A well-developed party system has emerged in Estonia over the decades of independence. There are, however, distinct geographical patterns of voting. A number of new political parties have appeared in the country; the regional and ethnic patterns of voting (the latter matter much in Estonia) have changed dramatically. This study aims to analyse the recent changes in the Estonian party system as well as the causes of these changes and the effect of the ethnic and geographical factors on the transformation of the electoral behaviour of Estonian citizens. The research employs a systemic approach that makes it possible to solve the agent–structure problem to the benefit of the general structure and integral system of Estonia's party scene. The method of comparative systemic analysis is used alongside those adopted in electoral geography. It is concluded that the effect of the ethnic and geographical factors on electoral behaviour is diminishing as a civil society based on civic rather than ethnic principles is emerging in the country. The main drivers of the change are the formation of new parties and coalition-building — both have an immediate effect on how the image of the parties is perceived by voters.


Many judges are minimalists. They favor rulings that are narrow, in the sense that they govern only the circumstances of the particular case, and also shallow, in the sense that they do not accept a deep theory of the legal provision at issue. In law, narrow and shallow decisions have real advantages insofar as they reduce both decision costs and error costs; make space for democratic engagement on fundamental questions; and reflect a norm of civic respect. In many cases, however, minimalism is hard to justify in these ways. Sometimes small steps increase the aggregate costs of decisions; sometimes they produce large errors, especially when they export decision-making burdens to fallible people. Predictability is an important variable, and minimalist decisions can compromise predictability. Sometimes large, nonminimalist steps serve democratic values and do not compromise the norm of civic respect. It follows that the justifications for minimalism are unconvincing in many contexts. The debate between minimalists and their adversaries is closely related to the debate between those who prefer standards and those who prefer rules, though there are some important differences.


This practical and informative text lays out the product of a number of years of clinical research into suicide behaviour and its prevention. While the focus is on non-affective psychosis and the schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, the mechanisms underlying suicide behaviour in this group may well underlie or at least influence suicide behaviour in other disorders. The authors describe methods of assessment through individual formulation, and a cognitive behavioural intervention through case studies, to reduce the risk of suicide.This book argues that:� Suicide behaviour lies on a cognitive-behavioural continuum from ideation, through intention to action. � Mechanisms based on biased information processing systems, the development of suicide schema, and appraisal styles are likely to be fruitful in explaining suicidal thoughts and behaviours.� A psychological theory of suicide behaviour is needed in order to develop a mechanism of suicide and to understand the components of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.� Suicide risk can be reduced through the use of the intervention methods described within the text Cognitive Behavioural Prevention of Suicide in Psychosis evaluates practical applications of contemporary research on this topic, and will therefore be of interest to practitioners, post-graduates in training, and researchers studying suicide and/or psychosis.


Abstract:
 Siliciclastic sediments of the Ediacaran Period contain exceptionally preserved fossils of macroscopic organisms, including three-dimensional casts and molds commonly found in sandstones and siltstones and some two-dimensional compressions reported in shales. The sporadic and variable associations of these exceptionally preserved macroscopic fossils with pyrite, clay minerals, and microbial fossils and textures complicate our understanding of fossilization processes. This hinders inferences about the evolutionary histories, tissue types, original morphologies, and lifestyles of the enigmatic Ediacara biota. Here, we investigate the delayed decay of scallop muscles buried in quartz sand or kaolinite for 45 days. This process occurs in the presence of microbial activity in mixed redox environments, but in the absence of thick, sealing microbial mats. Microbial processes that mediate organic decay and release the highest concentrations of silica and Fe(II) into the pore fluids are associated with the most extensive tissue decay. Delayed decay and the preservation of thick muscles in sand are associated with less intense microbial iron reduction and the precipitation of iron oxides and iron sulfides that contain Fe(II) or Fe(III). In contrast, muscles buried in kaolinite are coated only by <10 µm-thick clay veneers composed of kaolinite grains and newly formed K- and Fe(II)-rich aluminosilicate phases. Muscles that undergo delayed decay in kaolinite lose more mass relative to the muscles buried in sand and undergo vertical collapse. These findings show that the composition of minerals that coat or precipitate within the tissues and the vertical dimension of the preserved features can depend on the type of sediment that buries the muscles. Similar processes in the zone of oscillating redox likely facilitated the formation of exceptionally preserved macrofossils in Ediacaran siliciclastic sediments.


This article is a systematic review of work in the computing education literature on plagiarism. The goal of the review is to summarize the main results found in the literature and highlight areas that need further work. Despite the the large body of work on plagiarism, no systematic reviews have been published so far. The reviewed papers were categorized and analyzed using a theoretical framework from the field of Fraud Deterrence named the Fraud Triangle. According to this framework, fraudulent behavior occurs when the person is under pressure, perceives the availability of an opportunity to commit fraud, and rationalizes the fraudulent behavior in a way that makes it seem not unethical to him or her. The review found the largest amount of the reviewed papers to discuss ways for reducing the opportunity to plagiarize, as well as tools for detecting plagiarism. However, there is a clear lack of empirical work evaluating the deterrent efficacy of these strategies and tools. The reviewed papers also included mentions of a wide range of rationalizations used by computing students when justifying plagiarism, the most important of which are rationalizations that stem from confusion about what constitutes plagiarism. Finally, work on the relationship between pressure in computing courses and plagiarism was found to be very scarce and incommensurate with the significant contribution of this factor to plagiarism.


In the USA, civic involvement in adolescence includes political and nonpolitical activities. Given that identities can motivate behavior, how do political and moral identities relate to civic activity choices? In this study, high school students (N = 1578) were surveyed about their political and nonpolitical civic actions and their moral and political identities. Overall, students were more involved in service than they were in political activities. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to investigate the relation between identity and involvement, controlling for known correlates of involvement: sex, ethnicity, parent education, peer civic engagement, parent civic engagement and school civic opportunities. Moral and political identity were positively related to overall involvement. Political identity was positively related to political involvement, but was not related to nonpolitical service. Moral identity was positively related to service and expressive-political involvement, but negatively related to traditional-political involvement. Findings are discussed in light of civic and moral education initiatives.


With the aim at stimulating the consumption of natural food from the Brazilian Cerrado (vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil), the contens of moisture, lipid, protein, carbohydrate, ash, fiber, minerals, and main carotenoids were determinated in the bocaiuva Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. pulp. The edible portion of the fruit (pulp and kernel) corresponded to 50% of the whole fruit. The pulp presented 52.99% of moisture, 8.14% of total lipids, 1.5% of protein, 22.08% of carbohydrates, 1.51% of ash, and 13.76% of fiber. The energetic value was estimated to be 167.67 kcal.100 g-1 of wet pulp, which is higher than the other fruits from this region. Among the minerals examined, potassium was the element in higher concentrations (766.37 ± 18.36 mg.100 g-1) followed by calcium (61.96 ± 2.30 mg.100 g-1) and copper (36.70 ± 0.0 mg.100 g-1). The bocaiuva pulp may be classified as a rich source of copper for children, as a source of zinc and potassium for children, and as a source of copper and potassium for adults according to the dietary recommendation intake of those minerals. The bocaiuva pulp can be considered as rich in β-carotene (49.0 ± 2.0 µg.g-1 of integral pulp), the predominant carotenoid identified in the pulp, which can contribute to the enrichment of the regional diet, in supplementary diet programs, as a natural source of that nutrient as well as of vitamin A, copper, potassium and zinc minerals.


Aim and Purpose: The purpose of this study is to reveal whether the patients with femoral or tibial shaft fracture and traumatic head injuries accelerates callus formation, as well as fracture union periods. In advance, it allows orthopedic surgeons to predict earlier fracture union period and reassure the patients and their family.
Methods: 291 patients who underwent closed reduction and intramedullary nail fixation for the femoral or tibial shaft fractures and followed up at least 1 year were analyzed retrospectively. Callus formation and fracture union were quantified by serial radiographic images. The level of consciousness and Glasgow Coma Scale, location and severity of head injuries were evaluated by neurosurgeon at the time of admission. Cases were subdivided into two groups; group A consisted of the patients who had concomitant traumatic head injuries, and group B consisted of the patients who had not concomitant traumatic head injuries.
Results: The mean callus ratio and volume were significantly greater in group A than group B. The fracture union period was shorter in group A than group B. There was no statistically difference for gender and age between two groups. The level of consciousness, Glasgow coma scale, location and severity of head injuries, and experience of neurosurgical intervention were not significant factors in predicting the rate of bone healing and the extent of callus formation in group A.
Conclusion: Femoral or tibial shaft fractures with concomitant traumatic head injuries regardless of the severity or location of injuries were demonstrated to enhance bone healing with increased callus formation and decreased fracture union period. Orthopedic surgeons should evaluate traumatic head injuries prudently with assistance of neurosurgeons if needed even though the patient was alert consciousness state.


The automobile is the dominant travel mode throughout the U.S., while transit accounts for less than four-percent of market share. Between these principal modes, niche markets exist for other transportation services, such as transit feeder shuttles and carsharing. Commuter-based carsharing, in which individuals share a fleet of vehicles linked to transit, could potentially fill and expand one such niche, complement existing services, and develop into an economically viable transportation alternative. While most transit shuttles rely heavily upon governmental support, carsharing has the potential to become commercially sustainable. In 1999, the first U.S. smart commuter-based carsharing program-CarLink I-was launched in the East San Francisco Bay area. Positive program response led to the development of CarLink II-a larger, more in-depth exploration of the commuter model. Program differences include: an increase-from 12 to 27 vehicles; a shift from one employer to many; a move from the Dublin/Pleasanton region to the South San Francisco Bay area; integration of seamless carsharing technologies; and an emphasis on economic viability. This paper includes a description of the CarLink I field test results, from which CarLink II builds; an overview of the CarLink II pilot program; a discussion of the CarLink II research goals and study methodology; and an examination of CarLink's niche potential, as a complement to transit and feeder shuttles, in the South Bay.


The financial cost of mass incarceration has prompted states to pass legislation providing for early release of prisoners. Although early release laws are frequently in tension with principles underlying sentencing systems, most have been passed without any discussion of how they might be justified in theory. This lack of explicit theoretical foundation leaves the new laws vulnerable to criticism. By contrast, the American Law Institute's ongoing revision of the Model Penal Code: Sentencing has resulted in the development of three model sentence reduction provisions, each providing a means of reducing an already-imposed sentence based upon a distinctive theoretical justification. This Article discusses each provision and argues that by confronting many of the difficult structural and theoretical questions underlying the practice of early release, the Model Penal Code's sentence reduction proposals provide a framework for resolving normative concerns when designing ways to mitigate the severity of already-imposed sentences.


A series of 3,4-dihydro-9H-xanthen- 1 ,9(2H)-diones has been prepared by the condensation of 2-fluorobenzoyl chlorides with cyclohexane- I ,3-diones followed by Fries rearrangement and cyclisation of the intermediate 3-oxocyclohexenyl
2-fluorobenzoates.
Conversion to spim[ 1 ,2,3,4-tetrahydro-9H-xanthen- 1 ,2'-[ 1 ,3] -dioxolane] -9-one occurred on treatment of the xanthendione with ethane- 1 ,2-diol and trimethylsilyl chloride. 3,4-Dihydro-4-methyl-9H-xanthen- 1 ,9(2H)-dione has been synthesised by quenching the lithium dienolate of the ketal with iodomethane.
Conjugate reduction of the xanthendione has been accomplished using sodium borohydride in pyridine to give 1hydroxy-2,3,4,4a-tetrahydro-9H-Xanthen-9-one whose chemistry has been investigated.
Treatment of the xanthendione with tris(methylthio)methyllithium gave the 1,4-adduct. Subsequent mercuric ion catalysed solvolysis provided methyl 1 -hydroxy-2,3,4,4a-tetrahydro-9H-xanthen-9-one-4a-carboxylate which is the parent nng of the
secalonic acid series of natural products.
4a-Alkyl derivatives have been prepared in excellent yield from the xanthendione and organocyanocuprate reagents. The corresponding Grignard reagents displayed less selectivity in their mode of addition.
Reaction of the 1 -hydroxytetrahydroxanthones with hydroxylamine gave 4-substituted 6,7-dihydro-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-2, I -benzisoxazoles resulting from ring cleavage of the xanthone nucleus. Dehydrogenation of these systems with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone and with palladium on charcoal catalyst has been explored.
Treatment of 1 -hydroxy-2,3,4,4a-tetrahydro-9H-xanthen-9-ones with lithium diisopropylamide in tetrahydrofuran afforded dianions which provided an entry to 2-functionalised derivatives by quenching with electrophiles.
Acid catalysed treatment of 1hydroxy2,3,4,4a-tetrahydro-9H-xanthen-9-One gave 3,4-dihydro-9H-xanthen-9-one by way of a retro-Michael ring cleavage-bond switch operation. The substituted analogues behaved similarly, although the products were
dependent upon the nature of the substituents present.
The value of some 3,4-dihydro-9H-xanthen-9-ones as dienes in [4+21-cycloaddition reactions has been established with a variety of dienophiles.
The chemistry of some 2-(2-fluorobenzoyl)- I -hydroxy-2,3,4,4a-tetrahydroxanthones has been investigated. Treatment with DBU in toluene led to 4-(2-hydroxybenzoyl)- 9H-xanthen-9-ones, whereas with potassium carbonate in acetone novel 5H,13H-[l]benzopyrano[2,3 -ajxanthen -5, 1 3-diones were obtained. The mechanism of formation for these compounds is discussed.


The UK government aims to shift the balance between public (Pay-As-You-Go) and private (funded) pensions from 60:40 today to 40:60 by 2050 (UK DSS 1998). What is the economic rationale for this shift? Funding pensions may have a positive effect on economic growth and the long-term sustainability of the public finances, but such a move is only one of a menu of policies capable of achieving these outcomes. It follows that some other ratio between public and private provision would be possible, and there are a range of policy directions open to the government.


The indiscriminate use of antifungals has contributed to the change in the epidemiological profile of resistant fungi, increasing the mortality rate in affected patients. In Brazil, due to the absence of official data, there are no precise reports on the first detection of antifungal resistance. Among the causative agents of opportunistic mycoses, the most isolated species is Candida albicans, but other species such as Cryptococcus neoformans, Sporothrix schenckii and Aspergillus spp. have been described. This study aimed to highlight the progressive increase in resistance rates of opportunistic fungi to commonly used antifungals and to highlight the importance of knowing the sensitivity profile before the start of treatment, because the incorrect treatment of these infections aggravates therapeutic failures and leads to the remission of mycoses. A review of scientific literature was conducted based on the Bireme, Scielo, Pubmed and Google Academico database, using with descriptors: Candida albicans, Sporothrix schenckii, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus spp., opportunistic mycoses, resistance, resistance in opportunistic mycoses, resistance profile and fungal resistance in Brazil. They were searched in Portuguese, English and Spanish. With the increasing number of immunocompromised patients, the rates of opportunistic infections have increased. Opportunistic fungal pathogens belonging to these genera have been shown to be resistant to polyenes (amphotericin B), imidazole (ketoconazole, miconazole, econazole), flucitosin, triazole (voriconazole, fluconazole, itraconazole) and multiazoles in many studies. The inadequate use of some antifungals has contributed to the increase in incidence rates of opportunistic infections, especially by resistant strains, worsening the prognosis of these patients.


Most advanced democracies are thick with law and regulation, rules that structure almost all social and economic relationships. Yet ordinary Americans, unlike their peers in other advanced systems, face this law-thick landscape with relatively few legal resources at their disposal. In this chapter, an updated version of Hadfield Higher Demand Lower Supply? A Comparative Assessment of the Legal Resource Landscape for Ordinary Americans (2009), we document what little data exists on the performance of legal markets for non-corporate clients in the U.S. Our results suggest that while the U.S. has nearly twice as many lawyers as comparable countries on a per capita basis, Americans in fact confront the legal problems of daily life - housing, family, employment, finances, health - with relatively little access to affordable legal help. We begin with a 'macro' view, comparing the resources at an aggregate level that are devoted to the legal system in the U.S. as compared to other countries. We find that the U.S. operates with fewer public dollars, judges and even lawyers on a per case basis than other advanced countries. We then consider 'micro' data, specifically data on legal needs and use of legal resources, comparing the intensity of legal need and access to legal assistance across countries. Here too we find that Americans experience comparable rates of legal problems but both give up on those problems or manage them without legal help at higher rates than in other advanced countries. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the distinctively restrictive U.S. approach to regulating the legal profession can account for the diminished access to legal help experienced by Americans as compared to those in countries with more open legal markets such as the U.K. and the Netherlands.


Medication errors account for a significant number of medical errors. Giving medications to patients is an activity that carries a high risk of error. In an effort to improve patient safety in this area several approaches have been employed. Many of these have taken a systems approach in that they consider how organisational factors such as medicines management, staffing levels, ward layout, shift patterns and staff training have contributed to the errors. None of these studies describe errors in detailed form at task level. This Thesis addresses the gap in knowledge by presenting a systematic analysis of the component tasks of hospital drug administration where none exists and goes on to describe novel design artefacts that assist the identification of drugs. The thesis highlights how hierarchical task analysis, a human factors technique, can be applied to the hospital drug administration task. Task analysis techniques have been used in many high-risk domains in industry as a means of analysing human activity in complex systems but remains an underused technique in health care. Used with the Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA), hierarchical task analysis provides an effective way of predicting where errors in the drug administration task are likely to occur. SHERPA uses a taxonomy of human error modes to highlight types of error and makes suggestions to reduce these errors. Medication errors take many forms however it was decided to focus on the immediate interaction between the nurse and the patient. The measures considered to potentially have a significant influence were adding conspicuous labelling to medication packages. These were enhanced by icons intended to represent categories of drugs. Constructing a three dimensional representation of the icon design was considered to provide nurses with an additional channel of information. Technological solutions were proposed and a patient identity bracelet that uses a programmable chip to link the patient to their prescribed medication was viewed as having a huge potential to simplify the checking aspect of administering medications in which the nurse compares a medication order which is often badly written with available drug stock. The device prevents nurses giving medications to the wrong patient. It also prevents them administering an overdose. Table of


The development of the human built environment is an essential component to achieving and maintaining a sustainable society. Much has been done to develop tools, techniques and approaches for creating 'green' or 'sustainable' neighbourhoods yet they rarely demonstrate the capacity to address the wider socio-ecological requirements for achieving success. This paper studies the current approaches to green design and planning, proposes a new approach called Needs Based Design (NBD), and identifies the gaps that exist between the two. Results indicate that NBD is based on a firm foundation, is widely applicable, and can support and spur regional sustainable development initiatives and positive behaviour change within communities. It fills three major gaps identified in current green design by utilising systems thinking and a shared language and framework, and focusing on the needs of individuals within communities. Concerns exist, however, about its reliance on broad community participation and ongoing education. In theory, NBD allows project teams to implement their work within the context of a strategic sustainable development perspective. Recommended now is practical application and testing.


The Amazonas and San Martin regions in northeastern Peru compose a central part of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot, considered one of the highest conservation priorities worldwide. Many of the area's species have been identified as requiring urgent conservation measures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and International Primatological Society, as well as being protected under Peruvian law. In this study I present data about wildlife traffic and local wildlife use in Ama- zonas and San Martin, collected between April 2007 and December 2011. I highlight the trends in, and causes of, illegal trade. I examine the limitations on, and opportunities for, the authorities con- trolling these practices in the context of national and international pressures and the process of governmental decentralization. The most hunted orders were Psittaciformes (n = 1497) and Pri- mates (n = 279). Animals were mainly found in the hands of traffickers (57%), usually on the way from the neighbouring region of Loreto to the coast. Endangered species were mainly kept as tourist attractions in recreation centres, hotels, or restaurants. Wildlife authorities suffer from a severe lack of specialized personnel, resources and rescue centres, and an often contradictory and inadequate legal framework. I also found a great difference in operation and efficiency between the 2 regions, suggesting that local and regional politics, rather than international pressures and agreements, influence control of species extraction, making fauna in San Martin and Amazonas vulnerable to frequent political changes.


Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (HRL) is a promising approach to solving long-horizon problems with sparse and delayed rewards. Many existing HRL algorithms either use pre-trained low-level skills that are unadaptable, or require domain-specific information to define low-level rewards. In this paper, we aim to adapt low-level skills to downstream tasks while maintaining the generality of reward design. We propose an HRL framework which sets auxiliary rewards for low-level skill training based on the advantage function of the high-level policy. This auxiliary reward enables efficient, simultaneous learning of the high-level policy and low-level skills without using task-specific knowledge. In addition, we also theoretically prove that optimizing low-level skills with this auxiliary reward will increase the task return for the joint policy. Experimental results show that our algorithm dramatically outperforms other state-of-the-art HRL methods in Mujoco domains. We also find both low-level and high-level policies trained by our algorithm transferable.


Predictions of oil prices reaching $100 per barrel during the winter of 2021/22 have raised fears of persistently high inflation and rising inflation expectations for years to come. We show that these concerns have been overstated. A $100 oil scenario of the type discussed by many observers, would only briefly raise monthly headline inflation, before fading rather quickly. However, the short-run effects on headline inflation would be sizable. For example, on a year-over-year basis, headline PCE inflation would increase by 1.8 percentage points at the end of 2021 under this scenario, but only by 0.4 percentage points at the end of 2022. In contrast, the impact on measures of core inflation such as trimmed mean PCE inflation is only 0.4 and 0.3 percentage points in 2021 and 2022, respectively. These estimates already account for any increases in inflation expectations under the scenario. The peak response of the 1-year household inflation expectation would be 1.2 percentage points, while that of the 5-year expectation would be 0.2 percentage points.


TRAF-2 and NCK-interacting kinase (TNIK) is a serine–threonine kinase with a proposed role in Wnt/β-catenin and JNK pathways. Due to its implication in Wnt-mediated colorectal carcinogenesis, selective TNIK inhibition has emerged as an attractive anti-cancer therapeutic strategy. So far, only a few TNIK inhibitors have been described and none of them reached advanced preclinical development. In this study, a virtual screening approach was applied for the investigation of novel TNIK inhibitors. The best performing ShaEP methodology for similarity searching was applied for screening of a commercially available small-molecule database. Among several discovered TNIK kinase inhibitors, a compound containing the furan-2-carboxamide scaffold was found to be the most active, with IC50 = 0.85 μM. An advanced substructure search led to the discovery of a more potent and selective compound with IC50 = 258 nM. The most active compounds were tested in vitro for their effect on the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and proliferation of Wnt-active colorectal cancer cells. The compounds identified in this study represent attractive starting points for the development of more potent and selective small-molecule TNIK inhibitors for both therapeutic application and research into TNIK's biological role.


Bridges often serve as key links in local and national transportation networks. Bridge closures can result in severe costs, not only in the form of repair or replacement, but also in the form of economic losses related to medium- and long-term interruption of businesses and disruption to surrounding communities. In addition, continuous functionality of bridges is very important after any seismic event for emergency response and recovery purposes. Considering the importance of these structures, the associated structural design philosophy is shifting from collapse prevention to maintaining functionality in the aftermath of moderate to strong earthquakes, referred to as "resiliency" in earthquake engineering research. Moreover, the associated construction philosophy is being modernized with the utilization of accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques, which strive to reduce the impact of construction on traffic, society, economy and on-site safety. This report presents two bridge systems that target the aforementioned issues. A study that combined numerical and experimental research was undertaken to characterize the seismic performance of these bridge systems. The first part of the study focuses on the structural system-level response of highway bridges that incorporate a class of innovative connecting devices called the "V-connector,", which can be used to connect two components in a structural system, e.g., the column and the bridge deck, or the column and its foundation. This device, designed by ACII, Inc., results in an isolation surface at the connection plane via a connector rod placed in a V-shaped tube that is embedded into the concrete. Energy dissipation is provided by friction between a special washer located around the V-shaped tube and a top plate. Because of the period elongation due to the isolation layer and the limited amount of force transferred by the relatively flexible connector rod, bridge columns are protected from experiencing damage, thus leading to improved seismic behavior. The V-connector system also facilitates the ABC by allowing on-site assembly of prefabricated structural parts including those of the V-connector. A single-column, two-span highway bridge located in Northern California was used for the proof-of-concept of the proposed V-connector protective system. The V-connector was designed to result in an elastic bridge response based on nonlinear dynamic analyses of the bridge model with the V-connector. Accordingly, a one-third scale V-connector was fabricated based on a set of selected design parameters. A quasi-static cyclic test was first conducted to characterize the force-displacement relationship of the V-connector, followed by a hybrid simulation (HS) test in the longitudinal direction of the bridge to verify the intended linear elastic response of the bridge system. In the HS test, all bridge components were analytically modeled except for the V-connector, which was simulated as the experimental substructure in a specially designed and constructed test setup. Linear elastic bridge response was confirmed according to the HS results. The response of the bridge with the V-connector was compared against that of the as-built bridge without the V-connector, which experienced significant column damage. These results justified the effectiveness of this innovative device. The second part of the study presents the HS test conducted on a one-third scale two-column bridge bent with self-centering columns (broadly defined as "resilient columns" in this study) to reduce (or ultimately eliminate) any residual drifts. The comparison of the HS test with a previously conducted shaking table test on an identical bridge bent is one of the highlights of this study. The concept of resiliency was incorporated in the design of the bridge bent columns characterized by a well-balanced combination of self-centering, rocking, and energy-dissipating mechanisms. This combination is expected to lead to minimum damage and low levels of residual drifts. The ABC is achieved by utilizing precast columns and end members (cap beam and foundation) through an innovative socket connection. In order to conduct the HS test, a new hybrid simulation system (HSS) was developed, utilizing commonly available software and hardware components in most structural laboratories including: a computational platform using Matlab/Simulink [MathWorks 2015], an interface hardware/software platform dSPACE [2017], and MTS controllers and data acquisition (DAQ) system for the utilized actuators and sensors. Proper operation of the HSS was verified using a trial run without the test specimen before the actual HS test. In the conducted HS test, the two-column bridge bent was simulated as the experimental substructure while modeling the horizontal and vertical inertia masses and corresponding mass proportional damping in the computer. The same ground motions from the shaking table test, consisting of one horizontal component and the vertical component, were applied as input excitations to the equations of motion in the HS. Good matching was obtained between the shaking table and the HS test results, demonstrating the appropriateness of the defined governing equations of motion and the employed damping model, in addition to the reliability of the developed HSS with minimum simulation errors. The small residual drifts and the minimum level of structural damage at large peak drift levels demonstrated the superior seismic response of the innovative design of the bridge bent with self-centering columns. The reliability of the developed HS approach motivated performing a follow-up HS study focusing on the transverse direction of the bridge, where the entire two-span bridge deck and its abutments represented the computational substructure, while the two-column bridge bent was the physical substructure. This investigation was effective in shedding light on the system-level performance of the entire bridge system that incorporated innovative bridge bent design beyond what can be achieved via shaking table tests, which are usually limited by large-scale bridge system testing capacities.


Suppose that one of us contends, and the other denies, that transgender persons have constitutional rights to be treated in accord with their gender identity. It appears that we are disagreeing about "what the law is." And, most probably, we disagree about what the law is on this matter because we disagree about what generally makes it the case that our constitutional law is this rather than that. Constitutional theory should provide guidance. It should endeavor to explain what gives our constitutional rules the contents that they have, or what makes true constitutional propositions true. Call any such account a "constitutive theory" of constitutional law. It is obvious that we do not all share a constitutive theory. It is less obvious, and strikingly underappreciated, that we have precious few candidates to choose from. We have many "prescriptive theories" regarding how judges should exercise the power of judicial review, but few of them have clear, let alone complete, constitutive implications. This Article presents an original constitutive theory of American constitutional law. It starts by distinguishing two types of constitutional norms: "constitutional principles" and "constitutional rules." It then argues: first, that rules are determined by the interaction of principles, which combine to produce rules on the model of force addition; and second, that the principles are "grounded" in mental states, speech-acts, and behaviors of persons who make up the constitutional community, much as rules of fashion or of card games are grounded in behaviors of persons who make up their normative communities. In short: social facts determine constitutional principles, and constitutional principles determine constitutional rules. I call the account "principled positivism." It is positivist, pluralist, and inescapably dynamic. If principled positivism is correct, then we come to know our constitutional rules by discerning the contents, contours, and weights of the constitutional principles currently in force. Accordingly, the Article offers a preliminary and partial inventory of our constitutional principles—principles concerning the legal significance of what the enacted text says and about what its authors intended; principles about the force of judicial precedents and of extra-judicial practices; principles about the locus of sovereignty, the distribution of governing power, and the demands of liberty and equality. It then puts the principles to work, illustrating their operation in a handful of actual constitutional controversies, ranging from same-sex marriage to the scope of Congress's commerce power.


This study examined the potential relationship between non-science co/prerequisite courses (English Composition I, English Composition II, General Psychology, Child Psychology, and Nutrition and Diet Therapy) upon successful program completion and first-attempt NCLEX-RN results while controlling for age and gender in a traditional associate degree nursing program in the South Atlantic region of the United States. The rationale for the study was described with General Systems Theory while Schema Theory was tested and framed the study. The researcher employed binary logistic regression. There were 216 cases in the program completion dataset while there were 177 in the NCLEX-RN result data set. The analysis revealed no significant predictors of NCLEX-RN results while the Nutrition and Diet Therapy course represented the only statistically significant predictor of program completion.


Systemic sclerosis is a multisystem connective tissue disease characterised by skin
thickening and widespread, but variable, visceral fibrosis. The aetiopathogenesis is likely to
involve immunological activation and microvascular dysfunction leading to excessive
accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) with increased production of collagen type I in
lesional tissues. This implies a dysregulated repair process probably as a consequence of
aberrant crosstalk between fibroblasts and inflammatory cells. It has been proposed that a
hierarchical cascade of soluble mediators in which initial induction of proinflammatory
cytokines expressed by the inflammatory infiltrate may lead to expression of profibrotic
mediators including TGFβ. A salient feature of the inflammatory response is directional
migration of leucocytes into subendothelial tissues orchestrated by chemokines in a
spatially and temporally-regulated multistep process. Work described in this thesis explores
the expression of chemokine, monocyte chemoattractant protein-3 (MCP-3/CCL7) in SSc
and in murine models for SSc: type 1 tight skin mouse (Tsk1) and a transgenic mouse strain
(TβRIIΔk) in which there is fibroblast-directed disruption of TGFβ signalling. The
hypothesis that crosstalk between MCP-3 and TGFβ may modulate the signalling response
in the fibrotic microenvironment was also explored.
Overexpression of MCP-3 was demonstrated on cDNA expression profiling and protein
analysis of neonatal Tsk1 and TβRIIΔk fibroblasts. This was supported by
immunohistochemical studies on dermal tissues. Similar upregulation dermal patterns of
MCP-3 protein expression were observed in the early stage of diffuse cutaneous SSc.
Activation of collagen reporter genes by MCP-3 in transgenic mouse fibroblasts and
wildtype neonatal mouse fibroblasts harbouring proα2(Ι)collagen promoter reporter gene
constructs is mediated via sequences within the proximal promoter and is partly dependent
on TGFβ. This coinduction between the two factors in the fibrotic response is also
demonstrated by activation of TGFβ signalling pathways by MCP-3 leading to type I
collagen secretion. In addition, MCP-3 gene expression is stimulated by TGFβ. Comparison of downstream signalling pathways that regulate collagen gene activation by
both cytokines confirms the central role of MAPK pathway activation in mediating the
effects of both factors. An additive effect of these two agonists was demonstrated for key
TGFβ-regulated genes on comparative microarray analysis.
Overall, these results demonstrate that overexpression of MCP-3 is a key biochemical
feature of early stage SSc and murine models of SSc, and suggest a novel role for this
chemokine as a profibrotic mediator in addition to its role in regulating leucocyte
recruitment. Furthermore, there is a potentially important interplay between MCP-3 and
TGFβ in modulation of the signalling response in the fibrotic microenvironment.


Recent advances in Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques and availability of satellite data at affordable cost have provided an opportunity to acquire the needful information in many application fields at spatial and temporal scales. The Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems field of study has evolved into its present form by incorporating rapid advancement in technology and its application. RS and GIS are being used in various fields of applications including, but not limited to, environmental studies, urban and regional planning, geology, agriculture, energy sector, natural disaster management, natural resources conservation, information technology, power and network, health sciences, and retail and marketing. The objective of this workshop is to impart knowledge about RS and GIS techniques. Through lectures and hands on exercises using commonly used software listeners familiar with concepts, analysis and application of GIS and RS. The workshop participants will be able to apply this knowledge in their specific fields.


According to Peter Galison (1997), science has a highly fractionated structure with multiple sub-sub-disciplines, each with its own agenda. Cooperative trading between groups is necessary for most scientific work to move forward, and it is this trading that preserves the stability of science. We argue that it is not trading per se, but trading in a gift (as opposed to a commodity) economy that guarantees stability. We support our claims with an examination of contemporary work on magnetic resonance imaging instrumentation. Specifically, we consider: (1) How a feature improvement, intended to reduce scan time, led to substantial medical mis-diagnosis; (2) How a technical error, when corrected, created a consumer crisis in which radiologists preferred technically flawed instruments; (3) How new magnetic resonance theory radically altered the physical interpretation of MRI images; (4) How the MRI instrument at first was financially supported by, andironicallyultimately invalidated, the accepted understanding of the nature, source and management of chronic back pain. Ultimately there are three reasons stability requires gifting. First, without a general sense of shared purpose traders will not be committed to mutual engagement; profit does not provide an adequate shared purpose for the MRI community. Second, stability requires trust, and profits are not an adequate foundation for trust. Finally, knowledge is a gift that will not keep on giving if treated simply as a source of profit.


Developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) of chemicals poses a serious threat to human health worldwide. Current in vivo test methods for assessing DNT require the use of high numbers of laboratory animals. Most alternative in vitro testing methods monitor rather simple toxicological endpoints, whereas the formation of a functional brain requires precisely timed navigation of axons within a complex tissue environment. We address this complexity by monitoring defects in axonal navigation of pioneer axons of intact locust embryos after exposure to chemicals. Embryos develop in serum-free culture with test chemicals, followed by immunolabeling of pioneer neurons. Defects in axon elongation of pioneer axons are quantified in concentration-response curves and compared to the general viability of the embryo, as measured by a resazurin assay. We show that selected chemical compounds interfering with calcium signaling, the cytoskeletal organization, and the reference developmental neurotoxicant rotenone, can be classified as DNT positive. The pesticide rotenone inhibits pioneer neuron elongation with a lower IC50 than the viability assay. The rho kinase inhibitor Y27632 can partially rescue outgrowth inhibition, supporting the classification of rotenone as a specific DNT positive compound. Since mechanisms of axonal guidance, such as growth cone navigation along molecular semaphorin gradients are conserved between locust and mammalian nervous systems, we will further explore the potential of this invertebrate preparation as an assay for testing the DNT potential of chemicals in humans.


We study nonparametric change-point estimation from indirect noisy observations. Focusing on the white noise convolution model, we consider two classes of functions that are smooth apart from the change-point. We establish lower bounds on the minimax risk in estimating the change-point and develop rate optimal estimation procedures. The results demonstrate that the best achievable rates of convergence are determined both by smoothness of the function away from the change-point and by the degree of ill-posedness of the convolution operator. Optimality is obtained by introducing a new technique that involves, as a key element, detection of zero crossings of an estimate of the properly smoothed second derivative of the underlying function.


In the year 2000, the alcohol habits of 1460 Swedish university students living in residence halls were assessed. The students had a mean age of 23.8 years, and 64% were male. The results from this baseline assessment show that the mean AUDIT score (± sd) was 10.3 ± 5.2 for males and 8.1 ± 4.7 for females. AUDIT stands for Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and is used world-wide to assess alcohol habits. Scores equal to or above eight for males, and equal to or above four for females indicate an at-risk drinking pattern. It was shown that AUDIT scores were correlated with high levels of Distance and Expressiveness in the social climate of the residence halls, assessed by the students themselves. The students were cluster randomised (with the residence hall as the cluster unit) into three groups. One group received a three hour cognitive-based harm reduction education (called BSTP), and one group received a three hour lecture by therapists trained in twelve-step philosophy (called TSI). The third group did not receive any intervention. The students were then monitored for three years. All students answering the questionnaires received a short personalized feedback, independently of randomisation group. The two-year assessment showed that all groups had reduced their AUDIT scores. When assessing only those who belonged to the at-risk drinking group, the students in the BSTP group reduced their AUDIT scores significantly more than the students in the control group (a reduction of 3.9 and 2.8 points, respectively, p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the TSI group and the BSTP or control group, with a reduction in the TSI group of 3.0 points. Furthermore it could be seen that more students participated in the BSTP education than in the TSI lecture (63% versus 25%, p<0.001). Using trajectory analyses on all assessment points, five different trajectory groups could be identified with AUDIT. All slopes showed reduction of AUDIT scores over time. No women could be found in the highest AUDIT trajectory group, which also included younger persons. The students were also compared with students in other parts of Sweden and in the US, and similar moderators of drinking patterns could be found, although country was of importance. To conclude, in mean all students reduced their drinking over time. This reduction could be further reduced by participation in a harm reduction education for the students having an at-risk drinking pattern. The social climate of the residence halls and the students' drinking habits are correlated, as are the students' country of residence. (Less)


The major potential environmental impacts related to landfill leachate are pollution of groundwater and surface waters. Landfill leachate contains pollutants that can be categorized into four groups (dissolved organic matter, inorganic macrocomponents, heavy metals, and xenobiotic organic compounds). Existing data show high leachate concentrations of all components in the early acid phase due to strong decomposition and leaching. In the long methanogenic phase a more stable leachate, with lower concentrations and a low BOD/COD-ratio, is observed. Generally, very low concentrations of heavy metals are observed. In contrast, the concentration of ammonia does not decrease, and often constitutes a major long-term pollutant in leachate. A broad range of xenobiotic organic compounds is observed in landfill leachate. The long-term behavior of landfills with respect to changes in oxidation-reduction status is discussed based on theory and model simulations. It seems that the somewhere postulated enhanced release of accumulated heavy metals would not take place within the time frames of thousands of years. This is supported by a few laboratory investigations. The existing data and model evaluations indicate that the xenobiotic organic compounds in most cases do not constitute a major long-term problem. This may suggest that ammonia will be of most concern in the long run.


Class Wargames presents Guy Debord's Game of War; a collective playing of the board game using a replica of the original 1977 design. A film screening was followed by an open invitation to join the game and learn the strategic and tactical skills required for success in the deadly struggle against the global bourgeoisie.

For Debord, The Game of War wasn't just a game - it was a guide to how people should live their lives within Fordist society. By playing, revolutionary activists could learn how to fight and win against the oppressors of spectacular society.


In this paper, we evaluate intercell interference can-celation techniques in cooperative downlink multicell systems. We compare two classical beamforming strategies for the design of the beamforming vectors: maximum ratio combining precoding and partial zero-forcing. Since full channel state information at the transmission is unfeasible, we consider a limited feedback link and compare different strategies for bit partitioning of the feedback information for serving and interferer base stations. We propose a simple adaptive bit partitioning strategy to select an optimum transmission scheme at the base station. We show that the adaptive bit portioning algorithm is improved the sum capacity performance of the multicell networks significantly.


Rare metal mineralization in Mongolia is represented by occurrences of rare metals (Sn, W) and rare elements (Ta, Nb, Zr, Be, Li, Cs, Sr, and REE) which can be divided into two groups (magmatic and hydrothermal) according to their composition and genesis. The magmatic group consists of deposits whose origin is mainly a result of processes of igneous concentration of rare elements and includes rare metal granites (e.g., Ta-bearing lithium-fluorine granites and Nb-REE- Zr-bearing peralkaline granites), pegmatites, ongonites, cesium glasses, beryllium tuffs, Nb-REE-Zr pantellerites and comendites, rare metal albite-bearing nepheline syenites, REE-bearing carbonatites and magnetite- apatite alkaline volcano-plutonic rocks. The hydrothermal group comprises hydrothermal deposits of Sn, W, and Mo with a significant enrichment of rare elements (Ta, Li, Be) and fluorine. Rare metal mineralization in both groups is closely related to igneous rocks of a relatively narrow compositional range including peralkaline granites, lithium-fluorine granites, leucogranites, nepheline and pseudoleucite syenites, and corresponding volcanic rocks. Four metallogenic epochs of magmatism and associated rare metal mineralization are distinguished: (1) middle Paleozoic, (2) late Paleozoic, (3) early Mesozoic, and (4) late Mesozoic. The middle Paleozoic metallogenic epoch is marked by the creation of an active continental margin of the Andean type. Rare metal mineralization was emplaced at the rear of the marginal magmatic belt, in northwestern Mongolia, where local continental rifting gave rise to the presence of massifs of REE-Nb-Zr alkali granitoids and their subvolcanic analogues, pantellerites. The late Paleozoic metallogenic epoch relates to an active margin of the Californian type, represented by an extensive marginal magmatic belt with numerous continental rift zones featuring basalt-comendite-pantellerite volcanism and massifs of alkali granites, leucogranites, and Li-F granites. REE-Nb-Zr mineralization is associated with alkali granites and pantellerites, whereas Ta, Sn, and W ore occurrences relate to Li-F granites and leucogranites...


Mutuality, Inter Organizational Cultural Understanding, and the Efficacy of Humanitarian Response by Elizabeth Anne Yeomans MBA, Troy University, 2001 BA, University of Florida, 1985 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy and Administration Walden University February 2016 Abstract Organizations responding to humanitarian crises often have different organizational cultures and observational lenses, presenting barriers to collaborative efforts at the outset of a crisis. The chaotic nature of these crises exacerbates this problem, slowing the speed of response and the degree of efficacy of the response effort. Researchers have examined these organizational differences but have not defined barriers to mutuality and possible ways to overcome those barriers presenting a gap in knowledge. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by offering areas to focus on to improve cultural awareness between disparate organizations. The central research question investigated the extent to which intrinsic value descriptions of organizational cultures provide opportunities to mitigate barriers between the military and humanitarian aid workers. A qualitative study using narrative ethnography was applied in answering this question. Two Participants were recruited from the military and two from civilian aid organizations based upon their experience and insight and their commensurate ability to relate the need for mutual understanding between their organizations. Data were collected through descriptive interviews of the participants' lived experiences in crisis response. The data were codedOrganizations responding to humanitarian crises often have different organizational cultures and observational lenses, presenting barriers to collaborative efforts at the outset of a crisis. The chaotic nature of these crises exacerbates this problem, slowing the speed of response and the degree of efficacy of the response effort. Researchers have examined these organizational differences but have not defined barriers to mutuality and possible ways to overcome those barriers presenting a gap in knowledge. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by offering areas to focus on to improve cultural awareness between disparate organizations. The central research question investigated the extent to which intrinsic value descriptions of organizational cultures provide opportunities to mitigate barriers between the military and humanitarian aid workers. A qualitative study using narrative ethnography was applied in answering this question. Two Participants were recruited from the military and two from civilian aid organizations based upon their experience and insight and their commensurate ability to relate the need for mutual understanding between their organizations. Data were collected through descriptive interviews of the participants' lived experiences in crisis response. The data were coded using existing theory on cultural dimensions from Project GLOBE and then analyzed using relational theory. The results confirmed a need for more effective coordination and unity of effort, which may be achieved through cultural understanding and which can result in a more efficient crisis response. These findings may ease the suffering encountered in humanitarian crises by improving the collaborative education of both military and civilian responders to these crises. Mutuality, Inter Organizational Cultural Understanding, and the Efficacy of Humanitarian Response by Elizabeth Anne Yeomans MBA, Troy University, 2001 BA, University of Florida, 1985 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy and Administration


People thought for centuries that dissecting, reducing, and taking things apart was the best way to learn about something. Scientists examined an entity by analyzing each individual component, further splitting the elements until the smallest part could be scrutinized. This way of looking at the world was popular until the twentieth century. Then a new approach to understanding began to surface: the systems approach.


The Hardell-group conducted during 1997-2003 two case control studies on brain tumours including assessment of use of mobile phones and cordless phones. The questionnaire was answered by 905 (90%) cases with malignant brain tumours, 1,254 (88%) cases with benign tumours and 2,162 (89%) population-based controls. Cases were reported from the Swedish Cancer Registries. Anatomical area in the brain for the tumour was assessed and related to side of the head used for both types of wireless phones. In the current analysis we defined ipsilateral use (same side as the tumour) as >or=50% of the use and contralateral use (opposite side) as <50% of the calling time. We report now further results for use of mobile and cordless phones. Regarding astrocytoma we found highest risk for ipsilateral mobile phone use in the >10 year latency group, OR=3.3, 95% CI=2.0-5.4 and for cordless phone use OR=5.0, 95% CI=2.3-11. In total, the risk was highest for cases with first use <20 years age, for mobile phone OR=5.2, 95% CI=2.2-12 and for cordless phone OR=4.4, 95% CI=1.9-10. For acoustic neuroma, the highest OR was found for ipsilateral use and >10 year latency, for mobile phone OR=3.0, 95% CI=1.4-6.2 and cordless phone OR=2.3, 95% CI=0.6-8.8. Overall highest OR for mobile phone use was found in subjects with first use at age <20 years, OR=5.0, 95% CI 1.5-16 whereas no association was found for cordless phone in that group, but based on only one exposed case. The annual age-adjusted incidence of astrocytoma for the age group >19 years increased significantly by +2.16%, 95% CI +0.25 to +4.10 during 2000-2007 in Sweden in spite of seemingly underreporting of cases to the Swedish Cancer Registry. A decreasing incidence was found for acoustic neuroma during the same period. However, the medical diagnosis and treatment of this tumour type has changed during recent years and underreporting from a single center would have a large impact for such a rare tumour.


The idea the South African Indian community as a homogenous has derived from the apartheid ideology of separate development. From the time of their arrival in 1980, indentured labourer has endured a series of processes that have shaped the deve1opment of this ethnic minority. With the determination to belong and endure at any cost, the South A frican Indian celebrated 134 years in South Africa on the 16th of November 1994. In 1987, the introduction of a two-hour ethnic broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, to cater for the Indian community in South Africa seen as a means to 'satisfy a need' of the community. As a member of the Indian community and having some knowledge of the complexities of Indian culture, curiosity was awakened to the fact that can a programme of two-hours in duration accommodate not only the complex nature of Indian culture, but how is such a broadcast constructed to cope with the diversities that exist within the community? This study will examine the way in which Indian culture is imaged in the electronic media. It will proceed with the assumption that no matter what the material or technological, position of ethnic minorities, or where they are geographically located, or what historical time they live in, their objectives and actions derive from a specific cultural reference that is different to other ethnic minorities.


Constantine of Rhodes's tenth-century poem is an account of public monuments in Constantinople and of the Church of the Holy Apostles. In the opening section of the work, Constantine describes columns and sculptures within the city, seven of which he calls 'wonders'. In the second part of the poem, he portrays the Church of the Holy Apostles, offering an account of its architecture and internal decoration, notably the mosaics, seven of which are also depicted as 'wonders'. On one level, the poem offers an account of what was visible, a sense of city topography and, in the case of the Apostoleion, a vital description of a now-lost building. But it cannot be read as a straightforward description. Rather, Constantine's work offers insights into Byzantine perceptions of works of art. The monuments Constantine decided to portray and the ways in which he chose to describe them say as much, if not more, about the social and cultural milieu in which he operated as about the actual physical appearance of the monuments themselves. Further, the poem itself, as it survives in one fifteenth-century manuscript, raises questions: is it, in its current form, a single poem or is it made up of a compilation of Constantine's writings?


Discussion of successional change has traditionally focused on plants. The role of animals in producing and responding to successional change has received far less attention. Dispersal of plant propagules by animals is a fundamental part of successional change in the tropics. Here we review the role played by frugivorous bats in successional change in tropical forests. We explore the similarities and differences of this ecological service provided by New and Old World seed‐dispersing bats and conclude with a discussion of their current economic and conservation implications. Our review suggests that frugivorous New World phyllostomid bats play a more important role in early plant succession than their Old World pteropodid counterparts. We propose that phyllostomid bats have shared a long evolutionary history with small‐seeded early successional shrubs and treelets while pteropodid bats are principally dispersers of the seeds of later successional canopy fruits. When species of figs (Ficus) are involved in the early stages of primary succession (e.g. in the river meander system in Amazonia and on Krakatau, Indonesia), both groups of bats are important contributors of propagules. Because they disperse and sometimes pollinate canopy trees, pteropodid bats have a considerable impact on the economic value of Old World tropical forests; phyllostomid bats appear to make a more modest direct contribution to the economic value of New World tropical forests. Nonetheless, because they critically influence forest regeneration, phyllostomid bats make an important indirect contribution to the economic value of these forests. Overall, fruit‐eating bats play important roles in forest regeneration throughout the tropics, making their conservation highly desirable.


Colonial and settler colonial dispossession is performed through various forms of violence, justified by cultural, historical, religious and national imperatives. In this paper, I define one of these forms of violence as the occupation of the senses, referring to the sensory technologies that manage bodies, language, sight, time and space in the colony. This paper analyses the parades, marches and festivals performed in the Palestinian city space of occupied East Jerusalem; shares the slogans, chants and graffiti used by Israeli civil, religious and nationalist entities; and explores what is lived, seen, heard, felt and smelled by the colonized to uncover the political violence implicated in the occupation of the senses.


Several models can be used to determine the attenuation incurred by sound waves as they travel under water. A trade-off between accuracy and complexity is observed in this respect: the most accurate results are typically yielded by some form of numerical solution to the sound propagation equations, but at the price of high complexity; conversely, simple link budget equations are typically valid only as a first-order approximation, but are much simpler to evaluate. When such different models are applied to network simulations, both the accuracy and the complexity of the chosen model can have a big impact on the simulation time and on the significance of the outcomes. In this paper, we present a comparison among different models of increasing computational complexity for simulating the transmission loss of underwater acoustic channels, when applied to the simulation of multi-hop underwater acoustic networks. All models have been integrated in the DESERT Underwater framework, which is based on the ns2/MIRACLE network simulator. Our results show that the model and its parameters have in fact a big impact on network simulation results in different network topologies, which is consistent with the findings reported by some other papers that recently appeared in the open literature. Our results also show that in some instances simple propagation models provide a useful approximation if their parameters are properly chosen.


Abstract We report on the effects of exogenously applied hormones on the lateral and apical dominance that governs morphogenesis in the unifoliate Streptocarpus wendlandii. In this phenotype, lateral dominance is extreme as the plants only retain a macrocotyledon that develops into a leaf-like phyllomorph by means of a basal meristem and do not show apical growth. Gibberellin applications suppressed the basal meristem activity of the macrocotyledon resulting in an isocotylous seedling with two microcotyledons and caused the formation of a primary phyllomorph, which suggests that the groove meristem, a shoot apical meristem equivalent, is released from apical suppression by the basal meristem. Interestingly, uniconazol, a gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor, also caused a reduction in basal meristem activity, but without primary phyllomorph formation, suggesting that some gibberellin is required for proper function of the basal meristem. Co-application of gibberellin and cytokinin resulted in two macrocotyledons also without phyllomorph formation, which is similar to previous results for cytokinin-only applications. Thus, cytokinin may act downstream in the regulatory pathway of the basal meristem. Our results suggest that the balance between gibberellin and cytokinin in the cotyledons appears thus as key factor in the regulation of lateral and apical dominance in Streptocarpus. Their interplay may well be the primary explanation for the great diversity in growth form exhibited in species of this genus. Our work shows that small imbalances of hormones in early stages of plant development can have major effects on the final phenotype.


By the growing emphasis on communicative language skills, the attention toward using first language in second language classrooms has been raised. The primary aim of this study was to find out teachers' and students' perceptions toward the utilization of L1 in English classrooms in Institutes. In order to do this objective, the researcher used a mixed methods research design. Two groups of participants were used in this study. They were 56 EFL learners of elementary, intermediate, and advanced level and 11 EFL teachers who were selected through convenient sampling. The proficiency level of the students was determined using Nelson Proficiency Test (NPT). The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire while the qualitative data were collected through teachers' interviews. After the data collection and analysis, the results of this study revealed that students in all language levels in Institutes had positive perceptions toward utilizing L1 in L2 classes, teachers indicated their eagerness toward using L1 in their classes, and used L1 in high schools more than in Institutes. Furthermore, this study has some implications for EFL teachers.


AbstrAct This chapter considers the problem of " conditional contrast pattern mining. " It is related to contrast mining, where one considers the mining of patterns/models that contrast two or more datasets, classes, conditions, time periods, and so forth. Roughly speaking, conditional contrasts capture situations where a small change in patterns is associated with a big change in the matching data of the patterns. More precisely, a conditional contrast is a triple (B, F 1 , F 2) of three patterns; B is the condition/context pattern of the conditional contrast, and F 1 and F 2 are the contrasting factors of the conditional contrast. Such a conditional contrast is of interest if the difference between F 1 and F 2 as itemsets is relatively small, and the difference between the corresponding matching dataset of B∪F 1 and that of B∪F 2 is relatively large. It offers insights on " discriminating " patterns for a given condition B. Conditional contrast mining is related to frequent pattern mining and analysis in general, and to the mining and analysis of closed pattern and minimal generators in particular. It can also be viewed as a new direction for the analysis (and mining) of frequent patterns. After formalizing the concepts of conditional contrast, the chapter will provide some theoretical results on conditional contrast mining. These results (i) relate conditional 297 Mining Conditional Contrast Patterns contrasts with closed patterns and their minimal generators, (ii) provide a concise representation for conditional contrasts, and (iii) establish a so-called dominance-beam property. An efficient algorithm will be proposed based on these results, and experiment results will be reported. Related works will also be discussed.


Organizations worldwide invest in enterprise system software to gain access to integration of transactions-oriented data and business process throughout the organization. From the vendor perspective Enterprise Resource Planning software is the enabler of the current dynamic business environment. It must be noted that this is the expectation of implementers. For this reason researchers have focus attention on the effective implementation of the ERP. The core researches have been on ERP implementation i.e. factors affecting ERP implementation i.e. critical success factor, risks and failures. In the area of promise and performance of ERP the focus is more on educational sector. This paper seeks to take a study on the promise and performance in terms budget and time of ERP software in large organizations in Sweden. In order to answer the research questions, we conducted an empirical study of manufacturing companies in Sweden that were using ERP. Companies were identified by examining their websites; after which top management and executives were interviewed. Data was collected by means of survey questionnaires and semi-structured interview. It must be noted that the results portrayed that companies in Sweden adopt ERP for almost similar reasons as shown by the ranking of the perceived promise which is the motivation for ERP adoption by selected companies. Again, the performance of ERP is directly related to its promise as confirmed by respondents.


People with ADHD often struggle with time management, staying organized, maintaining relationships, and other life skills. Professional coaching can help them overcome these obstacles and regain confidence in their own problem-solving abilities. This book is an A-Z guide for mental health professionals who want to develop or expand their ADHD Coaching skills. Drawing on over a decade of research and clinical work with ADHD clients, Frances Prevatt and Abigail Levrini have established an empirically-based model for ADHD Coaching. Their approach uses elements of cognitive behavioral theory and psycho-education to target executive functioning deficits, and focuses on clients' key impairments.This book describes the underlying principles as well as the nuts and bolts of ADHD Coaching. Step-by-step details for gathering information, conducting the intake, establishing goals and objectives, and working through all stages of coaching are included, along with helpful forms and a detailed list of additional resources. The practicalities of setting up a practice, as well as professional issues are covered, and five richly detailed case studies illustrate how to help adults, college students, and adolescents who present with a variety of ADHD symptoms.


1  Life history theory predicts that reproduction incurs costs in terms of future growth and survival. In infertile environments reproductive events may accelerate nutrient turnover such that losses of limiting nutrients cannot be replenished by uptake from the soil. 2  We compared the effect of reproduction on nitrogen (N) turnover and N use‐efficiency, i.e. the annual dry matter produced per unit N lost, of three carnivorous species of the genus Pinguicula on an infertile subarctic heath. We hypothesized that reproduction should increase N turnover, unless a larger N pool or improved N resorption can compensate for the losses associated with reproduction. 3  These carnivorous herbs showed a nitrogen use strategy similar to that of non‐carnivorous plants (herbs and grasses) with a relatively low mean residence time (MRT) of N and a large dry matter productivity per unit N in the plant (annual N productivity). N pool size and the efficiency of N resorption from senescent leaves were similar in reproductive and non‐reproductive individuals. Reproductive individuals had significantly larger annual N losses and thus a lower average MRT (0.8 vs. 1.8 years), with values < 1 indicating that the annual N losses are greater than the annual average N pool. Unless plants can enhance their nutrient acquisition, flowering may therefore impact on future growth and survival. 4  This study presents evidence for a direct link between reproduction, reflected in a higher relative allocation to inflorescences, turnover and N use‐efficiency; the latter being reduced because of increased N turnover. The ranking of species in terms of reproductive allocation was the reverse of their ranking in terms of their N use‐efficiency.


All becoming teachers would need knowledge on adult education in order to better understand his own lifelong learning. If adult education were integrated into university education of BSc or MSc level, extension courses for practicing teachers would not loose their importance, but on the contrary, those would be arranged at an upper level. Adult education should be changed to competence based education, as the competent andragogical knowledge can hide the possibility of some extra profit. Teachers and trainers in vocational education, who are engineers and economists etc. at the same time, would mean potentially the best qualified adult educators, whose teaching competences should only be completed with andragogical competences. They are appropriate and can be let in one the task, but they are not used up.


Laws that shield men from punishment if they marry their victims are so ubiquitous that their genesis is impossible to identify. Rather than attempting to trace the colonial or pre-colonial "origins" of so-called marry-your-rapist laws in Algeria, this article examines particular moments within this thick history. It posits that Algerian colonial courts were sites of confrontation, misrecognition, and occasional confluence between local remedies for unlawful sex and modern legal conceptions of rape inextricable from medicalized methods of detection. Algerian litigants approached French courts in rape cases demanding forms of redress based in vernacular ontologies of equitable restitution and social cohesion. In turn, colonial authorities inferred equivalences between indigenous normative codes, Islamic textual prescriptions, and the French Code Pénal that reshaped the legal and social meaning of rape.


As trains are continually designed for higher and higher speeds the problems of railway carriage vibration are on the increase. Lateral vibrations in a railway carriage are noticeable to passengers if the vibration frequencies are lower than approximately 20 Hz. Below this frequency discomfort is a common problem for the passengers and below approximately 1 Hz motion sickness is a problem. The passive solution of stiffening the carriage chassis to shift the vibrational frequencies higher up results in inflated manufacturing and running costs, and opposes higher travel speeds due to increased weight. Semi-passive solutions such as modifying the structural dynamics of the carriage body by decoupling heavy under-floor equipment does not come with a weight penalty, but do not reduce the vibrations sufficiently. However, by using an active vibration control system it is possible to improve the attenuation of the lateral train vibrations. This paper addresses two simple active vibration control systems for reducing lateral vibrations: one feedforward system and one feedback. Computer simulations based on signals derived from a dynamic computer model of a train indicates that the incorporation of an active control system, in addition to the semi-passive approach, is likely to introduce an improved attenuation of the low-frequency lateral vibrations. Active control results illustrate an attenuation of the lateral carriage vibration by up to 15 dB.


The exploration into the underlying psychosocial links of pair programming, a new and unorthodox programming paradigm in which two programmers share one keyboard and monitor during real-time programming sessions, is undertaken. These complex psychosocial relationships, along with cognitive process exchanges, ultimately mold the programming output as well as determine the level of communication, satisfaction, confidence and compatibility. Laying the framework for this research, a thorough review of traditional and contemporary paradigms with a special focus on their limitations and a list of current software development problems are presented. Next, a detailed summary of pair programming and related agile software paradigms, such as extreme programming, which lists pair programming as one of its twelve principles, is given. From earlier pair programming studies, a number of programming benefits have been unveiled and these are listed and discussed. However, a lack of formal studies pertaining to the psychosocial aspects of pair programming exists. Given this void, a field survey is administered to a group of professional programmers and a resulting list of influencing factors on pair programming emerges. From the list, the most popular factor, personality, and two other factors, communication and gender, have been selected in order to study their impact on pair programming product outcome and the level of communication, satisfaction, confidence and compatibility. An experiment focusing on these factors is designed and implemented. From the experimental findings, the personality of the two partners in pair programming is found to have a significant impact on the pair programming output. Also, it is discovered that same gender pairs exhibited an unusually high level of communication, satisfaction and compatibility between each other, especially among female-female pairs. A detailed statistical experiment result based on research hypotheses is reported.


This study reveals the relationships between residential property asking price and various explanatory variables, including home square footage, land parcel square footage, number of bedrooms, and year of construction, in Atlanta, Georgia. Simple and multiple linear regressions were developed using the method of ordinary least squares. Square footage of the house was found to be the most influential factor in determining asking price, number of bathrooms exhibited a significant relationship, and garage capacity and year of construction were found to be the weakest relationships.


Bisphenol A (BPA), a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, has been shown to cause developmental toxicity and carcinogenic effects. BPA may have physiological activity through estrogen receptor (ER) -α and -β, which are expressed in the central nervous system. We previously found that exposure of BPA to immature mice resulted in behavioral alternation, suggesting that overexposure of BPA could be neurotoxic. In this study, we further investigated the molecular neurotoxic mechanisms of BPA. BPA increased vulnerability (decrease of cell viability and differentiation, and increase of apoptotic cell death) of undifferentiated PC12 cells and cortical neuronal cells isolated from gestation 18 day rat embryos in a concentration-dependent manner (more than 50 µM). The ER antagonists, ICI 182,780, and tamoxifen, did not block these effects. The cell vulnerability against BPA was not significantly different in the PC12 cells overexpressing ER-α and ER-β compared with PC12 cells expressing vector alone. In addition, there was no difference observed between BPA and 17-β estradiol, a well-known agonist of ER receptor in the induction of neurotoxic responses. Further study of the mechanism showed that BPA significantly activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) but inhibited anti-apoptotic nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation. In addition, ERK-specific inhibitor, PD 98,059, reversed BPA-induced cell death and restored NF-κB activity. This study demonstrated that exposure to BPA can cause neuronal cell death which may eventually be related with behavioral alternation in vivo. However, this neurotoxic effect may not be directly mediated through an ER receptor, as an ERK/NF-κB pathway may be more closely involved in BPA-induced neuronal toxicity.


This article presents a new method and open source R package that uses syntactic information to automatically extract source–subject–predicate clauses. This improves on frequency-based text analysis methods by dividing text into predicates with an identified subject and optional source, extracting the statements and actions of (political) actors as mentioned in the text. The content of these predicates can be analyzed using existing frequency-based methods, allowing for the analysis of actions, issue positions and framing by different actors within a single text. We show that a small set of syntactic patterns can extract clauses and identify quotes with good accuracy, significantly outperforming a baseline system based on word order. Taking the 2008–2009 Gaza war as an example, we further show how corpus comparison and semantic network analysis applied to the results of the clause analysis can show differences in citation and framing patterns between U.S. and English-language Chinese coverage of this war.


Influenza A and B are important causes of respiratory illness in all age groups. Influenza causes seasonal outbreaks globally and, less commonly, pandemics. In the United States, seasonal influenza epidemics account for >200,000 hospitalizations and >30,000 deaths annually. More than 90% of deaths occur in the elderly population. Interestingly, in the novel 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, attack rates were highest among children and young adults. Fewer than 10% of cases occurred in adults >60 years old, likely because preexisting antibodies against other H1N1 viruses afforded protection. Despite concerns about a high lethality rate with the novel 2009 H1N1 strain, most illnesses caused by the 2009 H1N1 viruses were mild (overall case fatality rate <0.5%). Clinical features of influenza infection overlap with other respiratory pathogens (particularly viruses). The diagnosis is often delayed due to low suspicion and the limited use of specific diagnostic tests. Rapid diagnostic tests are widely available and allow detection of influenza antigen in respiratory secretions within 1 hour; however, sensitivity ranges from 50 to 90%. Neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) (eg, oseltamivir and zanamivir) are effective for treating influenza A or B and for prophylaxis in selected adults and children. Resistance to NAIs is rare, but influenza strains resistant to oseltamivir have been detected. Vaccines are the cornerstone of influenza control. Currently, trivalent inactivated vaccine (TIV) and live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) are available. These agents reduce mortality and morbidity in high-risk patients (i.e., the elderly or patients with comorbidities), and expanding the use of vaccines to healthy children and adults reduces the incidence of influenza, pneumonia, and hospitalizations due to respiratory illnesses in the community.


Two growth trials were conducted to compare the effectiveness of replacing either corn or lactose with modified potato starches in diets for conventionally and early-weaned pigs. In Exp. 1, 198 pigs (initially 9.4lb and 19 d of age) were used to determine if modified potato starch (potato starch 1) can replace a portion of the lactose in a high nutrient dense diet. Pigs were allotted by weight, gender, and ancestry to each of six dietary treatments with either five or six pigs per pen and six pens per treatment. The control diet contained 10% dried whey (7.2% lactose), 7.5% spray-dried porcine plasma, 2.5% select menhaden fish meal, and 1.75% spray-dried blood meal. Additional treatments were formulated by adding 7 or 14% modified potato starch or lactose in place of com. A positive control diet also was formulated containing 29% dried whey (providing the same amount of lactose as the 10% dried whey plus 14% lactose diet). All diets were formulated to contain 1.5% lysine, and .90% Ca, .80% P, and 17.88% soybean meal and were fed in a meal form. From day 0 to 14 postweaning, increasing dietary lactose tended to linearly improve ADG and ADFI. Added potato starch did not improve ADG compared with pigs fed the control diet, but ADFI increased linearly with increasing potato starch. In Exp. 2, 180 pigs (8.5 lb and 14 d of age) were used to evaluate the effects of two modified potato starches (potato starch 1 or potato starch 2,a further hydrolyzed potato starch with a greater percentage of sugars as either glucose or maltose as a replacement for either com or lactose in a segregated early-weaning diet (SEW). Pigs were fed a control diet containing 15% dried whey, 12% added lactose, 6% porcine plasma, and 6% select menhaden fish meal. Modified potato starch 1 or 2 (12 %) replaced either corn or the added lactose on an equal weight basis. From d 0 to 7 postweaning, pigs fed the modified potato starch 1 had greater ADG and ADFI than those fed modified potato starch 2. Pigs fed diets with either starch substituted for corn had greater ADG than those fed diets with either starch substituted for lactose. From d 0 to 14 and d o to 21, pigs fed diets containing either modified potato starch substituted for corn tended to have greater ADG than those fed the control diet. This appeared to be the result of greater feed intake of pigs fed the diets containing either starch substituted for corn compared with those fed the control diet or diets containing either starch substituted for lactose. Pigs fed diets with either modified starch substituted for lactose had similar ADG as those fed the control diet. In conclusion, these results suggest that potato starch can improve growth performance of pigs when substituted for corn and can replace a portion of the lactose in an SEW diet without adversely affecting performance.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 17, 1994


Abstract Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is the western keystone of West Antarctica. Recent palaeomagnetic results from Lower Cretaceous (c. 117 Ma) plutonic and volcanic rocks from MBL in conjunction with a previous palaeomagnetic result from New Zealand suggest that eastern MBL and the Eastern Province of New Zealand originated in a position adjacent to Weddellia (Antarctic Peninsula, Thurston Island, and Ellsworth-Whitmore Mountains blocks) as part of a continuous Pacific convergent margin. This is far from their previously assumed position adjacent to the Western Province of New Zealand and North Victoria Land. The 117 Ma palaeomagnetic pole for eastern MBL constrains the last movements of the Weddellia blocks related to spreading in the Weddell Sea to postdate the initial opening phase of the Weddell Sea. A c. 100 Ma pole for the amalgamated mid-Cretaceous MBL is consistent with like age poles from the Thurston Island and Antarctic Peninsula blocks but all are significantly offset from a newly constructed apparent polar wander path for East Antarctica. From this it is concluded that there has been palaeomagnetically resolvable post-100 Ma motion between East Antarctica and the Pacific-bordering blocks of West Antarctica as a result of extension in the Ross Sea, Ross embayment, and Byrd Subglacial Basin.


Multimode propagation in silicon core optical fibers is investigated via numerical modeling of the coupled mode equations. The simulations consider spectral evolution in two fibers with different micrometer-sized cores that have experimentally been shown to exhibit nonlinear broadening. The results indicate that most of the coupled power is propagated in the fundamental mode of each fiber, with a small contribution from the higher-order modes affecting the spectral shape but not the width of the broadening.


The lateral canthus normally sits 1 to 2 mm higher than the medial canthus. With time, aging and gravity produce inferior displacement of the canthus. Numerous eyelid disorders can also result in lower eyelid or lateral canthal tendon laxity or malposition, requiring horizontal eyelid tightening or canthal repositioning. The lateral tarsal strip procedure has proven to be a useful technique in addressing these problems. Care must be taken when suspending the tarsal strip to the lateral orbital rim to preserve the almond shape of the lateral canthal angle. If mild to moderate upper eyelid laxity is present, suspension of the strip can result in upper eyelid overhang with lower eyelid and eyelash imbrication. We describe the lateral tarsal strip mini-tarsorrhaphy procedure that overcomes this problem. The technique provides excellent functional and aesthetic results and adds to the versatility of a time-tested procedure.


Nigeria, a country richly endowed with human and material resources critical for national development is yet to find its rightful place among the comity of nations. The major reason for her socio-economic development stagnation is leadership crisis and cor ruption. Since independence, Nigerian government is replete of clueless, parochial, uninspiring, attitu dinal debauchery and selfish leaders. The kernel of this paper rest in the fact that leadership crisis and c orruption were interwoven and it is against this background that it explored the leadership failures and corrupt tendencies of the leadership class especially at the National level in Nigeria since 1 960 and its implication for socio-economic development. The paper concludes that for Nigeria t o experience sustainable socio-economic development, responsible, credible and true leaders who will build strong and transparent institutions as well as leaders who are dedicated to how history wi ll remember them for transforming the society rathe r than accumulation of private wealth must emerge to implant the act of good and selfless governance in Nigeria.


Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) suffer from brain amyloidosis related to defective clearance of amyloid-beta (Abeta) by the innate immune system. To improve the innate immune system of AD patients, we studied immune stimulation of macrophages by 1alpha,25(OH)2-vitamin D3(1,25D3) in combination with curcuminoids. AD patients' macrophages segregate into Type I (positively stimulated by curcuminoids regarding MGAT-III transcription) and Type II (not stimulated). In both Type I and Type II macrophages, 1,25D3 strongly stimulated Abeta phagocytosis and clearance while protecting against apoptosis. Certain synthetic curcuminoids in combination with 1,25D3 had additive effects on phagocytosis in Type I but not Type II macrophages. In addition, we investigated the mechanisms of 1,25D3 and curcuminoids in macrophages. The 1,25D3 genomic antagonist analog MK inhibited 1,25D3 but not curcuminoid effects, suggesting that 1,25D3 acts through the genomic pathway. In silico, 1,25D3 showed preferential binding to the genomic pocket of the vitamin D receptor, whereas bisdemethoxycurcumin showed preference for the non-genomic pocket. 1,25D3 is a promising hormone for AD immunoprophylaxis because in Type I macrophages combined treatment with 1,25D3 and curcuminoids has additive effects, and in Type II macrophages 1,25D3 treatment is effective alone. Human macrophages are a new paradigm for testing immune therapies for AD.


We present measurements of flows and fluxes of phytoplankton to Conch Reef, Florida, a Caribbean reef dominated by sponges and soft corals, located in 15 m of water offshore of Key Largo. Vertical profiles of chlorophyll a, a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, showed a near‐bed depletion, indicating the existence of concentration boundary layers. Along with simultaneous measurements of velocity profiles, near‐bed turbulence, and temperature stratification, these profiles were used to compute α, the mass transfer velocity of phytoplankton to the bed (i.e., the flux to the bed normalized by near‐bed concentration). The α value ranged from ‐40 to +130 m d−1, with a significant linear positive relationship with shear velocity. The median value of α = 48 ± 20 m d−1 is larger than would be expected, given the observed population of filter‐feeding sponges. Nonetheless, these large values of a are consistent with values found recently for another coral reef as well as for a soft bottom estuarine community. Taken as a whole, these measurements indicate that reefs with large roughness and/or energetic currents should be able to support higher biomasses of benthic organisms than would low relief reefs or reefs in sluggish waters.


ABSTRACT Based on newly declassified archival documents, the aim of this study is to contribute to an improved understanding of the evolution of the non-proliferation regime through an examination of US and French nuclear cooperation agreements in the latter half of the 1970s. The four pledges of nuclear assistance examined – US assistance to Egypt and Israel, and French assistance to Pakistan and South Korea – failed to materialise by the end of the decade. Why did that happen? What caused the four pledges to fail? We find that the 1974 Indian nuclear explosion and the emergence of opposing domestic factions on the nuclear front in the supplier states generated major changes in US and French nuclear export policies, and also contributed to the development of a collaborative partnership between the two competing nuclear exporters, on the other.


BACKGROUND
Omega-3 fatty acids have shown promise as an adjunctive treatment for schizophrenia. However, efficacy across studies has been inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis of published controlled studies with the goal of detecting different efficacy profiles at various stages of schizophrenia.

METHODS
An online search was conducted for randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials, and a meta-analysis was conducted.

RESULTS
Ten studies met the criteria for inclusion. Among patients in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia, omega-3 supplementation reduced psychotic symptom severity and lowered conversion rates to first-episode psychosis. In patients with first-episode schizophrenia, omega-3 decreased nonpsychotic symptoms, required lower antipsychotic medication dosages, and improved early treatment response rates. Omega-3 had mixed results in patients with stable chronic schizophrenia, with only some patients experiencing significant benefits. Among patients with chronic schizophrenia, use of omega-3 fatty acids both by those experiencing acute exacerbations and those who had discontinued antipsychotic medications resulted in worsening of psychotic symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
The data suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may be efficacious in reducing clinical symptoms for patients in the earlier stages of schizophrenia (prodrome and first episode), while producing mixed results for patients in the chronic stages. Based on these results, omega-3 fatty acids would not be recommended for acute exacerbations in patients with chronic schizophrenia nor for relapse prevention after discontinuation of antipsychotics.


This paper reviews the research work done on the response time analysis of messages in controller area network (CAN) from the time CAN specification was submitted for standardization (1990) and became a standard (1993) up to the present (2012). Such research includes the worst-case response time analysis which is deterministic and probabilistic response time analysis which is stochastic. A detailed view on both types of analyses is presented here. In addition to these analyses, there has been research on statistical analysis of controller area network message response times.