Background: Worldwide, stroke is the second most common cause of mortality and third most common cause of disability. There are certain areas within the brain, that when affected by ischemia, do not present the way most providers are used to. Strokes in the posterior fossa area can present with a combination of symptoms known as acute vestibular syndrome (AVS). The HINTS exam is a bedside assessment which looks at oculomotor findings to detect stroke located in these areas. The HINTS exam has been shown to have a higher sensitivity and specificity than early imaging. However, this is not an exam that is being widely used throughout emergency departments (ED). Can the HINTS bedside exam improve detection of stroke in those patients presenting with AVS? Methods: An exhaustive search was conducted using Medline-OVID, CINAHL and Web of Science using the keywords: HINTS and stroke. Relevant articles were assessed for quality using GRADE. A search on the NIH clinical trials site reveals there are no trials currently registered relating to the use of the HINTS exam for diagnosing stroke. Results:A total of four articles were included in this systematic review. Three of these met the inclusion criteria while the fourth was included due to the relationship to the others. These were all prospective, crosssectional studies. The first enrolled 101 subjects and showed the HINTS bedside exam had a higher sensitivity and specificity than other general neurologic signs and initial MRI. The second study, with 190 enrolled participants, showed that the HINTS exam was superior to another stroke detection method (ABCD2) and early MRI as well. The third article, 190 enrolled participants, looked at the HINTS and HINTS "plus" exam in identifying small, Conclusion: The HINTS beside exam has been demonstrated to be an effective method in detecting stroke in those patients presenting with AVS to the emergency department. This is especially true in those with known stroke risk factors. There is a need for further research to demonstrate the same results in a larger sample size and to see whether the results are consistent when emergency department providers administer the tests instead of specialists.


Primary saccades are often followed by small secondary saccades, which are generally thought to reduce the distance between the saccade endpoint and target location. Accumulated evidence demonstrates that secondary saccades are subject to various influences, among which retinal feedback during postsaccadic fixation constitutes only one important signal. Recently, we reported that target eccentricity and an orientation bias influence the generation of secondary saccades. In the present study, we examine secondary saccades in the absence of postsaccadic visual feedback. Although extraretinal signals (e.g., efference copy) have received widespread attention in eye-movement studies, it is still unclear whether an extraretinal error signal contributes to the programming of secondary saccades. We have observed that secondary saccade latency and amplitude depend on primary saccade error despite the absence of postsaccadic visual feedback. Strong evidence for an extraretinal error signal influencing secondary saccade programming is given by the observation that secondary saccades are more likely to be oriented in a direction opposite to the primary saccade as primary saccade error shifts from target undershoot to overshoot. We further show how the functional relationship between primary saccade landing position and secondary saccade characteristics varies as a function of target eccentricity. We propose that initial target eccentricity and an extraretinal error signal codetermine the postsaccadic activity distribution in the saccadic motor map when no visual feedback is available.


Despite the ubiquitous use of Pavlovian fear conditioning as a model for fear learning, the highly predictable conditions used in the laboratory do not resemble real-world conditions, in which dangerous situations can lead to unpleasant outcomes in unpredictable ways. In the current experiments, we varied the timing of aversive events after predictive cues in rodents and discovered that temporal ambiguity of aversive events greatly enhances fear. During fear conditioning with unpredictably timed aversive events, pharmacological inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus or optogenetic silencing of cornu ammonis 1 cells during aversive negative prediction errors prevented this enhancement of fear without affecting fear learning for predictable events. Dorsal hippocampal inactivation also prevented ambiguity-related enhancement of fear during auditory fear conditioning under a partial-reinforcement schedule. These results reveal that information about the timing and occurrence of aversive events is rapidly acquired and that unexpectedly timed or omitted aversive events generate hippocampal signals to enhance fear learning.


Purpose: The aim of the article is to present and compare the results of actions taken for the education of students of economic faculties about social responsibility of business in Poland and Croatia. Design/Methodology/Approach: The following research methods will be used in the article: descriptive method and selected methods of descriptive statistics (analysis of the structure and interdependencies of variables). Findings: In spite of implementing programs regarding the concept of social responsibility of business at many universities specialising in economics, both in Poland and Croatia, the insufficient knowledge of the assumptions and importance of the idea of social responsibility in business is noticed. Practical Implications: The wider discussion on the idea of social responsibility of business was intensified by the crisis that began in 2008. It caused reflections on discrepancies between socio-economic practice and the theory of economics to be raised more often in the literature on the subject as well as in practice. As a result of these reflections and discussions, many economists indicate that one of the most beneficial solutions is the collective inclusion of enterprises and institutions in the idea of social responsibility of business. Originality/Value: Comparison of level of knowledge in term of CSR of Polish and Croatian students. Results can be compared with other countries.


The diseases are severely affected multibillion-dollar fruits industry by plant pathogens including fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Many of the diseases in fruits have similar signs and symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose the specific problem pathogen. Incorrect diagnosis leads to the delay of treatment and excessive use of post-harvest chemicals. Proper identification of damage, defects, diseases, and disorders is the first step in solving the issue and producing quality fruit. There are many methods for diagnosing pathogens on fruit. Traditional methods include symptoms, morphology, and microscopy identification. These have been followed by nucleic acid detection and onsite detection techniques. Many of these methods allow for rapid diagnosis, some even within the field without much expertise. There are several methods that have great potentials, such as high-throughput sequencing and remote sensing. The utilization of these techniques for disease diagnosis allows for faster and accurate disease diagnosis and a reduction in damage and cost of control. Understanding each of these techniques can allow researchers to select which method is best suited for their pathogen of interest. Almost 90% of fruit diseases are caused by fungi; however other groups cause damage, including bacteria, and viruses. Blue and gray mold caused by Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea, respectively are the most prominent postharvest diseases on pome fruit. Control of this devastating pathogen mainly relies on the use of fungicides but the development of resistance has become an important factor in limiting the efficacy and useful lifetime of fungicides. Thus, there is an


This chapter focuses on the relationship between learned or scholarly law and economic and political power. It begins by introducing Pierre Bourdieu's writings on the role of law and legal theories, which provide a general sociological framework, and then it draws on that approach to examine the role of learned law in the United States. The first part examines a key period in the genesis of the U.S. legal field and its hierarchies -- the outsourcing of the reproduction of lawyers and the compilation of legal knowledge to the law schools late in the nineteenth century. Law professors and their theories were quite marginal in the US legal field at that time. The second part examines the Legal Realist "coup" of the law professors against the dominance of the elite judges and corporate lawyers in the 1930s. The third part discusses similar challenges to the place of elite lawyers and judges in the 1960s from the left and more recently from the right. In each case, we show that legal academics and their theories are part of a larger story of adaptation and relegitimation of the enduring hierarchies of the U.S. legal field. A major theme, which these histories make clear, is the relatively weak autonomy of the field of learned law in the United States. Within this larger story, however, we point out the factors that created what looks in retrospect like a "golden age" of academic theory in the 1980s.


Using alternative data sources on income and poverty with a shorter time lag makes it possible to discern trends that can inform the policy debate. A strong decline in poverty rates was recorded since 2000. This has since been confirmed by General Household Survey data that showed that the proportion of households with children reporting that their children had gone hungry in the previous year had almost halved between 2002 and 2006. This policy success would not have been tracked using the less regular and more conventional data sources such as the Income and Expenditure Survey of 2000 (IES2000). One successful policy measure – the social grant system – can be clearly identified. Through the child support grants, much of the expansion of the grants system was targeted at children. In contrast, other areas of policy intervention, in particular social delivery in health and education, have been far less successful. This Working Paper is part of longer, ongoing research on poverty and social poverty in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University. It first appeared as a publication that attempted to make available some of these research results to a wider public in an accessible and non-technical format.


We study the economic implications of regional favoritism, a form of distributive politics that redistributes resources spatially within countries. We use a large sample of enterprise surveys spanning across many low and middle income countries, and utilize transitions of national political leaders for identification. We document strong evidence of regional favoritism among firms located in close vicinity to leader's birthplaces but not in other regions, nor in home regions before leader's rise to power. Firms in favored regions become substantially larger in sales and employment, and also produce more output per worker, pay higher wages and, more generally, have higher total factor productivity. Furthermore, evidence from several mechanisms suggests that leaders divert public resources into their home regions by generating higher demand for firms operating in non-tradable sectors. A simple structural model of resource misallocation that is calibrated to match our empirical estimates implies that favoritism generates aggregat eoutput loss of 0.5% annually.


The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of ammonization with different levels of urea and the use of soybean grains as a urease source, for the improving of the chemical composition of carnauba (Copernicia prunifera) agroindustrial residue (BC). The levels of urea were 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% in relation to the percentage of total dry matter of BC and the levels of toasted soybean grains were 0 and 20%. Evaluations were also made for forage intake and performance of confined sheep subjected to diets with increasing levels of replacement of Tifton 85 grass (Cynodon spp.) hay (FT) by BC: 100% FT, 25% BC plus 75% FT, 50% BC plus 50% FT, 75% BC plus 25% FT, and 100% BC. Thirty crossbred 80-day old weaned sheep with 17 kg initial average weight were used. Crude protein in the forage increased with the increasing doses of urea. Increases were also observed for neutral detergent fiber and cellulose contents and reductions were observed for roughage digestibility. The highest daily intake of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ethereal extract and neutral detergent fiber were observed in animals fed only FT. Animal performance decreased with increase of BC in the diet.


Background: Strattice (porcine derivative) and SurgiMend (bovine derivative) are the two most common acellular dermal matrices used in breast reconstruction in the United Kingdom. This retrospective study compared clinical outcomes in immediate implant-based breast reconstruction patients. Methods: The study, conducted across three hospitals, included all patients who underwent immediate implant-based breast reconstruction using Strattice and SurgiMend. The primary outcome measure was implant loss rate. Secondary outcome measures included acellular dermal matrix loss rate, seroma formation, and minor and major complication rates. Intergroup comparison was performed. Results: Eighty-two patients (Strattice, n = 45; SurgiMend, n = 37) underwent 97 immediate implant-based breast reconstructions (Strattice, n = 54; SurgiMend, n = 43). There were no differences between groups for age, comorbidities, specimen weight, or implant volume. Drains were used in all Strattice and 36 (84 percent) SurgiMend cases. The implant loss rate was higher for Strattice (n = 10, 20 percent) compared with SurgiMend (n = 3, 7 percent) but failed to reach statistical significance (chi-square test, p = 0.077). The acellular dermal matrix loss rate was significantly higher (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.014) in the Strattice group (n = 7, 14 percent), with no acellular dermal matrix loss with SurgiMend. The reoperation rate was also significantly higher (chi-square test, p = 0.002) in the Strattice group (n = 17, 33 percent, versus n = 3, 7 percent). The incidence of red breast was significantly higher (chi-square test, p = 0.022) in the SurgiMend group (n = 9, 21 percent, versus n = 3, 6 percent). Seroma, wound problems, and infection rates were similar. Conclusions: Clinical outcomes, including implant loss, acellular dermal matrix loss, and reoperation rates, are significantly better when using SurgiMend in immediate implant-based breast reconstruction compared with Strattice. An appropriately powered randomized trial is needed to provide further information. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.


We examined whether the frequent casual reports of people resembling their pets are accurate by having observers attempt to match dogs with their owners. We further explored whether any ability of observers to make such matches is due to people selecting dogs who resemble them, in which case the resemblance should be greater for predictable purebreds than for nonpurebreds, or is due to convergence, in which case the resemblance should grow with duration of ownership. Forty-five dogs and their owners were photographed separately, and judges were shown one owner, that owner's dog, and one other dog, with the task of picking out the true match. The results were consistent with a selection account: Observers were able to match only purebred dogs with their owners, and there was no relation between the ability to pair a person with his or her pet and the time they had cohabited. The ability to match people and pets did not seem to rely on any simple trait matching (e.g., size or hairiness). The results suggest that when people pick a pet, they seek one that, at some level, resembles them, and when they get a purebred, they get what they want.


The energy in waves which impinge on a porous structure, such as a rubble mound breakwater, is divided into reflected energy, transmitted energy, and the energy dissipated by turbulence within the structure. Numerous studies on various aspects of this problem have been made in the past, the most recent of which are those by Kondo (1970) and Sollitt and Cross (1972). The reader is referred to these latter papers for a literature review and the presentation of the theory of wave transmission through a porous media (also see the previous chapters by these same authors). In the studies by Sollitt and Cross (Chap. 103)> the porous media consisted of crushed stone; whereas, in the tests by Kondo (Chap. 104 ) the porous structure consisted of a lattice of circular cylinders. Experimental data which supplement the data obtained in the tests of Kondo, Sollitt and Cross where made at the University of California on a series of three structures constructed of closely packed uniform spheres. Each structure was installed in turn in a wave channel and subjected to wave action with the wave height being measured both seaward and leeward by resistance-type wave gages. The experimental procedure and results are summarized as follows.


The review discussed in this paper provides a unique synthesis of evidence and knowledge about carers. The authors adopted a scoping review methodology drawing on a wide range of material from many different sources published between 2000-16. It offers key insights into what we know and how we know it; reinforces and expands evidence about carers' profile; shows knowledge is uneven e.g. much is known about working carers, young carers, and carers of people with dementia but far less i about older carers or caring for someone with multiple needs. A striking feature of much research is a focus on caring as a set of tasks, rather than a dimension of an, often dyadic, relationship. Whilst there is substantive evidence about the negative impact of caring, the review suggests that links between caring and carer outcomes are neither linear nor inevitable and vary in depth and nature. A reliance on cross-sectional studies using standardised measures is a major weakness of existing research: this approach fails to capture the multi-dimensionality of the caring role, and the lived experience of the carer. Although research relating to formal support suggests that specific interventions for particular groups of carers may be effective, overall the evidence base is weak. There is a tension between cost effectiveness and what is valued by carers. Developing robust evaluative models that accommodate this tension, and take account of the dyadic context of caring is a critical challenge. A fundamental deficit of carer related research is its location in one of two, largely separate, paradigmatic frameworks: the 'Gatherers and Evaluators' and the 'Conceptualisers and Theorisers'. The authors suggest that developing an integrated paradigm, that draws on the strengths and methods of existing paradigms, has considerable potential to generate new knowledge and new evidence and extend understanding of care and caring.


The goal of this Essay is to situate transjudicial communications and the backlash against foreign legal citations into a conversation about race and racism. The goal is not to try to prove that opposition to foreign law is racist. That claim is better left for future research. Rather, at a minimum, the resistance to foreign and international law has correlations to racism and is grounded in a racial narrative.In discussing racism and transjudicial communications, this Essay begins with a working definition of the contested conceptualization of globalization because transjudicial communications are a specific example of globalization. Second, I provide a brief overview of transjudicial communications in the United States and discuss how resistance to this process is linked to oppression and racism. Finally, I argue how racially-rooted resistance to foreign legal citation inhibits the possibilities for U.S. Supreme Court Justices to learn about race in the context of race-conscious university admissions. I use the example of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil's landmark affirmative action decision issued in April 2012 as an example of a missed opportunity for the U.S. Supreme Court to learn about race and the crafting of appropriate race-conscious remedies.


Summary form only given. This paper presents a fuzzy distribution power flow (FDPF) for weakly meshed balanced and unbalanced distribution system. Most of the earlier work in this area is for radial distribution systems. In the proposed method a matrix similar to Jacobian inverse is directly evaluated, in an efficient manner. The method can handle simultaneous presence of several uncertainties in input variables such as network parameters, load model coefficients, load forecast and bus shunts. Results have been obtained for two test systems to assess the utility of the proposed method.


With COVID-19 officially declared a global pandemic and changing the social, economic, and political dynamics worldwide, countries are taking different measures to tackle its spread to save lives, which now comes as the number one priority. Different countries are in lockdown with travel restricted and quarantine, self-isolation, and social distancing measures in place. Other than key workers who are allowed to travel for work, people are stuck at home for extended periods of time with access to only their immediate family. Much as these measures have been beneficial in flattening the curve and therefore proved effective in tackling the spread of COVID-19, however, they have, been associated with an increase in the reported cases of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) across the world, and this poses another public health challenge. With African countries already registering some of the highest global prevalence rates of IPV, it is essential to explore the impact of the COVID-19 measures will have on IPV in Africa.


The interaction of metals and biological materials is of interest for reasons such as metal recovery, toxicity and production of high-value products such as gold and platinum nanoparticles. Understanding the way in which metals interact with the biomass surface and intracellular components provides insights into the biosorption and bioaccumulation processes and increases the potential for process optimisation. Three technologies are available for the qualitative visualisation of metal–biomass interactions in South Africa, namely, micro-PIXE, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive analysis of X-rays. Each technique provides unique information and has specific shortcomings which should be taken into account when selecting the appropriate technology. This paper focuses on evaluating the various techniques.


We study the steady-state behavior of active, dipolar, Brownian spheroids in a planar channel subjected to an imposed Couette flow and an external transverse field, applied in the "downward" normal-to-flow direction. The field-induced torque on active spheroids (swimmers) is taken to be of magnetic form by assuming that they have a permanent magnetic dipole moment, pointing along their self-propulsion (swim) direction. Using a continuum approach, we show that a host of behaviors emerges over the parameter space spanned by the particle aspect ratio, self-propulsion and shear/field strengths, and the channel width. The cross-stream migration of the model swimmers is shown to involve a regime of linear response (quantified by a linear-response factor) in weak fields. For prolate swimmers, the weak-field behavior crosses over to a regime of full swimmer migration to the bottom half of the channel in strong fields. For oblate swimmers, a counterintuitive regime of reverse migration arises in intermediate fields, where a macroscopic fraction of swimmers reorient and swim to the top channel half at an acute "upward" angle relative to the field axis. The diverse behaviors reported here are analyzed based on the shear-induced population splitting (bimodality) of the swim orientation, giving two distinct, oppositely polarized, swimmer subpopulations (albeit very differently for prolate/oblate swimmers) in each channel half. In strong fields, swimmers of both types exhibit net upstream currents relative to the laboratory frame. The onsets of full migration and net upstream current depend on the aspect ratio, enabling efficient particle separation strategies in microfluidic setups.


Recent advances in optimization and machine learning methods, it is now conceivable that the design of an individual treatment plan can be made with little, if any, human intervention. Adding autosegmentation processes to automated planning will result in dramatic increase in the efficiency and consistency of individual plans. Once the anatomic information, through imaging, is acquired for planning purposes, the majority of the steps required for the generation of the optimal plan could be automated. Such efforts are already being pursued at many institutions. However, since treatment plan design is one of the most important steps affecting the quality of a delivered treatment, human intervention, or at least supervision, will be crucial for the gradual development of confidence in these automated processes. In this talk, I will provide my insights on the aspects of automated treatment planning that would be addressed for this practice to become an integral part of the future practice of radiation therapy. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the concerns related to the implementation and practice of automated treatment planning from a clinician's perspective. 2. Understand the impact of automated treatment planning on improving quality and consistence of radiation therapy from a clinician's perspective.


Applications of spatial probit regression models that have appeared in the literature have incorrectly interpreted estimates from these models. Spatially dependent choices frequently arise in various modeling scenarios, including situations involving analysis of regional voting behavior, decisions by states or cities to change tax rates relative to neighboring jurisdictions, decisions by households to move or stay in a particular location. We use county-level voting results from the 2004 presidential election as an illustrative example of some issues that arise when drawing inferences from spatial probit model estimates. Although the voting example holds particular intuitive appeal that allows us to focus on interpretive issues, there are numerous other situations where these same considerations come into play. Past work regarding Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo estimation of spatial probit models from LeSage and Pace (Introduction to spatial econometrics. Taylor and Francis, New York, 2009) is used, as well as derivations from LeSage et al. (J R Stat Soc Ser A Stat Soc 174(4):1007–1027, 2011) regarding proper interpretation of the partial derivative impacts from changes in the explanatory variables on the probability of voting for a candidate. As in the case of conventional probit models, the effects arising from changes in the explanatory variables depend in a nonlinear way on the levels of these variables. In non-spatial probit regressions, a common way to explore the nonlinearity in this relationship is to calculate "marginal effects" estimates using particular values of the explanatory variables (e.g., mean values or quintile intervals). The motivation for this practice is consideration of how the impact of changing explanatory variable values varies across the range of values encompassed by the sample data. Given the nonlinear nature of the normal cumulative density function transform on which the (non-spatial) probit model relies, we know that changes in explanatory variable values near the mean may have a very different impact on decision probabilities than changes in very low or high values. For spatial probit regression models, the effects or impacts from changes in the explanatory variables are more highly nonlinear. In addition, since spatial models rely on observations that each represent a location or region located on a map, the levels of the explanatory variables can be viewed as varying over space. We discuss important implications of this for proper interpretation of spatial probit regression models in the context of our election application.


The laser Doppler interferometer reported here was
developed to investigate the possibilities of remote
vibration and motion measurements. The method is noncontacting and operates with unprepared targets, using the diffusely scattered light to measure the axial component of the motion. A full description of the motion requires both magnitude and direction of the target motion. The magnitude was found by standard heterodyning techniques, mixing light scattered from the target with a part of the original laser output in a controlled manner. A phase quadrature method was used to identify the direction of the target. This differs from the more usual method of frequency offsetting in requiring only passive optical components and therefore being considerably cheaper. This feature is believed to be novel to the LDI reported here.
Measurements were recorded for target motions over the
range 100 mm. to (c. ) 1 um. Because unprepared and
therefore optically rough targets were used the light
received by the detectors was not well behaved. This
resulted in instability of the sense of motion signal due
to loss of either of the detector signals for displacements
above 500 um. However this should not be considered an
upper limit to the range of the LDI, as serious loss of the
sense signal was rare up to (c. ) 25 mm. and measurements
were made up to a peak displacement of 200 mm. Correlations with an accelerometer and an LVDT show that the LDI can reliably measure displacement up to a range of 25 mm. with a maximum target velocity of 32 mm/s limited currently be the signal processing. Theoretical resolution with this device is better than 0.08 um. if full use is made of both detected signals.


This article addresses not only offshore detainees at Guantánamo and elsewhere, but also the two Americans and one Qatari held in the United States as enemy combatants. It focuses on the critical issues in U.S. litigation - extraterritoriality and deference - yet also examines the scope of detention and the propriety of proposed special tribunals. After demonstrating that in the wake of September 11, 2001, no U.S. constitutional precedent governed these issues, the article then looks to norms drawn from international humanitarian and human rights law to aid decision. The Supreme Court increasingly consults such external norms as persuasive authority; most recently, it found support in a European human rights judgment for its conclusion in Lawrence v. Texas that the Constitution forbids criminal punishment of homosexual conduct. This article likewise considers the constitutionality of governmental policy in light of external norms. It thus concludes: first, that U.S. courts have jurisdiction to scrutinize extraterritorial detention; second, that the doctrine of executive deference must yield to judicial duty to protect individual rights; and finally, that alleged conditions of detention and interrogation, as well as the proposal for trial before special tribunals, may violate core guarantees of the U.S. Constitution.


Invasion of skin by schistosome cercariae is facilitated by a serine protease secreted from the acetabular cells of cercariae in response to skin lipid. Specific inhibitors of the protease, when applied to human skin in formulations designed to retain the inhibitor on and in the upper stratum corneum layers, block cercarial invasion of human skin. Both peptide-based, irreversible inhibitors and non-peptide, reversible inhibitors block cercarial invasion when applied in a propylene glycol:isopropyl alcohol (3:1) formulation in vitro. Arrest of cercarial invasion could be achieved even after immersion of treated skin in water for 2 hr. Peptide-based irreversible inhibitors in the presence of three different Topicare Delivery Compounds optimized arrest of cercarial invasion. The three Topicare Delivery Compounds applied alone prevented 80-100% of cercarial invasion. With inclusion of the inhibitor, there was 97-100% inhibition in vitro. The optimal formulation with inhibitor was then applied to the tails of BALB/c mice, and the mice were exposed to 120 cercariae by tail immersion. With the carrier lotion alone, there was a 50% reduction in worm burden and a 70% reduction in egg burden. When inhibitor was included, an 80% reduction in worm burden and a 92% reduction in egg burden was observed.


Lifelong therapy with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) or surgical adrenalectomy are the recommended treatments for primary aldosteronism (PA). Whether these treatments mitigate the risk for kidney disease remains unknown. We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with PA treated with MRAs (N=400) or surgical adrenalectomy (N=120) and age- and estimated glomerular filtration rate–matched patients with essential hypertension (N=15 474) to determine risk for chronic kidney disease and longitudinal estimated glomerular filtration rate decline. Despite similar blood pressures, patients with PA treated with MRAs had a higher risk for incident chronic kidney disease compared with essential hypertension patients (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.33–1.99). Correspondingly, the adjusted annual decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate was greater in PA patients treated with MRAs compared with essential hypertension patients (−1.6; 95% confidence interval, −1.4 to −1.8 versus −0.9; 95% confidence interval, −0.9 to −1.0 mL/min per 1.73 m2/y; P<0.001). In contrast, patients with unilateral PA treated with surgical adrenalectomy had no significant difference in risk for incident chronic kidney disease or in an annual decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate compared with essential hypertension patients. Among PA patients with diabetes mellitus treated with MRAs, there was a higher risk for incident albuminuria compared with essential hypertension (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.28–4.96). MRA therapy in PA is associated with higher risk for developing chronic kidney disease when compared with essential hypertension, and surgical adrenalectomy may mitigate this risk. When possible, curative surgical adrenalectomy may be superior to lifelong MRA therapy in preventing kidney disease in PA.


Dear Editor, Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a leading cause of cancerrelated deaths, globally. Every year, about 55000 new cases and 300000 deaths of HNC, are reported globally1. Similarly, the burden of HNC in Nigeria is also enormous, being a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among Nigerians2. In order to combat the enormous burden of HNC in Nigeria, through primary prevention of the disease, an intervention programme named 'Campaign for Head and Neck Cancer Education (CHANCE) Programme' was established in 2016 by a group of dentists in Nigeria3. Through this programme, multiple research projects and piloted public health education programmes on HNC have been conducted4-9. The primary rationales for launching the CHANCE Programme were to address: 1) the high prevalence rates of the HNC major risk factors (oral sex, tobacco use, and alcohol drinking) among Nigerian youth7; 2) the huge burden of HNC disease in Nigeria2; and 3) the dearth of scientific literature on public health aspects of HNC disease in Nigeria. So far, the CHANCE Programme has been run for 3 years and some months, and some specific lessons of public health relevance have been learnt from the programme1,4-10. We were able to identify that: 1) many Nigerians are not aware of HNC disease4-8; 2) many Nigerians that claimed to be aware of HNC disease actually lacked adequate knowledge about its risk factors, symptoms, and treatment4-7; 3) many Nigerians are willing to know more about HNC disease4,5,7; 4) school-based HNC programmes are well accepted by youth in the school communities5,7; 5) Nigerian in-school youth are willing to voluntarily play the role of HNC prevention advocates by teaching others about HNC5,7; and 6) schoolbased HNC education programmes can be implemented at minimal financial cost through planned involvement of inschool adolescents as HNC prevention advocates5,7. The above factors are good social indicators showing that many Nigerian school communities are willing to get engaged in HNC prevention programmes; and through this engagement, much can be achieved in regard to HNC prevention in Nigeria. Based on the above, it is highly recommended that the Nigeria government at all levels (federal, state, and local) should formulate and implement policies that will drive the establishment of oral health promotion programmes in Nigeria secondary schools. Through these, massive schoolbased HNC education interventions can be successfully implemented.

http://www.populationmedicine.eu/pdf-122454-64030?filename=Towards head and neck.pdf


Conservation: Linking Ecology, Economics and Culture MONIQUE BORGERHOFF MULDER AND PETER COPPOLILLO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON, 2005 xvii + 347 PP. $79.50 HARDCOVER, $39.50 PAPERBACK This is an ambitious book. Its bold tide alone portends much material, and the heated debates it has to summarize make its work difficult. The unproductive split between strong conservation activists and the human rights lobby has made interdisciplinary approaches to conservation hard. Indeed the authors contend that "even writers who sincerely strive for balance end up stacking the deck one way or the other" (p. xiv). Their goal, therefore, is to provide a uniquely even-handed account of the main debates in the conservation of natural resources, which will make interdisciplinary learning and clear debate possible. The result is, in many ways, a treat. It is wonderfully written. The prose is clear and well structured; complex concepts or complicated histories are fully comprehensible. It is also calm and reasoned, ably tackling most fraught debates with a good blend of common sense and unarguable logic. It is also incredibly rich, by far the best available for diversity of case material. The text is well illustrated with detailed boxes, good pictures and clear, legible figures and tables. The book comprises eleven chapters. The first three introduce the arguments examined, histories of conservation, and examine changes in ecological thinking behind changing conservation thinking. The bulk of the text is devoted to six substantive chapters on burning issues in conservation debates-the role of self-interest, indigenous peoples, collective action and local use in conservation, as well as insights from political ecology and the influence of international policies and economic approaches. The final two chapters examine diverse solutions, both common and innovative, to conservation dilemmas. The quality of discussion is almost universally strong. Frequently the authors' achievement in these pages is to refocus attention away from unproductive contentions to much more interesting, and more productive, questions. The high point is the chapter on self-interest, which examines conservation behavior from an evolutionary perspective. For anyone interested in evolutionary anthropology, this is a must. Other strong points are the discussion on collective action, ecological theory and the final examination of different attempts to address conservation problems. The authors repeatedly go right to the cutting edge, particularly with respect to ecological issues. They rightly observe that evaluations of communitybased conservation have not really monitored their ecological outcomes, and that the crucial ecological comparisons between traditional parks and new conservation measures (pp. 50 and 240) on the impacts of hunting (p. 95) and collective action (p. 129) have yet to be undertaken. Yet there are weaknesses. Despite the centrality of protected areas to this book (p. xv), its data on protected area establishment are seriously dated; the substantial recent revisions to the World Database on Protected Areas are absent (http://sea. unep-wcmc.org). More seriously, given its intended scope and even-handedness, there are some surprising omissions. There is no mention of the role of ideology and myth in shaping conservation policy; Cronon (1995), Adams and McShane (1992), and Brockington (2002) are not in the references. It does not engage with recent disagreements about poverty and conservation, and, astonishingly, there is no mention of the controversies surrounding the role of international conservation organizations or the problem of accountability in non-governmental organizations (Jepson 2004). This is part of a wider silence on the role of civil society in affecting the social changes upon which conservation depends. …


AIMS
The aim of this study was to describe a study protocol that evaluates the effectiveness of the 'Home-but not Alone' educational programme delivered via a mobile health application in improving parenting outcomes.

BACKGROUND
The development in mobile-based technology gives us the opportunity to develop an accessible educational programme that can be potentially beneficial to new parents. However, there is a scarcity of theory-based educational programmes that have incorporated technology such as a mobile health application in the early postpartum period.

DESIGN
A randomized controlled trial with a two-group pre-test and post-test design.

METHODS
The data will be collected from 118 couples. Eligible parents will be randomly allocated to either a control group (receiving routine care) or an intervention group (routine care plus access to the 'Home-but not Alone' mobile health application. Outcome measures comprise of parenting self-efficacy, social support, parenting satisfaction and postnatal depression. Data will be collected at the baseline (on the day of discharge) and at four weeks postpartum.

DISCUSSION
This will be an empirical study that evaluates a theory-based educational programme delivered via an innovative mobile health application on parental outcomes. Results from this study will enhance parenting self-efficacy, social support and parenting satisfaction, which may then reduce parental risks of postnatal depression.


This thesis examines the concept of 'Islamophobia' using statistical data from available large-scale social surveys. The primary aim of the presented research is to determine the extent to which available statistical data support or challenge assertions and conclusions concerning 'Islamophobia' found within recent scholarly and policy literature. It uses five large social survey datasets containing data collected and made available between 2006 and 2011. In total, these data relate to the reported attitudes and experiences of over 15,000 Muslim respondents in respect of crime victimization, discrimination and attitudes towards British society and the British state, and the reported attitudes of over 300,000 non-Muslim respondents towards Muslims and Islam. The central contention of this thesis is that available statistics challenge the scholarly literature in that they suggest a more nuanced and complex picture of Muslim victimization and discrimination than the one offered by the various conceptualizations of 'Islamophobia' within the literature. Although there is an expansive and expanding body of published research concerning British Muslim communities, 'Islamophobia', anti-Muslim discrimination and anti-Islamic sentiment, recent studies have been dominated largely by political, rhetorical or polemical writing, and by qualitative research designs that have used only small samples. This study of nationally representative survey data aims to make a contribution towards criminology and the social sciences by offering a large-scale quantitative study of 'Islamophobia' and British Muslim communities and the foundation of an evidence base for future research in this area.


Influence of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) on cloud formation is suggested to be an important part of the mechanism of solar activity influence on weather and climate. A high positive correlation between low cloud amount and GCR fluxes was observed in the 1980s–1990s; however, in the early 2000s, it was violated. In this work, we consider a nature of long-term correlation links between cloud cover at middle latitudes and GCRs, as well as possible reasons for this correlation reversal. It was shown that the GCR-cloud links observed on the decadal time scale are indirect and caused by GCR effects on cyclonic activity which depend on epochs of the large-scale atmospheric circulation. The reversal of GCR-cloud correlation in the 2000s seems to be due to a sharp weakening of the Arctic and Antarctic stratospheric polar vortices, which results in the change of the troposphere-stratosphere coupling and, then, of GCR contribution to the development of extratropical cyclogenesis.


In this paper we explore how machine learning techniques can be applied to the discovery of efficient mathematical identities. We introduce an attribute grammar framework for representing symbolic expressions. Given a grammar of math operators, we build trees that combine them in different ways, looking for compositions that are analytically equivalent to a target expression but of lower computational complexity. However, as the space of trees grows exponentially with the complexity of the target expression, brute force search is impractical for all but the simplest of expressions. Consequently, we introduce two novel learning approaches that are able to learn from simpler expressions to guide the tree search. The first of these is a simple n-gram model, the other being a recursive neural-network. We show how these approaches enable us to derive complex identities, beyond reach of brute-force search, or human derivation.


Optical path-length fluctuations across a plume of heated air are investigated by various interferometric techniques. Real-time data processing yields spatial and temporal structure functions as well as histograms of optical phase differences. Histograms obtained over a large range of beam separations and beam heights above the heater show an excellent agreement with the class of one-dimensional K distributions. The dependence of the distribution parameters on the probe-beam separation agrees well with a simple empirical model based on four parameters: mean number and mean strength of turbulent eddies and inner and outer eddy scales. The model permits a correct prediction of the averaged intensity in the far field of the screen. Some characteristics of higher-intensity moments can be reproduced by a facet model based on K-distributed phase gradients.


The recent decades have experienced changes in the characteristics of the El Nino phenomenon, with in particular an increased occurrence of so-called Modoki or Central Pacific El Ninos. Here the 2002/2003 El Nino, characterized as a Central Pacific El Nino, is studied from an Ocean General Circulation Model simulation. The focus is on the sequence of equatorial waves and their impact on zonal and vertical advection. The wave amplitude according to the most energetic baroclinic modes are first estimated, which allows inferring the sequence of the intraseasonal equatorial Kelvin (IKW) and Rossby (IRW) waves. It is shown that energetic downwelling IKWs, forced in the western-central Pacific, crossed the equatorial Pacific. Reflections of IKWs into IRWs onto the zonally varying thermocline and eastern boundary are also observed. A simplified heat budget of the surface layer is then carried out to infer the dominant processes at work during the evolution of this event focusing on the wave-induced advection terms. The results indicate that the warming phase (April-November 2002) is mainly controlled by zonal advection of mean temperature (accounted for by IKWs and locally wind-driven current) and by vertical advection in the eastern Pacific. The cooling phase (December 2002 to April 2003) is dominated by a reduction in solar radiation and the IRW-induced zonal advection of mean temperature respectively in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. The recharge-discharge process is also showed to be at work with the recharge (discharge) process operating mainly through the second (first) baroclinic mode.


The purpose of the study was to investigate the Impact of working capital management on profitability. The study employed a quantitative research design, which was useful in establishing the relationship of working capital management on profitability. A sample of 60 employees was taken and the financial statement for the period years, 2010 up to 2015 was used. However, a total of 45 responses were received. The study relied on both primary data, collected through a questionnaire, and secondary data collected from annual financial reports and financial statements of TPCC. The working capital management components used for the purpose of this study was, Accounts Payable Period (APP), Inventory Conversion Period (ICP) and Average Collection Period (ACP). Return on Assets was used as the alternate for profitability of the firm. The key findings from the study are; Firstly, there exists a significant negative relationship between average collection period and profitability indicating that an increase in the number of days affects the profitability of the firm; secondly, there exists a negative relationship between inventory holding period with profitability and negative relationship between accounts payable period and profitability. Also there exists a positive relationship between cash conversion cycle and profitability of the firm. Which indicates that as the cash conversion cycle increase it leads to an decrease in profitability of the firm. The study therefore recommends that managers of Tanzania Portland Cement Company Limited should manage their working capital in more efficient ways for reducing number of days inventory are held to an optimal level in order to improve their profitability of the firm. Managers of TPCC should also improve on their cash flow, through the reduction of their cash conversion cycle.


Background. Asthma is a heterogeneous condition characterised by chronic inflammation and variable expiratory airflow limitation, as well as airway reversibility. The diagnosis of asthma in young children is limited by the inability to perform objective lung function testing in this group of patients and the wide variety of conditions that can phenotypically present with asthma-like symptoms. Objectives. To provide an evidence-based approach for clinicians to accurately diagnose asthma in young children and to assess the level of control to guide therapeutic decisions. Methods. The South African Childhood Asthma Working Group (SACAWG) convened in January 2017 with task groups, each headed by a section leader, constituting the editorial committee on assessment of asthma epidemiology, diagnosis, control, treatments, novel treatments and self-management plans. The asthma diagnosis and control task groups reviewed the available scientific literature and assigned evidence according to the Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system, providing recommendations based on current evidence. Conclusions. Asthma in young children should only be diagnosed if all other causes of wheezing have been considered and excluded, and if there is a response to a therapeutic trial and worsening with withdrawal of asthma medication. Asthma control should be assessed at each visit to guide therapeutic decisions.


Seismic risk evaluation of coupled systems of industrial plants often needs the implementation of complex finite element models to consider their multicomponent nature. These models typically rely on significant computational resources. Moreover, the relationships between seismic action, system response and relevant damage levels are often characterized by a high level of nonlinearity, thus requiring a solid background of experimental data. Furthermore, fragility analyses depend on the adoption of a significant number of seismic waveforms generally not available when the analysis is site-specific. To propose a methodology able to manage these issues, we present a possible approach for a seismic reliability analysis of a coupled tank-piping system. The novelty of this approach lies in the adoption of artificial accelerograms, FE models and experimental hybrid simulations to evaluate a surrogate meta-model of our system. First, to obtain the necessary input for a stochastic ground motion model able to generate synthetic ground motions, a disaggregation analysis of the seismic hazard is performed. Hereafter, we reduce the space of parameters of the stochastic ground motion model by means of a global sensitivity analysis upon the seismic response of our system. Hence, we generate a large set of synthetic ground motions and select, among them, a few signals for experimental hybrid simulations. In detail, the hybrid simulator is composed by a numerical substructure to predict the sliding response of a steel tank, and a physical substructure made of a realistic piping network. Furthermore, we use these experimental results to calibrate a refined ANSYS FEM. More precisely, we focus on tensile hoop strains in elbow pipes as a leading cause for leakage, monitoring them with strain gauges. Thus, we present the procedure to evaluate a numerical Kriging meta-model of the coupled system based on both experimental and finite element model results. This model will be adopted in a future development to carry out a seismic fragility analysis.


In May 1914, workers walked off their jobs at Atlanta's Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, launching a lengthy strike that was at the heart of the American Federation of Labor's first major attempt to organize southern workers in over a decade. In its celebrity, the Fulton Mills strike was the regional contemporary of the well-known industrial conflicts in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Ludlow, Colorado. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the strike was an important episode in the development of the New South, and as Clifford Kuhn demonstrates, its story sheds light on the industrialization, urbanization, and modernization of the region. Drawing on an extraordinary collection of sources - including reports from labor spies and company informants, photographs, federal investigations, oral histories, and newly uncovered records from the old mill's vaults - Kuhn vividly depicts the strike and the community in which it occurred. He also chronicles the struggle for public opinion that ensued between management, workers, union leaders, and other interested parties. Finally, Kuhn reflects on the legacy of the strike in southern history, exploring its complex ties to the evolving New South.


The legal profession is facing a convergence of forces, most notably significant advances in the capabilities of technology, economic pressures challenging existing business models and globalisation, that herald momentous change to the practice of law. In Australia the lead in seeking to understand these developments and formulate responses has been taken by the Law Society of New South Wales and its report on the Future of Law and Innovation in the Profession (FLIP). The Law Society conducted a commission of inquiry which culminated in the recognition of skills or areas of knowledge that were identified as essential for the successful future practice of law. In short, this involves two main inter-related streams of knowledge: first, the ability to understand and employ technology, and second a collection of skills that result in a "practice-ready" graduate, namely: • Practice Skills (both interpersonal skills and professional skills) • Business Skills • Project Management • Internationalisation and Cross-Border Practice of Law • Inter-disciplinary experience • Resilience While technology is in many ways the 'headline act' there are also a range of other skills that are required because of the changes technology is facilitating and the need for lawyers to focus on what is central to their role or truly provides value to the client. This article discusses and elaborates on the findings of the FLIP inquiry in relation to legal education.


Cross-validation is the most common data-driven procedure for choosing smoothing parameters in nonparametric regression. For the case of kernel estimators with iid or strong mixing data, it is well-known that the bandwidth chosen by crossvalidation is optimal with respect to the average squared error and other performance measures. In this paper, we show that the cross-validated bandwidth continues to be optimal with respect to the average squared error even when the datagenerating process is a -recurrent Markov chain. This general class of processes covers stationary as well as nonstationary Markov chains. Hence, the proposed procedure adapts to the degree of recurrence, thereby freeing the researcher from the need to assume stationary (or nonstationary) before inference begins. We study finite sample performance in a Monte Carlo study. We conclude by demonstrating the practical usefulness of cross-validation in a highly-persistent environment, namely that of nonlinear predictive systems for market returns.


This dissertation uses a model of observation derived from Michel Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" to examine the relationship between writing and seeing in each of the writers discussed. The disciplinary model of the Panopticon, as Foucault outlines it, constructs a neutral observer, a figure supposedly "without qualities" but nevertheless implicitly male, in part because Western tradition has always constructed men as observers and women as objects of observation. But what happens when a woman takes up this observational position and attempts to become the subject of her own gaze? In "Prisons We Choose to Live Inside", Doris Lessing explicitly develops a theory of the writer as observer. Close reading of moments of observation in "Particularly Cats", "Going Home", "African Laughter", and "The Fifth Child" shows that Lessing's model of observation assumes she can freely take up a "neutral" position of observation without addressing the history of that position, whether in general philosophical terms or in terms of the particular experiences which allowed her to assume that position. In contrast, Christa Wolf is quite conscious of the structures of observational power in which she would construct herself as an observer. If the figure of a woman observing a woman observing which appears in "Kindheitsmuster", "Kassandra", and "Was bleibt" allows her to depict how the gendering of power controls and contains alternative perspectives, it does not allow her to overcome the structures of that power. Finally, Marguerite Duras' active manipulation of women's passive position in "Le boa" and "L'Amant" breaks the structures of disciplinary observation and allows her to construct a nondisciplinary woman observer. Duras also creates women, however, who are unable to transform the passive position of waiting which war compels them to occupy. This one position, which appears in "Hiroshima mon amour" and "La Douleur", is not susceptible to the transformation from passivity to activity with which Duras' figures otherwise construct themselves as observing women. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Comparative Literature and Literary Theory


We propose a new technique for in‐core and out‐of‐core GPU ray tracing using a generalization of hierarchical occlusion culling in the style of the CHC++ method. Our method exploits the rasterization pipeline and hardware occlusion queries in order to create coherent batches of work for localized shader‐based ray tracing kernels. By combining hierarchies in both ray space and object space, the method is able to share intermediate traversal results among multiple rays. We exploit temporal coherence among similar ray sets between frames and also within the given frame. A suitable management of the current visibility state makes it possible to benefit from occlusion culling for less coherent ray types like diffuse reflections. Since large scenes are still a challenge for modern GPU ray tracers, our method is most useful for scenes with medium to high complexity, especially since our method inherently supports ray tracing highly complex scenes that do not fit in GPU memory. For in‐core scenes our method is comparable to CUDA ray tracing and performs up to 5.94 × better than pure shader‐based ray tracing.


Introduction GENERAL DISCUSSION The conglomerates of the Galena-Trenton series of the Ordovician have been once before described 2 in an article in the American Geologist. At that time those conglomerates were interpreted as intraformational in contradistinction to basal or interformational conglomerate. 3 They were interpreted as corrosional in contrast with such as are commonly formed by erosion. It is my purpose now to describe one of those conglomerates in particular and to discuss its significance in relation to other conglomerates. The conglomerate to be described here is a thin or scattering deposit in the form of black-surfaced pebbles of limestone (see plate 12) in a greenish shaly limestone matrix. It occurs above the base of the Galena limestone formation proper. It is best known at Saint Paul, Minnesota, but is seen also at Kenyon, near Mantorville, and in other places where the base of the Galena is exposed. The mere occurrence of . . .


We report for the first time a hybrid of soil and commercial Vulcan XC-72 carbon (labeled as soil/C) as a high-performance cathode catalyst for rechargeable lithium–oxygen batteries. A one-step mixing at room temperature is used to synthesize the soil/C hybrid, in which soil particles (0.5–5 μm) play a role of void volume expanders (VVE) so that the Vulcan XC-72 carbon (∼100 nm) area is fully exposed for the deposition of the discharge product. Meanwhile, the outer & inner catalytic sites of carbon particles are sufficiently utilized. When used as a cathode catalyst for rechargeable lithium–oxygen batteries, the soil/C hybrid exhibits a large discharge capacity (7640 mA h g−1), robust cyclability (100 cycles at 0.2 mA cm−2) and superior rate capability. This high performance is not inferior to noble metal containing catalysts. Therefore, soil as a low cost and metal-free VVE in the soil/C hybrid catalyst is promising in the application of rechargeable Li–O2 batteries.


In the literature on medical translation, the question as to who translates (or should translate) medical texts has been largely discussed on the basis of the traditional linguists versus subject-matter experts opposition. Both scholars and professional translators have attempted to determine medical translators' profile by making statements about the characteristics of translators with a linguistic background and those of translators with a scientific-medical one. These statements are generally based on intuition or personal experience rather than on empirical data which can be used to back up any kind of evaluation that may be made. This paper aims to bridge this gap by presenting the results of an empirical descriptive study which surveyed practicing medical translators. The survey included questions such as academic qualification, years of experience, customers, genres translated, main difficulties encountered, and degree of self-instruction received, among others. On the basis of these data, this paper approaches the medical translators' profile and explores the main differences between translators with a linguistic background and translators with a scientific-medical one. The results show that some of the most substantial differences between them relate to the years of experience, difficulties encountered, documentation resources used, and training needs


MADISON NELL MOORE Behavioral Changes Following Daily Practice of Saccade Tasks in Schizophrenia (Under the Direction of JENNIFER MCDOWELL) People with schizophrenia show impairment in tasks requiring executive control, like inhibition. A simple test of inhibition is the antisaccade task, which requires a glance towards the mirror image of a peripheral cue. The goal of this study is to determine how practicing the antisaccade task changes performance on that task and on related tasks known to assess executive control. Participants with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy comparison subjects (NP) were assigned a single saccade task to practice daily either antisaccades or prosaccades (glances towards a peripheral cue) over a two-week period. Executive control was evaluated at preand post-test using two tasks: an ocular motor delayed response (ODR) task to measure changes due to practice on a different, but related, saccade task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to evaluate whether changes in executive control could generalize beyond saccade tasks. Preliminary results suggest antisaccade practice resulted in modest antisaccade improvement for both NP and SZ groups. Prosaccade practice did not affect prosaccade performance (due to a ceiling effect in both groups). The NP antisaccade practice group showed improvement across both the saccade specific (ODR) and non-saccade specific (WCST) executive function tasks. The SZ practice groups show little evidence of change across time, with the exception of the SZ antisaccade practice group showing slightly better ODR performance and the SZ prosaccade group perhaps showing a slight decrease in performance on ODR. Initial results from this study suggest that saccadic performance is malleable within certain parameters. Specifically, it appears that behavior (and potentially its neural underpinnings) may be more malleable in healthy people than in people with schizophrenia and practice on one executive function task could potentially be associated with modest gains on related tasks. This result has implications for aiding or improving behavior and brain function using behavioral training techniques. INDEX WORDS: Schizophrenia, Saccades, Antisaccades, Memory saccades, WCST BEHAVIORAL CHANGES FOLLOWING DAILY PRACTICE OF SACCADE TASKS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA


Solid-state reactions of 3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazole (dmpz) and salicylic acid (sa) in different stoichiometries afford two different trimers whose structures have been determined by X-ray diffraction and analyzed by 13C and 15N solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. GIAO absolute shieldings at the B3LYP/6-311++G** level have been calculated and compared with the experimental chemical shifts. Hydrogen-bond interactions between dmpz and sa provide sufficient driving force to direct molecular recognition and crystal packing.


While plea bargaining dominates the practice of criminal law, preparation for trial remains central to defense attorneys' training. Negotiation is still peripheral to that training. Defense lawyers enter practice with little exposure to negotiation techniques and strategies in the plea bargaining context, the most significant skills they use every day. Empirical research on plea negotiations has concentrated on outcomes of negotiations rather than the process itself. Our multi-phase field study examines the negotiation techniques that attorneys use during plea bargaining, as well as their preparation and training for negotiation. This Article explores the data on the training aspects of our research. It then discusses implications of the failure to train for bargaining by noting a variety of areas where training might improve case outcomes for defendants. Surveys, interviews, and training agenda confirm our intuition about the lack of training for bargaining: Public defenders receive far less training in negotiation skills and strategies than they do in trial techniques. Some defenders receive some limited training on negotiation skills in addition to trial skills, particularly when they first enter their offices. The topic of negotiation, however, almost disappears from the agenda for later training, even as trial skills remain front and center. Leaders in public defender offices allow this training gap to continue when they view negotiation as more an art than a science, and not susceptible to rigorous analysis or systematic training. The position that negotiation cannot be taught is demonstrably false and theoretically naive. Formal negotiation learning has proven effective in actual negotiations. Negotiation theory also offers more concrete and comprehensive insights about sound practices than one can find in case law related to constitutional ineffective assistance of counsel, court rules and state statutes, or professional standards.


A frequency-hopping (FH) space-frequency (SF)-coded clustered orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system is considered. It is shown that SF coding reduces the number of collisions in OFDMA with FH provided that the subcarrier clusters are formed randomly at each hopping instant. Analytical expressions for the collision rate, which is defined as the expected number of collisions per symbol, are derived. Bit error rate (BER) computations via simulations in a frequency-selective fading channel corroborate the theoretical findings for SF-coded FH-OFDMA.


Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasing rapidly worldwide, with a great competition for attracting more students which require ensuring students' satisfaction, understanding students' needs, problems and expectations. Students' satisfaction (SS) is an essential element to students' recruitment and has big impacts on both students and universities. Students' satisfaction affects students' fulfillment, achievements and success, and evaluates universities' reputation, teaching and learning facilities, and measures the quality of services provided at universities. Successful universities acknowledge the significance of measuring SS and determining the aspects that affect students' satisfaction level. Much research conducted studies on examining students' satisfaction in UK. However, those studies did not focus on International Students' Satisfaction (ISS) which plays an important role in HE such as increasing universities' financial capacity and providing universities with prestigious profession labels such as "International University of the Year". Therefore, this research aimed to address the gap in earlier studies by measuring international students' overall satisfaction and investigating the aspects that influence ISS at UK universities. This aim was achieved by conducting an online survey to collect data and extensively using Weka to measure the ISS level and determine the factors that influence ISS. Also, conducting four case studies with international students through semistructured interviews to gain more specific information and valuable knowledge regarding their academic and social experiences. Consequently, based on the outcomes, some recommendations with some suggestions are proposed to help in increasing the welfare and fulfillment of international students and improve the quality of teaching and learning experiences.


This essay is a review of and a response to Urban Decay, Austerity, and Rule of Law, 64. Emory L.J. 1 (2014), an article written by Brent White, Simone Sepe, and Saura Masconale. Building upon an intuitively compelling social contract theory insight, the article sets out the theoretical and empirical cases for the authors' contention that sustained investment in highly visible, essential local public goods provides crucial support for rule of law. White, Sepe, and Masconale offer their theory as a "make 'gov', not war" alternative to the Broken Windows Theory, which underlies order maintenance policing strategies. In the final section of the piece, the authors employ this Urban Decay Theory (UDT) to argue that the federal and state governments should fund substantial fiscal guarantees of municipal governments' capacities to provide urban infrastructure.In this invited response, Professor Kelly welcomes the article's introduction of the rule of law paradigm to domestic urban policy, finds fault with its selection of public goods that purportedly influence rule of law, and contends that the UDT has far greater potential than the poor support it can offer the authors' flawed policy proposal. By conceptualizing the domestic urban policy goal as rule of law rather than order, the authors open measurements of success to go beyond crime rates and majoritarian perceptions of personal safety. Without losing the groundedness necessary for empirical investigation, rule of law can incorporate ideal aspects of lawful order that address sustainability and inclusion of minority perceptions of legitimacy. While the article does not succeed in constructing as compelling an understanding of the most salient public goods, an improved analysis of the root causes of the fiscal degradation of America's legacy cities can unlock a potentially valuable reframing of urban, metropolitan, and regional policy debates.


A random walk, particle tracking model is used to study the dispersion characteristics of passive tracers in three different turbulent shear flows of varying geometric and hydrodynamic complexity. The first half of the thesis is concerned with the application of random walk models to observations of two flows in the Flood Channel Facility at Hydraulics Research, Wallingford (an in-bank, 100mm flow depth and an over-bank, 176mm flow depth). A sensitivity analysis was undertaken in which several different random walk models were applied to the data. These were based on different inferences about the Lagrangian fluctuating velocity field. The different random walk models were used, since the actual form of the Lagrangian velocity statistics for an inhomogeneous flow is not known. The random walk models were semi-empirically fitted to the data, such that the macroscale particle distributions were in close agreement with the observed tracer concentration distributions, at a single measurement cross-section. The calibrated random walk models were then used to predict the statistics of the evolving tracer concentration distribution further downstream. It was found that at both the calibration and prediction stages, random walk models based on different perturbations, were able to match the observed concentration distributions to within the estimated experimental uncertainties. This property will hereinafter be referred to as equifinality. In the second half of this thesis, a random walk, streamtube-based particle tracking model is used to study the dispersion characteristics of the flow in a meander bend of an upland gravel-bed river. A fieldwork campaign was undertaken in which measurements of velocity, turbulence statistics and rhodamine tracer mass-flux distributions from a dye-tracer experiment, were collected. These measurements were analysed and used to calibrate the random walk model using the same technique as for the channel flows. It was again found that the model could be calibrated such that the particle distributions matched the observed relative tracer mass flux distributions to within the estimated uncertainties.


Compute and data intensive applications have been usually executed in high performance computing platforms. Nevertheless, with the exponential growth of the amount of data produced in some research domains, even these parallel systems are unable to produce results in reasonable time. Therefore, in order to further accelerate these applications, parts of them are migrated to hardware and implemented, for instance, in reconfigurable hardware such as FPGAs. Many bioinformatics applications are good candidates to explore the benefits of high performance reconfigurable computing platforms, since they are often very compute intensive, dealing with enormous amounts of data. This paper presents the research already conducted at UnB in the area of High Performance Reconfigurable Computing for Bioinformatics, discusses open problems and presents perspectives for future joint international research.


Abstract. Three-dimensional laser scanning could acquire object's surface data quickly and accurately. However, the post-processing of point cloud is not perfect and could be improved. Based on the study of 3D laser scanning technology, this paper describes the details of solutions to modelling irregular ancient buildings and Buddha statues in Jinshan Temple, which aiming at data acquisition, modelling and texture mapping, etc. In order to modelling irregular ancient buildings effectively, the structure of each building is extracted manually by point cloud and the textures are mapped by the software of 3ds Max. The methods clearly combine 3D laser scanning technology with traditional modelling methods, and greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of the ancient buildings restored. On the other hand, the main idea of modelling statues is regarded as modelling objects in reverse engineering. The digital model of statues obtained is not just vivid, but also accurate in the field of surveying and mapping. On this basis, a 3D scene of Jinshan Temple is reconstructed, which proves the validity of the solutions.


We correlate county-level COVID-19 death rates with key variables using both linear regression and negative binomial mixed models, although we focus on linear regression models. We include four sets of variables: socio-economic variables, county-level health variables, modes of commuting, and climate and pollution patterns. Our analysis studies daily death rates from April 4, 2020 to May 27, 2020. We estimate correlation patterns both across states, as well as within states. For both models, we find higher shares of African American residents in the county are correlated with higher death rates. However, when we restrict ourselves to correlation patterns within a given state, the statistical significance of the correlation of death rates with the share of African Americans, while remaining positive, wanes. We find similar results for the share of elderly in the county. We find that higher amounts of commuting via public transportation, relative to telecommuting, is correlated with higher death rates. The correlation between driving into work, relative to telecommuting, and death rates is also positive across both models, but statistically significant only when we look across states and counties. We also find that a higher share of people not working, and thus not commuting either because they are elderly, children or unemployed, is correlated with higher death rates. Counties with higher home values, higher summer temperatures, and lower winter temperatures have higher death rates. Contrary to past work, we do not find a correlation between pollution and death rates. Also importantly, we do not find that death rates are correlated with obesity rates, ICU beds per capita, or poverty rates. Finally, our model that looks within states yields estimates of how a given state's death rate compares to other states after controlling for the variables included in our model; this may be interpreted as a measure of how states are doing relative to others. We find that death rates in the Northeast are substantially higher compared to other states, even when we control for the four sets of variables above. Death rates are also statistically significantly higher in Michigan, Louisiana, Iowa, Indiana, and Colorado. California's death rate is the lowest across all states.


Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the acute neuromuscular, biochemical and endocrine responses to a maximal speed training (MST) session. Eighteen male rugby players completed the protocol, which involved performing six maximal effort repetitions of 50 m running sprints with 5 minutes recovery between each sprint. Testosterone (T), cortisol (C), creatine kinase (CK), lactate (La), perceived muscle soreness (MS) and counter movement jump were collected immediately pre (PRE), immediately post (IP), 2 hours post (2P) and 24 hours post (24P) the sprint session. A bimodal recovery pattern was observed from the jump parameters with several declining significantly (p ≤ 0.05) IP, recovering 2P and suffering a secondary decline 24P. CK and perceived MS were elevated IP and continued to rise throughout the protocol, while La was only elevated IP. T and C were unaffected IP but showed significant declines 2P. These data indicate that MST results in a bimodal recovery pattern of neuromuscular function with changes most likely being related to metabolic and biochemical responses.


We present a multi-layered display that uses water drops as voxels. Water drops refract most incident light, making them excellent wide-angle lenses. Each 2D layer of our display can exhibit arbitrary visual content, creating a layered-depth (2.5D) display. Our system consists of a single projector-camera system and a set of linear drop generator manifolds that are tightly synchronized and controlled using a computer. Following the principles of fluid mechanics, we are able to accurately generate and control drops so that, at any time instant, no two drops occupy the same projector pixel's line-of-sight. This drop control is combined with an algorithm for space-time division of projector light rays. Our prototype system has up to four layers, with each layer consisting of an row of 50 drops that can be generated at up to 60 Hz. The effective resolution of the display is 50x projector vertical-resolution x number of layers. We show how this water drop display can be used for text, videos, and interactive games.


Introduction: Aesthetic surgery can improve the quality of life of patients, but some candidates for the procedure have depressive disorders (DDs) that may develop, in the postoperative period, in a disastrous manner from a psychological point of view and even progress to suicide. The prevalence of DDs in cosmetic surgery patients is 20% on average and reaches 70%. This article aims to review depression and aesthetic surgery as well as to alert and educate plastic surgeons on the growing number of these patients in clinical settings. It also aims to guide surgeons to the appropriate approach and specific behaviors with these patients. Methods: A search was performed in MEDLINE/PubMed and Embase, and key words were entered, including "cosmetic surgery," "depression," "mood disorders," "depressive disorder," "depressive symptoms," and "suicide and plastic surgery." Results: The success of plastic surgery depends a great deal on the selection of patients for the procedure. Suspect patients, patients with elevated depressive symptoms in questionnaires (such as the BDI), and patients with psychopathology "markers" should be forwarded to a psychiatrist for proper evaluation. Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of DDs in aesthetic plastic surgery patients, every plastic surgery patient should be evaluated properly to identify those with possible DDs in the preoperative period, and those should be forwarded to a psychiatrist, thus avoiding an unfavorable postoperative psychological evolution. ■ ABSTRACT


Trauma experience influences an individual's emotional wellbeing, self-concept and relationships (e.g., Beck, Grant, Clapp, & Paylo, 2009) as well as increasing their risk of experiencing trauma in the future (Copeland, Keeler, Angold, & Costello, 2007). Accordingly clinical guidance for trauma presentations recommends treatment to alleviate distress and improve emotional wellbeing (van der Hart et al., 2006). Correspondingly, a literature review, using a meta-synthesis design, explored how adults experience talking therapies for complex trauma. From this, two themes were identified which noted that, in contrast to remaining detached from the trauma and associated difficulties as a means of surviving, adults were able to access therapy and instead reconnect with their trauma experience, others, and importantly self. This finding highlighted that exploring the impact of trauma on self is important and underrepresented in literature. Given research exploring self and trauma remains limited to adults, the research paper explored how children and young people self construe following a traumatic event(s). Seven young people completed a Trauma Symptoms Checklist Children – Alternative (TSCC-A) measure. Following this a pictorial self characterisation (Kelly, 1955; Ravenette, 1996), based on personal construct psychology, was used to encourage a creative and developmentally appropriate exploration of how they construed. These included four overarching themes which were developed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006): The Inferior Self, The Misfortunate Self, The Protective Self and The Enhanced Self. The clinical implications of this suggest that working therapeutically with the metaphor "self as community" (Mair, 1977) offers powerful opportunities to explore and understand different selves, reduce vast differences between selves, and to develop healthier core constructs. Future specialist trauma interventions should emphasise the importance of exploring self from the perspective of the individual (e.g., Ronen, 1996). Finally the critical appraisal provides reflections on the limitations and strengths of this research.


Disasters are the litmus test of governance. The inherent complexity of disasters places government agencies and societies in vulnerable situations. This study uses the mixed-method approach to social network analysis in evaluating the network structure of the Philippine disaster management and its implications for disaster governance. A survey was conducted among the target 56 identified disaster response-related agencies and organisations from the disaster management networks of the most susceptible areas in the Philippines – Cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, Province of Misamis Oriental and the overall Region 10 disaster response network, aimed at measuring the existing relationships among member agencies. Forty-four agencies and organisations were able to participate in the survey. Also, key informant interviews were conducted among the representatives of the lead agencies, non-government organisations and survivors of Typhoon Washi. The findings revealed that the mandated tall structure and the lead organisation form of network governance as stipulated in Republic Act 10121 does not work in the regional and local disaster management networks in Region 10, particularly during Typhoon Washi in 2010. At the regional level, such structure does not build interdependencies among agencies, while at the local level, disaster response operations are constrained by bureaucratic protocols making disaster management networks ineffective. At the regional level, where many agencies and organisations are involved, the existing less centralised structure of decision-making should be transformed into a highly centralised structure, while disaster operations should be improved through coordination at all levels of disaster operations and intensified collaboration with non-government agencies.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the therapeutic effect of acupoint injection of bee venom on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in rats and explore the mechanism of bee venom therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODS
Fifteen male Wistar rats were randomly divided into bee venom treatment group (BV group), CIA model group, and control group. In the former two groups, CIA was induced by injections of collagen II+IFA (0.2 mL) via the tail vein, and in the control group, normal saline was injected instead. The rats in BV group received daily injection of 0.1 mL (3 mg/mL) bee venom for 7 consecutive days. All the rats were assessed for paw thickness and arthritis index from days 14 to 21, and the pain threshold was determined on day 21. The expressions of TRPV1 and TrkA in the dorsal root ganglion at the level of L4-6 were detected using immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, respectively.

RESULTS
The rats in CIA model group started to show paw swelling on day 10, and by day 14, all the rats in this group showed typical signs of CIA. In BV group, the rats receiving been venom therapy for 7 days showed a significantly smaller paw thickness and a low arthritis index than those in the model group. The pain threshold was the highest in the control group and the lowest in the model group. TRPV1-positive cells and TrkA expression in the dorsal root ganglion was significantly reduced in BV group as compared with that in the model group.

CONCLUSION
s Injection of bee venom can decrease expression of TRPV1 and TrkA in the dorsal root ganglion to produce anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, suggesting the potential value of bee venom in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.


This article analyzes two oral narratives produced in a school in Santa Maria do Herval (RS). These narratives are peculiar because of the frequent code switching, sometimes from Portuguese to standard German, sometimes from standard Portuguese to the dialectal variety spoken in that particular community. The first narrative to be analyzed is produced in the story telling time, in which the librarian tells the children a story from a picture book, switching the code between Portuguese and German. The second narrative is a story told by the class teacher during talking in circle, also based on a picture book. The code switching in this narrative involves teacher/pupils interaction directly. The use of both languages is, as mentioned by Breunig (2005), a cultural responsive pedagogy, since the language spoken at home by most children is being positively valued at school. Furthermore, teachers' practices are close to those carried out by the children at home.

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Urban public spaces determine the identity of the city's dwellers, ensure the implementation of the communication function. They are constantly changing, characterized by various transformational processes that take place under the influence of various factors in the development of the city. The need for knowledge of contemporary complex and ambiguous processes in cities causes the relevance of the socio-spatial approach to the analysis of the functioning and transformation of public spaces in order to increase the level of comfort of living in cities, and smart management of urban development. In this aspect, Kyiv is a good ground for socio-geographical study of various types of public spaces characterized by intensive traditional and specific transformations. The most significant changes are typical for open public spaces. Therefore, in order to understand the factors of contemporary processes in open public spaces, it is necessary to carry out a socio-spatial analysis of a set of parks, public gardens, boulevards, streets, embankments and squares of the capital. The article presents results of analysis of the peculiarities of Kyiv's open public spaces functioning and transformation in the context of the socio-spatial approach. The analysis revealed that the network of open public spaces in Kyiv corresponds to the stages of the city's territorial development. The most widespread directions of open public spaces transformation in Kyiv are commercialization (functioning of objects providing paid cultural and entertainment services), "beautification" (club design, sculpture installation, renovation of street furniture, registration of thematic zones), (home-type behavior of visitors, the use of home decor items), "europeanization" (designing public spaces based on European urban practices), "ideologization"(commemorative practices through giving relevant names to public spaces and/or establishment of monuments), sacralization (restoration or new construction of temples in parks, squares and gardens), orientation towards the potential consumer (differences in planning design and functions depending on location in the urban planning structure) and "elitization" (allocation of facilities with the club effect). These processes make substantial impact on the intensity of the use of open public spaces in different planning zones, changing their functions and prospects of use.


A coastal fishery brings high productivity and economic profit while supporting cultural norms. However, it also causes environmental degradation and political conflicts, which sometimes collapse a fishery. With the current global shift from capture fisheries to aquaculture, appropriate management is required for social and environmental sustainability. To identify essential factors in coastal fishery management, I compared the oyster industries in Chesapeake Bay (USA) and in Ariake Sea (Japan) from political, environmental, and cultural perspectives, by field observations, interviews, and literature research. Despite their different historical backgrounds, the two regions have lost most of the oyster resource due mainly to 1) failure of environmental management, 2) environmental degradation and 3) resistance of the fishing communities to necessary changes in fishing methods and aquaculture. Based on these lessons, I propose that a coastal fishery management plan should include environmental management, development of government-initiated aquaculture, understanding cultural backgrounds, and cooperation among science, industry and politics as essential factors.


Modern astrophysical and cosmological models are plagued with two severe theoretical difficulties, namely, the dark energy and the dark matter problems. Relative to the former, high-precision observational data have confirmed with startling evidence that the Universe is undergoing a phase of accelerated expansion. This phase, one of the most important and challenging current problems in cosmology, represents a new imbalance in the governing gravitational equations. Several candidates, responsible for this expansion, have been proposed in the literature, in particular, dark energy models and modified gravity, amongst others. Outstanding questions are related to the nature of this so-called "dark energy" that is driving the acceleration of the universe, and whether it is due to the vacuum energy or a dynamical field. On the other hand, the late-time cosmic acceleration may be due to modifications of General Relativity, which introduce new degrees of freedom to the gravitational sector itself. We analyze some of the modified theories of gravity that address these intriguing and exciting problems facing modern physics, and explore the foundations of gravitation theory, essential for the construction of modified theories of gravity.


This paper reviews recent evidence analyzing the link between earnings management and corporate tax avoidance and considers the implications for how policymakers should evaluate the financial reporting environment facing firms. A real-world tax shelter is dissected to illustrate how tax shelter products enable managers to manipulate reported earnings. A stylized example is developed that generalizes this view of corporate tax avoidance and empirical evidence consistent with this view is discussed. This view of corporate tax avoidance implies that shareholders and policymakers should question the rationale for distinct financial reports and that greater book-tax alignment may have mutually beneficial effects for investors and tax authorities.


In the field of educational administration there have been several years of active debate over how America's school systems are run. Contemporary educational administrators have been forced to reflect not only on educational policy and practice, but on the very nature of their position. How does administration contribute to the type of society we have? In what ways does it impede or enhance our cultural ideals and values? "Paradigms and Promises" offers an unorthodox solution by presenting administration as an arena for critical reflection and humanistic action, rather than a more technically-oriented style of management. Foster's critical analysis is premised on an understanding of the relationship of theory to practice, and as he provides alternative theories, he sheds new light on educational administration. Orthodox administrative theory receives heavy criticism in this text. Foster employs progressive critical theory as well as conventional analyses in critical appraisal, and advocates a dialectical concept, through which administrators, teachers and students are encouraged to challenge and question each other - the eventual result being a more responsive, democratically-run system.


Due to their indeterminacies, static and dynamic factor models require identifying assumptions to guarantee uniqueness of the parameter estimates. The indeterminacy of the parameter estimates with respect to orthogonal transformations is known as the rotation problem. The typical strategy in Bayesian factor analysis to solve the rotation problem is to introduce ex-ante constraints on certain model parameters via degenerate and truncated prior distributions. This strategy, however, results in posterior distributions whose shapes depend on the ordering of the variables in the data set. We propose an alternative approach where the rotation problem is solved ex-post using Procrustean postprocessing. The resulting order invariance of the posterior estimates is illustrated in a simulation study and an empirical application using a well-known data set containing 120 macroeconomic time series. Favorable properties of the ex-post approach with respect to convergence, statistical and numerical accuracy are revealed.


We report the release of oxygen (O2) under dark conditions in aerobic soils. This unexpected process is hidden by respiration which constitutes the dominating reversal O2 flux. By using H2 18O in different soils, we confirmed that 16O18O and 18O2 released under dark soil conditions originated from added H2 18O. Water is the only large-scale source of electrons for reduction of CO2 in soils, but it has not been considered as an electron donor because of the very strong oxidation system needed. A high share of soil inorganic material seems to favor the release of O2.