Biology and ecology of the Dutch woodlouse-flies (Diptera: Rhinophoridae) In a previous paper the faunistics of seven Dutch species of Rhinophoridae were summarised (Wijnhoven & Zeegers 1999). In the current publication the distribution, the biology and ecology of six species of woodlouse-flies in the vicinity of Nijmegen, province of Gelderland, the Netherlands, are discussed. The only 'missing' species (Stevenia atramentaria (Meigen, 1824)) may be considered extinct in the Netherlands. In total 3490 specimens were recorded from 1996 up to August 2001, 325 of these were collected by hand, 3165 were recorded as sightings. Most observations were made at an old graveyard 'Daalseweg' in the city of Nijmegen (fig. 2, 3, 5, table 1). For all species egg deposition was observed in detail. In total 80 females were seen laying their eggs seperately underneath stones, tree bark, pieces of cement and in crevices of walls (fig. 2), most times without any woodlice nearby. Melanophora roralis and P. maculata seemed to prefer the higher altitudes of walls and occasionally trees (between one and three meters), but P. melanocephala and T. rubricosa placed their eggs mainly at soil surface level. On several occasions many first instar larvae of P. melanocephala could be found by carefully investigating these sites. Especially in M. roralis and P. melanocephala the males gathered in considerable numbers on sun exposed walls, tree trunks and gravestones (fig. 3). Because of the very typical flight pattern of M. roralis the males could be identified easily from a distance (fig. 4). Rhinophora lepida and T. rubricosa were regularly observed visiting flowers. The first species was found mainly on flowers of Heracleum sphondylium. An interesting observation was that of a dead woodlouse Porcellio scaber, most fanatically scavenged by seven females of T. rubricosa. Both species of woodlouse-flies seem to prefer habitats with shrubs, trees or walls overgrown with ivy. Several species of jumping spiders (Arachnida: Salticidae) were observed preying on Rhinophoridae. The female flies were most vulnerable when depositing their eggs. In 1976 S. umbratica was recorded for the first time in the Netherlands. Obviously the species is much more common now. In figure 1 the previously unknown morphology of the egg and first instar larva of S. umbratica is given (Wijnhoven in prep.). The flight periods of five species are presented in the figures 6-12. Of R. lepida the males significantly appeared earlier than the females, the difference being about ten days. Because of the large number of records the flight period of P. melanocephala could be analysed in detail (fig. 7, 8). Presumably the other species having three generations per year will show a similar pattern. In the first generation as well as in the second, two peaks were observed: 1a, 1b and 2a, 2b. It is suggested the population consists of two, partly interacting classes. The first one would have the generations 1a, 2a and 3 in the first year, 1b and 2b the following year, the second class the complementary generations 1b, 2b and 1a, 2a, 3 respectively. In table 2 the records of Rhinophoridae are linked with the woodlouse species occurring in the sites where the adult flies were found. From this it becomes clear that all Rhinophoridae species, except R. lepida, preferred the synantropic habitats, which were characterised by the 'Mediterranean' woodlice A. vulgare and P. spinicornis. It is suggested here that Rhinophoridae species are not host-specific. Also, from the observations (figure 5 and table 2) it appeared all species can be found together in similar microhabitats. So to some extend they may compete for the same hosts. But maybe some species parasitize the smaller woodlice (Bedding in Sutton (1972)) and one other species (S. umbratica) seemed specialised in selecting female specimens with oostegites (Wijnhoven in prep.). In this respect many questions remain unanswered.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious disorder for which there are limited clinical treatments. The Hukriede lab utilizes zebrafish as a screening model to identify small molecules that promote expansion of renal progenitor cells (RPCs) in the embryo, with the hypothesis that these compounds might also be effective AKI therapeutics by enhancing innate renal regenerative processes. This approach identified 4-(phenylthio)butanoic acid (PTBA), a novel class of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) that promotes RPC proliferation in zebrafish embryos by stimulating retinoic acid (RA) signaling. To evaluate the therapeutic potential of PTBA-class HDACi, we used a nephrotoxic model of gentamicin-induced AKI in zebrafish larvae that demonstrates the same hallmarks of renal injury and regeneration as the mammalian kidney. In this model, we show that m4PTB, the esterified version of PTBA, enhances post-AKI recovery by increasing dedifferentiation and proliferation of renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs). To evaluate whether RA signaling also mediates m4PTB's effects in this AKI model, we used Tg(12XRARE:EGFP) larvae to show that RA signaling increases rapidly after AKI, and that this response is critical for RTEC-dependent regeneration. Finally, we show that although m4PTB does not directly stimulate RA signaling in zebrafish larvae, blocking the RA pathway abrogates m4PTB's effects on RTEC proliferation. These studies indicate that enhanced AKI recovery following m4PTB treatment requires intact RA signaling, and provide mechanistic insight into the signaling pathways involved in kidney regeneration post-AKI. Given the significant healthcare burden posed by AKI, these are critical initial steps in order to improve the treatment options available to patients.


Emerging market policy makers have been concerned about the financial stability implications of financial globalization. These concerns are focused on behavior under stressed conditions. Do tail events in the home country trigger off extreme responses by foreign investors – are foreign investors `fair weather friends'? In this, is there asymmetry between the response of foreign investors to very good versus very bad days? Do foreign investors have a major impact on domestic markets through large inflows or outflows – are they 'big fish in a small pond'? Do extreme events in world markets induce extreme behavior by foreign investors, thus making them vectors of crisis transmission? We propose a modified event study methodology focused on tail events, which yields evidence on these questions. The results, for India, do not suggest that financial globalization has induced instability on the equity market.


Fault diagnosis currently offers different alternatives to classify faults at early stages, such as model-based and knowledge-based techniques. Nevertheless, fault classification for time-varying systems is still an open problem. Strategies such as self-organizing maps and principal component analysis ensure fault classification to bounded time-variance faults. The approach presented in this paper proposes the use of three non-supervised neural networks. The first two networks overlapped by certain time shift. The third network performs a comparison between the two networks outputs in the previous stage. As a result, the system classifies the fault even if the system is time-variant. The strategy named as Overlapped ART2A Network, aims to obtain an autonomous performance and on-line fault classification. Results show the effectiveness of the approach considering a case study with fault and fault-free scenarios.


This amicus brief, filed in HHS v. Florida (the Affordable Care Act litigation), has two principal goals. First, it seeks to aid the Court by giving it an overview of the tax determination and tax collection processes. This background is intended to help the Court understand the relationship between new Internal Revenue Code Section 5000A (which contains both the individual mandate itself and the penalty that enforces it) and the rest of the Internal Revenue Code. Second, it seeks to correct what we see as an error in the lower courts' analysis of Section 5000A. Section 7421, also known as the Anti-Injunction Act, prohibits lawsuits that restrain the assessment or collection of taxes. Accordingly, whether the 5000A penalty is a tax for purposes of Section 7421 is of great importance for this case. Several judges who concluded that the 5000A penalty is not a tax for purposes of Section 7421, including the majority in the DC Circuit, reached that conclusion, in part, because they thought it significant that Congress limited the IRS's ability to collect the 5000A penalty. We think that approach is misguided in this particular case for three reasons. First, these limitations strongly imply that Congress thought the 5000A penalty constitutes a tax for purposes of key tax administrative provisions. Second, 5000A is structured to avoid every procedure that a taxpayer could use to challenge a liability before paying it. Third, in light of the specific limitations that Congress imposed on its collection, the 5000A penalty looks increasingly like a true tax measure, regardless of its label. This brief assumes that Section 7421 is jurisdictional, as the Court has previously held. This brief does not address arguments that the 5000A penalty is a tax for purposes of Section 7421 by virtue of other Code sections, such as Section 6671 or Section 6201. These arguments are ably presented in the brief filed by the court-appointed amicus curiae and the brief filed on behalf of former IRS commissioners Mortimer Caplin and Sheldon Cohen. Special thanks to Michael de Leeuw and the rest of the Fried Frank team.


Many vendors of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems claim that their products are widely applicable - configurable to meet the needs of any business, whatever the product or service offering. However, producers of high-variety and bespoke products, such as Make-To-Order (MTO) companies, present particular challenges to implementation; it remains unclear whether ERP systems can cater for their needs.. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of ERP systems and an assessment of the applicability of ERP to the MTO sector. While several comprehensive reviews of the ERP literature have previously been presented, these either do not focus on the MTO sector, or seek to assess the applicability of ERP systems, or give sufficient attention to recent developments in the fast moving ERP industry. In assessing applicability, this paper considers factors such as the planning and control stages of relevance to MTO companies, the typical size and supply chain positioning of MTO companies, and market-related features. The assessment concludes that there is a significant gap between the requirements of MTO companies and the functionality of ERP systems. One such gap is between the customer enquiry management and design & engineering processes of MTO companies and those supported by ERP systems. Eight key areas in need of further research are described. These include: providing effective decision support tools for customer enquiry management activities in the MTO sector, linking ERP systems with production planning and control concepts of relevance to MTO companies, and conducting an in-depth empirical study into existing applications of ERP systems in MTO companies and their impact on performance.


Objective
Social scientists from a variety of disciplines have employed concepts drawn from cultural theory (CT) to explain preferences across an array of issues. Recent research has challenged key elements of CT in a number of ways, perhaps most importantly by arguing that cultural types are simply another formulation of political ideology, and that only politically knowledgeable respondents reliably utilize either cultural or ideological categories in formulating preferences. This study reconsiders and expands upon this contention.

Methods
Principal component analyses of responses to a U.S. national survey of 4,387 people.

Results
Our findings are threefold: (1) people with low levels of political knowledge are able to sort egalitarianism and individualism into coherent worldviews; (2) people with high levels of knowledge do not collapse egalitarianism and individualism onto a single scale of political ideology; and (3) regardless of levels of knowledge, survey respondents are able to recognize all four of the value orientations proposed by CT.

Conclusion
CT, which is related to but different than political ideology, offers a robust system of worldviews that both high- and low-knowledge individuals might draw upon to formulate opinions and make decisions.


In this study, eggshell powder was used as partial replacement of Ordinary Portland cement replacement at 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% in concrete production. Since the chemical composition of eggshell contain mainly of calcium oxide which is mostly similar to the natural lime sources. Thus the use of waste-products in cement industries is an environmental friendly while able to increase the industrialization instead of disposal of large numbers of waste materials that would pollute the land, water and air. The specimens were casted into concrete cube (100mm x 100mm x100mm) and beam (100mm x100mm x 500mm). The investigations focused on compressive, flexural strength and water absorption at different percentages of replacement and tested at 1, 7, 28, 56 and 90 days. From the investigation, it is found that the compressive strength and flexural strength increases up to 45% as compared to the control specimens when cement replacement by 15% of air-dry eggshell powder. Moreover, the rate of water absorption greatly reduces 55% when cement replacement by 15% of air-dry eggshell powder. Scanning electron microscope showed clear picture of the eggshell concrete contain less voids than normal plain concrete.


This research article reports an exhaustive account on the mangrove-associated poly- chaetes. Polychaetes are an important component in marine benthic communities and they play a major ecological role in mangrove ecosystem. This article gives an overview of polychaete diversity associated to five major mangrove forests of east coast of India (Muthupettai, Pichavaram, Coringa, Bhitarkanika and Sundarban). The results of this sur - vey indicated that the physicochemical parameters did not vary much except a few parameters that showed only marginal variations. With regard to the macrobenthic organisms, the polychaetes topped the list. Crustaceans were found to be the next dominant group in the order of abundance and followed by gastropods and bivalves of the total benthic organ- isms collected. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that the parameters such as salinity, pH, silt, clay, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphate (TP) were manifested as best match in determining benthic fauna distributions followed by TOC, slit, clay and TP. The maximum number of polychaete species was recorded from Sundarban mangroves (68 species) and minimum in Muthupettai mangroves (39 species).


This paper was conducted to examine the effect of paternalistic and Western leadership style using a sample of 326 subordinates. Due to insufficient number of studies about the type of relationship between subordinates' responses and leadership type, this study aimed to determine whether paternalistic and Western leadership has a positive impact on managing subordinates. The respondents are employed at a wide variety of firms around Peru, such as Banking, Informational Technology, Commerce, Supply Chain, Construction and Law. A quantile regression was conducted to determine the effects of different types of paternalistic leadership such as benevolent leadership, moral leadership, and authoritarian on subordinate responses. The findings revealed that paternalistic leadership had a positive influence on compliance and gratitude while transformational leadership had a positive influence on gratitude. The survey was limited to Lima due to the current researcher did not have access to subordinate interviews throughout the Latin American Region. The results of this study were relevant to leadership theory and practices that can be implemented in Peruvian firms.


Agriculture is extremely important in human life. Almost 60% of the population is engaged in some kind of agriculture, either directly or indirectly. There are no technologies in the traditional system to detect diseases in various crops in an agricultural environment, which is why farmers are not interested in increasing their agricultural productivity day by day. Crop diseases have an impact on the growth of their respective species, so early detection is critical. Many Machine Learning (ML) models have been used to detect and classify crop diseases, but with recent advances in a subset of ML, Deep Learning (DL), this area of research appears to have a lot of promise in terms of improved accuracy. The proposed method uses a convolutional neural network and a Deep Neural Network to identify and recognise crop disease symptoms effectively and accurately. Furthermore, multiple efficiency metrics are used to assess these strategies. This article offers a thorough description of the DL models that are used to visualise crop diseases. Furthermore, several research gaps are identified from which greater transparency for detecting diseases in plants can be obtained, even before symptoms occur. The proposed methodology aims to develop a convolution neural network-based strategy for detecting plant leaf disease.


The geometry of the lumbosacral region has been suspected to play a role in the development of degenerative lumbosacral stenosis in the dog. In this study, 50 dogs (21 German Shepherd dogs and 29 dogs of other breeds) with clinical signs of cauda equina compression were studied by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The orientation of the articular process joints in the L5-S1 region and the angle difference between two adjacent motion segments were calculated. Intervertebral disc degeneration of the same region was identified and classified in four stages. A positive association between MR-imaging stage and articular process joint angle difference in the transverse plane was found in the two groups of animals. German Shepherd dogs and dogs of other breeds had different geometry of the lumbosacral region with different articular process joint angles in the transverse plane and statistically different stages of disc degeneration.


Advances in materials science and digital technologies have revolutionized the eld of ceramic-based restorative and implant dentistry. Forward-thinking clinicians and dental technicians must negotiate this rapidly changing landscape as they evaluate these new technologies and materials to determine which ones are validated by laboratory and clinical evidence, have the potential to improve patient outcomes, and are practical for clinical application. To provide insight into these issues, the editors of this book have assembled the talents of the various stakeholders in this eld. International authorities from a variety of disciplines have come together to share expertise from the biomaterials, industry, clinical, and laboratory perspectives. The result is a book that combines thoughtful analysis of the state of the science with practical clinical advice for dentists and laboratory technicians alike. This book will provide readers with the tools to judge the research presented in the literature and incorporate best practices and advances in materials and technology into their armamentarium in a way that will bene t their patients.


Distant microphones permit to process spontaneous multiparty speech with very little constraints on speakers, as opposed to close-talking microphones. Minimizing the constraints on speakers permits a large diversity of applications, including meeting summarization and browsing, surveillance, hearing aids, and more natural human-machine interaction. Such applications of distant microphones require to determine where and when the speakers are talking. This is inherently a multisource problem, because of background noise sources, as well as the natural tendency of multiple speakers to talk over each other. Moreover, spontaneous speech utterances are highly discontinuous, which makes it difficult to track the multiple speakers with classical filtering approaches, such as Kalman filtering of particle filters. As an alternative, this paper proposes a probabilistic framework to determine the trajectories of multiple moving speakers in the short-term only, i.e., only while they speak. Instantaneous location estimates that are close in space and time are grouped into ldquoshort-term clustersrdquo in a principled manner. Each short-term cluster determines the precise start and end times of an utterance and a short-term spatial trajectory. Contrastive experiments clearly show the benefit of using short-term clustering, on real indoor recordings with seated speakers in meetings, as well as multiple moving speakers.


Technological advancement and innovation requires the integration of both external knowledge and internal inventiveness. In this paper, we unpack the concept of absorptive capacity and separately explore the effect of different types of prior experience on the capacity to adopt external knowledge and make internal inventions. We also measure how absorptive capacity is influenced by changes in design "paths". We investigate nine open source programming contests in which 875 software programmers submit over 4.7 million lines of code. We conduct our analysis at the individual level and identify how programmers gain the ability to adopt and invent valuable code. Our evidence both confirms the theory of absorptive capacity and suggests refinements to it. We find that prior experience with both adoption and invention can indeed improve the capacity to adopt and invent valuable code, but we find that experience with adoption has the largest effect on invention capacity. We also find that major changes in the design "path" both advance and impede absorptive capacity. Changes in path allow rapid experience with alternative ideas, and this eventually aids adoption and invention capacity. However, these changes temporarily harm the ability of programmers to create valuable inventions. We discuss the implications of our findings for the literature on absorptive capacity and open and distributed innovation. Version Date: April 3, 2011


The oil production targets agreed to at the November 30, 2016, OPEC meeting have created the firmest prospect in the past two years of a meaningful oil price recovery. If WTI prices rise and stabilize in the $60/bbl range, how fast can U.S. shale producers respond? This brief addresses the question and highlights the challenges U.S. unconventional liquids producers will likely face during a scale-up. It also points out price and timing inflection points likely to broadly influence industry decision-making.


A total of 72 morphologically different actinomycetes isolates were isolated from samples collected at different regions of Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India and screened for its antibacterial activity against fish and shellfish pathogens. All actinomycetes isolates were screened for antibacterial activity by cross streak method against the selected fish and shellfish bacterial pathogens including Aeromonas caviae, Aeromonas hydroplila, Edwardsiella tarda, Vibrio anguillarum and Vibrio harveyi. Secondary screening of antagonistic isolates by well diffusion method leads to the identification of potential isolate. Culture conditions for the potential isolate were optimized for maximal growth and yield of the ethyl acetate (EA) crude extract. The potential isolate was characterized by molecular taxonomy and phylogeny and identified as Streptomyces species and named as Streptomyces sp. VITNK9. The 16S rDNA nucleotide sequence was searched through the GenBank database and showed 83% similarity to Streptomyces vinaceusdrappus. The EA extract prepared from Streptomyces sp. VITNK9 showed moderate antagonistic activity accessed by the formation of zone of growth inhibition against, Aeromonas caviae (15.33 mm), Aeromonas hydrophila (17.66 mm), Edwardsiella tarda (18.33 mm), Vibrio anguillarum (14.33 mm) and Vibrio harveyi (14.33 mm). The MIC value of EA extract was ranged between 0.03-0.125 mg mL-1. The GC-MS spectrum of the ethyl acetate extract revealed the presence of two major compounds, pyrrolo [1,2-A] pyrazine-1,4-Dione (56.67%) and Hexahydro-3-(2-Methylpropyl) (27.91%), respectively. The results of the study suggest that Streptomyces sp. VITNK9 is a potential source for antagonistic secondary metabolites against fish and shellfish bacterial pathogens.


Introduction: Mastitis is a painful inflammation of the breast, commonly seen during the lactating period. Case: We present a case of recurrent mastitis of a patient who visited for treatment to a secondary care hospital, Udhagamandalam and describes the treatment strategies followed. The treatment given was found to be in accordance with the world health organization guidelines for treatment of mastitis, Academy of Breast feeding medicine protocol committee, Australia and National treatment guidelines for antimicrobial use in infectious disease (version 1.0, 2016) by the Government of INDIA. The recurrence of mastitis observed in this patient emphasizes the need of educating lactating mothers effectively regarding regular feeding and proper breast feeding techniques, which may enabling them to identify and resolve the predisposing factors of possible breast feeding disorders.


Acacia mangium, A. auriculiformis and their hybrid, the leguminous fast-growing tree species has been widely adopted as a nurse crop for re-establishing native-tree plantations on degraded lands in Vietnam, but with little success. This may be attributed to not fully understanding the site requirements of target native species and the potential for negative as well as positive between-species interactions. The most planted native species is Hopea odorata Roxb., a dipterocarp that is thought to be shade-tolerant. To resolve how best to apply and manage such a system of mixed-species silviculture, this study first investigated the resource requirements of H. odorata in its natural habitat and how degraded soils change under consecutive short-rotations of A. hybrid plantations. Plantings of H. odorata within circular and strip gaps in 3- and 2.5-yr-old A. hybrid plantations, respectively, were used to assess the growth and physiological responses of H. odorata to competition for light and water. The light gradients created in the circular-gap experiment and the different light condition in the strip-gap experiment were used to assess how changes in growth rate were associated with the efficiency of use of light by the H.odorata. Site requirements for regeneration of H. odorata were investigated in its natural habitat in three representative 50  50 m inventory plots in a secondary evergreen natural forest in southern Vietnam. The upper canopy was dominated by four dipterocarp species; H. odorata, Shorea roxburghii G. Don., Anisoptera costata Korth., and Dipterocarpus alatus Roxb. ex G. Don. The prevailing stand structure supported the vigorous germination, but not development of H. odorata seedlings due to low levels of light near the forest floor. Seedling germination was supported when daily transmitted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was between 2.2% and 6.6%, but seedling development was only observed when PAR was 11.4%. The slightly acidic sandy soils with low nutrient concentration were apparently not a constraint on growth of H. odorata seedlings given adequate light conditions. The results suggest that the re-establishment of H. odorata on degraded sites using nurse crops should be possible provided that high levels of shading are avoided.
The potential to improve soil conditions with Acacia hybrid was assessed on degraded gravelly and sandy soils in Central Vietnam, from second- or third-rotation plantations representative of five age classes (0.5- to 5-yr old) and adjacent abandoned lands as controls. Compared to abandoned land, stock of total soil carbon, total nitrogen, and exchangeable calcium, magnesium and sodium were significantly higher in some years of the 5-yr rotation. However, extractable phosphorus and exchangeable potassium were not affected. Electrical conductivity was significantly higher and bulk density was significantly lower in all ages. Soil pHCaCl2 was lower at ages 0.5 and 5 yrs, and pHH2O at age 5 yrs. Within a rotation, most soil properties did not change significantly with plantation age, although they appeared to decrease during the first three years; total carbon then recovered to initial levels, but total nitrogen and exchangeable cations remained lower. Some soil properties were strongly related to gravel content and elevation, but not with growth rate. Thus consecutive plantings of short-rotation Acacia hybrid on degraded and abandoned land can lead to changes in some soil properties.
Growth and physiological responses of H. odorata to different environmental conditions created in a nurse-crop plantation were examined in a field experiment where H. odorata seedlings were planted within three 22 m-diameter gaps opened in a 3-yr-old Acacia hybrid plantation in Central Vietnam. At age 2 yrs, stem diameter, total height and crown diameter of the H. odorata increased significantly from gap perimeter (GP) to gap centre (GC). This positive response correlated with significant increases in daily incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) from 24% to 61% of total incident PAR. Net photosynthetic rate at 1500 mol m-2 s-1 (A1500) and stomatal conductance (gs) were significantly lower for trees near the GP than those near the GC. Light-saturated photosynthesis (Asat) was significantly lower for trees near the GP than GC at age 1 yr, but not at age 2 yrs. Apparent quantum yield (Φ), dark respiration (Rdark), and photosynthetic biochemical parameters (Vcmax and Jmax) were similar between treatments. Chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), and leaf N and P concentrations were also unaffected by treatment. Nevertheless, specific leaf area was higher in the GP than other treatments. Despite the substantial difference in PAR between treatments, trees near the GP received levels of irradiation >500 μmol m-2 s-1 for 12% of the day v. 38% at the GC. Significant reductions of leaf water potential (Ψleaf) at the end of the dry season in treatments close to the GP compared to those near the GC suggested competition for water between H. odorata and the acacia nurse trees, although pre-dawn Ψleaf remained >-0.5 MPa. Thus, despite being a species that regenerates naturally in shade, H. odorata quickly acclimates to much higher light environments. Understanding how H. odorata alters its architectural traits and growth rate in response to changing light environments is essential when designing and manipulating mixed-species plantations containing this species. Seedlings of H. odorata were planted into the circular gaps referred to above, and in 5 and 7.5 m strip gaps within a 2.5-yr-old A. hybrid plantation. Crown structure, absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) and whole-plant light-use efficiency (LUE; above-ground biomass growth or wood growth per unit APAR) of the seedlings over a gradient of light across the circular gap were examined for two years. Biomass production increased exponentially from the GP to the GC. This was largely due to an exponential increase in APAR and a minor increase in LUE. The large increase in APAR was associated with an increase in leaf area and a reduction in shading from the nurse trees. Conversely, APAR per unit leaf area decreased towards the gap centre, probably due to steeper branch and leaf angles in order to avoid high radiation. In the strip-gap planting, the PAR was similar to that at the perimeter of the circular gaps; however the light pattern was dominated by sun flecks in the strip gap and direct sunlight in the circular gap. While the LUE of the more shaded H. odorata trees in the strip gaps was much higher, this was not enough to make up for the much lower APAR and hence biomass production. This study shows that H. odorata is able to grow under a wide range of PAR and that the availability of PAR has a strong influence on its growth. While the strip gaps used in this study appeared to be too narrow, the circular gap indicated that nurse plantings are an effective silvicultural design for establishing H. odorata provided that competition for other resources is managed. The study concluded that Acacia hybrid is a potential species for recovery of some key soil chemical and physical properties. It is a potential nurse crop for re-establishment of native-tree species on degraded lands. Although H. odorata is shade-adapted species, it has great plasticity to acclimate to a range of light environments. However for mixed-species systems using these species, interspecific competition for light and soil water between A. hybrid and H. odorata needs to be addressed during the design and then management of the plantations.


Structured finance transactions typically are executed through single-use legal vehicles generically known as "special purpose entities" or "SPEs." The headline-grabbing financial collapses of 2001 made SPEs famous, and the accounting results they were typically used to achieve, infamous. FASB, the U.S. accounting standard setters, responded with a new accounting rule called FIN 46R. FIN 46R became effective in 2004 and was designed specifically to make a substantial change in the accounting landscape for structured transactions. FASB defined "variable interests" as contractual, ownership, or other commercial interests in an entity that change with changes in the fair value of the entity's net assets (excluding variable interests). A "variable interest entity" (VIE) is an entity subject to FIN 46R consolidation rules. A company that is judged to have a majority of the risks and rewards of a VIE is called the "primary beneficiary" and needs to consolidate the VIE for financial statement purposes.


AIM
To investigate the effect of synbiotics, i.e. probiotics and prebiotics mixture, on the gut microbial ecology and digestive enzyme activities in rats.

METHODS
Forty-eight SD rats weighing about 280 g were used in this study. Rats were divided into three groups according to the contents of probiotics and prebiotics mixture in the feed as control, low and high dose groups. The duration of the experiment was 8 wk.

RESULTS
Compared with the control group, the fecal Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium counts were significantly increased and the fecal Coliform organism counts were markedly reduced in the low and high dose groups. Concerning the digestive enzyme activity of jejunum, only lactase activity increased in low dose group. However, significant increase of lipase, lactase, sucrase, and isomaltase activities were observed in high dose group.

CONCLUSION
Intake of low and high dosages of probiotics and prebiotics mixture significantly improved the ecosystem of the intestinal tract by increasing the probiotics population and digestive enzyme activities in rats.


The effects of protein kinase C (PKC) activators on gamma-aminobutyric acidA (GABAA) receptor function were studied by two-electrode voltage-clamp in Xenopus oocytes expressing brain mRNA or subunit cDNAs and in isolated mouse brain cerebellar membrane vesicles (microsacs), using 36Cl- uptake. Both oocytes and microsacs showed transient (desensitizing) and sustained (nondesensitizing) GABAA receptor responses. In oocytes expressing brain mRNA, the PKC activator phorbol myristoyl acetate (PMA), but not the inactive analog phorbol 12-monomyristate, inhibited both transient and sustained GABA-gated chloride currents. The inhibition by PMA was concentration dependent, with an EC50 of approximately 5 nM, and resulted in a decrease in the efficacy, but not the potency, of GABA. Additionally, PMA inhibited GABA-gated chloride currents in oocytes expressing alpha 1 beta 1 gamma 2L subunit cDNAs. The effect of PMA on recombinant receptors was significantly antagonized by PKC inhibitory peptide (PKCI). In the microsac preparation, the PKC activators (-)-7-octylindolactam V and PMA inhibited the sustained phase of 36Cl- flux without altering the transient phase. The action of PMA was blocked by kinase inhibitors and by depletion of Mg-ATP and was mimicked by protein phosphatase inhibitors. These results demonstrate that activation of PKC inhibits GABAA receptor function, and the results from the microsac experiments suggest that PKC-dependent phosphorylation preferentially inactivates a nondesensitized form or state of the receptor.


A 2-D plain strain CFD/FEM model to simulate thermal shocks and stresses in a turbine blade has been set up using the commercially available software FLUENT and NASTRAN. The model was validated against the experimental data of Bohn et. al. and used to simulate real test cases. The steady state numerical model was set up for a single Mark II nozzle guide vane using the correct boundary conditions to resolve the flow field. A combined laminar and turbulent model was developed in FLUENT that was used to highly accurately predict the pressure, temperature and heat transfer coefficient distribution on the blade surface as well as the temperature distribution on the cooling holes inside the blade. The resulting temperature proflles on the blade and cooling holes were used as boundary conditions for the FEM analysis to resolve the internal temperature aIld stress proflles. The pressure, temperature and heat transfer distribution on the blade, from FLUENT, were compared to those from Bohn et. al. The predicted pressure distribution was exact with the experimental results and the predicted temperature distribution had an average overprediction of 1.4 % on both the pressure and suction side. The internal temperature proflle predicted by NASTRAN was correctly predicted with an average over-prediction of 2 %. The stress contours were accurately predicted with the stress magnitude varying by 17 % to that of Bohn et. al. The reason for the difference between the MSC.NASTRAN and Bohn et. al. stress results is believed to be purely solver related. Bohn et al. used a FEM package called MSC.MARClMentat. With the steady state model validated, transient test cases were simulated that represent typical operational data. The mission proflle was obtained for the T-56 engine found on the C130 cargo plane. The model was used to simulate the test case where the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) varied with time. The simulation results showed that stress was proportional to TIT, where changes in the TIT were seen later in the stress curve, due to conduction in the blade. Steep TIT changes, such as shock loads affected stress later than gentler TIT changes. Thus, the FLUENT / NASTRAN model was successfully validated, and used to simulate a flight mission proflle. The goal to calculate quality unsteady stress profiles was achieved and forms the boundary conditions for thermal fatigue calculations.


This paper presents a simple MLP-like architecture, CycleMLP, which is a versatile backbone for visual recognition and dense predictions. As compared to modern MLP architectures, e.g., MLP-Mixer, ResMLP, and gMLP, whose architectures are correlated to image size and thus are infeasible in object detection and segmentation, CycleMLP has two advantages compared to modern approaches. (1) It can cope with various image sizes. (2) It achieves linear computational complexity to image size by using local windows. In contrast, previous MLPs have $O(N^2)$ computations due to fully spatial connections. We build a family of models which surpass existing MLPs and even state-of-the-art Transformer-based models, e.g., Swin Transformer, while using fewer parameters and FLOPs. We expand the MLP-like models' applicability, making them a versatile backbone for dense prediction tasks. CycleMLP achieves competitive results on object detection, instance segmentation, and semantic segmentation. In particular, CycleMLP-Tiny outperforms Swin-Tiny by 1.3% mIoU on ADE20K dataset with fewer FLOPs. Moreover, CycleMLP also shows excellent zero-shot robustness on ImageNet-C dataset. Code is available at https://github.com/ShoufaChen/CycleMLP.


Phospholipid ester-linked fatty acids (PLFA) were used to investigate the microbial ecology and its association with carbon accumulation in one soil profile from the Dinghushan Biosphere Preserve in south China, in order to probe the mechanisms that control the carbon accumulation at the depth of 0 20 cm in the Dinghushan forest soil profile. The data show that sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) occur in the top 10 cm, and methanotrophic bacteria and fungi are not present below 10 cm, and the gramnegative bacteria are reduced with gram-positive bacteria dominating at that depth; all of which indicated that the activities of some of the microorganisms were inhibited, from which we infer that the available carbon source and oxygen content of micro environment may be reduced below 10 cm of the profile. The shallow depth (top 10 cm) of the soil anaerobic zone at the Wukesong profile, compared to the normal soil anaerobic zone (top 20 30 cm), is considered to be mainly the result of the high precipitation of acidic rain. The physicochemical reactions caused by acid rain in the soil system result in a decreased soil porosity, and a correspondingly decreased porositydependent oxygen concentration, leading to the thriving of SRB in the shallow depth. Although the increase of soil organic carbon stock is attributed to numerous factors, the decreasing rate of litter decomposition in the topsoil layer, together with the rise of the depth of the anaerobic zone, may play key roles in the carbon accumulation in the depth of 0 20 cm in the soil profile from the Dinghushan Biosphere Preserve. Article history: Received 9 August 2016 Revised 7 August 2017 Accepted 6 October 2017


An analysis of the
formation of karst and karst-suffosion forms on the territory of the West
Kazakhstan region is presented in this paper. Numerous literary sources were
used as the information database for the analysis of the relief features of the
West Kazakhstan region. Evaluation of the morphometric features of the
collapsed new formations on the basis of materials of our own field research is
presented here for the first time. According to the research objectives there
were defined localization places of the karst-collapsed phenomena where the reconnaissance
field surveys were carried out. Survey points' localization has been carried
out by means of GPS system with the help of 12-channel GPS-receiver of Garmin
eTrex model. Geoinformational technology, based on MapInfo 9.5 and ArcGIS 9.2
packages was used for the building of the information and cartographic database.
Original thematic maps compiled on the basis of the research results' analysis
have been obtained in this research. The features of the Caspian Basin's karst
landscapes, formed as a result of salt-dome tectonic manifestations (Inder
Mountains, Malaya Bogdo Mountain, Bish-Chokho hill) are described in this
paper. The important elements of the Caspian Basin salt-dome landscapes are
landforms of the karst origin from large karst depressions of the
karst-tectonic origin to modern forms of the sulfate karst: sinkholes, wells,
polje, knobs ("Kurgantau"), arches, caves and grottoes. Some karst formations
have a non-salt-dome origin. Three areas with the collapsed forms that have the
karst-suffosion origin have been identified (near Konyr village, Berezovka
village and Zhanatalap village). The mechanism of the sinkholes formation is
due to the changes of the groundwater regime and the displacement of limestone
eluvium as a result of active anthropogenic impacts. The sinkholes occurence
near Zhanatalap village, which is located near the Karachaganak oil and gas
field, is probably due to the anthropogenic initiation of karst-suffosion
processes.


Information about the networks of protein interactions within a cell can greatly increase our understanding of protein function and cellular processes. The advent of high- throughput experimental techniques, as well as large-scale computational prediction models, has greatly increased the volume of genomic data aimed at discovering the functionality of genes and proteins. Individually, these data should be viewed with caution as they are often inaccurate and incomplete. Recent years have seen a growing trend towards the adoption of diverse data integration techniques to support large-scale analysis of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. However, current research is mainly focused on data-driven approaches. This paper proposes a knowledge-driven computational framework to support systems-level data integration for the prediction of PPI networks. Based on the incorporation of prior knowledge of the relationship between different "omic" datasets, different likelihood-ratio-based Bayesian models (LR-NB) have been developed to combine the evidence from diverse sources, ranging from co- expression to essentiality to formulate PPI predictions. We demonstrate improvements in the PPI prediction performance. Results are evaluated against Gold Standards, which were derived from the MIPS Complex Catalogue (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and the Human Protein Reference Database. We also implement a novel analysis of local regions of a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve as less biased and more exact approach to assessing the quality of prediction models. This investigation also provides the basis for new PPI network inference and analysis applications in other model organisms and in specific diseases.


New series of 2-Azetidinone (I-IV) were synthesized, the structure of these new derivatives were confirmed using spectral methods starting from diclofenac sodium. We prepared diclofenac acid by using hydrochloric acid, then converted to amide ester by using thionyl chloride, then converted to hydrazide by using hydrazine hydrate 99.5%, then a Schiff bases were synthesized using different aromatic aldehydes in ethanol, and the final compounds were obtained by cyclocondensation using chloroacetylechloride.The synthesis of the designed compounds has been successfully achieved. Purity and characterization were confirmed by determination of physical properties (melting points & Rf values), FT-IR spectroscopy and CHN analysis.


extract] This article falls into four main parts. By way of background and in order to provide a context within which to analyse the model [dispute resolution] procedure [for AWAs], the article begins with a brief description of the dispute resolution system which has dominated Australian industrial relations at the federal level for most of this century. It also provides an overview of some of the recent legislative reforms in federal industrial relations, in so far as they are relevant to AWAs. The second part of the article outlines a range of principles which serve as guidelines in the process of designing dispute resolution systems. The system created by the model procedure for AWAs is critiqued in the third part of the article. Since the model procedure operates within the legislative framework of the Workplace Relations Act, the next part of the article examines the capacity of industrial relations institutions such as the Employment Advocate and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to remedy the deficiencies in the model procedure. It concludes that the capacity of these institutions in this regard is limited. With these limitations in mind, some suggestions for improving the model procedure are offered.


Simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing is used to acquire high speed (200Hz), chemically specific axial scans of mouse skin through a single-mode fiber. The temporal focus is remotely scanned by modulating the group delay dispersion (GDD) at the proximal end of the fiber. No moving parts or electronics are required at the distal end. A novel GDD modulation technique is implemented using a piezo bimorph mirror in a folded grating pair to achieve a large GDD tuning range at high speed.


An estimation of ground-water recharge for Cumberland County. Ground-water recharge is estimated using the NJGS methodology from NJ Geological Survey Report GSR-32 "A Method for Evaluation of Ground-Water-Recharge Areas in New Jersey. Land-use/land-cover, soil and municipality-based climatic data were combined and used to produce an estimate of ground-water recharge in inches/year. Recharge was then ranked by volume (billions of gallons/year) using natural breaks in the percentage of total volume.


Epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) is the oxidation product of soybean oil with hydrogen peroxide and either acetic or formic acid obtained by converting the double bonds into epoxy groups, which is non-toxic and of higher chemical reactivity. ESO is mainly used as a green plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride, while the reactive epoxy groups imply its great potential in both the monomer synthesis and the polymer preparation fields. Functional polymers are obtained by different kinds of reactions of the ESO with co-monomers and/or initiators shown in this chapter. The emphasis is on ESO based epoxy cross-linked polymers which recently gained strong interest and allowed new developments especially from both an academic point of view and an industrial point of view. It is believed that new ring-opening reagents may facilitate the synthesis of good structural ESO based materials.


In France, the system of performance indicators defined within the relevant regulations does not include indicators relating to pressure, or the number of connections. So, Irstea and Veolia Water decided to create a new system of water loss indicators designed for use in France and that would take into account these parameters. The study was initially carried out at District Metered Area (DMA) level. These analyses showed the advantages of considering the ratio of losses to number of connections, but did not highlight a significant link between water loss levels and average pressure. After that, using a module that automatically calculates average pressure based on an EPAnet model of a network, it was possible to carry out a study at the system level. The results at the system scale were similar to those obtained at the DMA level. The study demonstrates that it is relevant to use a performance indicator of losses per connection. On the other hand, it showed no link between the volume of losses and the average pressure, which is contrary to what is commonly admitted.


While traditional Business Intelligence (BI) environments have for some time assisted organizations with their information requirements, they have become increasingly incompatible with the pressures of current business environments. They are geared towards analysis of historical information, and limited in their ability to close the latency gap between information and action. This has encouraged a movement towards real-time BI (RTBI) systems. Although these overcome latency aspects of traditional BI, and offer many value-adding benefits to organizations, their implementation has been hampered by technological complexities, and has required changes to the business environment, and high costs to put them in place. Justification of such IT investments remains a problem as they provide many intangible benefits incompatible with traditional (financial) IT benefits measurement models. For these reasons, the research set out to investigate and understand the technological components and organizational changes surrounding RTBI implementation. To further facilitate justification, application areas and benefits of RTBI were also explored. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews in organizations across several industries that had implemented or were implementing RTBI systems. A qualitative thematic analysis was then used to investigate the issues further. The study confirmed that RTBI is likely to require major changes to technical architecture, which may involve acquisition of new tools and technologies. Several issues at the organisational level also need to be addressed, and the research uncovered a wide range of practical RTBI applications and analytics applied across industries; process intelligence was found to play a fundamental role in many of these. The study reveals that RTBI can offer significant and measurable improvements, help organizations remain competitive, and in the long run, drive strategic business objectives from a grass roots level. To assist organisations to take advantage of this, a roadmap for RTBI justification and implementation planning is suggested.


Within the bioengineering framework, designing a non-erodible channel is a complex fluid dynamics problem as it involves knowing the drag exerted on the boundary, the drag exerted on the plant stems and the overall friction slope. Most of the existing design criteria employ resistance formulas such as Manning's, calibrated ad hoc. Moving toward physically based design criteria, progresses have been made in the characterization of 3D flows over irregular boundaries, mainly due to the application of Double-Averaging methods (D-AM), which are a particular form of upscaling. Such methods are especially pertinent for the characterization of the flow within and in the near vicinity of plant canopies.This work is aimed at the determination of the drag coefficient associated to rigid emergent stems in turbulent flows. Specific objectives are i) the detailed characterization and quantification of the flow within vegetated areas susceptible to be simulated by dense arrays of vertical emergent stems and ii) the independent quantification of the forces, per unit bed area, acting on the stems and on the bed boundary. Both objectives concur for a better knowledge of the flow resistance in wetlands and vegetated areas in general. To meet the proposed objectives, conditions similar to those found in nature were reproduced in laboratory facilities, using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV).Since actual wetlands exhibit patchiness and spatial variability in stem density, the experiments featured a periodic distribution of stem densities with minimum and maximum values of 400 and 1600 stems/m2, respectively. The treatment of the data was done with the Double-Averaging methodology (D-AM), to account for the great spatial variability of the flow. The results reveal that the contribution of form-induced stresses, namely longitudinal and shear stresses is of the order of magnitude of the contribution of Reynolds stresses. Hence, in general, this stresses cannot be neglected. The analysis of form-induced stresses helps to explain the increase of the drag coefficient when the stem density increases.


Individuals increasingly have encountered messages that mental illness is explained by biological factors such as chemical imbalance or genetic abnormality. Many assumed this "biological turn" would lessen stigma toward mental illness, but stigma generally has remained stable or even increased. Given how nonbiological illness explanations (e.g., way one is raised, bad character, life stressors) often are endorsed even among those who support biological explanations, we contend that combinations or configurations of beliefs integrating distinct types of explanation may hold a key to understanding why biological beliefs have not succeeded in lessening stigma. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) on national vignette data (2006 General Social Survey; N = 968), we find that not blaming an individual's character is essential to lowering depression stigma whenever biological explanations also are endorsed and that blaming character unconditionally contributes to stigmatizing alcoholism. For schizophrenia and alcoholism, biological explanations may lower stigma contingent on several other beliefs.


Davidson Seamount, a volcano located about 80 km off the central California coast, has a volume of ∼320 km3 and consists of a series of parallel ridges serrated with steep cones. Davidson was sampled and its morphology observed during 27 ROV Tiburon dives. During those dives, 286 samples of lava, volcaniclastite, and erratics from the continental margin were collected, with additional samples from one ROV‐collected push core and four gravity cores. We report glass compositions for 99 samples and 40Ar‐39Ar incremental heating age data for 20 of the samples. The glass analyses are of hawaiite (62%), mugearite (13%), alkalic basalt (9%), and tephrite (8%), with minor transitional basalt (2%), benmoreite (2%), and trachyandesite (2%). The lithologies are irregularly distributed in space and time. The volcano erupted onto crust inferred to be 20 Ma from seafloor magnetic anomalies. Ages of the lavas range from 9.8 to 14.8 Ma. The oldest rocks are from the central ridge, and the youngest are from the flanks and southern end of the edifice. The compositions of the 18 reliably dated volcanic cones vary with age such that the oldest lavas are the most fractionated. The melts lost 65% to nearly 95% of their initial S because of bubble loss during vesiculation, and the shallowest samples have S contents similar to lava erupted subaerially in Hawaii. Despite this similarity in S contents, there is scant other evidence to suggest that Davidson was ever an island. The numerous small cones of disparate chemistry and the long eruptive period suggest episodic growth of the volcano over at least 5 Myr and perhaps as long as 10 Myr if it began to grow when the spreading ridge was abandoned.


By adding 4,4′-bipyridine (BPY) to cross-link the paddle-wheel clusters M2(–COO)4L2, isoreticular metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been constructed from a flexible tritopic linker, 4,4′,4′′-s-triazine-1,3,5-triyltri-p-aminobenzoic acid (H3TATAB), termed as ST-14 [Cu6(TATAB)4(BPY)3] and ST-15 [Zn6(TATAB)4(BPY)3]. With a secondary-amine group, these MOFs have shown exculsive cationic dye capture properties with charge selectivity, metal-dependent adsorption kinetics, and solvent-dependent dye release. This work sheds light on further designing smart porous materials for drug delivery, molecular inclusion, sensing and so on.


The research on the cognitive benefits of exercise has shown that regular participation in physical activity can improve performance for cognitive activities. Recently, animal research has shown that combining physical activity (PA) with cognitive training concomitantly, produces greater increases in cognitive performance than either done alone. The human research that has been designed to explore the effects of combined exercise and cognitive training has implemented the training on separate days and in separate locations. Thus, the human research has not looked at combining PA and cognitive engagement during exercise in the same way the animal research has. Therefore, the current study investigated the cognitive benefits of a cognitive training protocol performed during an exercise task as compared to cognitive training or exercise training alone. Participants (N = 24) were randomized to one of three groups that engaged in a 6-day training protocol. There was a bike group that exercised at a moderate intensity, a game group that engaged in an interactive learning software protocol, and a both group that completed the interactive learning software protocol while simultaneously exercising. All participants were tested before and after the 6 day training session on the Wonderlic Personnel Test, the Stroop Test, the Trail Making Tests A and B (TMTA, TMTB) and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). The results of the Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Stroop test showed there was a significant interaction of time x test x group, p < .05 indicating that while the two exercise groups (bike and both) had improvements in scores on all subtests over time, the game group did improve on the color subtest but did not improve on the word and color-word subtests. Analysis of the Stroop interference score also showed a significant time x group interaction, p < .05. Examination of the means showed that the bike group and the both group reduced their time to completion from pretest to posttest, but the game group increased their completion time and therefore performed worse at posttest. An examination of the set-switch score for the TMT indicated that the interaction of time x group approached significance, p = .062. Examination of the means indicated that the bike group and the both group reduced their time to completion from pretest to posttest, but the game group increased their completion time from pretest to posttest. The findings suggest that combining exercise and a cognitive training protocol can produce significant results on cognitive measures after a 6-day intervention.


All Leaders Face Adversity. Exceptional Leaders Thrive in It.

 Leadership is often a struggle, and yet strong taboos keep us from talking openly and honestly about our difficulties for fear of looking weak and seeming to lack confidence. But Steven Snyder shows that this discussion is vital—adversity is precisely what unlocks our greatest potential.

 Using real-life stories drawn from his extensive research studying 151 diverse episodes of leadership struggle—as well as from his experiences working with Bill Gates in the early years of Microsoft and as a CEO and executive coach—Snyder shows how to navigate intense challenges to achieve personal growth and organizational success. He details strategies for embracing struggle and offers a host of unique tools and hands-on practices to help you implement them. By mastering the art of struggle, you'll be better equipped to meet life's challenges and focus on what matters most.

 "Leadership and the Art of Struggle provides you with the opportunity to learn from Snyder's remarkable wisdom. It is a living guide that you can return to time and time again as new situations arise."
 —From the foreword by Bill George, former CEO, Medtronic; Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School; and author of the bestselling True North

 "The leadership book of the year…one of the most intelligent, revealing, and practical books on the subject I have ever read. It confronts a vital truth: that challenge is the crucible for greatness and that these adversities introduce us to ourselves."
 —Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the bestselling The Leadership Challenge

 "Steven Snyder covers all the bases from channeling your energy to managing conflict, including a great segment about overcoming your leadership blind spots...This encouraging book is a must-read!"
 —Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Great Leaders Grow

 "Leadership and the Art of the Struggle gives you clear and compelling advice on transforming pitfalls into possibilities."
 —Jodee Kozlak, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Target


The authors discuss matters concerning Cryptocurrencies in a global context. We also describe what a cryptocurrency is and provide a history of the currencies and their differences with government regulated moneys. Discussion follows with why these digital currencies are important not only to criminals, but also corporations and governments, and outlines the process for which transactions are held legitimate and how the data within the coins are stored. Although criminal activity has profited with cryptocurrencies, these currencies have become more mainstream. The authors identify key forensic artifacts that may be found on digital devices to track transactions and aid in connecting criminals to their malicious actions.


Abstract Introduction The objective of this study was to determine if modification of the Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) system by the addition of an Orange category, intermediate between the most critically injured (Red) and the non-critical, non-ambulatory injured (Yellow), would reduce over- and under-triage rates in a simulated mass-casualty incident (MCI) exercise. Methods A computer-simulation exercise of identical presentations of an MCI scenario involving a 2-train collision, with 28 case scenarios, was provided for triaging to two groups: the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY; n = 1,347) using modified START, and the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers from the Eagles 2012 EMS conference (Lafayette, Louisiana USA; n = 110) using unmodified START. Percent correct by triage category was calculated for each group. Performance was then compared between the two EMS groups on the five cases where Orange was the correct answer under the modified START system. Results Overall, FDNY-EMS providers correctly triaged 91.2% of cases using FDNY-START whereas non-FDNY-Eagles providers correctly triaged 87.1% of cases using unmodified START. In analysis of the five Orange cases (chest pain or dyspnea without obvious trauma), FDNY-EMS performed significantly better using FDNY-START, correctly triaging 86.3% of cases (over-triage 1.5%; under-triage 12.2%), whereas the non-FDNY-Eagles group using unmodified START correctly triaged 81.5% of cases (over-triage 17.3%; under-triage 1.3%), a difference of 4.9% (95% CI, 1.5-8.2). Conclusions The FDNY-START system may allow providers to prioritize casualties using an intermediate category (Orange) more properly aligned to meet patient needs, and as such, may reduce the rates of over-triage compared with START. The FDNY-START system decreases the variability in patient sorting while maintaining high field utility without needing computer assistance or extensive retraining. Comparison of triage algorithms at actual MCIs is needed; however, initial feedback is promising, suggesting that FDNY-START can improve triage with minimal additional training and cost. ArshadFH, WilliamsA, AsaedaG, IsaacsD, KaufmanB, Ben-EliD, GonzalezD, FreeseJP, HillgardnerJ, WeakleyJ, HallCB, WebberMP, PrezantDJ. A modified Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment algorithm from the New York City (USA) Fire Department. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-6 .


Little is known about the intracellular events that occur following the initial inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the first‐line antituberculosis drugs isoniazid (INH) and ethambutol (EMB). Understanding these pathways should provide significant insights into the adaptive strategies M. tuberculosis undertakes to survive antibiotics. We have discovered that the M. tuberculosis iniA gene (Rv 0342) participates in the development of tolerance to both INH and EMB. This gene is strongly induced along with iniB and iniC (Rv 0341 and Rv 0343) by treatment of Mycobacterium bovis BCG or M. tuberculosis with INH or EMB. BCG strains overexpressing M. tuberculosis iniA grew and survived longer than control strains upon exposure to inhibitory concentrations of either INH or EMB. An M. tuberculosis strain containing an iniA deletion showed increased susceptibility to INH. Additional studies showed that overexpression of M. tuberculosis iniA in BCG conferred resistance to ethidium bromide, and the deletion of iniA in M. tuberculosis resulted in increased accumulation of intracellular ethidium bromide. The pump inhibitor reserpine reversed both tolerance to INH and resistance to ethidium bromide in BCG. These results suggest that iniA functions through an MDR‐pump like mechanism, although IniA does not appear to directly transport INH from the cell. Analysis of two‐dimensional crystals of the IniA protein revealed that this predicted transmembrane protein forms multimeric structures containing a central pore, providing further evidence that iniA is a pump component. Our studies elucidate a potentially unique adaptive pathway in mycobacteria. Drugs designed to inhibit the iniA gene product may shorten the time required to treat tuberculosis and may help prevent the clinical emergence of drug resistance.


The spotted fever rickettsia, Rickettsia helvetica, is an endemic tick-borne bacteria in Sweden. It causes infections in humans, manifested as aneruptive fever, headache, arthralgia and myalgia, and sometimes an inoculation eschar or a rash. There have also been two known cases of human infections with R. felis in Sweden.The present thesis starts by investigating dispersal of ticks and Rickettsia spp. by migrating birds flying from Africa to Europe. Almost 15,000 birds were searched and 734 ticks collected, mainly of the species Hyalomma marginatum complex. Almost half (48%) of the ticks were infected with Rickettsia spp., 96% of which was R. aeschlimannii, the remaining R. africae and undefined species.The next study focused on questing ticks over a large area in Sweden and determining the prevalence of Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp. and Coxiella burnetii. Rickettsia spp. was found in 9.5-9.6% of the ticks and A. phagocytophilum in 0.7%; no C. burnetii was found.The last three papers in the thesis focused on the clinical presentation of rickettsiosis, the symptoms associated with the infection in general and particularly in patients with neurological complications. A tick-exposed population in Sweden was investigated to gain a better understanding of symptoms due to rickettsioses, also in relation to co-infections with other tick-borne bacteria. Based on symptoms, it was not possible to distinguish what pathogen caused the infections. Most patients had erythema migrans, some had serological reactions to Rickettsia spp., Borrelia spp. or co-infections by Rickettsia spp., Borrelia spp. and/or Anaplasma spp. In the fourth and fifth papers, we found associations between antibodies against Rickettsia spp. and sudden deafness (in 10-24% of patients) and facial nerve paralysis (in 8.3-25% of patients). In three patients R. felis was detected in the cerebrospinal fluids. Briefly, the thesis helps to clarify our knowledge about tick dispersal, shows a narrower prevalence estimate of Rickettsia spp. in Swedish ticks, and illuminates symptoms of rickettsioses and co-infections with other tick-borne infections. It also shows that presence of erythema migrans may be explained by more than Lyme disease and indicates a possible association between rickettsiosis and sudden deafness and facial nerve paralysis.


Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes inevitably foul because of the accumulation of material on the membrane surface. Instead of trying to reduce membrane fouling by chemically modifying the membrane, we took a different approach based on adding a sacrificial coating of two polyelectrolytes to the membrane. After membrane fouling, this coating was removed by flushing with a highly saline brine solution, and a new coating was regenerated in situ to provide a fresh protective layer (PL) on the membrane surface. The utility of this approach was demonstrated by conducting four consecutive dead-end filtration experiments using a model foulant (alginate, 200 ppm) in a synthetic brackish water (2000 ppm of NaCl). Brine removal and regeneration of the PL coating restored the water flux to an average of 97 ± 3% of its initial flux, compared to only 83 ± 3% for the pristine membrane. The average water flux for the PL-coated membranes was 15.5 ± 0.6 L m−2 h−1 until the flux was decreased by 10% versus its initial flux, compared to 13.4 ± 0.5 L m−2 h−1 for the nontreated control. The use of a sacrificial PL coating could therefore provide a more sustainable approach for addressing RO membrane fouling.


The purpose of this study was to develop a parent report instrument congruent with child-centered play therapy (CCPT) philosophy with acceptable levels of construct validity, reliability, and sensitivity to clinical attitudes, and responsiveness to intervention. The instrument in development, the Child Interpersonal Relationships and Attitudes Assessment (CIRAA), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) and the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) were administered to 136 parents of children aged 3 to 10. The children of the parents in the sample consisted of 90 males and 46 females. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted for construct validity. The factor solution explained 53.86% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was conducted for total scale and all subscales. Reliability coefficients for total and subscale scores were acceptable, with an overall reliability coefficient of .93. A Pearson's r was conducted for concurrent validity between the instrument, the CBC, and the PSI, with Pearsons' r of .75 and .74, respectively. Paired-sample t tests using the pre- and posttest scores of the CIRAA examined the responsiveness of the instrument to play therapy intervention at the same level as the CBC and PSI. ROC curve analysis indicated acceptable discrimination of clinical scores and adaptive scores, with a clinical score being generated from the analysis. It is the first parent-report form developed for CCPT, and provides an efficient, philosophically consistent instrument for CCPT practitioners to use in clinical and research applications.


The objective of this thesis was the development of a mouse model for human Graves' disease which ensures constant symptoms over a period of several months. Background is the assumption that a possible therapeutic development is only feasible and sensible on reliable animal models. The in-vivo parameters heart rate and weight development should therefore be reviewed as to their significance on the progression of the disease.
In this study, BALB/c mice were immunized nine times with a TSHR-expressing adenovirus over a period of nine months. Alternatively, mice were administered adenovirus which expressed GFP ("mock-immunization). Both adenoviruses were given at concentrations of 1 * 1010 and 1 * 1011. Additionally, blood and ECG tests took place on a naive, unimmunized mouse group. Before each immunization, body weight and heart rate of the animals were documented. The blood sera of the mice were examined for TSHR-stimulating antibodies with two different ELISA as well as determination of cAMP in test cells. A measurement of thyroxin took place at four time points (trial weeks 0, 8, 27 and 35). At the end of the test, the thyroid glands and hearts were investigated with regard to their dimensions and histological sections were examined.
Increasing antibody titers were evidenced only in the Ad-TSHR-immunized animals. The mouse "third generation" assay which was adopted from a respective human assay delivered reliable results. Also these animals showed an increase of T4 levels compared to the control groups. The parameter heart rate proved to be a good indicator of the course of the disease. The heart rates of the Ad-TSHR-immunized mice increased considerably as well as the antibody titers. Observing the weight trend was unsuitable for the disease course assessment. However, the histological examination showed considerable differences between both groups. In Ad-TSHR-immunized animals, typical changes were verified, such as hyperplasia and a folding of the follicular epithelium and a marked vacuolization of the follicles. With the titer 1 * 1010 more stable results could be achieved than with 1 * 1011, especially on the parameters increase in serum T4 and the enlargement of the thyroid gland. The histological result of these animals was inconspicuous.
In summary, a long-term immunization over a nine month period with TSHR-expressing adenovirus used at concentrations of 1 * 1010 and 1 * 1011 ensures maintenance of Graves' disease symptoms for a period of at least 30 weeks and can provide an important contribution in preclinical research. Existing adenovirus protocols could therefore be validated for a considerably longer timeframe than was previously known. The measurement of the heart frequency represents a useful addition to existing mouse models.


Although the volatility of house prices is often ascribed to demand-side factors, constraints on housing supply have important and little-studied implications for housing dynamics. I illustrate the strong relationship between the volatility of house prices and the regulation of new housing supply. I then employ a dynamic structural model of housing investment to investigate the mechanisms underlying this relationship. I find that supply constraints increase volatility through two channels: First, regulation lowers the elasticity of new housing supply by increasing lags in the permit process and adding to the cost of supplying new houses on the margin. Second, geographic limitations on the area available for building houses, such as steep slopes and water bodies, lead to less investment on average relative to the size of the existing housing stock, leaving less scope for the supply response to attenuate the effects of a demand shock. My estimates and simulations confirm that regulation and geographic constraints play critical and complementary roles in decreasing the responsiveness of investment to demand shocks, which in turn amplifies house price volatility.


Based on knowledge attained through his highly trained clairvoyance, Steiner contends that folk traditions regarding nature spirits are based on spiritual reality. He describes how people possessed a natural spiritual vision in ancient times, enabling them to commune with nature spirits. These entities also referred to as elemental beings became immortalized as fairies and gnomes in myth, legend, and children s stories. Today, says Steiner, the instinctive understanding that humanity once had for these elemental beings should be transformed into clear scientific knowledge. He even asserts that humanity will not be able to reconnect with the spiritual world if it cannot develop a new relationship to the elementals. The nature spirits themselves want to be of great assistance to us, acting as emissaries of higher divine spiritual beings. "


In this thesis we have used a high-resolution regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO2.3) to simulate the present-day climate (1979-2014) of Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. We have evaluated the model results with several observations, such as in situ surface energy balance (SEB) observations by automatic weather stations and stake measurements of surface mass balance (SMB). After a recent physics update within the model, we show that the model is now better capable of realistically simulating the complex climate of the Antarctic ice sheet than a previous version of the model. The most important update is the inclusion of a scheme that allows for super-saturation of ice clouds, leading to the transportation of more clouds into the interior of the continent. As a result, modelled snowfall rates and downwelling longwave radiation have increased, and the model better represents the SEB and the SMB in East Antarctica. We have specifically applied RACMO2.3 to the Antarctic Peninsula (AP). For this purpose, the model is for the first time used at a high spatial resolution of 5.5 km in order to accurately represent the complex AP topography. RACMO2.3 is coupled to a sophisticated firn densification model that calculates processes in the snowpack such as meltwater percolation, refreezing and runoff into the ocean. By a comparison with weather stations and weather balloons, we first show that the model is capable of simulating AP wind and temperature. Secondly, we present a high-resolution estimate of the climatological (1979-2014) SMB of the AP. We show that the model is capable of resolving the distinct differences in snowfall rates between the western AP (WAP) and the eastern AP. For instance, the WAP receives nearly 80% of all AP snowfall, including snowfall rates of up to 40 meter per year. When integrated over the AP including ice shelves (an area of 410000 km2), the model calculates an average SMB of 351 gigaton per year (with an interannual variability of 58 gigaton per year) from 1979 to 2014, which mostly consists of snowfall (363 ± 56 gigaton per year). The other SMB components, sublimation, drifting snow erosion and meltwater runoff, are small in comparison (11, 0.5 and 4 gigaton per year, respectively). Finally, we applied the model to the northwestern AP, one of the most rapidly changing regions on Earth. In order to provide improved insight in the effects of these changes, we present the characteristics of the WAP meteoric freshwater budget. This budget consists of snowfall, rainfall, meltwater runoff and glacial discharge into the ocean. Changes in these processes have implications for the marine ecosystem, the surrounding sea-ice, ocean circulation and, ultimately, sea-level rise. Here, we present modelled estimates of the spatial and temporal variability of the freshwater budget, including a first estimate of glacial discharge into the ocean, assuming balance between snow accumulation and glacial discharge. We find that due to this process, locally between 2 and 11 gigaton of ice is lost to the ocean per year.


In this paper, we use Lutz's (1991) model to investigate BER (bit error rate)/PER (packet error rate) performance of the LMSC channel with various FEC (forward error correction) coding as a function of different channel parameters. The problem of insufficient interleaving is studied. Next, hybrid FEC/ARQ techniques are evaluated for different (i.e. open, and rural) channels. We focus on the problem of joint optimization of system parameters, such as maximum retransmission number, and coding rate. Simulation results show that hybrid ARQ with proper parameters guarantees high TCP end-to-end throughput performance, and is a promising approach for high-speed satellite communications in the future.


Inventory of records of Kendall County housed in the Kendall County Courthouse in Boerne, Texas. Begins with an introduction and explanation of the roles of various county government offices. Describes the records of the County Clerk: as Secretary for Commissioners Court, County Clerk: as Recorder, County Clerk: as Reporter for County Court, District Clerk, Tax Assessor-Collector, Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, County Judge, County Treasurer, and County Auditor.


Background: One of the necessities of hospital administrations is that the top and middle managers should be familiar with leadership styles and conflict management strategies completely and select a right managerial method. Through this, they can actively play a significant role in improving effectiveness and efficiency of hospital performance. The main objective of this research is surveying the relationship between Fidler's LPC score (as a sign for leadership style) and conflict management strategies (avoidance oriented, solution oriented, control oriented). Materials and Methods: For surveying leadership styles Fiddler's Least Preferred Coworker questionnaire and for surveying conflict management strategies, another questionnaire was used. The reliability of these two was 0.90 and 0.88 respectively. The survey population was consisted of the high and middle managers of Kerman's educational hospitals (81), and a sample 67 individuals was selected for survey. Results: The result showed that respondents mostly use communication oriented style and employed conflict management strategies are avoidance, solution and control respectively. Also it was observed that there is a positive and significant relation between LPC score and avoidance and solution strategies (r= 0.512 and 0.298 respectively). But there is a negative and significant relation between LPC score and control oriented strategy (r= -0.474). Conclusion: According to the findings it is suggested that, the reasons of using avoidance strategy should be surveyed and try to encourage people to state their inconsistent ideas and converse freely. This could help organization to improve its performance. But communication oriented style is suitable and its maintenance should be taken into consideration.


Several state legislatures, prodded by desperately ill patients and a libertarian think tank, are defying federal regulators to make experimental drugs available to terminally ill patients outside of clinical trials. The new laws, called Right to Try, went on the books in two states last month and are being considered in several others. One company has already announced its plans to use the laws to offer its stem cell treatment well ahead of approval from the Food and Drug Administration. But skeptics say few companies will be willing to bear the costs and risks of offering a drug outside of its clinical trials, especially if it means defying federal law.


The present study utilises a Durkheimian approach to study alcohol in society and education, centrally drawing on the sociological works of Emile Durkheim and those of the neo-Durkheimian sociologist, Stjepan Mestrovic. Durkheim's sociological concepts and commentary, and Mestrovic's perspective, refashioned, is applied to the present context, of which alcohol is a part. The argument to be advanced, is that in the Durkheimian sense, societal and educational alcohol issues, as part of wider social change, are in a state of excessive anomie and egoism caused by neoliberal philosophy, _policy and practice. Mostly, the theory of James M. Buchanan will be drawn upon as standing for neoliberalism. Mestrovic's interpretation of Durkheim in the light of his view of the indirect influence of Arthur Schopenhauer on Durkheim, particularly with regard to Schopenhauer's view of will and representation, provides a fresh reading of Durkheim's work. Mestrovic's adaptations challenge the received view of Durkheim as a functionalist, and Enlightenment positivist interested in social order. This is explained by noting Mestrovic's application of those adaptations to some of Durkheim's central concepts, and, Mestrovic's identification of the contemporary relevance of Durkheim, culminating in what Mestrovic calls postemotionalism. Mestrovic's Shopenhauerian Durkheimianism, and Durkheim, can be critiqued from the perspectives of a number of commentators, poststructuralism and, Jennifer Lehmann's critical structuralism with regard to issues of particularly gender, but also culture, as well as for exhibiting essentialist and liberal strains. Buchanan is also liberal and essentialist, but differently to Durkheim, holds to an economic, individualistic and clearly positivist view of society and education. By comparison with Durkheimianism, however, Buchanan's perspective is a good representative example of true neoliberalism. Durkheim in particular, is rendered as a liberalby comparison to Buchanan, a very social democratic liberal thinker, but one still in need of further adaptations over and above those made by Mestrovic for a Durkheimianism relevant to contemporary issues of gender and culture with regard to policy and practice in society and education where alcohol is concerned. Mestrovic's perspective and Durkheim's concepts, when modified by way of discussed and synthesised supplementary, high-modern and poststructural, postiii Freudian feminist, and semiological, radical theories of gender and culture, is relevant for studying society and education. The application of Durkheimian perspectives, so rendered, means that various issues related to alcohol such as, alcohol and other addictions and dysfunctions, gendered drinking, gendered family relations, alcohol use and abuse, media advertising, research studies philosophies, culture, local and global markets, as well as legislation, can be seen in an alternative way. Following Durkheimian perspectives means that education can be contextualised accordingly. Educational governance, professionalism, teacher training and curriculum reform policies and programmes related and specific to alcohol education, can be interpreted in alternative ways to those currently accepted. Durkheimian perspectives on society and education: highlight the damage caused and the conservatism entailed by neoliberal philosophy, policy and practice, and; provide alternatives to the current societal situation, as well as the current drug education market in Aotearoa/New Zealand.


The study we present here, which concentrates on analysing the efficacy of the verbal behaviour of coaches, aims to define an intervention protocol for volleyball coaches during competition. The research was carried out by means of a questionnaire given to 25 volleyball experts (university volleyball teachers and volleyball coaches with experience at top national level). The variables analysed consist of the study of the content of the information transmitted by the coaches, in accordance with each moment of the game in which communication with the players occurs. As for the results obtained, and taking into account that there are differences between the different moments of the game, it should be stressed that the overall information must be mainly tactical and refer to both the opponents and one's own team in equal measure. It must be positive and should not include more than three pieces of information.


Aims: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a common cause of hearing and speech impairment in children. The correlation of the clinical, audiological, radiological, and intraoperative findings was carried out so as to make a protocol for early diagnosis and management of OME. It will help prevent the more serious sequelae of OME such as tympanosclerosis, chronic adhesive otitis media, and even chronic suppurative otitis media. Methods: 300 clinically diagnosed patients of OME were studied prospectively. Thereafter, patients underwent impedance audiometry, pure tone audiometry, and X-ray soft tissue nasopharynx for adenoids. The patients were given adequate medical treatment for 3 to 6 months, and the patients who did not respond to the treatment were subjected to adenoidectomy with ear examination under magnification and myringotomy with or without grommet insertion. Results: The mean age at presentation was 5.96 years. Only 32% patients gave a history of hearing loss. About 90% patients had mouth breathing, followed by snoring (84%). About 79% ears had abnormal tympanic membrane appearance and mobility; 65.5% had an abnormality on impedance audiometry; and 69.75% had an air condition threshold level of >20 dB. About 78% patients had either Grade III or Grade IV Adenoid hypertrophy. Adenoidectomy was done in all 300 patients with myringotomy in 472 ears. Grommets were inserted in 365 ears. There was a significant reduction in mean air conduction threshold with an improvement of 8.0 dB and 7.5 dB in right and left ears, respectively at 2 months postoperatively. At 6 th month postoperative, the average improvement from baseline dropped to 6.0 dB in right ear and 5.5 dB in the left ear. Conclusion: OME is the most frequent causes of silent hearing impairment in young children which needs a close vigil. All suspected children (on clinical and otoscopic findings) must be subjected to impedance audiometry and X-ray soft tissue nasopharynx for adenoids. After the failure of medical treatment for 3-6 months, the child should be subjected to myringotomy with adenoidectomy in the same sitting. Whenever a child is planned for tonsil or adenoid surgery, he/she must undergo evaluation for OME beforehand so that the child′s hearing risk can be simultaneously taken care of in the same sitting.


When Rashmi Shah was young, she spent time helping her parents, both scientists, process and catalog samples of plant matter that they had collected. This wasn't a one-time occurrence. Growing up in Nepal in a math-and-science household, science and research were a natural part of Shah's daily life, with her parents constantly encouraging her and her brother to explore the world. "Those early experiences helped instill a thirst for knowledge and discovery that has stuck with me throughout my schooling and career," she says.


Lycurgus9 "Against Leocrates" has long been seen as an anomaly in the oratorical corpus by scholars of ancient rhetoric. Its extensive use of quotations from the poets and of personification are two features regularly picked out as especially odd and inexplicable by critics. This paper argues that these and other features of the speech are central to Lycurgus9 attempt to persuade his jury to accept his radically un-Athenian political views. In fact, Lycurgus has rejected Athenian approaches to punishment, prosecution, and politics in favor of Platonic views, which bear the taint of the elite philosophical schools. The quotation and the personification are two techniques that Lycurgus uses to craft a "new prosecutorial voice" that will overcome his audience9s objections to his elitist and even Platonic political positions. I contend that the whole speech may be read as a study in how to craft a "voice" or form of oratorical self-presentation that will persuade an audience to accept heterodox political views.


Smouldering fire vulnerability in organic-rich, wetland soils is regulated by hydrologic regimes over short (by antecedent wetness) and long (through influences on soil properties) timescales. An integrative understanding of these controls is needed to inform fire predictions and hydrologic management to reduce fire vulnerability. The Great Dismal Swamp, a drained peatland (Virginia and North Carolina, USA), recently experienced large wildfires, motivating hydrologic restoration efforts. To inform those efforts, we combined continuous water levels, soil properties, moisture holding capacity and smouldering probability at four sites along a hydrologic gradient. For each site, we estimated gravimetric soil moisture content associated with a 50% smouldering probability (soil moisture smoulder threshold) and the water tension required to create this moisture threshold (tension smoulder threshold). Soil properties influenced both thresholds. Soils with lower bulk density smouldered at higher moisture content but also had higher moisture holding capacity, indicating that higher tensions (e.g. deeper water tables) are required to reach smouldering thresholds. By combining thresholds with water level data, we assessed smouldering vulnerability over time, providing a framework to guide fire prediction and hydrologic restoration. This work is among the first to integrate soil moisture thresholds, moisture holding capacities and water level dynamics to explore spatiotemporal variation in smouldering fire vulnerability.


Abstract This paper aims to explore the validity of phenomenology in the psychiatric setting. The phenomenological method - as a mode of research, a method of engagement between self and other, and a framework for approaching what it means to know - has found a legitimate home in therapeutic practice. Over the last century, phenomenology, as a philosophical endeavor and research method, has influenced a wide range of disciplines, including psychiatry. Phenomenology has enabled an enrichment of such practice through deepening the way in which we can come to know the experiences of the other. This knowing-of-the-other is explored here within the context of psychiatric and clinical assessment. The question asked is: How best can we come to know those we work with? What method of engagement can be used to most completely come to understand and narrate the experiences of the individual, and how can this be applied in the context of an assessment aimed at psychiatric or psychological intervention? Elements of phenomenological praxis are presented as definitive of the most integral way of approaching the human subject. Husserlian and Heideggerian notions are explicated and related to phenomenological conceptions of intersubjectivity, in an effort to describe a phenomenology that can be used effectively within the psychiatric setting.


Contact centres are used in a wide range of contexts by organisations and play a crucial role in shaping customer experience and managing customer relationship. Performance measurement is a crucial practice for contact centres that are committed to delivering superb customer service and keeping competitive advantages. Despite its importance, there are no studies that systematically review the performance measurement practice in the contact centre industry. This paper aims to develop a key performance indicator (KPI) framework for contact centres to evaluate and benchmark performance. A KPI framework consisting of six dimensions was developed from the literature and testedby means of a web based survey with Call Centre Focus magazine (CCF),ant authoritative and well-known call centre magazine in the UK. The survey was sent to 10070 contact centre professionals and had a response rate of 3.9%. The results were analysed with SPSS and factor analysis was used to validate the framework. The analysis showed the ten most important KPIs and exploratory factor analysis extracted ten factors. They confirmed the original framework to a large extent and also revealed new insights amongst the dimensions and variables. The framework has significant managerial implications and could be used as a guideline for contact centres for performance measurement. The framework could also be used to benchmark against other companies.


ABSTRACT Running is a popular and convenient form of leisure-time physical activity, with participation levels increasing in the United Kingdom in low physical activity groups such as women and overweight individuals, following the introduction of schemes such as Couch to 5km (C25 K). However, despite the popularity of these programmes, there is little research into the social and psychological processes involved in effective engagement and long-term behaviour changes. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the impact of participation in a 10-week group-led beginners running programme on participant motivation, attendance and well-being using Self-Determination Theory (STD) as a theoretical framework. Participants (N = 124; Mage = 40.74) were recruited from a beginners' running programme based in the North West of England and self-completed questionnaires during weeks 2, 6 and 10. Future intentions to run were also assessed at 3- and 6-month follow up. Results demonstrated the positive impact an adapted C25 K model can have upon elements of self-perceptions (particularly perceived competence) and future intentions to run. The path analysis, which looked at average values over time, demonstrated that leader autonomy support positively impacted upon participants' basic needs satisfaction, which led to the development of more self-determined motivation, and in turn led to higher levels of attendance and mental well-being. Critically for drop-out, results from multiple regression analysis indicated that individuals with a higher BMI rated leader autonomy support as lower and felt less competent during the programme. A number of research and practical recommendations are discussed.