This paper explores the process of co-designing a mātauranga-Māori-informed mindfulness intervention with rangatahi in a wharekura and examines the effects on wellbeing. Mahitahi co-design methodology underpinned the design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention, and quantitative psychological tests measured improvements in wellbeing and dispositional mindfulness. Findings showed positive indications for a decrease in levels of psychological distress, improvements in Māori quality of life domains and higher levels of dispositional mindfulness. The effective mātauranga-Māori-informed wellbeing components of the intervention were he āhuru mōwai, mahi a ngā tīpuna, ngā kaitiaki, te taiao, whanaungatanga and hohou te rongo. Future application of the intervention in mainstream schools and communities is needed to assess the efficacy of the intervention for rangatahi in other environments, the sustainability of mindfulness practice for rangatahi and the long-term effects on wellbeing.


Communication is one of the important aspects of everyday life. With the advancement in age and its growing demands, there has been rapid growth in the communications field. Visible Light Communication OFDM system is a data communications medium using visible light. Visible light frequency spectrum bandwidth ranges from 430 THz to 790 THz. Visible light communication technology enabling data transmission by using light emitting diode (LED). This device has attracted much attention in recent communication system. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has been widely used in wireless communications technology due to its high data rate, frequency selective fading and immunity to delay spread and other advantages, but besides these benefits the main disadvantages is the high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). This peak to average power ratio is an important feature to analyze the system performances. PAPR will increase the system complexity and reduce the communication system performance. High PAPR limit the application of OFDM system. To reduce the OFDM signal peak to average power ratio (PAPR) in VLC system, the Clipping, Selected Mapping (SLM), Partial Transmit Sequence (PTS) and Discrete Fourier transform spread (DFT-S) techniques are used. For statistical analysis of PAPR the Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function (CCDF) is used. Performance analysis in terms of CCDF and BER plots will be shown. In this paper, PAPR problem in VLC is defined and this paper present different PAPR reduction techniques analysis. Keywords— Visible Light Communication; Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing; PAPR reduction techniques


These 50 papers form the fifth in the series of thematic Deia (Majorca) International conferences of Prehistory, dedicated to bringing Balearic Prehistoric investigation and research out of insular and regional contexts and into the mainstream of Continental European prehistory. The thematic nature of these volumes has ranged from early settlement in this sector of the western Mediterranean (1st Deia Conference) to questions regarding the definition and understanding of the Bell Beaker Culture in the Western Mediterranean (2nd Deia-Oxford Conference), to the question and problems of archaeological techniques, technology, and theory in prehistory (3rd Deia Conference) and the subject of ritual, rites and religion in prehistory (4th Deia Conference). This volume represents the 5th Deia Conference, with its theme of status and state of world islands in prehistory. Although primarily concerned with the prehistoric Mediterranean as a whole, the 50 papers include references to wider contexts, Fiji, Easter Island, and Denmark.


Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is one of the most debilitating complications to cirrhosis (1). It has a considerable impact on patients as well as their caregivers and the health care system. The condition is defined as a brain dysfunction caused by liver insufficiency or portal systemic shunting. The symptoms, which are potentially reversible, vary from subclinical to deep coma. Symptomatic, also known as overt HE is a marker of decompensated cirrhosis. Overt HE may be precipitated by an event such as infection or bleeding, but often, no precipitating factor is identified. Overt HE is generally graded based on the severity of the symptoms according to the four-point West Haven Scale (2). The highest (worst) grade (3 to 4) are characterised by impaired consciousness. Grade 3 HE is diagnosed in patients with somnolence/semi-stupor, who remain responsive to stimuli; are confused, show gross disorientation or bizarre behaviour. Grade 4 is defined as coma (not responsive to stimuli). According to the time course, HE is defined as episodic, recurrent or persistent. In patients with cirrhosis, the risk of developing HE is closely related to the severity of the underlying liver disease (3).


The touchstone of the evolution of mammals from primitive reptiles has been the development of an increased level of activity … The skull has been affected primarily by the great enlargement of the brain needed in an active animal …. In the evolution through reptiles to mammals, numerous changes occur in the nervous system which are related in large measure to the increased activity and flexibility of response of mammals. A major change in the brain is the evolution of a neopallium, or neocortex, in the cerebral hemispheres to which sensory impulses are projected and where many motor impulses originate …. Another important change is the great enlargement of the cerebellum. This is correlated with the increased complexity of muscular movement …
Warren F. Walker (1975:75, 214)
The feeling of an unbridgeable gulf between consciousness and brain-process … This idea of a difference in kind is accompanied by slight giddiness … When does this feeling occur in the present case? It is when I, for example, turn my attention in a particular way on to my own consciousness, and, astonished, say to myself: THIS is supposed to be produced by a process in the brain! — as it were clutching my forehead.Ludwig Wittgenstein (1963:124)


The development of a European sustainability competence framework is one of the policy actions set out in the European Green Deal as a catalyst to promote learning on environmental sustainability in the European Union. GreenComp identifies a set of sustainability competences to feed into education programmes to help learners develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote ways to think, plan and act with empathy, responsibility, and care for our planet and for public health. This work began with a literature review and drew on several consultations with experts and stakeholders working in the field of sustainability education and lifelong learning. The results presented in this report form a framework for learning for environmental sustainability that can be applied in any learning context. The report shares working definitions of sustainability and learning for environmental sustainability that forms the basis for the framework to build consensus and bridge the gap between experts and other stakeholders. GreenComp comprises four interrelated competence areas: 'embodying sustainability values', 'embracing complexity in sustainability', 'envisioning sustainable futures' and 'acting for sustainability'. Each area comprises three competences that are interlinked and equally important. GreenComp is designed to be a non-prescriptive reference for learning schemes fostering sustainability as a competence.


Abstract A small animal model to evaluate the in vivo degeneration and calcification of biological versus tissue-engineered cardiovascular prostheses in short time periods is warranted. Our study aims at developing a standardized rat model of accelerated cardiovascular calcification and lipid metabolism disorder. Male Wistar rats (n = 60; 200 – 250g) were fed ad libitum with 5 different regimens of procalcific diet (group 1: +300,000 units/kg vitamin D (VD) +2% cholesterol (CHOL) +1.5% calciumphosphate (PO4); group 2: +150,000 units/kg VD +1% CHOL +0.75% PO4; group 3: +300,000 units/kg VD +2% CHOL; group 4: +300,000 units/kg VD +1.5% PO4; group 5: +2% CHOL + 1.5% PO4; group 6: normal food). After 4, 8 and 12 weeks, animals were euthanized, organs explanted (left ventricular myocardium, aortic valve, ascending aorta, abdominal aorta, kidney and liver) and histology as well as immunohistochemistry conducted. During the study, body weight and chow intake were monitored. Heart function was examined by echocardiography, and blood serum level analyses were conducted at explantation. Unimpaired survival was 100% in all groups. Histology revealed calcification of the aortic valves after 4 weeks, while relevant calcium deposition in the aortic wall was observed only after week 8 (vonKossa staining). Aortic valves of rats with high doses of VD (groups 1, 3 and 4) were significantly more calcified than those of animals with a reduced dose of VD (group 2; p < 0.01) or no VD supplementation (group 5; p < 0.001). In all rats, early calcium deposition was located at the commissures, whereas the aortic sinus walls and especially the valve leaflets were diseased at later time points. Massive calcification was accompanied by chondroid cells and lipid-containing cells (oil red staining). However, animals on a diet with reduced VD or no VD presented a significantly higher amount of chow intake (each with p < 0.01 versus groups 1, 3, 4 and 6), paralleled by significantly larger increase in body as well as heart weight (each with p < 0.001 versus groups 1, 3, 4 and 6). All supplementation regimens resulted in early aortic valve and later aortic wall calcification. High doses of VD intake accelerated the calcium deposition, however, the somatic growth of these rats was impaired. A procalcific diet with moderate doses of VD + CHOL + PO4 seems to be most suitable for a comparative evaluation of calcifying degeneration in native and prosthetic cardiovascular tissues.


Diagnostic studies of offline, global-scale Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model simulations of terrestrial water budgets and simulations of the climate of the twenty-first century using the parallel climate model (PCM) are used to estimate the time required to detect plausible changes in precipitation ( P), evaporation (E), and discharge (Q) if the global water cycle intensifies in response to global warming. Given the annual variability in these continental hydrological cycle components, several decades to perhaps more than a century of observations are needed to detect water cycle changes on the order of magnitude predicted by many global climate model studies simulating global warming scenarios. Global increases in precipitation, evaporation, and runoff of 0.6, 0.4, and 0.2 mm yr21 require approximately 30‐45, 25‐35, and 50‐60 yr, respectively, to detect with high confidence. These conservative detection time estimates are based on statistical error criteria (a 5 0.05, b 5 0.10) that are associated with high statistical confidence, 1 2 a (accept hypothesis of intensification when true, i.e., intensification is occurring), and high statistical power, 1 2 b (reject hypothesis of intensification when false, i.e., intensification is not occurring). If one is willing to accept a higher degree of risk in making a statistical error, the detection time estimates can be reduced substantially. Owing in part to greater variability, detection time of changes in continental P, E, and Q are longer than those for the globe. Similar calculations performed for three Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX) basins reveal that minimum detection time for some of these basins may be longer than that for the corresponding continent as a whole, thereby calling into question the appropriateness of using continental-scale basins alone for rapid detection of changes in continental water cycles. A case is made for implementing networks of small-scale indicator basins, which collectively mimic the variability in continental P, E, and Q, to detect acceleration in the global water cycle.


Abstract Galax urceolata (Diapensiaceae) is a common evergreen herb of southern Appalachian forests. During the fall and winter, leaves of plants in high light produce substantial amounts of anthocyanins. Oddly, rhizomes in these plants also accumulate anthocyanins. The purpose of this observational study was to identify seasonal trends in anthocyanin production in above- and below-ground tissues of Galax. We measured anthocyanins and chlorophyll in Galax using standard extraction and spectrophotometric procedures from plants in sun-exposed and shaded locations; one population at Mount Jefferson State Natural Area in fall 2007 and two at Grandfather Mountain in fall/winter 2008–09. Rhizome carbohydrates (soluble sugars and starch) were measured from the Grandfather populations using high performance liquid chromatography. We found significantly more anthocyanins in leaves and rhizomes of plants from sun-exposed locations compared to plants from shaded locations, but no differences in carbohydrate concentrations. Starch levels declined significantly through the fall/winter of 2008–09, while soluble sugars, such as sucrose, raffinose, and fructose, increased. Rhizomal anthocyanins were distributed throughout the entire cross-section except for the vascular tissues, whereas in petioles and leaves, they were restricted to the epidermal or subepidermal layers. Rhizomal anthocyanins often concentrated around lateral roots as they penetrated the cortex. These results contradict the paradigm that light is always required for anthocyanin production, and suggest the possibility of some form of communication between leaves and rhizomes with respect to anthocyanin content, although the nature of that signal is unknown. At this time, the adaptive significance of below-ground anthocyanins in Galax remains unresolved.


The author argues that the evidence of observation in Egyptian third millennium BCE medicine and astronomy should allow ancient Egypt an important place in the history of science. The argument is primarily based on the absence of evidence of scientific observation in Mesopotamia preceding the Egyptian material, which renders the Egyptian observations of the movements of celestial bodies and trauma the earliest signs of science. While assigning "predictions" and "mathematical astronomy" a more important place, Assyriologists also date what they can document to long after the Egyptian observations and predictions, highlighting the chronological precedence of Egypt. Furthermore, the author stresses a complicated discourse involving the exchange of ideas that was ultimately stymied by the growing importance of religion and magic. Yet the development was not as linear as the usual versions suggest. DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v09i1_warburton


Coupling of physical, biological and chemical processes associated with particle resuspension and seston flux was investigated at three sites in the North Sea with contrasting water column (mixed/stratified) and seabed (cohesive/non-cohesive) characteristics. Seston concentration was determined by a combination of local resuspension and advection of a regional horizontal concentration gradient. Model simulations of observations show that fair weather, the bed erosion rate was limited by the availability of suitable bed material. The resuspended particles were derived from a surficial veneer of material (fluff) that was relatively enriched in organic carbon. Sediment from the bed itself was therefore not resuspended by tidal currents even at a shallow water, sandy site. Bioturbation of the seabed by infauna significantly modified the properties of muddy sands at a deep water site in summer, but this was insufficient to cause tidal entrainment of the bed sediment. Resuspension increased under combined wave/current flows during storms. However, model simulations predict that self-stratification of the boundary layer by resuspended fine sediment during storms reduces bed stress and limits further resuspension, so that storm resuspension of fine sediments may be self-limiting. Seston was a mixture of: (1) particles relatively rich in organic carbon, with low settling velocities, in long-term suspension; (2) particles with less organic carbon (though still greater than that of the bed material), faster settling velocities, periodically resuspended; (3) particles that were very rich in organic carbon, with fast settling velocities, produced during plankton blooms. Particles in category 3 scavenged those in category 1 as they settled, so that seston concentrations diminished and deposition rates increased after blooms. In stratified waters during blooms, deposition of organic-rich detritus gave rise to seabed anoxia and efflux of trace metals (Fe and Mn) from pore waters. Differential rates of metal exchange altered the particulate Fe/Mn ratio below the thermocline. Settling, deposition, and resuspension of fluff were therefore important controls of metal exchanges in the boundary layer.


Understanding brand switching is important to marketers because a brand switch has the potential to impact on an organisation's share of a customer's wallet. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine what the impacts, of the antecedents to a brand switch, will be on the construction of a purchase repertoire and consideration set in a subscription market. This study, into the new area of post-switch consideration set construction, and the position of the previous main brand, shows that the construction of a consumer's consideration set is dependent on the reasons for the brand switch. Whils t consumers switch brands for a multitude of reasons, the literature shows these reasons can effectively be grouped together into three categories: stochastic reasons, expectation disconfirmation, and utility maximisation. This research confirms that where a switch occurred for stochastic reasons, the previous main brand would remain in the consumer's consideration set with the same purchase probabilities for a brand of its size. On the other hand, where the brand switch occurred for reasons of expectation disconfirmation, the previous main brand was eithe r removed entire ly from the consumer's consideration set, or if it remained in the set, had a lower ranking than prior to the switch. While a brand switch that occurred for reasons of utility maximisation resulted in a majority of the previous main brands being removed from the consumer's consideration set, those that remained were ranked one place lower than the current main brand. Overall these results supported the research 's general direction that the antecedents to a brand switch will affect the previous main brand 's position in a consumer's post-switch purchase repertoire and consideration set. The research concludes, while the previous main brand may be gone, it is certainly not forgotten! These findings, while being exploratory and inductive, have important implications for marketers in both their recovery marketing campaigns and the need to implement programmes to retain recent acquisitions. Coupled with the findings from Sharp et al. (2002) this study shows that subscription markets, in terms of switching, behave in a similar manner to repertoire markets, allowing for stochastic models to be used to benchmark marketing activities.


This paper presents a novel approach to learning control in switched reluctance motors (SRM) for torque ripple reduction using a cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) neural network. The approach modifies the conventional LMS adaptive algorithm using a variable learning rate function over the rotor angle of the motor under control. The criteria and method for the development of current profiles suitable for use over a wide range of motor speeds are described. In particular, current profiles can be designed to possess desirable characteristics by selection of learning rate function with appropriate switching angles during the training of the network. The approach allows the generation of optimal current profiles in terms of minimizing torque ripple and copper loss as the motor operates at low speeds, and of minimizing torque ripple, copper loss and rate of change of current as the motor runs at high speeds. Experimental measurement of the torque production characteristics of a 4 kW, four-phase switched reluctance motor forms the basis of simulation studies of this approach. Substantial simulation results are reported and the performance of learned current profiles analyzed. These demonstrate that developing CMAC-based adaptive controllers following this approach affords lower torque ripple with high power efficiency, while offering rapid learning convergence in system adaptation.


Postburn neck contractures are frequent sequelae after deep thermal burns. They are a significant cause of morbidity and pose a serious challenge for anesthesia. In developing countries, lack of adequate burn care infrastructure, training, and workforce leads to the occurrence of multiple postburn deformities. Wound healing can never occur without wound bed contraction. Therefore, the best treatment for any problem related to burn wound contraction is to prevent or at least reduce its severity. The same is the case with postburn contractures and deformities. The use of simple measures can prevent or at least limit the severity of deformities even when used by trained paramedics and nursing staff.


Genetic algorithms (GAs) are intended to look for the optimum solution by eliminating the gene strings with the worst fitness. Hence, this paper proposes an optimized edge detection technique based on a genetic algorithm. A training dataset that consists of simple images and their corresponding optimal edge features is employed to obtain the optimum filter coefficients along with the optimum thresholding algorithm. Qualitative and quantitative performance analyses are investigated based on several well-known metrics. The performance of the proposed genetic algorithm-based cost minimization technique is compared to the classical edge detection techniques, fractional-order edge detection filters, and threshold-optimized fractional-order filters. As an application for the proposed algorithm, a strategy to detect the edges of the brain tumour from a patient's MR scan image of the brain is proposed. First, Balance Contrast Enhancement Technique (BCET) is applied to improve the image features to provide better characteristics of medical images. Then the proposed GA edge detection method is employed, with the appropriate training dataset, to detect the fine edges. A comparative analysis is performed on the number of MR scan images as well. The study indicates that the proposed GA edge detection method performs well compared to both classical and fractional-order edge detection methods.


Based on the appearance of their faces, we attribute to people personality traits, moods, capacities, or competences. This unconscious process plays a central role in our everyday decisions and how we choose partners or our favorite candidate. This work is the first approach to the analysis of the influence of appearance-driven judgments of faces in the project management field. The main objective of this study was to obtain an approximate image of the general mental prototype of the face of a project manager using noise-based reverse correlation. The obtained image shows the features of the faces that drive the perception of a good project manager. The face shows very high average scores for all the competences recognized in the IPMA Individual Competence Baseline when assessed by a sample of project management practitioners. From these results, it can be stated that people have clearly defined prototypes of facial features that convey the perception of being a competent project manager, and this finding may have implications in the project management field.


Objectives: To know how nurses working in primary care, more specifically in the Family Health Strategy (FHS), perceive their preparation for assisting the person with mental disorders and his family, and to identify the activities developed by them. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted with 17 nurses of the ESF belonging to 21 Basic Health Units in the municipality of Maringa-PR (Brazil). Data were analyzed using content analysis methodology. Results: For analysis, two categories were established: "Preparation of nurses for the development of care" and "Activities performed by nurses with families. Conclusion: The nurses, for the most part, did not feel prepared / qualified to attend to the specific needs of patients in the area of mental health, and their activities were restricted to those already recommended by the service, not being prepared for health promotion activities that included the family of patients with mental disorders in the care.


An important challenge in statistical modeling involves determining an appropriate structural form for a model to be used in making inferences and predictions. Missing data is a very common occurrence in most research settings and can easily complicate the model selection problem. Many useful procedures have been developed to estimate parameters and standard errors in the presence of missing data; however, few methods exist for determining the actual structural form of a model when the data is incomplete. In this dissertation, we propose model selection criteria based on the KullbackLeibler discrepancy that can be used in the presence of missing data. The criteria are developed by accounting for missing data using principles related to the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm and bootstrap methods. We formulate the criteria for three specific modeling frameworks: for the normal multivariate linear regression model, a generalized linear model, and a normal longitudinal regression model. In each framework, a simulation study is presented to investigate the performance of the criteria relative to their traditional counterparts. We consider a setting where the missingness is confined to the outcome, and also a setting where the missingness may occur in the outcome and/or the covariates. The results from the simulation studies indicate that our criteria provide better protection against underfitting than their traditional analogues. We outline the implementation of our methodology for a general discrepancy measure. An application is presented where the proposed criteria are utilized in a study that evaluates the driving performance of individuals with Parkinson's disease under low contrast (fog) conditions in a driving simulator.


Field experiments combining dictator games with stated preference questions are used to elicit within subject and between subject sharing behavior with known family members and anonymous villager. A simple theoretical model incorporating social preferences, social distance and inter-dependent preferences is developed. The results show that generosity in form of probability of giving and amounts given are much lower towards anonymous villagers than to known family members. The probability of giving to the spouse is positively correlated with probability of giving to anonymous villager. Husbands and wives receiving positive amounts from their spouses (without knowing), were also more likely to give positive amounts to their spouses than those that received nothing from their spouses. Receiving positive amounts from spouse was uncorrelated with giving behavior towards anonymous villager. How sharing behavior is correlated with marriage type (parental arrangement, parental and bride agreement, love marriage, and kidnapping marriage), and other socioeconomic characteristics was assessed separately for husbands and wives to explore the sensitivity of responses to such socio-economic characteristics.


Background Postural control assessments are frequently used in clinical and research settings to evaluate movement deficits following acute lateral ankle sprain (LAS). The Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) is one such postural control assessment tool. To date, no research has investigated the immediate post-injury movement strategies associated with LAS, as quantified by center of pressure (COP) and kinematic analyses during performance of selected reach directions of the SEBT. Objective To compare the kinematic and COP patterns of a group with acute LAS and a non-injured control group during performance of selected reach directions of the SEBT. Design Cross-sectional. Setting University biomechanics laboratory. Participants 81 participants with acute LAS and 19 non-injured controls. Main outcome measures 3D kinematics of the hip, knee and ankle joints as well as associated fractal dimension (FD) of the COP path during the performance of the anterior (ANT), posterior-lateral (PL) and posterior-medial (PM) reach directions of the SEBT. Results The LAS group had bilateral decreased reach distances normalised to leg length in the ANT, PL and PM reach directions of the SEBT compared to non-injured control participants (P<.05). The LAS group were also characterized by altered temporal sagittal plane kinematic profiles at the hip, knee and ankle joints of their injured and non-injured limbs for each of the reach directions of the SEBT, compared to the control group (P<.05). This altered kinematic profile was associated with a reduced FD of the COP path for each reach direction on the involved limb only (P<.05). Conclusion Acute LAS is associated with bilateral deficits in postural control, evidenced by reduced angular displacements of the hip, knee and ankle joints, as well as reduced reach distances and FD of the COP path during the performance of a dynamic postural control assessment task.


This dissertation examines portraits of Japanese emperors from the pre-modern Edo period (1603-1868) through the modern Meiji period (1868-1912) by questioning how the socio-political context influenced the production of imperial portraits. Prior to Western influence, pre-modern Japanese society viewed imperial portraits as religious objects for private, commemorative use; only imperial family members and close supporters viewed these portraits. The Confucian notion of filial piety and the Buddhist tradition of tsuizen influenced the production of these commemorative or mortuary portraits. By the Meiji period, however, Western portrait practice had affected how Japan perceived its imperial portraiture. Because the Meiji government socially and politically constructed the ideal role of Emperor Meiji and used the portrait as a means of propaganda to elevate the emperor to the status of a divinity, it instituted controlled public viewing of the images of Japanese emperors. Such differences between the private and public functions of imperial portraits suggest that imperial portraits from the pre-modern and post-Meiji periods developed for different purposes, moving from a religious, commemorative purpose to a more secular, political one. By examining the psychological responses to the representations of Japanese emperors through primary documents, including official documents, diaries, and letters, I show that images exerted an emotive force on viewers. I also address the following questions: 1) What makes the portrait more than an image? 2) What gives that image meaning? 3) And how can a portrait become the focus of devotion? Imperial portraits, whether used for religious or political reasons, maintain a spiritual connection to reality and illustrate the power of representation. I conclude that this research on portraits of Japanese emperors will help scholars understand how the power of representations did affect changes in behavioral patterns from the Edo to the Meiji periods.


A hybrid algorithm is devised to boost the performance of complete search on under-constrained problems. We suggest to use random variable selection in combination with restarts, augmented by a coarse-grained local search algorithm that learns favorable value heuristics over the course of several restarts. Numerical results show that this method can speed-up complete search by orders of magnitude.


Using Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data, this paper examines how changes in individual workers' past and present pension coverage, retirement incentives in Social Security, and retiree health insurance have contributed to retirement decisions for the 1931-1953 birth cohorts. It then uses these findings to project retirement behavior for the 1955-1987 cohorts in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). A key assumption is that younger cohorts will have no defined benefit (DB) pensions or retiree health coverage in their future jobs. A key limitation is the assumption of a stable relationship in each successive cohort between each factor and labor market decisions. The paper found that: - The decrease in DB pension coverage from previous jobs and the decline in retiree health coverage between the HRS and SIPP cohorts each push the retirement age up by approximately one year, all else equal. - The one-year increase in Social Security's Full Retirement Age is associated with a 0.3-year increase in the retirement age, all else equal. - After accounting for other differences between the HRS and SIPP cohorts, the average retirement age is projected to rise by one year over the next three decades, from age 61.8 to 62.8. The policy implications of the findings are: - We anticipate that changes in pensions, retiree health benefits, and Social Security that are already in motion will continue to increase, albeit slightly, the average retirement age. - Nonetheless, policies aimed at extending retirement ages may still be necessary, given that a one-year retirement age increase is likely to be insufficient to permit future cohorts to achieve a sufficient standard of living.


This study examines the maintenance records for components necessary for the comfort and safety of the operators of heavy mobile equipment. The results show that air conditioners, ladders, driver's seats and mirrors and other required operator-related components can have a significant impact on an asset's reliability. Analysis was conducted on 10 years of work orders for five identical 1400HP shovels and three identical 1470HP shovels. The results suggest that removing operator-related components contribute to a 15% decrease in the number of work orders and an 8% increase in reliability. In an autonomous asset these components would not be required. The key to this analysis is a rule-based expert system used to clean more than ten thousand work orders and allocate events to specific sub-systems with associated failure modes. While the mining industry has moved to autonomous haul trucks and drills, there are as yet no autonomous shovels. For manufacturers looking at the business case for these units, the availability of data on the reliability increase from removing the operator-related components will be valuable information.


A burgeoning literature explores the extent to which consumption or income inadequately reflect people's subjective wellbeing, just as GDP at times can provide an incomplete and misleading picture of national wellbeing. Scholars are increasingly using data on subjective wellbeing to complement traditional welfare indicators and to enrich our understanding of wellbeing and quality of life. The paper builds on the present research but it analyzes a much broader, more interdisciplinary, and more policy-relevant range of potential determinants simultaneously than currently existing in the literature on subjective wellbeing. It first analyzes the relative importance of a wide range of characteristics and conditions at the individual, household, regional and macro levels on levels of subjective wellbeing in Colombia in 2010/11; and second, assesses the marginal effects of a number of factors on perceived changes in levels of subjective wellbeing over time for the same respondents from 2008/09 to 2010/11. Findings show that increasing the quality of life of Colombians is largely conditional on minimizing risks and vulnerabilities: reducing the rate and duration of unemployment; improving the delivery of public health services; increasing the share of people with health and pension plans; enhancing safety and security in communities; and reducing levels of discrimination. It finds that job loss has particularly strong effects on levels of satisfaction that are larger than those for increased income, while also controlling for a decrease in income that is often related to being unemployed, suggesting that the human welfare (non-pecuniary) costs of unemployment are driving the strong effects. Moreover, any job, even a low-quality job, is overall better for one's subjective wellbeing than being unemployed. Finally, policy aimed at improving people's subjective wellbeing will likely have the greatest impact if focused on mitigating vulnerabilities and negative shocks that people face.


All of those strategies will be needed, as the shortage could become acute. Banks over the next five to 10 years will encounter a retirement wave of trust officers as baby boomers, many of whom have been working in the field since the 1980s, leave their careers for other pursuits. "It's a legitimate concern industry-wide," says R. Jeffrey Peyton, SVP and group fiduciary executive at $184 billion-asset SunTrust Banks in Atlanta. As much as 25 percent to 45 percent of the trust workforce will retire, Peyton estimates, including those in his own unit of 25 trust officers for high-net-worth clients in Georgia, north Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas. The exact percentage will depend on when these officers decide to retire. The task of filling empty positions has become all the more challenging by the growth of the trust industry itself. Not only will the retiring baby boomers need trust work done for their collective amount of vast wealth, but banks will also continue to need extra staff to help fill the demand. Banks are eager to ramp up trust services. Ever since the financial crisis, years of declining interest margins have led financial institutions to increasingly rely on noninterest income as way to boost earnings, with fiduciary activities a vital part of the strategy. Commercial banks made $30.9 billion in 2014 from fiduciary activities, up 21 percent from 2010, according to the FDIC. Yet interest income fell by 11 percent over the same time period to $429 billion. What also makes the search for trust officers difficult is how the career path competes with other financial positions. Younger professionals often choose wealth management, investment banking, or other career tracks. "It's not an area that new recruits focus on when joining the banking industry," notes Tariq Mirza, principal of the bank advisory and regulatory services practice at Grant Thornton. In this competition for talent, trust officer positions might be a tougher sell at times versus other financial career tracks. For example, the median pay for trust officers in the United States is about $54,000, with a low of $46,000 and high of $113,000, according to PayScale. That compares with a lower median of $55,000 for a financial advisor, but that position comes with a much greater income potential, with a high of $192,000 in total pay, according to another survey. Kaleidoscopic combination of skills The skills a trust officer needs depend on the bank. These days, trust officers often need to be jacks of all trades, especially at smaller financial institutions. They must have experience in financial planning, tax law, fiduciary law and investment management. They also need strong people skills to work with clients and sales experience if they're expected to grow a customer base, says Jessica Beavers, president of Bankers Trust Company of South Dakota, a subsidiary of $3.3 billion-asset Bankers Trust Co., based in Des Moines, Iowa. "It's the hodgepodge of knowledge that we're asking trust officers to have," Beavers says. "The trust officer just can't be defined by one discipline. It's this overall knowledge base of the industry you have to have." Yet while trust workers tend to be generalists at smaller institutions, at larger banks the work is more specialized. Due to bank consolidation over the past 30 years, much of trust work--especially at larger institutions--has become more centralized. Digital innovations over the past 10 years have also made centralization much easier. All of the consolidation means that much of the administration of trusts is now handled from one location, meaning the trust officer now is either expected to spend more time in planning and client meetings, or work more behind the scenes on the administration part. "Some folks thrive working with clients, others say 'I really like the internal administration,"' says John Elliott, SVP and trust director for Wells Fargo Private Bank. …


We consider representations of rational Cherednik algebras which are particular ideals in the ring of polynomials. We investigate convergence of the integrals which express the Gaussian inner product on these representations. We derive that the integrals converge for the minimal submodules in types B and D for the singular values suggested by Cherednik with at most one exception, hence the corresponding modules are unitary. The analogous result on unitarity of the minimal submodules in type A was obtained by Etingof and Stoica, we give a different proof of convergence of the Gaussian product in this case. We also obtain partial results on unitarity of the minimal submodule in the case of exceptional Coxeter groups and group B with unequal parameters.


Radiofrequency ablation is a possible palliative treatment for
patients suffering from pancreatic neoplasia. However,
radiofrequency-induced damage to the peripancreatic tissues
during pancreatic ablation might cause fatal complications. The
aim of this experimental ex vivo study on pigs was to verify
ablation protocols and evaluate whether or not the cooling of
peripancereatic tissues during pancreatic ablation has any
benefit for their protection against thermal injury.
Radiofrequency ablation was performed on 52 pancreatic
specimens obtained from pigs. During each pancreatic ablation,
continuous measurements of the temperature in the portal vein
and duodenal lumen were performed. Peripancreatic tissues were
either not cooled or were cooled by being submerged in 14
degrees C water, or by a perfusion of the portal vein and
duodenum with 14 degrees C saline. The effects of variation in
target temperature of the ablated area (90 degrees C and 100
degrees C), duration of ablation (5 and 10 min) and the effect
of peripancreatic tissues cooling were studied. We proved that
optimal radiofrequency ablation of the porcine pancreas can be
reached with the temperature of 90 degrees C for 5 min in the
ablated area. The perfusion of the duodenal and portal vein by
14 degrees C saline was found to be the most effective cooling
method for minimizing damage to the walls. Continuous
measurement of temperatures in peripancreatic tissues will
provide useful feedback to assist in their protection against
thermal injury. This therapy could be used in the treatment of
pancreatic tumours.


In this paper we present some findings from an evaluation of dependency-based features for argument identification and classification in a pipelined semantic role labeling system. In total over 100 feature types were evaluated. Results indicate that most features can be discarded with sustained or even improved performance. We further find that arguments of nominal and verbal predicates seem to rely on different feature types - while arguments of verbal predicates rely more on structural features, arguments of nominal predicates rely more on lexical features.


Abstract The emergence of the wired Internet and mobile telecommunication networks is creating new opportunities for advertisers to generate new revenue streams through mobile users. As consumer adoption of mobile technology continues to increase, it is only a question of time when mobile advertising becomes an important part of marketing strategies. The development of mobile advertising, however, will be dependent on acceptance and usability issues in order to ensure permission-based advertising. Growing concerns about the protection of the users' privacy have been raised since mobile advertising may become extremely intrusive practices in an intimate personal space. This article focuses on the evaluation of legal problems raised by this novel form of advertising. It is assumed that a technological design, which is in line with the legal framework, will ensure that the benefits of mobile advertising and the consumer willingness to accept mobile advertising will increase.


Consideration of the World Wide Web as a tool for architectural education, especially through the production, presentation, and cataloging of critical case studies of buildings. Focuses on development of a collaborative paradigm for distributed development of such information through a case study template and central catalog web site. Includes an sample case study.


For many initialization schemes, parameters of two randomly initialized deep neural networks (DNNs) can be quite different, but feature distributions of the hidden nodes are similar at each layer. With the help of a new technique called neural network grafting, we demonstrate that even during the entire training process, feature distributions of differently initialized networks remain similar at each layer. In this paper, we present an explanation of this phenomenon. Specifically, we consider the loss landscape of an overparameterized convolutional neural network (CNN) in the continuous limit, where the numbers of channels/hidden nodes in the hidden layers go to infinity. Although the landscape of the overparameterized CNN is still non-convex with respect to the trainable parameters, we show that very surprisingly, it can be reformulated as a convex function with respect to the feature distributions in the hidden layers. Therefore by reparameterizing neural networks in terms of feature distributions, we obtain a much simpler characterization of the landscape of overparameterized CNNs. We further argue that training with respect to network parameters leads to a fixed trajectory in the feature distributions.


Venture capital as a source of financing high technology, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is well established in the developed economies. Now, this
activity is becoming a focus of attention in emerging markets. India has registered a significant growth in terms of the amount and number of venture capital funds. But there is no academic research to date, devoted to understanding how this new investor class behave through the investment cycle. This research is the first-ever investigation of how venture capitalists in India conduct the Valuation, Structuring and Monitoring of their investments. After
introduction, the thesis presents an overview of the Indian economy, followed by
its financial landscape. The third chapter covers a survey of the economic
contribution that SMEs make and the funding problems they face, together with a
review of the Indian venture capital sector.
An extensive literature review on venture capital research follows. After finding
the research gaps, a theoretical framework, based on the adverse selection,
moral hazard, corporate governance, and the asymmetric information that
characterises the risk capital market is used. Eight hypotheses are developed to
test how venture capitalists address the adverse selection through (a) a variety of
information sources used in preparing the valuation memorandum, and (b)
applying various quantitative and qualitative methods to determine the realistic
value. How do they address moral hazard by (a) using covenants in their deal
structures, and (b) what financial products are used to minimise the risk? Finally,
how frequently and extensively do they monitor their investee companies to
overcome the information asymmetry and corporate governance problems?
Data from 40 of the most active 42 venture capitalists operating in India were
gathered. Then, the data were analysed using Chi Square, Cluster Analysis,
ANOVA and Logistical Regression.
The results present a descriptive profile of the Indian venture capital sector,
including the characteristics of the fund management teams, the sectors and
stages of investments and the tests of the hypotheses. This is followed by
methodical statistical analysis by splitting the sample based on seven
demographic characteristics. The final chapter includes the conclusion,
recommendations and the implications of this research for the venture capitalists,
entrepreneurs and regulators. Finally, future research areas are suggested that
may further improve the understanding of the venture capital market in India.


The continued advances in service-oriented computing and global communications have created a strong technology push for online information sharing and business transactions among enterprises, organizations and individuals. While these communities offer enormous opportunities, they also present potential threats due to a lack of trust. Reputation systems provide a way for building trust through social control by harnessing the community knowledge in the form of feedback. Although feedback-based reputation systems help community participants decide who to trust and encourage trustworthy behavior, they also introduce vulnerabilities due to potential manipulations by dishonest or malicious players. Therefore, building an effective and resilient reputation system remains a big challenge for the wide deployment of service-oriented computing. This dissertation proposes a decentralized reputation based trust supporting framework called PeerTrust, focusing on models and techniques for resilient reputation management against feedback aggregation related vulnerabilities, especially feedback sparsity with potential feedback manipulation, feedback oscillation, and loss of feedback privacy. This dissertation research has made three unique contributions for building a resilient decentralized reputation system. First, we develop a core reputation model with important trust parameters and a coherent trust metric for quantifying and comparing the trustworthiness of participants. We develop decentralized strategies for implementing the trust model in an efficient and secure manner. Second, we develop techniques countering potential vulnerabilities associated with feedback aggregation, including a similarity inference scheme to counter feedback sparsity with potential feedback manipulations, and a novel metric based on Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID) model to handle strategic oscillating behavior of participants. Third but not the least, we develop privacy-conscious trust management models and techniques to address the loss of feedback privacy. We develop a set of novel probabilistic decentralized privacy-preserving computation protocols for important primitive operations. We show how feedback aggregation can be divided into individual steps that utilize above primitive protocols through an example reputation algorithm based on kNN classification. We perform experimental evaluations for each of the schemes we proposed and show the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost of our approach. The PeerTrust framework presents an important step forward with respect to developing attack-resilient reputation trust systems.


Part of Special Issue " Nonlinear analysis of multivariate geoscientific data – advanced methods, theory and application " Abstract. Many scientists have made use of the wavelet method in analyzing time series, often using popular free software. However, at present there are no similar easy to use wavelet packages for analyzing two time series together. We discuss the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence for examining relationships in time frequency space between two time series. We demonstrate how phase angle statistics can be used to gain confidence in causal relationships and test mechanistic models of physical relationships between the time series. As an example of typical data where such analyses have proven useful, we apply the methods to the Arctic Oscillation index and the Baltic maximum sea ice extent record. Monte Carlo methods are used to assess the statistical significance against red noise backgrounds. A software package has been developed that allows users to perform the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence


SARS is a term used to describe a serious respiratory illness. Its main symptoms are high fever (>38° C), dry cough, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing. Changes in chest X-rays indicative of pneumonia also occur. SARS appears to be less infectious than influenza. The incubation period is believed to be short, around three to six days (maximum 10 days). The global death rate for probable SARS cases is 4%. The cause of SARS has now been documented by WHO to be USARS coronavirus" (SARS CoV) a new member of the coronavirus family. Most patients identified up to date have been previously healthy adults aged 25—70 years. Based on currently available evidence, close contact with an infected person poses the highest risk of the infective agent spreading from one person to another. SARS is a new disease which has its origins in Guangdong Province, China. The earliest known cases were identified in mid-November 2002.Since then, probable cases of SARS have been reported in at least 28 countries.


The goal of a network-based intrusion detection system (IDS) is to identify malicious behavior that targets a network and its resources. Intrusion detection parameters are numerous and in many cases they present uncertain and imprecise causal relationships which can affect attack types. A Bayesian Network (BN) is known as graphical modeling tool used to model decision problems containing uncertainty. In this paper, a BN is used to build automatic intrusion detection system based on signature recognition. The goal is to recognize signatures of known attacks, match the observed behavior with those known signatures, and signal intrusion when there is a match. A major difficulty of this system is that intrusions signatures change over the time and the system must be retrained. An IDS must be able to adapt to these changes. The goal of this paper is to provide a framework for an adaptive intrusion detection system that uses Bayesian network.


Trade between the European Union and North Africa has been a contentious issue since the Treaty of Rome. Serious diplomatic attempts to broker a resolution resulted in the Association Agreement between Morocco and the EU in 1995, after protracted negotiations over three years. Here Dawson analyses the process by which a sub-optimal agreement was ratified - unfavourable to Morocco, some member states of the EU and also wider EU economic objectives for North Africa. He draws on a rich vein of testimony from key players to show how democracy deficits in Morocco and excessive pressure group influence in the EU led to skewed negotiations. An insightful analysis of the trade negotiation process, EU Integration with North Africa elucidates the underpinnings of the global economic order; it will be valuable for those concerned with international relations, globalisation and the EU, especially North Africa.


It is observed that quality of mass produced and highly processed food forces consumers to change their consumption habits and become more interested in locally available food products. Consumers are becoming aware of negative consequences of global food systems. As an alternative, Local Food Systems are gaining on popularity because short food supply chains offer fresh, healthy and not modified products. The popularity of Local Food Systems is reflected in the need for analysing impact and significance of those systems. Thus, this paper presents main benefits of acting locally. Local Food Systems has been reviewed in case of positive economic, environmental and social influence on the region. What is more, the paper presents consumers' attitude to Local Food Systems. As a conclusion authors justify significance of development and investment in Local Food Systems as an alternative to agriculture networks.


This review article highlights the most recent advances with respect to the preparation of Janus objects by bulk phase processes. Historically most of the concepts developed for generating asymmetric particles have been based on the use of interfaces or surfaces, which are necessary to break the symmetry. This restricts in many cases the amount of produced particles, due to the two-dimensional nature of the approaches. Therefore the bulk synthesis of such asymmetric micro- and nanoobjects is of primary importance for their production at an industrial scale and helps to open up the field to commercial applications. We summarize here the different alternative concepts, spanning a wide range from sophisticated polymer chemistry to the use of external electromagnetic fields, that have been proposed in recent years in order to break the symmetry in true bulk processes.


We investigate oscillatory blood flow in an elastic artery and in the presence of stenosis, whose form is given analytically. The stenosis is a condition where an artery wall thickens as a result of fatty materials such as cholesterol. We consider the case of very low pulse frequency that can be the case for patients whose hearts beat too slowly, but with arbitrary value of the ratio γ of the artery radius to the axial extent of the stenosis. The arbitrary value of such ratio makes the present problem more applicable to more general applications for arterial blood flow systems. The blood flow is assumed to be a suspension of red cells in plasma, and we make use of the variable fluid viscosity modeling by counting the red cells in the plasma. The coupled differential equations for the blood flow velocity and blood pressure are simplified first subjected to reasonable modeling and approximations and then solved mostly theoretically. In this paper, blood speed, blood pressure force and the wall shear stress are computed for different values of γ, axial variable, time variable and the hematocrit due to percentage level of the red cells in the plasma. We find, in particular, that the magnitudes of the oscillations of the blood pressure force and the wall shear stress increases with the hematocrit effect, while such magnitude for the blood speed decreases with increasing the hematocrit effect. Key-Words: arterial flow, blood flow, stenosis, oscillatory flow, low frequency, blood cells, blood plasma


PURPOSE
Fluorouracil plus leucovorin (FU + LV) adjuvant chemotherapy reduced the risk of recurrence and death across all time points in a pooled analysis of 20,898 patients with colon cancer from 18 randomized studies. The impact of oxaliplatin added to FU + LV on the time course of recurrence and survival remains unknown.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A total of 12,233 patients enrolled to the randomized trials C-07, C-08, N0147, MOSAIC (Adjuvant Treatment of Colon Cancer), and XELOXA (Adjuvant XELOX) were pooled to examine the impact of oxaliplatin and tumor-specific factors on the time course of recurrence and death. For each end point, continuous-time risk was modeled over 6 years post treatment in all oxaliplatin-treated patients and patients concurrently randomized to FU + LV with or without oxaliplatin; the latter analyses supported time-dependent treatment comparisons.

RESULTS
Addition of oxaliplatin significantly reduced the risk of recurrence within the first 14 months post treatment for patients with stage II disease and within the first 4 years for patients with stage III disease. Oxaliplatin also significantly reduced risk of death from 2 to 6 years post treatment for patients with stage III disease, with no differences in timing of outcomes between treatment groups (ie, oxaliplatin did not simply postpone recurrence or death compared with FU + LV alone). Patients with stage II disease receiving oxaliplatin did not exhibit a significant reduction in risk of death in the first 6 years post treatment. Recurrence risk peaked near 14 months for both treatments, and risk of recurrence and death increased with increased tumor and nodal burden.

CONCLUSIONS
These analyses support the addition of oxaliplatin to fluoropyrimidine-based adjuvant therapy in patients with stage III disease and underscore the need for adequate surveillance of patients with colon cancer during the first 3 years after adjuvant therapy.


Following an introductory chapter on the geographical framework and historical outline of the region, problems and the details of sampling and geographical analysis are contained in Chapters 2 and 3 respectively.Chapter 4 comprises a detailed review of dermal nomenclatures to supplement recommendations for methodological consistency given in Dyn 1977 4, 1-60. Necessary rulings have been amended, especially for the mainlines, to improve interrater accuracy in the scoring of attributes. Chapter 5 concerns details of data management specific to the survey. Chapter 6 deals with the genetics of digital and palmar dermatoglyphics. In Chapters 7 and 8 interrelationships between 152 dermal variables are investigated using bivariate and multivariate procedures. Other matters considered are measurement levels, frequency distributions and transformations, bilateral asymmetry and sex differences. Observations are made on the behaviour of different correlation coefficients. In Chapter 8, factoring of the unilateral digital and unilateral maximal digital ridge counts has been effected and preliminary results reported for the palmar variables. Multiple regression analysis has been carried out on the palmar ridge couits and on the palmar mainlines, in the latter case, in an attempt to demonstrate the possible redundancy of those attributes. Results of the spatial study are contained in Chapters 9 and 10. In Chapter 9, the multiplicity of ways for presenting univariate results has been disclosed, the importance of mapping procedures emphasized and a choropleth design described to locate class intervals for a limited number of regions. In Chapter 10 different distance coefficients, variable subsets and display procedures have been used to disclose population relationships and order in rectangular migration matrices. Multiple regression analyses have been effected between the interregional biological distances and various predictors, and a method described to reveal the effects of sampling error. Concluding matters are dealt with in Chapter 11.


Objectives Depending on the specific national emergency medical systems, venous cannulations may be performed by physicians, paramedics or both alike. Difficulties in the establishment of vascular access can lead to delayed treatment and transport. Our study investigates possible inter-professional differences in the difficulties of prehospital venous cannulation. Methods Paramedics were interviewed for their personal attitudes towards and experiences in venous access. We analysed 47 candidate predictor variables in terms of cannulation failure and exceedance of a 2 min time threshold. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted for variables of potential predictive value (P<0.25) and evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC>0.60) of their respective receiver operating characteristic curve. Results were compared with previously published data from emergency physicians. Results A total of 552 cannulations were included in our study. All 146 participants voted that paramedics should be eligible to perform venous catheterizations. Despite ample experience in the task, almost half of them considered prehospital venous cannulations more difficult than those performed in hospital. However, the multivariable logistic regression found only patient-related and puncture site factors to be predictive of cannulation failure (patient age, vein palpability with tourniquet, insufficient ambient lighting: model AUC: 0.72) or cannulation delay (vein palpability with tourniquet: model AUC: 0.60). Conclusion Our study shows that venous cannulation is well established among paramedics. It presents itself with similar difficulties across medical professions. Not the numerous specific circumstances of prehospital emergency care, but universal factors inherent to the task will influence the success at venous catheterization.


In this paper, we investigate the role of sub-optimality in training data for part-of-speech tagging. In particular, we examine to what extent the size of the training corpus and certain types of errors in it affect the performance of the tagger. We distinguish four types of errors: If a word is assigned a wrong tag, this tag can belong to the ambiguity class of the word (i.e. to the set of possible tags for that word) or not; furthermore, the major syntactic category (e.g. 'N' or 'V') can be correctly assigned (e.g. if a finite verb is classified as an infinitive) or not (e.g. if a verb is classified as a noun). We empirically explore the decrease of performance that each of these error types causes for different sizes of the training set. Our results show that those types of errors that are easier to eliminate have a particularly negative effect on the performance. Thus, it is worthwhile concentrating on the elimination of these types of errors, especially if the training corpus is large.


RECENT reports 1 showing the beneficial effect of vagotomy on peptic ulcer have been the stimulus for the experimental work herein reported. This investigation was conducted to determine: (1) the effect of preliminary vagotomy on the development of the jejunal ulcer in the dogs on which the Mann-Williamson operation was done and (2) the effect on formation of ulcer when the vagotomy was performed after the Mann-Williamson operation. Exalto 2 was the first investigator to report the incidence of jejunal ulcer in the dog following gastrojejunostomy with drainage of the duodenal contents into the colon. In his conclusions, valid to this day, he attributed the jejunal ulcer to the action of acid gastric juice on the intestinal mucosa. Mann and Williamson 3 performed an end to end gastrojejunostomy, draining the duodenal contents into the terminal part of the ileum approximately 25 cm. from the ileocecal juncture. These investigators observed a


Addressing security in the software development lifecycle still is an open issue today, especially in distributed software. Addressing security concerns requires a specific know-how, which means that security experts must collaborate with application programmers to develop secure software. Object-oriented and component-based development is commonly used to support collaborative development and to improve scalability and maintenance in software engineering. Unfortunately, those programming styles do not lend well to support collaborative development activities in this context, as security is a cross-cutting problem that breaks object or component modules. We investigated in this thesis several modularization techniques that address these issues. We first introduce the use of aspect-oriented programming in order to support secure programming in a more automated fashion and to minimize the number of vulnerabilities in applications introduced at the development phase. Our approach especially focuses on the injection of security checks to protect from vulnerabilities like input manipulation. We then discuss how to automate the enforcement of security policies programmatically and modularly. We first focus on access control policies in web services, whose enforcement is achieved through the instrumentation of the orchestration mechanism. We then address the enforcement of privacy protection policies through the expert-assisted weaving of privacy filters into software. We finally propose a new type of aspect-oriented pointcut capturing the information flow in distributed software to unify the implementation of our different security modularization techniques.


This article analyses three recent developments within the EU that have an impact on EU equality legislation: the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Proposal to extend the material scope of the provisions against discrimination on the ground of religion and belief, disability, age and sexual orientation beyond the area of employment, and the case law of the European Court of Justice regarding the EU Equality Directives of 2000. It will assess whether these three developments have led to improved protection against discrimination for people in the EU.


Low-dose acetylsalicylic acid has been widely used. We evaluated small bowel and gastric injuries during acetylsalicylic acid administration using video capsule endoscopy and gastroduodenal endoscopy. We also investigated blood flow using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography. Six healthy volunteers were enrolled in this preliminary study. The subjects were administered 100 mg of enteric-coated aspirin daily for 14 days. Video capsule endoscopy and gastroduodenal endoscopy were simultaneously performed before administration and on days 1, 3, 7 and 14. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography was performed before administration and on day 2, and 8. Video capsule endoscopy after administration of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid revealed small bowel mucosal damages of petechiae and erythema in all cases, and denuded area in one case. The total number of lesions in the small bowel increased according to duration of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid administration. However, the total number of lesions in the stomach peaked on day 3. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography showed that the time-intensity curve peak value and Areas under the curves after acetylsalicylic acid administration were reduced. We observed not only gastric mucosal injuries but also small intestinal injuries with short-term low-dose acetylsalicylic acid administration. Acetylsalicylic acid administration also caused a decrease in small intestinal blood flow. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is useful for evaluation blood flow in the small bowel mucosa.


Nootropic acitivity of essential oil of Nepeta cataria (EONC) was studied in mice. Elevated plus maze and passive avoidance paradigm were employed to evaluate learning and memory parameters. Scopolamine (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) was used to induce amnesia in mice. The essential oil (1gm/kg) significantly attenuated amnestic deficits induced by scopolamine (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) and natural aging. Also exhibited decreased the transfer latencies and increased step down latencies significantly in the aged mice and scopolamine induced amnesic mice as compared with Piracetam (200 mg/kg, i.p.). To delineate the possible mechanism through which Nepeta cataria elicits the anti-amnesic effects, we studied its influence on central cholinergic activity by estimating the whole brain acetylcholinesterase activity. EONC significantly decreased acetyl cholinesterase activity in mice. The results indicate that essential oil of Nepeta cataria might prove to be a useful memory restorative agent in the treatment of dementia seen in elderly. The underlying mechanism of action may be attributed to its anti acetylcholinesterase property.


David Tudor's genius was evident from early childhood, but it was not until 1944, when he became a piano student of Irma Wolpe and a composition student of Stefan Wolpe, that Tudor began to realize his true potential. The Wolpes prepared Tudor for his extraordinary career as a path-breaking piano virtuoso and champion of the avant-garde. Tudor's years with the Wolpes culminated in the premiere of Battle Piece in 1950, Tudor's edition of which documents his collaboration with Wolpe in realizing the temporal dimensions of the score. Tudor's later path as a composer of live electronic music is traced back to his years of apprenticeship.


The commonly used term ""street 'child"" glosses over the differences between the genders. Ethnographic information and psychological case studies (consisting of a structured interview and standard psychological tests) of 51 male and 26 female street children, and 15 of their siblings who were not street children were collected in Nairobi, Kenya. The first hypothesis, that the mental health of male street children would be better than the mental health of female street children was confirmed. The second hypothesis, that the male siblings who stayed at-home, would have poorer mental health than their brothers who were on the streets, was also confirmed. Finally, the third hypothesis that the female siblings who stayed at home would have poorer mental health than their siblings who went into the street was also confirmed (albeit with less statistical significance). The above hypotheses were based on the idea that poor male children were in part reared to adopt street life, whereas poor female street children were reared to stay home. Ethnographic data is also used to explain the results. Mitigating methodological consideration are discussed.


We present ARGoS, a novel open source multi-robot simulator. The main design focus of ARGoS is the real-time simulation of large heterogeneous swarms of robots. Existing robot simulators obtain scalability by imposing limitations on their extensibility and on the accuracy of the robot models. By contrast, in ARGoS we pursue a deeply modular approach that allows the user both to easily add custom features and to allocate computational resources where needed by the experiment. A unique feature of ARGoS is the possibility to use multiple physics engines of different types and to assign them to different parts of the environment. Robots can migrate from one engine to another transparently. This feature enables entirely novel classes of optimizations to improve scalability and paves the way for a new approach to parallelism in robotics simulation. Results show that ARGoS can simulate about 10,000 simple wheeled robots 40% faster than real-time.


The concept of gravity provides a natural phenomenon that is simultaneously obvious and obscure; we all know what it is, but rarely question why it is. The simple observation that 'what goes up must come down' contrasts starkly with our current scientific explanation of gravity, which involves challenging and sometimes counterintuitive concepts. With such extremes between the plain and the perplexing, gravity forces a sharp focus on scientific method. Following the history of gravity from Aristotle to Einstein, this clear account highlights the logic of scientific method for non-specialists. Successive theories of gravity and the evidence for each are presented clearly and rationally, focusing on the fundamental ideas behind them. Using only high-school level algebra and geometry, the author emphasizes what the equations mean rather than how they are derived, making this accessible for all those curious about gravity and how science really works.


Ginzburg–Landau theory has provided an effective method for understanding the onset of superconductivity in the presence of an external magnetic field. In this paper we examine the instability of the normal state to superconductivity with decreasing magnetic field for a closed smooth cylindrical region of arbitrary cross-section subject to a vertical magnetic field. We examine the problem asymptotically in the boundary layer limit (i.e., when the Ginzburg–Landau parameter, k, is large). We demonstrate that instability first occurs in a region exponentially localized near the point of maximum curvature on the boundary. The transition occurs at a value of the magnetic field associated with the half-plane at leading order, with a small positive correction due to the curvature (which agrees with the transition problem for the disc), and a smaller correction due to the second derivative of the curvature at the maximum.


The main purpose of this study is to develop a spatial and environmental database by collecting and generating several related digital data and build up a tools for data management and analysis in combination with GIS and numerical simulation software. Based on this database, to investigate objective knowledge of relationship between urban structure and ambient microclimate in new housing area in tropical country. As a result, it became clear that usability of developed spatial database and analysis environmental for a process which contains data modeling, management and visualization through the qualitative and quantitative consideration of numerical simulation effectively, and several new fundamental findings of relationship between deference of building type, open space, and block density and ambient physical environment objectively.


Solar simulators for PV modules often consist of several lamps arranged side by side to provide the irradiance necessary for PV module testing under standard test conditions. Since these simulators are no point sources, the angular distribution of the radiance emitted by the simulators can lead to systematic deviations in measured PV device's performances. To quantify the opening angle of a solar simulator, pictures of a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera and irradiance measurements of a CCD-array spectroradiometer were combined to derive its approximate spectral radiance distribution. We applied our technique to an LED-based solar simulator, where the radiance of 18 different LED colors could be examined separately and thus an approximation of the spectral radiance emitted by the simulator can be made. An angle of incidence of 15.6° has been observed for this system at the center of a PV module, raising to about 21.5° towards the edge of the test plane.


Globalization of production has created an environment for labor-management relations that involves international actors and spans countries, going beyond the boundaries of the traditional workspace. The dramatic changes brought about by globalization led to the emergence of new cross-border forms of industrial relations. This paper analyses the case of the International Labour Organization's Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) project as a transnational instrument to create the institutional space for industrial relations in Cambodia. Based on the principle of social dialogue among the social partners (the national Government and workers' and employers' organizations) as well as with global buyers, BFC's multistakeholder approach reaches beyond the workplace and may be a key instrument of industrial relations because it bridges the gap between the sphere of production and that of consumption. The empirical results reveal some of the particular strengths of the program.


The glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are a family of multifunctional enzymes involved in cellular detoxification. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of albendazole--drug of choice for trichinellosis--on the total activity and kinetics of cytosolic GST in the mouse intestines during experimental trichinellosis. Our results showed a statistically significant decrease in the total GST activity both in the small and large intestines of the mice infected with the nematode Trichinella spiralis (Owen, 1835) and treated with albendazole, compared with the control mice that were infected but untreated with the drug. Furthermore, albendazole administration modified the kinetics of substrate saturation of GST in the intestines of the infected mice because the drug caused changes in Michaelis constant values of this enzyme. Based on our observations, we suggest that the quaternary structure of GST from the mouse intestines is impacted by this drug during trichinellosis.


Not available – first paragraph follows:
Isozymes are multiple molecular forms of an enzyme derived from a tissue of an organism. They are usually separated when an electric charge causes their migration through a gel, and they are visualized when the gel is placed in a solution of the proper substrate for the enzyme and the end product of the reaction is stained. This procedure results in discrete bands, whose positions in the gel are determined by the charge and molecular weight of the isozymes. The preparation is usually a simple extract, sometimes just the unmodified juice obtained by crushing the plant sample.


Abstract
 Orthotrichum cambrense Bosanquet et F. Lara, is described from material recently collected on trees in a small area of Carmarthenshire, south Wales. The new moss has a unique combination of morphological traits, several of them highly distinctive: characteristic almost flat leaves, with plane margins and frequently rounded apices; brood bodies common on leaves and rhizoids; emergent furrowed capsules with cryptopore stomata in their lower third; a peristome of 8 pairs of teeth and 8 segments; and the calyptra hairy, especially in the upper part. This moss is not believed to be close to other species with plane leaf-margins in the subgenus Pulchella. However, several gametophytic and sporophytic details relate Orthotrichum cambrense to O. tenellum and similar species in this same subgenus. Reasons why such a distinctive moss has gone unnoticed until now are discussed.


If aesthetics is to claim its place among the fundamental philosophical disciplines, it must adequately deal with the ecological challenge, that is, the need to explain the continuity-relation between human and non-human environments. To that effect, Arnold Berleant's aesthetics of engagement constitutes an attractive proposal. Its critics (Allen Carlson and others) seem to miss its point and attack it on the basis of a particular understanding of Kantian aesthetics (mainly the disinterestedness thesis). But not only can Berleant's aesthetics meet the ecological challenge; it is also possible that it encourages a re-evaluation of traditional aesthetic categories (like disinterestedness) without necessarily precipitating a need to jettison their deeply entrenched significance.


In this dissertation, the various strategies of humour translation have
been analysed by taking various cartoons with speech bubbles from the popular
Turkish humour weekly magazine Leman and other similar publications.
Generally considered as an extremely problematic, sometimes next to impossible,
task within the translation studies, humour translation requires and deserves
special attention since, as it was explained in the related sections, it may unite or
separate people within the context of one single joke. As we also have stated elsewhere
in the text, the description of both humour and translation, as two
separate concepts, are not available in certain and decisive terms. This is
especially true for the concept of humour which also covers the areas of laughter,
jokes, wit, satire, irony and many others which are all interchangeable with each
other. This fact makes an all-round definition very difficult. We also tried to
show that, the visual humour or the visual aspect of humour could be a valuable
asset for a foreign recipient who genuinely wishing to understand humour
products from a different and remote culture. We wanted to show, and to some
extent share, that the cartoons, provided they are not strictly political or crammed
with regional issues and accents, could be fathomed by an outsider with the help
of a decent translation and an adequate amount of contextual and cultural
background information. We have assumed, from the very beginning of this
project, that the contemporary Turkish humour, particularly cartoons that are
represented in Leman and other similar publications, was interesting enough to
become a dissertation subject, particularly those with stock types or characters
since they have the potential of becoming snapshots of a country which is still considered as alien (or other) by the West. As far as this writer concerned, the
main points of interest concerning Turkey by the British public could roughly be
summarised in two points: a bargain trip to the seaside during the summer season
and some occasional football matches Manchester United plays against Turkish
teams in Istanbul. Especially the latter always attracts heavy press coverage
during and after a match. We wanted to show that there are other cultural aspects
exist in Turkey as well and such aspects could be transferred to other cultures by
ways of translation. The material we have chosen is both visual and prose at the
same time and although they function as a unity, they also complement each other.
It is proposed that, although a perfect translation is always a desirable concept in
almost every field, the translation of humour is possible within certain
frameworks. The visual side of cartoons, as in situation comedies, contributes
immensely to the comprehension of the message, which should be considered as
the most important feature of the joke. To this end, a variety of cartoons are
selected from both Lenicyn and other similar humour weeklies and translated with
an adequate amount of background and contextual information that provided
beforehand. This background information also includes, as far as the material in
question permits, a close analysis of the language and the subject matter. To
provide a better insight for the reader, a summary of Turkish humour and humour
magazines are added alongside a section on the issue of humour itself.


A comprehensive methodology to prepare nanometric size organometallic particles (ONPs) containing rhodium(I), iridium(I) and nickel(0) with ROMP-derived polycycloocta-1,5-diene (pCOD) by a controlled single chain collapse mechanism was developed. The polymeric complexes could be produced via direct exchange of the respective labile ligands of metal complexes by the 1,5-hexadiene elements in pCOD, or via in situ reduction of metal ions in the presence of the polymer. These well-defined π-bound polymeric complexes were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) measurements and the resulting polymer sizes were found to be inversely proportional to the amount of metal added due to concomitant single chain collapse. Moreover, these procedures were readily extended to the synthesis of organobimetallic nanoparticles containing two metals; which could be added in commutative order and specific metal ratios. The embedded metal elements were found to be readily accessible for applications in catalysis, where the close proximity of the catalytic centers led to distinctive reactivity compared to the isolated complexes.


Abstractive text summarization aims at compressing the information of a long source document into a rephrased, condensed summary. Despite advances in modeling techniques, abstractive summarization models still suffer from several key challenges: (i) layout bias: they overfit to the style of training corpora; (ii) limited abstractiveness: they are optimized to copying n-grams from the source rather than generating novel abstractive summaries; (iii) lack of transparency: they are not interpretable. In this work, we propose a framework based on document-level structure induction for summarization to address these challenges. To this end, we propose incorporating latent and explicit dependencies across sentences in the source document into end-to-end single-document summarization models. Our framework complements standard encoder-decoder summarization models by augmenting them with rich structure-aware document representations based on implicitly learned (latent) structures and externally-derived linguistic (explicit) structures. We show that our summarization framework, trained on the CNN/DM dataset, improves the coverage of content in the source documents, generates more abstractive summaries by generating more novel n-grams, and incorporates interpretable sentence-level structures, while performing on par with standard baselines.


GaN substrate produced by the basic ammonothermal method and an epitaxial layer on the substrate was evaluated using synchrotron radiation x-ray topography and transmission electron microscopy. We revealed that the threading dislocations present in the GaN substrate are deformed into helical dislocations and the generation of the voids by heat treatment in the substrate for the first observation in the GaN crystal. These phenomena are formed by the interactions between the dislocations and vacancies. The helical dislocation was formed in the substrate region, and not in the epitaxial layer region. Furthermore, the evaluation of the influence of the dislocations on the leakage current of Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on the epitaxial layer is discussed. The dislocations did not affect the leakage current characteristics of the epitaxial layer. Our results suggest that the deformation of dislocations in the GaN substrate does not adversely affect the epitaxial layer.


The economic agent is different from her natural counterpart, the atom, since she behaves the way she wants and not only in the way she must. This is not an irrelevant detail because it requires the social scientist not to draw analytical tools from hard sciences as they are, but it compels to suitably adapt techniques to social phenomena, or finding newer and sounder ones. Gintis and Helbing start on a journal in that direction.


The momentum spectrum and positive-negative ratio of cosmic ray mesons in the near vertical direction at sea- level, have been measured. The statistical accuracy and maximum detectable momentum are higher than have previously been attained by other workers using similar methods. This has been made possible by the modification of a Geiger counter spectrograph and addition of flash-tube arrays. Past particles have been selected electronically, and their trajectories recorded automatically by cameras which photograph the flash-tubes. A precise differential u-meson momentum spectrum has been derived in the momentum range 5 - 1000 GeV/c, after the usual instrumental corrections. In the lower momentum region, 5 - 10 GeV/c, there is good agreement with the spectrum determined with the Geiger counters alone. The measurements in the range 10 - 100 GeV/c are consistent with a T-meson production spectrum of constant exponent, γ = 2.64 ± 0.05. More accurate methods of measurement of the flash-tube data at higher momenta lead to a maximum detectable momentum of the instrument, based on the probable error of deflection measurements, of 657 ± 112 GeV/c. In the momentum range 70 to 700 GeV/c these independent measurements lead to a value of Y = 2,67 ± 0.10 and it must be concluded that there is little change in the exponent of the ₸-meson production spectrum in the whole range of measurement. The positive-negative ratio of μ-mesons at sea- level has been found to increase from about 1.25 at 250 GeV/c to about 1.5 at 250 GeV/c where the results are the first measurement made at such high momenta. The measurements have been used to study the energy loss processes of γ-mesons and also to study the production of ₸-mesons in the primary interactions.


Since it is difficult or impossible to generate turbulent flow in a highly viscous fluid or a microfluidic system, efficient mixing becomes a challenge. However, it is possible in a laminar flow to generate chaotic particle trajectories (well-known as chaotic advection), that can lead to effective mixing. This dissertation studies mixing in flows with the limiting case of zero Reynolds numbers that are called Stokes flows and illustrates the practical use of different theories, namely the topological chaos theory, the set-oriented analysis and lobe dynamics in the analysis, design and optimization of different laminar-flow mixing systems. In a recent development, the topological chaos theory has been used to explain the chaos built in the flow only based on the topology of boundary motions. Without considering any details of the fluid dynamics, this novel method uses the ThurstonNielsen (TN) classification theorem to predict and describe the stretching of material lines both qualitatively and quantitatively. The practical application of this theory toward design and optimization of a viscous-flow mixer and the important role of periodic orbits as "ghost rods" are studied. The relationship between stretching of material lines (chaos) and the homogenization of a scalar (mixing) in chaotic Stokes flows is examined in this work. This study helps determining the extent to which the stretching can represent real mixing. Using a set-oriented approach to describe the stirring in the flow, invariance or leakiness of the Almost Invariant Sets (AIS) playing the role of ghost rods is found to be in a direct relationship with the rate of homogenization of a scalar. The mixing caused by these AIS and the variations of their structure are explained from the point of view of geometric mechanics using transport through lobes. These lobes are made of segments of invariant manifolds of the periodic points that are generators of the ghost rods. A variety of the concentration-based measures, the important parameters of their calculation, and the implicit effect of diffusion are described. The studies, measures and methods of this dissertation help in the evaluation and understanding of chaotic mixing systems in nature and in industrial applications. They provide theoretical and numerical grounds for selection of the appropriate mixing protocol and design and optimization of mixing systems, examples of which can be seen throughout the dissertation.


OBJECTIVE. This study evaluated a parent-delivered intervention aiming to address the social difficulties of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The intervention was evaluated from three perspectives: effectiveness, feasibility, and appropriateness. METHOD. This one-group pretest-posttest study included 5 children with ADHD and their parents, who had previously participated in a therapist-delivered play-based intervention. The 7-wk parent-delivered intervention involved home modules (including a DVD, manual, and play dates with a typically developing playmate) and three therapist-led clinic-based play sessions. The Test of Playfulness was used as a pre- and postintervention and follow-up measure. Parents were interviewed 1 mo following the intervention, and data were analyzed for recurring themes. RESULTS. Children's social play outcomes improved significantly from pretest to 1-mo follow-up (Z = 2.02, p = .04, d = 1.0). Three themes emerged: the clinic play environment as a sanctuary, parental barriers to intervention delivery, and tools for repeating learned lessons. CONCLUSION. The parent-delivered intervention demonstrated preliminary evidence for feasibility and effectiveness. Further research is warranted regarding appropriateness.


Purpose – to reveal the role of stakeholders (especially the future users of the IS being developed) in e-health development process and to enrich the existing body of knowledge in the field with new findings from an in-depth empirical case study research by using the framework of the theoretical stakeholder participation ladder, which was developed by Arnstein (1969) and later extended by Friedman and Miles (2006). Design/methodology/approach – an overview of the exsisting scientific literature in the field and generalization of the findings of the langitudial qualitative empirical case study research based on a participant observation methodology. Findings – the amount of research papers on the role of stakeholder engagement in the process of ICT development and implementation is increasing; however, the number of articles on social aspects of ICT implementation remains yet rather low. Even a smaller number of articles are focused on the role of stakeholder engagement in e-health development. An in-depth overview of the exsisting body of scientific research findings and the results of the empirical research undertaken by the authors of this aricle allow to state that the body of scientific empirically grounded evidence is increasing that the stakeholder engagement (especially the future users of the IS being developed) in the process of e-health development is a critical factor to reach high quality, innovation and managerial change sustainability in the process. By using the framework of theoretical stakeholder participation ladder, which was initially developed by Arnstein (1969) and later extended by Friedman and Miles (2006) and which represents the degrees of stakeholders engagement quality and on the basis of qualitative empirical research results, recommendations are provided to practitioners on the type of stakeholders how and when should be included in the process to reach the most efficient results in the process of e-health development. Research limitations/implications – empirical part of the research encompasses the analysis of e-health development experience of two countries (England and Wales). Further research can assess the relevance of conclusions towards other countries as well as Lithuania. Practical implications – analytical part of the research is based on an in-depth analysis of qualitative empirical research results. As the outcome of the executed research, recommendations are provided for practitioners working in the field of e-health development. Originality/Value – the article presents an overview of the most recent scientific literature on the topic, which then theoretical overview links with new insights from the qualitative empirical research. Research type: research paper.


In order to create innovative business products, share knowledge between people and businesses, or increase the control and quality of services, more and more often enterprise business processes involve in collaborations by delegating or providing some pieces of work to other enterprises. Necessity to cooperate in the cross-enterprise setting leads to Collaborative Business Processes (CBPs). The difference between CBPs and Business Processes (BPs) is in the decentralized coordination, flexible backward recovery, participants notification about the state, efficient adaptability to changes, presence of multiple information systems, and individual authorization settings. In the paper we consider a specific case of CBPs where multiple collaborating partners use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system of the same vendor. The vendor can see (e.g., monitor) the changes of data elements, but does not have explicit process awareness in the ERP system to support flow of activities in the cross-enterprise setting. The paper also discusses different settings of cross-enterprise CBP and shows simplified enterprise models behind the vendor possibilities to positively impact collaborative processes. The restrictions of the vendor are implicit information flows in BP, diversity of ERP integrations with third party Information Systems (IS), the lack of mechanisms for monitoring BP instances, backward recovery, user notification about the current state and tasks, and inability to make explicit changes in customers' ISs.