Exercise adherence is affected by factors including perceptions of enjoyment, time availability, and intrinsic motivation. Approximately 50% of individuals withdraw from an exercise program within the first 6 mo of initiation, citing lack of time as a main influence. Time efficient exercise such as high intensity interval training (HIIT) may provide an alternative to moderate intensity continuous exercise (MICT) to elicit substantial health benefits. This study examined differences in enjoyment, affect, and perceived exertion between MICT and HIIT. Twelve recreationally active men and women (age = 29.5 ± 10.7 yr, VO2max = 41.4 ± 4.1 mL/kg/min, BMI = 23.1 ± 2.1 kg/m2) initially performed a VO2max test on a cycle ergometer to determine appropriate workloads for subsequent exercise bouts. Each subject returned for two additional exercise trials, performing either HIIT (eight 1 min bouts of cycling at 85% maximal workload (Wmax) with 1 min of active recovery between bouts) or MICT (20 min of cycling at 45% Wmax) in randomized order. During exercise, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), affect, and blood lactate concentration (BLa) were measured. Additionally, the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) was completed after exercise. Results showed higher enjoyment (p = 0.013) in response to HIIT (103.8 ± 9.4) versus MICT (84.2 ± 19.1). Eleven of 12 participants (92%) preferred HIIT to MICT. However, affect was lower (p<0.05) and HR, RPE, and BLa were higher (p<0.05) in HIIT versus MICT. Although HIIT is more physically demanding than MICT, individuals report greater enjoyment due to its time efficiency and constantly changing stimulus. Trial Registration: NCT:02981667.


Using higher-level entities during mapping has the potential to improve camera localisation performance and give substantial perception capabilities to real-time 3D SLAM systems. We present an efficient new real-time approach which densely maps an environment using bounded planes and surfels extracted from depth images (like those produced by RGB-D sensors or dense multi-view stereo reconstruction). Our method offers the every-pixel descriptive power of the latest dense SLAM approaches, but takes advantage directly of the planarity of many parts of real-world scenes via a data-driven process to directly regularize planar regions and represent their accurate extent efficiently using an occupancy approach with on-line compression. Large areas can be mapped efficiently and with useful semantic planar structure which enables intuitive and useful AR applications such as using any wall or other planar surface in a scene to display a user's content.


The behavior prediction of solar energy harvesting systems requires accurate system models in order to dimension the system with respect to its application and location constraints. In contrast to commonly used equivalent circuit models, artificial neural networks (ANN) allow for the behavior of the entire system to be captured in an efficient manner. In this work, we have investigated the influences of the underlying ANN configuration on the model's prediction performance. It was found that the performance variation between training runs increases with an rising number of neurons, which can lead to a higher model performance, but makes the performance outcome more sensitive to initial training conditions. Moreover, the results demonstrate that even simple ANN configurations capture the system behavior accurately and result in low prediction errors for the harvesting architecture under test.


This article documents the experiences of a community of practice (CoP) of female academics with regard to the notion of publishing. The non-probability, purposive sample utilised in the study, comprised a group of female academics who were involved in a women in research programme at a University of Technology (UoT). The purpose of the article was to explore the personal and professional barriers the women may have experienced with regard to academic publishing. A qualitative paradigm was used, by means of a case study approach.
It was expected that the data might indicate a specific gendered overload for the sample group with regard to publishing, as well as produce anomalous outcomes as a result of the UoT setting. However, women were not found to be specifically conscious of their gendering, but rather experienced barriers to publishing mainly as a result of high administrative workloads in the institution. The article adds to the body of knowledge in that it (1) maintains that the main barrier to publishing in this case is not compounded by gender. (2) Shows that workload pressure is similar in a University of Technology environment as in a traditional university environment, and (3) documents the experiences of a CoP and the success thereof, which could be duplicated in other environments.


BACKGROUND
Protein intake (PI) may alter adiposity but few studies have explored the age-specific associations of PI with body mass index (BMI).

OBJECTIVE
We analyzed how PI and breastfeeding relate to BMI in the CLHNS (Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey), an observational Filipino birth cohort (1983-2005).

METHODS
Random-effects longitudinal regression models estimated the association of daily breastfeeding frequency and energy-adjusted PI residuals with concurrent BMI z scores (zBMI) measured bimonthly from 2 to 24 mo (n = 2899), and the association of breastfeeding history and PI residuals with concurrent BMI using 5 surveys from 2 to 22 y (n = 2435). Models included statistical interactions between PI, breastfeeding, age, and energy intake and adjusted for potential confounders.

RESULTS
Breastfeeding was associated with higher predicted zBMI at 6 mo (β: 0.491 SD; 95% CI: 0.422, 0.560) and at 18 mo (β: 0.114 SD; 95% CI: 0.032, 0.197). Daily breastfeeding frequency contributed to higher predicted zBMI in younger infants and lower predicted zBMI in later infancy. Those with longer breastfeeding history (19 mo) were significantly smaller at age 11 y (in kg/m2; β: -0.220; 95% CI: -0.342, -0.097) than those with a shorter (4 mo) breastfeeding duration. Total complementary PI was positively associated with predicted zBMI. Complementary animal PI was positively associated with predicted zBMI in nonbreastfed infants. Plant PI was inversely associated with predicted zBMI of nonbreastfed infants at 6 mo. At 22 y contrasts between high (75th percentile) and low (25th percentile) PIs showed that animal PI was associated with higher predicted BMI (β: 0.187; 95% CI: 0.045, 0.329), and total PI was inversely related to predicted BMI (β: -0.008; 95% CI: -0.015, -0.001).

CONCLUSION
Breastfeeding frequency, breastfeeding history, and PI contribute to BMI from infancy to young adulthood in the CLHNS.


Quintenary Cu2(Zn1−xCox)SnS4 is an analog of the promising solar absorber material Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS). The initial rapid progress in CZTS has stalled because the similar sizes of Cu and Zn cations lead to facile formation of antisite defects, which are thought to limit the solar cell performance. Cobalt substitution for Zn may reduce cation disorder. Herein, we report the synthesis of wurtzite Cu2(Zn1−xCox)SnS4 across the entire composition range and a systematic study of the substitution of Co into the wurtzite CZTS lattice. The synthesis is based on microwave heating to only 160 °C and uses metal salts and thiourea as precursors and ethylene glycol as the solvent. The Cu2(Zn1−xCox)SnS4 nanocrystals were phase pure wurtzite within the detection limits of X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. The wurtzite lattice parameters, nanocrystal sizes, and A1 Raman mode peak positions depend on the Co concentration, x. The lattice parameters follow Vegard's law within the accuracy of our measurements, and the A1 Raman mode shifts nearly linearly with x. The nanocrystal size decreases from 8 nm to 4 nm as x increases from 0 to 1. The absorption band edge blue shifted from 1.1 eV for x = 0 to 1.35 eV for x = 1. These values are lower than those predicted by density functional theory calculations and previous attempts at determining the optical band gap for wurtzite Cu2ZnSnS4 (x = 0) and Cu2CoSnS4 (x = 1). Either the band gaps of wurtzite Cu2ZnSnS4 (x = 0) and Cu2CoSnS4 (x = 1) are lower or these materials have significant band tails due to defects. We also prepared polycrystalline Cu2(Zn1−xCox)SnS4 thin films by thermal annealing, in sulfur, of coatings comprised of Cu2(Zn1−xCox)SnS4 nanocrystals. Upon annealing in sulfur, the wurtzite Cu2(Zn1−xCox)SnS4 nanocrystals transformed into larger grains (100 s of nm to microns) that have a kesterite structure. The films with x ≤ 0.4 were phase pure kesterite within the detection limits of XRD and Raman scattering, but, for x ≥ 0.6, secondary phases such as Cu1.96S and Co0.24Zn0.76S were also detected.


Despite the large improvements in performance attained by using deep learning in computer vision, one can often further improve results with some additional post-processing that exploits the geometric nature of the underlying task. This commonly involves displacing the posterior distribution of a CNN in a way that makes it more appropriate for the task at hand, e.g. better aligned with local image features, or more compact. In this work we integrate this geometric post-processing within a deep architecture, introducing a differentiable and probabilistically sound counterpart to the common geometric voting technique used for evidence accumulation in vision. We refer to the resulting neural models as Mass Displacement Networks (MDNs), and apply them to human pose estimation in two distinct setups: (a) landmark localization, where we collapse a distribution to a point, allowing for precise localization of body keypoints and (b) communication across body parts, where we transfer evidence from one part to the other, allowing for a globally consistent pose estimate. We evaluate on large-scale pose estimation benchmarks, such as MPII Human Pose and COCO datasets, and report systematic improvements when compared to strong baselines.


Small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) contribution to the economic growth of a country is widely acknowledged. The shift of consumer's consumption habits from offline to online demands SMEs to adopt e-business. SMEs, on the other hand, despite all the benefits that e-business could offer, have been slow to adopt it. Adding to adoption pressure is the trade liberalization around the world that necessitates some use of e-business to trade internationally. Conducted in the context of an emerging economy, this preliminary study explores the relationship between international orientation of SMEs and e-business adoption. In addition, as implementation cost has been cited to be one of the top barriers of e-business adoption in emerging economies, this study investigates the relationship between financial support received by SMEs and their adoption. A sample of 90 SMEs in manufacturing sector was selected as the unit of our analysis. The resulting analysis reveals that SMEs with international orientation show tendency to adopt e-business whereas those that receive financial support, contrary to much of the existing literature, indicate no inclination to adopt. The result implies that internationalization of SMEs in the emerging economy may have more influence on their readiness to adopt e-business than financial assistance.


The sirtuin (SIRT) gene family is reported to regulate critical intracellular processes from aging to cellular metabolism and repair. SIRT3 knockout (SIRT3-/-) mice develop receptor positive mammary tumors starting at 13 months and SIRT3 expression is decreased in human breast cancer samples as well as several other diseases. It is established that carcinogenesis results from the accumulation of multiple aberrant genetic events including the activation of oncogenes and inactivation of tumor-suppressor genes. To determine the potential early genomic events that may play a role in the tumor-permissive phenotype observed in SIRT3-/- cells, we compared gene expression profile in SIRT3-/- and wild-type (SIRT3+/+) mouse livers. Differences between the expression profiles of genes important in the p53 and apoptosis pathway and signal transduction pathways, as well as genes involved with insulin and cholesterol metabolism, were determined. These results demonstrate that the expression of several oncogenes including Cdkn1, Myc, and Nos2 are increased. In contrast, several genes shown to be downregulated in human breast cancer including Btg2, Egr-1, Fos, Jun, Gadd4, and Wnt1 had decreased expression. The current work demonstrates that the loss of function of SIRT3 results in a cellular environment permissive for carcinogenesis and is characterized by altered metabolism.


In a wide-ranging interpretation of French thought in the years 1670-1789, Daniel Gordon takes us through the literature of manners and moral philosophy, theology and political theory, universal history and economics to show how French thinkers sustained a sense of liberty and dignity within an authoritarian regime. A penetrating critique of those who exaggerate either the radicalism of the Enlightenment or the hegemony of the absolutist state, his book documents the invention of an ethos that was neither democratic nor absolutist, an ethos that idealized communication and private life. The key to this ethos was "sociability," and Gordon offers the first detailed study of the language and ideas that gave this concept its meaning in the Old Regime."Citizens without Sovereignty" provides a wealth of information about the origins and usage of key words, such as "societe" and "sociabilite, " in French thought. From semantic fields of meaning, Gordon goes on to consider institutional fields of action. Focusing on the ubiquitous idea of "society" as a depoliticized sphere of equality, virtue, and aesthetic cultivation, he marks out the philosophical space that lies between the idea of democracy and the idea of the royal police state. Within this space, Gordon reveals the channels of creative action that are open to citizens without sovereignty--citizens who have no right to self-government. His work is thus a contribution to general historical sociology as well as French intellectual history."


The definition of statutory subject matter lies at the heart of the patent system. It is the reflection of Congress's policy decision as to what types of inventions one may patent. While the congressional definition of statutory subject matter (in what is now 35 U.S.C. § 101) has remained fundamentally constant since 1790, the Supreme Court has reinterpreted and redefined statutory subject matter several times, leaving lower courts with the frustrating task of trying to develop a coherent jurisprudence against a changing landscape. This inconstancy has introduced uncertainty for inventors who are trying to make the fundamental decision of whether to maintain a trade secret or seek patent protection for an innovation. Notwithstanding repeated admonitions to the lower courts not to read words into the patent statute, the Supreme Court itself has created three exceptions to the categories of statutory subject matter established by the clear words of § 101: laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas. This intervention would be defensible if it were constitutionally required or if the statutory language were ambiguous, but neither is the case. In fact, the Court's particular intervention is counter to the constitutional mandate to promote progress. In certain cases, this disincentive may be sufficient to prevent promising new technologies from ever developing. This Article proposes that Congress should consider the judicially created exceptions to the statutory categories of patentable subject matter and amend the statute so as to end judicial intrusion into patent policy making. © 2012 Max Stu/ Oppenheimer. B.S. cum laude, Princeton University; J.D., Harvard Law School; Professor, University of Baltimore School of Law; Faculty, The Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business. Thanks to Kimberly Attardo, UB 2012, for her assistance in the preparation of this article.


A four year old girl was diagnosed as a case of mid muscular Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) since early infancy. She had history of failure to thrive (FTT) and recurrent chest infection or pneumonia. As her pulmonary artery pressure was almost normal she was planned for device closure on elective basis once device and technology would be available in cardiac centre of combined Military Hospital (CMH) Dhaka. Finally it was done on 21st August 2005 and patient was discharged after 72 hours observation period. Echocardiography on next morning showed complete occlusion of defect with no residual shunt.

(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2007; 25 : 161-163)


This paper argues that Australian governments of both political stripes have responded pragmatically and effectively to the rise of China, the relative decline of the United States and the increased assertiveness of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). When they have made mistakes, the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments have worked hard to improve relations. Into the future, successful Australian foreign policy in Asia will require continuing pragmatism and heightened resistance to the immediate temptations of either dreamy or nightmarish scenarios. While it is possible either extreme could eventuate, relying on the former prognostication might leave Australia and the West unprepared and the latter over-prepared. An excessive focus by the West on a nightmare scenario centred on China's rise might have the added disadvantage of generating a self-fulfilling prophecy.


This research sought to examine knowledge and perceptions about welfare and welfare recipients among Minnesota Millennials. Three questions were addressed: What is the Minnesotan Millennials' level of knowledge of the MFIP system and perceptions of MFIP recipients?; Why do Minnesotan Millennials believe people are poor?; and What are the Minnesotan Millennials thoughts about the welfare system? An online survey was created with the survey software Qualtrics and the survey was posted on Facebook pages around the state of Minnesota. The survey had 84 respondents. Thirteen knowledge items were administered. Respondents who answered eight or more questions correctly were deemed knowledgeable; 51.8% of respondents were deemed knowledgeable. Inferential statistics were run to find if a correlation existed between respondents' degree of knowledge and attributions for poverty. As knowledge of welfare and welfare recipients increased, their belief that individuals are the cause of their own poverty decreased. Additionally, as knowledge increased, so did respondents' beliefs in structural causes for poverty. Millennials are becoming a large voting block and it is important to examine their knowledge and views about welfare policy, which influences the lives of many families in the United States. Similar research should be conducted in other states to discover if similar patterns are found around the county. KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS 3


Iran Abstract Innovation is considered the path towards the knowledge society. The most popular approach to promoting innovation, is investment in research and development of high technologies. However, the sum of contributions of low and medium technology-based firms to the total production and economic growth in the developing countries is much higher than the contributions of the high technology sectors. The inadequate attention of policymakers to the technological development of the low and medium technology-based firms could cause more underdevelopment , and as a result the technology gap in developing countries will become wider. In this study, given the need to promote innovation in all economic sectors, according to the dominant industrial structure of each country, with the review of theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, innovation strategies in developing countries especially in sectors with medium and low technology are categorized. By extracting the appropriate policy Author: firstname.lastname@example.com policies of Iran's economic development plans have been reviewed and suggestions for improving innovation policy are presented. The results of content analysis of plans indicate the bias of supply-driven approach and lack of sufficient attention to the low and medium technology sectors in Iran's Development


When criminal justice scholars think of privacy, they think of the Fourth Amendment. But lately its domain has become far less absolute. The United States federal code currently contains over twenty separate statutes that restrict both acquisition and release of covered information. Largely enacted in the latter part of the twentieth century, these statutes address matters vital to modern existence. They control police access to drivers' licenses, education records, health histories, telephone calls, e-mail messages, and even video rentals. They conform to no common template, but rather enlist a variety of procedural tools to serve as safeguards – ranging from warrants and court orders to subpoenas and demand letters. But across this remarkable diversity, there is one feature that all of the statutes share in common: each contains a provision exempting law enforcement from its general terms.Yet despite the appearance of law enforcement exemptions in every generally applicable privacy statute on the federal books, they have garnered virtually no scholarly attention. Privacy scholars have primarily busied themselves with mainstream consumer interests, and criminal justice scholars have chiefly focused on the Fourth Amendment. As a result, these exemptions have gone largely unnoticed and unexamined. At the same time, at least four Supreme Court justices recently suggested in United States v. Jones that the proper scope of privacy protection might be a topic better left to legislatures than courts.In response to these concerns, this article examines, comprehensively and in depth, the specific operation of privacy statutes with regard to law enforcement. In its most elemental form, this article answers the question: what does the federal statutory approach to regulating privacy from the police look like, and in what ways does that mimic, overlap with, or differ from the Fourth Amendment constitutional approach? In answering this question, this article also engages in the deeper democratic debate over constitutional versus statutory approaches to controlling the police, using the lessons garnered from examining existing privacy regulations to better inform the secondary argument about who does it best.


Minimal artists of the 1960s produced works that were large in scale and confronted the viewer. This artistic movement is characterized, and in many ways validated, by the critical literature produced by artists, art critics and historians. The field of art history continues to heavily influence museum display; however, a growing concern for the viewer's experience is evident in museum practice. This master's project, through data collected from a literature review and comparative case study, explores the ways museum exhibition practice influences the relationship between the art object and the viewer in relation to minimal art, informed by relevant art historical methodologies.


Organic matter accumulation is an important process that affects ecosystem function in many northern wetlands. The cotton strip assay (CSA) was used to measure the effect of harvesting and two different site preparation treatments, bedding and trenching, on organic matter decomposition in a forested wetland. A Latin square experimental design was used to determine the effect of harvesting, site preparation, and relative position within the wetland on organic matter decomposition at soil depths of 5, 10, and 20 cm. Repeated measure analysis of variance was used to test for treatment effects on organic matter decomposition, soil temperature, and soil oxidation depth. Cellulose decomposition increased at each soil depth as site disturbance increased, with bedding > trenching > whole-tree harvest > reference. The cellulose decomposition response was correlated With changes in soil temperature; the temperature coefficient Q 10 equaled 6.0, which is greater than previously reported values. Position within the wetland relative to an adjoining river affected the decomposition and soil oxidation depth. Because the rate of decomposition is strongly controlled by temperature, higher rates of organic matter decay are expected to continue on harvested and regenerated sites until canopy closure reduces soil temperature.


Since 2003, the Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program (SPBPP) (a joint effort of the USDA Forest Service and Southern Group of State Foresters) has encouraged and provided cost-share assistance for silvicultural treatments to reduce stand/forest susceptibility to the southern pine beetle (SPB) (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann) in the southeastern United States. Until now, stand- and landscape-level tests of this program's efficacy were nonexistent. In 2012, SPB outbreaks occurred in the Homochitto and Bienville National Forests (NFs) in Mississippi. Parts of each NF were treated (thinned) using SPBPP management recommendations, whereas other areas were untreated (unthinned). In the Homochitto NF, 99.7% of SPB spots occurred in unthinned stands, whereas all SPB spots occurred in unthinned stands in the Bienville NF. Unthinned stands in both NFs had higher basal area, higher stocking, and lower growth rates over the last decade. Burning also resulted in a lower incidence of SPB infestation. Our retrospective study results validate the effectiveness of SPBPP treatments for reducing stand- and landscape-level susceptibility to SPB, which encourages proper silvicultural methods that increase tree spacing, growth, and vitality, while effectively altering the in-stand atmosphere enough to interfere with SPB pheromone communication, thus reducing susceptibility to SPB spot initiation and spread.


The TS (Turin Shroud) [1,2] is a fine linen fabric showing a not yet explainable [3] double body image of a scourged and crucified man stabbed on the side. Many hypotheses have been formulated without success [4] and perhaps the most reliable is one correlated to the Corona Discharge [5] that supposes the presence of an intense electric field, amplified by the presence of ionization induced by radon. Before to formulate specific hypotheses regarding the environmental conditions, that will be studied in the future, the analysis focalizes the interest on the verification of the effects of such an electric model on a linen sheet. Therefore the first steps is to simulate the electrostatic field distribution along a two-dimensional sheet enveloping a numerical manikin of a human body having his position coherent with that detected on the TS [6]. Two of the authors [7] have already performed a preliminary analysis using a rough numerical manikin composed of 11 ellipsoids. The results of a more detailed numerical manikin, in which there are also reproduced the hair, the hands' fingers and some detail of face, like nose and eyes (Figure 1), are here presented and discussed. This improvement seems necessary because the interest on the TS image is also addressed to these details. The numerical manikin with its boundary conditions was implemented in the COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a software. During the preprocessing phase it has been chosen a second order interpolation in the element (tetrahedrons) composing the mesh that was built in a domain given by the volume difference between a parallelepiped and a manikin; the elements sizes ranges from 0,0001 to 0, 01 m. Starting from the hypothesis that the superficial intensity of the electrostatic field is proportional to the image intensity codified on the linen sheet, the aim of this study is to show which is the best environmental condition, if any, from an electric point of view, that produces an image as similar as possible to that of the TS. Different electrical ambiences were considered and simulated. For example the results reported in Figure 2 and Figure 3 are relative to a floating conductive manikin posed in a parallelepiped having isolated lateral walls, whose roof is an equipotential surface of 1 V and whose floor is grounded. Parallelepiped's sizes are of 0.5, 0.2, and 0.2 m and the manikin is in the middle of it. The electric field on the manikin's surface has been evidenced with a maximum value, relative to the present simulation, of about 49 V/m. The peaks of the electric field are mainly due to the manikin's jags such as the nose, but there are also some angularities of the mesh, for example in correspondence of the hands, that produce not real peaks in electric field and this limit of the numerical model must be considered. The supposed proportionality between the electric field intensity and the luminance levels of the codified image on the TS linen sheet, allows to compare the results showing a general similitude but still evidencing some incongruence of details like the fingers.


An easy to follow guide full of handson examples on realworld networking tasks. It covers the advanced topics of network programming in Python using a set of selected recipes. If you are a network programmer, system/network administrator, or a web application developer, this book is ideal for you. You should have a basic familiarity with the Python programming language and TCP/IP networking concepts. However if you are a novice, you will develop an understanding of the concepts as you progress with this book. This book will serve as a supplementary material for developing handson skills in any academic course on network programming.


Cell voltage equalizers are an important part in electric energy storage systems comprising series-connected cells, for example, supercapacitors. Hybrid electronics with silicon chips and printed devices enables electronic systems with moderate performance and low cost. This paper presents a silicon-organic hybrid voltage equalizer to balance and protect series-connected supercapacitor cells during charging. Printed organic electrochemical transistors with conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) are utilized to bypass excess current when the supercapacitor cells are fully charged to desired voltages. In this study, low-cost silicon microcontrollers (ATtiny85) are programmed to sense voltages across the supercapacitor cells and control the organic electrochemical transistors to bypass charging current when the voltages exceed 1 V. Experimental results show that the hybrid equalizer with the organic electrochemical transistors works in dual-mode, switched-transistor mode or constant-resistor mode, depending on the charging current applied (0.3–100 mA). With the voltage equalizer, capacitors are charged equally regardless of their capacitances. This work demonstrates a low-cost hybrid solution for supercapacitor balancing modules at large-scale packs.


The desire to predict power generation at a given point in time is essential to power scheduling, energy trading, and availability modeling. The research conducted within is concerned with sequence mining on power generation data and has the intent of modeling power generation. The data streams analyzed are average hourly power generation that is reported to the EPA. A global statistical model is proven impractical for the data streams, and local modeling via sequence mining is performed. The methodology presented, Uniform Sequence Discovery, implements the idea of uniform population coding, stream mining, and cross-stream mining. 1671 streams from years 2002 through 2004 are coded, mined for sequences, and cross-mined for matching sequences. 486 and 270 frequent sequences were extracted from the learning and testing data respectively. Association rules and the accompanying confidence and support values are used to create local models for power generation prediction. 159 local models were confirmed in the testing phase with a minimum confidence of 0.60. Power traders, concerned with predicting available generation, would then use the local models for prediction of natural gas-fired power generation.


The transition from socialism to capitalism has led to diverging socioeconomic outcomes for the Post-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). While typical social problems of capitalist societies were virtually unknown prior to the collapse of socialism, they have been on the increase since the introduction of comprehensive market-oriented reforms. The objective of our article is to investigate the impact of the rising inequality in income in CEE and the effects of distinct trajectories on the change of individual orientations toward social inequality in Post-Communist East Europe. We present statistical data on structural changes and apply linear and logistic regression on data from the ISSP survey 2009 on the perception of social inequality. Our findings suggest that both individual and structural conditions are relevant for attitudes related to inequality. First, objective inequality itself is not associated with individually perceived income differences. Second, different Post-Communist welfare regimes indicate an effect on such perceptions as well as on the individuals' assessment of the society they live in. Further, the socioeconomic position affects the attitudes toward a redistribution policy.


Redasoft, based in Toronto, Canada, is a web-based scientific software company. Founded in 1997, Redasoft's mission is to become the leading global provider of affordable scientific software. The company expects to achieve this through its commitment to using customer feedback as a major driving force for the design and improvement of its products. Scientists around the world are already using Redasoft software to help them with their research. Current development is focused on software to accelerate molecular biology research. Additional information about Redasoft and Visual Cloning 2000, the company's latest release, can be found at http://www.redasoft.com/. For further information contact: Stefanie Carmichael, Visual Cloning Project Manager (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com).


Chromolaena odorata (L.) King and Robinson (chromolaena, triffid weed) (Asteraceae: Eupatorieae) is one of the most problematic weeds in the subtropical northeastern parts of South Africa. Calycomyza eupatorivora Spencer (Diptera: Agromyzidae) was introduced as a biological control agent for the control of this weed. No study has yet been done to quantify field populations of C. eupatorivora since its establishment in 2003. The aim of this study was therefore to measure aspects of the field population and laboratory behaviour of C. eupatorivora on C. odorata.
The first objective was to determine the percentage leaf area mined by larvae of C. eupatorivora on C. odorata plants exposed to three densities of mated flies, and also to determine the number of mines produced by these different densities, and their distribution on the plant. It also attempts to determine the relationship between chromolaena leaf quality and usage by C. eupatorivora. The maximum percentage of leaf area damaged was 37.5% for one of the trials involving five pairs of flies. Mean percentage leaf area damaged was slightly higher with five (28.5%) than ten pairs (22.0%) of adults and was lowest with one pair (6.5%), but these differences were not significant. In relation to the mean number of mines per plant, five and ten pairs of flies caused slightly more mines than one pair. The other significantly different parameter was number of leaves mined per plant, which was higher for five pairs. Within a plant, C. eupatorivora probably selects a subset of leaves with certain chemical and physical characteristics for oviposition since certain leaves were left unmined while others received multiple eggs. Percentage water content did not differ between mined and unmined leaves, but clear patterns were shown by acid detergent lignin which was higher in unmined leaves and nonstructural carbohydrates which were much higher in mined leaves. It is likely that leaf age plays a role in its suitability.
The second objective was to quantify C. eupatorivora infestation levels, by counting and examining larval leaf mines, on C. odorata in the field at four times ('seasons' - September, December, March and July) over a 12-month period, and at three study sites that each included two habitats, viz. open and shady. At each of these six sampling sites, line transects were laid out and plants/branches sampled along them. Both plant/branch height and the number of leaves increased between September and March, and plants in the open habitats were taller and had more leaves than those in the shaded habitats. At the third site, the shady habitat supported taller plants with more leaves compared to the same habitat at the other sites. There was a steep increase in the number of C. eupatorivora mines from December to March. The mean number of mines, both total and in relation to leaves available, was highest in March, and was higher in the shaded habitats compared to the open habitats. The mean number of mines per damaged leaf was slightly higher in December compared to the…


Tree harvest and climate change can interact to have synergistic effects on tree species distribution changes. However, few studies have investigated the interactive effects of tree harvest and climate change on tree species distributions. We assessed the interactive effects of tree harvest and climate change on the distribution of 29 dominant tree species at 270 m resolution in the southern United States, while accounting for species demography, competition, urban growth and natural fire. We simulated tree species distribution changes to year 2100 using a coupled forest dynamic model (LANDIS PRO), ecosystem process model (LINKAGES) and urban growth model (SLEUTH). The distributions of 20 tree species contracted and nine species expanded within the region under climate change by end of 21st century. Distribution changes for all tree species were very slow and lagged behind the changes in potential distributions that were in equilibrium with new climatic conditions. Tree harvest and climate change interacted to affect species occurrences and colonization but not extinction. Occurrence and colonization were mainly affected by tree harvest and its interaction with climate change while extinctions were mainly affected by tree harvest and climate change. Synthesis and applications. Interactive effects of climate and tree harvest acted in the same direction as climate change effects on species occurrences, thereby accelerating climate change induced contraction or expansion of distributions. The overall interactive effects on species colonization were negative, specifically with positive interactive effects at leading edges of species ranges and negative interactive effects at trailing edges. Tree harvest generally did not interact with climate change to greatly facilitate or ameliorate species extinction. Our modelling results highlight the importance of considering disturbances and species demography (e.g. post‐harvest regeneration dynamics) when predicting changes in tree distributions.


Massive OB stars are the most luminous stellar objects (10e5 to a few 10e6 L⊙). Although being rare by number
they play a dominant role in the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies through their input of energy,
momentum, and nuclear processed material into the interstellar medium by means of stellar winds, eruptions, and (final) explosions. The luminosity of hot massive stars is the key ingredient to the driving of a dense (10e−6 - 10e−5 M⊙/yr) and fast (up to 3,000 km/s) outflow lasting a lifetime. This mass loss imprints unambiguous signatureson the spectral energy distribution and spectral lines received from these objects.

The goal of this thesis was to investigate and to apply recent, improved methods for spectral diagnostics in the
optical and the infrared by means of unified model atmospheres, comprising the entire sub- and supersonic structure from the pseudo-hydrostatic photosphere to the stellar wind. In particular, we used the nlte-model atmospheres code fastwind, which is highly computational efficient and updated to comprise an adequate though approximate treatment of metal line opacity effects, i.e., metal line-blocking/-blanketing. First we have tested this code by a comparison with alternative codes (e.g., cmfgen by Hillier & Miller 1998 and WM-Basic by Pauldrach et al. 2001), particularly in terms of temperature stratification, fluxes, and number of ionizing photons. In almost all cases we obtained very similar results. Also for the H/He lines which could be only compared to cmfgen, the coincidence between the codes is remarkable, except for a subtle discrepancy concerning the He i singlets, where, in a restricted temperature range, cmfgen predicts weaker singlet lines.

Having tested the improved model atmospheres code we began our study with a re-analysis of the Galactic O-star sample presented by Puls et al. 1996 (at that time using pure H/He models) to investigate the influence of
line-blocking/-blanketing. This re-analysis (by means of profile fitting of photospheric and wind lines from H and
He) resulted in a significant re-definition of the effective temperature scale due to this line-blanketing effect. We obtain lower effective temperatures (up to 8,000 K, depending on spectral type and luminosity class) in combination with a reduction in either gravity or helium abundance, thus, making it possible to assign a new Teff - log g and Teff - spectral type calibration as a function of luminosity class. Further, by calculating new spectroscopic masses and comparing them with previous results we find a significant reduction in the so-called mass discrepancy (Herrero et al. 1992), where the latter describes the unfortunate situation that spectroscopically derived masses are lower than those resulting from stellar evolution calculations. For stars below 50 M⊙ a systematic trend is retained such that the spectroscopically derived masses are smaller by approx. 10 M⊙ compared to the evolutionary ones. Moreover, the wind momentum luminosity relation (WLR) changes because of lower luminosities and almost unmodified wind-momentum rates. Still present, however, is a separation of the WLR as a function of luminosity class, in contrast to theoretical simulations which do not predict such a dependence. From simple arguments and using stellar samples of different sizes, we find strong indications that for most supergiants the mass-loss rate is over-estimated by a factor of 2 to 3, whereas the mass-loss-estimates for luminosity class III and V objects are consistent with our own theoretical expectations and those by others. The over-estimate is interpreted as an effect of wind-clumping, and our argumentation is based on the assumption that the material in the lower wind region is un-clumped, in accordance with theoretical predictions.

As a final step we have analyzed a large sample of OB stars by means of H and K band spectroscopy in the
infrared (IR) regime, with the primary goal to investigate to what extent a lone near IR-spectroscopy is able to
recover stellar and wind parameters derived in the optical. Due to the substantial progress in ground-based IR
instrumentation in the past decade and the extension of model atmosphere codes to the infrared wavelength regime,
IR spectroscopy has become a powerful diagnostics for the investigation of young and massive stars lying deeply
embedded in the dust-enshrouded environment of molecular clouds or the Galactic centre, allowing us to take a
first step in the direction of a pure IR analysis. For the stars analyzed we obtain well-agreeing results between
the optical and the infrared, except for the line cores of Br gamma in early O stars with significant mass loss, which, again, might indicate the presence of clumping effects. Having derived the stellar and wind parameters from the IR, we are now able to constrain the observational requirements to perform a pure IR-analysis. Most important is a very high S/N ratio, as the lines to be investigated are extremely shallow, and a very good resolution, in addition to an adequately large set of strategic lines. Given this prerequisite, spectral analyses based on pure IR data could, indeed, be successfully used as an alternative or support to traditional methods, and will allow us to proceed towards our ultimate goal of analyzing very young and highly obscured objects just emanating from their birth places.


Transactive energy is a novel approach for energy management and trading, which can be used in microgrids to facilitate the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in existing networks. The key feature in transactive energy is using market-based solutions for energy management. Hence, an appropriate transactive energy market (TEM) framework should be designed to enable and incentivize DER owners to participate in different markets. The efficient implementation of TEM for microgrid energy management encompasses the application of a variety of design principles. In this rapidly developing area, this paper presents a complete proposal of the TEM as a framework for the design, implementation, and deployment of transactive energy solutions for energy management in microgrids. In particular, we outline the requirements to design an effective market mechanism for the TEM. The applicability of this perspective is demonstrated through the introduction of the Monash Microgrid as a real-world implementation of a TEM solution, where a complete hardware and software foundation is presented as a platform to deploy a market-based solution for microgrid energy management. This is further illustrated through an example scenario, where the application of TEM is discussed to demonstrate the impact of considered design choices on achieving desired objectives.


Interest in the process of language change leads - among other things -to the study of the socio-cultural factors affecting this change and to the question whether this process can somehow be influenced by deliberate interventions. Affecting language evolution is possible at various levels - e.g. in connection with language as a communicative system and in connection with language as a social institution - and by various agencies. If it is done by the government and following some sort of explicitly formulated policy, one can speak of language planningA selective treatment of some important language planning processes elsewhere in the world is taken as starting point in order to illustrate concretely what the purpose and meaning of language planning may be. Next a survey is given of relevant factors and events in the linguistic history of the Netherlands. Our main conclusion in this respect is that one can scarcely speak of anything more than incentives to a policy of language planning. On the basis of these findings an attempt is made, finally, to advance some building blocks for an integrated language planning policy.


Abstract The variance in Monte Carlo particle transport calculations is often dominated by a few particles whose importance increases manyfold on a single transport step. This paper describes a novel variance reduction method that uses a large importance change as a trigger to resample the offending transport step. That is, the method is employed only after (ex post facto) a random walk attempts a transport step that would otherwise introduce a large variance in the calculation. Improvements in two Monte Carlo transport calculations are demonstrated empirically using an ex post facto method. First, the method is shown to reduce the variance in a penetration problem with a cross-section window. Second, the method empirically appears to modify a point detector estimator from an infinite variance estimator to a finite variance estimator.


Background: Adverse drug reactions are responsible for a significant proportion of hospitalisations. This PhD aimed to develop and optimise methods for detecting serious adverse drug reactions in databases of electronic health records for use in pharmacoepidemiology and genetic epidemiology, with a focus on cholestatic liver injury.
Methods: A systematic review was performed before developing a multiple database source ("multisource") algorithm for identifying cholestatic liver injury. Multisource algorithm case status was used to guide the development of another algorithm using
data from a standard UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) record only (the CPRD algorithm). Testing of the CPRD algorithm was performed within a cohort analysis of an established cause of the injury (flucloxacillin), before carrying out a casecontrol study investigating a number of putative associations (drug exposures carbamazepine, celecoxib, duloxetine, ramipril and risperidone).
Results: The majority of reviewed studies lacked a reproducible case definition, and case assignment generally required information external to database records. Secondary care (HES) data provided little additional information than that found in
primary care (CPRD), meaning that the CPRD algorithm had a very good ability to discriminate between multisource algorithm cases statuses (ROC area under the curve 0.95). The flucloxacillin 45-day risk estimate obtained from the cohort study using the
highest specificity CPRD algorithm (6.15 per 100 000 users, 95% CI 4.61 – 8.04) was very similar to previous studies. Celecoxib and risperidone were associated with cholestatic liver injury (celecoxib multivariablemultivariable RR recent vs. current users
low specificity CPRD algorithm 1.89, 95% CI 1.11 – 3.22, risperidone multivariablemultivariable RR high specificity CPRD algorithm 2.59, 95% CI 1.41 –
4.75).
Conclusions: The CPRD algorithm detected similar flucloxacillin effects as (1) the multisource algorithm and (2) previous studies. Associations with risperidone and celecoxib were also detected. Algorithm characteristics that could facilitate (1) pharmacovigilance and (2) recruitment to genetic association studies include the ability
to (a) detect cases without using information external to the EHR and (b) apply varying levels of specificity and sensitivity.


There are two very different mistake doctrines in the law. The common law doctrine that ignorance of the law is no excuse gives no weight to reasonable, good faith mistakes insofar as criminal liability is concerned. By contrast, three related lines of decisions — the reasonable-mistake, qualified-immunity, and harmless-error doctrines — express great willingness to overlook reasonable, good faith mistakes that police officers, prosecutors, and judges make. That discrimination is unwarranted. There is no good reason to treat private parties systematically worse than public officials in this regard. The courts have created these competing lines of decisions, and they, or Congress, should eliminate that discrimination by extending to members of the public the same grace that they offer to every government official. The most straightforward way to remedy this problem is to recognize a mistake-of-law defense in the substantive criminal law.


Determinacy is ensured in the New Keynesian model when firms face imperfect common knowledge, regardless of whether the Taylor principle is satisfied. Strategic complementarity in pricing and idiosyncratic noise in firms' signals, however small, are together sufficient to eliminate backward-looking solutions without appealing to the assumptions of Blanchard and Kahn (1980). Standard solutions emerge when the Taylor principle is followed, but when the policymaker demurs, the price level — and not just inflation — is stationary. A unique and stable solution also emerges with the interest rate pegged to its steady-state value, in contrast to Sargent and Wallace (1975).


Large aperture solar telescopes, such as the 4 meter aperture Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), depend on high order adaptive optics (AO) to achieve the telescope's diffraction limited resolution. The AO system not only corrects incoming distortions introduced by atmospheric turbulence, its performance also plays a critical role for the operation of other subsystems and affects the results obtained by downstream scientific instrumentation. For this reason, robust and optimal operation of the AO system is vital to maximize the scientific output of ATST. In order to optimize performance, we evaluate different strategies to obtain the control matrix of the AO system. The dependency of AO performance on various control parameters, such as different system calibration and reconstruction schemes, is analyzed using an AO simulation tool. The AO simulation tool provides a realistic solar AO system simulation and allows a detailed evaluation of the performance achieved by different calibration and reconstruction methods. The results of this study will guide the optimization of the AO system during design and operations.


While there has been a growing body of research on workplace dignity, the majority of studies tend to focus on how dignity is experienced by organizational members, paying considerably less attention to consequences for organizations. In this study, we explore the influence of workplace dignity on employee work behaviors that affect organizational performance. Framing our inquiry with Sharon Bolton's yet-untested multidimensional theory of dignity, we analyze Randy Hodson's content-coded ethnographic data to reveal that increases in workplace dignity tend to predict increases in employee engagement, yet have mixed effects on counterproductive workplace behaviors. Following a post-hoc ethnographic reimmersion, we identify the critical role of safe and secure working conditions in enabling and constraining employees' ability to redress or resist workplace indignities with counterproductive workplace behaviors.


Leadership Training offers both the background knowledge and the practical help you need to immediately create strong leadership training at all levels with in your organization. Presenting the most up-to-date training methodologies such as accelerated learning, this guide also provides methods for assessing leadership strengths and weaknesses. Create your own leadership training even today!


This country profile, commissioned by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth), gives a snapshot of what is happening in the closely related themes Food & Nutrition Security, Water and Climate and Renewable Energy in Burkina Faso. It provides basic statistics on Burkina Faso's performance on key indicators and indexes, but also analyses relevant national policies, current donor interventions, and the main trends on the abovementioned themes. Combined with an overview of Dutch support to Burkina Faso, this profile ends by suggesting possible priority result areas for The Netherlands.


Based on the generally assumed stylized fact that decentralization leads to the deepening of democracy and the fact that throughout the 1990s Bolivia sought to explicitly deepen its democratic process by introducing a singular decentralization program denominated Popular Participation, this study seeks to better understand the impact the former has had on the latter by highlighting the effects and their manifestations as well as to explain those effects in a qualitative manner. Taking the Bolivian experience with decentralization as a case study, this dissertation looks at the country's volatile experience with democracy and its efforts towards deepening it. The inquiry is inspired by the following paradox: even though Bolivia has taken significant steps to deepen its democratic process, the country's democratic experience has oscillated between procedural and institutional stability and the brink of democratic collapse. In contemplating that, the study seeks to contribute to the explanation of the paradox and the interpretation of the linkages between decentralization and democracy that emerge from considering the empirical evidence as well as to contribute to the development of the theory.

With that purpose in mind, this study observed the empirical evidence during the period of implementation, from the introduction of decentralization in 1994 to a time where the process began to change in 2005. Following that logic, this case study framed the problem so as to test two theoretical propositions and to develop and test an alternative hypothesis. These hypotheses were framed by a general hypothesis, formulated in the literature as a stylized fact, mentioned above. At the same time, three sub-hypotheses were proposed which stated that these positive effects worked through the creation/reform of institutions, increased citizen political participation and the creation/expansion of citizenship.

The major finding advanced by this study is that decentralization has a very real effect on the democratic system of government of a country. This conclusion might seem redundant, but it is imperative to accentuate that decentralization is not merely a policy tool which is used to achieve some objectives a government might have. The introduction of decentralization in the case of Bolivia meant the application of a quite dynamic and complex process which was introduced through real changes in the normative framework and that those changes were aimed at influencing the democratic system. This was especially true for the Bolivian case because the decentralization efforts did not only aimed at reforming the state, such as delegating administrative tasks to sub-national levels of government or making the state more transparent and efficient, but they aimed at transforming the democratic process from a representative to a more participative and deliberative process. These effects were bound to be more complex and, for that matter, relatively unpredictable which usually takes time to realize. The Bolivian case is a critical example of this.


Mutations in the CDKL5 (cyclin-dependent kinase-like-5) gene are known to determine early-onset drug resistant epilepsies and severe cognitive impairment with absent language, hand stereotypies, and deceleration of head growth. Reflex seizures are epileptic events triggered by specific stimuli and diaper changing is a very rare triggering event, previously described in individual cases of both focal and unclassified epilepsy, as well as in Dravet syndrome. Our aim was to describe diaper changing-induced reflex seizures as one of the presenting features in a case of CDKL5-related epilepsy, providing video-EEG documentation and focusing discussion on hyperexcitability determined by the disease. [Published with video sequence on www.epilepticdisorders.com].


Orthodontic accessories bonding in tooth enamel has been a critical step since the introduction of direct bonding techniques due to the importance of bracket stability. The aim of this study was to evaluate adhesion strength of different adhesive systems used for bracket bonding on dental surface. The present in vitro study was made from the analysis of shear strength of steel and ceramic brackets bonding with six different types of orthodontic adhesives. The brackets were bonded to 120 human extracted first premolar teeth with Orthocem®, Orthocem® + Ambar Universal® primer, Orthobond Plus®, Biofix®, Transbond XT®, Ortholink VLC®. Shear strength tests were performed on a universal testing machine EZ-Test-Shimadzu® and the data were analyzed using ANOVA test with Post-Hoc Bonferroni and 95 % statistical significance (p <0.05). Transbond XT® and Ortholink VLC® resin values showed greater shear resistance for steel brackets bonding and Transbond XT® and Orthobond Plus® adhesives showed better adhesion results for ceramic brackets bonding.


Hydroxyapatite and a series of hydroxyapatite-type compounds containing Co, Fe or Sr were synthesized by co-precipitation and characterized by ICP-OES, BET, IR, Raman spectroscopy, powder and in-situ XRD, SEM, TEM, TPR, TPD and TGA. In-situ XRD and TGA studies indicate that the materials are able to maintain their structure at temperatures reaching 900 °C. The TPD data indicated that acidic sites of varying strengths were present in all the three hydroxyapatites. From SEM, the surface of the materials consisted of an agglomeration of irregular plate-like particles. The catalytic activity of the compounds was investigated in the oxidation of n- pentane and n- hexane. The conversion of the feed and composition of the products were largely influenced by changes in the temperature and flow rates. For n -pentane, the products consisted of lower hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds, carbon oxides and very small amounts 1,3-pentadiene, furan and furfural. Low conversions of n- hexane were obtained for all the tested catalysts and selective products were the hexene isomers and some aromatics. KEY WORDS : Hydroxyapatite, Selective oxidation of n -pentane and n -hexane, Characterization, Oxygenates, Olefins Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2013 , 27(1), 57-68. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v27i1.6


This article offers an attempt to discern the extent to which Rudolf Otto's points of view, specifically the idea of "the holy" as the mysterium tremendum , influenced scholarly opinion on the meaning and significance of the fear of God in the HB in general and in the wisdom literature in particular. It is found that Otto did indeed have a great influence on the understanding of the meaning of the fear of God, but that scholars also allowed their opinions to be guided by a competent analysis of the different nuances that the fear of God takes on in the biblical text itself. The findings lead to the conclusion that scholars should recognise both the possibilities and the limitations of Otto's views in any attempt to delineate the meaning and significance the fear of God in the HB .


This paper examines the Scottish fiddling revival in America. Due to its rapid fusion into other fiddling styles, Scottish fiddling did not establish itself as a unique musical genre in the United States. One particular organization, titled "Scottish Fiddling Revival," or "F.I.R.E.," is largely responsible for the revival and has established all of the necessary elements within a revival framework to stimulate and maintain this style of fiddling. The organization sponsors official Scottish fiddling competitions, provides teachers to educate and maintain the style, and fosters a community to interact with the revival. This study examines the revival infrastructure and its implications according to an established framework for the continued development of Scottish fiddling in the United States.


Jabu Ngcobo Public Adult Learning Centre is a learning centre of the Department of Education and Culture where Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) is provided. Its operations are expected to reflect the provisions and norms of the Policy for Adult Basic Education and Training (1997) and the Adult Basic Education and Training Act (2000). The aim of this study was to investigate the provision and delivery of ABET programmes offered by the Jabu Ngcobo PALC, which is situated in Imbali Township, Pietermaritzburg. This study focused specific attention on how the programmes offered at this centre addressed the learning needs of the learners and the community of the Imbali Township and its immediate surrounding areas. The literature reviewed covered numerous sources that informed and supported this study. Both qualitative and quantitative tools were used as part of the data collection process. Data was collected from the different stakeholders and roleplayers involved with the PALC. These include the Centre Manager, practitioners, current and ex-learners, community leaders and Departmental officials. The results of this study indicated the extent to which the learning needs of adult learners and those of the community are inadequately addressed by the PALC. Some suggestions are made on how Jabu Ngcobo PALC should adjust its programming in order to accommodate the learning needs of the community of Imbali Township where the PALC is situated. The results further provided baseline information that could be used by other PALCs and by the Department of Education and Culture in KwaZulu-Natal.


The evolution of the wood-released aromatic composition of a Spanish wine artificially aged with chips and staves of Spanish oak ( Quercus pyrenaica ), French oak ( Quercus petraea ), and American oak ( Quercus alba ) was studied by GC–MS. The volatile composition of the oak wood was also studied. The wines aged with Spanish Q. pyrenaica oak evolved similar to those with French and American oak, with slight differences in their oak-derived characteristics. The size of the wood pieces appeared to influence the volatile composition of the wines more than the oak species. Nevertheless, each type of wood and piece size showed particular extraction kinetics. Wines aged with chips become stable after 70 days of contact with the wood, showing standardization after longer times. The wines aged with staves evolved during the entire contact length and in the bottle. This evolution occurred slowly, probably because of the slowness of wine penetration into the wood, the concentration gradient between wine and wood, and the important contribution of the compounds that toasted staves can provide. In general, the differences in oak-related volatile compounds among wines were those expected, taking into account the volatile composition of the woods used to age wine, and they confirm the importance of analyzing the volatile composition of oak wood pieces before contact with wine. The wine treated with Spanish oak had more cis -β-methyl-γ-octalactone and eugenol than the same wine treated with French and American oak, especially when staves were used.


This study experimentally tested aspects of behavior and density-dependent mortality of juvenile blue crabs utilizing nearshore shallow water as a refuge from cannibalism by large blue crabs. In a large laboratory tank with a depth gradient, individual juvenile blue crabs shifted their depth utilization from deep and medium depths to shallow water in the presence of a large crab, but not in the absence of another crab or in the presence of another small crab. Survival of juvenile crabs preyed upon by large crabs was significantly higher in laboratory tanks with depth gradients providing a shallow refuge than in lab tanks without depth gradients. In the laboratory, proportional mortality of juvenile crabs was inversely density-dependent, indicating a type II functional response of large crabs irrespective of the presence or absence of a shallow water refuge. In a non-vegetated subestuary of Chesapeake Bay, survival of tethered juveniles was significantly higher in shallow (30 cm) than deep (70 cm) water of a nearshore zone, where cannibalistic large blue crabs were their major source of mortality. Proportional mortality in the field was also inversely density-dependent in both shallow and deep water. The persistence of a type II functional response of predators in our laboratory and field experiments indicates that shallow water provides a significant but partially effective refuge to juvenile blue crabs, although such inversely density-dependent mortality patterns indicate a potentially unstable predator-prey interaction. Under intense predation pressure from cannibalistic large crabs, this partially effective refuge in the nearshore shallows potentially grants juvenile crabs a crucial reduction in mortality during their first year of life until they grow to a size large enough to obtain an absolute refuge from predation.


Abstract The adsorption of the silane coupling agents N-(2-amino-ethyl)-3-aminopropyl- trimethoxysilane (Z-6020), N-(2-(vinylbenzyl-amino)-ethyl)-3-amino-propyl-trimethoxysilane (Z-6032) and 3-glycidoxy-propyl-trimethoxysilane (Z-6040) onto the surface of kaolinite has been studied using the solvents water and ethanol. The adsorbed silanes were analysed using diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared (DRIFT) spectroscopy and FT-Raman spectroscopy. When the silane coupling agents are dissolved in water, silanol groups are formed. Raman spectra of aqueous solutions of the silanes show that condensation of the silanols into oligomers occurred. The peak at 1000 cm-1 assigned to Si-O-Si vibrations indicates that polymerization has occurred. A similar behaviour is observed when the silanes are dissolved in ethanol. The DRIFT spectra show that the silane coupling agents adsorb onto the surface of kaolinite. It is proposed that the oligomers are bonded to the kaolinite surface only by hydrogen bondings with no covalent bonds formed.


This book is an examination of how American mass media, including advertising, presents Otherness - anyone or anything constructed as different from an established norm - in terms of gender, race, sex, disabilities, and other markers of difference. Using a mythological lens, the book looks below the surface of media content to explore the psychological, social, and economic underpinnings of a system of beliefs that result in prejudice, discrimination, and oppression. Designed to raise awareness of the foundations of historically-based inequities in the American social, cultural, and economic milieu, the author shows how inequalities are maintained, at least in part, by mass media, popular culture, and advertising representations of Otherness. The book aims to increase awareness of stereotyping in the media, and expose how the construction of people as Others contributes to their marginalization. Written in an accessible and engaging style, with student-friendly discussion questions and resources, this book is suitable for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses.


Aims: Delay of childhood vaccinations is common and influences efforts to reduce targeted diseases. In Denmark, the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (DTaP-IPV-Hib) vaccine is recommended at ages 3, 5 and 12 months and the first measles–mumps–rubella vaccine (MMR-1) at 15 months. Following guidelines, children delayed at age 15 months should receive MMR-1 and DTaP-IPV-Hib-3 simultaneously, unless DTaP-IPV-Hib-2 was received less than 6 months ago, when MMR-1 alone is recommended. We studied compliance with these guidelines and the reasons for non-compliance with a focus on vaccination providers. Methods: We used a nationwide register-based cohort study of children born in Denmark between January 2000 and June 2013, who were lacking MMR-1 and DTaP-IPV-Hib-3 at age 15 months and were followed to 24 months. We also performed semi-structured telephone interviews with vaccination providers. Results: The study consisted of 156,921 children (18% of the children born in the period). Among the 40,060 children who had received DTaP-IPV-Hib-2 less than 6 months ago, 37,892 (95%) received MMR-1 alone. Among the 88,469 children who had received DTaP-IPV-Hib-2 more than 6 months ago, 6334 (7%) received DTaP-IPV-Hib-3 and MMR-1 simultaneously. The interviews indicated that some vaccination providers are reluctant to give multiple vaccinations at the same visit and some have a preference of following the usual sequence in the programme. Conclusions: Vaccination providers generally complied with the recommended minimum 6 months' interval between DTaP-IPV-Hib-2 and DTaP-IPV-Hib-3. Conversely, there was a low compliance with the recommendation to administer DTaP-IPV-Hib-3 and MMR-1 simultaneously. More efforts are needed to ensure timely vaccination.


Abstract The composition and stratigraphic relations of sandstones and associated conglomerates derived from erosion of the northern Calabrian terranes provide important constraints for paleotectonic and paleogeographic models of the Neogene wedge-top depozone evolution of the southern Italy foreland basin system. After onset of continental collision in the southern Italy orogenic belt during late Oligocene to early Miocene, the Calabrian Arc drifted northeastward, accreting over the Adria lithosphere during mid to late Miocene time. Since the Tortonian, the northern Calabrian terranes represented an uplifted thrust belt in which along its leading edge tectonic subsidence was responsible for accumulation of a thick Tortonian to Quaternary succession, dominantly siliciclastic (up to 3300 meters thick), deposited in the wedge-top depozones (Rossano and Crotone basins). Sandstone assemblages have a homogeneous quartzofeldspathic composition in the Rossano and Crotone basins, characterized by a compositional trend, through time in response to regional tectonics. Evolution of the basins fill occurred during (1) Serravallian?–Tortonian, (2) late Tortonian to early Messinian, and (3) late Messinian. Detritus shed into those basins was derived mainly from terranes within the strongly deformed Sila Mountains allochthon, which was one of the principal structural elements of the nearby northern Calabrian terranes, consisting of Hercynian plutons intruding Paleozoic (Cambrian to Carboniferous) metasedimentary host rocks, and locally having a sedimentary cover of Mesozoic (Longobucco Group) or early Miocene (Paludi unit) clastics. Low- to medium-grade metamorphic and minor plutonic grain types (metamorphiclastic petrofacies) represent the main detritus in the earliest (Serravallian?–Tortonian) sedimentation that accompanied progressive flexural bending of the western margin of the foreland-basin system. Tortonian to early Messinian time was characterized by isolation of the Mediterranean region from the global marine realm, leading to evaporite sedimentation in the foreland in addition to intense regional and local tectonics. Compositional response to those events was a marked increase in sedimentary detritus (sedimenticlastic petrofacies) related to cannibalization of early Messinian evaporite successions; after the evaporitic events within the basins and the gradual re-establishment to the normal marine conditions, sandstone detrital modes are characterized mainly by a return of the Serravallian?–Tortonian compositional modes (i.e., metamorphic–plutoniclastic petrofacies). The post-evaporitic sedimentation corresponds to a major tectonic rearrangement on both Rossano and Crotone basins related to extrusion and inversion of the basal portion of the Serravallian?–Tortonian sequences in the intermediate zone to form an intervening "Ciro structural high." In the Crotone Basin during late Messinian, deposition of the Carvane Conglomerate records an abrupt sudden arrival of distinctive sedimentary containing clasts of detritus of reddish limestone, marl, quartz arenite, siltstone and chert derived from Mesozoic to Tertiary basinal sequences of the southern Apennines domains (i.e., Sicilide Complex terranes). Detrital-mode evolution of the inner portions of the late Miocene southern Italy foreland-basin system was in response to abrupt tectonic partitioning due to continuation of accretionary processes, rapid uplift of mid-crustal blocks, and the superposition of wrench tectonics.


A key challenge for computational conversation models is to discover latent structure in task-oriented dialogue, since it provides a basis for analysing, evaluating, and building conversational systems. We propose three new unsupervised models to discover latent structures in task-oriented dialogues. Our methods synthesize hidden Markov models (for underlying state) and topic models (to connect words to states). We apply them to two real, non-trivial datasets: human-computer spoken dialogues in bus query service, and humanhuman text-based chats from a live technical support service. We show that our models extract meaningful state representations and dialogue structures consistent with human annotations. Quantitatively, we show our models achieve superior performance on held-out log likelihood evaluation and an ordering task.


In November 2007, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced a change in the way it communicates its view of the economic outlook: It increased the frequency of its forecasts from two to four times per year, and it increased the length of the forecasting horizon from two to three years. The FOMC does not release the individual members' forecasts or standard measures of consensus such as the mean or median. Rather, it continues to release the forecast information as a range of forecasts, both the full range between the high and the low and a central tendency that omits the extreme values. This paper uses individual forecaster data from the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) to mimic the FOMC's method for creating their central tendency. The authors show that the midpoint of the central tendency of the SPF is a reliable measure of the consensus, suggesting that the FOMC reporting method is also a reliable measure of consensus. For the dates when both are available, the authors also compare the relative forecast accuracy of the FOMC and SPF consensus forecasts for output growth and inflation. Overall, the differences in forecast accuracy are too small to be statistically significant.


Background Neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) formation within neuronal cells is one of the two main pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The extent of tangle formation in the brain shows a better correlation with clinical disease severity than that of amyloid plaque formation, although Aβ aggregation is likely to precede and induce tangle formation [1]. Clinical trials involving immunological removal of β-amyloid (Aβ) from the brain, or the use of secretase inhibitors to limit production of Aβ, have so far shown little or no improvement in clinical outcome measures in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients, and this type of therapy may require very early intervention in the course of the disease. Inhibition of tau aggregation, or dual inhibition of amyloid and tau, could provide a better treatment for more advanced disease. We have previously developed very effective small peptide and peptide-liposome inhibitors of Aβ aggregation, and have achieved blood-brain barrier penetration, reduction in amyloid plaque load, inhibition of oligomer formation, reduction in oxidation and inflammation, and prevention of memory loss, in transgenic mouse models [2-4]. Here, we describe a similar approach to development of peptide-based inhibitors of tau aggregation. Objectives Our objective is to prevent tau aggregation based on the rational design of inhibitory peptides and peptide derivatives focussed around the self-binding motifs of tau protein - with additional solubilising residues, and the addition of cell-penetrating and brain-penetrating peptide transit sequences. Further work will involve covalent attachment of these peptides to the surface of nanoliposomes, along with the development of a dual-acting liposome that inhibits both Aβ and tau aggregation. Methods To optimise the tau binding sequence, we tested a series of peptides, over a number of iterations, for their effects on tau aggregation, and then looked at the effects of retro-inversion and N-methylation on the resulting optimal peptide, in order to increase its stability. The misfolding and aggregation of recombinant tau Δ250 (at 20 µM in the presence of 5 µM heparin) were examined in the presence of various concentrations of these inhibitory peptides, using thioflavin fluorescence, Congo red polarization microscopy, CD spectroscopy and negative stain EM. Results The retro-inverted form of the optimal peptide, RIAG03, was an effective inhibitor of tau aggregation, with an IC50 of around 7.8 µM against 20 µM of tau Δ250. Examination by negative stain EM showed that an equimolar concentration of this inhibitor almost completely blocked tau fibril formation. Various control peptides (e.g. with a scrambled binding sequence, or the transit peptide alone) were ineffective. RIAG03 also inhibited β-sheet formation, as determined by CD spectroscopy and Congo red binding. The solubilising residues incorporated into the amino acid sequence of RIAG03 prevented self-aggregation of this inhibitor peptide. Conclusions We have identified an effective cell-penetrating and stabilized inhibitor of tau aggregation for further preclinical development and testing in cell and animal models. One of our next steps will be to attach RIAG03 to our nanoliposomes to give a multivalent inhibitor that should have enhanced potency [4]. One of our main objectives is to attach inhibitory peptides directed at both Aβ and tau to the same liposomes, to produce a dual aggregation inhibitor. Due to the complex heterogeneous aetiology of AD, It is becoming increasingly apparent that combination therapies may be required, and liposomes are a biocompatible and highly flexible vehicle for achieving this. [1] Hardy J. & Allsop D. (1991) Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 12, 383-388; [2] Taylor M., et al. (2010) Biochemistry 49, 3261–3272; [3] Parthsarathy V., et al. (2013) PLoS ONE 2013;8(1): e54769; [4] Gregori M., et al. (2017) Nanomed: Nanotech. Biol. Med. 13, 723-732.


The implication of quantized sensor information on filtering problems is studied. The Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived for estimation and filtering on quantized data. A particle filter (PF) algorithm that approximates the optimal nonlinear filter is provided, and numerical experiments show that the PF attains the CRLB, while second-order optimal Kalman filter (KF) approaches can perform quite bad.


Although lions Panthera leo are the main predators of the giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, interactions between these species are rarely observed directly. As a consequence, little is known about the effects of lions on giraffe mortality and behavior. We test patterns of lion predation on Masai giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi using a new methodology: lion claw marks observable on the skin of live giraffes. We studied 702 individually known giraffes in 3 non-neighboring areas of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania between August 2008 and November 2010. Lion claw marks were observed on 13% of giraffes older than 1 year. Claw marks were most frequently detected on giraffe hindquarters and flanks, revealing that non-lethal lion attacks occur most often from the rear. No claw marks were observed on calves (0–1 year), suggesting that calves rarely survive lion attacks. In the adult age class (>5 years), claw-mark prevalence was significantly higher among females than males. We observed substantial variation in claw-mark prevalence across study areas, indicating that lion predation risk may be heterogeneous within Serengeti. We find that claw marks are an important source of data on interactions between lions and giraffes.


1. Secondary forests growing on cleared lands and tree plantations are becoming increasingly widespread land-uses in the tropics. Previous studies are divided on the conservation importance of these habitats for tropical forest butterflies. 2. We use a robust sampling design, accounting for both seasonality and vertical stratification, to examine fruit-feeding butterflies (Nymphalidae) in patches of secondary forest and Eucalyptus plantation 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than those previously sampled. 3. We recorded 10 587 butterflies and 128 species in 3200 trap-days. Species richness was highest in primary forest and lowest in plantations, while butterfly abundance showed the opposite response. All habitats were distinct in terms of community structure. 4. There was a significant interaction between habitat and season based on richness and abundance metrics, although not based on community structure. Secondary forest exhibited higher observed richness than primary forest in the peak of the dry-season, but not at other times of the year. This observation could explain the lack of consensus in previous studies, as those reporting higher richness in secondary forest only sampled during the dry-season. 5. In general, habitat quality appeared to be more important than the surrounding landscape in determining butterfly community structure. However, the community structure of the strong-flying Charaxinae was related to the amount of primary forest in surrounding landscape. There was very poor congruence between the response patterns of richness and abundance among different butterfly subfamilies. 6. Linear regressions between resource availability and butterfly abundance showed a strong influence of leaf phenology in both primary and secondary forest, but no influence of fruit phenology. 7. Synthesis and applications: A lack of seasonal replication and small sampling sizes may have led previous studies to over-emphasize the conservation importance of secondary forest and plantations for butterflies. We show that these habitats are significantly poorer than primary forest in terms of number of species, and hold distinct butterfly communities. Although quantifying the number of species restricted to primary forest remains difficult, these results cast doubt on the presumption that secondary habitats will provide refuge for many of the species being lost through deforestation. We therefore strongly urge measures that prioritize the conservation of remaining primary forests where they still exist.


There is growing interest in intravitreal injections of chemotherapy for retinoblastoma. However, concerns for potential tumor seeding through the needle track has prompted the use of risk-reducing precautionary methods. Presented here is a novel technique, which can be easily replicated, requires minimal sophisticated equipment and with laboratory data supporting its concept. Sterile distilled water submersion for 3 minutes renders retinoblastoma cells nonviable and can be employed as a precautionary method following intravitreal injection in the technique described here.


On-demand mobility services, such as bike and car sharing, are experiencing an exponential growth and are expected to play an essential role in future transportation systems. In addition, car sharing is recognised as a key driving force for the diffusion of electric vehicles (EVs) in urban areas. The impact of a regulated fleet of shared electric cars on the power distribution grid is expected to be significant and very different from that of privately-owned EVs due to: the different mobility patterns (e.g., higher vehicle utilisation, shorter parking times), and the dependence of charging opportunities on the specific layout of the car-sharing station infrastructure. However, these issues are not sufficiently investigated in the research literature. To fill this gape in this work we make the following two main contributions. First, we formulate a stochastic facility location problem for the optimal deployment of the car sharing stations to provide probabilistic guarantees on parking availability. Second, we analyse the energy demands of the car sharing system under different deployment scenarios and charging technologies, including power sharing. Finally, to test how well our model can be applied to the real world we leverage on a data-driven evaluation methodology based upon the travel demands of an existing car sharing operator.


The European Central Bank uses a monetary strategy which represents a combination of monetary targeting and direct inflation targeting. In this context, the stability of the long-run European money demand function is widely seen as a precondition for a strategy of monetary targeting. This paper investigates the aggregate demand for money in Europe including those countries representing the initial group in the European Monetary Union. First, we identify stable (in the sense of cointegrated) European money demand functions for M1 as well as for M3. Second, we investigate parameter constancy over time and do not find suggestive evidence of structural instability. Overall, the results provide empirical support for the European Central Bank to target a European monetary aggregate.


Abstract The construction industry has suffered from low growth in recent decades. Motivated by the economic importance of the industry, we revisit the construction productivity puzzle by analyzing the construction value chains of 12 European countries with data from the World Input–Output and EU KLEMS databases. We decompose construction-related value-added and productivity contributions to the construction industry and the rest of the value chain, and show that the traditional focus on the construction industry is restrictive. There is a substantial amount of construction-related value-added generated in other industries, and the productivity growth in the construction value chains has, for the most part, been seen in them. Furthermore, we show that there is a strong, long-term relationship between construction-related patents and the improvement of total factor productivity in the value chains, but the value chains typically suffer from low efficiency in the use of information technology.


Storytelling is an integral part of appreciative advising, and employing a queer eye in the storytelling process can help advisors avoid the trap of reducing students to a single story, stereotype, or identity.  A queer eye encourages advisors to challenge their assumptions and think critically about stories – both the ones students tell advisors about themselves and the ones advisors tell themselves about students.  This paper introduces the concept of a queer eye and explores the ways in which advisors can strengthen the appreciative advising relationship by approaching students and their stories through this unique lens.


Applications that use edge computing and 5G to improve response times consume both compute and network resources. However, 5G networks manage only network resources without considering the application's compute requirements, and container orchestration frameworks manage only compute resources without considering the application's network requirements. We observe that there is a complex coupling between an application's compute and network usage, which can be leveraged to improve application performance and resource utilization. We propose a new, declarative abstraction called app slice that jointly considers the application's compute and network requirements. This abstraction leverages container management systems to manage edge computing resources, and 5G network stacks to manage network resources, while the joint consideration of coupling between compute and network usage is explicitly managed by a new runtime system, which delivers the declarative semantics of the app slice. The runtime system also jointly manages the edge compute and network resource usage automatically across different edge computing environments and 5G networks by using two adaptive algorithms. We implement a complex, real-world, real-time monitoring application using the proposed app slice abstraction, and demonstrate on a private 5G/LTE testbed that the proposed runtime system significantly improves the application performance and resource usage when compared with the case where the coupling between the compute and network resource usage is ignored.


In this paper, we present an end-to-end QoS simulation studies on internetworking of remote LAN and long range communications over LEO-Iridium satellites constellation taking SuperJARING network in Malaysia as an example. A macro level network simulation scenario based on actual network topology in Malaysia is implemented as Diffserv network model using the network simulator-2 (NS-2). Web traffic (HTTP) is used as the internet traffic models in the simulation analysis. All simulations are carried out in error-free and link-loss environment. In error-free simulations, the accumulative network traffic loads are varied from 20%, 50% and 80% while in link-loss environment simulations only 20% traffic load is used with bit error rate (BER) varied from 1x10-5, 1x10-4 and 2x10-4. We compare the empirical TCP throughput traces with analytical model for validation. The results show clearly that QoS can be achieved with IP Diffserv over satellites constellation like Iridium.


This paper analyses the continuities and changes in water management in the Olifants basin after the first decade of implementation of the National Water Act (1998). By taking a historical perspective of the basin development trajectory, the paper shows how the White minority rulers, who exerted power until 1994, systematically denied historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs) the right to become significant water users, let alone 'economically viable' water users. In contrast, White water users undertook major water resource development, which, by the 1970s resulted in the emergence of a 'White water economy'. Under the new dispensation (post-1994), the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) took a two-pronged approach in the Olifants basin and elsewhere for redressing the inequities of the past. On the one hand, from the central top down, it opened up the 'White water economy' into a water economy serving especially 'economically viable water users', who rapidly ceased to be White only. As reflected in a range of new measures taken in the Olifants basin, in this new water economy DWAF better targets bulk domestic supplies to HDIs, has more public participation, and is strengthening its regulatory role in terms of cost-recovery, environmental issues, and pollution prevention. On the other hand DWAF seeks to fill the enormous backlog in water services delivery to HDIs, not only for domestic water uses, but increasingly also for productive uses. The major challenge of bottom-up coordinated service delivery for multiple uses through the newly established Provincial and Local Governments and the transforming line agencies is addressed under the recently launched Water for Growth and Development Initiative.


For the first time, a nested-ring Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) on silicon-on-insulator is realized using a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-based process. In this letter, we verify that the device operates in two modes: the inner-loop resonance dominant mode due to strong build-up inside the inner-ring, and the double-Fano resonances mode due to strong light interaction with the outer loop. The results show that the inner-loop resonance is highly sensitive to the MZI arm imbalance compared to the double-Fano resonance mode. Based on these considerations, we obtain a good fit between theory and experiment.


Abstract. A non-parametric method is applied to quantify residual uncertainty in hydrologic streamflow forecasting. This method acts as a post-processor on deterministic model forecasts and generates a residual uncertainty distribution. Based on instance-based learning, it uses a k nearest-neighbour search for similar historical hydrometeorological conditions to determine uncertainty intervals from a set of historical errors, i.e. discrepancies between past forecast and observation. The performance of this method is assessed using test cases of hydrologic forecasting in two UK rivers: the Severn and Brue. Forecasts in retrospect were made and their uncertainties were estimated using kNN resampling and two alternative uncertainty estimators: quantile regression (QR) and uncertainty estimation based on local errors and clustering (UNEEC). Results show that kNN uncertainty estimation produces accurate and narrow uncertainty intervals with good probability coverage. Analysis also shows that the performance of this technique depends on the choice of search space. Nevertheless, the accuracy and reliability of uncertainty intervals generated using kNN resampling are at least comparable to those produced by QR and UNEEC. It is concluded that kNN uncertainty estimation is an interesting alternative to other post-processors, like QR and UNEEC, for estimating forecast uncertainty. Apart from its concept being simple and well understood, an advantage of this method is that it is relatively easy to implement.


Introduction Acute non-traumatic limp is a common reason for children to present to the emergency department (ED). There is a wide differential diagnosis for these patients, and there are certain serious conditions which cannot be missed. An evidence based guideline for the 'limping child' was designed and the impact of guideline implementation on a number of specific, predefined quantitative outcomes was assessed. Methods An initial retrospective chart review over 3 months was carried out for all patients presenting with acute non-traumatic limp. Following guideline introduction and implementation, information was gathered prospectively for a further 3 month period. Data outcomes between the two patient groups were then compared. Results 110 patients met the criteria for inclusion: 56 pre-guideline and 54 post-guideline implementation. Baseline characteristics and diagnosis breakdown were similar in both groups. The rate of laboratory investigations was significantly reduced following guideline implementation (68% of patients pre-guideline, vs 48% post-guideline; (χ2), p=0.03). The number of x-rays carried out was similar in each group (74 pre- vs 67 post-guideline, mean 1.32 vs 1.28; (χ2), p=0.53). Length of time spent in the ED was significantly reduced following guideline implementation (median time 150 min pre- vs 82.5 min post-guideline; (χ2), p=0.04). No cases of serious pathology were missed using the guideline. Conclusion Implementation of an evidence based clinical practice guideline for the limping child in a paediatric ED reduced the overall time patients spent in the ED, reduced the need for unnecessary laboratory investigations and ensured that appropriate investigations were carried out on an individual patient basis.