Green Information Technology (IT) is emerging as an increasingly important issue as organizations come under pressure to address environmental sustainability concerns. Despite increased attention from business, government and more recently, Information Systems (IS) researchers, a measure to determine the capability of organizations to Green their IT remains elusive. The purpose of this paper is to develop a Green IT Readiness (G-readiness) model, identify its key dimensions and develop a reliable and valid instrument to operationalize it. The validity of the proposed model is tested using structural equation modeling based on data collected from a cross-sectional and cross-country survey of Chief Information Officers and other IT managers. The study makes an original contribution to the IS literature in an area that is attracting increasing managerial attention yet lacking in research, that is, the interaction between IT and ecosustainability.


A total of 599 sows were used to determine the effects of added L-carnitine and/or chromium picolinate on reproductive performance. Experimental treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial with main effects of added L-carnitine (0 or 50 ppm) and chromium picolinate (0 or 200 ppb). Starting on the first day of breeding, sows were provided a daily top dress containing the carnitine and(or) chromium along with the standard gestation diet. Dietary treatments were administered daily through the initial gestation, lactation, and through a second gestation period (2 parities). During the first parity, there was a carnitine × chromium interaction (P<0.01) for first service farrowing rate. Added dietary chromium increased (P<0.01) first service farrowing rate, but not when carnitine was added. No differences (P>0.05) were observed in number of pigs born alive, still born, mummies, or total born in the first parity. Added dietary Lcarnitine decreased (P<0.05) wean to estrus interval, and tended to increase (P<0.08) the number of sows in estrus by d 7. In the second parity, a tendency (P<.08) for a carnitine × chromium interaction was found for first service farrowing rate. Adding carnitine and chromium together in the diet increased first service farrowing rate compared to either product alone. Because of the change in wean-to-estrus interval and farrowing rate, feeding additional dietary carnitine and chromium increased (P<0.04) the percentage of sows that were weaned from parity 1 and farrowed in parity 2. When calculating the total number of pigs and number born alive based on all sows that were started on test, both added carnitine and chromium increased the number of pigs born and born alive. These results show that carnitine and chromium supplementation improved return-toestrus interval and farrowing rate and, thus, total number born alive over two parities.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 15, 2001


The Swedish and Norwegian Vikings were present in the Balkans including in Bulgaria. The archaeological and visual materials found on the Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish territory support this statement. The majority of the objects constitute parts of weapons and tools related to the Scandinavian warfare. Most of these artifacts were discovered in North East of Bulgaria close to the Romanian border. They can be attributed to the Rus princes (father and son): Igor I (912–945) and Svyatoslav I Igorevich (942–972) who passed by the Bulgarian lands in the 10-th century and the Norwegian prince Harald who supported the Byzantine Empire to cause the downfall of the First Bulgarian kingdom at the beginning of the next century. Despite this sorrowful reputation, though, the Viking material culture in Bulgaria, Romania and Istanbul gives evidence to the multicultural mosaic of our region. It also enriches the Balkan history and culture. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to outline the Viking objects discovered in the Balkans.


Often when performing electrical bioimpedance (EBI) spectroscopy measurements, the obtained EBI data present a hook-like deviation, which is most noticeable at high frequencies in the impedance plane. The deviation is due to a capacitive leakage effect caused by the presence of stray capacitances. In addition to the data deviation being remarkably noticeable at high frequencies in the phase and the reactance spectra, the measured EBI is also altered in the resistance and the modulus. If this EBI data deviation is not properly removed, it interferes with subsequent data analysis processes, especially with Cole model-based analyses. In other words, to perform any accurate analysis of the EBI spectroscopy data, the hook deviation must be properly removed. Td compensation is a method used to compensate the hook deviation present in EBI data; it consists of multiplying the obtained spectrum, Zmeas(ω), by a complex exponential in the form of exp(–jωTd). Although the method is well known and accepted, Td compensation cannot entirely correct the hook-like deviation; moreover, it lacks solid scientific grounds. In this work, the Td compensation method is revisited, and it is shown that it should not be used to correct the effect of a capacitive leakage; furthermore, a more developed approach for correcting the hook deviation caused by the capacitive leakage is proposed. The method includes a novel correcting expression and a process for selecting the proper values of expressions that are complex and frequency dependent. The correctness of the novel method is validated with the experimental data obtained from measurements from three different EBI applications. The obtained results confirm the sufficiency and feasibility of the correcting method.


Detailed mapping and structural analysis along the base of the Semail ophiolite thrust sheet in the northern Oman mountains has revealed a distinct and separate thrust sheet between the underlying marine sediments of the Hawasina Complex, and the overlying 12 km+ thick Semail ophiolite. This thrust sheet is termed the Haybi complex, and consists of sub-ophiolitic metamorphic rocks and serpentinite, alkaline and tholeiitic basalts (the Haybi volcanics), associated with mountain-sized "Exotic" limestones and an Upper Cretaceous sedimentary melange. The rocks of the Haybi complex are bounded by major thrust planes, the Semail thrust above and the Haybi thrust beneath, which truncate all schistosities, fold axes, imbricate thrust and associated features. The Haybi volcanics are mainly Triassic in age and form a substrate to or enclose large, isolated blOCKS of Permian or Triassic "Exotic" limestones, Although they have been considerably disrupted and imbricated during south-westward emplacement, intact sequences show that the lower part is composed mainly of alkaline pyroclastics and lavas, including ankaramites, nephelinites and trachytes, whereas the upper part is predominantly tholeiitic pillow lavas and breccias. Late sills of alkali pyroxenite, wehrlite and kaersutite gabbro intrude the tholeiitic volcanics in a few localities and have been dated as Turonian (Upper Cretaceous). Geochemical studies, particularly of "immobile" elements show that the lower volcanics and the late sills are strongly alkaline with high Ti, p, Zr and Nb contents, low Y/Nb ratios and steep LREE enriched rare earth patterns. They are typical "within-plate" alkaline magmas characteristic of continental rift zones and some ocean islands. Two types of tholeiites are recognised: a relative (to MORB) trace-element enriched "transitional" type which probably farmed in a transitional within-plate tectonic setting and a "depleted" type with the characteristics of islandarc tholeiites. The uppermost Haybi arc lavas are probably Middle Cretaceous in age (from radiolaria in interbedded cherts) and may be related to the initiation of a subduction zone in the Cretaceous. prior to ophiolite formation and emplacement. Metamorphic rocks showing an inverted metamorphic zonation from upper amphibolite facies immediately beneath the peridotite to greenschist facies at lower levels, outcrop discontinuously along the base of the Semail ophiolite thrust sheet. These metamorphic rocks show polyphase deformation, mylonitic fabrics, and have been disrupted. folded and imbricated, and in places form tectonic inclusions in a serpentinite melange. In the more intact sequences, garnet-clinopyroxene amphibolites, with rare hornblende and clinopyroxene-bearing marbles and banded quartzites occur at the higher levels whilst a wide range of meta-sedimentary and metabasaltic rOCKS occur in the greenschist facies. "Immobile" element and REE geochemistry supports field assumptions that the amphibolites were derived mainly from Haybi "transitional" (or MORS-type) volcanics. Protoliths of the meta-sediments include "Exotic" limestones, Mn-rich cherts and argillaceous turbidites probably derived from the Hawasina Complex. Low glaucophane content of amphiboles and low jadeite content of clinopyroxenes suggest relatively low pressures of crystallisation. The distribution coefficient KD for coexisting garnet and clinopyroxene suggests a temperature range of 670o to 750oC, the upper limit of the amphibolite facies. Residual heat from the recently-formed ophiolite provided the dominant heat source for metamorphism during the Turonian-Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) although frictional heating during thrusting could have supplemented this. Ophiolite emplacement in Oman is thought to be essentially a two-stage process. During initial displacement, high-temperature metamorphism occurred along the base of the fractured ophiolite forming the metamorphic sheet and successive tectonic slices were incorporated onto the base of the ophiolite, presumably by underthrusting. The metamorphism probably occurred along a shallowdipping subduction zone (dipping north-east) which was initiated during the formation of the Haybi arc lavas in the Middle Cretaceous. Final emplacement of the Semail ophiolite by gravity sliding or spreading was facilitated by a thin decollement layer of basal serpentinite along the Semail thrust plane which truncates all underlying structures. Since continent-continent collision has not occurred in this area of Tethys, the Oman ophiolite remains largely undeformed unlike the ophiolites along the Zagros suture zone of Iran or the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone in the Himalayas.


We study analytically pulse distortion in linear slow light systems, and provide some useful limits on these devices. Additionally, we also show that the contributions of phase and amplitude broadening can be de-coupled and quantified. It is observed that phase broadening is generally smaller than amplitude broadening in conventional slow light media (lorentzian gain profile) except for very large fractional delays, where it becomes larger. Upon these expressions, we may envisage new strategies to minimize the distortion in the delaying of pulses, depending on the specific application and the required fractional delay. To overcome the residual distortion, we show that nonlinear systems can lead to a resharpening of the pulses and a re-generation of the filtered frequencies.


When threatened by crises such as global terrorism, financial collapse, pandemic diseases, and natural disasters, states may resort to measures that harm the interests of foreign investors protected under the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) regime. Many such BITs, however, contain heretofore under-studied clauses that preclude liability for state actions taken in response to exceptional circumstances. These non-precluded measures (NPM) clauses effectively transfer the risk of and costs associated with state action in exceptional circumstances from the host-states of international investments to the investors. In two recent cases brought against Argentina in response to the Argentine financial crisis, ICSID tribunals have interpreted the NPM clause in the U.S.-Argentina BIT in radically different ways, with one tribunal holding Argentina liable and the other excusing Argentina from compensating investors. This article provides the first detailed study of NPM clauses in international investment law. It argues that NPM clauses are, in fact, a widespread element of the international law of foreign investment. To guide states, investors, and arbitral tribunals, the article offers a framework for the interpretation of NPM clauses, based on the practice of key states including the U.S., Germany, and India. In so doing, the article imports the margin of appreciation doctrine from European human rights law into international investment arbitration as a mechanism for determining the scope of deference to be accorded to critical state policies by ad hoc arbitral tribunals. More generally, the article argues that the risk-allocation function performed by NPM clauses is of considerable significance to the depth of international legal cooperation, the response of states to international crises, and the flow of international investments.


This paper presents an advanced control strategy for the rotor and grid side converters of the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbine (WT) to enhance the low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability according to the grid connection requirement. Within the new control strategy, the rotor side controller can convert the imbalanced power into the kinetic energy of the WT by increasing its rotor speed, when a low voltage due to a grid fault occurs at, e.g., the point of common coupling (PCC). The proposed grid side control scheme introduces a compensation term reflecting the instantaneous DC-link current of the rotor side converter in order to smooth the DC-link voltage fluctuations during the grid fault. A major difference from other methods is that the proposed control strategy can absorb the additional kinetic energy during the fault conditions, and significantly reduce the oscillations in the stator and rotor currents and the DC bus voltage. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy has been demonstrated through various simulation cases. Compared with conventional crowbar protection, the proposed control method can not only improve the LVRT capability of the DFIG WT, but also help maintaining continuous active and reactive power control of the DFIG during the grid faults.


ABCTRACT Urban sprawl beginning in the developed countries around 1950 is currently experienced in almost all countries. Many studies on the effects of urban sprawl indicate the emergence of harmful effects of this phenomenon. One of the most important environmental effects is the changes in climate. The purpose of this research was to identify the relation between urban sprawl components of Tehran with changes in climate variables. To this end, two data sets have been used to study the relation between these elements and components. The first data set included climatic elements such as rainfall, temperature, the percent of relative humidity and the percent of calm wind, as well as its mean speed for a period of 54 years (1953-2006). The second set of data was formed by components relevant to urban sprawl such as city area, private cars per capita, population density and number of urban population. Pearson correlation and multiple regression methods have been applied to compare and identify the relation between climatic components with urban sprawl indices. Results of correlation indicate that among the 5 aforementioned climatic components, annual rainfall and the mean of wind speed do not appear to have significant relation with sprawl, but the oscillations in percent of relative humidity and percent of calm wind seem to have a significant relation with Tehran sprawl. Consequently and using multivariate regression, it was concluded that the most important factor in the increasing temperature of Tehran, is the number of cars; the most important factor in increasing the percent of relative humidity is the area of Tehran, whereas the increase of the percent of calm wind may be attributed to the increase of population.


The present study, based on my participant observation among selected elementary school students in a public school in Manila, seeks to investigate the reproduction of gender roles in the performance of play by children. Observing the performance of popular childlore and analyzing the lyrics, it employs Huizinga's phenomenological approach to play, Vygotsky's socio-cultural approach to child development, and poststructuralist feminist theory of identity, in analyzing rhymes and actions involved in child's play. The study attempts to explicate how children are socialized into the adult's gendered universe of meanings, while at the same time emphasizing the contradictory nature of childlore. That is, while childlore, especially chant games, initiates children into the gendered world of adults, it also offers children liminal spaces where children can suspend rigid gender roles.


Objective— Previous studies showed that low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) mRNA 3′ untranslated region (UTR) contains regulatory elements responsible for rapid mRNA turnover in hepatic cells and mediates the mRNA stabilization induced by berberine (BBR). Here, we elucidate the underlying mechanism of BBR's action by characterizing mRNA-binding proteins that modulate LDLR mRNA decay via 3′UTR in liver tissue in vivo. Approach and Results— We generated a transgenic mouse model (Alb-Luc-UTR) that expresses Luc-LDLR3′UTR reporter gene driven by the albumin promoter to study 3′UTR function in mediating LDLR mRNA decay in liver tissue. We show that treating Alb-Luc-UTR mice with BBR led to significant increases in hepatic bioluminescence signals, Luc-UTR mRNA, and LDLR mRNA levels as compared with control mice. These effects were accompanied by specific reductions of mRNA decay-promoting factor heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein D (hnRNP D) in liver of BBR-treated mice. Knockdown and overexpression studies further demonstrated that hnRNP D p37 isoform plays a major role in promoting hepatic LDLR mRNA degradation. In addition, we examined LDLR mRNA half-life, Luc-UTR reporter activity, and hnRNP D expression levels in cell lines derived from extrahepatic tissues. We demonstrated that strengths of 3′UTR in promoting mRNA degradation correlate with hnRNP D cellular abundances in nonhepatic cell lines, thereby suggesting its involvement in LDLR mRNA degradation beyond liver tissue. Conclusions— hnRNP D is critically involved in LDLR mRNA degradation in liver tissue in vivo. The inverse relationship of hnRNP D abundance with LDLR mRNA levels after BBR treatment suggests the potential of hnRNP D of being a novel therapeutic target for LDL cholesterol lowering.


This paper discusses the legal theory of the Austrian jurist Eugen Ehrlich, the best-known of a number of European law professors who set out to establish sociology of law as a new science at the beginning of the twentieth century. Situating his work in the context of his personal circumstances and career, and also in relation to historical conditions in the closing years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the paper considers the reception of Ehrlich's scholarship in the English-speaking world, and the aims of his legal thought. His achievement as an influential pioneer in a new field, and as a thinker of great originality, is highlighted. But it is also argued here that a complex combination of intellectual and professional centrality and marginality in Ehrlich's position explains much about the uncertainties and ambiguities of his approach to law.


Whether generic 'silver bullet' solutions can address complex development problems has been debated for many years. The 'grand challenge' extends the idea of the silver bullet in ways that speak to a goal-driven, global development agenda and a new generation of private philanthropists - or 'philanthro-capitalists' seeking to apply business methods to 'strategic' giving. These developments raise new Sustainability challenges, explored in this paper, drawing on examples from the health and agriculture sectors. Biofortification research funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides About the Manifesto projecta detailed, illustrative case of how these ideas can reduce space to debate directionality and accountability. Imperatives towards rapid 'scaling up' infer homogenous populations and overlook patterns of diversity and distributional concerns; transforming complex and diverse needs into 'demand' for pre-defined technical solutions. This paper asks if the potential exists for a reinvigorated philanthropic sector to play a different role, and turn its power and resources towards learning processes that recognise diversity and use this to reshape programme design.


Lipoproteins are specialized particles involved in the transport and distribution of hydrophobic lipids, as cholesterol and triglycerides, throughout the body. The lipoproteins exhibit a basic spherical shape as complexes of lipids and proteins, and these latter are known as apolipoproteins. Initially, the proteins associated with lipoproteins were recognized as integral or peripheral proteins that only maintain the dynamics and metabolism of lipoproteins. However, there exist many studies on different lipoproteins evidencing that the quantity and type of apolipoproteins and lipoprotein-associated proteins are diverse and could be associated with different lipoprotein function outcomes. Here, we summarized recent processes in the determination of apolipoproteins and lipoprotein-associated proteins profiles through a proteomic approach, analyzing the major methods available and are used to achieve this. We also discuss the relevance of these lipoproteomic analyses on the human disease outcomes.


The authors are developing magnetic stimulation coils for use in the treatment of dysphagia. The prototype coil manufactured in our previous research can induce large contraction of the suprahyoid muscles, which should be trained for normal swallowing. In this study, the heat generation in the coil during magnetic stimulation is investigated and suppressed. A numerical analysis showed that the main cause of the generated heat is the eddy current in the coil conductor induced by magnetic flux from the tip of the magnetic core. The analysis also showed that a parallel coil with a cross connection has an ideal current distribution in the coil conductor and thus best suppresses heat generation during magnetic stimulation. The heat-suppressing coil has parallel divided coil conductors and an appropriate connection between the conductors to level the current in each conductor. Moreover, measurements of the temperature rise in prototype coils during magnetic stimulation confirm that heat generation can be greatly suppressed by dividing the conductor and using an appropriate connection between the divided conductors.


The creative process of meaning construction : a text-linguistic approach
The main aim of this article is to explore the usefulness of text linguistics indetermining how and why a literary text creates meaning. In order toachieve this aim, the unique way in which a writer or reader creates a textby means of lexico-grammatical and conceptual elements is discussed.The meaningfulness of the linguistic analysis of literary texts is thenillustrated by an analysis of T.T. Cloete's poem "Blydskap". Lexical cohesionis emphasized and this cohesive device is used as a strategy toindicate how meaningful patterns are created in the text. This analysisillustrates that the methods of text linguistics indeed provide useful tools forexamining the construction of meaning in a text.


A growing body of work in social and cultural geography is concerned with examining food to explore ethical, civic and social concerns. I build on the critiques by engaging with the visceral. Drawing on the theoretical work of Elspeth Probyn, I argue that eating reveals the fundamental ambiguity of embodiment, allowing us to attend to visceralities of difference as understood within the context of power geometries that shape and reshape food politics. This analysis is promoted by the Australian Commonwealth Government's endorsement of suggestions by environmental scientists that households' meals should substitute kangaroo for farmed livestock to lower greenhouse gas emissions. I investigate appetites for kangaroo as discussed while plating-up, and sometimes digested, by white bodies in kitchens and dining rooms within thirty households in Wollongong, New South Wales. To explain where kangaroo is rendered inedible, or edible, I use the recognition that the visceral realm—narrated through the aromas, tastes and touch—offers insights to place, subjectivity, embodied skills and food politics.


Data integration, or the strategic analysis of multiple sources of data simultaneously, can often lead to discoveries that may be hidden in individualistic analyses of a single data source. We develop a new unsupervised data integration method named Integrated Principal Components Analysis (iPCA), which is a model-based generalization of PCA and serves as a practical tool to find and visualize common patterns that occur in multiple data sets. The key idea driving iPCA is the matrix-variate normal model, whose Kronecker product covariance structure captures both individual patterns within each data set and joint patterns shared by multiple data sets. Building upon this model, we develop several penalized (sparse and non-sparse) covariance estimators for iPCA and study their theoretical properties. We show that our sparse iPCA estimator consistently estimates the underlying joint subspace, and using geodesic convexity, we prove that our non-sparse iPCA estimator converges to the global solution of a non-convex problem. We also demonstrate the practical advantages of iPCA through simulations and a case study application to integrative genomics for Alzheimer's Disease. In particular, we show that the joint patterns extracted via iPCA are highly predictive of a patient's cognition and Alzheimer's diagnosis.


Accrual anomaly was introduced to the financial market and accounting research by Sloan (1996). The anomaly consists of two empirical regularities. (1) The current accrual component of earnings predicts future earnings less well than the current cash flow component, in other words, the "earnings persistency" of the accrual component is lower than that of the cash flow component. (2) Contrary to the efficient market hypothesis, stock prices fail to fully reflect this information contained in the current earnings components; financial markets treat the accrual component of earnings as more persistent and the cash flow component as less persistent than they truly are. This thesis examines whether the accrual anomaly found mainly in the U.S. stock markets exists in Finland as well, and whether the adoption of IFRS has any positive or negative effects to this particular financial market anomaly. The empirical analysis employs an ordinary least squares regression analysis to discern any overor underweighting of the earnings components by the financial markets. The sample consists of Finnish publicly listed companies included in the OMX Helsinki Index (HEX), spanning the years 1993-2013. The preliminary results indicate accrual overweighting for the pre-IFRS sub-period, which vanishes by the introduction of IFRS. The introduction of IFRS to the Finnish institutional setting therefore increases the quality of financial statements, as evidenced by the elimination of accrual overweighting for the post-IFRS sub-period. The results after robustness testing however negate the preliminary results, as accrual overweighting vanishes for the pre-IFRS sub-period when running robust regressions. There is however disagreement among researchers on conducting robustness tests, and indeed most of the research on accrual anomaly does not conduct conventional robustness testing of the results. The interpretation of results and the conclusions to be drawn from them depend on the position taken towards robustness testing in accrual anomaly research. At the least it can be stated that the results of the empirical tests are contrary to establishing a positive connection between accrual anomaly and fair value accounting standards represented by IFRS.


Sexual violence is a particular brand of evil that women have endured—more than men—during armed conflicts, through the ages. It is a menace that has continued to challenge the conscience of humanity—especially in our times. At the international level, basic laws aimed at preventing it are not in short supply. What is needed is a more conscious determination to enforce existing laws. This book explores ways of doing just that; thereby shoring up international legal protection of women from sexual violence in armed conflicts.


In this paper, we derive analytical expressions for outage probability and ergodic capacity of a spectrum sharing system with multiuser diversity under Nakagami-m fading. In particular, multiuser diversity effects in such systems where several secondary users utilize the licensed spectrum of the primary user are considered. The best and worst channel quality scenarios are investigated for transmission from a number of secondary transmitters. Numerical analysis and simulations are shown to reveal the effects of multiusers and fading parameters on the considered system.


Social entrepreneurship is defined as a theoretical and practical paradigm based on a specific context, characteristics and outcomes. The entrepreneurial context implies identifying the social factors that determine and sustain poverty, marginalization and exclusion; entrepreneurial characteristics refer to a direct action initiated by a social entrepreneur in the form of new solutions (innovation) for the target population, context or application; the entrepreneurial outcome is a visible and measurable social change that can be either small-scale (local) or large-scale (systemic). While social entrepreneurship starts at an individual level, the social enterprise begins as an organizational movement that applies marketbased strategies in order to achieve social change. This article offers a theoretical perspective on the conceptualization and specific components of entrepreneurship, describes the social enterprise as an organizational movement for providing sustainable solutions and applies the principles of a community of practice to the communication in a social enterprise.


—Internet of Things (IoT) forms the foundation of next generation infrastructures, enabling development of future cities that are inherently sustainable. Intrusion detection for such paradigms is a non-trivial challenge which has attracted further significance due to extraordinary growth in the volume and variety of security threats for such systems. However, due to unique characteristics of such systems i.e., battery power, bandwidth and processor overheads and network dynamics, intrusion detection for IoT is a challenge, which requires taking into account the trade-off between detection accuracy and performance overheads. In this context, we are focused at highlighting this trade-off and its significance to achieve effective intrusion detection for IoT. Specifically, this paper presents a comprehensive study of existing intrusion detection systems for IoT systems in three aspects: computational overhead, energy consumption and privacy implications. Through extensive study of existing intrusion detection approaches, we have identified open challenges to achieve effective intrusion detection for IoT infrastructures. These include resource constraints, attack complexity, experimentation rigor and unavailability of relevant security data. Further, this paper is envisaged to highlight contributions and limitations of the state-of-the-art within intrusion detection for IoT, and aid the research community to advance it by identifying significant research directions.


Many classical problems in additive number theory are direct problems, in which one starts with a set A of natural numbers and an integer H -> 2, and tries to describe the structure of the sumset hA consisting of all sums of h elements of A. By contrast, in an inverse problem, one starts with a sumset hA, and attempts to describe the structure of the underlying set A. In recent years there has been ramrkable progress in the study of inverse problems for finite sets of integers. In particular, there are important and beautiful inverse theorems due to Freiman, Kneser, Plunnecke, Vosper, and others. This volume includes their results, and culminates with an elegant proof by Ruzsa of the deep theorem of Freiman that a finite set of integers with a small sumset must be a large subset of an n-dimensional arithmetic progression.


The implementation of a beamforming unit for the electronic control of the radiation patterns in antenna array systems is the purpose of the present research. A subunit for the phase control of a conformal array antenna system has been designed and developed while an array architecture, based on the performance of the developed subunit, is also suggested. Electronic steering of the radiation pattern in a wide range, without the appearance of undesirable phenomena, is achieved, while simple and flexible algorithms can be applied for interference suppression.


Climatic elasticity is a crucial metric to assess the hydrological influence of climate change. Based on the Budyko equation, this study performed an analytical derivation of the climatic elasticity of evapotranspiration (ET). With this derived elasticity, it is possible to quantitatively separate the impacts of precipitation, air temperature, net radiation, relative humidity, and wind speed on ET in a watershed. This method was applied in the Wuding River Watershed (WRW), located in the center of the Yellow River Watershed of China. The estimated rate of change in ET caused by climatic variables is −10.69 mm/decade, which is close to the rate of change in ET (−8.06 mm/decade) derived from observable data. The accurate estimation with the elasticity method demonstrates its reliability. Our analysis shows that ET in the WRW had a significant downward trend, but the ET ratio in the WRW has increased continually over the past 52 years. Decreasing precipitation is the first-order cause for the reduction of ET, and decreasing net radiation is the secondary cause. Weakening wind speed also contributed to this reduction. In contrast, regional warming led to an increase in ET that partly offset the negative contributions from other climatic variables. Moreover, reforestation can affect the energy budget of a watershed by decreasing albedo, compensating for the negative influence of global dimming. The integrated effect from precipitation and temperature can affect the energy budget of a watershed by causing a large fluctuation in winter albedo.


BACKGROUND
Loss of ambulatory ability with acute hospitalization is common and often does not improve by discharge.

OBJECTIVES
To define admission predictors of regaining ambulatory ability during hospitalization in patients with expected activity limitations.

DESIGN
Prospective cohort study.

SETTING
University teaching hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Two hundred and eighty-six patients at least 55 years of age whose activity was expected to be limited to a bed or chair for at least the first 5 days of hospitalization or who had a hip fracture, who were ambulatory in the 4 weeks prior to hospital admission, and whose length of stay in the hospital was less than 32 days.

MEASUREMENTS
Baseline data collected from admission physician and nurse interviews and abstracted from the medical records included length of stay, demographic characteristics, global health measures, presence of specific diseases, and hospital-related factors hypothesized to affect ambulation. Nurses were asked weekly if patient activity was still expected to be limited to a bed or chair.

RESULTS
Despite initially being limited to a bed or chair, 42% had regained ambulatory ability by discharge. Recovery of ambulatory ability was independently associated with not being married (odds ratio [OR] = 3.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-6.2), higher physician-rated life expectancy (OR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.3-2.8), absence of restraints (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.2-5.5), having a urinary catheter (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-5.5), having deep vein thrombosis (OR = 11.4, 95% CI 1.2-105.1), and having a higher level of bed mobility at admission (OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.6).

CONCLUSIONS
Recovery of ambulatory ability is closely associated with physician-rated life expectancy and hospital-related factors, particularly those that affect mobility. Early recognition of who will recover ambulatory ability may help with discharge planning and potential interventions.


Under pressure of the continuing need to modernize, Vietnam is rapidly reforming its education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based CL is encouraged can be attributed to false universalism (the belief that a practice that originated from elsewhere can be "cloned" with similar results) and neo-colonialism (the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform.


A general expression for the statistical distribution of the probability of the highest event occurring in a record is presented. This result can be empirically applied to situations where records are available for multiple geographical locations. The empirical estimation of the probability of the highest events provides a means to assess whether the assumed (extreme value) distribution is appropriate for extrapolation or not. The approach allows for combining the highest events from different records and to validate estimated return periods in the order of the length of the combined records. The method is illustrated with an analysis of the annual extreme wind speeds over the North Atlantic area according to the ERA40 dataset, showing that the Gumbel distribution is in favor of the GEV distribution to estimate the (appropriately transformed) extreme wind speeds up to return periods of 104 years.


Clustering approach is widely used in biomedical applications particularly for brain tumor detection in abnormal magnetic resonance (MR) images. Fuzzy clustering using fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithm proved to be superior over the other clustering approaches in terms of segmentation efficiency. But the major drawback of the FCM algorithm is the huge computational time required for convergence. The effectiveness of the FCM algorithm in terms of computational rate is improved by modifying the cluster center and membership value updation criterion. In this paper, the application of modified FCM algorithm for MR brain tumor detection is explored. Abnormal brain images from four tumor classes namely metastase, meningioma, glioma and astrocytoma are used in this work. A comprehensive feature vector space is used for the segmentation technique. Comparative analysis in terms of segmentation efficiency and convergence rate is performed between the conventional FCM and the modified FCM. Experimental results show superior results for the modified FCM algorithm in terms of the performance measures.


Vertebrate species are managed for many reasons, including their role as economically important predators or as carriers of disease. Successful management depends on the ability to predict the outcome of management actions on a species' population dynamics. However, uncertainty in the models used to make such predictions can arise from multiple sources, including sampling error in vital rates, intraspecific demographic variation and unknown interspecific interactions. The red fox Vulpes vulpes provides a useful model organism for exploring such uncertainty, because management of this important predator and disease host is often ineffective, despite substantial sampling effort.

By explicitly accounting for sampling error in survival and fecundity, confidence intervals for population growth rates were derived from published point estimates of red fox demographic data. Uncertainty in population growth rates was found to be high, requiring a quadrupling of sampling effort to halve the confidence intervals. Given the often poor justification for the choice of distribution used to model litter size, the influence of probability distributions on population model outcomes was tested. In this first comprehensive evaluation, estimates of quasi-extinction and disease control probabilities for three Canid species were found to be robust to litter size distribution choice.

Demographic analyses of the red fox revealed a medium to fast life history speed and significant survival and fecundity contributions from juveniles to population growth. Intraspecific variation was detected within these spectra of demographic metrics: the first such demonstration for carnivores. Simulated data substitution between fox populations revealed that geographic proximity and similar levels of anthropogenic disturbance did not infer demographic similarity. Considering the sampling effort expended on the red fox, the species appears well-studied; yet, substantial limitations in data collection were identified.

Compartment modelling of a sarcoptic mange outbreak in an urban fox population in Bristol, UK, revealed that disease transmission was frequency-dependent, consistent with contact rates being determined by social interactions rather than by population density. Individual-based modelling suggested that indirect transmission, genetic resistance and long-distance recolonisation were required to replicate the observed rapid spread of mange and subsequent population recovery. Thus, this first attempt to model mange dynamics in this canid provided novel insight into previously uncertain epidemiological and behavioural processes in the transmission of sarcoptic mange in the red fox.


SETRA SYSTEMS INTRODUCES ITS NEW SRH HUMIDITY SERIES PRODUCT LINE: Humidity, Combined with Pressure and Current, Offers a Full HVAC/R Solution Setra Systems introduces its new Model SRH Humidity Series product line. The product line is designed to measure relative humidity in a room, duct or outside and is available in accuracies of ±2%, ±3%, and ±5%. The SRH Series features a replaceable sensor tip that ensures an accurate, calibrated, and cost effective humidity control system. Setra's humidity sensor family consists of a wall display, duct mount, and outside air unit. This product line is designed to complement Setra's pressure transducers and current switches while expanding the solution opportunities for the HVAC/building automation market and other relative humidity monitoring applications. All models provide excellent reliability via a unique and established ASIC that is also used in Setra pressure transducers. Also, Setra's robust, proven capacitive sensor technology is capable of full-scale 0 to 100% RH measurement. The field-replaceable sensor tips are easily removed in all three models, allowing the end user to replace the sensors on-site. This essentially eliminates time consuming and costly factory calibration, while reducing downtime during service intervals. Additionally, the duct mount probe is easily accessed by removing the front cover, pulling out the sensor board assembly, and replacing the sensor tip. This further contributes to a more user-friendly, lower cost product line that is focused on customer needs and ease of use. Setra's humidity sensors are designed to complement its pressure and current products, thereby, providing customers with a complete line of sensors for all of their HVAC needs. Setra's humidity offering will meet the quality, delivery, and cost needs of its customers while providing the best solution for all of their sensor requirements. For more information on the 3100 Series or Setra's complete product line, contact Setra Systems, Inc.,159 Swanson Road, Boxborough, MA 01719; call 1-800-257-3872, fax: 978-264-0292 or e-mail: email@example.com.


This analysis of teacher research studies illustrates the variety of choices teachers make in exploring questions within their own classrooms. Teacher action research has a long and rich history (McFarland & Stansell, 1993; Olson, 1990), and there has been a recent renaissance of interest in teacher research (Baumann, Shockley-Bisplinghoff, & Allen, 1997; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Lytle, 2000). This resurgence has resulted in the publication of numerous collections of teacher-research reports (e.g., Bissex & Bullock, 1987; Donoahue, Van Tassell, & Patterson, 1996; Patterson, Santa, Short, & Smith, 1993), teacher-research studies published as full-length books (e.g., Allen, 1995; Allen, Michalove, & Shockley, 1993), and articles appearing in periodicals such as The Reading Teacher, Teacher Research: A Journal of Classroom Inquiry, and Language Arts. Although there are many excellent sources for selecting and applying specific methods in teacher-research studies (e.g., Brause & Mayher, 1991; Hopkins, 1993; Hubbard & Power, 1993, 1999; Mohr & Maclean, 1987; Sagor, 1992), we know much less about the methodological decisions teacher researchers actually make. In this article, we (a) summarize findings from a methodological analysis of published teacher-research studies, and (b) discuss what the results might suggest for the conduct of teacher-research investigations.


Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac rhythm disorder encountered in clinical practice, often leading to severe complications such as heart failure and stroke. This arrhythmia, increasing in prevalence with age, already affects several millions of people in the United States, with a rising occurrence of the disease during the past two decades. In spite of these warning signals, atrial fibrillation is still difficult to treat, because basic mechanisms of the arrhythmia remain poorly understood and current treatments are therefore based on empirical considerations. The future of therapeutic solutions for the treatment of complex diseases such as atrial fibrillation relies on a strong collaboration between medicine, biology and engineering. Only through such synergies will efficient monitoring, diagnostic and therapeutic devices be created. The goal of the present thesis was to adopt this multidisciplinary approach, and develop new strategies for atrial fibrillation therapy using both computer modeling and advanced signal processing methods. Biophysical modeling is a practical and ethically interesting approach to develop innovative therapies, since physiological phenomena of interest are reproduced numerically and the resulting framework is then used with full repeatability to explore mechanisms and test treatments. A model of the human atria, that was developed in our group, was used to simulate atrial fibrillation and perform mechanistic and therapeutic investigations. In a first study, computer simulations were used to observe spontaneous terminations of two models of atrial fibrillation corresponding to different developmental stages of the arrhythmia. Dynamical parameters were observed during several seconds prior to termination in order to describe the underlying mechanisms of this natural phenomenon, showing that different levels of fibrillation complexity led to different termination patterns. The mechanisms highlighted by the study were successfully compared to those described in the existing literature and could suggest interesting guidelines to better investigate spontaneous terminations of atrial fibrillation in experimental and clinical settings. Moreover, a more precise understanding of the natural extinction of atrial fibrillation will certainly be crucial for future therapy developments. The potential of rapid low-energy pacing for artificially terminating atrial fibrillation was also thoroughly investigated. First, the possibility to entrain and thereby control fibrillating atrial activity by rapid pacing was studied in a systematic manner. Results showed that optimized pacing parameters provided sustained entrainment of electrical activity, although total extinction of atrial fibrillation was never observed. The ability to control atrial activity by pacing was also shown to depend on specific properties of the atrial tissue, showing that patients with atrial fibrillation may not all respond in the same way to pacing treatments. Finally, this study suggested different guidelines for the development of pace-termination algorithms for atrial fibrillation. Based on these results, a new pacing sequence for the automatic termination of atrial fibrillation was designed, implemented and tested in the biophysical model. The pacing protocol comprised two distinct phases involving a succession of rapid and slow pacing stimulations. The results of the tests suggest that this pacing scheme could represent an alternative to current treatments of atrial fibrillation, and could easily be implemented in patients who already have an indication for pacing. Advanced signal processing techniques were also used in this thesis to analyze real cardiac signals and develop new diagnosis tools. Multivariate spectral analysis and complexity measures were combined to develop an automatic method able to describe subtle changes in atrial fibrillation organization as measured by non-invasive ECG recordings. Accurate discrimination between persistent and permanent AF was shown possible, and potential applications in clinical settings to optimize patient management were demonstrated. Collectively, the results of this thesis show that major public health issues such as atrial fibrillation can strongly benefit from the contribution of biomedical engineering. The modeling and signal processing approaches used in the present dissertation proved effective and promising, and synergies between clinicians and scientists will definitely be at the basis of future therapies.


Empirical studies undertaken to date report that exposure to cyberbullying can have potentially serious consequences. This paper assesses the potential harm associated with the various specific manifestations (forms) of cyberbullying based on initial empirical research and a crime seriousness framework originally applied to traditional crimes. The analysis provides valuable theoretical insight into the associated harms of each of the forms of cyberbullying. This is significant in light of the infancy of the research in this area. The research demonstrates that the various manifestations are indeed associated with different levels of harm. It concludes that, based on a principle of harm, not all forms warrant criminalization.


The high cost of attracting new customers on the Internet and the relative difficulty in retaining them make customer loyalty an essential asset for many online vendors. In the non-Internet marketplace, customer loyalty is primarily the product of superior service quality and the trust that such service entails. This study examines whether the same applies with online vendors even though their service is provided by a website interface notably lacking a human service provider. As hypothesized, customer loyalty to a specific online vendor increased with perceived better service quality both directly and through increased trust. However, the data suggest that the five dimensions of service quality in SERVQUAL collapse to three with online service quality: (1) tangibles, (2) a combined dimension of responsiveness, reliability, and assurance, and (3) empathy. The first dimension is the most important one in increasing customer loyalty, and the second in increasing customer trust. Implications are discussed.


This paper addresses the fundamental question of imitativeness vs. originality in Ottoman poetics. By positing translation (terceme) as the central practice of literary transfer, fresh arguments are offered to shift focus away from sterile discussions of imitation onto related strategies (telif, creative mediation, and nakl, appropriative transmission) that challenged the central "repetitive" practice of translation in "the order of resemblance" (Foucault 1971), thereby stimulating the dynamics of the Perso-Ottoman "interculture" (Paker 2002). Especially important are two arguments that connect Ottoman poetics with translation and transmission: that telif did not signify "original" in opposition to terceme, that the Qur'an was accepted as the ultimate Original in view of its "miraculous" creation (i'jaz); and that any theory of Ottoman literary translation would have to be posited at the very root of Ottoman poetics in conjunction with the concept of the Qur'anic Original.


As Canada prepares to turn 150, this article discusses what curricular shifts are necessary to reconcile history education's disciplinary tools with practices of historical consciousness that will encourage learners to consider the moral dilemmas associated with Canada's colonial legacy, silenced histories, and multiple shifting identities in the present. It introduces a conceptual Framework of Canadian National Narratives that captures current constructions of Canadian national identity communicated in Canadian sites of pedagogy. Taking into consideration debates around historical consciousness as a pedagogical project, this article recommends that curricular imperatives in history education critically expose students to a country's master national narrative templates and those narratives that contest and rebuke them through frameworks such as the Canadian one detailed in this article. Given the current historical moment, it suggests such national narrative frameworks would form part of a new curricular imperative titled the Narrative Dimension that would offer a way forward for history education in Canada and throughout the world.


Anselm's argument for the existence of God in Proslogion Chap.II starts from the contention that `lq when a Fool hears `something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought', he understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his mind. This is a special feature of the Pros.II argument which distinguishes the argument from other ontological arguments set up by, for example, Descartes and Leibniz. This is also the context which makes semantics necessary for evaluation of the argument. It is quite natural to ask `lq What is understood by the Fool, and what is in his mind? It is essential for a proper consideration of the argument to identify the object which is understood by the Fool, and so, is in his mind. A semantics gives answers to the questions of `lq What the Fool understands? and `lq What is in the Fool's mind? If we choose a semantics as a meta-theory to interpret the Pros.II argument, it makes an effective guide to identify the object. It is a necessary condition for a proper evaluation of the Pros.II argument to fix our universe of discourse, especially since, in the argument, we are involved in such talk about existing objects as Anselm's contention that `when a Fool hears `something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought', he understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his mind. The ontology to which a semantic theory commits us will be accepted as our scope of objects when we introduce our semantic theory to interpret the Pros.II argument, and this ontological boundary constrains us to identify the object in a certain way. Consistent application of an ontology, most of all, is needed for the evaluation of the logical validity of an argument. If we take Frege's three-level semantics, we are ontologically committed to intensional entities, like meaning, as well as extensional entities. Sluga contends that Frege's anti-psychologism for meanings should not be interpreted as vindicating reification of intensional entities in relation to Frege's contextualism, that Frege's anti-psychologism with his contextualism is nothing but a linguistic version of Kantian philosophy for the transcendental unity of a judgement. There is, however, another possible interpretation of Frege's contextualism. According to Dummett, the significance of Frege's contextualism must be understood as a way of explanation for a word's having meaning. If Dummett's view is cogent, we could say that Frege's contextualism does not prevent our interpreting his semantics as being committed to intensional entities. We need not worry that Frege's over all semantics, especially with his contextualism, would internally deny the ontological interpretation of his theory. We see Anselm's argument for the existence of God in Pros.II is an invalid argument if we introduce Frege's three-level semantics, i.e. if we acknowledge meanings of words as entities in our universe of discourse. We can also employ extensional semantics for the interpretation of the Pros.II argument. According to extensionalists, like Quine and Kripke, we need not assume intensional entities, like meaning, to be part of our ontological domain. They argue that we can employ our language well enough without assuming intensional entities. If we choose extensional semantics as a meta-theory to interpret the Pros.II argument, it commits us only to extensional entities as objects in the Universe of our interpretation. In Sections 1.4 and 1.5, I show that extensional semantics makes the Pros.II argument a valid argument for the existence of God. `lq Necessary existence is the central concept of Anselm's argument for the existence of God in Proslogion Chap.III. It has been said that, even if the argument is formally valid, it cannot stand as a valid argument for the existence of God, since `lq necessary existence is an absurd concept like `lq round square. And further that even if there is a meaningful combination of concepts for `lq necessary existence, it cannot quality as a subject of an a priori argument. As objections to the interpretations which make the Pros.III argument valid, it has been argued that even if there is a concept of `lq necessary existence which is meaningful and there is another concept of `lq necessary existence which is suitable as a subject of an a priori argument, there is no concept of `lq necessary existence which is meaningful and at the same time suitable as a subject of an a priori argument. In Chap.2 and Chap.3, I try to show that there can be concepts of `lq necessary existence which are proof against these objections. Anselm's arguments for the existence of God in Proslogian Chap.II and Chap.III are logically valid arguments on some logical principles. Some fideists, K. Barth, for example, argue that Anselm's arguments for the existence of God in Proslogion are not proofs for the existence of God even if they are logically valid arguments. I raise the question how this attitude could be possible, in Chap.4 and Chap.5. Barth's fideistic interpretation of Anselm's Proslogion arguments does not find any flaw in the validity of the arguments, and it accepts the meaningfulness and truth of the premises even to the fool in Proslogion. If this is the case, i.e. if Barth's interpretation accepts the validity of the arguments and the truth of the premises, I raise the question, how can the arguments not be interpreted as proofs for the existence of God? How is it possible that the function of the arguments is not that of proving the existence of God? According to Wittgensteinian fideism, premises in the arguments should not be intelligible to those who do not believe in God's existence already, and so the real function of the arguments is the elucidation, the understanding of believer's belief, rather than proving articles of belief to unbelievers. Barth's fideistic interpretation of the arguments, however, fully recognizes the meaningfulness and truth of the premises in the arguments as well as the validity of the arguments. I argue that there could be a justification for the Barthian fideism. As Malcolm notices, there are still atheists who understand Anselm's arguments as valid, but the only possibility for the people who recognize the validity of Anselm's arguments still to remain atheists has been thought to be to challenge the truth of premises employed in the arguments. Now, of the atheistic possibility, we can change the direction of our attention, that is, to the question about the function of a logically valid argument itself. What has not been thought of in relation to Anselm's arguments is the significance of logical truth or the logical validity of an argument. We have not asked such questions as `lq What does a logical truth say? and `lq What does a logically valid argument guarantee with true premises? Let us assume that even the premises are accepted by atheists. Do they all convert to theism? If that were so, the disagreement between atheist and believer over the ontological arguments should turn only on the truth of premises. If that is not so, there is some point in raising this other question. If there are people who, recognizing the premises and validity of an argument, are still reluctant to accept the conclusion, we have reason to question the function of a valid argument. I argue that there is a way of being consistently reasonable while accepting the premises and the validity of the ontological arguments and yet remaining an atheist or an agnostic.


This paper explores the various ways in which mobile marketing communications are available to the youth on a very popular South African mobile social network site known as MXit. The popularity of cellular phones has resulted in mobile-based brand advertising and promotions that specifically target the youth. The mobile medium is used by marketers as an additional channel to current marketing communications strategies. Because the mass market in South Africa does not use expensive cellular handsets, the format of mobile marketing communications is kept simple. MXit offers its subscribers effortless and accessible technology as well as appealing content, which is why it has become a prominent advertising platform. This is illustrated by examining two mobile marketing communication campaigns (one completed and one continuous) using MXit as an additional marketing communications channel to existing traditional marketing communications channels.


OBJECTIVE
To compare grade point averages and social adjustment and academic difficulties of students with or without a hidden disability at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

METHODS
Comparison groups were identified through The University of the West Indies (UWI) Health Centre, peer-counselling training programme and an undergraduate class. The 165 participants completed a checklist on health, social and academic concerns and provided a copy of their transcripts. Students were screened for hidden disabilities including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and psychiatric morbidity.

RESULTS
Students with hidden disabilities consistently performed poorer academically than their non-disabled peers, and students with ADHD performed the worst. The high levels of distress common to students with a hidden disability may explain the difference in performance between them and non-disabled students. Students'ability to manage their time, irrespective of having a disability, was singled out as important for obtaining good grades.

CONCLUSIONS
Potentially brilliant students are at risk of failing out of university because of hidden disabilities and the associated emotional and social challenges.


A Comparative Analysis of the Child Behavior Checklist Scores of Traumatized Youth With and Without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Relative to Nontraumatized Controls Elizabeth L. Westphal This study compared the CBCL scores of clinically referred youth with PTSD to the CBCL scores of clinically referred traumatized youth without PTSD. It also compared the CBCL scores of youth with PTSD, as well as those of traumatized youth without PTSD, to those of a nontraumatized comparison group. Participants included a total of 123 youth aged 7 through 18 who were tested at Bellevue Hospital in New York City: 34 youth with PTSD, 56 traumatized youth without PTSD, and 33 nontraumatized controls. Participants in the PTSD and traumatized PTSD-negative groups were referred to the study subsequent to exposure to a variety of traumatic events (e.g., sexual assault, physical assault, motor vehicle accident, dog attack). Among the PTSD-positive group, 8 participants met DICA-R criteria for major depression, and 1 met criteria for substance dependence. Of the traumatized PTSD-negative participants, 2 met DICA-R criteria for major depression, 2 met criteria for CD, and 1 met criteria ADHD. Youth with a history of abuse or neglect were excluded. Additional exclusionary criteria included intellectual disability (i.e., IQ ≤ 69), the inability to speak or understand English, a history of significant head trauma, and the use of medication that could influence cognitive functioning. An ANOVA was used to compare the groups on standardized CBCL Total score, and a MANOVA was performed to test for group differences in standardized CBCL Internalizing and Externalizing aggregate scale scores. A MANCOVA procedure was performed with age, gender, and SES as covariates, to identify significant group differences in CBCL syndrome scale raw scores. Results of all analyses indicated significant differences between groups. The PTSD group had significantly higher CBCL Total and Internalizing aggregate scale scores than both comparison groups and significantly higher Externalizing aggregate scale scores than traumatized PTSD-negatives. No significant differences were observed between the mean CBCL Total, Internalizing aggregate scale, and Externalizing aggregate scale scores of the traumatized PTSD-negatives and nontraumatized controls. The scores of the PTSD-positive group significantly exceeded the scores of both comparison groups on the following CBCL syndrome scales: Anxious/Depressed, Delinquent Behavior, Attention Problems, Thought Problems, and Other Problems. The scores of the PTSD-positives were significantly higher than those of the traumatized PTSD-negatives on the Withdrawn and Somatic Complaints syndrome scales; they significantly exceeded those of nontraumatized controls on the Aggressive Behavior and Social Problems syndrome scales. The CBCL syndrome scale scores of traumatized PTSD-negatives and nontraumatized controls did not significantly differ. The results of this study suggest that parent-reported internalizing and externalizing behavior problems are associated with PTSD and not with exposure to trauma alone. Its findings also suggest that exposure to trauma in the absence of PTSD is not associated with higher estimates of psychiatric morbidity. As such, this study provides powerful empirical support for the differential validity of the DSM-IV PTSD classification as it applies to children and


Background Sedentary behavior is very common in older adults and a risk factor for mortality. Understanding determinants of sedentary behavior may help in defining strategies aimed to reduce the time spent sedentary. The degree of difference in sedentary time attributable to varying temperatures has not been yet estimated in older men. Methods Men aged 71 to 91 years participating in an established UK population-based cohort study were invited to wear an Actigraph GT3X accelerometer for 1 week in 2010–12. Outcome was sedentary time (<1.5 Metabolic Equivalent of Task) in minutes per day. Associations between daily outdoor maximum temperature and accelerometer-measured sedentary time were estimated using multilevel models. Results 43% (1361/3137) of invited men participated in the study and provided adequate data. Men spent on average 615 minutes in sedentary time per day (72% of the total accelerometer-wear time). After adjusting for covariates, men spent 26 minutes more per day (P < .001) in sedentary time when temperatures were in the lowest (–3.5; 9.2°C) versus highest quintile (19.1; 29.5°C). Conclusions Sedentary time in older adults is highest at lowest temperatures, typically recorded in winter. Findings are relevant for guidelines: interventions may consider targeting older men in winter providing recommendations for minimizing sedentariness on daily basis.


Social democracy and market liberalism provide different solutions to the same problem: how to provide for life‐cycle dependency. Social democracy makes lateral transfers from producers to dependents by means of progressive taxation. Market liberalism uses financial markets to transfer financial entitlement over time. Social democracy came up against the upper limits of public expenditure in the 1970s. The 'market turn' from social democracy to market liberalism was enabled by liberalized credit in the 1980s. Much of this was absorbed into homeownership, which attracted majorities of households (and voters) in the developed world. Early movers did well, but eventually easy credit drove house prices beyond the reach of younger cohorts. Debt service diminished effective demand, which instigated financial instability. Both social democracy and market liberalism are currently in crisis.


After more than two decades of existence, Contemporary Southeast Asia (CSEA) has entered a new phase of specialization to reflect more directly the changing priorities of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) as well as to cater to an increasing demand among our subscribers for a focus on issues related to domestic politics, international affairs, and regional security. This primary emphasis on political developments, socioeconomic change and international relations is in keeping with the rapid advances in the field of strategic studies concerning not just Southeast Asia but, indeed, the larger Asia-Pacific environment. Contemporary Southeast Asia comprises up-to-date analyses of important trends and events as well as authoritative and original contributions from leading scholars and observers on matters of current interest. It is also the policy of the Editorial Committee of CSEA to produce special issues in order to focus attention either on particular national situations or on major strategic trends in both Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Contemporary Southeast Asia is published three times a year, in April, August, and December.


Angiogenesis (vascularisation) is a vivacious progression during embryonic development, which is required for the growth, development, wound healing and maintenance. However, the process may turn into pathological conditions; excessive angiogenesis occurs in diseases such as cancer, diabetic blindness, age related macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, etc., whereas insufficient angiogenesis occurs in diseases like coronary artery disease and chronic wounds. Since ancient times, the human population has been dependent on plants for deriving medicines to cure diseases. In the present study, aqueous extract of 04 ethnomedicinal plants parts, Butea monosperma (Kamarkas), Dioscorea hispida (Beychandi), Myristica fragrans (Nutmeg) and Mesua ferrea (Nagkesar), were evaluated for modulation of angiogenesis in chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of embryonated chicken eggs. Out of these 04, B. monosperma revealed mild inhibitory effects on angiogenesis. M. fragrans and D. hispida inhibited angiogenesis, but also showed detrimental effect on growth of normal CAM with irregular outgrowths in form of projections and uneven thickness. The M. ferrea revealed its potential as antiangiogenic material by inhibiting the vascularisation by reducing the number of blood vessels without effecting normal morphology of CAM tissue. The study paves way to screen ethnomedicinal wealth for screening of plant produce for therapeutic purposes in ameliorating angiogenic disorders.


The existence and subsequent fragmentation of the Gondwana supercontinent are well established in the geological literature. Debate continues, however, on the exact prefragmentation geometry and the causative process of breakup. The eastern Walvis Ridge and the Agulhas and the Mozambique plateaus, which surround southern Africa, exhibit geophysically anomalous oceanic crust and lithosphere. In the vicinity of these aseismic bathymetry highs, the crust is considerably thicker than normal, and the uppermost mantle has lower than normal densities and seismic velocities. Within a Gondwana framework, these anomalies coincide with a highly fragmented region at the triple junction of the three major plates (Africa, South America, and Antarctica). This anomalous oceanic crust and lithosphere, the ubiquitous and contemporaneous magmatism, and the basin and range-type tectonism of the region are consonant with a hot-mantle-upflow tectonic framework as the causative process for fragmentation.


The NHS quality agenda has been discussed, debated, explored and highlighted over the past year in an effort to meet the challenges laid down by the Department of Health (DH). The terms quality accounts, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP), and the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework should by now be familiar to most clinicians.

The CQUIN framework aims to place quality improvement and innovation at the heart of negotiations between commissioners and providers to ensure that local quality improvement priorities are discussed at board level. The CQUIN payment framework also stipulates that a proportion of the income paid to healthcare providers is conditional on quality and innovation. This will help to create an NHS where quality is the organising principle, as set out in High Quality Care for All (DH, 2008).

There are in excess of 200 new indicators that make it essential for tissue viability clinicians to benchmark their work against that of their peers. Each strategic health authority (SHA) has identified quality initiative schemes and indicators based around four sectors — acute, community, mental health and ambulance services. The Chief Nursing Officer for England has produced eight high impact action themes for nursing and midwifery, including: 'Your skin matters: no avoidable pressure ulcers in NHS-provided care.'

Additionally, the Leg Club social model, which has been designed for use in patients with leg ulcers, has been identified by the DH as an area of good practice for its approach to quality care.

The DH document NHS 2010–2015. From Good to Great (DH, 2009) clearly states that there will be 'safer care for patients, who can be confident that they will be protected from avoidable harm'. It highlights pressure ulcers as an area that needs to be addressed and insists that the tariff payment system will not reward poor quality or unsafe care. Penalties can be applied to those areas that do not meet quality or patient satisfaction outcomes, and there is an expectation that over time up to 10% of trusts' income could be dependent on patient experience and satisfaction.

However, tissue viability is not always recognised as a speciality and clinicians need to ensure that it is seen as a discipline that impacts on other areas, such as nutrition, pain management, infection and medicines management. In the future NHS, quality is going to be paramount, but what support will tissue viability practitioners receive in meeting these targets and indicators?


Since leadership plays a vital role in democratic movements, understanding the nature of democratic leadership is essential. However, the definition of democratic leadership is unclear (Gastil, 1994). Also, little research has defined democratic leadership in the context of democratic movements. The leadership literature has paid no attention to democratic leadership in such movements, focusing on democratic leadership within small groups and organizations. This study proposes a framework of democratic leadership in democratic movements. The framework includes contexts, motivations, characteristics, and outcomes of democratic leadership. The study considers sacrifice, courage, symbolism, citizen participation, and vision as major characteristics in the display of democratic leadership in various political, social, and cultural contexts. Applying the framework to Nelson Mandela, Lech Walesa, and Dae Jung Kim; the study considers them as exemplary models of democratic leadership in democratic movements for achieving democracy. They have showed crucial characteristics of democratic leadership, offering lessons for democratic governance.


Vortex lenses produce special wavefronts with zero-axial intensity, and helical phase structure. The variations of the phase and amplitude of the vortex produce a circular flow of energy that allows transmitting orbital angular momentum. This property is especially in optical trapping, because due to the orbital angular momentum of light, they have the ability to set the trapped particles into rotation. Vortex lenses engraved in diffractive optical elements have been proposed in the last few years. These lenses can be described mathematically as a two-dimensional (2D) function, which expressed in polar coordinates are the product of two different separable one-dimensional (1D) functions: One, depends only on the square of radial coordinate, and the other one depends linearly on the azimuthal coordinate and includes the topological charge. The 1D function that depends on the radial coordinate is known as a zone plate. Here, vortex lenses, constructed using different aperiodic zone plates, are reviewed. Their optical properties are studied numerically by computing the intensity distribution along the optical axis and the transverse diffraction patterns along the propagation direction. It is shown that these elements are able to create a chain of optical traps with a tunable separation, strength and transverse section.


Enzymatic reduction by ERdj5 activates Ca2+-ATPase activity to replenish endoplasmic reticular calcium stores. Maintaining intracellular calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis is critical for cellular survival and the ability to respond to external signals. How do cells know that the Ca2+ in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is low and needs to be restored? Ushioda et al. found that the disulfide reductase ERdj5 associated with and reduced inhibitory disulfide bonds in the Ca2+-ATPase SERCA2b in response to reduced ER calcium in a manner that was enhanced by the ER chaperone BiP, thereby connecting redox signals to Ca2+ and protein homeostasis in the ER. SERCA2b and ERdj5 coimmunoprecipitated and ran at a higher molecular weight when analyzed under nonreducing conditions, indicating the formation of disulfide linked bonds between the two proteins. A mutated form of ERdj5 lacking the cysteine motifs in the thioredoxin (Trx) domains that could form the disulfide bonds exhibited reduced coimmunoprecipitation with SERCA2b. ERdj5 knockout cells had an increased proportion of oxidized SERCA2b, reduced Ca2+ uptake into the ER, and released less Ca2+ from the ER. The reduced form of SERCA2b had greater ATPase activity than the oxidized form, and incubating SERCA2b with ERdj5 increased ATPase activity in a manner dependent on the cysteine residues in the Trx domains, indicating that the reducing activity of ERdj5 was necessary. Exposing cells to compounds that reduce ER Ca2+—but not those that cause ER stress by inhibiting N-glycosylation—increased the amount of reduced ERdj5, which is the active form that can reduce SERCA2b. In vitro ERdj5 formed oligomers as Ca2+ was increased, and ERdj5 isolated from cells that were exposed to different concentrations was monomeric at submillimolar concentrations of Ca2+ and formed oligomers at higher Ca2+ concentrations. A mutant form of ERdj5 that could not interact with BiP coimmunoprecipitated less with SERCA2b than did wild-type ERdj5, and overexpression of BiP increased the interaction between wild-type ERdj5 and SERCA2b and increased the amount of monomeric ERdj5 even under high Ca2+ concentrations. Thus, cells rely on redox-mediated regulation of SERCA2b activity to adaptively control ER Ca2+ uptake. R. Ushioda, A. Miyamoto, M. Inoue, S. Watanabe, M. Okumura, K.-i. Maegawa, K. Uegaki, S. Fujii, Y. Fukuda, M. Umitsu, J. Takagi, K. Inaba, K. Mikoshiba, K. Nagata, Redox-assisted regulation of Ca2+ homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum by disulfide reductase ERdj5. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, E6055–E6063 (2016). [PubMed]


This research studied the impact of salinity on sorption and transport of MS-2 in saturated sand through one-dimensional column experiments. MS-2 was used as a surrogate to understand viral fate and transport in subsurface environment. The controlled conditions in all experiments included constant flow rates (4.0 cm/min), neutral condition (pH=7.0 ± 0.5), and constant temperature (25 ± 0.2 0 C). Bromide was adopted as the conservative tracer to evaluate the dispersion coefficient of MS-2 in the column. The MS-2 in nanopure water showed weak adsorption effect due to its same negative charge as the sand. The MS-2 in saline water showed dramatically enhanced adsorption effect. This result can be explained by two-site sorption process. Salinity could increase MS-2 attachment by compressing double layers on reversible sorption site, increasing charge intensity on irreversible sorption site, and reversing charges on the surface of silica powder. A fate and transport model, coupled with two-site sorption process, was developed to describe MS-2 sorption and transport in 1-D sand column under different salinity conditions. The fate and transport equations were solved numerically using the Crank-Nicholson method. Model sorption parameters were identified using BFGS method and sensitivity equation method based on measured MS-2 breakthrough data. The proposed model showed good agreement with the experimental data under different salinity conditions. Identified sorption parameters showed that salinity could increase MS-2 retention on both reversible and irreversible sorption site by increasing attachment rate and retention capacity on irreversible site, increasing attachment rate while decreasing detachment rate on reversible site.


Introduction Patient agitation represents a significant challenge in the emergency department (ED), a setting in which medical staff are working under pressure dealing with a diverse range of medical emergencies. The potential for escalation into aggressive behavior, putting patients, staff, and others at risk, makes it imperative to address agitated behavior rapidly and efficiently. Time constraints and limited access to specialist psychiatric support have in the past led to the strategy of "restrain and sedate," which was believed to represent the optimal approach; however, it is increasingly recognized that more patient-centered approaches result in improved outcomes. The objective of this review is to raise awareness of best practices for the management of agitation in the ED and to consider the role of new pharmacologic interventions in this setting. Discussion The Best practices in Evaluation and Treatment of Agitation (BETA) guidelines address the complete management of agitation, including triage, diagnosis, interpersonal calming skills, and medicine choices. Since their publication in 2012, there have been further developments in pharmacologic approaches for dealing with agitation, including both new agents and new modes of delivery, which increase the options available for both patients and physicians. Newer modes of delivery that could be useful in rapidly managing agitation include inhaled, buccal/sublingual and intranasal formulations. To date, the only formulation administered via a non-intramuscular route with a specific indication for agitation associated with bipolar or schizophrenia is inhaled loxapine. Non-invasive formulations, although requiring cooperation from patients, have the potential to improve overall patient experience, thereby improving future cooperation between patients and healthcare providers. Conclusion Management of agitation in the ED should encompass a patient-centered approach, incorporating non-pharmacologic approaches if feasible. Where pharmacologic intervention is necessary, a cooperative approach using non-invasive medications should be employed where possible.


We combined a surface imprinting technique with sol-gel process for preparing a new iron(III)-imprinted cyanato-functionalized silica gel sorbents using (3-cyanatopropyl)triethoxysilane as the functional monomer, and epichlorohydrin as the cross-linking agent for the selective removal of iron(III) from aqueous solution. The iron(III)-imprinted cyanato-functionalized silica gel was characterized by FT-IR spectra and the static adsorption-desorption method. Maximum binding capacity, optimum pH, and equilibrium binding time were found to be 35.6 mg · g−1, pH 3, and 20 min, respectively. The relative selectivity coefficients of ion imprinted cyanato-functionalized silica gel sorbents for Fe(III)/Ni(II), Fe(III)/Co(II), Fe(III)/Cd(II), and Fe(III)/Pb(II) were 8.56, 11.95, 16.96, and 50.71 times greater than the non-imprinted silica gel, respectively. The iron(III)-imprinted cyanato-functionalized silica gel sorbents could be used repeatedly without significantly decreasing their adsorption capacities.


1. The quantitative determination of Cinchophen and Tolysin in the intestinal contents met with considerable difficulties, inasmuch as the excreta contain large quantities of fats and higher fatty acids. The separation of Cinchophen has been done by extraction with alcohol and by precipitation of the soaps with magnesium-sulphate. In the filtrate of the magnesium-soaps the separation of Cinchophen then has been effected by addition of coppersulphate. The estimation of Tolysin must be preceded by the saponification of the alcoholic extract by alcoholic potash. Then the p-Methylcinchophen resulting from Tolysin may be estimated according to the same principle.

2. Certain sources of error in this method have been overcome by using a petroleum-benzine-cadmiumchloride-method. This improved method is based on the fact, that free Cinchophen and Methylcinchophen are insoluble in benzine and that in alcoholic solution these acids are thrown down quantitatively by cadmium chloride. The compounds separate in a crystalline form as spherules, consisting of concentrical clusters of fine needles.

3. By the magnesium-sulphate-method it has been established, that dogs, having received Cinchophen (2.5 to 7.5 grams) with their food, absorbed 50 to 96 per cent, average 69 per cent (13 experiments). Tolysin (2 to 12 grams) has been found to be absorbed at the ratio of 37 to 98 per cent average 68 per cent (13 experiments). The absorption of Cinchophen in rabbits (2.5 to 6.0 grams) had been between 84 to 100 per cent, average 95 per cent (10 experiments). The absorption of Tolysin in rabbits (4.0 to 5.0 grams) has been found to be about 89 to 100 per cent, average 92 per cent (7 experiments)— Cinchophenanhydride , a substance very scantily soluble in lipoid solvents, had been adsorbed very poorly (0.19 per cent).

4. By the cadmiumchloride-method the absorption of Cinchophen (9.3 and 6.3 grams) has been foun—a quantitative one in 2 dogs. The absorption of Tolysin in dogs (12 to 30 grams) has been found varying between 64 to 98 per cent, average 85 per cent in 8 experiments. Three experiments on human beings , having received 5.5 to 6.6 grams of Tolysin, have shown, that the absorption was practically quantitative (98 to 100 per cent). There is therefore no reason to believe, that the absorption of therapeutic doses of Tolysin is a poor one.

5. From the biochemical point of view it is interesting to note, that Tolysin, as a paradigma of an aromatic ester, insoluble in water and easily soluble in lipoid solvents, does not seem to undergo saponification to a great extent before its adsorption from the intestinal tract. It therefore seems probable, that Tolysin is absorbed by the intestinal mucosa, without having undergone saponification before and we may suppose, that the complicated physiochemical medium, consisting of fats, higher fatty acids, lecithin, cholesterol and biliary acids, present in the intestinal contents, acts as its solvent. The same may apply to the absorption of many other aromatic esters, insoluble in water and readily soluble in lipoid solvents.


A team of researchers led by Leo Kouwenhoven at TU Delft has demonstrated an on-chip microwave laser based on a fundamental property of superconductivity, the ac Josephson effect. They embedded a small section of an interrupted superconductor, a Josephson junction, in a carefully engineered on-chip cavity. Such a device opens the door to many applications in which microwave radiation with minimal dissipation is key, for example in controlling qubits in a scalable quantum computer. [8]


The lack of tactile feedback in today's hand prosthetics complicates the user experience by forcing a user to visually confirm that the prosthetic is grasping an object. This study strives to remedy both the financial and mechanical deficiencies in current prosthetics through building a simple, noninvasive, vibratory sensory feedback system into an inexpensive constructed 3D-printed prosthetic arm. This 3D-printed prosthetic arm was designed in SolidWorks and printed to the specifications of a participant with a left forearm amputation. The myoelectrical components include a muscle sensor that sends electrical signals to an Arduino microcontroller, which translates the data into code orders to trigger a servo motor to open or close the hand. Vibrotactile feedback was implemented by using a touch sensor on the tip of the index finger of the prosthetic that activates a vibrating motor attached to the residual arm. To test the efficacy of the sensory feedback, the participant was asked to perform a series of tasks both with and without the vibrotactile feedback, both blindfolded and non-blindfolded. The presence of vibrotactile feedback was essential for completing blindfolded tasks, but it did not assist in improving non-blindfolded task performance. The total cost of materials to build this prosthetic arm was $158.46. This study supports the hypothesis that the simple sensory vibrotactile feedback system in the design of this 3D-printed myoelectric prosthetic arm has the potential to enhance sensory feedback performance of amputees by decreasing visual dependency, at a fraction of the cost of a custom-designed myoelectric prosthetic.


In 1928 Cobb and Douglas (C&D) presented a system analysis which established the first empirically identified production model, which forms the foundation for Solow's growth theory and research into productivity growth factors, such as 'technological progress ' and 'human capital development '. C&D claimed that their production model ('function') showed neutral economies of scale, i.e., constant returns to scale, with a labor production elasticity of 3/4 and a capital production elasticity of 1/4. A simple CLS analysis shows that C&D's data were incorrectly identified by an (n,q)=(3,1) linear model. C&Ds claim that their neutral 'constant returns of scale ' was the inevitable scientific conclusion of their analysis was also incorrect, since that conclusion is strictly determined by their subjectively chosen projection direction. In fact, the data shows that with their model and identification technology constant, increasing and diminishing returns to scale are all three compatible with the uncertain data. Their (n,q) = (3,1) model was never identified with an acceptable level of scientific accuracy, with a maximum coefficient value variation of 212%). In contrast, a simple two-equation (n,q) = (3,2) system model can be accurately identified from C&Ds data set, with an acceptable level of accuracy, with a maximum coefficient value variation of 7.4%).


Introduction Care transfers for older people with complex needs should be person-centred with effective multi -disciplinary teamwork (MDT) across hospital and community settings (Bolsch et al. 2005). This paper presents a project to enhance care transfers within Southwark and Lambeth Integrated Care (SLIC), which is a federation that promotes integrated care in south London, through bringing together general practices, acute hospitals, mental health care, social care providers and commissioning groups. This project comprised: Phase 1: Literature review of best practice in care transfers of older people; Phase 2: Scoping staff educational needs through: meetings with key individuals and teams, observation of MDT meetings; analysis of a local patient discharge survey; Phase 3: Development, delivery and evaluation of a one day interprofessional simulation course ('Good to go: enhancing care transfers for older people') for health and social care professionals. Phases 1 and 2 findings indicated the need for understanding integrated care and service provision in the community; mutual trust, honesty and respect; communicating about patients across settings; and understanding local services and referral processes. There was strong support for simulation using complex patient scenarios, delivered interprofessionally, which can improve understanding of each profession's role (Tofil et al. 2014). This paper will focus on the Phase 3 courses, their delivery and evaluation. Short description of practice change implemented The course aims were to:  Draw upon shared experience and knowledge to promote best practice for the safe transfer of care across a range of settings.  To enhance discharge planning skills including more effective communication, assessment and evaluation of needs, and multi-agency, inter-professional working. The course design reflected a patient's journey from hospital to discharge and community care, based on real life local scenarios delivered with actors. The course's target population was health and social care professionals across SLIC and whose roles included the care transfers of older people with complex needs. The six pilot courses (June-September 2015) were funded by a local education board. There was no backfill for course participants so engagement with key stakeholders (senior health and social care service managers) was essential for enabling attendance. Key findings A total of 49 staff attended and each cohort included varied professions across hospital and community settings, enabling them to learn together, build professional relationships and improve understanding of each other's roles and services. Course evaluation was based on Kirkpatrick's (1994) model: initial reaction to training; participants' learning; application of learning from the training; and achievement of targeted results and outcomes. Participants completed questionnaires pre-course (n=44) and post-course (n=47) on the day, thus exploring the first two levels of Kirkpatrick's model. Pre-course, 30 (68%) participants reported having experienced difficulty in transferring or receiving the care of a patient with complex needs. Post–course, 44 (91%) intended to make changes to their clinical practice and all believed these would enhance their MDT working. All agreed they understood the importance of effective communication and early communication. The open text comments included many about increased understanding of roles and communicating effectively across settings. Further evaluation is currently in progress using semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 12-15 course participants, exploring application of their learning from the course in practice and perceived outcomes (Kirkpatrick's model, levels 3 and 4). These results will also be presented. Highlights The course aims were achieved, with a positive evaluation and the value of interprofessional attendance from community and hospital settings was evident, supporting recommendations for staff to have opportunities to gain better understanding of each other's roles and build relationships (Baillie et al. 2014). One course was poorly attended due to late dropouts and the original project timeline was extended to enable sufficient time for rostering staff attendance. It was originally hoped to co-deliver the course with an older person with complex needs or carer but this population was difficult to recruit from due to ongoing health issues. This remains an aspiration for future courses. The follow-up interviews are enabling exploration of perceived application and impact on practice from participants' perspectives. Conclusion The interprofessional simulation course was developed from best practice review and local scoping and staff perspectives. The course could be transferred to other settings and has been shared through simulation networks. A challenge is that staff turnover across London is high but staff would be able to transfer learning to new organisations. Evaluation is essential as simulation course delivery is labour-intensive and has to be justifiable in economically constrained times.


The methods and processes of a guideline development programme including a structured consensus conference for the employment of Diagnostic Imaging in Trauma Surgery are presented and critically reviewed. International standards and methodical concepts described in the Guideline Manual by the Agency for Quality in Medicine (AQuMed) and the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) have been implemented. Experiences with this project reveal that even a small multidisciplinary panel group is potentially able to cope with the comprehensive panel work if they are methodologically supported. The establishment of an internal quality management proved to be a useful tool for the production of high-quality results in the face of limited project resources. As expected, for most sub-questions knowledge of evidence and medical experience correlated well. However, the lack of a method for ensuring that consensus recommendations finally obtained by panel work and discussions during the conference were always based on evidence was the weak spot of this evidence-based consensus conference.