This study represents a multiplex cytokine analysis of serum from a 10-month randomized, controlled trial of 238 subjects that investigated the effects of selenomethionine and/or celecoxib in subjects with mild or moderate esophageal squamous dysplasia. The original chemoprevention study found that, among those with mild dysplasia, selenomethionine treatment favorably altered dysplasia grade. The current analysis found that selenomethionine downregulated interleukin (IL)-2 by 9% (P = 0.04), whereas celecoxib downregulated IL-7 by 11% (P = 0.006) and upregulated IL-13 by 17% (P = 0.008). In addition, an increase in IL-7 tertile from baseline to t10 was significantly associated with an increase in dysplasia grade, both overall [odds ratio (OR), 1.47; P = 0.03] and among those with mild dysplasia at t0 (OR, 2.53; P = 0.001). An increase in IL-2 tertile from baseline to t10 was also nonsignificantly associated with worsening dysplasia for all participants (OR, 1.32; P = 0.098) and significantly associated with worsening dysplasia among those with mild dysplasia at baseline (OR, 2.0; P = 0.01). The association of increased IL-2 with worsening dysplasia remained significant in those on selenomethionine treatment who began the trial with mild dysplasia (OR, 2.52; P = 0.03). The current study shows that selenomethionine supplementation decreased serum IL-2 levels, whereas celecoxib treatment decreased IL-7 levels and increased IL-13 levels during a 10-month randomized chemoprevention trial. An increase in IL-2 or IL-7 was associated with increased severity of dysplasia over the course of the trial, especially in those who began the trial with mild dysplasia. The favorable effect of selenomethionine on esophageal dysplasia in the original trial may have been mediated in part by its effect in reducing the levels of IL-2. Cancer Prev Res; 3(7); 810–7. ©2010 AACR.


Abstract We explain some key challenges when dealing with a single- or multi-objective optimization problem in practice. To overcome these challenges, we present a mathematical program that optimizes the Nash social welfare function. We refer to this mathematical program as the Nash social welfare program (NSWP). An interesting property of the NSWP is that it can be constructed for any single- or multi-objective optimization problem. We show that solving the NSWP could result in more desirable solutions in practice than its single- or multi-objective counterpart. We also discuss several promising approaches that could be employed to solve the NSWP in practice.


This case study examines face-to-face and remote teaching in a doctoral education course and ask if flipped classroom, formative assessment and remote teaching increase the teaching quality of a literature review course. To be able to answer the research question, design-based research (DBRC, 2003) and case study (Yin, 2009) were used as a research-pedagogical design and methodological framework. The selection of informants is based on purposeful selection (Maxwell, 2005) where one group of PhD candidates (n = 24) situated at the University of Bergen and one group of PhD candidates (n = 12) situated at Volda University College, were selected. The study indicates that the PhD candidates enhanced their understanding of literature review throughout the PhD course, they appreciated the course design, and the quality of their academic papers and their survey feedback indicated that they had a good learning outcome from the course. Despite some methodological limitations, this study shows that advanced video conferencing systems in combination with a well-prepared teaching design have several positive outcomes and can be used as a starting point for a more large-scale study. The study shows, despite former ÅRGANG 42, NR. 2-2019, S. 194–214 ISSN ONLINE: 1893-8981 195 UNIPED | ÅRGANG 42 | NR. 2-2019 This article is downloaded from www.idunn.no. © 2019 Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). mixed experiences with remote teaching, that student participation via several campuses did not necessarily lead to poorer quality and poorer learning outcome for these PhD candidates in this case study. However, the case study also shows the need for more large-scale research which will give a more nuanced and thorough understanding of how we can increase the teaching quality of remote teaching as part of the training component in the PhD.


Background:It is well documented that several general anesthetics, including propofol, potentiate glycine receptor function. Furthermore, glycine receptors exist throughout the central nervous system, including areas of the brain thought to be involved in sleep. However, the role of glycine receptors in anesthetic-induced hypnosis has not been determined. Methods:Experiments were conducted in rats where the loss of righting reflex (LORR) was used as a marker of the hypnotic state. Propofol-induced LORR was examined in the presence and absence of strychnine (a glycine receptor antagonist), GABAzine (a γ-aminobutyric acid A receptor antagonist), as well as ketamine (an antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid subtype of glutamate receptors). Furthermore, the effects of propofol on the currents elicited by glycine and γ-aminobutyric acid were analyzed in neurons isolated from the posterior hypothalamus of rats. The effects of strychnine and GABAzine on propofol-induced currents were also evaluated. Results:Strychnine and GABAzine dose-dependently reduced the percentage of rats exhibiting LORR induced by propofol. Furthermore, strychnine significantly increased the onset time and reduced the duration of LORR induced by propofol. In contrast, strychnine did not affect the LORR induced by ketamine. In addition, propofol markedly increased the currents elicited by glycine and GABA of hypothalamic neurons. Conversely, strychnine and GABAzine both profoundly attenuated the current induced by propofol. Conclusion:Strychnine, the glycine receptor antagonist, dose-dependently reduced propofol-induced LORR in rats and propofol-induced current of rat hypothalamic neurons. These results suggest that neuronal glycine receptors partially contribute to propofol-induced hypnosis.


We formulate a nonlinear synergistic theory of coevolutionary systems, disentangling and explaining dynamic complexity in terms of fundamental processes for optimised data analysis and dynamic model design: Dynamic Source Analysis (DSA). DSA provides a nonlinear dynamical basis for spatiotemporal datasets or dynamical models, eliminating redundancies and expressing the system in terms of the smallest number of fundamental processes and interactions without loss of information. This optimises model design in dynamical systems, expressing complex coevolution in simple synergistic terms, yielding physically meaningful spatial and temporal structures. These are extracted by spatiotemporal decomposition of nonlinearly interacting subspaces via the novel concept of a Spatiotemporal Coevolution Manifold. Physical consistency is ensured and mathematical ambiguities are avoided with fundamental principles on energy minimisation and entropy production. The relevance of DSA is illustrated by retrieving a non-redundant, synergistic set of nonlinear geophysical processes exerting control over precipitation in space and time over the Euro-Atlantic region. For that purpose, a nonlinear spatiotemporal basis is extracted from geopotential data fields, yielding two independent dynamic sources dominated respectively by meridional and zonal circulation gradients. These sources are decomposed into spatial and temporal structures corresponding to multiscale climate dynamics. The added value of nonlinear predictability is brought out in the geospatial evaluation and dynamic simulation of evolving precipitation distributions from the geophysical controls, using DSA-driven model building and implementation. The simulated precipitation is found to be in agreement with observational data, which they not only describe but also dynamically link and attribute in synergistic terms of the retrieved dynamic sources.


Genetic linkage maps are critical for assembling draft genomes to a meaningful chromosome level and for deciphering the genomic underpinnings of biological traits. The estimates of recombination rates derived from genetic maps also play an important role in understanding multiple aspects of genomic evolution such as nucleotide substitution patterns and accumulation of deleterious mutations. In this study, we developed a high-throughput experimental approach that combines fluorescence-activated cell sorting, whole-genome amplification, and short-read sequencing to construct a genetic map using single-sperm cells. Furthermore, a computational algorithm was developed to analyze single-sperm whole-genome sequencing data for map construction. These methods allowed us to rapidly build a male-specific genetic map for the freshwater microcrustacean Daphnia pulex, which shows significant improvements compared to a previous map. With a total of mapped 1672 haplotype blocks and an average intermarker distance of 0.87 cM, this map spans a total genetic distance of 1451 Kosambi cM and comprises 90% of the resolved regions in the current Daphnia reference assembly. The map also reveals the mistaken mapping of seven scaffolds in the reference assembly onto chromosome II by a previous microsatellite map based on F2 crosses. Our approach can be easily applied to many other organisms and holds great promise for unveiling the intragenomic and intraspecific variation in the recombination rates.


Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are glycoproteins, with the common characteristic of containing covalently attached heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan chains (GAGs). These molecules are highly modified in cancer, contributing to tumorigenesis. In fact, the expression of HSPGs is markedly altered during malignant transformation and tumor progression, affecting both the PG core proteins and the GAG chains. We discuss here some of the main regulatory points in HSPG formation and modification, all of which are implicated in cancer development and progression. Furthermore, we highlight some examples of these alterations in different tumors. Finally, this review aims to outline improvements in our knowledge of HSPGs and cancer, hopefully in order to promote the design of possible new integrated anti-cancer treatment strategies.


The implementation of national health insurance in Indonesia since 2014 has brought out the missing middle problem in which the non-poor informal sectors have remained uncovered from the health care due to self-enrollment. Therefore, achieving UHC in Indonesia will take a long process, especially when the proportion of non-poor informal sector in total population is large enough. This study aims at examining three main issues that may have become obstacles for informal sectors to join the program: (1) observing supply side readiness, (2) examining affordable premium and willingness to pay of informal sectors, and (3) exploring why informal workers have been reluctant to join the national health insurance. This study reports that around 53.7% of Sub National Government (SNG) faced a shortage of health facilities of 59,387 beds, though in some regions had surplus of beds (per 1000 people). This study also finds that a single premium for all over Indonesia is unfair and unaffordable for some people living in eastern part of Indonesia. Observing 400 households working in informal sectors and applying Triple Bounded Dichotomies Choice Contingent Valuation Method (TCCVM) to observe the Willingness to Pay (WTP), this study finds that around 70% of respondents had the desire to join the health insurance, but their willingness to pay of the premium was lower than the current rate. The current premium seemed less affordable for informal sectors; thus, this created a barrier for them to enthusiastically join the new health insurance program. Our econometric estimations confirm that availability of hospital, insurance literacy, experiences of inpatients and outpatients, number of family member, sex of head of household, access to internet and household income are highly correlated to the likelihood of informal sectors joining the national health insurance (NHI). Moreover, in contrast with findings from many other studies, the insurance premium is surprisingly not the main reason for informal sectors to join the program; rather, the main obstacle is the lack of insurance literacy. Consequently, the necessary condition for mandating informal sectors to join the program is an improvement of insurance literacy, while the sufficient conditions are supply-side readiness and affordable premium. This study calls for a massive campaign to educate the public about the importance of health insurance.


The theoretical literature on fiscal federalism has identified several channels through which government decentralization could affect economic growth. Much of the literature focuses on the efficiency aspects of a decentralized provision of public services, but decentralization may also increase growth by raising the ability of the political system to innovate and carry out reforms. In contrast, some authors argue that decentralization increases corruption and government inefficiency, and thus may diminish growth. Given this theoretical ambiguity, several studies have attempted to identify the effect of decentralization on economic growth empirically over the last two decades. We review and conduct a meta-analysis of this empirical literature. Based on our analysis, we point out open questions and discuss possible ways to answer them.


The insecticidal properties of Combretum imberbe ashes, Carica papaya leaf powder, Eucalyptus leaf powder, lonchocarpus capassa leaf powder, and pepper powder were evaluatedto determine the efficacy and optimize their use in reducing cowpea losses to Callosobruchus rhodesicmus. The specific objectives of the study were to: determine the proportion of cowpeaweevil damaged seeds from the various indigenous management methods, evaluate cowpeaweevil fertility and effect on germinability over a three months period. Two cowpea varietiesIT 18 and CBC2 were infested with 10 Callosobruchus rhodesicmus adults and then subjected tothe different indigenous insect management methods. Hundred uninfested seeds of each varietywere placed in mutton bags and replicated three times in a RCBD. The number of oviposited hatched eggs and emergent holes were counted on all the cowpeas seeds under each treatmentfortnightly from one month after infestation. A top paper germinability test was done to the seedsafter three months to assess the level of weevil damage. The results were analysed using Genstat software. There were highly significant differences (PO.OOl) between the treatment methods, varieties and counts. Actellic dust a standard control had 67 eggs which was about ten tunesmore effective than the most effective indigenous method, Combretum imberbe method. The control treatment without any protectant had the greatest number of emergent holes 304.2, which, was 186.8 more than Combretum imberbe which was the most effective indigenous method. Pepper was the second best management method having nine times more holes than Combretum imberbe. Eucalyptus leaf powder was the least effective. There was a strong positive (PO.OOl) correlation (0.81) between number of eggs and holes in the cowpea seeds for the seven methods evaluated. From the three counts made for all the seven methods evaluated the number of eggs was about 5 times the number of emergence holes. There was highly significant difference (PO.OOl) in the method used and variety in terms of percentage germination. Variety IT 18 always had a higher germination percentage irrespective of the method of managementused. Overall, the study observed that protecting stored cowpea using plant products at smallholder level is better than leaving them unprotected hence farmers are recommended to use plant products to protect their grain legumes. Future research is recommended to determine exact concentrations of plant materials that will totally protect the grain legumes from damage by insects.


The DNA synthesis and morphological changes of the lungs of the salamanders, Hynobiusnebulosus, were studied by light microscopic radioautography. The lung tissues of 21 salamanders in 7 groups at various aging stages, from juvenile animals at 4, 6 and 8 weeks after metamorphosis, young adults at 3, 8 and 12 months after metamorphosis, and senescent adults at 5 years after metamorphosis were used for this study. They were injected intraperitoneally with 3H-thymidine (370 KBq/g body weight), and after 1 hr the lung tissues were fixed in buffered 2.5% glutaraldehyde solution for 2 hr and postfixed in 1% osmium tetroxide solution for 1 hr. The tissues were embedded in epoxy resin Quetol-812. Thick sections were cut at 2 mm on a Porter-Blum MT-6000 ultramicrotome and were coated with Konica NR-M2 emulsion by a dipping procedure for light microscopic radioautography. After exposure for 2 months, the radioautographs were developed in SDX-1 developer, stained with 0.1% toluidine blue and were observed with an Olympus Vanox light microscope, and analyzed quantitatively. As the results, the labeling indices in the nuclei of the pneumocytes, the mucous cells, the basal cells and the ciliated cells in the superficial layer as well as the fibroblasts and the endothelial cells in the deep layer changed due to aging. The labeling indices of the 3 types of cells in the superficial layer, the mucous cells, the pneumocytes and the basal cells were high from 4 weeks to 8 weeks but dropped down at 8, 12 and 60 months. These results showed that the 3 types of cells proliferated in the early stages of development from 4 to 8 weeks and completed the development in the adult stages. The labeling index of the ciliated cells was very low, which showed that they had no activity to proliferate but replaced by the immature basal cells which differentiated to the ciliated cells. To the contrary, the labeling indices of the 2 cell types in the deep layer, the fibroblasts and the endothelial cells, were lower than the cells in the superficial layer and kept very low levels at 8, 12 and 60 months after metamorphosis. Thus, it was concluded that the 4 types of cells in the superficial layer belonged to the renewing cell population and the 2 types of cells in the deep layer to the stable cell population.


This note reviews the channels through which scheduled minimum wage increases over the coming years may affect Canadian economic activity and inflation and assesses their macroeconomic impacts. From reduced-form estimates of direct minimum wage pass-through, we find that consumer price index (CPI) inflation could be boosted by about 0.1 percentage point (pp) on average in 2018. A structural general equilibrium simulation suggests that minimum wage increases would reduce the level of gross domestic product by roughly 0.1 per cent by early 2019 and boost CPI inflation by about 0.1 pp. While the net impact on labour income would be positive, employment would fall by 60,000—a number that lies in the lower part of a range obtained from an accounting exercise (30,000 to 140,000). Consumption would decline because higher inflation would elicit a slight interest rate increase, which would more than offset the higher labour income. Potential output should remain unchanged in the short run. Longer-term effects are possible through automation, productivity gains or participation in the labour force, but the signs of these longer-term effects are ambiguous.


Although numerous mechanisms for promoting software reuse have been proposed and implemented over the years, most have focused on the reuse of implementation code. There is much conjecture and some empirical evidence, however, that the most effective forms of reuse are generally found at more abstract levels of software design. In this paper we discuss software reuse at the architectural level of design. Specifically, we argue that the concept of "architectural style" is useful for supporting the classification, storage, and retrieval of reusable architectural design elements. We briefly describe the Aesop system's Software Shelf, a tool that assists designers in selecting appropriate design elements and patterns based on stylistic information and design constraints.


BACKGROUND
Many women develop breast cancer after treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) at a young age. We estimated this future risk, taking into account age and calendar year of HL diagnosis, HL treatment information, population breast cancer incidence rates, and competing causes of death.

METHODS
Relative risks of breast cancer for categories defined by radiation dose to the chest (0, 20- < 40 Gy, or > or = 40 Gy) and use of alkylating agents (yes or no) were estimated from a case-control study conducted within an international population-based cohort of 3817 female 1-year survivors of HL diagnosed at age 30 years or younger from January 1, 1965, through December 31, 1994. To compute cumulative absolute risks of breast cancer, we used modified standardized incidence ratios to relate cohort breast cancer risks to those in the general population, enabling application of population-based breast cancer rates, and we allowed for competing risks by using population-based mortality rates in female HL survivors.

RESULTS
Cumulative absolute risks of breast cancer increased with age at end of follow-up, time since HL diagnosis, and radiation dose. For an HL survivor who was treated at age 25 years with a chest radiation dose of at least 40 Gy without alkylating agents, estimated cumulative absolute risks of breast cancer by age 35, 45, and 55 years were 1.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.9% to 2.1%), 11.1% (95% CI = 7.4% to 16.3%), and 29.0% (95% CI = 20.2% to 40.1%), respectively. Cumulative absolute risks were lower in women treated with alkylating agents.

CONCLUSIONS
Breast cancer projections varied considerably by type of HL therapy, time since HL diagnosis, and age at end of follow-up. These estimates are applicable to HL survivors treated with regimens of the past and can be used to counsel such patients and plan management and preventive strategies. Projections should be used with caution, however, in patients treated with more recent approaches, including limited-field radiotherapy and/or ovary-sparing chemotherapy.


Drawing on sociopragmatics and some ethnographic work in communication studies, in this paper I examine the occurrence of insistence in interactions among family and friends in middle-class Quiteno society (Ecuador) in relation to suggestions, offers and invitations. I interpret insistence in these contexts as a marker of affiliation through which an interpersonal ideology of connectedness (cf. Fitch, 1998) is recreated. However, I find that there is some generational variation in the use of this practice. I suggest that this may be an indication of a possible shift in interpersonal ideology ‐from connectedness towards empowerment‐ gradually taking place in middle-class Quiteno society.


Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCDP) is a developmental disorder characterized by hypotonia, cataracts, abnormal ossification, impaired motor development, and intellectual disability. The underlying etiology of RCDP is a deficiency in the biosynthesis of ether phospholipids, of which plasmalogens are the most abundant form in nervous tissue and myelin; however, the role of plasmalogens in the peripheral nervous system is poorly defined. Here, we used mouse models of RCDP and analyzed the consequence of plasmalogen deficiency in peripheral nerves. We determined that plasmalogens are crucial for Schwann cell development and differentiation and that plasmalogen defects impaired radial sorting, myelination, and myelin structure. Plasmalogen insufficiency resulted in defective protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation and subsequent signaling, causing overt activation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) in nerves of mutant mice. Treatment with GSK3β inhibitors, lithium, or 4-benzyl-2-methyl-1,2,4-thiadiazolidine-3,5-dione (TDZD-8) restored Schwann cell defects, effectively bypassing plasmalogen deficiency. Our results demonstrate the requirement of plasmalogens for the correct and timely differentiation of Schwann cells and for the process of myelination. In addition, these studies identify a mechanism by which the lack of a membrane phospholipid causes neuropathology, implicating plasmalogens as regulators of membrane and cell signaling.


To investigate and validate the role of the Knee-chest Decubitus position in fetal facial feature delineation by 4D Ultrasonography.

 Pregnant women were randomly divided into two groups: One group underwent knee-chest decubitus position prior to re-examination, and the second group underwent free activities like walking for 5, 15 or 30 minutes followed by a re-examination of the fetus. The acceptability of the fetal facial images following the two above mentioned activities was compared.

 The Knee-chest Decubitus position was identified to be a more successful procedure for obtaining acceptable images. Additionally, it improved the fetal position and the resulting images were achieved significantly rapidly by this maneuver compared to free movement.

 The knee-chest decubitus position is simple, easy, safe and fast and thus of great convenience and promising for pregnant women.


Introduction: The current higher education environment in the United States of America (USA) and worldwide is focused on providing people an opportunity to access a quality education at a competitive price and one that is flexible enough to meet the needs of a diverse student demographic. It is therefore necessary for course delivery methods to accommodate these diverse needs without sacrificing rigor necessary for accreditation due to the diverse backgrounds, occupations, and time constraints of students in today's environment Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish the students' perception of the online and face-to-face components of a blended course design at a South Western Public University in the USA. Methods and material : The sample of this study consisted of 200 students drawn from four different blended courses in the Department of health and Kinesiology at a medium sized public university in South West of USA. A modified questionnaire from Sitter et al., (2009) with 19 questions was used to collect responses from students. The survey instrument employed a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5), to strongly disagree (1).  Results : Majority of the students have a positive view of the blended learning including the online and face-to-face components. A consistent minority of the students expressed disagreement especially pertaining to technology-based communication, preferred mode of delivery, online discussion participation and grade scores. Discussion : Although the majority of students perceived blended learning and its components positively, there is need for instructors to address the communication, technology, and online learning facilitation challenges if all learners are to learn effectively. Conclusions and recommendations : It is clear that the majority of students are ready and have accepted blended learning course designs at this medium sized public university in south west of the United States of America and therefore there is room for expansion of the initiative to benefit more students.


Cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 5 is a unique member of the Cdk family, because Cdk5 kinase activity is detected only in the nervous tissue. Two neuron-specific activating subunits of Cdk5, p35 and p39, have been identified. Overlapping expression pattern of these isoforms in the embryonic mouse brain and the significant residual Cdk5 kinase activity in brain homogenate of the p35−/− mice indicate the redundant functions of the Cdk5 activators in vivo. Severe neuronal migration defects in p35−/−Cdk5 +/− mice further support the idea that the redundant expression of the Cdk5 activators may cause a milder phenotype in p35−/− mice compared with Cdk5−/− mice. Mutant mice lacking either Cdk5 or p35 exhibit certain similarities with Reelin/Dab1-mutant mice in the disorganization of cortical laminar structure in the brain. To elucidate the relationship between Cdk5/p35 and Reelin/Dab1 signaling, we generated mouse lines that have combined defects of these genes. The addition of heterozygosity of either Dab1 or Reelin mutation to p35−/− causes the extensive migration defects of cortical neurons in the cerebellum. In the double-null mice of p35 and either Dab1 or Reelin, additional migration defects occur in the Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and in the pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus. These additional defects in neuronal migration in mice lacking both Cdk5/p35 and Reelin/Dab1 indicate that Cdk5/p35 may contribute synergistically to the positioning of the cortical neurons in the developing mouse brain.


We predict a significant enhancement of the magneto-optical transverse Kerr effect when a smooth magnetic dielectric film is covered with a thin noble metal layer perforated with subwavelength slit arrays. The relative intensity change can be as large as 50%. The Kerr effect increase is due to the magnetization-induced change of the phase velocity of the resonantly excited surface plasmons. It can be used as an efficient tool for surface plasmons detection.


There is a scarcity of laboratory and field-based results showing the movement of the diamondback moth (DBM) Plutella xylostella (L.) across a spatial scale. We studied the population growth of the diamondback moth (DBM) Plutella xylostella (L.) under six constant temperatures, to understand and predict population changes along altitudinal gradients and under climate change scenarios. Non-linear functions were fitted to continuously model DBM development, mortality, longevity and oviposition. We compiled the best-fitted functions for each life stage to yield a phenology model, which we stochastically simulated to estimate the life table parameters. Three temperature-dependent indices (establishment, generation and activity) were derived from a logistic population growth model and then coupled to collected current (2013) and downscaled temperature data from AFRICLIM (2055) for geospatial mapping. To measure and predict the impacts of temperature change on the pest's biology, we mapped the indices along the altitudinal gradients of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) and Taita Hills (Kenya) and assessed the differences between 2013 and 2055 climate scenarios. The optimal temperatures for development of DBM were 32.5, 33.5 and 33°C for eggs, larvae and pupae, respectively. Mortality rates increased due to extreme temperatures to 53.3, 70.0 and 52.4% for egg, larvae and pupae, respectively. The net reproduction rate reached a peak of 87.4 female offspring/female/generation at 20°C. Spatial simulations indicated that survival and establishment of DBM increased with a decrease in temperature, from low to high altitude. However, we observed a higher number of DBM generations at low altitude. The model predicted DBM population growth reduction in the low and medium altitudes by 2055. At higher altitude, it predicted an increase in the level of suitability for establishment with a decrease in the number of generations per year. If climate change occurs as per the selected scenario, DBM infestation may reduce in the selected region. The study highlights the need to validate these predictions with other interacting factors such as cropping practices, host plants and natural enemies.


The effects of different induced extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic field, audio (binaural-beat), visual (light flashes) and combination of audio and visual rhythms at the various electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms were investigated. These experimental findings suggest that EEG activity under exposure to EMF 0.174mT (8.33Hz) sinusoidal low intensity EMF exhibited a substantial decrease in delta and theta bands and prove that there is a slight transition from beta to alpha band from beta-alpha ratio calculations of the Energy Spectral Density. During the visual and audio visual stimulation at alpha rhythms (i.e. 13-7.5Hz) a possible entrainment on overall EEG activity was elicited by substantial increase and decrease in spectral energy levels.


Rehabilitation professionals agree that families can be the "most powerful and enduring (Krause & Seltzer, 1994, p. 217) influence in the lives of persons with mental retardation (Cook & Ferritor, 1985; Kelley & Lambert, 1992; Power & Dell Orto, 1986; Sutton, 1985). Historical events and demographic changes have brought about an increased need for families to be actively involved in assisting adults with mental retardation as they secure employment, make informed choices, and achieve independence. An understanding of family processes associated with family caregiving can increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation professionals working with adults with mental retardation. The family processes associated with caregiving can be analyzed within the context of the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation (McCubbin, Thompson & McCubbin, 1996). The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation, based on earlier family stress theorists (Angell, 1936; Hill, 1949, 1958), seeks to answer this question: "What makes some families fall apart or deteriorate in the face of crises demanding changes, while other families negotiate these troubled times with relative ease by finding new patterns, and restoring and modifying old patterns of functioning?" (McCubbin et al., 1996, p. xxv). The focus of the Resiliency Model is on understanding those family strengths and capabilities which buffer the family from the disruptions associated stressors. Analysis within the Resiliency Model provides the rehabilitation counselor with a deeper understanding of the process of adjustment for the family and provides a framework for consideration of intervention based on the analysis. The Resiliency Model has been tested with families in the general population (Lavee, McCubbin & Olson, 1987; Lavee, McCubbin, & Patterson, 1985; McCubbin, Thompson, Pirner & McCubbin, 1988), (b) families with a member with a disability (Kazak, Reber, & Snitzer, 1988; Kosciulek & Lustig, 1998; McCubbin & Huang, 1989; McShane, 1987; Patterson, McCubbin, & Warwick, 1990), and (c) families with an adult member with mental retardation (Lustig, 1997; Lustig & Akey, in press). The Resiliency Model, a stress and coping framework based on a family systems approach, provides a theoretical basis for understanding a family's adjustment to demands placed upon the family (McCubbin et al., 1996). A stressor is defined as a demand placed upon the family that produces or has the potential to produce changes in the family system. These changes (e.g. closure of a day program, movement to a residential facility) can affect all members of the family, as well as how the family functions and the family's goals. The severity of the stressor is determined by the extent to which the stressor disrupts the family or places excessive demands on the family. Family stress is the result of an imbalance between the demands placed on the family and capabilities of the family to deal with the stressor. When the demand-capability imbalance is pronounced the family may experience maladjustment. The ability of the family to successfully adjust to a stressor is determined by the family's vulnerability, resources, appraisal, and problem solving and coping strategies. These determinants can be used to analyze four central issues for rehabilitation counselors in providing assistance to adults with mental retardation and their families. These issues are (a) relationships with service providers, (b) permanency planning, (c) social support, and (d) multicultural considerations. Within the context of the Resiliency Model, relationships with service providers and permanency planning are discussed as family vulnerabilities, social support is discussed as a family resource, and multicultural considerations are considered within the context of family appraisal. Family vulnerability refers to the range of co-occurring stressors that contribute to the pile-up of demands on the family (McCubbin et al. …


In order to develop a policy framework and guidelines for improving a national approach to the management of Irish coastal regions and associated resources one first needs to be able to define what is meant by 'a coastal region' in an Irish context and secondly to know how the socio-economic characteristics of Irish coastal populations differ from the national perspective. This paper contains a range of official socioeconomic statistics, from a range of existing statistical domains, compiled for the first time in terms of Irish coastal regions. These coastal regions are defined at a number of alternative levels of spatial aggregation. The compilation of such data is also important when one considers the recommendations of the European Council and Parliament concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the requirements of policies such as Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union and the EU Marine Framework Strategy Directive.


The agriculture and food sector in India employ a significant proportion (about 44 percent) of the workforce, the majority of whom are not very educated and lack formal or informal skill training. Hence, they are unable to make the most out of their occupation. About 67 percent of the population in India is aged 15-64 years while 27 percent is aged 0-14 years (UNFPA n.d.). This offers both a challenge and an opportunity to skill the youth as well as the existing workforce in India with the objective to improve their productivity and enhance their incomes. This paper is a scoping study of policies and institutions that are operational in this context of skill formation in India, with a focus on the agriculture and food sector. It takes stock of ongoing initiatives and programs, their design and scope in achieving skill development in general and related to the agriculture and food sector in particular. In terms of policy, skill development has been accorded high priority with an objective to make the programs aspirational for youth as well as for them to recognize the value of experience and knowledge. The focus is laid on quality of training, assessment, and certification thus ensuring standards and greater market acceptability. These are prerequisites for investments in skills to bring higher returns in terms of remunerative jobs. The government has been a catalyst of change in this area in terms of designing, implementing and financing of such programs. The role of private players including both potential employers as well as global partners (government, business and non-governmental organizations) has been widely recognized in upgrading the scope, target and outcomes as well as ensuring sustainability of the national skill development program. As technology plays a very important role in sustainable value chains, it creates demand for a better skilled workforce, and accordingly rewards them with better paid jobs and higher returns in farming. Hence designing appropriate qualification packs and training programs with a focus on innovations all along the value chains (that help promote technology adoption, facilitate effective value chain management, etc.) are critical. Also, innovative models of outreach (for example, classroom training for agricultural professionals, agricultural entrepreneurs, farmer field schools, and e-platforms) can add substantial value to skills at very low cost. Hence, scaling up fast is necessary to benefit the agriculture and food sector in India. While this paper gives an overview of the landscape of various programs and projects, and how they are being implemented by various actors (government, domestic private sector and international agencies), there is dire need to evaluate their outcomes in terms of increased incomes and more stable jobs of those trained through these programs.


For the Casimir piston filled with an inhomogeneous medium, we regularized and expressed the Casimir energy with cylinder kernel coefficients by using the first-order perturbation theory. When the refractive index of the medium is smoothly inhomogeneous (i.e., derivatives of all orders exist), a logarithmically cutoff-dependent term and a quadratically cutoff-dependent term in the Casimir energy are found. We show that in the piston model these terms vanish in the force and thus the Casimir force is always cutoff independent, but these terms will remain in the force in the half-space model and must be removed by additional regularizations. We give explicit benchmark solutions to the first-order corrections of both Casimir energy and Casimir force for an exponentially decaying profile. The present method can be extended to other inhomogeneous profiles. Our results should be useful for future relevant calculations and experimental studies.


This paper addresses the integration of the daylight effect during the early stages of the architectural design process. The first part presents a design assistance method that helps designers to characterize their daylight intentions and materialize them in architectural solutions. In this part, we describe the implementation of this method in a design tool, denoted DaylightGen, the implemented process and the different system components. The second part of this paper focuses on the investigation of the potential of the proposed method in design process. It was evaluated in educational design case study. This part integrates the experimentation process and his results.


This paper focuses on mass media's impact on citizens' confidence in political institutions. Drawing on research within the field of political science that builds on the discrepancy theory from cognitive psychology, the paper argues that citizens' preferences of how political institutions should work and the outcomes they should produce moderate mass media's impact. Building on research of media framing effects on political attitudes an preference-perception model of media effects is developed. The model explains how the relationship between political reality perceptions that trace back to media coverage and political preferences derived by socialization in a political culture accounts for variations in political confidence at the individual level. The paper also develops a distinct set of specific media frames that correspond to a variety of political preferences as well as aspects of political legitimation. The model contributes to further specifications of the relationship between mediated political information and political attitudes.


This article is based on an analysis of the treatment of the European Union in a sample of textbooks from Germany and England. Following contextual remarks about civic education (politische Bildung) in Germany and citizenship education in England and a review of young people's views, we demonstrate that textbooks in Germany and in England largely mirror the prevailing political climate in each country regarding Europe. At the same time, the analysis reveals a disparity between the perspectives presented by the textbooks and young people's views. The textbooks in Germany provide more detail and take a more open approach to Europe than those in England. Finally, we argue that the textbooks may be seen as contributing to a process of socialization rather than one of education when it comes to characterizations of Europe.


The aim of this research was to identify correlation between frequency of stroke and cognitive function in Arifin Achmad hospital Pekanbaru. This research design was by using correlational method with cross sectional study. The research was conducted in Flamboyan room of Arifin Achmad hospital Pekanbaru on 33 respondents. The sampling method using consecutive sampling technique. Measuring instrument used modification of standard observation sheet that has been modified: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), which consist of 6 items related to assessment of cognitive function for stroke patients. The data was analyzed by univariate analysis and bivariate analysis by using Fisher test. From the statistic data, ρ value  (0,02) < a (0,05). It meant that there was correlation between frequency of stroke and cognitive function in Arifin Achmad hospital Pekanbaru. Based on these results, the researcher suggests to the health institution to provide nursing care that consider the cognitive function of patients so the patients can take the prevention steps to prevent recurrent stroke. Keywords              : Cognitive function, frequency of stroke, MMSE, stroke patients


Final examinations and compulsory testing are powerful means to support educational reforms. In order to be really supportive, these tests have to do justice to both the intentions of the reform and the characteristics of the discipline. In Dutch educational reform titled 'Basic education' the classroom teaching should give more attention to skills and abilities and less to knowledge in itself. Although the visual arts have always been skill-oriented, the introduction of compulsory testing of practical work has raised new issues. Is it possible to compare students' work when the assessment is made by the students' teachers only? Here the idea is presented to have collections published as part of the test that exemplify the visual possibilities and the levels of accomplishment.


Expressing trauma, specifically through expressive writing, leads to better health, both physically and psychologically. Specifically, the relationship between expressive writing and higher rates of affective (emotional) word use can be explained by reappraisal, a technique that reduces stress through better understanding. Reappraisal is thus related to resilience, and both are correlated with secure attachment. Secure attachment, in turn, is best folstered by authoritative parenting. Because of this research we predicted that there would be a positive relationship between resilience, language use, and authoritative parenting. In this study, 100 college-aged participants reported perceived parenting style and resilience. We randomly assigned participants to experimental and control groups, participants in the control group were asked to type a detailed account of their day, while the experimental group was prompted to type about a traumatic experience. Participants' responses were then saved, formatted, and analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) computer software program. We did not find t he hypothesized positive relationship between authoritative parenting, resilience, and emotional language, raising questions about the mechanisms by which expressive writing facilitates well-being.


A generic integral equation and method of moments formulation is presented for laterally bounded stratified media including planar metallization. The main asset of the developed approach is its flexibility, as it encompasses generic lateral boundary conditions and explicitly applies to any linear subsectional basis functions with constant surface divergence. This includes the rooftop functions on rectangular and triangular supports currently proposed in standard method of moment meshers. This approach provides closed expressions for the coupling integrals appearing in the method of moments matrix elements. These formulas are based of Green's functions modal expansions and in the possibility, conclusively demonstrated in this paper to transform the surface integrals into contour integrals allowing an efficient and systematic implementation of the procedure. Full derivations are presented for several lateral boundary conditions, including rectangular and circular metallic cavities and periodic structures. Numerical examples including the analysis of real-life planar boxed circuits are presented. In all cases the obtained results compare favourably with other existing techniques.


This paper deals with the problems faced by rulers who wanted to
provide for their families, supporters, and friends at a time when
principles regulating such gifts were still unfixed; when no clear distinctions
had been established between the private and public persons and
fortunes of the ruler; when the amount of control the individual ruler
could exercise over the property he acquired at his accession had not
been determined; when the belief in the ruler's obligation not to
alienate the patrjmony of the kingdom was gaining in popularity but had
yet to be defined as principle; when royal donations and grants were suffering
revocation and cancellation at the hands of later rulers.
Focusing on early fourteenth-century France, this paper discusses
the experiences of Philip V (1316-1322) and particularly the strategies he
devised in attempting to insure that grants of property he made to his wife
would endure after his death. These strategies were diverse, and included
gaining the approval of relatives for the acts and, most remarkably, using
elaborate and unusual formulae of validation to warrant the acts. Philip
used them for a number of reasons: he and his predecessor Louis X had demonstrated
the fragility of the royal will by modifying and revoking a number
i
ii
of royal acts; to increase the kingdom's wealth and elevate his own reputation,
Philip had enunciated and enforced principles restricting the king's
right and undermining his ability to alienate property; and finally, after
early 1317, lacking a male heir, he found himself obliged to provide for a
wife and daughters who, after his death, would lack dedicated and enthusiastic
support at court.
In discussing the fate of Philip V's donations, the article demonstrates
the ultimate futility of the king's strategies in the face of his successor's
sovereign control of the kingdom's resources, including his ability to use
against Philip's heirs the same principles of inalienability Philip had used
against others. It argues that as long as the ruler lacked a fixed body of
resources to provide for his private needs, as long as these needs lacked
clear definition, and as long as he possessed the power to dispense with law
and custom, strict principles of inalienability could not be expected to be
enacted or enforced in France, however great the kingdom's desire for such
principles.


In this paper we design a novel planar 2D fiducial marker and develop fast detection algorithm aiming easy camera calibration and precise 3D reconstruction at the marker locations via the bundle adjustment. Even though an abundance of planar fiducial markers have been made and used in various tasks, none of them has properties necessary to solve the aforementioned tasks. Our marker, X-tag, enjoys a novel design, coupled with very efficient and robust detection scheme, resulting in a reduced number of false positives. This is achieved by constructing markers with random circular features in the image domain and encoding them using two true perspective invariants: cross-ratios and intersection preservation constraints. To detect the markers, we developed an effective search scheme, similar to Geometric Hashing and Hough Voting, in which the marker decoding is cast as a retrieval problem. We apply our system to the task of camera calibration and bundle adjustment. With qualitative and quantitative experiments, we demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of X-tag in spite of blur, noise, perspective and radial distortions, and showcase camera calibration, bundle adjustment and 3d fusion of depth data from precise extrinsic camera poses.


Estimating the effects of demographic events on households' living standards introduces a range of statistical issues. In this paper we analyze this topic considering our observational study as a quasi-experiment in which the treatment is expressed by childbearing events between two time points and the outcome is the change in equivalized household consumption expenditure. Our main question concerns how one can best estimate causal effects of demographic events on households' economic wellbeing. We first provide a brief discussion of different methods for causal inference stressing their differences with respect to the underlying assumptions and data requirement. In particular, we contrast methods relying on the Uncounfoundedness Assumption (UNA), such as regressions and propensity score matching, with methods allowing for selection on unobservables, such as the Instrumental Variable (IV) estimators. We stress the fact that these methods are not equivalent in what they estimate. With Regressions and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) we can identify and estimate the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) and the Average Treatment effect on the Treated (ATT), while IV methods give the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE). Since LATE is the average causal effect of the treatment on the sub-group of compliers, it is generally different from ATE and ATT. Moreover, different instruments identify the effect on different groups of compliers giving different estimates of LATE. A problem for policy making is that the compliers are in general an unobserved sub-group. However, IV methods estimate relevant policy parameter if the instrument itself is a potential policy variable. We demonstrate these issues with an application on data derived from the Vietnam Living Standard Measurement Study.


Dolomite (MgCa(CO3)2) is an important petroleum reservoir rock mineral common in ancient sedimentary rocks which is infrequently found in modern environments. The mechanism of dolomite formation remains poorly understood, although recent research has focused on the contribution of microbial processes. Sabkha is the Arabic term for saline mudflats occurring in regions characterized by extreme environmental conditions (high temperature, salinity, light intensity, and aridity), where diverse halophilic and extremophilic microorganisms are found. The dynamic evaporitic systems characteristic of sabkhas are crucial for the precipitation of minerals and a role for microorganisms in sabkhas in the process of mineralization has been proposed. In this study the Dohat Faishakh Sabkha in Qatar was investigated for evidence of the role for aerobic bacteria in mediating the formation of high magnesium carbonates and dolomite, two minerals that commonly occur in the sabkha sediments. 29 strains of aerobic microbes were obtained through inoculation on agar plates from two different cores sampled from the sabkha and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing as belonging to the genera Bacillus, Salinivibrio, Staphylococcus and, primarily, Virgibacillus. All strains examined caused the pH of an artificial growth medium to increase from 7 to 8.5; however, not all were capable of mediating mineral formation. Only Salinivibrio and Virgibacillus spp. isolates mediated the formation of detectable solid phases within the agar plates. Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses indicate that the solid phase produced in the presence of these bacterial strains is MgCa(CO3)2 with a MgCO3 mol% varying from 0% to 40%. The results of these laboratory experiments suggested that, in the Dohat Faishakh Sabkha, aerobic bacteria may contribute in the formation of very high Mg calcite, a mineral that is considered the precursor of ordered dolomite.


How are a firm's size and market power related to one another? Combining micro-data about producers and consumers, we document that while firms mainly grow by selling to more customers, their markups are only associated with their average sales per customer. To study the macroeconomic implications of these facts, we develop a model of firm dynamics with endogenous customer acquisition and variable markups. Relative to a model without customer acquisition, our model generates higher concentration at the top, but a lower aggregate markup. Our quantitative analysis reveals large welfare and efficiency losses due to (mis)allocation of customers across firms. By increasing market concentration among the most productive firms, the efficient allocation achieves 11% higher aggregate productivity and 15% higher output.


Strategic management involves decision-making about an organization's objectives together with the formulation and implementation of plans, particularly regarding the allocation of resources, to support their achievement. As such, strategic management is a dynamic and complex process involving consideration of internal and external factors, and the short and long term.

The effectiveness of an organization's strategic management can critically impact upon its viability and there are many reasons why the stategic management process may fail. Such reasons include failure to:
s think creatively about the likely affects of plans
s obtain external/internal participation and commitment
s co-ordinate and control resources.

In this paper it is argued that many of the reasons for failure may be attributed to the successive dominance of different reductionist approaches to strategic management. From a systems perspective it may be argued that such approaches represent partial approaches to strategic management that neglect the complex, embedded and dynamic nature of modern organizations. Accordingly, the reasons why strategic plans fail are taken to provide a framework for the evaluation of the potential contribution of a range of systems methodologies to the strategic management process. The systems methodologies considered in this paper include: Viable System Methodology, Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing, Soft Systems Methodology, and Critical Systems Heuristics. In light of this, a systems approach to strategic management is proposed that sees value not only in using the approaches in isolation but also in using them in a complementary and flexible way.

In summary, the argument is articulated in this paper that there are two main contributions that the systems discipline might make to strategic management:
- To impart guidance on which strategic planning approaches to use when and also on how to view them as a complementary set that is capable of being used in a flexible way to address all aspects of the strategic managerial task.
- To provide a range of methodologies that can be put in service of the strategic planning process.


The legal profession is in the midst of rapid and dramatic change, fueled by longstanding dissatisfaction within and without the profession, and inflamed by the economic recession beginning around 2007. Changes in the profession are propelling or reflecting concomitant changes in legal education. Lawyers may no longer be able to rely simply on excellent legal analysis and advocacy, written and oral communication skills, trial skills and traditional pre-litigation negotiation and settlement skills. Clients want more legal work for less cost. Law school applications have declined and unemployment among lawyers is a concern. In efforts to cut costs, clients are hiring auditors to oversee and audit their counsel's legal bills, and using in-house counsel, paralegals, or even nonlawyers to do their legal work. Court dockets are clogged to the point of inaccessibility and yet many parties still lack access to lawyers. The legal profession is rife with commentary exploring how to be more marketable in the law profession of the future given the rapid changes fostered by technological advances, disruptive concepts and strategies, the need for sustainability, and outsourcing. Law schools are under fire for providing students with unsatisfactory returns on investment, when students compare their employment prospects with the cost of legal education. A reevaluation of the competencies needed to be a twenty-first century lawyer thus seems appropriate. Some assert that it is time to decisively redefine both the role of the lawyer and the content of legal education.


OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to examine alterations in end-of-life support in a multiinstitutional sample of PICUs. METHODS: This was a retrospective, descriptive study. Variables collected included end-of-life support category, race, length of stay, operative status, reason for admission, and Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 score, as well as the number of ICU beds and the presence of trainees. RESULTS: There were 1745 deaths at 35 institutions between January 1, 2004, and September 30, 2005. Of those, 1263 had complete data and were analyzed. The end-of-life support category distribution was as follows: brain death, 296 (23%); do not resuscitate, 205 (16%); limitation of support, 36 (3%); withdrawal of support, 579 (46%); no limitation, 124 (10%); no advance directives, 23 (2%). For further analyses, end-of-life support categories were grouped as limitation (ie, do not resuscitate, limitation of support, or withdrawal of support) versus no limitation (ie, no limitation or no advance directive). Brain death was not included in further analyses. The majority of deaths were in the limitation group (n = 820 [85%]), and 12 (40%) of 30 institutions had 100% of deaths in this group. There were significant differences between institutions (P < .001). Decisions for limitation were seen less frequently in the black race (112 [76%] of 147 deaths; P = .037) and in institutions with no trainees (56 [69%] of 81 deaths; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Decisions to limit support are common. Black race and an absence of trainees are associated with decreased frequency of limitation decisions.


The FireGrid project defines a vision whereby computational fire simulation tools are linked to real-time information derived from sensors in a building, providing potentially valuable information to an end user in terms of the current fire conditions, and, via steered models, their possible evolution. This paper outlines the "steering" of the simulation by the sensor data, and demonstrates the potential to provide responders with more information than that available solely from the sensor measurements. A hypothetical example is described, with a coupled model of fire development and human evacuation behaviour used to predict the locations in the building where casualties are most likely to occur.


As mobile hand-held devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants are battery operated, it is important to minimize their energy consumption. The limited lifetime of the battery is always a problem for all portable devices. Although battery technology has undergone a massive development over the years, it has not kept pace with other technologies. Therefore, research needs to be done to use the limited life time of the battery in an efficient way. With developments in science and technology, the power consumption of portable devices has been brought down due to the decrease in the size of the display and optimization of components. The trend toward smaller sizes of portable devices involved is responsible for the wireless network interface consuming a larger share of overall power consumption of a system. In order to optimize the power consumption of wireless communication, we should be aware of the power consumption pattern. Accurate energy models are required for designing and testing energy aware protocols. The accuracy of these energy models and their contribution toward energy aware protocol design depend on the accuracy and availability of sufficient data about power consumption of these devices. This work contributes to the building of such a power consumption database through a series of measurements of currently available Wireless Network Interface Cards (WNIC) and Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID). These measurements also help in understanding the behavior of these technologies at the lower levels of the network stack.


As the proportion of racial/ethnic minorities and women in the workforce has increased, there has been the growing concern of integrating them into the mainstream of the organization. This study explores how demographic diversity (racial and gender diversity) of management influences job satisfaction of employees in public organizations. It contributes to our understanding of the role of demographically diverse managerial teams in managing the workforce by analyzing the recent data from 191 federal agencies collected in 2008 and by using a methodologically rigorous method (multilevel modeling). The results show that the higher proportion of racial/ethnic minorities and women in managerial positions is negatively related to employee job satisfaction. Racial/ethnic minorities are more satisfied with their job and organization when there are higher levels of racial/ethnic diversity in managerial positions. No significantly different impacts of gender diversity on job satisfaction of men and women were found. Diversity climate positively moderates the relationships between racial/ethnic and gender diversity of managers and job satisfaction of employees, whereas procedural justice and leadership negatively moderated the relationships.


Objective To examine the overall effectiveness of interventions for reducing adult sedentary behaviour and to directly compare environmental, behavioural and multicomponent interventions. Design Intervention systematic review with meta-analysis. Data sources Ovid PsycINFO, Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCOHost CINAHL, EBSCOHost SPORTDiscus and PubMed were searched from inception to 26 July 2017. Eligibility criteria Trials including randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised, cluster-randomised, parallel group, prepost, factorial and crossover trials where the primary aim was to change the sedentary behaviour of healthy adults assessed by self-report (eg, questionnaires, logs) or objective measures (eg, accelerometry). Results Thirty-eight trials of 5983 participants published between 2003 and 2017 were included in the qualitative synthesis; 35 studies were included in the quantitative analysis (meta-analysis). The pooled effect was a significant reduction in daily sitting time of −30.37 min/day (95% CI −40.86 to −19.89) favouring the intervention group. Reductions in sitting time were similar between workplace (−29.96 min/day; 95% CI −44.05 to –15.87) and other settings (−30.47 min/day; 95% CI −44.68 to –16.26), which included community, domestic and recreational environments. Environmental interventions had the largest reduction in daily sitting time (−40.59 min/day; 95% CI −61.65 to –19.53), followed by multicomponent (−35.53 min/day; 95% CI −57.27 to –13.79) and behavioural (−23.87 min/day; 95% CI −37.24 to –10.49) interventions. Conclusion Interventions targeting adult sedentary behaviour reduced daily sitting time by an average of 30 min/day, which was likely clinically meaningful.


This review-paper focuses on the development the intelligent technology for modelling (Multi-Model Approach (MMA)) and control (Artificial Neural Networks Controller) of grid connected photovoltaic energy conversion system. This approach (MMA) is based on a black box modeling. A database consists of input variables (sunshine, temperature and voltage at the terminals of photovoltaic generator (PVG) and output (PVG current) is obtained by characterization of a photovoltaic module Sharp installed type at the "Polytechnic Higher School" (PHS) in Dakar in March 2012. Indeed 70% of this database is used to train the multi-model and 30% of the database is reserved for validation of the multi-model. The proposed model has a correlation of 89% and a Nash criterion (NS) average of 75.65%. Learning is performed with oil operating area. Each area of operation is made by a local affine model structure and function of validity sigmoid. These results show the good performance of the proposed model. Control design of a single phase grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system including the PV array and the electronic power conditioning (PCS) system, based on Artificial Neural Networks Controller (ANNC) is presented. The developed controller is compared with a Proportional Integral (PI) controller through computer simulation. The obtained results show that the NNC have faster response and lower THD without overshoots.

 Key words: Black box modelling, photovoltaic generator, inverter, maximum power point tracking (MPPT), neural network controller.


Scheduling flexible sources to promote the integration of renewable generation is one fundamental problem for operating active distribution networks (ADNs). However, existing works are usually based on power flow models, which require network parameters (e.g., topology and line impedance) that may be unavailable in practice. To address this issue, we propose an efficient constraint learning method to operate ADNs. This method first trains multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) based on historical data to learn the mappings from decisions to constraint violations and power loss. Then, power flow constraints can be replicated by these MLPs without network parameters. We further prove that MLPs learn constraints by formulating a union of disjoint polytopes to approximate the corresponding feasible region. Thus, the proposed method can be interpreted as a piecewise linearization method, which also explains its desirable ability to replicate complex constraints. Finally, a two-step simplification method is developed to reduce its computational burden. The first step prunes away unnecessary polytopes from the union above. The second step drops redundant linear constraints for each retained polytope. Numerical experiments based on the IEEE 33- and 123-bus test systems validate that the proposed method can achieve desirable optimality and feasibility simultaneously with guaranteed computational efficiency.


Large-scale Protein Language Models (PLMs) have improved performance in protein prediction tasks, ranging from 3D structure prediction to various function predictions. In particular, AlphaFold, a ground-breaking AI system, could potentially reshape structural biology. However, the utility of the PLM module in AlphaFold, Evoformer, has not been explored beyond structure prediction. In this paper, we investigate the representation ability of three popular PLMs: ESM-1b (single sequence), MSA-Transformer (multiple sequence alignment) and Evoformer (structural), with a special focus on Evoformer. Specifically, we aim to answer the following key questions: (i) Does the Evoformer trained as part of AlphaFold produce representations amenable to predicting protein function? (ii) If yes, can Evoformer replace ESM-1b and MSA-Transformer? (ii) How much do these PLMs rely on evolution-related protein data? In this regard, are they complementary to each other? We compare these models by empirical study along with new insights and conclusions. All code and datasets for reproducibility are available at https://github.com/elttaes/Revisiting-PLMs.


Purpose of review The Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) is used internationally as the reference method for proactive risk assessment (screening), assessment, monitoring and triaging for interventions in patients with cancer. This review aims to explain the rationale behind and data supporting the PG-SGA, and to provide an overview of recent developments in the utilization of the PG-SGA and the PG-SGA Short Form. Recent findings The PG-SGA was designed in the context of a paradigm known as 'anabolic competence'. Uniquely, the PG-SGA evaluates the patient's status as a dynamic rather than static process. The PG-SGA has received new attention, particularly as a screening instrument for nutritional risk or deficit, identifying treatable impediments and guiding patients and professionals in triaging for interdisciplinary interventions. The international use of the PG-SGA indicates a critical need for high-quality and linguistically validated translations of the PG-SGA. Summary As a 4-in-1 instrument, the PG-SGA can streamline clinic work flow and improve the quality of interaction between the clinician and the patient. The availability of multiple high-quality language versions of the PG-SGA enables the inclusion of the PG-SGA in international multicenter studies, facilitating meta-analysis and benchmarking across countries.


Planning has evolved from being viewed as a discipline that can be quite technical toone of humanistic and social reproach. Collaborative planning within this same reference claims to be all-inclusive with collaborative planning theorists believing that community forms of planning offer a progressive way forward since they incorporate public participation in the planning issues they face. Public participation is defined by the World Bank as an active process by which beneficiary groups influence the direction and execution of a development project, with a view to enhance their well-being in terms of income, personal growth, self reliance and other values they cherish. Duncan Village is one of the largest and most dense shack settlements' in the Eastern Cape. An Urban Renewal Programme that later became known as the Duncan Village Redevelopment Initiative (DVRI), was designated for the area with the aim of upgrading and were necessary redeveloping section of the township that were hazardous to human settlement. The Flood Line Pilot Project is a sub-section to the overall DVRI with the aim of moving resident living along the Umzonyana River banks within the 1:100 year flood line and experiencing major flood and fire disasters and relocating them while at the same time redeveloping the area as open, green and environmentally friendly space. Public participation models and approaches are being assessed within the flood line pilot to illustrate whether within the planning phase, were one would initially argue for public participation, residents became participants and owners ofthe projects or merely passive receivers of information concerning their areas.


Boilerplate is often ambiguous or incomprehensible, yet long lasting, especially in insurance contracts. This alienates consumers and is increasingly punished by courts construing the language against the drafter. There must be some hidden allure to ambiguous boilerplate. The popular theory is trickery: drafters lure consumers in with promising language that comes to nothing in court. But this trick would require consumers to do three things they do not do - read the language, understand it, and take comfort in it. In insurance, there is a hidden allure to ambiguous boilerplate, but the trick lies in the courts, not the consumer. The trick is a private conversation between drafters and courts; excused from the table is the consumer, who could have no fair duty to understand and so has no duty to read. With the consumer out of the room, edits and additions to boilerplate are targeted to the courts alone. The new language need not make sense to a layman. It does not even need to make sense standing alone; a judge will read the language in the context of precedent, with the aid of briefing. This article reveals how the interaction of insurance drafting and court interpretation (including contra proferentem) forms a strong barrier to the creation and use of new clearer boilerplate language.


This paper studies how organizational design affects moral outcomes. Subjects face the decision to either kill mice for money or to save mice. We compare a Baseline treatment where subjects are fully pivotal to a Diffused-Pivotality treatment where subjects simultaneously choose in groups of eight. In the latter condition eight mice are killed if at least one subject opts for killing. The fraction of subjects deciding to kill is higher when pivotality is diffused. The likelihood of killing is monotone in subjective perceptions of pivotality. On an aggregate level many more mice are killed in Diffused-Pivotality than Baseline.


The Circles of Hope is a dialogue and support group process that uses personal support, education for action, and organizing for change as a method for their own personal development and change and to become agents of change in their own communities. Case studies summaries based on individual interviews and participation in a focus group were developed for seven women who have been regular participants in the Circles of Hope. Using cross-case analysis as the key analytic framework (Miles & Huberman, 1984), change was examined across three themes, the process experience, personal growth and change, and engagement in community. This analysis began the process of building a theory of adult learning based on the experiences of these women with the Circles of Hope that directly links personal change and development to increased engagement public life as a change agent. The model that emerged identified five key factors for personal growth and change affected by the participation of the women in the Circles of Hope that contributed to the development of their capacity to become engaged in their communities. These factors include focus, risk taking, developing voice, exploring identities, and a changing world view. These factors were both shaped by the Circles of Hope process and contributed to the ongoing evolution of the Circle as a place for continued personal growth and change. This research found that the women were able to become engaged in creating change in their community. They became engaged by: a) representing themselves and their Circles in other community organizations and activities, b) bridging to other women and organizations involved in community change locally, nationally, and internationally, c) engaging in local community development efforts, and d) connecting their development efforts to their passions. Jeanetta, Stephen, 2006, UMSL, p. 3 The Circles of Hope process is generative in that the Circle made it possible for the women to grow personally and to use that growth to create change in their communities. In so doing the women also affected the growth and development of the Circle itself, incorporating their learning into the development of the Circle and transferring their learning into other areas of their personal and community lives. Jeanetta, Stephen, 2006, UMSL, p. 4


Abstract The main aim of vocationally oriented higher education is to train students to become future professionals in their chosen field. Therefore, the effectiveness of research education depends on students' intention to use their research competencies in their future professional practice. This survey study describes the relationships between undergraduate students' (N = 2192) intention to use their research competencies in their future professional practice and their perceptions of and attitudes towards research, students' research activities, and students' research context. To measure students' attitudes, the Research Attitudes in Vocational Education Questionnaire (RAVE-Q) was developed. The findings show that students' intention to use research in their future professional practice correlates highly with their perceptions of and attitudes toward research, whilst research activities and research context have less of an effect. Therefore, to increase the functionality of the integration of research into higher education pedagogies, students' research attitudes should be considered.


Progress in Drug Research is a prestigious book series which provides extensive expertwritten reviews on highly topical areas in current pharmaceutical and pharmacological research. Founded in 1959 by Ernst Jucker, the series moved from its initial focus on medicinal chemistry to a much wider scope. Today it encompasses all fields concerned with the development of new therapeutic drugs and the elucidation of their mechanisms of action, reflecting the increasingly complex nature of modern drug research. Invited authors present their biological, chemical, biochemical, physiological, immunological, pharmaceutical, toxicological, pharmacological and clinical expertise in carefully written reviews and provide the newcomer and the specialist alike with an up-to-date list of prime references. Starting with volume 61, Progress in Drug Research is continued as a series of monographs.


In southern African savannas, grass production, and therefore the annual extent of fire, is highly dependent on rainfall. This response has repeatedly been noted in the literature but authors used different input variables and modelling approaches and the results are not comparable. Using long-term fire occurrence data from six protected areas in southern Africa we tested various methods for determining the relationship between antecedent rainfall and burned area. The types of regression model, the most appropriate index of accumulated rainfall, and the period over which to calculate annual burned area were all investigated. The importance of accumulating rainfall over more than one growing season was verified in all parks – improving the accuracy of the models by up to 30% compared with indices that only used the previous year's rainfall. Up to 56% of the variance in burned area between years could be explained by an 18-month accumulated rainfall index. Linear models and probit models performed equally well. The method suggested in this paper can be applied across southern Africa. This will improve our understanding of the drivers of interannual variation in burned area in this globally important fire region.


Transboundary conservation has an important, yet often undervalued, role in the international conservation regime. When applied to the legally ambiguous and interconnected marine environment this is magnified. The lack of clear guidance for transboundary marine conservation from the international conservation community exacerbates this problem, leaving individual initiatives to develop their own governance arrangements. Yet, well-managed transboundary marine protected areas (MPAs) have the potential to contribute significantly to global conservation aims. Conversely, in a period where there is increasing interest in marine resources and space from all sectors, the designation of MPAs can create or amplify a regional conflict. In some instances, states have used MPAs to extend rights over disputed marine resources, restrict the freedom of others and establish sovereignty over maritime space. Six case studies were taken from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to illustrate how states have interpreted and utilised different legislative mechanisms to either come together or diverge over the governance of marine resources or maritime space. Each of the case studies illustrates how different actors have used the same legislative tools, but with different interpretations and applications, to justify their claims. It is clear that the role of science combined with a deeper engagement with stakeholders can play a critical role in tempering conflict between states. Where states are willing to cooperate, the absence of clear guidelines at the global level means that often ad hoc measures are put into place, with the international frameworks then playing catch up. Balancing different jurisdictional claims with the conservation of the marine environment, whilst considering the increasing special economic interests will become increasingly difficult. Developing a transboundary conservation tool, such as the simple conservation caveats found in the Barcelona Convention and Antarctic Convention, which allow for the establishment of intergovernmental cooperation without prejudicing any outstanding jurisdictional issue, would provide a framework for the development of individual transboundary MPAs.


Data on over 222,000 Swedish dogs enrolled in life insurance in 1992 and 1993 were analysed. There were approximately 260 deaths per 10,000 dog-years at risk. Breed-specific mortality rates and causes of death are presented for breeds with more than 500 dogs at risk that had consistently high or low rates. Breed-specific mortality ranged from less than 1 per cent to more than 11 per cent. True rates and proportional statistics for the cause of death were calculated for the entire insured population (250 breeds) and cause-specific mortality rates were calculated for the breeds with the highest risk of dying of the most common causes. Trauma, tumours and problems related to the locomotor system together accounted for more than 40 per cent of all deaths or euthanasias. Although limited to insured dogs, these data cover approximately one-third of all Swedish dogs and provide baseline mortality data for further population-based studies on health and disease.


TCRζ is a transmembrane protein, a component of the T cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 complex, and plays a crucial role in T cell activation (1,2). Previous studies showed that T cell immunodeficiency might be related to decreased expression of TCRζ . The alternatively spliced isoforms of TCRζ 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) was related to change of T cell activation gene expression pattern, and may be as a novel immunological marker for the evaluation of the CML immune status (3). Recently, we found that polymorphisms/mutations in the TCR ζ 3' UTR can regulate the expression level of TCR ζ (unpublished data). However, little is known the genetic alteration of TCRζ 3' UTR in T cells from patients with CML who showed T cell immunodeficiency.


Alamar and Glantz interpret smoking in restaurants as a market failure, and they claim that restaurants should welcome government laws that disallow smoking in all restaurants. Contrary to their claims, restaurant owners do have an incentive to eliminate smoking if doing so raises the value of their restaurants. In restaurants, smokers do not impose negative externalities on non-smokers because restaurant owners have well-defined property rights that cause them to internalize the costs and benefits of smoking. Alamar and Glantz claim to show that non-smoking ordinances increase the capital value of restaurants, but their own data do not, in fact, show that. Finally, if it were true that eliminating smoking in restaurants raises the value of restaurants, then the proper approach would be, not to coerce restaurant owners, but to inform them of that fact.


A natural and intuitive operation of multifunctional upper limb prostheses involves the concurrent activation of multiple degrees of freedom in a proportional way. Several approaches to simultaneous and proportional control strategies have been investigated; provided outcome measures however were offline accuracy or error rates and lacked the functional component of a preclinical assessment. This study evaluated a simultaneous proportional pattern recognition control strategy with two parallel classifiers in a two-dimensional Fitts' law style test and compared it to a sequential pattern recognition approach. The proposed test allowed for a complete evaluation through different performance metrics such as throughput (TP, bits/sec), path efficiency (PE, %), completion rate (%), overshoot (%) and reaction time (sec). We found that the simultaneous approach presented with numerous advantages with respect to the sequential alternative through significantly higher TP and PE for combined-motion targets (p<;0.001) and significantly less overshooting in both combined and discrete targets (p<;0.01). For discrete motions, the TP was significantly lower for the simultaneous approach (p<;0.001) but PE was similar. There was no difference in either completion rate or reaction time. These results support the potential of simultaneous pattern recognition for the control of multifunctional prostheses and underline the usefulness of a simple functional test in a preclinical framework.


This book is the Dictionary of Computer Science and Engineering which contains around 1500 computer terminologies. The aim of this book is to impart to students the knowledge and skills that are needed to successfully face the viva voice exams and interviews. Here each terminology is well defined and explained clearly. In this book the words are arranged in alphabetical order which helps to search the words very quickly, this book covers the most commonly and frequently used terminologies from the entire subjects related to Computer Science, Applications, and Engineering and Technology streams. This book is useful for all streams of students who need to learn and know about the meaning, definition and explanatory of most frequently using terminologies in the field of Information Technology. These words are most frequently used and asked has questions during the examinations, practical viva-voice exams and campus interview. This book is most useful for all Diploma, Under Graduate and Post Graduates students who are studying or completed the B.E, MCA, M.Sc in Computer Science, BCA, Diploma in Computer Science and Engineering, MS in computer science, B.Sc in Computer science and Computer Maintenance. This book can also be referred for research scholars and professionals for their mastering in the computer terminologies.


The emergence of scientific applications embedded with multiple modes of parallelism has made heterogeneous computing systems indispensable in high performance computing. The popularity of such systems is evident from the fact that three out of the top five fastest supercomputers in the world employ heterogeneous computing, i.e., they use dissimilar computational units. A closer look at the performance of these supercomputers reveals that they achieve only around 50% of their theoretical peak performance. This suggests that applications that were tuned for erstwhile homogeneous computing may not be efficient for today's heterogeneous computing and hence, novel optimization strategies are required to be exercised. However, optimizing an application for heterogeneous computing systems is extremely challenging, primarily due to the architectural differences in computational units in such systems. This thesis intends to act as a cookbook for optimizing applications on heterogeneous computing systems that employ graphics processing units (GPUs) as the preferred mode of accelerators. We discuss optimization strategies for multicore CPUs as well as for the two popular GPU platforms, i.e., GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA. Optimization strategies for NVIDIA GPUs have been well studied but when applied on AMD GPUs, they fail to measurably improve performance because of the differences in underlying architecture. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to propose optimization strategies for AMD GPUs. Even on NVIDIA GPUs, there exists a lesser known but an extremely severe performance pitfall called partition camping, which can affect application performance by up to seven-fold. To facilitate the detection of this phenomenon, we have developed a performance prediction model that analyzes and characterizes the effect of partition camping in GPU applications. We have used a large-scale, molecular modeling application to validate and verify all the optimization strategies. Our results illustrate that if appropriately optimized, AMD and NVIDIA GPUs can provide 371-fold and 328-fold improvement, respectively, over a hand-tuned, SSE-optimized serial implementation. To my Parents and Grandparents... mMmF−pApA, dAdA−dAdFmA


Devised, created and produced by Joshua Sofaer, SFMOMA Scavengers is part of an ongoing body of research with major international museums into the possibilities of participatory performance and the relationship between performance and fine art. SFMOMA Scavengers takes the form of a scavenger hunt and exhibition, in which members of the public form teams and are given clues of objects they have to find which Sofaer then uses to form a traditional gallery display. (After initial tests at the ICA in London and Coventry City Art Gallery, the project was produced in full scale in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern in June 2005 ahead of the San Francisco version at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.)

The key research imperatives can be summarised as follows:

 to question the relationship between fine art and performance especially in relation to the art market (fine art as the perfect model of capitalism where basic materials accrue value and are sold on at profit/performance as a model of negative equity).
 to engage the audience of a work in its material creation (questioning the role of the artist as sole creator).
 to understand the objects of the everyday, lying around a city as the stuff of art (seeing the world through the eyes of an artist but also understanding the museum as conferring the status of art onto an object).
 to pursue object histories (to read an object through its own performative journey).

These imperatives were further explored in the accompanying symposium, Art Scavengers: A Symposium on Found Objects presented by Stanford University Humanities Center offered a wider critical framework within which to contextualise the work.

Portfolio: SFMOMA Scavengers DVD Documentary Short Associated Marketing Materials, Associated Press; www.joshuasofaer.com/wor23.php; www.sfmoma.org/exhibitions/exhib_detail.asp?id=270


Nicomedes Santa Cruz (Lima-Peru, 1925- Madrid, 1992) represents the first successful challenge to the canon of Peruvian hegemonic literature from the perspective of negritude. This is explained by three indisputable facts. First, he broadens the intellectual indigenist discourse towards the consideration of other ethnic groups, especially Afro-Peruvians, who form an inherent part of modern Peru. Second, he desanctifies canonical literary genres by revising and recreating representative forms of traditional black poetry from which he develops a personal type of versification, thus solidifying a style of writing conceived within his own ethnic perspective. Third, he encourages the majority of the Peruvian public to recognize the African cultural presence and to incorporate it as part of their tradition. Until the nineteen fifties, the zenith of the "indigenist" currents and the inclusion of the so-called pre-Columbian literature into the official histories of the national literature had been the most important transformations in the Peruvian hegemonic culture and literature characterized by their occidentalist and colonial tradition. This fact, which was the starting point of a more just treatment of indigenous majorities in the country, initiated at the same time a broader process: the acknowledgement of the multicultural nature of Peru. These were the first steps toward a recognition of indigenous culture which in turn caused the recognition of other cultural communities. Although these communities could not be considered majorities, they were also part of what we could call "peruanidad" (Peruvianess). The debate over national integration and the recognition of diverse Peruvian cultural voices had been substantially elevated by the most lucid intellectuals of the day. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the discussion was no more than an intellectual polemic. A genuine literary canon, in which every form of "peruanidad" enjoyed equal respect, was still in the distant future. We must remember, first, that the Pre-columbian chapter in the history of Peruvian literature primarily served to define a historical period that could explain how a "mestizo" culture came about in the Andean region. And secondly, that the zenith of indigenism was only understandable to the extent that it was a novel project within post-World War I intellectual currents; in its essence it remained imbued with its traditional western and paternalistic perspective. With certain exceptions, such as Josh Maria Arguedas, indigenists, writers and intellectuals were more concerned with the struggle for legal reforms than with a genuine and broad-based participation by indigenous people in the national life. The struggle to construct a canon from the diversity of Peruvian literatures was an endeavor that would take shape much later, which continues even to this day. This construction would be a constant and careful labor, initiated by new generations of critics and writers who were forged by the jarring events of the second half-century, and propelled by post-World War II intellectual and political forces. It is this context that gave rise to the artistic works of Nicomedes Santa Cruz. The publication of his books and the popular reception of his poetry began to bear fruit during the nineteen sixties. Like the rest of Latin America, Peru was affected by such events as the intensification of the Cold War, the Cuban revolution, independence movements in Africa, the Vietnam War, the civil rights struggle in the United States and, in general, by a universal movement for radical social change which was driven by the younger generation. Santa Cruz, in this sense, is in complete conformity with this new intellectual spirit. There was no place in his literary vision for well-intentioned but ineffective "indigenismo" and "negrismo". Nor was he concerned with being included in the official literary canons by winning the acceptance of intellectuals and critics. …