This paper provides a stability analysis of a class of acoustic noise control algorithms by showing that the adapted models have more in common with nonlinear, finite impulse response (FIR) equation error models than with the infinite impulse response (IIR) output error models they superficially resemble. Stability results from the adaptive control literature are applied to show global stability in the noise free case, and to show exponential stability when the input is persistently excited. The latter demonstrates a robustness to mismodeling errors, disturbances such as noises, and allows results to be applied to the tracking of time-varying systems.


While youth language constitutes a well-researched field of study, the linguistic manipulations of old people
 remain understudied. In an innovative approach, the present paper therefore looks at confusing and allegedly unintelligible
 narratives and conscious linguistic manipulations, silliness and concealing strategies in language as employed by elderly speakers
 of Kinyabwisha, Kinande, Kihunde and Kiswahili in Eastern DR Congo. A secret cursing register among Banyabwisha, often accompanied
 by practices of spitting, is analyzed; I also discuss elderly speakers' confusing stories narrated to younger people, the use of
 secret modal particles that are restricted to people of old age, and finally I discuss the strategic inclusion of silliness in old
 speakers' utterances. All these are analyzed in a theoretical framework of the secret agency and power in language use that mark
 the agency and wittiness of the elderly in Eastern Congo. With this first overview of elderly speakers' language manipulations I
 aim to show that linguistic manipulation is not necessarily age-related, and that concealment strategies in language can occur as
 agentive and powerful means of social differentiation in later life as well. This preliminary introduction furthermore suggests a
 strong focus on silliness in linguistic analysis (as also found in Kuipers 2007; Storch 2015, 2017).


Importance and key contributionResearch on firm's that already from inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals (Andersson & Wictor, 2003), have been growing during the last decades (Jones, Coviello and Tang, 2012). These firms are characterized of innovative business models that are competitive on the global market already from inception (Hennart, 2013). To succeed with a continued international expansion, the born global firms need to adapt their respective business models for a more complex environment; in more institutionally remote markets. The continued growth phase of born globals are scarcely treated in earlier research (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2013).Earlier studies on Born Globals have focused on Born Globals' development in western, developed countries. Therefore there is a need to examine Born Globals' activities on emerging markets (Kiss et al, 2012). The attractiveness and growth opportunities in emerging markets are perceived to be higher than what obtains in other conceivable markets of the world (Cavusgil, Knight, and Risenberger, 2012).Important in this stage is handle relationship with different stakeholders on a global base. An important tool to handle this relationship is the companies' branding strategy. Few studies have combined research on born globals' internationalization and branding (Gabrielsson, 2005) and there is a need to further develop the knowledge about branding and international growth. This study aims to explore how born global companies are using brand management when growing on emerging markets. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship field by exploring growth on emerging markets, it also contributes by adding knowledge from the brand management field to explore international growth.Theoretical baseIn recent studies the "global" part in the BG has been criticized (Lopez, Kundu and Ciravegena, 2009, Rugman and Almodovar, 2011). Some researchers argue that there a very few really Born Global firms with activities in the three economic and political power bases in the world. NAFTA, EU and the largest eight Asia-Pacific economies (Rugman and Almodovar, 2011). Implicit in research on Born Global firms is that distance (geographic, psychic, cultural, and institutional) is no longer an important issue when the international behaviour and international performance in a Born Global is discussed. We argue that the reason for that is a bias in the research treating Born Global firms with focus on companies that both have their origin and target markets in high-developed economies. Peiris, Akoorie and Sinha (2012) showed that most studies on Born Global firm were done on firms originating in developed countries and only a few studies were done on firms from emerging countries. Studies from emerging countries mainly were done on Chinese firms and very few studies has treated firms from Middle east, Africa or South Asia. Another reason why the Born Global research has not focused on institutional differences can partly be explained by the fact that the Born Global studies have looked internally at firm-specific factors (e.g. using resource-based view and knowledge-based view of the firm as a theoretical domain) (Andersson, Evers and Kuivalainen, 2014; Knight and Cavusgil, 2004).We argue that institutional differences affect Born Globals' international behaviour (scope, speed, and entry mode); and to investigate how institutional distances affect Born Global firms, it is important to include nations with a variety of institutional and cultural characteristics. Born Global firms from developed countries entering institutionally distant markets will meet a context that is different from their home markets. Regulations, culture etc. differ and relationships are often fewer and weaker than, the companies' relationships with western companies. Born Global companies from developed countries still first focus on other developed countries, followed by emerging markets (e. g China and Brazil). We argue that institutional distance still matters and that firms from developed countries still have more and stronger networks in other developed countries. More research is needed two explore how this influence Born Global firms' internationalization processes.Most studies on born globals have focused on firms in a business-to business context. Also this study is focusing on this sector. Even if most brand management studies have focus on business-to consumer sectors, there is an increasing stream of literature that has shown the importance of brand management also in business-to business settings (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2005). Brands are used to build relationships with customers. In emerging markets, western companies have fewer and weaker relationships, as the distance is longer (see the discussion above. Research is needed to explore how brand management can be used to create and sustain relationships on emerging markets. The above discussion lead us to the following research questions.Research questionsHow do born globals manage the organization's international growth in in emerging markets?Which role has brand management to create and sustain relationships with internal and external stakeholders on emerging markets?Method and FindingsEmprical data will be gathered during the Spring 2015. A case approach is considered as the most appropriate to catch the complexity of value creating process in international network context (Yin, 1994). The case study approach is under-represented in studies about internationalization and has been recommended as a fruitful way to expand the knowledge in this area (e.g Andersson, 2000, Cavusgil, 1980). Eisenhardt (1989) recommends case studies as a fruitful way to give a deeper insight in conflicting literature, as well as sharpening the generalizability of different theoretical standpoints which is an important goal in this study. There is a need to learn more about special types of firms and not only to look for the average firm (Andriani and McKelvey, 2007). The close relationship already established with the firms will make it possible to receive information that is hard to get access to with other methods (Welch et al, 2002).The cases will be built built on action research in co-operation with the partner firms, work-shops, personal interviews and observations but complemented with secondary data, such as, annual reports and internal documents. The individuals who have the greatest influence on the internationalization processes will be interviewed. Interviews and observations will lead to the identification of individuals/actors who are central in the international value creating processes. This includes actors outside the focal company, such as customers, suppliers, and co-operation partners. Our long co-operation with the companies has created trustful relationship between the researchers and the company representatives.The analysis of the data will include several steps. The information from interviews and other sources will be written down in descriptive narratives. This process allows the researcher to become intimately familiar with each case and allows the unique patterns of each case to emerge before cross-case comparison (Eisenhardt, 1989). The analysis will be carried out together with companies and results will be a base for decisions in each companies as well as part in academic research.Patterns will be identified among the cases (Yin, 1994). Earlier theoretical findings will be compared with the international development in the cases. Thereafter, the theory will be revised and the findings examined again. The reasoning is, in other words, not entirely inductive or deductive (Yin 1989). Following Eisenhardt's (1989) recommendations, the analysis will include several iterations between theory and data.ImplicationsThe study will also give knowledge about pros and cons with different localisation alternatives on emerging markets. It is easy to just follow management trends (everyone should out-source production and buy supplies from China) and "go with the flock" instead of get knowledge of different alternatives. The comparison between the different firms will increase the knowledge about when different alternatives are suitable.


For the last forty years oilseed and high-protein crops have undergone important changes in terms of area and localisation in France. On the Seine basin example, we show that the specialisation of the farming systems and the agricultural regions has strongly changed the cropping patterns by reducing grasslands which were replaced by a constant increase of the wheat area in a one hand and by a dramatic increase, from the eighties, of the rapeseed, field pea and sunflower areas in another hand. Then from the nineties, rapeseed has gradually replaced field pea and sunflower, the areas of which have fallen. The decrease in the number of cultivated species has led to a clear trend to the simplification and the shortening of the crop successions: short crop successions based on rapeseed (as rapeseedwheat- barley or rapeseed-wheat-wheat) and cereal successions (as wheat-wheat-wheat, wheatwheat- barley or wheat-barley-barley) have strongly increased on the Seine basin over the last twenty years. The crop succession shortening, that causes crop protection problems towards weeds, insects or diseases, is only possible in relation with an intensive use of pesticides: thus the increase of the rapeseed area is positively correlated with the increase of the average number of plant pest controls, especially with herbicides. These agricultural dynamics have negative impacts on environment and enhance the economical risks the farms have to cop with. As a consequence, a new crop diversification, supported by policy-making and agricultural production networks, seems to be a strong future issue.


OBJECTIVE Cyst formation can occasionally occur after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Given the limited data regarding post-SRS cyst formation in patients with AVM, the time course, natural history, and management of this delayed complication are poorly defined. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the incidence, time course, and optimal management of cyst formation after SRS for AVMs. METHODS A literature review was performed using PubMed to identify studies reporting cyst formation in AVM patients treated with SRS. Baseline and outcomes data, including the incidence and management of post-SRS cysts, were extracted from each study that reported follow-up duration. The mean time to cyst formation was calculated from the subset of studies that reported individual patient data. RESULTS Based on pooled data from 22 studies comprising the incidence analysis, the overall rate of post-SRS cyst formation was 3.0% (78/2619 patients). Among the 26 post-SRS cyst patients with available AVM obliteration data, nidal obliteration was achieved in 20 (76.9%). Of the 64 cyst patients with available symptomatology and management data, 21 (32.8%) were symptomatic; 21 cysts (32.8%) were treated with surgical intervention, whereas the remaining 43 (67.2%) were managed conservatively. Based on a subset of 19 studies reporting individual time-to-cyst-formation data from 63 patients, the mean latency period to post-SRS cyst formation was 78 months (6.5 years). CONCLUSIONS Cyst formation is an uncommon complication after SRS for AVMs, with a relatively long latency period. The majority of post-SRS cysts are asymptomatic and can be managed conservatively, although enlarging or symptomatic cysts may require surgical intervention. Long-term follow-up of AVM patients is crucial to the appropriate diagnosis and management of post-SRS cysts.


We present a deep learning algorithm for the numerical solution of parametric families of high-dimensional linear Kolmogorov partial differential equations (PDEs). Our method is based on reformulating the numerical approximation of a whole family of Kolmogorov PDEs as a single statistical learning problem using the Feynman-Kac formula. Successful numerical experiments are presented, which empirically confirm the functionality and efficiency of our proposed algorithm in the case of heat equations and Black-Scholes option pricing models parametrized by affine-linear coefficient functions. We show that a single deep neural network trained on simulated data is capable of learning the solution functions of an entire family of PDEs on a full space-time region. Most notably, our numerical observations and theoretical results also demonstrate that the proposed method does not suffer from the curse of dimensionality, distinguishing it from almost all standard numerical methods for PDEs.


This research takes children's visual culture as a reference to deal with an educational problem – namely, the creative design of didactic activities with an artistic content– through intersections and interactions with aspects of gender as well as social and cultural criticism. A theoretical framework serves as the basis to present the interest and relevance of Mafalda as a visual culture character: for its international significance; for having been previously used with pedagogical aims, for being a forerunner of criticism focused on the educational system, for being known by everyone who forms part of the formal and informal educational system, and for offering a transversal treatment of gender issues. Based on generativist pedagogy, an attempt is made to alter the practice of 25 museum educators in the city of Buenos Aires using a creativity encouragement strategy. The structure consists of three stages: [1] previous reflection on the study object, the way in which certain artistic contents were conventionally learnt; [2] inspiration through ʻcreative visualization' with Mafalda comic strips by Quino; and [3] proposal of creative alternatives for the context of informal teaching. The outcome of this experience is a set of 8 proposals for action in museums, which modify the traditional way to transmit artistic contents to the public and can be confirmed as creative knowledge alternatives. The conclusions highlight the extent to which children's visual culture is useful for didactic design strategies as triggers of creative thinking.


In June 2010, the Supreme Court handed down a sweeping decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. that dramatically limited the geographic reach of U.S. securities fraud laws. Reversing four decades of circuit court jurisprudence, the Morrison majority held that § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act applies only to "transactions in securities listed on domestic exchanges" and "domestic transactions in other securities." At the time, the Morrison majority's "transactional test" was widely praised for its "clarity." However, in the months since Morrison, a vibrant debate has emerged in courtrooms, blogs, and academic journals regarding the application of Morrison's transactional test. Judges, lawyers, and commentators alike have acknowledged that if taken at face value, the Morrison majority opinion seems to suggest that § 10(b) still applies to all transactions in securities that are listed on U.S. exchanges - whether or not the transaction itself occurs in the United States. Yet the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has consistently rejected that reading of Morrison because (according to the Southern District judges) it would conflict with the policy thrust of the Morrison majority opinion. Contrary to the Southern District's conclusion, this Comment argues that the plain text of Morrison's transactional test should be given full effect. It draws on modern finance theory to show why applying § 10(b) to transactions in all securities that are listed on U.S. exchanges - even transactions that themselves occur on foreign markets - may lead to large gains in shareholder value. It demonstrates that the Morrison majority opinion, if followed faithfully, creates an environment in which foreign firms can choose the legal regime that minimizes their capital-raising costs. Enabling foreign firms to opt into § 10(b) through cross-listing will also yield clear advantages for the U.S. financial sector. By integrating modern finance theory into the analysis of Morrison, this Comment shows how the majority's transactional test can best advance widely shared policy objectives.


The burden of neurological illness is much higher in developing countries. Neurological disorders in these countries are mainly due to poverty and malnutrition. Spectrums of diseases are also different in comparison with developed countries. Lack of resources, ignorance, and overpopulation make it very difficult and challenging to tackle this problem. Majority of the patients are seen by general practitioners who have little knowledge about neurological illnesses. Most of the countries have very few or no neurologist. There is a greater need of taking neurological care at primary care level where majority of the patients struggle with epilepsy, stroke and neuroinfections.


Infective processes in the brain, spinal cord and meninges are considered to be the main causes of encephalitis, myelitis and meningitis. However, most cases remain unexplained. The incidence of different viral aetiologies (zoonotic and non-zoonotic) is especially poorly estimated, due to the lack of a standard case definition and of agreed diagnostic algorithms, including harmonised diagnostic methods and sample collection. It is important to clarify the incidence of viral encephalitis/meningitis and to optimise the diagnosis of infectious neurological illness, particularly to ensure early recognition of outbreaks or emerging infectious such a West Nile encephalitis. The European Network for Diagnostics of 'Imported' Viral Diseases (ENIVD) has analysed the present surveillance situation for viral encephalitis/meningitis in Europe. Here we give an overview of the existing epidemiological sources of information in European Union (EU) Member States, mapping the laboratory capacity and identifying key requirements for a possible future surveillance study at European level. The data presented will help design a harmonised/standardised Europe-wide surveillance study investigating patients with encephalitis and/or meningitis in order to obtain more information on the role of infections in these rarely analysed syndromes, both from a clinical and an epidemiological perspective.


Recent assessments of progress towards global conservation targets have revealed a paucity of indicators suitable for assessing the changing state of ecosystems. Moreover, land managers and planners are often unable to gain timely access to maps they need to support their routine decision-making. This deficiency is partly due to a lack of suitable data on ecosystem change, driven mostly by the considerable technical expertise needed to make ecosystem maps from remote sensing data. We have developed a free and open-access online remote sensing and environmental modelling application, REMAP (the remote ecosystem monitoring and assessment pipeline; https://remap-app.org) that enables volunteers, managers, and scientists with little or no experience in remote sensing to develop high-resolution classified maps of land cover and land use change over time. REMAP utilizes the geospatial data storage and analysis capacity of the Google Earth Engine, and requires only spatially resolved training data that define map classes of interest (e.g., ecosystem types). The training data, which can be uploaded or annotated interactively within REMAP, are used in a random forest classification of up to 13 publicly available predictor datasets to assign all pixels in a focal region to map classes. Predictor datasets available in REMAP represent topographic (e.g. slope, elevation), spectral (Landsat Archive image composites) and climatic variables (precipitation, temperature) that can inform on the distribution of ecosystems and land cover classes. The ability of REMAP to develop and export high-quality classified maps in a very short (<10 minute) time frame represents a considerable advance towards globally accessible and free application of remote sensing technology. By enabling access to data and simplifying remote sensing classifications, REMAP can catalyse the monitoring of land use and change to support environmental conservation, including developing inventories of biodiversity, identifying hotspots of ecosystem diversity, ecosystem-based spatial conservation planning, mapping ecosystem loss at local scales, and supporting environmental education initiatives.


Drinking deep seawater (DSW) with high levels of magnesium (Mg) decreased serum lipids in animal studies. Therefore the effects of drinking DSW on blood lipids and its antioxidant capacity in hypercholesterolemic subjects were investigated. DSW was first prepared by a process of filtration and reverse osmosis, and then the concentrated DSW with high levels of Mg was diluted as drinking DSW. Forty-two hypercholesterolemic volunteers were randomly divided into three groups: reverse osmotic (RO) water, DSW (Mg: 395 mg/L, hardness 1410 ppm), and magnesium-chloride fortified (MCF) water (Mg: 386 mg/L, hardness 1430 ppm). The subjects drank 1050 mL of water daily for 6 weeks, and blood samples were collected and analyzed on weeks 0, 3, and 6. Drinking DSW caused a decrease in blood total cholesterol levels and this effect was progressively enhanced with time. Serum low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) was also decreased by DSW. Further, total cholesterol levels of subjects in the DSW group were significantly lower than those in the MCF water or RO water groups. Compared with week 0, the DSW group had higher blood Mg level on weeks 3 and 6, but the Mg levels were within the normal range in all three groups. DSW consumption also lowered thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values in serum. In conclusion, DSW was apparently effective in reducing blood total cholesterol and LDL-C, and also in decreasing lipid peroxidation in hypercholesterolemic subjects.


Aldon Nielsen's book Black Chant: Languages of African American Postmodernism (Cambridge University Press, 1997) was a ground-breaking work of scholarship that examined modern and postmodern developments in the work of African American poets since the Second World War and their contributions to both African American culture and American modernism. Integral Music extends the terms of the studies begun in Black Chant through a more in-depth look at the work of key writers and poets in the decades following the Second World War. While Nielsen examines anew such key figures as Amiri Baraka, he also provides the first extended studies of significant but often overlooked figures in African American poetry, such as Russell Atkins and Stephen Jonas. His essay on Bob Kaufman points toward the critical intersection of poetry and jazz in African American letters, as does his essay on performance poet Jayne Cortez. Nielsen's studies in this volume affirm the importance and centrality of African American poets to American intellectual life and international, modernist, and postmodernist poetry today.


We studied the ontogeny of GnRH neurons in fetal rhesus macaques from days 36-135 of gestation. The nasal region, pituitary, and brain were dissected, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, sectioned on a cryostat at 10 microns, and mounted on slides. Immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization were performed for GnRH, pro-GnRH, and pro-GnRH mRNA on nasal and brain tissues. Immunoreactive LH, FSH, and PRL were determined in developing pituitary glands. At 36 days, clusters of GnRH cells were found in the nasal region only. GnRH fibers extended into the brain, and large bundles projected laterally toward the basal hypothalamus. By day 38 GnRH cells were also localized in the olfactory region of the brain. With increasing fetal age a gradual caudal extension of GnRH cells occurred. These cells were first observed in the basal hypothalamus at 47 days. Cells containing PRL and gonadotropins (LH and FSH) were detected in the pituitary at 47 and 50 days, respectively. Low levels of pro-GnRH mRNA were present in the nasal epithelium and septum by day 38 of gestation. The levels of pro-GnRH mRNA in the nasal area and the brain remained low in the day 50 fetus, but were increased significantly by day 135. These data suggest that GnRH neurons in the primate brain originate in the nasal region. Furthermore, GnRH neurons exhibit low levels of synthetic activity at the early fetal stages, but higher synthetic activity close to term.


Interbody fusion device subsidence has been reported clinically. An enhanced understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the surrounding bone would allow for accurate predictions of vertebral subsidence. The multiaxial inelastic behaviour of trabecular bone is investigated at a microscale and macroscale level. The post-yield behaviour of trabecular bone under hydrostatic and confined compression is investigated using micro-computed tomography derived microstructural models, elucidating a mechanism of pressure dependent yielding at the macroscopic level. Specifically, microstructural trabecular simulations predict a distinctive yield point in the apparent stress-strain curve under uniaxial, confined and hydrostatic compression. Such distinctive apparent stress-strain behaviour results from localised stress concentrations and material yielding in the trabecular microstructure. This phenomenon is shown to be independent of the plasticity formulation employed at a trabecular level. The distinctive response can be accurately captured by a continuum model using a crushable foam plasticity formulation in which pressure dependent yielding occurs. Vertebral device subsidence experiments are also performed, providing measurements of the trabecular plastic zone. It is demonstrated that a pressure dependent plasticity formulation must be used for continuum level macroscale models of trabecular bone in order to replicate the experimental observations, further supporting the microscale investigations. Using a crushable foam plasticity formulation in the simulation of vertebral subsidence, it is shown that the predicted subsidence force and plastic zone size correspond closely with the experimental measurements. In contrast the use of von Mises, Drucker-Prager and Hill plasticity formulations for continuum trabecular bone models lead to over prediction of the subsidence force and plastic zone.


ABSTRACT The Upper Triassic Sonsela Member of the Chinle Formation is an alluvial succession containing interbedded sandstone and pedogenically modified mudstone. Despite preservation of silicified logs within channel sandstone beds, the Sonsela plant ecosystem is less understood than other intervals due to decreased preservation of nonconifer plant taxa. Sonsela paleosols and rhizoliths are evaluated using macromorphology, micromorphology, and geochemistry to determine the spatial distribution of paleosol characteristics and plant sizes and densities across the study area. Three pedotypes identified within the Sonsela are classified as Inceptisols and Vertisols that exhibit fining of matrix textures (from clayey siltstone to claystone) and reduced drainage with distance from the paleochannel. Overall, Sonsela paleosols are immature, suggesting that the Sonsela fluvial system experienced high rates of lateral migration and cannibalization of overbank sediments in a low-subsidence regime. Rhizohalos within the Sonsela Member are likely diagenetic and commonly include silicified roots (silica root petrifactions). Silicified roots provide information on root size and density that is not commonly afforded by other rhizolith types. Diagenetic rhizohalo diameters may be controlled by paleosol matrix textures within the Sonsela Member. Rhizolith characteristics suggest that channel-proximal paleosols contained only small-stature plants while distal floodplain paleosols may have hosted both small-stature and arborescent plants. Paleosols within the Sonsela Member do not contain rhizoliths whose size or abundance are reflective of a dense coniferous forest. Floodplain plants were commonly small of stature and immature, unable to evolve into more mature communities due to high rates of floodplain cannibalization during fluvial migration.


To make computations on large data sets more efficient, algorithms will frequently divide information into smaller, more manageable, pieces. This idea, for example, forms the basis of the common algorithmic approach known as Divide and Conquer. If we wish to use this principle in planar geometric computations, however, we may require specialized techniques for decomposing our data. This is due to the fact that the data sets are typically points, lines, regions, or polygons. This motivates algorithms that can break-up polygons into simpler pieces. Algorithms that perform such computations are said to compute polygon decompositions. There are many ways that we can decompose a polygon, and there are also many types of polygons that we could decompose. Both applications and theoretical interest demand algorithms for a wide variety of decomposition problems. In this thesis we study two different polygon decomposition problems. The first problem that we study is a polygon decomposition problem that is equivalent to the Rectilinear Art Gallery problem. In this problem we seek a decomposition of a polygon into so-called r-stars. These r-stars model visibility in an orthogonal setting. We show that we can compute a certain type of decomposition, known as a Steinercover, of a simple orthogonal polygon into r-stars in polynomial time. In the second problem, we explore the complexity of decomposing polygons into components that have an upper bound on their size. In this problem, the size of a polygon refers to the size of its bounding-box. This problem is motivated by a polygon collision detection heuristic that approximates a polygon by its bounding-box to determine whether an exact collision detection computation should take place. We show that it ii is NP-complete to decide whether a polygon that contains holes can be decomposed into a specified number of size-constrained components.


Background The influence of socioeconomic disadvantage in early life and later life on oral health in older ages is not established. Studies are mostly in middle-aged populations or have limited oral health measures. We examined the relationships between socioeconomic factors in childhood, middle-age and older age with clinical and self-reported oral health measures in older ages, and tested which conceptual life-course model (sensitive period, accumulation of risk or social mobility) explains the relationships between socioeconomic factors across the life-course and adverse oral health outcomes in older age. Methods The study comprised a socially representative cohort of 1,903 British men aged 71–92 years in 2010–12 drawn from general practices across Britain. Socioeconomic factors were available for childhood (father's occupational social class); middle-age (longest-held occupation at 40–59 years); and older age at 60–79 years (socioeconomic deprivation). Oral health examination at 71–92 years included number of teeth, and periodontal disease measures in index teeth in each sextant (loss of attachment, periodontal pocket, gingival bleeding), and self-rated oral health (excellent, good, fair and poor). Life-course models, adjusted for age and town, were compared with a saturated model using Likelihood-ratio tests. Results Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood, middle-age and older ages was associated with edentulism at 71–92 years – age-adjusted odds ratios (95% CI:) were 1.39 (1.02–1.90), 2.26 (1.70–3.01), 1.83 (1.35–2.49) respectively. Poor self-rated oral health was associated with socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood and middle-age; age-adjusted odds ratios (95% CI:) were 1.48 (1.19–1.85), 1.45 (1.18–1.78) respectively. Comparing competing life-course hypotheses, the sensitive period model for socioeconomic disadvantage in middle-age showed the best fit for edentulism (complete loss of natural teeth) and having <21 teeth at 71–92 years. Accumulation of risk across the life span model was strongest for poor self-rated oral health at 71–92 years. Periodontal disease measures were not significantly associated with socioeconomic disadvantage at any time-point and none of the life-course models fitted the data. Conclusion Socioeconomic disadvantage in middle-age has a particularly strong influence on tooth loss in older age. Overall self-rated oral health is influenced by socioeconomic disadvantage across the life-course.


Some of the most sustainable and economical benefits of using geosynthetics are found in rein- forcement applications. These applications allow the use of lower quality on-site material such as fine grained soils often referred to as 'marginal fills'. This paper identifies the state of practice and understanding of de- signing with these soils in applications such as embankments, slopes and retaining walls. Designers often rely on published guidance documents and the paper discusses the influence BS 8006 (2010) has on the use of 'marginal fills' in construction and how the need for clearer more specific guidance. The study highlights that often well compacted fine grained fills placed close to optimum moisture content generate suctions, and this results in relatively high strength interaction between the fill and geosynthetic reinforcement. In cases where a fine grained fill with high moisture content is used, geosynthetic reinforcement that provides in-plane drain- age may be beneficial.


Several studies on NTFPs have been and are being carried out under the umbrella of the Tropenbos programme. To bring more coherence in these studies, a research strategy was formulated, providing an analytical framework for site-specific studies. The strategy aims at identifying the key conditions for successful and sustainable commercial NTFP extraction, to bring these together in a checklist, and to develop a methodology to apply this checklist in land-use planning and community development. Among the key elements of sustainable commercial NTFP extraction are the availability of natural resources, the sustainability of harvesting levels, the compatibility of extractive activities with people's livelihood strategies, access to markets, and participatory planning. Several methodologies have been applied to gain more insight into these elements. The methodology which is used to assess the availability of natural resources is determined in the first place by the aim and the scale of the study. The land-ecological approach applied by Joost Duivenvoorden et al. gives a first impression of plant resource availability at the level of land units. As this methodology can be used for mapping and be integrated with geographical information systems, it can be a useful instrument in land-use planning. To detemine the availability of NTFP resources at a more detailed level, the nested sampling method is often preferred. With this method 1 ha plots are inventoried, involving not only trees, but also shrubs, vines and herbs. In cases where only primary forest is subject of s tudy and where smaller plants are hardly exploited for NTFPs (e.q. in East Kalimantan where rattan and fruit trees are the main NTFP species) a standard vegetation analysis can be carried out. With this method the relative importance of trees with a dbh >10 cm can de determined, as well as the influence of abiotic factors, such as relief, on the occurence of NTFPs. An interesting effort to establish sustainable harvesting levels has been undertaken with large catfish in Colombia. Through the use of a participatory method it was possible to develop a management plan for sustainable fishery which was agreed upon by all the factors involved. The experience with establishing sustainable harvesting levels for plant products is hitherto confined to rattan, for which a harvesting experiment was undertaken in Indonesia. No experience has been obtained so far with methodologies which take population dynamics into account. Market surveys are part of most NTFP studies in the Tropenbos programme. These surveys provide insight into the commercial potential and marketing aspects of NTFPs. These surveys are also taken as a starting point to trace the provenance of NTFPs. It has become clear that the direct participation of the actors in data collection is of crucial importance in NTFP research. Local people not only play a role as a source of information on names and (potential) uses of NTFPs, but they may actively participate in data collection through, for instance, the daily registering of forest use. Through diaries or special forms, insight can be obtained into the role of extraction in peoples' livelihood strategies. When data need to cover a longer period of time, personal interviews seem to be more appropriate. Several participatory methods have been applied in the Tropenbos programme, such as participatory personal interviews and community workshops. These methods have proven to be useful for a cross-check and complementation of the information provided, for the recovery and socialization of traditional knowledge and norms concerning forest use, and for participatory planning of forest use. The overview methodologies used makes it clear that the specific objectives and context of the studies generate their own methodologies choices. It is the overall research strategy which provides the framework for the integration of site-specific results. In this way it is strived to make clear under what conditions commercial NTFP extraction can serve as a strategy for conservation and wise forest use


Purpose: To report an unusual case of dermoid cyst of the frontal bone Case report: We report a case of 28-year-old man with a history of painless progressive proptosis of the left eye. CT-Scan was showed a hypodense lesion that mainly located within the frontal bone with only a small intraorbital involvement. Excisional biopsy was performed and histopathologic examination was compatible with dermoid cyst. Dermoid cysts are the most common orbital cystic lesions in childhood which commonly present as a painless palpable mass in the superotemporal aspect of the orbit. Typically, orbital dermoids involved the orbital cavity and may compress the nearby structures or erode the orbital walls. Here we report an unusual case of dermoid cyst that mainly involved a bony orbital wall with only a small intraorbital extension. Conclusion: Appropriate diagnosis of unusual cases of dermoid cysts can lead to proper therapeutic approaches and prevention of complications.


The main aim of this thesis was to examine the role of individualism and collectivism as situational group norms on intrinsic motivation. A further aim was to examine the effect of individual differences in individualist and collectivist orientations on the effect of autonomous motivation on intention and behaviour. This research integrated the concept of self-determined and intrinsic motivation as postulated in Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985a, 2000,2002), individualism and collectivism as group norms from a Social Identity Theory perspective (Tajfel 1974,1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; McAuliffe et al, 2003), independence and interdependence as individual differences in self-construals from Self-Systems Theory (Markus & Kitayama, 1991b), and constructs from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985). After reviewing the literature in Chapter 1, it was hypothesised that individualist and collectivist group norms could be situationally induced and would interact with the environmental contingencies that that support intrinsic motivation in predicting people's levels of intrinsic motivation. It was also hypothesised that individualist and collectivist orientations at an individual difference level would change the relationship between autonomous motivation and intentional behaviour. Chapter 2 presents the development of a methodological tool to manipulate individualist and collectivist group norms. Two studies employing a minimal group paradigm investigated the effect of individualist or collectivist group norms on evaluation of employees behaviour, group tolerance, relatedness, and identification in group members from individualist (British) or collectivist (Chinese and Greeks) cultural backgrounds. Chapters 3 and 4 tackle the main aim of this thesis and the results of three studies provide evidence that when the group norm is individualist group members experience higher levels of intrinsic motivation when they exercise personal choice over a target activity, whereas when the group norm is collectivist group members experience higher intrinsic motivation when a significant other makes a choice for them or provides personal choice. Chapter 5 brings the level of analysis from the group to the individual. This is achieved in a study investigating the moderating effects of independent (individualist) and interdependent (collectivist) self-construals on the effect of autonomous motivation on intentions and actual physical activity behaviour. In the concluding chapter, Chapter 6, the theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed and directions for future research provided.


Sponges act as important microhabitats in the marine environment and promote biodiversity by harboring a wide variety of macrofauna, but little is known about the magnitude and patterns of diversity of sponge-associated communities. This study uses DNA barcoding to examine the macrofaunal communities associated with Stylissa carteri in the central Saudi Arabian Red Sea, an understudied ecosystem with high biodiversity and endemism. In total, 146 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were distinguished from 938 successfully-sequenced macrofauna individuals from 99 sponges. A significant difference was found in the macrofaunal community composition of S. carteri along a cross-shelf gradient using OTU abundance (Bray–Curtis dissimilarity index), with more amphipods associated with offshore sponges and more brittle stars and fishes associated with inshore sponges. The abundance of S. carteri also showed a gradient, increasing with proximity to shore. However, no significant differences in macrofaunal community composition or total macrofauna abundance were observed between exposed and sheltered sides of the reefs and there was no significant change in total macrofauna abundance along the inshore–offshore gradient. As climate change and ocean acidification continue to impact coral reef ecosystems, understanding the ecology of sponges and their role as microhabitats may become more important for understanding their full ramifications for biodiversity.


We present a system for creating and displaying interactive life-sized 3D digital humans based on pre-recorded interviews. We use 30 cameras and an extensive list of questions to record a large set of video responses. Users access videos through a natural conversation interface that mimics face-to-face interaction. Recordings of answers, listening and idle behaviors are linked together to create a persistent visual image of the person throughout the interaction. The interview subjects are rendered using flowed light fields and shown life-size on a special rear-projection screen with an array of 216 video projectors. The display allows multiple users to see different 3D perspectives of the subject in proper relation to their viewpoints, without the need for stereo glasses. The display is effective for interactive conversations since it provides 3D cues such as eye gaze and spatial hand gestures.


Aims Pain is the commonest symptom in the emergency setting. It has previously been described that pre-hospital assessment of pain in children by paramedics is often inadequate and that pain severity is frequently underestimated. To date, there is no published data in Ireland on acute pain management in children, in the emergency setting. This study aims to describe the prevalence of acute pain in children presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in Ireland via ambulance, with reference to severity, aetiology, and efficacy of current pre-hospital analgesic interventions, prior to ED arrival. Methods A national prospective cross-sectional study was undertaken in 7 EDs over a 12-month period (1st November 2011 – October 31st 2012). Ethical approval was granted for this study. All children (<16 years) who attended the ED via ambulance with pain as a documented symptom during ambulance transfer were included. Patient demographics, cause of pain, vital signs (including pain scores), pre-hospital pain interventions, and initial ED management were recorded. Results 5,560 children were transported to the 7 EDs by ambulance over the study period. 2,450 (44%) had a documented complaint of pain on the ambulance patient care report form. Injury was implicated in over 2/3's of cases. 60% were male with a mean age of 8 years (2 months-15 years). 24% of children had their pain formally assessed in the pre-hospital phase of care, of whom 2/3's were recorded as experiencing acute moderate to severe pain. Younger age was associated with poorest pain management. 45% of children had no documented analgesic intervention prior to ED arrival. On ED arrival, 48% of children had their pain formally documented and 56% were administered analgesia. Conclusion The assessment and treatment of acute pain in children remains a significant problem in the emergency setting in Ireland. Further studies are required to formally delineate the barriers, as perceived by emergency healthcare providers, to managing acute pain in this vulnerable population. Additionally, alternative strategies must be explored both to augment the timely assessment of pain intensity, particularly in pre-verbal children, and facilitate the effective treatment of moderate to severe pain.


We found that a support layer of a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane could have a significant effect on the membrane filtration efficiency. To be specific, we determined that the pressure drop occurring in the support layer during the RO operation can increase such that it affects the overall water flux, as a dense sponge-like structure and closed finger-like structure become predominant in the support layer. This considerable resistance was assumed to occur while more water passes through tortuous and segmented regions after being evenly discharged from the active layer. This hypothesis was supported by the estimated pressure drop using the Ergun equation and the tortuosity obtained from a forward osmosis test conducted to better reflect the influence of the sponge-like region. We attempted to factor in all of the parameters used in the Ergun equation in order to determine the main cause of the high pressure drop, and the tortuosity was found to be dominant. An interesting finding was that the tortuosity of the support layer can also significantly influence the overall water flux, even during the RO process. Moreover, the above phenomenon can become much more obvious when the active layer is highly permeable, suggesting that the support layer must be considered alongside the active layer when developing thin-film composite membranes with a highly permeable active layer. Overall, we concluded that the concentration of the polymer solution should be less than 20 wt% to ensure the best performance when preparing a support layer for brackish-water RO membranes.


There is no established treatment protocol for amyloid-A (AA) amyloidosis secondary to Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF). Recently, we reported the efficacy of tocilizumab in 11 amyloidosis cases associated with FMF. In 2 patients of 11, we discontinued the tocilizumab administeration owing to the normalization of amyloidosis-related symptoms, but proteinuria re-occurred eventually. Fortunately, the patients responded to tocilizumab re-treatment. This led us to conclude that physicians should not stop the treatment, even in patients with normalized proteinuria levels.


In German, prosody interacts with quantifier scope. We investigate this interaction in inverse linking constructions. We present evidence from elicited production of linguistically naive speakers supporting the following two claims: 1) There are two kinds of inverse linking constructions of which only the prepositional type requires a marked intonation contour for inverse scope. 2) In the prepositional construction, a double focus contour is employed with inverse scope rather that a topic-focus (rise-fall) contour as previously assumed (Krifka 1998).


Objective The treatment for asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) remains controversial. In 2008, the Third International Workshop on the Management of Asymptomatic PHPT proposed a set of guidelines for the management of asymptomatic PHPT. We therefore evaluated the application of the Workshop recommendations in Japanese patients with asymptomatic PHPT. Methods We analyzed each parameter of the guidelines in 87 Japanese patients with asymptomatic PHPT who underwent methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile (MIBI) scintigraphy. Results Fewer than 10% of the patients were less than 50 years of age. The bone mineral density T-score was below -2.5 SD in 20 women (46.5% of all women analyzed) and in none of the men. The eGFR was <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) in 17 patients. A majority of patients (43) satisfied only one parameter, while 25 patients satisfied none of the parameters. Furthermore, the MIBI-positive and surgically treated patients tended to satisfy a larger number of the parameters. The Workshop criteria and levels of PTH, daily Ca excretion, serum ALP and 1,25(OH)2 Vitamin D were further analyzed in relation to the findings of MIBI scans, and almost all of the parameters were found to be significantly correlated with the results of the MIBI studies. Conclusion Our results suggest the need to reassess the Workshop guidelines for the treatment of hyperparathyroidism in Japanese patients. It is desirable that MIBI scintigraphy be performed whenever possible, as this modality is anticipated to play an important role in determining whether or not surgery is appropriate.


Background: In some subjects, specific foods trigger anaphylaxis when exercise follows ingestion (specific food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, FDEIAn). Skin test and/or RAST positivity to foods suggest an IgE-mediated pathogenic mechanism. Others suffer from anaphylaxis after all meals followed by exercise, regardless of the food eaten (nonspecific FDEIAn). We sought to identify the culprit foods with a diagnostic protocol. Methods: We collected detailed histories and performed skin prick tests (SPT) with 26 commercial food allergens, prick plus prick tests (P+P) with 15 fresh foods (including 9 assessed with SPT), and RAST for 31 food allergens. Treadmill stress tests were administered after a meal without any positive food (food plus exercise challenge, FEC). Results: Among the 54 patients, 6 could not recall any suspect food. The other 48 suspected a specific food in at least one episode. The most frequent were tomatoes, cereals and peanuts. Fifty-two subjects were positive to at least one food (22 to more than 20), whereas 2 showed no positive results. All suspect foods were positive. SPT, P+P and RAST displayed different degrees of sensitivity. Each test disclosed some positivities not discovered by others. Two subjects reacted to FEC. Overall, 48 patients probably had specific FDEIAn and the other 6 nonspecific FDEIAn. Conclusions: It is useful to test both in vivo and in vitro an extensive panel of foods. Avoidance of foods associated with skin test and/or RAST positivity for at least 4 h before exercise has prevented further episodes in all our patients with specific FDEIAn.


The World Stress Map Project is a global cooperative effort to compile and interpret data on the orientation and relative magnitudes of the contemporary in situ tectonic stress field in the Earth's lithosphere. Horizontal stress orientations show regionally uniform patterns throughout many continental intraplate regions. These regional intraplate stress fields are consistent over regions 1000-5000 km wide or ca. 100 times the thickness of the upper brittle part of the lithosphere (ca. 20 km) and about 10-15 times the thickness of typical continental lithosphere (ca. 150-200 km). Relative stress magnitudes or stress regimes in the lithosphere are inferred from direct in situ stress measurements and from the style of active faulting. The intraplate stress field in both the oceans and continents is largely compressional with one or both of the horizontal stresses greater than the vertical stress. The regionally uniform horizontal intraplate stress orientations are generally consistent with either relative or absolute plate motions indicating that plate-boundary forces dominate the stress distribution within the plates. Since most regions of normal faulting occur in areas of high elevation, the extensional stress régimes in these areas can be attributed to superimposed bouyancy forces related to crustal thickening and/or lithosphere thinning; stresses derived from these bouyancy forces locally exceed mid-plate compressional stresses. Evaluating the effect of viscous drag forces acting on the plates is difficult. Simple driving or resisting drag models (with shear tractions acting parallel or antiparallel to plate motion) are consistent with stress orientation data; however, the large lateral stress gradients across broad plates required to balance these tractions are not observed in the relative stress magnitude data. Current models of stresses due to whole mantle flow inferred from seismic tomography models (and with the inclusion of the effect of high density slabs) predict a general compressional stress state within continents but do not match the broad-scale horizontal stress orientations. The broad regionally uniform intraplate stress orientations are best correlated with compressional plate-boundary forces and the geometry of the plate boundaries.


Metastatic cardiac tamponade as initial manifestation of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Papillary carcinoma, diffuse sclerosing variant corresponds to 2% of all papillary thyroid carcinomas. It is usually diffuse and bilateral, affecting the entire gland. At the time of diagnosis, patients present lymph node and lung metastasis. It affects mainly young women. This case report describes a cardiac tamponade as the initial manifestation of an unusual variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma. A 32 year-old woman was attended at the emergency room with epigastric pain and dry cough. Physical examination revealed hypotension, tachycardia and decreased heart sounds. An echocardiogram confirmed severe pericardial effusion. Pericardial fluid cytology was positive for malignancy. The patient evolved with recurrent pericardial effusion and a pleuropericardial window was performed. At this procedure, a subpleural nodular lesion was found, which histology corresponded to metastases of papillary carcinoma, probably from thyroid origin. Total thyroidectomy was performed. The final diagnosis was papillary carcinoma, diffuse sclerosing variant. This variant infiltrates the connective tissue of the interfollicular spaces, mimicking thyroiditis and it is associated with early vascular permeation. This tumor, compared to the classic variants of thyroid carcinoma, is more aggressive and it has higher risk of recurrence. Papillary thyroid carcinoma should be considered as differential diagnosis in our population, in all metastatic papillary lesions, and even more in young female patients.


The mobile wireless channel o ers inherent diversity by virtue of multipath and Doppler shifts. Multipath diversity is exploited via spread-spectrum signaling employed in code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. However, the RAKE receiver commonly used in CDMA systems exploits only multipath diversity, and consequently su ers from signi cant performance degradation under fast fading. We develop new signaling and reception schemes in the context of CDMA systems that fully exploit the channel via joint multipath-Doppler diversity. The signaling waveforms are spread in time and frequency. Receiver structures are developed to deal with the inter-symbol interference (ISI) introduced by overlapping successive symbols. Analytical and simulated performance results indicate that the e ects of ISI are negligible due to the excellent correlation properties of the spreading codes. Moreover, even the small Doppler spreads encountered in practice can yield signi cant performance gains. Additionally, the time-selective signaling scheme allows for substantially higher level of diversity and thereby brings the fading channel closer to an additive white Gaussian noise channel. This facilitates the use of error control codes developed for the Gaussian channel.


The reducing agent [ammonia (NH3)] injection procedure was improved for the hybrid process of selective non-catalytic reduction followed by selective catalytic reduction (hybrid SNCR-SCR) to remove nitric oxide (NO) through a bench-scale experiment. Instead of injecting all of the NH3 from the SNCR inlet, part of it was injected from the SNCR inlet and part from the SCR inlet, to react with NO in the flue gas. The experiment resulted in the significant reduction of NO. The effects of the operational conditions such as the SNCR reaction temperature, the SCR reaction temperature, and the initial concentration ratio of NH3 to NO were also investigated. Under the initial NO concentration of 300 ppm (dry, 6% 2O), the space velocities of SNCR 5100-6300 hr^(-1), the space velocities of SCR 7100-10000 hr^(-1), and with the initial concentration ratios of NH3 to NO 1.0-1.5, the best operational temperatures were discovered to be SNCR reaction of 850℃ and SCR reaction of 350℃ for the improved hybrid SNCR-SCR process. In addition, a correlation equation has been developed of the maximum NO reduction under the above best-operational temperatures for the hybrid SNCR-SCR process, and closely fits with the experiment results.


This is a retrospective analysis of children with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) registered in the major European STS studies: the SIOP MMT 75, the German CWS 1981 and 1986 studies, the Italian STS study, and the United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group centres in Britain. One hundred forty-six patients out of 164 were evaluable in this analysis. The median age was 7 years (1-18) and the male/female ratio was 1.3:1. The median follow-up was 80 months (7-171). The most common site of the primary tumor was the extremity (28%), which correlated well with the high preponderance (39%) of the alveolar type of RMS (aRMS). There was no dominant combination of metastatic sites and the most common single organ with metastasis was the lung (41%). Since the therapy depended on the country and period in which the patient was treated, we did not analyse the outcome and therapy together. Complete remission was achieved in 50% of the cases. Those with aRMS had a good chance of achieving CR (61%) but the majority of these patients relapsed (78%). The median time needed to relapse was 243 days (53 days to 47 months) for all patients. Analysis of the site of the primary tumor showed that the CR rate was best in the GU non-BP site (62%) and worst in PM cases (35%). The overall survival and DFS rate were 18% and 15%, respectively. The GU non-BP patients had a DFS rate of 50%, while the rate for all other sites varied between 12% and 18%. A total of 24 patients remained in CCR. The majority of them had embryonal type of RMS and metastases in only one anatomic site. Our analysis indicates that the best chance of prolonged survival was in metastatic GU non-BP cases, patients with embryonal type RMS, and those with metastases in only one organ. To try to improve the treatment of metastatic STS, a prospective European cooperative study was started in 1989.


Hardbound. New Advances in Cardiovascular Physiology and Pharmacology presents the proceedings of the IX Latin American Congress of Physiological Sciences and the 2nd Scientific Meeting of the Latin American Society of Hypertension held September 1997 in Caracas, Venezuela. Contributors were selected from among the world's most outstanding investigators in the field of cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology. Original research and current state-of-the-art reviews are presented discussing hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart failure and drug therapy.In the area of hypertension, the presentations included topics on what can be learned from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; on pathogenic factors...the role of angiotensin II receptors, on dopamine receptors and serotonin receptors; on the role of salt and hyperinsulinemia; on the effect of histamine receptors on norepinephrine; and on the use of histamine synthesis antagonists.


A proportional hazard function together with partial likelihood estimation is the most common approach to the analysis of censored data. However, partial likelihood estimation is established on the grounds that the censoring is non-informative. The partial likelihood approach enjoys many good properties when the censoring is indeed non-informative. However, in reality, censoring can be informative. One pays a price in the efficiency of the estimator if partial likelihood estimation is used when the censoring is indeed informative. This problem is particularly acute in the nonparametric case. When censoring is informative, to make use of the information provided by the censoring times, it is better to take the local complete likelihood approach. Motivated by the data set about the first birth interval in Bangladesh, we propose here a varying-coefficient proportional hazard function to fit informatively censored data. We take the complete likelihood approach coupled with local linear modelling to estimate the functional coefficients involved in the model. Asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator are established, that show the proposed estimator is indeed more efficient than the maximum local partial likelihood estimator. A simulation study was conducted to demonstrate how much the proposed estimator improves the efficiency of the maximum local partial likelihood estimator when sample size is finite. In reality, we do not know whether censoring is informative or not, and a cross-validation based criterion is proposed to check whether the censoring is informative or not. Finally, the proposed varying-coefficient proportional hazard function, together with the proposed estimation method, is used to analyse the first birth interval in Bangladesh, leading to some interesting findings.


The public embraces, and law schools generally teach, the legal model of judicial decision-making. According to this view, judges decide cases based on the "law," and a judge's individual politics play no role. Political science scholars generally reject this view and provide empirical evidence that Justices' policy preferences influence decisions at the Supreme Court level. The issue that political scientists do debate is whether any forces can reign in the Supreme Court's acknowledged pursuit of policy. In particular, a number of political theories, or models, of judicial decision-making make competing claims as to whether the Supreme Court's statutory interpretations are influenced by legislative and executive intent or are manipulated by Justices to reach their preferred policy outcome. The legal community has not extensively incorporated these political theories into our analysis of pertinent issues. This article seeks to do so by using the political models of judicial decision-making to predict the impact of the ADA Amendments Act on the Supreme Court. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 ("ADAAA"), which passed with unanimous congressional and presidential support, amends the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"). The ADAAA's direct purpose is to overturn Supreme Court precedent. Specifically, the ADAAA identifies a series of Supreme Court decisions which incorrectly interpreted the original ADA definition of disabled. Instead of changing that definition, however, the ADAAA includes "instructional amendments" which direct the courts to reject the prior precedent and to interpret the same statutory language in a different way. When the Supreme Court interprets the ADAAA, it will therefore face the identical language it previously defined in a narrow manner and an expression of legislative and executive intent for a different meaning to those words. If the Court is not concerned with its co-equal branches' intent, the ADAAA may not succeed. Given this, the various models of judicial decision-making, and their respective predictions of the degree to which the legislature and executive actually constrain the Supreme Court, seem particularly useful as a basis for predicting the effect of the ADAAA.This article explores the models' competing predictions for the ADAAA and examines their empirical basis. This analysis reveals that many proponents of the political models of judicial decision-making have not fully examined the effect of federal statutes, such as the ADAAA, that overturn Supreme Court precedent. This article therefore uses the few studies of statutory overrides that are available to try to clarify the models' predictions. The direct evidence on overrides, however, complicates the analysis and reveals a more normatively challenging, context-specific reality. Specifically, studies of overrides demonstrate that statutory protections of minority rights are a singular category of cases where the Justices feel most free to disregard the overriding statute and follow their particular political preferences. This article therefore predicts that if the Supreme Court is majority conservative at the time of a decision on disability discrimination, the ADAAA will fail to achieve its purpose of broadening the protection of disabled employees.


A protein implicated in stress, aging, and genome stability is required for the accurate repair of broken DNA. Efficient and accurate repair of double-strand DNA breaks is critical for genome stability and involves a process known as homologous recombination. During repair of the sheared ends, the DNA must be resected by trimming one of the two strands on either side of the break. For the repair to be accurate, the remaining single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) has to be bound by the ssDNA-binding protein, RPA, after which the ssDNA can then bind homologous sequences. Kaidi et al. found that the mammalian deacetylase, SIRT6 (which has been implicated in maintaining genome stability), was critical for resection. At sites of DNA damage, SIRT6 deacetylated and activated CtIP (a protein important for resection), ensuring that resection occurred at the appropriate place and time. A. Kaidi, B. T. Weinert, C. Choudhary, S. P. Jackson, Human SIRT6 promotes DNA end resection through CtIP deacetylation. Science 329, 1348–1353 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The structural layout information of scanned document pages is valuable for a wide range of document processing applications such as automatic document searching, document delivery and automated data entry. This paper describes the classification of scanned document pages into different classes of physical layout structures. The page layout classification technique proposed in this paper uses a combination of geometry-based and content-based zone features calculated from optical character recognition (OCR) output. Geometry-based and content-based features are derived from geometric zone information and zone contents respectively. A new feature called "single and multiple column zone vertical area string pattern" is also proposed to normalize document image pages. After normalizing document pages, a template matching algorithm calculates similarity classification features by matching vertical area string patterns of document pages to those of predefined layout document structures. Similarity classification features and both geometry-based and content-based zone features are then input into a rule-based learning system for the final decision on the page layout classification structure. The performance of our document page layout classification scheme has been evaluated using a sample size of several hundred images of biomedical journal pages. Preliminary evaluation results show that our approach is capable of classifying journal pages into different classes of physical layout structures at an accuracy of more than 96 %.


There has been considerable activity in recent years in developing analytical techniques for hard real-time systems. Inevitably these techniques make simplifying assumptions so as to reduce the complexity of the problem to be solved. Unfortunately this leads to a gap between theory and engineering practice. The paper presents new analysis that enables the costs of the scheduler (clock overheads, queue manipulations and release delays) to be factored into the standard equations for calculating worst-case response times. As well as predicting the true behavior of realistic systems, the analysis also allows free parameters, such as clock interrupt rate, to be determined. >


Clinical bottom line: Based on the current evidence, oral doxycycline (10mg/kg PO q24h or 5mg/kg PO q12h) for at least 21 days represents the most efficacious treatment, both in terms of clinical improvement and permanent clearance of Chlamydophila felis infection in cats. In chronic infections, or where the duration of disease is unknown, a longer treatment course of 28 days is indicated. There is limited evidence that co-amoxiclav (12.5-22.5mg/kg q12h PO) may be used as an alternative, though a treatment period of at least 30 days is required.


The complete model of a mobile robot can be divided into kinematics and dynamics. To take advantage from this fact, a combined controller of a sliding mode kinematic controller with a neural network computed-torque dynamic controller is proposed. The proof of stability is based on the Lyapunov theory. Concerning with Brockett's theorem, the kinematic controller fulfills the requirements and the robot can be stabilized in a desired posture. Experimental real-time results are presented.


A diverse radiolarian fauna is described from strata of a road cut section of the uppermost part of the Bell Canyon Formation (Capitanian, Guadalupian, Middle Permian), Apache Mountains, West Texas. Fifteen new species are described: Campanulithus insuetus, Pseudoalbaillella apachensis, Astroentactinia capitanensis, Polyedroentactinia guadalupensis, Afanasievella apachensis, Copicyntra erinacea, Paracopicyntra snyderi, Klaengspongus planus, Copiellintra orbiculata, C. fastuosa, Shangella capitanensis, Rectotormentum wardlawi, Tetratormentum ormistoni, Quadrilobata? blomei, and Nazarovispongus globosum. The diagnoses of the species Follicucullus sphaericus Takemura in Takemura et al. 1999 and the genus Raciditor Sugiyama 2000 are emended. The rank of the subspecies Raphidociclicus gemellus americanus Nazarov and Ormiston 1985a is raised to species level. The genus Nazarovispongus Kozur 1980 is considered to be a valid genus and is reinstated. Established are one new genus, Afanasievella (assigned to the family Spongentactiniidae), one new subfamily Polyedroentactiniinae (in the composition of the family Orosphaeridae), and one new family Tetratormentidae (in the composition of the order Pyramidata). The radiolarian assemblage from the described section in the Apache Mountains is at least partly coeval with the radiolarian assemblage from the Reef Trail Member of the Bell Canyon Formation in the Guadalupe Mountains, allowing a straight correlation of this age strata between the Apache and Guadalupe mountains. This correlation is supported by the conodont species that define the latest Guadalupian conodont zones and that occur together with radiolarians in both areas. The radiolarian species Albaillella yamakitai in sense of Xia et al. (2005) present in the late Guadalupian J. altudaensis conodont Zone cannot be a marker for the Guadalupian – Lopingian boundary as was proposed by Xia et al. (2005).


AIM
Various non- to less-invasive tests have been recently introduced in the management of congenital vascular malformations (CVM) and have become essential for the initial diagnostic work-up, largely replacing the traditional role of invasive tests. Whole body blood pool scintigraphy (WBBPS) was initially adopted as a supplementary test to reinforce other well-established essential diagnostic tests, and has been used extensively together in our Clinic, for years. We have evaluated WBBPS retrospectively for the diagnosis of venous malformation (VM) and arterio-venous malformation (AVM), and also for a further possible role for the interim assessment of treatment results during multistaged embolo/sclerotherapy.

METHODS
Of 123 VMs and 48 AVMs selected for various treatments, 80 patients (66 VMs and 14 AVMs) were reviewed. The reliability of WBBPS as an initial diagnostic tool for VMs and AVM was assessed first by comparing its findings with matching MRI and/or duplex scan findings. These 80 patients underwent embolo/sclerotherapy with absolute ethanol mostly for VM, and N-butyl cyanoacrylate for AVM. A total of 251 sessions were performed either as a primary treatment independently or in conjunction with surgical treatment preoperatively. Thirty-six patients were available in terms of the subsequent review of the treatment results, to compare their 72 post-therapy WBBPS findings with matching duplex scan and MRI findings. The WBBPS assessment of treatment response was based on the percentage reduction of abnormal blood pooling over the region of interest (ROI) from baseline (initial) value. Treatment response was also qualitatively and semi-quantitatively assessed according to the degree of abnormal blood pool reduction.

RESULTS
Of the 80 CVM (66 VM and 14 AVM) patients, 61 of 66 WBBPS findings of VM on initial diagnosis were confirmed as true-positive. Twelve of 14 AVMs were also confirmed as WBBPS true-positive findings. The sensitivity of WBBPS for the initial diagnosis was 93.8% (61/65) for VM and 92.3% (12/13) for AVM. The positive predictive value was 98.4% (61/62) for VM and 92.3% (12/13) for AVM. Of 72 post-therapy WBBPS performed for follow-up assessment of the results of treatment on 36 patients, 52 WBBPS showed positive findings qualitatively and/or quantitatively, the remaining 20 were negative. Fifty-one of the 52 WBBPS-positive findings were true-positive and 18 of the 20 were true-negative. Hence, WBBPS for follow-up assessment showed a sensitivity of 96% (51/53); a specificity of 95% (18/19); a positive predictive value of 98% (51/52); and a negative predictive value of 90% (18/20).

CONCLUSIONS
Contemporary management of CVMs can be improved by using WBBPS, which is a less expensive, simple, and safe non-invasive test, especially for venous and arterio-venous malformations. WBBPS is a cost-effective and practical test with dependable accuracy for the assessment of treatment results, especially for interim measurements during multistage embolo/sclerotherapy.


INTRODUCTION In South Africa a number of Millennium Development Goals relating to maternal health have been worsening while the use of mobile phones to support health services (mHealth) has been shown to improve health outcomes in the developing world. South Africa is one of the focus countries for the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) which also includes Bangladesh and India. MAMA South Africa (MAMA-SA) uses a multi-channel mHealth approach to communicate healthy pregnancy and newborn child support behaviours, with a country specific focus on prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. This presentation provides an overview of MAMA-SA's five mHealth communication channels and details the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) that is being conducted on each. METHODS MAMA SA's five 'channels' are SMS, USSD, Mobi, MXit (a South African mobile phone-based chat platform) and voice. With such a variety of communication methods on offer, a detailed M&E plan was necessary to gauge MAMA-SA's impact on women within the country. To ensure similar levels of M&E across multiple countries, MAMA-Global (MAMA's global coordination team) supported the initial M&E planning. This process established standardized indicators for all MAMA countries, while leaving room for adding additional indicators for country specific circumstances. Building on the standardized indicators, South Africa has added a number of additional indicators, some of which are based on national PMTCT indicators. Automated and manual data collection methods have been implemented, as well as focus group discussions and user feedback and testing. RESULTS Since the launch, over 20,000 unique users have interacted with MAMA SA which translates into over 67,000 unique page views, hundreds of mobi-site comments, and more than 110,000 SMS's and 8500 USSD messages being sent thus far. Most registered mobi-site users (73.01%) have already delivered and are looking for information to care for him/her, while the rest (26.99%) have yet to deliver. A large portion of SMS users (21.88%) opted to receive HIV-related messages, while this is lower than the national HIV rate which currently stands at 29.5%. Focus groups and user testing has shown that users of the service have found MAMA-SA valuable. CONCLUSIONS Preliminary MAMA-SA data indicates high acceptability and satisfaction with the project. Detailed planning of M&E for such a diverse mHealth service offering has been essential. Service uptake has been satisfactory, but strategies for greater publicity are necessary. Further research is necessary (and planned) to ascertain health outcomes of HIV-positive women. MHIMSS 2013 ABSTRACT #JOURNAL OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE VOL. 2 | ISSUE 4S | DECEMBER 2013 9


Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been considered a precarious health issue especially within the military population. Research has shown that early treatment of TBI could reduce possible neurocognitive injury. However, the nature of military triage has created challenges for early TBI detection. Intracranial pressure (ICP), which is used as a biomarker of outcomes in TBI, is not only expensive to measure but is also invasive and requires specialized surgical and procedural skills. Episcleral venous pressure (EVP) was proven to be a good alternative biomarker to ICP. However, the current technology in measuring EVP is not portable, and requires a skilled operator with a slit-lamp for testing. Moreover, the measurement is highly subjective and depends on the operator's skill and technique. Therefore, there is a critical need for alternative technology for non-clinical TBI diagnosis. In this paper, we present an improved venomanometer design for measuring EVP in the field.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether depressed mood or life events are associated with an exacerbation of inflammatory bowel disease.

DESIGN
A prospective study of a consecutive sample of patients with relapsing inflammatory bowel disease, followed by monthly questionnaires and periodic office visits.

SETTING
A referral-based gastroenterology clinic at a medical school.

PATIENTS
A consecutive sample of 32 patients with inflammatory bowel disease who had had at least one relapse in a 2-year period after entry into the study.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (measuring life events), the Beck Depression Inventory (a visual analog scale for depressed mood) and an inventory of intestinal symptoms were completed monthly by each subject with a 78% rate of compliance. A mean of 2.2 exacerbations was seen per subject during the study period. Life events were not temporally associated with changes in intestinal symptoms. Significant associations were found between intestinal symptoms and the two mood scales (P less than 0.05 for each), but no directionality in symptom occurrence could be detected in a time-lagged analysis. The results were similar when the months preceding exacerbations of inflammatory bowel disease were analyzed separately.

CONCLUSIONS
Although these findings suggest that mood changed concurrently with exacerbation of inflammatory bowel disease, no evidence indicated that stressful life events or depressed mood precipitated exacerbations in this study group.


This thesis documents research undertaken on state and parameter estimation
techniques for stochastic systems in a maintenance context. Two individual problem
scenarios are considered. For the first scenario, we are concerned with complex
systems and the research involves an investigation into the ability to identify and
quantify the occurrence of fault injection during routine preventive maintenance
procedures. This is achieved using an appropriate delay time modelling specification
and maximum-likelihood parameter estimation techniques. The delay time model of
the failure process is parameterised using objective information on the failure times
and the number of faults removed from the system during preventive maintenance.
We apply the proposed modelling and estimation process to simulated data sets in an
attempt to recapture specified parameters and the benefits of improving maintenance
processes are demonstrated for the particular example. We then extend the modelling
of the system in a predictive manner and combine it with a stochastic filtering
approach to establish an adaptive decision model. The decision model can be used to
schedule the subsequent maintenance intervention during the course of an
operational cycle and can potentially provide an improvement on fixed interval
maintenance policies.
The second problem scenario considered is that of an individual component subject
to condition monitoring such as, vibration analysis or oil-based contamination. The
research involves an investigation into techniques that utilise condition information
that we assume is related stochastically to the underlying state of the component,
taken here to be the residual life. The techniques that we consider are the
proportional hazards model and a probabilistic stochastic filtering approach. We
investigate the residual life prediction capabilities of the two techniques and construct relevant replacement decision models. The research is then extended to
consider multiple indicators of condition obtained simultaneously at monitoring
points. We conclude with a brief investigation into the use of stochastic filtering
techniques in specific scenarios involving limited computational power and variable
underlying relationships between the monitored information and the residual life.


We confront the terrible reality that systemic racism and discrimination impacts the daily personal and professional lives of many members of the scientific community and broader society. In the U.S., the brutal killing of George Floyd while in police custody is one of the most recent examples of the centuries of systemic violence suffered by Black Americans. This moment and its aftermath lay bare the legacies of racism and its exclusionary practices. Let us be clear: we, the Editors, Staff, and Governance Members of ACS Publications condemn the tragic deaths of Black people and stand in solidarity with Black members of the science and engineering community. Moreover, ACS condemns racism, discrimination, and harassment in all forms. We will not tolerate practices and viewpoints that exclude or demean any member of our community. Despite these good intentions, we recognize that our community has not done enough to provide an environment for Black chemists to thrive. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology said, "So far, we have gotten by with a STEM workforce that does not come close to representing the diversity of our nation. However, if we continue to leave behind so much of our nation's brainpower, we cannot succeed." 1 Indeed, the U.S. National Science Foundation notes that Blacks and other under-represented minority groups continue to be under-represented in science and engineering education and employment. 2 What is abundantly clear in this moment is that this lack of representation is a symptom of systemic racism across all levels of education and professional life. We know that supportive words are not enough. We must develop and implement a concrete plan for changing our trajectory. Publications and citations are academic currency, and while we like to think publishing a manuscript is "just about the science", we know that is not true for everyone. We have seen the biases (largely through the lens of gender and in Western countries because of the limitations in bibliometric analyses) and applaud our colleagues at the RSC for their massive study that explored these gender barriers in the publishing pipeline 3 and their recent Inclusion and Diversity Framework. 4 At the present time, unfortunately, less is known about the effects of race and ethnicity on publishing success. A study published in PeerJ, however, found that unprofessional reviewer comments had a disproportionate effect on authors from under-represented groups. 5 As the world's leading society publisher, we have a responsibility to aggressively combat bias in all aspects of the publishing process, including systemic under-representation of Blacks in this endeavor (no ACS journal is currently led by a Black Editor-in-Chief). Within ACS Publications, we actively track gender and geographic diversity of editors, advisors, authors, and reviewers, and we anecdotally report on race of editors. Diversity encompasses many more dimensions than these, and we acknowledge that we can do much more than we have. We affirm that diversity and inclusion strengthen the research community and its impact, and we are committed to developing, implementing, tracking, and reporting on our progress to ensure that our editors, advisors, reviewers, and authors are more diverse and that all authors receive the same fair treatment and opportunity to publish in our journals. We acknowledge that we do not have all the answers now, but we seek to hear from and listen to our community on how we can improve our journals to be more diverse and inclusive. As first steps, we commit to the taking the following actions: • Gathering and making public our baseline statistics on diversity within our journals, encompassing our editors, advisors, reviewers, and authors; annually reporting on progress • Training new and existing editors to recognize and interrupt bias in peer review • Including diversity of journal contributors as an explicit measurement of Editor-in-Chief performance • Appointing an ombudsperson to serve as a liaison between Editors and our Community • Developing an actionable diversity plan for each ACS journal These are only initial plans and the start of a conversation: other ideas are beginning to germinate, and we commit to sharing them with you regularly. We invite you contribute your ideas on how we can do better via our Axial website. We are listening carefully. We encourage you to take immediate action in your own circles. In a recent editorial, JACS Associate Editor Melanie Sanford 6 offered practical steps to take now. Take a moment to find out more about these actions and how to bring them into your work and your life. We all have a responsibility to eradicate racism and discrimination in the science and engineering community; indeed, to make a real difference, we need to be antiracist. The tragic events we have seen in the Black community provide great urgency to this goal. The work will be difficult and will force us to confront hard realities about our beliefs and actions. We fully expect that you, and everyone in the community, will hold us accountable.


Background: Evaluation on the toxicity of two mainly contaminant heavy metals, cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) through the food chain was the aim of this study. Methods: A total number of 270 healthy common carp (4±1.14 g) in April, 2015 transported to the Khatam Alanbia University of Technology, Behbahan, Iran. Fishes were divided into three groups and transferred to the 20 L aquaria each containing 30 juveniles. The first group (control) fed by metal-free Artemia fransiscan anauplii throughout the experiment. The second and third groups were feeding by Cd and Pb (1.5 mg/L free ion) contaminated nauplia, respectively. The experimental study was carried out for three weeks and sampling was done in 4th, 7th, 14th and 21st days. Finally, the alterations in plasma biochemical responses were determined. Results: Alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities increased in response to feeding Pb-contaminated nauplia. Creatine phosphokinase activity showed significant increase in fourth day about both Cd and Pb and at the end of experiment only in Cd treatment (P<0.05). Cholesterol and triglyceride were increased significantly only for Pb (P<0.05). Plasma glucose and creatinine levels increased by both heavy metals compared to the control but glucose just remained high only for Pb at the end of the experiment. Total protein, albumin and globulin were significantly declined in both metal contaminated groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: It seems Pb had a greater toxicity than Cd through the food chain and it may be due to its more trophic transfer than Cd.


Hypsizygus marmoreus is an edible and medicinal mushroom belongs to Basidiomycetes. The optimal culture conditions for the vegetative growth of brown and white strains of H. marmoreus were investigated to obtain suitable farming condition. Temperature suitable and unsuitable for vegetative growth was obtained at 20 and 35oC, respectively. The both strains of H. mermoreus love medium temperature and the mycelial growth was well developed at 20-25oC. This mushroom prefer pH ranging 6-8 for mycelial growth. The highest and lowest mycelial growth was found at pH 7 and 5 of both strains, respectively. Among 5 different carbon sources, sucrose was the best, whereas, maltose and lactose were the worst. The most suitable nitrogen sources were CaNO3 (in brown strain 65.6 mm and in white strain 56.3 mm) and the most unsuitable was NH_4H_2PO_4 (in brown strain 44.02 mm and in white strain 40.2 mm). Five different culture media were used to screen the optimal mycelial growth of H. marmoreus. PDA and YM (yeast-malt extract) were the most suitable and Czapek dox and Hennerberg were the most unfavorable for vegetative growth, whereas, glucose peptone was moderately suitable. The highest and lowest vegetative growth was observed in media prepared with mango (Mangifera indica) and koroi (Albizia procera) sawdust, respectively. However, for both strains, 3 weeks were required to complete mycelium running in mango sawdust, whereas, 4 weeks were spent to get 100% mycelium running in mahagoni (Swietenia mahagoni) and koroi sawdust. The premordia and fruiting bodies of H. marmoreus were formed in the mango sawdust medium sooner. The fruiting bodies of brown strain were formed earlier than white strain after occurrence of primordia. In case of limiting ventilation, the stem development was found to be good but no cap was seen to be formed. Ventilation influenced the growth and development of fruit body of H. marmoreus. Therefore, it could be said that physiochemical requirement for the vegetative growth is strictly considerable and results focused in this paper could be followed by farmers to scale up farming of H. marmoreus in Bangladesh.


As the 2015 deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, the poor countries of the world have already made considerable progress toward reducing maternal and child undernutrition. From 1990 to 2008, the prevalence of stunting in children under five years of age declined dramatically, from 40 to 29 percent, with countries such as Eritrea, Bangladesh, and Mauritania seeing reductions of 42 to 52 percent. UNICEF estimates that 63 countries are on track to achieve the MDG1 target of a 50 percent reduction in underweight prevalence. This progress shows that political commitment, coupled with the right approach to addressing undernutrition, can be successful in improving nutrition despite poverty. Yet more needs to be done, as progress toward the MDGs has been uneven. Improvements in many African countries remain modest, and nearly one in four children under five years of age in the developing world remains underweight. Food and nutrition security is increasingly recognized as being critical to broader economic, social, and human development. There is also growing awareness of the costs of ignoring undernutrition: it heavily impacts infant and young child mortality and morbidity; has largely irreversible effects on intellectual, physical, social, and economic development; and contributes to noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer. In recent years, fortunately, there has been widespread agreement on the set of evidence-based and cost-effective interventions that can protect the nutrition of millions of individuals. Against this backdrop, a wide range of stakeholders have come together to launch the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement.


This paper is primarily about design and some of the difficulties of 'appropriate' design in care settings: about the interaction between technologies, application domains, design methodologies and about some of the challenges of informing design. This is hardly a novel concern, but this particular focus arises as a consequence of digital technologies maturing and transferring to the everyday domain; as the convergence of interactive digital systems, networks and mobile devices potentially transforms the ways that we carry out mundane, everyday activities. In recent years, the increasing presence of computing technology in the domestic environment has emerged as an important new arena of study. Domestic environments are becoming key sites for the consumption of information and communication technologies - embracing, in the 'care' domain, various forms of 'assistive' technologies and the design and provision of 'smart' homes. This paper reports on a recently initiated research project 'Care in the Digital Community' - begun under the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Dependability Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (DIRC) Network project EQUATOR. The project aims to use a multidisciplinary research team to facilitate the development of enabling technologies to assist care in the community for particular user groups with different support needs. The general objective is to examine how digital technology can be used to support sheltered housing residents and their staff. Although only recently started, the project anticipates exploring the affordances of a variety of technological configurations, including the use of virtual environments replicating real world situations, and the use of handheld and wearable digital technology to provide support.