Broadly taking up themes of violence and colonialism, this paper was first presented as a roundtable at the Decolonizing Cascadias?: 2013 Critical Geographies Mini Conference at the University of British Columbia. Framed as a roundtable conversation among the three authors, the paper critically examines the material and ideological relations through which certain types of violence are made invisible in the context of ongoing colonialism in white settler society. In dialogue across their various academic, activist and personal experiences, the authors argue for a critical decolonizing geography of violence that examines how spaces and subjects are constructed relationally through social, material and legal processes of racial violence and its gendered and sexualized politics. How do certain forms of violence come to be naturalized within civilizing and modernizing discourse, such that the violence of development or colonialism come to be erased? How do some lives become constructed as inherently violent in order to deny the violence against them? Disrupting and examining the settler colonial thinking and practices that persist within diverse social movements and academic disciplines, including geography, the dialogue explores who has the authority to name what forms of violence are seen as legitimate. As activist-scholars engaged in knowledge production and legitimization, the authors are interested in envisioning new possibilities for how they understand violence and resistance, particularly by centering Indigenous ontologies and by naming lived realities which are not accounted for in dominant discourses of violence and colonialism.


AIMS
The detailed electrophysiological characteristics of patients with both atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and atrial flutter (AFL) have not been clarified. This study investigated the related electrophysiological differences in a large series of patients undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation of AVNRT.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 1063 clinically documented AVNRT patients underwent catheter ablation were enrolled. Before the slow pathway (SP) ablation, 61 patients (5.7%) had inducible sustained cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI)-dependent AFL (Group 1), and the others (94.3%) without inducible sustained CTI-dependent AFL were defined as Group 2. The electrophysiological characteristics of these two groups and effect of the SP ablation on the inducibility of AFL were assessed. In Group 1, 36 patients (59%) had inducible/sustained AFL after the ablation of AVNRT and required a CTI ablation. The Group 1 patients had more AVNRT with continuous atrioventricular (AV) node function curves (P < 0.001, odds ratio = 7.55 [3.70-16.7], multivariate regression), and a younger age (P = 0.02, odds ratio = 1.02 [1.003-1.03], multivariate regression) than Group 2. The other characteristics were comparable between the two groups. The long-term follow-up (64.9 ± 34.9 months) revealed that the recurrence of AFL/atrial fibrillation was similar between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia patients with concomitant CTI-dependent AFL had more continuous AV node function curves. Forty-one per cent of these patients had non-inducible AFL after the SP ablation, indicating a slow conduction isthmus in the triangle of Koch area.


Electronic publishing presents the most fundamental challenges to the practice and the values of librarianship. If there is to be a meaningful partnership between electronic publishers and libraries in future, then librarians as professionals need to critically review our previous experiences with electronic resources. Such assessments however, have been in short supply because of the enormous hype of the 'Information Age' and pressure to bring libraries into this new era.The United States is perhaps the best case study to highlight and review the issues raised by electronic publishing and libraries. It is the country which has invested both broadly and deeply in electronic resources in libraries. Research libraries in the United States are advancing the research on and projects of electronic publishing and document delivery, and smaller libraries are counting on these systems to expand access after years of constrained budgets. The United States is also the country which has promoted - through both the public and private sectors - the idea and image of an information revolution. In short, libraries and electronic publishing in the United States are seen to have the same future. In this environment, problematic issues concerning electronic resources on libraries are generally not raised or actively discussed by library professionals. Only in the last few years have a small minority of scholars and librarians begun to actively raise practical and theoretical questions concerning electronic resources in libraries. A critical review of those issues concerning the nascent electronically-published products (e.g. e-journals, CD-ROMs, remote databases) currently in United States libraries includes:1. Preservation. Libraries traditionally collect and preserve the scholarly and documentary record of publishing. Electronically-published materials required a new approach to document security since digitally-edited records are much more difficult to trace in their changes (unlike print). Further, individual libraries which purchase 'copies' of electronically published works will be required to convert those documents to new systems, or maintain old hardware to provide access to them.2. Economic issues. Budgets are not swelling, yet information outlets (and the demand for those products) are. Price and fee structures of electronically-published works are different for libraries. The end result of different collecting patterns and the imposition of fees have broad consequences for equity of access and the skewing of content in libraries.3. Print resources. Electronically-published texts are intellectually different than printed sources, and those differences will critically affect how patrons approach information, how libraries organize it, and how it is packaged and promoted. The paper concludes with recommendations for librarianship in approaching forthcoming initiatives in electronic publishing.


We met almost 3 years ago. I was in the first year of hematology and oncology fellowship training. He was in his early 60s and had recently retired. His primary care physician had referred him for evaluation of incidentally detected monoclonal proteins. Over the next few days, the workup unfolded. His skeletal radiographs showed lytic lesions, and his bone marrow biopsy showed sheets of plasma cells inundating the marrow space. It was multiple myeloma, a malignancy of plasma cells. I explained to him how these cells, which manufacture antibodies under normal circumstances, had mutated into bone-eating parasites and that his bones had become susceptible to fracture and collapse, like a fort attacked from within.

A prognostic panel showed that he had one of the most aggressive types of multiple myeloma, defined by deletion of chromosome 17p. Patients with this subtype often need aggressive treatment, respond poorly to treatment, and have worse outcomes.

Once the diagnosis sank in, he asked me, "How long do I have?"

Given his disease burden, it was clear (to me) that he needed to be treated. The unfavorable genetic profile of his disease conveyed a sense of impending crisis. However, there was a catch. He had few symptoms, if any, and was in a wonderful overall state of health. His only complaint was mild lower back pain. Most important, he did not want any treatment that would affect his quality of life. Whereas I sought to protect his excellent health through treatment, he did not think he needed to be treated. We had hit a philosophical roadblock.

Optimal treatment consisted of multidrug therapy followed by autologous stem cell transplant. As we discussed treatment-related side effects, his anxiety became palpable. It was clear that although we viewed this treatment as a "standard" approach, he viewed it—especially the transplant part—as extremely toxic. He was truly concerned about being hospitalized or missing out on a cruise with his wife or skipping a weekend with his grandchildren. What mattered to him was "not the years in his life, but the life in his years."

I sensed his reluctance to proceed, but without treatment, he was at significant risk for disease-related complications like kidney damage, spontaneous fracture of his bones, or paralysis. I felt that some treatment was probably better than none. We negotiated, and he agreed to be treated but only with two drugs and refused the transplant.

As expected, this milder treatment program did little to reduce his monoclonal protein level. Unexpectedly, for him at least, it caused no significant side effects, and given how well he tolerated it, he agreed to try our originally recommended regimen, which consisted of three agents. Once on the triple-drug regimen, his disease burden plummeted and then plateaued at a low level, which I viewed as particularly concerning, especially in light of the aggressive nature of his disease.

It was at this point that we reintroduced the recommendation for a stem cell transplant; however, as before, each conversation about transplantation seemed to further strengthen his resolve not to have it. After another round of negotiation, we were able to collect his stem cells and freeze them for possible future transplant. He opted to continue the triple-drug regimen and tolerated it without any appreciable side effects.

Once we got over the "hump" of transplant, he seemed more at peace at subsequent visits, probably because he had avoided it. I was also more at peace because even though he refused a transplant, at least we had access to his stem cells, deep frozen.

I continued to see him in the clinic until I finished my fellowship in the summer of 2014. We have kept in touch since then, and he continues to do well. It has been almost 3 years since he was first diagnosed, and although his myeloma has not been eradicated, his disease burden and the extent of bone damage have remained stable. Although I am still unsure whether his decision to forgo transplantation was the "right" one, it made me appreciate the questions that come up quite often in the life of an oncologist: How do you define the "best" treatment? What should drive cancer care: the years in a patient's life or the life in those years? Did I treat him, or did he teach me?

In the story of my patient, I see the amazing story of multiple myeloma. Once a death sentence, myeloma patients are living much longer now. Over the past few years, myeloma research has reached an unprecedented level of advancement. The number of approved therapies for treatment of myeloma is expanding, and drugs like bortezomib and lenalidomide have transformed the landscape of survival. In addition, two more promising drugs, pomalidomide and carfilzomib, were recently approved for refractory myeloma. Despite our progress, stem cell transplantation is still one of the best available tools for treating multiple myeloma; however, with the advent of targeted and less toxic therapies, it is likely that we will continuously re-evaluate its role in myeloma.

Even after his disease stabilized, my patient often asked me, "How long do I have?" Every time, I would tell him I honestly did not know. I loved that answer.


In this paper we propose new nonparametric Rényi, Tsallis, and L2 divergence estimators and demonstrate their applicability to mutual information estimation and independent subspace analysis. Given two independent and identically distributed samples, a "naïve" divergence estimation approach would simply estimate the underlying densities, and plug these densities into the corresponding integral formulae. In contrast, our estimators avoid the need to consistently estimate these densities, and still they can lead to consistent estimations. Numerical experiments illustrate the efficiency of the algorithms.


The water content dynamics in the upper soil surface during evaporation is a key element in land–atmosphere exchanges. Previous experimental studies have suggested that the soil water content increases at the depth of 5 to 15 cm below the soil surface during evaporation, while the layer in the immediate vicinity of the soil surface is drying. In this study, the dynamics of water content profiles exposed to solar radiative forcing was monitored at a high temporal resolution using dielectric methods both in the presence and absence of evaporation. A 4‐d comparison of reported moisture content in coarse sand in covered and uncovered buckets using a commercial dielectric‐based probe (70 MHz ECH2O‐5TE, Decagon Devices, Pullman, WA) and the standard 1‐GHz time domain reflectometry method. Both sensors reported a positive correlation between temperature and water content in the 5‐ to 10‐cm depth, most pronounced in the morning during heating and in the afternoon during cooling. Such positive correlation might have a physical origin induced by evaporation at the surface and redistribution due to liquid water fluxes resulting from the temperature‐gradient dynamics within the sand profile at those depths. Our experimental data suggest that the combined effect of surface evaporation and temperature‐gradient dynamics should be considered to analyze experimental soil water profiles. Additional effects related to the frequency of operation and to protocols for temperature compensation of the dielectric sensors may also affect the probes' response during large temperature changes.


Research article has been regarded as the most valuable tool in spreading and disseminating research findings around the globe. Knowledge and new information are easily obtained through research articles. However, writing a research article is not easy. Several requirements need to be fulfilled in order to be accepted by the publisher. The weakness of research articles that make those are rejected by the publisher is believed because the papers lack of establishing a territory of the topic discussed and showing the publisher that the paper proposed is worthy enough to be accepted. The essential part of the article is not announced clearly, the gaps that other articles or pervious researches fail to address are not filled. Thus, the article is merely announcing the description of the research but it is not worth to be published in a good journal. One of ways to solve the problem is by writing a good introduction. The most prominent part of a research article is the introduction where the DXWKRU VKRZV WKH FRUH SRLQW RI KLV UHVHDUFK DUWLFOH GHVHUYHV SXEOLVKHUV¶ DWWHQWLRQ 7KH ZHOO known and accepted model of article introduction structure is Swales model know as CARS (Create a Research Space). This model has been believed as a typical way a research article introduction structured around the globe. Therefore, this study tried to portray the way how a research article introduction written based on the common convention of good article introduction. The procedure of how the article introduction structured based on Swales Model is pictured. And some English research article introductions written is analyzed to show the organization of Swales model research article introduction. It is hoped that this study can provide a solution for writers especially novice writers to write a good research article introduction.


The purpose of the present study was to determine the usefulness of the monoclonal antibodies 7‐D‐4 and 3‐B‐3 as biomarkers of severity of naturally occurring osteoarthritis in the knee joints of adult cynomolgus macaques. The antibodies were used to immunolocate chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan epitopes in articular cartilage or synovial fluid from knee joints with a range in severity of osteoarthritis. The joints were examined radiographically, grossly, microradiographically, and histologically to characterize the severity of disease, and the results of three different methods of proteoglycan analysis (immunohistochemistry, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, and Western blot analysis) were compared. Subjectively, the degree of positive immunostaining for 7‐D‐4 was minimal in normal sites and increased as damage to articular cartilage increased. The scores for 7‐D‐4 immunostaining in the medial tibial plateau (the site most severely involved in this model) were correlated significantly with severity of damage to articular cartilage (p < 0.05, r2 = 0.50), thus supporting the subjective observations. The ratio of 7‐D‐4 to sulfated glycosaminoglycans in synovial fluid also was correlated with the score for 7‐D‐4 immunostaining in the medial tibial plateau (p < 0.05, r2 = 0.54) and with the score for 3‐B‐3 immunostaining in the medial femoral condyle (p < 0.05, r2 = 0.65). There were no significant correlations among scores for 3‐B‐3 immunostaining, severity scores, and the ratios of 3‐B‐3 to sulfated glycosaminoglycans in the synovial fluid. By Western blot analysis, both epitopes were sensitive markers of early cartilage damage in young adult monkeys but were less sensitive in older monkeys. This work provides evidence that measurement of the epitope recognized by 7‐D‐4 in synovial fluid or, by immunohistochemical or Western blot methods, in articular cartilage has potential use as a marker of severity of naturally occurring osteoarthritis.


This article discusses the origins and development of tort law in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. It simultaneously considers tort law as an independent common law field, a subject taught in law schools, and an area of growing litigation. It attempts to delineate the various factors that combined, in the first two decades after the Civil War, to facilitate the emergence of tort law in each of those dimensions. It then discusses the peculiar history of tort law in the early twentieth century, when the advent of worker's compensation statutes served to remove many prospective workplace accident suits from the common law tort system, but at the same time tort law continued to grow because of the collapse of the privity bar in suits involving negligently manufactured or defectively designed products. Finally, the article describes how the most problematic doctrinal issue for early twentieth-century tort law, "proximate" causation, was temporarily "resolved" by courts and commentators through the "risk-relation-duty" analysis of causation issues proposed by Judge Benjamin Cardozo in the majority opinion in Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. and initially adopted by the First Restatement of Torts in 1935. Cardozo and the Restatement's framers hoped that the analysis would enable tort law to get beyond the seemingly intractable issue of which causes of accidents were "remote" and which "proximate," but the experiment utterly failed, leaving tort law as doctrinally uncertain, and epistemologically complex, as it had always been.


The effects of single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) doping in n-type Bi2Te3 bulk samples on the electrical and thermal transport properties have been studied. Bi2Te3 samples doped with 0–5 wt. % SWCNTs were fabricated using solid state reaction and investigated using x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and magneto transport measurements. Results show that the 0.5% doping results in the significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficience to as high as −231.8 μV/K, giant magneto resistance of up to 110%, reduction of thermal conductivity, and change of sign of the Seebeck coefficient from n to p type depending on the doping level and temperature. The figure of merit, ZT, of the optimum SWCNT doped Bi2Te3 was increased by 25%–40% over a wide temperature range compared to the undoped sample.


SYNOPSIS: This paper responds to the call in Dichev (2008) for rekindling the public discussion of normative accounting theories and analyses. Our goal is to enable and encourage members of the accounting academy to participate productively in dialogs with policy makers and to bring normative theory and analysis into their classrooms to help prepare students for more productive careers as practitioners or educators. Toward that end, we begin by explaining our position on the functional role for normativism. Next we offer up five guidelines to be applied in constructing and analyzing normative accounting theories. The guidelines are then used to frame a discussion of our version of the normative asset/liability theory of income measurement and financial position, especially its advantage of basing accounting measures on observed empirical data without relying on assumptions, predictions, and allocations. This theory is similar to and yet distinct from the one described in the Financial Accounting Standards...


We introduce an effective and simple noise-robust feature processing technique which achieves very good results on the Aurora noisy-digits database. This technique does not require knowledge of the noise type and level. Also, it does not require any increase in modeling parameters. It performs well both on matched and mis-matched training and testing environments. In comparison to the Aurora baseline results, it improves relative performance by 45% in the case of multi-condition training and 60% in the case of clean training. The improvement is most profound in the noisiest of cases. Our feature processing technique can be easily integrated into other noise-robust feature processing schemes and noise-robust speech models to possibly yield further improvements. In other words, the simplicity of our technique suggests that it might be generally applicable.


The study of clusters and Innovation Networks are issues that have grown in importance for SMEs in recent decades, however, there is limited information on how SMEs form alliances and work in networks, because it is at an early stage. In order to understand how SME's interact in a dynamic context and what their innovation practices are, we present a conceptual framework. Research experiences are presented in innovation networks using the wine industry example, in order to illustrate the dynamics in this industry.


In this Thesis Project, the creation of a Low Energy building was examined in order to investigate how complex was to select the suitable parameters and systems of the dwelling, aiming to achieve the lowest possible energy consumption in one year period. All the technologies implemented into the system intended to be as energy efficient and profitable as possible. Another objective of this study was also to present the potential of the system to produce a part of the consumed energy, through renewable energy sources, approaching by this way also the standards of a Zero Energy Building. Firstly, the floor plan of the 150 m detached house, was drawn in the designing program AutoCAD. In continuation, this 2D floor plan was imported into the simulation program as well as all the initial input data so as for the Base model of the building to be created For the analysis of the building, the Simulation Program IDA ICE 4.7 was used. Gradually, alternations and adjustments were made into the Base model. Different models were created planning to analyze their results and conclude to the proper solution. All the simulations run for one year time period in order to present the total energy usage, system's losses and demands in each case. In addition, as for the current study the location of the construction was Athens, all building's characteristics were chosen to comply with the Greek Regulation for Low Energy Buildings. Finally, through the procedure followed after having accomplished a series of simulations, the final annually energy demands managed to be within the required limits.


Antibiotics are medicines used to prevent and treat bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in response to the use of these medicines.Bacteria, not humans or animals, become antibiotic-resistant. These bacteria may infect humans and animals, and the infections they cause are harder to treat than those caused by non-resistant bacteria.Antibiotic resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality.The world urgently needs to change the way it prescribes and uses antibiotics. Even if new medicines are developed, without behaviour change, antibiotic resistance will remain a major threat. Behaviour changes must also include actions to reduce the spread of infections through vaccination, hand washing, practising safer sex, and good food hygiene.


Management topics and related topics- productions & operations management, logistics, group dynamics, team building, the legal & regulatory environment, strategic planning, etc.


The author offers an overview of the Interpreting Studies literature on curriculum and assessment. A discussion of curriculum definitions, foundations, and guidelines suggests a framework based upon scientific and humanistic approaches – curriculum as process and as interaction. Language testing concepts are introduced and related to interpreting. By exploring means of integrating valid and reliable assessment into the curriculum, the author breaks new ground in this under-researched area.Case studies of degree examinations provide sample data on pass/fail rates, test criteria, and text selection. A curriculum model is outlined as a practical example of synthesis, flexibility, and streamlining. This volume will appeal to interpretation and translation instructors, program administrators, and language industry professionals seeking a discussion of the theoretical and practical aspects of curriculum and assessment theory. This book also presents a new area of application for curriculum and language testing specialists.


The effect of the transition energy of three-donor clusters on far infrared absorption in n-type semiconductor materials has been investigated by a multiconfigurational self-consistent-field model calculation and applied to GaAs and GaN systems. We show that it is crucial to consider the many-particle correlation effects within three-donor clusters. With electron correlation taken into account, the present results support the interpretation of a very recent unidentified peak energy observed in absorption measurement of GaN as due to electronic transitions in these clusters. We also corroborate the suggestion that the X line in GaAs arises from such transitions.


During 2012, the Dance Department at the University of Surrey developed a set of Open Educational Resources with a Creative Commons license (Attribution, Non- Commercial, Share Alike) for dance studies as part of the JISC-funded project Contexts, Culture and Creativity: Enriching E-learning in Dance (CCC:EED) see http://contextscultureandcreativity.wordpress.com/ for details. These OERs exemplify a pedagogical model of openness by unleashing creative learning ideas that combine revised subject specific activities, freely available audio-visual resources, and newly digitised materials from the National Resource Centre for Dance archive. With its emphasis on technology, this project enabled both lecturers and students to see the interrelationship between the articulation of knowledge through creative processes and digital literacy, and to appreciate how these connections allow for new developments in pedagogy, performance and practice. Designing and testing OERs revealed, on the one hand, a number of needs with respect to the institutional involvement and technological infrastructure, namely, acquired software, Virtual Learning Environment design, staff technical competence, and support. It also encountered some obstacles related to educational expectations (such as content responsibility and degree of learning autonomy), levels of digital literacy (including lack of awareness of adequate copyright practices, and of online help), accessibility to technology, and perception of the role of technology in formal learning in theory and practice based dance modules. On the other hand, the creation of these resources showed great flexibility and unexpected creativity from the learners. More importantly, it meant a transformation of both classroom-based and independent learning. This work moved teaching practices from the distribution of print materials to the facilitation of online activities for personal reflection, self-testing and collaboration. The introduction of e-learning packages pushed the development of staff and students' digital skills, and initiated a move to a learning model where learners influence objectives and methods (OPAL, 2011, p. 3). This paper highlights the potential transformative impact of OER production and reuse for Higher Education dance students. It focuses in particular on the challenges and opportunities that arise from aiming at encouraging students to become producers of digital objects by engaging with digital resources. The idea of the 'student as producer' has been highlighted by Mike Neary (2009) based on Walter Benjamin's concept of the author as producer. Neary argues that we need "to reinvent the relationship between teacher and student, so that the student is not simply consuming knowledge that is transmitted to them but becomes actively engaged in the production of knowledge with academic content and value" (2009, p. 8). Neary's proposal is that we should facilitate research or research-like experiences in our undergraduate programmes in order to transform them into "productive collaborators" (Neary 2009, p. 9). The design of the OERs in the CCC:EED project were inspired by these pedagogical ideas.


Data from carbonate bank-margin fractures in the southern Exuma Islands, Bahamas, in the vicinity of Lee Stocking Island show that these fractures have a preferred bank-margin-parallel orientation. Fractures that showed evidence of pedogenic alteration to micrite (calcretization) had an even more pronounced orientation preference. Calcretization is associated with a well-defined paleosol believed to have formed within the last glacial period and the transition to the present interglacial (∼20-13 ka). Horizontal laminations within the paleosol continue as vertical laminations within some fracture traces. Analysis of thin sections revealed root tubules and fabrics characteristic of pedogenic alteration within the calcretized parts of fracture zones. The association of bank-margin-parallel fractures with the last interglacial suggests that fracture development is related to a eustatic process. I suggest that fractures formed in response to undercutting of the bank margin during the last sea-level low. A fracture-controlled submarine cave extending to >100 m below present sea level provides additional evidence supporting a eustatic link to fracture development.


, Abstract Purpose: MicroRNAs (miRNA) play pivotal oncogenic and tumor-suppressor roles in several human cancers. We sought to discover novel tumor-suppressor miRNAs in gastric cancer (GC). Experimental Design: Using Agilent miRNA microarrays, we compared miRNA expression profiles of 40 primary gastric tumors and 40 gastric normal tissues, identifying miRNAs significantly downregulated in gastric tumors. Results: Among the top 80 miRNAs differentially expressed between gastric tumors and normals (false discovery rate < 0.01), we identified hsa - miR-486 ( miR-486 ) as a significantly downregulated miRNA in primary GCs and GC cell lines. Restoration of miR-486 expression in GC cell lines (YCC3, SCH and AGS) caused suppression of several pro-oncogenic traits, whereas conversely inhibiting miR-486 expression in YCC6 GC cells enhanced cellular proliferation. Array-CGH analysis of 106 primary GCs revealed genomic loss of the miR-486 locus in approximately 25% to 30% of GCs, including two tumors with focal genomic losses specifically deleting miR-486 , consistent with miR-486 playing a tumor-suppressive role. Bioinformatic analysis identified the secreted antiapoptotic glycoprotein OLFM4 as a potential miR-486 target. Restoring miR-486 expression in GC cells decreased endogenous OLFM4 transcript and protein levels, and also inhibited expression of luciferase reporters containing an OLFM4 3 0 untranslated region with predicted miR-486 binding sites. Supporting the biological relevance of OLFM4 as a miR-486 target, proliferation in GC cells was also significantly reduced by OLFM4 silencing. Conclusions: miR-486 may function as a novel tumor-suppressor miRNA in GC. Its antioncogenic activity may involve the direct targeting and inhibition of OLFM4 . Clin Cancer Res; 17(9); 2657–67. (cid:2) 2011 AACR.


The method Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) is widely used in electromagnetic simulations. Since this method is a data intensive and computation intensive problem, there are a lot of initiatives to improve the scalability and the performance of the FDTD. Specifically the use of GPU to accelerate the FDTD is in focus, which has a good cost-benefit, offering a speedup of hundreds of times if compared to the traditional CPU computation. Nevertheless, the current implementations of FDTD in GPU need GPU devices with memory capacity to allocate the roll data needed for the simulation, which in many cases could require additional investments to increase the domain of the simulation. This work proposes a solution of FDTD over GPU that uses overlapping subgrids to increase the domain of the FDTD simulation through the use of CPU memory. The redundancy of the overlapping subgrids is used to minimize the memory traffic between GPU and CPU, increasing the performance. Tests of performance show that the solution combines the power of GPU with the memory facility of the CPU, allowing the accomplishment of simulations that require more memory than what is offered by the GPU device at a damaging performance cost lower than 10%.


We present a novel algorithm for automatically applying constrainable, L1-optimal camera paths to generate stabilized videos by removing undesired motions. Our goal is to compute camera paths that are composed of constant, linear and parabolic segments mimicking the camera motions employed by professional cinematographers. To this end, our algorithm is based on a linear programming framework to minimize the first, second, and third derivatives of the resulting camera path. Our method allows for video stabilization beyond the conventional filtering of camera paths that only suppresses high frequency jitter. We incorporate additional constraints on the path of the camera directly in our algorithm, allowing for stabilized and retargeted videos. Our approach accomplishes this without the need of user interaction or costly 3D reconstruction of the scene, and works as a post-process for videos from any camera or from an online source.


State (and some local) governments have struggled to find ways to protect immigrants from exploitation by persons falsely holding themselves out as immigration lawyers or claiming expertise as notarios or immigration consultants. Existing legislation ranges from attempts to regulate the activities of nonlawyer immigration service providers (ISPs) by delineating prohibited practices; to requiring ISPs to post a bond or register with the state; to specifically restricting the provision of immigration assistance for compensation by any nonlawyer who is not accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to transcription, translation, document procurement and related clerical tasks. A comparative look at the current law in New York - and at suggestions that enforcement would be enhanced if ISPs were required to obtain a license - on the one hand, and at a new law in the State of Washington that seeks to ban the activities of ISPs altogether on the other hand, highlights both the advantages and shortcomings of these approaches. To sidestep the pitfalls associated with licensing or otherwise regulating ISPs, officials might consider an alternative approach, and replace laws regulating ISPs with laws that specifically target, and ban, the unauthorized practice of immigration law and that mete out serious punishment for egregious, willful violations - while providing legitimate nonprofit religious, charitable, and community-based organizations with no mens rea to do harm with the opportunity to avoid sanctions if they seek recognition and accreditation by the BIA.


This paper presents a novel method of combining real-time walking pattern generation and constrained nonlinear control to achieve robotic walking under Zero-Moment Point (ZMP) and torque constraints. The proposed method leverages the fact that existing solutions to both walking pattern generation and constrained nonlinear control have been independently constructed as Quadratic Programs (QPs) and that these constructions can be related through an equality constraint on the instantaneous acceleration of the center of mass. Specifically, the proposed method solves a single Quadratic Program which incorporates elements from Model Predictive Control (MPC) based center of mass planning methods and from rapidly exponentially stabilizing control Lyapunov function (RES-CLF) methods. The resulting QP-based controller simultaneously solves for a COM trajectory that satisfies ZMP constraints over a future horizon while also producing joint torques consistent with instantaneous acceleration, torque, ZMP and RES-CLF constraints. The method is developed for simulation and experimental study on a seven-link, planar robot.


Fluid-Rock Interaction: A Reactive Transport Approach Carl I. Steefel and 2 Kate Maher Earth Sciences Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, California 94720, USA Dept. of Geological & Environmental Sciences School of Earth Sciences Stanford University Stanford, California 94305, USA INTRODUCTION Fluid-rock interaction (or water-rock interaction, as it was more commonly known) is a subject that has evolved considerably in its scope over the years. Initially its focus was primarily on interactions between subsurface fluids of various temperatures and mostly crystalline rocks, but the scope has broadened now to include fluid interaction with all forms of subsurface materials, whether they are unconsolidated or crystalline ("fluid-solid interaction" is perhaps less euphonious). Disciplines that previously carried their own distinct names, for example, basin diagenesis, early diagenesis, metamorphic petrology, reactive contaminant transport, chemical weathering, are now considered to fall under the broader rubric of fluid-rock interaction, although certainly some of the key research questions differ depending on the environment considered. Beyond the broadening of the environments considered in the study of fluid-rock interaction, the discipline has evolved in perhaps an even more important way. The study of water-rock interaction began by focusing on geochemical interactions in the absence of transport processes, although a few notable exceptions exist (Thompson 1959; Weare et al. 1976). Moreover, these analyses began by adopting a primarily thermodynamic approach, with the implicit or explicit assumption of equilibrium between the fluid and rock. As a result, these early models were fundamentally static rather than dynamic in nature. This all changed with the seminal papers by Helgeson and his co-workers (Helgeson 1968; Helgeson et al. 1969) wherein the concept of an irreversible reaction path was formally introduced into the geochemical literature. In addition to treating the reaction network as a dynamically evolving system, the Helgeson studies introduced an approach that allowed for the consideration of a multicomponent geochemical system, with multiple minerals and species appearing as both reactants and products, at least one of which could be irreversible. Helgeson's pioneering approach was given a more formal kinetic basis (including the introduction of real time rather than reaction progress as the independent variable) in subsequent studies (Lasaga 1981; Aagaard and Helgeson 1982; Lasaga 1984) . The reaction path approach can be used to describe chemical processes in a batch or closed system (e.g., a


Purpose Lymphoma is the most common malignancy of the ocular adnexa. Most of the ocular adnexa lymphomas are non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas. The most common type of ocular adnexa lymphoma is primary extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of the MALT (mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue). Most of these neoplasms are primary extranodal lymphomas, although 10% to 32% are secondary tumors from disseminated disease. Case Report A 58-year-old woman presented for a comprehensive examination, with the chief complaint of ocular discomfort in both eyes. Anterior segment examination revealed bilateral salmon-colored lesions of the inferior and superior conjunctivae. The patient was referred for systemic evaluation and histopathology of the conjunctival lesions. She was diagnosed as having marginal zone lymphoma of the MALT and underwent radiation therapy (RT). Conclusions Ocular lymphoma may present on routine examination or with mild symptoms. Although most commonly a primary extranodal neoplasm, the condition may be associated with disseminated lymphoma and requires thorough evaluation and staging of the disease for determination of appropriate treatment. The primary eye care provider plays an important role in the identification and staging of the disease, as well as managing complications from RT. It is also important to recognize that concurrent conditions requiring treatment with topical medications, such as glaucoma, may be complicated after treatment because of the inflammation and ocular surface irritation after RT. The necessity and benefit of the addition of intraocular pressure medications during that time should be measured on a case-by-case basis. Patients should be followed closely after treatment for relapse of disease and identification of complications from ocular RT.


A sensitive method for the detection of antigens in sera, termed double determinant immuno-polymerase chain reaction (DDI-PCR), was developed using two monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) in which the antigens are sandwiched and a specific DNA molecule as a marker. Instead of the antigen itself, the first MoAb to bind the circulating antigens was immobilized. After the biotinylated second MoAb was bound to the antigen, free streptavidin was used to attach a biotinylated DNA to the biotinylated second MoAb. The biotinylated DNA complexed with antigen-antibody-streptavidin was amplified by PCR. The PCR products were analyzed by Southern blot hybridization after agarose gel electrophoresis. Compared with the conventional ELISA using soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) in the supernatant of cultured Panc-1 cells as an antigen, our DDI-PCR was 10(3) times more sensitive in detection limit. In both the culture medium and sera from gastric cancer patients of high sICAM-1 titer, an approximately 10(3)-fold enhancement in detection sensitivity was obtained compared with ELISA. In addition, the DDI-PCR system can detect the antigen in sera at a level below the detection limit of traditional ELISA methods with high sensitivity. Thus, DDI-PCR has the significant advantage that it can be readily applied to any antigen-antibody system with two MoAbs without making any original molecules.


The so-called solid-state ornithopter concept seeks to employ piezoelectric materials to generate flapping motion instead of relying on conventional mechanisms and multi-component actuation systems. The motion can be induced on a wing-like partially-clamped composite substrate with a piezocomposite device (i.e. the Macro-Fiber Composite actuator.) In this research, a design for a flapping wing is proposed based on the analysis of critical system parameters such as geometric properties and boundary conditions. A series of finite element simulations are conducted based on the variation of those parameters. Consequently, the effects of parameters on the structural response is studied. Also, modal analysis is done to examine the effects of geometric parameters on the resonant frequencies of the system. Heaving and pitching responses are examined.


Seventy one patients underwent bone marrow transplantation for aplastic anaemia or haematological malignancy, 39 as allografts and 32 as autografts. All patients who were seronegative to cytomegalovirus received blood product support exclusively from seronegative community blood donors; seropositive patients received unscreened products. In no patients was there any attempt to reduce cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection by giving prophylaxis with immunoglobulin, and granulocyte transfusions were not given. The incidence of cytomegalovirus infection in the seronegative recipients (22 allograft, 15 autograft) was 0%; in the seropositive recipients 16 (63%) in allografts and 17 (18%) in autografts. These results suggest that provision of exclusively seronegative blood products is an important contribution for seronegative transplant recipients, but make little impact in autologous transplantation where the incidence of infection is low.


As the economic and financial characteristics of countries change, so would be their betas and correlations of their investment returns with that of the U.S. Such changes are expected to be particularly significant for emerging market nations as they strive for rapid industrialization and modernization. OLS estimator for the beta coefficient would not be the Best Linear Unbiased Estimator (BLUE) if beta is non‐stationary or changes from period to period. This paper proposes a special type of time weighted least square method (TWLS), which assigns greater weights on the regression errors in more recent periods, for estimating the current beta. This TWLS approach can tackle the problem of intertemporal heteroscedasticity and thus yields a beta that is more efficient. The breakthrough lies on the viability of the method without a‐priori knowledge or estimation of the values of the weights. This yields a significant practical advantage since the weights are unobservable in the real world. Since the Time Weighted Method estimator is the coefficient estimator of beta value for the latest period in the sample, statisticians who base their forecasts on the beta estimates derived from the Time Weighted Least Square can expect to outperform those relying on beta values obtained from conventional estimation. We use a sample of daily returns of thirty‐one emerging markets stock over the period of January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2002. We find that most of the tstatistics for the variances are significant at the 95 per cent level, indicating that the Var(s)'s are not zero for nearly every emerging‐markets. This implies that the betas for these markets do shift over time.


This paper provides a survey of economic and related developments in Papua New Guinea (PNG) over the last twelve months, roughly from July 2014 to June 2015. The early commencement of the mega PNG LNG project notwithstanding, economic circumstances in PNG are currently difficult. Moody's has downgraded the country's outlook (though not its credit rating) from stable to negative. The fall in oil and therefore gas prices has greatly reduced the short-term benefits of the LNG project. The commencement of LNG production has boosted GDP, but in other sectors economic growth seems low. There is extensive rationing of foreign exchange and the exchange rate is overvalued. After several years in which the growth of expenditure greatly outpaced that of revenue, and then a shock to revenue due to the oil price fall, the fiscal deficit is now unsustainable and difficult to finance. If unaddressed, these problems could lead to a further loss of foreign exchange reserves and severe cash rationing within government. There is also a risk of a further slowdown in economic activity, and damage to important government services. The exchange rate is now being gradually depreciated, and expenditure cuts are being implemented, but further currency depreciation, better expenditure prioritization, and a new medium-term fiscal strategy are needed to reduce risks and restore confidence. Given the fiscal stress and the risks to growth and government effectiveness, structural and public sector reforms are particularly important at this time, and are also discussed in the paper.


Falls in the elderly may precipitate adverse physical, medical, psychological, social and economic consequences and are an issue of concern in both developed and developing countries. In Jamaica, there are no epidemiological studies on falls in the elderly though there is evidence to suggest that it is an issue that warrants some attention. This paper, through the use of quantitative and qualitative methods, provides insights on falls in the elderly in Jamaica. Through literature reviews, review of medicals records, and conducting focus group interviews, perspectives were gleaned on falls in elderly persons in Jamaica. Contributory risk factors and perceptions, and costs were explored, as were any existing fall prevention policies or policy thrusts. The emerging picture is that falls are not a rare occurrence among older persons in Jamaica and extrinsic factors such as poor road surfaces, poorly constructed steps and poor design of public transportation vehicles are factors that contribute to falls. Similarly, intrinsic factors related to co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and sensory impairment appear to also contribute to increased risk of falling.


The seven core UN human rights treaties are each supervised by an expert committee. This book is the first to explore whether and to what extent the Committees supervisory procedures display similarities and tend to converge. In four parts, the reporting procedure, procedures related to the reporting procedure, the individual complaints procedure and the inquiry procedure are studied. This study thus makes an important contribution to the on-going effort within the UN to harmonize and streamline the reporting procedures, and will be equally useful for devising and operationalizing new complaints and inquiry procedures. This book will prove its relevance to beginners and experts in the field alike. For the former it offers a comprehensive and accessible overview of the current functioning of each of the treaty bodies. For the latter it provides a systematic comparison of similarities and differences, both from a static and dynamic perspective.


The thesis is concerned with the study of changes in the landscape over a small area in Central Durham composed largely of Brancepeth Estate lands. A broad general outline of landscape evolution right across the county is given in order to provide a background against which to see this local study. Then, using estate records, a description is given of the area 1840-50, and several elements in the landscape are identified as important before being examined individually. The section on organisational features deals with the political, civil; and ecclesiastical framework underlying landscape and attempts to assess its importance on landscape change. The main body of the work concentrates on two main aspects of landscape, settlement, and land use and field patterns. The chapter on settlement is concerned mainly with the nucleated settlements in the area of study and identifies certain morphological characteristics which can be found on a much wider scale. Similarly, it would appear that with regard to its agricultural practice over much of the period the area was fairly typical of much of the county, although by the beginning of the nineteenth century forward looking stewardship had done much by way of innovation. Enclosure is seen as one aspect of the irhole question of agrarian change. Byers Green is anomalous here, providing something of a contrast although discrepancies between the source materials relating to lands here as opposed to those in Brancepeth prevented much useful comparison. The work is drawn together with a description of landscape circa 1600 which provides an artificial base-line in time against which to see and evaluate the changes in landscape over the following two hundred and fifty years. In conclusion, emphasis is laid once more upon the importance of the underlying framework - particularly that of landownership – in any landscape evolution.


The research establishes a model for online learning centring on the needs of integrative knowledge practices. Through the metaphor of Constellations, the practice-based research explores the complexities of working within interdisciplinary learning contexts and the potential of tools such as the Folksonomy learning platform for providing necessary conceptual support.


In the past 15 years, insurance industry data indicates stator endwinding vibration has become the most important cause of failure in generators. The source of vibration is the current creating magnetic forces between coils and may be amplified due to mechanical resonance. Endwinding vibration leads to failure by insulation abrasion or copper fatigue cracking. The extent of the repair due to the ensuing damage and the loss of production have proven to be very costly. After 13 years of operation one such failure occurred to a 2-pole, 95MW generator at a plant in Indonesia with an associated loss of $40 million. This paper describes the failure mechanism, the possible reasons why endwinding vibration has become a more important issue in the past decade, and a new IEC standard 60034–32 on methods to detect the problem well before in-service failure. A case study on the affected generator will show how a repeat stator winding failure was avoided using these tools.


Palynological and lithological results have been employed in interpreting the depositional environment of strata penetrated by the Igbomotoru-1 well at the interval 1123–3583 metres. The environment of deposition is largely transitional with marine influence occurring only at the base of the studied sequence. Zonocostites ramonae is frequent to abundant in most samples: this indicates a high influence of mangrove swamp vegetation in the environment at the time of deposition. The absence or rarity of this species at some horizons within the studied interval is taken as evidence of deposition in a more continental environment or of a swamp forest area composed of non-Rhizophora type trees. The nature of the organic matter points to a source area near the basin of deposition for the sediments.


Heritable symbioses are widespread and ecologically important. Many host organisms have complex life cycles that include diverse opportunities for symbionts to affect their host and be lost during development. Yet, existing theory takes a simplified view of host demography. Here, we generalize symbiosis theory to understand how demographic "storage" in the form of dormant or prereproductive life stages can modify symbiosis dynamics. Using grass-endophyte symbioses as context, we developed models to contrast the role of the seed bank (a storage stage) against the reproductive stage in symbiont persistence and prevalence. We find that the seed bank is as important as or more important than the reproductive stage in driving symbiont dynamics, as long as passage through the seed bank is obligate. Flexible entry to the seed bank substantially weakens its influence on symbiont persistence but can modify prevalence in counterintuitive ways. Our models identify a role for legacy effects, where hosts that lose symbionts retain their demographic influence. The retention of benefits via legacy effects can reduce symbiont prevalence and even cause prevalence to decline with increasing benefits to hosts because symbiont-free hosts carry those benefits. Our results resolve connections between individual-level host-symbiont interactions and population-level patterns, providing guidance for empirical studies.


Information-technologies are essential for global capitalism to function at speed across scale, space and complexity. The importance of software and algorithms in the governance of these systems is reflected in the attention of scholars to the ways digital code and materiality (re)combine to create hybrid digital/material spaces of economic activity, movement and everyday life. This paper extends this work in two key ways: first by emphasizing the relational aspect of these code/spaces, and second by showing how the digital algorithms of code/spaces are hackable rather than hegemonic. Using the case study of frequent flyer programs we demonstrate how networked knowledge sharing reshapes code/spaces to provide unintended opportunities such as low-cost travel and access to spaces normally only frequented by global elites. Although this case highlights vulnerabilities in the code of global capitalism, it is primarily only those with significant lifestyle privilege who are able to fully participate in these subversions. Moreover, while much of the value captured by 'airline hackers' comes from airlines' profit margins, the relationality of code/spaces can impact citizens and consumers not directly connected to or interested in airline travel. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that in contrast to characterizations of omnipresence and hegemony, the information networks and algorithms of global capitalism contain moments of uneven porousness and selective hackability.


One of the fruits of the revival of socialist economic theory over the past decade has been a wide-ranging debate about the validity of Marx's labour theory of value. At the heart of the discussion stands the theoretical work of Piero Sraffa and the conclusions drawn from it by such economists as Ian Steedman. Initially confined to a relatively narrow circle of specialists, the controversy about value theory has since spread to wider circles of the left. But although general awareness that the stakes of the dispute are of concern to all socialists is now extensive, understanding of the issues involved has remained more restricted than need be. This volume presents, for the first time, a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the discussion. The essays discuss not only the value debate itself, but also its relevance to such issues as capitalist crisis, the theory of exploitation, and historical materialism. Comprehensible to the non-specialist, but without sacrificing rigour or oversimplifying the issues, the articles assembled here offer a definitive summary of the current state of one of the crucial aspects of Marxist thought.


At head of title: State of Illinois. Department of registration and education. Division of the state Water survey. A.M. Buswell, chief.


What happened yesterday in the West is today being repeated on a global scale. Industrial society is replacing rural society: millions of peasants in China, India, and elsewhere are leaving the countryside and going to the city. New powers are emerging and rivalries are exacerbated as competition increases for control of raw materials. Contrary to what believers in the "clash of civilizations" maintain, the great risk of the twenty-first century is not a confrontation between cultures but a repetition of history. In The Prosperity of Vice, the influential French economist Daniel Cohen shows that violence, rather than peace, has been the historical accompaniment to prosperity. Peace in Europe came only after the barbaric wars of the twentieth century, not as the outcome of economic growth. What will happen this time for today's eagerly Westernizing emerging nations? Cohen guides us through history, describing the European discovery of the "philosopher's stone": the possibility of perpetual growth. But the consequences of addiction to growth are dire in an era of globalization. If a billion Chinese consume a billion cars, the future of the planet is threatened. But, Cohen points out, there is another kind of globalization: the immaterial globalization enabled by the Internet. It is still possible, he argues, that the cyber-world will create a new awareness of global solidarity. It even may help us accomplish a formidable cognitive task, as immense as that realized during the Industrial Revolution--one that would allow us learn to live within the limits of a solitary planet.


Ever wondered what it would be like to be a street magician in Paris? A fish farmer in Norway? A costume designer in Bollywood? This playful and accessible look at different types of work around the world delivers a wealth of information and advice about a wide array of jobs and professions. The value of this book is twofold: For young people or middle-aged people who are undecided about their career paths and feel constrained in their choices, A World of Work offers an expansive vision. For ethnographers, this book offers an excellent example of using the practical details of everyday life to shed light on larger structural issues. Each chapter in this collection of ethnographic fiction could be considered a job manual. Yet not any typical job manual-to do justice to the ways details about jobs are conveyed in culturally specific ways, the authors adopt a range of voices and perspectives. One chapter is written as though it was a letter from an older sister counseling her brother on how to be a doctor in Malawi. Another is framed as a eulogy for a well-loved village magistrate in Papua New Guinea who may have been killed by sorcery. Beneath the novelty of the examples are some serious messages that Ilana Gershon highlights in her introduction. These ethnographies reveal the connection between work and culture, the impact of societal values on the conditions of employment. Readers will be surprised at how much they can learn about an entire culture by being given the chance to understand just one occupation.


The objective of this study is the elaboration of the dramaturgical principles in the piano works by Dimitar Nenov. The research conclusions highlighted the following: The intimate connection with the Bulgarian folk music is not enough to explain the unusual sounding of the Nenovs plays. The spatial interpretation of the notionsstaticanddynamicfamiliar to Nenov from his practice as an architect has a profound influence on his piano opuses. In his works, the form of which requires static character in the construction of the chosen musical form, in the thematicism (somewhat - in the texture) a more diverse and more complete approaches are conducted associated with the dynamic principles. In examples with dynamic form the captivating techniques, expressions of the static principle, find manifestation (but incomplete fulfillment) in the textural setup, the type of thematicism, the construction of the themes. More fully developed are the manifestations of the dynamic principle. Main principles determining the form are variability and disproportion. Therefore, in the piano works of Dimitar Nenov is preferred dynamism, complex multilayered texture, connections made at different levels within a piece, sharp sounding dynamic thematicism.


INTRODUCTION
Working in a healthy work environment is the ultimate goal of every employee. Dentistry is a stressful career, and the reasons for dissatisfaction are numerous.

AIM
The aim of this study was to determine the factors of work satisfaction in dental professionals of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 134 dental professionals selected randomly from the Registry of Dental Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation were included in the study. All of them filled out the Demographic Questionnaire and Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS).

RESULTS
An increase in the influence of work on the quality of life as well as an increase in its frequency results in leaving the job and significantly reducing the overall job satisfaction. General dental practitioners are significantly more satisfied as compared with specialists. Significant predictors of the job satisfaction are employment status, type of the practice, and availability of dental assistants. General dental practitioners with a dental assistant employed at a private practice are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs.

CONCLUSIONS
Employment status, practice type and availability of dental assistants are significant predictors of job satisfaction. General dental practitioners working in a private practice with a dental assistant are most likely to be satisfied.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of motivational factors on
workers performance in Tanzania primary Healthcare facilities, a case of public
primary health facilities in Ilemela District of Mwanza city. The study aimed at: (i)
to assess the level of motivation to perform among healthcare workers in Primary
Health Care Facilities in Ilemela District of Mwanza city, (ii) to establish
motivational techniques/tools used by heads of Primary healthcare facilities to
motivate workers in Ilemela District of Mwanza city, (iii) to determine the healthcare
views of workers about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors/ tools, (iv) to
determine impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors used heads of
healthcare facilities on overall workers' performance and (v) to identify patients'
opinions about the performance of healthcare workers. A survey was carried with
52 healthcare workers that included nurses, doctors and health inspectors. In
addition, in- depth interviews were carried out with some nurses and doctors. Data
are analyzed using statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. The
study revealed that the healthcare workers motivation to join the medical service
profession was due to job security and absence of job alternative and salary was not a
concern. Overall, level of motivation among workers was low due to low or absence
of re-numerations to supplement salary. The study further revealed that the currently
used motivational tools were inadequate and undesired. Appropriate remuneration,
introduction of challenging work but interesting and definition of career path
development programs could improve workers morale to work and have an impact
on patients satisfaction.


Purpose: To describe the pathologic changes in punctal stenosis by reporting the histopathologic findings in a series of punctoplasty specimens. Methods: Observational retrospective chart review. Electronic health records of all patients having punctoplasty over a 2-year period at an academic oculoplastic practice were examined. All patients whose records included pathology reports were entered into a database. Results: Twenty-four patients, representing 30 eyes, had pathology records in the electronic health records. Patients were 75% women and had an average age of 65 (19–88) years. Associated conditions included blepharitis (71%), dry eye syndrome, or Meibomian gland dysfunction (63%). Histopathologic examination demonstrated chronic inflammation in 11 eyes (36.7%), fibrosis in 7 eyes (23.3%), chronic inflammation and fibrosis in 4 eyes (13.3%), squamous metaplasia in 3 eyes (10%), normal conjunctival mucosa in 3 eyes (10%), and Actinomyces israelii canaliculitis in 2 eyes (6.7%). Conclusions: Nearly all histopathologic specimens revealed findings consistent with inflammation, fibrosis, or both. These findings provide evidence to support the hypothesis that the many etiologic causes of punctal stenosis are linked by a common pathophysiologic mechanism involving inflammation.


Dan Walls, a pioneer of quantum optics and especially the study of non-classical light, died in Auckland on 12 May 1999 after a battle with cancer, at the age of 57 years. Dan Walls completed a PhD with Roy Glauber at Harvard in 1969 and joined the University of Waikato in 1972. Together with his colleague Crispin Gardiner, during the next 25 years he established a major research centre for theoretical quantum optics in New Zealand and built active and productive collaborations with groups throughout the world.


A mutant screen identifies a third pathway through which CLAVATA3 regulates stem cell proliferation. Stem cells of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) give rise to all aerial structures of the plant, including stems, leaves, and flowers. The homeodomain transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS), produced in the organizing center of the SAM, promotes stem cell maintenance, and signaling by the peptide CLAVATA3 (CLV3) represses WUS to restrict the stem cell niche. CLV3 signaling through two receptor complexes, one containing the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like kinase (RLK) CLV1 and another containing the LRR receptor-like protein CLV2, which lacks a kinase domain. In a screen for mutants that were insensitive to application of a synthetic CLV3 peptide, Kinoshita et al. identified receptor-like protein kinase 2 (RPK2), another LRR RLK also known as TOADSTOOL 2, as a third transducer of CLV3 signaling. rpk2 mutants exhibited phenotypes similar to but weaker than those of clv1 and clv2 mutants—an enlarged SAM and increased number of floral organs and carpels. RPK2 was expressed in the inflorescence meristem, floral meristem, and floral organ primordia, and overexpression of RPK2 inhibited SAM growth and reduced the number of floral organs, with the strength of the phenotype correlating with the amount of overexpression. In genetic interaction experiments using null alleles of clv1, clv2, and rpk2, plants carrying mutations in any two genes exhibited greater SAM overproliferation than did any single mutant and increased carpel numbers, and the triple mutant showed the greater SAM expansion, similar to that observed in clv3 mutants. As previously reported, and consistent with genetic data suggesting crosstalk between the CLV1 and CLV2 receptor complexes, CLV1 and CLV2 physically interacted in a transient expression assay. However, no interaction was detected between RPK2 and CLV1- or CLV2-containing complexes, which suggests that RPK2 defines a third, independent route through which CLV3 signaling restricts WUS expression. The presence of at least three CLV3 signaling pathways highlights the importance of regulating stem cell proliferation for proper SAM homeostasis. A. Kinoshita, S. Betsuyaku, Y. Osakabe, S. Mizuno, S. Nagawa, Y. Stahl, R. Simon, K. Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, H. Fukuda, S. Sawa, RPK2 is an essential receptor-like kinase that transmits the CLV3 signal in Arabidopsis. Development 137, 3911–3920 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


INTRODUCTION The ability to perform non-destructive areal surface analysis, for example of the internal surfaces of additively manufactured (AM) parts has potential advantages during product development and for production process control. This paper reports on the extraction of areal surface information from microfocus x-ray computed tomography (XCT) data. Using this novel technique a range of areal parameter values were generated from a surface section extracted from XCT scan data of an as-built (no post-processing) AlSi10Mg additively manufactured part. This was then compared with the parameter values generated from a focus variation scan of the same surface section. The data comparison method involving normalisation of data format to allow analysis using industry-standard software, such as MountainsMap (Digital Surf, Besancon, France) or SurfStand (The Centre for Precision Technologies UoH) is demonstrated. Importing the extracted surfaces into these powerful software packages allows one-click data filtering per ISO 25178-3 [1] and the generation of a comprehensive suite of areal surface parameter values. These include feature and field parameters, amplitude, spatial, hybrid and functional parameters, as defined in ISO 25178-2 [2]. A method for characterising the capability of XCT for areal surface measurement is demonstrated by comparing results obtained from samples taken from a Rubert comparator test panel, with sample surface Ra values between 0.8 μm and 50 μm.


Questions of the effectiveness of economic policy reform are inseparable from the political economy factors responsible for distortionary policies in the first place. Distortionary policies are more likely to be adopted where politicians face fewer constraints. Hence reform should have modest effects in societies where the political system already imposes strong constraints, and in societies with weak constraints, because it does not alter the underlying political economy. Reform should be most effective in societies with intermediate constraints. Furthermore, effective reform in one dimension may lead to deterioration in others, as politicians address the underlying demands through other means—a phenomenon we call the seesaw effect. We report evidence that central bank reforms reduced inflation in countries with intermediate constraints but had no or little effect where constraints were strong or weak. We also present evidence consistent with the seesaw effect: in countries where central bank reform reduces inflation, government expenditure tends to increase.


By the application of a small oscillating magnetic field parallel to the main magnetic field and perpendicular to the transport current, we were able to unveil the peak effect in the resistivity data of Nb$_3$Sn near the upper critical field $H_{c2}$. We investigated the dependence of this effect on the frequency and the amplitude of the oscillating magnetic field and show that the used technique can be more sensitive to detect the peak effect in a certain range of temperatures and magnetic fields than conventional magnetization measurements.


Genome annotation, the task of assigning a description to each discovered genome sequence, is an important activity within the process of sequencing. It relies on the use of ontologies to maintain a uniform vocabulary and to support interoperability of different information resources. Often, only the Gene Ontology (GO) is used in the annotation process, but the exploration of other ontologies, along with GO, could enrich the vocabulary used in the annotation, complementing it with more details. To facilitate this task, it is necessary the identification of equivalences between terms from GO and terms from other ontologies. This work presents an approach for aligning biomedical ontologies within the genome annotation process that helps to identify equivalent terms between GO and other biomedical ontologies, enabling the annotator to choose which among them is more suitable as a descriptor. Two main points have guided its development: (i) the choice of a subset of similarity measures suited to the characteristics of biomedical ontologies; and (ii) the use of foundational ontologies, allowing the analysis of the conceptual nature of each term, which serves as a fundamental parameter for similarity calculation, reducing the possibility of associations between terms derived from different categories. Initial experiments showed an improvement on the alignment quality, represented by a 14% increase in the number of correct alignments and a 5%  decrease in the number of incorrect associations, reinforcing the usefulness of the proposed approach in supporting the annotator's work.


The key to understanding how to produce products with low response time, low inventory, and flexibility can be found in this important text. Using a systematic approach, this unique analysis of contemporary manufacturing processes identifies family characteristics of individual processes to facilitate learning. Using the same classification system, detailed descriptions of each individual process can be found in the Manufacturing Processes Reference Guide by the same authors. Identifies and studies six families of shaping processes that change the basic geometry of shape of a workpiece (Mechanical Mass Reducing, Thermal Mass Reducing, Chemical Mass Reducing, Mass Conserving, Consolidation, and Joining) and four families of nonshaping processes that modify the engineering and aesthetic properties of materials (Hardening, Softening, Surface Preparation, and Surface Coatings). This classification, or taxonomy, now used in the United States and Europe, is a valuable tool in identifying processes and their capabilities.


Numerous medicinal plants are mentioned in ancient Indian literature as cognition enhan-cers. Among these plants, Centella asiatica (CeA) has been used to improve memory. This study demonstrated the effect of CeA on learning ability and memory in male Wistar rats. The rats were trained at various periods by intragastric administration of CeA to the test group at a dosage of 2mg / 0.5 ml of distilled water/day (12mg/ kg body weight) for 10 days and compared with the control group by an Operant conditioning technique, n = 6 in both groups. The two important parameters studied were latency period and the total number of bar pressings which correspond to memory retention and task learning respectively. The re-sults were analyzed using the paired Student's t-test. The CeA treated group showed a sig-nificant decrease in the latency period as compared to controls which suggested an im-provement in retaining the learnt task as good retention of memory (P < 0.05). The number of bar pressings did not change significantly in the test group, due to lack of CeA action on the learning process. The results conclude that the CeA had facilitated the retention of a learnt task for a longer period as good retension of memory but did not accelerated the learning process as expected.


Modals are a source of difficulty in translation due to the subtle and complex nature of the meanings they convey, as well as the diversity of formal means by which modal meaning is coded from one language to another. The present study sheds light on difficulties associated with the translation of modal expressions by exploring errors in the translations of a group of native Arabic-speaking translator trainees, and identifies difficulties they experienced in transferring modal meaning from an English source text (ST) to an Arabic target text (TT). Shortcomings in the skills and training of the participants are discussed in the light of these findings, and suggestions are given as to how these may be remedied. The results of the study show that while the students generally exhibit a sound knowledge of the dictionary meanings of the modal expressions in the ST, the precise sense of a given modal was often misconstrued and in many cases the modal meaning was missing entirely from the translations. These problems suggest that the participants tended to process the meanings of the ST at the word and sentence level while neglecting broader macro-level meanings conveyed in the text (e.g. cohesion, text type, relationship between author and audience). The study reveals that in addition to the need for students to develop greater awareness of the nature of modality and its expression in both English and Arabic, greater emphasis is needed in the training of the students on the improvement of topdown text processing skills.


Background: Isotretinoin is the most effective therapy to treat severe acne vulgaris and its systemic adverse effects have been well documented, but little is known on dental side effects over the course of treatment. Objectives: This prospective case-control study aimed to evaluate the oral adverse effects of isotretinoin in Turkish patients with acne vulgaris; compare oral conditions between patients and normal controls; and investigate the association between salivary parameters and International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) scores. Materials and Methods: For 6 months, the patients (n = 45) received isotretinoin daily (0.5 mg/kg). The age-matched untreated controls (n = 45) were patients without acne. Both groups were examined before the study and at 6 months for salivary flow, buffer capacity, microbiologic tests, and caries status (based on the ICDAS). Salivary parameters and ICDAS scores were analyzed by Spearman's rank correlations. Data were statistically analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed rank tests, and McNemar's Chi-square tests (P < 0.05). Results: Twenty-two isotretinoin-treated patients and 18 controls completed the study. At baseline, the groups were not significantly different in the evaluated parameters (P > 0.05). At 6 months in the isotretinoin-treated group, salivary flow and buffer capacity significantly decreased, and the ICDAS scores significantly increased (P < 0.05). The changes in these criteria from baseline were insignificant in the controls (P > 0.05). Intraoral pathogen counts were not significantly different between the groups, compared to baseline (P > 0.05). Stimulated salivary parameters in both groups were not correlated significantly with the ICDAS scores. Conclusions: Isotretinoin significantly affected salivary flow, buffer capacity, caries lesion activity scores for 6 months. However, salivary parameters and caries lesion activity scores had no significant correlations.


Background: Lifestyle modifications have been considered to be the primary prevention strategies for diabetes. However, there is a lack of evidence guiding the use of functional food sthat potentially possess anti-hyperglycemic effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the acute effect of bitter melon intake on postprandial glucose and insulin levels in sedentary, abdominally obese persons.Methods: In this study, 16 sedentary, abdominally obese participants were randomly assigned to receive either 100 ml of bitter melon juice or placebo juice 30 minutes prior to an oral glucose tolerance test. Plasma glucose and serum insulin were measured every 30 minutes during the 2-hour postprandial period. Two-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to test the effects of bitter melon on postprandial glucose and insulin levels after adjustment for covariates.Results: The 2-h postprandial glucose was significantly lower in bitter melon group as compared with control group (99.5 ± 22.3 vs 133.9 ± 36.9 mg/dL, P=0.04), resulting in an absolute glucose reduction of 34.4 mg/dL (95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 67.1 mg/dL) and a relative glucose reduction of 26%. There was a fairly significant reduction in 2-h postprandial glucose incremental area under the curve (iAUC) (52.9 ± 29.5 vs 94.7 ± 47.3 mg/dL·h, P=0.052), resulting in a relative glucose reduction of 44%.Conclusion: Our acute study demonstrated that the single-dose intake of bitter melon juice decreased postprandial glucose levels among sedentary, abdominally obese persons. Bitter melon juice appears to be a promising functional food to manage hyperglycemia for people who are at elevated risk of developing diabetes.Key Words: Functional Food; Momordica Charantia; Hyperglycemia; Sedentary; Obese


This study examines the relationship between sibling delinquency and respondent risky behavior of emerging adults. This study attempts to understand the influence a sibling has on deviant behavior, sexual permissiveness, and substance use. Sibling support and sibling contact were the two components of a sibling relationships that were examined. A social learning theory framework was used to organize the hypotheses and to discuss findings. It was hypothesized that an individual who has high contact and support from a deviant sibling would be more likely to engage in deviant behavior, be more sexually permissive, and have increased alcohol use. The sample was comprised of over 700 undergraduates enrolled in a large state university. A test of the mediating and moderating effects of sibling support and contact was conducted. Results indicate that there is a mediating effect and a moderating relationship between the influence of sibling delinquency and respondent deviance, sexual permissiveness, and alcohol use for females. This means that as contact and support with a delinquent sibling increases, the level of respondent deviance, sexual permissiveness, and alcohol use also increases. INDEX WORDS: Emerging Adulthood, Siblings, Delinquency, Alcohol Use, Sexual Permissiveness, Mediating, Moderating THE EFFECT OF SIBLING DELINQUENCY ON RISKY BEHAVIORS DURING EMERGING ADULTHOOD: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE MEDIATING AND MODERATING INFLUENCES


Background: Rodents are one of the most dangerous reservoirs and carriers of infectious diseases. Gradually, rats have become predominant in cities, sometimes staying in close vicinity to humans, pets, and other animals. Consequently, they tend to increase the transmission risk of pathogens. Case Description: Here, we report an original case of bacterial pneumonia in a street rat (Rattus norvegicus). The rat was found dead on a street in the chief town of Marseille (France) after being run over by a car. The necropsy of the corpse revealed generalized granulomatous pneumonia in almost all the pulmonary lobes. Lung lesions and predominantly multiple fibro-inflammatory areas are presumably the witness of an infectious etiology. Bacterial isolation was carried out from lung tissues. Colonies were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and confirmed by 16S rRNA sequencing. The following bacteria were identified: Staphylococcus cohnii, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Bordetella parapertussi, Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum, Pelistega suis and Rodentibacter rarus. Based on the histopathological diagnosis and the avoidance approach, the most likely etiological agent of pneumonia is therefore R. rarus, a little-known Pasteurellales bacterium that is closely related to Rodentibacter pneumotropicus. Conclusion: These data emphasize the severity of R. rarus infection in rodents. Thus, pointing out a potential risk for other animals (dogs, cats, and birds), as well as humans. The health monitoring program for rodents and rabbits pasteurellosis should now include R. rarus. Therefore, the pathological effect of the Rodentibacterspecies and/or strains needs to be better explored.


The paper examines the interlinkages between population pressure and poverty, possible impacts on household welfare and land management, and the consequent pathways of development in a low potential rural economy. A dynamic non-separable bio-economic model, calibrated using data from the Ethiopian highlands, is used to trace key relationships between population pressure, poverty and soil fertility management in smallholder agriculture characterized by high levels of soil degradation. Farm households maximize their discounted utility over the planning horizon. Land, labor and credit markets are imperfect. Hence, production, consumption and investment decisions are jointly determined in each period. The level of soil degradation is endogenous and has feedback effects on the stock and quality of the resource base. This may in turn influence land management choices. Under high population pressure, land becomes dearer relative to labor. This is likely to induce conservation investments, especially when conservation technologies do not take land out of production. When markets are imperfect, poverty in vital assets (e.g., oxen and labor) limits the ability or the willingness to invest in conservation and may lead to a less sustainable pathway. Boserup-type responses are more likely when (privately) profitable technologies exist and market imperfections do not limit farm-households' investment options.


In this dissertation I examine ethical issues that concern fertility preservation (FP) technologies for women from a feminist perspective. FP technologies involve the removal, cryopreservation and subsequent storage of reproductive materials for future use. The aim of these technologies is to preserve the option of future genetic reproduction. FP technologies have been developed in the cancer context because infertility is one of the long-term side-effects of many cancers or cancer therapies. Many FP technologies are still experimental, but some technologies are becoming available to healthy women who wish to guard against age-related infertility. Although FP technologies are expanding women's reproductive options and benefitting some women by satisfying their desires for genetically-related children, these technologies pose numerous physical, emotional and financial risks to women. I maintain that a feminist examination of choice is necessary for the ethical provision of FP technologies within patriarchal contexts. My analysis begins by demarcating two oppressive social biases from one another: namely pronatalism and biologism. I argue that each of these biases can unduly influence women's reproductive choices about FP technologies. I then consider how these biases might be identified and challenged in the FP decision-making context. I outline an ethical process of informed choice that is equipped to protect patient autonomy when such autonomy is threatened by these biases. I then consider whether the choice to use FP should be available to both women within and without the cancer contexts. I argue that both disease-related FP and age-related FP can be morally permissible. Finally, I consider whether there should be an upper age limit on women's access to their stored reproductive materials. I argue that age can be morally relevant to reproduction and thus age limits on access to assisted reproduction are morally permissible. I conclude by suggesting how feminist insights might inform policies on FP technologies and related assisted reproductive technologies. In sum, my dissertation shows that a feminist analysis of choices about FP is essential for ensuring the ethical provision of FP technologies.


In this work we analyse to what degree the efficiency of a publicly owned non-monopolistic enterprise improves as a result of the introduction of strategic organizational reforms consisting of adopting 'private-firm-like' management practices, criteria, and governance structure; i.e. corporatization, commerciallization or 'organizational privatization' measures. The subject is addressed here through an in-depth analysis of a case study, which shows up fours moments of significant organizational strategic reforms of the above type over the course of 22 years. The present work also presents an improved methodological approach together with a novel quantitative approach for evaluating those changes in the firm's efficiency that can be attributed to some given events. Our results give support to the hypothesis that the economic efficiency improve as a consequence of such organizational privatization strategic reforms, though improvements may entail a given time-delay.


We introduce a macroeconomic system which we use for interest rate determination, after which we generate the interest rate risk premium. Considering this risk premium function, we investigate, test and determine the macro-variables which affect the interest rate risk premia by using a GARCH(p,q) and an ARCH-M model. The empirical results examine ten different interest rate risk premia and fifteen factors. Factors with significant effects on risk premia are: the real risk-free rate of interest, the inflation rate, the unemployment rate, the growth of GDP and industrial production, the growth of national debt and current account deficit, the money supply growth, the yield differentials on S-T and L-T securities and other variables. The conclusion is that, if we can decrease the volatility of the aforementioned determinants, we can also reduce interest rate risk and, consequently, the risk premium, thus, improving social interest.


As a result of numerous accounting scandals in recent years, forensic accounting is the hottest topic to affect the university business curriculum since the early rush into MBA programs in the 1970s.1 In addition, these financial frauds have significantly changed accounting practices used in identifying fraudulent activities. For example, the potential effect of "forensic audits" on practice is apparent in the report entitled Serving Global Capital Markets and the Global Economy (Global Public Policy Symposium 2006) released by the Big Four along with Grant Thornton and BDO International (hereafter the "Global Report"). The Global Report is concerned with the legal liabilities facing accounting firms from a host of expanding lawsuits based on stockholders' and others' losses from after-audit negative financial events, such as fraud. To improve this situation, the Global Report's authors suggest that all public companies have forensic audits, although the report does not identify the nature of a "forensic audit." The Global Report is a defense of the accounting profession, but it also represents a potential strategic shift for practitioners to bring forensic practices into the consultative track of available accounting services. Both in academic circles and within accounting practice, forensic accounting is being widely discussed, but a clear definition has not yet been formulated. Here, it is argued that the development of new curricula needs to be tempered with an understanding of the underlying differences that may exist in "fraud versus forensic" concepts. Before course revisions start, course developers need to identify the foundation for introducing "fraud/forensics" into the accounting curriculum. Should auditing, traditional fraud examinations, or forensics provide the underlying foundation for accounting curriculum development? Or should it be a combination of these three approaches? This is not a semantic argument as the answer limits the content of courses as well as the fraud/forensic orientation of the accounting curriculum. This article identifies the pedagogical issues related to selecting an auditing, fraud, or forensic model for curricula revision. Next, a survey of faculty members who teach fraud/forensic courses is reviewed along with a sample of fraud/forensic course syllabi. PEDAGOGICAL CONCERNS For accounting programs, there is no scientific answer identifying the best pedagogical approach to use in developing a fraud/forensic curriculum, but there are philosophical beliefs about a best approach. Traditional auditing courses have presented fraud instruction within the accounting curriculum in the past, and as such auditing serves as the starting point in developing a fraud/forensic curriculum. However, a revision from traditional audit-based content to either a fraud or forensic approach changes the scope of analytical techniques used as well as the understandings in the revised curriculum. The next section reviews the differences in audit, fraud examination, and forensic accounting perspectives to curriculum development. Auditing: A Foundation for Fraud/Forensic Curriculum Revisions Auditing students are introduced to the procedures for testing internal company controls. The results of evaluating a company's internal controls determine the extent of necessary transaction sampling needed to provide assurances of properly prepared financial statements. Financial auditing procedures are performed in a well-structured and documented fashion to evaluate management's financial statement representations. Students learn about the need to show that properly documented auditing procedures were followed to answer any after-audit legal inquiries. They use statistical sampling to ensure that there is a ninety-five percent level of confidence, for example, and that account balances are accurate.2 Auditing courses introduce students to detailed checking procedures followed in conducting an audit. …


We demonstrate how evaluating candidate solutions in a limited number of stochastically varying conditions that vary over generations at a moderate rate is an effective method for developing high quality robust solutions. Indeed, agents evolved with this method for the ability to solve an extended version of the double-pole balancing problem, in which the initial state of the agents and the characteristics of the environment in which the agents are situated vary, show the ability to solve the problem in a wide variety of environmental circumstances and for prolonged periods of time without the need to readapt. The combinatorial explosion of possible environmental conditions does not prevent the evolution of robust solutions. Indeed, exposing evolving agents to a limited number of different environmental conditions that vary over generations is sufficient and leads to better results with respect to control experiments in which the number of experienced environmental conditions is greater. Interestingly the exposure to environmental variations promotes the evolution of convergent strategies in which the agents act so to exhibit the required functionality and so to reduce the complexity of the control problem.


In this paper, we obtain new sufficient conditions ensuring existence, uniqueness, and global asymptotic stability (GAS) of the equilibrium point for a general class of delayed neural networks (DNNs) via nonsmooth analysis, which makes full use of the Lipschitz property of functions defining DNNs. Based on this new tool of nonsmooth analysis, we first obtain a couple of general results concerning the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point. Then those results are applied to show that existence assumptions on the equilibrium point in some existing sufficient conditions ensuring GAS are actually unnecessary; and some strong assumptions such as the boundedness of activation functions in some other existing sufficient conditions can be actually dropped. Finally, we derive some new sufficient conditions which are easy to check. Comparison with some related existing results is conducted and advantages are illustrated with examples. Throughout our paper, spectral properties of the matrix (A + Atau) play an important role, which is a distinguished feature from previous studies. Here, A and Atau are, respectively, the feedback and the delayed feedback matrix defining the neural network under consideration.