The research focuses on quality issues within the private music teaching
industry and the public music examination system (PMES).
It is clear that there is a schism between the formalized structures and
accountabilities of music in the school system and the lack of such structures
and accountabilities with the private studio music teaching industry. The
Thesis traces the literature documenting the rise of the private music teacher
and the accountability rationale implicit in the development of the public
music examination system. The dual aims of the research focus on the need to
profile the private music teaching industry in Australia and to probe the extent
to which the public music examination system might, in practice, afford a
window of accountability on to this industry.
The literature foregrounding this study derives from three areas: the historical
development of the private music teaching industry; the concomitant need for
certification - and the resultant development of the public music examination
system; finally the issue of performance assessment across the relevant
disciplines is explored to provide research direction for music.
A limited profile of the private music teacher emerged from the first phase of
the study. While the respondent sample was smaller than was originally
envisaged, comparison with other studies (e.g., Gibbs 1999) suggested that the
findings from the current study were consistent. The second phase focussed
specifically on the public music examination system and its tangible outcomes
in the form of the examination report.
Five examiners were male and three female. Reports were analyzed in terms
of the relevant examination sections with a primary focus on the Technical and
Performance lists sections. In each section reports were segmented into idea
units as the basic unit for analysis. Categories were derived from the data and
each idea unit was categorized accordingly. Examiners' use of categories was
analyzed in each section and comparisons made between examiners.
Considerable examiner variability was identified.
A discussion of gender differences in accessing categories generates
hypotheses for further research. Discussion of marks awarded by examiners
leads to hypotheses about the implications of exposure to one examiner rather
than another.
While this is but a small scale study and possibly the first in the music genre,
its implications for further research are far-reaching. Implications for the
discipline are also explored.


DECISION MAKING FACTORS IN SMALL BUSINESS: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Businesses of all sizes have recognized the value of training. After all, training is an investment in organizational well-being, one that is made necessary by rapid changes and increasing complexity in all aspects of business. The commitment to training is evidenced by business expenditures for training. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) estimated that $31 billion is spend annually on all forms of training for business. A more conservative figure, $4.4 billion (up from $2.96 billion in 1982), is offered by Dale Feuer. Feuer's figure, unlike ASTD's, is based upon a survey of businesses and trainers from around the nation. Both Feuer and ASTD acknowledge that businesses make extensive use of training. Feuer noted that businesses with fewer than 500 employees expected to spend $3.57 billion in 1985, while ASTD pegged the amount at $7.75 billion for the same group. ASTD also found that 87 percent of small businesses have some form of educational assistance program, and that 14 percent of their employees participated in these programs. In spite of the significant expenditures by small businesses for training, little effort has been devoted to gathering empirical evidence of the needs of small businesses, and even less attention has been given to training and development (T&D) decision processes. Robert Nelson and Philip Neck reported in 1982 that educational programs in small business were needed, and recommended a college major in the area. They did not, however, look at in-service training for small businesses, nor at the factors decision makers consider in arriving at T&D decisions. Barbara Bart examined small business needs and interests in her study of Savannah, Georgia, small businesses, and found that most businesses were not interested in T&D. Of the businesses in her survey, only 20 percent expressed interest in any type of training program (market planning and forecasting and tax planning). While Bart did examine training needs, she did not look at how or why small businesses perceived those particular needs. Leslie Kelly also discussed small business training in "Small Business's Big Training Needs." Kelly indicates that small business can benefit from T&D and, from her personal experience, lists thirteen training topics. Little else has been offered in the literature which examines small business T&D needs or the factors relating to T&D decisions. METHOD As an exploratory effort toward filling this void in the T&D literature, 496 questionnaires were mailed to randomly selected businesses in Virginia, 101 of which were returned and 76 (15.32 percent) of which were usable for this study. The rather low response rate was due to the use of bulk mailing and the lack of follow-up mailings. In order to have a comparative frame of reference, questionnaires were sent to both small and large businesses. Of the 76 usable responses, 34 were received from small businesses and 42 from large businesses. For this study, a business was considered small if it employed less than 200 people. All questionnaires were mailed to the president, CEO, or owner of the firm. Respondents were asked to provide company information, as opposed to personal background information. All of the nine major Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) categories were represented in the responses, but the most common category was manufacturing. The thrust of the study was to examine T&D decision-making factors in small firms and to compare them with the same factors in large businesses. The specific research questions were: * Who is the T&D decision maker in a small business? * What method is used to determine who receives training? * How does the decision maker select or reject a T&D program? …


This thesis examines the differences between teen romantic comedy films marketed to Generation X teenagers in the 1980s and Generation Y teenagers in the 1990s, focusing on the presentation of gender roles, consumptive behavior, and family. The 1980s films are discussed within the social context of the Reagan era and the conservatism of the New Right. The 1990s films are examined as continuing a conservative sensibility, but they additionally posit consumption as instrumental to achieving an idealized romance. Romantic comedy is traditionally a conservative genre, but these films illustrate female liberation through consumption. The source of difference between the cycles of teen romantic comedy is attributed to the media's attempt to position Generation Y teenagers as ideal consumers.


Microorganisms are essential for human life. Microorganisms decompose the carbon compounds in dead animals and plants and convert them into carbon dioxide. Intestinal bacteria assist in food digestion. Some vitamins are produced by bacteria that live in the intestines. Sewage and industrial wastewater are treated by activated sludge composed of microbial communities. All of these are due to the ability of microbes to produce many enzymes that can degrade chemicals. How do teachers make students understand that microorganisms are always associated with humans, and that microorganisms have the ability to degrade chemicals? The presence of microorganisms on humans can be shown by incubating agar plates after they are touched by the hands of students. The ability of microorganisms to degrade chemicals can be shown by an analytical measurement of the degradation of chemicals. When the chemicals are dyes (colorants) in water, microbial activity on degradation of dyes can be demonstrated by observing a decreasing degree of color as a result of the enzymatic activity (e.g., azoreductase). Dyes are widely used in the textile, food, and cosmetic industries. They are generally resistant to conventional biological wastewater treatment systems such as the activated sludge process (4). The discharge of wastewater containing dye pollutes surface water. The ability of microorganisms to decolorize and degrade dyes has been widely investigated to use for bioremediation purposes (5). The goal of this tip is to understand the presence of bacteria on human skin and the ability of bacteria to degrade colorant chemicals (decolorization). In this tip, students first cultivate and isolate bacteria on their hands, and then examine potential decolorization activity of each bacterium by observing the degree of color of the liquid in tubes in which bacteria isolated from students' hands were inoculated. Decolorization activity of bacterial isolates from human skin has been reported recently (6). To date this author has frequently obtained colorant-degrading bacterial isolates from human hands as a result of work on a scientific education project. This tip does not require analytical measurements. Students can examine a number of bacterial isolates simultaneously. Therefore, it is appropriate for high school and introductory level college courses.


In this paper we explore the income data in two surveys that underpin a South African tax-benefit microsimulation model. The simulated taxes and benefits using each dataset are compared with each other and with administrative data for a common time point. We explore discrepancies between the simulated and administrative data on personal income tax, with reference to the distribution of tax payers and the amount of tax simulated. Both surveys suffer from unit missing or item implausible cases for high income individuals. The paper concludes by highlighting the potential for administrative data to further enhance the quality of the model's underpinning dataset(s).


Pattern correlation techniques are commonly used in Particle Image Velocimetry studies to calculate tracer particle velocity in fluids or gases. The techniques can be further improved and used to track landscape scale moving thermal patterns in time sequenced infrared images to estimate a spatial advection velocity field.This study presents a validation and parametric sensitivity test of commonly used image correlation techniques using data produced from a numerical weather model and field observations from a longwave infrared camera. The numerical simulations aimed to create three different wind speed pattern cases to analyze the performance of four different image velocimetry techniques and compare the estimated velocity field to the model's velocity field. A sensitivity test was carried out with various combinations of required user input to find the best performing image velocimetry techniques. These were then applied to a dataset of surface temperature of an artificial hockey turf field taken with an infrared (IR) camera to test the algorithms in real world conditions and to directly compare the estimated velocity to in-situ measured wind velocity.The velocimetry algorithms are especially accurate when there is low complexity in ow structure (root mean square error: 0.4: Structural Similarity: 0.81). The comparison of the IR image velocimetry with the in-situ measurements on the hockey turf field shows accurate representation of the 10 minute mean wind direction and the mean wind speed with a maximal absolute error of 0.8 for the wind direction. If the comparison is done on a one minute average basis the accuracy of the image velocimetry decreases when the wind speed drops.


Outdoor positioning systems such as GPS are already a natural part of people's daily lives, being utilized in various applications such as navigation, and location aware services. One does not need anything more than a smart phone in order to take advantage of the services the GPS technology has to offer. As the GPS signals do not reach devices indoors, an enormous market is yet to be exploited. Therefore, indoor positioning systems are expected to enter the market by storm in the next few years. Cisco MSE is such a system, collecting anonymous indoor positioning data which may be utilized in order to provide indoor location-based services. This system is utilized at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) today. In this thesis, a web application prototype is created in order to interpret, analyze, and visualize the anonymous indoor positioning data collected by the Cisco MSE system at NTNU Gløshaugen. The goal of the application is to identify optimal methods for visualizing indoor human mobility patterns in order to present the available data in a useful format for potential stakeholders. The application presents visualizations of the amount of movement on campus, the amount of movement between buildings on campus, the accuracy of the registered positioning data, and the usage of exits and entrances in the buildings. The project followed the Design Science Research method, first creating a proposal for a new research effort, before collecting requirements from potential stakeholders, resulting in a tentative design. Then development of the application or artifact is performed before evaluating the application. Evaluations concluded that the information provided by the prototype is considered useful for potential stakeholders such as facility management, and that future applications tailored for their specific use cases can assist them in their work significantly. iii


Throughout the publication and promotion of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Capote admitted his childhood friend, Harper Lee, accompanied him to Kansas as his research assistant, but he never explained in detail what she did to assist him other than to say she accompanied him on interviews. However, once the book was published, her name never appeared in the acknowledgement page of the book. Capote allowed people to believe that Lee was only in Kansas with him two months and she never returned during the five years he was there to conduct research. It is true that Lee was in Kansas the first few months with Capote; however, she returned to assist him with research at Hickock's and Smith's arraignment, and she returned to Kansas many other times. However, Capote never revealed this information or Lee's major role in the research for In Cold Blood. It was not until the publication of Charles Shields' unauthorized biography of Lee, Mockingbird (2006), the world began to understand Lee's research conducted for In Cold Blood. Shields briefly showed several passages of Lee's notes in one chapter, "See N.L.'s Notes." However, what Shields revealed was only a small part of Lee contributions. By conducting archival research at the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, and by conducting interviews with people who knew Capote and Lee, I have discovered Lee's exact contributions to Capote's research. By examining Lee's and Capote's research notes, and by juxtaposing both of the writers' notes, one can see that Lee conducted a majority of the interviews with the townspeople, while Capote focused primarily on Smith and Hickock. This dissertation explores both writers' research note and shows what notes Lee recorded were used in Capote's published book. Their notes not only reveal what research they conducted, but also reveal their personalities and show that the two had major creative differences. This dissertation also suggests possible theories as to why Capote did not acknowledge Lee, because he suffered from narcissism. Because Capote did not acknowledge Lee properly, I suggest that this is one reason Lee stopped writing.


Managerial trickle-down effects refer to the tendency for supervisors to treat their
subordinates in ways analogous to how they have been treated by their own bosses. Whereas
trickle-down effects are widely documented, including in the justice literature, less is known
about the conditions under which they are more versus less likely to emerge. Across two
studies we examined how supervisors' tendencies to exhibit interpersonal fairness are
interactively determined by the informational fairness they receive from managers above
them and supervisors' sense of power. Study 1 was a multi-source survey conducted in
organizational settings. Study 2 was an experiment in which we manipulated the
informational fairness that supervisors received from managers and supervisors' sense of
power. The results of both studies showed that the positive relationship between the
informational fairness received from managers and supervisors' enactment of interpersonal
fairness was stronger among supervisors who had a lower sense of power. This interactive
effect did not emerge on supervisors' enactment of other forms of fairness (distributive,
procedural and informational), consistent with prior theory and research showing that
interpersonal fairness allows for greater discretion than other forms of fairness. Theoretical
and practical implications are discussed as are limitations and suggestions for future research.


When it comes to the planning, design, construction, and management of engineering systems, risk and uncertainty are unavoidable. The consideration of the risk involved in any situation, project, or plan becomes an integral part of the decision-making process. "Risk and Reliability Analysis: A Handbook for Civil and Environmental Engineers" presents key concepts of risk and reliability that apply to a wide array of problems in civil and environmental engineering.The authors begin with an overview of the art of making decisions in the presence of uncertainty and then explain the fundamentals of probability that will be applied throughout the book. In the second part of the book, the authors discuss various techniques used in probability distributions and parameter estimation. A third section of the book considers different aspects of uncertainty analysis, especially risk analysis and risk management, providing instructive examples. The final group of chapters addresses reliability analysis and design, focusing particularly on the important area of water distribution networks.Ample illustrations and detailed real-life examples make "Risk and Reliability Analysis" essential reading for present and future engineers in the fields of civil, environmental, biological, and agricultural engineering, as well as the watershed sciences.


Background/purpose: Patients with diabetes mellitus have been associated with gingivitis, periodontitis, salivary dysfunction, altered taste, and candidiasis. Diabetes can cause considerable cellular changes. The aims of this study were to assess the oral manifestations in type 2 diabetic patients and to detect cytomorphometric measurements of oral mucosal cells in type 2 diabetic patients and healthy control subjects by using exfoliated cytology smears. Methods: Samples were collected from 50 adults, aged 30-60 years (25 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 25 non-diabetic healthy persons as the control group). Smears were obtained from two sites, normal buccal mucosa and lateral border of the tongue from each subject. The freshly obtained specimens were assessed for cytomorphometric analysis. An eyepiece micrometer was used to take mean values of ND, CyD, and N: C ratio. Comparison of nuclear diameter (ND), cytoplasmic diameter (CyD) and the ratio of two diameters (N: C) among groups was performed by using ANOVA. Results: The results showed that statistically significant increase in ND (p=0.01 for buccal mucosa and 0.007 for tongue) and N:C ratio (p=0.01 for both tongue and buccal mucosa), with a statistically significant decrease in CyD, was found in diabetic patients compared to controls (p=0.001 for both tongue and buccal mucosa). Conclusion: Diabetes produces definite cytomorphometric changes in the oral mucosal cells of patients. The results suggested that nuclear diameter increased while cytoplasmic diameter was decease in type 2 diabetic patients. The most predominant oral manifestations found in type 2 diabetic patients were periodontal disease and oral dryness.


Miru Miru Mega Yokunaru (your eyesight gets better and better in a short rate of time) – New works by Ian Dawson CC constructions of grey painted supports. These butchered remains of trolleys and frames; welded and reconfigured relics assert their presence in the space from afar, the viewers eye piecing together the utilitarian fragments, a section of ladder or a slice of girder, caricatures of their former selves. The eye is drawn in toward a surface; which has been drilled, slashed, hacked and sawn, human hands have chopped chunks off. The cast as a replica, a copy housing the identity of the original has been further destroyed. And on closer scrutiny these surfaces are inhabited by little manufactured people going about their ascribed business, these sculptures morph into landscapes, asking to be scrutinised in ever more depth for meaning. The pressure between abstraction and figuration is present within this cyclical drama. Abstraction an oppositional force of dreams and illusions which on the one hand offers the unadorned fact of the physicality of material and surface, yet at the same time performs that act of making 'a space apart from life', which in turn is re-populated by figures such as sunbather's, perhaps passing the time unperturbed by this chain of events. The phenomena of the eye being drawn in to both delight and question the role of detail and surface continues in Dawson's new paintings, these have an utter simplicity to them, a dot made up from lots of other dots. These paintings appear both randomized yet sequenced, with the viewer left wondering what form of optical illusion is at work as the eye attempts to discern an image. Miru Miru Mega Yokunaru (your eyesight gets better and better in a short rate of time), was the first publication of the magic eye pictures that briefly became all the rage in the 1990's, those abstract all over patterns that would reveal a floating image (of a dinosaur or hemp plant for example) providing you had the determination to force your eyes out of focus with the pattern. Seeing one thing and then another thing within it, termed '(a)spect dawning' by Wittgenstein, raises apprehensions, of something that did not appear to be there before and it is perhaps the apprehension of this hiddenness that these works evoke.? The brightly coloured dots of Dawson's paintings coalesce sometimes clustering, forming creating a pictorial relationship to cosmological constellations, of galaxies and star formations. Searching for a pattern within these dots, the viewer is perhaps reminded of the awe-inspiring moment of staring at the night sky, and perhaps what a distant memory this is. What would have carried meaning for tens of thousands of years is now a humbling yet detached experience. By presenting both sets of works together for the first time, Dawson is posing intriguing questions, the viewers eyes are triangulated like a geographer between two different illusory bonds that of the flat terrain of the paintings and the occupied undulations of the sculptures. Miru Miru Mega Yokunaru, indeed, perhaps your eyesight will get better in a short rate of time.


This study reports on the findings from Part 2 of a small-scale analysis of requirements for real-world data science positions and examines three further data science roles: data analyst, data engineer and data journalist. The study examines recent job descriptions and maps their requirements to the current curriculum within the graduate MLIS and Information Science and Technology Masters Programs in the School of Information Sciences (iSchool) at the University of Pittsburgh. From this mapping exercise, model 'course pathways' and module 'stepping stones' have been identified, as well as course topic gaps and opportunities for collaboration with other Schools. Competency in four specific tools or technologies was required by all three roles (Microsoft Excel, R, Python and SQL), as well as collaborative skills (with both teams of colleagues and with clients). The ability to connect the educational curriculum with real-world positions is viewed as further validation of the translational approach being developed as a foundational principle of the current MLIS curriculum review process


Neurocognitive impairment is considered a core component of schizophrenia and is increasingly under investigation as a potential treatment target. On average, cognitive impairment is severe to moderately severe compared with healthy controls, and almost all patients with schizophrenia demonstrate cognitive decrements compared with their expected level if they had not developed the illness. Compared with patients with affective disorders, cognitive impairment in schizophrenia appears earlier, is more severe, and tends to be more independent of clinical symptoms. While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision, description of schizophrenia includes several references to cognitive impairment, neither the diagnostic criteria nor the subtypology of schizophrenia include a requirement of cognitive impairment. We forward for consideration a proposal that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, criteria include a specific criterion of "a level of cognitive functioning suggesting a consistent severe impairment and/or a significant decline from premorbid levels considering the patient's educational, familial, and socioeconomic background." The inclusion of this criterion may increase the "point of rarity" with affective psychoses and may increase clinicians' awareness of cognitive impairment, potentially leading to more accurate prognosis and better treatment outcomes. Future research will need to address the validity of these possibilities. The reliable determination of cognitive impairment as part of a standard diagnostic evaluation may present challenges to diagnosticians with limited resources or insufficient expertise. Various cognitive assessment methods for clinicians, including brief assessments and interview-based assessments, are discussed. Given the current emphasis on the development of cognitive treatments, the evaluation of cognition in schizophrenia is an essential component of mental health education.


The present thesis is dealing with immigration detention policy in EU, with a special focus on Greece. It aims to juxtapose theoretic and legal foundations of immigration detention to the everyday practice in Greece. Combining theory, law and practice we want to shed some light on the phenomenon of immigration detention. Our aim is double: firstly, to delegitimise the concept of immigration detention by showing the gap between theory, law and Greek practice and secondly, to explore the perception of and the reaction against the phenomenon by the Greek civil society. For this purpose, we deploy a descriptive approach. In our first part we are exploring different theoretical and philosophical explanations of the notions of sovereignty, security and detention. Our second part is a legal analysis of the current framework on the detention of migrants and asylum seekers, in three distinctive levels: international, European and domestic (Greek) one and of the coherence between them. Our third part is following the methodological approach of law in political science context. It examines the implementation of immigration detention practice in Greece since 2000, the shift after the governmental change of January 2015 and the response of the Greek civil society and its limits. Table of


This work investigates a mechanism for alignment of the timing on which spatially distributed and cooperative radio units transmit in radio-frequency (RF) when served over a packet-based fronthaul. It analyzes the problem by considering the imperfect clock synchronization of the radio units and the packet delay variation that fronthaul packets are subject to. Following the analysis, this paper proposes an implementation architecture for distributed RF transmission timing alignment based on synchronized triggering among radio units and centralized processing units. Throughout this discussion, special attention is given to the scheme's impact on the overall achievable fronthaul latency. Subsequently, this work discusses both hardware and software aspects of a prototype that was developed based on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In the end, it presents results obtained on an Ethernet fronthaul testbed where the referred FPGA-based prototypes implement radio units that are synchronized using the IEEE 1588 precision time protocol or by pulse-per-second references. Results validate the functionality of the proposed architecture and illustrate various relevant choices concerning system parameters.


Research has demonstrated that alcohol misuse has a significant impact on police time and resources, the health sector and the Australian community more broadly. Despite growing interest in the topic and the number of studies that have been completed, there remain significant limitations to the national measurement of alcohol-related crime. While recent studies have canvassed the challenges of measuring alcohol-related crime and proposed possible solutions, this study set out to bridge a gap in the knowledge and understanding of the steps that need to be taken to establish practical, high-quality indicators of alcohol-related crime at a national level. The Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs commissioned the Australian Institute of Criminology to undertake a review of policing and non-policing data on the involvement of alcohol in crime and to identify the short-, medium- and longer-term options available for better understanding and measuring the magnitude of alcohol-related crime in Australia. Based on an extensive review of the literature, interviews with representatives from all state and territory police agencies and a range of non-policing agencies, and a review of existing data sources, this report describes the data that are currently available to measure the involvement of alcohol in crime, the strengths and limitations of these data and the issues that will likely impact on future efforts to measure alcohol-related crime at the national level. The report ends by proposing a suite of national indicators of alcohol-related crime.


Transitional justice in Kenya responds predominantly to the two-month period of violence that devastated Kenya in the aftermath of disputed presidential elections in December 2007. Post-election violence left over 1 300 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced; many suffered abductions, illegal detentions, torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence and property rights violations. In this context, transitional justice endeavours to, among other objectives, bring accountability for human rights violations, promote victims' rights, and achieve national healing and reconciliation. The outcome of Kenya's 4 March 2013 general elections, with the election of Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and William Samoei Ruto as Kenya's President and Deputy-President respectively, raised the stakes for transitional justice in Kenya. Both Kenyatta and Ruto have been indicted by the International Criminal Court, accused of crimes against humanity. While Ruto's trial began on 10 September 2013, as this article goes to print there is some consternation as to whether Kenyatta will cooperate with the ICC. His trial is scheduled to begin on 12 November 2013. Significantly, on 29 September 2011 the United Nations Human Rights Council, pursuant to Resolution 18/7, resolved to establish the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence. The Special Rapporteur is mandated to deal with situations in which there have been gross violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law; and to promote truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence in such contexts. This article considers the significance for Kenya of the Special Rapporteur's mandate, including the directive to, upon request, conduct country visits and provide technical assistance and advice on issues pertaining to the mandate. Given the hindrances to the effective implementation of transitional justice measures in Kenya, the article calls on the Special Rapporteur to issue a request to visit Kenya, in response to gross violations of human rights committed there.


Based on four years of experience teaching computers to 8-12 year olds, media scholar Ellen Seiter offers parents and educators practical advice on what children need to know about the Internet and when they need to know it. The Internet Playground argues that, contrary to the promises of technology boosters, teaching with computers is very difficult. Seiter points out that the Internet today resembles a mall more than it does a library. While children love to play online games, join fan communities, and use online chat and instant messaging, the Internet is also an appallingly aggressive marketer to children and, as this book passionately argues, an educational boondoggle.


Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU) is one of the most central constructs in IS research. However, it has been examined only from an individual perspective. This article conceptualizes PEoU as a network construct. Results indicate three things. Firstly, the higher a person's PEoU, the more likely she or he is sought for advice. Secondly, there is a greater likelihood that a person seeks out another person for advice if the other person also seeks out the first person for advice. Thirdly, a person's PEoU will become similar to that of other persons' she or he seeks out for advice.


Cervical dystonia is a syndrome characterized by anomalous postures and unintentional repetitive movements of the head and the neck. Aim of this study is to show the effectiveness of the combined treatment botulinum toxin-FKT through the use of a recent methodic of investigation, myoton, and of the classical clinical evaluations, such as Tsui and VAS scales. 15 patients (9 females, 6 males) have been selected. During the initial visit and in the following controls, performed every month, patients have been submitted to physiatric examination, clinical evaluation of the dystonia through the Tsui scale, clinical evaluation of the pain through the VAS scale, myometric evaluation. We obtained statistically reduction of muscular tone's value in passive elongation (t0=16,34±l,23) until 4 month (t4 =16,11±1,23), when we performed a second infiltration. After 4 months from the second infiltration (t8=15,99±1,11) value did not present more some statistical correlation and was necessary to perform a new infiltration. Values of elasticity, stiffness, Tsui and VAS scale followed the same course of the tone. Our study demonstrates that combined treatment botulinum toxin-FKT is effective. It emerges that if to the treatment with botulinum toxin follows a suitable FKT treatment, the effect of the drug lasts 4 months and not 3 months as described by the literature. Our study has underlined that using myometric measurement we can consider least changes in muscular tone, elasticity and stiffness; we have a broader view of the spastic muscle, and we can better plan appropriate rehabilitative care for each patient.


© 2017 American Physical Society. The weak interaction does not conserve parity and therefore induces energy shifts in chiral enantiomers that should in principle be detectable in molecular spectra. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the expected shifts are small and in spectra of a mixture of enantiomers, the energy shifts are not resolvable. We propose a nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) experiment in which we titrate the chirality (enantiomeric excess) of a solvent and measure the diasteriomeric splitting in the spectra of a chiral solute in order to search for an anomalous offset due to parity nonconservation (PNC). We present a proof-of-principle experiment in which we search for PNC in the C13 resonances of small molecules, and use the H1 resonances, which are insensitive to PNC, as an internal reference. We set a constraint on molecular PNC in C13 chemical shifts at a level of 10-5 ppm, and provide a discussion of important considerations in the search for molecular PNC using NMR spectroscopy.


ABSTRACT Aim: Luminal A type breast carcinomas are slowly growing tumors with favorable prognosis among the other subtypes. Although some authors have shown that estrogen receptor (ER) negative/ progesterone receptor (PR) positive tumors exhibit more aggressive behavior than both the receptors-positive tumors others have accepted that ER-/PR + phenotype is due to technical failure of the immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay. The predictive and prognostic value of PR expression in ER – tumors is much less understood probably because of the rarity. The primary aim of the study was to assess the distribution and prognostic significance of breast cancer subtypes defined according to 3 panel patterns of ER, PR, and HER2. The second aim was to evaluate whether the ER-/PR+ tumors may be different from luminal A and B tumors. Methods: Medical records of 3358 women who underwent surgery for breast cancer were retrieved. The ER, PR, and HER2 status was determined by IHC as part of routine assessment. The tumors were classified into 5 subtypes: luminal A (ER+ and /or PR + and HER2 -), luminal B (ER+ and /or PR + and HER2 +), triple negative (TN) (ER-, PR-, HER2-) and HER2-enriched (ER-, PR-, HER2+). We defined ER-, PR + , HER2- or + tumors as luminal X. The cumulative disease-free survival (DFS) rates were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and differences between the groups in survival were assessed by log-rank test. Cox's model was used to examine the independent effects of the factors on DFS. Results: Recurrent disease occurred in 19.2% of the patients. DFS rate was higher for luminal A (85 %) compared with luminal B (75.7%), TN (72.4%), HER2-enriched (72.5%), and luminal X (71.7%) (p 40), grade, tumor size (T), lymph node status (N), tumor stage, molecular subtype, HER2, ER and PR status were prognostic indicators for DFS; however, Cox's model showed that only T, N, grade and ER status remained statistically significant. ER-/PR+ phenotype was seen in 6.1% of all patients and this tumor experienced lower cumulative DFS (71.6%) compared with ER + /PR+ tumors (84.3%). Conclusions: Our results showed that luminal X tumor was characterized by poorer DFS in univariate analysis. Because absence of ER expression was an independent prognostic factor even in PR positive tumors, it can be suggested that ER-/PR+ phenotype is a separate biologic subtype. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Logarithmic spirals are abundantly observed in nature. Gastropods (such as nautilus, cowie, grove snail, thatcher, etc.) in the mollusca phylum have spiral shells, mostly exhibiting logarithmic spirals vividly. Spider webs show a similar pattern. The low-pressure area over Iceland and the Whirlpool Galaxy resemble logarithmic spirals.Many materials develop spiral cracks either due to imposed torsion (twist), as in the spiral fracture of the tibia, or due to geometric constraints, as in the fracture of pipes. Spiral cracks may, however, arise in situations where no obvious twisting is applied; the symmetry is broken spontaneously. It has been found that the rank size pattern of the cities of USA approximately follows logarithmic spiral. The usual procedure of curve-fitting fails miserably in fitting a spiral to empirical data. The difficulties in fitting a spiral to data become much more intensified when the observed points z = (x, y) are not measured from their origin (0, 0), but shifted away from the origin by (cx, cy). We intend in this paper to devise a method to fit a logarithmic spiral to empirical data measured with a displaced origin. The optimization has been done by the Differential Evolution method of Global Optimization. The method is also be tested on numerical data. It appears that our method is successful in estimating the parameters of a logarithmic spiral. However, the estimated values of the parameters of a logarithmic spiral (a and b in r = a*exp(b(theta+2*pi*k) are highly sensitive to the precision to which the shift parameters (cx and cy) are correctly estimated. The method is also very sensitive to the errors of measurement in (x, y) data. The method falters when the errors of measurement of a large magnitude contaminate (x, y). A computer program (Fortran) is appended.


In this study, we describe the intra- and interspecific anatomical variations of cloacal and related muscles of male and female genitalia in species of five iguanian genera (three liolemid: Ctenoblepharys , Liolaemus , and Phymaturus plus Diplolaemus leopardinus and Tropidurus melanopleurus as outgroups). We found variations (seventeen characters) in topology, origin and insertion areas, tendon morphology and size of the musculature of this region. We also describe the variations of hemipeneal morphology, which is especially notable for the hemipenis of C. adspersa , D. leopardinus , and T. melanopleurus , as this is first time they are described in the literature. Among the most significant findings are the identification of three new muscles, two of them inserted on the roof of the cloacal chamber (anterior and posterior cloacal retractor) and the third inserted superficially in the floor of the cloaca, just before anterior to the precloacal glands row (superficialis cloacalis retractor). We report sexual dimorphism in seven muscle characters. Musculature related to hemiclitoris is reduced in proportion to its size in comparison to the degree of development of male genitalia and associated musculature. The evolution of characters was traced on the known phylogenetic hypotheses of relationships among families. Characters taken from the cloacal/genital myology bring similar support to the liolaemid tree even rooting the analysis using different outgroups. In addition, a phylogenetic study using only myological characters was performed. In this case, C. adspersa was found to be more related to Liolaemus species instead of being basal to Liolaemus plus Phymaturus .


Our paper presents an integrated evaluation of the Persuasive Cued Click-Points graphical password scheme, including usability and security evaluations, and implementation considerations. An important usability goal for knowledge-based authentication systems is to support users in selecting passwords of higher security, in the sense of being from an expanded effective security space. We use persuasion to influence user choice in click-based graphical passwords , encouraging users to select more random, and hence more difficult to guess, clickpoints.


In crops of winter wheat (1986-88) or winter barley (1987-88) inoculated with W-type or R-type isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides and sown on different dates (1986) or at different seed rates (1987, 1988) eyespot epidemics developed in different ways. Methods of measuring eyespot incidence/severity during crop growth were compared for their ability to predict eyespot severity at grain filling. Regressions were calculated for eyespot severity score at GS 71 on earlier measurements, either at GS 30/31 (11 methods) or from GS 22 to GS 65 (3 methods). Based on measurements at GS 30/31, all the methods predicted eyespot severity at GS 71 well in plots of winter barley inoculated with W-type isolates (r, 0.83-0.97) but the accuracy of predictions in plots inoculated with R-type isolates was very variable (r, 0.09-0.71). Predictions for 1987 and 1988 were less accurate in wheat than in W-type plots of barley, but did not differ between W-type and R-type plots (r, 0.70-0.89). When the wheat data for 1986 were also included predictions were less accurate, especially in R-type plots (r, 0-0.59). Generally, it was easier to predict eyespot severity at GS 71 in W-type than in R-type plots, especially in barley and in wheat before GS 37/39. Predictions of eyespot severity at GS 71 based on measurements before GS 25 were inaccurate for both wheat and barley. After GS 25 the accuracy of the prediction was generally good in W-type plots and did not improve greatly except in wheat after GS 59. However, there was a steady improvement in the accuracy of the prediction in R-type plots of barley from GS 24 to GS 53. Assessments of eyespot incidence on stems predicted eyespot severity at GS 71 more accurately than assessments on leaf sheaths on wheat after GS 37/39, but were not as good on barley until GS 53.


This reading of Gravity's Rainbow argues that, coming as it does out of a particularly "revolutionary" era in American history, the novel must be contextualized within this radical or revolutionary framework. Moreover, the philosophical foundation for much of the organized radical movement derives (through C. Wright Mills) directly from John Dewey and William James, pragmatists in the American grain whose philosophy was (especially in the case of Dewey) radically democratic.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the efficacy of a microprocessed phototherapy (PT) system with five high intensity light emitting diodes (Super LED) for the treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia of premature infants.

METHODS
Randomized clinical trial using Super LED phototherapy in the study group and twin halogen spotlight phototherapy in the control group. A stratified blocked randomization, based on birth weight, was performed. The duration of phototherapy and the rate of decrease of total serum bilirubin (TSB) concentration in the first 24 hours of treatment were the main outcome measures.

RESULTS
We studied 88 infants, 44 in the Super LED group and 44 in the halogen spotlight PT group. The demographic characteristics of the patients in both groups were similar. Infants in the Super LED group had a similar mean initial serum bilirubin level (10.1+/-2.4 mg%) to those receiving halogen spotlight treatment (10.9+/-2.0 mg%). After 24 hours of treatment, the decrease in total serum bilirubin levels was significantly greater in the Super LED group (27.9 vs. 10.7%, p<0.01) and duration of phototherapy was significantly shorter in this group (36.8 h vs. 63.8 h, p<0.01). After 24 hours of treatment, a significantly greater number of patients receiving Super LED phototherapy had reached serum bilirubin concentrations low enough to allow withdrawal of treatment (23 vs. 10, p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Our results demonstrate that the efficacy of Super LED phototherapy for treating hyperbilirubinemia in premature infants was significantly better than halogen phototherapy.


Cloud computing has become a popular metaphor for dynamic and secure self-service access to computational and storage capabilities. In this study, we analyze and model workloads gathered from enterprise-operated commercial private clouds that implement ''Infrastructure as a Service.'' Our results show that 3-phase hyperexponential distributions fit using the Estimation Maximization (E-M) algorithm capture workload attributes accurately. In addition, these models of individual attributes compose to produce estimates of overall cloud performance that our results verify to be accurate. As an early study of commercial enterprise private clouds, this work provides guidance to those researching, designing, or maintaining such installations. In particular, the cloud workloads under study do not exhibit ''heavy-tailed'' distributional properties in the same way that ''bare metal'' operating systems do, potentially leading to different design and engineering tradeoffs.


The strategic goal behind adjuvant therapy is to open novel avenues for colon cancer treatment by specifically inactivating pathways needed for the growth of tumor cells. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) therapy is a prominent conventional treatment for colon cancer that has been used for five decades. Among the rich diversity of chemotherapeutics, 5-FU has been extensively manipulated as an anticancer drug. The pharmacology of 5-FU has spawned myriad alternatives to achieve low-toxicity treatment for better colon cancer management. The existing highly toxic chemotherapeutic regimens, lack of new congeners with significant efficacy, and drug resistance to cancer cells have prompted scientists to manipulate conventional treatments. These factors make it imperative to rationalize the current 5-FU therapy in combination with synthetic or natural compounds by optimizing the dose with respect to pharmacokinetic and preclinical data. To attempt to tailor effective conventional 5-FU regimens, novel therapeutic perspectives associated with the 5-FU-based colon cancer chemotherapy currently available in clinical settings have been summarized. This review presents comprehensive summary of a dedicated literature search of databases (i.e., PUBMED, CAPLUS, and MEDLINE) for adjuvant approaches such as NSAIDs (COX-II inhibitors), natural compounds, viral vectors, novel agents/molecules, and various targeted therapies, in combination with 5-FU in developing treatment alternatives for colon cancer.


Abstract Background: Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) causes substantial healthcare-associated morbidity. Unlike other common healthcare-associated pathogens, little comparative information is available about CDAD rates in hospitalized patients. Objectives: To determine CDAD rates per 10,000 patient-days and per 1,000 hospital admissions at 7 geographically diverse tertiary-care centers from 2000 to 2003, and to survey participating centers on methods of CDAD surveillance and case definition. Methods: Each center provided specific information for the study period, including case numbers, patient-days, and hospital characteristics. Case definitions and laboratory diagnoses of healthcare-associated CDAD were determined by each institution. Within institutions, case definitions remained consistent during the study period. Results: Overall, mean annual case rates of CDAD were 12.1 per 10,000 patient-days (range, 3.1 to 25.1) and 7.4 per 1,000 hospital admissions (range, 3.1 to 13.1). No significant increases were observed in CDAD case rates during the 4-year interval, either at individual centers or in the Prevention Epicenter hospitals as a whole. Prevention Epicenter hospitals differed in their CDAD case definitions. Different case definitions used by the hospitals applied to a fixed data set resulted in a 30% difference in rates. No associations were identified between diagnostic test or case definition used and the relative rate of CDAD at a specific medical center. Conclusions: Rates of CDAD vary widely at tertiary-care centers across the United States. No significant increases in case rates were identified. The varying clinical and laboratory approaches to diagnosis complicated comparisons between hospitals. To facilitate benchmarking and comparisons between institutions, we recommend development of a more standardized case definition.


Beat induction is the perceptual and cognitive process by which humans listen to music and perceive a steady pulse. Computationally modelling beat induction is important for many Music Information Retrieval (MIR) methods and is in general an open problem, especially when processing expressive timing, e.g. tempo changes or rubato.

A neuro-cognitive model has been proposed, the Gradient Frequency Neural Network (GFNN), which can model the perception of pulse and metre. GFNNs have been applied successfully to a range of 'difficult' music perception problems such as polyrhythms and syncopation.

This thesis explores the use of GFNNs for expressive rhythm perception and modelling, addressing the current gap in knowledge for how to deal with varying tempo and expressive timing in automated and interactive music systems. The cannonical oscillators contained in a GFNN have entrainment properties, allowing phase shifts and resulting in changes to the observed frequencies. This makes them good candidates for solving the expressive timing problem.

It is found that modelling a metrical perception with GFNNs can improve a machine learning music model. However, it is also discovered that GFNNs perform poorly when dealing with tempo changes in the stimulus.

Therefore, a novel Adaptive Frequency Neural Network (AFNN) is introduced; extending the GFNN with a Hebbian learning rule on oscillator frequencies. Two new adaptive behaviours (attraction and elasticity) increase entrainment in the oscillators, and increase the computational efficiency of the model by allowing for a great reduction in the size of the network.

The AFNN is evaluated over a series of experiments on sets of symbolic and audio rhythms both from the literature and created specifically for this research. Where previous work with GFNNs has focused on frequency and amplitude responses, this thesis considers phase information as critical for pulse perception. Evaluating the time-based output, it was found that AFNNs behave differently to GFNNs: responses to symbolic stimuli with both steady and varying pulses are significantly improved, and on audio data the AFNNs performance matches the GFNN, despite its lower density.

The thesis argues that AFNNs could replace the linear filtering methods commonly used in beat tracking and tempo estimation systems, and lead to more accurate methods.


This study analyzes the effects of socio-economic factors on the real wage rates for male workers in India over the period 1983–2010. In particular, we examine the role of human capital by estimating the Mincerian wage equation. We construct a regional level pseudo-panel data set for our analysis. Our findings show that while the return to primary education is remarkably high, the returns to other, higher, levels of education are equally remarkably low for all of India taken together, becoming progressively so as the level of education increases. These findings are in contradistinction to those of the other studies on returns to education in India, all of which, however, have relied on cross-sectional data for their analyses. We also find relatively little effects of caste, tribe and religion on real wage rates in India, suggesting that these factors may not be as important as is sometimes believed.


BACKGROUND
Mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders are the most prevalent group of inherited neurometabolic diseases. They present with central and peripheral neurological features usually in association with other organ involvement including the eye, the heart, the liver, and kidneys, diabetes mellitus and sensorineural deafness. Current treatment is largely supportive and the disorders progress relentlessly causing significant morbidity and premature death. Vitamin supplements, pharmacological agents and exercise therapy have been used in isolated cases and small clinical trials, but the efficacy of these interventions is unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether there is objective evidence to support the use of current treatments for mitochondrial disease.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group trials register (searched September 2003), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE (January 1966 to October 3 2003), EMBASE (January 1980 to October 3 2003) and the European Neuromuscular Centre (ENMC) clinical trials register, and contacted experts in the field.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised controlled trials (including crossover studies) and quasi-randomised trials comparing pharmacological treatments, and non-pharmacological treatments (vitamins and food supplements), and physical training in individuals with mitochondrial disorders. The primary outcome measures included an improvement in muscle strength and/or endurance, or neurological clinical features. Secondary outcome measures included quality of life assessments, biochemical markers of disease and negative outcomes.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Details of the number of randomised patients, treatment, study design, study category, allocation concealment and patient characteristics were extracted. Analysis was based on intention to treat data. We planned to use meta-analysis, but this did not prove necessary.

MAIN RESULTS
Six hundred and seventy-eight abstracts were reviewed, and six fulfilled the entry criteria. Two trials studied the effects of co-enzyme Q10 (ubiquinone), one reporting a subjective improvement and a significant increase in a global scale of muscle strength, but the other trial did not show any benefit. Two trials used creatine, with one reporting improved measures of muscle strength and post-exercise lactate, but the other reported no benefit. One trial of dichloroacetate showed an improvement in secondary outcome measures of mitochondrial metabolism, and one trial using dimethylglycine showed no significant effect.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is currently no clear evidence supporting the use of any intervention in mitochondrial disorders. Further research is needed to establish the role of a wide range of therapeutic approaches.


Understanding the dynamics of reactive polymer processes allows scientists to create new, high value, high performance polymers. Chemorheology of Polymers provides an indispensable resource for researchers and practitioners working in this area, describing theoretical and industrial approaches to characterising the flow and gelation of reactive polymers. Beginning with an in-depth treatment of the chemistry and physics of thermoplastics, thermoset and reactive polymers, the core of the book focuses on fundamental characterization of reactive polymers, rheological (flow characterization) techniques and the kinetic and chemorheological models of these systems. Uniquely, the coverage extends to a complete review of the practical industrial processes used for these polymers and an insight into the current chemorheological models and tools used to describe and control each process. This book will appeal to polymer scientists working on reactive polymers within materials science, chemistry and chemical engineering departments as well as polymer process engineers in industry.


Frequent measurements of beach profiles have been made at sixteen areas between Maine and Long Island since September 1965 by members of the Coastal Research Center of the University of Massachusetts. This research effort has resulted in the accumulation of approximately 2000 beach profiles along the New England coastline. The detailed analysis of profiles from Monomoy Island and Nauset Spit on Cape Cod has revealed the following erosion-accretion characteristics: 1. The most active areas of the beach profile in terms of sand transport are at the low-tide, neap high-tide, and spring high-tide zones. The center of the beach face is relatively inactive. 2. An exception to this behavior occurs during severe storms when large volumes of sand are removed from the entire beach face, producing a concave upward profile shape. 3. During periods of relatively low wave activity there is much interaction in terms of sand movement between these three zones, resulting in the formation of distinctive profile shapes. 4. These profile shapes tend to maintain themselves through sand movements which cause the berm to migrate back and forth along the profile. 5. This activity is often accomplished with little or no net sand erosion or accretion to the total profile. These conclusions, combined with additional analyses, indicate that the traditional measurements of total beach width and high tide beach width (i.e., to the berm) are not a reliable indication of sand volume changes on beaches.


This article explores a puzzle in Canadian legal historiography: the meaning of "British justice" and its relationship to race. Scholars have noted the use of this term in the interwar years of the twentieth century, to object to demonstrations of racial bias in the legal system. The puzzle is why. From the mid-1850s onward, statutes aimed at circumscribing the rights and opportunities of aboriginal people multiplied. British Columbia passed anti-Chinese, anti-Japanese, and anti-Indian legislation. Saskatchewan prohibited Chinese and Japanese employers from hiring white women. At least some officials supposed that legislation targeting African Canadians would be permissible. In 1924, the Toronto Telegram called for a poll tax against Jews. It is clear that between 1880 and 1920 or thereabouts, federal and provincial law was deeply involved in creating and reifying legal categories that rested explicitly on physical distinctions perceived to exist among people, which were assumed to signal morally and legally relevant characteristics. Why, then, would anyone have thought that "British justice" should be a shield against racism?


The terms S (intransitive), A, P (transitive), as well as T and R (ditransitive) have been used since the 1970s to allow linguists to characterize the differences between major alignment patterns such as accusative vs. ergative. They are often taken for granted, but a closer examination of the literature reveals that they can have three rather different meanings: In the Dixonian approach, they are used as universal syntactic functions based on transitivity; in the Comrian approach, they are seen as comparative concepts for the two arguments of a typical action clause, and in the Bickelian approach, they are taken as generalized semantic roles (Dowtyan proto-roles). In this paper, I explain the three approaches in some detail, and I argue that the Comrian approach is superior to the other two approaches. It is better than the Dixonian approach, because it does not take an undefined transitivity notion for granted but defines transitivity in terms of A and P. It is also better than the Bickelian approach, because the Dowtyan proto-roles were designed for the description of a particular class of English verbs; for cross-linguistic comparison, we need to limit ourselves to restricted (and semantically coherent) classes of verbs if we want to arrive at general statements.


This paper investigates whether dynamic volatility spillovers across shipping freight markets can be explained by a comprehensive set of indicators capturing shipping investors' sentiment. The results of this study reveal that an increase of the ratio of second-hand vessel price over newbuilding vessel price triggers an increase of the transmission of economic information within the dry-bulk and tanker segments; while an increase in the ratio of price to earnings and the ratio of the number of vessels sold over the number of vessels of the global fleet also trigger an increase of the economic information transmission within the dry-bulk and tanker vessels, respectively. These results have important implications for shipping market players as they reveal novel mechanisms of the transmission of economic information within the segments and across the sub-segments of shipping freight markets.


This paper describes an investigation of the collapse of a 250+ ft tall, hammerhead, freestanding tower crane during a Category 2 hurricane at a construction site in southeast Florida. The investigation showed that the technical cause of the collapse was a tensile failure of the anchor bolts connecting the lowest tower section to the expandable legs cast into the concrete foundation. A subsequent independent study revealed that the out-of-service design-base wind speed for the tower, originally designed and manufactured in the mid-1980s under the Rules for the Design of Hoisting Appliances by the European Handling Federation (FEM 1.001), to be inappropriate for the expected wind conditions in southeast Florida during hurricane season. Our work showed that the collapse during this specific hurricane event would not have occurred if the tower crane in this configuration were more appropriately rated to resist wind conditions consistent with SEI/ASCE 37: Design Loads on Structures During Construction .


Interactive learning is the touchstone of innovation while the strength of actors constitutes the capacity of each node of the system; however, very few studies exist on a quantitative measure of these interactions. This paper provides evidence on the microeconomic processes of interactive learning showing the key roles of human capital in current productivity of firms, their broad collaboration mechanisms and actions of state agencies in firm performance. Horizontal relationship between suppliers, traders and subcontractors is regularly formed in clusters. Education of owners, skill of workers and past productivity records are the key determinants of firm-level productivity.


Background Patient education (PE) is a discipline supported by the current legislation in France. A PE programme has been set up at Tenon Hospital (Paris, France) by pharmacists and nurses for patients infected with HIV. Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the programme in terms of virological efficacy among patients referred to PE between 2009 and 2010 for treatment initiation or failure. Materials and methods The last available plasma viral load (VL) dating from at least 6 months after starting treatment or last change of treatment was recorded for each patient followed in PE. The proportion of patients with virological suppression, that is having an undetectable VL at the threshold of 50 copies per mL, was then compared to that observed under the same conditions on all patients treated by the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department (ITD) in 2010 and who were not referred for PE. Results 63 patients were followed between 2009 and 2010 in the PE program. 86.0% of them (43/50) were in virological success after at least 6 months of therapy. This rate is comparable to the 86.1% (1979/2297) of patients with virological suppression from the active list of patients followed at ITD and who have not benefited from PE. At the beginning of PE, 38% (8/21) of pretreated patients were undetectable; to date, they are 81% (17/21) with virological suppression (p <0.01). These preliminary results suggest that among patients in therapeutic failure or having adherence difficulties, the PE program provides outcomes comparable to those observed in the active list. Conclusions These encouraging results enable us to prepare a prospective, comparative, randomised study to confirm them and to consider new end points such as patient satisfaction, quality of life and the expected benefits in terms of reduced costs thanks to the PE program.


EXTRACT: David Harvey is arguably the greatest living Marxist geographer. The architectural sweep and grandeur of his intellectual edi?ce knows few equivalents within post-1968 Marxism, and certainly none within his home discipline of geography. Since the publication of the path-breaking Social Justice and the City in 1973,(1) he has constructed a corpus of work whose consistency, topical range and encompassing vision is almost unique within the world of Marxian analysis. His oeuvre (discounting several pre-Marxist writings) comprises ten single authored books, two edited works and over a hundred essays and chapters. Several of his books have been multiply translated, extending Harvey�€™s intellectual reach beyond the Anglophone world to other shores.(2) That many of these contributions have been agendasetting is a testament to his originality as a thinker. Most of us would be pleased to author one or two germinal texts in a lifetime. Yet in his eighth decade David Harvey continues to publish major works that command a wide readership (at least within academia). Among the most recent are The New Imperialism, A Brief History of Neoliberalism and Cosmopolitanism and the Geographies of Freedom.(3) If Harvey were to stop publishing tomorrow, these books would crown a canon of commanding weight. However, because he shows no sign of slowing down, they are likely to be succeeded by further works of substance in the years to come. A full accounting of Harvey�€™s contribution cannot, therefore, currently be undertaken: the contribution is, quite simply, still in the making.(4)


Context. High-velocity stars in the Galactic halo, e.g. the so-called hyper-velocity stars (HVS), are important tracers of the properties of the dark matter halo, in particular its mass. Aims. A search for the fastest stars among hot subdwarfs (sdB) in the halo is carried out to identify HVS, unbound to the Galaxy, and bound population II stars in order to derive a lower limit to the halo mass. Methods. Based on the SDSS DR6 spectral database we selected stars with high rest-frame velocities. These radial velocity measurements were verified at several telescopes to exclude radial velocity variable stars. Out of 88 stars observed in the follow-up campaign 39 stars were found to have constant radial velocities. For twelve of them we measured a proper motion significantly different from zero and obtained spectroscopic distances from quantitative spectral analysis to construct the full 6D phase space information for a kinematical study. Results. All but one programme sdBs show halo characteristics, but can be distinguished into two kinematical groups, one (G1) with low Galactic rotation typical of halo stars and a second one (G2) with rapid retrograde motion. We also investigate the possibility that the programme stars are not genuine halo stars but ejected from the Galactic disc or bulge. The G1 objects crossed the Galactic plane in the central bulge, whereas the G2 stars did in the outer Galactic disc. J1211+1437 (G2) is a HVS candidate, as it is unbound to the Galaxy if the standard Galactic potential is adopted. Conclusions. We conclude that in the ejection scenario G1 stars might have been formed via the slingshot mechanism that invokes acceleration by tidal interaction of a binary with the central supermassive black hole. The G2 stars, however, would originate in the outskirts of the Galactic disc and not in the central bulge. J1211+1437 is the first unbound subdwarf B star, for which we can rule out the slingshot mechanism. Alternatively, we may assume that the stars are old population II stars and therefore have to be bound. Then the kinematics of J1211+1437 set a lower limit <


Metaliteracy is a reframing of information literacy that "emphasizes the metacognitive dimension of learning and the active roles we play as producers of original and repurposed information" (p. xvi). Editors Trudi Jacobson (Head of the Information Literacy Department, University Libraries, University at Albany SUNY) and Thomas Mackey (Vice-Provost for Academic Programs, SUNY Empire State College) coined the term in a 2011 article and further explored it in their 2014 book Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners. Metaliteracy has recently gained recognition in the field of information literacy, primarily through its influence on the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. A foreword by Allison Head (from Project Information Literacy) and a preface by the editors situate this book at the intersection of metaliteracy, the Framework, and teaching practice, briefly explaining the theoretical terrain in which the practical applications described in the case studies exist.


Studies concerning eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women musicians abound within recent musicological scholarship, but the focus on singers and keyboard players – whose musical activities are understood to have "affirmed" their femininity – has had the effect of obscuring players of less typical instruments. Violin-playing, frequently cast as a man's activity and imbued with indecent associations, was a case in point. Yet despite the connotations of the instrument, a small but significant group of women did play the violin: it is these violinists that this thesis takes as its central focus. Looking first at the complex reasons behind objections to women's violin performance, a number of factors that restricted women's access to the violin – including the influence of the male gaze and limits placed on women's physical movement – are revealed. Particular conditions nevertheless enabled certain women to play the violin, namely the personal, educational, and economic support available from diverse sources such as family members, patrons, and institutions like convents and the Venetian ospedali.  In addition to placing women violinists in their historical context, this thesis centres on an analysis of a violin concerto by one of the most well-known female violinists of the era, the Italian virtuoso Regina Strinasacchi. The analysis of Strinasacchi's Violin Concerto in B flat major is strongly performance based and focuses on the issue of gender and physical movement (performance gesture), topics which were of much interest to eighteenth-century commentators who witnessed women violinists performing. As such the analysis engages with concepts from "embodied" musicology. In exploring Strinasacchi's concerto we see that female violinists could experiment with a variety of gendered roles through violin performance, embodying both masculinity and femininity through their transgressive gestures. By taking a closer look at women's violin performance and experiences, this thesis aims to show that these violinists were not as peripheral to the workings of the wider musical community as is sometimes implied. Furthermore, it aims to put women violinists more firmly at the centre of their own stories, challenging the tendency to treat female violinists as novel anomalies.


The syntheses and characterization of metal-free and metal-containing (Zn and Ni) derivatives of a symmetrically octa-substituted phthalocyanine derived from 4,5:12,13-bis(4′-tert-butylbenzo)-8,9-(4″,5″-dicyanobenzo)-6,11-ditosyl-6,11-diaza-2,15-dithiacyclohexadeca-4,8,12-triene and CuPc from 4,5:12,13-bis(4′-tert-butylbenzo)-8,9-(4″,5″-dibromobenzo)-6,11-ditosyl-6,11-diaza-2,15-dithiacyclohexadeca-4,8,12-triene were carried out. Pentanuclear silver(I) and palladium(II) complexes have also been prepared from nickel(II) phthalocyaninate derivatives. The prepared phthalocyanines were semiconducting materials in the range of 10–5 to10–10 S cm–1 in vacuo and under atmospheric pressure. The extraction abilities of NiPc and detosylated phthalocyanines were evaluated in chloroform/water by using several heavy-metal picrates such as Ag+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Pb2+, Pd2+, and Zn2+. The extraction affinities of NiPc and detosylated phthalocyanines for Ag+ were found to be the highest in solvent extraction experiments. The new compounds were characterized by using elemental analysis, UV/Vis, FTIR, NMR, MS spectroscopic data and DTA/TG. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)


Twenty years have passed since conditional cash transfer programs were first implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean. This book takes the opportunity to critically review the design options and operational solutions employed by the countries in the region, with the goal of systematizing this accumulated operational knowledge and identifying both good practices and remaining challenges. It addresses the major processes of the operational cycle: beneficiary identification and management of the rosters of beneficiaries, verification of conditionalities, and payment of transfers. In addition, it discusses cross-cutting issues, such as territorial organization, management information systems, and the linkage of beneficiaries to other social programs. This book is a useful and practical tool for those seeking to understand how transfer programs work and how they can be improved by building on the experiences of other countries.


This report describes the results of some calculations on the effectiveness of penetrating nuclear weapons of yield 1 and 10 kilotons against targets containing biological agents. The effectiveness depends in detail on the construction of the bunkers, on how the bioagents are stored, on the location of the explosions with respect to the bunkers, the bioagent containers and the surface of the ground, and on the yield of the explosion and the geology of the explosion site. Completeness of sterilization of the bioagents is crucial in determining effectiveness. For most likely cases, however, complete sterilization cannot be guaranteed. Better calculations and experiments on specific target types would improve the accuracy of such predictions for those targets, but significant uncertainties would remain regarding actual geology, actual target layouts, and the position of the explosion with respect to the target. Based on preliminary calculations, casualties from the aboveground effects of underground nuclear explosions would be fewer than the casualties that would result from the dispersal of large quantities of bioagents.


Experiencing a traumatic event during childhood or adolescence is not a rare event, yet there is little written that examines the impact that trauma and the resulting stress have in the school context, from the perspective of the youth. Traumatic stress manifests itself in internalizing and externalizing behaviours that can significantly impact academic and social functioning, and the psychosocial well-being of youth. In the absence of disclosure, teachers are often unaware that trauma may be at the root of emotional and behavioural needs seen in the classroom and may be the reason for more subtle shifts in behaviour, achievement, appearance, and demeanour. The protective nature of school connectedness, and specifically student-teacher relationships and caring, positive school climates, in increasing engagement and decreasing at-risk behaviours and emotional distress (Blum, 2005, Bond et al., 2007; Klem, & Connell, 2004) holds promise for these students. School and teachers can play an important role in improving well-being and in mitigating long term negative outcomes. Research in this area is essential as students with trauma histories and subsequent mental health needs are at greater risk for delinquency, substance abuse, suicide, chronic health problems, and diminished educational and employment success than their peers (Bardone, 1998; Edwards, Anda, Felitti, & Dube, 2004; Fergusson, 2007). This qualitative study describes the experience of four young adults who had each experienced varying traumatic life events during childhood and adolescence. The interviews sought to understand how trauma impacted the high school experience for the participants, perceptions of teacher support, and to hear their advice on how teachers can best support their learning and well-being. Results of the cross-case analysis showed the importance of noticing and validating subtle signs of student distress, of connections with caring teachers, and of


We live in a world of artificial speakers with real impact. So-called "bots" foment political strife, skew online discourse, and manipulate the marketplace. Concerns over bot speech has led prominent figures in the world of technology to call for regulations in response to the unique threats bots pose. Recently, legislators have begun to heed these calls, drafting laws that would require online bots to clearly indicate that they are not human.
This work is the first to consider how efforts to regulate bots might run afoul of the First Amendment. At first blush, requiring a bot to self-disclose raises little in the way of free speech concerns—it does not censor speech as such, nor does it unmask the identity of the person behind the automated account. However, a deeper analysis reveals several areas of First Amendment tension. Bot disclosure laws fit poorly with the state's stated goals, risk unmasking anonymous speakers in the enforcement process, and create a scaffolding for censorship by private actors and other governments.
Ultimately bots represent a diverse and emerging medium of speech. Their use for mischief should not overshadow their novel capacity to inform, entertain, and critique. We conclude by urging society to proceed with caution in regulating bots, lest we inadvertently curtail a new, unfolding form of expression.


JURGEN G. BACKHAUS [*] ABSTRACT. This essay tries to put Georg Simmel's The Philosophy of Money into the context of current monetary discussions in economics. Part I looks at the contribution of Georg Simmel in context and offers remarks about the changing structure of economics as a discipline composed of many different subdisciplines. It is argued that Simmel is able to transcend subdisciplinary borders, to great benefit for today's scholar. Part III explains Heinsohn and Steiger's recent contribution to monetary economics in terms of transactions and property rights; although the contribution has been made more in the context of post-Keynesian economics, this is the only way to comprehend and integrate it into the mainstream of scholarly discourse. This examination shows that Simmel's approach, transgressing interdisciplinary borders, has merits even today. Part IV looks at the perplexing phenomenon of European monetary integration with a similar interdisciplinary perspective in mind. In this case, it is not monetary economics b ut constitutional political economy which is the unifying concept to explain the peculiar features of European monetary integration. I Money and Its Economic and Social Functions [1] IN ECONOMICS, WE TYPICALLY EMPHASIZE three functions of money: money as a unit of exchange; money as a unit of account; and money as a store of value. However, there are clearly other functions which money can perform in an economy and in society at large. The issue thus arises as to how to deal with the particularly economic functions just mentioned and with the other functions within the same theoretical framework or, if different theories have to be invoked, how to delineate those different theories from each other. I would like to give a few examples here of other functions of money. During a demonstration against the regime of President Milosovic, the angry crowd in Belgrave threw Dinar bills onto the street near the presidential palace, protesting with a currency which, like the government, had lost the public's trust. Meanwhile, the printing presses of the central bank were turning out new bills with even higher denominations. In Tehran recently we noticed the disdain with which people treat their money. There are now six thousand Rials to the U.S. Dollar, with the most common bill being a five thousand Rial note. However, people do not quote prices in Rials -- the population has developed a parlance in terms of its own denomination of ten Rials or one Tuman. In oral dealings, all prices are quoted in Tuman, as if the general population were collectively ashamed and engaged in a cover-up of the inflationary policies of its religious leaders and government. At the moment, the highest denomination is a bill of ten thousand Rials, an otherwise attractive (and big) bill; when I first saw it, I wondered bow I would feel as the head of state to have my portrait favourably depicted on such a worthless bill. [2] When routine transactions require carrying valises of money around, the stage is set for strong sentiments toward money. These instances of anger, shame, and pride are not necessarily and closely related to the basic functions awarded money in economic theory -- its use as a unit of exchange, as a unit of account, and as a store of value -- although, of course, they somewhat refer to these three functions. The function of unit of exchange is clearly impaired if valises of money have to be carried around. [3] When the population changes the colloquial denomination on its own central bank, this is clear evidence for the loss of its function the currency has undergone as a unit of account. Throwing bills on the street in protest similarly reveals a complete disappearance of the function of store of value. Yet anger, shame, and pride, while connected to the basic functions of money depicted in economic theory, go far beyond those matters discussed in economics treaties, having eminently economic but also social and political repercussions. …


Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Chapter 1. Orthodontic Diagnosis and Treatment Planning. Normal and Ideal Occlusion. Normal Occlusion in the Primary Dentition. Angle Classification of Malocclusion. Angle Class I Malocclusion. Class I Malocclusions in the Primary and Mixed Dentitions. Angle Class II Division 1 Malocclusion. Angle Class II Division 2 Malocclusion. Class II Malocclusions in the Primary and Mixed Dentitions. End-to-End Occlusions. Angle Class III Malocclusion. Class III Malocclusions in Primary and Mixed Dentitions. Super Class I Malocclusion. Super Class II and Super Class III Malocclusions. Subdivision Malocclusions. Class II Subdivision Malocclusions. Class III Subdivision Malocclusions. Class II-III Subdivision Malocclusion. Incisor Compensations in Class II and Class III Malocclusions. Iowa Notation System for Angle Classification. Rules for Assigning Angle Classification. Rating the Severity of a Malocclusion. Orthodontic Records. Clinical Examination. Summary of Findings, Problem List, and Diagnosis. Consultation with Patient and/or Parent. Chapter 2. Dental Impressions and Study Cast Trimming. Study Casts. Digital Casts. Alginate Impressions. Mandibular Impression. Record of Centric Occlusion. Pouring of Plaster Study Casts. Study Cast Trimming. Chapter 3. Dental Cast Analysis in Adults. Tooth Size-Arch Length Analysis. The Measurement of Tooth Size and Arch Length. Factors Influencing a Tooth Size-Arch Length Analysis. Curve of Spee. Incisor Inclination and Anteroposterior Position. Second and Third Molar Evaluation. Comparison of TSALD and the Irregularity Index. Arch Width Measurements. Diagnostic Setup. Bolton Analysis. Overbite and Overjet Measurements. Mandibular Crowding. Tooth Widths in Normal Occlusion. Chapter 4. Dental Cast Analysis in the Mixed Dentition. Tooth Size-Arch Length Analysis. Prediction of the Widths of Nonerupted Canines and Premolars. Revised Hixon-Oldfather Prediction Method. Iowa Prediction Method for Both Arches. Standard Error of Estimate. Radiograph Image Problems. Proportional Equation Prediction Method. Tanaka and Johnston Prediction Method. Measurement of Arch Lengths on Casts. Measurement Instruments and Guidelines. Factors that Influence a Mixed-Dentition Arch Length Analysis. Interpretation of a Mixed-Dentition Arch Length Analysis. Chapter 5. Radiographic Analysis. Periapical Survey. Panoramic Radiograph. Occlusal Radiographs. Cone Beam Radiographs. Lateral Cephalometric Radiographs. Anatomic Landmarks. Cephalometric Landmarks. Cephalometric Point Locations. Cephalometric Angles and Distances. Cephalometric Norms and Treatment Goals. Lateral Cephalometric Tracing. Posteroanterior Cephalometric Radiograph. Analog versus Digital Radiography. Chapter 6. Lingual and Palatal Arches. Incisor Liability and Leeway Space. Passive Lower Lingual Holding Arch. Prevalence of Incisor Crowding. Premature Loss of a Primary Molar. Asymmetric Loss of a Primary Canine. Nance Holding Arch. Trans-palatal Arch. Insertion of a Passive Lingual or Palatal Arch. Fixed-Removable Lingual and Palatal Arches. Undesirable Side Effects of Passive and Active Lingual and Palatal Arches. Laboratory Prescription and Construction of a Lower Loop Lingual Arch. Chapter 7. Management of Anterior Crossbites. Prevalence of Anterior Crossbite Malocclusions. Angle Classification. Centric Relation to Centric Occlusion Functional Shift on Closure. Overbite. Adequate Arch Length. Inclination of Maxillary Incisor Roots. Rotation of Tooth in Crossbite. Number of Teeth in Crossbite. Alignment of Lower Anterior Teeth. Treatment of Anterior Crossbites with Removable Appliances. Treatment of Anterior Crossbites with Fixed Appliances. Construction of a Removable Maxillary Appliance to Close a Diastema and Correct a Lateral Incisor in Crossbite. Chapter 8. Management of Posterior Crossbites. Definition of Posterior Crossbite. Prevalence of Posterior Crossbite Malocclusions. Angle Classification. Intermolar Width Measurements. Age of Patient. Buccolingual Inclination of the Posterior Teeth. Etiology of Bilateral and Unilateral Posterior Crossbites. Vertical Dimension. Treatment of Posterior Crossbites. Correction of Posterior Crossbites with Removable Appliances. Correction of Posterior Crossbites with Fixed Expander Appliances. Chapter 9. Management of Incisor Diastemas. Prevalence of Maxillary Diastemas. Etiologic Factors to Consider. Size of Teeth and Bolton Analysis. Arch Size. Maxillary Labial Frenum. Rotated Incisors. Thumb Sucking Habit. Angle Classification. Management with Appliances. Treatment of a Diastema with a Removable Loop Spring Appliance. Treatment of a Diastema with a Finger Spring Removable Appliance. Treatment of a Diastema with Fixed Appliances. Chapter 10. Molar Uprighting and Space Gaining. Introduction. Ectopic Eruption of Permanent First Molars. Uprighting Molars in the Mixed Dentition. Ectopic Eruption of Upper First Molars. Ectopic Eruption and Tipping of Lower First Molars. Mesial Tipping of Permanent Molars after Loss of a First Molar. Prevention of Molar Tipping after Loss of a First Molar. Impaction of Second Molars. Loss of Both First and Second Molars. T-Loop Uprighting Spring and Edgewise Fixed Appliance. Forces Generated by the T-Loop Uprighting Spring. Patient Treated with a T-Loop Uprighting Spring. Helical Uprighting Spring. Forces Generated by the Helical Uprighting Spring. Patient Treated with a Helical Uprighting Spring. Other Appliances Used to Upright Molars. Repositioning of Teeth Prior to Prosthetic Restoration. Chapter 11. Orthodontic Examination and Decision Making for the Family Dentist. Introduction. Orthodontic Screening. Guidelines for Decision Making. Differentiate Class I Problems Suitable for Limited Orthodontic Treatment from More Complex Class I Problems. Pretreatment Records. Patient 1. Patient 2. Patient 3. Patient 4. Patient 5. Patient 6. Patient 7. Patient 8. Patient 9. Treatment Records. Patient 1. Patient 2. Patient 3. Patient 4. Patient 5. Patient 6. Patient 7. Patient 8. Patient 9. Chapter 12. How Orthodontic Appliances Move Teeth. Introduction. Biomechanics. Newton's First Law. Newton's Second Law. The Keys to Understanding the Delivery of Orthodontic Forces. General Displacements of Rigid Bodies. The Limitations of Illustrating Three-Dimensional Tooth Movements in Two-Dimensional Figures. Translation of a Tooth in the Edgewise Fixed Appliance. How a Tooth Is Translated in the Edgewise Fixed Appliance. Rotation of a Tooth in the Edgewise Fixed Appliance. Newton's Third Law. Chapter 13. The Edgewise Fixed Appliance. Introduction. The Edgewise Appliance. Arch Wires. Bands. Separators. Fitting a Band. Cementing a Band. Band Cements. Removal of Bands. Bonding of Brackets. Anatomic Considerations. The Straight Wire Appliance. Bracket and Molar Tube Placement. Direct and Indirect Bonding. Removal of Brackets from Teeth. Arch Form. Chapter 14. Retention Appliances. Introduction. Invisible Retainers. Essex Retainers. Basic Retainer Design. Wire-Bending Skills. Maxillary Labial Bow Bending. Ball Clasp. C-Clasp. Adams Clasp. Resta Clasp. Mandibular Labial Bow. Acrylicing Retainers. Acrylic Finishing and Polishing. Chapter 15. Orthodontic Materials. Introduction. Orthodontic Wires. Stainless Steel Wires. Sensitization. Cold Working. Recovery Heat Treatment. Annealing. Cobalt-Chromium-Nickel Wires. Beta-Titanium Wires. Nickel-Titanium Wires. Physical Properties of Orthodontic Wires. Electric Welding. Flame Soldering. Electric Soldering. Index.


Computer models for the forecast of the acceptability of soils for earthworks in both the long-term and the short-term have been developed. A number of issues pertinent to the efficient use of the models are addressed in this report; not least, the software has been revised to ensure year 2000 compliance. In addition, a field trial has been carried out. The results indicate that predictions can generally be achieved within 2% of moisture content. The accuracy of MCV forecasts is much more dependent on the moisture sensitivity of the modelled soil. Consequently care is required in interpreting such forecasts. (A)


In this study, a new method to fabricate high performance intermetallic and ceramic materials and coatings was developed using the SHS process. Induction heating was used as an ignition source to initiate the SHS reaction of Ni/Al and preheat the steel substrate, while titanium was used as an underlayer to facilitate the adhesion between the coatings and the substrate. The reactions were performed in a reaction chamber with an atmosphere of argon gas, while the combustion temperatures were measured using type-K thermocouple and infrared pyrometer. The microstructure characterizations of synthesized products were conducted using SEM, XRD and laser Raman microspectroscopy. Vickers indentation tester was used to evaluate the microhardness and the adhesion strength of the coatings. In the fabrication of NiAl coating, the formation of NiAl was initiated by the melting of Al and subsequently reacted with Ni to form NiAl after receiving the heat generated by induction heating. The synthesized product formed a liquid phase during the reaction and partly diffused into the Ti underlayer. The heat released by Ni/Al reaction then promoted the melting of Ti and further reactions between Ti and Ni/Al to produce Ti3Al–Ti2Ni composites, whereas the unreacted Ti formed an alloy with the coating material. The heat released by Ni/Al reaction and that generated by induction heating were also responsible for the formation of metallurgical bonding in the interface between the underlayer and the substrate. The effects of current variations, underlayer thickness, compaction pressure and melting point of underlayer on the microstructure of synthesized products were investigated. The mechanical properties and thermal shock resistance of synthesized products were also studied. To investigate the effect of reactant compositions on the combustion temperature, microstructure and mechanical properties of synthesized products, NiAl–TiC–Al2O3 composites were fabricated using a low cost TiO2. The microstructure of synthesized product showed that the reaction of Ni/Al and TiO2/Al/C was complete. Two reaction stages were observed from the temperature profiles which represent the exothermic reaction of TiO2/Al/C system and the phase transformation of Ni/Al system. An increase in the TiO2/Al/C content increased the combustion temperature. However, the maximum temperature was still lower than the melting point of TiC and Al2O3 indicating that both products were formed in the solid state during the reaction. An increase in the TiO2/Al/C content produced a higher porosity in the product due to the increase of the solid TiC and Al2O3 particles compared with that of the liquid NiAl. The Ni/Al reactions acted as an exothermic agent to the ignition of TiO2/Al/C reaction, and increased the liquid content for improving the density of synthesized product. The microhardness of synthesized product also increased with an increase in the TiO2/Al/C content due to the increased content of the ceramic particles. In the fabrication of TiC intermetallic composite coating, induction heating was successfully used to initiate the exothermic reaction of the reactants composed of multilayer configurations of Ti/C, Ni/Al and Ti. The synthesized product was inhomogeneously composed of TiC/Ti3Al/Ti2Ni, while a small amount of TiO2 oxides and unreacted C were also observed. The hardness of TiC/Ti3Al/Ti2Ni was 1135.48 ± 139.58 HV, indicating that a hard TiC intermetallic composite coating was successfully synthesized using induction heating.


Executive Summary: HarvestChoice provides data, information and tools to support strategic investment decisions in agriculture. Most agricultural processes are strongly influenced by biotic stressors, such as insects and pathogens. However, available pest information has been lacking, for example global maps of where pests and diseases could occur have not been available. To address this deficiency, HarvestChoice has developed and implemented an approach to pest modeling aimed directly at supporting strategic decisions in agriculture. The HarvestChoice system includes methods, techniques and tools to both collect primary data on pest occurrence and to model potential global pest occurrence. In addition, a global team of recognized pest and climate experts has been assembled to aid in modeling, validation and peer-review. The pest modeling system developed by HarvestChoice differs from the more typical monitoring and prediction systems that support short- to medium-term objectives, such as responding to pest events. Rather, we support strategic decision-making by mapping not where pests occur, but where they might potentially occur. This approach allows us to answer hypothetical questions that were previously unanswerable. For example, we can provide broad information on what portion of the world's crop area could be subject to a pest or what might happen if a new variety were planted in a previously un-cropped location. The end results of our efforts are maps of potential pest occurrence. These maps are produced by modeling a species' response to factors such as temperature and moisture, while carefully keeping certain other factors exogenous (namely, those factors that might be decision variables for strategic planning). For example, the models are not conditional on the actual presence of a susceptible host, so our maps show the potential pest distribution assuming that susceptible hosts occur everywhere, avoiding confounding the host climate responses with those of the pest. The models combine geo-spatial climate data and information on the seasonal phenology of each pest to investigate potential growth, stress and persistence of pests on a global scale. Growth is measured by a "Growth Index," higher values of which indicate a higher potential for that the pest's population to grow at a given location. Potential growth is restricted by sub-optimal temperatures or moisture and the pest's survival is limited by stresses, such as extremely cold or dry conditions. A final index, the "Ecoclimatic Index," is calculated by considering the extent to which growth is possible during the favorable season and survival is limited by the stresses during the non-growth season at each location. The result of this calculation, the Ecoclimatic Index is a measure of the potential ability of the pest to persist and develop high population sizes at a location: that is, whether it can survive the extremes of summer, winter, dry and wet seasons. This Working Paper describes the HarvestChoice approach to pest modeling and places that work in the context of other pest mapping efforts.