: Background: Anemia is defined as hemoglobin levels of ≤ 11 g/dl , is one of the world's leading causes of disability , and thus one of the most serious global public health problems .More than (50%) of the pregnant women in the world are anemic. Knowledge about the anemia is very important in our community. This knowledge will encourage those who work in primary health care (PHCS) provider for pregnant women to detect the problem earlier and treat the problem properly. Aims: effective anemia in in Kirkuk governorate. Patient & Method: A total of 250 pregnant women were asked while attending antenatal unit in Azadi Teaching Hospital and several Primary Health Centers in Kirkuk City out patients clinic from 25.10. 2014 to1.3.2015. Data were taken involve: age, residency, educational level, history of last menstrual period, onset of anemia and level of hemoglobin (Hb). These data were organized in special questionnaire prepared for this purpose. Results: From the total (250) pregnant women (61.6%) of them have low Hemoglobin (Hb) level mild, moderate or severe anemia the majority of them (75.33%) with mild anemia. according to severity the rate was (3.2%). Conclusions and Recommendations: The prevalence of anemia among women in Kirkuk city during pregnancy is high (61.6%) in compare to (52%) in the world wide in developing countries.


In the context of interactive and automated vehicles, driver situation awareness becomes an increasingly important consideration for future traffic systems, whether it concerns the current status of the vehicle or the surrounding environment. Here, we present a simulator study investigating whether the apparent intelligence - i.e. intelligence as perceived by the driver, which is distinct from how intelligent a designer might think the system is - of a vehicle is a factor in the expectations and behaviour of the driver. We are specifically interested in perceived intelligence as a factor in situation awareness. To this end, the study modulates both traffic conditions and the type of navigational assistance given in a goal-navigation task to influence participant's perception of the system. Our result show two distinct effects relevant to situation awareness: 1) Participants who think the vehicle is highly intelligent spend more time glancing at the surrounding environment through the left door window than those who rank intelligence low and 2) participants prefer an awareness of why the navigation aid decided for specific directions but are sensitive to the manner it is presented. Our results have broader implications for the design of future automated systems in vehicles.


This paper has two main goals. The first is to complement the Argentine mean income series with inequality estimates in order to obtain aggregate welfare series. Average income figures are estimated from National Accounts while income inequality indices are calculated from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH). Household income from the survey is adjusted for nonresponse, underreporting and demographics. The second objective of the article is to check the statistical significance of changes in inequality and welfare measures. Bootstrapping techniques are used to that aim. One of the main conclusions is that while welfare assessments coincide among different value judgments in some periods (e.g. 1991-1994), they widely vary in some others, particularly in the last four years (1994-1998), where the economy experienced moderate growth and large increases in inequality. It is argued that the period 1994-1998 provides an unprecedented laboratory for distinguishing the social preferences of different analysts according to their evaluation of the performance of the Argentine economy.


Sun exposure and climate therapy is an effective treatment for psoriasis. However, even though this treatment gives the patients relief from their discomforting symptoms, it has some potentially dangerous side effects such as an increased risk of skin cancer and premature skin aging. A prospective field study plans to follow the patients undergoing the climate therapy. During this study the UV dose to each patient will be monitored by personal dosimeters worn by the patients. Furthermore the patients' skin spectra acquired by the means of optical spectroscopy will be obtained daily. Both psoriatic skin a unaffected skin will be observed. These data will be used to assess the skin changes which take place during the psoriasis treatment. This project is focused on developing an automatic algorithm for handling bulk spectrometric measurements data and to propose ways of numerically evaluating the skin spectra. These numerical values will be later used to compare the daily patients' spectra and monitor progress of the treatment. An inverse model based on a lookup table and successive iteration was proposed in this project. The model matches the diffuse skin reflectance spectra modeled with a diffuse skin model with the measured patients skin spectra. The measured skin spectra are then defined by the diffuse skin model input parameters which were found by the inverse model. These parameters are oxygenation, blood volume and melanin absorption coefficient. Additionally four indexes were proposed to supplement the parameters found by the inverse model, namely the erythema index, melanin index, hemoglobin index and oxygenation index. Measurements of several skin spectra including psoriatic plaques spectra were carried out and used to test the inverse fitting model performance. The proposed model proved to match the measured spectra in an acceptable form employable for distinguishing between different measured spectra. The highest deviation is at the ends of the spectra due to the use of a constant value of scattering coefficient and additional parameters not directly relevant to sun exposure, hence not considered by the model. The proposed parameters together with the indexes proved to be a viable means of evaluating the healing in the psoriatic plaques as well as determining the changes caused by the sun in normal skin.


The increasing precision of many experiments in elementary particle physics leads to continuing interest in perturbative higher order calculations in the electroweak Standard Model or extensions of it. Such calculations are of increasing complexity because more loops and/or more legs are considered. Correspondingly eecient computational methods are mandatory for many calculations. One problem which aaects the feasibility of higher order calculations is the problem with 5 in dimensional regularization. Since the subject thirty years after its invention is still controversial I advocate here some ideas which seem not to be common knowledge but might shed some new light on the problem. I present arguments in favor of utilizing an anticommuting 5 and a simple 4{dimensional treatment of the hard anomalies.


Background: Human skin is subjected to many environmental factors that cause its premature aging, such as sun light radiation and pollution. The skin aging involves a loss of firmness and elasticity, as well as the decrease in the rate of cell renewal. The cosmetic industry includes ingredients that proclaim to combat these damages on the skin. In this report, pomegranate seed oil has been tested as a natural ingredient to be included in cosmetics for its potential ability to counteract the process of skin aging. The study was performed on medaka fish embryos because of the advantages that this animal model offers and its extended use as a model of human biology. To evaluate the role of pomegranate seed oil, we analysed the effect on the expression of three genes that encode for key proteins involved in maintaining firmness, Col1 , elasticity, Eln , and cell renewal, Tert . Results: Our results showed that, after treatment of these embryos with 50% pomegranate seed oil the expression of Col1 was increased, but not that of Eln or Tert . On the other hand, treatment with 100% pomegranate seed oil did not affect Col1 expression but activated Eln and Tert expression. Conclusions: These results suggest that the use of pomegranate seed oil as a cosmetic ingredient may counteract the effects of skin aging.


Research is an important part of professional education, development and improvement, whose results are observed in the socioeconomic development of a country. This is evidenced in the investment of resources made by developed countries to carry out this activity and the increase of their knowledge production. However, this situation is not the same in Latin America. Although the current legal framework recognizes the importance of research, its implementation process is still emerging. This encourages higher education centers to look for strategies to improve students' research skills during undergraduate and postgraduate studies. This study is aimed at making a diagnosis of the research awareness of the entrants to a private university in Lima as a starting point for the implementation of a future formative research program. Data were obtained from a 22 item Likert-type questionnaire with scores based on a 5-point scale applied to a sample of 193 selected students. Among the main findings, we identified a difference between the high interest in research and the low level of knowledge about its practice. Subtler results could be obtained by observing generational aspects (greater interest is expressed among younger ones) and the familiarity of Social Sciences and Humanities students with tools related to scientific writing.


Object classification and detection aim at recognizing and localizing objects in real-world images. They are fundamental computer vision problems and a prerequisite for full scene understanding. Their difficulty lies in the large number of possible object positions and the appearance variations of object classes. This thesis improves upon several classical machine learning algorithms, enabling large computational gains in high dimensional feature space. A common trend in machine learning and computer vision research is to go large scale. In particular, the advent of huge datasets mined from the Internet, and the combination of multiple feature sources have considerably broadened the applications of computer vision. Tasks which were thought impossible a few years ago, such as human action recognition or pose estimation, automatic outdoor navigation, etc., now seem within reach. This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first one deals with the efficient training of a classifier or detector based on a large number of feature extractors, outside the control of the learning algorithm, and therefore of unknown suitability to the task at hand. More precisely, this part presents two kinds of strategies to accelerate the training of Boosting algorithms in such a context: (a) a method to better deal with the increasingly common case where features come from multiple sources (e.g. color, shape, texture, etc., in the case of images) and therefore can be partitioned into meaningful subsets; (b) new algorithms which balance at every Boosting iteration the number of weak learners and the number of training examples to look at in order to maximize the expected loss reduction. Experiments in image classification and object recognition on four standard computer vision datasets show that the adaptive techniques we propose outperform both basic sampling and state-of-the-art bandit methods. The second part deals with linear object detectors, currently the most popular class of detection systems, encompassing template matching, deformable part models, poselets, convolutional neural networks (which internally use linear filters), etc. The main bottleneck of many of those systems is the computational cost of the convolutions between the multiple rescalings of the image to process and the linear filters. We make use of properties of the Fourier transform and clever implementation strategies to obtain a speedup factor proportional to the filter size, both while training and at test time. We also introduce a few modifications to the original Deformable Part Model (DPM) of Felzenszwalb et al. improving its detection accuracy. The gains in performance are demonstrated on the well-known Pascal VOC benchmark, where an increase by one order of magnitude in the speed of said convolutions, and an average improvement of 15% in the accuracy of the detector are established.


The last taxonomic monographs of micromolluscs (size less than 5 mm) of worldwide scope date back to the turn of the 19th/20th century, prior to the invention of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). In the present study, experiences from the preparation of a monograph on worldwide Scissurellidae s.l., a gastropod taxon comprising minute members plus an overview of this taxon, are provided. The literature is mercifully brief with some 650 references tracked, equal to approximately 4.6 references per species. Relying on secondary resources has proven to be problematic, and all primary taxonomic sources have to be consulted. The internet has made some searches easier, but some invalid names have surfaced. Generic concepts have often not been evaluated phylogenetically, and family-level micromollusc taxa may well be para- or even polyphyletic, which needs to be evaluated early on. Although underdetermined data matrices from shell morphology are problematic, they do provide some information on overall patterns of character evolution. The usual practice of only examining a single specimen by SEM is fraught with problems as it does not permit the identifi cation of intraspecifi c and ontogenetic variability. Old type material should be examined now that environmental and variable pressure SEMs are available. As micromolluscs are most susceptible to adverse environmental and storage conditions, upgrade of storage of micromolluscan types should be given highest priority. At least 89 species (conservative estimate) remain to be described. The Atlantic is less diverse in both species as well as genera. Tropical and temperate waters hold approximately the same number of species, while the polar oceans have a much lower diversity. The geographic coverage of available material is primarily driven by contemporary sampling initiatives, and no sampling bias due to the longer history of collecting in European can be detected. Sampling in general and available material for Scissurellidae declines with depth; only ten lots are known from greater than 3,000 m. Scissurellidae are proportionally less frequent in shallow waters, and are overrepresented on the upper slope (300–1,000 m). Labor-intensive procedures are mainly sorting of micromollusc samples, and digital processing (cut-out) of SEM images.


In the diploma work the system for rapid development of web applications is presented and compared to the standard development of web applications. It consists of two parts.

In the first part Django is described. This is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development of web applications. Basic structure and function of this framework are investigated. The so called Model-View-Controler (MVC) architecture used by Django is also described. Only basic and not advanced features of Django are presented here. The presentation of this framework is important due to easier understanding of web application rapid progress through MVC framework. Django was chosen for its wide range, good documentation and our knowledge of Python programming language.

In the second part the development of web applications with MVC framework, including Django, is compared with the standard programming. The basic and main aim of using frameworks is to intensify their quality and development speed through the usage of built-in tools and methodologies which are based on the existent language.

There are many built-in functions and tools already integrated into the frameworks, which make work easier for programmers. These are for instance authentication , authorization and registration of users, administration of web application, safety and users' rights, web application safety, work with web forms, data work and data validation. There are many MVC frameworks in the market. However, the aim of this diploma is not to compare different MVC frameworks to one another, but to present the advantages and disadvantages of using them.


Point-of-use water treatment, especially chlorination, is an effective intervention to reduce diarrhoea, a leading cause of death for children under five. Yet success in chlorination uptake has been limited. One obstacle is objection to treated water's taste/odour. Protective chlorine residuals that are not offensive to users require accurate dosing - a challenge in practice. Further, taste sensitivity may be different for populations never exposed to chlorinated water. Here, household chlorination trials in Bangladesh similarly revealed dissatisfaction with treated water due to taste and odour, although attempts to quantify chlorine sensitivity disputed the dissatisfaction at lower residuals. A granular activated carbon (GAC) filter fitted to the spigot of a covered tank removed the remaining chlorine residual prior to drinking and increased user satisfaction. Such a filter removes taste as a barrier and allows over-dosing contaminated water to ensure disinfection, with implications for areas with high s...


In this paper, we analyze data from a new survey of employers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area that includes detailed information regarding employer sentiments about ex-offenders, actual hiring behavior with respect to ex-offenders, and the methods used to screen the criminal histories of applicants. A more nuanced portrait of how criminal histories affect employer hiring decisions emerges from these data. Our analysis reveals that, while most employers would probably not hire an ex-offender, a sizable number would consider mitigating factors, such as the type of offense committed and when it occurred. In addition, we find that the use of criminal history checks has increased considerably over the past decade – especially after September 11, 2001 – and that many employers use private internet services to perform such checks. About half of these employers do so because they believe they are legally required to. We also investigate the firm and job characteristics that correlate with the use of criminal background checks and the likelihood of hiring ex-offenders. Our results suggest that providing accurate information to employers about offenders' histories and recent activities could potentially raise the demand for their labor, while attempts to review the legal barriers states have imposed on the hiring of offenders might help as well.


Financial sustainability is the ability of organizations to develop a diverse resource base. In Kenya, the number of NGOs has been increasing yearly; most of them depend on foreign donations. Therefore, the study sought to establish the relationship between donor funding and financial sustainability of non-governmental organizations in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Based on the study, this paper explores the influence of sources of funding on the financial sustainability of NGOs. Correlation research design was used as the principal research methodology for the study. The target population was 146 NGOs that were actively engaged in development projects in Uasin Gishu County. The respondents were NGO management and volunteers. Stratified sampling technique was used to identify nongovernmental organizations to participate in the study. A sample size of 60 respondents was selected using Nassiuma's 2000 model. Data collected was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Test re-test was done to establish the reliability of instruments results; 95% level of significance was used to test the hypothesis. The findings of the study showed that there was a positive correlation between donor funding and financial sustainability of the NGO's in Uasin Gishu County. Improved financial sustainability could be achieved as a result of diversifying sources of funds, retaining qualified staff and improving governance practices and organizational capacity. Therefore, it was recommended that NGOs should limit overdependence on donor funds and indeed focus on establishing income generating activities and venture into multiple sources of funds for their projects; this would improve their financial sustainability.


From the Publisher:
"More now than ever, business has a responsibility to understand the trade-offs, costs, benefits and risks involved in choosing any particular type of information security technology. That necessary due diligence begins in Chapter 1 of this book."
—Spence Abraham, United States Senate

Your e-commerce site is only as successful as it is secure Customer confidence is a prerequisite for successful e-commerce, and security is the underpinning of that confidence. To make your e-commerce deployment safe and functional, you need to know not merely the latest security technologies, but also the most current legal strategies. This revised best seller combines the advice of seasoned experts from both the technical and legal fields to help you create a winning business strategy.

Traditional business users will learn how e-commerce transactions differ from paper-based commerce, and how to minimize the risks while maximizing the benefits. Technical users will appreciate the extensive coverage of the latest security technologies and how they are applied in the business environment.

Internet and security topics:

Digital signatures for secure transactions
Public-key infrastructure and certification policies
Firewalls, virtual private networks, Web and e-mail security

Legal and business topics:

Legal principles and practices to achieve enforceability
Regulations and guidelines in the U.S. and internationally
Non-repudiation and the role of trusted third-parties

Newcomers will appreciate the clear explanations of theorigins and development of secure e-commerce. More experienced developers can move straight to the detailed technical material. Anyone who is involved in e-commerce design, management, or operation needs Secure Electronic Commerce.


Although pain is indispensable for survival, chronic pain places a heavy burden on humans. As the efficacy of opioid treatment is limited, the development of alternative methods of pain relief without medication is desirable. Recently, we have developed a novel method of physical analgesia using an adhesive "pyramidal thorn patch." When we apply about 3 trials of these patches on the skin of a pain region, the pain region moves toward the spinal cord like a "cutaneous rabbit," and finally, the pain vanishes. In the present review, we propose a molecular mechanism for this analgesic method or pain relief following application of the pyramidal thorn patch where firstly the mechanoreceptors and their related nerves under the skin are activated in response to touch. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels serve as mechanosensitive channels within these mechanoreceptors. We further propose that activation of the nerves connected with the mechanoreceptors releases oxytocin, which has an antinociceptive function and activates TRP channels to hyperpolarize the pain signal nerves. We believe that our system will pave the way for alternative pain treatment.


Introduction In 1987, the Bruntland Commission published its report, Our Common Future, in an effort to link the issues of economic development and environmental stability. In doing so, this report provided the oft-cited definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (United Nations General Assembly, 1987, p. 43). Albeit somewhat vague, this concept of sustainable development aims to maintain economic advancement and progress while protecting the long-term value of the environment; it "provides a framework for the integration of environment policies and development strategies" (United Nations General Assembly, 1987). However, long before the late 20 century, scholars argued that there need not be a trade-off between environmental sustainability and economic development.


Deposited silicon and, in particular, hydrogenated amorphous silicon forms an attractive alternative platform for realizing compact photonic integrated circuits. In this paper we report on trimming (toward lower wavelengths) and tuning (toward higher wavelengths) of photonic devices through a suitable thermal treatment. The former is achieved by a material density change, the latter through the thermo-optic effect. By using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, a change in the hydrogen content is identified as the source of the density change. A total wavelength tuning range of 24.6 nm is achievable, which can be used for compensating fabrication imperfections.


The purpose of this thesis is to identify the many characters found in the two autobiographical novels written by Harry Kemp. The novels, Tramping on Life (1922) and More Miles (1926), contain intimate recollections of the poet's life from 1883 until approximately 1915, and scores of anecdotes about famous people from many walks of life: artists, journalists, anarchists, professors, authors, editors, and others. Unfortunately for the biographer-historian, Kemp has given pseudonyms to practically all of the people about whom he writes. This thesis establishes the identity of 136 personages' "known and unknown, famous and infamous" found in the two novels. Among those identified are: David Belasco, Floyd Dell, Max Eastman, Emma Goldman, Elbert Hubbard, Sinclair Lewis, Bernarr Macfadden, Dwight L. Moody, John Reed, Upton Sinclair, William Allen White, and William Butler Yeats. The thesis is presented in the form of two indexes. The first indexes the false names and establishes the true identity of each. The second is a cross-index of the real names to the pseudonyms. In addition, a biography of Harry Kemp and some notes of historical background are provided.


Communicating agricultural information to farmers is critical in improving productivity. Agriculture is an important contributor to the Kenyan economy earning the government an estimated 45% of its revenue. Farmers face a number of challenges related to productivity. In order to ensure an increase in agricultural productivity, information must be communicated to farmers in a way that is effective and affordable. Although Shamba Shape Up a media programme presents a variety of agricultural topics, little is known about its effectiveness. The aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of Shamba Shape Up Programme in disseminating agricultural information to farmers. The study was guided by the Social Cognitive theory. The theory argues that people learn through observation by modeling or copying the behaviors they see. The study collected information from the producer and presenters of SSU programme as well as farmers purposively sampled in Uasin Gishu County Kenya. The interview method was used to collect the data which was analyzed and presented using texts. The study makes on agricultural productivity which is beneficial to farmers and television producers in packaging content relevant to their audiences.


The Mbam languages of Cameroon have a unique position in Bantu
linguistics. Being in between "narrow" Bantu and "wide" Bantu, they
sometimes pattern with the one and sometimes with the other, and as such
 are a rich motherlode for comparative and historical research. The Mbam
 languages have another point of interest as well. They have been
previously analysed as standard 7 vowel languages (/i,e,ɛ,a,ɔ,o,u/) with
 Advanced Tongue Root (ATR) harmony.

While vowel harmony in African languages has received a lot of attention
 and study, and the vowel-harmony systems of not a few of the Mbam
languages have been studied, most of the previous studies have been on
individual languages. This study seeks to analyse and compare the vowel
systems of ten Mbam languages as a group: both their vowel inventories
and their vowel-harmony systems. Various issues in vowel harmony, such
as neutral vowels, directionality in and domains of vowel harmony are
discussed. This study also proposes a phonological explanation for the
functioning of the complex vowel-harmony systems found in the Mbam
languages.

Finally this study considers the internal classification of the Mbam
languages and their position in the wider linguistic context of the
Bantu and Bantoid languages.


The processing of slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) can be conducted by biologis either through aerobik and also anaerobik, nowadays have been developed by a new method for processing of PSW that is technique elektrokoagulasi. Electrocoagulation can become one of the solution of this problem. Electrocoagulation is process of coagulation or cloting electrically through process of electrolyse to lessen or degrade ion of underwater particle and metal. The purpose of this research is Learn influence of time parameter, summed up electrode to performance of system of elektrokoagulasi and also determine condition of optimum operation for slaughterhouse wastewater processing. The processing of PSW is processed in the batch, that is waste placed in electrolyse cell later;then run during certain time then analysed a total rate of suspended solid, total disolved solid, pH and turbidity. Variable to be perceived is time operate for maximum and sum up used electrode. From the result of researchment we can get the rate of TSS and TDS which progressively descend and ever greater efisisensi removal indication that water of the waste own quality which good progressively. Where by using four electrode will show short operation time to reach maximum efficiency removal, from at using the two electrode. With four electrode require time operate is 70 minute and removal TS and TDS maximum 99%, while two electrode require time operate is 90 minute with removal TSS And TDS maximum 98 %.
 Keyword : Electrocoagulation, efficiency removal


The National Agroforestry Policy, which deals with the practice of integrating trees, crops and livestock on the same plot of land, was launched February 10, the first day of the World Congress on Agroforestry, held in Delhi. The policy, deals with problems agroforestry sector is facing at present, including adverse policies, weak markets and a dearth of institutional finance. Agroforestry has the potential to achieve sustainability in agriculture while optimising its productivity and mitigating climate change impact.


There is a growing awareness that Vitamin D sufficiency is required for optimal health during all stages of life. Inadequate Vitamin D status is increasingly recognized as common problem. To assess the serum level of 25 Hydroxyvitamin D 250 HD among healthy post-menopausal Qatari women living in Doha a crosssection randomized study of 205 post-menopausal Qatari women was conducted between 1 September 2008 and 31 April 2009 at four Primary Health Care Centers. Using interviews, a questionnaire, and a 5 ml blood sample, personal data was collected plus likely risk factors for Vitamin D insufficiency. More than onethird of the women (38.0%) had severe Vitamin D deficiency, almost half (47.3%) had mild Vitamin D deficiency, only 14.6% had a normal Vitamin D level. Risk factors were inadequate exposure to the sun, the use of sun screen, complete covering of the body with clothing, low dietary Vitamin D intake and the use of Vitamin D supplements. The study indicated clearly that hypovitaminosis D is common in post-menopausal Qatari women and that efforts are required to encourage adequate exposure to sunlight and an increased intake of fortified Vitamin D to maintain normal levels.


The guarantee of judicial independence is undoubtedly one of the most important institutional design features of international courts and tribunals. An independence deficit can adversely impact a court's authority, create a crisis of legitimacy, and undermine the very effectiveness of an international court or tribunal. It can hardly be denied that for an international court to be considered legitimate, a basic degree of independence is a must. An independent judiciary is a precondition to the fair and just resolution of legal disputes. In the context of interstate dispute settlement where the jurisdiction of courts is based on the principle of consent, in the absence of a basic degree of judicial independence, states may not be willing to submit to the jurisdiction of international courts. Comparing and contrasting the International Court of Justice and the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organisation, I assess whether those international judicial mechanisms possess the basic degree of independence required for a court to be able to maintain its credibility so that it can continue to perform its core function of adjudicating interstate disputes. With both those interstate adjudicative bodies constituting the two leading international courts in terms of participation and the sheer number of cases decided, much may be learned from comparing them. I argue there is a case for bolstering the independence of the ICJ; and without immediate reforms to the Appellate Body's institutional design, its recent demise may become permanent. I conclude that if a basic degree of judicial independence cannot be guaranteed, it is preferable to let a court vanish for a while than to maintain a significantly deficient one.


Steam jet condensation through sonic nozzle in quiescent subcooled water pool is important for the safety of nuclear reactor system. In this study, the dynamic process of stable condensation jet steam plume is obtained by numerical simulation method. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. The flow field results indicate that two typical fluctuation regimes exist in the dynamic process of steam plume. Simultaneous analysis of pressure and flow field indicates that two fluctuation regimes produce different pressure pulses. When the detachment phenomenon occurs during the fluctuation of the steam plume, a pressure pulse which value is clearly greater than 220 kPa is generated. When the plume sharply contracts without obvious detachment phenomenon during the fluctuation process, a pressure pulse which value is almost lower than 120 kPa is generated.


The Society for General Microbiology (SGM) Spring Conference covers a range of topics of microbiology and comprises mixed sessions including symposia, workshops, debates, offered papers and invited presentations from international experts. This year the SGM Conference was held 11–14 April 2011 at the Harrogate Conference Centre in Harrogate, Yorkshire (UK). The main aim of the meeting is generally to provide a variety of programs that reflect current knowledge on different topics and introduce the recent advances in general and applied microbiology. Aspects of microbial recognition and interaction with the host immune response were addressed during a session of the meeting, where leaders in the field highlighted how the immune system is designed to recognize and destroy microorganisms by detecting microbial signature molecules (pathogen-associated molecular patterns) via interaction with specific receptors. This article focuses on the current research on pathogen recognition by the host through the interaction with surface structures present on microorganisms, with particular interest on the family of lectins, an emerging area in the understanding of infectious diseases. Discovering the mechanisms used by bacteria to survive in the host environment and at the same time elucidating the processes by which the immune system interacts with pathogens is vital for the development of vaccines and the design of new therapies.


Personal Health Records (PHRs), electronic records of health-related information of an individual created and managed by the individual, represent an exciting opportunity for designers and the patients they serve. Tools that collect, analyze, and share personal health data may prove vital to the chronically ill, a population whose health is not managed by doctors but by patients themselves. However, existing PHRs mainly serve as repositories of static information. Less explored is the idea of a data-driven PHR, centered within an online patient community, enabling chronically ill patients to connect and share relevant knowledge. This thesis project explores design opportunities for next-generation personal health records. The result is IBConnect, a digital personal health record platform for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. By navigating data within a personal health record as a means to explore online community knowledge, patients using IBConnect can manage their individualized illness experience by discovering actionable, relevant and contextualized knowledge. In turn, patients are encouraged to track and contribute more to the IBConnect community enabling access to new knowledge, a resource highly valued by patients.


They saw Sam Thornhill and Add Nimmo and spent Saturday night at Sam's. He dropped Mary off at home Sunday and went back to meet Mrs. Susan Thornhill. Jim got married and John lives in Knoxville with his wife and six kids and owns a furniture store. He speculates that Tom and Alice Thornhill will get married. Mary and Dinky visited Abe Franklin. Abe is farming and carpentering. They went to visit their Uncle John, who is doing well. John is running a mill for $75 a month. They visited Sally who wants to see Henry and visit Texas. John and Sally's daughter played some music. They spent an hour with Billy's widow, Kate Moore. Uncle Sam Wallace is not doing well and in his will he already promised a few things to some people, but the rest would go amongst his relations. He is sorry to hear of all the drought damage for the cotton farmers. He prays for rain for Henry's crops.


Systemic hypertension is a common disease in the population and is one of the most important risk factors whose prevalence reaches 28% in U.S.A, 44% in Europe, so that in 2025, it is estimated that hypertensive persons will reach 1.56 billion worldwide. In our country, the overall prevalence was 44.92%, mainly higher in males (50.17%) than females (41.11%). We conducted an assessment of social and psychological factors in association with medical and biological routine quantification in a group of 80 hypertensives newly diagnosed, compared with a control group. Questionnaires were for studying the marital status, education level, quantifying the number of working hours per day, the level of physical training and professional socio-familial stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, after which patients were tested to assess the psychometric anxiety and depression using the Hamilton Rating Scale for depression and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. The results may support an increased risk of hypertension in individuals who are undergoing to social and family stress, working over 10 hours/day and who record mild or moderate levels of anxiety and depression at evaluation tests. These data support the implementation of complex programs to decrease the risk of hypertension by working professionals in the medical, social and psychological fields of expertise.


Given the sensitivity of the potential WSN applications and because of resource limitations, key management emerges as a challenging issue for WSNs. One of the main concerns when designing a key management scheme is the network scalability. Indeed, the protocol should support a large number of nodes to enable a large scale deployment of the network. In this paper, we propose a new scalable key management scheme for WSNs which provides good secure connectivity coverage. For this purpose, we make use of the unital design theory. We show that the basic mapping from unitals to key pre-distribution allows us to achieve high network scalability. Nonetheless, this naive mapping does not guarantee a high key sharing probability. Therefore, we propose an enhanced unital-based key pre-distribution scheme providing high network scalability and good key sharing probability approximately lower bounded by 1− e 0.632. We conduct approximate analysis and simulations and compare our solution to those of existing methods for different criteria such as storage overhead, network scalability, network connectivity, average secure path length and network resiliency. Our results show that the proposed approach enhances the network scalability while providing high secure connectivity coverage and overall improved performance. Moreover, for an equal network size, our solution reduces significantly the storage overhead compared to those of existing solutions.


APE1/Ref-1, the mammalian ortholog of E. coli Xth, and a multifunctional protein possessing both DNA repair and transcriptional regulatory activities, has dual role in controlling cellular response to oxidative stress. It is rate-limiting in repair of oxidative DNA damage including strand breaks and also has co-transcriptional activity by modulating genes expression directly regulated by Egr-1 and p53 transcription factors. PTEN, a phosphoinositide phosphatase, acts as an 'off' switch in the PI-3 kinase/Akt signalling pathway and regulates cell growth and survival. It is shown here that transient alteration in the APE1 level in HeLa cells modulates PTEN expression and that acetylatable APE1 is required for the activation of the PTEN gene. Acetylation of APE1 enhances its binding to distinct trans-acting complexes involved in activation or repression. The acetylated protein is deacetylated in vivo by histone deacetylases. It was found that exposure of HeLa cells to H2O2 and to histone deacetylase inhibitors increases acetylation of APE1 and induction of PTEN. The absence of such induction in APE1-downregulated HeLa cells confirmed APE1's role in regulating inducible PTEN expression. That APE1-dependent PTEN expression is mediated by Egr-1 was supported by experiments with cells ectopically expressing Egr-1. Thus, the data open new perspectives in the comprehension of the many functions exerted by APE1 in controlling cell response to oxidative stress.


After a few initial chapters on the basics of Mathematica, the logic of the book is controlled by group theory. It continues to teach Mathematica by example as the need arises, so an important use is always at hand for any new operator that is taught. To many science students, this is a greatly preferred way of learning a new computer language. The main part of the book follows a strictly logical development that should be acceptable to the most rigorous minded people, while maintaining an engaging style in the spirit of Numerical Recipes by Press, Flannery, Teukolsky, and Vetterling. The essence of this style is to be just a little opinionated about good and bad ways to calculate things, but to give such advice without provoking offense, and always on an objective basis. After this comes the development of classes and irreducible representations, culminating in a complete proof that for every group the number of classes is equal to the number of representations, so that all character tables must be square. The proof is motivated throughout by numerical constructions that rouse curiosity, and draw the reader into a rediscovery of Schurs Lemmas, which thereby become truly interesting results, rather than the mysterious, dry statements often presented. This section culminates in a method for calculating the entire character table of a group. This is especially important for permutation groups that describe flexible molecules, for which are there very few published character tables. Once the character tables are established, the real meat of physical applications can begin. The author emphasizes that every application has the same structure: (1) The construction of a reducible representation on the basis of some physical property, (2) its separation into irreducible components, and (3) the interpretation in terms of the "symmetry species" so produced. Because Mathematica and the xyz representations are close at hand, the separation into irreducible components can be done quickly. The CD-ROM included with the book presents the entire content of the book plus interactive examples using notebooks (Version 5.2) for problem solving and learning.


The shortage of human resources in developing countries has reached crisis point, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. One cause is increasing rates of migration by qualified doctors and nurses to higher-income countries. So what is driving this growing demand for health staff, and what are
health labour market conditions like in the destination countries?


BACKGROUND
Intestinal failure (IF) patients require parenteral nutrition (PN) to avoid malnutrition and death. However, they face complications of recurrent sepsis and liver failure. By the time liver failure is discovered, it is often too late for intervention and prognosis on the waiting list is grim. The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) has traditionally been used to predict mortality in patients with liver failure but has never been analyzed in IF patients who are at risk for liver complications. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute inflammatory marker that has been shown to reflect disease progression in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a disease that in many ways resembles PN-associated liver disease. MELD and CRP are promising clinical markers of disease progression in IF patients on PN.

METHODS
The authors performed a retrospective, case-control study to compare levels of MELD and CRP within the entire population of 133 adult patients referred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for IF from 1999 to 2006.

RESULTS
Elevated MELD score is strongly predictive of increased mortality over the subsequent 6 months. Elevated CRP is strongly predictive over a smaller 3-month window. One-year mortality was significantly greater in patients who have either elevated MELD scores or serum CRP levels.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the authors evaluated for the first time use of MELD and serum CRP as predictive markers of mortality in IF patients. Both seem to be promising clinical tools to identify which patients are at highest risk for complication.


A recurring assumption across the social sciences is that nonmarket economic practices are disappearing and being replaced by commodified practices where goods and services are produced and delivered for monetized exchange by capitalist firms for profitmotivated purposes. In this paper, this commodification thesis is evaluated critically. Analyzing the volume of commodified and noncommodified work in the advanced economies, the commodified sphere is revealed to be far from hegemonic and receding rather than penetrating deeper during the last four decades. This is here explained in terms of both the prevalence of resistance cultures to market-ism and the contradictions inherent in the structural shift towards commodification. The outcome is a call to transcend the view of the commodified realm as victorious, all-powerful and hegemonic, and for greater recognition to be given to the feasibility of alternative futures beyond a commodified world.


Abstract. The understanding of the continental carbon budget is essential to predict future climate change. In order to quantify CO2 and CH4 fluxes at the regional scale, a measurement system was installed at the former radio tower in Beromunster as part of the Swiss greenhouse gas monitoring network (CarboCount CH). We have been measuring the mixing ratios of CO2, CH4 and CO on this tower with sample inlets at 12.5, 44.6, 71.5, 131.6 and 212.5 m above ground level using a cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS) analyzer. The first 2-year (December 2012–December 2014) continuous atmospheric record was analyzed for seasonal and diurnal variations and inter-species correlations. In addition, storage fluxes were calculated from the hourly profiles along the tower. The atmospheric growth rates from 2013 to 2014 determined from this 2-year data set were 1.78 ppm yr−1, 9.66 ppb yr−1 and −1.27 ppb yr−1 for CO2, CH4 and CO, respectively. After detrending, clear seasonal cycles were detected for CO2 and CO, whereas CH4 showed a stable baseline suggesting a net balance between sources and sinks over the course of the year. CO and CO2 were strongly correlated (r2 > 0.75) in winter (DJF), but almost uncorrelated in summer. In winter, anthropogenic emissions dominate the biospheric CO2 fluxes and the variations in mixing ratios are large due to reduced vertical mixing. The diurnal variations of all species showed distinct cycles in spring and summer, with the lowest sampling level showing the most pronounced diurnal amplitudes. The storage flux estimates exhibited reasonable diurnal shapes for CO2, but underestimated the strength of the surface sinks during daytime. This seems plausible, keeping in mind that we were only able to calculate the storage fluxes along the profile of the tower but not the flux into or out of this profile, since no Eddy covariance flux measurements were taken at the top of the tower.


A statistical assessment of wave, tide, and river power was carried out using a database of 721 Australian clastic coastal depositional environments to test whether their geomorphology could be predicted from numerical values. The geomorphic classification of each environment (wave- and tide-dominated deltas, wave- and tide-dominated estuaries, lagoons, strand plains, and tidal flats) was established independently from remotely sensed imagery. To our knowledge, such a systematic numerical analysis has not been previously attempted for any region on earth. The results of our analysis indicate that a relationship exists between the ratio of annual mean wave power to mean tidal power and the geomorphic development of clastic coastal depositional environments. Deltas and estuaries are associated with statistically significant differences in mean wave and tidal power. Statistically significant distinctions between populations of deltas, estuaries, strand plains, and tidal flats are also associated with river discharge and river flow rate (defined as discharge divided by open water area). Our results support the hypotheses of previous workers that wave, tide, and river power exert the principal control over the gross geomorphology and facies distribution patterns in clastic coastal depositional environments. Mean values and confidence limits of wave power, tide power, and river flow for the coastal depositional environments targeted in this study may provide a basis for the comparison of modern environments as well as constraints for paleo-reconstructions.


We develop a model of health investments and consumption over the life cycle where health affects longevity, provides flow utility, and retirement is endogenous. We develop a rich, numerical life-cycle model to study the complex interrelationship between health and wealth and the age of retirement. The decision to retire depends on a number of factors including earnings and health shocks, demographic characteristics, preferences, pensions, and social security. We incorporate these features in a computational model of optimal wealth and retirement decisions, solving the model household-by-household using data from the HRS. We use the model to study how workers would respond to an increase in the early eligibility age of retirement (EEA), and to what extent will the bad economy alter retirement plans. We find that increasing the EEA results in sizeable responses to the age of retirement but does not affect health outcomes very much. A 20 percent reduction in wealth induces households to delay retirement by one year, on average, with poor households being relatively unaffected.


Combining the benefits of 3D ICs and Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) schemes provides a significant performance gain in Chip Multiprocessors (CMPs) architectures. As multicast communication is commonly used in cache coherence protocols for CMPs and in various parallel applications, the performance of these systems can be significantly improved if multicast operations are supported at the hardware level. In this paper, we present several partitioning methods for the path-based multicast approach in 3D mesh-based NoCs, each with different levels of efficiency. In addition, we develop novel analytical models for unicast and multicast traffic to explore the efficiency of each approach. In order to distribute the unicast and multicast traffic more efficiently over the network, we propose the Minimal and Adaptive Routing (MAR) algorithm for the presented partitioning methods. The analytical and experimental results show that an advantageous method named Recursive Partitioning (RP) outperforms the other approaches. RP recursively partitions the network until all partitions contain a comparable number of switches and thus the multicast traffic is equally distributed among several subsets and the network latency is considerably decreased. The simulation results reveal that the RP method can achieve performance improvement across all workloads while performance can be further improved by utilizing the MAR algorithm. Nineteen percent average and 42 percent maximum latency reduction are obtained on SPLASH-2 and PARSEC benchmarks running on a 64-core CMP.


Local government occupies a unique place in the South African system of government. This is circumscribed by the Constitution which contains directives. enjoining municipalities inter alia to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities and to promote social and economic development (section 152) as well as to undertake developmentally-oriented planning (section 153). In addition local government has a specific role to play regarding access to adequate housing and, in that context, evictions. In terms of sections 25 and 26 of the Constitution as well as legislation enacted in terms of these provisions new and different procedures have been put in place to demarcate the role of municipalities in evictions. The interpretation, by the courts, of these legislative provisions, has created a framework within which municipalities must react to and deal with evictions. In terms of that framework a number of duties and responsibilities are placed on municipalities, which include that they do the following: have policies, actions and programmes in place, draw up proper housing plans, be notified of evictions, mediate and engage with all stakeholders and provide temporary - and suitable alternative - accommodation of a specific standard, all of which must be consistent with principles of human dignity and be reasonable. Against this background this paper will interrogate the role of local government in evictions, concentrating on the constitutional directives for municipalities, the different eviction procedures and the duties and responsibilities of municipalities.


Political scientists have long been concerned about the tension between institutional fragmentation and policy coordination in the U.S. bureaucracy. The literature is rife with examples of agencies competing with each other or asserting their independence, while cooperation is relatively rare. This is of particular importance in policy areas such as biodiversity, where species, habitats, and ecosystems cross various agency jurisdictions.Bureaucratic Landscapes explores the reasons for the success and failure of interagency cooperation, focusing on several case studies of efforts to preserve biodiversity in California. The book examines why public officials tried to cooperate and the obstacles they faced, providing indirect evidence of policy impacts as well. Among other topics, it examines the role of courts in prompting agency action, the role of scientific knowledge in organizational learning, and the emergence of new institutions to resolve collective-action problems. Notable findings include the crucial role of environmental lawsuits in prompting agency action and the surprisingly active role of the Bureau of Land Management in resource preservation.


The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) has selected a 316L stainless steel schedule 40 pipe as a new dowel bar to be used as a bid alternative for its high performance Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavements. Although this dowel bar should provide sufficient shear transfer capacity and low concrete bearing stresses, there was a concern that lack of a solid core may not provide sufficient resistance of the cross-section to distortion under a heavy axle loading. In this study, long-term performance of the 316L stainless steel schedule 40 pipe was investigated by subjecting a doweled joint to accelerated repeated loads through the use of the Minnesota Accelerated Loading Facility (Minne-ALF-2). Assessment of the new dowel bar performance was performed based on comparison with the standard 1.5 inch diameter epoxy–coated round steel dowel. The following tasks were accomplished: redesign, assembly and calibration of new version of Minne-ALF, development of experimental design matrix, conduct of accelerated full-scale testing, and post-testing evaluation. The results from the Minne-ALF-2 tests illustrated that while the load transfer efficiency (LTE) for the stainless steel dowel tubes was lower than the LTE for the epoxy-coated dowels, the stainless steel tubes are capable of providing over 70% LTE in the long-term when installed in concrete pavement joints. The ability to withstand deformation and corrosion while providing sufficient long-term performance suggests that the stainless steel tube dowel is an attractive alternative to the solid epoxy-coated dowel for use in long-life pavements.


Advances in digital storage technology and the wide use of digital audio compression standards like MPEG have made possible the creation of large archives of audio material. In order to work efficiently with these large archives much more structure than what is currently available is needed. The creation of the necessary text indices is difficult to fully automate. However, significant amounts of user time can be saved by having the computer assist the user during the annotation process. In this paper, we describe a prototype audio browsing tool that was used to perform user experiments in semi-automatic audio segmentation annotation. In addition to the typical sound-editor functionality the system can automatically suggest time lines that the user can edit and annotate. We examine the effect that this automatically suggested segmentation has on the user decisions as well as timing information about segmentation and annotation. Finally we discuss thumbnailing and semantic labeling of annotated audio.


Brian J. Wentworth, MD Fellow Physician, PGY-5, UVA Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Charlottesville, VA Patients may receive an ileostomy as either destination therapy (such as in proctocolectomy) or as a temporary diversion prior to anastomosis. While the formation of an ileostomy is often quite beneficial for the patient, it can be complicated by dehydration, electrolyte losses, malnutrition, and undesirable stool consistency. To combat these issues, physicians and nutritionists alike employ a variety of measures. One of the more controversial strategies utilized is fiber supplementation with an intention to increase ileostomy effluent viscosity, slow transit time, and reduce water and micronutrient losses. Despite its commonality, there is surprisingly minimal literature on this topic. Nonetheless, the predicted physiologic benefits of fiber in patients with an ileostomy are not matched in both observational studies and randomized controlled clinical trials. Brian J. Wentworth


This thesis presents studies of the source processes of four shallow earthquakes and their relation to regional tectonics. In the first chapter, long-period teleseismic P and S waves from the Haicheng, China earthquake of February 4, 1975 are compared directly to time domain synthetic seismograms to infer source parameters. The P-wave focal mechanism indicates that faulting was dominantly left-lateral strike-slip along a northwest striking nodal plane (strike = 288°, dip = 78°N, rake = 342°). The strike of this nodal plane agrees with the trend of the aftershock distribution. Azimuthal variation of P-wave duration is attributed to fault rupture 22 km in a northwesterly direction, along strike of the aftershock zone. There is considerable discrepancy between the observed SH waves and synthetics computed using this model. These discrepancies are due to either structural complexities in the source region or change in fault mechanism as the rupture propagated along strike. Seismic moment, average dislocation and stress drop are computed to be 2.7 x 1026 dyne-cm, 2.5 meters and 48 bars, respectively. The remaining three chapters present a detailed examination of seismograms recorded by the 1976 Friuli, Italy earthquake (May 6, 1976, MS = 6.5) and two major aftershocks (both on September 15, 1976 at 03h 15m, MS = 6.0 and 09h 21m, MS = 5.9). Teleseismic long-period body waves and surface waves radiated by the mainshock and 09h 21m aftershock are studied in Chapter Two to determine source characteristics. Focal mechanisms along with geological evidence suggest that both events represent underthrusting of the Friuli Plain beneath the Southern Alps. The depths of both earthquakes, estimated by matching synthetic body wave seismograms to observations, are found to lie between 6 and 10 km. Synthetic seismogram calculations which include source directivity effects suggest that the fault length of the mainshock is approximately 16 to 24 km assuming a rupture velocity of 3.0 km/sec. Observations of 100 sec Rayleigh waves confirm the body wave focal mechanism, but suggest that the seismic moment of the mainshock is 5 x 1025 dyne-cm compared to 2.9 x 1025 dyne-cm estimated from body waves. The P-wave moment of the aftershock is 1 x 1025 dyne-cm. In Chapter Three, short-period records are modeled to obtain additional details of the source time history. Two point sources of radiation are required to adequately model the aftershock short-period records. For the 09h 21m aftershock, the model derived from short-period records also produces good fits to the long-period data. The SP model for the 03h 15m aftershock, on the other hand, predicts long-period synthetics which do not agree with the observations. In particular, the SP moment (0.37 x 1025 dyne-cm) is about 2-1/2 times smaller than the LP moment (1 x 1025 dyne-cm). Adding a long-period component to the SP model considerably improves LP waveform and moment agreement. In the case of the mainshock, a reasonable fit to the observed SP data is obtained using three point sources of radiation. However, LP synthetics computed using this model do not agree with the observations, and the SP moment (0.65 x 1025 dyne-cm) is a small fraction of the LP moment (3-5 x 1025 dyne-cm). Time function durations indicate that the individual events inferred from the SP records are radiated from patches of the fault having radii of 2 to 4 km and stress drops in the range 35 to 276 bars. In comparison, overall stress drops estimated from LP data are found to be 12 bars (mainshock) and 24 bars (09h 21m aftershock). Strong-motion accelerograms are used to put additional constraint on the source geometry of the 09h 21m aftershock. The 03h 15m and 09h 21m aftershocks are the culminating events of a series of large aftershocks which began on September 11, 1976. Cumulative seismic moment of the Friuli aftershock sequence was as large as the moment released by the mainshock. By comparison, aftershock moments of California earthquakes are typically 1 to 10 percent of the mainshock moment. The large size, location and focal mechanism of the aftershocks suggest that they represent failure of major stress concentrations remaining after the mainshock.


An expression for the chain length probability distribution p(l) of a one dimensional Ising chain was derived using the cluster variation method formalism, the p(l) being expressed through the pair cluster probabilities. It was shown numerically that the same expression also applies in the case of one dimensional chains formed along one of the next-nearest neighbor interactions included in the two dimensional ASYNNNI (Asymmetric Next-Nearest Neighbor Ising) model, widely used to describe the statistics of oxygen ordering in the basal CuOx planes of the YBa2Cu3O6+x type high-Tc superconducting materials. Equivalency between ASYNNNI and 1d Ising model is discussed.


Abstract. We investigate the formation and evolution of an ice-supersaturated region (ISSR) that was detected by means of an operational radiosonde sounding launched from the meteorological station of Lindenberg on 21 March 2000, 00:00 UTC. The supersaturated layer was situated below the local tropopause, between 320 and 408 hPa altitude. Our investigation uses satellite imagery from METEOSAT and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and analyses of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Mesoscale simulations reveal that the ISSR was formed by a temporary vertical uplift of upper tropospheric air parcels by 20 to 40 hPa in 1 to 2 h. This resulted in a significant local increase of the specific humidity by the moisture transport from below. The ascent was triggered by the superposition of two internal gravity waves, a mountain wave induced by flow past the Erzgebirge and Riesengebirge south of Lindenberg, and an inertial gravity wave excited by the anti-cyclonically curved jet stream over the Baltic Sea. The wave-induced ISSR was rather thick with a depth of about 2 km. The wave-induced upward motion causing the supersaturation also triggered the formation of a cirrus cloud. METEOSAT imagery shows that the cirrus cloud got optically thick within two hours. During this period another longer lasting thin but extended cirrus existed just beneath the tropopause. The wave-induced ISSR disappeared after about half a day in accordance with the decaying wave activity.


Information literacy is one of the latest disciplines to reap the rewards of 'cascading training', a technique championed by INASP for its sustainability and effectiveness. The beauty of this method is that lasting relationships are forged between people in different countries facing similar challenges. Such a support network can foster the growth of information literacy in developing countries for years to come. In addition, the expertise of the local professionals who attended the initial training is both exploited and extended, making the technique doubly powerful.


The capacity maximisation problem of the secondary user subject to an interference constraint in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based cognitive radio systems is studied in this paper. A novel constant interference strategy to allocate power to subcarriers is derived, where all selected subcarriers are subject to the same interference constraint. It means all subcarriers have the same interference power. This strategy ensures the original interference constraint satisfied. The capacity loss of the proposed methods compared with the optimal solution is also analysed. An upper bound of the capacity loss is derived. Its value can determine the potential benefit of the proposed methods even if the optimal solution is not obtained. Therefore an advanced strategy to select subcarriers to allocate power becomes important, which affects the performance of the proposed methods and the upper bound. By using a proposed indicator, two novel power allocation methods were presented with a lower complexity to select subcarriers for allocating power, which outperforms the existing methods. Performances of the proposed methods are very near that of the optimal solution.


This study empirically examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and subjective well-being (SWB) in India. SWB variables used were life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. A total of 183 participants in the age range 30-40 years from Pune, India, completed the personality and SWB measures. Backward stepwise regression analysis showed that the Big Five traits accounted for 17% of the variance in life satisfaction, 35% variance in positive affect and 28% variance in negative affect. Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. In line with the earlier research findings, neuroticism and extraversion were found to predict negative affect and positive affect, respectively. Neither openness to experience nor agreeableness contributed to SWB. The research emphasises the need to revisit the association between personality and SWB across different cultures, especially non-western cultures.


Lightning strikes from convective storms are a serious safety concern for public and businesses alike. Accurate assessment of local lightning risk is therefore crucial for various industries. However, it is usually not possible to obtain lightning climatologies with reasonable spatial detail, due to the scarcity of well distributed, long term observations. At this respect, meteorological models serve as a useful tool for creating lightning risk maps, provided that their output can be verified with available observations. In this study, a high resolution (3 km) lightning risk map has been constructed for Turkey, using output from Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). The model was forced by the ECMWF’s ERA-5 reanalysis data, and run for the period of January 2014 – December 2018 (5 years). Simulations were conducted on high-performance computers offered by Amazon Web Services. Lightning flash rates were estimated from WRF output using the parameterization scheme proposed by McCaul et al. (2009). Model-derived lightning rates have been calibrated and validated by observed lightning data for the determined region. The spatial pattern and average rate of lightning flashes over the validation region have been found to agree reasonably well with available observations. The high resolution lightning risk map produced in this study is the first one for Turkey that is based on numerical modeling, and it will serve as an objective guidance for location-based lightning risk assessment in the country.


Studies of indigenous peoples are a crucial part of genomic research, not only to define the extent of human diversity but to provide medical benefit to all people. There are more than 370 million indigenous people living in almost half the countries of the world. Exploding interest in indigenous genomics and global population structure has raised debate about issues of informed consent and community benefit. As was evident in March 2011 during the African and Southern African Society of Human Genetics Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the inclusion of indigenous people in future genomic research is paramount, but ethical guidelines must address local concerns. Scientific practices and values must be integrated with indigenous governance so that such genomic research can continue, with the benefits fully realized by all.


Formation of hard tissue following treatment of pulp exposures has been observed in both clinical and experimental studies. However it is not known if such tissue has the functions of primary dentin which are likely to be important in protecting the pulp from the oral environment. Objectives: To study the expression of two relatively specific markers for dentin; dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and type 1 collagen (Col I) in human teeth experimentally pulp capped either with Emdogain®Gel (Biora AB, Malmo, Sweden) - a derivative of enamel matrix (EMD) in a propylene glycol alginate vehicle, or with calcium hydroxide. Methods: Nine pairs of contra-lateral premolars scheduled for extraction on orthodontic grounds were experimentally pulp amputated and capped with EMDgel or calcium hydroxide. After 12 weeks the teeth were extracted, prepared for light microscopic examination and stained using affinity-purified rabbit anti-Col I and anti-DSP polyclonal antibodies. Results: In the EMDgel treated teeth, new tissue partly filled the space initially occupied by the gel and hard tissue was formed alongside exposed dentin surfaces and in patches in the adjacent pulp tissue. In the calcium hydroxide treated teeth, the new hard tissue was formed as a bridge. DSP staining was seen in the newly formed hard tissue and in the cells lining it in both groups but was more marked in the EMDgel treated teeth. Col I staining was seen in the newly formed hard tissue in both groups. Conclusion: The expression of DSP and Col I suggests that the new hard tissue formed after pulp capping with EMDgel or calcium hydroxide is dentin. Supported by Biora AB, Malmo, Sweden, the European Society of Endodontology and the Swedish Dental Society.


The goal of this paper is to investigate the polysemy of Spanish spatial prepositions (a, en, hacia, among others), and offer a syntactic and semantic treatment of this phenomenon. The core idea behind this account is that these prepositions can denote sets of possible locations that are involved in spatial relations. Consequently, the compositional interaction of polysemous prepositions with other parts of speech can determine which specific sense emerges in a sentence. The analysis is couched in a Type-Logical Grammar approach. It addresses data that have not previously been analysed in the literature, involving so-called Boolean constructions (e.g. en la estacion y la calle). Also, the paper shows that a single treatment can capture all the relevant data. Therefore, the analysis shows that polysemy is a grammar phenomenon that is better accounted for in architectures with a distinct syntactic/derivational component (e.g. Distributed Morphology), than in architectures lacking this component (e.g. Cognitive Linguistics approaches). Consequences for a theory of grammar are discussed.


Quantile regression refers to the process of estimating the quantiles of a conditional distribution and has many important applications within econometrics and data mining, among other domains. In this paper, we show how to estimate these conditional quantile functions within a Bayes risk minimization framework using a Gaussian process prior. The resulting non-parametric probabilistic model is easy to implement and allows non-crossing quantile functions to be enforced. Moreover, it can directly be used in combination with tools and extensions of standard Gaussian Processes such as principled hyperparameter estimation, sparsification, and quantile regression with input-dependent noise rates. No existing approach enjoys all of these desirable properties. Experiments on benchmark datasets show that our method is competitive with state-of-the-art approaches."


In traditional cost-benefit analyses of public projects, every citizen's willingness to pay for a project is given an equal weight. This is sometimes taken to imply that cost-benefit analysis is a democratic method for making public decisions, as opposed to, for example, political processes involving logrolling and lobbying from interest groups. Politicians are frequently criticized for not putting enough emphasis on the cost-benefit analyses when making decisions. In this paper we discuss the extent to which using cost-benefit analysis to rank public projects is consistent with Dahl's (1989) criteria for democratic decision-making. We find several fundamental conflicts, both when cost-benefit analysis is used to provide final answers about projects' social desirability, and when used only as informational input to a political process. Our conclusions are illustrated using data from interviews with Norwegian politicians.


Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether a customer's perceptions of hotel tablet apps serve as determinants of customers' behavioral intention in terms of the app's ease of use, usefulness, credibility and subjective norm. It also explored age and gender as moderators of the relationships between these determinants and customers' behavioral intention as well as customers' likelihood of using specific app functions across age and gender.

Design/methodology/approach

A research model, grounded in the technology acceptance model (TAM), used data collected from 751 hotel customers in the USA. The model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results showed that three of the four proposed determinants positively influenced customers' behavioral intention toward hotel tablet apps. Neither gender nor age played significant moderating roles in the relationships between the four determinants and the behavioral intention. The study also revealed age- and gender-related differences in preferences for specific hotel tablet app functions.

Practical implications

This study helps operators successfully plan for investing in and implementing hotel apps. It assists operators in developing effective marketing strategies by understanding factors influencing customers' app adoption and between group differences in their preferences on app functions.

Originality/value

This is the first tablet app adoption study that extends TAM to the hotel industry. Thus, it extends the literature on technology adoption by exploring both existing and new variables and testing them in a new context.


Objective: To study the characteristics of the multimodal functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of schizophrenia patients with initial negative symptom.
Methods: From January 2014 to January 2016, 30 cases of schizophrenia patients with the initial negative symptom and 30 cases of schizophrenia patients with the initial positive symptom were involved in our study. Besides, other 30 cases were matched into the healthy control based on the gender, age and education level. The 3D structure Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data and functional MRI data of all patients were collected. The voxel-based morphometry was used to analyse different brain regions in structure MRI data among those three groups. In addition, we analysed the correlation between all functions of the whole brain in the resting state and different brain regions.
Results: The volume of the gray matter in the right dorsolateral prefrontal lobe of the patients with initial negative symptom was significantly higher than that of patients with initial positive symptom. Moreover, in the control group, the whole brain's functional connectivity was decreased in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex under a resting state. The difference was mainly on functional connectivity between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-right medial prefrontal cortex and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-right caudate nucleus. The Z value of right medial prefrontal cortex in the negative symptom group was significantly lower than those of other two groups. The right caudate nucleus Z value was significantly higher than those of other two groups. When the N-back working memory task was given, the different brain regions in activations among the three groups were the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulated cortex and posterior cingulated cortex, the inhibition degree against the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulated cortex and posterior cingulated cortex of patients with the initial negative symptom as primary type was significantly decreased and the dorsolateral prefrontal activation was significantly increased.
Conclusion: It has a significant value to diagnose and identify the schizophrenia with the initial negative symptom through the characteristics of the multimodal fMRI.


We proposed some nonlinear versions of the AR-ARCH model, which is often used for financial computing but is based on the linear regression. Our nonlinear AR-ARCH model can temporally change its model parameters following the local structure hidden in the observed financial data. To confirm the validity of our model, we performed some statistical significance tests. First, as one of the learning process, we performed the surrogate data test to the learning data, but we could not aggressively suggest that the original financial data have nonlinearity. However, from the viewpoint of predictive performance of the test data, our nonlinear models, especially the NAR-NARCH model, can improve the prediction accuracy of both of the return rate and the volatility. This improvement can be verified by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.


This paper captures the tolerance of religious community as a dis- semination model implemented by an-Najah Islamic Boarding School for University Students motored by Kiai (Islamic Expert) and followed by Santri (Islamic Boarding School students). There were two dissemination approaches that had been conducted by an-Najah, they were academic and direct approaches through daily life. In terms of academic approach, it was conducted through Islamic studies such as reviewing classical Is- lamic book ( Kitab Kuning ) as the general characteristic of Islamic board- ing school reference, seminar, and dialogue with Moslem and non-Mos- lem scholars. Besides of those Islamic studies, an-Najah students were also taught about the nature of tolerance to face the diverse opinions and beliefs of other religions. In addition, an-Najah students were also intro- duced the diversity as well as the value of tolerance in living laboratory in the form of life skill training and community service involving the stu- dents and youth interfaith cooperation. The process of tolerance dissemi- nation had been conducted regularly and incidentally. Therefore, those practices could be maintained as a routine activity. To sum up, the pri- mary theoretical and practical studies implemented in Islamic boarding school could broaden the insightful perspective and pure heart as what was established through the Islamic boarding school tradition in line with the value of prophetic education.


Parentage law is heavily influenced by the number "two." The traditional paradigm of one mother and one father, especially a married mother and father, has been a bedrock of Western society. In recent decades, however, the traditional two parent paradigm has started to erode and courts have responded. For example, some courts have held that a child can have two legal parents of the same sex. In other cases, a child has been deemed to have just one legal parent and yet in others, even three legal parents. These cases highlight shifts within the law of parentage that have occurred as the nuclear family has decreased in prominence and as the use of assisted reproductive technologies has changed the ways in which families are created. I have previously advocated for the expansion of legal parentage to persons not traditionally considered a legal parent, such as the lesbian partner of a legal mother. I have also suggested that, in limited circumstances, courts consider conferring legal parentage in more than two adults who are raising a child including recognizing that a child might have two fathers. In my home state of Michigan, the traditional two parent paradigm is firmly entrenched as illustrated, in part, by the state's strict marital presumption, which does not permit a putative father the ability to challenge the husband's paternity. About one-fifth of U.S. jurisdictions have a similarly strict marital presumption. In this short essay, I criticize the lingering marital presumption and use the critique to illustrate broader inconsistencies within the law of parentage. I also make some modest suggestions for parentage law reform.


Lipomas are benign soft tissue tumors composed of adipose tissue. They are mobile, painless, well-circumscribed, slow-growing masses and have rubber-like consistency. They may be localized in almost all body parts where the fat tissue is present and may be in a giant form. Mass localization may also cause functional limitations. Giant lipomas of the neck are very rarely seen. In the present study, we reported a 59-year-old man who presented with a cervical mass enlarged in a time period of 10 years. During 21 months of postoperative period, cosmetic and functional results of the surgery were excellent. Any recurrence was not detected. After surgery, patient's restriction of body function was disappeared.


Dignity at work is a complex phenomenon that is related to various important organisational issues such as mismanagement, over-long hours, bullying and harassment or poor working environments (Hodson, 2001; Rayman, 2001; TUC, 2003). Contributors to over a century of social and organisational analysis have variously talked loosely about dignity at work under headings such as citizenship, job satisfaction, mutuality, pride in work, responsible autonomy and ontological security. Essentially, dignity is universally accepted as a fundamental human right which is enshrined in international constitution (United Nations, 1948). This has been recognised, to a certain degree, by businesses and policy makers who have introduced initiatives such as work-life balance, the management of diversity and schemes to ensure workers are employable. However, though valuable initiatives in themselves, the focus on management practice has moved the concentration away from dignity at work as a fundamental human right and to one of best practice people management (BPPM) and its link with performance. Due to the emphasis on performativity, dignity at work remains an under-researched area and, despite the obvious need to engage with this important topic, there is, as yet, no available conceptual understanding of what dignity might mean to managers and workers in their day-to-day working lives and how this impacts upon their experiences of work and how an organisation may carry itself with dignity in the local community and the global marketplace. An understanding of these experiences is fundamental to the health and well-being of workers, managers and companies and the consumers of their goods and services and yet dignity at work is not viewed as a desirable end in itself and is not the focus of attention, unlike BPPM, which as a means to the desirable end of increased company performance, receives excessive, and often unjustifiable, interest from many different quarters. This paper seeks to invigorate the debate on dignity at work


A data warehouse (DWH) is an integrated collection of worthwhile data for management support. Unfortunately operational databases – the main source of feeding the DWH with internal data – only provide data with poor management value when no transformation has taken place. The paper deals with this topic. It concentrates on a conceptual architecture of a DWH, in which the transformation machine is the main constituent part of the architecture. This machine supports sub-processes of filtering, harmonization, aggregation and enrichment and is maintained by controller and technician interfaces. Furthermore an access, load and meta data administration handles the secure and documented loading and accessing of relevant data and guarantees technical and businessoriented documentation of all transformation activities.


This paper explores the tension between neoliberal theory and practice by using China as an example. This paper investigates the implementation of Fair Value Accounting (FVA) in China and argues that market share prices are not 'fair values' of companies' financial position as theories of FVA assume, rather, they project only the distorted share price movements caused by the strong intervention of the Chinese government with its multiple and often competing agendas. By positioning this regional event in a broad neoliberal context, this paper argues that the accounting term 'fair value' is imbued with assumptions about the state and the market that have little bearing on the realities of a Chinese capital market. The impacts the adoption of FVA has had on Chinese capital markets demonstrate that, rather than advancing the public interest in China, the adoption of FVA has not transformed political and economic power. Instead, it has provided another opportunity to reposition powerful political and economic elites both inside and outside China. The process has reconfigured capital markets in the image of those in advanced capitalist economies, but is devoid of the regulatory and socio-political context apparatus to rationalise its relevance and reliability in the Chinese context.


In the nursing literature to date there have been no reported applications of `cognitive simulation' nor of intelligent Computer Assisted Learning. In Chapter 1 of this thesis a critical review of existing nurse education by computer is used to establish a framework within which to explore the possibility of simulation of thinking processes of nurses on computer. One conclusion from this review which is offered concerns the importance of firstly undertaking reliable study of nursing cognition. The crucial issue is that an understanding must be gained of how expert nurses mentally represent their patients in order that a valid model might be constructed on computer. The construction of a valid computer based cognitive model proves to be an undertaking which occupies the remainder of this thesis. The approach has been to gradually raise the specificity of analysis of the knowledge base of expert and proficient nurses while seeking concurrently to evaluate validity of the findings. Reported in Chapter 2, therefore, are the several experimental stages of a knowledge acquisition project which begins the process of constructing this knowledge base. Discussed firstly is the choice of the skill domain to be studied - pressure sore risk assessment. Subsequently, the method of eliciting from nurses top-level and micro-level descriptors of patients is set out. This account of knowledge acquisition ends with scrutiny of the performance of nurse subjects who performed a comprehensive simulated patient assessment task in order that two groups might be established - one Expert and one Proficient with respect to the nursing task. In Chapter 3, an extensive analysis of the data provided by the simulated assessment experiment is undertaken. This analysis, as the most central phase of the project, proceeds by degrees. Hence, the aim is to `explain' progressively more of the measured cognitive behaviour of the Expert nurses while incorporating the most powerful explanations into a developing cognitive model. More specifically, explanations are sought of the role of `higher' cognition, of whether attribute importance is a feature of cognition, of the point at which a decision can be made, and of the process of deciding between competing patient judgements. Interesting findings included several reliable differences which were found to exist between the cognition of subjects deemed to be proficient and those taken as expert. In the final part of this thesis, Chapter 4, a more formal evaluation of the computer based cognitive model which was constructed and predictions made by it was undertaken. The first phase involved analysis in terms of process and product of decision making of the cognitive model in comparison to two alternative models; one derived from Discriminant Function Analysis and the other from Automated Rule Induction. The cognitive model was found to most closely approximate to the process of decision making of the human subjects and also to perform most accurately with a test set of unseen patients. The second phase reports some experimental support for the prediction made by the model that nurses represent their patients around action-related `care concepts' rather than in terms of diagnostic categories based on superficial features. The thesis concludes by offering some general conclusions and recommendations for further research.


Abstract

Forkhead transcription factors represent an important family of proteins, for which more than 2000 family members have been identified so far, 26 of which can be found in humans. FOX genes exhibit many important functions in both development and adult life. Therefore, it is not surprising that alterations in these genes can cause of a broad range of developmental diseases and cancer. Today, 13 FOX genes are associated with developmental disorders. Mutations in five of them (FOXC1, FOXC2, FOXD3, FOXE3 and FOXL2) lead to an ocular phenotype, while mutations in three genes (FOXG1, FOXP1 and FOXP2) are a known cause for neurodevelopmental disorders, mutations in two (FOXL2 and FOXO3A) are associated with premature ovarian failure and mutation in other two genes (FOXN1 and FOXP3) are involved in immunodeficiency syndromes. Finally, FOXF1 mutations cause a lung development disorder. In this article, the different developmental disorders caused by mutations in FOX genes are reviewed. In addition, the article briefly touches cancers caused by genetic defects in FOX genes.

Key Concepts:

Forkhead transcription factor genes represent an important gene family, consisting out of more than 2000 members. In human, 26 family members have been identified and there are 8 FOX gene clusters.

The forkhead domain is built up by three α-helices, two β-sheets and two loops. These loops resemble wings of a butterfly, giving the family its nickname: winged helix transcription factors.

Forkhead transcription factors play important roles in a wide range of signalling pathways.

Mutations in FOX genes are known to cause hereditary developmental disorders. Five mutated FOX genes are associated with an ocular phenotype.

Forkhead transcription factors are also involved in cancer and ageing.

Keywords:

forkhead transcription factors;
forkhead domain;
development;
ocular phenotypes;
cancer


Public agencies in Iowa are continually challenged with reduced staff levels, reduced budgets, and increased expectations for services provided. Responding to these demands requires a well-informed and coordinated team that includes professionals, supervisors, technicians, lead workers, and workers. Becoming a coordinated team requires the training and interaction to produce a common foundation to build upon. In 2007, a training program did not exist in the state to provide this level of training for existing or upcoming managers and leaders of public agencies. The Iowa Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), in conjunction with Iowa public agency representatives, set out to provide that foundation by developing the Iowa Public Employees Leadership Academy, which was renamed the Public Employees Leadership Institute in July 2011. The Institute is an on-demand, online training program designed to create better (or new) leaders and supervisors for Iowa's public agencies. The Institute provides a curriculum to train the next generation of leaders, who will replace existing leaders when retirements occur. Through the Institute, Iowa LTAP will provide a coordinated, structured, non-credit educational program available for a modest fee. The techniques and skills offered through the Institute can apply to all who wish to develop or sharpen their leadership and management abilities. This will be true whether the participants are employed in the public or private sector. The 14 courses that were developed and are being offered are as follows: Supervisory Techniques and Skills, Team Development, Communications Skills, Leadership Skills, Community Service/Customer Orientation, Legal Understanding, Fundamentals of Government, Finance, Resource Management, Operations and Maintenance, Basic Management, Emergency Management, Project Management, and Winter Maintenance Management.


Concurrent and coincident measure of penetrometer cone resistance (PR) and water content (WC) were optimized by hourly in‐field validation of data from time domain transmissiometry (TDT) for WC and piezoelectric force sensor for PR. A piezoelectric force sensor coupled to a cone is followed by a helical wrapped TDT sensor on a single penetrometer shaft. Detailed laboratory calibrations, coupled with in‐field validations, were important to assure the quality of data, which facilitated detailed analyses of PR and WC patterns. The piezoelectric sensor relied on a calibrated spring for the in‐field validation. The calibration of the TDT sensor had three stages: a series of fluids of known dielectric constant; soil columns at known, variable water contents; and field soils at a range of ambient conditions. The penetrometer was used to study soil strength and WC behavior in time and space along 300‐m plots. The treatments were conventional and no‐till, each at two levels of traffic. The crop was corn (Zea mays L.), continuous and in rotation with soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The PR vs. WC relationships for two depths (0.21 and 0.27 m), below the level of cultivation, were similar to those at the 0.10‐m depth for the nontrafficked no‐till plots. These relationships for the 0.21‐ and 0.27‐m depths were not influenced by tillage, traffic, and corn cropping system treatments. The variable depth of plowing in tilled plots was found to influence the data consistency for the 0.21‐m depth, indicating the penetrometer's high sensitivity to the soil conditions.


A growing literature provides evidence for the multicultural experience–creativity link such that exposure to the juxtaposition of two cultures facilitates individual creativity. The underlying mechanisms for this relationship, however, are still far from being well explored. Drawing upon the novel perspective of motivated cognition, we hypothesize that two factors interact to affect creative outcomes: (a) perceived cultural distance between the two juxtaposed cultures, and (b) comparison mind-sets. Specifically, we argue that individuals' creative performance will be increased only when a difference mind-set is employed to process the cultural stimuli that are sufficiently different from each other. In two studies, individuals exposed to dual cultural primes with higher levels of perceived cultural distance consistently performed more adeptly in creative insight tasks when they personally predisposed to or experimentally manipulated to adopt a difference (vs. similarity) mind-set. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.