determine whether trends in statewide databases appropriately detect local conditions. Chloride concentrations in local, urban streams generally persist at higher levels than what is typical of natural waters. Data collected for statewide water quality assessments are often at a broader geographical scale. Results and subsequent policies may indicate little to no environmental concern, meanwhile degradation at the local scale remains relatively undetected. Pulses of local snowmelt runoff may violate water quality criteria, but longterm trends measured at the statewide scale are in decline. Results highlight the need for data at varying scales when assessing freshwater salinization and subsequent effects in urban watersheds.


In this article in-depth analysis and processing of dictionaries' corpora is presented, based on e-collections of them. Moreover special interest is given to the development of means and tools for the coupling of lexica to (speech or textual) linguistic corpora. The relative results are (a) the construction of solutions for language processing based on lexicons' prior information and infrastructure, as well as (b) the development of adequate models for fitting and representation of real, lexical or language, data. Applications of language processing relative to (a) metric measurements (b) distributions and (c) spectra are given. Analytical models, developed in order to fit real measurements in lexica, are constructed, with expansion to language processing. As an instance, the e-corpus of the Medieval Greek Language regarding the period 1100AD-1669AD [expanding from Middle Byzantine era to Late Byzantine period and then to Post-Byzantine years], based on the renowned dictionary of Prof.Kriaras, has been constructed. Elements and results of the aforementioned language processing are given. This kind of processing is performed for the first time regarding the Greek language.


Dr JOHN W TODD (Farnham, Surrey GU9 8DR) writes: In his leading article on Reiter's disease (2 January, p 3) Dr P Fisk comments, "Reiter's disease may present diagnostic difficulties that need careful untangling." He nevertheless implies that if a physician is knowledgeable enough and thorough enough he can conclude that a patient is or is not affected by Reiter's disease. Certainly, if it is laid down that to diagnose Reiter's disease a number of specified criteria must be present one can easily decide whether a patient has this disease . . . The question therefore arises: which criteria are needed to make the diagnosis ... and what is the point of all this hair splitting ? We are often told that there are over 200 -or is it 300 ?-distinct rheumatic conditions. . . . I have long believed that, rather than indulging in endless diagnostic hair splitting, we should view the rheumatic conditionstogether as multisystem disorders affecting the joints, mucous membranes, connective tissues, and internal organs. We can still use such terms as Reiter's disease . . . provided that we rid ourselves of the idea that they have some precise meaning and are-in Sir George Pickering's words-"a unique and specific fault with a unique and specific cause."


United Nations' parties reaffirmed in the 21st Session of Climate Change Conference held in Paris the need to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2 degree Celsius (2015). Recent work by the UNEP shows that significant potential energy efficiency aimed at reducing CO2e emissions is in the built environment. Therefore, retrofitting the existing stock is very important because there is a significant part of Qatar's national energy consumption found in its residential buildings. A detailed analysis of energy consumptions in Qatari villas is yet to be carried out. However, initial studies carried out by Darwish indicate that up to 70% of residential energy consumption goes in air conditioning. The Colliers Company has made a study in the residential market and found that villas in Qatar account for 24% of the existing house stock. This study is important for the State of Qatar, as it would likely highlight the potential opportunity to increase the efficiency of current villas. This will assist Qatar's villas in becoming more sustainable and environmentally friendly. This paper looks at retrofitting of villas and how we can encourage energy conservation and possible strategies that can be applied. When refurbishing a Qatari villa, there are a number of initiatives that need assessment to determine which can give the biggest reduction of CO2/m2 level per cost of capital investment (CO2/m2/$). ● Energy conservation: ○ Controls; ○ Update HVAC; ○ Import heat gain (building envelope and ventilation). ● De-carbonizing the energy: ○ Applying renewable energy source (PV, thermal, and ground source heat pump); ○ On/off site storage or feeding back the power of renewable energy to the grid. We will use IES software to develop an energy model for a Qatari villa and run the simulations to assess the coast of each CO2e/m2 cap investment. Anticipated comparisons of the findings with the present UK initiatives, and providing the necessary steps to retrofit would be useful.


The objective of this study is to develop a mandatory disclosure index (MDI) of financial statements for local government in Malaysia.The method for developing the MDI is based on the legal and regulatory requirements and related literature.This study adopted the procedure suggested by Gore (2002), Hooks et al.(2003) and Coy and Dixon (2004) in developing the index. The MDI is a simple index using a list of items that has been identified.This study presents 63 items considered as mandatory disclosure requirements based on three main sources consisting of law which includes the Local Government Act (1976), the Statutory Bodies (1980) and Audit Act (1957); rules and guidelines outlined in TC No. 15/1994; and Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB). The study is limited by the incomplete financial statements supplied which caused it to be removed from the sample.Further study could be done regarding the measurement of financial statements quality based on the method of disclosure index, the assessment on the level of quality of financial statements, the determination of the quality of published financial statements and factors that influence the quality of local governments' financial statements in Malaysia.


Abstract The paper contends that bicameral systems, irrespective of their differences in composition and powers, are unfit to represent territorial interests in the national decisionmaking process, except in some residual cases. What subnational entities seek is participation rather than representation. This is why alternative, executive-based institutions in which also the national government is present are mushrooming and second chambers are ineffective as territorial bodies. Furthermore, there is a clear trend to move from bicameralism to bilateralism, meaning that instead of taking advantage of ineffective multilateral institutions, strong subnational units try to channel their claims through bilateral instruments. Overall, the unresolved dilemma of subnational representation has little to do with the architecture of second chambers and rather lays in the tension between individual and collective representation.


Freeze-dried black raspberries (BRB), their component anthocyanins (AC), and a metabolite of BRB ACs, protocatechuic acid (PCA), inhibit the development of esophageal cancer in rats induced by the carcinogen, N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA). All three components reduce inflammation in the esophagus and in plasma. The present study determined the relation of changes in inflammatory markers to infiltration of innate immune cells into NMBA-treated esophagus. Rats were injected with NMBA (0.35 mg/kg) for 5 weeks while on control diet. Following NMBA treatment, rats were fed diets containing 6.1% BRB powder, an AC-rich fraction of BRBs (3.8 mmol/g), or 500 ppm PCA. At weeks 15, 25, and 35, inflammatory biomarker expression in the plasma and esophagus was quantified, and infiltration of immune cells in the esophagus was examined. At all three time points, BRB, AC, and PCA similarly affected cytokine production in the esophagus and plasma of NMBA-treated rats, relative to the NMBA-only control. These included decreased expression of the proinflammatory cytokine IL1b and increased expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10. Moreover, all three diets also increased the expression of IL12, a cytokine that activates both cytolytic natural killer and CD8þ T cells. In addition, the three diets also decreased infiltration of both macrophages and neutrophils into the esophagus. Overall, our results suggest that another mechanism by which BRBs, ACs, and PCA inhibit NMBA-induced esophageal tumorigenesis is by altering cytokine expression and innate immune cell trafficking into tumor tissues. Cancer Immunol Res; 4(1); 72–82. 2015 AACR.


A rigid-plastic Cosserat model for slow frictional flow of granular materials, proposed by us in an earlier paper, has been used to analyse plane and cylindrical Couette flow. In this model, the hydrodynamic fields of a classical continuum are supplemented by the couple stress and the intrinsic angular velocity fields. The balance of angular momentum, which is satisfied implicitly in a classical continuum, must be enforced in a Cosserat continuum. As a result, the stress tensor could be asymmetric, and the angular velocity of a material point may differ from half the local vorticity. An important consequence of treating the granular medium as a Cosserat continuum is that it incorporates a material length scale in the model, which is absent in frictional models based on a classical continuum. Further, the Cosserat model allows determination of the velocity fields uniquely in viscometric flows, in contrast to classical frictional models. Experiments on viscometric flows of dense, slowly deforming granular materials indicate that shear is confined to a narrow region, usually a few grain diameters thick, while the remaining material is largely undeformed. This feature is captured by the present model, and the velocity profile predicted for cylindrical Couette flow is in good agreement with reported data. When the walls of the Couette cell are smoother than the granular material, the model predicts that the shear layer thickness is independent of the Couette gap H when the latter is large compared to the grain diameter dp. When the walls are of the same roughness as the granular material, the model predicts that the shear layer thickness varies as (H/dp)1/3 (in the limit H/dp [Gt ] 1) for plane shear under gravity and cylindrical Couette flow.


There has been much controversy regarding the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy, in the past decade. Evidence from clinical trials challenged previously accepted recommendations for HRT in menopausal women, especially with regard to aspects of safety and disease prevention. This led to much confusion for clinicians, as well as patients, with many symptomatic menopausal women unnecessarily being denied HRT. Different reviews of published clinical data have necessitated that menopausal societies around the world reach a global consensus on the core recommendations regarding HRT. Consensus has now been reached and a global consensus statement on menopausal hormone therapy was published in 2013 by the International Menopause Society. This article will provide a summary of the key highlights from the consensus statement.


The thesis investigates integrating the use of speech input and manual input devices in human-computer systems. The domain of computer aided design (CAD) is used as a case study.
A methodology for empirical evaluation of CAD systems is presented. The methodology is based on a framework that describes the input/output processes presumed to underlie
performance in design activities, using behaviour protocols and performance indices as data.
For modelling system behaviour, a framework derived from the Blackboard architecture of design is described. The framework employs knowledge sources to represent different
behaviour types recruited during CAD performance. Variability in user behaviour throughout the investigation is explained with reference to the model.
The problems that expert CAD users experience in using manual input devices are first documented in an observational study conducted at their workplace. This demonstrates that the unitary use of manual input resulted in non-optimal behaviour. Possible solutions to these
problems, using speech input for some command and data entry tasks, are explored in three experiments. In each experiment, a comparative analysis of alternative systems is made using data obtained from naive and novice users.
In Experiment 1, the use of speech as a unitary solution to the problems of manual input was also found to result in non-optimal behaviour and performance. The solution explored in Experiment 2 was to allocate some commands and alphanumeric data to each input device, using the frequency of use principle. This approach, however, entailed the additional problem of remembering which device to use. Experiment 3 evaluated the separate allocation of
commands to speech input and numeric plus graphical data to manual input. Additionally, performance aids and feedback facilities were provided to users. This clear-cut assignment of device to task characteristics and the use of such aids led to an enhancement in speech performance, in addition to improving behaviour.
The findings from this research are used to develop guidelines for an integrated CAD system involving speech and manual input. The guidelines, which are intended for use by end users, CAD implementors and system designers, were validated in the workplace by the latter.
Lastly, the thesis contextualises the research within an ergonomics framework, mapping the research development from problem specification to application and synthesis. Problems with the investigation are also discussed, and suggestions made as to how these might be resolved.


Cloud droplet activation of wettable insoluble compounds has been studied theoretically by assuming that droplet growth happens through multilayer adsorption. The idea is to include an adsorption isotherm in K ¨ ohler theory instead of the solute term. This makes it possible to de- scribe the equilibrium growth of insoluble particles and to find out their critical saturation ratios. The critical satura- tion ratios calculated in this way are comparable to those of completely soluble particles at certain ranges of adsorption isotherm parameter values. The results indicate that adsorp- tion could cause wettable insoluble compounds to activate in atmospheric conditions. However, more data on the adsorp- tion parameters for wettable organic substances is needed to confirm this conclusion.


This thesis set out to address a clinical puzzle: after being offered statins, why do many people end up not taking them? This question is relevant to two different enterprises, one aiming to improve public health through individually-targeted preventive interventions, the other aiming to help patients make evidence-based decisions about such interventions. To answer it, I used elements of a grounded theory approach to analyse data generated by interviewing people who had been offered statins. In the resulting account of the way people come to take statins, I situate the cognitive work of decision-making within a web of social practices.
Papers presenting many of my findings are incorporated into the thesis. The first draws on data from couple interviews, identifying ways in which these offer additional analytic purchase compared to individual interviewing. In the next two papers, examining the cognitive aspects of deciding about statins, I explore the way 'need' is constituted in relation to medication taken while feeling well. Participants reify test results, using them to account for medication decisions, but they do not use risk information in this way. This finding constitutes a challenge both to clinicians' assumptions about communicating risk and to theoretical debates framing decision-making in terms of risk and uncertainty. The fourth paper focuses on the complex calibrations through which people negotiate tensions between conflicting norms concerning medication, negotiations complicated in the case of statins by the perception that they are a 'lazy option' chosen instead of a healthy lifestyle. This calibration work is required in order to construct a presentable account of 'doing the right thing'; constructing this account is equated in the fifth and final paper with deciding what to do, a process that is inextricably entangled with other shared everyday practices.
I conclude with two discussion chapters. The first contributes to debates about information, knowledge and expertise. The second relates these debates to the everyday clinical problem with which the thesis began; I explore the implications of my findings for the practice of talking with patients about statins, situating this exploration within the project of reshaping the collection of practices that constitute evidence-based medicine.


This study aimed at assessing the role of performance appraisal in improving performance in Zanzibar public sector. The study employed descriptive and analytical research approach. In addition, questionnaires were employed to get data from the employees in the ministry of States, president's office labor and civil servants. Heads of departments/ units were selected purposely to get their views concerning the problem for whom interview schedule was applied. This study indicated that the current performance appraisal in the ministry of state president's
office labour and public service is ineffective. Both questionnaire and interview data revealed that the ministry has lack of officials and clear system of evaluating
employees and uses only tradition methods of evaluation. Moreover, the study identified lack of performance appraisal policy and feedback provision after evaluation process. It is proposed that a system of performance appraisal in the ministry should be developed to solve the faced challenges This study recommends that the ministry should take the responsibility to prepare performance appraisal policy and strategies to be used in evaluating employees, then the government could complement the whole process; employment of experts who are qualified and able to
evaluate employees in the organization; employees should fill the performance appraisal form, and then request feedback of their self assessment; and employees have to establish solidarity and cooperation among themselves which will help them to establish their own evaluation in their departments, and recommend about their rights in departments their recognition.


In this rigorous and well-crafted work, Kenneth Wolpin examines the role of theory in inferential empirical work in economics and the social sciences in general--that is, any research that uses raw data to go beyond the mere statement of fact or the tabulation of statistics. He considers in particular the limits that eschewing the use of theory places on inference. Wolpin finds that the absence of theory in inferential work that addresses microeconomic issues is pervasive. That theory is unnecessary for inference is exemplified by the expression Olet the data speak for themselves.O This approach is often called Oreduced form.O A more nuanced view is based on the use of experiments or quasi-experiments to draw inferences. Atheoretical approaches stand in contrast to what is known as the structuralist approach, which requires that a researcher specify an explicit model of economic behavior--that is, a theory. Wolpin offers a rigorous examination of both structuralist and nonstructuralist approaches. He first considers ex ante policy evaluation, highlighting the role of theory in the implementation of parametric and nonparametric estimation strategies. He illustrates these strategies with two examples, a wage tax and a school attendance subsidy, and summarizes the results from applications. He then presents a number of examples that illustrate the limits of inference without theory: the effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment duration; the effect of public welfare on womenOs labor market and demographic outcomes; the effect of school attainment on earnings; and a famous field experiment in education dealing with class size. Placing each example within the context of the broader literature, he contrasts them to recent work that relies on theory for inference.


This study examines the skills-differentiated impact of a restrictive female labour migration policy in Sri Lanka using monthly departure data from 2012 to 2018 in a difference-in-difference model. The policy has resulted in decreasing departures among lower-skilled groups?female domestic, unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers?and increasing departures among middle-level and professional workers.


In this paper we explore the iterative design of the Augurscope, a mobile mixed reality device for open-air museum experiences. It allows a 3D virtual environment to be viewed as if overlaid on an outdoor physical environment. While exploring a heritage site, groups of visitors can experience simulated scenes from the past from a dynamic user-controlled viewpoint by moving, rotating, and tilting the device. The development focused on creating an interface to a visualization of a medieval castle as it used to appear in relation to its current, quite different site. We describe the development and application of the Augurscope through two iterative design stages. We discuss the issues revealed through public trials with the first prototype and how they informed the design of the Augurscope 2. The deployment of this second prototype then enables us to offer insights into what makes such a novel presentation device successful in an outdoor museum environment.


Some characteristics of the global function of the finite cellular automaton (FCA) are investigated. First, a necessary and sufficient condition for a function from the configuration set to itself to be realized by means of an FCA is given. Next, using these results, the realizability of cycle and tree type transition structures is discussed. Especially, for the system of binary 3-neighbor FCA, the realizability of the maximal cycle length and the bijectivity of the global function are investigated. For the system of FCA, each passive configuration set is defined. An algorithm to obtain the spectrum of a passive configuration set is also discussed. In addition, some examples on the spectrum for the system of binary 3-neighbor FCA are demonstrated.


Even though Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) was formulated over three decades ago, it poses enormous challenges for describing the properties of hadrons from the underlying quark-gluon degrees of freedom. Moreover, the problem of describing the nuclear force from its quark-gluon origin is still open. While a direct solution of QCD to describe the hadrons and nuclear force is not possible at this time, we explore a variety of developed approaches ranging from phenomenology to first principle calculations at one or other level of approximation in linking the nuclear force to QCD. The Dyson Schwinger formulation (DSE) of coupled integral equations for the QCD Green's functions allows a non-perturbative approach to describe hadronic properties, starting from the level of QCD n-point functions. A significant approximation in this method is the employment of a finite truncation of the system of DSEs, that might distort the physical picture. In this work we explore the effects of including a more complete truncation of the quark-gluon vertex function on the resulting solutions for the quark 2-point functions as well as the pseudoscalar and vector meson masses. The exploration showed strong indications of possibly large contributions from the explicit inclusion of the gluon 3- and 4-point functionsmore » that are omitted in this and previous analyses. We then explore the possibility of extrapolating state of the art lattice QCD calculations of nucleon form factors to the physical regime using phenomenological models of nucleon structure. Finally, we further developed the Quark Meson Coupling model for describing atomic nuclei and nuclear matter, where the quark-gluon structure of nucleons is modeled by the MIT bag model and the nucleon many body interaction is mediated by the exchange of scalar and vector mesons. This approach allows us to formulate a fully relativistic theory, which can be expanded in the nonrelativistic limit to reproduce the well known phenomenological Skyrme-type interaction density functional, thus providing a direct link to well modeled nuclear forces. Moreover, it allows for a derivation of the equation of state for cold uniform dense nuclear matter for application to calculations of the properties of neutron stars.« less


The Coiba howler monkey (Alouatta coibensis coibensis), and the capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus imitator), are both living at Coiba Island, southwestern Panama, Central America. They are considered Vulnerable and Least Concern respectively by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). I carried out population surveys of the two subspecies from May to July 2009 and revisited on May to September 2010. The study covered potential habitats for these primates in the four points of the island. Surveys determined their occurrence and densities in each area. In all, 850 hrs were spent in survey activities. I used two methods: 1) triangulations based on vocal izations; 2) strip-transect censuses. One hundred and nine Coiba howler monkey groups were detected and counted, totaling 472 individuals remaining in the wild with a mean of 4.3 individuals/group (range: 2–5). For the capuchin monkey, 626 individuals in 58 groups with a mean of 10.75 individuals/group (range: 5–16) were detected. Factors related to small group size for howler monkeys on Coiba Island are not known, but could be related to dietary resources throughout the year or seasonally, particularly ripe fruits. For capuchins monkeys, survivorship could be better than for Alouatta due to the wide range diet these monkeys could reach, this include arthropods, coconut and seeds of tea mangrove Pelliciera rhizophora. The primates of Coiba are not exposed directly to hunting activities but their population needs to be monitored and studied in-depth to better understand their dynamics and behavioral adaptations to this island habitat.


When tracking targets in dense environments, sensor reports originating from sources other than the target being tracked (i.e., from clutter, thermal false alarms, other targets) are occasionally incorrectly used in track updating. As a result tracking performance degrades, and the error covariance matrix calculated on-line by the usual types of tracking filters becomes extremely unreliable for estimating actual accuracies. This paper makes three contributions in this area. First, a new tracking filter is developed that incorporates, in an a posteriori statistical fashion, all data available from sensor reports located in the vicinity of the track, and that provides both optimal performance and reliable estimates of this performance when operating in dense environments. The optimality of and the performance equations for this filter are verified by analytical and simulation results. Second, several computationally efficient classes of suboptimal tracking filters based on the optimal filter developed in this paper and on an optimal filter of another class that appeared previously in the literature are developed. Third, using an extensive Monte Carlo simulation, the various optimal and suboptimal filters as well as the Kalman filter are compared, with regard to the differences between the on-line calculated and experimental covariances of each filter, and with regard to relative accuracies, computational requirements, and numbers of divergences or lost tracks each produces.


Introduction Translational education takes up the notion of integrating basic research and practice out of a cross-disciplinary perspective given that disciplinary knowledge will no longer be sufficient to account for the complexity of the encountered problem fields. Persons trained in translational education will thus be able to integrate several disciplinary knowledge domains and translate new developments in basic research to their application. Description of care or policy practice The concept of translational education has become prominent in medical training and it clearly has implications for the training of care givers given the complexity of the diverse problems associated with care. Care and care giving always imply theory and research from different scientific disciplines; there are medical, legal, sociological, and psychological components of care giving, and care giving also increasingly relies on new developments in the domains of technology. In order to keep an integrative view of all these developments and to finally obtain an integrative approach in care, translational education represents an imperative task for training carers in the domains of ageing and disabilities. Conclusion and discussion Caring for a person—be it formal or informal—always has to rely on a sound basis of knowledge in order to prevent failures as well as feelings of stress and strain. Given that the knowledge base for carers becomes increasingly complex as it is fed by several disciplines as well as societal developments, training and education programmes should realise both a translational approach as well as a lifelong learning perspective. Although much is in favour of such an approach, limits of translational education do exist as well and these comprise mainly the production of a common knowledge across multiple domains for the cost of neglecting in-depth understanding of specific knowledge domains.


The Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) is the absolute number of neutrophil derived from the multiplication of the relative number of leukocytes to the total neutrophil count. Neutrophils can be disturbed due to myelosupressive effects of chemotherapy. Fever is a common symptom in neutropenia patients due to chemotherapy. This fever is an emergency requiring rapid handling of Oncology and needs administration of appropriate antibiotics. Therefore, the data on the occurence of neutropenia and its related fever in patients whom accept chemotherapy after breast cancer it is important to be noted. This study is carried on to know the Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) in breast cancer patients with chemotherapy by analyzing them. The study was performed retrospectively by taking medical record data from January up to December 2012 in Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital Makassar. The absolute Neutrophil Count pre and after chemotherapy analysis was done to determine neutropenia, as well as the febrile neutropenia and the correlation between ANC with patients age and stage of breast cancer. A total of 55 samples with the majority of patients (85.45%) were in the age group of 41–60 years old. The ANC after chemotherapy occurred in 50 patients were decreased (90.91%). There are five (5) patients (9.09%) with fever and two (2) persons (patients) (3.63%) suffered febrile neutropenia. The correlation analysis between decreased ANC with patient age and stage of breast cancer are p=0.054 and 0.070 respectively. Based on this study it can be concluded, that decreased ANC occurred in most patients after accepting chemotherapy but only few patients suffered febrile neutropenia. There was no significant correlation between the decreased ANC with patient age and stage of breast cancer.


Sandscapes: Writing the British Seaside reflects on the unique topography of sand, sandscapes, and the seaside in British culture and beyond. This book brings together creative and critical writings that explore the ways sand speaks to us of holidays and respite, but also of time and mortality, of plenitude and eternity. Drawing together writers from a range of backgrounds, the volume explores the environmental, social, personal, cultural, and political significance of sand and the seaside towns that have built up around it. The contributions take a variety of forms including fiction and nonfiction and cover topics ranging from sand dunes to sand mining, from seaside stories to shoreline architecture, from sand grains to global sand movements, from narratives of the setting up of bed and breakfasts to stories of seaside decline. Often a symbol of aridity, sand is revealed in this book to be an astonishingly fertile site for cultural meaning.


Background: The cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT) Xpert MTB/RIF is more sensitive than smear microscopy for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). It is also more expensive, costing 1450 INR as compared to 10 INR per smear. Objectives: We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the impact of CBNAAT results on patient management in our low-resource, high-burden Indian rural setting. Materials and Method: Between February and July 2017, clinicians were asked to complete one questionnaire at the time of CBNAAT request and another when reviewing the result. The first questionnaire, "Form 1," concerned pretest treatment status and asked clinicians to rate their confidence in the diagnosis. "Form 2" concerned postresult treatment and investigation plan. Results: Over the study period, 206 CBNAATs were requested. Form 1 was not completed for 85 patients and 21 were excluded leaving 100 in the main analysis. MTB was detected (MTB-D) in 60 of 100 (60%) of samples tested. At the time of CBNAAT request, 56 of 100 (56%) of patients were already on treatment, this being empirical in 34 of 100 (34%). Despite this, 17 of 60 (28.3%) of MTB-D results occurred in patients not yet started on treatment. Postresult treatment status was available for 94 of 100 CBNAATs (55 MTB-D and 39 MTB-ND). Following an MTB-D result, all 17 patients not on treatment started and all 38 on so already continued. Following an MTB Not Detected (MTB-ND) result, 26 of 27 (96.3%) of patients not yet on treatment remained so, but only 2 of 12 (16.7%) already on treatment stopped. Even where the clinician's pretest confidence in TB was low, 9of 30 (30%) of CBNAAT results were MTB-D. Conclusion: In a low-resource high-burden setting, CBNAAT may have greatest impact where the clinician's pretest confidence in TB is low and empirical treatment has not been started. This is because MTB-D results will lead to appropriate initiation of treatment and MTB-ND results may enable clinicians to hold-off treatment.


The issue of first wall and divertor target lifetime represents one of the greatest challenges facing the successful demonstration of integrated tokamak burning plasma operation, even in the case of the planned next step device, ITER, which will run at a relatively low duty cycle in comparison to future fusion power plants. Material erosion by continuous or transient plasma ion and neutral impact, the susbsequent transport of the released impurities through and by the plasma and their deposition and/or eventual re-erosion constitute the process of migration. Its importance is now recognized by a concerted research effort throughout the international tokamak community, comprising a wide variety of devices with differing plasma configurations, sizes and plasma-facing component material. No single device, however, operates with the first wall material mix currently envisaged for ITER, and all are far from the ITER energy throughput and divertor particle fluxes and fluences. This paper aims to review the basic components of material erosion and migration in tokamaks, illustrating each by way of examples from current research and attempting to place them in the context of the next step device. Plans for testing an ITER-like first wall material mix on the JET tokamak will also be briefly outlined.


In today's hyper-connected world, rich social data feeds can be obtained from various sources, including the data exhaust of many commonly used systems. In this paper, we analyze the social pulse, obtained from viewer activity in an IPTV network—we attempt to validate a framework for determining public opinion and public interest through implicit feedback of IPTV viewers. First, we address the hypothesis that implicit viewer feedback in the form of channel change events, paired with the content metadata, can be used to model viewers' opinion and interest. For this, we design a controlled experiment to collect explicit feedback by rating a set of general-interest news clips. In addition to collecting demographic information, we also survey viewers' opinion, interest, and the probability of channel change during each clip. Furthermore, we extract weighted feature vectors from the closed captions of the video; this data, combined with the reported probability of channel change, is used to build a model that classifies opinion in five categories based on the probability of channel change and content. Next, we build a simplified model that classifies opinion in five categories based on the interest, which shows a linear relationship, but further consideration of content, in this case, provides better accuracy and possibility to analyze anomalous cases. Finally, we discuss and analyze the applications of such models in large systems and the necessary modifications to scale the system and to ensure the adequate performance on massive IPTV event data streams.


Are you tired of squinting at the tiny color-coded tables and difficult-to-read text you find on the typical laminated reference card or cheat sheet that you keep with you when you're in the field or on location? DAVID BUSCH'S COMPACT GUIDE FOR THE CANON T2i/550D is your solution! This new, lay-flat, spiral bound, reference guide condenses all the must-have information you need while shooting into a portable book you'll want to permanently tuck into your camera bag. You'll find every settings option for your Canon T2i/550D listed, along with advice on why you should use--or not use--each adjustment. Useful tables provide recommended settings for a wide variety of shooting situations, including landscapes, portraits, sports, close-ups, and travel. With this guide on hand you have all the information you need at your fingertips so you can confidently use your camera on-the-go. NOW AVAILABLE, David Busch's Canon T2i/550D Camera Companion App for the iPhone and iPad. Buy it from the iTunes store.


Adsorption is one of the important treatment methods for the removal of pollutants from wastewater. The determination of rate controlling step in the process is important in the design of the process. Therefore, in the present work, mass transfer studies were done to evaluate the rate-limiting step in the adsorption of phenol from aqueous solution onto Lantana camara. Different mass transfer models were used to find the rate-limiting step and also to find the values of external mass transfer coefficient and diffusion coefficient. The Biot number was found to investigate the importance of external mass transfer to intraparticle diffusion. From the various models studied and the Biot numbers obtained, it was found that the adsorption on Lantana camara was controlled by film diffusion. The sensitivity analysis was performed to study the significance of the model parameters on the adsorption process.


Compounds which exhibit liquid crystal phases have been widely used in display technology. The majority of display applications utilize the nematic liquid crystal phase, which is a liquid-like phase which has partial orientational order at the molecular level. The nematic phase exhibits birifringence which can be manipulated through the application of an external field. Subsequently, all liquid crystal-based display technology utilizes the application of an external field to "switch" or tune the optical properties of a nematic domain into a desired optical state. In addition to an external field, the geometry and surface interactions of the liquid crystal domain must be precisely controlled in order for the display to operate properly. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) utilize a rectangular domain, or pixel, within which the nematic domain is exposed to surface anchoring conditions that result in a twist of the nematic alignment through the thickness of the domain. In this work, a different type of liquid crystal domain that is elliptic is studied which is formed through "bottom-up" techniques, such as phase separation of a liquid crystal/polymer mixture to form a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) composite. Nematic domains within PDLCs are spheroidal, as opposed to rectangular for a pixel, and thus exhibit substantially different behaviour in the presence of an external field. The fundamental difference between spheroidal and rectangular nematic domains is that the former requires the presence of defects in nematic order while the latter does not. The overall objective of this work is to study, for a simplified elliptic cylinder domain, the formation of the nematic domain, the resulting domain texture in the presence of an external field, and the domain texture following release of the external field. These three states are directly related to applications of PDLC films as optical functional materials, where an external (electric) field is used to manipulate the optical properties of the film. The effects of geometry (aspect ratio), surface anchoring, and external field strength are studied through a simulation-based approach using the Landau-de Gennes theory of the nematic phase.


The information in bug reports influences the speed at which bugs are fixed. However, bug reports differ in their quality of information. We conducted a survey among ECLIPSE developers to determine the information in reports that they widely used and the problems frequently encountered. Our results show that steps to reproduce and stack traces are most sought after by developers, while inaccurate steps to reproduce and incomplete information pose the largest hurdles. Surprisingly, developers are indifferent to bug duplicates. Such insight is useful to design new bug tracking tools that guide reporters at providing more helpful information. We also present a prototype of a quality-meter tool that measures the quality of bug reports by scanning its content.


ABSTRACT This article examines the implications of advanced manufacturing technology, more commonly known as three dimensional (3D) printing, for policing and crime, notably the dissemination of digital design files and the use of 3D printers to produce illicit firearms. The application and rapid evolution of 3D printing technology has created new challenges for law and regulation, and represents an interesting security paradox, albeit one which until now has received scant attention in the criminological or policing literature. On the one hand, 3D printing denotes a significant shift in the creation and use of objects, ranging from food to body parts, and more controversially, weaponry. On the other hand, the use of this technology to create items such as firearms and weapons signifies a potential safety, security, and legal challenge. We explore the emergence of 3D printing and its use to create firearms along with the theoretical challenges to legal design and enforcement presented by this decentralised technology. We also present some empirical data on instances of 3D printed firearms and firearm parts being detected internationally, and some jurisdictions' legal and policy responses. We conclude by considering that any regulation of 3D printed firearms must be based on a robust evidence base and take proper account of citizens' rights, but also that any national regulation will be in tension with the transnational and decentralised nature of the technology.


The topic of preference modeling has recently attracted the interest of a number of sub-disciplines in artificial intelligence such as the nonmonotonic reasoning and action and change communities. The approach in these communities focuses on qualitative preferences and preference models which provide more natural representations from a commonsense perspective. In this paper, we show how generalized circumscription can be used as a highly expressive framework for qualitative preference modeling. Generalized circumscription proposed by Lifschitz allows for predicates (and thus formulas) to be minimized relative to arbitrary pre-orders (reflexive and transitive). Although it has received little attention, we show how it may be used to model and reason about elaborate qualitative preference relations. One of the perceived weaknesses with any type of circumscription is the 2nd-order nature of the representation. The paper shows how a large variety of preference theories represented using generalized circumscription can in fact be reduced to logically equivalent first-order theories in a constructive way. Finally, we also show how preference relations represented using general circumscription can be extended with cardinality constraints and when these extensions can also be reduced to logically equivalent first-order theories.


Genetic Improvement (GI) of software is a recent field that has drawn much attention from Software Engineering researchers. It aims to use search techniques to automatically modify and improve existing software. The drawback in previous GI approaches is scalability of these approaches, due to the large search space formed by the code base in real-world systems. To overcome the scalability challenge, more recent studies have confined the granularity of code modification at the statement level and applied a prior sensitivity analysis to further reduce the search space. However, some software improvements may require code changes at a finer level of granularity. This thesis demonstrates that, by combining with Mutation Testing techniques, GI can operate at this finer granularity while preserving scalability. The thesis applies Mutation Operators to automatically modify the source code of the target software. After a prior sensitivity analysis on First Order Mutants, "deep" (previously unavailable) parameters are exposed from the most sensitive locations, followed by a bi-objective optimisation process to fine tune them together with existing ("shallow") parameters. The objective is to improve both time and memory resources required by the computation. Since this approach relies on the selection of Mutation Operators and traditional Mutation Operators are not concerned with memory performance, the thesis proposes and evaluates Memory Mutation Operators in the Mutation Testing context. Using both traditional and Memory Mutation Operators, the thesis further seeks to improve the target software by searching for Higher Order Mutants (HOMs). The thesis presents the result of a code analysis study, which reveals that, among all the code modifications that contribute to the improvement, more than half of them require a finer control of the code, which our approach is better at than previous GI approaches.


Nanoflow electrospray mass spectrometry was used to monitor the formation of protein heterodimers of HU proteins from Bacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus subtilis. This has enabled us to analyze both thermodynamic and kinetic features associated with the dissociation of homodimeric HU proteins. The results obtained correlate well with the kinetics of the protein dissociation process and the free energy difference between homo‐ and heterodimeric species anticipated from other studies. We suggest that this approach will have general applicability in studying protein association and dissociation under near‐equilibrium conditions and will be relevant to a wide range of biological systems.


Document-grounded goal-oriented dialog system understands users' utterances, and generates proper responses by using information obtained from documents. The Dialdoc21 shared task consists of two subtasks; subtask1, finding text spans associated with users' utterances from documents, and subtask2, generating responses based on information obtained from subtask1. In this paper, we propose two models (i.e., a knowledge span prediction model and a response generation model) for the subtask1 and the subtask2. In the subtask1, dialogue act losses are used with RoBERTa, and title embeddings are added to input representation of RoBERTa. In the subtask2, various special tokens and embeddings are added to input representation of BART's encoder. Then, we propose a method to assign different difficulty scores to leverage curriculum learning. In the subtask1, our span prediction model achieved F1-scores of 74.81 (ranked at top 7) and 73.41 (ranked at top 5) in test-dev phase and test phase, respectively. In the subtask2, our response generation model achieved sacreBLEUs of 37.50 (ranked at top 3) and 41.06 (ranked at top 1) in in test-dev phase and test phase, respectively.


The challenge of generalizing causal knowledge across different environments is pervasive in scientific explorations, including in AI, ML, and Data Science. Experiments are usually performed in one environment (e.g., in a lab, on Earth) with the intent, almost invariably, of being used elsewhere (e.g., outside the lab, on Mars), where the conditions are likely to be different. In the causal inference literature, this generalization task has been formalized under the rubric of transportability (Pearl and Bareinboim, 2011), where a number of criteria and algorithms have been developed for various settings. Despite the generality of such results, transportability theory has been confined to atomic, do()-interventions. In practice, many real-world applications require more complex, stochastic interventions; for instance, in reinforcement learning, agents need to continuously adapt to the changing conditions of an uncertain and unknown environment. In this paper, we extend transportability theory to encompass these more complex types of interventions, which are known as "soft," both relative to the input as well as the target distribution of the analysis. Specifically, we develop a graphical condition that is both necessary and sufficient for deciding soft-transportability. Second, we develop an algorithm to determine whether a non-atomic intervention is computable from a combination of the distributions available across domains. As a corollary, we show that the σ-calculus is complete for the task of soft-transportability.


Much debate exists around the impact that illegal file sharing may have on the creative industries. Similarly, opinions differ regarding whether the producers of artistic works should be forced to accept any weakening of intellectual property rights resulting from illegal file sharing, or if governments should intervene to protect these rights. This chapter seeks to inform these questions by outlining what we do and do not know from existing academic research. We first discuss whether file sharing displaces sales of media goods and then discuss whether such displacement will lead to reduced incentives to produce new creative works. We continue by summarizing recent findings on what businesses can do to compete with piracy and the effectiveness of antipiracy interventions on encouraging consumers to migrate from illegal to legal consumption channels. We conclude by demonstrating that without additional empirical evidence, it will be difficult to determine the socially optimal set of strategies and government copyright policies in the digital era.


An experiment was conducted at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur, Nepal during July 2011 to September 2011 with an objectine to determine phenotypic variability of Nepalese finger millet landraces using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and principal component analysis. F- Value of REML procedure of mixed model analysis revealed that highly significant variation was observed in all studied 17 traits. Grain yield per plant was positive and highly significant correlated with grain yield per ear (0.769**) followed by plant height (0.529**), productive tillers number (0.473**), days to maturity (0.471**), days to heading (0.460**), days to flowering (0.457**), straw yield per plant (0.348**), finger number per ear (0.320**), thousand kernel weight (0.281**), flag leaf sheath width (0.230**) and finger length (0.211**). The ear shape (H'= 3.42) followed by grain color (H'= 3.35) showed high genetic diversity after estimated by using Shannon- Weaver index. 46% open type ear shape, 40% light brown grain color, 66% non-pigmentation, 70% absence of inflorescence branch and 54% absence of finger branch were found dominant to other on studied accessions. The distribution pattern was observed by using Ward's minimumvariance method into five clusters. The number of accessions in a cluster was ranged from 18 in cluster IV to 1 in cluster V. The cluster V (accession no. 10996) and III (accessions no. 431 and 11024) showed early phenological traits, lowest in finger length, finger width, finger number per ear, thousand kernel weight, grain yield per ear and grain yield per plant. The cluster II and IV showed late maturity type, long finger length and width, high in finger number per ear, grain yield per ear, grain yield per plant and plant height. The first five principal components accounted for 74.9% of total variance among 50 accessions. Most of variation was contributed from phenological characters, plant height, grain yield per ear, finger length, finger width, finger number per ear and productive tillers number. These traits were positively correlated with grain yield and can be used in selection for breeding programs. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(2): 285-290 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v3i2.12413


The pandering of child pornography selling, distributing, or conveying the impression that one possesses sexually graphic images of children for sale or distribution facilitates actual harm to children, such as molestation. Yet legislative attempts to curb pandering inevitably implicate concerns about pander ersy First Amendment rights. This Note argues that in balancing the vulnerability of children against the power of the First Amendment, the law must shift to focus more on the subject of this grievous harm children. This approach will appropriately extend protection to a subset of the population that is least able to protect itself.


Cryptochromes are conserved flavoprotein receptors found throughout the biological kingdom with diversified roles in plant development and entrainment of the circadian clock in animals. Light perception is proposed to occur through flavin radical formation that correlates with biological activity in vivo in both plants and Drosophila. By contrast, mammalian (Type II) cryptochromes regulate the circadian clock independently of light, raising the fundamental question of whether mammalian cryptochromes have evolved entirely distinct signaling mechanisms. Here we show by developmental and transcriptome analysis that Homo sapiens cryptochrome - 1 (HsCRY1) confers biological activity in transgenic expressing Drosophila in darkness, that can in some cases be further stimulated by light. In contrast to all other cryptochromes, purified recombinant HsCRY1 protein was stably isolated in the anionic radical flavin state, containing only a small proportion of oxidized flavin which could be reduced by illumination. We conclude that animal Type I and Type II cryptochromes may both have signaling mechanisms involving formation of a flavin radical signaling state, and that light independent activity of Type II cryptochromes is a consequence of dark accumulation of this redox form in vivo rather than of a fundamental difference in signaling mechanism.


The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) provides critical models for studying regeneration, evolution and development. However, its large genome (~32 gigabases) presents a formidable barrier to genetic analyses. Recent efforts have yielded genome assemblies consisting of thousands of unordered scaffolds that resolve gene structures, but do not yet permit large scale analyses of genome structure and function. We adapted an established mapping approach to leverage dense SNP typing information and for the first time assemble the axolotl genome into 14 chromosomes. Moreover, we used fluorescence in situ hybridization to verify the structure of these 14 scaffolds and assign each to its corresponding physical chromosome. This new assembly covers 27.3 gigabases and encompasses 94% of annotated gene models on chromosomal scaffolds. We show the assembly's utility by resolving genome-wide orthologies between the axolotl and other vertebrates, identifying the footprints of historical introgression events that occurred during the development of axolotl genetic stocks, and precisely mapping several phenotypes including a large deletion underlying the cardiac mutant. This chromosome-scale assembly will greatly facilitate studies of the axolotl in biological research.


Flow instabilities in hydraulic machines often feature oscillating cavitation volumes, which locally introduce compliance and mass flow gain effects. These unsteady characteristics play a crucial role in one-dimensional stability models and can be determined through the definition of transfer functions for the state variables, where the cavitation volume is commonly estimated from the discharge difference between two points located upstream and downstream of the cavity. This approach is demonstrated on a test rig with a microturbine, featuring a self-oscillating vortex rope in its conical draft tube. The fluctuating discharges at the turbine inlet and the draft tube outlet are determined with the pressure-time method using differential pressure transducers. The cavitation volume is then calculated by integrating the corresponding discharge difference over time. In order to validate the results, an alternative volume approximation method is presented, based on the image processing of a high-speed flow visualization. In this procedure, the edges of the vortex rope are detected to calculate the local cross section areas of the cavity. It is shown that the cavitation volumes obtained by the two methods are in good agreement. Thus, the fluctuating part of the cavitation volume oscillation can be accurately estimated by integrating the difference between the volumetric upstream and downstream discharges. Finally, the volume and discharge fluctuations from the pressure-time method are averaged over one mean period of the pressure oscillation. This enables an analysis of the key physical flow parameters' behavior over one characteristic period of the instability and a discussion of its sustaining mechanisms.


Importance
An improved model for risk stratification can be useful for guiding public health strategies of breast cancer prevention.

Objective
To evaluate combined risk stratification utility of common low penetrant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and epidemiologic risk factors.

Design, Setting, and Participants
Using a total of 17 171 cases and 19 862 controls sampled from the Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3) and 5879 women participating in the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, a model for predicting absolute risk of breast cancer was developed combining information on individual level data on epidemiologic risk factors and 24 genotyped SNPs from prospective cohort studies, published estimate of odds ratios for 68 additional SNPs, population incidence rate from the National Cancer Institute-Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program cancer registry and data on risk factor distribution from nationally representative health survey. The model is used to project the distribution of absolute risk for the population of white women in the United States after adjustment for competing cause of mortality.

Exposures
Single nucleotide polymorphisms, family history, anthropometric factors, menstrual and/or reproductive factors, and lifestyle factors.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Degree of stratification of absolute risk owing to nonmodifiable (SNPs, family history, height, and some components of menstrual and/or reproductive history) and modifiable factors (body mass index [BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], menopausal hormone therapy [MHT], alcohol, and smoking).

Results
The average absolute risk for a 30-year-old white woman in the United States developing invasive breast cancer by age 80 years is 11.3%. A model that includes all risk factors provided a range of average absolute risk from 4.4% to 23.5% for women in the bottom and top deciles of the risk distribution, respectively. For women who were at the lowest and highest deciles of nonmodifiable risks, the 5th and 95th percentile range of the risk distribution associated with 4 modifiable factors was 2.9% to 5.0% and 15.5% to 25.0%, respectively. For women in the highest decile of risk owing to nonmodifiable factors, those who had low BMI, did not drink or smoke, and did not use MHT had risks comparable to an average woman in the general population.

Conclusions and Relevance
This model for absolute risk of breast cancer including SNPs can provide stratification for the population of white women in the United States. The model can also identify subsets of the population at an elevated risk that would benefit most from risk-reduction strategies based on altering modifiable factors. The effectiveness of this model for individual risk communication needs further investigation.


The focus of this paper is on the use of oral history in the classroom and it aims to suggest a method in which oral history recordings and transcriptions may be used to enhance historical understanding among learners by making historical context clear. Firstly, the paper gives background information on the historical research which was largely based on the oral testimony of World War Two veterans and former prisoners-of-war. This theme serves as an example theme for history lessons in especially the Senior Phase classroom as preparation for the FET-phase classroom. Secondly the paper looks at ways in which these sources can be used in the classroom. By using oral sources it is hoped that learners and teachers may move beyond the so-called "hard" forms of historical knowledge, in other words the facts or content knowledge and gain insight into historical significance through the context which oral sources are able to uncover. The paper concludes with ideas and example questions on how students' interest in the past can be enhanced as they confront oral testimony, thereby increasing their appreciation for the past as well as their respect for those who experienced the historical events first hand. The use of oral history in the classroom reveals students' misunderstandings of the past and may help educators to address the specific problems of comprehension. Several examples of such cases are mentioned in the paper, including instances where linguistic skills and critical thinking skills may be potentially improved. Apart from creating awareness of historical context, the use of oral testimony has the potential to broaden vocabulary and develop students' critical thinking skills when, through oral history, they investigate issues of historical accuracy, diverse perspectives and employ the research skills historians regularly use, including communication, analysis and evaluation.


Abstract. The oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represents a substantial source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in the atmosphere. In this study, we present online measurements of the molecular constituents formed in the gas and aerosol phases during α-pinene oxidation in the Cambridge Atmospheric Simulation Chamber (CASC). We focus on characterising the performance of extractive electrospray ionisation (EESI) mass spectrometry (MS) for particle analysis. A number of new aspects of EESI-MS performance are considered here. We show that relative quantification of organic analytes can be achieved in mixed organic–inorganic particles. A comprehensive assignment of mass spectra for α-pinene derived SOA in both positive and negative ion modes is obtained using an ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometer. We compare these online spectra to conventional offline ESI-MS spectra and find good agreement in terms of the compounds identified, without the need for complex sample work-up procedures. Under our experimental conditions, EESI-MS signals arise only from particle-phase analytes. High-time-resolution (7 min) EESI-MS spectra are compared with simulations from the near-explicit Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) for a range of reaction conditions. We show that MS peak abundances scale with modelled concentrations for condensable products (pinonic acid, pinic acid, OH-pinonic acid). Relative quantification is achieved throughout SOA formation as the composition, size and mass (5–2400 µg m−3) of particles is evolving. This work provides a robust demonstration of the advantages of EESI-MS for chamber studies over offline ESI-MS (time resolution, relative quantification) and over hard online techniques (molecular information).


Wave height at a point on vertical cylinders is measured as a function of the orientation angle, a, between the normal from the point on the cylinder and the direction of travel of a single periodic train of waves. The wave height distribution, H(a), has a broad maximum around a = 0° (facing into the waves) and a more restricted maximum at a = 180 . The maximum at a = 0° increases with wave height in all cases, and the super elevation has about the magnitude of the velocity head in the wave crest. In 21 different H(a) for which it is possible to determine the axis of symmetry by a simple objective test, 14 H(a) have axes of symmetry within * 3° of the direction of wave travel. Most of the variation in H(a) is due to variation in crest elevation; trough elevation remains relatively constant for the 360° range of a. The shape of H(a) depends more on height and cylinder cross section than on period, although the variation in H(a) as a function of cross section is significantly less than the extreme variations in tested cross sections. Applications of these results to wave direction measurement and to interpretation of wave records from surface-piercing wave gages are discussed.


This paper presents and engages with Basil Bernstein's rich conceptual grammar in order to generate a sociological account of the outcomes for teachers' work, identity and social class, of strategic shifts in governance to the global scale. Our aim is to develop a two-way conversation between Bernstein's conceptual grammar and how best to theorise the nature of the social regulation of teachers as a result of the dominance of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in setting the rules for pedagogic governance of teachers through its Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). We show that important functions for symbolic agents have been relocated to the economic arena away from the state, as well as being rescaled to sit within the governing ambit of the OECD. We also reflect on the prominence of constructivism in TALIS as a preferred pedagogy and the eschewing of disciplinary knowledge as the basis of expertise. We ask what this new market identity means for teacher knowledge, consciousness, identity, the division of labour, and the social base.


Abstract The objective of this work is to develop a novel numerical model solving the coupled internal sloshing and external sea-keeping interaction for small/medium liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier. Currently, the work focuses on simulating wave propagation in a three-dimensional (3D) fully-nonlinear numerical wave tank (NWT) to model the sea. When simulating the nonlinear wave propagation through an unbounded domain in the time domain, it is necessary to truncate the computational domain artificially into a finite domain in order to reduce computational costs. Thus, non-reflecting radiation boundary condition is required for the truncated surface, however, there is no exact non-reflecting condition in existence. In this work, wave propagation in a 3D fully nonlinear NWT is studied based on the fully-nonlinear velocity potential theory. The governing Laplace equation with fully nonlinear boundary conditions on the moving free surface is solved using the indirect desingularized boundary integral equation method (DBIEM). The fourth-order predictor-corrector Adams-Bashforth-Moulton scheme (ABM4) and mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian (MEL) method are used for the time-stepping integration of the free surface boundary conditions. A smoothing algorithm, B-spline, is applied to eliminate the possible saw-tooth instabilities. An effective multi-transmitting formula coupled damping zone (MTF+DZ) radiation condition is employed to minimize wave reflection on the truncated surface. The numerical results are compared with analytical solutions. It is shown that MTF+DZ method can be used for simulating fully-nonlinear, irregular wave propagation.


Although Mexican Americans continue to expand their entrepreneurial activities, we know little about their ambitions and dreams, their struggle to become part of the business world, their political idealogy and involvement, their role as political leaders, and their relationship with Anglos. Many Mexican American leaders, once active in the public affairs of the community, are turning their efforts and attention to the business world. Any future plans for the economic development of the Mexico-United States border need to involve the Mexican American entrepreneur. The purpose of this study is to conduct an exploratory analysis of Mexican American business leaders in El Paso. Specifically, the study focuses on the leadership of the recently created Minority Business Council (MBC). Three major propositions underly this study: (1) the creation of the MBC has initiated a new phase in the politics of Mexican American entrepreneurship; (2) the creation of the MBC demonstrates a move toward integration between Mexican American and Anglo organizations in a border setting; and (3) because of contemporary political and idealogical trends, Mexican American entrepreneurs will serve as an important resource for future leadership throughout the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. The article explains the background and formation of the MBC, its structural and attitudinal relations with the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (hereafter referred to as the Chamber), and the politics of the minority leadership. Ultimately, the article will also address the significance of this organizational activity in terms of political empowerment. A brief comparative analysis is presented of the background and political attitudes between this leadership group and Mexican American comerciantes .


The following report deals i preliminary fashion with the transmission through a fuselage of random noise generated on the fuselage skin by a turbulent boundary layer. The concept of attenuation is abandoned and instead the problem is formulated as a sequence of two linear couplings: the turbulent boundary layer fluctuations excite the fuselage skin in lateral vibrations and the skin vibrations induce sound inside the fuselage. The techniques used are those required to determine the response of linear systems to random forcing functions of several variables. A certain degree of idealization has been resorted to. Thus the boundary layer is assumed locally homogeneous, the fuselage skin is assumed flat, unlined and free from axial loads and the "cabin" air is bounded only by the vibrating plate so that only outgoing waves are considered. Some of the details of the statistical description have been simplified in order to reveal the basic features of the problem.

The results, strictly applicable only to the limiting case of thin boundary layers, show that the sound pressure intensity is proportional to the square of the free stream density, the square of cabin air density and inversely proportional to the first power of the damping constant and to the second power of the plate density. The dependence on free stream velocity and boundary layer thickness cannot be given in general without a detailed knowledge of the characteristics of the pressure fluctuations in the boundary layer (in particular the frequency spectrum). For a flat spectrum the noise intensity depends on the fifth power of the velocity and the first power of the boundary layer thickness. This suggests that boundary layer removal is probably not an economical means of decreasing cabin noise.

In general, the analysis presented here only reduces the determination of cabin noise intensity to the measurement of the effect of any one of four variables (free stream velocity, boundary layer thiclkness, plate thickness or the characteristic velocity of propagation in the plate).

The plate generates noise by vibrating in resonance over a wide range of frequencies and increasing the damping constant is consequently an effective method of decreasing noise generation.

One of the main features of the results is that the relevent quantities upon which noise intensity depends are non-dimensional numbers in which boundary layer and plate properties enter as ratios. This is taken as an indication that in testing models of structures for boundary layer noise it is not sufficient to duplicate in the model the structural characteristics of the fuselage. One must match properly the characteristics of the exciting pressure fluctuations to that of the structure.


This paper focuses on different silicidation schemes toward a controllable NiSi-based metallic source/drain (MSD) process with restricted lateral encroachment of NiSi. These schemes include thickness control of Ni, Ni-Pt alloying, and two-step annealing. Experimental results show that all the three process schemes can give rise to effective control of lateral encroachment during Ni silicidation. By controlling tNi, NiSi-based MSD metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) of gate length LG = 55 nm are readily realized on ultrathin-body silicon-on-insulator substrates with 20-nm surface Si thickness. With the aid of dopant segregation (DS) to modifying the Schottky barrier heights of NiSi, both n- and p-type MSD MOSFETs show significant performance improvement, compared to reference devices without DS.


This study examines law enforcement personnel who work undercover chatting investigations in order to catch online sexual predators. Law enforcement efforts in this area are relatively new. This research addresses such questions as what types of training do these law enforcement personnel who try to snag online sexual predators go through and what specifically do their jobs entail. Seventeen law enforcement personnel were interviewed from different parts of the United States. The interview schedule covered six areas: respondents' careers, their home lives, training received that is relevant for their current positions, details about their jobs, the undercover aspects of their jobs, and their demographics. This study is important because it offers a closer look at the individuals who put their time and efforts into neutralizing online sexual predators before they can harm additional children and minors. This knowledge will add to the current literature in this area as well as aid policy developers on issues concerning law enforcement organization and personnel.


Selecting a pair of glasses can be a tricky business. With so many styles and labels available, the choice is as much about making a fashion statement as gaining perfect vision. Cult Eyewear is the first book to give an account of the world's top eyewear brands, from Ray-Ban to J.F. Rey, Persol to Polaroid, and from the 1780s to the present day. Neil Handley, an authority on the history of eyewear, selects more than 30 famous names that have enduring appeal and command a dedicated following, and discusses the history of each brand and its most iconic spectacles or sunglasses. The book also includes a concise illustrated introduction to the evolution of eyewear; innovative designs and historically important inventions; films and key personalities associated with particular designs or brands through the years; and other fascinating aspects of this global industry.


Abstract In the late 19th century the United States experienced a shift in presumption from paternal custody following divorce to maternal custody. This paper examines one child custody decision in the midst of this shift and finds that, ironically, rhetorical appeals to precedent and tradition were used to change precedent and tradition. More specifically, social change was grounded in the court's implicit gender hierarchy and rhetorically justified by appealing to precedent and tradition in particular ways, demonstrating that precedent is a rhetorical device that has force when used persuasively.


The Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 unequivocally promotes the policy choice of majoritarianism, in furtherance of orderly collective bargaining and the democratisation of the workplace. The majoritarian model aims to minimise the proliferation of trade unions in a single workplace and to encourage the system of a representative trade union. Section 18(1) of the Labour Relations Act enables majority unions to enter into collective agreements setting thresholds of representivity for the granting of access, stop-order and trade-union leave rights to minority unions. In furtherance of the majoritarian framework, collective agreements concluded between majority unions and employers can be extended to non-parties to the agreement in terms of section 23(1)(d) of the Labour Relations Act provided specified requirements are satisfied. In Police & Prisons Civil Rights Union v Ledwaba 2013 11 BLLR 1137 (LC) (POPCRU) the Labour Court was required to consider if the collective agreements concluded between the employer and the majority union could be relied upon to prohibit the minority union from securing organisational rights. In so doing, the Labour Court had to reconcile the fundamental principle of freedom of association and the right to fair labour practices (to organise and engage in unfettered collective bargaining) within the context of the majoritarian framework. The Labour Court in POPCRU held that the collective agreement concluded with the majority union must have preference over the organisational rights of minority unions, in keeping with the principle of collective bargaining hierarchy and the legislative framework. This case note argues that, while the finding of the labour court in POPCRU is correct on the facts and is in keeping with the principle of majoritarianism, the legislative model may no longer be suitable within the context of the current socio-economic and political landscape. Strike violence, loss of confidence in existing bargaining structures, and the alienation of vulnerable employees from majority unions has resulted in minority unions taking up the cudgels of frustrated and disempowered employees, as witnessed in the Marikana experience. The note suggests that in the light of the changing dynamics of the collective bargaining environment, it may be time to revisit the majoritarian model.


This dissertation deals with the question of whether women prisoners' identities are completely subjugated by the prison or whether they are able to resist identitysubjugation. My thesis is that, although women prisoners are subjugated as prisoners, they have developed ways of resisting subjugation as women. This study is based on a critical ethnography of women's experiences of imprisonment in Ireland in both a historical and contemporary context.

Methodologically the study is informed by feminist epistemology, discourse analysis, and semiotics. The aim of the research was to explore the social and spatial experiences of imprisonment. The historical data is taken from published and archived memoirs, historiographies, prison records and reports. The contemporary data is based on a quantitative profile of women currently in prison, the crimes for which they are imprisoned and the sentence imposed upon them. I also conducted a series of qualitative in-depth interviews with 83 imprisoned women. During these interviews I photographed the women's personal prison spaces. Using a series of photo-elicitation interviews, I examined with the women the meanings of their personal prison spaces and the meanings of the artefacts which they displayed within those spaces. In addition, I interviewed thirty people involved with and working in the prisons; conducted a content and semiotic analysis of print media representations o f women's prisoners in a range of newspapers; and undertook an examination of the structures of the women's prisons.

The analysis of the research material reveals a comprehensive profile of women prisoner's experiences in the Irish prison system. The meaning, effect and implications of their experiences are established. The main conclusions centre on the manner in which these prison experiences shape their identities, subjectivities, and senses of self.


The first CAWSES-India Tidal Campaign was conducted by the Indian scientific community during March-April 2006. The objectives of this campaign were: (1) To determine the characteristics of tides in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (0-20 km) and mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region (80-100 km), (2) to explore and identify what lower atmospheric processes drive middle atmospheric tides in the Indian continental region and (3) to provide information on those short-term variabilities of MLT tides that are likely to have an impact on the ionospheric variabilities and contribute to the upper atmospheric weather. Data sets from experiments conducted at the three low latitude radar sites, namely, Trivandrum (8.5° N, 76.9° E), Tirunelveli (8.7° N, 77.8° E) and Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E) and fortnightly rocket launches from Thumba were made use of in this study. An important observational finding reported in this work is that the radar observations at Tirunelveli/Trivandrum indicate the presence of 15-20 day modulation of diurnal tide activity at MLT heights during the February-March period. A similar variation in the OLR fields in the western Pacific (120-160° longitude region) suggests a possible link between the observed tidal variabilities and the variations in the deep tropical convection through the nonmigrating tides it generates.