Abstract Otitis externa can take an acute or a chronic form, with the acute form affecting four in 1 000 persons annually and the chronic form affecting 3–5% of the population. Acute disease commonly results from bacterial (90% of cases) or fungal (10% of cases) overgrowth in an ear canal subjected to excess moisture, or to local trauma. Chronic disease often is part of a more generalised dermatologic or allergic problem. Symptoms of early acute and most chronic disease include pruritus and local discomfort. If left untreated, acute disease can be followed by canal oedema, discharge, and pain, and eventually by extra-canal manifestations. Topical application of an acidifying solution is usually adequate in treating early disease. An antimicrobial containing ototopical is the preferred treatment for later-stage acute disease, and oral antibiotic therapy is reserved for advanced disease or those who are immunocompromised. Preventative measures reduce recurrences, and typically involve minimising ear canal moisture, trauma, or exposure to materials that incite local irritation or contact dermatitis.


In analytic political philosophy, it is common to view state-sponsored injustice as the work of a corporate agent. But as I argue, structural injustice theory provides grounds for reassessing the agential approach, producing new insights into state-sponsored injustice. Using the case of eugenic sterilization in the United States, this article proposes a structurally-sensitive conception of state-sponsored injustice with six components: authorization, protection, systemization, execution, enablement, and norm- and belief-influence. Iris Marion Young's models of responsibility for agential and structural injustice, and the place of state-sponsored injustice with respect to these models, are also discussed.


The book reviews the most relevant concepts of semiconductor materials and processing including condensed matter physics, electronic device theory, and materials science. It describes the development of energy bands from atomic orbitals and the effect of atomic chemistry on the semiconductor. Semiconductor alloys are described including issues of miscibility, ordering, and electronic properties. Defects in semiconductors are described with particular emphasis on point and line defects, their sources and effects. A chapter on amorphous semiconductors is included as well as a chapter on organic materials used in optical and switching devices. The book concludes with chapters on general aspects of thin film nucleation and growth, physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition methods. Examples of the application of the concepts in each chapter to specific problems or situations is included, along with recommended readings and homework problems.


Assuming that regional settings can provide an essential level of economic coordination that goes beyond firms' direct decisions and be a major source of region-specific material and non-material assets, this paper addresses the question of which kind of socio-economic regional-effects may explain different entrepreneurial behaviours? Empirically, the analysis is based on a questionnaire application to a sample of 167 small and medium sized firms from textile, clothing and leather (TCL) sectors, and belonging to the following European Southern areas: North (Portugal), Valencia (Spain), Macedonia (Greece) and South Italy (Italy). The selection of these regions was made considering their economic vulnerability, based on three major criteria: EU objective 1 status, being outside large urban centres and with an economic tissue based on labour-intensive firms. A common questionnaire was applied in each region, allowing a cross-country analysis among regions whose economic dependence to labour intensive sectors, is a common threat. Besides the strong commonalities among these four regional settings, it was possible to identify local/regional specificities that impact in the way firms respond to the new challenges coming from changing market conditions.


We investigate whether violence occurring outside the confines of a home can alter intra-household violence inter-generationally. This paper is the first to explore whether exposure to violence from an armed conflict affects the later use of physical punishment as a child discipline method. Our identification strategy relies on the spatial and temporal variation of the Peruvian civil conflict that occurred between 1980 and 2000. We find that a mother exposed to an additional one hundred violent conflict-related events in her district is 3.4-3.8 percentage points less likely to physically punish her children. This effect is equivalent in magnitude to an additional 10 years of education. We find suggestive evidence that the conflict could have increased parenting knowledge and support. Communities that experienced higher levels of conflict violence saw greater increases in social spending and had more health resources in the post-conflict period. Additionally, we find women's conflict exposure is associated with a higher likelihood of accessing these resources.


In broadband wireless communications, the security of terminal equipment becomes an important problem. At present, EAX is a popular encryption & authentication mode for terminal equipment. But the algorithm of EAX has two disadvantages: CTR (Counter Mode) and OMAC (One-Key CBC MAC), the result is that wireless communications will be attacked easily and will influence security and speed of terminal equipment.In this paper, firstly, we analysis the theory of EAX mode, pointing out why it should be optimized. Then we propose an optimized PEAX encryption & authentication mode based on the two disadvantages of EAX encryption & authentication mode, including optimized RCTR (Random-CTR) mode based on CTR and optimized POMAC mode based on OMAC. Finally the optimized PEAX mode is simulated with Visual C++. It is proved that PEAX mode is correct and predominant with improving the security and speed of wireless communications further.


With this essay I begin an examination of the effect and influence of psychics and psychic detectives on the legal system and popular culture. Scripted shows such as the popular Medium and the recently cancelled Ghost Whisperer enhance the personal accounts of the psychic detectives on whom they are based, adapting interesting characteristics and stories, and creating entertainment for viewers. Psychic detective shows such as the reality shows Psychic Detectives, Psychic Witness, and the new series Paranormal Cops provide an alternative to the popular crime scene investigation (CSI) shows as a way to provide a window into the legal system for America's TV audience. The CSI shows rely on experts and an exciting array of scientific tools, suggesting that scientific evidence often can be so conclusive that the prosecutor in criminal cases can satisfy the "reasonable doubt" standard with no problem. Psychic detective shows seem to present investigative television that appeals to those interested in the spiritual and the unknown and offer a contrast to the certain outcomes of CSI shows by posing questions that seem closer to the realities with which many viewers are more likely to be familiar through their newspaper and tv experiences. Sometimes juries or judges acquit defendants even though they seem to be guilty or convict them though they seem innocent. Some members of the public think they have paranormal experiences and regularly go to psychics. Many people read newspaper horoscopes, even if only for entertainment, and love the inserts in their Chinese fortune cookies. Further, such shows emphasize what many viewers may consider to be the fallible side of the legal system, playing on existing viewer fears that defense attorneys with their "tricks" can overwhelm prosecutors and juries. These fears include those that arise out of the impression that constitutional guarantees such as those embedded in the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments are "loopholes" or "technicalities," which function solely to give the accused far too many rights at the expense of the victim and his or her family. Linked to that fear is the idea that the police may arrest the wrong person or fail to solve crimes altogether. In conjunction with a news media which deluges viewers with stories about cold cases are horror stories about criminals inexplicably allowed to go free who then commit additional crimes, killers never caught and the suspicion that innocent persons may spend years in prison or may well be executed, such "psychic detective" shows present a convenient solution to what seems to some to be an insoluble and horrific dilemma.


The thermal dependence of semiconductor detectors is one of their critical properties. This paper presents the results of the Timepix3 detector thermal vacuum testing, with respect to the effects on its properties and sensitivity. The Timepix3 represents a new generation of Timepix chips of the Medipix family, and it is equipped with an event-based mode of detection allowing for simultaneous measurement of the position, time and energy of an incident particle. Due to their properties, Timepix3 detectors are very suitable for space applications. Given that this is a relatively new device, the influence of temperature is not described in detail yet, especially for space usage. The operation of the device in a broad range of temperatures is required (e.q. QB50 mission on LEO from −20̂C to +50̂C). Timepix detectors have been used already in space missions, e.g. VZLUSAT-1, LUCID and SATRAM missions. In space, thermal cycling of the detectors occurs and this results in measurement distortion because both the noise edge and energy spectra are affected by changes in temperature. The experiments were performed on a detector equipped with a 300 μm thick Si sensor. The detector was equalised under various thermal conditions in vacuum and subsequently exposed to several energies of X-ray radiation corresponding to the characteristic radiation of 5 elements in the energy range of 4–24 keV. The results of these tests improve the knowledge regarding the behaviour of the essential components of the detector under extreme conditions. This new information can be used to improve measurements and thus minimise external influences, for example, in space applications but also in other fields where temperature stabilisation of the detector is very difficult or energy-consuming.


A record of atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios from 1006 A.D. to 1978 A.D. has been produced by analysing the air enclosed in three ice cores from Law Dome, Antarctica. The enclosed air has unparalleled age resolution and extends into recent decades, because of the high rate of snow accumulation at the ice core sites. The CO2 data overlap with the record from direct atmospheric measurements for up to 20 years. The effects of diffusion in the firn on the CO2 mixing ratio and age of the ice core air were determined by analyzing air sampled from the surface down to the bubble close-off depth. The uncertainty of the ice core CO2 mixing ratios is 1.2 ppm (1 σ). Preindustrial CO2 mixing ratios were in the range 275–284 ppm, with the lower levels during 1550–1800 A.D., probably as a result of colder global climate. Natural CO2 variations of this magnitude make it inappropriate to refer to a single preindustrial CO2 level. Major CO2 growth occurred over the industrial period except during 1935–1945 A.D. when CO2 mixing ratios stabilized or decreased slightly, probably as a result of natural variations of the carbon cycle on a decadal timescale.


The purpose of the thesis is to examine the current state of regulation of television advertising in the UK, chiefly in the light of its historical background. A number of general theories of regulation are also used to analyse both developments in regulation policy and some of the events and processeisn the practical activity of regulation. The thesis seeks to demonstrate that the present structures have not simply arisen haphazardly, nor do they represent anything especially new, but are the result of a long process of evolution during which continuity rather than change has been the dominant theme. Broadcasting in the UK has enjoyed a much longer period of stable independent development than most countries of continental Europe, which has enabled it to establish strong and effective regulatory traditions. The advantage of a historical perspective is that it shows how these traditions were built up, who was responsible for the primary regulatory structures and what motivated them, and what were the causes of change in the system.I t has an important explanatory value for an understanding of the present. My argument is that television advertising regulation cannot be divorced from broadcasting regulation as a whole, and although advertising has only been part of the broadcasting system since the inauguration of commercial television in 1955, the form and methods of its regulation cannot be divorced from their roots in television and radio's noncommercial past. Ile fact that broadcasting started as a private enterprise subject, in the words of one government minister, to "drastic" regulation, was soon reconstituted as a non-commercial public corporation acting as trustee for the national interest, and that business and advertising interests were only permitted a role in the broadcasting system after thirty years of operation, under similarly drastic regulation, has an important bearing on how advertising regulation is done today. Political, social and cultural influences on broadcasting and broadcast advertising regulation policy and its implementation are traced by looking at the Committee system of policymaking, and by examining numerous published and unpublished (confidential) reports and documents dealing with a variety of aspects of broadcasting and television advertising regulation. The extent to which public interest theory and other theories of regulation are relevant to broadcasting is also assessed. I have therefore sought to explain the present in terms of the past and with reference to several wider theoretical frameworks.


Kangas, Reeta Aging and microRNA messaging: Associations with systemic estrogen levels and physical performance Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2018, 109 p. (Studies in Sport, Physical Education and Health ISSN 0356-1071; 267) ISBN 978-951-39-7323-0 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-7324-7 (PDF) Finnish summary This thesis took an innovative approach, which involved methodological development, to investigate microRNAs as candidate molecules and as genome-wide regulators of age, menopausal status and physical condition in both sexes. The focus was on potential serum microRNAs indicative of age, preor postmenopausal status, with or without estrogenbased hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and long-term physical training. MicroRNA associations with adiposity and inflammatory markers were also analyzed. Three different study designs were used: 1) the SAWEs study comprised healthy postmenopausal monozygotic twin sisters (n=11, 54-62 years) with discordance for HRT and premenopausal women (n=30, 20-40 years) without hormonal contraceptives; 2) the miRBody study comprised non-related postmenopausal women (54-62 years) either on (n=16) or not on HRT (n=17); and 3) the ATHLAS study comprised male masters sprinters in a 10-year follow-up design (n=49, baseline age 40-80 years) and in a cross-sectional design (n=67, 18-90 years). For the explorative microRNA discovery, we set up next generation sequencing method for serum exosome microRNAs, exomiRs, and utilized arrays for freely circulating serum and adipose tissue microRNAs. Selected microRNAs were further validated. MiR-21-5p and -146a-5p were analyzed in both sexes, owing to their hypothesized role in aging, inflammation and exercise response. Sex steroids, inflammatory markers and fat/glucose metabolites were measured. Profiled microRNA patterns in serum and adipose tissue differed by age and HRT use vs. non-use. Validations revealed age associations for five, and HRT associations for three microRNAs in serum. In addition, seven adipose tissue microRNAs were higher with higher ages. MiR-146a-5p was negatively associated with HRT use in both serum and muscle. In the sprinters, a negative association with age was detected for serum miR-146a5p and non-linear associations with specific power and speed capacity measures in 10 years for miR-146a-5p and -21-5p. The depth of the methodologies and human designs used, enabled novel discoveries regarding aging, 17 -estradiol (E2), and physiological (health) status-associated microRNAs. Of them, exomiR-27b-3p and -148a-5p, indicative of higher age, lower serum E2 and poorer adiposity and inflammatory status in women, were the most promising candidates for early markers of worsening metabolism with declining systemic E2. Moreover, serum miR-21-5p was indicative of more inflamed and fatty phenotype in women, whereas miR-146a-5p appeared indicative of a healthier phenotype in both sexes. Overall, this research underlines the potential for using serum microRNAs, together with other traditional markers, as tools in evaluating the physiological status of an individual, thus contributing new information to the health and aging field.


In the present study, two different data-driven models, artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple linear regression (MLR) models, have been developed to predict the 28 days compressive strength of concrete. Seven different parameters namely 3/4 mm sand, 3/8 mm sand, cement content, gravel, maximums size of aggregate, fineness modulus, and watercement ratio were considered as input variables. For each set of these input variables, the 28 days compressive strength of concrete were determined. A total number of 140 input-target pairs were gathered, divided into 70%, 15%, and 15% for training, validation, and testing steps in artificial neural network model, respectively, and divided into 85% and 15% for training and testing steps in multiple linear regression model, respectively. Comparing the testing steps of both of the models, it can be concluded that the artificial neural network model is more capable in predicting the compressive strength of concrete in compare to multiple linear regression model. In other words, multiple linear regression model is better to be used for preliminary mix design of concrete, and artificial neural network model is recommended in the mix design optimization and in the case of higher accuracy requirements.


Underwater navigation challenges the research community as a reliable navigation system is unavailable. Correctly matched landmarks could compensate the drift of dead reckoning navigation systems. Furthermore, they could be useful in side scan sonar image registration. We propose to integrate both applications to form one landmark detection and matching system. Our approach detects disruptions in the local texture field using level set evolution on Haralick feature maps. During evolution the landmarks are continuously tried to be matched. An energy term which has been used for supervised image registration is used to verify the hypothesized matches. If the energy term based on pixel-wise similarity and hard landmark constraints is minimum, the landmark matches are considered as correct.


: This study investigates how novice English as a foreign language teachers (EFL) navigate their teaching in a university setting while attending an in-service teacher training program to improve their teaching skills. The purpose is to explore the influences of the curriculum followed at an intensive English program on novice teachers' cognitions. Two Turkish novice teachers of English took part in this study, in which qualitative data collection was employed. Findings revealed that the teachers encountered certain challenges in realizing the curriculum objectives. These included confusions regarding the curriculum followed in their teaching context and tensions between their beliefs and practices while realizing the curriculum objectives which prevented them from teaching in line with their beliefs. The study also found that the teachers responded to the curriculum requirements in classrooms in different ways mostly compromising their own beliefs. The teachers' classroom practices coupled with the influences of the curriculum on their beliefs and practices indicated that the curriculum was a hindrance for them rather than a help. This calls for a more inclusive approach to curriculum development. The study suggests that institutions should encourage teachers' participation in decision-making processes of curriculum development and implementation. Otherwise, teachers will feel disempowered in the interpretation and application of the curriculum in their teaching contexts.


As schools consider new ways to enhance hands-on learning opportunities, many have focused on the emerging "Maker Movement." As a means to support this trend, the authors share how the College of Education at a state university in northern New Jersey designed and facilitated a Makers Day event to help teacher candidates, teachers, and librarians, to develop insights into the activities for their own community based makerspaces. This article first describes the impetus for carrying out such activities, followed by a literature review, a description of how the event was designed, and our future plans for building on these activities. Author/Artist Bio Heejung An: Heejung An is a professor of educational technology and science education, at the College of Education, William Paterson University. Her main areas of research involve exploring how technology impacts cognition and how P-12 teachers can use technology effectively for teaching and learning. Her current research involves supporting the development of elementary students' creative writing with coding in the Scratch environment, and how the usage of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math (STEAM) approach impacts upper level elementary and middle school students' learning, problem solving, and their interest in pursuing STEM careers. Dr. An received her Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. Ellen Pozzi: Ellen Pozzi is an assistant professor and Director of the School Library Media program at the College of Education at William Paterson University. Her research interests include diversity in children's and young adult literature and the history of librarianship. She is interested in the role of makerspaces in the school library. Dr. Pozzi received her MLIS and Ph.D from Rutgers University.


© 2017, Allen Press. All rights reserved. The Sacramento Valley red fox Vulpes vulpes patwin of California is a newly named subspecies recently found to be distinct both from other native red foxes and nearby introduced populations. The Sacramento Valley red fox experienced a historical demographic bottleneck resulting in a critically small genetic effective population size, causing concern over its current status and management requirements, yet little is known about its contemporary abundance, demographic trajectory, or habitat use. The hot, arid Sacramento Valley contrasts starkly in climate and physiography with the boreal habitats of other indigenous red foxes in western North America, indicating the need to obtain information specifically on the habitat requirements of this subspecies. A 3-y effort to locate reproductive den sites throughout the Sacramento Valley resulted in 42 independent dens, which we used to obtain preliminary information on habitat use and to develop a distribution model for this subspecies, and 28 Sacramento Valley red foxes killed by vehicles, which we used as independent data to test the models. Foxes were present significantly more than expected in grasslands and less than expected in wetlands and flooded agriculture and also tended to occur in proximity to human development, potentially as refuges from coyotes Canis latrans. We used Maxent to build predictive models. The best model, which incorporated vegetation/land-use classes and proximity to human development, identified 24% of the study area as predicted-presence habitat, which contained 76% of the den sites used to construct the model and 89% of independent locations used to test the model. Our model greatly narrowed the area over which foxes are predicted to occur and will facilitate future surveys to assess occupancy and ultimately abundance and population trends.


The first demonstration of a hollow core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBGF) suitable for high-rate data transmission in the 2 µm waveband is presented. The fiber has a record low loss for this wavelength region (4.5 dB/km at 1980 nm) and a >150 nm wide surface-mode-free transmission window at the center of the bandgap. Detailed analysis of the optical modes and their propagation along the fiber, carried out using a time-of-flight technique in conjunction with spatially and spectrally resolved (S2) imaging, provides clear evidence that the HC-PBGF can be operated as quasi-single mode even though it supports up to four mode groups. Through the use of a custom built Thulium doped fiber amplifier with gain bandwidth closely matched to the fiber's low loss window, error-free 8 Gbit/s transmission in an optically amplified data channel at 2008 nm over 290 m of 19 cell HC-PBGF is reported.


Students who undertake a degree that leads to a professional qualification, such as nursing, are often required to undertake a practical component in their course of study. This frequently involves the use of industry to support, mentor and assess student progress. Such a role is vitally important if the student is to achieve successful learning outcomes. In order to facilitate learning opportunities and evaluate student progress, the industry educators require knowledge to undertake the role with confidence and effectiveness. Using nursing as a case study, but acknowledging that this process is applicable to a variety of disciplines, this paper showcases an effective use of different media for supporting industry educators in nursing, termed preceptors of nursing students. This paper discusses the production of a CD ROM with a focus on the educational issues that formed its development. Further, the authors briefly discuss an evaluation of the CD ROM by users and future development.


Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs) are models of learning in which students self-organise in groups and learn using a computer connected to the internet with minimal teacher support. The original 'hole in the wall' experiments in India are now applied to classrooms around the world. The idea of SOLEs is a social innovation that is inspiring educators (in schooling and also business contexts) everywhere, as demonstrated by Mitra's award of the 2013 TED prize. However, when SOLEs are located in classrooms, a number of questions arise. Are SOLEs easily adapted for the classroom context? Is the impact on learning as transformative as suggested by the original ideas? This paper considers in detail the application over two years by one teacher, using SOLEs in a Year 4 classroom in an urban North East England primary school, in partnership with university researchers Dolan, Mitra and Leat. Issues of innovation and transformation are discussed, informed by the ideas of Bernstein, Engestrom, and Giroux. The SOLE concept, although flexible, has the potential to offer a divergent, radical transformative pedagogy. This sits somewhat uncomfortably alongside more convergent approaches which position the learner as subservient to the curriculum, with the task of merely mastering subject matter prescribed by the teacher. However, what is notable from this analysis is that transformative pedagogy seems to be positioned alongside, rather than in conflict with, the dominant educational framework.


We present an optofluidic nonlinear coupler fabricated by selective filling of two strands of a photonic crystal fiber with the liquid CCl4 which exhibits a large ultrafast Kerr nonlinearity. We demonstrate power dependent switching in this novel optofluidic device. The large thermo-optical effect of liquids enables us to tune the behavior of the nonlinear coupler by changing the coupling strength with temperature. This opens the road towards flexible designs and realization of a new class of tunable ultrafast nonlinear couplers with switching times below 1 ps.


In this article, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical linear mixed model to cancer data with geographical characteristics. The spatial effects are captured via a conditional autoregressive (CAR) model. The survival model is introduced to analyze the survival pattern of colorectal cancer based on geographical factors and patients' disease conditions. We propose a special case of the classic Cox model with Weibull hazard as well as a cure rate model. A CAR prior is used to capture the spatial effects, which are determined based on counties the survival subjects belong to. The computation is done via Gibbs sampling. The ratio‐of‐uniforms method is used to sample from a nonstandard conditional posterior density, and the adaptive rejection method is used to sample from log‐concave densities. The model is applied to the Colon & Rectum Cancer incidences in Iowa from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Computation is implemented in Intel Fortran on Linux platform. WIREs Comput Stat 2014, 6:37–44. doi: 10.1002/wics.1283


Because parents of children with cerebral palsy encounter many challenges, the quality of their parenting varies substantially across time. To understand how and why their parenting behaviors change across time, we examined the contributions of child behavior and parents' psychological needs to explanations of yearly variation in responsive, autonomy-supportive, and psychologically controlling parenting. We also explored whether parents' motivation to take care of their child explained why some parents engage in better-quality parenting than others. Parents (N = 117) of children with cerebral palsy (Mage = 10.98 years) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. Multilevel analyses indicated that yearly variations in parents' need satisfaction and frustration related to yearly fluctuations in, respectively, autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting. Child behaviors had few unique effects on parenting. Parents' autonomous motivation was associated with better overall quality of parenting. We discuss implications for practice and directions for future research.


WarDaddy (Brad Pitt) referring to 'Fury' his Sherman Firefly tank in the film of the same name. 2014.

War is hell, we tell ourselves yet war and ideology mobilises the concept of the home to motivate the human mind to accept the hell of warfare. Popular culture refers to this aspect of combat motivation in books, films and games, yet this ideological act of fantasy has very real connotations. During the 20th Century the ideologies of modern war negated the concept of home itself. The Fatherland of Nazi Germany dictated that every home becomes a pillbox and every cellar a fighting retreat. In Soviet Russia every city became a fortress under siege, furniture became firewood and objects of comfort took new forms, just as every pet became a potential meal. Every trench became a home that fostered its own new brand of communal existence and the politics of trench socialism. In modern war even technology itself became home – submariners and sailors, tankers and pilots all referred to their war machines in the context of home.
During the Cold War the threat of nuclear Armageddon saw the creation of bunkers as underground survival spaces capable of supporting small communities for considerable time. However, even though modern War Studies was born out of the ideological ur-moment of the French Revolution and the creation of the modern nation state, it has no language to explore the workings of ideology and how it motivates the human mind to war. Whilst War Studies has had a long accepted that ideology is an important aspect of war, the analysis of the organising potential of ideology has been unable to bridge the gap between the dyadic of Clausewitzian philosophy (1832) and Jominian doctrine (1862). This gap coalesces in an inability to differentiate the capacity for war from the act, an inability to analyse the logics of war from within war itself, obfuscating attempts to evaluate the motivations, fantasies, and desires that support the reality of war (Masco 2013).
This paper examines how concepts of home have been utilised by ideology and fantasy to support and justify the reality of the horrors of war. Utilising theories from military history and War Studies (Keegan 1997), philosophy (Gray 1974) and military psychoanalysis (Bion 1940) & (Lacan 1955), this paper examines traditional ideas of combat motivation in combination with the study of neuroses in wartime and group analysis. Using a case study of an 8 Kilometre underground site, that throughout history has been an Iron Age fortress, cave dwellings, a secret underground armaments factory, and a vast Cold War nuclear bunker, the analysis examines the concept of home as an ideological survival space across a vast scope of the history of warfare. The paper concludes that there is indeed similarity between group behaviours and family organisation in the home and the ideological survival space, both in peace and wartime. The human mind is repetitively drawn to the voyeuristic gaze of the destruction of the homely and the Inertia of the Real; the trauma and anxiety of war can indeed become homely, and the homely can indeed become warlike as soldiers quickly adopt familial roles. Moreover, in the 21st Century the wartime motivators of coercion, narcosis, inducement and the adoption of peacetime familial roles become interchangeable in the ideological survival spaces we call our homes.


High dynamic range (HDR) imaging is attracting an increasing deal of attention in the multimedia community, yet its forensic problems have been little studied so far. This paper proposes an HDR image forensic method, which aims at differentiating HDR images created from multiple low dynamic range (LDR) images from those created from a single LDR image by inverse tone mapping. For each kind of HDR image, a Gaussian mixture model is learned. Thereafter, an HDR image forensic feature is constructed based on calculating the Fisher scores. With comparison to a steganalytic feature and a texture/facial analysis feature, experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method in HDR image forensic classification on whole images as well as small blocks, for three inverse tone mapping methods.


From late November 1996 to early July 1998 velocity measurements were made at two moorings within a constriction in Makassar Strait near 3°S. The 1997 average throughflow is 9.3 Sv, with an uncertainty of about ±2.5 Sv depending on how the surface flow is taken into account. The results show that throughflow within Makassar Strait can account for all of the Pacific to Indian interocean transport. The correlation of transport to ENSO may be as high as 0.73, though the time series is too short to say this with assurance. Most of the remaining variance is explained by the annual cycle, with a June maximum and December minimum. A strong intra‐seasonal event occurs from late May to July, 1997.


This paper outlines the key findings from a recent study of statutory service responses to young people with learning disabilities who show sexually inappropriate or abusive behaviours, with a particular focus on the involvement of criminal justice agencies. The study found that although inappropriate sexual behaviours were commonplace in special schools, and that serious acts of abuse including rape had sometimes occurred, education, welfare and criminal justice agencies struggled to work together effectively. In particular, staff often had difficulty in determining the point at which a sexually inappropriate behaviour warranted intervention. This problem was frequently compounded by a lack of appropriate therapeutic services. In many cases this meant that no intervention was made until the young person committed a sexual offence and the victim reported this to the police. As a consequence, young people with learning disabilities are being registered as sex offenders. The paper concludes by addressing some of the policy and practice implications of the study's findings, particularly those which relate to criminal justice.


This study was undertaken with the aim to determine the supplementary value of Beresa-55 and Gebisa-17 cultivars and concentrate mixture to a basal diet of natural pasture hay based on growth performance, feed utilization, digestibility and net return of Horro sheep. A total of twenty five yearlings Horro sheep were stratified into five groups based on initial body weight in randomized complete block design and animals were assigned to the dietary treatments randomly: (T1) (Control): ad-lib natural grass + concentrate mixture at 2% BW, (T2): ad-lib natural grass + Gebisa-17cultivar at 1.5% BW, (T3): ad-lib natural grass + Gebisa-17 cultivar at 2% BW, (T4): ad-lib natural grass + Beresa-55 cultivar at 1.5% BW and (T5): ad-lib natural grass + Beresa-55 cultivar at 2% BW. Basal hay DM intake was relatively higher in T2 and T4, while total DM and CP intake was higher in T1 and T5. Similarly, significantly higher digestibility of DM, CP and organic matter (OM) was obtained in T1 and T5. Dietary treatments also significantly (P 0.01) weight gain and enhanced comparable growth performance than in the other treatments. However, partial budget analysis indicates that, T5 is more profitable and thus, can be used as a priority supplement in feeding of Horro sheep.

 Key words: Horro sheep, Lablab purpureus, weight gain, digestibility, feed intake.


To understand how virulent mycobacteria subvert host immunity and
 establish disease, we examined the differential response of mice to
 infection with various human outbreak Mycobacterium
 tuberculosis clinical isolates. One clinical isolate, HN878,
 was found to be hypervirulent, as demonstrated by unusually early death
 of infected immune-competent mice, compared with infection with other
 clinical isolates. The differential effect on survival required
 lymphocyte function because severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)
 mice infected with HN878 or other clinical isolates all died at the
 same rate. The hypervirulence of HN878 was associated with failure to
 induce M. tuberculosis-specific proliferation and
 IFN-γ production by spleen and lymph node cells from infected mice.
 In addition, 2- to 4-fold lower levels of tumor necrosis factor-α
 (TNF-α), IL-6, IL-12, and IFN-γ mRNAs were observed in lungs of
 HN878-infected mice. IL-10, IL-4, and IL-5 mRNA levels were not
 significantly elevated in lungs of HN878 infected mice. In contrast,
 IFN-α mRNA levels were significantly higher in lungs of these mice.
 To further investigate the role of Type 1 IFNs, mice infected with
 HN878 were treated intranasally with purified IFN-α/β.
 The treatment resulted in increased lung bacillary loads and even
 further reduced survival. These results suggest that the hypervirulence
 of HN878 may be due to failure of this strain to stimulate Th1 type
 immunity. In addition, the lack of development of Th1 immunity in
 response to HN878 appears to be associated with increased induction of
 Type 1 IFNs.


The first part studies the problem of estimating the covariance matrix in a starshaped model with missing data. By introducing a class of priors based on a type of Cholesky decomposition of the precision matrix, we then obtain the closed forms of Bayesian estimators under several invariant loss functions. In the second part, we first propose an efficient algorithm for Bayesian spatial analysis via the generalized Ratio-of-Uniforms method, which generates independent samples from the resulting posterior distribution. We then present a Bayesian spatial methodology for analyzing the site index data from the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP). Our results show that aspect class and soil depth are both significant while land type association is less significant. In the third part, we present a new spatial model that takes into account the special data structure and treats a cluster of measurements as repeated measurements in one location. The model is applied to the analysis of the total vegetation coverage data in the MOFEP. Our results show that the soil depth is an important factor while the aspect class is less important. We also show that the strong spatial effect exists in the data discussed and the measurements in four quadrats of a subplot are not strongly correlated but are not independent.


Background: The ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma) guidelines proposed a classification for allergic rhinitis based on the duration of symptoms (intermittent or persistent) rather than on the time of allergen exposure (seasonal or perennial). There had been no placebo-controlled, randomized, clinical trial of desloratadine (DL) in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis to date. Objectives: To assess the efficacy and safety of DL in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis based on the ARIA classification. Methods: Patients 12 years of age and older with persistent allergic rhinitis were assessed over 85 days of treatment with DL 5 mg once daily (n = 360) or placebo (n = 356). The primary endpoint was the AM/PM reflective total 5-symptom score (T5SS) averaged over days 1–29. Secondary endpoints included AM/PM instantaneous T5SS and individual symptoms, therapeutic response, symptom severity assessed by a visual analogue scale and quality of life. Results: The mean reduction in AM/PM reflective T5SS was significantly greater with DL than placebo over days 1–29 (–3.76 vs. –2.87, p < 0.001) and on each individual day (p < 0.05). The mean AM instantaneous T5SS was significantly reduced with DL compared with placebo as early as day 2 (–1.90 vs. –1.46; p < 0.001). The therapeutic response and improvement in quality of life were significantly greater with DL than placebo (p < 0.001 for each). The frequency of treatment-related adverse events was low and similar between DL (10.0%) and placebo (8.4%). Conclusions: This study showed DL to be effective and safe in the treatment of persistent allergic rhinitis.


This radical new history and theory of counterinsurgency has major implications for social, political and international thought. Retrieving the older but surprisingly neglected language of household governance, Economy of Force shows how the techniques and domestic ideologies of household administration are highly portable and play a remarkably central role in international and imperial relations. In two late-colonial British emergencies in Malaya and Kenya, US counterinsurgency in Vietnam, and US-led campaigns in Afghanistan, and Iraq, armed social work was the continuation of oikonomia - not politics -by other means. Though never wholly succeeding, counterinsurgents drew on and innovated forms of household governance to create units of rule in which local populations were domesticated: through the selective delivery and withholding of humanitarian supplies and inside and through small-scale family homes, detention and concentration camps, depopulation and re-concentration in new villages and strategic hamlets, the creation or shaping of tribes and sectarian militias, and at the largest scale inside newly formed or reformed post-colonial and/or post-war national-states. Military strategists conceived population control as sociological warfare because the social realm itself and distinctly social thought are modern forms of oikonomikos, the art and science of household rule. There is an important story to be told of when and why the social realm first emerged as the domain through which human life could be intervened in and transformed. Economy of Force tells this story in terms of modern transformations in and violent crises of household forms of rule.


Thin films of In203-Sn02 transparent semiconducting oxides (ITO)
have been prepared by conventional thick-film method normally employed in
microelectronics technology. When fired at approximately 650 C in a
continuous air flow, a continuous thick-film of the semiconducting oxides
(about 3000~ thick) is obtained. The sheet resistance of the as-deposited
film is about 6kQ/sq. which can be reduced to about 300 Q/sq. upon heat
o -3 treatment at 300 C in a vacuum of 10 -3 torr. A slight increase of the
sheet resistance to about 1 kQ/sq. occurs on ageing at ambient atmospheres
for a few days.
It is thought that the origin of the conductivity in the as-deposited
films is due to the presence of defects resulting from the non-stoichimetric
composition of the material - i.e. oxygen vacancies. and/or intestitial
tin ions. The remarkable increase in conductivity when the sample is
heated in a vacuum is a result of an increase in the amount of native
defects from shallow donor levels in the tin-oxide. At ambient atmosphere,
the film loses tin due to gradual oxidation process which again leads to
an increase in resistivity.
The Hall effects measurements shows that changes due to annealing
are caused primarily by change in mobility, and a slight change in carrier
concentration. Vacuum annealing also eliminates the effects of annealing
in air. This rules out any structural changes in the film due to annealing
Nature of the annealing characteristics shows that the presence of oxygen
is the cause of the changes in electrical properties. Structural studies show that the films are polycrystalline with crystal
sizes of 100-200 R. There is no obvious change in crystal sizes due to
11
annealing process. Electron diffraction studies also show no obvious
change due to the annealing process. This, together with the vacuum
annealing and mobility studies might suggest that the conductivity in the
films is due to non-stoichiometric effects.
Auger electron spectroscopy (which allows accurate compositional
analysis) and in-depth profiling of the elements in the film was carried
out. The studies show that there is a slight increase in the In/O and
Sn/O ratio for the annealed films compared to the as-deposited films. All the samples show light transmissivity in the visible region of
the spectrum. The fundamental absorption edge appears near 3000R which
corresponds to an optical band-gap of ~4.0eV. The fundamental optical
absorption edge shifts slightly towards the lower wavelength for the more
conductive samples. This shift is thought to be due to Burstein shift.
There is no remarkable absorption observed up to about 2pm for the unfired
and unannealed films. For the annealed films however, there is an
increase in absorption as the wavelength increases, possibly due to free
carrier absorption.
Although these results do not indicate conductivity and mobility as
high as that obtained by using thin-film techniques, a feasibility study
has been undertaken to fabricate heterojunction solar cells (HJSC's) of
ITO-SiO -Si (single crystals).
x In this structure, the ITO thick film
acts not only as a conducting surface layer that induces the SIS junction
but also acts as an antireflection coating. The experimental results
on the working cells have shown a V = 400 mV, and J = 0.5 mA/cm2 ,
cc Sc
and efficiency of 2 ~ 0.2% under a total insulation of = 800 W/m. The
dark and illuminated I-V characteristics have been compared with published
SIS solar cell data and attempts have been made to explain the mechanism
of the cells.


Solutions of conservation laws satisfy the monotonicity property: the number of local extrema is a non-increasing function of time, and local maximum/minimum values decrease/increase monotonically in time. This paper investigates this property from a numerical standpoint. We introduce a class of fully discrete in space and time, high order accurate, difference schemes, called generalized monotone schemes. Convergence toward the entropy solution is proven via a new technique of proof, assuming that the initial data has a finite number of extremum values only, and the flux-function is strictly convex. We define discrete paths of extrema by tracking local extremum values in the approximate solution. In the course of the analysis we establish the pointwise convergence of the trace of the solution along a path of extremum. As a corollary, we obtain a proof of convergence for a MUSCL-type scheme that is second order accurate away from sonic points and extrema.


The mechanisms underlying protamine-induced hypotension and bradycardia were the subject of this investigation. Six groups of dogs with intact circulation were tested in controlled circumstances with various drugs. The following parameters were observed: femoral arterial pressure, central venous pressure, left ventricular pressure and its rate of rise, left ventricular contractile element velocity of shortening, maximal Vce, and cardiac output. The six groups were studied under these pharmacological conditions: ganglionic and adrenal medullary block with hexamethonium chlroide, postganglionic parasympathetic blockade by atropine sulphate, alpha and beta adrenergic receptor block by phenoxybenzamine and propranolol respectively, and depletion of endogenous histamine by compound 48/80 (a condensation product of p-methoxyphenethyl methylamine with formaldehyde). The last group was put on extracorporeal circulation to isolate the vascular tree from the heart. The effect of the drug on this isolated vasculature was observed by recording the femoral arterial pressure. Our findings show that the hypotension and bradycardia are produced by a direct effect of protamine on the myocardium and peripheral vascular system.


One common explanation for the marked inequality of wealth by gender is that women take on less risk in the stock market than men do. However, women and men can face additional risks in the labor and housing markets and through business ownership and caregiving responsibilities. In each case, they face potentially substantial losses of income and savings. The fear of losses from exposure to economic risks can lead people to avoid making decisions to protect themselves, for instance, by saving less and shortening their planning horizons. Widespread risk exposure, especially to hard-to-avoid risks in the labor market and through caregiving, can lower people's savings. This article uses data from the Survey of Consumer Finances to measure and quantify comprehensive risk exposure for single women and single men. Single women stand to lose larger shares of their earnings than men do, largely because of greater caregiving risk exposure. Their increased risk exposure, especially to hard-to-avoid risks, also correlates with lower savings. Employers and policymakers could consider ways to lower the costs associated with hard-to-avoid risks in the labor market and through caregiving as a way of addressing gender wealth inequality.


This work presents an analysis on the process of a conceptual development and implementation of an integrated strategic management model and operational management system model based on ISO 14001:2015. The model integration approach is encouraged by the issuance of International Standardization Organization 9001 and 14001 version 2015 on quality and environmental management system. It is apparent in many companies that top management's vision and strategic intentions are not always communicated well to managers and all other employees and therefore, they are not familiar to top management's intentions. The paper defines a conceptual integration of the two models and implements the new model in an automotive manufacturing company located in Karawang, Indonesia. The study uses a qualitative method of analyses, involving 5 experts in strategic and management systems, the manufacturing company top management, senior management and middle management. Interviews and notetaking were conducted to get the themes of the issues. The study results show that the strategic management model fully accommodates ISO 9001 and 14001 operation management models. The implementation results have also supported the applicability of the new conceptual model through higher performance achievement and approval from auditors of certification bodies.


The axiomatic nature of hegemonic masculinity in the Critical Studies of Men (CSM) continues to come under increased scrutiny. In particular, the issue of how hegemonic masculinity bridges the space between men and masculinity, practice and identification, real and symbolic and particular and universal remains open to much interest and debate. This article contributes to this debate. In particular it sets out to re-emphasise the importance of hegemonic masculinity in the process of understanding how and what men do with how and what men identify as by introducing to CSM a postmarxist approach to masculinities and gender. This article will argue that through a postmarxist approach hegemonic masculinity comes to represent an empty signifier within gender politics. Developing hegemonic masculinity in this way is a radically new approach in the theorisation of masculinities but one that is able to incorporate poststructuralist imperatives such as, moving beyond assumptions about fixed character types but also, build on the need to maintain the analysis of hegemony in gender relations. As such, this article presents new possibilities in theory and thereby, contributes to the re-thinking of how both men and hegemonic masculinity become important parts of the process of producing and reproducing hegemony.


A framework for automatic image colorization, the art of adding color to a monochrome image or movie, is presented in this paper. The approach is based on considering the geometry and structure of the monochrome luminance input, given by its gradient information, as representing the geometry and structure of the whole colored version. The color is then obtained by solving a partial differential equation that propagates a few color scribbles provided by the user or by side information, while considering the gradient information brought in by the monochrome data. This way, the color is inpainted, constrained both by the monochrome image geometry and the provided color samples. We present the underlying framework and examples for still images and movies.


This is a case study of a program of native speaker part-time EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers in a junior college in Japan. It has grown out of a curiosity to ascertain how the teachers have formed and continue to maintain a coordinated program in what would seem to be a disadvantageous national context where as part-time foreign teachers they are expected to do little more than just teach a few classes of mainly oral English. This study investigates the organizational culture the teachers have formed for themselves within their staffroom, and looks at the implications of this for part-time teachers in such an environment. More specifically, the study highlights that central to the program is an interactive decision-making function engaged in by all the teachers which has not only created but also continually enables an identifiable staffroom culture. This organizational culture is contingent on college and staffroom conditions, program affordances such as shared class logs and curriculum sharing, and on the interactive decision-making itself. It is postulated that the contingencies formed in this created and continually creating shared world not only offer the teachers a proficient way to work in their severely time-constricted environment, but also provide them with fertile ground for the self-regulation of a thus created zone of covert staffroom 'on-the-job' teacher development.


The Dynamic Positive Equilibrium Problem (DPEP) is a methodology for dealing with time series about economic agents' decisions, regardless of the amount of available information. The approach is articulated in three phases, as in the static counterpart Symmetric Positive Equilibrium Problem (SPEP), with the variant that it must be preceded by the estimation of the equation of motion which characterizes a dynamic model. Furthermore, the definition of marginal cost in the DPEP model is different from the same notion in the static SPEP. In this paper, the DPEP approach was applied to a panel data dealing with annual crops from California agriculture for a horizon of eight years. The dynamic character of the DPEP model is based upon then assumption of output price adaptive expectations that follows a Nerlove-type specification.


Pancreatic islet transplantation has been a treatment option for Type 1 diabetes since 1989. The most notable refinement since then has been the implementation of the "Edmonton protocol" in the year 2000 and recently, human islet allogeneic (allo-) transplantation has attained a historical milestone in the USAwith the successful completion of the National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded multicenter clinical trial. With the development of human islet isolation technology, human autologous (auto-) islet transplantation has become a clinical option for prevention of surgical diabetes following total pancreatectomy in chronic pancreatitis patients. Meanwhile, islet xeno-transplantation is developing rapidly in particular characterization of immnunosuppression regimens, development of islet encapsulation technology and availability of genetically engineered pig donors. Despite tremendous progress in areas such as pancreas procurement and preservation, islet cell isolation, culture, preservation, new immunosuppression regimens, and new biological strategies, the clinical use of islet cell based treatment, especially alloand xeno-transplantation, is limited due to post-transplantation challenges such as the failure of primary engraftment, immune destruction of the islet graft, lifelong need of immunosuppression, and an unmet need for large numbers of islets. To address these challenges a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing bioengineering and biologic techniques, are now being applied to islet transplantation. The authors have used a bioengineering approach that includes macroencapsulation, microencapsulation, and conformal coating (islet surface modification) to protect islet cells. The biologic approach which includes anti-inflammatory /anticoagulation was successfully applied to improve early engraftment, and insulin-producing cells were generated with stem cell technology. Finally, mesenchymal stem cells were used for induction of immune tolerance and creation of a novel transplantation site. In this review we examine the application of our multidisciplinary approach and how it has contributed to the success of islet transplantation.


A secondary user that tries to reuse the spectrum allocated to a primary user can exploit the knowledge of the primary message to perform this task. In particular, the overlay cognitive radio paradigm postulates the use of a fraction of the available power at the secondary transmitter to convey the primary message, so the spectral efficiency of the primary system is increased, and, therefore, some transmission resources (time slots or frequency bands) can be released to the secondary transmission while the primary user rate is kept constant. The fraction of released resources can be incremented if some channel state information is available at the secondary transmitter. In this paper, we present a scenario where the secondary transmitter maximizes the primary link quality (measured in terms of Effective SNR), and obtains its channel state information by exploiting the primary user SNR-based feedback.


We present a statistical approach to distributed detection of local latency shifts in networked systems. For this purpose, response delay measurements are performed between neighbouring nodes via probing. The expected probe response delay on each connection is statistically modelled via parameter estimation. Adaptation to drifting delays is accounted for by the use of overlapping models, such that previous models are partially used as input to future models. Based on the symmetric Kullback-Leibler divergence metric, latency shifts can be detected by comparing the estimated parameters of the current and previous models. In order to reduce the number of detection alarms, thresholds for divergence and convergence are used. The method that we propose can be applied to many types of statistical distributions, and requires only constant memory compared to e.g., sliding window techniques and decay functions. Therefore, the method is applicable in various kinds of network equipment with limited capacity, such as sensor networks, mobile ad hoc networks etc. We have investigated the behaviour of the method for different model parameters. Further, we have tested the detection performance in network simulations, for both gradual and abrupt shifts in the probe response delay. The results indicate that over 90% of the shifts can be detected. Undetected shifts are mainly the effects of long convergence processes triggered by previous shifts. The overall performance depends on the characteristics of the shifts and the configuration of the model parameters.


In its cases dealing with judicial elections, the Court has cycled back and forth over whether to treat judges as representatives of the voters, like other elected officials, with judicial elections subject to the same constitutional rules as other elections or to emphasize the distinctive nature of the judicial role, which could support special limits on judicial campaign activity. Over a trilogy of cases decided between 2002 and 2015 – Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., and Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar – a divided Court has struggled to hold together the First Amendment's commitment to robust and unrestricted campaign speech with a growing concern for the Due Process value of impartial judicial decision-making and the need to preserve public confidence in judicial integrity. Overall, judicial elections have been treated as very similar to, but not quite the same as, other elections, and some campaign speech restrictions that would be unconstitutional in most elections may be constitutional in judicial elections. This has implications for the regulation of dark money in judicial elections. As in other elections, dark money spending in judicial elections can be subject to disclosure requirements but not spending limitations. Unlike in other elections, in certain circumstances dark money spending in judicial elections could trigger recusal requirements, but the circumstances are poorly defined. In any event recusal is unlikely to be an effective response to the concerns raised by dark money.


Assessing non-standard texts from previous centuries of necessity involves examining the notion of 'standard' which existed before the present. The modern notion of standard English is an eighteenth-century development which builds on formal usage prior to that. The prescriptivism which arose at this time led to the social marginalisation of dialects and their literature. Works written in dialect or containing dialect can be examined in an attempt to reconstruct vernacular features for different regions at various times. Here the central question is how reliable are the written representations which have been handed down. There are a number of criteria for classifying and evaluating earlier texts. Rendering these explicit helps to prepare the ground for later linguistic analysis.


Many pre-existing air conditioner load control programs can provide valuable operational flexibility but have not been incorporated into electricity ancillary service markets or grid operations. Multiple demonstrations have shown that residential air conditioner (AC) response can deliver resources quickly and can provide contingency reserves. A key policy hurdle to be overcome before AC load control can be fully incorporated into markets is how to balance the accuracy, cost, and complexity of methods available for the settlement of load curtailment. Overcoming this hurdle requires a means for assessing the accuracy of shorter-term AC load control demand reduction estimation approaches in an unbiased manner. This paper applies such a method to compare the accuracy of approaches varying in cost and complexity – including regression analysis, load matching and control group approaches – using feeder data, household data and AC end-use data. We recommend a practical approach for settlement, relying on an annually updated set of tables, with pre-calculated reduction estimates. These tables allow users to look up the demand reduction per device based on daily maximum temperature, geographic region and hour of day, simplifying settlement and providing a solution to the policy problem presented in this paper.


Ankle sprains are a common injury with high rates of recurrence, even after discharge from rehabilitative therapy, likely the result of chronic ankle joint instability. Current rehabilitative training primarily consists of cognizant stabilization, where participants are instructed to specifically focus on stabilization of the ankle. This approach primarily utilizes the motor cortex and requires attentional resources. However, ankle joint stability is innately maintained by the cerebellum. We hypothesized that stability training paired with a visuospatial distractor task, leads to greater improvements in ankle stability. All participants were diagnosed with a single leg ankle inversion sprain and performed the same 4-week stability training, except the experimental group training was paired visuospatial distractor. Average muscle activity required to maintain ankle joint stability decreased 59% in the experimental group, compared to 4% in the control. This suggests a benefit in utilizing a paired distractor to improve ankle stability following an acute inversion sprain.


Justice Bushrod Washington's famous discussion in Corfield v. Coryell1 of the meaning of the Privileges and Immunities Clause2 is, as Charles Fairman remarked, "certainly one of the most famous pronouncements ever made in a circuit court."3 The fame of Washington's decision is well-deserved, for it was long considered the authoritative interpretation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause.4 His discussion of the clause was one of the first offered by a federal court. He was surely capable of undertaking such initiatory interpretation, as he was no doubt aware of the original understanding of the clause. He had studied law with James Wilson (whom he replaced on the Supreme Court in 1798) and had been a member of the Virginia ratifying convention, where he had voted with James Madison, John Marshall, and others in favor of the Constitution.5 In fact, his pronouncement in Corfield represents one of the few elaborate interpretations of the Privileges and Immunities Clause left by anyone who participated in the adoption of the Constitution.6 Washington's Corfield opinion not only served as a leading interpretive authority for the Privileges and Immunities Clause, but also greatly influenced the drafting of the later Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.7 In the minds of the drafters of that Amendment, Corfield provided the most authoritative interpretation of the expression "privileges and immunities of citizens."8 Indeed, Washington's pronouncement was the legal authority to which the congressional framers most frequently appealed in describing the constitutional privileges of citizenship.9 Most notably, while introducing the proposed Amendment to the Senate, Jacob Howard explained the import of the "privileges and immunities of citizens" secured therein by means of a lengthy quotation from Corfield.10 Washington's exposition of "privileges and immunities of citizens" is, therefore, essential to American constitutional studies, for it provides evidence crucial to any inquiry into the roots of two different clauses of the Constitution: the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV and the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Through Corfield, Washington both became the leading judicial expounder of the former provision and posthumously influenced the drafting of the latter. Surely, if one is to understand the history of the privileges of citizenship, as guaranteed in both the original and the amended Constitution, one must understand Corfield. Despite the compelling significance of the case, legal scholars have largely failed to give Corfield much attention. Even in studies devoted to the Privileges and Immunities Clause, discussions of the case generally cover no more than a few pages.11 In sum, Corfield v. Coryell remains a famous, important, but largely unexamined constitutional case. It is the purpose of this Note to provide, for the first time, a close analysis of Justice Washington's famous remarks. After surveying the scholarly treatment of Corfield in Part I, I begin the study with a sketch of the understanding of the Privileges and Immunities Clause that prevailed before Corfield. In Part II, I briefly examine the Framers' understanding of the provision; in Part III, I discuss some of the important questions that the Framers left unanswered; and, in Part IV, I survey the ways in which courts grappled with the clause prior to the Corfield decision. In Part V, the longest part, I present a detailed analysis of Justice Washington's opinion. In the concluding part, I consider in what way this opinion sheds light on the original understanding of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. I. The Limited Scholarship on Corfield In large part, the failure by scholars to give Corfield any careful attention is due to the fact that, for the courts, Washington's pronouncement no longer carries the authority that it once enjoyed. …


Hocank is a highly endangered Siouan language of Wisconsin and Nebraska which currently is the object of an extensive documentation project at the University of Erfurt, Germany. The paper presents a descriptive investigation of parts of Hocank verb morphology and its implications for morphological theory. Hocank verb morphology – in particular the left side of the verbal complex – reveals cross-linguistically highly unusual and dispreferred patterns which pose a challenge to traditional and contemporaneous morphological theory. Hocank verbs show to some degree systematically a) discontinuous stems, b) stem-internal inflection, and c) inflectional morphology which is morphotactically closer to the verb root than derivational morphology. Diachronically, these patterns derive from the lexicalization of mostly derivational morphology or compounding which eventually led to the entrapment of inflectional prefixes, hence creating interfixes. The traditional notions of infixation and/or interfixation cannot account for these patterns in a satisfying way. Therefore, a partly new and systematized typology of affix types is proposed which takes into consideration the results of diachronic linguistics as well as grammaticalization theory. A grammaticalization path from interfixes to infixes is proposed with regard to the Hocank data but with relevance beyond this individual case.


Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the outcome of intermediate and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treatment approached through three different staging systems which are Okuda, Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP), and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC). At the same time to predict patient prognosis and survival in each staging system. Material and methods: We retrospectively identified HCC patients from the database of the Hepato-biliary and liver transplantation Unit/General Surgery and Radiology departments, Al Zahraa University hospital, between April 2011 and July 2012. The patients included after confirmed pathology by radiologic criteria of tri-phasic CT and/or AFP level > 400 ng/ml. The data collected to stage all patients by CTP, Okuda and BCLC systems. It is included demographics, risk factors for developing HCC, performance status, cirrhosis clinical manifestations. Laboratory data, including coagulation profile, different cirrhosis parameters and AFP, were captured as well as bilirubin references. Tumor characteristics that were reported were number of lesions, diameter of largest lesion, and extent of disease, MVI and metastatic disease status. Results: We identified 56 patients with radiology and laboratory confirmed HCC. Their age ranged from 40 to 76 years and mean age is 56.6+ 6.73 years. There are 41(73%) males and 15(27%) females. All patents presented with cirrhosis, which is induced by hepatitis C virus in 49 patients, hepatitis B virus in 6 patients. One of these hepatitis B patents is addict and alcoholic. The patients divided into 3 groups. The first group included 35 patients who were treated with TACE/TAC. The second group included 17 who were treated with sequential TACE/RFA. The third group included 4 patients who were treated by symptomatic and oral chemotherapy. MVI was present in 10 (28%) patients of TACE group and the 4 (100%) patients of the oral chemotherapy group. The patients were followed for 1 year and the mean duration of follow-up in the study was 8.0 months. 19 (29.4%) patients in this study died during follow-up. The complications are Liver dysfunction in 15(26.7 %); Hepato-renal syndrome in 4 (7.1%) ; Pleural effusion in 3 (5.3%) ; inguinal hematomas; 1 (1.8%). (Ashraf M. Enite, Ehab Adel and M El-Wahsh. Current Modalities for Treatment of Intermediate and Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Considering Different Staging Approaches. J Am Sci 2012;8(10): 204-212). (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org. 31


OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of physician training on management of depression.DESIGN: Primary care physicians were randomly assigned to a depression management intervention that included an educational program. A before-and-after design evaluated physician practices for patients not enrolled in the intervention trial.SETTING: One hundred nine primary care physicians in 2 health maintenance organizations located in the Midwest and Northwest regions of the United States.PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: Computerized pharmacy and visit data from a group of 124,893 patients who received visits or prescriptions from intervention and usual care physicians.INTERVENTIONS: Primary care physicians received education on diagnosis and optimal management of depression over a 3-month training period. Methods of education included small group interactive discussions, expert demonstrations, role-play, and academic detailing of pharmacotherapy, criteria for urgent psychiatric referrals, and case reviews with psychiatric consultants.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Pharmacy and visit data provided indicators of physician management of depression: rate of newly diagnosed depression, new prescription of antidepressant medication, and duration of pharmacotherapy. One year after the training period, intervention and usual care physicians did not differ significantly in the rate of new depression diagnosis (P=.95) or new prescription of antidepressant medicines (P=.10). Meanwhile, patients of intervention physicians did not differ from patients of usual care physicians in adequacy of pharmacotherapy (P=.53) as measured by 12 weeks of continuous antidepressant treatment.CONCLUSIONS: After education on optimal management of depression, intervention physicians did not differ from their usual care colleagues in depression diagnosis or pharmacotherapy.


Title of Document: ROLE OF FUSION PROTEIN IN NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS PATHOGENESIS Sweety Samal, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Dr. Siba K. Samal, Professor and Associate Dean Department of Veterinary Medicine College of Agriculture and Natural Resources The fusion (F) protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a type I membrane glycoprotein that mediates the merger of the viral envelope to the host cell membrane. The F protein activation initiates a series of conformational changes in the F protein leading to membrane merge which occurs at the cell surface at neutral pH thus modulating NDV entry and spread. The present studies have given an insight to understand the role of F protein in NDV pathogenesis by using established reverse genetic techniques. The F gene of NDV has six glycosylation sites, two of which are present in heptad repeats that facilitate conformational changes during fusion process. To understand the importance of the glycosylation sites in NDV replication and virulence, each site was eliminated individually and in combination on a cDNA clone of NDV strain BC. Our results suggest that glycosylation of F protein plays a major role in virulence and some of the N-glycosylation sites are critical for fusogenicity of the F protein thus modulating NDV infectivity. The F protein is synthesized as an inactive precursor, F0, which is only fusogenic after cleavage into disulfide-linked F1 and F2 polypeptides by host cell proteases. The amino acid sequence surrounding the F protein cleavage site determines the virulence of NDV, since different host proteases that cleave the F protein of virulent strains are present in more tissues than those that cleave the F protein of non-virulent strains. The role of conserved glutamine residue in NDV F protein cleavage site in viral pathogenesis has been examined. This study has helped us to understand the requirement of F protein cleavage site conserved amino acids in proteolytic processing and viral infectivity. Further in this study, the role of F protein cytoplasmic domain and conserved cysteine residues in viral pathogenesis have been explored using reverse genetics. These regions have been suggested to play important roles in F protein conformation, stability and thus affecting the fusion process and viral infectivity. In summary, the purpose of this work is to determine the important domains and residues of the NDV F protein that facilitates fusion process and regulates viral pathogenesis and immunogenicity. An understanding of how NDV F protein fusion process are regulated may lead to the creation of more effective therapies and better vaccine against NDV and other paramyxoviruses in general. ROLE OF FUSION PROTEIN IN NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS PATHOGENESIS


This article provides an international comparative overview of institutional strategies, collaboration patterns and governmental policies related to the use of ICT in higher education. It has been produced as part of an international comparative study on the use of ICT in higher education. A study commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and published as: "The Use of Information and Communication Technology in Higher Education: An International Orientation on Trends and Issues", B. Collis and M. van der Wende (Eds). University of Twente, CHEPS, 1999. It covers the following range of countries: Belgium, Finland, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America. Additionally some main initiatives at the European level have been taken into account. On the basis of this international comparison, the following main conclusions were drawn. Due in part to the fact that in many cases institutional strategies for ICT are still lacking, interesting experimentation does not generally lead to successful dissemination and adoption on a wider scale. In many cases, the push for a substantial use of ICT in distance learning programs has come from new educati onal markets, life-long learning and international education in particular. The response of higher education to these markets is leading in many countries to a convergence of distance and traditional (on-campus) education. Inter-institutional and inter-sectoral collaboration between universities and companies are characteristics of many successful ICT initiatives, although they do not generally continue into sustainable implementation in the individual institutions. Governments facilitate the use of ICT through the establishment of infrastructure, networks and inter-institutional and public-private partnerships, and try to create the right regulatory environment. Further deregulation will enable institutions to respond to new market demands and will inspire the necessary organizational change in higher education institutions.


Currently, the best way to extract the low-energy predictions of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is by estimating the QCD path integrals using the Monte Carlo method formulated on a space-time lattice. Determining the hadron mass spectrum is one of the major applications of such an approach. To study a particular state of interest, the energies of all states lying below that state must first be extracted, and many of the levels lying below the masses of the excited resonances are multihadron states. Reliably extracting multi-hadron energies is challenging since quark propagators that begin and end on the same final time-slice are essential. A novel method of estimating such quark propagators is proposed. This method, known as the 'stochastic Laplacian Heaviside' algorithm, combines Laplacian-Heaviside quark smearing with a new stochastic estimator of quark propagators. The method works well even in large spatial volumes. The implementation of the method is discussed in detail and its effectiveness is demonstrated in various systems, such as in determining the isovector and isoscalar meson energies, and calculating the energies of two-pion states. The inclusion of the scalar glueball is also studied.


Received: 25 June 2017 Revised: 19 August 2017 Accepted: 21 August 2017 Background: Globally, multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the leading causes of disability and is associated with a wide range of complications. Therefore, identifying patient needs and providing education based on an appropriate nursing model seems crucial. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of Orem-based self-care education program on MS complications. Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 88 MS patients, who were members of MS Association of Zahedan, Iran, during 2014-15. The subjects were randomly selected through convenience sampling method and divided into intervention and control groups (n=44). In total, nine 45-minute group training sessions were held for the intervention group based on the patient needs and Orem' model. Before and three months after the intervention, the form of assessment of disease complications was completed by both groups. Data analysis was performed in SPSS, version 16, using Chi-squared test, as well as paired and independent t-tests. Results: After the intervention, all the reported complications, including balance disorder, muscle cramp, fatigue, urinary incontinence, constipation, fecal incontinence, myasthenia, reduced memory, and double vision, significantly improved (P<0.001), except for blurred vision. Conclusion: Implementing self-care programs based on Orem's model ameliorated disease complications in MS patients. Thus, we recommend healthcare organizations use this self-care program as an easy and beneficial intervention.


Chronic medical problems, especially diabetes, are associated with psychiatric
disorders and seemingly lack of sufficient physical activity is one of the mediating factors that
simultaneously affect diabetes and psychological problems. The aim of this study was to investigate
psychological disorders in people with diabetes and their relation to the lack of physical activity.
Materials & Methods: This research was done with quasi-experimental method to study the
psychological disorders in patients with type II diabetes on 210 patients (110 females and 100 males)
who referred to Taleghani Diabetes Hospital in Kermanshah and completed demographic
questionnaire and SCL-90-R questionnaire.
Results: T-test showed that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients with diabetes is over
36%. Male patients and female patients at higher hostility and paranoia, obsession, depression, and
psychosis were higher, but no difference was observed in other domains. ANOVA showed housewives
had more obsession and depression than self-employed people and governmental jobs. Also, their
interpersonal sensitivity and psychoticism were higher than the self-employed participants. The other
two groups were less hostile than housewives.
Conclusion: The results show high prevalence of psychological problems in patients with diabetes and
its severity was higher in women and housewives. Given that most home owners are women, there
must be a relationship between their higher psychological problems and lower body mobility.


OPATM-BFM is an off-line three-dimensional coupled eco-hydrodynamic simulation model used for biogeochemical and ecosystem-level predictions. This paper presents the first results of research activities devoted to the adaptation of the parallel OPATM- BFM application for an efficient usage in modern Grid-based e-Infrastructures. For the application performance on standard Grid archi- tectures providing generic clusters of workstations, such results are important. We propose a message-passing analysis technique for communication-intensive parallel applications based on a preliminary application run analysis. This technique was successfully used for the OPATM-BFM application and allowed us to identify several optimization proposals for the current realization of the communication pattern. As the suggested improvements are quite generic, they can be potentially useful for other parallel scientific applications.


The BDCA antibodies allowed reliable measurement of dendritic cell (DC) subsets and B cell numbers in the blood of normal subjects, and patients with MM throughout the disease course. The numbers of blood myeloid DC (BmDC) and blood plasmacytoid DC (BpDC) are low throughout the course of the disease, and only improve for a short period of time following autologous HSCT. Thalidomide therapy of patients with relapsed disease was associated with an increase in BmDC1 and BpDC numbers.

Monocytes, mobilised at the time of stem cell collection, were used to produce mature DC (matDC) from MM patients and normal donors (ND). The matDC produced from MM patients were of poorer quality as compared to those from ND, despite using combinations of GM/IL-4, GM/IL-13, X4 and MIMIC in the production process. The combinations that contained the X4 maturation cocktail produced the best quality matDC.

The DC/T cell system is abnormal in MM patients. Despite this, it is possible to produce antigen loaded mature MoDC from MM patients. When combined with T cell pre-stimulation and IL-2 expansion, these DC are capable of inducing anti-MM cytotoxic T cells, which exhibit considerable anti-MM cytolytic activity. However, the DC from MM patients still display abnormal chemokine receptor expression, which may inhibit their capability to migrate to lymph nodes in-vivo in order to generate these cytotoxic T cell responses.

These observations will aid in the optimisation of DC based immune therapies for MM, and suggest that a combined immunotherapy approach using pre-stimulated T cells, MM Ag primed DC and IL-2 may produce better clinical responses in MM patients.


It is quite remarkable that scientists should expect themselves to become exempted from the laws of the land for publishing defamatory comments, be they about an individual or an organisation. Having mustered an army of supporters, including Evan Harris,1 Simon Singh has redefined the battle as one of free speech and the stifling of scientific debate.2 It is nothing of the sort.

The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) neither wished nor intended this matter to end up in the courtroom. When Dr Singh went on the offensive against the BCA and spoke of it promoting bogus treatments that had "not a jot" of evidence to support them,3 it was entirely understandable that the BCA should seek to have what were untrue and defamatory comments withdrawn in order to protect its reputation. It sought from Dr Singh a retraction of the allegations along with a public apology. Scientific debate could then have continued away from the law courts. However, despite receiving invitations to retract and apologise, Dr Singh refused to do either.

This case was never about enrichment; it was about fairly correcting libellous statements made about a respected national association representing more than half of the nation's …


In this paper we examine mobile ad-hoc networks (MANET) composed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Due to the high-mobility of the nodes, these networks are very dynamic and the existing routing protocols partly fail to provide a reliable communication. We present Predictive-OLSR an extension to the Optimized Link-State Routing (OLSR) protocol: it enables efficient routing in very dynamic conditions. The key idea is to exploit GPS information to aid the routing protocol. Predictive-OLSR weights the expected transmission count (ETX) metric, taking into account the relative speed between the nodes. We provide numerical results obtained by a MAC-layer emulator that integrates a flight simulator to reproduce realistic flight conditions. These numerical results show that Predictive-OLSR significantly outperforms OLSR and BABEL, providing a reliable communication even in very dynamic conditions.


Descriptive statistics often involves using a few numbers to summarize a distribution. One important aspect of a distribution is where its center is located. Measures of central tendency are discussed first. A second aspect of a distribution is how spread out it is. In other words, how much the numbers in the distribution vary from one another. The second section describes measures of variability. Distributions can differ in shape. Some distributions are symmetric whereas others have long tails in just one direction. The third section describes measures of the shape of distributions. The final two sections concern (1) how transformations affect measures summarizing distributions and (2) the variance sum law, an important relationship involving a measure of variability.


Digital Green is a research project that seeks to disseminate targeted agricultural information to small and marginal farmers in India using digital video. The unique components of Digital Green are: (1) a participatory process for content production; (2) a locally generated digital video database; (3) a human-mediated instruction model for dissemination and training; and (4) regimented sequencing to initiate new communities. Unlike some systems that expect information or communication technology alone to deliver useful knowledge to marginal farmers, Digital Green works with existing, people-based extension systems and aims to amplify their effectiveness. While video provides a point of focus, it is people and social dynamics that ultimately make Digital Green work. Local social networks are tapped to connect farmers with experts, the thrill of appearing "on TV" motivates farmers, and homophily is exploited to minimize the distance between teacher and learner. In a 13-month trial involving 16 villages (eight control and eight experimental villages balanced for parameters such as size and mix of crops) and a total of 1,470 households, Digital Green increased the adoption of certain agriculture practices seven-fold over a classic Training and Visit-based (T&V) extension approach. On a cost-per-adoption basis, Digital Green was shown to be 10 times more effective per dollar spent than a classical extension system. Investments included performance-based honoraria for local facilitators, a shared TV and DVD player in each village, and one digital camcorder and PC shared across the project area. The results are preliminary, but promising.


Sport is a complex social activity that encompasses various areas. Some of these activities come within the category of public needs, which implies that sport is an activity of wider social interest and requires public intervention in its financing. These needs are determined by law and are an integral part of state and local budgets. It is also indisputable that the sport is an activity of exceptional significance for the society and it is equally clear that the investment into sport in Croatia is not proportional to that significance and top scores, which are achieved by the Croatian athletes. Sport can be in a partner relationship with the economy and the promoter of social changes and habits, but in order to become and remain that, general public has to be truthfully interested into sports.


Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) is common, and at least half of patients presenting with signs and symptoms of heart failure are found to have preserved left ventricular systolic function. They have high mortality and morbidity and exert a substantial impact on health care costs worldwide. A range of conditions has been shown to predispose individuals to development of diastolic dysfunction and HFPEF. Chronic hypertension is the most common cause; it has been suggested that up to 60% of patients with HFPEF are hypertensive. Coronary artery disease, obesity, and diabetes are some of the other common contributory factors. Early detection of asymptomatic patients identified as at risk of developing this syndrome has the potential to reduce the risk of subsequent heart failure; this may be of benefit to focus our attention on prevention and intervention strategies in this population.


Insurers and pension funds provide life annuities and pensions that are impacted by both aggregate mortality improvement and individual mortality heterogeneity. Aggregate population mortality trends have shown significant improvement over long periods of time. Individual mortality heterogeneity arises from differing risk characteristics across individuals. This paper assesses the extent that systematic mortality improvement varies with individual risk characteristics. To do this, a Lee-Carter model is used to assess if mortality improvement varies for groups of individuals with similar risk characteristics along with an individual mortality model that allows for heterogeneity with time trends to assess systematic risk. Data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is used since this provides longitudinal, individual level data. Our results are highly relevant to life insurers, pension funds and regulators assessing the future impact of improvement trends in mortality on their premiums and liabilities. Mortality trends differ across individuals reflecting the different risk factors and particularly the prevalence of different diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer and heart problems. Models that are based on aggregate population level trends and differing only by gender and age are not adequate in quantifying mortality trends and risks.


Phenazine is known to regroup planar nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds. It was used here to enhance the bioavailability of the biologically important compound iodinin, which is near insoluble in aqueous solutions. Its water solubility has led to the development of new formulations using diverse amphiphilic a-cyclodextrins (CDs). With the per-[6-desoxy-6-(3-perfluorohexylpropanethio)-2,3-di-O-methyl]a-CD, we succeeded to get iodinin-loaded nanoformulations with good parameters such as a size of 97.9 nm, 62% encapsulation efficiency and efficient control release. The study presents an interesting alternative to optimizing the water solubility of iodinin by chemical modifications of iodinin. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 29 October 2017 Revised 21 December 2017 Accepted 22 December 2017


If $G=K_n$ is the complete graph, the classical Pruffer correspondence gives a natural bijection between all spanning trees of $G$ (i.e., all Cayley trees) and all functions from a set of $n-2$ elements to a set of $n$ elements. If $G$ is a complete multipartite graph, then such bijections have been studied by Egecioglu and Remmel. In this paper, we define a class of directed graphs, called filtered digraphs, and describe a natural class of bijections between oriented spanning forests of these digraphs and associated classes of functions. We derive multivariate generating functions for the oriented spanning forests which arise in this context, and we link basic properties of these spanning forests to properties of the functions to which they correspond. This approach yields a number of new results for directed graphs. Moreover, in the undirected case, various specializations of our multivariate generating function not only include various known results but also give a number of new results.