Approximately half of the variation in wellbeing measures overlaps with variation in personality traits. Studies of non-human primate pedigrees and human twins suggest that this is due to common genetic influences. We tested whether personality polygenic scores for the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) domains and for item response theory (IRT) derived extraversion and neuroticism scores predict variance in wellbeing measures. Polygenic scores were based on published genome-wide association (GWA) results in over 17,000 individuals for the NEO-FFI and in over 63,000 for the IRT extraversion and neuroticism traits. The NEO-FFI polygenic scores were used to predict life satisfaction in 7 cohorts, positive affect in 12 cohorts, and general wellbeing in 1 cohort (maximal N = 46,508). Meta-analysis of these results showed no significant association between NEO-FFI personality polygenic scores and the wellbeing measures. IRT extraversion and neuroticism polygenic scores were used to predict life satisfaction and positive affect in almost 37,000 individuals from UK Biobank. Significant positive associations (effect sizes <0.05%) were observed between the extraversion polygenic score and wellbeing measures, and a negative association was observed between the polygenic neuroticism score and life satisfaction. Furthermore, using GWA data, genetic correlations of -0.49 and -0.55 were estimated between neuroticism with life satisfaction and positive affect, respectively. The moderate genetic correlation between neuroticism and wellbeing is in line with twin research showing that genetic influences on wellbeing are also shared with other independent personality domains.


Gene Networks Involved in Competitive Root Colonization and Nodulation in the Sinorhizobium meliloti – Medicago truncatula Symbiosis Ryan D. VanYperen Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The rhizobia-legume symbiosis is the most agriculturally significant source of naturally fixed nitrogen, accounting for almost 25% of all biologically available nitrogen. Rhizobialegume compatibility restrictions impose limits on symbiotic nitrogen fixation. In many cases, the molecular basis for symbiotic compatibility is not fully understood. The signals required for establishing a symbiotic partnership between nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g. Sinorhizobium meliloti) and leguminous plants (e.g. Medicago truncatula) have been partially characterized at the molecular level. The first stage of successful root colonization is competitive occupation of the rhizosphere (which is poorly understood). Here, the bacteria introduce themselves as potential symbiotic partners through the secretion of glycolipid "Nod" factors. In response, the host facilitates a more exclusive mode of colonization by the formation of a root nodule – a new organ capable of hosting dense intracellular populations of symbiotic rhizobia for nitrogen fixation. This dissertation reports the exhaustive identification of S. meliloti genes that permit competitive colonization of the M. truncatula rhizosphere, and includes a mechanistic study of one particular bacterial signaling pathway that is crucial for both rhizosphere colonization and nodulation. I have made use of Tn-seq technology, which relies on deep sequencing of large transposon mutant libraries to monitor S. meliloti genotypes that increase or decrease in relative abundance after competition in the rhizosphere. This work included the collaborative development of a new computational pipeline for performing Tn-seq analysis. Our analysis implicates a large ensemble of bacterial genes and pathways promoting rhizosphere colonization, provides hints about how the host plant shapes this environment, and opens the door for mechanistic studies about how changes in the rhizosphere are sensed and interpreted by the microbial community. Notable among these sensory pathways is a three-protein signaling system, consisting of FeuQ, FeuP, and FeuN, which are important for both rhizosphere colonization and nodule invasion by S. meliloti. The membrane-bound sensor kinase FeuQ can either positively or negatively influence downstream transcription of target genes by modulating the phosphorylation state of the transcriptional activator FeuP. FeuN, a small periplasmic protein, inhibits the positive mode of FeuPQ signaling by its direct interaction with the extracellular region of FeuQ. FeuN is essential for S. meliloti viability, underscoring the vital importance of controlling the activity of downstream genes. In summary, I have employed several powerful genetic, genomic, computational, and biochemical approaches to uncover a network of genes and pathways that coordinate root colonization and nodulation functions.


This thesis presents the results of experimental investigations to determine the electron ionization cross-sections of gases used in plasma etching processes. The small molecules studied include boron trichloride (BCI3), nitrous oxide (N20), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and acetylene (C2H2). The knowledge of accurate electron ionization cross-sections is essential for the modelling and optimization of plasmas used in industry and for the purposes of atmospheric modelling. It is therefore surprising that despite the widespread industrial use of these small molecules there have been few investigations of their ionization. It is the lack of available electron ionization cross-section data that provides the motivation for the investigations detailed in this thesis. The formation and dissociation of singly charged (monocations), doubly charged (dications) and triply charged molecular ions (trications) are studied using pulsed electron ionization (30-200 eV) coupled with time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry and a two-dimensional (2D) ion coincidence technique. The experimental technique and data analysis procedures adopted allow the contribution to the total ion yield from single and multiple ionization to be distinguished and quantified. Such information yields relative partial ionization cross-sections (PICSs) and also allows relative precursor specific PICSs to be determined, which quantify the contribution from single, double and triple ionization to the relative yields of the fragment ions formed following electron-molecule collisions. Relative precursor specific PICSs therefore provide a more 'in-depth' chemical picture of each PICS. The relative precursor specific PICSs determined, following electron interaction with N20, provide clear evidence of energetic ion loss in previous cross-section determinations detailed in the literature. In addition, the 2D ion coincidence technique provides information on the energetics involved in the dissociation of any multiply charged ions formed. In the case of BCI3, further insight on the possible dissociation dynamics of BC132+ is reported. Following the investigations of N2O, BCI3 and SF6, the apparatus was commissioned to produce absolute partial ionization cross-sections and absolute precursor specific partial ionization cross-sections from 30-200 eV. Experimentally, the commissioning involved the addition of a Spinning Rotor Gauge (SRG) and a new gas inlet line to the source region. These investigations have extended the data determined for the electron ionization of N20 and have also enabled the absolute cross-section data for the electron ionization of C2H2 to be determined.


The speciation of arsenic (III) and (V) in aqueous acidic and basic solutions at ambient conditions, and of arsenic (V) in acidic solutions at 270 bars from 30 to 300 degreesC was investigated using in situ X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). Both Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis and X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) ab initio calculations were used to determine the structure of dominant arsenic species in solution. At ambient conditions, the deprotonation of AsIII(OH)3 and AsVO(OH)3 species with increasing pH is demonstrated by analysis of their XANES signals, in agreement with available arsenious and arsenic acid dissociation constants. In basic conditions, the dominant species is a deprotonated form of the As(OH)3 acid, with a very similar symmetry. The speciation of AsV in acidic hydrothermal fluids is dominated by the AsVO(OH)3 complex over a wide temperature and pressure range, to at least 300 degreesC and 300 bars. The first-shell As structure in the AsVO(OH)3 species and its deprotonated forms is found to be a distorted tetrahedron, similar to the base AsO4 unit of Na2HAsO4middle dot7H2O(s). This work demonstrates new capabilities of XAS coupled with molecular modelling to decipher deprotonation reactions that affect mineral solubilities and chemical elements mobility in aqueous crustal fluids.


Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity, by Mohamed Rabie. Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 1994. viii + 219 pages. Bibl. to p. 223. Index to p. 229. $55. Reviewed by Simona Sharoni What role does ethnicity play in conflict situations and how can a better understanding of its dynamics contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the post-Cold War era? Mohamed Rabie, a former professor of economics who lived and taught in both the United States and Kuwait, explores these questions in Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity. Rabie does not treat conflict as a negative phenomenon, but rather as "an integral part of individual life and of intergroup and interstate relationships. [Accordingly] conflict can never be eliminated; it can only be managed to minimize its negative impact, reduce its intensity, and facilitate its positive role in human development" (p. 50). The book examines four strategies of dealing with conflict--crisis prevention or avoidance, crisis management, control and containment, and conflict resolution--concluding that conflict resolution is the most desirable approach. Rabie insists that "conflict resolution moves to create peace processes and facilitate the establishment and maintenance of peace [while] crisis avoidance, crisis management, and conflict containment move usually to prevent or stop war, while sustaining conflict and manipulating its real causes" (p. 60). Conflict resolution, in Rabie's view, articulates a vision to change the status quo and eliminate the major sources of tension by "building integrative relationships that separate interests from values, emphasizing interests and recognizing values" (p. 58). To examine the applicability of conflict resolution theories to the transformation of ethnic conflict, Rabie compares and contrasts three models: the consociational model, the control model, and the shared homeland model. According to Rabie, the consociational model "is a power sharing model that views different cultural groups as partners interested in overcoming their differences to make the system work and therefore are willing to negotiate and make compromises" (p. 61). The control model, on the other hand, is often designed "to achieve political stability by allowing the majority to have a near-total control over the minority ... [and] to enhance the interests of the controlling majority at the expense of the controlled minority, reducing it to a position of subordination and submission" (pp. 61-2). Rabie presents the shared homeland model as an alternative to these models. He originally developed it to deal with the Arab-Israeli conflict. The underlying assumption of this model is that "ethnic and national conflicts arise from the fact that two or more peoples who feel different from each other live together in one country and are tied to each other in formal relationships that are perceived by one or more parties as unsatisfactory or discriminatory"(p. …


Soldiers in a Storm: The Armed Forces in South Africa's Democratic Transition is a study of the role of the military in the creation and development of South Africa's new post-apartheid system. Philip Frankel asserts that the armed forces played a far greater role in the end of apartheid than is currently acknowledged in the literature, and that the relatively peaceful negotiations that ended apartheid would not have been possible without the participation of the South African National Defense Force and two major liberation armies.Frankel also examines the topics of military disengagement, civilianization, post-authoritarian political behavior on the part of militaries, and the process of democratic consolidation. He also discusses how many of these themes have been explored in the context of Latin America, and he points out that this is the only book that places these themes within the context of South Africa. This is an important case study with universal implications.


The influence of physical activity on motor and cognitive performance has been approved in several studies. However, it is still unclear which functions are affected, and why. It also remains unknown what type of physical training is best suitable. The present study focuses on special movement aspects based on the Brain Gym? program. Four groups of subjects (n = 64) participated in two experiments with pre-post intervention design. In experiment 1 two groups of subjects were exposed to a sensorimotor adaptation study design by executing center out pointing movements under distorted visual feedback conditions with their dominant and non-dominant arm to test for intermanual transfer (IMT) as pre- and posttest. The intervention in both groups consisted of specified movement exercises with the right and left extremities: participants of Experimental group executed movements crossing the body midline and participants of Control group movements without crossing the body midline. Results showed a decreased retention of adaptation but larger IMT for Experimental group during posttest. We conclude that movements crossing the body midline impede retention but enhance IMT of sensorimotor adaptation. A potential relationship to an improvement of communication between the cerebral hemispheres evoked by the movement exercises crossing the body midline is rather speculative. In experiment 2 two groups were exposed to the d2-test measuring concentration and attention and a dice-test testing for visual-spatial abilities as pre- and posttest. The interventions were similar to experiment 1. Results yielded no differences between groups such that different effects of both interventions could not have been shown.


Abstract: The movement of African ungulates between habitats is determined by diverse factors including forage composition, availability and quality, water availability, topography, the catenary level and the effect of fire on vegetation. We assessed how grass flushes, following dry-season fires, and availability of water influenced seasonal movements of hartebeest, impala, warthog, white rhino, wildebeest and zebra in Ithala Game Reserve, a fenced reserve in South Africa. Over a 6-d period each month for 4 y, road transects covering a representative sample of the reserve's different vegetation types, and 23% of the reserve's total area, were carried out. We recorded the species, number, sex and age class of herbivores, obtaining 8742 records (total herbivores sighted = 47055), and obtained positional data on sightings over the last 2 y of the study. Using a GIS-based approach, we determined that ruminant, but not non-ruminants, were significantly attracted to dry-season grass flushes, and that presence or absence of such flushes significantly affected their mean distance to water and hence seasonal movements on the catena.


It is common in classification methods to first place data in a vector space and then learn decision boundaries. We propose reversing that process: for fixed decision boundaries, we "learn" the location of the data. This way we (i) do not need a metric (or even stronger structure) - pairwise dissimilarities suffice; and additionally (ii) produce low-dimensional embeddings that can be analyzed visually. We achieve this by combining an entropy-based embedding method with an entropy-based version of semi-supervised logistic regression. We present results for clustering and semi-supervised classification.


Randomized experiments ensure equal opportunities but could generate unequal outcomes by treatment status, which can be socially costly. This study demonstrates a sequential intervention to conduct rigorous impact evaluation and subsequently to mitigate '"experiment-driven' driven" inequality, using Cote d'Ivoire as a case. Specifically, control farmers were initially restricted from exchanging information with treated farmers, who received rice management training, to satisfy the stable unit treatment value assumption. We then encouraged information exchange between the two groups of farmers one year after the training. We found positive training effects, but initial performance gaps created by our randomized assignment disappeared over time because of information spillovers and, hence, eventually control farmers also benefitted from our experiment.


— This paper seeks to quantify the effects of improved donor coordination on aid effectiveness. Empirical estimates are first provided of the reductions in transaction costs that can be achieved by better donor coordination via concentration to fewer partner countries and a shift from project aid to program-based approaches. Further estimates are presented showing how much could be gained in terms of poverty reduction by optimizing aid allocation across countries. The potential poverty reduction would be huge, but there are severe political implementation constraints. The paper concludes that much could be gained in terms of aid effectiveness from improved donor coordination. 2014 UNU-Wider. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by4.0/).


An increasing number of firms participate in inter-firm networks to improve their innovation, renewal, and venturing; efforts that can be termed 'corporate entrepreneurship'. This article contributes to the literature by developing and testing explanations for how partner fit (that is, complementary capabilities and organizational compatibilities) influences networking firms' corporate entrepreneurship. Using survey data on SMEs engaged in strategic networks with multiple partners, we found support for an argument suggesting that partner fit requires mediating variables to unleash the potential synergies of partner fit for corporate entrepreneurship. Specifically, our results suggest partner fit triggers resource leverage through processes of both combining resources and accumulating resources from interaction with network partners. Thus, a positive indirect relationship between partner fit and corporate entrepreneurship is present.


The intention of this thesis has evolved subtly, but significantly over the course of the semester. In its initial state, the thesis proposed to establish rule structures for neorationalism and post-modernism, and subsequently test the validity of each with a design problem. Because of discrepancies between architects within these positions it was felt that a proponent of each should be selected for analysis. At that point both the worthiness of defining a rule structure for an individual as well as the merit of delving into two discrete experiments was questioned. Currently, the thesis is designed to isolate the virtuous characteristics of neo-rationalism and post-modernism and posit a method by which these characteristics might be realized in a single design solution. In order to achieve this, a procedure will be undertaken that: 1) establishes history as the repository of architectural language; 2) demonstrates how this language is expressed through architectural types; 3) relates type to both the work of two proponents of the positions as well as the design problem at hand and ultimately; 4) describes a th&~etical means by which to approach the imminent design phase. It should be emphasized that buildings are essential to this investigation because, as any word or product of culture, they are full of intention and meaning. It is hoped that this thesis presents a framework through which to discover a definable design technique that embraces. both the poetic and functional essence of architecture. A Comparative Analysis of Two Contemporary Positiccs: Toward a Design Strategy


Background: Palatal Fistula according to previous studies is directly proportional to width of the clefts. The fallacies with these studies were presence of multiple confounding factors such as multiple surgeons using different techniques of repair. Aim: This study attempted to assess the correlation between the actual width of cleft (W) and ratio of cleft width to sum of width of palatal shelves (R) with the incidence of palatal fistula done by single surgeon using same standardized repair thus eliminating bias due to multiple variables. Methods: This study includes consecutive cases of palatoplasty over 18 months. Bardachs 2 flap palatoplasty with radical Muscle dissection was performed. Palatal fistula was assessed at 3 weeks and at 2months. Results were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results: The values of W and R were analyzed in 45 patients. At 3 weeks 4 patients had fistula (8.9%) while at 2 months follow up only one patient (2.2%) had it. In patients without a fistula (n=41), the mean W was 1.22+0.31 cms SD (range 0.4 to 1.9cm) and R was 0.47+0.14 SD (range 0.15 to 0.83). In 4 patients with fistula at 3 weeks, the mean W was 1.28+0.39 cm SD (range 0.90 tp 1.8 cm) and R was 0.60+0.37 SD (range 0.35 to 1.13). This difference was not statistically significant (P value- 1.000 and 0.968 respectively). Conclusion: This study shows correlation between the width of the cleft or the width of palatal shelves have no significant influence on palatal fistula. The high incidence in previous studies may be related to surgical techniques.


Thus, it is highly appropriate for the Fordham Center on European Union Law and the Fordham International Law Journal ("ILJ") to join efforts to celebrate the achievements of the European Community, with particular recognition of the role and influence of the EC Court of Justice. Our conference, Fifty Years of European Community Law, held on February 29 and March 1, 2008, assembled thirty leading European and American experts in EU law fields, together with five former Court of Justice members and national court judges, for an impressive program reviewing different fields. This issue of the ILJ is the first of three issues publishing papers, either longer articles or shorter essays, authored by speakers at the conference. Initially providing a historical perspective of the creation of the EC, George Mason University Professor Desmond Dinan has contributed Fifty Years of European Integration: A Remarkable Achievement. Professor Dinan's recent history of the EC and EU, Europe Recast, is an invaluable survey of the political, social, economic and cultural evolution of the EC. FIFTY YEARS OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LAW


Abstract Background In the United States, patients discharged on outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) are often treated by home health companies (HHCs) or skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Little is known about differences in processes and outcomes between these sites of care. Methods We performed a retrospective study of 107 patients with complicated Staphylococcus aureus infections discharged on OPAT from 2 academic medical centers. Clinical characteristics, site of posthospital care, process measures (lab test monitoring, clinic follow-up), adverse events (adverse drug events, Clostridium difficile infection, line events), and clinical outcomes at 90 days (cure, relapse, hospital readmission) were collected. Comparisons between HHCs and SNFs were conducted. Results Overall, 33% of patients experienced an adverse event during OPAT, and 64% were readmitted at 90 days. Labs were received for 44% of patients in SNFs and 56% of patients in HHCs. At 90 days after discharge, a higher proportion of patients discharged to an SNF were lost to follow-up (17% vs 3%; P = .03) and had line-related adverse events (18% vs 2%; P < .01). Patients discharged to both sites of care experienced similar clinical outcomes, with favorable outcomes occurring in 61% of SNF patients and 70% of HHC patients at 90 days. There were no differences in rates of relapse, readmission, or mortality. Conclusions Patients discharged to SNFs may be at higher risk for line events than patients discharged to HHCs. Efforts should be made to strengthen basic OPAT processes, such as lab monitoring and clinic follow-up, at both sites of care.


Osteosarcomas are the most frequent bone sarcomas. The molecular chromosomal aberrations in osteosarcomas were analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). We studied 47 frozen tumors (41 primary samples, 6 relapses) in osteosarcoma patients registered in the Cooperative Osteosarcoma Study (COSS) protocol. Genomic imbalances were detected in 40 of 41 primary tumors and 6 of 6 relapsed tumors. Gains were more frequent than losses (ratio of 1.3:1). The median number of changes was 16 and 12 in primary and relapsed osteosarcomas, respectively. The median number of aberrations in primary high‐grade osteosarcomas (17.0) was significantly higher than in low‐ or intermediate‐grade osteosarcoma subtypes (3.0) (p = 0.038). The most frequent gains included 8q, 1p21‐p31 and 1q21‐q24, and the most frequent losses were 10q, 5q and 13q. High‐level gains were observed on 8q23‐q24, 17p13 and 1q21‐q24. A gain of 19p (p < 0.001) or loss of 9p (p = 0.027) was more frequent in poor responders than in good responders. Univariate analysis revealed that patients with primary metastases (p = 0.002), poor histologic responses (p = 0.005), high‐level gains of 19p (p = 0.012) or losses of 13q14 (p = 0.042) had significantly lower event‐free survival (EFS), whereas patients with a loss of 5q (p = 0.007) or a loss of 10q21‐22 (p = 0.017) had significantly higher EFS than patients without these aberrations. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that primary metastasis, loss of 13q14 and loss of 5q were independent prognostic factors. The findings of our study seem to be useful for evaluating the prognosis of patients and may finally lead to treatment strategies based on genetic background of osteosarcoma. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


One of Australia's greatest challenges is managing its scarce water resources. However, flaws in the design and implementation of collaborative water governance risk undermining Australia's water reforms. What then are the best ways to collaboratively govern water use; and how and in what ways can community engagement in water governance be reinvigorated? Responding to these questions, this study offers insights from a recent international innovation in collaborative water governance known as Audited Self-Management (ASM). This article provides one of the first empirical examinations of the performance of this innovative process that transfers day-to-day water management and compliance responsibilities under terms and conditions agreed to with a water regulator. Drawing on interviews and a survey, this article pinpoints the strengths and weaknesses of ASM for collaboratively managing water and analyses whether and to what extent this collaborative model provides a feasible policy approach for Australian water management. Although barriers to ASM's widespread introduction in Australia are identified, there are also several demonstrable advantages in its approach, not least ASM's capacity to deepen engagement of the agricultural community in water governance.


The accurate prediction of software development cost at early stage of development life-cycle may have a vital economic impact and provide fundamental information for management decision making. However, it is not well understood in practice how to optimally utilize historical software project data for the construction of cost predictions. This is because the analysis of historical data sets for software cost estimation leads to many practical difficulties. In addition, there has been little research done to prove the benefits. To overcome these limitations, this research proposes a preliminary data analysis framework, which is an extension of Maxwell's study. The proposed framework is based on a set of statistical analysis methods such as correlation analysis, stepwise ANOVA, univariate analysis, etc. and provides a formal basis for the erection of cost prediction models from his¬torical data sets. The proposed framework is empirically evaluated against commonly used prediction methods, namely Ordinary Least-Square Regression (OLS), Robust Regression (RR), Classification and Regression Trees (CART), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), and is also applied to both heterogeneous and homogeneous data sets. Formal statistical significance testing was performed for the comparisons. The results from the comparative evaluation suggest that the proposed preliminary data analysis framework is capable to construct more accurate prediction models for all selected prediction techniques. The framework processed predictor variables are statistic significant, at 95% confidence level for both parametric techniques (OLS and RR) and one non-parametric technique (CART). Both the heterogeneous data set and homogenous data set benefit from the application of the proposed framework for improving project effort prediction accuracy. The homogeneous data set is more effective after being processed by the framework. Overall, the evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed framework has an excellent applicability. Further research could focus on two main purposes: First, improve the applicability by integrating missing data techniques such as listwise deletion (LD), mean imputation (MI), etc., for handling missing values in historical data sets. Second, apply benchmarking to enable comparisons, i.e. allowing companies to compare themselves with respect to their productivity or quality.


Abstract. With rapid development of big data technologies urbanization, the railway networks have also developed rapidly. The optimization of various aspects of railway networks has become more and more important with the shift of main contradictions in our society. With more than one hundred years of development of China railway network expansion, especially under the driving of "one belt and one road", China railway network is gradually mature. Up to now, the total length of China railways ranks second in the world, with a mileage of 127,000 km. The spatial service scope of railway network has been further expanded and the structure has become more and more perfect, which has brought positive impacts on the development of all aspects of China. This paper analyzes the railways (lines) and stations (points) in five different development stages in China in the past 100 years, by means of spatial statistical and nuclear density analysis, based on which the spatial accessibility in different periods is calculated using cost distance analysis. The results show that the distribution of spatial pattern in Middle East region is higher than that in west region. The accessibility shows a significant difference between east and west, that the eastern region is superior to the western region. The difference of spatial pattern between the north and the south of Yangtze river is obvious. The overall spatial pattern presents a concentric structure, radiating from the North China region to the surrounding areas, and the reachable time from the North China region to the East China and Central South regions is gradually increasing.The conclusions of the study are as follows:(1) The coverage region of China railways has been expanded.Since the completion of the first self-built railway (Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway), the total length of China railways,has expanded from 5006.5 km in 1911 to 127,000 km in the end of 2017, which means it has increased by 253.6 times over 100 years, with an average annual growth rate of 1,1933.9 km. The coverage of China Railways has expanded from 21 provinces in 1911 to all the provinces.(2) The development of the time accessibility of the China railway network takes a favorable trend. The railway network has gradually improved,after more than 100 years' development. In 1911, the number of prefecture-level stations connected by the China railway network was only 62. By 2000, 83.6% of prefecture-level stations in China had been connected, and the number of connected ground-level stations reached 276. In 2018, more than 3066 ground-level stations have been connected,reaching time reduced from 1030 hours in 1911 to 64 hours in 2018. For example, the time from Beijing to Shanghai was shortened from more than 30 hours to 4 hours, saving about 8 times than before. It provides an important guarantee for the exchange of information between various regions in China.(3) The overall expansion of China railway network presents an expansion from the coastal areas to inland areas. A detailed analysis of the seven major economic zones shows the expansion is from Bohai Economic Zone to other economic zones. After five stages of development, the sites in the eastern, central and western regions accounted for 28%, 33% and 38% respectively of the total. The spatial distribution of the sites in the eastern, central and western regions gradually became balanced, but the degree of perfection still differed.


Insight into breakfast consumption of children and adolescents is of public health concern, for several reasons as it has been associated with positive outcomes for diet quality, micronutrient intake, BMI status and lifestyle factors. Studies suggest that eating a breakfast which contains sufficiently balanced nutrients has a beneficial impact on both student health – in terms of nutrient intake height-to-weight ratio and early physical development– and cognitive skills such as focused attention and memory recall. Skipping breakfast or consuming an inadequate breakfast contributes to dietary inadequacies that are seldom compensated for at other meals. Present study aims at studying the effect of breakfast skipping on the nutritional status and cognition of school going children. An exploratory cross sectional study was undertaken to assess and compare the nutritional status of school going children eating breakfast and those skipping it. The total sample size was 195 school going students aged 10-16 years old. Chi-square test and t-test were used for statistical analysis using SPSS software.
According to the results of the current study, the prevalence of breakfast skipping among school going children of age 10-16 years old is 23.50% in selected areas of Udupi district. More number of breakfast skippers were found to be overweight than breakfast non-skippers (p=0.992). The intakes of cereals (p<0.01), milk (p<0.001), vegetables (p<0.05), and fruits (p<0.05) were significantly less in breakfast skippers. However intakes of fat (p<0.05) and miscellaneous foods (p<0.05) like junk food that are high in saturated fat were significantly high in breakfast skippers than breakfast non-skippers. A significant difference was also seen in a no. of parameters like memory (p<0.001), concentration (p<0.001), grades obtained (p<0.001), attendance (p<0.001) etc. between breakfast skippers and breakfast non-skippers. The study indicates that skipping breakfast affects both the nutritional status as well as the school performance of the students. The study strongly supports that breakfast plays an important role for adequate nutrition of school children and has a major impact on cognition.


This thesis contributes toward the design of a quality-of-service (QoS) aware network layer for wireless ad hoc networks. With the lack of an infrastructure in ad hoc networks, the role of the network layer is not only to perform multihop routing between a source node and a destination node, but also to establish an end-to-end connection between communicating peers that satisfies the service level requirements of multimedia applications running on those peers. Wireless ad hoc networks represent autonomous distributed systems that are infrastructure-less, fully distributed, and multi-hop in nature. Over the last few years, wireless ad hoc networks have attracted significant attention from researchers. This has been fueled by recent technological advances in the development of multifunction and low-cost wireless communication gadgets. Wireless ad hoc networks have diverse applications spanning several domains, including military, commercial, medical, and home networks. Projections indicate that these self-organizing wireless ad hoc networks will eventually become the dominant form of the architecture of telecommunications networks in the near future. Recently, due to increasing popularity of multimedia applications, QoS support in wireless ad hoc networks has become an important yet challenging objective. The challenge lies in the need to support the heterogeneous QoS requirements (e.g., data rate, packet loss probability, and delay constraints) for multimedia applications and, at the same time, to achieve efficient radio resource utilization, taking into account user mobility and dynamics of multimedia traffic. In terms of research contributions, we first present a position-based QoS routing framework for wireless ad-hoc networks. The scheme provides QoS guarantee in terms of packet loss ratio and average end-to-end delay (or throughput) to ad hoc networks loaded with constant rate traffic. Via cross-layer design, we apply call admission control and temporary bandwidth reservation on discovered routes, taking into consideration the physical layer multi-rate capability and the medium access control (MAC) interactions such as simultaneous transmission and self interference from route members. Next, we address the network-layer resource allocation where a single-hop ad hoc iii network is loaded with random traffic. As a starting point, we study the behavior of the service process of the widely deployed IEEE 802.11 DCF MAC when the network is under different traffic load conditions. Our study investigates the nearmemoryless behavior of the service time for IEEE 802.11 saturated single-hop ad hoc networks. We show that the number of packets successfully transmitted by any node over a time interval follows a general distribution, which is close to a Poisson distribution with an upper bounded distribution distance. We also show that the service time distribution can be approximated by a geometric distribution and illustrate that a simplified queuing system can be used efficiently as a resource allocation tool for single hop IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks near saturation. After that, we shift our focus to providing probabilistic packet delay guarantee to multimedia users in non-saturated IEEE 802.11 single hop ad hoc networks. We propose a novel stochastic link-layer channel model to characterize the variations of the IEEE 802.11 channel service process. We use the model to calculate the effective capacity of the IEEE 802.11 channel. The channel effective capacity concept is the dual of the effective bandwidth theory. Our approach offers a tool for distributed statistical resource allocation in single hop ad hoc networks, which combines both efficient resource utilization and QoS provisioning to a certain probabilistic limit. Finally, we propose a statistical QoS routing scheme for multihop IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks. Unlike most of QoS routing schemes in literature, the proposed scheme provides stochastic end-to-end delay guarantee, instead of average delay guarantee, to delay-sensitive bursty traffic sources. Via a cross-layer design approach, the scheme selects the routes based on a geographical on-demand ad hoc routing protocol and checks the availability of network resources by using traffic source and link-layer channel models, incorporating the IEEE 802.11 characteristics and interaction. Our scheme extends the well developed effective bandwidth theory and its dual effective capacity concept to multihop IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks in order to achieve an efficient utilization of the shared radio channel while satisfying the end-to-end delay bound.


In the Swedish market, there is a wide selection of herbs as supplement to the horse´s feed. A trend today is that many companies are marketing herbal remedies with allegations of medical effects. If you want to sell the product for that purpose it must be verified and approved as drug or natural remedy by the Medical Products Agency. Some herbs may contain active substances. Nevertheless, only a few studies have been conducted on single herbs to investigate safe doses for horses.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of herbal supplements in horses, which herbs that are used by the greatest extent, what horse owners want to achieve with the herb supplements and if they experience that they had the desired effect. In addition, this study also evaluated if the horse owner, veterinarians or the herbal supplier had observed any interaction, toxicity or adverse reactions caused by the herb supplements.

The study summarizes the survey responses from 86 respondents and interviews with five veterinarians as well as five herbal suppliers. The study showed that approximately 70 % of the respondents have used some type of feed supplement for their horse/horses, other than vitamins and minerals. The difference in the use of feed supplements differs significantly between Icelandic horses and ponies and between Icelandic horses and warm bloods. The Icelandic horses are to a less extent fed with feed supplements compared with ponies and warm bloods. This investigation also showed that herbs were the most common feed supplements used. Nearly 50 % of the respondents have fed their horses with herb supplements. Almost 75 % of the respondents which have used herbal remedies as supplement for their horse/horses have used garlic, which makes garlic the most popular herb in this study. 40 % of the respondents who have provided some type of herbal remedies are unsure whether the herb supplement had any effect and an almost equal proportion indicate that it has had a positive effect. Since more than 75 % of the respondents which have been given some type of herbal preparation indicate that the purpose of use is to prevent disease, one can question how the positive effect can be seen. The experienced positive effect should be that the horse remains healthy, as it could have been without the use of herbal remedies.

Nearly 20 % of the respondents who have used herbal feed supplements, indicates that they have used it while their horse/horses have been treated with conventional drugs. The majority of herbal suppliers indicate that the consultation before use of herbal preparation always raises the question if the horse at the same time will be treated with drugs, which if the occasion should arise, would be advised against the majority. However, the questionnaire study shows that the majority of sales of herbal remedies are made without prior consultation between horse owners and herbal suppliers. Approximately 40 % of the respondents which have used an herbal preparation at the same time as an ongoing medical treatment have informed the veterinarian about the combined treatment. All the veterinarians that were interviewed experience an anxiety about the possibility of interactions between herbs and drugs. They all explain that in certain symptoms or for specific treatments, the question if the horse is given some type of feed supplement will arise. However, there are no common symptoms or treatments given by the different veterinarians.

Adverse effects in terms of interactions, toxicity and side effects have been noted by owners, veterinarians and herbal suppliers in this investigation. Furthermore, there are no studies to prove safe and appropriate doses for the horse, which means that the risks of use cannot be excluded.


ABSTRACT In Cochabamba, the vulnerability assessment process focused on La Maica community and the agriculture sector. Community stakeholders were involved in workshops while municipal and regional actors participated through interviews. In the Kota process, the municipality was in the geographical focal point and a multi-level stakeholder group focused upon slum inhabitants. The suggested interventions and actions in both cities were dominated by systems (infrastructure and ecosystems) while identified barriers and facilitating factors to implementation revealed a greater acknowledgement of governance issues. Focus on marginalized groups and sectors is facilitated by the direct representations of those issues. While multi-stakeholder processes can be important forums for social learning adaptation planning that benefit vulnerable sectors and groups, with limited inclusion and responsibility given to representatives of marginalized sectors and groups for implementation actions, it is likely that the interests and priorities of more powerful actors will dominate and not contribute to increasing the resilience of the most vulnerable.


A long-standing question in metazoan gene regulation is how remote enhancers communicate with their target promoters over long distances. Combining genome editing and quantitative live imaging we simultaneously visualize physical enhancer–promoter communication and transcription in Drosophila embryos. Enhancers regulating pair rule stripes of even-skipped expression activate transcription of a reporter gene over a distance of 150 kb. We show in individual cells that activation only occurs after the enhancer comes into close proximity with its regulatory target and that upon dissociation transcription ceases almost immediately. We further observe distinct topological conformations of the eve locus, depending on the spatial identity of the activating stripe enhancer. In addition, long-range activation results in transcriptional competition at the endogenous eve locus, causing corresponding developmental defects. Overall, we demonstrate that sustained physical proximity and enhancer–promoter engagement are required for enhancer action, and we provide a path to probe the implications of long-range regulation on cellular fates.


We present a data-driven approach to classification of Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensor data. The sensor is a nano-nose gas sensor that detects concentrations of analytes down to ppm levels using plasma polymorized coatings. Each sensor experiment takes approximately one hour hence the number of available training data is limited. We suggest a data-driven classification model which work from few examples. The paper compares a number of data-driven classification and quantification schemes able to detect the gas and the concentration level. The data-driven approaches are based on state-of-the-art machine learning methods and the Bayesian learning paradigm.


This paper presents the foundation for systematically investigating the possibility of influencing users' motivation with visual persuasion which the constructs are divided into two factors; hygiene and motivation. Visual persuasion is identified as the design triggers that affect users' first impression, which are seen as the conceptualization of motivation. While past research studied the effect of web design toward users' motivation; not many are looking into the persuasive value of the design. It is foreseen that the power of visual persuasion would produce a more persuasive website and consequently give impact on the users' first impression, and thus motivate them to stay at a site long enough to influence specific behavioral intentions. The proposed model aims to discover the potential of visual persuasion in influencing web users' motivation. This paper offers new insights into the role of visual persuasion in a web design with respect to the relationships between the dimensions of motivation and behavioral intention.


One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin's on the Origin of Species explained the evolution of species through evolution by natural selection. To date, there is no simple piece of evidence demonstrating this concept across species. Chargaff's first parity rule states that comple-mentary base pairs are in equal proportion across DNA strands. Chargaff's second parity rule, in-consistently followed across species, states that the base pairs are in equal proportion within DNA strands [G ≈ C, T ≈ A and (G + A) ≈ (C + T)]. Using genomic libraries, we analyzed the extent to which DNA samples followed Chargaff's second parity rule. In organelle DNA, nucleotide rela-tionships were heteroskedastic. After classifying organelles into chloroplasts and mitochondria, and then into plant, vertebrate, and invertebrate I and II mitochondria, nucleotide relationships were expressed by linear regression lines. All regression lines based on nuclear and organelle DNA crossed at the same point. This is a simple demonstration of a common ancestor across species.


Abstract Over the past decades, many studies have focused on the dimensions of channel-belt sand bodies (referred to as "channel belts") in fluvial deposits because of their relevance for hydrocarbon exploration and production. Some field studies have revealed a significant downstream decrease of channel-belt width and width/thickness ratio along the length of the channel belt. To verify whether this is a common feature in fluviodeltaic settings, eight Holocene channel belts in the Rhine–Meuse delta (The Netherlands) were selected and one in the Lower Mississippi Valley (U.S.A.). We determined channel-belt geometry (width or width/thickness ratio) using geological–geomorphological maps and detailed cross sections based on borings. It was found that the width of channel belts encased in cohesive deposits decreases by a factor of 4 to 6.5 in a downstream direction along the length of the channel belts. The width/thickness ratio decreases by a factor of 2.5 to 5. On the other hand, the width of a channel belt incised in a noncohesive substrate remains constant along its entire course. These observations are related to longitudinal changes in bank erodibility and stream power. It is suggested that bank erodibility is the dominating factor determining the geometric properties of channel belts, and the variability therein, at least in the Rhine–Meuse delta. The currently available alluvial-architecture models most likely overestimate sand quantities and connectedness in alluvial successions, because channel-belt dimensions are held constant in all models. We therefore propose that the factors "bank erodibility" and "stream power," which influence width and width/thickness ratio of channel belts, should be incorporated in future alluvial-architecture models in order to make more realistic estimates of sand quantities in river deltas.


The paper presents the development of an apparatus to investigate the stress variables governing unsaturated soil behavior. This apparatus was devised to explore the range of negative pore-water pressures. Tests were performed by preventing deformation and water content change of an unsaturated sample and measuring changes in normal net stress and matric suction in response to a change in pore-air pressure. The condition of null deformation and null water content change was achieved by specially designing the cell and the air supply system. Vented flush diaphragm transducers and vented Imperial College tensiometers were used to measure directly normal net stress and matric suction, respectively. A preliminary test demonstrated that an interaction occurred between the soil and the flush measurement diaphragms. A specific procedure was then devised to account for the error due to this interaction. The results from the experimental tests support the assumption that the stress variables governing unsaturated soil behavior can be reduced to two stress state variables, e.g., net stress and matric suction.


Research has established that school performance relates: (i) negatively with poor mental health during childhood and (ii) positively with family socioeconomic resources. In this article, we examine the potentially moderating effects of family resources on the relationship between school performance and poor mental health, using register data covering all children born in Sweden in 1990. The dependent variable is graduation from upper secondary school. We perform separate analyses for girls and boys. Our results indicate that compensatory effects of the socioeconomic resources of the family on the risk of graduation failure among those with poor mental health is more pronounced among girls compared to boys.


Online/Offline signcryption is a cryptographic primitive where the signcryption process is divided into two phases online and offline phase. Most of the computations are carried out offline (where the message and the receiver identity are unavailable). The online phase does not require any heavy computations like pairing, multiplication on elliptic curves and is very efficient. To the best of our knowledge there exists three online/offline signcryption schemes in the literature : we propose various attacks on all the existing schemes. Then, we give the first efficient and provably secure identity based online/offline signcryption scheme. We formally prove the security of the new scheme in the random oracle model [2]. The main advantage of the new scheme is, it does not require the knowledge of message or receiver during the offline phase. This property is very useful since it is not required to pre-compute offline signcryption for different receivers based on the anticipated receivers during the offline phase. Hence, any value generated during the offline phase can be used during the online phase to signcrypt the message to a receiver during the online phase. This helps in reducing the number of values stored during the offline phase. To the best of our knowledge, the scheme in this paper is the first provably secure scheme with this property.


A growing number of wireless technologies and providers, as well as users' increasing need and desire to be connected and reachable at all times, call for solutions that enable interoperation between providers and technologies. Roaming procedures enable wireless access in areas that are covered by network providers with which the user does not have any prior arrangements. Handover procedures enable the maintenance of ongoing connections while a user moves across different wireless access networks. The goal of this thesis is to model the security challenges imposed on infrastructurebased wireless access networks by inter-provider and inter-system roaming and handover procedures, to analyze current solutions in this model, and to develop new security solutions. In the first two parts of this thesis, the theoretical parts, we present new models for handover and roaming as well as new security solutions in a technology-independent way: In part II, the main part of this thesis, we develop a formal model for security-context transfer on various types of inter-provider handover procedures. As opposed to previous work our model explicitly captures security-context transfers on subsequent handover and handover after roaming. We present a thorough threat analysis of security solutions that are based on security-context transfers during inter-provider handover and define new security requirements based on this analysis. As state-of-the-art handover procedures do not meet our requirements, we present a new history-enriched, policy-based approach to enhance security-context transfers on inter-provider and inter-system handover. The main advantage of our new approach is that it allows mobile devices and networks to express policies with respect to whether or not a handover should take place, dependent on the history of previously used security mechanisms that is included in the security-context transfer. This protects users and providers from the impact of previously used weak security mechanisms. Moreover, in our procedures, users and networks can enforce policies with respect to the security mechanisms used after the current handover. This protects the handover participants from the impact of future use of weak security mechanisms. Furthermore, in part I, we model, classify and discuss roaming authentication protocols for wireless access networks in a technology-independent way. We introduce a new public-key-based approach for authentication upon roaming. As opposed to previous work on inter-provider roaming, our approach does not require a secure channel between the home and the foreign network. Moreover, as opposed to other public-key-based solutions, in our approach a mobile device is not required to obtain and validate a chain of public-key certificates. In the third part of this thesis, we analyze the roaming and handover procedures within and between GSM and UMTS. In particular, we present a man-in-the-middle attack against the authentication and key agreement based on UMTS-authentication vectors. This attack is enabled by a vulnerability in the inter-operation of UMTS with GSM. Furthermore, we discuss whether the inter-system handover procedures between GSM and UMTS meet the security requirements newly defined in the theoretical part. We show that attacks against the GSM encryption and a man-in-the-middle attack against the GSM authentication and key agreement have an impact on the security of a connection between a user and a UMTS network if a user is handed back and forth between UMTS and GSM. Finally, in the fourth part, we apply our new security solutions to roaming and handover between IEEE 802.11 WLANs. In particular, we present a roaming authentication protocol EAP-TLS-KS that implements the new roaming solution. Furthermore we detail how the history-enriched, policy-based approach for inter-provider handover can be implemented in the WLAN context.


Given five positive integers $v, m,k,\lambda$ and $t$ where $v\geq k \geq t$ and $v \geq m \geq t,$ a $t$-$(v,k,m,\lambda)$ general covering design is a pair $(X,\mathcal{B})$ where $X$ is a set of $v$ elements (called points) and $\mathcal{B}$ a multiset of $k$-subsets of $X$ (called blocks) such that every $m$-subset of $X$ intersects (is covered by) at least $\lambda$ members of $\mathcal{B}$ in at least $t$ points. In this article we present new constructions for general covering designs and we generalize some others. By means of these constructions we will be able to obtain some new upper bounds on the minimum size of such designs.


The formation of the dorsoventral axis of the Drosophila embryo depends on cell-cell interactions that take place in the female ovary and involve the activation of transmembrane receptors by secreted ligands. The gene windbeutel functions in the somatic follicle cells of the ovary and is required for the generation of a signal that will determine the ventral side of the embryo. This signal originates in the follicle cells during oogenesis, but its actions are only manifested after fertilization, when the egg has already been laid. We have performed a molecular analysis of windbeutel. We have found that windbeutel encodes a putative resident protein of the endoplasmic reticulum, and has homologs in rats and humans. The gene is expressed for a brief period of time in the follicle cells of the ovary, at around the time when the dorsoventral axis of the egg chamber is first established. We propose that Windbeutel is responsible for the folding and/or modification of a specific factor that is secreted from the follicle cells and participates in the activation of the ventralizing signal.


Twentieth-century research demonstrated that Homer's Iliad and Odyssey began as part of an ancient Greek oral tradition, and were passed down by word of mouth through generations of oral poets before and for some time after the invention of the alphabet. As the twenty-first century dawns, the modern (re)discovery of these unwritten origins is exerting an enormous influence on how we understand and teach the poems, presenting new answers to the ages-old "Homeric Question"–Who was Homer?–and suggesting comparisons with living oral epic traditions on five continents. By paying attention to the trademark structures and idiomatic values of Homer's language, the bequest of oral tradition, we can "read" the poems more faithfully. The perspective from oral tradition solves such stubborn and longstanding challenges as the heavy repetition of phrases and scenes, as well as the non-chronological order and anti-climactic ending of the Odyssey. Oral tradition can also show how Penelope emerges as a full-fledged hero–in some ways even more central a figure than her husband Odysseus.


For countries to engage successfully in the international trading system, their industries, firms, and workers must respond continually to new conditions of competition. The continuing need to adjust arises both from policy changes approved in multilateral negotiations - e.g., implementation of trade liberalization commitments, preference erosion, or adverse terms-of-trade consequences of export subsidy elimination - and from ongoing changes in competitive pressures inherent in a liberal trading system - e.g., effects on comparative advantage of changes in technology or factor supplies. But the political response to a situation calling for adjustment is often a call for safeguards - whether as an ex ante provision in negotiated agreements or as an ex post measure once the agreement has been signed and the reality of new conditions takes shape. This paper examines the range of adjustment problems confronting the current and future international trading system, the economic arguments for intervention to deal with these problems, the adjustment environment as set out in the current WTO Agreements, and proposals for reform. While the adjustment problems we discuss apply to both rich and poor WTO member countries, we highlight the issues of adjustment especially relevant for developing countries.


This informative and absorbing chronology presents events in the annals of microbiology in light of their historical context and identifies those individuals who made these events happen. Beginning in the 4th millennium B.C. with citations of ancient medicine and diseases, the chronology follows the development of microbiology and related sciences throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and culminates with the explosion of discoveries in the late 20th century.
Based on the premise that knowledge of contemporary events helps our understanding of how and why particular scientific advances were made, A Chronology of Microbiology includes advances in other scientific disciplines such as biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, microscopy, chemistry, and physics, as well as events from social, political, and cultural history.
Intended as a valuable resource for teachers and students, A Chronology of Microbiology in Historical Context provides a wealth of information not usually found in standard textbooks.
Electronic only, 391 pages, index.


In Switzerland the river rehabilitation potential is very high. Approximately 25,600 km of streams and rivers require rehabilitation (43 % of the total stream/river length). In order to improve habitats, connectivity, biodiversity and ecological services, large financial resources are needed in the near future. For social acceptance at an early phase clear ecological and societal goals must be set and the involvement of stakeholders ensured. Along the Rivers Rhone and Thur extensive flood protection programmes with elements of river rehabilitation are being carried out. These are supported by a comprehensive transdisciplinary research project focusing on four main rehabilitation related topics: decision-making processes associated with rehabilitation programmes, local river widenings as principal rehabilitation measures, rehabilitation in river sections impacted by hydropeaking, and success evaluation after the completion of rehabilitation.


Oil and diamond money are at the same time the biggest economic opportunity for Angola as well as being the biggest economic problem. Angola suffers from an extreme case of "Dutch Disease", the common name for the constellation of distortions and problems that often plague oil-rich low income countries, and it is tempting to view its prospects for future development solely through this lens. However, the details of the Angolan case are of particular importance since the interaction of oil and diamond money with existing political and regional divisions in the country magnifies the difficulties of resolving either the economic or the political problems that have prevented progress for the past several decades. This paper discusses the ways in which mineral income not only distorts the economy, but reinforces political divides that have existed for centuries. It is argued that a durable solution to Angola's conflicts requires addressing all of these issues simultaneously since they all contribute to the current problems and line up precisely the same groups in opposition to each other. These "axes of polarization" include coastal vs. interior, rural vs. urban/industrial, Mbundu/mestiHo vs. Ovimbundu and MPLA vs. UNITA. This discussion sets the stage for consideration of proposals for a way to overcome these problems and achieve sustained long term growth.


BACKGROUND
In accordance with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations, the current pilot study tests the feasibility and efficacy of a physician-delivered physical activity counseling intervention.

METHODS
A sequential comparison group design was used to examine change in self-reported physical activity between experimental (counseling and self-help materials) and control (usual care) patients at base-line and 6 weeks after the initial office visit. Patients in both groups were contacted by telephone 2 weeks after their office visit and asked about the physical activity counseling at their most recent physician visit. Experimental patients also received a follow-up appointment to discuss physical activity with their physician 4 weeks after their initial visit.

RESULTS
Counseling was feasible for physicians to do and produced short-term increases in physical activity levels. Both groups increased their physical activity, but the increase in physical activity was greater for patients who reported receiving a greater number of counseling messages.

CONCLUSIONS
Physician-delivered physical activity interventions may be an effective way to achieve wide-spread improvements in the physical activity of middle-aged and older adults.


The breathtaking development of electronic components is one key factor in the fast evolution of mobile robots. Depending on the mission, robots might operate autonomously or in cooperation with a human operator. In either case the locomotion of the robot is a key element. In general, legged systems are more flexible compared to wheel based systems and can be deployed in impractical terrain. Quadruped locomotion has the particular advantage to feature static as well as dynamic walking. Compared to n > 4 legs quadruped motion can be very agile, which is impressively demonstrated by cheetahs being the fastest mammal runners. On the other hand, quadrupeds feature static walking, which is beneficial for large scale walking machines such as legged excavators. In this paper a static free-gait pattern for quadrupeds allowing interaction with a human operator is discussed. Since experiments with large scale walking machines are very expensive, a scaled prototype is presented. However, the scaled prototype differs from the original system in many details. To guarantee the portability of the free-gait algorithm, the scaled workspace of the feet of the walking machine is proposed as criterion.


South Africa is currently grappling with amendments to a number of laws relating to the supply of drugs. One of these amendments removes the requirement that only a pharmacist may own an interest in a retail pharmacy. While this may be opposed by retail pharmacists, the question is really: Will this measure benefit consumers by improving the access to drugs by bringing to this sector a measure of competition and hence reduced prices or will this measure reduce the quality of pharmaceutical care for consumers due to a lack of a relationship based on trust? The emergence of brands such as HealthPharm (Pick 'n Pay), Purchase Milton & AssociatesPM&A (New Clicks), and the Checkers (Shoprite Group of Companies) are becoming increasingly popular among consumers (Andy Gray, 1997). This study investigates the impact of these changes on the consumer receiving affordable quality pharmaceutical care. It aims to establish a relationship between consumers and their pharmacist that is based on trust. Quantitative analysis of consumers and pharmacists revealed that there is a relationship based on trust between these parties. Statistical analysis of these samples also reveal a consumer trend suggesting that consumers and pharmacists require a relationship based on trust to achieve the goals of pharmaceutical care. Open ownership of pharmacies will not provide the consumer with an opportunity to develop this relationship with their pharmacist and thus reduce the quality of pharmaceutical care received.


This report introduces a novel approach to performing inference and learning inDynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN). The traditional approach to inference and learning in DBNs involves conditioning on one or more finite-length observation sequences. In this report, we consider conditioning on what we will call generalized evidence, which consists of a possibly infinite set of behaviors compactly encoded in the form of a formula, φ, in temporal logic. We then introduce exact algorithms for solving inference problems (i.e., computing P (X|φ)) and learning problems (i.e., computing P (Θ|φ)) using techniques from the field of Model Checking. The advantage of our approach is that it enables scientists to pose and solve inference and learning problems that cannot be expressed using traditional approaches. The contributions of this report include: (1) the introduction of the inference and learning problems over generalized evidence, (2) exact algorithms for solving these problems for a restricted class of DBNs, and (3) a series of case studies demonstrating the scalability of our approach. We conclude by discussing directions for future research.


We consider a signal composed of several periods of a periodic function, of which we observe a noisy reparametrisation. The phase estimation problem consists of finding that reparametrisation, and, in particular, the number of observed periods. Existing methods are well-suited to the setting where the periodic function is known, or at least, simple. We consider the case when it is unknown and we propose an estimation method based on the shape of the signal. We use the persistent homology of sublevel sets of the signal to capture the temporal structure of its local extrema. We infer the number of periods in the signal by counting points in the persistence diagram and their multiplicities. Using the estimated number of periods, we construct an estimator of the reparametrisation. It is based on counting the number of sufficiently prominent local minima in the signal. This work is motivated by a vehicle positioning problem, on which we evaluated the proposed method.


In general, choking has been defined as the occurrence of sub-optimal performance under pressure (Baumeister and Showers, 1986). The most widely accepted theory of choking is what I have labeled the 'automatic execution model' (Baumeister, 1984), the basic premise being that choking occurs due to the inhibition of well-learned or automatic skills. The present dissertation was designed to test the automatic execution model in a sport context. Beyond this, I was interested in broadening the research paradigm by concentrating on choking as a process. The five inter-related studies contained in this dissertation tested predictors of choking, perceptions of pressure, coping processes, the automatic execution model, and gender differences. The general aim of this dissertation was to produce an integrated model of choking in sport. The five studies used to examine choking had a total of 89 competitive basketball players as participants (M = 20.01 years old, SD = 2.12). Sixty-four participants took part in studies, 1, 2, 3 and 5. The remaining 25 participants took part in study 4 only. All participants completed a series of basketball free throws in a low-pressure (LP) condition and a high-pressure (HP) condition. Pressure was manipulated by videotaping performance, using an audience, and offering financial incentives. In Study 1, dispositional self-consciousness (S-C) and trait anxiety (A-trait) were tested as potential predictors of choking. Participants (N = 66) completed the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS; Fenigstein, Scheler, & Buss, 1975) and the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll, & Schutz, 1990). A correlational analysis and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis supported the hypothesis that athletes high in S-C and somatic A-trait were susceptible to choking under pressure. In Study 2, the effects of manipulated pressure were examined for possible changes in perceived state anxiety (A-state) and subsequently performance. Participants (N = 64) completed the modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Jones & Swain, 1992) prior to performing in the LP condition and the HP condition. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a correlational analysis showed that participants experienced increased intensity of somatic and cognitive A-state in the HP condition, but the direction (facilitative/debilitative) of somatic A-state and cognitive A-state did not change significantly. Correlation analysis between A-state and performance under pressure was also not significant. In addition, a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed an absence of significant differences in performance between participants who had a negative A-state and participants who had a positive A-state. Study 3 was designed to examine the relationship between coping styles and choking susceptibility. Participants (N = 64) completed the Coping Style Inventory for Athletes (CSIA; Anshel & Kaissidis, 1997). As stated above participants also completed the CSAI-2 prior to performing in the LP and HP conditions. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses supported the hypothesis that approach coping strategies would result in heightened A-state and performance decrements under pressure. In Study 4, the automatic execution model was tested by investigating possible differences in the occurrence of choking as a function of task characteristics. Participants (N = 25) completed a running task (effort-dominant task) and a free throw shooting task (skill-dominant task) in a LP condition and a HP condition. As hypothesized, a series of t tests showed that the HP condition resulted in improved performance for the running task but decrements in performance for the free-throw shooting task. Study 5 was used to investigate potential gender differences in choking susceptibility. Participants (male = 46; female = 18) had already completed the SCS, SAS, CSIA, and CSAI-2. A one-way MANCOVA showed there were no gender differences in somatic and cognitive A-state changes from the LP condition to the HP condition. Furthermore, a one-way ANCOVA showed no gender differences in performance from the LP condition to the HP condition. In addition, a correlational analysis showed that S-C was more likely to affect performance for females and A-trait was more likely to affect performance for males. Based on the results of these five studies, previous choking research, and the theoretical choking framework, a proposed choking process model is presented and discussed. This proposed choking process model includes susceptibility factors, perception of pressure, coping process, task characteristics, and skill levels.


Analysis of the Footprints of Peace (FOP) project by the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros in Colombia shows how business-led peacebuilding initiatives can improve local economic and societal development. The FOP case supports several existing business-peace claims, and sheds light upon three new business-peace research gaps. It also provides avenues for how policymakers can support future development-business collaborations and local peacebuilding efforts by business under certain targeted circumstances. These findings can help guide firms considering similar initiatives, take the business-peace research agenda forward, and potentially improve the likelihood of success for such initiatives in fragile and conflict-affected regions.


In line with the concept of nationalism and the reforms and principles introduced by the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Atatürk, the immortal leader and the unrivalled hero, this Constitution, which affirms the eternal existence of the Turkish nation and motherland and the indivisible unity of the Turkish state, embodies; The determination to safeguard the everlasting existence, prosperity and material and spiritual well-being of the Republic of Turkey, and to attain the standards of contemporary civilization as an honourable member with equal rights of the family of world nations; The understanding of the absolute supremacy of the will of the nation and of the fact that sovereignty is vested fully and unconditionally in the Turkish nation and that no individual or body empowered to exercise this sovereignty in the name of the nation shall deviate from liberal democracy and the legal system instituted according to its requirements; The principle of the separation of powers, which does not imply an order of precedence among the organs of state, but refers solely to the exercising of certain state powers and discharging of duties which are limited to cooperation and division of functions, and which accepts the supremacy of the Constitution and the law; The recognition that no protection shall be accorded to an activity contrary to Turkish national interests, the principle of the indivisibility of the existence of Turkey with its state and territory, Turkish historical and moral values or the nationalism, principles, reforms and modernism of Atatürk and that, as required by the principle of secularism, there shall be no interference whatsoever by sacred religious feelings in state affairs and politics; the acknowledgment that it is the birthright of every Turkish citizen to lead an honourable life and to develop his or her material and spiritual assets under the aegis of national culture, civilization and the rule of law, through the exercise of the fundamental rights and freedoms set forth in this Constitution in conformity with the requirements of equality and social justice; The recognition that all Turkish citizens are united in national honour and pride, in national joy and grief, in their rights and duties regarding national existence, in blessings and in burdens, and in every manifestation of national life, and that they have the right to demand a peaceful life based on absolute respect for one another's rights and freedoms, mutual love and fellowship and the desire for and belief in "Peace at home, peace in the world". This Constitution, which is to be embraced with the ideas, beliefs, and resolutions it embodies below should be interpreted and implemented accordingly, thus commanding respect for, and absolute loyalty to, its letter and spirit. Is entrusted by the Turkish nation to the patriotism and nationalism of its democracy-loving sons and daughters.


Introduction: Handcycling is a relatively new wheelchair sport that has gained increased popularity for people with lower limb disabilities. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of three different grip positions on physical parameters during handcycling in a laboratory setting. Methods: Twenty one able-bodied participants performed three maximum incremental handcycling tests until exhaustion, each with a different grip angle. The angle between the grip and the crank was randomly set at 90° (horizontal), 0° (vertical) or 10° (diagonal). The initial load was 20 W and increased by 20 W each five minutes. In addition, participants performed a 20 s maximum effort. Results: The relative peak functional performance (W/kg), peak heart rate (bpm), associated lactate concentrations (mmol/l) and peak oxygen uptake per kilogram body weight (ml.min-1.kg-1) for the different grip positions during the stage test were: (a) Horizontal: 1.43 ± 0.21 W/kg, 170.14 ± 12.81 bpm, 9.54 ± 1.93 mmol/l, 30.86 ± 4.57 ml/kg; (b) Vertical: 1.38 ± 0.20 W/kg, 171.81 ± 13.87 bpm, 9.91 ± 2.29 mmol/l, 29.75 ± 5.13 ml/kg; (c) Diagonal: 1.40 ± 0.22 W/kg, 169.19 ± 13.31 bpm, 9.34 ± 2.36 mmol/l, 29.39 ± 4.70 ml/kg. Statistically significant (p <0.05) differences could only be found for lactate concentration between the vertical grip position and the other grips during submaximal handcycling. Conclusion: The orientation of three different grip angles made no difference to the peak load achieved during an incremental handcycling test and a 20 second maximum effort. At submaximal load, higher lactate concentrations were found when the vertical grip position was used, suggesting that this position may be less efficient than the alternative diagonal or horizontal grip positions.; ;


This article offers recent insights on contested heritage from Canada and Malta. These contrasting geographical extremes span a range of heritage dissonances but share a common historical identity as successor states to the British Empire, entailing familiar postcolonial heritage equivocations. Dissonances between colonial and indigenous heritage meanings are discussed. The principal focus of the paper is the Empire at war, as an issue of heritage management in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and in Malta; comparative insights are generated with resonance for other imperial successor states such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. In Ottawa the National Capital Commission is engaged in a delicate management of heritage evolution from the imperial past to the multicultural present, involving adjustment and diversification of heritage meanings in which the indigenous peoples and Canada's wartime/military history figure prominently. Malta's time-depth generates an embarrassment of heritage resources, necessitating choices as it moves from 'blue' seacoast to 'grey' heritage tourism; while earlier eras are favoured, the British imperial and military heritage is inescapable, especially the heroic shared defence of 1940-3, generating management issues over recency, postcoloniality, the naval legacy and the problem of marketing to the former enemy populations. Questions of whose heritage, using which resources of what period, for whose benefit and how managed, elicit a different range of answers in the two cases: British colonial heritage is too diverse to be value-generalised, and there is no single, immutable colonial template for postcolonial identity. However, the particular legacy of the Empire at war is notably formative in the evolution of succeeding national identities.


This paper presents an innovative method to analyse and design an optimal energy management strategy for a power-split power train hybrid vehicle. A hybrid dynamical system theory is introduced to formulate the problem of hybrid vehicle control system design that incorporates both continuous and discrete dynamics. The sequential quadratic programming method is proposed to optimise power distribution. The dynamic programming method is employed to determine the vehicle operating mode transitions with optimal fuel efficiency and satisfactory drivability. An expert rule-based system and a fuzzy system are developed to implement the optimal strategies using the statistical method based on numerical solutions. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed design method.


One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff's new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist's young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know.A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.


Background: Complex interventions, those that incorporate multiple interacting components, are difficult to define, measure and implement. The aim of this research was to develop and evaluate the complex intervention, very early mobilisation (VEM) in acute stroke care. The clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of VEM were evaluated whilst simultaneously considering the implications for future implementation.
Methods: A mixed methods approach was used: systematic review, predictive modelling, observational study design, individual patient data meta-analysis, qualitative methods and economic evaluation. Statistical models to accurately predict mobility post-stroke were developed. A multicentre observational study was conducted to establish pre-implementation activity levels of acute stroke patients. Data from two completed and comparable feasibility trials were used to estimate the clinical and economic impact of VEM. A qualitative process evaluation was conducted to identify the barriers and facilitators to implementing VEM, if shown to be effective.
Results: Two predictive models were developed with age and stroke type common factors to both. Pre-implementation activity levels were low. Patients who underwent VEM were 3-times more likely to be independent at 3 months than were standard care (SC) patients. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio associated with VEM in comparison to SC indicated VEM to be potentially cost-effective from a societal perspective. Barriers and facilitators identified for each stage of the stroke pathway and a set of HCPs' beliefs towards VEM were formulated.
Conclusions: This research has adhered to current guidance provided by the Medical Research Council to develop and evaluate VEM. The clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of VEM were estimated. The ongoing A Very Early Rehabilitation Trial phase III will provide definitive evidence for the effectiveness of VEM and the wider consequences for stroke care. This research has provided the support and the foundations for the development of a clear implementation strategy for VEM.


Objectives Several non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk factors are typical features of health occupations. We investigated risk of NHL and its major subtype among health workers. Method A pooled analysis of 10 case-control studies was conducted within the Interlymph Consortium. Overall, the study population included 10786 NHL cases and 12069 controls. Each occupation of study subjects was coded using the 1968 ISCO classification. Risk of NHL, diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular Lymphoma (FL), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and T-cell Lymphoma, associated with having been working for one year or more in specific health occupations was calculated as the Odds Ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) with unconditional logistic regression, adjusting by age, gender and study area. Risk was also calculated for duration of employment > 10 years. Results Health workers employed 10 year or more showed a significant 19% excess risk of FL, which was restricted to male workers (OR = 1.62; 95% CI 1.02, 2.59). FL risk was highest (OR = 2.23, 95% CI 1.17–4.26) among the medical staff, and it was consistent in both genders. Male personal care workers also showed an increase in NHL risk (OR = 2.52; 95% CI 1.18–5.36). Risk was not increased among nurses. No consistent patterns of increasing risk was observed for the other NHL subtypes. Conclusions Shift work, ethylene oxide, and viral agents are well known NHL risk factors among health workers. Our results suggest that risk might be more elevated among the medical staff and among men.


Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by rise in blood glucose level called "hyperglycaemia". The main long term vascular complications are coronary artery disease, stroke, renal failure etc. The measurement of glycosylated hemoglobin (GHb) is one of the well established means of monitoring glycemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus. Hemoglobin (Hb) is composed of four globin chains. Adult hemoglobin (HbA) is the most abundant form in most adults and consists of two α and two β chains. Fetal hemoglobin (HbF), which is predominantly present at birth, consists of two α and two γ chains. Glycosylation is a non- enzymatic reaction between free aldehyde group of glucose and free amino groups of proteins. The biosynthesis of glycosylated hemoglobins (HbA1a, HbA1b, and HbA1c) occurs slowly, continuously and almost irreversibly throughout the four month life span of erythrocytes and the process is non-enzymatic. Recent reports have shown that the concentration of total glycosylated hemoglobin measured by commonly used methods may change significantly over a period of hours. This reflects the short term fluctuations in glucose concentration. It is now realized that these rapid changes depend on the synthesis or dissociation of the labile fraction of HbA1c, which is not separable from the stable form of HbA1c, by most routine methods. Physicians should be aware of the expected variation in HbA1c measurements performed in associated diseases.


We have generated mouse lines in which the RXRI3 gene was disrupted by homologous recombination. Approximately 50% of the RXR~ homozygous mutants died before or at birth, but those that survived appeared normal except that the males were sterile, owing to oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia. Failure of spermatid release occurred within the germinal epithelium, and the epididymis contained very few spermatozoa that, in addition, exhibited abnormal acrosomes and tails. There was a progressive accumulation of lipids within the mutant Sertoli cells, which were histochemically characterized as unsaturated triglycerides. In old mutant males, progressive degeneration of the germinal epithelium occurred, ending with the formation of acellular lipid-filled tubules. The selective expression of RXR[~ in Sertoli cells, together with the timing of appearence of the histological abnormalities, suggests that the primary defect resulting from the mutation resides in these cells.


Actinomycin D, cycloheximide, puromycin and ouabain facilitated the detachment of Ehrlich ascites tumour cells from glass surfaces. The results suggest that the altered detachment pattern is due to impaired synthesis of constituents of the cell periphery, which results in a decrease in its mechanical strength. These reagents have been shown by others to reduce the rate of cell aggregation in various shaker-incubators, and observations of this type have generally been accepted as evidence of diminished cell adhesion. The present results support the alternative interpretation that the reagents act through their effects on cell separation, which is independent of adhesion rate.


Corroles have been previously demonstrated to be a new and promising photosensitizer (PS) in photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer cells. This research reported the preparation of an electron-deficient flat gallium(iii) tris(ethoxycarbonyl)corrole (1-Ga). Its in vitro PDT activities towards different cancer cell lines were examined, and the best PDT activity was observed in A549 cell lines. 1-Ga could penetrate the cell membrane rapidly and exhibit remarkable photo-cytotoxicity. 1-Ga can induce A549 cell apoptosis via ROS-mediated mitochondrial pathways, in which p38 and sirt-1 proteins play a key role. A PTD test in vivo showed that 1-Ga can significantly reduce the growth of A549 xenografted tumor cells without an obvious loss of mice weight upon PDT treatment.


Winning essay: the 2009 Routledge – GCP&S Essay Competition† Scholars often re-tell and analyze peacebuilding stories as independent of locale, as though place does not matter. Inspired by a Mayan priest's observation that academic peacebuilding frameworks are missing 'the earth and skies, the winds and rocks', this article examines the role of nature in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. It reviews the results of studies highlighting nature's function in human evolution and in improving mental health and well-being. It then presents three case studies of peacebuilding processes in which participants interacted with one another in natural settings. When these cases are taken at the convergence of the empirical research on nature's emotional and physiological benefits to human beings, a meaningful pattern emerges. Each case becomes understood as tied to the ecologies of the place where participants engaged with one another, thus suggesting that nature is an active yet overlooked participant in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.


With no duty, training, minimal knowledge and often no direct connection to the victim, civil heroes put themselves at risk of physical harm or even death to save others. According to a number of accepted theories, thought processes, and subsequent action is said to happen in a rational state of mind, with the outcome desirability and probabilities being cognitively processed. However, a recent focus on emotions offers an alternative to such a process and with such, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of how ones emotional intuitions can determine civil heroic action. Whilst it was found that civil heroic action is likely to be due to emotional intuitions, it withholds assumptions that all civil heroic instances are processed in this manner. However, with moral intuition occurring with high intensity, before one has the time or ability to cognitively reflect upon the situation; it is assumed that this is true in the majority of cases.


This fully revised and updated edition of Learning Disability Today provides an accessible and thought-provoking introduction to some of the key issues in the lives of people with learning disabilities and the practice of those who support them. Learning Disability Today was first published in 2007 to meet the need for a handbook which, while well-grounded in latest research and practice, was accessible for staff occupying many roles, such as support workers and managers in learning disability service settings, community learning disability teams and professionals who may find themselves supporting a person with an intellectual disability from time to time, families and voluntary supporters, as well as students of learning disability/intellectual disability. It has continued to be a highly successful title, and has been published in three previous editions over the past nine years. This new, fourth edition is a complete revision, aiming to address key knowledge requirements, challenges and concerns for people working in the field and provide opportunities for reflection and continuing professional development. The content is illustrated throughout by case studies to help the reader explore how best to address issues in practice.


The name Machiavelli conjures ideas of a cunning individual using immoral and duplicitous methods to seize political power. This imagery suggests that Machiavelli's book The Prince is only applicable to violent dictatorships and has no place in modern democratic politics. However, beyond the surface imagery is a treatise on human interaction. The Prince's examination of political leadership, policymaking, and people's reaction to change make this book a timeless piece that is relevant for leaders even in a democracy.


It is demonstrated that elastic response features in the few kilohertz frequency range and at higher frequencies can be observed using a large, acoustically transparent PVDF sheet source. The source was operated in both the impulse mode [Kaduchak et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 97, 2699–2708 (1995)] and with tone burst excitation. It was used in Lake Union (Seattle) to measure resonances and other elastic features of a stainless steel spherical shell having a radius of 29.8 cm. Both the source and sphere were supported from the APL barge. One especially noteworthy feature of the source is its ability to generate tone bursts that turn on and off abruptly. This is because of the absence of resonances of the source. The potential applications of sheet sources of this type are not limited to laboratory experiments. [Work supported in part by the Office of Naval Research and by APL.]