The implementation of learning model along with the manipulative tools is a key of achievement of mathematic learning. The combination of learning together model and manipulative tool of 7 in 1 box is one of options for teacher in teaching mathematic in elementary school, because it has great effect of learning outcomes. This study aims to find out the effectiveness of learning together model assisted with 7 in 1 box toward the result of mathematic learning on 4rth grade students of SDN Gugus Bisma. This is a quasi experimental study using nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design. The population of 4th grade students of SDN Gugus Bisma was 135. Meanwhile, the sampling was conducted by using cluster sampling and it was obtained that 4th grade students of SDN 1 Sokawera as many as 30 students as experiment class and 4th grade of SDN 3 Sokawera as 25 students as control class. Data analysis by using z-test, gain and N-gain test, t-test. From the result of z-test it was obtained that z-table =1,64, on experiment class (z-score = 3,16) and control (z-score = 2.89). the result of analysis of gain test shows that the gain value of experiment class=22 and control class=15, meanwhile N-gain test shows that N-gain of experiment class= 0.58 and control class =0.40. both class show the increase of learning outcome of medium categ ory. From T-test it was obtaine tscore (4.41) > t-table (1.705), thus Ho was rejected. The conclusion shows that the implementation of learning together assisted with 7 in 1 box effective in increasing the study result of mathematic on 4th grade students of SDN Gugus Bisma


The paper describes the historical trajectory of filosefardismo and references to convivencia in Spain and its reflection in the legal and political culture and the Nation-building process. It considers not the presence of Judaism in contemporary Spanish law and society but, following the suggestions of David Nirenberg, how the references to Jews and to Judaism affected Spanish society, how the "Spanish Jewish question" influenced legal and political thought and the nation-building process in Spain.To trace this reinvention of the medieval Sephardim, the paper analyzes legal and political texts (laws, administrative texts and parliamentary debates) whose discourse about interpretation and/or legitimacy fulfilled important social and political functions in 19th century deliberations.


Introduction: In addition to its role in regulation of blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) components were expressed in many other tissues suggesting potential roles in their functions. Aim: The present study aims to evaluate the protective effect aliskiren, when used alone or in combination with azilsartan against high fat diet-induced liver disease in rats. Material and methods: Thirty-two Wistar male rats, weighing 150-200 gm were allocated evenly into four groups and treated as follow: group I, rats were fed a specially formulated high-fat diet for 8 weeks to induce non-alcoholic liver disease and considered as control group; groups II, III and IV, the rats were administered azilsartan (0.5 mg/kg), aliskiren (25 mg/kg) or their combination orally via gavage tube once daily, and maintained on high fat diet for 8 weeks. The possible treatment outcome was evaluated through measuring serum levels of glucose, insulin, lipid profile, TNF-α, IL-1β and liver enzymes. Additionally, the liver tissue contents of glycogen and lipids and histological changes were also evaluated. Result: The results showed that azilsartan significantly improves the studied markers greater than aliskiren, and their combination o has no additive or synergistic effects on the activity of each one of them. Conclusion: Both azilsartan and aliskiren protects the rats against high-fat diet induced NAFLD with predominant effects for the former, and their combination showed no beneficial synergistic or additive effects.


Systems which automatically transcribe carefully dictated speech are now commercially available, but their performance degrades dramatically when the speaking style of users becomes more relaxed or conversational. This dissertation focuses on techniques that aim to improve the robustness of statistical speech transcription systems to conversational speaking styles. The dissertation shows first that the performance degradation occuring as speech becomes more conversational is severe and is partially attributable to differences in the acoustic realizations of sentences. Hypothesizing that the quantifiably wider range of pronunciation in conversational speech contributes to these differences, the dissertation then focuses on techniques for modelling the phonological processes underlying pronunciation change. Such techniques may be classified as explicit (operating at or close to the level of the word pronunciation dictionary) or implicit (operating at or close to the subword statistical models of the acoustic signal) and both types are considered. An existing explicit technique, motivated by linear phonology and originally evaluated on a dictated speech task, has recently been extended for conversational speech tasks. Rather than model pronunciations using phonemic units (which are by definition abstract units with highly variable acoustic realizations), a statistical mapping is constructed from the abstract phonemic units to their context-dependent realizations as surface phonetic units (which are by definition less abstract and less variable in acoustic realizations). If the map from phonemic units to phonetic realizations is sufficiently accurate, the task of modelling the acoustic realizations of words should be simplified. Small but statistically significant performance improvements can be obtained on the SWITCHBOARD transcription task. However, further experiments by the author and by other researchers suggest that schemes modelling pronunciation change in terms of speech "segments" have only limited potential. This analysis suggests a more implicit approach capable of describing variable degrees of pronunciation change at levels below the segment may be more appropriate. This motivates investigation into a family of statistical models that could form the basis of such an approach: Loosely-coupled or Factorial Hidden Markov Models (FHMMs). The theory of FHMMs is described and it is then shown that they generalize several standard speech models. Two specific FHMMs are investigated. Analysis of an existing FHMM in the literature the Mixed-Memory Assumption FHMM finds it has potential weaknesses for speech modelling. This leads us to propose a new FHMM the Parameter-Tied FHMM which makes fewer a-priori assumptions about the data to be modelled. Estimation and decoding of FHMMs is potentially computationally expensive, so approximate algorithms are also developed. Empirical studies using the ISOLET speech classification task show (1) FHMMs scale to speech modelling tasks (2) the Parameter-Tied FHMM achieves performance comparable to the Mixed-Memory Assumption FHMM for speech modelling and (3) identify an approximate algorithm for decoding and estimation that is adequate for more extensive experimentation. A short study using the TI DIGITS task shows that FHMMs can be scaled to continuous speech recognition whilst continuing to achieve classification performance competitive with more conventional models. The thesis ends with a summary and possible directions for future research.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Neil F. Johnson. No. of pages in text. (183) Quantifying the behavior of complex systems arguably presents the common "hard" problem across the physical, biological, social, economic sciences [1]. Individual-based or agent-based models have proved useful in a variety of different real world systems: from the physical, biological, medical domains through to social and even financial domains. There are many different models in each of these fields, each with their own particular assumptions, strengths and weaknesses for particular application areas. However, there is a lack of minimal model analysis in which both numerical and analytic results can be obtained, and hence allowing different application domains to be analyzed on a common footing. This thesis focuses on a few simple, yet highly non-trivial, minimal models of a population of interacting objects (so-called agents) featuring internal dynamical grouping. In addition to analyzing these models, I apply them to a number of distinct real world systems. Both the numerical and analytical results suggest that these simple models could be key factors in explaining the overall collective behavior and emergent properties in a wide range of real world complex systems. In particular, I study variants of a particular model (called the EZ model) in order to explain the attrition time in modern conflicts, and the evolution of contagion phenomena in such a dynamically evolving population. I also study and explain the empirical data obtained for online guilds and offline gangs, leading to a team-based model which captures the common quantitative features of the data. I then move on to develop a resource competition model (i.e. the so-called El Farol model) and apply it to the carbon emissions market, mapping the different market factors into model parameters which enable me to explore the potential market behaviors under a variety of


Mergers and acquisitions are the important process in the banking industry to make financial gains enormously. Main aim of merger and acquisition in the banking sectors is to improve the economies of scale. A merger means combination of two companies into one company. During the merging process one company survives and the other company loses their corporate existence. On the other hand acquisition means takeover. Mergers and acquisitions are these days common choices for business survival and development. They imply the difference of enterprises to new conditions being one in every of them, the mixing of the enterprises concerned within the deal. That integration is achieved through strategic actions in structure processes and structures, in addition as through the management of the subjective conditions that support human performance. one in every of these conditions is that the individual and team identities. The identity plays a vital mediating role within the adaptation and integration as a result of the mutual acknowledgment of the self and therefore the different in any social interaction has the facility to influence the social interaction. Mergers and acquisition bank not only gets new brand name, new structures, product offerings but additionally give opportunities to cross sell the new accounts acquired. The process of mergers and acquisition is not new in the banking industry. This paper deals with the mergers and acquisitions, types of merger, legal framework, approval of Reserve Bank of India and historical perspectives of banks M&A, impact of mergers and acquisition in banking industry.


Programs that help older adults live independently in the community can also deliver net savings to states on the costs of long-term supports and services. We estimate that if all states had increased by 1 percent the number of adults age sixty-five or older who received home-delivered meals in 2009 under Title III of the Older Americans Act, total annual savings to states' Medicaid programs could have exceeded $109 million. The projected savings primarily reflect decreased Medicaid spending for an estimated 1,722 older adults with low care needs who would no longer require nursing home care--instead, they could remain at home, sustained by home-delivered meals. Twenty-six states could have realized net savings in 2009 from the expansion of their home-delivered meals programs, while twenty-two states would have incurred net costs. Programs such as home-delivered meals have the potential to provide substantial savings to some states' Medicaid programs.


(ABSTRACT) Determining the optimum computer architecture configuration for a specific application or a generic algorithm is a difficult task. The complexity involved in today's computer architectures and systems makes it more difficult and expensive to easily and economically implement and test full functional prototypes of computer architectures. High level VHDL performance modeling of architectures is an efficient way to rapidly prototype and evaluate computer architectures. Determining the architecture configuration is fixed, one would like to know the tolerance and expected performance of individual/critical components and also what would be the best way to map the software tasks onto the processor(s). Trade-offs and engineering compromises can be analyzed and the effects of certain component failures and communication bottlenecks can be studied. A part of the research work done for the RASSP (Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors) project funded by Department of Defense contracts is documented in this thesis. The architectures modeled include a single-processor, single-global-bus system; a four processor, single-global-bus system; a four processor, multiple-local-bus, single-global-bus system; and finally, a four processor multiple-local-bus system interconnected by a crossbar interconnection switch. The iii hardware models used are mostly legacy/inherited models from an earlier project and they were upgraded, modified and customized to suit the current research needs and requirements. The software tasks that are run on the processors are pieces of the signal and image processing algorithm run on the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The communication between components/devices is achieved in the form of tokens which are record structures. The output is a trace file which tracks the passage of the tokens through various components of the architecture. The output trace file is post-processed to obtain activity plots and latency plots for individual components of the architecture. iv v Acknowledgments


The aim of this programme of work was to examine how the manipulation of organismic and task constraints affected movement variability during a basketball shooting task. The specific constraints that were manipulated included task expertise, state anxiety and dioptric blur (organismic constraints), and, shooting distance and attentional focus instruction (task constraints). The aim of Study 1 was to investigate the effect of shooting distance and task expertise on movement variability. Task expertise was characterised by decreased coordination variability and heightened compensatory variability between wrist, elbow and shoulder joints. However, no significant difference was found in joint angle variability at release as a function of task expertise. There was no significant change in movement variability with shooting distance, a finding that was consistent across all expertise groups. In Study 2, the aims were to examine the effect of induced dioptric blur on shooting performance and movement variability during basketball free-throw shooting, and, to ascertain whether task expertise plays a mediating role in the capacity to stabilise performance against impaired visual information. Significant improvements in shooting performance were noted with the introduction of moderate visual blur (+1.00 and +2.00 D). This performance change was evident in both expert and novice performers. Only with the onset of substantial dioptric blur (+3.00 D), equivalent to the legal blindness limit, was there a significant decrease in coordination variability. Despite the change in coordination variability at +3.00 D, there was no significant difference in shooting performance when compared to the baseline condition. The aims of Study 3 were to examine the effect of elevated anxiety on shooting performance and movement variability and, again, to determine whether task expertise plays a mediating role in stabilising performance and movement kinematics against perturbation from emotional fluctuations. Commensurate with the results of Study 2, both expert and novice performers were able to stabilise performance and movement kinematics, this time with elevated anxiety. Stabilisation was achieved through the allocation of additional attentional resources to the task. Study 4, had two aims. The first was to examine the interactive effects of practice and focus of attention on both performance and learning of an accuracy-based, discrete multi-articular action. The second was to identify potential focus-dependent changes on joint kinematics, intra-limb coordination and coordination variability. Support was found for the role of an external focus of attention on shooting performance during both acquisition and retention. However, there was evidence to suggest that internal focus instruction could play a pivotal role in shaping emerging patterns of intra-limb coordination and channelling the learners" search towards a smaller range of kinematic solutions within the perceptual-motor workspace. Collectively, this programme of work consistently highlighted the fundamental role that constraints play in governing shooting performance, movement variability and, more broadly, perceptual-motor organisation. For instance, task expertise was characterised by decreased coordination variability and heightened compensatory control. However, in light of the data pertaining to joint angle variability at release, general assumptions about expertise-variability relations cannot be made and should be viewed with caution. In addition, there is strong evidence to suggest that adaptation to constraints is, perhaps, a universal human response, and consequently not mediated by task expertise. Further research is needed to fully elucidate this proposition.


. Maize dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) is a valuable ingredient in the swine industry but when incorporated into diets at high levels (40%) poor flowability of the feed often results. Researchers have investigated the physical properties of DDGS and use of anti-caking agents to determine their influence on flowability but few studies have evaluated effects of feed storage structures on flowability. Thus, two experiments were designed to evaluate the effects of feed bin design and passive agitator use on flowability of a commercial swine finishing diet containing 40% DDGS. Six bins of three different designs were used, which included: a galvanized steel, seamless bin with a 60° cone (Steel60; Dealers Livestock, Glenwood, Minn.); a galvanized, corrugated steel bin with a 67° cone (Steel67; PigTek, Milford, Ind.); and a white, polyethylene bin with a 60° cone (Poly60; Prairie Pride, Winnipeg, MB). In Experiment 1, rate of feed flow from each bin was assessed on days 3, 7, and 21 post-feed delivery. Feed flow from Poly60 (736.8 kg/min) was faster than Steel60 (602.9 kg/min), with Steel67 having intermediate flow (663.3 kg/min). In Experiment 2, passive feed flow agitators (Sure Flo Agitator, Farmer Boy Ag Supply, Myerstown, Pa.) were installed in one bin of each design. Feed flow was evaluated on days 2, 3, 6, 7, 20, and 21 post-feed delivery. Feed flow from Poly60 (900.7 kg/min) was greater than flow from either Steel60 (826.7 kg/min) or Steel67 (843.8 kg/min). The passive agitator increased flow in Poly60 (970.0 vs. 831.4 kg/min), tended to improve feed flow in Steel67 (880.2 vs. 807.4 kg/min), but had no effect in Steel60 (826.8 vs. 826.7 kg/min). Results indicate feed bin design can influence flowability of feed containing 40% DDGS. Of the bins tested, the passive agitator appeared to improve feed flow in some, but not all bin designs.


Abstract. Increase in building complexity can cause difficulties orienting people, especially people with reduced mobility. This work presents a methodology to enable the direct use of indoor point clouds as navigable models for pathfinding. Input point cloud is classified in horizontal and vertical elements according to inclination of each point respect to n neighbour points. Points belonging to the main floor are detected by histogram application. Other floors at different heights and stairs are detected by analysing the proximity to the detected main floor. Then, point cloud regions classified as floor are rasterized to delimit navigable surface and occlusions are corrected by applying morphological operations assuming planarity and taking into account the existence of obstacles. Finally, point cloud of navigable floor is downsampled and structured in a grid. Remaining points are nodes to create navigable indoor graph. The methodology has been tested in two real case studies provided by the ISPRS benchmark on indoor modelling. A pathfinding algorithm is applied to generate routes and to verify the usability of generated graphs. Generated models and routes are coherent with selected motor skills because routes avoid obstacles and can cross areas of non-acquired data. The proposed methodology allows to use point clouds directly as navigation graphs, without an intermediate phase of generating parametric model of surfaces.


TITLE: A Maximum Entropy Approach to Identifying Important Statistical Moments to Best-Represent Spray Distribution Data AUTHOR: Cheng Chen MAJOR ADVISOR: Mark Archambault, Ph.D. To obtain accurate spray droplet size and velocity distributions, higher-order statistical moments are needed. The Maximum Entropy formalism has been successfully used to predict the motion of spray flow in different models. This work is mainly focused on the use of the fourth-order moment combinations to calculate droplet probability density functions using the Maximum Entropy Formalism. Beginning with the second-order moment combinations, Lagrange multipliers have been calculated subject to given moment constraints, defining the probability density function. All lower moments are included when calculating the possible different higher-order moment combinations. From the results, each moment combination generated a set of unique Lagrange multipliers. An error analysis, defined as the average deviation between the numerical data and experimental data set and the iii tendency of numerical errors, decreases with the increasing number of constraints. The important moment combinations are the ones with the least average deviation. A frequency analysis is used to show some of the moments that might significantly affect the probability density functions' shape. By involving all of the high-frequency moments, a significant quantitive effect of probability density functions and saving the computation cost could become present. Meanwhile, a special comparison shows that all of the lower moments are necessary to be included for calculating the higher-order moment.


This article examines the translation of the Koran in the Java language with title Kitab al-Qur'an Tarjamah Basa Jawi "Assalaam" by H. Abu Taufiq S. The focus of study in this article is to disclose the background and motivation of the writing of Tarjamah Qur 'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam", revealing the methods used and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the Book Tarjamah Qur'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam". In addition this article also reveals the community's response to the study of the Koran in the Book Tarjamah Qur'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam". The analysis of the conclusions in the can are: First, the background and motivation of writing / preparation of the book of the Qur'an Tarjamah Basa Jawi "Assalaam", in addition to the need for further efforts of the grounding of the Koran is based on impulse some Quran verses. In addition, the Book Tarjamah Qur'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam" was also inspired by the many customers Jum'ah Khutbah book series. Second, the preparation method is the translation of the book according to the methods specified scholars associated with the rules of interpretation as well as relevant rules that must be obeyed. Third, while the excess is technically a book has been systematically arranged, so as to facilitate the reading and searching the desired passages, the translation has been through the process of interpretation, referring to the various books of tafsir, making it easier for readers to understand the biological paragraph. While the drawbacks is that unfortunate book Tarjamah Qur'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam" has not been evenly distributed, the new focus on the region of Central Java and Yogyakarta, designations in the form of volumes according to juz-Juz sometimes cut relationship between the verse being translated. Then the functional advantages is that for the Javanese in particular, Tarjamah Qur'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam" become an important reference in the framework of the Islamic propaganda, which is close to the psychological and cultural basis. Fourth, since the release, the book Tarjamah Qur'an Basa Jawi "Assalaam" is a demand and a boost by the various parties, both from the congregation culturally and ulema officially through the government. It is not surprising presence responded very positively by the public.


Abstract.
 Three new ophiuran species, Enakomusium whymanae n. sp., Aspidophiura? seren n. sp., and Ophiotitanos smithi n. sp., and an unnamed specimen assignable to the genus Dermocoma are described from the Callovian to Oxfordian Oxford Clay Formation of Great Britain. These determinations are based on new finds and a critical reassessment of historic specimens. The Oxford Clay ophiuroids represent two loose assemblages, one from the middle Callovian Peterborough Member and the other from the lower Oxfordian Weymouth Member. Both assemblages accord well with coeval midshelf mud bottom ophiuroid communities in terms of taxonomic composition and relative abundance of taxa. The British Oxford Clay ophiuroids are particularly significant as they are one of the rare instances where multiple species are represented, almost exclusively, by exceptionally preserved articulated skeletons. This provides an important window into the understanding of mid-Upper Jurassic ophiuroid paleobiology.


Service composition is widely applied in different applications. One key issue is how to model and analyze time-related properties for service composition. A model called service composition time-constrained Petri Net (SCTNet) is proposed in the paper, which is capable of capturing time behavior of services accurately. The basic relationships, priority and preemption between services are characterized, meanwhile the transaction properties of service are also considered. Based on this, we present the concept of the greatest concurrent set and analyze the consistency of overtime handling based on the state space of the model. Finally, a heuristic algorithm for schedule computation is created and the experiments are given to explain the feasibility of our method.


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a popular radiology technique that is used for visualizing detailed internal structure of the body. Observed MRI images are generated by the inverse Fourier transformation from received frequency signals of a magnetic resonance scanner system. Previous research has demonstrated that random noise involved in the observed MRI images can be described adequately by the so‐called Rician noise model. Under that model, the observed image intensity at a given pixel is a nonlinear function of the true image intensity and of two independent zero‐mean random variables with the same normal distribution. Because of such a complicated noise structure in the observed MRI images, denoised images by conventional denoising methods are usually biased, and the bias could reduce image contrast and negatively affect subsequent image analysis. Therefore, it is important to address the bias issue properly. To this end, several bias‐correction procedures have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we study the Rician noise model and the corresponding bias‐correction problem systematically and propose a new and more effective bias‐correction formula based on the regression analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. Numerical studies show that our proposed method works well in various applications. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This research examines the information seeking behaviours of law students; in the context of using mobile technologies to search for and retrieve academic legal information. Law students have been exposed to a variety of legal resources which are accessible in both paper-based and electronic formats. The latter is of specific interest given that it has increasingly been ported onto mobile form factors; providing unprecedented access to legal content to students without the physical restrictions that paper-based resources traditionally were inhibited by.

This cohort's interaction with text-based resources (rather than data) is significant, leading to our interest, resulting in the undertaking that builds towards an original contribution of knowledge. In addition to the law student cohort, this research also engaged with academic law librarians; whose input provided an overarching perspective on the consumption of legal content by law students. Their insight into the design, provision and promotion of legal information services by vendors of said products was well founded and of great value.

Achieved through a mixed methodology and the utilisation of a variety of research tools fielded at the cohorts, this research extracts significant empirical data through statistical analysis which is articulated to further enhance our discovery and understanding of the subject landscape. The outcome of which is a proposal of a law students information seeking behaviour model (LSISBM) that maps out a law students' information seeking journey as they search for legal information using a variety of technologies available at their disposal.

The proposed model is refined through a multi-staged research approach and our tools are developed as we successfully engage some 28 academic law librarians and participation from circa 100 law students spanning all four home countries that comprise of the U.K. Key themes arising throughout the research effort included the intangibility of digital resources vs. the tangibility of paper-based content and the perceived reliance on digitally-based legal research tools.

The latter observation challenging the traditional law student information seeking behaviours, as described by academic law librarians, where research skills once acquired by legal practitioners as a rite of passage and part of the profession were now under clear threat from an increasingly digitised legal information corpus.

This research uncovered a digitally aware law student cohort, confident in the transitive use of technologies to access legal content with little appreciation for non-digital content and limited understanding of analogue research methods. This newly emerging behaviour challenges the traditional position where the focus has been on utilising extensive, and at times laborious, manual research skills - often crucial to retrieving legal content of relevance - from the vast array of paper-based legal content. From these findings, this research output is further complemented by delivering a set of recommendations for academic law librarians and legal product vendors which can be used to better inform on the management of legal information resources.


At the focus of the article is how the process of generating oral history contributes to the creation of gendered history. I follow two paths to proof my hypothesis that researchers participate in the creation and reinforcement of gender stereotypes and engendering the subject. First, I analyse life story interviews with female and male survivors of the Mauthausen concentration camp, concerning how the interviewees draw genders, and about which gendered topics do wo/men speak (or do not speak). Second, I look at the role of the interviewer: what kind of questions does s/he ask women respectively men, and do gender-specific questions produce otherwise non-mentioned topics or reduce interviewees to their assumed gender roles. The analysis shows that doing gender is a common pattern in oral history interviews and therefore needed to be reflected on.


The problem of conflicting social spheres occurs when communications are simultaneously visible to multiple audiences within a social network, as commonly occurs on social network sites (SNS). In this environment users may suffer from social anxiety as they worry that communications seen as negative by certain audiences may be shared with those same groups. This issue rests on four assumptions: (1) that a social network encompasses a variety of social spheres, (2) that users believe they are being watched by these spheres, (3) that the social spheres differ in the norms, standards and expectations they hold about an individual and (4) that users largely do not employ measures to separate communications to different spheres. The present research aims to provide evidence for these assumptions. Self-discrepancy theory (SDT) [1] is used as a lens to view social norms, and as a novel way of understanding social spheres. Moreover, the research investigates any link between the magnitude of ought self-discrepancies and the social anxiety felt between relational dyads. An online survey with 313 participants offers strong support for these assumptions and provides evidence of a significant association between the magnitude of negative ought-other discrepancies and anxiety within dyads. This evidence strengthens the argument that SNS can cause anxiety and tension in social relations.


The purpose of this study is to develop a planned intervention in the health care sector in Bahrain to improve the self-control of healthcare employees by using the Behavioral Change Wheel (BCW) anew method for characterizing and designing behavior change. Hence, the study applies a longitudinal methodology to the healthcare sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain for a sample of 64 participants from November 2019 to January 2020. The procedures of this planned change task occupy three stages, based on Kurt Lewin change field theory: Stage 1 (pre-assessment of employees'self-control using the Brief Self Control Scale (BSCS) questionnaire);Stage 2: planned intervention employing the BCW as a new method of change): and Stage 3 (post assessment by repeating the self-control measurement, and comparing the new results with the previous ones). The findings reveal that the 13Items of the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS) provided different results over the three stages of the study. In Stage 1 (pre-assessment) the level of self-control level was low, but had improved in stage 3 (post-assessment). This is original research that adds to the body of knowledge by developing and validating a new model in changing human behavior, i.e. the change behavior stages (CBS) model. Practically, this study is the only one of its kind to apply the Brief Self Control Scale (BSCS) and the BCW in the health sector. The BCW has been alsoconfirmed as a "valid" and "reliable" instrument that can be used by future researchers to improve human behavior in organizations.


Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness,
 limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular
 music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the
 two has seen music and politics "reduced to their lowest common denominator" (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popular music to
 articulate party specific discourses. Leaning on Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and musicology, I
 analyse the lyrics, visuals and musical sounds of musical advertisements prepared for two Turkish political
 events: A parliamentary election campaign and a presidential referendum campaign. Through a detailed analysis
 I reveal the discourses articulated, how these are articulated and the strengths and shortcomings of musical
 advertisements as a means of communicating party political discourses.


Research has been conducted for more than 20 years in both developed and developing countries in the attempt to develop a safe, effective, and reversible hormonal method of contraception for men. A variety of hormonal compounds and contraceptive delivery systems, including injections, pills, implants, and patches, are therefore currently being investigated. Limited funding and a lack of commercial interest in regulating male fertility have, however, slowed progress. It seems that pharmaceutical companies doubt the existence of a market for hormonal contraceptives for men and fear the potential for litigation. Clinical trials, supported by the World Health Organization, of a hormonal method have nonetheless yielded encouraging results. One multicenter study injected men weekly with testosterone enanthate to induce azoospermia. A second study investigated whether the state of complete azoospermia induced by the injections was necessary for contraceptive efficacy. Testosterone enanthate demonstrated its potential application as a hormonal method of contraception for men, but the frequent injections required over the course of 3-4 months to achieve oligozoospermia are impractical. In addition, above normal levels of testosterone result immediately after injection. Testosterone enanthate in future trials will be combined with another hormone to shorten the time needed to achieve a contraceptive effect, or a new formulation which requires less frequent injections and does not produce a physiological peak. A newly formulated product could be ready for introductory trials by 2000. The author presents information from focus group discussions and questionnaires completed by men who volunteered for the trials. Their feedback adds to the limited body of evidence indicating the potential acceptance of a hormonal method of contraception for men.


Loess and loess-like sediments cover approximately 13% of the Bulgarian territory, mainly within the Danubian plain. From the Danube River to the Fore-Balkan, the loess soils form a loess complex where its depth varies from 50–60 meters in the north to few meters in the south, respectively. Widespread loess sediments possess a specific feature: they typically form deep unsaturated zones. Quantification of the near surface water balance is extremely important for evaluating land-atmosphere interactions, and the impact of land-use change on the subsurface flow and the evapotranspiration rate is an essential term in this quantification. In the frames of a scientific project, an automatic weather station was installed in a typical plain terrain of the loess complex in Northeast Bulgaria, recording meteorological data from September 2015 to February 2017. This study provides a mathematical description of processes (i.e., Penman-Monteith and Hargreaves Methods) used to estimate daily evapotranspiration rates implemented into the numerical model HYDRUS-1D, as well as a respective rate investigation of months with and without intensive rainfalls. Overall results indicate that using the Hargreaves formula for evaluation of the potential evapotranspiration leads to overestimation between 10% and 20%, respectively for a "wet" and "dry" month. Gerginov, P., Antonov, D. 2019. Estimation of evapotranspiration rate by using the Penman– Monteith and Hargreaves formulas for the loess in Northeast Bulgaria complex with HYDRUS-1D. Geologica Balcanica 48 (3), 3–9.


BACKGROUND
The 72-h quantitative fecal fat test has been mostly obsolete for many years. Our objective was to reduce and eliminate the use of this test, while providing suitable alternatives.

METHODS
We assessed (2010-2016) utilization of the fecal fat test in Calgary, Central Alberta, and Southern Alberta, Canada. Alternatives were identified through literature review and consultation with gastroenterologist stakeholders. Logistic regression and ROC curves were used to characterize discrimination power of 72-h specimen weight on abnormal fat excretion. This was also examined in 91 subspecimens that were additionally tested for the presence of fat globules.

RESULTS
As 69% of fecal fat tests (total, 106/year) were on adults (age ≥ 18), stakeholders agreed that adult specimens should not be tested until ordering physicians consulted with a clinical biochemist. This change reduced fecal fat testing by 81% to 20/year in 2015. The 72-h specimen weight was a significant predictor of abnormal fat excretion [P < 0.001; area under curve (AUC) = 0.75-0.79, n = 115-417] in historic fecal fat data. A similar result was observed among subspecimens (AUC = 0.70), which improved when additionally considering the presence of fat globules (AUC = 0.74). Stakeholders consented to replacing fecal fat with a comparison of specimen weight to cutpoints with 80% specificity for abnormal fat excretion, and the test for fat globules.

CONCLUSION
Through stakeholder engagement, we implemented changes that eliminated 72-h quantitative fecal fat testing in a large geographic region in Alberta, Canada. Future fecal fat orders would be reflexed to an assessment of 72-h specimen weight and a qualitative test for fat globules in stool.


1. The function of mitochondria, sarcotubular membranes (heavy microsomes), sarcolemma and myofibrils from the hind-leg skeletal muscle of about 60- and 150-day-old normal and myopathic (UM-X7.1) hamsters was examined. 2. The mitochondrial calcium uptake as well as mitochondrial phosphorylation and respiratory rates were lower in 60-day-old myopathic skeletal muscle, unlike 150-day-old myopathic animals, when pyruvate-malate and glutamate-malate were used as substrates. However, mitochondria from 150-day-old myopathic animals showed depressed glutamate-dependent respiratory and phosphorylation rates and succinate-supported initial rate of calcium uptake. 3. The microsomal calcium-uptake, but not calcium-binding, and Ca2+-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity of the 150-day-old myopathic skeletal muscle were lower than the control values. Although microsomal calcium-binding, calcium-uptake and ATPase activities of the 60-day-old myopathic muscle were not depressed significantly, the initial rate of calcium uptake was less than the control. 4. The sarcolemmal Ca2+-ATPase, but not Mg2+-ATPase or Na+ +K+-ATPase, activity was higher in 60-day-old myopathic muscle whereas the activities of all these enzymes from 150-day-old myopathic animals were higher than the control. On the other hand, the Na+ +K+-ATPase activities from 60- and 150-day-old myopathic animals were inhibited by ouabain to a lesser extent in comparison with the respective control values. 5. The myofibrillar Ca2+-ATPase and Mg2+-ATPase activities as well as inhibition of Mg2+-ATPase due to Na+ and K+ in myopathic muscle were no different from the control values. 6. The results reported here give further support to the view that different membrane systems of the dystrophic muscle are defective.


This paper presents a channel estimation and a DC-offset estimation techniques, and two error control methods in a short-ranged Bluetooth system. Each of the Bluetooth devices in the connection state knows the access codes used in the ad-hoc networks, which is utilized as a reference signal for the parameter estimation. Also, the access correlation output can help the error correction schemes of the Bluetooth networks because the correlation output reflects the radio channel environments. The proposed estimators can be implemented without degradation of frame and spectral efficiency thanks to using the access code specified for the Bluetooth system.


Climate change is affecting UK agriculture, and research is needed to prepare crops for the
future. Wheat is the UK's most important crop, and needs to be protected from losses
caused by disease.
While direct effect of the environment on pathogen spread is often reported, effect of the
environment on host defence is not. Many wheat resistance genes are temperature
sensitive and these were used as a starting point to investigate defence temperature
sensitivity in wheat starting with yellow rust resistance gene Yr36, previously shown to be
temperature-sensitive. The effect of temperature on resistance was shown to be
independent of Yr36 in breeding line UC1041, and was more likely to be due to a
previously-uncharacterised background temperature sensitivity. These results suggest that
temperature changes, rather than thresholds, might influence some disease resistance
mechanisms. Understanding this phenomenon could enable the breeding of more stable
defence in crops.
In order to gain further insight into how temperature changes influence resistance, plants
were grown under different thermoperiods and challenged with different types of
pathogens; Results showed that resistance to multiple pathogens in one cultivar Claire was
enhanced under variable temperatures, compared to constant temperatures. Taken
together, the research presented revealed that defence temperature sensitivity in plants is
much more complex than previously thought, considering that both temperature changes
and different thermoperiods can influence aspects of wheat defence.
To ascertain which research approaches will be most valuable in preparing for climate
change, the effect of the environment on take-all was also investigated. Vulnerable periods
for wheat from the threat of take-all development were identified by analysing historical
datasets, and controlled environment experiments. Results showed a relationship between
initial post-sowing temperatures and spring take-all levels in 2nd 3rd or 4th winter wheats,
depending on the location.
The work on yellow rust resistance and take-all both identify vulnerable periods for wheat
caused by the environment, be it weakening of host defence responses, or increased threat
from disease pressure. Further characterisation and understanding of vulnerable periods
will be essential to control disease outbreaks under an increasingly unstable climate.


In this paper we present an approximate closed form solution for dimensioning mixed service 3G wireless networks for defined service and quality constraints. Both Web-browsing services alone, as well as a mixture of Web and circuit voice services are considered. Dimensioning is achieved through knowledge of the distribution of the latency delay experienced by end users of the 3G network. The parameters defining the distribution are shown to be dependent on a range of network and service parameters. This allows the dimensioning of 3G wireless networks under a wide range of quality and service conditions.


Abstract. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image is relatively easy to acquire but difficult for interpretation. This paper probes how to identify seismic damage of building using geometric features of SAR. The SAR imaging geometric features of buildings, such as the high intensity layover, bright line induced by double bounce backscattering and dark shadow is analysed, and show obvious differences texture features of homogeneity, similarity and entropy in combinatorial imaging geometric regions between the un-collapsed and collapsed buildings in airborne SAR images acquired in Yushu city damaged by 2010 Ms7.1 Yushu, Qinghai, China earthquake, which implicates a potential capability to discriminate collapsed and un-collapsed buildings from SAR image. Study also shows that the proportion of highlight (layover & bright line) area (HA) is related to the seismic damage degree, thus a SAR image damage index (SARDI), which related to the ratio of HA to the building occupation are of building in a street block (SA), is proposed. While HA is identified through feature extraction with high-pass and low-pass filtering of SAR image in frequency domain. A partial region with 58 natural street blocks in the Yushu City are selected as study area. Then according to the above method, HA is extracted, SARDI is then calculated and further classified into 3 classes. The results show effective through validation check with seismic damage classes interpreted artificially from post-earthquake airborne high resolution optical image, which shows total classification accuracy 89.3 %, Kappa coefficient 0.79 and identical to the practical seismic damage distribution. The results are also compared and discussed with the building damage identified from SAR image available by other authors.


The remote optical monitoring of gaseous contaminants is important for both military and industrial applications. An important parameter for quantifying chemical species and for predicting plume dynamics is the temperature. While in some industrial monitoring situations it may be practical to independently measure the temperature of stack emissions, for compliance monitoring and military chemical reconnaissance a remote optical means of estimating gas plume temperature is required. It was noticed that the band shape of low-resolution spectra of carbon dioxide in equilibrium with an exhaust plume was very sensitive to temperature. Spectra of carbon dioxide were acquired under controlled laboratory conditions in 5° increments from 20 to 200 °C. Various multivariate models were used to predict the temperature. It was found that partial least-squares (PLS) was unable to effectively model the simultaneous changes in amplitude and bandwidth with temperature. However, principal component regression (PCR) was found to be well correlated with temperature and allowed cross-validated prediction within 4% error.


In this thesis I used a sample of radio galaxies with 1.4GHz radio luminosity, S1.4 > 10mJy, with the aim of finding high-redshift radio galaxies in the Lockman Hole, ELAIS-N1, ELAISN2, XMM-LSS and CDFS using near-infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and in the VIMOS4/SSA22 field using near-infrared data from the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Deep Extragalactic Survey (UKIDSS-DXS). I used these near-infrared data to filter out low redshift (z < 2) radio galaxies by only including sources with either a very faint identification or non-detection in the K−band or at 3.6μm. I then applied a radio selection criteria based on the compactness of the radio structure in the FIRST survey, to ensure that it was possible to correctly associate a near-infrared identification if detected. Using these filtering critera I reduced the sample from 498 to 220, and I obtained spectroscopic observations for 46 of these. I successfully measured redshifts for 22 of these. Four of these sources were found to have redshifts at z > 3, thus proving the efficiency of the selection. Using these spectroscopically identified sources I investigated the correlation between radio luminosity and Lyα emission line luminosity and showed that these radio sources lie on the same correlations as their more radio-luminous counterparts, suggesting that accretion rate on to the central supermassive black hole determines the power of the AGN, both in terms of photoionizing radiation and radio power. I also investigated the near infrared properties of the host galaxy for these sources. Studying the 3.6μm magnitude versus redshift, I found that many of the radio galaxies in our sample lie on a similar relation as other powerful radio sources studied by different methods, although in my selection there is a bias to the fainter end of the distribution, likely due to the selection bias that I impose. The selection criteria has led us to report on the discovery of the highest redshift radio galaxy ever found, however the robustness of the redshift should be confirmed by follow up spectroscopy as the source has KAB magnitude of ∼ 20.7 which is in an area of the K − z diagram which makes it consistent with both z∼ 1 (in the case of [Oii]) and z ∼ 5 (in the case of Lyα). Finally I determined the number density of high-redshift sources in my sample at different epochs and show that the SKADS simulation is consistent with our observed radio galaxy sample. Using this knowledge I go on to predict the number of sources for current and future near-infrared surveys, where the future appears very bright for this kind of work.


BACKGROUND
The National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed a performance measure designed to increase imaging efficiency for the evaluation of pulmonary embolism (PE) in the emergency department (ED). To our knowledge, no published data have examined the effect of patient-level predictors on performance.

METHODS
To quantify the prevalence of avoidable imaging in ED patients with suspected PE, we performed a prospective, multicenter observational study of ED patients evaluated for PE from 2004 through 2007 at 11 US EDs. Adult patients tested for PE were enrolled, with data collected in a standardized instrument. The primary outcome was the proportion of imaging that was potentially avoidable according to the NQF measure. Avoidable imaging was defined as imaging in a patient with low pretest probability for PE, who either did not have a D-dimer test ordered or who had a negative D-dimer test result. We performed subanalyses testing alternative pretest probability cutoffs and imaging definitions on measure performance as well as a secondary analysis to identify factors associated with inappropriate imaging. χ(2) Test was used for bivariate analysis of categorical variables and multivariable logistic regression for the secondary analysis.

RESULTS
We enrolled 5940 patients, of whom 4113 (69%) had low pretest probability of PE. Imaging was performed in 2238 low-risk patients (38%), of whom 811 had no D-dimer testing, and 394 had negative D-dimer test results. Imaging was avoidable, according to the NQF measure, in 1205 patients (32%; 95% CI, 31%-34%). Avoidable imaging owing to not ordering a D-dimer test was associated with age (odds ratio [OR], 1.15 per decade; 95% CI, 1.10-1.21). Avoidable imaging owing to imaging after a negative D-dimer test result was associated with inactive malignant disease (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.11-2.49).

CONCLUSIONS
One-third of imaging performed for suspected PE may be categorized as avoidable. Improving adherence to established diagnostic protocols is likely to result in significantly fewer patients receiving unnecessary irradiation and substantial savings.


A quintessential example of hemispheric specialization in the human brain is that the right hemisphere is specialized for face perception. However, because the visual system is organized contralaterally, what happens when faces appear in the right visual field and are projected to the nonspecialized left hemisphere? We used divided field presentation and fMRI adaptation to test the hypothesis that the left hemisphere can recognize faces, but only with support from the right hemisphere. Consistent with this hypothesis, facial identity adaptation was observed in the left fusiform face area when a face had previously been processed by the right hemisphere, but not when it had only been processed by the left hemisphere. These results imply that facial identity information is transferred from the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere, and that the left hemisphere can represent facial identity but is less efficient at extracting this information by itself.


The most luminous galaxies in the blue passband have a larger correlation amplitude than L * galaxies. They do not appear to be preferentially located in rich clusters or groups, but a significant fraction of them seem to be in systems which include fainter members. We present an analysis of fields centered on 18 Very Luminous Galaxies ($M_B \le -21$) selected from the Southern Sky Redshift Survey 2, based on new observations and public data of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey; we present also additional data on a CfA VLG and on Arp 127. We find that all the selected VLGs are physically associated with fainter companions. Moreover, there is a relation between the VLG morphology (early or late) and the dynamical properties of the system, which reflects the morphology–density relation. 6 out of the 18 SSRS2 VLGs are early type galaxies: 2 are in the center of rich Abell clusters with velocity dispersion $\sigma \sim 600$ km s -1 , and the other 4 are in poor clusters or groups with $\sigma \sim 300$. The VLG extracted from the CfA catalog is also an elliptical in a Zwicky cluster. The remaining 2/3 of the sample are late–type VLGs, generally found in poorer systems with a larger spread in velocity dispersion, from ~100 up to ~750 km s -1 . The low velocity dispersion, late–type VLG dominated systems appear to be analogous to our own Local Group. The possibile association of VLG systems with dark matter halos with mass comparable to rich groups or clusters, as suggested by the comparable correlation amplitude, would imply significant differences in the galaxy formation process. This work also shows that observing fields around VLGs represents an effective way of identifying galaxy systems which are not selected through other traditional techniques.


The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between six characteristics of call centre work environments, burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were competing management goals, work overload, electronic performance monitoring, lack of career opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. A convenient sample of employees (N = 146) was obtained from a call centre. Multiple regression analysis showed that work overload, lack of career opportunities, skill variety and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions. Affective commitment partially mediated the relationship between burnout and turnover intention.


Current thought in Italian metrics considers that all processes affecting adjacent vowels within a verse, whether synaloepha or dialoepha, are stylistic phenomena unrelated to phonological phenomena such as elision, hiatus, aphaeresis and apocope. This belief is perhaps due to the fact that juncture phenomena almost never have counterparts at the graphic level. The aim of this presentation is to show, rather, that numerous "metrical exceptions" are to be explained on the basis of the phonology of the language or of a dialectic between the written and oral registers. On the basis of a corpus formed by Dante's Divina Commedia , Petrarch's songbook, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso , Tasso's La Gerusalemme Liberata and Marino's Adone , we will attempt to argue for a distinction between "false" synaloephas and dialoephas (which are in fact elisions or obligatory hiatuses) and "graphic" synaloephas and dialoephas (in which it seems reasonable to posit pressure on the oral register from the written register).


There are several differences in architectural forms and cultural systems between the east and the west, which are attributed to different traditional philosophical ontologies. China takes "Tao" as its ideological basis emphasizes: "Nothing". Chinese fundamental principles are deeply related to philosophy and metaphysics. Traditional culture pursues spiritual connotations. Inversely, the west regards "Logos" as the origin of the world. This emphasizes the "being", with fundamental principles based in geometry, mathematics and science. The west has established a scientific spatial consciousness since the beginning of the Renaissance. It is based on mathematical relations and geometric principles, and focused on the pursuit of matter. "Logos" is an important aspect of Western philosophy, meaning that the "center", the "source" or the "truth", is a transcendental "presence." Pythagorean's mathematical theory and Plato's "rational" thinking are ultimately a variant of "Logos". The external imitation of nature in western classical gardens aims to explore the essence of nature. The separation of subject and object as the fundamental formula of Western philosophical epistemology has made mankind dominating nature for a long time. It leads to the deterioration of our living environment. Deconstructive philosophical thought is the subversion and criticism of the "Logos centralism" since ancient Greece. It eliminates the sense of "center" and the "subject-object dichotomy", which is the process of transforming "being" to "nothing". "Anthropocentrism" is disintegrated, when people and nature re-entered in an equal dialogue and symbiosis. Therefore, the symbiotic relationship between man and nature has been reshaped by the spirit of deconstruction. This is highly compatible with the ideological concept of "harmony between man and nature". The cultural spirit of harmony is precious in Chinese traditional philosophy.
Taking the design project of the Innovation Pioneer Park of Wuhan University of Technology as a casestudy, this paper analyses the morphological deconstruction characteristics and their cultural connotation to contemporary Chinese courtyard spaces. It explores a design language and method that breaks through the traditional thinking paradigm, bridging it to characteristics of a particular era as well as the aesthetic appeal. This is not a universal design paradigm, but an exploratory series of philosophical speculative processes, which in turn can inform a dynamic and sustainable development. It shows ideological essence of reminiscent of culture and spirit of the traditional Chinese landscape. Contemporary people's world views should be manifest. By doing so, it becomes a conceptual, radiant and pioneering Chinese cultural spiritual symbol in a chaotic contemporary society.


PurposeThis paper aims to investigate price and objective-quality in durable product categories containing national and private-label (PL) brands.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from consumer reports objective-test results of 14,476 durable products available in the US the authors identified product categories containing both national and PL brands; constructed relative price- and quality-indices for each category; calculated price and quality differentials for each category then modeled the relationship between them; estimated the price premium associated with national brands (NBs); and computed price–quality (PQ) correlations for each category. The authors also analyzed the same relationships using subjective brand-perception data collected from 240 consumers.FindingsOverall the price of NBs in durable products was substantially higher than the price of PL brands despite there being little to no difference in quality levels overall, with the proportion of categories having higher PL quality nearly equaling that of categories having superior NB quality. Correlation between price and quality was moderate. Accuracy of consumer perceptions varied depending on the importance of brand in the purchase decisions for particular product categories.Originality/valueThis paper uses a large objective dataset spanning a period of more than eight years to assess price and quality for durable goods in categories offering PL brands. It addresses an under-studied area, that of PL brands for higher-priced, longer-lasting products. The findings contribute to an existing understanding of PLs, especially in the domain of durable-goods, as well as to the body of research in the area of PQ relationships. It also adds to our understanding of consumers' perceptions of brand as a factor in durable product decisions and how the market aligns with those perceptions.


Antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents have revolutionised our treatment paradigms and therapeutic approach to numerous retinal diseases. Intravitreal anti-VEGF therapies are now at the forefront of our armamentarium for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Three anti-VEGF drugs are now available for use: bevacizumab (Avastin), ranibizumab (Lucentis), aflibercept (Eylea). Two of these drugs are FDA-approved in the USA for the treatment of neovascular AMD: aflibercept and ranibizumab.1–3 On the other hand, bevacizumab, although approved for systemic treatment of various malignancies, is used off-label for ophthalmic applications.4

The comparative efficacy and safety of these drugs in numerous ophthalmic diseases, including neovascular AMD, continues to be actively debated as new data accumulates. The use of bevacizumab, in particular, remains among the most hotly contested topics. Questions about functional and anatomic efficacy, treatment regimens, systemic safety, and compounding safety fuel the energy within the debate.5–8 With those issues in mind, relative cost difference and cost burden maintains this discussion among clinicians, payers and governments. The cost difference in the USA is nearly 35–40-fold less for bevacizumab (∼US$50) compared with ranibizumab (∼US$2000), aflibercept (∼US$1800).9 ,10 For perspective, gold (as of now) is trading at ∼US$1800 an ounce which, as one recent article has mentioned, places the equivalent volume of liquid gold at approximately 5–6 times less than ranibizumab or aflibercept.11 What we want as a medical community is the best investment for our patients' future vision and health; and to that end, our search continues for answers related to the relative efficacy, safety and value of these drugs so that we can help guide our patients towards the best therapeutic decision for them.

In this issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology , Krebs and colleagues add to the growing body of evidence of comparative medicine …


We consider the problem of finding an n-agent joint-policy for the optimal finite-horizon control of a decentralized Pomdp (Dec-Pomdp). This is a problem of very high complexity (NEXP-hard in n ≥ 2). In this paper, we propose a new mathematical programming approach for the problem. Our approach is based on two ideas: First, we represent each agent's policy in the sequence-form and not in the tree-form, thereby obtaining a very compact representation of the set of joint-policies. Second, using this compact representation, we solve this problem as an instance of combinatorial optimization for which we formulate a mixed integer linear program (MILP). The optimal solution of the MILP directly yields an optimal joint-policy for the Dec-Pomdp. Computational experience shows that formulating and solving the MILP requires significantly less time to solve benchmark Dec-Pomdp problems than existing algorithms. For example, the multi-agent tiger problem for horizon 4 is solved in 72 secs with the MILP whereas existing algorithms require several hours to solve it.


Goldmann Applanation Tonometry (GAT) is the recognised 'Gold Standard' tonometer.However this status is refuted by eminent authors. These contradictory views have driventhe initial goal to assess, from first principles, the evolution of GAT and to experimentallyevaluate its utility and corrections. Subsequently, an important caveat became theevaluation of Corneal Hysteresis and Corneal Resistance Factor.Chapter 1. Biomechanical building blocks are defined and constitutive principlesincorporated into continuum modelling. The Imbert-Fick construct is re-interpreted asimple biomechanical model. GAT corrections are also appraised within a continuumframework; CCT, geometry and stiffness. These principles enable evaluation ofalternative tonometer theory and the evolving biomechanical markers, CornealHysteresis (ORA-CH) and Corneal Resistance Factor (ORA-CRF).Chapter 2 appraises corneal biomechanical markers, CCT, curvature, ORA-CH andORA-CRF in 91 normal eyes and the impact these have on three tonometers: GAT,Tonopen and Ocular Response Analyser (ORA). Tonopen was the sole tonometer notaffected by biomechanics. CCT was confirmed the sole measurable parameter affectingGAT. ORA did not demonstrate improved utility. ORA-CH and ORA-CRF do not appearrobust biomechanical measures.Chapter 3 assessed agreement between GAT, the ORA measures and Tonopen.Tonopen is found to measure highest and raises the question should a development goalemphasise GAT agreement or improvement?Chapter 4 assessed repeatability of the three tonometers and biomechanical measureskeratometry, pachymetry, ORA-CH and ORA-CRF on 35 eyes. Coefficients ofRepeatability (CoR) of all tonometers are wide. Effects assessed in Chapter 5 may bemasked by general noise. ORA does not appear to enhance utility over GAT.Isolation of corneal shape change via Orthokeratology (Chapter 5) demonstrate ORACHand ORA-CRF reflect, predominantly, a response to corneal flattening. It is proposedthey do not significantly reflect corneal biomechanics.After reviewing models for tear forces (Chapter 6), a refined mathematical model ispresented. Tear bridge attraction is minimal and cannot explain under-estimation of IOPby GAT in thin corneas. CCT corrections and the Imbert-Fick rules are incompatible.Chapter 7 summarises findings. The supremacy of GAT is likely to remain for some time,reflecting the sheer magnitude of overturning 60 years of convention, historicalprecedent, expert opinion as well as the logistical and educational difficulties ofredefining standards and statistical norms.


Optical phase-conjugation properties of the backward-stimulated radiation from a two-photon-pumped frequency-upconversion lasing medium are studied. The gain medium is a new dye solution pumped with ∼11-ns and ∼1064-nm laser pulses; a highly directional and phase-conjugate backward-stimulated emission at ∼616-nm wavelength could be obtained with a net conversion efficiency of ∼10%. The spectral, temporal, and output–input characteristics of this kind of stimulated emission are presented in detail. The phase-conjugation properties of the backward-stimulated emission have been demonstrated by both the far-field (beam-divergence) measurement and the near-field (image-reconstruction) measurement. The wave-front reconstruction behavior is not perfect, especially under a larger aberration influence.


Inequality, lack of learning, and poor academic achievement are firmly linked (Nieto 1999). Our research explores the British Muslim experience in the context of inclusive pedagogy practice in Business Schools. It is the aim of this paper to explore the relevance of culturally responsive teaching (Gay 2000) in supporting individual student learning differences in increasingly international Business Schools. Law (2004) argues that Universities are expected to be the interrogators of complex ethical problems, as servant and preserver of deeper democratic practices. To fulfil this role effectively universities need to shift away from what (Allen 1998) describes a 'White Syllabus'. The need to demand from students the ability to adapt to the approach of the institution without the institution making an effort to adapt to the student is an outdated concept which puts many universities at a disadvantage when trying to attract International students to UK business Schools.

This paper will look at the relevance of 'culturally responsive teaching' and how this pedagogical method utilises student's cultural knowledge, prior experiences, and cultural differences to make learning more appropriate and effective for them. Such an approach teaches through the strengths of the students (Gay 2000) and the responsiveness of the educators. Our research adopts a culturally responsive framework (Villegas and Lucas, 2002) that looks at 5 salient characteristics and how they can be used to bridge the gap between learner and tutor and organisation.

It will be analysed and argued that culturally responsive teaching can be used to develop inclusion and minimise prejudice within UK Business Schools for minority groups and for this study British Muslims.


Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) causes chronic respiratory disease leading to huge economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Early and efficient detection is therefore crucial in reducing the loss sustained by poultry farmers and poultry industry at large. Three main approaches are used for the diagnosis of MG: isolation and identification, serology and molecular detection
method. Recently, real time polymerase chain reaction has been developed for the detection of infectious organisms, but so far only a limited number of diagnostic real time PCRs have been proposed for MG. This study was carried out to develop a SYBR green real time PCR assay for the detection of MG using primer set specific to the gapA gene. The primer set was able to amplify the expected
DNA fragment of 505 bp. The assay was found to be specific and highly sensitive in detecting MG as indicated by its ability to detect between 260 ng/μl to 26 pg/μl DNA template. In conclusion, this study successfully developed a specific and sensitive real time PCR assay for the rapid detection of MG compared to conventional PCR method. Although the cost to carry out real time PCR
is more expensive, it is a more specific, sensitive, and rapid method for detection of MG as compared with conventional PCR.


Virtual paleontology is the study of fossils through three-dimensional digital visualizations; it represents a powerful and well-established set of tools for the analysis and dissemination of fossil data. Techniques are divisible into tomographic (i.e., slice-based) and surface-based types. Tomography has a long predigital history, but the recent explosion of virtual paleontology has resulted primarily from developments in X-ray computed tomography (CT), and of surface-based technologies (e.g., laser scanning). Destructive tomographic methods include forms of physical-optical tomography (e.g., serial grinding); these are powerful but problematic techniques. Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tomography is a modern alternative for microfossils; it is also destructive but is capable of extremely high resolutions. Nondestructive tomographic methods include the many forms of CT, which are the most widely used data-capture techniques at present, but are not universally applicable. Where CT is inappropriate, other nondestructive technologies (e.g., neutron tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, optical tomography) can prove suitable. Surface-based methods provide portable and convenient data capture for surface topography and texture, and might be appropriate when internal morphology is not of interest; technologies include laser scanning, photogrammetry, and mechanical digitization. Reconstruction methods that produce visualizations from raw data are many and various; selection of an appropriate workflow will depend on many factors, but is an important consideration that should be addressed prior to any study. The vast majority of three-dimensional fossils can now be studied using some form of virtual paleontology, and barriers to broader adaptation are being eroded. Technical issues regarding data sharing remain problematic. Technological developments continue; those promising tomographic recovery of compositional data are of particular relevance to paleontology.


A multi-vehicle system is composed of interconnected vehicles coordinated to complete a certain task. When controlling such systems, the aim is to obtain a coordinated behaviour through local interactions among vehicles and the surrounding environment. One motivating application is the monitoring of algal blooms; this phenomenon occurs frequently and has a substantial negative effect on the environment such as large-scale mortality of fish. In this thesis, we investigate control of multiple unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for mobile target circumnavigation and tracking, where the target can be an algal bloom area. A protocol based on local measurements provided by the vehicles is developed to estimate the target's location and shape. Then a control strategy is derived that brings the vehicle system to the target while forming a regular polygon. More precisely, we first consider the problem of tracking a mobile target while circumnavigating it with multiple USVs. A satellite image indicates the initial location of the target, which is supposed to have an irregular dynamic shape well approximated by a circle with moving center and varying radius. Each USV is capable of measuring its distance to the boundary of the target and to its center. We design an adaptive protocol to estimate the circle's parameters based on the local measurements. A control protocol then brings the vehicles towards the target boundary as well as spreads them equidistantly along the boundary. The protocols are proved to converge to the desired state. Simulated examples illustrate the performance of the closed-loop system. Secondly, we assume that the vehicles can only measure the distance to the boundary of the target and not to its center. We propose a decentralised least-squares method for target estimation suitable for circular targets. Convergence proofs are given for also this case. An example using simulated algal bloom data shows that the method works well under realistic settings. Finally, we investigate how to extend our protocols to a quite general irregular mobile target. In this case, each vehicle communicates only with its two nearest neighbors and estimates the curvature of the target boundary using their collective measurements. We validate the performance of the protocol under various settings and target shapes through a numerical study.


This study uses three key South African national household survey instruments – the 1993 Project Statistics for Statistics of Living Standards and Development, the 1995, 1997 and 1999 October Household Surveys, and the September 2000 Labour Force Survey – to identify the problems involved in capturing information on who works in the informal sector and the kind of work they do. These problems are discussed in reference to the difficulties that arise in determining whether or not people are working and in capturing this work as either formal or informal sector employment. The surveys are also examined to determine how survey design has contributed to improving the capture of informal sector work. The resulting data sets are used to chart the expansion in the estimated size of the informal sector. One of the implications of continually improving measures of informal sector employment, however, is that it is difficult to evaluate how much of the recorded expansion in this employment reflects a real increase, and how much derives from the improved capture of this work.


Users increasingly store data collections such as digital photographs on multiple personal devices, each of which typically offers a storage management interface oblivious to the contents of the user's other devices. As a result, collections become disorganized and drift out of sync.

This paper presents Eyo, a novel personal storage system that provides device transparency: a user can think in terms of "file X", rather than "file X on device Y", and will see the same set of files on all personal devices. Eyo allows a user to view and manage the entire collection of objects from any of their devices, even from disconnected devices and devices with too little storage to hold all the object content. Eyo synchronizes these collections across any network topology, including direct peer-to-peer links. Eyo provides applications with a storage API with first-class access to object version history in order to resolve update conflicts automatically.

Experiments with several applications using Eyo-- media players, a photo editor, a podcast manager, and an email interface--show that device transparency requires only minor application changes, and matches the storage and bandwidth capabilities of typical portable devices.


What was life "really" like for the band of adventurers who first set foot on the banks of the James River in 1607? Important as the accomplishments of these men and women were, the written records pertaining to them are scarce, ambiguous, and often conflicting, and those curious about the birthplace of the United States are left to turn to dramatic and often highly fictionalized reports. In "Jamestown, the Buried Truth, " William Kelso takes us literally to the soil where the Jamestown colony began, unearthing the James Fort and its contents to reveal fascinating evidence of the lives and deaths of the first settlers, of their endeavors and struggles, and of their relationships with the Virginia Indians. He offers up a lively but fact-based account, framed around a narrative of the archaeological team's exciting discoveries. Once thought to have been washed away by the James River, James Fort still retains much of its structure, including palisade walls, bulwarks, interior buildings, a well, a warehouse, and several pits, and more than 500,000 objects have been cataloged, half dating to the time of Queen Elizabeth and King James. Artifacts especially reflective of life at James Fort include an ivory compass, Cabasset helmets and breastplates, glass and copper beads and ornaments, ceramics, tools, religious icons, a pewter flagon, and personal items. Dr. Kelso and his team of archaeologists have discovered the lost burial of one of Jamestown's early leaders, presumed to be Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and the remains of several other early settlers, including a young man who died of a musket ball wound. In addition, they've uncovered and analyzed the remains of the foundations of Jamestown's massive capitol building. Refuting the now decades-old stereotype that attributed the high mortality rate of the Jamestown settlers to their laziness and ineptitude, "Jamestown, the Buried Truth" produces a vivid picture of the settlement that is far more complex, incorporating the most recent archaeology to give Jamestown its rightful place in history and thus contributing to a broader understanding of the transatlantic world.


The Thebaid, a Latin epic in twelve books by Statius (c. 45-96 C. E.) reexamines events following the abdication of Oedipus, focusing on the civil war between the brothers Eteocles, King of Thebes, and Polynices, who comes at the head of an army from Argos to claim his share of royal power. The poem is long-each of the twelve books comprises over eight hundred lines-and complex, and it exploits a broad range of literary works, both Greek and Latin. Severely curtailed though he was by the emperor Domitian and his Reign of Terror, Statius nevertheless created a meditation on autocratic rule that is still of political interest today. Popular in its own time and much admired in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance-most notably by Dante and Chaucer-the poem fell into obscurity and has, for readers of English, been poorly served by translators. Statius composed his poem in dactylic hexameters, the supreme verse form in antiquity. In his hands, this venerable line is flexible, capable of subtle emphases and dramatic shifts in tempo; it is an expressive, responsive medium. In this new and long-awaited translation the poet Jane Wilson Joyce employs a loose, six-beat line in her English translation, which allows her to reveal something of the original rhythm and of the interplay between sentence structure and verse framework. The clarity of Joyce's translation highlights the poem's superb versification, sophisticated use of intertextuality, and bold formal experimentation and innovation. A substantial introduction and annotations make this epic accessible to students of all levels.


The Quiet American, The Ugly American Counterinsurgency from the Fifties In a recent speech highlighting what might happen if the U.S. should withdraw quickly from Iraq, President George W. Bush alluded to Graham Greene's Vietnam-era novel The Quiet American (William Heineman, London). Greene's book is arguably the yin to the yang of William Lederer and Eugene Burdick's The Ugly American (Fawcett Crest, New York) in the American counterinsurgency (COIN) Tao. Much noticed at the time they were published (19SS and 1958 respectively), bom novels deserve to be reread for the two diametrically opposed views they offer of the role the U.S. should play in confronting insurgency abroad. Obviously, the context of insurgency then and now is different. When these novels first arrived on bookstands, the optimism America felt at the end of World War II had evaporated. The U.S. and its former allies, fresh from a near-pyrrhic victory over fascism, immediately split into bi-polar, mutually antagonistic democratic and Communist blocs. Almost immediately, the world was back on the brink of war, and a nuclear one at that. Empires were breaking up, too. France and the U.K., exhausted by World War H, either gave up their colonies or fought losing struggles against nationalist insurgencies. These transitions created battlegrounds for the new war between democracy and communism. Like President Bush would do 40 years later in calling for a global war against Islamic terrorism, President John F. Kennedy declared Communism a direct threat to U.S. interests in Asia, Europe, Cuba, and South America-an assessment that is even now understandable. Both The Ugly American and The Quiet American consider how and whether the U.S. should confront communism in Vietnam, or anywhere else for that matter. The Ugly American is not really a novel at all, but a series of vignettes designed to show how the U.S. might fail in Vietnam and what it might do that could work. Lederer and Burdick believed the U.S. could defeat communist insurgents and should attempt to do so. In their view, success would come if me U.S. followed the lead of pioneers in counterinsurgency. Greene, however, turned a jaundiced eye on America's effort in Vietnam, observing that U.S. COIN practitioners were boorish and clumsy and meddled unnecessarily in the host country's affairs. The book's obvious parallels with the initial U.S. stumbling in Iraq, coupled with Greene's overt hostility toward the U.S. and its government minions, may account for why it has been recently republished. Greene's chief protagonists are a burned-out, alcoholic British reporter named Fowler and a dangerously naive American named Alden Pyle. Fowler, bitter with loss and yet convinced of bis inherent superiority, reeks of the decaying British Empire. Pyle, clearly an Ivy League product, is well heeled and well educated, but ignorant and hopelessly foolish. For Greene, Pyle is post-war America, stupefied by power and righteousness-and therefore dangerous. There are more metaphors, all as obvious and heavy-handed, perhaps none more so than the love interest, Phuong, a sexually exploited beauty whose name means "phoenix" in Vietnamese. But as Fowler observes, "Nothing nowadays is fabulous, and nothing rises from its ashes." Both Lederer-Burdick and Greene may have modeled their protagonists on Edward Geary Lansdale, an advertising and marketing specialist who joined the Air Corps in World War II and was an early recruit to the OSS. Lansdale epitomized the good and the bad in American COIN efforts. On one hand, he applied his considerable talent in marketing and advertising to support Ramon Magsaysay's successful effort against the Huk insurgency in the Philippines; on the other, he played a part in some of the more dubious behind-the-scenes machinations in Vietnam and Cuba. …


Overweight and obesity are widespread, global health problems due in part to the relapse and weight gain that often follows weight loss treatment. Moreover, racial minorities are disproportionately affected by this chronic disorder. Empirical evidence is needed to better address the problem of poor weight maintenance after loss. This ancillary, prospective study examined weight maintenance 18 months after a behavioral weight loss trial and explored possible differences between black and white participants in percent weight change and successful weight maintenance. The relationships of psychosocial variables - experiences following a low-fat diet, barriers to healthy eating, self-efficacy for resisting eating and for exercising, social support, and stress - with weight maintenance were investigated as well as whether race moderated these relationships. Additionally, the study examined the behavioral strategies used for weight maintenance and explored dietary intake and physical activity as potential mediators of the relationship between psychosocial variables and weight maintenance. Hierarchical linear and logistic regression models were used to examine the effect of race, as well as the effect of psychosocial variables, on percent weight change and successful weight maintenance (defined as ≤ 5% weight regain), after controlling for age, gender, education, income, and marital status. Descriptive statistics and group comparative statistics (t-tests or Mann Whitney U tests) were used to examine behavioral strategies utilized for weight maintenance. Path analysis investigated possible mediation effects of lifestyle variables on percent weight change. Fifty-seven percent of the 107 participants (58% of the 81 white participants and 54% of the 26 black participants) were successful weight maintainers. No difference was found in weight maintenance between racial groups; black and white individuals gained a similar amount of weight (M = 5.0%, SD = 6.6% and M = 4.4%, SD = 5.6%, respectively). An increase in barriers to healthy eating and the impact of a stressful life event on eating affected the percent weight gained and unsuccessful weight maintenance, ps < .04. Most behavioral strategies for weight maintenance were used less than half the time. Dietary intake and physical activity did not mediate the relationship between the examined psychosocial variables and weight maintenance.A difference in weight maintenance between black and white individuals was not supported by this study. Future research should further explore the weight control barriers that individuals experience and the impact of stress on weight maintenance.


We propose a new methodology for measuring intergenerational mobility in economic well- being. Our method is based on the joint distribution of surnames and economic outcomes. It circumvents the need for intergenerational panel data, a long-standing stumbling block for understanding mobility. It does so by using cross-sectional data alongside a calibrated structural model in order to recover the traditional intergenerational elasticity measures. Our main idea is simple. If �inheritance� is important for economic outcomes, then rare surnames should predict economic outcomes in the cross-section. This is because rare surnames are indicative of familial linkages. If the number of rare surnames is small this approach will not work. However, rare surnames are abundant in the highly-skewed nature of surname distributions from most Western societies. We develop a model that articulates this idea and shows that the more important is inheritance, the more informative will be surnames. This result is robust to a variety of different assumptions about fertility and mating. We apply our method using the 2001 census from Catalonia, a large region of Spain. We use educational attainment as a proxy for overall economic well-being. A calibration exercise results in an estimate of the intergenerational correlation of educational attainment of 0.60. We also find evidence suggesting that mobility has decreased among the different generations of the 20th century. A complementary analysis based on sibling correlations confirms our results and provides a robustness check on our method. Our model and our data allow us to examine one possible explanation for the observed decrease in mobility. We find that the degree of assortative mating has increased over time. Overall, we argue that our method has promise because it can tap the vast mines of census data that are available in a heretofore unexploited manner.


The scatterometers on board the European remote sensing (ERS) satellites have proven their usefulness for weather analyses and forecasting, and operational programmes are being developed to provide routine scatterometer observations. The advanced scatterometer (ASCAT) on board the meteorological operational (MetOp) platforms is the follow on for European scatterometers. This paper describes the ASCAT system and its capabilities, including the instrument, calibration, ground processing, and products, and reviews the science associated with scatterometer measurements.


ABSTRACT Worksheets are often used during field trips and utilize a learning cycle with three stages (exploration, concept introduction and concept application) to engage learners in the learning activities of observation and exploration. However, traditional paper worksheets do not provide multimedia and interactive presentations with physical objects, which made learners losing interaction with the physical context during field trips and failing to implement all the stages completely. This study designed an augmented reality worksheet with a three-stage learning cycle and applied it to learning about plants, specifically assisting learners in observing and classifying plants. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used to show the effect of learning when learners used augmented reality worksheets. Lag sequence analysis was used to identify learning behavioral patterns. The findings indicate that the learning effect of using augmented reality worksheets is much better than that of paper worksheets and improves the learners' interaction with plants.


Within the transitional justice literature, there is much speculation about the relationship between truth and reconciliation, yet little concrete empirical evidence. This is perhaps unsurprising, as measuring this relationship and proving causation poses significant challenges. Focused on South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission (TRC), the aim of this article is not to definitively answer the question of whether truth leads to reconciliation but rather to explore possible ways of gauging and assessing this. To this end, it poses and engages with three subquestions: Is truth-telling healing for victims, how much truth is needed for reconciliation, and is it enough that people simply accept the truth? The article's principal argument concerns the third of these questions. It proposes that for reconciliation to take place, acceptance of the truth is not sufficient. The truth must penetrate society to the extent that it helps to bring about fundamental changes in the way that people live their daily lives and relate to one another. Hence, in order to measure whether truth aids reconciliation, one possible approach is to focus on the practical and attitudinal effects of truth within a society. The impact of truth on behavior and outlook is an important area for future research. This is an empirical study that draws upon 15 semi-structured interviews conducted in South Africa in July and August 2010.


The most common way to listen to recorded music nowadays is via streaming platforms which provide access to tens of millions of tracks. To assist users in effectively browsing these large catalogs, the integration of Music Recommender Systems (MRSs) has become essential. Current real-world MRSs are often quite complex and optimized for recommendation accuracy. They combine several building blocks based on collaborative filtering and content-based recommendation. This complexity can hinder the ability to explain recommendations to end users, which is particularly important for recommendations perceived as unexpected or inappropriate. While pure recommendation performance often correlates with user satisfaction, explainability has a positive impact on other factors such as trust and forgiveness, which are ultimately essential to maintain user loyalty. In this article, we discuss how explainability can be addressed in the context of MRSs. We provide perspectives on how explainability could improve music recommendation algorithms and enhance user experience. First, we review common dimensions and goals of recommenders' explainability and in general of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), and elaborate on the extent to which these apply -- or need to be adapted -- to the specific characteristics of music consumption and recommendation. Then, we show how explainability components can be integrated within a MRS and in what form explanations can be provided. Since the evaluation of explanation quality is decoupled from pure accuracy-based evaluation criteria, we also discuss requirements and strategies for evaluating explanations of music recommendations. Finally, we describe the current challenges for introducing explainability within a large-scale industrial music recommender system and provide research perspectives.


The multilevel perspective and social practice theory have emerged as competing approaches for understanding the complexity of sociotechnical change. The relationship between these two different camps has, on occasions, been antagonistic, but we argue that they are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, through empirical analysis of two different case studies of sustainability innovation, we show that analyses that adopt only one of these theoretical lenses risk blindness to critical innovation dynamics. In particular, we identify various points of intersection between regimes and practices that can serve to prevent (or potentially facilitate) sustainability transitions. We conclude by suggesting some possible directions for further research that place these crossovers and intersections at the centre of analyses.


Abstract
 Despite the significant increase of bryological studies in Spain during the last decades, some regions remain poorly studied. This is the case of Sierra de Gredos mountain range, in the Iberian Central System, which we visited in several collecting expeditions, with focus in the insufficiently explored high mountain areas. As a result, we highlight 28 taxa either by their importance in bryological conservation or because those populations are the first evidence of the taxa in the Iberian Central System. It is remarkable the presence of Kiaeria falcata, never collected previously in the Iberian Peninsula although reported in error based on K. starkei specimens, and Polytrichastrum sexangulare, known so far in the Iberian Peninsula only from the Pyrenees. Likewise, we highlight the new populations of Andreaea nivalis, Anthoceros caucasicus, Kiaeria blyttii, Meesia triquetra, and Polytrichum longisetum. The first one is reported fertile for the first time in Spain. In addition, we found 13 species listed in different threat categories whose number of populations and/or Area of Occupancy (AOO) is inconsistent with the category to that they have been assigned in Spain. Thus, four endangered species proved to be relatively common in the Central System; consequently, we propose to withdraw these species from the list of threatened bryophytes in Spain. This study highlights the urgent need to deepen into the taxonomic and chorological research of Spanish bryological biodiversity to set a solid basis on which an adequate and efficient conservation management may be performed. Finally, taxonomic and ecological comments are indicated for some species.