One of the most fragile stratums of every society is the people with certain disabilities, especially educable mentally retarded children. Some of the most tangible difficulties of these people are seen in their perceptual and motional abilities (coordination, balance, atmospheric awareness, time awareness, physical awareness and sense of direction). Overcoming these inabilities requires the integration of environmental information and decision making for performance of a special function. The objective of the present research is to investigate the effects of eight weeks of Tai-Chi exercises on status parameters of Kyphosis and balance among educable mentally retarded children. The research sample is consisted of 30 educable mentally retarded children suffering from Kyphosis abnormality. The sample individuals were selected from welfare centers of Tehran. After selection of samples, prior and post to execution of the protocol, the individuals were measured in terms of Kyphosis angle, chest expansion, coefficient of Delmas, spine extension and static and dynamic balances respectively through flexible rulers, tape measure, stoke test and Y test. The educable mentally retarded children were assigned to two 15 individual groups of experimental (age average of 11.6 years; average height of 142.30; average weight of 39.26kg) and control (age average of 11.06; height average of 139.83 and weight average of 35.86kg). The subjects of the experimental group were participated in an 8 week course of Tai-Chi exercises in three weekly 45 minute sessions. These exercises included a 10 minute warm-up, 30 minutes of Tai-Chi movements and 5 minutes of cool-down. During this time, the subjects of the control group were not incorporated into any exercise. By the use of the Shapiro-Wilk test, the normality of data distribution was investigated and approved. Also the Leon test was used for investigation of equality of the variances. Afterwards, descriptive statistics including average and standard deviation and inferential statistics including co-variance analysis were performed on the results. Tai-Chi exercises had been effective on improvement of Kyphosis angel, Delmas coefficient, chest expansion, spine extension and static and dynamic balances among the subjects of the experimental group. Tai-Chi exercises can have a significant effect on improvement of Kyphosis and other mentioned variables among educable mentally retarded children. These exercises can also be used with the aim of improving and increasing the presence of mentally retarded children in sports events and the society as well as encouragement of these children towards more activity.


Studies on the epidemiology of Canine Babesiosis in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

During two stays between April 2004 and February 2005, one in the dry season and the other during the rainy season, a total of 552 samples from 385 dogs (samples from 167 dogs were collected twice) from three different regions (Carrancas,
Carlos Chagas and Igarape) in Minas Gerais, Brazil were collected. While the first collection only included samples from dogs living in rural areas the second collection gathered repeat samples from the dogs from the first collection as well as samples from dogs from the particular urban areas. Blood was taken from each dog and blood smears were prepared. The blood smears were microscopically analysed and the DNA, extracted from the blood, was used for Real-Time PCR analysis of infections with Babesia canis vogeli or other piroplasms. A conventional PCR for the detection of Babesia sp. was carried out. In addition an indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test, specific for Babesia canis vogeli, was performed with all samples.

The analysis of samples from the first collection period resulted in a percentage of prevalence of 10,3 % in the Real-Time PCR and 30,0 % in the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test. The second collection period showed a prevalence of 8,2 % in the Real-Time PCR and 21,7 % in the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test. No significant difference has been found in the results from the Real-Time PCR and the origin (urban-/rural area) of the dogs in Minas Gerais, in general. However, on examining the three different regions separately, a significant difference in prevalence emerged in Carlos Chagas. In Minas Gerais there was a highly significant difference shown in the results of the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test. While Carrancas showed no significance at all, there was a significant difference shown in the results of Carlos Chagas and a highly significant difference shown in Igarape. Due to the very low sensitivitiy of the microscopically analysation only two from the 552 samples were positive.

With regards to the two different time periods (dry and rainy season) in which samples where collected, no significant differences in the results of the
Real-Time PCR were recorded in Minas Gerais in general or in the various regions in particular. The results of the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test did not show any significance in Minas Gerais, generally, or the regions of Carrancas and Carlos Chagas in particular, whereas in Igarape a significant difference was visible. Comparing the different age groups, a significant difference was detected in the
Real-Time PCR results and a highly significant difference in the results from the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test. Concerning the difference in prevalence's of infections and antibodies based on sex (male/female) the results of the PCR showed no significant difference whereas the difference in seroprevalence was significant. The results of the hematocrit and a comparison with the positivity in the different diagnostical methods revealed no significance for the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test and a high significance for the Real-Time PCR. A reason for the differences in prevalences across different age groups, as compared to the results from the Real-Time PCR, could be that puppies are more prone to infections. In the results of the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test a higher prevalence in the older age groups points to a certain resistance of those animals after recovering from infections with B. canis vogeli. A likely cause for the differences in prevalence in the results of the Real-Time PCR and the indirect immunfluorescent-antibody-test compared to the origin (rural or urban area) of the dog samples are differences in keeping the dogs as well as a lower occurrence of the vector ticks in the urban areas.


This working paper highlights the significance of multiple communities as crucial conditions, processes and consequences of FE leadership. Our research suggests that in (almost) all their activities FE colleges engage communities. They make important, but frequently under-estimated contributions to the local community and economy. This is the case within colleges (e.g. students and employees), between colleges and their multiple-partners (e.g. in the local community and economy) and between different colleges (e.g. professional networks and associations between Principals). The paper argues that in the FE sector communities and leadership are inextricably-linked, sometimes in mutually-reinforcing, but also in potentially contradictory ways. These communities are not only both internal and external to colleges themselves, they are also multiple and diverse, frequently shifting, interacting and impacting in complex, simultaneous ways. Our working paper: 1. Outlines (some of) the multiple communities served by FE colleges. In particular, we explore the FE college as: a learning community, a socially inclusive community, an inclusive learning community and a provider of adult and community learning. 2. Examines some of the important challenges for those occupying FE leadership positions in seeking to engage with these multiple communities. Our research findings suggest that on-going attempts to engage diverse communities constitute a crucial challenge for effective FE leadership. 3. Suggests a different way of understanding the nature of FE leadership. This indicates that a 'blended leadership' (Collinson and Collinson 2005c) approach may be particularly effective in engaging multiple, shifting communities in sustainable ways. 4. Suggests that the community contribution of FE colleges is frequently neglected and/or under-estimated. Many of the staff we have interviewed argue that important aspects of colleges' community engagements remain invisible or undervalued, particularly by those who evaluate perf


Clustering is a standard approach for achieving efficient and scalable performance in wireless sensor networks. Clustering algorithms are mostly heuristic in nature and aim at generating the minimum number of disjoint clusters. In this report, we formulate the overlapping multi-hop clustering problem as an extension to the k-dominating set problem. Then we propose a fast, randomized, distributed multi-hop clustering algorithm (OK) for organizing the sensors in a wireless sensor network into overlapping clusters with the goal of minimizing the overall communication overhead, and processing complexity. OK assumes a quasi-stationary network where nodes are location-unaware and have equal significance. No synchronization is needed between nodes. OK is scalable; the clustering formation terminates in a constant time regardless of the network topology or size. The protocol incurs low overhead in terms of processing cycles and messages exchanged. We analyze the effect of different parameters (e.g. node density, network connectivity) on the performance of the clustering algorithm in terms of communication overhead, node coverage, and average cluster size. The results show that although we have overlapped clusters, the OK clustering algorithm still produces approximately equal-sized clusters.


Information about stellar magnetic field topologies is obtained primarily from high-resolution circular polarisation (Stokes V) observations. Due to their generally complex morphologies, the stellar Stokes V profiles are usually interpreted with elaborate inversion techniques such as Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI). Here we further develop a new method of interpretation of circular polarisation signatures in spectral lines using cumulative Stokes V profiles (anti-derivative of Stokes V). This method is complimentary to ZDI and can be applied for validation of the inversion results or when the available observational data are insu cient for an inversion. Based on the rigorous treatment of polarised line formation in the weak-field regime, we show that, for rapidly rotating stars, the cumulative Stokes V profiles contain information about the spatially resolved longitudinal magnetic field density. Rotational modulation of these profiles can be employed for a simple, qualitative characterisation of the stellar magnetic field topologies. We apply this diagnostic method to the archival observations of the weak-line T Tauri star V410 Tau and Bp He-strong star HD 37776. We show that the magnetic field in V410 Tau is dominated by an azimuthal component, in agreement with the ZDI map that we recover from the same data set. For HD 37776 the cumulative Stokes V profile variation indicates the presence of multiple regions of positive and negative field polarity. This behaviour agrees with the ZDI results but contradicts the popular hypothesis that the magnetic field of this star is dominated by an axisymmetric quadrupolar component.


Transient and photomodulation spectroscopy is used in order to determine decay times and densities of both emitting and absorbing species in the wide band-gap semiconductor poly-2,5-diheptyl-1,4-phenylene-alt-2, 5-thienylene ~PDHPT!. The wide band gap of this material is a consequence of the large twisting of the neighboring constituents of the polymer chain. Transient spectroscopy revealed a monoexponential decay of singlet excitons in PDHPT solutions with a radiative and nonradiative decay time of 1.9 and 1.6 ns, respectively. For the solid film photoluminescence decays biexponentially. This distinct decay behavior in solid state is attributed to the migration of the excitons towards quenching sites favored by the three dimensionality in the bulk material, which hence reduces the photoluminescence quantum yield. Infrared studies suggest that upon photo-oxidation one introduces carbonyl groups in PDHPT, which shortens the decay times by introducing photoluminescence quenching centers. Photomodulation spectroscopy is exploited to determine steady-state density of triplet excitons along with their decay dynamics and we found that the steady-state density of the triplets can be as high as 10 16 cm 23 in this material. Furthermore, we determined the generation probability of triplets to be 2 310 23 .


Residual stress arising from welding processes is matter of great concern in industrial practice since it can affect geometry, mechanical behavior and corrosion resistance of components. In order to evaluate residual stress in welded joints and optimize postwelding heat treatments, a lot of work has been devoted to the improvement of measurement methods with increasing sensitivity and accuracy. The chapter presents and discusses some of the experimental techniques commonly used today to determine residual stress in welds and describes recent results and advancements. Destructive (sectioning, contour, hole-drilling, instrumented indentation) and nondestructive (Barkhausen noise, ultrasonic, X-ray and neutron diffraction) methods are illustrated to highlight the specific characteristics, advantages and drawbacks.


In this article, the author explains how and why one particular qualitative research approach, the naturalistic inquiry paradigm, was implemented in an e-learning research study that investigated the use of the World Wide Web technology in higher education. A framework is presented that situates the research study within the qualitative research literature. The author then justifies how the study was compliant with naturalistic inquiry and concludes by presenting a model for judging the quality of such research. The purpose of this article is to provide an example of how naturalistic inquiry can be implemented in e-learning research that can serve as a guide for researchers undertaking this form of qualitative inquiry. As such, the focus of the article is to illustrate how methodological issues pertaining to naturalistic inquiry were addressed and justified to represent a rigorous research approach rather than presenting the results of the research study.


ABSTRACT In this study, the synthesis of metal-free and metallophthalocyanines containing four 4-[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethyl]-5-methyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazol-3-one substituents at the peripheral positions were reported. The structures of compounds were characterized using IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, mass spectroscopies, and UV-Vis. Electrochemistry of the complexes were studied with voltammetric and in situ spectroelectrochemical measurements in different electrolytic systems. MPcs having redox inactive metal centers (H+, Zn+2, Cu+2, and Ni+2) just illustrated similar Pc-based electron transfer reactions. Due to the different effective nuclear charge of the ions in the core of Pc ring, small potential shifts and reversibility differences were observed between the redox processes of these complexes. MPcs having redox-active metal centers (Co+2 and TiO+2) gave metal-based electron transfers in addition to Pc-based processes. Electrolyte type of the measurement system significantly influenced oxidation behaviors of CoPc due to the coordination of polar coordinating solvent molecules to the oxidized CoIII center of CoPc. Spectra and color of the electrogenerated MPc species were determined with in situ spectroelectrochemical measurements.


Abstract Research literature documents the varied perspectives of caregivers, educators, health professionals, community members, and family members regarding intellectual disability and sexuality. Many aspects of disability and sexuality, even intellectual disability and sexuality, are well documented. But what are the perspectives and experiences regarding sexuality of those who have intellectual disabilities? There is a void when it comes to the voices of people labeled as having intellectual disabilities regarding their own sexuality; their perspectives have not been described. This research study explores the existing literature that discusses the perspectives of others (parents, caregivers, educators, medical professionals, the general community, etc.) and then takes it one step further, to research the perspectives and experiences of people who have intellectual disabilities about sexuality. A common slogan in the disability rights movement, "nothing about us without us," captures the intent of this research, as the existing research has such limited information about the opinions of those with intellectual disabilities. Individuals labeled as having intellectual disabilities can, and should, be a part of these discussions about their own sexuality. If people with disabilities are to be fully and truly included in society, these conversations must include them, and take their opinions and experiences into account when planning for service, supports, and educational curriculums for people with intellectual disabilities.


Recently several 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives were identified as potentially active antimycobacterial agents. Various 5-aryl-2-thio-1,3,4-oxadiazoles have been reported having good antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H 37 Rv (ATCC 27294). In this paper we report 3D QSAR studies for the 41 molecules of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles by using k-Nearest Neighbor Molecular Field Analysis (kNN-MFA) combined with various selection procedures. Using kNN-MFA approach 52 3D-QSAR models were generated; one of these models was selected on the basis of q 2 and pred_r 2 values. The selected model had shown good internal and external predictivity for the training set of 33 molecules and test set of 8 molecules with validation (q 2 ) and cross validation (pred_r 2 ) values of 0.5022 and 0.2898, respectively. This model can be used for preliminary screening of large diversified compound libraries. The model has shown that presence of sulphur is must for activity, however the larger bulky substituents reduce the activity. The presence of halogen and other non-halogen groups have also contributed to the activity. Hence the future schemes with smaller groups on sulphur and electronegative groups in the molecule would result in potentially active molecules.


Continental breakup occurs through repeated episodes of mechanical stretching and dike injection within discrete, narrow rift segments. However, the time and length scales of the dike intrusions, along with the source regions of melt within continental and oceanic rifts, are poorly constrained. We present measurements of spatial and temporal variability in deformation from the currently active 60-km-long Dabbahu segment of the Red Sea rift in Afar, using satellite radar, global positioning system, and seismicity data sets, that capture emplacement of two ~10-km-long, ~1–2-m-wide dike intrusions in June and July 2006. Our observations show that the majority of strain is accommodated by dikes that propagate laterally over ~4–5 h time scales along the rift axis and are sourced from a reservoir in the middle to lower crust, or upper mantle, beneath the center of the rift segment. New intrusions during the ongoing rifting episode in Afar show that the injection of lateral dikes fed from magma reservoirs beneath rift segment centers is a key component in creating and maintaining regular along-axis rift segmentation during the final stages of continental breakup. Our observations also provide evidence that the focused magmatic accretion at segment centers observed in slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges occurs prior to the onset of seafloor spreading.


An important narrative strategy for the realist novelist in pursuit of historical authenticity is the accumulation of artifacts designed to elide the difference between art and fact. Hugh Witemeyer has argued that George Eliot "regularly juxtaposes her characters with morally significant art works located in the story," adding that "these works are sometimes `real9 (that is, imitated from known originals) and sometimes purely fictive." This essay argues that the most important picture in Romola, Piero di Cosimo9s "painted record" of Tito Melema9s guilty and fearful response to the encounter with his adoptive father on the steps of the Duomo, is neither entirely fictive nor solely inspired by Michelangelo9s statue of Bacchus, which now stands in the Bargello (as suggested respectively by Witemeyer and Joseph Wiesenfarth), but is a fictional appropriation of Titian9s Il Bravo, which George Eliot would almost certainly have seen during a visit to Vienna made shortly before she began working on the novel.


We measured the seasonal and temperature responses of leaf photosynthesis and respiration of two co-occurring native New Zealand tree species with contrasting leaf phenology: winter-deciduous fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata J. R. Forst & G. Forst) and annual evergreen wineberry (Aristotelia serrata J. R. Forst & G. Forst). There was no difference in the amount of nitrogen per unit leaf area (Narea, range 40-160 mmol m-2, P = 0.18) or specific leaf area (S, range 8-27 m2 kg-1, P = 0.87) in summer leaves of wineberry or fuchsia. The amount of nitrogen per unit leaf area and S varied significantly with height of leaves in the canopy for both species (r2 range 0.61-0.87). Parameters describing the maximum rates of rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax) and electron transport (Jmax) were related significantly to Narea, and were 60% higher on average in spring and summer leaves than in autumn and winter leaves for both species. The seasonal effect remained significant (P < 0.001) when Narea was included in a regression model, indicating that seasonal changes were not only due to changes in Narea. Values for Vcmax and Jmax were 30% lower in wineberry leaves than in fuchsia leaves on average, although the difference ranged from 15% in summer leaves to 39% in autumn leaves. Activation energies describing the temperature dependence of Vcmax and Jmax in wineberry were 111 and 114% of corresponding values for fuchsia (Ea (Vcmax) = 39.1 kJ mol-1, Ea (Jmax) = 32.9 kJ mol-1). Respiration at night was the same (P = 0.34) at 10 degrees C for both species (R10 = 0.7 micromol m-2 s-1), although activation energies (E0) were higher in wineberry than in fuchsia (47.4 and 32.9 kJ mol-1 K-1, respectively). These results show that rates of photosynthesis are higher in winter-deciduous fuchsia than in annual evergreen wineberry.


Globally, the overall mortality rate among HIV-infected patients has significantly declined during the HAART era. Deaths among HIV-infected inpatients need to be characterized in order to formulate intervention strategies to further improve medical care for this population and their prognosis. In the current study, deaths among HIV-infected inpatients from 2006 to 2015 at a medical center for HIV infection and AIDS patient care in Shanghai, China were retrospectively analyzed. Trends in mortality rates and the proportion of deaths caused by AIDS or non-AIDS-related illnesses were evaluated. A bivariate analysis was performed to identify the demographic and clinical factors associated with AIDS or non-AIDS-related deaths among HIV-infected inpatients. Among 6,473 HIV-infected patients who were discharged from 2006 to 2015, 326 deaths (5.04%) were identified. The yearly mortality rate declined significantly over time (χ2 = 34.41, p < 0.001). Results revealed that most deaths were attributed to AIDS-related illnesses (76.9 %, 233/303), and the proportion of causes of death did not change significantly over time (χ2 = 13.847, p = 0.127). Bivariate analysis identified characteristic factors associated with AIDS-related mortality. Compared to patients who died of non-AIDS illnesses, patients who died of AIDS-related illnesses had a CD4+ T cell count lower than 50 cells/μL (OR 4.587, 2.377-8.850) and fewer liver (OR 0.391, 0.177-0.866) or renal comorbidities (OR 0.188, 0.067-0.523) on admission. Results indicated that the overall in-hospital mortality rate among HIV-infected patients has declined over the past decade. However, AIDS-related illnesses were still the major causes of deaths among HIV-infected inpatients, suggesting that further efforts are needed to improve AIDS care in China.


Although initially considered rare, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures in pediatric patients recently have increased substantially as a result of greater awareness of the injury and increased participation in youth sports. Although pediatric patients with an ACL injury and a clinically stable joint may handle the injury well and return to sports activity without requiring surgical reconstruction, young, active patients with an ACL rupture and an unstable joint may be good candidates for ACL reconstruction to prevent ongoing instability and additional joint damage. ACL reconstruction techniques have been developed to prevent physeal injury in skeletally immature patients. The surgical treatment of skeletally immature patients with an ACL rupture may differ from that of adults with an ACL rupture and presents unique challenges with regard to reconstruction technique selection, graft preparation, rehabilitation, and return to sports activity. Orthopaedic surgeons should understand various physeal-sparing ACL reconstruction techniques and the general challenges associated with the surgical management of ACL ruptures in pediatric patients.


Alys Conran's first novel, Pigeon, (2016), relates the misadventure of a disaffected young Welsh boy, partly through the eyes of his friend and accomplice Iola, who, like Pigeon, comes from a broken family. Both are growing up in a bleak post industrial village in North Wales, never named, possibly Bethesda, the setting for one of the finest novels ever written in Welsh, Caradog Prichard's Un nos ola leuad, which also charts the psychological undercurrents of a pre-adolescent boy trying to make sense of the world in which he finds himself, as he wanders innocently along a path of self-destruction. Prichard's novel, written half a century ago, is in Welsh. Conran, a native speaker of Welsh, writes in English. In choosing to do so, she offers insights into the way in which the two languages of Wales have been brought together through the media, through a bilingual educational system, and through changed attitudes towards both English and Welsh in the wake of devolution, more functional and less emotively charged. Pigeon and Iola are Welsh speakers, but they resort to English not just to interact with Pigeon's monolingual step-sister, brought to the village by a violent Englishman who moves in with Pigeon's mother, but also to play out their own fantasies, fueled by the language of films and social media. In short, Pigeon, with its continual reference to the language use of its protagonists, can be seen as an exploration of 'translanguaging', a term that first appeared in Welsh as trawsieithu (Williams 1994) and has been defined by Canagarajah (2011) as "the ability of multilingual speakers to shuttle between languages, treating the diverse languages that form their repertoire as an integrated system".


The timing and synchrony of reproduction in scleractinian corals varies greatly among geographic locations, along latitudinal gradients, and among regions. On the east coast of Australia, there are extensive subtropical coral communities within the Solitary Islands Marine Park (30° S). From 1994 to 1996, the pattern of reproduction was studied in 27 species from 10 genera of broadcast spawning scleractinian corals. Spawning periods were determined directly from observations of 4 species that spawned in aquaria, and indirectly from repeated sampling of 236 tagged field colonies by noting the disappearance of mature gametes. Evidence of sexual reproduction was observed in 24 coral species, and gametes were released annually from December to April. Spawning periods were staggered among species and among colonies within some species. Spawning in massive spe- cies was generally more synchronous and predictable than for acroporid species. Massive coral spe- cies spawned from 8 to 12 nights after a full moon, whereas there was no obvious lunar periodicity of spawning among acroporid corals. This asynchronous pattern of reproduction contrasts with the highly synchronous spawning of more than 140 coral species during mass spawning periods on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in October to December each year. The delay in the timing of coral spawn- ing at the Solitary Islands compared with the GBR coincides with the delayed rise in sea temperatures in the subtropics. In addition, the highly variable nature of sea temperatures at the Solitary Islands around the time of gamete maturation and spawning may account for the less synchronous pattern of reproduction in this high-latitude coral community.


This paper attempts to summarise the philosophical career of Bertrand Russell, concentrating in particular on his contributions to logic and the philosophy of mathematics. It takes as its starting point Russell's conception of philosophy as the search for foundations upon which certain knowledge might be built, a search which Russell, at the end of his career, declared to be fruitless. In pursuing this search, however, Russell was led to develop lines of thought and techniques of analysis that have had a profound and lasting influence on the philosophy of the twentieth century.


In recent months, we've seen an unprecedented wave of testimonials about the serious harms women all too frequently endure. The #MeToo moment, the #WhyIStayed campaign, and the Larry Nassar sentencing hearings have raised public awareness not only about workplace harassment, domestic violence, and sexual abuse, but also about how routinely women survivors face a Gaslight-style gauntlet of doubt, disbelief, and outright dismissal of their stories. This pattern is particularly disturbing in the justice system, where women face a legal twilight zone: laws meant to protect them and deter further abuse often fail to achieve their purpose, because women telling stories of abuse by their male partners are simply not believed. To fully grasp the nature of this new moment in gendered power relations—and to cement the significant gains won by these public campaigns—we need to take a full, considered look at when, how, and why the justice system and other key social institutions discount women's credibility.

We use the lens of intimate partner violence to examine the ways in which women's credibility is discounted in a range of legal and social service system settings. First, judges and others improperly discount as implausible women's stories of abuse, based on a failure to understand both the symptoms arising from neurological and psychological trauma and the practical constraints on survivors' lives. Second, gatekeepers unjustly discount women's personal trustworthiness, based on both inaccurate interpretations of survivors' courtroom demeanor and negative cultural stereotypes about women and their motivations for seeking assistance. Moreover, even when a woman manages to overcome all the initial modes of institutional skepticism that minimize her account of abuse, she often finds that the systems designed to furnish her with help and protection dismiss the importance of her experiences. Instead, all too often, the arbiters of justice and social welfare adopt and enforce legal and social policies and practices with little regard for how they perpetuate patterns of abuse.

Two distinct harms arise from this pervasive pattern of credibility discounting and experiential dismissal. First, the discrediting of survivors constitutes its own psychic injury--an institutional betrayal that echoes the psychological abuse women suffer at the hands of individual perpetrators. Second, the pronounced, nearly instinctive penchant for devaluing women's testimony is so deeply embedded within survivors' experience that it becomes a potent, independent obstacle to their efforts to obtain safety and justice.

The reflexive discounting of women's stories of domestic violence finds analogs among the kindred diminutions and dismissals that harm so many other women who resist the abusive exercise of male power, from survivors of workplace harassment to victims of sexual assault on and off campus. For these women, too, credibility discounts both deepen the harm they experience and create yet another impediment to healing and justice. Concrete, systematic reforms are needed to eradicate these unjust, gender-based credibility discounts and experiential dismissals, and to enable women subjected to male abuses of power at long last to trust the responsiveness of the justice system.


Oxytocin is typically linked to birth and lactation, but there is increasing evidence about its role in the events leading up to conception and birth. Such events include its involvement in sexual behaviour and its effects on the menstrual cycle, both of which are important in human reproduction. New evidence in its involvement in birth and lactation will also be included. Essentially, this review aims to link all these events that oxytocin is involved in from conception to


National day speeches play an explicit part in defining national identities. In this article, we examine how mayors in Norwegian municipalities reflect on Norway's increased diversity in their 17 May speeches. National day speeches in Norway are supposed to focus on unity, not conflict. Yet, what have they become in the context of diversity? In applying theoretical perspectives on nations, rituals and language to data consisting of a selection of speeches, our analysis identifies themes that structure a typical 17 May speech. We explore the use of plural pronouns in the speeches and how they make Norwegian national identity more or less accessible for people with minority backgrounds. By including ethnic minorities in national day rhetoric, the speakers negotiate who belongs in the Norwegian community in a less directly political way than in everyday life. Yet, whilst the genre is celebratory, the national day speeches also echo different political attitudes towards diversity and integration.


Copies of this article can be made free of charge and without securing permission, for purposes of teaching, research, or library reserve. Consent to other kinds of copying, such as that for creating new works, or for resale, must be obtained from both the journal editor(s) and the author(s). M@n@gement is a double-blind refereed journal where articles are published in their original language as soon as they have been accepted. M@n@gement est la revue officielle de l'AIMS M@n@gement is the official journal of AIMS


The coconut, Cocosnucifera L., is a plant that has been cultivated for its many benefits, especially in its nutritional and medicinal properties. Coconut is an unusual, edible fruit produced from coconut trees. The coconut tree is a type of palm that has a single straight stem and has been used for many purposes since prehistoric times. Every part can be used, including fruit, wood, and leaves. As a result, the trees are widely grown in many parts of South India for commercial and domestic use. From the coconut tree are found several products including coconut, soft coconut water, coconut, coconut shell and so on. All components are used. It is a unique source of various nutrients, so it has many medical functions including anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-plastic, anti-diabetic etc to maintain good health. And this current review explains the facts of a healthy diet and several activities of the Cocosnucifera drug.


Steer-by-Wire (SbW) system is an advanced steering system where the conventional mechanical linkages between the steering wheel and the front wheels are removed, and replaced by electric actuators. Due to no direct mechanical linkages, accurately controlling the front wheels to track the movement of the steering wheel is becoming critical for the steering system performance. To reduce the effects caused by the nonlinear friction torque and alignment torque to the tracking performance of the SbW system, a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) model is proposed to describe the nonlinear dynamics of the SbW system in this paper first. A fuzzy tracking controller is then designed to track the reference signal, and the H∞ tracking performance is guaranteed for a prescribed level under external disturbance and reference signal. The linear matrix inequality convex programming technique is used to obtain the fuzzy controller with the guaranteed H∞ tracking performance. The simulation results are presented in support of the performance and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.


Conventional wisdom is that phishing represents easy money. In this paper we examine the economics that underly the phenomenon, and find a very different picture. Phishing is a classic example of tragedy of the commons, where there is open access to a resource that has limited ability to regenerate. Since each phisher independently seeks to maximize his return, the resource is over-grazed and yields far less than it is capable of. The situation stabilizes only when the average phisher is making only as much as he gives up in opportunity cost.
 Since the picture we paint is at variance with accepted wisdom we check against several publicly available data sources on phishing. We find the oft-quoted survey-based estimates of phishing losses unreliable. In particular the victimization rate found in most surveys is smaller than the margin of error, and dollar losses are estimated by averaging unverified self-reported numbers. We estimate that recent public estimates over-state phishing losses by as much as a factor of fifty.
 This economic portrait illuminates our enemy in an entirely new light. Far from being a path to riches, phishing appears to be a low-skill low-reward business. The enormous amount of phishing activity is evidence of its failure to deliver riches rather than its success, as phishers send more and more email hoping for their share of the bounty that eludes them. Repetition of questionable survey results and unsubstantiated anecdotes makes things worse by ensuring a steady supply of new entrants.


Molecular recognition and self-assembly represent fundamental issues for the construction of supramolecular systems, structures in which the components are held together through non-covalent interactions. The study of host-guest complexes and mechanical interlocked molecules, important examples in this field, is necessary in order to characterize self-assembly processes, achieve more control over the molecular organization and develop sophisticated structures by using properly designed building blocks. The introduction of paramagnetic species, or spin labelling, represents an attractive opportunity that allows their detection and characterization by the Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy, a valuable technique that provides additional information to those obtained by traditional methods.
In this Thesis, recent progresses in the design and the synthesis of new paramagnetic host-guest complexes and rotaxanes characterized by the presence of nitroxide radicals and their investigation by ESR spectroscopy are reported. In Chapter 1 a brief overview of the principal concepts of supramolecular chemistry, the spin labelling approach and the development of ESR methods applied to paramagnetic systems are described. Chapter 2 and 3 are focused on the introduction of radicals in macrocycles as Cucurbiturils and Pillar[n]arenes, due to the interesting binding properties and the potential employment in rotaxanes, in order to investigate their structures and recognition properties. Chapter 4 deals with one of the most studied mechanical interlocked molecules, the bistable [2]rotaxane reported by Stoddart and Heath based on the ciclobis (paraquat-p-phenylene) CBPQT4+, that represents a well known example of molecular switch driven by external stimuli. The spin labelling of analogous architectures allows the monitoring by ESR spectroscopy of the switch mechanism involving the ring compound by tuning the spin exchange interaction. Finally, Chapter 5 contains the experimental procedures used for the synthesis of some of the compounds described in Chapter 2-4.


The primary goal of this research was to compare the improvement in the second language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing among fourth semester French students enrolled in a content course taught in French and similar level students enrolled in a traditional fourth semester French course where the focus was primarily on the teaching of the language itself. The research used a non-equivalent pretest-posttest design and the results were analyzed using an analysis of covariance to determine mean gain scores of intact experimental and control sections of fourth semester students on the MLA Cooperative French Test. Results showed significant improvement for the experimental group in three of the four skills (listening, speaking, writing) and in two (listening and writing) for the control group. When compared to each other, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the speaking skill while the latter significantly outperformed the experimental group in the writing skill. Attitudinal results showed a significantly more positive attitude toward the study of French among the experimental group. The study is important because it challenges the conventional assumptions regarding the way L2 skills are acquired and improved, and offers the student a valuable time and money saving option since he or she might be able to study a specific content while simultaneously improving L2 skills.


From 1993-1994, a study of Vitellaria paradoxa was carried out. This study involved an in-depth review of biological and ecological information on Vitellatia throughout its range. Stand studies and an analysis of the climate in relation to fire risk. There were also experimental investigations of germination and pollination. All field studies were at the site of the Cocoa Research Institute outstation at Bole. Stand characteristics of Vitellaria (>10 cm dbh) at the 68 kM2 plot of the Cocoa Research Institute's Sheanut Research Station, Bole were examined in two strata distinguished on the basis of distance from the nearest village: >3.0 km and <3.0 km. Regeneration (<10 cm dbh) was assessed and recorded for height, root collar diameter and mode of regeneration. Analysis of variance indicated higher stocking of individuals > 10 cm dbh further from villages but significantly more Vitellaria trees >10 m tall close to villages. Suckers accounted for > 86% of regenerating individuals, and more than 90% of regenerating plants were < 50 cm high. Analysis of climatic data indicated a mean drought index (1990-1994) of 514 ± 61 points. However, the fire danger index never reached an extreme value. The germination response of depulped, cracked and intact seeds of Vitellaria sown underand outside the canopy of mature Vitellatia trees (> 30 cm dbh), showed a significant association between germination and seed treatment: a higher proportion of depulped than intact seeds germinated. Open pollinated flowers, gave significantly lower fruit set than hand-pollinated flowers. There was no difference, however, in the amount of fruit set achieved with pollen from sources 50 m, 500 m and 1000 m away or from flowers of two different style lengths. It is concluded that fires are adversely affecting the population structure and natural regeneration of stands at Bole, and that low fruit set in Vitellaria is due at least in part, to low vector activity. Suggestions are made for future research on the species.


In this issue of Cutter IT Journal , we discuss the complex issues surrounding project management in the new global environment. Discover how one IT executive is overcoming her PMO's "midlife crisis" by shifting its focus from project execution and metrics to portfolio oversight and business relationship management. Learn how your projects can reduce their "Feature-Time-to-Benefit" through a combination of lean, agile, and Toyota Production System (TPS)-inspired techniques. And hear from one author who relates "a typical agile failure story" and argues that we need to go beyond agile project management to ensure that the value project teams deliver represents coherent and complete content. Be sure to tune in - the project you save may be your own!.


Brian Tamanaha has written a thoughtful critique of legal education; we agree with his assessment and many of his prescriptions. Tamanaha, however, does not press hard enough on a fundamental flaw that plagues both legal education and law practice: Our profession operates as a tournament guild. Law schools and established practitioners maintain a lengthy, stressful, and expensive series of competitions to separate winners from losers. A small number of lawyers reap most of the guild profits; others toil for much less reward or leave the profession. Addressing this problem requires easing the market restraints that currently shield the legal profession. Ordinary fraud and consumer protection laws adequately protect clients; tighter constraints benefit established lawyers, while harming new lawyers and consumers. In this essay, we outline law's status as a tournament guild, then suggest how market competition could address some of the problems identified by Tamanaha and other critics of legal education.


Nigeria has an estimated 187 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves. Almost 50% of annual associated gas produced is flared or re-injected for enhanced recovery. Currently, the preferred option for exporting stranded gas is liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, the world LNG market is relatively small compared to middle distillates, and strongly driven by long-term and high risk contractual agreements. Gas-to liquids (GTL) is an emerging technology in gas exploitation with end products being useful in transportation, power generation and base chemical feedstock. The underlying objective is to build a business case for GTL as an alternative to LNG for Nigeria stranded gas reserves. Integrating GTL with commercial power generation improves the NPV of GTL projects by about 2-4% making this option clearly competitive with LNG. The analysis presents a robust and economic solution to gas exploitation in terms of technological and environmental factors scalable to supply and demand constraints.


Existing hand detection methods usually follow the pipeline of multiple stages with high computation cost, i.e., feature extraction, region proposal, bounding box regression, and additional layers for rotated region detection. In this paper, we propose a new Scale Invariant Fully Convolutional Network (SIFCN) trained in an end-to-end fashion to detect hands efficiently. Specifically, we merge the feature maps from high to low layers in an iterative way, which handles different scales of hands better with less time overhead comparing to concatenating them simply. Moreover, we develop the Complementary Weighted Fusion (CWF) block to make full use of the distinctive features among multiple layers to achieve scale invariance. To deal with rotated hand detection, we present the rotation map to get rid of complex rotation and derotation layers. Besides, we design the multi-scale loss scheme to accelerate the training process significantly by adding supervision to the intermediate layers of the network. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods, our algorithm shows comparable accuracy and runs a 4.23 times faster speed on the VIVA dataset and achieves better average precision on Oxford hand detection dataset at a speed of 62.5 fps.


A 3-day durational performance by Vlatka Horvat for KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Hannover

Performed by: Karen Christopher, Noemie Solomon, Season Butler, Vlatka Horvat

In This Here and That There – Herrenhausen Quartet, four performers arrange and re-arrange a set of 200 chairs in the ponds of the Groser Garten. Working in 8-hour-long stretches over the course of three days, they construct a vast range of temporary structures and arrangements. These oscillate between recognizable chair formations evoking different social situations, and the more abstract, formal or pattern-like constructions.

Each chair arrangement speaks of the ways in which the built environment makes possible – or impossible – certain kinds of encounters, and in which the organisation of space invites certain scenarios, narratives and metaphors to be projected onto it. Situating this activity in the water makes the chair arrangements readable as structures or patterns, allowing us to see them both as facts materialised in the water and as gestures that evoke a set of associations. The surreal setting of the water – at once serene and inhospitable – adds a sense of impossibility to the kinds of encounters being evoked, whist the continuous state of flux that the chairs are subjected to renders them un-occupiable, failing to provide a place for rest and stillness which they – as functional objects – seem to promise.

The project's movement through a series of short-lived chair arrangements, and the performers' laborious construction of proposals-in-action, bring to the fore a dynamic tension between change and stasis, order and chaos. Through its continuous unfolding in time, the work points to the instability of spatial and social constructs, invoking the restlessness, flux and search for solutions that characterise the contemporary social, cultural and political spheres. Performed in the setting of the Herrenhausen garden, where a sense of order and organisation of space are so strongly articulated, the piece raises questions about the mutually affecting relation between structure and order on the one side, and human presence, action and thought on the other.

This Here and That There represents a continuation of Horvat's ongoing exploration of the human figure's contentious relationship with everyday objects, landscape and the built environment. Using simple gestures such as building and un-building, dismantling and repairing, mirroring and re-arranging, Horvat's work across different media – in sculpture, performance, collage, photography – frequently focuses on re-drawing borders and frames, and on re-organising or reconfiguring objects, the body and space itself. Her alternative propositions for spaces, bodies and objects invite us to re-imagine both the environment we occupy and social relations at play in it, and to interrogate what we deem possible within the structures that contain and frame our action.


This discourse analysis of audience reception examined journalistic response to the May 1, 2006, immigrants' rights protests in mainstream newspapers, niche news and opinion outlets in the United States. The organizers of the protests faced a particular rhetorical challenge: to craft a message that would be well received by both hostile and friendly audiences. In addition to attracting significant media coverage, the actions sparked both celebration and criticism in public commentary. Three key themes were identified based on primary texts from protest organizers and existing research on media coverage of political protest: economy; policy/rights; and law/order. Linguistic representations of these themes were constructed and keywords were searched across a corpus of newspaper front pages and television transcripts to identify general trends. These trends were then analyzed at the level of sentence and utterance. Our findings illustrate the particular challenges of polysemy for social movements that seek to use mass media to advance their political goals in an increasingly fragmented media environment, as well as the persistence of some aspects of the "protest paradigm" in media coverage.


Virtual representatives are increasingly used in recommender systems to guide users and add conversational aspects. However, the impacts of virtual representatives on users' evaluations of the recommender system have not been investigated. This study specifically examined the influence of virtual representatives' anthropomorphism cues on system users' perceptions of system credibility and liking. The results revealed that system users' perceptions of the virtual representative's credibility have a significant influence on users' perceived credibility and liking of the system. Also, the human-like appearance of a virtual representative significantly influences users' perceived attractiveness of the virtual representative, while voice outputs from the representative were found to have a significant influence on users' liking of the recommender system.


Background Low Back Pain (LBP) is a common problem among cyclists, although studies investigating LBP during cycling are scarce. Most studies have focused on LBP and geometric bike-related variables. Until now no cycling field studies have investigated the relationship between maladaptive lumbar kinematics and LBP during cycling. Objective To examine lower lumbar kinematics in cyclists with and without non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Design Cross-sectional cycling field study. Setting Recreational and competitive cyclists. Patients 8 cyclists with NSCLBP classified as having a 'Flexion Pattern' (FP) disorder and nine asymptomatic age-and gender-matched cyclists were tested. Subjects performed a two hour outdoor cycling task on their personal race bike. Main outcome measurements Lower lumbar kinematics were measured with a wireless monitoring system (BodyGuardTM). Pain intensity during and after cycling was measured using a numerical pain rating scale. Results The NSCLBP (FP) subjects were significantly more flexed (P=.018) at the lower lumbar spine during cycling compared to healthy controls and reported a significant increase in pain (P<.001) over the two hours of cycling. One-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for group (P=.035) which remained significant when adding saddle angle as a covariate (P=.05). The difference in posture between groups did not change over time. Conclusions The findings of this first field study suggest that a well selected subgroup of cyclists with NSCLBP (FP) adopted and sustained increased lower lumbar flexion during cycling. This appears to reflect an inherent maladaptive motor control pattern at the lower lumbar spine during cycling. This posture is maintained and associated with a significant increase of LBP. These findings suggest that in this subgroup LBP during cycling is related to maladaptive lower lumbar kinematics. Investigating rehabilitation/prevention strategies that address the control over the lower lumbar region during cycling seems the logic next step.


Abeillé and Godard (2007) describe a variety of Spanish whose complex predicates differ structurally
from the more familiar flat VP type of complex predicate common to other varieties of Spanish and
Romance. I present a verb cluster analysis of this variety which both captures these structural
differences, and at the same time preserves those features that are common across both construction
types. Coupled with a simple morphological treatment of affixation, this analysis predicts the range
of 'clitic climbing' facts. The parsimony of the affixation analysis is afforded by an alternative
approach to the constraints on reflexive affix distribution in Spanish complex predicates. I depart
radically from previous morpho-lexical approaches to the phenomenon, instead showing how the
constraints follow from independently motivated binding principles. This approach not only handles
more of the Spanish data, but also has the potential to provide a unified account of the phenomenon
across Romance.


Indecisive students often present with social skills problems, which may make academic and vocational decision-making tasks difficult and complex for them. Moreover, choices regarding one's future require the ability to gather information, to search for help and support, to stave off intrusiveness and pressures, and to communicate one's decisions. Social competencies, particularly, play a significant role in vocational guidance activities. This article presents a training program devised to augment assertive competencies in indecisive students choosing a university course of study. Intended aims and the analyses to assess the efficacy of the intervention through self-evaluation and role-play assessment are described. Numerous research studies have shown that academic-vocational indecision can significantly affect choice processes and can actually hinder adaptation processes (Jones, 1989; Lucas, 1993; Lucas & Epperson, 1990; Nota, 1999; Savickas & Jarjoura, 1991). Wanberg and Muchinsky (1992), who have studied the relationship between decisional status and psychological variables in depth, have considered aspects such as anxiety, locus of control, self-esteem, and self-awareness level. Their analyses have shown that indecision is associated with poor self-awareness, low knowledge of academic-vocational reality, high levels of anxiety, low self-esteem, and external locus of control. A consistent relationship also seems to exist between social competencies and indecision. Phillips and Bruch (1988), for instance, found that shy students, both male and female, were more indecisive than those who were not shy. Furthermore, the authors determined that shyness was negatively correlated both with the expression of interests, particularly regarding those professions requiring interpersonal skills, and with the active search for information necessary to activate the decisional processes. In this respect, the authors stated that concerns that centered on the self and on passive behaviors in relational contexts (often associated as predictors of negative other-evaluations) combine to keep anxiety levels high and to strengthen the association between anxiety and indecision. Analogously, Kinnier, Brigman, and Noble (1990) observed that individuals who were more easily influenced by family pressures and who were not able to cope effectively with the interference of significant others were more indecisive when facing problems concerning career decision making. Similarly, Arnold (1989) found that decisional levels and levels of psychological well-being were strongly correlated. Finally, Nota and Soresi (1998) highlighted how, in a group of 319 students about to choose a university course of study, those who were very indecisive also felt greater levels of discomfort in situations in which assertive behaviors might be required. In this regard, it must not be forgotten that a career decision-making task requires the person who is making the decision to interact with many individuals who might hinder or support his or her choices. Such individuals include parents, teachers, peers, and friends, all of whom may either create barriers to or facilitate the formulation and achievement of the person's objectives (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000). Other potential facilitators may include people who have the necessary information regarding training offered by different universities, the staff of offices and firms who might supply information and data on prospective jobs and work opportunities, people who might collaborate on and help with career decision making, and so on. One's social skills, especially in the area of assertiveness, must be used to adequately formulate requests in different contexts, to express clearly one's wishes and aspirations, to manage pressures and resist intrusiveness, and, ultimately, to make autonomous and conscious decisions (Furnham & Rawles, 1994; Nota & Soresi, 1997). These observations have led us to consider that, in addition to the usual approach to university vocational guidance, some training courses aimed at augmenting assertiveness skills could be proposed, especially to students who are indecisive due to, among other things, low social competencies. …


This article explores several aspects of electronic communication, specifically its advantages and disadvantages within the context of a brief experience using email to interview elders. Two older adults participated via email as the psychosocial impact of aging was collected using such venue. Our experiences are compared with published reports from others to analyze the benefits and limitations of email as a research tool. The email was spontaneous, comprehensive, interactive, efficient, confidential, and cost effective. The use of email within this exploratory study appeared to be an effective approach to collecting qualitative information about beliefs and behaviours from older adults who feel comfortable with this form of communication. The lack of similar studies limited the scope of discussion and comparison of findings; generalization is limited due to the small sample size. This investigation, however, suggested that the use of email as an interview tool may be considered in today's exploratory research arena as an alternative to conference calls or face-to-face interviews when time is a constraint.


In STEM learning focused on science literacy, socioscientific issues instruction is often proposed as a way to bolster students' civic engagement, however few studies in science education have explicitly examined this connection. We define civic engagement as the work of influencing legitimately public matters using means within the existing political structure. In this work we investigate students' feelings of self-efficacy for this type of civic engagement in the context of four socioscientific issues (prairie dog conservation, food insecurity, biofuels and water conservation). This study was in the context of a large enrollment introductory science college course, where students used a structured decision-making process to examine alternative policy solutions to complex socioscientific issues. We qualitatively examined students' response about their perception of the importance of the issue, their self-efficacy in exploring actions they could take to impact the issue, and the effectiveness of those actions. We found that students' ideas about impact and effectiveness varied across the four different issues contexts due to students' sense of the issues' importance and scale. Generally, students' ideas about actions they could take to impact the issue were narrow and rarely included political actions like voting. We also found post instruction increases in students' civic engagement attitudes and skills related to social justice, interpersonal and problem-solving skills and political awareness. Finally, we suggest that socioscientific instruction must have an explicit connection to policy-level decisions and reveal how individual actions can influence the societal system. Our course using a structured decision-making process in the context of socioscientific issues is one model to help students make these connections.


Efficient, scalable remote access to data is a key aspect in wide area metacomputing environments. One of the limitations of current client-server computing models is their inability to create, retain and trade tokens which represent data or services on remote computers alongwith the metadata to adequately describe the data or services. Most current client-server software systems require the user to submit all the data inputs that are needed for a remote operation, and after the operation is complete, all the resultant output data is returned to the originating client. Pipelining remote processes requires data be retained at the remote site for achieving performance on high latency wide area networks. We introduce the DISCWorld Remote Access Mechanism (DRAM), an integral component of our DISCWorld metacomputing environment, which provides the user and system with a scalable abstraction over remote data and the operations that are possible on the data. We present a formal notation for DRAM's and discuss the implementation and performance of DRAM's when compared with traditional client-server systems.


In the latest development of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication system, the system performance can be distracted by the Frequency
Offsets (FOs) which can demolish the orthogonality of the subcarriers, increases the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and can intensely deteriorate the system performance.
As a result, Intercarrier Interference Self-Cancellation (ICI-SC) has been applied in numerous OFDM systems as a simple and impressive approach to overcome ICI. The
need of higher data rates and improved coverage with an efficient bandwidth has revealed the potential of the combination of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as a powerful technique which can provide high data rates over frequency selective fading channels. ICI and maximum frequency diversity can also be achieved by manipulating the Space Time Frequency Block Codes (STFBCs) that uses spatial, time and frequency diversities which is implemented in the MIMO-OFDM system. The uncompromising frequency selective fading caused due to the multipath channel between the transmitter and the
receiver and also the amount of time delay at the receiver from a signal travelling from the transmitter along different paths. This excess delay can cause both ISI to the
adjacent OFDM symbols and the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) within the same symbol. An equalization technique is appended at the receiver to overcome ICI and ISI. Evaluation of Pair-Wise Error Probability (PEP) performance using STFBC MIMO-OFDM ICI-SC technique with one third and quarter subcarrier mapping scheme to diminish ICI due to Frequency Offsets (FOs) is achieved. Adaptive algorithms is also implemented with the specific equalizer in order to further improve the system performance. Thus, the objective of this research is to minimize ICI and ISI effects through STFBC ICI-SC subcarrier mapping scheme and equalization techniques. The simulation results expressively show that the one third method subcarrier mapping technique with Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) and adaptive algorithm can provide the best system performance compared to the existing subcarrier mapping methods .The results shows that by using the one-third subcarrier mapping scheme with an adaptive algorithm Normalised Least Means Square
(NLMS), an efficient bandwidth can be achieved, ICI and ISI effects can be reduced with 24% of improvement compared to one-third subcarrier mapping Recursive Least
Square (RLS) DFE in the MIMO-OFDM system.


In Moody's Investors Service Hong Kong Ltd v Securities and Futures Commission, the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether a report issued by Moody's fell within the scope of Hong Kong's statutorily defined credit rating regime. The Tribunal determined that the report was either itself a credit rating or part and parcel of Moody's credit rating services. This article analyses the Tribunal's determination and concludes that it is flawed primarily as a result of concerns over its application of the purposive construction of statutory provisions and a failure to closely analyse the statutorily defined term "credit rating". It is suggested that the determination gives rise to problematic consequences including blurring the regulatory perimeter of what constitutes a credit rating and providing credit rating services.


The classification of the Jurassic to Albian Globigerinina is revised, phyletically and taxonomically. The Favusellacea comprise the genera Globuligerina (Jurassic) and Conoglobigerina (Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous), its descendant Favusella (Hauterivian to Cenomanian) and Ascoliella nov. (type species A. scotiensis nov.) (Aptian-Albian). The Globigerinacea include the families Praehedbergellidae nov. (from which the Hedbergellidae and its allies are descended) and the Schackoinidae; both are microperforate and nonmuricate. The Praehedbergellidae originate with Gorbachikella nov. (type species G. kugleri (Bolli)) and include Praehedbergella (Hauterivian-Aptian, including P. tatianae nov., P. grigelisae nov.), Wondersella, Blefuscuiana nov. (including B. kuznetsovae nov., B. mitra nov., B. multicamerata nov., B. speetonensis nov., B. globigerinelloides (Subbotina) lobulata nov. and B. occulta (Longoria) quinquecamerata nov.) (Barremian to Danian) and Lilliputianella nov. (including L. longorii nov.) (Aptian). The Schackoinidae includes Blowiella, Leupoldina and Schackoina. All the genera have their diagnoses emended as they are reinterpreted in accordance with the revised phyletic classification. Suggestions are made to explain the adaptive evolution of the taxa to the developing Early Cretaceous ocean.


This study examined the existence of a digital skill divide in Internet use for parenting purposes, exploring whether child-rearing content searched, parental skills on search practices, criteria used in the evaluation of content and satisfaction with the results are modulated by socio-demographic factors and level of Internet experience. Participants were 234 Spanish parents recruited through notices in day care centers, schools and parents' associations, who reported on these issues through an online survey. Results showed that parents were very active in searching for information on child-rearing issues. However, a digital skill divide can be seen mainly by parental education, gender and age on the content searched and perceived skills for going online. Parental age and education also shaped technical abilities such as searching practices, criteria for evaluating websites (level of confidence and relevance), and satisfaction with search results. In turn, level of experience in Internet use played a more restrictive role confined to searching practices and satisfaction with the results. The present findings may inform initiatives of Internet literacy training applied differentially to help fathers and mothers with low education and Internet experience levels to access higher quality, reliable educational content. They also may provide guidelines for those who develop websites for parents.


This paper employs a cointegrated vector autoregressive model to assess the growth effect of aid in Uganda over the period 1972-2008. Results show that aid in Uganda has had both direct and indirect beneficial association with growth; that it is the productivity and not the stead state level of investment that contributes to achieving target growth rates; and that consumption spending is more beneficial to growth because it contributes to private incomes and consumption. In terms of policy, it is crucial to strengthen fiscal response to aid receipts and ensure aid funded projects are closely monitored and contract specifications are strictly enforced. Moreover, donors need to accept the politically unpalatable fact that aid has an important role in supporting consumption spending.


In this paper, analog circuit designs for implementations of Gibbs samplers are presented, which offer fully parallel computation. The Gibbs sampler for a discrete solution space (or Boltzmann machine) can be used to solve both deterministic and probabilistic assignment (association) problems. The primary drawback to the use of a Boltzmann machine for optimization is its computational complexity, since updating of the neurons is typically performed sequentially. We first consider the diffusion equation emulation of a Boltzmann machine introduced by Roysam and Miller (1991), which employs a parallel network of nonlinear amplifiers. It is shown that an analog circuit implementation of the diffusion equation requires a complex neural structure incorporating matched nonlinear feedback amplifiers and current multipliers. We introduce a simpler implementation of the Boltzmann machine, using a "constant gradient" diffusion equation, which eliminates the need for a matched feedback amplifier. The performance of the Roysam and Miller network and the new constant gradient (CG) network is compared using simulations for the multiple-neuron case, and integration of the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation for a single neuron. Based on the simulation results, heuristic criteria for establishing the diffusion equation boundaries, and neuron sigmoidal gain are obtained. The final CG analog circuit is suitable for VLSI implementation, and hence may offer rapid convergence.


BackgroundOverweight and obesity among children is increasing worldwide and has become one of the greatest social problems of our time. This is largely due to our modern way of living and essential in managing this problem is changes in one´s lifestyle. Nurses who encounter overweight children need to be able to identify multiple strategies and tools to help children and their parents to a healthier lifestyle.AimThe aim was to illuminate the children and guardians opportunity to perform a lifestyle change for overweight childrenMethodA literature review of both quantitative and qualitative scientific studies was made.ResultsBoth children and their parents face multiple obstacles when changing to a healthier lifestyle. Financials played a role, as well as parental obesity. Many parents defended watching television. In some cases, lack of accessibility to exercise activities was shown. Children of parents with an understanding of obesity as a health problem had higher odds of dealing with their situation. Participants' knowledge about a healthy diet was predominantly good. The results showed both satisfied and dissatisfied participants regarding their experiences of professional help.ConclusionChild obesity is a complex issue where the result is dependent on multiple factors. This literature study may be useful for health professionals, who work with obese and overweight children as well as their parents.


Knowledge of association between traits and heritability is important in breeding for purposes of effective trait selection. Such information on finger millet in east Africa is very limited. This study was intended to determine the association and heritability for 19 quantitative traits of 340 finger millet landraces from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and 80 global minicore accessions from ICRISAT Genebank in India. There were inherent strong genetic relationships among most traits as evidenced by the higher genotypic than phenotypic correlations. Grain yield had high, positive correlations with finger width (rg =0.876), grains per spikelet (rg =0.623), threshing percent (rg =0.677), peduncle length (rg =0.517) and panicle exertion (rg =0.571). These traits could be considered for grain yield selection. Path coefficient analysis revealed that productive tillers per plant (0.473), 1000 grain mass (0.136), grains per spikelet (0.131) and threshing percent (0.118) had positive, direct effects on grain yield. Due consideration should be placed on these traits when selecting for grain yield improvement in finger millet. There were also strong, positive indirect effects contributed to grain yield by finger width, peduncle length, panicle exertion and leaf sheath width. It will be necessary to simultaneously select for these traits together with those with strong positive, direct effects on grain yield in order to improve grain yield in finger millet. High broad-sense heritability estimates were recorded for fingers per panicle, flag leaf blade length, 1000 grain mass, productive tillers per plant, finger length, peduncle length and panicle exertion indicating the potential for their improvement through selection.


This paper measures and analyzes two types of hidden capital at Japanese banks: (1) the net undervaluation present in accounting measures of on-balance-sheet assets and liabilities and (2) the net economic value of off-balance-sheet items. A model is constructed that explains changes in both types of capital as functions of holding that explains changes in both types of capital as functions of holding-period returns earned in Japan on stocks, bonds, yen, and real estate. The model is applied to annual data covering 1975-1989 and a four-class size/charter partition of the Japanese banking system. For each type of hidden capital and each class of bank, the model develops estimates of the stock-market, interest-rate, foreign-exchange, and real estate sensitivities of returns to bank stockholders. Only the stock-market sensitivities prove significant at five percent. This finding leads us to investigate what happens when we analyze Japanese bank stock returns by means of stationary and split-sample market models. Timeseries regressions show that very large Japanese banks have developed stockmarket betas in excess of two and that the value of a bank's beta has come to increase with measures of its size and accounting leverage. Future research will investigate the sensibility of our results to different ways of pooling data from individual banks and to more-sophisticated methods for estimating various parameters. We also plan to extend the analysis by imbedding it in a model of how variations in bank-customer contracting arrangements in Japan affect the returns that can be earned by bank stockholders.


With the widespread uptake of 2D and 3D single molecule localization microscopy, a large set of different data analysis packages have been developed to generate super-resolution images. To guide researchers on the optimal analytical software for their experiments, we have designed, in a large community effort, a competition to extensively characterise and rank these options. We generated realistic simulated datasets for popular imaging modalities – 2D, astigmatic 3D, biplane 3D, and double helix 3D – and evaluated 36 participant packages against these data. This provides the first broad assessment of 3D single molecule localization microscopy software, provides a holistic view of how the latest 2D and 3D single molecule localization software perform in realistic conditions, and ultimately provides insight into the current limits of the field.


Information on the sensory basis of shrimp feeding provides the means for assessment of the effectiveness of food items in terms of smell, taste, size, and colour. This chapter summarizes information about the sensory basis of the feeding behaviour of the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and the marine whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Existing literature on these shrimp species and other decapod crustaceans is reviewed, and unpublished experiments using the selective sensory ablation technique to determine the involvement of vision, chemoreception, and touch sense in the feeding behavior of the juveniles of M. rosenbergii and L. vannamei are also described. To determine the role of vision in feeding, the eyes of the juveniles were painted over (deprived of vision) with white manicure and their feeding response to commercial pellets was compared with those with untreated eyes. The untreated eyed juveniles detected and approached a feed pellet right away, but the specimens blinded by the coating detected a pellet only after random accidental touch with the walking legs while roaming on the aquarium bottom. Juveniles that had learned to feed on pellets showed food search and manipulation responses to a pellet-like pebble without smell and taste. The early larvae (zoeae) of M. rosenbergii already have colour vision (that likely persists through life) and colour preference for blue and white. The adults of L. vannamei discriminated a blue-colored well among seven grey wells in a palette, also showing colour vision in this shrimp. A behavioural experiment with dyed prawn flesh showed that L. vannamei has innate color preference for yellow food over black, red, green, and blue food regardless of the background colours of the aquarium bottom. To disrupt chemoreception, the juveniles of both the species were abruptly transferred to water of drastically different salinity and the osmotic ablation destroyed the chemosensitive sensilla. The osmotically ablated juveniles approached a pellet right away but failed to ingest it; they had learned the visual cue and texture of the pellets and recognized them by vision and tactile sense. To determine the role of sensory appendages in feeding of L. vannamei juveniles, the antennal flagella, antennular flagella, and the pincers of the pereiopods were ablated. The ablated juveniles roamed the bottom, touched a pellet at random, grabbed it with the maxillipeds, and ingested it. Subsequently they learned to lower the head, actively swim forward, sweep the bottom with the maxillipeds, detect a pellet, and ingest it—thus indicating a plasticity in feeding behaviour in L. vannamei.


This paper attempts to explain the international policy consequences of the 2008 global financial crisis by comparing the regulatory response in Europe to that in the United States. Specifically, it accounts for the level of cooperation between the two jurisdictions in their efforts to improve oversight of the financial system. The paper is concerned primarily with the regulatory laws, agreements, and frameworks enacted since 2008, as efforts to improve financial regulation are ongoing and only starting to reach the implementation phases. Still, implementation plays a meaningful role in the analysis, as variation in implementation capacity among jurisdictions often shapes the breadth and depth of oversight. This paper also seeks to demonstrate that international cooperation in financial regulation is constrained by an incentive to defect, which arises from short-run negative effects of oversight on the profitability of financial institutions. Finally, the paper shows that the sheer complexity of the financial system, especially with respect to the derivatives market, is itself a hindrance to the creation of transatlantic regulatory standards.


Iron is the primary source for discolouration problems in the drinking water distribution system. The removal of iron from groundwater is a common treatment step in the production of drinking water. Even when clear water meets the drinking water standards, the water quality in the distribution system can deteriorate due to settling of iron (hydroxide) particles or post-treatment flocculation of dissolved iron. Therefore it is important to remove dissolved and particulate iron to a large extent. This paper describes the study towards the current iron removal processes and experimental work towards improving removal of dissolved and particulate iron. The study was carried out at groundwater treatment plant Harderbroek, consisting of aeration, rapid sand filtration and tower aeration. The research contains two parts: 1) a particle fingerprint of the treatment, resulting in a quantification of particles breaking through the rapid sand filtration. 2) Small column experiments on the oxidation and filterability of iron. The fingerprint showed that operational events such as switching on/off of filters and backwashing have a significant impact on the volume concentration of particles breaking through the filter. A frequency plot of the different size ranges of particles indicates that mainly the filterability of the middle size ranges (2–7 ?m) of particles was influenced by switching a filter on/off. A backwash event mainly affects the bigger particle size ranges. The column experiments showed that in the cascade effluent the majority of the iron is dissolved iron(II), indicating that the oxidation of iron(II) to iron(III) is the rate determining step at Harderbroek, which is limited by pH. Dosing caustic soda resulted in a significant increase of the oxidation rate and improved the removal of iron(II) in the column. Crushed limestone filtration gave promising results, but the contact time applied was too short to completely oxidize iron(II).


Abstract Dental, mandibular, and postcranial specimens of Megacricetodon yei n. sp., are described. The new specimens, including the complete dentition, mandible, and partial forelimb and hindlimb, represent the most complete materials known for the genus, provide valuable information concerning the interspecific variation of the genus, and lead to the reassessment of the suprageneric position of Megacricetodon. Megacricetodon yei is characterized by having medium-size, clearly split anterocone of M1, presence of the labial spur of the anterolophule and the posterior spur of the paracone in some M1s, medium to long mesoloph in M1-2, frequent occurrences of double protolophules, transverse or posteriorly directed metalophule of M2, and single anteroconid of the m1. Megacricetodon yei is more closely related to Megacricetodon (= Aktaumys) dzhungaricus than to any other species of Megacricetodon, but is more derived than the latter. Based on the new information, the validity of the genus Aktaumys is discussed. The postcranial features of Megacricetodon yei show clear adaptations for terrestrial habits, but as in many ground-dwelling rodents living in burrows, it could also climb or dig. The associated fauna has been correlated to Tongxin fauna from the adjacent part of China and the Belometchetskya fauna of north Caucasus, equivalent to early Middle Miocene age, or MN 6 correlative. The stage of evolution of Megacricetodon yei is consistent with the faunal correlation.


Quantitative Evidence Against Bacterial Infection Alone as a Cause of Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Objective: Determine if the differential presence of bacteria within individual patients with CRS supports a bacterial role in the pathogenesis of CRS.
Methods: A prospective series of adult patients with unilateral sinus disease on computed tomography undergoing primary endoscopic sinus surgery was studied. From the diseased sinus on one side and the contralateral analogous non-diseased sinus, bacterial cultures were obtained and analyzed. Quantitative assessment of bacterial burden was obtained and compared between the paired non-diseased (control) and the diseased sinuses. Results: 82 patients completed analysis with microbiological data for paired sinuses. When considering positive cultures for any bacteria excluding oral flora, 71/82 (86.6%) of the radiographically diseased sinuses were positive on culture versus 71/82 (86.6%) of the paired equivalent control sinuses on the contralateral side (p=0.999). Quantitatively similar bacterial recovery was obtained between control and diseased sinuses (1.1[1.1] versus 1.3[1.2], (serial dilution [standard deviation]) respectively, p=0.183). These results held true when coagulase negative Staphylococcus species were excluded from the analysis (p=0.333). Degree of bacterial resistance was also not different between control and diseased sinuses (p=0.851). Conclusion: Based on this prospective study with an intra‑patient control, very similar rates of quantitative bacterial recovery were found between radiographically normal (control) and diseased paranasal sinuses within patients with unilateral CRS. These data argue against a significant role for persistent bacterial infection alone in the pathogenesis of unilateral CRS. These data may also have implications for bilateral CRS.
Materials/Methods: We surveyed both NES and English-speakers (ES) before and two months after receiving voice therapy at our institution for functional dysphonia. NES received therapy via translation. The survey instrument was the 30-item Voice Handicap Index (VHI). NES subjects were provided with a professionally translated version of the VHI in their native language.
Results: Change scores were calculated for the 20 subjects (12 NES and 7 ES) who completed both pre- and post-treatment surveys, and were normalized to a maximal score of 120 to account for incomplete questionnaires. ES improved from a baseline mean of 49.1 to 30.5 (p=0.015), and NES from 56.9 to 47.3 (p=0.065). The mean for the entire group improved from 54.0 to 41.1 (p=0.002). No significant between-group difference was found.
Conclusion: Overall, this mixed population showed improvement in the VHI with voice therapy. Analyzed individually, English-speakers had significant improvement, while non-English speakers did not. Further studies of voice therapy via translation are warranted.


INTRODUCTION: Physical activity is an important component of health and well-being. It is widely accepted that integrating regular activity into daily life can help lower the risk of developing chronic diseases. Rural populations such as Appalachia suffer from higher rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes due to physical inactivity. There is limited available research on rural Appalachian communities and the underlying causes of their disproportionate rates of chronic diseases and low activity levels.METHODS: This study utilized the Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) town-wide and street segment features to put quantitative values on physical activity-promoting amenities and features in 16 rural towns in North Carolina. Each town had a population of around 5,000 residents or less.RESULTS: Analysis of each town-wide assessment revealed the diversity that exists even across rural towns of the same region. Overall, the areas that needed most improvement were the water activities domain and presence of skating rinks or parks. The parks and playground domain scored the best. Specific to street segments, high variability in sidewalk presence and condition was the greatest barrier to active transport.CONCLUSIONS: The physical activity-promoting features and amenities that rural communities in North Carolina have to offer vary greatly across town borders. Further research should focus on specific policies and programs in place that hinder or promote the use of such recreational facilities. Future interventions should focus first on improving opportunities for activity in central town areas, and then address the issue of connecting scattered residential zones to make all parts of these towns completely accessible.


In The Imagined and Real Jerusalem in Art and Architecture specialists in various fields of art history, from Early Christian times to the present, articulate a variety of cultural, religious and political implications of the visualization of Jerusalem. This collection of essays calls attention to two axes emerging from the study of Jerusalem in art: on the one hand, the volatile contemporary situation, and on the other hand, the abiding chain of meanings that history imparts to the city. From a contemporary perspective and within a broad historical context, the book discusses in depth a series of Western artworks, artefacts, and buildings providing new insights into memory processes and mechanisms of representation of Jerusalem.


This study adopted a quantitative methodology involving a matched sample of federated and non-federated schools and utilising multi-level modelling techniques to explore the impact of federations on student outcomes. The sample involves a total of 50 Local Authorities (school districts) and 264 schools. These are grouped into 122 Federations. 264 comparator schools were selected to match these. 88.1% of schools in the sample belong to a two-school Federation, 8.5% were part of a three-school Federation, with the remainder being part of larger Federations. The study has identified six broad and sometimes overlapping categories of federations (Size Federations, Cross-Phase Federations, Performance Federations, Faith Federations, Mainstreaming Federations and Academy groups). The most popular category of federation in the sample is cross-phase federation and the least popular category is Academy groups. The findings suggest there is evidence of impact on overall performance, in that while Federation and comparator schools perform similarly at baseline, Federation is positively related to performance in the years following Federation. There is evidence to suggest that impact is strongest in Performance federations. There is no relationship between Federation and Ofsted judgements (grades). There is no evidence of differential impact on students from different socio-economic settings, differences in gender or with special educational needs. In conclusion, reflects on the implications of these findings for future research, policy and practice


BACKGROUND
Smoking is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly coronary heart disease (CHD). However, quitting smoking may prevent secondary CVD events in people already diagnosed with CHD.  OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of smoking cessation on death from CVD and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), in people with incident CHD.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group's Specialised Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the trials registries clinicaltrials.gov and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. We ran all searches from database inception to 15 April 2021.  SELECTION CRITERIA: We included cohort studies, and both cluster- and individually randomised controlled trials of at least six months' duration. We treated all included studies as cohort studies and analysed them by smoking status at follow-up. Eligible studies had to recruit adults (> 18 years) with diagnosed CHD and who smoked tobacco at diagnosis, and assess whether they quit or continued smoking during the study. Studies had to measure at least one of our included outcomes with at least six months' follow-up. Our primary outcomes were death from CVD and MACE. Secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, new-onset angina and change in quality of life.  DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We followed standard Cochrane methods for screening and data extraction.  We assessed the risk of bias for the primary outcomes using the ROBINS-I tool. We compared the incidence of death from CVD and of MACE (primary outcomes) between participants who quit smoking versus those who continued to smoke for each included study that reported these outcomes. We also assessed differences in all-cause mortality, incidence of non-fatal myocardial infarction, incidence of non-fatal stroke and new onset angina. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). For our outcome, change in quality of life, we calculated the pooled standardised mean difference (SMD) and 95% CI for the difference in change in quality of life from baseline to follow-up between those who had quit smoking and those who had continued to smoke. For all meta-analyses we used a generic inverse variance random-effects model and quantified statistical heterogeneity using the I²statistic. We assessed the certainty of evidence for our primary outcomes using the eight GRADE considerations relevant to non-randomised studies.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 68 studies, consisting of 80,702 participants. For both primary outcomes, smoking cessation was associated with a decreased risk compared with continuous smoking: CVD death (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.75; I² = 62%; 18 studies, 17,982 participants; moderate-certainty evidence) and MACE (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.71; I² = 84%; 15 studies, 20,290 participants; low-certainty evidence). These findings were robust to our planned sensitivity analyses. Through subgroup analysis, for example comparing adjusted versus non-adjusted estimates, we found no evidence of differences in the effect size. While there was substantial heterogeneity, this was primarily in magnitude rather than the direction of the effect estimates. Overall, we judged 11 (16%) studies to be at moderate risk of bias and 18 (26%) at serious risk, primarily due to possible confounding. There was also some evidence of funnel plot asymmetry for MACE outcomes. For these reasons, we rated our certainty in the estimates for CVD death as moderate and MACE as low.  For our secondary outcomes, smoking cessation was associated with a decreased risk in all-cause mortality (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.66; I² = 58%; 48 studies, 59,354 participants), non-fatal myocardial infarction (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.72; I² = 2%; 24 studies, 23,264 participants) and non-fatal stroke (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.90; I² = 0%; 9 studies, 11,352 participants). As only one study reported new onset of angina, we did not conduct meta-analysis, but this study reported a lower risk in people who stopped smoking. Quitting smoking was not associated with a worsening of quality of life and suggested improvement in quality of life, with the lower bound of the CI also consistent with no difference (SMD 0.12, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.24; I² = 48%; 8 studies, 3182 participants).  AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is moderate-certainty evidence that smoking cessation is associated with a reduction of approximately one-third in the risk of recurrent cardiovascular disease in people who stop smoking at diagnosis. This association may be causal, based on the link between smoking cessation and restoration of endothelial and platelet function, where dysfunction of both can result in increased likelihood of CVD events.  Our results provide evidence that there is a decreased risk of secondary CVD events in those who quit smoking compared with those who continue, and that there is a suggested improvement in quality of life as a result of quitting smoking. Additional studies that account for confounding, such as use of secondary CVD prevention medication, would strengthen the evidence in this area.


We examine manipulating electromagnetic waves in magnetic photonic crystals (MPCs) with external magnetic fields. We predict new giant magnetoreflectivity and giant magnetorefractivity effects: with an external magnetic field of a magnitude much smaller than the anisotropy field of the ferromagnet, the MPC can be changed from completely reflecting to nonreflecting with corresponding changes in the angle of refraction. Application to the storage of electromagnetic radiation is also discussed.