Alaska's initiative process is unique—Alaska is the only state with a robust initiative culture and advance oversight over the content of initiatives by the Lieutenant Governor. This state of affairs is appropriate because it recognizes both the savings to the state and the benefit to citizens that advance oversight can achieve. It also places the power of advance oversight in the hands of the individual most qualified in Alaska to wield it. However, despite being generally commendable, the Alaskan initiative oversight process is not perfect. Because the Lieutenant Governor has this unique power, it is inappropriate for them to be elected on the same ticket with the Governor. This Note proposes that the Lieutenant Governor and Governor positions should be more distinct, by holding separate elections for the two offices and by establishing a standardized line of succession to the fill vacancies in the office of the Lieutenant Governor. On the way to this conclusion, this Note discusses a number of factors that should be considered before any change to the initiative process is made. The proposed change, however, does not run afoul of any of the concerns over changing the initiative process, and therefore


1. Cytochrome spectra of the liver and heart mitochondria incubated under various conditions are presented to compare the effects of antimycin, colletotrichin and 2-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide (HQNO) additions. 2. Under aerobic conditions, in State 4, in the presence of uncoupler or in the presence of cyanide, all three inhibitors caused oxidation of cytochromes c and c1, but different changes in the spectra of the b cytochromes. Antimycin caused oxidation of a peak at 558 nm and reduction of peaks at 562 nm and 566 nm, whereas colletotrichin caused reduction of peaks at 558 nm and 566 nm and oxidation at 562 nm. HQNO had an effect on the spectra intermediate between those of the two other inhibitors. 3. Under aerobic conditions in the presence of 5 mM-succinate and 5 mM-fumarate, antimycin caused reduction of a peak at 566 nm and oxidation of a peak at 558 nm, whereas colletotrichin had the reverse effect and HQNO caused reduction of a peak at 562 nm. 4. Colletotrichin inhibition of the ADP-stimulated oxidation of glutamate + malate was enhanced by succinate addition and declined again with rotenone addition. Similar but smaller effects were seen with inhibition by antimycin and HQNO. 5. Cytochrome spectra are shown of the effects of ADP and uncoupler addition to stimulate respiration progressively. 6. The results are interpreted in terms of a modified 'Q cycle' [Mitchell (1976) J. Theor. Biol. 62, 327-367] in which the three inhibitors are postulated to displace ubiquinone and ubisemiquinone specifically bound to cytochromes b on both sides of the membrane. 7. It is suggested that cytochromes b558 and b566 are the same b cytochrome located on the outer surface of the membrane, but binding ubisemiquinone or colletotrichin and ubiquinone or antimycin respectively. Cytochrome b562 is postulated to be on the inner surface of the mitochondrial membrane and to bind either ubiquinone or ubisemiquinone, HQNO would bind to the reduced form of the cytochrome and colletotrichin to the oxidized form. 8. Sites for the locus of action of glucagon and the protonmotive force on electron flow are suggested.


Background Childhood obesity is associated with self-reported musculoskeletal complaints, injuries and fractures. In the current study, we investigated the association between weight status of children and the frequency and type of musculoskeletal consultations at the general practitioner (GP) during a 2-year follow-up. Methods Data from a prospective longitudinal cohort study including children aged 2–18 years presenting in general practices in the Netherlands were used. Height and weight were measured at baseline, at 6-month, 1-year and 2-year follow-ups. Electronic medical files were used to collect information on the frequency and type of consultations at the GP during the 2-year follow-up period. Associations between weight status and frequency and type of GP consultations were calculated. Results Of the 617 included children, 111 (18%) were overweight or obese and 506 (82%) were non-overweight. Overweight children were significantly older (mean age in years (SD): 9.8 (3.6)vs7.8 (4.0), p=0.004). Overweight children consulted the GP in general significantly more frequent during the 2-year follow-up than non-overweight children (mean (SD): 7.3 (5.7)vs6.7 (5.4), OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.18). No significant difference was seen in the number of overweight and non-overweight children consulting their GP for musculoskeletal complaints (OR 1.20 (0.86 to 1.68)). Additionally, no significant difference between overweight and non-overweight children was seen for the number of consultations for further specified musculoskeletal disorders. Conclusion No association was seen between childhood weight status and the frequency and type of musculoskeletal consultations at the GP during a 2-year follow-up.


Abstract We explore how disclosure requirements that regulate the release of new information may affect the dynamics of financial markets. Our analysis is based on three agent-based financial market models that are able to produce realistic financial market dynamics. We discover that the average deviation between market prices and fundamental values increases if new information is released with a delay, while the average price volatility is virtually unaffected by such regulations. Interestingly, the tails of the distribution of returns become fatter if fundamental data is released less continuously, indicating an increase in financial market risk.


Blockchains (BCs) are back-linked chain of records termed as blocks. To establish decentralized trusted systems, BCs employ consensus mechanisms. During the past ten years, there have been various proposals of BC design and implementations. However, most of the developed sate of the art BCs suffer from scalability issues. In order to enhance the scalability of the BCs, this paper proposes a transaction aggregation mechanism on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS)-based BC. Having developed the transaction aggregation and double linked blocks, efficient prevention and control of the BC's size growth is observed in the evaluated scenarios.


ABSTRACT The literature shows that leadership is the second most important factor influencing school and learner outcomes, including levels of literacy and numeracy, school leaving examination results, and progression to secondary and higher education. This article focuses on school leadership in West Africa, drawing on a systematic review of the academic and 'grey' literature, commissioned by UNESCO. The aim of the desk research was to ascertain the state of school leadership at all levels. The study shows that no West African countries provide specific preparation for school principals. It also shows that the predominant leadership style is managerial, with accountability to the hierarchy, within and beyond the school. The article concludes that specific development programmes should be provided for current and aspiring principals.


Seepage may be a significant mechanism of streambank erosion and failure in numerous geographical locations. Previous research investigated erosion by lateral subsurface flow and developed a sediment transport model similar to an excess shear stress equation. As a continuation of this earlier research, slope destabilization driven by lateral, subsurface flow was studied to further verify the recently proposed sediment transport model. Laboratory experiments were performed using a two-dimensional soil lysimeter. The experiments were conducted on two sandy soils: a field soil (loamy sand) and sieved sand with greater sand content and less cohesion. A series of seven lysimeter experiments were performed for the two different sands by varying the bank slope (90, 60, 45, 36, and 26°). Flow and sediment concentrations were measured at the outflow flume. Pencil-size tensiometers were used to measure soil pore-water pressure. A slight modification of the existing seepage sediment transport model adequately simulated lysimeter experiments for both noncohesive soils without modifying the seepage parameters of the excess shear stress equation, especially for bank angles >45°. The research then determined whether integrated finite element and bank stability models were capable of capturing both small- and large-scale sapping failures. The models predicted large-scale failures for bank angles >45° in which tension cracks formed on the bank surface. The models failed to predict collapses for bank angles <45° in which tension cracks formed on the seepage face. The failure to predict collapse was hypothesized to be due to the assumption of circular arc slip surfaces. More analytically complex stability approaches are needed to capture bank slope undermining.


The objective of this paper is to discuss the properties and a few applications of multi-spectral speckles. The paper starts with a theoretical section where the correlation properties of multi-spectral speckles are detailed for the case of reflective imaging geometry. Both a free-space geometry and an imaging geometry are detailed. As an application example effects and possibilities provided by the theory in a measurement of surface shape of a generally shaped object from a dual-wavelength holographic recording are detailed. It is showed that the same phase profile is obtained from integration of speckle movements and phase unwrapping and they are therefore exchangeable quantities.


This research (A long-term field experiment from 1982 to 1997) was conducted at the experimental station of the Department of Field Crop Husbandry of the Estonian Agricultural University. The soil of the experimental site is moderately moist slightly podzolised sandy clay. Insofar as field crop husbandry is concerned the soil should contain optimal amounts of available nutrients. If the level of available nutrients in the soil is low the plants will suffer and the yield will be low. A rise in soil available nutrient content leads to increased yield of crops, but only up to a certain level (optimal content). Thereafter, a further rise in soil nutrient content fails to effect any significant increase in the harvest. The soils of the Eerika trial plot have optimal nutrient content and little need for fertilisation. After two crop rotations significant changes in nutrient content and location were observed in the ploughed layer. Compared to the nutrient content determined at the start of the trial period (1982), the greatest changes occurred in the soils under a crop rotation involving cereals, potato and a mixture of red clover and timothy, in which the supply of available phosphorus decreased by 19 mg kg -1 and that of potassium by 121 mg kg -1 on average after two rotations. Compared to the cereal rotation and the rotation containing 50% of cereals and 50% of potato the available phosphorus content dropped by 12-33% and the potassium content by 41-46% in the upper 25-cm soil layer.


The aim of this study was verify the use of critical velocity (CV) determined by three conventional models for prediction of the anaerobic threshold (AnT) in running. Thirteen Brazilian armed forces soldiers (age 24.6±6.6 years; body mass 74.4±7.6Kg; and body fat 17.8±5.2%) participated of the study. The CV was measured through four different intensities of running accomplished until exhaustion (tlim), it pre-adjusted to occur between 2 and 10 minutes (speed between 15km.h-1 and 21km.h-1). The CV was determined by three mathematical models, two by linear relations (velocity versus inverse of time VCVx1/tlim; and distance versus time relations VCDxT) and one by hyperbolic relation (time versus velocity VCH). The AnT was determined from incremental test on treadmill with initial speed at 7km.h-1 and increment of 1.5km.h-1 at each 3 minutes until voluntary exhaustion. Immediately after each exercise stage were collect blood samples from ear lobe to measure of lactatemia. The AnT corresponded to abrupt increase of the lactate concentration response using bisegmented linear regression (AnTBI). The three VC determinations corresponded to 13.48±0.91km.h-1 (VCVx1/tlim), 13.04±1.12km.h-1 (VCDxT) and 12.83±0.78km.h-1 (VCH) and only the VCVx1/tlim showed statistically different of the AnTBI (12.06±1.99km.h-1). However, these VC results overestimate the speedy of AnTBI in 11.84±1.30%, 7.7±1.3% and 5.83±1.04%, respectively. Significant correlation was not found among the three VC and the AnTBI. Thus, the CV determined by three conventional models seem not be a good tool for AnT prediction in armed forces soldiers at running.


Bug reports provide an effective way for end-users to disclose potential bugs hidden in a software system, while automatically locating the potential buggy source code according to a bug report remains a great challenge in software maintenance. Many previous studies treated the source code as natural language by representing both the bug report and source code based on bag-of-words feature representations, and correlate the bug report and source code by measuring similarity in the same lexical feature space. However, these approaches fail to consider the structure information of source code which carries additional semantics beyond the lexical terms. Such information is important in modeling program functionality. In this paper, we propose a novel convolutional neural network NP-CNN, which leverages both lexical and program structure information to learn unified features from natural language and source code in programming language for automatically locating the potential buggy source code according to bug report. Experimental results on widely-used software projects indicate that NP-CNN significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in locating the buggy source files.


This study reports on the effect of gamma radiation on morphological, thermal, and water barrier properties of pure ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymers (EVOH29 and EVOH44) and its biocomposites with the nanofiller microfibrillated cellulose (2 wt %). Added microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) preserved the transparency of EVOH films but led to a decrease in water barrier properties. Gamma irradiation at low (30 kGy) and high doses (60 kGy) caused some irreversible changes in the phase morphology of EVOH29 and EVOH44 copolymers that could be associated to crosslinking and other chemical alterations. Additionally, the EVOH copolymers and the EVOH composites reduced the number of hygroscopic hydroxyl functionalities during the irradiation processing and novel carbonyl based chemistry was, in turn, detected. As a result of the above alterations, the water barrier properties of both neat materials and composites irradiated at low doses were notably enhanced, counteracting the detrimental effect on water barrier of adding MFC to the EVOH matrix. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008


Learn to optimize your responsive web designing techniques using jQuery Overview Learn to swiftly design responsive websites by harnessing the power of jQuery Get your responsive site ready to meet the device-agnostic world Display highlighted content in a carousel and implement touch gestures to control them Understand the mobile-first philosophy and put its concept into practice In Detail Owing to the different types of devices that offer Internet browsing today, responsive web designing has become a booming area. The heightened use of CSS3 and JavaScript libraries such as jQuery has led to shorter responsive web design times. You can now create a responsive website swiftly that works richly in any device a user might possess. "Responsive Web Design with jQuery" is a practical book focused on saving your development time using the useful jQuery plugins made by the frontend community. Follow the chapters, and learn to design and augment a responsive web design with HTML5 and CSS3. The book presents a practical know how of these new technologies and techniques that are set to be the future of frontend web development. This book helps you implement the concept of responsive web design in clear, gradual, and consistent steps, demonstrating each solution, and driving you to practice it and avoid common mistakes. You will learn how to build a responsive website; right from its structure, conception, and adapting it to screen device width. We will also take a look at different types of menu navigation and how to convert text, images, and tables so as as to display them graciously on different devices. Features such as the carousel slider and form elements will also be covered, including the testing phase and the measures to create correct fallbacks for old browsers. With "Responsive Web Design with jQuery", you will learn to create responsive websites quickly by using CSS3 and the incredible jQuery plugins. You will also learn to save your time by tailoring solutions created and tested by the community. What you will learn from this book Design responsive layouts for Grid systems Analyze and choose the correct responsive menu navigation Implement a mechanism to display the right image depending on the device requesting it Use working designs and their code after tailoring them to your needs Optimize your tables to display their information better Implement responsive form elements Build a responsive carousel slider including a touch function Test your site thoroughly Approach "Responsive Web Design with jQuery" follows a standard tutorial-based approach, covering various aspects of responsive web design by building a comprehensive website. Who this book is written for "Responsive Web Design with jQuery" is aimed at web designers who are interested in building device-agnostic websites. You should have a grasp of standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript development, and have a familiarity with graphic design. Some exposure to jQuery and HTML5 will be beneficial but isn't essential.


The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased remarkably within the past ten years with black youth disproportionately affected. Childhood obesity is linked to cardiovascular risk. Purposes of this study were to explore relationships between cardiac autonomic risk factors of heart rate variability (HRV), QT corrected (QTc) Interval duration, and Cornell voltage measures for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) to body mass index (BMI), relative body mass index (RBMI), and blood pressure (BP) measures, and to examine the effects of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), hypertension, and race on these cardiac autonomic risk factors in overweight-obese adolescents. Methods: Overweight and obese adolescents (N = 128), ages 11-18 years, (60.2% black, 63.3% female) were included in this secondary data analysis. During the original study BMI, resting BP, 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), and 24-hour Holter measures were obtained. Overweight was defined as BMI ≥ 85 percentile on age-gender specific growth charts and obesity as ≥ 95 percentile. Systolic or diastolic BP > 90 percentile for age, height, and sex was considered elevated BP. An oral glucose tolerance test (1g of dextrose/kg with a maximum of 75 g) or mixed meal tolerance test [(Sustacal/Boost) (6 kcal/kg, body weight, max 360 kcal)] was conducted with IGT defined as either a fasting blood glucose ≥ 100 and < 126 mg/dl or 2-hr post-load glucose ≥ 140 and < 200 mg/dl based on the American Diabetes Association criteria. Holter data were analyzed for HRV time and frequency domain measures of circadian fluctuation (SDNN) and parasympathetic function (high frequency; HF) using Multi-parameter Arrhythmia Review Station (MARS) PC Analysis and Editing system. QTc and Cornell voltage (Sv3 + RaVL) measurements for LVH were obtained from a 12-lead ECG. Results: In the total sample, 28% had IGT, 34% had prolonged QTc, 51% met criteria for elevated BP, and none met Cornell criteria for LVH. BMI and RBMI did not correlate with HRV measures, QTc, or Cornell voltage. Systolic BP was modestly correlated to Cornell voltage (r = 0.231, p = 0.009). No significant difference was noted between glucose tolerance groups for HRV (HF, p = 0.25; SDNN, p = 0.108), QTc (p = 0.59), or Cornell voltage (p = 0.33). However, the IGT group tended to have a higher frequency of elevated BP (64% vs. 47%, χ = 3.047, p = 0.08). There was no significant difference in HF (p = 0.31), SDNN (p = 0.80), and QTc (p = 0.92) between BP groups. However, overweight-obese adolescents with elevated BP displayed significantly higher measures of Cornell voltage (0.95 mV vs. 0.76 mV, p = 0.004) than non-hypertensive peers. No significant difference was identified between blacks vs. whites for HF (p = 0.106), QTc (p = 0.599), or Cornell voltage (p = 0.965) measures, however black youth displayed significantly lower SDNN (p < 0.001). The prevalence of IGT was similar between racial groups (28.57% vs. 27.45%, χ = 0.01, p = 0.890). Conclusion: Obesity alone is an independent factor for cardiovascular risk. Screening for QTc and LVH using Cornell voltage measurements for LVH using 12-lead ECG is recommended in all overweight-obese youth. Further studies examining a more diverse weight group should be considered.


In the era since World War II the problems confronting the average entrepreneur have increased immensely, especially in the area of finance, taxation, and governmental control. Tied closely to these problems and serving either as an aid or a hindrance to the owner is the accounting function. As our business society becomes more complex it is apparent that the highly skilled, expertly trained accountant will be in greater demand. The specific problem of this report is to determine, if possible, whether the small, privately endowed, church related, liberal arts colleges of Kansas are offering a course of study in the field of accounting that will provide the graduate with the tools to do an adequate job in actual practice. In addition, we will try to evaluate the faculty of the schools involved from the standpoint of training, experience, and tenure. We realize that many other factors that we will not measure and some we cannot evaluate will also be determinants; however, during this study we will restrict our findings to the points mentioned in this and the preceding paragraph. The schools involved are those which presently constitute the group known as the Kansas Conference and include: (1) Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas, (2) Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas, 2 (3) Bethel College, Newton, Kansas, (4) College of Emporia, Emporia, Kansas, (5) Friends University , Wichita, Kansas, (6) Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina, Kansas, (7) McPherson College, McPherson, Kansas, (8) Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas, (9) Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas, (10) Sterling College, Sterling, Kansas. Enrollments, of course, vary from school to school; however, the enrollment normally ranges from 450 to 650 students. During the remainder of the paper the term, \colleges\, will be used to denote the above list of schools.


Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin didn't win friends when he announced that (1) he is now a constitutional originalist and (2) the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right to abortion. His claim to membership in the originalist club brought forth a small army of eager bouncers, who were sure that originalism couldn't possibly defend the paradigmatic departure from the Constitution's original meaning. Balkin has indeed posed a radical challenge to the vision of law that drives the originalists – more radical than he is willing to admit. His theory is in such deep tension with a commonly held vision of the rule of law that his argument is, to put the point precisely, disgusting. But that doesn't mean that he is wrong.


Summary
1.
The virus of yellow fever occurs in the blood of experimentally infected rhesus monkeys in very high concentration: of eighteen specimens of blood taken from infected animals at the onset of fever and tested in dilution of 1:1,000,000, all proved infective; and of six specimens tested in dilution of 1:1,000,000,000, three produced fatal infection in normal monkeys.
2.
A considerable variation in susceptibility was observed in these monkeys when a highly virulent strain of yellow fever virus was injected in very high dilutions, and very small amounts of the virus were frequently found to immunize animals without producing any outward signs of infection.
3.
In the majority of the animals inoculated with minute quantities of virus the infection was characterized by a rather long incubation period, followed usually be a sharp, short febrile attack and death.
4.
Human hydrocele fluid from persons not immune to yellow fever, either concentrated or diluted 1:1 with sterile physiological saline, was found to be a satisfactory diluent for the virus for titration purposes.
5.
The development of yellow fever antibodies in the blood of experimentally infected animals was found to take place early during the course of disease. The serum taken at death from monkeys that died on the fourth, fifth, and sixth days after inoculation showed no protective properties, but the serum of animals that died on the seventh day or later protected fully against massive doses of virus.
6.
The serum of monkeys that were inoculated with very minute doses of virus and died of yellow fever after a long incubation period, showed no protective properties.
7.
The virus was found to possess a relatively high resistance to the action of post-mortem invading bacteria. The blood of a monkey that died of yellow fever and was kept after death for nine hours at a temperature varying between 78 and 86.5° F. was still found to be infective in 0.01 cc. amounts, although the organs of the animal at that time were already in an advanced state of decomposition.


An option contract is a zero-sum game, so two identical risk-averse investors would never take opposite sides of it. While they will agree on the correct option price, they would never trade with each other. Heterogeneity is essential for options trading to exist, and aggregating diverse expectations into a single market clearing price is an important function of any derivatives market. In this article, the authors look at the impact of heterogeneous beliefs about earnings, as reflected in the dispersion of analysts' forecasts in the IBES database. The effect on the market is measured by the slopes of the volatility smile for out-of-the-money (OTM) minus at-the-money (ATM) puts (left side of the smile) and OTM minus ATM calls (right side). Smiles for individual stocks are higher and more smile-shaped than for the SPX index and show significant and interesting effects from the explanatory variables, including firm size, liquidity, market volatility, and book-to-market. But controlling for those effects, dispersion in earnings forecasts raises OTM IVs relative to ATM IVs, both in regressions and in portfolio sorts. Interesting differences appear between systematic and idiosyncratic components of the smile slope, with systematic effects especially important for OTM puts, while OTM calls are more influenced by the idiosyncratic component.


Experimental subjects evaluated a political candidate whose face was digitally altered to absorb the subjects' facial structure. For half of the subjects, the photograph of the candidate was morphed such that the image presented was a blend composed of 60% of the unfamiliar Caucasian male and 40% of the subject. For the other half the photograph was unaltered. Given previous research on implicit familiarity (Zajonc, 1968, 1980), we predicted that the morph would advantage the candidate. The results demonstrated no main effect of the similarity manipulation. However, there was a robust similarity by gender interaction. Male subjects evaluated the morphed candidate more favorably than the unaltered photograph, while female subjects rated him more negatively. We discuss potential explanations for this interaction effect and explore the possible implications of facial similarity as a political cue in both high- and low-information elections.


The availability of well-defined genetic strains and the ability to create transgenic and knockout mice makes mouse models extremely valuable biomedical tools. Their suitability as an experimental system for cardiovascular research depends on the individual investigator's ability to manipulate the mice surgically. Many mouse models require microsurgical techniques, which hitherto could not be performed without practical training. This comprehensive handbook enables scientists to develop these models in their own laboratories.


This study examined the effects of communication and conflict resolution skills training on mental health among Iranian couples based on the PREPARE/ENRICH program. In this study, mental health was measured by General Health Questionnaires (GHQ28). The study adopted a pre- and post-control group design in emphasizing the effects of communication training and conflict resolution skills on mental health. The participants in this research consisted of couples who were referred to the researcher by counseling center. The referrals were done for about two months in 2009. Their problems included marital problems and marital conflicts, commonly categorized as marital dissatisfaction, which were identified after a formal interview, testing and screening. In order to assign the experimental and control groups, purposive random sampling was employed. One hundred and eight participants comprised of 54 married couples were divided equally between control and experimental groups and the training sessions lasted for eight weeks. In this training program, researchers focused on the dependent variable of mental health, while communication and conflict resolution skills training were the independent variables. Specifically, the t-test statistical analysis was employed to test for the potential significant differences in couples' scores of mental health between (i) the pre- and post-training scores for couples of the experimental group; and (ii) between the post-training scores for the couples of the two groups. The results indicated that teaching communication and conflict resolution skills had significant positive effects on the mental health scores obtained from the studied couples.


Research during the past decade has revealed the existence of neural systems that modulate pain transmission. Much of this work has focused on the role of endogenous opiate systems, but recent research indicates the involvement of nonopiate mechanisms as well. In this article, we present data demonstrating that opiate and nonopiate analgesia systems can be selectively activated by different environmental manipulations and describe the neural circuitry involved. Both neural and hormonal pathways and both opiate and nonopiate substances play roles in the complex modulation of pain transmission. The existence and description of these modulatory mechanisms have important clinical implications for the treatment of pain.


University tuition fees and student debt have risen in part due to rapid expansion of university administration compensation. This study provides a novel methodology for detecting inappropriate executive compensation within universities. The usefulness of academic ideas is openly ranked using the h-index. By comparing the ratio of academic executive pay to their h-index a dollar per value of academic impact can be found. If the university compensation system is appropriately calibrated, the impact/$ increases with faculty rank and continues to improve into the executive team. Analysis is provided for vice presidents of research of the ten largest state universities in America. The results suggest that 50% of these public universities are overcompensating their executives. A case study is presented of the most egregious discrepancy around compensation of >$3.1 million/year. The methodology was shown to be a quick and inexpensive way to ascertain if further investigation is necessary at an individual university.


The employment of a reduced Schiff-base ligand, 1,3-bis(3-methoxy-salicylamino)-2-propanol (H3L), with the assistance of acetate anions led to the isolation of eight heptanuclear heterometallic complexes containing [Cu5Ln2] cores. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses have been performed for all the complexes and show that they all have dicationic [Cu5Ln2] cores with two nitrate or hexafluorophosphate anions to compensate the charge. The dicationic parts in 1–8 display centrosymmetric hexagonal-like arrangements in which one CuII ion sits on the inversion centre with six peripheral metal ions (two LnIII and four CuII) around it. The magnetic susceptibilities of all the complexes have been studied by dc magnetic measurements. The temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility data for the CuII–GdIII complex have been processed using PHI software. The results reveal that the magnetic exchange interactions between CuII and CuII ions are antiferromagnetic while those between CuII and GdIII ions are ferromagnetic. The magnetostructural correlations reveal that the bridging angles of Cu–O–Cu and Cu–O–Gd greatly influence the magnetic coupling of CuII–CuII and CuII–GdIII, respectively. Further, ac susceptibility studies have been carried out for DyIII and TbIII complexes and HoIII derivatives. The complexes CuII–HoIII and CuII–TbIII show slow magnetization relaxation behaviour of an SMM.


To determine the cause of loss of light output of fluorescent lamps the photo-decomposition of zinc silicate, zinc beryllium silicate, calcium tungstate, magnesium tungstate, and calcium cerium phosphate phosphors has been studied in a vacuum, air, and inert gases. The loss of light output has been shown to be caused by the photolysis of the commercial phosphors which is in contrast to the general theory in which the loss has been attributed to a film formation on the fluorescent particles. The photolysis of the silicate and tungstate phosphors is mainly caused by radiations less than 2000A. The calcium cerium phosphate is most sensitive to these radiations. The photochemically active center in the silicate phosphors appears to be the manganese atom. The tungsten and cerium atoms may be involved in the tungstate and phosphate phosphors, respectively.


Between 1987 and 1990, Guatemalan state policy in the Peten turned from felling trees in the name of progress to guarding them from progress in the name of biodiversity. What was at stake in this transformation was not simply protecting nature, but also the rebirth of images and narratives of the nation surrounding Guatemala's fragile transition to formal democracy and precarious movement towards peace. These new national narratives were integral to the creation of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve in 1990. This thesis explores the history ofthe rise of the state's policy of community forest concessions in the Multiple Use Zone of the reserve as a shift from the prohibitive mechanisms of the law to the participatory mechanisms of govemmentality. This history serves as a prism to address the literature on democratic transition in Guatemala and democratic theory in general by applying the concepts of governmentality to the construction of citizenship and nation building. A campesino movement, the Association of Community Forests of the Peten, that arose during the process contested the exclusionary practices of the state, including representations of campesinos as nature's destroyers, and lobbied the state for community forest concessions. Through the processes of participation in the awarding of concessions and in the incorporation of sustainable forestry practices, campesinos became citizen-agents even while this agency was tied to practices of subjectification. At the regional level, the incorporation of the demands of campesinos was also a mechanism to produce a population that would govern itself, avert large-scale reform, and stabilize the meaning of the 1996 Peace Accords. In the village of Uaxact:Un, resistances to governmental intervention and the negotiation of new relationships with the state by the villagers reveal how govemmentality is not something simply imposed by the state, but rather constituted out of an on-going process of resistance, contestation, and negotiation. The construction of a citizenry of "nature's defenders" through the mechanisms of govemmentality also produced a new series of exclusions of migrants. These exclusions point out the limitations of govemmentality, and resistances point towards how citizens might be made more democratically.


This paper investigates the effects of the EU Environmental Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS) on environmental innovations and competitiveness in German facilities. It comprises twelve in-depth case studies and telephone interviews with 1277 EMAS-validated facilities. The surveys show a positive influence of EMAS on environmental organisational, process and product innovations. Moreover, the environmental report supports the diffusion of environmental innovations. The econometric analysis with binary probit models shows a significant positive impact of the maturity of environmental management systems on environmental innovations. Another determinant of environmental innovations is the strong participation of specific departments in further development of EMAS, especially of the R&D department. An effect of strategic importance of EMAS on market success could not be confirmed. Facilities with high learning processes by environmental management systems however have a significantly better performance concerning turnover and exports.


People in the creative professions seem to be most productive early in adulthood: Jane Austen wrote PRIDE AND PREJUDICE before she was twenty-one; Albert Einstein published his first theory of relativity when he was twenty-six. This short discussion of an endlessly fascinating subject is reprinted, by permission, from The Washington Post of 16 Apr. 1990.


The dorsalis pedis artery (DPA) is the largest blood vessel distal to the ankle joint. It is the continuation of the anterior tibial artery (ATA) and runs along the dorsum of the foot until the 1 st intermetatarsal space. The DPA gives rise to five branches, viz. medial tarsal, lateral tarsal, arcuate, deep plantar and dorsal metatarsal arteries. Given the vast blood supply provided b the DPA, in the current era of microvascular surgery, the anatomy of the DPA is of increasing interest to anatomists, surgeons and angiogra phers. The aim of this study was to outline the course, origin, branching patterns and possible variations of the DPA. The present study i ncluded the dissection of forty (n=40) cadaveric specimens of the lower limb region (Left: 25; Right: 15). The origin, course and branching p tterns of the artery were studied. These morphological parameters were further analysed with regard to laterality to determine if a co rrelation existed. The Pearson Chi-square test was employed and a p value of less than 0.05 was deemed statistically significant. Althoug h the DPA was present in 97.5 % of cases, it followed the standard anatomical description in only 42.5 % of cases. The DPA originated fr m the peroneal artery in 5 % of cases. In 25 % of cases, DPA deviated laterally. Variation in the branching pattern of the DPA, w ich was recorded in 50 % of cases, was further classified according Types 1 to 6. The findings of this study correlated closely with mo st previous studies. However, the incidence of lateral deviation of the DPA was higher in this study as well as the incidence of Type 1 var iation in branching pattern. Additionally, this study proposes a novel variation in branching pattern which has been termed Type 6, which displays a recurrent branch of the Type 5 variation. The DPA has an important role in a clinical setting since the DPA flap is employed in reconstructive surgeries and peripheral circulation may be assessed by the palpation of the DPA pulse. Therefore, a thorough un derstanding of the anatomy of the DPA is of prime importance to podiatrists, surgeons, anatomists and angiographers.


The Farm Fresh Food Box (F3B) project is a market innovation that aims to capitalize on successful characteristics of direct-to-consumer (DTC), values-based supply chains (VBSCs), and traditional supply chains with the goals of expanding producer sales and improving rural food access. In the F3B model, farmers sell boxes of fresh produce in rural retail outlets to bring food to customers with limited access to locally grown foods. We present pilot findings on indicators of relationship quality, communication of embedded value, and food environment, and compare these with extant research to assess whether F3B behaves like a DTC, VBSC, a traditional supply chain, or something else entirely. Unlike much of the previous value-chain research, this work places a unique emphasis on the importance of the farmer-retailer relationship. We merge existing knowledge of DTC strategies and barriers with those of VBSCs and traditional supply chains to understand better the process of expanding into new outlets and consumer populations. We find that while the F3B model reduces some resource constraints, it adds a layer of complexity that requires time and expertise to develop a quality relationship between producers and retailers. Additionally, it is apparent that the F3B model must be tailored to fit local contexts of farmers and retailers participating in F3B market innovations.


Electroencephalogram (EEG) is one of biomedical signals measured during all-night polysomnography to diagnose sleep disorders, including sleep apnoea. Usually two central EEG channels (C3-A2 and C4A1) are recorded, but typically only one of them are used. The purpose of this work was to compare discriminative features characterizing normal breathing, as well as obstructive and central sleep apnoeas derived from these central EEG channels. The same methodology of feature extraction and selection was applied separately for the both synchronous signals. The features were extracted by combined discrete wavelet and Hilbert transforms. Afterwards, the statistical indexes were calculated and the features were selected using the analysis of variance and multivariate regression. According to the obtained results, there is a partial difference in information contained in the EEG signals carried by C3-A2 and C4-A1 EEG channels, so data from the both channels should be preferably used together for automatic sleep apnoea detection and differentiation.


Concussions to high-profile professional athletes and the $1 billion court settlement between the NFL in the USA and thousands of former NFL players have brought sports concussion to the top of news headlines.1 The crux of the NFL case centred around retired players' allegation that the NFL did not warn them about the potential long-term health impact of concussions. Cases such as these alert sport governing bodies to the medicolegal importance of this issue and their responsibility for player safety. For the Para athlete, the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) term for a sportsperson with an impairment, the concussion debate struggles to garner attention. This is partly because funding for epidemiological research in this area is limited. But athletes with a variety of impairments due to a range of medical issues face the risks and consequences of concussive brain injury in Para sports: it is time for paralympic medical and sporting communities to address this important issue.

Recommendations from the International Conferences on Concussion in Sport mandate that all potential cases of concussion undergo medical assessment, including a comprehensive history and detailed neurological …


Metallurgy is essential for socioeconomic development, and the process discharges waste containing a variety of toxic and hazardous compounds. Robust disposal technologies and processes for treating metallurgical industry wastewater are urgently researched by scientific and industrial communities to meet the increasingly stringent environmental rules and regulations. This paper aims to provide a timely review on the status of metallurgical wastewater treatment in China with a focus on the removal of organics. The primary sources of organic contaminants in the metallurgical industry are coke quenching, steel rolling, solvent extraction, and electroplating. The characteristics of these pollutants are specific to technologies and work flows in the respective process in terms of their structure, physicochemical nature and concentrations. This situation necessitates tailor-made treatment/disposal methods that are the highlights of this review and discussed with regard to their pros and cons. Although this paper focuses on the R&D efforts in China, the information and experiences can certainly be applied to other nations' metallurgical wastewater treatment.


The novel bridged bicyclic morpholine derivatives, 4-benzyloctahydropyrrolo-[3,4-b][1,4]oxazine derivatives (6a-j) have been synthesized in six steps. The target compounds (6a-j) were obtained by reacting active intermediate 4- benzyloctahydropyrrolo-[3,4-b][1,4]oxazine (5) with various alkyl or aryl halide substituents in the presence of potassium carbonate. Thesebridged bicyclic morpholineswhich were fused to an additional hetero ring, pyrrolidinewere screened for their antibacterial and antifungal potency. These derivatives,N-substituted with cyclohexomethyl, isopropyl, p-methylbenzyl and phenylethylexhibited promising antimicrobial activity; compounds 6a-c were effective against the tested bacterial strains; compounds 6a, 6c, 6g were effective against antifungal strains; and compounds 6d and 6e were not active for these studies.


An Anthropology of Conservation has been devised to determine the different approaches to conservation developed by cultural groups throughout time. The research questions that this thesis addresses are as follows :

• Are there common threads associated with approaches to the care of material culture and its conservation?
• What type of artefacts do different cultures retain and preserve?
• Why do cultures conserve and how do they achieve this?
• Does conservation actually exist outside of the remit of 'modern' (Western) conservation?

Accessibility to literature and artefacts helped to narrow the field of study and the following social groups were selected for in depth analysis representing a range of temporal and spatial variables : Ancient Egyptian; British Regimental Culture; Native American: Roman; Aboriginal and Maori; and Modern British Culture.

In order to collect the large volume of information required for this endeavour, a data-gathering tool, in for form of a structured questionnaire, was developed and refined. The tool allows for the critical analysis of conserved artefacts through the viewing of either objects, conservation reports, images of conserved artefacts, treatment-based articles or a combination of the above data.

An early hypothesis to emerge focuses on how value is perceived in artefacts and how value influences conservation effort and he point in an object's life when conservative effort is likely to be attempted.

This thesis aims to reveal the conservation systems practised by the selected cultural groups and to critically address the research questions. It is intended that the synthesis will broaden theoretical understanding of approaches to conservation.


Electrophoresis is the effect that when an electric field is applied to a suspension of a powder in a liquid, the powder particles move under influence of this field. Frequently the powder particles also deposit at one of the electrodes. The form of the electrode determines the form of the deposit, hence shaping is possible. The current insights into the science and technology of electrophoretic deposition (EPD) will be summarized. EPD is well suited for shaping layered microstructures (laminates), by simply changing repeatedly between two or more suspensions during deposition. Tubular laminates consisting of silicon carbide layers and crack deflecting graphite interlayers have been produced. These tubes demonstrate an enhanced fracture energy and a gradual mode of failure. Another area of advanced ceramics where the use of EPD makes sense are functionally graded materials (FGM) in which one tries to combine in one component high hardness and high toughness. EPD allows the formation of FGM by depositing from a powder suspension to which a second suspension is continuously added during the process. An example will be shown of a graded WC-Co hardmetal.


Morality is defined as prescriptive norms regarding how people should treat one another, and includes concepts of fairness, justice, and rights. One recent study with moral dilemmas suggested that testosterone administration increases utilitarian judgments, which depends on second‐to‐fourth (2D: 4D) digit ratio, as a proxy of prenatal priming. However, the neural mechanism by which acute testosterone modulates moral reasoning remains to be determined. Using a placebo‐controlled within‐subject design, the current study examined the neuromodulatory effect of testosterone in young females by combining moral dilemmas, 2D: 4D, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and subjective ratings of morally laden scenarios. Results showed that testosterone administration elicited more utilitarian responses to evitable dilemmas. The high 2D: 4D group scored more punishments for moral evaluation, whereas the low 2D: 4D group did the opposite. The activity in the amygdala, anterior insular cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) was increased when participants evaluated morally unorthodox actions (intentional harm). The activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus/temporoparietal junction (pSTS/TPJ) to accidental harm was decreased, specific to the high 2D: 4D group. The functional connectivity between the amygdala and dlPFC was reduced. The activity in the pSTS/TPJ to perceived agency predicted utilitarian responses to evitable dilemmas. The findings demonstrate the acute effect of testosterone on neural responses associated with moral judgment, and provide evidence to support that prenatal sex‐hormones priming could be important for early neurodevelopment, which plays a crucial role in the neural and behavioral manifestations of testosterone on adult moral reasoning. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3417–3430, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Characteristics of edges affect the behavior of species that are active in and near edges. Forest canopies may pro- vide edge-like habitat for bats, though bat response to edge orientation has not been well examined. We sampled bat activity in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forest canopies and edges in Heber Valley, Utah, during summer 2009 using Anabat detectors. Categorization and regression tree (CART) analysis of echolocation characteristics (e.g., frequency, dura- tion) identified two guilds based on characteristic frequency (i.e., high- and low-frequency guilds). We used linear regression to compare characteristics of canopy and edge vegetation (e.g., tree height, diameter at breast height) to bat activity levels. Activity levels of high-frequency bats did not respond differentially to edge vegetation; low-frequency bat activity seemed to respond to canopy height. Activity levels of high-frequency bats were significantly greater than low-frequency bats in both edges and canopies. We detected significantly more bat activity in forest edges than in forest canopies, indicating the impor- tance of edges to bats in forests.


In this paper, we examine the impact policy choices, including a carbon tax, on the optimal allocation of power across different generation sources and on future investments in generating facilities. The focus in on the Alberta power grid as it is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and has only limited ties to other power grids, although the model could be extended to a larger and even multiple grids. Results indicate that, as wind penetrates the extant generating mix characterizing the grid, cost savings and emission reductions do not decline linearly, but at a decreasing rate. However, if flexibility is allowed then, as the carbon tax increases to $40 per tCO2 or above, existing coal plants start to be replaced by newly constructed wind farms and natural gas plants. If coal can be completely eliminated from the energy mix and replaced by natural gas and wind, substantial savings of 31.03 Mt CO2 (58% of total emissions) can result. However, this occurs for carbon taxes of over $170/tCO2. The associated high capital costs of new generating facilities may thus not be an ideal use of funds for addressing climate change.


What if there were a computer that could answer virtually any question? IBM engineers are developing such a machine, teaching it to compete on the quiz show Jeopardy. In February 2011, it will face off in a nationally televised game against two of the games greatest all-time winners, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Final Jeopardy tells the riveting story behind the match. Final Jeopardy carries readers on a captivating journey from the IBM lab to the podium. The story features brilliant Ph.D.s, Hollywood moguls, knowledge-obsessed Jeopardy masters and a very special collection of silicon and circuitry named Watson. It is a classic match of Man vs. Machine, not seen since Deep Blue bested chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. But Watson will need to do more than churn through chess moves or find a relevant web page. It will have to understand language, including puns and irony, and master everything from history and literature to science, arts, and entertainment. At its heart, Final Jeopardy is about the future of knowledge. What can we teach machines? What will Watsons heirs be capable of in ten or twenty years? And where does that leave humans? As fast and fun as the game itself, Final Jeopardy shows how smart machines will fit into our world and how theyll disrupt it. www.finaljeopardy.net A Q & A With Author Stephen Baker Q: What did you come to most admire about the researchers working to develop Watson? A: I found myself admiring their meticulous engineering. Ive always enjoyed stories of great engineering, from the building of the Panama Canal to the rescue of Apollo 13. The work on Watson fits into that genre. It involves continual problem-solving, innovations, incremental improvements, and above all, endless patience. To do this work, the Jeopardy team had to break down the way we think, the way we understand sentences and concepts and facts, into tiny components, and then teach them to Watson. I have to say, I came out of this process with an ever greater appreciation for the magic that takes place between our ears. We dont give ourselves enough credit. Seriously. They had to build a roaring complex of computers and supply it with enough electricity to light up an entire town, all this just to approximate the question-answering part of the organ we carry in our heads. Unlike Watson, our thinking machines can run for hours on just a cup of coffee and a donut. Q: What was most surprising to you about Watsons behavior? A: Two things: First, its speed. When researchers describe all of the work it takes for a machine to make sense of a question and hunt down possible answers, it makes perfect sense that the process would take a computer two hours. And in the beginning, it did. The fact that they engineered that two-hour process into a mere three seconds is astounding. The second surprise was that Watson could be so amazingly smart on one question, then laughably clueless on the next. How could it ever conclude that the Russian word for good-bye would be "cholesterol"? How could it confuse Oliver Twist with the Pet Shop Boys? But you know what? I found that when I watched Watson screw up, I had even greater appreciation for the work involved when it got things right. If it got everything right, Watson wouldnt be the fallible (and entertaining) machine that it is. It would just be magic--which really is not nearly as impressive. Q: So who is in charge of picking the clues for the final match? Do you think the arrangements for the match are fair? A: In the end, Jeopardy chose 30 games that the writers had prepared for the Jeopardy season that began in the summer of 2010before they knew for sure that a man-machine match would take place. Each of the games was given a number. Then they had an outside compliance company select two of the games by number. I think theyve made the game as fair as possible. I should add that Watsons scientific test comes from a bigger set of matches. The machine took on human champions in 56 matches in the fall of 2010. It won a majority of those matches. And for the field of question-answering, those games mean more than the televised showdown, simply because there are more of them. Q: If you had to place bets, who do you think will win the match? A: I would bet on the computer, because theres only one computer facing two humans. Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter will compete against each other in areas where humans are presumably strongestclues associated with puns, humor, and difficult context. The computer, I would think, might dominate in the factual realms it "understands." That said, Id never wager much on one game. One lucky Daily Double or Final Jeopardy can decide a single match. Q: Should people who dont watch Jeopardy care about this story? If so, why? A: Jeopardy is just a showcase for a new type of machine. Look, were going to be living with these things, working with them, and using them as external lobes of our brains. Final Jeopardy follows the education of one such machine. Readers, Im hoping, will get a feel for its potential as well as its limitations. And that will help them understand what skills and knowledge theyll need to carry around in their own heads. Of course, Im also hoping theyll enjoy the story. Q: Doesnt Google already answer all our questions? What makes Watson so special? A: Google is so useful that we sometimes forget how much more it could tell us. First, it doesnt answer questions. It usually just points in the direction of the information were looking for and leaves the rest of the brain work to us. Watson, by contrast, puts together pieces of information from different sources and comes up with answers or hypotheses. A simple example. Lets say you want to buy a dog for your aging parents. It has to be small, quiet, well-behaved, able to tolerate long periods indoors, and friendly enough to sit on a lap. A hunt for such a dog on a search engine would require lots of different searches (unless someone had happened to write an article about precisely that challenge). But a machine like Watson would understand the sentence in English, read through several thousand documents, and put together a list of candidate dogs. It acts much more like a knowledgeable person. Q: Did Watson become more or less "human-like" to you over the course of the project? A: Its funny. When its playing Jeopardy, I find myself referring to it as him . But when you hang around with the researchers, the human evaporates and Watson returns to its truer form, that of an enormously sophisticated computer program. Sometimes its tempting to think of Watson as a brain. But as you deal with it, you see that its not even close to a full brain. It just handles information retrieval and question-answering. In short, its a tool. Q: How does the rest of the computing world see Watson? Is this the true path to Artificial Intelligence? A: Many folks in AI resent Watson, some of them to the point of loathing. You see, theres this dream of building machines that blend the intelligence of humans with the data-processing wizardry of computers. For people who hold that visionand many still doWatson is almost a false prophet. In the realm of Jeopardy, it acts like a human. But instead of processing information the way we do, it just crunches numbers. It doesnt really know or understand anything, or come up with ideas. Yet it worksand it gets to parade its smarts on national TV! If we as a society settle for machines like Watson, will we continue to fund the ambitious research that seeks to replicate the magic of the human brain? For many, thats the true path to AI. But as far as Im concerned, there doesnt have to be just one path. Q:How did IBM decide what to name Watson and who created its public image? A:There was lots of debate within IBM about Watsons name and image. How human should it be? Many worried that the public would view Watson as scary: a machine that learns our secrets and steals our jobs. So they decided to limit Watsons human qualities. They would give its friendly, masculine voice a machine-like overtone. And its face, if you could call it that, would simply be a circular avatarno eyes, nose or mouth, just streaming patterns representing flowing data. Despite these choices, Ive noticed that fellow Jeopardy players immediately start to respond to Watson as another humanand not necessarily a friendly one. Its playing the game, after all. And it usually beats them. As far as the name, IBM entertained loads of possibilities. They considered THINQ, Ace, even EureQA, a blend of Eureka with QA, for question answering. In the end, they picked Watson, for IBMs founder, Thomas J. Watson. In the literary world, it also fit into the stories of Sherlock Holmes, a master question-answerer. Of course, in those stories, Watson was only the assistant to the true genius. But considering the widespread fears surrounding smart computers, maybe it made sense to name the question-answering machine after Holmes plodding number two. Q:If Watson-like systems do become ubiquitous, what will that mean for humans? A:Theres no question about it. Machines like Watson are going to become part of our lives. Theyll be manning call centers, answering questions in offices, factories and emergency rooms. And theyll be available to all of us through our smart phones, often answering spoken questions. This intelligence will become, de facto, part of the human brain. Each one of us will have to figure out how to leverage these smart systems for our own goodand not be replaced by them. Our brains are still the most intricate, complex and brilliant thinking machines on earth. But we have to figure out how to use them in concert with the machinery were building.


The coronavirus pandemic has influenced the lives of many people. We analyzed the effects of physical activity and stress on students' motivation during the pandemic. Participants were 254 university students who reported their academic motivation, physical activity, general stress, the coronavirus pandemic strain, and their coronavirus stress. Women reported higher levels of coronavirus stress, general stress, and motivation. The coronavirus stress was predicted by the strain of the coronavirus pandemic but not by physical activity. General stress and gender predicted mastery goals, and performance goals were predicted by general stress. Physical activity was not related to students' motivation during the pandemic. Higher levels of general stress were associated with higher academic motivation. Negative emotions like stress could have enhanced students' motivation during uncertain times of the pandemic. Moreover, a moderate stress level could be favorable for academic dedication and achievement.


The starburst π-conjugated molecule 4,4',4''-tris(N-3-methylphenyl-N-phenyl-amino)triphenylamine (C57H48N4, m-MTDATA), based on triphenylamine (TPA) building blocks, is widely used in optoelectronic devices due to its good electron-donor characteristics. The electronic structure of m-MTDATA was investigated for the first time in the gas phase by means of PhotoElectron Spectroscopy (PES) and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The combination of Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations with the experimental spectra provides a comprehensive description of the molecular electronic structure. Moreover, by comparing the results with previous TPA measurements, we could shed light on how the electronic structure evolves when the molecular size is increased. We found that the C 1s photoelectron spectra of m-MTDATA and TPA are similar, due to the balance of the counter-acting effects of the electronegativity of the N atoms and the delocalization of the amine lone-pair electrons. In contrast, the increased number of N atoms (i.e. N lone pairs) in m-MTDATA determines a three-peak feature in the outermost valence binding energy region with strong contributions by the N 2pz orbitals. We also obtained a decrease of the HOMO-LUMO gap for m-MTDATA, which points to improved electron donating properties of m-MTDATA with respect to TPA.


Quickly build and deploy your own feature-rich website with DotNetNuke 5, VB.NET, and C# Create and manage your own website with DotNetNuke 5 Customize and enhance your site with custom modules Code provided in VB.NET and C# using Visual Studio 2010 Covers module development using Silverlight and Linq to SQL Complete coverage of setup, administration, and development In Detail DotNetNuke is an open source Content Management System and web application framework. It has taken the Microsoft world by storm and now at version 5, its community has grown to over 200,000 users. Revised and updated for DotNetNuke 5, this renowned book is your indispensable guide to creating content-rich websites with DotNetNuke, as quickly as possible. With this book in hand, you will be able to get your DotNetNuke website up and running. Concisely written and with clear explanations, this book covers installation, administration, deployment, site creation and all of the basic built-in DotNetNuke modules. For developers, it also covers the core architecture and custom modules, including module development using Linq to SQL and Silverlight, to give you the skills to customize and extend your site. The book starts off by giving you a deep understanding of working with basic DotNetNuke sites, guiding you through the features and giving you the confidence to create and manage your site. After that, you will journey to the heart of DotNetNuke, and learn about its core architecture. Always concise, relevant and practical, you will find out what makes DotNetNuke tick, and from there, you will be ready to customize DotNetNuke. Developers will enjoy the detailed walk-through of creating new custom modules. Special emphasis is given to using Linq to SQL and Silverlight to invigorate your module development. You will master all of this as you leap into the development of a DotNetNuke 5 site! A practical guide that shows you how to build your own DotNetNuke website and develop new modules using Visual Studio 2010 in VB.NET and C#, using the latest technologies. What you will learn from this book This book will give you the skills to create and manage DotNetNuke websites as quickly as possible. You will: Install and configure DotNetNuke Master the standard modules Understand the core architecture of DotNetNuke Explore the inner workings of DotNetNuke modules Use code provided in VB.NET or C# using Visual Studio 2010 Learn module development using Silverlight and Linq to SQL Learn to create portal templates and set up multiple portals Approach This book is a practical tutorial with step-by-step instructions and clear, concise explanations. Illustrative screenshots are used for better understanding at every step. You will learn how to set up and administer an example site, stepping through all the tasks to ease your learning. The emphasis is not on becoming a better VB.NET or C# programmer but on taming DotNetNuke. Who this book is written for This book has been written both for beginners wanting to set up a website and also for ASP.NET developers with a grasp of VB.NET and C# who want a deeper understanding of how to work with DotNetNuke. To work with the DotNetNuke code, you will need access to Visual Web Developer Express or Visual Studio .NET 2010. No prior knowledge of DotNetNuke is assumed.


Birth asphyxia is a
leading cause of neonatal mortality. Asphyxiated newborns often struggle to
make the transition from fetal to neonatal life and often require resuscitative
intervention at birth to help them successfully achieve pulmonary gas exchange
and transition the circulation from the fetal to newborn phenotype. The timing
and type of resuscitation provided to asphyxiated newborns, as outlined in
current resuscitation guidelines, heavily rely on our understanding of the
cardiorespiratory response that occurs during birth asphyxia. The studies
contained in this thesis improve our understanding of the cardiovascular
response to birth asphyxia in the ex-utero environment, in a model appropriate
for the post-natal newborn.


This resettlement action plan (RAP) comprises three volumes, the Resettlement Policy Framework (v. 1), and resettlement summaries for the five specified roads (v. 2 and 3). The Second Road Sector Development Program Project, entails the construction and rehabilitation along five roads, where affected assets include not only strips of farmland, houses and structures, but project affected people (PAPs), mostly around urban areas traversed by road alignments, which includes as well, road encroachment considered a strategy for survival. This resettlement policy framework looks at the displacement of people whose livelihoods will be adversely affected by the implementation of the project, based on the country's Constitution, and on the Bank's operational directive on involuntary resettlement, and proposes compensation as follows. Land losses will be compensated at replacement costs, or, in cash based on market values; this includes loss of structures and housing, as well as infrastructure compensation regarding damaged or lost water pipes, electricity, and telephone poles. Likewise, compensation will be also be provided for loss of business, or income, e.g., derived from loss of trees and crops, grazing, or other activities. Monitoring criteria should determine that resettlement objectives are met, while grievance mechanisms will be in place should conflicts arise.


Election campaigns in advanced democracies are highly mediated events. Thus, the electorate has come to depend upon the media for information regarding the election, the parties and their policies. At the same time, research indicates that the news coverage of elections tends to be structurally biased, in the sense that the media coverage is episodic rather than thematic and that it is focused on the horse race and the political strategies of the competing parties rather than on the issues at stake. However, comparative studies of election news coverage in different countries are still somewhat lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the election news coverage in Britain and Sweden, two countries that are part of different models of media and political systems. The study investigates the election news coverage in two major broadsheets and one major tabloid in each country, during the last three weeks before the Swedish Election in 2002 and the British Election in 2005. The results show several significant differences between the Swedish and the British election news coverage.


The deployment of civilian police in UN peacekeeping operations represents a significant commitment for many police organisations, especially in decentralised political systems such as Canada where municipal and provincial police services are involved. While these missions attract large numbers of highly motivated officers, their selection, deployment and return are fraught with organisational challenges that are underestimated or ignored by the contributing agencies. In this paper, we will examine these challenges as they are experienced and resolved by three large Canadian police organisations, through a number of qualitative interviews conducted with former police peacekeepers and their managers. We argue in this paper that the deployment and reintegration stages of a police peacekeeping mission should be included in the assessment of its success, and that unless contributing police organisations find ways to improve the experience of their returning officers, the sustainability of UN police peacekeeping deployments could become problematic.


Pyrolysis has been examined as an effective alternative waste disposal treatment, compared with land filling and incineration of solid waste. The pyrolysis technology allows minimal energy usage, material utilization and a cleaner resource recovery. This research addresses state of the art Pyrolysis of the Non-Metallic Fraction (NMF) of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), after the copper separation process is complete. The aim is reducing emissions and increasing the production quality at optimal conditions. The main objectives of this research are to demonstrate the feasibility of using pyrolysis to recover NMF material and results of the experiments were aimed to make a critical argument to the current waste disposal treatments by comparing the possibilities of using pyrolysis as waste disposal treatment. This research investigates technological developments, production yield, production quality and the environmental impacts, to create an argument against current waste disposal treatments, which are not an ideal solution for NMF of PCBs. Within this research, firstly the characteristics of NMF materials and the elemental composition of the materials are reviewed and investigated. Then, the influence of important operating parameters such as reaction temperature, heating rate and processing time in the reaction zone of the pyrolysis process are reviewed and scrutinized. Next, the pyrolysis production characteristics, yield quality and the main properties of the products are explored and summarized. In the final section, the emissions from the NMF pyrolysis process, such as CO, NOx, Sox and other possible formation gases are reviewed and summarized. It can be concluded that the innovative pyrolysis process is an effective waste recovery method, especially for NMF in terms of maximizing material utilization. Based on this research information, the prospect of applying this innovative pyrolysis technology to effectively dispose of the NMF material is evaluated and it is suggested that this is a more suitable and effective waste disposal treatment for NMF material.


Hydrogen has been identified as a promising energy carrier. Its combustion is not associated with pollution when generated from renewable energy sources like solar and wind. The large-scale use of hydrogen for intermittent energy storage and as a fuel for cars can contribute to the realization of a more sustainable energy system in the future. However several technical challenges have to be addressed, of which compact, safe and cost effective on-board hydrogen storage is a crucial one. A promising approach is the use of metal hydrides with high hydrogen content for reversible hydrogen storage. Alkali-metal borohydrides like LiBH4 and NaBH4 have high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen densities. However due to unfavourable thermodynamics and poor kinetics, hydrogen release from these compounds occurs at elevated temperatures only, and is not readily reversible under practical conditions. This thesis describes a study on nanosizing and nanoconfinement of alkali-metal borohydrides in nanoporous scaffolds as a strategy to address these issues. The preparation and characterization of nanoconfined LiBH4 and NaBH4 are described in this thesis. Ordered mesoporous silica (SBA-15) and nanoporous carbon materials were used as scaffolds for the synthesis. The effects of physical confinement at the nanoscale and interaction with the nanoporous host material on the hydrogen sorption properties of these complex-metal hydrides are discussed. Furthermore the effect of combining nanoconfinement and the use of additives (Ni nanoparticles) on the hydrogen release and uptake kinetics is described. Nanoconfinement of alkali-metal borohydrides resulted in a significant decrease in their hydrogen release temperatures compared to the bulk. Support effects were clearly observed; the use of mesoporous silica as a template led to irreversible formation of stable silicates during hydrogen release from the nanocomposites, while the use of high purity nanoporous carbon materials resulted in remarkable increase in the reversibility of the hydrogen release. For LiBH4, combination of nanoconfinement in carbon and addition of Ni nanoparticles resulted in a further increase in the reversible capacity of the nanocomposites under moderate rehydrogenation condition(40 bar H2 and 320 °C). The equilibrium decomposition temperature (at 1 bar H2) of LiBH4 and NaBH4 confined in nanoporous carbon material was significantly lower than that of the bulk, showing that their stability and/or decomposition pathway were changed upon nanoconfinement in carbon material. The results discussed in this PhD thesis shows that nanoconfinement in porous carbon materials is an effective strategy to fundamentally change the kinetics, reversibility and the equilibrium of hydrogen uptake and release in complex metal hydrides. These changes are attributed to the effect of nanosizing which results in reduced mass transport distances(nanoscale); physical confinement at nanoscale which restricts segregation of the immobile dehydrogenated phases, and interaction with the nanoporous support. Our work established a new preparation technique for nanoconfined alkali borohydrides, and providesvaluable information on factors that influence the dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation rates, stability and most importantly on how to achieve full reversibility of the hydrogen release from alkali-metal borohydrides.


Oxidative addition of carbon-halogen bonds at transition metals typically follow either a two-electron pathway (concerted M-R/M-X formation) or a radical chain pathway (stepwise M-R/M-X formation). When the reactive metal species is generated slowly, however, both mechanisms can compete to yield unexpected reactivity paths. The present report highlights the synthesis of rhodium methylidenes from chloroalkanes (e.g. CH2Cl2 and CHCl3) at POP-pincer frameworks (e.g. POP = 4,6-bis(di-tert- butylphosphino)dibenzo[b,d]furan) via a cascade of halide abstraction and electron transfer steps. Experimental and computational studies are reported that support the proposed mechanism, including characterization of important reaction intermediates. The overall transformation represents a route towards reactive metal alkylidenes using milder and less-reactive carbenoid precursors than what is presently used.


The ambitious goal of the Handbook of Nature-Inspired and Innovative Computing is to "to be a Virtual Get Together of several researchers that one could invite to attend a conference on 'futurism' dealing with the theme of Computing in the 21st Century." The Handbook contains 22 chapters, written in a "workshop style," meaning that little to no background is required from the reader except for basic knowledge of computer science, and the chapter authors provide an overview of a particular research area. The material is divided into three sections: Models (i.e., theory), Enabling Technologies (i.e., hardware), and Application Domains (i.e., recent, novel applications of computer science). Most of the chapters present either theoretical models (fuzzy logic, quantum computing, swarm intelligence) or report on trends in non-von-Neumannmodel hardware (morphware, optical VLSI, neural models in silicon). Overall, I found this volume to be a fascinating, and "gentle," introduction to a wide range of nonstandard research areas of computer science.


Possibilities of transferring cost-effective, innovative water and wastewater technologies on public water markets are discussed based on experiences of the Dutch water business cluster in the Central and Eastern European Countries. These transfers evolved under suitable conditions, among others financial support of the suppliers, obsolete local water technologies, demanding European policies and co-financing of the adopters' investments. While acting in the cluster and the financial support reduced the suppliers' transaction costs, the chance of successful transfer was low because adoption of the innovative water technologies is generally costlier than keeping obsolete technologies whose costs are sunk. The communities were prone to adopt the innovative water technologies if they can gain valuable water uses for public health, tourism, education, nature and so on. Strict environmental demands are insufficient for the technology adoption because of poor enforcement. The suppliers' technological know-how provides low value added because communities perceive water technology markets as transparent; income-generating models are more attractive. Subsidies for water innovations transfers reinforce the disparity between the suppliers and adopters' interests because support equipment rather than value adding services related to water technologies. Integration of the value adding services in water innovations transfers is recommended.


Excited-state dynamics are essential to understanding the formation of DNA lesions induced by UV light. By using femtosecond IR spectroscopy, it was possible to determine the lifetimes of the excited states of all four bases in the double-stranded environment of natural DNA. After UV excitation of the DNA duplex, we detected a concerted decay of base pairs connected by Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds. A comparison of single- and double-stranded DNA showed that the reactive charge-transfer states formed in the single strands are suppressed by base pairing in the duplex. The strong influence of the Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds indicates that proton transfer opens an efficient decay path in the duplex that prohibits the formation or reduces the lifetime of reactive charge-transfer states.


Corporate social responsibility that has a powerful potential to make positive contributions to organizations and societies, has become one of the important issues in the corporate world. So, Marketing scholars have been interested in supporting of social responsible behavior of companies, because the only way for the employees and consumers to try out the success about sensitivity and benevolence of the organizations by looking at the actions about its corporate social responsibility initiatives. The purpose of this study to describe the importance of marketing communication tools and techniques to built and enhance the organizations' corporate social responsibilities


The first Russian underground repository for high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (HLW and ILW, respectively) will be built in the crystalline Archean granite–gneisses at Yeniseisky (Krasnoyarsk region, Siberia). The geological and hydrogeological characteristics of this site are similar to those found in Forsmark (Sweden) and Olkiluoto (Finland). However, the Russian disposal strategy is different. HLW will be disposed in the form of an aluminophos phate glass and ILW (with long-lived radionuclides) will be cemented. Preliminary research on all aspects of repository design (stability of waste forms, waste packages, and bentonite buffer; evaluation of the geologic barrier; and simulation of radionuclide transport by groundwater) will be performed at an on-site underground research laboratory.


Reprocessing of spent fuel is used to separate re-usable uranium and plutonium from the radioactive waste in Japan. The resulting liquid containing high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is vitrified in stainless steel containers. In accordance with the national program, vitrified HLW is completely isolated from the human environment in storage facilities for 30 to 50 years for cooling, and will be safely disposed underground deeper than 300m, based on the Specified Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Act (Final Disposal Act), promulgated in June 2000. Repository operation will be then started around 2033∼2038.In October 2000, The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) was established as an implementing organization of HLW disposal, based on the Final Disposal Act and started to solicit openly for volunteer municipalities for selection of Preliminary Investigation Areas in December 2002.This paper describes Japanese HLW disposal program focusing on the current activities of NUMO. Furthermore the outline of the site investigation is shown, and the item which NUMO expects geophysical exploration technology is stated.


We describe the approach of an Indigenous–non-Indigenous research partnership in the context of a qualitative study which aimed to understand barriers and facilitators to engagement in a community-based healthy lifestyles program in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Informed by Kaupapa Māori research principles and by "Community-Up" research values, this collaborative approach between the mixed Māori–non-Māori research team effectively engaged with Māori and non-Māori families for in-depth interviews on participant experience, including with non-service users. "Community-Up" research principles allowed for a respectful process which upheld the mana (status, dignity) of the interview participants and the research team. Challenges included maintaining flexibility in our conceptions of ethnicity to reflect the complexity of modern family life in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We were committed to ongoing communication, awareness, and attention to the relationships that formed the basis of our research partnership, which allowed effective navigation of challenges and was critical to the study's success.


Background: In India as of 31st March 2010, there were 30917 laboratory confirmed H1N1 positive cases out of which 1453 were deaths with positivity index of 22.87% and mortality was 4.8%. But there was alarming sign after comparing these figures with those on 3rd October 2010 which showed 44687 confirmed H1N1 Positive cases with 2574 deaths with rise in positivity index to 23.3% and mortality rate of 5.7%. From the available data core issue of deaths occurring due to H1N1 positivity in short period of time in this year and risk factors associated with fatality were needed to look in detail.

Aims & Objective: To study the epidemiologic characteristics of reported deaths, high-risk profiles linked with underlying disease among reported deaths who died after infection with H1N1 influenza.

Material and Methods: Retrospective Record based study. Data was collected from prescribed format for swine flu patients admitted in IIW (Identified Isolation Ward) of Tertiary care hospital in Pune, State Maharashtra, India. Epidemiological characteristics like age, gender, residential address, time lag of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) initiation, co morbidities, etc. were included. Confirmation of H1N1 positivity among cases was done by conducting Real Time PCR at National Institute of Virology, Pune. Trend of Occurrence of positive cases and death was drawn. Results were presented in the form of percentages for the respective variables. Case fatality rate was calculated for H1N1 Deaths.

Results: Maximum positive cases and deaths were in the month of August 2010. Deaths were more among age group of 20 years and above and female's proportion was high. Thirty one deaths were in Pune urban area from April 2010 to September 2010. Time lag in initiation of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was seen among 63 (79%) deaths. Asthma, Diabetes and hypertension were co morbid condition and pregnancy was associated condition with H1N1 fatality.

Conclusion: Mortality was seen among adult population. Time lag in initiation of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was seen among majority of deaths.


The effect of scattering and diffraction on measurement of sound pressure with "two-microphone" sound intensity probes is examined using an axisymmetric boundary element model of the probe. Whereas it has been shown a few years ago that the sound intensity estimated with a two-microphone probe is reliable up to 10 kHz when using 0.5 in. microphones in the usual face-to-face arrangement separated by a 12 mm spacer, the sound pressure measured with the same instrument will typically be underestimated at high frequencies. It is shown in this paper that the estimate of the sound pressure can be improved under a variety of realistic sound field conditions by applying a different weighting of the two pressure signals from the probe. The improved intensity probe can measure the sound pressure more accurately at high frequencies than an ordinary sound intensity probe or an ordinary sound level meter.


Anomaly detection has become an indispensable tool for modern society, applied in a wide range of applications, from detecting fraudulent transactions to malignant brain tumors. Over time, many anomaly detection techniques have been introduced. However, in general, they all suffer from the same problem: lack of data that represents anomalous behaviour. As anomalous behaviour is usually costly (or dangerous) for a system, it is difficult to gather enough data that represents such behaviour. This, in turn, makes it difficult to develop and evaluate anomaly detection techniques. Recently, generative adversarial networks (GANs) have attracted much attention in anomaly detection research, due to their unique ability to generate new data. In this paper, we present a systematic review of the literature in this area, covering 128 papers. The goal of this review paper is to analyze the relation between anomaly detection techniques and types of GANs, to identify the most common application domains for GAN-assisted and GAN-based anomaly detection, and to assemble information on datasets and performance metrics used to assess them. Our study helps researchers and practitioners to find the most suitable GAN-assisted anomaly detection technique for their application. In addition, we present a research roadmap for future studies in this area. In summary, GANs are used in anomaly detection to address the problem of insufficient amount of data for the anomalous behaviour, either through data augmentation or representation learning. The most commonly used GAN architectures are DCGANs, standard GANs, and cGANs. The primary application domains include medicine, surveillance and intrusion detection.


Electromagnetic field is undoubtedly one of the most difficult course in the undergraduate courses for electronics/physics degrees. The difficulty arises from the fact that electromagnetic fields are not visible unlike some other concepts in mechanical engineering where one deals with concrete objects. Students generally find it hard to grasp the ideas as these ideas are abstract and their learning cannot be supported through simple experiments in which they can handle objects and see what is happening. Visualisation of electric field lines and equipotential contours in several different scenarios can be demanding to imagine. There are mathematical ways to calculate however these methods can be equally or more challenging. For the first instance before mathematics of the electric fields is introduced if the electric field lines can be viewed as an output of a simple computer model it can be very beneficial to students for their understanding and retaining/creating their interest and enthusiasm in the subject. Since several parameters in the model can be changed very easily, effects of those parameters on electric field lines can be viewed. The main objective of this article is to demonstrate some such simple modelling possibilities using the available software package.


In a related reproductive toxicology study designed to investigate the effects of in utero exposure to environmental toxicants and potential interaction with postnatal genistein, gross enlargement of thoracic mammary glands was observed in female offspring at 200 days of age. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the effect of in utero exposure to a mixture of toxicants on mammary gland morphology. Time-mated Sprague-Dawley rats were treated on days 9-16 of gestation with vehicle or a mixture of environmental toxicants at 1x the acceptable daily intake. Furthermore, it is unclear whether postnatal exposure to phytoestrogens in soy formulas poses breast cancer benefit or risk, and potential interactions with environmental toxicants are unknown. Therefore, half the female pups from each treatment group received either subcutaneous vehicle or genistein (10 microg/g body weight [bw]/day) on postnatal days 2-8. Following necropsy at 200 days of age, a pathologist, blinded to treatment groups, examined mammary gland histopathology. Only mild histological changes were found in mammary glands of rats exposed to the mixture in utero while pronounced ductal hyperplasia, lactational changes, and fibrosis were observed in mammary glands from the genistein group and were more prominent in the mixture + genistein group. Mammary glands of the control group were histologically normal. Collectively, our results reveal that postnatal exposure to pharmacological levels of genistein induces profound morphological changes in the mammary glands of adult female rats, and that high levels of phytoestrogens possess the potential to modulate the toxicological effects of toxicant mixtures.


Dear Colleagues, Although we know intuitively that experience matters, in what way does it contribute to supporting high-quality practice? Is it a question of volume? Of age (the more seasoned the better)? Of our approach to working through a clinical presentation? What are potential pitfalls associated with experience? The literature on procedural skills (eg, difficult intubation, laparoscopic surgery) provides several examples of the importance of experience (adequate exposure and autonomy) in influencing performance.1,2 In a review of all hospital-based deliveries in New York and Florida from 1992 to 2010, Asch et al found that experience matters, as reflected in a decrease in the rate of maternal complications observed following obstetricians' practices over a long period.3 Establishing a clinical diagnosis and initiating and monitoring treatment are important in family practice, as in all clinical disciplines. Particularly in family medicine, we need to determine when a watchful approach is appropriate. Evidence regarding the role of experience in clinical reasoning and expertise is particularly relevant. Traditionally, the analytical model has been described in problem solving as being most robust (hypothesis generation or differential diagnosis; process of elimination, to a most likely diagnosis). By contrast, the tacit or intuitive model of thinking is "a holistic perspective that takes into account all types of information that often cannot be easily articulated explicitly. Intuition as a holistic process integrates all information without the potentially biasing influence of prior expectations."4 The limitation of tacit reasoning is that it is more prone to error. In medicine, this is often manifested by premature closure of the diagnostic thinking process. Attribution, anchoring, and affective errors are examples of premature closure.5 It is thought that experience leads to the development of "illness scripts," which inform rapid and intuitive clinical reasoning processes. Experience affects the organization of knowledge. Expert knowledge is organized according to highly sophisticated schemas, whereas novices lack this deep structure. Others have referred to this as categorization of scripts.6,7 Such organization allows experts to analyze and interpret information and be able to problem solve rapidly. In How Doctors Think, Groopman describes his experience as an intern when he witnessed (but did not recognize) the rupture of an aortic valve in a patient he was interviewing; a cardiologist, visiting friends, made the diagnosis quickly, purely on clinical grounds.5 This exemplifies tacit reasoning by an expert who had a large number of illness scripts appropriately categorized or calibrated in his brain. How can we then maximize the value of experience to best serve our patients and communities? Some evidence suggests that an expert performance approach, through deliberate practice, is part of the answer. There are numerous examples of this in music, sports, and games such as chess. Deliberate practice is defined as "the individualized training activities specially designed by a coach or teacher to improve specific aspects of an individual's performance through repetition and successive refinement."8,9 Simulation has offered opportunities to better understand deliberate practice. Three factors that are essential to effective, transferable learning from experience in simulation also correspond to the elements of deliberate practice: having explicit performance goals; receiving immediate, accurate feedback; and repeatedly performing the assigned, relevant task.8 Some argue that aiming to expose learners early and regularly to clinical scenarios to build illness scripts might be necessary but insufficient—that we need to strive for adaptive expertise as an approach to practice, as an "ongoing process of continual reinvestment of cognitive resources in an effort to transform practice and extend the boundaries of knowledge."10 Clearly, there is more to learn here. We need to adapt the concept of deliberate practice for family medicine, as well as better understand and stimulate the development of adaptive expertise, particularly given the importance of context in family practice.


Cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) plays an important role in bacterial adaptation to enable survival in changing environments. It orchestrates various pathways involved in biofilm formation, changes in the cell surface, host colonization and virulence. In this article, we report the presence of c-di-GMP in Mycobacterium smegmatis, and its role in the long-term survival of the organism. M. smegmatis has a single bifunctional protein with both GGDEF and EAL domains, which show diguanylate cyclase (DGC) and phosphodiesterase (PDE)-A activity, respectively, in vitro. We named this protein MSDGC-1. Deletion of the gene encoding MSDGC-1 did not affect growth and biofilm formation in M. smegmatis, but long-term survival under conditions of nutritional starvation was affected. Most of the proteins that contain GGDEF and EAL domains have been demonstrated to have either DGC or PDE-A activity. To gain further insight into the regulation of the protein, we cloned the individual domains, and tested their respective activities. MSDGC-1, the full-length protein, is required for activity, as its GGDEF and EAL domains are inactive when separated.