It has long been an article of faith in the U.S. that education is the key to economic success. The faith works in two directions: (1) education is good for the economy in general and (2) education is good for the individual. The first article of faith is the assumption behind all the rhetoric connecting quality of education and international competitiveness. The second article is the reason teens are told, "stay in school." Policy makers evidently know the first article is false: while schools are blamed when the economy is poor, they do not get the credit when things go well (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Bracey, 2001). Regardless, the myth powerfully shapes the way schooling is thought about in the U.S. On the one hand, public schools are supported because the public believes the economy benefits when large numbers of an age cohort go to school for many years. On the other hand, individuals extend their schooling in the expectation of economic advantage. This appears to work to the advantage of schools, gaining both economic support and attendance. However, the thesis of this paper is that the opposite is true. I will first make the argument that the relationship between educational attainment and economic success is more apparent than real. Then I will consider the ways in which these myths mask serious injustice at the core of U.S. national life. Finally, I will consider the implications of believing the myth and the ways the myth harms education. But before I begin the analysis, let me conduct a little thought experiment. Imagine that U.S. schools were suddenly made perfect (whatever it is that one might mean by "perfect"). Imagine everyone obtains a perfect education in all areas. If the myth that equates good education with a good, well-paying job were true, everyone would now have a good, well-paying job. We know these conditions would not follow. Service sector jobs would not pay a living wage or provide health insurance. If everyone were equally well educated, even perfectly so, the surplus of labor would still mean some jobs would pay less than a living wage. In a competitive economy, the educated reap economic benefits only from their education relative to others'. This claim will be elaborated below. This paper will argue that what schools cannot do, should not be tasked with doing, and should not promise to do, is reduce inequality in the context of a broad socio-economic matrix designed to produce inequality; nor can it much reduce inequity when the means used to distribute inequality are themselves unjust. However, this paper is not intended to update Coleman's (1966) argument that home effects overwhelm school effect. On Coleman's view, schools cannot produce equality of academic results. There is much evidence that this task, however difficult, is possible (Meier, 2002; Edmonds et al., 1977; Lezotte & Bancroft, 1985). The argument in this paper is: even when schooling does all it can do to educate those who begin life disadvantaged, this educational success will make a difference for only a chosen few; in the competitive life of a capitalist state, the rich and powerful will assure the success of their children over others', individual exceptions to the contrary notwithstanding. The Argument Many service-sector employers require a high school diploma or some years of post-secondary education. However, the job skills required are not particularly connected to these educational requirements, nor are wages simply related to the amount of schooling one has. Instead, wages are related to relative education. It is not how much education one has that grants economic advantage in the job market; it is how much more education one has compared to others in that particular market. To understand why, we begin with what Tom Green (1980) called the Law of Zero Correlation: ... if there is a level within the system that everyone completes, then completing that level can have no bearing whatever upon any social differences that may subsequently arise within the population . …


Qualitative research in the information systems (IS) discipline has come a long way, from being dismissed as "exploratory research" or "preresearch," not worthy of being featured in "scientific" and authoritative journals in the discipline, to a state where such research is seen as legitimate and even welcome scholarship within much of the mainstream IS research community. Despite these very positive developments in line with the value of pluralism that our discipline has embraced, and the gradual inclusion of qualitative work in high-profile mainstream outlets, recent editorials have expressed concerns regarding the research community's lack of awareness about the diverse nature of qualitative research and the apparent confusion regarding how these diverse approaches are different. Such confusion has led to a mismatch between the methodology-related expectations of evaluators and the methodological description provided by the authors (Conboy et al. 2012; Sarker et al. 2013a). To help make sense of the situation, in this editorial, we offer a critical commentary on the arena of qualitative research in the IS discipline. In viewing the adoption of qualitative research in the IS discipline as an evolutionary process, by highlighting key differences among various types of qualitative inquiry, and by drawing attention to lessons learned from the first-generation of qualitative approaches adopted in the IS discipline, we offer a number of implications for both authors and evaluators of qualitative manuscripts.


Infertility is nowadays a major concern, affecting approximately 8–12% of the couples and the male factor accounts for about 50% of the cases. Occupational and/or environ‐ mental exposure to heavy metals and other pollutants is the main cause of male infertility. Lead, cadmium and chromium are heavy metals widely used in industry and quite persistent in the environment, raising major concerns over the possible effects on the reproductive health of workers and the general population. Sperm DNA integrity is essential for the accurate transmission of paternal genetic information, and normal sperm chromatin structure is important for sperm fertilizing ability. Flow cytometry can be to characterize multiple physical characteristics of the population of spermato‐ zoa in the sperm, including sperm concentration, viability, mitochondrial mass and function, acrosome integrity, capacitation, membrane fluidity, DNA content and status, etc. This chapter elucidates the role of cytometry in the study of male fertility under toxicological insult by pollutants such as chromium, cadmium and lead. Some representative examples are presented using in vivo studies with rodents. In addition, complementary techniques to cytometry and future perspectives will be mentioned in an interdisciplinary point of view to gain knowledge on this subject. be presented to demonstrate the applicability of flow cytometry techniques.


A poster presented virtually due to COVID-19 at the UK Imaging and Oncology (UKIO) congress June-July 2020.This PhD study aims explore the communication that occurs during a child's non-urgent X-ray
procedure and examine children and their parent's perceptions of this communication and the procedure. There is increasing evidence of children's engagement in health services. Less is known about children's experiences of X-ray procedures or the
ways they communicate during the procedure. Data were generated through non-participant observations of children undergoing X-ray
procedures. Children and their parents were invited after the procedure to take part in a semi-structured interview. Children, parents and
radiographers played specific parts during the X-ray procedures and this influenced communication. Three different categories of communication
were developed but are not presented as a hierarchy of the communication children preferred. The first category was communication where a child
was involved; children's voices were sought with the expectation that they could influence what happened during the procedure. The second
category was communication where a child was interrupted; children's voices were replaced because of the bigger roles adults played. The third
category was communication where a child was ignored; children's voices were overlooked, silenced or not sought by adults. Children in these
procedures had a small role and little power to influence what happened during their procedure. The findings have been discussed using
dramaturgical metaphors of roles, scripts and front and back stage performances that unified the three developed categories and lead to the
theorisation of a core category of 'Playing a Part in the Performance'. Children are able and value being engaged in meaningful communication
during their X-ray. Different roles and interactions can close down or open up children's opportunity and ability to play an active role in their
procedure.


In Bangladesh, the poultry industry is an economically and socially important sector, but is persistently threatened by the effects of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza. Thus, identifying the optimal control policy in response to an emerging disease outbreak is a key challenge for policy-makers. To inform this aim, a common approach is to carry out simulation studies comparing plausible strategies, while accounting for known capacity restrictions. In this study we perform simulations of a previously developed H5N1 influenza transmission model framework, fitted to two separate historical outbreaks, to assess specific control objectives related to the burden or duration of H5N1 outbreaks among poultry farms in the Dhaka division in Bangladesh. In particular we explore the optimal implementation of ring culling, ring vaccination and active surveillance measures when presuming disease transmission predominately occurs from premises-to-premises, versus a setting requiring the inclusion of external factors. Additionally, we determine the sensitivity of the management actions under consideration to differing levels of capacity constraints and outbreaks with disparate transmission dynamics. While we find that reactive culling and vaccination control policies should pay close attention to these factors to ensure intervention targeting is optimised, targeted proactive active surveillance schemes appear to significantly outperform reactive surveillance procedures in all instances. Our findings may advise the type of control measure, plus its severity, that should be applied in the event of a re-emergent outbreak of H5N1 amongst poultry in the Dhaka division of Bangladesh.


The symbols and special characters used in the original abstract could not be transcribed due to technical problems. Please use the PDF version to read the abstract. This thesis presents an enhanced way of designing traveling-wave antennas built with slotted substrate integrated waveguides. A novel configuration of vias is derived for controlling the slotted element phase by >30°. A straightforward design method that includes slot excitation from either side is set up. It is very useful specifically for high width‐to-height waveguide ratios as well as both off-resonant and mismatched slots, where conventional methods have been shown to be less performing. The validation has revealed a radiation pattern with low SLL of -27 dB, and zero degree broadside beam. Measured antenna arrays yielded a low (formula). Nevertheless, the project has exposed reflections from the applied transition and fixture at the end of the array that degrade
the results. The new concept has been completed with a published MATLAB design guide script.
When applying the vias to steer to a particular angle, the shifted beams do reveal the same range of
beam width and low SLL as the initial zero degree beam which outperforms the State-‐of-‐the-‐Art. A
solution comprising slot antenna sub-‐arrays that are excited from either side is further presented in this work. Four particular beams from –20° to +20° -‐ have been designed with good matching of
better -‐10 dB reflection, and a maximum directivity of about 16 dBi, exhibiting an efficiency of nearly 70 %. A new very practical millimeter-‐wave transition is proposed at the end of this work. It addresses the shrinkage tolerances typically seen with LTCC material. The (formula)of the latter could have been determined through a LINE and THRU measurement. A strong dispersion of the dielectric constant from 9.9 to 6.7 has been the important outcome of this task. This solution represents the first purely intra-‐substrate experiment allowing to avoid the uncertainties that occur with the effective permittivity. The transition shows a good insertion loss smaller than 0.7 dB and a good matching with RL smaller than 10 dB. To sum up, a bunch of new tools has been conceived with this work to enhance the performance of very thin slotted traveling-‐wave-‐antennas substantially.


This study is designed to help practitioners prepare and evaluate institutional reforms for education and health programs. It provides an analytic framework for use by public officials and researchers, with case studies that illustrate a wide range of actual practice, and a set of lessons learned. The framework uses the concept of "accountability" to link the broad goals of reform to the key dimensions of organizational arrangements. The case studies, based on fieldwork in Mexico and Nicaragua, demonstrate a wide variety of available policy instruments.


Attention mechanisms in neural networks have proved useful for problems in which the input and output do not have fixed dimension. Often there exist features that are locally translation invariant and would be valuable for directing the model's attention, but previous attentional architectures are not constructed to learn such features specifically. We introduce an attentional neural network that employs convolution on the input tokens to detect local time-invariant and long-range topical attention features in a context-dependent way. We apply this architecture to the problem of extreme summarization of source code snippets into short, descriptive function name-like summaries. Using those features, the model sequentially generates a summary by marginalizing over two attention mechanisms: one that predicts the next summary token based on the attention weights of the input tokens and another that is able to copy a code token as-is directly into the summary. We demonstrate our convolutional attention neural network's performance on 10 popular Java projects showing that it achieves better performance compared to previous attentional mechanisms.


This paper examined the role of effective internal audit in public accountability using the staff of Accountant-General and Auditor-General's offices in Enugu State of Nigeria. It made use of 3 specific objectives, 3 research questions and 3 hypotheses. The population of the study was 430 which comprised 318 Accountants and 112 Auditors. From there, a simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 204 Accountants and Auditors on equal basis. Data were gathered for the study with structured questionnaire. Responses were designed using a modified Likert four-point scale of 4 – Very Great Extent, 3 – Great Extent, 2 – Little Extent and 1 – Very Little Extent. The internal consistency and reliability of the research instrument was tested with Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Cronbach Alpha. While research questions were analyzed with mean and standard deviation, the hypotheses were tested with Spearman Rank-Order Correlation, with the resultant correlation coefficients transformed into students' distribution. The study revealed that adherence to internal audit practices promoted public accountability. The paper concluded that any government desirous of pursuing public accountability policy, should strengthen all mechanisms that guarantee strict adherence to internal audit practices with its overwhelming pervasiveness instead of duplication of anti-graft agencies. The paper recommended effective internal audit model to APC-led government to enable it fulfill its campaign promises to the Nigerian nation.


Sibutramine hydrochloride (SH) is used for the treatment of obesity. The comprehensive physical characterization of drug and drug product is gaining importance due to the potential impacts of phase transitions on the drug product's quality and performance. In this work, the kinetics of dehydration of SH-monohydrate were studied using thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and the solid-state characterization was done by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The weight loss data obtained from thermogravimetry (TG) was used for non-isothermal kinetics analysis and the well accepted Coats-Redfern model fitting approach was applied to determine kinetic parameters. Total thirteen solid state reaction models were evaluated, diffusion control (Crank) model found to be the best fit model for this reaction with an excellent correlation 0.9984. The values of Arrhenius parameters, activation energy (E a) and pre-exponential factor (A) were found to be 34 kcal/mol and 3.23 x10 16 sec -1 respectively. The dehydration of SH Monohydrate resulted anhydrous SH with a


Composted biosolids have been shown to enhance turfgrass establishment and growth more than fertilizer alone, but few studies have investigated the production of turfgrass using uncomposted biosolids. Increasingly employed treatment methods that generate pathogen-free, low pollutant-containing biosolids are creating alternative products for use in urban settings. Understanding the effects of these uncomposted and alternative biosolids products on turfgrass culture and soil chemical and physical properties is essential to understanding the benefits these products may provide in sod production systems. The objectives of this study were to compare processing methods, application and N mineralization rates of two biosolids products and an inorganic fertilizer control for sod fertilization on 1) agronomic parameters related to turfgrass quality, 2) the amount of soil, C and P exported at harvest, and 3) chemical and physical properties of the soil following sod harvest as an indicator of the benefits of biosolids use. The study was conducted on a sod farm in Remington, Virginia on a silt loam Ashburn-Dulles complex from 2009 to 2012. The biosolids products were applied at estimated plant available nitrogen (PAN) rates of 98 kg N ha (0.5X), 196 kg N ha (1.0X) and 294 kg N ha (1.5X) for a tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb. 'Rebel Exeda' 'Rebel IV' and 'Justice')/ Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L. 'Midnight') mixture. One biosolids product was an anaerobically digested dewatered cake applied at 15, 30.5 and 46 wet Mg ha. The second biosolids product was the same cake blended with wood fines applied at 17, 34 and 51 wet Mg ha. The biosolids treatments were compared to an inorganic fertilizer control that supplied 196 kg N ha through three applications over the production cycle. There were no differences in establishment between the cake biosolids treatments and the inorganic fertilizer control, but all of the blended biosolids were slower to establish. Only the 1.0X and 1.5X PAN rates from the cake biosolids matched the inorganic fertilizer control in producing an acceptable quality sod in ten months. Lower nitrogen uptake between the blended biosolids treatments compared to the inorganic fertilizer control and lower although acceptable sod quality ratings at harvest of the 1.0X cake biosolids indicate our PAN estimates of 30% organic nitrogen mineralization overestimated the PAN for both materials. There were no differences in sod tensile strength between the 1.5X cake biosolids and inorganic fertilizer control. There were no differences in transplant rooting strength among all treatments. After repeat applications of biosolids, the 0.5X rates did not increase soil extractable phosphorus, while the 1.0X rates steadily increased soil extractable phosphorus at. The 1.0X and 1.5X biosolids rates increased soil organic matter content, but only the 1.5X rate of cake biosolids reduced soil bulk density and mineral matter export at harvest. Overall results indicate that the cake biosolids are an acceptable fertility alternative to inorganic fertilizer, and applications of biosolids for sod production can improve soil quality. Sod growers should consider using biosolids in a rotational system to offset rising production costs and improve production field soil quality.


This article presents experimental studies on micromilling thin walls to explore process capabilities in direct manufacturing of high aspect ratio features using tungsten carbide micro-end milling tools for two different materials: aluminium and brass. This study has been conducted in two phases. At first, the effects of micromilling parameters on the surface roughness have been investigated and most suitable machining conditions in obtaining highest surface quality have been identified. In the second phase, the effects of machining strategies have been explored in order to optimize final quality of the thin walls in terms of straightness of the machined thin walls, uniformity of wall thickness and burr presence. As a result of this experimental study, optimized machining parameters and strategies are presented. In the case of micromilling brass (CuZn36Pb3), a down-milling cutting direction with a Z-step milling strategy at a spindle speed of 35,000 r min−1, an axial depth of cut of 150 µm and a feed rate of 150 mm min−1 provided the best overall thin-wall quality. In the case of micromilling aluminium (Al6061-T4), a down-milling cutting direction with a ramp milling strategy, a spindle speed of 25,000 r min−1, an axial depth of cut of 150 µm and a feed rate of 200 mm min−1 yielded the best results.


Under the notion of Cyber-Physical Systems an increasingly important research area has
evolved with the aim of improving the connectivity and interoperability of previously
separate system functions. Today, the advanced networking and processing capabilities
of embedded systems make it possible to establish strongly distributed, heterogeneous
systems of systems. In such configurations, the system boundary does not necessarily
end with the hardware, but can also take into account the wider context such as people
and environmental factors. In addition to being open and adaptive to other networked
systems at integration time, such systems need to be able to adapt themselves in accordance
with dynamic changes in their application environments. Considering that many
of the potential application domains are inherently safety-critical, it has to be ensured
that the necessary modifications in the individual system behavior are safe. However,
currently available state-of-the-practice and state-of-the-art approaches for safety assurance
and certification are not applicable to this context.
To provide a feasible solution approach, this thesis introduces a framework that allows
"just-in-time" safety certification for the dynamic adaptation behavior of networked
systems. Dynamic safety contracts (DSCs) are presented as the core solution concept
for monitoring and synthesis of decentralized safety knowledge. Ultimately, this opens
up a path towards standardized service provision concepts as a set of safety-related runtime
evidences. DSCs enable the modular specification of relevant safety features in
networked applications as a series of formalized demand-guarantee dependencies. The
specified safety features can be hierarchically integrated and linked to an interpretation
level for accessing the scope of possible safe behavioral adaptations. In this way, the networked
adaptation behavior can be conditionally certified with respect to the fulfilled
DSC safety features during operation. As long as the continuous evaluation process
provides safe adaptation behavior for a networked application context, safety can be
guaranteed for a networked system mode at runtime. Significant safety-related changes
in the application context, however, can lead to situations in which no safe adaptation
behavior is available for the current system state. In such cases, the remaining DSC
guarantees can be utilized to determine optimal degradation concepts for the dynamic
applications.
For the operationalization of the DSCs approach, suitable specification elements and
mechanisms have been defined. Based on a dedicated GUI-engineering framework it is
shown how DSCs can be systematically developed and transformed into appropriate runtime
representations. Furthermore, a safety engineering backbone is outlined to support
the DSC modeling process in concrete application scenarios. The conducted validation
activities show the feasibility and adequacy of the proposed DSCs approach. In parallel,
limitations and areas of future improvement are pointed out.


This article describes the historical emergence of vital systems security, analyzing it as a significant mutation in biopolitical modernity. The story begins in the early 20th century, when planners and policy-makers recognized the increasing dependence of collective life on interlinked systems such as transportation, electricity, and water. Over the following decades, new security mechanisms were invented to mitigate the vulnerability of these vital systems. While these techniques were initially developed as part of Cold War preparedness for nuclear war, they eventually migrated to domains beyond national security to address a range of anticipated emergencies, such as large-scale natural disasters, pandemic disease outbreaks, and disruptions of critical infrastructure. In these various contexts, vital systems security operates as a form of reflexive biopolitics, managing risks that have arisen as the result of modernization processes. This analysis sheds new light on current discussions of the government of emergency and 'states of exception'. Vital systems security does not require recourse to extraordinary executive powers. Rather, as an anticipatory technology for mitigating vulnerabilities and closing gaps in preparedness, it provides a ready-to-hand toolkit for administering emergencies as a normal part of constitutional government.


{Observations of the solar atmosphere have shown that magnetohydrodynamic waves are ubiquitous throughout. Improvements in instrumentation and the techniques used for measurement of the waves now enables subtleties of competing theoretical models to be compared with the observed waves behaviour. Some studies have already begun to undertake this process. However, the techniques employed for model comparison have generally been unsuitable and can lead to erroneous conclusions about the best model. The aim here is to introduce some robust statistical techniques for model comparison to the solar waves community, drawing on the experiences from other areas of astrophysics. In the process, we also aim to investigate the physics of coronal loop oscillations. } {The methodology exploits least-squares fitting to compare models to observational data. We demonstrate that the residuals between the model and observations contain significant information about the ability for the model to describe the observations, and show how they can be assessed using various statistical tests. In particular we discuss the Kolmogorov-Smirnoff one and two sample tests, as well as the runs test. We also highlight the importance of including any observational trend line in the model-fitting process.} {To demonstrate the methodology, an observation of an oscillating coronal loop undergoing standing kink motion is used. The model comparison techniques provide evidence that a Gaussian damping profile provides a better description of the observed wave attenuation than the often used exponential profile. This supports previous analysis from Pascoe et al. (2016). Further, we use the model comparison to provide evidence of time-dependent wave properties of a kink oscillation, attributing the behaviour to the thermodynamic evolution of the local plasma.}


This study examines the impact of cool season grass quality characteristics on pricing and net returns in niche equine feed markets. A hedonic analysis of Timothy grass hay prices in Nevada was performed to determine the implicit values of its quality characteristics. A Monte Carlo simulation was then conducted to estimate the distribution of net returns to improving grass hay quality characteristics. Results show that the presence of foreign matter had the largest impact on grass hay price, followed by seller reputation and hay color. However, for risk-averse producers, enhancing seller reputation and grass hay color are the preferred strategies for increasing net returns.


Post-reform markets in commodity-exporting countries in Africa and Latin America are generally characterized by the withdrawal of government organizations from commodity marketing, the emergence of new private agents operating as traders and exporters, and farmers' participation in the newly-recon(cid:28)gured market regulatory authorities. However, the liberalization process varied across countries and resulted in the emergence of various marketing systems. This empirical analysis aims at providing better understanding of the situation faced by farmers likely to be exposed to both high world price volatility and possible market power of private agents. Focusing on three co(cid:27)ee exporting countries which have experienced market liberalization in the mid-1990s but display very di(cid:27)erent marketing systems today, I show that asymmetric adjustments of producer prices that characterized the pre-reform period and were favorable to farmers have disappeared in the post-reform period. Moreover, in spite of farmers' participation in market authorities, largest decreases in world prices may be transmitted relatively quickly to farmers when the number of exporters remains small.


This chapter examines the implications of globalization for sovereign statehood. It begins with a discussion of the debate over the consequence of globalization for nation-states, followed by an analysis of the modalities of statehood as they have developed over the past several decades. In particular, it explores how advanced capitalist states are transforming from modern into post-modern states. It also considers the emergence of weak post-colonial states out of special circumstances—the globalization of the institution of sovereignty in the context of decolonization. Furthermore, it looks at modernizing states such as China, India, Russia, and Brazil, which combine features of the modern, post-modern, and weak post-colonial states. The chapter concludes with an overview of changes in statehood that place the discipline of comparative politics in a new setting.


Prior research has documented cultural dimensions that broadly characterize between-culture variations in Western and East Asian societies and that bicultural individuals can flexibly change their behaviors in response to different cultural contexts. In this article, we studied cultural differences and behavioral switching in the context of the fast emerging, naturally occurring online social networking, using both self-report measures and content analyses of online activities on two highly popular platforms, Facebook and Renren (the "Facebook of China"). Results showed that while Renren and Facebook are two technically similar platforms, the Renren culture is perceived as more collectivistic than the Facebook culture. Furthermore, we presented evidence for the first time that users who are members of both online cultures flexibly switch and adapt their in-group sharing behaviors in response to the online community in which they are: They perform more benevolent in-group sharing when they participate in the Renren community and less so when they participate in the Facebook community. We discussed both the theoretical and methodological implications of the current research.


This article examines how social movements contribute to institutional change and the creation of new industries. We build on current efforts to bridge institutional and social movement perspectives in sociology and develop the concept of field frame to study how industries are shaped by social structures of meanings and resources that underpin and stabilize practices and social organization. Drawing on the case of how non-profit recyclers and the recycling social movement enabled the rise of a for-profit recycling industry, we show that movements can help to transform extant socio-economic practices and enable new kinds of industry development by engaging in efforts that lead to the de-institutionalization of field frames.


Abstract : A primary pillar to achieving strategic aims in Iraq is through the reestablishment of a functional healthcare system. Currently, no set corporate solution exists including all agencies pertaining to a universally acceptable strategic health policy in support of this objective. Healthcare is an elemental component of basic human needs and should be accessible, affordable, and capable. Following combat operations and phasing into stabilization operations, basic healthcare infrastructure and systems have often been either disrupted or degraded altogether. To address this situation, the U.S. Government (USG) requires a coordinated interagency approach to formulate a strategic healthcare plan. Incorporating all relevant players into this goal will promote sound organizational design, unity of effort, and a culture favorable to synchronization. This proposal submits specific recommendations and advocates a renewed effort toward addressing these requirements. The primary constructs under review are USG organization, leadership, and culture as they relate to a strategic healthcare policy. This approach reduces redundant efforts, conserves resources and augments the legitimacy of the new Government of Iraq while supporting U.S. national strategic aims.


Monte Carlo (MC) molecular simulation describes fluid systems with rich information, and it is capable of predicting many fluid properties of engineering interest. In general, it is more accurate and representative than equations of state. On the other hand, it requires much more computational effort and simulation time. For that purpose, several techniques have been developed in order to speed up MC molecular simulations while preserving their precision. In particular, early rejection schemes are capable of reducing computational cost by reaching the rejection decision for the undesired MC trials at an earlier stage in comparison to the conventional scheme. In a recent work, we have introduced a 'conservative' early rejection scheme as a method to accelerate MC simulations while producing exactly the same results as the conventional algorithm. In this paper, we introduce a 'non-conservative' early rejection scheme, which is much faster than the conservative scheme, yet it preserves the precision of the method. The proposed scheme is tested for systems of structureless Lennard-Jones particles in both canonical and NVT-Gibbs ensembles. Numerical experiments were conducted at several thermodynamic conditions for different number of particles. Results show that at certain thermodynamic conditions, the non-conservative method is capable of doubling the speed of the MC molecular simulations in both canonical and NVT-Gibbs ensembles.


The small and medium-sized enterprises operators play an important role in making strategy of corporate social responsibility fulfillment. Only the small and medium-sized enterprise operators to correct positioned their own enterprise correctly in the first place, understood and fulfilled its social responsibility of the various stakeholders correctly, they can lead small and medium-sized enterprises to seek an appropriate strategy of social responsibility fulfillment according to their own characteristics. From the perspective of the enterprise operator, this paper through the questionnaire research based on Social Responsibility Investigation of SMEs in Anshan City and analysis of small and mediumsized enterprise operator to its various stakeholders to fulfill the social responsibility of the importance, to explore the reasons, and create conditions for guiding operator lead the enterprise to fulfill its social responsibility of the various stakeholders, to help small and medium-sized enterprise sustainable development.


Melanie Peter, Senior Lecturer in Education and Early Childhood at Anglia Ruskin University, argues that the ability to engage in narrative stems from early interactive play formats and is essential for perceiving patterns and sequences in life – the fabric of social understanding. Developing themes set out in her earlier work, this article presents a rationale and developmental model for drama as narrative pedagogy. Whether narrative impairment is a cause or consequence of their difficulties, hard-to-reach or socially challenged children – exemplified by those with autism – characteristically show a limited spontaneous play repertoire, which necessarily hampers their development. However, through a play-tutoring approach in drama, especially by the teacher-in-role, significant gains may be noted. Melanie Peter uses case studies to illustrate an emerging triad of competencies that contribute to enhancing social understanding: more effective communication, greater sensitivity in interaction and creative problem-solving. The generative pedagogical dimensions support a developmental framework for using drama to explore cultural values and issues embedded in stories, towards greater narrative identity and more effective participation in a social world.


Hildegard of Bingen was an abbess of great authority and remains a holy person of the Catholic Church. Nine hundred years after her birth, the popularity and the influence of this great Visionary continue to grow. Her astonishing achievements in so many fields bring inspiration, joy, and help to more people every day. But true appreciation for those achievements requires an informed commentary and interpretation of their originality when compared to the structures of thought, art, religion, and politics in the twelfth century. "The World of Hildegard of Bingen" provides that commentary and interpretation, bringing Hildegard's Visions, thoughts, and practice to life.In "The World of Hildegard of Bingen" Heinrich Schipperges, an authority on Hildegard, offers an in-depth look at one of history's most fascinating Christians. He considers Hildegard's mind and thought from the basis of her understanding of wholeness, both human and universal. He sees her in the context of the political and ecclesiastical events of her time and discusses Hildegard's theology of music and of art. He also elicits the meaning of her symbolism for people's lives today.For Hildegard, the health and beauty of the human mind and body, of moral order, and of the universe reflect the perfection of God. Her Visions and writings speak to us today with extraordinary freshness. In the words and full-color pictures of "The World of Hildegard of Bingen," this powerful woman speaks to our minds and eyes across nine centuries, offering us strength and encouragement in our quest for meaning and purpose.Includes a generous selection of short Visions, descriptions, and poems extracted from Hildegard's works as well as superb color reproductions of her art.Heinrich Schipperges was educated at the universities of Bonn and Dusseldorf and holds doctorates in medicine and philosophy. He directed the Institute of Medicine at Heidelberg University and is the author of nearly eighty books and eight hundred articles. Recognized as a leading authority on Hildegard of Bingen, Schipperges has devoted most of his work to her since his doctoral thesis in the 1950s.


The optical implementation of fractional Fourier transforms (FractFT's) of different orders usually requires different geometric configurations. I obtain a scaling relation for optical implementation of the FractFt that allows one to do the 1/Q1-order FractFT on the 1/Q-order optical FractFt setup, except for the usual Fourier transform. With the scaling relation, FractFt's of different orders can be optically implemented simultaneously. The optical implementation of a FractFT in the frequency domain is also suggested.


We demonstrate CVD in situ doping of Ge by utilizing phosphorus delta-doping for the creation of a high dopant diffusion source. Multiple monolayer delta doping creates source phosphorous concentrations above 1 × 1020cm−3, and uniform activated dopant concentrations above 4 × 1019cm−3 in a 600-800nm thick Ge layer after in-diffusion. By controlling dopant out-diffusion, near-complete incorporation of phosphorus diffusion source is shown.


This document describes a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload
format for transporting Enhanced AC-3 (E-AC-3) encoded audio data.
E-AC-3 is a high-quality, multichannel audio coding format and is an
extension of the AC-3 audio coding format, which is used in US High-
Definition Television (HDTV), DVD, cable and satellite television, and
other media. E-AC-3 is an optional audio format in US and world wide
digital television and high-definition DVD formats. The RTP payload
format as presented in this document includes support for data
fragmentation. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


Security threats on consumer devices such as mobile phones are increasing as the software platforms become more open and complex. Therefore, hypervisors, which bring potential new secure services to embedded systems, are becoming increasingly important. In this paper, we look into how to design a hypervisor-based security architecture for an advanced mobile phone. Key security components of the architecture have been verified through a hypervisor implemented on an emulated ARM platform. We compare the hypervisor security architecture with TrustZone and summarize the major benefits and limitations of the hypervisor approach. In short, hypervisors exhibit several advantages such as support of multiple secure execution domains and monitoring of non-trusted domains; however, this comes at the cost of larger legacy system porting efforts.


This study investigated the relationship between personality traits and occupational self efficacy
with career interests among Malaysian university students. The demographic
factors associated with students' occupational self-efficacy and career interests were
also determined. The study had provided more insights on students' behaviour that
could enhance the alleviation of social and academic maladjustment among students
and increase their academic achievement. In addition, the findings of this study were
likely to enhance job satisfaction, quality services, and productivity. The research
questions and hypotheses determined the following objectives of the study:
1. The identification of students' occupational self-efficacy expectations, career
interests patterns, prevalent personality traits and their relationship.
2. The relationship between personality traits, occupational self-efficacy, and career
interests with the extraneous variables. 3. The relationship between personality traits and occupational self-efficacy with career
interests after controlling for the demographic variables.
The population of the study comprised the second and third year Malaysian
undergraduate students. Accordingly, based on the knowledge disciplines, 238 subjects
were selected from UPM, HUM, and UTM using the cluster random sampling. The
Occupational Self-Efficacy Scale (OSES), Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), and
Personality Research Form (PRF) were used in the data collection to measure
occupational self-efficacy, career interests, and personality traits respectively. The
computer program software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in
the data analysis. The statistical techniques used were Pearson and Point-Biserial
correlation, ANOVA, MANOVA, and the Multiple Regression.


The Gemperline research group is currently working on a research project to characterize chemical batch reactions in slurry mixtures with light scattering properties. One of our primary goals is to determine light absorption and light scattering properties of these mixtures using near-infrared (NIR) reflectance measurements in order to characterize the amount of reactants and products in the solution phase and in the solid phase. Resolving light scattering properties from light absorbing properties in slurries is challenging because they strongly interact in a nonlinear way. Temporally resolved and spatially resolved diffuse reflectance measurements are two well-established methods of determining the coefficients related to these properties in light scattering samples. This literature review will present recently developed calibration methods for estimating light absorption and light scattering coefficients from time resolved and spatially resolved reflectance measurements. Temporally resolved diffuse reflectance has been shown to accurately determine the optical properties and particle sizes of granular samples of dyed silica gel [1], and spatially resolved measurements have been demonstrated to accurately measure the properties of tissue-simulating phantoms [2]. A comparison of these two methods has shown their use in taking measurements of known tissue phantoms, in vitro, and in vivo samples [3]. This comparison will be used to discuss the applications and the limitations of these techniques. [1] Pandozzi, F. (2007). Power Law Analysis Estimates of Analyte Concentration and Particle Size in Highly Scattering Granular Samples from Photon Time-of-Flight Measurements. Analytical Chemistry, 6792-6798. [2] Dam, J. (2001). Fiber-optic probe for noninvasive real-time determination of tissue optical properties at multiple wavelengths. Applied Optics, 1155-1164. [3] Swartling, J. (2003). Comparison of spatially and temporally resolved diffuse-reflectance measurement systems for determination of biomedical optical properties. Applied Optics, 4612-4620.


In order to establish the conditions under which the buffering of insoluble substance may most usefully be studied, suspensions of fibre cellulose, hemicellulose and xylan have been examined to determine the relationship between pH and the degree of dissociation of their carboxyl groups. The materials were suspended in normal potassium chloride solution, in order to confine local gradients of hydrion. concentration to the immediate vicinity of each charged buffer group. Under these conditions the dissociation curves are all of the simple Henderson type with a common constant pK = 2·95 (N /100 hydrochloric acid in normal potassium chloride being taken as pH 2). Sols of arabic and pectie acid follow the same dissociation curve, showing that the dissociation of the carboxyl groups is not necessarily influenced by the state of aggregation. Within the accuracy of these measurements, uronic and gluconic carboxyls have the same pK . The dissociation of pectic acid departs from the Henderson curve in the same general way as the dissociation curve of maleic acid differs from that of fumaric acid. It is suggested that some of the carboxyls in pectic acid are linked by hydrogen bridges. To a less extent such linkage may also occur in alginic acid below pH 3 when a gel is formed. The pK. for the first stage of acid dissociation of the hydroxyl groups in wheat starch is close to 13·3. The same value was obtained whether potassium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide or barium hydroxide was used. The alkalis were made up in normal solutions of the corresponding chlorides. The same constant holds for alginate within the limits of experimental error. The dissociation in cellulose up to pH 13·5 is much less than in starch. Using a new method based on a determination of the ratio of chloride ions to hydroxyl ions, the dissociations of starch and cellulose were measured in 5N alkali (approximately pH 14·7). The second pK of starch is estimated at roughly 15·0. The cellulose, largely mercerized at this pH, exhibited a dissociation not much less than that of starch, and agreeing closely with the prediction of Neale. An insoluble buffer substance suspended in an electrolyte solution is a two-phase system. The hydrion dissociation can be determined in two-phase systems over a greater pH range than is possible in one-phase systems.


Significance Past research has found that experienced well-being does not increase above incomes of $75,000/y. This finding has been the focus of substantial attention from researchers and the general public, yet is based on a dataset with a measure of experienced well-being that may or may not be indicative of actual emotional experience (retrospective, dichotomous reports). Here, over one million real-time reports of experienced well-being from a large US sample show evidence that experienced well-being rises linearly with log income, with an equally steep slope above $80,000 as below it. This suggests that higher incomes may still have potential to improve people's day-to-day well-being, rather than having already reached a plateau for many people in wealthy countries. What is the relationship between money and well-being? Research distinguishes between two forms of well-being: people's feelings during the moments of life (experienced well-being) and people's evaluation of their lives when they pause and reflect (evaluative well-being). Drawing on 1,725,994 experience-sampling reports from 33,391 employed US adults, the present results show that both experienced and evaluative well-being increased linearly with log(income), with an equally steep slope for higher earners as for lower earners. There was no evidence for an experienced well-being plateau above $75,000/y, contrary to some influential past research. There was also no evidence of an income threshold at which experienced and evaluative well-being diverged, suggesting that higher incomes are associated with both feeling better day-to-day and being more satisfied with life overall.


Abstract The Folkestone Beds formation is a marine shallow-water deposit of Cretaceous age. It consists mostly of poorly lithified sands which classify onto the sand/sandstone borderline, having properties neither akin to the classical concept of an engineering soil nor being strong enough to be labelled a rock. Intact samples were obtained by block sampling at 17 locations. Studies of the microfabric were made from thin sections prepared after epoxy resin impregnation. Although predominantly quartzose, the samples have a very wide range of grain sizes, size distributions, porosity and grain contact relations. The random inter-relationships amongst the microfabric parameters suggest that shelf sands, such as this formation, do not fit the patterns reported for deeply buried, and hence more diagenetically altered, sandstones. The majority are weakly cemented but samples from two locations possess negligible binding cement and are classed as locked sands. Measurements of the peak shear strength were carried out on air-dry samples of the intact sand using a 60 mm square, direct shear box. The peak shear strengths were strongly influenced by the intensity of interlocking: this factor being more significant than either porosity or total cement content. The samples possess a tensile strength, uniaxial compressive strengths up to 725 kPa and a cohesion intercept at zero normal stress in the shear box. The fabric cohesion reduces with increasing content of coarse sand and is very poorly developed in coarse sands.


This contribution discusses the role of language variation in explaining mutual adaptation in interactive communication. Variability is one of the most fundamental and pervasive facets of language (and other communicative means) and lies at the heart of interactive adaptation – as the variety of linguistic means to express a particular idea that exists within and between communicators both allows for and necessitates adaptation. Examples from both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic approaches to the study of linguistic variation are provided. I argue that the forming new theory of communication needs to combine both perspectives and to build onto empirical results from both lines of research, focusing both on socially meaningful variation and on the individual mechanisms and mental representations involved in linguistic choices.


White organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) hold great promise for the fabrication of highly efficient, large-area, and flexible lighting sources. Achieving both high luminous efficiency and long operational lifetime simultaneously to meet the requirements of solid-state lighting is a considerable challenge. Alongside balanced charge transport properties and development of operationally stable blue emissive materials, device architectures and light outcoupling techniques should also be considered as matters of concern. We provide a review of recent advances on small-molecule WOLEDs including charge balance, emissive materials, device architectures, and light out-coupling techniques to address the effective approaches for high performance WOLEDs.


Embryoid bodies (EB) formed from murine embryonic stem (ES) cells recapitulate many aspects of a developing embryo. Of specific importance, synchronous differentiation of EB recapitulates organ-specific development and is achieved in culture by formation of uniformly sized EB. The method described here demonstrates a simple and cost-effective way of generating EB from murine ES cells. Single EB are formed in a multi-well plate format and large numbers of EB are generated using a 96-well multi-well plate. Uniform single-sized EB formed in the multi-well are an ideal system for screening compounds and determining differentiation effects. Since EB contain all three germ layers, they are appropriate for studying small molecule effects on differentiation of ES such as is performed in high-throughput screening protocols.


Background: Acute abdominal pain is a medium or severe abdominal pain that can lead to a life threatening for pregnant women and frequently requires urgent investigation and management. The aim of this study was to assess the causes and the presentation of acute abdomen among pregnant women admitted at the gynecology and an obstetrics ward of the hospital. Methods: The present study was a cross sectional hospital based study among 118 pregnant women by face to face interview using a semi structured questionnaire. This study was conducted at the gynecology and an obstetrics ward of the hospital, Babol Iran, from April 2004 to February 2009. All analysis was performed with SPSS software. Results: Mean age of women was 29.1±6 years. The frequencies of the most common diagnosis of the patients were ectopic pregnancy (73.7%), appendicitis (10.2%), respectively. The study found that 55.1% of respondents complained their pain lasting more than 24 hours. Besides, 81.4% of respondents felt pain in the supra pubic followed by with nausea/ vomiting. A total of 103 (83.9%) underwent with salpingostomy and 12 (10.1%) were treated with appendectomy. Conclusion: The study concludes that a large prospective study is needed in order to precise diagnosis of the acute abdomen in pregnant women by continual updating of availability of the gynecologists for the management of the acute gynecologic and obstetrics emergencies among pregnant women.


The purpose of this study was to understand the practice of online facilitation in a Midwestern university which has a highly successful traditional MBA program. This study explored the instructors' perceptions regarding four dimensions of instructor roles using Berge's [1] classifications: pedagogical, managerial, social, and technical. This study also examined the challenges and issues confronting online instructors when fulfilling these roles. The results suggest that instructors carried out several important roles to varying degrees. The findings reveal a stronger emphasis on the pedagogical roles (course designer, profession-inspirer, feedback-giver, and interaction-facilitator). Emphasizing those roles, the instructors promote three types of interactions: student-content, student-student, and student-teacher. A lesseremphasis on social roles represented mixed feelings regarding its importance to the instructors. While students rated the instructors very positively, the results also indicate that instructors still need to have their roles transformed pedagogically, socially, and technologically if they are to establish a more engaging and fruitful environment for online learning.


For many health care professionals and social service providers, the hardest part of the job is breaking bad news. The news may be about a condition that is life-threatening (such as cancer or AIDS), disabling (such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis), or embarrassing (such as genital herpes). To date medical education has done little to train practitioners in coping with such situations. With this guide Robert Buckman and Yvonne Kason provide help. Using plain, intelligible language they outline the basic principles of breaking bad new and present a technique, or protocol, that can be easily learned. It draws on listening and interviewing skills that consider such factors as how much the patient knows and/or wants to know; how to identify the patient's agenda and understanding, and how to respond to his or her feelings about the information. They also discuss reactions of family and friends and of other members of the health care team. Based on Buckman's award-winning training videos and Kason's courses on interviewing skills for medical students, this volume is an indispensable aid for doctors, nurses, psychotherapists, social workers, and all those in related fields.


in need of development, hence to be targeted for training. This study, which covers the entire state of Hawaii, is unique in two respects. First, it considers the entire travel industry rather than just hotels. Second, it surveys the opinions of both employees and employers so that comparisons may be drawn about the perceptions of the two groups with respect to training needs. The results are further analyzed by industry sectors. The skills that were ranked the highest by both groups were human relations, communications, and courtesy skills. Hawaiiana and computer training were ranked lowest. The studies revealed considerable agreement between employees and employers on their perceived training needs, except in the areas of computer skills, salesmanship, and operations.


ABSTRACT Nearly 50% of women experience at least one urinary tract infection (UTI) in their lifetime. Studies with mice have revealed that uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolates invade superficial umbrella cells that line the bladder, allowing them to find a safe haven and subvert clearance by innate host responses. Rapid intracellular replication results in the formation of distinctive intracellular bacterial communities (IBCs). In this study, we evaluated whether UPEC strains cultured from the urine of women and classified as causing acute cystitis, recurrent cystitis, asymptomatic bacteriuria, or pyelonephritis could progress through the IBC cascade in a well-characterized mouse model of cystitis. Of 18 UPEC isolates collected from women, 15 formed IBCs. Variations in the size, number, and kinetics of IBC formation were observed with strains isolated from women with different clinical syndromes. Two of the three isolates that did not form IBCs when inoculated alone were able to do so when coinoculated with an isolate that was capable of generating IBCs. The mixed infections dramatically altered the behavior of the coinfecting bacteria relative to their behavior in a single infection. The study also showed that mice with five different genetic backgrounds can support IBC formation. Although UPEC isolates differ genetically in their virulence factors, the majority of UPEC isolates from different types of UTI proceed through the IBC pathway, confirming the generality of IBCs in UTI pathogenesis in mice.


During the mid-1980s, Māori families challenged New Zealand's social welfare system, reclaiming their right to be involved in decisions about their children. Around the same time, parents and community groups protested the detention of hundreds of children in South Africa during the Apartheid era. These experiences helped shape both countries' youth justice systems, which reflect restorative justice principles and international standards for children's rights.  The research reported here is the first in-depth comparative analysis to compare New Zealand and South Africa's journeys to alter their youth justice systems. It asks the following key questions:  ∙ What were the key conceptual influences that shaped youth justice transformation in New Zealand and South Africa? ∙ What do both countries' experiences of youth justice transformation reveal about the role of individuals, advocacy coalitions, and international influences in shaping policy and practice?  Using a phenomenological research approach, key role players from both countries were interviewed. These interviews discovered that social entrepreneurial factors gave direction to policy outcomes. All participants described their commitment to changing the status quo following their exposure to the inhumane conditions experienced by children and young people in conflict with the law. This prompted them to promote policies that diverted children from the justice system and prevented re-offending while still holding children to account for their behaviour and encouraging them to repair the harm. The participants explained their motivation to find policy solutions that empowered children, families, and victims. In both countries, social entrepreneurs resisted opposition and joined forces to develop convincing arguments for their position. This research confirmed the advantages of government support to advance social entrepreneurial ventures.  Policy transfer was also found to play a role in the change processes in both countries. This study identifies how both New Zealand and South Africa have lent their policies internationally to contribute to practical youth justice changes in countries seeking to adhere to international standards and to incorporate restorative justice principles. Significant contributions include New Zealand's family group conference, which has inspired several jurisdictions, as well as South Africa's diversion programmes, which have particularly benefitted other African countries.


Photogrammetry Studios are a common setup to acquire high-quality 3D geometry from different kinds of real-world objects, humans, etc. In a photo studio like setup, 50 -200 DSLR cameras are used with object-specific illumination to simultaneously capture images that are processed by algorithms that automatically estimate the camera parameters and detailed geometry. These steps are automated in established pipelines to a large extent and do not require much user input. However, the post-processing typically involves a manual estimation of surface reflectance parameters by an artist, who paints textures to allow for photorealistic rendering. While professional light stages facilitate this process in an automated way, these setups are very expensive and require accurately calibrated light sources and cameras. In our work, we present a new formulation along with a practical solution to reduce these constraints to photo studio like setups by jointly reconstructing the geometric configuration of the lights along with spatially varying surface reflectance properties and its diffuse albedo. In the presented synthetic as well as real-world experiments, we analyze the effect of different optimization objectives and show that our method is able to provide photorealistic reconstruction results with an RMSE of ≈ 1 − 3% on real data.


Our challenge is the design of a "universal" bit-efficient image compression approach. The prime goal is to allow reconstruction of images with high quality. In addition, we attempt to design the coder and decoder "universal", such that MPEG-7-like low-and mid-level descriptors are an integral part of the coded representation. To this end, we introduce a sparse Mixture-of-Experts regression approach for coding images in the pixel domain. The underlying stochastic process of the pixel amplitudes are modelled as a 3-dimensional and multi-modal Mixture-of-Gaussians with K modes. This closed form continuous analytical model is estimated using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm and describes segments of pixels by local 3-D Gaussian steering kernels with global support. As such, each component in the mixture of experts steers along the direction of highest correlation. The conditional density then serves as the regression function. Experiments show that a considerable compression gain is achievable compared to JPEG for low bitrates for a large class of images, while forming attractive low-level descriptors for the image, such as the local segmentation boundaries, direction of intensity flow and the distribution of these parameters over the image.


This work is concerned with the synthesis of precursors to group 13 oxide thin
films, and the subsequent chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of group 13 mixed
metal oxide films. Investigations into the mechanisms at work during their
decomposition via various techniques including gas phase electron diffraction
(GED) is also discussed.
A wide variety of group 13 alkoxides have been synthesised and characterised and
described in this thesis. Significant findings support previous investigations showing
the reaction of trialkyl group 13 complexes [MR3] with an excess of a donor
functionalised alcohol does not yield a group 13 bis(alkoxide). However,
compounds of the type [Ga(OR)nCl3-n] (n = 1, 2) have been synthesised using direct
routes from gallium amido precursors, which are also described herein. In addition a
wide variety of novel group 13 precursors incorporating a mixture of ligands leading
to enhanced properties, desirable for CVD are presented.
The gas phase structures of the dimethylalkoxygallanes, [Me2GaOCH2CH2NMe2]2
and [Me2GaOCH2CH2OMe]2 have been obtained via gas-phase electron diffraction
from studying the vapour produced upon heating. Ab initio molecular orbital
calculations are presented for these compounds, as well as the gas phase structure of
[Me2GaOtBu]2. Only the monomeric forms [Me2GaOCH2CH2NMe2] and
[Me2GaOCH2CH2OMe] are observed in the gas phase with donor functionalised
ligands, whereas the dimer [Me2GaOtBu]2 remains intact in the gas phase.
Gallium oxide films were grown via AACVD using a variety of group 13
precursors. The films deposited were not oxygen deficient and little carbon
contamination was observed, which is attributed to being a direct result of precursor
design. Thin films of indium gallium oxide, and zinc gallium oxide were also
produced from the in situ reactions of InMe3, GaMe3 and HOCH2CH2OMe (for
GaxIn2-xO3) and ZnEt2, GaMe3 and HOCH2CH2OMe (for GaxZnyO) via AACVD on
silica substrates.


The effect of cover crops (ryegrass, hairy vetch, and oilseed radish) in terms of microbial biomass carbon (MBC), C and N mineralization, and enzymatic activities in a corn-wheat-soybean cropping systems under a Mollisol was evaluated. The distributions of total organic C (TOC), total Kjeldahl N (TKN), microbial biomass C (MBC), readily mineralizable C and N, and five enzyme activities (β-glucosidase, βglucosamidase, acid phosphatase, arylamidase, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis) involved in the cycling of C, N, P and S were studied in three soil depths (0-5. 5-10, 10-20 cm) while soil surface fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) were estimated. Rye grass showed higher activity in acid phosphatase, β-glucosidase and β-glucosaminidase. Rye grass and hairy vetch significantly increased organic C and N, and MBC. Level of mineralized C and N were the same in rye grass and hairy vetch. There was no clear variation in CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes from the cover crop treatments. N2O fluxes increased with increase in soil moisture. The negative CH4 fluxes manifest the soil as CH4 sink. No significant differences among cover crop treatments in terms of CO2-C, N2O-N and CH4-C emissions. Empirical data on carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes are important in management systems to evaluate mitigation strategies, while microbial biomass and enzyme activities can be used as sensitive indicators of ecological stability.


We describe a phase-conjugate interferometer that consists of a partially transmitting conventional mirror placed in front of and in close proximity to a phase-conjugate mirror. The interferometer is self-referencing, compact, and insensitive to environmental disturbances, provides twice the sensitivity of conventional (nonphase-conjugate) interferometers, and produces a direct representation of an incident wave front. We have constructed such a device using internally self-pumped phase conjugation in barium titanate and have used the device to characterize the wave front produced by an aberrated optical system.


Constructivist (constructionist) epistemologies focus on ethics as a system of values in the mind—even when previously co-constructed in a social context—against which social agents compare the actions that they mentally plan before performing them. This approach is problematic, as it forces a wedge between thought and action, body and mind, universal and practical ethics, and thought and affect. In this contribution, I develop a transactional approach to ethics that cannot be developed within constructionism. In a once-occurrent world, every act is ethical because it has consequences for the agent (who affects and is also affected), and the world as a whole. However, whereas many in the social sciences continue to articulate a theory of action and thus the practical nature of ethics in terms of the individual's act, in this contribution I show that the act always already is spread across people and things and, thus, is an integral and constitutive part of a transaction. This utterly relational take on human behavior thus undermines approaches to ethics that are based on the individual as unit of analysis. Most controversially perhaps, I exhibit how those who may feel hurt by the actions (talk) of others are themselves agents affecting those others and, thus, answerable . This approach is illustrated in the context of power-knowledge , which is the result of an always ongoing, only once-occurrent situated and situational struggle rather than something a priori distributed between people.


Public authorities spend large proportions of their GDP on goods and services and are therefore responsible for a significant share of embedded emissions. Given this large impact, governments have the responsibility of decarbonizing their purchases, as well as the potential to influence markets towards sustainability. So-called 'Green Public Procurement' (GPP) consists in the use of environmental criteria in the procurement process. In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, public purchases account for 15 percent of annual GDP. However, despite a rising trend, the use of GPP in public procurement contracts remains marginal. The main barriers to broader implementation is the perception that including environmental criteria leads to higher procurement costs. Further, administrative capacity faces constraints to acquire legal and technical expertise about GPP. A clear political mandate for financing the incremental costs incurred from the environmental impact of procured goods and services, as well as specific training programs for procurement officials can encourage an increased adoption of GPP in the future.


The increasing global interest on traditional and complementary medicine (T/CM) and a need of a centralised and validated information on T/CM, added with a noble mission of optimally integrating the practice of T/CM into the mainstream healthcare system, revolutionised this Commonwealth health minister's initiative project. Combined with strong government support and strength in ICT infrastructure at Multimedia Super Corridor, Malaysia put forward the proposal at the last Commonwealth Health Minister meeting which finally get the endorsement for implementing the project at the pre-WHA meeting 2002. This web portal aims in promoting and enhancing the practice of T/CM through global communication and smart partnerships, was implemented by the Herbal Medicine Research Centre of the Institute for Medical Research assisted by the beta group committee. Fondly referred to as the InfoHub, it will deliver validated, up-to-date and comprehensive information of T/CM to the world. Thus, the establishment of Integrated Medicine together with Allopathic Medicine towards contemporary health care can be achieved. The prototype, www.Globinmed.com was successfully launched in October 2003 have Malaysia information on Policy, Trade, Intellectual Property Rights and Herbal Databases, whereas the first international partner, NHIondemand provide other content including Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dietary Supplement Monograph, and Health Condition & Disease States. To achieve its establishment, more contents are being planned and Malaysia is cordially inviting other countries to form a strategic partners not only to enrich its content, but also improved the information portal to ensure its remain viable and competitive internationally.


In 1985 we started building a decision support sS~tem to help speech clinicians diagnose small children who have begun to stutter. This paper describes the verification and validation of that system: (1) having an expert use and evaluate it, (2) running test cases, (3) developing a program to detect redundant rules, (4) using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, (5) running a program that checks a knowledge base for consistency and completeness, (6) having five experts independently critique the system, (7) obtaining diagnoses of stuttering from these five experts derived from repom of children who had been evaluated for possible stuttering problems, (8) using the system to expose missing and ambiguous information in 30 clinical reports, and (9) analyzing the di~on and bias of six experts and the decision support system in diagnosing stuttering. When using the final system, three clinicians with widely differing backgrounds woduced diagnostic opinions that evidence little variability and were indistinguishable from those of a panel of five experienced clinicians.


Abstract: Determining detrital zircon U–Pb ages has become the method of choice for single- mineral-based provenance studies focused on the identification of potential source regions of siliciclastic sediments. Advances in microanalytical methods have significantly accelerated the acquisition rate of U–Pb ages, thus allowing for more statistically significant zircon age datasets to be acquired than previously. However, several studies have demonstrated limitations of relying solely on detrital zircon as a provenance proxy. To further assess the utility of this provenance indicator we measured U–Pb ages of detrital zircon derived from modern sediment collected from the French Broad River and its tributaries that drain portions of the Appalachian Orogen in southeastern USA. The results demonstrate that significant detrital zircon age variations occur along the length of the river. The age variations suggest that characterization of entire sedimentary formations by analysis of single samples may be misleading and that a multiple-sample approach is required. In addition, by incorporating high-magnification cathodoluminescence images with Th/U for each detrital grain, a more robust interpretation can be made regarding zircon source. Supplementary material: Global positioning system coordinates for each sampling location and complete zircon data are available at http:/www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18445.


Genetic association studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have yielded inconsistent findings because those studies have tended to have small sample sizes and low statistical power, thereby making it difficult to reliably detect small genetic effects. Meta-analysis combines individual studies thereby increasing the power to detect small effects. Meta-analysis suggests that OCD is associated with serotonin-related polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR and HTR2A) and, in males only, polymorphisms involving catecholamine modulation (COMT and MAOA). There is also suggestive evidence that many other polymorphisms are associated with OCD. Effects of individual polymorphisms are small, suggesting that OCD is shaped by multiple genes that each make small, incremental contributions to the risk of developing the disorder. Twin studies show that there are genetic similarities and differences across OCD subtypes (early versus late onset) and across major types of OCD symptoms (e.g. washing, checking, and ordering). Genetic association studies of specific subtypes and symptoms may advance our understanding of OCD.

Key Concepts:

Genetic association studies, typically with small sample sizes, tend to fail to reliably identify OCD-related polymorphisms, because genetic effects tend to be small.

Meta-analysis, combining numerous genetic studies, indicates that numerous genes play a small, incremental role in the risk of developing OCD.

The genes most robustly associated with OCD are serotonin-related and, in males, are those broadly involved in catecholamine modulation.

There is suggestive evidence that other genes are involved.

Haplotypes associated with glutamate regulation may also be associated with OCD.

Twin studies can facilitate molecular genetic research by shedding light on aetiologic differences among OCD symptoms and subtypes.

Twin research shows that some genetic factors are common to all OCD symptoms, whereas others are symptom-specific.

Genetic association studies of specific subtypes and symptoms may advance our understanding of OCD.

Keywords:

obsessive-compulsive disorder;
obsessions;
compulsions;
genetics;
genetic association studies;
twins;
behavioural genetics;
haplotypes;
genome-wide association;
meta-analysis


AbstractThe U.S. and the World Bank1 sanctions systems seek to ensure that firms and individuals conduct their work with integrity and that they comply with rules and regulations governing public procurement. The sanctions systems rely on the use of deterrence, which is most often achieved through debarment or exclusion of non-compliant contractors. However, in recent years, scholars introduced a self-cleaning theory, which proposes that firms and individuals should be allowed to regain the possibility of participation in public contracts if they have taken effec- tive measures to ensure that wrongful acts will not recur in the future.The proponents of the self-cleaning theory argue that this will improve integrity, that contractors have a fundamental right to public contracts, and that it will increase competition. The application of the self-clean- ing theory to the U.S. and the World Bank sanctions systems illustrates that self-cleaning itself may not improve integrity due to lack of deter- rence, and that there is no fundamental right to public contracts, but that using self-cleaning instead of debarment increases competition. Since both integrity and competition are important objectives, there is a need to reconcile the existing tension.The application of the self-cleaning theory to the U.S. and the World Bank sanctions systems demonstrates that it is possible to improve integ- rity and, at the same time, increase competition. These competing objec- tives may be achieved through designing a sensible sanctions framework, which takes into account a more flexible approach towards debarment and maintains deterrence, through restitution and other means.I. IntroductionIn public procurement, sanctions systems seek to ensure integ- rity. The objective is to ensure that firms and individuals that con- duct public work are not corrupt and that they meet their commitments to the public.2The sanctions systems of both the United States and the World Bank have developed various mechanisms to address wrongdoing by non-compliant firms and individuals. Both sanctions systems, however, continue to rely on debarment as a key mechanism to deal with non-compliant contractors. Debarment allows the U.S. government and the World Bank to exclude firms and individuals from participating in public procurement. In addition to exclud- ing non-compliant firms and individuals, the threat of debarment as well as the impact of negative publicity deters contractors from committing wrongdoing.In a recent work, Professor Sue Arrowsmith and her colleagues addressed a new self-cleaning theory and suggested that debarment may not be the best way to promote integrity.3 She argues that if contractors adopt certain rehabilitative or self-cleaning measures they must be allowed to participate in public procurement and avoid debarment.4 Professor Arrowsmith and proponents of the self-cleaning theory believe that this incentive-based approach will lead to a more sustainable fight against misconduct and in the long term will promote integrity better than a system based merely on deterrence and debarment.5In addition to improving integrity, Professor Arrowsmith argues that the self-cleaning theory will increase competition.6 If sanction- ing authorities do not debar contractors but instead require them to undergo self-cleaning, the procurement systems will have a big- ger pool of competitors, which increases competition.The self-cleaning theory, however, illustrates that procurement systems often face competing objectives.7 For example, debarment may improve integrity, but at the same time it may decrease compe- tition. The application of the self-cleaning theory to actual sanc- tions systems suggests, however, that the seemingly competing objectives of integrity and competition do not have to be mutually exclusive.This Article will first examine the self-cleaning theory, how it is defined, what the self-cleaning measures are, and what the under- lining reasons are for adopting rehabilitative measures to avoid debarment. …


In a world of open-ended access to social media, the ability of governments to control information is slipping away. It is plausible in countries with limited Internet access for citizens to remain ignorant of the true amount of corruption. We built a cross-country panel of 124 developing nations to analyze the effect of Internet usage on perceptions of corruption from 1996 to 2009. We find that, ceteris paribus, the information citizens receive from the World Wide Web leads to deteriorating views of the state of corruption in their country. Greater perceptions of government effectiveness are unsurprisingly found to negatively and significantly decrease perceptions of corruption within countries.


The natural flow regime and the relationship between flows and riparian vegetation are described for sites on both the Blackwood River in south-western Australia and the Ord River in north-western Australia. Analysis of long-term flow data showed the historic mean monthly river discharge for the Blackwood River is strongly seasonal and highly predictable with generally low variability each month. The Ord River showed a strong seasonality of flows with about 92% of the (total) yearly flow occurring between December and March. Flow variability was very high (e.g. coefficient of variation >100% for all months) but highly predictable, with this mostly attributed to low but constant dry-season flows. Water depth, duration of flood events and the number of flood events per year show a significant correlation with aspects of the riparian vegetation within experimental vegetation plots. Results highlight the strong relationship between floristics, life form structure and population dynamics with stream hydrology. On the Blackwood River, species richness and cover of shrubs reduced with increased duration and frequency of flooding, while cover of exotic species and annual herbs increased with increased flooding. Germination of tree seedlings was not influenced by flood regime but size class of tree species increased with flooding frequency. On the Ord River, species richness was not influenced by flooding regime. However, cover of perennial grasses increased with flooding frequency whilst cover of shrubs decreased. There was no relationship between flooding and seedling establishment whilst tree size class decreased with increased flooding. The methods described here can be used to compare the response of different components of the riparian vegetation to different fluvial regimes (e.g. because of impoundment and abstraction). This technique can be expanded for the management of riparian zones and planning rehabilitation programmes. It may also be useful for improving the ecological knowledge base for setting environmental flows in regulated systems. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Rural people in Nepal and other developing nations are part of complex, social-ecological systems. Efforts to provide assistance to these people must integrate knowledge from a variety of perspectives. This report documents the use of a role-playing game, supported by an agent-based model, to demonstrate the interaction between migration, social capital and the effectiveness of water storage. The importance of these interactions was highlighted by fieldwork conducted at several sites in the Koshi River Basin. The model underlying the game was a stylized representation based on the Indrawati Subbasin northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal. The report highlights that (a) role-playing tournaments can be an effective way to engage technical and policy experts with the complex interactions between the social and physical dimensions of watershed management; and (b) migration and the economic changes which drive these interactions are forces that need to be accepted, and investments in water storage need to be selected depending on how they fit into these trends.


South Africa's re-integration into the global economy and the international political arena has brought about an active growth of business locally and internationally. Local companies are expanding into new markets and regions which require them to follow internationally acceptable and approved waste disposal policies in their production of goods and services. To achieve compliance, it is necessary that companies have the appropriate support and backup from waste disposal companies. Also, increasing pressure from environmental groups and government agencies makes it a prerequisite that a company's waste is properly disposed of in the most efficient, lawful and economical way. This research dissertation is aimed at identifying the key factors that impact on the levels of service in the waste industry and an attempt at evaluating the effects of the service levels to determine what actions are necessary to improve the levels of service in the waste industry. As a result, this research was carried out amongst producers of waste in certain areas of KwaZuluNatal. Various techniques were evaluated in researching how to measure service quality. The most reliable measuring instrument to gauge service quality was found to be the SERVQUAL system. This measuring instrument was evaluated and then modified to suit the particular needs of the waste industry. The SERVQUAL system is a multi-item scale for measuring consumers perceptions of service quality. A sample of 75 companies was selected and senior management was interviewed. Based on the statistical analysis, the discrepancy between service expectations and service delivery in the waste industry is wide. Urgent attention needs to be focused on service delivery, especially reliability, assurance and responsiveness by waste disposal companies.


HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are a spectrum of HIV-related conditions affecting the central nervous system that range from mild memory impairments to severe dementia. HAND results from the release of inflammatory factors and excitotoxins by HIV-infected macrophages in the brain. These factors alter the extracellular environment and provoke a neuronal response, ultimately causing dendritic damage, synaptic loss, and neuronal death. Our previous data indicate that components of the cell cycle regulatory machinery are elevated in neurons from post-mortem brain tissue of HAND patients. One of these upregulated proteins, the transcription factor E2F1, is known to activate gene targets required for G1-to-S phase progression as well as for apoptosis. Despite its increased neuronal expression, E2F1 target genes are unchanged by HIV-induced neuronal damage in vitro. Furthermore, E2F1 displays a predominantly cytoplasmic localization, a site inconsistent with its role as a transcription factor. Utilizing an in vitro model of HIV-induced neurotoxicity, we assessed the role of E2F1 in HIV-mediated neuronal damage. To begin, we evaluated the contributions of two death pathways calpain-mediated and caspase-mediated cell death in cortical neurons treated with H2O2 and NMDA as they mature in culture. Although both calpain-activated and caspase-activated death were detected in cortical neurons at 1 week of age, only calpain-mediated neuronal death was observed at 3 weeks of age, suggesting that calpain is the dominant death pathway. We then tested the effect of E2F1 gene disruption on HIV-induced neuronal loss. Neuronal damage and death was significantly attenuated in neurons expressing mutant E2F1 protein compared to wildtype cultures. Furthermore, we identified E2F1 as a novel calpain substrate and showed that E2F1 cleavage by calpain produces an E2F1 fragment that stably accumulates in neurons during HIVmediated neuronal damage, suggesting a neurotoxic role for this E2F1 isoform. Finally, preliminary studies to investigate a putative RNA-binding role for E2F1 in the neuronal cytosol are outlined. Together, these data implicate E2F1 in a calpain-mediated pathway of HIV-induced neurotoxicity. Future work to understand the role of E2F1 in neurons and the consequences of calpain cleavage of E2F1 could provide important insights into disease progression and therapeutic strategies. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Neuroscience First Advisor Kelly Jordan-Sciutto


OBJECTIVES
To update knowledge on the management of parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease (PNALD) and to review the clinical data on the use of parenteral fish oil for reversal of PNALD.

DATA SOURCES
A literature review was conducted by searching the MEDLINE database (May 1, 2009) using the keywords parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease, fish oil, omega-3, Omegaven, and lipid emulsion.

STUDY SELECTION
All articles reporting clinical cases with the use of parenteral fish oil for management of PNALD.

DATA EXTRACTION
Three reviewers independently analyzed the epidemiological, clinical, and treatment data of the articles.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Six case reports (10 patients) and 2 cohort studies (12 and 18 patients) were analyzed.

CONCLUSIONS
Fish oil-derived emulsions have been demonstrated to reverse preexisting PNALD and to prevent and treat essential fatty acid deficiency. Its ability to prevent PNALD is currently under investigation. Although the mechanism has yet to be fully understood, the advantages of fish oil-based lipid emulsions over soybean oil-based lipid emulsions seen to date suggest that fish oil-based emulsions would be better suited for use in long-term parenteral nutrition.


The current study explores the short-term stock price reaction of cross-border bank mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Western Europe for the period 1998-2009 which includes 40 M&A deals. Employing the classical event study methodology, we probe into the stock price effects of cross-border bank M&As by calculating abnormal returns for both bidders and targets. Moreover, we employ multivariate regression analysis in order to identify the determinants of value creation from cross-border bank M&As. Consistent with the pertinent literature, we demonstrate that targets significantly benefit from M&As, while bidders undergo price erosions during the M&A days. In specific, we find positive and significant abnormal stock price reaction of more than 3% on M&A day for targets and negative abnormal returns for bidders. The differential market behaviour between bidders and targets is more evident when the return on equity of the involved banks is taken into account.


...a quarter of a century ago I was led to the doctrine and maxim of right thinking that, if we search out all the practical consequences of a conception, we have in their aggregate the entire meaning of that conception. This doctrine, known as pragmatism, has certainly found some redoubtable defenders. Of the immediate utility of the maxim in the study of philosophy, nobody who has had experience in such use of it is ever likely to speak lightly. I believe, too, that it suggests a conception of the nature of intellect, and a theory of the relation of thought to the body, from which psychologists have still something to learn.


The paper discusses implementation of a research that is aimed at development of a simulation model which would allow analyzing different development strategies of the third generation university. Small countries' universities have limits of growth. The problem can be solved with a new approach to university role. The third generation defines university as innovation generation, transfer and implementation center, while maintaining the traditional university functions. The 3G university activities change number of innovative companies in the country. With growth of the number of innovative companies, potential researches and innovation customers' amount grow. With time the amount of conducted research and developed innovative products growth. Innovative products and technologies is the basis of university competitiveness in the 21st century. Universities must develop, accumulate, implement and get benefits from innovative products and technologies.


A government's commitment to an adopted policy may be the first step that symbolizes its genuine intent to ameliorate the living conditions of its people, particularly the relevant and/or beneficial populations for which the policy was formulated. Ghana's President J. A. Kufuor's New Patriotic Party government ended decades of debate about improving the conditions of the vulnerable group of women and children by establishing the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs. This article argues that, in order for the Ghanaian government to sustain efforts to effectively improve the plight of this group, there should be systematic mechanisms that include effective collaboration via sustainable-development, learning-organization, and knowledgemanagement philosophies. The study provides lessons that have implications for developing economies.


During the first decade of the twenty-first century, UK policy and practice has become increasingly overt in its concern with families. In January 2010, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF, 2010) launched the Support for All: The Families and Relationships Green Paper. In its Foreword, Ed Balls, the then Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, presented 'Strong, stable families' as 'the bedrock of our society', positioning the Green Paper as 'supporting families to help themselves', whilst 'ensuring that all public services play their part in supporting strong and resilient family relationships' (DCSF, 2010: 3). The Centre for Social Justice offered an immediate response with its own Green Paper on the Family, emphasising the role of 'family breakdown' as 'the root' of 'pathways to poverty' for many, as well as a barrier to appropriate childhood development and positive 'future life outcomes' (Centre for Social Justice, 2010: 4).


Bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) are documented in various languages and are common in codeswitching between English and South Asian languages. It has been suggested that BCVs have no monolingual equivalent, and are generated by a 'third system' independent of the two languages. BCVs have also been cited as evidence of language convergence, and as a strategy employed by dominant bilinguals to circumvent lexical gaps in one language. BCVs were common in narratives from four to six-year-old Panjabi-English children in Huddersfield, UK. BCVs are argued to be based on analogy with Panjabi monolingual compound verbs, and to be unrelated to language convergence or language dominance. Instead, BCV use relates to two types of codeswitching in the data: one utilising the simplest structures from both languages, the other drawing more fully on the two languages' grammatical resources. It is suggested that BCVs enable children with limited overall bilingual competence to 'do codeswitching'.


The aim of this work is the efficient implementation of the Hessian based filters. These filters are commonly used in medical image analysis and are employed in the Voxel Based Neural Approach (VBNA) lung CAD (Computer Aided Detection) system for lung nodule detection. This work mainly focuses on the optimization of the filter devoted to the detection of internal nodule candidates, called Multi Scale Dot Enhancement (MSDE) algorithm. Two fast variants of the MSDE algorithm are here proposed and compared: the first relies on an analytical optimization of the algorithm and it is implemented on a standard CPU, whereas the second consists in implementing the filter in the CUDA Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) framework. The algorithms were tested with computed tomography images belonging to the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) public research database using an Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.07GHz and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. Both the approaches lead to an improvement in the algorithm performance with respect to the original implementation, without any loss of precision. The initial implementation, realized in the Insight ToolKit open source image analysis framework (ITK), had an average execution time of 69 sec per CT using five scales of enhancement. The analyticallyoptimized CPU algorithm leads to a computational speed gain of 2.5× (28 sec per CT), whereas the parallel CUDA implementation leads to a speed-up of 38x (1.8 sec per CT) with respect to the original implementation, and 15x with respect to the analytical approach. This work has been developed in the framework of the INFN-funded MAGIC-5 project.