The 2000 Care Standards Act led to the setting up the General Social Care Council (GSCC) as the new governing professional body for social workers and other social care employees in England.1 The GSCC published national Codes of Practice for social care staff and their employers in 2002, whilst 1 April 2003 saw the introduction of the Social Care Register. The stated aim of these developments is to protect the public, improve the quality of care offered by social workers and increase public confidence in the profession. However, such intentions disguise the increase in regulatory control that the GSCC and social care employers have gained over the workforce—intrusions that have met relatively little criticism. By locating these developments within a broader social context, one in which risk and its management are at the forefront of contemporary social policy and practice, this paper argues that underlying the debate is a climate of fear and distrust in which there is a tendency to view people as either vulnerable, dangerous or both. Such a degraded view of the subjects of social work also pertains to social workers themselves, who are simultaneously seen as assessors of risk, at risk and as a risk.


This paper explores, both theoretically and empirically, how firing costs affect worker productivity and turnover. We develop a model in which workers are essential to knowledge transfer between firms and worker effort is firm-specific in the sense that a worker can be fired before reaping any returns from effort (i.e., before acquiring knowledge valuable to competing firms). Our model shows that the hold-up risk faced by workers induces them to curtail their innovative effort. However, an increase in firing costs inhibits the firm's ability to hold up the worker and thereby leads the worker to exert higher effort. The increased productivity, in turn, affects turnover probability and the magnitude of this effect depends primarily on the degree to which the worker's knowledge stock is transferable to competing firms. In our empirical analysis, we consider the passage of the wrongful discharge laws in the U.S. as a mechanism that increases firing costs. Using individual-level data constructed from patents issued to inventors by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), we find supporting evidence for the model's implications. ∗We would like to thank Jed DeVaro and participants at the 2018 Colloquium on Personnel Economics (Munich) for their insightful discussions and suggestions. The financial support of Spain's Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ECO2016-75961-R) is greatly acknowledged. †Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; firstname.lastname@example.com ‡IESE Business School; email@example.com.


BACKGROUND: Neurogenic and referred leg pain are some of the most challenging clinical problems in spinal surgery due to the diversity of conditions that can act as aetiological factors.
METHODS: The literature was reviewed and combined with case studies to demonstrate different aetiological factors.
RESULTS: At least 300 conditions were identified that might cause neurogenic and referred leg pain. An aetiological classification of neurogenic and referred leg pain is presented. The classification includes systemic conditions, conditions from the brain, spinal cord, cervical and thoracic spinal canal, lumbar spinal canal, lumbar nerve root canal, lumbar extraforaminal area, the pelvis and the lower extremity. Each one of these conditions can mimic a lumbar disc herniation accurately.
CONCLUSION:The aetiological classification can be used as a checklist when evaluating neurogenic and referred leg pain. Each condition deserves careful consideration and when overlooked might result in a missed diagnosis.


Type 1 diabetes results from the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing β cells in the pancreas. Genetic and, as yet undefined, environmental factors act together to precipitate the disease. The excess mortality associated with the complications of type 1 diabetes and the increasing incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes emphasize the importance of therapeutic strategies to prevent this chronic disorder. Why is it considered that type 1 diabetes might be preventable? Different strands of diabetes research are coming together to suggest therapeutic targets. Islet cell autoantibody assays make it possible to accurately identify people at risk of future disease. In most cases, a long prodrome provides a window of opportunity to reverse the autoimmune process. Although no current "cure" exists, recent genetic data and preliminary trial results suggest T cells as a target for preventive strategies. Another potentially attainable target is induction of tolerance to the β-cell proteins such as insulin that are inappropriately recognized. Other strategies involve β-cell replacement, but currently there are insufficient donor cells available. This may be overcome as the processes controlling the differentiation of pancreatic and nonpancreatic progenitors as well as replication of existing islet β cells are unravelled.


The aim of the present paper is to analyze the production and export performance of major Fresh and Dry fruits in Jammu and Kashmir. This paper will also give some suggestion for increasing the production in Jammu and Kashmir. The Regression analysis has been done in order to see changes in production during the study period. Under the changing agricultural scenario, it has been realized that the horticulture sector plays a vital role in providing livelihood security to the farmers globally. Area, production, productivity and export of horticultural produces are vital for increasing farm income and overall employment in the agricultural sector. Horticulture in recent years has emerged as an important and viable option in agriculture and has transformed the subsistence level of farming into a high value commercial enterprise. Horticulture crops provide food and nutritional security, generate employment, maintain ecological balance and provide raw materials for agro-processing industries, thereby improving the economy of state. Horticulture sector in the state of Jammu and Kashmir has a large share in export earnings and employment potential in the state.


Introduction Interpersonal violence is an epidemic in South Africa and remains an under-reported and expensive burden on health resources. In most of the developing world there is little or no descriptive information about the expense of treating the consequences of interpersonal violence. Objective To review the direct burden of interpersonal violence on a tertiary hospital in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, an area known to have high rates of poverty and violent crime. Material and methods A retrospective case note review of emergency hospital admissions between January and March 2013 was carried out. The reports included demographic characteristics, admitting diagnosis and surgical management. Case files were reviewed to determine cost drivers, such as radiological investigations, blood products, theatre usage and specialist care. Results Trauma accounted for 374 hospital admissions from the emergency department, of which 142 (38%) were attributable to interpersonal violence (16% of total admissions). One hundred and fifty-six hospital bed days were used over the study period. The average inpatient stay was 9.8 days with 58% requiring a resuscitation bed on admission. One-third of patients underwent emergency surgery and eight patients required postoperative intensive care. The minimum hospital expenditure for interpersonal violence injuries over 3 months was R8 367 788 ($783 960). Discussion Interpersonal violence is the source of a significant financial burden on the South African health system. Patients are often severely injured and require a high level of specialist investigations and surgical care. This study gives evidence to improve budget and workload planning for regional surgical departments and supports the need for more effective primary prevention.


The Smith Company is a private investment company whose primary investment objective is to provide an endowment-like stream of dividends to the members of the Smith family. The company invests primarily in publicly traded equities, although it also owns a few municipal bonds. The president's letter to shareholders for the year 2000 discusses the so-called Great Internet Bubble, the returns to growth and value stocks, the company's pre-tax equity track record since the family sold its operating businessin 1974, the dividend behavior of the S&P 500, and the misuse of corporate cash.


In its upcoming term, the Court will decide in Snyder v. Phelps whether Albert Snyder can sue the Reverend Fred Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress for protesting near his son's funeral. Those arguing in favor of tort liability claim that the Phelps' speech during a time of mourning and vulnerability is especially outrageous and injurious and that the First Amendment allows such regulation. Their arguments, however, effectively rely on the offensiveness of the Phelps' message rather than on any external indicia of harm, such as noisy or disruptive speech, or resulting violence. But the Court's longstanding precedents do not allow regulation of speech solely based on its offensive content absent those objective indicia of harm. Psychological research on emotions validates the Court's approach as it reveals that anger, the emotion most likely to be involved with offensive speech, is inextricably linked with censorship. Put simply, individuals are often angered by demeaning offenses to their personal or social identity, including speech that is critical of their values and beliefs. As a result, they are often stirred to responsive action. The availability of civil lawsuits based solely on emotional harm would thus provide offended plaintiffs with potential tools to censor speech with which they disagree. The Supreme Court has wisely steered clear of such an approach and should continue to do so in Snyder.


Settlement of roadway pavement surfaces in the vicinity of highway bridge abutments often leads to abrupt grade differences at the abutments. These grade differences subject travelling vehicles to a "bump" which leads to driver discomfort and potentially unsafe driving conditions, causes vehicle wear and damages sensitive cargo, subjects the bridge structure to repeated impact loads, and requires costly and repeated maintenance work that usually impedes the flow of traffic. To eliminate the bump at the end of the bridge, WSDOT and other agencies often install an approach slab with one end supported on the bridge and the other on the soil at some distance from the end of the bridge. Approach slabs are often, but not always, effective in improving vehicle ride characteristics at bridge approaches subject to settlement. A review of previous research indicated numerous potential causes of bridge approach distress, indicating that bridge approach settlement is largely a site-specific problem. A field investigation of nine distressed bridge approaches confirmed this observation. Recommendations for bridge approach design are presented. The objectives of the research described in this report were to evaluate the effectiveness of bridge approach slabs, to identify site conditions for which approach slabs should and should not be used, and to present recommendations for the use of approach slabs.


Educational games are an increasingly popular teaching tool in modern classrooms. However, the development of complementary tools for teachers facilitating classroom gameplay is lacking. We present the results of a participatory design process for a teacher-facing, real-time game data dashboard. This two-phase process included a workshop to elicit teachers' requirements for such a tool, and a pilot study of our dashboard prototype. We analyze post-gameplay survey and interview data to understand teachers' experiences with the tool in terms of evidence of co-design, feasibility, and effectiveness. Our results indicate the participatory design yielded a tool both useful for and usable by teachers within the context of a real class gameplay session. We advocate for the continued development of data-driven teacher tools to improve the effectiveness of games deployed in the classroom.


The growing complexity of embedded systems software entails new development techniques. Component-Based Software Engineering is undoubtedly suitable for the development of complex systems thanks to its inherent component reuse. Another approach to reduce software complexity is by partitioning the system behavior into different operational modes. Each mode is associated with a unique behavior and the system can change behavior by switching between modes. When such a multi-mode system is developed by reusable software components, a crucial issue is how to achieve a seamless composition of multi-mode components and also how to handle mode switch properly. As an integrated solution to the challenges of multi-mode component-based software system development we have proposed the Mode Switch Logic (MSL). The current version of MSL assumes independent handling of a single mode switch scenario, i.e. that no other mode switch is triggered until an ongoing mode switch is completed. For a wide class of systems, this is an unrealistic assumption. In this paper we lift this assumption by proposing an extension of MSL to handle multiple mode switch scenarios concurrently triggered by different components.


Christians were confronted with many other religions during the expansion of Christianity. What was their attitude towards these other religions? Apparently Christians reacted very differently. Earlier I argued that the Christians in Philippi adopted some elements of the cult of Euephenes, an initiate in the Kabeiric cult of Samothrace. The Kabeiric cult was very much present in Thessalonica as well. In this article I argued that, here too, Christians took over some elements of the Kabeiric cult. In some other cities non-Christian cults were eliminated. These different reactions towards other religions and cults seemed to stem from the local situation. In particular, local religious customs seem to have been adopted and to have taken precedence over well-known national or even international religions. Apparently, it was very difficult for people to abandon strong local rituals. In 1997, Andries van Aarde and Sanrie van Zijl published a very interesting article in which they drew attention to the pagan Hellenistic background that may have played a role in the development of Christology. Though more aspects should be taken into consideration it is self-evident to me that the entire history of the Christian church can be understood only against the background of the whole contemporary world. For example, Christians reacted very differently to non-Christian cults after they had assumed power in the Roman Empire. Sometimes temples and shrines were devastated, sometimes they were reused as churches. And sometimes elements of other cults were adopted in a more or less Christianised form. Recently I argued that in Philippi the cult of Euephenes, an initiate in the cult of the Kabeiroi on Samothrace, was succeeded by the veneration of Paul. In the present article, however, I focused on the cult of Kabeiros in Thessalonica and its impact on the cult of Demetrios that was already thriving there, whereby the latter cult began to incorporate elements of the former. I concluded the article with short remark about the way Christians elsewhere adopted or rejected other cults, touching on the question why, in some cases, an older cult was integrated into the Christian cult and why it was terminated in other cases.


On construction sites, there are unsolved security concerns. Equipment misplacement
and theft, labour fraud and regulatory constraints require construction companies
to keep a close watch on personnel and equipment, in order to prevent unnecessary
costs. Due to the opaque nature of constructions sites and their workflow, this is
very labour-intensive to achieve, mitigating the potential savings.
Video surveillance partly solves this problem by keeping watch over construction
sites for undesired activity, however much of unwanted activity remains unseen by
cameras. A localisation system is required to keep better track of people and equip-
ment, however the constraints imposed by typical construction sites prevent us from
using existing localisation systems. The localisation system should be low-cost, low-
infrastructure and low-maintenance.
We show that our design is capable of fulfilling these requirements, among others,
and achieve good progress towards an acceptable accuracy. The solution we devise
is capable of working with only a single reference node position, low-cost blind
nodes without any meaningful processing power, and without an extensive set-up
and calibration phase. Our study includes field tests to measure the performance of
the design.
Future work is recommended to improve the design in order to fully fulfill the
requirements, however the current design is already reasonably satisfactory. By using
the design on construction sites, construction companies will gain increased insight
into the placement and movement of employees and equipment.


In previous work, we used techniques from mathematical logic and model theory to study and compare two phonological theories, SPE and Government Phonology. The surprising result was that Government Phonology corresponds to a very weak fragment of SPE, yet it can attain the full expressivity of the latter through more powerful mechanisms of feature spreading. An issue that we didn't elaborate on, however, is the question of what this increase in expressivity buys us in terms of empirical coverage, which we pick up in this paper. Again making good use of our model theoretic techniques, we investigate two phonological phenomena — Sanskrit n-retroflexion and primary stress assignment in Creek and Cairene Arabic — and show how much power feature spreading has to be granted in any descriptively adequate account which does not invoke additional technical machinery. These technical results are accompanied by reflections on the relation between empirically minded theory comparisons and the model theoretic approach. Comparing Incomparable Frameworks: A Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology


Independent financial advisers are in a great position to provide customised financial training and planning to their clients and through their services can assist the National Treasury in creating a more financially responsible nation. To succeed over the long term, however, it would be imperative for these advisers to build good relationships with their clients and ensure they remain loyal. As such, this article aims to provide more insight into relationship marketing dimensions that independent financial advisers could employ to create a loyal client base.
The study population consisted of all clients of independent financial advisers in the North-West Province of South Africa. The convenience non-probability sampling technique was applied and standard multiple regression analysis as well as the independent sample t-tests was used to analyse the findings obtained from the 139 self-administered questionnaires that were returned.
From the results it became evident that only commitment and customer satisfaction can be viewed as true predictors of customer loyalty.
Ultimately, the contribution of this article is to provide guidelines to independent financial advisers for maintaining a loyal client base that will enable them to strategise with their clients over the long term, achieve their saving goals, and become financially independent.


AIM
To evaluate the proportion of successful complete cure en-bloc resections of large colorectal polyps achieved by endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR).

METHODS
Studies using the EMR technique to resect large colorectal polyps were selected. Successful complete cure en-bloc resection was defined as one piece margin-free polyp resection. Articles were searched for in Medline, Pubmed, and the Cochrane Control Trial Registry, among other sources.

RESULTS
An initial search identified 2620 reference articles, from which 429 relevant articles were selected and reviewed. Data was extracted from 25 studies (n = 5221) which met the inclusion criteria. All the studies used snares to perform EMR. Pooled proportion of en-bloc resections using a random effect model was 62.85% (95% CI: 51.50-73.52). The pooled proportion for complete cure en-bloc resections using a random effect model was 58.66% (95% CI: 47.14-69.71). With higher patient load (> 200 patients), this complete cure en-bloc resection rate improves from 44.19% (95% CI: 24.31-65.09) to 69.17% (95% CI: 51.11-84.61).

CONCLUSION
EMR is an effective technique for the resection of large colorectal polyps and offers an alternative to surgery.


Developments in the field of cognitive psychology shifted the focus of teacher research from publicly-observable behaviors (i.e., those that can be objectively perceived, recorded, and measured) to discovering underlying motivations and deeper structures of teaching or teacher cognition. This article describes the thought process of two secondary school teachers in the Philippines as they make their instructional decisions. It also shows the factors that constrain their decisions and how they cope with these constraints. Through classroom observations and interviews, the teachers' instructional decisions in teaching were elicited. The findings reveal that the teachers' decision-making process is recursive and cognitively demanding as teachers need to balance the demands of the prescribed curriculum and the realities of the classroom. To do this, they have to recognize the tentativeness of their plans so that they can "pull out" alternative activities called for by the situation.


Incorporating green manure crops into soil may increase P bioavail-ability for succeeding crops. We conducted a greenhouse study to evaluate the effects of green manures on biomass and P utilization of a succeeding grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] crop. Four perennial forages and four winter annual cover crops were grown in pots, killed, and incorporated into the soil before planting sorghum in the same pots. Sorghum P uptake was positively correlated with perennial forage P uptake. Among winter cover crops, sorghum P uptake following white lupine (Lupinus albus L.) was lower than in all other treatments, including the control (no previous cover crop), even though lupine biomass, N content, and P uptake were two to three times greater than those of the other winter cover crops. Phosphorus uptake differed slightly among the other three winter cover crops but sorghum P uptake was not correlated to winter cover crop P uptake. Thus, among winter cover crops, plant type rather than P uptake seemed to influence the subsequent sorghum crop's P uptake. However, sorghum biomass following the three winter cover crops other than lupine was greater than sorghum biomass in the control treatment, indicating that there was a beneficial cover crop rotation effect among these three winter cover crops. Soil samples were collected and analyzed for Bray-1 P when green manure crops were planted, when they were incorporated into the soil, when sorghum was planted and when sorghum was harvested. These data showed that the Bray-1 soil P test has little potential to predict differences in P uptake and release among different types of green manures and it has limited potential to predict P uptake by sorghum following incorporation of green manures.


"This paper addresses the question of whether Africa is an undertrading continent. We answer this question using a much-improved data set for obtaining predicted trade and by employing methods that correct for bias in estimates of undertrading. Our results indicate that globally Africa is an underexporter in our preferred Heckman specification. This result is robust to the addition of various controls and the application of variants of the gravity model of trade. We also looked for explanations for Africa's undertrading. We found that accounting for transport and communication infrastructure reduced the undertrading effect for Africa, and in some specifications of the gravity model, the under-trading effect vanished altogether. Results from a semiparametric model provided evidence of significant nonlinear impacts from infrastructure, and the effects for a large number of African countries was significant and compared favorably with the marginal effects of infrastructure in countries on other continents and in comparable income brackets. Using this model we also found evidence of complementarity across transport and communication infrastructure, implying that much greater impacts will be likely if the infrastructure are developed jointly rather than in isolation." from Author's Abstract


We have implemented an adjustable traveling-wave method of excitation for the transverse pumping of laser media based on tilting one of the gratings of the compressor of a chirped pulse amplification [Opt. Commun.56, 219 (1985)] (CPA) laser chain. We show that the only requirement to obtain the best locally compressed pulse is to slightly tilt and translate one of the gratings from its original position. Exact and approximate expressions of these two motions are derived, allowing an easy reconfiguration of any CPA laser. An experimental validation is performed with the first observation of a unidirectional soft-x-ray lasing when subpicosecond pumping pulses are used.


Background Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a tool to identify, assess and prevent possible failures that could occur in a process. Purpose To describe FMEA as a method to identify weaknesses in the process of prescription and transcription of medical orders. To isolate the key steps according to their risk priority number (Rpn). To report the steps taken. Materials and Methods A multidisciplinary study group was assembled. Possible errors in the prescription/transcription workflow were identified and classified according to their RPN score (calculated by multiplying the severity, occurrence, and detection). Strategies for improvement were established. Results Errors in the prescription were classified as follows: (1) Patient-and-history identification, (2) Clinical and laboratory data checkout, (3) Treatment conciliation, (4) Allergies, (5) Verbal prescription, (6) Handwritten prescription. Errors in transcription: (7) Patient identification (nurse), (8) Internally mailed prescriptions, (9) Paper transcription, (10) Check in pharmacy, (11) Patient identification (pharmacist), (12) Prescription validation, (13) Prescription printing, and (14) Acknowledgement of errors by the pharmacist. Top-ranked item (number), suggested solution, and indicator, respectively were: (5) Verbal prescription (288), storage of verbal prescriptions in pharmacy, % of verbal prescriptions; (9) Failure in paper transcription (288), computerised physician order entry (CPOE), % of electronic prescriptions; (14) Error report to the pharmacist (288), implementation of a two-way communication protocol, number of reports; (8) Paper-based prescriptions sent to pharmacy (243), CPOE, % of electronic prescriptions; (10) Check in pharmacy (216), CPOE, % of electronic prescriptions. The pharmacy, medical director, and Quality Unit were responsible for the changes undertaken in all cases. Conclusions Verbal prescription, failure in paper transcription, error report and mailed prescriptions to pharmacy were the steps with the highest risk of error. For most cases, CPOE was implemented, whereas the percentage of electronic prescriptions was the key indicator to measure the overall improvement in these processes. In conclusion, further efforts and pharmacy policies should focus on the implementation of CPOE in all inpatient areas, thus preventing failure of prescription/transcription and validation loops. No conflict of interest.


Title of Document: THE INFLUENCE OF PREDATOR SPECIES RICHNESS ON PREY MORTALITY: IMPLICATIONS TO CONSERVATION BIOLOGICAL CONTROL. Scott Asher Lewins, Master of Science, 2006 Directed By: Professor, Pedro Barbosa, Department of Entomology Understanding how changes in biodiversity affect the function of agroecosystems is paramount to conservation biological control. The Species Assemblage Control Hypothesis predicts increasing species richness of predator assemblages can increase the assemblages' ability to suppress pests. I hypothesized that an increase in species richness of a predator assemblage leads to an increase in prey mortality and predator species identity can alter the relationship. An assemblage of predators identified from an assessment of a collard agroecosystem was evaluated to find that only some predators fed on larval Pieris rapae, they did not differ in their per capita consumption, and some intraguild predation occurred. In testing the hypotheses I found a significant relationship between predator species richness and prey mortality; however, predator species identity altered the relationship. These findings highlight the importance in understanding predator assemblages before conservation decisions that effectively suppress pests can be made. THE INFLUENCE OF PREDATOR SPECIES RICHNESS ON PREY MORTALITY: IMPLICATIONS TO CONSERVATION BIOLOGICAL CONTROL.


Empirical indicators of social and social stratification of soviet and modern society of Russia are present in sociological research tools of different times. Actual social agenda through the reflection of sociologists' scientific thought and fixation in research questionnaire allows to see development of Russian sociology along with the changes in its conceptual system. This article covers results of analysis of research questionnaires presented in the Joint Economic and Social Data Archive for the period 1980s to 2014. Review of empirical indicators ("education", "social status", "quality of life" and others) permit us to observe several objective and subjective "codes" that help to identify/decode bases of social structure and social stratification of society undegoing transformation with the course of time. 1980s actualize such sort of objective "code" as education – the very fact of its obtaining allowed any person to enter a social group and determined his/her way of life. Association of education, profession and status was transformed in 1990s; new "code" of social structure identifying/decoding emerged – money. This "code" is partially hidden behind category of "social status", prestige of public activity, special knowledge or competences but is mostly equal to quality of life in fact. Along with the objective "codes", subjective ones are also actual for modern society and its reality describing such "code" as self-identification consisting of self-evaluation, evaluation of individual capacities to get desired position in social structure etc. "Codes" at different periods reflect stability or potential conflict of social-structural relations and interaction (and society in general) and are in the focus of empirical investigations now. One more very important – for social structure analysis – "code" is extent/volume of power and authority potential of different population groups that can also define and reflect quality of life. Registering of this "code" reflects social structure more completely and adequately. During last years bureaucratic structures and administrative staff machinery grew up and widened their authority. Process of this kind is typical for a number of countries. Changes in social structure that bring this process along with bureaucracy authorities affect most of social life spheres and conflict with interests of other social groups. Researchers' interest for this indicator of social structure could help to outline new "code" of social processes understanding – social influence as a factor that forms quality of life of different social groups along with the direction of social development in general.


Multi-word expressions evade a closed definition. Linguists and computational linguists rely on intuition or build lists of MWE types; while practical, that is scientifically and aesthetically unsatisfying. Without presuming to solve a daunting theoretical problem, we propose a decision procedure which steers a lexicographer toward acceptance or rejection of an N-gram as a lexical unit: a decision tree classifies N-grams as MWE or not MWE. It will succeed if it agrees with the native speakers' judgment. We need a small, linguistically credible set of features, to contend with the multiplicity of adequate trees. Decision tree induction works with a fixed set of annotated classification examples, but the lexical material for MWE recognition is too large to make annotation feasible. We rely on small-scale statistically significant sampling, and on intuition. Of a few decision trees produced by informed trial and error, we select one we consider best in our circumstances. That tree, deployed in a large-scale wordnet construction project, allowed us to gather dependable statistics on its usefulness in lexicographers' work. Our goal: systematic expansion of a wordnet by tens of thousands of MWEs in a manner as free of personal biases as possible.


Many states allow some form of non-traditional precinct voting, from voting early in-person to various forms of mail-assisted balloting. Research on how these voting reforms impact voter participation has produced a wide range of mixed findings. We review this literature and describe how the research designs and measures used by past studies may have biased their results. We then offer a new theoretical approach for testing the relationship between convenience voting reforms and voter turnout that addresses some of the pitfalls in previous measurements of reforms. We also identify best practices for how to implement our new measures using a difference-in-difference research strategy that is robust to many confounding factors and describe a potential sustainable database for undertaking this research over time.


In the mesophyll of Teucrium polium L. leaves, isolated or grouped idioblastic secretory cells occur in contact with the distal (adaxial) vessel elements of the vascular bundles. They appear to originate from one or more bundle sheath cells and their intracellular space is entirely occupied by the secretory material. The latter has a glycoproteinaceous constitution (mucilage), as histochemical tests showed. Idioblastic cells, therefore, correspond to typical mucilage cells. Mucilage seems to play a crucial role in the adaptation of the plant to unfavourable environmental conditions.


Quantifying the success or failure of states in effectively and safely managing natural gas development is important for regulators, elected officials, and citizens to engage in productive dialog around natural gas development and the process of hydraulic fracturing. Accordingly, this study provides a detailed analysis of notices of violations from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection from January 2008 to August 2011, categorizing each violation for 3533 wells drilled. Of the 2988 violations, 1844, or 62%, were for administrative or preventative reasons. The remaining 38%, or 1144 notices of violations, were for environmental violations, which were associated with 845 unique environmental events. These events were classified into major and nonmajor categories based on the level and severity of the pollution. Blowouts, uncontrolled venting, and gas migration are considered as severe and, hence, are classified as major. The top quartile of water contamination and land spills is 400 gal and provides the threshold in this study for major events in these two categories. Of these major events, less than 1% or 25 involved these major impacts. In all but six of these cases, the resulting environmental impacts have been completely mitigated. The 820 nonmajor environmental events concern site restoration, water contamination, land spills, and cement and casing events, which do not involve what is classified as having major environmental impact. The number of polluting environmental events per well drilled declined by 60% between 2008 and August 2011, from 52.9% of all wells drilled in 2008 to 20.8% to August 2011. The regulatory data evaluated in this study may serve as an appropriate litmus test for neighboring states as they move forward with regulating shale energy development. In particular, we find that each of the underlying causes associated with these specific events could have been either entirely avoided or mitigated under the proposed regulatory framework of the New York State.


Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive spore-forming strict anaerobe that can cause severe colitis in humans. C. difficile is best known as the leading cause of nosocomial-acquired diarrhea, particularly in people undergoing antibiotic therapies, since it is naturally resistant to most antibiotics. A clinical feature that makes C. difficile infection, or CDI, particularly difficult to treat is the organism's inherent ability to resist antibiotic therapies while in its spore form. Since oxygen is toxic to C. difficile, spores are the major transmissive form; they are also resilient to most disinfectants, which makes them extremely difficult to eliminate to prevent additional infections. While over fifty years of studies on the spore-forming model organism Bacillus subtilis laid the foundation of how sporulation and germination occurs, little was known about how C. difficile regulates spore formation and/or what proteins are necessary for sporulation and germination processes. The work presented in this dissertation addresses how C. difficile regulates sporulation, identifies genes that are regulated during sporulation, and characterizes some key proteins that are required for either sporulation or germination. During the developmental process of sporulation, a cell divides into two asymmetrical compartments. In each compartment, specific transcriptional programs controlled by sporulation-specific sigma factors, drive the cell through a series of morphological events, culminating in the formation of a spore. Using genetic and cell biological techniques, we show that mutations in the genes encoding the master transcriptional regulator Spo0A and the sporulation-specific sigma factors σ, σ, σ, and σ block sporulation at various stages. Analysis of the mutants and wild type C. difficile strain using RNA-Sequencing identified genes regulated by a given sigma factor and revealed that the sigma factors control sporulation in a manner that differs from B. subtilis. Whereas the sporulation-specific sigma factor activity is regulated in a sequential manner involving cross talk between the different compartments in B. subtilis, C. difficile regulates these factors in a bifurcated manner, with less cross-compartment regulation. Guided by our RNA-Sequencing results, we constructed targeted gene mutations in spoIIQ and spoIIIA-H, which are important for forming a channel known as the "feeding tube" in B. subtilis. We demonstrated that these proteins are necessary for maintaining forespore integrity, tethering the coat to the forespore, and engulfment. Using metabolic labeling, we show that while spoIIQ and spoIIIA mutants cannot finish the phagocytic-like process of engulfment, they are capable of transforming peptidoglycan, which is a necessary step for engulfment to occur. We also constructed a targeted gene mutation in a gene that is highly transcribed during sporulation, now known as gerS. We show that a gerS mutant cannot degrade cortex during germination and is required for SleC-mediated cortex hydrolysis, making GerS a novel regulator of C. difficile spore germination. Altogether, this research provides a framework for understanding how the pathogen C. difficile undergoes sporulation and is therefore capable of infecting humans. Further, our studies reveal important factors that mediate the essential process of engulfment during sporulation and an important factor that mediates cortex hydrolysis during germination. This work has demonstrated that C. difficile regulates sporulation and germination differently than what has previously been described in other Firmicutes.


The authors studied the relationships between adult workers' spiritual well being
and job satisfaction, Two hundred participants completed 2 instruments:
the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (C, W. Ellison & R. F, Paloutzian,
1982) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form (D, J.Weiss,
R. V. Dawis, G. W. Engiand. & L. H. Lofquist. 1967). A bivariate correlational
analysis showed spiritual well-being, religious well-being, and existential
well-being to be positively related to job satisfaction for this sample. With
a forced-entry multiple regression analysis, overall spiritual well-being was
found to have a moderate influence, existential well-being had a much
stronger influence, and religious well-being had a minimal influence all
on, general job satisfaction.


BACKGROUND
we successfully reconstituted the gene from group 1 allergens of dust mites, and obtained a body of shuffled genes. In order to verify the prediction on the chimeric gene, we tentatively cloned R8 into the vector that was prokaryoticly expressed, purified and assessed for its bio-activities.

METHODS
the expressed product was detected by SDSPAGE and the target protein was purified. The purified protein R8 was detected by ELISA. 75 BALB/c mice were divided into 5 groups, namely PBS, rDer f1, rDer p1, R8 and asthma group. The mice were treated with dust mite allergens at 0, 7, 14 day by intraperitoneal injection and inhaled challenge as aerosol on day 21 for 7 days. Specific allergen immunotherapy was performed using rDer f1, rDer p1 and R8 allergens respectively. The level of IFN and IL- 4 in BALF was detected by ELISA.

RESULTS
the chimeric gene R8 was expressed with a band of approximately Mr 35000. Compared with groups of rDer f 1 and rDer p 1 [(80.44±15.50) and (90.79±10.38) μg/ml respectively], IgE binding capacity of the protein R8 (37.03±12.46) μg/ml was statistically lower (P<0.001). The level of IFN in sera of R8 group [(343.43±38.79) pg/ml] was higher than that of the PBS and asthma groups [(393.93±50.68) and (208.44±46.11) pg/ml respectively] (P<0.01), but no statistical difference to that of the rDer f 1 and rDer p 1 groups (P>0.05). IL-4 level in R8 group was lower markedly than the others (P<0.05 or P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
chimeric protein R8 derived from the group 1 allergens of dust mites has been expressed with low allergenicity and high immunogenicity.


" While countless memoirs have been written about depression and therapy, no one has examined how the ""talking cure"" of psychotherapy is presented in novels and other works of literature. Beginning with an overview of the principles of psychotherapy and its growing use as a treatment for mental and emotional disorders, Lilian Furst addresses the patient's view of the value of talk. Patients' portrayals of psychotherapy in literary works range from serious to satirical and from comic to ironic, with some descriptions verging on the grotesque. Furst identifies the overtalkers, undertalkers, and duet voices that shape the individual experiences of psychotherapy. While the voices of the overtalkers overwhelm those of their therapists, undertalkers are reluctant to express or acknowledge their feelings. Particularly revealing are the instances where patient and therapist provide separate but parallel renderings of the same therapy. Just Talk looks at a wide range of questions about psychotherapy. Furst considers the patient's first impressions of the therapist and how the patient is prompted to engage in talk. She looks for signs of self-deception or self-betrayal on the patient's part and asks how the therapist's behavior affects the patient's responses and the ultimate outcome of the therapy. Furst examines such well-known works as Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, Plath's The Bell Jar, and Lodge's Therapy, as well as lesser-known novels, to discuss how patients react to psychotherapy as a cure for mental and emotional disorders. Her analysis of these narratives adds significantly to our understanding of the dynamic relationship between patient and therapist and reveals much about the healing process that is not addressed in technical casebooks.


Social work education is the gateway through which the protected title of social worker is secured. Given the professional status of social work there is an expectation that on qualification, students of social work will be practice prepared. This phenomenographic study considers preparedness in the connected age, through examining the contribution of social work education to the digital development of students, from the student point of view. Digital development, as related to professionalism, is set within the context of the digital shift, given the impact of digitalisation on people, on societies and on the social world.

The professional requirements for social work education and practice include reference to technologies and technological skills. However, the world, in a technological sense has, and continues to move on. Thus, this study examines variation in students' experiences of digital development, with the view to informing curriculum design, content and delivery, in future terms. To begin to address the lack of clarity in social work about what professionalism in the digital age might realistically include, the terms 'digital' and 'professional' are conflated throughout this work to emphasise the relational nature of the two.

Data generation involved semi-structured interviews, with 11 social work students at a single university in England, at the point of qualification; a time when students will have had the opportunity to engage with curriculum content in its fullest. Interview material was analysed using an iterative method that is in keeping with the phenomenographic approach. The findings evidence four qualitatively different conceptions of what digital development involved for this student group. Even though digital development was seen to occur, student descriptions show this development to have been largely limited and partly unrealised, due to the incidental nature of digital learning experienced throughout the duration of the course.

If social work education in England is to prepare students adequately for the realities of 21st century practice, due consideration needs to be given to digitalisation, to the emerging nature of 21st century social need, and to how students are being equipped to respond to this. An exploration of how digitisation is explicitly reflected within curriculum design, content and delivery should form part of this, because as the findings of this study suggest, in situations where this has not occurred, it is long overdue.


This paper addresses the problem of simultaneous signal recovery and dictionary learning based on compressive measurements. Multiple signals are analyzed jointly, with multiple sensing matrices, under the assumption that the unknown signals come from a union of a small number of disjoint subspaces. This problem is important, for instance, in image inpainting applications, in which the multiple signals are constituted by (incomplete) image patches taken from the overall image. This work extends standard dictionary learning and block-sparse dictionary optimization, by considering compressive measurements, e.g., incomplete data). Previous work on blind compressed sensing is also generalized by using multiple sensing matrices and relaxing some of the restrictions on the learned dictionary. Drawing on results developed in the context of matrix completion, it is proven that both the dictionary and signals can be recovered with high probability from compressed measurements. The solution is unique up to block permutations and invertible linear transformations of the dictionary atoms. The recovery is contingent on the number of measurements per signal and the number of signals being sufficiently large; bounds are derived for these quantities. In addition, this paper presents a computationally practical algorithm that performs dictionary learning and signal recovery, and establishes conditions for its convergence to a local optimum. Experimental results for image inpainting demonstrate the capabilities of the method.


Abstract : Climate change, in which man-made global warming is a major factor, will likely have dramatic and long lasting consequences with profound security implications, making it a challenge the United States must urgently take up. The security implications will be most pronounced in places where the effects of climate change are greatest, particularly affecting weak states already especially vulnerable to environmental destabilization. Two things are vitally important: stemming the tide of climate change and adapting to its far-reaching consequences. This project examines the destabilizing effects of climate change and how the military could be used to mitigate global warming and to assist at-risk peoples and states to adapt to climate change, thereby promoting stability and sustainable security. Recommendations are made on the importance of U.S. leadership on the critical issue of global warming, on defining and dealing with the strategic dimensions of climate change, and, as a case in point, on how Sino-American cooperation in Africa would not only benefit areas where climate change effects are already pronounced, but also strengthen a crucial bilateral relationship.


The question of whether and how the Fourth Amendment regulates government access to stored e-mail remains open and pressing. A panel of the Sixth Circuit recently held in Warshak v. United States, 490 F.3d 455 (6th Cir. 2007), that users generally retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in the e-mails they store with their Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which implies that government agents must generally acquire a warrant before they may compel ISPs to disclose their users' stored e-mails. The Sixth Circuit, however, is reconsidering the case en banc. This Article examines the nature of stored e-mail surveillance and argues that the Sixth Circuit panel was correct to conclude that users retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in the e-mails stored on their ISPs' computers. We consider the Justice Department's arguments to the contrary in depth and show that those arguments seek to extend the relevant precedents well beyond their holdings. More specifically, we argue that there is no compelled disclosure exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement; that the third party rule derived from United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435 (1976), should not be extended to cover e-mail stored with a service provider; and that the terms of the user's relationship with her ISP do not ordinarily weaken the constitutional requirement a warrant for compelled disclosure of stored e-mails. According meaningful judicial oversight to the compelled disclosure of stored e-mails not only would bring the regulation of modern surveillance practices in line with traditional methods such as wiretapping and searching and seizing letters, it would dramatically simplify the application of the relevant federal statute, the Stored Communications Act, to new technologies.


Bacteria must be able to respond rapidly to changes in the environment in order to survive. One means of coordinating gene expression relies on tightly regulated and complex signaling systems. One of the first signaling systems that was described in detail is quorum sensing (QS). During QS, a bacterial cell produces and secretes a signaling molecule called an autoinducer (AI). As the density of the bacterial population increases, so does the concentration of secreted AI molecules, thereby allowing a bacterial species to coordinate gene expression based on population density. Subsequent studies have demonstrated that bacteria are also able to detect signal molecules produced by other species of bacteria as well as hormones produced by their mammalian hosts. These types of signaling interactions have been termed cell-to-cell signaling because the interaction does not rely on a threshold concentration of bacterial cells. This review discusses the three main types of cell-to-cell signaling mechanisms used by E. coli and Salmonella, including the LuxR process, in which E. coli and Salmonella detect signals produced by other species of bacteria; the LuxS/AI-2 system, in which E. coli and Salmonella participate in intra- and interspecies signaling; and the AI-3/ epinephrine/norepinephrine system, in which E. coli and Salmonella recognize self-produced AI, signal produced by other microbes, and/or the human stress hormones epinephrine or norepinephrine.


ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection results in the disruption of ND10 (also called nuclear bodies, PODs, or PML-associated bodies), which are nuclear matrix domains of unknown function present in mammalian cells. After ND10 disruption, viral transcription and DNA replication occur in globular nuclear domains called replication compartments. In this report we define four stages of infection by using antibodies to ICP8 (also called SSB and UL29) and the ND10 antigen PML. Immediately after infection, cells contain intact ND10 as detected by staining for PMLs (stage I); within 1 hour, however, ND10 are disrupted and cells begin to exhibit diffuse staining for the major viral DNA binding protein, ICP8 (stage II). After all ND10 have been disrupted, foci which resemble but are not equivalent to ND10 appear, containing both PML and ICP8 (stage III). Cells infected with mutants defective in the helicase-primase or origin binding protein are unable to form stage III foci. Cells infected with a mutant that is null for the polymerase catalytic subunit, however, form stage III-like ICP8 foci which do not contain PML. Thus, stage III foci recruit the cellular PML protein in the presence but not the absence of HSV polymerase. PML was recruited to stage III foci in some but not all cells infected with a mutant defective in the polymerase accessory protein, UL42. Thus, UL42 is not required for the recruitment of PML to viral foci. In wild-type infection, stage III cells are quickly replaced by cells containing replication compartments (stage IV). PML and ICP8 staining are both observed within replication compartments, indicating a potential role for PML in HSV-1 replication. Models for the role of ND10 proteins in the formation of replication compartments are discussed.


We address the question of whether service robots that interact with humans in public spaces must express socially appropriate behaviour. To do so, we implemented a robot bartender which is able to take drink orders from humans and serve drinks to them. By using a high-level automated planner, we explore two different robot interaction styles: in the task only setting, the robot simply fulfils its goal of asking customers for drink orders and serving them drinks; in the socially intelligent setting, the robot additionally acts in a manner socially appropriate to the bartender scenario, based on the behaviour of humans observed in natural bar interactions. The results of a user study show that the interactions with the socially intelligent robot were somewhat more efficient, but the two implemented behaviour settings had only a small influence on the subjective ratings. However, there were objective factors that influenced participant ratings: the overall duration of the interaction had a positive influence on the ratings, while the number of system order requests had a negative influence. We also found a cultural difference: German participants gave the system higher pre-test ratings than participants who interacted in English, although the post-test scores were similar.


The objective of this research is the analysis of the driving performance of drivers from different age groups, while talking on the cell phone. For this purpose, a large driving simulator experiment is carried out, in which 72 drivers from three different age groups (young, middle aged and older) were asked to drive under different types of distraction (no distraction, conversation with passenger, cell phone use) in rural and urban road environment, in low and high traffic. To achieve the objectives set out in this paper, an appropriate staged modelling methodology has been developed, comprising exploratory components, such as boxplots and other descriptive statistics, and generalized linear mixed models for the investigation of the effect of cell phone use, age group, area type and other variables on traffic speed and space headways. Results indicate that the cell phone use while driving leads to reduced speed for all drivers especially in urban areas. In particular, regarding the driving performance of different age groups, older drivers reduce their speed by twice as much as middle aged drivers. This distraction is also reflected in increased space headways associated with cell phone use for all drivers. The increase is more pronounced on older drivers who intend to keep more than 5 times higher distance from the vehicle in front than middle aged drivers. Cell phone use results in lower speeds and higher space headways, suggesting a driver's compensatory effect, also identified in previous research. Although it can be assumed that the results are generally correlated with lower accident risk, they reveal, apart from the physical distraction of the handheld mode, a systematic attempt of drivers to counter-balance the increased mental workload resulting from the conversation.


In the international sphere, gender equality is primarily discussed in relation to the gender parity index (GPI), a female to male ratio of enrollment. This paper attempts to adopt a wider scope of gender equality that includes continuous learning and achievement. By using the data from 306 primary schools in rural Senegal, collected by the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute (JICA-RI), this paper examined school factors that affect the gender gaps in internal efficiency and learning achievement by considering policy input and the environment at the school level. The results show that the existence of a school management committee ("CGE"), is associated with lower dropout rates for both boys and girls and that the amount of financial contribution made by a CGE is correlated with fewer gender gaps in the number of dropouts and the repetition rate. We also found that providing parents with a periodic report on students' attendance and learning achieveme nts as well as offering remedial lessons is negatively correlated with gender gaps in the repetition rate. Although we need to further investigate the mechanism that brought about this result, learning support initiatives may affect students differently according to gender depending on how one plans and implements them. School-level interventions should mainstream gender considerations so as to ensure gender equality in learning processes and achievements.


America has awakened to the threat of oligarchy. While inequality has been growing for decades, the Great Recession has made clear its social and political consequences: a narrowing of economic opportunity, a shrinking middle class, and an increasingly entrenched wealthy elite. There remains broad agreement that it is important to avoid oligarchy and build a robust middle class. But we have lost sight of the idea that these are constitutional principles.These principles are rooted in a tradition we have forgotten – one that this Article argues we ought to reclaim. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, generations of reformers responded to moments of mounting class inequality and crises in the nation's opportunity structure with constitutional claims about equal opportunity. The gist of these arguments was that we cannot keep our constitutional democracy – our republican form of government – without constitutional restraints against oligarchy and a political economy that maintains a broad middle class, accessible to everyone. Extreme class inequality and oligarchic concentrations of power pose distinct constitutional problems, both in the economic sphere itself and because economic and political power are intertwined; a "moneyed aristocracy" or "economic royalists" may threaten the Constitution's democratic foundations. This Article introduces the characteristic forms of these arguments about constitutional political economy and begins to tell the story of anti-oligarchy as a constitutional principle. It offers a series of snapshots in time, beginning with the distinctive political economy of the Jacksonian Democrats and their vision of equal protection. We then move forward to Populist constitutionalism, the Progressives, and the New Deal. The Constitution meant different things to these movements in their respective moments, but all understood the Constitution as including some form of commitment to a political economy in which power and opportunity were dispersed among the people rather than concentrated in the hands of a few. We conclude with a brief discussion of how this form of constitutional argument was lost, and what might be at stake in recovering it.


I stumbled across the question of publisher size while preparing for an earlier article. From the viewpoint of an economist, the size distribution of Open Access publishers looked inefficient. In this article I first explore reasons to be sceptical to a situation with a large number of small publishers. Then I go through the numbers from the Directory of Open Access Journals, also discussing problems inherent in the material. The results are then compared to similar data about Toll Access publishing. A conclusion is that, even though numbers may lack in exactitude, there seems to be a need for institutions to look at how they organize their publishing activities.


QoS, middleware systems Middleware systems are commonly used for building distributed systems, but they provide little, if any support for altering the quality of services aspects of an application. We wish to structure middleware so that QoS development can be carried out independently from application development. Separation allows experts in QoS fields to apply their work to any application developed for the middleware. Our approach is based on the notion of interceptors that are dynamically added to running applications. These interceptors are allowed to observe and modify application middleware calls to implement desired QoS functionality. We have developed a programming model for interceptors that supports development of a variety of QoS functionality, and have implemented this model in the context of the e-speak middleware platform.


While the internet provides users with an environment in which socially valuable speech can flourish, it also provides users with an opportunity to defame others behind a shield of anonymity. If these users can be identified, they may be held liable for defamation. Unfortunately for plaintiffs, the identities of these users are usually known only by the website or internet service provider ("ISP") through which the statements were made, and these third parties generally decline to disclose a user's identity in the absence of a court order compelling them to do so. Faced with a growing stream of applications for such orders, courts have sought to consistently assess them in a way that strikes an appropriate balance between the freedom of expression and privacy interests of anonymous defendants and the reputational interests of plaintiffs.Currently, there are two ways for plaintiffs to compel third parties to disclose the identity of anonymous defendants: by seeking an equitable remedy of discovery known as a "Norwich order", or by seeking pre-action discovery or production under the applicable rules of civil procedure. Although courts have developed these approaches to strike a more appropriate balance between the competing interests, two unresolved issues remain to threaten that balance. First, while the approaches are similar, they differ with respect to the protection that they afford to the privacy and freedom of expression interests of anonymous defendants. Second, neither approach requires that anonymous defendants be informed of applications for the disclosure of their identities in order to enable them to represent their interests. This article surveys the two approaches, discusses the unresolved issues, and considers how courts may address them.


This article studies the standard form contracts used by automobile manufacturers to purchase auto parts. It explores how the contracts reflect divisions of bargaining power, asymmetric information, problems of hold-up and renegotiation, and market competition. Based on interviews with representatives of buyers and suppliers, the article also describes the process of drafting the forms, the negotiation over price and other terms in the shadow of these forms, and the opportunities for non-drafters to extract improved terms. Some of the main lessons are: (i) The terms of the contracts and the bidding process prevent ex-post hold-up by suppliers (in contrast to the claims made by Benjamin Klein and others based on the GM/Fisher Body contract); (ii) There is surprisingly little ad-hoc tailoring of terms, even when such tailoring can increase the surplus from the deal; (iii) Internal organization structures are harnessed effectively to secure favorable bargaining outcomes; (iv) There is a significant variation between the standard forms utilized by the big automakers, in some of the most important aspects of the deals. This variation suggests that some of the terms are inefficient.


The Dublin Institute of Technology is one of the largest multi-level higher education providers in Ireland. The Institute's traditional mission has always been focused on teaching and learning in the field of advanced technical vocational education and training (TVET), and one of its agendas is to foster and encourage changes in teaching practice and methodology in order to enhance the student learning experience. This research concerned the performance levels of first year students of the Timber Product Technology (TPT) programme. I wanted to investigate whether the use of independent online learning and reflective journals would encourage these students to continue their learning outside of the timetable class contact hours and improve their performance in the practical class. The methods used were informed by a constructivist underpinning with students being encouraged to take more responsibility for their own learning. Independent learning was encouraged by using a purpose built website, where material relating to this module was provided using a variety of mediums. Learner reflection and the use of reflective journals formed a substantial aspect of this research and students were encouraged to record the daily progress of their practical work and actively use estimated and actual time charts to plan practical work. The findings of this research saw a more informed student than the previous year's cohort. This was evident in both the assessment stage of the research study and in the language used in the student's journal writing. The findings of this research also showed that the students did take charge of their own learning by coming to class well prepared with a plan of action.


Halitosis refers to the condition of offensive mouth odour. More than 90% of cases of halitosis originate from the oral cavity. The implicated bacteria (Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia, and Tannerella forsythensis) are located in stagnant areas in the oral cavity, such as the dorsal surface of tongue, periodontal pockets, and interproximal areas. These bacteria proteolyse the amino acids releasing volatile sulphur compounds. The management of halitosis involves determining and eliminating the causes, which includes identifying any contributory factors, because certain medical conditions are also associated with characteristic smells. Professional advice should be given on oral hygiene and diet, and treatments should include dental scaling, and root planing of the associated periodontal pockets to reduce the bacterial loading. In addition to the normal oral hygiene practice, tongue cleaning and use of mouthwash are advocated. This paper discusses the common aetiological factors, classification of oral halitosis, and its treatment.


The aim of this study was to comparatively investigate the impact of visual-verbal relationships that exist in expository texts on the reading process and comprehension of readers from different language background: native speakers of English (LI) and speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study focussed, in this respect, on the visual elements (VEs) mainly graphs and tables that accompanied the selected texts. Two major experiments were undertaken. The first, was for the reading process using the post-reading questionnaire technique. Participants were 163 adult readers representing three groups: 77 (LI), 56 (EFL postgraduates); and 30 (EFL undergraduates). The second experiment was for the reading comprehension using cloze procedure. Participants were 123 representing the same above gorups: 50, 33 and 40 respectively. It was hypothesised that the LI readers would make use of VEs in the reading process in ways different from both EFL groups and that use would enhance each group's comprehension in different aspects and to different levels. In the analysis of the data of both experiments two statistical measurements were used. The chi-square was used to measure the differences between frequencies and the t-test was used to measure the differences between means. The results indicated a significant relationship between readers' language background and the impact of visual-verbal relationships on their reading processes and comprehension of such type of texts. The results also revealed considerable similarities between the two EFL groups in the reading process of texts accompanied by VEs. In the reading comprehension, however, the EFL undergraduates seemed to benefit from the visual-verbal relationships in their comprehension more than the postgraduates, suggesting a weak relationship of this impact for older EFL readers. Furthermore, the results showed considerable similarities between the reading process of texts accompanied by VEs and of whole prose texts. Finally an evaluation of this study was undertaken as well as practical implications for EFL readers and suggestions for future research.


Abstract This article assesses the implications of the shifting market-state relationship for feminism in the neoliberal era. In a case study of the private military and security industry as an actor that is uniquely positioned at the intersections of security governance and global markets, the analysis combines feminist security studies' critique of securitized gender discourses and feminist global political economy scholarship on corporate-led equality initiatives. Based on a critical discourse analysis of documents from industry and nongovernmental organizations, such as codes of conduct and policy recommendations, I argue that the discourses on gender put forward in the context of security privatization merge securitized and marketized discourses to the effect that the emancipatory potential of "gender" is further curtailed, raising new challenges for feminist knowledge in powerful organizations. The article thus contributes to the critical gender research on private security, debates on the neoliberalization and securitization of feminism, and the integration of feminist security studies and feminist global political economy.


Extended Abstract Heat transfer in thermal junctions is ultimately governed by the nanoscale physical phenomena that occur at the interfaces between the contacting bodies, with capillary meniscus and continuous interfacial liquid layers playing key role in such heat transfer. Nanoscale dimensions of these contacts make these phenomena hard to model and to investigate experimentally. Nevertheless, we were able to overcome this, by using two physical phenomena of different physical nature – a) a heat transport and b) a contact shear strength, that both rely on the ultimate contact between bodies, but depend in a different way on the dimensions, strength and number of nanoscale contacts. In our experiments, we used scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) – a tool for mapping and measuring local heat transport properties between nanoscale tip and sample (Shi and Majumdar, 2002). We have modified SThM with lateral piezo-stage dithered at few kHz frequency and lateral displacements in the range from few to several tens of nm thus creating a lateral sliding forces measured by the cantilever torsion (Carpick and Salmeron, 1997) measuring and recording both the normal forces and shear forces simultaneously with the SThM signal. Our combined SThM-shear force microscope operated in both ambient and high vacuum (HV) 1x10-7 Torr (Pumarol et al., 2012) environments. While dependence of the heat transport in nanoscale junctions on the normal force has been reported before (Gotsmann and Lantz, 2013), the shear force provides additional vital measurements in our experiments. Namely, the maximum shear force Fs in the single contact between two solid bodies is proportional to the contact area A and the interfacial shear strength   At the same time, thermal resistance RT for the heat transport between the two bodies for the same contact is scaled as inversely of the linear dimension of the contact for the diffusive, and inverse of the area in the ballistic heat transfer regimes. In the approach-retract experiments, the normal force Fn applied to the contact is modified, therefore modifying the contact area. By comparison of the dependence of the 1/RT and Fs on the normal force is therefore possible to investigate the nature of the heat transfer on the nanoscale heat junction. Our experimental data show that the nanoscale contacts we observed scale more as the 1/Rc  A suggesting that the ballistic heat transfer at the nanoscale tip-surface interface is dominated by ballistic mechanism. Furthermore, comparison of SThM data both for ambient and HV environment suggest that it is the solid-solid contact that is the dominant heat transfer channel of the thermal contact. If liquid bridge would be dominant, we should be able to observed significant decrease of the shear force, with the heat conduction relatively constant. That was clearly not the case in our experiments suggesting that liquid bridge may be less essential for nanoscale heat transport in SThM that originally thought. Gotsmann, B. & Lantz, M. A. (2013). Quantized thermal transport across contacts of rough surfaces. Nature Materials, 12, 59-65. Pumarol, M. E. et al (2012). Direct Nanoscale Imaging of Ballistic and Diffusive Thermal Transport in Graphene Nanostructures. Nano Letters, 12 (6), 2906–2911. Shi, L. & Majumdar, A. (2002). Thermal transport mechanisms at nanoscale point contacts. Journal of Heat Transfer-Transactions of the Asme, 124, 329-337. Carpick RW, Salmeron M. (1997) Scratching the surface: Fundamental investigations of tribology with atomic force microscopy. Chem Rev. 97(4):1163-94.


Shoreline retreat is a tremendously important issue along the coast of the northern Gulf of Mexico, especially in Louisiana. Although this marine transgression results from a variety of causes, the crucial factor is the difference between marsh surface elevation and rising sea levels. In most cases, the primary cause of a marsh's inability to keep up with sea level is the lack of input of inorganic material. Although tropical cyclones provide an important source of such sediment, little effort has been made to determine the point of origin of the deposited material. In this study we use sedimentary, geochemical and biogeochemical data to identify the bed of the Pearl River and/or Lake Borgne as the source of a ~5 cm thick clastic layer deposited on the surface of the Pearl River marsh on the Louisiana/Mississippi border. Radiochemical chronologies and sedimentary evidence indicate that this layer was associated with the passage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As this material would otherwise have been lost to the system, this deposition indicates a net gain to marsh surface elevation. Accretion rates, determined from 137Cs and 14C profiles and the use of the Katrina layer as a stratigraphic marker, indicate that short-term (~50 years) rates are as much as an order of magnitude higher than the long- term (1000s of years) rates. We suggest that the marsh's geologic setting in an incised river valley with steep vertical constraints and a large fluvial discharge, promotes rapid accretion rates, with rates accelerating as the sea moves inland, due to extended hydroperiods and the input of clastic material from both the marine and terrestrial sides. These rates are especially large when compared to accretion occurring in the more common open marshes fringing the Gulf that lack fluvial input. The difference is particularly large when related to marsh recovery/regrowth following the deposition of thick hurricane-generated clastic layers. Given the number of similar incised river valleys along the Gulf Coast, we believe that understanding the processes controlling marsh accretion in such environments is essential in evaluating marsh sustainability on a regional basis.


Under data distributions which may be heavy-tailed, many stochastic gradient-based learning algorithms are driven by feedback queried at points with almost no performance guarantees on their own. Here we explore a modified"anytime online-to-batch"mechanism which for smooth objectives admits high-probability error bounds while requiring only lower-order moment bounds on the stochastic gradients. Using this conversion, we can derive a wide variety of"anytime robust"procedures, for which the task of performance analysis can be effectively reduced to regret control, meaning that existing regret bounds (for the bounded gradient case) can be robustified and leveraged in a straightforward manner. As a direct takeaway, we obtain an easily implemented stochastic gradient-based algorithm for which all queried points formally enjoy sub-Gaussian error bounds, and in practice show noteworthy gains on real-world data applications.


Among 1–19-year olds, unintentional injuries accounted for 12% of 5.1 million global deaths from injuries in 2010. Despite this high burden, childhood injuries have not received much attention in global health. This paper describes the major causes of deaths from childhood unintentional injuries and provides a review of interventions for reducing this burden. About 627 741 deaths were due to unintentional injuries in 2010 among 1–19-year olds. The proportionate mortality increased with age—from 12.6% among 1–4-year olds to 28.8% among 15–19-year olds. Deaths from Western sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia accounted for more than 50% of all deaths. Rates in these regions are 68.0 and 36.4 per 100 000 population, respectively, compared to 6.4 in Western Europe. Road traffic injuries (RTI) are the commonest cause of death, followed by deaths from drowning, burns and falls. Male children are more predisposed to unintentional injuries except for burns which occur more frequently among females in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Effective solutions exist—including barriers for preventing drowning; safer stoves for burns; child restraint systems for RTI—but the effectiveness of these measures need to be rigorously tested in LMICs. The general lack of a coordinated global response to the burden of childhood unintentional injuries is of concern. The global community must create stronger coalitions and national or local plans for action. Death rates for this paper may have been underestimated, and there is need for longitudinal studies to accurately measure the impact of injuries in LMICs.


: Purpose: The article aims to present and discuss the analysis of the institutional structure of land resources and land use management in Ukraine. Design/Methodology/Approach: Sustainable logical and structural integrity of the institutional structure of land resources and land use management is considered as a precondition for economic, ecological, and social growth of the country, the security of social well-being base on legally approved tasks and powers as to agreement of the distribution of responsibilities and authorities between managerial bodies in terms of performance of the functions and regulatory mechanisms of land resources and land use management by the bodies of the executive branch and local government. Findings: Analysis of the institutional structure of land resources and land use management in Ukraine confirms sufficient differentiation and scattering of the managerial functions between numerous state institutions and lack of the appropriate coordination of managerial decisions and control for exercising the authorities and responsibilities. Practical Implications: The proposed matrix of distribution of the responsibilities and authorities enables identifying the potential of institutional transformations in terms of efficient management of land resources and land use, particularly the implementation of changes, which are necessary for Ukraine. Originality/Value: It is proved that the most critical factors for the effectiveness of sustainable land use policy are the establishment of a simple managerial vertical and horizontal of institutions, adequate space organization of the territory, securing working relation "bottom-up" and "top to bottom" of the decisions, and actions of all institutes and structures of the land policy, including bodies of executive power with local government, with individual land-owners and land-users.


The study was undertaken to induce hairy roots in Glycyrrhiza glabra in leaf explants and to optimize the nutritional requirement for its growth kinetics at shake flask and bioreactor level. Pathogenecity of Agrobacterium depends upon transformation ability of strain and age, type, and physiological state of explants. Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain K599 was used to infect leaf explants of G. glabra . Explants of different age groups were obtained from 2 to 5 weeks old in vitro grown cultures. Bacterial strain K599 could induce hairy roots in 3 and 4 weeks old leaf explants cultured on B 5 , MS, NB and WP basal semi-solid medium. Leaf explants of 2 and 5 weeks old culture were not responsive to bacterial infection in terms of hairy root induction. Maximum transformation frequency (TF) of tested bacterial strain was 47% obtained in 3 weeks old explants after 25 days of incubation on MS basal semi solid medium. NB and B 5 both media composition showed 20% of transformation frequency after 28 and 38 days respectively. WP medium did not support induction of roots in cultured leaf explants infected with A. rhizogenes strain K599even after 50 days of incubation. Further, when all the four media combinations were tested for root growth it was found that though WP was not responsive for hairy root induction, yet all four basal media supported hairy root growth and a gradual increase in fresh weight biomass was observed with an increase in culture duration. However amongst all, the NB medium composition supported best growth of hairy roots followed by MS, B 5 and WP media. About 20 times increase in root biomass on fresh weight basis was recorded after 45days of culture in NB medium. Initial inoculum of roots (0.18 g. F.wt./ flask) containing 50 ml of liquid culture medium produced 3.59 g (F. wt.) biomass. A fast growing hairy root clone G6 was grown in a 5 l capacity mechanically agitated bioreactor provided with a nylon mesh septum. After 30 days of sterile run, 310 g of root biomass was harvested from the bioreactor culture vessel, recording about 20 times increase over initial inoculum (16.0 g).


Cellulose nanocrystals are used in lightweight sheet molding compound composites made with either glass fiber (GF)/epoxy or basalt fiber (BF)/epoxy. The chosen approach for making lightweight SMC composites is replacing portion of the heavier components, i.e. GF or BF, with a small amount of CNC with the constrain that there is no compromise on mechanical performance. The specific properties of the lightweight composites containing CNC are compared with those of corresponding composites with no CNC to investigate the effectiveness of using CNC for light weighting for each type of micro-size reinforcement, i.e. GF and BF. We report that incorporation of 1.4-2 wt% CNC in the epoxy matrix can allow for reduction of the GF from 60 wt% to 44-48 wt% resulting in ~11 % lighter composites with no penalty on specific tensile, flexural and impact properties. In contrast, for the case of BF, addition of CNC does not increase the properties of the light weighted composites to the level of BF/epoxy with 60 wt% fiber content.


Germany is noted within Europe for its weak tobacco control policies and its opposition to European Union tobacco control legislation. In this article, we aim to explain Germany's stance on tobacco control. We review two explanations commonly proposed, namely tobacco industry donations to political parties and the legacy of the Nazis' opposition to smoking, and examine the politics of tobacco control in detail. We suggest that the interplay of numerous factors explains Germany's stance. Aspects of political culture including the Nazi heritage which has resulted in a dearth of public health research and teaching, institutional factors such as the reliance on industry self-regulation facilitated by Germany's system of corporatist policy-making and interest group politics are key. The tobacco industry has also successfully used framing strategies to uphold the social acceptability of smoking and undermine the acceptability of tobacco control in Germany. In addition a phenomenon that we call 'autarkic epistemic isolation' explains why so little policy learning from abroad has occurred. We suggest that our multi-factor model has significant explanatory power for Germany's weak stance that has resulted in a long-standing policy equilibrium. Recent events, however, suggest that this equilibrium may now have been punctuated.


\textbfAbstract. We construct supercharacter theories of finite unipotent groups in the orthogonal, symplectic and unitary types. Our method utilizes group actions in a manner analogous to that of Diaconis and Isaacs in their construction of supercharacters of algebra groups. The resulting supercharacter theories agree with those of Andre and Neto in the case of the unipotent orthogonal and symplectic matrices and generalize to a large collection of subgroups. In the unitary group case, we describe the supercharacters and superclasses in terms of labeled set partitions and calculate the supercharacter table. \bigbreak


This research aims to find ways to use information systems to encourage chronic disease sufferers to take action to improve their health outcomes.  We propose a new way to present information to chronic disease patients where motivating them to take their medication or change their lifestyle is essential for their health.  We believe this new model will have a profound impact on the patient's overall experience and therefore the likelihood that they will comply with what their doctor asks of them.  It is proposed that the best place to adopt this model is in the design of pathology reports.  The model is based on the idea of generating different designs of pathology report for different types of health customers.  The information in the reports is customized both in content and design for different types of patients so that patient will respond to the information more effectively.  This paper reports on the first stage of this design process.


Tolerance has the potential to affect both economic growth and wellbeing. It is therefore important to discern its determinants. We add to the literature by investigating whether the degree to which economic institutions and policies are market-oriented is related to different measures of tolerance. Regression analysis of up to 65 countries reveals that economic freedom is positively related to tolerance towards homosexuals, especially in the longer run, while tolerance towards people of a different race and a willingness to teach kids tolerance are not strongly affected by how free markets are. Stable monetary policy and outcomes is the area of economic freedom most consistently associated with greater tolerance, but the quality of the legal system seems to matter as well. We furthermore find indications of a causal relationship and of social trust playing a role as a mechanism in the relationship between economic freedom and tolerance and as an important catalyst: the more trust in society, the more positive the effect of economic freedom on tolerance.


The current drug development paradigm---sometimes expressed as, ``One disease, one target, one drug''---is under question, as relatively few drugs have reached the market in the last two decades. Meanwhile, the research focus of drug discovery is being placed on the study of drug action on biological systems as a whole, rather than on individual components of such systems. The vast amount of biological information about genes and proteins and their modulation by small molecules is pushing drug discovery to its next critical steps, involving the integration of chemical knowledge with these biological databases. Systematic integration of these heterogeneous datasets and the provision of algorithms to mine the integrated datasets would enable investigation of the complex mechanisms of drug action; however, traditional approaches face challenges in the representation and integration of multi-scale datasets, and in the discovery of underlying knowledge in the integrated datasets. The Semantic Web, envisioned to enable machines to understand and respond to complex human requests and to retrieve relevant, yet distributed, data, has the potential to trigger system-level chemical-biological innovations. Chem2Bio2RDF is presented as an example of utilizing Semantic Web technologies to enable intelligent analyses for drug discovery. Table of Contents: Introduction / Data Representation and Integration Using RDF / Data Representation and Integration Using OWL / Finding Complex Biological Relationships in PubMed Articles using Bio-LDA / Integrated Semantic Approach for Systems Chemical Biology Knowledge Discovery / Semantic Link Association Prediction / Conclusions / References / Authors' Biographies


The aim of this paper is to evaluate the causal effect of foreign acquisition on R&D intensity in targeted domestic firms. We are able to distinguish domestic multinationals and non-multinationals, which allows us to investigate the fear that the change in ownership of domestic to foreign multinationals leads to a reduction in R&D activity in the country, as headquarter activities are relocated to the new owner's home country. We use unique and rich firm level data for the Swedish manufacturing sector and different micro-econometric estimation strategies in order to control for the potential endogeneity of the acquisition dummy. Overall, our results give no support to the fears that foreign acquisition of domestic firms lead to a brain drain of R&D activity in Swedish MNEs. Rather, this paper finds robust evidence that foreign acquisitions lead to increasing R&D intensity in acquired domestic MNEs and non-MNEs.


The Ochil Fault, one of the most prominent tectonic features in the Midland Valley of Scotland, juxtaposes Lower Devonian volcanic rocks against late Westphalian strata, implying a possible vertical displacement of up to 4 km. The Kincardine Basin in its hanging-wall, although actively subsiding during the greater part of the Silesian, trends generally N–S, perpendicular to the Ochil Fault, and its Silesian sedimentary record shows little sign of tectonic control by that fault. It is proposed that the Ochil Fault was initiated, possibly as a sinistral strike-slip feature, in the Devonian, but acted as a sidewall fault during the early evolution of the Kincardine Basin, attributed to extension on a hypothetical pre-Brigantian fault along the Bo'ness Line on the east side of the basin until late Namurian times, when active extension ceased. Both faults were probably buried during late Namurian and Westphalian times. Reactivation of the Ochil Fault during end-Carboniferous N–S extension, dated by quartz-dolerite emplacement, was responsible for probably at least 2 km displacement. including the presently visible footwall uplift. It is suggested that the hanging wall may have contained a Permian basin, now removed.


The continued advances in wireless communication and positioning technologies such as GPS have made new data management applications possible, such as location-based services (LBS) that store and manage the continuously changing positions of moving objects. "Moving Objects Management - Models, Techniques and Applications" focuses on moving objects management, from the location management perspective to the exploration of how the continually changing locations affect the traditional database and data mining technology. Specifically, the book describes the topics of moving objects modeling and location updating, indexing and querying, clustering, location uncertainty and privacy issues, as well as their application to intelligent transportation systems. This book is intended for developers of database management systems and mobile applications, research scientists and advanced-level students in computer science and geography. Dr. Xiaofeng Meng is a professor at the School of Information, Renmin University of China; Dr. Jidong Chen is a senior research scientist at EMC Research China, one of the research groups of the EMC Corporation.


Red-cockaded woodpecker populations declined precipitously following European settlement and expansion and cutting of the original pine forests across the southeastern United States. By 1990 most residual populations lacked demographic viability, existed in degraded habitat, and were isolated from other populations. The primary causes of this situation were harvest of the original pine forests of the southeastern United States, conversion of forested lands to other uses, short-rotation silvicultural practices, and alteration of the fire regime in the regenerated forests. As social and legal mandates changed, management of red-cockaded woodpeckers became a higher priority. Intensive management for red-cockaded woodpeckers is currently practiced on most public and a few private lands that still support populations. Recent population trends and the current status of red-cockaded woodpeckers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana reflect historical factors and the efficacy of recent management.


In this thesis we present new solution techniques for inverse problems in
neural field theory. Neural fields are a continuum limit of neural networks and
describe the spatiotemporal evolution of neural activity in the brain. This evo-
lution is described by an integro-differential equation called the Amari equation.
One of the inverse problems in neural field theory is to describe the connections
between neurons based on this spatiotemporal evolution. The inverse problem
is ill-posed. In other work, this ill-posedness was dealt with using Tikhonov
regularization. We present three methods that reduce the ill-posedness of the
problem and improve the quality of the reconstruction. We compare these meth-
ods to the use of Tikhonov regularization and also show what happens when we
combine these methods with Tikhonov regularization. The first method we use
is parameter optimization. We show that parameter optimization is necessary
when dealing with data generated for fixed parameters. The second method
we introduce is subsampling. We show that subsampling is a tool to reduce
the error of the reconstruction and reduce the ill-posedness. At some point we
reach a trade-off between accuracy and stability. We furthermore show that a
combination of subsampling and Tikhonov regularization is sometimes the best
method. The third method we present is combining data. Sometimes we are
dealing with insufficiently informative data. To overcome this, we can combine
data that is qualitatively different.


Postwar European federalist efforts to encourage cooperation between traditionally hostile countries ultimately gave birth to the European Union and its single currency. Today, the political and economic institutions and structures that emerged from the process of European integration confront the challenges posed by the recent Eurozone crisis. Europe's survival demonstrates resilience but does not evidence a transformation in the politically contested nature of European economic and political union. This thesis asks why the thick regulatory framework and rules-based nature of the Eurozone produced a suboptimal currency union. To answer this question, this thesis draws on the two major theories of political economy, liberalism and socialism. An analysis of these theories yields a better understanding of how the political and economic factors plaguing the Eurozone interrelate. The absence of a state to accompany the Eurozone creates a fundamental structural shortcoming responsible for the poor economic and political performance of the currency union. However, both liberal and socialist critiques fall short in offering viable solutions to ameliorate the persisting challenges plaguing the Eurozone. The employment of the two major theories of political economy to interpret the threats facing the currency union reveals the utopian ideals and political tasks accompanying liberal and socialist critiques. Understanding the political and economic elements of the Eurozone crisis and how both theories grapple with the challenges they present will prepare scholars of European political economy to offer appropriate solutions to strengthen the political support for the currency union.