Objective: We examined the associations of educational attainment and area socioeconomic status (SES) with total within-neighborhood walking patterns and percentage of walking undertaken for recreation purposes in Hong Kong elders. Environmental mediators of these associations were also examined. Method: Chinese-speaking elders (N = 484), cognitively unimpaired and able to walk unassisted, were recruited from 32 street blocks stratified by SES and walkability. Interviewer-administered surveys were conducted to collect data on walking and sociodemographics. Neighborhood environments were audited. Results: Educational attainment was positively related to walking outcomes, while area SES was only positively related to percentage of walking allocated to recreational purposes. While no mediators of area SES-walking associations were identified, several environmental attributes explained the associations of educational attainment with walking. Discussion: Educational attainment rather than area SES is a key determinant of walking in Hong Kong elders; these effects are mostly attributable to social and individual rather than environmental factors.


Olfactory predators and scavengers rely on odors to locate food, and they forage primarily at night. We hypothesized that weather (e.g. wind speed, humidity, and temperature), vegetation, and landscape features affect the dissipation of odors in the atmosphere and, thus, impact the foraging efficiency of olfactory predators. We tested this hypothesis by assessing what conditions were correlated with the persistence of bait along the dike surrounding Willard Bay Reservoir, Utah. We distributed 124 chicken eggs and 199 dead European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) as bait over 21 separate occasions spanning from May 21, 2009, to August 18, 2009. We used timers to record the time of consumption and cameras to identify which species ate the bait. Sixty-six eggs and 87 dead European starlings were consumed. The bait was consumed mostly at night (83%) and by striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), raccoons (Procyon lotor), and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). We used nest survival models in program MARK to determine which covariates influenced bait persistence. We tested nine variables and found that bait persistence was influenced by section of the dike, time since study initiation, temperature, humidity, and wind speed but not bait type (egg or dead European starling), terrain, or visual cover. How quickly scavengers were able to locate food, which was inversely related to rates of bait persistence, decreased with higher temperatures and wind speeds and increased with higher humidity. Our results support the hypothesis that weather and micro-habitat characteristics impact the ability of olfactory predators and scavengers to locate food.


BERNA TURAM, ed., Secular State and Religious Society: Two Forces at Play in Turkey (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)AHMET T. KURU and ALFRED STEPHAN, eds., Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012)Two recent volumes, Secular State and Religious Society: Two Forces at Play in Turkey, edited by Berna Turam, and Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey, edited by Ahmet T. Kuru and Alfred Stepan, seek to present critical analysis of current state-religion relations under the unprecedented rise to power and electoral dominance of the center-right conservative, and religion-friendly, Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (Justice and Development Party-AKP). Looking specifically at long-standing debates over state-religion relations and, within these debates, at the degree to which democracy has taken hold in Turkey, both books address a wide range of historical, political, social, and ideological realities pertinent to the Turkish case. With a shared emphasis on the possibility of heightened democratic transformation via increased engagement between the secular and religious segments of the state and society, the editors structure their volumes almost identically. Both offer historical background on the rise of the Kemalist power structure and its strict secular policies in an effort not only to shed light on the past and on the shortcomings of the Kemalist program, but also to indicate possible roads to future cooperation and democracy. The underpinnings of the Kemalist ideology are then presented in a practical context to illuminate their influence on modern-day society and on the stunted democratic development that Turkey has faced on numerous occasions in the past. Finally, through comparative studies of Turkey and other regional actors, both volumes home in on the need for greater accommodation and tolerance between the secular state and religious society to end societal polarization and make possible a path toward deepened democracy.Compiled following a series of conferences involving scholars of Turkey during 2009 in Amherst and Hampshire College, Secular State and Religious Society offers a number of eloquent and thorough analyses, rife with apt examples, of the long-standing tensions and engagements between secularists and religious actors within the Turkish state and society. As presented by Berna Turam in her introduction, the main goal of each chapter is to offer evidence to counter the prevalent but misleading assumption that in Turkey relations between religious adherents and proponents of secularism, both in the state and in society, are polarized, contentious, and lacking cooperation. On the contrary, as each chapter serves to show, there is a significant degree of permeation between the state and society, and frequent voluntary convergences and strategic alliances have developed between the state and religion. In fact, Berna Turam explains and her contributors affirm, existing religious actors in Turkey have themselves been influenced by the secular ideology of the state and have adapted and liberalized. Because of a resulting "politics of engagement," rather than a deep-seated polarization, Berna Turam emphasizes, "Disguised by the Islamism-secularism controversy, Turkey's main challenge remains democratization" (Turam, 9). While the mainstream theories of secularization and modernization tout the democratic values of secularism, secularism without democracy cannot work; and as both history and modern-day politics in Turkey have shown, secular authoritarianism and unwillingness to engage with the non-secular have often created an undemocratic environment in Turkey. Without engagement, cooperation, and compromise on the part of both secular and religious actors, moving forward democratically will become increasingly difficult.In particular, three historical contributions in Secular State and Religious Society consider three institutional manifestations of the Kemalist ideological vectors within the Turkish state apparatus. …


Abstract Developments in information technology during the past 40 years have presented new opportunities for information designers and also posed new challenges. Computer controlled displays are now so ubiquitous that most people in everyday life need to interact with information shown on screens. Many of the characteristics of these readers have not changed: they forget things, get distracted, make assumptions, etc. Research has confirmed that designing an interaction style to reduce the demands made on people's sensory and cognitive processes helps them accomplish tasks more easily. There has undoubtedly been progress, particularly with mobile devices. Graphical user interfaces and touch screens can make interactions feel intuitive, almost conversational, but interface glitches remain. These arise both from the tension inherent in designing for experienced and novice users, and from design decisions often involving people with differing priorities. The features of interfaces will continue to change but the challenge of finding ways to support people's sensory, cognitive and conative characteristics will continue.


ABSTRACT. The objectivity of physics has been called into question by social theorists, Kuhnian relativists, and by anomalous aspects of quantum mechanics. Here we focus on one neglected background issue, the categorical structure of the language of classical physics. The first half is an historical overview of the formation of the language of classical physics (LCP), beginning with Aristotle's Categories and the novel idea of the quantity of a quality introduced by medieval Aristotelians. Descartes and Newton at-tempted to put the new mechanics on an ontological foundation of atomism. Euler was the pivotal figure in basing mechanics on a macroscopic concept of matter. The second scientific revolution, led by Laplace, took mechanics as foundational and attempted to fit the Baconian sciences into a framework of atomistic mechanism. This protracted effort had the unintended effect of supplying an informal unification of physics in a mixture of ordinary language and mechanistic terms. The second half treats LCP as a linguistic para-site that can attach itself to any language and effect mutations in the host without chang-ing its essential form. This puts LCP in the context of a language of discourse and sug-gests that philosophers should concentrate more on the dialog between experimenters and theoreticians and less on analyses of theories. This orientation supplies a basis for treating objectivity.


Austenitic stainless steels are commonly used materials for in-core components of nuclear light water reactors. In service, such components are exposed to harsh conditions: intense neutron irradiation, mechanical and thermal stresses, and aggressive corrosion environment which all contribute to the components' degradation. For a better understanding of the prevailing mechanisms responsible for the materials degradation, large-scale atomistic simulations are desirable. In this framework we developed an embedded atom method type interatomic potential for the ternary FeNiCr system to model movement of dislocations and their interaction with radiation defects. Special attention has been drawn to the Fe–10Ni–20Cr alloy, whose properties were ensured to be close to those of 316L austenitic stainless steel. In particular, the stacking fault energy and elastic constants are well reproduced. The fcc phase for the Fe–10Ni–20Cr random alloy was proven to be stable in the temperature range 0–900 K and under shear strain up to 5%. For the same alloy the stable glide of screw dislocations and stability of Frank loops was confirmed.


Human drivers have different driver behaviors when operating vehicles. These driving behaviors, including the driver's preferred speed and rate of acceleration, impose a major impact on vehicle fuel consumption consequently. In this study, we proposed a feature-based driver behavior learning model from demonstrated driving data utilizing the Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) approach to analyze various driver behaviors and their impacts on vehicle fuel consumption. The proposed approach models the individual driving style as cost function which is a linear combination of the features and their corresponding weights. The proposed IRL framework is used to find the model parameters that fit the observed driving style best. By using the learned driving behavior model, the most likely trajectories are computed and the optimized feature weights are used to analyze different driver behaviors. The different driver behaviors and their impacts on vehicle fuel consumption are then analyzed in real-world driving scenarios. Results show that the proposed IRL framework can successfully learn individual driver behaviors using vehicle trajectory data demonstrated by different real drivers. The learned driver behaviors promise a significant correlation between driving behavior and fuel consumption.


What does the single life look like and does it have anything in common with what the media show? This question has caused much discussion on the Internet, in TV debates, in the press and on the radio. This book explores the issue of singles in big cities, their lifestyle and reasons for "flying solo." Singles talk about their expectations towards their potential partners and their idea of a great love. They share their thoughts on relationships. They also talk about the importance of having a professional career in their life, their passions, and about the advantages and disadvantages of being single. The book presents the similarities and differences between the singles, and explains why some of them are called "all-or-nothing" while others are called "accustomed" or "romantic."


Metals differ from other materials, with the exception of glass, because they can be melted down for recycling. This property gives metals an intrinsic value that is important for understanding their utilisation within past societies. Despite its significance, this form of metal recycling is hard to study as it is almost completely archaeologically invisible. Direct evidence is limited to deliberately fragmented metal objects, especially those found within the vicinity of a hearth or furnace, and written sources. This paper examines whether this type of metal recycling can be better understood by investigating circumstances where recycling was rejected, and repair or modification took place instead. Previous research has demonstrated that this occurred in a small minority of metal vessels from the Late Bronze Age Prepalatial and Palatial Mycenaean Greek mainland. The presence of repairs and modifications was compared against aspects of these vessels' object biographies to see whether these influenced the decision made against recycling. Repairs were mainly associated with particular types of large copper-alloy vessels that appear to have been primarily prized for their function rather than aesthetic appeal. Many repairs were apparently linked to the prioritisation of other production factors over the final vessel appearance. Generally vessels of precious metals and lead were not repaired, nor were certain copper-alloy vessel forms. It is suggested that these were typically recycled instead, with different chains of reasoning leading to the same choice. The single example in this dataset of a repaired silver cup may be related to a unique object biography that involved an especially close personal bond.


This is a response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)'s request for information regarding the CFPB's reporting practices of consumer complaint information.
Publicly releasing information about consumer complaints is essential to the CFPB's primary purpose of ensuring that "markets for financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive." The response primarily focuses on the benefits of the CFPB's public consumer complaint database. Making public a database with data from consumers' complaints not only advances the CFPB's primary purpose, but it also advances the CFPB's statutory duty to release marketplace data "as is in the public interest." Consumers, advocates, companies, academics, and policymakers benefit from the database because it fosters transparency and data analysis. Consumers use the database to learn about the companies and industries they do business with, while advocates, academics, and policymakers analyze trends and identify problems in the marketplace. The database also provides important feedback to companies about concerns consumers encounter with their products and services.
The response also details the benefits of adding more data to the database, of continuing to publish reports based on complaint data, of publishing more tailored reports based on the complaint data, and of evaluating the design of the online interfaces through which consumers lodge complaints and access the database. These improvements will further enhance the operation of a fair, transparent, and efficient marketplace.


We investigate melting behavior of water clusters (H2O)N (N = 7, 8, 11, and 12) by using multicanonical-ensemble molecular dynamics simulations. Our simulations show that the melting behavior of water clusters is highly size dependent. Based on the computed canonical average of the potential energy and heat capacity CV, we conclude that (H2O)8 and (H2O)12 exhibit first-order-like phase change, while (H2O)7 and (H2O)11 exhibit continuous-like phase change. The melting temperature range for (H2O)8 and (H2O)12 can be defined based on the peak position of CV(T) and dCV(T)/dT (where T is the temperature). Moreover, for (H2O)8 and (H2O)12, the solid- and liquid-like phases separate temporally in the course of simulation. In contrast, no temporal separation of solid- and liquid-like phases is observed for (H2O)7 and (H2O)11. In light of the notable temporal separation of solid- and liquid-like phases for(H2O)8 and (H2O)12, an alternative computer approach for estimating the melting temperature range is proposed based on the time-dependent Lindemann parameters. We find that the melting temperature range estimated from both definitions is consistent with each other for (H2O)8 and (H2O)12 but not for (H2O)7 and (H2O)11. We also find that the melting behavior of small water clusters can be conveniently assessed if the energy differences of neighbor-sized clusters at zero temperature are known.


We report on our multi–pronged approach to understand the structural and electrical properties of an InAl(Ga)N(33nm barrier)/Al(Ga)N(1nm interlayer)/GaN(3μm)/ AlN(100nm)/Al2O3 high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) heterostructure grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). In particular we reveal and discuss the role of unintentional Ga incorporation in the barrier and also in the interlayer. The observation of unintentional Ga incorporation by using energy dispersive X–ray spectroscopy analysis in a scanning transmission electron microscope is supported with results obtained for samples with a range of AlN interlayer thicknesses grown under both the showerhead as well as the horizontal type MOVPE reactors. Poisson–Schrodinger simulations show that for high Ga incorporation in the Al(Ga)N interlayer, an additional triangular well with very small depth may be exhibited in parallel to the main 2–DEG channel. The presence of this additional channel may cause parasitic conduction and severe issues in device characteristics and processing. Producing a HEMT structure with InAlGaN as the barrier and AlGaN as the interlayer with appropriate alloy composition may be a possible route to optimization, as it might be difficult to avoid Ga incorporation while continuously depositing the layers using the MOVPE growth method. Our present work shows the necessity of a multicharacterization approach to correlate structural and electrical properties to understand device structures and their performance.


Many extensions to text-based, data-intensive knowledge management approaches, such as Information Retrieval or Data Mining, focus on integrating the impressive recent advances in language technology. For this, they need fast, robust parsers that deliver linguistic data which is meaningful for the subsequent processing stages.
This paper introduces such a parsing system. Its output is a hierarchical structure of syntactic relations, functional dependency structures.


This book will give unique insight into how a new generation of Bourdieusian researchers apply Bourdieu to contemporary issues. It will provide a discussion of the working mechanisms of thinking through and/or with Bourdieu when analysing data. In each chapter, individual authors discuss and reflect upon their own research and the ways in which they put Bourdieu to work. The aim of this book is not to just to provide examples of the development of Bourdieusian research, but for each author to reflect on the ways in which they came across Bourdieu's work, why it speaks to them (including a reflexive consideration of their own background), and the way in which it is thus useful in their thinking. Many of the authors were introduced to Bourdieu's works after his death. The research problems which the individual authors tackle are contextualised in a different time and space to the one Bourdieu occupied when he was developing his conceptual framework. This book will demonstrate how his concepts can be applied as "thinking tools" to understand contemporary social reality. Throughout Bourdieu's career, he argued that sociologists need to create an epistemological break, to abandon our common sense – or as much as we can – and to formulate findings from our results. In essence, we are putting Bourdieu to work to provide a structural constructivist approach to social reality anchored through empirical reflexivity.


This paper offers explanations for apparent variation in the effects of Binding Condition B across English, Dutch, Frisian, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic. Three very different factors that influence binding possibilities for pronouns across these languages are identified: language-specific morphosyntactic features such as Case and agreement, an independent constraint blocking subject orientation of pronouns, and phonological properties of minimal binding domains. I argue that a binding theory that applies in narrow syntax (rather than at LF, say) is well placed to account for the observed variation, and offer a unified explanation for various hitherto unrelated empirical facts. With an approach that subsumes the effects of Condition B under more general syntactic principles, an appealing view of the variation emerges: the condition itself exhibits quite remarkable consistency across the languages examined, with different pronouns varying in their sensitivity to Condition B effects according to their individual morphosyntactic properties.


Crowd behaviour challenges our fundamental understanding of social phenomena. Involving complex interactions between multiple temporal and spatial scales of activity, its governing mechanisms defy conventional analysis. Using 1.5 million Twitter messages from the 15M movement in Spain as an example of multitudinous self-organization, we describe the coordination dynamics of the system measuring phase-locking statistics at different frequencies using wavelet transforms, identifying 8 frequency bands of entrained oscillations between 15 geographical nodes. Then we apply maximum entropy inference methods to describe Ising models capturing transient synchrony in our data at each frequency band. The models show that 1) all frequency bands of the system operate near critical points of their parameter space and 2) while fast frequencies present only a few metastable states displaying all-or-none synchronization, slow frequencies present a diversity of metastable states of partial synchronization. Furthermore, describing the state at each frequency band using the energy of the corresponding Ising model, we compute transfer entropy to characterize cross-scale interactions between frequency bands, showing 1) a cascade of upward information flows in which each frequency band influences its contiguous slower bands and 2) downward information flows where slow frequencies modulate distant fast frequencies.


INTRODUCTION
In the United Kingdom, with most marketing channels prohibited, packaging is one of the few remaining ways that tobacco companies can promote their products.

METHODS
An online survey with young people aged 10-17 years (N = 658) was used to explore why youth choose cigarettes, perceptions of pack color, and perceptions of plain (nonbranded) cigarette packaging. Young people were also shown an image of 3 plain packs, which differed by shape and method of opening, and asked which they liked most and thought others their age would smoke.

RESULTS
Price and what significant others smoke were key factors for choosing cigarettes, with packaging also an important influence. More than a third of the sample associated lighter pack color with weak tasting and less harmful cigarettes. Plain packs were rated negatively as were perceptions of plain pack users. One in 3 showed a preference for either a narrow "perfume type" plain pack or a plain "slide" pack that opened from the side, and 1 in 3 also thought that young people would smoke these packs.

CONCLUSIONS
Packaging appears to both attract young people and mislead them about product strength and relative harm. Innovative pack construction (novel pack shape and method of opening) and the use of color are instrumental in these effects. The findings therefore suggest that any move to plain packaging should not only consider the benefits of removing branding (including color) but also of standardizing pack construction in terms of shape and method of opening.


In this paper, the SERS analysis technique for extracting principal components of non-structural protein 1 from its spectra is examined. The non-structural protein 1 is found a major role in the replication process of virus of flaviviridae, the cause for many viral diseases. SERS is a technique that can provide fingerprint spectral information of even a single molecule. However, the Raman spectra from SERS complicate the feature extraction process with redundant features. Principal Component Analysis is a signal processing technique, useful for filtering for the significant features while filtering off the redundant ones with minimal loss of information. Here, PCA adopting a 3-steps approach, i.e. Eigenvalue-One-Criterion, Scree test and Cumulative Percent Variance, is used to select significant principal components of NS1 from Raman spectra. It is found that principal components of NS1 from its spectra of [900x10] from SERS is found being trimmed to [9x10] by Scree test supplemented by EOC and [2x10] by CPV, with a corresponding reduction of 99% and 99.8% from the original spectral array. However, since the spectra of biological samples in actual is noisier, selection by the former of first nine components is found appropriate. So far, SERS analysis technique for detection of salivary NS1 has yet to be reported.


Lack of crystalline order and microstructural features such as grain/grain-boundary in metallic glasses results in a suite of remarkable attributes including very high strength, close to theoretical elasticity, high corrosion and wear resistance, and soft magnetic properties. By altering the morphology and tuning of composition, MGs may be transformed into high-performance catalytic materials. In this study, the catalytic properties of metallic glass powders were demonstrated in dissociating toxic organic chemicals such as AZO dye. BMG powders showed superior performance compared to state of the art crystalline iron because of their high catalytic activity, durability, and reusability. To enhance the catalytic properties, high energy mechanical milling was performed to increase the surface area and defect density. Iron-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) of composition Fe48Cr15Mo14Y2C15B6 was used because of its low cost and ability to make large surface area by high energy ball milling. AZO dye was degraded in less than 20 minutes for the 9 hours milled Fe-BMG. However, subsequent increase in ball milling time resulted in devitrification and loss of catalytic activity as measured using UV-Visible spectroscopy. Aluminum-based bulk metallic glass (Al-BMG) powder of composition Al82Fe3Ni8Y7 was synthesized by arc-melting the constituent elements followed by gas-atomization. The particle size and morphology were similar to Fe-BMG with a fully amorphous structure. A small percentage of transition metal constituents (Fe and Ni) in a mostly aluminum alloy showed high catalytic activity, with no toxic by-products and no change in surface characteristics. Al-alloy particles, being light-weight, were easily dispersed in aqueous medium and accelerated the redox reactions. The mechanism of dye dissociation was studied using Raman and Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Breaking of -C-H- and - C-N- bonds of AZO dye was found to be the primary mechanism. Mechanical behavior of individual BMG particles was evaluated by in situ pico-indentation in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to understand the fracture mechanisms. Catastrophic shear banding was found to be the primary fracture mode, which supported the observation of flake formation during high energy ball milling.


Focusing on issues of civic interest, this comprehensive practice manual teaches the application of uncertainty analysis for more sustainable hydrosystem design and management. Created by internationally respected authorities, Hydrosystems Engineering Uncertainty Analysis deals with the uncertainties inherent in engineering projects such as dams, levees, and storm sewer systems. Going beyond unpredictability in geophysical processes such as extreme rainfalls and floods, Drs. Tung and Yen address uncertainties arising from imperfect models, imprecise parameters, data errors, and other sources. The authors call on work in uncertainty analysis from the past two decades to provide and illustrate mathematical tools of varying sophistication available for quantifying the integrated effect of different uncertainties and making the uncertain more knowable. This handbook is the only volume that: brings together in a single resource all mathematical uncertainty analysis methods relevant to hydrosystem risk and reliability issues; demonstrates uses and limitations of uncertainty analysis in the broadcast possible range of hydrosystem engineering problems; provides the tools needed to better protect systems, citizens, and the environment against failure in critical hydrosystems projects; shows engineers and students how to perform expert uncertainty analysis for reliability assessments and risk-based design; and offers examples of each application. Contents include: Fundamentals of Probability and Statistics Relevant to Uncertainty Analysis; Regression Analysis; Uncertainty Analysis by Analytical Methods; Uncertainty Analysis by Approximated Methods; and Monte-Carlo Simulation.


Plants have evolved mechanisms to combat herbivory. These mechanisms can be classified as direct defences which have a negative influence on the herbivores and indirect defence that attracts natural enemies of the attacking herbivores. Both direct and indirect defences can be constantly present or induced upon attack. This study, using cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) as model, aimed to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying the induced defence during herbivory, with emphasis on transcriptional changes and the involved TFs,  the enzymatic function of the genes associated with volatile biosynthesis, and their promoters which regulate their expression.


A debris basin provides storage for silt, sand, gravel, or other debris moving from adjacent lands. The debris causes damage when it moves with runoff water from its source on land adjacent to a landowner's farm and deposits as sediment in ponds, waterways, diversions, bottomland fields or other developed areas. The landowner has no means of controlling the movement of the debris at its source on land adjacent to his or her farm and therefore must develop the debris basin on his or her own land to control the sediment before it causes damage.


Background: Cleome droserifolia herb is well known in the Egyptian folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes. However, a standardized active extract of the herb was never prepared for incorporation into a pharmaceutical dosage form. Materials and Methods: Comparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) chromatographic profi les were established in order to study the ethnopharmacological use of the antihyperglycemic herb using a validated reversed phaseHPLC method which was developed for standardization of the active aqueous extract. A biologically guided fractionation of the antihyperglycemic aqueous extract was carried out in vivo using alloxan induced diabetic rats. Results: The aqueous extract contained the highest percent of the total active fl avonol glycosides (78.20%) compared to the 70% and 50% ethanolic extracts (51.17 and 42.66%, respectively). The aqueous extract and its ethyl acetate fraction possessed the highest antihyperglycemic activities. A standard calibration curve, established for the major bioactive methoxylated fl avonol glycoside (kaempferol-4'-methoxy-3,7-dirhamnoside) at a concentration range of 44-174 μg/ml, showed good linearity with a correlation coeffi cient (R2) of 0.998. The recovery of the method was 100.5%. A high degree of precision (relative standard deviation values <5%) was achieved. The limits of detection and quantifi cation were 0.01 and 0.02 μg/ml, respectively, indicating the sensitivity of the method.Conclusion: The aqueous extract contained the highest percent of the total active fl avonol glycosides. The extract, standardized to contain not <1.5 ± 0.06% of kaempferol-4'-methoxy3,7-dirhamnoside, was tested at three different dose levels showing a 63.3% activity of that of metformin at100 mg/kg body weight. Furthermore, it raised the blood insulin level by 146.26% at this dose level.


Abstract A workshop was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to focus on research gaps and opportunities in chronic pancreatitis (CP) and its sequelae. This conference marked the 20th year anniversary of the discovery of the cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1) gene mutation for hereditary pancreatitis. The event was held on July 27, 2016, and structured into 4 sessions: (1) pathophysiology, (2) exocrine complications, (3) endocrine complications, and (4) pain. The current state of knowledge was reviewed; many knowledge gaps and research needs were identified that require further investigation. Common themes included the need to design better tools to diagnose CP and its sequelae early and reliably, identify predisposing risk factors for disease progression, develop standardized protocols to distinguish type 3c diabetes mellitus from other types of diabetes, and design effective therapeutic strategies through novel cell culture technologies, animal models mimicking human disease, and pain management tools. Gene therapy and cystic fibrosis conductance regulator potentiators as possible treatments of CP were discussed. Importantly, the need for CP end points and intermediate targets for future drug trials was emphasized.


The need for secure data systems has prompted, the constant reinforcement of security systems in the attempt to prevent and mitigate risks associated with information security. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of trusted computing in data science as a countermeasure in risk management planning. In the information age, it is evident that companies cannot ignore the impact of data, specifically big data, in the decision making processes. It promotes not only the proactive capacity to prevent unwarranted situations while exploiting opportunities but also the keeping up of the pace of market competition. However, since the overreliance on data exposes the company, trusted computing components are necessary to guarantee that data acquired, stored, and processed remains secure from internal and external malice. Numerous measures can be adopted to counter the risks associated with data exploitation and exposure due to data science practices. Nonetheless, trusted computing is a reasonable point to begin with, in the aim to protect provenance systems and big data systems through the establishment of a 'chain of trust' among the various computing components and platforms. The research reveals that trusted computing is most effective when combined with other hardware-based security solutions since attack vectors can follow diverse paths. The results demonstrate the potential that the technology provides for application in risk management.


This study quantifies gender-specific differences in retirement income in Germany, Denmark, and France. We show that the "gender pension gap" in Germany is higher than in France and much higher than in Denmark. This ranking is similar to the ranking in the gender pay gap, where Germany has also the highest gender difference. The authors also investigate gender-specific differences in health, i.e. the so-called "gender health gap", in the same age group. Self-assessed general health in 2013 reveals no significant differences between men and women in the countries studied. However, gender-specific differences in depressive symptoms follow a similar pattern as the gender pension gap: Denmark has the lowest difference between the sexes. Although the study does not measure causal relationships between income and health, the results indicate that measures to reduce the gender pay gap do not only reduce differences during the economically active phase; they may also lead to a reduction in the gender pension gap and in women's susceptibility to depressive symptoms.


BRYHNI, J., BOLLINGBERG, H. J., & GRAFF, P. -R. 1968: Edogites in quartzo-feldspathic gneisses of Nordfjord, West Norway. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskri/t, Vol. 49, pp. 193-225. Oslo 1969. Edogites in quartzo-feldspathic gneisses of Nordfjord are similar to the oceanic tholeiites in their low content of titanium, ferric iron, potassium, and phosphorus. The chemical composition of the eclogites varies, how ever, within wide limits, and it is probable that alterations of bulk chemical compositions have taken place if the eclogites were indeed formed by transformations from other basic rocks. The garnets contain 36-50% Alm, 0.4-1.9% Spess, 23-43% Py, 0.3-2.1% And, and 13-25% Gross. Clinopyroxenes contain 3-9% Ac, 23-42% Jd, 8-13% Tsch, 3-7% Hd, and 38-56% Di. Titanium, nickel, chromium, and strontium are concentrated in dino pyroxene relative to garnet, while cobalt, manganese, scandium, and zirconium are relatively concentrated in garnet. Eclogites from gneiss of Nordfjord differ from the eclogites endosed in ultrabasites of Sunnmöre both in bulk chemistry, composition of garnet and clinopyroxene, and in the partition of elements between garnet and dinopyroxene. The ultrabashes occur in leetonised zones and might represent rocks which are tectonically emplaced, but the eclogites enclo3ed in gneiss are Iikely to be original crustal rocks. They occur as disrupted layers or boudins in paragneiss in harmony with a formation from dry basic igneous and sedimentary rocks endosed in a thick geosynclinal pile of supracrustals which were rapidly buckled down to great depths and metamorphosed there. Elements that could not easily be accommodated in the eclogite minerals during their formation were probably expelled from the system.


BACKGROUND
Children may fall behind on preventive services because they do not receive needed services at the time of an office visit (a missed opportunity). However, methods are needed to measure problems in the care delivery process that lead to missed opportunities. We developed a method to examine the key steps in the preventive service delivery process and identify problems; we assessed the feasibility and validity of the method in primary care practices for children.

METHODS
Using 3 data collection methods, we measured key steps in the process of preventive service delivery in primary care offices: a chart audit was used to measure each child's preventive service status before and after an office visit, a brief parent exit interview was used to assess preventive service delivery not documented in the chart, and a staff checklist was used to assess the role of nursing and other office staff. The feasibility of using this combination of measures to identify problems in the care delivery process was evaluated in 3 representative primary care practices (2 pediatric, 1 family practice) among children 5 years and younger.

RESULTS
The measurement method was implemented in all 3 practices. The validity of the method was supported by its ability to detect differences among practices in the proportion of children eligible for immunizations and screening tests and in the proportion of children undergoing key steps in the process of preventive service delivery. The practice with the lowest proportion of children whose charts were screened for preventive services needs had the lowest performance of preventive services.

CONCLUSIONS
It is possible to assess specific elements in the process of preventive service delivery in primary care practices. Use of this approach may help practices design and monitor interventions to improve the quality of preventive care delivery.


Much has been written about organizational commitment in the past twenty five years and these studies have significantly contributed to the extant understanding of the concept. However, these efforts have also contributed to the confusion, inconsistencies, and disagreements about the meaning of the concept that seem to characterize the organizational commitment literature. This milieu required, as a matter of necessity, that the disparate conceptualizations of organizational commitment be reconciled and synthesized to form a unified, comprehensive theory. This situation and the apparent need to focus on those organizational factors that function as antecedents of managerial commitment to organizations provided the impetus for the present study.

In keeping with the above purpose, this study has developed a comprehensive unified theory of organizational commitment that was tested using structural equation modeling. The study shows that the theory of organizational commitment is based on six separate parent theories, including attitudes, psychological ownership, psychological contract, values, certain aspects of the three-component model of Meyer and Allen (1991), and social exchange, which makes it a multi-disciplinary theory. The theories of attitudes and psychological ownership constitute the psychological ingredient of the affection employees manifest to their organization and provide the theoretical foundation of the affective dimension of organizational commitment.
Similarly, the theories of psychological contract, values and organizational culture provide the corner stone for the feelings of moral obligation employees display toward the organization, and concomitantly, the moral dimension of organizational commitment. Finally, social exchange theory and labor market forces define a socio-economic relationship between each individual and the organization and provide the basis for the continuance dimension of organizational commitment.

The research problem identified for this study was the lack of a unified theory of organizational commitment that is needed to identify the antecedents of managerial commitment to organizations. Thus, the purpose of the study was to examine the state of the theory of organizational commitment and propose a unified socio-psychological theory that provided the theoretical foundation to identify the antecedents and dimensions of the organizational commitment of managerial employees. Therefore, the research question that the study answered is: what are the antecedents and dimensions of managerial commitment in organizations? In addition to this, the study investigated six related issues: (a) the socio-psychological theories providing the theoretical foundations of a unified theory of organizational commitment, (b) the principal dimensions of a new unified theory of organizational commitment, (c) the predictors and causes of managerial commitment, (d) the degree to which perceived pay equity, socialization tactics, opportunities for development, organizational trust, and job satisfaction act as predictors of organizational commitment, (e) the variable or variables which moderate and/or mediate the impact of the predictors of organizational commitment and, (f) the relationships among the five predictors named above.

The study was justified on the basis of its potential to make significant contributions to both management practice and theory. From the perspective of management practice, the study has provided evidence that should enhance the ability of organizations to: (a) promote feelings of assonance and minimize feelings of The study was justified on the basis of its potential to make significant contributions to both management practice and theory. From the perspective of management practice, the study has provided evidence that should enhance the ability of organizations to: (a) promote feelings of assonance and minimize feelings of dissonance among their managerial employees through equitable pay, (b) increase the level of managerial job satisfaction and concomitantly elevate the trust levels of managers, (c) integrate the interests of managers with those of the organization through effective socialization tactics and provide managerial employees with opportunities for development in order to enhance their moral obligations to the organization. Moreover, the study provides evidence and tools which organizations may use to engender in their managerial employees strong feelings of ownership for their organizations, enhance managers' trust levels, and minimize their inclinations to leave their organizations.

Theoretically, the study has analyzed and evaluated the extant theories of organizational commitment, reconciled differences among the various models, synthesized the multitude of disparate theories, models, concepts and definitions found in the literature of organizational commitment as a means of conceptualizing a new theoretical socio-psychological model of organizational commitment. In essence this effort should make a solid contribution to knowledge in the field and provide the foundation for future research in managerial commitment.

Methodologically, the data used in this study were collected from four different organizations at two different time periods of three months apart. Both descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS 12 and structural equation modeling using AMOS 16 were used to analyze the data. The SEM analysis determined the predictive strength of the selected independent variables/antecedents, and Barron and Kenny"s moderator and mediator analysis identified the moderator and mediator effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The outcome from these analyses is a model which fits the two sets of data. Apart from other fit indices, the computations indicated insignificant Chi-sq. values of 16.113, p=.065 and 8.037, p=.442 for the two sets of data respectively. This particular finding confirms that the model is theoretically sound and is perhaps a unique development in the field of organizational commitment.

The results of the study confirm that organizational commitment is a multi-dimensional theory with three major domains-affective, continuance, and moral commitment, each of which has a distinct conceptual foundation. The study also confirms that: (a) affective commitment is based predominantly on psychological factors; (b) moral commitment is founded on philosophical, ethical and sociological factors; and (c) continuance commitment which is socio-economic by nature focuses predominantly on risk, economic losses, economic gains and labor market conditions that indicate the availability/non-availability of suitable alternative employment. Additionally, the study indicates that pay equity, developmental opportunities and socialization tactics act as both moderators and mediators of job satisfaction and organizational trust which in turn are the two independent variables predicting the three dimensions of organizational commitment.

In the final analysis, the findings of this study should: (a) be significantly beneficial to future research in the field of organizational commitment, (b) provide organizations with critical information for human resource policy formulation and, (c) contribute meaningfully to knowledge in the field. No other known study in organizational commitment has gone through such indepth analysis, particularly the elaborate process of theory building.


Segment Routing (SR) leverages the source routing paradigm. A node steers a packet through an ordered list of instructions, called "segments". A segment can represent any instruction, topological or service based. A segment can have a semantic local to an SR node or global within an SR domain. SR provides a mechanism that allows a flow to be restricted to a specific topological path, while maintaining per-flow state only at the ingress node(s) to the SR domain. SR can be directly applied to the MPLS architecture with no change to the forwarding plane. A segment is encoded as an MPLS label. An ordered list of segments is encoded as a stack of labels. The segment to process is on the top of the stack. Upon completion of a segment, the related label is popped from the stack. SR can be applied to the IPv6 architecture, with a new type of routing header. A segment is encoded as an IPv6 address. An ordered list of segments is encoded as an ordered list of IPv6 addresses in the routing header. The active segment is indicated by the Destination Address (DA) of the packet. The next active segment is indicated by a pointer in the new routing header. Filsfils, et al. Standards Track [Page 1]


Abstract Planting native grasses can provide a source of seed for prairie restorations, but requires knowledge of how the plants that establish will perform. This study sought to determine variation in fitness of population sources of Andropogon gerardii, a dominant grassland species, when grown in a mesic common garden. Using multiple population sources, we tested the hypothesis that plants from populations within the local region would exhibit a 'home-site advantage' as measured by higher fitness compared to plants from populations collected from drier regions of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem (up to 986 km west of the common garden). Plants collected from four pristine, never restored population sources from each of three regions (central Kansas, eastern Kansas, and southern Illinois) were raised in the greenhouse from seeds and planted in a common garden in Illinois. To estimate fitness, we used commonly measured traits related to seed production, including flowering tiller number and number of flowering raceme branches, seed number, viability, and percentage germination. There was no evidence of a 'home-site advantage' for populations originating from southern Illinois. Rather, there was high within-region variability in fecundity. Plants from southern Illinois had the largest number of raceme branches per plant. Plants from eastern Kansas had the highest number of vegetative tillers per plant. Plants from central Kansas produced the most germinable seeds. Under the current climate, plants from any one of the three regions may be suitable to propagate seeds for restoration, but other traits may vary among populations to affect height, cover, and productivity.


The quality of education is a major policy challenge facing the Maldives. The country achieved the first generation objective of providing universal access to basic education through rapid expansion of enrollment. As is frequently the case with such countries, the second generation challenge is to provide education of adequate quality. Evidence from a variety of sources shows that education quality in the Maldives is weak, and needs urgent improvement. Learning outcomes in both primary and secondary education are modest. National assessments of learning outcomes at Grade 4 and Grade 7 show that learning levels are unsatisfactory. The low average scores suggest that learning levels in both primary education and lower secondary education are weak. There are several dimensions of education quality which Maldivian policy makers consider to be of vital importance. Among these, the quality of school teachers is central to the improvement of education quality. Hence, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is concerned to develop the skills, motivation and performance of teachers. A second key policy initiative is the establishment of a sound quality assurance framework for the school system. The MOE has developed a quality assurance mechanism, which now needs to be pilot tested, refined and scaled up throughout the country. A third strategic policy initiative is the development of a system of regular national assessments of learning outcomes, which can then feed into policy formulation and program development. These three strategic policy initiatives are discussed in the subsequent sections of this report.


In this article, the authors review factor performance in global equity markets using coherent data and methodology and apply a new template to evaluate their backtests for potential selection bias under multiple testing. They then propose a systematic process for integrating factor information into different investment strategies. The authors show that this process is consistent with the Black–Litterman framework and test it on a sample of market indexes and active equity portfolios. Integrating factors in indexes improved risk-adjusted performance while retaining high liquidity and capacity. Adding factors to active strategies enhanced information ratios while maintaining the portfolio characteristics and stock selection alpha of the original strategies. The authors' analysis may have important implications for different types of investors. Asset owners may be able to tilt reference indexes toward rewarded factors without sacrificing market coverage and diversification. Index managers can track factor-tilted indexes because they remain investable and replicable. Finally, active managers may be able to incorporate factor information into their strategies to harvest factor premiums while preserving their core investment process and the added value from fundamental security selection. TOPICS: Factor-based models, portfolio management/multi-asset allocation, style investing


Manufacturing organizations are facing much more challenges as compared to the earlier years. The important and crucial decisions have to be taken by the management in continuous basis in order to ensure the survival and competitiveness of company throughout the journey to become a successful organization. In order to make these decisions fast and correct, they need more accurate information related to financial and non-financial aspects. The conventional cost management systems, which were developed decades ago are unable to provide all information required to make right decision, justify the cost reduction and process improvements (Chen, 1996). This is because they were based on labor-intensive production system while today's production processes are more sophisticated and faces constant changes. An alternative costing system, Activity Based Costing (ABC) has emerged to the new solution to costing system. It provides financial and non-financial information not only for product costing but also for each activity of manufacturing process. It can list and measure the cost of each activity individually in production and in supporting activities to deliver of a product or service right to customers (Sohal & Chung, 1998). ABC focuses on the activities performed to produce the products throughout the manufacturing process (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). By assigning other costs, such as marketing and administrative to cost object, ABC able to provide more accurate product costs. It helps to improve the operational performance by allocating overhead costs correctly. It provides cost information based on the actual consumption of the resources by each particular activity. The goal of ABC is to reveal cost allocation information by tracing the production costs accurately to activities and product (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). The implementation of ABC has provided many benefits, such as more accurate product costing, providing of cost behavior information and tracing resources consumptions. Realizing many benefits gain from implementation of ABC, many companies have embarked in applying ABC system. However, there are many problems and barriers they encountered during the implementation, which made some has decided to abort this system and not be able to exploit its advantages. It is the objective of this study to help foster the growth of Malaysian companies by helping them to provide better understanding,knowledge and skills to take advantage of using ABC as a tool to improve their manufacturing process. The title of the project is The Study on Integration of Activity-based Costing and Six-sigma Principle. The specific objective of the study is to determine success factors for ABC implementation in manufacturing companies based on Six-sigma process improvement principle. The focus of the study is to identify and understand the critical success factors in implementation of ABC, to identify and specified the problems and barriers and to understand their relationship with the ABC success. In order to identify, understand and formulate the proposed solution, this study will use a survey approach to get required data for further analysis. The survey will be based on mailed questionnaires to selected manufacturing industries in Malaysia. In order to formulate a comprehensive and relevant set of questionnaires, a comprehensive review of literature will be studied, followed by validation and verification process,which involved expert opinions and a pilot study. The next phase is where data from the study will be analyzed to identify areas related to the level of acceptance of ABC,the critical success factors and also to determine the relationship between the organization's factors and the success of implementation of ABC system. The tangible outcome of this project is to provide a set of proposed guidelines and support tools for manufacturing organizations in applying Activity-based Costing for process improvement efforts as suggested by Six-sigma improvement principle.


Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry II reviews and examines topics of relevance to today's inorganic chemists. Covering more interdisciplinary and high impact areas, Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry II includes biological inorganic chemistry, solid state chemistry, materials chemistry, and nanoscience. The work is designed to follow on, with a different viewpoint and format, from our 1973 work, Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, edited by Bailar, Emel us, Nyholm, and Trotman-Dickenson, which has received over 2,000 citations. The new work will also complement other recent Elsevier works in this area, Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry and Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry, to form a trio of works covering the whole of modern inorganic chemistry. Chapters are designed to provide a valuable, long-standing scientific resource for both advanced students new to an area and researchers who need further background or answers to a particular problem on the elements, their compounds, or applications. Chapters are written by teams of leading experts, under the guidance of the Volume Editors and the Editors-in-Chief. The articles are written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with a ready reference resource for information in the field. The chapters will not provide basic data on the elements, which is available from many sources (and the original work), but instead concentrate on applications of the elements and their compounds. * Provides a comprehensive review which serves to put many advances in perspective and allows the reader to make connections to related fields, such as: biological inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, solid state chemistry and nanoscience.* Inorganic chemistry is rapidly developing, which brings about the need for a reference resource such as this that summarise recent developments and simultaneously provide background information. * Forms the new definitive source for researchers interested in elements and their applications; completely replacing the highly cited first edition, which published in 1973.


Background: Suppressing the antigen-presenting capacity of glial cells could represent a novel way of reducing inflammatory activity in multiple sclerosis (MS). Aims: To evaluate the effects of fluoxetine on new lesion formation in patients with relapsing MS. Methods: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory study, 40 non-depressed patients with relapsing remitting or relapsing secondary progressive MS were randomised to oral fluoxetine 20 mg or placebo daily for 24 weeks. New lesion formation was studied by assessing the cumulative number of gadolinium-enhancing lesions on brain MRI performed on weeks 4, 8, 16 and 24. Results: Nineteen patients in both groups completed the study. The mean (SD) cumulative number of new enhancing lesions during the 24 weeks of treatment was 1.84 (2.9) in the fluoxetine group and 5.16 (8.6) in the placebo group (p = 0.15). The number of scans showing new enhancing lesions was 25% in the fluoxetine group versus 41% in the placebo group (p = 0.04). Restricting the analysis to the past 16 weeks of treatment showed that the cumulative number of new enhancing lesions was 1.21 (2.6) in the fluoxetine group and 3.16 (5.3) in the placebo group (p = 0.05). The number of patients without enhancing lesions was 63% in the fluoxetine group versus 26% in the placebo group (p = 0.02). Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study shows that fluoxetine tends to reduce the formation of new enhancing lesions in patients with MS. Further studies with this compound are warranted. Trial registration: Number: ISRCTN65586975


This study explores the role of market power on the cost-effectiveness of policies to address fuel consumption. Market power gives manufacturers an incentive to under- (over-) provide fuel economy in classes whose consumers, on average, value it less (more) than in others. Adding a second market failure in consumer valuation of fuel economy, a policy trade-off emerges. Minimum standards can address distortions from price discrimination but, unlike average standards, do not provide broad-based incentives for improving fuel economy. Increasing fuel prices raises demand for fuel economy but exacerbates undervaluation and incentives for price discrimination. A combination policy may be preferred. For modelers of fuel economy policy, failure to capture consumer heterogeneity in preferences for fuel economy can lead to significant errors in predicting the distribution of effort in complying with regulation, as well as the calculation and distribution of the benefits.


Previous results show that gender diversity increases the probability that firms invest in R&D and engage in innovation. This paper explores the relationship between gender diversity of R&D departments and their capacity to patent. Based on the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2014, we apply a two-step procedure in order to control for endogeneity. Although gender diversity affects OEPM patents negatively, its impact is non-significant for patents with international coverage (EPO, USPTO, or PCT). A relevant result is the fact that the generation of patents is positively affected by the diversity of categories in the R&D labs. Our results highlight that, gender diversity of R&D teams does not play a relevant impact on the capacity of the firm to register patents. However, the diversity according to the professional role in R&D teams exerts a positive influence. In sum, the key question is not the gender diversity per se but the gender diversity jointly with the professional status. JEL Code: O30, O31, J16. Keywords: gender diversity, patent generation


Blends of thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) were studied over the entire composition range using Rheometrics Stress Rheometer, capillary rheometer, and differential scanning calorimeter. There is no molecular scale mixing or chemical reaction between the components, as evidenced by melting and crystallization points in the PPS phase. From the strain scaling transients test at low-rate, LCP and the blends require approximately 60 strain units to obtain steady stale shearing results. The large recoveries in the strain recovery test, magnitude 3 to 3.3 strain unit, are likely the results of texture present in LCPs. With increasing PPS content in LCP/PPS blends, the total recovery declines. Scaling of the transient strain rate remains, but the magnitude of the transients is reduced. At low-rate, when the LCP is added to the PPS, the pure melts have similar visosity: 500 Pa · s for LCP and 600 Pa · s for PPS, but the viscosity of the blends goes through a maximum with concentration that is nearly three times the viscosity of the individual melts. At high-rate, a significant depression of the viscosity is observed in the PPS-rich compositions and this may be due to the fibrous structure of the LCP at high shear rates.


Due to the particularity of the tunnel project, it is difficult to find out the exact geological conditions of the tunnel body during the survey stage. Once it encounters unfavorable geological bodies such as faults, fracture zones, and karst, it will bring great challenges to the construction and will easily cause major problems, economic losses, and casualties. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out geological forecast work in the tunnel construction process, which is of great significance for tunnel safety construction and avoiding major disaster accident losses. This lecture mainly intro-duces the commonly used methods of geological forecast in tunnel construction, the design principles, and contents of geological forecast and combines typical cases to show the implementation process of comprehensive geological forecast. Finally, the development direction of geological forecast theory, method, and technology is carried out. Prospects provide a useful reference for promoting the development of geological forecast of tunnels.


We apply visualization techniques to user profiles and repository metadata from the GitHub source code hosting service. Our motivation is to identify patterns within this development community that might otherwise remain obscured. Such patterns include the effect of geographic distance on developer relationships, social connectivity and influence among cities, and variation in projectspecific contribution styles (e.g., centralized vs. distributed). Our analysis examines directed graphs in which nodes represent users' geographic locations and edges represent (a) follower relationships, (b) successive commits, or (c) contributions to the same project. We inspect this data using a set of visualization techniques: geo-scatter maps, small multiple displays, and matrix diagrams. Using these representations, and tools based on them, we develop hypotheses about the larger GitHub community that would be difficult to discern using traditional lists, tables, or descriptive statistics. These methods are not intended to provide conclusive answers; instead, they provide a way for researchers to explore the question space and communicate initial insights.


Latent heat storage (LHS) can improve the imbalance of energy supply and demand. However, the relatively low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs) may weaken the advantage of latent heat storage. In this paper, seven different fin combinations are designed for LHS device filling with paraffin wax RT56 as PCM. The fins are composed of straight and Y-shaped ones. For the same volume ratio of fins to PCMs, the width and height of fin are changed to study their effect on melting phase change. A 2D model is established and is solved numerically. Comparing of phase interface evolution verifies the established numerical model. Results show that the melting speed of PCM at the bottom of LHS device is slow, and the Y-shaped fin with longer part in the lower region for PCM can help heat penetrate into the interior of PCM, and promote the heat conduction inside the lower PCM, thus improving the overall melting performance. The PCM melting time of the unit with increasing fin height is shorter than that of the device with increasing fin width.


Consumption based asset pricing models with time-separable preferences can generate realistic amounts of stock price volatility if one allows for small deviations from rational expectations. We consider rational investors who entertain subjective prior beliefs about price behavior that are not equal but close to rational expectations. Optimal behavior then dictates that investors learn about price behavior from past price observations. We show that this imparts momentum and mean reversion into the equilibrium behavior of the price dividend ratio, similar to what can be observed in the data. When estimating the model on U.S. stock price data using the method of simulated moments, it can quantitatively account for the observed volatility of returns, the volatility and persistence of the price-dividend ratio, and the predictability of long-horizon returns. For reasonable degrees of risk aversion, the model generates up to one half of the equity premium observed in the data. It also passes a formal statistical test for the overall goodness of …t, provided one excludes the equity premium from the set of moments to be matched. JEL Class. No.: G12, E44 Keywords: asset pricing, learning, subjective beliefs, internal rationality "Investors, their con…dence and expectations buoyed by past price increases, bid up speculative prices further, thereby enticing more investors to do the same, so that the cycle repeats again and again." Irrational Exuberance, Shiller (2005, p. 56)


Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a medical emergency characterized by hyperglycemia, high anion gap metabolic acidosis and elevated circulating ketone bodies resulting from severe impairment of insulin secretion and/or action. Besides dehydration, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain is also considered to be a cardinal clinical feature of DKA. Diagnosis relies on biochemical criteria, and disease severity on clinical and laboratory findings. Radiological investigation is not standard of care of DKA despite being required in specific situations. The authors report on a case of a patient with DKA and abdominal pain, whose investigation revealed chronic pancreatitis and a massive splenic artery pseudoaneurysm. The case is remarkable for the rarity of the clinical entity and reminds the clinician to the importance of imaging in newly diagnosed diabetes. J Endocrinol Metab. 2018;8(2-3):43-46 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jem494w


We present a calculation of antiproton yields in Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.5{ital A} GeV in the framework of the relativistic quantum molecular dynamics approach (RQMD). Multistep processes lead to the formation of high-mass flux tubes. Their decay dominates the initial antibaryon yield. However, the subsequent annihilation in the surrounding baryon-rich matter suppresses the antiproton yield considerably: Two-thirds of all antibaryons are annihilated even for the light Si+Al system. Comparisons with preliminary data of the E802 experiment support this analysis.


Entrainment defects such as double oxide films and entrapped bubbles occur frequently in aluminium alloy castings during the mould-filling process, and are very detrimental to both mechanical properties, and reproducibility of casting properties. In this study a modelling algorithm was used to predict the formation and distribution of entrainment defects in Al-Si-Mg alloy castings. The tensile strength of cast test bars was compared with either the number of defects, or the defect concentration within the bars obtained from the simulation. A general relationship between the mechanical strength of the cast test bars and the quantity of estimated defects was apparent.


The new batch pyrolysis plant in Studsvik is built primarily for treatment of uranium containing dry active waste, "DAW". Several other waste types have been identified that are considered or assumed suitable for treatment in the pyrolysis plant because of the possibility to carefully control the atmosphere and temperature of the thermal treatment. These waste types must be characterised and an evaluation must be made with a BAT (Best Available Technology) perspective. Studsvik have performed or plan to perform lab scale pyrolysis tests on a number of different waste types. These include- Pyrophoric materials (uranium shavings)- Uranium chemicals that must be oxidised prior to being deposited in repository- Sludges and oil soaks (this category includes NORM-materials)- Ion exchange resins (both "free" and solidified/stabilised)- Bitumen solidified wasteMethodology and assessment criteria for various waste types, together with results obtained for the lab scale tests that have been performed, are described.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Disputes over literary works and plays — between one authors and another, one publisher and another, and between authors and publishers — have arisen since the ancient world. This is to be expected, since publishing poems and plays and producing theatrical performances can have significant economic, political, and emotional implications all at the same time. The nature and legal frameworks governing these disputes have changed dramatically over the centuries, however, particularly with regard to the proprietary rights involved.
Though modern copyright law did not exist at the time, the Elizabethan age saw a high degree of professionalism of theatrical performance, book publishing, and dramatic authorship. When audiences are clamoring for novel entertainments, authorship is becoming a professional activity, and profits are to be made, customs and traditions inevitably arise — as do violations of those customs and traditions. This article discusses the framework of authorship and publishing in Shakespeare's time and examines some of the disputes that arose and how they were resolved in a context where the legal remedies were limited. Methods from patronage to private guild "courts" to theft to public denunciation to outright violence were employed in attempts to maintain profitable businesses in publishing and theatre.


Biodegradable polymers are employed in medicine and its further application is expected with eagerness. But the lack of an appropriate processing method retards the progress. To overcome this problem, we have developed a novel three-dimensional microfabrication system. The system design allows us the processing of the free three-dimensional micro-level forms by stacking up melted polymers from the nozzle. Different from the conventional method, we adopted a batch process to supply materials in order to eliminate the prior process that required toxic solvents. In addition, it is possible to handle almost all biodegradable thermoplastic resins by adopting this system. A single layer from the piled-up layers of extruded lines was observed to evaluate the resolution. The lateral and depth resolutions attained are 40 /spl mu/m and 45 /spl mu/m, respectively. Biodegradable polymers enable three-dimensional microstructures such as micro-pipes, microbends, and micro-coil springs to be manufactured in less than 15 min. The biocompatibility of the newly fabricated structure was evaluated using a cell line (PC12). For this purpose, a small vessel, with a transparent base, was fabricated using PLA and cells were cultivated in it. The results were then compared with the results obtained using the standard method. Our system renders it possible to produce toxic-free, as well as transparent and leakage-free devices. Our system is expected to have potential applications in optimum design and fabrication of implantable devices, especially in tissue engineering.


Numerical models are used commonly to study the topographic evolution of glacially eroded landscapes. These models are grounded on a power-law rule that relates bedrock erosion rate to either the sliding speed or discharge of glaciers. This rule, however, is poorly linked to the principal process of glacial erosion, quarrying, in which bedrock blocks are dislodged from the bed by sliding ice. A new model of quarrying allows this erosion rule to be evaluated. As in past quarrying models, ice-bed separation during sliding controls deviatoric stresses in the rock that cause crack growth. Unlike past models, bedrock strength heterogeneity resulting from preglacial fractures is included using a Weibull statistical distribution of rock strength. This strength distribution is predicated on the observation that larger rock bodies have lower strengths because they have a greater probability of containing a large fracture. Results can, indeed, be closely fitted with a power-law erosion rule, but its nonlinearity, the range of sliding speed over which it applies, and erosion rates depend sensitively on bedrock strength heterogeneity and effective pressure. This theory anchors large-scale models of glacial erosion to the primary small-scale process that these models hope to simulate and reinforces recent emphasis on the role of bedrock fractures in accelerating geomorphic processes. Moreover, by linking basal water pressure to erosion rate, the theory can improve efforts with numerical models to study feedbacks between subglacial hydrology and landscape evolution.


Generally, the behavior analysis of couples is not easy. Also, many researchers agree that the purchasing behavior of a small group, like a couple, is characterized by a complex collective decision-making process. Moreover, it is difficult to enter the nuclear family and anticipate the behavior of the two spouses. In the same way, one may say that the factors that influence their choices and decisions evolve and their expectations and attitudes are constantly changing, which makes a certain number of marketing tools obsolete. As a result, travel agencies are required to seek to understand the process of choosing a vacation destination within couples in order to make the right communication decisions. This study focuses on the decision-making process of a couple in choosing a tourist destination. It is particularly aimed at evaluating the couple's different behavioral (cognitive / affective / conative) approaches in order to better understand the extremely complex rational and irrational aspects of the husband-wife dyad. Keywords : Couple decision-making process; Attitude; Holiday destination.


Open innovation has become a mainstream phenomenon in the current business landscape. However, despite the fact that innovation projects generally have different attributes (e.g., complexity and uncertainty), most studies on open innovation have only considered firm-level characteristics (e.g., firm size and firm openness) to determine how to manage open innovation successfully. Project-level studies on open innovation management are still scant—There are only a few conceptual and qualitative articles on the topic, and there is a lack of quantitative insights. Based on a survey designed to collect detailed data from 201 innovation projects undertaken by American firms, this article provides a quantitative cross-project analysis of how two, key innovation project attributes (i.e., complexity and uncertainty) are related to five factors for successful open innovation management: 1) openness level, 2) external partner choice, 3) open innovation mechanism choice, 4) collaboration process formalization, and 5) internal firm practices. This exploratory study contributes to the open innovation literature by highlighting the importance of microfoundations (i.e., innovation project attributes) in successful open innovation management. This article concludes by suggesting a number of relevant project-level future research opportunities in the field of open innovation management, and some methodological recommendations on how to address such opportunities.


"Standard" roundabouts, for example those designed in some European countries, can often be characterized by low levels of safety or capacity and a high degree of sustainability. Given the proliferation of newer layouts, it is of interest to explore whether design practices could be improved by capitalizing on the experience gained internationally. Operational aspects of some of these designs have been explored previously, but there is a need to compare both the operational and safety performance of new designs to that of standard roundabouts. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the safety and operational implications of various potential alternatives to the standard roundabouts that proliferate in Europe and elsewhere. Microsimulation is used to simulate traffic operations at roundabout layout alternatives at the same levels of volume to capacity (V/C) ratio and also with the same traffic flow. Operational performance measures include the common level of service parameters, while measures of safety are based initially on time to collision (TTC) values. Threshold values of TTC were then applied in defining conflicts that are used for crash-based safety evaluation by applying crash-conflict models estimated in published research. Interesting insights were revealed, suggesting that the newer layouts should be considered where warranted by cost-benefit considerations.

Keywords: road safety; traffic simulation; roundabout design; sustainable-transport indicators


Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. There are different cloud services of which cloud Infrastructure as a service enables a company to grow very fast. All small and large-scale companies are shifting their applications towards cloud. As usage of the internet all over the world, the number of video applications are increasing more and becoming popular. Smart phones use wireless networks to transfer large amount of data. Users access the video application from the cloud through web browsers in laptop and smart phone. First, a systematic literature review is conducted on the performance issues of cloud infrastructure as a service. Second, the performance metrics jitter, round trip time and page loading time are analyzed while accessing a video application from the cloud. Finally, results are analyzed for various browsers in Smartphone and laptop. From the obtained results it helps the users to choose better browser for accessing cloud applications.


Abstract. Validation results from a comparison between Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) V5 Near InfraRed (NIR) carbon monoxide (CO) total column measurements and Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapour on Airbus in-service Aircraft (MOZAIC)/In-Service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) aircraft measurements are presented. A good agreement is found between MOPITT and MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements, consistent with results from earlier studies using different validation data and despite large variability in MOPITT CO total columns along the spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements. Validation results improve when taking the large spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS data into account. No statistically significant drift was detected in the validation results over the period 2002–2010 at global, continental and local (airport) scales. Furthermore, for those situations where MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements differed from the MOPITT a priori, the MOPITT measurements clearly outperformed the MOPITT a priori data, indicating that MOPITT NIR retrievals add value to the MOPITT a priori. Results from a high spatial resolution simulation of the chemistry-transport model MOCAGE (MOdele de Chimie Atmospherique a Grande Echelle) showed that the most likely explanation for the large MOPITT variability along the MOZAIC-IAGOS profile flight path is related to spatio-temporal CO variability, which should be kept in mind when using MOZAIC/IAGOS profile measurements for validating satellite nadir observations.


Abstract Background: The potential for faster detection of human herpes viruses using PCR compared to other methods is undisputed. However, because of fear of contamination, the clinical implication of nucleic amplification methods in routine laboratories is not widespread. Herpes viruses cause a wide spectrum of diseases and can cause morbidity and mortality in immune-compromised patients. Using real-time PCR, most of the problems associated with PCR (contamination, cumbersome detection, and rather expensive tests) are solved, and a rapid, economical, and – most importantly – closed system is at hand. Methods: We evaluated work procedures in our laboratory that enable the routine diagnosis of viral infections with high accuracy and rapid turn-around time. In parallel, inherent problems usually associated with PCR testing, especially cross-contamination could be suppressed to a minimum. The start of the work flow process begins with an automated nucleic acid extraction procedure that yields high quality DNA. A common – internally and externally controlled – PCR program for all six viruses allows rapid sample turn around. Results: In all, 7500 analyses for human herpes virus infection were performed in the last 5 years. Results for various different specimens were produced within 24 h. Contamination occurred rarely and could be ameliorated easily. The use of internal controls identified rare PCR-inhibited samples. The detection limits for our assays are markedly below the clinically relevant range. Conclusions: Our workflow allowed rapid, cost-efficient, and labor saving routine diagnostic detection of viral infections. Clin Chem Lab Med 2009;47:1141–5.


Fisheries sector attained immense importance around the globe with augmenting income and
employment generation. Indian fisheries sector provide dependency for over 14.5 million
people across the country with Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, being the top three marine
fish producing states of the country. Even possessing the highest literacy rate in the country,
the irony exists that the fishers of Kerala are marginalized far way behind with comparatively
higher level of literacy rate and educational attainment which limits them with minimal
alternative livelihood options.This study is an attempt to examine the socio-economic profile
of the fishing community in the Poonthura fishing village of the Thiruvananthapuram district
of Kerala, where fishing is the most important economic activity. Among the 222 fishing
villages of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram has the maximum number of marine fishing villages
(19 per cent) where in fishermen reside. Poonthura village is one of the major fishing villages
from the South West hotspot regions of India, situated in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram
district, the capital of Kerala. The study analyzed various socioeconomic aspects such as
thefishing activity, basic household data, economic as well as historic and cultural
dependence on fishing, gender equity, employment and occupational structure, community
infrastructure, income distribution and assets, physical capital, financial capital, social
capital, and exposure of the fishermen families by taking 500 samples from the study area.
Even though the village is having a century old fishery culture and a strong emotional
attachment to the fishing job, people are not ready to direct their young generation into this
sector which indicates the higher level of vulnerability prevailing in the sector. The study as
the first of its kind conducted at one of the most vulnerable marine hotspot of Kerala and
which explains the problems, prospects of the inhabitants in the sector has its own relevance
as a basis to develop proper adaptation mitigation strategies for the fisher folks


This report details the results of research into organic production of prawns in Australia. This has involved activities and experiments over two years at several sites and using a multidisciplinary approach. This includes farm trials at an inland demonstration prawn farm which solely utilises saline bore water, sample collection from two commercial prawn farms in coastal regions of south-eastern Queensland, replicated feed trials at one of DPI&F's aquaculture research stations, specified feed manufacture at the laboratories of University of Queensland, and packaging and product storage trials and food analyses at two of DPI&F's food technology laboratories. This work was designed to investigate and assist in the possible adoption of organic procedures by the Australian prawn farming industry.

The import from Asia of cheaply produced prawns has forced all Australian prawn farmers to review their marketing procedures. Additionally investors are becoming increasingly concerned at the prospects for the expansion of this industry in Australia. Since the competition of seafood products in the marketplace is increasing on a global basis, alternate products are being investigated by those wishing to maintain and/or grow their market share. The premium paid for organic food products would hopefully provide an economic incentive for farmers to convert to organic production systems, with an added advantage that the standards that apply have beneficial implications also for the social and environmental practices of industry.


Legumes have been used for their nitrogen fixation properties; however, farmers in tropical countries they do not usually use them, because they do not appreciate visible improvement in the soil. The aim of this paper was to analyse the effect of three tropical legumes ( Phaseolus vulgaris , Canavalia ensiformis and Clitoria ternatea ) on growth promoting microorganisms [Free Life Nitrogen Fixers Bacteria (FLNFB), Azospirillum sp., Azotobacter sp. and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) on the fertility of two rhizospheric soils; one for rangeland use (Ru) and the other for agricultural use (Au). The bioassays were established under a completely randomized design with three replicates per species. The evaluated soil properties were pH; Organic matter, OM; Total carbon, TC; Total nitrogen, N; Useful Phosphorus, P; Cation Exchange Capacity, CEC; and texture. In rhizospheric soil the populations of FLNFB, Azospirillum sp. and Azotobacter sp.; as well as AMF spores were estimated. The results indicate that Ph. vulgaris was the species that showed lower N fixation in Au soil, but higher P content was found in Ru. Ca. ensiformis and Cl. ternatea had higher N fixation, increased CEC, OM and TC. Clitoria ternatea favored the accumulation of OM and TC, promoting CEC, pH and the AMF population. Canavalia ensiformis was the only species to promote differentiated development of Azospirillum sp. and Azotobacter sp. in Ru, showing higher populations with this legume. Therefore, it is recommended that these data can be considered for the conservation of tropical species, both legumes and native microorganisms.


A basic formulation is developed for the nonlinear stochastic finite element method. It is based on the perturbation method and retains its advantage, namely that a nonlinear finite element analysis needs to be done only once. Based on this, the gradients (sensitivity) of the structural response with respect to a system parameter is evaluated as in the linear case. The proposed formulation can cope with a wider class of nonlinear problems including load path dependent problems. An elasto-plastic truss which is subjected to unloading and a geometrically nonlinear shell are analyzed to demonstrate the potential of this method.


ABSTRACT Research indicates that sleep duration and quality are inter-related factors that contribute to obesity, but few studies have focused on sleep chronotype, representing an individual's circadian proclivity, nor assessed these factors in racially diverse middle-aged samples. We examined the associations between chronotype and obesity among black and white men and women participating in the Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS). Body mass index (BMI) and sleep data were available for 1,197 middle-aged men and women (mean age 48.2 ± 5.3 years) who participated in the BHS 2013–2016. Based on the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire's cutoff values for chronotypes, we combined 'definitely morning' and 'moderately morning' types into 'morning' type, 'definitely evening' and 'moderately evening' types into 'evening' type and kept those who were "neither" type in a separate group. We used 'morning' type as the referent group. Obesity was defined as a BMI ≥ 30. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine associations adjusting for sex, age, education, smoking, alcohol use and drug use, depression, shift work, physical activity and sleep duration. Evening chronotype, reported by 11.1% of participants, was associated with obesity after multi-variable adjustment, including shift work, physical activity and sleep duration (OR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.08–2.56). However, once stratified by race (black/white), this association was found only among white participants (OR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.12–3.25) after full adjustment. In our biracial, community-based population, evening chronotype was independently associated with obesity, specifically among white participants. Further research is needed to identify behavioral, endocrine, nutritional and genetic pathways which underlie these associations.


Observations of chemical constituents and meteorological quantities obtained during the two Arctic phases of the airborne campaign ARCTAS (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites) are analyzed using an observationally constrained steady state box model. Measurements of OH and HO_2 from the Penn State ATHOS instrument are compared to model predictions. Forty percent of OH measurements below 2 km are at the limit of detection during the spring phase (ARCTAS-A). While the median observed-to-calculated ratio is near one, both the scatter of observations and the model uncertainty for OH are at the magnitude of ambient values. During the summer phase (ARCTAS-B), model predictions of OH are biased low relative to observations and demonstrate a high sensitivity to the level of uncertainty in NO observations. Predictions of HO_2 using observed CH_2O and H_2O_2 as model constraints are up to a factor of two larger than observed. A temperature-dependent terminal loss rate of HO_2 to aerosol recently proposed in the literature is shown to be insufficient to reconcile these differences. A comparison of ARCTAS-A to the high latitude springtime portion of the 2000 TOPSE campaign (Tropospheric Ozone Production about the Spring Equinox) shows similar meteorological and chemical environments with the exception of peroxides; observations of H_2O_2 during ARCTAS-A were 2.5 to 3 times larger than those during TOPSE. The cause of this difference in peroxides remains unresolved and has important implications for the Arctic HO_x budget. Unconstrained model predictions for both phases indicate photochemistry alone is unable to simultaneously sustain observed levels of CH_2O and H_2O_2; however when the model is constrained with observed CH_2O, H_2O_2 predictions from a range of rainout parameterizations bracket its observations. A mechanism suitable to explain observed concentrations of CH_2O is uncertain. Free tropospheric observations of acetaldehyde (CH_3CHO) are 2–3 times larger than its predictions, though constraint of the model to those observations is sufficient to account for less than half of the deficit in predicted CH_2O. The box model calculates gross O_3 formation during spring to maximize from 1–4 km at 0.8 ppbv d^(−1), in agreement with estimates from TOPSE, and a gross production of 2–4 ppbv d^(−1) in the boundary layer and upper troposphere during summer. Use of the lower observed levels of HO_2 in place of model predictions decreases the gross production by 25–50%. Net O_3 production is near zero throughout the ARCTAS-A troposphere, and is 1–2 ppbv in the boundary layer and upper altitudes during ARCTAS-B.


Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) has been standard clinical practice for 25 years. During this time it has been extensively researched both biomechanically and in terms of its clinical performance as an implant (survival, compatibility, wear, complications etc). This research, which was often funded by the relevant commercial implant company as part of the post market surveillance, has extended the scope and longevity of TKA but has failed to distinguish those implants, surgical and rehabilitation techniques which are most successful at restoring patient function. Over the last 20 years we have conducted a series of RCT's using flexible electro-goniometry to record the dynamic performance of the knee during a range of activities of daily living and a general quality of life score (SF36). Studies reported include outcome of mobile bearing TKA, with and without patella resurfacing, Standard versus High flexion TKA and individual effects. The most striking features of these data are that while producing a greater pain free range of passive motion the dynamic function of TKA patients remains significantly limited to up to 7 years post operation, loss of dynamic function associated with reduced activity levels and reduced quality of life and those with well preserved passive ROM preoperatively lose ROM and dynamic function post operatively. In general patients operate at about 70% of an equivalent age matched normal subject. While TKA patients clearly gain from operation we consider it unacceptable to leave them with these associated long term health risks. To maximise the patient's functional ability post TKA we need to identify which implants, surgical techniques and rehabilitation programmes lead to the best functional outcomes and in which patients. The established gold standard for such questions is a phase III, multi centre, randomised, controlled or comparative clinical trial. Such trials are designed to be statistically powerful and generalisable but often use clinical questionnaire as the outcome measures which due to their lack of sensitivity to dynamic functional performance of the knee fail to distinguish between patient groups in TKA. Flexible electrogoniometry presents a sensitive and relatively inexpensive alternative which, with suitable training, can be implemented be a research nurse of physiotherapist in a standard out-patient clinic. Currently the surgeon, therapist and patient are faced with a vast array of surgical, operative and rehabilitation options. The challenge for us as a research community over the next decade is to provide them with suitable comparative evidence of functional outcome to help guide choice. To this end we in Glasgow have formed a Functional Outcomes in Knee Arthroplasty Clinical Trials Collaboration involving The Bioengineering Unit of University of Strathclyde, The Clinical Trials Unit and Robertson Institute of Bio-statistics of Glasgow University, The School of Health and Social Care, Glasgow Caledonian University, The HealthQWest Research Consortium, The Glasgow and Clyde NHS and the Glasgow Clinical Research Facility. We intend to carry-out our own phase II and II trials and to adopt other Phase III trials. We would encourage others at this meeting to do the same and for us collectively to establish a Functional Outcome in Knee Arthroplasty Trials Network.