This paper describes a dynamic factor model of 19 U.S. labor market indicators, covering the broad categories of unemployment and underemployment, employment, workweeks, wages, vacancies, hiring, layoffs, quits, and surveys of consumers' and businesses' perceptions. The resulting labor market conditions index (LMCI) is a useful tool for gauging the change in labor market conditions. In addition, the model provides a way to organize discussions of the signal value of different labor market indicators in situations when they might be sending diverse signals. The model takes the greatest signal from private payroll employment and the unemployment rate. Other influential indicators include the insured unemployment rate, consumers' perceptions of job availability, and help-wanted advertising. Through the lens of the LMCI, labor market conditions have improved at a moderate pace over the past several years, albeit with some notable variation along the way. In addition, from t he perspective of the model, the unemployment rate declined a bit faster over the past two years than was consistent with the other indicators.


Nineteen eighty-seven was a year of financial paradox. During the 1980s there was the strong perception that the Americans, the Europeans, and the Japanese were living well, contrasting with the accounting data that suggested the house of cards was about to fall. Three factors dominated the financial economy of 1987: the 25-percent drop in equity prices in mid-October, the apparent collapse of the U.S. dollar in the foreign exchange market, and the formal recognition by the major international banks that their losses on developing country loans would amount to at least $250 billion. The key question at the end of that year was whether the world economy was moving into a period of inflation or deflation. This essay identifies three possible scenarios. First, the decline in the foreign-exchange value of the U.S. dollar would lead to a rapid increase in U.S. net exports, an excessively large increase in demand for U.S. goods, and a run on the U.S. dollar, which would prompt more contractive monetary policies from the Federal Reserve and an increase in interest rates on U.S. dollars. Second, an increase in U.S. net exports would offset the decline in domestic spending from the smaller fiscal deficit and the less rapid growth of consumer spending. Interest rates on U.S. dollar assets would fall, which in turn would facilitate the expansion of income, and the U.S. fiscal deficit would automatically decline. Or, third, a second stock market meltdown might cause consumer and investment spending to decline more than the increase in net exports, resulting in a recession and a decline in the inflation rate and interest rates.


Throughout the 1990s and into the present decade, Chile's educational system has undergone major changes. Coinciding with a transition to democracy process, after a prolonged authoritarian military regime, three successive governments and the country's economic and political elites have defined education as a strategic mean for reaching economic development and a socially more just and integrated society. In a context of economic growth, political stability and consensual policies, public expenditure in education more than tripled between 1990 and 2003, and private expenditure increased accordingly. A range of major programs for improvement of both quality and equity of education were agreed upon and implemented, and a set of reforms, including curriculum, the time frame of schooling and institutional features regulating the teaching profession, were accomplished.


The role and the importance of social trust have been objects of a comparatively well-defined interest among investigators with sociology and social psychology backgrounds. Unfortunately, this is not so true when it comes to economists. In Economics, even the link between culture and economic development still lacks the necessary attention. On the other hand, in order to explain this link, it will be of help and importance to take social trust into consideration both directly and as an infrastructural element of some important cultural dimensions. This article – being generally with a nature of an overview – attempts to show social trust namely as such an element, offering a framework for its interpretation and showing the correlational link between trust and several cultural constructs. This will hopefully help future modelling when it comes to investigating correlational and causal links between economic parameters and generalized social trust.


Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between chronic diseases and sleep difficulty in older women. Method: A total of 10,721 women from The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, aged 70 to 75 years at baseline (1996), who answered sleep questionnaire data over 15 years follow-up, were surveyed. Longitudinal sleep difficulty class was regressed on baseline diseases. Results: Arthritis and heart disease were the strongest predictors of sleep difficulty; odds ratios for belonging to the greatest sleep difficulty class were 2.27 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.98, 2.61]) and 1.8 (95% CI [1.5, 2.16], respectively. Bronchitis/emphysema, osteoporosis, asthma, diabetes, and hypertension also predicted greater sleep difficulty. Conclusion: Older women diagnosed with the aforementioned significant diseases may also be at greater risk of sleep difficulty. These women may need counseling or treatment for their sleep difficulty, to prevent depression, cognitive function decline, falls, frailty, and increased mortality, as well as greater risk of nursing home placement, well known to be reinforced by sleep trouble, and the associated health care costs and societal impacts poor sleep quality has for older adults.


This paper argues that there are significant potential benefits still to be had in promoting stronger Canada-Middle East economic relations, particularly with respect to the countries of the rapidly growing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). To enjoy these benefits, however, enhanced political engagement in the region is needed, as well as a commitment on the part of the Canadian government to forge stronger economic ties (formal and informal) with selected Middle Eastern countries. Canada has developed a number of formal links with the Middle East, most notably a free trade agreement with Israel, and a number of bilateral tax agreements, but there is room to secure further formal links to the region and to foster trade more generally. These formal and informal relationships, accompanied by enhanced strategic governmental contacts and more savvy efforts by Canadian businesses, would likely be rewarded by substantially higher levels of business activity, particularly with the Gulf States.


IPv6 Neighbor Discovery includes Neighbor Unreachability Detection.
That function is very useful when a host has an alternative neighbor
-- for instance, when there are multiple default routers -- since it
allows the host to switch to the alternative neighbor in a short time.
By default, this time is 3 seconds after the node starts probing.
However, if there are no alternative neighbors, this timeout behavior
is far too impatient. This document specifies relaxed rules for
Neighbor Discovery retransmissions that allow an implementation to
choose different timeout behavior based on whether or not there are
alternative neighbors. This document updates RFC 4861.


This contribution seeks to answer two related questions. First, what is the purpose of social health insurance? Or put in slightly different terms, what are the reasons for social (or public) health insurance to exist, even to dominate private health insurance in most developed countries? And second, what are the limits of social health insurance? Can one say that there is "too much" social health insurance in the following two senses: Should the balance be shifted towards the private alternative? And is the degree of coverage excessive?


In this paper, which was delivered as the V.V. Giri Memorial Lecture at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Indian Society of Labour Economics (IJLE), the author presents a vision for building a humane and just society in which the rights of working people are heard and respected. He argues that this would necessitate replacing the current pursuit of unbridled growth based on the economics of greed with the pillar of social justice. In his view, an effective means of moving towards this goal is through the creation of decent work, as it is the most effective means of ensuring inclusive, sustainable, and equitable growth. In this context, the author reviews the work of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) undertaken under the World Employment Programme (WEP), mainly in the 1970s and 1980s in order to make employment central in economic policy-making, the main finding of the ILO's research and the reasons as to why it achieved limited success in influencing the policies of developing countries. He then discusses in detail the concept of decent work which the ILO came up with in the late 1990s in which the focus changed from generating not just any employment but decent employment for women and men which was based on the four pillars of rights at work, productive and remunerative employment, social protection, and social dialogue. The author then presents the key elements of an employment strategy, which, in his view, would promote a virtuous circle of productivity, employment and output growth while also leading to the creation of decent work in the economy.


Similar shapes inhabit the sea Over biological history, several different groups of vertebrate tetrapods have reinvaded the marine environment. Although these groups are widely distributed among reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and birds, the shapes they have evolved are remarkably similar. Kelley and Pyenson review the literature on marine vertebrate groups over time and describe the innovations that facilitated the evolution of these marine forms, the environmental conditions that selected for such convergence of form, and the threats they face from future environment change. Science, this issue 10.1126/science.aaa3716 The demands of a marine environment induced similar adaptations across multiple invasions of different vertebrate groups. BACKGROUND More than 30 different lineages of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals have independently invaded oceans ecosystems. Prominent examples include ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs during the Mesozoic (252 to 66 million years ago) and penguins and sea otters during the Cenozoic (66 million years ago to the present). In today's oceans, marine tetrapods are ecologically important consumers with trophic influence disproportionate to their abundance. They have occupied apex roles in ocean food webs for more than 250 million years, through major changes in ocean and climate, and through mass extinctions. Major paleontological discoveries in the past 40 years have clarified the early land-sea transitions for some marine tetrapods (e.g., whales, sea cows), although the terrestrial origins of many lineages remain obscure. Incipient invasions appear frequently in marine tetrapod history, but such early transitions account for only a small proportion of the total fossil record of successful marine lineages, which in some cases persist for hundreds of millions of years. ADVANCES Marine tetrapods provide ideal models for testing macroevolutionary hypotheses because the repeated transitions between land and sea have driven innovation, convergence, and diversification against a backdrop of changing marine ecosystems and mass extinctions. Recent investigations across a broad range of scales—from molecules to food webs—have clarified the phylogenetic scope, timing, and ecological consequences of these repeated innovations. Studies of the physiology and functional morphology of living species have illuminated the constraints and tradeoffs that shape the pathway of initial marine invasions. Comparative studies on muscle myoglobin concentration or the evolution of sex determination mechanisms, for example, have revealed rampant convergence for these adaptive traits in the marine realm. Exceptionally preserved fossils have also revealed insights into reproductive biology, soft tissue structures, and trophic interactions. Fossils provide critical baselines for understanding historical changes in marine communities and diversity through time, and these baselines remain vital for evaluating the ongoing and severe anthropogenic disturbance to marine tetrapod populations and marine ecosystems as a whole. OUTLOOK Technological advances in remote sensing and biologging will continue to provide crucial insights into the macroecology of marine tetrapods below the water's edge. Field data, when combined with extensive vouchers represented in museum collections, provide the basis for integrative models of the function and ecology of these logistically challenging organisms. Placed in a phylogenetic comparative framework, these data can enable tests of hypotheses about macroevolutionary patterns. Although perpetually incomplete, new fossil discoveries continue to improve our understanding of the early land-sea transitions in lineages and reveal past ecologies that could not have otherwise been predicted. Emerging imaging, molecular, and isotopic techniques provide an opportunity to expand the investigational scope for studying extinct taxa and to inform our understanding of how living species evolved. Lastly, resolving the full evolutionary scope of marine tetrapod history provides context for the origins of modern ecological patterns and interactions, which are fundamentally being altered by human activities. A unified view of marine tetrapod evolution. Circles mark initial invasions of marine tetrapod groups. Extinct and extant lineages are denoted by open and solid circles, respectively (yellow, amphibians; green, nonavian reptiles; blue, birds; red, mammals). Top curve summarizes marine tetrapod fossil richness through time. Schematic limb drawings demonstrate convergent hydrodynamic forelimbs in marine tetrapods (top to bottom): sea lion, whale, penguin, sea turtle, mosasaur, ichthyosaur. Ma, millions of years ago. Many top consumers in today's oceans are marine tetrapods, a collection of lineages independently derived from terrestrial ancestors. The fossil record illuminates their transitions from land to sea, yet these initial invasions account for a small proportion of their evolutionary history. We review the history of marine invasions that drove major changes in anatomy, physiology, and ecology over more than 250 million years. Many innovations evolved convergently in multiple clades, whereas others are unique to individual lineages. The evolutionary arcs of these ecologically important clades are framed against the backdrop of mass extinctions and regime shifts in ocean ecosystems. Past and present human disruptions to marine tetrapods, with cascading impacts on marine ecosystems, underscore the need to link macroecology with evolutionary change.


Several reactions producing odd-Z transactinide compound nuclei were studiedwith the 88-Inch Cyclotron and the Berkeley Gas-Filled Separator at the LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory. The goal was to produce the same compound nucleus ator near the same excitation energy with similar values of angular momentum via differentnuclear reactions. In doing so, it can be determined if there is a preference in entrancechannel, because under these experimental conditions the survival portion of Swiatecki, Siwek-Wilcznska, and Wilczynski's"Fusion By Diffusion" model is nearly identical forthe two reactions. Additionally, because the same compound nucleus is produced, theexit channel is the same. Four compound nuclei were examined in this study: 258Db, 262Bh, 266Mt, and 272Rg. These nuclei were produced by using very similar heavy-ion induced-fusion reactions which differ only by one proton in the projectile or target nucleus (e.g.: 50Ti + 209Bi vs. 51V + 208Pb). Peak 1n exit channel cross sections were determined for each reaction in each pair, and three of the four pairs' cross sections were identical within statistical uncertainties. This indicates there is not an obvious preference of entrancechannel in these paired reactions. Charge equilibration immediately prior to fusionleading to a decreased fusion barrier is the likely cause of this phenomenon. In addition to this systematic study, the lightest isotope of element 107, bohrium, was discovered in the 209Bi(52Cr,n) reaction. 260Bh was found to decay by emission of a 10.16 MeV alpha particle with a half-life of 35 ms. The cross section is 59 pb at an excitation energy of 15.0 MeV. The effect of the N = 152 shell is also seen in this isotope's alpha particle energy, the first evidence of such an effect in Bh. All reactions studied are also compared to model predictions by Swiatecki, Siwek-Wilcznska, and Wilczynski's"Fusion By Diffusion" theory.


We establish that the recursive, state-space methods of Kalman filtering and smoothing can be used to implement the Doan, Litterman, and Sims (1983) approach to econometric forecast and policy evaluation. Compared with the methods outlined in Doan, Litterman, and Sims, the Kalman algorithms are more easily programmed and modified to incorporate different linear constraints, avoid cumbersome matrix inversions, and provide estimates of the full variance covariance matrix of the constrained projection errors which can be used directly, under standard normality assumptions, to test statistically the likelihood and internal consistency of the forecast under study.


Abstract  Background and Aim: Plasma B‐type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level may be increased in patients with valvular disease. Recent studies have suggested that in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, an increased preoperative BNP is associated with a worse operative outcome. Little is known about the perioperative value of BNP in patients undergoing mitral valve (MV) surgery. We measured the preoperative and postoperative BNP levels in this population and analyzed the impact of the increased BNP level on surgical outcome. Methods: From March 2004 to February 2005, 42 patients (mean age 64 ± 12 years, 18 [42%] male) were enrolled in a prospective study. All patients underwent surgery for severe mitral regurgitation. The mean ejection fraction was 49 ± 13%, and 26 (62%) patients presented with atrial fibrillation (AF). Results: The median preoperative and postoperative BNP levels were 108 (9.7 to 995) and 357 (143 to 904) pg/mL, respectively (p = 0.002). Heart failure (p = 0.03), atrial fibrillation (AF) (p = 0.01), and ejection fraction (p = 0.01) were associated with an increased preoperative BNP level. In a multivariate analysis, the only independent predictor of the increased BNP level was AF (p = 0.01). In a univariate analysis, the preoperative BNP level was a significant predictor for inotropic support (p < 0.001), ventilation time (p = 0.003), intensive care unit (ICU; p = 0.01), and hospital length of stay (p = 0.02). In the multivariate analysis, BNP was not a predictor of these variables. Conclusions: Preoperative plasma BNP level presents with a high individual variability in patients with MV regurgitation. AF was the only independent predictor of an increased preoperative BNP level. The preoperative BNP level was not a predictor of surgical outcome. Further studies are required to confirm these findings and evaluate the potential role of this marker for patient selection.


Objective: Cloninger has developed a dimensional psychobiological model of
personality that accounts for both normal and abnormal variation of two
major components of personality: temperament and character. The Temperament
and Character Inventory (TCI) is a 240-item self-administered questionnaire
constructed to assess four temperament (Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance,
Reward Dependence, and Persistence) and three character dimensions
(Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence). In this study,
we aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of
the TCI in a healthy Turkish population and obtain normative data for the
Turkish TCI.

Methods: The study was conducted in both Karadeniz Technical University
School of Medicine and Ataturk University School of Medicine using a sample
of 683 healthy volunteers. Participants were administered a short version of
Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Turkish TCI that was
translated by Kose and Sayar and officially approved by Cloninger to be used
in this validation study.

Results: Turkish sample had significantly lower mean scores on Novelty
Seeking, Reward Dependence and higher mean scores on Harm Avoidance than the
American sample. On character dimensions, the Turkish sample had
significantly lower scores on Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and
Self-Transcendence. Self-Directedness and Harm Avoidance, Cooperativeness
and Reward Dependence, and Cooperativeness and Self-Directedness were
intercorrelated. The Cronbach?s coefficients were between .60 and .85 on
temperament dimensions, and were between .82 and .83 on character
dimensions. The lowest Cronbach?s coefficients were found in Reward
Dependence (.60) and Persistence (.62). A principal axis factor analysis
with a four-factor solution by Oblimin rotation reproduced highest loadings
on Novelty Seeking and Harm Avoidance and relatively weaker loadings on
Reward Dependence and Persistence. A three-factor solution for character
subscales reproduced highest loadings on Cooperativeness and
Self-Transcendence.

Conclusions: The reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the TCI
were supported by its reliable psychometric properties and construct
validity. The Turkish version of the TCI successfully confirmed Cloninger's
seven-factor model of personality. This pioneering work suggests that the
Turkish TCI can be applied in clinical populations as well as in
neurobiological and neuroimaging investigations.


Background Patients with hypermobility suffer from joints problems and chronic pain is the most frequently reported symptom. Objective Eccentric muscle strengthening could be very important to protect hypermobile joints. Design Case report. Setting Amateur tennis player. Patient A girl (16 y.o.) affected by an Ehler-Danlos syndrome presented pain in the right elbow and the right wrist after a season of tennis. Interventions Her training consisted of wrist prono-supination and flexion-extension muscle group reinforcement and proprioceptive training. To protect the wrist against excessive load, the eccentric strengthening exercises of prono-supinator and flexor-extensor muscles of elbow and wrist were undertaken gradually, at increasing speeds within a limited range of motion in flexion and extension, on an isokinetic device after an evaluation. She was also given an orthesis restricting the joint range of motion of the wrist. Main outcome measurements The evaluation was made by isokinetic evaluation, visual analog scale and MOS-SF36 questionnaire before and after training. Results The patient rapidly noted a decrease in pain and an increase in the stability of her right arm even when playing tennis. Isokinetic evaluation objectified a significant improvement in maximal torque in flexion-extension muscles of the right elbow. She was also given individualized home exercises. Conclusions The goal of this eccentric training is to avoid hypermobility by using the muscles as a protective brake in the control of joint positioning. Muscles can be reinforced in eccentric mode with starting position at the maximum length of these muscles when unstreched. The exercises can be carried out safely on an isokinetic device, at slow speed and limited range of joint motion to avoid risk of luxation. Thus, in this case report, the eccentric exercises using an isokinetic device were effective to safely reinforce the muscles as a protective brake for joint hypermobility and prevent pain during practicing tennis.


The article ""I ask you not to be annoyed at my questions": the Norwegian Professor Olaf Broch as translator (from the history of Russian-Norwegian connections)" is devoted to the translation activity of the first Professor of Slavic languages Olaf Broch, who is known primarily as a linguist. The article is based on facts previously unknown: the correspondence Olaf Broch had with the Russian academician Alexei Shakhmatov. The comparison of the translations of the fragment from the novel by Leo Tolstoy's  Anna Karenina  illustrates how Olaf Broch endeavoured to translate correctly difficult words and received assistance from his Russian friend and colleague. The publication of this archival material fills one of the gaps in the scientific biography of the famous Norwegian linguist.


The propagation of stress within a granular material has been studied for many
years, but only recently have models and theories focused on the micromechanical
(single grain) level. Experiments at this level are still rather limited in number. For this
reason, a system using optical techniques has been developed.
The substrate on which the granular bed is assembled is a double layer elastic
substrate with high modulus epoxy constituting the top layer and silicone rubber as the
bottom layer. In between the two layers, gold is coated which acts as a reflective film. To
design the substrate, a Finite Element Analysis package called LUSAS was used. By
performing a non-linear contact analysis, the design of the substrate was optimised so as
to give a linear response, high stiffness, deflection in the measurable range, and
negligible cross-talk between neighbouring grains. Fabrication and inspection techniques
were developed to enable samples to be manufactured to this design.
The deformation of the gold interface layer is measured using interferometry. The
interferometer utilised a frequency tunable laser which acts both as the light source and
the phase shifting device. The optical arrangement is based on the Fizeau set-up. This
has removed several problems such as multiple reflections and sensitivity to vibration
that occurred when using a Mach-Zehnder configuration. A fifteen-frame phase shifting
algorithm, was developed based on a Hanning window, which allows the phase
difference map to be obtained. This is then unwrapped in order to obtain the indentation
profile. The deflection profile is then converted to a single indentation depth value by
fitting a Lorentzian curve to the measured data.
Calibration of the substrate is carried out by loading at 9 different locations
simultaneously. Spatial and temporal variations of the calibration constants are found to
be of order 10-15%. Results are presents showing contact force distributions under both
piles of sand and under face-centred cubic arrangements of stainless steel balls.
Reasonable agreement was obtained in the latter case with both the expected mean force
and the probability density function predicted by the so-called 'q' model. The experimental techniques are able to measure small displacements down to a
few nanometers. To the best of my knowledge these experiments are the first to employ
the interferometer method in attempting to measure the contact force distribution at the
base of a granular bed.


Research was conducted to analyse corros
ion and tribological failures in
The
Tank Museum Bovington
military tanks
.
Due to the age of the exhibits
corrosion of vital components has become a significant issue, it is vitally
important to preserve these artefa
cts for future generations and so to do this
effectively we need to monitor and reduce this corrosion as far as realistically
possible.
A case study of
the historic
military tanks followed by experimental
research analyses
is presented.
Structural degradat
ion through corrosion
and engine wear
has been i
dentified and analysed
. Materials were
processed/manufactured during 2
nd
Wor
ld War, their composition was
unknown.
Therefore
state
-
of
-
the
-
art
characterisation techniques were
performed on samples collected fr
om the M10, Sherman, Centaur and Tiger
1
to obtain material compositions and
to identify nearest standards
. A bench
mark of material loss due to corrosion so far, has been achieved
in the M10,
Sherman, Centaur, BT
–
R 60 and King Tiger t
h
rough ultrasonic c
orrosion
mapping
. Material loss because of corrosion was high in the Centaur
in
comparison
to the Sherman, M10, BT R
–
60 and King Tiger s
amples.
C
orrosion analyses
techniques were conducted on samples from
three tanks
the M10, Sherman and Centaur
to investigate
corrosion m
orphology on the
tanks surfaces and
corrosion propagation from surface to sub
-
surface
level
.
During this experimental work various corrosion contaminants, sub
-
surf
ace
crack
s
and defects were
identified. Corrosion
layer/
residues we
re relatively
thick (approximately 250
μ
m) on the surfaces of the M10, wherea
s the
phenomenon of
corrosion pits was wide spread in the Centaur.
C
orrosion
was
influenced by the presence of surface contaminants and sub
-
surface
defects such as slags, sulphide
inclusions and corrosive pits. These factors
alone and/o
r in combination
were observed to be a serious issue in limiting
vehicles" longevity.
Study of the environments both inside and outside the museum has been
conducted to relate corrosion activity wit
hin the conte
xt.
Based upon the data
gathered
simulated environmental corrosion tests were conducted to quantify
corrosion accumulation under
a controlled museum environment suitable for
the museum visitors.
Some degree of corrosion build
-
up was observed o
n
the samples
under cont
rolled environments. Prohesion test was conducted
to evaluate viability of the material
s
, coating and primer. M
aterial ability to
resist adverse environmental conditions was negligible. These results are of
particular interest for t
he vehicles which are exposed in uncontrolled
environment. Exposure of the primer an
d coating to prohesion
test showed,
that the primer was able to resist failures during
the entire test duration
.
However breakdown of th
e coating was observed during the te
st
.
Wear analyses of the o
riginal piston which was designed before/during the
2
nd
World War showed
enhanced
material composition and
tribological
pro
perties
than the
new
replacement piston
.
F
ailures in the replacement
piston and cylinder
-
liner
could be
att
ributed to inadequate material
selection
and design.
A sustainable model to extend longevity and to retard structural aging of the
military tanks in The Tank Museum has been proposed.


Since the introduction of Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs), their efficiency and effectiveness have increased through the development of three significant aspects: (i) modeling, (ii) learning and (iii) inference. However, no reviews of the literature have been found that chronicle their importance and development over time. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic review of the literature that details the evolution and advancement of DBNs, focusing in the period 1997–2019 that emphasize the aspects of modeling, learning and inference. While the literature presents temporal event networks, knowledge encapsulation, relational and time varying representations as the four predominant DBN modeling approaches, this work groups them as essential techniques within DBNs and help practitioners by associating each to various challenge that arise in pattern discovery and prediction in dynamic processes. Regarding learning, the predominant methods mainly focus on scoring with greedy search. Finally, our study suggests that the main methods used in DBN inference extend or adapt those used in static BNs, and are oriented to either optimize processing time or error rate.


Total homocysteine is defined as the sum of all homocysteine species in plasma/serum, including free and protein-bound forms. In the present review, we compare and evaluate several techniques for the determination of total homocysteine. Because these assays include the conversion of all forms into a single species by reduction, the redistribution between free and protein-bound homocysteine through disulfide interchange does not affect the results, and total homocysteine can be measured in stored samples. Total homocysteine in whole blood increases at room temperature because of a continuous production and release of homocysteine from blood cells, but artificial increase is low if the blood sample is centrifuged within 1 h of collection or placed on ice. Different methods correlate well, and values between 5 and 15 mumol/L in fasting subjects are considered normal. Total homocysteine in serum/plasma is increased markedly in patients with cobalamin or folate deficiency, and decreases only when they are treated with the deficient vitamin. Total homocysteine is therefore of value for the diagnosis and follow-up of these deficiency states and may compensate for weaknesses of the traditional laboratory tests. In addition, total homocysteine is an independent risk factor for premature cardiovascular diseases. These disorders justify introduction of the total homocysteine assay in the routine clinical chemistry laboratory.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyze the catching-up processes of South Korea and post-1978 reforms China, based on a new-developmentalist approach that considers four fundamental factors: 1) a complementarity relationship between the state and the market as a dynamic process that changes over time; 2) necessary complementarity between macroeconomic policy and industrial policy; 3) the key role of public and development banks in attacking the problem of "development financing"; and a particular focus on 4) the centrality of exchange rate and balance of payments administration for the development process in these countries. The paper's fundamental question is to what extent the catching-up process in these countries can be understood as the application of a new-developmentalist strategy, taking each country's particular historical traits into account.


The purine metabolic enzymes adenosine deaminase (ADA), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), and 5′nucleotidase (5NT) play an important role in normal lymphocyte differentiation. Abnormal levels of one or all of these enzymes have been associated with immunodeficiency diseases and lymphoproliferative disorders. ADA, PNP, and 5NT activity was measured in peripheral blood T cells from 24 patients with Hodgkin disease (HD) (12 in complete remission and 12 with active disease) to determine whether an association existed between enzyme abnormalities and the decreased cellular immune function previously described in this disorder. HD patients had a significantly decreased absolute lymphocyte count (1,618 ± 1107/mm3; mean ± SD) compared to controls (2,320 ± 980; p <.001). ADA, PNP, and NT activity was assessed in lymphocyte extracts by measuring the conversion of radiolabeled substrates to products over time. ADA activity expressed as mean ± SEM nanomoles/106 lymphocytes/hr was significantly decreased in T cells from HD patients (84.6 ± 7.5) compared to controls (128 ± 12.3; p < 0.025). Likewise, 5NT was significantly decreased in HD patients (12.7 ± 1.3) compared to controls (24.0 ± 3.6; p <.005). There was not a significant difference in PNP activity between both groups. Low 5NT activity was present irrespective of whether patients had active disease (12.1 ± 1.5) or were in unmaintained complete remission (14.5 ± 2.4). These findings suggest that biochemical abnormalities may be responsible for or related to the persistent abnormalities in T‐cell function noted throughout the clinical course of HD.


Airborne lidar forward sensing along the flight direction can serve for
notification of clear air turbulence (CAT) and help to prevent injuries or
fatal air accidents. The validation of this concept was presented in the
framework of the DELICAT (DEmonstration of LIdar-based CAT detection)
project. However, the strong variations in signal level, which were observed
during the DELICAT measurements but not explained, sometimes indicated the
need of a better understanding the observational errors due to geometrical
factors. In this paper, we discuss possible error sources pertinent to this
technique, related to fluctuations of the flight parameters, which may lead
to strong signal variations caused by the random deviations of the sensing
beam from the forward flight trajectory. We analyze the variations in
backscattered lidar signal caused by fluctuations of the most important
forward-sensing flight parameter, the pitch angle. The fluctuation values
considered in the paper correspond to the error limits of the compensational
gyro platform used in civil aviation. The part of the pitch angle
fluctuations not compensated for by the beam-steering device in the presence
of aerosol concentration variations can lead to noticeable signal variations
that can be mistakenly attributed to wind shear, turbulence, or fast
evolution of the aerosol layer. We formulate the criteria that allow the
recognition of signal variations caused by pitch angle fluctuations.
Influence of these fluctuations is shown to be stronger for aerosol
variations on smaller vertical scales. An example of DELICAT observations
indicating a noticeable pitch angle fluctuation impact is presented.


Evidence suggests that Th1 cells and antibody are the primary mediators of chlamydial protection. However, the impact of Th1 polyfunctionality and T-cell independent antibody on host protection against Chlamydia has not been fully explored. Using an adoptive transfer approach in the mouse model of Chlamydia muridarum, we investigated the role of transgenic Chlamydia-specific CD4 T cells and naive, polyclonal B cells in mediating bacterial clearance and conferring resistance to lethality, respectively. We hypothesized that Chlamydia-specific Th1 cells would provide enhanced protection against genital infection compared to a polyclonal repertoire, and that B-cells are required for preventing lethality associated with disseminated infection. We found that polyfunctional, transgenic Th1 cells produced the highest levels of IFN-γ, afforded the greatest reduction in bacterial burden from the genital tract during primary infection, and provided equal protection during secondary infection, compared to the polyclonal T cell response. We also found that B cells and IFN-γ synergize to protect against disseminated infection in the absence of Th1 cells, despite mice developing a chronic genital tract infection. Collectively, these data suggest that polyfunctional, Chlamydia-specific Th1 cells mediate optimal chlamydial clearance from the genital tract, while the T-independent B-cell response is primarily involved in limiting extragenital infection to distal organs. Adoptive transfer studies provide a powerful approach for elucidation of protective correlates of immunity against chlamydial infection that can guide development of rational public health vaccine strategies.


Multiscale modeling has received unprecedented attention in various fields recently, with bottom‐up and top‐down transitions between neighboring subscales considered as important strategies for understanding defect initiation and evolution on the atomistic, nano, and submicron scales. The multiscale approach to the simultaneous modeling of multiple scales has been applied to the strong coupling between variable groups of different scales. In addition, the quasicontinuum (QC) method uses non‐local and local repatom regions for seamless bridging between the atomic and continuum regions. With specific application to the classical plate‐with‐a‐hole problem, a quantitative evaluation of the precision of the QC model was undertaken in this study. The analytical displacement field was solved using the specific regions as the atomic displacement comparison criteria. A certain amount of "ghost" interference was observed at the interface between the atomic and continuum mediums, and the crystal orientation effect of the α‐Fe crack tip atoms was used to analyze the dislocation emission, twinning, void nucleation, and crack propagation in specific grains. The defect evolution under tension loading was also analyzed with the aid of a typical crystal, and the strain‐force response relationship was used to elucidate the processes of crack initiation, brittle cracking, blunting, void nucleation, and complete rupture.


The ab initio investigation of ionization shows the strong regularization of the Coulomb potential by a high-frequency laser field in the stabilization regime, which is characterized with a large energy shift in the first dressed state. The decreasing of the second major ionization burst at the lowering edge of the laser pulse indicates another aspect of three-dimensional effect. Moreover, the modulation in the ionization time profile, previously attributed to the classical drift [Phys. Rev. A83, 063418 (2011)], is illustrated by a superposition of the two free-electron wave-packets, which have arisen via ionization from the two different Kramers–Henneberger states. This finding is in excellent agreement with the time profile of the current density.


This study traces the development of the Jewish Museum Berlin from its inception as the winning entry in a competition for an extension to the Berlin Museum in the summer of 1989 to 2005. Tracking Daniel Libeskind's design inspirations, public arguments over continuation of the building and its eventual use, I argue that a consistent argumentative trope, characterized by Ernst Bloch's concept of anticipatory illumination, shows up in these various conversations and influences the building's eventual use as the Jewish Museum Berlin. The rhetoric of anticipatory illumination, in this case, shifts over time, first emphasizing Jewish cultural absence in Berlin and the need to make that absence visible, but later pushing cultural absence to the background in favor of expressing the need for multicultural tolerance in Germany and beyond. The resulting museum, the Jewish Museum Berlin, combined the specificity of the history of the former in its curatorial design with injunctions for wider concern about intolerance in contemporary societies around the world. The author argues that the shift produces a "doubled heterotopia" in the arrangement of the museum that ultimately is effective for addressing the diverse audiences for the Jewish Museum Berlin. The case study emphasizes that public art and architecture projects can be rich sites of rhetorical invention worthy of close study over the time of their development.


Cleaning up the nation's harbors has brought a resurgence in marine borer activity. These organisms, mainly the teredo and the limnoria, eat at timber piers, undermining critical port structures. The first does not attack creosote treated wood, and the second one does. The teredo drill through piles and the limnoria nibble at the outside surfaces. In severe cases, they can cause a wood piling to lose an inch in diameter each year. Detection begins with inspection, typically with divers. Destructive methods include coring or slicing sections from piles. Non-destructive methods include ultrasonic scanning. Test boards are yet another detection approach. Untreated timber boards are placed underwater throughout a harbor and inspected annually for signs of infestation. Rehabilitation and prevention methods include encapsulation in epoxy or concrete jackets. Wrapping is another method, in which plastic wrapping suffocates borers by cutting off oxygen supply. Polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene are the two most common wrapping materials used. For new construction, underwater structures can be coated or lined to prevent borer penetration. Wood can also be treated with several preservatives, and many marine owners are now using non-wood materials such as plastics or concrete for these structures.


Finding novel or non-standard metabolic pathways, possibly spanning multiple species, has important applications in fields such as metabolic engineering, metabolic network analysis, and metabolic network reconstruction. Traditionally, this has been a manual process, but the large volume of metabolic data now available has created a need for computational tools to automatically identify biologically relevant pathways. This thesis presents new algorithms for automatically finding biologically meaningful linear and branched metabolic pathways in multi-genome scale metabolic networks. These algorithms utilize atom mapping data, which provides the correspondence between atoms in the substrates to atoms in the products of a chemical reaction, to find pathways which conserve a given number of atoms between desired start and target compounds.
The first algorithm presented identifies atom conserving linear pathways by explicitly tracking atoms during an exploration of a graph structure constructed from the atom mapping data. The explicit tracking of atoms enables finding branched pathways because it provides automatic identification of the reactions and compounds through which atoms are lost or gained. The thesis then describes two algorithmic approaches for identifying branched metabolic pathways based upon atom conserving linear pathways. One approach takes one linear pathway at a time and attempts to add branches that connect loss and gain compounds. The other approach takes a group of linear pathways and attempts to merge pathways that move mutually exclusive sets of atoms from the start to the target compounds. Comparisons to known metabolic pathways demonstrate that atom tracking causes the algorithms to avoid many unrealistic connections, often found in previous approaches, and return biologically meaningful pathways. While the theoretical complexity of finding even linear atom conserving pathways is high, by choosing the appropriate representations and heuristics, and perhaps due to the structure of the underlying data, the algorithms in this thesis have practical running times on real data. The results also demonstrate the potential of the algorithms to find novel or non-standard pathways that may span multiple organisms.


Circulating estradiol (E(2)), progesterone (Pro), testosterone, and corticosterone (B) levels were monitored in the green turtles Chelonia mydas during different nesting phases. Successful nesting includes emergence from sea, chamber and nest excavation, oviposition, burying the nest, and returning to sea. Unsuccessful nesting includes chamber and nest excavations but without oviposition. Blood samples were taken from the cervical sinus and collected within 5-min of capture to minimize stress. The samples were collected between 2000 and 0100 h during the peak season (May-October). High-performance liquid chromatography using a u.v. detection system coupled with tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry was used to measure B. Plasma B levels were significantly higher in successful and unsuccessful phases over emergence and excavation phases. However, B levels in successful versus unsuccessful or emergence versus excavation phases were not significantly different. Plasma steroid levels were measured by the Coat-A-Count RIA technique. Pro levels were significantly higher (P<0.005) in successful over unsuccessful turtles and also successful turtles over turtles in the other phases (P<0.01). The Pro levels immediately after nesting were found to be higher than that reported previously. Plasma testosterone values were higher in successful turtles but not significantly different from the turtles in other phases. Estrogen levels were undetected in all phases. Overall, the hormone values during different phases of nesting may play a major role in formulating the nesting behavior and physiology of the nesting activities in the green turtle.


The process of a four-dimensional conversion and/or transformation strives in helping the leadership of an organisation, especially such as the church, with practical ways that may lead to the development of an effective leadership by observing the four important aspects of human spirituality as elaborated on in the article. The spiritual, intellectual, moral and socio-political dimensions of the transformation can be catered for so that the complete inner being of humans, as well as their social and political attitudes and behaviours, can equally be transformed to maximum spiritual, personal and socio-political profitability. Mutombo-Mukendi demonstrates that the need for a spiritual leadership that can contribute to an effective transformation of Africa is dire, both for the church and the larger community. The real challenge is how to develop such leadership. This article provides intentional and practical ways that may lead to the development of the needed leadership. Four-dimensional transformation of people can be planned and carried out both in the church arena and in the surrounding communities. Skills development and transfer can also take place when skilled people from the church work with unskilled people from the community.


BACKGROUND
The outcome of patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is unclear. We sought to assess the outcome of patients with prior CABG undergoing primary PCI for the treatment of AMI.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Between 1991 and 1997, 1072 patients with AMI underwent primary PCI without antecedent thrombolytic therapy at the Mayo Clinic. There were 128 patients with previous CABG and 944 without previous CABG. Patients with previous CABG were further subdivided according to the treated vessel: native vessels (n = 65) and bypass graft (n = 63). Clinical and angiographic characteristics and 30-day and 1-year outcomes were evaluated. Patients with previous CABG were significantly older and had a higher incidence of diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. They had a lower left ventricular ejection fraction and were also more likely to have congestive heart failure. After 1 year of follow-up, adverse cardiac events (death, MI, CABG, or repeat PCI) were significantly greater in patients with prior CABG (49.2% vs 35.9%, P =.04). With use of multivariate logistic regression analysis to adjust for differences in baseline characteristics, the treatment of vein graft was independently associated with adverse cardiac events (relative risk 1.48 [95% confidence interval 1.07-2.03], P =.02), but a history of prior CABG itself was not (relative risk 1.22 [95% confidence interval 0.96-1.56], P =.11).

CONCLUSIONS
Primary PCI for AMI in patients with previous CABG is associated with higher adverse events largely attributable to adverse baseline clinical characteristics and the treatment of a vein graft.


This article presents results of an ongoing effort toward improving the modeling and scale-up procedures for the dense-phase pneumatic conveying of fine powders through pipes. Two new approaches are employed in this study. One approach, derived by modifying an existing reliable dilute-phase model to make it suitable for the dense-phase, has resulted in relatively stable predictions for diameter and length scale-up for two types of fly ash, ESP dust, pulverized brown coal and fly ash/cement mixture. Although some over-predictions still remain for the cases of diameter scale-up, there seems to be a substantial relative improvement in the overall accuracy of predictions (compared to the existing design methods). Another method has been derived using the concept of "two-layer" slurry flow modeling (suspension flow occurring on top of a non-suspension moving layer), and this has also resulted in similar improvements. Although the "two-layer" technique is believed to be more representative of the actual flow conditions under dense-phase conveying, the simpler "modified" method appears to be adequate for practical design purposes.


Entity alignment (EA) aims at building a unified Knowledge Graph (KG) of rich content by linking the equivalent entities from various KGs. GNN-based EA methods present promising performances by modeling the KG structure defined by relation triples. However, attribute triples can also provide crucial alignment signal but have not been well explored yet. In this paper, we propose to utilize an attributed value encoder and partition the KG into subgraphs to model the various types of attribute triples efficiently. Besides, the performances of current EA methods are overestimated because of the name-bias of existing EA datasets. To make an objective evaluation, we propose a hard experimental setting where we select equivalent entity pairs with very different names as the test set. Under both the regular and hard settings, our method achieves significant improvements ($5.10\%$ on average Hits@$1$ in DBP$15$k) over $12$ baselines in cross-lingual and monolingual datasets. Ablation studies on different subgraphs and a case study about attribute types further demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. Source code and data can be found at this https URL.


The high performance obtained in wet mix sprayed concrete has extended the field of applications of this technique. In some of these applications, such as in diaphragm walls or bridge rehabilitation, the structure may be subjected to bending moments, so conventional reinforcement is regularly used. In this context it is important to assure adequate bond between steel rebar and the sprayed concrete. It is well known that sprayed concrete presents smaller size coarse aggregate, higher mortar content and higher porosity than conventional concrete. Therefore, differences in the bond behaviour are expected.
This paper presents a specific procedure in order to evaluate concrete-steel bond strength in sprayed concrete. The proposed test is based on pull-out method using a test panel specimen. The experimental program includes tests performed in conventional and sprayed concrete. The results obtained show the viability of the method, which could be easily applicable in the case of sprayed concrete. The tests performed indicate that, despite the intrinsic scatter, the bond behaviour is similar to that of conventional concrete.


For many structured prediction problems, complex models often require adopting approximate inference techniques such as variational methods or sampling, which generally provide no satisfactory accuracy guarantees. In this work, we propose sidestepping intractable inference altogether by learning ensembles of tractable sub-models as part of a structured prediction cascade. We focus in particular on problems with high-treewidth and large state-spaces, which occur in many computer vision tasks. Unlike other variational methods, our ensembles do not enforce agreement between sub-models, but filter the space of possible outputs by simply adding and thresholding the max-marginals of each constituent model. Our framework jointly estimates parameters for all models in the ensemble for each level of the cascade by minimizing a novel, convex loss function, yet requires only a linear increase in computation over learning or inference in a single tractable sub-model. We provide a generalization bound on the filtering loss of the ensemble as a theoretical justification of our approach, and we evaluate our method on both synthetic data and the task of estimating articulated human pose from challenging videos. We find that our approach significantly outperforms loopy belief propagation on the synthetic data and a state-of-the-art model on the pose estimation/tracking problem.


Abstract: Combination of cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus immunosuppression post‐liver transplantation (LT) and the chemotherapeutic drugs used to treat hepatoblastoma (HB), are nephrotoxic. We aimed to determine the severity and duration of nephrotoxicity in children following LT for unresectable HB. We reviewed all children undergoing LT for unresectable HB at the Liver Unit, Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK, from 1991 to July 2000. Thirty‐six children undergoing LT for biliary atresia, matched for age and sex, were selected as controls to compare pre‐ and post‐LT renal function. Renal function was determined by estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) derived from plasma creatinine using Schwartz's formula. Twelve children with HB (mean age of diagnosis 33 months) who underwent LT (mean age 47 months) and 36 controls (mean age of LT 34 months) were studied. CsA was the main immunosuppressive drug used in each group. The median eGFR before, and at 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after LT in HB group was significantly lower than controls (93 vs. 152, 66 vs. 79, 62 vs. 86, 66 vs. 87, 64 vs. 94, 53 vs. 90 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively; 0.01 < p < 0.03). The reductions in the median eGFR of both the HB group and controls before and at 36 months after LT were 49 and 41%, respectively. At 36 months after LT, there was a trend for partial recovery of the eGFR in the controls but not in the HB group. Children who underwent LT for unresectable HB had renal dysfunction before transplantation that persisted for 36 months after LT.


OBJECTIVE
To describe pharmacokinetics of multi-dose oral administration of tacrolimus in healthy cats and evaluate the efficacy of tacrolimus in the prevention of allograft rejection in cats with renal transplants.

ANIMALS
6 healthy research cats.

PROCEDURE
Cats received tacrolimus (0.375 mg/kg, PO, q 12 h) for 14 days. Blood tacrolimus concentrations were measured by a high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry assay. Each cat received an immunogenically mismatched renal allograft and native kidney nephrectomy. Tacrolimus dosage was modified to maintain a target blood concentration of 5 to 10 ng/mL. Cats were euthanatized if plasma creatinine concentration exceeded 7 mg/dL, body weight loss exceeded 20%, or on day 50 after surgery. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted for 6 cats treated with tacrolimus and for 8 cats with renal transplants that did not receive immunosuppressive treatment.

RESULTS
Mean (+/- SD) values of elimination half-life, time to maximum concentration, maximum blood concentration, and area under the concentration versus time curve from the last dose of tacrolimus to 12 hours later were 20.5 +/- 9.8 hours, 0.77 +/- 0.37 hours, 27.5 +/- 31.8 ng/mL, and 161 +/- 168 hours x ng/mL, respectively. Tacrolimus treated cats survived longer (median, 44 days; range, 24 to 52 days) than untreated cats (median, 23 days; range, 8 to 34 days). On histologic evaluation, 3 cats had evidence of acute-active rejection, 1 cat had necrotizing vasculitis, and 2 cats euthanatized at study termination had normal appearing allografts.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Tacrolimus may be an effective immunosuppressive agent for renal transplantation in cats.


Background Accident-induced disability and death in women causes undesirable effects and imposes
significant costs on individuals, families, and society; this is because of the critical role of women in family
and community.
Objective This study aimed to investigate the accidents in women living in Qazvin Province, Iran, and its
related risk factors from 2006 to 2015.
Methods This descriptive study was conducted on 61954 women referring to hospitals due to accidents
in Qazvin Province. The obtained data were analyzed using frequency distribution, Chi-squared test, logistic
regression, and multivariate analysis.
Findings The prevalence rate of accidents among women was 14.1%. Most of the accidents occurred in
the age of 19-28 years, in the spring, and in the neighborhoods of the injured women. Trauma (25.3%),
and traffic accidents (20.1%) were the leading causes of accidents in the studied women.
Conclusion Injuries, and accidents among women living in Qazvin Province had a high incidence; mostly
women in the younger age groups were affected. Therefore, considering the importance of protecting
the health of female population in promoting health and maintaining public safety, planning for the
prevention of accidents and incidents in this population is crucial.


This essay suggests several ways to think about changing modes of commemoration of World War II in light of the arbitrary nature of calendars, the reasons we give to justify war, the role of bodies, and, the way we frame memory and history. It proposes an exceptionalist reading of the war and links its singular attributes to the unusual trajectory of its memorialization and commemoration. Finally, it turns to Mircea Eliade's theory of "eternal return" as a conceptual framework to reconsider the relationship between the uses of history and memory in modern commemorative practices.


Cliff effects in the Internal Revenue Code trigger a sudden increase of federal tax liability when some attribute of a taxpayer — most commonly income — exceeds a particular threshold value. As a result, two taxpayers in nearly identical economic situations can face considerably different tax liabilities depending on which side of the triggering criterion they fall. The magnitude of the equity and efficiency costs associated with cliff effects is significant: cliff effects are attached to tax provisions amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars, the majority of which are targeted at low- and moderate-income taxpayers.
Cliff effects have received little attention in legal academia. Prior scholarship has primarily discussed the relevant tax provisions in isolation, focusing on financial consequences on a single taxpayer or limiting analysis to taxpayers in one geographic area. This Article addresses the void in legal scholarship by first recognizing potential rationales for cliff effects and identifying situations where their definitional clarity might compensate for any equity and efficiency losses. Next, the individual and aggregate costs of cliff effects are quantified and plausible statutory alternatives are identified.
This Article argues that a cliff effect based on income is necessarily problematic on both equity and efficiency grounds because it improperly penalizes taxpayers and disincentivizes the economic empowerment the associated tax provision is intended to promote. A methodology is then provided by which these costs can be compared to the potential savings provided by the bright-line rule of the cliff effect. This empirical analysis is performed on the two cliff effects of the health premium subsidy of the Affordable Care Act and finds that the cliff effects will, if unchecked, represent a misallocation of over $8.5 billion by 2025.
This Article presents several options for replacing problematic cliff effects, including those in the health care subsidy. The most novel of these strategies awards a credit based on the severity of the cliff effect and ensures that no taxpayer is made worse off post-tax by virtue of earning more pre-tax income. The Article concludes by extending the analysis to cliff effects associated with state and local tax regimes and direct transfer programs.


Murdoch University's self-hosted Wordpress blogging platform was implemented in 2008 as an experiment in educational blogging. Since then, it has grown in popularity and is now used by academics as a teaching and evaluation tool. Unfortunately, there were no processes for its governance and support.

Murdoch University has a full-time Emerging Technologies Specialist employed to evaluate and propose technology pilots. The Emerging Technologies Specialist chose to trial the STREET process to guide an evaluation of the University's blogging needs and identify the best possible candidate to meet them.

STREET is a flexible process to guide to make informed decisions about whether or not to implement a technology to address a need in an organisation. Its name is the acronym for its six steps: Scope, Track, Rank, Evaluate, Evangelise and Transfer.

This candidate would need to be compatible with the existing IT ecosystem, flexible, easy to use and appropriately priced. It is expected that the outcome of this process will be a decision of which candidate to implement, strong evidence to support that decision, evangelisation to inspire support from Murdoch staff members and the knowledge transfer required for the Office of Information Technology Services to effectively and sustainably support the candidate.


The concept of human security is increasingly accepted as being integral to contemporary notions of national security because of a growing awareness of the importance of individual and societal well-being to national, regional and global peace and stability. Health is thus considered an important component of the predominant vision of human security. However, the precise meaning and scope of global health security remains contested partly due to suspicions about clandestine motives underlying framing health as a security issue. Consequently, low and middle-income countries have not engaged global discourse on health security. This has resulted in an unbalanced global health security agenda shaped primarily by the interests of highincome countries. It narrowly focuses on a few infectious diseases, bioterrorism and marginalizes health security threats of greater relevance to low and middle-income countries. Focusing primarily on countries in the WHO-AFRO region (the African Group), this paper examines the implications of the participation deficit by the African Group of countries on their shared responsibility towards global health security. The potential benefits of regional health security cooperation are analyzed using selected critical health security threats in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This paper concludes that the neglect of the African Group health security interests on the global health security agenda is partly due to their disengagement. Ensuring that multilateral health security cooperation includes the African Group's interests require that they participate in shaping the global health security agenda, as proposed in a putative SADC health security cooperation framework.


We present a static model of aggregate demand and unemployment. The economy has a nonproduced good, a produced good, and labor. Product and labor markets have matching frictions. A general equilibrium is a set of prices, market tightnesses, and quantities such that buyers and sellers optimize given prices and tightnesses, and actual tightnesses equal posted tightnesses. In each frictional market, there is one more variable than equilibrium condition. To close the model, we take all prices as parameters. We obtain the following results: (1) unemployment and unsold production prevail in equilibrium; (2) each market can be slack, efficient, or tight if the price is too high, efficient, or too low; (3) product market tightness and sales are positively correlated under aggregate demand shocks but negatively correlated under aggregate supply shocks; (4) transfers from savers to spenders stimulate aggregate demand, product market tightness, and employment; (5) the government-purchase multiplier is positive when the economy is slack, zero when the economy is efficient, and negative when the economy is tight; (6) with unequal distribution of profits and labor income, a wage increase may stimulate aggregate demand and reduce unemployment.


We observe that linear relations among Chern-Mather classes of projective varieties are preserved by projective duality. We deduce the existence of an explicit involution on a part of the Chow group of projective space, encoding the effect of duality on Chern-Mather classes. Applications include Pl\"ucker formulae, constraints on self-dual varieties, generalizations to singular varieties of classical formulas for the degree of the dual and the dual defect, formulas for the Euclidean distance degree, and computations of Chern-Mather classes and local Euler obstructions for cones.


Objective: Powered surgical instruments use to cut bones and fashion them for joint implant produce noise. Prior studies have not analyzed direct in vivo measurements of multiple procedures and exposure time. This study evaluates actual surgical noise levels exposure to the surgeon and this cumulative exposure that can result in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). What is known: Prior studies evaluated short duration noise exposure to surgical equipment in vitro, or in an operating room environment. What this adds: This study evaluated in vivo cumulative measurements over an entire operating day and the associated risks. Methods: Noise exposure to operating room personnel was measured during multiple knee replacement surgeries over three days. Measurements were compared to occupational exposure limits set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Results: Surgeons' noise exposures exceed noise occupational exposure limits. Recorded levels of 104 dBA did occur with levels of 85dBA found from 10-18% of the time. Conclusions: Surgeons performing multiple total knee replacements per day are at risk of NIHL due to noise exposures that exceed National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommendations. Surgeons should be included in a hearing loss prevention program. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level 1


Objective: Identify similarities and/or differences in the distribution of Value Added characterizing family businesses as opposed to non-family held firms, and analyse productivity by linking the distribution of the wealth generated by the company to a variety of related agents or stakeholders (employees, providers of loan capital, and shareholders). Design/methodology: A data series consisting of VA distribution in a sample of 8,609 Spanish companies, of which 5,109 are family firms and another 3,500 companies which are not, for the period comprising 2008 to 2013 was employed for this study. The data from the financial statements pertaining to these companies was taken from the SABI system (a privately-funded database analysing the financials of Spanish and Portuguese firms, operated by INFORMA, SA), selecting only those companies that employ standardized financial reporting practices. Findings and results: The work shows the existence of significant differences between family and non-family businesses in the distribution of value added among the different stakeholders. Given that, although both types of company spend most of the value added to remunerate staff, the family company spends a higher proportion thereof on self-financing as compared to non-family businesses, which spend a higher percentage on the remuneration of firm ownership. On the other hand, the lower labour productivity of family businesses is apparent, a result that can be explained both by the lower staff monetary remuneration, as well as the use of production technologies that are also less capital-intensive. Limitations: The study included only medium and large companies. These are companies that report financial statements offering more disaggregated data (through use of the standard forms). This owes to the legal requirement of these companies to file a cash flow statement, a necessary source for deriving information on dividends paid by the company. Added value: This is the first study in which the workings of added value are used to analyse the presence of measurable management differences in a large sample of companies using family ownership as the main criteria for differentiation.


Diabetic retinopathy is sometimes accompanied by macular oedema, leading to a marked decline in visual acuity. The standard treatment, in addition to glycaemic and blood pressure control, is laser photocoagulation, despite its modest efficacy. Ranibizumab (Lucentis, Novartis), a VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) inhibitor, was initially authorised for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the European Union. It is now also approved for the treatment of visual loss due to macular oedema in diabetic patients. In this setting, clinical evaluation of ranibizumab is mainly based on two double-blind randomised trials comparing ranibizumab + laser photocoagulation versus placebo + laser photo-coagulation in a total of about 1000 patients. Compared with placebo, addition of ranibizumab to laser therapy led to a marked improvement in visual acuity in approximately 15% of patients after 12 months of treatment. The improvement appeared to persist after 24 months of treatment. In a trial that included a group treated with ranibizumab alone, efficacy did not differ from that of the ranibizumab + laser combination. Uncertainties remain concerning the long-term efficacy of ranibizumab and its benefits in patients with poorly controlled diabetes or proliferative retinopathy. The adverse effect profile of ranibizumab in patients with diabetic macular oedema is similar to that reported in patients with AMD, and mainly includes ocular adverse effects such as pain, bleeding and increased intraocular pressure. A risk of systemic adverse effects, particularly cardiovascular disorders, should be kept in mind in case of long-term treatment. Ranibizumab can cause birth defects, even after intravitreal injection during pregnancy. Monthly treatment with ranibizumab is inconvenient, difficult and expensive. In practice, laser therapy remains the standard treatment for diabetic patients with significantly reduced visual acuity due to macular oedema. Ranibizumab, which requires intravitreal injections, should be restricted to second-line use.


Imagine sitting over a pile of applications submitted to one of the most prestigious funding agencies. Suddenly, what you read appears familiar—not only the idea, but its terminology and the methods proposed. You recognize entire sentences because you wrote them. This scenario must have been an utter surprise for one of the European Research Council's (ERC's) evaluation panel members who, last year, stumbled across the most bizarre case of scientific misconduct that the organization has witnessed so far. The proposal, submitted some years earlier to a funding agency on a different continent, was copied by one of the reviewers, a highly recognized scientist, and then submitted to the ERC. It was pure chance that the former applicant detected the fraud.


Weblogs are one of important Web-based services that establish the foundations of the Web 2.0. These days many companies propose free Weblog hosting and population services, because they realize that Weblogs are evolving to be a more topic based systems, and so they could be good places to gain more revenue. One of effective factors for gaining more revenue is blog popularity. Weblogs have posts that arranged chronologically with most recent first. Some of Weblog has many posts that cause difficulty in finding specific posts by each viewer. On the other hand unsuitable posts order can redouble this problem. This difficulty occasions reduction of Weblog popularity. As our researches on Farsi weblogs shown many viewers close some Weblog windows before completely loaded in their own Web browsers. Based on our research an important reason is the existence of vast amount of Weblog posts. Viewer interests can be beneficial if they utilize for adaptive filtering Weblogs and showing their contents. This paper represents an approach for filtering and reordering Weblog posts based on user's browsing history Experimental results show that our filtering approach can improve Weblog popularity and can increases Weblog viewers.


Background: Exercise can improve coronary blood flow in a healthy heart, but the vascular response of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) is different. The aim of this study was to systematically review the chronic effects of exercise on coronary arterial function in CAD patients. Materials and Methods: Six electronic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, "Scopus," Web of Science, EMBASE, and Google Scholar) covering publications from 1986 to 2019 were systematically searched with related keywords. Studies were included if they investigated changes in blood flow and coronary artery diameter in response to chronic exercise training in patients with CAD. A total of 5421 studies were assessed for quality and outcomes, and finally five studies met criteria for inclusion. For metaanalysis, the results of the studies were pooled using the randomeffects model. The heterogeneity between the studies was checked using I2 index. Results: The total sample population consisted of 108 CAD patients. According to the findings of this study, coronary artery function in adaptation with exercise showed that a period of exercise leads to statistically significant improvement in coronary flow velocity reserve (z = 3.15, P = 0.002; standardized mean difference [SMD] =2.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.88–3.78) (containing six trials). In addition, vasodilatory response of coronary arteries in response to endothelium-independent vasodilator nitroglycerin was investigated in three studies (containing four trials). A meta-analysis showed that performing chronic aerobic exercises did not make a significant change in the endothelium-independent vasodilator (z = 0.83, P = 0.40; SMD = −0.36, 95% CI: −1.21–0.49). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, aerobic exercises improve the endothelial function of coronary arteries and thereby the vascular vasomotion function, while the results of this meta-analysis showed no change in arterial smooth muscle's function by chronic aerobic exercises. This study reflects the lack of high- and medium-quality reports about the chronic effects of anaerobic and resistance exercises and the various methods of aerobic exercise on cardiovascular function.


Introduction: The surgical treatment of breast cancer frequently results in mutilation. Breast reconstruction in mastectomized women aims to create a new esthetically acceptable breast symmetrical to the contralateral breast. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of symmetrization of the contralateral breast simultaneously with breast reconstruction, discuss possible complications, and perform a brief review of the literature. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Plastic Surgery of Hospital Daher from October 2013 to February 2015. Breast reconstruction outcomes immediately after mastectomy for breast cancer were assessed, and all patients undergoing symmetrization of the contralateral breast in the same surgical stage using the same surgical technique were selected for inclusion and statistical analysis. Results: The study comprised 42 patients within the established criteria, totaling 21 reconstructions with simultaneous symmetrization (Group 1) and 21 symmetrization procedures in two stages (Group 2). The mean age was 53.86 years in Group 1 and 52.62 years in the control group. The groups were comparable in all variables. Data regarding postoperative complications were analyzed. Some of the studied patients did not complete all stages of reconstruction. The group that underwent immediate symmetrization attained more symmetry. The patients aged 45 years and with lower body mass index attained more symmetry in Group 1. Conclusion: The implementation of symmetrization procedures at the same stage of unilateral breast reconstruction is associated with low complication rates and revision surgeries. In selected cases, immediate symmetrization may be preferable to the procedure in another surgical stage. ■ ABSTRACT


The application of pulsed cavity ring-down spectroscopy has been demonstrated for the in situ quantitative determination of NO and NO2 in the exhaust of a diesel engine. NO absorption has been monitored at the transition from the X2Π ground state to the A2Σ+ state at 226 nm. For NO2, absorption bands in the spectral region from 438 nm to 450 nm were used. At the selected engine conditions, concentrations of 212±22 ppm and 29±4 ppm have been measured for NO and NO2, respectively, in good agreement with separate chemical exhaust gas analysis. The method is sensitive enough to meet the European Euro V standard directive on NOx emissions. This communication discusses the relatively simple setup needed for this type of measurement, the problems encountered, as well as the prospects for single-stroke, simultaneous measurements of both NO and NO2 at the sub-ppm level. PACS 42.68.Ca; 42.62.Fi; 07.88.+y


Mandated health benefit laws figure prominently in health reform debates. These laws, which are primarily enacted by the states, require health insurers to cover specific medical treatment, services, or supplies such as mental health treatment, mammograms, or diabetes testing supplies. Critics argue that mandated health benefit laws increase health insurance costs, decrease consumer choice, and often are the product of rent-seeking, rather than sound public policy. This article seeks to further the discussion of mandated health benefit laws by first systemically identifying permissible rationales for such laws. The justifications identified include addressing (1) market failure that leads to non-availability of coverage, (2) sub-optimal utilization of a medical treatment or service, (3) undesired insurance company coverage determinations, (4) cognitive shortcuts and biases, and (5) failures in the group market. For any of these justifications to be used, however, there must also be a viable justice claim for such coverage or the coverage must have a positive cost-benefit or cost-efficiency analysis compared to non-coverage. The article argues that being precise about the justification for a mandated health benefit law allows such a law to be precisely tailored to solving the problem which justifies its existence. These tailored mandates, referred to as value-based mandates, continue to advance the important policy goals of mandates, while being significantly more efficient than non-value-based mandates. The article concludes with three case studies of existing mandated benefit laws, analyzing each under the value-based framework set forth in the first part of the article.


Structured decorative patterns are common ornamentations in a variety of media like books, web pages, greeting cards and interior design. Creating such art from scratch using conventional software is time consuming for experts and daunting for novices. We introduce DecoBrush, a data-driven drawing system that generalizes the conventional digital "painting" concept beyond the scope of natural media to allow synthesis of structured decorative patterns following user-sketched paths. The user simply selects an example library and draws the overall shape of a pattern. DecoBrush then synthesizes a shape in the style of the exemplars but roughly matching the overall shape. If the designer wishes to alter the result, DecoBrush also supports user-guided refinement via simple drawing and erasing tools. For a variety of example styles, we demonstrate high-quality user-constrained synthesized patterns that visually resemble the exemplars while exhibiting plausible structural variations.


This article explores the use of an evaluation model of learning and development utilizing formative, summative, and confirmative steps, along with a framework for developing evaluation tools aligned with organizational change goals. A case study is presented in which formative, summative, and confirmative evaluations were used to assess materials and learners following implementation of a new performance management process, tools, and supporting training. A specific model for developing evaluation tools and techniques is introduced as a way to integrate the evaluation process with the specific content of a learning and development intervention, as well as link to higher-order cultural change goals. Results of the case study suggest that evaluation tools can provide evidence of improvement and target areas for further work. Recommendations are provided for the researcher or practitioner interested in applying the same or similar models to evaluation.


A central aim of evolutionary genomics is to identify the relative roles that various evolutionary forces have played in generating and shaping genetic variation within and among species. Here we use whole-genome resequencing data to characterize and compare genome-wide patterns of nucleotide polymorphism, site frequency spectrum, and population-scaled recombination rates in three species of Populus: Populus tremula, P. tremuloides, and P. trichocarpa. We find that P. tremuloides has the highest level of genome-wide variation, skewed allele frequencies, and population-scaled recombination rates, whereas P. trichocarpa harbors the lowest. Our findings highlight multiple lines of evidence suggesting that natural selection, due to both purifying and positive selection, has widely shaped patterns of nucleotide polymorphism at linked neutral sites in all three species. Differences in effective population sizes and rates of recombination largely explain the disparate magnitudes and signatures of linked selection that we observe among species. The present work provides the first phylogenetic comparative study on a genome-wide scale in forest trees. This information will also improve our ability to understand how various evolutionary forces have interacted to influence genome evolution among related species.


First of the widely celebrated and sumptuously illustrated series, this book reveals in intimate detail what life was really like in the ancient world. Behind the vast panorama of the pagan Roman empire, the reader discovers the intimate daily lives of citizens and slaves--from concepts of manhood and sexuality to marriage and the family, the roles of women, chastity and contraception, techniques of childbirth, homosexuality, religion, the meaning of virtue, and the separation of private and public spaces. The emergence of Christianity in the West and the triumph of Christian morality with its emphasis on abstinence, celibacy, and austerity is startlingly contrasted with the profane and undisciplined private life of the Byzantine Empire. Using illuminating motifs, the authors weave a rich, colorful fabric ornamented with the results of new research and the broad interpretations that only masters of the subject can provide.


In March, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the market for municipal securities was severely stressed: mutual fund redemptions sparked unprecedented selling of municipal securities, yields increased sharply, and issuance dried up. In this post, we describe the evolution of municipal bond market conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. We show that conditions in municipal markets have improved significantly, in part a result of the announcement and implementation of several Federal Reserve facilities. Yields have decreased substantially, mutual funds have received significant inflows, and issuance has rebounded. These improvements in municipal market conditions help ensure that state and local governments have better access to funding for critical capital investments.


A model of one of the twin hulls of the Italian Savoia S-55-X flying boat (N.A.C.A. Model 46) was tested in the N.A.C.A. tank according to the general method. The data obtained from these tests cover a broad range of speeds, loads, and trims and are given in nondimensional form to facilitate their use in applying this form of hull to any other flying boat or comparing it's performance with the performance of any other hulls. The results show that the resistance characteristics at best trim of this model are excellent throughout the speed range. In order to compare the performance of the S-55-X hull with that of the 35, a pointed-step hull developed at the N.A.C.A. tank, the data are used in the computations of take-off example of a twin-hull, 23,500-pound flying boat. The calculations show that the S-55-X hull has better take-off performance.


This paper presents a field study of decision-making processes at two organizations operating in high-velocity environments. It reviews existing literature on managerial knowledge structures and decision-making, and identifies methodological and conceptual limitations with these approaches with respect to organizations in high-velocity environments. The authors develop two interpretive cases that focus on the articulated and social methods management teams used to make decisions. They found that both organizations used rules of thumb or heuristic reasoning in their decisionmaking, that these rules of thumb functioned as headlines of deeper organizational narratives, and that these narratives were grounded in emotional as well as purely rational considerations. They suggest that the term 'guiding principle' usefully integrates their three findings into a second-order concept that may be further explored in future research of both a descriptive and prescriptive nature.


Climate extremes and their physical impacts - including droughts, fires, floods, heat waves, storm surges and tropical cyclones - are important structuring forces in riverine ecosystems. Climate change is expected to increase the future occurrence of extremes, with potentially devastating effects on rivers and streams. We synthesise knowledge of extremes and their impacts on riverine ecosystems in Australia, a country for which projected changes in event characteristics reflect global trends. Hydrologic extremes play a major structuring role in river ecology across Australia. Droughts alter water quality and reduce habitat availability, driving organisms to refugia. Extreme floods increase hydrological connectivity and trigger booms in productivity, but can also alter channel morphology and cause disturbances such as hypoxic blackwater events. Tropical cyclones and post-cyclonic floods damage riparian vegetation, erode stream banks and alter water quality. Cyclone-induced delivery of large woody debris provides important instream habitat, although the wider ecological consequences of tropical cyclones are uncertain. Wildfires destroy catchment vegetation and expose soils, increasing inputs of fine sediment and nutrients to streams, particularly when followed by heavy rains. Research on the impacts of heat waves and storm surges is scarce, but data on temperature and salinity tolerances, respectively, may provide some insight into ecological responses. We identify research gaps and hypotheses to guide future research on the ecology of extreme climate events in Australia and beyond. A range of phenomenological, experimental and modelling approaches is needed to develop a mechanistic understanding of the ecological impact of extreme events and inform prediction of responses to future change.


The Solid-state transformer (SST) has been proposed by researchers to replace the regular distribution transformer in the future smart grid. The SST provides ports for the integration of storage and distributed generation (DG), e.g., photovoltaic (PV), and enables the implementation of power quality features. This paper proposes a SST topology based on a quad-active-bridge (QAB) converter which not only provides isolation for the load, but also for DG and storage. A gyrator-based average model is developed for a general multiactive-bridge (MAB) converter, and expressions to determine the power rating of the MAB ports are derived. These results are then applied to analyze the QAB converter. For the control of the dc-dc stage of the proposed QAB-based SST integrating PV and battery, a technique that accounts for the cross-coupling characteristics of the QAB converter in order to improve the regulation of the high-voltage-dc link is introduced. This is done by transferring the disturbances onto the battery. The control loops are designed using single-input single-output techniques with different bandwidths. The dynamic performance of the control strategy is verified through extensive simulation and experimental results.


Possibly the largest interconnected systems in the world are telecommunications networks for public and private use. The principles underlying the design of the transmission and terminal components in this worldwide network are well established and coherent; however those involving the design of the switching center component are not. Based on the author's many years of experience in the design of telecommunications switching systems, this book explains the basic principles of switching system design and provides a unified approach to modern computer control and digital systems as well as the much more numerous electromechanical systems that comprise most of the switching equipment in public use today."Telecommunications Switching Principles" is a basic reference and text in the use and design of telecommunications switching systems. Anyone who knows basic electronics and has some idea of the internal structure of simple computer systems will be able to use the book. It provides a fundamental background on the subject and an understanding of modern developments, especially in digital systems and computer control for practicing engineers, persons involved in providing of manufacturing switching equipment, and communication systems managers. It is based on courses given at the postgraduate level and could form the basis of a final year course in telecommunication engineering, teleprocessing, or real-time computer systems for graduate and undergraduate students in electrical engineering.


A prominent business case for employing older people in the 2000s suggests diverse employment opportunities existed for Britons over 65, despite their limited employment rights. However, it is hypothesized that employees over 65 were disproportionately segregated into less desired 'Lopaq' occupations: these were low paid, required few qualifications and were often part-time. The UK is contrasted with the USA, a country with long-established age discrimination legislation; the Labour Force Survey and Current Population Survey are analysed. A greater UK concentration in Lopaq occupations suggests employers, working in a context of limited employee rights, selectively retained and recruited people in their 60s to these jobs. An alternative explanation, that Lopaq employment levels reflected the characteristics of those choosing to work, is unsupported by logistic regression analysis. US evidence suggests that the 2011 default retirement age abolition will weaken UK Lopaq occupational segregation after 65 more than voluntaristic commitments to 'age-diversity'.


Rationale: Few studies had reported syndromes that include patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) with Eisenmenger syndrome and congenital deafness clustered in male siblings without facial, skeletal, or mental abnormalities. Patient concerns: Two brothers, who were deaf and had PDA with Eisenmenger complex, were first seen at our Cardiology clinic at the ages of 25 and 41, respectively. They presented with progressive dyspnea on exertion. Upon physical examination, both brothers had clubbing and/or cyanotic toes, normal fingers, and without facial, skeletal, ophthalmological, or mental abnormalities. Diagnoses and interventions: Echocardiography and multidetector computed tomography revealed large PDAs in both brothers. Cardiac catheterization showed bidirectional shunting via the PDA. Outcomes and lessons: Familial clustering of Eisenmenger PDA and congenital deafness is rare. Further studies are warranted to define possible genetic links.


= Abstract The Molecular Basis of Cancer arms you with the latest knowledge and cutting-edge advances in the battle against cancer. This thoroughly revised, comprehensive oncology reference explores the scientific basis for our current understanding of malignant transformation and the pathogenesis and treatment of this disease. A team of leading experts thoroughly explains the molecular biologic principles that underlie the diagnostic tests and therapeutic interventions now being used in clinical trials and practice. Detailed descriptions of topics from molecular abnormalities in common cancers to new approaches for cancer therapy equip you to understand and apply the complexities of ongoing research in everyday clinical application.


It is estimated that approximately 3 million students are enrolled as international students, and it is possible to project that this number may reach more than 7 million by 2025. As global demand exceeds the supply, competition is building for the best of these students. Some countries (or regions) clearly envisage the opportunity this represents and have been strongly stimulating student mobility. There is a race for "brains", be it for professors at the end of their careers looking for new professional opportunities and/or the opportunity to return to their native countries, or for researchers at the beginning of their careers, looking for a place that might offer them a better future, or even for students, who seek more appealing alternatives. How will Brazil fare in this competition for talent? If it is to internationalize its higher education study programs, Brazil must deal with a number of practical problems, including a lack of specific policies and guidelines. Bureaucracy, for instance, is one major problem. A foreigner who comes to live in Brazil faces many obstacles, mainly due to the bureaucracy involved in everything from getting a Visa through the Federal Police office, to opening up a bank account, renting an apartment, registering at school, amongst many other processes and regulations that make it difficult for anyone to come and live in Brazil. One rarely finds a course offered in English or Spanish in a Brazilian university and the selection of faculty are normally held in Portuguese. Currently, there are no plans or projects at either the federal or state level, to address these obstacles. This should be a major concern to all who hold positions of responsibility in the educational process, as Brazil is not keeping pace with higher education reforms found globally. The internationalization movement is growing, and Brazil must actively seek reforms to keep pace with economic competitors.