The number of asthmatic patients is increasing in Japan. It is conceivable that changes in lifestyle (eg, lack of exercise and high-energy diet) may be associated with this phenomenon. The resulting factor seems to be altered activity of autonomic nervous system of these patients. When this activity was estimated by the measurement of heart rate variability, asthmatic patients (n = 11) showed a tendency for parasympathetic nerve dominance in comparison with healthy controls (n = 10). We recommend the patients engage in the "Senobi" stretch exercise, which involves stretching the arms and body upward while standing. After 1 month of regularly performing this exercise, most patients showed a decrease in the frequency of asthma rescue medication use. They also showed a recovery of forced expiratory volume in 1 second. These results suggest that the Senobi stretch is a useful exercise for asthmatic patients to perform to achieve a desirable improvement in symptoms.


Strategic release planning (road-mapping) is an important phase of requirements engineering process performed at product level. It is concerned with selection and assignment of requirements in sequences of releases such that important technical and resource constraints are fulfilled. It is always considered difficult to form a strategic release plan due to varying constraints and uncertainties. In this regard, different strategic release planning models have been presented in academia and different methods are being used in Industry. In this thesis, strategic release planning models presented in academia and some methods of strategic release planning being used in Industry are identified. The contributions of these models are also provided in the thesis. A systematic review has been performed to know strategic release planning models in academia. The aim of systematic review is to present fair evaluation of research concerning strategic release planning models. Through systematic review, requirements selection factors considered by a model, validation details of model and a model's usefulness for bespoke and market-driven development are summarized. Moreover two organizations have been interviewed to know strategic release planning models being used in Industry in addition to the ones presented in academia. Similarly contribution of models being used in Industry is provided by logging details of requirements selection factors, validation details and usefulness for bespoke and market-driven software development of each model / process of Industry. Based on systematic review and industrial interviews' results, a list of common requirements selection factors (considered by models of academia and Industry) is provided. Some general recommendations have been given for research in academia on strategic release planning models after analysis of systematic review and industrial interviews' results.


The theoretical idea of personnel economics is to apply simple economic principles to the field of human resources management. Personnel economics as a research field has grown rapidly since the first text book on ?Personnel Economics? was published in 1998. The development is driven by new theoretical insights based on institutional and behavioural economics and new empirical methods and data sets. Those new theoretical insights are very fruitful to analyze reasons and consequences of various human resource management practices, to understand what actually drives and motivates employees, and what causes organisations to be successful or to fail. With the new data sets and econometric methods the theories that have been laid out in personnel economics either many years ago or very recently can now be tested thoroughly. And the evidence produced by the new data and methods is strongly supportive, which is not only reassuring for researchers, but it also suggests that practitioners can actually rely on the ideas because they are born out in the data. So, personnel economics is not only a vivid research field, but also of great value for human resource managers, particularly for those taking strategic HR decisions. The fruitfulness of personnel economics is demonstrated with four examples: training strategies of companies, recruiting in tight labour markets, career incentives, team size and effort, and entrepreneurial signalling towards employees and creditors.


Decades of research has established that individuals and groups have reliable preferences for some colours over others. The aim of this thesis is to understand the biological and cognitive mechanisms of these colour preferences. Two recent theories of colour preference are tested, the biological components theory (Hurlbert and Ling, 2007) and the ecological valence theory (EVT; Palmer & Schloss, 2010). The former argues that colour preference is explained by weights on the two cone-opponent channels underlying human colour vision, whereas the latter argues that colour preference is explained by colour-object associations. A series of experiments test these theories by testing different cultures, sexes and ages, and by sampling stimuli throughout colour space. The findings identify serious constraints for both theories. The biological component theory only works well when summarising hue preference, not when colours vary in lightness and saturation. EVT is effective at explaining the colour preference of males, but not females. For both theories, previous claims of 'universal' patterns of preference across cultures are not supported. The thesis also investigates whether 'mere exposure' (brief, repeated exposure to stimuli) influences colour preference, as it does for other basic stimuli. A series of experiments indicate that mere exposure influences colour preference for males but not females. This suggests that, at least for some groups, there could be basic cognitive processes that affect colour preference that are domain general. Overall, it is concluded there are multiple routes to colour preference, and that further research should consider how the various underlying mechanisms of colour preference combine and interact for different types of observers. This thesis and the work to which it refers are the results of my own efforts. Any ideas, data, images or text resulting from the work of others (whether published or unpublished) are fully identified as such within the work and attributed to their originator in the text, bibliography or in footnotes. This thesis has not been submitted in whole or in part for any other academic degree or professional qualification. I agree that the University has the right to submit my' work to the plagiarism detection service Turnitin UK for originality checks. Whether or not drafts have been so-assessed, the University reserves the right to require an electronic version of the final document (as submitted) for assessment as above.


Beside the athletes themselves, a number of factors influence performance in crosscountry skiing. Ski technicians typically have five possible adjustments to make to the given snow, track and weather conditions. These are: (1) to choose skis with certain desired mechanical properties, (2) to apply a suitable grind to the ski base, (3) to change the material of the running surface, (4) to apply a combination of various waxes and (5) to decide the fine-tuning of the surface texture with a hand tool. Extensive testing is their major approach prior to important competitions. This thesis presents experimental studies on such methods in the field and laboratory, and is divided into four studies:I Investigation of mechanical ski properties of classical and skate skis in laboratory tests. More than 800 racing skis from the Norwegian cross-country, biathlon and Nordic combined teams have been analysed in the laboratory in the period 2009 to 2011. The study showed that men and women chose skis with similar stiffness characteristics for classic ski in the cold category whereas women selected ski which required 5 % higher load to compress the camber down to 0.2 mm. Several significant differences in ski characteristics were found for skating skis of male athletes between the three Nordic national teams of cross-country, biathlon and Nordic combined. The ski characteristics of the teams were mostly determined by the ski brand's specific ski characteristics. This finding was also in line with the documented changes due to temperature change. Temperature changes can result in increased or decreased stiffness, but in comparison with differences in characteristics between ski brands, the magnitude of these changes is on a much smaller scaleII The resetting process of the base material after a treatment with manual rilling tools were investigated. All tested skis were tested in the laboratory and in the field. The major goal of this study was the development of a new grinding machine for crosscountry skis from scratch. A comparison between traditional stone grinding and the newly developed grinding method is presented. Initial studies showed that the newly developed method resulted in a lower coefficient of variance of the average mean roughness of the produced structure. A reproducibility within smaller tolerances is in strong demand by ski technicians.III A new inertial measurement unit (IMU) -based sensor was developed and tested in a ski tunnel. During the gliding tests, several systems were tested and compared to each other. By using a low-cost IMU and correction methods it was possible to produce reasonable estimates and distinguish between good and bad skis with a difference in the kinetic coefficient of friction of around 0.01. The accuracy needs to be improved by a factor of ten in order to meet the precision requirement and provide a system which can distinguish between skis with similar glide performance.IV The characteristics of two coatings and their contribution to a reduced coefficient of friction were studied. In addition, the structural changes of the ski base material due to the waxing process and subsequent skiing were studied. The Fluorine content, both in the base material and in the wax was given special attention. Field and laboratory experiments on the ski base materials, with and without waxes, were conducted. The study showed that products containing fluorine contributed to a lower surface energy and hence a more water-repelling surface with a higher static water contact angle. Carrying out direct comparisons between the outdoor field tests and the lab tests in this study proved challenging, since the product with highest measured coefficient of friction from the laboratory tests and lowest contact angle performed best in the final gliding test after 34.1 km of skiing. Aside from this, there were many similarities.These four studies resulted in seven publications, P1-7, which are attached in the appendices to this thesis.The work in this thesis resulted in the development of a new grinding machine for crosscountry skis, which opens up for further development in the field of surface treatments. In addition a new device to measure ski characteristics has been developed, which was used in the second half of Study I to measure ski characteristics.


We demonstrate that single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) membranes can be successfully utilized as nanometer-thick substrates for enhanced visualization and facilitated study of individual nanoparticles. As model objects, we transfer optically resonant 200 nm silicon nanoparticles onto pristine and ethanol-densified SWCNT membranes by the femtosecond laser printing method. We image nanoparticles by scanning electron and bright-field optical microscopy, and characterize by linear and Raman scattering spectroscopy. The use of a pristine SWCNT membrane allows to achieve an order-of-magnitude enhancement of the optical contrast of the nanoparticle bright field image over the results shown in the case of the glass substrate use. The observed optical contrast enhancement is in agreement with the spectrophotometric measurements showing an extremely low specular reflectance of the pristine membrane (≤0.1%). Owing to the high transparency, negligibly small reflectance and thickness, SWCNT membranes offer a variety of perspective applications in nanophotonics, bioimaging and synchrotron radiation studies.


Computer simulations are often expected to provide explanations about target phenomena. However there is a gap between the simulation outputs and the underlying model, which prevents users finding the relevant explanatory components within the model. I contend that visual representations which adequately display the simulation outputs can nevertheless be used to get explanations. In order to do so, I elaborate on the way graphs and pictures can help one to explain the behavior of a flow past a cylinder. I then specify the reasons that make more generally visual representations particularly suitable for explanatory tasks in a computer-assisted context.


The Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey began imputing income in its 2004 data. Imputation predicts income for households that reported receiving income but failed to report a specific value. In this study, I examine how income imputation affects analysis of the CE expenditure data. Most importantly, research that uses both income and expenditures from 2004 on will not have to restrict the sample to households that reported income. The expenditure results most sensitive to the introduction of income imputation are statistics that focus on households with low levels of expenditures.


Since the Internet was made publicly accessible, it has become increasingly popular and its deployment has been broad and global thereby facilitating a range of available online services such as Electronic Mail (email), news or bulletins, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and World Wide Web (WWW). Progressively, other online services such as telephony, video conference, video on demand, Interactive Television (ITV) and Geographic Information System (GIS) have been integrated with the Internet and become publicly available. Presently, Internet broadband communication services incorporating both wired and wireless network technologies has seen the emergence of the concept of a digital community which has been growing and expanding rapidly around the world. Internet and the ever expanding online services to the wider digital community has raised the issue of security of these services during usage. Most local councils throughout Western Australia have resorted to delivering online services such as library, online payments and email accessibility. The provision and usage of these services have inherent security risks. Consequently, this study investigated the concept of a secure digital community in the secure provision and usage of these online services in selected local councils in Western Australia (WA). After an extensive review of existing literature, information security frameworks were derived from the adaptation of various resources, such as the OSSTMM 2.2 Section C: Internet Technology Security benchmark which was used as the main template. In addition, this template was enhanced into a framework model by incorporating other benchmarks such as NIST, CIS, ISSAF as well as other sources of information. These included information security related books, related ICT network and security websites such as CERT, CheckPoint, Cisco, GFI, Juniper, MS, NESSUS and NMAP together with journals and personal interviews. The proposed information security frameworks were developed to enhance the level of security strength of the email and online web systems as well as to increase the level of confidence in the system security within the selected local councils in WA. All the investigative studies were based upon the available selected local councils' data and the associated analyses of the results as obtained from the testing software. In addition, the interpretive multiple-case study iv principles were used during the investigation to achieve or fulfil the purpose of this study. The findings from this study were then abstracted for use in a framework and made available for use as a model for possible adaptation and implementation to other similarly structured councils or organisations. As a result, the study confirmed that the proposed information security frameworks have the capability and potential to improve the level of security strength. In addition, the level of satisfaction and confidence of council staff of the selected local councils in WA in the system security would also be increased due to the application of these frameworks. Although these information security frameworks may be recommended as practical and supporting tools for local councils, the findings from this study were specific only to the selected local councils used in this study. Further research using other councils, may be necessary in order for the information security frameworks to be adopted within a wider range of councils or organisations in WA or elsewhere.


The work concerns the area of History of psychological ideas, considered to be part of Cultural History, its subjects being relative to the cultural milieu in which they are constructed. In this respect, one can also see the pertinence of a research program that investigates the meanings of psychological knowledge within the multifaceted area of culture along its history. The present study deals with the conceptual view of the psychological phenomenon in spiritual literature and in philosophical production of Jesuit scholars throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The psychological experience is interpreted according to the notions elaborated in the philosophical treatise, which in turn are based on the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. The Jesuit psychology has a philosophical dimension, concerned with the teaching and the philosophical production of the Company ¾ and a practical dimension, connected with ancient tradition of Medicine of the Soul.


Existing Bayesian models, especially nonparametric Bayesian methods, rely on specially conceived priors to incorporate domain knowledge for discovering improved latent representations. While priors can affect posterior distributions through Bayes' rule, imposing posterior regularization is arguably more direct and in some cases more natural and general. In this paper, we present regularized Bayesian inference (RegBayes), a novel computational framework that performs posterior inference with a regularization term on the desired post-data posterior distribution under an information theoretical formulation. RegBayes is more flexible than the procedure that elicits expert knowledge via priors, and it covers both directed Bayesian networks and undirected Markov networks whose Bayesian formulation results in hybrid chain graph models. When the regularization is induced from a linear operator on the posterior distributions, such as the expectation operator, we present a general convex-analysis theorem to characterize the solution of RegBayes. Furthermore, we present two concrete examples of RegBayes, infinite latent support vector machines (iLSVM) and multi-task infinite latent support vector machines (MT-iLSVM), which explore the large-margin idea in combination with a nonparametric Bayesian model for discovering predictive latent features for classification and multi-task learning, respectively. We present efficient inference methods and report empirical studies on several benchmark datasets, which appear to demonstrate the merits inherited from both large-margin learning and Bayesian nonparametrics. Such results were not available until now, and contribute to push forward the interface between these two important subfields, which have been largely treated as isolated in the community.


Derivatives pricing models based on arbitrage produce a single no-arbitrage option value. In theory, trading by arbitrageurs will force the market price to equal this value. However, the real world is full of frictions and uncertainty, and there is always a range in which the market price may wander without becoming sufficiently mispriced to touch off arbitrage trades. Under weaker assumptions, as explored in this article, such a range should encompass a convex set of prices such that the net payout has positive expected value under a broad set of supporting probability distributions and is closed under scaling, which makes it a mathematical cone. Madan and Schoutens use this principle to develop a theory of conic option pricing, in which an upper and lower bound on an option's price are obtained by applying two deformations to the probability density for returns. Where the market price is expected to fall within these bounds is based on the principle that order flow for buying and selling should balance out on average. The resulting valuation does not require a specific density, such as lognormal (this article uses the variance-gamma process). Rather, it specifies how the density chosen by the user should be modified to produce the bounds. An empirical demonstration of the approach using seven years of options data on 208 underlying assets shows that market prices obey the pricing bounds quite well. An interesting and valuable extension is the valuation of delta and delta-gamma hedged positions, which naturally produce much tighter bounds.


A new highly selective photocatalyst (RhB-MIP/TiO2) was successfully prepared by surface molecular imprinting technique using rhodamine B (RhB) as template molecule. The adsorption kinetics show RhB-MIP/TiO2 possessed fast adsorption rate, and adsorption behavior followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics. The static binding experiments revealed RhB-MIP/TiO2 displayed strong affinity and high adsorption capacity for RhB. Moreover, the equilibrium adsorption rate of RhB-MIP/TiO2 for RhB can be well fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model. The thermodynamics parameters indicated that the binding system of RhB-MIP/TiO2 was endothermic and spontaneous. Compared with non-imprinted photocatalyst (NIP/TiO2), RhB-MIP/TiO2 exhibited excellent selectivity toward RhB, whose selectivity coefficient for RhB relative to rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) was 2.99. Selective photocatalytic degradation experiments indicated that the apparent rate constant for the photodegradation of RhB over RhB-MIP/TiO2 is 0.0212 min−1, being 216% of that over NIP/TiO2 (0.0098 min−1). Therefore, RhB-MIP/TiO2 exhibited higher photocatalytic selectivity toward RhB. The prepared photocatalyst RhB-MIP/TiO2 has a promising perspective in industrial wastewater treatment. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40890.


With a clear, straightforward writing style, comprehensive coverage, strong and current research-based approach, and excellent visuals and tables, this life-span development text offers a topical organisation at the chapter level and a consistent chronological presentation. Each chapter focuses on a domain of development such as physical growth, cognition, or personality, and traces developmental trends and influences in that domain from infancy to old age. Within each chapter, you will find sections on four life stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This organisation enables students to comprehend the processes of transformation that occur in key areas of human development. This new edition includes a clear focus on the complex interactions of nature and nurture in development, more integrated coverage of culture and diversity, and an exciting new media package for both students and instructors.


Using linked employer-employee data for Portugal, we explore an amendment to the minimum wage law which increased from 75% to 100% of the full minimum wage applied to employees younger than 18. Our results show a widening of the gender wage gap following the amendment: the wage gap for minors increased 2.7 percentage points more than for other groups. This change was mainly determined by a redistribution of fringe benefits and overtime payments. We discuss three possible sources of redistribution: (i) a change in the skill composition of the working males and females after the increase in the minimum wage, (ii) industrial differences in response to the changes in the wage floor, and (iii) discrimination. Estimations support the second channel as the main contributing factor, while possible discrimination effects cannot be eliminated.


Model-driven development (MDD) has become a promising trend in software engineering for a number of reasons. Models as the key artifacts help the developers to abstract from irrelevant details, focus on important aspects of the underlying domain, and thus master complexity. As software systems grow, models may grow as well and nally become possibly too large to be developed and maintained in a comprehensible way. In traditional software development, the complexity of software systems is tackled by dividing the system into smaller cohesive parts, so-called components, and let distributed teams work on each concurrently. The question arises how this strategy can be applied to model-driven development. The overall aim of this thesis is to develop a formalized modularization concept to enable the structured and largely independent development of interrelated models in larger teams. To this end, this thesis proposes component models with explicit export and import interfaces where exports declare what is provided while imports declare what it needed. Then, composite model can be connected by connecting their compatible export and import interfaces yielding so-called composite models. Suitable to composite models, a transformation approach is developed which allows to describe changes over the whole composition structure. From the practical point of view, this concept especially targets models based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF). In the modeling community, EMF has evolved to a very popular framework which provides modeling and code generation facilities for Java applications based on structured data models. Since graphs are a natural way to represent the underlying structure of visual models, the formalization is based on graph transformation. Incorporated concepts according to distribution heavily rely on distributed graph transformation introduced by Taentzer. Typed graphs with inheritance and containment structures are well suited to describe the essentials of EMF models. However, they also induce a number of constraints like acyclic inheritance and containment which have to be taken into account. The category-theoretical foundation in this thesis allows for the precise de nition of consistent composite graph transformations satisfying all inheritance and containment conditions. The composite modeling approach is shown to be coherent with the development of tool support for composite EMF models and composite EMF model transformation.


Abstract Users often must browse hierarchies with thousands of nodes in search of those that best match their information needs. ThePDQ Tree-browser(Pruning with Dynamic Queries) visualization tool was specified, designed and developed for this purpose. This tool presents trees in two tightly-coupled views, one a detailed view and the other an overview. Users can use dynamic queries, a method for rapidly filtering data, to filter nodes at each level of the tree. The dynamic query panels are user-customizable. Sub-trees of unselected nodes are pruned out, leading to compact views of relevant nodes. Usability testing of the PDQ Tree-browser, done with eight subjects, helped assess strengths and identify possible improvements. The PDQ Tree-browser was used in Network Management (600 nodes) and UniversityFinder (1100 nodes) applications. A controlled experiment, with 24 subjects, showed that pruning significantly improved performance speed and subjective user satisfaction. Future research directions are suggested.


Depression and obesity are significant public health problems that adversely affect the health and quality of life of women in the United States, particularly female African American welfare recipients transitioning to work. African American women are twice as likely to experience depressive symptoms as women of other races. Fifty percent of African American women are obese. The prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms and obesity is higher among African American women who receive welfare benefits. These health conditions jeopardize their health status, ability to work, and chances to become self-sufficient. To ensure the successful transition of recipients to work, health care providers and researchers must better understand how depression and obesity affect the overall health status of African American women on welfare. It is imperative that factors that predict these disorders in this population are identified and used to guide risk reduction interventions. Few studies have examined risk factors for depressive symptoms and obesity and the relationships among these variables in African American women welfare recipients moving into the workforce. Thus, the purposes of this study were to describe the prevalence of depressive symptoms, obesity, and health risk behaviors among African American women transitioning from welfare to work. Additionally, the investigator explored the associations among health risk behaviors (physical inactivity, poor nutrition, smoking, and alcohol consumption), personal demographic risk factors (age and education), one biological risk factor (BMI), perceived health, depressive symptoms, and obesity in this population. This descriptive, correlational study utilized a secondary data source to examine the health assessments of 162 African American women, aged 18 to 55 years, enrolled in welfare to work program at a large research university in the mid-southern region of the United States. Three instruments were used to assess study variables: the Healthier People Network Health Risk Appraisal (HPN-HRA), the Perceived Health Status Appraisal, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD). Thirty-five percent of the participants reported moderate levels of depressive symptoms (CES-D score 21-30). Twelve percent of participants reported severe levels of depressive symptoms (CES-D score ≥ 30). Fortyeight percent of the participants had body mass index (BMI) scores ≥30kg/m2. The average BMI was 33.6±6.7 kg/m2 which is indicative of obesity. Despite the high rates of depressive symptoms and obesity found in this sample, there were no statistically significant relationships indicated between depressive symptoms and obesity. Findings warrant further investigation to improve health outcomes of African American women transitioning from welfare to work. Long term retention in the workforce and economic independence are closely linked to the health status of recipients. More prospective studies are needed to determine the pathways by which depressive symptoms and obesity interact in this population in order to develop tailored effective prevention strategies.


Chip-MultiProcessor (CMP) architectures are becoming more and more popular as an alternative to the traditional processors that only extract instruction-level parallelism from an application. CMPs introduce complexities when accounting CPU utilization. This is due to the fact that the progress done by an application during an interval of time highly depends on the activity of the other applications it is co-scheduled with. In this paper, we identify how an inaccurate measurement of the CPU utilization affects several key aspects of the system like the application scheduling or the charging mechanism in data centers. We propose a new hardware CPU accounting mechanism to improve the accuracy when measuring the CPU utilization in CMPs and compare it with the previous accounting mechanisms. Our results show that currently known mechanisms lead to a 19 % average error when it comes to CPU utilization accounting. Our proposal reduces this error to less than 1 % in a modeled 4-core processor system.


Higher CSF sTREM2 concentrations are associated with slower rates of cognitive decline in subjects with Alzheimer's disease. Boosting TREM2 in AD Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder, and clinical trials using anti-amyloid treatments have failed. New therapeutic targets are therefore required. Recent genetic studies have revealed a major role for microglia in disease progression. Loss-of-function mutations in TREM2 dramatically increase the risk for late onset AD, therefore boosting that TREM2 function may be a useful therapeutic strategy. Ewers et al. examined whether increased TREM2 is protective in patients with AD. They found that higher concentrations of soluble TREM2 in cerebrospinal fluid were associated with reduced memory decline and hippocampal shrinkage in patients with AD. Thus, therapeutic strategies that boost TREM2 signaling may be beneficial in AD. Loss of function of TREM2, a key receptor selectively expressed by microglia in the brain, contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We therefore examined whether soluble TREM2 (sTREM2) concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were associated with reduced rates of cognitive decline and clinical progression in subjects with AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We measured sTREM2 in CSF samples from 385 elderly subjects, including cognitively normal controls, individuals with MCI, and subjects with AD dementia (follow-up period: mean, 4 years; range 1.5 to 11.5 years). In subjects with AD defined by evidence of CSF Aβ1–42 (amyloid β-peptide 1 to 42; A+) and CSF p-tau181 (tau phosphorylated on amino acid residue 181; T+), higher sTREM2 concentrations in CSF at baseline were associated with attenuated decline in memory and cognition. When analyzed in clinical subgroups, an association between higher CSF sTREM2 concentrations and subsequent reduced memory decline was consistently observed in individuals with MCI or AD dementia, who were positive for CSF Aβ1–42 and CSF p-tau181 (A+T+). Regarding clinical progression, a higher ratio of CSF sTREM2 to CSF p-tau181 concentrations predicted slower conversion from cognitively normal to symptomatic stages or from MCI to AD dementia in the subjects who were positive for CSF Aβ1–42 and CSF p-tau181. These results suggest that sTREM2 is associated with attenuated cognitive and clinical decline, a finding with important implications for future clinical trials targeting the innate immune response in AD.


We use micro data on young married households from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers in order to analyze the importance of borrowing constraints in Japan. We find (1) that 8 to 15 percent of young married Japanese households are borrowing-constrained, (2) that household assets and the husband's educational attainment are the most important determinants of whether or not a household is borrowing-constrained, and (3) that the Euler equation implication is rejected for both the full sample and for the subsample of unconstrained households. These results suggest that the life cycle/permanent income hypothesis does not apply in Japan and that the presence of borrowing constraints is not the main reason why it does not apply.


Geriatrics is the medical specialty that deals with physical, psychological, social and functional aspects of the older adult and represents a most authentic form of personalized medicine. As such, it is successfully performed through its cornerstone instrument, the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), which consistently shows its significant benefits since over 30 years. However, the high speed at which the world population ages and gets affected by chronic conditions, multimorbidity and functional impairment is not yet accompanied by a strong, competent and self-conscious geriatric culture. This unmet need contributes to the further exponential increase of disability and lack of well-being in older persons. In this paper, we give an overview of the possible reasons for the lack of adequate CGA implementation across settings and highlight the likely benefits of consequent training and education of two groups of (future) professionals in the field of aging medicine: medical students and residents on one hand and multiprofessional healthcare providers, particularly nurses and physiotherapists, on the other hand.


Objectives
Adolescent wellbeing is now recognized as critical to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and malnutrition. Multiple factors shape cognitive wellbeing during adolescence, thus we sought to take a holistic approach in examining factors related to mental outcomes among Indian adolescents.

Methods
Data were drawn from in-school adolescents aged 10-19 years (n = 2482 females (F), 2728 males (M)) in the Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults (UDAYA) study in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. We examined four outcomes: literacy, numeracy, aspiration for advanced studies, and depression. Predictors spanned nutritional factors (anemia, underweight, dietary diversity, free school meals), social support (number of friends, time spent with friends, parental support, substance abuse, household violence), and environment (urban, sanitation, household wealth, school quality, work outside school). Mutually-adjusted logistic regression models, accounting for cluster sampling design and state fixed effects, were used to examine associations between these predictors and the four outcomes for M and F separately.

Results
Among nutritional factors, associations were found between anemia and depression (F: AOR 1.40, 95% CI 1.00-1.97), underweight and numeracy (M: 0.72, 0.54-0.96), dietary diversity and literacy (F: 1.09, 1.01-1.17). Receiving free school meals was associated with poorer outcomes (AORs 0.37 to 0.50), which we attribute to the pro-poor program targeting. Strong parental support was related to higher literacy (M: 4.66, 2.89-7.54), numeracy (M: 2.64, 1.64-4.26; F: 1.70, 1.07-2.70) and aspirations (M: 1.84, 1.25-2.69) while substance abuse and violence were related to worse outcomes (AORs 0.56 to 0.72). Higher wealth predicted higher literacy, numeracy and aspirations. Having an improved latrine facility at home predicted higher numeracy (F: 1.60, 1.11-2.30) and aspirations (F: 1.87, 1.28-2.75).

Conclusions
Our findings highlight the complexity of factors that adolescents face which affect their mental wellbeing. Policies and programs to improve adolescent mental health require well-rounded packages of interventions targeting nutritional, social, and environmental aspects of life.

Funding Sources
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through POSHAN, led by IFPRI.


For more than two hundred years it has been assumed by those engaged in the production of conservatoire-based music that a composition is best written by a single individual. It has been assumed that the most effective way to communicate a composition is through the exclusive means of the notated score. It has been assumed that the processes of performance and composition should be separate disciplines and that in general, the role of performers should be restricted merely to that of the interpretation of notated music. This thesis presents a challenge to these assumptions through the presentation of a folio of compositions that have each been written through processes based not only on notation, but also in improvisation and various other collaborative aural and oral means. This folio is accompanied by a written discussion of the reasons for wishing to compose music in such a way. In Part One of the written discussion I argue that the tradition of Western art music has reached a point of crisis. This is a crisis that is the result of a growing imbalance between literate and oral modes of thought and expression. I argue that the technology of notation is only partially useful as a tool for composition and communication. Conversely, I discuss what can and has been achieved by musicians when they allow non-notation based processes to form a significant part of the processes of the composition and performance of music. In Part Two I consider the nature of the skills of improvisation. I argue that the practice of improvisation holds part of the key to the regeneration of the conservatoire music tradition and that it is a skill that should serve to undergin an elements of a player's musicianship. In Part Three I discuss some of the more practical considerations of the techniques used in the composition of the music presented in Part Four of the thesis. I attempt to show that through effecting a balance within the composition process between notated elements scored by a single composer, and improvised/realised elements written within the context of an ensemble, a practice can be developed that has implications not only for traditional assumptions of composition, but which serves to question the whole way in which our culture traditionally organises and structures its institutions of education and performance. Part Four takes the form of a recorded folio of works that have been composed as the result of collaborations between the ensembles that perform them and myself
as a director.


The Gippsland Lakes is a system of coastal lagoons sheltered behind sandy barriers, with a total length of shoreline of over 260km. A study of the susceptibility of this shoreline to erosion under current sea level conditions and a range of potential sea level rise scenarios has been undertaken using an integrated spatial framework. The approach involved the development of a spatial data and analysis GIS model to interpret available data. Numerous spatial data sets have been integrated in the model under three thematic areas; physical, environmental and biological. - The physical theme combines the fabric and form of the shoreline, based upon the Smart Line analysis methodology developed by Sharples et al (2009) but also including the presence of artificial structures. - The environmental theme combines the effects of wave and current exposure on the shoreline based on detailed hydrodynamic modelling. - The biological theme brings together information on vegetation communities and land use. A risk score was applied to each individual and combined parameter, to produce three thematic scores. The framework was designed to allow the option to weight the inputs separately to produce the integrated shoreline erosion susceptibility mapping data layer. The analysis was designed to allow the weighting exercise to be undertaken iteratively to test the sensitivity of the analysis and to view the outputs from different weighting options. The outputs were also compared to previous local shoreline erosion assessments around the lakes which provided the opportunity to benchmark the scores and weightings. The physical form was found to be the dominant theme, particularly for flat to moderately sloping sandy shores. Waves, currents and vegetation communities showed increasing impacts on shoreline erosion susceptibility under sea level rise conditions.


Peepers are a common alternative to push cores for collecting porewater from shallow aquatic environments such as lakes, streams, and wetlands but are infrequently used to sample deep‐sea sediments due to design limitations. In this study, a peeper was developed to obtain porewater from precisely located positions on the deep‐sea floor using remotely operated or manned submersibles. The sample cells of the peepers can be sealed closed after they are deoxygenated on board a ship to ensure that they remain anoxic until peepers are deployed at the deep‐sea sampling location. Similarly, peeper cells can be closed at the end of an incubation period to maintain sample integrity during submersible recovery and until sample processing. Each peeper can be used to collect samples from 10 cm above the sediment water interface and at 10 cm intervals down to 60 cm depth in the sediment, and can provide sufficient volume for multiple chemical analyses, including stable isotope ratio determinations.


In the present study, two new hybrid approaches are proposed for predicting peak ground acceleration (PGA) parameter. The proposed approaches are based on the combinations of Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy System (ANFIS) with Genetic Algorithm (GA), and with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). In these approaches, the PSO and GA algorithms are employed to enhance the accuracy of ANFIS model. To develop hybrid models, a comprehensive database from Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) are used to train and test the proposed models. Earthquake magnitude, earthquake source to site distance, average shear-wave velocity, and faulting mechanisms are used as predictive parameters. The performances of developed hybrid models (PSO-ANFIS-PSO and GA-ANFIS-GA) are compared with the ANFIS model and also the most common soft computing approaches available in the literature. According to the obtained results, three developed models can be effectively used to predict the PGA parameter, but the comparison of models shows that the PSO-ANFIS–PSO model provides better results.


During World War Two, approximately 400 to 450 AusländerkinderPflegestätten, or foreign child-care facilities, were established across the German Reich as collection centers for the infants born to Polish and Soviet civilian laborers employed in the German war economy. My thesis examines two such foreign child-care facilities, the Volkswagen and Velpke children's homes, where over 450 Polish and Soviet infants perished. Three themes provide the framework for an analysis of these two facilities: the conflict between two of the main goals of the Third Reich—racial cleansing and the exploitation of forced labor; the question of whether the establishment of the facilities and treatment of the children depended on orders from upper-level or local-level authorities; and the issue of whether the children's deaths stemmed from intent to cause their deaths or indifference toward their fate. This thesis addresses the following questions: In terms of racial ideology and economic pragmatism, was one factor more significant in the establishment and use of the Volkswagen and Velpke children's homes? Who, among upper-level and lower-level Nazi officials, ordinary Germans, medical professionals, and factory executives, was responsible for the children's deaths? Were the children's deaths intentional? What do these two facilities tell us about the other foreign child-care facilities that existed across the Third Reich? The research for this thesis draws upon two British war crimes trials held in Braunschweig and Helmstedt, Germany in 1946, the "Velpke Baby Home Case" and the "Rühen Baby Farm Case," as well as records from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives in Washington, DC, the National Archives at College Park in College Park, MD, and digital records from the International Tracing Service Archives. Ultimately, this thesis highlights the connections between the three conflicting— and often opposing—themes. First, the trial records revealed that both facilities were exclusively established, managed, and operated by local-level officials and personnel. Second, upper-level Nazi authorities deemed alleged racial enemies a threat to the German "master race," and were intent on enforcing a racial hierarchy in the German Reich; however, the local-level officials and staff responsible for these two children's homes were far more concerned with maintaining productivity from the Polish and Soviet workforce, remaining indifferent toward the fate of the children at the homes. Third, while both the need for economic efficiency from workers and the belief in Nazi racial ideology influenced the establishment, management, and operation of the Volkswagen and Velpke children's homes, there is minimal evidence that local authorities and personnel prioritized racial ideology over economics. Since both facilities were controlled locally, this thesis reveals that rather than putting racial ideological into practice and intentionally killing the children, local officials prioritized economic production. This left the fate of the children somewhere between extermination and childrearing—between being left to die, murdered, or raised.


A number of constructivist and English school scholars have investigated the extent to which humanitarian intervention is allowed and legitimized by international society. In other words, they have examined the nature and strength of a norm permitting humanitarian intervention. It is the contention of this article that another norm of humanitarian intervention—parallel but discrete—has been neglected. It is argued that ideas and beliefs shared by some members of international society not only permit intervention but prescribe it in certain circumstances and this has been largely ignored in the literature. By focusing on questions of when, where and why humanitarian action is permitted, scholars have neglected to develop theoretical explanations for the significant inconsistencies in humanitarian action that can be observed in the world. States do not intervene to prevent human rights violations simply because they are allowed to. By considering when and where humanitarian action is prescribed, and the interplay of this prescription with the self-interests of states, we can begin to understand why states respond to some grave violations of human rights and not others. The article concludes with an analysis of the power of the prescriptive norm to explain the increased instances of humanitarian intervention since the end of the Cold War and an assessment of the present state of the norm.


My aim with this writing is to give a review of what science has done the last five years with the topic of cognitive impairment, both national and international.What do we know, and what do we not know in this area?Many patients who have completed initial cancer treatment with chemotherapy, experience cognitive changes. This mild cognitive impairment evinced in form of short-term memory loss, and attention and concentration problems.Side-effects can be both physical and/or psychological of nature and we know quite a lot of how to deal with them. We know much less about cognitive impairment and the underlying mechanisms of progressing cognitive dysfunction.Cancer comes in many variations and so doe's cancer treatment too. A lot of people survive the illness and the treatment and becomes a cancer survivor for at least five to ten years after initial diagnosis and treatment.Better diagnosis and treatment has given more cancer survivors. But what do we know about cognitive impairment? It is impairment in higher brain functions and it is still unknown what causes it. The cancer survivors reports that this comes when they get their chemotherapy, but the scientist don`t necessarily agreed. They struggle with finding tests that can measure the cognitive impairment better. Until now, neuropsychological tests are not good enough to measure this subtle condition.Both oncology and psychology agreed that it is need for a multi factorial approach to the topic.How long the patients will have this problem are varying from those who get better when the chemotherapy is over, to those who struggle with it for more than ten years. This condition can make it problematic to get back to job and hard to deal with daily life because of their lack of concentration and memory.Scientist in both oncology and psychology are aware of certain methodological problems in studies, and it is still more review than original articles in this topic.The quality of the evidence is often poor, and we urgently need data on the natural evolution and scale of the problems and cancer survivors obtained from welldesigned, large-scale cohort studies and testing of interventions in clinical trials.My scientifically and theoretically approach is hermeneutic and the method I use is a metasyntese of three perspectives. First from the medicine, second from the patient's perspective and third from the psychological point of view.


An endogenous meiotic drive system was previously reported to be segregating in the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti L. (Diptera: Culicidae) population in Trinidad. The meiotic driver (M(D)) is tightly linked to the male determining locus and selectively targets sensitive responders linked to the female determining allele, causing fragmentation of female gametes. This results in highly male-biased progeny. The M(D) system was initially studied as a genetic tool for population control with limited success, but recently interest has focused on its potential for population replacement. This study examines the distribution and dynamics of the M(D) system in Trinidad natural populations. We obtained ovitrap samples from seven geographically distinct regions and determined the allele frequencies of the driver (M(D)) and sensitive (m(s)) versus insensitive (m(i)) responders, respectively. Frequencies of the M(D) allele ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 and were low at the two major port cities, Port of Spain and San Fernando, suggesting the effects of frequent immigration by non-driving genotypes. Frequencies of the m(i) allele ranged from 0.4 to 0.7, suggesting the effects of strong selection by the driver. In addition, our results show that the driver and sensitivity of responders in the Trinidad populations are highly polymorphic. Continued studies of the dynamics of the M(D) system in natural populations are critical to considerations of its use in population replacement.


Introduction: what constitutes the environment? approach to state of the environment reporting the pressure-state-response reporting model the reporting process how to use this report. Portrait of Australia: an unusual continent humans in the environment managing our environment. Human settlements: metabolism of settlements technological and economic forces shaping settlements population dynamics and patterns of Australian settlements livability - the human dimension social amenity issues health in Australian settlements resource inputs and their indicators waste outputs and their indicators development constraints and opportunities sustainable infrastructure plans and indicators settlement capacity. Biodiversity: human population harvesting resources and land use introduced species pollution mining climate change the state of ecosystem diversity the state of species diversity genetic diversity responses to key issues. The atmosphere: climate of Australia sources of emissions global-scale pressures regional-scale pressures local scale pressures natural variability atmospheric dispersion and transport airsheds enhanced greenhouses effect stratospheric ozone loss national ambient air quality monitoring urban air quality air quality in regional airsheds long-range transport and acid deposition air quality and the environment indoor air quality key issues in air quality assessment. Land resources: general pressures indirect and proximate pressure changes in land cover changes in land condition impact of pest animals and plants soils land use and land tenure is Australian agriculture sustainable? land clearing forests land conservation legislation landcare - a community response. Inland waters: direct pressures and their significance indirect pressures water resources flooding catchment pollutant sources impact of forestry groundwater habitat quality and biota water quality eutrophication of inland and costal waters. Estuaries and the sea: coastal margin development contaminants fishing mining transport and shipping plants and animals seafood quality water quality sediments nitrogen and phosphorous in coastal waters seagrasses of Australia Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Natural and cultural heritage: values and meanings wilderness heritage registers pressures on heritage places cultural values of natural landscapes pressures on heritage objects state of heritage places state of heritage objects responses - heritage places responses - heritage objects tourism and the environment. (Part contents).


Hurricane Bonnie (1998) was an unusually resilient hurricane that maintained a steady-state intensity while experiencing strong (12–16 m s−1) vertical wind shear and an eyewall replacement cycle. This remarkable behavior was examined using observations from flight-level data, microwave imagery, radar, and dropsondes over the 2-day period encompassing these events. Similar to other observed eyewall replacement cycles, Bonnie exhibited the development, strengthening, and dominance of a secondary eyewall while a primary eyewall decayed. However, Bonnie's structure was highly asymmetric because of the large vertical wind shear, in contrast to the more symmetric structures observed in other hurricanes undergoing eyewall replacement cycles. It is hypothesized that the unusual nature of Bonnie's evolution arose as a result of an increase in vertical wind shear from 2 to 12 m s−1 even as the storm intensified to a major hurricane in the presence of high ambient sea surface temperatures. These circumstances allowed for the development of outer rainbands with intense convection downshear, where the formation of the outer eyewall commenced. In addition, the circulation broadened considerably during this time. The secondary eyewall developed within a well-defined beta skirt in the radial velocity profile, consistent with an earlier theory. Despite the large ambient vertical wind shear, the outer eyewall steadily extended upshear, supported by 35% larger surface wind speed upshear than downshear. The larger radius of maximum winds during and after the eyewall replacement cycle might have aided Bonnie's resiliency directly, but also increased the likelihood that diabatic heating would fall inside the radius of maximum winds.


The energy system of the future will transform from the current centralised fossil based to a decentralised, clean, highly efficient, and intelligent network. This transformation will require innovative technologies and ideas like trigeneration and the crowd energy concept to pave the way ahead. Even though trigeneration systems are extremely energy efficient and can play a vital role in the energy system, turning around their deployment is hindered by various barriers. These barriers are theoretically analysed in a multiperspective approach and the role decentralised trigeneration systems can play in the crowd energy concept is highlighted. It is derived from an initial literature research that a multiperspective(technological, energy-economic, and user) analysis is necessary for realising the potential of trigeneration systems in a decentralised grid. And to experimentally quantify these issues we are setting up a microscale trigeneration lab at our institute and the motivation for this lab is also briefly introduced.


Background Treatment with high doses chemotherapy followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation is promising for refractory Crohn's disease patients with no therapeutic option and at imminent risk of further surgeries. Objectives To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of haematopoietic progenitor cell mobilization in a group of Crohn's disease patients preparing for autologous unselected haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a single institution. This is the first study to evaluate mobilization for Crohn's disease. Methods Patients were selected according to criteria of the European Bone Marrow Transplant Society. Results All patients mobilized with the mean number of haematopoietic progenitor cells obtained and infused being 16.17 × 106/CD34+/kg. Most patients required only one leukapheresis session to reach the ideal number of cells. Grafting occurred around ten days after cells infusion. Complications and adverse events during the mobilization period were rare with only one patient presenting sepsis as a relevant event in the period. Most patients 20 (70%) had anaemia from the beginning of the mobilization but only 11 (37.9%) received packed red blood cell transfusions. Conclusion Mobilization in patients with Crohn's disease is effective and it seems they are good mobilizers.


The field of topic spotting in conversational speech has been receiving growing attention in recent years. The goal of this field is to develop a system that can identify topics of interest among large volumes of speech data. In order to cope with practical considerations, researchers are concentrating on phoneme-based methods, which eliminate the need for topic specific data to be hand-transcribed. A number of different phoneme-based approaches have recently been proposed, of which the Euclidean nearest wrong neighbour (ENWN) system (Kuhn et al, 1997) has yielded the most promising experimental results. A phoneme-based topic spotter makes use of a phoneme recogniser to transcribe the speech data. The main problem of this approach is that the accuracy of such transcriptions is very poor. Typically, only between 40 and 50 percent of the phonemes are transcribed correctly. It is therefore important to compensate for the low quality of the transcriptions. However, existing techniques make no use of statistical modelling to compensate for transcription errors. In this research, a stochastic method for automatic recognition of topics (SMART) was developed to address the above mentioned problem. The resulting system is an extension of the existing ENWN algorithm. Comparative results indicate an improvement of SMART over ENWN characterized by a 26% reduction in ROC (receiver operating characteristic) error area. This difference was found to be statistically significant.


This Article examines application of the doctrine of relevance to exclude evidence of the motivations underlying the actions of civilly disobedient criminal defendants. While not constitutionally protected, civil disobedience plays an important role in the political, social and legal history of the United States. Though acts of civil disobedience involve violations of law, actions of protest differ from actions of non-protest crime in a number of important respects. Civilly disobedient protesters undertake their action openly, motivated by the desire to call public attention to an injustice. Their motivation is distinct from that of non-protester criminal defendants who seek to promote individual goals. Despite the importance of protester motivation in distinguishing the civilly disobedient defendant, courts routinely exclude evidence of protester motivations as not relevant in criminal proceedings. Applied broadly in many contexts, the doctrine of relevance is applied narrowly in the context of motivations of protesters. The constrained application utilized in protester trials overlooks evolving understandings of evidentiary relevance. The most important of these evolving concepts are narrative relevance and blameworthiness. Evidence of underlying motivation provides an essential piece of a cohesive narrative explaining a protester's actions and intentions. The evidence also permits a fact finder to conduct the evaluation of blameworthiness required for a determination of criminal culpability. Ultimately, the article concludes that courts should recognize the admissibility of protester motivation within criminal trials of civilly disobedient protesters.


Axial flow fans are usually characterized by blade sections with low solidity and high inlet flow angles. Two main approaches are followed in the preliminary design phase, to take into account blade interaction effects: the use of available airfoil cascades data (or related correlations) and that of isolated airfoil data together with interference coefficients. The working conditions of low solidity airfoil cascades with highly tangential inflow are not widely studied in literature, leaving the designer the possibility to rely on limited cascade data or often on the use of isolated airfoil data, with the assumption of negligible interference effects. A systematic investigation of the above working conditions for airfoil cascades is performed with RANS simulations. Three different airfoils are used to evaluate the influence of the design lift coefficient and maximum blade thickness. The results provide a better insight into the aerodynamic behaviour of airfoil sections in such operating conditions, showing that interactions cannot be neglected. The use of metamodeling coupled with CFD simulations is presented as a suitable tool for treating interference effects within the fan design process. The main findings of the present work can be used as a support for design choices as well as for developing design strategies both for the fan blades and for the airfoil sections.


P-log is a probabilistic logic programming language, which combines both logic programming style knowledge representation and probabilistic reasoning. In earlier papers various advantages of P-log have been discussed. In this paper we further elaborate on the KR prowess of P-log by showing that: (i) it can be used for causal and counterfactual reasoning and (ii) it provides an elaboration tolerant way for non-naive conditioning.


When health policy experts noticed that health outcomes for African Americans were consistently worse than those of their White counterparts, many in the health care community assumed that the poor outcomes could be blamed on poverty and lifestyle choices. Subsequent research told a different story. Studies repeatedly showed that neither money, nor marriage, nor educational achievement protect African American men, women, or children from poor health. Instead, the disparities were more likely explained by racism. Specifically, multiple studies have shown that experiencing racism has been linked to increased infant and maternal mortality rates, elevated stress levels, and an increased risk of numerous diseases, including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and breast cancer.

Mounting evidence makes it clear that health disparities cannot be eliminated simply by changes in diet or socioeconomic status; it requires eliminating racism and building a more just society. A just society starts with a just government, but racially-biased government policies and practices have existed since the founding of our country and have had—and continue to have—a direct and devastating impact on the health of African American individuals and communities. This Article traces the racially discriminatory laws and policies enacted or tolerated by state and federal governments in America from colonial times to the present—including slavery, Black Codes, convict leasing, lynching, segregation, and discriminatory policing—and links that racism to poorer health outcomes for African Americans. It concludes by discussing the need for criminal justice and social reforms to explicitly consider their impact on the health of the African American community.


The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the application of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at concentrations of 0, 30, 60, and 90 mg L, for 24 hours, on rooting of softwood and semihardwood cuttings of tea (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis 'Yabukita' and C. sinensis var. assamica 'IAC-259') collected in winter and summer. In the summer, IBA increased root percentage of softwood cuttings from 'Yabukita' compared with the control. However, the rooting of semihardwood cuttings was unaffected by this growth regulator. In winter, application of 90mg L IBA increased the rooting regardless of the type of 'Yabukita' cuttings. In addition, in 'IAC-259', there was an increase in dry weight, number of roots (NOR), and rooting percentage of softwood cuttings collected in summer with application of 90 mg L IBA compared with control. In contrast, during the same period of the year, the semihardwood cuttings of 'IAC-259' were unaffected by the IBA. Inwinter, the percentage of cutting survival, rooting, the number, and length of roots were unaffected by IBA in 'IAC-259'.Overall, wewould recommend the use of exogenous IBA for rooting of cuttings collected in the summer or winter.


Our article illuminates a particular way to think about the relational nature of public accountability and how that might guide further study of liberal democracies' treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Public accountability is in trouble in liberal democracies, conceptually and practically. Scholars in the field identify a lack of clarity surrounding the 'ever-expanding' idea of accountability—its meaning and want of deep conceptual roots; the separation of theorizing from lived practice. At the same time, we see in liberal democracies, particularly in cases regarding the treatment of non-citizens, disturbing attacks on traditional mechanisms of accountability. We focus on the crisis of public accountability manifest in Australia's treatment of asylum seekers in offshore detention. We suggest that the lack of clarity around the concept of public accountability—and the lack of an ethical understanding of the public's critical role in demanding it—informs what is occurring in countries like Australia.


This article follows the path taken by a Mumuye vertical mask collected in Zing, Eastern Nigeria, which entered the collection of two Parisian dealers, Ewa and Yves Develon during the 1980s. Unlike the vast majority of objects from Eastern Nigeria that arrived in Europe in the second half of the twentieth century, this mask happened to be precisely documented in Zing by the American art historian Arnold Rubin. In 1965 and 1970, Rubin photographed the mask several times and was able to record numerous pieces of information about its context of use and its sculptor, Lenke. Based on Rubin's field documentation kept at the UCLA Fowler Museum, Ewa and Yves Develon's personal archives and several interviews conducted with the owners, this detailed case study intends to reconstruct the trajectory of this object from Nigeria to France, through Cameroon. Its cultural biography provides an overview of the profound uhysical and symbolic metamorphoses of African artefacts following their circulation on the art market and their appropriation by Western collectors.


Background Wnt signaling controls the balance between stem cell proliferation and differentiation and body patterning throughout development. Previous data demonstrated that non-canonical Wnts (Wnt5a, Wnt11) increased cardiac gene expression of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) and bone marrow-derived stem cells cultured in vitro. Since previous studies suggested a contribution of the protein kinase C (PKC) family to the Wnt5a-induced signalling, we investigated which PKC isoforms are activated by non-canonical Wnt5a in human EPC. Methodology/Principal Findings Immunoblot experiments demonstrated that Wnt5a selectively activated the novel PKC isoform, PKC delta, as evidenced by phosphorylation and translocation. In contrast, the classical Ca2+-dependent PKC isoforms, PKC alpha and beta2, and one of the other novel PKC isoforms, PKC epsilon, were not activated by Wnt5a. The PKC delta inhibitor rottlerin significantly blocked co-culture-induced cardiac differentiation in vitro, whereas inhibitors directed against the classical Ca2+-dependent PKC isoforms or a PKC epsilon-inhibitory peptide did not block cardiac differentiation. In accordance, EPC derived from PKC delta heterozygous mice exhibited a significant reduction of Wnt5a-induced cardiac gene expression compared to wild type mice derived EPC. Conclusions/Significance These data indicate that Wnt5a enhances cardiac gene expressions of EPC via an activation of PKC delta.


The Caenorhabditis elegans dauer larva is specialized for dispersal without growth and is formed under conditions of overcrowding and limited food. The daf-7 gene, required for transducing environmental cues that support continuous development with plentiful food, encodes a transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily member. A daf-7 reporter construct is expressed in the ASI chemosensory neurons. Dauer-inducing pheromone inhibits daf-7 expression and promotes dauer formation, whereas food reactivates daf-7 expression and promotes recovery from the dauer state. When the food/pheromone ratio is high, the level of daf-7 mRNA peaks during the L1 larval stage, when commitment to non-dauer development is made.


Eliminating malaria from a defined region involves draining the endemic parasite reservoir and minimizing local malaria transmission around imported malaria infections. In the last phases of malaria elimination, as universal interventions reap diminishing marginal returns, national resources must become increasingly devoted to identifying where residual transmission is occurring. The needs for accurate measures of progress and practical advice about how to allocate scarce resources require new analytical methods to quantify fine-grained heterogeneity in malaria risk. Using routine national surveillance data from Swaziland (a sub-Saharan country on the verge of elimination), we estimated individual reproductive numbers. Fine-grained maps of reproductive numbers and local malaria importation rates were combined to show 'malariogenic potential', a first for malaria elimination. As countries approach elimination, these individual-based measures of transmission risk provide meaningful metrics for planning programmatic responses and prioritizing areas where interventions will contribute most to malaria elimination. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09520.001


Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder caused by inherited and/or acquired deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced by the target cells. Most conventional therapies for the management of type II diabetes include oral hypoglycemic drugs, exercise, diet and physical intervention therapies such as Acupuncture. Insulin is used in the management of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Insulin and oral hypoglycemic drugs are expensive and have numerous side effects. Through ages different communities have used medicinal herbs for diabetes mellitus management. Today herbal remedies are gaining popularity because the efficacy of conventional medicine is on the wane. This study was designed to bioscreen aqueous leaf extracts of Caesalpinia volkensii for its hypoglycemic potential. Its in vivo toxicity was also evaluated. Ethnobotanical and pharmacological information on the plant was gathered from the local traditional herbal practitioner. The three tested dose levels (50, 100, and 150mg/kg body weight) lowered blood glucose levels appreciably. Phytochemical screening results show that the aqueous extract has phytochemicals associated with antidiabetic activity. The analysis of trace metal composition of the aqueous extracts showed that it contained Manganese, Iron, Copper, Zinc, Magnesium, Molybdenum, Chromium and Vanadium, all of which aid in lowering blood glucose levels. Preliminary in vivo histopathological analysis established that the extracts had no toxic effects on the organs and tissues. The study has established that the aqueous leaf extracts of Caesalpinia volkensii are effective and safe for management of diabetes mellitus.


Identification of the proximal nutrient limiting primary production is a necessary first step toward evaluating the physiological state of phytoplankton communities and the biogeochemical constraints on the current oceanic carbon cycle. We conducted 48‐h nutrient addition bioassay experiments to evaluate nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron limitation of primary productivity, net chlorophyll synthesis, and net increase in cell numbers of the dominant picophytoplankton from the tropical North Atlantic. Our results indicate that N was the proximal limiting factor for primary production during the autumn of 2002, followed by P and then Fe. Net chlorophyll synthesis was significantly stimulated by addition of N alone and further stimulated by addition of P. Analysis of picophytoplankton populations by analytical flow cytometry revealed a more complex response. Cellular red fluorescence, an index of cell chlorophyll content, increased in Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus, and picoeukaryotes in response to addition of NH4NO3 but was not affected by single or combined additions of P and Fe. In contrast, cell abundance in these picophytoplankton populations increased only after combined N and P (63% of comparisons) or N and Fe (21% of comparisons) additions. Thus, our experiments revealed that chlorophyll synthesis and primary production were limited by the availability of nitrogen alone, while net increase in cell abundance was colimited by N and P or N and Fe in the majority of these picophytoplankton populations.


Norbert Freinkel's lecture "Of Pregnancy and Progeny" was published by the American Diabetes Association's journal Diabetes in December of 1980. In the lecture, Freinkel argued that pregnancy [2] changes the way that the female body breaks down and uses food. Through experiments that involved pregnant women as well as infants, Freinkel established the body's maternal metabolism and how it affects both the mother and the infant. Freinkel's main focus of research in the latter part of his life was diabetes, specifically in pregnant women. Diabetes occurs in around one to three percent of all pregnancies, which is 30,000 to 90,000 women a year in the US. Freinkel's article indicates that pregnancy [2] influences the metabolism in all pregnant females and that pregnancy [2] complicated by diabetes is only an exaggeration of what occurs in all pregnant women. Subsequently, many doctors more closely monitored pregnant women and their blood sugar and insulin levels, as doctors were informed that all pregnant women have the capacity to become diabetic.


A quick and reliable way to build proven databases for core business functions Industry experts raved about The Data Model Resource Book when it was first published in March 1997 because it provided a simple, cost-effective way to design databases for core business functions. Len Silverston has now revised and updated the hugely successful First Edition, while adding a companion volume to take care of more specific requirements of different businesses. Each volume is accompanied by a CD-ROM, which is sold separately. Each CD-ROM provides powerful design templates discussed in the books in a ready-to-use electronic format, allowing companies and individuals to develop the databases they need at a fraction of the cost and a third of the time it would take to build them from scratch. Updating the data models from the First Edition CD-ROM, this resource allows database developers to quickly load a core set of data models and customize them to support a wide range of business functions.


The aim of this paper is to assess the degree of relative convergence achieved by Albania in relation to the EU during the last decade through a descriptive empirical analysis. The paper is divided into three sections related to real and nominal convergence in the fields of economic performance; trade openness and balance; and monetary convergence, according to the Euro criteria established in the art. 140 (1) of the TFEU and the protocol No 13 (price stability, public finances, exchange rate, and long-term interest rates). In order to have a wide perspective about convergence-divergence trends inside and outside the EU, the tendencies followed by Germany and Greece are also mentioned, as paradigmatic cases of divergence within the EU. Finally, a summary table is presented reviewing each of the analysed variables regarding the last decade evolution and the current situation.


Our paper examines two critical members in the top management "subteam" – CEO and CFO – in firms' merger and acquisition (M&A) decision. We propose a concept of CEO-CFO relative optimism, measured by CEO's optimism relative to CFO's pessimism, to capture the subteam's collective cognitive schema in attentional focus and information processing, and study their conjoined influence on corporate decisions. We posit that firms with high CEO-CFO relative optimism will undertake more acquisitions than firms with low CEO-CFO relative optimism because optimistic CEOs are less attentive to risk associated with acquisitions in the absence of CFOs high in pessimism. In addition, the role of CEO-CFO relative optimism in affecting M&A intensity is more pronounced when CFOs are board members at focal firms and firms face a dynamic external environment, because CFO's opinions are more salient in these situations. Furthermore, acquisitions by firms with high CEO-CFO relative optimism will have a more negative influence on firm operating performance than those with low CEO-CFO relative optimism. Using a sample of U.S. public firms over the period of 2002-2013, we find empirical support for our arguments.


This study aimed to identify phenotypic and genotypic resistance profiles of bacteria isolated from soil and manure samples obtained from a farm where tetracycline and tylosin were used extensively. Samples were collected from the manure and soil, before and after manure application. All of the 151 bacteria were identified based on BLAST results. Minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by agar dilution and E-test methods. Class-specific primers were used to amplify 6 erythromycin and 7 tetracycline resistance (Tc r ) genes for 46 tetracycline- and 18 erythromycin-resistant isolates. Tc r gene sequence identity between different species of isolates was identified to investigate the dissemination of resistance genes. All of the 151 bacteria belonged to 4 different phyla: Proteobacteria , Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. The majority of the tetracycline-resistant isolates were present in Pseudomonadaceae . Twenty of the isolates, representing 14 different genera, were positive for Tc r genes. Only 2 isolates possessed the erm(Q) gene. This study probably is the first to describe the presence of tetracycline genes in members of the genera Simplicispira and Agrococcus. Results of the study suggest that the diversity of Tc r gene-carrying bacteria are increasing. Furthermore, tetracycline-resistant bacteria could be detected 3 months after the manure application.


CONTENTS Ι. General introduction 3 2. Notes on the climate, ecology and isolation of the coastal dune forest at Lake Sibaya, pertinent to its molluscan fauna 5 2a. Introduction 5 2b. Climate 7 2c. Description of the habitats 12 2d. Ecological observations on the Mollusca 13 2e. The origin and isolation of the dune forest environment...... 14 3. Systematic part 17 3a. Gastropoda Prosobranchia 18 3b. Gastropoda Pulmonata 19 3c. Zoogeographical conclusions 38 4. Summary 41 5. References 41 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION Lake Sibaya (sometimes misspelt Sibayi) is a freshwater lake on the subtropical coastal plain of Zululand, the northeastern part of the province of Natal, South Africa. Northern Zululand, usually called Tongaland, a fairly narrow stretch of country wedged between the Indian Ocean and the eastern border of Swaziland and bounded to the north by Mozambique, is particularly interesting from biogeographical and ecological points of view. The area harbours a rich terrestrial malacofauna, which has been partly discussed by Van Bruggen (1969), while some early data are also recorded in Connolly's monograph (1939).The junior author (Appleton) was privileged


A new university information system that provides electronic services for both university management and students was developed for iKnow project and implemented at Universities in Macedonia. It is an eStudent system enabling complete electronic functioning of a University, rendering paper documents obsolete. The system is web based and implements state of the art modular service oriented technologies. This paper presents the modules and functionalities, software and database architecture.


My aim in this thesis is to examine Louis Zukofsky's poetry in relation to his stated objectivist principles using those principles and Zukofsky's unpublished statements as a test for his theory and practice.

The first chapter introduces Zukofsky's poetic principles and examines the relationship between his work and Ezra Pound's Imagism. My aim here is to put the origins of Zukofsky's principles into an appropriate context, disputing the idea of the `objectivist' as a temporarily revivified Imagist.

Chapter II examines Zukofsky's earliest verse, both umpublished juvenilia and the few early poems retained for publication. These poems all predate the `objectivist' statements and a comparison is made between these poems which anticipate the poet's later technique and those which do not. The chapter culminates in a study of `Poem beginning `The'' as the first identifiably objectivist work.

Chapter III is concerned with Zukofsky as editor and critic since it was in this dual role that he first expressed his poetic theory. The principles of this theory are examined in detail here and the relationship between Zukofsky's poetry and criticism closely defined.

The fourth chapter examines Zukofsky's shorter poems in the light of the critical framework provided by the `objectivist principles'. Individual poems are closely examined to reveal the `mechanism' of `objectivist' poetry and to facilitate a reading of Zukofsky's long poem `A'.

Chapters V and VI are concerned with the two halves of `A'. Attention is given to the poem's detailed composition and to its overall structure and movement. This analysis is guided by the overriding question of the application of `objectivist princples' to a long rather than a short poem.

The final chapter reviews Zukofsky's sustained critical idiom in both poetry and prose criticism and concludes that this idiom provides a flexible but principled and consistent framework for his life's work.


The Smart4Health (S4H) software application will empower EU citizens to manage, analyze, and exchange their aggregated electronic health data. In order to provide such a service, basic features are needed to ensure usability, reliability, and trust. The CEF building blocks implement such functionalities while complying with EU regulations. This report examines the current status and applicability of the CEF building blocks for the envisioned S4H software application. The major findings of the report are that (1) most CEF building blocks are currently not ready to be applied without further implementation efforts and (2) the S4H-specific use cases and user needs, to which the single CEF building blocks correspond, must be clarified. Open questions raised in this report need to be answered before a clear analysis can be made. Moreover, the functionalities of CEF building blocks aim at the matured product, while for the first version of the S4H software application basic implementations suffice. Still, concepts need to be elaborated of how the sample implementation of CEF building blocks or suitable alternative applications can be included into the system at a later point.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder culminating in joint destruction with functional impairment & deformities. This disease is associated with poor nutritional status in relation to various nutrients due to not only because of increased requirements & reduction in their absorption but also due to disease modifying anti-rheumatoid drugs (DMARD's), Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAID's) & corticosteroids prescribed to alleviate symptoms of this disease. This results in associated side effects like gastrointestinal bleeding & bone loss (osteoporosis). Supplementation with long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) has constantly demonstrated an improvement in symptoms & reduction in dosages of NSAID's. Such a supplementation can be provided with the use of fish oils which have an anti-inflammatory potential. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) use has been found to augment the anti-oxidant defenses, so also the use of Vitamin E (tocopherol) which has got antiinflammatory action. Beneficial effects of Vitamin B6 (pyridoxal 5-phosphate) used in conjunction with folate & Vitamin B12 have been documented in those group of RA patients with high homocysteine metabolism, there by reducing the cardiovascular risk in these patients. In addition role of Selenium, Iron, Zinc, Calcium, and Vitamin D has


The anti-inflammatory action of annexin I, a secreted calcium- and phospholipid-binding protein, includes inhibiting neutrophil transmigration from the blood into tissue. Walther et al. report that annexin I acts through the formyl peptide receptor (FPR) on human neutrophils. In contrast, bacterial formyl peptides, the classical FPR ligands, are proinflammatory. When bound to the receptor, annexin I-derived peptides and formyl peptides elicit a similar elevation in intracellular calcium in a G-protein-dependent manner. Competition assays indicate that the two peptides likely bind to different regions of FPR. The authors propose that the two different ligands activate different receptor-initiated signaling cascades that result in opposing inflammatory responses. Walther, A., Riehemann, K., and Gerke, V. (2000) A novel ligand of the formyl peptide receptor: Annexin I regulates neutrophil extravasation by interacting with the FPR. Mol. Cell 5: 831-840. [Online Journal]


Greta Thunberg's prominence in the climate justice movement symbolically positions girls at the epicenter of geopolitical resistance, but, while she is given immediate authority across media outlets, other girls' visions of a more equitable future are often disregarded; this demands our careful attention. We discuss the work of five New York City-based girl activists of color engaged in this movement. We explore the ways in which their intersectional identities and social positions shape their mobilization strategies and draw connections to other popular social justice movements; their activist playbook reveals the transformative potential of intersectional feminist politics in the hands of Generation Z. These girl activists of color generate sophisticated, relational platforms for climate justice informed by the interconnected issues of racial and economic injustice.


The motor regions that control movements of the articulators activate during listening to speech and contribute to performance in demanding speech recognition and discrimination tasks. Whether the articulatory motor cortex modulates auditory processing of speech sounds is unknown. Here, we aimed to determine whether the articulatory motor cortex affects the auditory mechanisms underlying discrimination of speech sounds in the absence of demanding speech tasks. Using electroencephalography, we recorded responses to changes in sound sequences, while participants watched a silent video. We also disrupted the lip or the hand representation in left motor cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Disruption of the lip representation suppressed responses to changes in speech sounds, but not piano tones. In contrast, disruption of the hand representation had no effect on responses to changes in speech sounds. These findings show that disruptions within, but not outside, the articulatory motor cortex impair automatic auditory discrimination of speech sounds. The findings provide evidence for the importance of auditory-motor processes in efficient neural analysis of speech sounds.


In recent years, more and more heterogeneous processor cores are embedded into a single chip. To deploy such heterogeneous embedded systems in critical applications, e.g., aircraft control, battleship missile launches, nuclear plant safe operations, etc., an important research problem is how to maximize system reliability while satisfying the required time constraint. Therefore, a scheduling scheme is needed to exploit the heterogeneity of a system and satisfy both the reliability requirement and the given time constraint. In this paper, we study the heterogeneous reliability scheduling problem, i.e., given a heterogeneous system, a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) that models an application and a time constraint, find a schedule for the DAG so that the system reliability can be maximized and the time constraint can be met. To solve this problem, two heuristic algorithms, MCMS and PRMS, are proposed. The experimental results show that our algorithms can improve system reliability significantly. Among them, PRMS has the best performance and the improvement of reliability can be up to 30%.


Camilla Storskog This book aims to locate and draw out resonances of impressionism in Swedish and Finland-Swedish prose at the end of the nineteenth century, a field hitherto overlooked in the critical debate on literary impressionism. In order to frame the many alternative approaches to this issue, it examines the use of the term 'literary impressionism' not only on the Scandinavian scene but also in an international context. By focussing on three landmark discussions in the Nordic countries (Herman Bang, the Kristiania Bohème, August Strindberg), an inclusive, wide-ranging Scandinavian understanding of the relationship between impressionism and literature is advanced. The texts chosen for closer scrutiny disclose this extensive interpretation of impressionist writing: Helena Westermarck's short story Aftonstämning (Evening Mood) from 1890 is read as an example of interart transposition, Stella Kleve's novels and short stories are seen as indicative of the narrative modes of a literary impressionism drawing on scenic representation, but also present textual features such as the 'metonymic mode' and 'delayed decoding', elements that are central to the international approach to impressionist prose. The concluding analysis of fictional impressionists in the works of authors such as Gustaf af Geijerstam, Mathilda Roos, and Georg Nordensvan sketches a many-sided portrait of the impressionist painter while remaining true to this study's pluralistic approach by including a discussion of K.A. Tavaststjerna's Impressionisten (The Impressionist) from 1892, whose protagonist is not an artist but a hypersensitive, impressionable subject. This last section also investigates how fiction is used to convey a critical discussion of the means and methods of painterly impressionism, as well as the function of the use of the visual arts in these texts.


In this paper the results of an investigation of word order in Russian Sign Language (RSL) are presented. A small corpus (16 minutes) of narratives based on comic strips by 9 native signers was analyzed and a picture-description experiment (based on Volterra et al. 1984) was conducted with 6 native signers. The data reveal that the most frequent word order in RSL is SVO for plain and agreeing verbs and SOV for classifier predicates. Some factors can influence the word order, namely aspect marking on the verb (favours OV), semantic reversibility of the situation (favours SVO) and "heaviness" (manifested in the presence of modifiers) of the object (favours VO). One of the findings of the investigation is that locative situations are described differently in the narratives and in the experimental settings: in the latter but not in the former case the OSV order is quite common. This may result from two different strategies of creating locative sentences: syntactic vs. spatial strategy. Doubling of constituents is common in RSL discourse: verbal and nominal predicates, arguments, adverbs, adjectives, and even whole sentences can be repeated, the second occurrence of the constituent usually being more morphologically, prosodically or semantically marked.


The ultrasonic imaging aided minimally invasive surgery imposes a constraint for surgeons to have high precision in their hand eye coordination. A possible solution to reduce these requirements is robot aided minimally invasive surgery in which the instrument is guided by visual feedback towards the goal defined by the surgeon in the ultrasonic imaging. Minimally invasive surgery robot of five degrees freedom has been developed for assisting surgeons to realize high quality and precise operation in radio frequency ablation for patients with liver tumors. The minimally invasive surgery robot drives the ablator tool to track the tumor when the tumor moves in real time and precise orientate to the tumor. Through studying of the minimally invasive ablation surgical operation, we have determined the robot assist surgical operation system. The mechanism and the control system have been designed according to the requirements and the safety of the patients and the surgeons. The experiments results have shown that the determined parameters of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and the control system meet the requirements of the ablation surgical robot.


Introduction: Intimacy and the satisfaction with life are solid foundations of a family. This study aims at analyzing communication skills training through religion-based cognitive-behavioral approach on increasing intimacy and the satisfaction with life. Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental trial with pretest, posttest, follow-ups and control group. Our sample in this study consisted of 30 couples whose SD, according to the intimacy and satisfaction with life questionnaires, was less than mean value. Likewise, these couples were completely homogeneous in terms of age, socioeconomic status, duration of marriage and other variable followed by the author. The experimental group received ten training sessions of religion-based communication skills; however, control group did not any receive any intervention. Broucke and Vertommen's Marital Intimacy Questionnaire (MIQ) and Diener's satisfaction with Life Scale were used in this study. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16. Results: The results indicated that there is a significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of intimacy and the satisfaction with life (P<0.001). It means that the posttest scores of intimacy and satisfaction among couples' tests have been increased significantly in contrast to their scores in pretest and control group. Such results have been continued during two follow-up periods (P<0.001). Conclusion: Communication skills training through religion-based cognitive behavioral approach increases intimacy and the satisfaction with life among couples.


Abstract The pyralid moth Eldana saccharina Walker is an indigenous insect widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Studies have shown that populations from West Africa have distinct behavioural differences compared to populations from East and southern Africa. In addition, the parasitoid guilds attacking populations in these different regions are markedly different. This marked geographical variation evoked a hypothesis of genetic differentiation. To evaluate this hypothesis a molecular analysis was conducted on populations of E. saccharina from throughout much of the species' range, using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) region of the mitochondrial genome. A minimum spanning network and a maximum parsimony tree separated the 21 specimens into three distinct groups. Results revealed the presence of substantial genetic differentiation that is related to geographic variation.