Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate children's perceptions and attitudes towards sponsorship transition, specifically the change from Nike to PUMA as kit sponsors for Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) in July 2019.

Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 368 children, between 7 and 16 years of age were recruited for the study. Using electronic diaries, 1,577 diary entries were captured between February 2019 and March 2020.

Findings
Data reveals that children conceptualise sponsorship as a social exchange, with sponsoring brands seen as human entities and interaction with them reflecting the dynamism of social and familial relationships. Consequently, children in this study demanded prosocial and interpersonal behaviours from sponsors and sponsee during the transition period.

Research limitations/implications
The research has an immediate and direct application for brand managers and the sponsee when considering terminating long-term sponsorship. Both the departing and incoming sponsors can maximise their relationships with these younger fans through an orchestrated departure, arrival and dedicated handover.

Practical implications
The findings enable marketing brand managers to effectively evaluate sponsor transition to maximise opportunities to maintain, and indeed start, brand relationships with younger fans.

Originality/value
This is the first study that has examined sponsorship children's responses to sponsorship transition.


Cryptographic primitives are the key component in the security protocols to support the authentication, key management and secure communication establish- ment. For that reason, this work presents the optimization of the Elliptic Curve Cryp- tography through the usage of Shifting Primes for constrained devices. Specifically, this presents the optimization for the chipsets JN51XX from NXP/Jennic, which are based on OpenRISC architecture and offer a class-2 constrained device. In details, Shifting Primes features have allowed to optimize the multiplication and squaring through a double accumulator and shifting reduction. This work is ancillary to the previous works about optimization of Shifting Primes for class-1 constrained devices. The optimization of the Elliptic Curve Cryptography for the class-2 constrained devices brings several opportunities for realistic scenarios, where the security interoperability between a gate- way (class-2 device) and end-nodes (class 1 devices) is a major requirement.


Following a lead from botanists, this paper offers a re-interpretation of the morphology and growth of scleractinian, rugosan and tabulate corals in terms of iterated morphological units (modules), with an emphasis on the shape and organization of colonies. It presents a new theoretical basis for modules, a new descriptive framework for corals above the zooidal level, a review of practical applications and a comparison of coral modules with other kinds of organic iteration. Consideration of cloning is a prerequisite and leads to a revival of the hypothesis that colonies have arisen by arrested budding (clonoteny), where zooids are paedomorphic to varying degrees with respect to the primitive state of clonally produced, detached (clonoparous) individuals. A second hypothesis follows, that the mouth structure is universally homologous in all corals. R. Riedl's work ( Order in living organisms . Chichester: John Wiley (1978)) on morphological organization and hierarchy can therefore be applied to corals to obtain a non-arbitrary theoretical basis for recognizing modules and distinguishing them from other kinds of repetition of parts. There are five criteria for modularity, four topological and one homological: (i) a modular structure is a three-dimensional tesselation; (ii) modules correspond to homogeneous units of hierarchical subdivision; (iii) an organism is modular if subdivision at the highest (or very high) level reveals homogeneous units; (iv) if homogeneous units occur in an unbroken series of subdivisions, they are all modules at their respective levels (hence modules of modules, that is, cormidia), and the finest unit is the fundamental module; (v) homogeneous units are those which are homologous with each other (homonoms). On this basis, and allowing for interzooidal connective structures, the fundamental module of corals is the zooid (not the polyp alone). Differences between zooids, as suggested by other authors, are of degree, not kind. Colony form can therefore be specified by using a scheme that starts with zooids, and is based on (i) organization (component morphology and modular arrangement), and (ii) shape, for every modular level present. The basis for higher level modules is reiterative, either homomodular, or heteromodular (subdivided into polymorphic or polystatic). Branching organization and branching shape should be distinguished, and either can occur at any modular level, or even not at all. Modules bring potentially greater precision to growth studies, statistically and topologically, either heuristically or to test hypotheses about fecundity, senescence, determinate growth, variation and inherited architecture. Higher level modularity has previously been largely ignored. Density banding, dye markers and computer modelling, ideally in combination, are likely to produce the most useful results in the near future, and should lead to advances in taxonomy and phylogenetics, in the understanding of the morphological consequences of the coral-zooxanthellae symbiosis, and in the inference of past conditions from fossil corals. In a wider phyletic context, zooidal ( = fundamental) modules are meristematic and broadly metameric, though it follows from R. B. Clark ( Zool. Jb . 103, 169-195(1980)) that this does not automatically signify a close phylogenetic relationship with annelids, or with any other metameric organisms. Coral 'metamers' are probably non-serial and clonal because the coral mode of life is usually vegetative. They exist at a higher organizational level than these other metamers. ' What is not identically repeated, we do not understand. ' (Riedl 1978) ' The actinozooid is a living thing which knows no time of youthful vigour, no waxing to a period of adult life, no waning to senility — it knows no age — it practically knows no natural death . ' (Wood-Jones 1907, 1910)


This paper explores status relations in a Romanian migrant 'community' in Spain, developing a model of social differentiation within the 'community' based on ethnographic material. On a theoretical level, the paper builds on the distinction between 'class' and 'status', emphasising the latter's significance for migration research. Empirically, it aims to complement the study of status in the localities of origin, with a focus on status in the 'communities' at the destination. The paper suggests the existence of a developmental line in differentiation practices, from the most basic strategies of economic status improvement through the complex mechanisms of 'prestige' status recovery to the first occupational advancements with an associated status relevant in the receiving society, shaped by internal factors and external structural forces. Based on this, the paper proposes the model of social differentiation as a schematic tool that could become helpful in examining other phenomena related to migrant communities, especially their 'adaptation possibilities'.


Deep generative models have recently shown great promise in imitation learning for motor control. Given enough data, even supervised approaches can do one-shot imitation learning; however, they are vulnerable to cascading failures when the agent trajectory diverges from the demonstrations. Compared to purely supervised methods, Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning (GAIL) can learn more robust controllers from fewer demonstrations, but is inherently mode-seeking and more difficult to train. In this paper, we show how to combine the favourable aspects of these two approaches. The base of our model is a new type of variational autoencoder on demonstration trajectories that learns semantic policy embeddings. We show that these embeddings can be learned on a 9 DoF Jaco robot arm in reaching tasks, and then smoothly interpolated with a resulting smooth interpolation of reaching behavior. Leveraging these policy representations, we develop a new version of GAIL that (1) is much more robust than the purely-supervised controller, especially with few demonstrations, and (2) avoids mode collapse, capturing many diverse behaviors when GAIL on its own does not. We demonstrate our approach on learning diverse gaits from demonstration on a 2D biped and a 62 DoF 3D humanoid in the MuJoCo physics environment.


Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) is one of the most abundant apolipoproteins along with apoE in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It is thought that apoA-I produced by brain capillary endothelial cells in the brain, while apoE is mainly done by astrocytes. Astrocytes generate not only apoE-containing highdensity lipoprotein-like particle (apoE/HDL) using endogenous apoE but also apoA-I/HDL through the interaction with exogenous apoA-I. Astrocytes generate both apoA-I/HDL and apoE/HDL dependently on a transmembrane protein, ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1).ABCA1 is widely localized in both caveolin-1-rich fraction containing lipid raft domains and non-caveolin-1fraction of the plasma membrane in rat astrocytes unlike peripheral cells. Exogenous apoA-I binds to ABCA1 localized in the non-caveolin-1-fraction with slightly higher densities than the caveolin-1-rich fraction of plasma membrane but not in the complete non-caveolin-1-fraction with highest density, while the endogenous apoE is associated with ABCA1 in the caveolin-1-rich fraction of rat astrocytes. After the association with ABCA1, exogenous apoA-I stimulates the phosphorylation of ABCA1associated phospholipase C? (PL-C?) in the intracellular site and promotes the translocation of phosphorylated PL-C? to the cytosolic lipid-protein particles (CLPPs) in the cytosol fraction of rat astrocytes. The CLPPs are intracellular HDL-like lipid-protein complexes with densities of 1.09-1.16 g/ml and diameters of 17-18 nm, and composed of lipids such as cholesterol, sphingomyelin, and phosphatidylcholine with proteins such as caveolin-1, protein kinase C? (PK-C?), and cyclophilin A in astrocytes. Furthermore, the newly synthesized cholesterol is translocated along with sphingomyelin and phosphatidylcholine from the endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi apparatus (ER/Golgi) to the CLPPs in the cytosol and is transported to the plasma membrane through the interaction with microtubules. Thus, the newly synthesized cholesterol is transferred to exogenous apoA-I in the extracellular space dependently on the association of apoA-I with ABCA1 and the series of intracellular reactions in the CLPPs.


Not only have deep networks become standard in machine learning, they are increasingly of interest in neuroscience as models of cortical computation that capture relationships between structural and functional properties. In addition they are a useful target of theoretical research into the properties of network computation. Deep networks typically have a serial or approximately serial organization across layers, and this is often mirrored in models that purport to represent computation in mammalian brains. There are, however, multiple examples of parallel pathways in mammalian brains. In some cases, such as the mouse, the entire visual system appears arranged in a largely parallel, rather than serial fashion. While these pathways may be formed by differing cost functions that drive different computations, here we present a new mathematical analysis of learning dynamics in networks that have parallel computational pathways driven by the same cost function. We use the approximation of deep linear networks with large hidden layer sizes to show that, as the depth of the parallel pathways increases, different features of the training set (defined by the singular values of the input-output correlation) will typically concentrate in one of the pathways. This result is derived analytically and demonstrated with numerical simulation with both linear and non-linear networks. Thus, rather than sharing stimulus and task features across multiple pathways, parallel network architectures learn to produce sharply diversified representations with specialized and specific pathways, a mechanism which may hold important consequences for codes in both biological and artificial systems.


Abstract The present study develops an interfacial area transport equation applicable to an air-water horizontal bubbly flow with a flow restriction. The experiments are performed in a round glass pipe of 50.3-mm inner diameter, along which a 90-deg elbow is installed at L/D = 206.6 from the two-phase mixture inlet. In total, 15 different flow conditions in the bubbly flow regime are studied. The detailed local two-phase flow parameters are acquired by a double-sensor conductivity probe at four different axial locations. The effect of the elbow is evident in the distribution of local parameters as well as in the development of interfacial structures. The elbow clearly promotes bubble interactions resulting in significant changes in both the void fraction and interfacial area concentration. In the present study, the elbow is found to promote the coalescence mechanism while reducing the disintegration mechanism. These geometric effects are also reflected in the axial development of one-dimensional two-phase flow parameters. In the present analysis, the interfacial area transport equation is developed in one-dimensional form via area-averaging based on the existing model for vertical flow. In the averaging process, characteristic nonuniform distributions of the two-phase flow parameters in horizontal two-phase flow are treated mathematically by covariance calculations. Furthermore, the change in pressure due to the minor loss of the elbow is taken into consideration by using a newly developed correlation analogous to Lockhart and Martinelli's. In total, 60 area-averaged data points are employed to benchmark the present model. The present model predicts the data well with an average percent difference of approximately ±10%.


Background: Therapeutically targeting actionable mutations in cancer may increase response rates in Phase I clinical trials. We undertook a pilot study to assess the feasibility and therapeutic benefit of incorporating NGS screening into the patient pathway for phase 1 cancer trials.

Methods: NGS tumour profiling was performed using a 22 gene amplicon-based panel (Life Technologies Colon & Lung V2) on 117 consecutive patients (pts) referred over a 13 month period for Phase I trials. BRCA1/2 analysis was performed in pts with epithelial ovarian cancer.

Results: 117 pts (67% female) with a median age of 59 (range 22-78) years were included. Common tumour types were ovarian (n = 20), colorectal (n = 16), breast (n = 13), endometrial (n = 12) and lung (n = 8) cancer. NGS was successfully performed in 108 (92%) pts with a median time to results of 12 days (range 6-39). 82% of pts (89/108) had a detected variant in ≥ 1 gene with an average of 3 variants (range 0-26) in 2 genes (0-10) per case. Common mutations included TP53 (69%), KRAS (14%), PIK3CA (11%) and SMAD4 (9%). BRCA1/2 mutations were present in 11 (55%) ovarian cancer pts. Overall, 49 (45%) pts had ≥ 1 actionable mutation. Detected variants were reviewed in a local genomics review board to assess actionability prior to considering therapy. 53 pts were commenced on a Phase I trial; 18 (34%) were genotype directed. Median duration on trial was 73 days for pts on genotype (7-260 days) or non-genotype (20-582) directed trials with 50% and 24% of allocated patients continuing on study respectively. Of pts evaluable for response (n = 47), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD) were observed in 50%, 29% and 21% of pts on genotype directed trials and 20%, 37% and 43% of pts on non-genotype directed respectively. Excluding pts on BRCA1/2 directed trials, PR, SD and PD were observed in 33%, 33% and 33% of pts respectively in genotype-directed studies.

Conclusions: NGS is feasible in real time and may affect clinical outcome in the phase 1 setting. Almost half of pts had a potentially actionable mutation. Initial response rates for pts treated on genotype-driven trials are encouraging. Benefit is likely to be augmented using a broader NGS panel which is planned for future assessment.


Formaldehyde and methylene glycol may be used safely in cosmetics if established limits are not exceeded and are safe for use in nail hardeners in the present practices of use and concentration, which include instructions to avoid skin contact. In hair-smoothing products, however, in the present practices of use and concentration, formaldehyde and methylene glycol are unsafe. Methylene glycol is continuously converted to formaldehyde, and vice versa, even at equilibrium, which can be easily shifted by heating, drying, and other conditions to increase the amount of formaldehyde. This rapid, reversible formaldehyde/methylene glycol equilibrium is distinguished from the slow, irreversible release of formaldehyde resulting from the so-called formaldehyde releaser preservatives, which are not addressed in this safety assessment (formaldehyde releasers may continue to be safely used in cosmetics at the levels established in their individual Cosmetic Ingredient Review safety assessments).


The aim of this thesis was to investigate the electrical and mechanical responses to inhibitory non-adrenergic noncholinergic (NANC) nerve stimulation in the bovine retractor penis muscle (BRP) and compare them with those to an inhibitory extract made from this muscle. The extract may contain the NANC inhibitory transmitter of the BRP and possibly
of other smooth muscles. Because of species differences in the electrical response to NANC nerves in the rat and rabbit anococcygeus the effects of the extract on these tissues was also investigated. Prior to the investigation
of the extract, both the excitatory and inhibitory responses to field stimulation in the BRP, and the effects of passive membrane potential displacement were studied using conventional intra- or extracellular (sucrose gap) recording techniques.

The majority of cells in the BRP were electrically quiescent independent of the resting tone. The most frequent (in approximately 25% of preparations) form of spontaneous activity, oscillations in membrane potential and tone, may represent a pacemaker activity. The BRP had cable properties; the time constant and space constant indicated a high membrane resistance.

In the absence of tone, field stimulation of the BRP evoked excitatory junction potentials (ejps) in every cell impaled and contractions, graded with the strength, frequency and number of pulses; spikes were not observed. Guanethidine (1-3 x 10-5M) abolished the ejps and contractions, confirming their adrenergic origin. Noradrenaline added exogenously depolarised and contracted the muscle. These effects were blocked by the a-adrenoceptor antagonists, phentolamine and prazosin. However, phentolamine (2.5x
10-6M) inhibited the contraction without reducing the ejp significantly. These effects may be independent of adrenoceptor blockade or the ejp may be mediated by a substance other than noradrenaline (e.g. ATP) released
from adrenergic nerves. Prazosin (1.4 x lO-6M) failed to block either the ejp or contraction, indicating the possible existence of two types of adrenoceptor in the BRP; one activated by neuronally-released and the other by exogenously-added noradrenaline. ATP, a contaminant in the extract, also depolarised and contracted the BRP.

Physostigmine reduced whilst atropine enhanced the ejps and contractions without similarly affecting the response to exogenous noradrenaline. This confirmed the presence of a cholinergic inhibitory innervation acting
on the excitatory adrenergic fibres (Klinge and Sjostrand,
1977).

TEA (1 x lO-4M) enhanced the ejp and contraction. Higher concentrations (0.5 to 10 x 10-3M) depolarised, increased the tone and evoked electrical and mechanical oscillations but no spikes. The depolarisation and contraction
to exogenous noradrenaline were not enhanced, indicating that TEA acts on the adrenergic nerves. Some post-synaptic effect to block K+ channels also seems likely.

The relationship between ejp amplitude and membrane potential in the double sucrose gap was linear and indicated a reversal potential more positive than -30mV. Electrotonic pulse amplitude decreased during the ejp,
indicating an increased membrane conductance. Ejps and contractions were reduced following the replacement of the NaCl of the Krebs solution with sodium glutamate. This may be due to the effects of glutamate itself (e.g. Ca2+ chelation) rather than reduction in the membrane Cl- gradient.

Tone usually developed spontaneously and was accompanied by membrane depolarisation (from -53 to -45mV) which may open voltage-dependent channels, causing Ca2+ entry and/or its release from intracellular binding sites. Field stimulation produced inhibitory potentials (ijps) and relaxations graded with the strength and number of pulses but showing little frequency dependence. Rebound depolarisation and contraction often followed the ijp and relaxation. Tetrodotoxin (3 x IO-6M), but not adrenergic or cholinergic antagonists, abolished the ijp and relaxation, confirming their non-adrenergic non-cholinergic neurogenic nature.

The extract, prepared and acid-activated as described by Gillespie, Hunter and Martin (1981), hyperpolarised and relaxed the BRP, as did sodium nitroprusside and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Unlike the activated extract or sodium nitroprusside, desensitisation to ATP occurred rapidly and without any change in the inhibitory electrical or mechanical responses to field stimulation.

The ijp and relaxation in the BRP were insensitive to apamin but abolished by oxyhaemoglobin (4-8 x 10-6M), as were the responses to extract and sodium nitroprusside. In TEA (10-2M), field stimulation evoked relaxations
with no accompanying electrical change. The ijp may be unconnected with or additional to another mechanism producing relaxation.

The relationship between membrane potential and ijp in the BRP was non-linear. Ijp amplitude was initially increased during membrane potential displacement from -45mV to approximately -60mV. Thereafter (-60 to -l03mV)
the ijp was reduced. Ijps were abolished at -27 and -103mV; reversal was not observed. The hyperpolarisation to extract was also enhanced during passive displacement of the membrane potential to more negative values (-57mV).

Membrane resistance increased during the ijp. The extract produced inconsistent changes in membrane resistance, possibly because of the presence of more than one active component. K+ withdrawal failed to enhance the ijp or hyperpolarisation to extract and 20mM K+ did not
abolish the the ijp at membrane potentials exceeding EK (-49mV). Thus, the ijp or hyperpolarisation to extract are unlikely to be mediated by an increased K+ conductance.

Reducing the Cl- abolished the hyperpolarisation to field stimulation and extract. This occurred more quickly than the anticipated reduction in the Cl- gradient and may be due to Ca2+ chelation by the anion substitute (glutamate or benzenesulphonate) or blockade of the resting conductance which is normally inactivated by the transmitter. Ouabain (1-5x 10-5M), which reduces both the Na+ and Cl- gradients, abolished the ijp, implicating either of these ions as the ionic species involved.

In the rat and rabbit anococcygeus, field stimulation and extract each reduced guanethidine-induced tone. This was unaccompanied in the majority of cells in the rat by any significant electrical response. In the remaining
cells, inhibition of the membrane potential oscillations occurred. The rabbit anococcygeus differed in that inhibition of the electrical oscillations was observed in every cell exhibiting this behaviour. However, the majority of cells in the rabbit were electrically quiescent and showed only small hyperpolarisations to field stimulation and no electrical response to extract. Apamin (1 x 10-7M) failed to block the electrical and mechanical response to field stimulation in the rabbit but did inhibit transiently that to extract. The latter effect may be due to the initial excitatory effects of apamin.

The similarities between the electrical effects of the extract and those of inhibitory nerve stimulation in the BRP, rat and rabbit anococcygeus muscles are generally consistent with their being mediated by the same active
component. Moreover, the ijp in the BRP shows properties which have not been reported in other non-adrenergic noncholinergically innervated smooth muscles.


The combination of detailed topographic leveling on the southwest segment of the El Asnam thrust fault with existing seismic and geologic data implies that the geometry of this fault involves shallow dipping flats and steep ramps. The fault appears to be growing along strike toward the southwest end, where the main shock initiated in 1980. From a depth of about 10 km, the main thrust appears to ramp to the basement-Cenozoic cover interface on a plane striking N40°E and dipping 50°–55° to the northwest. Along the southwest segment where folding has not yet developed, the thrust continues steeply through the Cenozoic cover to the near surface where it flattens, causing normal faulting. Along the central and northeast segments, which display a more evolved fold structure, the deep thrust probably flattens at a depth of 5–6 km, into a decollement along the Cenozoic-Jurassic interface before ramping to the surface. The Sara El Marouf and Kef El Mes anticlines have thus formed as fault propagation folds. Normal faults at Beni Rached probably branch with the thrust to maintain kinematic compatibility between the deep ramp and decollement. The greater separation (∼7 km) between the normal faults at Beni Rached and the thrust where it crosses Oued Cheliff than along the southwest segment (∼1 km) reflects the greater depth of the ramp to flat bend. We infer that the September 9, 1954, earthquake activated only the central deep segment of the main thrust together with the Beni Rached normal faults, while that of October 10, 1980, activated the whole system of flat decollements, ramp thrusts and compatibility normal faults. Further complexities of the faulting in map view are related to changes of strike of the thrust (in particular north of Oued Cheliff).


PURPOSE
To compare the effects of preadmission and postadmission educational programs for patients with total knee arthroplasty.

DESIGN
Quasiexperimental study.

SAMPLE
60 total knee arthroplasty patients.

METHODS
Subjects in the experimental group received preadmission preoperative teaching with an instruction booklet during a preoperative outpatient clinic visit. Upon admission to the hospital, they were presented with an educational video tape. The control group received only postadmission preoperative teaching with the same instruction booklet and no video. PREADMISSION AND POSTADMISSION: Preoperative anxiety level, knowledge about postoperative care, exercise performance and postoperative recovery were used as outcome measures.

FINDINGS
The research results found: 1. there was no significant difference between the two groups in reduction of preoperative anxiety score: 2. the experimental group had a significantly higher knowledge level than the control group; 3. the experimental group performed exercise more regularly and correctly than those in the control group; 4. the experimental group had greater flexion of the operative knee joint than the control group.

CONCLUSION
Preadmission teaching with a videotape program and a health manual for patients with total knee arthroplasty is recommended.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING RESEARCH
More indicators such as postoperative pain and patient satisfaction can be used to investigate the effectiveness of intervention. In addition, increasing the sample size is recommended for future studies.


As the worldwide energy consumption continues to grow, natural gas and especially LNG are expected to keep contributing significantly with this growth. More than 95% of the installed LNG facilities use a precooling cycle as the first stage of the liquefaction process. In this work, a technical comparison between different precooling cycles for LNG processes is carried out through computational simulations using Aspen HYSYS®. The aim is to provide future project developments with a clear idea of the technical advantages/disadvantages involved in the selection of the process for the precooling cycle in LNG processes. The precooling circuit is treated as a stand-alone cycle first and then implemented in an entire liquefaction process; the propane precooled mixed refrigerant (C3MR) and the mixed fluid cascade (MFC®) processes are used for this purpose. The parameters studied are essentially coefficient of performance (β), heat exchanger UA value, compressor power, suction volumetric flow and pressure ratio. Two cases, cold (6 °C) and warm (25 °C) climate conditions are considered for each study. A three stage propane precooled process was found to be the most energetically efficient among the studied cases, even better than a two stage mixed refrigerant process (C2/C3) for both climate conditions; however, the performance in terms of energy consumption is not the only parameter taken into account and therefore a selection chart is provided. Under warm climate conditions a propane precooling circuit showed to be the most recommended process. For cold climates, however, a two stage mixed refrigerant cycle reaching ca. -50 °C is the preferred alternative, since in this case the low ambient temperature gives the propane precooled process a low share in the entire process. Other cases, such as a single stage mixed refrigerant cycle and a mixed refrigerant including n-Butane are taken into account. Based on the obtained results, a new, highly efficient configuration for natural gas liquefaction has been suggested, it is to be implemented in relatively warm climate conditions. It consists of a MFC® process with modifications in the liquefaction cycle and a propane precooling instead of the mixed refrigerant circuit; no previous reference in the open literature was found for such arrangement.


Introduces an instrument for measuring organizational culture. Discussion of the concept precedes discussion of the problems of measurement and the traditions and theory on which design of the instrument draws. Summarizes the dimensions to be measured in terms of four general bipolar descriptive types: homogeneous v. heterogeneous; enriched v. managed; developing v. stationary; balanced v. dissonnant. Items in the Cultural Audit Instrument (a 17‐page questionnaire) are grouped in sections on the basis of previous research; the causes of problems; the outcomes; the moderator. For each response element the instrument measures the person's perceptions of their own and others' situations in the organization and of their ideal situation. Gives examples of results.


A system for driver drowsiness monitoring is proposed, using multi-sensor data acquisition and investigating two decision-making algorithms, namely a fuzzy inference system (FIS) and an artificial neural network (ANN), to predict the drowsiness level of the driver. Drowsiness indicator signals are selected allowing non-intrusive measurements. The experimental set-up of a driver-drowsiness-monitoring system is designed on the basis of the soughtafter indicator signals. These selected signals are the eye closure via pupil area measurement, gaze vector and head motion acquired by a monocular computer vision system, steering wheel angle, vehicle speed, and force applied to the steering wheel by the driver. It is believed that, by fusing these signals, driver drowsiness can be detected and drowsiness level can be predicted. For validation of this hypothesis, 30 subjects, in normal and sleep-deprived conditions, are involved in a standard highway simulation for 1.5 h, giving a data set of 30 pairs. For designing a feature space to be used in decision making, several metrics are derived using histograms and entropies of the signals. An FIS and an ANN are used for decision making on the drowsiness level. To construct the rule base of the FIS, two different methods are employed and compared in terms of performance: first, linguistic rules from experimental studies in literature and, second, mathematically extracted rules by fuzzy subtractive clustering. The drowsiness levels belonging to each session are determined by the participants before and after the experiment, and videos of their faces are assessed to obtain the ground truth output for training the systems. The FIS is able to predict correctly 98 per cent of determined drowsiness states (training set) and 89 per cent of previously unknown test set states, while the ANN has a correct classification rate of 90 per cent for the test data. No significant difference is observed between the FIS and the ANN; however, the FIS might be considered better since the rule base can be improved on the basis of new observations.


The present study introduces a knotless tension band construct and compares its biomechanical behavior with that of a traditional stainless steel tension band construct. Fourth-generation composite tibial Sawbones(®) were used in the present study. Fracture models were created to mimic Orthopaedic Trauma Association type 44-B2.2 ankle fractures. A total of 20 specimens were randomized evenly into a stainless steel tension band group (control group); or a knotless tension band group. The fixation constructs were mechanically tested, and the stiffness and failure strengths were calculated. Two failure strengths were determined: the engineering-based failure strength, defined as the greatest tensile load tolerated by the construct; and the clinical failure strength, defined as the force required to displace the fracture by 2 mm. We used 2-tailed independent samples t tests to compare and identify significant differences. The knotless tension band construct was 7.7% stronger and 33.2% stiffer and required a 36.7% greater force to displace the fracture by 2 mm. Independent sample t tests confirmed that differences in mean stiffness (p = .003) and clinical failure strength (p = .003) were statistically significant. Although the mean engineering strength for the knotless group was greater than that for the stainless steel group, this difference was not statistically significant (p = .170). This knotless tension band construct could potentially offer both clinical and biomechanical advantages compared with the current stainless steel standard.


Stress is a risk factor for impaired general, mental, and reproductive health. The role of physiological and supraphysiological estradiol concentrations in stress perception and stress processing is less well understood. We, therefore, conducted a prospective observational study to investigate the association between estradiol, stress perception, and stress-related cognitive performance within serial measurements either during the natural menstrual cycle or during fertility treatment, where estradiol levels are strongly above the physiological level of a natural cycle, and consequently, represent a good model to study dose-dependent effects of estradiol. Data from 44 women receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF) at the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology in Zurich, Switzerland was compared to data from 88 women with measurements during their natural menstrual cycle. The German version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and the Cognitive Bias Test (CBT), in which cognitive performance is tested under time stress were used to evaluate subjective and functional aspects of stress. Estradiol levels were investigated at four different time points during the menstrual cycle and at two different time points during a fertility treatment. Cycle phases were associated with PSQ worry and cognitive bias in normally cycling women, but different phases of fertility treatment were not associated with subjectively perceived stress and stress-related cognitive bias. PSQ lack of joy and PSQ demands related to CBT in women receiving fertility treatment but not in women with a normal menstrual cycle. Only strong changes of the estradiol level during fertility treatment were weakly associated with CBT, but not with subjectively experienced stress. Our research emphasizes the multidimensional character of stress and the necessity to adjust stress research to the complex nature of stress perception and processing. Infertility is associated with an increased psychological burden in patients. However, not all phases of the process to overcome infertility do significantly increase patient stress levels. Also, research on the psychological burden of infertility should consider that stress may vary during the different phases of fertility treatment. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT02098668.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the policy of closing psychiatric hospitals and replacing their functions with community-based services.

METHOD
All long-stay nondemented patients in two U.K. hospitals scheduled for closure were assessed with a series of schedules. All patients in one hospital and a proportion of those in the other hospital were reassessed 1 year after discharge to community facilities.

RESULTS
Of the 737 patients discharged from the two hospitals, 24 died before follow-up, two by suicide. Follow-up was successful for 94.6% of the survivors. Only seven patients were lost to follow-up and are presumed to have become homeless. Only two patients went to prison, one briefly. There was very little change in patients' psychiatric symptoms or social behavior problems. The community homes provided a much less restrictive environment than the hospital wards. Discharged patients were very appreciative of their increased freedom, and over 80% wished to stay in their community homes. There was an increase in the proportion of patients with incontinence and immobility. The patients' social lives were enriched by an increase in friends, and some made contact with neighbors and others in the community. However, there was a decrease in contact with relatives following discharge.

CONCLUSIONS
When the capital and revenue resources of a psychiatric hospital are reinvested in community services, based on staffed houses, there are few problems with crime or homelessness. With such well-resourced services, the benefits greatly outweigh the disadvantages for both old and new long-stay patients.


The main focus of the research in this thesis is to develop a consolidated framework of usability and user experience testing for telecom companies. The existing usability standards, literature and models are reviewed. Different usability evaluation methods; user experience definitions and evaluation methods are identified through a comprehensive literature survey. A brief discussion of the relationship between usability and user experience together with the challenges are also presented. Based on these, then it is explained how to unify these several resources into a single consolidated framework. A unified terminology for the usability attributes, sub-attributes and measures are presented in the framework. The framework is called Framework for Usability and User Experience (FOUUX). FOUUX serves as a guideline for tracing and interpreting the data collected on usability of products. It includes nine usability attributes, each of which corresponds to a specific aspect of usability that is identified in an existing standard, literature or model. These nine usability attributes are decomposed into twenty seven sub-attributes, and the relationship between the attributes and sub-attributes are presented. Questions and measures are then classified under sixty three sub-goals utilizing the Goal Question Metric (GQM) approach. In this thesis study, case study approach was used for validating the framework. The framework has been applied to a specific industry share case, that is, the Fitness application which is being developed by an industrial partner.


[ 1] The possibility of using shape mixtures of randomly oriented spheroids for modeling desert dust aerosol light scattering is discussed. For reducing calculation time, look-up tables were simulated for quadrature coefficients employed in the numerical integration of spheroid optical properties over size and shape. The calculations were done for 25 bins of the spheroid axis ratio ranging from similar to 0.3 ( flattened spheroids) to similar to 3.0 ( elongated spheroids) and for 41 narrow size bins covering the size parameter range from similar to 0.012 to similar to 625. The look-up tables were arranged into a software package, which allows fast, accurate, and flexible modeling of scattering by randomly oriented spheroids with different size and shape distributions. In order to evaluate spheroid model and explore the possibility of aerosol shape identification, the software tool has been integrated into inversion algorithms for retrieving detailed aerosol properties from laboratory or remote sensing polarimetric measurements of light scattering. The application of this retrieval technique to laboratory measurements by Volten et al. ( 2001) has shown that spheroids can closely reproduce mineral dust light scattering matrices. The spheroid model was utilized for retrievals of aerosol properties from atmospheric radiation measured by AERONET ground-based Sun/sky-radiometers. It is shown that mixtures of spheroids allow rather accurate fitting of measured spectral and angular dependencies of observed intensity and polarization. Moreover, it is shown that for aerosol mixtures with a significant fraction of coarse-mode particles ( radii >= similar to 1 mu m), the nonsphericity of aerosol particles can be detected as part of AERONET retrievals. The retrieval results indicate that nonspherical particles with aspect ratios similar to 1.5 and higher dominate in desert dust plumes, while in the case of background maritime aerosol spherical particles are dominant. Finally, the potential of using AERONET derived spheroid mixtures for modeling the effects of aerosol particle nonsphericity in other remote sensing techniques is discussed. For example, the variability of lidar measurements ( extinction to backscattering ratio and signal depolarization ratio) is illustrated and analyzed. Also, some potentially important differences in the sensitivity of angular light scattering to parameters of nonspherical versus spherical aerosols are revealed and discussed.


The Level 1 Biff, Chip and Kipper Stories, written by Roderick Hunt and illustrated by Alex Brychta, provide both wordless stories and a rich story context to help develop language comprehension and decoding skills with simple first words and sentences. Wordless Stories A and Wordless Stories B introduce the characters and children learn that the pictures tell a story, where a story begins and how to turn the pages. First Words and More First Words introduce children to simple words and the characters' names. Books contain inside cover notes to support children in their reading. Help with childrens reading development is also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk.


A new type of nematic liquid-crystal infiltrated photonic bandgap-guiding fiber for single polarization or high-birefringence guidance is proposed. Numerical studies demonstrate that modal birefringence can be tuned by proper selection of the structural and material parameters as well as by the application of an external electric field in conjunction with the specific liquid-crystal anchoring conditions


Economic growth and development remains an important policy issue for most of the states in the world, which is a particular issue for late developing countries, as they have very much relied on 'state' for economic growth and development. As a result, the experience in the 20th century demonstrates a secular increase in the growth of government expenditures all over the world. Hence, the role of government expenditures in contributing to long run economic growth continues to be an important topic and the subject of much debate.
Saudi Arabia economy is one of late developing countries. While its economy is characterised by an open and private economy, the government remains to have a large role in the economy through its expenditures financed largely by revenues generated from oil. While the Saudi economy has grown and developed, the government has also responded to the increased demand for social services such as education and healthcare in addition to other infrastructure investments for development purpose. Therefore, the process of economic growth and development has resulted in growth of government expenditures.
This research, thus, aims at modelling of government expenditures and economic growth nexus in the case o Saudi Arabia for the period of 1968-2010 by testing a number of models developed in the literature: Wagner's Law, Keynesian Relations and Peacock and Wiseman's Displacement Effect. The analysis modelled within the time series econometric techniques including co-integration test, Granger causality test and the error correction model (ECM).
The findings obtained from the analyses find that the Wagnerian proposition can explain the growth of government in Saudi Arabia, which holds for both the oil and non-oil income cases. The result indicates the existence of strong feedback causality for all the versions of Wagner's law in the long run. The findings also note that the three versions of Keynesian Relations found to be held for both general income and non-oil income in the case of Saudi Arabia. In addition, the findings also support for the Displacement Effect mainly due to international political developments and trends in oil prices, as such events resulted deviation from the linear growth in the government expenditures over the average growth and it is observed that government expenditure growth continued its gradual growth from the new level.
This study, thus, concludes that growing economic activity of the state has marked the Saudi Arabian economy over the period in question. While this partly can be explained due to economic reasons such as the need for economic development and responding to the demands of a growing population, but also the rentier economy nature of the Saudi political economy necessitates increasing government expenditures for political stability.


Owen White, The Blood of the Colony: Wine and the Rise and Fall of French Algeria (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020).Andrea E. Duffy, Nomad's Land: Pastoralism and French Environmental Policy in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean World (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019).Charlotte Ann Legg, The New White Race: Settler Colonialism and the Press in
French Algeria, 1860–1914 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2021)


An unknown symptomatology, including yellowing in old plantations, colorless of cladode epidermis, cladode deforming and curly, were observed on the Indian Fig (prickly pear cactus) (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill) in the "Pyramids" Indian area located in the northeastern State of Mexico. The samples collected were analyzed through a nested-PCR reaction. The symptoms found, were all attributed to the presence of a phytoplasma given the amplification of a 1200 pb fragment of the 16S rRNA gene using primers R16 F2/R2. The PCR products restriction analysis leading us to assume that the phytoplasma corresponds to subgroup 16Srll, previously reported for other crops in other world regions.

 Key words: Indian fig, phytoplasma, Mexico state, 16S rRNA, PCR detection.


The answer could be yes, because of a small detail that has been overlooked for decades and that was not known in 1905. Applying the Quantum Theory to the Michelson Morley experiment (MME), one can recognize that there are no skewed light paths in the y-arm, perpendicular to the moving x-direction. The MME must be interpreted differently. Therefore, the calculation of the time durations that photons take from the laser to the detector must be changed with the outcome that the null result can only be achieved if there is no length contraction. The time dilation, measured in many experiments, must have another cause. This could be regarded as just another incompatibility between the Special Theory of Relativity and the Quantum Theory, but in this case it goes deeper. A time dilation without a length contraction would have great impacts to the Theories of Relativity, though there are overwhelming confirmations by complex experiments, because the physical basis to the mathematical space-time modelling by the Lorentz transformation would be wrong. Several experiments with the newest technology are proposed to test this alternative view on this fundamental experiment.


ABSTRACT Aging is accelerated by metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, and the risk of these diseases increases with age. Obesity is an important risk factor for many age-related diseases and is linked to reduced telomere length in white blood cells. We investigated whether cardiac senescence might be enhanced in DahlS.Z-Leprfa/Leprfa (DS/obese) rats, which we recently established as a new animal model of metabolic syndrome. The heart of DS/obese rats was compared with that of homozygous lean littermates (DahlS.Z-Lepr +/Lepr +, or DS/lean, rats). DS/obese rats manifested hypertension as well as left ventricular hypertrophy, fibrosis, and diastolic dysfunction at 18 weeks of age. Myocardial oxidative stress and inflammation were increased in DS/obese rats compared with DS/lean rats. Telomere length in myocardial cells did not differ between the two rat strains, whereas telomerase activity and expression of the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene were increased in DS/obese rats. Expression of the senescence-associated genes for checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2), p53, and p21 as well as that of genes related to the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system were also up-regulated in the DS/obese rat heart. Our results indicate that DS/obese rats undergo premature cardiac senescence as well as cardiac remodeling in association with the development of diastolic dysfunction in these animals.


1. A case of chronic thrombocytopenic purpura has been presented in which the pathogenesis appears to be due to congenital deficiency of a platelet-stimulating factor.

2. The factor exists in normal plasma and is stable on storage under normal blood banking conditions and on freezing.

3. The factor appears to act by stimulating megakaryocyte maturation and platelet production in an orderly and sequential manner.


Analysis of a stratigraphically-controlled sample of over 2,000 lagomorph specimens in the University of Nebraska State Museum, collected from sedi ments in the Brule Formation (Oligocene) of Sioux and Scotts Bluff Counties. Nebraska, indicates biostratigraphic and evolutionary changes in the lagomorph fauna throughout the Orellan of Nebraska. A new species, Palaeolagus hemirhizis, described from the Orella A hori zon, is intermediate between the typical Orellan species P. haydeni and the Chadronian species P. temnodon from Montana, Wyoming, and Saskatchewan. Palaeolagus haydeni and P. burkei show almost complete overlap in size range of cheek teeth. with the means of the measurements for P. burkei being slightly smaller than those of P. haydeni. Palaeolagus haydeni is known from Orella B through D, P. burkei from Orella C and D, and P. intermedius is known only from Orella D. Only Megalagus turgidus is known from all horizons of the Orella Member. Size change through the Orellan is demonstrated for P. burkei, P. haydeni and M. turgidus. Specimens of P. haydeni, P. burkei, P. intermedius, and M. turgidus are also known from the Lower Whitney Member (Whitneyan).


"Spider Eaters" is at once a moving personal story, a fascinating family history, and a unique chronicle of political upheaval told by a Chinese woman who came of age during the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution. With stunning honesty and a lively, sly humor, Rae Yang records her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland, to her girlhood at an elite middle school in Beijing, to her adolescent experience as a Red Guard and later as a laborer on a pig farm in the remote northern wilderness. She tells of her eventual disillusionment with the Maoist revolution, how remorse and despair drove her almost to suicide, and how she struggled to make sense of conflicting events that often blurred the line between victim and victimizer, aristocrat and peasant, communist and counterrevolutionary. Moving gracefully between past and present, dream and reality, the author artfully conveys the vast complexity of life in China as well as the richness, confusion, and magic of her own inner life and struggle. Much of the power of the narrative derives from Yang's multi-generational, cross-class perspective. She invokes the myths, legends, folklore, and local customs that surrounded her and brings to life the many people who were instrumental in her life: her nanny, a poor woman who raised her from a baby and whose character is conveyed through the bedtime tales she spins; her father; her beloved grandmother, who died as a result of the political persecution she suffered. Spanning the years from 1950 to 1980, Rae Yang's story is evocative, complex, and told with striking candor. It is one of the most immediate and engaging narratives of life in post-1949 China.


Influenza infects an estimated 9 to 35 million individuals each year in the United States and is a contributing cause for between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths annually. Seasonal outbreaks of influenza are common in temperate regions of the world, with highest incidence typically occurring in colder and drier months of the year. Real-time forecasts of influenza transmission can inform public health response to outbreaks. We present the results of a multi-institution collaborative effort to standardize the collection and evaluation of forecasting models for influenza in the US for the 2010/2011 through 2016/2017 influenza seasons. For these seven seasons, we assembled weekly real-time forecasts of 7 targets of public health interest from 22 different models. We compared forecast accuracy of each model relative to a historical baseline seasonal average. Across all regions of the US, over half of the models showed consistently better performance than the historical baseline when forecasting incidence of influenza-like illness 1, 2 and 3 weeks ahead of available data and when forecasting the timing and magnitude of the seasonal peak. In some regions, delays in data reporting were strongly and negatively associated with forecast accuracy. More timely reporting and an improved overall accessibility to novel and traditional data sources are needed to improve forecasting accuracy and its integration with real-time public health decision-making.


The purpose of this study was to expand our breadth of knowledge and fill a gap in the literature regarding injured youth athletes' imagery use during injury rehabilitation, using a retrospective qualitative approach. The participants were 12 young adults who had sustained an injury as an adolescent (during the previous five years) forcing them to miss time in their sport due to the injury. During the interviews, the participants described their use of imagery during sport injury rehabilitation including when, where, why and for what purpose they used imagery. They reported using imagery during sport rehabilitation for cognitive, motivational, pain management and healing purposes. Motivational imagery was used to set rehabilitative goals and develop confidence in returning to sport, while cognitive imagery was used to learn and rehearse sport and rehabilitation skills and strategies. Pain management imagery was used to distract from pain sensations, block the pain, and practice dealing with the pain, while healing imagery was used for internal physiological processes. With respect to what they imaged, participants commented on the timing, effectiveness, nature, modalities, and "other" details regarding their imagery use. Overall, implementing imagery in conjunction with physical rehabilitation may enhance the rehabilitative process for young injured athletes, thereby increasing the rates of physiological recovery.


Ethiopia's agricultural sector has recorded remarkable rapid growth in the last decade. This note documents aspects of this growth process. Over the last decade, there have been significant increases – more than a doubling – in the use of modern inputs, such as chemical fertilizers and improved seeds, explaining part of that growth. However, there was also significant land expansion, increased labor use, and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth estimated at 2.3 percent per year. The expansion in modern input use appears to have been driven by high government expenditures on the agricultural sector, including agricultural extension, but also by an improved road network, higher rural education levels, and favorable international and local price incentives.


Dynamical studies of the centers of galaxies have received a tremendous push forward with the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. Thanks to its superb resolution power, HST has made it possible not only to convincingly demonstrate the existence of supermassive black holes (SBHs) in galactic nuclei, but also to investigate how SBHs relate to the overall structure of the host galaxy. In spite of this, many questions remain unanswered, for instance, how do scaling relations for SBHs evolve with cosmic time? What is the exact characterization of the local SBH mass function? Are there upper and lower limits to the mass a SBH can attain? The next generation of 30m telescopes will provide the leap in resolution capabilities and collective power which is necessary to address the above questions. I will discuss some of the main science drivers in the field of galaxy dynamics, and the instrument requirements needed to achieve them.


With the onset of multi- and many-core chips, the single-core market is closing down. Those chips constitute a new challenge for aerospace and safety-critical industries in general. Little is known about the certification of software running on these systems. There is therefore a strong need for developing software architectures based on multi-core architectures, yet compliant with safety-criticality constraints. This paper presents a reconfigurable multi-core architecture and the safety-criticality constraints for airborne systems. The last section uses the current certification guidance to explain how the architecture can satisfy these constraints even with dynamic features activated.


Visual motion perception is affected by the subsequent visual input. This is a type of postdictive modulation induced by the spatiotemporal integration of motion signals. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of light level on the postdictive modulation of visual motion, because motion perception can be varied with the light level (Yoshimoto & Takeuchi, J. Vis., 2013). For this purpose, we investigated how the perceived direction of a directionally ambiguous test stimulus is changed by the unidirectional drifting of a subsequent stimulus under various light conditions. The test stimulus was generated by shifting the phase of a sine-wave grating by 180°. Because the postdictive modulation of visual appearance occurs within a limited time range (Eagleman & Sejnowski, J. Vis., 2007), the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between the test and the subsequent stimulus was set to 250 ms. The eccentricity of stimulus presentation was varied from 0.0° to 10.0°. Observers judged the perceived direction of the test stimulus (rightward or leftward), which preceded a subsequent stimulus at different light levels ranging from photopic to scotopic levels (42-0.0024 cd/m2). We found that postdictive modulation, in which the test stimulus was perceived to move in the same direction as the subsequent stimulus, was stronger under mesopic conditions than under photopic or scotopic conditions. The strongest postdictive modulation was observed when the stimuli were presented at an eccentricity of 3.3°-6.7°, where the relative contributions of the cones and rods are almost equal under mesopic conditions (Raphael & MacLeod, J. Vis., 2011). These results suggest that motion integration is facilitated as a form of postdictive perception of motion to deal with the incoming spatiotemporally different signals from cones and rods. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


This is a completely revised and expanded second edition, building on the first edition with two principal aims: first, to elucidate the role that domestic tort principles (including the new "remedy" under the Human Rights Act 1998) play in securing to citizens the human rights standards laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights and, secondly, to evaluate tort principles for compliance with those standards. The first edition was written when the Human Rights Act 1998 was newly enacted and many questions existed as to its potential impact on tort law; answers to many of the questions which were raised at that time are only now emerging. Therefore the text has been completely updated to reflect these developments.

Whether it is appropriate to attribute particular goals and functions to tort law is highly contested and the analysis begins by locating the discussion within these contemporary debates. The author goes on to examine the extent to which the action against public authorities under section 7 of the Act has impacted on the development of common law principles as well as the issue of horizontal effect of the Act between non-state actors. New chapters include: Public Authority Liability, Privacy and Autonomy Rights, Land Torts and Death.


Abstract Due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, universities were forced to adopt a remote learning model, which introduced a number of stressors into college students' everyday life and study habits. The current study investigates if students' study‐related stress increased after the pandemic's onset and how individual and contextual factors moderate this potential stress increase. Longitudinal survey data about students' stress levels and self‐efficacy in self‐regulation were collected before and after the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic at a public university (N = 274). Regression analysis results show an overall increase in study‐related stress levels after the onset of the pandemic. Students with self‐efficacy in self‐regulation reported lower stress increases; students with higher mental health impairment and limited time for coursework reported larger stress increases. To address students' stress levels and strengthen coping resources, universities should consider providing students with resources to improve their self‐regulation and time‐management skills.


Charge-dependent anisotropy Fourier coefficients (vn) of particle azimuthal distributions are measured in pPb and PbPb collisions at √ sNN = 5.02 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The normalized difference in the second-order anisotropy coefficients (v2) between positively and negatively charged particles is found to depend linearly on the observed event charge asymmetry with comparable slopes for both pPb and PbPb collisions over a wide range of charged particle multiplicity. In PbPb, the third-order anisotropy coefficient, v3, shows a similar linear dependence with the same slope as seen for v2. The observed similarities between the v2 slopes for pPb and PbPb, as well as the similar slopes for v2 and v3 in PbPb, are compatible with expectations based on local charge conservation in the decay of clusters or resonances, and constitute a challenge to the hypothesis that the observed charge asymmetry dependence of v2 in heavy ion collisions arises from a chiral magnetic wave. Submitted to Physical Review Letters c © 2017 CERN for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration. CC-BY-3.0 license ∗See Appendix B for the list of collaboration members ar X iv :1 70 8. 08 90 1v 1 [ nu cl -e x] 2 9 A ug 2 01 7


A measurement of the decay time-dependent CP-violating asymmetry in B-s(0) -> phi phi decays is presented, along with measurements of the T-odd triple-product asymmetries. In this decay channel, the CP-violating weak phase arises from the interference between B-s(0) -(B) over bar (0)(s) mixing and the loop-induced decay amplitude. Using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) collected with the LHCb detector, a signal yield of approximately 4000 B-s(0) -> phi phi decays is obtained. The CP-violating phase is measured to be phi(s) = -0.17 +/- 0.15(stat) +/- 0.03(syst) rad. The triple-product asymmetries are measured to be A(U) = -0.003 +/- 0.017(stat) +/- 0.006(syst) and A(V) = -0.017 +/- 0.017(stat) +/- 0.006(syst). Results are consistent with the hypothesis of CP conservation.


Virtually from its redaction about the sixth century A.D., the Babylonian Talmud became the rabbinic document par excellence. Through its lens almost all previous canonical rabbinic tradition was refracted. Study and mastery of the Talmud marked one as a rabbi, a "master." This book examines the character, use and social meaning of the formalized rhetoric which pervades the Babylonian Talmud. It explores, first, how the editors of the Talmud employ a consistent and highly laconic code of formalized linguistic terms and literary patterns to create the Talmud's (renowned) dialectical, analytic "essays." Second, the work considers the social meanings implicitly communicated by the use of this rhetoric, which not only provided an authoritative model for modes of thought and for treatment of earlier authoritative Judaic tradition, but also reflected, reinforced or helped engender new social definitions. Through comparison of the Talmud's rhetoric with that of other, earlier rabbinic documents and by placing the editing of the Talmud against the backdrop of the social and political situation of Rabbinism in the Late Persian Empire, the book relates the Talmud's creation and promulgation to a major shift in Rabbinism's understanding of the social role, "rabbi," and to the emergence and ascendancy of the talmudic academy (the Yeshiva) as the primary institution of Rabbinism toward the end of Late Antiquity. In its agenda, and methodological and theoretical perspectives, The Rhetoric of the Babylonian Talmud brings together the insights and tools of historical, literary and rhetorical analysis of the New Testament and of early rabbinic literature, on the one hand, and the sociological and anthropological study of religion, on the other.


Background: Prevalence extension of antibiotic resistant bacteria has raised concerns about control of infections especially nosocomial infections. Many attempts have been done to replace antibiotics or limit their use. The use of antimicrobial agents produced by bacteria as antibiotic replacement has been promising in recent years. The goal of this study was to isolate Bacillus strains and evaluate their antimicrobial activity against some standard pathogens and clinical antibiotic resistant strains. Materials and Methods: In the present study, Bacillus strains were isolated from various resources and identified by 16S rDNA PCR method. Then, the phylogenetic tree of the isolates was constructed and antimicrobial activity of the isolates was investigated against some standard pathogens and clinical antibiotic resistant strains using spotting and well diffusion methods. Results: Eight Bacillus strains were isolated from 15 different samples. Based on the molecular identification, the isolates were identified as B.pumilus, B.coagulans, B.licheniformis, B.endophitycus and B.amiloliquefaciens. The results showed that isolates have antimicrobial activity against meticilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin resistant enterococci, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, Streptococcus and Escherichia coli. Conclusion: In this study, isolated Bacillus strains produced antimicrobial agents against pathogens and antibiotic resistant strains and inhibited their growth.


[1] On 3 June 2004, a bolide was observed over British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. In addition to eyewitness accounts, the event was recorded on videotape and at ∼100 seismometers located in Washington State and southern British Columbia. Seismic records are consistent with a terminal burst rather than the hypersonic shock of the meteors passage through the atmosphere. Arrival times from seismic waveform data are used to obtain an accurate source location for this terminal burst. The source location can effectively be considered to be ground-truth for assessing current atmospheric models and infrasound propagation algorithms. We observe clear infrasonic signals associated with the terminal burst of the fireball at infrasound stations I56US and I57US in Washington State and California, respectively. At I56US we observe at least four distinct acoustic arrivals, for which we are able to model three using a state-of-the-art atmospheric model (the Ground-to-Space (G2S) model) and both ray-tracing and parabolic equation propagation algorithms. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which a complex sequence of arrival packets at an individual station has been successfully modeled by range-dependent ducting and specular reflection off terrain gradients. At I57US a single coherent acoustic signal was observed, which we are unable to satisfactorily model. This could be due to errors in the specification of the background atmosphere, incorrect assumptions and approximations inherent to the acoustic propagation algorithms, and the greater range of propagation, which amplifies the effect of errors in source location and the atmospheric specifications.


This Essay disputes three "myths" regarding certainty and uniformity in patent law. First, it rebuts the claim that the Federal Circuit has mostly eliminated non-uniformity in the application of patent law. Although the Federal Circuit has generally purged the longstanding doctrinal splits among the regional circuit courts, because most patent actions are not appealed, it is the district courts – which exhibit wide variance from one another – that are the effective courts of last resort. As such, non-uniformity – and attendant forum shopping – remain widespread. Second, this Essay casts substantial doubt on the assertion that the Federal Circuit's high claim construction reversal rates are merely the result of litigants selecting the most uncertain cases for appeal. Rather, in comparison to reversal rates for other patent law issues, as well as rates for other types of complex cases in the regional circuits, the best-supported inference is that claim construction at the Federal Circuit is in need of jurisprudential repair. Third, collecting data from several sources, this Essay contends that the Federal Circuit's reversal rates on the whole are not particularly high, and roughly the same as reversal rates in other circuits, especially those for complex civil cases. Thus, claim construction notwithstanding, for most patent law issues, appeals at the Federal Circuit do not appear to be overly unpredictable or panel-dependent.


A large class of teletraffic models can be analyzed through solving M/G/1, G/M/1, or QBD type Markov chains. A simple but non-restrictive rational structure assumption for such chains allows the use of invariant subspace computations in this analysis. Previous publications have discussed the various advantages of this approach. This paper introduces and discusses TELPACK, teletraffic analysis software that we have developed in C using CLAPACK routines. The software primarily relies on the matrix-sign function realization of the invariant subspace approach, and offers some traditional methods including the matrix-analytic ones as well. We also provide a brief review of the underlying theory with examples demonstrating the rational structure arising in some common teletraffic models.


[1] In the Radiative Atmospheric Divergence Using ARM Mobile Facility GERB and AMMA Stations (RADAGAST) project we calculate the divergence of radiative flux across the atmosphere by comparing fluxes measured at each end of an atmospheric column above Niamey, in the African Sahel region. The combination of broadband flux measurements from geostationary orbit and the deployment for over 12 months of a comprehensive suite of active and passive instrumentation at the surface eliminates a number of sampling issues that could otherwise affect divergence calculations of this sort. However, one sampling issue that challenges the project is the fact that the surface flux data are essentially measurements made at a point, while the top-of-atmosphere values are taken over a solid angle that corresponds to an area at the surface of some 2500 km2. Variability of cloud cover and aerosol loading in the atmosphere mean that the downwelling fluxes, even when averaged over a day, will not be an exact match to the area-averaged value over that larger area, although we might expect that it is an unbiased estimate thereof. The heterogeneity of the surface, for example, fixed variations in albedo, further means that there is a likely systematic difference in the corresponding upwelling fluxes. In this paper we characterize and quantify this spatial sampling problem. We bound the root-mean-square error in the downwelling fluxes by exploiting a second set of surface flux measurements from a site that was run in parallel with the main deployment. The differences in the two sets of fluxes lead us to an upper bound to the sampling uncertainty, and their correlation leads to another which is probably optimistic as it requires certain other conditions to be met. For the upwelling fluxes we use data products from a number of satellite instruments to characterize the relevant heterogeneities and so estimate the systematic effects that arise from the flux measurements having to be taken at a single point. The sampling uncertainties vary with the season, being higher during the monsoon period. We find that the sampling errors for the daily average flux are small for the shortwave irradiance, generally less than 5 W m−2, under relatively clear skies, but these increase to about 10 W m−2 during the monsoon. For the upwelling fluxes, again taking daily averages, systematic errors are of order 10 W m−2 as a result of albedo variability. The uncertainty on the longwave component of the surface radiation budget is smaller than that on the shortwave component, in all conditions, but a bias of 4 W m−2 is calculated to exist in the surface leaving longwave flux.


A summary is presented of recently published, critically evaluated experimental vibrational and electronic energy level data for neutral and ionic transient molecules and high temperature species possessing from three to sixteen atoms. Although the emphasis is on species with lifetimes too short for study using conventional sampling techniques, there has been selective extension of the compilation to include data for isolated molecules of inorganic species such as the heavy-metal oxides, which are important in a wide variety of industrial chemical systems. Radiative lifetimes and the principal rotational constants are included. Observations in the gas phase, in molecular beams, and in rare-gas and diatomic molecule matrices are evaluated. The types of measurement surveyed include conventional and laser-based absorption and emission techniques, laser absorption with mass analysis, and photoelectron spectroscopy. Not counting isotopic species, 904 molecules are surveyed, and 2696 distinct references are given.


ABSTRACT The Applecross Formation (upper Proterozoic Torridon Group, northwest Scotland) was deposited as planar-laminated and cross-bedded coarse sands in braided streams. Soft-sediment deformation is described from a 97 m thick study section, most of which comprises contorted stratification. The main structures are cusps and complex recumbent folded cross-bedding, formed by water escape during fluidization. Four assemblages of structures are recognized. Deformation as isolated structures in an otherwise undeformed unit may have been triggered by fluid turbulence. Discrete and chaotic units record widespread liquefaction and fluidization, respectively, of the most recently deposited sediment. Deformation may have been triggered by upwelling groundwater. Multilayer complexes formed when water escape from a buried layer generated fluidization in the overlying sediment. This may have been triggered by seismically induced liquefaction. Some parts of the succession were disturbed on separate occasions by different processes. Sediment-laden currents are unlikely to have been a major trigger for deformation. It is concluded that specific soft-sediment deformation structures result from the combination of driving forces, deformation mechanism, and initial geometry. Assemblages of structures relate to the timing of deformation and are of more value in identifying the trigger for deformation.


M illennial winds are blowing through the field of global vaccinology. Fifteen years after the Bellagio Conference, which unlocked a new $100 million per year to bring the six most common infant vaccines to 80% of the world's children, the Villa Serbelloni (the Rockefeller Foundation's study center in Bellagio, Italy) was once again the site of a historic meeting. On 15 to 17 March 1999, the key United Nations (UN) agencies met with leaders of the vaccine industry, representatives of bilateral aid agencies and major foundations, and a few independent academics. The agenda: a new global partnership designed to save 40 million lives over the next 10 years at a cost that could approach $3 billion per year. Not surprisingly, such an ambitious agenda has created some curiosity and not a little controversy. The rumor mill has been working overtime, suggesting that the meeting failed to deliver. As chair of the meeting, I welcome this chance to set the record straight. As would be expected with 35 strong personalities in the room, the discussion was sometimes robust, and consensus could not be reached on every point. Nevertheless, real progress was made toward forging a global coalition and, in particular, industry was embraced as an active and equal partner.

Each party made new pledges. The World Health Organization (WHO) has put extra staff and resources into its restructured immunization programs. Indeed, global immunization is by far the biggest technical program within WHO at headquarters, regional, and country levels. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reasserted that it would invest more in immunization than in any other field: 56% of its discretionary health funds. The World Bank acknowledged that its total effort in immunization had not matched the promise of the field and vowed to do more. In the bank's "comprehensive development framework," countries will be asked to outline their development plans in conjunction with bank professionals. Immunization outcomes could be incorporated as targets in resulting loan agreements. The bank lends about $1 billion per year for health programs, half of it essentially at zero interest, so if a substantial proportion of this went to immunization, it would make a big difference. The bank also offered to work with manufacturers to explore mechanisms that might reduce the risks of investing in global capacity.

Industry pledged to be a full and active partner within an appropriate structure and offered to invest in adequate volumes of production of the newer vaccines. These would be made available to the poorest countries at the lowest possible price, provided efforts were made to prevent leakage of vaccine supplies to richer countries. Industry was also prepared to target more of its research effort to vaccines of predominantly Third World interest if the global coalition succeeds in creating a true, worldwide, public-sector market.

Although the bilateral aid agencies and the foundations (particularly the new Bill and Melinda Gates Children's Vaccine Program) spoke encouragingly, no one came to Bellagio waving a magic wand. So it was agreed that the World Bank would convene and lead a working party on financing to consider a multifaceted approach, including the possibility of a large Global Vaccine Fund. Obviously, advocacy at the highest level will be required, and UNICEF will lead a working party on advocacy, including a strategy for a launch of the new global coalition by the heads of agencies and of industry in September/October 1999. Definite targets for introduction rates of new vaccines will be refined, and a new, small coordinating secretariat will be set up in Geneva, with the transition from the present Children's Vaccine Initiative still to be negotiated. The governing body of the partnership would be a small group of 8 to 10 members, representing developing countries as well as the partners.

How one views the Bellagio meeting depends on whether one prefers to regard a glass as half empty or half full. It is clear that a huge task remains in building vaccine infrastructure in the poorest countries, motivating health authorities there, and raising funds to purchase the newer vaccines. It is also evident that a revitalized partnership with full UN commitment and industry participation has at least a sporting chance of bringing off the greatest public health achievement of the 21st century.


Diagnosis plays a significant role in the shaping of individual identities and the quality of life for people with learning difficulties and their family carers. Diagnostic labels are constitutive of peoples' lives, in that they bring forth pathology, create problemsaturated stories and construct careers as patients and cases. Disabled identities of people with learning difficulties remain largely 'embodied' and within the definitional control of professionals. Whilst the acquisition of a learning difficulty label can open doors to resources, it can also lead to disrespectful and dehumanising treatment, and the severe restriction of opportunities. This paper argues that a social constructionist perspective can offer a way of thinking about diagnosis that challenges the so called 'facts' and 'truths' that underpin and support it. Working in partnership with people with learning difficulties in relation to diagnosis requires professionals to relinquish power by resisting the 'temptations of certainty' associated with diagnostic practices.


The continuum mechanics framework for analyzing plastic flow localization is reviewed. The prediction of the localization of deformation into shear bands is sensitive to the constitutive description. The classical isotropic hardening elastic-plastic solid with a smooth yield surface and normality is very resistant to localization, but deviations from these idealizations have a strong effect. Thus, a material that forms a sharp vertex on the yield surface, as predicted by crystal plasticity, shows flow localization at quite realistic levels of strain, and even the formation of a rounded vertex on the yield surface has an important influence. Also softening induced by material damage or by the heating due to plastic dissipation have significant influence in promoting the onset of flow localization. In a practical situation one effect, such as thermal softening under high deformation rates, may be the dominant cause of localization, but often the interaction of different effects appears to be the more realistic explanation of observed flow localization. Some relevant constitutive models are reviewed and the effect of the different material models on localization predictions is illustrated. Important information on localization behavior in uniformly strained solids is obtained by a relatively simple material stability analysis, but often failure bymore » flow localization occurs in nonuniformly strained regions, where numerical solution procedures are necessary to obtain theoretical predictions. The numerical results reviewed cover localization under dynamic as well as quasi-static loading conditions. 81 refs., 16 figs.« less


"Process Management" is a compendium for modern design of process-oriented companies. A hands-on approach to introducing, realizing and continually administering process management is presented with a thoroughly critical reflection of the necessary activities regarding the state-of-the-art of organization theory and information management. This is done by following the individual stages of a process model which has already successfully been proved in practice. The progress of the project is described by a continuous case study, which is the process management project of a modern service company. The included recommendations are summarized in a series of checklists for each stage of the project.


The common cutworm, Spodoptera litura, has become a major pest of soybean (Glycine max) throughout its Indian range. With a changing climate, there is the potential for this insect to become an increasingly severe pest in certain regions due to increased habitat suitability. To examine this possibility, we developed temperature-based phenology model for S. litura, by constructing thermal reaction norms for cohorts of single life stages, at both constant and fluctuating temperatures within the ecologically relevant range (15–38°C) for its development. Life table parameters were estimated stochastically using cohort updating and rate summation approach. The model was implemented in the geographic information system to examine the potential future pest status of S. litura using temperature change projections from SRES A1B climate change scenario for the year 2050. The changes were visualized by means of three spatial indices demonstrating the risks for establishment, number of generations per year and pest abundance according to the temperature conditions. The results revealed that the development rate as a function of temperature increased linearly for all the immature stages of S. litura until approximately 34–36°C, after which it became non-linear. The extreme temperature of 38°C was found lethal to larval and pupal stages of S. litura wherein no development to the next stage occurred. Females could lay no eggs at the extreme low (15°C) and high (> 35°C) test temperatures, demonstrating the importance of optimum temperature in determining the suitability of climate for the mating and reproduction in S. litura. The risk mapping predicts that due to temperature increase under future climate change, much of the soybean areas in Indian states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, will become suitable for S. litura establishment and increased pest activity, indicating the expansion of the suitable and favourable areas over time. This has serious implication in terms of soybean production since these areas produce approximately 95% of the total soybeans in India. As the present model results are based on temperature only, and the effects of other abiotic and biotic factors determining the pest population dynamics were excluded, it presents only the potential population growth parameters for S. litura. However, if combined with the field observations, the model results could certainly contribute to gaining insight into the field dynamics of S. litura.


We consider the electromagnetic diffraction occurring when light is focused by a lens without spherical aberration through a planar interface between materials of mismatched refractive indices, which focusing produces spherical aberration. By means of a rigorous vectorial electromagnetic treatment developed previously for this problem by Torok et al. [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A12, 325 ( 1995)], the time-averaged electric energy density distributions in the region of the focused probe are numerically evaluated for air–glass and air–silicon interfaces as functions of lens numerical aperture and probe depth. Strehl intensity, lateral and axial sizes, and axial location of the probe are shown to be regular functions for low numerical apertures and probe depths but irregular functions for high numerical apertures and probe depths. An explanation to account for these occurrences is presented that also explains some previous experimental results of confocal microscopy.


The government of Sri Lanka has embraced free trade agreements (FTAs) as a key focus of the national trade and development strategy. This paper examines the rationale of this policy choice by analysing the trade outcomes of Sri Lanka's FTAs with India and Pakistan and the expected gains from the FTA recently signed with Singapore. The analysis is informed by the existing body of knowledge on the role of FTAs as an alternative to multilateral and unilateral liberalisation. There is strong evidence that trade gains from FTAs has been vastly exaggerated by the proponents in the Sri Lankan trade policy debate. FTAs are essentially preferential trade deals the actual trade effect of which is conditioned by the commodity coverage normally dictated by political considerations and lobby group pressure, and the 'rules of origin' relating to the eligibility for the tariff concessions offered. Even then, potential trade gains depend crucially on supply-side reforms needed to improve the country's capability to reap gains from market opening and compatibility of its trade patterns with the partner countries. Therefore the failure of the process of multilateral trade liberation under the WTO does not make a valid case for a country giving priority to FTAs. The more effective and time-honoured alternative is to undertake its own (unilateral) trade reforms needed for effectively integrating the country in the global economy combined with appropriate supply-side reforms.


This study focused on a subpopulation of desert-dwelling elephants in the Kunene region of north-western Namibia, where rainfall and resources are scarce, and the rate of reproduction and recruitment is low. This subpopulation can be considered a remnant; its oldest members are survivors of the war-related poaching that occurred in the region during the 1970s and 1980s, and its numbers have still not recovered to pre-war levels. Unlike less disturbed elephant populations with strong, multi-tiered matrilineal associations, previous research suggested that the associations in the Kunene subpopulation involved only loose affiliations lacking strong social bonds. Taking that study a step further, this manuscript examines the social structure of all adult females (n=14) in the subpopulation, based on observational data combined with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data. A network analysis was generated from nearly eight years of association data. It was found that female desert-dwelling elephants live in first-tier/family units or small second-tier/family groups, and in at least two cases these include unrelated adult females. Associations at the level of third-tier/bond groups are rare and transitory, and there was no evidence of these being dominated by a single female or matriarch. The matrilineal social structure in this subpopulation is consistent with reports from other poached or culled elephant populations in Africa. Collectively, the results of these studies are inconsistent with the classic model of elephant social structure—stable, strictly matrilineal societies—especially in cases where poaching or culling has occurred, even if it transpired decades previously.


The predominant paradigm in evolutionary game theory and more generally online learning in games is based on a clear distinction between a population of dynamic agents that interact given a fixed, static game. In this paper, we move away from the artificial divide between dynamic agents and static games, to introduce and analyze a large class of competitive settings where both the agents and the games they play evolve strategically over time. We focus on arguably the most archetypal game-theoretic setting---zero-sum games (as well as network generalizations)---and the most studied evolutionary learning dynamic---replicator, the continuous-time analogue of multiplicative weights. Populations of agents compete against each other in a zero-sum competition that itself evolves adversarially to the current population mixture. Remarkably, despite the chaotic coevolution of agents and games, we prove that the system exhibits a number of regularities. First, the system has conservation laws of an information-theoretic flavor that couple the behavior of all agents and games. Secondly, the system is Poincare recurrent, with effectively all possible initializations of agents and games lying on recurrent orbits that come arbitrarily close to their initial conditions infinitely often. Thirdly, the time-average agent behavior and utility converge to the Nash equilibrium values of the time-average game. Finally, we provide a polynomial time algorithm to efficiently predict this time-average behavior for any such coevolving network game.


Studies on language and affect have identified displays of emotions and feelings as important means through which speakers negotiate their social relations and cultural positions. Extending the findings of those studies, this paper discusses how affect must be seen as an important building block for framing, a resource that allows participants to construct frames that have specific grounding in identifiable social meaning. I make this point by illustrating how interactional management of affect contributes to the constitution of frames via the work of stancetaking, based on a discussion of several examples from a specific discursive context - Koreans' metalinguistic talk about English. While Koreans are commonly known to show much 'anxiety' or 'uneasiness' about their own English language skills, I demonstrate that such display of affect may be understood as part of an interactional frame for speaking (about) English that allows speakers to position themselves in relation to English and to each other in a culturally and socially appropriate way. The analysis shows that the semiotic resources that speakers employ in their affective displays allow participants to negotiate specific stances that they should take, and to jointly construct a frame for interpreting the interactional import of the ongoing talk.


Various systems and methods are provided for minimizing an inrush current to a load after a voltage sag in a power voltage. In one embodiment, a method is provided comprising the steps of applying a power voltage to a load, and detecting a sag in the power voltage during steady-state operation of the load. The method includes the steps of adding an impedance to the load upon detection of the sag in the power voltage, and removing the impedance from the load when the power voltage has reached a predefined point in the power voltage cycle after the power voltage has returned to a nominal voltage.


Over the past 4 years, rain barrel programming for residents has been implemented in both Northern Virginia and New Jersey as a method for educating the public about stormwater management and water conservation. Program participants demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge of water resource issues. Follow-up surveys showed 58% of New Jersey respondents and 48% of Virginia respondents adopted at least one additional best management practice at home. Results show that the enthusiasm for rain barrels can be used as an opportunity to educate and enable residents to be water resource managers on their own properties.


Author(s): Coolahan, Craig C.; Snider, Sandy | Abstract: In November 1996, Colorado voters approved constitutional Amendment 14, an anti-trapping initiative, which prohibited the taking of wildlife with any leghold trap, any instant kill body-gripping design trap, or by poison or snare. Several exemptions were provided. This paper summarizes the history of events leading up to the introduction of the Amendment, and examines some of the initial impacts on the federal Wildlife Services program, the sheep industry, and the people of Colorado.


textabstractWord of mouth is a powerful source of consumer influence. Therefore, marketers nowadays are interested in managing word of mouth. An often implemented strategy is stimulating customers to talk about a product by providing a (financial) reward for successful recommendations ('buzz'). Previous research showed that rewards have a positive influence on recommendation likelihood. In this dissertation, it is investigated how people receiving these rewarded recommendations evaluate these recommendations and the recommending agent. It is argued that a reward leads to three important changes in the recommendation, and their impact is investigated in a series of experiments. First, a reward introduces a sales aspect in the interaction, and thereby transgresses boundaries that exist between sales and friendship norms. Second, the reward sheds doubts on the trustworthiness of the recommendation (agent). Third, rewarded recommendations are relatively often directed towards weak ties (i.e., acquaintances and less intimate friends). This dissertation shows that cues that hint at the presence of a financial reward (by increased salience of sales relationship norms, a disclosure of the reward, or by a slightly untrustworthy appearance) have a positive effect; people evaluate the recommending agent more positively than when these cues are lacking. The impact of these factors on product evaluations and recommendation compliance is mixed. To gain insight in weak tie recommendations, the impact of social categorization was examined. Recommendations from outgroup members can backfire and lead to contrasting evaluations of the target product. Ultimately, this dissertation provides in-depth insights into rewarded recommendations from a target point-of-view.