Solid waste collection and hauling account for the greater part of the total cost in modern solid waste management systems. In a recent initiative, 3,300 Swedish recycling containers have been fitted with level sensors and wireless communication equipment thereby giving waste collection operators access to real-time information on the status of each container. In a previous study (Johansson, 2006), analytical modeling and discrete-event simulation have been used to evaluate different scheduling and routing policies utilizing the real-time data, and it has been shown that dynamic scheduling and routing policies exist that have lower operating costs, shorter collection and hauling distances, and reduced labor hours compared to the static policy with fixed routes and pre-determined pick-up frequencies employed by many waste collection operators today. This study aims at further refining the scheduling and routing policies by employing a model predictive control (MPC) framework on the system. In brief, the MPC controller should minimize an objective cost function consisting of fixed and variable collection and hauling costs for a fixed future horizon by calculating a sequence of tactical scheduling and routing decisions that satisfies system constraints using a receding horizon strategy.


Cybernetics saturates the humanities. Norbert Wiener's movement gave vocabulary and hardware to developments all across the early digital era, and still does so today to those who seek to interpret it. Even while the Macy Conferences were still taking place in the early 1950s, talk of feedback and information and pattern had spread to popular culture – and to Europe. The new science created a shared language and culture for surpassing political and intellectual ideas that could be relegated to a pre-computing tradition, and it refracted or channelled currents developing in fields from manufacturing to human physiology. It produced conceptions of the political world, as well as new forms of historical consciousness. It offered frameworks for structuralist thought, but also for policies regarding manufacturing and technology, international relations, and governmental decision-making. But the rising sense of the breadth, importance, and even shock of cybernetics long remained understudied, even as its intellectual assemblages continued to, well, relay. In devices and the so-called 'digital humanities', a refracted legacy of cybernetics is also visible. From mainframes to category-frameworks, cybernetics is everywhere in our material and intellectual worlds, even as the name and its meaning have faded. To the extent that cybernetics permeates the human sciences and our culture at large, it remains opaque – an only partially visible legacy often deemed too complex to form a simple object of historical narrative. This special issue on cybernetics in the human sciences outlines the history and stakes of cybernetics, as well as the possibilities of returning to it today.


There is a substantial body of research exploring men identifying and coming out as gay. However, this is mainly focused on adolescents and young adults. Coming out is outlined by various models, which predominantly focus on the individual who identifies as gay and construct coming out as a discrete event that is completed. Similarly, there is a more limited body of research focused on gay parenting. However, the majority of research either focuses on lesbian mothers or uses quantitative approaches to identify deficits that children face due to having a gay parent. This study focuses on gay parenting in the context of how previously (heterosexually) married men who are fathers subsequently foregrounded their identity as a gay man. Data was collected using in-depth interviews to explore how these fathers constructed their identity as a gay man within the context of being a husband, ex-husband and father. The research utilises a Foucauldian discursive approach to analyse how 12 participants frame their practices and positions as a gay man and father and how this is managed within a heteronormative family context.Initially participants drew on a heteronormative discourse to maintain a legitimate identity as a heterosexual man, husband and father. However, this required participants to constrain their gay identity. When fathers foregrounded a gay identity they justified this by drawing on a liberal humanist discourse. Foregrounding a gay identity as a father violated many of the heteronormative practices associated with being a father and this required ongoing negotiation by participants, their children and other family members. This required participants to continually negotiate the foregrounding and backgrounding of their gay identity to fit with expected practices as a father in varied social contexts. The conceptual implications of this for understanding the process of coming out, the experience of gay fathers and future research and practice are discussed.


Biomass and composition of zooplankton in the nearshore waters of Thai were studied at 9 stations during Feb. 1980 to Jan. 1981.The recorded variation in zooplankton biomass was 4.8-80.6 ml.(lOOm3) _1 [av.22.9 ml.(lOOm3) _1]. High biomass observed along the nearshore water during the premonsoon period shifted towards the offshore area with the advent of the monsoon. Zooplankton production was maximum in the postmonsoon season. Mean rate of secondary production for the survey area was 39.12 mgc.m -2.d -I. The fishery potential of the area of investigation was estimated to be 1554 t.y _1. There was gradual increase in zooplankton towards the offshore area with concomitant increase in diversity. Larval forms of echinoderms, cephalopods and brachiopods were confined to the offshore stations. Pycnogonids were recorded for the first time from the west coast of India.


An image and surface representation based on regularization theory is introduced in this paper. This representation is based on a hybrid model derived from the physical membrane and plate models. The representation, called the /spl lambda//spl tau/-representation, has two dimensions; one dimension represents smoothness or scale while the other represents the continuity of the image or surface. It contains images/surfaces sampled both in scale space and the weighted Sobolev space of continuous functions. Thus, this new representation can be viewed as an extension of the well-known scale space representation. We have experimentally shown that the proposed hybrid model results in improved results compared to the two extreme constituent models, i.e., the membrane and the plate models. Based on this hybrid model, a generalized edge detector (GED) which encompasses most of the well-known edge detectors under a common framework is developed. The existing edge detectors can be obtained from the generalized edge detector by simply specifying the values of two parameters, one of which controls the shape of the filter (/spl tau/) and the other controls the scale of the filter (/spl lambda/). By sweeping the values of these two parameters continuously, one can generate an edge representation in the /spl lambda//spl tau/ space, which is very useful for developing a goal-directed edge detection scheme for a specific task. The proposed representation and the edge detector have been evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively on several different types of image data such as intensity, range, and stereo images.


A 22-year-old female was scheduled to undergo posterior thoracolumbar spinal fusion. She had been diagnosed with congenital antithrombin III (AT-III) deficiency by the onset of pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis after the first operation at the age of 18. Thereafter she had taken warfarin, 5 mg daily, until 4 days before the surgery. Preoperatively, we administered AT-III products to regulate AT-III activity. The posterior spinal fusion was performed successfully without surgical complications. Postoperatively, we continued administration of AT-III products to maintain AT-III activity above 75%. We also used low dose unfractionated heparin with AT-III by continuous intravenous infusion. Heparin was administered with dose adjustment to achieve a target activated partial thromboplastin time of 45 to 60 seconds. After the activated partial thromboplastin time was stabilized in the target range, we started warfarin therapy (target international normalized ratio, 1.5 to 2.5) on postoperative day 16 and stopped administration of heparin on postoperative day 19. There was no thrombosis complications during the perioperative period. Good anticoagulant management was achieved in a patient with congenital AT-III deficiency undergoing posterior spinal fusion.


Climate change and variability present new challenges for agriculture, particularly for smallholder farmers who continue to be the mainstay of food production in developing countries. Recent global food crises have exposed the structural vulnerability of globalized agri‐food systems, highlighting climate change as just one of a complex set of environmental, demographic, social and economic drivers generating instability and food insecurity, the impacts of which disproportionately affect poorer groups in marginal environments. Rather than search for single causes, there is a need to understand these changes at a systemic level. Improved understanding of and engagement with the adaptive strategies and innovations of communities living in conditions of rapid change provides an appropriate starting point for those seeking to shape agricultural innovation systems responsive to food insecurity and climate change. This paper draws lessons from selected country experiences of adaptation and innovation in pursuit of food security goals. It reviews three cases of systems of innovation operating in contrasting regional, socio‐economic and agro‐ecological contexts, in terms of four features of innovation systems more likely to build, sustain or enhance food security in situations of rapid change: (i) recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture and opportunities to realize multiple benefits; (ii) access to diversity as the basis for flexibility and resilience; (iii) concern for enhancing capacity of decision makers at all levels; and (iv) continuity of effort aimed at securing the well‐being of those who depend on agriculture. Finally, implications for policymakers and other stakeholders in agricultural innovation systems are presented.


Attribute-based recognition models, due to their impressive performance and their ability to generalize well on novel categories, have been widely adopted for many computer vision applications. However, usually both the attribute vocabulary and the class-attribute associations have to be provided manually by domain experts or large number of annotators. This is very costly and not necessarily optimal regarding recognition performance, and most importantly, it limits the applicability of attribute-based models to large scale data sets. To tackle this problem, we propose an end-to-end unsupervised attribute learning approach. We utilize online text corpora to automatically discover a salient and discriminative vocabulary that correlates well with the human concept of semantic attributes. Moreover, we propose a deep convolutional model to optimize class-attribute associations with a linguistic prior that accounts for noise and missing data in text. In a thorough evaluation on ImageNet, we demonstrate that our model is able to efficiently discover and learn semantic attributes at a large scale. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art in zero-shot learning on three data sets: ImageNet, Animals with Attributes and aPascal/aYahoo. Finally, we enable attribute-based learning on ImageNet and will share the attributes and associations for future research.


The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of professional development of principals of schools in the rural Appalachian region of Virginia. The researcher interviewed 13 principals from public elementary, middle, and high schools regarding their professional development experiences. Principals were asked to describe their past and current professional development experiences, identify barriers to accessing professional development, and provide their opinion regarding the importance of professional development that focuses specifically on leading a school in rural Appalachia. Principals reported participation in many different types of professional development. Principals' responses were analyzed to determine the extent to which professional development was on-going, job-embedded, and connected to school improvement goals. Results indicated principals' professional development experiences were seldom ongoing, often job-embedded, and somewhat connected to school or district improvement goals. Principals reported the demands of the job, lack of professional development opportunities provided by their school district, lack of knowledge of professional development available outside their district, and being geographically isolated as barriers to their professional learning. The results led to identification of areas for further research. These areas include (a) the role and influence of school division leadership on principals' professional development (b) the importance and impact of incorporating networking and other opportunities for collaboration into the design of principals' professional development, (c) the impact of designing professional development that is on-going, job-embedded, and connected to school improvement goals on initial learning and continued leadership behaviors of principals, (d) the issues relating to the use and non-use of distance technologies for principals' professional development, and (e) the efficacy of professional development designed for teachers in meeting the needs of principals or the ability of principals to translate the content of teachers professional development to knowledge and skills needed by instructional leaders. The researcher also suggested the need for additional research to compare and contrast the professional development experiences of this study's participants with other principals in rural Appalachia as well as principals from suburban and urban school districts.


The fluorescent dye 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5,6carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) was used to measure pHi in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and in normal rat cardiac myocytes under nominally HCO3-free (20 mmol/L HEPES-buffered) conditions. When only the Na-H exchanger was blocked, the intrinsic buffering power (,8i) in SHR myocytes was significantly higher than when both the Na-H exchanger and 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS)-sensitive pHi regulators (the Na-HCO3 cotransporter and the Cl-HCO3 exchanger) were blocked. Similar low values for A3, were also found for normal rat myocytes in Na+-free conditions. In Cl--free solution under nominally HCO3-free conditions, in both normal and SHR myocytes, the pHi slowly alkalinized (by 0.16±0.02 and 0.11±0.02 pH units, respectively); this alkalinization was also DIDS sensitive. The reacidification during NH4' perfusion was inhibited 30.2+7.4% by DIDS. In addition, in the nominal absence of HCO3-, 100 gmol/L ATP acidified the pHi in both normal and SHR myocytes (by 0.21±0.03 and 0.33±0.03 pH units, respectively); this acidification was totally inhibited by 0.1 mmol/L DIDS. It has been shown, in rat cardiac myocytes, that ATP acidifies the pH, by 0.35 pH unit via stimulation of a DIDSsensitive Cl-HCO3 exchanger in HCO3-containing solutions. Finally, we have shown, in normal cardiac myocytes, that two potent Na-H exchanger blockers, N-5-ethylisopropyl amiloride (EIPA) and N-5-methyl-N-isobutyl amiloride (MIA), only partially inhibited the pHi recovery from internal acidosis under nominally bicarbonate-free conditions. When DIDS was added at the same time as EIPA, pHi recovery from an internal acid loading was completely inhibited. Our results clearly demonstrate that in both normal and SHR cardiac myocytes, bicarbonate-dependent pHi regulators can be significantly activated under resting or acidified pHi in HEPESbuffered medium, probably because of the cellular production of CO2. The contribution of these bicarbonate-dependent pH, regulators, ie, the Na-HCO3 cotransporter and the Cl-HCO3 exchanger, cannot therefore be ignored even under nominally HCO3-free conditions. (Circ Res. 1994;75:123-132.)


Detecting and isolating bugs that arise in parallel programs is a tedious and a challenging task. An especially subtle class of bugs are those that are scale-dependent: while small-scale test cases may not exhibit the bug, the bug arises in large-scale production runs, and can change the result or performance of an application. A popular approach to finding bugs is statistical bug detection, where abnormal behavior is detected through comparison with bug-free behavior. Unfortunately, for scale-dependent bugs, there may not be bug-free runs at large scales and therefore traditional statistical techniques are not viable. In this paper, we propose Vrisha, a statistical approach to detecting and localizing scale-dependent bugs. Vrisha detects bugs in large-scale programs by building models of behavior based on bug-free behavior at small scales. These models are constructed using kernel canonical correlation analysis (KCCA) and exploit scale-determined properties, whose values are predictably dependent on application scale. We use Vrisha to detect and diagnose two bugs caused by errors in popular MPI libraries and show that our techniques can be implemented with low overhead and low false-positive rates.


Use big data analytics to efficiently drive oil and gas exploration and production Harness Oil and Gas Big Data with Analytics provides a complete view of big data and analytics techniques as they are applied to the oil and gas industry. Including a compendium of specific case studies, the book underscores the acute need for optimization in the oil and gas exploration and production stages and shows how data analytics can provide such optimization. This spans exploration, development, production and rejuvenation of oil and gas assets. The book serves as a guide for fully leveraging data, statistical, and quantitative analysis, exploratory and predictive modeling, and fact-based management to drive decision making in oil and gas operations. This comprehensive resource delves into the three major issues that face the oil and gas industry during the exploration and production stages: * Data management, including storing massive quantities of data in a manner conducive to analysis and effectively retrieving, backing up, and purging data * Quantification of uncertainty, including a look at the statistical and data analytics methods for making predictions and determining the certainty of those predictions * Risk assessment, including predictive analysis of the likelihood that known risks are realized and how to properly deal with unknown risks Covering the major issues facing the oil and gas industry in the exploration and production stages, Harness Big Data with Analytics reveals how to model big data to realize efficiencies and business benefits.


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This paper proposes an approach to analyzing and prioritizing venture capital investments with the use of scientometric and patentometric indicators. The article highlights the importance of such investments in the development of technology‐based companies and their positive impacts on the economic development of regions and countries. It also notes that the managers of venture capital funds struggle to objectify the evaluation of investment proposals. This paper analyzes the selection process of 10 companies, five of which received investments by the largest venture capital fund in Brazil and the other five of which were rejected by this same fund. We formulated scientometric and patentometric indicators related to each company and conducted a comparative analysis of each by considering the indicators grouped by the nonfinancial criteria (technology, market, and divestiture team) from analysis of the investment proposals. The proposed approach clarifies aspects of the criteria evaluated and contributes to the construction of a method for prioritizing venture capital investments.


This paper focuses on my PhD research into the emotional, sensual and embodied journeys of female backpackers. Existing academic literature has largely characterised this form of tourism as a hedonistic quest for intense, heightened states of experience where embodied sensations are highly sought after. However this type of 'experience tourism' can often result in tensions between how the backpacker constructs and negotiates her responsibility for personal safety with her desire for exciting , and occasionally risky, experiences. Drawing on narratives from female backpackers during my field work in India, as well as interviews with women who have returned home after an extensive backpacking trip to a variety of destinations in Asia, Latin America and Africa, thi s paper will focus on stories of 'bad' or frightening experiences, embodied constraints and examples of sexual behaviour that the participants perceived as carrying a high degree of both risk and excitement. Many of the travel narratives of the women fluct uate between promoting a strong, resilient character who embraces risk taking behaviour as part of an enriched travel experience, and feelings of anger, fear, vulnerability and loss of control. This can be seen most clearly in the conflicted subject position of many of the participants as their narratives display the tensions between how they should respond, and how they actually feel, towards local strangers as lone women travellers. Furthermore, the paradoxical nature of these narratives can be linked to the shift in feminist identities, and reflect wider theoretical debates on cross-generational feminisms. Disassociating with feminism as a movement which is directly relevant to their lives, the participants in my study preferred to present a more individ ualised identity where they choose the activity of travel to strengthen and enhance their personal development. I argue that the ways in which the women negotiate risk in their travels with regard to personal safety, sexual behaviour and construction of 'the other' notably mirrors this trend. Furthermore, the paper concludes by suggesting that it is the very conflicts and controversies between feminist identities and the search for risky, intense and sensual experiences that either inhibit or enhance the ex citement of the backpacking journey.


This study addresses the problem of constructing an adequate strategy for multiagent scheduling in situations with high uncertainty and inconsistent goals. An automatic scheduling agent with adjustable autonomy builds the preliminary schedule and assists the human agents in modifying the schedule towards their specific goals. The degree of autonomy of an automatic agent is controlled via the syntax limitations on formulas, which are the basis of reasoning about the mental states of the other (human) agents. Autonomy adjustment therefore could be implemented during the scheduling session. We use the reasoning tool of metalanguage support (MS) with the embedded metapredicates of mental state and action to provide the automatic agent with the ability to model the human agents with various degrees of reflection. This tool gains the inference flexibility to represent the formal scenarios of multiagent interaction. Such MS capabilities as reasoning about action and change, belief, and temporal reasoning are illustrated by the scheduling system for the broadcast advertising industry. The automatic, incremental, interactive and multiagent modes of the automatic agent demonstrate the increasing complexity of the scheduler operation.


Ian Dawson is Publications Director for the Schools History Project (SHP) and was Director of the Project in the 1980s. He reviews his early career teaching in Wakefield in the mid-1970s, followed by a move into teacher training in Leeds in the early 1980s. His priority on joining the SHP was to encourage more teachers to use their resources and promote innovative classroom strategies though training, a policy he calls 'pragmatic idealism'. He discusses critically the impact the Project has had on the teaching of history in English state schools up to the present day. He continues to contribute to the annual SHP conference and runs a website to promote history resources and teaching ideas. Interviewed by Nicola Sheldon.


This Dissertation presents a comprehensive Process Map for innovation [the Map], based on a comparison and synthesis of the reported steps for creating in many disciplines, including Engineering Design and Buddhist Meditation. The Map is presented in three stages and seven detailed steps, following a review of the status quo of innovation in Engineering Design from literature and Industry surveys, and can be said to provide the first natural and common language for innovation. The application of Buddhist Methods is a key feature in the development of the Map, introducing a consistency and hierarchy, as well as co-evolutionary and eco-systemic aspect to academic understanding of innovation and its management, which has been lacking in models proposed in literature and Tools such as TRIZ in the past. Presentation of the Map theory and Map itself is followed by reports of its testing and proof of concept with an Industry Collaborator from 2006-10, including: [i] benchmarking of 'Systematic Innovation' [ii] an Industry Pilot Test comparing teaching of TRIZ with the Innovation Map and [iii] results of four nine-month periods of application in training, coaching, workshops, Games and GameDays. The Map is shown to improve high-end technical innovation in corporate environments, by streamlining the way questions are asked, and answers found and evaluated. It is directly responsible for unprecedented solutions achieved by Engineering Design teams addressing long-standing problems in very short time frames. Facilitated sessions using the Map achieve an ROI up to 2847% in each session and are estimated to have contributed billions of Euros value to the Industry Collaborator over four years of testing. In comparison with other options, the Map provides cheaper, simpler and more elegant innovation incorporating Tools, process and potential culture for any kind of User - Company, Consultant, Innovation Manager or Academic.


The calixarenes 2-4 are well-known and well-studied cyclic oligomers formed by the base-induced condensation of formaldehyde with p-tert-butylphenol. They are potentially a very versatile class of host molecules. -- This thesis describes the syntheses and some properties of the calixnaphthalenes, which are a new class of cyclic formaldehyde-naphthol tetramers which are analogous with the calixarenes. These calixnaphthalenes were prepared by either one-pot or convergent procedures. -- Calixnaphthalenes offer some advantages over the calixarenes. For example, since the naphthalene unit is larger than benzene the cavity of cone conformations of the corresponding calixnaphthalenes should be deeper. Also, the presence of a B ring in naphthalene provides a site for the addition of different functional groups, which allow calixnaphthalenes to be modified. Furthermore, due to the low symmetry of 1–naphthol and 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, some calixnaphthalenes can be inherently chiral. They therefore have potential applications as chiral hosts, or chiral ligands. -- Calix[4]naphthalenes 10-12 were synthesized first by the direct condensation of 1-naphthol and formaldehyde under basic conditions. Due to the difficulty in the separationand purification of these compounds, a convergent approach was used to synthesize these compounds as well as 13 in larger amounts for further investigations. The calix[4]-naphthalenes are conformationally flexible at room temperature even after their derivatization as tetraester derivatives. -- In order to synthesize calixnaphthalenes which are closer to calixarenes in the location of the hydroxyl groups within the lower rim of the calixnaphthalene basket, a retrosynthetic analysis of compounds 57 and 62 showed that 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (9) would be a suitable starting material. Syntheses of compounds 57 and 62 were effected by self-condensation reactions of 3-(hydroxymethyl)-2-naphthol and 6-tert-butyl-3-(hydroxymethyl)-2-naphthol, respectively, using TiCl4/dioxane conditions. -- Variable temperature ¹H NMR analyses showed that compounds 57 and 62 are conformationally flexible at room temperature, but the methylene protons are split into doublets at -10°C and the molecules are locked in the cone conformation as its preferred conformation at -20°C. X-ray analysis showed that in the solid state 57 adopted a pinched-cone conformation. -- In order to modify calixnaphthalenes 57 and 62, they were converted into their ester derivatives by reaction with ethyl bromoacetate. Calix[4]naphthalene 57 produced two tetraester derivatives in the cone and partial-cone conformations, 70b and 70a, respectively. Calix[4]naphthalene 62 produced mono- and diester derivatives 62a and 62b, respectively. ¹H NMR and molecular modeling analyses revealed that 62b exists preferrentally in the 1,3-alternate conformation. -- Using a modified oxidation procedure, the hydroxyl groups of 57 and 62 were oxidized to produce bis(spirodienone) derivatives. Compound 57 afforded only one somer, 78, having C2 symmetry as revealed by NOED experiments and confirmed by x- ray analysis. Compound 62 produced two isomers, 81 and 80, having C, and C2 symmetries, respectively. Mild oxidation of 62 produced one monospirodienone isomer. -- Dithiadihomocalix[4]naphthalenes 82 and 83 were synthesized from l-naphthol and 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid using procedures commonly employed in cyclophane chemistry. These compounds are found to be conformationally flexible at room temperature. Photolytic sulfur extrusion of 83 produced the corresponding dihomocalix[4]naphthalene 83a while such conditions employed with 82 did not produce the corresponding 82a. -- In order to enlarge the annulus of calix[4]naphthalenes derived from 3-hydroxy-2- naphthoic acid, approaches to the tetrahomocalix[4]naphthalene isomers 85a and 91a-93a were attempted. The synthetic approach employed was the base-mediated coupling of 97 and 98 to produce, in principle, tetrathianaphthalenophanes 91-94, which are potential precursors of the corresponding tetrahomocalix[4]naphthalenes after sulfur extrusion. Instead, four isomeric dithianaphthalenophanes 99-102 were produced from the above coupling reaction. Photolysis of these dimers produced two isomeric tetrahydrodibenzo-pyrenes, 107 and 108, instead of [2.2](l,3)naphthalenophanes, 111 and 112. This type of sulfur extrusion with concomitant transannular cyclization appears to be general one, which could offer some advantages for the synthesis of tetrahydropyrenes and tetrahydrodibenzopyrenes.


I show how to use data from the Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States to estimate how much funding of nonfinancial businesses, households, and governments is provided by the domestic shadow banking system. I define the shadow banking system as the set of entities and activities that provide short-term funding outside of the traditional commercial banking system, but I do not equate all nonbank funding with shadow banking. My results suggest that at the end of 2008, domestic shadow-bank funding of the nonfinancial sector was an important, but fairly modest source of funding relative to that provided by more traditional funding sources such as commercial banks, insurance companies, and pension funds. However,my results suggest that domestic shadow banking played a large role in the increase of nonfinancial-sector debt in the two years before 2008:Q4 and was, at least in an arithmetic sense,the entire reason for the slowdown in nonfinancial-sector debt growth after 2008. Domestic shadow-bank funding of the nonfinancial sector has increased since 2010, but remains well below the level seen right in late 2008.


The effects of fluridone and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) on fruit drop and quality changes of longkong fruit after harvesting were investigated. Longkong racemes were dipped in 50 µmol L-1 of fluridone solution or dipped in 1000 µmol L-1 NAA solution for 5 min. Then, the fruits were stored at 25°C. The results showed that dipping longkong fruit in 50 µmol L-1 fluridone solution and dipping in 1000 µmol L-1 NAA solution significantly delayed fruit drop. At the same time, the results also showed that the percentages of fruit drop in the control that were dipped in distilled water increased during the storage period. Longkong fruit dipped in 50 µmol L-1 fluridone solution and dipped in 1000 µmol L-1 NAA solution showed inhibition of the ABA synthesis. Furthermore, it showed the ability to inhibit ethylene production and retard fruit color changes and browning on the peel of longkong with storage life extension for 8 days. There is no significant difference in terms of internal quality, such as total ascorbic acid content and total phenolic content in all treatments. Longkong dipped in 50 µmol L-1 fluridone solution showed lower titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and total sugar content compared with other treatments. In sum, dipping longkong raceme in fluridone solution can be used as an alternative method for minimizing the fruit drop and maintaining the quality of longkong after harvesting.


Abstract In September 2009, Turkey experienced a major reform of its pharmaceutical expenditure and price policy. By introducing a global budget, Turkey saved some 20 billion TL in public pharmaceutical expenditure in the 2010–2012 period. The lion's share of this was achieved by introducing stricter price controls that reduced the profit margins of pharmaceutical producers and distributors (the populist policy solution), rather than by privatizing the cost of medicines through, for example, raising out-of-pocket payments (the neoliberal policy solution). This is a puzzle, given the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) government's usual preference for lenient and business-friendly regulation. This article explains the policy reform with reference to (i) the pronounced electoral interests of the AKP's political leadership in not substantially reducing access to public health services, (ii) the absence of powerful business interests in high medicine prices, and (iii) the absence of a developmentalist commitment to an industrial policy strategy for the pharmaceutical sector. This case study holds important lessons for scholars of Turkish politics. It suggests that externally the AKP's economic and social policies are driven by the interests of its two major constituencies (namely, lower-class voters and "Anatolian capital"), while internally they are shaped by two camps of policy makers (namely, neoliberal-minded technocrats and election-focused party leaders).


Significant reductions in stratospheric ozone occur inside the polar vortices each spring when chlorine radicals produced by heterogeneous reactions on cold particle surfaces in winter destroy ozone mainly in two catalytic cycles, the ClO dimer cycle and the ClO/BrO cycle. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are responsible for most of the chlorine currently present in the stratosphere, have been banned by the Montreal Protocol and its amendments, and the ozone layer is predicted to recover to 1980 levels within the next few decades. During the same period, however, climate change is expected to alter the temperature, circulation patterns and chemical composition in the stratosphere, and possible geo-engineering ventures to mitigate climate change may lead to additional changes. To realistically predict the response of the ozone layer to such influences requires the correct representation of all relevant processes. The European project RECONCILE has comprehensively addressed remaining questions in the context of polar ozone depletion, with the objective to quantify the rates of some of the most relevant, yet still uncertain physical and chemical processes. To this end RECONCILE used a broad approach of laboratory experiments, two field missions in the Arctic winter 2009/10 employing the high altitude research aircraft M55-Geophysica and an extensive match ozone sonde campaign, as well as microphysical and chemical transport modelling and data assimilation. Some of the main outcomes of RECONCILE are as follows: (1) vortex meteorology: the 2009/10 Arctic winter was unusually cold at stratospheric levels during the six-week period from mid-December 2009 until the end of January 2010, with reduced transport and mixing across the polar vortex edge; polar vortex stability and how it is influenced by dynamic processes in the troposphere has led to unprecedented, synoptic-scale stratospheric regions with temperatures below the frost point; in these regions stratospheric ice clouds have been observed, extending over >106km2 during more than 3 weeks. (2) Particle microphysics: heterogeneous nucleation of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles in the absence of ice has been unambiguously demonstrated; conversely, the synoptic scale ice clouds also appear to nucleate heterogeneously; a variety of possible heterogeneous nuclei has been characterised by chemical analysis of the non-volatile fraction of the background aerosol; substantial formation of solid particles and denitrification via their sedimentation has been observed and model parameterizations have been improved. (3) Chemistry: strong evidence has been found for significant chlorine activation not only on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) but also on cold binary aerosol; laboratory experiments and field data on the ClOOCl photolysis rate and other kinetic parameters have been shown to be consistent with an adequate degree of certainty; no evidence has been found that would support the existence of yet unknown chemical mechanisms making a significant contribution to polar ozone loss. (4) Global modelling: results from process studies have been implemented in a prognostic chemistry climate model (CCM); simulations with improved parameterisations of processes relevant for polar ozone depletion are evaluated against satellite data and other long term records using data assimilation and detrended fluctuation analysis. Finally, measurements and process studies within RECONCILE were also applied to the winter 2010/11, when special meteorological conditions led to the highest chemical ozone loss ever observed in the Arctic. In addition to quantifying the 2010/11 ozone loss and to understand its causes including possible connections to climate change, its impacts were addressed, such as changes in surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the densely populated northern mid-latitudes.


Traditionally, medical data is stored and processed using paper-based files. Recently, medical facilities have started to store, access and exchange medical data in digital form. The drivers for this change are mainly demands for cost reduction, and higher quality of health care. The main concerns when dealing with medical data are availability and confidentiality. Unavailability (even temporary) of medical data is expensive. Physicians may not be able to diagnose patients correctly, or they may have to repeat exams, adding to the overall costs of health care. In extreme cases availability of medical data can even be a matter of life or death. On the other hand, confidentiality of medical data is also important. Legislation requires medical facilities to observe the privacy of the patients, and states that patients have a final say on whether or not their medical data can be processed or not. Moreover, if physicians, or their EHR systems, are not trusted by the patients, for instance because of frequent privacy breaches, then patients may refuse to submit (correct) information, complicating the work of the physicians greatly.

In traditional data protection systems, confidentiality and availability are conflicting requirements. The more data protection methods are applied to shield data from outsiders the more likely it becomes that authorized persons will not get access to the data in time. Consider for example, a password verification service that is temporarily not available, an access pass that someone forgot to bring, and so on. In this report we discuss a novel approach to data protection, Audit-based Compliance Control (AC2), and we argue that it is particularly suited for application in EHR systems. In AC2, a-priori access control is minimized to the mere authentication of users and objects, and their basic authorizations. More complex security procedures, such as checking user compliance to policies, are performed a-posteriori by using a formal and automated auditing mechanism. To support our claim we discuss legislation concerning the processing of health records, and we formalize a scenario involving medical personnel and a basic EHR system to show how AC2 can be used in practice.

This report is based on previous work (Dekker & Etalle 2006) where we assessed the applicability of a-posteriori access control in a health care scenario. A more technically detailed article about AC2 recently appeared in the IJIS journal, where we focussed however on collaborative work environments (Cederquist, Corin, Dekker, Etalle, & Hartog, 2007). In this report we first provide background and related work before explaining the principal components of the AC2 framework. Moreover we model a detailed EHR case study to show its operation in practice. We conclude by discussing how this framework meets current trends in healthcare and by highlighting the main advantages and drawbacks of using an a-posteriori access control mechanism as opposed to more traditional access control mechanisms.


The traditional system of radio spectrum allocation has inefficiently restricted wireless services. Alternatively, liberal licenses ceding de facto spectrum ownership rights yield incentives for operators to maximize airwave value. These authorizations have been widely used for mobile services in the U.S. and internationally, leading to the development of highly productive services and waves of innovation in technology, applications and business models. Serious challenges to the efficacy of such a spectrum regime have arisen, however. Seeing the widespread adoption of such devices as cordless phones and wifi radios using bands set aside for unlicensed use, some scholars and policy makers posit that spectrum sharing technologies have become cheap and easy to deploy, mitigating airwave scarcity and, therefore, the utility of exclusive rights. This paper evaluates such claims technically and economically. We demonstrate that spectrum scarcity is alive and well. Costly conflicts over airwave use not only continue, but have intensified with scientific advances that dramatically improve the functionality of wireless devices and so increase demand for spectrum access. Exclusive ownership rights help direct spectrum inputs to where they deliver the highest social gains, making exclusive property rules relatively more socially valuable. Liberal licenses efficiently accommodate rival business models (including those commonly associated with unlicensed spectrum allocations) while mitigating the constraints levied on spectrum use by regulators imposing restrictions in traditional licenses or via use rules and technology standards in unlicensed spectrum allocations.


Mentoring
can be conceptualised differently according to the contributor, but at the core of the
mentoring practice is a focus on learning, power sharing, inclusivity, participatory actions and
democratic engagement. 1
Increasingly,
younger people desire a better work life balance. They want to be empowered, to thrive
and be more in charge of their career building. As a result this younger generation requires to be kept
motivated in their career and also to have access to guid es who can help them achieve such a balanc e.
For
many years, men have benefited from informal mentoring in male dominated fields while women
experienced difficulty in fi n ding mentors in masculine organization culture. It can be argued that this
is the place for career mentoring programme s Mentoring is a directive form of help, especially
benefiting early career individuals on their journey to the most senior levels. It is meant to reduce the
chances for, in the context of this research, law firms los ing valuable individuals and as a by p roduct
of advancing the career aspirations of this group to enable them to prosper in a n increasingly
competitive environment
Furthermore,
mentoring aims to help develop better professional practice, collaboration between
different generations of law f irm leaders and cultural intelligence. Indirect benefits of effective
mentoring programmes can include a reduction in staff turnover and the associated costs in recruiting
replacements; and motivating and/or replacing underperforming individuals who are no t acting to
their full capacity. The mentoring programme may offer a solution to such problems or perhaps could
be used to anticipate the m, create solutions and thus establish better functioning law firms. Together
with the mentors who have relevant experi ence and knowledge, they are able to proffer guidance,advice
and recommendations to mentees. The focus then stays on real and practical development,
helping individuals to develop their careers to more senior levels with the support of the mentor.
This
empirical, qualitative study is based on female lawyers' experiences of mentoring at various
stages of their legal careers. Particular focus is put on female lawyers and their career progressions to
more senior levels of the profession with the suppor t of either /or formal or informal mentoring
programmes. The participants to this study were practising lawyers at different phases of their legal
careers. Hence, the participants perceptions offer a range of views and evidence which help when
draw ing conc lusions from the contrasting perspectives of the ir shared experiences.
The
varied mentoring practices evidenced in this research incorporate formal mentoring programmes
established to run for a designated period of time; informal mentoring programmes op erating with no
such fixed duration and formal mentoring programmes which progress to an informal type, and then
continue indefinitely T he findings demonstrate diverse support such as positive developments of
broader networking, professional and personal growth of mentees' confidence and individual career
progression. In addition to the above, significant enthusiasm was reported for the development of a
multi mentor form of support to further improve female lawyers' career progressions However, an
ultima te conclusion i s the finding of a general lack of consistency in mentoring support amongst the
participating lawyers' employers which continue s to limit the effectiveness of mentoring in law firms.


The purport of Article 39 of the United Nations Charter as to the extent of the power conferred on the United Nations Security Council continues to generate controversy and tension in the international polity. There have been occasions that seemed to warrant the exercise of the collective responsibility powers underscored by the Article 39 but which the Security Council failed to reach a decisive resolution in favour of the use of force or non-forceful intervention permitted under the Charter VII of the United Nation Charters. On the other hand, at several inconspicuous cases, the council had come to the term and reality of the modern threat to the international community in the exercise of the collective responsibility powers. This article explores the various interpretations and the use of the power of the Security Council under Article 39 from the inception of the United Nations, through the cold war era and the post-cold war paradigm. The article argues in favour of a broad and flexible interpretation of the provisions of Article 39 such that the operation and invocation of the Security Council collective responsibility power would embrace modern threat the international peace and security.


This lighthearted essay explains how the ideology of private commercial lawyers indirectly but profoundly shapes society. It is meant to counter a somewhat common view that commercial litigators acting in their capacity as commercial litigators have little impact in shaping public values and public policy.Legal innovations crafted by private lawyers in private litigation have proven an important aspect of American lawmaking throughout American history. The notion that lawyers only seek to zealously take advantage of legal loopholes and maximize client wealth misses something important about how American private lawyers conceive of themselves and their role in the legal system. Lawyers have long understood that they make private law into public policy through a process of definition and contestation that occurs within the courtroom and the boardroom — not merely through service in legislatures, professional societies, and regulatory agencies. That is, as long as there have been American lawyers, they have been developing legal strategies and legal tools that do more than serve immediate client interests but rather also serve deeper structural principles that improve society. This has important consequences for both legal education and the legal profession for it reveals that the ideology of commercial lawyers, separate and apart from movement lawyers and society proper, are a powerful generative force. The ideology of these private lawyers shapes public values in countless innovations promulgated collectively in court rooms and boardrooms, through decisions about how to argue individual claims, structure transactions, and pursue private litigation.


In this article, we present a graph-based knowledge representation for biomedical digital library literature clustering. An efficient clustering method is developed to identify the ontology-enriched k-highest density term subgraphs that capture the core semantic relationship information about each document cluster. The distance between each document and the k term graph clusters is calculated. A document is then assigned to the closest term cluster. The extensive experimental results on two PubMed document sets (Disease10 and OHSUMED23) show that our approach is comparable to spherical k-means. The contributions of our approach are the following: (1) we provide two corpus-level graph representations to improve document clustering, a term co-occurrence graph and an abstract-title graph; (2) we develop an efficient and effective document clustering algorithm by identifying k distinguishable class-specific core term subgraphs using terms' global and local importance information; and (3) the identified term clusters give a meaningful explanation for the document clustering results.


We report on the cytogenetic and DNA analysis of 55 families with the fragile X (FMR-1 locus) mutation (318 individuals and 15 chorionic villi samples). A total of 129 males were investigated, 54 mentally normal and 75 presenting mental retardation. Among the 54 normal males, 11 had the premutation, and none expressed the fragile site. The full mutation was detected in 73 retarded males, and 14 (18%) presented a premutation along with the full mutation (mosaics). All of them manifested the fragile site. The frequencies of fragile site expression correlated positively with the sizes of the expansion of the CGG repeats (D). Among 153 normal females, 85 were found to be heterozygous for the premutation and 15 had the full mutation. In the premutated females the fragile site was not observed or it occurred at frequencies that did not differ from those observed in 53 noncarriers. Cytogenetic analysis was thus ineffective for the diagnosis of premutated males or females. Among the 51 heterozygotes for the full mutation, 36 (70%) had some degree of mental impairment. As in males, a positive correlation was detected between the frequencies of fragile site manifestation and the size of the expansion. However, the cytogenetic test was less effective for the detection of fully mutated females, than in the case of males, since 14% false negative results were found among females. Segregation analysis confirmed that the risk of mental retardation in the offspring of heterozygotes increases with the length of D. The average observed frequency of mental retardation in the offspring of all heterozygotes was 30%. There was no indication of meiotic drive occurring in female carriers, since the number of individuals who inherited the mutation did not differ from the number of those inheriting the normal allele. No new mutations were detected in the 55 genealogies studied here.


Research has already documented the irreparable harm of the criminalization of drugs. In the United States, these policies have led to disproportionate rates of incarceration of black men, separated children from their parents in foster care and custody proceedings, and often left people unable to secure employment and housing. Criminalization has also had harmful impacts from a public health perspective. Substance use disorder is a medical condition with established criteria for diagnosis. Criminalizing SUD instead of treating it often leaves people without access to treatment for their condition. Criminalization of drug paraphernalia possession has also undermined the efficacy of public health strategies, such as overdose immunity laws and syringe service programs.

Many advocates and scholars across human rights, public health, and other disciplines argue that decriminalization and legalization of drugs is necessary. While some states and localities have begun to decriminalize and legalize drugs, most do not. And, in many jurisdictions, this would be unrealistic in the near future. Indiana law, for example, makes possession of drug paraphernalia a misdemeanor offense. The state legislature in fact elevated syringe possession to a felony in 2015. What other legal strategies are available when decriminalization and legalization are not?

This article explores expungement as a tool in mitigating the harmful impacts of criminalizing substance use disorder. It discusses the inadequacies of current criminal-based strategies for responding to the SUD crisis and the public health impacts of criminalization and describes expungement law generally and provides an in-depth summary of Indiana's expungement laws. Given the substantial nuances within expungement law, this article provides analysis on how they can be best structured to promote their use. It argues that Indiana could implement a variety of strategies to promote expungement laws and thereby support individuals with substance use disorder.


Objective: to identify the evidence on nursing practices in intravenous therapy in newborns.
Method: integrative review in the PubMed, Scopus and SciELO databases. A total of 150 articles were selected, and after thorough reading, eight studies remained.
Results: Most of the studies were descriptive and cross-sectional (50%), using peripheral venous catheter (62.5%). The years varied between 2006 and 2014. Brazilian studies corresponded to 37.5%.
Conclusion: The main nursing practices were: use of saline solution for catheter clearing; use of larger caliber catheters; use of splints to support the limbs; adequate positioning of the upper limb during radiography for correct confirmation of the positioning of the tip of the peripherally inserted central catheter; management of pain with pharmacological and non-pharmacological actions. Descriptors: Nursing care; Newborn; Peripheral catheterization; Vascular access devices; Evidence-Based Clinical Practice.


The discriminative lexicon is introduced as a mathematical and computational model of the mental lexicon. This novel theory is inspired by word and paradigm morphology but operationalizes the concept of proportional analogy using the mathematics of linear algebra. It embraces the discriminative perspective on language, rejecting the idea that words' meanings are compositional in the sense of Frege and Russell and arguing instead that the relation between form and meaning is fundamentally discriminative. The discriminative lexicon also incorporates the insight from machine learning that end-to-end modeling is much more effective than working with a cascade of models targeting individual subtasks. The computational engine at the heart of the discriminative lexicon is linear discriminative learning: simple linear networks are used for mapping form onto meaning and meaning onto form, without requiring the hierarchies of post-Bloomfieldian 'hidden' constructs such as phonemes, morphemes, and stems. We show that this novel model meets the criteria of accuracy (it properly recognizes words and produces words correctly), productivity (the model is remarkably successful in understanding and producing novel complex words), and predictivity (it correctly predicts a wide array of experimental phenomena in lexical processing). The discriminative lexicon does not make use of static representations that are stored in memory and that have to be accessed in comprehension and production. It replaces static representations by states of the cognitive system that arise dynamically as a consequence of external or internal stimuli. The discriminative lexicon brings together visual and auditory comprehension as well as speech production into an integrated dynamic system of coupled linear networks.


BACKGROUND
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is limited by peritoneal fibrosis and ultrafiltration failure. This is in part caused by the high concentration of glucose degradation products (GDPs) present in PD fluids (PDF) as a consequence of heat sterilization. Existing research in long-term PD has mainly dealt with the toxicity induced by GDPs and the development of therapeutic strategies to reduce the cellular burden of GDPs. Currently, there are few data regarding the potential role of detoxification systems of GDP in PD. In this study, the role of glyoxalase 1 (Glo1), the major detoxification pathway for dicarbonyl-derived GD such as methylglyoxal (MG) and glyoxal (Gx), was investigated in vivo using heterozygous knock-down mice for Glo1 (Glo1(-/+)).

METHODS
Wild-type (WT) and Glo1(-/+) mice were repeatedly treated with PDF containing low and high amounts of GDP, particularly with respect to the content of dicarbonyls. After 12 weeks of treatment with PDF, peritoneal damage and function were evaluated.

RESULTS
Glo1(-/+) mice treated with PDF showed increased formation of advanced glycation endproduct (AGE) when compared with WT mice, particularly the Gx-derived AGE, carboxymethyl-lysine. This was associated with increased inflammation, neovascularization, increased peritoneal fibrosis and impaired peritoneal function.

CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests a pivotal and underestimated role for Glo1 as a detoxifying enzyme in GDP-associated peritoneal toxicity in PD. The indirect and direct modulation of Glo1 may therefore offer a new therapeutic option in prevention of GDP-induced peritoneal damage in PD.


Many markets are affected by the complex interactions of multiple variables: geopolitics, technical innovation, capital market swings, competitive dynamics, shifting consumer preferences and so on. These volatile markets throw out a steady stream of opportunities and threats, and managers can neither predict nor control the form, magnitude or timing of future events with accuracy. In such environments, the traditional linear view of strategy ? plan then execute ? is woefully inadequate because it hinders people from incorporating new information into action.

But instead of thinking of strategy as a linear process, why not consider it as inherently iterative ? a loop instead of a line? According to this view, every strategy is a work in progress that is subject to revision in light of ongoing interactions between the organization and its shifting environment. To accommodate those interactions, the strategy loop consists of four major steps: making sense of a situation, making choices on what to do (and what not to do), making those things happen and making revisions based on new information.

Reconceptualizing strategy as an iterative loop is simple enough, but putting that new mindset into practice is not. Here, the crucial thing to remember is that discussions ? formal and informal, short and long, one-on-one and in groups ? are the key mechanism for coordinating activity inside a company. Thus, to put the strategy loop into practice, managers at every level in the organization must be proficient at leading discussions that reflect the four major steps (making sense, making choices, making things happen and making revisions). Companies such as Diageo Ireland, All America Latina Logistica and Onset Venture Services demonstrate that each of the four types of discussions has a different objective that requires a specific tone, supporting information, leadership traits and accompanying tactics.


Percent stress [reduction in growth rate of bromegrass (Bromus inermis L.) due to deficiency] was calculated by the method of Greenwood et al. to evaluate the effects of deficiencies of N, water, and N plus water combined. Dry matter yields of bromegrass receiving either (a) 270 kg/ha of N, (b) complete irrigation, (c) N plus irrigation, or (d) no treatment 3 weeks earlier were determined at periodic intervals in the field at low, medium, and relatively high levels of N availability. Percent stress due to N deficiency was greatest where N availability was lowest, generally increased as the grass approached maturity, but was insignificant as long as a relatively large pool of inorganic N remained in the soil. Percent stress due to water deficiency was affected by precipitation, and was generally greatest for plots low in available N, even though soil water content (to 120 cm depth) was greater in those plots. Generally, percent stress due to deficiencies of water and N combined was approximately equal to the sum of stresses for the two measured separately. The concept of percent stress appears to be useful for quantifying the effects of both N and water deficiencies, alone and in combination, on growth rates of grass. In connection with other measures of physiological condition or activity, this concept may have considerable utility in agronomic research.


Heroes are frequently described as both brave and courageous. Each adjective is often used interchangeably in public and academic discourse, despite historical and philosophical differences in their meaning. While research about heroes and heroism is burgeoning, little work has yet to provide a detailed analysis of specific hero features; indeed, there is a need for greater precision in our terminology and conceptual analyses of heroism. In the present article, we focus on two features of heroism, bravery and courage, and critically parse these terms and the pervasive gender stereotypes that are associated with each. We aim to spark critical discussions about the personal features, motivations, and behaviors associated with heroes and heroism, as well as to outline some directions for future heroism research. We extend our previous work on the central and peripheral features of heroism, and provide directions for considering the role of gender and gender stereotypes in developing future theory and research on heroism.


APOSTOLOV, A., 2009. Evaluation of some more important phenotypic and genetic parameters of the performance traits of small populations from the Danube White breed. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 15: 471-474 A study has been carried out about the phenotypic and genetic variance, heritability and the coefficients of phenotypic, genetic and environmental correlations of the traits subject to selection in the Danube White population reared at the Agricultural Institute - Shumen. The information on the performance of 563 pigs originating from 46 sires for the period 2003 – 2007 has been analyzed. The replacement animals were fed ad libitum according to the norms for the corresponding category. It was established that the size of the population studied and the selection carried out led to a decrease in the additive dependent variance for the basic selection traits. It is noticed that the phenotypic, genetic and environmental correlations between the meat percentage and fat depth are high and negative which makes them equally reliable in the choice of selection criteria (r p, , r e = -0.6 – 0.7, r g = 0.7 – 0.9).


Background: Women with previous two or more caesarean deliveries are usually managed by elective cesarean section to avoid the possible risks of labor. Objective: To compare the relative risks of maternal and fetal outcomes in emergency versus elective previous two or more caesarean deliveries Design: Randomized prospective clinical study Setting: Al-Elweya Maternity Teaching Hospital, from 1 of March to 31 of September 2008. Methods: The study groups, those who had previous two or more caesarean deliveries, were included from the hospital admissions. The 1 group (102 women) presented in labor and was managed by caesarean delivery as soon as it was possible. The second group (78 women) was admitted for elective cesarean delivery. The main maternal outcomes were intra operative complications, including hysterectomy, scar dehiscence, bladder injuries, uterine and internal iliac arteries ligation, and blood transfusion. Postoperative maternal outcomes were severe morbidity including bleeding, fever, urinary tract infection, blood transfusion, the need to Intensive Care Unit admission and readmission. The fetal outcomes measures were Apgar score at one and five minutes, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), admission to the neonatal intensive care unit and fetal loss up to hospital discharge. Results: Both groups were comparable in demographic, social and past obstetric history characteristics. Intra operative complications showed significant difference in bowel adhesions (RR 0.35, 95% CI 0.140.88), and blood transfusion (RR 0.51, 95% CI 0.280.94). There was statistical significant difference in the mobilization time 7.2 hours and 9.3 hours in emergency and elective groups respectively (p= 0.0009), also in feeding time, it was shorter after emergency caesarean section (P=0.0224), and in the hospital stay 24.6 and 32.6 hours respectively (p=0.0001). There was no statistical difference in post operative complications. Fetal outcomes showed no statistical significant difference in fetal loss, respiratory distress and readmission. Conclusion: Women with previous two or more caesarean deliveries can wait until starting labor for doing cesarean delivery without increasing risks to the mother and fetus.


Non Cystic-Fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis is recognised as an important cause of chronic respiratory morbidity in developing countries and in Indigenous people of affluent countries. Over the last decade, it is also increasingly diagnosed and recognised as an important cause of respiratory illness in the non-Indigenous populations of affluent countries. Yet it is a neglected condition with gaps in knowledge in major clinical issues pertaining to its diagnosis, management and outcome, especially in regard to pulmonary exacerbations. Aims The specific aims of this thesis were: 1. To determine the range of bronchial to accompanying arterial diameter ratio in children undergoing multi-detector Computed Tomography (MDCT) of the chest for non-pulmonary conditions. 2. To examine the burden of disease and psychological influences (anxiety, depression, stress) in parents of children with bronchiectasis and to assess the magnitude of changes in these parameters with pulmonary exacerbations. 3. To study the determinants of changes in the lung function and growth parameters in children with bronchiectasis over a three and five year period. 4. To describe the microbiologic and cellular constituents of BAL fluid at the time of diagnosing bronchiectasis. 5. To ascertain the clinical and investigational features of pulmonary exacerbations in bronchiectasis. 6. To formulate a robust, clinically relevant, repeatable and easy to use definition of pulmonary exacerbation in children with bronchiectasis. 7. To identify and determine the point prevalence of respiratory viruses associated with pulmonary exacerbations in children with bronchiectasis. 8. To perform systematic reviews using Cochrane methodology to evaluate the efficacy of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and non-steroid anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in children and adults with bronchiectasis. ...


Full-scale appliance of cyber physical systems (CPSs) in production, logistics and urban life will allow us to cope with the increasing complexity of supply chains, and deliver quality products to consumers. The main issue here, according to the articles authors, is arranging the global collaboration of di↵erent CPSs. We consider arranging the collaboration of autonomous cyber physical systems work as a network based on market mechanisms to be the most sustainable option. The network of distribution, control and provision of services by cyber-physical systems adaptable to human needs, built on the basis of market mechanisms and directly accessible to the end user, can be created on the basis of p2p technologies. This allows the combination of technical and economic parameters of the transaction to the machine. Building such a peer-to-peer network can be carried out on the basis of the Ethereum infrastructure. By expanding the capabilities of the basic communication protocol, we can train cyber physical systems to interact with market mechanisms and contractual obligations. The creation and development of a platform that provides tools for working with the robot economy network (briefly the Robonomics platform) will allow designers of new cities and industrial zones to build trust among the autonomous robots services, provide direct user access for ordering products from autonomous factories and services of urban sensor networks. This in turn will allow us to put in place a decentralized system that globally monitors the activities of cyber physical systems.


We discuss how to test the specification of an ordered discrete choice model against a general alternative. Two main approaches can be followed: tests based on moment conditions and tests based on comparisons between parametric and nonparametric estimations. Following these approaches, various statistics are proposed and their asymptotic properties are discussed. The performance of the statistics is compared by means of simulations. An easy-to-compute variant of the standard moment-based statistic yields the best results in models with a single explanatory variable. In models with various explanatory variables the results are less conclusive, since the relative performance of the statistics depends on both the fit of the model and the type of misspecification that is considered.


Why do spies have such cachet in the twentieth century? Why do they keep reinventing themselves? What do they mean in a political process? This book examines the tradition of the spy narrative from its inception in the late nineteenth century through the present day. Ranging from John le Carre's bestsellers to Elizabeth Bowen's novels, from James Bond to John Banville's contemporary narratives, Allan Hepburn sets the historical contexts of these fictions: the Cambridge spy ring; the Profumo Affair; the witch-hunts against gay men in the civil service and diplomatic corps in the 1950s. Instead of focusing on the formulaic nature of the genre, Intrigue emphasizes the responsiveness of spy stories to particular historical contingencies. Hepburn begins by offering a systematic theory of the conventions and attractions of espionage fiction and then examines the British and Irish tradition of spy novels. A final section considers the particular form that American spy narratives have taken as they have cross-fertilized with the tradition of American romance in works such as Joan Didion's Democracy and John Barth's Sabbatical.


Abstract A Llandovery to Ludlow age for the Niur Formation in the Derenjal Mountains (east-central Iran) is proposed based on new conodont data and previous work on other fossils. The uppermost part of the studied section yielded no diagnostic conodonts but may be Pridoli in age. Some intervals can be dated more precisely: Unit 11 (at least its upper part) is middle Telychian in age and corresponds to the Pterospathodus amorphognathoides lennarti Zone; the lowermost part of Unit 16 is earliest Ludlow in age and corresponds to the Kockelella crassa Zone; the uppermost Unit 16 is late Ludlow (Ludfordian) in age and corresponds to the Ozarkodina snajdri Interval Zone. The Llandovery–Wenlock boundary lies between units 12 and 13 based on sedimentological evidence. The precise location of the Wenlock–Ludlow boundary in the section is not clear but lies below Unit 16. Present-day Iran was located far away from Baltica and Laurentia, on the other side of the Rheic Ocean. This ocean does not seem to have been a major migration barrier for most organisms including the conodonts.


This book is aimed at mental health professionals who perform forensic evaluations of child witnesses in cases of alleged maltreatment in order to determine whether to recommend courtroom modifications. Authors Susan R. Hall and Bruce D. Sales consider, from both legal and psychological standpoints, courtroom modifications such as allowing supportive adults in the witness box and allowing hearsay exemptions. The legal implications of more controversial practices such as using screens to shield the witness from the defendant, and using remote or videotaped depositions or testimony are also discussed. Finally, the authors review current research on trauma, PTSD, fear, anxiety, and depression in children who allegedly have been abused, and examine the implications for child testimony. The nuanced analysis in this book provides mental health and legal professionals with the expert guidance they need when making crucial forensic judgments.


EFFICIENT HIGH-ORDER INTEGRAL EQUATION METHODS FOR THE HEAT EQUATION by Shaobo Wang Efficient high-order integral equation methods have been developed for solving the boundary value problems of the heat equation with complex geometries in two and three dimensions. First of all, the classical heat potential theory is applied to convert such problems to Volterra integral equations of the second kind via the heat layer potentials. Some advantages of the integral formulation as compared with standard finite difference and finite element methods include reduction of the dimension of the problem by one, high order accuracy, unconditional stability, insensitivity to different geometries, and elimination of truncating the computational domain and the need of artificial boundary conditions for exterior problems. However, the heat layer potentials contains convolution integrals in both space and time whose direct evaluation requires O(N SN 2 T ) work and O(NSNT ) storage, where NS is the total number of discretization points in the spatial boundary and NT is the total number of time steps. This is excessively expensive even for problems of modest size, especially for three-dimensional problems. In order to evaluate the heat layer potentials accurately and efficiently, they are split into two parts the local part which contains the temporal integration from t−δ to t and the history part which contains the temporal integration from 0 to t − δ. For the local part, Product integration is applied on the temporal integral to convert it to a sum of several spatial convolution integrals where the so-called local kernels have logarithmic singularity in two dimensions and 1 r singularity in three dimensions. These weakly singular integrals are discretized via high-order quadratures and the resulting discrete summations can then be evaluated via fast algorithms such as the fast multipole method and its descendants. For the history part, efficient separated sum-of-exponentials approximations can be constructed for the heat kernel in any dimension. Specifically, in one space dimension, the heat kernel admits an approximation involving a number of terms that is of the order O(log( δ )(log( ) + log log( δ ))) for any x ∈ R and δ ≤ t ≤ T , where is the desired precision. In all higher dimensions, the corresponding heat kernel admits an approximation involving only O(log( δ )) terms for fixed accuracy . These approximations can be used to accelerate the evaluation of the history part of the heat layer potentials for stationary geometries. For two-dimensional problems with complex stationary geometries, the sumof-exponentials approximation is used for the heat kernel and all local and history kernels are compressed only once. The resulting algorithm is very efficient with quasilinear complexity in both space and time for both interior and exterior problems. For two-dimensional problems with complex moving geometries, the spectral Fourier approximation is applied for the heat kernel and NUFFT is used to speed up the evaluation of the history part of the heat potentials. The complexity of the algorithm is again quasilinear in both space and time, albeit only for the interior problem. For three-dimensional problems, the sum-of-exponentials approximation is applied to speed up the evaluation of the history part. The singular surface integrals in the local kernels are treated with a spectrally accurate integrator. The algorithm is applicable for both interior and exterior problems and has quasilinear complexity with respect to the temporal variable. All these algorithms can be parallelized in a straightforward manner and their performance is demonstrated with extensive numerical experiments. EFFICIENT HIGH-ORDER INTEGRAL EQUATION METHODS FOR THE HEAT EQUATION


The Prime Minister is hoping to secure the support of Parliament for her Withdrawal Agreement in the coming weeks. If she succeeds, winning the 'meaningful vote' on her deal, that will only mark the start of a contentious process to implement the deal in legislation. Parliament will be under pressure to legislate quickly, but it will have to confront issues of major and long-term constitutional significance. This IfG Insight paper focuses on one particularly difficult question: how to reconcile the commitments in the Withdrawal Agreement with the sovereignty of Parliament.


The development of a patterned vasculature is essential for normal organogenesis. We found that signaling by semaphorin 3E (Sema3E) and its receptor plexin-D1 controls endothelial cell positioning and the patterning of the developing vasculature in the mouse. Sema3E is highly expressed in developing somites, where it acts as a repulsive cue for plexin-D1–expressing endothelial cells of adjacent intersomitic vessels. Sema3E–plexin-D1 signaling did not require neuropilins, which were previously presumed to be obligate Sema3 coreceptors. Moreover, genetic ablation of Sema3E or plexin-D1 but not neuropilin-mediated Sema3 signaling disrupted vascular patterning. These findings reveal an unexpected semaphorin signaling pathway and define a mechanism for controlling vascular patterning.


ABSTRACT Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model to explore the molecular exchanges that occur between an animal intestine and associated microbes. Previous studies in Drosophila uncovered a sophisticated web of host responses to intestinal bacteria. The outcomes of these responses define critical events in the host, such as the establishment of immune responses, access to nutrients, and the rate of larval development. Despite our steady march towards illuminating the host machinery that responds to bacterial presence in the gut, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the microbial products that influence bacterial association with a fly host. We sequenced and characterized the genomes of three common Drosophila-associated microbes: Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis and Acetobacter pasteurianus. For each species, we compared the genomes of Drosophila-associated strains to the genomes of strains isolated from alternative sources. We found that environmental Lactobacillus strains readily associated with adult Drosophila and were similar to fly isolates in terms of genome organization. In contrast, we identified a strain of A. pasteurianus that apparently fails to associate with adult Drosophila due to an inability to grow on fly nutrient food. Comparisons between association competent and incompetent A. pasteurianus strains identified a short list of candidate genes that may contribute to survival on fly medium. Many of the gene products unique to fly-associated strains have established roles in the stabilization of host-microbe interactions. These data add to a growing body of literature that examines the microbial perspective of host-microbe relationships. Summary: We examined the genomes of Drosophila-associated bacteria to identify factors that allow survival within the host. These preliminary studies may point at bacterial products that influence host health.


Abstract Australia's large regional cities and towns display a wide variation in their adjustment to the socio-economic transitions that have occurred over the past decade. In terms of socio-economic advantage and disadvantage, these changes, often associated with globalisation, wider economic and technological restructuring, the changing demographics of the population and shifts in public policy, are not evenly dispersed across non-metropolitan regions. Such outcomes have been discussed across a variety of academic disciplines using a variety of data and methods, and the research undertaken has provided a useful grounding for contemporary studies both theoretically and methodologically. Analysis of new data provides an opportunity to extend and update our understanding. This paper presents an analysis of secondary data aimed at analysing non-metropolitan cities, towns and regions based on differential levels of socio-economic performance. Using an alternative clustering method, this paper groups non-metropolitan cities, towns and regions according to the degree to which they share similar socio-economic and demographic outcomes. These clusters form the basis of a typology representing the range of socio-economic and demographic outcomes at the non-metropolitan level.


We establish a general framework for the investigation of concurrent program-based adequacy criteria and we extend notions of program-based test data adequacy to the domain of concurrent programs. This work is consistent with the testing theory proposed by Gourlay and the axiomatization of test data adequacy proposed by Weyuker. Our method is to define a representation of concurrent programs which is particularly suited to the study of the problems of concurrent program testing, and which serves as a model for an extension of a theory of testing to such programs. Our framework also provides the basis for a practical testing tool for concurrent programs.
We prove theoretical results concerning various properties of our representation of concurrent programs, among which are notions of completeness, consistency, and computability. We propose approximate solutions to some of the undecidable problems which we encounter. We demonstrate that our theory of concurrent program testing may be used to assess the complexity and reliability of various adequacy criteria for testing concurrent programs. We use our model to investigate and compare concurrent program based adequacy criteria derived from a subclass of structural coverage criteria including a large family of data flow criteria. Finally, we propose practical methods of using our framework as an aid to concurrent program testing.


We discuss the design of an integrated security architecture for authorization and authentication in a distributed object environment. Our architecture will have four main components: an authentication engine, an interface, a session manager and an authorization engine. The core component of our model is the session manager, which issues XML-based session certificates to authenticated users. A session certificate will be used by the authorization engine to establish the legitimacy of an access request by a user. We will also describe how the architecture supports dynamic revocation of session certificates and delegation.


Objective To assess and compare the performance of triage systems for identifying high and low-urgency patients in the emergency department (ED). Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources EMBASE, Medline OvidSP, Cochrane central, Web of science and CINAHL databases from 1980 to 2016 with the final update in December 2018. Eligibility criteria Studies that evaluated an emergency medical triage system, assessed validity using any reference standard as proxy for true patient urgency and were written in English. Studies conducted in low(er) income countries, based on case scenarios or involving less than 100 patients were excluded. Review methods Reviewers identified studies, extracted data and assessed the quality of the evidence independently and in duplicate. The Quality Assessment of studies of Diagnostic Accuracy included in Systematic Reviews -2 checklist was used to assess risk of bias. Raw data were extracted to create 2×2 tables and calculate sensitivity and specificity. ED patient volume and casemix severity of illness were investigated as determinants of triage systems' performance. Results Sixty-six eligible studies evaluated 33 different triage systems. Comparisons were restricted to the three triage systems that had at least multiple evaluations using the same reference standard (Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale, Emergency Severity Index and Manchester Triage System). Overall, validity of each triage system to identify high and low-urgency patients was moderate to good, but performance was highly variable. In a subgroup analysis, no clear association was found between ED patient volume or casemix severity of illness and triage systems' performance. Conclusions Established triage systems show a reasonable validity for the triage of patients at the ED, but performance varies considerably. Important research questions that remain are what determinants influence triage systems' performance and how the performance of existing triage systems can be improved.


Till date, the enforcement of international human rights law has been relied largely on judicial remedies at the national level. This is more specifically for corporate human rights violation cases where a remedy mechanism to hold transnational corporations (TNCs) directly liable at the international level is absent. Transnational litigation has been increasingly utilized by victims of corporate-related human rights violations in seeking remedies. However, human rights litigation against TNCs in foreign countries has not been a simple process for the victims. Therefore, a special legal framework is urgently needed to guarantee not only victims' right to access to a judicial mechanism but also their right to an effective remedy. This article proposed cooperation between home and host countries to authorize court jurisdiction in order to provide greater access to judicial remedy for victims of TNCs' human rights violations. It presented the possibility for this cooperation to materialize through bilateral investment treaties.


The bio energy industry provides interesting investment opportunities due to several factors including; a strong political will to increase renewable energy production, favourable financial returns and opportunity to benefit from available governmental grant schemes and subsidies. Biomass is also to a large extent an untapped resource that offers opportunities for greater exploitation. However, there are obstacles for an expansion of the bio energy industry such as logistical and technical issues as well as relatively long investment horizons (as a result of high capital costs).

This thesis examines and compares the investment situation facing the Swedish, German and UK bio energy sectors through; literature studies, qualitative interviews and country specific calculations of maximum feedstock (i.e. wood) paying capabilities (WPC's) for relevant technologies. The three thesis included countries are interesting to compare from an investment perspective as they differ regarding biomass resources, established technologies, implemented governmental incentive schemes for renewable energy sources etc.

Thirteen interviews consisting of one phone conference with more than one person interviewed, one personal meeting and eleven phone interviews form the base for the empirical material. The persons interviewed are either generally knowledgeable of the bio energy sector as a whole or associated to a specific bio energy producing installations. The interviews highlight high associated capital costs, economic optimisation of feedstock supply, existing demand, access to electric and/or heat grids and governmental incentive systems as determining factors for investors in the three countries.

The thesis included countries have different ways of supporting renewable energy generation. In Sweden and the UK, government imposed quota regulations on suppliers to source parts of their electricity from renewable energy sources are imposed. These quota systems rely on certificates being handed out to producers of green electricity for each MWh of electricity produced. These certificates must then be sourced by suppliers in order for them to prove that they have fulfilled their renewable energy quota. The certificate price is set by market conditions, i.e. the relation between the number of producer awarded certificates in relation to the set quota for suppliers. In Germany a feed-in system is applied which rewards producers with a guaranteed grid access and a minimum fixed electricity price for each MWh of green electricity fed in to the grid. The German system is limited to smaller scale installations with a capacity of no more than 20 MWe and an output not exceeding 175,2 GWh annually.

The Swedish and UK quota systems are well liked by some of the as they support any installation scale and as they are market oriented systems which allows renewable energy sources to compete with traditional energy sources such as coal. Respondents however see a problem in making long term investment decisions based on fluctuating certificate prices. The German feed-in system is viewed as a stable and reliable remuneration scheme where investors know exactly what revenues they can expect from their electricity production. However, as the feed-in level is fixed producers cannot pass on increasing costs to the end consumers as is the case with variable electricity prices.

The Wood Paying Capability (WPC) calculations point towards a relatively high paying capability (SE=30,1 €/MWh, DE=45,6 €/MWh, UK=37,9 €/MWh) which is generally well above biomass prices. The relatively high WPC values indicate that there are positive profit margins on all three markets. Furthermore, the WPC results display large variations in paying capability between the three countries. These variations in turn may be explained by governmental remuneration levels being adjusted to differing structural conditions such as biomass availability and existing infrastructure e.g. in the form of district heating systems. Furthermore the WPC variations are also affected by large differences in country specific electricity spot prices and variations regarding installation associated costs utilised in the calculations. Regarding the high German WPC value, it should be noted that large scale facilities in the Swedish and UK systems may render better financial figures if the total remuneration is calculated as the German system has a capacity and output limit.

The main factors limiting the entry of new actors on the examined bio energy markets are high capital costs and logistic issues. The associated high capital costs has traditionally incurred long pay off times ranging from 15 to 25 years which has often deterred bio energy investments or steered investors towards other renewable energy sources such as wind power. Biomass is also often a scattered resource which in combination with the biomass fuels bulk and relatively low energy content makes the fuel ill-suited for long transports. However, both logistical and capital issues may be overcome by future investments in truly large scale installations through economics of scale. Regardless of scale, an optimised feedstock solutions stand out as particularly important aspect both as uncovered by the interviews and by previous research. The feedstock logistical solution determines how much fuel a facility has available and thus it limits the financially viable plant scale as well as it directly affects fuel sourcing costs. The relative importance of an optimised sourcing solution is illustrated by the fact that forest residues delivered at plant generally costs twice as much as coal delivered at plant.

Furthermore, the relative importance of the different investment deciding factors is influenced by the prevailing structural conditions on the examined markets. For example, feedstock or logistical issues are less likely to hamper investments on the Swedish market than on the UK market.


The general principles of detection, classification, and measurement of discontinuities are studied. The following issues are discussed: detecting the location of discontinuities; classifying discontinuities by their degrees; measuring the size of discontinuities; and coping with the random noise and designing optimal discontinuity detectors. An algorithm is proposed for discontinuity detection from an input signal S. For degree k discontinuity detection and measurement, a detector (P, Phi ) is used, where P is the pattern and Phi is the corresponding filter. If there is a degree k discontinuity at location t/sub 0/, then in the filter response there is a scaled pattern alpha P at t/sub 0/, where alpha is the size of the discontinuity. This reduces the problem to searching for the scaled pattern in the filter response. A statistical method is proposed for the approximate pattern matching. To cope with the random noise, a study is made of optimal detectors, which minimize the effects of noise. >


Communication is the basis of all relationships. Be it personal or professional, people cannot do without healthy and effective communication especially, when it comes to business. Good communication skills are of vital importance. While most countries do speak English, which is the globally accepted 'business' language, there are still big challenges with language as well as cultural differences. This study aimed to investigate the role of interpersonal communications in manag- ing South African – German business relationships. The objective of this study was, firstly, to identify which communication channels South African business organiza- tions use to communicate with German businesses and, secondly, to explore the associated problems experienced by South African business people. Based on the investigated problems, recommendations were provided on the technical level and the personal level as to how communication can be made more effective to improve South African and German business relationships. In order to accomplish the objectives of the study, a quantitative study was con- ducted by means of self-administered e-mail based questionnaires. In addition, a qualitative study was conducted using self-administered interviews based on the quantitative results of this study. In both cases, the respondents were purposively selected. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the findings of the study in comparison with the literature review. The results showed that effective communication in business is not as easy as it of- ten seems. There are problems in business communications between South African and German business partners mainly based on the cultural differences. The report recommended that companies should invest more in training and work- shops in order to help communication partners to understand cultures abroad and to understand the communication habits of overseas business people.


In the last few years, bio‐inspired solutions have attracted the attention of the scientific community. Several world‐renowned institutions have sponsored and created laborato‐ ries in order to understand the forms, functions and behavior of living organisms. Some methods can be highlighted in the search for geometric representation of the shapes found in the nature, the fractal geometry, the polar geometry, and the superformula of Gielis. This chapter is focusing on bio‐inspired microstrip antennas, especially on leaf‐ shaped antennas from the Gielis superformula that open a vast research field for more compact antennas with low visual impact.