Dissertation Title: THE RELATIONSHIP OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND CURRENT OBESITY TO DIABETES IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN B. Michelle Harris, Ph.D. Directed by: Dr. David K.Y. Lei Aims: (1) To test the fetal origins of chronic disease by examining birth weight, current obesity, and odds of developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in African-American women 38-57 years. (2) To assess birth weight and obesity in relation to fasting plasma glucose (FPG). Background: African-American women suffer disproportionately in prevalence and complications of T2DM. According to the fetal origins of chronic disease, T2DM is related to low birth weight with subsequent adult obesity. Several studies have substantiated this hypothesis; none have focused on African-American women. Outcome Measure: Self-reported physician diagnosis of T2DM. Exposure Measures: Birth weight, an indicator for fetal growth; waist-to-hip ratio, a marker for abdominal obesity. Other factors: physical activity, body mass index (BMI), history of gestational diabetes, blood pressure. Design: Retrospective, case-control observational study. Method: Convenience sample of urban African-American women. Cases (n=95) reported a physician diagnosis of T2DM. Controls (n=186), matched on race and age, reported no T2DM diagnosis. To verify control status, participants were screened for elevated FPG (cut-point, <126 mg/dL, as defined by the American Diabetes Association). Vital and family records were sources for birth weight. Current weight, height, and waist and hip circumferences were measured; BMI and waist-tohip ratio were calculated. Confounding factors were collected on a 68-item questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis tested the proposed model for the odds of having T2DM. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to assess FPG. Sample size was estimated. Results: The odds ratio for T2DM increased as waist-to-hip ratio increased (OR=1.13, 95% CI=1.08, 1.19, p<.0001). Birth weight did not contribute independently to the model's ability to examine T2DM (OR=0.92, 95% CI=0.74, 1.14, p=.4409). Birth weight and waist-to-hip ratio each contributed independently to assessing FPG. Conclusions: This study found an interaction between birth weight and abdominal obesity when examining T2DM in African-American women: those born small and who subsequently developed abdominal obesity had a greater odds for T2DM. Abdominal obesity, but not birth weight, was independently associated with T2DM. FPG significantly increased with increasing abdominal obesity and decreasing birth weight. African-American women are cautioned to maintain healthy body measures (waist-to-hip ratio <0.80 and BMI <25) to address T2DM. THE RELATIONSHIP OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND CURRENT OBESITY TO DIABETES IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN


This paper analyses the Portuguese current economic situation, and points out to the decisive importance of management decisions, in order to explain the present state of affairs and to win over the massive challenges that lie ahead. The main conclusion is that, investments in training, education and skills can help Portugal to achieve success in trade. Evidence of that was obtained applying three simple economic models to statistical data on around 30 exporter economic sectors, related to the years from 1989 to 2001 (see section 4). That basic idea will be completed with three others that reinforce it: (1) the Portuguese future economic evolution will depend heavily on its external record (see section 3); (2) bad management caused Portugal to have traditionally low levels of education, skills and training (see section 3); (3) a new skills management attitude will be needed focusing in the importance of education, skills and training as real success factors (see section 5). The findings presented are somewhat preliminary, and may be extended and deepened by further and more detailed research (see section 7).


Although the contribution of agricultural production to national income decreased from 58% in 1947 to 3.3% in 2001, Polish agriculture still provides employment to roughly 20% of the total of persons employed in the country. Average size of individual farms increased from 7.2 hectares in 1990 to 8 hectares in 2001. The small acreage of private holdings is prevalent in the southern provinces of the country. Worsening of the profitability of agricultural production at the beginning of 1990s (the loss of eastern markets), liquidation of state farming, increase offallow areas, and a marked fall offunds in farm investments entailed a collapse in crop production, in animal breeding (especially in cattle raising) and in agricultural production as a whole. Gross agricultural production showed in 2000 the decrease by 12.4% in comparison with its level in 1990.


Abstract. Optical aurora can be structured over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales with spectral features that depend on the energy of precipitating particles. Scientific studies typically combine data from multiple instruments that are individually optimized for spatial, spectral, or temporal resolution. One recent addition combines all-sky optics with color mosaic CCD (charge-coupled device) detectors that use a matrix of different wide-band micro-filters to produce an image with several (often three) color channels. These devices provide sequences of two dimensional multispectral luminosity with simultaneous exposure of all color channels allowing interchannel comparison even during periods with rapidly varying aurora. At present color auroral image data are primarily used for qualitative analysis. In this study a quantitative approach based on Backus–Gilbert linear inversion was used to better understand the effective spectral resolution of existing and proposed instruments. Two spectrally calibrated commercial detectors (Sony ICX285AQ and ICX429AKL) with very different color mosaics (RGB (red, green, blue) vs. CYGM (cyan, yellow, green, magenta)) were found to have very similar spectral resolution: three channels with FWHM (full-width half-maximum) ≈100 nm; a NIR (near infrared) blocking filter is important for stabilizing inversion of both three-channel configurations. Operating the ICX429AKL in a noninterlaced mode would improve spectral resolution and provide an additional near infrared channel. Transformations from arbitrary device channels to RGB are easily obtained through inversion. Simultaneous imaging of multiple auroral emissions may be achieved using a single-color camera with a triple-pass filter. Combinations of multiple cameras with simple filters should provide ~50 nm resolution across most of the visible spectrum. Performance of other instrument designs could be explored and compared using the same quantitative framework.


Injury and illness surveillance, and epidemiological studies, are fundamental elements of concerted efforts to protect the health of the athlete. To encourage consistency in the definitions and methodology used, and to enable data across studies to be compared, research groups have published 11 sport-specific or setting-specific consensus statements on sports injury (and, eventually, illness) epidemiology to date. Our objective was to further strengthen consistency in data collection, injury definitions and research reporting through an updated set of recommendations for sports injury and illness studies, including a new Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist extension. The IOC invited a working group of international experts to review relevant literature and provide recommendations. The procedure included an open online survey, several stages of text drafting and consultation by working groups and a 3-day consensus meeting in October 2019. This statement includes recommendations for data collection and research reporting covering key components: defining and classifying health problems; severity of health problems; capturing and reporting athlete exposure; expressing risk; burden of health problems; study population characteristics and data collection methods. Based on these, we also developed a new reporting guideline as a STROBE Extension—the STROBE Sports Injury and Illness Surveillance (STROBE-SIIS). The IOC encourages ongoing in- and out-of-competition surveillance programmes and studies to describe injury and illness trends and patterns, understand their causes and develop measures to protect the health of the athlete. Implementation of the methods outlined in this statement will advance consistency in data collection and research reporting.


We investigate extremely red objects (EROs) using near- and mid-infrared observations in five passbands (3.6 to 24 μm) obtained from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and deep ground-based R and K imaging. The great sensitivity of the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) camera allows us to detect 64 EROs (a surface density of 2.90 ± 0.36 arcmin-2; [3.6]AB < 23.7) in only 12 minutes of IRAC exposure time, by means of an R - [3.6] color cut (analogous to the traditional red R - K cut). A pure infrared K - [3.6] red cut detects a somewhat different population and may be more effective at selecting z > 1.3 EROs. We find ∼17% of all galaxies detected by IRAC at 3.6 or 4.5 μm to be EROs. These percentages rise to about 40% at 5.8 μm, and about 60% at 8.0 μm. We utilize the spectral bump at 1.6 μm to divide the EROs into broad redshift slices using only near-infrared colors (2.2/3.6/4.5 μm). We conclude that two-thirds of all EROs lie at redshift z > 1.3. Detections at 24 μm imply that at least 11% of 0.6 < z < 1.3 EROs and at least 22% of z > 1.3 EROs are dusty star-forming galaxies.


This essential volume examines the influence of immigrants on the process of international economic integration – specifically, their influences on bilateral and multilateral trade flows. It extends beyond the identification and explanation of the immigrant–trade link and offers a more expansive treatment of the subject matter, making it the most comprehensive volume of its kind. The authors present abundant evidence that confirms the positive influences of immigrants on trade between their home and host countries; however the immigrant–trade link may not be universal. The operability of the link is found to depend on a variety of factors related to immigrants' home countries, their host countries, the types of goods and services being traded and the anthropogenic characteristics of the immigrants themselves.


This study explores the use of clickers as a tool to support, encourage and motivate critical thinking in higher education students. A case study was carried out with a cohort of undergraduate students undertaking the BSc. in Accounting and Finance during the academic year 2009/10, were corporate finance was a major component. Since the students in this sample had previously demonstrated passivity during their corporate finance classes, it was proposed that clickers would help motivate them to participate during face to face sessions. Previous research on the use of clickers shows evidence that this tool has a positive effect on student participation and interaction in the classroom. The results of this study suggest that clickers can positively affect classroom dynamics; they help activate the learning experience and provide a more relaxed atmosphere, where students can interact with their teacher. However, little evidence was found to indicate that clickers are a good device to enhance critical thinking skills. In this context, strategies based on a problem-centered approach to learning appear to provide a better outcome.


This paper considers how three exhibitions in the 1990s and 2000s displayed ancient Egyptian and African art together to form a more "holistic" art historical approach to the African continent. The effectiveness of these exhibitions will be examined, as will how this information can aid current scholars and curators in the future. DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v08i1_cummins


BACKGROUND
The multifunctional transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a glycoprotein that exists in three isoforms. TGF-β3 expression increases in fetal wound healing and reduces fibronectin and collagen I and III deposition, and also improves the architecture of the neodermis which is a combination of blood vessels and connective tissue during wound healing. Fibroblasts are key cells in the wound healing process. TGF-β3 plays a critical role in scar-free wound healing and fibroblast actions in the wound healing process. The aim of this study was to express the TGF-β3 gene (tgf-b3) in human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF's).

METHODS
We obtained HFF's from a newborn and a primary fibroblast culture was prepared. The cells were transfected with TGF-β3-pCMV6-XL5 plasmid DNA by both lipofection and electroporation. Expression of TGF-β3 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTS
The highest TGF-β3 expression (8.3-fold greater than control) was obtained by lipofection after 72 hours using 3 µl of transfection reagent. Expression was 1.4-fold greater than control by electroporation.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we successfully increased TGF-β3 expression in primary fibroblast cells. In the future, grafting these transfected fibroblasts onto wounds can help the healing process without scarring.


Mechanical properties of geopolymer mortar made with class F fly ash and class C fly ash are evaluated and compared in this paper. Fly ashes were activated with a combined NaOH and Na2SiO3 alkali solution, and their strength development was observed during one year. It was observed that compressive strength values were between 10.22 and 15.83 MPa for geopolymer mortar mixtures made with class C fly ash. The values of up to 56.44 MPa were obtained for geopolymer made with class F fly ash.


THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF LATERALLY VIBRATING HAMMERHEAD MICROCANTILEVER SENSORS IN A VISCOUS LIQUID Jinjin Zhang, B.E., M.E. Marquette University, 2013 Dynamically driven prismatic microcantilevers excited in the in-plane flexural mode have been investigated and used in liquid-phase sensing applications. However, the performance is restricted due to their limited surface sensing area and higher stiffness in shorter and wider prismatic microcantilevers. To increase the surface sensing area, and further improve sensing characteristics, it has been proposed to investigate symmetric hammerhead microcantilevers vibrating laterally in viscous liquid media. In this work, a theoretical model is proposed and the characteristics of the microcantilevers with symmetric shaped hammerheads (isosceles trapezoid, semi-circle, uniform rectangle and composite rectangle) are investigated. In the analysis, the stem of the structure is modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam while the head is modeled as a rigid body. Since the arbitrary, symmetric head has a varying width, 2b2(x), in the length direction, a new semi-analytical expression for the hydrodynamic function in terms of the Reynolds number, Re(x), and aspect ratio, h/[2b2(x)] is obtained and the resonance frequency, quality factor and mass sensitivity are investigated as a function of both the hammerhead microcantilever geometry and liquid media properties. For the investigated geometries, the results show that, for a hammerhead microcantilever with a fixed head area, as the mass center of the head moves towards the support end of the stem, the resulting resonance frequency and mass sensitivity will first increase and then decrease, because the total kinetic energy will first decrease and then increase. The quality factor will keep increasing, due to a more rapid decrease in the energy dissipation. It is also found that, hammerhead microcantilevers with wider heads tend to have higher quality factors. For instance, the highest quality factors are found for the hammerhead microcantilevers with the isosceles trapezoid-shaped, uniform rectangular and composite rectangular head as 140, 72 and 129, respectively, due to the possible shift of the mass center of the head towards the support end of the stem. Such trends can be used to optimize sensor device geometry and frequency stability. By further increasing the surface sensing area (additional mass), the resonance frequency and the mass sensitivity will significantly decrease. Such trade-offs must be considered when designing the geometry of the hammerhead microcantilever devices. For appropriately designed hammerhead microcantilevers, the improvement in the sensing area and quality factor are expected to yield much lower limits of detection in (bio) chemical sensing applications.


In the last decade, encouraged by economic, social and nutritional reasons, the trend towards the rediscovery and reuse of durum wheat landraces moved on in Sicily. This growing attention in local wheat landraces made necessary to design new effective and objective identification methods that are able to distinguish landraces. Considering the difficulties coming from the genetic and morphological heterogeneity of a landrace, in this chapter a multidisciplinary approach for durum wheat landraces identification is proposed. Nine Sicilian wheat landraces were investigated from the genotypic and pheno- typic point of view, studying their polyphenolic profile, and analyzing the glumes morpho-colorimetric traits, in search of similarities and/or differences. In particular, hydro-alcoholic extracts from whole wheat grains were analyzed by means of HPLC/ DAD and HPLC/ESI-MS, revealing 13 metabolites mainly belonging to the classes of hydroxycinnamic acids and flavones C -glycosides. The quantitative pattern of the 13 phenolic markers allowed to perfectly identify all the wheat samples, confirming a specific and genotype-dependent pattern of phenolics concentration. Moreover, computerized image analysis techniques were applied to compare the wheat samples on the basis of 138 quantitative morpho-colorimetric variables descriptive of glumes size, shape, color and texture, confirming the possibility to undoubtedly identify wheat samples belonging to local landraces.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of remittances on economic growth in MENA region. More precisely this study tries first to explore the short-run and the long-run relationship between remittances and economic growth. Second, the authors address how the local financial development and institutional environment influence a country's capacity to take advantage from remittances. Design/methodology/approach – The panel data unit-root test as well as the panel data co-integration is used for the purpose of the long-run remittances growth relationship and the IV technique with GMM option is adopted to study the short-run link. Findings – This paper provides empirical evidence that remittances have a positive effect on economic growth in the long run and a negative effect in short run. The short-run effect of remittances on economic growth is conditional. In fact, it depends in the levels of financial development and institutional quality, respectively. Practical implications – As practical implications, policy interventions, to improve the functioning of governance institutions, enforcing regulation and political stability, enhancing financial system and socio-economic environment are also crucial for increasing the benefit effects of remittances. Originality/value – The research is an extension of previous evidence in two ways; the authors have examined the long-run and short-run remittances-growth relationship in the first time. In the second time, the authors have explored the conditional remittances-growth relationship in MENA countries. Specifically, the authors have examined whether the remittances-growth nexus is affected by financial development and institutional quality levels in MENA countries.


This thesis discusses network risk and its implications for financial economics. A stock's tendency to co-move with its related stocks is defined as network risk. In the first chapter, I propose a new econometric procedure to estimate network risk using a factor model and show that network risk is not negligible in the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The second chapter examines the pricing of network risk in the cross section of stock expected returns. Using the Fama-McBeth regression, I show that a newly-derived network volatility component of idiosyncratic volatility, termed NVOL, was priced with a 1.01 percent monthly premium between Sep. 1967 and Dec. 2012. This finding suggests a risk-based explanation of the equity premium: Stocks are compensated for risk that arises from shocks to networks that contain them. Finally, the third chapter summarizes various systemic risk measures developed after the financial crisis in 2008. These measures are classified into four categories: (1) Tail dependence; (2) Default probability; (3) Network measure; and (4) Others based on their approach and data required. Robust-yet-Fragile property which is one of the characteristics of a modern financial system is identified as a key to understanding the cascade effects of systemic risk. Network based systemic risk models have great potential to capture this property, both theoretically and empirically.


Globalization is impacting on education worldwide. As a result, the University of KwaZulu- Natal (UKZN), like other universities worldwide, have identified an opportunity to increase their profit margins by expanding their marketing initiatives internationally in order to recruit foreign students. The purpose of conducting this study was to investigate the sustainability of UKZN's Student Exchange Programme in an increasingly competitive industry. The rationale behind the research is that communication challenges between UKZN, International Partner Universities and students, are threatening the overall success of the student exchange programme, with partners threatening to reduce their student exchange numbers. This rationale was tested via primary research in the form of a questionnaire distributed to international partner universities, who then randomly selected a target sample from students who had recently returned from a UKZN student exchange. Interviews were also conducted with a smaller sample and secondary research, in the form of a literature review of previous research findings and theoretical perspectives, was conducted. The sample comprised of ninety nine international students from first-world countries, who participated in a student exchange to UKZN. Respondent profiles included both male and female second-year tertiary respondents, from the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA). The major findings of the investigation revealed that the majority of respondents agreed that communication challenges at UKZN posed a credible threat to the future success of the exchange programme. UKZN should, therefore, focus on implementing long and short-term communication's strategies. The research also found that, by addressing international concerns through the training and development of student exchange officers, will help equip officers to deal with a continually changing international relations' climate.


Financial intermediation is essential for economic development. The consensus is that Zambia needs a stable and efficient banking system in order to finance both private and public investment and expenditures. The effectiveness of the banking system in channelling funds from surplus to deficit actors is often gauged by examining the spread between lending and deposit rates and by assessing the degree of operational efficiency of the banking industry. Although Zambia has made some progress since the deregulation of its banking system, interest rate spreads remain absolutely high. When the spread between lending and deposit interest rates is too large, it is generally regarded as a considerable impediment to the expansion and development of financial intermediation, as it discourages potential savers with low returns on deposits and limits financing for potential borrowers, thus reducing feasible investment opportunities and therefore the growth potential of the economy. However, Zambia's experience indicates a widening spread in the post-liberalization period. This research will therefore contribute to fill the knowledge gap by examining why interest rate spreads are still persistently high in Zambia despite successful financial reforms.
The aim of this study has been to investigate the levels and trends in interest rate spreads, to document the key macroeconomic and market determinants of interest rate spreads and to provide policy options that would help to narrow the interest rate spreads so as to enhance the efficiency of the Banking Sector and hence economic growth and development of Zambia. In particular, the study investigates the effects of inflation, exchange rate volatility, reserve requirements and discount rates on interest rate spreads. The study uses Ordinary Least Squares to estimate the Log-Linear regression model to explain the main determinants of interest rate spreads in Zambia. Quarterly time series data is used from 1995 to 2008 and it was collected from the Bank of Zambia. The Dickey- Fuller and Augmented Dickey- Fuller Tests were performed to determine if the variables were stationary and to determine their order of integration. To avoid spurious results, a cointegration analysis using the Johansen Maximum Likelihood ratio test was done to determine whether the variables are cointegrating. The log- linear empirical model was estimated by Ordinary Least Squares using EViews econometric Package. To ensure that the model was adequate and that consistent and unbiased parameter estimates were obtained, various diagnostic tests were conducted. The study checked and corrected for violations of the standard assumptions of the regression analysis. The Ramsey RESET test was also conducted to ensure that model was correctly specified.
The study found exchange rate volatility and inflation rate to be statistically insignificant. Hence the government should not use them in an attempt to influence interest rate spreads as such policies are bound to fail. However, the study found the lag of the interest rate spread, the discount rate and reserve requirements to be positive and statistically significant. Hence policies targeting these are likely to be more effective at reducing the persistently high interest rate spreads.


Dynamic teams created by different enterprises collaborate to achieve their mutual goals. User-based collaborations for a specific task, within and across teams, result in a new team represented as dynamic collaboration (c). These inter-team and intra-team collaborations are mostly temporary which are based on specific task or goal. Collaborations among different teams, within a team, or across teams can take different forms when some or all of the users belonging to one or more teams collaborate for a common goal having diverse access control and sharing requirements imposed by themselves, their teams, or their parent enterprises. In such a dynamic environment, information sharing and privacy are critical issues for users, their teams and enterprises. We propose a dynamic sharing and privacy-aware model that supports enhanced sharing and preserves the privacy of users, their teams, and enterprises. We extend the widely used Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) model with team and task entities in addition to sharing and privacy data elements. In this model, using context constraints and hybrid access control policy, a user can control what to share with whom in which context conditions. We present a Dynamic Sharing and Privacy-aware Role-Based Access Control (DySP-RBAC) model that extends the RBAC model for enhanced sharing and privacy of information among collaborating users within and across virtual teams.


Background Numerous methods have been developed to model longitudinal data. In HIV/AIDS studies, HIV markers, CD4+ count and viral load are measured over time. Informative drop-out and the lower detection limit of viral load assays can bias the results and influence assumptions of the models. Objective The objective of this thesis is to describe the evolution of HIV markers in an HIV-1 subtype C acutely infected cohort of women from the CAPRISA 002: Acute Infection Study in Durban, South Africa. They were HIV treatment näıve. Methods Various linear mixed models were fitted to both CD4+ count and viral load, adjusting for repeated measurements, as well as including intercept and slope as random effects. The rate of change in each of the HIV markers was assessed using weeks post infection as both a linear effect and piecewise linear effects. Left-censoring of viral load was explored to account for missing data resulting from undetectable measurements falling below the lower detection limit of the assay. Informative dropout was addressed by using a method of joint modelling in which a longitudinal and survival model were jointly linked using a latent Gaussian process. The progression of HIV markers were described and the effectiveness and usefulness of each modelling procedure was evaluated. Results 62 women were followed for a median of 29 months post infection (IQR 20-39). Viral load increased sharply by 2.6 log copies/m` per week in the first 2 weeks of infection and decreased by 0.4 log copies/m` per week the next fortnight. It decreased at a slower rate thereafter. Similarly CD4+ count fell in the first 2 weeks by 4.4 square root cells/μ` per week then recovered slightly only to decrease again. Left-censoring was unnecessary in this acute infection cohort as few viral load measures were below the detection limit and provided no improvement on model fit. Conclusion Piecewise linear effects proved to be useful in quantifying the degree at which the HIV markers progress during the first few weeks of HIV infection, whereas modelling time as a linear effect was not very meaningful. Modelling HIV markers jointly with informative drop-out is shown to be necessary to account for the missing data incurred from participants leaving the study to initiate ARV treatment. In ignoring this drop-out, CD4+ count is estimated to be higher than what it actually is.


Boshev, D., M. Jankulovska, s. Ivanovska, l. JankuloskI, B. kuzManovska and v . TanaskovIc, 2014. evaluation of maize hybrids for grain yield stability under rainfed and irrigated conditions using gge biplot analysis. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 1320-1325 Stable performance of maize hybrids at a specific growing region is critical for obtaining high and stable yield. The objec tives of this study were to evaluate grain yield stability of sixteen maize hybrids from different origin in Ovce Pole region, in rainfed and irrigated conditions during 2009, 2010 and 2011 growing seasons, to graphically summarize the effects of G and GE interaction and to identify "which won where" and to recommend maize hybrids for this specific growing region, using GGE biplot. The GGE biplot was useful in identification that the hybrids 16, 15 and 13 were the highest yielding and conse quently the most desirable hybrids for growing in Ovce pole region. Furthermore, it was concluded that high and stable yields could be expected only with irrigation. The hybrid 4 had the lowest seed yield (6910 kg ha-1) and was the least stable across different environments. This technique can serve as a useful tool for recommendation of maize hybrids for specific growing region taking into account the specificities of hybrids and growing conditions.


Can technical paradigms help managers lead technical companies? In Managing and Leading for Science Professionals, Bertrand Liang explains that they can, as he explores real issues of importance for technical students and managers who want to move into leadership positions. A CEO with an MBA, Liang originally trained as a neurology and oncology clinician and later earned a PhD in molecular biology and genetics. In this book, he emphasizes what he wishes he had known as he advanced through the organization. His practitioner's point of view is perfectly suited to those who are moving, or want to move, from the technical side to the business side. Focusing on the experiences of scientists and engineers, he teaches ways to speak top management's language. His insights deliver essential knowledge, empowering technical staff to succeed using the skills they know best. It describes "what I wish I'd known" as a manager with a technical background. It focuses on using skills other than risk analysis to make decisions. It explores ways to lead and manage innovation, particularly in relation to executives' responsibilities, skills, and tolerance for risk.


The experimental $\mathrm{N}(1s)$ near-edge x-ray-absorption fine-structure spectrum of the benzonitrile molecule in the gas phase shows well separated double peaks with different vibrational profiles. Hybrid density-functional theory calculations reveal that such a separation is a result of the conjugation effect on the nitrogen $2p$ orbitals and the double spectral peaks can be assigned as the $\mathrm{N}(1s)\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\pi}*$ out-of-plane and in-plane resonances. The vibrational profiles have been analyzed using a combined transition state theory and linear coupling model. Each profile consists of two different vibrational progressions corresponding to stretching modes and a broad continuum of bending excited states. The use of transition state theory allows identifying the dynamics of the N $1s$ core excitation. It is found that upon core excitations the $\mathrm{C}\mathrm{N}$ bond of the benzonitrile molecule can go from initial linear to final bent structures through different paths. The calculated spectrum is in excellent agreement with experiment.


We present MediaPod, a portable system that allows mobile users to maintain the same persistent, personalized multimedia desktop environment on any available computer. Regardless of which computer is being used, MediaPod provides a consistent multimedia desktop session, maintaining all of a user's applications, documents and configuration settings. This is achieved by leveraging rapid improvements in capacity, cost, and size of portable storage devices. MediaPod provides a virtualization and checkpoint-restart mechanism that decouples a desktop environment and its applications from the host, enabling multimedia desktop sessions to be suspended to portable storage, carried around, and resumed from the storage device on another computer. MediaPod virtualization also isolates desktop sessions from the host, protecting the privacy of the user and preventing malicious applications from damaging the host. We have implemented a Linux MediaPod prototype and demonstrate its ability to quickly suspend and resume multimedia desktop sessions, enabling a seamless computing experience for mobile users as they move among computers.


In this article, five foodservice organizations were asked if they sensed a shift in their focus from food production to service. With varying degrees of emphasis, all five stated that they were spending more time and effort on service, but four out of five companies did not indicate that any additional dollars were being spent beyond their commitments to training in order to achieve this shift in focus. Changing customer demands requiring changing training methods, communication skills, implications of management on service quality, as well as other related topics, are looked at in this article.


Increasingly, schools are urged to rethink leadership based on positional authority and move towards more participative styles of governance, embracing teachers as leaders (Andrews & Lewis, 2004; Crowther, Kaagan, Ferguson & Hann, 2007; Frost & Harris, 2003). This study examines the enactment of teacher leadership in the context of the West Australian Level Three Classroom Teacher classification, an initiative that recognizes and promotes the leadership of expert classroom teachers. The researcher investigated the extent to which the initiative engenders teacher leadership and, the nature and scope of the leadership. Competing discourses of accountability and empowerment that promote and constrain teacher leadership were examined to interrogate the extent to which the Level Three Classroom Teacher program, in creating another space at the leadership table, provides a genuine opportunity for teachers to lead.

Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to interrogate Level Three Classroom Teachers' survey responses and Department of Education policy to identify the binaries or slippage between the rhetoric of policy and the practice of teacher leadership in schools. In recognition of the centrality of language, discourse analysis and narrative deconstruction informed by Mockler's (2004) and Boje's (2001) frameworks were employed to map leadership practices and the cultural narrative of the Level Three Classroom Teacher.

Highlighted in this research is the importance of emotions. The study affirmed that motivation to lead is bound up in teacher identity, self-efficacy and collegiality. The creation of categories of teachers such as expert and non-expert or leader and noniii leader in policy discourse and school practices resulted in a form of othering that could be deemed counter-productive to participative leadership. An implication of these findings is the need for further study to examine how policy may constrain teacher leadership. If more teachers are to seize this leadership opportunity and make a real difference to how schools are led, there is also a need for professional learning that explicitly targets teacher leadership. Such learning also needs to acknowledge the complexity of emotions and the micro politics of schools.


Drawing from literature associating superheroes with altruism, this study examined whether ordinary individuals engaged in altruistic or selfish behavior when they were hypothetically given superpowers. Participants were presented with six superpowers—three positive (healing, invulnerability, and flight) and three negative (fear inducement, psychic persuasion, and poison generation). They indicated their desirability for each power, what they would use it for (social benefit, personal gain, social harm), and listed examples of such uses. Quantitative analyses (n = 285) revealed that 94% of participants wished to possess a superpower, and majority indicated using powers for benefitting themselves than for altruistic purposes. Furthermore, while men wanted positive and negative powers more, women were more likely than men to use such powers for personal and social gain. Qualitative analyses of the uses of the powers (n = 524) resulted in 16 themes of altruistic and selfish behavior. Results were analyzed within Pearce and Amato's model of helping behavior, which was used to classify altruistic behavior, and adapted to classify selfish behavior. In contrast to how superheroes behave, both sets of analyses revealed that participants would hypothetically use superpowers for selfish rather than altruistic purposes. Limitations and suggestions for future research are outlined.


Democratization of the mysterious art of data science via Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and other machine learning (ML) service providers might make it too easy to apply ML. To underline this we present a worked-out example in R (including sources in the appendix), where deep learning falls behind much simpler methods or learns something that is not there. We start with an already published application of a LeNet style convolutional neural network (CNN) for image recognition. We show that this complex CNN is outperformed by a single layer perceptron and that a logistic regression comes close if done naively and also outperforms if a transformation is applied to the inputs. The reason for this is highlighted by visual data analysis. Then we exemplify how a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) is lured into learning a function y=f(x), where there is no relation between y and x. Summing up, we demonstrate how a mighty CNN learns less than a two-feature based logistic regression and how a simple MLP learns more than a linear regression when there is nothing to learn! One way to avoid these pitfalls is academic training in data science.


In 2012 the Environmental Protection Agency issued a Final Rule subjecting coal and oil-fired electric utility steam generating units, or EGUs, to EPA regulation under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, officially listing them as "source-categories" of Hazardous Air Pollutant, or HAP, emissions. Additionally, the agency held that situation-specific factors, such as implementation and compliance costs, should not be considered when designating EGUs for regulation. In White Stallion Energy Center, LLC v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the CAA does not require EPA to consider implementation and compliance costs when designating coal and oil-fired EGUs for regulation. The legislative purpose and statutory language of CAA section 112, however, supports a finding that EPA is actually barred from such cost consideration. This Comment argues that in light of the D.C. Circuit's holding in White Stallion, EPA could have interpreted section 112 in its 2012 Final Rule to completely prohibit the agency from considering EGU regulatory compliance costs. If EPA had taken a stronger position on the statutory bar to cost consideration, the D.C. Circuit would have affirmed the agency's decision as the correct interpretation of section 112. Such a holding, in turn, would have ensured more environmentally friendly decision-making for years to come.


Crowdsourcing systems often have crowd workers that perform unreliable work on the task they are assigned. In this paper, we propose the use of error-control codes and decoding algorithms to design crowdsourcing systems for reliable classification despite unreliable crowd workers. Coding theory based techniques also allow us to pose easy-to-answer binary questions to the crowd workers. We consider three different crowdsourcing models: systems with independent crowd workers, systems with peer-dependent reward schemes, and systems where workers have common sources of information. For each of these models, we analyze classification performance with the proposed coding-based scheme. We develop an ordering principle for the quality of crowds and describe how system performance changes with the quality of the crowd. We also show that pairing among workers and diversification of the questions help in improving system performance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed coding-based scheme using both simulated data and real datasets from Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing microtask platform. Results suggest that use of good codes may improve the performance of the crowdsourcing task over typical majority-voting approaches.


Abstract: In order to restore power to out-of-service areas quickly, this paper proposes a new service restoration decision-making algorithm for a distribution network. First, using heuristic rules, a candidate service restoration scheme set is generated. Considering the target of service restoration, five evaluation indices are introduced, including the quantities of restored load and transferred load, the margin of load capacity, the rate of load balancing, and the switching times of circuit breakers. Second, because of the problem of fuzzy measure identification, interaction between attributes, and the requirements for consistency with group decision making, this study defines the Shapley value identification method based on the Mahalanobis-Taguchi system and interval fuzzy preference relations. The fuzzy measure is obtained by the Shapley value, and the decision-making model is constructed by the Choquet integral with φs transformation function. Finally, an example application proves that the method is feasible and effective for decision making. Compared with the other method, the results verify the superiority of the decision process and show that it is consistent with the real conditions of post-fault restoration in a smart distribution network.


Since this thesis is the first complete coverage of the diocese of Chester since 1895, it has been necessary to give a description of the structure and administration for a great deal of material has been revealed during cataloguing of the archives. A brief account of the predecessors of William Markham is essential for both he and Beilby Porteus built on foundations laid by those who preceeded them in office.
It will be observed that Markham, due to his other additional and external duties, was unable to give his diocese the attention such an awkward area of country demanded. He his is best and showed a keen interest in the affairs of the diocese but was unable to reform abuses in appointment for he had not the time at his disposal. Beilby Porteus not only reformed these abuses but also instituted a form of written examination for would be ordinands and specified the course of study. As a parish priest he took a keen interest in the welfare of the clergy and his tenure of the see highlights the problem of finding assistant curates for the northern chapelries at a time when it was believed there were more clergy than livings. At the same time the poverty of many of his clergy led to Porteus making provision for them.
In a dioces e so diverse as Chester, the problem of the Dissenters and Catholics was a more serious problem than elsewhere. The new industrial areas were becoming centres of Methodism and Dissent while the Catholics maintained their strongholds in northern Lancashire, both factors leading to problems which troubled the parish clergy. Education cannot be neglected for both the above groups as well as the Anglicans were exceptionally keen to provide educational facilities in the diocese. The Sunday School movement is markedly detailed in its archives in Chester.
Since both bishops were members of the House of Lords it has been essential to account for their actions outside the diocese and see what effect these had on their domestic policy. Finally the problems of the new industrial society are outlined to show how few of the clergy or the bishops really understood the meaning of the changes. Shortage of new churches, old churches too small and combined with an unprecedented increase in population created situations which the old diocesan machinery was unable to solve.


The constitutive relations developed in the companion paper are used to model detailed observations of preseismic slip and the onset of unstable slip in biaxial laboratory experiments. The simulations employ a deterministic plane strain finite element model to represent the interactions both within the sliding blocks and between the blocks and the loading apparatus. Both experiments and simulations show that preseismic slip is controlled by initial inhomogeneity of shear stress along the sliding surface relative to the frictional strength. As a consequence of the inhomogeneity, stable slip begins at a point on the surface and the area of slip slowly expands as the external loading increases. A previously proposed correlation between accelerating rates of stable slip and growth of the area of slip is supported by the simulations. In the simulations and in the experiments, unstable slip occurs shortly after a propagating slip event traverses the sliding surface and breaks out at the ends of the sample. In the model the breakout of stable slip causes a sudden acceleration of slip rates. Because of velocity dependency of the constitutive relationship for friction, the rapid acceleration of slip causes a decrease in frictional strength. Instability occurs when the frictional strength decreases with displacement at a rate that exceeds the intrinsic unloading characteristics of the sample and test machine. A simple slider-spring model that does not consider preseismic slip appears to approximate the transition adequately from stable sliding to unstable slip as a function of normal stress, machine stiffness, and surface roughness for small samples. However, for large samples and for natural faults the simulations suggest that the simple model may be inaccurate because it does not take into account potentially large preseismic displacements that will alter the friction parameters prior to instability.


Many countries in the Caribbean are exploring ecotourism, alongside mass tourism, as a development strategy in the period following the collapse of export crop industries. Ecotourism as a strategy for economic development has produced mixed, if not disappointing, outcomes for the lives of the majority of people where it has been attempted (Honey 1999; Sinclair 1998). This article makes the argument that successful pursuit of ecotourism to promote integrated economic and social development can be enhanced when there is potential for the adverse impacts of tourism to be mitigated by the presence of certain structural domestic conditions. Using evidence from the island state of St. Lucia where a programmatic effort by the state to promote heritage tourism has been in operation for almost two decades the theoretical argument is made that ecotourism that relies on the unique structure of local ownership of productive resources, supported by technical skill supplied by the state, facilitates greater participation in the tourist sector on terms advantageous to economically and socially marginalized participants. Thus far the Programme has encouraged environmental awareness and cultural appreciation in the local population, encouraged entrepreneurial activity, and diversified entry into an enclave sector through avenues other than cheap unskilled seasonal work. The article concludes with an examination of the prospect for this effort to contribute to more widespread development policy focused on social and environmental well-being.


The efficient transmission of transport control protocol (TCP) traffic over optical burst-switched (OBS) networks is a challenging problem, due to the high sensitivity of the TCP congestion control mechanism to losses. In this paper, a TCP-specific traffic profiling and traffic prediction scheme is proposed, for optimizing TCP transmission over one-way OBS networks. In the proposed scheme, the burst assembly unit inspects TCP packet headers in parallel to the assembly process, keeping flow-level traffic statistics. These are then exploited to derive accurate traffic predictions, in at least one round trip time prediction window. This allows traffic schedulers to be notified of upcoming traffic changes in advance, in order to optimally reschedule their resource reservations. In this paper, we detail the traffic profiling and prediction mechanism and also provide analytical and simulation results to assess its performance. The performance gains when using the prediction scheme are shown with a modified one-way OBS reservation protocol, which efficiently and in advance reserves resources at the burst level.


Case description- a goat-kid with anorexia, weakness, depression, reluctant to move, poor condition, and generalized unthriftiness was admitted to the Veterinary Clinic of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman.
Clinical Findings- body temperature, heart and respiratory rates, hematologic indices including PCV, total and differential WBC and total RBC count were normal. In clinical examination, a ventral abdominal mass was palpable, but not visible. Radiography confirmed presence of dilated stomach which distended with gas or food material and displaced the intestines caudally. According to the history, physical findings, vital signs, hematologic indices and radiography, a severe ruminal impaction was diagnosed which confirmed by exploratory laparotomy and ruminotomy.
Treatment and Outcome- After ruminotomy and evacuation of impacted ingesta, all clinical signs subsided after 10 days.
Clinical Relevance- this case was reported because it illustrates some important consideration when dealing with cases of impaction. While feed impactions are moderately frequent in occurrence, ruminal impaction in goat-kids is rare, but can occur and must be noted.


Significant progress has been made in managing fever and neutropenia in patients with cancer. Although initial empiric antimicrobial treatment remains the foundation of therapy for such patients, improved diagnostic modalities, models of risk assessment, and an understanding of the various clinical situations in which infections occur have required that treatment approaches and options evolve. The development of broad-spectrum antibiotics with decreased toxicity has improved patient outcomes. Nevertheless, the increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has challenged the clinician to use antimicrobial therapy wisely. Infection control should not rely exclusively on antimicrobial prophylaxis but, rather, should continue to incorporate standard infection control measures and demand careful handwashing by all health care professionals who come into contact with immunocompromised patients. Invasive fungal pathogens have increased and remain a major concern. Diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for fungal infections remain limited, but careful clinical investigation of new approaches will be needed to define the proper use of these probably expensive new therapeutic additions.


The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (IHCEH) is the leading international journal with a focus on hypnosis research and practice. Under the editorship of Dr. Arreed Barabasz the journal has grown in quality and expanded in readership. It is an honor and a privilege to begin my term as Editor of the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. The present (January, 2018) issue and the following issues of April and July were prepared under the editorship of Dr. Barabasz. This is my opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Barabasz for making the transition to my editorship as smooth as possible and for his support. As the new Editor, I will endeavor to continue the growth, high quality articles, increasing impact factor, and relevance to the international community of hypnosis practitioners and dedicated researchers. The journal will actively recruit quality submissions on an international scale and seek to advance scientific knowledge and inform clinical practice. Hypnosis research has already provided much empirical support for applications of hypnosis interventions in multiple areas including medical, dental, and psychological disorders. Also, well validated scales now exist for measurement of hypnotizability and there is an expanding body of scientific knowledge regarding the potential cognitive, social, interpersonal, and neurophysiological mediators of hypnosis. Further, researchers and clinicians have investigated the potential of integration of hypnosis with cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, interpersonal, and mindfulness (third wave) interventions. Hypnosis is now recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as an area for further research and funding. All of these achievements speak positively to the important future of hypnosis in science and practice. The journal will continue with a strong and engaged Board of Editorial Consultants and will expand upon this to bring in additional editorial consultants with identified areas of expertise Quality contributions will be sought and welcomed from various perspectives and including theoretical papers, experimental designs, exploratory studies, randomized clinical trials, and well-designed case studies. Competent clinical practice is informed by the best available research and research that is clinically relevant is of most Intl. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 66(1): 1–2, 2018 Copyright © International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis ISSN: 0020-7144 print / 1744-5183 online DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2017.1411133


Abstract The effective computation and visualization of cross-fault sealing or flow, and parameters that infer or control that distribution, is a key step in the production of more reliable exploration and production simulation models. A better understanding of the impact of fault-related flow or baffling through visualization can lead to the development of more robust and useful geological models that better define the likely range in flow behaviour. A range of visualization tools are available, from the traditional fault plane juxtaposition map to the vector visualization of cross-fault fluid flux. Each tool has its applications and limitations. In this contribution we discuss the application of these different techniques and highlight situations where these are particularly successful. A number of existing visualization approaches will be reviewed and improvements to those techniques are shown. A series of existing property visualization techniques are critiqued, such as the imaging of shale gouge ratio (SGR) and fault transmissibility multipliers (TMs) on the fault faces, both of which are limited in their ability to act as a proxy for cross-fault fluid flux in many circumstances. Fault rock property visualizations, such as hydraulic resistance and fault transmissibility, are presented. More direct and hence more powerful indications of probable cross-fault fluid flux are also described, such as the effective cross-fault transmissibility (ECFT) and the effective cross-fault permeability (ECFP). These static proxies for cross-fault fluid flux are compared against back-calculated and visualized cross-fault fluid flux values derived from either streamline or full flow simulation data. The ECFT is shown to provide a useful and rapid indication of likely fluid flux from the static model; however, the direct imaging of cross-fault fluid flux derived from simulation results allows for a far better understanding of how the faults have contributed to the reservoir flow simulation result. Visualizations of the fault- and flow-related properties: (a) on the fault face; (b) in the grid cells adjacent to the fault face; (c) as vectors; or (d) as fault-wide summations, all provide useful insights for different parts of the reservoir evaluation workflow. This contribution highlights a series of new and efficient techniques to image and hence improve the understanding and modelling of fault sealing in both exploration and production settings.


1. Two rat clones have been isolated which are similar to known calcitonin-receptor sequences. One of these does not have the distribution expected of a calcitonin receptor. It is widely distributed, with extremely high levels of expression in the lung, where it is associated with the blood vessels. 2. This rat sequence may represent the receptor for calcitonin-gene-related peptide or islet amyloid polypeptide. Both have binding activity in the lung and are potent vasodilators. The gene represented by this sequence may therefore play an important role in the maintenance of vascular tone.


Obesity affects both adolescents and adults worldwide (Popkin & Doak, 1998). Determining which factors contribute to risk factors to the high prevalence of obesity in America is important because excess weight can negatively affect both physical health and psychosocial functioning (Kolotkin, Meter, & Williams, 2001). Few longitudinal studies have assessed the association between parenting styles and adolescent's body mass index (BMI; Rhee et al, 2006). Past research has shown that parents greatly influence adolescent's body image (Al Sabbah et al., 2009). Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the current study examined the influence of parenting styles on adolescent's weight over time (Harris et al., 2009). Additionally, we tested a mediation model on the relationship between parenting style and adolescent's BMI through weight perception. The final aim of this study was to determine whether weight perception differed by gender. The current study failed to find an association between parenting styles and adolescent's weight gain over time and between weight perception and weight gain over time. The current study did find a difference in weight perception by gender. Girls were more likely to perceive themselves as heavier and boys were more likely to perceive themselves as lighter. Future studies should be developed to gain a better understanding of the developmental trajectory of adolescent obesity and the effects of parenting styles. Additionally, more research is needed to better understand the differences in body image by gender.


Emerging market sovereigns issue bonds in the international capital markets governed by a foreign legal regime such as the law of England or New York State.European sovereigns, however, have been able to issue bonds governed by the issuer's own law.In the event of a future financial crisis, this gives European sovereign issuers the ability to pass local legislation that will facilitate an eventual restructuring of their bonds -- the "local law advantage."Greece did this in 2012 as part of a restructuring of €206 billion of Greek Government bonds.The validity of the revisions to Greek law enacted in 2012 by the Greek Parliament has been upheld in multiple judicial challenges (in Greece, Germany, Austria and before the European Court of Human Rights), as well in a major ICSID arbitration.This raises the question of whether other European sovereigns enjoying the local law advantage over their bonds can, in an emergency, rely on the power of their own legislatures to amend local law in order to facilitate a future restructuring of those instruments


SUMMARY Although eyes are generally considered necessary for image resolution, a diffuse photoreceptive system with directional sensitivity may also have this ability. Two species of the echinoid genus Echinometra were tested for spatial vision by examining their ability to locate and move towards targets of different sizes. The echinoids were significantly oriented (P<0.0001) towards a target with an angular width of 33° (0.3 sr) but were not oriented to targets with angular widths of 26° and 16°. This ability is probably due to the blocking of off-angle light by the spines, which have approximately the correct spacing for the observed resolution. Spatial vision is advantageous for echinoids of this genus because they leave and return to small dark shelters. This first demonstration of spatial vision in an echinoderm sheds further light on the complex optical structures and photobehaviors found in this phylum.


We report a robust magnetic-membrane-based microfluidic platform for controllable chemical release. The magnetic membrane was prepared by mixing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and carbonyl-iron nanoparticles together to obtain a flexible thin film. With combined, simultaneous regulation of magnetic stimulus and mechanical pumping, the desired chemical release rate can easily be realized. For example, the dose release experimental data was well fitted by a mathematical sigmoidal model, exhibiting a typical dose-response relationship, which shows promise in providing significant guidance for on-demand drug delivery. To test the platform's feasibility, our microfluidic device was employed in an experiment involving Escherichia coli culture under controlled antibiotic ciprofloxacin exposure, and the expected outcomes were successfully obtained. Our experimental results indicate that such a microfluidic device, with high accuracy and easy manipulation properties, can legitimately be characterized as active chemical release system.


Based on many years of experience in the organization of the third stage of Ukrainian National Astronomy Olympiad, the authors of the article attempt to formulate general principles for the selection and compilation of astronomy olympiad problems, as well as to demonstrate the application of the described principles on the example of astronomy olympiads in Ivano-Frankivsk region. The peculiarities of school Olympiad in astronomy, the purpose of their conduct, the specificity of task packages, including necessity for differentiation by complexity and topics, were analyzed. A characteristic feature of the Olympiad tasks is their non-standard nature, necessity to use methods that are unusual for students to solve problems. On the other hand, such tasks should match intellectual development of the competition participants, and the course of the solution should be accessible to understanding and should not require knowledge of a university program. In particular, on the basis of the analysis by the authors of the process of compiling astronomy Olympiad tasks, which were offered to students in the past years at the regional stage of the student Olympiads, were identified, the methods of their creation were systematized and characterized. Each method contains a detailed explanation, justification for its use and examples, both analytical and practical. For the sake of clarity, the topic "Kepler Laws" was choosen for Olympiad problems, which were analyzed and methods used to create them were described. This topic is one of the fundamental in the schoolar astronomy, which determines both the need to include such tasks in the Olympiad program and the complexity of their choice, and creation, because the topic is narrow enough and is qualitatively covered in various textbooks and collections of problems.


The Psychiatric Consultation Service at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) sees medical and surgical inpatients with comorbid psychiatric symptoms and conditions. Such consultations require the integration of medical and psychiatric knowledge. During their twice-weekly rounds, Drs. Stern and Maytal, as well as other medical staff and members of the Consultation Service, discuss the diagnosis and management of conditions confronted. These discussions have given rise to rounds reports that will prove useful for clinicians practicing at the interface of medicine and psychiatry.


Most investment treaties contain two dispute resolution clauses: one permitting investor-state arbitration for investment disputes and the other permitting state-to-state arbitration for disputes concerning the treaty's interpretation and/or application. Despite this duality, the potential role of state-to-state arbitration, and its proper relationship with investor-state arbitration, have largely been ignored. However, recent cases, including Peru v. Chile, Italy v. Cuba, and Ecuador v. United States, demonstrate the need to examine the potential and limits of this form of dispute resolution and to consider its implications for the hybridity of the investment treaty system as a whole. One reaction to the re-emergence of state-to-state arbitration has been to view it as a dangerous development that threatens to infringe upon investors' rights and to re-politicize investor-state disputes. This has led some to suggest radically curtailing the scope and availability of state-to-state arbitration in favor of investor-state arbitration. This Article argues that these attempts are inconsistent with the text, object and purpose, and history of investment treaties. The co-existence of these two forms of arbitration without a clear priority mechanism reflects the system's essential hybridity and cannot be wished away. This duality helps to demonstrate that the goals of investor protection and the depoliticization of investor-state disputes are important, but not absolute. Instead, the re-emergence of state-to-state arbitration represents an important step toward a new third era of the investment treaty system in which the rights and claims of both investors and treaty parties are recognized and valued, rather than one being reflexively privileged over the other. The investment treaty system has evolved from its first era, which focused exclusively on states' rights and state-to-state arbitration, to its second era, which focused primarily on investors' rights and investor-state arbitration. Instead of being an illegitimate or regressive development, the re-emergence of state-to-state arbitration represents a permissible and potentially progressive mechanism by which treaty parties can re-engage with the system in order to correct existing imbalances and help shape its development from within. More generally, the co-existence of investor-state and state-to-state arbitration requires a hybrid theory about the nature of investment treaty rights and the allocation of interpretive authority. This Article argues that: investment treaty rights should be understood as being granted to investors and home states on an interdependent basis, such that either — but usually not both — may bring arbitral claims; and interpretative authority should be understood as being shared between the treaty parties, investor-state tribunals, and state-to-state tribunals. This hybrid theory has the potential to help resolve other controversial issues within the field.


Abstract: Initial events and effector mechanisms of most inflammatory and autoimmune diseases remain largely unknown. Dysfunction of the innate and adaptive immune systems associated with mucosae (the major interface between the organism and its environment, e.g., microbiota, food) can conceivably cause impairment of mucosal barrier function and development of localized or systemic inflammatory and autoimmune processes. Animal models help in elucidating the etiology and pathogenetic mechanisms of human diseases, such as the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, severe chronic diseases affecting the gut. To study the role of innate immunity and gut microbiota in intestinal inflammation, colitis was induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Conventionally reared (microflora‐colonized) SCID mice displayed severe inflammation like that seen in immunocompetent Balb/c mice, whereas only minor changes appeared in the intestinal mucosa of DSS‐fed gnotobiotic germ‐free SCID mice. The presence of microflora facilitates the inflammation in DSS‐induced colitis that develops in immunodeficient SCID mice, that is, in the absence of T and B lymphocytes. Celiac disease, a chronic autoimmune small bowel disorder, afflicts genetically susceptible individuals with wheat gluten intolerance. We showed that, in contrast with any other food proteins, wheat gliadin and its peptic fragments activate mouse macrophages and human monocytes to produce proinflammatory cytokines through the nuclear factor‐κB signaling pathway. Activation of innate immunity cells by food proteins or components from gut microbiota thus could participate in the impairment of intestinal mucosa and the development of intestinal and/or systemic inflammation.


ABSTRACT Can states credibly communicate their intentions through covert policy tools, despite the absence of credibility-enhancing publicity? Most extant research suggests covert action and secrecy in general are uniquely uninformative and often used as an alternative to signaling. Yet episodes such as Richard Nixon's secret bombing of Cambodia suggest that leaders have used covert action to convey intentions and coerce adversaries. This article builds a theoretical framework for understanding signaling in the covert sphere, developing reasons why states find covert communication both intelligible (that is, the basic intended message is understandable) and credible (that is, the message is believable). We argue that two target audiences—local allies and strategic adversaries—tend to observe covert action and that the costs and risks incurred by initiating and expanding covert action credibly convey resolve. We assess our arguments empirically through careful process tracing of a set of nested covert interventions by Soviet and American leaders in conflicts in Angola and Afghanistan. Drawing on a trove of recently declassified material, we assess intentions and inferences related to covert signaling. We find that both strategic adversaries and local partners observed and drew inferences about resolve. Covert lethal aid programs thereby served as a credible indicator of resolve through three mechanisms we identify in the paper: sunk costs, counter-escalation risks, and domestic political risks. These findings have important implications for the study of coercive bargaining, secrecy, and reputation. They also shed light on an important policy tool contemporary policymakers will likely use, suggesting the kinds of effects covert action has and elucidating the basic interpretive framework needed to communicate messages with new methods like covert cyber attacks.


Abstract The Huntington discoveries are an unusual exploration success in that two oil accumulations were tested in separate syn- and post-rift reservoirs with a single well. The discoveries are located 205 km east of Aberdeen in the East Central Graben some 35 km east of Forties Field in 300 ft of water. The 22/14-5 discovery well, drilled in May 2007, encountered a 122 ft oil column in the Paleocene Forties Sandstone and also a 136 ft oil column in the Upper Jurassic Fulmar Sandstone. Both the Forties and the Fulmar contain high-quality oil, 41 and 39° api gravity, respectively. Aggregate flow rates from the two zones exceeded 11 000 boepd on test. Appraisal drilling of the Forties was completed in late 2007 with first oil targeted for 2011. The Fulmar appraisal programme is currently in progress. The Forties reservoir is a high net to gross sandstone containing stacked channel sequences deposited in a submarine fan system. The Fulmar reservoir also contains a thick sand package deposited in a shallow marine shelf setting. Pre-drill mapping based on reprocessed 3D seismic indicated a structural closure on both horizons at the location tested by the well. At both the Forties and Fulmar targets, however, the oil column height exceeded the pre-drill prognosis. This overview will focus on pre-drill perceptions of the prospect relative to actual drilling results.


This study explores the cultural factors that act as antecedents to women serving on boards of directors all over the world.We extend the theory proposed by several researchers before (e.g., Warner-Soderholm et al., 2016; St Onge & Magnan, 2013). We will explore relationships proffered by various researchers while also using more robust data and a larger sample. We will statistically examine relationships between cultural factors, political empowerment, institutional factors, gender equality scores, paid maternity leave, paid paternity leave, universal suffrage, and women on boards. Our sample of 56 countries was collected Catalyst, the World Economy Forum, and the World Bank in 2015. We use cultural factors score of House et al. (2004). After running regressions, the results of our study indicate that Gender equality positively impacts shares of women on boards, mediated though women's political empowerment and the proportion of seats held by women in parliament. Our findings also suggest high levels of in-group collectivism, future orientation, gender equality, political empowerment, the proportion of seats held by women in parliament, and a low level of uncertainty avoidance will positively impact women on boards.


Layers I and II of the somatic sensory cortex are clearly distinguishable with the electron microscope because of characteristic differences in the number, type and orientation of neurons and dendritic and axonal ramifications. Layer I may be subdivided into: (i) a subpial astrocytic layer immediately deep to the basement membrane of the cerebral surface; (ii) a superficial quarter consisting of bundles of small myelinated axons and large numbers of small axon terminals which contain spherical vesicles and end in asymmetrical synaptic complexes mainly on large dendritic spines. Most of these terminals are derived from a dense feltwork of fine unmyelinated axons which are especially concentrated at the junction of the superficial and deep parts of layer I; (iii) a deeper three quarters with similar features to the above but with the additional characteristic of many obliquely orientated large dendrites which are the diverging branches of apical dendrites ascending from deeper layers. Small pyramidal neurons dominate layer II, but among them are a small number of non-pyramidal neurons whose beaded dendrites are covered with axon terminals. Large apical dendrites traverse this layer, and in addition to the typical asymmetrical synapse on dendritic spines, a few symmetrical types appear. These are derived from thin unmyelinated axons orientated horizontally within the layer, and the terminals contain many small flattened or pleomorphic synaptic vesicles.


The introduction of the AU's Agenda 2063 means that yet another governance initiative has entered the African political landscape. This policy briefing examines the place of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) within Agenda 2063, as well as the African Governance Architecture (AGA). It argues that the APRM could effectively exist alongside them. However, at 12 years old, the APRM must first be reinvigorated, given its relative decline and the inadequate political will behind it.


We describe a speaker tracking and detection system, for Switchboard conversations, that uses a two-speaker and silence hidden Markov model (HMM) with a minimum state duration constraint and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) state distributions adapted from a single gender- and handset-independent imposter model distribution. Speaker tracking is used to segment speakers for detection, which is carried out by averaging frame scores of the Viterbi path and HNORM'ing via a novel parameter interpolation extension of HNORM for use with files of arbitrary lengths. Use of duration statistics augmenting the acoustic scores is also introduced via a nonlinear combination function. Results are reported on the NIST 1998 Multispeaker development evaluation dataset.


This dissertation contains essays on government outsourcing and identification of dynamic binary choice models. The first essay, titled "Mixed-Delivery of a Public Good: An Empirical Case Study of the Dredging Industry," provides a descriptive analysis of the United States dredging industry. The industry has several features that make it an interesting area to study delivery of public goods; most notably, provision of dredging services in the US are split between in-house provision by the US Army Corps of Engineers and contracting out to private sector dredging companies. Patterns of in-house government project selection suggest that government prefers to complete smaller projects and also indicates the presence of complementarities across projects arising from travel distance between project sites. In the second essay, "Semi-parametric Identification of Dynamic Binary Choice Models," I give conditions underwhich both the per-period payoffs for each state and the distribution of the random, unobserved component of agent utility are identified. Most previous work in dynamic discrete choice models has used the assumption that the distribution of choice-specific utility shocks are known. I show that two conditions suffice to identify this distribution: first, that there is a period in which there is no future value component for agents. This can arise due to either non-stationary state transitions or a finite time horizon. Second, I assume that there is a state variable that enters into the utility for one of the choices through a known function. This allows for identification of the distribution of the unobserved utility component through variation in this state variable in the static periods. Finally the last essay, titled "Cost and Efficiency in Government Outsourcing," builds a dynamic binary-choice model of government outsourcing decisions and applies the model to the dredging industry described in the first essay. I investigate the effect of government outsourcing on total expenditures and efficiency by considering how outsourcing decisions are determined along two dimensions: (i) cost differences between private firms and government suppliers of public goods and (ii) dynamics arising from cost complementarities and capacity constraints. Identification of the model uses the identification results from the second chapter, and allows for identification of the full distribution of government project costs. Model estimates indicate substantial cost savings due to outsourcing but also that government presence in the market is important for cost reduction. A counterfactual policy experiment featuring direct competition between government and private sector firms finds a total expenditure reduction of 17.1%.


Element CXI's Elemental Computing Array (ECA) delivers faster reconfiguration time and higher computational density than Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) with similar computational power. It provides higher computational power than Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) with similar power consumption and price. It also utilizes a library-based graphical development environment promoting ease of use and fast development. In this thesis, the design and implementation of a ZigBee receiver on an Element CXI ECA-64 platform is presented. The ZigBee receiver is evaluated through simulations and implementation on an ECA device. During the design and implementation of the ZigBee receiver, some design experience and tips are concluded. The design methodology on the ECA is studied in detail to assure the implementation's correctness, since the methodology of the ECA is different from that of other platforms.


Introduction. 1. The epidemiology of pervasive developmental disorders, Eric Fombonne, Canada. 2. Early manifestation of autistic disorder during the first two years of life, Juan Martos Perez, Pedro M. Gonzalez, Maria Llorente and Carmen Nieto, Spain. 3. Early assessment in autism, Catherine Lord, USA. 4. Implicit learning impairments in autism: Implications for diagnosis and treatment, Laura Klinger, Mark Klinger and Patricia Pohling, USA. 5. Joint attention and autism: Theory, assessment and neurodevelopment, Peter Mundy and Danielle Thorp, USA. 6. On being moved in thought and feeling: An approach to autism, Peter Hobson, UK. 7. Systemising and empathising in autism, Sally Wheelwright, UK. 8. Executive functions in autism: Theory and practice, Sally Ozonoff, USA. 9. Relationship between language and development in autistic spectrum disorders, Isabelle Rapin, USA. 10. Developmental and behavioural profiles of children with autism and Asperger Syndrome, Susan Leekam, UK. 11. Neuro-anatomical observations of the brain in autism, Margaret Bauman and Thomas L. Kemper, USA. 12. Cortical circuit abnormalities (minicolumns) in the brains of autistic patients, Manuel F. Casanova, USA. 13. Genetic research into autistic disorder, Angel Diez Cuervo, Spain. 14. Parents and professionals. Collaboration! Collaboration? Hilde De Clerk and Theo Peeters, Belgium. References. Subject index. Author index.


An experimental and analytical method has been applied to evaluate air flow pattern in three main kinds of Iranian traditional wind catchers. Results indicate that ARDAKANI wind catcher with one opening is not an efficient device, and airflow average rate in its shaft is negative. It means that one-side wind catcher has a high rate air extract specially in summer and spring which air supply is demanded. KERMANI wind catcher with two openings has a positive air flow rate in the hot months of the year, but also air flow rate in the cold months of the year is high which is not efficient. And finally, YAZDI wind catcher with four openings has a positive air flow rate in hot seasons and also air flow rate in cold seasons is positive too. Also, a good agreement between computer simulation and analytical modelling is noticeable.


We describe the natural history and reproductive behaviour of the Emei Moustache Toad (Leptobrachium boringii) with an emphasis on the development of keratinized nuptial spines in males and document combat behaviour for the first time in this species. Between February and March of 2011, 19 female and 43 male L. boringii from Mount Emei UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sichuan, China were observed throughout the breeding season. This species exhibits male-biased sexual size dimorphism (SSD) with limited evidence of paternal care (nest guarding by males). Prior to the breeding season males grow 10 - 16 keratinized spines on their upper lip, which fall off once the season has ended. Throughout the breeding season males construct and defend aquatic nests where they produce advertisement calls to attract females. During this time we documented 14 cases involving a total of 22 males where males used their moustaches for aggressive interaction. Combat typically occurred at the beginning of the season when males would compete for a limited number of available nest sites. Neither male body size, nor body condition significantly affects the outcome of an aggressive interaction, suggesting that size may not be the only factor influencing an individual's chance of victory. Our evidence for male competition and aggression, along with observed paternal care are potential mechanisms to explain the evolution of male-biased SSD observed in this species.


We propose a novel terahertz material analysis approach that provides highly accurate material parameters and can be used for industrial quality control. The method treats the inspected material within its environment locally as a stratified system and describes the light-matter interaction of each layer in a realistic way. The approach is illustrated in the time-domain and frequency-domain for two potential fields of implementation of terahertz technology: quality control of (coated) paper sheets and car paint multilayers, both measured in humid air.


BACKGROUND
Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have the highest risk of developing chronic diseases and are the least able to cope with them.

AIMS
To assess the current knowledge of the prevalence and impact of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in sub- Saharan Africa.

METHODS
A literature search was conducted using Medline (1995-2010) and Google Scholar.

RESULTS
Eleven studies of the prevalence of asthma in sub-Saharan Africa were identified, all of which showed a consistent increase, particularly in urban regions. The data on asthma show a wide variation (5.7-20.3%), with the highest prevalence in 'westernised' urban areas. Only two studies of the prevalence of COPD in sub-Saharan Africa have been performed. Nevertheless, COPD has become an increasing health problem in sub-Saharan Africa due to tobacco smoking and exposure to biomass fuels. In most countries of sub-Saharan Africa, 90% of the rural households depend on biomass fuel for cooking and heating, affecting young children (acute lower respiratory infections) and women (COPD). This is the cause of significant mortality and morbidity in the region.

CONCLUSIONS
Asthma and COPD in sub-Saharan Africa are under-recognised, under-diagnosed, under-treated, and insufficiently prevented. A major priority is to increase the awareness of asthma and COPD and their risk factors, particularly the damage caused by biomass fuel. Surveys are needed to provide local healthcare workers with the possibility of controlling asthma and COPD.


This thesis addresses the problem of detecting changes in the activity of a distant gas source from the response of an array of metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors deployed in an Open Sampling System (OSS). Changes can occur due to gas source activity such as a sudden alteration in concentration or due to exposure to a different compound. Applications such as gas-leak detection in mines or large-scale pollution monitoring can benefit from reliable change detection algorithms, especially where it is impractical to continuously store or transfer sensor readings, or where reliable calibration is difficult to achieve. Here, it is desirable to detect a change point indicating a significant event, e.g. presence of gas or a sudden change in concentration. The main challenges are turbulent dispersion of gas and the slow response and recovery times of MOX sensors. Due to these challenges, the gas sensor response exhibits fluctuations that interfere with the changes of interest.The contributions of this thesis are centred on developing change detection methods using MOX sensor responses. First, we apply the Generalized Likelihood Ratio algorithm (GLR), a commonly used method that does not make any a priori assumption about change events. Next, we propose TREFEX, a novel change point detection algorithm, which models the response of MOX sensors as a piecewise exponential signal and considers the junctions between consecutive exponentials as change points. We also propose the rTREFEX algorithm as an extension of TREFEX. The core idea behind rTREFEX is an attempt to improve the fitted exponentials of TREFEX by minimizing the number of exponentials even further.GLR, TREFEX and rTREFEX are evaluated for various MOX sensors and gas emission profiles. A sensor selection algorithm is then introduced and the change detection algorithms are evaluated with the selected sensor subsets. A comparison between the three proposed algorithms shows clearly superior performance of rTREFEX both in detection performance and in estimating the change time. Further, rTREFEX is evaluated in real-world experiments where data is gathered by a mobile robot. Finally, a gas dispersion simulation was developed which integrates OpenFOAM flow simulation and a filament-based gas propagation model to simulate gas dispersion for compressible flows with a realistic turbulence model.


From the Publisher:
Special Edition Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 provides all the information a user, administrator, or programmer needs to maximize their use of Microsoft Outlook 2000. While the book quickly covers the basics of Outlook, it focuses with much greater intensity on advanced information, contact, calendar, and e-mail management techniques -- for both the Internet E-mail Only version of Outlook as well as the Corporate/Workgroup variation.
The book covers in great detail the use of Outlook on a LAN as a client for Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Mail, and cc:Mail, and it offers expert advice on a multitude of ways to customize Outlook for maximum personal productivity. Special Edition Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 also includes an entire section on developing Outlook-based applications with custom fields, custom forms, VBScript, and other Office applications. Provides complete coverage of installing, configuring, using, administering, and programming Microsoft Outlook 2000


Looking for better control over your product development? With this guide to SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM), you'll get in-depth instructions and configuration information for all stages! Set up and use SAP Portfolio and Project Management (PPM), variant configuration, Product Structure Management, and more. Then integrate with R&D, manufacturing, and authoring systems. From product visualization to collaborative development get all the tools you need to succeed with SAP PLM! * Use SAP PLM to track your product development process from idea to production * Configure SAP PLM using step-by-step instructions * Explore key product development processes: portfolio management, project management, variant configuration, and more First Principles Understand the fundamental concepts of product development, from process models to manufacturing strategies, and learn how to map product data into your SAP PLM system. Functionality Get step-by-step instructions for each stage of product development, from setting benchmarks with requirements and target management, to executing product validation, to implementing a new change management process. Configuration Learn to configure SAP PLM for product development with techniques for setting up variant configuration, product structures, process management, and more. * SAP Innovation Management * SAP Portfolio and Project Management (PPM) * Requirements and target management * Variant configuration * Product structures * Product validation * Processes management * Change, release, and configuration management * Product visualization * Collaboration product development


This article considers Senegalese novelist Malick Fall's 1967 novel La Plaie [The Wound] in the light of material from the archives of Parisian publishers Editions du Seuil. It explores to what extent and with what effect traces of editorial mediation revealed in publishers' archives can be written into the history of francophone African literature. Fall's long-neglected text is one of the earliest francophone African novels of post-independence disillusionment. Described by an early critic as the first African "existentialist" novel, its fragmented narrative draws on seams of poetic symbolism, burlesque comedy, and philosophical reflection to portray a vagrant protagonist. The complex structure and unstable narrative voice mark a departure from realist modes of African novels in the 1950s. Moreover it troubles any reductive account of a linear transition from realism to modernism. Yet Fall's work remains much less known than the celebrated stylistic innovation of Ahmadou Kourouma's Les Soleils des indépendances (1968) or Yambo Ouologuem's Le Devoir de violence (1968). Readers' reports at Le Seuil, a publisher with clear anti-colonial sympathies, show how editors sought to revise Fall's manuscript according to normative ideas of language, genre, and literary craft, tentatively pointing to the text's modernist leanings without fully articulating what such modernity might constitute or imply. While clearly not exclusive to African or postcolonial literature, such stylistic tempering (or tampering) arguably shaped the text's meditations on trauma, freedom, and alienation. This evidence leads to a revised, multivalent understanding of Fall's literary innovation.


In this study, we explored the efficacy of methanol, chloroform and petroleum ether extracts of two traditionally used medicinal plants Gnidia glauca (Fresen) Gilg. and Pothos scandens L against human pathogenic dermatophytic fungi. The powdered plant materials were subjected to soxhlet extraction and the concentrated extracts were tested for antifungal activity byAgar well diffusion method. The zone of growth inhibition was recorded. The presence of various phytoconstituents was observed in the methanol extract.Among the plants, G. glauca exhibited potent antifungal activity than P. scandens. Methanol extract was found to inhibit test fungi to more extent than chloroform and petroleum ether extracts. From the results, it is suggestive that the plants selected for the study contain constituents possessing antifungal activity. The results of the study justified the folkloric importance of the plants tested. Further experiments in animalmodels have to be carried out to justify in vivo potential of the plant extracts.


Why do parties use non-binding agreements? This Article explores the role of nonbinding preliminary agreements in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals. It provides a modern, comprehensive account of how and why sophisticated parties use these common bargaining tools, even when they have the option of using binding contracts.

In M&A deals, parties enter into non-binding preliminary agreements, such as term sheets and letters of intent. Once parties sign a non-binding agreement, they behave as though bound and almost always follow up with a formal contract with terms that closely resemble the non-binding agreement's terms. Scholars and courts have long treated preliminary agreements as contract-like tools that parties will enforce when counterparties breach. This Article develops an alternative explanation for why parties use non-binding preliminary agreements. These agreements are not contracts — rather, they are signposts for when enough momentum has accumulated that a deal has become "sticky" and is likely to go forward. Although non-binding preliminary agreements are not contracts, their signaling, organizational, and formal functions can facilitate complex dealmaking.

Using interviews with deal lawyers, this Article provides a rich and layered account of how sophisticated parties use these agreements in modern dealmaking. Parties almost never disclose non-binding preliminary agreements publicly, so interviews offer a rare glimpse into this common, but little-understood, deal practice. This Article also differentiates, for the first time, between the formal and substantive functions of preliminary agreement-making. By focusing exclusively on these agreements' contractual qualities (their substantive functions), scholars have overlooked their useful formal functions. By reframing preliminary agreements as signposts for deal momentum, rather than as contracts, this Article highlights those functions, and discusses the implications of this reframing for contract theory, contract enforcement, and deal design.


Since its creation in 1959, Donald Kirkpatrick's four-level model for evaluating training programs - reaction, learning, behavior, and results - has become the most widely used approach to training evaluation in the corporate, government, and academic worlds. However, trainers today are feeling increased pressure to prove whether instruction is worth its cost. And calculating and presenting results (Step 4) becomes tricky when, despite training, workers aren't fulfilling Step 3: applying what they've learned to their behavior. This book takes on this age-old challenge, first examining why learned concepts don't make it into practice, then offering solutions that will work in the real world. Coauthor James Kirkpatrick, a training practitioner, introduces five prerequisites that help an organization achieve ultimate training success. He includes practical examples (such as Toyota and Nextel) from his own work, plus 12 best-practice case studies.


Principal-agent problems are pervasive in economic settings. CEOs and shareholders, lawyers and clients, manufacturers and retailers, lenders and borrowers are all examples of settings in which moral hazard problems might arise. Incentive contracts in both individual and team environments have been studied by economists (see Shavell, 1979, and Holmstrom, 1982, 1979, for seminal theoretical work; and, Prendergast, 1999, for a survey of empirical literature). Contracts that tie an agent's compensation to performance, such as conditional bonus schemes, have been proposed as a way to align the interests of agents and principals. Experimental literature from economics and social psychology suggests that the way choices are framed can affect decisions as well. Hence, contract frames might influence the effectiveness of incentive schemes. This comment first outlines seminal experimental studies on frames and describes recent work that relates the incentive contract literature with the experimental work on frames. Second, it discusses the experimental design and findings of Brooks, Stremitzer, and Tontrup's (2011) work on individual incentives and contract frames.