New gels based on N-isopropylacrylamide and amino acid L-ornithine were prepared by free radical polymerization in aqueous solutions. To make the amino acid attachable to the polymer chain the acrylic group was added to the δ-amino group of ornithine, to obtain N-δ-acrylic ornithine. After the polymerization process the α-amino acid groups were unbound. The relative content of amino acid incorporated into the polymeric network of the gels was estimated from 1HNMR spectra, then compared with the molar fraction used for the polymerization process. The presence of free α-amino acid groups attached to the polymeric network of the gels enabled the complexation of some di- and trivalent metal cations. Copper ions, which can form two complexes of different stoichiometry (1 : 1 and 1 : 2) with amino acids, were used to investigate the influence of the complexation process on the swelling behavior of the gels. The influence of amino acid content, temperature and copper ion concentration on the swelling process was also examined. The gels were found to be most sensitive to concentrations of copper ions in the range 10−6–10−5 M. As the amount of amino acid in the polymer network increases the gels gradually lose their temperature-sensitivity and become more sensitive to copper ion concentration. The volume-phase-transition temperature decreases significantly after the addition of copper ions. Analysis of the UV-Vis spectra and the swelling behavior indicates that both 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 complexes are present in the swollen state of the gels, whereas the latter complex is more dominant in the shrunken state.


This paper introduces a prediction assisted fast handover protocol (PA-FMIP) that integrates a mobility prediction algorithm into a fast reactive handover scheme. A simple data mining approach is used to implement the prediction algorithm based solely on the user's mobility history between wireless IP subnets. Through simulation, the accuracy of the algorithm is evaluated over a city section of West University Area in Texas by a single user traveling with vehicular mobility. The optimal prediction parameters are found for an average accuracy of 92.5%. The handover performance of the PA-FMIP scheme is compared to MIPv6, proactive FMIPv6, reactive FMIPv6 and simultaneous bindings. Simulation results show a 43% decrease in handover packet loss over reactive FMIPv6 and an improvement in TCP throughput. The overhead incurred as a result of the packet forwarding is 50% less than that of Neighbor Casting in the same scenario


This Article offers a new way of thinking about overcriminalization. It argues that in regulating behavior, legislatures have relied excessively on statutory prohibitions and ex post enforcement by police and prosecutors. Regulation by "fiat" alone is often inadequate; proscriptive laws need accompanying structural ones that can cabin behavior and help alter existing social norms. After developing a theoretical framework for distinguishing "fiat" from "structure," the Article tackles the puzzling question why legislatures persist in focusing almost exclusively on fiat-based measures despite the availability of more effective structural ones. The answer turns out to be surprisingly complex, ranging from institutional inertia, to attitudes about liberty, to political considerations. Applying these theoretical arguments, the Article then turns to three concrete examples: tax evasion, speeding, and music piracy. Tax evasion offers an uncommon chance to observe the successful implementation of structural laws, whereas speeding illustrates the more typical scenario in which a fixation on fiat yields low compliance rates, opportunities for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement, and public disrespect for the law. Music piracy presents a contemporary debate at the crossroads between fiat and structure, and the Article explores the ramifications of the two choices. The Article concludes with some broader questions about the desirability and the future of structural regulation.


Strategic communication comprises different forms of goal-oriented communication inside and between organizations, their stakeholders and the society. Strategic communication is an emerging practice and research field integrating established disciplines such as public relations, organizational communication and marketing communication into a holistic framework. The field is based on an awareness of the fundamental importance of communication for the existence and performance of all organizations.This textbook offers a broad insight into the field of strategic communication. The main aim of the book is to give a general overview of theories, concepts and methods in strategic communication. The book also aims to develop an understanding of different perspectives and the consequences each one has for practice. After reading the book the student or reader will be able to define and reflect upon strategic communication as an academic field and professional practice, describe relevant theories and apply these to communication problems.The authors apply a reflective and practice-oriented approach meaning earlier research or theories are not only described, but also discussed from different critical perspectives. A practice-oriented approach means, in this book, that the authors strongly emphasize the role of contexts and situations—where strategic communication actually happens. This book will help business and communications students to not only define and understand a variety of strategic communications theories, but to use those theories to generate communication strategy and solutions. (Less)


Roof's ambitious, wide-ranging book links narrative theory, theories of sexuality, and gay and lesbian theory to explore the place of homosexuality, and specifically the lesbian, in the tradition of western narrative. According to Freud, perversions are the necessary obstacles in a heroic plot of normal heterosexual development; and homosexuality is the nineteenth century's classic case of perversion. Roof builds on Freud to illustrate that a structural understanding of narrative enforces a heterosexual paradigm, a sense of meaning that provides psychological stability for the reader. Looking at film, television, and lesbian novels, Roof explores how ideas of narrative and sexuality inform, determine, and reproduce one another. She identifies the paradigmatic lesbian story, its unvarying repetition, and how it might be recast. Understanding identification as a narrative practice, and narrative as typically heterosexual and reproductive, Roof shows how sexuality and narrative must be disentangled to alter oppressive social practices.Come As You Are marks a significant contribution to lesbian and gay studies, psychoanalytic theory, and feminism.


The existence of two species of dwarf honey bees has only recently generally been accepted. Since they coexist in many locations, this leads to the question of how they differ so that they can both be present. This article presents a comparison of the biology of these species, particularly as they occur in Thailand. We do this to highlight what we do not know about these two very similar species, as well as what we do know.


The Netherlands is among the top spenders on health in the OECD. We document the life-cycle profile, concentration and persistence of this expenditure using claims data covering both curative and long-term care expenses for the full Dutch population. Spending on health care is strongly concentrated: the one per cent of individuals with the highest levels of expenditure account for one quarter of the aggregate in any one year. Averaged over three years, the top one per cent still accounts for more than a fifth of the total, indicating a very high degree of persistence in the largest expenses. Spending on long-term care, which amounts to one third of all expenditure on health care, is even more concentrated: the top one per cent accounts for more than half of total spending on this type of care. Average expenditure rises steeply with age and even more so with proximity to death. Spending on individuals in their last year of life absorbs one tenth of aggregate health care expenditure. In a given year, spending on health care is highly skewed toward individuals with lower incomes. Average expenditure on the poorest fifth is more than three times that on the richest fifth. Spending on long-term care is five times more concentrated on the poor.


Live electroacoustic performance juxtaposes and superimposes two main elements: the real, present and physical, against the simulated and disembodied. In this sense, it is a liminal form which negotiates two different worlds on stage. In this dissertation I will address some central aspects of performance that have been reshaped and problematised by the use of the electroacoustic medium in a live context.

I will investigate in particular three main dualities: the performer's body / electroacoustic sound; physical space / electroacoustic space; and performance / audience. I will also discuss a generalised duality common to all three: presence / absence. Rather than regarding these dualities as indicators of discontinuity, I will suggest that they can help develop a continuum of connections and relationships between performance elements. These connections can be designed as part of the composition process.

By investigating these dualities, this research addresses the main elements of the live event. The central guiding principle here is that the live electroacoustic mode is a performance discipline, and therefore requires a dramaturgical approach that takes into consideration the elements of the live event: performer, audience and use of space. I will suggest that such an approach should guide the creative process, starting at the initial composition stages, through rehearsal and the actual performance.


Hypernetworks are meta neural networks that generate weights for a main neural network in an end-to-end differentiable manner. Despite extensive applications ranging from multi-task learning to Bayesian deep learning, the problem of optimizing hypernetworks has not been studied to date. We observe that classical weight initialization methods like Glorot & Bengio (2010) and He et al. (2015), when applied directly on a hypernet, fail to produce weights for the mainnet in the correct scale. We develop principled techniques for weight initialization in hypernets, and show that they lead to more stable mainnet weights, lower training loss, and faster convergence.


Standalone thoracoscopic surgical ablation may be more effective than catheter ablation in patients with long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation.

 To determine whether or not surgical ablation is clinically superior to catheter ablation as the first-line treatment strategy in long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation.

 This was a prospective, multicentre, randomised control trial.

 Four NHS tertiary centres in England.

 Adults with long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation, who had European Heart Rhythm Association symptom scores > 2 and who were naive to previous catheter ablation or thoracic/cardiac surgery.

 Minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgical ablation and conventional catheter ablation (control intervention).

 The primary outcome was freedom from atrial fibrillation/tachycardia ≥ 30 seconds after a single procedure without antiarrhythmic drugs (class 1C/3) at 1 year, excluding a 3-month blanking period. The secondary outcomes include the intervention-related major complication rate; clinical success (≥ 75% reduction in arrhythmia burden); and changes in symptoms, quality of life and cost-effectiveness.

 Patients (n = 120) were randomised to surgical ablation (n = 60) or catheter ablation (n = 60). An implanted loop recorder provided continuous cardiac monitoring following ablation. Follow-up visits were at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Loop recorder data were reviewed monthly by a physiologist who was blinded to the randomisation outcome.

 The study treatment was received by 55 patients in the surgical ablation arm and 60 patients in the catheter ablation arm; five patients withdrew from surgical ablation before treatment. Data from randomised and treated patients were analysed as per intention to treat. Patients had a mean age of 62.3 (standard deviation 9.6) years, were predominantly male (74%), had a mean left atrial diameter of 44.6 mm (standard deviation 6 mm) and were in continuous atrial fibrillation for 22 months (range 16–31 months). At 12 months, 26% of patients in the surgical ablation arm (14/54) and 28% of patients in the catheter ablation arm (17/60) were free from atrial arrhythmias after a single procedure without antiarrhythmic drugs (odds ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.46 to 2.83; p = 0.84). An arrhythmia burden reduction of ≥ 75% was seen in 36 out of 54 (67%) patients in the surgical ablation arm, compared with 46 out of 60 (77%) patients in the catheter ablation arm (odds ratio 1.64, 95% confidence interval 0.67 to 4.08; p = 0.3). Procedure-related serious complications within 30 days of the intervention occurred in 15% (8/55) of patients in the surgical ablation arm (including one death) compared with 10% (6/60) of patients in the catheter ablation arm (p = 0.46). Surgical ablation was associated with significantly higher costs (£23,221 vs. £18,186; p = 0.02) and fewer quality-adjusted life-years than catheter ablation (0.76 vs. 0.83; p = 0.02).

 This study was conducted in four highly specialised cardiology centres that have substantial experience in both treatment modalities; therefore, the results may not be widely generalisable. The study was not powered to detect small differences in efficacy.

 We found no evidence to suggest that standalone thoracoscopic surgical ablation outcomes were superior to catheter ablation outcomes in achieving freedom from atrial arrhythmia after a single procedure without antiarrhythmic drugs. Moreover, surgical ablation is associated with a longer hospital stay, smaller improvements in quality of life and higher health-care costs than catheter ablation (standard care therapy).

 Evaluation of the impact of ablation treatments on sinus rhythm maintenance and quality of life with extended follow-up to 3 years. Model-based economic analysis to estimate long-term benefits, harms and costs of surgical and catheter ablation compared with antiarrhythmic drug therapy in long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation patients.

 Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN18250790 and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02755688.

 This project was funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme, a Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) partnership. This study was supported by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration-registered King's Clinical Trials Unit at King's Health Partners, which is part funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London and the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre. This will be published in full in Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation; Vol. 8, No. 18. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.


A STUDY OF POST-BACCALAUREATE LEADERSHIP CURRICULA AT SELECT CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION Anthony Wayne Foster, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010 Chairperson: Dr. Gary Bredfeldt The purpose of this mixed method content analysis and descriptive study was to determine the core courses, course descriptors, and described competencies of Leadership Studies curricula at select Christian higher educational institutions. An extensive literature review revealed the complex nature of the issues affecting the current study. It set the theological foundations for a Christian view of the curriculum and leadership authority, biblical models, and their parallels in the leadership literature. The Christian leadership curriculum was approached from a standpoint of lifespan development, curriculum design, essential leadership competencies, and the integration of leadership literature. After a descriptive analysis of the study methodology, the results of the study revealed the distribution of programs and degree types by category and percentage, a census and categorization of courses offered in leadership programs at CCCU member schools, and definitions of competencies taught in those courses. It was discovered that several discrete categories of leadership programs exist. Program objectives were analyzed to yield a categorization of program objectives by rank. Conclusions were drawn based on the frequency of courses, the competencies that are being taught, and course objectives that emerged. The results of a comparative analysis revealed that precedent competencies from other select studies were present in the programs, but no evidence was found to affirm that the perceptions of importance associated with of the competencies correlates to the frequency at which they are being taught. Leadership development models for the programs were qualified in relation to Kiedis' Taxonomy of Leadership Development Models. Finally, the implications ofthe research were extensively examined in regard to the study methodology, the categories that emerged, and what was revealed as missing. Applications of the research were posited in regard to definitions of leadership development, content analysis, the design and delivery of the curriculum, exemplar programs, and recommendations for the integration of principles and pedagogical issues which surfaced in the course of the study. Extensive appendices report descriptive data that emerged from the study.


Validation of satellite-based soil moisture algorithms and products is particularly challenging due to the disparity of scales of the two observation methods. Validation programs for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-E (AMSR-E) instrument on the Aqua satellite is currently ongoing. As part of the AMSR-E validation activities several networks of ground based in-situ soil moisture sensors were established in research watersheds. These networks provide estimates of the average soil moisture over the watersheds and surrounding areas that approximate the size of the AMSR-E passive microwave footprint. Four watersheds in different vegetation/climate regions of the U.S. were selected. All instrumentation was installed prior to the launch of AMSR-E in 2002. There are now over five years of observations available. Quality control of the data has included short term field experiments at some of the watersheds to verify calibration and scaling. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) soil moisture products were compared to the network observations, along with an alternative algorithm. The results indicate that each algorithm has different performance statistics that depend upon the site. A positive outcome of the analysis is that it appears that the algorithms have the potential to perform within acceptable error bounds. Preliminary results indicate the single channel algorithm performs very well in all four watersheds. These results are not final because the products of both agencies are undergoing revisions. The issues addressed here are common to both current and future satellite missions.


For the first time in Taiwan, we have established an undergraduate training program for optical glass melting and applications. Incorporated with e-learning, we try to make the learning process and hands-on practice in preparation of optical materials more happy and efficient. Some ideas for course design, revised facilities and teaching tools have been proposed.


This dissertation focuses on two problems in Brazilian left politics: fragmentation and depoliticization. There is consensus inside the Brazilian left regarding its fragmentation, but the scenario requires a careful analysis of fragmentation since the conjunctural change of June 2013. The same can be said about depoliticization, explained here through the phenomena of post-politics and ultra-politics, and which is arguably the marker of the difficulties the left has found to mobilize the working class even as this class is under attack. This dissertation fills the gap in the literature by addressing these two problems from the Gramscian-influenced perspective of a crisis of praxis. The concept of a crisis of praxis is proposed to attend to the misalignment between theory and practice at the leftist organizational level that has led to melancholia and distance from the consciousness of the class, despite the potential held by new mobilizations – both spontaneous and organized. It is argued that without properly addressing fragmentation and depoliticization, the left will have trouble appealing to the working class, especially given the conclusions of a crisis of representation that was exposed in Brazil in June 2013 and capitalized on by right-wing conservative forces in order to foster political instability in their favour.


Households invest around two-fifths of their financial assets in interest-bearing assets. These assets are predominantly held directly in deposits and also via superannuation and other investment funds. Deposits have grown strongly in recent years, although there has been no growth in interest-bearing securities. Compared with other advanced economies, interest-bearing assets represent a relatively small share of financial assets. For the household sector as a whole, interest-bearing assets are lower in value than debt, so household disposable income increases as interest rates decline. Interest-bearing assets tend to be held by retirees, while younger households are more likely to be in debt. Interest-bearing assets are expected to rise over time as the population ages.


This cross-sectional study describes the variation in the dietary intake of energy and macronutrients based on estimated coefficients of within- and between-person variation and intends to calculate the number of days required to evaluate the dietary intake of adolescents in Piracicaba, Brazil. The sample was made up by ninety-two adolescents aged between eleven and sixteen years. Interviews were performed to assess demographic, anthropometric and dietary variables, which were evaluated by the answers obtained through two 24-hour recalls. Descriptive analyses were performed and variances and Coefficients of variation within- and between-person were obtained by results of one-way ANOVA. The mean energy intake observed was 2,326.2 kilocalories; mean macronutrient intake came to 89.0 grams of fatty acids, 305.3 grams of carbohydrates and 82.2 grams of proteins. Coefficients of within-person variation ranged from 36% to 45%, while between-person coefficients varied from 26% to 31%. Variance ratios ranged from 1.35 (carbohydrate) to 2.62 (protein). The lowest number of observations required to correctly evaluate the usual diet calculated (r = 0.90) was six days, for carbohydrates while the highest was eleven, for proteins. Coefficients of variation were similar to those observed in international studies. We conclude that, in this study, two observations were sufficient to obtain reasonable correlations. However, six evaluations are necessary for these adolescents in order to obtain excellent correlations.


Research has been done on the optimization of fermentation conditions for the manufacture of coconut oil from coconut meat slurry using Saccharomyces cereviceae . The purpose of this study is to determine the ratio of oil and water, stirring speed and concentration of inoculum S. cerevisiae the quantity and quality of the oil produced from the coconut meat slurry fermentation method. Stages of the process include the making of starters and age determination of S. cerevisiae, inoculation, fermentation and filtration. Best products achieved at inoculum concentrations of 14% with a speed of 200 rpm and produces yield of 35.77%. Starter culture is the optimum time of 30 hours at 35°C by the number of cells 185 x 105 cells / ml. Temperature and time of fermentation was significant effect on yield and starch content but does not affect the saponification numbers, levels of free fatty acids (FFA), iodine number. Keywords : fermentation condition, coconut meat slurry, coconut oil, S. cerevisiae , yield, starch content


The fairy tales collected by the brothers Grimm are among the best known and most widely-read stories in western literature. In recent years commentators such as Bruno Bettelheim have, usually from a psychological perspective, pondered the underlying meaning of the stories, why children are so enthralled by them, and what effect they have on the developing child. In this book, Ronald Murphy takes five of the best-known tales ("Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Snow White," and "Sleeping Beauty") and shows that the Grimms saw them as Christian fables. Murphy examines the arguments of previous interpreters of the tales, and demonstrates how they missed the Grimms' intention. His own readings of the five so-called "magical" tales reveal them as the beautiful and inspiring "documents of faith" that the Grimms meant them to be. Offering an entirely new perspective on these often-analyzed tales, Murphy's book will appeal to those concerned with the moral and religious education of children, to students and scholars of folk literature and children's literature, and to the many general readers who are captivated by fairy tales and their meanings.


Abstract: Given the importance of predestination to Reformed theology and the place that Calvin, Beza, and Perkins have in its development and in modern historiography, this article asks what these theologians actually said about predestination. It offers a brief exposition of their teachings on this important topic and seeks to demonstrate their basic complementarity of belief, their shared intention, and their desire to promote godliness by this aspect of sola gratia. It is no surprise that succeeding generations of Reformed orthodoxy such as the divines of the Westminster Assembly and the Dutch further Reformation looked to their writings as stellar examples of a predestinarian theology that is biblical, christological, and practical. KEYWORDS:


Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Pathology and Surgery Vol 3, No 4, Winter 2015 Introdouction: Variations in root canal morphology pose a challenge for successful endodontic treatment. The root canal anatomy of the maxillary first molar has been often described as three roots with four canals (two mesiobuccal, one distobuccal, and one palatal). The occurrence of two palatal canals in one palatal root is quite rare. This report represents the case of a maxillary first molar with unusual canal morphology in the palatal root and highlights the importance of thorough root canal exploration for successful endodontic treatment.


This article discusses the utilisation of StudyNet to facilitate students' learning on a Level 3 Physiotherapy module. The students' perceptions of StudyNet and its usage were evaluated by questionnaire and also by an analysis of the 'traffic' on the discussion forum. A separate questionnaire was used to evaluate the computer use and confidence of students from all three cohorts of the degree. The module incorporated a variety of incentives that encouraged the students to engage with StudyNet – tutor-generated materials, studentgenerated materials, seeded discussions and assessment based on electronic papers. Although two cautionary messages emerged, the questionnaires and other sources of data suggested that overall this has been a successful implementation.


Assessing the performance of deep geological repositories for heat-generating radioactive waste requires reliable predictions of the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behaviour of the clay barriers (the buffer material as well as the host rock/clay). This represents an important element of the waste isolation system. In order to provide reasonable assurance that clay barriers will ensure nuclear waste isolation, it is essential to understand their behaviour under a variety of environmental conditions. The phenomena involved are complex, and adequately understanding the constitutive behaviour of clays and modelling their evolution is challenging. The stress-strain material behaviours that need to be understood and modelled include drying and wetting in non-isothermal conditions and heating-cooling in non-saturated conditions. Other aspects should be considered, such as drying induced cracks and the role of the material structure and its multi-porosity. The difficulty of some of these tasks is increased by the fact that some effects are coupled. The fundamental behaviours of clayey materials under the considered THM conditions are first identified and highlighted for deep repository experiments. We then propose a mechanical stress-strain constitutive frame-work to model the behaviour of clay barriers. This includes aspects such as the thermo-plastic behaviour of saturated and unsaturated materials. In the third part, we show that the proposed framework allows us to ex-perimentally explain observed behaviours and to predict the THM behaviour of clay barriers.


The continuing incidence of costly disputes in the construction industry has led to a
common interest of researchers in different countries to identify the generic aspects of
conflicts, claims, disputes and their resolution. This thesis undertakes an extensive
review of literature in the field of construction disputes examining the current
understanding of the causes of disputes, as identified by other researchers in the field, and
attempts made to minimize them. An analysis of the literature helps identify important
themes for particular investigation: procurement methods, risk allocation, claims
management and dispute resolution methods.
A preliminary examination of 20 projects in Lebanon confirmed the existence and
revealed the extent of disputes on Lebanese projects. Twenty-four semi-structured
interviews with practitioners actively involved in construction projects in Lebanon at the
project management level are conducted, from which a set of dispute influencing areas
emerge. Fifty cases of disputes occurring on four live case study projects in Lebanon are
also analysed to examine the risk allocation and occurrence, the behavioural attitudes of
key stakeholders, and the factors which lead to disputes between the parties. The
findings demonstrate the relationship between those risks which are addressed in the
contract and their interaction (when they eventuate) with the behavioural traits of the
project participants involved. Furthermore, the dispute factors encountered in these fifty
cases are categorized into dispute influencing areas to establish any correlation with the
areas raised in the twenty-four interviews. Following comparison of the evidence gained
from the literature, the interviews and the case studies, a set of provisional
recommendations to minimize disputes is proposed and organized under three themes: a
pre-contract award workshop; the drafting of general and particular conditions of
contract; and the potential for improvement based behavioural on compliance of project
participants. The validity of the provisional recommendations is tested by the reviews of
five experts in the field of construction disputes, in accordance with which the
recommendations are amended.


Objective: To
evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention to improve knowledge and skills in
taking Pap smear conducted by
health staff implementing the program on Early Detection of Cervical Cancer.
Methods: A quasiexperimental, longitudinal
and prospective study, held from October 25 2010 to April 11, 2011 at a
hospital in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. To select groups applied a
non-probabilistic convenience sampling that was composed of 28 people, 15 for
the study group and 13 to the control group. The study group received training
that was divided into three phases in which assessed the knowledge and skills
taking the smear, the control group received conventional training offered by
your workplace. Papanicolaou quality was measured before and after the
intervention. The reference used international classification system Bethesda
2001. For data analysis we used the Student t test. Results: The study group increased knowledge (t = 8.768, p = 0.000) in the management of official
standards, in the anatomy of the lower female genital tract and in the form
of testing. Technical skills (t = 8.639, p = 0.000) also increased in the study
group after the intervention. The control group showed no significant
changes. The quality report of the samples in the study group increased from
60% to 86.7% and in the control group decreased from 92.3% to 84.6%.
Conclusions: The training is effective in improving the knowledge and skills in
taking Pap. Health staff who
received the training improved their
performance and showed more
interest in providing high quality service to women.


Diffuse esophageal spasm (DES) is a motor disorder of the esophageal smooth muscle characterized by multiple spontaneous contractions and by swallow-induced contractions that are of simultaneous onset, large amplitude, long duration, and repetitive occurrence. Although the pathogenesis of DES is unknown, provocative studies with cholinergic stimulation, esophageal balloon distention, or acid instillation have suggested involvement of both sensory and motor mechanisms. This report describes a patient with DES who would predictably become symptomatic with dysphagia and chest pain upon inhalation of perfume or other strong odors. Using esophageal scintigraphy to quantitate and analyze esophageal transit in this patient, we report for the first time that olfactory stimulation triggers episodes of DES and that such phenomena are mediated through the vagus nerve, because they can be ameliorated by the administration of ipratropium bromide. These observations suggest a new (sensory) pathway for the induction of DES and raise the intriguing possibility that inhaled anticholinergics may have a therapeutic role in the management of spastic esophageal motility disorders.


This study investigates the implications of cross-country differences in banking regulation and supervision for the international subsidiary locations and risk of U.S. bank holding companies (BHCs). We find that BHCs are more likely to operate subsidiaries in countries with weaker regulation and supervision and that such location decisions are associated with elevated BHC risk and higher contribution to systemic risk. The quality of BHCs' internal controls and risk management plays an important role in these location choices and risk outcomes. Overall, our study suggests that U.S. banking organizations engage in cross-country regulatory arbitrage, with potentially adverse consequences.


This paper attempts to quantify geometric considerations in observations and observe trends in solutions to free network solutions. The method of investigation will be utilizing 2D observations to determine how each measurement affects the overall solution and the location of the observations relative to the other nodes. A local reference system will be determined using the Gauss-Markov model with constraints by fixing the largest range observation to the y-axis to give a relative orientation. Further solutions will be calculated by fixing additional points to generate multiple least squares solutions relative to the local reference system. The resulting final points will be modeled using the Gauss-mixture model and compared to a simulated dataset generated by adding random error to the observations. Different weight matrices will be tested to demonstrate the effect on the overall solution. These methods were chosen because of prior experimentation by different research groups studying geometric considerations for UAS and ground surveying conditions. The major contribution will be the trends observed in the modeling and the correlation of the fixed local solutions to the geometry of the points.


Nowadays, inkjet-printing technology is considered one of the most promising deposition techniques. It allows the highly precise deposition of functional materials to the required place on a substrate and a cost-saving printing process, especially when the drop-on-demand manner is used. Moreover, it represents the perfect technique for the controlled deposition of polymer material, especially for polymer solutions, because of their low viscosity and better process ability. Poly(vinyl alcohol) was chosen because of its versatile application potential; moreover, its compatibility with the human body only increases its usability in bio-applications. The main purpose of this research was to find the appropriate solvent system for poly(vinyl alcohol) and its printability. Solutions with the best properties were printed in pre-defined patterns and personally defined motifs and the printing conditions were optimized in order to obtain patterns with the best possible shape and resolution, which were analysed by optical microscopy.


This study is a literature review with the ambition to answer the question, what is globalization? The myriad of perspectives, both for and against globalization theses makes it an elusive concept and can be confusing both for undergraduate students and laypersons. Hence, in this paper globalization theses reconsidered, pulling together diverse perspectives in order to provide an alternative way of understanding globalization debate, according to the manifestation of the phenomena associated with it rather than grappling with various explanations. Therefore, globalization means information age and integration, transnational movement and an intersection of global and other special qualities. This paper used two examples related to development issues: economic liberalization and sustainable development to operationalize this definition. The analysis is both descriptive and explanatory. The aim was not to develop new concepts, but to use the existing concepts to formulate a simple definition of globalization. Also, to assess the overall impact of globalization was not the ambition but to show the empirical justification of the definition. This paper concludes that this definition is useful in order for the undergraduate students and laypersons to follow the arguments about globalization and to understand the impact of globalization on development thinking and society.

 Key words: Empire, environment, development, globalization, liberalization.


In this book a syntactic account of Information Structure encoding is worked out which is based on the Derivation by Phase theory and the cartographic approach to the syntax-pragmatics interface. The analysis is developed on the basis of Information Structure encoding in Russian, a discourse configurational language. The book comprises a thorough description of the Russian data, an overview of previous research on the subject, a new syntactic analysis, and an extension of the proposed approach to other languages. The analysis put forth in this book is based on the idea that Information Structure is encoded directly in narrow syntax via [Topic] and [Focus] features. These features are checked by feature-matching with the dedicated functional heads, Top(o) and Foc(o), which form part of the phasal Edge, a structural domain relevant for discourse-related information encoding. The main premise of the present study is that the Edge is an integral part of the architecture of both phases, vP and CP. Thus [Topic] and [Focus] features can be checked at the level of vP as well as at the level of CP. The conclusion reached in the study is that all languages use the vP- and the CP-phase Edges for Information Structure encoding. Crosslinguistic variation stems from the extent to which the Edges are activated as well as from some IS-independent language-specific grammatical properties. The book will be of interest to researchers working on syntax, the relation between syntax and pragmatics as well as for those interested in crosslinguistic instantiation of Information Structure.


Three-dimensional, time-dependent direct simulations of step emulsification micro-devices highlight two essential mechanisms for droplet formation: first, the onset of an adverse pressure gradient driving a back-flow of the continuous phase from the external reservoir to the micro-channel. Second, the striction of the flowing jet which leads to its subsequent rupture. It is also shown that such a rupture is delayed and eventually suppressed by increasing the flow speed of the dispersed phase within the channel, due to the stabilising effect of dynamic pressure. This suggests a new criterion for dripping-jetting transition, based on local values of the Capillary and Weber numbers.


This paper aimed at learning about policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and the extent to which they are sensitive towards youth. It explored the change in the Palestinian society's perception and status of youth as a result of the shift in the sociopolitical context. The change in the perception about youth was also a result of the change in actors in the area of youth and the practices they utilize. This paper found that most of the policies are youth blind; that there is not one single definition of youth; that family and penal laws and policies are totally blind towards young people and only deal with them from the perspective of young women and children; and that intersectionality of gender, religion, location and economic status need to be included in analysis of youth.


Regulating fluctuating endogenous nitric oxide (NO) levels is necessary for proper physiological functions. Aberrant NO pathways are implicated in a number of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease. The mechanism of NO in oxidative and nitrosative stress with pathological consequences involves reactions with reactive oxygen species (e.g., superoxide) to form the highly reactive peroxynitrite, hydrogen peroxide, hypochloride ions and hydroxyl radical. NO levels are typically regulated by endogenous nitric oxide synthases (NOS), and inflammatory iNOS is implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, in which elevated NO mediates axonal degeneration and activates cyclooxygenases to provoke neuroinflammation. NO also instigates a down-regulated secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is essential for neuronal survival, development and differentiation, synaptogenesis, and learning and memory. The gut-brain axis denotes communication between the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the GI tract and the central nervous system (CNS) of the brain, and the modes of communication include the vagus nerve, passive diffusion and carrier by oxyhemoglobin. Amyloid precursor protein that forms amyloid beta plaques in AD is normally expressed in the ENS by gut bacteria, but when amyloid beta accumulates, it compromises CNS functions. Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica are among the many bacterial strains that express and secrete amyloid proteins and contribute to AD pathogenesis. Gut microbiota is essential for regulating microglia maturation and activation, and activated microglia secrete significant amounts of iNOS. Pharmacological interventions and lifestyle modifications to rectify aberrant NO signaling in AD include NOS inhibitors, NMDA receptor antagonists, potassium channel modulators, probiotics, diet, and exercise.


We present a method that allows determining the band-edge exciton fine structure of CdSe/CdS dot-in-rods samples based on single particle polarization measurements at room temperature. We model the measured emission polarization of such single particles considering the fine structure properties, the dielectric effect induced by the anisotropic shell, and the measurement configuration. We use this method to characterize the band-edge exciton fine structure splitting of various samples of dot-in-rods. We show that, when the diameter of the CdSe core increases, a transition from a spherical like band-edge exciton symmetry to a rod-like band edge exciton symmetry occurs. This explains the often reported large emission polarization of such particles compared to spherical CdSe/CdS emitters.


An all-optical sampler consisting of a polarization-independent monolithic Mach-Zehnder interferometer with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers and a temporal resolution of 1 ps is presented. As an example, a simple 320-Gbit/s pattern has been successfully sampled, demonstrating the functionality of this scheme for high-bit-rate waveform characterizations in light-wave systems.


We discuss aspects of a national computer science agenda for High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC). We agree with the general direction and emphasis of the current program. In particular, the strong experimental component and linkage of applications with computer science should be continued. We recommendaccelerating the emphasis on \nationalchal-lenges" with more applications and technologies from the information, as compared to simulation areas. We suggest modifying the grand challenge concept to complement the current teaming of particular computer science and applications researchers. We would emphasize better linking of each application group to the entire (inter) national computer science activity. We express this in terms of a virtual corporation metaphor. The same approach can be used to involve industry in HPCC for both the consumers of HPCC technology (application industries) and producers|Independent Software Ven-dors (ISV) and the hardware system companies. We illustrate this approach with InfoMall, a HPCC technology transfer program funded by New York State. The federal program should have greater incentives for the involvement of both ISV's and their products.


In this paper, we study the relationships between the girth of the Tanner graph of a quasi cyclic (QC) protograph low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, on one hand, and the lifting degree and the size and the structure of the base graph, on the other hand. As a result, for a given base graph and a given lifting degree, we derive an upper bound on the girth of the resulting lifted graphs (codes). The upper bounds derived here are generally tighter than the existing bounds. The results presented in this work can be used to select an appropriate lifting degree for a given base graph, in order to have a desired girth, or to provide some insight in designing good base graphs, or to properly select the base graph's edge permutations.


Sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS and chloroplast trnL‐F regions were used to construct a phylogeny of Schisandraceae. The results show that there are two major clades in Schisandraceae. One is composed entirely of Schisandra species; the other contains a mixture of Schisandra and Kadsura species. Molecular data place Smith's sect. Sphaerostema of Schisandra prominently within Kadsura, and thus neither Schisandra nor Kadsura is monophyletic, refuting the traditional division of the family into two genera based on morphological characters of mature fruits. The sister relationship between S. glabra (North America) and S. bicolor (China) and the monophyly of sect. Sphaerostema and sect. Kadsura are strongly supported. The trnL‐F and combined data sets yield phylogenetic trees that are well resolved and concordant with androecial types of staminate flowers; however, they do not support the evolutionary pathways for androecia constructed by previous authors for Kadsura and Schisandra. The new alignment of species in Schisandraceae indicates that morphological characters traditionally used to construct phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary pathways, e.g., habit (deciduous vs. evergreen or semievergreen), fruit type (bacceta vs. separated apocarps), arrangement of flowers (solitary vs. paired or in glomerules), and pollen (3‐colpate vs. 6‐colpate), evolved more than once in the family. Preliminary observations suggest that the pentagonal androecium and gynoecium of S. glabra are thermogenic and that heat may play a role in the reproductive biology of S. glabra to enhance floral odor or simulate the temperature of brood sites for many types of insects.


The research field of conjugated polymers has grown due to the optical and electronic properties of the material, useful in applications such as solar cells and printed electronics, but also in biosensors and for interactions with biomolecules. In this thesis conjugated polymers have been used in two related topics; to detect conformational changes in proteins and to assemble the polymers with biomolecules into nanowires. Within biosensing, conjugated polymers have been used for detection of a wide range of biological events, such as DNA hybridization or enzymatic activity, utilizing both electronic and optical changes in the polymer. Here the focus has been to use the polymers as optical probes to discriminate between native and misfolded protein, as well as to follow the misfolding processes in vitro. The understanding and detection of protein misfolding, for example amyloid fibril formation, is a topic of growing importance. The misfolding process is strongly associated with several devastating diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). We have developed detection schemes for discrimination between proteins in the native or amyloid fibril state based on luminescent polythiophene derivatives. Through a synthesis strategy based on polymerization of trimer blocks rather than of monomers, polythiophene derivatives with higher optical signal specificity for amyloid-like fibrils were obtained. Self-assembly of nanowires containing conjugated polymers is a route to generate structures of unique opto-electrical characteristics without the need for tedious topdown processes. Biomolecules can have nanowire geometries of extraordinary aspect ratio and functionalities. The DNA molecule is the most well known and exploited of these. In this thesis work the more stable amyloid fibril has been used as a template to organize conjugated polymers. Luminescent, semi-conducting, conjugated polymers have been incorporated in and assembled onto amyloid fibrils. Using luminescence quenching we have demonstrated that the conjugated material can retain the electro-activity after the incorporation process. Furthermore, the amyloid fibril/conjugated polymer hybrid structures can be organized on surfaces by the means of molecular combing and soft lithography. In the process of generating self-assembled biomolecular nanowires functionalized with conjugated polymers, we have shown a new synthesis strategy for a water-soluble highly conducting polythiophene derivative. This material, PEDOT-S, has shown affinity for amyloid fibrils, but can also be very useful in conventional opto-electronic polymer-based devices.


Just 14 years of age, innocent if not ignorant of the facts of life, I went to stay with my older cousin. She seemed very worldly-wise, so when she offered me a romantic novel by Georgette Heyer with the comment "I think you're old enough", I wondered what debauchery I would find within.

Reader, I devoured every page. The adorably beautiful Regency heroine, the brutally handsome Regency hero, the passionate glances across the Assembly Room floor, the chaste kiss with which the book ended. I worked my way through Heyer's entire canon before my 15th birthday.

Which is why, when tasked to comment on the impact of romantic fiction on female sexual health, I was keener than you might imagine. The genre has been the target of much formal criticism – 1970s feminist academics said it forced women into patriarchal marriage. It still is the target of sneers, sniggers and accusations of 'soft core porn'. But I remember my 14-year-old self and I can see the point.

That said, many Journal readers may not see the point. What relevance can romantic fiction have to the clients who turn up at our family planning clinics, arrive in our surgeries, or present their problems in our therapy rooms?

I believe there's huge relevance. In some Western countries, romance accounts for nearly half of all fiction bought; some fans read up to 30 titles a month, one book every 2 days. So while women's exposure to formal sex and relationships education (SRE) may be as little as a few hours in a lifetime, exposure to the brand of SRE offered in romantic novels may be as much as a day every week. What we see in our consulting rooms is more likely to be informed by Mills and Boon than by the Family …


This innovative monograph series reflects a vigorous revival of interest in the ancient economy, focusing on the Mediterranean world under Roman rule (c.100 BC to AD 350). Carefully quantified archaeological and documentary data will be integrated to help ancient historians, economic historians, and archaeologists think about economic behaviour collectively rather than from separate perspectives. The volumes will include a substantial comparative element and thus be of interest to historians of other periods and places. The use of stone in vast quantities is a ubiquitous and defining feature of the material culture of the Roman world. In this volume, Russell provides a new and wide-ranging examination of the production, distribution, and use of carved stone objects throughout the Roman world, including how enormous quantities of high-quality white and polychrome marbles were moved all around the Mediterranean to meet the demand for exotic material. The long-distance supply of materials for artistic and architectural production, not to mention the trade in finished objects like statues and sarcophagi, is one of the most remarkable features of the Roman world. Despite this, it has never received much attention in mainstream economic studies. Focusing on the market for stone and its supply, the administration, distribution, and chronology of quarrying, and the practicalities of stone transport, Russell offers a detailed assessment of the Roman stone trade and how the relationship between producer and customer functioned even over considerable distances.


The two-dimensional discrete cosine transform (2-D DCT) and its subsequent quantization are widely used in standard video encoders. However, since most DCT coefficients become zeros after quantization, a number of redundant computations are performed. This paper proposes a hybrid statistical model used to predict the zeroquantized DCT (ZQDCT) coefficients for intratransform and to achieve better real-time performance. First, each pixel block at the input of DCT is decomposed into a series of mean values and a residual block. Subsequently, a statistical model based on Gaussian distribution is used to predict the ZQDCT coefficients of the residual block. Then, a sufficient condition under which each quantized coefficient becomes zero is derived from the mean values. Finally, a hybrid model to speed up the DCT and quantization calculations is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed model can reduce more redundant computations and achieve better real-time performance than the reference in the literature at the cost of negligible video quality degradation. Experiments also show that the proposed model significantly reduces multiplications for DCT and quantization. This is particularly suitable for processors in portable devices where multiplications consume more power than additions. Computational reduction implies longer battery lifetime and energy economy.


Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) holds the key for the inclusive growth of the nation. Essence of financial service is trust. A bank- customer relationship is fiduciary and not based on a transaction- it is a hard standing relationship and there is every need for banks to act with responsibility. In the area of customer service, cherished principles are: Transparency, Reasonableness, Truth in selling, Confidentiality, and Assistance when needed.Yet banks charge housing loans with fixed interest and floating interest with the customers not knowing what is really fixed? It is common knowledge that it is easier to get an education loan for 20 Lakhs for pursuing education abroad but very difficult to get a loan for 1 Lakh for education in India for a rural student.The essence of Financial Inclusion is to ensure that a range of appropriate financial services are available to every individual and all those who need these services are made to understand and avail them. Every citizen must be able to have his/her basic needs – access to food, clothing, education, healthcare, shelter met.Given the economic level of rural people and given the density of the population, conventional banking methods (brick and mortar) cannot cover all people in a cost effective manner. IT needs to be part of the core infrastructure for development. 72% of the population lives in rural according to 2001 census. Available data shows that only 59% of the adult population has bank accounts. There is many duplicate data as the rich tend to have multiple accounts bringing this figure still less. The unbanked segment in the rural sector is about 61%. Arjun Sengupta report on financing enterprise in the unorganized sector pointed our that only 2.4 million out of 58 million units with investments of less than Rs. 25000 got credit from commercial banks.The limited access to affordable financial services such as savings, loans, remittances and insurance services for the vast majority in the rural areas and unorganized sector is acting as a constraint to the growth impetus to the rural sector and Indian economy. Government had come with various innovations like: Banking correspondents, Banking facilitators etc., Introduction of zero balance and no frills savings accounts, Simplification of Know your Customer (KYC) procedures, Setting of Biometric ATMs in rural areas for catering to illiterate customers, Removing usage fee on ATMs for use of other Bank ATMs.After one year of the perusal of sample account reveal that 72% have zero or minimum balance even after one year of opening. Only 15 % accounts had a balance of more than Rs 100 thus leaving 85% of the new frill free accounts inoperative. But these can address only a fraction of the problems. Empowerment and improving the living standards are interlinked. There is a need for coordinated effort on financial inclusion- bank, insurance etc. Duplication need to be avoided to reduce the costs. Different stakeholders have different perspectives based on their perceptions, which need to be addressed.Mobile telephony is India's growth story of the current era. It has been found that Voice authentication is superior to even fingerprint. The unique identify card planned by the Government of India should help this to accelerate. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be used as a tool for making need based solutions at an affordable cost. Creating awareness and empowering the rural youth by increasing their employability levels are of at mostimportance as these schemes can work fully only when there is involvement by the people.This paper looks critically at the current best practices of BFSI and suggests innovative ways with total involvement of all stakeholders to build an India where there is inclusion with dignity for all its children.


A simple, compact, and low-cost optical fiber refractive-index (RI) sensor is reported. It consists of a multimode fiber in which a short section of standard single-mode fiber (SMF) is inserted. Owing to the core diameter mismatch, the cladding of the SMF guides light. This makes the device sensitive to the external RI. The maximum resolution of the sensor is about 7times10-5. The fabrication of the sensor only requires cleaving and fusion splicing; moreover, the device can operate at different wavelengths, which makes it attractive for diverse applications


A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. Struck flint and bone were recovered from primary silts and radiocarbon dating indicates a Late Neolithic date for the lower silts of one pit. The degree of similarity across the 20 features identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls, and this may also have incorporated the recently discovered Larkhill causewayed enclosure. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km and there is some evidence that an intermittent, inner post alignment may have existed within the circuit of pits. One pit may provide evidence for a recut; suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age. Together, these features represent a unique group of features related to the henge at Durrington Walls, executed at a scale not previously recorded.


Picking is the number one cost center for most warehouses, representing up to 65% of their total expenditures. Travel time is the largest component of the picking cost which makes travel distance an extremely important variable. The critical issue is to reduce a warehouses picking cost by reducing the overall distance traveled by pickers. While there have been many attempts to reduce travel distance by improving product assignment, pick routing and warehouse design, this research addresses pick location design. Existing methods to pick location design are very basic as the issue is barely addressed. Most research either assumes location sizes are not a constraint, or that a single location size will be sufficient. This research shows that an intelligent approach to pick location design can significantly increase a warehouses space utilization and decrease the distance traveled in its picking operation. The method developed utilizes product dimensions and volumes as well as system attributes and constraints. By using the method developed in this research, the cost incurred by traveled distance can be reduced by up to 48%. Finally, the method is shown to be successful in real world application through a comprehensive case study performed in an actual distribution warehouse.


Within the Oil and Gas value chain, transportation plays an important role in fusing the link between the producer and consumer nations. The supply of oil and gas are principally through pipelines routes which typically transcend across several borders and therefore requires the negotiation of transit terms with transit nations. This situation has therefore subjected resource supply, a very important factor input in the matrix of energy consumption to the vagaries of obsolescing bargain and its ancillary effect of potential disruptions to the consumer nation. This paper shall seek to examine the issues of obsolescing bargain in transit pipelines as it affects the security of supply in the context of disputes that have arisen between countries in typical transit agreements. The paper concludes by examining the options available to the exporter country in ensuring security of supply.


Various theoretical models of public policy analysis are used to treat situations of decision-making in which public deciders have to take into account the multifunctionality of agriculture. For some, science-society relations are not really problematical. Others acknowledge the current attempts of these policy-makers to find adequate scientific knowledge, and the difficulties they encounter. These difficulties stem partly from the very content of knowledge produced by research. Could other modes of production be more efficient? The status of the knowledge produced by these approaches is a subject of debate. Bridging the divide between science and policy more effectively is not only a question of knowledge brokerage. Accessibility and reliability of the existing evidences are also problems to be addressed. The debates around evidence-based practices may provide some landmarks in this new situation although they also emphasize the limits of the tools that can be built for this purpose.


Focusing on discourses and practices of identity in an Italian organization in London, this article examines the relationship between the construction of the identity of places and the construction of terrains of belonging. Various forms of cultural practices that mark out spatial and identity boundaries for the London Italian population are discussed in relation to the deployment of gender and ethnicity. Advancing a corporeal approach to identity formation, it is argued that displays of the Italian presence in London operate through the repetition of regulatory norms that produces the effect of materialization of cultural belonging through the ethnicizing and gendering of individual bodies. Gender and ethnicity are deeply embedded in one another and their entwinement is to be understood as the outcome of their construction along similar bodily lines. Also, the author shows that gender and ethnicity are mutually dependent on each other for their construction; imperatives of gender serve to stabilize a fluctuating and indeterminate ethnic culture, while ethnic conventions naturalize the different positions men and women occupy in social life.


—This study 1 holds for the formation of international financial crisis and political factors for economic crisis in Turkey, are evaluated in chronological order. The international arena and relevant studies conducted in Turkey work in the literature are assessed. The main purpose of the study is to hold the linkage between the crises and political stability in Turkey in details, and to examine the position of Turkey in this regard. The introduction part follows the literature survey on the models explaining causes and results of the crises, the second part of the study. In the third part, the formations of the world financial crises are studied. The fourth part, financial crisis in Turkey in 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2008 are reviewed and their political reasons are analyzed. In the last part of the study the results and recommendations are held. Political administrations have laid the grounds for an economic crisis in Turkey. In this study, the emergence of an economic crisis in Turkey and the developments after the crisis are chronologically examined and an explanation is offered as to the cause and effect relationship between the political administration and economic equilibrium in the country. Economic crises can be characterized as follows: high prices of consumables, high interest rates, current account deficits, budget deficits, structural defects in government finance, rising inflation and fixed currency applications, rising government debt, declining savings rates and increased dependency on foreign capital stock. Entering into the conditions of crisis during a time when the exchange value of the country's national currency was rising, speculative finance movements and shrinking of foreign currency reserves happened due to expectations for devaluation and because of foreign investors' resistance to financing national debt, and a financial risk occurs. During the February 2001 crisis and immediately following, devaluation and reduction of value occurred in Turkey's stock market. While changing over to the system of floating exchange rates in the midst of this crisis, the effects of the crisis on the real economy are discussed in this study. Administered politics include financial reforms, such as the rearrangement of banking systems. These reforms followed with the provision of foreign financial support. There have been winners and losers in the imbalance of income distribution, which has recently become more evident in Turkey's fragile economy.


Death in England provides the first ever social history of death-from the earliest times to Diana, Princess of Wales. As we discard the taboos surrounding death, this book charts the fascinating story of how people have coped with this fundamental aspect of their daily lives. Peter C. Jupp and Clare Gittings reveal how attitudes, practices, and beliefs about death have undergone constant change, as well as how, why, and at what ages people died. Examining how death touches all aspects of society, they cover topics such as plagues and violence; wills and deathbeds; funerals and memorials; and beliefs and bereavement. This wide-ranging analysis is lavishly illustrated with photographs and drawings, their diversity reflecting the breadth of issues and periods covered. The contributors are all specialists in their own fields, including archaeology, history, and sociology. The ten chapters cover: earliest times to the Bronze Age; the Iron and Roman Ages; the Early Middle Ages; from the advent of Purgatory to the Black Death; the Later Middle Ages and the Reformation; from Elizabeth I to the Civil War; the "Age of Decency"; the Enlightenment; the Victorian era; and the twentieth century. With the pervasive depiction of death through the media and the ensuing public awareness of this topic, Death in England will be of interest not only to the general reader but also to students of archaeology, art, history, medicine, and sociology.


Trade unions in Europe have showed a mixed response to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and have adopted a broad spectrum of positions on CSR. Prior research has identified five distinct positions of trade unions across Europe by way of which some of the unions perceive CSR as a threat, some are sceptical about the fact that whether CSR could deliver, yet others champion the cause of CSR, whereas two other categories of which some are disillusioned and others lack knowledge regarding CSR. This spectrum of positions raises the question whether we are going to witness a convergence of union positions over the medium term. The proposed research analyzes the positions adopted by trade unions in Europe. On the basis of this analysis, it tries to explain various strategies adopted by trade unions. The key argument is that the whole process is linked to neoliberalism. The outcome of neoliberal approach is deregulation, not only of financial market, but labour market as well. Withdrawal of state from regulation of businesses has created a vacuum. There is a vacuum of regulation at the national level and there are inadequate governance mechanisms available at the global level. Businesses have tried to fill this vacuum by engaging in CSR. Trade unions are apprehensive of CSR due to its voluntary nature; greenwashing; questionable nature of CSR tools including audits, awards, an attempt to replace binding rules; and some see CSR as a threat because there is evidence that adoption of CSR as an alternative to binding regulations has hampered trade union power. Simultaneously, to increase their influence in dealing with the businesses, trade unions want to use the opportunities offered by CSR to gain maximum benefits out of it. Trade unions see similarities in company CSR agenda with trade union agenda. There are trade unions that are progressing CSR agenda. To couple their efforts at the national level, trade unions are trying to develop some supranational regulatory institutions and development of IFAs is an evidence of that. An attempt has been made to provide evidence from the data collected for this study to interpret trade union responses in the light of hypotheses developed in this study. The dominant paradigm employed for the present study would be interpretivist/qualitative. The reason for preference of interpretivism over the other with relation to the present study is that it tries to explain strategy. The process of strategy formulation is difficult to capture with entirely quantitative approach. There is a lot of brainstorming at the union management level to adopt a certain strategy and to get a handle on how a specific strategy is adopted, it is easy to explain using an interpretive approach. Doctoral level research is meant to make original contribution towards the existing body of knowledge. The present study seeks to contribute original insights from data collected for this study. Prior research had informed us about the trade unions' principled positions about CSR. The present study analyses the reason why trade unions are getting involved in CSR initiatives by businesses.


This brief puts forward three foundational principles that explain the difficulties in regulating multinational enterprises. This has implications on whether more or less coercive strategies could be pursued to ensure responsible business conduct. The task of regulating lead firms should remain mindful of fundamental considerations of corporate law (legal separation of entities), international law (national sovereignty) and human rights law (leverage for rightholders). To succeed, regulation should be designed in a way that minimizes the frictions with these three principles. In many situations the task is to conceive policy mixes adapted to the mobility of global value chains and thus deliver a regulatory regime able to account for and navigate a course around foundational principles specific to the transnational business and human rights area.


For almost three decades, flow cytometry has allowed researchers to investigate ocean planktonic communities using size and cell fluorescence properties. However, oceanographic applications must face two constraints. First, when dealing with marine microbes, instruments must be sensitive because these organisms are very small and with low fluorescence. Second, instruments must be portable to be used on board ships. We compared the performance of two instruments, the BD FACSCanto™ and BD Accuri™ C6. The former is an expensive laboratory‐based instrument which has a very good sensitivity, whilst the latter is less sensitive but presents critical advantages for field studies (easy handling and transportation, relatively low cost). We have analyzed 102 samples from the South Atlantic Ocean from three transects off Brazil, within the euphotic zone. We compared cell abundance of heterotrophic bacteria, Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus, as well as photosynthetic pico‐ and nano‐eukaryotes. Heterotrophic bacteria, pico‐ and nano‐eukaryotes could be easily detected with both cytometers. Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus populations were severely under‐estimated with the BD Accuri™ C6, particularly for samples from the well‐lit layers of the water column. Correction of abundance data using previously suggested approaches was not sufficient to fully compensate for the low sensibility. Our data suggest that the BD Accuri™ C6 is suitable for counting marine bacteria and photosynthetic eukaryotes, but not Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus.


The interconnectedness of people, services and devices is a defining aspect of the digital revolution, and, secure digital identities are an important prerequisite for secure and legally compliant information exchange. Existing approaches to realize a secure identity management focus on central providers of identities such as national authorities or online service providers. Hence, changing residence or service provider often means to start over and creating new identities, because procedures for data portability are missing. Self-sovereign digital identities are instead created and managed by individuals, and enable them to maintain their digital identities independent from residence, national eID infrastructure and market-dominating service providers.


The recent history of intermediary liability decisions in copyright and trademark law reflects a notable resistance to rules that might constrain judicial discretion to ferret out bad guys. Indeed, a dichotomy appears to be emerging between two types of defendants: those who want infringement to happen and those who do not. In both copyright and trademark cases, courts are developing two distinct sets of rules to deal with two different classes of intermediaries. Good-faith intermediaries — those with a core business model unrelated to infringement — have an obligation to address infringement upon notice, but need not go out of their way to root it out; a reactive approach will suffice to protect them from liability. Bad-faith intermediaries, on the other hand — those who not only benefit from infringement, but intend it to happen — face certain liability, without regard to specific notice of particular acts of infringement. The trick, of course, lies in understanding how to differentiate between good and bad faith actors. Doctrinally, copyright courts are turning to inducement to do the sorting. Inducers, as bad actors, get none of the protections afforded to other infringement-enabling intermediaries. And inducers are those whose business model depends, at its core, on infringement. Far from defying Sony, I view this development as fully consistent with the normative goal laid out by the Supreme Court in defending the staple article of commerce doctrine: "[t]he staple article of commerce doctrine must strike a balance between a copyright holder's legitimate demand for effective — not merely symbolic — protection of the statutory monopoly, and the rights of others freely to engage in substantially unrelated areas of commerce."


Voluminous rhyolitic volcanism along the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana was marked by three principal episodes of magmatism. The first of these ( V1) is essentially coincident with the main episode of Karoo–Ferrar magmatism at ∼184 Ma. A younger ( V2) episode occurred at ∼168 Ma, and a third episode ( V3) occurred in the interval 157–153 Ma. We evaluate the origin of V1 and V2 rhyolites from the Antarctic Peninsula using major and trace element and isotopic (Sr, Nd, O) data. An isotopically uniform (87Sr/86Sri ∼0·707; eNdi ∼ −3) andesite–dacite magma was generated as a result of anatexis of 'Grenvillian age' hydrous mafic lower crust, linked to earlier, arc-related underplating. The lower-crustal partial melts would have mixed with fractionated components of the mafic underplate, followed by subsequent storage and homogenization. Early Jurassic ( V1) rocks of the southern Antarctic Peninsula are interpreted as melts of upper-crustal paragneiss, which have mixed with the isotopically uniform magma in upper-crustal magma chambers. The V2 rhyolites are the result of assimilation–fractional crystallization of the isotopically uniform magma. This occurred in upper-crustal magma chambers involving assimilants with similar isotopic composition to that of the magma. A continental margin setting was crucial in developing hydrous, readily fusible lower crust. Lower-crustal anatexis was in response to mafic underplating associated with the Discovery–Shona–Bouvet group of plumes, thought to be responsible for the Karoo magmatic province. The progression (old to young) of volcanism from NE to SW in Patagonia and south to north in the Antarctic Peninsula is consistent with migration away from the mantle plumes towards the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwana during rifting and break-up.


No matter the size, every construction project has their own unique characteristics and logistics that come with it. But one thing is certain, every project has a specific set of construction documents that include; contracts, drawings, specifications and other important information. To guarantee the overall success of the project, companies must find ways to be the most effective and efficient to reach their specific goals. Using a technological software such as Bluebeam allows companies to excel in what they do best. Using Bluebeam as their primary PDF viewer on construction projects allows them to approach their project with a positive mindset. By going paperless, it not only saves space on the jobsite but allows the company to be more organized. Especially in commercial construction where projects are much larger, the use of Bluebeam allows all documents to be kept on one software. In this case study, we will focus on a specific company that once did not implement the use of Bluebeam technology but now currently does. From taking advantage of this software we learn that it allows for effective project management within the company as well as gives everyone on the project team access to important documents at the touch of a button.


Chemistry plays an important role in the interstellar medium (ISM), regulating the heating and cooling of the gas and determining abundances of molecular species that trace gas properties in observations. Although solving the time-dependent equations is necessary for accurate abundances and temperature in the dynamic ISM, a full chemical network is too computationally expensive to incorporate into numerical simulations. In this paper, we propose a new simplified chemical network for hydrogen and carbon chemistry in the atomic and molecular ISM. We compare results from our chemical network in detail with results from a full photodissociation region (PDR) code, and also with the Nelson & Langer (NL99) network previously adopted in the simulation literature. We show that our chemical network gives similar results to the PDR code in the equilibrium abundances of all species over a wide range of densities, temperature, and metallicities, whereas the NL99 network shows significant disagreement. Applying our network to 1D models, we find that the CO-dominated regime delimits the coldest gas and that the corresponding temperature tracks the cosmic-ray ionization rate in molecular clouds. We provide a simple fit for the locus of CO-dominated regions as a function of gas density and column. We also compare with observations of diffuse and translucent clouds. We find that the CO, , and abundances are consistent with equilibrium predictions for densities , but the predicted equilibrium C abundance is higher than that seen in observations, signaling the potential importance of non-equilibrium/dynamical effects.


The interception of a surface vessel is an important function of a nation's maritime military capability. Here we explore a scenario where a reconnaissance aircraft is used to cue a surface naval vessel to intercept a suspect vessel amongst a number of non-target vessels. The effect of upgrading the aircraft's radar suite from non-imaging to imaging-capable is examined. Substantial savings of up to 11% in flight time and 16% in fuel consumption are found when the latter is used. Greater savings are generally found for larger (in radar cross-section) target vessels and these savings increase with the number of non-targets vessels present - 12, 24 and 36 vessels are tested here. The situation is found to worsen significantly if sufficient standby aircraft are not available to maintain target surveillance during refuelling times. Therefore, acquisition of expensive technology must be accompanied by appropriate platform maintenance and operating policies.


Present article offers a theoretical analysis regarding probation services provided in Romania. In this respect are reminded the main forms of justice, as they exist around Europe, and then implemented and adapted to Romanian specific. Also there are underlined the major international regulations and laws related to the social-legal approach of probation. The most part of the article is dedicated to a deep analyse of the New Penal Code with regards especially to probation services. Also there mentioned the specifics and philosophy of each form of justice and there are given several examples of how them are implemented in the Romanian practice. New Penal Code along with probation laws and the enforcement of non-custodial sentences are part of a reform of probation in Romania that exceeded experimental phase as a significant institution whose role in the execution of non-custodial measures and the individualization of punishment, being at this stage legally contoured.


We have designed a wafer level chip scale package for a bi-stable SOI-MEMS dc switch using a silicon-glass hermetic seal with through the lid feedthroughs. Bonded at 365 °C, 230 V and 250 kg, they pass the fine/gross leak test after thermal cycling and mechanical shock/vibration according to MIL-STD-833, fulfilling the requirements for biomedical applications. The measured shear strength is 114 ± 26 N in correspondence with the theoretically expected 100 N. Ruthenium microcontacts are a factor of 100 more robust than gold microcontacts, being stable over 106 cycles measured in a N2 atmosphere inside the package presented here. Future work will include a more extensive bond quality assessment and continued microcontact reliability measurements.


A chronological account of the princesses and consort Queens of the Georgian era. From Sophia who died shortly before she would have become Queen as heir to Queen Anne, to Adelaide, consort to William IV whose failure to provide an heir ensured the succession passed to his niece Queen Victoria. During this period, an array of colourful personalities came and went - George I's ill-fated wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle who was imprisoned for adultery for over 30 years until her death; the equally tragic Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and sister of George III who married an incipient schizophrenic, saw her lover put to death, was divorced and imprisoned, released after pressure from her brother, only to die of typhoid or scarlet fever aged just 23; George IV's notorious consort , his cousin Caroline of Brunswick, who danced naked on tables and was refused access to his coronation; and their daughter Charlotte, whose death in childbirth in 1817 necessitated the hasty marriages of several of her middle-aged uncles in a desperate race to provide a legal heir to the throne.


Neutron-carbon interactions have been studied with a focus on charged-particle production of relevance to radiation protection and medical applications, such as cancer therapy. The measurements have been performed using the particle-detection setup, MEDLEY, and the 96 MeV neutron beam at the The Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala.Double-differential cross sections of inclusive charged-particle production are compared with recent calculations from models based on the GNASH code including direct, preequilibrium and compound processes. For protons, the shapes of the cross-section spectra are reasonably well described by the calculations. For the other particles- d, t, 3He and α- there are important discrepancies, in particular for 3He-ions and α-particles, concerning both shape and magnitude of the spectra.Using the new cross sections, partial as well as total KERMA coefficients have been determined. The coefficients have also been compared to previous experimental results and model calculations. The p, d and t KERMA coefficients are in good agreement with those from a previous measurement. For the helium isotopes, there are no previous measurements at this energy. The KERMA coefficients are considerably higher (by up to 30%) than those predicted by the calculations.The KERMA results indicate that protons and α -particles are the main contributors to the dose. A 6x6x6 cm3 carbon phantom, exposed to a broad and a pencil-like beam, is used for the computation of the absorbed doses deposited by these two particles in spheres of 1 μm in diameter, located at various positions in the phantom. The maximum doses are deposited at ~3 cm from the surface of neutron impact for protons and within 1 cm for α-particles. For the pencil beam, deposited doses are spread over regions of ~1.5 cm and ~300 μm transverse to the beam for protons and α-particles, respectively. The results are consistent with previous integral measurements at lower energies.


Available evidence shows that aortic valve repair reduces valve-related mortality and improves quality of life compared to prosthetic aortic valve replacement. One of the most important predictors of bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valve repair failure is the absence of treating a dilated aortic annulus greater than 25-28 mm. Competency of the aortic valve depends on multiple factors including the diameter of the annulus, sinotubular junction, valve cusps and commissures. Dystrophic aortic insufficiency (AI) is the commonest cause of AI in the Western world and is characterised by dilatation of the aortic annulus (≥25 mm), sinuses and/or sinotubular junction (≥30 mm). Depending on whether the sinuses of Valsalva and/or tubular ascending aorta are dilated, three phenotypes can be identified: dilated aortic root, dilated ascending aorta and isolated AI. All three phenotypes are associated with a dilated aortic annulus. Aortic annuloplasty reduces the dilated aortic annulus and improves the surface of coaptation, as in the case of mitral valve repair. In treating AI, it is also important to restore the physiological sinotubular junction/annulus ratio, which can be carried out with remodeling root repair + subvalvular annuloplasty (for dilated aortic root), tubular ascending aorta replacement + subvalvular annuloplasty (for dilated ascending aorta) and double sub- and supra-valvular annuloplasty (for isolated AI). Aortic annuloplasty is now considered an essential component of aortic valve repair and valve-sparing root surgery.


The flow characteristics and the stability of a tidal inlet are governed, among other factors, by the channel bed friction. In order to determine the bed shear stress regime and the frictional characteristics, near-bed velocity profiles were obtained at the throat sections of two inlets, John's Pass and Blind Pass, on the Gulf Coast of Florida. A specially designed steel cage with five current meters in a vertical array was used to obtain the profiles in the bottom one meter of the flow. The profiles were found to be logarithmic but it is noted that, especially near the times of slack water, the effect of inertia becomes significant. However, during the major part of the flood or ebb flow period, frictional effects are dominant. In the fully rough regime of flow, the bed-shear stress - velocity relationship is found to follow the square law, with a constant, characteristic friction factor and Manning's n for each inlet. This friction factor is used in hydraulic formulas, based on uniform, steady open channel flow relationships, to obtain the tidal prism - throat cross-sectional area ratio, which is then compared with that obtained from flow discharge measurements. Agreements and discrepancies in the comparison are discussed. The relationship between the bed shear stress at incipient motion and the grain size at the bed is reviewed, and it is noted that the observed relationship at the two inlets does not agree with the well-known correlation of Shields for uniform sandy beds.


Four estimators of the directed information rate between a pair of jointly stationary ergodic finite-alphabet processes are proposed, based on universal probability assignments. The first one is a Shannon-McMillan-Breiman-type estimator, similar to those used by Verdú in 2005 and Cai in 2006 for estimation of other information measures. We show the almost sure and L1 convergence properties of the estimator for any underlying universal probability assignment. The other three estimators map universal probability assignments to different functionals, each exhibiting relative merits such as smoothness, nonnegativity, and boundedness. We establish the consistency of these estimators in almost sure and L1 senses, and derive near-optimal rates of convergence in the minimax sense under mild conditions. These estimators carry over directly to estimating other information measures of stationary ergodic finite-alphabet processes, such as entropy rate and mutual information rate, with near-optimal performance and provide alternatives to classical approaches in the existing literature. Guided by these theoretical results, the proposed estimators are implemented using the context-tree weighting algorithm as the universal probability assignment. Experiments on synthetic and real data are presented, demonstrating the potential of the proposed schemes in practice and the utility of directed information estimation in detecting and measuring causal influence and delay.


This thesis attempts to account for the unusual problems raised for interpretation by the works of Angela Carter, as well as the particular pleasures which they provide. It demonstrates how Carter's self-conscious novels speculate about the very nature of fiction and, in doing so, challenge conventions which govern the way we interpret not only fiction but also ourselves and our world. The second half of the thesis is concerned with issues of sexual difference, specifically the strategies used by Carter to demystify the false universals which govern gender politics.

Chapter 1 engages with both Nights at the Circus and a selection of reviews of Carter's work in order to establish the particular reader/text relationships which her fiction demands. The breakdown of the traditional distinction between centre and margins in The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman is the focus of Chapter 2: this chapter incorporates Jacques Derrida's model of invagination in its examination of the distinctive intertextual qualities Carter's work displays. Chapters 3 and 4 demonstrate an important strategic technique employed by Carter's novels to expose and exploit specific reading conventions which underlie the interpretation of character, identity, and gender. Chapter 3 shows how four novels, The Magic Toyshop, Heroes and Villains, Love, and The Passion of New Eve, promote a 'realist' mode of reading character whilst continually reminding the reader that character is a construction, in order to demonstrate the power of the conventions which create the illusion of knowablc individuals both within and outside fiction. Chapter 4 shows how The Passion of New Eve foregrounds a central feminist question, 'What is a Woman?' This chapter examines the ways in which Carter utilises gender stereotypes, particularly those used to define the female body, in order to debunk them. It also contains an account of the debate about pornography which Carter's work has excited amongst critics. Finally, Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the New Eve figures which recur across Carter's fiction and examine the affirmative feminist politics which sustain it. Chapter 5 asks the question, 'What constitutes a liberated female subject?' while Chapter 6, returning to Nights at the Circus, celebrates Fevvers as just such a figure. Each chapter demonstrates how Carter's work continually anticipates readers' responses and dramatises its own fictional procedures. Each chapter also attempts to illuminate, from a variety of perspectives, the liberating 'reading space', which her fiction opens up.


Background The prevalence of bronchial asthma (BA) including exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) and airway hyperresponsivenss (AHR) is increasing not only among normal population but also among athletes and prevention of these attacks are just as life saving and crucial for the athlete. The negative impact on athletic performance and the effect of inhaled corticosteroids and ƒÀ2-agonists are factors to providing prevention strategies in these athletes. Objective To determine the prevalence of BA (including silent BA) and develop an effective protocol to detect BA and provide preventive measures in elite athletes. Methods Asthma questionnaires and spirometry were conducted for all regardless of their clinical history. Bronchodilator tests were administered to those who met our criteria of past history, suspicious symptoms, values of FEV1%, and concave shape of flow-volume curves. Bronchial provocation tests were held to detect EIB and AHR in some athletes with suspicious symptom. IOC-criteria were used to consider those tests to be positive. Diagnosis of BA was made by consideration of all factors. Participants 347 male and 305 female Japanese elite athletes participating at the Beijing Olympic Games 2009 and the Vancouver Olympic Games 2010. Main outcome measurements Detecting BA and silent BA is important to prevent BA attacks and begin early intervention strategies in elite athletes in view of their performance and doping violence. Results 21 athletes met IOC criteria in bronchodilator test. The provocation test was positive for asthma in four cases. The prevalence of BA among Japanese elite athletes was 12.1%. Number of Asymptomatic athletes diagnosed as BA reached to 2.9%. Conclusion The prevalence of BA among Japanese elite athletes is similar to prevalence of athletes reported and our protocol can sufficiently detect BA and silent BA as well.


In this paper we develop and estimate an arbitrage-free multi-factor twocountry affine term structure model to investigate the time-series dynamics and determinants of international diversification gains for bonds of different maturities. The model is built upon two novel features: macro-economic factors and regime shifts in the loadings and market prices of factors. We decompose the macro factors and latent state variables into common and local factors, and allow the term structure dynamics to switch over time among four distinct regimes. The most general model in our class, and several special cases of the general model, are each estimated by a carefully articulated Bayesian method. Estimation results on yield curve data for the U.S. and Canada reveal that the conditional correlation between cross-country bond returns is increasing with time to maturity. Moreover, the conditional correlation for shorter maturities varies more dramatically, driven by business cycles asymmetries between the countries. These findings imply that an internationally diversified portfolio of short-term bonds provides a good hedge against large declines in the domestic bond market, and that the expected gains from international diversification are maximized when the business cycles of the countries are misaligned. (JEL G12, C11, F37)