Education policies measuring quality in teaching and learning processes and associated discussions have escalated over recent years (Krause, Barrie & Scott, 2012). In Australia, under the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011, higher-education providers are responsible to ensure that "Assessment tasks for the course of study and its units provide opportunities for students to demonstrate achievement of the expected student learning outcomes for the course of study" (HESF, 2011:Standard 5.1). This standard aligns with the model of assurance of learning first proposed in the OLT Strategic Priority Project: Hunters and Gatherers: Strategies for Curriculum Mapping and Data Collection for Assurance of Learning (Lawson, Taylor et al, 2014). The empirical basis for the model was a national study of university practices across business schools. Notably, the main challenges for implementation were associated with staff engagement and workload issues; as well as scalability and sustainability of practice. Although mapping of learning outcomes across degrees was reported as common practice, some 60% of respondent institutions had not collected any specific learning outcome data yet.

The OLT Extension Project: Gathering valid data for quality enhancement: assessing, reviewing, benchmarking & closing the loop for assurance of learning in regional universities (Lawson, Scheepers et al, 2015) builds on the earlier 'Hunters' findings. The 2015 project investigates supporting assurance of learning by engaging academics and senior faculty managers in valid data collection for quality enhancement. This presentation focuses on a follow up survey on current AOL practice in Australian Universities, targeting Business Schools, and draws on the original project data to enable between project comparisons. Interview data will be analysed using NVIVO to map current trends and good practice, identify ongoing challenges, and compare current practices with the 2010 findings. Key themes will be explored in the session along with the discussion of recommendations for meeting current quality measurement challenges.


A great deal of research has been devoted to the exploration and categorization of threats posed from malicious attacks from current employees who are disgruntled with the organisation, or are motivated by financial gain. These so-called "insider threats" pose a growing menace to information security, but given the right mechanisms, they have the potential to be detected and caught. In contrast, human factors related to aspects of poor planning, lack of attention to detail, and ignorance are linked to the rise of the accidental or unintentional insider. In this instance there is no malicious intent and no prior planning for their "attack," but their actions can be equally as damaging and disruptive to the organisation. This chapter presents an exploration of fundamental human factors that could contribute to an individual becoming an unintentional threat. Furthermore, key frameworks for designing mitigations for such threats are also presented, alongside suggestions for future research in this area.


This article briefly considers the impact of digital technologies on legal education in the 21st Century, such as adaptive learning software, digital assessments of learning outcomes, open course-ware, video capture, simulated role plays, educational gaming, customizable digital textbooks, online courses, video and online conferencing, social networking, online communities, and digital scholarship. It also recognizes the increasing engagement of digital educational resources in higher education generally, as well as by other professional education programs such as business schools, medical schools, and schools of education at universities including Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and Stanford University. The article concludes that the emerging omnipresence of digital technologies in legal education is inescapable. Thus, legal educators must provide leadership and vision, partnering with publishers and software programmers and developers, so that we can ensure that our students receive the best legal education possible in the Digital Age. If we do not, commercial enterprises will simply dictate our teaching resources and methods and, in the process, perhaps our obsolescence.


Metropolitan and urban issues have been of interest to social scientists, policy analysts, and others for some time. This dissertation explores service provision related to government structure, and measurements of these relationships in metropolitan areas, because public service is a primary function of government. To account for different services in different areas, service expenditure and growth in service expenditure are used as the primary variables. Relationships between growth in expenditures and economic-demographic conditions are examined for county government structure.The research method uses single county metropolitan areas to eliminate complications of large, multiple county metropolitan areas, such as multiple states. The study combines content analysis of government and academic documentation on local governance structure and characteristics with quantitative analysis.There are several study findings regarding growth in service expenditure related to government structure and demographic condition. First, structures of government that facilitate managerial competency tend to have lower cost of service provision. Second, expenditure reduction is related to service scope and the type of government providing the service: 1) use of municipal service delivery for jurisdictional-specific services is associated with lower overall service expenditure for the metropolitan area; while 2) use of county services is associated with lower service expenditure for services which benefit from economies of scale; and 3) utilization of special districts is increasing and apparently benefits the tax stream and development finances. Third, in general metropolitan areas with more population in central cities have lower overall service expenditure growth.This dissertation advances the current discussion for improvement of service provision in the following ways. First, it contributes to an understanding of metropolitan area conditions through public service structure and governmental structure. Second, it contributes to the development of a methodological approach for measurement of metropolitan governance. This is accomplished with the concept of "share of service responsibility" for each type of local government and managerial competency. Third, it provides a benchmark of the service structure for multiple-county metropolitan areas.


As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, Liebestod returns us to Leslie Epstein's most compelling literary character, that European emigre and meagerly successful musician, Leib Goldkorn, whose final years as a randy centenarian in New York City end in one of the most memorable swan songs in recent fiction. Invited back to his hometown in Moravia, Leib discovers that his father is not a hops magnate but actually one of the twentieth century's greatest composers, Gustav Mahler. Returning to New York with a bevy of rabbinical cousins, Leib, now besotted by a world-famed diva, is determined to bring to the Metropolitan Opera Rubezahl, the only opera his real father ever wrote. Yet the much-heralded premiere turns into a fiasco of unimaginable proportions, all breathtakingly relayed by a stunned newspaper correspondent who survives to report on this monumental disaster. With Liebestod, Epstein once again "illuminates the mystery of our common humanity and mortality" (New York Times).


The software industry's largest and most severe problem is software piracy. Most attempts to stop illegal copying of software have failed. Alternative ways to remove software piracy must therefore be discovered and some are already being used. These ways include alternative methods of financing software products instead of trying to stop illegal copying. The alternative methods use the low cost of software duplication as an advantage to increase sales instead of seeing it as a problem. This requires a change in the business model to focus on other revenue sources than per-copy fees. Many different alternative financing methods exist. These are suitable under different conditions and there is no universal solution. The methods all have one thing in common. The user can legally copy and use the software product without purchasing a license. All have different positive and negative effects on the user and this can create the opportunity to use several business models to cater different market segments.


For all its area, the subantarctic region has few
land outcrops and those which do occur, with the exception
of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, have been
extensively and irreversibly affected by human beings.
As the last unspoilt unit representative of the subantarctic
biome Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are
of outstanding universal value. They contain unique
natural features of exceptional beauty and host habitats
of rare and endangered plant and animal species.
With the cessation of sealing on Heard Island in the
early 1900's, extreme geographic isolation and severity of
climate have deterred visitors. The Islands are now
experiencing increasing popularity and legal nature protection
and conservation measures which can be considered to apply
to the Islands are insufficient to ensure continuation of
their biological integrity.
This study draws attention to. the conservation status
of subantarctic Heard Island and the McDonald Islands which
are governed by Australia. Legal controls for the protection
of nature on the Islands are assessed and contrasted with
international conservation treaties and scientific programs
which apply to the subantarctic region. It is concluded
that the conservation status of the Islands is delicately
balanced and that steps need to be taken as a matter of
extreme urgency, to upgrade legal controls to facilitate
their future protection. Practicable options available to government to afford appropriate protection to the Islands
are identified and examined. These are: (a) introduction of new legislation;
(b) incorporation of the Islands under the
control of the Australian National Parks
and Wildlife Service; or (c) incorporation of the Islands under the
Antarctic Treaty (Environmental Protection)
Act 1980.
Of the three approaches, Option (c) is considered
to be most beneficial for the Islands and would provide
continuity between Antarctic and subantarctic nature
conservation measures.
The history, geography and biology of the Heard
Island and the McDonald Islands are discussed in the first
half of the study to provide background to the subantarctic
region generally and to give an appreciation of the current
value of the Islands. The second half is devoted to
describing and assessing past and current legal controls
to protect nature. The final section focuses on reform
options to upgrade nature protection which may be pursued
by government.
It is evident from this study that the Islands under
study are worthy of international conservation status.
Declaration as a Biosphere Reserve under the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) or inclusion
on the World Heritage List in accordance with the World
Heritage Convention are particularly relevant. However,
action in this direction is dependent on, and subsequent to,
the reforms options identified.


The Red River shear zone (RRSZ) is a major left‐lateral strike‐slip shear zone, containing a ductilely deformed metamorphic core bounded by brittle strike‐slip and normal faults, which stretches for >1000 km from Tibet through Yunnan and North Vietnam to the South China Sea. The RRSZ exposes four high‐grade metamorphic core complexes along its length. Various lithologies from the southernmost core complex, the Day Nui Con Voi (DNCV), North Vietnam, provide new constraints on the tectonic and metamorphic evolution of this region prior to and following the initial India–Asia collision. Analysis of a weakly deformed anatectic paragneiss using P–T pseudosections constructed in the MnO–Na2O–CaO–K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–O (MnNCKFMASHTO) system provides prograde, peak and retrograde metamorphic conditions, and in situ U–Th–Pb geochronology of metamorphic monazite yields texturally controlled age constraints. Tertiary metamorphism and deformation, overprinting earlier Triassic metamorphism associated with the Indosinian orogeny and possible Cretaceous metamorphism, are characterized by peak metamorphic conditions of ~805 °C and ~8.5 kbar between c. 38 and 34 Ma. Exhumation occurred along a steep retrograde P–T path with final melt crystallizing at the solidus at ≥~5.5 kbar at ~790 °C. Further exhumation at ~640–700 °C and ~4–5 kbar at c. 31 Ma occurred at subsolidus conditions. U–Pb geochronological analysis of monazite from a strongly deformed pre‐kinematic granite dyke from the flank of the DNCV provides further evidence for exhumation at this time. Magmatic grains suggest initial emplacement at 66.0 ± 1.0 Ma prior to the India–Asia collision, whereas grains with metamorphic characteristics indicate later growth at 30.6 ± 0.4 Ma. Monazite grains from a cross‐cutting post‐kinematic dyke within the core of the DNCV antiform provide a minimum age constraint of 25.2 ± 1.4 Ma for the termination of fabric development. A separate and significant episode of monazite growth at c. 83–69 Ma is suggested to be the result of fluid‐assisted recrystallization following the emplacement of magmatic units.


Analysis of n3 fatty acids in serum samples has clinical applications in supplementation trials, but the analysis can be challenging due to low levels, stability issues and intra-individual variation. This study presents the single laboratory validation of a gas chromatographic-mass spectral (GC-MS) assay for analysis of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) using sensitive single ion monitoring and provides data on fatty acid stability under different sample handling conditions. Recovery of total fatty acids from serum with Folch extraction was optimized and parallelism tests with spiked samples indicated that the serum matrix did not interfere with mass spectral quantitation. Precision and accuracy of the assay at the lowest limit of quantitation and at low, medium and high levels met with accepted guidelines for single laboratory validation. Several storage conditions that can be encountered with clinical samples also were evaluated for impact on fatty acid levels in serum. Serum from blood that was stored refrigerated for 3 days yielded similar results as serum that was prepared and frozen at -80°C immediately. Serum storage at room temperature for 3-24 hours and serum subjected to one freeze/thaw cycle had minimal effects on fatty acid levels. The intra-individual variability in pregnant women was reasonably small, with significant correlation coefficients ranging from 0.35 to 0.76 for blood drawn between 12-20 weeks versus 34-36 weeks of gestation. These results indicate that GC-MS with single ion monitoring is valid for the analysis of total fatty acids in clinical samples, even when blood processing cannot be performed in a timely manner.


California government is now considering major reforms in the organization of higher education, specifically dismantling the state's independent planning and coordinating agency, the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC), and placing it and the Student Aid Commission under a new position in the governor's office, possibly a Secretary of Higher Education. This recommendation is the result of Governor Schwarzenegger's establishment of the California Performance Review Commission, in February of 2004, to investigate possible reorganization and other reforms for reducing spending and creating greater efficiencies in state government. Some fourteen teams, divided into seven "functional" areas (e.g., education) and seven cross-cutting areas (e.g., procurement and information technology), developed recommendations for consideration by the governor's office. This paper comments on the governor's proposal and more generally on the appropriate structure for coordinating California's massive higher education system.


The current standard of care for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) involves early use of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Nevertheless, 30% of RA patients still fail their first DMARD and it takes 3–6 months to detect treatment failure with current monitoring methods; this places patients at a higher risk of irreversible joint damage. We previously developed a dynamic contrast-enhanced time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy technique (DCE TR-NIRS) for quantifying joint blood flow (BF). We now aim to investigate whether joint BF, as measured with DCE TR-NIRS, can be used to monitor disease activity and treatment response in a rat model of RA. Arthritis was induced in 4 adult male Lewis rats using the well-established adjuvant-induced arthritis model. Baseline measurements were acquired prior to adjuvant injection on day 0. Arthritis progressed until day 20 ("Pre-treatment" phase), after which rats received DMARD treatment (Enbrel®: 0.5 ml/kg; intramuscular injection) once every 5 days ("Treatment" phase). Starting on day 0, ankle joint BF was measured every 5 days until the end of the study on day 40. Mean rat ankle joint BF (mL/min/100g) increased from 7.94±3.71 at baseline to 15.77±4.58 during the Pre-treatment phase. Following treatment, mean joint BF decreased to 12.15±1.82 mL/min/100g. This is an ongoing study and the preliminary results shown here suggest that joint BF measured with DCE TR-NIRS is sensitive to RA disease activity and could detect response to treatment.


A digital elevation model (DEM), derived from light imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR) altimetry data, is used to investigate the fractal characteristics and structural trends of a topographic surface. The study area is located on the southeastern rim of the Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact feature in Ontario, Canada. Visual interpretation and statistical analysis of fractal dimension (D) indicate that the geological units in the study area are characterized by statistically different distributions of D. In addition, the landscape exhibits two predominant aspect directions: 127° and 290° or ∼SE and NW. High values of D correspond to these predominant aspect directions. Topographic ridgelines exhibit a NE-SW trend, which is perpendicular to that of the highest fractal dimensions and the predominant aspect directions. It is suggested that these ridgelines are topographic expressions of tectonic fabrics present in the various geological units. Genesis of the tectonic fabric is related to the NW-SE–directed shortening of the Sudbury Basin impact crater.


We reported a case of a twelve year old girl diagnosed as chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), metabolic acidosis and poor nutrional status. The chief complaints were bulging abdomen, without abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, accompanied by episodic pain in the lower extremities and buttocks without swelling or redness. Physical examination revealed hepatosplenomegaly, multiple lympadenopathy, body weight for age 54% of P50 and body weight for height 60% of P50; under P65. The laboratory findings were normochromic normocytic anemia, leucocytosis with shift to the left, myelocyte and neutrophil domination, thrombocytosis, hypercellular bone marrow with hyperactive granulopoiesis and megakaryocyte, erythropoiesis and NAP score decreased and the result of blood gas analysis was partially compensated metabolic acidosis with hypoxemia. Key words : Chronic myelogenous leukemia - metabolic acidosis - poor nutritional status - infection - hydroxyurea,  cytosar


This paper is concerned with the use of AI techniques in ecology. More specifically, we present a novel application of inductive logic programming (ILP) in the area of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs). The activity we want to predict is the biodegradability of chemical compounds in water. In particular, the target variable is the half-life for aerobic aqueous biodegradation. Structural descriptions of chemicals in terms of atoms and bonds are derived from the chemicals' SMILES encodings. The definition of substructures is used as background knowledge. Predicting biodegradability is essentially a regression problem, but we also consider a discretized version of the target variable. We thus employ a number of relational classification and regression methods on the relational representation and compare these to propositional methods applied to different propositionalizations of the problem. We also experiment with a prediction technique that consists of merging upper and lower bound predictions into one prediction. Some conclusions are drawn concerning the applicability of machine learning systems and the merging technique in this domain and the evaluation of hypotheses.


The aim of this study was to evaluate changes and relationships between mood states, training volume and perception of effort in adults during an eight-week strength-training programme. Twenty-one male adults (age 30.19 ± 8.65 years; height 173.56 ± 7 cm; weight 78.07 ± 10.82 kg) took part in the study. Quantitative monitoring of the training volume, the profile of mood states (POMS) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were self-evaluated weekly, i.e. eight times in total. Analysis showed that a well-planned training volume resulted in positive changes of POMS over the eight weeks ( p < .05); there was a decrease in the rate of depression and fatigue ( p < .05). Positive correlations between evolution of POMS and evolution of volume training were observed ( p < .05). In summary, changes in RPE were correlated with changes in POMS over the training programme. Thus, the use of psychological indicators can contribute to a better planning of training volume in adults. These findings may be helpful to coaches in prescribing an optimal training volume for adults.


This paper is concerned with the study of fuzzy dynamical systems. Let (X;M; *) be a fuzzy metric space in the sense of George and Veeramani. A fuzzy discrete dynamical system is given by any fuzzy continuous self-map defined on X. We introduce the various fuzzy shadowing and fuzzy topological transitivity on a fuzzy discrete dynamical systems. Some relations between this notions have been proved.


This paper has two main objectives. The first is to develop a dynamic model of commercial fisheries different from most existing models that assume optimizing behavior. The industry is assumed to have a well-defined index of performance. Based upon this index, the decision to invest or not is made. We do not, however, assume that the industry or firm is efficient or optimal in its operations. The second is that a new approach of fitting model dynamics to time series data is employed to simultaneously estimate the poorly known initial conditions and parameters of nonlinear fisheries dynamics. The approach is a data assimilation technique known as the variational adjoint method. Estimation of the poorly known initial conditions is one of the attractive features of the variational adjoint method.


The formal practice of forecasting and planning F&P has risen to prominence within a few decades and now receives considerable attention from both academics and practitioners. This paper explicitly recognizes the nature of F&P as future-oriented decision making activities and, as such, their dependence upon judgmental inputs. A review of the extensive psychological literature on human judgmental abilities is provided from this perspective. It is argued that many of the numerous information processing limitations and biases revealed in this literature apply to tasks performed in F&P. In particular, the "illusion of control," accumulation of redundant information, failure to seek possible disconfirming evidence, and overconfidence in judgment are liable to induce serious errors in F&P. In addition, insufficient attention has been given to the implications of numerous studies that show that the predictive judgment of humans is frequently less accurate than that of simple quantitative models. Applied studies of F&P are also reviewed and shown to mirror many of the findings from psychology. The paper subsequently draws implications from these reviews and suggests reconceptualizing F&P through use of decision-theoretic concepts. At the organizational level this involves recognizing that F&P may perform many, often conflicting, manifest and latent functions which should be identified and evaluated through a multi-attribute utility framework. Operationally, greater use should be made of sensitivity analysis and the concept of the value of information.


The modern consumer has an attitude that food safety is non-negotiable issue – the consumer simply demands food to be safe. Yet, at the same time, the modern consumer has an expectation that the food safety is the responsibility of others – the primary producer, the processing company, the supermarket, commercial food handlers and so on. Given this environment, all food animal industries have little choice but to regard food safety as a key issue. As an example, the chicken meat industry, via the two main industry funding bodies – the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (Chicken Meat) and the Poultry CRC – has a comprehensive research program that seeks to focus on reducing the risks of food-borne diseases at all points of the food processing chain – from the farm to the processing plant. The scale of the issue for all industries can be illustrated by an analysis of the problem of campylobacterosis – a major food-borne disease. It has been estimated that there are around 230,000 cases of campylobacterosis per year. In 1995, it was estimated that each case of food-borne campylobacterosis in the USA was costing between $(US) 350-580. Hence, a reasonable conservative estimate is that each Australian case in 2010 would result in a cost of around $500 (this includes hospital, medication and lost productivity costs). Hence, this single food-borne agent could be costing Australian society around $115 million annually. In the light of these types of estimated costs for just one food-borne pathogen, it is easy to understand the importance that all food animal industries place on food safety.


Flow cytometry is a technology that measures and analyzes the optical properties of mono-dispersed single particles, such as cells, bacteria, picoplankton, microbeads, yeast, platelets, nuclei and other similarly-sized particles, passing single file through a focused laser beam. The laser can excite fluorophores that have been used to mark various molecules or physiological functions of the particles. The use of fluorophores with different fluorescence characteristics, multiple lasers and multiple photo detectors allows flow cytometers to measure many characteristics of each particle simultaneously. An important feature of flow cytometry is that large numbers, for example thousands of particles per second, are analyzed and therefore provide a statistically significant picture of a specimen's physical and biochemical make-up. In this inaugural address the focus will be on how we implemented flow cytometry in cellular toxicology or the study of how cell dies.


This is the second of two companion papers addressing the association between educational attainment and fertility for some sixty educational groups of Swedish women, defined according to field of education as well as level of education. The first paper is about childlessness and education, the present one about the mean number of children ever born. We find that ultimate fertility decreases somewhat with an increasing educational level, but its dependence on the field of education is much more impressive. In general, educational groups with relatively little childlessness also have relatively high ultimate fertility, and educational groups with much childlessness have relatively low ultimate fertility. In particular, women educated for the teaching or health-care professions have less childlessness and a higher ultimate fertility than others. Conversely, women with an education for esthetic or (non-teacher) humanist occupations have unusually high fractions childless and low ultimate fertility. Women with religious educations stand out by having very high fractions childless but quite ordinary mean ultimate fertility nevertheless; such women have very little childbearing outside of marriage. Women with research degrees have remarkably ordinary childbearing behavior; they do not forego motherhood to the extent that some theories would predict.


The crystallography of martensite formed in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr steel was studied using the EBSD technique. The results showed that the observed orientation relationship was closer to the Nishiyama- Wassermann (N-W) than to the Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) orientation relationship (OR). The microstructure of martensite consisted of parallel laths forming morphological packet-like structures. Typically, there were three different lath orientations in a morphological packet consisting of three specific N-W OR variants sharing the same {111} austenite plane. A packet of martensite laths with common {111} austenite plane was termed as a crystallographic packet. Generally, the crystallographic packet size corresponded to the morphological packet size, but occasionally the morphological packet was found to consist of two or more crystallographic packets. Therefore, the crystallographic packet size appeared to be finer than the morphological packet size. The relative orientation between the variants in crystallographic packets was found to be near 60°/ . This appears to explain the strong peak observed near 60° in the grain boundary misorientation distribution. Martensite also contained a high fraction of boundaries with their misorientation in the range 2.5-8°. Typically these boundaries were found to be located inside the martensite laths forming lath-like sub-grains, whose long axes were parallel with the long axis of the martensite laths.


The main objective of this study was to develop an algorithmic financial model to determine and examine the characteristics of key value drivers, earnings, net income, EBITDA, sales, and book value, that formulate the value aspects of a company to compute raw value multiples using multi-linear regression analyses of scaled value driver, Price-to-Earnings (PE), Price-to-Net_Income (PX_Earn_Com), Price-to-EBITDA (PEBITDA), Price-to-Sales (PS), and Price-to-Book (PB), against a comprehensive list of independent proxy variables. The resulting spectrum of raw value multiples is utilised in further computation that encompass the triangulation of the spectrum raw value multiples in a weighted process based on the adjusted coefficient of determination measurement, which would synthesise a raw market share price of the company (Adj. Vs_PX) comparable to Bloomberg-based share prices (PX). Effectively, the multi-linear regressive algorithmic financial model would be used for assessing market value signalling a buy or sell based on the position of synthesised market share price relative to current market share prices. The amalgamated data sample for this study comprises of the market indices representing the Anglo-Saxon and European markets, namely the FTSE-All-Share (ASX) of UK, S&P 500 (SPX) of the USA and STOXX Europe 600 (SXXP) of Europe with a data availability ranging from 2001 to 2011 obtained from Bloomberg. The main objective was successfully completed by the analysis of 170 regression models based on 5 scaled dependent variables regressed against 56 independent proxy variables for 8,851 company-years out of 14,340 company-years representing the 3 market indices, ASX, SPX, and SXXP.
The descriptive statistics measures of the computed raw value multiples and share prices relative to the Bloomberg-based values have overall generated robust and significant results. Generally reflecting a low standard error, consistent standard deviation and yielding sample means that are very similar. Relating the computed raw value multiples of PE, PX_Earn_Com, PEBITDA, PS, and PB, against the respective Bloomberg-based multiples has mostly shown similar company values for ASX and SPX, signifying that the listed companies are efficiently valued. Whereas for the companies listed on the SXXP index, the results highlighted that there were differences in values observed between the synthesised raw multiples and the Bloomberg-based multiples, implying that companies are either over-valued or under-valued. Overall the corresponding PS and PB multiples displayed the most consistent and explanatorily significant results compared to the three earnings multiples. However, the observed discrepancies in the synthesised values relative to the Bloomberg-based values would mostly be offset collectively between PE, PX_Earn_Com, and PEBITDA, thus presenting consistent and significant results.
This study concludes that the cross-sectional relative valuation analysis of any fully-listed company in the Anglo-Saxon and European markets in an identical process to be achievable. Hence, the process of valuation analysis using independent proxy variables can be standardised for the Anglo-Saxon and European markets and the triangulation of value multiples to synthesise comparable market share prices. The various aspects of the methodologies applied are founded on multi-linear regression analysis and relative valuation using a standardised database for all the data obtained from the three market indices: ASX, SPX, and SXXP. Thus, the multi-linear regressive algorithmic financial model is capable of computing cross-sectional valuation, as well as cross-market valuation for any fully-listed company, to compute value multiples that can be triangulated to synthesise respective share prices premised on standardised proxy variables.


Moral emancipation in post-perestroika Russia led to a massive drug abuse, at the same time narcotization has no cognitive or religious impulse, but rather is connected with hedonistic tendencies (along with many other phenomena of modern civilization, especially mass culture). The problem of the relationship of drug abuse with deviant behavior has been dramatically worsened. Anti-drug direction with prominent role of social advertising in it, is very important.The most important methodological postulate was the position about the empirical method of cognitive linguistics, which is to follow all the nuances of language forms and to find their ultimate explanation in the cognitive structures device.Cognitive approach to social advertising considers that the recipient of the advertisement perceives it through the prism of individual constructs. Persuasiveness in anti-drug advertising relies not only on logic but on psychology, and the axiology. Interpretative approach and hermeneutic approach, linguistic deduction and induction were used.


Three cases along the Ger North Sea coast, north of the Elbe estuary are discussed. Land reclamation by building dikes started in the Dithmarschen-area almost eight hundred years ago. The construction of the closure dam in the Bay of Dithmarschen provided areas for agriculture and recreation, and resulted in lakes which facilitated the drainage of lowlands and offered possibilities for boating . The first closure of the Eider-river in 1937 led to silting-problems. Thus the next closure by a storm surge barrier (1967/72) had been established near the mouth of the estuary. The length of the dike had been cut down from 60 to 5 km and a better drainage of an intake area of more than 2000 Km 2 has been guaranteed without disadvantage for shipping. The construction changed the morphodynamics of tidal channels and created morphological reactions in the adjacent Wadden Sea that are still obvious.


The worldwide school closures in early 2020 led to losses in learning that will not easily be made up for even if schools quickly return to their prior performance levels. These losses will have lasting economic impacts both on the affected students and on each nation unless they are effectively remediated.
While the precise learning losses are not yet known, existing research suggests that the students in grades 1-12 affected by the closures might expect some 3 percent lower income over their entire lifetimes. For nations, the lower long-term growth related to such losses might yield an average of 1.5 percent lower annual GDP for the remainder of the century. These economic losses would grow if schools are unable to re-start quickly.
The economic losses will be more deeply felt by disadvantaged students. All indications are that students whose families are less able to support out-of-school learning will face larger learning losses than their more advantaged peers, which in turn will translate into deeper losses of lifetime earnings.
The present value of the economic losses to nations reach huge proportions. Just returning schools to where they were in 2019 will not avoid such losses. Only making them better can. While a variety of approaches might be attempted, existing research indicates that close attention to the modified re-opening of schools offers strategies that could ameliorate the losses. Specifically, with the expected increase in video-based instruction, matching the skills of the teaching force to the new range of tasks and activities could quickly move schools to heightened performance. Additionally, because the prior disruptions are likely to increase the variations in learning levels within individual classrooms, pivoting to more individualised instruction could leave all students better off as schools resume.
As schools move to re-establish their programmes even as the pandemic continues, it is natural to focus considerable attention on the mechanics and logistics of safe re-opening. But the long-term economic impacts also require serious attention, because the losses already suffered demand more than the best of currently considered re-opening approaches.


We report on inkjet printing of silver nanoparticles on paper for the design of resistive temperature and capacitive humidity sensors. Temperature and humidity have shown to have an influence on the electrical and mechanical properties of the Ag printed structures on paper. The passivation of the paper substrate and the Ag structures with parylene was investigated to reduce these effects and improve the stability of the structures. The lines were printed with an average thickness of 0.8 µm and a resistivity of 30 µΩ·cm. The Ag thermometer coated with parylene showed a good linearity with a TCR of 0.0011°C−1, while the capacitive humidity sensor exhibited an exponential response. This study foresees the possibility of using paper as substrate with inkjet printing of silver for the design of low-cost environmental sensors.


Chromosome 22q11 deletion syndrome (also known as DiGeorge syndrome) is the most common human chromosome deletion syndrome, having an estimated incidence of at least one in 4000 live births. It has a range of severity but a multisystem impact, with symptoms that may include congenital heart defects, immunological and endocrine abnormalities, cleft palate, gastrointestinal problems and neuropsychiatric abnormalities. Nearly three-quarters of patients identified with this deletion syndrome have cardiac defects, and research into the underlying biology of this disorder has uncovered new knowledge of biological processes in both congenital heart disease and early embryonic development. On page 569 of this issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Jason Z Stoller, MD, of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, collaborating with Jonathan A Epstein, MD, scientific director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute of the University of Pennsylvania, report on an important interaction of two proteins, Ash2l and Tbx1, during early mammalian development. 'In humans and other mammals, the heart is among the first organs to develop', said Stoller. 'Greater knowledge of biological events that occur in the earliest stages of development helps us to better understand both normal and abnormal heart development'. In cell and animal studies, the researchers discovered that Ash2l, a core component of a protein complex responsible for epigenetic modifications, is absolutely essential to early embryogenesis; without this protein, mouse embryos did not survive past the first few days of gestation. The region of chromosome 22 that is most commonly lost in DiGeorge syndrome contains more than 30 genes, among them the gene for the transcription factor Tbx1. The Tbx family of nuclear transcription factor proteins shares a T-box, a conserved DNA binding domain that mediates regulation of downstream genes. In 2005, Epstein and Stoller identified a domain within the Tbx1 protein that, when not functioning properly, plays a key role in causing DiGeorge syndrome in a subset of patients. The current study aimed to identify proteins that interact with Tbx1 in a functionally important way that could shed light on the pathogenesis of DiGeorge syndrome. Using a yeast and cell culture studies, the researchers pinpointed the Ash2l protein as interacting with Tbx1. They then generated Ash2l knockout mice to further investigate the role of the Ash2l protein. Mouse embryos that did not express Ash21 died early in gestation – demonstrating that the protein is necessary for early development. 'The crucial requirement of the Ash2l protein', said Stoller, 'suggests that it likely acts to regulate many developmental genes in mammals. As part of a histone methyltransferase complex, it regulates gene transcription by epigenetic mechanisms'. Future clinical implications for children and adults with DiGeorge syndrome are yet unclear. These patients have a normal Ash2l gene, but the loss of Tbx1 may alter the interaction between Ash2l and Tbx1 and play a role in their disease, possibly by regulating downstream genes. Stoller added, 'The fact that patients with this genetic syndrome are missing a copy of the Tbx1 gene suggests that reduced amounts of the Tbx1 protein may have biological effects that cause different features of the disease. Further research is needed to discover these specific mechanisms'. Dr Steven R Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine, said 'Stoller et al. have demonstrated that protein Ash2l is essential in early embryogenesis. Ash2l interacts with the transcription factor Tbx1 which resides in a chromosomal region commonly deleted in DiGeorge syndrome. This interesting study suggests possible mechanisms leading to congenital heart disease in DiGeorge syndrome'.


In July 2005, a set of cuts to Medicaid eligibility and coverage went into effect in the state of Missouri. These cuts resulted in the elimination of the Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities program, more stringent eligibility requirements, and less generous Medicaid coverage for those who retained their eligibility. Overall, these cuts removed about 100,000 Missourians from the program and reduced the value of the insurance for the remaining enrollees. Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we show how these cuts increased out-of-pocket medical spending for individuals living in Missouri. Using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel (CCP) and employing a border discontinuity differences-in-differences empirical strategy, we show that the Medicaid reform led to increases in both credit card borrowing and debt in third-party collections. When comparing our results with the broader literature on Medicaid and consumer finance, which has generally measured the effects of Medicaid expansions rather than cuts, our results suggest there are important asymmetries in the financial effects of shrinking a public health insurance program when compared with a public health insurance expansion.


In the past decade, a growing music-analytic practice has emerged around timbre, a parameter long considered either irrelevant to musical structure or too unwieldy to tackle. This new practice centers on an understanding of timbre as a perceptual rather than physical (acoustical) attribute and privileges timbre as a bearer of musical meaning. Through a focused survey of scholarship on timbre from the 1980s to present, this article considers theoretical commitments and challenges that have attended the shift toward this subjective, "perceptualized" conception of timbre, particularly in light of music theory's objectivist and structuralist disciplinary leanings.


The smectic A- smectic C* (AC*) transition in a binary mixture of SCE9+SCE10 is studied at various concentrations of SCE9 near (x c = 0.12) and above x c (tricritical concentration). The temperature dependences of the spontaneous polarisation and the tilt angle (order parameters) are calculated using our mean field model with the bilinear and biquadratic couplings between these two order parameters. The expressions derived from the mean field model are fitted to the experimental data from the literature and the coefficients given in the free energy are determined. It is demonstrated that our mean field model explains the observed mean field to tricritical behaviour in SCE9+SCE10.


Supported in part by funds provided by the United States Department of the Interior as authorized under the Water Resources Act of 1964, Public Law 88-379.
OWRR Project No. A-007-HI, Grant Agreement No. 14-01-0001-581


An algorithm that generates realistic synthetic 24-hour RR-tachograms by including both cardiovascular interactions and transitions between physiological states is presented. Fluctuations in the beat to beat RR-intervals of a normal healthy human over 24 hours are known to exhibit variability on a number of different time scales. Short range variability due to Mayer waves and RSA are incorporated using a power spectrum with given spectral characteristics described by its low and high frequency components. Longer range fluctuations arising from transitions between physiological states are generated using switching distributions extracted from real data. These physiological states, including sleep states, are specified using RR intervals with different means, variances and trends. This algorithm provides RR tachograms that are similar to those in the MIT-BIH Normal Sinus Rhythm Database. The resulting artificial RR times series generator was submitted for part 1 of the Physionet/Computers in Cardiology Challenge 2002 with entry number 201.


The authors describe the historic form of rendering and provide details on present-day practice. Possible future directions for the rendering industry are considered. The role of rendered meat-and-bone meal (MBM) as a dietary supplement in propagating the United Kingdom (UK) epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is discussed, together with the role of MBM in spreading BSE outside the UK. Evidence that customarily used rendering processes did not substantially inactivate the agents of BSE or scrapie is presented. In addition, the influence that the abandonment of solvent extraction (as an adjunct to rendering) in the UK might have had on BSE infectivity levels in MBM is discussed. The BSE-related safety of tallow and by-products of tallow are considered. Data that associate the BSE agent with a new variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, predominantly but not exclusively, in the UK, are also discussed.


A method for correcting integrating-sphere signals that considers differences in the angular distribution of scattered light is extended to sources of errors that are due to stray light from imperfect optical components. We show that it is possible to measure low levels of scattering, below 1%, by using a standard integrating sphere, provided that the various contributions to stray light are taken into account properly. For low-scattering samples these corrections are more important than those from the angular distribution of the scattering. A procedure for the experimental determination of stray-light components is suggested. Simple, easy to use, compact equations for the diffuse and specular reflectance and transmittance values of the sample as functions of the recorded signals are presented.


There is an increased interest in detecting and estimating the amount of falling snow reaching the Earth's surface in order to fully capture the global atmospheric water cycle. An initial step toward global spaceborne falling snow algorithms for current and future missions includes determining the thresholds of detection for various active and passive sensor channel configurations and falling snow events over land surfaces and lakes. In this paper, cloud resolving model simulations of lake effect and synoptic snow events were used to determine the minimum amount of snow (threshold) that could be detected by the following instruments: the W-band radar of CloudSat, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) Ku- and Ka-bands, and the GPM Microwave Imager. Eleven different nonspherical snowflake shapes were used in the analysis. Notable results include the following: 1) The W-band radar has detection thresholds more than an order of magnitude lower than the future GPM radars; 2) the cloud structure macrophysics influences the thresholds of detection for passive channels (e.g., snow events with larger ice water paths and thicker clouds are easier to detect); 3) the snowflake microphysics (mainly shape and density) plays a large role in the detection threshold for active and passive instruments; 4) with reasonable assumptions, the passive 166-GHz channel has detection threshold values comparable to those of the GPM DPR Ku- and Ka-band radars with ~ 0.05 g·m-3 detected at the surface, or an ~ 0.5-1.0-mm·h-1 melted snow rate. This paper provides information on the light snowfall events missed by the sensors and not captured in global estimates.


Over twenty years ago, Peters and Waterman posited that the best-run companies had simultaneous "loose-tight" properties, where the organization is "rigidly controlled, yet at the same time autonomy, entrepreneurship and innovation from the rank and file is encouraged" (1982: 318). More recently, Collins (2001) has suggested that what he terms "great" companies have a "culture of discipline," where rigor and discipline enable creativity and entrepreneurship. This creative duality is expressed in terms of "freedom within a framework" and "opportunistic flexibility." The inference of these widely-read examinations of corporate excellence is that corporate control systems play an instrumental role in companies that demonstrate high levels of entrepreneurship. Yet the nature of that role remains unclear. Control systems evolve in companies. The implementation of measures, procedures, systems, and documentation requirements initially brings order, coordination, accountability and efficiency to an otherwise chaotic situation. Without them, quality is inconsistent, schedules are missed, customers are improperly billed, money is wasted, and employees take shortcuts. Simple in the beginning, controls become more sophisticated and complex over time, to the point that they encourage bureaucracy and micro-management (Shih and Yong, 2001). Control measures can become ends in themselves, while conveying a lack of employee trust (Morrow et al., 2004). Concerns for strategic effectiveness are replaced by a preoccupation with operational efficiency (Simons, 1995). Thus, Pinchot observes that "many centralized companies with highly sophisticated control systems are, in fact, out of control" (2000: 125), while Govindarajan (1988) has proposed that U.S. firms are not so much over-controlled as they are mis-controlled. A critical question concerns the relationship between the design and operation of the control system and the level of entrepreneurship exhibited within the organization. On the one hand, control systems provide strategic direction to the innovative efforts of firms, and the efficiencies they produce can free up resources for innovation (Marginson, 2002). Further, they exert discipline over innovative projects in terms of performance benchmarks, schedules, and competition among ideas. On the other hand, it would seem control systems that tightly monitor behavior and resource utilization can serve to undermine employee creativity and the motivation to experiment and take risks (Morris and Kuratko, 2002; Shih and Yong, 2001). Elaborate controls can discourage the kind of bootleg projects, resource bootstrapping, and informal arrangements between departments and units that are frequently associated with corporate entrepreneurship (Pinchot, 2000). They can result in slower decision making, harming the ability of the firm to exploit new opportunities. The purpose of this research is to empirically assess the relationship between control and entrepreneurship in established organizations. Insights from the literature on the nature of control are reviewed, and underlying dimensions of a control system are identified. A series of hypotheses concerning relationships between the components of control and the level of entrepreneurship in a company are proposed. The hypotheses are tested via two surveys directed at cross-sections of corporate managers. Implications are drawn for theory and practice. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT Stevenson and Jarillo-Mossi indicate that "entrepreneurship is a process by which individuals--either on their own or inside organizations--pursue opportunities without regard to the resources they currently control" (1990: 23). Sathe (2003) defines corporate entrepreneurship as a process of organizational renewal and new business creation. Others have noted that, in a corporate context, entrepreneurial activities revolve around organizational sanctions and resource commitments for the purpose of innovative results (Naman and Slevin, 1993; Zahra and Covin, 1995). …


A growing body of work has examined responses to moral dilemmas where causing some degree of harm leads to a greater positive outcome; such dilemmas are said to pit deontological philosophical considerations (causing harm is never acceptable) against utilitarian philosophical considerations (causing harm is acceptable if it leads to the best possible outcome). According to dual-process theories of moral judgment, independent processes drive each judgment: affective reactions to harm drive deontological judgments, whereas cognitive evaluations of outcomes drive utilitarian judgments. Yet, theoretically both processes contribute to each judgment; therefore, it is an error to equate judgments with processes. To overcome this error, we adapted Jacoby's (1991) process dissociation (PD) procedure to independently quantify the strength of deontological and utilitarian inclinations within individuals. Five studies presented in two articles support the conclusion that process dissociation taps the processes theorized to underlie moral judgments more effectively than overt dilemma judgments, and allows for increased insight into the nature of moral processing. In Conway and Gawronski (2013) Study 1, the PD parameters predicted theoretically relevant individual-difference variables (e.g., the utilitarian parameter uniquely predicted cognitive load, whereas the deontology parameter uniquely predicted empathic concern and perspective-taking). Moreover, both parameters predicted moral identity—a relation that was obscured using overt moral judgments. In Study 2, a cognitive load manipulation selectively reduced utilitarian inclinations, whereas in Study 3, a manipulation that increased the vividness of harm selectively increased the deontology parameter. Together, these findings suggest that the deontology parameter is tapping affective reactions to harm, and the utilitarian parameter is tapping cognitive evaluations of outcomes (consistent with theory). In Study 1 of Conway, Bartels, and Pizarro (under review), participants scoring higher in Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and meaninglessness made more overt utilitarian judgments (replicating past findings), but process dissociation revealed that this relation was due to decreased deontology rather than increased utilitarianism among people high in antisocial personality traits. Study 2 demonstrated that the deontology and utilitarian parameters each correlated with different kinds of prosociality. These findings clarify theoretical confusion regarding the nature of utilitarianism and deontology.


During the digestion of food there is a significant amount of endogenous proteinaceous material secreted into the gut. A dynamic equilibrium exists in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) between dietary protein intake and the secretion of endogenous proteinaceous material into the lumen with the concomitant absorption from the gut of digested materials, both exogenous and endogenous in origin. There have been no systematic studies of the protein composition (i.e. sources of protein) of ileal digesta in humans. The objectives of this study were to quantify the endogenous protein components of ileal digesta collected from the terminal ileum of both humans and pigs (the growing pig was used as an animal model for the adult human). Preliminary work was undertaken to ascertain the best methods for quantifying mucin and bacterial protein in digesta from the terminal ileum. Preferred methods for the determination of mucin utilised the markers N-acetylglucosamine and Nacetylgalactosamine, and diaminopimelic acid as a marker for bacterial protein. Of the total nitrogen lost at the terminal ileum of pigs fed a casein-based diet nearly 73% was proteinaceous; nearly 45% originated from bacteria, 13% from soluble free protein and 11% from mucin. Of the non-protein nitrogen 11% was ammonia and 5% urea. Only 8.3% of the total nitrogen remained unidentified. Mucin was the single most abundant truly endogenous component (13% of total dry matter). In humans fed the same casein-based diet 86% of total nitrogen at the terminal ileum was proteinaceous; nearly 60% originated from bacterial protein, 15% from mucin and 6% from soluble free protein. Of the non-protein nitrogen 5% was ammonia and 4% urea. Only 4% of the total nitrogen remained unidentified. Once again mucin was the single most abundant truly endogenous component (13% of total dry matter). In a final study the ileal endogenous protein components were determined in human subjects given three isonitrogenous diets, which differed only in the form that nitrogen was supplied. In comparison with a synthetic amino acid based-diet casein and enzyme hydrolysed casein increased endogenous nitrogen losses, including both the concentration and flow of mucin in the terminal ileal digesta. The form of dietary protein did not affect the proportion of bacterial protein in the ileal effluent.


A two-stage neural network has been used to predict protein secondary structure based on the position specific scoring matrices generated by PSI-BLAST. Despite the simplicity and convenience of the approach used, the results are found to be superior to those produced by other methods, including the popular PHD method according to our own benchmarking results and the results from the recent Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction experiment (CASP3), where the method was evaluated by stringent blind testing. Using a new testing set based on a set of 187 unique folds, and three-way cross-validation based on structural similarity criteria rather than sequence similarity criteria used previously (no similar folds were present in both the testing and training sets) the method presented here (PSIPRED) achieved an average Q3 score of between 76.5% to 78.3% depending on the precise definition of observed secondary structure used, which is the highest published score for any method to date. Given the success of the method in CASP3, it is reasonable to be confident that the evaluation presented here gives a fair indication of the performance of the method in general.


Cancer-associated alterations in cell surface and secreted glycoproteins have been catalogued for many years but many of the studies of alterations in mucin carbohydrate have relied on histochemical or immunohistochemical methods, with little direct chemical analysis. In this study, we analyzed the O-glycosylation pattern of MUC2 glycoprotein isolated from colorectal carcinomas, transitional mucosa and resection margins from three patients with blood group A, B and O, respectively. After alkaline borohydride treatment, the released oligosaccharides were structurally characterized by nanoESI Q-TOF tandem mass spectrometry without prior fractionation or derivatization. As expected, we found an increased expression of sialyl-Tn antigen in the colonic cancer mucins. A more interesting feature was the increased expression of a core 3 sialyl-Le(x) hexasaccharide, NeuAcalpha2-3Galbeta1-4(Fucalpha1-3)GlcNAcbeta1-3(NeuAcalpha2-6)GalNAc in tumor, which appeared to compete with its sulfo-Le(x) counterpart in normal tissue, SO3-3Galbeta1-4(Fucalpha1-3)GlcNAcbeta1-3(NeuAcalpha2-6)GalNAc. This antigen, whose structure was confirmed by NMR experiments, is based on a core 3 glycan and may be a potential marker for the malignant transformation of colonic cells. Unexpectedly, most of the glycans recovered in normal and carcinomas extracts were based on a sialylated core 3, GlcNAcbeta1-3(NeuAcalpha2-6)GalNAcol. Moreover, the pattern of glycosylation was very similar between mucins isolated from each sample, the main differences related to the level of expression of the major oligosaccharides. The data obtained in this investigation may have value for future screening studies on colorectal cancer.


Abstract. There has been growing interest in the vertical structure of the recent Arctic warming. We investigated temperatures at the surface, 925, 700, 500 and 300 hPa levels in the Arctic (north of 70° N) using observations and four reanalyses: ERA-Interim, CFSR, MERRA and NCEP II. For the period 1979–2011, the layers at 500 hPa and below show a warming trend in all seasons in all the chosen reanalyses and observations. Restricting the analysis to the 1998–2011 period, however, all the reanalyses show a cooling trend in the Arctic-mean 500 hPa temperature in autumn, and this also applies to both observations and the reanalyses when restricting the analysis to the locations with available IGRA radiosoundings. During this period, the surface observations mainly representing land areas surrounding the Arctic Ocean reveal no summertime trend, in contrast with the reanalyses whether restricted to the locations of the available surface observations or not. In evaluating the reanalyses with observations, we find that the reanalyses agree better with each other at the available IGRA sounding locations than for the Arctic average, perhaps because the sounding observations were assimilated into reanalyses. Conversely, using the reanalysis data only from locations matching available surface (air) temperature observations does not improve the agreement between the reanalyses. At 925 hPa, CFSR deviates from the other three reanalyses, especially in summer after 2000, and it also deviates more from the IGRA radiosoundings than the other reanalyses do. The CFSR error in summer T925 is due mainly to underestimations in the Canadian-Atlantic sector between 120° W and 0°. The other reanalyses also have negative biases in this longitude band.


In addition to the vast number of historic images of Australian Aboriginal peoples, a number of archaeological images depicting life in prehistoric times in Australia have recently been produced (Attwood and Edwards 1987; Deiley 1979; Jones 1987a; Wood 1977). While the historic images include drawings, paintings and photographs produced in association with the early scientific expeditions to Australia and the European settlement of the country, the prehistoric images include drawings and paintings which have been produced in association with the excavation of major archaeological sites in the country. The historic images appear in colonial accounts and expedition memoirs, and have been used as a documentary resource in a wide range of disciplines including history, anthropology, archaeology and art history, and the prehistoric images appear in popular scientific texts and have been used as a resource for communicating archaeological findings to the wider public. While the historic images have been used to assess the ways in which the Europeans rationalised their invasion of Australia and their oppression of the Aboriginal population, the prehistoric images can be used to assess the way in which prehistorians have rationalised their reconstruction of prehistoric behaviour and their development of theories about how the continent was first colonised by human populations. In essence, both the historic and prehistoric visions of Australian Aboriginal peoples constitute a critical resource for understanding both the colonial construction of Australian Aboriginal identity and the archaeological construction of prehistoric Aboriginal lifeways. Despite the fact that the prehistoric images or visual reconstructions are limited in number, they still make an important contribution to the rich iconographic tradition of depicting Australian Aboriginal peoples. Similar to the historic images, the value of the prehistoric images lies not so much what they tell us about what the Aboriginal peoples looked like and what they did , but also in what they tell us about ourselves and how we have constructed knowledge about Australian prehistory. This paper constitutes a preliminary attempt to outline the role that such images play in the conceptualisation of the Australian Pleistocene.


We examined the association between α-adducin 1 (ADD1) gene polymorphism (Gly460Trp) with macrovascular complications and mortality in type 2 diabetes in a Caucasian population aged ≥55 years. The study was part of the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort study. ADD1 polymorphism was determined in 6,471 participants, including 599 patients with type 2 diabetes at baseline. The prevalence of hypertension in type 2 diabetic patients was 2.57 times higher in ADD1 TT carriers compared with GG carriers (95% CI 1.05–6.32, P = 0.03). Homozygous T carriers also had a higher mean common carotid intima media thickness (IMT) compared with GG carriers (mean difference 0.05 mm, P for trend = 0.03). In diabetic patients with hypertension, the risk of mortality was 1.83 times higher in homozygous T carriers compared with the GG genotype group (95% CI 1.07–3.16, P = 0.03). The increased risk was only present among TT carriers who did not use antidiabetes medication (hazard ratio 2.18 [95% CI 1.12–4.24], P = 0.02). The results of this population-based cohort study suggest that the ADD1 gene contributes to the risk of hypertension and increases mean common carotid IMT in patients with type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the study indicates that the ADD1 polymorphism could be useful in identifying hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients with a high risk of mortality.


J2EE developers have an extraordinary array of powerful options for securing their Web services, Web applications, EJB components and RMI objects. Now, expert Java architect Pankaj Kumar helps developers make sense of Java's increasingly rich security APIs, tools, patterns, and best practices-showing how to use each of them in the right place, at the right time, and in the right way.Kumar covers every significant J2SE and J2EE security mechanism, presenting practical implementation techniques for the entire J2EE project lifecycle: analysis, design, development, deployment and operations. The book's example-rich coverage includes: Implementing cryptography with the JCA (Java Cryptography Architecture) and JCE (Java Cryptography Extension) security APIs Building PKI systems with Java: implementing X.509 certificates, Certification Authorities, Certificate Revocation Lists, and repositories Java security managers, policy files, and JAAS: implementing access control based on code origin, code signer and user credentials Securing the wire: Using SSL and the JSSE API to secure data exchange over unprotected networks Ensuring XML message integrity, authentication, and confidentiality with the standards: XML Signature & XML Encryption using the VeriSign TSIK, and Infomosaic SecureXML libraries Addressing security issues in RMI-based distributed applications Developing and deploying servlets and EJBs for authenticated and secure access Securing Web services with transport- and message-based security: SSL for transport-based and WS Security for message-based security Covering security aspects of best-of-breed products: Apache Tomcat, Apache Axis, and BEA WebLogic Server.


NORMAN MAILER'S The Castle in the Forest is a special experience for an Austrian. In his latest book in the Henry Bech series, John Updike has his Jewish author-protagonist say on the occasion of a visit to Czechoslovakia: "Hitler. To come to Europe is somehow to pay him a visit." In his latest book, Norman Mailer has paid a visit to the two Austrian regions which are home to the Hitler family. On one level, Castle is a book about life of the lower classes of the German-speaking section of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and about one man, Alois Hitler, who manages to rise above the humble origins of his family. It looks at the daily life of the peasants, the education of their children, their sexual relationships, and their sometimes desperate attempts to improve their limiting life conditions. But the family that is followed in this novel in great detail on almost five hundred pages is not an ordinary family. It is the family of a man who would fatally change the course of history--causing a catastrophe whose terrible consequences we are still far from having overcome. Norman Mailer has written another novel which functions very much the same way. In Oswald s Tale (1995), he and his collaborators have sifted through and generated an incredible amount of material relating to Oswald's time in the Soviet Union, his wife, Marina, and her family and friends. Reading through the hundreds of pages of this book, one comes to understand the tragic history of the Soviet Union and the way this history has shaped her citizens. Although readers are at times lost in the wealth of this material, at no time do they forget that the whole book has one focal point, namely the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on as November 1963 in Dallas. From none of the many things we find out about Marina and her development can it be excluded that it may have influenced her in a particular way which may have contributed to the negative development of her marriage with Lee, and thus to Lee's frustrated megalomania--or whichever else formative characteristic--which ultimately may have caused the murder of Kennedy. "This is," says Mailer, "after all, a book that depends upon the small revelation of separate points of view. We are, in effect, studying an object ... as he tumbles through the prisms of a kaleidoscope. It is as if by such means we hope to penetrate into the psychology of Lee Harvey Oswald." In readers' minds, the massive quantity of information Castle provides concerning Hitler's family and early childhood is equally focused on a later historical development, although in a much different manner. The catastrophe is not the murder of a man with large possibilities and the meaning of that death for his culture, but rather the extinction of a whole culture itself, a genocidal horror unequalled in human history. Mailer, by focusing on Hitler's family and early life, seems to suggest that there must be some explanatory potential here for what happened later on. One approach to this novel, though tiresome and uninspired, would be to look at the sources Mailer himself has used and listed in his bibliography and investigate where his narrative intervenes into the Hitler story using the fictional, novelistic mode. Clearly, this is not what this paper can or wants to do, although it would be of some interest if one wanted to look at Mailer's strategy of fictionalization. There is one major theme of the novel, however, where a comparison with the sources in order to understand their significance, namely that of incest. In the past quarter century, Hitler research has found a consensus regarding the much debated question of the identity of Hitler's unknown grandfather. The father of Hitler's father, Alois, was neither the fabled "Jew from Graz," Frankenberger, nor the later husband of Hitler's mother, Anna Maria Schickelgruber. Rather, it was, as Mailer has his narrator, devil Dieter, find out--with the help of the "Maestro" himself--the brother of Anna Maria's husband, Johann Nepomuk Huttler, in whose house Alois grew up for parts of his life. …


Mainstreaming involves integrating climate adaptation measures into existing policies and programs. This article reviews the policy process and policy capacity of government organizations and suggests that both need to be incorporated into climate change adaptation assessments. A critical part of mainstreaming is evidencebased decisionmaking, which emphasizes that decision makers should have the best available information in order to make knowledgeable decisions. This requires policy work that involves a wide variety of statistical methods, applied research, and advanced modeling techniques to gauge broad public opinion and attitudes as well as more routine research techniques. A review of previous past quantitative studies conducted mainly in Canada identifies factors driving policy capacity within government departments responsible for formulating, choosing, implementing, and evaluating climate change adaptation policies and programs. Policy capacity has traditionally been objectively measured and includes indicators such as the number of policy staff, their education levels, resources available, roles and tasks, and ongoing training. More attention needs to be paid to the subjective perceptions of individuals who undertake policy work, in particular the attitudes towards the policymaking process. This paper concludes by proposing a policy capacity framework that includes individual, organizational, and sectoral policy capacity considerations.


A great deal is at issue in the handling of the threat of terrorism in the United States today. Restrictions on the use of public space are a direct consequence, at the urban level, of what is happening. But beyond that, and beyond the various abuses of civil liberties and common sense that have been involved in the governmental misuse of the threat after 9/11, the most serious misuse may be the sale of the threat as a threat to existential security instead of as one danger among others to public safety. It has been manipulated for purposes having nothing to do with terrorism. The intended result has been to reinforce the positions of those in power, to displace the insecurity inherent in a capitalist free market system, and to limit further the freedom that is at the heart of the right to the city. The current treatment of public space illustrates the process.


PURPOSE
Protocols for quantifying the surface roughness of implants are varied and dependent upon the roughness parameter produced by the particular measurement device. The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy and precision of typical roughness characterization instruments used in the dental implant industry.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The average roughness (Ra) was measured using 2 common surface characterization instruments: an interferometer and a stylus profilometer. Titanium disks were prepared to represent 4 typical dental implant surfaces: machined, acid-etched, hydroxyapatite-coated, and titanium plasma-sprayed. Repeated measurements from multiple sites on each surface were undertaken to establish statistical inferences. Qualitative images of the surfaces were also acquired using a laser scanning confocal microscope. After surface measurements were conducted, the disks were diametrically cut and cross-sectional profiles were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) as a comparative measure of surface topography. An analysis of variance was applied to isolate the effects of the measurement site, measurement sequence, surface treatment, and instrument type on Ra values.

RESULTS
The results indicated that surface treatment (P = .0001) and instrument (P = .0001) strongly influenced Ra data. By design, measurement site (diametrical: P = .9859; area: P = .9824) and measurement sequence (P = .9990) did not influence roughness. In the assessment of individual instrument accuracy, the interferometer was the most accurate in predicting SEM-based roughness (P = .6688) compared with the stylus (P = .0839). As a measure of aggregate precision over all measurements, the most repeatable instrument was the stylus (coefficient of variation [CV] = 0.108), followed by the interferometer (CV = 0.125) and SEM (CV = 0.273).

DISCUSSION
These results indicate dependencies in accuracy and precision related to the surface characterization technique.

CONCLUSION
Instrument variability may obscure functional correlations between implant surface topography and osseointegration.


Recurrent neural networks have achieved excellent performance in many applications. However, on portable devices with limited resources, the models are often too large to deploy. For applications on the server with large scale concurrent requests, the latency during inference can also be very critical for costly computing resources. In this work, we address these problems by quantizing the network, both weights and activations, into multiple binary codes {-1,+1}. We formulate the quantization as an optimization problem. Under the key observation that once the quantization coefficients are fixed the binary codes can be derived efficiently by binary search tree, alternating minimization is then applied. We test the quantization for two well-known RNNs, i.e., long short term memory (LSTM) and gated recurrent unit (GRU), on the language models. Compared with the full-precision counter part, by 2-bit quantization we can achieve ~16x memory saving and ~6x real inference acceleration on CPUs, with only a reasonable loss in the accuracy. By 3-bit quantization, we can achieve almost no loss in the accuracy or even surpass the original model, with ~10.5x memory saving and ~3x real inference acceleration. Both results beat the exiting quantization works with large margins. We extend our alternating quantization to image classification tasks. In both RNNs and feedforward neural networks, the method also achieves excellent performance.


This research project explored the potential of forming an integrated optics technology based on silicon core waveguides suitable for application in sensors and communications in the wavelength range 1.2 to 1.6 mum. Integrated optics has evolved around the use of compounds such as lithium niobate and III-V semiconductors due to their available electro-optic properties. By contrast silicon has received relatively little attention as its indirect band gap has prevented the fabrication of light sources in the material and its centrosymmetric crystal structure means that it has no useful linear electro-optic effect. The lack of a demonstrated low loss integrated optical waveguide compatible with single mode optical fibres has been a further limitation. However, these major drawbacks in silicon waveguide technology may be more than offset by the potential advantages of forming silicon integrated optical devices using well established silicon microelectronics fabrication methods. The project focused research on waveguiding in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures with the aim of developing a practical low loss waveguide in these structures and understanding the various loss mechanisms. In principle the optical absorption of pure crystalline silicon over the wavelength range of interest allows waveguides with losses less than 0.1 dB/cm to be formed. SOI material formed by ion implantation has been developed for microelectronic applications and provides a commercial source of a silicon planar waveguide structure with high quality interfaces and low defect density. The project studied waveguides based on this material. Initially planar waveguides with silicon thickness from 0.57 to 7.3 microns and buried oxide thickness of 0.07 to 0.4 microns were studied. Fabrication methods and structures were identified which allowed multi-microns planar SOI waveguides to be formed with losses less than the benchmark of 1 dB/cm. For these structures a buried oxide thickness of 0.4 microns was found to be sufficient to prevent substrate leakage loss. It has been concluded that the predominate loss mechanism is scattering of light at the silicon to buried oxide interface. Rib waveguides were formed in SOI following the insight into loss mechanisms gained in the planar waveguide studies. Optical rib waveguides with widths from 2.73 to 7.73 microns were formed in SIMOX (Separation by IMplantation of OXygen) based SOI structures consisting of a 4.32 micron thick surface silicon layer and a 0.398 micron buried oxide layer. The effect of waveguide width, bend radius, Y-junction splitting and interface roughness on loss and mode characteristics were studied at wavelengths of 1.15 and 1.523 microns. The experimental results support the hypothesis that certain rib dimensions can lead to single mode waveguides even though planar SOI waveguides of similar multi-micron dimension are multimode. The propagation losses of waveguides 3.72 microns wide were found to be 0.0 dB/cm and 0.4 dB/cm for the TE and TM modes respectively when measured at 1.523 microns. The measurement uncertainty was estimated to be +/-0.5 dB/cm. These results are thought to be the lowest loss measurements for silicon integrated optical waveguides reported to date. During the course of the project other researchers have demonstrated useful electro-optic properties in silicon semiconductor junctions based on the free carrier plasma dispersion effect and room temperature electroluminescence in silicon based junctions. The combination of these developments with the practical waveguide structure demonstrated in this project now makes the possibility of developing a practical silicon based integrated optics technology a reality.


Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a slow multistep process eventually starts from long-term inflammation to fibrosis and leads to malignancy. These variations cause several genes disrupted that play role many signaling pathways involved in HCC. Early diagnosis and treatment of hepatocarcinogenesis depend on efficient biomarker discovery. To date, only two specific markers of HCC are identified, AFP and AFP-L3, but assessment and validation of these markers are still left in large cohorts of patients. Proteomic approach aids to develop new promising biomarker for diagnosis liver cancer at early stage. Materials and Methods: Animal model of HCC was developed. Histopathological and biochemical estimations were performed during disease progression. Proteomic analysis was done for the identification of biomarker at early stage. Results: cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor alpha (PKIA) was identified using one-dimensional electrophoresis (1DE) and 2DE followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Conclusion: The present study concludes the identification of potential biomarker, cAMP-dependent PKIA. It was hypothesized that PKIA is useful for detection of HCC at initial stage.


We present new calculations of transit spectra of super-Earths that allow for atmospheres with arbitrary proportions of common molecular species and haze. We test this method with generic spectra, reproducing the expected systematics and absorption features, then apply it to the nearby super-Earth GJ 1214b, which has produced conflicting observational data, leaving the questions of a hydrogen-rich versus hydrogen-poor atmosphere and the water content of the atmosphere ambiguous. We present representative transit spectra for a range of classes of atmosphere models for GJ 1214b. Our analysis supports a hydrogen-rich atmosphere with a cloud or haze layer, although a hydrogen-poor model with .10% water is not ruled out. Several classes of models are ruled out, however, including hydrogen-rich atmospheres with no haze, hydrogen-rich atmospheres with a haze of ∼0.01-micron tholin particles, and hydrogen-poor atmospheres with major sources of absorption other than water. We propose an observational test to distinguish hydrogen-rich from hydrogen-poor atmospheres and make predictions for the spectral features of HD 97658b based on our best fits for GJ 1214b. Finally, we provide a library of theoretical transit spectra for super-Earths with a broad range of parameters to facilitate future comparison with anticipated data.


Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen, of at least 95%, is necessary for effective therapeutic response among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWHIV). This study determined the factors associated with non-adherence of PLWHIV to HAART regimen among patients attending a healthcare facility in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Two hundred and fifty one patients, aged 18 to 70 years, attending a healthcare facility in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria from 8th July to 8th August 2018, were adequately informed and their consent was obtained to enroll in the study. The enrollees were defined as non-adherent (NA), if, for any reason, they missed at least one dose of their drug within the last 30 days. These NA enrollees were purposively selected. The data was obtained using interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. The data obtained was checked for completeness, coded and technique analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22 software. The statistical association between variables was described using logistic regression. Of the 251 PLWHIV, 100 (39.84%) were NA enrollees. Three major reasons provided by enrollees for missing medication were: (1) forgetfulness 41%, (2) travelling with incomplete medication and difficulty in the accessing drug from a new clinic, 15% and (3) not willing to take HIV/AIDS drugs with other prescribed drugs, 10%. This study has shown that a majority of PLWHIV (60.16%) complied with therapy regimen.  Forgetfulness was the most common factor reported for non-adherence by the enrollees. This suggests that there is an increasing need for healthcare personnel to encourage patients to use memory aids, and to increase the awareness of the consequences of non-adherence during drug administration.

 Key words: Highly active antiretroviral therapy, HIV/AIDS, medication non-adherence, healthcare facility.


Abstract : The Air Force Cost Analysis Agency (AFCAA) directed the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to collect data, create databases, and develop innovative methods/tools to better predict future disposal costs for United States Air Force fixed-wing aircraft. IDA created and delivered a cost-estimating tool which was informed by ten years of actual data from the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG). The data used in this study were limited to aircraft currently in the AMARG inventory, but the IDA Cost Estimating Relationships (CERs) allow for estimation of future aircraft disposal costs. The value of this tool is that it allows AFCAA to quickly see the disposal costs of current aircraft (both total and by phase) as well as to quickly estimate the disposal costs of an aircraft currently in active inventory or of a notional system under development.


Completion of genome duplication by DNA replication catalyzed at stable replisomes is essential for life by facilitating cell division. Replisomes encounter physical blockage and chemical damage to DNA that frequently threatens to derail replication by inhibiting replisome enzymes. Multiple systems support DNA replication, by detection and repair of DNA damage and removal of physical blocks. Homologous recombination (HR) is one example. Archaeal Hel308 and metazoan HelQ DNA helicases are implicated in DNA repair by HR, in response to toxic DNA interstrand crosslinks that block replication forks. HelQ and Hel308 are single-strand DNA (ssDNA) stimulated ATPases with 3' to 5' translocase/helicase activity, most effective at unwinding forked DNA. Their helicase activities are likely to be crucial for promoting DNA replication and repair, but little is known about how. Here, I have been able to generate high yields of highly active human HelQ protein, compared to previous published strategies, and used in vitro biochemistry to show multiple oligomeric states of HelQ that are sensitive to reducing agents. I show that HelQ preferentially targets branched DNA molecules for DNA unwinding similarly to existing data for archaeal Hel308. HelQ and Hel308 demonstrated conservation of function between HelQ and archaeal Hel308 in winged helix domains of both proteins that led to a model for bi-modal DNA binding. This highlights how archaeal Hel308 may also be used as a model for HelQ function.


Breast Density and Mammography Reporting Act of 2015 Amends the Public Health Service Act to require mammography facilities to include up-to-date information about breast density in both the written report of the results of a mammography examination provided to a patient's physician and the summary of that written report given to the patient. Requires the summary to convey: (1) the effect of breast density in masking the presence of breast cancer on a mammogram, and (2) that individuals with dense breasts should talk with their physicians about any questions or concerns regarding the summary and whether they would benefit from additional tests. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to expand and intensify research on breast density, the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of supplemental imaging relating to breast density, and best practices concerning mammograms and supplemental screening for those with dense breasts.


Voter mobilization experiments are often conducted using individual-level randomization, which can be difficult to implement. A simpler approach is to randomly assign voting precincts, rather than individuals nested within them, to treatment and control groups. Not only is it easier and potentially less expensive to implement, it may allow researchers to study vote preference effects without collecting survey data. This article explores various methodological concerns that researchers should consider when designing and analyzing precinct-level experiments. These concerns are illustrated using data from a precinct-level randomized field experiment conducted in Kansas City, Missouri.


Binding plea agreements once served an important function of counterbalancing the vast judicial discretion at sentencing. The federal judiciary enjoyed wide discretion in imposing a sentence; the government and defendant's freedom to contract for an appropriate sentence mirrored that discretion. The United States Sentencing Guidelines (the Guidelines) effectively replaced, and marginalized the role of, binding plea agreements. Binding plea agreements became a stigmatized novelty in federal criminal practice. The valuable tool has remained underutilized and unavailable to criminal defendants for more than 20 years. Aside from its legislative goals of uniformity and proportionality, the Guidelines promoted predictability and informed decision-making for the defendant. In its 2005 decision in United States v. Booker, the Supreme Court relegated the Guidelines to a mere sentencing "consideration" and introduced a new process in federal sentencing. The sea change that resulted from Booker seemingly improved federal sentencing for the judiciary, the prosecution and the defense. After several years of "advisory Guidelines," courts have exercised their discretion decidedly in favor of the criminal defendant imposing lower sentences than were called for when the Guidelines were mandatory. The fall of the Guidelines may benefit defendants statistically, yet the new process will never be as predictable and informative. This Article argues that in addition to the swing toward increased judicial discretion and overall lower sentences, the pendulum also can swing toward predictability and informed decision-making for the defendant. Increased use of binding plea agreements in federal court could complement the progressive developments following Booker. After years of isolated and inconsistent use, binding plea agreements could again restore some predictability and informed decision-making for the defendant. This Article proposes that Congress should enact a new standard for judicial acceptance of binding plea agreements post-Booker, as well as policy and perception changes. While binding plea agreements are not appropriate in most cases, the parties must be permitted to enter into agreements for a specific sentence that is "reasonable" and consistent with Congress' original intent underlying Rule 11(c)(1)(C).


The risk of osteoporotic fracture is related to peak bone mass achieved at skeletal maturity and subsequent bone loss. Although premature menopause is a risk factor for osteoporosis, the effect of exposure to endogenous estrogen during a woman's reproductive years is poorly characterized. We analyzed the relationship between reproductive factors and estrogen exposure on bone mineral density (BMD) and incidence of atraumatic fracture in data from 1091 women (age: 70 +/- 7.2 yr; mean +/- SD) participating in the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study. Age- and weight-adjusted BMD among women who had used estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) for more than 5 yr was higher at the lumbar spine and femoral neck by 13.7% and 10.2% (P < 0.001), respectively, compared with women who had used ERT for less than 5 yr or nonusers. Duration of exposure to estrogen (years of menstruation plus postmenopausal ERT use) was associated with higher BMD, such that BMD increased by 2-3% for every 10-yr increase in years of estrogen exposure; thus women who menstruated for more than 40 yr had a 6-8% higher BMD than did women who menstruated for less than 30 yr. Higher BMD was also significantly associated with high parity, such that nulliparous women had 5-6% lower BMD than did their peers of the same age and weight. The incidence of atraumatic fractures among non-ERT users was higher than that of ERT-users [odds ratio (OR): 1.06; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94-1.16] and was significantly lower among parous women than among nulliparous women (OR 0.94; 95% CI: 0.84-0.98) in univariate analysis. Longer duration of menstruation was associated with lower fracture incidence (OR for 1 SD = 6.6 yr: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.86-1.02). Moreover, when all of these factors were considered simultaneously, parity remained a significant determinant of fracture as well as femoral neck BMD. We conclude that high parity and longer duration of exposure to estrogen, either through natural menstruation or postmenopausal ERT, have protective effects on BMD and are associated with a reduced incidence of atraumatic fracture in a population-based study.


Abstract Introduction: Working amongst a San community led to the observation that, despite the availability of modern healthcare, high mortality and morbidity associated with disease, such as dehydration, malnutrition and tuberculosis, still prevailed. This study aimed to determine how traditional beliefs and customs influenced the utilisation of Western medicine. Methods: An observational-descriptive study was conducted. Consenting patients, facilitated by interpreters, completed questionnaires during consultations conducted by nurses and the principal investigator at the Platfontein primary health care (PHC) clinic. Results: Of the 113 participants, two-thirds were female. The median age was 40 years; 56.7% lacked formal education; 42.5% conversed only in their native tongue. The initial use of the PHC facility was high (71.4%), even though 37% of the participants visited a traditional healer in the preceding year. Circumcision was the condition for which traditional healers were consulted most commonly (28.8%). Conditions preferably requiring clinic visitation were coughing (51.4%), pain (35.1%) and diarrhoea (34.2%). Of the participants leading mostly a traditional lifestyle (n = 48), 30.6 % indicated that they did not use traditional medicine or healers; 72.9% indicated that illness could be caused by a spell. Of the participants not leading a traditional lifestyle (n = 41), 85.4% indicated that they did not use traditional medicine; 41.4% indicated that illness could be caused by a spell. Conclusion: The assumption that the mortality and morbidity observed for certain conditions were due to the preference for traditional medicine in this community could not be confirmed. Doctors working amongst isolated communities or in multicultural environments, however, should recognise that traditional medicine still plays a role in the health care of their patients.


A four-color, task-based guide to AutoCADThis Autodesk Official Training Guide thoroughly covers the fundamentals of AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013 and teaches you everything you need to become quickly productive with the software. Learn to draw in 2D, shape complex curves, manage objects with layers, organize with blocks and groups, add dimensions and annotation, work with layouts, model in 3D, create realistic renderings, and more. Whether you're an aspiring CAD/CAM professional, preparing for certification, or updating your skills, this is the fast, thorough grounding you need in AutoCAD.The perfect guide for AutoCAD beginners, this Autodesk Official Training Guide uses approachable real-world exercises to explain AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Takes a workflow-based approach and presents AutoCAD tasks, tools, and core functionality in the context of designing a house Features hands-on tutorials illustrated with full-color screenshots Covers basic 2D drawing skills, editing entities, working with splines and polylines, using layers and objects, organizing objects with groups and blocks, and using hatch patterns and gradients Examines working with blocks and cross-references, creating and editing text, dimensioning, using constraints and layouts, printing, editing and importing data, modeling in 3D, and presenting the design AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Essentials helps AutoCAD newcomers understand the software and gain confidence in their skills.