Context: In the generally accepted, but poorly documented model, silicate J-type C-stars are binary objects for which the silicate emission originates from a circumbinary or a circumcompanion disc. Aims: We aim at testing this hypothesis by a thorough spectral and spatial observational study of one object: IRAS 18006-3213 . Methods: We obtained, analysed and modeled high spatial resolution interferometric VLTI/MIDI observations on multiple baselines ranging from 45 m to 100 m. Results: All observations resolved the object and show the very compact nature of the N-band emission (~30 mas). In addition, the highest spatial resolution data show a significant differential phase jump around 8.3 mum. This demonstrates the asymmetric nature of the N-band emission. Moreover, the single telescope N-band spectrum shows the signature of highly processed silicate grains. These data are used to confirm the model on silicate J-type C-stars for IRAS 18006-3213 . We show that the most favourable model of the dust geometry is a stable circumbinary disc around the system, seen under an intermediate inclination. Conclusions: The data presented on the silicate J-type C-star IRAS 18006-3213 provide evidence that the oxygen rich dust is trapped in a circumbinary disc. The formation of this disc is probably linked to the binary nature of the central star. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile. Program ID: 073.D-610(A).


In support of exploration programs across the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, prestack depth-migrated (PSDM) seismic data sets have come to be widely used for prospect identification and risk assessment. These projects have often followed the 80% solution, where the standard has been isotropic velocity analysis and imaging. However, with sustained exploration success, there has been an increasing need to improve both the image quality and predictive capability of PSDM data sets in support of project appraisal and development. Achieving the desired improvements in image fidelity places many requirements on our approach to seismic imaging and velocity modeling. Foremost among these is accuracy; the imaging must be able to precisely image faults, subtle stratigraphy, and complex, steeply dipping features. In parallel, our approach to velocity modeling should provide a robust, flexible, and integrated methodology for describing the complexities of anisotropic Earth models, since sharply defining the geologic struct...


ABSTRACT: The article analyzes the recently signed Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFA), especially in respect to their dispute settlement mechanisms. We present a brief overview of the Brazilian experience with the "previous model" of International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and the creation process of the "new model", as well as the international reorientation as to IIAs. Next, we analyze the criticisms directed to the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism and the proposed changes that are being disseminated. We conclude with an analysis of the position adopted by Brazil with regards to arbitration in the CIFAs, especially of the reasons that seem to explain the rejection of the investor-State mechanism. This article sustains that the CIFAs must not be considered a backwards movement or an evidence of a contradictory position of the Brazilian government towards arbitration, but as an instrument with potential to insert it in the debate on the international regime of investment promotion and protection.


We describe a hierarchical data analysis pipeline for coherently searching for gravitational-wave signals from non-spinning compact binary coalescences (CBCs) in the data of multiple earth-based detectors. This search assumes no prior information on the sky position of the source or the time of occurrence of its transient signals and, hence, is termed 'blind'. The pipeline computes the coherent network search statistic that is optimal in stationary, Gaussian noise. More importantly, it allows for the computation of a suite of alternative multi-detector coherent search statistics and signal-based discriminators that can improve the performance of CBC searches in real data, which can be both non-stationary and non-Gaussian. Also, unlike the coincident multi-detector search statistics that have been employed so far, the coherent statistics are different in the sense that they check for the consistency of the signal amplitudes and phases in the different detectors with their different orientations and with the signal arrival times in them. Since the computation of coherent statistics entails searching in the sky, it is more expensive than that of the coincident statistics that do not require it. To reduce computational costs, the first stage of the hierarchical pipeline constructs coincidences of triggers from the multiple interferometers, by requiring their proximity in time and component masses. The second stage follows up on these coincident triggers by computing the coherent statistics. Here, we compare the performances of this hierarchical pipeline with and without the second (or coherent) stage in Gaussian noise. Although introducing hierarchy can be expected to cause some degradation in the detection efficiency compared to that of a single-stage coherent pipeline, nevertheless it improves the computational speed of the search considerably. The two main results of this work are as follows: (1) the performance of the hierarchical coherent pipeline on Gaussian data is shown to be better than the pipeline with just the coincident stage; (2) the three-site network of LIGO detectors, in Hanford and Livingston (USA), and Virgo detector in Cascina (Italy) cannot resolve the polarization of waves arriving from certain parts of the sky. This can cause the three-site coherent statistic at those sky positions to become singular. Regularized versions of the statistic can avoid that problem, but can be expected to be sub-optimal. The aforementioned improvement in the pipeline's performance due to the coherent stage is in spite of this handicap.


Organizational support is essential for successful implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in clinical settings. This 3-year study used a mixed qualitative and quantitative design to implement a medication management EBP in the treatment of schizophrenia in six community mental health clinics in a south-central state of the United States. Findings from organizational fidelity assessments indicate that support for EBP implementation was moderate. Organizational support was highest for prescriber access to relevant patient information at each medication visit, scheduling flexibility for patients' urgent problems, and availability of medication guidelines. Organizational support was lowest for medication availability and identification of treatment refractory patients. Findings suggest that leadership is essential to support successful implementation. Nurse educators can incorporate implementation research and leadership training into graduate nursing programs to facilitate successful EBP implementation in practice settings.


We introduce a multi-scale framework for low-level vision, where the goal is estimating physical scene values from image data-such as depth from stereo image pairs. The framework uses a dense, overlapping set of image regions at multiple scales and a "local model," such as a slanted-plane model for stereo disparity, that is expected to be valid piecewise across the visual field. Estimation is cast as optimization over a dichotomous mixture of variables, simultaneously determining which regions are inliers with respect to the local model (binary variables) and the correct co-ordinates in the local model space for each inlying region (continuous variables). When the regions are organized into a multi-scale hierarchy, optimization can occur in an efficient and parallel architecture, where distributed computational units iteratively perform calculations and share information through sparse connections between parents and children. The framework performs well on a standard benchmark for binocular stereo, and it produces a distributional scene representation that is appropriate for combining with higher-level reasoning and other low-level cues.


Many deep learning models are vulnerable to the adversarial attack, i.e., imperceptible but intentionally-designed perturbations to the input can cause incorrect output of the networks. In this paper, using information geometry, we provide a reasonable explanation for the vulnerability of deep learning models. By considering the data space as a non-linear space with the Fisher information metric induced from a neural network, we first propose an adversarial attack algorithm termed one-step spectral attack (OSSA). The method is described by a constrained quadratic form of the Fisher information matrix, where the optimal adversarial perturbation is given by the first eigenvector, and the vulnerability is reflected by the eigenvalues. The larger an eigenvalue is, the more vulnerable the model is to be attacked by the corresponding eigenvector. Taking advantage of the property, we also propose an adversarial detection method with the eigenvalues serving as characteristics. Both our attack and detection algorithms are numerically optimized to work efficiently on large datasets. Our evaluations show superior performance compared with other methods, implying that the Fisher information is a promising approach to investigate the adversarial attacks and defenses.


Interfacial polymerization is one of the most important methods to fabricate polymer particles and membranes. As compared to bulk polymerization, interfacial polymerization is a type of step-growth polymerization that takes place at the interface of two immiscible phases, endowing the polymer materials with unique topological and chemical properties, such as anisotropic shapes, hollow structures or alternative surface chemistry. Herein, we summarize the recent progress in interfacial polymerization, generally based on the fabrication method and application field. First, two theory models of interfacial polymerization based on membrane and particles have been introduced. Second, five typical polymerization systems, i.e. liquid/monomer–solid (Lm–S), liquid/monomer–liquid (Lm–L), liquid/monomer–liquid/monomer (Lm–Lm), liquid/monomer-in-liquid (Lm-in-L), and liquid/monomer-in-liquid/monomer (Lm-in-Lm) systems, based on liquid–solid, liquid–liquid, and liquid-in-liquid emulsion interfaces, used in interfacial polymerization have been summarized. Then, three practical applications of synthetic materials, i.e. in electronic devices, separation, and cargo loading, prepared by interfacial polymerization have been shown. Finally, the current challenges and opportunities in interfacial polymerization have also been proposed and discussed.


Final Fight (Capcom 1989) is a famous example of a video game genre generally known as "beat 'em up" or "brawler," a type of action game where the player character must fight a large number of enemies in unarmed combat or with melee weapons. The side-scrolling beat 'em up genre reached the peak of its global popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period sometimes referred to as the genre's "golden age." Set in a contemporary, urban setting, Final Fight has a storyline that revolves around three playable heroes who attempt to rescue a young woman from the clutches of a criminal gang. Although likely the most influential and among the best games in this genre, Final Fight did not found the beat 'em up genre by itself: it was produced within the context of a specific, albeit recent, textual tradition and canon. This canon consisted of texts produced within the same medium (i.e. other video games, mostly of Japanese production) but also drew from an intermedial corpus. In its design and narrative tropes, Final Fight inherited and incorporated a number of elements from Hollywood action cinema that had been translated into the newer digital medium of video game. To trace a history of the beat 'em up genre from its origins to Final Fight, I address in this paper questions on three levels. On the intertextual level, what are the textual antecedents of Final Fight? What were the formal and stylistic conditions of possibility for this game within the history of the genre and the medium? What are the game's intermedial connections, especially with films? To answer these questions, I trace a tentative genealogy, focusing on the narrative and representational elements of the game. Specifically, I examine storylines, characters and settings and their relationship with the structural properties of beat 'em up gameplay. On the "(v)ideological" (Gottschalk 1995) level, what value systems are put into play in a classic beat 'em up game? In what ways are the player's choices axiologised? What conduct is rewarded or sanctioned? Which actions can the player's avatar perform, and for which purposes? In what contemporary discursive formations did Final Fight participate as a textual device for the actualisation of ideologically non-neutral fictional conduct? I attempt to map the value system inscribed in this video game genre that, in turn, articulates it as a game (i.e. as a system of stakes, rules, sanctions, and rewards). On the historical level, what were the industrial and commercial conditions entailed in the production of a game such as Final Fight? To the (actual or virtual) satisfaction of what demands, both material and symbolic, was it designed? Answering these questions calls for an analysis of the so-called "context," which I consider to be a historical and social meta-narrative. In this respect, my research mostly focuses geographically and historically on the Japanese video game market of the 1980s and its transnational connections. Starting with the (mainly cinematic) dissemination of transnational imaginaries of "street violence" and "vigilantism" against the background of large, modern American cities during the 1970s and 1980s, I attempt to show that Final Fight is an instance of the incorporation of these imaginaries into video games. More generally, I argue that, with various degrees of success, the classic beat 'em up games produced in Japan carried out a function of symbolic appropriation and redistribution at a local level as they remediated a cinematic textual canon (which was, for a significant part, of foreign origin) into the video game medium. As video games, these texts shifted the focus of this appropriation from spectatorship to the forms of active agency prescribed in gameplay. The player thus appropriated control not only on a character in a game but also of an entire cinematic canon which, in the Japanese context, appeared rich in symbolic capital and marked by "American-ness." The movies that inspired the classic beat 'em up came from Hollywood, one of the "Greenwich Meridians" (Casanova 2004) in the global cultural industry during the 1970s and 1980s, likely the last decades of what some scholars have called "the era of high Americanization" (Iwabuchi 2002). Video games were, in other words, the means by which a portion of the Japanese cultural industry could so successfully appropriate the symbolic capital of Hollywood products that these Japanese games transcended the borders of the Japanese national market and became big hits in the "West."


This article explores the usage of singular HE and plural THEY with their possessive, objective and reflexive forms in anaphoric reference to compound indefinite pronouns in written present-day English. Previous studies have indicated that the most commonly used personal pronouns in anaphoric reference to non-referential indefinite pronouns are indeed HE and THEY. The data for the study are drawn from the written part of the British National Corpus. The structure of the study is such that following the introduction, I will survey the earlier literature on the topic to illustrate that there is a gap in the previous studies on epicene pronouns. The third section defines the indefinite pronouns used in this study. In addition, the section also discusses the differences between the meaning and form of the indefinites and the semantic reference sets of each pronoun paradigm. Following the explanation of the methods, the article sets out the findings.


PKR is a serine/threonine protein kinase induced by interferon treatment and activated by double-stranded RNAs. As a result of activation, PKR becomes autophosphorylated and catalyzes phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of protein synthesis eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2). While studying the regulation of PKR in virus-infected cells, we found that a cellular 58-kDa protein (P58) was recruited by influenza virus to downregulate PKR and thus avoid the kinase's deleterious effects on viral protein synthesis and replication. We now report on the cloning, sequencing, expression, and structural analysis of the P58 PKR inhibitor, a 504-amino-acid hydrophilic protein. P58, expressed as a histidine fusion protein in Escherichia coli, blocked both the autophosphorylation of PKR and phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of eIF-2. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis showed that P58 is present not only in bovine cells but also in human, monkey, and mouse cells, suggesting the protein is highly conserved. Computer analysis revealed that P58 contains regions of homology to the DnaJ family of proteins and a much lesser degree of similarity to the PKR natural substrate, eIF-2 alpha. Finally, P58 contains nine tandemly arranged 34-amino-acid repeats, demonstrating that the PKR inhibitor is a member of the tetratricopeptide repeat family of proteins, the only member identified thus far with a known biochemical function.


ENGLISH ROMANTICISM AND THE CELTIC WORLD. Edited by Gerard Carruthers and Alan Rawes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. v + 265. ISBN 0-521- 81085-X. £40.00. This is an excellent collection of learned essays that I am sure every scholar with an interest in British Romanticism will find illuminating and provocative. Carruthers and Rawes's lucid introduction, 'Romancing the Celt', outlines the central concerns of, and need for, the volume, covering, among other points, the 'danger of losing sight of the extent to which Celticism was used as a tool in the construction and expansion of the post- 1745 British state', how English 'Romantic constructions of the Celtic' connect to the 'expanding Empire and its attendant "Orientalism", and European war', the 'part played by Celtic culture in the genesis of Romanticism as a literary phenomenon', and the reciprocity between Welsh culture and English Romanticism. The essays that engage with Wales and Anglo-Welsh relations-Michael J. Franklin's 'Sir William Jones, the Celtic Revival and the Oriental Renaissance', Caroline Franklin's 'The Welsh American Dream: Iolo Morganwg, Robert Southey and the Madoc Legend', J. R. Watson's 'Wordsworth, North Wales and the Celtic Landscape', and William D. Brewer's 'Felicia Hemans, Byronic Cosmopolitanism and the Ancient Welsh Bards'-contribute to the volume's distinctiveness. Michael J. Franklin furthers necessary engagement with Sir William Jones, the 'Welsh Orientalist'. There are occasional references to Jones 'anticipating' and 'prefiguring' later works and various aspects of Romanticism, but Franklin wisely demonstrates the (not solely literary) influence Jones had during his life and gives his writing due space to reveal its originality, wit and complexity. Franklin does, however, introduce Lewis Morris and Evan Evans, who were part of a group of 'Pioneering prime movers of a Welsh renaissance', and shows important connections and differences between their and Jones's work and opinions. Dafydd R. Moore's essay outlines the marginalization of Macpherson and it will encourage engagement with his now published book, Enlightenment and Romance in James Macpherson's 'The Poems of Ossian': Myth, Genre and Cultural Change (Ashgate, 2003). David Punter's 'Blake and Gwendolen: Territory, Periphery and the Proper Name' was slightly frustrating: it traverses from brilliant close attention to a 'set of Celtic allusions in Blake's work-almost entirely in Jerusalem-to see whether we can thereby conjure a further glimpse of the extraordinary topography of the Prophetic Books and their complex revisualisation of the historical and geographical problematic that is "Britain"' to, for me, diverting points influenced by Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Bernard Beatty begins by asking whether 'there is any useful sense in which [Byron] might be thought to be' a 'Celtic poet'. …


This paper brings into focus the relationship between the location of a decision-making unit in a network of decision makers and its certainty in integrating information toward a decision. A collection of units, each represented by a Drift-Diffusion Model (DDM), accrues evidence in continuous time by observing a (noisy) stimulus. Their task is to make a decision that depends on accurately identifying the stimulus observed. It is shown that common structural centrality measures based on nodal degree or geodesic distance cannot be used to rank the units according to their certainty in integrating information. Instead, the variance associated with the state of a decision-making unit depends on the communication topology in a way that incorporates all possible paths connecting that unit with the rest.


Whilst uncertainty and change has always been the focal point of strategic management theories, the increasing rate of change and uncertainty that organisations have been experiencing during the past few decades has stimulated new approaches to the strategic management of firms.

'Agility' has been introduced as an appropriate paradigmatic approach to integrative strategy making ((Doz and Kosonen, 2008, 2010; McGrath, 2013a, 2013b; Sharifi, 2014). The concept has been considered as providing a comprehensive and cohesive platform for addressing the new conditions in the business environment, epitomised in notions such as hyper-competition, hyper-turbulence, and the continuously morphing business environment, through the perpetual process of altering and adjusting the firm's direction and courses of action (Doz and Kosonen, 2008). The main aim behind the concept is to maintain strategic supremacy and competitiveness by anticipating and taking advantage of change ((D'Aveni, 1994; Thomas, 1996; Doz and Kosonen, 2007; Jamrog et al., 2006), and coping with and surviving unexpected changes (Zhang and Sharifi, 2000).

Agile organisations rely on a series of agility capabilities such as strategic sensitivity, decision making prowess, learning aptitude and resource fluidity and flexibility (Hamel and Prahalad, 1993; Dyer and Shafer, 2003; Doz and Kosonen, 2008; Lengnick-Hall and Beck, 2009), many of which are human-related. A review of the agility literature revealed that achieving agility, similar to other value-based management philosophies, is heavily dependent upon various human factors such as Human Resources (HR) strategy, management approach and the prevailing culture of an organisation (Harper and Utley, 2001; Street et al., 2003; Dyer and Ericksen, 2006). However, the review of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) literature indicated that the SHRM studies have not responded to the agility agenda, thus, little is known about human resource management strategies and systems enabling organisational agility.

In an effort to fill this gap, this research has focused on exploring the people aspects of organisational agility aiming at:
1. Identifying the HRM critical roles in developing organisational agility
2. Developing a theoretical model for crafting and implementing a HR Strategy which
assists organisations in acquiring agile attributes. The conceptual model delineates the key constructs and features of an Agility-Oriented Human Resource Strategy (AOHRS).

The research was conducted through exploratory qualitative research, collecting data mainly through semi-structured interviews with HR directors, agility professionals and senior managers from 17 large public and private organisations in the UK.

The research explicated the need and developed a conceptual framework for AOHRS, which gives explicit attention to an array of external environment forces. The framework proposes the need for ongoing reinterpretation of contextual information, frequent review of necessary individual and organisation-wide skills portfolio and capabilities profiles, and frequent re-evaluation of HR principles, policies and practices-in-use to reflect the persistent uncertainty and continuously morphing business conditions. The framework also offers for a dynamic HR system which can analyse capability needs continuously and have appropriate policies and practices in place to easily and quickly reconfigure the firms' human assets.

The study contributes to the knowledge in the field of SHRM and organisational agility by presenting a comprehensive conceptual framework for AOHR strategy, complemented by an expansive definition for an Agility-Oriented SHRM suitable for an uncertain business environment. As part of this, the attributes and capabilities of the agile workforce, a series of Agility-Oriented HR Principles and a series of widely-adopted Agility-Oriented HR Practices are also empirically identified in addition to the characteristics and dimensions of an Agile HR Function.


Two novel coordination polymers (CPs) based on zinc(II) and acyclic dicarboxylate linkers, i.e. [Zn2(μ3-IA)2(H2O)4]n (1-W) and {[Zn2(μ-IA)2(DMF)]·H2O}n (2-DMF) (where IA2− = itaconate) have been obtained as a result of a systematic study of some synthetic factors such as pH and solvents, which has allowed optimizing the conditions that render the best yields. 1-W is obtained as X-ray quality single crystals upon which diffraction analysis has been conducted, showing that it consists of a neutral 2D layered structure. Some structural details have been elucidated for 2-DMF based on a comparison of PXRD data with 1-W and in view of the similar composition of both crystalline phases. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements confirm that 2-DMF presents slightly different spectra from those of 1-W. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations of 1-W reveal that electronic transitions arise from both first excited singlet and triplet states involving ligand-centred emissions. Moreover, both compounds exhibit blue fluorescence and green phosphorescence that involves less frequent long-lasting phosphorescence (LLP) at 10 K. Exhaustive characterization of long-lasting phosphorescence by means of time-resolved spectroscopy reveals remarkably long lifetimes (τ) of ca. 352 ms (λem ≈ 550 nm) for 1-W and 547 ms (λem ≈ 500 nm) for 2-DMF.


Dental impressions are categorized under semi-critical objects in dental practice and require high level disinfection or sterilization. Sterilization in an autoclave will compromise the dimensional accuracy of the impression hence it is not feasible. Until 1991, the recommended procedure for disinfection of impression was rinsing under running water with which only 40% of bacteria, viruses and fungi were removed and potential for transmission of microorganisms remained there. In recent times, a pre wash of the impression with running water is advocated first to cast off all particles, blood and saliva prior to active disinfection procedure. Disinfection of dental impression should be a routine procedure in the dental office and dental laboratory. However, most of the dental professionals in private clinics, hospitals, dental schools and prosthetic laboratories are not following the required protocols for impression disinfection. Keeping in view the above findings, it is of utmost importance to raise the level of awareness in dental professionals involved in any process of handling, transportation, processing and storage of the dental impressions. With this background ,the aim of this review is to generate an update on the various techniques of impression disinfection along with their mechanism of action , dimensional stability ,cause of infection on impression material and effects of disinfectant on impression materials.


The present study explored the prevalence of myths about male sexual assault, assault by penetration, and rape in a male general population sample (N = 98; mean age = 26.17 years), with the aim of determining potential barriers to the reporting of incidents of male sexual victimization and reasons for reluctance to report. In addition, the impacts of prior experience of male sexual victimization, both direct and indirect, on rape and sexual assault myth acceptance and on attitudes to reporting were evaluated. Participants completed an online survey indicating their levels of agreement with a range of statements reflecting different rape and sexual assault myths identified within the previous literature. Overall, there were high levels of disagreement (>90%) with the majority of the statements. The only items generating higher agreement ratings were those suggesting that the police are unlikely to take male sexual victimization seriously and—where the offence in question was sexual assault or assault by penetration and the perpetrator female—that men should be able to defend themselves against such crimes. Those without any prior experience of male sexual victimization tended to disagree more with the rape myths than those with previous experience. When asked whether they would report these offences if they were to happen to them, participants said that they were more likely to report each of the types of offences when the perpetrator was male than when they were female. Potential implications of the findings, for male sex offence investigations and for the criminal justice system more generally, are discussed.


Schizophrenia is characterized by significant and widespread impairments in the regulation of emotion. Evidence is only recently emerging regarding the neural basis of these emotion regulation impairments, and few studies have focused on the regulation of emotion during effortful cognitive processing. To examine the neural correlates of deficits in effortful emotion regulation, schizophrenia outpatients (N = 20) and age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers (N = 20) completed an emotional faces n-back task to assess the voluntary attentional control subprocess of emotion regulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Behavioral measures of emotional intelligence and emotion perception were administered to examine brain-behavior relationships with emotion processing outcomes. Results indicated that patients with schizophrenia demonstrated significantly greater activation in the bilateral striatum, ventromedial prefrontal, and right orbitofrontal cortices during the effortful regulation of positive emotional stimuli, and reduced activity in these same regions when regulating negative emotional information. The opposite pattern of results was observed in healthy individuals. Greater fronto-striatal response to positive emotional distractors was significantly associated with deficits in facial emotion recognition. These findings indicate that abnormalities in striatal and prefrontal cortical systems may be related to deficits in the effortful emotion regulatory process of attentional control in schizophrenia, and may significantly contribute to emotion processing deficits in the disorder.


A simple and highly active catalytic process for ring-opening alternating copolymerization (ROAC) of cyclic anhydrides and epoxides still remains a key challenge. Herein, we have described an effective group of versatile and low-toxic zinc dicarbyl/amine Lewis pairs for the ROAC. The facile route showed a high catalytic activity (TOF ≤ 210 h−1 at 110 °C) and perfectly alternating selectivity (>99%). An unexpected highly regioselective ring-opening of asymmetric epoxides (PO, ECH and SO) was also achieved by the combination of zinc alkyls (or aryls) and amines. Of note, deprotonation side reaction of α-H of anhydrides with organic bases was uncovered, and subsequently was inhibited by using nonpolar solvents and Lewis acid/base pairs. Thus, an array of polyesters was synthesized by the coupling of various anhydrides (PA, CHA, SA and NA) and epoxides (CHO, PO, ECH and SO) using the same Lewis pairs. Furthermore, variable temperature 1H NMR spectral and MALDI TOF MS analyses were performed to understand the possible mechanism and microstructure. The experimental results indicated that zwitterionic alkoxide and carboxylate intermediates alternately formed to enhance the ester repeat units in chain initiation and propagation. This work provides a simple and green catalytic strategy to prepare diversified polyesters from the ROAC process of cyclic anhydrides and epoxides with considerable catalytic activity and alternating selectivity.


BulgaRi, R., N. Podetta, g. CoCetta, a. Piaggesi and a. FeRRaNte, 2014. the effect of a complete fertilizer for leafy vegetables production in family and urban gardens. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 1361-1367 the home vegetables cultivation in family or urban gardens for self -consumption is mainly performed as a hobby but without following the good agricultural practices. Home gardening is often carried out by inexperienced people, which may lead to wrong fertilization. in this work, a fertilizer was evaluated for providing the mineral nutrients required from vegetables and stimulate the nutrient use efficiency in the plant. The commercial product ONE®, commercialized by Valagro S.p.A., was tested on two different leafy vegetables, Lactucasativa l. and Cichoriumendivia l. in order to discriminate the nutritional effect from the biostimulant effects, ONE® treatments were compared to a control added with the minimum crops requirements and to solutions containing the same concentrations of macro-nutrients as in ONE®. Results showed that ONE® treatments were able to speed up the growing rate of plants that reached the commercial maturity earlier. the chlorophyll content was higher in ONE® treatments, showing a positive effect on the visual appearance of the vegetables. Nitrate content in lettuce was below 500 mg/kg fresh weight, a value much lower than the commercialization law limits. treatment caused a higher increase of reducing sugars in lettuce respect to endive. in lettuce the sucrose content was higher in outer leaves compared to the inner leaves, while opposite results were found for total sugars. In endive sucrose and total sugar were lower in ONE® treatments compared to control. In conclusion, considering yield and quality parameters, ONE® was effective in improving the quality of the leafy vegetables tested.


We propose a drifting-coefficient model to empirically study the effect of money on output growth in Canada and to examine the role of prevailing financial conditions for that relationship. We show that such a time-varying approach can be a useful way of modelling the impact of money on growth, and can partly reconcile the lack of concensus in the literature on the question of whether money affects growth. In addition, we find that credit conditions also play a role in that relationship. In particular, there is an additional negative short-run impact of money on growth when credit is not readily available, supporting the precautionary motive for holding money. Finally, money is found to have no effect on output growth in the long-run.


A Thesis submitted to the Postgraduate
School, Ahmadu Bello University, in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA


In this study, we investigate the directional distributions of the secondary interstellar neutral (ISN) He and O populations at Earth's orbit. The secondary populations are created by charge exchange between ISN atoms and interstellar ions in the outer heliosheath. Using the IBEX-Lo He and O observations during the winter–spring seasons (early December to early June) in 2009–2011, we produced all-sky maps for He and O atoms with sputtering corrections. These sky maps include the directional distributions of the primary ISN gas and secondary populations. Our investigations reveal that the secondary He and O populations are observed in the ecliptic longitude range 160°–210°. The peak longitudes of the secondary He and O appear to be 14°–34° and 38°–43° away from the peak longitude of the primary interstellar gas flow, respectively. These results indicate that the secondary populations have lower bulk speeds relative to the Sun and their flow directions deviate from the primary gas flow. These results may indicate that one side of the outer heliosheath is thicker than the other side relative to the flow direction of the primary interstellar gas flow.


The laws of war forbid states to use force against each other except in self-defense or with the authorization of the United Nations Security Council. Self-defense is usually understood to mean self-defense against an imminent threat. We model the decision of states to use force against "rogue" states, and argue that under certain conditions it may be proper to expand the self-defense exception to preemptive self-defense. We also consider related issues such as humanitarian intervention, collective security, and the role of the Security Council.


Recent results have shown that interference alignment can achieve K/2 degrees of freedom in a K-user interference channel with time or frequency varying channel coefficients. For fixed number of users K, the number of degrees of freedom characterizes the asymptotic behavior of the performance in the high SNR limit but it does not answer the question of how the performance scales with K for any fixed SNR. In particular, it is unclear if a constant rate per user can be maintained as more users enter into the system. In this paper, we investigate the performance of the interference alignment scheme proposed in [5] for fixed SNR. We assume that the channel coefficients between the users are of the form r ejθ where r is fixed over the duration of communication and θ is a fast fading phase. We show that for any value of the SNR and K, the aggregate rate achieved by the interference alignment scheme of [5] is lower bounded by c1K log(1 + c2 SNR) where c1 and c2 are positive constants independent of both SNR and K. This result establishes the linear scaling of the interference alignment scheme for the considered random phase channel model.


Merlot wines from four premium wine-producing districts in China were analysed for their volatile composition and sensory properties. Fifty-seven aroma compounds were quantified by SPME-GC-MSOAV analysis, which showed that thirty of these compounds were active on the basis of their odour active value (OAV). According to the aroma descriptions of eleven impact odorants in all the sample wines, the collective aroma characteristics of Chinese Merlot red wine are complex. Its main flavour is that of some tropical and temperate fruits, such as banana, pineapple, green apple, pear and strawberry, along with a lactic flavour from the malolactic fermentation. It also has some traits of processed fruits, Muscat and floral pollen flavour. Moreover, different districts gave Merlot wine distinct characters. Changli wine had a higher intensity and complexity of global aroma, a strong fruity aroma, and an obvious nuance of lactic and nut traits. The sine from Helanshan had weak fusel flavour and some lemon fruity flavour. Shacheng wine had weak fusel flavour, along with green grass and some fruity flavour of raspberry and violet. Manasi wine had the odour of unpleasant fatty acids and phenol due to its high content of fatty acids and volatile phenoL The sensory analysis confirmed the aroma prediction from the active odorants of the sample wines. Changli wine had the highest sensory scores, while Manasi wine had the worst evaluation of aroma, taste and harmony. The results suggest that the Merlot variety is more suitable for planting in Changli than in the Manasi region.


The inter-firm technology transfers (TT) through international joint ventures (IJVs), among others, have significantly contributed to a higher degree of local innovation performance/capabilities, technological capabilities, competitive advantage, organizational learning effectiveness, productivity, technological development of local industry, and the economic growth of the host country. Since the focus of inter-firm TT in developing countries has shifted to degree of technology transfer, organizations in developing countries are attempting to assess not only the significant role of technology transfer in strengthening their corporate and human resource performance but also the influence of other critical variables such as MNCs' size, age of JVs, country of origin, MNCs' equity ownership (MNCEQTY) and MNC's type of industries that could significantly moderate the relationship. Based on the underlying knowledge-based view (KBV) and organizational learning (OL) perspectives, the main objective of this paper is to empirically examine the moderating effect of equity ownership of MNCs (50/50 equal ownership between MNCs and local JV partners vs. minor/majority ownership by MNCs) in the relationships between degree of inter-firm technology transfer and two dimensions of local firms' performance: corporate (CPERF) and human resource (HEPERF) performances. Using the moderated multiple regression (MMR) analysis, the theoretical models and hypotheses in this study were tested based on empirical data gathered from 128 joint venture companies registered with the Registrar of Companies of Malaysia (ROC). The results revealed that equity ownership of MNCs has been established to provide a significant moderating effects in 1) TTDEG-CPERF relationship; where the relationship was found stronger for minor/majority ownership by MNCs as compared to 50/50 equal ownership between JV partners, and 2) TTDEG-HRPERF relationship; where the relationship was found stronger for 50/50 equal ownership between JV partners as compared to minor/majority ownership by MNCs. The study has bridged the literature gaps in such that it offers empirical evidence and new insights on the significant moderating effects of equity ownership of MNCs in the relationships between degree of inter-firm technology transfer and local firms' performance technology using the Malaysian sample.


Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) protein family, is associated with malignant transformation and is over-expressed in most human tumors. Using lipoplex-mediated transfection, we evaluated the activity of the reporter enzyme, luciferase, expressed from plasmids encoding the enzyme under the control of either the cytomegalovirus (CMV) or survivin promoters, in tumor- and non-tumor-derived human and murine cells. We also examined whether there is a correlation between the survivin promoter-driven expression of luciferase and the level of endogenous survivin. Human cancer cells (HeLa, KB, HSC-3, H357, H376, H413), oral keratinocytes, GMSM-K, and chemically immortalized human mammary cells, 184A-1, were transfected with Metafectene at 2 μl/1 μg DNA. Murine squamous cell carcinoma cells, SCCVII, mouse embryonic fibroblasts, NIH-3T3, and murine immortalized mammary cells, NMuMG, were transfected with Metafectene PRO at 2 μl/1 μg DNA. The expression of luciferase was driven by the CMV promoter (pCMV.Luc), the human survivin promoter (pSRVN.Luc-1430), or the murine survivin promoters (pSRVN.Luc-1342 and pSRVN.Luc-194). Luciferase activity was measured, using the Luciferase Assay System and expressed as relative light units (RLU) per ml of cell lysate or per mg of protein. The level of survivin in the lysates of human cells was determined by ELISA and expressed as ng survivin/mg protein. In all cell lines, significantly higher luciferase activity was driven by the CMV promoter than by survivin promoters. The expression of luciferase driven by the CMV and survivin promoters in murine cells was much higher than that in human cells. The cells displayed very different susceptibilities to transfection; nevertheless, high CMV-driven luciferase activity appeared to correlate with high survivin-promoter driven luciferase expression. The survivin concentration in lysates of cancer cells ranged from 5.8 ± 2.3 to 24.3 ± 2.9 ng/mg protein (mean, 13.7 ng/mg). Surprisingly, elevated survivin protein was determined in lysates of non-tumor-derived cells. Survivin levels for GMSM-K and 184A-1 cells, were 16.7 ± 8.7 and 13.5 ± 6.2 ng/mg protein, respectively. The expression of endogenous survivin did not correlate with the level of survivin promoter-driven transgene activity in the same cells. The expression of survivin by non-tumorigenic, transformed cell lines may be necessary for their proliferative activity. The level of survivin promoter-driven gene expression achieved via liposomal vectors in OSCC cells was too low to be useful in cancer-cell specific gene therapy.


Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a traditional hematological index used to explore the etiology of anemia. During past years, association between RDW and non-hematological diseases has attracted much attention. Accumulated evidence has revealed that RDW is elevated in various autoimmune diseases and associates with disease activity or complications. Here, I summarized the evidence concerning clinical utility of RDW in autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), inflammatory myopathy (IM) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Available evidence has supported that RDW is a useful index to estimate the activity in various autoimmune diseases. Further prospective cohort studies are needed to explore the prognostic value of RDW in autoimmune diseases.


The discourse that surrounds Igbo dance theatre has not received substantial critical scrutiny. This study seeks to investigate the absence of exposition and post climatic stages in Igbo dance theatre. It argues that the absence of these stages or 'missing links' has resulted in the sequestration of structure and plot of contemporary Igbo dances thus making it difficult for audience members (especially the non-indigene or foreigners) to fully understand and appreciate the performances. Through a studio practice, this research aims to create a new dance theatre narrative to help analyse and read Igbo dances, and develop a new 'Igbo Descriptive Documentation System' derived from Ann Hutchinson's motif notation.

The investigations of selective archetypal dances from Igboland form the basis of this study. These dances took place at the following places: the Iri-Agha dance of Ohafia in Abia State; the Nkwa-Umuagbogho and Nkwa-Nwaite dances of Afikpo in Ebonyi State; the Agborogu dance of Mbaise, in Imo State and Nkwa-Agu that originated from the Ogbagu masquerade dance of the Ajali and Nofija people in Anambra State. Field interviews and observations conducted in Eastern Nigeria helped generate information on dance narratives, patterns, designs, and overall aesthetic strategies and enabled me to trace the cultural activities and background of the Igbo people from which the above named dances have evolved.

This research draws its critical methodology from Brad Haseman's performative and Yvonne Hardt's repertoire theories referring to practice-based research. Through studio practice, an extensive and holistic narrative in Igbo dance theatre (Nkwa-Ike) was created which featured a dramatic plot development consisting of a beginning, middle and end with the view of justifying the all-embracing theatrical nature of the dance. It is expected that the practice will enable audience members to fully comprehend the performance and read the dance narrative effectively. In contrast to Hutchinson's euro-modernist model of recording core movements in dance, this new model is framed within the polyrhythmic and polymovemental aesthetics of Igbo dance theatre.


Background: European and International expert guidelines recommend patients' with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) and their families are informed about deactivation. Recent empirical studies demonstrate diverse professional opinion regarding the involvement of family in the discussion about deactivation to dying patients.Purpose: To determine the impact of family involvement on healthcare professionals' decision to discuss ICD deactivation.Methods: Data from a systematic review, retrospective case note review and ten case studies identified social support as an important factor or Independent Variable (IV). The IV was classified into three levels, before being randomly assigned within vignettes of a factorial survey. The anonymised survey consisted of six vignettes, a demographic questionnaire and an opportunity for participants to record their most "recent case". The survey was distributed electronically through a secure IT platform to healthcare professionals across Europe and America. Analysis included descriptive statistics, in addition to Multiple Regression and ANOVA to identify correlations between social support as an IV and two dependent variables. Thematic analysis was conducted on the qualitative data obtained from "recent cases".Results: A total of 1614 vignettes were completed by 269 professionals (168 nurses, 64 clinicians, 37 allied health professionals), mean age 46 years (range 26–65 years) with majority from Europe (n=217, 81%). Social support did not impact the likelihood of professionals' to discuss ICD deactivation (p=0.740). However, professionals who managed patients living with a family member who shared healthcare decisions with them, were significantly more confident (p=0.014) in discussing deactivation, compared to professionals caring for patients with no family support. Almost half of participants (N=35; 44%) who provided a recent case documented family involvement. This ranged from a supportive shared role "wife was terrified of seeing her husband shocked on his deathbed, contributing to a decision" (Healthcare Professional 1) to that of a surrogate decision-maker "family made the decision to deactivate the ICD as death was clos" (Healthcare Professional 2).Conclusions: Family members can play an important role in the decision whether to deactivate an ICD, however this is contingent on their knowledge and previous involvement. Professionals should ensure families are involved in discussions and encourage shared decision-making. Further research is needed into the interventions required to support family members, ultimately improving end-of- life care for patients with an ICD.Acknowledgement/Funding: Work Supported by Public Health Agency, HSC Research and Development division. Awarded HFA Nurse Fellowship grant 2014


A monthly consumer price index traces changes in the monthly cost of a year's consumption using a sample of prices. But in some months the prices that can be sampled will temporarily exclude some of the products that were bought in the base year, Christmas trees providing a textbook example. Worse still, it becomes permanently impossible to observe prices for sampled products that have been completely superseded. There are methods for dealing with these two problems, but they leave serious and irremediable defects in the index.


All BGP routers in the Default-Free Zone (DFZ) are required to carry
all routes in the Default-Free Routing Table (DFRT). This document
describes a technique, Simple Virtual Aggregation (S-VA), that allows
some BGP routers not to install all of those routes into the
Forwarding Information Base (FIB). Some routers in an Autonomous
System (AS) announce an aggregate (the VA prefix) in addition to the
routes they already announce. This enables other routers not to
install the routes covered by the VA prefix into the FIB as long as
those routes have the same next-hop as the VA prefix. The VA prefixes
that are announced within an AS are not announced to any other AS. The
described functionality is of very low operational complexity, as it
proposes a confined BGP speaker solution without any dependency on
network-wide configuration or requirement for any form of intra-domain
tunneling. This document is not an Internet Standards Track
specification; it is published for informational purposes.


Abstract. Estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) from remote sensing based energy balance models have evolved as a promising tool in the field of water resources management. Performance of energy balance models and reliability of ET estimates is decided by the availability of remote sensing data at high spatial and temporal resolutions. However huge tradeoff in the spatial and temporal resolution of satellite images act as major constraints in deriving ET at fine spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing based energy balance models. Hence a need exists to derive finer resolution data from the available coarse resolution imagery, which could be applied to deliver ET estimates at scales to the range of individual fields. The current study employed a spatio-temporal disaggregation method to derive fine spatial resolution (60 m) images of NDVI by integrating the information in terms of crop phenology derived from time series of MODIS NDVI composites with fine resolution NDVI derived from a single AWiFS data acquired during the season. The disaggregated images of NDVI at fine resolution were used to disaggregate MODIS LST data at 960 m resolution to the scale of Landsat LST data at 60 m resolution. The robustness of the algorithm was verified by comparison of the disaggregated NDVI and LST with concurrent NDVI and LST images derived from Landsat ETM+. The results showed that disaggregated NDVI and LST images compared well with the concurrent NDVI and LST derived from ETM+ at fine resolution with a high Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency and low Root Mean Square Error. The proposed disaggregation method proves promising in generating time series of ET at fine resolution for effective water management.


This is a thesis on theoretical cosmology. The first and largest part is a study of cosmic strings, in particular their dynamics and signals in higher dimensional spacetimes. The second part is a study of black holes in a quintessence background.

Cosmic strings are predicted by models of the early universe. They were thought to arise, originally, from Grand Unified Theories, and more recently from brane inflationary models based in string theory.

In Chapter 3 we find exact solutions for cosmic string loop trajectories in higher dimensions, and find the regions of parameter space for which cusps exist. We find that winding the internal dimensions slows the average velocity of string loops, and conjecture that the periodicity of internal space may contribute to self-intersections.

In Chapter 4, we calculate the gravitational wave signal from cosmic string cusps in higher dimensions, and find it is much reduced relative to the 4D case. The main reason for this is the large reduction in the probability of cusps occurring on loops in higher dimensions, as well as a slight reduction in signal from individual cusps.

In Chapter 5, we study cosmic string trajectories in warped spacetimes, such as may be found in realistic brane inflation models. We find that contrary to claims in the literature, the warping of the internal space does not prevent the internal motion of strings. The energy associated with the warping of spacetime means that the energy of a loop appears to change over time from our 4D perspective.

Finally, in Chapter 6, we find an analytic, general-relativistic solution describing a black hole in a quintessence universe. Quintessence is a model of late-time cosmic acceleration in which expansion is sourced by a scalar field. Our solution shows the interaction between this scalar field and a black hole. The scalar field is shown to continue its cosmological "rolling" behaviour everywhere, including on the black hole event horizon, and the black hole is shown slowly to accrete scalar field. This is a perturbative solution valid throughout all of space but only over a finite period of time.


The Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is the most endangered seal species. In this review we summarize the status, ecology, and behaviour of the Mediterranean monk seal, and identify the main threats that currently affect the species and the conservation priorities for securing its survival.
Once abundant throughout the Black Sea and Mediterranean, as well as off the Atlantic coasts of northwestern Africa and Macaronesia, the Mediterranean monk seal has recently suffered dramatic declines, both in abundance and geographical range. It is now estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the eastern and western Mediterranean, the archipelago of Madeira and the Cabo Blanco area in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.
Mediterranean monk seals are coastal marine mammals. When resting and pupping on land, individuals generally seek refuge in inaccessible marine caves; this behaviour is, in part, believed to be an adaptation to increased disturbance by humans. Larger aggregations or colonies of the species can now be found only at Cabo Blanco in the Atlantic Ocean and on the island of Gyaros in the eastern Mediterranean.
The main threats to the survival of the Mediterranean monk seal are habitat deterioration; deliberate killing, mainly by fishermen; and accidental entanglement and drowning in fishing gear. Limited availability of food sources and stochastic and unusual events have occasionally also contributed to Mediterranean monk seal mortality.
Based on a common consensus among scientists and conservationists, the main conservation priorities for the monk seal are: habitat protection; mitigating negative interactions between seals and fisheries; scientific research and monitoring of local seal populations; education and public awareness campaigns; and rescue and rehabilitation of wounded, sick, and orphaned seals.


he steps taken in designing a loop reactor for bulk propylene polymerization are discussed. The roles played by several parameters like particle growth factor, catalyst activity and solid fraction on reactor volume at different operating conditions are investigated. At first, based on a fixed production capacity and specific rate of catalyst, reactor volume is determined. Next, the length and diameter of loop reactor are determined according to the critical velocity and heat transfer limitations. An optimum reactor diameter is selected such that the sum of investment and operating costs are reduced and reactor dimensions for construction are practically feasible. By widening the difference between coolant and reactor temperatures, the estimated reactor diameter increases and the length of reactor is decreased. On the other hand, when the slurry flow rate increases, there will be a need for higher pump power and increase in the operating cost.


Why do revivals and adaptations of Greek tragedy still abound in European national theatres, fringe stages and international festivals in the twenty-first century? Taking as its starting point the concepts of myth developed by Jean-Luc Nancy and Roland Barthes and the notion of the 'classical' outlined by Salvatore Settis, this book analyses discourses around community, democracy, origin and Western identity in stage adaptations of Greek tragedy on contemporary European stages. The author addresses the ways in which the theatre produces and perpetuates the myth of 'classical' Greece as the origin of Europe and how this narrative raises issues concerning the possibility of a transnational European community. Each chapter explores a pivotal problem in modern appropriations of Greek tragedy, including the performance of the chorus, the concept of the 'obscene' and the audience as the demos of democracy. Modern versions of Women of Troy, Hippolytus and Persians performed in Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Greece are analysed through a series of comparative case studies. By engaging with the work of prominent theatre-makers such as Mark Ravenhill, Michel Vinaver, Katie Mitchell, Sarah Kane, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Romeo Castellucci, Calixto Bieito and Rimini Protokoll, this volume offers a critique of contemporary democratic Europe and the way it represents itself onstage.


Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. Outcome is directly related to stage at diagnosis with over 90% of patients with Stage I disease surviving their disease to 5 years compared to less than 10% of those with Stage IV disease. Symptoms for colorectal cancer can be non-specific, particularly when the disease is at its early stage, and hence screening has been introduced. Population screening in the UK, using faecal occult blood testing (FOBt) has been introduced over the past 10 years following several major randomized control trials and a Cochrane review that has shown improved cancer specific mortality in the region of 15% in those individuals invited. This has been attributed to the detection of early stage disease with around 50% of all tumours detected through screening being Stage I.

However, it has previously been shown that there are additional tumour and host prognostic factors outside of stage that can determine outcome. For example, the presence of venous invasion and the presence of an elevated host systemic inflammatory response have been associated with poorer cancer specific survival. These additional factors have not previously been studied within the context of a population screening programme or indeed within early stage disease. Moreover, the FOBt screening programme itself is not without its pitfalls. Uptake of the test is below that of other established cancer screening programmes and it is recognised that repeated screening rounds are required to achieve an acceptable sensitivity of the test.

This thesis sought to examine the first round of the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme within the West of Scotland and assess its effect on tumour and host determinants of outcome. In Chapter 1 an overview of colorectal cancer and current determinants of outcome is provided. In addition, colorectal cancer screening is explored in detail including the evidence behind the current screening programme. Chapter 2 presents original data, utilising population databases, examining the changes in mode, site and stage of presentation across the West of Scotland that have accompanied the introduction of the national screening programme. It identifies that within non-metastatic disease there has been a shift towards a higher proportion of Stage I disease being present following screening introduction. Chapter 3 presents a detailed examination of the first round of screening in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHS GG&C) emphasising the importance of the impact of deprivation throughout the screening programme. For example, deprived patients were less likely to take part, more likely to test positive, less likely to proceed to colonscopy following a positive test and less likely to have cancer detected at colonoscopy following a positive test.

Chapters 4, 5 and 6 utilise an original dataset of over 4000 patients who underwent colonoscopy following a positive test in the first round of screening in NHS GG&C generated through work from Chapter 3. Firstly, in Chapter 4, a theoretical model proposing a flexible sigmoidoscopy as a first line test, rather than a colonoscopy, is examined. It found a missed cancer rate of 17% and that around a third would require a completion colonoscopy, concluding that this would not be a desirable change to the current screening algorithm. Chapter 5 then examines the importance of potentially chemopreventative medications such as statins and aspirin, on the risk of neoplasia at colonoscopy, determining that patients on such medications did indeed have lower rates of neoplasia, significant neoplasia and cancer than those not on them. Chapter 6 then looks at symptoms in this population, identifying that around 40% had at least one bowel symptom however that these correlated poorly with the risk of significant neoplasia at colonoscopy. Chapter 7 explores outcomes in those who were invited but did not have a screen-detected cancer in order to examine the incidence of interval cancers (colorectal cancer within 2 years of a negative FOBt) and cancers in non-responders. Overall it identified a 30% interval cancer rate. The chapter then explores differences in tumour and host factors between screen-detected and non screen-detected disease reporting that stage for stage, patients with non screen-detected disease had higher rates of systemic inflammation. Furthermore it characterises the similarity between interval and non-responder tumours suggesting that rather than representing biologically more aggressive tumours, interval cancers arise due to limitations of the test itself. Chapter 8 presents long-term outcomes in patients who have undergone a resection for Stage I disease prior to the introduction of screening. The results report an excellent 5-year cancer specific survival of 95% however an overall survival of 76%. It identifies the presence of an elevated pre-operative host inflammatory response as being associated with a worse overall outcome.

Tissue work exploring the local immune-cell microenvironment of both early stage and pre-malignant disease is the focus for Chapters 9 and 10. This characterisation of immune cell infiltrate identifies similar rates of peritumoural inflammation between T1 and T2 disease and validates a previously published automated scoring system. When exploring local inflammation within premalignant polyps there appears to be a change from low-grade to high-grade dysplasia signifying a specific response to early disease progression suggesting host immunosurveillance. Chapter 11 summarises the main findings of the thesis and presents future directions.


Universities are faced with the necessity of redefining their educational goals in relation to the newly-defined tasks posed to the academic education. The outcomes of university education defined in the language of competence will not be achieved, unless the university ceases to continue the transmission strategies of teaching. Activation of students in the process of education means a shift in emphasis from teaching to make students responsible for their learning process. Autonomy in learning leads one to self-directedness and deep learning, which involves critical analysis of new information and combining it with the existing memory concepts, building the personal knowledge of the student.


We use the cyclization of small DNA molecules, approximately 200 bp in length, to study conformational properties of DNA fragments with single-stranded gaps. The approach is extremely sensitive to DNA conformational properties and, being complemented by computations, allows a very accurate determination of the fragment's conformational parameters. Sequence-specific nicking endonucleases are used to create the 4-nt-long gap. We determined the bending rigidity of the single-stranded region in the gapped DNA. We found that the gap of 4 nt in length makes all torsional orientations of DNA ends equally probable. Our results also show that the gap has isotropic bending rigidity. This makes it very attractive to use gapped DNA in the cyclization experiments to determine DNA conformational properties, since the gap eliminates oscillations of the cyclization efficiency with the DNA length. As a result, the number of measurements is greatly reduced in the approach, and the analysis of the data is greatly simplified. We have verified our approach on DNA fragments containing well-characterized intrinsic bends caused by A-tracts. The obtained experimental results and theoretical analysis demonstrate that gapped-DNA cyclization is an exceedingly sensitive and accurate approach for the determination of DNA bending.


OBJECTIVE
To test the ex vivo mechanical properties of canine patella-ligament-tibia (PLT) segment and establish the relationship between donor size and PLT dimensions to the mechanical properties of PLT grafts.

STUDY DESIGN
Ex vivo mechanical testing study.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Canine PLT segments (n = 21 dogs; 42 PLT).

METHODS
Morphometric measurements of PLT segments were taken from computed tomography (CT) images and compared with results obtained using calipers. PLT were tested to failure at a rate of 100% length/s. Mechanical properties and failure mode were recorded.

RESULTS
PLT width and thickness (P < .001 for both) measured by calipers were significantly lower than those taken from CT images. Thirty-five (83%) specimens failed by avulsion fracture from the patella, 1 failed mid-ligament, and 6 failed by tibial fracture. Dog weight and PLT length had the strongest Pearson's r value when correlated with load at failure (r = 0.73, 0.81, respectively).

CONCLUSION
Dog weight and PLT length were the best predictors of load at failure. PLT failure load of dogs weighing >25 kg were similar to those reported for the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) suggesting that the PLT may be a suitable allograft for CCL replacement.


(1) Experimental plant populations were grown at varying densities and varying levels of phytotoxins in the soil to investigate the potential interacting influences of allelopathy and resource competition on plant response and yield-density relationships. (2) Experiments were performed with (a) bahiagrass, Paspalum notatum, grown in soil treated with gallic acid and hydroquinone, putative inhibitors produced by Polygonella myriophylla and (b) tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, grown in soils from under and around black walnut, Juglans nigra. (3) Phytotoxicity decreased as plant density increased. This was attributed to plant 'dilution' of phytotoxins, i.e. the sharing of the available phytotoxin among many plants at high densities such that each received a small sub-lethal dose. (4) Phytotoxins caused characteristic deviations from expected yield-density relationships. Low to moderate phytotoxin concentrations caused a decrease in the slope of the log yield-log density relationship. Contrary to the expected consequences of increased density and resource competition, the presence of high phytotoxin concentrations may cause a reversal in the slope of predicted log yield-log density relationships at low plant densities, such that maximum individual plant weight occurs at an intermediate density. (5) Demonstration of either decreasing phytotoxicity with increasing plant density or a reversal in slope of the predicted log yield-log density relationship is proposed as an indication of the presence of toxic substances in soil. (6) The ecological implications of these results are discussed.


On the 19th November 2010 29 men died when a methane explosion ripped through the Pike River coal mine near Greymouth on the South Island of New Zealand. Two survivors staggered out of the mine one hour after the initial explosion but the mine remains a tomb for the Pike 29. Over the next few weeks three further explosions occurred until the mine was inerted using the GAG jet inertisation device and then sealed. This paper summarises the finding of the Royal Commission of Inquiry that was convened in December 2010 by the New Zealand Government, to address the questions of: What went wrong at Pike. Why were the previous lessons from mine disasters in developed countries around the world not learned and what is the potential to learn from this event. The report from the Royal Commission was provided to the Governor General of New Zealand on the 30th October 2012. Pike was a coal mine with difficult geological and topographical conditions. This mine needed the best of everything but this didn't happen and 29 people paid the ultimate price. This presentation will set the context of Pike, look at the rescue recovery operation and cover the Royal Commission report and what the future holds for the New Zealand coal mining industry. The paper extensively references the information contained within the report of the Royal Commission. The bodies have not been recovered and the definitive cause of the disaster has not been determined but the Royal Commission uncovered a litany of problems that lead to the explosion on the 19th November. These problems should have been addressed. This disaster was avoidable


The paper assesses characteristics of labour taxation, employment and unemployment rate in the OECD and in the EU Member States and analyses relationship between tax wedge and labour market outcomes, i.e., employment and unemployment rate. The empirical analysis shows that the non-EU OECD countries are, on average, characterised with lower labour taxation than the EU OECD countries. Moreover, with regard to employment and unemployment rate, OECD and EU Member States can be classified in three groups, by which countries with lower unemployment and higher employment rate have, on average, lower tax wedge at all studied wage levels, and vice versa. The detrimental effect of tax wedge on labour market outcomes was also confirmed by the panel regression analyses performed on the sample of 38 countries over the 2000-2009 period. The empirical findings therefore suggest that policies of further reduction of labour taxation would have a stimulating effect on sustainable labour market performance, especially among countries with higher labour taxation levels.


In both commercial and defense sectors a compelling need is emerging for rapid, yet secure, dissemination of information to the concerned actors. Traditional approaches to information sharing (such as Multi-Level Security (MLS)) adopted a node-centric model wherein each user (social subjects) and each object (information object) is treated in isolation (e.g., using clearance levels for subjects and sensitivity levels for objects in MLS). Over the last two decades information sharing models have been enriched to partially account for relationships between subjects (e.g., Role-based Access Control (RBAC)), relationships between objects (e.g., Chinese-wall model), and relationships between subjects and objects (e.g., Separation of Duty (SoD) constraints). In this paper, we present a novel network-centric access control paradigm that explicitly accounts for network-effects in information flows, and yet offers scalable and flexible risk estimation regarding access control decisions. The goal of this paper is not to prescribe a risk-model for information flows; instead we enable a class of risk-models by developing scalable algorithms to estimate prior and posterior information flow likelihood using the structure of social and information networks. For instance, our network-centric access control model answers questions of the form: Does subject s already have access (via her social network) to object o? If subject s is given access to object o, what is the likelihood that subject s′ learns object o′ (where the subjects s and s′ are related via the social network and the objects o and o′ are related via the information network)? This paper makes three contributions. First, we show that several state-of-the-art access control models can be encoded using a network-centric access control paradigm, typically by encoding relationships as network edges (subject-subject, object-object and subject-object). Second, we present a suite of composable operators over social and information networks that enable scalable risk estimation for information flows. Third, we evaluate our solutions using the IBM SmallBlue dataset that was collected over a span of one year from an enterprise social network of size over 40,000.


Electrospray (ESI-MS) and cryospray mass spectrometry (CSI-MS) techniques were developed to analyse and investigate the self-assembly, reactivity and structure of supramolecular architectures.

Using ESI-MS, the complexation reactions of the ligand cis,trans-1,3,5-tris(pyridine-2-carboxaldimino)cyclohexane (ttop) with divalent first row transition metal salts to form complexes with nuclearities 1,2 and 4 were followed. In-situ mass spectrometry was also utilised to show the stepwise formation of the ligand-metal complexes.

Mass spectrometry has been used to identify the reactive species in the catalytic oxidation of conventionally hard to activate C-H and C=C moieties. The identity of the
reactive species under catalytic conditions has been postulated as Fe(V)=O but direct observation of this species has not been possible before. Using cryospray mass
spectrometry, the Fe(V)=O reactive intermediate within the synthetic [FeV(O)(OH)(PyMe2tacn)]+ (PyMe2tacn = 1-(2'-pyridylmethyl)-4,7-dimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane) complex at -40 oC and its reaction with an olefin was observed. Oxygen atom transfer from H2O2 / H2O was followed through Fe(V)=O to the products with isotopic labelling, and the reactivity was probed as a function of temperature.

Mass spectrometry has been used as both a qualitative and quantitative tool to deduce the stoichiometry of an anion receptor and the corresponding anion. Job plots of mass spectrometry data have been compared to the conventional 1H NMR job plot data to give corresponding results therefore providing evidence of the use of mass spectrometry as a quantitative and qualitative analytical tool.

Mass spectrometry has been used to follow the formation of heterometallic complexes and provide evidence of their building block in solution. The formation of the complexes has been followed using time-resolved mass spectrometry experiments and the building blocks analysed.


The purpose of this research is to analyze service dominated relationships and differences in characteristics of these relationships within arts marketing. The appreciation of art is seen as a service and is intertwined with the creation of company identity and thus a subtle kind of marketing, whether this is a conscious or non-conscious strategy from a company perspective. Companies invest in art in order to enhance their image, and establish network relationship with art firms. The data is collected from the Swedish non-profit art market of public and private organizations with focus on Stockholm, an art market place as well as a prime site for company head quarters. The data is analyzed with multivariate correspondence analysis (MCA), which is also known as geometric data analysis (GDA). This method enables analysis of relationships as well as overall characteristics of the participants in these relationships: a part of service as well as a creation of company identity, thus marketing. The research has shown that the service encounter within arts is enhanced within relationships between key actors that can be considered co-producers of art and that multivariate correspondence analysis is a helpful tool to identify these relationships and company characteristics in a structured manner. The methodology is generating visual pictures of the art market that cooperates with profit making ordinary companies in different industries. The graph that is produced with MCA is a visualization of what can be regarded as a map of the companies with connections to the nonprofit art market, whether these connections are formal and a part of regular business activities or informal and relatively weak.


As a central theme in computer vision, the problem of 3D structure and motion recovery from image sequences has been widely studied during the past three decades, and considerable progress has been made in theory, as well as in practice. However, there are still several challenges remaining, including algorithm robustness and accuracy, especially for nonrigid modeling. The thesis focuses on solving these challenges and several new robust and accurate algorithms have been proposed. The first part of the thesis reviews the state-of-the-art techniques of structure and motion factorization. First, an introduction of structure from motion and some mathematical background of the technique is presented. Then, the general idea and different formulations of structure from motion for rigid and nonrigid objects are discussed. The second part covers the proposed quasi-perspective projection model and its application to structure and motion factorization. Previous algorithms are based on either a simplified affine assumption or a complicated full perspective projection model. The affine model is widely adopted due to its simplicity, whereas the extension to full perspective suffers from recovering projective depths. A quasi-perspective model is proposed to fill the gap between the two models. It is more accurate than the affine model from both theoretical analysis and experimental studies. More geometric properties of the model are investigated in the context of oneand two-view geometry. Finally, the model was applied to structure from motion and a framework of rigid and nonrigid factorization under quasi-perspective assumption is established. The last part of the thesis is focused on the robustness and three new algorithms are proposed. First, a spatial-and-temporal-weighted factorization algorithm is proposed to handle significant image noise, where the uncertainty of image measurement is estimated from a new perspective by virtue of reprojection residuals. Second, a rank-4 affine factorization algorithm is proposed to avoid the difficulty of image alignment with erroneous data, followed by a robust factorization scheme that can work with missing and outlying data. Third, v the robust algorithm is extended to nonrigid scenarios and a new augmented nonrigid factorization algorithm is proposed to handle imperfect tracking data. The main contributions of the thesis are as follows: The proposed quasiperspective projection model fills the gap between the simplicity of the affine model and the accuracy of the perspective model. Its application to structure and motion factorization greatly increases the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm. The proposed robust algorithms do not require prior information of image measurement and greatly improve the overall accuracy and robustness of previous approaches. Moreover, the algorithms can also be applied directly to structure from motion of nonrigid objects.


We have previously shown that integration of gene expression and SNP based mapping arrays can identify genes dysregulated as a result of copy number loss and gain in multiple myeloma. Using FISH, it has been possible to identify that gain and loss frequently occurs in association with primary IgH translocations, such as loss of FGFR3 and gain of CCND1 in a proportion of t(4;14) and t(11;14) cases. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and size of such copy number change associated with IgH translocations and to identify the genes dysregulated as a consequence of these. FISH was performed on CD138 selected plasma cells from 80 newly diagnosed myeloma cases to identify cases with primary IgH translocations. Affymetrix 500K mapping arrays were used to determine copy number change using paired tumor and constitutional DNA and Affymetrix U133 plus 2.0 expression arrays were used to determine global gene expression. Samples were analyzed in dChip and CNAG. Thirty eight of 80 cases (47.5%) had primary IgH translocations: 7 t(4;14), 1 t(6;14), 16 t(11;14), 3 t(14;16), 2 t(14;20) and 9 with an unknown translocation partner. Of 29 cases with a known translocation partner, 11 had gain or loss of all or part of the derivative chromosome. Three of 7 t(4;14) cases had loss of FGFR3 by FISH, confirmed by mapping array as being due to deletion of the derivative 14, with loss of 4p16.3-pter and the remainder of chromosome 14 excluding IgH. The region on 4p commenced at FGFR3 and extended to the telomere. Gene expression analysis showed that there was underexpression of FGFR3 and 4 other genes in the deleted region in the 4p16 deleted cases. In 6 of 16 t(11;14) cases, the translocation was associated with an additional copy of CCND1 by FISH. Mapping arrays revealed in all cases the gain commenced at the presumed translocation breakpoint: in 4 cases there was gain of 11q13.3-qter and in 2 there was gain of a small region of 11q13 only. In most cases there was isolated gain of a variable sized region of 14q32 suggesting a sequence whereby translocation was followed by gain then by deletion of a portion of the derivative chromosome. Gene expression analysis identified 4 genes overexpressed on 11q in t(11;14) cases with 11q gain. In a single t(6;14) case there was a complex rearrangement involving gain of 6p21.1-pter and IgH with loss of the derivative 6, again suggesting translocation followed by gain then loss. In one t(14;16) case there was UPD of 16q except for 16q23-qter with associated gain of IgH alone. This complex pattern suggests a sequence whereby deletion is followed by IgH translocation then by duplication of the untranslocated 16q. This study has shown that loss and gain of translocated regions is a frequent occurrence, present in 11/29 cases with known IgH translocations. Using mapping arrays it is possible to demonstrate that in the majority of cases, the translocation is the initial event, followed by subsequent gain or loss as a later event. We have shown the variable size of these regions and have identified genes dysregulated as a result of the deletions of 4p in t(4;14) cases and gains of 11q in t(11;14) cases. These findings provide evidence of collaborating mechanisms that may be responsible for disease progression in these cases.


This book is for anyone who has ever wondered how a child develops language, thought, and knowledge. Before this classic appeared, little was known of the way children think. In 1923, however, Jean Piaget, the most important developmental psychologist of the twentieth century, took the psychological world by storm with The Language and Thought of the Child. Applying for the first time the insights of social psychology and psychoanalysis to the observation of children, he uncovered the ways in which a child actively constructs his or her understanding of the world through language. The book has since been a source of inspiration and guidance to generations of parents and teachers. While its conclusions remain contentious to this very day, few can deny the huge debt we owe to this pioneering work in our continuing attempts to understand the minds of the child.


Alternative hospital reimbursement systems may influence the frequency and timing of patient transfers between hospitals as well as the patient's length of stay. This paper examines the characteristics of reimbursement systems that result in efficient and equitable transfers and efficient lengths of stay. Except in special cases, there is a tradeoff between achieving these three objectives. If patient benefits or receiving hospital profits are undervalued, then achieving efficient transfer decisions generally requires the reimbursement of the sending hospital to depend upon some weighted average of its own marginal costs and the costs of the receiving hospital. Article:


AIMS
Elderly heart failure (HF) patients are assumed to prefer improved quality of life over longevity, but sufficient data are lacking. Therefore, we assessed the willingness to trade survival time for quality-of-life (QoL) and the preferences for resuscitation.

METHODS AND RESULTS
At baseline and after 12 and 18 months, 622 HF patients aged ≥60 years (77 ± 8 years, 74% NYHA-class ≥III) participating in the Trial of Intensified vs. standard Medical therapy in Elderly patients with Congestive Heart Failure had prospective evaluation of end-of-life preferences by answering trade-off questions (willingness to accept a shorter life span in return for living without symptoms) and preferences for resuscitation if necessary. The time trade-off question was answered by 555 patients (89%), 74% of whom were not willing to trade survival time for improved QoL. This proportion increased over time (Month 12: 85%, Month 18: 87%, P < 0.001). In multivariable analysis, willingness to trade survival time increased with age, female sex, a reduced Duke Activity Status Index, Geriatric Depression Score, and history of gout, exercise intolerance, constipation and oedema, but even combining these variables did not result in reliable prediction. Of 603 (97%) patients expressing their resuscitation preference, 51% wished resuscitation, 39% did not, and 10% were undecided, with little changes over time. In 430 patients resuscitation orders were known; they differed from patients' preferences 32% of the time. End-of-life preferences were not correlated to 18-month outcome.

CONCLUSION
Elderly HF patients are willing to address their end-of-life preferences. The majority prefers longevity over QoL and half wished resuscitation if necessary. Prediction of individual preferences was inaccurate.


The rate region of the two-terminal vector Gaussian CEO problem is studied. A lower bound on the rate region is derived. It is obtained by lower-bounding a weighted sum rate for each supporting hyper plane of the rate region. The bound is in the form of a closed-form expression rather than the form of an optimization problem.


Apicomplexan parasites exhibit tremendous diversity in much of their fundamental cell biology, but study of these organisms using light microscopy is often hindered by their small size. Ultrastructural expansion microscopy (U-ExM) is a microscopy preparation method that physically expands the sample ∼4.5x. Here, we apply U-ExM to the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum during the asexual blood stage of its lifecycle to understand how this parasite is organized in three-dimensions. Using a combination of dye-conjugated reagents and immunostaining, we have catalogued 13 different P. falciparum structures or organelles across the intraerythrocytic development of this parasite and made multiple observations about fundamental parasite cell biology. We describe that the outer centriolar plaque and its associated proteins anchor the nucleus to the parasite plasma membrane during mitosis. Furthermore, the rhoptries, Golgi, basal complex, and inner membrane complex, which form around this anchoring site while nuclei are still dividing, are concurrently segregated and maintain an association to the outer centriolar plaque until the start of segmentation. We also show that the mitochondrion and apicoplast undergo sequential fission events while maintaining an association with the outer centriolar plaque during cytokinesis. Collectively, this study represents the most detailed ultrastructural analysis of P. falciparum during its intraerythrocytic development to date, and sheds light on multiple poorly understood aspects of its organelle biogenesis and fundamental cell biology. IMPACT STATEMENT Using ultrastructure-expansion microscopy we explore the fundamental cell biology of malaria parasites, providing new insights into processes including establishment of cell polarity and organelle fission.


We have integrated single and coupled superconducting transmon qubits into flip-chip modules. Each module consists of two chips—one quantum chip and one control chip—that are bump-bonded together. We demonstrate time-averaged coherence times exceeding 90 μs, single-qubit gate fidelities exceeding 99.9%, and two-qubit gate fidelities above 98.6%. We also present device design methods and discuss the sensitivity of device parameters to variation in interchip spacing. Notably, the additional flip-chip fabrication steps do not degrade the qubit performance compared to our baseline state-of-the-art in single-chip, planar circuits. This integration technique can be extended to the realisation of quantum processors accommodating hundreds of qubits in one module as it offers adequate input/output wiring access to all qubits and couplers.


Type in Use - effective typography for electronic publishing ALEX W. WHITE New York: W.W. Norton, 208 pages, $26.95 ISBN 0-393-73034-4 "...From headlines to captions, print to web type and folios to footlines Type in Use explains the principles of designing pages with type and shows carefully selected examples from a wide variety of current publications. Type in Use is an accessible guide to effective editorial typography that will widen the horizons of typographic possibilities for the experienced designer and elucidate the principles of good design for the beginner." Introduction Picking up this book for the first time and glancing at the title Type in Use-effective typography for electronic publishing, you might be forgiven in thinking this is a book dealing with the universal problem of finding answers to the designing of a wide range of publications, a view emphasized when reading the three page inroduction. Although this book is primarily offered as a guide for effective typography for electronic publishing, the all-embracing term publishing used to describe the contents is rather misleading, more precisely what the book is concerned with is the practical tasks required to design magazines and house journals. From the very first page of the introduction, the reader is reminded that computers and desktop publishing software can by their very nature and flexibility more or less guarantee the production of ugly documents, particularly if untrained persons, or beginners, are in charge of the design process. It is an observable fact that over the ten year period since the first edition was published standards of typography and design have both deteriorated and improved - probably in equal measure - in both North America and in Europe. Unfortunately there is no follow up suggestion or remedies on how feasible it might be for the beginner to realize or even attain - professional design standards, once computer typesetting and production equipment is universally available to anybody who buys a system and has some keyboarding skills. The author has written a book with detailed typographical information, that is essential for producing well-designed and readable magazines or newsletters. The contents of the second edition are more or less identical with the first. The original ten chapters are retained, dealing as they do with such topics as: text setting, headlines, subheads, breakouts, (an American term, meaning part of an article presented as display type) department headings, covers, contents, bylines, folios and footlines. There is a short and useful glossary, which is helpful in looking up words familiar only to American readers. There is one new chapter, dealing with the now important issues of web typography. This being written with the clear view that this new media is essentially an extension of conventional publication design, but with some fundamental structural differences. This chapter is short, well written and essential reading if, as a designer you are faced with designing web pages and want to avoid some of the worst pitfalls. Although the first edition had a higher quality of production than the second, with better quality paper and cleaner presswork, both editions demonstrate good design and editorial decisions. The way the book is structured, follows exactly the same hierarchical order that is used when reading or designing a magazine, a useful technique for understanding how the book works. Chapter one therefore deals with overall page planning and text setting, while chapter ten details the techniques of placing folios and footlines. Each chapter has a sensible non-partisan introduction to the practical issues involved, with a commentary on each of the design solutions printed in red, alongside black and white reproduction of the actual pages being discussed. Taken together this technique weaves a continuous narrative through each chapter, as well as showing how a cross-section of designers went about solving the problems. …