The study area covers the Cimini and Vico volcanic complexes in the province of Viterbo (Northern Lazio Region, Italy), where a large-scale exploitation of the water resources co-exists with fragile environmental conditions. The Vico caldera and the lake of the same name form the central nucleus of a Nature Reserve and are an important source of drinkable water for a number of municipalities. The main aim of the study was to improve our knowledge of the hydrogeological setting of the system in order to quantify the groundwater resource and to examine the interaction between the groundwater and Lake Vico in their specific geological framework. The hydrogeological investigations included: i) reconstruction of local hydrostratigraphy; ii) collection of data from wells and springs; iii) flow measurement of streams; iv) development of some pumping tests; v) analysis of climatic data. The volcanic aquifer consists primarily of Pleistocene pyroclastic deposits (tuffs, ignimbrites, ashes, pumice and scoriae) and various lava flows and domes. Its base and part of its SW and NE boundaries are well defined by low-permeability rocks, including sandy-clayey deposits (Pliocene-Pleistocene) and marly-calcareous flysch (Upper Cretaceous-Oligocene). The remaining boundaries are formed by highly permeable Quaternary alluvial and sandy-conglomeratic deposits. The groundwater flow occurs mainly through the unconfined basal volcanic aquifer and to a lesser extent through various perched aquifers. The basal volcanic aquifer has a centrifugal radial flow network; the groundwater discharges primarily into streams (not less than 1.4 m 3 /s) and in part into small springs (less than 0.5 m 3 /s). The volcanic aquifer also feeds the aquifer of the surrounding plain, especially where the Quaternary sandy-conglomeratic deposits flank the volcanic hills (about 2 m 3 /s). The pumping test data were correlated with the equipotential surface of the unconfined basal aquifer to define diverse transmissivity zones. The resulting wide range of transmissivity values obtained (between 10 (super -6) and 10 (super -2) m 2 /s) are in agreement with the heterogeneity of the volcanic products and with the variability of the saturated thickness. An average annual evaluation of groundwater resources points to a volume between 162 and 227X10 6 m 3 /year. Taking the area of the volcanic system into account, the mean yield of the aquifer amounts to between 5.7 and 8.0 l/s per km 2 , consistent with other Tyrrhenian volcanic areas. The analysis of the historical hydro-meteorological data set indicates that precipitation follows a negative trend, i.e. there is a progressive decline of groundwater resources. In this hydrogeological environment, Lake Vico is closely conditioned by the groundwater, being fed by the basal aquifer on its northern side (about 6% of the total inflow) and drained from the other sides (between 26 and 37% of the total outflow). According to the mean water budget of the lake, in addition to the amounts of water taken from the lake, the surface-groundwater exchange has a considerable effect on the reservoir resources. These factors can influence heavily the level of the lake, artificially regulated by a gated outlet which is not always managed according to a rational strategy of conjunctive use of water resources.


Abstract This article investigates a specific practice that recipients in Dutch talk-in-interaction use when responding to turns that have as one of their main jobs to inform. By responding to an informing turn with an oh-prefaced nonrepeating response that has yes/no-type interrogative word order, recipients treat that turn as counter to expectation and request both confirmation of the inference formulated in his/her response, as well as reconciliatory information for the two discrepant states of affairs. This practice is compared to similar cases where the nonrepeating response is not oh-prefaced to show that such turns implement different actions. Data are in Dutch with English translations. (Counterexpectations, change-of-state, yes/no-type interrogatives, action formation, practions)*


This application, The Route Optimising SideKick, will assist businesses and people travelling for leisure when planning and optimizing their journeys. With time being so precious, businesses are continuously trying to save money wherever they can, this solution offers one of the easiest ways to do so. Using this application allows productivity to be enhanced and all without having to reduce employee's earnings or enforce cut backs of any sort.

Distribution companies, businesses delivering produce, repair companies and service companies all visit and travel to several destinations on a daily basis. By simply spending ten minutes planning the route, engineers and drivers can save so much time, every day. Other benefits include:
- Lower fuel consumption
- Enhanced productivity
- Reduced employee hours
- Lower wages for the company

The brilliance of this application is that people travelling for personal leisure can also use this for tracking routes when visiting several locations on a holiday or trip. This offers a massive gain, ensuring as little time travelling as possible and allowing them spend more time enjoying their actual destinations.

The initial release of this application is a free of charge application that can offer five free locations to guests. By simply registering to our site we will double that and allow you enter ten destinations at any given time. Once we have launched and are a recognized site we will eventually charge. The benefits of charging and offering this to businesses would be that they can save and store favourite routes or locations into our database. The plan is that we can again double or treble the allowed input, to twenty-thirty destinations in one go.


Both to address unmet medical needs and to improve industry competitiveness, regulators in both the United States and the European Union have taken bold steps to translate academic research from the university lab to the patient. A pharmaceutical public-private partnership (PPPP), which is a legally binding contract between a private pharmaceutical enterprise and a public research university (or a private university doing research funded with public funds), can be a significant tool to ensure a more efficient payoff in the highly regulated world of pharmaceuticals. In particular, a properly framed binding contract, coupled with respect for positive social norms, can move the parties away from an inefficient prisoners' dilemma Nash Equilibrium to the Pareto Optimal Frontier. When coupled with appropriate attention to the difficult task of coordinating the actions of interdependent actors, a PPPP arrangement can enhance the likelihood of successful commercialization by flipping the parties' incentives as compared with more traditional contracts. Because PPPPs are less common in Europe than in the United States, a key purpose of this article is to provide an annotated roadmap that universities, private firms, and EU policy makers can use to create efficient PPPPs to enhance for-profit innovation in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe. A secondary purpose is to suggest amendments to the U.S. laws governing the patenting of government-funded technology to prevent undue burdens on the sharing of certain upstream medical discoveries and research tools. Our analysis is not only comparative; it also combines, we believe for the first time, a game theory and law and management approach to for-profit PPPPs.


Twentytwo techniques from among those in use in the palynological laboratory at Stanford University are outlined. Many of them are adaptable to different scales of production and to different purposes of research or industrial service work. Sophisticated equipment beyond that conventionally present in any moderately well equipped palynological laboratory is not necessary. Techniques applicable to fossil dinoflagellates are emphasised but a few procedures for obtaining and preparing modern dinoflagellates are included.


This lecture was given at the 6th psychometric summer school at the Moscow Higher School of Economics in August 2019. This lecture addresses questions of how to determine whether an admissible model is an acceptable representation of a data set. It also discusses the use of ADF, WLSMV, and ML estimation methods. Examples are given using the NZSCoAVI data set whcih can can be analysed using ML and WLSMV estimators. There is also a dichotomous data set analysed using ADF or WLS concerning answers to a 24 item MCQ test of assessment literacy. The Brazil higher education SCOA inventory data set is also included with a syntax file for analysing the inventory using the WLS estimator for 6 point ordered categories.


Policymakers are concerned about potential underinvestment in lifelong learning. In this paper we study to what extent a tax deduction helps to stimulate post-initial training. Speci fically, we employ a regression kink and regression discontinuity design as jumps in tax bracket rates generate exogenous variation in the effective costs of lifelong learning. Using high quality data on tax returns of the universe of Dutch taxpayers, we nd that the tax deduction has heterogeneous effects on lifelong learning. Low-income singles show no response. For high-income singles we nd an effect of 10% on the probability to use the tax deduction. Furthermore, ignoring shifting of expenses between partners leads to spurious large estimates for primary earners and spurious negative estimates for secondary earners.


The mark of a truly great piece of literature lies in its ability to grow with humanity, to evolve. Even though the printed words will never change, the meanings and interpretations will. Thus, over the years since the first publication of James Joyce's Ulysses, countless articles and criticisms have been written to convey different notions and ideas concerning the themes and motives behind just about every single word printed in the text. However, for all its analysis, there is one chapter which to this day is left virtually untouched by critics when considering the amount of criticism that has been written for the other eighteen chapters. The chapter I am speaking of is number sixteen, "Eumaeus." In his article, Brook Thomas, author of multiple articles that discuss the complex writing styles employed by Joyce, notes that "Eumaeus," "has the privileged status of being the most maligned chapter of the book" (15). James H. Maddox, in his book-length study of Ulysses, refers to it as "a dead spot in which nothing happens at great length" (156). The problems that surround this chapter seem to stem from its style, or lack thereof. All of the other chapters have very conspicuous styles, almost to the point that it can overshadow the events of the chapter. The writing in "Eumaeus" is, for the most part, simple. It is not as romantically written as the "Nausicaa" chapter, nor is it as musical as the "Sirens" chapter. It is simply a chapter filled with dialogue, long discussions that appear to go nowhere, and it is for this reason that many critics seem to lose interest when it comes to this chapter. What many critics fail to recognize, however, is the importance of "Eumaeus" to the culmination of not only the story, but of the synthesis between Homer's Odyssey and Joyce's own tale of the wandering Leopold Bloom. It is imperative that we remember that the Odyssey is not simply a story about Odysseus's journey home. It is also about the triumphant reuniting of a father and son, and Joyce reminds us of this part of the story in "Eumaeus." The critical interpretations of this chapter are often inconclusive and leave one with a sense of irreconcilability between critical views and the text itself. Joyce's themes are often hidden implicitly within convoluted sentence structure and rhetoric that seems to go absolutely nowhere; yet, there is often a method to his madness, and in "Eumaeus," it is no different. To fully understand the context and importance of the chapter, one need not look any farther than the text on which it is based, The Odyssey. Through careful analysis of Joyce's use of epic tradition, language, and characterization, one can see that "Eumaeus" is Joyce's commentary on the differences between the classical epic, based on actions and brought about through exaggerated tales of oral tradition, and his own modern-day epic, based on discourse and brought about through mundane yet realistic events. In doing so, Joyce reconstructs the epic hero from the man of action to the man of discourse. Though it would seem that Joyce must have admired Homer's epic tradition, considering it is the frame from which his greatest masterpiece was formed, Ulysses does not seem rooted so much in the format of The Odyssey, as much as it is rooted simply in the story itself. According to Richard Ellmann, at the age of twenty, "Joyce had no interest in Homer." Furthermore, he described Homer's works as being "outside of the tradition of European culture" (103). Thus, for Joyce, The Odyssey did not appear to be an overwhelmingly influential piece of literature. Yet it would seem that the Irish-born author had a change of heart when he decided to pen the tale of his often-brooding character Stephen Dedalus and his not quite epic hero Leopold Bloom. Though Joyce had his reservations about Homer's epic tale, there was one aspect of The Odyssey that Joyce had great respect for: the theme. Joyce described The Odyssey as "the most beautiful, all-embracing theme" of humanity. …


The main operations in Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) are generalization and specialization, which only make sense in a generality order. In ILP, the three most important generality orders are subsumption, implication and implication relative to background knowledge. The two languages used most often are languages of clauses and languages of only Horn clauses. This gives a total of six different ordered languages. In this paper, we give a systematic treatment of the existence or non-existence of least generalizations and greatest specializations of finite sets of clauses in each of these six ordered sets. We survey results already obtained by others and also contribute some answers of our own.

Our main new results are, firstly, the existence of a computable least generalization under implication of every finite set of clauses containing at least one nontautologous function-free clause (among other, not necessarily function-free clauses). Secondly, we show that such a least generalization need not exist under relative implication, not even if both the set that is to be generalized and the background knowledge are function-free. Thirdly, we give a complete discussion of existence and non-existence of greatest specializations in each of the six ordered languages.


Novel features in stretched-pulse and similariton mode-locked regimes of Yb-doped fiber laser with photonic bandgap fiber used for dispersion compensation are found by means of numerical simulations. We show that the mode-locked pulse may become shorter with increasing third-order dispersion. Analytical estimations explain observed behavior through resonant interaction of the main pulse with dispersive waves involving both resonant sidebands and zero-group-velocity dispersion waves. Switching between the stretched-pulse and the similariton regimes is also studied.


One hundred fifteen female and 252 male entrepreneurs from Atlantic Canada and Ontario were compared to identify gender similarities and differences in terms of their perceptions of success as well as comparing general success factors present in the literature. Gender comparisons were based on a Success Factors' scale derived from the literature and on objective as well as subjective Performance Indicators. Factor analyses and other statistics revealed a positive relation between subjective and objective performance indicators, as well as a particular importance of government programs geared to entrepreneurs among female respondents. Both genders received considerable spousal support.


IGR J17062–6143 is an ultracompact X-ray binary (UCXB) with an orbital period of 37.96 min. It harbours a millisecond X-ray pulsar that is spinning at 163 Hz and and has continuously been accreting from its companion star since 2006. Determining the composition of the accreted matter in UCXBs is of high interest for studies of binary evolution and thermonuclear burning on the surface of neutron stars. Here, we present a multiwavelength study of IGR J17062–6143 aimed to determine the detailed properties of its accretion disc and companion star. The multi-epoch photometric UV to near-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) is consistent with an accretion disc Fν ∝ ν1/3. The SED modelling of the accretion disc allowed us to estimate an outer disc radius of $R_{\rm out} = 2.2^{+0.9}_{-0.4} \times 10^{10}$ cm and a mass-transfer rate of $\dot{m} = 1.8^{+1.8}_{-0.5}\times 10^{-10}$ M⊙ yr−1. Comparing this with the estimated mass-accretion rate inferred from its X-ray emission suggests that ≳90 per cent of the transferred mass is lost from the system. Moreover, our SED modelling shows that the thermal emission component seen in the X-ray spectrum is highly unlikely from the accretion disc and must therefore represent emission from the surface of the neutron star. Our low-resolution optical spectrum revealed a blue continuum and no emission lines, i.e. lacking H and He features. Based on the current data we cannot conclusively identify the nature of the companion star, but we make recommendations for future study that can distinguish between the different possible evolution histories of this X-ray binary. Finally, we demonstrate how multiwavelength observations can be effectively used to find more UCXBs among the LMXBs.


Autonomous robots are complex systems that require the interaction between numerous heterogeneous
components (software and hardware). Because of the increase in complexity of robotic
applications and the diverse range of hardware, robotic middleware is designed to manage the
complexity and heterogeneity of the hardware and applications, promote the integration of new
technologies, simplify software design, hide the complexity of low-level communication and the
sensor heterogeneity of the sensors, improve software quality, reuse robotic software infrastructure
across multiple research efforts, and to reduce production costs. This paper presents a literature
survey and attribute-based bibliography of the current state of the art in robotic middleware design.
The main aim of the survey is to assist robotic middleware researchers in evaluating the
strengths and weaknesses of current approaches and their appropriateness for their applications.
Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive set of appropriate bibliographic references that are classified
based on middleware attributes.


The focus of this thesis is on how light is scattered on its passage through the optics of the human eye, and the consequences for visual performance under different lighting conditions. A number of visual psychophysical measurement techniques were employed to investigate the impact of light scatter on various aspects of visual performance.

The preliminary experiments carried out were designed to explore the physical properties of scattered light in the eye. Scattered light varies in both amount and angular dependence, outcomes that relate directly to the number and size of particles involved. In this respect, scattered light is estimated using two methods: one that measures both the amount and the angular dependence of scattered light and the other that assumes constant angular dependence in all observers. The findings show that there are significant differences in angular dependence between observers and that the size of the differences correlates with errors in the estimation of the overall amount of scatter.

Experiments were then carried out to investigate the effects of increased scattered light on visual performance and whether these can explain any aspects of age-related visual degradation. To disentangle increased scattered light from the innumerable other changes that occur with ageing, the amount of scattered light in young, healthy eyes was increased using fogging filters. Increased scatter is shown to have only a small effect on chromatic sensitivity and the ability to recognise letters or other high contrast optotypes that are commonly used to assess visual acuity. Contrast sensitivity, on the other hand, can be much reduced in the presence of increased light scatter.


The most controversial and newsworthy plays of British theatre are a rash of rude, vicious and provocative pieces by a brat pack of twentysomethings whose debuts startled critics and audiences with their heady mix of sex, violence and street-poetry. "In-Yer-Face Theatre" is the first book to study this exciting outburst of creative self-expression by what in other contexts has been called Generation X, or Thatcher's Children, the 'yoof' who grew up during the last Conservative Government. The book argues that, for example, "Trainspotting", "Blasted", "Mojo" and "Shopping and F**king" are much more than a collection of shock tactics - taken together, they represent a consistent critique of modern life, one which focuses on the problem of violence, the crisis of masculinity and the futility of consumerism. The book contains extensive interviews with playwrights, including Sarah Kane ("Blasted"), Mark Ravenhill ("Shopping and F**king"), Philip Ridley ("The Pitchfork Disney"), Patrick Marber ("Closer") and Martin McDonagh ("The Beauty Queen of Leenane").


Recent models for learned image compression are based on autoencoders that learn approximately invertible mappings from pixels to a quantized latent representation. The transforms are combined with an entropy model, which is a prior on the latent representation that can be used with standard arithmetic coding algorithms to generate a compressed bitstream. Recently, hierarchical entropy models were introduced as a way to exploit more structure in the latents than previous fully factorized priors, improving compression performance while maintaining end-to-end optimization. Inspired by the success of autoregressive priors in probabilistic generative models, we examine autoregressive, hierarchical, and combined priors as alternatives, weighing their costs and benefits in the context of image compression. While it is well known that autoregressive models can incur a significant computational penalty, we find that in terms of compression performance, autoregressive and hierarchical priors are complementary and can be combined to exploit the probabilistic structure in the latents better than all previous learned models. The combined model yields state-of-the-art rate–distortion performance and generates smaller files than existing methods: 15.8% rate reductions over the baseline hierarchical model and 59.8%, 35%, and 8.4% savings over JPEG, JPEG2000, and BPG, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, our model is the first learning-based method to outperform the top standard image codec (BPG) on both the PSNR and MS-SSIM distortion metrics.


The dependence of a community on forests and trees for their health is likely to vary with the social, economic and cultural contexts, including whether the community is urban or rural. In urban centres, the presence of forests and trees helps citizens in adopting healthy lifestyles and improving their physical and mental health. Rural communities are more likely than urban centres to use forests and trees directly as sources of medicines, foods and nutrition.


Soil salinization is a complex process resulting from the interaction of several factors, mainly quality of water used for irrigation, which deteriorates by aquifer overexploitation, and changes in rainfall patterns and aquifer recharge related to climate change. The purpose of this paper is to present a method to assess the variations of groundwater quality, to compare its suitability for irrigation and to decipher the possible causes of soil salinity in Tierra Nueva, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. To assess salinization related to irrigation water quality, dissolved anions and cations were measured in surface and groundwater samples; the most widely used water quality indices to evaluate potential salinity risk of soils are Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) and Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR). In view of the limited number and uncertainty of using only two indices, in the present work a novel water quality assessment was applied for the first time by statistically combining eight individual quality indices: (RSC), (SAR), percentage of sodium (%Na), Kelley ratio (KR), permeability index (PI), soluble sodium percentage (SSP), magnesium adsorption ratio (MAR) and cation ratio of structural stability (CROSS). A factorial variance analysis and principal component analysis of these eight indices were performed to identify linearity and maximum variance. All irrigation water tests show dissolved ions that can easily precipitate as indicated by PI. In cropland, %Na, SSP, RSC, KR and PI had values unsuitable for irrigation, while RAS, CROSS and MAR values are within suitable levels. The main mechanism of soil salinization seems to be the cation exchange of Ca2+ to Na+ in the waters, along with the precipitation of natrite (Na2CO3) promoted by shallow groundwater and semi-desert conditions of the region. The population growth in the region has caused further demand of clean water for human consumption, affecting the water availability from the aquifer of the study zone, worsened by drought associated to climate change.


A new method is presented to determine the refractive index and the diameter of unclad optical fibers. The technique is based on an analysis of the back-scattered light when a beam from a cw laser impinges upon the fiber. A geometrical-optics analysis shows that the position of a sharp cutoff in the radiation pattern determines the refractive index, whereas the distance between certain successive minima gives the diameter. The theory is compared to experimental observations, with excellent agreement.


This paper presents a theory of rigidity, or more properly inertia, in the responses of economic variables to changing environments. The theory rests on three fundamental assumptions: (1) that firms are risk averse, (2) that firms are uncertain of the impacts of changing decision variables and (3) that this uncertainty increases with the size of deviations in decision variables from appropriately defined past level. Under these circumstances an optimal portfolio of incremental decision variable adjustments exists which (a) takes variance minimizing adoptions to environmental change as a point of departure and then (b) is weighted in favor of changes in variables whose effects are less uncertain. In considering price and quantity adjustments, this implies that price and wage adjustments should largely incorporate expected inflation and, from that point, should be small relative to quantity adjustments, since in most situations the uncertainties associated with the consequences of quantity adjustment should be smaller than those associated with price adjustments.


Compile-time metaprogramming has been proven immensely useful enabling programming techniques such as language virtualization, embedding of external domain-specific languages, self-optimization, and boilerplate generation among many others.
 In the recent production release of Scala 2.10 we have introduced macros, an experimental facility which gives its users compile-time metaprogramming powers. Alongside of the mainline release of Scala Macros, we have also introduced other macro flavors, which provide their users with different interfaces and capabilities for interacting with the Scala compiler.
 In this paper, we show how the rich syntax and static types of Scala synergize with macros, through a number of real case studies using our macros (some of which are production systems) such as language virtualization, type providers, materialization of type class instances, type-level programming, and embedding of external DSLs. We explore how macros enable new and unique ways to use pre-existing language features such as implicits, dynamics, annotations, string interpolation and others, showing along the way how these synergies open up new ways of dealing with software development challenges.


During the past two decades, microfluidics has become an enabling technology in many fields, including cell-biology, biophysics, biochemistry, optofluidics, etc. In the meantime, researchers are paying more attention to device materials because of the problems and unique functions they brought. As the most popular material in current microfluidic research, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) also has some drawbacks, such as absorption of small molecules and poor organic solvent compatibility. Thus, perfluorinated polymers (Teflons), which retain most advantages of PDMS but also has excellent inertness and anti-fouling properties, came into researchers' perspective. After the initial period when liquid Teflon were directly coated on PDMS, whole-Teflon microfluidic chips were successfully fabricated and performed excellently in long-term cell culture, organic solvent-involved synthesis, etc. Since then, materials such as metals, biomolecules and other plastics have been integrated into Teflon chips and expanded their use to electrochemical sensing and immunoassay. Furthermore, perfluoropolymers have also been broadly used to assist mold release due to their nonstick property. Aiming to illustrate this progress, current review focuses on the recent development of Teflon microfabrication and applications in microfluidics, and provides critical discussion on this trend.


The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 15 per cent of the world's population, or one billion people, have some form of disability. According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 80 per cent live in poor countries, where communities are already more vulnerable to disasters and crises such as the current Ebola epidemic, with people with disabilities often disproportionately affected. More must be done to ensure the needs and rights of people with disabilities are fully recognised in disaster risk reduction and emergency responses. Accelerating progress will require inclusive humanitarian programming and the use of technological solutions to be effectively promoted and incentivised, and people with disabilities and their organisations to be involved from the outset in the design and implementation of policies and programmes.


A course for intermediate and advanced level students focusing on listening to lectures and note-taking. Study Listening is for intermediate and advanced level students who are planning to study at a university or college where English is the language of instruction, or who need to attend international conferences where English is used. The course focuses on listening to lectures and note-taking. The Second Edition has been comprehensively revised and restructured and now includes eight brand new lectures on academic topics with speakers from six different countries; more focus on six macro-strategies for listening: predicting, monitoring, responding, clarifying, inferencing, evaluating; more post-listening tasks to deal with comprehension problems. This pack contains two Audio CDs.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the most common malignancies and the second leading cause of cancer‐related death worldwide; treatment algorithms include surgery, chemotherapy and targeted therapies. Immunotherapy has recently emerged as an effective treatment approach in several types of cancer, including non–small cell lung cancer, melanoma and kidney cancer. In CRC, novel immune‐checkpoint inhibitors such as anti‐CTLA4 and PD1/PDL1 monoclonal antibodies have shown limited efficacy, although ongoing trials in mismatch repair‐deficient CRC have shown significant and promising results. Here, we review the role of immune‐microenvironment in colorectal cancer and current clinical data about therapeutic activity of immunotherapy in the treatment of CRC.


Highly illiquid and non–traded investments?such as private real estate, leveraged buyouts, and venture capital?have historically been very hard to compare to traditional investments. This is particularly problematical when one considers how to include these assets in a traditional portfolio of assets. For the purposes of asset allocation, it is critical that illiquid asset classes are made comparable to liquid asset classes. An estimation procedure here may help to assess the true risks and diversification benefits presented by illiquid asset classes more accurately. Even though the approach involves some assumptions, it should provide a better picture of the variations in illiquid returns.


The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of different adhesive application methods and etching modes on enamel bond effectiveness of universal adhesives using shear bond strength (SBS) testing and surface free-energy (SFE) measurements. The adhesives Scotchbond Universal, All-Bond Universal, Adhese Universal, and G-Premio Bond were used. Prepared bovine enamel specimens were divided into four groups, based on type of adhesive, and subjected to the following surface treatments: (i) total-etch mode with active application; (ii) total-etch mode with inactive application; (iii) self-etch mode with active application; and (iv) self-etch mode with inactive application. Bonded specimens were subjected to SBS testing. The SFE of the enamel surfaces with adhesive was measured after rinsing with acetone and water. The SBS values in total-etch mode were significantly higher than those in self-etch mode. In total-etch mode, significantly lower SBS values were observed with active application compared with inactive application; in contrast, in self-etch mode there were no significant differences in SBS between active and inactive applications. A reduction in total SFE was observed for active application compared with inactive application. The interaction between etching mode and application method was statistically significant, and the application method significantly affected enamel bond strength in total-etch mode.


Following the death of engineer General jorge Próspero de Verboom in 1744 and after a few years of transition in the management of Spanish fortifications, juan Martín Zermeño took on the role, initially with a temporary mandate, but then definitively during a second period that ran from 1766 until his death in 1772. he began this second period with a certain amount of concern because of what had taken place during the last period of conflict. the Seven years war (1756–1763) which had brought Spain into conflict with Portugal and england in the caribbean had also lead to conflict episodes along the Spanish–Portuguese border. Zermeño's efforts as a planner and general engineer gave priority to the northern part of the Spanish–Portuguese border. after studying the territory and the existing fortifications on both sides of the border, Zermeño drew up three important projects in 1766. the outposts that needed to be reinforced were located, from north to south, at Puebla de Sanabria, Zamora and ciudad rodrigo, which is where he is believed to have come from. this latter township already had a modern installation built immediately after the war of the Spanish Succession and reinforced with the fort of la concepción. however, Zamora and Puebla de Sanabria had some obsolete fortifications that needed modernising. Since the middle of the 15th century Puebla de Sanabria had had a modern castle with rounded turrets, that of the counts of benavente. during the 16th and 17th centuries it had also been equipped with a walled enclosure with small bastions. during the war of the Spanish Succession the Portuguese had enlarged the enclosure and had erected a tentative offshoot to the west. in order to draw up the ambitious Puebla de Sanabria project Zermeño had the aid of some previous reports and projects, such as those by the count of robelin in 1722, the one by antonio de Gaver in 1752, and Pedro Moreau's report dated june 1755. this study includes a technical analysis of Zermeño's project and its strategic position within the system of fortifications along the Spanish–Portuguese border.


This study aims to analyze the technical efficiency of sorghum production by smallholder farmers in Konso district, Southern Ethiopia using cross sectional data collected from a sample of 124 sorghum producing households. Individual levels of technical efficiency scores were estimated using the Cobb-Douglas functional form, which was specified to estimate the stochastic production frontier. The estimated stochastic production frontier model indicated that input variables such as land size, fertilizer (Urea and DAP), human labour, oxen power and chemicals (herbicides or pesticides) found to be important factors in increasing the level of sorghum output in the study area. The result further revealed significant differences in technical efficiency among sorghum producers in the study area. The discrepancy ratio, which measures the relative deviation of output from the frontier level due to inefficiency, was about 90%. The estimated mean levels of technical efficiency of the sample households was about 69%, which shows existence of a possibility to increase the level of sorghum output by about 31% by efficient use of the existing resources. Among the household specific socio-economic and institutional factors hypothesized to affect the level of technical inefficiency, age, education level, family size, off/non-farm activities, extension contact, livestock holding, plots distance and soil fertility status were found to be significant in determining the level of technical inefficiency of sorghum production in the study area. Hence, emphasis should be given to improve the efficiency level of those less efficient households by adopting the practices of relatively efficient households in the study area. Beside this, policies and strategies of the government should be directed towards the above mentioned determinants.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow
limitation, hyperinflation and reduced gas exchange that lead to progressive dyspnea. Pulmonary
rehabilitation, lifestyle changes, pharmacotherapy, long-term oxygen therapy, noninvasive
ventilation and surgical therapeutic approaches are the basic management strategies.

In the last 15 years, various bronchoscopic therapeutic modalities have emerged for severe
COPD. The aim of this review is to summarize the effects of these bronchoscopic treatments
compared with lung rehabilitation and pharmacological therapies.

A PubMed search for the eligible studies and reviews on interventional bronchoscopy and
COPD has been conducted.

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (LVR) techniques are targeted to reduce
hyperinflation. The efficacy of reversible valve implantation has been confirmed in several
randomized controlled trials. It provides clinical benefit in the absence of interlobar collateral
ventilation. Nonblocking bronchoscopic LVR with coils, thermal vapor or sealants is independent of
collateral ventilation but has not been studied sufficiently. Partially irreversible coil implantation
leads to parenchymal compression while irreversible LVR with thermal vapor or sealants induce an
inflammatory reaction. Targeted lung denervation ablates parasympathetic pulmonary nerves in
COPD for sustainable bronchodilation, and liquid nitrogen metered cryospray destroys hyperplastic
goblet cells and excessive submucous glands in the central airways to induce mucosal regeneration in
chronic bronchitis.

The best-examined bronchoscopic LVR method is the valve therapy. The data from the
other modalities are still limited. Further studies are required to select the patients that will optimally
benefit from a particular treatment and to predict and treat the procedure-related complications.


Many of us, in different parts of the world, face the responsibility of teaching the history of anthropology. In what ways do we narrate this history? While there are differences in styles of teaching across cultures and contexts, there are shared assumptions that we seek to challenge, for instance, the history of anthropological thought conceived of as a teleological parade of "isms," each one outmoded by its successor, or an Oedipal sense of "postreflexive" anthropology as if "old" anthropology had no sense of politics or subjectivity. In this Special Section of Hau, entitled "A Joyful History of Anthropology," we ask what it would mean to enliven our relationship to the history of anthropology. By "joyful" we do not mean a simple affirmation, but an intensity of engagement, the possibility of the reemergence of the old as the new, and a sense of anthropological texts as potentially exceeding the "isms" within which they are often bound. We invited articles that sought a nonteleological way to inhabit the history of anthropology, in the mode of immersion and agonistic or convivial companionship in ways that unsettle ideas of old and new within anthropology. Among the several abstracts we received in response from scholars across four continents, we selected the following six articles and a "game" that converse with one another across three themes: 1) Canonical recreations, 2) Minor events in the history of anthropology, and 3) Ways of inhabiting a body of knowledge. We do not necessarily make a claim to newness in our endeavor. Rather, we hope that this collection intensifies a longstanding albeit often incipient, and sometimes repressed tendency within anthropology, which is to encounter our disciplinary archive not necessarily as a history of error or villainy but as a field of possibilities.


Animals are capable of precise and agile locomotion using vision. Replicating this ability has been a long-standing goal in robotics. The traditional approach has been to decompose this problem into elevation mapping and foothold planning phases. The elevation mapping, however, is susceptible to failure and large noise artifacts, requires specialized hardware, and is biologically implausible. In this paper, we present the first end-to-end locomotion system capable of traversing stairs, curbs, stepping stones, and gaps. We show this result on a medium-sized quadruped robot using a single front-facing depth camera. The small size of the robot necessitates discovering specialized gait patterns not seen elsewhere. The egocentric camera requires the policy to remember past information to estimate the terrain under its hind feet. We train our policy in simulation. Training has two phases - first, we train a policy using reinforcement learning with a cheap-to-compute variant of depth image and then in phase 2 distill it into the final policy that uses depth using supervised learning. The resulting policy transfers to the real world and is able to run in real-time on the limited compute of the robot. It can traverse a large variety of terrain while being robust to perturbations like pushes, slippery surfaces, and rocky terrain. Videos are at https://vision-locomotion.github.io


The concept of distributed situation awareness (DSA) is currently receiving increasing attention from the human factors community. This article investigates DSA in a collaborative real-world industrial setting by discussing the results derived from a recent naturalistic study undertaken within the UK energy distribution domain. The results describe the DSA-related information used by the networks of agents involved in the scenarios analysed, the sharing of this information between the agents and the salience of different information elements used. Thus, the structure, quality and content of each network's DSA is discussed, along with the implications for DSA theory. The findings reinforce the notion that when viewing situation awareness (SA) in collaborative systems, it is useful to focus on the coordinated behaviour of the system itself, rather than on the individual as the unit of analysis and suggest that the findings from such assessments can potentially be used to inform system, procedure and training design. SA is a critical commodity for teams working in industrial systems and systems, procedures and training programmes should be designed to facilitate efficient system SA acquisition and maintenance. This article presents approaches for describing and understanding SA during real-world collaborative tasks, the outputs from which can potentially be used to inform system, training programmes and procedure design.


Drug abuse is a substantial problem in society and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It's an epidemic that crosses racial, socioeconomic, and age barriers. According to the 2016 Global Drug Survey the top 10 drugs – excluding alcohol, tobacco and caffeine products – used across the world are: cannabis, MDMA, cocaine, amphetamines, LSD, magic mushrooms, prescribed and non-prescribed opioid medication, nitrous oxide, ketamine, and poppers. Various drugs may cause central nervous system (CNS) complications. These complications include acute and chronic neurovascular complications, toxic leukoencephalopathy, atrophy, infection, changes in the corpus callosum, and other miscellaneous changes. The lecture will focus on neurovascular complications which constitute the most frequent drug related emergencies. They include both ischemic stroke, subarachnoid, and intracerebral hemorrhage. Also nonischemic white matter changes, i.e. toxic leukoencephalopathy, has been described with some drugs. A more nonspecific leukoencephalopathy is seen in chronic inhalant abuse of industrial solvents such as toluene. Such lesions can be explained by the high affinity of these lipophilic volatile agents for myelin.


The estimation and compensation of processes with time delays have been of interest to academics and practitioners for several decades. A full review of the literature for both model parameter and time delay estimation is presented. Gradient methods of parameter estimation, in open loop, in the time and frequency domains are subsequently considered in detail. Firstly, an algorithm is developed, using an appropriate gradient algorithm, for the estimation of all the parameters of an appropriate process model with time delay, in open loop, in the time domain. The convergence of the model parameters to the process parameters is considered analytically and in simulation. The estimation of the process parameters in the frequency domain is also addressed, with analytical procedures being defined to provide initial estimates of the model parameters, and a gradient algorithm being used to refine these estimates to attain the global minimum of the cost function that is optimised. The focus of the thesis is subsequently broadened with the consideration of compensation methods for processes with time delays. These methods are reviewed in a comprehensive manner, and the design of a modified Smith predictor, which facilitates a better regulator response than does the Smith predictor, is considered in detail. Gradient algorithms are subsequently developed for the estimation of process parameters (including time delay) in closed loop, in the Smith predictor and modified Smith predictor structures, in the time domain; the convergence of the model parameters to the process parameters is considered analytically and in simulation. The thesis concludes with an overview of the methods developed, and projections regarding future developments in the topics under consideration.


Single Display Groupware (SDG) lets multiple co-located people, each with their own input device, interact simultaneously over a single communal display. While SDG is beneficial, there is risk of interference: when two people are interacting in close proximity, one person can raise an interface component (such as a menu, dialog box, or movable palette) over another person's working area, thus obscuring and hindering the other's actions. Consequently, researchers have developed special purpose interaction components to mitigate interference techniques. Yet is interference common in practice? If not, then SDG versions of conventional interface components could prove more suitable. We hypothesize that collaborators spatially separate their activities to the extent that they partition their workspace into distinct areas when working on particular tasks, thus reducing the potential for interference. We tested this hypothesis by observing co-located people performing a set of collaborative drawing exercises in an SDG workspace, where we paid particular attention to the locations of their simultaneous interactions. We saw that spatial separation and partitioning occurred consistently and naturally across all participants, rarely requiring any verbal negotiation. Particular divisions of the space varied, influenced by seating position and task semantics. These results suggest that people naturally avoid interfering with one another by spatially separating their actions. This has design implications for SDG interaction techniques, especially in how conventional widgets can be adapted to an SDG setting.


For countries with recurrent droughts, the design of drought impact mitigation measures could benefit from analyses of determinants of yields and prices of local crops at regional and district level. This study applies dynamic spatial panel data regression models to yields and prices of four major food crops across regions of Burkina Faso and Niger, over sample periods between 1984 and 2006. Results lend support to mainly simultaneous spatial spillovers, particularly for millet and cowpea prices and sorghum yields in Niger, and maize yields in Burkina Faso. After accounting for these effects, most crop yields are found to be weakly price-responsive, as envisaged by a supply-side geographical diffusion hypothesis. Seasonal rainfall elasticity estimates suggest that dominant food crops have slight advantage margins in terms of relative resilience to rainfall shortages. However, this result is to be weighed against low millet yields in Niger, and marked drops in sorghum yields during officially declared droughts in Burkina Faso. JEL classifications: C23, C49, Q19, R14


It has been widely recognized that online opinions constitute important informational sources for consumers and producers. The open nature of communication supported by social media, however, raises an important yet unsettled question of whether and how earlier opinions affect those that come after. This poster presents a model to illustrate the relationship between existing and new reviews. Based on 12,500 Amazon reviews, our choice model shows support for the idea that social contagion may be an important mechanism guiding behaviors of online reviewers. The results thus offer novel insights toward a better understanding of contagious behaviors, as well as minority influence, among social media users.


Coiling a single-mode fiber of radius r under tension onto a cylinder of radius R produces a linear birefringence of βtc ≃ 28 × 107∊2r/R deg/m in the fiber at λ = 0.63 μm, where ∊z is the relative fiber elongation. Polarization beat lengths down to 2.5 cm have been realized this way, providing excellent polarization holding.


The discourse around contraceptive use has attracted researcher's attention in recent times, due to the alarming rate of unwanted pregnancies and STIs including HIV/AIDS. In 2013, it was recorded that more than 99 000 schoolgirls fell pregnant at the rate of about 271 for every day of that year. These concerns emphasise the need for drastic improvement in sexual education and access to contraceptives such as condoms. Hence, this study attempts to examine how young women decide on contraception, focusing on the factors that influence the process. A grounded theory approach was used to explore the influences of contraceptive decision-making in a sample of seven (7) female students at the University KwaZulu Natal, Howard College campus. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and was analysed using Pidgeon and Henwood's (1997) approach to grounded theory analysis. The aim was to gain insight on the factors influencing contraceptive decision-making by female university students. The research identified an interplay of various factors that influence respondents'choice of contraceptives. The factors include knowledge levels, partners' role, social networking, health care workers (HCWs) and perceived side effects of contraceptives. This qualitative study showed that individual autonomous decision-making played a minor role in the decision-making process. The study highlights the need to empower young females to make informed decisions regarding the use of contraceptives.


We present a novel client-weighted mediumtransparent medium access control (CW-MT-MAC) protocol with enhanced fairness service delivery properties accompanied by a low-loss remote access unit (RAU) architecture for use in indoor, Gbps-capable, 60 GHz radio-over-fiber (RoF) wireless local area networks (WLANs). Our approach relies on incorporating a client-weighted algorithm (CWA) in the optical capacity allocation mechanism employed in the MT-MAC scheme, so as to distribute the available wavelengths to the different antenna units according to the total number of active users served by each individual antenna. The protocol's throughput and delay fairness characteristics are evaluated and validated through both simulations and analytic modeling for saturated network traffic operational conditions. In addition, extended simulation-based performance analysis for nonsaturated network conditions and for different end-user distributions, traffic loads, and available optical wavelengths at 1 Gbps data rates is presented. Our results confirm that complete throughput equalization can be achieved even for highly varying user population patterns when certain wavelength availability conditions are satisfied. At the same time, the presented scheme manages to equalize the average packet delays amongst packets generated by all RAUs while concurrently dropping the packet delay variation metric that is essential for quality of service delivery. Finally the proposed RAU design reduces insertion losses by almost 14 dB compared to RAU elements used in MT-MAC-compatible bus networks, extending in this way the number of supported RAUs by an order of magnitude and enabling the formation of extended-reach, high-speed RoF WLANs.


This paper presents a new encoding/decoding approach to brain–computer interface (BCI) based on chromatic transient visual evoked potential (CTVEP). The proposed CTVEP-based encoding/decoding approach is designed to provide a safer and more comfortable stimulation method than the conventional VEP-based stimulation methods for BCI without loss of efficiency. For this purpose, low-frequency isoluminant chromatic stimuli are time-encoded to serve as different input commands for BCI control, and the superior comfortableness of the proposed stimulation method is validated by a survey. A combination of diversified signal processing techniques are further employed to decode the information from CTVEP. Based on experimental results, a properly designed configuration of the CTVEP-based stimulation method and a tailored signal processing framework are developed. It is demonstrated that high performance (at information transfer rate: 58.0 bits/min, accuracy: 94.9%, false alarm rate: 1.3%) for BCI can be achieved by means of the CTVEP-based encoding/decoding approach. It turns out that to achieve such good performance, only simple signal processing algorithms with very low computational complexity are required, which makes the method suitable for the development of a practical BCI system. A preliminary prototype of such a system has been implemented with demonstrated applicability.


In this paper, the dispersion and the confinement loss properties of polygonal tube fibers are investigated. Fano resonances between the hollow core modes and the high order dielectric modes are found inside transmission bands. A theoretical model based on the approximation of the polygonal tube as a perturbed circular one is proposed. The model is able to predict number and spectral position of the Fano resonances. It is shown that there always is a lower bound condition on the number of sides of the polygonal fiber which guarantees the absence of Fano resonances in a given frequency range. Numerical results are given in order to support the model.


M ention the words "bird show" and most aviculturists think of bird expos or marts where birds and related items are sold. However, these are fairly recent developments in the world of aviculture. For many years, indeed, centuries in some cases, birds have been exhibited for the purpose of improving them by selective breeding. While most breeders are simply happy to produce healthy offspring; people who show their birds want to produce the best possible bird of that species. Showing birds also has other rewards such as introducing people to many species and color mutations of birds they have never seen before. Showing can also influence the type of birds owned by a breeder and most successful exhibitors specialize in a certain species or genus of birds so they can have the ultimate control of their breeding operation program. When I decided to attend my first show, it was mainly to have fun with my friends and get an "appraisal" of the quality of my breeding stock. Since then, I received quite an education - one that is constantly being improved. Today, when I hold back breeding stock, I look for great bone structure first, tightness of feathers second, and strong, bright color along with a calm disposition. This way, I have gorgeous show birds AND sweet gentle pets. It's the best of both worlds. Exhibiting birds is not just for breeders but can be great fun for pet owners as well. There is no one so excited as a first time novice chewing their nails off while little Kiwi is being judged. Watching a beloved pet do well on the show bench is like watching your child's piano recital or school play. The best birds also enjoy it very much and will strut and turn to show off their best side. There are many bird shows nation wide sponsored by local bird clubs, including many in California. There are also two national/international shows in the U.S. The Great American Cage Bird Show, or GABS, is a show that was primarily designed to show hookbills. Then there is the granddaddy of all bird shows, the National Cage Bird Show which celebrated its 50th anniversary in Chicago November 1998. These shows are held in different locations throughout the country and are sponsored by a local bird club. The 2002 National will be held, for the first time, in Northern California and is hosted by the Santa Clara Valley Canary & Exotic Bird Club. The best way to learn about bird shows and how to exhibit birds is to join the Society of Parrot Breeders and Exhibitors and the North American Parrot Society, Inc. Both NAPS and SPBE have worked long and hard to establish standards for the judging of hookbills. Lovebirds, English Budgies and Cockatiels are usually judged under their own Societies' standards but may also be shown under SPBE and NAPS. These standards are scored on a point system based upon conformation, condition, deportment, color, and presentation. Since the primary purpose of showing is to produce the highest quality breeders, conformation is the most important factor and accounts for 40% of the point total. Conformation is based on the length, weight, size, and proportion of the bird. Condition is the next important factor and is 30% of the total points. Unlike conformation, the exhibitor actually has some control over the condition of the bird. It must be well-fed and kept in a clean, appropriately-sized cage. All feathers should be intact and well-groomed with no pin feathers and should be held tight against the body. Deportment is 15% of the point total and refers to the bird's behavior in the show cage. A bird exhibiting proper deportment sits up tall on the perch and shows itself off. It should not cower on the floor or frantically climb on the bars but should stand erect and secure. Color is 10% of the point total and refers to the depth, uniformity and clarity of color, not rarity. Many people are surprised to see a normal green Pacific Parrotlet place higher on the show bench than a rare but beautiful mutation. If that mutation does not have better conformation or condition, it should not beat the green bird just because it is rare. If that were the case, no one but very rich collectors could show birds. Finally, presentation is 5% but should not be overlooked. Although neither NAPS nor SPBE have cage standards, anyone who plans on showing birds should invest in some good quality show cages. Be sure and keep them and the perches clean and free from debris. Seed should be changed after every show and always make sure the bird has fresh clean water. As you work your way along the show circuit, you will make more contacts and learn even more from old timers willing to pass on knowledge. Once you start placing on the top bench, you will start to be recognized by people you have never met and who want to buy your birds. People want to buy the best birds possible and if you are winning on the show bench, you have proved you have wonderful birds. You may also open markets you never thought possible. For example, now that color mutation Pacific Parrotlets are available, I am finding more business from Cockatiel, Budgie and Lovebird breeders because they like to work with color. So, make plans to attend a bird show. Go with the intention of learning a thing or two and enjoy yourself. It's a wonderful experience and once you are hooked, - look out!


Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease as measured by biomarkers is increasing, but the recognition for this condition remains low in the USA. Little is known about the awareness of kidney disease at the state level. Methods: Data from 490,302 adults aged 18 years or older in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia who participated in the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were analyzed. Kidney disease diagnosis, a measure of individual awareness, was ascertained by participants' self-report in the telephone survey. Prevalence ratios of self-reported kidney disease in subpopulations were estimated and tested using log-linear regression analyses with a robust variance estimator. Results: The unadjusted prevalence of self-reported kidney disease was estimated to be 2.5%. After adjustment for age and all other selected covariates, Hispanics had a higher prevalence than non-Hispanic whites (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.2, 95% CI 1.0-1.4). Persons who were unemployed (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.5) had a higher prevalence than those who were employed. Persons who had hypertension (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.9, 95% CI 1.7-2.1), diabetes (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.7, 95% CI 1.5-1.8), cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction or stroke; adjusted prevalence ratio 1.5, 95% CI 1.4-1.6) or cancer (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.6) had a higher prevalence of self-reported kidney disease than those without these conditions. Conclusion: The overall awareness of kidney disease was low in the general population. Efforts are needed to promote the awareness and early detection of kidney disease in public health services and clinical practice.


Polymers and polymer-based composite materials with electrically-conductive
properties are materials with various potential uses. Novel materials are
becoming available in each field and new products are continuously being
produced. Amid these new materials, conductive elastomers are presently
being employed as antistatic materials in the carpets, antistatic coatings,
sensors and electromagnetic screening. One promising method for making this
type of material is to introduce carbon black or metal fillers, or more currently
conducting polymer powders into natural or synthetic rubbers. Several
polyaniline-rubber blends, mostly with poor electrical conductivity, have been
reported in the literature. An important aim of this work was to improve the
compatibility, thermal stability, electrical and mechanical properties of this
kind of blend, produced by different mixing techniques for instance solution
and thermo-mechanical with further methodical mixing processes and greater
improved mixing circumstances.
Polyepichlorohydrin, polychloroprene rubber, chlorosulfonated polyethylene
rubber and polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate (PAni-DBSA) were selected
for study as blends in this project, since the solubility parameters of
polyepichlorohydrin rubber, polychloroprene, chlorosulfonated polethylene
and polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate were calculated to be well-matched, and also because the polyepichlorohydrin rubber (PECH), polychloroprene
rubber (PCR) and chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSPE) were thermally stable
and easily obtainable.
No previous literature was discovered in relation to the electrical properties of
the polyepichlorohydrin, polychloroprene or chlorosulfonated polyethylene
blends with polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate (PAni-DBSA).
Hence, the PECH, PCR and CSPE rubbers were also chosen in this work with
the purpose of studying them. Non-vulcanised PECH/P Ani-DBSA, non-
vulcanised PCRlPAni-DBSA and non-vulcanised CSPEIPAni-DBSA blends
with appropriate electrical conductivities were produced by solution mixing
for the first time in this project.
Blends of the PECH, PCR and CSPE rubbers and polyaniline doped with
dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, consisting of various proportions of P Ani-
DBSA, were cast from solution onto polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrates
with the aim of making electrically conductive films. Electrical conductivities
of the cast films of non-vulcanised blends were calculated.
Decomposition steps of electrical conductive polymer blends were studied by
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry
(DSC). The thermal stabilities of the PECHlPAni-DBSA, PCRJPAni-DBSA
and CSPEIP Ani-DBSA blends were affected by the proportion of polyaniline
dodecylbenzenesulfonate to the rubbers. The influence of composition on the glass transitions in the blends was defined by the use of thermomechanical analysis (TMA). Electrically
conductive polymer blends of vulcanised PECHIPAni-DBSA were prepared
by the use of an internal mixer for the first time.
A remarkable agreement was seen in that both the vulcanised and the
nonvulcanised blends had the electrical conductivities of the order of 10-8
S.cm-1 with approximately 20 wt% polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate.
The electrical conductivities of all the vulcanised PECHIP Ani-OBSA blends (with a conductivity percolation threshold 1 wt% or 1.07 vol % of P Ani-OBSA) were riot influenced by the addition of Zisnet-F as the vulcanizing agent.
The ATIR spectra of vulcanised PECHIPAni-OBSA blends were similar to a superposition of the spectra of the pure vulcanised polyepichlorohydrin and pure polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate, but with some distinctive peak shifts due to the changing intermolecular interactions among the PECH and PAni-OBSA polymers.
The X-ray diffraction patterns of polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate, the vulcanised pure polyepichlorhydrin and vulcanised polyepichlorhydrinl polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate blend with 10% of PAni-OBSA were studied. The effects of addition of the polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate on the morphology of the vulcanised PECHIP Ani-OBSA blends were evaluated by optical microscopy. The influence of orientation and alignment of the PAni-OBSA particles on the mechanical and electrical properties of vulcanised blends was investigated.
The electrical conductivities of all vulcanised polyepichlorhydrin/polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate blends were identified by stretching them.
All vulcanised PECHIPAni-OBSA blends strained parallel to the flow direction when passed through the two roll-mills had their electrical conductivities improved with increasing strain in tension.
A traveling microscope was used to investigate any possible dimensional change of samples versus applied voltage in order to define the effect of voltage to size change of the vulcanised blends.
The electrical percolation threshold stage for the vulcanised PECHIP Ani-DBSA blends was studied.
A tensile testing machine was employed to determine energy storage of each vulcanised PECH/P Ani-DBSA blend.
Tensile property testing for the vulcanised polyepichlorhydrin /polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate blends was accomplished according to the British Standards Institution (BS!) requirements in order to measure tensile strength, elongation at break and tensile modulus, and the samples all presented good mechanical properties.
The stress-strain data of the vulcanised polyepichlorhydrin /polyaniline dodecylbenzenesulfonate blends have been analyzed and the crosslink density of them has been calculated. With good mechanical properties and reversible electrical behaviour, this kind of vulcanised blend may potentially be developed as a novel class of flexible smart material.


This Country Report for Belgium has arisen out of a comparative study into police station legal advice, led by Dr Vicky Kemp, University of Nottingham. She received a small grant from the British Academy/Leverhulme to undertake semi-structured interviews with defence lawyers and policy officers responsible for criminal legal aid in six jurisdictions: Belgium, England and Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Dr Miet Vanderhallen was the consultant responsible for the research undertaken in Belgium and the Netherlands, assisted by Enide Maegherman, both from the University of Maastricht.


AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of this review was to address: (1) How is spinal stability assessed? (2) What is the role of bracing/should braces be used? (3) When is it safe to mobilise the patient? (4) What position should the patient be nursed in?

BACKGROUND
Controversy surrounds the care for patients with metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC). There is some evidence to indicate that care for patients with MSCC is based on individual clinician preference rather than evidence-based guidelines which has been shown to cause delays and discrepancies in patient treatment.

DESIGN
A structured literature review to synthesise the available evidence about the management of MSCC.

METHODS
The following databases were searched: Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Systematic Reviews Database, SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network), NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence), AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and BNI (British Nursing Index). Publications were selected from the past 10 years. The search yielded a total of 1057 hits, 755 abstracts were screened, and 73 articles were retrieved and examined. Thirty-five articles were included.

RESULTS
The findings identified a gap and evidence relating to spinal stability, bracing, patient mobilisation, and positioning is limited and may be inconclusive. It is important for patients with a poor prognosis that their preferences and quality of life are considered.

CONCLUSION
Currently, the evidence base to underpin care is limited, and further research in this area is necessary for patients and healthcare professionals alike.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Patients who suffer from MSCC suffer numerous physical, psychological and social issues. Because of lack of consensus, the current guidelines to inform clinical decision-making of professional staff are of limited benefit.


Abnormal tissue texture and tenderness detected in the paravertebral gutter (PVG) region by manual palpation has been proposed to be an important diagnostic finding in osteopathic medicine. The pathophysiology of tissues at sites detected as abnormal by palpation and reported as tender by the subject (AbPT) is speculative, because evidence of objective characteristics that distinguish abnormal sites from non-tender, normal to palpation (NT) sites is lacking. The first study of this thesis examined the pressure sensitivity of AbPT sites in 32 subjects using a novel pressure algometer. The AbPT regions had a lower mean pressure pain threshold than the three NT regions, and a one-way ANOVA determined these differences to be significant (P < 0.01). This study demonstrated that these sites were significantly more sensitive to manual pressure than adjacent NT sites, above, below, and on the opposite side of the spine, and established that these sites had characteristics different from adjacent NT sites, and were therefore not merely a result of practitioner imagination. Authors in the field of osteopathy have suggested that abnormal tissue texture in the PVG region may be due to either atrophy or hypertrophy of the underlying paraspinal muscle mass. The second study in this thesis compared the thickness of deep paraspinal muscles underlying AbPT and NT sites in the thoracic PVG regions of 40 subjects. The anteroposterior dimension of the deep muscle mass was measured using diagnostic ultrasound by an ultrasonographer who was blinded to the designation of the sites, and found that there was no significant difference (P = 0.61) in the thickness of paraspinal muscles underlying AbPT and NT sites. Early researchers in the field of osteopathy have claimed to provide evidence of paraspinal muscle hyperactivity at sites designated as abnormal using palpation, which has been used to promote the 'facilitated segment' aetiology for intervertebral somatic dysfunction. The final study in this thesis examined the electromyographic (EMG) activity of deep paraspinal muscles underlying AbPT and NT sites in the thoracic PVG using fine-wire, intramuscular electrodes in 12 subjects. The normalised EMG activity of muscles underlying AbPT sites was higher than the mean activity at NT sites under all experimental conditions, and analysis with SPANOVA revealed a significant difference between the sites (P = 0.03). The EMG recordings during the prone resting were found to have been contaminated with electromagnetic noise, but, when these were excluded from the analysis, there remained a statistically significant difference between the sites (P = 0.02). Post-hoc analysis revealed the significant difference between sites to occur under the condition of resting seated. The trend for higher EMG activity under other experimental conditions were not significant, most likely due to the large variation between subjects and small sample size, but large and medium effect sizes were calculated for differences between the sites under most conditions. Non-significant trends of decreased EMG responsiveness from baseline resting to more demanding tasks were seen at the AbPT sites relative to the NT sites. Caution must be exercised when interpreting the results of this study because the validity of the method of EMG normalisation requires further investigation. This thesis established that AbPT sites detected by palpation in the thoracic PVG region are more sensitive to pressure, and have differing EMG characteristics from NT sites. This research suggests that increased EMG activity may be a contributing factor to the altered tissue texture detected with palpation.


Companies which create mobile business solutions require users to adopt them in order to create value for the organization. However, when mobile devices enter the workplace, companies themselves face an adoption process, in having to integrate these devices into the existing IT infrastructure. In this research project, we conducted a focus group with subsequent expert interviews, following a grounded theory approach. We identified seven drivers of mobile business solution adoption in an organizational context: mobile user experience, social influence, time to market, security, workplace flexibility, information availability and process mobilization. While these factors facilitate adoption for some users, they create challenges for or require strategic decisions from other organizational stakeholders, such as internal users, operating departments and corporate IT. The adoption factors and implications for organizational stakeholders were compiled in a conceptual framework.


There is an ever-increasing need for rapid methods and instrumentation in the field of food and feed quality. Key issues dealt with in the food and feed industry include: monitoring of processes at all stages; showing due diligence in the control of food and nutritional quality; achieving rapid results for detecting (micro)biological, chemical and physical deterioration of food and feed; and finally, detecting rapidly and reliably food authenticity and/or adulteration. Developments in analytical techniques have led to the emergence of a wide range of rapid methods to complement the traditional methods. Faster results, higher productivity, lower costs and increased sensitivity are key concepts for all those involved in writing this book. Key topics include: - emerging rapid technologies; - rapid monitoring of food and nutritional quality; - rapid testing of quality deterioration and spoilage; - rapid testing of authenticity and adulteration; - quality tracking & tracing and rapid testing. The methods and techniques presented here, in their varying degree of complexity, will be a valuable resource for researchers and professionals from the food and feed industry as well as from the scientific community.


In Stackelberg security games when information about the attacker's payoffs is uncertain, algorithms have been proposed to learn the optimal defender commitment by interacting with the attacker and observing their best responses. In this paper, we show that, however, these algorithms can be easily manipulated if the attacker responds untruthfully. As a key finding, attacker manipulation normally leads to the defender learning a maximin strategy, which effectively renders the learning attempt meaningless as to compute a maximin strategy requires no additional information about the other player at all. We then apply a game-theoretic framework at a higher level to counteract such manipulation, in which the defender commits to a policy that specifies her strategy commitment according to the learned information. We provide a polynomial-time algorithm to compute the optimal such policy, and in addition, a heuristic approach that applies even when the attacker's payoff space is infinite or completely unknown. Empirical evaluation shows that our approaches can improve the defender's utility significantly as compared to the situation when attacker manipulation is ignored.


Chapter 1: Earlier studies have consistently found evidence for productivity externalities of FDI through backward linkages. However, most studies do not use direct measures of backward linkages, nor do they further investigate what exactly generates these productivity externalities. Using a unique dataset from the Chinese automotive industry, which provides direct supply linkage measures, this study shows that compared with suppliers that only sell to domestic brands, the total factor productivity premium is about 16.7 percent for auto parts suppliers that sell to at least one foreign brand. Employing difference-in-differences estimation, a causal link from backward linkages to the suppliers' productivity growth is also established. Specifically, auto parts suppliers' productivity grows by 25.5 percent in the first year after formal supply relationships are forged with foreign joint venture automakers, and productivity continues to grow at least over the next two years. The case study further identifies knowledge transfer from joint venture automakers as an important source of productivity gains in local suppliers. It also offers three caveats that need to be taken into account when interpreting the observed productivity externalities in the econometric analyses. Chapter 2: Intellectual property piracy is widely believed, by authorities in both U.S. industry and government, to be rampant in China. Because we lack evidence on the rate at which unpaid consumption displaces paid consumption, we know little about the size of the effect of pirate consumption on the volume of paid consumption. We provide direct evidence on both the volume of unpaid consumption and the rate of sales displacement for movies in China using two surveys administered in late 2008 and mid-2009. First, using a survey of Chinese college students' movie consumption and an empirical approach parallel to a similar recent study of U.S. college students, we find that three quarters of movie consumption is unpaid and that each instance of unpaid consumption displaces 0.14 paid consumption instances. Second, a survey of online Chinese consumers reveals similar patterns of paid and unpaid movie consumption but a displacement rate of roughly zero. We speculate on the small displacement rate finding relative to most of the piracy literature. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Applied Economics First Advisor Howard Pack


FORTMED 2015 is the first International Conference on Modern Age Fortifications of the Western Mediterranean coast. The conference will take place on October 15th, 16th and 17th 2015, at the Ciudad Politecnica de la Innovacion, of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV). The conference's main objective is the exchange of knowledge and sharing for the better understanding, assessment, management and exploitation of culture and heritage that developed on the Mediterranean coast in the modern age, taking into account the wide distribution of these results. The Conference has an interdisciplinary aim where architects, engineers, archaeologists, historians, geographers, cartographers, heritage managers, tourism experts, experts in restoration-conservation and promotion of heritage will participate. The idea is to provide a more inclusive, more real and more up to date views, leading us to the point where we could find the investigations of this matter, in the twenty-first century. The theme is centered on the fortifications of the western Mediterranean (Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) in the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, although it does not exclude other Mediterranean countries and other fortifications from this era. http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2015.2015.1978


A reproducible protocol for in vitro shoot regeneration and plantlet establishment was developed from hypocotyl-derived callus explants of Foeniculum vulgare. Callus induction frequency was the highest (92%) on SH (Schenk & Hildebrandt) medium supplemented with 4.44 μM BA (N 6 -benzyladenine) and 1.34 μM NAA (α-naphthaleneacetic acid) followed by 86% and 80% on MS (Murashige & Skoog) and NN (Nitsch & Nitsch) medium respectively after 40 d of culture. The organogenic callus induced better shoot regeneration frequency (92%) on SH medium containing 6.66 μM BA as compared to 87% and 75% on MS and NN medium respectively. The highest number of 9.2 shoots per callus explant was achieved with the mean shoot length of 5.48 cm on SH medium supplemented with 6.66 μM BA followed by decreasing shoot production of 8.2 shoots and 7.3 shoots per callus explant on MS and NN medium respectively. The in vitro regenerated shoots produced the maximum root induction frequency of 94% on SH medium with 1.34 μM NAA, while on MS and NN media,frequencies of root induction were 86% and 77% respectively. There were 6.6 roots per shoot with an average root length of 6.4 cm on SH medium with a level of1.34 μM NAA, while MS and NN media with the same level of auxin (1.34 μM NAA) induced an average of 5.8 and 5.3 roots per shoot respectively after 60 d of culture. In vitro derived plantlets acclimated successfully with 100 % survival.


COMMENTARY: President Joko Widodo's announcement in May 2015 that Indonesia would allow foreign journalists to have access to West Papua was widely, but cautiously, welcomed. Some journalists decided to have another attempt at getting into this region, long cordoned off to outside access. The labyrinthine process of applying for a journalist visa was a warning that change does not happen overnight for West Papua media freedom. On the ground, it is a risky business for a journalist covering West Papua. Local independent journalists, especially, face regular threats. The attackers are empowered by the knowledge that there is no formal accountability processes over intimidation and the murder of journalists or media workers. However, there appears to be a genuine hope that President Jokowi's term in office represents a small window of opportunity for improvement for Papua. The handling of journalists and media freedom in West Papua is very much a test case for this. Watch this space.


A summary of our findings is briefly made. A functional examination of the kidneys did not allow any differentiation between the results of vascular and parenchymal damage. This was true, as is emphasized in the arrangement of Charts 1 and 2, in the case of both glomerular and tubular dysfunction for it is seen that the type of functional derangement is identical in the two types of damage. Anatomical examination of the kidneys on the other hand showed definite differences in the state of the kidneys in the two types of damage, whether the dysfunction was glomerular or tubular. Certain points should be emphasized here. First, the validity of these results is not dependent on any particular interpretation of the significance of the functional phenomena observed. Whatever the anatomical relations between the two circulations in the kidney, whether urea, salts, dyes or water is excreted by one mechanism or another, no matter what part "filtration" or "absorption" may play in the elaboration of the final urine, the fact remains that the status of the function of these kidneys was identical, no matter how its functional state came into being, when an anatomical examination showed their actual condition to be significantly different. The fact that vascular disturbances, if of sufficient duration may in turn produce parenchymal changes complicates the problem still further, for in lesions that spontaneously develop in the kidney the mixture of vascular and parenchymal disturbances is so intimate that the functional results become infinitely more difficult of interpretation. Our previous studies have shown that even in the controlled extravital experiment conditions and relations of functional and structural response may thus become exceedingly complex (2). These complications were purposely avoided in the present study, however, by making the period of vascular disturbance short. Also, and again for the purpose of simplification, the toxic agent which caused the parenchymal disturbances was used in low enough concentration to produce only the less complex of the structural alterations that may follow its contact with the cells. And for the same reasons the simplicity of the general conditions existing in the perfusion experiments deserves special emphasis. Every element of the circulating fluid that is going to the kidneys is known and may be varied at will. Every constituent of the urine formed from this fluid can be accurately determined and compared with its condition in the circulating fluid. We have given in our experiments only rates of excretion but "concentration factors," "ratios," "clearances" or any other formulae might be calculated, without altering the conclusion that the functional status of the organs in the two types of damage, vascular and parenchymal, was identical. All these contrasts between the simplicity of our experiments and the complexity that must obtain when the problem is investigated in the living animal, particularly if mammals are used whose renal activity is only partially understood, add considerable weight to the conclusion that functional examination is unable to differentiate between two types of damage of very different significance, the one vascular, transient and reversible, the other parenchymal, permanent and, as far as the cells involved are concerned, irreparable. It might seem that a similar result is the proper conclusion to be drawn from the long series of similar attempts by clinical and experimental study to determine the condition of the kidneys from functional examinations. But it has been and apparently still is hoped, perhaps because in such examinations relations are so complex and involved that nothing seems beyond hope, that some refinement in method or the use of some selectively excreted substance, such as a dye or other foreign substance, may distinguish between the two conditions of vascular and parenchymal disturbance. The answer of our experiments is that the apparent similarity in the findings of the functional tests in the two cases is in fact an identity in the functional state in the two conditions though produced by different mechanisms; and there remains no reason to suppose that any procedure could distinguish between differences that in fact do not exist. The observation of the anatomical changes in the kidneys of our experiments allowed on the other hand a ready determination of the significance of the alteration that existed in the two conditions of damage, since the fate of the organ could be predicted directly from the structural alterations observed. In our experiments the observations were made by histological means; other methods which have been shown by postmortem pathological evidence to be valid and to give similar information, are however available (7). A final point in these experiments may be emphasized, well known perhaps, but often insufficiently appreciated, namely, a weakness in the anatomical approach to the problem. The morphologist is unable to describe even roughly the functional state of a kidney from its histological appearance. In certain cases of frank damage he may hazard a precarious guess, but severe functional disturbances may exist without any trace of structural derangement that can be seen by the eye. For all we know the converse may be true. And if such is the case in the simple and controlled conditions of our experiments, how can one venture to speculate on the significance or functional effects of inflamed glomeruli, abnormal tubules and sclerosed vessels as explaining some complicated clinical observation, the exact physiological basis of which is indeed unknown? Until the fundamental correlation of the two aspects of damage, functional derangement and structural change, has been made the whole problem of the abnormal kidney must remain not only unsolved but unsolvable.


This paper reports the development of performance indicators of a river basin management organization's ability to undertake integrated water resources management, and applies them to a US basin organization: a river basin commission. Integrated water resources management (IWRM) and integrated river basin management (IRBM) are defined, in the context of international and US advances in IWRM and IRBM. A suite of good governance factors was assembled from the reviews of consultants' practical experiences in river basin management, peer-reviewed literature, government reports and policy statements, and reports of river basin management practice. A list of impediments to the implementation of IRBM was also assembled. These sources were used as the data set to develop 115 indicators of best practice in IRBM; these indicators were grouped into ten categories: coordinated decision-making, responsive decision-making, goals and goal shift, financial sustainability, organizational design, role of law, training and capacity building, information and research, accountability and monitoring, private and public sector roles. This paper reports the results of a facilitated workshop with the Delaware River Basin Commission's staff and stakeholders to apply the indicators to their setting. The outcome of the workshop was a self-assessment tool for performance evaluation, involving triaging the basin organization situation, checking performance against 20 performance benchmarks and using 63 performance indicators for basin commission settings. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues surrounding the application of the performance indicators to other US basins and commissions.


The aim of this study was to assess the effect of low or high whole-of-life nutritional planes on bone growth, maturation, and carcass composition in lambs from sires (n = 9) with high estimated breeding values (EBVs) for post-weaning eye muscle depth (PEMD) or liveweight gain (PWWT), compared with sires of industry average for both traits. Lambs (n = 54) were killed at 8 months of age before measurement of forelimb bones, radiographic scoring, and histological measurement of growth plates, and bone ash mineral analysis. A subset of these (n = 36) had carcass composition serially assessed during growth by CAT-scan. Results reveal that the nutritional restriction imposed in this experiment caused significant restriction of skeletal growth, as reflected by shorter, thinner forelimb bones, altered limb proportions, narrowing (and in some cases permanent closure) of growth plates, and an altered bone mineral profile. CAT-scan analysis showed restriction of bone growth was similar to that of muscle growth. Progeny of high muscling (PEMD) sires showed greater muscle growth, but were possibly more susceptible to some of the skeletal effects of nutritional restriction. Greater sire EBVs for PEMD, PWWT, or fat depth were associated with narrower growth plates, suggestive of slower longitudinal bone growth and shorter adult limb length, although bone mass was not affected according to earlier CAT-scan data. Results also suggest that progeny of high PEMD or PWWT sires are earlier maturing in terms of skeletal (or at least limb) growth, although their bone mineral profile (magnesium content) was more consistent with that of physiologically less mature animals.


This article presents some new exergy‐based parameters for Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) for Black Sea trout (Salmo trutta labrax) at the Trabzon Central Fisheries Research Institute, Turkey. On the basis of the actual data employed, some environmental and sustainability aspects of the RAS are parametrically studied in terms of exergy parameters. In this regard, the exergetic parameters, such as exergetic efficiency, waste exergy ratio, exergy recoverability ratio, exergy destruction ratio, environmental impact factor, and exergetic sustainability index are proposed and investigated. The results show that mainly based on the operating principle of the RAS, increasing waste exergy ratio decreases the exergetic efficiency and exergetic sustainability index. However, any increase in waste exergy ratio results in an increasing environmental impact of the RAS. Thus, the RAS requires much more improvement because of the higher environmental impact factor and lower exergetic sustainability index during the operating the system. This is evident from the exergy recoverability ratios ranging from 0.27 to 0.37. Furthermore, studying these parameters indicates how much improvement is possible for the RAS to achieve better sustainability. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2011


This research assessed first-grade teachers' perspectives on using nonfiction text during guided reading and read-aloud lessons. Three teachers were all surveyed, observed, interviewed, and their classroom libraries were inventoried. Later the study revealed teachers' perspectives on using nonfiction text. The findings showed there was a positive correlation between teachers' increase in confidence and their use of the texts, and that teachers who had a high number of nonfiction texts in their classrooms incorporated the texts more often. The research gave implications for student learning which were students benefit from being taught about nonfiction text structure and nonfiction text engages students. It is recommended that teachers require education on nonfiction text and students need to be engaged with nonfiction text.


A tensegrity structure composed of six slender struts interconnected with 24 linearly elastic cables is used as a model of cell deformability. Struts are allowed to buckle under compression and their post-buckling behavior is determined from an energy formulation of the classical pin-ended Euler column. At the reference state, the cables carry initial tension balanced by forces exerted by struts. The structure is stretched uniaxially and the stretching force versus axial extension relationships are obtained for different initial cable tensions by considering equilibrium at the joints. Structural stiffness is calculated as the ratio of stretching force to axial extension. Predicted dependences of structural stiffness on initial cable tension and on stretching force are consistent with behaviors observed in living cells. These predictions are both qualitatively and quantitatively superior to those obtained previously from the model in which the struts are viewed as rigid.


Interpreters' reflexive coordination may promote different forms of mediation. Dialogic mediation, in particular, achieves promotion of active participation, displays sensitivity for the interlocutors' interests and/or needs, and treats alternative perspectives as reciprocal enrichment. Drawing on a set of healthcare interactions involving Arabic-speaking patients in Italian services, this chapter discusses interpreting actions of mediators included in sequences of dialogic mediation, in particular: (1) promotional questions, which encourage the production of personal narratives and narratives of illness on the part of patients; (2) multi-part expansions, where patients' stories are co-authored with mediators; (3) renditions as formulations, which focus on patients' problems, emotions and cultural background and involve healthcare providers in the interactional narrative. Dialogic mediation can be considered a form of negentropic interpretation, in that it provides the opportunity to exercise and recognise personal agency and hybridise different cultural voices.