In this study, we analyze the supporting and limiting factors for implementing qualitative system dynamics as an innovative, cross-curricular qualification in the classroom of K-9 schools in Switzerland. Teachers who participated in a standardized one-day training in systems thinking are the main focus of our design-based research using mixed methods. The results confirmed the importance of available time, supporting material, as well as, systems thinking specific self-efficacy as supporting factors. Although previous knowledge of systems and of systems thinking was limited in all of our groups of teachers, it was not necessarily a barrier when adopting systems thinking into the classroom. Our study revealed that the experience of autonomy and competence and, above all, the attribution of significance to systems thinking are key elements to foster systems thinking in schools despite the initial low level of competences.


The college setting represents an untapped "window of opportunity" to target the growing number of college student smokers. To address this need the current study tested an intervention drawing upon research from social psychology and previously effective health-related interventions. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of an experiential, dissonance-enhancing smoking intervention for increasing motivation to quit smoking and reducing smoking by comparing it to two control groups, in a three-arm randomized study. Participants were 215 college student smokers randomized to an experiential smoking intervention, a traditional educational smoking intervention, or an experiential intervention on nutrition. A secondary purpose of the present study was to explore the influence of possible mediating variables (e.g. risk perceptions, smoking knowledge) and to investigate whether demographic or smoking history variables would moderate the effects of the intervention. As predicted, the experiential smoking intervention was more effective in increasing motivation to quit as compared to both groups. However, moderator analyses revealed that the effect was found only for females. Increased motivation to quit was also demonstrated on an immediate behavioral measure of impact. Additional analyses indicated that a greater reduction in smoking and higher quit rates at follow-up were found for participants in vi both smoking conditions as compared to participants in the Nutrition control condition. Potential mechanisms of change were not supported; however, participants who received the experiential smoking intervention exhibited greater smoking knowledge and were more likely to report greater negative consequences of smoking. Findings support the efficacy of a standard didactic intervention, and the added efficacy of a more intensive experiential intervention. Implications for intervention are discussed.


Abstract Different types of synthetic scaffolds are used for tissue engineering of heart valves. Tissue-engineered heart valves (TEHV), based on a rapid degrading polyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffold coated with poly-4-hydroxybutyrate (P4HB) and seeded with vascular derived cells, have shown promising in-vivo results. However, a major drawback of these TEHV is compaction and retraction of the leaflets causing regurgitation. It is hypothesized that this is a result of traction forces exerted by the cells, combined with an imbalance of the formed tissue and loss of mechanical integrity of the scaffold due to degradation. The aim of this study is to evaluate alternative approaches to overcome the compaction and retraction of TEHV without compromising on tissue composition and properties. The alternative approaches that are studied here are 1) the use of the slow degrading poly-e-caprolactone (PCL) scaffold for prolonged mechanical integrity and 2) the use of lower passage vascular cells for enhanced tissue formation. Compaction, tissue formation, cell phenotype and mechanical properties of tissues based on passage 3, 5 and 7 vascular cells in PCL and PGA-P4HB scaffolds are compared. TEHV aim to be designed for humans, but since the ovine model is used to show proof of principle both human and ovine cells were used. Passage 3, 5 and 7 (p3, p5 and p7) human and ovine vascular-derived cells were seeded onto both PGA-P4HB and PCL scaffold strips (n=6 per passage and scaffold material), using fibrin as a cell carrier. After 4 weeks of culture under constrained static conditions, one strip was used for histology. The remaining strips were used for mechanical testing and biochemical assays as indicators for tissue strength and tissue formation, respectively. After 4 weeks, the tissues based on PGA-P4HB showed 50-60% compaction, while PCL-based tissues showed compaction of 0-10%. Cell passage number and species did not influence compaction. Tissue formation was comparable between passage numbers and scaffold materials in ovine while human p5 showed decreased tissue formation in both scaffold materials. Collagen content was increased with decreasing passage numbers in both species and scaffold materials. No differences in cell phenotype between the scaffold materials or cell passage numbers were observed. The Young's modulus and the ultimate tensile strength of tissues of both species were higher in the lower passage groups of both scaffold groups. This study shows that PCL scaffolds may serve as alternative scaffold material for tissue engineering heart valves with minimal compaction and without compromising on tissue composition and properties. Cells from lower passages showed to improve tissue formation. Reducing cell expansion time will result in faster generation of TEHV, providing a more rapid treatment to patients.


My research seeks to answer the question of how any agent that is tasked with making sense of its world, by finding explanations for evidence (e.g., sensor reports) using domain-general strategies, may accurately and efficiently handle incomplete evidence, noisy evidence, and an incomplete knowledge base. I propose the following answer to the question. The agent should employ an optimal abductive reasoning algorithm (developed piece-wise and shown to be best in a class of similar algorithms) that allows it to reason from evidence to causes. For the sake of efficiency and operational concerns, the agent should establish beliefs periodically rather than waiting until it has obtained all evidence it will ever be able to obtain. If the agent commits to beliefs on the basis of incomplete or noisy evidence or an incomplete knowledge base, these beliefs may be incorrect. Future evidence obtained by the agent may result in failed predictions or anomalies. The agent is then tasked with determining whether it should retain its beliefs and therefore discount the newly-obtained evidence, revise its prior beliefs, or expand its knowledge base (what can be described as anomaly-driven or explanation-based learning). I have developed an abductive metareasoning procedure that aims to appropriately reason about these situations. Preliminary experiments in two reasoning tasks indicate that the procedure is effective.


Objective – The present study was undertaken to determine alcohol consumption among adolescents attending state schools in the BrAko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). Participants and method – The subjects were pupils in the ninth grade of elementary school and all high school pupils. 4,188 pupils took part in the survey. The research was planned as a cross-sectional study, and it was conducted using the ESPAD questionnaire, which was adjusted for this research. Demographic data were collected through a specific question-form for each enrolled adolescent . Results – More than half the adolescents consumed alcohol. Boys did so more often, whilst there was no difference in alcohol consumption between those who lived in villages or towns. At the age of 14 years nearly half the adolescents had consumed alcohol, where boys had done so more often, as well as the adolescents from villages. The places where the adolescents most often consumed alcohol were discotheques, "at friends' homes", and in cafA©s. More than half the members of the adolescents' households consume alcohol. Adolescents in the BrAko District of BH had consumed alcohol over the previous 30 days in a significantly higher percentage than pupils from the Republic of Srpska and the Federation of BH, and in a significantly lower percentage than pupils from Croatia, whilst the difference in comparison with Serbia was not significant. The frequency of alcohol intoxication in the BrAko District of BH was the lowest in comparison with the Republic of Srpska, the Federation of BH, Croatia and Serbia. Conclusion – Overall alcohol consumption amongst adolescents is becoming generally acceptable behaviour, which is tolerated by the community and parents, in that alcohol consumption is becoming a life-style, but it is not being systematically studied as a negative phenomenon, nor are there any long-term programmes to deter adolescents from consuming alcohol.


The study investigated age-related differences in theory of mind and explored the relationship between this ability, other cognitive abilities, and structural brain measures. A cohort of 106 adults (ages 50-90 years) was recruited. Participants completed tests of theory of mind, verbal and performance intelligence, executive function, and information processing speed and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (measurement of whole brain volume, volume of white matter hyperintensities, and diffusion tensor imaging of white matter integrity). Theory of mind ability declined with increasing age, and the relationship between theory of mind and age was fully mediated by performance intelligence, executive function, and information processing speed and was partially mediated by verbal intelligence. Theory of mind performance correlated significantly with diffusion tensor imaging measures of white matter integrity but not with volume of white matter hyperintensities or whole-brain volume. Theory of mind age-related decline may not be independent of other cognitive functions; it may also be particularly susceptible to changes in white matter integrity.


While previous terms of trade booms have tended to be short lived, there are reasons to believe that the current boom could be more enduring. This paper considers the implications for the Australian economy in the event that recent rises in the terms of trade are sustained, with a focus on labour market, industry and regional implications. Thus far, the economy's reactions to the terms of trade boom have largely matched the predictions of economic theory: incomes have risen, as have employment and investment, in particular for the mining industry and regions where mining is concentrated. However, we have not seen so called 'Dutch disease' effects associated with a higher exchange rate flowing through as strongly as could be expected in the manufacturing industry and other traded parts of the economy. Adjustments to the boom have thus far taken place in a position of less than full employment, so the resources sector has to date been able to utilise previously unemployed factors of production rather than simply attract factors from other sectors of the economy. Going forward, expanding labour supply in the resource rich regions of the country will be a central policy challenge. If well managed, the transition to a higher terms of trade presents an opportunity to raise Australian living standards. But the challenges in ensuring a successful transition are significant and will test our policy frameworks in ways they have not been tested before.


In this article we re-examine the relationship between group-based profit sharing and productivity. Our meta-regression analysis of 313 estimates from 56 studies controls for publication selection and misspecification biases and investigates the impact of firm level unionisation and national differences in values and culture. Profit sharing is positively related to productivity on average, with a stronger relationship where there is higher unionisation and in countries where honesty is less highly valued and there are higher levels of individualism. The latter two results suggest profit sharing works best in settings where cooperation does not naturally occur. The positive effect of profit sharing on productivity is larger in cooperative firms and in transition economies.


Three hydrographic cruises were conducted during 1997-1999 in north Aegean Sea, in order to study the dissolved oxygen (DO) and nutrient distributions in Strymonikos Gulf impacted by the riverine waters of the Strymon River. The approaches used in this paper include a preliminary estimation of the nutrient load of Strymon River and the influence of the riverine waters upon the DO and nutrient distribution in Strymonikos Gulf. Nutrient levels recorded in Strymon River were similar with other international Rivers. The influence of Strymonas River on the DO and nutrient distributions was clearly detected during December 1997 and May 1998. On the contrary, during March 1999 the influence of Strymon River was not so clearly detected. High nutrient concentrations were recorded close to the mouth of the river. As mixing with offshore waters progressed, nutrient levels declined dramatically. Plots of atomic DIN:P (ratio of the total dissolved inorganic nitrogen to dissolved inorganic phosphorus), Si:P (ratio of dissolved silica to dissolved inorganic phosphorus) and Si:DIN ratios in Strymonikos Gulf, during the three sampling periods studied, indicated stoichiometric P-limitation in about 34%. Furthermore, the data indicated significant probable N-limitation (31.4%), while Si-limitation was not probable (2.9%). In particular, 31% of the data showed a defined P-limitation in December, whereas 30% of the data showed N-limitation. It is noteworthy that Si-limitation was not recorded. In May, the atomic DIN:P ratio indicated P-limitation in about 21% and N-limitation in about 46%. Si-limitation was not recorded. Finally, in March, the 51% of the data showed P-limitation, whereas only the 16% showed N-limitation and 8% showed Si-limitation.


Background:  The present opinion work provides the reader with a short background on recent advances in the field of Psychoinformatics. Psychoinformatics represents a merger between the disciplines of computer science and psychology, among others to enable researchers to conduct digital phenotyping while exploiting the ubiquitously available digital traces resulting from interaction with the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT describes a totally interconnected world, where everything from the household appliance to the smartphone is linked to each other via the Internet. Objectives: In recent years, much work has been dedicated to the question of which psychological variables, in the realm of socio-demographics and personality, can be predicted from social media platform data and/or smartphones in general. These variables are of interest to be studied, because they have been associated with many important life variables such as longevity, health behavior and job performance. Methods: As research concerning cognition has been comparably less studied in Psychoinformatics, the focus of the present review-work will lie more on ideas regarding how cognitive functions and precisely dementia such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) might covary with data from the IoT. Results: It is demonstrated that different sociodemographic and psychological variables including cognitive variables currently can be predicted to different extent via digital footprints. Conclusions: Beyond abundant chances due to applying methods from Psychoinformatics to improve diagnostics and monitoring of AD, limitations of such approaches are also addressed together with relevant thoughts on ethical considerations.


Laser ultrasonics is an exciting optical methodology of nondestructive evaluation offering a means of detecting flaws in materials especially in hostile areas where contact transducers cannot function such as high temperature environments or awkward areas where the laser is easily directed by mirrors for rapid scanning and measurement. Typical measurement techniques utilize laser interferometers to accurately measure surface displacements. In this paper the feasibility of applying model‐reference signal processing techniques are investigated that would improve the performance of a moderate cost, Michelson interferometric measurement system. A model‐reference approach is developed to solve the signal enhancement problem for a laser ultrasonics application in nondestructive evaluation. In this problem a sophisticated laser thermoelastic propagation model is used to predict the surface displacement of the specimen under test. Once synthesized, this model displacement response is used as the reference signal in an optimal (minimum error variance) signal enhancement scheme. Both fixed and adaptive processors are considered in this application where it is shown that a significant improvement in signal levels can be achieved over the usual methods to enhance noisy data acquired from a Michelson interferometric measurement system and increase its overall sensitivity.


The Advanced Inflatable Airlock (AIA) System is currently being developed for the Space Launch Initiative (SLI). The objective of the AIA System is to greatly reduce the cost associated with performing extravehicular activity (EVA) from manned launch vehicles by reducing launch weight and volume from previous hard airlock systems such as the Space Shuttle and Space Station airlocks. The AIA System builds upon previous technology from the TransHab inflatable structures project, from Space Shuttle and Space Station Airlock systems, and from terrestrial flexible structures projects. The AIA system design is required to be versatile and capable of modification to fit any platform or vehicle needing EVA capability. During the basic phase of the program the AIA conceptual design and key features were developed to help meet the SLI program goals of reduced cost and program risk. Option 1 focused on development of key design features and testing of breadboard units to demonstrate effectiveness of the design solutions. This paper discusses the progress made during option 1 of the AIA program. BACKGROUND


Gallium-68 (68Ga) has been the subject of increasing interest for its potential in the production of radiotracers for diagnosis of diseases. In this work we report the complexation of 68Ga by the amino acid based tripodal chelate H3Dpaa, and two bifunctional derivatives, H3Dpaa.dab and H4Dpaa.ga, under a range of conditions with particular emphasis on the rapid complexation of 68Ga at pH 7.4. 100 μM H3Dpaa achieved a radiochemical yield of 95% at pH 7.4 in 5 minutes at 37 °C. The bifunctional derivatives H4Dpaa.ga and H3Dpaa.dab achieved 94% and 84% radiochemical yields, respectively, under the same conditions. The resulting Ga(iii) complexes show thermodynamic stabilities of log KGaDpaa = 18.53, log KGaDpaa.dab = 22.08, log KGaDpaa.ga = 18.36. Unfortunately, the resulting radiolabelled species do not present sufficient serum stability for in vivo application. Herein we show a flexible synthesis for bifunctional chelators based on amino acids that rapidly complex 68Ga under physiological conditions.


This study explores the life and work of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874-1937), a Vaishnava guru of the school of Chaitanya (1486-1534), who, at a time that Hindu non-dualism was most prominent, managed to establish a pan-Indian movement for the modern revival of traditional personalist bhakti that today encompasses both Indian and non-Indian populations throughout the world.To most historians, the period between 1815 and 1914 is known as Britain's Im-perial Century, when the power of British cultural influence was at its height, most especially in Calcutta, India, the jewel of the British crown. Here the profound ad-mixture of Western and Indic social structures, values and ideas gave rise to a new indigenous middle-class known as the bhadraloka: the class responsible for what has come to be known as the Bengali Renaissance, and for producing such transfor-mative figures as Rammohun Roy and Swami Vivekananda, both of whom believed non-dualism to be the fundamental expression of Indic thought. As a result of their efforts (especially those of Vivekananda), modern Hinduism gradually came to be identified with Vedantic non-dualism (advaita) in both India and the West—an outcome that has historically obscured personalist bhakti strands.To redress this imbalance, the thesis explores Bhaktisiddhanta's background, mo-tivation and thought, especially as it relates to his forging of a modern traditionalist institution for the successful revival of Chaitanya Vaishnava bhakti. That institution, originally known as the Gaudiya Math, has a number of contemporary global off-shoots, the best known of which is the International Society for Krishna Conscious-ness. The missing piece has been the scholarly study of the little known individual whose vision and thought provided the original impetus for these more recent movements, and who during his lifetime established centres in both London and Berlin. Bhaktisiddhanta pursued a modern traditionalist approach within the context of the multiple trajectories of Hinduism. While remaining faithful to a traditional reading of religious texts, he was nonetheless able to adjust core principles so as to make them fitting for modern times.The results of this study carry implications for the understanding of modern Hin-duism and its development from pre-colonial to post-modern forms, which occurred during a time of global modernisation.


The organisation of pilgrimage welfare in Malaysia traces back to the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century, as recorded in the classical Malay literature of Hikayat Hang Tuah. In modern times, the Muslim Pilgrim Ordinance was launched in 1951 by the British administration to oversee the welfare of pilgrims. Among the primary areas in which the ordinance wishes to assist are the financial management and preparation by the pilgrims before they depart to Mecca, in addition to funeral arrangements of pilgrims who passed away. Based on the idea of Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid, a renowned Malay economist and Royal Professor, the Parliament established the Malayan Muslim Pilgrims Savings Corporation in August of 1962, under the Parliament Act No. 34. The corporation was initially established to pioneer a shariahcompliant investment vehicle to help Malayan Muslims perform the last pillar of Islam and manage their funds in a shariah-compliant manner.

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taux: A SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING SOUND FEEDBACK IN NAVIGATIONAL TASKS by Robert J. Lutz This thesis presents the design and development of an evaluation system for generating audio displays that provide feedback to persons performing navigation tasks. It first develops the need for such a system by describing existing wayfinding solutions, investigating new electronic location-based methods that have the potential of changing these solutions and examining research conducted on relevant audio information representation techniques. An evaluation system that supports the manipulation of two basic classes of audio display is then described. Based on prior work on wayfinding with audio display, research questions are developed that investigate the viability of different audio displays. These are used to generate hypotheses and develop an experiment which evaluates four variations of audio display for wayfinding. Questions are also formulated that evaluate a baseline condition that utilizes visual feedback. An experiment which tests these hypotheses on sighted users is then described. Results from the experiment suggest that spatial audio combined with spoken hints is the best approach of the approaches comparing spatial audio. The test experiment results also suggest that muting a varying audio signal when a subject is on course did not improve performance. The system and method are then refined. A second experiment is conducted with improved displays and an improved experiment methodology. After adding blindfolds for sighted subjects and increasing the difficulty of navigation tasks by reducing the arrival radius, similar comparisons were observed. Overall, the two experiments demonstrate the viability of the prototyping tool for testing and refining multiple different audio display combinations for navigational tasks. The detailed contributions of this work and future research opportunities conclude this thesis. taux: A SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING SOUND FEEDBACK IN NAVIGATIONAL TASKS


Effective information management is of crucial importance to the survival of organisations in the 21st century. This is due to the emergence and dominance of information as an economic resource in the information economy. One of the building blocks and a cornerstone of information management is the information audit. It is one of the methods that can be used to identify and determine the value, functioning, evaluation and utility of information resources, and is conducted to establish or improve effective information management within an organisation.
There are various methodologies that can be used to conduct an information audit, such as the methodologies of Barker (1990), Orna (1990), Stanat (1990), Hamilton (1993) and Swash (1997) and Henczel's methodology. The aim of this study is to test the viability of Henzcel's (2000) methodology within the context of the Chief Directorate of Statistical Information Services. This particular methodology comprises seven stages, namely: planning, data collection, data analysis, data evaluation, communicating recommendations and the continuum. The study, which included the first five stages of the methodology, indicated that this particular methodology is viable and practical in nature. The advantages and the disadvantages of the methodology are discussed and recommendations are made to ensure the successful implementation and use of Henzcel's methodology.


In this paper we use household survey data to study the evolution of income distribution in Mexico over the last decade, a period of rapid integration to the global and North American economies -- "globalization" for short. We measure differences in income inequality, over time and across Mexican states, and relate them to regional differences in the degree of globalization, controlling for the potential endogenous relationship between the two. We use the percent of state employment in exporting firms or in firms with foreign capital participation, as well as data on state trade, as proxies for integration to the world economy. Our findings strongly indicate that globalization has not raised income inequality in Mexico. On the contrary, we present compelling evidence showing that income distribution is more equitable in states that are more closely linked to the world economy and that those states exhibit larger declines in inequality. We also find some statistical evidence suggesting that deepening globalization results in reduced inequality, although our results are sketchier on this point, perhaps because such effect is only observable in the long run. As a potential explanation of why globalization might improve the distribution of income among Mexican households, we show that states that are more integrated to the world economy offer better work opportunities for low-skilled women relative to more educated female workers.


Bubble inclusion is one of the fastest growing operations practiced in the food industry. A variety of aerated foods is currently available in supermarkets, and newer products are emerging all the time. This paper aims to combine knowledge on chocolate aeration with studies performed on bubble formation and dispersion characteristics. More specifically, we have investigated bubble formation induced by applying vacuum. Experimental methods to determine gas hold-up (volume fraction of air), bubble section distributions along specific planes, and chocolate rheological properties are presented. This study concludes that decreasing pressures elevate gas hold-up values due to an increase in the number of bubble nuclei being formed and release of a greater volume of dissolved gases. Furthermore, bubbles are observed to be larger at lower pressures for a set amount of gas because the internal pressure needs to be in equilibrium with the surrounding pressures. Temperature-induced changes to the properties of the chocolate have less of an effect on bubble formation. On the other hand, when different fats and emulsifiers are added to a standard chocolate recipe, milk fat was found to increase, significantly, the gas hold-up values and the mean bubble-section diameters. It is hypothesized that this behavior is related to the way milk fats, which contain different fatty acids to cocoa butter, crystallize and influence the setting properties of the final product. It is highlighted that apparent viscosity values at low shear rate, as well as setting behavior, play an important role in terms of bubble formation and entrainment.


This paper studies a novel discriminative part-based model to represent and recognize object shapes with an "And-Or graph". We define this model consisting of three layers: the leaf-nodes with collaborative edges for localizing local parts, the or-nodes specifying the switch of leaf-nodes, and the root-node encoding the global verification. A discriminative learning algorithm, extended from the CCCP [23], is proposed to train the model in a dynamical manner: the model structure (e.g., the configuration of the leaf-nodes associated with the or-nodes) is automatically determined with optimizing the multi-layer parameters during the iteration. The advantages of our method are two-fold. (i) The And-Or graph model enables us to handle well large intra-class variance and background clutters for object shape detection from images. (ii) The proposed learning algorithm is able to obtain the And-Or graph representation without requiring elaborate supervision and initialization. We validate the proposed method on several challenging databases (e.g., INRIA-Horse, ETHZ-Shape, and UIUC-People), and it outperforms the state-of-the-arts approaches.


is silent cerebral infarction (SCI). In the Silent Cerebral Infarct Multi-Center Clinical Trial, sought to identify risk factors we evaluated the baseline laboratory and performed magnetic resonance of the brain with (HbSS thalassemia) no of Neuroradiology


Topographic modifications of the substrate of a cell culture have the potential to guide cell polarization and migration, through which epidermal wound healing may be accelerated. Classic topographic contact guidance is based on the interaction between cells and a supporting scaffold that interferes with the establishment of focal adhesions, thereby influencing the organization of the actin cytoskeleton. Using soft lithography techniques on PDMS, we engineered gratings with groove and ridge widths of 1 μm and a groove depth of 0.6 μm. These gratings were applied to the apical free surface of human dermal fibroblasts during in vitro wound healing. Gratings oriented perpendicularly to the wound induced a significant enhancement of cell polarization, migration speed and directionality which resulted in faster wound coverage. The apically applied texture influenced the deposition of the extracellular matrix into the wound yielding homogeneously distributed fibronectin fibers. Apical guidance was not mediated by the establishment of focal adhesions between cells and the topographically modified patch, thus allowing for removal of the latter after complete healing. Altogether, our results demonstrate an alternative guidance scheme based on the apical, adhesion-free interaction between migrating cells and an anisotropic surface topography, which leads to faster healing in an in vitro wound model.


Objective: To evaluate the general quality of life in medical students.
Method: This is a cross-sectional observational study of 320 students from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, located in Campo Grande, Brazil, who answered the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment instrument.
Results: The medical students evaluated having a good general quality of life and good satisfaction with their health. According to the domains, the psychological domain was smaller than the social relationships and environment domains. The students had a difference in the values of the WHOQOL-BREF scores only between the psychological and the environment domains and lower values in the men, in the physical and psychological domains. During the years of the course, there was a difference between the domains only for the 3rd grade of the course, with lower scores for the psychological domain. In each domain, the values of the WHOQOL-BREF scores were higher in the second grade compared to the 5th grade in the social relationships domain, and in the environmental domain. The 1st grade had lower values than the 6th grade.
Conclusion: Medical students have a positive characterization of the quality of life, although it is less in the psychological domain, by the frequency of negative feelings not enjoying life or concentrating in a satisfactory way. Female students are more fragile in the psychological and physical domain than male students.
Keywords: Quality of life; Medical students; Medical Education.


A theory of finite-amplitude mirror type waves in non-Maxwellian space plasmas is developed. The collisionless kinetic theory in a guiding center approximation, modified for accounting of the finite ion Larmor radius effects, is used as the starting point. The model equation governing the nonlinear dynamics of mirror waves near instability threshold is derived. In the linear approximation it describes the classical mirror instability that is valid for a wide class of the velocity distribution functions. In the nonlinear regime the mirror waves form solitary structures that have the shape of magnetic holes. The formation of such structures and their nonlinear dynamics has been analyzed both analytically and numerically. It is suggested that the main nonlinear mechanism responsible for mirror instability saturation is associated with modification (flattening) of the shape of the background ion distribution function in the region of small parallel particle velocities. The width of this region is of the order of the particle trapping zone in the mirror hole. Near the mirror instability threshold the saturation arises before its width reaches the ion thermal velocity. The nonlinear mode coupling effects in this approximation are smaller and unable to take control over evolution of the space profile of saturated mirror waves or lead to their magnetic collapse. This results in the appearance of quasi-stable solitary mirror structures having the form of deep magnetic depressions. A phenomenological description of this process is formulated. The relevance of the theoretical results to recent satellite observations is stressed.


We develop a numerical procedure to efficiently model the nonequilibrium steady state of one-dimensional arrays of open quantum systems based on a matrix-product operator ansatz for the density matrix. The procedure searches for the null eigenvalue of the Liouvillian superoperator by sweeping along the system while carrying out a partial diagonalization of the single-site stationary problem. It bears full analogy to the density-matrix renormalization-group approach to the ground state of isolated systems, and its numerical complexity scales as a power law with the bond dimension. The method brings considerable advantage when compared to the integration of the time-dependent problem via Trotter decomposition, as it can address arbitrarily long-ranged couplings. Additionally, it ensures numerical stability in the case of weakly dissipative systems thanks to a slow tuning of the dissipation rates along the sweeps. We have tested the method on a driven-dissipative spin chain, under various assumptions for the Hamiltonian, drive, and dissipation parameters, and compared the results to those obtained both by Trotter dynamics and Monte Carlo wave function methods. Accurate and numerically stable convergence was always achieved when applying the method to systems with a gapped Liouvillian and a nondegenerate steady state.


We introduce a novel cache replacement policy to improve the entire network performance of video delivery over content-centric networking (CCN). In the case of the CCN structure, we argue that: 1) for video multiplexing scenario, general cache strategies that ignore the intrinsic linear time characteristic of video requests are unable to make better use of the cache resources, and 2) it is inadequate to simply extend the existing research conclusions of file-oriented popularity to chunk-by-chunk popularity, which are widely used in CCN. Unlike previous works in this field, the proposed policy in this study, named two-level popularity-oriented time-to-hold cache replacement policy (TLP-TTH), is designed on the basis of the following principles. Firstly, the proposed cache replacement strategy is customized for video delivery by carefully considering the essential auto-correlated request feature of video chunks within a video file. Furthermore, the popularity in video delivery is subdivided into two levels, namely chunk-level access probability and file-level popularity, in order to efficiently utilize cache resources. We evaluated the proposed policy in both a hierarchical topology and a real network based hybrid topology, and took viewers departure into consideration as well. The results validate that for video delivery over CCN, TLP-TTH policy improves the network performance from several aspects. In particular, we observed that the proposed policy not only increases the cache hit ratio at the edge of the network but the cache utilization at the intermediate routers is also improved markedly. Further, with respect to the video popularity variation scenario, the cache hit ratio of TLP-TTH policy responds sensitively to maintain efficient cache utilization. key words: content-centric networking, in-network caching, TLP-TTH, popularity


It is widely acknowledged that student-centred learning (SCL) gives learners feelings of being appreciated and respected, and thus helps students to be engaged and motivated to learn. SCL is an approach implemented in online learning (OL). This study investigates the role of the tutor, in implementing and facilitating SCL as a positive learning environment in the specific context of OL in Egyptian Higher Education (HE). The study examines tutors' perceptions of SCL in OL as a concept and the factors that influence these perceptions, the pedagogical approaches they need to successfully implement SCL, and the affordances and challenges of this implementation in the specific context of Egyptian HE. Data for this study was collected from 20 online tutors at two major Egyptian universities in Northern Egypt both in focus groups and in individual semi-structured interviews. This study contributes to the area of research into SCL on matters such as definition of SCL, tutors' approaches to understanding the concept, and its practical application in OL. The study investigates the pedagogical repertoire tutors need to implement SCL, describes approaches and strategies applied in SCL, and highlights results which can be used to offer support and guidance to tutors in order to facilitate their students' ongoing learning processes, leading to individually tailored and flexible education paths. The study findings indicate that online tutors approach the issue of SCL in OL with reference to four main aspects: prerequisites, challenges, concerns and solutions. The main research findings are that student control and independence are not widely practised in online Egyptian HE. There are many concerns for online tutors when empowering students such as: losing control, losing tutors' respect and the invisibility of online students for monitoring them. Moreover, the research found that student trust is an issue that needs to be resolved. For tutors, tutor-student trust is a process that requires students' early preparation to learn how to be responsible. The study found that social collaboration in OL offers promising opportunities for educational reform in Egyptian HE, particularly with respect to problems such as overcrowded classes. Furthermore, tutors acknowledged the importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in gaining the professional and experiential skills that they need to develop their teaching practices. Another finding of this study, referring to the low wages for tutors in Egypt, is that financial incentives have a significant impact on tutors' feelings that they are invested in and acknowledged by their academic institutions. Consequently, tutors are getting engaged with the learning community and using the utmost abilities to pursue their work.


In the process of developing federated database systems, one of the main tasks is integrating various component database schemas. Several methodologies for integrating component schemas can be found in the literature. These methodologies are criticized for being very human labor intensive, for demanding extensive global DBA knowledge, for the difficulty in determining semantically similar objects, and for the difficulty in maintaining the global schema.

We present a new methodology for integrating heterogeneous databases using a global schema. It avoids the shortcomings of the methodologies reported in the literature and offers its own advantages. First, missing relationships among access terms do exist naturally in the taxonomy and need to manually derive them no longer exists. Second, semantic knowledge of global objects is derived automatically. Finally, automatic knowledge mapping is achieved.


A critical stage in economic development is the structural shift from a primarily agricultural economy to non-agricultural. This shift is currently underway in rural Mexico. Simultaneously, the national government is investing in building secondary schools in rural communities. I use exogenous shifts in access to secondary schools as an instrumental variable with a differences-in-differences approach to identify the marginal impact of a year of education on the probability of working in agriculture and the probability of migrating as an adult. I find that an additional year of education reduces the probability of working in agriculture at age 20 by 4.9 percentage points on average, and the magnitude of the impact increases as workers age up to 7 percentage points at age 30. An additional year of school is associated with a 0.5 percentage point increase in the probability of working away from home all year in the naive OLS regression, but the results are not significant in the IV specification. These findings show that investing in education can accelerate the transition of labor out of agricultural, which likely has important welfare-improving effects at the individual and household level. However, I do not find significant impacts of education on labor mobility.


This project is a professional development experience for educators at Colegio Monte Verde, a primary school serving students from ages three to twelve in Castro Chile. It addresses integrating agroecology, a form of place-based education, into the school curriculum for the 2016 school year, beginning in March. It consisted of four phases: educator curriculum and content development onsite at Centro de Education y Tecnologia Chiloé's experimental farm, summer on and off-site professional development for educators, modeling teaching strategies and content with students, and a presentation of learning in which teachers shared their own place-based lessons. The study is designed to explore how agroecology can be used as a teaching tool to help students better understand the world around them and look at their community as a living laboratory.


Entry into mitosis is normally blocked in eukaryotic cells that have not completed replicative DNA synthesis; this 'S-M' checkpoint control is fundamental to the maintenance of genomic integrity. Mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe defective in the S-M checkpoint fail to arrest the cell cycle when DNA replication is inhibited and hence attempt mitosis and cell division with unreplicated chromosomes, resulting in the 'cut' phenotype. In an attempt to identify conserved molecules involved in the S-M checkpoint we have screened a regulatable murine cDNA library in S. pombe and have identified cDNAs that induce the cut phenotype in cells arrested in S phase by hydroxyurea. One such cDNA encodes a novel protein with multiple calmodulin-binding motifs that, in addition to its effects on the S-M checkpoint, perturbed mitotic spindle functions, although spindle pole duplication was apparently normal. Both aspects of the phenotype induced by this cDNA product, which we term Sha1 (for spindle and hydroxyurea checkpoint abnormal), were suppressed by simultaneous overexpression of calmodulin. Sha1 is structurally related to the product of the Drosophila gene abnormal spindle (asp). These data suggest that calmodulin-binding protein(s) are important in the co-ordination of mitotic spindle functions with mitotic entry in fission yeast, and probably also in multicellular eukaryotes.


This report offers a quantitative statistical approach to the Media and Content Industries (MCI). It is based on official data sources and complemented with data from non-official data sources. The current OECD definition of the MCI sector is discussed, as regards the limitations of the definition itself and of its operationalization. The approach taken in the collection of data, and also problems with data availability, are dealt with. The official data sources consulted include Eurostat data for EU Member States, the OECD and national statistical offices. In addition, the report draws on a number of non-official sources which complement official statistics and contribute to a better analysis and understanding of the economic profile of the MCI sector, particularly when describing new developments not (yet) covered by official statistics. Data from non-official sources to describe some emerging trends regarding the effect of ICT on the MCI are also provided. The study contains an economic profile of the Media and Content Industries for the individual EU Member States and for the US, Japan, India and China.


Weakly-supervised semantic segmentation (WSSS) using image-level labels has recently attracted much attention for reducing annotation costs.
Existing WSSS methods utilize localization maps from the classification network to generate pseudo segmentation labels.
However, since localization maps obtained from the classifier focus only on sparse discriminative object regions, it is difficult to generate high-quality segmentation labels.
To address this issue, we introduce discriminative region suppression (DRS) module that is a simple yet effective method to expand object activation regions.
DRS suppresses the attention on discriminative regions and spreads it to adjacent non-discriminative regions, generating dense localization maps.
DRS requires few or no additional parameters and can be plugged into any network.
Furthermore, we introduce an additional learning strategy to give a self-enhancement of localization maps, named localization map refinement learning.
Benefiting from this refinement learning, localization maps are refined and enhanced by recovering some missing parts or removing noise itself.
Due to its simplicity and effectiveness, our approach achieves mIoU 71.4% on the PASCAL VOC 2012 segmentation benchmark using only image-level labels.
Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.


Self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) is an isocratic mixture of oil, surfactant and co-surfactant which spontaneously emulsifies in water under gentle agitation. SNEDDS has been reported to increase the absorption rate and enhance the plasma concentration of poorly water-soluble compounds. The rate limiting dissolution step is avoided by presenting the compound in solution. In addition, SNEDDS deliver the compound as fine emulsion giving a large surface area for diffusion. It is released by lipid digestion. Solubilisation of drug in the core micelles is important to maintain the compound in solution. The solubility of the compound in oils and several formulations was examined to determine the dose loading potential. This study was performed to evaluate self-nanoemulsification as a potential delivery system to improve the bioavailability of drugs. The ternary phase diagram was used in this study to screen potential surfactants and co-surfactants for SNEDDS formulations. Various combinations of surfactants and co-surfactants were evaluated on their self-emulsifying properties. Combinations of surfactants and co-surfactants that showed good self emulsifying properties were selected for subsequent evaluations. Combinations of more than two or three surfactants and co-surfactants provided good self-emulsifying properties. The combination of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (T80) / oleyl polyoxylglycerides (OP) (2:1), caprylic capric triglycerides (CCT) / ethoxylated castor oil (ECO) (2:1) and olive oil (OO) showed the best emulsifying property. The best performing isocratic mixture of SNEDDS was selected and loaded with ubiquinone as the model of drug at different percentages, up to 25% w/w. An additive (a-tocopherol) was loaded into the formulation combined with ubiquinone to prevent crystallization of SNEDDS and improved solubilisation capacity of ubiquinone. A simple analytical method of determining ubiquinone in rat plasma was also developed by direct injection into the HPLC. Under these conditions the method had a mean recovery of 99.5%, while within-day and between-day coefficients of variation and percentages of errorwere less than 5%. The limit of quantification was 0.189/zg/ml. Finally, in vivo studies were done to study the bioavailability of ubiquinone inthe rat plasma. The SNEDDS formulations achieved a higher rate and longer extent of absorption compared with the self microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) and oil-based formulations under fasting condition. Moreover, the 90% confidence interval of the logarithmic transformed AUC values of SNEDDS over those of SMEDDS was between 1.3 and 1.7. Meanwhile, SNEDDS over oil suspension was between 2.2 and 3.6 whereas SMEDDS over oil suspension was between 1.5 and 2.3. This demonstrated the potential use of SNEDDS to enhance bioavailability of hydrophilic compounds.


Tourism industry has become one of the most profitable industries in the world. Customer satisfaction has been identified as a key performance indicator in hotel industry. This study focused on customer satisfaction of a five - star hotel in Kandy district. Servqual model was employed in the assessment of customer satisfaction of the hotel. The overall objective of this study was to examine the level of customer satisfaction and major factors contributing to customer satisfaction in a five star hotel. The data were collected using a questionnaire containing 49 questions based on 22 variables of the five dimensions of Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. Sixty residential customers of the hotel were randomly selected. Focus group discussions and a perception survey among hotel staff were also conducted to enrich the findings. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, MINITAB Version 14 with Two Sample T- test. Majority of the customers expressed their satisfaction with the overall service they received from the hotel, especially regarding Tangibility, Responsiveness and Assurance. Findings revealed that the hotel had not fulfilled the customers' satisfaction with regard to Reliability and Empathy. It was note-worthy that a minority of customers felt overall dissatisfied with the service of the hotel. Customers seemed to have perceived the same service differently. Customers' expectations had been influenced by their knowledge about general standards of hotel practices. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tar.v21i3.3299 TAR 2010; 21(3): 258-265


This study investigated the use of injectable poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) formulations for mandibular fracture stabilization applications. A full factorial design with main effects analysis was employed to evaluate the effects of the PPF:N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP, crosslinking agent) ratio and dimethyl toluidine (DMT, accelerator) concentration on key physicochemical properties including setting time, maximum temperature, mechanical properties, sol fraction, and swelling ratio. Additionally, the effects of formulation crosslinking time on the mechanical and swelling properties were investigated. The results showed that increasing the PPF:NVP ratio from 3:1 to 4:1 or decreasing the DMT concentration from 0.05 to 0.01 v/w % significantly decreased all mechanical properties as well as significantly increased the sol fraction and swelling ratio. Also, increasing the crosslinking time at 37°C from 1 to 7 days significantly increased all mechanical properties and decreased both the sol fraction and swelling ratio. This study further showed that the flexural stiffness of ex vivo stabilized rabbit mandibles increased from 1.7 ± 0.3 N/mm with a traditional mini-plate fixator to 14.5 ± 4.1 N/mm for the 4:1 (0.05 v/w % DMT) PPF formulation at day 1. Overall, the formulations tested in this study were found to have properties suitable for potential further consideration in mandibular fracture fixation applications.


In hot desert areas man cannot live without shade and throughout history people have avoided the harshest aspects of climatic conditions through the control of micro-climate. Today, in many hot and arid areas, micro-climatic is moderated largely indoors as well as in motor vehicles through 'non-sustainable' air conditioning units. This reliance on technology negates the tried and tested historical methods of tempering micro-climate within development. One of the main issues regarding micro-climatic intervention is the moderation of solar radiation through the creation of shade. In urban areas, shade is a key component for the use of outdoor space as well for tempering the energy uptake in buildings of radiation energy from the sun. Historical developments in hot dry areas in the Middle East and the Mediterranean illustrate the concern of their designers, planners and citizens with shade and micro-climate adaptation through the creation of narrow streets, and appropriate elevations for buildings and their alignment within the urban fabric.

The Negev desert, in southern Israel has a long history of development from ancient times until the present. Changes in urban design came about mainly recently with the use of motorised transport and the establishment of western European and North American ideas and ideals. The arrangement and ordering as well as the heights of buildings largely ignore the desert environment and the need to create shade. Whereas in the past the close integration of built form would create an oasis experience and keep the desert at bay, now the mind-set is to create internal oases through air conditioning. External landscape oases with large areas of grass, shrubs and exotic trees are created using cheap, subsidised water. This unsustainable trend is especially noteworthy in this region as water is exceptionally scarce and water is an issue of conflict amongst countries in the area. Using vast amounts of water for landscape purposes is wasteful as it is better used in industry, for domestic purposes and in agriculture. An assessment of past and present development in the Negev region indicates a shift away from close knit urban forms. However, some developments do illustrate a considered micro-climatic approach to the design and layout of the infrastructure and built forms. The investigation of these developments shows that micro-climate is a concern but that there still appears to be an over-emphasis on private comfort as opposed to overall micro-climate temperance. The move away from the use of compact and integrated structures in urban planning in the Negev means that the shade which might be created by built form now has to be provided by external shade structures and water consuming trees.


Social Cohesion underpins the success of Victoria's diverse multicultural society and provides significant economic and social benefits for Victorians. In March 2015, The VMC contracted La Trobe University to undertake a research project into Understanding Social Cohesion in Shepparton and Mildura.  The objective of the research, is to identify the key success factors in Shepparton's and Mildura's experience of integrating their multicultural populations.  The research will identify what is working, what individuals, community based organisations, local government, policy makers, and businesses are doing well and the key points of stress in Shepparton's and Mildura's communities  The research will also examine whether some of the successes of Shepparton and Mildura might help governments and other organisations to improve their multicultural and social cohesion programs in other Victorian rural, peri-urban or urban areas. The research includes informal discussions and recorded interviews with key local community leaders, organisations, and service providers. This research is expected to be completed in October 2015.


Background Inpatients frequently require dose adjustments of medicines due to acute changes in renal function. The FDA recommend adjusting medicines according to the estimated glomerular filtration obtained with the Cockcroft-Gault formula. However the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) study equation is widely recognised as more accurate than Cockcroft-Gault, which confuses clinicians because they do not know its utility for adjusting drug doses. Purpose To compare the incidence in inpatients of medicine dosing errors depending on the type of equation used to estimate it: Cockcroft-Gault or MDRD. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in a low complexity unit. Patients were included with impaired renal function who were not on haemodialysis. We used the FDA guidelines to determine the incidence of errors. Fisher's test was used to compare the groups, with statistical significance level <0.05. Results We included 56 inpatients and 214 prescriptions. 58% were women and 68% were older than 65. We detected 42% and 28% of errors using CG and MDRD, respectively (p = 0.014). The most common error was an overdose (79%) followed by an underdose (12%) and contraindication (9%). Further analysis found that the difference between the two equations occurred only in the following subgroups of patients: patients with mild to moderate impairment of renal function (38% versus 23%, p = 0.03), older than 65 years (51% versus 30%, p = 0.01) and low body weight (37% versus 31%, p = 0.04).The distribution of types of errors was similar in the three subgroups. Conclusions The percentage of dosing error for both methods was similar to that reported in the literature. The two equations were not discordant except in the elderly, in patients with low body weight and with mild renal dysfunction. This could explain why there were differences in the incidence of medicine errors in these subgroups. In the absence of a gold standard to assess the acute deterioration of renal function and considering the limitations in estimating renal function with these equations, clinicians should include clinical judgement when determining the dose for each patient. The dose should be determined by weighing the risk of toxicity with higher doses versus the risk of treatment failure with lower doses, especially in elderly and low body weight patients. No conflict of interest.


OBJECTIVE
To retrospectively review the management of adenocarcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix, to determine the outcome of conization versus hysterectomy, and to compare the results achieved by different methods of conization.

METHODS
We performed a retrospective pathology and chart review of 46 patients with cervical adenocarcinoma in situ from January 1980 to October 1994.

RESULTS
Nine patients were managed during the first half of the study period and 37 were managed in the second half. The mean age of patients was 38.4 years (range 25-72). Forty-five of 46 patients were diagnosed as a result of an abnormal Pap smear, although only 19 smears indicated adenocarcinoma in situ or other glandular abnormalities. Cold knife conization resulted in a 33% rate of positive margins for adenocarcinoma in situ compared to 50% for large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ). Among 24 conservatively managed patients with negative conization margins, there have been 2 (8.3%) recurrences of adenocarcinoma in situ. Among patients not undergoing hysterectomy as definitive treatment, 1 of 18 (6%) patients undergoing cold knife conization recurred, compared to 4 of 14 (29%) managed with LLETZ, despite a 63.4-month shorter mean follow-up interval for the LLETZ patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Cold knife conization is associated with a lower rate of recurrence of cervical adenocarcinoma in situ compared to LLETZ. We recommend cold knife conization for patients who are not treated with hysterectomy.


The design of biocompatible synthetic surfaces is an important issue for medical applications. Surface modification techniques provide good approaches to control the interactions between living systems and implanted materials by modifying the surface characteristics. This thesis work demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the novel and low-cost electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) technique for the manufacturing of biocompatible thin film coatings. The ESA process is based on the alternating adsorption of molecular layers of oppositely charged polymers/nanoparticles, and can be applied in the fabrication of wellorganized multilayer thin films possessing various biocompatible properties. ESA multilayer assemblies incorporating various biomaterials including metal oxides and polymers were fabricated, the uniformity, thickness, layer-by-layer linearity, and surface morphology of the films were characterized by UV/vis spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and AFM imaging. Preliminary biocompatibility testing was conducted, concentrating on contact angle surface characterization and the in vitro measurements of protein adsorption. The use of Fourier Transform Infrared Reflection-Absorption Spectroscopy (FT-IRAS) for the investigation of the protein adsorption behavior upon the ESA multilayer films is presented.


A decline in ramet (plant stem) numbers was observed within a sub-population of Lomatia tasnumira WM. Curtis between 1993 and 2008.
The mortality was mainly among the small ramets. This resulted in a shift from population dominated in density by recent suckers and
young ramets to one dominated by more mature ramets. There was possibly an increased survival rate among ramets cut for genetic sampling
in 1993 compared with those that were not pruned. lt is suspected that a combination of reduced rainfall and declining light availability has resulted in an increased mortality among young ramets. Although this species is entirely reserved within the Tasmanian Wilderness
World Heritage Area it is still vulnerable to random events and climate change and its status as critically endangered remains appropriate.


Digital watermarking has been proposed as a solution to the problem of resolving copyright ownership of multimedia data (image, audio, video). The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the design of robust digital image watermarking algorithms for copyright protection.
Firstly, an overview of the watermarking system, applications of watermarks as well as the survey of current watermarking algorithms and attacks, are given. Further, the implementation of feature point detectors in the field of watermarking is introduced. A new class of scale invariant feature point detectors is investigated and it is showed that they have excellent performances required for watermarking.
The robustness of the watermark on geometrical distortions is very important issue in watermarking. In order to detect the parameters of undergone affine transformation, we propose an image registration technique which is based on use of the scale invariant feature point detector. Another proposed technique for watermark synchronization is also based on use of scale invariant feature point detector. This technique does not use the original image to determine the parameters of affine transformation which include rotation and scaling. It is experimentally confirmed that this technique gives excellent results under tested geometrical distortions.
In the thesis, two different watermarking algorithms are proposed in the wavelet domain. The first algorithm belongs to the class of additive watermarking algorithms which requires the presence of original image for watermark detection. Using this algorithm the influence of different error correction codes on the watermark robustness is investigated. The second algorithm does not require the original image for watermark detection. The robustness of this algorithm is tested on various filtering and compression attacks. This algorithm is successfully combined with the aforementioned synchronization technique in order to achieve the robustness on geometrical attacks.
The last watermarking algorithm presented in the thesis is developed in complex wavelet domain. The complex wavelet transform is described and its advantages over the conventional discrete wavelet transform are highlighted. The robustness of the proposed algorithm was tested on different class of attacks. Finally, in the thesis the conclusion is given and the main future research directions are suggested.


We present a theory on a novel class of magneto-optical devices operated by means of magneto-optically induced refractive-index perturbations in chirped Bragg gratings. The predicted effect of the introduced perturbation is an opening of a narrow transmission window in the band-blocking transmission of the chirped grating. The narrow transmission window is tunable in wavelength, and relative transmission and the effects of multiple, spatially separated perturbations can also be superimposed, hence allowing for tunable, magneto-optically operated, multichannel add-drop multiplexors suitable for modularization in integrated optics.


Two leaf-perforating ascomycetes occurring on bark-inhabiting liverworts in Southeastern North America are described as new species and documented by numerous records. Their life style is regarded as biotrophic parasitism. Epibryon ventrale infects three species of Cheilolejeunea sect. Leucolejeunea, Hypobryon bacillare grows on Frullania inflata. Common characters are globose ascomata, lacking setae, asci surrounded by hymenial jelly, and brown, bacilliform, transversely septate ascospores. Both species form anamorphic structures along portions of their hyphae: Torula-like, disarticulating cell-chains in E. ventrale and phialidic conidiogenous cells in H. bacillare


The product of metabolism of trichloroethylene in rat liver microsomes has been characterized as chloral hydrate. In common with chloral hydrate, the metabolite is converted to dichloroacetic acid upon reaction with basic cyanide; to chloroglyoxal bis-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone upon treatment with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine in acid; to trichloroethanol by the action of liver alcohol dehydrogenase; and to trichloroacetic acid upon oxidation mediated by chloral hydrate dehydrogenase. Possible mechanisms of the conversion of trichloroethylene to chloral hydrate are discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are greatly indebted to Mr. Howard J. Lambert for aid in gas chromatography, and to him and Dr. E. R. Garrett for making available to them their chromatographic method in advance of publication. They also acknowledge the technical assistance of Mr. James D. Hindman in developing colorimetric methods. This work was supported in Part by U. S. Public Health Service Research Grant No. OH-00124.


A recent contribution to the discussion about equality between the sexes in Sweden concerns the question of whether given names should be related to biological sex. The usual pattern of given names in the Germanic world involves a pronounced difference between female and male names. Eliminating this sextyped naming custom would have a radical impact on the language. One function of given names is to individualize. They serve a practical purpose. Gender-neutral names may for obvious reasons create problems. In some countries, unisex names are even forbidden. The question is whether abolishing sex-typed given names would in practice promote equality between the sexes. Unisex names often tend to evolve from masculine to unisex to feminine names. Sex stereotyping is more rigidly applied to boys than to girls. It is by no means certain that boys will be given female names as frequently as girls are given male ones.


Although secretin is known to stimulate ductal bile secretion by directly interacting with cholangiocytes, the precise cellular mechanisms accounting for this choleretic effect are unknown. We have previously shown that secretin stimulates exocytosis in cholangiocytes and that these cells transport water mainly via the water channel aquaporin-1 (AQP1). In this study, we tested the hypothesis that secretin promotes osmotic water movement in cholangiocytes by inducing the exocytic insertion of AQP1 into plasma membranes. Exposure of highly purified isolated rat cholangiocytes to secretin caused significant, dose-dependent increases in osmotic membrane water permeability (P f ) (e.g. increased by 60% with 10−7 m secretin), which was reversibly inhibited by the water channel blocker HgCl2. Immunoblotting analysis of cholangiocyte membrane fractions showed that secretin caused up to a 3-fold increase in the amount of AQP1 in plasma membranes and a proportional decrease in the amount of the water channel in microsomes, suggesting a secretin-induced redistribution of AQP1 from intracellular to plasma membranes. Both the secretin-induced increase in cholangiocyte P f and AQP1 redistribution were blocked by two perturbations that inhibit secretin-stimulated exocytosis in cholangiocytes, i.e. treatment with colchicine and exposure at low temperatures (20 and 4 °C). Our results demonstrate that secretin increases AQP1-mediatedP f in cholangiocytes. Moreover, our studies implicate the microtubule-dependent vesicular translocation of AQP1 water channels to the plasma membrane, a mechanism that appears to be essential for secretin-induced ductal bile secretion and suggests that AQP1 can be regulated by membrane trafficking.


Modern businesses generate huge volumes of accounting data on a daily basis. The recent advancements in information technology have given organizations the ability to capture and store data in an efficient and effective manner. However, there is a widening gap between this data storage and usage of the data. Business intelligence techniques can help an organization obtain and process relevant accounting data quickly and cost efficiently. Such techniques include: query and reporting tools, online analytical processing (OLAP), statistical analysis, text mining, data mining, and visualization. Business IntelligenceTechniques is a compilation of chapters written by experts in the various areas. While these chapters stand on their own, taken together they provide a comprehensive overview of how to exploit accounting data in the business environment.


INTRODUCTION The present work is intended to give a treatment of the taxonomy and ecology of the Microlepidoptera found in northwest Europe. Until now no study has been published covering especially this part of Europe. Special attention will be paid to the species observed in The Netherlands. In 1851 the first annotated list of the Dutch Microlepidoptera compiled by H. W. de Graaf appeared in the first volume of the 'Bouwstoffen voor eene Fauna van Nederland'. In the third volume of that work (1859-1866), partly in co-operation with P. C. T. Snellen (1866), the same author published a completely revised list of Dutch Microlepidoptera. This list appeared between 1859 and 1866. In 1882, Snellen's outstanding work, 'De Vlinders van Nederland, Microlepidoptera' appeared. No coherent treatise on Dutch Microlepidoptera has been published since then. A recent contribution is that of Lempke, who published a checklist of Dutch Lepidoptera in 1976. His classification and nomenclature are mainly based on the second edition of the British check list of Kloet & Hincks (1972). Although Lempke was the first for a long time to take stock, it is still a pity that the identifications of the Microlepidoptera, observed in The Netherlands, could not all be verified (Lempke, 1976: 5). With regard to the other parts of northwest Europe, many local studies have been published, though the majority of them dates from before World War II. Recent contributions are those of Heuser et al. (1971) for the Palatine (Germany), and Bradley et al. (1973) and Heath et al. (1976) for Great Britain and Ireland. It seemed that a modern treatment of the subject would be extremely


We study the rise of the so-called "gig economy" through the lens of Uber and its drivers in the United Kingdom. Using administrative data from Uber and a new representative survey of London drivers, we explore their backgrounds, earnings, and subjective well-being. We find that the vast majority of Uber drivers are male immigrants, primarily drawn from the bottom half of the London income distribution. Most transitioned out of permanent part- or full-time jobs and about half of drivers' report that their incomes increased after partnering with Uber. After covering vehicle operation costs and Uber's service fee, we estimate that the median London driver earns about £11 per hour spent logged into the app. But while Uber drivers remain at the lower end of the London income distribution, they report higher levels of life satisfaction than other workers. Consistent with a trade-off between evaluative and emotional wellbeing observed among the self-employed, they also report higher anxiety levels. We hypothesize that the higher life satisfaction among Uber drivers partly reflects their preferences for flexibility and the autonomy that the platform offers. We provide suggestive evidence showing that drivers who emphasize flexibility as an important motivation to join Uber also report higher levels of subjective well-being. However, a minority of drivers who report that they would prefer work as an employee report lower levels of life satisfaction and higher levels of anxiety. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of non-monetary factors in shaping the welfare of workers in the gig economy. JEL: O18, J31, J81, D60


Rail tracks are conventionally built on compacted ballast and structural fill embankments overlying the natural subsoil. Ballast plays an important role in providing track stiffness to support heavy traffic loads, and providing rapid drainage. However, ballast deforms and degrades progressively under the heavy cyclic loading of passenger and freight trains, which may lead to a loss of track geometry, and require costly regular maintenance. In particular, track construction requires appropriate stabilization techniques for ballast, the extent of which depends also on the type of subgrade. Comprehensive field trials were carried out on two rail lines in Bulli and recently in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. In these studies, several track sections were reinforced with different types of geosynthetics placed beneath the ballast embankment. Both fresh and recycled ballast was examined for varying subgrade conditions. Recoverable and irrecoverable deformations of the substructure were routinely monitored. It was found that geogrids and geocomposites can decrease the vertical strains of the ballast layer, resulting in reduced maintenance costs. This paper describes the comprehensive field instrumentation, construction procedures, and field performance evaluation of these full-scale geosynthetic- stabilized ballast embankments in Bulli and Singleton.


the edges of the northern plains and interpreted to be shorelines remaining from these former standing bodies of water. We examine the elevations and geologic relations along these contacts in detail and find little support for their interpretation as shorelines. Some contacts are clearly of volcanic origin, and all have significant variations in elevation. Better support for the former presence of water over large parts of the northern plains is provided by the Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF). Most of the post-Noachian fill within the northern basin is ridged plains of Lower Hesperian age, interpreted to be volcanic in origin. Overlying the ridged plains is the VBF, a thin veneer of material of Upper Hesperian age. The VBF may have been deposited from large floods. Support for this interpretation is the similarity in age between the outflow channels and the VBF, the presence of the VBF at the lower ends of the outflow channels, and identification of numerous features in the outcrop areas of the VBF that are suggestive of basal melting of an ice sheet. To cover all the area over which the VBF is exposed would require 2.3 10 7 km 3 of water. Spread over the entire surface of Mars, this volume is equal to a global layer (global equivalent layer, or GEL) 156 m deep. We find no support for the larger estimates of ocean volumes that range up to 3 10 8 km 3 and which imply comparable amounts of water per unit area as are currently present on the surface of the Earth. Under present climatic conditions on Mars an ocean would freeze in a geologically short time period (10 4 years), then would sublimate away at rates strongly dependent on the presence or absence of debris on the ice surface. The present VBF is interpreted as a sublimation residue from the ponded outflow channel effluents. The fate of a volume of water thought to have been emplaced by the outflow channels (2.3 10 7 km 3 ) is largely accounted for by the presence of other existing reservoirs on the planet. An approximately 20–30 m GEL of water is estimated to be in the present polar caps, and a 50 m GEL may have escaped to space since the Hesperian, leaving 80 m GEL unaccounted for. This amount may be partly trapped in other volatile-rich deposits on the surface, and a significant amount could have reentered the groundwater system by south polar basal melting and been progressively cold-trapped at the base of a growing cryosphere. On the basis of our assessment of the Hesperian-aged deposits, we predict that testing of the Clifford and Parker [2001] hypothesis that a Noachian-aged ocean covered up to one third of the surface of Mars will be made very difficult by the enhanced degradation rates in the Noachian and subsequent geological events in the northern lowlands. INDEX TERMS: 6225 Planetology: Solar System Objects: Mars; 4267 Oceanography: General: Paleoceanography; 5407 Planetary Sciences: Atmospheres—evolution; 5470 Planetary Sciences: Surface materials and properties; 1635 Global Change: Oceans (4203); KEYWORDS: Mars, oceans, channels, shorelines, Hesperian


The budget document has been one of the key and basic documents for every organization for the purposes of planning, evaluation, coordination and controlling the operations of the organization. At the beginning of every accounting/financial year organizations spends time and money in preparing this document. However within the financial year organizations are hugely affected by events both favorable and unfavorable (that is opportunities and threats) which they have no control over. The external factors include technology, social, cultural, economic, legal, natural disasters etc. There is a continuous change in these external factors each minute and one can hardly predict the future. The business world is very dynamic. The spillage of oil, Enron scandal, the 2011 uprising in the Arab world leading to major constitutional and legislative changes etc. could hardly be predicted by anybody. For example the Enron Scandal led to the Sarbanes Oxley law regulating accounting firms in US and many nations have adopted some provisions in the Act.The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the relevance of beyond budgeting principles in relation to the Ghanaian culture in this dynamic and fast paced business world. Every management tool must operate within a certain cultural domain and its success to a greater extent depends on the compatibility between the management tool and the prevailing culture. Is it worthwhile for organizations to try to predict expected revenues and expenditure (budget) for their financial year using traditional models such as incremental or zero - based budgeting techniques, when one event can even collapse the existence of that very organization? In the absence of budgets, what should organizations do?


The first reported demonstration of thermal diffusivity measurements using picosecond transient thermoreflectance is described. Although previously reported methods of measuring thermal transport properties of thin films require precise knowledge of the thermal properties of the substrate, this technique permits measurements on films as thin as 100 nm without any evidence of substrate interaction.


Objective: To evaluate the effect of whole body vibration on the mobility of long-term immobilized children and adolescents with a severe form of osteogenesis imperfecta. Osteogenesis imperfecta is a hereditary primary bone disorder with a prevalence from 1 in 10000 to 1 in 20000 births. Most of these children are suffering from long-term immobilization after recurrent fractures. Due to the immobilization they are affected by loss of muscle (sarcopenia) and secondary loss of bone mass. Subjects: Whole body vibration was applied to eight children and adolescents (osteogenesis imperfecta type 3, N=5; osteogenesis imperfecta type 4, N=3) over a period of six months. Interventions and results: Whole body vibration was applied by a vibrating platform (Galileo Systems) constructed on a tilting-table. Success of treatment was assessed by measuring alterations of the tilting-angle and evaluating the mobility (Brief Assessment of Motor Function). All individuals were characterized by improved muscle force documented by an increased tilting-angle (median = 35 degrees) or by an increase in ground reaction force (median at start=30.0 [N/kg] (14.48—134.21); median after six months = 146.0 [N/kg] (42.46—245.25). Conclusions: Whole body vibration may be a promising approach to improve mobility in children and adolescents severely affected with osteogenesis imperfecta.


In this work, a previously-developed, statistical-based, damage-detection approach was validated for its ability to autonomously detect damage in bridges. The damage-detection approach uses statistical differences in the actual and predicted behavior of the bridge caused under a subset of ambient trucks. The predicted behavior is derived from a statistics-based model trained with field data from the undamaged bridge (not a finite element model). The differences between actual and predicted responses, called residuals, are then used to construct control charts, which compare undamaged and damaged structure data. Validation of the damage-detection approach was achieved by using sacrificial specimens that were mounted to the bridge and exposed to ambient traffic loads and which simulated actual damage-sensitive locations. Different damage types and levels were introduced to the sacrificial specimens to study the sensitivity and applicability. The damage-detection algorithm was able to identify damage, but it also had a high false-positive rate. An evaluation of the sub-components of the damage-detection methodology and methods was completed for the purpose of improving the approach. Several of the underlying assumptions within the algorithm were being violated, which was the source of the false-positives. Furthermore, the lack of an automatic evaluation process was thought to potentially be an impediment to widespread use. Recommendations for the improvement of the methodology were developed and preliminarily evaluated. These recommendations are believed to improve the efficacy of the damage-detection approach.


Recently claims that the universalist approach to creole languages treats them as "exceptional" are misconceived. The only thing "exceptional" about creoles is the sociohistorical context within which creoles originated. Creoles utilize the same processes that are deployed during "normal" language acquisition: children form sentences according to inborn algorithms, then adjust the results to conform to structures encountered in input. "Normal" and creole-forming situations differ only in that in the latter, with reduced input, less adjustment is required. Since the same strategies apply wherever input falls below optimal, it is unsurprising that similar phenomena occur in "ordinary" language change and creolization. However, in creolization changes are simultaneous, and exact patterns of change repeat across multiple languages, while changes elsewhere are stochastic.


ABSTRACT The concept of prefiguration, generally referring to the creation of an alternative society within the here and now, has proven highly productive in coming to terms with contemporary social movements, as the term 'prefigurative' is used to group a number of political phenomena that share at least the sense of presenting an alternative to the problematic entanglement of capitalism and democracy. Today, the concept is rapidly crossing disciplinary boundaries, due to its perceived capacity for intersemiotic mobilization, and has consequently come to serve as an important reference point in discussions of translation as an activist practice. This article draws upon the present-day political as well as historical theological usage of 'prefiguration' to examine the concept's circulation in translation studies, which covers a number of distinct but interrelated phenomena concerning the process as well as product of translation. In this context, prefiguration is shown to depend upon performative declarations of equivalence between signs and social practices. Ultimately reversing the suggestion of translation as a potential site of prefiguration, I argue that prefiguration is fundamentally a trope of translatability.


Modern commercial aircraft are complex products that incorporate innovations in technologies ranging from advanced materials to software and electronics. Although commercial aircraft assuredly qualify as a transformative innovation, in fact today's commercial aircraft are the result of a process of incremental innovation and improvement that dates back more than a century. A great many of these improvements and incremental innovations originated from government-supported R&D programs sponsored by the military services or government research laboratories. The adoption of commercial-aircraft innovations within many industrial economies, including the United States, also has been influenced by government regulation of air transportation. This paper provides a historical characterization of the innovation and record of technical progress in US commercial aircraft during the 1900-1975 period. It identifies the sources of support for innovation and technological adoption, and examines the origins and impacts of "breakthrough innovations" on the overall evolution of the global commercial aircraft industry. The paper also assesses the role of patents in these important innovations.


Simulation with agent-based models is increasingly used in the study of complex socio-technical systems and in social simulation in general. This paradigm offers a number of attractive features, namely the possibility of modeling emergent phenomena within large populations. As a consequence, often the quantity in need of calibration may be a distribution over the population whose relation with the parameters of the model is analytically intractable. Nevertheless, we can simulate. In this paper we present a simulation-based framework for the calibration of agent-based models with distributional output based on indirect inference. We illustrate our method step by step on a model of norm emergence in an online community of peer production, using data from three large Wikipedia communities. Model fit and diagnostics are discussed.


A 76-year-old male presented with sudden onset of a painful ulcerative lesion involving firstly the lower lip and secondly the oral cavity. The lesion initially started as a nut-sized round erythematous patch on the lower lip and rapidly progressed into a necrotic ulcer within three days (figure 1A). Thereafter, the ulcer gradually extended to the buccal gingiva, teeth, and tip of the tongue (figure 1B). There was no past history of burn or trauma on the area. Six years ago, he was diagnosed with [...]


The Organization of American States' (OAS) Inter-American Charter (2001) declares that "The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it" (preface). As the Charter also recognizes, one important means to promote and defend democracy is to teach it in schools. We will examine how schools can promote democratic knowledge, skills and dispositions, using examples from the United States that can be considered, adopted and/or adapted in nations throughout the Americas. Civics education in the United States has tended to focus on civic knowledge (how government works, voting policies, etc.) rather than skills and dispositions. In this paper, we briefly review the evolution of how educational and political leaders have considered the relationship between social, emotional, ethical, civic and intellectual skills, knowledge and dispositions and democracy. We suggest a model of essential social, emotional, ethical and cognitive skills and dispositions that provide the foundation for participation in a democracy. We then outline two essential goals that K-12 schools need to consider to effectively promote these capacities: How and what students and adults learn? And, how school communities work together to create safe, caring, and responsive and participatory environments. We suggest that measuring and working to improve school climate is the single most powerful K-12 educational strategy that supports schools' intentionally creating democratically informed communities which foster the skills, knowledge and dispositions that support students' healthy development and capacity to learn and become engaged and effective citizens.


Accumulating evidence underscores the importance of ligand-receptor dynamics in shaping cellular signaling. In the nervous system, growth factor-activated Trk receptor trafficking serves to convey biochemical signaling that underlies fundamental neural functions. Focus has been placed on axonal trafficking but little is known about growth factor-activated Trk dynamics in the neuronal soma, particularly at the molecular scale, due in large part to technical hurdles in observing individual growth factor-Trk complexes for long periods of time inside live cells. Quantum dots (QDs) are intensely fluorescent nanoparticles that have been used to study the dynamics of ligand-receptor complexes at the plasma membrane but the value of QDs for investigating ligand-receptor intracellular dynamics has not been well exploited. The current study establishes that QD conjugated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (QD-BDNF) binds to TrkB receptors with high specificity, activates TrkB downstream signaling, and allows single QD tracking capability for long recording durations deep within the soma of live neurons. QD-BDNF complexes undergo internalization, recycling, and intracellular trafficking in the neuronal soma. These trafficking events exhibit little time-synchrony and diverse heterogeneity in underlying dynamics that include phases of sustained rapid motor transport without pause as well as immobility of surprisingly long-lasting duration (several minutes). Moreover, the trajectories formed by dynamic individual BDNF complexes show no apparent end destination; BDNF complexes can be found meandering over long distances of several microns throughout the expanse of the neuronal soma in a circuitous fashion. The complex, heterogeneous nature of neuronal soma trafficking dynamics contrasts the reported linear nature of axonal transport data and calls for models that surpass our generally limited notions of nuclear-directed transport in the soma. QD-ligand probes are poised to provide understanding of how the molecular mechanisms underlying intracellular ligand-receptor trafficking shape cell signaling under conditions of both healthy and dysfunctional neurological disease models.


Phonocardiogram (PCG) signals are electrical recording of heart sounds containing vital information of diagnostic importance. Several signal processing methods exist to characterize PCG, however suffers in terms of sensitivity and specificity in accurately discriminating normal and abnormal heart sounds. Recently, a multiscale frequency (MSF) analysis of normal PCG was reported to characterize subtle frequency content changes in PCG which can aid in differentiating normal and abnormal heart sounds. In this work, it was hypothesized that MSF can discriminate normal PCG signal compared to an artifact, PCG with extra systolic heart sounds and murmur based on their varying frequency content. Various samples of PCG with normal and abnormal heart sounds were obtained from Peter Bentley Heart Sounds Database sampled at 44.1 kHz for analysis. The signal was filtered using a 4th order Butterworth lowpass filter with cutoff frequency at 200 Hz to remove higher frequency noise and MSF estimation was performed on the filtered dataset using custom MATLAB software. Mann-Whitney test was performed for statistical significance at p < 0.05. Results indicate that MSF successfully discriminated normal and abnormal heart sounds, which can aid in PCG classification with more sophisticated analysis. Validation of this technique with larger dataset is required.


Abstract To understand the effects of habitat selection, we analyzed differences in abundance, age structure, and nesting success of black-capped vireos (Vireo atricapilla) in 2 early successional habitat types found on Fort Hood, a 87,890-ha Military Reservation in central Texas, USA. These habitats were 1) large areas of continuously shrubby vegetation (both natural and mechanically made), referred to as shrubland habitat, and 2) anthropogenically created small patches of shrubby vegetation centered on one or several large trees, known locally as donut habitat. The objectives of our study were to determine whether there were differences in abundance, age structure, and daily nest survival in these 2 habitat types and to determine whether donut habitat is high- or low-quality habitat. Donut habitat had a lower abundance of vireos (half as many as shrubland/point count) and a higher percentage of second-year males, suggesting donut habitat was lower-quality habitat than shrubland. Analyses of daily nest survival indicated that habitat, nest height, and year were all important variables. Nests initiated in 2004, located in shrubland habitats, and higher from the ground were more likely to succeed. Our study provided evidence that habitat is a limiting factor for this federally endangered species. Because habitat is limiting, wildlife biologists at Fort Hood should focus on managing higher quality, contiguous shrubland habitat. Wildlife biologists should also continue to monitor areas of donut habitat to determine whether they represent potential population sinks.


Hollway and Jefferson's paper 'Panic and Perjury: A Psychosocial Exploration of Agency' is a thought-provoking and evocative piece of analysis. Hollway's work, and her recent research with Jefferson, has made a major contribution to the reshaping of social psychology. It raises profound and challenging questions from a direction that has been under-represented, and I welcome the opportunity to comment on the paper from a discursive psychological standpoint.

The central analytic claim of the paper is that powerful unconscious forces explain the 'puzzle' of Vince's illness. The central theoretical claim is that psychoanalysis offers a resolution of the agency/structure debate in contrast to discursive and social constructionist approaches in social psychology. According to Hollway and Jefferson, discursive approaches remain hopelessly mired in dualism and in deterministic positions. My first reaction to these two claims is to identify strongly with Vince. Both of us, the participant in this piece of research and the discursive psychologist constructed here as straw antagonist, have been placed in storylines not of our choosing. For Hollway and Jefferson's paper to work as a new resolution of the agency and structure debate, Vince needs to be presented as facing a 'stark choice' and to be inexplicably ill. There also needs to be an 'old theory' which can be rejected. As Vince comments in relation to his original injury, we have had 'words put in our mouths'. Vince and the discourse analyst acquire identities which we might not recognize and may want to strongly repudiate. Obviously, for Vince this is a much more serious matter, since as is the way in psychoanalytic interpretation (Parker, 1997), his very character is at stake. It is probably just as well then that it is the discursive psychologist who is offered the chance to reply in the pages of his journal. For ethical reasons (as Hollway and Jefferson intended) one hopes that Vince will never have to engage with this analysis of himself as a timid man choosing illness to avoid confrontation with a bullying boss.