For every ten kilograms of biodiesel that is produced from the transesterification of vegetable oil, approximately 1 kg of glycerol is produced as a byproduct. Also known as glycerin, it is a chemical used in many products including cosmetics, foods, and desiccants. However, the crude glycerol created during biodiesel production is tainted with potassium hydroxide and methanol making it unsuitable for commercial use without costly refinement. With increase in production of biodiesel driven by rising fuel prices, the market has become glutted with glycerol and it is on the threshold of becoming a waste product. Common methods for disposing glycerol include incineration which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A more carbon neutral option is land application where glycerol can increase soil organic matter and may sequester carbon. Possible problems involved with land application include its effects on plants, microbes, and broader biological systems. The objectives of this research project were to evaluate the effects of methanol-stripped crude glycerol on microbial, plant, soil, and animal systems in relation to soils and the potential for runoff contamination as well as incidental contact with insects during land application. Four methods were used: microbial activity in soil measured with respirometry, plant germination and growth, runoff testing by test plot application, and analysis of medium to large insect mortality. Respirometry showed that microbial action is not inhibitory at tested concentrations between 0.03% and 10%. In plant tests, a concentration of 0.3% showed greater growth over control samples and concentrations above 1% showed inhibitory effects. In land application runoff studies, glycerol showed similar amounts of total organic carbon in runoff to controls and less than plots fertilized with NaNO3. Crickets treated with glycerol in a similar manner to field application showed higher mortality than control. In conclusion, the land application of glycerol does have an effect on the soil fauna in and on the soil upon which it is applied. In moderation, this effect is minimal and this research has demonstrated upper limits to its usage (<1% by weight). Finally, care should be taken to assure that no endangered insects are harmed if land applied. This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council


The C method is known to be one of the most efficient and versatile tools established for modeling diffraction gratings. Its main advantage is the use of a coordinate system in which the boundary conditions apply naturally and are, ipso facto, greatly simplified. In the context of scattering from random rough surfaces, we propose an extension of this method in order to treat the problem of diffraction of an arbitrary incident beam from a perfectly conducting (PEC) rough surface. For that, we were led to revisit some numerical aspects that simplify the implementation and improve the resulting codes.


How can policy-makers avoid large policy errors when they are uncertain about the true model of the economy? The author discusses some recent approaches that can be used for that purpose under two alternative scenarios: (i) the policy-maker has one reference model for choosing policy but cannot take a stand as to how that model is misspecified, and (ii) the policy-maker, being uncertain about the economy's true structure, entertains multiple distinct models of the economy. The author shows how these approaches can be implemented in practice using as benchmark models simplified versions of Fuhrer and Moore (1995) and Christiano, Eichenbaum, and Evans (2005).


The relationship of both family structure and process variables to both mental illness and family violence are examined in this study. A non-clinical sample of 100 university student families and a clinical sample of 100 in-patient families at a psychiatric hospital are utilized. Both non-clinical and clinical samples are utilized with subjects of similar age. Within the broader context of General Systems Theory and family systems theory in particular, the inter-systemic variable of bounding and the intra-systemic variable of linking are tested in their relationships to both mental illness and family violence. Open, random, and closed family system types are also tested in relationships to family violence and mental illness. These systems variables are measured through a new family assessment instrument, the "Family Process and Structures Questionnaire". Reliability and construct validity are discussed. The hypothesis was supported that bounding and linking would show significant effects on family violence and mental illness. A positive relationship trend was found between bounding and family violence and a significant positive relationship was found between bounding and mental illness. A significant negative relationship was found between linking and both mental illness and family violence. Partial support was found for a curvilinear relationship between linking and family violence. A significant interaction effect was found between bounding and linking on family violence. The important impacts of family system type variables were supported in the study. Open family type showed a significant, negative relationship to family violence and mental illness, while closed family system type showed a significant, positive relationship to both family violence and mental illness. Both random family system and closed family system type showed significant positive relationships to mental illness. The relationship between random family systems and mental illness was found to be particularly strong. Both full and partial predictive models were developed for family violence and mental illness. Both clinical and nonclinical predictor models are also presented. Results clearly suggest the importance of the inclusion of both intra-systemic and inter-systemic variables in family systems research. Clinical implications of findings are discussed for both family violence and mental illness.


The relative contribution of the efferent components of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems to the heart rate (HR) response to dynamic physical exercise was evaluated in 23 normal males. The dynamic exercise was performed on a bicycle ergometer at work loads of 25, 50 and 100 W, before and after pharmacological blockade with atropine (13 individuals) or propranolol (10 individuals). Parasympathetic blockade significantly depressed the rapid HR response at the beginning of the exercise period at all levels of intensity, whereas sympathetic blockade only affected the slow-response phase (1-4 min), especially at the highest level of effort. The present results suggest that the tachycardia evoked by dynamic exercise is mediated by a biphasic mechanism initially depending on rapid vagal release, which increases progressively with increasing effort. An increased sympathetic activity manifests itself in a more delayed manner, especially at the higher levels of activity. Continuous monitoring of HR during the entire period of activity at different levels of intensity permits the utilization of dynamic exercise as a simple and non-invasive method for the functional evaluation of the two components of the autonomic nervous system of the heart.


Background There is currently little research into methods to improve ward attendance by medical students, or the impact it might have on examination performance and clinical ability. Existing work has found correlation between attendance and improved examination scores.1 There are also decreasing opportunities for students to be involved in technical skills, with significant variation in what they have seen and done at graduation;2 so attendance is key. Methodology We studied 20 final year Medical Students from the University of Nottingham undertaking placements in Medicine or Surgery at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Students had volunteered to act as a mentor for a work experience programme organised by a student group (WAMS Nottingham). We surveyed the Medical Students after the week to see whether they had spent more time on the wards as a consequence of the programme and reasons for this. Results Students reported spending a mean of 4.50 h on the wards normally, with this increasing by 1.90 to 6.40 when they had a work-experience student shadowing them (p = 0.003). They reported the main reasons for this as responsibility to their mentee, to practice teaching and their own interest. Conclusions In spite of a small sample size and notable potential for bias, this report does provide a potential solution to improving the attendance behaviour of final year medical students: by giving them a task to simulate responsibility for example of a Foundation Year doctor. References Deane RP, Murphy DJ. Student attendance and academic performance in undergraduate obstetrics/gynecology clinical rotations. Journal of the American Medical Association, (2013) 310(21), 2282-2288. Doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.282228. Accessed 02/08/2014 Boots RJ, et al. They just don't get enough! Variable intern experience in bedside procedural skills. Internal medicine journal, (2009). 39(4), 222-227. Doi:10.1111/j.1445-5994.2009.01699.x, Accessed 02/08/2014


Background: In Pakistan, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes is high ranging from 7.6 % (5.2 million populations) to 11 % as compared to the prevalence rate of 8.3% in the world. The high prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the country has been attributed to high-risk factors such as lack of physical activity, unhealthy food and eating habits among the Pakistani population. Aims : The main aim of this study is to use the quantitative method to explore the association between illness and cultural beliefs, family and healthcare provider support and self-management behaviours of patients of type 2 diabetes in middle-aged population of Pakistan. Materials and Methods : The study will employ quantitative design method to allow for a more comprehensive approach to address a multifaceted problem. The quantitative design will use self-administered survey questionnaires to be provided to n=200 randomly selected patients from the Medical Centre of rural area of Abbottabad, Pakistanto acquire the basic knowledge about diabetes and to measure the association between illness and cultural beliefs and self-management behaviours in that population. Results: The quantitative study will acquire demographic information and the basic knowledge about diabetes, illness beliefs, family and social support and self-management activities in the middle-aged population of Pakistan. Conclusion: This study will help to improve the diabetes self-management approach in middle-aged population in rural area of Pakistan and will help to better understand the contextual determinants of behaviours for future development of culturally appropriate interventions to modify the illness beliefs and support of self-management activities.


We report the physical origins of the on-resonant and off-resonant two-photon absorption (TPA) in an open-ladder-type atomic system of the 5S1/2(F=1)-5P3/2(F′=0,1,2)-5D5/2(F′′=1,2,3) transitions in Rb87 atoms. When the on-resonant TPA, including electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), was transformed into the off-resonant TPA according to the coupling laser frequency detuning, we clarified the dynamics of the atomic coherences by decomposing into the two-photon coherence (TC) and the crossover coherence (CC) terms mixed between one-photon coherence (OC) and TC terms. The physical origins of the two TPAs were completely different; the cause of the on-resonant TPA was the CC term, and that of the off-resonant TPA was the TC term.


OBJECTIVE to determine an association between the preoperative clinical status and the result of bile and gallbladder wall cultures. MATERIAL AND METHODS 28 variables regarding history, physical examination and labatorial assessment in 38 patients with acute calculosis cholecystitis submitted to urgency surgery were prospectively studied during a 19-month period, between November 1995 and May 1997. Cultures for aerobic and anaerobic agents from both the gallbladder wall and the bile were performed, in three different culture media (BACTEC 9240, BHI and HEMOBAC). RESULTS bacteria were isolated in at least one culture medium, in 68.2% of the patients. At univariate analysis, five preoperative factors were identified as predictors of bactibilia: over 55 years of age, a greater than 0.4 degrees C difference in the axillary-rectal temperature, a greater than 12.000 cels/m3 blood leukocyte count, a greater than 75% neutrophil percentage and a greater than 4% rod neutrophil percentage. Owing to the small sample size, statistical significance of the series could not be noted by logistic regression, although a trend to preoperative determination could be observed in 98% of the subjects with positive culture, by means of the model based on age and percentage of rod neutrophil. By analyzing predictive factors jointly, it was noted that patients with more than one predictive factor have a significantly greater possibility to yielding positive culture when compared to those with up to one predictive factor for bactibilia. CONCLUSIONS We concluded that, in patients with acute calculosis cholecystitis, bactibilia may be predicted yet at the preoperative period, by using simple and easily obtained data.


This thesis is concerned with inter-vehicle communications supporting the deployment of future safety-related applications. Through use case analysis of the specific communica- tions requirements of safety related and traffic efficiency applications, a data dissemination framework is proposed that is able to meet the various message delivery requirements. More specifically, this thesis focuses on the subset of the proposed framework, which provides geocasting, i.e. addressing a geographical area on the road network, and local zone connectivity, providing neighbour awareness, for safety related applications. The enabling communications technology for inter-vehicle communications based on IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network devices and the associated lack of reliability it presents for the distribution of safety messages in broadcast mode, form the main topic of this thesis. A dissemination scheme for safety related inter-vehicular communication applica- tions, using realistic vehicular traffic patterns, is proposed, implemented and evaluated to demonstrate mechanisms for efficient, reliable and timely delivery of safety messages over an unreliable channel access scheme. The original contribution of this thesis is to propose a novel data dissemination protocol for vehicular environments, capable of simultaneously achieving significant economy of messaging, whilst maintaining near 100% reliable message delivery in a timely manner for a wide variety of highway traffic flow scenarios, ranging from sparsely, fragmented networks to dense, congested road networks. This is achieved through increased protocol complexity in inferring and tracking each vehicular node's local environment, coupled with implementing adaptation to both local data traffic intensity and vehicular density. Adaptivity is achieved through creating and employing an empirical channel access delay model and embedding the stochastic delay distribution in decisions made at the network layer; this method of adaptivity is novel in itself. Moreover, unnecessary retransmissions arising from the inherent uncertainty of the wireless medium are suppressed through a novel three-step mechanism.


The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can become activated when other membrane receptors bind to their cognate ligands. For example, when platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) binds to its receptor (PDGFR), the EGFR becomes phosphorylated on tyrosine. Saito et al. report that this transactivation may occur at the plasma membrane of vascular smooth muscle cell. A complex containing endogenous EGFR and PDGFR subunits was detected, even in the absence of PDGF treatment. Stimulation of cells with PDGF caused simultaneous activation of both receptor types, but did not increase heterodimer formation. PDGFR kinase activity was not required for EGFR transactivation. Because inhibition of Src kinase activity blocked heterodimer formation, the authors propose that Src phosphorylates a protein in the receptor complex that is critical for maintaining heterodimer association. The proposed model suggests that PDGF induces homodimerization of the PDGFR, but that associated EGFRs may not necessarily homodimerize. Y. Saito, J. Haendeler, Y. Hojo, K. Yamamoto, B.C. Berk, Receptor heterodimerization: Essential mechanism for platelet-derived growth factor-induced epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation. Mol. Cell Biol. 21, 6387-6394 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Aluminium Matrix Composites are extensively used due to their desirable properties like low weight, low cost, high strength to weight ratio, good corrosion resistance, good thermal conductivity and high stiffness. Their applications are diversified in production, thermal, marine and automobile industries. Aluminium is extensively used in ships, aircrafts, cars, electrical wires and household utensils because it is abundant in nature. In the present study, Aluminium alloy Al6061 Hybrid Composites reinforced with Boron carbide and Coconut shell ash are fabricated to replace the individual Aluminium alloy Al6061. For that various tests to determine properties such as strength, hardness, wear and corrosion resistance are conducted on composite samples which make them fit to be used in aircraft window frames by reviewing various literatures. In addition to above, machinability analysis is performed on all the specimens and their surface roughness is measured. Based on the results obtained, we can come to a conclusion that the aluminium composite has superior properties than individual Al6061 alloy.


The goal of this dissertation research is to determine novel regulatory mechanisms of neurotrophin signaling mediated by protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). PP2A is a ubiquitous Ser/Thr phosphatase that removes phosphates from proteins to switch their activity on or off. The substrate specificity and subcellular localization of PP2A is determined by almost 20 regulatory subunits that associate with a core dimer built of catalytic and scaffold subunits. Since there are more than 48 possible heterotrimers, studying the function of PP2A poses many challenges. Therefore we have devised a strategy, using scaffold subunit knockdown and mutant replacement, to discern the function of specific families of regulatory subunits. With this approach, I have identified specific PP2A holoenzymes that modulate nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling pathways by positively regulating TrkA receptor tyrosine kinase activity. Many studies have shown that NGF is required for the survival and differentiation of sensory and sympathetic neurons. Additionally, NGF is implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease as well as neuropathic pain. NGF elicits its biological effect through sustained activity of the TrkA receptor and stimulated signaling cascades, including the MAP kinase pathway. Although PP2A has been shown to modulate the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway both positively and negatively at multiple levels, work described herein introduces yet another level of regulation. Specifically, I have shown that PP2A/B' holoenzymes complex with the TrkA neurotrophin receptor to potentiate receptor tyrosine kinase activity, downstream effector kinase activation, neurite outgrowth, and neuronal differentiation. On the other hand, extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK), a terminal effector in the MAP kinase pathway was shown to phosphorylate a residue in the juxtamembrane region of TrkA and impose feedback inhibition of receptor activity. Collectively, these data suggest a model in which PP2A and ERK oppose each other in the regulation of TrkA


Summary TBCCD1 is an enigmatic member of the tubulin-binding cofactor C (TBCC) family of proteins required for mother–daughter centriole linkage in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and nucleus–centrosome–Golgi linkage in mammalian cells. Loss of these linkages has severe morphogenetic consequences, but the mechanism(s) through which TBCCD1 contributes to cell organisation is unknown. In the African sleeping sickness parasite Trypanosoma brucei a microtubule-dominant cytoskeleton dictates cell shape, influencing strongly the positioning and inheritance patterns of key intracellular organelles. Here, we show the trypanosome orthologue of TBCCD1 is found at multiple locations: centrioles, the centriole-associated Golgi 'bi-lobe', and the anterior end of the cell body. Loss of Trypanosoma brucei TBCCD1 results in disorganisation of the structurally complex bi-lobe architecture and loss of centriole linkage to the single unit-copy mitochondrial genome (or kinetoplast) of the parasite. We therefore identify TBCCD1 as an essential protein associated with at least two filament-based structures in the trypanosome cytoskeleton. The last common ancestor of trypanosomes, animals and green algae was arguably the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes. On the basis of our observations, and interpretation of published data, we argue for an unexpected co-option of the TBCC domain for an essential non-tubulin-related function at an early point during evolution of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton.


Several urinary tract disorders, such as hypospadias or bladder cancer, require reconstructive surgery to preserve the patient's quality of life and at times even save their life. The current available surgical treatments, involving grafts from other tissue origin, can, however, lead to long-term complications in up to 50% of these patients. New alternatives are therefore considered among which tissue-engineered grafts are thought to be the most promising approach. Tissue-engineered grafts have so far been shown to require the presence of cells, which involves different steps prior to implantation including cell isolation and expansion, seeding on a matrix, and further culture. These steps are time-consuming, costly, and raise safety concerns regarding the in vitro cultured cells. In this thesis, we sought to further improve some tissue-engineered grafts with approaches that would either reduce or replace the cell culture steps. One of these approaches relied on the plastic compression of collagen gels. Ready cell-seeded plastic compressed collagen gels can be rapidly formed within minutes and have much better mechanical properties than regular collagen gels that are known to be fragile. In order to have a stronger gel we adapted the plastic compression concept and developed high-density collagen gels tubes (hdCGTs) for urinary tract tissue-engineering. We demonstrated that they were suitable for smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation and that their mechanical response to dilation and extension were compatible with ureter and urethra physiologic values. Hence, these ready-seeded hdCGTS represent promising tissue-engineered constructs that can shorten the production time of cell-seeded grafts for urinary tract regeneration. We further tested our hdCGTs in a rabbit model to investigate their regenerative capacity in vivo. Autologous rabbit SMCs were isolated from a bladder biopsy to form cellular constructs, while acellular constructs were used as control. Both types of constructs were sealed with fibrin glue at the site of a newly created urethral defect. Rabbits were evaluated by retrograde urethrography after 1 or 3 months. Despite a high rate of fistula and a relative narrowing of graft calibers, all rabbits survived and showed micturition within 1-3 days following surgery. SMC-seeded grafts showed, however, a better outcome at 3 months in accordance to literature. Since plastic compressed collagen gels are still too weak to be sutured, we decided to strengthen them by combining them with a polymer mesh. We investigated flat collagen-poly(lactic acid-co-e-caprolactone) (PLAC) hybrid scaffolds seeded with human bladder cells for their behaviour in the subcutaneous space of nude mice. Host cell infiltration, scaffold degradation, and the presence of the seeded bladder cells were analyzed at different time points on a total period of 6 months. The hybrids showed a lower inflammatory reaction in vivo than PLAC meshes alone, and first signs of polymer degradation were visible at six months. The collagen-PLAC hybrids have potential for urinary tract tissue regeneration as they show efficient cell seeding and proliferation as well as proper mechanical properties for surgical handling. Another approach towards improving tissue-engineered grafts was to use off-the-shelf smart biomatrices to replace the cell culture steps. This involved the development of cell-controlled release of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1) in an acellular collagen matrix. IGF1 induces SMC migration, proliferation, and differentiation, and can hence promote the invasion and population of the acellular matrix by cells in the surrounding tissue once implanted in vivo. In this approach, we designed and produced a recombinant collagen-binding IGF1. The IGF1 domain would then be released after cleavage from an affinity binding domain to collagen under the action of cell-secreted matrix metallo-proteases (MMP). Although our recombinant IGF1 showed the expected bioactivity on SMCs and sensitivity to MMP-2, its affinity for type I collagen (Col-I) could not be demonstrated. We further investigated covalent binding alternatives involving transglutaminase (TG) crosslinking or IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-mediated binding to collagen. TG crosslinking did not allow for sufficient amount of a TG-IGF, a recombinant form of IGF1 presenting a substrate sequence for plasma TG, to be bound to Col-I. The entrapment of IGFBP5 within plastic compressed collagen gels however suggests that collagen compression and collagen-binding means could be combined in order to allow for a more controlled-release profile of IGF1 from collagen gels. Lastly, we sought to develop a new bioengineered solution for bladder sphincter disorders, such as urinary incontinence or vesico-ureteral reflux. These disorders are treated with open surgeries susceptible of complications and extended hospital stay. Endoscopic treatment by injection of bulking agents is thus usually preferred, although they often necessitate additional interventions for a sustained effect. With the idea to suppress this need for additional intervention and thus to limit discomfort for patients as well as costs, we sought for a permanent bulking agent. We therefore developed an injectable poly(acrylonitrile) hydrogel paste injected into the submucosal space of pig bladders. The implants were harvested at days 7, 14, 21, 28, 84, and 168 and analyzed morphologically and by histology. The persistence of the implants was demonstrated, indicating that this injectable bulking agent could potentially be used as biomaterial for the treatment of urinary incontinence and vesico-ureteral reflux.


This paper examines the relationships between mobile communication standards and product development strategy from a product architecture perspective. A product architecture model is useful in analysing research issues related to mobile phone product development. Samsung Electronics (SE)'s unique organisational capabilities are essential components of its product architecture strategy.

This case study suggests several practical implications. First, implementing an effective product strategy requires that organisations are capable of managing different standards and platforms. Organisational networking capabilities enable rapid development and deployment of increasing product volume and variety in a changing global economy. Secondly, efforts to increase market positions within IT industries (the mobile industry in particular) have resulted in the adoption of global standards as an essential priority and as a competitive product positioning strategy.

This requires timely implementation of strategic change initiatives (e.g., changes in technology standards). Third, managing product architecture is a strategic process that seeks a necessary balance between: 1
modularity demands for greater market access through rapid network production systems

2
integrality requirements for greater competitiveness through keeping technological core capabilities in-house.

The analysis conducted in this article may be extended to software specialisation processes for advanced as well as emerging markets.


Background Elevated IL-10 has been shown to be associated with severe dengue infection (DI). We proceeded to investigate the role of IL-10 in the pathogenesis of acute DI. Materials and methods Ex vivo and cultured IFNγ ELISpot assays for dengue virus (DENV) NS3 protein and non dengue viral proteins were carried out in 26 patients with acute DI (16 with dengue haemorrhagic fever) and 12 healthy dengue seropositive individuals from Sri Lanka. DENV serotype specific (SS) responses were determined by using a panel of SS peptides. Results Serum IL-10 level were significantly higher (p = 0.02) in those who did not have in vitro responses to DENV-SS peptides (mean 144.2 pg/ml) when compared to those who responded (mean 75.7 pg/ml). DENV-NS3 specific ex vivo IFNγ ELISpot responses were also significantly lower (p = 0.0001) in those who did not respond to DENV-SS peptides (mean 42 SFU/million PBMCs) when compared to those who responded to DENV-SS peptides (mean 1024 SFU/million PBMCs). Serum IL-10 levels correlated significantly (p = 0.03) and inversely (Spearmans R = −0.45) with ex vivo DENV-NS3 specific responses but not with ex vivo non DENV specific responses (Spearmans R = −014, p = 0.52). Blockage of IL-10 in vitro significantly increased (p = 0.04) the ex vivo IFNγ ELISpot DENV-NS3 specific responses but had no effect on responses to non DENV proteins. Conclusion IL-10 appears to contribute to the pathogenesis of acute dengue infections by inhibiting DENV-specific T cell responses, which can be restored by blocking IL-10.


mood regulation has been shown to be among of the most important reasons for musical engagement, but there has been a lack of a concise measurement instrument for this behavior. The current study focused on developing and testing the Brief Music in Mood Regulation scale (B-MMR), a 21-item self-report instrument for assessing the use of seven different music-related mood-regulation strategies. Two survey studies ( N = 1515 and N = 526) were conducted to first develop and then test and validate the instrument. The newly constructed scale showed adequate internal consistency reliabilities and correlated expectedly with measures of general emotion regulation and musical engagement. As a concise and theoretically coherent measure, the B-MMR may prove to be highly applicable for future surveys and comparative studies.


OBJECTIVE--To determine the relevant dose of bendrofluazide for treating mild to moderate hypertension. DESIGN--Double blind parallel group trial of patients who were given placebo for six weeks and then randomly allocated to various doses of bendrofluazide (1.25, 2.5, 5, or 10 mg daily) or placebo for 12 weeks. SETTING--General practices in Zealand, Denmark. PATIENTS--257 Patients with newly diagnosed or previously treated hypertension, aged 25-70, who had a mean diastolic blood pressure of 100-120 mm Hg after receiving placebo for six weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Reduction in diastolic blood pressure and changes in biochemical variables (potassium, urate, glucose, fructosamine, total cholesterol, apolipoprotein A I, apolipoprotein B, and triglyceride concentrations). RESULTS--All doses of bendrofluazide significantly reduced diastolic blood pressure to the same degree (10-11 mm Hg). Clear relations between dose and effect were shown for potassium, urate, glucose, total cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B concentrations. The 1.25 mg dose increased only urate concentrations, whereas the 10 mg dose affected all the above biochemical variables. CONCLUSION--The relevant range of doses of bendrofluazide to treat mild to moderate hypertension is 1.25-2.5 mg a day. Higher doses caused more pronounced adverse biochemical effects including adverse lipid effects. Previous trials with bendrofluazide have used too high doses.


The public outpouring of support for newly elected President John F. Kennedy in 1960 was only exceeded in scope and magnitude by the manifestations of grief and mourning after his assassination in 1963. These responses had an unusually strong visual component: likenesses of the president were framed in shop windows, pinned to living room walls, and plastered in public spaces across the nation. Fifty years after Kennedy's death, this book observes the public's reaction to the president's election and assassination, featuring many photographs published here for the first time. In his travels throughout America during this period, Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) encountered these responses and photographed what he witnessed. From Washington, D.C., to Buffalo to Minneapolis to Los Angeles, Friedlander has captured a moment in American history that galvanized the nation and continues to resonate today.


Labor monitoring is crucial in modern health care, as it can be used to detect (and help avoid) significant problems with the fetus. In this article we focus on detecting hypoxia (or oxygen deprivation), a very serious condition that can arise from different pathologies and can lead to life-long disability and death. We present a novel approach to hypoxia detection based on recordings of the uterine pressure and fetal heart rate, which are obtained using standard labor monitoring devices. The key idea is to learn models of the fetal response to signals from its environment. Then, we use the parameters of these models as attributes in a binary classification problem. A running count of pathological classifications over several time periods is taken to provide the current label for the fetus. We use a unique database of real clinical recordings, both from normal and pathological cases. Our approach classifies correctly more than half the pathological cases, 1.5 hours before delivery. These are cases that were missed by clinicians; early detection of this type would have allowed the physician to perform a Caesarean section, possibly avoiding the negative outcome.


An approach for synthesizing the results of ecological research pertinent to land management is the analysis of the historic range of variability (HRV) for key ecosystem variables that are affected by management activities. This report provides an HRV analysis for the upland vegetation of the Medicine Bow National Forest in southeastern Wyoming. The variables include live tree density, dead tree (snag) density, canopy cover, abundance of coarse woody debris, species diversity, fire return intervals, the abundance of various diseases, the proportion of the landscape in different land cover types, and the degree of patchiness in the landscape. The variables were examined at the stand and landscape scales, using information available in the literature and USFS databases. High-elevation landscapes were considered separately from low-elevation landscapes. Much of the report pertains to forests dominated by lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, and Engelmann spruce at high elevations, and by ponderosa pine and aspen at lower elevations. We defined the HRV reference period for the MBNF as approximately 1600 to 1860.


This paper applies the dynamic model reduction method to obtain a reduced order model of an experimental tall building which has twenty floors and is 2.5m high. The experimental model is designed to imitate a real tall building with an active mass damper, and is used to study the available modelling and active control strategies for real tall buildings. Based on the dynamic model reduction method, a reduced order model is used within a Hinfin controller design to suppress excessive vibrations induced by seismic excitation. The reduced order model effectively describes only those frequency characteristics from the full order model that are of interest. The controller design based on the low order model can be directly applied to the full order model without introducing the control and observer spillover problems. Numerical simulations confirm that the low order model is acceptable at describing the relevant dynamic characteristics of the full order model and that it can be used effectively to mitigate the vibration caused by seismic disturbances


The aim of the present study was to test the four commonly used models to predict the dates of flowering of temperatezone trees, the spring warming, sequential, parallel and alternating models. Previous studies concerning the performance of these models have shown that they were unable to make accurate predictions based on external data. One of the reasons for such inaccuracy may be wrong estimations of the parameters of each model due to the non-convergence of the optimization algorithm towards their maximum likelihood. We proposed to fit these four models using a simulated annealing method which is known to avoid local extrema of any kind of function, and thus is particularly well adapted to fit budburst models, as their likelihood function presents many local maxima. We tested this method using a phenological dataset deduced from aeropalynological data. Annual pollen spectra were used to estimate the dates of flowering of the populations around the sampling station. The results show that simulated annealing provides a better fit than traditional methods. Despite this improvement, classical models still failed to predict external data. We expect the simulated annealing method to allow reliable comparisons among models, leading to a selection of biologically relevant ones.


This study aims to obtain empirical evidence about the influence of physical distribution performance and quality of service to the company's image as well as the implications for customer loyalty in the PT Arri Distribusindo Bandung. The results are expected contribute to the development of management science and management especially marketing and consumer behavior. For those of similar companies and practitioners, ir is hoped the results of this study can provide useful information about the importance of physical distribution performance and quality of services, especially on the image of the company, which in num can increase customer loyalty as an evaluation tool. The study was conducted at PT Atri Distribusinda Bandung. Methods of research using survey methods with quantitative research approaches. While the ype of research the form Descriptive Explanation Verificative Research and Research with a time horizon in the form of cross-sectional data that reflects the picture of a state at a given moment. To test the hypothesis of statistical methods of research used path amalysis (path analysis).The test results of research found a significant relationship between the performance of physical distribution service qualin, as well as from the results of the test reveal significant influence of the physical distribution performance and quality of service to the company's image either partially or simultaneously, was also found significant relationship between the performance of the distribution plysical and quality of services to the corporate image that has implications for customer loyalty . Keywords: Performance of physical distribution, service quality, corporate image and customer loyalty


The tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) and the Fas receptor recruit complexes formed by the interactions between RIP kinase, TRADD, FADD and RAIDD - adaptor proteins that contain death domains - which in turn recruit other proteins to initiate signaling [1][2][3][4][5]. To identify proteins associated with the TNF signaling pathway, we performed a yeast two-hybrid interaction screen using RIP as bait. We isolated a kinase, RIP3, which shares homology with the kinase domain of RIP and RIP2 (also known as Rick or CARDIAK). RIP3 could be co-immunoprecipitated with RIP, TRAF2 and TNFR1 in mammalian cells. The carboxy-terminal domain of RIP3, like that of RIP, could activate the transcription factor NFkappaB and induce apoptosis when expressed in mammalian cells. Interestingly, this region shares no significant sequence homology to the death domain of RIP, the caspase-recruiting domain (CARD) of RIP2 [6][7][8] or any other apoptosis-inducing domain. As with RIP and RIP2, the kinase domain of RIP3 was not required for either NFkappaB activation or apoptosis induction. Overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant of RIP3 strongly inhibited the caspase activation but not the NFkappaB activation induced by TNFalpha. Therefore, RIP3 appears to function as an intermediary in TNFalpha-induced apoptosis.


In view of the adoption and future reception of the Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (ARIO) on second reading, this contribution seeks to offer some reflections on the 'copy-paste narrative' that has characterized the process of drafting the ARIO. On the basis of a brief introduction to the concept of analogies in international law (Section 1), it is explained that the use of analogies is not to be equated with a mechanical exercise of copy-pasting legal rules; rather, it constitutes a method of legal reasoning based on a principled assessment of relevant similarities and differences. By comparing both sets of Articles drafted by the ILC, it will be demonstrated that the ARIO actually do not follow the example of the ASR in many key provisions. Interestingly, much of the critique of the ARIO has been directed against these dissimilar provisions, especially when they concern the relations between an international organization and its member States (Section 2). Since this critique is mainly driven by considerable uncertainty as to the determination of the responsible actor(s), it will be suggested that the ILC should have used closer analogies with the ASR in order to enhance the overall coherence of the law of international responsibility (Section 3). This is because, as argued in conclusion, the corporate complexity of international organizations and States may necessitate a unified set of Articles on International Responsibility (Section 4).


The study concerning the wave forces acting on breakwater has been conducted by numerous scientists and engineers both in field and in laboratory,, While few studies have been carried out on the wave forces acting on sea wall which is located inside the surf zone. In this paper are summarized the main results of the experimental studies conducted at the University of Tokyo, Japan, in relation to the subject on the wave forces against a vertical or inclined surface wall located shorewards from the breaking point, and also is proposed an empirical formula of wave pressure distribution on a sea wall on the basis of the experimental data. The computed results obtained by using the above formula are compared with the field data of wave pressure on a vertical wall measured at the Niigata West Coast, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and also with the experimental data of total wave forces on a vertical wall; the project of the latter is now in progress at the University of Tokyo.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of key issues in the governance of defined contribution pension schemes, with a focus on investment matters, and to recommend best practices. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on the results of an online survey of the opinions of pensions professionals and on interviews with pensions professionals. Findings - The paper finds that many employers and pension scheme trustees are reluctant to take an active role in pension scheme design and to provide support and guidance to members for fear of legal liability. Scope exists for regulators and legislators to create "safe harbour" provisions that will encourage employers and trustees to become more active in supporting members. Practical implications - The paper makes a number of suggestions for best practice in the design and governance of defined contribution pension schemes, for example, in terms of the fund choice that should be offered. Originality/value - The paper provides the first comprehensive review of investment issues for UK defined contribution pension plans.


In recent years, the species belonging to the order Lagomorpha and Rodentia are commonly used both as pets and in biomedical research, including in studies related to the digestive tract. The aim of this study was to perform a detailed anatomical description of the oral cavity of the two species. Due to their size and anatomical conformation is often difficult to make a proper examination of the oral cavity. Dissection was performed on 10 rabbits and 10 Guinea pigs of different sexes and ages. A very important and also quite confusing aspect is related to the dentition (some authors claim that the rabbits are monofyodont). Both species shows aradicular hypsodont dentition, (consisting of a short exposed crown and a long reserve crown with open root), elodont type (continuous growth throughout life). Rabbits are dyphyodont; they have deciduous and permanent sets of teeth compared to Guinea pigs that are monophyodont with a single set of permanent teeth without deciduous precursors. Both species share the same pattern of anisognathism, more pronounced in Guinea pigs, with the maxillary dental arch being wider than the mandibular dental arch. A large diastema separates the incisor and the cheek teeth in each jaw quadrant, being wider in guinea pigs compared to rabbits. Rabbits have one pair of mandibular incisors and two pairs of maxillary incisors with unpigmented enamel, two mandibular and three maxillary premolars and three molar teeth on each side in both the mandible and the maxilla. Guinea pigs have one pair of incisors, one pair of premolars and three pairs of molars on each dental arch. Contrary to rabbits, in Guinea pigs the mandibles (including premolar and molar teeth) are spaced further apart than the maxillae. The masseter muscle is well developed in both species. The temporomandibular joint in Guinea pigs does not subluxate in lateral movement, but allows a large degree of rostrocaudal movement. In rabbits the temporomandibular joint enables large lateral movement and low rostrocaudal movement. This morphological description helps both the clinicians and the researchers, being necessary for a proper understanding of the pathology of oral cavity in rabbits and Guinea pigs.


A survey in different areas of Dharchula region in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand was conducted in different seasons of the year to identify the non-conventional uses of plants. In India, there are about 68 million people belonging to 227 ethnic groups and comprising of 573 tribal communities. Out of which 4 tribes (Tharus, Buxas, Rajis and Bhotias) inhabit the Kumaun division of the state. The Bhotia tribe living in remote thick forest of the Dharchula region depends on nature for their basic needs of life. The 8 major Bhotia groups in the state are i.e. Johari, Juthora, Darmi, Chudans, Byansi, Marccha, Tolcha and Jad. The tribal population of Bhotia community is 8.13 % and inhabited in about 18.70 % of area of the country. The present study was carried out to document the precious indigenous traditional knowledge about the ethno-medicinal uses and properties of plants which are under Red Data List of IUCN. Ethno-medicinal information on 17 plant species belonging 15 families, used in various ailments by the inhabitants of the community was recorded. The attempt is also made to describe the habitat, customs and economical aspects of Bhotia tribes.


The work describes modelling of erosion of the IEA 15 MW Reference Wind Turbine. Five-year worth of historical time series including wind speed, rain intensity and price of energy was used in the modelling. The work included erosion-safe operation of the turbine where the tip speed was limited during rain events to prevent erosion. The tip-speed limit was defined as a function of rain intensity and price of energy, the distribution of which was subject to an optimization. The objective for the optimization was to maximize the profit. The factors taken into account in the modelling and optimization were: the loss in power curve due to erosion, and the cost of repair and associated downtime. The results indicated that for this particular turbine it would be sufficient to define the tip-speed limit as a function of rain intensity alone. The model showed that 88% of the overall profit loss due to erosion could be saved by running the turbine in the erosion-safe operation. Although some inaccuracy may be associated with the modelling, the results strongly indicate that a significant amount of money could be saved by utilizing the erosion-safe operation on offshore turbines.


When John Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution during the American Revolution, he included a provision allowing for alimony awards in divorce cases. Thus Massachusetts has recognized awards of spousal support longer than any other state. From a national perspective, the evolution of alimony law began to undergo changes in the last half of the twentieth century in many states, including time limits on the obligation, use of rehabilitative orders, and greater flexibility to modify. The introduction of equitable property division in divorce actions in the last decades of the twentieth century throughout the United States helped to reduce the need for alimony in many cases. Changes in societal habits, including the growing ability of women to become self-supporting, played a role in diminishing expectations of spousal support over recent decades. In the meantime, efforts were being made to develop models for alimony legislation for states to consider, but few had any national impact. Certainly, these influences played a role in Massachusetts, just as they did in other states. But in practice, the idea of maintaining a lifetime lien on the income of alimony obligors also persisted among many lawyers and judges. The refusal of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 2010 to create a presumption in favor of an obligor's request to be relieved of his alimony obligation to his long-divorced wife when he reached the age of full retirement, as defined by the Social Security Act, helped to set off a discussion in the bar and among the public about whether alimony needed rethinking. It led to an effort to reform the statutory standards governing alimony, which eventually led all the major bar associations in the state, as well as members of both houses of the state legislature and the governor, to work together to produce a modern law on spousal support. This article reviews the substance of this new law, referred to as the Alimony Reform Act of 2011, and some of its implications.


This study investigates the strategies and assumptions that college students entering an introductory physical geology laboratory use to interpret topographic maps, and follows the progress of the students during the laboratory to analyze changes in those strategies and assumptions. To elicit students' strategies and assumptions, we created and refined a topographic visualization test that was administered before and after instruction to 26 students during the first semester of the study and to 92 students during the second semester. To more deeply understand how students think about and conceptualize topographic maps, we focused on eight individual students who were interviewed about their pretest and posttest answers as well as videotaped during three laboratory sessions. We found that even students who claim never to have worked with topographic maps often perform impressively on their pretests by making useful assumptions about symbolic topographic information. Some students, however, begin with less productive assumptions that may be unfamiliar to some instructors (e.g., thinking that the spacing of contour lines indicates elevation instead of slope). Initial success should not be misinterpreted, however, as an integrated understanding of topographic maps. Only in posttest interviews do most students express explanations integrating multiple normative assumptions. In addition to highlighting the strategies and assumptions that college students use to interpret topographic maps, we outline the implications of these findings for the design of learning objectives, curricular activities, and assessments for topographic lessons in introductory college geology courses and the training of future geoscientists.


This paper describes an XML-based language for describing the functions of appliances, such as televisions, VCRs, copiers, microwave ovens, and even manufacturing equipment. Our description language is designed to be concise, easy to use, and contain no presentation information. It has been used to describe more than twenty diverse appliances. The functional descriptions written in our language are used to automatically generate remote control interfaces for appliances. We have used these descriptions to generate both graphical and speech interfaces on handheld computers, mobile phones, and desktop computers.


Simple Authentication Technique for Session Management Using Odd and Even Pair of Random Text and Color Password in Cloud Computing
While some legal challenges in cyberspace have started to become clearer, the use of cloud computing and hosted applications adds a new dimension of legal risk. Compliance, privacy, and security problems are compounded by the use of remote, distributed services operated by third parties. Businesses employing these new technologies must look a new at their online risk, and learn how to assess and manage it. Authentication is the first line of defense against compromising confidentiality and integrity. Though traditional login/password based schemes are easy to implement, they have been subjected to several attacks. Textual-based password authentication scheme tends to be more vulnerable to attacks such as shoulder surfing and hidden camera. To overcome the vulnerabilities of traditional methods, visual or graphical password schemes have been developed as possible alternative solutions to text-based password schemes. Because simply adopting graphical password authentication also has some drawbacks, schemes using graphic and text have been developed. In this paper, we propose a hybrid password authentication scheme based on equal number of Random color and text. It uses color and text on the grid as the origin passwords and allows users to login with text passwords via traditional input devices. The method provides strong resistant to hidden-camera and shoulder-surfing. Moreover, the scheme has high scalability and flexibility to enhance the authentication process security. The analysis of the security level of this approach is also discussed.


Abstract Scavenging of carcasses may bias estimates of mortality following the use of pesticides. To assess carcass survival, we monitored bird carcasses in crop stubble, grassland, roadside, and wooded habitats in east-central South Dakota in early spring. Survival rates differed among habitat types in 1997 but not in 1998. Survival rates did not differ among species of carcass in 1997 or 1998. Within 5 d, 66% of carcasses had been scavenged in both 1997 and 1998. To assess potential hazards of secondary poisoning, we used infrared-triggered camera systems to identify predators and scavengers of live birds and bird carcasses. Mammals (n = 164), particularly striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) (n = 105), were the most commonly photographed predators and scavengers. The number of avian predators and scavengers photographed (n = 39) was relatively low. Because scavenger activity can be high, we recommend that searches for carcasses should be conducted within 24 h of pesticide application to ensure accurate estimates of mortality.


Transcription factors (TFs) of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family, so called 'proneural proteins', are key regulators of neuron generation in mammals. During embryonic development, Ascl1/Mash1 and Neurogenin2, the two main proneural factors in the mammalian CNS, activate programmes of neuronal differentiation that control the generation of inhibitory and excitatory neuronal populations in the arising forebrain. The cellular functions of these TFs during neurogenesis are well understood. Yet, the identity and overlap of their targets, and how these are regulated, has not been addressed in depth.
Here, we introduce an in vitro model that allows studying neurogenesis downstream of the proneural TF Mash1/Ascl1 and Neurogenin2 in a temporally specific manner. Ascl1/Mash1 and Neurogenin2, fused to the modified ligand-binding domain of the estrogen receptor (ERT2), were expressed in a neural stem cell line, NS5. In the presence of the ERT2-ligand, 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4-0HT), these inducible proneural-fusion constructs are able to bind their targets and induce gene expression. A retroviral transgene delivery system with a selection marker allowed us to generate large, homogenous cultures of NS cells that can be induced to undergo Ascl1/Mash1 and Ngn2- specific neuronal differentiation in a synchronous manner.
A combination of time-course expression analysis after proneural Gain-of-Function (GoF) and localization analysis of genomic proneural binding sites using genome-wide approaches allowed, firstly, to describe and compare the gene expression programme induced by Ascl1/Mash1 and Neurogenin2 in NS5 cells in a time-specific manner, and secondly, to catalogue Ascl1/Mash1 and Ngn2 target genes along with their expression kinetics as well as their proneural-binding regulatory regions on the chromatin.
An analysis of these data showed that both Ascl1/Mash1 and Neurogenin2 regulate targets with different expression kinetics i.e. early as well as late expressed genes, and up- as well as down- regulated genes. Further analyses regarding putative mechanisms of this different temporal expression patterns in Ascl1/Mash1 target genes specifically identified enriched DNA motifs and putative co-regulator binding sites around regulatory regions that relate to different expression kinetics of the corresponding genes. Additionally, binding of Mash1 close to the transcription start site, and clustering of Mash1-binding sites are related to an early onset of Mash1 target gene expression. NS5 is a neural stem cell line that expresses ventral markers. Within this biological context' this study found that Ascl1/Mash1 regulates more direct target genes than Ngn2. Nevertheless' this study identifies common molecular pathways of Ascl1/Mash1 and Neurogenin2, as well as their molecular mediators, and gives first insights into their mode of regulation. Thereby, it defines a 'core neurogenesis' programme' which includes pathways involved in neuronal migration (Lis1- and Reelin pathways), patterning (Wnt/TFG-beta pathways) or neural progenitor as well as astrogenic signaling pathways that are shut down or repressed during neurogenesis (EGF-pathway, SMAD-signalling). Further, this study identified specific programmes for Ascl1/Mash1 and Ngn2, such as a role of Ascl1/Mash1 in progenitor cell cycle regulation.
Thus' this work provides a starting point to elucidate of the molecular underpinnings of the cellular common and distinct functions of Ascl1/Mash1 and Neurogenin2 during neurogenesis. It further represents a first step towards the identification of the molecular regulatory logic of the lineage determining factors proneural factors in the CNS.


Another micropeptide flexes its muscle Genome annotation is a complex but imperfect art. Attesting to its limitations is the growing evidence that certain transcripts annotated as long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in fact code for small peptides with biologically important functions. One such lncRNA-derived micropeptide in mammals is myoregulin, which reduces muscle performance by inhibiting the activity of a key calcium pump. Nelson et al. describe the opposite activity in a second lncRNA-derived micropeptide in mammalian muscle, called DWORF (see the Perspective by Payre and Desplan). This peptide enhances muscle performance by activating the same calcium pump. DWORF may prove to be useful in improving the cardiac muscle function of mammals with heart disease. Science, this issue p. 271; see also p. 226 A long noncoding RNA encodes a small peptide that activates a calcium pump regulating muscle contraction. [Also see Perspective by Payre and Desplan] Muscle contraction depends on release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and reuptake by the Ca2+adenosine triphosphatase SERCA. We discovered a putative muscle-specific long noncoding RNA that encodes a peptide of 34 amino acids and that we named dwarf open reading frame (DWORF). DWORF localizes to the SR membrane, where it enhances SERCA activity by displacing the SERCA inhibitors, phospholamban, sarcolipin, and myoregulin. In mice, overexpression of DWORF in cardiomyocytes increases peak Ca2+ transient amplitude and SR Ca2+ load while reducing the time constant of cytosolic Ca2+ decay during each cycle of contraction-relaxation. Conversely, slow skeletal muscle lacking DWORF exhibits delayed Ca2+ clearance and relaxation and reduced SERCA activity. DWORF is the only endogenous peptide known to activate the SERCA pump by physical interaction and provides a means for enhancing muscle contractility.


At the present, the geochemical influence of the Galapagos hotspot (offshore South America) can be seen only along the Galapagos spreading center, north of the hotspot. It is possible, however, that Galapagos plume material also reached the East Pacific Rise in the past. Detecting such influence would be of particular importance for the interpretation of geochemical data from oceanic crust at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1256, which formed ∼15 m.y. ago at the East Pacific Rise during a Miocene period of superfast spreading, and is considered to be a reference site for oceanic crust produced at fast-spreading ridges. Here we present geochemical data from Miocene basaltic crust (23–7 Ma) drilled at several Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), ODP, and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) sites that formed along the East Pacific Rise between 3°S and 7°N. Lavas formed between ca. 22.5 and ca. 11 Ma show enriched, Galapagos plume–like Pb and Nd isotope ratios (with a peak in enrichment between ≥18 and 12 Ma) compared to lavas created shortly before or after this time interval. Despite their enriched isotope composition, these samples generally show depletion in more-incompatible, relative to less-incompatible, trace elements. Derivation from an enriched Galapagos plume source that had experienced recent melt extraction before it melted further beneath the East Pacific Rise can explain the combined incompatible-trace-element depletion and isotopic enrichment of the 22.5–11 Ma lavas. The influence of plume material correlates with the interval of superfast spreading along the equatorial East Pacific Rise, suggesting a causal relationship. Enhanced ridge-plume interaction ("ridge suction") due to superfast spreading could have facilitated the flow of Galapagos plume material to the ridge. On the other hand, the arrival of Galapagos-type signatures took place immediately after formation of the Galapagos spreading center, which could have provided a pathway for hot plume material to spread into the main ridge network.


Discussions of chronic poverty emphasize the extent to which poverty endures because of the social relationships and structures within which particular social groups are embedded. In this sense chronic poverty is a socio-political relationship rather than a condition of assetless-ness. Understood as such, processes of social mobilization become central to any discussion of chronic poverty because they are vehicles through which such relationships are argued over in society and potentially changed. This article explores the ways in which social movements, as one form of such mobilization, might affect chronic poverty. Four domains are discussed: influencing the underlying dynamics of the political economy of poverty; challenging dominant meanings of poverty in society; direct effects on the assets of the poor; and engaging with the state. The inherent fragilities of social movements limit these contributions, the most important of which is to destabilize taken-for-granted, hegemonic discourses on poverty and its reduction.


Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a relatively recent imaging modality that is promising for breast cancer detection and breast screening. It combines the high intrinsic contrast of optical radiation with acoustic imaging at submillimeter spatial resolution through the photoacoustic effect of absorption and thermal expansion. However, image reconstruction from boundary measurements of the propagating wave field is still a challenging inverse problem. Here we propose a new theoretical framework, for which we coin the term eigensensing, to recover the heat absorption profile of the tissue. One of the main features of our method is that there is no explicit forward model that needs to be used within a (usually) slow iterative scheme. Instead, the eigensensing principle allow us to computationally obtain several intermediate images that are blurred by known convolution kernels which are chosen as the eigenfunctions of the spatial Laplace operator. The source image can then be reconstructed by a joint deconvolution algorithm that uses the intermediate images as input. Moreover, total variation regularization is added to make the inverse problem well-posed and to favor piecewise-smooth images.


INTRODUCTION
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant inherited disease characterized by elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Targeted Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a new opportunity to expand the existing pathogenic variants (PVs) spectrum associated to FH. Our aim was to report a diagnostic NGS-based approach to detect variants associated to FH.

METHODS
We report two patients: a 48-year-old Asian woman, without known history of hypercholesterolemia and a 46-year-old Caucasian man, with childhood hypercholesterolemia.

RESULTS
An effective NGS-based pipeline, FH-Devyser kit/Amplicon Suite, beginning from sequencing to data analysis, did not identify known PVs in the LDLR, APOB, APOE, LDLRAP1, STAP1 and PCSK9 genes, but revealed two novel LDLR variants (c.1564A>T, p.Ile522Phe and c.1688C>T, p.Pro563Leu).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that an effective NGS-based pipeline led to a definitive diagnosis in two FH families, allowing to plan their therapeutic treatment. Although the functional consequence of the two LDLR variants needs to be assessed in vitro, the in silico analysis and high preservation of the two amino acid positions observed in the LDLR protein, across different animal species, suggest that both variants are deleterious.


Amy Foster has never been one of the most popular or critically acclaimed works by Joseph Conrad. Yet this early story clearly deserves attention. Initially analyzed mostly in terms of autobiographical criticism, it has recently been read through the post-colonial and feminist lenses, with emphasis on intercultural encounters or misogynistic treatment of the female character. The present article focuses on the issues of narrative point of view to discuss Conrad's text as a study in the mechanism of othering. Literally and metaphorically speaking, Amy Foster revolves around issues related to voice. Like Conrad's major works, this text foregrounds the act of narration. The tragic tale of an outcast dying in utter solitude is told by a country doctor whose credibility is in turn established and qualified by the frame narrator. Aware of the relativity of social mores and having enough sensitivity to understand the victim's alienation, the narrator links ethnocentrism to fear, lack of imagination and imprisonment in cultural narratives. Ironically, his own tale is not free of bias and reveals limits to his empathy. Thus, while it explores the simultaneously inclusionary and exclusionary nature of cultural narratives, Amy Foster also highlights the subjectivity and incompleteness of any act of perception.


The purpose of this study is to determine the role of the employer's demographic and socio-economic characteristics in his/her decision to introduce and organize sports programmes in their companies. The sample of this research consisted of more than one hundred employers employing more than thirty workers each, in the districts of Rodopi, Kozani, and Thessaloniki. A survey was conducted in which the employers were asked to provide information and statistical data about the people working in their companies, as well as their own opinion concerning the introduction of sports at work. In addition, their demographic and socio-economic characteristics were recorded. The results indicated that the employers with a higher level of education make use of sports programmes in their companies more often, compared to those with a lower level of education. Sex, age and salary of employers did not affect the frequency of sports programmes at work. The employers claim that the introduction of sports activities in their companies helped reduce the appearance of illnesses and employees' absence from work due to health reasons, and the number of accidents at work. Consequently, it contributed to the increase in production, creativity and team spirit among the employees, while raising their morale, and self-confidence. Moreover, it brought about a rise in profits and improved the image of the company offering such programmes. A research focus on the legal status, organization and establishment of sports activities at work could provide valuable information on whether health and safety measures are applied according to the provisions of the law.


We consider the remote computation of a function of two sources where one is receiver side information. Specifically, given side information Y, we wish to compute f(X, Y) based on information transmitted by X over a noise-less channel. The goal is to characterize the minimal rate at which X must transmit information to enable the computation of the function f. Recently, Orlitsky and Roche (2001) established that the conditional graph entropy of the characteristic graph of the function is a solution to this problem. Their achievability scheme does not separate "functional coding" from the well understood distributed source coding problem. In this paper, we seek a separation between the functional coding and the coding for correlation. In other words, we want to preprocess X (with respect to f), and then transmit the preprocessed data using a standard Slepian-Wolf coding scheme at the Orlitsky-Roche rate. We establish that a minimum (conditional) entropy coloring of the product of characteristic graphs is asymptotically equal to the conditional graph entropy. This can be seen as a generalization of a result of Korner (1973) which shows that the minimum entropy coloring of product graphs is asymptotically equal to the graph entropy. Thus, graph coloring provides a modular technique to achieve coding gains when the receiver is interested in decoding some function of the source.


Most oil wells eventually produce some quantity of reservoir brine (formation water) over their lifetime. Increased water production is usually indicated by a significant increase in the water to oil ratio (WOR) of the well. As the WOR of well increases, it causes costly added water handling, it reduces efficiency of the depletion mechanism, the afflicted well may be abandoned early, there can be loss of the total field overall recovery, and because reservoir brine (formation water) is corrosive its disposal becomes expensive. In this work, a simple Arrhenius type function is presented for estimation of reservoir brine (formation water) properties for temperatures above 30°C and salt contents between 5% and 25% by mass. An Arrhenius type function has been selected because it is easier than existing approaches, less complicated with fewer computations, and suitable for engineers. These expressions can then be incorporated into further calculations that require predictions of reservoir brine (formation water) properties as functions of temperature and salt content. Estimations are found to be in excellent agreement with the reliable data in the literature with average absolute deviation being around 0.09–2.6%. The tool developed in this study can be useful for the petroleum engineers to have a quick check on the reservoir brine properties at various conditions without opting for any experimental measurements. In particular, chemical and petroleum engineers would find the proposed approach to be user-friendly with transparent calculations involving no complex expressions.


1. INTRODUCTION Modern-day software applications can be characterized as assemblages of portable software components. This has led to a new approach to software development, often called Component Based Development (CBD), which facilitates software reuse (Ratchivadranand and Rothenberger, 2003). The CBD approach is gradually working its way into programming curricula (Cunningham et al, 2 003; Howe et al, 2004). Most college-level computer programming classes in information systems curricula go into a fair amount of detail in building applications that use software components. A classic example would be in most Java courses, where students learn how to use many of the Swing GUI components (http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/ swing/package-summary.html). Similarly, Microsoft's .NET API includes a broad collection of graphical components (called "controls" in the Microsoft world), for both Windows and Web applications, that are covered in programming courses using the .NET platform (http://msdn. microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229335(v=VS.90).aspx). Learning how to use these components involves instantiation, placement in forms and containers, viewing and manipulating their properties, invoking behaviors via method calls, and responding to events generated by the components. These are the skill that most students get comprehensive training and practice in during their programming coursework. It is far less common to teach students how to actually build these components, which would involve designing and implementing the very properties, behaviors, and event-generation algorithms that would be necessary to deliver to applications using the components. In other words, seeing "the other side of the coin" is a gap in the knowledge of most students graduating from a CIS curriculum. This paper presents a sequence of two programming assignments that cover both sides of the coin, the component construction and the component usage. The first involves creation of a component that implements a bar chart, utilizing arrays of numbers and strings for the bar values and labels. In this assignment, students perform graphics programming, and implement listener registration and notification algorithms. The second assignment involves use of the bar chart component in an application that performs grouped aggregate queries on a database, generates the bar chart based on this aggregation and grouping, and responds to a user's click on a particular bar in order to obtain detailed information about the corresponding group. In the following sections, I will discuss the pedagogical benefits of the component-building-and-use approach, describe the bar chart component in general, and outline the programming tasks involved in creating and using the bar chart. 2. PEDAGOGICAL BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING AND USING JAVA-BASED GRAPHICAL SOFTWARE COMPONENTS In the Java world, graphical software components are implemented as JavaBeans (Liang 2009 pp1049-1064). For example, all of the Swing GUI classes in the Java Class Library are JavaBeans. JavaBeans are useful for rapid application development (RAD), because they provide developers with ready-made modular functional units that can typically be embedded in Java applications through an Integrated Development Environment's (IDE) form-building design tools. NetBeans, Eclipse, and JBuilder are examples of Java IDE's that include form-builders enabling JavaBean drag-and-drop design features. JavaBeans are specially configured Java classes that involve the following characteristics: (1) they must be implemented as public classes; (2) they must include default constructors (i.e. constructors that take no arguments; (3) they must be serializable (i.e. implement the Serializable interface); (4) they will typically include properties involving private member variables with associated accessor and mutator methods; and (5) they will typically generate events, and therefore include associated Listener interfaces and public registration and deregistration facilities (Liang 2009, p1050). …


Background. There has been a renewed focus on leadership and governance within the South African health workforce as a key to strengthening the health system. Several studies have highlighted that managers feel poorly prepared for their role and responsibilities and argue for support and development for healthcare managers. This study describes a 'training' need assessment conducted for health managers in a rural district which has informed Stellenbosch University Rural Medical Education Partnership Initiative (SURMEPI) continuing professional development activities. Objective. To determine the capacity-building needs and preferred approaches to capacity building for health managers in a rural district. Methods. The study used a mixed method design. A survey was conducted among healthcare managers followed by structured interviews with randomly selected participants. Results were discussed at a workshop and meetings with the district management, which allowed for triangulation and verification of results. Results. Thirty-two (68%) of the 47 health managers in the district completed the questionnaires. Training needs for competencies related to: leadership; communication and knowledge management; infection prevention and control; community/public health and health systems research and strengthening were slightly higher than other areas. Facility managers were prioritised as a target group for leadership and management capacity development. The preferred learning approach was for more practice-based learning in the workplace, supported by e-learning rather than didactic classroom-based teaching. Conclusion. Innovative approaches to capacity development and work-based support in developing intrinsic management competencies for front-line managers were highlighted in this needs assessment.


The challenge for modern crime-control policies is that they must work simultaneously across multiple environments within communities that are characterized by overlapping needs, issues, and service providers. Policy responses to crime must do more than capture and punish criminals, because crime is a deeply embedded social problem, and effective crime control requires more than a traditional justice system can offer. This article explores the effect of blending the theoretical underpinnings of restorative and community justice as an indigenous product of neighborhoods. Indigenous neighborhood processes may be able to address institutional and social structure problems to improve the quality of life for area residents and restorative outcomes for victims, the community, and the offender.


Abstract. Between June 2006 and September 2009, an instrumented light aircraft measured over 400 vertical profiles of aerosol and trace gas properties over eastern and central Illinois. The primary objectives of this program were to (1) measure the in situ aerosol properties and determine their vertical and temporal variability and (2) relate these aircraft measurements to concurrent surface and satellite measurements. The primary profile location was within 15 km of the NOAA/ESRL surface aerosol monitoring station near Bondville, Illinois. Identical instruments at the surface and on the aircraft ensured that the data from both platforms would be directly comparable and permitted a determination of how representative surface aerosol properties were of the lower column. Aircraft profiles were also conducted occasionally at two other nearby locations to increase the frequency of A-Train satellite underflights for the purpose of comparing in situ and satellite-retrieved aerosol data. Measurements of aerosol properties conducted at low relative humidity over the Bondville site compare well with the analogous surface aerosol data and do not indicate any major sampling issues or that the aerosol is radically different at the surface compared with the lowest flyby altitude of ~ 240 m above ground level. Statistical analyses of the in situ vertical profile data indicate that aerosol light scattering and absorption (related to aerosol amount) decreases substantially with increasing altitude. Parameters related to the nature of the aerosol (e.g., single-scattering albedo, Angstrom exponent, etc.), however, are relatively constant throughout the mixed layer, and do not vary as much as the aerosol amount throughout the profile. While individual profiles often showed more variability, the median in situ single-scattering albedo was 0.93–0.95 for all sampled altitudes. Several parameters (e.g., submicrometer scattering fraction, hemispheric backscattering fraction, and scattering Angstrom exponent) suggest that the fraction of smaller particles in the aerosol is larger near the surface than at high altitudes. The observed dependence of scattering on size, wavelength, angular integration range, and relative humidity, together with the spectral dependence of absorption, show that the aerosol at higher altitudes is larger, less hygroscopic, and more strongly absorbing at shorter wavelengths, suggesting an increased contribution from dust or organic aerosols. The aerosol profiles show significant differences among seasons. The largest amounts of aerosol (as determined by median light extinction profile measurements) throughout most of the sampled column were observed during summer, with the lowest amounts in the winter and intermediate values in the spring and fall. The highest three profile levels (3.1, 3.7, 4.6 km), however, showed larger median extinction values in the spring, which could reflect long-range transport of dust or smoke aerosols. The aerosols in the mixed layer were darkest (i.e., lowest single-scattering albedo) in the fall, in agreement with surface measurements at Bondville and other continental sites in the US. In situ profiles of aerosol radiative forcing efficiency showed little seasonal or vertical variability. Underflights of the CALIPSO satellite show reasonable agreement in a majority of retrieved profiles between aircraft-measured extinction at 532 nm (adjusted to ambient relative humidity) and CALIPSO-retrieved extinction, and suggest that routine aircraft profiling programs can be used to better understand and validate satellite retrieval algorithms. CALIPSO tended to overestimate the aerosol extinction at this location in some boundary layer flight segments when scattered or broken clouds were present, which could be related to problems with CALIPSO cloud screening methods. The in situ aircraft-collected aerosol data suggest extinction thresholds for the likelihood of aerosol layers being detected by the CALIOP lidar. In this study, aerosol layers with light extinction (532 nm) values > 50 Mm −1 were detected by CALIPSO ~ 95% of the time, while aerosol layers with extinction values lower than 10 Mm −1 had a detection efficiency of −1 . These statistical data offer guidance as to the likelihood of CALIPSO's ability to retrieve aerosol extinction at various locations around the globe.


Various hygiene products, notably incontinence pads, bring nonwoven "topsheet" fabrics into contact
with individuals' skin. This contact can damage the skin in various ways, including abrading it
by friction, a mechanism enhanced by the presence of moisture. In recent years skin-nonwoven friction
has been the subject of significant experimental study in the Continence and Skin Technology
Group, UCL, in the course of which methods have been developed which can detect differences
in friction between a chosen nonwoven and equivalent skin sites on different individuals under
fixed conditions. The reasons for these differences are unknown; their elucidation is one focus of
this work. The other is to establish the influence of coarse geometry on the dynamics of a tense
nonwoven sheet sliding over a substrate and interacting with it by friction.
The first part of this work ("microfriction") is primarily experimental in nature, and involves two
separate experiments. The first involves using a microscope with a shallow depth of field to determine
the length of nonwoven fibre in contact with a facing surface as a function of pressure; the
second consists of measuring friction between chosen nonwovens and a skin surrogate at a variety of
pressures and speeds whilst simultaneously observing the behaviour of the interface down a microscope.
Both techniques were extensively validated, and the data from the two experiments were then
compared. It had originally been intended to conduct the friction experiment on skin (the other
experiment does not require it), and though all equipment was developed with this in mind and all
relevant permission was sought and obtained, it was not eventually possible. Instead, a skin friction
surrogate (Lorica Soft) established in the literature was used. Data from this show that Amontons'
law (with respect to load) is obeyed to high precision (R2 > 0.999 in all cases), though there is the
suggestion of sublinearity at low loads. Detailed consideration of the friction traces suggests that
two different friction mechanisms are important, and comparison with the contact data suggests
tentatively that they may correspond to adhesion between two different populations of contacts,
one "rough" and one "smooth".
Further work applying these techniques to skin is necessary.
The second aspect of the work is "geometric friction"; that is, the relationship between the geometry
of a surface (on the centimetre scale and upwards) and the friction experienced by a compliant
sheet (such as nonwoven topsheet) laid over it in tension. A general equation of motion for slippage
between sheet and surface has been derived which in principle allows for both objects to deform
and interact according to any plausible friction law. This has then been solved in integral form for Amontons' law and a low density strip exhibiting no Poisson contraction sliding over any surface
with zero Gaussian curvature; closed form solutions for the specific cases of a prism and a circular
cone have then been derived and compared. Experimental verification has been provided by a colleague,
which shows very good agreement between theory and experiment. It has also been shown
that, taking a naive approach, the classic model for a rigid cylinder can be applied even to a quite
extreme cone with experimentally negligible error.
NB All prior copyrighted material (diagrams in all cases) has been removed from this edition to
facilitate electronic distribution. They have been replaced with boxes of the same size, so pagination
is identical with the complete version.


The production of methanol from CO2 hydrogenation is a promising potential route to a renewable liquid fuel and renewable energy vector. Herein, three distinct routes to make colloidal catalysts based on mixtures of Cu(0) and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and using low-temperature organometallic procedures are reported. The colloids are surface coordinated by a phosphinate ligand: dioctylphosphinate ([DOPA]−), which delivers a high solubility in organic solvents. Further, the synthetic routes allow fine control of the ZnO:Cu and ligand loadings. The catalysts are prepared by mixing small NPs (2 nm) of either Cu(0) or air-stable Cu2O NPs with ZnO NPs (3 nm), or by the synthesis of Cu(0) in presence of ZnO NPs (ZnO: 2 nm, Cu: 6 nm). The resulting colloidal catalysts are applied in the liquid phase hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol (210 °C, 50 bar, 3 : 1 molar ratio of CO2 : H2). The catalysts typically exhibit 3 times higher rates when compared to a heterogeneous Cu–ZnO–Al2O3 commercial catalyst (21 vs. 7 mmolMeOH gCuZnO−1 h−1). The characterisation of the post-catalysis colloids show clear Cu/ZnO interfaces (HR-TEM), which are formed under reducing conditions, as well as differences in the Cu(0) NP size (from 3 to 7 nm) and nanoscale restructuring of the catalysts. The combination of characterisation and catalytic results indicate that the activity is mostly dictated by the Cu(0) particle size and ligand loading. Smaller Cu(0) NPs exhibited lower turnover frequency (TOF) values, whereas higher ligand loadings ([DOPA]−:(Cu + Zn) of 0.2–1.1) lead to smaller Cu(0) NPs and reduce the formation of Cu/ZnO interfaces. UV-vis spectroscopy reveals that the Cu(0) NPs are more stable to oxidation under air after catalysis than beforehand, potentially due to migration of ZnO onto the Cu surface whilst under catalytic conditions.


The Americas, comprising the USA and Canada, the Spanish speaking countries of South and Central America plus Brazil and the Caribbean, is a region displaying large differences in living standards. The availability of resources has an impact on the quality and reliability of economic statistics. Chile and Mexico, both OECD members, produce economic data that can be compared favourably with the USA, Canada and many European countries. In other countries out of date base years, outdated national income accounting standards and problems in recording the size of the informal economy mean that GDP figures are likely to be underestimated. The most insidious problem in the region arises from the political manipulation of economic data in Argentina which has led to a censure of the government by the IMF.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether health maintenance organizations (HMOs) attract enrollees who use relatively few medical resources and whether a simple risk-adjustment system could mitigate or eliminate the inefficiency associated with risk selection.

DATA SOURCES
The first and second rounds of the Community Tracking Study Household Survey (CTSHS), a national panel data set of households in 60 different markets in the United States.

STUDY DESIGN
We use regression analysis to examine medical expenditures in the first round of the survey between enrollees who switched plan types (i.e., from a non-HMO plan to an HMO plan, or vice versa) between the first and second rounds of the survey versus enrollees who remained in their original plan. The dependent variable is an enrollee's medical resource use, measured in dollars, and the independent variables include gender, age, self-reported health status, and other demographic variables.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS
We restrict our analysis to the 6,235 non-elderly persons who were surveyed in both rounds of the CTSHS, received health insurance from their employer or the employer of a household member in both years of the survey, and were offered a choice of an HMO and a non-HMO plan in both years.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
We find that people who switched from a non-HMO to an HMO plan used 11 percent fewer medical services in the period prior to switching than people who remained in a non-HMO plan, and that this relatively low use persisted once they enrolled in an HMO. Furthermore, people who switched from an HMO to a non-HMO plan used 18 percent more medical services in the period prior to switching than those who remained in an HMO plan.

CONCLUSIONS
HMOs are experiencing favorable risk selection and would most likely continue to do so even if employers adjusted health plan payments based on enrollees' gender and age because the selection is based on enrollee characteristics that are difficult to observe, such as preferences for medical care and health status.


The drainage of oil under gravitational forces has been an important mechanism in the production of many oil fields. In order to extend the economic implementation of gas injection into more marginal fields, a reduction in the uncertainties associated with gravity drainage is required. This paper describes a series of three tertiary, nitrogen experiments which investigated the effect of permeability on gravity drainage. The experiments were conducted at low pressure using long, vertical, water-wet sandstone cores and decane in the presence of connate brine. The residual oil saturation following 62 days of nitrogen injection in a 0.37 mu m 2 core was 0.26, following 53 days of nitrogen injection in a 1.5 /mu m 2 core was 0.10 and following 63 days of nitrogen injection in a 2.0 /mu m 2 core was 0.10. The variation of the oil and brine saturations were determined as a function of space and time for each experiment using a radioactive tracer technique. This independent measurement of both oil and brine in situ saturations is a new development and enables core artefacts to be identified and relative permeabilities to be derived. Detailed analysis of the 2 mu m 2 experiment showed that the oil relative permeability was independent of position and was only a function of oil saturation. The relative permeabilities are characterized by a zero asymptotic residual oil saturation and a Corey exponent of approximately four, which is higher than the value of three proposed from theoretical models of film drainage. A numerical simulation of this experiment gave a good match to the production and in situ saturation data. Determination of oil and brine relative permeabilities under a flow regime are presented which are representative of gravity drainage during gas injection. The method outlined gives added confidence when assessing field development options.


We have investigated the structural phase stability of crystalline alkali metals under external pressure in terms of their pair potentials, structural free energies, thermomechanical properties viz. the elastic constants and the density-of-sates [DOS] at the Fermi level. The pair potentials are calculated using amenable model potentials, the structural energies and the elastic constants are calculated in terms of the effective pair potentials and the DOS for the systems are calculated by employing the augmented-spherical-waves [ASW] method. The matching between the minima of the pair potentials and the relative positions of the first few lattice vectors of the relevant structures gives a qualitative impression on the relative stability of a crystal phase. Similarly the appearance of a minimum in the energy difference curves between relevant crystal structures manifests a relatively stable structure. On the contrary, a maximum in the bulk modulus indicates a stable structure; these maximum-minimum criteria are controlled by the profile of the effective pair interactions of the constituent atoms. If the relevant lattice vectors are populated in and around the minimum of the respective pair potential the corresponding bulk modulus shows a maximum trend. The same situation gives rise to a minimum in the free energy. Both of these tendencies favor a particular crystalline phase against other relevant structures. Similarly a maximum in the DOS curves gives rise to a minimum in the energy curve manifesting a stable structure. The population of electronic states plays the responsible role here. To treat the two entirely different methods, namely, the perturbative pseudopotential theory and the non-perturbative ASW method on the same footing, we have used the same metallic density in both the methods for the respective element. The calculated results show a qualitative trend in support of the observed structures for these elemental systems.


Problem definition and purpose: The media industry is a sphere faced with constant challenges. Technological inventions and economy are changing the rules of how and what media reports. To be able to stay current and make profit the newspapers have to adapt new thinking and evolve. In Sweden the journalistic union have stated that the line between editorial material and advertisement has became thinner. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the state of three local newspapers today and the ten years back. It will examine if the occurence of what can be define as advetorial news – articles made by the newspapers own reporters but which serve and obvious profit for a second part – has increased or decreased. Method and material: To find an answer to the purpose of this thesis a quantitative content analysis have been done on a total of 1005 local news articles from three Swedish local newspapers in 2005 and 2015. Main result: The result of the content analysis shows that news defined as advetorial occur more frequently in two of the three studied news papers 2015 compared to 2005, while news defined as advetorial decreased in one of the news papers. The result also show that the total number of local news articles has decreased from 2005 to 2015.


Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) predominantly comprises sulphates and nitrates, which results from sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) gases that are emanated from excessive industrial activities and transport systems. PM2.5 is known to affect respiratory health in humans. Coal-fired thermal power plants are a major source of SO2 and NOx gases. Evaluation of the dispersion characteristics of these precursor gases from the power plants would help understand the vulnerability. Meteorological conditions that prevail over the region would influence the dispersion characteristics. In this study, dispersion of SO2 and NO from two major coal-fired thermal power plants in Andhra Pradesh, India have been studied using an integrated modeling approach of the Advanced Research Weather Research & Forecasting (ARW) model and Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Meteorological conditions are obtained at 3-km resolution using the ARW model and dispersions of SO2 and NO is computed using the HYSPLIT model for the four seasons of winter, summer, monsoon and post-monsoon. Forward trajectories produced by the HYSPLIT model show diurnal variations and dispersion patterns show seasonal variations indicating the influence of meteorological conditions. Dispersion characteristics show high dispersion in winter due to calm and stable atmospheric conditions to insignificant in summer season due to stronger winds and higher atmospheric instability. The study establishes the usefulness of integrated meteorological and dispersion models for the evaluation of pollutant dispersion.