In this paper a new compact planar monopole-like multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) handset antenna is proposed. The antenna system consists of two identical antennas with a defected ground arrangement for low correlation and high isolation characteristics. The antennas are oriented horizontally at the no-ground portion located at the top and bottom of the FR4 50 χ 102 mm2 circuit board. The proposed system operates at the 2.3 GHz (2.13-2.64 GHz), 3.6 GHz (3.11-4.83 GHz), and 5.6 GHz (5.15-7.62 GHz) bands. The isolation maintained is better than 18 dB over the desired frequency bands, resulting in an envelope correlation coefficient of less than 0.025. The simulated and measured S-parameters show good agreement. Due to the compact size, the proposed MIMO antenna system is suitable for smart phone applications that have size limitations.


Cassidian Electronics, a globally operating business unit of EADS, aimed to implement a collaborative portal for its quality management department. After conducting a successful pilot phase producing a prototype for a small number of users it soon became apparent that a large scale roll-out would not be feasible without proper methodological support. As no methodology was available to be used directly, an evaluation process was started and two champion methodologies (PADEM of Fraunhofer Institut and G&K - Grosman and Koschek) were identified. A framework was developed to transparently compare the merits of each methodology and G&K selected as the most suitable. This paper presents the selection process as well as the case study describing the adaption mechanism and subsequent application of G&K for the roll-out of a large scale distributed collaboration portal in a high quality environment. A key lesson learned is the strong benefit of an agile method for portal implementations and roll-outs to ensure high user satisfaction and technology acceptance leading to measurable financial benefits.


Rethinking UX requires mapping trends in empirical research to find out how the field has developed. This study addresses that need by analyzing over 400 academic empirical studies published between 2000--2016. Our research questions are, "How have the artifacts, analysis, and methods of UX research changed since the year 2000?" and "Do scholars use research questions and hypotheses to ground their research in UX?" Our research found that services, websites, and imagined objects/prototypes were among the most frequently studied artifacts, while usability studies, surveys, and interviews were the most commonly used methods. We found a significant increase in quantitative and mixed methods studies since 2010. This study showed that only 1 out of every 5 publications employed research questions to guide inquiry. We hope that these findings help UX as a field more accurately and broadly conceive of its identity with clear standards for evaluating existing research and rethinking future research opportunities as a discipline.


In this study, an aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) and various collocated instruments are used to observe and analyze the chemical compositions, sources and extinction characteristics of submicron aerosol (PM1; aerodynamic diameter < 1 µm) in Beijing from July to September 2012. The results show that the average mass concentration of the PM1 for the entire observation period is 53.8 µg m−3, accounting for 70–85% on average of the PM2.5, and the average mass concentration of the non-refractory submicron aerosol (NR-PM1) declines monthly from July to September as the fraction of organic aerosol (OA) in it increases. During clean days, OA forms the largest mass fraction of the PM1, and the fraction of inorganics shows a significant increasing trend as pollutants accumulate. The effects of meteorology on PM pollution and aerosol processing are also explored. In particular, the SOR increases significantly during periods of elevated relative humidity (RH), suggesting that SO2 is more efficiently converted to SO42− during pollution episodes via aqueous-phase oxidation than gas-phase oxidation. In addition, the effect of wind speed is significantly weaker on primary species (PPM) than secondary species (SPM). Furthermore, the mass concentration of the SPM (or organics) is more sensitive than that of the PPM (or inorganics) to changes in wind speed. The proportion of oxygenated OA (OOA) is significantly higher than that of hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) in the OA, and as the proportion of OA in the PM1 increases, the mass fraction of OOA in the OA gradually decreases. Moreover, the aerosol acidity in Beijing is essentially neutral during the observation period. The total extinction coefficient of the particulate matter (PM) correlates well with the mass concentration of the PM1 (r2 = 0.72), and the extinction efficiency of the secondary particulate matter (SPM) (r2 = 0.92) is significantly higher than that of the primary particulate matter (PPM) (r2 = 0.58). Meanwhile, the correlation is weaker between the OA and the extinction coefficient (r2 = 0.56) than between the inorganic aerosol and the extinction coefficient (r2 = 0.86).


In 2014, the Indonesian government passed Law No. 6/2014 with the intention of reconstructing village financial and asset management arrangements to accelerate inclusive and sustainable rural development. Pandeglang Regency in Banten Province as one of the underdeveloped district is a very interesting study because 96% of villages are still underdeveloped. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a village typology model and develop a village development strategy in Pandeglang Regency. The strategy to improve the status of the Village Development Index is to reallocate village financial management based on the status of the village typology and its supporting composite index.


Abstract The linear polarization of sunlight reflected by Venus is analyzed by comparing observations with extensive multiple scattering computations. The analysis establishes that Venus is veiled by a cloud or haze layer of spherical particles. The refractive index of the particles is 1.44±0.015 at λ=0.55 μm with a normal dispersion, the refractive index decreasing from 1.46±0.015 at λ=0.365 μm to 1.43±0.015 at λ=0.99 μm. The cloud particles have a narrow size distribution with a mean radius of ∼1 μm; specifically, the effective radius of the size distribution is 1.05±0.10 μm and the effective variance is 0.07±0.02. The particles exist at a high level in the atmosphere, with the optical thickness unity occurring where the pressure is about 50 mb. The particle properties deduced from the polarization eliminate all but one of the cloud compositions which have been proposed for Venue. A concentrated solution of sulfuric acid (H2SO4-H2O) provides good agreement with the polarization data.


Normalization of microarray data is essential for removing experimental biases and revealing meaningful biological results. Motivated by a problem of normalizing microarray data, a semilinear in-slide model (SLIM) has been proposed. To aggregate information from other arrays, SLIM is generalized to account for across-array information, resulting in an even more dynamic semiparametric regression model. This model can be used to normalize microarray data even when there is no replication within an array. We demonstrate that this semiparametric model has a number of interesting features. The parametric component and the nonparametric component that are of primary interest can be consistently estimated, the former having a parametric rate and the latter having a nonparametric rate, whereas the nuisance parameters cannot be consistently estimated. This is an interesting extension of the partial consistent phenomena, which itself is of theoretical interest. The asymptotic normality for the parametric component and the rate of convergence for the nonparametric component are established. The results are augmented by simulation studies and illustrated by an application to the cDNA microarray analysis of neuroblastoma cells in response to the macrophage migration inhibitory factor.


Project complexity has recently become an important element of project management theory and, therefore, has attracted a lot of attention from academics and practitioners alike. However, what does project complexity mean and what are its contributing factors is still unclear and confusing. The aim of this paper is to structure the different factors described in the literature so far and articulate them into a new framework of project complexity. This new framework integrates both the structural complexity dimension and the uncertainty dimension of project complexity. These general dimensions are then applied to the specific case of NPD projects to generate a new framework for this important class of projects.


Oxynitride glasses are found as grain boundary phases in silicon nitride ceramics. They are effectively alumino-silicate glasses in which nitrogen substitutes for oxygen in the glass network, and this causes increases in glass transition and softening temperatures, viscosities (by two to three orders of magnitude), elastic moduli and microhardness. Calcium silicate-based glasses containing fluorine are known to have useful characteristics as potential bioactive materials. Therefore, the combination of both nitrogen and fluorine additions to these glasses may give useful glasses or glass-ceramics with enhanced mechanical stability for use in biomedical applications. This paper reports glass formation and evaluation of glass thermal properties in the Ca-Si-Al-O-N-F system. Within the previously defined Ca-Si-Al-O-N glass forming region at 20 eq.% N, homogeneous, dense glasses are formed. However, addition of fluorine affects glass formation and the reactivity of glass melts. This can lead to fluorine loss as SiF4, and also nitrogen loss, leading to bubble formation and porous glasses. The compositional limits for both dense and porous glass formation at 20 eq.% N and 5 eq.% F have been mapped. At high fluorine contents under conditions when Ca-F bonding is favoured, CaF2 crystals precipitate in the glass. The role of the different cations on glass formation in these oxyfluoro-nitride glasses is discussed.


Abstract. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has shown unique capabilities in numerous applications for deformation monitoring. However, InSAR will lose effectiveness with large-gradient deformation due to the limitation of maximum detectable phase gradient and the phase unwrapping step of InSAR. Coalfield is the exact object providing such challenges for InSAR technique. Strong mining activities often induces large scale non-linear deformation with large gradient. This paper integrates offset tracking technique based on Corner Reflector (CR) and InSAR to overcome relevant problems. By applying offset tracking to high resolution TerraSAR-X intensity images, the coarse estimation of large deformation was obtained and extracted, allowing the following InSAR processing to carry out phase unwrapping correctly. Finally, the fine estimation of deformation was done by the Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSI) technique. The detected deformation time series indicated good root-mean-square errors (RMSE), validated by GPS in situ investigation. All InSAR data were processed in the open source software StaMPS and one in-house InSAR package.


Due to the continuous improvement of catalysts and processes, polyolefins have become one of the most important plastics in the world. Polyolefins can be produced at low costs with a variety of end-use properties. Nowadays, the most important propylene polymerization processes are executed in the liquid or the gas phase or a combination of both. In contrast to propylene polymerizations in slurry phase, only a few studies have been published concerning gas or liquid phase polymerization. Especially experimental investigations of gas phase polymerizations at relevant process conditions, i.e. high pressure and temperature, are rare. The most widely established industrial gas phase technology is the fluidized bed reactor operating at 10 – 30 bar. Conversion per pass is kept low, 1-3%, to diminish concentration and temperature gradients in the reactor, which both affect the polymer properties. In 1 to 3 hours, polymer particles with a broad size distribution are obtained. There are no experimental data available in the open literature about the polymerization in such a reactor. The study reported in this thesis is concerned with a modified small-scale fluidized bed reactor to study aspects of the gas phase polymerization of propylene with a heterogeneous metallocene catalyst at conditions resembling those of industrial units as well as strongly deviating conditions. Controlled thermal gradients are provoked as they may be of interest to broaden the molecular weight distribution. To study the polymerization in such a reactor an experimentally validated kinetic model is required. The kinetic model, obtained from experiments at isothermal and isobaric conditions, is used to describe the polymerization at non-isothermal conditions in the fluid bed reactor with related molecular weight distribution of the polymer. Other important aspects that will be studied are electrostatic charging, particle mixing and elutriation of fines.


Over the last fifty years, in cases involving the institutional press, the United States Supreme Court has offered characterizations of the purpose, duty, role, and value of the press in a democracy. An examination of the tone and quality of these characterizations over time suggests a downward trend, with largely favorable and praising characterizations of the press devolving into characterizations that are more distrusting and disparaging. This Essay explores this trend, setting forth evidence of the Court's changing view of the media — from the effusively complimentary depictions of the media during the Glory Days of the 1960s and 1970s to the more skeptical, tepid, or derogatory portrayals in recent years. It considers possible causes of this change in rhetoric and then explores the potential First Amendment consequences of the change. The Essay argues that there is a very real risk that these trends could lead to the impoverishment of a wider array of First Amendment rights. Because the jurisprudential pattern has long suggested that general speakers and press speakers rise and fall together, wider First Amendment values that have been enhanced in U.S. Supreme Court cases brought by the positively characterized media could be diminished as the Court's view of the media diminishes. The downward trend in press characterizations may therefore be cause for broader concern about the vitality and stability of First Amendment rights.


Nonlinear dynamics plays a dominant role in a variety of important problems in chemical physics. Examples are unimolecular reactions,' infrared multiphoton decomposition of molecules,' the pumping process of the gamma ray laser,' dissociation of vibrationally excited state-selected van der Waals's complexes,' and many other chemical and atomic processes. The present article discusses recent theoretical studies on the quasi-periodic and chaotic dynamical aspects of vibrational-rotational states of atomic, nuclear, and molecular systems using the semiclassical spectral method (SSM).' We note that the coordinates, momenta, and so on, are found using classical mechanics in the studies included in this review. Consequently, certain processes of quantum mechanical origin, such as tunneling, have not been investigated in this framework. However, the projects to be described, undertaken using classical or semiclassical techniques, yield excellent results and explain many aspects of the underlying dynamics.


The attractiveness of a state regarding foreign investors, multinational banks and creditors, is closely related to country risk assessment. Most of the financial and economic rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's, Fitch, Moody's, etc., are in a position to analyze, more or less subjectively, more or less reliable, country risk developments. Rating systems that appear as important tools in decision-support are taken, in many cases non-critically, by the decision makers and used as such. The process of globalization has multiplied the country risk acceptance and successive crises with recurrence, often without advance, stressed that the assessment processes has significant shortcomings. Countries such as Greece and Romania, currently facing similar economic and social problems, are in a delicate situation. Although unlike Greece, Romania has not yet adopted the euro, a number of similarities between the two countries allow a simultaneous analysis. Recently, representatives of Standard and Poor's announced that the declaration of support came from the European Union to Athens is a conducive factor for Greece, but this remains exposed to considerable risks; in December 2009, the Agency amend Greece in BBB + rating with negative outlook. For Romania, the passage of the attribute "negative" to "stable" is closely related to assessors of reforms agreed with IMF. Currently valued at BB +, Romania is below the recommended level for investment. In this context, the main aim of this article is to find the answer to a series of questions: Are these ratings really fair? What are the relevant variables in the analysis of states like Greece and Romania? What are the problem areas and how they can be treated? What country risk approach is appropriate for these countries?


In this study we investigate which economic ideas were prevalent in the macroprudential discourse post-crises in order to understand the availability of ideas for reform minded agents. We base our analysis on new findings in the field of ideational shifts and regulatory science, which posit that change-agents engage with new ideas pragmatically and strategically in their effort to have their economic ideas institutionalized. We argue that in these epistemic battles over new regulation, scientific backing by academia is the key resource determining the outcome. We show that the present reforms implemented internationally follow this pattern. In our analysis we contrast the entire discourse on systemic risk and macroprudential regulation with Borio's initial 2003 proposal for a macroprudential framework. We find that mostly cross-sectional measures targeted towards increasing the resilience of the financial system rather than inter-temporal measures dampening the financial cycle have been implemented. We provide evidence for the lacking support of new macroprudential thinking within academia and argue that this is partially responsible for the lack of anti-cyclical macroprudential regulation. Most worryingly, the financial cycle is largely absent in the academic discourse and is only tacitly assumed instead of fully fledged out in technocratic discourses, pointing to the possibility that no anti-cyclical measures will be forthcoming.


Bioinformatics, in the last few decades, has played a fundamental role to give sense to the huge amount of data produced. Obtained the complete sequence of a genome, the major problem of knowing as much as possible of its coding regions, is crucial. Protein sequence annotation is challenging and, due to the size of the problem, only computational approaches can provide a feasible solution. As it has been recently pointed out by the Critical Assessment of Function Annotations (CAFA), most accurate methods are those based on the transfer-by-homology approach and the most incisive contribution is given by cross-genome comparisons. In the present thesis it is described a non-hierarchical sequence clustering method for protein automatic large-scale annotation, called "The Bologna Annotation Resource Plus" (BAR+). The method is based on an all-against-all alignment of more than 13 millions protein sequences characterized by a very stringent metric. BAR+ can safely transfer functional features (Gene Ontology and Pfam terms) inside clusters by means of a statistical validation, even in the case of multi-domain proteins. Within BAR+ clusters it is also possible to transfer the three dimensional structure (when a template is available). This is possible by the way of cluster-specific HMM profiles that can be used to calculate reliable template-to-target alignments even in the case of distantly related proteins (sequence identity < 30%).
Other BAR+ based applications have been developed during my doctorate including the prediction of Magnesium binding sites in human proteins, the ABC transporters superfamily classification and the functional prediction (GO terms) of the CAFA targets. Remarkably, in the CAFA assessment, BAR+ placed among the ten most accurate methods. At present, as a web server for the functional and structural protein sequence annotation, BAR+ is freely available at http://bar.biocomp.unibo.it/bar2.0.


Over the past few decades, Cluster Randomized Trials (CRT) have become a design of choice in many research areas. One of the most critical issues in planning a CRT is to ensure that the study design is sensitive enough to capture the intervention effect. The assessment of power and sample size in such studies is often faced with many challenges due to several methodological difficulties. While studies on power and sample size for cluster designs with one and two levels are abundant, the evaluation of required sample size for three-level designs has been generally overlooked. First, the nesting effect introduces more than one intracluster correlation into the model. Second, the variance structure of the estimated treatment difference is more complicated. Third, sample size results required for several levels are needed. In this work, we developed sample size and power formulas for the three-level data structures based on the generalized linear mixed model approach. We derived explicit and general power and sample size equations for detecting a hypothesized effect on continuous Gaussian outcomes and binary outcomes. To confirm the accuracy of the formulas, we conducted several simulation studies and compared the results. To establish a connection between the theoretical formulas and their applications, we developed a SAS user-interface macro that allowed the researchers to estimate sample size for a three-level design for different scenarios. These scenarios depend on which randomization level is assigned and whether or not there is an interaction effect.


In 1996, librarians at the University of Washington Bothell Library gathered together their teaching librarians and the director of the Writing Center and began meeting on a regular basis to discuss issues of teaching and learning. In this article, Leadley addresses some of the larger issues surrounding teaching, specifically how within higher education those individuals, including librarians, who are expected to excel at this most complex task gain the skills and confidence required. She argues that developing or improving as a teacher happens not when teachers are working in isolation but when teaching and learning are the subject of serious discussion and inquiry among its practitioners. She discusses specific objectives for the teaching meetings at UWB and some of the topics or questions that have been explored there.


abstract Multiple terms describe Indigenous peoples' creative expressions, including "Indigenous knowledge" (IK), "traditional ecological knowledge" (TEK), "traditional knowledge" (TK), and increasingly, "Indigenous data" (ID). Variation in terms contributes to disciplinary divides, challenges in organizing and finding prior studies about Indigenous peoples' creative expressions, and intellectually divergent chains of reference. The authors applied a decolonial, digital, feminist, ethics-of-care approach to citation analysis of records about Indigenous peoples knowledge and data, including network analyses of author-generated keywords and research areas, and content analysis of peer-reviewed studies about ID. Results reveal ambiguous uses of the term "Indigenous data"; the influence of ecology and environmental studies in research areas and topics associated with IK, TEK, and TK; and the influence of public administration and governance studies in research areas and topics associated with ID studies. Researchers of ID would benefit from applying a more nuanced and robust vocabulary, one informed by studies of IK, TEK, and TK. Researchers of TEK and TK would benefit from the more people-centered approaches of IK. Researchers and systems designers who work with data sets can practice relational accountability by centering the Indigenous peoples from whom observations are sourced, combining narrative methodologies with computational methods to sustain the holism favored by Indigenous science and the relationality of Indigenous peoples.


Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common ovulatory defect in women. Although most PCOS patients are obese, a subset of PCOS women are lean but show similar risks for adverse fertility outcomes. A lean PCOS mouse model was created using prenatal androgen administration. This developmentally programmed mouse model was used for this study. Our objective was to investigate if mitochondrial structure and functions were compromised in oocytes obtained from lean PCOS mouse. The lean PCOS mouse model was validated by performing glucose tolerance test, HbA1c levels, body weight and estrous cycle analyses. Oocytes were isolated and were used to investigate inner mitochondrial membrane potential, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, ATP production, mtDNA copy number, transcript abundance and electron microscopy. Our results demonstrate that lean PCOS mice have similar weight to that of the controls but exhibit glucose intolerance and hyperinsulinemia along with dysregulated estrus cycle. Analysis of their oocytes show impaired inner mitochondrial membrane function, elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increased RNA transcript abundance. Electron microscopy of the oocytes showed impaired mitochondrial ultrastructure. In conclusion, the lean PCOS mouse model shows a decreased oocyte quality related to impaired mitochondrial ultrastructure and function.


Among the digital material considered for preservation at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) are TIFF, PDF and HTML files of biomedical journals, laboratory notebooks, correspondence of major figures in biomedical research, and similar documents. Although most of these materials are already in digital form (either as born-digital information, or converted to digital form through scanning), preservation of these materials involve complex administrative and technical issues, such as obtaining and storing adequate levels of metadata for a preserved resource, assuring intellectual integrity of the contents, and avoiding technical obsolescence of encoded information. [1,2]. An R&D project has been initiated at NLM to develop a prototype system that would help investigate the key technical functions required to effectively preserve NLM's digital resources over the long term. This system, named the System for Preservation of Electronic Resources (SPER) has had its initial design and implementation phase completed. Here we describe the main functions of SPER, and the strategies adopted in designing the system to meet these functionalities in a modular and cost-effective manner. In particular, an automated metadata extraction subsystem is designed to minimize manual entry, using string matching and machine learning techniques. Also given are preliminary performance assessments of the subsystems in this prototype. We discuss the overall system architecture, automated metadata extraction techniques, and file migration in the SPER system.


"Roger Angell has been writing about baseball for more than forty years . . . and for my money he's the best there is at it," says novelist Richard Ford in his introduction to "Game Time." Angell's famous explorations of the summer game are built on acute observation and joyful participation, conveyed in a prose style as admired and envied as Ted Williams's swing. Angell on Fenway Park in September, on Bob Gibson brooding in retirement, on Tom Seaver in mid-windup, on the abysmal early and recent Mets, on a scout at work in back-country Kentucky, on Pete Rose and Willie Mays and Pedro Martinez, on the astounding Barry Bonds at Pac Bell Park, and more, carry us through the arc of the season with refreshed understanding and pleasure. This new selection represents Angell's best writings, from spring training in 1962 to the explosive World Series of 2002, with many chapters not previously seen in book form.


This paper discusses features of the various parameters of photodetector arrays (PDAs) that characterize their noise properties. It is pointed out that the overall sensitivity, expressed as the number of electrons per second per lumen, and the intensity of the internal noise electrons, expressed as the number of electrons per second from unit area and normalized to unit accumulation time and unit readout time, are objective indicators of the PDAs when operating with low illuminances, regardless of the pixel size, accumulation time, and readout time. When apparatus with a PDA is being designed, in order to correctly choose the accumulation time and readout time, it is necessary also to know the main components of the normalized intensity of the internal noise of the PDA (or the normalized threshold exposure)—shot noise and thermal noise—since these components vary differently when there is variation of the temporal parameters indicated above.


The student in the chair opposite me was adamant that in the event of his father's death, his father's spouses would be entitled to stay in the respective family homes until their deaths, but that he, as his mother's eldest son, would then be entitled to the family home in which he grew up as a young child. In the meantime he would maintain his mother, younger brothers and sisters.


In this thesis centralized routing methods for wireless sensor networks have been studied. The aim has been to prolong network lifetime by reducing the energy consumed by sensor-node communication.Wireless sensor networks are rapidly becoming common in application areas where information from many sensors is to be collected and acted upon. The use of wireless sensor networks adds flexibility to the network, and the cost of cabling can be avoided.Wireless sensor networks may consist of several hundreds of small devices, equipped with sensors (e.g. acoustic, seismic or image) that form a wireless network. Each sensor node collects information from its surroundings and sends it to a base station, either from sensor node to sensor node, or directly to the base station.We have made simulations that show that asymmetric communication with multihop extends the lifetime of large wireless sensor networks. We have also investigated the usefulness of enforcing a minimum separation distance between cluster heads in a cluster based wireless sensor network. The results show that our sensor network performs up to 150% better when introducing a minimum separation distance between cluster heads. The simulations also show that the minimum separation distance resulting in the lowest energy consumption in our network varies with the number of clusters. We have also made an initial study of maximum lifetime routing in sparse wireless sensor networks to be able to see how different heuristic routing algorithms influence the energy consumption of individual sensor nodes, and thus the lifetime of a sparse sensor network. We have also compared the maximum lifetime of the heuristic algorithms to the maximum lifetime of an optimal routing solution. These simulations showed that for some types of applications the choice of heuristic algorithm is more important to prolong network lifetime, than for other types of applications.


As previously reported, mastery learning has been used by the author to provide instruction to more than 750 students in a total of 24 separate offerings of five different semester-long courses. In prior publications, the results of anonymous student feedback collected at the end of the semester have been reported, including: quantitative results of Likert-scale responses to five common questions; and representative comments to openended questions. These prior results suggest that at least two responses are predominant, namely: 1) rejection of mastery learning as "unfamiliar"/"unfair", or "lazy on the part of the professor"; or 2) welcoming of mastery learning as "empowering", or "an opportunity for self-ownership of learning on the part of the student". To improve our understanding of the attitudes of students towards mastery learning, a qualitative approach was employed in the current study. Through discussions with experts in qualitative methods, a structured interview guide was constructed by the author and included questions about: 1) "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education"; 2) "Principles of Adult Learning"; and 3) ABET student outcomes. The structured interview guide also included an opportunity for free response to open-ended queries about flipped classroom, blended delivery, modified mastery learning, and flexible summative assessment. Experts in qualitative methods recommended an initial pilot study with a population of ten students. These ten alumni were selected from a subpopulation of the 750 students who previously completed at least one course employing mastery learning. The subpopulation was identified as individuals who earned a grade of "A" in a course with mastery learning and subsequently completed a semester-long course of "Independent research" with the author. The subpopulation included approximately 50 individuals students. Ten random individuals were selected from this subpopulation, contacted via email and follow-up telephone call, and invited to voluntarily participate in a one-on-one structured interview with the author. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes by two individuals. The summary results of thematic analysis from these structured interviews are reported as a preliminary pilot study. In brief, these ten alumni provided a favorable view of mastery learning, and the results of this pilot study suggest that the structured interview guide is an appropriate starting-point for a more robust qualitative study employing a more formal approach such as interpretative phenomenological analysis or narrative discourse analysis.


Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational stress among rehabilitation staffs in Tehran's training hospitals . Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 169 staff members selected from a total of 300 rehabilitation staffs working in Tehran's training hospitals, recruited by random cluster sampling. Two questionnaires were used: The emotional intelligence questionnaire designed by Petrides and Furnham and HSE occupational stress questionnaire. Data obtained from this study were analyzed using Pearson's correlation and multiple regression tests. Results: An inverse significant relationship existed between occupational stress and emotional intelligence (P<0.001, r=-0.33). There are, also, significant relationships between subscales of emotional intelligence including self-awareness (P=0.031, r=-0.18), social skills (P<0.001, r=-0.302), empathy (P=0.006, r=-0.238) and occupational stress. The results of multiple regressions indicated that the two subscales of 'understanding other's emotions' and 'social skills' can be used for predicting occupational stress. Conclusion: This study confirmed the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational stress. Promotion of emotional intelligence through implementing training courses may lower rehabilitation staffs occupational stress or prevent it.


From the foremost living authority on Yoga comes the most comprehensive and reliable treatment of the subject available today. This is a work of impeccable scholarship by a person who has dedicated his life to the understanding and practice of yoga. The book offers a complete overview of every Yogic tradition, from the familiar to the lesser-known forms. It also covers all aspects of Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina Yoga, including history, philosophy, literature, psychology and practice. In addition, included are translations of twenty Yoga treatises and the first translation of the Goraksha Paddhati.


The study of behavior with environmental consequences (recycling, water conservation, etc.) has received significant attention from social scientists over the past few decades. However, few studies have closely examined the systematic heterogeneity of behavior with environmental consequences. This study tests two specific hypotheses about such heterogeneity: that individuals differ systematically in their patterns of behavior with environmental consequences and that behavioral patterns systematically differ between context/environments. Both hypotheses are investigated empirically in the home and vacation environment. Results support the assumption that systematic differences in behavioral patterns exist across individuals. With respect to context/environment dependence, some groups of individuals do not change their behavior much between contexts/environments. The majority, however, tend to engage in fewer proenvironmental behaviors in the vacation context. These findings have significant implications for environmentally sustainable management, both for local councils and tourism destinations.


NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATEDIn America, organizations spend $175 billion in training initiatives and more than $500 billion in human resource solutions every year yet often have little to show for it. One reason is that people "jump to solutions" before they identify the causes of the problem. Performance consultants are effective because they partner with clients to clarify business goals and determine root causes for gaps between desired and current results. Only then are specific solutions agreed upon and implemented. This third edition of the classic book that introduced performance consulting adds a wealth of new material. There are new case examples throughout and four new chapters providing detailed steps for measuring results from performance consulting initiatives on five different levels, including ROI. The book includes a never-before-published Alignment and Measurement Model, allowing you to connect organizational needs and performance consulting initiatives designed to address those needs with the appropriate level of measurement. This remains a profoundly practical book, featuring tools, models, and checklists. It will enable you to make a difference in your organization that is valued, measurable, and sustainable.


How should we teach Jane Austen's novels? This is a question of great concern to many teachers. For example, the series 'Approaches to Teaching World Literature' includes Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Emma, and takes up this question. It shows many interesting approaches, focusing on various aspects of her works: the structure, theme, and language, and also the meaning in its social context, the influence of other writers, comic elements and so on. (1) However, given that Austen's works are read around the world as 'world literature,' more attention should be paid to the effectiveness of a cross-cultural approach, especially for those with a different cultural background. This paper aims to show that the introduction of a cross-cultural perspective not only helps Japanese undergraduates to better understand Austen's novels and British culture but can also inspire a greater interest in literature generally. My students belong to the Department of Intercultural Studies, the Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan. Many of them are interested in both British and Japanese culture, but are not familiar with literature. When I asked the students what was most difficult for them in reading Austen, they said that it was the English language. Many of my students read the translation outside class, and enjoy Austen's comedy and humour in general, even in translation. However, through analyses of the original text, they gradually come to understand the difference between reading the original and the Japanese translation. When they watch film adaptations of the novels, they realise that reading allows them to make interpretations of their own. This paper gives two examples of a cross-cultural approach to literature based on the experience of reading Austen's works with such students. Thematic Teaching Device #1: The idea of the picturesque in Northanger Abbey Northanger Abbey was written around 1798-1799, but was not published until 1817, after Austen's death. (2) It is often read as both a defence of the novel as a form and a satire on popular and fashionable novels in the eighteenth century. (3) The narrator presents Catherine Morland, the heroine of this work, as a sharp contrast to the heroines of gothic novels; she does this from the beginning and makes readers conscious of it throughout the story. Catherine was neither pretty nor clever, and resembled a boy as a child. She was brought up in a large family in the country, and introduced into a wider circle of society when she accompanied her neighbours, Mr and Mrs Allen, to Bath. Catherine becomes acquainted with Isabella Thorpe and her brother, John, and with Eleanor Tilney and her brother Henry, with whom Catherine immediately falls in love. The gothic and sentimental moods in literature, art, architecture and landscape gardening flourished together, interwoven intricately in the eighteenth century and, as Marvis Batey points out, the gothic imagination further merged into the picturesque at the end of the century. (4) William Gilpin (1724-1804), a British clergyman, formed and popularised a theory of the picturesque in the 1780s and 90s. Austen was 'enamoured of Gilpin' from an early age and 'seldom changed her opinions either on books or men,' according to her brother Henry; many critics have demonstrated the articulation of the theory of the picturesque, and a satire on it, in Northanger Abbey as well as her other novels. (5) In Northanger Abbey, Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor are like picturesque travellers when they go with Catherine to Beechen Cliff, a hill on the southern outskirts of Bath: They [the Tilneys] were viewing the country with the eyes of persons accustomed to drawing, and decided on its capability of being formed into pictures, with all the eagerness of real taste. Here Catherine was quite lost. She knew nothing of drawing--nothing of taste:--and she listened to them with an attention which brought her little profit, for they talked in phrases which conveyed scarcely any idea to her. …


Molecular markers are useful tools for measuring the genetic diversity among agricultural species. In plants, microsatellites are still the most used markers for germplasm characterization, conservation, and traceability purposes, while in the livestock sector, although having represented the standard for at least two decades, they are still used only for minor farm animal species. In this work, together with a review on the use of microsatellites in livestock, we also illustrate the use of these markers for the characterization of agricultural diversity and food traceability through two case studies: (i) the analysis of genetic diversity in ancient fruit tree cultivars of apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.), pear (Pyrus communis L.), sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), and sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) from Northern Italy and (ii) the molecular authentication of wheat food chain. In the former case, a high genetic variability as well as the presence of different ploidy levels were detected, while in the latter microsatellite markers were shown to be useful for traceability and product authentication along the whole food chain. Overall, the presented evidence confirms the versatility of microsatellites as markers for both agrobiodiversity characterization and food traceability in cultivated plants and farm animals.


BACKGROUND
The assessment of stature in children with cerebral palsy is difficult. This study tested the clinical utility of the segmental measures of upper-arm length, tibial length, and knee height as proxies for stature in children with cerebral palsy.

METHODS
The study included 211 sets of measurements made in 172 children with cerebral palsy attending an outpatient clinic at a pediatric rehabilitation center during a 2-year period. Forty-three percent were female, 20% black, 31% diplegic or hemiplegic, and 52% nonambulatory. An observer measured weight, head circumference, recumbent length or standing height, upper-arm length, tibial length, knee height, midarm circumference, triceps skinfold, and subscapular skinfold.

RESULTS
The correlation coefficients were as follows: upper-arm length and stature, .97 (95% confidence interval, .95 to .98) (R2 = .94); tibial length and stature, .97 (95% confidence interval, .96 to .98) (R2 = .94); and knee height and stature, .98 (95% confidence interval, .98 to .99) (R2 = .97). The linear regression equations were used to develop formulas for the estimation of stature from a segmental measure.

CONCLUSIONS
Upper-arm length, tibial length, and knee height are all reliable and valid proxies for stature in children with cerebral palsy up to 12 years of age. We recommend that either knee height or tibial length be measured in the routine anthropometry of children with cerebral palsy who cannot be measured by standard techniques. Estimates of stature can then be calculated and plotted on standard growth charts.


IMPORTANCE
Data from an autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease (ADAD) kindred were used to track the longitudinal trajectory of cognitive decline associated with preclinical ADAD and explore factors that may modify the rate of cognitive decline.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the onset and rate of cognitive decline during preclinical ADAD and the effect of socioeconomic, vascular, and genetic factors on the cognitive decline.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
We performed a retrospective cohort study from January 1, 1995, through June 31, 2012, of individuals from Antioquia, Colombia, who tested positive for the ADAD-associated PSEN1 E280A mutation. Data analysis was performed from August 20, 2014, through November 30, 2015. A mixed-effects model was used to estimate annual rates of change in cognitive test scores and to mark the onset of cognitive decline.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Memory, language, praxis, and total scores from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer Disease test battery. Chronologic age was used as a time scale in the models. We explore the effects of sex; educational level; socioeconomic status; residence area; occupation type; marital status; history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia; tobacco and alcohol use; and APOE ε4 on the rates of cognitive decline.

RESULTS
A total of 493 carriers met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. A total of 256 carriers had 2 or more assessments. At the time of the initial assessment, participants had a mean (SD) age of 33.4 (11.7) years and a mean (SD) educational level of 7.2 (4.2) years. They were predominantly female (270 [54.8%]), married (293 [59.4%]), and of low socioeconomic status (322 [65.3%]). Word list recall scores provided the earliest indicator of preclinical cognitive decline at 32 years of age, 12 and 17 years before the kindred's respective median ages at mild cognitive impairment and dementia onset. After the change point, carriers had a statistically significant cognitive decline with a loss of 0.24 (95% CI, -0.26 to -0.22) points per year for the word list recall test and 2.13 (95% CI, -2.29 to -1.96) points per year for total scores. Carriers with high educational levels had an increase of approximately 36% in the rate of cognitive decline after the change point when compared with those with low educational levels (-2.89 vs -2.13 points per year, respectively). Onset of cognitive decline was delayed by 3 years in individuals with higher educational levels compared with those with lower educational levels. Those with higher educational level, middle/high socioeconomic status, history of diabetes and hypertension, and tobacco and alcohol use had a steeper cognitive decline after onset.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Preclinical cognitive decline was evident in PSEN1 E280A mutation carriers 12 years before the onset of clinical impairment. Educational level may be a protective factor against the onset of cognitive impairment.


This study examined the influences of age, gender and years of experience on the perception of e-psychotherapy among clinical psychologists within South Eastern Nigeria. 51 practicing clinical psychologists (26 males and 25 females) within the age range of 28 to 56 years (M = 42.37, SD= 5.56) were used for the study. An e-psychotherapy scale was employed to elicit data for the study. The survey research design, independent sample t-test and Analysis of Variance were used for data collations and analysis. The findings revealed that South-East clinical psychologists significantly have a positive perception of e-psychotherapy and gender and years of practice have significant influence on e-Psychotherapy. However, age influence on e-psychotherapy did not reach a statistical significance. It is, therefore, recommended that clinical psychologists in Nigeria would perform more effectively using e-psychotherapy.


High grade solid variants of prostatic adenocarcinoma and urothelial carcinoma can show overlapping histological features and their differentiation may require careful histological and immunohistochemical evaluation. The presence of surface urothelial carcinoma in situ is considered a helpful clue in support of a diagnosis of urothelial carcinoma. We present a series of three cases in which the high grade prostatic adenocarcinoma mimics urothelial carcinoma in situ, through a partly intraductal growth pattern within the prostatic duct system and partial replacement of the urothelium of the prostatic urethra. This may be a potential diagnostic pitfall, especially if present in small superficial mucosal biopsies, or when represented in samples from the bladder neck or penile urethra.

A 70-year-old male subject underwent radical prostatectomy with bilateral iliac lymph node dissection for prostatic adenocarcinoma, following diagnosis on needle core prostatic biopsies performed for an elevated serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) of 40 μg/l. Sections from the prostate gland showed bilateral multifocal Gleason score 4+3=7 prostatic adenocarcinoma of microacinar type, predominantly in the posterior peripheral zones of the gland. Focally there was a higher grade malignant proliferation (figure 1A,B), partly within prostatic ducts and partly invading the stroma. There was necrosis with calcification and the cells generally lacked nucleoli. Some glandular spaces were identified. This intraductal process …


We show how networks modify the diffusion curve by affecting its symmetry. We demonstrate that a network's degree distribution has a significant impact on the contagion properties of the subsequent adoption process, and we propose a method for uncovering the degree distribution of the adopter network underlying the dissemination process, based exclusively on limited early-stage penetration data. In this paper we propose and empirically validate a unified network-based growth model that links network structure and penetration patterns. Specifically, using external sources of information, we confirm that each network degree distribution identified by the model matches the actual social network that is underlying the dissemination process. We also show empirically that the same method can be used to forecast adoption using an estimation of the degree distribution and the diffusion parameters at an early stage (15%) of the penetration process. We confirm that these forecasts are significantly superior to those of three benchmark models of diffusion.

Our empirical analysis indicates that under heavily right-skewed degree distribution conditions (such as scale-free networks), the majority of adopters (in some cases, up to 75%) join the process after the sales peak. This strong asymmetry is a result of the unique interaction between the dissemination process and the degree distribution of its underlying network.


Genome wide association (GWA) analysis of brain imaging phenotypes can advance our understanding of the genetic basis of normal and disorder-related variation in the brain. GWA approaches typically use linear mixed effect models to account for non-independence amongst subjects due to factors such as family relatedness and population structure. The use of these models with high-dimensional imaging phenotypes presents enormous challenges in terms of computational intensity and the need to account multiple testing in both the imaging and genetic domain. Here we present method that makes mixed models practical with high-dimensional traits by a combination of a transformation applied to the data and model, and the use of a non-iterative variance component estimator. With such speed enhancements permutation tests are feasible, which allows inference on powerful spatial tests like the cluster size statistic.


Water shortages and the degradation of water supplies threaten the development activities and health of people in many parts of the world. This is particularly true in GCC countries that are experiencing rapid population and development growth but have limited water resources and poor water resources management. GCC (Gulf Councel Countrie ) is facing potential water shortages. The alarming increase in the scarcity of water in various parts of the world. Water is a main issue in many countries especially in those GCC, it has focused a global attention on the need for a stronger and more appropriate water resource management and availability solutions. imperative for nations to come up with more focused and direct measures that would address and stem this resource scarcity. Water sustainability needs a balance between demand and availability. The main objective of this paper is the application of these concepts to Arabs countries. Water demand management is about achieving a reduction in the use of water resources, normally through increased efficiency of water application. The management of water resources was not explicitly included in the past from thirty-five years in all most of those countries normative system partly because water was believed to be a free good in mind, and was not accepted to have a price to pay to use it. This work contributed to a low efficiency of water use and waste of it, and water prices are often well below levels needed to cover the costs of the system. Moreover, this contributes to a worse quality of water, and, as quality of water decrease, the management of water resources becomes more challenging and the need to integrate water quality into an overall water resources management grows. The main goal of this paper is showing, how Geographical Information Systems (GIS ) can be used to support infrastructure planners and analyst on water demand of a local area in GCC,  they are (Saudi Arabia ,Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman  and UAE). The results indicated an increase of about 110%, 135%, 139% and 281% in water demand due to future development in, agriculture, forestry, amenity and domestic sectors respectively. Keywords: GIS, Water Resources Management, Water Demand Centers, Water Supply Sources, Groundwater Management, ArcGIS , GCC


Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous signalling molecule which becomes very toxic due to its ability to react with multiple cellular targets in biological systems. Bacterial cells protect against NO through the expression of enzymes that detoxify this molecule by oxidizing it to nitrate or reducing it to nitrous oxide or ammonia. These enzymes are haemoglobins, c-type nitric oxide reductase, flavorubredoxins and the cytochrome c respiratory nitrite reductase. Expression of the genes encoding these enzymes is controlled by NO-sensitive regulatory proteins. The production of NO in rhizobia-legume symbiosis has been demonstrated recently. In functioning nodules, NO acts as a potent inhibitor of nitrogenase enzymes. These observations have led to the question of how rhizobia overcome the toxicity of NO. Several studies on the NO response have been undertaken in two non-dentrifying rhizobial species, Sinorhizobium meliloti and Rhizobium etli, and in a denitrifying species, Bradyrhizobium japonicum. In the present mini-review, current knowledge of the NO response in those legume-associated endosymbiotic bacteria is summarized.


Abstract As the number of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) continues to increase in Puerto Rico, it becomes increasingly important to address the issues of stigma and other discriminatory attitudes. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to examine the attitudes toward PLWHA of a large sample of women living in public housing in Puerto Rico, including sympathy and support for PLWHA in the workplace and in school. A total of 1138 women completed a self-administered 218-item survey made up of questions that measured HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Levels of sympathy varied depending upon the target group, with HIV-infected drug users receiving the least sympathy. Most women reported that HIV-positive teachers should be allowed to teach and that HIV-positive children should be allowed to attend school. However, a significantly lower percentage reported that HIV-infected nurses should be allowed to continue working. Women who were more sympathetic toward PLWHA were more tolerant of PLWHA in the workplace and school, while those with inaccurate knowledge concerning HIV transmission were less tolerant. Also, those who knew a PLWHA were more tolerant. Levels of discriminatory attitudes in Puerto Rico are high and warrant both individual- and societal-level interventions.


Background. With the publication of large studies from different health systems comparing survival probabilities, cancer registries are increasingly involved in clinical evaluation research. The changing role of registries strictly depends on the integration between the oncology system and proper information technology (IT) tools. IT is fundamental to improving validity and timeliness of data diffusion when both the number of sources linked and the number of variables registered are on the rise. Aims. In this paper, we present a modern web-based management system that allows to integrate different sources, validate and elaborate data thus providing a new evaluation system for the oncology network based on cancer registries. Materials and methods. We developed a Web 2.0 management system for the Umbria Cancer Registry (S.G.RTUP) based on AMPAX technology (Apache, Mysql, PHP, Ajax and XML) and object-oriented programming. ISO/IEC 27001:2005 standard is followed to ensure security access to the information. The S.G.RTUP architecture is modular and extensible and information consistency is guaranteed by entity-relationship principles. Cancer sites, topology, morphology, and behavior are coded according to the International Classification of Diseases. Classical epidemiological indices for a cancer registry are implemented: incidence, mortality, years of potential life lost, and cumulative risk. S.G.RTUP has tools to prepare data for trend analysis and relative survival analysis. Geographical analysis is also implemented. Results. S.G.RTUP is integrated with the Oncology Network and gives timely epidemiological indices for evaluation of oncological activities. The registration system that we developed can effectively manage different data sources. Automatic importing of routinely available data from pathology archives, screening services, and hospital discharge records will reduce the time needed to produce data and will also allow the expansion of registered information. Several services for data visualization and statistical analysis are implemented. A geographic information system based on Google maps API is used for geolocalization of cases and map plotting of incidence and mortality rates. We implemented Besag York and Mollie's algorithm for real-time smoothed maps. All services can be dynamically performed over a subset of data that the user can select through an innovative filtering system. Discussion and conclusion. IT contributed to shortening all phases of cancer registration, including linkage with external sources, coding, quality control, data management and analysis and publication of results. Integration in the oncology network and secure Web access allowed us to design with clinicians innovative population-based collaborative studies. Our geographic analysis system enables us to develop sophisticated dynamic geostatistic tools.


In this paper, a shape memory alloy (SMA) based handling system is presented. The gripping system consists of two different actuator systems based on SMA wires. The first one is a reconfigurable end-effector with four independent gripping arms. The second SMA actuator system is a bi-stable SMA actuated vacuum suction cup, of which one is mounted on each of the four arms of the end-effector. While the four independently adjustable gripping arms of the end-effector allow for an adaption to different workpiece geometries like a flat shaped workpiece or a round shaped, spherical workpiece, integrated SMA driven brake mechanisms enable an energy free position holding of the end-effector components. This means that an electric current is only required when the end-effector arms need to be rearranged. This results in a versatile, adaptive and energy-efficient handling system that can replace mostly pneumatically driven state-of-the-art systems in production and assembly industry. No manual adjustment of the gripping system or even exchanging is needed, if an assembly line switches between products with different work piece geometries as a result. The gripping unit is controlled using an external microcontroller and can be mounted on a robot for diverse handling purposes.


We estimate the relationship between productivity and trade for a panel of countries over the period 1980 to 2000 using instrumental-variables estimation of a productivity equation. We note that some estimates of productivity gains attributed to trade capture instead the roles of institutions and geography. The endogeneity of trade and institutional quality is accounted for by using instruments. We extend the Frankel and Romer (1999) specification, using real openness to measure trade (following Alcala and Ciccone, 2004), which allows for identification of channels through which trade and production scale affect productivity. The trade instrument is based on a 'theoretically motivated' gravity equation. The instruments for institutional quality come from Gwartney, Holcombe and Lawson (2004). Contrary to Alcala and Ciccone, our results suggest no robust relationship between real openness and labour productivity in the 1980s. Conversely, the relationship between productivity and real openness appears to be robust from 1990 onwards and similarly in the case of institutional quality. We also find evidence implying that countries with low-quality institutions are also able to benefit from openness to trade.


Information and communication technologies (lCTs) are increasingly changing the way
in which working, learning, doing research and administrations are carried out. ICTs
have the changed natute of many academic, public and organisations libraries. Health
service is an important and essential element of any modern society. Therefore,
development of this service and updating its services is a priority for most of modern
governments. Current developments in ICTs are changing the nature of health science
libraries. Therefore research in this area is important to provide guidelines,
recommendations to improve the health services.
This study explores the impact of ICTs in Hamad Health Science Library in Qatar.
Physicians and staff in the Hamad Medical Corporation were surveyed by questionnaire
to identify the use of ICTs and their effect on them. Then personal interviews
detertnined their perceptions of the impact on the research productivity of end-users.
There is a lack of this type of study in the literature. Those that there are specifically
address the impact of ICTs in health science library. ICTs have become a major link to
health care resources for many health care workers.
The study employs a systems methodological approach in order to better understand the
impact and value of ICTs in Hamad Health Sciences Library (HHSL). Using the systems
intervention, issues that affect the system were identified (technological issues,
cooperation issues, cultural issues and staff (and user) training and development) and the
problem situation improved. An ordered roadmap of elements necessary to bring about
change was produced and a HHSL systems model constructed to understand the change
processes in context.
Conclusions drawn reflect the level of success of the aims and objectives and indicate
ways in which the problem situation can be improved from a systemic standpoint.
Recommendations to management include aspects associated with operational planning,
policy objectives and strategic formulation.


This publication on missionization activities in colonial Honduras provides new insights into indigenous social and physical conditions of the region, the role of the Mercedarian Order in the Audiencia of Guatemala, and interaction between these two groups in a frontier setting.


Information services delivered via wireless, portable communication devices continue to pervade our work and leisure spaces. While people are continuously bombarded with promises of newer and better ways to maintain contact with others and to have constant access to information, however, there remain a number of open issues that inhibit the potential for an open information society. The bidirectional influence between such wireless technologies and applications and their potential end-users, contributes to the development of both the technologies and applications and the social setting in which they are embedded. In this paper, we extend current studies of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) uptake by integrating interpretations of "ubiquitous computing" and its pervasion of everyday life. We draw upon findings from a range of IS research to structure our future studies of adoption issues in relation to a variety of wireless application cases. We show that, while some "traditional" IS/IT dimensions of uptake still hold, there are now a variety of other "nonutilitarian (hedonic)" factors that developers and designers need to take into account. We conclude by proposing a research model – expanded from model of user acceptability and product uptake, a descriptive framework based on the "Price of Convenience"(Ng-Kruelle, Swatman, Rebne and Hampe 2002).


This is a report of prospective study of eight patients with testicular tumours seen at the Urology Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital over a five-year period (1979-1983). The mean age was 32.7 years. Four patients (50%) had germ cell tumours including embryonal carcinoma 25%, seminoma 12.5% and malignant teratoma undifferentiated (MTU) 12.5%. The seminoma in this group originated from a testis which was previously undescended but brought into the scrotum at six years of age. The other four patients (50%), had non germ cell tumours. Two of these patients (25%) had paratesticular tumours including rhabdomyosarcoma of paratesticular adnexae and liposarcoma. One (12.5%) had adenomatoid tumour of the epididymis while the last patient (12.5%) had malignant fibrous mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis. This study reaffirms the fact that testicular tumours are rare in blacks and that Nigeria has the lowest incidence reported at 0.1 per 100,000 per annum.


Scheduling problems are already difficult on traditional parallel machines. They become extremely challenging on heterogeneous clusters, even when embarrassingly parallel applications are considered. In this paper we deal with the problem of scheduling multiple applications, made of collections of independent and identical tasks, on a heterogeneous master-worker platform. The applications are submitted online, which means that there is no a priori (static) knowledge of the workload distribution at the beginning of the execution. The objective is to minimize the maximum stretch, i.e. the maximum ratio between the actual time an application has spent in the system and the time this application would have spent if executed alone. On the theoretical side, we design an optimal algorithm for the offline version of the problem (when all release dates and application characteristics are known beforehand). We also introduce several heuristics for the general case of online applications. On the practical side, we have conducted extensive simulations and MPI experiments, showing that we are able to deal with very large problem instances in a few seconds. Also, the solution that we compute totally outperforms classical heuristics from the literature, thereby fully assessing the usefulness of our approach.


Received 03 January 2011 Revised 22 January 2011 Accepted 27 January 2011 Early online 28 January 2011 Print 31 January 2011 Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major microvascular complication accounting for about 30% of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) cases. An insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the gene encoding angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) is reported to be a candidate gene predisposing to diabetic nephropathy. Accordingly, we investigated the ACE I/D gene polymorphism in 52 Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) cases suffering from nephropathy as assessed by 24 hrs urinary protein levels. 50 age and sex matched healthy subjects served as controls. ACE I/D genotyping was carried out by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using allele specific primers. The frequencies of ACE DD, ID and II genotypes in the diabetic nephropathy patients were 38.5% , 50% and 11.5% and in the control subjects, 22%, 38% and 40% respectively. There was an increase of 16.5% in the frequency of DD genotype in the patients compared to controls. The frequency of D allele in the patients was 63% which was found to be statistically significant (p< 0.05, Odds ratio=2.6) compared to 41% in the controls. These results indicate that Type 2 diabetic patients with D allele (those with DD & ID genotypes) have more than two fold risk of developing nephropathy. Clinical implications of ACE genotyping in planning for patient's management have been discussed.


The events of 1956 (the Twentieth CPSU Congress, Khrushchev's Secret Speech, and the Hungarian revolution) had a strong impact on the evolution of the Romanian communist regime, paving the way for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romania in 1958, the stricter policy toward the Transylvanian Hungarians, and Romania's greater independence from the USSR in the 1960s. Students complained about their living and studying conditions long before the outbreak of the Hungarian crisis. Ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania listened closely to Budapest radio stations, and Romanian students in Budapest in the summer of 1956 were especially affected by the ferment of ideas there. For the Gheorghiu-Dej regime, the Hungarian revolution and Soviet invasion provided a useful excuse to end the destalinization process and crack the whip conclusivel —carrying out mass arrests, but also granting short-term concessions to ethnic minorities and workers. Of all segments of the Romanian population, university students were the most discontented. Drawing on archival documents, published memoirs, and recent Romanian scholarship, this paper will analyze and compare the student unrest in Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, and Timisoara. Due to a combination of psychological, logistical, and historical factors, students in the latter city were especially vocal and organized. On October 30 over 2,000 students from the Polytechnic Institute in Timisoara met with party offi cials, demanding changes in living and study conditions, as well as the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romania. Another 800-1,000 students convened on October 31, calling for the release of students who were arrested the day before. Obvious discrepancies between the Romanian and Hungarian media sparked their curiosity about events in Hungary, while their cramped dorm rooms actually facilitated student meetings. In the Banat region itself, a tradition of anti-communist protest had prevailed since 1945. Although arrested en masse, these students set a vital precedent—especially for the Timisoarans who launched the Romanian Revolution thirty-three years later.


Under Newcastle Science City's Community Engagement programme, and under the Sustainability theme, Groundwork worked on a Collaborative Project with Northumbria University to deliver a targeted education programme of workshops on Domestic Energy Efficiency to residents of Newcastle. The project's aim was to engage with families with young children living in the most socially and economically deprived wards in Newcastle, that is families who are potentially living in fuel poverty, to educate people on the importance of and benefits of becoming more energy efficient. Groundwork intended to deliver the education programme via a pair of workshops, each two hours in length, to twelve different groups living in specified postcode areas of Newcastle which meet the criteria for ERDF funding (Newcastle Disadvantaged areas ERDF Post Codes).

Researchers from the Sustainable Cities Research Institute in the Faculty of Engineering and Environment at Northumbria University worked with Groundwork to gather baseline data on participants' perceptions of fuel poverty and their approaches to energy use and energy saving before the workshops, and to evaluate how participants had benefited from the programme after attending the two workshops in terms of changing their approaches to energy use.


This article examines the transplanting and translating of law in the domains of criminal procedure and administrative law. The transnational movement of law is full of unexpected twists and turns that belie the notion of the United States as a legal behemoth. Furthermore, the movement of legal procedures which occurs both within and across countries with common and civil law legal traditions challenges preconceived notions of an orderly divide between legal families. While the spread of elements of the U.S. jury system and methods of plea bargaining reveals the powerful influence of U.S. legal ideas, the ways that these procedures undergo processes of translation also illustrates the growing prevalence of legal syncretism. The uneven record of transplanting and translating principles of U.S. domestic administrative law into international organizations exemplifies pluralism in the absence of a global legal hegemon. Our aim is to draw attention to the interaction between international and domestic legal factors and to show that multiple legal products shape processes of transplanting and translating, thus creating a polymorphic legal world often characterized by syncretic practices. The new normal is broad consultation of a range of international models and a facility for translating multiple or even conflicting legal practices. This presents opportunities for positive legal change and complicates efforts to locate clear sources of power in the movement of law.


ABSTRACT. Ossancora, new genus, is diagnosed within Doradidae by having the unique combination of posterior coracoid process approximately as long as posterior cleithral process in adults, posterior cranial fontanel occluded, long maxillary barbel with smooth elongate fimbriae, and teeth present on dentary and premaxilla. A similarly long posterior coracoid process is found in only one other doradid species, Trachydoras paraguayensis, which is distinguished, as are its congeners, from Ossancora by having a small posterior cranial fontanel retained in adults, a relatively short maxillary barbel with stout fimbriae, and edentulous jaws. Three nominal species are recognized as valid and redescribed in Ossancora: Doras punctatus Kner 1853, in both the Amazonas and Paraná-Paraguay basins, Oxydoras eigenmanni Boulenger 1895, in the Paraguay basin, and Doras fimbriatus Kner 1855 in the Amazonas basin. The younger name Doras fimbriatus Kner 1855 is considered valid as a nomen protectum according to Article 23.9 of the ICZN, and its older synonym, D. loricatus Kner 1853 qualifies as a nomen oblitum. A fourth new species, Ossancora asterophysa, is described and diagnosed in part by a gas bladder morphology that is distinctive among congeners. Three species, O. eigenmanni, O. fimbriata and O. asterophysa, form a monophyletic group based on three shared characteristics: smooth elongate fimbriae inserted in more than one row, one dorsally and one ventrally, along anterior margin of maxillary barbel (uniquely derived among Doradidae), elongate fimbriae on mental barbels, and anterior nuchal plate reduced, not sutured to epioccipital (latter two features uniquely derived among Ossancora). Ossancora is typical of lowland floodplain lakes and river channels, and its occurrence in the both the Amazonas and Paraná-Paraguay supports a historical link between these two basins. A key to species and detailed anatomical descriptions are provided. Type specimens are discussed and lectotypes are newly designated for Oxydoras eigenmanni Boulenger 1895, D. fimbriatus Kner 1855, and Doras (Corydoras) punctatus Kner 1853, respectively.


This paper presents a collaborative study of variation and potential change in the voicing contrast in Scottish English plosives, analyzed in recordings from twelve vernacular female speakers of different generations made in the 1970s and the 2000s in Glasgow. We adapted an existing automatic measurement algorithm for predicting Voice Onset Time (VOT) originally developed for voiceless stops, for the analysis of voiced and voiceless plosives in casual sociolinguistic speech recordings of different kinds. Our semi-automatic method, which involved quick manual coding of automatically-generated positive VOT predictions, resulted in correct or close to correct measures for two-thirds of our data, and allowed us to process a very large number of tokens very quickly, especially for voiceless stops. The VOT results themselves indicate that the voicing contrast is being maintained, but suggest that a change in the phonetic realization of the stops may have been in progress since the middle of the 20th century, specifically a lengthening of aspiration for /p/ and /t/, and a trend to a longer release phase in their voiced counterparts.


Abstract This paper emphasizes the pertinence of the British government's claim that nuclear deterrent threats are still relevant in the four broad areas to which it addresses: deterrence against aggression towards British/NATO vital interests or nuclear coercion/ blackmail by major powers with large nuclear arsenals; deterrence against nuclear coercion or blackmail with other WMD by regional ''rogue'' states; deterrence against state-sponsored acts of nuclear terrorism; and as a general residual deterrent function to preserve peace and stability in an uncertain world. British nuclear weapons are still important and very much relevant in all the four areas discussed. First of all, they play a role of a significant tool of political leverage as they continue to serve as an authentication of British military capabilities. In that regard, they still function much the same way they did during the 'Cold War'. WMDs were, after all, a guarantee of their non-use, which does not mean that they were not useful. Secondly, it also authenticates the UK among its allies. Even though generally democracies do not wage wars with one another, they still have to face the challenges posed by non-democracies. In doing so, they need to support each other with the use of 'ultima ratio' arguments in order to safeguard international peace and stability. The British nuclear deterrent should, therefore, be perceived as a general deterrent with a positive influence on international community and international security, overall.


This chapter analyzes India's strategic culture in terms of the cultural resources on which its strategic elite draws, the main traditions of strategic thought, and their influence on India's behavior. Main Argument:
India's strategic culture is informed by ideas taken from Hindu texts, nineteenth- and twentieth-century religious revivalists, and modernist thinkers. These ideas shape three traditions of strategic thought: Nehruvianism, realpolitik, and Hindu nationalism. The Nehruvian tradition has been dominant since independence in 1947, underpinning a commitment to strategic restraint; the other two traditions are less influential on policy but important because of the potential alternatives they offer to Nehruvianism. Moreover, if the Hindu nationalist tradition did begin to assert greater influence over India's strategic culture, Indian behavior would likely remain restrained, as that tradition emphasizes achieving domestic social unity as a precondition for the international recognition of Indian greatness.


Background: Enterococcus is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections, with E faecalis and E faecium accounting up to 90-95% of clinical isolates. During recent years, the occurrence of other Enterococcal species from clinical samples increased with the properties of resistance to many antibiotics. Thus appropriate identification of Enterococci at species level is crucial for the management and prevention of these bacteria in hospital settings. Hence, this study was undertaken to highlight the incidence of multi drug resistant enterococcal species from various samples from human infections, in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This work was conducted in our institution from January 2009 to December 2011. About 112 enterococcal isolates from various clinical specimens were included in the study. The isolates were identified by standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out by using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The prevalence of High level Gentamicin resistance was identified. Vancomycin resistance was assessed by E-test. Result: The commonest species identified was E faecalis (87.5%), followed by E faecium (8.9%). 14% of isolates produced beta haemolysis and gelatinase. 15% and 24% were the haemolytic and gelatinase producing enterococci. High level resistance was shown towards tetracycline, Amikacin, Cholramphenicol. Vancomycin resistance was identified in single isolate. Conclusion: There is achange in isolation pattern of enterococcal species. Besides, there is an increased rate of infection with multidrug resistant enterococci species, which necessitates frequent antimicrobial surveillance.


Many studies have shown that RR Lyrae variable stars (RRL) are powerful stellar tracers of Galactic halo structure and satellite galaxies. The Dark Energy Survey (DES), with its deep and wide coverage (g ∼ 23.5 mag in a single exposure; over 5000 deg2) provides a rich opportunity to search for substructures out to the edge of the Milky Way halo. However, the sparse and unevenly sampled multiband light curves from the DES wide-field survey (a median of four observations in each of grizY over the first three years) pose a challenge for traditional techniques used to detect RRL. We present an empirically motivated and computationally efficient template-fitting method to identify these variable stars using three years of DES data. When tested on DES light curves of previously classified objects in SDSS stripe 82, our algorithm recovers 89% of RRL periods to within 1% of their true value with 85% purity and 76% completeness. Using this method, we identify 5783 RRL candidates, ∼28% of which are previously undiscovered. This method will be useful for identifying RRL in other sparse multiband data sets.


Stem necrosis disease caused by Tobacco streak virus (TSV), first recognized in 2000, has emerged as a potential threat to peanut (Arachis hypogaea) in southern states of India. The virus induces severe necrosis of shoots leading to death of the plant, and plants that survive are malformed, with severe reduction in pod yield. All the currently grown peanut cultivars in India are highly susceptible to the virus. Therefore, wild relatives of peanut were evaluated to identify potential sources of resistance to TSV infection. In all, 56 germplasm accessions from 20 wild Arachis spp. in four sections (Arachis, Erectoides, Procumbente, and Rhizomatosae), along with susceptible peanut cultivars (JL 24 and K 1375), were evaluated for resistance to TSV under greenhouse conditions using mechanical sap inoculations. Systemic virus infection, determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), in the test accessions ranged between 0 and 100%. Twenty-four accessions in section Arachis that had 0 to 35% systemically infected plants were retested, and systemic infection was not detected in eight of these accessions in repeated trials in the greenhouse. These are International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics groundnut (ICG) accession nos. 8139, 8195, 8200, 8203, 8205, and 11550 belonging to A. duranensis; ICG 8144 belonging to A. villosa; and ICG 13210 belonging to A. stenosperma. Even though the resistant accessions had 0 to 100% TSV infection in inoculated leaves, TSV was not detected in the subsequently emerged leaves. This is the first report of TSV resistance in Arachis spp. The eight TSV resistant accessions are cross compatible with A. hypogaea for utilization in breeding for stem necrosis disease resistance.


New developments in satellite and airborne remote-sensing instruments with metric spatial resolutions allow more precise study of cities. For studies involving the radiative characterization of urban features, knowledge of the atmosphere and particularly of aerosols is required to perform atmospheric compensation of the images. A new characterization tool called OSIS (Observation of Shadows for Aerosol Inversion over 3D Scenes) has been developed, which is adapted to urban remote-sensing images of metric spatial resolution acquired in the visible and near-infrared spectral domains. It is based on the observation of shadow/sun transitions and allows characterization of the aerosol optical properties. A theoretical sensitivity study of this code has shown a precision of the same order of magnitude as most of the satellite products for aerosol optical thickness retrieval. The goal of this article is to test this tool with real remote-sensing images. The data used are PELICAN (Plateforme et Logiciels Informatiques de Caméras Aéroportées Numériques) airborne multispectral images of 20 cm spatial resolution acquired during the 2009 MUSARDE (Multi-angular Urban Remote Sensing Acquisitions for Reflectance Retrieval in a 3D Environment) campaign over Toulouse. First, the OSIS tool and the measurement campaign are presented in the article. Then, the data processing and the results are discussed based on the budget error of OSIS corresponding to the MUSARDE data. The study shows that the mean retrieved aerosol optical thickness is in agreement with this budget error with an average RMS absolute error of 0.05–0.06 depending on the wavelength. Thus, this study shows the potential of OSIS with a high accuracy of aerosol optical thickness retrieval, even in such complex areas as cities. It also presents recommendations for the use of this tool, such as the use of satellite images that are better calibrated, and/or advice for selecting the pixels of interest.


The Stochastic Evolution (SE) algorithm is a relatively new heuristic method that is used for combinatorial optimization that exploits an analogy between biological evolution and combinatorial optimization. The SE algorithm begins with a random initial solution or with a previously found good solution to the problem and simulates the evolution process by eliminating the bad characteristics of the older generation resulting in an improved newer generation solution. The SE algorithm achieves this using functions and operations which test the suitability of characteristics for the existing environment. Each characteristic of a species in the current generation has to prove its suitability under the existing environmental conditions in order to remain unchanged in the next generation. This process is repeated until a certain number of iterations is completed or until no significant improvement is noticed and the solution to the problem is obtained. In this project, the SE algorithm is studied and implemented to solve the very large scale integration cell placement problem, and the quality of the solutions and the running times of the algorithm are compared with those generated by the Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm. The SE algorithm after experiments shows that it produces results that are comparable to the results that were generated by the SA algorithm. The SE algorithm seems to be suitable in cases where the size of the input is considerably large. The SE algorithm starts consuming more time than the SA algorithm as the size of the input increases. The feature in the SE algorithm which increases the number of trials if the newer generation is better than the older could increase the running time of the SE algorithm considerably.


One of the important goals of problem-based learning (PBL) in medical education is to enhance medical students' clinical reasoning—hypothetico-deductive reasoning (HDR) in particular—through small group discussions. However, few studies have focused on explicit strategies for promoting students' HDR during group discussions in PBL. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework that integrates Toulmin's argumentation model (1958) into Barrows's HDR process (1994). This framework explains the structure of argumentation (a claim, data, and a warrant) contextualized in each phase of HDR during PBL. This paper suggests four instructional strategies—understanding argument structures, questioning, elaborating on structural knowledge, and assessing argumentation—for promoting medical students' argumentation in relation to HDR processes. Further implications of the proposed framework for other disciplines, such as science, legal, and engineering education, are also discussed.


The purpose of this guide book is to provide easy-to-use steps for calibrating snowplow sander controllers. It is an experience-based guide that captures tips and techniques learned by experienced calibrators. It helps agencies calibrate their sander controllers so the correct amount of salt, sand or other solid material is applied to the road when treating roads during winter maintenance. It focuses on controllers commonly used by agencies. It provides easy-to-use detailed calibration steps with step-by-step instructions. Each instruction step includes a picture to help with clarity. Also, "Quick Calibration Sheets" (one-pagers) are included with less detailed (quicker) instructions to assist calibrators who are already experienced. The guide also includes calibration forms, and a general discussion about calibration. It covers both automatic and manual controllers. It suggests approaches for both open-loop and closed-loop automatic controllers. The primary automatic controller covered is the ForceAmerica unit. A general approach is given for calibrating any manual controller type. The guide covers both calibration and verification. It also suggests "when to calibrate". The guide includes quick calibration sheets, calculation worksheets, and blank calibration forms.


Abstract RFID systems work on communication between data carriers and data readers. This basic data transmission is provided in virtual network, which have to be steady. Reading range of data readers is depending on many factors, as devices parameters, surroundings and type of data carrier. Nowadays, technology provides better communication between devices, which dramatically increases distance, in which devices are able to communicate with each other. With proper setting, interaction in logistic processes could be faster and stable. This paper explores equipment needed for transport information from data carrier through data readers to software devices, which are responsible for information processing.


In this paper we investigate the potential increase in capacity of HAP (High Altitude Platforms) communication systems using compact MIMO antenna array configurations in conjunction with HAP diversity techniques. In addition, we evaluate the system performance for different separation angles between HAPs. Simulation results show that the HAP diversity system provides superior performance compared to the single HAP case.


SUMMARY
The make-or-buy decision has traditionally been made using standard cost accounting methods. In this Journal, Gardiner and Blackstone (1991) made a strong case for incorporating the bottleneck capacity into the decision. However, their method did not guarantee the best solution for the more complicated make-or-buy problem. Additionally, their approach in some cases allowed organizations to forego opportunities for profit improvement. Since the publication of the Gardiner and Blackstone research, spreadsheets with in-built Linear Programming (LP) based optimizers allow for quick "what-if" analyses that encourage efforts toward optimal solutions for complicated problems. This article is a review and update of the Gardiner and Blackstone methodology based on spreadsheet LP that provides enhanced solutions in complex environments with multiple products and bottleneck situations. Specific managerial implications are offered.


I review recent empirical findings on knowledge attributions in lottery cases and report a new experiment that advances our understanding of the topic. The main novel finding is that people deny knowledge in lottery cases because of an underlying qualitative difference in how they process probabilistic information. "Outside" information is generic and pertains to a base rate within a population. "Inside" information is specific and pertains to a particular item's propensity. When an agent receives information that 99% of all lottery tickets lose (outside information), people judge that she does not know that her ticket will lose. By contrast, when an agent receives information that her specific ticket is 99% likely to lose (inside information), people judge that she knows that her ticket will lose. Despite this difference in knowledge judgments, people rate the likelihood of her ticket losing the exact same in both cases (i.e. 99%). The results shed light on other factors affecting knowledge judgments in lottery cases, including formulaic expression and participants' own estimation of whether it is true that the ticket will lose. The results also undermine previous hypotheses offered for knowledge denial in lottery cases, including the hypotheses that people deny knowledge because they either deny justification or acknowledge a chance for error.