Expanding on the studies of Hernández (2008) and de la Fuente (2009), this investigation examines the combined effect of explicit instruction (EI) and input flood (IF) vs. IF alone on students' use of discourse markers to narrate a past event. Participants included 91 English-speaking adults enrolled in fourth-semester college Spanish courses, assigned to the EI + IF group (n = 36), the IF group (n = 30), or the control group (n = 25). The EI + IF group was provided with EI on the function and use of discourse markers. This group also received a flood of input containing the target forms. Students were provided with communicative practice and feedback. In contrast, the IF group did not receive EI + IF on the use of discourse markers. This group received the same flood of input as the EI group. The IF group was presented with communicative practice although there was no feedback. Results of a speaking task administered as a pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test indicated that both treatments had a positive effect on students' use of discourse markers. Discourse transcripts show that the EI + IF group used more discourse markers to shape their output in student— student communicative exchanges than the IF group. Taken together, results suggest that the combined effect of EI and IF was not superior to IF alone in promoting student use of discourse markers as measured on the post-test speaking tasks.


OBJECTIVE--To see whether children who have had chemotherapy develop increased numbers of moles. DESIGN--Blind assessment of patients having chemotherapy and subsequent comparison with the first suitable patients matched for age and sex who were attending the clinic during the same period after having completed treatment. Controls were obtained the following year by taking the first suitable patients attending a routine dermatology outpatient clinic who matched the study groups for age and sex. SETTING--Referrals to a paediatric oncology clinic and a dermatology clinic at two city hospitals. PATIENTS--The group receiving chemotherapy comprised all 32 patients with acute lymphatic leukaemia, lymphoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma who were attending the paediatric oncology clinic on two mornings a week during October 1987 to March 1988. The group who had completed treatment comprised 32 patients who were attending for follow up during the same period and who matched the first group for age and sex. Thirty two other patients attending the dermatology outpatient clinic with unrelated skin conditions served as controls. END POINT--Definite increase in numbers of moles on children after a course of chemotherapy. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Moles were counted by one observer on defined areas of the body and divided into those less than 3 mm and greater than or equal to 3 mm diameter. Patients receiving chemotherapy had a similar number of moles to the control group. By contrast patients who had completed chemotherapy had significant increases both in moles less than 3 mm and greater than or equal to 3 mm and in the total number of moles. These patients were more likely to have moles on acral sites. CONCLUSIONS--Children with substantially increased numbers of moles (benign melanocytic naevi) after successful chemotherapy for malignancy may have an increased risk of melanoma. They should be offered prolonged surveillance and cautioned about exposure to ultraviolet light.


Underutilized capacity, long shipping lead time, high cost and lack of sufficient scale are examples of logistics inefficiencies that have troubled many supply chain operations. Logistics horizontal collaboration (LHC) is believed to be an innovative approach to tackle the increasing logistics challenges. This kind of collaborative logistics is quickly gaining momentum in practice but relevant contributions in literature are scarce. So far it remains unclear how LHC could be structured and operated given the limited understanding of the various characteristics and forms of LHC between companies. Furthermore, the explicit impact of LHC on the participating partners, as well as on the supply chain system is understudied. Very few studies have explored the process of collaboration and how it links to performance behaviours. Case studies and Agent-Based Simulation are employed in this thesis to study the research gaps identified above. Case studies are initially conducted to examine the key elements which can support the design of LHC, and to make a classification of models for collaboration. These are followed by Agent-Based Simulation to model a typical collaboration process and work out what benefits would emerge if participating in horizontal collaboration and how the collaboration can produce the impacts on the supply chain operations for individuals and the system as a whole. The case studies suggest that "collaboration structures", "collaboration objectives", "collaboration intensity", and "collaboration modes" are the four key elements critical to the design of a LHC project. Each element represents an important aspect of the collaboration and exhibits different characteristics and forms. Based on these key elements, several typologies are derived which together provide a comprehensive view to explain the different types of LHC in practice. The simulation modelling demonstrates that LHC can significantly benefit the logistics efficiency in terms of capacity utilization and customer service in the sense of order fill-rate, and such beneficial effects are consistently observed in different supply chain environments. In particular, LHC can produce better logistics performance in a relationship-based supply chain network where downstream customers can support upstream shippers with more stable and predictable demand. On the other hand, information sharing in the collaboration, for the most part, does not facilitate the higher collaboration gains for partners. Specifically, sharing either the demand or supply information in the horizontal collaboration is not helpful in increasing collaboration gains. Hence there is a difference for the value of information sharing in the context of horizontal collaboration as opposed to vertical collaboration, the latter of which is often justified as providing more beneficial gains. The research findings provide insights for practitioners and scholars about how to develop a type of collaboration project or study, as well as enabling a better understanding of the dynamic collaboration effects.


Virtual Globes reached the mass market in 2005. They created multi-million dollar businesses in a very short time by providing novel ways to explore data geographically. We use the term "Virtual Globes" as the common denominator for technologies offering capabilities to annotate, edit and publish geographic information to a world-wide audience and to visualize information provided by the public and private sectors, as well as by citizens who volunteer new data. Unfortunately, but not surprising for a new trend or paradigm, overlapping terms such as "Virtual Globes", "Digital Earth", "Geospatial Web", "Geoportal" or software specific terms are used heterogeneously. We analyze the terminologies and trends in scientific publications and ask whether these developments serve science and society. While usage can be answered quantitatively, the authors reason from the literature studied that these developments serve to educate the masses and may help to democratize geographic information by extending the producer base. We believe that we can contribute to a better distinction between software centered terms and the generic concept as such. The power of the visual, coupled with the potential of spatial analysis and modeling for public and private purposes raises new issues of reliability, standards, privacy and best practice. This is increasingly addressed in scientific literature but the required body of knowledge is still in its infancy.


This book examines the much-debated question of how to unleash the potential of young people with promising intellectual abilities and motivation. It looks at the increasingly important topic of excellence in education, and the shift in focus towards the provision of programs to support talented students in higher education. It provides a systematic overview of programs for talented students at northern European higher education institutions (HEIs). Starting in the Netherlands, where nearly all HEIs have developed honors programs over the past two decades, the book explores three clusters of countries: the Benelux, the Nordic and the German-speaking countries. For each of these countries, it discusses the local culture towards excellence, the structure of the education system, and the presence of honors programs. In total, the book reviews the special talent provisions for nearly four million students at 303 higher education institutions in eleven countries. In addition, it offers an analysis of the reasons to develop such programs, a look into the future of honors education and a practical list of suggestions for further research.

The Sirius Program assigned Marca Wolfensberger to carry out this research.


This volume presents a collection of recent studies covering the spectrum of computational intelligence applications with emphasis on their application to challenging real-world problems. Topics covered include: Intelligent agent-based algorithms, Hybrid intelligent systems, Cognitive and evolutionary robotics, Knowledge-Based Engineering, fuzzy sets and systems, Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, Computational finance and Computational economics, Data mining, Machine learning, and Expert systems. "Computational Intelligence in Optimization" is a comprehensive reference for researchers, practitioners and advanced-level students interested in both the theory and practice of using computational intelligence in real-world applications.


This accessible and authoritative introduction is essential for education students and researchers needing to use quantitative methods for the first time. Using datasets from real-life educational research and avoiding the use of mathematical formulae, the author guides students through the essential techniques that they will need to know, explaining each procedure using the latest version of SPSS. The datasets can also be downloaded from the book's website, enabling students to practice the techniques for themselves. This revised and updated second edition now also includes more advanced methods such as log linear analysis, logistic regression, and canonical correlation. Written specifically for those with no prior experience of quantitative research, this book is ideal for education students and researchers in this field


Front Ecol Environ doi:10.1002/fee.2182 © The Ecological Society of America Why not white? Distributed worldwide across arcticalpine ecosystems, the wildflower Silene acaulis is most notorious for forming remarkably large cushions that are essential for maintaining alpine biodiversity. Up to 3 m in diameter and living for up to three centuries in alpine meadows and fellfields, as well as on cliffs, these cushions comprise different subspecies usually found on distinct bedrocks. All typically have small pinkish to purple nectarproducing flowers, which are pollinated by diverse insects. In July 2018, we found a rare cushion of white flowers growing on shale near Grossglockner, a mountain in the Austrian Alps. It was the only whiteflowered individual we saw during that week, and did not appear to be a part of any larger population. White flowers of this species are seldom reported in the literature and never seem to form or dominate any populations. Whether white flowers are due to a somatic mutation or deleterious gene association is still unknown, and their frequency, persistence, and evolutionary origin have never been studied. One possible explanation is that white flowers exclude the pollinators that disperse the necrotic fungus Microbotryum, which sometimes infects the anthers of S acaulis. The exclusion of regular pollinators by white flowers would provide an obvious fitness advantage to avoid contamination. So why do they remain so rare in S acaulis natural populations, and even in collections? Does the price of excluding pollinators outweigh the benefits? Are pollinators not affected or do white flowers attract new visitors? The evolutionary and functional significance of floral color in this emblematic alpine plant remains elusive but what a rare and beautiful addition to the rainbow of mountain flora.


This paper describes the engineering steps taken in order to investigate the potential of glass sandwich elements, made of 2 glass skins separated by a glass core in the form of spacers, as a way to create planar elements with a high stiffness to weight ratio, reducing material consumption in structural glazing applications. The aim is to explore and evaluate the optical quality and the structural performance of those elements. In this research, 7 core topologies are explored in order to define which parameters influence the behaviour of a sandwich structure made completely with glass. From those topologies, one is chosen to be explored further. The said topology is optimised to make the panels more efficient in terms of stiffness and weight reduction. In order to determine the structural behaviour (strength, stiffness, failure modes) of the elements, 4-point bending tests are conducted on 9 specimens in total. Finally, in order to define the aesthetical and structural requirements of such a project, the replacement of the glass floors of the Acropolis Museum in Athens in Greece is used as a case study. The knowledge acquired through this process is used to optimise the panels of the new glass floors taking also into account other parameters related to transparent flooring e.g. optical quality, psychological factors, anti-slip resistance etc


Known object recognition is the task of recognizing specific objects, such as cereal boxes or soda cans. Millions of such objects exist, and finding a computationally feasible method for recognition can be difficult. Ideally, the computational costs should scale with the complexity of the testing image, and not the size of the object database. To accomplish this goal we propose a method for detection and recognition based on triplets of feature descriptors. Each feature is given a label based on a modified K-means clustering algorithm. Object matching is then done by inverse lookup within a table of possible triplets. The ambiguity of the matches is further reduced by having each triplet vote on its proposed object center. For planar objects, the proposed object centers should cluster at a single point. In general, assuming orthographic projection, the proposed centers will lie along a line. If enough triplets are in agreement on a specific object's center, the object is labeled as detected. Our algorithm has been evaluated on a new database with 118 training objects and various testing scenarios.


Although propofol and thiopental are commonly used as neuroprotective agents, it has not been determined which is more neuroprotective. This study was designed to quantitatively evaluate the neuroprotective effects of thiopental, propofol, and halothane on brain ischemia by determining P50, ischemic time necessary for causing 50% neuronal damage. Gerbils were anesthetized with thiopental, propofol, or halothane and underwent 2-vessel occlusion (0, 3, 5 or 10 min). Direct current potentials were measured in bilateral CA1 regions, in which histologic evaluation was performed 5 days later. In some animals, extracellular glutamate concentrations (microdialysis) were measured during 7.5 minutes of ischemia. P50 in the thiopental, propofol, and halothane groups were estimated to be 8.4, 6.5 (P<0.05, vs. thiopental), and 5.1 (P<0.05) minutes, respectively. Durations of ischemic depolarization were equally reduced in the thiopental and propofol groups compared with that in the halothane group. Severity of neuronal damage with identical duration of ischemic depolarization was attenuated by thiopental compared with the effect of propofol. Maximum glutamate concentrations in the thiopental and propofol group were significantly reduced compared with that in the halothane groups but were comparable. By using P50, we found that the neuroprotective effect of thiopental was greater than that of propofol. Although duration of ischemic depolarization was equally reduced in thiopental and propofol groups, thiopental has a greater suppressive effect on neuronal injury during identical duration of ischemic depolarization than propofol does. Glutamate concentration during brain ischemia tended to be attenuated more by thiopental than by propofol, but it was not statistically significant.


Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding has been gaining increasing national and international attention in recent years, yet little research has examined the emergency nurse's experience of this phenomenon. Undertaking this study allows me to share my experiences of providing care within an overcrowded emergency department that emergency nursing colleagues may find relation with, and connect one nurse's experience with others in the ED nursing workforce. The experience of being an emergency nurse working within a demanding department cannot be adequately measured by statistics. The intensity of the experience and current working environment can be best understood by the sharing of my experiences. The aim of this study is to examine and highlight nursing issues associated with working within an overcrowded emergency department, and to examine my experiences of difficulties providing care. As a research methodology autoenthnography allows me to use personal narratives as research data and by doing so give voice to my experiences of providing care in an overcrowded emergency department.

Three themes entitled 'What's the harm in waiting,' 'Too busy to care' and 'Feeling all used up' were established from the data analysis. These three themes all have many common characteristics and can be easily overlapped. The cultural theme that is identified through the data is that the notion of caring is at the root of my nursing practice and working within an overcrowded ED can compromise these values. This experienced distress is the painful feelings and the disequilibrium that happens when I am conscious of the appropriate action required but I am not able to carry it out due to barriers. This distress is a major problem in the nursing profession that affects nurses internationally and is described as moral distress.

I compared my experiences in narrative formation against published literature examining the issues that face ED nurses. I felt uncomfortable and simultaneously disappointed to uncover similar feelings of powerlessness and distress within my nursing culture. Like me many other emergency nurses ability to provide care is impacted by issues due to ED overcrowding. Writing and sharing my personal experiences using narratives and analysis has provided me with strength that I am not alone in this issue, and optimistically this will also educate and empower the reader, who may also face similar issues within their workplace. The issues and difficulties associated with overcrowding in the ED are complex and multifaceted, and it is important that ED nurses at constant risk of moral and emotional distress are not forgotten in strategic attempts to manage and improve this issue.


The mRNA species encoding the herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) homolog of the Epstein-Barr virus R transcriptional activator (termed ORF50) have been identified and used to determine transcriptional start sites within the gene. The first transcript is spliced and starts from a promoter within ORF49 containing a single intron; the second is produced from a promoter within the second exon and is in the same reading frame. The spliced transcript is detected at early times during productive virus replication in OMK cells, whereas the nonspliced transcript is detected later. The spliced transcript is fivefold-more potent in activating the delayed-early ORF6 promoter; the function of the nonspliced transcript is unclear. Thus, the role of this protein in activating herpesvirus saimiri from the latent state may differ significantly from that of the Epstein-Barr virus R protein.


: This article is based on research in the literature on illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the context of the African extractives sector. It summarizes the adverse economic, political, and environmental impacts of IFFs and identifies key gaps in current legislation and policy and weaknesses in national tax systems. Specific actions to strengthen the effectiveness of current legal and regulatory measures are proposed. Legislative and policy gaps and weak taxation systems in African countries have allowed legislation to be circumvented or interpreted by mining companies or governments in a way that perpetuates IFFs, for example through manipulation of local content requirements or transfer mispricing. Weak taxation systems mean that mining companies do not pay tax commensurate with earnings. Where beneficial ownership full disclosure is not implemented, complex corporate structures lead to lack of transparency and linkage to politically exposed persons open to corruption. To address these shortcomings taxation systems must be strengthened by improving the quality of human resources in taxation agencies. Beneficial ownership requirements should be strengthened, and local content requirements reformed and implemented effectively.


Modifying fruit distribution through varying plant density may impact cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fiber quality. This study was conducted to determine how lint yield, fiber quality, and profitability of cotton may be manipulated through plant density. Two cotton cultivars were overseeded and hand-thinned to 3.6, 9.0, 12.6, and 21.5 plants m -2 at two University of Georgia experiment stations in 2001 and 2002. After the studies were machine-harvested each year, the seed cotton was shipped to the USDA-ARS Cotton Ginning Research Unit in Stoneville, MS, for ginning. While ginning, six lint samples were collected per plot and delivered to Cotton Incorporated (Cary, NC) for fiber quality analyses. Net returns were then calculated from yield, quality, and seed cost data. Lint yields were greatest at 12.6 plants m -2 and lowest at 3.6 plants m -2 . Of the fiber properties investigated, micronaire and fineness were most affected by plant density. In addition, quality adjustments in price were greatest for micronaire. Thus, avoidance of price discounts for high-micronaire fiber may occur through adjustments in seeding rate and plant density. Net returns above seed costs were greatest at 12.6 plants m -2 for both cultivars. One cultivar consistently outperformed the other in fiber quality. Results from this study support the findings of others that fiber properties are highly genetically influenced. Thus, to maximize fiber quality, cultivar selection is of greatest importance while management of plant density to maintain or maximize genetic potential is secondary.


Despite the 1992 Rio Convention on Biological Diversity, the world's biological resources continue to be lost at an alarming rate, and particularly so in developing countries where many of the remaining resources are concentrated. Both inside and outside protected areas, biological resources, their management, and people's livelihood systems are complex and intricately inter-connected. While conventions are signed globally the implementation of provisions has to be local, and prospects for success depend on assessment of likely costs and benefits among stakeholders at various levels, and the resolution of conflict of interest among them.


For a long time, the study of macroeconomics has focused almost exclusively on a closed economy and downplayed the role of international transactions. Today, however, researchers recognize that one cannot fully understand domestic macroeconomic relationships without considering the global economy within which each country operates. Increasingly, economists are treating international transactions as an integral part of the macroeconomic system, and international macroeconomics has become an area of intensive research activity. International Macroeconomic Dynamics provides extensive applications of important macroeconomic dynamic models to the international economy. It adopts the main contemporary macroeconomic framework, the representative agent model, and develops a series of models of increasing complexity. The author considers both small and large economies and analyzes them in both deterministic and stochastic contexts. The emphasis is very much on the development of the analytical models; a novel feature is the extensive use of continuous-time stochastic methods. While the author applies the models to a range of important policy issues, particularly issues of fiscal policy, the reader is invited to view the analyses as blueprints for other applications.


Torts Athlete sued trainers and coaches alleging negligence caused personal injuries. An athlete sustained head injuries during a football game after previously experiencing trauma during practices. The athlete claimed the trainers and coaches were negligent in treating his injuries and failing to adequately communicate with his doctor. Held: For the coaches in part and for the athlete in part. The trainers and coaches asserted immunity as government employees because they acted within the scope of their employment. However, unlike the coaches, the trainers had an independent duty to the athlete by virtue of their trainer licenses. Thus, their immunity defense failed. Sellers v. Rudert, 918 N.E.2d 586 (Dl. App. 4th Dist. 2009). Athlete sued opponent athlete, school district, and board of education for personal injuries alleging battery and negligence. An athlete sustained injuries after colliding with another player during a school soccer game. The athlete claimed the opponent athlete battered him, and the school district and board of education failed to adequately supervise the game. Held: For the opponent athlete, school district, and board of education. The athlete assumed the risk of these types of collisions incident to playing the sport of soccer. Accordingly, he was responsible for his own injuries. Morabito v. MacArthur, 894 N.Y.S2d 110 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dept. 2010). Parent sued school district for wrongful death of her son during football practice. During a hot summer practice the student collapsed and died. The school district allowed the coaches to set the time and activities for the practices. Held: For the school district. The school district could not be held liable for the student's death. The school district did not violate any rules or regulations that caused the student's death, and the conduct involved was discretionary. Covington Co. Sch. Dist. v. Magee, 29 So. 3d 1 (Miss. 2010). Parents of high school student sued school board and recreational camping facility after student drowned while on Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) field trip. Police found the student's body floating in a lake ten days after chaperones reported him missing. Held: For the school board and recreational camping facility. The ROTC instructors warned the student twice that the recreational facility's lake was offlimits. The ROTC instructors reasonably warned and supervised the student and were not required to provide constant supervision. Robinson v. Jefferson Parish Sch. Bd., 9 So. 3d 1035 (La. App. 5th Cir. 2009), cert, denied, 17 So. 3d 975 (La. 2009). High school student sued school and martial arts instructor alleging negligence. The student dislocated his elbow while participating in a school martial arts class. Held: For the school and martial arts instructor. The instructor taught martial arts under the direction of the school administration. The instructor supervised students and appropriately trained students on safety maneuvers prior to the accident. Thus, he was immune from liability for acts and omissions in the scope of employment. The school was not liable because the instructor's actions were an exercise of judgment and discretion. Noble v. W. Clermont Loc. Sch. Dist., 914 N.E.2d 1128 (Ohio Com. Pleas 2009). High school football coach sued referee alleging negligence. The referee ran into the coach during a game. As a result of the sideline crash, the coach suffered brain injury and permanent disability. Held: For the referee. The coach was running in the linesman referee's restricted area at the time of the collision. The linesman referee was not negligent while officiating the game prior to the collision and the referee could not have known that the coach would enter the restricted area during live play. Midwest Employers Casualty Co. v. Harpole, 293 S.W.3d 770 (Tex. App. 4th Dist. 2009). Youth sued camp for injuries sustained during soccer match alleging negligence. …


Skid resistance is considered as one of the contributing factors that affect traffic accidents; it is considered as an important property of a road surface that is required to maintain a safe road network. The main aim of this thesis is to establish new skid resistance thresholds for local authority roads. This will be accomplished through the following objectives: 1. to define new site categories based on accident layouts at different network features (e.g. junctions, roundabouts) and the relationships between accidents and geometric characteristics (such as radius of curvature and gradient), 2. to estimate the impact of traffic characteristics (natural logarithm of annual average daily flow, percentage of heavy vehicles, and speed limit); geometric characteristics (radius of curvature, gradient, number of lanes and number of minor accesses); and pavement characteristics (skid resistance, rut depth, and texture depth) on both accident frequency and rate, and 3. To analyse the relation of the expected accident frequencies and rates as a function of skid resistance. This study has included A-road networks for Norfolk, Oxfordshire and Nottinghamshire counties in England, UK. These networks are divided into different site categories these site categories are: 1. non-event; 2. bends (0 - 250) m; 3. bends (250 – 500) m; 4. roundabouts; 5. junctions; 6. gradients. Four different datasets for the period 2005-2010 have been merged to construct the final unique dataset for this study. They are: 1. accident data, 2. traffic data; 3. geometric data; and 4. pavement characteristics data. A series of fixed and random parameters Negative Binomial models have been employed to investigate the effect of skid resistance on accident frequency at different site categories for the three counties. The datasets were modelled by total accidents, by road surface condition (i.e. dry and wet), and by severity level (i.e. fatal and serious or slight). In the same way fixed and random Tobit models have been employed to investigate the effect of skid resistance on accident rate. The model estimation results suggest that skid resistance is negatively associated with the frequency and rate for all accident types at all site categories. A 10% increase in skid resistance leads to a decrease in total, dry, wet, slight, and serious and fatal accident frequencies at network level by 12.24, 10.21, 16.34, 10.68 and 4.92%, respectively. A 10% increase in skid resistance (SCRIM value) leads to a decrease in total, dry, wet, slight, and serious and fatal accident rates at network level by 6.32%, 10.62%, 12.52%, 3.31%, and 4.87%, respectively. This thesis contributes to knowledge in terms of accident prediction approach, showing that application of random parameters modelling as a new approach applied in the UK to estimate accident frequency and rate on A – road networks. This method is introduced as a sufficient approach for the researcher due to the ability to account and correct for heterogeneity, which can arise as a result of several factors relating to the characteristics of traffic, geometric and pavement characteristics. In addition, the random parameters model approach provides a reasonable understanding of the main factors that affect accident frequency and rate. Therefore, this approach allows the researcher to identify and control for confounding factors that may bias estimation. In addition, new skid resistance thresholds for different site categories are established based on the analysis of expected accident frequencies (outputs of random parameters Negative Binomial models); and the analysis of expected accident rates (outputs of random parameters Tobit models) as function of skid resistance.


A methodology for the ex ante evaluation of different processing options is proposed. Current processes for glucose oxidation and possible improvements using microreactor technology are investigated. As twofold prime research objectives, the oxidation with noble metal catalyst versus enzymatic oxidation and the oxidation under conventional process conditions versus under Novel Process Windows are explored. Operation and design of an active and stable catalyst, reactor performance, and work-up are included. This ex ante analysis gives information of the critical aspects of a process prior to technology development and facilitates the development of new process routes; especially valuable if step and paradigm changing routes are undertaken, with even no vague idea on their performance potential and with high technological risk. The methodology used for gluconic acid production will be transferred to other chemicals which have the potential in using microreactor technology and Novel Process Windows.


Cooperative action of biochemical and biomechanical signals regulates the interactions between cells and the supporting matrix in natural tissues. Herein, we describe a hydrogel for 4D cell culture which allows user-defined stiffening of the cellular environment and presentation of bioadhesive cues in an orthogonal manner using light of different wavelengths. Stiffening of the gel is initiated by VIS light, while activation of the biochemical function is triggered by UV light. We demonstrate the versatility of this system by triggering, directing and/or hindering cell migration from spheroids based on photoactivated stiffening or integrin-binding to the hydrogels. This material allows in situ and independent manipulation of the physicochemical cues in the cellular microenvironment in vitro, and could eventually be extended to in vivo.


Published under the pseudonym, Clive Hamilton, Spirits in Bondage was C. S. Lewis' first book. Released in 1919 by Heinemann, it was reprinted in 1984 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and included in Lewis' 1994 Collected Poems. It is the first of Lewis' major published works to enter the public domain in the United States. Readers should be aware that in other countries it may still be under copyright protection.


This paper studies different types of commitment policy in an economy where the deterministic steady state is inefficient. We show how a policy suggested by the approach of policy design entails positive long-run inflation, even in the purely forward-looking canonical New Keynesian model. The long-run inflation target is robust to inflation persistence due to backward-looking rule-of-thumb behaviour by price setters. The optimal long-run inflation target is positive in all but one of the six theoretical cases studied. We evaluate policies on the basis of both the deterministic equilibrium and the stochastic equilibrium and present robustness analysis in terms of two structural parameters.


Patients with schizophrenia have an impairment in the inhibition of reflexive saccades, as a consequence of a functional impairment of the prefrontal cortex, which has not yet been encapsulated in terms of a formal model. A number of novel and testable hypotheses can be generated from the framework proposed by Findlay & Walker that will stimulate further research. Their framework therefore marks an important step in the development of a comprehensive functional model of saccadic eye movements. Further advances will be assisted by (1) a recognition of important distinctions in the executive control of volitional saccades and (2) addressing the capacity for cross-model integration of spatial information in the generation of the spatial properties of saccadic eye movements.


This thesis is a literary thematic analysis of Mark Behr's novels The Smell of Apples (1996) and Embrace (2000). Through these novels, Behr explores the nature of masculine identities and the ways in which they are developed through a process of adolescent males observing and interacting with their parents and the society in which they live. The development of the two protagonists is traced and white hegemonic attitudes to masculinity in South Africa are exposed. The novels are of importance as these hegemonic attitudes continue to exist within South Africa today. The focus of this analysis is on white adolescent masculinities and the ways in which Behr illustrates the effects of apartheid society on their development. The study makes an in-depth analysis of the plot and themes and the way in which these guide the reader into a critical awareness of socially constructed masculine identities. Each of the four themes namely, sexuality, race, gender and land is explored in this thesis and careful consideration is given to the techniques Behr uses in his writing. Of importance to this thesis are the interrelationships between character, themes and the context of the novels. While the novels are not regarded as a case study, this thesis repeatedly demonstrates the socio-political awareness that Behr uses in order to offer his reader insight into the significant realities that have faced adolescent males as they construct their identities.


R. B. Neuman, D. A. T. Harper & C. R. van Staal write: The results of several recent geological studies relevant to early Ordovician palaeogeography are not mentioned in this recent paper by Cocks & McKerrow (1993). Contributions of particular significance include the recognition that the Dunnage Zone of Newfoundland consists of two distinct parts, the Notre Dame and Exploits subzones of contrasting Ordovician stratigraphy, lithology, structure, metamorphism, plutonism, lead isotope signatures, mineralization, geophysics, and faunas (Williams et al. 1988). The boundary between these subzones, named the Red Indian Line in Newfoundland, is probably a suture. Fossiliferous sedimentary rocks are rare in the Notre Dame Subzone, but Arenig-Llanvirn graptolites occur in shales at three places and at one place conodonts have been extracted from carbonate clasts in volcanic breccias. All these fossils are considered to have Laurentian affinities (Nowlan & Thurlow 1984; Williams 1992; Williams et al. 1992). Fossiliferous Lower Ordovician rocks are more abundant in the Exploits subzone. In addition to the several occurrences of Celtic assemblage brachiopods (Cl-C6 of Neuman & Harper 1992; Harper 1992; Cocks & McKerrow 1993), Gondwanan trilobites and graptolites (Cyclopyge and Undulograptus) are known in the Exploits subzone of central Newfoundland (Williams et al. 1992) from shale that overlies a Lower Ordovician ophiolite fragment near an Occurrence of Celtic brachiopods (C5 of Neuman & Harper 1992). Palaeomagnetic studies of Newfoundland rocks near the Red Indian Line showed that these two subzones were separated by about 30° of latitude (van der Pluijm et al. 1990;


What Works furthers the practice of foresight in organizations, institutions, cities and nations. Divided into three parts, What Works moves from theorizing the future to case studies of foresight in action and concludes with innovative futures methods. The first part introduces futures studies — its principles, theories and methods. The second and main part of the book presents case studies. Chapters include: Deep inclusion in a digital era: democratic governance Asia 2030 Leap-frogging the West: e-health futures in Bangladesh From the lecturer to the murabbi: the alternative futures of higher education in Malaysia Leveraging development: the alternative scenarios for BRAC University Transforming agriculture: from salinity research to greening the desert Cities as agents of change: emerging issues and case studies Going beyond the thin blue line: the futures of international policing From the collection to co-creation: the futures of libraries and librarians From crops to care: the changing nature of health care in rural Australia The third and final section focuses on methodological innovation. These chapters explore the implications of forecasting the long-term future, the use of the Sarkar game in foresight workshops, and how causal layered analysis has been used to transform personal and institutional stories. The conclusion evaluates the use of futures thinking for strategy development.


Finalist 2006 Book of the Year Award by ForeWord Magazine Taekwondo, literally translated, can be defined as "foot, hand way" or "the way of smashing with hands and feet." Such descriptive nomenclature understandably implies a curriculum rich in self-defense. Too often, however, this is simply not the case. Given the current popularity of sport competition in the martial arts, many techniques of defensive value have been stripped away or forfeited altogether in favor of those certain to score in the ring. While the thirst for Olympic gold has clearly played a significant role in propelling taekwondo into the forefront, it should be remembered that this native Korean martial art contains over 3200 distinct self defense techniques. This book describes in detail, the history and evolution of Taekwondo from its ancient roots to modern day applications. Also included are exercises in "Ki" or internal energy development, meditation practice, and practical self-defense strategies. This work focuses on the traditional aspects of Taekwondo rather than on its sportive component."


This paper contributes a real time method for recovering facial shape and expression from a single depth image. The method also estimates an accurate and dense correspondence field between the input depth image and a generic face model. Both outputs are a result of minimizing the error in reconstructing the depth image, achieved by applying a set of identity and expression blend shapes to the model. Traditionally, such a generative approach has shown to be computationally expensive and non-robust because of the non-linear nature of the reconstruction error. To overcome this problem, we use a discriminatively trained prediction pipeline that employs random forests to generate an initial dense but noisy correspondence field. Our method then exploits a fast ICP-like approximation to update these correspondences, allowing us to quickly obtain a robust initial fit of our model. The model parameters are then fine tuned to minimize the true reconstruction error using a stochastic optimization technique. The correspondence field resulting from our hybrid generative-discriminative pipeline is accurate and useful for a variety of applications such as mesh deformation and retexturing. Our method works in real-time on a single depth image i.e. without temporal tracking, is free from per-user calibration, and works in low-light conditions.


We study the composition and biophysical properties of wax esters extracted from the Antarctic copepod, Calanoides acutus, to explore if these factors adjust buoyancy in diapausing copepods. Levels of wax ester in the copepods were correlated with depth, with deeper animals containing higher amounts. An unsaturation index was used to determine the proportions of polyunsaturated wax esters in the oil sac of the copepods. The proportion of polyunsaturated wax ester in copepods that had descended to depth was always close to 50% and attributable to high amounts of the diatom biomarker fatty acid 20:5(n‐3) contained in these storage lipids. High‐pressure differential scanning calorimetry indicated that wax esters with such high levels of unsaturation exhibited unusual properties, changing from a liquid to a solid phase at pressures and temperatures below 500 m in the ocean. The dense, solid wax esters reduce the overall buoyancy of the lipid‐rich copepods at depth and help facilitate neutral buoyancy. The composition of wax esters is a key factor in buoyancy control in these organisms during diapause.


We consider zero-temperature transitions from conformal to non-conformal phases in quantum theories. We argue that there are three generic mechanisms for the loss of conformality in any number of dimensions: (i) fixed point goes to zero coupling, (ii) fixed point runs off to infinite coupling, or (iii) an IR fixed point annihilates with a UV fixed point and they both disappear into the complex plane. We give both relativistic and non-relativistic examples of the last case in various dimensions and show that the critical behavior of the mass gap behaves similarly to the correlation length in the finite temperature Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition in two dimensions, xi ~ exp(c/|T-T_c|^{1/2}). We speculate that the chiral phase transition in QCD at large number of fermion flavors belongs to this universality class, and attempt to identify the UV fixed point that annihilates with the Banks-Zaks fixed point at the lower end of the conformal window.


Background Tuberculosis continues to cause unacceptably high levels of disease and death worldwide. Active preventive strategies are required to improve tuberculosis control and to increase the number of cases treated in developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of the tuberculin skin test (TST) in first-year schoolchildren as a means of increasing the number of tuberculosis cases detected through the screening of close contacts. Methods All members of the households of 90 schoolchildren assigned to three groups on the basis of TST category (≤5 mm, [5–15)mm, ≥15 mm) were screened for sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis. The percentage detection of tuberculosis in close contacts was compared between TST categories. Results We identified 433 close contacts of the 90 schoolchildren, who were then evaluated for tuberculosis. We identified 11 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis among the close contacts (7 already on treatment and 4 previously undiagnosed): 0 in TST category ≤5 mm, 3 in TST category [5–15) mm and 8 in TST category ≥15 mm). This approach increased the detection of tuberculosis cases by a factor of 1.6 in first-year schoolchildren of the TST ≥5 mm group. Conclusion TST in first-year schoolchildren is a potentially effective method for improving the detection of tuberculosis in close contacts.


Yearly, a total of approximately 200,000 patients in The Netherlands present to the emergency department with chest pain. Only 20% of these patients will have an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and need prompt admission and treatment. However, differentiating between ACS and other, mostly non-life-threatening disease, remains difficult since symptoms and results of laboratory tests and ECG can be aspecific. As a result, most chest pain patients are hospitalized for observation and additional testing. This is not only a time-consuming and costly strategy, but also puts many low risk patients for ACS at risk of complications of these diagnostic procedures. This emphasizes the importance of research to improve the risk stratification in chest pain patients, in particular the identification of patients at low risk for ACS.

In this thesis we have evaluated and compared several strategies for risk stratification in acute chest pain patients. In the first three chapters, we describe the rationale, design and findings of the HEART-Impact trial. The HEART score is a validated clinical prediction rule, especially developed to stratify risk in chest pain patients. In this trial with a stepped wedge design we compared "usual care" with "HEART care" in terms of safety, use of medical resources and costs. The HEART care included a calculation of the HEART score in every individual patient and a recommendation for further management. Particularly, this meant early discharge in low-risk patients (HEART score of 3 or below). Our findings were that active use of the HEART score during the work-up of chest pain patients at the emergency department is just as safe as usual care, since non-inferiority was demonstrated: six-week incidence of MACE during HEART care was 1.3% lower than during usual care (upper limit 95% CI: +2.0%, not exceeding the non-inferiority margin of 3%). The decrease in use of health care resources following the initial assessment was small, although cost-effectiveness was formally demonstrated, with the probability of 99% that HEART is cost-effective for a Willingness-to-Pay threshold of €20,000/QALY. Furthermore, we compared the performance of the HEART score with the well-known GRACE score and TIMI score. Our findings were that the HEART score is the most efficient score, since it identified the largest number of patients as low risk, without compromising safety. Also, we show that on top of risk stratification by the HEART score, bicycle stress testing has only a modest contribution to clinical decision-making. Lastly, when assessing patients with chest pain suspected of ACS, none of the investigated markers (copeptin, myoglobin, PlGF, s-Flt-1, NT-proBNP, GDF-15) yielded any additional diagnostic value when combined with high-sensitive cardiac troponin T.

In conclusion, based on the results presented in this thesis, we would advise the use of the HEART score in the work-up of chest pain patients in more hospitals. However, the limited impact on health care resources also underline the importance to identify possible barriers inhibiting the acceptance of the recommended management in the low-risk HEART patients. The question whether patients and society truly benefit from the use of the HEART score will hopefully be answered in the coming years, with increasing body of evidence on the HEART score and increasing acceptance and adherence to the score in clinical practice.


Teaching statistics meaningfully at school level requires that mathematics teachers conduct classroom discussions in ways that give statistical meaning to mathematical concepts and enable learners to develop integrated statistical thinking. Key to statistical discourse are narratives about variation within and between distributions of measurements and comparison of varying measurements to a central anchoring value. Teachers who understand the concepts and tools of statistics in an isolated and processual way cannot teach in such a connected way. Teachers' discourses about the mean tend to be particularly processual and lead to limited understanding of the statistical mean as measure of centre in order to compare variation within data sets. In this article I report on findings from an analysis of discussions about the statistical mean by a group of teachers. The findings suggest that discourses for instruction in statistics should explicitly differentiate between the everyday 'average' and the statistical mean, and explain the meaning of the arithmetic algorithm for the mean. I propose a narrative that logically explains the mean algorithm in order to establish the mean as an origin in a measurement of variation discourse.


Background: Differently-abled children may be particularly susceptible to skin disorders either as a direct consequence of their disability or due of lack awareness regarding personal and environmental hygiene. Aim: To study the prevalence of skin problems in differently-abled children. Materials and Methods: A total of 122 differently-abled children in two special schools were examined for this study. Details regarding the disabilities were obtained from the school records. Results: More than half (53.2%) of the children had skin problems. Infections and infestations, acne, and dermatitis were the common dermatoses encountered in the present study. Conclusion: Periodic skin examination is of vital importance for all people with disabilities to reach a proper diagnosis and to offer treatment. Health education for teachers and parents on maintenance of sound personal hygiene and a clean environment is also recommended.


OBJECTIVE
To compare joint and soft tissue aspiration using a conventional technique with an ultrasound (US) guided technique.

METHODS
In the conventional group, 32 joints in 30 consecutive patients referred for joint aspiration and injection to an experienced consultant rheumatologist were aspirated. In the US guided group, 31 consecutive patients were examined by US to confirm the presence and location of fluid. Following US examination, aspiration was performed by a second rheumatologist based on the US localization of fluid or under direct US guidance.

RESULTS
In the conventional group, successful aspiration was achieved in 10 (32%) joints. In the US guided group, successful aspiration was achieved in 31 (97%) joints. The mean volume of fluid obtained from successful aspirations was similar in both groups (11.7 ml in the US group and 14 ml in the conventional group).

CONCLUSION
The use of US to localize joint and soft tissue fluid collection greatly improves the rate of diagnostic synovial fluid aspiration, particularly in small joints. This has important implications for accurate administration of local steroid therapy and emphasizes the importance of US as a useful tool in clinical rheumatological practice.


Of particular interest to morphologists and syntacticians Issues in Morphosyntax aims to contribute to the discussion on the question whether there exists a separate morphological module in the grammar, distinct from the other modules, with special focus on the connection of morphology with syntax. The view that is defended is that morphological operations do not take place in syntax, but that they are governed by the same principles that govern syntax. There are morphological categories distinct from syntactic categories, which appear in their own domain, below the zero X-bar level, so in this sense there is a morphological module. However, this module is not distinct from the syntactic one, in the sense that the same principles apply equally to the morphological and the syntactic domain. Specific topics of discussion include Noun Incorporation, past participle constructions in Germanic (passives, perfects, and auxiliary selection) and Lexical Integrity effects.


Introduction: Since 2014, Boise State University's institutional repository (IR) has included artwork from Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) exhibitions. This paper explores how the experience of viewing artwork at an in-person BFA exhibition differs from that of viewing an online representation of it, makes recommendations to increase viewer engagement with online representations of artwork, and suggests ways that online exhibitions can enhance in-person viewing. Method: The authors conducted two surveys, one of in-person exhibition attendees and one of online exhibition viewers. Fixed-answer results were analyzed quantitatively, whereas an inductive qualitative coding process was used to analyze survey comments. Results: In-person participants were more likely to view all the artwork, spend more time at the exhibition, and view individual artwork for longer. Online participants were more likely to view artists' statements. Online survey participants who attended the in-person exhibition preferred the in-person exhibition. Discussion: Results point toward a need to increase online viewers' engagement with exhibition artwork, many of them centered around improving the usability of the IR interface. Finally, several benefits of the online environment are noted. Conclusion: Although the online representation of the art exhibition in the IR is not a complete replacement for the in-person exhibition, it is a representation that the authors believe can positively influence a viewer's experience of the BFA exhibition, whether they have viewed the in-person exhibition or not. Respondents' comments in both surveys provided suggestions for improving the two exhibitions, as well as insights into how IR exhibitions enhance the in-person exhibition experience.


An optimal fixed-parameter control system capable to generate zones of quiet at a number of desired locations is designed and analysed in this paper. Although it is of feedback structure the design problem is reformulated so that the Wiener filter approach can be applied. Polynomial technique is used. Due to non-minimum phase character of the plant including delays it requires performing the inner-outer factorization of a polynomial matrix and the causal-anticausal decomposition. For this control system two stages of operation can be distinguished. Experimental verification confirms that the zones of quiet are correctly distributed. Moreover, the control system remains stable for significant changes of the plant.


Roadside units (RSUs), which enable vehicles-to-infrastructure communications, are deployed along roadsides to handle the ever-growing communication demands caused by explosive increase of vehicular traffics. How to efficiently utilize them to enhance the vehicular delay tolerant network (VDTN) performance are the important problems in designing RSU-aided VDTNs. In this work, we implement an extensive experiment involving tens of thousands of operational vehicles in Beijing city. Based on this newly collected Beijing trace and the existing Shanghai trace, we obtain some invariant properties for communication contacts of large scale RSU-aided VDTNs. Specifically, we find that the contact time between RSUs and vehicles obeys an exponential distribution, while the contact rate between them follows a Poisson distribution. According to these observations, we investigate the problem of communication contact-aware mobile data replication for RSU-aided VDTNs by considering the mobile data dissemination system that transmits data from the Internet to vehicles via RSUs through opportunistic communications. In particular, we formulate the communication contact-aware RSU-aided vehicular mobile data dissemination problem as an optimization problem with realistic VDTN settings, and we provide an efficient heuristic solution for this NP-hard problem. By carrying out extensive simulation using realistic vehicular traces, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed heuristic contact-aware data replication scheme, in comparison with the optimal solution and other existing schemes.


We study model selection in stochastic bandit problems. Our approach relies on a master algorithm that selects its actions among candidate base algorithms. While this problem is studied for specific classes of stochastic base algorithms, our objective is to provide a method that can work with more general classes of stochastic base algorithms. We propose a master algorithm inspired by CORRAL \cite{DBLP:conf/colt/AgarwalLNS17} and introduce a novel and generic smoothing transformation for stochastic bandit algorithms that permits us to obtain $O(\sqrt{T})$ regret guarantees for a wide class of base algorithms when working along with our master. We exhibit a lower bound showing that even when one of the base algorithms has $O(\log T)$ regret, in general it is impossible to get better than $\Omega(\sqrt{T})$ regret in model selection, even asymptotically. We apply our algorithm to choose among different values of $\epsilon$ for the $\epsilon$-greedy algorithm, and to choose between the $k$-armed UCB and linear UCB algorithms. Our empirical studies further confirm the effectiveness of our model-selection method.


The interior spaces of educational buildings can be considered as small environments for learning, gaining culture, having fun and social interacting with people. Students spend most of their time in these spaces and they are affected by the elements of the interior design. Assessment of the quality of the educational interior spaces is an important step which should be conducted to develop this type of spaces to be more sustainable in terms of environmental, economic, and social aspects. Therefore assessment should be conducted precisely and objectively and it should not depend on the opinion of the interior designer only. It is supposed here that, the participatory assessment approach should be applied to achieve social sustainability of the interior design by integrating the users of the interior spaces in the assessment process. This research paper applies this concept to assess the quality of interior spaces of New Aswan Language School in the City of New Aswan in Upper Egypt as a case study. The inductive approach is used here by conducting a workshop and focus discussions with a sample of primary and preparatory students. Mental maps of classes have been drawn by these students. The opinions of students and teachers about the quality of the interior design of classes, labs, and the school library have been surveyed through a questionnaire. The results clarified several problems related to indoor air quality, visual and acoustic comfort, suitability of furniture elements and color scheme used in the school's interior spaces. The present research paper suggests some applicable techniques for incorporating the principles of sustainable interior design in the process of developing the interior educational spaces. This research focuses on social sustainability which gives the user the first priority through achieving the thermal comfort, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort in the educational spaces. Additionally, the local culture and the heritage crafts should be considered and deployed in economic way in order to support the local identity and develop unique and distinguished indoor educational environments.


Peggy McIntosh likens white privilege within American culture to an "invisible package of unearned assets that [one] can count on cashing in each day" (McIntosh, 2008, p 1). Majorities of people entering the social work profession are white and hold advanced degrees, while many of their clients come from minority, marginalized populations with a high percentage of people of color (Whitaker, Weismiller, & Clark, 2006). Without a healthy amount of awareness on the part of a social worker regarding his or her privilege, clients with disadvantage may become further alienated and marginalized by unwittingly discriminatory actions and decisions. Due to this danger, it is imperative for social workers to have an awareness and understanding of other cultural identities. The National Association of Social Workers' code of ethics states, "social workers should obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression." (Workers N.A., 2017). This article puts forth a conceptual model for gaining awareness of one's privilege entitled PrivLineage. PrivLineage is a way of exploring one's personal legacy in terms of unearned advantages that benefited predecessors at the expense of other historically marginalized groups. To better inform this model, the researcher conducted a synthesis of literature exploring the connections between privilege, cultural competency, and self-awareness within social work education and professional development. The author presents a personal case study of PrivLineage based upon a framework informed by the research findings. The case study demonstrates how exploring one's PrivLineage has the potential to assist a social work student or practitioner to better understand the personal effects of privilege and to gain a more meaningful orientation to the larger issues of privilege that persist today.


The research survey and analysis contributed to the body of knowledge of the motivations for watching television and using Twitter. The results identified the motivations of relaxation and escape, companionship and social interaction, and entertainment and enjoyment as similar for television and Twitter. The motivations for insight and information and collecting knowledge or learning were not similar for television and Twitter. Since the three passive motivations were shown to be similar it makes sense that when people are using Twitter while watching television, they are most likely looking to pass the time, while being entertained and sharing with friends. These genre of shows tend to be sports, award shows and news shows, which this study found to be the shows most often watched while tweeting.


A composite flare consisting of an impulsive flare SOL2015-06-21T01:42 (GOES class M2.0) and a more gradual, long-duration flare SOL2015-06-21T02:36 (M2.6) from NOAA Active Region 12371, is studied using observations with the Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH) and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). While composite flares are defined by their characteristic time profiles, in this paper we present imaging observations that demonstrate the spatial relationship of the two flares and allow us to address the nature of the evolution of a composite event. The NoRH maps show that the first flare is confined not only in time, but also in space, as evidenced by the stagnation of ribbon separation and the stationarity of the microwave source. The NoRH also detected another microwave source during the second flare, emerging from a different location where thermal plasma is so depleted that accelerated electrons could survive longer against Coulomb collisional loss. The AIA 131 Å images show that a sigmoidal EUV hot channel developed after the first flare and erupted before the second flare. We suggest that this eruption removed the high-lying flux to let the separatrix dome underneath reconnect with neighboring flux and the second microwave burst follow. This scenario explains how the first microwave burst is related to the much-delayed second microwave burst in this composite event.


The study contributes to our current understanding of higher education (HE) teachers' learning about assessment, of the relationship between conceptual change and assessment practice and of the impact of informal versus formal, taught learning opportunities. There is a considerable body of research about the learning of HE teachers and their conceptions of teaching. However, while the importance of informal learning in the academic workplace has been highlighted, little is known about the influences which stimulate conceptual change and changes within actual teaching practice. There is also conflicting evidence about the role and impact of courses and other formal, intentional professional development activities. With the exception of Shannon et al (2008), few researchers have investigated the nature and processes of HE teachers' learning about assessment. The qualitative study discussed in this paper intends to address this gap in our knowledge and is part of a larger multi-site case study investigating the impact of different assessment for learning approaches in one UK university. It draws on data collected within a learning and teaching centre whose explicit aim is to engage HE staff with assessment for learning approaches through an 'associateship' scheme. The scheme intends to support informal learning in the workplace as well as providing formal learning opportunities. For this study semi-structured interviews are conducted with eight individual associates and eight associate teams; data collection is currently in progress. Findings from this set of interviews is contrasted with questionnaire and interview data collected from novice and established HE teachers who participated in two different taught courses about assessment. Initial findings suggest that one function of the various formal and informal learning opportunities investigated in this study is that they create opportunities for dialogue about assessment, while assessment is otherwise rarely discussed in the workplace.


This paper provides a formal account on the evolution of the (alveolo)palatal lateral consonant /ʎ/ in Spanish and Portuguese, by considering the phonetic motivation for its variation patterns and by connecting its synchronic dialectal distribution with its diachronic pathways of change. The novel approach in this study presents a unified, constraint-based view of the role that the articulatory and acoustic patterns of the aforementioned consonant have played in its history and continue to shape its current dialectal manifestations. More specifically, it proposes that the three apparently disconnected transformations this consonant incurred at different points throughout the history of Spanish (i.e. /ʎ/ > /j/, /ʎ/ > /ʝ/, /ʎ/ > /ʒ/) and Portuguese (i.e. /ʎ/ > /j/) reveal, in fact, integrated steps of changes that compose its historical evolution, i.e. /ʎ/ > /j/ > /ʝ/ > /ʒ/.


This study presents an integrative model of the press, public opinion, and foreign policy relations during times of international crises. It combines theories of mass communications and international relations, with emphasis on the various stages of the crisis, the roles and functions of the media, and the different positions adopted by the press and the public vis-à-vis government foreign policy. The model is then applied to the United States during the Bosnian crisis (1992—1995), by examining commentary and editorials from The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, news headlines from USA Today and Washington Times, and public opinion data.The findings and conclusions regarding strong and significant correlations among media content, public opinion, and policy clarify the different roles of the press during various stages of an international crisis. They shed new light on scholars' and practitioners' understanding of the complex nature of theses relationships, during both times of crisis and more generally.


The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is currently the most important facility used to generate extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic radiation in the ionosphere. In order to produce this ELF radiation the HAARP transmitter radiates a strong beam of high-frequency (HF) waves modulated at ELF. This HF heating modulates the electrons' temperature in the D region ionosphere and leads to modulated conductivity and a time-varying current which then radiates at the modulation frequency. Recently, the HAARP HF transmitter operated with 3.6GW of effective radiated power modulated at frequency of 2.5Hz. It is shown that high-power ELF radiation generated by HF ionospheric heaters, such as the current HAARP heater, can cause Earthquakes, Cyclones and strong localized heating. .


This article aims to point out the continuities and discontinuities within a single organisation, the Churches' Urban Planning Commission (CLTPC) in a regional context. The article falls within the broad framework of religio-political historiography. CUPC was a service organisation which was started in the late 1960s by a group of church ministers from various denominations in response to the effect the Group Areas Act had on the religious worshipping of oppressed communities in the Western Cape. Several external and internal factors had an influence on the thinking and activities of CUPC; its direction and strategies were often determined by socio-political trends and developments. In the early 1970s, for example, the Black Consciousness philosophy had a notable influence on the thinking within the organisation. The 1976 uprising is another historical moment which pushed the organisation in a specific direction. Another determining external factor was the organisation's almost total reliance on overseas funding. In the end this proved to be a major cause for its collapse, especially after 2 February 1990 when political organisations were unbanned in South Africa. The article also tries to show that internal factors like ideological differences and disagreements on strategies caused serious internal conflict. Since the early 1980s the organisation experienced a shift in emphasis. A definite political agenda with strong charterist sentiments became dominant within CUPC. In a sense, the organisation then became a political agent. Despite the discontinuation of CUPC there are certain continuities through projects which were inspired by the organisation. Socio-political conditions which the organisation attempted to address and improve especially in the earlier period still prevail. Concerted efforts are being made in the early 1990s to create and establish a more humane environment for people who have suffered for many years.


There is a great deal of buzz surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT), which is the notion, simply put, that nearly everything not currently connected to the Internet from gym shorts to streetlights soon will be. The rise of "smart products" such as Internet-enabled refrigerators and self-driving cars holds the promise to revolutionize business and society. To substantiate the coming wave, Samsung has announced that all of its products would be connected to the Internet by 2020. Yet it is an open question whether security can or will scale along with this increasingly crowded field, or whether a combination of perverse incentives, increasing complexity, new problems, and new impacts of old problems like "technical debt" amassing from products being rushed to market, will derail progress and exacerbate cyber insecurity. This Article investigates contemporary approaches to IoT security through an in-depth comparative case study focusing on the European Union and the United States. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network Information Security (NIS) Directive in the EU, and influence of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, and other leading standards, on IoT security with a focus on mitigating the risk of politically motivated attacks. We analyze transatlantic reform proposals — including the U.S. Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017 and the potential for a dedicated NIST Framework for IoT security given the international success of the NIST CSF — and argue for a polycentric approach to boosting IoT securing across both jurisdictions by applying lessons from major Internet governance debates.


Efficient management of patient flow has become an urgent issue for most hospitals. Emergency department crowding, nurse staffing shortages, and patient outcomes, complication rates, and even mortality rates have all been linked to shortages of hospital beds and associated stresses on staff when patient volume peaks. To compound the problem of inefficiencies and variability in patient flow, health care systems now face strenuous economic challenges not previously experienced. "Managing Patient Flow in Hospitals: Strategies and Solutions, Second Edition" provides hospitals with scientifically grounded methods to optimally manage patient flow and serves as an indispensable guide to effective operations management. Special features of this title include: detailed case studies that illustrate how three health care organizations have successfully improved patient flow and eased crowding; and authoritative state-of-the-art tutorials to help you to: understand the problems in patient flow management; assess the quantitative impact of patient flow issues on patients and staff; assess, measure, and evaluate patient flow; use quantitative methods to enhance patient flow; apply strategies to manage patient flow; manage variability in patient flow to improve efficiency and safety; and, sustain improvements on an ongoing basis. This book will help hospital executives; chief operating officers; chief financial officers; board members; medical officers; physicians, nurses, and other clinicians; quality, process improvement, and productivity managers; and, emergency department, surgery, critical care, and nursing operations professionals learn how to master the theory and practice of patient flow.


Learn about Wyomingites who fought over there and those who stayed on the homefront during the Great War. This guide also includes a bibliography and where to find additional information on Wyoming and World War One.


Book synopsis: Employees have a set of needs as part of the 'psychological contract' of employment. However, organizations operate for a reason and they too have agendas and needs. It is how the two come together that determines the capacity for good human relations and optimum productivity. Employee Well-being Support is an edited collection of expert contributions that explores all key issues in this increasingly critical area.


It is well known that the performance of point-absorber wave energy converters (WECs) depends upon resonance with the wave frequency. Indeed, the ideal performance of a resonating point-absorber WEC in a regular sea that can be represented by a simple sinusoid is well known, provided all motions are small and remain in the linear region. However, the performance of such a device in a more realistic, irregular sea that is not represented by a simple sinusoid cannot be so readily calculated. The first difficulty lies in modelling the hydrodynamic behaviour of the device. Recent developments in representing the hydrodynamic diffraction and radiation forces have enabled relatively simple simulation models to be developed, such as those presented and used in this paper. The second difficulty lies in the design of the device itself. In a regular sea with a known wave frequency, the settings of the power take-off system can be defined at well-known optimum values. It is shown in the present paper that, even when the wave frequency is not constant, the local wave frequency can be estimated, and this estimate can be used to adjust the power take-off system settings to maintain quasiresonance and, hence, approach the level of performance in a comparable regular sea. In this manner, for irregular seas it is possible to identify a dominant wave frequency over a relatively short time period and to use this frequency continuously to adjust the power take-off system settings, so as to adapt to the current sea conditions. This is likely, in some sea conditions, to involve the power take-off supplying power over part of the cycle, rather than absorbing it. This will increase the demands placed on the power take-off - particularly on its efficiency when the direction of power flow has to be reversible. The relative performance of such a tuneable point-absorber WEC is assessed in the paper. It is shown that the power converted in irregular seas could be as much as 50 per cent of the rated power, where the latter estimate is equivalent to the power converted in a corresponding regular sea.


We propose a general framework for denoising high-dimensional measurements which requires no prior on the signal, no estimate of the noise, and no clean training data. The only assumption is that the noise exhibits statistical independence across different dimensions of the measurement, while the true signal exhibits some correlation. For a broad class of functions ("$\mathcal{J}$-invariant"), it is then possible to estimate the performance of a denoiser from noisy data alone. This allows us to calibrate $\mathcal{J}$-invariant versions of any parameterised denoising algorithm, from the single hyperparameter of a median filter to the millions of weights of a deep neural network. We demonstrate this on natural image and microscopy data, where we exploit noise independence between pixels, and on single-cell gene expression data, where we exploit independence between detections of individual molecules. This framework generalizes recent work on training neural nets from noisy images and on cross-validation for matrix factorization.


The euro area today consists of a competitive, moderately leveraged North and an uncompetitive, over-indebted South. Its main macroeconomic challenge is to carry out the adjustment required to restore the competitiveness of its southern part and eliminate its excessive public and private debt burden. This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal and competitiveness adjustment in a stylised model with two countries in a monetary union, North and South. To restore competitiveness, South implements a more restrictive fiscal policy than North.We consider two scenarios. In the first, monetary policy aims at keeping inflation constant in the North. The South therefore needs to deflate to regain competitiveness, which worsens the debt dynamics. In the second, monetary policy aims at keeping inflation constant in the monetary union as a whole. This results in more monetary stimulus, inflation in the North is higher, and this in turn helps the debt dynamics in the South.Our main findings are -The differential fiscal stance between North and South is what determines real exchange rate changes. South therefore needs to tighten more. There is no escape from relative austerity.If monetary policy aims at keeping inflation stable in the North and the initial debt is above a certain threshold, debt dynamics are perverse - fiscal retrenchment is self-defeating;If monetary policy targets average inflation instead, which implies higher inflation in the North, the initial debt threshold above which the debt dynamics become perverse is higher. Accepting more inflation at home is therefore a way for the North to contribute to restoring debt sustainability in the South.Structural reforms in the South improve the debt dynamics if the initial debt is not too high. Again, targeting average inflation rather than inflation in the North helps strengthen the favourable effects of structural reforms.


This paper uses binary logistic regression to develop two models of firms' Occupational Health and Safety disclosures, one based on disclosure / non-disclosure, the other based on above / below the median levels of disclosure. Industry and auditor are found to be important components of both models, whilst operating revenue contributes to the former and company age to the latter. These findings support to some extent previous studies into Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure, but also identify new factors that need to be further investigated. The paper contributes to our current understanding of Corporate Social Disclosure through its focus on the little considered area of Occupational Health and Safety and also raising the possibility of non-parametric statistics as a better statistical methodology for such research.


This article discusses the share of expenses that should be covered by the public plan and looks at how those revenues should be raised. It deals with a fundamental issue that must be addressed in a system where government takes a major role in health care financing. This issue is about the relative importance of the public plan and private payments as sources of funding. Another related issue is how the revenue to pay for public spending on health care should be raised. The article discusses financing through general revenue and compares it with various forms of social insurance. A related issue is the financing of health care for the elderly in a social insurance system. The third fundamental question, finally, concerns the way money should be spent. The article discusses the nature of the contracts between providers and the public plan.


The femtosecond laser (FSL) is a focusable infrared laser that delivers ultrashort pulses in the femtosecond duration range. Contiguous pulses are placed at a definite depth within the cornea, thus resecting only targeted tissue. This surgical device allows cutting of corneal tissue in a number of reproducible, customised transplant designs, and allows the use of sagittal plane trephination profiles, such as zigzag, top-hat, Christmas tree and mushroom shapes to improve wound stability and, probably, postoperative astigmatism.1–5 The unique capability of the FS laser to photo-disrupt tissue with minimal collateral damage has made it a promising tool for increasing accuracy and predictability in corneal surgery.6 It has mainly been used in refractive surgery, for example, for flap preparation in Laser in Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK), for intrastromal corneal ring segments (ICRS) implantation in keratoconus patients7 or astigmatic keratotomy.

Penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) has been the treatment of choice for advanced cases of keratoconus for a long time. During the past decade, however, deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) has regained more popularity in the treatment of keratoconus. The advantages of DALK over PKP surgery are: no corneal endothelial rejection; it is an extraocular procedure; early discontinuation of topical corticosteroids, minor loss of endothelial cells; possible superior resistance to rupture of the globe after blunt trauma; and the potential for early removal of sutures.8 With the advent of newer techniques and instrumentations, visual and refractive outcomes of DALK have been reported comparable with PKP.9 Therefore, in moderate keratoconus, cases with clear visual axis and intolerance to contact lenses who do not wish to try ICRS, DALK may be the surgical indication of choice. Overusage of PKP should be avoided. Especially in keratoconus, a very well done DALK may yield the same refractive and visual outcomes as PKP with a lower …


Tidal migrations are inherent in the life histories of numerous demersal predators, and both the indirect and direct effects of these forays are important to the structure and function of littoral communities. In coastal estuaries of the Northeastern Pacific, Dungeness crabs Cancer magis- ter are abundant and compose a significant portion of estuarine biomass. The nursery role of complex littoral habitats for young-of-the-year (0+) C. magister is well documented, yet the ecology of subse- quent age classes within coastal estuarine systems, and within littoral areas in particular, remains unclear. The goal of our study was to elucidate habitat use and migratory patterns of subadult C. magister (40 to 130 mm carapace width; 1+ and >1+ yr classes) in littoral eelgrass Zostera marina, oyster Crassostrea gigas, and unstructured littoral habitats (ULH). We employed 3 sampling tech- niques (trapping, acoustic telemetry, and underwater video) designed to examine various aspects of migratory behavior within Willapa Bay, Washington, a representative coastal estuary. Baited trap sur- veys revealed that relative catches of subadult C. magister are 30 to 50% higher on ULH than eel- grass or oyster beds, and are negatively correlated with catches of another large cancrid crab, C. pro- ductus. Ultrasonic telemetry observations suggest that subadult C. magister making nighttime foraging incursions prefer ULH to other littoral habitats, and underwater video observations show that migrations are influenced by tidal rhythms since movements are correlated with the direction and velocity of current flow in adjacent channels. Our results dramatically alter the perception of C. magister as a predominantly sublittoral predator, and underscore the significance of littoral habi- tats as important foraging areas.


ABSTRACT This study concerns children's aesthetic meaning making in terms of how it is constituted musically, emotionally, and dialogically. We investigate how two 10-year-old children collaboratively engage in the task of teaching and learning to sing a song. The research questions concern what musical and emotional expressions the participants responsively construct and how these expressions are addressed, both explicitly and implicitly. Adopting a perspective grounded in Mikhail Bakhtin's dialogue philosophy and more recent educational research in this tradition, the study explores how children's affective reasoning is co-constructed in the process of song sharing that is also a sense-making enterprise. Interactive talk episodes, including facial displays, are transcribed, analyzed, and discussed. We demonstrate, from moment to moment, how emotive expressivity comes into play and how it refers to double dialogicality, both at the interpersonal and activity-specific level. Finally, on the basis of our findings, we discuss conflicting artistic and educational values.


BACKGROUND Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common chronic non-organic disease of the digestive system. Berberine (BBR) has been used to treat patients with IBS, but the underlying therapeutic mechanism is little understood. We believe that BBR achieves its therapeutic effect on IBS by preventing stress intestinal inflammation and visceral hypersensitivity and reducing bowel motility. AIM To test the hypothesis that BBR achieves its therapeutic effect on IBS by preventing subclinical inflammation of the intestinal mucosa and reducing visceral hypersensitivity and intestinal motility. METHODS IBS was induced in rats via water avoidance stress (WAS). qRT-PCR and histological analyses were used to evaluate the levels of cytokines and mucosal inflammation, respectively. Modified ELISA and qRT-PCR were used to evaluate the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signal transduction pathway. Colorectal distention test, gastrointestinal transit measurement, Western blot, and qRT-PCR were used to analyze visceral sensitivity, intestinal motility, the expression of C-kit (marker of Cajal mesenchymal cells), and the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor TrkB. RESULTS WAS led to mucosal inflammation, visceral hyperalgesia, and high intestinal motility. Oral administration of BBR inhibited the NF-κB signal transduction pathway, reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines [interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, interferon-γ, and tumor necrosis factor-α], promoted the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10 and transforming growth factor-β), and improved the terminal ileum tissue inflammation. BBR inhibited the expression of BDNF, TrkB, and C-kit in IBS rats, leading to the reduction of intestinal motility and visceral hypersensitivity. The therapeutic effect of BBR at a high dose (100 mg/kg) was superior to than that of the low-dose (25 mg/kg) group. CONCLUSION BBR reduces intestinal mucosal inflammation by inhibiting the intestinal NF-κB signal pathway in the IBS rats. BBR reduces the expression of BDNF, its receptor TrkB, and C-kit. BBR also reduces intestinal motility and visceral sensitivity to achieve its therapeutic effect on IBS.


—In recent years, recycling has become the first best option of dealing with waste before landfilling is considered in cases of handling difficulties. In South Africa however, 41,000 tons of solid waste is destined for landfills daily; which includes huge chunks of waste from construction and demolition activities. The continued reliance of South Africa on the landfilling system could extend a while until economical recycling alternatives are introduced. Leachate generation and percolation is expected in these landfills on account of infiltration of water into the waste body from rain and/or runoffs. Although, it has been documented that arsenic, copper and chromium percolate soil systems, it however noted that occurring physical, chemical and biological activities may influence mobility of metals from generated leachate. This is particularly evident in cases where Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA)-treated wood are disposed in monofills with consequential impacts on the environment. Laboratory investigation using a bespoke device to explore the environmental risk of depositing CCA-treated wood in monofills and/or open dumps was done; with a view to simulating worst case scenario of an unlined disposal facility that relied on the geology of the site. This scenario best indicates high concentrations and maximum formation of heavy metals. The bespoke device was assembled with chopped untreated wood and CCA-treated wood in a bottom chamber respectively, and de-ionized water was allowed to seep through from a reservoir forming leachate. The targeted chemical ions (arsenic, copper and chromium) from the leachate were analyzed by way of full spectral method on the effluent and were compared to South African standard of drinking water. The study therefore, revealed that CCA-treated wood formed hazardous concentration levels of chromium and arsenic which if not properly contained in real cases, could inflict severe contamination consequential to human and environmental health.


One of the unresolved questions in deep learning is the nature of the solutions that are being discovered. We investigate the collection of solutions reached by the same network architecture, with different random initialization of weights and random mini-batches. These solutions are shown to be rather similar - more often than not, each train and test example is either classified correctly by all the networks, or by none at all. Surprisingly, all the network instances seem to share the same learning dynamics, whereby initially the same train and test examples are correctly recognized by the learned model, followed by other examples which are learned in roughly the same order. When extending the investigation to heterogeneous collections of neural network architectures, once again examples are seen to be learned in the same order irrespective of architecture, although the more powerful architecture may continue to learn and thus achieve higher accuracy. This pattern of results remains true even when the composition of classes in the test set is unrelated to the train set, for example, when using out of sample natural images or even artificial images. To show the robustness of these phenomena we provide an extensive summary of our empirical study, which includes hundreds of graphs describing tens of thousands of networks with varying NN architectures, hyper-parameters and domains. We also discuss cases where this pattern of similarity breaks down, which show that the reported similarity is not an artifact of optimization by gradient descent. Rather, the observed pattern of similarity is characteristic of learning complex problems with big networks. Finally, we show that this pattern of similarity seems to be strongly correlated with effective generalization.


Background: To increase the expulsion rate and reduce the analgesic requirement, there is a great deal of enthusiasm for adjuvant pharmacological interventions which is non-invasive and cost-effective. Tamsulosin shortens hospital stay, decreases operative interference. Tamsulosin increases stone expulsion rate and decreases expulsion time and has been shown to be safe and cost effective. The aim was to study the effect of Tamsulosin in the spontaneous expulsion of calculi in the ureter and to study the side effects of use of Tamsulosin for ureteric stones. Patients and Methods: A prospective, randomized controlled study was conducted to compare the effect of Tamsulosin between two groups. This study included a total of 50 patients, 25 patients were chosen randomly and advised to take plenty of oral fluids and treated with NSAIDs (Diclofenac sodium) and the other 25 patients were treated with Tamsulosin (alpha blocker) 0.4mg HS for one month along with oral fluids and NSAIDs (Diclofenac sodium). The patients were then observed weekly and ultrasound scan was repeated after 15 days to look for any passage of calculi. If the stone was passed successfully, it was confirmed with ultrasonography. After one month if treatment failed, conservative management was discontinued and the patient was advised surgery. Independent t-test and Chi-square test' was the test of significance. Results: Majority of the patients were in the age group of 20-40 yrs. The mean size of the calculus was 7.18 mm on the right side and 6.62 mm on the left side. Out of the 25 patients who were on alpha 1 blocker (Tamsulosin) 16 patients had passed the calculi and 9 patients had no results with a success rate of 64%. In the 25 patients who were not on Tamsulosin 6 patients passed the calculi and 19 patients did not pass the calculi. Conclusion: Tamsulosin is an effective and safe drug in the management of calculi in the ureter and should be considered before ureteroscopy or extracorporeal lithotripsy for uncomplicated ureteral calculi.


The processes of simultaneous moisture and heat transfer, which are often nonstation‐ ary, and the distinct nature and properties of the material to be dried complicate the description of the drying process. The theory of moisture migration and modeling of drying process has been the subject of many studies. Three theories, the diffusion, the capillary flow, and the evaporation‐condensation, have won general recognition for the explanation of moisture transfer in porous media. This study has several objectives. The first one was to present a new method for calculation of the variable effective diffusivity as well as to identify different drying mechanisms and its exact transitions during isothermal drying of clay tiles. The second and main objectives were to analyze all obtained isothermal data, to create a link with the comprehensive theory of moisture migration during drying, and to set up the non‐isothermal drying process. The procedure was based on the principle of controlling the mass transport during the drying process. Proposed regimes were consisted from several isothermal segments. Isothermal segments were selected and specificated in accordance with the clay raw material nature and the moisture migration theory.