The spread of ubiquitous high-speed mobile communication has changed our daily life and society significantly. Using multiple antennas at transmitters and receivers, known as multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology, is one of the key developments which allowed new advances in mobile communication. Accurate and up-to-date channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) is a necessary requirement for achieving the multiplexing gains, referred to in the literature also as degrees of freedom (DoF). Maintaining up-to-date CSIT however may become exhausting in terms of the number of resources. In case the CSIT is completely outdated, no channel time correlation can be exploited. Nevertheless, even completely outdated CSIT can be very useful for achieving DoF greater than that with completely absent CSIT. The key idea is to apply a multi-phase transmission, where in each phase, the interference terms overheard in the previous phases are retransmitted. On one hand, such terms provide the transmitters with new information about the desired symbols. On the other hand, such terms can be cancelled at the receivers which previously overheard them. In such a way, the amount of the produced interference in each consecutive phase is reduced, where in the last phase, an interference-free transmission is achieved. In this thesis, we design new transmission schemes to achieve more DoF in a variety of communication networks with completely outdated or simply delayed CSIT.

Firstly, a network with two transmitters and two receivers is considered, where each transmitter desires to deliver a message to each receiver. Such network is referred to in the literature as the X-channel (XC). We consider a MIMO setting, in which the transmitters have M_1 and M_2 antennas and the receivers have N_1 and N_2 antennas. In the XC, each receiver receives a superposition of two interference signals originating from different transmitters, hence the interference in its plain form cannot be reconstructed using delayed CSIT. By applying redundancy transmission (RT), each transmitter can be forced to span only a fraction of the signal space of each receiver. Then, by applying partial interference nulling (PIN), each receiver can subtract the signal of one of the interferers, where the remaining interference signal can be reconstructed at the transmitter using delayed CSIT. In case min{M_1, M_2}>min{N_1, N_2}, a more effective multi-part transmission, known as interference sensing and redundancy transmission (IS-RT), can be performed, where the interference overheard in the first part comprises the redundancy transmitted in the second part. In this thesis, we perform decodability analysis of the state-of-the-art transmission scheme for the MIMO XC with delayed CSIT which relies on IS-RT-PIN. Our analysis shows, that despite the fact that the receivers obtain a sufficient number of linear combinations, the transmitted information symbols are not always decodable, which is due to a linear dependence of the linear combinations. To address the identified decodability problem, a novel transmission scheme is proposed, where the parameters of the scheme are carefully selected to maximize the number of the transmitted information symbols while ensuring linear independence. The proposed transmission scheme achieves a number of DoF greater than that of the state-of-the-art transmission scheme in which the number of the transmitted information symbols is reduced to the number of the decodable ones.

Secondly, a network with three transmitters and three receivers is considered, where each transmitter wants to deliver a message to its corresponding partner receiver. Such network is referred to in the literature as the three-user interference channel (IC). We consider a symmetric MIMO setting, in which each transmitter has M antennas and each receiver has N antennas. For the three-user MIMO IC with delayed CSIT, two novel transmission schemes for M N are proposed which achieve DoF greater than that in the literature. The first transmission scheme proposed for M N relies on IS-RT-PIN. As already identified for the MIMO XC with delayed CSIT, for the transmission schemes relying on IS-RT-PIN, a loss of decodability due to linear dependencies of linear combinations may occur. The transmission scheme existing in the literature uses in phase 1 a two-part IS-RT, where to avoid loss of decodability, the number of used transmit antennas is limited for sufficiently large M/N. In such case, the additional transmit antennas are not exploited. Our proposed transmission scheme, instead, uses in phase 1 a novel three-part IS-RT, in which the IS and RT parts of different transmitters have different durations. Such transmission allows to reduce the number of linearly dependent linear combinations, while the number of used transmit antennas is limited only at a single transmitter. The parameters of the proposed transmission scheme are carefully selected to maximize the number of the transmitted information symbols while ensuring linear independence. A number of DoF greater than that in the literature is achieved. In addition to the two proposed transmission schemes, an upper bound on the linear DoF is proposed, which turns out to be tight for 1/2<M/N≤3/5 and 2≤M/N<3.

Thirdly, the 2-antenna 3-user multiple-input single-output (MISO) broadcast channel (BC) with alternating CSIT is considered, in which the CSIT for each user can be either perfect (P) or delayed (D), resulting thus in total in 8 possible CSIT states I_1I_2I_3, I_i ∈ {P, D}, i ∈ {1, 2, 3}. For this scenario, we obtain two new results on the DoF characterization. The first result characterizes the DoF region for the case where the CSIT states can take the following 5 values: PPP, PPD, PDP, PDD and DDD. The second result characterizes the DoF for the case where the CSIT states can take all possible values, however the joint CSIT state probabilities are restricted to fulfil certain relationships. To achieve the optimal DoF, joint encoding over the available CSIT states is proposed, which provides DoF gains as compared to encoding over each CSIT state independently. To obtain our results, we first propose four novel constituent encoding schemes (CSs), which perform joint encoding of the CSIT state tuples (PPP, PDD), (PDD, DDD), (PDD, DPD, DDD) and (PDD, DPD, DDP). Then, after a careful assignment of the newly proposed and existing in the literature CSs to the available CSIT states, the optimal DoF are achieved.


The first part of this short report uses the newest available data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), an agency of the US Department of Commerce, to analyse economic relations between the US and the EU. The data is used to decompose the components of the US current account balance, and to analyse the bilateral balance of payments with the European Union, the Euro Zone and Germany. In the second part, we use data provided by Eurostat to mirror US figures. We find enormous discrepancies between what the EU and the US report, particularly with respect to primary income.


It has not always been clear that service-learning and the humanities can work together, or even that they have common goals. Service-learning curricula at many universities consistently reveal the humanistic disciplines' playing a minor role in the spread of service-learning. Why they are apparently hesitant to embrace service is not altogether clear, but it is usually assumed that the humanities are simply less relevant to real social problems. The social sciences and other disciplines deemed more directly relevant to professional training have gained increased clout on campus by attracting off-campus financial support and because they seem to address immediate social and political concerns. Humanities, it is assumed, is the territory of abstraction and reflection, but not action. It is time to leave behind such false and debilitating assumptions and allow both service-learning and the humanities the opportunity to reach their full potential through mutual enhancement. Humanities and Consumerism Some argue that the humanities are under attack from the political interests of the left, while others insist that we must more carefully guard our Western heritage. Both sides of this debate seem to miss the relevance of consumerism's dramatic rise over the last several decades, accompanied by an almost orgiastic culture of materialism. A recent PBS documentary, Affluenza, explains that over 70% of Americans shop at a mall at least once a week; there are more malls than high schools in our country; on average over one year of our lives is spent watching commercials; only one third of all credit cards are paid off each month. Americans also have the largest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation and consume a disproportionate amount of natural resources every year, nearly 10 times more than the Chinese. Clearly our cultural trends, broadly speaking, are in opposition to the humanities, since they encourage a focus on material self-interest rather than enhance a thoughtful sense of others. If we can begin to accept the pervasive impact of this commodity-driven worldview, we must also acknowledge how consumerism inherently combats some of the highest hopes of humanities and service-learning alike. A well-known challenge to many humanities students at universities across the country is what to do after graduation. The challenge for professors in humanistic disciplines is how to recruit students--given the recent appeal of financially attractive majors like computer science, economics, and business--and mentor them so that humanities play a meaningful role in their lives after graduation. That the humanities are under siege by a consumerist culture is also well known. In 1989, 75% of college freshmen reported their top priority in attending college was to become very well off financially. Only 41% indicated that developing a meaningful philosophy of life was a priority, down from 80% only two decades earlier (Kalata, 1996, p. 13). There is little reason to believe we have succeeded in reversing this trend in 2001. The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, under Bill Clinton, reported in 1997 that "in the nation's colleges and universities, the humanities curriculum, which with science and mathematics should be at the heart of a college education, is shrinking while vocational and pre-professional courses are increasing" (p. 10). The report also notes: "Although America's universities provide the overwhelming majority of support for research and teaching in the humanities, the humanities are losing ground in the academy and find few external sources of funding" (p. 14). Although other signs such as the growth of public humanities programs indicate interest in the humanities has increased in recent decades, consumeristic values threaten the humanities' independence from materialism. The response of many professors and administrators frequently only makes the problem worse. …


1. Introduction: Paul Stoneman (University of Warwick). 2. Patterns of Technological Change: Pari Patel and Keith Pavitt (both University of Sussex). 3. R & D and Productivity: Econometric Results and Econometric and Measurement Issues: Zvi Griliches (Harvard University). 4. Markets for Technology: Knowledge, Innovation and Appropriability: Paul Geroski (London Business School). 5. Game--Theoretic Approaches to the Modelling of Technological Change: John Beath, Yannis Katsoulacos and David Ulph (Respectively University of St. Andrews, Athens University and University College London). 6. Empirical Studies of Innovative Activity and Performance: Wes Cohen (Carnegie Mellon University). 7. Technological Diffusion: Massoud Karshenas and Paul Stoneman (University of London and University of Warwick). 8. Finance and Technological Change: Alan Goodacre and Ian Tonks (University of Stirling and London School of Economics). 9. Technological Change in International Trade: Paul Krugman (MIT). 10. Employment and Technological Change: Pascal Petit (University of Paris). 11. The Economic Foundations of Technology Policy: Equilibrium and Evolutionary Perspectives: Stan Metcalfe (University of Manchester). 12. The Practice of Technology Policy: David Mowery (University of California at Berkeley). 13. Concluding Remarks: Paul Stoneman (University of Warwick).


The NLS is a universal equation of the class of nonlinear integrable systems. The aim of this thesis is to study the NLS numerically. More speci cally, an algorithm is developed to calculate its nonlinear spectrum. The nonlinear spectrum is then used as a diagnostic for numerical studies of the NLS. The spectrum consists of a discrete part, further subdivided into the main part, the auxiliary part, and the continuous spectrum. Two algorithms are developed for calculating the main spectrum. One is based on Floquet theory, rst implemented by Overman [12]. The other is a direct calculation of the eigenvalues by Herbst and Weideman [16]. These algorithms are combined through the marching squares algorithm to calculate the continuous spectrum. All ideas are illustrated by numerical examples.


The aim of the present investigation was to examine the question of whether the introduction of cross-flow vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of point absorber wave energy extraction devices is detrimental or beneficial to power take-off (PTO) efficiency. The dynamic drag amplification experienced by a circular cylinder undergoing cross-flow vortex-induced vibration is well documented for both the steady flow and oscillatory flow cases. The dynamic drag amplification experienced by a cylinder undergoing VIV in a wave environment indicates that there are potential benefits in allowing a drag dominated wave energy device to simultaneously experience cross-flow VIV. Experiments were conducted with a pivoted cylinder wave energy convertor to examine the power output of the system with and without cross-flow VIV over a range of wave amplitudes and frequencies. Near the optimal power take-off damping for the wave energy device, no consiste nt improvement in power takeoff was observed with the introduction of VIV motions. A small improvement was noted at PTO damping levels higher than the optimal value


Competitive restraints challenged under Section 1 of the Sherman Act are evaluated under either the rule of reason or, for a small and diminishing group of restraints, under per se rules. The role for per se rules has diminished in recent years as courts have retreated from them out of concern that their rigid application can condemn desirable competitive conduct. Now, the rule of reason is the default mode of analysis applicable to nearly all categories of alleged competitive restraints. During the same period in which the Supreme Court expanded the reach of the rule of reason, it also rendered it devoid of the little guiding content that it previously had. Thus, one hundred years after the rule of reason was first announced in Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 221 U.S. 1, 60 (1911), the rule has been rendered essentially devoid of any meaningful content.This article traces the disintegration of the rule of reason and argues for a restoration of categorical modes of analysis for claims brought under Section 1. From its inception, the rule of reason has called for a dangerously open-ended inquiry. However, in an earlier era, certain specific and familiar categories of conduct were condemned per se, which gave Section 1 a region of clarity. In California Dental Ass'n v. Federal Trade Comm'n, 526 U.S. 756, 781 (1999), the Supreme Court obliterated the line between per se and rule of reason analysis, and abandoned categorical antitrust analysis almost entirely. The overall result is that the rule of reason now governs nearly all Section 1 claims, but its meaning is substantially less clear now than it was 100 years ago. A set of presumptions about the lawfulness of restraints is needed to guide courts and businesses in the evaluation of restraints under Section 1.


There is increasing interest in the development of decision support systems (DSSs) for river basin
management. Moreover, new ideas and techniques such as sustainability, adaptive management, Geographic
Information System, Remote Sensing and participations of new stakeholders have stimulated their development. A
DSS often encompasses a number of sub-models, such as models for flood risk, ecology, tourism, recreation and
navigation. These models are fundamental in supporting the whole decision-making process. However, often
complicated and sophisticated models are used which are difficult to understand and operate for decision-makers.
Moreover, these models may be not necessary for some specific-purpose DSSs, such as those for preliminary
planning purposes. The aim of this paper is therefore to find appropriate models by applying a proposed
appropriateness framework. An appropriate system is defined as 'a system which can produce outputs enabling
decision makers to distinguish different river management actions under uncertainty according to the current
problem'. The proposed framework is applied to a sub-model of a DSS — a flood risk model to illustrate the idea of
appropriateness. The results show that the framework proposed is applicable. It helps distinguish the management
actions and find the appropriate models for the DSSs


Processes, although the subject matter of geography, have not been represented in a manner that aids their querying and analysis. This dissertation develops an appropriate data model that allows for such a process oriented representation, which is built upon a theory of process. The data model, called nen, focuses existing modeling approaches on representing and storing process information. The flux simulation framework was created utilizing the nen data model to represent processes; it extends the Repast agent based modeling environment. This simulator includes basic classes for developing a domain specific simulation and a set of query tools for inquiring after the results of a simulation. The methodology was then prototyped with a watershed runoff simulation.


Palm stearin, the cheaper and more solid fraction of palm oil, is a useful hard
fat in the manufacture of edible fat such as margarine. However, with slip melting
points ranging between 46 to 56°C, only 10% of palm stearin can be added to a
standard table margarine. This study was conducted to investigate the performance of
lipase-catalysed transesterified fat blends containing high levels of palm stearin
(minimum 40%) when processed into table margarine.
In the first part of the work, the effect of several reaction conditions on
lipase-aided transesterification of palm stearin was studied. Results on the effect of
lyophilisation of enzyme on transesterification indicated increases in % triglyceride
(TG) when drying time was increased. The maximum yield was at 4 or 6 hours of drying. Studies on the effect of reaction time indicated that 8h of reaction produced
the highest % TG remaining and Rhizomucor miehei and A lcaligenes lipases both
showed maximum rates at 6h reaction time. The transesterification process also
decreased the slip melting point (SMP) of palm stearin slightly after 24h reaction
with R. miehei lipase registering the largest decrease (5.5°C) compared to the initial
unreacted mixture. The catalytic stability of R. miehei and Pseudomonas lipases,
after being subjected to ten runs of repeated usage indicated that the lipases can be
reused to produce fairly constant products on a large scale.
The rates of transesterification were found to vary with different lipase
sources. Bacterial lipase of Pseudomonas was found to have the fastest rate of
reaction (50.0h⁻¹) followed by R. miehei lipase (27.1h⁻¹). Generally, both the above
lipases also produced the highest degree of transesterification and % FFA.
Pseudomonas lipase-catalysed mixtures caused the biggest drop in SMP and solid fat
content (SFC) in all the three mixtures studied.


The past fifteen years have witnessed the rise of the New Keynesian model as a framework of reference for the analysis of fluctuations and stabilization policies. That framework, which combines the rigor and internal consistency of dynamic general equilibrium models with such typically Keynesian assumptions as monopolistic competition and nominal rigidities, makes possible a meaningful, welfare-based analysis of the effects of monetary policy rules. But the conspicuous absence of unemployment from the standard New Keynesian model has given rise to both criticism and attempts to rectify this anomaly. In this book, Jordi Gali, one of the major contributors to the New Keynesian literature, offers a new approach to introducing unemployment into that framework. Gali's approach involves a reinterpretation of the labor market in the standard New Keynesian model with staggered wage setting (rather than a modification or extension of the model, as has been proposed by others). The resulting framework preserves the convenience of the representative household paradigm and allows one to determine the equilibrium levels of employment, the labor force, and hence the unemployment rate conditional on the monetary policy in place. Gali develops the basic model, embedding it in a standard New Keynesian framework with staggered price and wage setting; revisits the relationship between economic fluctuations and efficiency through the lens of the new model, developing a measure of the output gap; and analyzes the relation between unemployment and the design of monetary policy.


This paper outlines the history of the military in Indonesia and its role in politics, as well as in perpetrating violence. Since its inception at the time of Indonesian independence, the military has had a defined role in both defence and politics, particularly during the Sukarno (1945-1965) and Suharto eras (1966-1998). While this role has been somewhat reduced in the Reform era (beginning mid-1998) through various stages of military reform, many of the underlying principles of the involvement of the military in politics still remain in reality. Given the historical dual roles of the military, it has been able to set agendas and perpetrate violence without civilian oversight. In Papua, this has led to various acts of violence perpetrated by the military and the police, often tapping into local ethno-religious relations. However, this has been less overt than the violence occurring in Aceh. In Aceh, the initial response of the military in the 1950s to Acehnese resistance was more accommodating and less violent than the military operations in the 1970s to the 1990s. While the negotiations in the 1950s were a drawn-out process, it enabled a peaceful agreement to be reached without extensive use of force. However, in later periods the orchestrated use of violence in Aceh left locals seeing the military from Java as colonisers. Furthermore, these repressive strategies did not elicit peace agreements but rather stimulated further rebellion, which some argue was part of a broader military strategy of creating tension and maintaining a role for the military in domestic security provision. In Maluku, clashes between the military and police, as well as bias on the part of different sections of the armed forces towards each of the warring communal groups, increased the levels of violence and prolonged the conflict. Today, the role of the military in politics has been significantly reduced by disbanding the political sections of the military in the regions and a number of other reforms. However, many of the original principles of the functions of the military remain, whereby they can still be involved in politics and elections by resigning from their military posts.


Narrow resonances decaying into W W , W Z or Z Z boson pairs are searched for in 36.7 fb − 1 of proton– proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √ s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. The diboson system is reconstructed using pairs of large-radius jets with high transverse momentum and tagged as compatible with the hadronic decay of high-momentum W or Z bosons, using jet mass and substructure properties. The search is sensitive to diboson resonances with masses in the range 1.2–5.0 TeV. No significant excess is observed in any signal region. Exclusion limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section times branching ratio to dibosons for a range of theories beyond the Standard Model. Model-dependent lower limits on the mass of new gauge bosons are set, with the highest limit set at 3.5 TeV in the context of mass-degenerate resonances that couple predominantly to bosons.


Written with uncommon grace and clarity, this extremely engaging ethnography analyzes female agency, gendered violence, and transactional sex in contemporary Papua New Guinea. Focusing on Huli 'passenger women', (women who accept money for sex), Wayward Women explores the socio-economic factors that push women into the practice of transactional sex, and asks how these transactions might be an expression of resistance, or even revenge. Challenging conventional understandings of 'prostitution' and 'sex work', Holly Wardlow contextualizes the actions and intentions of passenger women in a rich analysis of kinship, bridewealth, marriage, and exchange, revealing the ways in which these robust social institutions are transformed by an encompassing capitalist economy. Many passenger women assert that they have been treated 'olsem maket' (like market goods) by their husbands and natal kin, and they respond by fleeing home and defiantly appropriating their sexuality for their own purposes. Experiences of rape, violence, and the failure of kin to redress such wrongs figure prominently in their own stories about becoming 'wayward'. Drawing on village court cases, hospital records, and women's own raw, caustic, and darkly funny narratives, "Wayward Women" provides a riveting portrait of the way modernity engages with gender to produce new and contested subjectivities.


Infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is the main cause of cervical cancer, the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide. High-risk HPV types, such as HPV-16, express two oncoproteins, E6 and E7, which function to subvert critical host cell cycle control mechanisms in order to promote viral genome amplification. Disruption of the pRB signaling axis and the p53-mediated stress response by the HPV E7 and E6 oncoproteins, respectively, results not only in aberrant proliferation but also in host cellular changes that can promote genomic instability. The high-risk HPV-16 E7 oncoprotein was found to induce centrosome abnormalities thereby disrupting mitotic fidelity and increasing the risk for chromosome missegregation and aneuploidy. Aneuploidy is frequently found in pre-malignant high-risk HPV-associated lesions and is a critical factor for malignant progression. This thesis was designed to determine the molecular mechanisms behind the ability of HPV-16 E7 to rapidly induce centriole overduplication. This rapid induction was found to be possible through the simultaneous formation of more than one daughter centriole at single maternal centrioles (centriole multiplication). It was previously discovered that the centriole multiplication pathway relied on cyclin E, CDK2 and PLK4. However, it was not known before how these molecular players cooperate in the centriole multiplication pathway or how HPV-16 E7 expression promotes the activation of this pathway. Here, we report that cyclin E/CDK2 mediates the aberrant recruitment of PLK4 to maternal centrioles. This initial recruitment step was not sufficient to induce centriole multiplication unless PLK4 protein levels were increased. We found that PLK4 protein levels were controlled by proteolysis, specifically by CUL1-based E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes localized at maternal centrioles. SCF activity was found to control not only baseline PLK4 protein stability but its activity-dependent degradation following cyclin E/CDK2 overexpression. High-risk HPV-16 E7 is known to deregulate cyclin E/CDK2 complexes and we found that ectopic expression of HPV-16 E7 promoted the aberrant recruitment of PLK4 to maternal centrioles. Since our previous experiments have shown that aberrant recruitment of PLK4 is not sufficient to drive centriole overduplication, we determined whether HPV-16 E7 may also disrupt PLK4 expression. We found that HPV-16 E7, but not low-risk HPV proteins or mutants of HPV-16 E7 that lack the ability to induce centriole overduplication, causes a moderate but significant upregulation of PLK4 mRNA. Besides centriole duplication control, we discovered that proteolysis also regulates other aspects of centriole synthesis such as regulation of daughter centriole length. Defining the precise molecular circuitry of centriole biogenesis will aid not only in deepening the current understanding of centriole biogenesis but also aid in identification of novel targets, such as CDK2 or PLK4, for small molecules to prevent centriole abnormalities, mitotic infidelity and malignant progression in pre-invasive high-risk HPV-associated lesions.


A well-established development of increasing disease severity leads from sepsis through septic shock, SIRS, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and cellular and organismal death. We argue that a chief culprit is the LPS-induced anomalous coagulation of fibrinogen to produce a form of fibrin that is at once inflammatory, resistant to fibrinolysis, and underpins the disseminated intravascular coagulation commonly observed in sepsis. In particular, we argue that the form of fibrin produced is anomalous because much of its normal α-helical content is transformed to β-sheets, as occurs in established amyloidogenic and prion diseases. We hypothesise that these processes play a major role in the passage along the above pathways to organismal death, and that inhibiting them would be of great therapeutic value, a claim for which there is emerging evidence.


The Me Too or #MeToo movement has come under the spotlight in recent years since more survivors/victims are now speaking out against their abuser. These survivors/victims repressed their abuse for years, ashamed to speak out in fear that they would not be believed or face extreme scrutiny and humiliation. Survivors/victims are now coming together to seek justice and to reform the judicial system and how they handle sexual abuse and violence cases. This movement has become more prominent now than it was when it first was formed in 2006 by Tarana Burke and reintroduced by Alyssa Milano using Twitter in 2017. The movement challenges everyday lifestyles and workplace environments to consider what behaviors constitute as appropriate. Companies and businesses are now implementing compliance workplace harassment training to avoid such incidences of sexual abuse and violence.


This paper offers a comparative analysis of the innovation policy generations developed and implemented by different Spanish regions. The authors find three main approaches. Most regions follow linear-type policies that are not specifically adapted to the system of innovation in which they are applied. A small number of regions are implementing more-advanced policies characterised by (1) fostering mutual-learning across the actors in the innovation system and (2) the development of an institutional framework with many intermediate organisations and infrastructures providing knowledge-intensive services.


[Purpose] The aim of this study was to measure bone mineral density, serum and urinary bone turnover parameters, and to evaluate the influence of demographic and genetic factors on these parameters in FMF patients. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty-seven attack-free patients who were diagnosed with FMF (in accordance with Tel Hashomer criteria) were recruited at outpatient rheumatology clinics. We investigated whether there were any differences between the FMF patients and a control group in terms of lumbar and femur bone mineral density (BMD), standard deviation scores (Z scores and T scores) and bone markers. [Results] In terms of the median values of lumbar BMD (p = 0.21), lumbar T (p = 0.098) and Z (p = 0.109) scores, femoral neck BMD, femoral T and Z scores and total femur BMD, T (p = 0.788) and Z scores, there were no significant differences. [Conclusion] In our study, no statistically significant differences were found between FMF patients and a control group in terms of osteoporosis. The 25-OH vitamin D was found to be significantly lower in FMF patients than in the control group.


This paper studies how return migration intentions affect immigrants' behavior. Using a unique French data set, we analyze the relationship between return plans and several immigrants' behavior in the host and origin countries addressing the potential endogeneity between return plans and different investment decisions. We also investigate the potential trade-off and complementarities between various immigrants' investment behaviors. We find that temporary migrants are more likely to remit and invest in the country of origin, but less likely to invest in the host country. Moreover, our results show that there is no trade-off between immigrants' investment in the home and in the host country. In turn, we find substantial heterogeneity in behavior across migrants of different origins.


Data from the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey are used to examine marriage patterns among adolescents, factors associated with adolescent marriage, and socioeconomic characteristics of married adolescents. Findings indicate that 100% of females married before the age of 30 years. The proportion of those never married increased after 1974 and among females aged 10-14 years and 15-19 years. The proportion of those never married increased from 73.4% to 95.8% among women aged 10-14 years and from 11.3% to 48.6% among women aged 15-19 years. In 1989 only 4% were married after age 20. 55% of total marriages occurred among women aged 13-15 years. 80% of total marriages occurred under 16 years of age. The highest mean age of marriage was found among women aged 20-29 years at the time of the survey. 63.9% of women who married before the age of 20 years married after menarche, 18.1% married before menarche, and 18.0% married during menarche. The average age at menarche was 13.4 years. 13.9% of marriages were dissolved among women who married before the age of 20 years, and 46% remarried. 8.5% of marriages were dissolved among ever married women who married after the age of 20 years, and only 24.4% remarried. Teenage marriage was more prevalent in rural areas and in Dhaka division, followed by Rajshahi division. About 70% of married adolescents were illiterate or had no formal education, and almost 86% did not work outside the home. Only 26% of married adolescents had husbands with more than a primary education. Marriages took place earlier among families with some land. 92.6% of married adolescents lived in poorly constructed housing. Logistic findings indicate that female education was closely associated with an increased chance of adolescent marriage. Low age at marriage was also influenced strongly by husband's occupation. Regional differences were significant covariates.


The family Gesneriaceae is composed by about 140 genera and 3,500 species. In Brazil there are about 22 genera and 220 species. the Itatiaia National Park is an area with a great altitudinal variation, and, for consequence with a high diversity of vegetal formations, from moist forests to "campos". This paper is based on a bibliographic revision, analysis of herbarium material, field observations and collections. Floristic comparisons were made using the Jaccard similarity index to verify the similarities among the Gesneriaceae of the Itatiaia National Park and surrounded areas of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. three genera and nine species were identified: Besleria (1 sp.), Nematanthus (3 spp.) and Sinningia (5 spp.). Identification keys to the genera and species, descriptions, illustrations and taxonomic comments are presented. the flora of Gesneriaceae of Itatiaia is more similar to areas such as serra do brigadeiro and serra do caparao in Minas Gerais than of the tested areas of the state of Rio de Janeiro.


James Marion Sims [5] developed a treatment for vesico-vaginal fistulas in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1840s. Vesico-vaginal fistulas were a relatively common condition in which a woman's urine leaked into her vaginal cavity from her bladder, and many regarded the fistulas as untreatable during the early 1800s. After years of efforts to repair the fistulas with myriad tools, techniques, and procedures, Sims developed the speculum and a vaginal examination position later named for him. He also popularized the use of silver metal sutures to treat and cure women who had vesico-vaginal fistulas. Sims's surgical cure for vesico-vaginal fistulas eased both the social stigma and physical discomfort of many affected women. Though current treatments of vesico-vaginal fistulas have evolved since the nineteenth century, some of the basic principles utilized by Sims have been incorporated into present-day surgeries. In particular, Sims stressed the significance of continual bladder drainage after the operation.


People living with HIV and AIDS face increased challenges in maintammg proper nutrition. HIV negatively affects almost all body systems, which results in recurrent opportunistic infections, weight loss, distribution of weight changes, and death. Dietary intake and consequently nutrition status impacts on HIV either negatively or positively. Within prison settings, barriers exist that limit the ability of prisoners to improve and maintain their health. Male inmates living with HIV are well recognized as vulnerable and socially excluded population, whose acquiring of adequate treatment is greatly affected by poor nutritional status among other factors. The purpose of the study will be to assess the food consumption patterns, nutritional and health status of male prisoners living with HIV at selected GK prisons in Kenya as well as determine the factors that affect the same. The study will use a cross sectional analytical survey with a sample size of 135 male inmates. The study will be carried out on HIV positive male inmates at the 4 selected GK prisons, both on remand and convicted. The subjects will include both those on care (Cotrimoxazole and multivitamins) and on treatment (ARVs) and should have been within the prison walls for the last 3 months. Purposive sampling will be used to select the study population (HIV positive prisoners) and simple random sampling to select the subjects among the HIV positive male inmates in the 4 prisons. The study is aimed at influencing the prison menu to be in line with the nutrition and HIV guidelines in order to improve nutrition care for HIV positive prisoners. An observation checklist will be used to check the food eaten, method of cooking used, amounts served and conditions in which the food is served. A structured questionnaire and FGDs will also be used to collect data. Anthropometric measurements will also be taken on all the subjects. Anthropometric data will be analyzed by use of Epi Info while nutrition data will be analyzed by use of Nutrisurvey. This data will further be analyzed by use of Statistical . Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 17) software. Association between health and nutrition status will be analyzed by use of regression analysis. Pearson's Product Moment correlation (r) will be used to analyze continuous data where P -Value <0.05 will be considered significant. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe and summarize data on HIV positive male inmates' socio economic, demographic characteristics and health factors. Data presentation will be in a form of descriptive statistics, that is frequency tables, cross tabulations, pie charts and bar graphs and appropriate inferential statistics will also be presented.


In the UK, international recruitment is one of the strategies adopted to tackle the shortage of nurses. It is predicted that the UK will continue relying on internationally recruited nurses (IRNs) in the future. There is high attrition among both national and overseas nurses. While factors determining the turnover of British nurses are generally understood there is not much evidence about overseas staff. Literature suggests that factors involved in the decision to emigrate and experiences during recruitment are essential in the development of professional and personal expectations. The extent to which expectations are met is related to job satisfaction and retention. This research aims to improve understanding about the interface between IRNs' expectations, initial experiences and turnover. The study uses a qualitative approach, asking IRNs from India and the Philippines and using analysis of their narratives to generate data about their expectations and experiences. The first group comprised 6 Indian nurses, who were interviewed three times over eight months since their arrival in the UK, and some of their managers and mentors. The second and third groups comprised Filipina nurses recruited from two cohorts, 6 nurses recruited one and a half years before and 9 nurses recruited four years before. Findings validate results from other studies about the motivation to emigrate. Motives are often, but not exclusively, economic. Indian nurses come with their families to improve their lives in the UK while Filipino nurses come to help their families back home. Professional and economic expectations are often not met. There are important professional disparities between their countries and the UK. Nurses perceived that there was not enough institutional support for professional and cultural adaptation. Often their experience and skills are neither recognized nor valued. Isolation, frustration and consequently low satisfaction were identified in most of the nurses what is known to be related to turnover.


Summary
In a series of 11 cases of sprue carefully studied bacteriologically the Monilia psilosis has been found frequently in culture of the feces of all cases. Ulcers of the mouth infrequently seen in this series have given positive cultures twice and these in the same patient. Blood cultures have been negative for true Monilia psilosis in the 9 cases examined but a yeast has been found in 2 cases which was not typical of Monilia psilosis in the sugar medias.
Ashford's success in finding this organism in a large percentage of sprue cases and in a small percentage of non-sprue cases has been confirmed here by finding the monilia in all of 11 recent cases of sprue from China, India, Korea, Porto Rico and the Philippines. Monilia have also been isolated from a few other conditions, some of which have been typical Monilia psilosis while a few were atypical. We have been able to isolate this organism from the stools of pernicious anemia cases using the same bacteriological technic in four of seventeen cases (23 per cent).
Finding monilia in such a large percentage of sprue cases causes one to feel that it may be more than a secondary invader. We have, however, found the same, or a similar organism in a rather large percentage of pernicious anemia cases and in various diarrheal conditions. We feel that finding monilia in this series of sprue cases may be added evidence of the etiological relationship of this organism to sprue.


The Namew Lake Fe-Ni-Cu sulfide deposit, 60 km south of Flin Flon, Manitoba, is hosted by an undifferentiated metapyroxenite sill enclosed within Early Proterozoic orthogneisses and covered by Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The Namew Lake pyroxenite contains a relict igneous mineral assemblage of olivine + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + or - spinel + or - sulfides, suggesting derivation from a low Mg komatiitic or high Mg basaltic magma.Sulfide ore in the Namew Lake pyroxenite occurs as 3- to 10-mm blebs of disseminated Fe-Ni-Cu sulfides that accumulated during crystallization of olivine and pyroxene. A 0.5- to 5-m-thick layer of massive sulfide at the hanging-wall contact may represent a gravitationally segregated basal layer of a sill and suggests that the mine stratigraphy is inverted. Although the massive sulfides were compositionally modified during metamorphism and supergene alteration, the disseminated sulfides exhibit coherent geochemical trends and may preserve the average composition of the sulfide melt (recalculated to 100% sulfide: ca. 36% S, 42% Fe, 16% Ni, 6.1% Cu, 0.23% Zn, 148 ppm Pb, 5,300 ppb Pd, and 88 ppb Ir). Assuming a silicate/sulfide mass ratio of ca. 560 calculated from the platinum-group element (PGE) contents, the Ni content of a parental magma that would be in equilibrium with sulfides of that composition is similar to that of typical komatiites, but the Cu, Zn, and Pb concentrations are much higher. Thus, a komatiitic magma with ordinary Ni and PGE contents may have partially assimilated volcanogenic Cu-Zn-Pb sulfides, resulting in a high Mg basaltic magma from which the silicates and sulfides subsequently crystallized and equilibrated.The Namew Lake pyroxenite and associated sulfides were affected by five phases of deformation and three phases of metamorphism. The first deformational event in the area, D 1 , involved migmatization and isoclinal folding at upper amphibolite facies conditions. In addition, sheeted tonalites and diorites intruded prior to or during D 1 . D 2 folded the gneisses into domes, synforms, and antiforms. D 3 involved minor boudinage of the pyroxenite, intrusion of dikes, and displacement of the sulfides updip. D 4 shearing locally increased the thickness of the pyroxenite. D 5 and subsequent deformations produced brittle faulting with minor displacement, open folds of the ore horizon, and large-scale domain-bounding faults.The Namew Lake pyroxenite was metamorphosed at upper amphibolite facies (M 1 ), at lower amphibolite facies (M 3 ), and at greenschist facies (M 5 ). M 1 metamorphism of the pyroxenite produced partial replacement of the host pyroxenite by pargasitic amphibole. M 3 produced successive partial replacement by talc + dolomite, tremolite, and biotite, with greatest alteration at the edges of the pyroxenite and near crosscutting dikes. M 5 produced minor serpentine and cummingtonite. Most or all elements, including rare earth elements (REE), were mobile to varying degrees during M 1 , M 3 , and M 5 , resulting in the observed compositional variability of the Namew Lake pyroxenite.


This compendium represents a set of guides to understanding the challenging scientific, epidemiological, clinical, social, and economic phenomenon that is represented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book explains the mathematical modeling of COVID-19 infection, with emphasis on traditional epidemiological principles. It represents a rigorous, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to a complex phenomenon. The chapters take into account the knowledge arising from different disciplines (epidemiology, pathophysiology, immunology, medicine, biology, vaccine development, etc.). It also covers COVID-19 data analysis, giving the reader a perspective of statistics and data science, and includes a discussion about social and economic issues of the pandemic. Each chapter is devoted to a specific topic, and is contributed by experts in epidemiology.

Because of its multidisciplinary nature, this book is intended as a reference on mathematical models and basic immunotherapy for COVID-19 for a broad community of readers, from scholars who have scientific training, to general readers who have an interest in the disease.


Genome editing, or genome engineering is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted or replaced in the genome of a living organism using engineered nucleases, or molecular scissors . Genome editing is being rapidly adopted into all fields of biomedical research, including the cardiovascular field, where it has facilitated a greater understanding of lipid metabolism, electrophysiology, cardiomyopathies, and other cardiovascular disorders, has helped to create a wider variety of cellular and animal models, and has opened the door to a new class of therapies. In this review, we discuss the applications of in vivo genome-editing therapies for cardiovascular disorder.


AUTOMATE REPORTS BUILD FUNCTIONS VISUALIZE DATA WRITE FAST, RELIABLE SCRIPTS Microsoft Excel 2010 VBA AND MACROS: SAVE TIME AND SUPERCHARGE EXCEL 2010 WITH VBA AND MACROS! Use Excel 2010 VBA and macros to automate virtually any routine task, and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! This book reveals scripting techniques you wont find anywhere else and shows you how to create automated reports that are amazingly powerful and useful. It helps you instantly visualize information so you can understand and act on it. It also shows you how to capture data from anywhere and use it anywhere, and helps you automate Excel 2010s most powerful new features. Learning advanced Excel scripting has never been easier. Youll find simple, step-by-step instructions, real-world examples and case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with bonus examples, macros, and solutions, straight from MrExcel. Work efficiently with ranges, cells, and R1C1-style formulas Build super-fast applications with arrays Customize the Excel 2010 Ribbon to run your macros Write Excel 2010 VBA code that works on older versions of Excel Create custom dialog boxes to collect information from your users Use error handling to make your VBA scripts more resilient Use Web queries to import data from virtually any online source Master advanced techniques such as classes and collections Use Excel VBA to control other Office programseven control Windows itself, via the Windows API Create add-ins to share or sell your programs About MrExcel Library: Every book in the MrExcel Library pinpoints a specific set of crucial Excel tasks and presents focused skills and examples for performing them rapidly and effectively. Selected by Bill Jelen, Microsoft Excel MVP and mastermind behind the leading Excel solutions website MrExcel.com, these books will Dramatically increase your productivitysaving you 50 hours a year or more Present proven, creative strategies for solving real-world problems Show you how to get great results, no matter how much data you have Help you avoid critical mistakes that even experienced users make


A novel ESPAR (electronically steerable passive array radiator) antenna has been proposed. The antenna aperture is a planar array composed of the microstrip patch antenna (MSPA). The MSPA is a stacked circular patch that generates a circular polarized wave over a wide frequency band. Variable reactance values set for maximizing the output SINR are globally searched by direct search. The validity of the proposed antenna is demonstrated by numerical simulation.


My interest in this cross-over between art and science, specifically, the body and supportive technologies, has lead me to mixed media and installations where I can examine degeneration and a "new" generation using a combination of conventional and unconventional materials. Unlike re-generation, which is a return to an original state, "new" generation gives way to new arrangements. Author/Artist Bio Alice Marie Perreault was born, the middle of five children, in Rochester, New York. After high school, she took classes at Rochester Institute of Technology. From the recommendation of one of her professors, she transferred credits and relocated to Northern California where she studied at California College of Arts and was greatly influenced by Bay Area Figurative Painting. In her final semester, she was teaching art classes and working as an illustrator and graphic designer. She graduated with distinction and the equivalent of a triple major. After graduation, Perreault married and relocated to Chicago where she lived in Lincoln Park for a year before moving to Oceanside, California. There, she taught studio arts for Mira Costa and Palomar Colleges. When her husband accepted a jobrelocation to Salt Lake City, Perreault followed. Soon after, her older sister who lived with Down Syndrome, came under her permanent care. Perreault returned to school and earned an MFA from the University of Utah where she was granted the Gittins Fellowship award, the highest award the School of Arts gifts to one graduating student each year. Overlapping with this, Perreault worked as Curator of Education at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, known then as the Salt Lake Art Center and then was hired with the Utah Arts Council to work in the visual arts program. Following graduation, Perreault taught art at Weber State University, Westminster College, and the University of Utah. During the birth of her first child, the infant suffered a debilitating brain injury. The experience impacted Perreault's studio work as she became intensely interested in neurology, stem cells and the mechanisms behind neuronal injury and plasticity. Her close-knit relationships with her son and her sister, who were both living with disabilities, gave rise to a non-profit art studio Perreault founded where she paired children living with disabilities with children living without disabilities. Through the studio, Perreault subcontracted artists working in various genres to work with participants and installed shows and presentations throughout the community. For this work, she was granted a Governor's Award in the Arts. When her marriage ended, Perreault returned to California and entered Claremont Graduate University's MFA program where her work expanded to include mixed media, sculpture and installation. She attributes CGU with providing necessary conversations that honed her artistic investigations. Perreault's artwork has primarily been exhibited in the non-profit sector where, she feels it is best fitted. She is currently living in Los Angeles County with her son and daughter. View Perreault's artwork on Instagram at Aligator_purrrs and on her website at alicemarieperreault.com where she maintains a professional blog.


PRECIS Can Native Americans respect and preserve their own cultural traditions and also be Christian? Native American culture is multifaceted, with between 250 and 400 language groups among those Indigenous to North America. They share some basic values, Including love and concern for family and community, that long predated the arrival of Christianity. This essay seeks to demonstrate how Indians within the United Methodist Church have made choices that maintain their tribal heritage and culture and Incorporate them Into Christian worship. Missionizing of North American Indians was largely assimliationistic for a century-and-a-half, but Methodist leaders became concerned about Indian cultural Identity after the 1960's civil-rights movement. The Lawrence (KS) Indian United Methodist Church is used as a case study of how this mission church, chartered in 1963, reached a cultural awareness that flourished in the mld-1970's and continues today. The church's relationship with Indian youth and with the Haskell Indian Nat ions University is also examined. We share our stories Each of us brings a unique story and gifts from the Creator Our stories are about journeys of faith We walk a path of righteousness We share our path with all creation We are all related Eastern Cherokee prayer tradition1 Introduction Can Native Americans respect and preserve their own cultural traditions and be Christian? Native Americans have always had to face this question if they became Christian. The culture and heritage of these peoples are diverse. Between 250 and 400 language groups are indigenous to the North American continent, yet they share some basic universal values -- including love and concern for family, community, and their environment -- that existed among the Native Americans long before the arrival of Christianity. This essay will examine how Indians in the Lawrence (Kansas) United Methodist Church responded to the advent of Methodism into their world. It is important to note here that this essay does not aim to examine Native American resistance to Christianity or Methodism, as that is best left for another essay. It seeks to demonstrate how Indians within the United Methodist Church have made choices that helped maintain their tribal heritage and culture and incorporated them into Christian worship. It is an acculturation process that reciprocates between the dominant Christian institution that accommodated historically underrepresented members in American society and Native Americans whose values and ancient beliefs were seldom comprom ised in their acceptance of Christianity. While the missionizing of Indians in North America historically has been one of assimilation, Indian cultural identity became a primary concern for the leaders of the United Methodist Church some time after the civil-rights movement of the 1960's and the rise of the American Indian Movement. The questions of paramount importance to leaders in the church were: (1) How much Indian culture and what types of Indian cultural practices should be incorporated into Christian worship? (2) What processes of inclusion would take place in the implementation of Indian culture into the United Methodist institution? (3) Would inclusion of Native Americans constitute a one-sided acculturation? The Lawrence Indian United Methodist Church in Kansas will serve as a case study of how the early Lawrence Indian Mission Church, chartered in 1963, arrived at a cultural awareness at its conception that flourished in the mid- 1970's and still flourishes today. This study will also look at the church's ongoing relationship with Indian youth and Haskell Indian Nations University, which is vital to the church's outreach, and examine how the Lawrence Indian Mission Church decided how much of traditional Indian culture, beliefs, and values should be incorporated into their worship. …


We describe and begin to evaluate a parameterization to include the vertical transport of hot gases and particles emitted from biomass burning in low resolution atmospheric-chemistry transport models. This sub-grid transport mechanism is simulated by embedding a 1-D cloud-resolving model with appropriate lower boundary conditions in each column of the 3-D host model. Through assimilation of remote sensing fire products, we recognize which columns have fires. Using a land use dataset appropriate fire properties are selected. The host model provides the environmental conditions, allowing the plume rise to be simulated explicitly. The derived height of the plume is then used in the source emission field of the host model to determine the effective injection height, releasing the material emitted during the flaming phase at this height. Model results are compared with CO aircraft profiles from an Amazon basin field campaign and with satellite data, showing the huge impact that this mechanism has on model performance. We also show the relative role of each main vertical transport mechanisms, shallow and deep moist convection and the pyro-convection (dry or moist) induced by vegetation fires, on the distribution of biomass burning CO emissions in the troposphere.


Dermatology electives allow medical students an opportunity to explore the field of dermatology. In order to gain greater exposure to the specialty of dermatology, some medical students have an interest in taking "away" dermatology electives at other U.S. medical schools. A telephone survey was conducted to better understand the opportunities and barriers that exist for visiting medical students to take an elective in dermatology. Areas of focus in the survey included dermatology elective offerings, institutional policies toward visiting students, academic requirements for visiting students, timing of electives, financial costs of electives incurred by the student and institutional and regional preferences of the host medical school. Survey results indicated considerable opportunities for medical students to explore the field of dermatology among U.S. medical schools, but variance among schools regarding the number and types of dermatology electives offered. Medical schools with dermatology residencies were statistically more likely to offer dermatology electives to visiting medical students than those that did not (p<0.0001). Students from schools that do not provide more advanced electives may find it difficult to explore the field beyond a general dermatology elective because of the limited availability of subspecialty elective rotations for visiting students. Other barriers for "away" electives include academic requirements, priority in course registration for a school's own students, differing rotation schedules, and additional financial costs.


Despite significant advances in education and political participation, women remain underrepresented in leadership positions in politics and business across the globe. In many countries, policy-makers have responded by introducing gender quotas in politics and increasingly, many have expressed an interest in requiring gender quotas for corporate boards. This paper reviews the evidence on the equity and efficiency impacts of gender quotas for political positions and corporate board membership. Adoption of quotas by countries is likely correlated with attitudes about women within a country. However, the randomized allocation of political quotas in India and the unanticipated introduction of board quotas in Norway have allowed researchers to provide causal analysis and this review focuses on evidence from these two settings. The Indian evidence demonstrates that quotas increase female leadership and influences policy outcomes. In addition, rather than create a backlash against women, quotas can reduce gender discrimination in the long-term. The board quota evidence is more mixed. While female entry on boards is correlated with changing management practices, this change appears to adversely influence short-run profits. Whether this is partly driven by negative perceptions of female management choices remains an open question. Returning to the broader cross-country context, we find evidence in many different settings that political and corporate entities often act strategically to circumvent the intended impact of quotas. Consistent with this, we report suggestive evidence that the design of the quota and selection systems matter for increasing female leadership. * The authors are from Harvard University. We thank the World Bank for funding. We also thank Anne Brockmeyer and Nirvana Abou-Gabal for excellent research assistance.


Abstract A new approach to address the mapping and scheduling problem in hardware/software codesign is presented. This approach is based on heuristic search and two techniques are proposed to enhance the quality of mapping/scheduling solutions: (1) a task clustering technique to reduce the solution space and (2) a multiple neighbourhood function strategy to better explore the solution space. It is evaluated by case studies involving 2880 randomly generated task graphs, as well as four real applications. Experimental results show that the proposed approach out performs previous approaches in terms of speedup by up to 36.2% for a system with a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, and an FPGA.


Internet has its own inherent security issues in terms of confidentiality, integrity and privacy. The main impact of these kinds of issues is specifically on the banking industry as they have increased their Internet banking facilities in order to reduce costs and provide better services and banking convenience to their Internet banking customers. However, banking customers have not had a choice of Internet banking mainly due to the fact that they are already tied to whatever form of Internet banking that their current bank provides. This paper therefore examined Internet banking security systems in Australian banks by creating the proposed Internet banking security checklist which can benefit both existing and potential Internet banking customers to use as an Internet banking security guideline. Furthermore, the results uncovered were lack of Internet banking security in all the 16 selected Australian banks. These can impact its existing and potential customers' confidentiality in terms of using Internet banking. Better Internet banking security information, two-factor authentication and stronger encryption in use are some of the example recommendations. In addition, this study can be extended to cover more in-depth details which cover interviewing and auditing from a customer perspective, the design and format of the Internet banking website and mobile banking security.


1. Essential habitats are areas required to support specific functions, such as providing foraging grounds, shelter or used for reproductive purposes. For mobile aquatic species that move throughout numerous components of the seascape, identifying essential habitats within a species' broader distribution range is crucial to understanding their ecology and provide vital information needed to underpin effective conservation and management (e.g. the implementation of protected areas).
2. In Tasmania (Australia), a number of coastal habitats have been declared shark refuge areas (SRAs), where fishing for elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and skates) is prohibited.
3. Chimaeras are relatives of elasmobranchs (class Chondrichthyes) and share traits that predispose many elasmobranch species to be vulnerable to overfishing (e.g. slow growth rates and low reproductive output). However, fishing for elephantfish Callorhinchus milii (the chimaera species found in coastal Tasmania) is still permitted in SRAs.
4. Here, a combination of acoustic tracking, catch data and reproductive information was used to determine the significance of the SRA coastal habitats for C. milii.
5. Results suggest that these areas are essential habitats for reproduction and likely important for other purposes, such as foraging.
6. Given that a key strategy in managing fish stocks is protecting areas important for reproduction, and the importance of these coastal areas of Tasmania for C. milii
reproductive purposes, we recommend including C. milii in current SRAs, and decreeing these areas as chondrichthyan refuge areas.


Across the globe from the womb to tomb there is countless instance of corruption. Many a scam has staggered and has been staggering the development and welfare of the Nation. Corruption confiscates the welfare programmes and policies and makes them contagious and constipates the progressive development of the nations. To preserve the progressive welfare of the State by preventing bribery and corruption the law makers have thought of enacting AntiCorruption Laws in India and protect the system from the evil of corruption. The Government of India has enacted Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Right to Information Act, 2005 besides relevant statutory provisions to prevent corruption in India. Mere enacting Anti-Corruption Laws cannot curb corruption. Perfectly framed strong machinery is essentially needed to enforce and implement those laws effectively. Hence, certain Anti-Corruption Agencies namely Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), The Lokpal, Lokyukta and Upalokayukta are established to enforce the Anti-Corruption Laws in India . Despite Legislations and Commissions appointed by the Government, there is a rapid growth of corruption in India. This is evident from the reports of Transparency India International, a Berlin based NGO that India ranks 78 from 167 countries with a score of 3.8 in the recent corruption perception index report 2015. From the Prime Minister's office to village panchayat are engaged with full of bribery and corruption because our employees and politicians are citizens, and they are nothing extraordinary in excepting that like all other citizens, they conform to the normative order that is law. The present paper is discusses the role of Right to Information Act, 2005 to controlling the corruption in India.


Gruta da Oliveira is a cave located in the Almonda karstic system in central Portugal. Its Upper Pleistocene fill is made up of gravitational sediments with varied biogenic and anthropogenic inputs. The archaeological sequence (35–70 ka) is fairly homogeneous, reflecting a predominantly moist climatic context modulated by millennial‐scale variations. Human occupation was almost continuous throughout. In the richer archaeological layers (8–14), the anthropogenic components are in primary position, and post‐depositional processes are restricted, although penecontemporaneous biological activity—such as hyena scavenging—overprinted the record. In layers 15–19, the excavated area corresponds to the footslope of a talus, where accumulation proceeded mainly through runoff and where the lithics and bones derive from occupations situated ca. 5m outward. The base of the deposit is >2m from the current base of the excavation, suggesting that Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS)‐4 and OIS‐5 sediments underlay the deposit already exposed. This study confirms the archaeological integrity of the Mousterian assemblages found in the different layers, and, given the dates for layer 8, supports the hypothesis that Neanderthals survived in western Iberia until at least 35,000–38,000 calendar years ago. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Introduction: Exercise causes both inflammation and anti-inflammation and the details are complex. Genome-wide analysis, including proteomics or RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), is beneficial to reveal the complexity and to screen novel factors. However, there are some difficulties. Proteomics shows low reproducibility and analytical bias (eg., hydrophilic and hydrophobic proteins). Although RNA-seq or microarray present robust reproducibility, it has been known that the correlation of mRNA and protein levels is low (R = 0.17 ~ 0.41). This is due to translational regulation. Considering translational efficiency, the correlation is boosted to R = 0.95. In 2009, newly introduced technique based on RNA-seq platform, called ribosome profiling, showed the ability to quantify translational efficiency. It conducts deep-sequencing of mRNA fragments encompassed by ribosomal complex (ie., translationally active mRNA region). Since ribosome profiling is based on highly reproducible RNA-seq and considers translational regulation, it is possible to carry out more precise and accurate measurements of cellular dynamics and to discover novel factors. Here we conducted ribosome profiling to understand the impact of translational regulation and to discover novel candidates in the responses of macrophages to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Method: RAW264 macrophages (2.5x105/ml) were incubated for 24 hr. Then, LPS (100ng/ml) was added, followed by 30 min incubation. Cycloheximide (100μ/ml) was added to stall translating ribosome. Cells were lysed and total RNA was extracted, followed by RNaseIf digestion and sucrose cushion to extract monosome (for ribosome profiling) or poly-A RNA extraction (for RNA-seq). Poly-A RNA was alkalinedigested and gel-purified to collect 25 ~ 45bp regions. For ribosome profiling, monosome was gel-purified to collect ribosome-protected mRNA fragments (26 ~ 32bp), followed by ribosomal RNA removal. These were further gone through 3'-dephosphorylation and 5'-phosphorylation and sequence library preparation using Ion total RNA-seq kit v2 (Ion torrent). Sequencing was conducted using Ion PGM (Ion torrent). The mapped sequences were analyzed by NOISeq to detect differential gene expression (DGE). Results: Comparing basal state and LPS-activated state, only small fractions of mRNA levels were changed and called as DGE in RNA-seq. However, more DGEs were observed in ribosome profiling. Translational rates of each mRNA were highly varied even in the basal state. Conclusions: Translational changes seem to be more sensitive to LPS compared to transcriptional regulation. Also, large fractions of mRNA are under translational regulation even in the basal condition as well as in the activated state. Translational regulation may play an important role in the inflammatory responses of macrophages.


The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of using iron impregnated granular activated carbon (AC) to remove arsenic from water and to assess the partitioning behavior of arsenic under a variety of conditions. Iron impregnated granular activated carbon (AC-Fe) composites were prepared with different ferric (Fe+3) concentrations, ranging from 0.09 to 3.0 M. These AC-Fe composites were able to remove 92–98% of the arsenate [As(V)] and 42–65% of the arsenite [As(III)]. The composite containing the lowest iron concentration (1.54%) was the most effective at arsenic sorption. Langmuir model fit indicated that the maximum 125 mg As(V)/gFe and 98.4 mg As(III)/gFe can be sorbed by the composite. The kinetics of arsenic sorption is well explained by pseudo first-order kinetics. The arsenate removal efficiency was found to decrease with increasing solution pH, while the As(III) removal efficiency was found to increase. The background ionic strength (IS) had no significant effect of on As(V) removal, but As(III) removal increased when the IS was greater than 50 mM NaCl. Our results indicate that a small amount of iron embedded efficiently in AC may have considerable potential in removing arsenic from water.


Active sensing involves the fusion of internally generated motor events with external sensation. For rodents, active somatosensation includes scanning the immediate environment with the mystacial vibrissae. In doing so, the vibrissae may touch an object at any angle in the whisk cycle. The representation of touch and vibrissa self-motion may in principle be encoded along separate pathways, or share a single pathway, from the periphery to cortex. Past studies established that the spike rates in neurons along the lemniscal pathway from receptors to cortex, which includes the principal trigeminal and ventral-posterior-medial thalamic nuclei, are substantially modulated by touch. In contrast, spike rates along the paralemniscal pathway, which includes the rostral spinal trigeminal interpolaris, posteromedial thalamic, and ventral zona incerta nuclei, are only weakly modulated by touch. Here we find that neurons along the lemniscal pathway robustly encode rhythmic whisking on a cycle-by-cycle basis, while encoding along the paralemniscal pathway is relatively poor. Thus, the representations of both touch and self-motion share one pathway. In fact, some individual neurons carry both signals, so that upstream neurons with a supralinear gain function could, in principle, demodulate these signals to recover the known decoding of touch as a function of vibrissa position in the whisk cycle.


The unique geometry and intriguing physical properties of nanostructure-based solar cells gives them great potential to achieve the goals of cost-effectiveness and high-efficiency. With nanostructured solar cells it is expected to be possible to break the Shockley–Queisser limit. This potential has driven widespread research and development in photon management to enhance light absorption over the past decade. However, efficiency is not proportional to light absorption. Nowadays, researchers are starting to address this issue. A thorough understanding of the advantages and the scope of the application of each photon management scheme is critical to finding a breakthrough for this predicament. In this review, we present the theorems and describe recent progresses in primary photon management schemes for nanostructures, including antireflection, light scattering, and resonance (e.g., metallic resonance, dielectric resonance, and photonic crystals). The antireflection effect allows more light to enter the solar cell. Light scattering enhances the interaction between the light and the nanostructure, extending the light propagation paths in the devices. Resonance effects can redirect and precisely confine the light to the region where efficient photoelectric conversion efficiency occurs. Finally, we discuss the challenges of nanostructured solar cells, and indicate potential routes to overcome the performance-limiting problems.


Using a concise and clear style, this book highlights insights from current syntactic theory and minimalism. Chapter 1 starts with the general idea behind generative grammar and should be read from a big picture perspective. Because the book expects no prior syntactic background, its next two chapters are on lexical and grammatical categories and on basic phrase structure rules. After these introductory chapters, the book covers the clausal spine, the VP, TP, and CP in Chapters 4, 5, and 6, respectively. For the VP, it emphasizes lexical aspect, theta-roles, and the VP-shell; for the TP and CP, it uses a cartographic approach and juxtaposes that to free adjunction. Chapter 7 covers the DP and Chapter 8 discusses the importance of features. Chapter 9 returns to some of the issues raised in Chapter 1 and summarizes the approach. It includes keywords, frequent summaries, exercises, and suggested answers to the exercises. Cartoons and frequent corpus examples enliven the text.


The paper discusses the un-institutionalized charity system in Pakistan. It explains that how it creates numerous problems and barriers in channelizing the funds to poor and designing an effective compensation for the deserved people in the country. In short, the overall impact of the un-institutionalized charity system has been discussed by giving examples from the current mechanism and related problems that exist in the country. Similarly, the role of Pakistan Baitul-Mal and outcomes associated with the Benazir Income support program have also been analyzed in terms of channelizing charitable funds to the needy people. This is a theoretical study based on an analytical approach which takes random samples from different countries regarding their charity system. A comparison of developing and developed countries has also been performed in the literature to study various aspects linked with different institutionalized charity systems being used around the world. Last, an innovative model of the institutionalized charity system has been proposed for Pakistan by integrating the positive aspects of multiple institutionalized charity systems discussed in this study in order to channelize and manage charity contributions effectively.


Class specific mortality in 17th and 18th Century Vienna shows a cyclical pattern which is related to grain price cycles in the 5-10 years range. This relationship is not stable over time. Applying spectral analysis based on time-varying VARs, it can be shown that at the beginning of the observation period, comovement of grain prices and mortality is considerably high in areas populated by lower classes of society. This comovement cannot be found in richer areas of the city and vanishes over time for the entire population of the city.


This paper addresses the problem of distributed rate allocation for a class of multicast networks employing linear network coding. The goal is to minimize the cost (for example, the sum rates allocated to each link in the network) while satisfying a multicast rate requirement for each destination in the network. In essence, this paper aims to achieve network capacity while ensuring that the cost of operation (equivalently, the rate allocated per link in the network) is minimal. This paper uses a belief propagation framework to obtain a distributed algorithm for the rate allocation problem. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the convergence of this algorithm to the optimal rate allocation solution.


ABSTRACT We live in an era of remarkable transformations in how governance is supplied at the global level, as traditional means of intergovernmental institutions are being joined by a growing diversity of transnational arrangements. Yet, at present, we still have only a superficial understanding of what causes actors to adhere to transnational rules, norms, and initiatives once they appear, and especially what role domestic political, economic and social variables play in their decision making. Focusing on climate change as an issue exemplifying the tendency for complex governance interplay, this special issue provides a comparative political economy perspective on the increasing but uneven uptake of transnational climate governance (TCG). This article articulates a conceptual framework for the analysis, highlighting the interplay between transnational and domestic politics and how such interactions shape the incentives, opportunities, and modalities of participation in transnational initiatives. An original data set of participation in transnational governance initiatives is introduced to capture the significance of the phenomenon and to provide a common basis to systematically address, for the first time, questions about the cross-national patterns of involvement we find across different arenas and types of TCG, be they networks of sub- or nonstate actors, private rules, or hybrid arrangements.


The corrosion protection service life extension provided by epoxy-coated reinforcement (ECR) was determined by comparing ECR and bare steel bars from 10 Virginia bridge decks built between 1981 and 1995. The objective was to determine the corrosion protection service life time extension provided by ECR field specimens with various degrees of coating adhesion: disbonded, partially disbonded, and wholly bonded coatings. The size and length distributions of cracks in Virginia bridge decks were investigated to assess the frequency and severity of cracks. Correlation of cracks with chloride penetration was used to characterize the influence of cracking on deck deterioration. Cracks influence the rate of chloride penetration, but the frequency and width distributions of cracks indicate that cracks are not likely to shorten the overall service life of most bridge decks in Virginia. Altogether, 141 drilled cores, 102 mm (4 in.) in diameter, were employed in this study. For each of the decks built with ECR, 10 to 12 cores were drilled through a top reinforcing bar adjacent to the previous study core locations. In addition, approximately 3 cores were drilled through a top reinforcing bar at a surface crack location. Laboratory testing involved nondestructive monitoring using advanced electrochemical techniques to periodically assess the corrosion state of the steel bars during cyclic exposure to chloride-rich solution over 36 months of treatment. Time of corrosion initiation and time of cracking (where applicable), as well as chloride content of the concrete before and after treatment, were used in the analysis. Analysis of the epoxy coating after treatment showed the presence of micro cracks in the surface of some coatings, and moisture uptake and glass transition temperatures, as related to curing of the coatings, were investigated. Less than 25% of all Virginia bridge decks built under specifications in place since 1981 is projected to corrode sufficiently to require rehabilitation within 100 years, regardless of bar type. The corrosion service life extension attributable to ECR in bridge decks was found to be approximately 5 years beyond that of bare steel and, therefore, ECR is not a cost-effective method of corrosion prevention for bridge decks. Deleting the requirement for ECR in decks would save Virginia approximately $845,000 per year.


Fundamental to policies of sustainable development is the assumption that values will not depreciate through time. This assumption is inconsistent with the economic approach to policy-making. Economic analysis, by interpreting social values in terms of money, necessarily discounts values in the future. Accordingly, if the interests of future generations are to be served, moral and economic values must be shown to be essentially incommensurable, and moral values must predominate in policy analyses. The distinction between economic and moral values is enumerated with twelve contrasting characteristics, five of which are given careful elaboration: a) "economic man" (a utility maximiser) vs. the moral agent (rule-oriented evaluator); b) the marketplace vs. the community; c) ecocentric vs. "spectator" point of view; d) non-moral values vs. moral values; and e) time preference (discounting) vs. time neutrality.


Purpose A possible involvement of autoimmune mechanism in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma has been proposed. Recently, alpha-enolase protein was identified as a major autoantigen recognized by circulating IgG autoantibodies in patients with severe asthma. To evaluate a possible pathogenetic significance of these autoantibodies in severe asthma, isotype (IgG, IgA, IgM, and IgE) and IgG subclass (IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4) distributions of autoantibodies to recombinant human alpha-enolase protein were analyzed. Patients and Methods We examined serum samples from 10 patients with severe asthma and 7 patients with mild-to-moderate asthma, and 5 healthy controls by immunoblot analysis. Severe asthma was defined as patients having at least 1 severe asthmatic exacerbation requiring an emergency department visit or admission in the last year despite continuous typical therapies. Results IgG1 was the predominant IgG subclass antibody response to alpha-enolase protein in patients with severe asthma. IgG1 autoantibody to alpha-enolase protein was detected in 7 of 10 patients with severe asthma (70%), 1 of 7 patients with mild-to-moderate asthma (14.3%), and none of 5 healthy controls (0%) (chi-square test; p < 0.05). IgA, IgM, and IgE autoantibodies to alpha-enolase protein could not be detected in patients with severe asthma. Conclusion IgG1 subclass was the predominant type of autoantibody response to alpha-enolase protein in patients with severe asthma, suggests a possibility of IgG1 autoantibody-mediated complement activation in the pathogenesis of severe asthma.


The nickel ferrite NiFe2O4 obtained by ceramic technology has been widely studied due to its tremendous properties like high electromagnetic performance, excellent chemical stability and mechanical hardness, and moderate saturation magnetization, making it a good contender for the application as soft magnets and low loss materials at high frequencies. The structure, mechanical, magnetic, electrical and dielectric properties of nickel ferrite are dependent upon several factors including the method of preparation, sintering time and temperature, chemical composition, type and amount of dopant, grain structure. The sol-gel with participation of auto-combustion (SGA) technique was used for the synthesis of Ni1-xMnxFe2O4 (x  0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) nanoparticle ferrites. The mixed solution was dried at a temperature around 403 K. During evaporation the solution became viscous and finally formed a xerogel. At further temperature rise, the organic constituents are decomposed with the generation of gases such as CO2, N2 and H2O; therefore the xerogel automatically ignited. The auto-combustion was completed within a few seconds, yielding the nanopowders of ferrites. Structural parameters, morphology and optical properties were investigated. The XRD results confirm single-phase formation of the as-prepared samples with 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4 having the Fd3m space group. The Ni0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 and Ni0.4Mn0.6Fe2O4 powders except the spinel phase contain also additional FeO and Ni phases. The crystallite sizes (27-43 nm) decrease and the lattice parameters (0.8343-0.8459 nm) increase, while the Mn concentration increases. Morphological observations reveal that the crystallinity decreases significantly with increasing Mn content meanwhile the particle size becomes more uniform. It was found that the optical band gap increases with increasing concentration of Mn2+ ions in the ferrite structure. The band gap is in the range from 2.00 eV to 3.26 eV.


This is a prospective study of the outcome of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on regular hemodialysis admitted to a referral hospital in Madinah Al Munawarah, Saudi Arabia during a six-month period from January-June 2003. Ninety four patients out of 395 (23.7%) patients on regular hemodialysis were admitted 125 times of whom 27 (28.7%) patients were admitted twice; males accounted for 58.5% of the patients. The mean hospital stay period was 9.1 days per patient. The major cause of ESRD was diabetes mellitus (40%) followed by hypertension (13.6%). The main cause for admission was the vascular access related problems (33.6%) followed by infection (31.2%) and cardiovascular causes (18.4%). Most of the admissions were in the general ward but 17 % of the total stay in hospital was in the intensive care unit. Twelve out of the 94 (12.7%) study patients died during the study period; five patients died of cardiac failure, three of septicemia, one of severe gastrointestinal bleeding and one of Wegner's syndrome complicated by severe intra-pulmonary bleeding. Two patients had sudden death (most likely due to cardiac disease). In conclusion, our experience with morbidity and mortality of the hemodialysis patients admitted to hospital is comparable to other places in the world.


Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits – for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on "quality". Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society.
This series of country reports focuses on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives.


We present the Gaussian Process Density Sampler (GPDS), an exchangeable generative model for use in nonparametric Bayesian density estimation. Samples drawn from the GPDS are consistent with exact, independent samples from a fixed density function that is a transformation of a function drawn from a Gaussian process prior. Our formulation allows us to infer an unknown density from data using Markov chain Monte Carlo, which gives samples from the posterior distribution over density functions and from the predictive distribution on data space. We can also infer the hyperparameters of the Gaussian process. We compare this density modeling technique to several existing techniques on a toy problem and a skull-reconstruction task.


Departing from a simple normative theory for the choice between lowest price, highest quality (beauty contest) and more complex scoring rules, we empirically investigate the behavior of local and central authorities. We survey a gross sample of 40 contracting entities about perceived key characteristics of products bought in 651 public procurements and collect data on supplier selection methods for these procurements. We compare actual scoring rules with theoretical norms and analyze what product characteristics make deviation from the norm more or less likely. In addition, a control group of 275 authorities was surveyed about similar but hypothetical procurements. We find that more complex scoring rules are used more often when the authority is uncertain about costs and about delivered quality, in accordance with our hypotheses. However, authority effects are also found to directly and indirectly influence the choice of supplier-selection method, suggesting that tendering design is partially driven by local habits or institutional inertia.


One promising approach to achieving high precision and low complexity in a cognitive radio system is the energy detector based on the Discrete Wavelet Packet Transform (DWPT). However, the thresholds used in previous spectrum detection algorithms are fixed values determined by false alarm probability and sample points. When the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is lower than 5dB, an energy detector with fixed threshold may falsely determine some unoccupied sub-channels as occupied. In this paper, a threshold adapter adopting adaptive threshold is proposed to increase the detection sensitivity, meanwhile, reduce the computational complexity. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this algorithm.


ABSTRACT Purpose: The paper identifies, outlines, and categorises establishment and operational factors that contribute to successful agricultural on-farm demonstration. Design/Methodology/approach: The paper is based on a literature review on demonstration activities and meta-analysis of 24 original case study reports from 12 European countries. Findings: Based on a combination of deductive and inductive analysis, the success determinants are classified into nine critical success factors deemed important in designing an on-farm demonstration event (the 'Nine Ps'): Purpose, Problem, Place, Personnel, Positioning, Programme, Process, Practicalities, Post-event engagement. Each factor ('what') is framed in terms of success principles to provide a guide to its enactment ('how'). Practical implications: The results of the analysis can serve as a practical decision-support tool for organisers and evaluators of on-farm demonstration events. Theoretical implications: The paper broadens the perspective on the character, interlinkages, and relative importance of the factors underlying demonstration and their successful application within the agricultural knowledge and innovation system. Originality/Value: The paper addresses the deficit of comprehensive empirical studies investigating on-farm demonstrations by offering a rich research-based analysis of the factors and principles underlying their successful implementation.


Scale-out stream processing engines (SPEs) are powering large big data applications on high velocity data streams. Industrial setups require SPEs to sustain outages, varying data rates, and low-latency processing. SPEs need to transparently reconfigure stateful queries during runtime. However, state-of-the-art SPEs are not ready yet to handle on-the-fly reconfigurations of queries with terabytes of state due to three problems. These are network overhead for state migration, consistency, and overhead on data processing. In this paper, we propose Rhino, a library for efficient reconfigurations of running queries in the presence of very large distributed state. Rhino provides a handover protocol and a state migration protocol to consistently and efficiently migrate stream processing among servers. Overall, our evaluation shows that Rhino scales with state sizes of up to TBs, reconfigures a running query 15 times faster than the state-of-the-art, and reduces latency by three orders of magnitude upon a reconfiguration.


This article was inspired by the questions and themes at the Meaning Conference organized by the International Network on Personal Meaning (INPM) in 2012. It identifies an emerging consensus regarding the meaning of personal meaning as a motivational construct, and demonstrates its connection to other closely related motivational theories, including self-determination theory, positive psychology, humanistic psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, and narrative approaches to self integration. Specifically it explores the definition of personal meaning as involving a sense of purpose and coherence in orienting individuals to future possibilities and providing a basis for hope in the fulfillment of their aspirations. It identifies a cognitive-behavioral bias in the field, focusing on goal-focused behavior and neglecting the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of personal meaning. The article demonstrates how the relationship factor, specifically self-defining dialogue with significant others, needs to be considered as an essential component of personal meaning. This includes experiences of communicative interaction with others, through which individuals construct personal meaning and come to a clearer understanding of who they are and what they believe and value. The article goes on to demonstrate how a meaning-oriented approach can clarify basic concepts in self-determination theory and positive psychology, particularly the constructs of autonomy, authenticity, relationship, and the actualizing tendency of the human psyche. It concludes with an analysis of the concept of higher purpose as it relates to the ideal of self-actualization, including Frankl's interpretation of the tension between those two principles.