The History of the Counts of Guines and Lords of Ardres, a work made famous by Georges Duby, now appears in an expert translation by Leah Shopkow. Consisting of 154 surviving chapters, Lambert's chronicle is just one of many local genealogies produced in Flanders during the high Middle Ages. It is extraordinarily rich and idiosyncratic, however, in its treatment of two competing families, longtime rivals until they were joined by marriage in the mid-twelfth century. In the first 96 chapters, Lambert, priest of the church of Ardres, traces the lineage of the counts of Guines from the seventh century to his present. Suddenly, narrative control seems to be wrested away by the garrulous Walter LeClud, illegitimate son of Baldwin of Ardres, who tells the history of the other family for the next 50 chapters. At that point, Lambert's voice is finally restored, with an account of the now combined holdings of Guines and Ardres. With two storytellers recounting some of the same events from different perspectives, The History of the Counts of Guines and Lords of Ardres is a particularly useful source for probing the medieval aristocratic family and aristocratic attitudes. Shopkow brings Lambert's chronicle to life in an accurate, lively translation and provides relevant historical and historiographical information in her extensive introduction and explanatory notes to the text.


ABSTRACT The discussion of how automation, especially intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), affects the workforce is a focal point in scholarship about the future of work. In contrast to previous technological advances, routine and structured knowledge work are believed to be substituted with intelligent technological solutions. The paper responds to a recent call for research on how the implementation of intelligent technologies will affect the work-values dimension of person-job fit. The discussion of future work has hitherto focused on how the technologies change skill requirements at work. However, as routine and structured work is substituted, the values with which the work fits change as well. To explore how intelligent technologies can affect the work-values fit, the paper draws data from the European Social Survey and analyses the relationship between occupational values and automatability in 126 occupations. The results indicate that person-job fit can decrease in automatable occupations if intelligent technologies are implemented in the way scholars expect.


We discuss the task of ontology population as a machine learning problem with a large hierarchy of classes. Since many machine learning methods are designed primarily for two-class problems, it is desirable to transform the multiclass classification problem into several two-class problems. Coding matrices are a unifying formalism for describing such transformations. We present an approach for constructing coding matrices in a greedy way, with a focus on achieving good performance with a tractable number of two-class classification models.


The problem of getting cheap firewood is now common is Salisbury's townships. It is getting worse each day as the removal of indigenous timber in the townships' surroundings becomes widespread.
Many third world countries face a major problem of wood fuel crisis. In historic times wood fuel shortages dislodged many population centers. Shortage of wood fuel was one of the reasons for the fall of the 'Great Zimbabwe' Kingdom in the mid-fifteenth century. The 'unnaturally large population, concentrated in one spot ... sooner or later exhausted the grazing, the fertility of the soil and timber available for building and firewood (Garlake, 1973). Beach (1930) noted that 'the people (of Great Zimbabwe) after the year 1100, had begun to make superior huts with walls made of thick daga rather than poles and daga'. The timber needed was therefore, for use mainly as firewood.


There has been significant recent interest in the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social movements protesting against authoritarian regimes. Much of the literature on this topic can be framed in terms of dualities: seeing either technology or (less often) society as the cause of impacts characterised as either liberation or repression. This paper seeks to move beyond those dualities by using actor-network theory (ANT) to study the role of ICTs in Iran?s Green Movement; specifically by applying Callon?s moments of translation.This analysis turns the focus from causes or impacts of social movements, to the dynamics of their trajectory. It presents ICTs as an active actor within this social movement of protest; an actor which rapidly made this movement into a global network. Yet ICTs also betrayed the protest. They simultaneously worked for the Iranian regime. And they allowed a shallowness of translation which enabled quick problematisation, interessement and enrolment, but which equally enabled quick de-enrolment, and which undermined the full mobilisation of this social movement and ultimately led to its disintegration.Recognising the limits but also the originality of actor-network theory, the paper ends by suggesting directions for future ANT-based work on ICTs and social movements.


The Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) tokamak will have superconducting magnets for both the poloidalfield (PF) coils and the toroidal field (TF) coils. The physical arrangement of the PF configuration has 14 coils external to the TF coils. The analysis of the equilibrium flexibility of the KSTAR PF system determines the coil currents required to maintain prescribed equilibrium configurations over the desired range ofoperational parameters specified for I p (q 95 ), β N , and i (3). Constraints on the plasma separatrix and the flux linkage through the geometric center of the plasma are specified for the free-boundary equilibrium calculations. The ripple magnitude due to the finite number of TF coils and the size of the port for the neutral beam (NB) injector determine the number, size, and shape of TF coils. Two ripple criteria for a shaped plasma are used for types of ripple transport. The current design of the TF coil, with 16 coils and a D shape, is big enough to satisfy requirements for the ripple magnitude at the plasma and to provide adequate access for tangential NB injection. The external magnetic diagnostics, magnetic probes and flux loops to detect the plasma boundary are designed by the EFIT code, which uses a realistic distributed current source constrained by equilibrium. The proposed configuration with 52 full toroidal flux loops and 78 magnetic probes results in <0.7 cm deviation at critical points, with the Gaussian-distributed 3% random root-mean-square perturbation in the signal.


Mycoplasma-like bodies with helical filaments were seen by phase contrast microscopy in juice expressed from tissues of plants infected with corn stunt agent. Each filament is bounded by a "unit membrane" and no cell wall, sheath, envelope, or second membrane has yet been discerned by electron microscopy. The association of these filaments with development of disease, their occurrence in phloem cells as seen by both freeze-etching and thin-section electron microscopy, the diagnosis of infection based on their presence in plants without symptoms, and their absence in noninfected corn are consistent with the hypothesis that these unusual filaments are formed by the mycoplasma-like organism presumed to be the corn stunt agent.


General Francisco Franco ruled Spain for nearly forty years, as one of the most powerful and controversial leaders in that nation's long history. He has been the subject of many biographies, several of them more than a thousand pages in length, but all the preceding works have tended toward one extreme of interpretation or the other. This is the first comprehensive scholarly biography of Franco in English that is objective and balanced in its coverage, treating all three major aspects of his life - personal, military, and political. The coauthors, both renowned historians of Spain, present a deeply researched account that has made extensive use of the Franco Archive (long inaccessible to historians). They have also conducted in-depth interviews with his only daughter to explain better his family background, personal life, and marital environment, as well as his military and political career. Franco: A Personal and Political Biography depicts his early life, explains his career and rise to prominence as an army officer who became Europe's youngest interwar brigadier general in 1926, and then discusses his role in the affairs of the troubled Second Spanish Republic (1931-36). Stanley G. Payne and Jesus Palacios examine in detail how Franco became dictator and how his leadership led to victory in the Spanish Civil War that consolidated his regime. They also explore Franco's role in the great repression that accompanied the Civil War--resulting in tens of thousands of executions - and examine at length his controversial role in World War II. This masterful biography highlights Franco's metamorphoses and adaptations to retain power as politics, culture, and economics shifted in the four decades of his dictatorship.


Transmission is an integral part of the electricity system. However, even within a centralised system of generation and transmission it has never been a trivial exercise to perform coordination of expanding loads, generation, and transmission capacities in a way that is socially optimal. There are features like lumpy investments, pervasive transmission system externalities, reliability as a public good, and the spatial distribution of both generation and transmission capacities. The unbundling of transmission and generation of newly deregulated electricity systems have substantially increased these coordination problems. To pursue proactive planning the investment decisions of independent generating investors have to be forecasted with sufficient accuracy in order to decide on socially optimal transmission investments. This calls for a systematic use of scenario simulations identifying locational generation investment and corresponding transmission investments. But since investors cannot be forced to invest, incentive schemes must be devised as part of the scenario simulations in order to entice both the right volume and the right location over time. JEL classification: L14, L5, L52


Background Research has suggested an association with ambient air pollution and sperm quality. Objectives We investigated the effect of exposure to ozone (O3) and particulate matter < 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) on sperm quality. Methods We reexamined a previous cohort study of water disinfection by-products to evaluate sperm quality in 228 presumed fertile men with different air pollution profiles. Outcomes included sperm concentration, total sperm per ejaculate (count), and morphology, as well as DNA integrity and chromatin maturity. Exposures to O3 and PM2.5 were evaluated for the 90–day period before sampling. We used multivariable linear regression, which included different levels of adjustment (i.e., without and with season and temperature) to assess the relationship between exposure to air pollutants during key periods of sperm development and adverse sperm outcomes. Results Sperm concentration and count were not associated with exposure to PM2.5, but there was evidence of an association (but not statistically significant) with O3 concentration and decreased sperm concentration and count. Additionally, a significant increase in the percentage of sperm cells with cytoplasmic drop [β = 2.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.21–5.06] and abnormal head (β = 0.47; 95% CI, 0.03–0.92) was associated with PM2.5 concentration in the base model. However, these associations, along with all other sperm outcomes, were not significantly associated with either pollutant after controlling for season and temperature. Overall, although we found both protective and adverse effects, there was generally no consistent pattern of increased abnormal sperm quality with elevated exposure to O3 or PM2.5. Conclusions Exposures to O3 or PM2.5 at levels below the current National Ambient Air Quality Standards were not associated with statistically significant decrements in sperm outcomes in this cohort of fertile men. However, some results suggested effects on sperm concentration, count, and morphology.


Performance of a series of eccentric contractions produces adverse effects including muscle weakness, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), fluid accumulation and decreased muscle function. The repeated bout effect is a physiological adaptation observed when a single-bout of eccentric exercise protects against muscle damage from subsequent eccentric bouts. Similar to the repeated bout effect, increases in flexibility have been linked to attenuations in acute muscle damage, muscle fatigue and strength loss after eccentric exercise. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the muscle physiological responses to eccentric strength training after first priming the muscles with either a period of static flexibility training or a single intense bout of eccentric exercise performed weeks earlier; and compare these to the responses from eccentric strength training when no prior intervention is administered. Methods: Twenty-five participants were randomly assigned to a flexibility (F) (n=8), a single-bout (SB) (n=9), or a control (C) (n=8) group. The design consisted of two 4-week phases; 1) priming intervention, 2) eccentric training. The priming intervention included static stretching (3x/week; 30mins/day) (F), a single-bout of eccentric exercise (SB) or no priming intervention (C). All groups proceeded to complete eccentric training of the knee flexors using isotonic contractions (%load progressively increased over training period) on a dynamometer following the priming intervention phase. Testing was completed at baseline, post-priming intervention and post-eccentric training, in conjunction with data being collected during the acute eccentric training phase (0hr, 24hr, 48hr; post-bout 1 and 4). Dependent measures included muscle thickness, isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), eccentric and concentric MVC, optimal angle, active range of motion (ROM), passive ROM, maximal power, electromyography (EMG) and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Results: Acute data during the eccentric training phase revealed a significant reduction in DOMS for both the F and SB groups compared to the C following the first bout of eccentric exercise (p<0.05). The F also had reduced soreness in comparison to both the SB and C post fourth bout of eccentric exercise (p<0.05). The F group demonstrated attenuated loss in isometric strength (post fourth bout) and maximal power (post first bout) during eccentric training compared to the C group (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between groups across all dependent variables following the eccentric training phase. Conclusion: This is the first study to directly compare the protective effects observed with static flexibility training to that of a single-bout of eccentric exercise throughout a subsequent eccentric training regime. Although differences in muscle soreness, strength and maximal power occurred during the acute stages of eccentric training, there appeared to be no significant advantage of either protective priming method at the end of eccentric…


Planarians--tubular flatworms--can regenerate all of their body parts and entire organ systems after amputation. However, the mechanism by which the animal "knows" how to generate a head after head removal or a tail after tail removal, a property called regeneration polarity, is unknown. Gurley et al. and Petersen and Reddien now find that a conserved factor within the Wnt signaling pathway is used to distinguish head from tail. Decreased Wnt signaling through β-catenin causes the regeneration of heads, whereas activation of Wnt signaling induces tails. β-catenin also maintains the anteroposterior body axis in uncut animals. K. A. Gurley, J. C. Rink, A. Sánchez Alvarado, β-catenin defines head versus tail identity during planarian regeneration and homeostasis. Science 319, 323-327 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text] C. P. Petersen, P. W. Reddien, Smed-βcatenin-1 is required for anteroposterior blastema polarity in planarian regeneration. Science 319, 327-330 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Hydrothermal vents have been recognised as isolated islands of productivity in the deep sea, but very little is known about the transport and export of chemoautotrophic produced organic carbon to vent surrounding habitats. Here, we investigate vent carbon export and its influence on benthic food webs in sediments at the Rainbow (RB) vent field at the Mid Atlantic Ridge in ~2200 m water depth. Two sites were considered along the dispersal direction of the RB vent plume for sample collection: the close vicinity at about ~30-100 m ("near-vent"); and at 4 km distance ("off-vent") to the nearest venting area. At both sites, box corers were used to sample sediments and their fauna. A turbidity sensor mounted on a CTD/Rosette provided data on the presence of a vent fluid plume in the water column. Niskin bottles were used to sample suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) from the plume, as well as from surface waters at 75 m depth. SPOM, sediments and fauna were analysed for nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes. Carbon derived from in situ chemoautotrophy, characterised by depleted δ13C, was taken up by infauna close to the venting area as the main nutrition source, while fauna at the off-vent site showed less depleted δ13C with a signature more typical for photosynthetic- derived material. Nematodes were the most abundant faunal taxon. Their abundance and biomass were variable and not different at the two studied sites. In situ derived organic matter was traced back in the food web in the close vicinity of the venting area. The connectivity of vent and non-vent habitats should be taken appropriately into account when designing future spatial management plans with regard to deep-seabed mining at hydrothermal vents.


Curvature of the human lower spine, known as lumbar lordosis, was a key adaptation for bipedalism that evolved to balance the upright trunk, but measures of lordosis in modern humans and estimates from the fossil record indicate substantial variability within and among hominin groups. This thesis explores the biomechanical consequences of lordosis variability in modern humans in three studies to understand the evolutionary pressures that have shaped the human lumbar spine. The first study used magnetic resonance imaging and a postural analysis to test three biomechanical models of lordosis variability. The first model tests the correlation between lordosis and trunk-balancing hip moments; the second tests a beam bending model of lordosis variability; and the third tests an interaction and tradeoff between trunk strength and lumbar flexibility. Results show that hip moments are not associated with lordosis, and the beam model explains 25% of lordosis variation. Lordosis is best explained by the strength-flexibility model, which shows that lumbar flexibility modulates the effects of trunk strength such that stronger backs correlate with greater lordosis and stronger abdominals correlate with reduced lordosis. At the same time, low trunk flexibility is associated with reduced lordosis regardless of trunk strength variations. The second study examines how lordosis affects the lumbar spine during static axial loading. A weight vest experiment measured changes in lordosis under load. The first hypothesis tests whether lordosis decreases under load to provide stability; the second tests time-dependent variations in lumbar deformations during loading; and the third tests the correlation between lordosis and the spine's resistance to bending. Results show that average lordosis decreases with load, and that straighter spines show less variability in lordosis change during loading. Within a loading trial, straighter spines also tend iv to straighten while curved spines tend to become more curved. In addition, lordosis negatively correlates with both bending stiffness and elastic modulus, suggesting that straighter lumbar spines provide greater stability. The third study used accelerometers mounted on the back to examine how lordosis affects lumbar shock attenuation during barefoot walking and running. The first hypothesis tests the effect of lordosis on shock attenuation; the second tests a viscoelastic model of dynamic lumbar motion; and the third tests how intervertebral disc height affects attenuation. Results show that lordosis has no effect on attenuation during walking but a strong effect during running. In addition, greater attenuation is associated with greater lordosis angular displacements and slower angular displacement velocity. Thicker intervertebral discs are also associated with increased attenuation, but lordosis is a stronger predictor of attenuation when controlling for both discs and lumbar posture. These findings suggest that lordosis increases lumbar shock attenuation during running when dynamic impact forces are highest. The results of this thesis provide context for interpreting lordosis in fossil hominins and shed light on the etiology of modern lumbar spinal pathology. The first study suggests that trunk geometry passively influences spinal shape. This result may explain why the larger upper bodies of straight-backed Neanderthals, who had deeper rib cages and longer pubic bones, may have experienced higher bending moments acting to reduce lordosis. The second and third studies imply a functional tradeoff underlying evolutionary differences in lumbar curvature. Lordosis is associated with increased lower back mobility and greater lumbar shock attenuation capacity, but curved lumbar spines are also associated with less resistance to bending deformations, less stability, and increased risk of injury due to higher intervertebral shearing forces. This tradeoff has important implications for understanding the selection pressures driving adaptive changes in lumbar lordosis through hominin evolution and perhaps may explain the recent rise in lower back pain prevalence.


It is generally assumed that current deficits are intrinsically bad and in need of correction. The Current Account and Foreign Debt argues that this is not always the case. The author analyses a broad range of issues in support of this argument. These include: * Approaches to current account balance * Short run issues * Longer run issues * Policy The book can be read as an integrated whole, or alternatively, each chapter can be consulted without reference to the others. The Current Account and Foreign Debt provides the counterbalance to a common misapprehension in economic theory. It will be a valuable guide for all those interested in international monetary theory.


Esophageal cancer is ranked as the malignant tumor with the 6th highest morbidity and mortality rate worldwide. Chinese people are prone to develop esophageal cancer, and the number of new cases that occur every year account for more than half of the esophageal cancer patients worldwide (1,2). Although reports have confirmed the effectiveness of chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer, esophageal resection remains the primary means of treatment. Anastomotic leaks and pulmonary complications are the most common postoperative complications of esophageal cancer and carcinoma of the gastric cardia. Pulmonary complications have become more noticeable (3) as the incidence of postoperative anastomotic fistula (8–15%) has decreased due to the improvement of surgical techniques, the use of disposable staplers, and the continuous improvement of postoperative nutritional support Cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer are associated with a higher risk for postoperative pulmonary infection.


Abelmoschus esculentus L. has favorable nutritional/medicinal features. We found the content of total flavonoids in flower extract to be the highest (788.56 mg/g) of all the different parts of A. esculentus; according to high-performance liquid chromatography, the quercetin-3-O-[β-D-glu-(1 → 6)]-β-D-glucopyranoside content was 122.13 mg/g. Protective effects of an extract of the total flavonoids of A. esculentus flowers (AFF) on transient cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (TCI-RI) were investigated. Compared with the model group, mice treated with AFF (300 mg/kg) for 7 days showed significantly reduced neurologic deficits, infarct area, and histologic changes in brain tissue, accompanied by increased contents of superoxide dismutase, whereas contents of nitric oxide and malondialdehyde decreased. AFF upregulated the expression of Nrf2, HO-1, and NQO1. These data suggest that AFF protects against TCI-RI by scavenging free radicals and activating the Nrf2-ARE pathway.


This article discusses the rising use of facial recognition technology in society and in law enforcement, and its legal implications. Section I describes the technology and how it works. While the potential uses for this technology are too numerous to list, this section goes on to describe the most widespread and troubling current uses, as well as some of the planned uses that illustrate the scope that the technology has the potential to achieve, and why that could be a problem. Section II discusses some of the more prevalent legal concerns that accompany the rise of this technology, such as privacy violations, chilling of free speech, and stalking. Section III analyzes the existing state of the law, and suggests some channels that may offer protection from the concerns raised in section II, while noting that these channels were not designed with facial recognition technology in mind so the protections offered may be weakened or, depending on the leanings of a court of law, nonexistent. The article closes by suggesting additional statutory protections that could be enacted to more completely address the issue, either piecemeal or as part of a larger regulatory scheme.


MEMS sensors, actuators, and sub-systems can enable an important reduction in the size and mass of spacecrafts, first by replacing larger and heavier components, then by replacing entire subsystems, and finally by enabling the microfabrication of highly integrated picosats. Very small satellites (1 to 100 kg) stand to benefit the most from MEMS technologies. These small satellites are typically used for science or technology demonstration missions, with higher risk tolerance than multi-ton telecommunication satellites. While MEMS are playing a growing role on Earth in safety-critical applications, in the harsh and remote environment of space, reliability is still the crucial issue, and the absence of an accepted qualification methodology is holding back MEMS from wider use. An overview is given of the range of MEMS applications in space. An effective way to prove that MEMS can operate reliably in space is to use them in space: we illustrate how Cubesats (1 kg, 1 liter, cubic satellites in a standardized format to reduce launch costs) can serve as low-cost vectors for MEMS technology demonstration in space. The Cubesat SwissCube developed in Switzerland is used as one example of a rapid way to fly new microtechnologies, and also as an example of a spacecraft whose performance is only possible thanks to MEMS.


From 'one of the most influential thinkers of our time' (Sunday Times): how to respond to today's demands on our attention. In this brilliant follow-up to The Case for Working with Your Hands, Matthew Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind. With ever-increasing demands on our attention, and with capitalism increasingly invading every space, how do we focus on what's really important in our lives? Exploring the intense focus of ice-hockey players, the flow of a cook in their element, and the inherited craft of building pipe organs, Crawford argues that in order to flourish, we need to return to lives where we establish meaningful connections with objects and the people around us.


SUMMARY A new spiny puffer (Diodontidae) Chilomycterus spilostylus, is described from ten specimens, from the northern Red Sea, the South China Sea and the Philippine Islands. C. spilostylus is distinguished from all other Indo-Pacific Chilomycterus by colour, spine morphology, and spine arrangement. All spines are fixed and short, and many on the head have four rather than three subdermal bases. A single medial frontal spine is located between the nostrils and three spines are over the eye. We tentatively conclude that the form incorrectly called Cyclichthys echinatus (Gronow) is the pelagic juvenile stage of C. spilostylus.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an integral component of daily care in the surgical ICU. There have been many novel advancements in the past two decades, too numerous to count. Many are of critical importance to the intensive care physician, whereas others are still accumulating evidence. Without appropriate training, diligence, and incorporation of the ultrasound findings into the whole clinical picture, this technique can be gravely misused. This review examines POCUS use in the surgical ICU, as well as highlights potential hazards and common pitfalls.

RECENT FINDINGS
POCUS is essential for guidance of vascular access procedures, as well as in the characterization and treatment of respiratory failure, shock, and unstable blunt abdominal trauma. Ultrasound has growing evidence for rapidly evaluating many other diseases throughout the entire body, as well as guidance for procedures. Using advanced ultrasound techniques should only be done with corresponding levels of training and experience.

SUMMARY
Ultrasound in the critical care setting has become an essential component of the assessment of most ICU patients. As more evidence accumulates, along with ever-increasing availability of ultrasound technology, its use will continue to expand. It, thus, behoves clinicians to not only ensure they are adept at obtaining and interpreting POCUS images but also efficiently incorporate these skills into holistic bedside care without delaying lifesaving therapies.


Abstract : During the Cold War, the United Nations developed the mission termed "peacekeeping" to help manage conflict. These peace operations helped save millions of lives, prevented conflicts from escalating, and provided an environment for the political settlement of disputes despite the superpower conflict. In the aftermath of the Cold War, the United Nations found itself freer to act than at any time in its history, and the demands placed on the organization quickly outstripped its ability to cope. This thesis examines the role of regional organizations in the conduct of peacekeeping. It asks if the international community's singular focus on the United Nations as the vehicle for peacekeeping prevented the regional organizations from contributing more to international security. Furthermore, if the regional organizations could contribute significantly to international peace, then what role should the Defense Department play in supporting these efforts? Regional organizations have conducted peacekeeping operations in the past with mixed results. This thesis examines the intervention by the Organization of American States (OAS) into the Dominican Republic in 1965, the OAS role in the Central American peace process in the late 1980s, and the intervention by the Economic Community of West African States into Liberia in 1990. These operations illustrate several salient features of regional organizations conducting peacekeeping. This study concludes that in order for peacekeepers to achieve their mandate, it is critical to possess strong political will and a minimum of operational support. Furthermore, regional organizations run the gamut in both political will and operational capability. Their performance indicates that when their national interests are at stake, the regionals demonstrate the required political will to persevere in a mission. Furthermore, they indicate an increasingly strong determination to participate in peacekeeping missions.


The emergence of systematic reviews raised hopes of a new era for the objective appraisal of evidence available on a given topic. Such reviews promised a synthesis of trial results, which could be conflicting, and an escape from the personal bias inherent in traditional reviews and expert opinion.1 As the discipline of systematic reviews has evolved, however, two new problems have arisen: the quality of reviews is variable 2 3; and two or more systematic reviews on the same topic may arrive at different conclusions, raising questions on the validity4-7 or the relevance8 of the conclusions. Moreover, adherence to a "checklist" system when appraising trials may overlook important clinical details in the original trials and so reduce the validity of the review. I uncovered this last shortcoming when I recently conducted a study of three systematic reviews; the study is reported here.

#### Summary points

The discipline of systematic reviews has given clinicians a valuable tool with which to synthesise evidence

As the methodology of systematic reviews has evolved, the quality of reviews has improved

Nevertheless, high quality systematic reviews may overlook important clinical details in the papers reviewed, thereby diminishing their validity

This shortcoming might be avoided if trials were assessed from a clinician's viewpoint as well as from a reviewer's viewpoint

Guidelines have been drawn up to improve the quality of reviews.9 Differences in the quality of reviews, however, do not always explain discordance. Jadad and McQuay4 identified six sets of reviews covering six topics in pain research; despite similar quality scores for reviews in each set, four of the sets contained discordant reviews. Jadad et al8 identified six generic differences between reviews that might lead to discordance: the clinical question asked; the selection and inclusion of studies; data extraction; assessment of study quality; …


Abstract This paper reports the results of chemical reactivity experiments for Be pebbles (2-mm and 0.2-mm diameter) and Be powder (14–31 μm diameter) exposed to steam at elevated temperatures, 350 to 900°C for pebbles and 400 to 500°C for powders. We measured BET specific surface areas of 0.12 m2/g for 2-mm pebbles, 0.24 m2/g for 0.2-mm pebbles and 0.66 to 1.21 m2/g for Be powder samples. These experiments showed a complex reactivity behavior for the material, dependent primarily on the test temperature. Average H2 generation rates for powder samples, based on measured BET surface areas, were in good agreement with previous measurements for fully-dense CPM-Be. Rates for the Be pebbles, based on measured BET surface areas, were systematically lower than the CPM-Be rates, possibly because of different surface and bulk features for the pebbles, especially surface-layer impurities, that contribute to the measured BET surface area and influence the oxidation process at the material surface.


We present the first effective SAT heuristics for planning with expressive planning languages such as ADL. Recently, SAT heuristics for STRIPS planning have been introduced. In this work we show that the basic ideas in the heuristic can be generalized to actions with conditional effects but without disjunction, and that disjunction requires a more fundamental analysis of the STRIPS heuristic, which, despite complications, will still lead to a natural heuristic which can be implemented efficiently. The experimental analysis shows substantial and systematic improvements over the state of the art in planning with SAT with ADL.


Shift work among women was a public health issue even a century ago. In 1877, shift work became forbidden among women in Switzerland, and, by the end of 1914, it was forbidden already in 10 different countries (1). The prohibition of night work among women in Europe was revoked later for mostly political reasons—restrictions for only women were felt to be unequal. There has also been insufficient evidence indicating specific health risks for shift work among women.

In this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health , a systematic review is published on the association of shift work with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer (2). The study concludes that there is limited evidence for a causal association between nightshift work and breast cancer among women. The conclusions of the review are well in line with the recent decision of the expert panel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) (3), which concluded that "shift-work that involves circadian disruption is probably carcinogenic to human" (Group 2A). Although both reviews mention deficiencies in the scientific literature, they also point out that the observed associations are unlikely to be explained by chance, bias, or confounding. Since about 20% of the working population in developed countries works in shifts, even a low risk may have a high potential health significance (4, 5).

Although women have a lower risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) until menopause than men do, they are exposed to increased CHD risk due to shift work. According to Alfredsson et al (6), women have an elevated standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 152 when compared with day workers. Similarly, an odds ratio of 1.7 was reported by Knutsson et al (7), and Kawachi et al (8) found a relative risk of 1.3 for American female nurses. The risk estimates for men are similar—shift work increases the risk of CHD by 30–40% even when other traditional risk factors and social class are controlled (9–11). In addition, female shift workers have been found to be are more likely to report menstrual irregularities and longer menstrual cycles than nonshift workers are (12). Shift work is also associated with preterm delivery (13). However, no signs of teratogenic risk have been found.

The most probable pathway from shift work to ill health is circadian disturbance, caused by exposure to light at night. Disruption of circadian rhythms is also associated with disturbances in menstrual function, melatonin production, and even with the production of other reproductive hormones (14, 15). There is, however, little evidence that the speed of circadian adjustment to night work would differ (16). Women still report slightly more sleep complaints than men, and they sleep somewhat longer (17), indicating a higher sleep need. Occupational accidents related to shift work do not seem to show gender differences, however (18).

Although the health effects of shift work are widely acknowledged (19), the results of individual studies have been surprisingly inconsistent. Could gender differences contribute to the discrepancies in scientific literature? Among women, at least three factors could influence the inconsistencies of the different shiftwork studies, differences in the studied shift systems, differences in home work and domestic responsibilities, and, finally, the variations in the possibilities to self-select and influence workhours.

With respect to the differences in shift systems, the existing epidemiologic literature provides limited information on the choice of "healthy" shift systems. We especially lack studies on good shift systems for women. At least one intervention study among nurses and nurses' aides showed that increased ergonomic scheduling with more-regular and more-predictable shift schedules was associated with favorable changes in triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (20). After decades of intensive research on shift systems, it was burdensome to read the conclusions of a systematic review on the neurobehavioral and physiological effects of different shift rotations and shift lengths (21). The authors concluded that "overall there is insufficient evidence to support definitive conclusions regarding any of the studied factors [p 83]". Most of the studies had to be excluded due to methodological problems. Luckily, the authors shed a little light for the readers by adding that "the analysis provides support for the use of forward-rotating shift systems in preference to backward-rotating shift systems [p 83]" (21).

The gender differences in domestic work and other responsibilities depend on national and social class traditions, as well as on the number and age of children in the household (22). A European survey on work conditions showed that 32% of women, but only 7% of men, work part-time in Europe (23). Men have longer workhours, but women do more household work. Probably, for that reason, there is still no evidence concerning any major gender differences in the frequency of reported work–home imbalance (22). Domestic responsibilities may also not be directly related to differences in fatigue and recovery (24).

Employee control of workhours is associated with better worklife balance and health (19, 22, 25). In Europe, men can have more influence on the beginning and end of their workhours (23). Since women do more household chores, it could be hypothesized that they would actually benefit more than men from better worktime control. Indeed, in a prospective study, women with a low level of worktime control had a 1.9 times higher odds ratio for poor self-rated health, a 1.4 times higher odds ratio for psychological distress, and a 1.5 times higher risk of medically certified sickness absences than women with a high level of worktime control (25). The beneficial effects of worktime control on health were less clear among the men. For both genders, the beneficial effects of good worktime control were the most evident for workers with children.

After 100 years, shift work among women has again become a new health issue in occupational health. We should not forget the biological differences between men and women in relation to the work-related risks for breast cancer and reproductive health. New "healthy" workhours for women should be explored and taken into use. Especially, we need better possibilities to influence workhours to optimize the work–home balance.


Turbine design engineers have to ensure that film cooling can provide sufficient protection to turbine blades from the hot mainstream gas, while keeping the losses low. Film cooling hole design parameters include inclination angle (α), compound angle (β), hole inlet geometry and hole exit geometry. The influence of these parameters on aerodynamic loss and net heat flux reduction is investigated, with loss being the primary focus. Low-speed flat plate experiments have been conducted at momentum flux ratios of IR = 0.16, 0.64 and 1.44. The film cooling aerodynamic mixing loss, generated by the mixing of mainstream and coolant, can be quantified using a three-dimensional analytical model that has been previously reported by the authors. The model suggests that for the same flow conditions, the aerodynamic mixing loss is the same for holes with different α and β but with the same angle between the mainstream and coolant flow directions (angle κ). This relationship is assessed through experiments by testing two sets of cylindrical holes with different α and β: one set with κ = 35°, another set with κ = 60°. The data confirm the stated relationship between α, β, κ and the aerodynamic mixing loss. The results show that the designer should minimise κ to obtain the lowest loss, but maximise β to achieve the best heat transfer performance. A suggestion on improving the loss model is also given. Five different hole geometries (α = 35.0°, β = 0°) were also tested: cylindrical hole, trenched hole, fan-shaped hole, D-Fan and SD-Fan. The D-Fan and the SD-Fan have similar hole exits to the fan-shaped hole but their hole inlets are laterally expanded. The external mixing loss and the loss generated inside the hole are compared. It was found that the D-Fan and the SD-Fan have the lowest loss. This is attributed to their laterally expanded hole inlets, which lead to significant reduction in the loss generated inside the holes. As a result, the loss of these geometries is ≈ 50% of the loss of the fan-shaped hole at IR = 0.64 and 1.44.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


BACKGROUND
Increasingly, new HIV infections among people who use drugs are attributed to sexual risk behavior. However, HIV prevention research targeting persons with opioid dependence continues to focus on drug injection practices. Moreover, despite the rising prevalence of prescription opioid dependence in the United States, little is known about HIV risk in this population.

METHODS
This study examined the prevalence of sexual risk behavior among patients with opioid dependence who primarily use prescription opioids for non-medical purposes. As part of a multi-site clinical trial, participants (N = 653) completed a baseline assessment that included the Risk Behavior Survey.

RESULTS
In the past month, 74% were sexually active. Of these, most had opposite sex partners (97.3%) and vaginal intercourse (97.1%); anal intercourse was uncommon (3.1%). The majority reported unprotected intercourse (76.5%), but few had multiple partners (11.3%). Unprotected intercourse was associated with history of other substance dependence (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.73), and having multiple partners was associated with concurrent cocaine use (AOR = 2.54). Injection drug use in the past month was rare (2.5%).

CONCLUSIONS
While the majority of sexually active participants engaged in unprotected intercourse, the proportion with multiple sex partners was low relative to other samples of persons who use illicit drugs. Among persons with non-medical prescription opioid dependence, those who concurrently use other substances may be at elevated risk for HIV infection. Comprehensive assessment of substance abuse history among individuals dependent upon prescription opioids is critical for identifying patients who may require additional clinical interventions to reduce HIV sexual risk behavior.


Background: The Arabian leopard (Panthera paradus nimr) is the largest living felid in the arid Arabian Peninsula and classifi ed on the IUCN red list as critically endangered. Unlike felids, neoplasia prevalence in canids such as benign lipoma and malignant liposarcoma has been long and well documented. Only until recently a plethora of reports emerged demonstrating that neoplasia occurrence in wild exotic felids is prevailed more than expected. Soft tissue tumors arise from fatty cells form either a benign lipoma or a dangerously malignant liposarcoma. Alarming though, such cellular transformation might endanger the life of an already endangered animal. Case: An intact Arabian male leopard living in captivity at the Oman wildlife animal breeding center (N23.70 E58.09 A5.80 m) aged approximately 18 years and weight 31 kg was admitted to the veterinary clinic for semen collection and routine physical examination. The animal was identifi ed with two large adjacent subcutaneous masses on the upper rear left limb, clinically resembling that of a lipomatosis. Only one large tissue mass was surgically excised from the base with no incident of bleeding. Gross examination revealed a soft, smooth, rubbery, homogeneous, lack of internal fl uid and whitish color lobule. Morphometry measurement of the mass shows that the weight, diameter, circumference, thickness and surface area were 3.6 gm, 2.6 cm, 10.2 cm, 3 cm and 17.8 cm 3 respectively. On visual examination, neither mucin fl uid nor mucosal ulcerations were detected. Microscopically, dark discrete spots were observed on the anterior central and periphery of the mass surface outgrowth. Moreover, histopathological diagnoses with haematoxylin and eosin (HE), masson fontana (MF) and elastic verrhof van giesson (EVG) revealed normal nuclear and non-granular cytoplasm resembling that of a fatty cell originating from a fat adipose tissue. Adipocytes had reasonable amounts of cytoplasm and well defi ned borders. The nuclei were round to oval shape and no cells were found to be multinucleated. No evidence of high nuclear cytoplasmic ratio was observed. Few lymphocytes and plasma cells were present with no visible lymphatic vessels. Taken together, the lesion was diagnosed as a lobulated soft mass resembling that of an adipose tissue, specifi cally a benign neoplastic lipoma. Discussion: To date not a single report describes maladies in big cats from arid regions. This is the fi rst study to demonstrate the occurrence of neoplasia in a wild felid namely; the Arabian leopard. Additionally, while recent reports have shown neoplasia occurrence in the Panthera subspecies in tropical, polar and temperate zones, this is the fi rst report to manifest the disease in an arid region. The increase in neoplasm frequency in exotic felids is a concerning fact as numerous members of the Panthera family including the Arabian leopard are classifi ed by the IUCN as endangered or critically endangered species. With less than 200 animals in the wild, only 14 founder individuals in captivity and an aged female population the occurrence of lipoma tumors in the Arabian leopard is a worrisome sign. Taken together, the data suggests the rise of uncommon diseases in carnivores and ubiquitously around different climate zones of the world. Thus highlights the importance of routine physical examinations, investing substantially in diagnostic equipment and healthcare endowment in captive exotic felids.


Abstract The endemic New Caledonian conifer Agathis ovata occurs as an emergent tree in fire-prone shrublands (maquis), and fire-sensitive rainforest. Growth, survivorship and recruitment over 5 yr were compared for populations from forest and maquis on ultramafic substrates in New Caledonia to investigate whether demographic behaviour varied in response to the strongly contrasting forest and shrubland environments. Growth of seedlings and of small (30–100 cm height) and large (100 cm height; 5 cm DBH) saplings was slow, but varied significantly among stages, site types and years. The greatest difference in growth rates was among stages, seedlings growing 0.34 cm.yr−1, small saplings 1.06 cm.yr−1 and large saplings 2.13 cm.yr−1. Tree DBH increased by only 0.05 cm.yr−1 and, based on these rates, individuals with DBH of 30 cm are estimated to be more than 700 yr old. Few trees (3.5%) produced cones in any year and seedling recruitment was low, but some recruitment was recorded each year in both maquis and forest. Rates of recruitment per parent were highest in forest (1.28.yr−1, cf 0.78.yr−1), but the higher density of trees in maquis meant that overall recruitment was greater there (92 ha−1.yr−1, cf 56 ha−1.yr−1). Seedling mortality ranged from 0.9 to 2.9% among years with no significant difference between maquis and forest. No sapling mortality was recorded, but annual tree mortality ranged from 0 to 1.4%. Evidence from a recently burned site indicated that while trees may survive fire, seedlings and saplings do not. Post-fire seedling recruitment per ha from surviving trees was four times lower than in unburned sites, but growth rates were four times higher. Similar demographic attributes, including high survivorship, low growth rate and low rates of recruitment over a long reproductive life, characterize Agathis ovata populations in both maquis and rainforest in New Caledonia and are indicative of a broad tolerance of light environments that is unusual among tree species. These demographic attributes help to explain the long-term persistence of the species in these strongly contrasting habitats. Abbreviations: CEC = Cation exchange capacity; NDF = neighbourhood density function.


Biorefining of crops for production of power, transport fuels, and a diverse array of chemicals has potential for providing significant added economic value to biomass. A shift in the industrial resource base from fossil resources to biomass also requires a shift in the technology base for producing, handling, and processing of raw materials. Biotechnology will play an important role in providing tools for different stages ranging from biomass production, treatment, and valorization to various products. First generation refineries have raised some critical issues related to land use and insufficient environmental benefits due to energy-intensive cultivation of crops. The abundant residual lignocellulosic biomass will constitute an important feedstock for the future biorefineries so as to have a minimal impact on the food availability. Necessary investments in technological development will be needed to realize the benefits of the new bio-economy in the long term.


In this paper, we address the problem of joint resource and power allocation in underlay device-to-device multi-cast communication for short (D2MD) to maximize system global energy efficiency (GEE). For this, we propose a two-stage semi-distributed solution. First, we model the resource sharing sub-problem as a transferable overlapping coalition formation game. Here, a D2MD group can participate in s coalitions and it can decide to join or leave a coalition based on specific split and merge rules. Similarly, a resource block can be shared among r D2MD groups where s, r are reuse and split factors. After that, the transmission power is centrally controlled by the The base station (BS) via a fractional programming framework. Finally, GEE is analysed via extensive numerical simulations with a spatial Poisson process for the users' locations and applying two different clustering algorithms: K-nearest neighbour, and distance-limited.


This work shows the potential use of neural networks in the characterization of eruptive events monitored by satellite, through fast and automatic classification of multispectral images. The algorithm has been developed for the MODIS instrument and can easily be extended to other similar sensors. Six classes have been defined paying particular attention to image regions that represent the different surfaces that could possibly be found under volcanic ash clouds. Complex cloudy scenarios composed by images collected during the Icelandic eruptions of the Eyjafjallajökull (2010) and Grimsvötn (2011) volcanoes have been considered as test cases. A sensitivity analysis on the MODIS TIR and VIS channels has been performed to optimize the algorithm. The neural network has been trained with the first image of the dataset, while the remaining data have been considered as independent validation sets. Finally, the neural network classifier's results have been compared with maps classified with several interactive procedures performed in a consolidated operational framework. This comparison shows that the automatic methodology proposed achieves a very promising performance, showing an overall accuracy greater than 84%, for the Eyjafjalla jökull event, and equal to 74% for the Grimsvötn event.


When deciding whether to utilize an online intermediary in addition to their own distribution channels, quality differentiated service providers face the trade-off between the benefit of extended reach and the threat of increased competition. Using an analytical framework, we analyze when and how service providers may utilize an online intermediary to their advantage in the presence of advance selling (i.e., selling a service at an early date for future consumption). In general, when an online intermediary is used, the competition effect dominates the reach effect and leads to a falling price trend. Interestingly, we find that the negative effect of increased competition on profits, due to intermediary usage, can be reversed by committing to self-imposed participation limits (i.e., selling only a predetermined amount of services through the online intermediary). This ensures that the service provider is better off selling through both its own site and the online intermediary, rather than selling exclusively using either channel.


Abstract. The uptake of NO3 and N2O5 to Saharan dust, ambient aerosols and soot was investigated using a novel and simple relative rate method with simultaneous detection of both NO3 and N2O5. The use of cavity ring down spectroscopy to detect both trace gases enabled the measurements to be carried out at low mixing ratios ( 15. A value of γ(NO3)/γ(N2O5)~1.5–3 was obtained when using candle generated soot. The relative rate obtained for Saharan dust can be placed on an absolute basis using our recently determined value of γ(N2O5)=1×10−2 to give γ(NO3)=9×10−3, which is significantly smaller than the single previous value. With the present uptake coefficient, reaction of NO3 with mineral dust will generally not contribute significantly to its NO3 loss in the boundary atmosphere or to the nitration of mineral dust.


Extracted from text ... W
32 Management Today April 2005
Service squared:
an exprience like you've never
known before
When was the last time you experienced a
product or service that was of such a nature
that it compelled you to tell friends and
family about it?
Come on now, you must be able to think
of at least one instance in the last month?
Maybe ... the last year?
During your entire adult life?
No? You're not alone.
Even though this free advertising is the
most widely accepted form of marketing,
in that a referral is always more credible
than a billboard ..


Background Cryptogenic strokes constitute 20 to 30% of ischemic strokes, and most cryptogenic strokes are considered to be embolic and of undetermined source. An earlier randomized trial showed that rivaroxaban is no more effective than aspirin in preventing recurrent stroke after a presumed embolic stroke from an undetermined source. Whether dabigatran would be effective in preventing recurrent strokes after this type of stroke was unclear. Methods We conducted a multicenter, randomized, double‐blind trial of dabigatran at a dose of 150 mg or 110 mg twice daily as compared with aspirin at a dose of 100 mg once daily in patients who had had an embolic stroke of undetermined source. The primary outcome was recurrent stroke. The primary safety outcome was major bleeding. Results A total of 5390 patients were enrolled at 564 sites and were randomly assigned to receive dabigatran (2695 patients) or aspirin (2695 patients). During a median follow‐up of 19 months, recurrent strokes occurred in 177 patients (6.6%) in the dabigatran group (4.1% per year) and in 207 patients (7.7%) in the aspirin group (4.8% per year) (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69 to 1.03; P=0.10). Ischemic strokes occurred in 172 patients (4.0% per year) and 203 patients (4.7% per year), respectively (hazard ratio, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.68 to 1.03). Major bleeding occurred in 77 patients (1.7% per year) in the dabigatran group and in 64 patients (1.4% per year) in the aspirin group (hazard ratio, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.66). Clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding occurred in 70 patients (1.6% per year) and 41 patients (0.9% per year), respectively. Conclusions In patients with a recent history of embolic stroke of undetermined source, dabigatran was not superior to aspirin in preventing recurrent stroke. The incidence of major bleeding was not greater in the dabigatran group than in the aspirin group, but there were more clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding events in the dabigatran group. (Funded by Boehringer Ingelheim; RE‐SPECT ESUS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02239120.)


Administration of vitamin E, vitamin C, and allopurinol to reduce reperfusion-induced injury remains controversial. Clinical trials are being conducted, and the results are promising. No adverse side effects have been reported with the short-term use of these drugs. The cost of the pre-operative medication is approximately $5 per week, which favors its use. The ability of nurses to be effective advocates of patients receiving these drugs is vital. What appears to be a trivial medication regimen may save myocardial cells and promote an uncomplicated postoperative period.


We analyze the determinants of global life satisfaction in two countries (The Netherlands and the U.S.), by using both self-reports and responses to a battery of vignette questions. We find global life satisfaction of happiness is well-described by four domains: job or daily activities, social contacts and family, health, and income. Among the four domains, social contacts and family have the highest impact on global life satisfaction, followed by job and daily activities and health. Income has the lowest impact. As in other work, we find that American response styles differ from the Dutch in that Americans are more likely to use the extremes of the scale (either very satisfied or very dissatisfied) than the Dutch, who are more inclined to stay in the middle of the scale. Although for both Americans and the Dutch, income is the least important determinant of global life satisfaction, it is more important in the U.S. than in The Netherlands. Indeed life satisfaction varies substantially more with income in the U.S. than in The Netherlands.


Abstract We increasingly operate in a multi-screen ecology, choosing the most appropriate devices for different purposes at different times. When educational institutions invest in mobile technologies, they often spend a great deal of time evaluating a range of devices. However, the devices themselves may matter less than their educational uses. This paper explores the case of an Aboriginal desert school in Western Australia which has adopted a mixture of XO laptops and, more recently, iPads. The background to the XO and iPad programmes is briefly outlined and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each device are indicated. It is demonstrated that, rather than the devices being in competition with each other, they are in many ways complementary. Teachers and students are able to work with both types of devices, as appropriate, to improve literacy, numeracy and other skills within a digital learning ecology.


The thesis discusses the differences between two financing options for university real estate projects under Public-Private Partnerships: 501(c)3 and 63-20 tax-exempt bond processes. Prior to the case interviews, this thesis identifies and compares the differences between two tax-exempt bond programs, their historical backgrounds, conceptions, legal regulations and constraints. This thesis also formulates a project process model, a cash flow model, and a financing structure model for P3 practitioners using 501(c)3 and 63-20 tax-exempt bond financing. A series of interviews was designed and conducted with project managers, non-profit organization directors, financing professionals, and University Real Estate Office staff. These interviews compared financial outcomes, types of bond issuers, project types, capital limits, issuing duration, P3 party involvements, post-construction financials and ownership issues, as well as decision making processes for each bond program. Beyond the case studies, this paper summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of these two bond programs and provides financing suggestions for future P3 university real estate projects.


Housing problems are truly universal. For households the residential choice decision is basic both in view of its influence on their welfare and the substantial portion of their budget it claims. For regions and nations, housing determines centrally the investment sacrifices and has strong influences on the financial markets. These significances of housing problems have entailed a whole range of laws, regulations, and policies to afflict the functioning of the markets both from quantity and distributional aspects.

Different nations and regions have developed different arsenals of policy tools. Some attempts have been made to review and compare the national housing policies and the methods used in policy assessment. Such comparative studies are less common at the regional level.

The current Working Paper addresses the contemporary issues of policy evaluations of the working of urban housing markets by suggesting a conceptual framework for such analyses, based on systems analytic considerations. The paper contains a claim for the development of a new generation of housing market models for policy evaluations based on modern theories of probabilistic choice and structural change in dynamic systems. It provides an agenda for an international research project on urban housing policies at a time when management and renewal have replaced expansion as traits of urban fabric.


Joint extraction of entities and relations aims to detect entity pairs along with their relations using a single model. Prior work typically solves this task in the extract-then-classify or unified labeling manner. However, these methods either suffer from the redundant entity pairs, or ignore the important inner structure in the process of extracting entities and relations. To address these limitations, in this paper, we first decompose the joint extraction task into two interrelated subtasks, namely HE extraction and TER extraction. The former subtask is to distinguish all head-entities that may be involved with target relations, and the latter is to identify corresponding tail-entities and relations for each extracted head-entity. Next, these two subtasks are further deconstructed into several sequence labeling problems based on our proposed span-based tagging scheme, which are conveniently solved by a hierarchical boundary tagger and a multi-span decoding algorithm. Owing to the reasonable decomposition strategy, our model can fully capture the semantic interdependency between different steps, as well as reduce noise from irrelevant entity pairs. Experimental results show that our method outperforms previous work by 5.2%, 5.9% and 21.5% (F1 score), achieving a new state-of-the-art on three public datasets


The availability and accessibility of appropriate rehabilitative healthcare, medical technology and treatment is an important national and international issue of particular relevance due to recent national healthcare reform initiatives. The focus of this project was to increase global competencies and awareness among biomedical engineers of the differing rehabilitative healthcare needs in North America via student exchange with consortium institutions in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The aim was to increase understanding of alternative healthcare delivery systems with respect to technology and interaction with diverse client populations in a clinical setting and to enhance the development and technology transfer of new scientific tools and techniques, medical devices, and related biomedical research. To date, more than 50 undergraduates have expressed interest in these programs, with over 30 students completing applications, and travel awards extended to 18 students (16 of whom opted to participate in study abroad experiences). Assessment tools included: a healthcare survey, two case study reports, global perspectives inventory documenting cultural differences, cultural comforts and the campus environment for culture and cultural tolerance, and interviews of the exchange participants and faculty research mentors by the external program evaluator.


AIM
This paper presents a discussion of the development of a middle-range nursing theory of the effects of music on physical activity and improved health outcomes.

BACKGROUND
Due to the high rate of physical inactivity and the associated negative health outcomes worldwide, nurses need new evidence-based theories and interventions to increase physical activity.

DATA SOURCES
The theory of music, mood and movement (MMM) was developed from physical activity guidelines and music theory using the principles of statement and theory synthesis. The concepts of music, physical activity and health outcomes were searched using the CINAHL, MEDLINE, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library databases covering the years 1975-2008.

DISCUSSION
The theory of MMM was synthesized by combining the psychological and physiological responses of music to increase physical activity and improve health outcomes. It proposes that music alters mood, is a cue for movement, and makes physical activity more enjoyable leading to improved health outcomes of weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cardiovascular risk factor management, and improved quality of life.

CONCLUSION
As it was developed from the physical activity guidelines, the middle-range theory is prescriptive, produces testable hypotheses, and can guide nursing research and practice. The middle-range theory needs to be tested to determine its usefulness for nurses to develop physical activity programmes to improve health outcomes across various cultures.


According to the 2001 Spanish budgetary previsions, the government deficit is about to disappear. We analyse this matter within a generational accounting framework. Accounting for the recent expansive phase of the economic cycle, we find that current fiscal policy is also intertemporally balanced provided that the favourable present employment situation lasts. However, public finances remain under the pressure of the demographic cycle. Therefore, to achieve fiscal sustainability, the surpluses predicted for the next decades need to be accumulated, in order to finance deficits appearing during the baby-boomers' retirement. The improvement of employment has played an important role in this situation. We extend the standard generational accounting methodology incorporating tax and transfer age profiles by employment status. This permits us to analyse the possible intertemporal impact of several future employment developments. In particular, we assess the fiscal effects of an expected future increase in female labour force participation. We show that this trend does not necessarily improve the intertemporal government budget, as social insurance in Spain is not actuarially fair. Finally, we also assess the impact of a decline in unemployment to the natural rate of unemployment.


Many children display problematic behavior during the toddler period (12 to 41 months) . Although many behavior problems are transient, some children continue to have difficulties through school age and beyond. Recent literature has identified risk factors correlated with continuity of behavior problems. Early identification and intervention with these children may reduce the likelihood of long-term difficulties. The first step in detecting children with problematic behavior is screening. The Toddler Behavior Screening Inventory (TBSI) is a 40-item instrument designed to be used for the rapid assessment of maternal-perceived toddler behavior problems. The present study further evaluated the psychometric properties of the TBSI. In addition, the study investigated the relation between TBSI scores and established risk factors (e.g., maternal depression, marital discord, social support, and stress) in clinical and nonclinical samples. The results suggest that the TBSI is an internally stable measure with good reliability and validity. Various differences among the demographic groups were found, as well as differences among the risk factors. In addition, the TBSI was found to fairly accurately discriminate the clinical from nonclinical subjects. Therefore, the TBSI appears to be a psychometrically sound method of screening behavior problems in toddlers. vi


A significant characteristic distinguishing Carlin-type Au deposits from other Au deposits is the abundance of invisible Au in arsenian pyrite. Gold occurs primarily as ionic Au1+ in arsenian pyrite and is unstable during subsequent thermal events. In this study, we used the focused ion beam combined with scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) techniques, and a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to examine invisible Au and how it evolved through later geologic events that eventually led to the formation of Au nanoparticles. FIB-SEM techniques were used to prepare site-specific TEM foils from four Carlin-type gold deposits, including Getchell and Cortez Hills, Nevada, USA, and Shuiyindong and Jinfeng, Guizhou Province, China. These samples were analyzed to quantify ore pyrite chemistry and evaluate textures at the nanometer scale.
 In 17 examined TEM foils, we observed widespread Au-rich domains in high-grade Au arsenian pyrites from the Getchell and Cortez Hills Au deposits and the Jinfeng deposit but only 10 Au-bearing nanoparticles, ~10 to 20 nm in diameter. The Au-rich domains exhibit Au (Sb), (Tl), (Hg), and (Cu) peaks in the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrum without the presence of recognizable nanoparticles. This confirms that Au is invisible even at a nanometer scale and is most likely present in the crystal structure of arsenian pyrite. Stacking faults and nanometer-sized fluid inclusions were commonly observed in Au-bearing arsenian pyrite from the four deposits, implying rapid crystallization. Moreover, unlike the coarsely crystalline arsenian pyrite from Guizhou Carlin-type Au deposits, arsenian pyrite from Carlin-type deposits in Nevada consists of fine-grained polycrystalline aggregates, further implying rapid crystallization. Additionally, curved dislocations were commonly pinned by solid inclusions, reflecting a former annealing process.
 Combining nanoscale textures with geologic information previously reported for Carlin-type deposits, invisible ionic Au was initially incorporated into the crystal structure of arsenian pyrite during rapid precipitation. Subsequent post-ore magmatic events in both districts initiated the annealing of the ionic Au-bearing arsenian pyrite, leading to the redistribution of trace elements and formation of Au-bearing nanoparticles in the arsenian pyrite. The presence of predominantly ionically bonded Au in arsenian pyrite confirms that ore fluids were not saturated in Au when Au-bearing arsenian pyrite formed, as previously reported for Carlin-type deposits. Ionic Au that was scavenged from an undersaturated ore fluid and incorporated into the arsenian pyrite crystal structure formed the giant Carlin-type Au deposits.


There has been an unfortunate trend in recent Supreme Court of Canada administrative law cases. While academics, practitioners and lower-court judges try to establish coherent frameworks to understand the general principles of judicial review, the Court has been resolving cases one by one without, with respect, any serious attempt to explain how they fit into its existing body of jurisprudence. The institutional context in which the Court operates, explained in Part I, no doubt influences the Court's resolution of individual cases in this way.Whatever the background institutional context, confusion is the inevitable result, as I explain in Part II. How should lawyers read these cases: as attempts to resolve one-off issues of substantive law (workers' compensation law, immigration law, discrimination law and so on) or as continual refinements to an already complex body of administrative law doctrine? I argue in this paper that it is now necessary to distinguish between signal and noise, between those cases that do modify administrative law doctrine and those cases that simply deal with a particular substantive area of law. In Part III, I set out criteria which will help Canadian administrative lawyers to distinguish signal from noise. This confusion seems to me, however, to be unnecessary. As I suggest in Part IV, the Court could take up judicial and academic proposals for a unified reasonableness standard that would allow it to resolve individual cases without creating uncertainty about whether it has also modified administrative law doctrine. Adopting this approach would obviate the need to distinguish signal from noise, because they would both fade into the comforting hum of reasonableness review.


We propose a new technique which allows to estimate any random signal from a large set of noisy observed data on the basis of information on only a few reference signals. The conceptual device behind the proposed estimator is a linear interpolation of an optimal incremental estimation applied to random signal pairs interpreted an extension of the Least Squares Linear (LSL) estimator. We consider the case of observations corrupted by an arbitrary noise (not by an additive noise only) and design the estimator in terms of the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse matrix. Therefore, it is always well defined. The proposed estimator is justified by establishing an upper bound for the associated error and by showing that this upper bound is directly related to the expected error for an incremental application of the optimal LSL estimator. It is shown that such an estimator is possible under quite unrestrictive assumptions.


Agricultural sector, from past to present, had assumed very important duties on economic and social development of societies. It became a globally indispensable and strategic sector due to its various attributes such as: direct/indirect contributions to population nourishment, national income, employment, capital transfers, raw material supply for industry, exportation, biological diversity and ecological balance. Since the dawn of humankind, agricultural sector had gone through a variety of phases in terms of production activities and land proprietorship. Agricultural activities that emerged in the period of hunter-gatherer societies have been superseded by today's specialized and planned agricultural enterprises utilizing information and technology. Agricultural accounting has also experienced a significant change in parallel with those improvements. This study aims to investigate historical development of agricultural accounting and difficulties encountered during its implementation. Research studies indicate that agricultural assets were initially recorded and inventory controls were performed by Sumerians. Until the Middle Ages, agricultural accounting did not experience any development, whereas it still encounters various difficulties even today. In this context, agricultural accounting practices could not be realized as intended.


According to member states and EU officials, the European Union is now slowly entering a period of 'post crisis.' In this fragile period of stability, the European Commission has begun its task of strengthening the EU's legislative framework on asylum. The focal point of the Commission's task has been the reform of the Dublin system which, during the 'asylum crisis,' had almost collapsed. This policy brief has three aims. Firstly, it examines how the unprecedented movement of over one million persons seeking international protection to the EU in 2015 led to the fragmentation of the Dublin system. Secondly, it examines the main flaws of the Dublin system, namely the disconnect between the unchanged status quo on the Dublin rules and the ever-changing political and economic environment of the EU. Finally, it examines the Commission's proposal for the recast of the Dublin system, assessing whether the new elements are adequate in resolving the key problems of the system. It is argued that although the reform does address, to a limited extent, the problems of secondary movement and the overburdening of some member state asylum systems, the reform does not sufficiently resolve the key flaws of Dublin in light of potential future migratory challenges


The concept of digital library is not a new one, although it is only recently that digital library is gaining prominence all over the world. This article provides a holistic understanding of digital libraries including its present context and future directions. Various technical issues ingrained in the concept of digital library also has been analysed in the article. Issues like interoperability, information retrieval, property and access control and usability also has been discussed in detail. Although digital library is a technical phenomenon, it has wider social and economic implications. The article casts a critical glance at these implications as well. In the end, ongoing international efforts in the arena of digital libraries also has been discussed. Bangladesh Journal of Library and Information Science Vol.2(1) July 2012 pp.92-102 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjlis.v2i1.12926


Abstract Data envelopment analysis (DEA) can produce results which lack discrimination, one consequence of this is that a large proportion of decision-making units (DMUs) appear to be efficient. In addition, because it is a radial measure of efficiency it assumes that all inputs at a naturally enveloped production unit need to be reduced by the same proportion for efficiency to be achieved. It would seem to be more realistic to expect different inputs to have different efficiencies associated with them. A method is presented which retains the original spirit of DEA in trying to extract as much information as possible from the data without applying value judgments in the form of additional constraints. We propose that inputs which are not substitutes for each other be assessed separately and only with respect to outputs which consume them or to which they are otherwise related. In this way input-specific efficiency ratings are derived giving a profile for each DMU. When applied to a data set of 14 airlines the method uncovers inefficiencies which DEA could not find. DEA found half of the airlines to be fully efficient in all factors, whereas our profiling approach was more discriminating and showed that none of the airlines were efficient in all three of the inputs considered. This highlights a significant difference with DEA: by investigating the utilisation of individual inputs we are able to identify bestppractice in each area. It is quite possible that no unit demonstrates best-practice in every area and so each unit will have targets to work towards—this is intuitively appealing as well as providing a link with the philosophy of best practice benchmarking.


Abstract. The frequency of occurrence of disruptive transient processes in the Sun is enhanced during the high solar activity periods. Solar cycle-23 evidenced major geomagnetic storm events and intense solar energetic particle (SEP) events. The SEP events are the energetic outbursts as a result of acceleration of heliospheric particles by solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The present work focuses on the geomagnetic variations at equatorial and low-latitude stations during the four major SEP events of 14 July 2000, 8 November 2000, 24 September 2001 and 4 November 2001. These events have been reported to be of discernible magnitude following intense X-ray flares and halo coronal mass ejections. Low-latitude geomagnetic records evidenced an intense main phase development subsequent to the shock impact on the Earth's magnetosphere. Satellite observations show proton-flux enhancements associated with solar flares for all events. Correlation analysis is also carried out to bring out the correspondence between the polar cap magnetic field perturbations, AE index and the variations of low-latitude magnetic field. The results presented in the current study elucidate the varying storm development processes, and the geomagnetic field response to the plasma and interplanetary magnetic field conditions for the energetic events. An important inference drawn from the current study is the close correspondence between the persistence of a high level of proton flux after the shock in some events and the ensuing intense magnetic storm. Another interesting result is the role of the pre-shock southward IMF B z duration in generating a strong main phase.


This paper presents an extension of mathematical static model to dynamic problems of micropolar elastic plates, recently developed by the authors. The dynamic model is based on the generalization of Hellinger-Prange-Reissner (HPR) variational principle for the linearized micropolar (Cosserat) elastodynamics. The vibration model incorporates high accuracy assumptions of the micropolar plate deformation. The computations predict additional natural frequencies, related with the material microstructure. These results are consistent with the size-effect principle known from the micropolar plate deformation. The classic Mindlin-Reissner plate resonance frequencies appear as a limiting case for homogeneous materials with no microstructure.


Despite Basel III's efforts to address capital and liquidity requirements, will the risks linked to regulatory arbitrage increase as a result of Basel III's more stringent capital and liquidity rules? As well as Basel III reforms which are geared towards greater facilitation of financial stability on a macro prudential basis, further efforts and initiatives aimed at mitigating systemic risks – hence fostering financial stability, have been promulgated through the establishment of the De Larosiere Group, the European Systemic Risk Board, and a working group comprising of "international standard setters and authorities responsible for the translation of G20 commitments into standards." This paper aims to investigate the impact of Basel III on shadow banking and its facilitation of regulatory arbitrage as well as consider the response of various jurisdictions and standard setting bodies to aims and initiatives aimed at improving their macro prudential frameworks. Furthermore, it will also aim to illustrate why immense work is still required at European level – as regards efforts to address systemic risks on a macro prudential basis. This being the case even though significant efforts and steps have been taken to address the macro prudential framework. In so doing, the paper will also attempt to address how coordination within the macro prudential framework – as well as between micro and macro prudential supervision could be enhanced.


Study sample The authors did not report that power calculations were carried out to estimate the influence of chance on the results, although there was a brief discussion of the small sample size. The initial study sample was selected by including all patients eligible for elective LC in the study setting. It was therefore appropriate for the clinical study question. Eligibility for the pathway was based on the surgeon's judgement. The patients also had to have a responsible adult to


This paper suggests overcoming some limitations of traditional inequality decomposition methods by developing a combination of Burtless (1999) and DiNardo et al. (1996), two different microsimulation methods for decomposing inequality. By using this combination it is possible to take into consideration the dispersion of income sources as well as the socio-demographic evolution of the population under study, in a single framework and across many years. This methodology maximizes clarity of results and allows one to easily perform tests on results. An application to Italian household inequality is provided to analyze marginal and joint effects of demographic trends and changed dispersion of different income factors between 1977 and 2002.


Posterior collapse is a common failure mode of density models trained as variational autoencoders, wherein they model the data without relying on their latent variables, rendering these variables useless. We focus on two factors contributing to posterior collapse, that have been studied separately in the literature. First, the underspecification of the model, which in an extreme but common case allows posterior collapse to be the theoretical optimium. Second, the looseness of the variational lower bound and the related underestimation of the utility of the latents. We weave these two strands of research together, specifically the tighter bounds of multi-sample Monte-Carlo objectives and constraints on the mutual information between the observable and the latent variables. The main obstacle is that the usual method of estimating the mutual information as the average Kullback-Leibler divergence between the easily available variational posterior q ( z | x ) and the prior does not work with Monte-Carlo objectives because their q ( z | x ) is not a direct approximation to the model's true posterior p ( z | x ) . Hence, we construct estimators of the Kullback-Leibler divergence of the true posterior from the prior by recycling samples used in the objective, with which we train models of continuous and discrete latents at much improved rate-distortion and no posterior collapse. While alleviated, the tradeoff between modelling the data and using the latents still remains, and we urge for evaluating inference methods across a range of mutual information values.


Information Technology (IT) projects are enablers of organizational transformation and business growth. Despite the contribution of methodologies and frameworks for project management, the ratio of failed IT projects remains high; then, studying critical success factors of IT projects persist as an essential issue for researches and practitioners. This paper presents a systematic literature review focused on compiling and synthesizing project success factors in IT projects. The literature search was conducted using primary journal articles until 2017. All studies agree on the relevance of studying the critical success factors in IT projects given their particular characteristics. The results indicate there is no clear definition of project success concept; our review consolidates the IT success criteria into time, budget, project management, system quality, user satisfaction, and economic value. Also, there a vast and overlapped list of factors; so, this research proposes a structure that synthesizes the most referenced critical factors that have in common soft attributes as involvement, support, communication, and commitment. Findings reinforce the relevance of soft skills in IT project teams.


The late Victorian era saw a major boom in the publication of popular consumer magazines. Beginning with the launch of Tit-Bits by George Newnes in 1881, a revolution in publishing occurred in Britain and during the following three decades the number of magazine titles available to consumers roughly tripled, to around 3,000. The most successful of these such as Pearson's Weekly and Answers were selling the unprecedented volume of one million or more copies per issue. On the back of this rapidly growing market, mainly for weekly magazines, three firms had emerged by 1914 as industry leaders: George Newnes & Co., C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. and Alfred Harmsworth's Amalgamated Press, This latter enterprise was one arm of a highly capital intensive publishing empire which by 1919 ranked in the top 20 among Britain's privately owned modern industrial corporations. By contrast, the dynamism of the popular magazine industry rather waned between the wars as the modern mass circulation daily newspaper truly came of age. In the 1920s and 30s the established publishers of Britain's consumer magazines, exploiting the advantages of large scale production and vertical integration, tended to adopt a simple strategy aimed at building the readership of their leading titles in order to expand revenues both directly, from consumer sales, and via the growing appeal that their periodicals held for the manufacturers and retailers of branded consumer products.
Despite the formidable entry barriers which protected these incumbent magazine publishers and their leading titles, a largely American-inspired process of modernisation did take place in the magazine publishing industry between the wars. This paper analyses the three main new entrants whose operations underpinned this change. First it looks at the strategy adopted by American transplants: W.R. Hearst's National Magazine Company and Conde Nast Inc. These enterprises both gained success in the fortnightly and monthly market for glossy magazines, which were carefully and deliberately aimed at a well-defined target audience that could be served up to suitable advertisers. Respectively, their leading titles Good Housekeeping and Vogue were U.S.-originated magazines that carved out a secure market in inter-war Britain. Second, the paper considers the strategy of Odhams Press Ltd, the printer and publisher of John Bull magazine, which used the success of its leading title to develop an increasingly sophisticated range of periodicals, before obtaining the UK-rights to the high-speed rotary photogravure technology developed by the U.S.-based Alco-Gravure Corporation. This development culminated in the launch of Woman, in 1937, which transformed the market for women's weekly magazines. Finally, it shows how the new practice of photojournalism, utilising the hand-held Leica 35mm camera, was successfully adopted in Britain by Hulton Press for the launch in 1938 of the path-breaking weekly Picture Post, an innovative emulation of the American Henry Luce's Life magazine. With the emergence in particular of Woman and Picture Post, the modern consumer magazine truly came of age in Britain.
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Prior research suggests that parenting affects children's relationships, including those with teachers, although there is variation across individuals in such effects. Given evidence suggesting that oxytocin may be particularly important for the quality of social relationships, we tested the hypotheses (a) that change in parenting from 4 to 6 years of age influences and predicts change in the student–teacher relationship from 6 to 8 years of age and (b) that this effect is moderated by a polymorphism related to the child's oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR), rs53576. In 2 studies, participants included, respectively, 652 socioeconomically diverse Norwegian children from a community sample (50.8% male; mean age of 54.9 months at first assessment) and 559 such children from 8 different U.S. locales (49.0% male; approximately 54 months at the first assessment). Norwegian results showed that change in parenting predicted change in student–teacher relationships, but only in the case of children homozygous for the A allele of rs53576 and in a manner consistent with differential-susceptibility theory: for AA carriers, when parenting changed for the worse, so did children's relationship with teachers, whereas when parenting changed for the better, the teacher–child relationships improved accordingly. Such G×E findings could not be replicated in the American sample. Results are discussed in terms of 2 contrasting models of Person-×-Environment interaction (differential susceptibility and diathesis stress) and potential reasons for failure to replicate.


A leaf disc bioassay was used to investigate the effects of abamectin and fenpropathrin on the functional response of an acarophagous thrips, Scolothrips longicornis Priesner, to eggs of Tetranychus urticae Koch at 25 ± 1°C, 60 ± 10% RH, 16:8 h (L:D). The type of the functional response differed depending on the types and doses of the pesticides used. A type II functional response was found in all pesticide-dose combinations except for females exposed to a half-labelled dose of fenpropathrin, in which a type III functional response was observed. For type II functional responses, the search rates were similar to those found in the control treatments irrespective of predator sex, pesticide and pesticide dose. No differences in handling times across treatments were observed for males but handling times were longer for females, irrespective of pesticide and dose, compared to the control treatment. The theoretical maximum number of prey attacked by the thrips was 49.67 and 23.67 eggs per day for females and males, respectively; both maxima were attained in the control treatment. These values were reduced for males exposed to full doses of either pesticide and for females exposed to both half and full doses of either pesticide. These findings suggest that the efficacy of integrated management programmes for T. urticae involving the application of S. longicornis could be decreased by application of pesticides such as fenpropathrin and abamectin, which are often used to control pests in greenhouse and field crops.