Based on four articles, this compilation thesis analyses the demonstrated com-petence defining a medical doctor, to the extent to which he or she acquires a high status and high level of employability in professional practice. Overall, the thesis aimed to describe and analyse professional socialization during doctors' transition from education to work. Questions addressed included how higher education should be understood as preparation for professional practice, how ideals of the future professional were conceived and how these ideals differenti-ated 'good' from 'bad' doctors in professional development and recruitment. The research employed a version of practice theory as its theoretical framework, developed with the aid of work by Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, John Dewey and Theodore Schatzki. Throughout the individual studies, ideals were con-structed and understood as moral imperatives, stating how doctors are expected to perform in professional practice. Article I explored the ideals of academia and higher education practices in a general sense. In this study, the ideals involve the perceived function of higher education in relation to work. Three different and conflicting perspectives were constructed with the aid of a literature study. Arti-cle II was a survey investigation of how two cohorts (n=169) of recent graduates from a Swedish medical programme viewed their competence and the prepara-tion they received for work through the medical programme. The results show that graduates might be overly prepared from a knowledge perspective, while lacking in practical skills and preparation for difficult situations in the work-place. Article III investigated the ideals of the medical programme using an interview study with eight medical students and eight medical teachers. The ideals constructed show how conflicting ideals, such as strength and humility, shape conceptions of the future professional. Finally, Article IV reports an inter-view study with recruiters of medical interns in Sweden's 21 most popular hospi-tals. Results showed that the most attractive candidates balanced two traits: orientation towards performance and orientation towards human relations. They also successfully demonstrated possession of these qualities in their appli-cation and subsequent interview. Overall, the results from the studies indicated that there are great differences between views of proper preparation for work and views of the highly-employable doctor. While medical knowledge and skills were seen as important in preparation for work, they were absent in the views of the highly-competent and employable doctor. Instead, generic attributes, such as drive, curiosity, cooperativeness, warmth, maturity and reflectiveness, char-acterised descriptions of the most accomplished medical professionals. These attributes also were seen primarily as developed before or 'beside' the formal medical education programme.


A method is described involving the use of recording turn meters and accelerometers and a sensitive altimeter, by means of which all of the physical quantities necessary for the complete determination of the flight path, motion, attitude, forces, and couples of a fully developed spin can be obtained in flight. Data are given for several spins of two training type airplanes which indicate that the accuracy of the results obtained with the method is satisfactory.


Aquaculture is the fastest growing food producing sector in the world and it is expected to produce significant quantities of fish in the coming years to meet the growing global demand for aquatic animal products. The expansion and diversification of the sector, along with globalisation and trade liberalisation have resulted in aquatic animals and animal products moving around the world rapidly, causing serious disease outbreaks stemming from incursions of pathogens through unregulated transboundary movements. It has become necessary to develop appropriate guidelines for establishing national regulatory frameworks to improve responsibility in transboundary movement of live aquatic animals. In 2000, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and in partnership with 21 Asian countries, developed the Asia Regional Technical Guidelines on Health Management for the Responsible Movement of Live Aquatic Animals. The present article outlines the development process of the guidelines, the lessons learned from their implementation at national level and the way forward.


Women remain underrepresented in the coaching domain across various levels of sport both in Canada and internationally. Despite the use of mentorship as a key strategy to support female coaches, little progress has been seen in achieving parity. At the same time, greater advances in gender equity have occurred in other non-sport sectors such as business, engineering, and medicine. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to learn from non-sport domains that have seen advances in gender equity to inform mentorship for women in coaching. A mixed-methods methodology was employed and consisted of distributing mentorship surveys to female coaches (n = 310) at various competitive levels, representing current (88%), former (12%), full-time (26%), part-time (74%), paid (54%), and unpaid (46%) coaching status. In addition, eight in-depth semi-structured interviews were also conducted with women in senior-level positions across various non-sport domains, including business (n = 1), media (n = 1), engineering (n = 2), higher education (n = 1), law (n = 1), and medicine (n = 2), regarding the role of mentorship in advancing women in their field. A descriptive and thematic analysis of the survey and interview data were conducted and findings are interpreted to suggest considerable variation in the characteristics of female coaches' mentoring relationships, as well as the need to move beyond mentorship to sponsorship for advancing women in coaching. Recommendations for future research and advancing women in coaching are provided.


This thesis surveys the field of browse/search interactions. The results of this study form the basis of a specification of a representation scheme and a library of access functions which facilitate the creation of information-rich multimedia applications. Evidence is provided for the hypothesis that browsing and searching are the extreme ends of a continuum of data access methods and that many browse/search interactions contain a mixture of both with the ratio varying as the interaction proceeds. These observations motivate the integration of browsing and search facilities so that applications can be built which exhibit both types of information access. This work is tailored to the area of consumer multimedia with a review of the constraints that this imposes on the authoring process and the applications themselves forming part of this work. The specification of the functionality of the function library, together with its implementation and testing are described in detail. The library has been evaluated by constructing a number of prototype applications which demonstrate the utility and scope of the library.


Biographical Portrait of Liverpool's Spanish football manager Rafael Benitez and an extraordinary season for the club. When Rafael Benitez was appointed manager of under-achieving Liverpool at the start of the 2004-2005 season, the reaction of many fans was 'Who the **** is Rafael Benitez?'. The Liverpool fans had grown used to French manager Gerard Houllier but he had been a fan of the club himself since his days as a teacher on Merseyside. A Spaniard with admittedly a wonderful record at Valencia was going to take over management of Liverpool's famous Boot Room and try and win over a disillusioned Kop. But in one season, Benitez's importation of Spanish players, coaching methods and diet has led to a revolution, even usurping Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, whereby the team has ended the season winning the ultimate trophy for any European club - the European Champions League. No fan will ever forget the comeback from a 3-0 deficit to a 3-3 scoreline, then dramatic success in the penalty shoot-out. This is the story of Rafa's remarkable success.


Advancing Healthy and Socially Just Schools and Communities is a four-course graduate certificate program collaboratively developed by an interdisciplinary team comprised of faculty from the fields of Social Work and Education at a Canadian university. The aim of this program is to facilitate systems-level change through enhancing the knowledge and skills of graduate students from disciplines such as social work, education, and nursing who work with youth in schools and communities. The ultimate goal of this systems-level change is promotion of healthy youth relationships and prevention of violence. The topics for the four courses in the program include the following: promoting healthy relationships and preventing interpersonal violence, recognizing and counteracting oppression and structural violence, addressing trauma and building resilience, and fostering advocacy and community in the context of social justice. The development and pedagogy of the certificate program are described, along with findings from a pilot study designed to examine the utility and feasibility of the initial certificate offering. Experiences with the program to date highlight the potential for improvements in graduate students' attitudes, beliefs, and confidence regarding what constitutes violence and their role in responding to it.


New crystallographic data for holotype potassic-mangani-leakeite, with the ideal composition KNa2(Mg2Mn3+2Li)[Si8O22](OH)2, are presented. This end-member of the amphibole supergroup was formerly reported as "kornite" by Armbruster et al. (1993a) with the empirical formula (K0.65Na0.31)(Na1.79Li0.21)(Mg2.13Mn3+1.43Fe3+0.52Li0.91)Si8O22(OH)2. X-ray crystal-structure refinements of four crystals taken from the holotype material (Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Field, South Africa) showed that this amphibole composition has the standard space group C 2/ m , contrary to the original report. Differences in chemical composition (Mg vs . Li) were found based on scattering power determined by structure refinement. The crystals tested consistently show compositions significantly different from that reported in the original mineral description, especially as far as the Li content is concerned (0.45–0.85 vs . 1.11 apfu). The new data suggest that the Li content in the original paper is not characteristic of the studied single crystals and may have been overestimated. Three of the investigated crystals, represented by crystal no. 1, a = 9.9603(17), b = 17.830(3), c = 5.3056(9) A, β = 105.275(3)°, V = 909.0(3) A3, yielded a refined composition of (K0.62Na0.38)Na2(Mg1.94(Mn,Fe)2+0.36(Mn,Fe)3+1.85Li0.85)[Si8O22](OH)2 when using the simplified model without vacancies at the (K, Na)-bearing A site, M (1) and M (2) filled with Mg and (Mn,Fe), and M (3) occupied by Li and Mn. The range of Li at M (3) was bracketed by two models either with (0.64 Li + 0.36 Mg) or with (0.85 Li and 0.15 Mn) having the same scattering power. The choice of the above formula was made considering the agreement between observed and calculated 〈 M (3)–O〉 bond lengths. On the same grounds, the one crystal with the lowest Li content of 0.46 apfu belongs to the compositional space of eckermannite. Small concentrations of A group vacancies cannot be excluded.


In this article, Professor Franke asks and answers a seemingly simple question: why is sexual harassment a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? She argues that the link between sexual harassment and sex discrimination has been undertheorized by the Supreme Court. In the absence of a principled theory of the wrong of sexual harassment, Professor Franke argues that lower courts have developed a body of sexual harassment law that trivializes the legal norm against sex discrimination. After illustrating how the Supreme Court has not provided an adequate theory of sexual harassment as sex discrimination, she traces the theoretical arguments advanced by feminist scholars on behalf of a cause of action for sexual harassment under Title VII: I) it violates formal equality principles; 2) its sexism lies in the fact that the conduct is sexual; and 3) sexual harassment is an example of the subordination of women by men. Professor Franke provides a critique of each of these accounts of sexual harassment, in part, by showing how each is unable to provide an account of whether same-sex sexual harassment should be actionable under Title VII. She argues thatflaws in both the theory and the doctrine are amplified in the marginal cases of same-sex harassment. Professor Franke then argues that the discriminatory wrong of sexual harassment, between parties of different or same sexes, should be understood as a technology of sexism. That is, the sexism in sexual harassment lies in its power as a regulatory practice that feminizes women and masculinizes men, renders women sexual objects and men sexual subjects.


Image compression plays a vital role in today's communication. The limitation in allocated bandwidth leads to slower communication. To exchange the rate of transmission in the limited bandwidth the Image data must be compressed before transmission. Basically there are two types of compressions, 1) LOSSY compression and 2) LOSSLESS compression. Lossy compression though gives more compression compared to lossless compression; the accuracy in retrievation is less in case of lossy compression as compared to lossless compression. JPEG, JPEG2000 image compression system follows huffman coding for image compression. JPEG 2000 coding system use wavelet transform, which decompose the image into different levels, where the coefficient in each sub band are uncorrelated from coefficient of other sub bands. Embedded Zero tree wavelet (EZW) coding exploits the multi-resolution properties of the wavelet transform to give a computationally simple algorithm with better performance compared to existing wavelet transforms. For further improvement of compression applications other coding methods were recently been suggested. An ANN base approach is one such method. Artificial Neural Network has been applied to many problems in image processing and has demonstrated their superiority over classical methods when dealing with noisy or incomplete data for image compression applications. The performance analysis of different images is proposed with an analysis of EZW coding system with Error Backpropagation algorithm. The implementation and analysis shows approximately 30% more accuracy in retrieved image compare to the existing EZW coding system. Keywords—Accuracy, Compression, EZW, JPEG2000, Performance.


If you are thinking of starting up a business — whether online or in a pushcart or a small cafe — you need to look into your branding. (how does it work, anyway?), brace yourself…According to Jacky Tai, you should start your branding exercise as early as possible. Brand Zero distils the author's wealth of experience in grappling with branding strategies in the real world into a practical and easy-to-understand guide anyone.


In the backbone network, the high level of traffic aggregation achieved by numerous users is efficiently served by means of optical circuit switched solutions-the so-called wavelength routing approach. In the access and metro networks, on the contrary, the reduced level of traffic aggregation makes wavelength routing solutions inadequate. The finer and more dynamic bandwidth allocation provided by packet-interleaved optical time-division multiplexing is thus advocated in these network areas. This article presents a survey of an OTDM approach, known as photonic slot routing, or PSR. It is illustrated how this approach may provide a cost-effective solution to deploying all-optical access and metro networks with today's technology.


Consumerism plays an important role in the development of society, and consumption can be a driving force to shift society into a sustainable future. This paper defines ethical consumers and the restaurant industry as the research field, after analysing the current reality of restaurant industry, and the existing tools for ethical consumers to make their purchasing decision, we bridge the gaps by creating an ideal eco-labelling process for the restaurant industry. Eco-Etiquette is our ideal sustainable tool to better inform ethical consumers in their purchasing decisions. This paper also discusses other ways to assist ethical consumers, and identify some aspects for further research.


The concept of followership in higher education has been given limited attention despite the fact that followers are key players in the follower/leader equation and that leadership is increasingly seen as vital to improving the student learning experience. This paper explores this concept, reporting on the findings of a qualitative study underpinned by a socio-constructivist framework. Thirty-eight narratives describing the experience of being a follower and interacting with a formal leader were collected from academic teachers in seven institutions worldwide and analysed using inductive content analysis. The richness of the narratives collected illustrates the intricate relationship formed by the followership/leadership interaction. The results affirm the premise that, just as teachers are defined by their students' learning, leaders are defined by their followers' engagement. However, some teachers also display a strong reluctance towards the very idea of being a follower in academia where critical and independent thinking form the backbone of all practices. Negotiation, responsibility, and mutual respect appear essential aspects of any form of followership/leadership interaction as it directly or indirectly influences student learning and personal development. The research presented suggests that, in challenging times, academic leaders must attend to the characteristics and needs of their followers.


Some imputation techniques are suggested for estimating the population mean when the data values are missing completely at random under a simple random sample without replacement scheme. Two classes of point estimators are proposed. The bias and mean squared error expressions of the proposed point estimators are derived up to first order of approximation. It has been shown that the proposed point estimators are more efficient than some existing point estimators due to Lee, Rancourt, and Sarndal (1994) and Singh and Horn (2000). Theoretical findings are supported by an empirical study based on five populations to show the superiority of the constructed estimators and methods of imputation over others.


Abstract. We address the application of differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) of scattered light observations in the presence of strong absorbers (in particular ozone), for which the absorption optical depth is a non-linear function of the trace gas concentration. This is the case because Beer–Lambert law generally does not hold for scattered light measurements due to many light paths contributing to the measurement. While in many cases linear approximation can be made, for scenarios with strong absorptions non-linear effects cannot always be neglected. This is especially the case for observation geometries, for which the light contributing to the measurement is crossing the atmosphere under spatially well-separated paths differing strongly in length and location, like in limb geometry. In these cases, often full retrieval algorithms are applied to address the non-linearities, requiring iterative forward modelling of absorption spectra involving time-consuming wavelength-by-wavelength radiative transfer modelling. In this study, we propose to describe the non-linear effects by additional sensitivity parameters that can be used e.g. to build up a lookup table. Together with widely used box air mass factors (effective light paths) describing the linear response to the increase in the trace gas amount, the higher-order sensitivity parameters eliminate the need for repeating the radiative transfer modelling when modifying the absorption scenario even in the presence of a strong absorption background. While the higher-order absorption structures can be described as separate fit parameters in the spectral analysis (so-called DOAS fit), in practice their quantitative evaluation requires good measurement quality (typically better than that available from current measurements). Therefore, we introduce an iterative retrieval algorithm correcting for the higher-order absorption structures not yet considered in the DOAS fit as well as the absorption dependence on temperature and scattering processes.


The elimination of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in > 50% of chronically infected patients by treatment with IFN-α suggests that plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), major producers of IFN-α, play an important role in the control of HCV infection. However, despite large amounts of Toll-like receptor 7-mediated IFN-α, produced by pDCs exposed to HCV-infected hepatocytes, HCV still replicates in infected liver. Here we show that HCV envelope glycoprotein E2 is a novel ligand of pDC C-type lectin immunoreceptors (CLRs), blood DC antigen 2 (BDCA-2) and DC-immunoreceptor (DCIR). HCV particles inhibit, via binding of E2 glycoprotein to CLRs, production of IFN-α and IFN-λ in pDCs exposed to HCV-infected hepatocytes, and induce in pDCs a rapid phosphorylation of Akt and Erk1/2, in a manner similar to the crosslinking of BDCA-2 or DCIR. Blocking of BDCA-2 and DCIR with Fab fragments of monoclonal antibodies preserves the capacity of pDCs to produce type I and III IFNs in the presence of HCV particles. Thus, negative interference of CLR signaling triggered by cell-free HCV particles with Toll-like receptor signaling triggered by cell-associated HCV results in the inhibition of the principal pDC function, production of IFN.


The sensitivity of UK tourism to climate variability (on intra- and inter-annual scales) was investigated using empirical statistical models. A set of climate indices (mean monthly and annual temperature, rainfall and sunshine) describes present day variability in climate, while tourism demand is described by a dataset comprising domestic (monthly numbers of tourist nights) and inter- national (annual numbers of trips abroad) tourist flows. An understanding of climate sensitivity based on real data then provided a basis for the examination of potential effects of climate change on the economically important tourism sector. Outbound flows of tourists are more responsive to climate variability of the preceding year, whereas domestic tourism is more responsive to variability within the year of travel. For outward tourism, wetter- and duller-than-average conditions in the year previ- ous to travel seem to encourage more trips abroad. Drier- and warmer-than-average conditions increase same-month domestic trips, but a change in the direction of the association in subsequent months is indicative of inelasticity in the system. The anomalously warm year of 1995 in the UK was used to represent the potential impact of climate change. The results suggest that the generally warmer and drier conditions of 1995 benefited the UK domestic tourist industry by an estimated £309 million, relative to mean climate.


This article seeks to examine the space allocated to women in the Ndebele society using proverbs and idioms as a frame of reference. Proverbs and idioms as part of oral literature constitute a major means of defining women in a traditional set up. A people's language constitutes their worldview, how they conceive and perceive the web of relations between sexes; what they view as natural and immutable in their ordering of the world. Ndebele proverbs and idioms mirror a particular culture and tradition that imbues a spirit of submissiveness, perseverance and domesticity on women. This article argues that women are given the status of the Other in Ndebele society. Proverbs and idioms articulate the culturally scripted roles of women since this discourse defines gender relations. The language contained therein perpetuates the marginalization of women and relegates them to functional objects.


This Article attempts to situate the Supreme Court's constitutional criminal procedure jurisprudence in the academic debates surrounding the reasonable person standard, in particular, the extent to which objective standards should incorporate a particular individual's subjective characteristics. Analyzing the Supreme Court's search and seizure and confessions opinions, I find that the Court shifts opportunistically from case to case between subjective and objective tests, and between whose point of view - the police officer's or the defendant's - it views as controlling. Moreover, these deviations cannot be explained either by the principles the Court claims underlie the various constitutional provisions at issue or by the attributes of subjective and objective tests themselves. The Article then centers on the one Supreme Court opinion in this area to address the question of "subjective" objective standards, Yarborough v. Alvarado, 541 U.S. 652 (2004), where the Court intimates that a minor defendant's age might not be a relevant factor in applying the objective "reasonable suspect" test used to define custody for purposes of Miranda. The Article criticizes the Court's simplistic suggestion that considering any of a defendant's characteristics may automatically turn an objective inquiry into a subjective one, and then discusses the issue of age that the Court faced in Alvarado as well as the questions of race that pervade our criminal justice system. In the end, the Article does not advocate that the Court choose one perspective for all criminal procedure cases, or even necessarily for all cases interpreting a particular constitutional provision, but instead that the Court adopt a principled approach to the question of perspective based on the interests a particular constitutional protection is designed to further. The constitutional provisions intended to deter abusive police practices should focus on the party to be deterred, the police, and in order to maximize their deterrent impact ought to incorporate both subjective and objective considerations. On the other hand, the perspective that should control when interpreting constitutional doctrines whose goal is to promote voluntary decisionmaking and/or dispel coercion depends on whether one subscribes to the "consent model" or the "coercion model." The consent model, which is aimed at preserving the defendant's right to make a free and unconstrained choice, should turn on the defendant's point of view. The coercion model, by contrast, is meant to discourage the police from using improperly coercive techniques and thus, like the deterrence-based constitutional rights, ought to focus on the police. Unless the Court takes the preliminary step of articulating a consistent position on the issue of perspective for criminal procedure cases, we can continue to expect oversimplified decisions like Alvarado rather than meaningful contributions to the controversies surrounding the reasonable person standard.


Objectives: Bone grafts have been used for more than one hundred years in orthopedic surgery. Autografts are still the gold standard with respect to their osteoconductive, osteoinductive and osteogenetic peculiarities. Cancelleous grafts are the most commonly used autografts with their porous structure increasing the contact area. Although iliac crest is the preferred donor site, the femur, tibia, distal radius and olecranon are also employed when they are in a suitable location for the recipient site. The olecranon donor site can provide ample amounts of bone graft for reconstruction in the upper extremity. Here, the bone graft harvesting from the olecranon with the use of trephine as a safe and fast technique is presented. The bone graft harvested with trephine not only has the proper morphology to be used for phalanx and metacarpal reconstruction, but also can be utilized for wrist and forearm procedures.
Methods: 82 patients (21 female) had bone reconstruction with olecranon bone graft harvested with trephine between 2010 and 2015. The mean age was 34 (range: 20-62) years. The mean follow-up period was 26 (range: 6-48) months.
Results: None of the patients had pain or decrease in the range of motion in the early or late postoperative period. Only one patient (1.2%) had hematoma formation at the donor site and no other complications were observed in any patient. There was no difference in elbow extension strength between both elbows at the postoperative fifteenth day and at the end of the follow-up period.
Conclusion: Bone graft harvesting with trephine is technically easy and fast, and donor site morbidity is diminished compared other methods and donor sites. It can be performed under axillary anesthesia and provides adequate amounts of bone graft for upper extremity reconstructions.


We assessed the relationship between zooplankton metabolism (respiration and inorganic N and P excretion) and "in situ" temperature through a grid of stations representing a range of natural temperature variation during the ATOS-Arctic cruise (July 2007). The objective was to explore not only the direct effects of temperature on zooplankton carbon respiratory losses (hereafter C R ) and NH 4 -N and PO 4 -P excretion rates (hereafter N E and P E , respectively), but also to investigate whether these metabolic pathways responded similarly to temperature, and so how temperature could affect the stoichiometry of the metabolic products. Metabolic rates, normalised to per unit of zooplankton carbon biomass, increased with increasing temperature following the Arrhenius equation. However, the activation energy differed for the various metabolic processes considered. Respiration, C R , was the metabolic activity least affected by temperature, followed by N E and P E , and as a consequence the values of the C R : N E , C R : P E and N E : P E atomic quotients were inversely related to temperature. The effects of temperature on the stoichiometry of the excreted N and P products would contribute to modifying the nutrient pool available for phytoplankton and induce qualitative and quantitative shifts in the size, community structure and chemical composition of primary producers that could possibly translate to the whole Arctic marine food web.


The last twenty to thirty years can be said to constitute a new renaissance botanical gardens around the world. One of the main causes is the growing concern of the world community associated with the issue of loss of biodiversity. In addition, because a greater need to be institutions that take part actively in the field of conservation of plant resources. Community botanical garden world is experiencing rapid development, not only in terms of the number of new botanical garden that is built up but also of the purpose and function. There are currently no less than 2,500 botanical gardens worldwide. To prepare for a global framework for policies, programs and priorities of the botanical garden world in the field of conservation of biodiversity, in 2000 BGCI has published the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation, which contained the botanical garden's global mission.


Recurrence is a major cause of treatment failure after allogeneic transplantation for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and treatment options are very limited. Azacitidine is a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor with activity in myeloid disease. The authors hypothesized that low‐dose azacitidine administered after transplant would reduce recurrence rates, and conducted a study to determine a safe dose/schedule combination.


In this article, I show that the key aspects of sovereign debt crises can be rationalized as part of the efficient risk-sharing arrangement between a sovereign borrower and foreign lenders in a production economy with informational and commitment frictions. The constrained efficient allocation involves ex post inefficient outcomes that resemble sovereign default episodes in the data and can be implemented with non-contingent defaultable bonds and active maturity management. Defaults and periods of temporary exclusion from international credit markets happen along the equilibrium path and are essential to supporting the efficient allocation. Furthermore, during debt crises, the maturity composition of debt shifts towards short-term debt and the term premium inverts as in the data.


Supervisors at Higher Education Institutions are challenged to shorten throughput of Master's degree students in nursing as researchers are needed to improve the art and science of the nursing profession. Globally the completion time for a postgraduate degree in the health sciences varies between 4.7 and 5.5 years. The purpose of the study was to describe strategies that were implemented to shorten completion time and attrition rate of postgraduate students. A cyclic technical, scientific collaborative mode within an action research methodology was used to identify factors impeding completion time in this study. Contrary to other studies, supervision was not an inhibiting factor in this study. Physical, technical, academic and financial aspects were identified by postgraduate students through questionnaires and informal discussion groups with supervisors as well as progress reports. Strategies were implemented to address these. Following implementation of all strategies, 42% of the postgraduate students in the School of Nursing completed their Master's degree within two years. This implies a 34% improvement. Although the completion rate improved it was still unsatisfactory and new challenges were identified during the second cycle, for example, the number of inexperienced supervisors increased and they needed mentoring. Speed mentoring is a possible solution to the problem.


Aims and Objectives: To study the profile of paediatric HIV patients registered in ART centre of New Civil Hospital, Surat, Gujarat (India) and provide an estimate of 3 years survival probabilities of paediatric HIV patients on ART. Material and methods: Data of 175 paediatric patients (of age less than 15 years), registered from 2007 to 2010 was collected and analyzed. Kaplan Meir method for survival analysis and Log rank test to test statistical significance were used. Observations: Survival analysis of 161 patients could be done (registered from Oct 2006 to Oct 2010). The survival probability after 8 years of diagnosis of HIV is 91.7 %. After 3 year of start of ART according to WHO criteria survival probability is 85.7 %. The 3-year survival rate of paediatric HIV patients with WHO Stage 1 is 100%, Stage 2 is 75%, Stage 3 is 61.9% and Stage 4 is 40.8% which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The survival probability was 91% after 3 years of diagnosis of HIV and remained same till 8 years and the probability was independent of age groups and sex. The survival probability was 85.7 % after 3 years of start of ART. There was no difference in survival probability with different baseline CD4 counts but was significantly low in patients who were in WHO stage 3 and 4 at the time of registration. Recommendations: With ART definitely proving increase in survival probability, it is now time to study different drug regimens and their respective survival probabilities. There are many studies on adverse effects of the ART drugs but there is need for research on their effect on survival. There is a scope for continuing of this study further with at least median follow up of 5 years. Larger sample and regression model can be used to understand more precisely the predictors of survival.


Provides information about the library services provided for students and faculty in Fitchburg State's Extended Campus and Distance Learning programs and courses and how to access them.


OBJECTIVE
Pulmonary complications challenge the medical management of patients who have sustained aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We assessed the frequency and types of pulmonary complications after aneurysmal SAH and analyzed the impact of pulmonary complications on patient outcome.

METHODS
We reviewed the records of all patients with acute SAH treated at our institution between 1990 and 1997. Three hundred five consecutive patients with an aneurysmal hemorrhage source documented by angiography and treated within 7 days of ictus were analyzed. Outcomes at longest follow-up (mean, 16 mo) were measured by use of the Glasgow Outcome Scale.

RESULTS
Pulmonary complications were documented in 66 patients (22%). The pulmonary complications were nosocomial pneumonia in 26 patients (9%), congestive heart failure in 23 (8%), aspiration pneumonia in 17 (6%), neurogenic pulmonary edema in 5 (2%), pulmonary embolus in 2 (<1%), and other pulmonary disorders in 4 (1%); 11 patients had two pulmonary complications. The incidence of symptomatic vasospasm was greater in patients with pulmonary complications (63%) than in patients without pulmonary complications (31%) (P = 0.001), and this association was independent of age and clinical grade at admission (odds ratio, 3.68; P < 0.001). Overall clinical outcomes were worse in patients with pulmonary complications (mean Glasgow Outcome Scale score, 3.3) than in patients without pulmonary complications (mean Glasgow Outcome Scale score, 4.0; P = 0.0001), but pulmonary complications were not an independent predictor of worse outcome when adjusted for age and clinical grade at admission (odds ratio, 1.38; P = 0.315).

CONCLUSION
Patients who experience pulmonary complications after aneurysmal SAH have a higher incidence of symptomatic vasospasm than do patients without pulmonary complications. This most likely reflects both the failure to maintain aggressive hypervolemic and hyperdynamic therapy in patients with pulmonary compromise and the possible precipitation of congestive heart failure by hypervolemic therapy in patients with preexisting delayed ischemic neurological deficit. Although patients with pulmonary complications have worse overall clinical outcomes than do patients without pulmonary complications, this is attributable to older age and worse clinical grades at admission.


Abstract. The Langley Plot Method (LPM) is adapted for the retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) values at 340 nm from Brewer#178 sun scan measurements between 335 and 345 nm (convoluted with the band pass function of the Cimel sunphotometer filter at 340 nm) performed in Uccle, Belgium. The use of sun scans instead of direct sun measurements simplifies the comparison of the AOD values with quasi-simultaneous Cimel sunphotometer values. Also, the irradiance at 340 nm is larger than the one at 320.1 nm due to lower ozone absorption, thus improving the signal to noise ratio. For the selection of the cloudless days (from now on referred to as calibration quality clear days), a new set of criteria is proposed. With the adapted method, individual clear sky AOD values, for which the selection criteria are also presented in this article, are calculated for a period from September 2006 until the end of August 2010. These values are then compared to quasi-simultaneous Cimel sunphotometer measurements, showing a very good agreement (the correlation coefficient, the slope and the intercept of the regression line are respectively 0.974, 0.968 and 0.011), which proves that good quality observations can be obtained from Brewer sun scan measurements at 340 nm. The analysis of the monthly and seasonal Brewer AODs at Uccle is consistent with studies at other sites reporting on the seasonal variation of AODs in Europe. The highest values can be observed in summer and spring, whereas more than 50% of the winter AODs are lower than 0.3. On a monthly scale, the lowest AOD are observed in December and the highest values occur in June and April. No clear weekly cycle is observed for Uccle. The current cloud-screening algorithm is still an issue, which means that some AOD values can still be influenced by scattered clouds. This effect can be seen when comparing the calculated monthly mean values of the Brewer with the AERONET measurements.


INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION: A MODEL FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS Lewis Willard Hudgins, Jr. Despite the attempts of many scholars in the social sciences, no one has yet developed an adequate theoretical model for describing, ex¬ plaining, or predicting integration efforts in less developed areas. Jacob Viner, the first economist to attempt to measure the value of customs unions, failed to adequately consider the dynamic effects of in¬ tegration in reaching a pessimistic conclusion as to the potential benefits of integration for developing countries. It was left to Bela Balassa to develop the theory of economic development by import substitution that has been used by leaders of developing countries to justify economic in¬ tegration to maximize the potential for import substitution. However, the economic theory of integration fails to consider the crucial social and political processes that are of such importance in the integration process. Political science theories also have their major faults. Deutsch's sociocausal paradigm contains large theoretical gaps between crucial variables as well as being Western orientated. The neo-functionalist model also fails to be of use in developing areas because of its emphasis on variables found principally in developed areas. It is to fill this gap in our knowledge of integration that this author develops a model of integration for all areas by using Joseph S. Nye's revised neo-functionalist model as a core and the East African Common Market and the Central American Common Market as case studies. Finally, an empirical test to study the impact of integration on instability in Central America is explicated to show the value of our integration model in bettering our understanding of integration in developing areas.


GENOME WIDE SEARCH FOR PSEUDO KNOTTED NON-CODING RNAs by Meghana S. Vasavada Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are the functional RNA molecules that are involved in many biological processes including gene regulation, chromosome replication and RNA modification. Searching genomes using computational methods has become an important asset for prediction and annotation of ncRNAs. To annotate an individual genome for a specific family of ncRNAs, a computational tool is interpreted to scan through the genome and align its sequence segments to some structure model for the ncRNA family. With the recent advances in detecting an ncRNA in the genome, heuristic techniques are designed to perform an accurate search and sequence–structure alignment. This study uses a novel approach for such genome wide search of ncRNAs using the RNATOPS and Infernal software tools, which incorporates heuristic dynamic programming algorithms to carry out the sequence analysis using the profiles of RNA consensus secondary structures. Genome wide search for ncRNAs from thirteen genomes is performed using RNATOPS and Infernal. The training set of ncRNA multiple sequence alignments is prepared from RFAM and homologous Genomes are retrieved from RNASTRAND database. Through the experiments, performance of each tool is analyzed and compared with respect to their ncRNA search accuracies. It is further interfered that Infernal, compared to RNATOPS, is more accurate in detecting an ncRNA in all the thirteen genomes tested. GENOME WIDE SEARCH FOR PSEUDO KNOTTED NON-CODING RNAs


Cognitive heuristics, or people's stereotypes, are central to human interaction. Yet, the literature has been concerned with inter-ethnic stereotypes held by migrants and therefore has insufficiently addressed what might happen to individuals' cognitive heuristics in the process of acculturating to host cultures. The authors discuss this gap in the literature by drawing on the culture learning perspective and work on cultural adaptation to examine migrants' cognitive cultural adaptation. The concept of stereotype accommodation is introduced as a cognitive process whereby migrants incorporate the stereotype-relevant information learned in their host cultures into their preexisting stereotypes. Furthermore, a framework is presented for how cross-cultural differences, learning opportunities, individual differences, and cognitive resources might contribute to stereotype accommodation. The conclusion of this analysis is that, like any other individuals, migrants hold cognitive heuristics about varying groups in society and, moreover, these can be influenced and potentially modified by the mental short-cuts that are relevant in their host cultures.


Introduction
Figure 1: This image shows growing clusters of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis grown at 24°C on 1% tryptone agar for seven days.  On solid media, the mature organism appears as small vanilla-colored colonies ranging in size from 1mm to 5mm in diameter.  Each colony visible on the plate arose when one or more zoospores encysted in the media and grew into multinucleated, fertile sporangia (1,5).  A sporangium, by definition, is a structure that produces and contains asexual spores.  The ideal temperature range in which B. dendrobatidis grows is between 17°C and 25°C (6).
Figure 2: This image shows the fungal morphology of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis at 1000X magnification using bright field imaging.  The specimen was stained using Lactophenol-Cotton Blue Stain (VWR) and reveals a mature, asexual sporangium with its associated zoospores and discharge papillae.
As a given sporangium on the plate matures, the plug at the end of the discharge papillae dissolves allowing retained zoospores to be ejected (1,5).  Note that a given sporangium may have one or more discharge papillae to eject the zoospores.  Next, the zoospores are released at the base of the colony towards the nutrient source and encyst to form mature sporangium (1,6).  As new sporangia form at the base of the colony immediately adjacent to the nutrient source, older, empty sporangia (those that do not contain any zoospores) are pushed upwards forming the visible, macroscopic clusters as seen in Figure 1(1).
Methods
Figure 1: A culture of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was obtained from Dr. Joyce Longcore from University of Maine and inoculated onto plain agar supplemented with 1% tryptone.  The new culture was then grown in the dark at 20oC for seven days.  The image was taken with a 100mm f2.8 macro lens @f11 ISO 800 using a Pentax K-7, 14 megapixel DSLR.  The image was cropped and labeled using Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Figure 2: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was stained using Lactophenol-Cotton Blue and imaged through an Olympus CX41 microscope.  The specimen was viewed via bright field imaging using a 100X Oil Objective (1.25, Plan CN).  From a live-view feed of the sample using a Spot Idea™ digital camera (1.4 megapixels), an image of the specimen was captured using Spot computer software.  The image was cropped and labeled using Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Discussion
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is a pathogenic fungus that causes the potentially fatal amphibian disease chytridiomycosis (1,2,5).  Being highly infectious (1,2) and a having low host-specificity (4), this fungus infects the keratinized skin tissues of amphibians and has been a large concern among the scientific community in recent years (2,3,4).  Note that keratinized skin tissue is the outer layer of skin that becomes thickened when cells die and are filled with the protein keratin.  Since the fungus' first documented appearance in 1998 among declining Anuras (frogs) in the rain forests of Australia and Panama (2), B. dendrobatidis has been identified globally on six continents and has resulted in the decimation and extinction of several species of frogs and toads (3,4,6).  Estimates project that upwards of a third of all amphibian species are at risk from extinction largely as a result of lethal infections caused by the pandemic chytrid fungus (10).  Because of the catastrophic consequences of loosing such a vital component of the world's biota, international efforts have been undertaken to understand the extent of the epidemic and save as many at-risk species of amphibians as possible.
References
1. Berger, L., Hyatt, A.D., Speare, R., and Longcore, J.E. 2005.  Life cycle stages of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Diseases of Aquatic Organisms.  68: 51–63.
2. Berger, L., Speare, R., Daszak, P., Green, D. E., Cunningham, A. A., Goggin, C. L., Slocombe, R., Ragan, M. A., Hyatt, A. D., McDonald, K. R., Hines, H. B., Lips, K. R., Marantelli, G., Parkes, H.  1998.  Chytridiomycosis causes amphibian mortality associated with population declines in the rain forests of Australia and Central America.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA.  95: 9031-9036.
3. Carey, C., Cohen, N., Rollins-Smith, L.  1999. Amphibian declines: an immunological perspective.  Developmental and Comparative Immunology
23:459-472.
4. Daszak, P., Berger, L., Cunningham, A. A., Hyatt, A. D., Green, D. E., Speare, R.  1999.  Emerging Infectious Diseases and Amphibian Population Declines.  Emerging Infectious Diseases.  5: 735-748.
5. Longcore, Joyce E.; Pessier, A.P.; and Nicholas, D.K. 1999.  Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
gen. et.  sp. nov., a Chytrid Pathogen to Amphibians.  Mycologia 91: 219-227.
6. Piotrowski, Jeffrey S., Annis,  Seanna L., and Longcore, J. E. 2004.
Physiology of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a chytrid pathogen of amphibians.
Mycologia
,
96: 9-15.
7. Skerratt, Lee Francis; Berger, Lee; Speare, Richard; Cashins, Scott; McDonald, Keith Raymond; Phillott, Andrea Dawn; Hines, Harry Bryan; Kenyon, Nicole.  2007. Spread of chytridiomycosis has caused the rapid global decline and extinction of frogs.  EcoHealth 4:125-134.
8. Stuart, S. N.; Chanson, J. S.; Cox, N. A.; Young, B. E.; Rodrigues, A. S. L.;
Fischman, D. L.; Waller, R. W.  2004.  Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide.  Science 306:1783-1786.
9. Voyles, J., S. Young, L. Berger, C. Campbell, W.F. Voyles, A. Dinudom, D. Cook, R. Webb, R.A. Alford, L.F. Skerratt, and R. Speare.  2009.  Pathogenesis of chytridiomycosis, a cause of catastrophic amphibian declines.  Science 326:582-585.
10.  Zippel, K. C., Mendelson III, J. R.  2008.  The Amphibian Extinction Crisis: A Call To Action.  Herpetological Review 39: 23-29.


We employ a nested system of global and regional climate models, linked to regional and urban air quality chemical transport models utilizing detailed inventories of present and future emissions, to study the relative impact of climate change and changing air pollutant emissions on air quality and population exposure in Stockholm, Sweden. We show that climate change only marginally affects air quality over the 20-year period studied. An exposure assessment reveals that the population of Stockholm can expect considerably lower NO2 exposure in the future, mainly due to reduced local NOx emissions. Ozone exposure will decrease only slightly, due to a combination of increased concentrations in the city centre and decreasing concentrations in the suburban areas. The increase in ozone concentration is a consequence of decreased local NOx emissions, which reduces the titration of the long-range transported ozone. Finally, we evaluate the consequences of a planned road transit project on future air quality in Stockholm. The construction of a very large bypass road (including one of the largest motorway road tunnels in Europe) will only marginally influence total population exposure, this since the improved air quality in the city centre will be complemented by deteriorated air quality in suburban, residential areas.


This chapter discusses high-performance computational and information technologies for numerical models and data processing. In the first part of the chapter, the numerical model of the oil displacement problem was considered by injection of chemical reagents to increase oil recovery of reservoir. Moreover the fragmented algorithm was developed for solving this problem and the algorithm for high-performance visualization of calculated data. Analysis and comparison of parallel algorithms based on the fragmented approach and using MPI technologies are also presented.The algorithm for solving given problem on mobile platforms andanalysisofcomputationalresultsisgiventoo.Inthesecondpartofthechapter,theproblem ofunstructuredandsemi-structureddataprocessingwasconsidered.Itwasdecidedtoaddress the task of n-gram extraction which requires a lot of computing with large amount of textual data. In order to deal with such complexity, there was a need to adopt and implement parallelization patterns. The second part of the chapter also describes parallel implementation of the document clustering algorithm that used a heuristic genetic algorithm. Finally, a novel UPC implementation of MapReduce framework for semi-structured data processing was


Epidemiological studies suggest impaired fetal skeletal development has lifelong consequences for bone health. To examine the feasibility of using 3-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) to investigate influences on fetal femur development, we obtained volume datasets of the uppermost fetal thigh at 19 and 34 weeks gestation in 517 women in a population-based survey of maternal nutrition. In addition to the standard measure of femur length, we derived femoral cross-sectional areas and volume from the volume datasets. Coefficients of variation for intra-operator variability in femur length were 0.6% at 19 weeks and 0.4% at 34 weeks; corresponding coefficients of variation for distal femoral cross-sectional area were 4.4% at 19 weeks and 3.2% at 34 weeks, showing greater measurement variability with a more complex technique. Intra-operator variability for femur volume measurement triplets at 19 and 34 weeks was 3.4% and 1.7%, respectively. The coefficients of variation of replicate measurements were compared with the between-subjects variation as a measure of the biological variability between fetuses: at 19 weeks between-subjects variation was 7.2% for femur length, 19.6% for distal cross-sectional area and 19.9% for femur volume. These results show a wide range of variation between subjects, which is substantially greater than the intra-operator variability. This suggests that the measurements of fetal femur size and volume are reproducible and can be used to examine biological differences between subjects, and we found that femoral volume was greater in male fetuses at 19 weeks gestation. Thus 3DUS presents a useful technique for assessing fetal skeletal development in cohort studies


This study examines the effect of mobile learning applications on undergraduate students' academic achievement, attitudes toward mobile learning and animation development levels. Quasi-experimental design was used in the study. Participants of the study were students of the Buca Faculty of Education at Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey. The experiment was conducted during the first semester of 2013-2014 academic year. A mobile learning-based strategy was used in experimental group (n = 15), while the control group participated in a lecture-based classroom (n = 26). An attitude scale was used to measure the students' attitudes toward mobile learning, and achievement test was used to examine the effect of mobile learning applications on the students' achievement. In order to evaluate the animations developed by students, a rubric was used. For exploratory analysis, interviews were conducted with students. The findings suggest that mobile learning may promote students' academic achievement. Both groups had significantly high attitude scores toward mobile learning. Furthermore, the students appreciated mobile learning as an approach that may significantly increase their motivation. Researchers and practitioners should take into consideration that mobile learning can create positive impact on academic achievement and performance and increase the motivation of students.


If you are a CIO, or intend to become a CIO, or simply want to understand the strategic importance of IT for your entire enterprise, CIO Best Practices provides you with the best practice guidance on the key responsibilities of the CIO and its important role in modern organizations. This is the most definitive and important work you will find on achieving and exercising strategic IT leadership.


Background: The current challenges that confront the medical education field have necessitated the need for transformation and revisions in curriculum design practices. In this regard, core curriculum development and integration are examples of such changes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concepts of core curriculum and integration in the realm of medical education and to explore the relationship between these two concepts.
Methods: This study is a narrative review article. In this study, databases such as Science Direct, Ovid, PubMed, SID, Magiran and Google Scholar were searched using keywords such as core curriculum, integration, medical education, curriculum design and curriculum.
Results: The importance of meaningful learning, organized knowledge and practical knowledge for students of medical sciences requires planning of integrated curricula. This is more accentuated based on the increasing volume of knowledge, educational content, continuous changes in community needs, responsibility to meet those needs and the need for medical students to gain clinical competencies in their profession.
Conclusion: The concepts of core curriculum and integration are very closely linked, with some of the experts in the field of curriculum planning considering integration as one of the forms of designing core curriculum. Indeed, both concepts were developed in response to the overload of knowledge, the need to teach and learn basic and clinical sciences together and the need to create meaningful learning.


The System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM) specification
is an HTTP-based protocol that makes managing identities in multi-
domain scenarios easier to support via a standardized service.
Examples include, but are not limited to, enterprise-to-cloud service
providers and inter-cloud scenarios. The specification suite seeks to
build upon experience with existing schemas and deployments, placing
specific emphasis on simplicity of development and integration, while
applying existing authentication, authorization, and privacy models.
SCIM's intent is to reduce the cost and complexity of user
management operations by providing a common user schema, an extension
model, and a service protocol defined by this document.


The essay discusses challenges regarding the position and role of Christian Theology in twenty-first century university contexts. Questions asked include the following: How will a theology that is oriented to (Reformed) Christian Theology develop itself at universities worldwide, within contexts of secularisation and globalisation? What important strategic choices will it have to make? It is argued that answers to such questions inter alia relate to how Christian Theology responds to three crucial choices: (1) Being truthful to its biblical orientation and calling; (2) Accounting critically for its position on the threshold of interdisciplinary and interreligious dialogue; and (3) Being connected to the life stories of people.


The effects of homogenizing treatment and iron content on the tensile properties of 6061 aluminum alloy billet were investigated mainly by tensile test and transmission electron microscopic observation. With the specimens produced by the vertical semi-continuous casting process, the iron content is 0.18, 0.7 and 1.4 mass%, the DAS is 9 and 25 μm, and the grain size is constant at about 80 μm. In the 0.18 mass% Fe alloy, elongation in as-cast is larger in DAS–9 μm than in DAS–25 μm. If they were air cooled after the homogenizing treatment, the difference in elongation between them is decreased with the increase of homogenizing time. On the other hand, if these samples were water quenched after the homogenizing treatment, even when DAS is different, no difference in elongation was found. The cause for this was presumed to be that the cooling condition after the homogenizing treatment accelerated the fracture of specimens by precipitating a coarse β' phase in the air cooling, and its elongation was reduced. It was revealed that the second phase formed between dendrite arms increased with the increase of iron content, the smaller the DAS is, the larger the elongation, and the difference of DAS did not disappear even in a long time homogenizing treatment.


This thesis is concerned with spatial optical solitons in (quasi-two
dimensional) planar waveguides, where there is a single longitudinal and
(effectively) a single transverse dimension, and whose symmetry the solutions
respect consistently. A key feature of Helmholtz soliton theory is that, by
recognizing the physical equivalence of the longitudinal and transverse dimensions
in uniform media, it can access experimental contexts involving broad, moderately
intense beams that propagate and interact at arbitrarily large angles. It thus provides
an ideal platform for the systematic generalization of established paraxial results
(restricted to applications involving vanishingly-small angles) to the finite-angle
domain. Helmholtz soliton theory is expected to play a fundamental role in the
design of any futuristic integrated-optic device exploiting the propagation and
interaction of spatial soliton beams at oblique angles relative to a reference direction.
Exact analytical soliton solutions are derived for a variety of newly-proposed
scalar and vector Non-Linear Helmholtz equations. These solutions are valid for a
wide variety of media, such as some semiconductors, doped glasses and non-linear
polymers. Different types of solution classes have been obtained, including
hyperbolic (exponentially localized), algebraic (with power-law asymptotics),
amplitude-kink (where the intensity varies monotonically), and spatially-extended
(such as trigonometric and cnoidal) waves. Exact analytical solutions have also been
obtained in the presence of some higher-order effects - for example, gain/absorption
and saturation of the non-linear refractive index.
Helmholtz solitons are found to exhibit generic features (such as angular
beam broadening), and they reduce to their paraxial counterparts when an
appropriate multiple limit (defining rigorously a paraxial beam) is enforced. Each new solution has been tested under a numerical perturbative analysis that examines
its stability. Helmholtz solitons have been classified largely as robust attractors, in a
non-linear dynamical sense, and this stability is crucial if they are to be exploited
successfully in practical applications.


A semi-empirical procedure has been developed for predicting erosion rates in pipe geometries, such as elbows and tees. The procedure can be used to estimate safe operating conditions and velocities in oil and gas production where sand is present. In the proposed procedure, a concept is introduced that allows determination of erosion rate for different pipe geometries. In the procedure, based on empirical observations, the erosion rate is related to the impact velocity of sand particles on a pipe fitting wall. A simplified particle tracking model is developed and is used to estimate the impact velocity of sand particles moving in a stagnation region near the pipe wall. A new concept of equivalent stagnation length allows the simplified procedure to be applicable to actual pipe geometries. The equivalent stagnation regions'' of an elbow and a tee geometry of different sizes are obtained from experimental data for small pipe diameters, and a computational model is used to extend the procedure to larger pipe diameters. Currently, the prediction method applies to mild steel and accounts for the effects of sand size, shape, and density; fluid density, viscosity, and flow speed; and pipe size and shape. The proposed method has been verified formore » gas and liquid flows through several comparisons with experimental data reported in the literature. The results of the model accurately predict the effects of sand size and fluid viscosity observed in the experiments. Furthermore, predicted erosion rates showed good agreement with experimental data for gas, liquid, and gas-liquid flows in several 50.8-mm (2-in.) elbows and tees.« less


Research shows that students have problems understanding thermodynamic concepts and that a gap exists at the tertiary level related to more specific chemistry concepts such as enthalpy. Therefore, the aim of this study is to construct undergraduate students' conceptions of enthalpy, its change and related concepts. Three explorative small-scale studies were conducted at two Swedish universities. Questionnaires, exam questions, hand-ins and interviews covered a range of issues from chemical thermodynamics in general to specific questions about enthalpy and its change, internal energy and its change, heat and work. Data were analysed iteratively and qualitative categories were constructed (F1–F2, F4–F9). The underlying conceptions indicate that constant pressure is explicitly expressed but disregarded as the answer is given (F1), that work is described as mechanical work (F2), that enthalpy is used as a form of energy (F4), and that enthalpy is used for enthalpy change and vice versa (F5). The logical conceptions indicate that molar enthalpy determines the heat given off by a reaction and not the path taken (F6), that constant pressure/constant volume and the definition of enthalpy change are problematic (F7), that students argue for the case when ΔH = ΔU instead of ΔH = q (F8), and that there are different ways to interpret the given tasks (F9). This study offers insight into the way students use enthalpy and its change when arguing and solving qualitative tasks. How the categories may be used as well as other implications for teaching and research are addressed in this paper.


Sale of products with a probabilistic nature, where customers do not know which product they will receive at the time of service, has become popular over the recent years. In the revenue management literature, there has been a growing interest in understanding these modern approaches using analytical techniques. On the other hand, customer-centric revenue management has been replacing the long-standing inventory-centric approach because of the availability of rich data sets by focusing on understanding and predicting customer behavior and then optimizing price and/or quantity related decisions. In this dissertation, we take a customer-centric approach and do not only provide analytical results, but also empirically investigate how customers make their decisions, which is crucial in order to implement appropriate strategies. We first focus on an innovative hotel revenue management practice called standby upgrades, i.e., a practice where the guest is only charged for the discounted upgrade if it is available at the time of arrival. In particular, Chapter 2 discusses how to optimally price standby upgrades and evaluates their benefits through an analytical model. Chapter 3 uses a major hotel chain's booking and standby upgrades data to investigate the extent of strategic guest behavior through empirical analysis. Then, we focus on another innovative revenue management practice, but in the mega event industry, called team-specific ticket options. Chapter 4 studies fans' decision-making process for the 2015 College Football season using a unique data set.


This paper presents the development of an efficient and numerically stable algorithm for accurately computing the eigensolutions of the quadratic real symmetric eigenproblem arising in the finite dynamic element (FDE) formulation. Closely related to the subspace forward iteration method, the proposed scheme is well suited to extracting the lowest natural frequencies and associated mode shapes of large practical eigenproblems, takes full advantage of the banded configuration of the stiffness, inertia and dynamic correction matrices involved in the eigenproblem and ensures a monotonic convergence from above to the required eigenpairs. A shifting technique for convergence acceleration and an eigenpair verification scheme are also presented. Numerical examples are shown demonstrating the excellent performance of the solution procedure.


MicroRNAs (miRNA) can act as oncogenes or tumor suppressors and modulate the expression of approximately one third of all human genes. To test the hypothesis that adverse alleles in miRNA-related genes may increase the risk for esophageal cancer, we assessed the associations between esophageal cancer risk and 41 potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in 26 miRNA-related genes in a case-control study of 346 Caucasian esophageal cancer patients (85.5% with esophageal adenocarcinoma) and 346 frequency-matched (age, gender, and ethnicity) controls. Seven SNPs were significantly associated with esophageal cancer risk. The most notable finding was that the SNP rs6505162, which is located in the pre-mir423 region, was associated with a per-allele odds ratio of 0.64 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.51-0.80; P for trend < 0.0001]. This association remained significant after we corrected for multiple comparisons. A common haplotype of the GEMIN4 gene was associated with a significantly reduced risk of esophageal cancer (odds ratio, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.42-0.99). We did a combined unfavorable genotype analysis to further evaluate the cumulative effects of the promising (risk associated) SNPs. In comparison with the low-risk group (fewer than three unfavorable genotypes), the medium-risk group (three unfavorable genotypes) had a 2.00-fold (95% CI, 1.31-3.08) increased risk and the high-risk group (more than three unfavorable genotypes) had a 3.14-fold (95% CI, 2.03-4.85) increased risk (P for trend < 0.0001). Results for the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma were similar to the overall risk results. The present study provides the first evidence that miRNAs may affect esophageal cancer risk in general and that specific genetic variants in miRNA-related genes may affect esophageal cancer risk individually and jointly.


The formation of the historical city texture of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, began during the Lusignan Period. St. Sophia Cathedral and St. Catherine Church, which have an important place in the formation of the texture, are two of the few works of art still surviving today. Being a period of destruction for the city, in general, The Venetian Period provided the city walls to Nicosia which still surround the historical texture. The Ottoman Period brought a change to the historical city texture and Islamic culture and Turkish Architectural construction style replaced the Christian cultures. A number of architectural works from this period, still existing within the walled city of Nicosia, provided a great contribution to the formation and development of the present day texture, as well as for its sustainability. The British Period is one which brought novelty to the city texture of Nicosia. With demolition of historical works and changes in the street and square dimensions, British Colonial Architecture displays the traces of the recent past. The administrative buildings constructed in place of the demolished Lusignan Palace, still serve at present. With the beginning of the Period of the Republic in 1960, Nicosia underwent a fast process of development as an important capital in the Middle East. The traditional visuality in the city texture left its place to contemporary constructions and formations. The inter-communal conflicts, which started in 1964 on the other hand, negatively affected the formation and development of the city texture, and there was a period of stagnation until the 70s. The new developments observed since the 70s and the insufficiency of precautions to protect historical texture, caused a deterioration the city texture. With the position of an open-air museum, Nicosia with its history of over twenty-five centuries has a very rich historical city texture with the legacies of various cultures which reigned over Cyprus and is sustainable in the present, and is therefore an important cultural and touristic center


OBJECTIVES
Life expectancy is determined by a combination of genetic predisposition (~25%) and environmental influences (~75%). Nevertheless a stronger genetic influence is anticipated in long-living individuals. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene belongs among the most studied candidate genes of longevity. We evaluated the relation of APOE polymorphism and fitness status in the elderly.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We examined a total number of 128 subjects, over 80 years of age. Using a battery of functional tests their fitness status was assessed and the subjects were stratified into 5 functional categories according to Spirduso´s classification. Biochemistry analysis was performed by enzymatic method using automated analyzers. APOE gene polymorphism was analysed performed using PCR-RFLP.

RESULTS
APOE4 allele carriers had significantly worse fitness status compared to non-carriers (p=0.025). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed the APOE4 carriers had higher risk (p=0.05) of functional unfitness compared to APOE2/E3 individuals.

CONCLUSIONS
APOE gene polymorphism seems be an important genetic contributor to frailty development in the elderly. While APOE2 carriers tend to remain functionally fit till higher age, the functional status of APOE4 carriers deteriorates more rapidly.


As deep nets are increasingly used in applications suited for mobile devices, a fundamental dilemma becomes apparent: the trend in deep learning is to grow models to absorb ever-increasing data set sizes; however mobile devices are designed with very little memory and cannot store such large models. We present a novel network architecture, HashedNets, that exploits inherent redundancy in neural networks to achieve drastic reductions in model sizes. HashedNets uses a low-cost hash function to randomly group connection weights into hash buckets, and all connections within the same hash bucket share a single parameter value. These parameters are tuned to adjust to the HashedNets weight sharing architecture with standard backprop during training. Our hashing procedure introduces no additional memory overhead, and we demonstrate on several benchmark data sets that HashedNets shrink the storage requirements of neural networks substantially while mostly preserving generalization performance.


Multicopters are among the most versatile mobile robots. Their applications range from inspection and mapping tasks to providing vital reconnaissance in disaster zones and to package delivery. The range, endurance, and speed a multirotor vehicle can achieve while performing its task is a decisive factor not only for vehicle design and mission planning, but also for policy makers deciding on the rules and regulations for aerial robots. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this work proposes the first approach to estimate the range, endurance, and optimal flight speed for a wide variety of multicopters. This advance is made possible by combining a state-of-the-art first-principles aerodynamic multicopter model based on blade-element-momentum theory with an electric-motor model and a graybox battery model. This model predicts the cell voltage with only 1.3% relative error ($43.1\, {\mathrm mV}$), even if the battery is subjected to non-constant discharge rates. Our approach is validated with real-world experiments on a test bench as well as with flights at speeds up to $65\, {\mathrm km}/{\mathrm h}$ in one of the world's largest motion-capture systems. We also present an accurate pen-and-paper algorithm to estimate the range, endurance and optimal speed of multicopters to help future researchers build drones with maximal range and endurance, ensuring that future multirotor vehicles are even more versatile.


A cylindrical sample of a tremolite-dolomite marble was used as starting material for a long-term experiment of 184 days at 581 °C and a CO2–H2O-fluid pressure of 100 MPa. The fluid, which was always present in excess, had a composition in the range of XCO2 = 0.21−0.37. During the run forsterite and magnesian calcite formed both within the rock sample as well as on its cylindrical surface. In areas where a tremolite crystal was exposed on the sample surface a 400–500 μm thick forsterite – magnesian calcite reaction rim evolved with a composition of 58 ± 2 mol% forsterite and 42 ± 2 mol% calcite. The dolomite areas of the surface of the rock cylinder are similarly covered by a reaction rim of forsterite plus magnesian calcite. This ca . 300 μm thick rim, however, is composed of 28 ± 5 mol% of forsterite and 72 ± 5 mol% of calcite. From the different compositions of the reaction rims we conclude that the well-known overall reaction: 1 tremolite + 11 dolomite ⇔ 8 forsterite + 13 calcite + 9 CO2 + 1 H2O occurs via the following two partial reactions: (1) 1 tremolite + 2 CO2 + 21 H2O ⇔ 2.5 forsterite + 2 calcite + 5.5 Si(OH)4 · 2 H2O and (2) 11 dolomite + 5.5 Si(OH)4 · 2 H2O ⇔ 5.5 forsterite +11 calcite + 11 CO2 + 22 H2O. All three equations are slightly simplified, because they assume the formation of pure instead of magnesian calcite. The derived partial reactions, which occur as expected via dissolution-transport-precipitation mechanisms, are sequential reactions; they are linked by the production, diffusion, and consumption of the component Si(OH)4 · 2 H2O. In contrast to the two kinds of rims on the rock cylinder's surface, only one combined forsterite – magnesian calcite reaction rim was formed between tremolite and dolomite in the interior of the sample. The formation of this reaction rim can be explained by a combination of the two partial reactions given above. For the formation of forsterite plus magnesian calcite on the surface of the rock cylinder we come from an interpretation of the experimental results to the conclusion that the diffusion of the component Si(OH)4 · 2 H2O through the forsterite – calcite reaction rim that developed on dolomite is the rate-controlling step in the sequence of the two partial reactions given above. For the formation of forsterite plus calcite within the rock sample it is not possible to derive a rate-controlling step for the overall reaction, because of different diffusion paths of the reaction fluid and the components dissolved in it. The observed partial reactions are crucial for deciphering the formation of the various textures of forsterite – calcite –dolomite (−tremolite) assemblages developed in metamorphic siliceous dolomites. The magnesian calcites of the reaction rims have different compositions, which all deviate considerably from the equilibrium composition according to the calcite-dolomite solid solution. This result sheds light on the difficulty to attain equilibrium between the reactant dolomite and the product magnesian calcite. The consequences of the observed disequilibrium for the calcite–dolomite geothermometry are discussed.


Background and Aims: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most common disorders in primary school children, which affects their motor, educational, and psychological functioning. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effect of rhythmic motor games on motor proficiency, aggression, and academic achievement in children with hyperactivity/attention deficit. Materials and Methods: The present study was an experimental and pre-test post-test design. A total of 40 children, aged 8 and 9, with hyperactivity/attention deficits participated in the study from among the second and third grade students of Poldokhtar city. First, students were identified using the Conners Questionnaire for parenting forms and clinical interviews. Then, to assess motor proficiency, aggression, and academic achievement tests, we used the short form of Bruininks-Oseretsky test 2 version (bot-2), Aggression Scale Shahim, and the participants' average scores for Mathematics, Science, and Farsi courses, respectively. Results: Statistical analyses showed that rhythmic motor games had a significant positive effect on motor proficiency (P = 0.001, F=189.3), aggression (P = 0.001, F=6/10), and academic achievement (P=0.004, F =4/30) in children with hyperactivity/deficiency (P>0.05). Conclusion: Regarding the attractiveness and the variety of motor games, it is suggested that teachers and rehabilitation trainers use these music, lyrics, and songs to increase the skillfulness of motor, aggression, and academic achievement in children with hyperactivity/attention Disorder.


This study examines the relationship between educational effectiveness, as measured by the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), and funding of school districts based on socioeconomic classification. Results indicate there is a strong relationship between performance in HSPA, socioeconomic classification, and the different sources of funding. Total cost per student for lower socioeconomic schools is not significantly different from that for higher socioeconomic schools. Higher socioeconomic status, however, leads to lower per student cost for administration, for operations, and for food services. Higher socioeconomic status also leads to higher per student cost for extracurricular activities and salaries.


A comprehensive, self-contained survey of the theory and applications of differential games, one of the most commonly used tools for modelling and analysing economics and management problems which are characterised by both multiperiod and strategic decision making. Although no prior knowledge of game theory is required, a basic knowledge of linear algebra, ordinary differential equations, mathematical programming and probability theory is necessary. Part One presents the theory of differential games, starting with the basic concepts of game theory and going on to cover control theoretic models, Markovian equilibria with simultaneous play, differential games with hierarchical play, trigger strategy equilibria, differential games with special structures, and stochastic differential games. Part Two offers applications to capital accumulation games, industrial organization and oligopoly games, marketing, resources and environmental economics.


Diabetic nephropathy is the commonest cause of end-stage renal disease. Inordinate kidney growth and glomerular hyperfiltration at the very early stages of diabetes are putative antecedents to this disease. The kidney is the only organ that grows larger with the onset of diabetes mellitus, yet there remains confusion about the mechanism and significance of this growth. Here we show that kidney proximal tubule cells in culture transition to senescence in response to oxidative stress. We further determine the temporal expression of G(1) phase cell cycle components in rat kidney cortex at days 4 and 10 of streptozotocin diabetes to evaluate changes in this growth response. In diabetic rats we observe increases in kidney weight-to-body weight ratios correlating with increases in expression of the growth-related proteins in the kidney at day 4 after induction of diabetes. However, at day 10 we find a decrease in this profile in diabetic animals coincident with increased cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor expressions. We observe no change in caspase-3 expression in the diabetic kidneys at these early time points; however, diabetic animals demonstrate reduced kidney connexin 43 and increased plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 expressions and increased senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity in cortical tubules. In summary, diabetic kidneys exhibit an early temporal induction of growth phase components followed by their suppression concurrent with the induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors and markers of senescence. These data delineate a phenotypic change in cortical tubules early in the pathogenesis of diabetes that may contribute to further downstream complications of the disease.


In the course of transition, the role of household plots in agricultural production in Ukraine has grown substantially in importance. The key reason for this is the integration of household plots into large agricultural enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic efficiency of household plots. In addition, the paper aims at testing whether economic theory is able to explain the behaviour of households in this regard. Two important characteristics in the evolution of household plots' in Ukraine have been identified. One is the integration of household plots into large agricultural enterprises. This improves the efficiency of these plots through access to inputs. The other is that about 22.4 % of household plots farmers, who also worked in the large agricultural enterprises are planning to expand their operation. Although the theories presented in the paper greatly contribute to the explanation of household plots' behaviour, more research must be done to better explain the reasons for households' economic activity.


Abstract 3326

Introduction: TAK-442 is an oral direct factor Xa (fXa) inhibitor currently in clinical development for the prevention of venous and arterial thromboembolism. Pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) modeling is a powerful tool for predicting efficacy and safety in drug development programs. The derivation of PK-PD exposure metrics in patients allows exploration of the key descriptors of the clinical response and can lead to more informed dose selection. The development of PK-PD models using response biomarkers relevant to anticoagulation (e.g., prothrombin time [PT] and fXa inhibition) may predict the antithrombotic effects of the drug in this patient population.

Methods: Population PK-PD methods (non-linear mixed effects modeling program) were used to derive individual exposure parameters, such as area under the plasma concentration time curve (AUC), maximum concentration (Cmax) and minimum concentration at the end of a dose interval (Cmin) and the corresponding PD parameters (PT and fXa inhibition) for all patients receiving TAK-442 in a Phase II dose ranging trial. Patients received 40 or 80 mg p.o. once daily or 10, 20, 40, or 80 mg p.o. twice daily (n=150 per group) for thromboprophylaxis after elective total knee arthroplasty. Logistical regression analysis was used to explore the relationships between the derived PK-PD exposure metrics and the primary efficacy (composite of all-cause mortality, symptomatic and asymptomatic deep vein thrombosis [DVT], and symptomatic pulmonary embolism [PE]) and safety endpoints (combined major, minor, and clinically significant non-major bleeding events).

Results: The PK of TAK-442 were found to be linear over the dose range studied, with no significant time dependencies. The logistical regression analysis identified significant relationships between increasing exposure and a decrease in the probability of the primary efficacy endpoint, with the strongest relationships observed for Cmax and AUC (P-value of ≤0.001 and 0.03, respectively) and fXa inhibition Emax (P-value of ≤0.001). For every 100 ng/mL increase in Cmax, the odds of having a composite efficacy event were reduced by 10.1% (odds ratio=0.899, 95% confidence interval=0.843, 0.958). In contrast, exploration of the safety endpoint for bleeding did not identify any significant relationships between any of the exposure metrics (Cmax, Cmin, and AUC) or the corresponding PD metrics for fXa inhibition or PT.

Conclusions: The PK and PD of TAK-442 in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty were found to be dose-dependent and predictable. Significant relationships were identified between the PK and PD exposure metrics and the reduction in the primary efficacy endpoint. At the dose ranges studied, no relationship was found between any of the PK-PD exposure metrics and the bleeding endpoint. In conclusion, key predictors of clinical efficacy were identified, whereas no exposure metrics correlated with increased bleeding events.

Disclosures: Stringer: Takeda Global Research & Development Centre, Ltd.: Employment. Ploeger: Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc.: Consultancy. Wood: Takeda Global Research & Development Centre, Ltd.: Employment. Moneuse: Takeda Global Research & Development Centre, Ltd.: Employment. Kawamura: Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc.: Employment. Kupfer: Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc.: Employment. Spaeder: Takeda Pharmaceuticals International: Employment. Scott: Takeda Global Research & Development Centre, Ltd.: Employment.


As the University of Hertfordshire (UH) moves towards its goal of 15% distance learning by 2015, it has become increasingly important to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and expectations of our growing population of distance learners, and how these compare to the institutional agenda. The purpose of our research is to analyse and compare student, staff and institutional views and expectations of distance learning programmes in three different Schools: School of Law, Business School and School of Computer Science. These Schools have adopted different models of study and support. Their programmes attract a diverse population of learners from across the globe; these include those living close to the University and juggling paid work with study, ex-pats, new graduates looking to enhance their CVs and international students seeking a UK qualification. The focus of this paper is on student views, and our findings are supported with quantitative and qualitative data from student surveys (N=89). The results confirm findings from the literature with regards to the importance of flexibility and timemanagement for online distance learners, but they also indicate some additional implications for learning designs and institutional processes related to Online Distance Learning (ODL), such as further customization of learning designs for specific types of learners, increased 'tutor presence' and more opportunities for social inclusion of distance learning students into the wider university.


Abstract Network scholars commonly encounter multiple networks, each of which is possibly governed by distinct generation rules while sharing a node group structure. Although the stochastic blockmodeling—detecting such latent group structures with group-specific connection profiles—has been a major topic of recent research, the focus has been given to the assortative group discovery of a single network. Despite its universality, concepts, and techniques for simultaneous characterization of node traits of multilayer networks, constructed by stacking multiple networks into layers, have been limited. Here, we propose a Bayesian multilayer stochastic blockmodeling framework that uncovers layer-common node traits and factors associated with layer-specific network generating functions. Without assuming a priori layer-specific generation rules, our fully Bayesian treatment allows probabilistic inference of latent traits. We extend the approach to detect changes in block structures embedded in temporal layers of network time series. We demonstrate the method using synthetic multilayer networks with assortative, disassortative, core-periphery, and overlapping community structures. Finally, we apply the method to empirical social network datasets, and find that it detects significant latent traits and structural changepoints. In particular, we uncover endogenous historical regimes associated with distinct constellations of states in United States Senate roll call vote similarity patterns.


Objective To compare the effectiveness of insulin pumps with multiple daily injections for adults with type 1 diabetes, with both groups receiving equivalent training in flexible insulin treatment. Design Pragmatic, multicentre, open label, parallel group, cluster randomised controlled trial (Relative Effectiveness of Pumps Over MDI and Structured Education (REPOSE) trial). Setting Eight secondary care centres in England and Scotland. Participants Adults with type 1 diabetes who were willing to undertake intensive insulin treatment, with no preference for pumps or multiple daily injections. Participants were allocated a place on established group training courses that taught flexible intensive insulin treatment ("dose adjustment for normal eating," DAFNE). The course groups (the clusters) were then randomly allocated in pairs to either pump or multiple daily injections. Interventions Participants attended training in flexible insulin treatment (using insulin analogues) structured around the use of pump or injections, followed for two years. Main outcome measures The primary outcomes were a change in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values (%) at two years in participants with baseline HbA1c value of ≥7.5% (58 mmol/mol), and the proportion of participants achieving an HbA1c value of <7.5%. Secondary outcomes included body weight, insulin dose, and episodes of moderate and severe hypoglycaemia. Ancillary outcomes included quality of life and treatment satisfaction. Results 317 participants (46 courses) were randomised (156 pump and 161 injections). 267 attended courses and 260 were included in the intention to treat analysis, of which 235 (119 pump and 116 injection) had baseline HbA1c values of ≥7.5%. Glycaemic control and rates of severe hypoglycaemia improved in both groups. The mean change in HbA1c at two years was −0.85% with pump treatment and −0.42% with multiple daily injections. Adjusting for course, centre, age, sex, and accounting for missing values, the difference was −0.24% (−2.7 mmol/mol) in favour of pump users (95% confidence interval −0.53 to 0.05, P=0.10). Most psychosocial measures showed no difference, but pump users showed greater improvement in treatment satisfaction and some quality of life domains (dietary freedom and daily hassle) at 12 and 24 months. Conclusions Both groups showed clinically relevant and long lasting decreases in HbA1c, rates of severe hypoglycaemia, and improved psychological measures, although few participants achieved glucose levels currently recommended by national and international guidelines. Adding pump treatment to structured training in flexible intensive insulin treatment did not substantially enhance educational benefits on glycaemic control, hypoglycaemia, or psychosocial outcomes in adults with type 1 diabetes. These results do not support a policy of providing insulin pumps to adults with poor glycaemic control until the effects of training on participants' level of engagement in intensive self management have been determined. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN61215213.


Three papers explore the function of mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX) in tobacco plant cells. Plants can divert electron flow to oxygen from the cytochrome (cyt.) pathway through the AOX pathway. The AOX pathway does not contribute to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis, but does decrease the production of reactive oxygen species. Robson and Vanlerberghe determined that cells in which AOX was inhibited by antisense (AOXi) were more sensitive to stimuli that produce programmed cell death than were wild-type tobacco cells. Peroxide and salicylic acid treatment led to long-term loss of culture viability, inhibition of mitochondrial and cellular respiration, release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, and DNA laddering in the AOXi cells. Wild-type cells showed less inhibition of respiration and only transient decrease in culture viability, which was not associated with release of cytochrome c or DNA laddering. Thus, loss of the AOX respiratory pathway causes plant cells to be more likely to undergo programmed cell death. In a second paper, Vanlerberghe et al. compared how wild-type cells and AOXi cells responded to inhibition of the cyt. respiratory pathway. The AOXi cells lost viability in response to inhibition of the cyt. pathway at much lower concentrations of cysteine and had complete loss of respiration compared with wild-type cells, which maintained respiration through increased synthesis of AOX and diversion of electron transport and oxygen consumption through the AOX pathway. The AOXi cells underwent programmed cell death based on the appearance of DNA laddering in response to inhibition of cyt. respiration. The induction of AOX represents a pathway that allows communication between the mitochondria and the nucleus (AOX is encoded by a nuclear gene) to protect cells under conditions of respiratory stress. The final paper (Ordog et al.) analyzed wild-type and transgenic tobacco plants for AOX (overexpression of AOX or inhibition of AOX) and found that the plants responded normally to tobacco mosiac virus infection, suggesting that AOX induction is not essential for plant viral resistance and programmed cell death associated with infection. C. A. Robson, G. C. Vanlerberghe, Transgenic plant cells lacking mitochondrial alternative oxidase have increased susceptibility to mitochondria-dependent and -independent pathways of programmed cell death. Plant Physiol. 129, 1908-1920 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] G. C. Vanlerberghe, C. A. Tobson, J. Y. H. Yip, Induction of mitochondrial alternative oxidase in response to a cell signal pathway down-regulating the cytochrome pathway prevents programmed cell death. Plant Physiol. 129, 1829-1842 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] S. H. Ordog, V. J. Higgins, G. C. Vanlerberghe, Mitochondrial alternative oxidase is not a critical component of plant viral resistance but may play a role in the hypersensitive response. Plant Physiol. 129, 1858-1865 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The Penman–Monteith equation (FAO-56) is accepted as the standard model for estimating reference evapotranspiration (ETo). However, the major obstacle to using FAO-56 widely is that it requires numerous climatic data. The Hargreaves–Samani (HS) method is frequently used for the calculation of ETo since it is based on measurements of daily minimum and maximum air temperature alone. Those are commonly recorded at many meteorological stations throughout the world. It is the objective of this paper to evaluate the quality of HS and calibrate the coefficients of this method for different climates as represented by the Koppen classification. Estimated values are compared with Penman–Monteith ETo values in terms of the coefficient of efficiency C eff as well as the root mean square error, the mean absolute error and the Bayes information criterion. The Penman–Monteith equation for ETo (FAO-56) is based on physics and known to provide best estimates of ETo. The results of our work show that the correlation between long-term monthly means of HS and FAO-56 can be improved significantly by introducing climate-class specific coefficients.