Male-male competition contributes to male mating success in lekking birds, however, female choice is usually considered to be responsible for the characteristic skew in fitness among males in this mating system. I conducted intensive behavioral observations during the 2002 breeding season at two leks attended by lesser (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), greater (T. cupido), and resultant hybrid prairie-chicken in western Kansas, following a regional-scale survey for mixed Tympanuchus leks in 2001. Sample observations of 43 individually marked males over 512 hours allowed identification of agonistic correlates of mating success, which included agonistic display behaviors, court characteristics, and attendance. I then examined how these traits differed among hybrids and their parental forms, and speculated on how hybrid status might affect mating success. Male-male competition appeared to contribute significantly to mating success in lesser and greater prairie-chicken; a total of 24 copulations were observed on the two study leks. A total of five lesser x greater prairie-chicken hybrids regularly attended and displayed; this study is the first to provide behavioral data from marked hybrids on leks. Hybrid males appeared to succeed in the male-male facet of sexual selection as indicated by regular lek attendance, central court placement, court placement adjacent to copulation hotspots, and frequencies of agonistic interactions and vocalizations that were similar to males that mated; yet hybrids failed to copulate. Vocalizations were the primary difference I detected among lesser, greater and hybrid prairie-chicken. I hypothesized that one of these vocalizations, the antiphonal boom, might be subject to intense intrasexual selection. I also provide evidence for the possible role of this vocalization in the recent evolutionary divergence of Tympanuchus.


The evolution of He+‐mode electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves is studied inside the geostationary orbit using our global model of ring current (RC) ions, electric field, plasmasphere, and EMIC waves. In contrast to the approach previously used by Gamayunov et al. (2009), however, we do not use the bounce‐averaged wave kinetic equation but instead use a complete, nonbounce‐averaged, equation to model the evolution of EMIC wave power spectral density, including off‐equatorial wave dynamics. The major results of our study can be summarized as follows. (1) The thermal background level for EMIC waves is too low to allow waves to grow up to the observable level during one pass between the "bi‐ion latitudes" (the latitudes where the given wave frequency is equal to the O+–He+ bi‐ion frequency) in conjugate hemispheres. As a consequence, quasi‐field‐aligned EMIC waves are not typically produced in the model if the thermal background level is used, but routinely observed in the Earth's magnetosphere. To overcome this model‐observation discrepancy we suggest a nonlinear energy cascade from the lower frequency range of ultralow frequency waves into the frequency range of EMIC wave generation as a possible mechanism supplying the needed level of seed fluctuations that guarantees growth of EMIC waves during one pass through the near equatorial region. The EMIC wave development from a suprathermal background level shows that EMIC waves are quasi field aligned near the equator, while they are oblique at high latitudes, and the Poynting flux is predominantly directed away from the near equatorial source region in agreement with observations. (2) An abundance of O+ strongly controls the energy of oblique He+‐mode EMIC waves that propagate to the equator after their reflection at bi‐ion latitudes, and so it controls a fraction of wave energy in the oblique normals. (3) The RC O+ not only causes damping of the He+‐mode EMIC waves but also causes wave generation in the region of highly oblique wave normal angles, typically for θ > 82°, where a growth rate γ > 10−2rad/s is frequently observed. The instability is driven by the loss cone feature in the RC O+ distribution function, where ∂F/∂v⟂>0 for the resonating O+. (4) The oblique and intense He+‐mode EMIC waves generated by RC O+ in the region L≈2–3 may have an implication to the energetic particle loss in the inner radiation belt.


The simulation of run‐off in Alpine catchment areas is essential for the optimal operation of high head storage hydropower plants (HPPs) under normal flow conditions, but also in case of flood events. A conceptual semidistributed numerical approach is presented, combining hydrologic modelling and operation of hydraulic works. Spatial rainfall and temperature distributions were taken into account for simulating the dominant hydrologic processes, such as glacier melt, snowpack constitution and melt, soil infiltration and run‐off. The object‐oriented modelling tool allowed run‐off generation, simulation of the operating mode of complex HPP and its impact on the downstream river network for different scenarios. The paper briefly presents the hydrologic model and then the application for the upper Aare catchment in Switzerland, where about half of the area is operated by the Oberhasli hydropower scheme. The development, calibration and validation of the hydrologic model are discussed. Finally, the retention effect of the existing reservoirs and their management, including preventive turbine operations, on flood routing in the Aare River upstream of Lake Brienz is presented for the 2005 historical flood event.


The purpose of this article is to evaluate and report on a developmental programme for young academics at the University of South Africa (Unisa). Unisa, one of the world's mega universities, is a comprehensive, open-and-distance-learning higher education institution in South Africa, which provides a combination of technikon- and university-type programmes. The university employs some 1 200 academics. An important challenge for the university has been its large cohort of ageing academics who have provided the institution not only with its academic memory, but also a substantial portion of its research output. Because of this challenge and the need for succession planning, the university decided to launch a Young Academic Programme to develop and build the capacity for young academics at Unisa.


At least four variations of the permitted indication in protected/permitted left-turn (PPLT) control have been developed in an attempt to improve the level of driver understanding and safety. These variations replace the green ball permitted indication with a flashing red ball, a flashing yellow ball, a flashing red arrow, or a flashing yellow arrow indication. In addition, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices allows several PPLT signal display arrangements. The variability in indication and arrangement has led to a myriad of PPLT displays throughout the United States. The level of driver understanding related to each PPLT display type, and the associated impact on traffic operations and safety, has not been quantified. A study was conducted to evaluate the operational characteristics associated with different PPLT signal displays. Specifically, the study quantified saturation flow rate, start-up lost time, response time, and follow-up headway associated with selected PPLT displays. No differences in saturation flow rate and start-up lost time were found due to the type of PPLT signal display. Saturation flow rates ranged from 1,770 to 2,400 vehicles per hour of green per lane and were related to differences in driver behavior between geographic locations. The variation in start-up lost time and response time between locations was primarily related to differences in phase sequence. The flashing red permitted indications were associated with the longest follow-up headway times, since drivers are required to stop before turning left with a flashing red permitted indication. The shortest follow-up headway was associated with the five-section cluster display using a green ball indication.


Few research studies have focused on nurses' working conditions for caring provided at night, and these studies have mainly described nurses' work in hospital settings, not in a municipal, social-care context. In Swedish municipal care, nurses have responsibility for hundreds of older people in need of care. This working condition compromises caring encounters; instead the nurses' caring is mainly mediated through care staff (or relatives). In considering that caring based on caring encounters is fundamental to ethical nursing practice questions leads to the aim: to explore Swedish municipal night nurses' experiences of their working conditions for caring in nursing. All municipal night-duty nurses (n = 7) in a medium-sized community in Sweden participated in interviews, while six of them also wrote diaries. Thematic content analysis has been used in analysing the data. The findings revealed that the nurses experienced their working conditions for caring in nursing in the themes of Dependency in the Organisation and Other Staff, Vocational Responsibility, Deficiency in Conditions for Caring and Autonomous Caring. The findings illustrate privileged, as well as, poor working conditions for caring in nursing. The nurses' role as consultants emerge as their main function. The consultant function implies that nurses do not participate in ordinary bed-side caring, which makes it easier for them to find time for caring in situations that arise when nurses' skills, expertise and authority are called upon. Conversely the consultancy function entails short-term solution of complex caring problems, which can signify deficient caring due to prevailing working conditions. The findings also point to nurses' possible problems in fulfilling their own and vocational demands for ethics in the practice of caring in nursing related to existing working conditions.


Principles of Family Law is widely recognised as the leading text in its field. For the seventh edition Dr Stephen Cretney is again joined by Professor Judith Masson who brings her extensive experience of teaching and researching child law; whilst for the first time Professor Rebecca Bailey-Harris has given her expertise, especially on financial and property matters, to the book. This edition has been extensively revised and updated to take account of new legislation, including the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 and the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000; whilst the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 is very much to the fore. Case law (not least the decision of the House of Lords in White v. White) is fully covered and carefully analysed, as are the findings of empirical research into the working of the care and family justice system. Principles of Family Law provides a stimulating exposition of legal principles combined with an authoritative discussion of policy and practice issues and relevant research. This edition will once again prove invaluable to practitioners, teachers and students. A Supplement, available free of charge to purchasers of this book, will give detailed coverage of the provisions of the Adoption and Children Act which affect adoption. The supplement is due for publication in Spring 2003.


This article argues that the partition of the village of Ghajar between Israel and Lebanon by the Israeli Line of Withdrawal, as determined by the United Nations in 2000, was based on historical and cartographical errors. It demonstrates that the entire village was controlled by Syria until the June 1967 war when Israel occupied it along with the Golan Heights. The article shows that the entire pre-1967 tri-border region of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel suffered from border irregularities that remained dormant until 2000. Finally, the article argues that Ghajar should remain united, pending a Syrian-Israeli peace deal that theoretically would return the Golan Heights to Syria and include Ghajar in its entirety.


ABSTRACT The current study aimed to examine how instruction can impact the global, segmental, prosodic, and temporal qualities of second language (L2) oral ability in foreign language (FL) settings (i.e., a few hours of target language input per week). Spontaneous speech was elicited via a timed picture description task from 56 Japanese freshman college students who had studied English through FL instruction from Grades 7 to 12 without any experience abroad. The tokens were rated for global accentedness and then submitted to segmental, prosodic, and temporal analyses. According to statistical analyses, (a) the participants' oral performance widely varied in relation to the length and focus of FL instruction, the frequency of their conversations in the L2, and aptitude; and (b) their diverse proficiency levels were predicted in particular by the amount of extra FL activities inside (i.e., pronunciation training) and outside (i.e., cram school) of high school (but not junior high) classrooms. The results in turn suggest that whereas extensive FL instruction (>875 hr) itself does make some difference in L2 oral ability development, its pedagogical potential can be increased by how students optimize their most immediate FL experience beyond the regular syllabus.


MODIFYING THE CRIMINALIZATION HYPOTHESIS: PREDICTING JAIL DIVERSION OUTCOME WITH CLINICAL, CRIMINOLOGICAL, AND PERSONALITY FACTORS by Wen Gu Adviser: Professor Keith A. Markus There are a disproportionate number of individuals with serious mental illness in the criminal justice system, compared to the general population. Mental health courts and jail diversion programs were developed to divert individuals with mental illness out of jails into community treatment to ease the overburden of treating psychiatric disorders in the criminal justice system. These programs have become increasing popular, but little is known about the characteristics of the diverted individuals that result in successful outcomes. The purpose of this study is to test different causal models of recidivism as predicted by clinical, criminological, and personality variables, and examine the incremental validity of widely used clinical and risk assessment instruments over the screening instrument currently employed by diversion programs. Cox regression models do not support the strict interpretation of the criminalization hypothesis that treatment noncompliance is a result of clinical symptoms alone. Rather, treatment noncompliance is predicted by personality variables. Contrary to expectation, neither the Personality Assessment Inventory nor the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, demonstrated incremental validity over the COMPAS for predicting noncompliance. In addition, the PAI antisocial personality features, substance abuse, and aggression scales, were associated with all forms of treatment noncompliance. Implications for practice were discussed.


This chapter considers the ambit of equitable compensation. As an equitable remedy, equitable compensation is given within equity's discretion to grant or refuse relief, or otherwise fashion the remedy, to meet the equity of the case. We know that historically chancery concealed its remedy of compensating loss behind the language of account. So it shouldn't surprise us that the discretionary character of the order which flows after the taking of an account is also bound up in the description of the account itself as being discretionary in nature. Such is implied by Lord Millett NPJ in Libertarian Investments Ltd v Hall, who refers to the orthodox approach of taking a formal account prior to considering any subsequent obligation on the defendant to pay equitable compensation in the following terms: [a]lthough like all equitable remedies an order for an account is discretionary, in making the order the court is not granting a remedy for [a] wrong but enforcing performance of an obligation', and later in the same case confirms that 'the court will always have the last word.' Equity's discretion is principles based. It lies beyond the remit of this chapter to model the nature of equitable judicial decision making and it is important not to overstate the contingent nature of equitable discretion. Judges and juries tasked with fact finding may properly bring to bear individual judgment and diverse methods. Similarly, choices are inevitable in much legal reasoning. However, this is not an arbitrary selection between possible facts, principles and outcomes. As stated by Gleeson CJ (speaking of the defendant's and ultimately equity's conscience): '[t]he conscience of the appellant, which equity will seek to relieve, is a properly formed and instructed conscience.' A majority of the High Court of Australia has since reiterated that equitable conscience is properly informed and instructed by 'established equitable principles and doctrines' and that '"[t]he conscience spoken of here is a construct of values and standards against which the conduct of 'suitors' – not only defendants – is to be judged."' Equity's margin of decision making in awarding equitable compensation encompasses two distinct questions. The first is more obviously familiar in equitable analysis, and is concerned with the considerations of factors which weigh in the balance in shaping the availability or appropriateness of an equitable remedy given the facts and circumstances of the case. Such considerations are commonly labelled bars to relief and so called discretionary factors. The second is a more particular exercise of discretion in relation to the calculation of the money sum to be paid to the plaintiff as equitable compensation. These considerations arise in particular since it turns out that many claims for equitable compensation concern the loss of a chance. Each will be considered in turn.


Now that experimenters have seen the Higgs boson, Peter Higgs gets the glory—or does he? Theorists say Higgs made a fairly narrow and esoteric advance that several other physicists made at the same time. Their intellectual leap was essential to the development of the standard model, but their papers didn9t even mention the most important problem their work helped to solve. And the Higgs boson itself is in a way the byproduct of more important underlying physics. Some question whether the advance was a big enough step beyond previous work to merit a Nobel Prize. In any case, historians and prize committees must be careful to give credit where and for what it is due.


In turbulent environments, business agility, which is the ability of firms to sense environmental changes and respond to them timely, is an important antecedent of long-term firm success. We introduce business agility as a construct consisting of sensing and responding dimensions reflected by market, network, and operational agility. Here, we explicate the underlying capabilities, drivers, and indicators. By proposing a measurement framework, we address several calls for an operationalization of business agility. Moreover, we validate our conceptualization by applying the business agility measurement framework to the 10 largest banks in North-America. As a result, we find first evidence of a relationship between business agility and a firm's capability to successfully master environments of higher dynamism. The presented conceptualization is meant to be a foundational building block for research on business agility and the enabling role of IT as an important research topic at the intersection of accounting and IS value research.


Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) describes how a mobile node can change its point of attachment to the Internet. While MIPv6 focuses on unicast communications, it also proposes two basic mechanisms, known as bi-directional tunnelling and remote subscription, to handle multicast communications with mobile members. In the mean time, the deployment of Source-Specific Multicast (SSM) is of great interest, using the Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLDv2) protocols. In the particular case of mobile IPv6 SSM sources, the mechanism proposed in MIPv6 to support multicast communications introduced a number of problems that need to be addressed. First, in most scenarios the MIPv6 solution leads to suboptimal routing by setting up a tunnel to forward packets between the home agent in its home network and the current location in the foreign network. The use of a third party when roaming which is the home agent leads to suboptimal routing. Second, it introduces a central point of failure (i.e. the Home Agent (HA)) that is not to be neglected. The proposed MIPv6 solution also induces a great traffic concentration around this central point. Third, the processing task of the central point increases with the number of mobile sources it serves, thus reducing the efficiency of multicast delivery. The objective of this thesis is to remove some of the obstacles encountered in the way of multicast deployment in the Internet, thereby making Mobile IPv6 better equipped to support mobile SSM sources.
Recent proposals to provide multicasting over mobile IP focuses mainly on recipient mobility but little attention has been given to the case of source mobility. This thesis attempts to address this problem. The basic essence of the problem is that while the effect of receiver movement on the multicast tree is local, the effect of source movement may be global and it may affect the complete multicast delivery tree. The initial design was motivated by the need to support one-to-many and many-to-many applications in a scalable fashion. Such applications cannot be serviced efficiently with unicast delivery.
As the overall problem statement of "Scalability Improvement of Multicast Source Movement over IPv6 Using Clustering Technique" is extremely complex, we divide the problem into the following components: build the multicast delivery tree for source specific multicast which is a routing issue; clustering receivers based on their IPv6 addresses; improve the state scalability of these clusters which is a deployment issue; find an efficient way for service distribution which is a deployment issue as well; and finally, the seamless integration of the work with Mobile IPv6 allowing it to support multicast efficiently for mobile nodes. The combined solution provides a comprehensive procedure for planning and managing a multicast-based IPv6 network.
The outcome of this thesis are: a software to represent an architecture of a multicast delivery tree for one-to-many type of group communication, a group management scheme that could handle the end nodes subscription/un-subscription process with the required updates, an average subscription delay of between 0.255 ms-0.530 ms and un-subscription delay of between 0.0456 ms-0.087 ms for up to 50000 nodes, an approach to multicast forwarding state reduction that could support small-size groups as well as large-size groups, and finally the integration of the work with Mobile IPv6 to handle the multicast source movement.


Background: Bacterial Meningitis is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide requiring immediate diagnosis followed by medical intervention to prevent sequeale. The clinical presentation is not subtle in all cases, and hence confirmation by laboratory methods is necessary to know the exact etiology. Empiric antimicrobial therapy can be misleading; giving rise to resistant strains or it may further worsen the clinical prognosis, if ineffective. Therefore, in this study, an attempt has been made to diagnose the causative pathogen on conventional culture. Methods: 100 CSF and blood samples were collected from suspected /clinically diagnosed cases of meningitis over a period of 1year. CSF samples were processed by gram stain and conventional Culture. This was followed by Anti-microbial susceptibility testing by Kirby Bauer's disk diffusion method. The blood samples were collected in BACTEC bottles and subjected to automated system. The objectives of the study were: To identify the common bacterial etiological agent and to know the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Results: Out of 100 samples, maximum cases presented with frank meningeal signs (45%) followed by clinically suspected cases (42%). Microscopic examination and CSF culture 7% and 24% positive cases respectively. 13% were detected positive by blood culture. The positivity on CSF culture was comparable to the study done by R Mani et al (40.5%). The predominant pathogens isolated were K.pneumoniae (37.5%) followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae and H.influenzae (each 16.67%). Discussion: Culture is considered as the gold standard. However, it is not without limitations. It fails to give urgent results. Therefore, preliminary diagnosis was made on gram stain. The kappa coefficient-0.24 showed a fair agreement, and diagnostic accuracy was 79% considering the modified gold standard. Conclusion: Gram negative enteric bacteria were the most common etiology reported by Conventional Culture. Apart from microbiological parameters, clinical and other laboratory parameters should be considered to achieve a precise diagnosis.


It is widely acknowledged that for modern electric distribution system embedded with wind turbine generators, the conventional load flow analysis needs to be reformulated to include the wind turbine generating system (WTGS) model in the analysis. This paper presents a simple method for modeling and incorporating fixed-speed WTGS into distribution system load flow analysis. The proposed model for the WTGS is developed based on the equivalent T-circuit of the asynchronous machine of the WTGS where only Kirchhoff and Ohm laws are used in forming the mathematical model. Unlike the previous model (i.e. PQ model), conversion from T-circuit to p-circuit is not necessary in the proposed model development. Moreover, since only one set of equations is needed to represent the WTGS, the proposed T-circuit model is therefore much simpler than the PQ model. The model is then integrated into the load flow algorithm to evaluate steady state operation of the distribution system and the WTGS. Test results on 33-node and 69-node distribution networks indicate that the proposed method is accurate and valid.


Background: The 1997 BTS/RCP national audit of acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in terms of process of care has previously been reported. This paper describes from the same cases the outcomes of death, readmission rates within 3 months of initial admission, and length of stay. Identification of the main pre-admission predictors of outcome may be used to control for confounding factors in population characteristics when comparing performance between units. Methods: Data on 74 variables were collected retrospectively using an audit proforma from patients admitted to UK hospitals with acute COPD. Important prognostic variables for the three outcome measures were identified by relative risk and logistic regression was used to place these in order of predictive value. Results: 1400 admissions from 38 acute hospitals were collated. 14% of cases died within 3 months of admission with variation between hospitals of 0–50%. Poor performance status, acidosis, and the presence of leg oedema were the best significant independent predictors of death. Age above 65, poor performance status, and lowest forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) tertile were the best predictors of length of stay (median 8 days). 34% of patients were readmitted (range 5–65%); lowest FEV1 tertile, previous admission, and readmission with five or more medications were the best predictors for readmission. Conclusions: Important predictors of outcome have been identified and formal recording of these may assist in accounting for confounding patient characteristics when making comparisons between hospitals. There is still wide variation in outcome between hospitals that remains unexplained by these factors. While some of this variance may be explained by incomplete recording of data or patient factors as yet unidentified, it seems likely that deficiencies in the process of care previously identified are responsible for poor outcomes in some units.


Levels of control over curricula for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) vary in Australia. For example, accreditation with government registration boards is mandatory for chiropractic, whereas accreditation with state accrediting boards and professional associations is voluntary for naturopathy. The Australian public is increasingly seeking the services of CAM practitioners, often as their primary contact practitioner, and may be unaware of the diversity of training within CAM. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare two CAM curricula: chiropractic and naturopathy, in the context of primary contact practitioner training. Design: Accredited naturopathy and chiropractic programs in Australia were located. Key learning areas and approaches to clinical training were identified and compared. Results: Chiropractic and naturopathy, two examples of CAMs, have different levels of control over their curricula. The key learning areas (Medical Sciences, Profession- Specific Subjects, Research Methodology, Professional Studies and Clinical Training) identified in the study were similar in chiropractic and naturopathy curricula. Within the different chiropractic or naturopathic courses, the percentage of the courses allocated to the key learning areas were comparable; however, there were differences when comparison was made between chiropractic courses on one hand and naturopathy courses on the other. On average, chiropractic courses allocated 45.9% of their curricula to medical sciences, whereas university-based naturopathy courses allocated 26.2% to medical science and non-university naturopathy courses allocated 23%. Conclusion: Chiropractic registration guarantees a uniform level of training for all practitioners. This training was found to comply with accreditation board requirements. The naturopathy courses in the study had elected to comply with the requirements for state government and professional association accreditation, and a level of uniformity was evident amongst the various courses. It is pertinent to note that although both groups of practitioners are entitled to practise as primary contact practitioners, chiropractors and naturopaths had markedly different focuses on medical science training. We suggest a review of naturopathy curricula is warranted in the context of uniformity of training for primary contact practitioners.


As part of the European Supernova Collaboration, we obtained extensive photometry and spectroscopy of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN 2002dj covering epochs from 11 d before to nearly two years after maximum. Detailed optical and near-infrared observations show that this object belongs to the class of the high-velocity gradient events as indicated by Si, S and Ca lines. The light curve shape and velocity evolution of SN 2002dj appear to be nearly identical to SN 2002bo. The only significant difference is observed in the optical to near-infrared colours and a reduced spectral emission beyond 6500 A. For high-velocity gradient SNe Ia, we tentatively identify a faster rise to maximum, a more pronounced inflection in the V and R light curves after maximum and a brighter, slower declining late-time B light curve as common photometric properties of this class of objects. They also seem to be characterized by a different colour and colour evolution with respect to 'normal' SNe Ia. The usual light curve shape parameters do not distinguish these events. Stronger, more blueshifted absorption features of intermediate-mass elements and lower temperatures are the most prominent spectroscopic features of SNe Ia displaying high-velocity gradients. It appears that these events burn more intermediate-mass elements in the outer layers. Possible connections to the metallicity of the progenitor star are explored.


Biological thinking is structured by the notion of level of organization. We will show that this notion acquires a precise meaning in critical phenomena: they disrupt, by the appearance of infinite quantities, the mathematical (possibly equational) determination at a given level, when moving at an "higher" one. As a result, their analysis cannot be called genuinely bottom-up, even though it remains upward in a restricted sense. At the same time, criticality and related phenomena are very common in biology. Because of this, we claim that bottom-up approaches are not sufficient, in principle, to capture biological phenomena. In the second part of this paper, following (Bailly, 1991b), we discuss a strong criterium of level transition. The core idea of the criterium is to start from the breaking of the symmetries and determination at a "first" level in order to "move" at the others. If biological phenomena have multiple, sustained levels of organization in this sense, then they should be interpreted as extended critical transitions.


Objective To determine whether use of serotonin or non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors near to delivery is associated with postpartum hemorrhage. Design Cohort study. Setting 2000-07 nationwide Medicaid data (Medicaid Analytic eXtract). Population 106 000 pregnant women aged 12-55 with a diagnosis of mood or anxiety disorder. Women were categorized into four mutually exclusive exposure groups according to pharmacy dispensing data: current (delivery date), recent (1-30 days before delivery date), past (1-5 months before delivery date), and no exposure (reference group). Main outcome measures Risk of postpartum hemorrhage by timing of exposure and by serotonin or non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors, classes of antidepressant, and antidepressant types. Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for delivery year, risk factors for postpartum hemorrhage, indicators of severity of mood/anxiety disorder, other indications for antidepressants, and other drugs. High dimensional propensity score (hdPS) methods were used to empirically identify and adjust for additional factors. Results 12 710 (12%) women had current exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitor monotherapy, and 1495 (1.4%) women had current exposure to non-serotonin reuptake inhibitor monotherapy. The risk of postpartum hemorrhage was 2.8% among women with mood/anxiety disorders but no exposure to antidepressants, 4.0% in the current users of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, 3.8% in the current users of non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors, 3.2% in the recent users of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, 3.1% in the recent users of non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors, 2.5% in the past users of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and 3.4% in the past users of non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Compared with no exposure, women with current exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors had a 1.47-fold increased risk of postpartum hemorrhage (95% confidence interval 1.33 to 1.62) and women with current non-serotonin reuptake inhibitor exposure had a 1.39-fold increased risk (1.07 to 1.81). Results were similar with hdPS adjustment. Women with current exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors had an adjusted excess risk of 1.26% (0.90% to 1.62%), with a number needed to harm of 80, and for women with current exposure to non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors the excess risk was 1.03% (0.07% to 1.99%), with a number needed to harm of 97. For exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors the relative risk was 1.19 (1.03 to 1.38) for recent exposure and 0.93 (0.82 to 1.06) for past exposure; for non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors the figures were 1.17 (0.80 to 1.70) and 1.26 (1.00 to 1.59), respectively. Current exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor monotherapy was also associated with postpartum hemorrhage (1.42, 1.27 to 1.57), as was current serotonin norepinephrine (noradrenaline) reuptake inhibitor (1.90, 1.37 to 2.63) and tricyclic monotherapy (1.77, 0.90 to 3.47). All types of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors available for analysis and venlafaxine, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, were significantly associated with postpartum hemorrhage. Conclusions Exposure to serotonin and non-serotonin reuptake inhibitors, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and tricyclics, close to the time of delivery was associated with a 1.4 to 1.9-fold increased risk for postpartum hemorrhage. While potential confounding by unmeasured factors cannot be ruled out, these findings suggest that patients treated with antidepressants during late pregnancy are more likely to experience postpartum hemorrhage.


Background: Pnuemoperitoneum created during laparoscopic surgeries cause adverse haemodynamic changes. Many drugs are used to blunt these effects. Dexmeditomidine is a highly selective alpha2 agonist, causes sympatholysis, analgesia and also has cardiovascular stabilizing property. Hence the present study is an attempt to study the effects of dexmeditomidine in attenuating these adverse haemodynamic effects. Methodology: A total of 60 patients were divided into two groups. Group D patients recieved dexmeditomidine at a rate of 0.2µg/kg/hour or 0.04ml/kg/hr and Group S patients recieved 0.9% Normal Saline at the same rate. Infusion was started 5 mins before induction. Heart rate, blood pressure, mean arterial pressure were monitored. Result: In group D haemodynamic stress response was significantly attenuated when compared to group S. Results were statistically significant. Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine, a highly selective alpha-2 agonist, when infused at a low dose of 0.2µg/kg/hour has stable hemodynamics during laparoscopic surgery.


The aggregation of dihydrogen phosphate ion has been studied by Raman spectroscopy during serial dilution of highly concentrated (>5 M) solutions. Factor analysis has been used to recover monomer and aggregate spectra from families of 600–2000 spectra obtained during dilution to about 0.1 M. Spectra of the free aquated dihydrogen phosphate ion and its dimer, trimer, and tetramer have been obtained. There is some evidence for the existence of longer chain aggregates. The serial dilution procedure has been verified by dilution of 2.3 M glycine solution. Only spectra of monomer and dimer ions are recovered. For the well-understood glycine system, the band positions and intensities and the dimerization concentration-dependence are in agreement with previously reported values.


The migration of subsurface fluid flow within continental rift basins has been increasingly recognized to significantly affect the thermal history of sediments and petroleum information. To gain insight into these paleofluid flow effects, the thermal history of the Taylorsville basin in Virginia was reconstructed from fluid-inclusion studies, apatite fission-track data, and vitrinite reflectance data. Models of thermal history indicate that the basin was buried to the thermal maximum at 200 Ma; a cooling event followed during which the eastern side of the basin cooled earlier and faster than the western side, suggesting that there was a differential uplift and topographically driven fluid flow. This hypothesis is supported by analyses of secondary oil and aqueous inclusions trapped in calcite and quartz veins during the uplift stage. Gas chromatograms of inclusion oils exhibit variable but extensive depletion of light molecular-weight hydrocarbons. The relative abundance of n-alkanes, petrographic observations, and the geological data indicate that the alteration process on these inclusion oils was probably neither phase separation nor biodegradation, but water washing. Water:oil ratios necessary to produce the observed alteration are much greater than 10,000:1. These exceedingly high ratios are consistent with the migration of inclusion oils along with fluid flow during themore » early stages of basin evolution. The results provide significant evidence about the role of a subsurface flow system in modifying the temperature structure of the basin and the composition of petroleum generated within the basin.« less


Academic institutions and researchers are becoming increasingly involved in translational research to spur innovation in addressing many complex biomedical and societal problems and in response to the focus of the National Institutes of Health and other funders. One approach to translational research is to develop interdisciplinary research teams. By bringing together collaborators with diverse research backgrounds and perspectives, these teams seek to blend their science and the workings of the scientists to push beyond the limits of current research. While team science promises individual and team benefits in creating and implementing innovations, its increased complexity poses challenges. In particular, because academic career advancement commonly focuses on individual achievement, team science might differentially impact early stage researchers. The need to be recognized for individual accomplishments to move forward in an academic career may give rise to research team conflicts. Raising awareness to career-related aspects of team science will help individuals (particularly trainees and junior faculty) take steps to align their excitement and participation with the success of both the team and their personal career advancement.


Many authors have considered the performance analysis of M-QAM modulated signals over the Generalized-K channel but only at High Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) range. Furthermore, in the cooperative context, only Amplify and Forward protocol has been considered for this kind of fading channel, and it was limited to high SNR range for M-QAM modulated signals. In this paper, we present performance analysis of both the direct link and the adaptive Decode and Forward (DF) relaying protocol with multiple relays over independent and identical (i.i.d) Generalized K fading channels. Besides, we handle with the whole SNR range for M-QAM modulated signals; we give accurate analytical expressions for the Average Symbol Error Probability (ASEP) and the outage probability. Results for high SNR are derived as particular cases. We have provided Monte-Carlo simulation results which match well theoretical ones. The obtained results are very useful to tackle the QoS based on cooperative communications for wireless sensor networks.


The analysis of real-world complex networks has been the focus of recent research. Detecting communities helps in uncovering their structural and functional organization. Valuable insight can be obtained by analyzing the dense, overlapping, and highly interwoven k-clique communities. However, their detection is challenging due to extensive memory requirements and execution time. In this paper, we present a novel, parallel k-clique community detection method, based on an innovative technique which enables connected components of a network to be obtained from those of its subnetworks. The novel method has an unbounded, user-configurable, and input-independent maximum degree of parallelism, and hence is able to make full use of computational resources. Theoretical tight upper bounds on its worst case time and space complexities are given as well. Experiments on real-world networks such as the Internet and the World Wide Web confirmed the almost optimal use of parallelism (i.e., a linear speedup). Comparisons with other state-of-the-art k-clique community detection methods show dramatic reductions in execution time and memory footprint. An open-source implementation of the method is also made publicly available.


Following up on recommendations from OSI 2016, this team will dig deeper into the question of developing and recommending new tools to repair or replace the journal impact factor (and/or how it is used), and propose actions the OSI community can take between now and the next meeting. WhatA¢â'¬â"¢s needed? What change is realistic and how will we get there from here?


Background: A stressful learning environment can hinder student achievement. Building on sociolinguistic theory, student learning is enhanced wherever the mother-tongue language is the same as the teaching instruction medium language. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of students' non-mother-tongue language learning in the achievement of learning outcomes. Materials and Methods: The present study is a perception study with interventional, quantitative, and educational research component comparing the learning of 1st-year medical students in pure English with their learning using code-switching. The data were collected during the 2018/2019 academic year through a quiz and a questionnaire. Eighty-six 1st-year students' perceptions were compared to those of 72 4th-year students using the same questionnaire. Both t-tests and Chi-squared tests were used for the data analysis with SPSS for Windows, Version 21; P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Code-switching students scored higher in the postsession quiz. One-third of the 1st-year students felt that learning in English was stressful, and they cited language issues as reasons for their low scores on examinations. They realized, however, that learning in English had positive consequences on their future careers and suggested that a bilingual approach be used, especially in the early stages and for complex topics. Fourth-year students were less apprehensive about learning in English. Conclusions: Ensuring appropriate English language proficiency during the admission process to medical schools and the use of simple, clear language during teaching with code-switching when needed are likely to decrease student stress during learning. This is likely to enhance students' achievement of the intended learning outcomes and maximize their performance after graduation.


Abstract To assess mild hydrocracking as an option to improve the quality of the heavy gas oil (HGO) fraction of Syncrude's synthetic crude oil (known as Syncrude Sweet Blend or SSB), severe hydrotreating tests were performed by using Athabasca oilsands bitumen-derived coker HGO, heavy vacuum gas oil, and a blend of the two in a pilot-scale down-flow reactor over a typical commercial NiMo/Al2O3 hydrotreating catalyst. Kinetics of sulfur and nitrogen removal, 343°C+ conversion, and aromatics hydrogenation were investigated by incorporating the effect of catalyst deactivation. The total liquid products (TLPs) from the pilot tests were distilled into naphtha, light gas oil (LGO), and HGO fractions, and the TLPs and distilled products were characterized. Cetane number (CN) was determined by engine test for selected LGOs and by ignition quality tester for all LGOs. The quality of product HGOs as fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit feedstock was evaluated by using correlations (developed based on feed properties including GC-MS data) to predict FCC product yields. The CN of the LGOs and the predicted gasoline yields from HGO products were much better than that produced from the corresponding fractions of current SSB. The CN and FCC gasoline yield were related to the level of 343°C+ conversion (i.e., the higher the conversion, the higher the CN and FCC gasoline yield).


Results are presented on the two-photon absorption and fluorescence properties of a new molecular crystal based on (E)-(E)-4-(p-N,N-dimethylaniline)-1-cyano-1-di(ethoxy)phosphinoylbuta-1,3-diene (DCP). This material shows a two-photon-induced fluorescence when excited in the infrared, in powder ∼6 times that obtained from a [2-[2-[4-dimethylaminophenyl]ethenyl]-6-methyl-4H-pyron-4-ylidene]propanedinitrile powder excited at 1.064 μm, and ∼50 times that of a 1-cm-long Rhodamine 640 solution (2 mM in methanol). Pulsed photoacoustic spectroscopy has been used to characterize the two-photon absorption band of the crystalline state. A high two-photon absorption coefficient, β=15 cm/GW, is reported, and an energy-conversion yield of 2.0% (incoherent fluorescence) was obtained in a DCP monocrystal in a single-pass beam configuration. Finally, a correlation is shown between the polarization of the excitation radiation and the crystalline structure of the material.


Groundwater salinity is a widespread problem around the world with adverse consequences on health, soil quality and overall eco-systems. With the rapidly growing demands of groundwater, its exploitation is also accelerating. It is also changing the flow of the groundwater, which in turn causes ingress of sea water or intrusion of other saline groundwater or polluted water from the surrounding areas. The major consequences are scarcity of water even for domestic use and rise in the level and spread of groundwater salinity. An innovative technique of creating a pool of fresh groundwater within a saline aquifer is developed, which can address the issue. Technique is about recharging the saline aquifer with harvested rain water in such a way that recharged rain water does not get mixed with the existing saline groundwater rather it forms pool of fresh water in the saline aquifer. Water from this pool can be extracted without getting it mixed with saline groundwater. This innovation also eliminates the need of cost intensive provision of water storage structures to store rain water for fulfilling the domestic water needs. Thus, the saline aquifer unsuitable or otherwise useless for groundwater development can be used.


The higher education sector increasingly uses social media as an educational tool to develop a sense of community and foster student engagement, particularly as social networking sites have become an integral part of the lives of digital natives. The current study sought to explore whether the use of Twitter could foster student engagement in a sport marketing course, specifically by embedding Twitter through two assessments, online lectures and weekly tasks. Mean score comparisons indicated that over a 13-week semester, students (N = 68) felt more engaged and included in the course because it had Twitter, found Twitter to be relatively easy to use, and the use of social media aligned with course objectives. The results of the current study have salience in sport management education, because the effective use of Twitter within a higher education context demonstrates how the use of social media can foster engagement with course materials.


Nitrogen cycling has been studied in soils from Hob Moor, an unimproved, unfertilized and N-impacted acid grassland near York, UK. Preliminary assessment of 7 soil profiles sampled to 60 cm depth indicated considerable N mineralization and nitrification in sub-soils. Later soils from a freely draining area of the grassland were sampled from 2 superficially similar profiles to 1 m depth to explore interactions between N species transformations and soils properties. The spatial heterogeneity of the 2 soil profiles was not anticipated, and was attributed to different fates of litter inputs to the soils. When N mineralization was expressed on a soil C basis, both profiles followed similar trends. These freely drained acidic profiles showed incredible potential for N mineralization and mobility well below the root zone which potentially could contaminate surface and/or ground-waters. This was confirmed using intact core microcosms with vegetation and litter layers. Episodic drainage water analysis revealed considerable and sustained NH4+-N and NO3--N concentrations from 3 freely draining soil profiles. One profile apparently had litter incorporated into sub-soils and behaved differently compared to the other two with more surficial litter presence. This led to design of a microcosm study to assess the litter effects on drainage water inorganic nitrogen (DIN), organic nitrogen (DON) and organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and fluxes over a natural seasonal temperature gradient over 7 months from early winter to mid summer. Litter mineralization resulted in substantial NH4+ production. Temperature apparently showed strong effects on NH4+ production. Mobile NH4+ from litter layers raised the extractable NH4+ concentrations in underlying subsoils. When litter was incorporated within subsoils, it greatly reduced NO3- concentrations in the drainage water, especially in winter when NO3- is many fold more mobile due to lower biological uptake. Extractable NH4+ concentrations correlated positively with water-soluble DOC, suggesting a role of DOC in NH4+ dynamics. In contrast, extractable NO3- concentrations were correlated negatively with DOC, indicating a role for DOC in NO3- immobilization by acting as substrate for microorganisms. Litter manipulations significantly altered concentrations and fluxes of DIN, DON and DOC in the drainage water. Concentrations of NH4+ increased substantially after freeze-thaw events, which facilitated NH4+ mobilization. Litter layers produced sustainable DOC and DON in the drainage water. In summer, increase in temperature significantly enhanced DOC and DON concentrations for the control and surface litter treatments; however, the reverse behaviour was observed for the subsurface litter treatment. Cumulative fluxes indicated that DON formed a significant component of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), 42, 46 and 62% for the control, surface litter and subsurface litter treatments respectively. Cumulative fluxes showed net NH4+ retention in each treatment and significant reduction in NO3- flux associated with subsurface litter placement.


The goal of this project in Estonia was to determine what languages are spoken by students from the 2nd to the 5th year of basic school at their homes in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. At the same time, this problem was also studied in other segregated regions of Estonia: Kohtla-Järve and Maardu. According to the database of the population census from the year 2000 (Estonian Statistics Executive Office?s census 2000), there are representatives of 142 ethnic groups living in Estonia, speaking a total of 109 native languages. At the same time, the database doesn't state which languages are spoken at homes. The material presented in this article belongs to the research topic "Home Language of Basic School Students in Tallinn" from years 2007–2008, specifically financed and ordered by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (grant No. ETF 7065) in the framework of an international study called "Multilingual Project". It was determined what language is dominating in everyday use, what are the factors for choosing the language for communication, what are the preferred languages and language skills. This study reflects the actual trends of the language situation in these cities.


As part of a symposium on Bruce Springsteen and American law, this essay considers the themes explored by Springsteen in his song "Nebraska," which was inspired by the story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Anne Fugate, two young "lovers" who indulged in a remarkable course of violence in Nebraska during the 1950s. The essay asks to what extent the song, and the story, echo the themes of emigration and displacement that are key elements in the history and current reality of the American West. The essay compares the story of Starkweather and Fugate with the current case of Christian Longo, convicted and sentenced to death in Oregon for murdering his wife and three children and disposing of their bodies in a shallow watercourse on the Pacific Coast. The crime of "family annihilation" seems as unfathomable as do the random murders committed by Starkweather and Fugate; but the author considers an episode from his own emigration from East to West, and the searing and peculiar pain caused by an injury to his daughter, as a means of considering the basic narcissism of parenthood, exacerbated by the separation from extended family and community occasioned by the trek west, which is a fearsome one even in the era of airliners and automobiles. It concludes that only the imagination of the artist can lead us to confront the darkness that lies inside us -- what Ernest Hemingway in his story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," called "the nada." If a mild-mannered law professor can glimpse the nada inside himself from the small traumas and partial, inevitable dissolution of his family, then perhaps even a killer like Longto, and by extension, Starkweather, is not beyond the realm of human solidarity and even understanding.


The issue, whether the use of cannabis contains a higher risk to develop psychotic disorders, is disputed since the 1930s. Two questions are of central concern: Firstly, if the use of cannabis is causal for the development of psychotic disorders, and secondly, what the neurobiological connection consists of. In this review we give an overview on epidemiological studies concerning the issue and on neurobiological studies on the effects of cannabis in the brain. On the basis of cohort studies that have been conducted within the last decades and recent meta-analyses the hypothesized connection between cannabis use und psychotic disorders can be corroborated. The risk to develop psychotic symptoms and also schizophrenic psychoses is thus explicitly elevated for young people who use cannabis. Cannabis use can be considered a component cause, a dose dependency exists. An information of the public concerning this matter is required in order to prevent a rising incidence of psychotic disorders in times of an increasing ease of handling of cannabis.


Human motion analysis provides a valuable solution for monitoring the wellbeing of the elderly, quantifying post-operative patient recovery and monitoring the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. The development of accurate motion analysis models, however, requires the integration of multi-sensing modalities and the utilization of appropriate data analysis techniques. This paper describes a robust framework for improved patient motion analysis by integrating information captured by body and visual sensor networks. Real-time target extraction is applied and a skeletonization procedure is subsequently carried out to quantify the internal motion of moving target and compute two metrics, spatiotemporal cyclic motion between leg segments and head trajectory, for each vision node. Extracted motion metrics from multiple vision nodes and accelerometer information from a wearable body sensor are then fused at the feature level by using K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm and used to classify target's walking gait into normal or abnormal. The potential value of the proposed framework for patient monitoring is demonstrated and the results obtained from practical experiments are described.


A new set of tunable phase-only filters for realizing the transverse superresolution is introduced. The filters, whose significant features are their ability to tune and simplicity, consist of one half-wave plate between two quarter-wave plates, and the half-wave plate is made of two zones that can rotate with respect to each other. Through analyzing the transverse point spread function of such system, it can be concluded that by rotating any zone of the half-wave plate, the transverse resolution can be realized and can be tunable.


Attempting to cope with fluctuations of network conditions in terms of available bandwidth, latency and packet loss, and to deliver the highest quality of video (and audio) content to users, research on adaptive video streaming has attracted intense efforts from the research community and huge investments from technology giants. How successful these efforts and investments are, is a question that needs precise measurements of the results of those technological advancements. HTTP-based Adaptive Streaming (HAS) algorithms, which seek to improve video streaming over the Internet, introduce video bitrate adaptivity in a way that is scalable and efficient. However, how each HAS implementation takes into account the wide spectrum of variables and configuration options, brings a high complexity to the task of measuring the results and visualizing the statistics of the performance and quality of experience. In this paper, we introduce CAdViSE, our Cloud-based Adaptive Video Streaming Evaluation framework for the automated testing of adaptive media players. The paper aims to demonstrate a test environment which can be instantiated in a cloud infrastructure, examines multiple media players with different network attributes at defined points of the experiment time, and finally concludes the evaluation with visualized statistics and insights into the results.


We build wavelets on the 2-Hyperboloid. First, we define dilations on the hyperboloid through conic projection. Then, incorporating hyperbolic motions belonging to $SO_0(1,2)$, we define a family of hyperbolic wavelets. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT)is obtained by convolution of the scaled wavelets with the signal. This wavelet transform is proved to be invertible whenever wavelets satisfy a particular admissibility condition. Finally, the Euclidean limit of this CWT on the hyperboloid is considered.


ABSTRACT The skin is the first line of defense between an animal and its environment, and disruptions in skin-associated microorganisms can be linked to an animal's health and nutritional state. To better understand the skin microbiome of large whales, high-throughput sequencing of partial small subunit rRNA genes was used to study the skin-associated bacteria of 89 seemingly healthy humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sampled along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) during early (2010) and late (2013) austral summers. Six core groups of bacteria were present in 93% or more of all humpback skin samples. A shift was observed in the average relative abundances of these core bacteria over time, with the emergence of four additional core groups of bacteria that corresponded to a decrease in water temperature, possibly caused by season- or foraging-related changes in skin biochemistry that influenced microbial growth, or other temporal factors. The skin microbiome differed between whales sampled at several regional locations along the WAP, suggesting that environmental factors or population may also influence the whale skin microbiome. Overall, the skin microbiome of humpback whales appears to provide insight into animal- and environment-related factors and may serve as a useful indicator for animal health or ecosystem alterations. IMPORTANCE The microbiomes of wild animals are currently understudied but may provide information about animal health and/or animal-environment interactions. In the largest sampling of any marine mammal microbiome, this study demonstrates conservation in the skin microbiome of 89 seemingly healthy humpback whales sampled in the Western Antarctic Peninsula, with shifts in the bacterial community composition related to temporal and regional variability. This study is important because it suggests that the skin microbiome of humpback whales could provide insight into animal nutritional or seasonal/environment-related factors, which are becoming increasingly important to recognize due to unprecedented rates of climate change and anthropogenic impact on ocean ecosystems.


This article is based on a concept; "During the conversion of energy into mass, the interaction properties between the Sub Quantum Energies ( SQE s) are transferred from photon to fermions and bosons". We have accepted that nature of gravity is quantized, but according to the behavior of photons in the gravitational field, we provide a new definition of gravitons. Then we explain the relationship between gravity and electromagnetic energy. According to the experimental observations, we generalize the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism to the gravitational field. We use the pair production and decay to show that a charged particle acts like a generator, the generator input and output are gravitons and virtual photon. The negative charged particle produces positive virtual photon and positive charged particle produces negative virtual photon. A negative and a positive virtual photon combine with each other in the vicinity of a charged particle and cause the charged particle to accelerate. Although this approach to Quantum Field Theory ( QFT ) is presented, it has some differences. The mechanism of negative and positive virtual photons interaction is easier and more realistic than exchange particles of QFT , and it also has no ambiguities of QFT . After all, we explain the real photon and its structure by using the virtual photons. Regarding the equivalence of mass-energy and the photon structure, structure of matter was explained. Then we will explain the relationship between speed and spontaneous symmetry breaking, when the particles linear speed is reduced, physical symmetry, one after the other is broken spontaneously.


Regardless of the apparent need for product eliminations, many managers hesitate to act as they fear deleterious effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Other managers do carry out product eliminations, but often fail to consider the consequences for customers and business relationships. Given the relevance and problems of product eliminations, research on this topic in general and on the consequences for customers and business relationships in particular is surprisingly scarce. Therefore, this empirical study explores how and to what extent the elimination of a product negatively affects customers and business relationships. Results indicate that eliminating a product may result in severe economic and psychological costs to customers, thereby seriously decreasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This paper also shows that these costs are not exogenous in nature. Instead, depending on the characteristics of the eliminated product these costs are found to be more or less strongly driven by a company's behavior when implementing the elimination at the customer interface. Homburg / Fürst / Prigge A Customer Perspective on Product Eliminations


The orbital modulation of stellar wind UV resonance line profiles as a result of ionization of the wind by the X-ray source has been observed in the high-mass X-ray binary 4U1700-37/HD 153919 for the first time. Far-UV observations (905-1180 Angstrom, resolution 0.05 Angstroms) were made at the four quadrature points of the binary orbit with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) in 2003 April and August. The O6.5 laf primary eclipses the X-ray source (neutron star or black hole) with a 3.41-day period. Orbital modulation of the UV resonance lines, resulting from X-ray photoionization of the dense stellar wind, the so-called Hatchett-McCray (HM) effect, was predicted for 4U1700-37/HD153919 (Hatchett 8 McCray 1977, ApJ, 211, 522) but was not seen in N V 1240, Si IV 1400, or C IV 1550 in IUE and HST spectra. The FUSE spectra show that the P V 1118-1128 and S IV 1063-1073 P-Cygni lines appear to vary as expected for the HM effect, weakest at phase 0.5 (X-ray source conjunction) and strongest at phase 0.0 (X-ray source eclipse). The phase modulation of the O VI 1032-1037 lines, however, is opposite to P V and S IV, implying that O VI may be a byproduct of the wind's ionization by the X-ray source. Such variations were not observed in N V, Si IV, and C IV because of their high optical depth. Due to their lower cosmic abundance, the P V and S IV wind lines are unsaturated, making them excellent tracers of the ionization conditions in the O star's wind.


Therapy for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) varies widely in clinical practice as international recommendations for PMR treatment are not currently available. In this paper, we report the 2015 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) recommendations for the management of PMR. We used the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology as a framework for the project. Accordingly, the direction and strength of the recommendations are based on the quality of evidence, the balance between desirable and undesirable effects, patients' and clinicians' values and preferences, and resource use. Eight overarching principles and nine specific recommendations were developed covering several aspects of PMR, including basic and follow‐up investigations of patients under treatment, risk factor assessment, medical access for patients and specialist referral, treatment strategies such as initial glucocorticoid (GC) doses and subsequent tapering regimens, use of intramuscular GCs and disease modifying anti‐rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), as well as the roles of non‐steroidal anti‐rheumatic drugs and non‐pharmacological interventions. These recommendations will inform primary, secondary and tertiary care physicians about an international consensus on the management of PMR. These recommendations should serve to inform clinicians about best practices in the care of patients with PMR.


A stepped pattern of benthic foraminiferal decimation, survival, and recovery identified across the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary at Caravaca (southeast Spain) suggests that an exceptionally large influx of nutrients reached the sea floor suddenly, at the time of the K-T extinction event. Rapid reestablishment of pre-K-T boundary environmental conditions followed. Our data demonstrate a close coupling between the collapse of the ecologic system in the upper water column at Caravaca and a correspondent decimation of bottom dwellers on the sea floor. The dramatic environmental collapse of deep-water benthic foraminiferal communities at the end of the Cretaceous at Caravaca suggests that the K-T boundary event was geologically instantaneous and catastrophic.


A measure of the public's expectation of inflation would assist the Fed in formulating monetary policy. In order to create such a measure, the U.S. Treasury could issue its debt in two forms: standard debt and debt indexed for inflation. The difference in yield on these two forms of debt would measure the public's expectation of inflation.


This paper draws on strategic trade theory to explore the conditions under which different national competition law systems can compete. I assume that each state seeks to maximize a weighted sum of producer and consumer welfare within its territory, the weighting in turn reflecting public choice considerations. I further assume the tolerance or promotion of inefficient forms of inter-firm cooperation and monopolization discourages investment in the protected economic sector and makes it less likely that firms in that sector will innovate. Working within these assumptions, the question becomes whether states have sufficient incentives to discourage inefficient inter-firm cooperation and monopolization in cases where foreign consumers bear the lion's share of the costs of monopoly rents. In a static model, individual states should prefer such arrangements, resulting in a collective action problem due to global losses of welfare. If, however, protected economic sectors bear a sanction in the form of higher costs of capital and lower rates of innovation, the collective action problem may dissipate. The critical question thus becomes the strength of the assumption that private or state-sponsored protection reduces incentives for investment and innovation. Strategic trade theory also addresses the institutional conditions for governments to engage in successful protection. I argue that the tolerance of organizational combinations that reduce global welfare but produce local benefits is simply one aspect of such protection. The core common problem involves governmental capacity to distinguish industrial structures that advance efficiency from those that reflect rent-seeking. In trade law, one asks whether governments should protect local industries to promote positive externalities. In competition law, the symmetrical question is whether governments should sanction foreign industries to deter negative externalities. I conclude by considering governmental capacity to pick industrial winners and losers. The empirical case for governmental success at distinguishing efficiency-enhancing from rent-seeking industrial structures is mixed at best. Moreover, the instances where the distinction seems easiest to make - cartelization of primary products - more often involve greater governmental involvement in the promotion of inefficient industrial structures than in their dismantling. The implication of this evidence is that it is plausible to assume that protection resulting from competition policy, like protection produced by governmental intervention, does deter investment and innovation and thus contains its own punishment.


In this paper we estimate average and individual countries' exchange rate pass-through to producer and consumer price indices in four Central and Eastern Europe countries (Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) within a Panel Bayesian VAR model. This method makes it possible to efficiently combine static and dynamic interrelations with any possible heterogeneity within the units. The resulting average long-run pass-through coefficients are about 0.5 for producer prices and 0.3 for consumer prices (with around 0.25 in the short run for producer prices and no immediate pass-through for consumer prices), with the estimates for Hungary and the Czech Republic generally situated above the group average and Romania and Poland below the average. Subsample estimates showed that starting in 2008 pass-through enlarged slightly, given the increased macroeconomic distress during this period, while the countries in the study display a higher endogenously determined degree of homogeneity.


Sales forecasting at the UPC level is important for retailers to manage inventory. In this paper, we propose more effective methods to forecast retail UPC sales by incorporating competitive information including prices and promotions. The impact of these competitive marketing activities on the sales of the focal product has been extensively documented. However, competitive information has been surprisingly overlooked by previous studies in forecasting UPC sales, probably because of the high-dimensionality problem associated with the selection of variables. That is, each FMCG product category typically contains a large number of UPCs and is consequently associated with a large number of competitive explanatory variables. Under such a circumstance, time series models can easily become over-fitted and thus generate poor forecasting results.
Our forecasting methods consist of two stages. At the first stage, we refine the competitive information. We identify the most relevant explanatory variables using variable selection methods, or alternatively, pool information across all variables using factor analysis to construct a small number of diffusion indexes. At the second stage, we specify the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ADL) model following a general to specific modelling strategy with the identified most relevant competitive explanatory variables and the constructed diffusion indexes.
We compare the forecasting performance of our proposed methods with the industrial practice method (benchmark model) and the ADL model specified exclusively with the price and promotion information of the focal product. The results show that our proposed methods generate substantially more accurate forecasts across a range of product categories.
1Corresponding


Climate variability and human activities interact to increase the abundance of woody plants in arid and semi‐arid ecosystems worldwide. How woody plants interact with rainfall to influence patterns of soil moisture through time, at different depths in the soil profile and between neighboring landscape patches is poorly known. In a semi‐arid mesquite savanna, we deployed a paired array of sensors beneath a mesquite canopy and in an adjacent open area to measure volumetric soil water content (θ) every 30 min at several depths between 2004 and 2007. In addition, to quantify temporally dynamic variation in soil moisture between the two microsites and across soil depths we analysed θ time‐series using fast Fourier transforms (FFT). FFT analyses were consistent with the prediction that by reducing evaporative losses through shade and reducing rainfall inputs through canopy interception of small rainfall events, the mesquite canopy was associated with a decline in high‐frequency (hour‐to‐hour and day‐to‐day) variation in shallow θ. Finally, we found that, in both microsites, high‐frequency θ variation declined with increasing soil depth as the influence of evaporative losses and inputs associated with smaller rainfall events declined. In this case, we argue that the buffering of shallow soil moisture against high‐frequency variations can enhance nutrient cycling and alter the carbon cycle in dryland ecosystems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


As many people rely on e-mail communications for business and everyday life, Internet e-mail worms constitute one of the major security threats for our society. Unlike scanning worms such as Code Red or Slammer, e-mail worms spread over a logical network defined by e-mail address relationships, making traditional epidemic models invalid for modeling the propagation of e-mail worms. In addition, we show that the topological epidemic models presented by M. Boguna, et al. (2000) largely overestimate epidemic spreading speed in topological networks due to their implicit homogeneous mixing assumption. For this reason, we rely on simulations to study e-mail worm propagation in this paper. We present an e-mail worm simulation model that accounts for the behaviors of e-mail users, including e-mail checking time and the probability of opening an e-mail attachment. Our observations of e-mail lists suggest that an Internet e-mail network follows a heavy-tailed distribution in terms of node degrees, and we model it as a power-law network. To study the topological impact, we compare e-mail worm propagation on power-law topology with worm propagation on two other topologies: small-world topology and random-graph topology. The impact of the power-law topology on the spread of e-mail worms is mixed: E-mail worms spread more quickly on a power-law topology than on a small-world topology or a random-graph topology, but immunization defense is more effective on a power-law topology.


Patient harm due to unsafe healthcare is widespread, potentially devastating, and often preventable. Hoping to eliminate avoidable harms, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Global Patient Safety Action Plan in July 2021. The UK's National Health Service relies on several measures, including 'never events', 'serious incidents', 'patient safety events' and coroners' Prevention of Future Deaths reports (PFDs) to monitor healthcare quality and safety. We conducted a systematic narrative review of PubMed and medRxiv on 19 February 2023 to explore the strengths and limitations of coroners' PFDs and whether they could be a safety tool to help meet the WHO's Global Patient Safety Action Plan. We identified 17 studies that investigated a range of PFDs, including preventable deaths involving medicines and an assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that PFDs offered important information that could support hospitals to improve patient safety and prevent deaths. However, inconsistent reporting, low response rates to PFDs, and difficulty in accessing, analysing and monitoring PFDs limited their use and adoption as a patient safety tool for hospitals. To fulfil the potential of PFDs, a national system is required that develops guidelines, sanctions failed responses and embeds technology to encourage the prevention of future deaths.


In the search for more effective noise attenuation methods, a number of candidate materials for road noise barriers and partition walls were tested at the Cooper Union Acoustics Research Center in a specially constructed enclosure divided into two sections by a wall constructed of these materials. The transmission losses of cinder blocks filled with various recycled materials constitute the acoustical property of principal interest. Three tests were executed for each type of material: (1) transmission loss measurements; (2) absorption coefficient measurements; and (3) diffraction effects. The intended applications of the designed materials are as noise barriers for urban highways and subway stations, and as partition walls for factories, classrooms, libraries, etc. Recycled materials experimented with would normally end up in land fills or incinerators. [See NOISE‐CON Proceedings for full paper.]


As the urgency of climate change, biodiversity loss, severe poverty, and other global environmental and development challenges continues to grow, concerted international action to address them is becoming even harder. National efforts are thus more important than ever. An important example is the United Kingdom and the United States, which have stronger ties with each other than almost any other county — the so-called "special relationship." They share a common language and history, and have similar legal systems and culture. The United States and the United Kingdom also aspire to international leadership, and often play that role. Accelerating the transition to sustainability requires six elements at the national level. These are a national strategy, legal integration mechanisms, governmental implementing or coordinating bodies, monitoring and review mechanisms, leadership, and a bottom-up sustainability movement. This article describes and compares key U.S. and U.K. actions on these elements, and suggests what each could learn from the other.


Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) of > 99.9% in purity was artificially released to simulate the emission sources in the etching/thin-film area of a working cleanroom in a semiconductor fab at the rate of 492 g/h. The temporal and spatial dispersion patterns of the gas pollutant were studied during the simulated preventive maintenance (PM) and pipe leaking exhaust events experimentally and numerically. Three mobile Fourier transform infrared spectrometers (FTIRs, detection limit: 10 ppb) were used simultaneously to measure the real time SF6 concentrations in different locations of the etching/thin-film area of the cleanroom. An additional open-path FTIR with very low detection limit of 0.4 ppb was installed before the recirculation duct in the lithography area to monitor if the pollutant drifted from the etching/thin-film area to the lithography area. The results show that the 3-D numerical model predicts the unsteady gas concentration accurately in both the peak concentration and the time required to reach the peak concentration. Due to high dilution of the pollutant in the cleanroom, the current gas sensors may not be sensitive enough and a better monitoring system and strategy is needed to protect workers from injury and ensure good product yield. The well-mixed model predicts the peak pollutant concentrations within a reasonable range which is 0.34-1.33 times the experimental values except when the monitored distance is very close to the release point. Although it is not able to predict the time required to reach the peak concentration and the time for the concentration to drop below a small level, the simple well-mixed model can be used to obtain an estimation of the peak concentration quickly when the emission rate and the ventilation condition of the cleanroom are different than the current study.


Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), which produce skill-intensive services used as intermediate inputs, are becoming important for the economic growth and international competitiveness of advanced countries. This study, using establishment- and company-level micro data, analyzes the productivity of knowledge- and information-intensive services in Japan, including information services, publishers, and design services. We focus on the effect of urban density on the productivity of these services. Our estimations reveal that doubling the employment density of municipalities is associated with around 5% higher labor productivity of service providers, which is larger than that found in the manufacturing industry. However, quantitatively, the economies of density vary for individual services, suggesting that the services to be promoted by small and medium cities differ from those for which large metropolitan cities such as Tokyo and Osaka have strong comparative advantages.


Decreased physical fitness in military recruiting populations is problematic for the development of physical military readiness (PMR) and presents a threat to national security. The demonstration of low levels of fitness may be an indicator of a more foundational problem in the physical development of military recruits. We propose the development of functional motor competence (FMC) across childhood and adolescence as a necessary antecedent to advanced PMR training and military-specific tasks (i.e., rucking and obstacle course navigation) and as an integral part of sustained PMR. The development of FMC supports increases in cardiovascular and muscular endurance through repeated efforts performed during practice and in sport, as well as muscular power as many FMC movements mimic plyometrics in a strength in conditioning sense. We posit that an inadequate foundation in FMC will serve as a barrier to achieving sufficient PMR and combat success of the fighting force. We propose three possible solutions to ensure sufficient PMR levels through the implementation of developmentally appropriate FMC-based training. First would be promoting FMC-based training in junior reserve officer training corp and ROTC programs. Second would be a more global approach, on the scale of the National Defense Education Act, specifically focusing on promoting quality daily physical education that could reach millions of children. Third, individual branches could begin promoting the tenets of foundational FMC training concepts in their physical training manuals, which ideally would address FMC before and throughout basic training, as well as subsequent active duty training.


Interatomic potentials of the embedded-atom type have been developed for H in metals. The potentials are constructed through a fitting procedure involving the thermodynamic heat of solution of H in the various metals and the volume expansion of the host lattice upon the dissolution of H. The potentials have been developed in such a way that the same functions for hydrogen are used for all the metals considered and the resulting set of potentials is suitable for the study of hydrogen effects in alloys. The pure metals considered are Ni, Al, Ti, Zr, and Fe. The heats of solution of hydrogen in various intermetallic alloys formed by these metals (TiAl, ${\mathrm{Ti}}_{3}$Al, NiAl, ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{3}$Al, NiTi, and FeAl) have been studied using the developed potentials in conjunction with existing potentials for the intermetallic systems. The effects of increasing hydrogen absorbed in the host are also simulated for the case of Ni. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.


The present study focused on the analysis of the risk factors of diarrhea in Southern Benin. Data have been collected from 442 peasant households on the basis of a stratified random sampling method in the targeted communities, with information on the source of water provision, the location of the village, the usual defecation place, the site of refusing dumping and the presence of trash dump in the vicinity of the household. Data have been analyzed using descriptive statistics. In addition, analyses of variance and log-linear analyses have been applied to test the various factors in the outbreak of diarrheas. Results have allowed a hierarchical organization of the drinking water sources with regards to their use and to the cases of diarrheas (boreholes: p 0.001; rainwater and territorial water: p 0.001; wells: p = 0.547 and pipe-borne water: p = 0.277. If we rule out people's insanitary behaviors, the impact of some risk factors such as the sites of waste disposal (2%) and excreta disposal (1%) is of little influence in comparison to the water supply source and the place of residence, which play respectively for 62% and 30% in the outbreak of episodes of diarrheas in households. It follows that, to curb the diarrhea morbidity, there is the need to improve the water supply policy and the environmental sanitation.


American cities are in the midst of fundamental changes. De-industrialization of large, aging cities has been enormously disruptive for urban communities, which are being increasingly fragmented. Though often overlooked, religious organizations are important actors, both culturally and politically in the restructuring metropolis. Public Religion and Urban Transformation provides a sweeping view of urban religion in response to these transformations. Drawing on a massive study of over seventy-five congregations in urban neighborhoods, this volume provides the most comprehensive picture available of urban places of worship-from mosques and gurdwaras to churches and synagogues-within one city. Revisiting the primary site of research for the early members of the Chicago School of urban sociology, the volume focuses on Chicago, which provides an exceptionally clear lens on the ways in which religious organizations both reflect and contribute to changes in American pluralism. From the churches of a Mexican American neighborhood and of the Black middle class to communities shared by Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims and the rise of "megachurches," Public Religion and Urban Transformation illuminates the complex interactions among religion, urban structure, and social change at this extraordinary episode in the history of urban America.


The increased mobility of economic activities has resulted in a sharp increase in tax competition between countries. Tax competition can have desirable consequences, such as more efficiency, but it can also have undesirable or harmful consequences, such as a race to the bottom. Since 1997 - the year of publication of the Code of Conduct - the fight against harmful tax competition is one of the main issues of the EU-tax policy. However, the discussion about harmful tax competition till now has been very misty. For a long time, the discussion about harmful tax competition had a very political character. However, in course of time the relation between harmful tax competition and the state-aids provisions in the EC-Treaty was accentuated more and more. However, a more fundamental comparison between harmful tax competition and the state-aids provisions was missing. Furthermore, the relationship between the possible measures to combat harmful tax competition and the EC Treaty did not get a lot of attention. The aim of this publication is to bring more clearness and line in the ample discussion.


More than 300 pages of this year's Green Bag Almanac & Reader are devoted to reproducing in their entirety all five of Thomas Nast's "Illustrated Almanacs." From the beginning, Nast's Almanac was well-received. Positive reviews of the first edition - the full title of which was "Nast's Illustrated Almanac for 1871" quickly followed the October 1870 announcement in Harper's Weekly of Nast's new publishing venture. For example, Our American Dore, Mr. Thomas Nast, has made an illustrated almanac which takes the lead of any comic effort before attempted in this country. Those addicted to fits of melancholy should invest twenty-five cents in this laugh-provoking affair. The contents of the 1871 almanac were indeed interesting and amusing, ranging from a rather violent version of the story of Mary and her lamb to silly historical and Shakespearean vignettes. And they were generously sprinkled with "105 illustrations by Nast" the famous editorial artist, including such gems as a sketch of Elizabeth I in which the Queen bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Punch (that is, the 19th-century English version of the classic, irreverent puppet and cartoon character) and a rendering of Sir Francis Drake as a mustachioed waterfowl. But it was with the second edition - "Nast's Illustrated Almanac for 1872" - that Nast's Almanac really hit its stride with respect to both content and marketing. Most importantly, Nast enlisted several famous friends to provide signed works for his almanac, including Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens), Charles Dickens, and Josh Billings (aka Henry Wheeler Shaw, in his time a literary celebrity nearly on a par with Clemens). And Nast drew original illustrations for all of them.


Data management is a central topic in computer science as well as in computer science education. Within the last years, this topic is changing tremendously, as its impact on daily life becomes increasingly visible. Nowadays, everyone not only needs to manage data of various kinds, but also continuously generates large amounts of data. In addition, Big Data and data analysis are intensively discussed in public dialogue because of their influences on society. For the understanding of such discussions and for being able to participate in them, fundamental knowledge on data management is necessary. Especially, being aware of the threats accompanying the ability to analyze large amounts of data in nearly real-time becomes increasingly important. This raises the question, which key competencies are necessary for daily dealings with data and data management. In this paper, we will first point out the importance of data management and of Big Data in daily life. On this basis, we will analyze which are the key competencies everyone needs concerning data management to be able to handle data in a proper way in daily life. Afterwards, we will discuss the impact of these changes in data management on computer science education and in particular database education.


This paper discusses the effect of intentional deformation of a flexible formwork after casting of the concrete and the influence of the characteristics of concrete in the fresh state on the quality of a concrete element. This deformation is intended to bring the concrete element in its desired final shape; the deformation typically takes place in the first hour after casting. In this research thin double-curved precast shell or cladding elements are considered. The paper introduces the method used to support the flexible formwork and focuses on the concrete technology necessary to control the process of deformation after casting. Relevant parameters are discussed that influence the concrete's behaviour shortly after casting. Rheological characteristics of the fresh concrete appear to be particularly important for the design of a suitable mixture. Since from traditional concrete research little experimental data on deformation after casting appeared to be available, experiments were carried out to test a number of prepositions. Results of these experiments are shown as well.


Previous sociological research on courts has studied how court actors mobilize models of justice to shape court proceedings, yet no research examines how court actors approach cases of adolescents who are prosecuted in criminal (adult) courts. These cases raise a potential incongruity between a traditional 20th century "juvenile justice" model that focuses on rehabilitating individuals, and a traditional "criminal justice" model that focuses on punishment in proportion to severity of offenses. Drawing on observational research in a specialized criminal court that prosecutes adolescents, and on interviews of courtroom decision-makers, this article finds that court actors settle this incongruity by bifurcating court proceedings into two phases. They follow a criminal justice model during the initial phase of court proceedings, and a juvenile justice model during the latter, sentencing phase. They thus create a hybrid form of justice by implementing a sequential justice model, rather than relying solely on either a juvenile or a criminal model of justice throughout case processing. The results suggest that categorizations often applied to the contrast between juvenile and criminal courts may be misleading.


A professional military must be led by leaders that understand the basis for morality, that absolute moral truth exists and is knowable, and they must be secured communally on a foundation that transcends broader cultural trends and relies on more than either reason or emotion for sustenance. Failure to understand and adhere to such a morality corporately has historically led to great failures of commission and omission. Philosophy has proven a poor tool to provision answers to the practical questions of how an organization and the leaders of that organization develop and cultivate such a morality. At the core of the problem remain truths, often either overly complicated or overly simplified by both philosophers and religious leaders. A proper understanding of morality for organizational leaders in the military is to understand that universal truths do exist, they are knowable, but not all men will come to understand them on their own. Such an understanding leads to a moral leadership approach that combines methods. It strengthens common understanding corporately and it includes tools, norms and control mechanisms for a diverse population recognizing that a percentage of the organization will never come to understand higher principles on their own. However, at the foundation of such a system must exist a certain core understanding, even if the entire organization does not personally subscribe to the core beliefs, there must be at the base a tried and true support that all can accept as the foundation.


Dense WDM systems rely on the ability to pack many wavelength channels in a given spectral bandwidth. This implies that very good optical filters are needed to separate these channels, while not disturbing adjacent channels. In this paper we discuss the dispersive properties of optical filters (their phase response) and their impact on DWDM systems. We review recent theoretical and experimental results demonstrating the detrimental effects of filter dispersion on data transmission. We also address ways of mitigating filter dispersion using linear phase filters and phase-only (all-pass) filters.


The Oxford medial unicompartmental knee replacement was designed to reproduce normal mobility and forces in the knee, but its detailed effect on the patellofemoral joint has not been studied previously. We have examined the effect on patellofemoral mechanics of the knee by simultaneously measuring patellofemoral kinematics and forces in 11 cadaver knee specimens in a supine leg-extension rig. Comparison was made between the intact normal knee and sequential unicompartmental and total knee replacement. Following medial mobile-bearing unicompartmental replacement in 11 knees, patellofemoral kinematics and forces did not change significantly from those in the intact knee across any measured parameter. In contrast, following posterior cruciate ligament retaining total knee replacement in eight knees, there were significant changes in patellofemoral movement and forces. The Oxford device appears to produce near-normal patellofemoral mechanics, which may partly explain the low incidence of complications with the extensor mechanism associated with clinical use.