Abstract The Etive Dyke Swarm is the largest Caledonian dyke swarm in Britain and Ireland. Field and petrophysical (AMS–anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility) data are presented that indicate the dykes resulted from passive upwelling of magmas into fractures created by regional tectonic stresses. During the period of dyke intrusion (around 415 Ma) periodic episodes of sinistral transpression affected the region and were probably associated with sinistral movement on the Great Glen and other regional faults that lie subparallel (approximately 5° clockwise) from the long axis of the swarm. AMS data show that magma upwelled subvertically across the swarm and suggests that the dykes fed a volcanic field much larger than the now preserved Glencoe Volcano complex.


This paper explores the ways in which a product design student's idea for an innovative new product, with considered real commercial potential, was taken to manufacturing industry. It is based on a student concept for an innovative adjustable hairbrush design that has been developed and submitted to relevant industries for their consideration. The idea has now been both patented and exclusively licensed to a company, Albyn of Stonehaven Ltd, for manufacture and sales of the product.

The areas reviewed and discussed in detail are concept development to a standard for both industrial presentation and Patent application, concept presentation with a view to licensing the product and the progression of discussions and negotiations for a licence agreement.

More importantly, the impact of all of these areas in terms of both the tutor and student learning experience is reviewed. The particular benefits that can be derived are critically evaluated, with a view to demonstrating how these benefits are not just applicable to these two parties, but also how they can be integrated as an improvement to the course of study as a whole.


With the great expansion and development of computer science and its systems. Its applications are used in most areas of life, which facilitated the solution of many simple and complex issues, as it was used in multiple fields, including the medical field, where computer applications were designed to help the specialist doctor in his work and reduce the time in diagnosis. In this research, an expert system is built, which is one of the artificial intelligence techniques, using the advanced (forward) sequencing algorithms also called data-directed inference, and the algorithm. Backward (backward) sequence, also called target-directed inference, to diagnose the most common diseases to which a person is exposed. It is supported by multimedia, which includes (text, images, audio, and video) to reach a solution to the problem through dialogue with the user and rely on the stored knowledge as a base on which the inference engine represented by the two algorithms to reach to solutions, instructions and recommendations to diagnose the disease and give the appropriate treatment. These solutions are given to users in several forms using multimedia (text, pictures, audio and video) and this system is used by people who cannot reach a doctor or hospital for any reason. This system consists of major parts, which are the knowledge base that organizes the collection of facts the laws and the inference engine, which in turn include the Forward Chaining and Backward Chaining algorithms. These diseases in order to reach a diagnosis of the disease with high accuracy, and this leads to reducing medical errors. The proposed system can be used as a substitute for the


Lagenaria siceraria (Cucurbitaceae), commonly known as Lauki (Hindi); Doodhi (Marathi); was used traditionally for cardiovascular diseases. The flavonoidal fraction of Lagenaria siceraria (FFLS) was studied for its effect on the triton induced hyperlipidemia in male albino rats. Oral administration of FFLS (10-40 mg/kg) significantly decreased the triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoproteins (LDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). It also significantly increased the high density lipoproteins (HDL). The results obtained indicates the ability of flavonoidal fraction of Lagenaria siceraria to decrease the hyperlipidemia and thereby, decreasing the incidences of cardiovascular complications.


Niam Yaraghi is a Fellow in the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation. He is an expert on the economics of health information technologies. Nearly two million Americans spend an average of 835 days of their lives in one of the 15,700 nursing home facilities in the United States (National Center for Health Statistics 2009). The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that in 2009, 4.1 percent of Americans over 65 years old lived in these facilities. This percentage increases with age, ranging from 1.1 percent in the population of 65 to 74-year-olds to 13.2 percent in the population older than 85 (Fowles 2012). In 2012 alone, Medicaid spent $140 billion on long-term services and supports (Eiken et al. 2014). Despite the importance of nursing homes in the quality of life of millions of Americans and the billions of dollars spent on them, very little information has been available about their service quality. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) designed and implemented its nursing home rating system after a congressional hearing in 2007 in which Senator Ron Wyden asked why it was "easier to shop for washing machines than it is to select a nursing home" (Duhigg 2007). Given the lack of alternative information resources on nursing homes, the publically available CMS rating has become the gold standard in the industry since its inception, and has been widely popular among patients, physicians, and payers (Thomas 2014). The recent study of Werner et al. (2016) sheds light on the importance of CMS ratings for nursing homes; according to their analysis, after the release of the ratings, the market share of one-star facilities decreased by eight percent while the market share of five-star facilities increased by more than six percent. Given its important role, nursing homes have a significant incentive to improve their ratings; however, these ratings may not always reflect true quality. As we discuss below, the rating system is prone to inflation by nursing homes.


Abstract Recently, the field of International Relations has seen increased interest in international hierarchy, and also an upswing in the analytical study of imperial logics of rule. Nonetheless, existing structural models of empire focus on core-periphery dynamics, and so cannot explain polities that display elements of both core and periphery. Therefore, I offer the new concept of 'semi-cores'. Semi-cores are a specific form of historical political associations whereby certain imperial provinces are different from the others in terms of the close relationships it maintains with the imperial metropolis. Semi-cores are different by virtue of being relatively similar. The conceptualisation of semi-cores is followed by a section illustrating its logic, examining the relatively unfamiliar cases of Scotland and Norway and their position within the Danish and British empires, respectively. Although being separate imperial provinces, these were tightly connected to an imperial core. This concept helps us better understand imperial logics, and in the process shows how cultural factors can be formalised into accounts of structural logics of rule, impacting our understanding of both historical and contemporary hierarchical international affairs.


Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are a promising cost-effective alternative to silicon-based solar cells, and possess low-cost, light-weight, and flexibility advantages. Recently, great advances have been achieved in the development of novel photovoltaic materials and device structures, and the power conversion efficiencies can now reach 7.7%. In this review we summarize the most recent developments in conjugated polymers for high-efficiency OPV devices. We focus on correlations of polymer chemical structures with properties, such as absorption, bandgap, energy levels, mobilities, and photovoltaic performances. This structure-property relationship analysis may guide rational structural design and evaluation of photovoltaic materials.


Meteorites are ejected from random areas of the lunar surface and therefore provide geological information about the Moon far from areas sampled during the Apollo and Luna programs. However, unlike those samples, the exact launch locations and geological setting of lunar meteorites are unknown, limiting greatly the knowledge we can obtain from them. During this project the launch location of lunar meteorites were studied using both laboratory analytical techniques and remote sensing instruments. This approach enabled me to provide meteorites with a geological context, increasing the geological knowledge it is possible to obtain from them.
The lunar feldspathic meteorites Miller Range (MIL) 90036 and MIL 090070 bulk-rock compositions and mineral chemistries were studied. MIL 090036 is a feldspathic immature regolith breccia (26.72 wt.% Al2O3, 5.27 wt.% FeO) that exhibits a Th-enrichment (1.89 ppm Th). This could be related to a high alkali component that has been observed in impact melt breccia clasts in this meteorite, but also it could be related to a KREEP component that, although it was not observed in the particular sample studied, it can be present in the bulk meteorite. Most of the provenance results show that the regolith from the surroundings of the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT) in the nearside are the most similar to the composition of this meteorite and therefore the likely source location for MIL 090036. MIL 090070 is a feldspathic immature regolith breccia with bulk-rock compositions of 30.72 wt.% Al2O3, 3.77 wt.% FeO and a low Th abundance (0.44 ppm). The geochemistry of MIL 090070 may be formed by a mixture of ferroan and magnesian anorthositic rocks, although other possible explanation could be that they were all essentially ferroan-derived and that this rock types are more related to high-magnesium suite that previously thought. MIL 090070 was probably launched from the farside of the Moon as suggested by its compositional differences when compared to Apollo 16 regolith breccias, including the lack of KREEP.
The present work has studied the possible launch locations of 37 lunar meteorites (67 individual stones) using bulk-rock FeO, TiO2 and Th compositions and the 2-degree LP-GRS dataset from Prettyman et al. 2006. My method compares the composition of both the analytical and the remote sensing measurements. The outcome is a shapefile that allows for a correct visualization in ArcGIS™. Results obtained suggest that differences in KREEP components between the PKT and other areas of the Moon are not the only indicator of a heterogeneous mantle. This study also indicates that ferroan anorthosites are widely distributed with patches occurring within the central farside highlands. The large number of feldspathic meteorites that contain both magnesian and ferroan anorthosites compared to those that contain only one or the other, could indicate that these rock types are genetically related and that the wide Mg# distribution in FAN and MAN could be produced by serial magmatism. If this is correct, some of the ferroan anorthositic lithologies observed within lunar samples would not be the direct product of the magma ocean crystallization.


Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz has been challenging the very existence of 'mental illness' for over twenty-five years. His landmark book "The Myth of Mental Illness" won him recognition as America's leading opponent of conventional psychiatric practice. Szasz argues that 'mental illness' and its supposed 'cure', psychotherapy, are myths and that there is no medical basis for treating people labelled 'mentally ill' as sick. He opposes involuntary hospitalisation and insists that people be held responsible when they break the law. "Thomas Szasz: Primary Values and Major Contentions" is the first book to contain Szasz's essential values as well as criticism of Szasz and responses from his defenders. No other book organises Szasz's major contentions in a readable and structured manner. Szasz's own words comprise the bulk of the book, which is designed as a means of introducing readers to Szasz without having to read all of his original works. The editors have selected essays and excerpts from his major works that illustrate his value system, his central arguments about human behaviour and human responsibility, and also the nature of the debate generated by these views. For students, professionals, and interested lay persons, this book contains the very best of Szasz as he grapples with such issues as: mental illness as a myth; autonomy; authenticity; humanism; drug addiction and alchoholism; schizophrenia; sexual deviance; crime and delinquency; the insanity defence; and, civil commitment. A complete bibliography of Szasz's publications is included.


This article approaches the electoral success of Estonia's Conservative People's Party (EKRE) from a critical political economy perspective. It explores immediate and longer-term factors conducive to the surge in the support of this far-right party. After situating the radical rightist reaction in Estonia within the wider continuum of far-right morphologies across Europe, the article attributes the immediate factors explaining EKRE's ascendence to the conjuncture of the 2008 economic crisis and its resolution. It is contended that the authoritarian neoliberal (post-)crisis environments engendered a surveillance-based imposition of fiscal restraint at the European level and recalibrated the repertories of state interventionism at the national spatial scale. In Estonia, this served to (re-)produce the vocabularies of crisis in line with the far-right's sensibilities and eroded the public's trust in the parties of the political mainstream. The analysis of immediate factors behind the rise of the far-right is then supplemented with a forensic examination of popular disenfranchisement with the outcomes of post-communist transformation, the party's ambiguous relationship with neoliberalism and EKRE's class-constituted support base. As will be demonstrated, the far-right has attracted the votes of working-class segments residing in the peripheries of the country as well as poverty-stricken pensioners, youths and the disenchanted sections of the middle class. The article concludes by evaluating the claim that EKRE's inclusion in the coalition government from April 2020 to January 2021 amounted to a break from neoliberalism.


In leaving the more traditional territories of the concert performance for broader societal contexts, professional musicians increasingly devise music in closer collaboration with their audience rather than present it on a stage. Although the interest for such forms of devising co-creative musicking within the (elderly) health care sector is growing, the work can be considered relatively new. In terms of research, multiple studies have sought to understand the impact of such work on musicians and participants, however little is known about what underpins the musicians' actions in these settings. With this study, I sought to address this gap by investigating professional musicians' emerging practices when devising co-creative musicking with elderly people. Three broad concepts were used as a theoretical background to the study: Theory of Practice, co-creative musicking, and Praxialism. Firstly, I used Theory of Practice to help understand the nature of emerging practices in a wider context of change in the field of music and habitus of musicians and participants. Theory of Practice enabled me to consider a practice as "a routinized type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, 'things' and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotion, and motivational knowledge" (Reckwitz, 2002, p. 249). Secondly, I drew the knowledge from co-creative musicking, which is a concept I gathered from two existing concepts: co-creation and musicking. Musicking (Small, 1998), which considers music as something we do (including any mode of engagement with music), provided a holistic and inclusive way of looking at participation in music-making. The co-creation paradigm encompasses a view on enterprise that consists of bringing together parties to jointly create an outcome that is meaningful to all (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004; Ramaswamy & Ozcan, 2014). The concept served as a lens to specify the jointness of the musicking and challenge issues of power in the engagement of participants in the creative-productive process. Thirdly, Praxialism considers musicking as an activity that encompasses "musical doers, musical doing, something done and contexts in which the former take place" (Elliott, 1995). Praxialism sets out a vision on music that goes beyond the musical work and includes the meanings and values of those involved (Silverman, Davis & Elliott, 2014). The concept allowed me to examine the work and emerging relationships as a result of devising co-creative musicking from an ethical perspective. Given the subject's relative newness and rather unexplored status, I examined existing work empirically through an ethnographic approach (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). Four cases were selected where data was gathered through episodic interviewing (Flick, 2009) and participant observation. Elements of a constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014) were used for performing an abductive analysis. The analysis included initial coding, focused coding, the use of sensitizing concepts (Blumer 1969 in Hammersley, 2013) and memoing. I wrote a thick description (Geertz, 1973) for each case portraying the work from my personal experience. The descriptions are included in the dissertation as one separate chapter and foreshadow the exposition of the analysis in a next chapter. In-depth study of the creative-productive processes of the cases showed the involvement of multiple co-creative elements, such as a dialogical interaction between musicians and audience. However, participants' contributions were often adopted implicitly, through the musicians interpreting behaviour and situations. This created a particular power dynamic and challenges as to what extent the negotiation can be considered co-creative. The implicitness of 'making use' of another person's behaviour with the other not (always) being aware of this also triggered an ethical perspective, especially because some of the cases involved participants that were vulnerable. The imbalance in power made me examine the relationship that emerges between musicians and participants. As a result of a closer contact in the co-creative negotiation, I witnessed a contact of a highly personal, sometimes intimate, nature. I recognized elements of two types of connections. One type could be called 'humanistic', as a friendship in which there is reciprocal care and interest for the other. The other could be seen as 'functional', which means that the relationship is used as a resource for providing input for the creative musicking process. From this angle, I have compared the relationship with that of a relationship of an artist with a muse. After having examined the co-creative and relational sides of the interaction in the four cases, I tuned in to the musicians' contribution to these processes and relationships. I discovered that their devising in practice consisted of a continuous double balancing act on two axes: one axis considers the other and oneself as its two ends. Another axis concerns the preparedness and unpredictability at its ends. Situated at the intersection of the two axes are the musicians' intentionality, which is fed by their intentions, values and ethics. The implicitness of the co-creation, the two-sided relationship, the potential vulnerability of participants, and the musicians' freedom in navigating and negotiation, together, make the devising of co-creative musicking with elderly people an activity that involves ethical challenges that are centred around a tension between prioritizing doing good for the other, associated with a eudaimonic intention, and prioritizing values of the musical art form, resembling a musicianist intention. The results therefore call for a musicianship that involves acting reflectively from an ethical perspective.


This lively book will be essential to all those attempting to understand the state of Cultural Studies in the West today. Ion Davies, who was in at the birth of Cultural Studies in Britain and followed its development in many parts of the world, is uniquely qualified to add historical depth and comparative breadth to this subject. Introducing the central theoretical issues, as well as the key personalities, Cultural Studies and Beyond traces the origins, growth and diffusion of the subject.


The interstitial sediments of streams and rivers, the 'hyporheic zone', have a diverse and numerous fauna though the relative contribution of the subsurface and surface assemblages to total productivity remains poorly understood. Our main aim was to determine the contribution of hyporheic invertebrates to overall, reach-scale estimates of density and biomass in an acidic, first order stream in south-east England. We estimated metazoan density across a wide range of body sizes (meiofauna [>42 μm to 500 μm]) over time. A comparison with the assemblage from the streambed surface indicated that surface samples (0-5 cm) alone potentially underestimate annual, reach-scale estimates of density and biomass by factors of 2.2 and 2.8, respectively. An invertebrate assemblage of relatively few, large individuals near the surface was replaced by a suite of numerous but small-bodied organisms in the deeper sediments. Although abundances peaked at different depths in the sediments, most taxa were found throughout the profile. The assemblage of numerous, small-bodied invertebrates in the interstices at this stream may contribute substantially towards overall benthic production.


This paper presents the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a measure of acute poverty, understood as a person's inability to meet simultaneously minimum international standards in indicators related to the Millennium Development Goals and to core functionings. It constitutes the first implementation of the direct method to measure poverty for over 100 developing countries. After presenting the MPI, we analyse its scope and robustness, with a focus on the data challenges and methodological issues involved in constructing and estimating it. A range of robustness tests indicate that the MPI offers a reliable framework that can complement global income poverty estimates.


Abstract Purpose: To design, formulate and test the in vitro dissolution of new oral dosage forms of metformin hydrochloride (MH) in semisolid polymeric matrices having sustained-release properties suitable for once-a-day or twice-a-day administration that would increase MH bioavailability and also address the shortcomings in the currently marketed sustained-release tablets. Methods: MH was dispersed in molten polymeric matrices composed of various proportions of high molecular weight hydrophilic polymers, hydrophobic oily semisolid excipients, and muco-adhesive polymeric materials. Thermal analysis and X-ray diffractometry was carried out on the prepared semisolid matrices. Four prepared formulations each of which containing 400mg MH were filled into size zero hard gelatin capsules (HGC) and were subjected to in vitro dissolution testing using USP basket method at 50rpm using 1000ml distilled water as dissolution medium. MH was analyzed using UV spectrophotometric analysis. Glucophage® 500mg tablets were used as a reference. Results: The prepared formulations resulted in extended-release profiles that lasted between 6-8 hours and demonstrated bimodal release pattern which characterizes the release from mixes of triglycerides with polyethylene glycol esters of fatty acids. The incorporation of PEG 6000 or PEG 35000 resulted in an overall faster dissolution rate compared to other formulations with complete release achieved after 6 hours. On the other hand, PEG400 incorporation to the formulation resulted in a fast initial release followed by a slower release rate following the first 3 hours. Thermal and X-ray analysis of the formulations showed changes in MH crystallinity. Conclusion: Capsules formulated using semisolid matrices showed promising results in extending the release of MF compared to the marketed tablets. However, bioavailability studies to test the ability of those Gelucire-based capsules of MF to improve its bioavailability and residence time are future plans.


Background: Considering the increased antimicrobial resistance to Staphylococcus aureus and also the importance of vancomycin as a treatment, the aim of this work was to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of vancomycin, the pattern of antibiotic susceptibility, removing the isolates producing beta-lactamase enzyme and determining the risk factors for prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from clinical samples in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan-Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 150 Staphylococcus aureus isolates. The sample strains were identified using gram staining, catalase test, tube coagulase test, growth on manitol salt agar medium and the DNAase test. The antibiotic sensitivity test was determined by disk diffusion method on nine antibiotics. MIC of vancomycin was determined using Broth Microdilution Method. The production of betalactamase enzyme was performed using acidometry method. Results: Among the 150 Staphylococcus aureus isolates, MIC value was 0.5-4 µg/mL. The highest MIC of vancomycin was 2 µg/mL. All of isolates were sensitive to vancomycin. Mean age of patients was 31.3+25.8. Penicillin and vancomycin revealed the highest and the lowest resistant rate, respectively (93% and 0%). Resistance to methicillin was 62%. Eightyseven percent of the isolates produced enzyme beta lactamase. Risk factors for prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus were high age and previous antibiotic therapy. Conclusion: Considerining the vancomycin as the selective antibiotic, on following the preventive guideline, preparing the antibiogram and adding MIC test are recommended.


In 1999, a new species of minnow, Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori (Clinch dace), was discovered in the Tennessee drainage of Virginia. Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori are listed as a Federal Species of Concern and on Virginia's Wildlife Action Plan as Tier IIVery High Conservation Need because of potential threats from habitat degradation, high population fragmentation, and a largely unknown distribution. Consequently, a management plan for C. sp. cf. saylori is of utmost importance, but more information regarding its distribution and life history is required before such a plan can be implemented. In 2011 and 2012 I sampled 60 headwater streams in the upper Clinch River watershed, Virginia. From this and historical data, I conclude that C. sp. cf. saylori are restricted to eight small tributaries to the Clinch River. Multivariate analysis of habitat correlates indicated that C. sp. cf. saylori populations are found in small, high elevation streams with gravel substrate and forested watersheds. Three species distribution models were unable to predict C. sp. cf. saylori distribution. Morphological traits were significantly different between C. sp. cf. saylori and other Chrosomus, thereby providing an initial indication of speciation and differing niche roles. I observed a nest association with Campostoma anomalum. Gonad weight was lower for C. sp. cf. saylori than closely-related congeners. Together, this information indicates that C. sp. cf. saylori are narrowly distributed and populations are small, fragmented, and of questionable viability. In the future, long-term monitoring efforts and genetics analyses should be completed and additional protection measures pursued.


Inbreeding has been one of central issues with regard to genetic quality of aquaculture species, including giant fresh water prawn (GFP). Conventional methods for the estimation of inbreeding level are available, such as pedigree analyses which requires a good pedigree record which, unfortunately, is rarely available. Likewise, microsatellite molecular markers commonly applied to obtain the coefficient inbreeding estimates are both laborious and expensive. Hence, an alternative method of inbreeding assessment which is relatively easy but reliable is in need. This study was aimed to explore the applicability of RAPD fingerprinting, which is known to be simple and affordable, to estimate inbreeding level of GFP population. Three GFP populations namely inbred, outbred, and farm populations with inbreeding level of 25%, 0%, and unknown, respectively, were genotyped using five polymorphic RAPD primers. The inbreeding levels mentioned within the first two populations were determined using pedigree analysis. RAPD banding patterns were then used to calculate band sharing index (BSI) and inbreeding coefficient (F). Assessment of the applicability of inbreeding level estimates obtained by RAPD markers was performed by comparing them to those estimated by pedigree analysis. Results show that RAPD fingerprinting was capable of delineating populations differing in their inbreeding coefficients. The pattern resulted from molecular inbreeding coefficient within the inbred and outbred groups, was congruent with that shown by pedigree analysis, while the farm population showed closeness to the inbred group. While the accuracy of the estimate needs to be verified further, this study suggests that RAPD fingerprinting is applicable to estimate population inbreeding level, particularly due to its technical simplicity and cost affordability.


The occurrence and the mass balance of the 16 EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in a conventional activated sludge treatment plant. Polycydic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations were determined in wastewater and sludge samples from different treatment stages. The concentrations of PAHs in raw sewage were statistically analyzed to examine whether temporal factors (sampling period, day and hour of sampling) had a significant effect on the observed variance. Sampling period was the only factor that showed a significant impact. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess similarities of the wastewater PAH pattern with possible source matrices (domestic effluents, urban runoff, and atmospheric particulates). The composition of wastewaters was found to be particularly similar to that of domestic effluents. Mass balances of PAHs were calculated for individual stages of wastewater treatment (primary treatment, secondary treatment, and chlorination), as well as for the whole treatment process. Relatively good mass balances were calculated in the primary clarifier for most PAHs. Lower molecular weight PAHs (Np, Ace, Ph, An, and FI) showed substantial losses (>40%), in the secondary treatment probably due to biodegradation and volatilization. Good closures for all PAHs were found in the chlorination stage. Total mass balances indicated that only the lower PAHs are effectively removed, whereas the heavier compounds are rather resistant to the treatment process. Sorption was found to be the dominating removal process of PAHs-especially of the heavier ones-during primary treatment, while their removal during the secondary treatment is also governed by other processes, such as biodegradation and/or volatilization.


The image of Alabama and its politics--from dogs and hoses in Birmingham, to George Wallace standing in the doorway of the university in Tuscaloosa, to a Gadsden judge who insists on hanging the Ten Commandments in his courtroom--is negative, primitive, and redneck. But it is far too facile to view Alabama politics as something of an aberration. One could argue that Alabama is not behind at all, but rather that it has always been ahead of the curve in its politics, and that what you see in Alabama today you'll see across America tomorrow. Ronald Reagan was not the first to say we needed to get government off our backs, nor was Bill Clinton original when he announced that the era of big government was over. George Wallace was there first. In a sense, Wallace created two political games--one for the voters and one for the players. The Wallace message--anti-government, anti-taxes, anti-minority--has given the Republican Party its voice, both in the South and across the nation. Add to it the Christian and pro-family themes, and it is easy to see why voters--white voters--buy in. Republicans of the 1990s sound a lot like Wallace of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Alabama Democrats have yet to find their voice. But they're trying. Recently, a few Democratic state legislators moved quickly to enact strict anti-abortion legislation. The Alabama Democratic Party chair consistently uses a "faith and values" theme to describe his party, which in fact used paid advertising--a "Faith and Values" tabloid circulated in newspapers the weekend before the 1996 presidential election--to give each of the major Democratic candidates an opportunity to explain how important religion was in their lives. Throughout the 1996 campaign, Roger Bedford, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, spoke of religious commitment and prayer. He was beaten soundly by the Republican, Jeff Beauregard Sessions. While the term "Republican Lite" is not specific to Alabama, Democratic candidates there have implicitly made this argument: "I'm kinda like a Republican; I'm just nicer about it." So far, voters are not persuaded. Republicans are winning the big ones. The voter game is largely symbolic and devoid of substance. The second game, the player game, is about money. While political scientists continue to debate realignment or dealignment, the truth is Alabama is a "no party" state, a place where parties have never been anything more than vehicles of convenience. To understand how politics is actually played in Alabama, or for that matter throughout the nation, take a look at interest groups. Historically, the real action in southern politics focused on the Democratic primary. In fact, the idea that winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to election became something of a cliche. Nonetheless, it was true. Since the party could not openly support or campaign for one Democrat over another, candidates placed heavy emphasis on the power of key groups to finance campaigns and mobilize rank-and-file members. Acting as though they were themselves miniparties, interest groups put up candidates and tried to get them elected. They held their own conventions, endorsed candidates, raised money, and got out the vote. Their leaders became important power brokers inside the Democratic Party. Fundamentally, interest group support is more about money than it is about politics. Groups seek public policy decisions that either increase funding for their programs or increase personal wealth for their members. Educators want more money for schools and teacher salaries, business owners and farmers want preferential tax policy and state contracts, trial lawyers want to continue to reap the benefits of large jury verdicts. Alabama is no different from any other state in that its winners and stakeholders are not the citizens; rather, they are the people that Big Jim Folsom used to call the "Big Mules. …


On a congested transport network, a marginal trip exerts a congestion effect on the rest of traffic. From the polluter-pays principle in economic theory, the associated cost must be charged to the marginal trip-maker to achieve system optimum. This makes the evaluation of the marginal congestion cost a valuable objective, though not an easy one due to the dynamic and spatial nature of traffic phenomena. Besides the classical, static treatment, some dynamic models have been developed, most of them restricted to a fixed-capacity bottleneck. This paper develops the dynamic analysis of the social cost of congestion in two directions. First, analytical formula are provided to deal with a multiclass flow in a bottleneck with time-varying capacity. Then, a set of increasingly complex situations are investigated: the sequence of bottlenecks along a route in the network; the set of routes of a given origin-destination pair. Lastly, helpful dynamic congestion indicators are designed for sub-networks and trip-end zones. An application to the major motorway network in France is given for the purpose of illustration.


Will the Roberts Court Turn its Back on Tinker? In June of 2007, the Roberts Court released Morse v. Frederick, the closely-watched student speech case from Juneau, Alaska. In that case, a student was disciplined by school authorities for unfurling the now-infamous "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner across the street from a public high school. Chief Justice Roberts' majority opinion held that the school principal acted constitutionally in limiting student speech that reasonably could be interpreted as promoting illegal drug use. The Tinker standard of "substantial disruption" was found not to be applicable to the situation and Justice Thomas opined in a concurring opinion that "the better approach is to dispense with Tinker altogether ...." This Article describes the Supreme Court's earlier cut-backs of Tinker as well as its constitutional endorsement of searches of students by public school official. Both of these trends converged in the 2007 Morse case to allow student speech suppression by school authorities seeking to allegedly promote student safety. The first section of the Article discusses several studies concerning the statistics on school violence and whether it was increasing in the late 1990's. The next section reviews various federal laws relating to school safety. The major Supreme Court student speech and search cases preceding Morse are next discussed, notably New Jersey v. T.L.O., Vernonia, Bethel v. Fraser, and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, all of which are discussed in Morse. The Article concludes: "Students are now attending public school with the expectation and experience of a constitutionally constrained setting. This may make them in turn more receptive, as adults, to similar rights limitations, or at least complacent should adult rights infringements occur." Morse v. Frederick increases the likelihood of this outcome and seems to indicate that the over-ruling of the Tinker standard presaged in the Article is just a case or two away.


The impact of potential future climate change scenarios on the irrigation water requirements (IRRs) of two major agricultural crops (coffee and seed corn) in Hawai'i was studied using the Irrigation Management System (IManSys) model. In addition to IRRs calculations, IManSys calculates runoff, deep percolation, canopy interception, and effective rainfall based on plant growth parameters, site specific soil hydrological properties, irrigation system efficiency, and long-term daily weather data. Irrigation water requirements of two crops were simulated using historical climate data and different levels of atmospheric CO2 (330, 550, 710 and 970 ppm), temperature (+1.1 and +6.4 °C) and precipitation (±5, ±10 and ±20%) chosen based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR4 projections under reference, B1, A1B1 and A1F1 emission scenarios. IRRs decreased as CO2 emission increased. The average percentage decrease in IRRs for seed corn is higher than that of coffee. However, runoff, rain canopy interception, and deep percolation below the root zone increased as precipitation increased. Canopy interception and drainage increased with increased CO2 emission. Evapotranspiration responded positively to air temperature rise, and as a result, IRRs increased as well. Further studies using crop models will predict crop yield responses to these different irrigation scenarios.


Enthused by China's conversion to the free market system in 1978 and its adoption of Western-style market institutions, the world has spent the last few decades turning a blind eye to China's real "governance" problem: that a shadow Party-State system permeates all branches of the economy. Whatever Washington-consensus style institutions are put in place, whatever State Owned Enterprise ("SOE") reform is introduced, corporate and market governance occur under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party ("CCP"). And the CCP's guidebook is the Leninist command that the whole of society shall be run as "single country-wide State syndicate". This paper contends that China's syndicated economic organization is akin to a "supertrust", and that this creates conditions that are conducive to antitrust problems to which the Western world must awaken. In this context, this paper advances that the antitrust regulators of North America, Europe and elsewhere should take two simple, pragmatic steps under merger control and antitrust rules. In merger review, antitrust agencies should treat all SOEs and Privately Owned Enterprises (POEs) with a CCP cell as one unitary group and undertake a thorough competitive assessment of transactions on this basis. In addition, antitrust cases involving Chinese firms should be investigated on the default assumption that there is an underlying coordination scheme among them.


Physical education and traditional culture combination becomes more and more frequently, martial arts as Chinese historical sports representative, is an important content of elementary and secondary schools' sports courses. However, due to multiple factors impacts, elementary and secondary martial arts physical education course development status are criticized, their teaching reformation is of widely concerns. The paper utilizes analytic hierarchy process, targeted at martial arts contents' freehand routine, devices routines, sanda, power law four kinds of sports, it makes research from the degree of attention of the school, students' martial arts understanding status, level of teaching of martial arts teachers, students satisfaction degree, teaching space the five perspectives. Research result shows sanda is best sports event in martial arts teaching, therefore in future reformation process, it should take sanda as main reformation orientation, and further define teaching reformation practice route.


This paper presents essential information concerning to insurance contract in the Anglo-American legal framework. Because there is a lack of comprehensive and statutory definition of insurance contract nor English nor American (vel Australian) law, easy one can find plenty of legal decisions and interesting cases relating the nature of insurance contract and attempts of definition. Previously it was stated that this kind of contract is "a contract upon speculation" (Lord Mansfield in 1766). The most popular concept is going from Megary Defence Union v. Department of Trade (1979) where three fundamental elements of each insurance were given: valid contract, uncertainty of insurance event and insurance interest belonging to insured person. The author attempts to set out the fundamental nature of almost good faith. It means that each party has to disclose all information relevant for risk (material facts) and for other parties because of concluding contract. Contract is avoided in the case of break this principle. A relatively extensive remark is given of the insurable interest as a fundamental feature of insurance contract. It means, that it is a pecuniary interest in the subject matter which is covered by the policy. Author opted for aplication the Common Law experience and above mentioned concepts during preparation for implementation aquis communautaire into the Polish insurance legal order.


Will the Internet have as big an impact on advertising as radio and television did? Most marketing executives say no Here's why they are wrong How much impact is the Internet really having on advertising and marketing? Is it just another emerging niche medium with some peculiar creative capabilities and constraints? Or might it transform consumer marketing in the same way that network television revolutionized consumer culture and commercial practice four or five decades ago? Interviews with marketers reveal that few believe the Internet will change their approach to advertising. Most see it as little more than a complement to traditional marketing practices, and don't expect it to reduce expenditure on broadcast and print media or change the form, pricing, or delivery of advertisements. Their view is probably a reaction to the early hype about the Internet and the World Wide Web, which created unrealistic short-term expectations among marketers and frustration with the inadequacies of the delivery technologies among consumers. We take a contrary view. We believe that Internet advertising will account for a growing proportion of overall advertising expenditure. Moreover, advertising - and marketing in general - will adopt practices first developed or deployed on the Internet. As the technology improves, the impact of Internet advertising will increase and become easier to measure, and the gap between this new precise, interactive marketing capability and conventional "fuzzy" passive media will widen. Over the next few years, advertising agencies and consumer marketers will be under pressure to change their whole approach to marketing communications. Marketers will become more accountable for their results, and they will pay more attention to building a total customer relationship. Offering consumers value in return for information will become vital in eliciting their preferences, which in turn will be critical to customizing advertising.(*) And companies' entire marketing organizations will be progressively redesigned to reflect interactions with consumers on the Internet. For ad agencies, fees based on results will become standard. The economics of Internet advertising are likely to make current business models obsolete. New capabilities will be required as creative production speeds up and becomes more closely integrated with marketing activity. A deep understanding of enabling technologies will become a prerequisite for fresh forms of advertising. Our views on the evolution of Internet advertising and its impact on traditional marketing may seem provocative to some, premature to others. But the intriguing marketing experiments taking place on and off the Internet suggest it is time for consumer marketers to begin looking to networks for new ways of thinking about the marketing theories and approaches on which they have long relied - and to begin capturing the lessons Internet advertising holds for all their advertising practices, online and conventional. Caution: Changes ahead Looking at today's Internet advertising to predict what tomorrow will bring is about as helpful as using a rear-view mirror to watch the road ahead. But a point of view about what online advertising will look like in three to five years' time can and should influence current management decisions about how to invest marketing communication dollars on the Internet. A number of fundamental forces are currently reshaping Internet advertising: the near-daily emergence of new technologies that improve measurement, targeting, and data interpretation; the strenuous efforts of primarily entrepreneurial marketers to make business use of the Web; and the establishment of patterns in consumers' use of these new interactive networks. Thanks to the impact of these forces, tomorrow's ads will differ from today's in the shape they take, in the metrics available for gauging their effectiveness, and in the pricing structure that governs their purchase and sale. …


Abstract : For many human team activities, ranging from military operations through to emergency rescue or large entertainment events, communications resources must be assigned to different teams or team members. These assignments must reflect the capabilities of the available communication devices and avoid conflicting use of communications channels already in use in the local environment. In general, finding and assigning available communication channels for short-term use is a task performed manually by human operators. Operators, using generic tools, such as spreadsheets and database manipulation programs, access government databases to obtain information on frequency usage and then manually attempt to locate suitable unused channels. This process is time intensive, prone to error, and 'mechanistic' in nature. In this paper, we describe the CommPlanner, a new fully implemented system developed to automate this assignment procedure and thereby speed up and make more reliable the process. We describe the algorithms used by the CommPlanner, and the underlying issues that, while not always obvious, must be addressed in the processes of assigning frequency usage.


Received Aug 04, 2015 Revised Sept 29, 2015 Accepted Nov 26, 2015 Diabetes mellitus (DM) is ricing nowadays. DM is a metabolic deasease characterized by increasing of glucose blood level for prolonged time. Patient with DM must take medicine for lowering glucose levels in whole life. Synthetic anti-diabetic agent is commonly used and significantly able to maintain the glucose blood levels. However, many side effects will occur during the treatment. Further, people are trying to find an alternative medicine for DM treatment. This paper will discuss about an alternative medicine for anti-diabetic agent that is called Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees based in-vivo study. Search data obtained from PubMed, PMC (PubMed Central), International Food and Research Journal, and Google search engine. Inclution and exclution criteria were used for selection of journals. Inclution criteria were taken is in-vivo study of Andrographis paniculata as anti-diabetic, published in 2000-2014, and free full text journal or PubReader (full text journal in PubMed Central) in English or Indonesian language. Base on reviewed journals that was conducted, anti-diabetic agent of Andrographis paniculata was found in extract, in fractional coumpund (i.e. andrographolide or its analogue AL-1: andrographolide-lipoic acid), and in combination with synthetic drug or other herbal. Therefore, Andrographis paniculata is potentially developed as an alternative anti-diabetic agent. Keyword:


This review outlines the latest advances in nanomaterials, nanostructures, nanotechnologies and their environmental impact. Environmental restoration is based on the use of physic-chemical methods: adsorption, absorption, chemical reactions, photocatalysis, filtration and technologies that remove contaminants from soil, water and air. New technologies and nanomaterials are now being developed for environmental restoration. Nanomaterials have high surface-to-volume ratio and high reactivity, which makes them suitable for cleaning the environment from heavy metals, dyes, organochlorine and organophosphorus, volatile organic compounds and halogen-containing herbicides. The review examined modern approaches to the classification of nanomaterials, their basic properties, and their scope for the remediation of contaminated soil and water. Despite the wide scope of application, economic and environmental effects, the nanotechnology products possess some toxicity. The review addresses the issues of ecotoxicology and potential risks associated with the use of nanotechnology products, the mechanisms of toxicity of various nanostructures based on their size, shape, concentration and specific biological effects. We supposed that while many studies were effective in the laboratory, the additional research is needed to understand the impact of nanotechnology in real-world scenarios and the processes, which occur with nanomaterials after completing of their task. Therefore, the subsequent studies should determine the state of these materials after their introduction into the environment for recovery, the ways to avoid new contamination caused by them, and development the ways of processing nanomaterials without reducing their activity.


Household poverty and food insecurity in Kenya is a major challenge especially in rural areas. The situation has been exacerbated by poor economic performance, nationwide drought and the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, numerous efforts are being made both by the government and non-governmental organizations to mitigate the situation in rural areas notably in Nyeri district which is a relatively poor district in central province with poverty rate standing at 30% (CBS, 2008). Nyeri district has been a target of a non-governmental organization, The International Smallgroup and Tree Planting Program (TIST). Its objective is to help locals increase their income and conserve environment by planting trees. Farmers are increasingly joining the program substituting land previously allocated for food crops with tree planting enterprise. Despite presence of TIST, poverty still remains high in the region, with the statistics showing an increase in the population living below the poverty line from 29% in 2000 to 33% in 2006 (CBS, 2008). The main objective of the study was to determine the effects of TIST program on household income, environmental services and to determine factors that influence participation through a survey questionnaire. Multistage sampling was applied in selection of 120 farmers and analysis was done using SPSS and STATA. Heckman two stage sample selection model was used in analyzing factors that determine participation and log-log model was used to quantify the contribution of the program to household income upon participation. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the effects of the program on environmental services. The results showed no significant difference in income between participants and nonparticipants. Other socioeconomic and farm specific factors showed significant difference in household incomes. Farm sizes, access to micro-finance and program awareness positively influenced participation and were significant at 5% level of significance. Farm size p>(z) value was 0.048, access to micro finance(0.018) and program awareness(0.029). The program had a positive effect on a variety of environmental services. The study recommends that TIST program should adopt a better tree planting management approach to avoid total substitution of crops with tree planting enterprise and collaborate with the government and other stakeholders in linking farmers with market for their produce so as to enable them market their surplus and further research be done to explore issues that this study was not able to capture like technical issues regarding carbon sinking, the cost being presently incurred and potential benefits in the future and opportunity cost of the foregone agricultural output.


During the stagnation period of the Baltic Sea the mean weight-at-age of Baltic herring decreased by 50% (between 1977 and 1992). This has usually been attributed to a top-down process, i.e. to the simultaneous collapse of cod stocks and their predation. We present long-term data for 1980 to 1993 showing that bottom-up effects may also have played a role: along with the decline of salinity. the biomass proportion of zooplankton taxa preferred by herring (larger than 20 pg ind:' in wet welght) significantly declined. To support our hypothesis we present a study in which Baltic herring feeding and selective predation were investigated during 1985, a time of good growth and high weightat-age, and 1991, when herring growth and weight-at-age were poor. In this study, herring ston~achs and simultaneously taken plankton samples were analysed from trawl surveys conducted in the northern Baltic proper d'uring the peak of the herring feeding season in late summer. During both 1985 and 1991, herring selectively preyed on the larger zooplankton categones, especially neritic copepods. However, in 1991, a smaller proportion of the prey in herring stomachs consisted of neritic copepods, apparently because their share in plankton had decreased. Consequently, and despite an increase in total zooplankton biomass, the estimated carbon content of the food eaten by herring was lower, and the average stomach fullness index (on a scale of 0 to 5) decreased from 3.9 in 1985 to 1.9 in 1991. Also, the amount of mesenteric fat on herring stomachs declined from 4.2 to 3.2 (scale 0 to 5), indicating a longer-term failure in feeding success. We suggest that, in addition to possible top-down effects (a release of cod predation), bottom-up processes mediated via changes in mesozooplankton species composition have also influenced hernng growth and that both of these processes are affected by the same environmental factor-the Baltic salinity level.


Presented 32 9-mo-old infants with a problem in which they saw an object hidden in 1 of 2 places but were prevented from searching for it until after the spatial relationship between infant and object had been changed in some way. Findings show the following: (a) Previous search experience at 1 place promoted response perseveration or egocentric spatial coding on later trials. (b) Infants were better at locating the object after they had moved than they were after the object had moved. (c) Differentiation of the covers for the 2 locations provided a more salient cue to allocentric position than differentiation of the surrounds of the 2 locations. The 2nd finding is taken as support for the hypothesis that as infants begin to crawl, they become better able to take into account their own displacements within a stable space but difficulties remain with the displacements of objects. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)


On-line partial discharge (PD) measurements are widely used to detect stator winding insulation problems. The most widely applied measurement method uses 80 pF capacitors to detect the PD in the VHF (30-300 MHz) frequency range. However, there are more than 1000 large turbine generators equipped with a UHF antenna called the stator slot coupler (SSC). The SSC method operates in the frequency range 10-1000 MHz. In several cases both PD measuring systems were installed on the same generator. This paper compares the results from 13 generators that have both the VHF and UHF PD measurement systems. In some cases the correlation between the systems is good. However, there are some situations where one system indicates high PD is present and the other does not. This is presumably caused by the differences in pulse attenuation that occur in the two frequency ranges and the influence of high level sparking noise at the machine terminals, to which the capacitive sensors are preferentially sensitive.


We show how the dynamics of high-power femtosecond pulses can be understood in terms of three-wave mixing, with nonlinear medium excitations connecting the optical in- and out-waves. This approach allows one to extract information about the pulse dynamics from spectrally resolved far-field measurements.


Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, was born on 4 August, 1900. It might reasonably have been expected that she would lead a life of ease and privilege but few could have imagined the profound effect she would have on Britain and its people. Her life spanned the whole of the twentieth century and this official biography tells not only her story but, through it, that of the country she loved so devotedly. Drawing on her private correspondence and other unpublished material from the "Royal Archives", William Shawcross vividly reveals the witty girl who endeared herself to soldiers convalescing at Glamis in the First World War; the assured young Duchess of York; the Queen, at last feeling able to look the East End in the face at the height of the Blitz; the Queen Mother, representing the nation at home and abroad throughout her widowhood. It is the definitive portrait of a remarkable woman.


In terms of the previous Trade Marks Act 62 of 1963, provision was made for the determination of rights of competing applicants. The current Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993 allows an opposition of a later application by an earlier applicant; and conversely, the opposition of an earlier application by a later applicant, if the latter enjoys existing rights at the relevant time.
Although neither of the provisions concerned makes mention of prior use, it is submitted that such use would constitute an important factor. Insofar as an opposition on the basis of prior use is concerned, it is noted that section 16(1) of the current Act's predecessor was interpreted in WM Penn Oils Ltd v Oils International (Pty) Ltd1966 1 SA 311 (A) as excluding protection where there was no use creating a reputation or goodwill. In the case of an opposition in terms of section 10(15), use by the applicant prior to the filing date of the opponent should enable the applicant to prevail in the opposition. With regard to section 10(16), it is submitted that the legislature intended to give an applicant that opposes another application the benefit of a lesser burden of proof on account of the fact of filing.
Section 10(12) of the current Act resembles section 16(1) of the previous Act, in once again requiring the existence of a reputation. One issue that requires particular consideration is the possible difference in nature between an opposition in terms of section 10(12), and the remedy available in cases of passing off. The issue of what was referred to in Celine SA Trade Mark [ 1985] RPC 381 as"the degree of confusability" is discussed. Whereas the requirement for passing off in English law is deception, the position in South African law differs in that it is accepted that the likelihood of confusion is sufficient to found an action for passing off. Thus, scope for a distinction between that area oflaw and section 10(12 ) of the South African Act seems doubtful.
Finally, as regards the scope of comparison in opposition proceedings in terms of section 10(12), the existence of various and often contradictory opinions is noted. In the British Open Country Trade Mark case [2000] RPC 477 it was held that regard could be had to the actual use of a mark by theapplicant. It is nevertheless submitted that it is the mark of the applicant as filed, and that of the objector, as used, that must be compared.


GlowBots are small tangible, communicating and interactive robots that show eye-catching visual patterns on a round LED display. This paper details the development of the GlowBots from the early user-oriented design phase, through hardware and software development and onto preliminary user studies. In the design phase we outlined a robot application based on a study of how owners relate with unusual pets, such as snakes and lizards. This led to an application concept of a set of "hobby robots" which would communicate with each other and the user through dynamic patterns. Based on these requirements, we developed a LED display called see-Puck, which together with an open robot platform was used for the GlowBots application itself. One particular issue is dealing with energy consumption problems, as resources in embedded systems often limit the potential time for user interaction. We conclude with a report on early user experiences from demonstrating GlowBots and a preliminary user study in a home environment as well as remarks about future directions.


A cross-platform field campaign, OP3, was conducted in the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo between April and July of 2008. Among the suite of observations recorded, the campaign included measurements of NOx and O3 – crucial outputs of any model chemistry mechanism. We describe the measurements of these species made from both the ground site and aircraft. We then use the output from two resolutions of the chemistry transport model p-TOMCAT to illustrate the ability of a global model chemical mechanism to capture the chemistry at the rainforest site. The basic model performance is good for NOx and poor for ozone. A box model containing the same chemical mechanism is used to explore the results of the global model in more depth and make comparisons between the two. Without some parameterization of the nighttime boundary layer – free troposphere mixing (i.e. the use of a dilution parameter), the box model does not reproduce the observations, pointing to the importance of adequately representing physical processes for comparisons with surface measurements. We conclude with a discussion of box model budget calculations of chemical reaction fluxes, deposition and mixing, and compare these results to output from p-TOMCAT. These show the same chemical mechanism behaves similarly in both models, but that emissions and advection play particularly strong roles in influencing the comparison to surface measurements.


Consider a group of individuals who must rank a set of decisions or choices. If the members of the group disagree, how should their opinions be reconciled into a group ordering? Historically we may discern two ways of answering this question. The "relativist" approach, which is the dominant one in the modern social choice literature, holds that differences of opinion arise largely from differences in preferences or values. Hence the objective should be to strike a fair compromise between differences of opinion. The "rationalist" approach, which was an article of faith among the eighteenth-century founders of voting theory, holds that differences of opinion arise from misperceptions about the true merit of different decisions. For them the goal was to find the ordering that is most likely to be "correct" or "true". These two positions are not incompatible. Under suitable conditions, in fact, they yield the same method, which was first proposed in a rudimentary form by Condorcet. We show that it can be characterized by a slight weakening of the independence of irrelevant alternative condition.


Background: Family members affected by a close relative's substance misuse constitute a large but neglected, high-risk group. Interventions for that group are now being developed and tested in trials. More use should be made of qualitative methods to study process in such interventions. Design: Semi-structured interviews with family members 12 weeks after assignment to a full or brief 5-Step intervention. Both involved a primary care professional giving a self-help manual, and the full version also involved up to five sessions of a psychosocial intervention. Participants: 143 patients of GPs, health visitors and practice nurses in general practices in two areas of England. Patients were the family members of close relatives with drinking or other drug problems. Analysis: Framework analysis and grounded theory analysis of post-interview reports. Results: There was strong support for a form of intervention that involved face-to-face discussion with a primary care professional, and those who received the full intervention were appreciative of being able to talk to a professional who had time to listen and who appeared interested, understanding and caring. The self-help manual itself was reported to contain active ingredients for change, and a number of family members described transformations in their ways of coping with the problem whether they received the full or brief form of intervention. A common constellation of changes included increased consciousness of the nature and extent of the relative's drinking or drug use and its family effects, an acknowledgement of the family member's own needs and rights, a strengthening of resolve to assert plans and expectations, and a calming effect with reduction in stress symptoms. Many participants were unable to describe changes, however, and the following principal limitations of the intervention were described: prior familiarity with the material, perception that the intervention did not go far enough, belief that it was incapable of effecting change for the substance misusing relative, and a perception that sufficient professional expertise or sympathy was not always available in primary care. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the 5-Step family intervention has positive potential in the primary care setting, but has limitations and may need strengthening for family members whose problems are of longer standing or who have already been exposed to relevant information.


Data extracted from microarrays are now considered an important source of knowledge about various diseases. Several studies based on microarray data and the use of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) graphs have compared supervised machine learning approaches. These comparisons are based on classification schemes in which all samples are classified, regardless of the degree of confidence associated with the classification of a particular sample on the basis of a given classifier. In the domain of healthcare, it is safer to refrain from classifying a sample if the confidence assigned to the classification is not high enough, rather than classifying all samples even if confidence is low. We describe an approach in which the performance of different classifiers is compared, with the possibility of rejection, based on several reject areas. Using a tradeoff between accuracy and rejection, we propose the use of accuracy-rejection curves (ARCs) and three types of relationship between ARCs for comparisons of the ARCs of two classifiers. Empirical results based on purely synthetic data, semi-synthetic data (generated from real data obtained from patients) and public microarray data for binary classification problems demonstrate the efficacy of this method.


The liberalisation of world apparel trade by the year 2005 will eliminate quota
restrictions on imports from a large number of low labour cost countries. This will
impose a series of challenges to higher cost countries, involved in apparel exports,
which so far have had preferential access to the markets like Mauritius. The
competition against suppliers from low labour cost countries can only be won if
companies can achieve competitive advantage in terms of factors other than cost.
These include, for instance, design and manufacture of high value products, providing
manufacturing flexibility for rapid change in garment style, providing better service to
customers and fast responsiveness to meet changing market requirements. These
conditions can be met only if the companies adopt the appropriate manufacturing
strategy within the market context.

The importance of the manufacturing function for the achievement of competitive
advantage has been extensively covered in the literature. The process of deciding
upon appropriate manufacturing strategies for their implementation in specific sectors
however remains to be fully investigated. The present research is an attempt to
illustrate this process for the garment making sector in Mauritius which is currently at
the cross roads of its development as it faces fierce competition for market share in
the wake of world apparel trade liberalisation.

The project involved the use of the IDEFO system-modelling tool for the development
of an apparel manufacturing system reference model to illustrate details of all
activities taking place in a typical company. The model was used for the production a
manufacturing strategya udit tool to enablec ompaniest o make an assessmenot f their
current manufacturing practice, benchmark the same against better practices from the
industry and select alternative strategies for implementation with a view to achieving
enhanced product competitiveness. The audit tool is supported by a set of data that
was collected from a range of sources including ten different companies in Mauritius
such that the tool illustrates all possibilities in terms of manufacturing practice from
average to better practices.

A novel methodology for manufacturing strategy auditing through the use of the
developed audit tool was tested in three case study companies. The results clearly
demonstrate the effectiveness of the audit tool and the methodology, to enable
companies to assess their current practice and embark upon alternate strategies to
pave the way towards achieving enhanced competitiveness. Also, the audit tool was
used in a sample of seventeen collaborating companies, which enabled sector wise
analysis determination of the strategies that best suit the sector for maintaining its
market share in a world of free apparel trade.


We develop Chime, a set of mechanisms and methodologies that enable long-running computations on low power IoT devices with scarce and intermittent energy sources. We address the power transiency and unpredictability problem by optimally inserting checkpoints that save the intermediate states. Chime automatically locates and embeds checkpoints at the register-transfer level. We define an objective function that aims to find low-overhead checkpoints which minimize the recomputation energy cost. We develop and exploit a dynamic programming technique to solve the optimization problem. For real-time operation, Chime adaptively adjusts the checkpointing rate based on the available energy level in the system. Chime is deployed and evaluated on algebraic, data transformation, and cryptographic benchmark circuits. For storage of checkpoint data, we evaluate and compare the effectiveness of various non-volatile memories including NAND Flash, PCM, and STTM. Extensive evaluations show that Chime reliably enables execution of long computations under different source power patterns with low overhead. Our benchmark evaluations demonstrate that the area and energy overheads corresponding to the checkpoints are less than 9 and 11 percent, respectively.


The healthcare networks are gaining the popularity over the years and are being used in the many more applications. The healthcare surveillance in the hi-tech healthcare facilities, remote area health surveillance, telemedicine, etc has been used most popularly in these years. The healthcare models use the various kinds of the wireless body sensors, which are used for the healthcare monitoring in the healthcare networks. In this paper, the robust and secure authentication model has been proposed over the patient body sensor (PBS) based healthcare networks. The cloud-based healthcare networks have been aimed in this research for the inclusion of the proposed authentication model. The proposed model results have been obtained in the form of various performance parameters. The proposed model has been found efficient than the existing models when compared on the basis of the key connectivity and resilience to mobile adversaries in the networks.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To explore nurse perceptions of the feasibility of integrating the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale into practice within the inpatient palliative care setting.

BACKGROUND
Delirium occurs frequently in palliative care inpatient populations, yet is under-recognised. Exploring feasibility of delirium screening tools in this setting can provide insights into how recognition can be improved.

DESIGN
This was a qualitative study using a focus group methodology.

METHOD
Four semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 21 nurses working in two Australian palliative care units. Focus groups were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data.

RESULTS
Three major themes were identified: (1) Delirium screening using the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale is feasible, but then what? (2) Nuances, ambiguity and clinical complexity; and (3) Implementing structured processes requires firmer foundations. Themes describe how nurses perceived the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale to be an easy and brief screening tool which raised their awareness of delirium. They were largely willing to adopt it into practice, yet had uncertainty and misunderstandings of the tool specifically and delirium screening generally, application in a palliative care context, interventions for delirium and impact of screening on medical practice.

CONCLUSION
The Nursing Delirium Screening Scale is feasible for use in a palliative care inpatient setting, but requires investigation of its psychometric properties before routine use in this patient population.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Nurses require understanding of delirium, tailored guidance and a united approach with doctors to support their effective use of a delirium screening tool in the palliative care unit. Delirium practice change in this setting will also require nurses to become more active leaders and collaborators within their interdisciplinary teams.


Spanish has become increasingly prevalent in Bilwi, a Nicaraguan town on the northern Atlantic Coast, where many L1-Miskitu locals are now Spanish-dominant. As the community shifts towards Spanish, I investigate whether these L2-Spanish speakers are producing advanced rates of coda /s/ reduction like monolingual Nicaraguan Spanish speakers. In a comparison of the Miskitu's reduction rates with Spanish monolinguals, I find that Miskitu speakers who learned Spanish later in life do reduce coda /s/ but diverge from monolingual reduction rates preconsonantally. I contend that salience and perceptibility can account for this difference. While monolinguals reduce /s/ the most in cue-impoverished environments, the L2-Spanish speakers reduce /s/ more where they hear the reductions the best: in cue-rich, prevocalic environments.


Development of sustainable urban environments assumes processing of large amount of data from various sources. It could be field study observations, results of simulations or information provided by modeling. This paper focuses on processing modeled data of pedestrian movement based on existed axial maps of particular environment. Introduced component allows further analysis by calculation of set of metrics based on inverted graph, which is built from given paths.


In order to study the tempo and the mode of spider orb web evolution and diversification, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis using six genetic markers along with a comprehensive taxon sample. The present analyses are the first to recover the monophyly of orb-weaving spiders based solely on DNA sequence data and an extensive taxon sample. We present the first dated orb weaver phylogeny. Our results suggest that orb weavers appeared by the Middle Triassic and underwent a rapid diversification during the end of the Triassic and Early Jurassic. By the second half of the Jurassic, most of the extant orb-weaving families and web designs were already present. The processes that may have given origin to this diversification of lineages and web architectures are discussed. A combination of biotic factors, such as key innovations in web design and silk composition, as well as abiotic environmental changes, may have played important roles in the diversification of orb weavers. Our analyses also show that increased taxon sampling density in both ingroups and outgroups greatly improves phylogenetic accuracy even when extensive data are missing. This effect is particularly important when addition of character data improves gene overlap.


Simulating the behavior of soap films and foams is a challenging task. A direct numerical simulation of films and foams via the Navier-Stokes equations is still computationally too expensive. We propose an alternative formulation inspired by geometric flow. Our model exploits the fact, according to Plateau's laws, that the steady state of a film is a union of constant mean curvature surfaces and minimal surfaces. Such surfaces are also well known as the steady state solutions of certain curvature flows. We show a link between the Navier-Stokes equations and a recent variant of mean curvature flow, called hyperbolic mean curvature flow, under the assumption of constant air pressure per enclosed region. Instead of using hyperbolic mean curvature flow as is, we propose to replace curvature by the gradient of the surface area functional. This formulation enables us to robustly handle non-manifold configurations; such junctions connecting multiple films are intractable with the traditional formulation using curvature. We also add explicit volume preservation to hyperbolic mean curvature flow, which in fact corresponds to the pressure term of the Navier-Stokes equations. Our method is simple, fast, robust, and consistent with Plateau's laws, which are all due to our reformulation of film dynamics as a geometric flow.


The aim of IeCCS 2005, which was held in May 2005, was to bring together leading scientists of the international Computer Science community and to attract original research papers. This volume in the Lecture Series on Computer and Computational Sciences contains the extended abstracts of the presentations. The topics covered included (but were not limited to): Numerical Analysis, Scientific Computation, Computational Mathematics, Mathematical Software, Programming Techniques and Languages, Parallel Algorithms and its Applications, Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation, Analysis of Algorithms, Problem Complexity, Mathematical Logic, Formal Languages, Data Structures, Data Bases, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems, Simulation and Modeling, Computer Graphics, Software Engineering, Image Processing, Computer Applications, Hardware, Computer Systems Organization, Software, Data, Theory of Computation, Mathematics of Computing, Information Systems, Computing Methodologies, Computer Applications, Computing Milieu.


Management studies on corporate sustainability practices have grown considerably. The field now has significant knowledge of sustainability issues that are firm and industry focused. However, complex ecological problems are increasing, not decreasing. In this paper, we argue that it is time for corporate sustainability scholars to reconsider the ecological and systemic foundations for sustainability, and to integrate our work more closely with the natural sciences. To address this, our paper introduces a new development in the natural sciences – the delineation of nine 'Planetary Boundaries' which govern life as we know it. We call for more systemic research that measures the impact of companies on boundary processes that are at, or possibly beyond, three threshold points – climate change, the global nitrogen cycle, and rate of biodiversity loss – and closing in on others. We also discuss practical implications of the Planetary Boundaries framework for corporate sustainability, including governance and institutional challenges.


Background: Neurological rehabilitation and the contribution of physical therapy have changed considerably over the past decades as scientific and technological developments have enabled greater understanding of brain reorganization and the mechanisms of motor control, motor performance, impairments and adaptations. Objective: This paper presents a historical perspective covering the last half-century. Discussion: Current scientific research, and the subsequent reevaluation of the functional effects of impairments following an upper motor neuron lesion, is leading to a changing focus in clinical interventions, with emphasis on optimizing motor performance through task-oriented exercise and training, strength and fitness training. Findings in both animal and human models suggest that, for rehabilitation to be effective in optimizing neural reorganization and functional recovery, increased emphasis needs to be placed on challenging, engaging and meaningful task training, to promote learning. The issues of the intensity of task training and extent of cardiovascular stress during physical activity are also discussed. Although there is much to become excited about in the findings from clinical research, clinical practice in neurorehabilitation continues to vary widely and depends largely on the preferred approach of the individual therapist and on the continuing dominance of therapeutic methods developed half a century ago. Physiotherapists need to embrace the responsibility of using evidence-based, or at least scientifically acceptable, methods of intervention and objective measurements of outcome.


Numerical Methods in Engineering with MATLAB is a text for engineering students and a reference for practicing engineers. The choice of numerical methods was based on their relevance to engineering problems. Every method is discussed thoroughly and illustrated with problems involving both hand computation and programming. MATLAB M-files accompany each method and are available on the book website. This code is made simple and easy to understand by avoiding complex book-keeping schemes, while maintaining the essential features of the method. MATLAB was chosen as the example language because of its ubiquitous use in engineering studies and practice. This new edition includes the new MATLAB anonymous functions, which allow the programmer to embed functions into the program rather than storing them as separate files. Other changes include the addition of rational function interpolation in Chapter 3, the addition of Ridder's method in place of Brent's method in Chapter 4, and the addition of downhill simplex method in place of the Fletcher-Reeves method of optimization in Chapter 10.


The perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary condition is generally employed to prevent spurious reflections from numerical boundaries in wave propagation methods. However, PML requires additional computational resources. We have examined the performance of the PML by changing the distribution of sampling points and the PML's absorption profile with a view to optimizing the PML's efficiency. We used the collocation method in our study. We found that equally spaced field sampling points give better absorption of beams under both optimal and nonoptimal conditions for low PML widths. At high PML widths, unequally spaced basis points may be equally efficient. The efficiency of various PML absorption profiles, including new ones, has been studied, and we conclude that for better numerical efficiency it is important to choose an appropriate profile.


To reduce the latency of time-sensitive flows in Ethernet networks, the IEEE TSN Task Group introduced the IEEE 802.1Qbu Standard, which specifies a 1-level preemption scheme for IEEE 802.1 networks. Recently, serious limitations of this scheme w.r.t. flows responsiveness were exposed and the so-called multi-level preemption approach was proposed to address these drawbacks. As is the case with most, if not all, real-time and/or time-sensitive preemptive systems, an appropriate priority-to-flow assignment policy plays a central role in the resulting performance of both 1-level and multi-level preemption schemes to avoid the over-provisioning and/or the sub-optimal use of hardware resources. Yet on another front, the multi-level preemption scheme raises new configuration challenges. Specifically, the right number of preemption level(s) to enable for swift transmission of flows; and the flow-to-preemption-class assignment synthesis remain open problems. To the best of our knowledge, there is no prior work in the literature addressing these important challenges. In this work, we address these three challenges. We demonstrate the applicability of our proposed solution by using both synthetic and real life use-cases. Our experimental results show that multi-level preemption schemes improve schedulability of flows by over 12% as compared to a 1-level preemption scheme, and at a higher abstraction level, the proposed configuration framework improves the schedulability of flows by up to 6% as compared to the dominant Deadline Monotonic Priority Ordering.


Hypoparathyroidism is genetically heterogeneous and characterized by low plasma calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations. X-linked hypoparathyroidism (XLHPT) in two American families is associated with interstitial deletion-insertions involving deletions of chromosome Xq27.1 downstream of SOX3 and insertions of predominantly non-coding DNA from chromosome 2p25.3. These could result in loss, gain, or movement of regulatory elements, which include ultraconserved element uc482, which could alter SOX3 expression. To investigate this, we analysed SOX3 expression in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cells from three affected males, three unaffected males, and four carrier females from one XLHPT family. SOX3 expression was similar in all individuals, indicating that the spatiotemporal effect of the interstitial deletion-insertion on SOX3 expression postulated to occur in developing parathyroids did not manifest in lymphoblastoids. Expression of SNTG2, which is duplicated and inserted into the X chromosome, and ATP11C, which is moved telomerically, were also similarly expressed in all individuals. Investigation of male hemizygous (Sox3−/Y and uc482−/Y) and female heterozygous (Sox3+/− and uc482+/−) knockout mice, together with wild-type littermates (male Sox3+/Y and uc482+/Y, and female Sox3+/+ and uc482+/+), revealed Sox3−/Y, Sox3+/−, uc482−/Y, and uc482+/− mice to have normal plasma biochemistry, compared to their respective wild-type littermates. When challenged with a low calcium diet, all mice had hypocalcaemia, and elevated plasma PTH concentrations and alkaline phosphatase activities, and Sox3−/Y, Sox3+/−, uc482−/Y, and uc482+/− mice had similar plasma biochemistry, compared to wild-type littermates. Thus, these results indicate that absence of Sox3 or uc482 does not cause hypoparathyroidism and that XLHPT likely reflects a more complex mechanism.


Objective: To separate the pathogenic bacteria of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and investigate their constituents and the resistance features of gram-negative bacilli, so as to provide some references for the clinical application of antibiotics in the respiratory department of Hunan Provincial People's Hospital.
Methods: A total of 710 COPD patients who were admitted in the respiratory department of Hunan Provincial People's Hospital from August 2013 to February 2017 were enrolled in the study. In order to get germ-free sputa, all of them had to rinse their mouth repeatedly with clean water or hydrogen peroxide. The sputa were assayed for drug sensitivity with the K-B methods drafted by National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS).
Results: A total of 813 strains of bacteria were isolated from 710 COPD patients, of which gramnegative bacilli were the major strains whose highlight was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Gram-positive bacilli ranked second of which Staphylococcus aureus was the primary and fungi third. The strains and constituent ratio of gram-negative bacilli were significantly higher than that of gram-positive bacilli and that of fungi, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Through drug sensitive tests, it was known that Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii had higher resistance rate to cefazolin, with a statistical difference (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The highlight of bacteria-isolated is gram-negative bacteria which have very strong drug resistance, so that it is necessary to monitor unceasingly the resistance of bacteria, so as to guide reasonable medication in clinic.


An experimental investigation has been carried out on the nonlinear dynamics of a clamped–clamped Magneto-Rheological Elastomer (MRE) sandwich beam with a point mass when subjected to a point excitation. Three sets of experiments have been conducted namely for (i) an aluminium beam, (ii) a MRE sandwich beam in the absence of a magnetic field and (iii) a MRE sandwich beam in the presence of a magnetic field. An electrodynamic shaker was used to excite each system and the corresponding displacement of the point mass was measured: for the third experiment (iii), an array of magnets has been placed at various distances away from the centre of the point mass to investigate the effect of changing stiffness and damping properties on the nonlinear dynamical behaviour. An interesting feature for the third group is the beam point mass displacement was no longer symmetric as the stiffness and damping of the system are increased when moving towards the magnets. Both the first and second groups exhibited distinct nonlinear behaviour; however, for the third group this work shows that for a low magnetic field the sandwich beam exhibits two distinct resonance peaks, one occurring above and the other below the fundamental natural frequency of the transverse motion, with the right one larger. For a larger magnetic field, these peaks even out until the magnetic force was large enough that the hardening-type nonlinear behaviour changes to a softening-type; a significant qualitative change in the nonlinear dynamical behaviour of the system, due to the presence of the magnetic field, was observed.


Nalanda, in eastern India's Bihar state, was once the most important Buddhist monastery in the world. The six excavated temples there are oriented approximately to the cardinal directions, but their east–west axes are tilted more than 4° south of east. Other key Buddhist temples within the same cultural milieu (Bodhgaya, Vikramasila, Somapura, and Samye) are similarly oriented a few degrees south of east. As M. B. Rajani and Viraj Kumar argue in Nalanda: A Tale in the Twist, this demands an explanation, because a method to orient structures to within 0.5° of the cardinal directions was known in the region for several centuries prior to the construction of these temples. Rajani and Kumar identify a temporal pattern in the orientation of Nalanda's temples; hypothesize that each temple was aligned with the rise of a specific star (Spica or Beta Librae), with the temporal pattern being a consequence of axial precession; propose a simple, unified explanation for the few exceptions to the pattern; and use this hypothesis to propose an approximate construction date for each temple based on its orientation.


The current losses due to parasitic absorption in the indium tin oxide (ITO) and amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers at the front of silicon heterojunction solar cells are isolated and quantified. Quantum efficiency spectra of cells in which select layers are omitted reveal that the collection efficiency of carriers generated in the ITO and doped a-Si:H layers is zero, and only 30% of light absorbed in the intrinsic a-Si:H layer contributes to the short-circuit current. Using the optical constants of each layer acquired from ellipsometry as inputs in a model, the quantum efficiency and short-wavelength current loss of a heterojunction cell with arbitrary a-Si:H layer thicknesses and arbitrary ITO doping can be correctly predicted. A 4 cm2 solar cell in which these parameters have been optimized exhibits a short-circuit current density of 38.1 mA/cm2 and an efficiency of 20.8%.


Hamsters were vaccinated with toxoids containing toxin A, toxin B, both toxins, or a preparation containing neither toxin of Clostridium difficile, the causative agent of antibiotic-associated cecitis in hamsters and pseudomembranous colitis in humans. To determine whether these vaccines would reduce the severity of antibiotic-associated cecitis, the hamsters were injected subcutaneously with clindamycin. Nearly all of the hamsters protected against neither toxin or only one toxin died. These animals developed enlarged hemorrhagic ceca and diarrhea, although the ceca from the animals immunized against toxin B were less hemorrhagic. The hamsters immunized against both toxins survived clindamycin treatment and had ceca of normal size and appearance. Concentrations of both toxins were lower in the ceca of the latter animals than in the unprotected animals. To determine the effects of either toxin alone on the animals, nonimmunized hamsters were injected with either purified toxin A, which produced enlarged ceca with moderate hemorrhaging, or partially purified toxin B, which produced hemorrhagic ceca of normal size. All of the hamsters injected with either toxin at concentrations found in the ceca after clindamycin treatment died. These results suggest that toxin A causes the water influx, that both toxins cause hemorrhaging to different extents in the ceca of hamsters with antibiotic-associated cecitis and that either toxin alone can cause death. These studies may help explain the etiology of pseudomembranous colitis in humans.


Global oceans are absorbing over 90% of the heat trapped in our atmosphere due to accumulated anthropogenic greenhouse gases, resulting in increasing ocean temperatures. Such changes may influence marine ectotherms, such as sharks, as their body temperature concurrently increases toward their upper thermal limits. Sharks are high trophic level predators that play a key role in the regulation of ecosystem structure and health. Because many sharks are already threatened, it is especially important to understand the impact of climate change on these species. We used shark occurrence records collected by commercial fisheries within the Australian continental Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to predict changes in future (2050–2099) relative to current (1956–2005) habitat suitability for pelagic sharks based on an ensemble of climate models and emission scenarios. Our predictive models indicate that future sea temperatures are likely to shift the location of suitable shark habitat within the Australian EEZ. On average, suitable habitat is predicted to decrease within the EEZ for requiem and increase for mackerel sharks, however, the direction and severity of change was highly influenced by the choice of climate model. Our results indicate the need to consider climate change scenarios as part of future shark management and suggest that more broad-scale studies are needed for these pelagic species.