Several important issues such as atrial fibrillation and CRT, response of elderly patients to CRT and the aspects of upgrading conventional pacemakers to biventricular devices are addressed. The peak endocardial acceleration (PEA) concept and PEAarea method are explained. Finally, the role of pressure-volume loop analysis in CRT is discussed. Chapter 2 We studied 130 patients with a biventricular pacemaker and advanced heart failure. Echocardiographic response (LVEF improvement ? 5 %) was documented in 69%, 88% and 91% of the survivors, after 3 months, 1 year and 2 years, respectively. Echocardiographic response after 3 months was associated with a significantly higher long-term survival. Chapter 3. CRT was performed in 96 patients with chronic AF and 167 patients with sinus rhythm. NYHA class, 6-minute walking distance, quality of life score, LV ejection fraction and mitral regurgitation improved significantly at 3 and 12 months in both groups. Reverse LV remodeling after 12 months was 82% in the AF group versus 83% in the sinus rhythm group. Chapter 4 The clinical and echocardiographic response to CRT in elderly (age >75 years) patients was compared to a group of younger patients (age ?75 years). Follow-up showed in both groups a comparable and sustained improvement in NYHA class, quality of life, LV ejection fraction and heart failure hospitalization. Analysis of 39 octogenarians showed also significant clinical and echocardiographic improvement. Chapter 5 CRT was performed in 194 symptomatic heart failure patients with a native LBBB and in 90 heart failure patients with a pacing-induced LBBB during chronic apical RV pacing. Although baseline characteristics differed slightly between the 2 groups, during the 2 years of follow-up clinical parameters, echocardiographic improvement, and survival after CRT implant were comparable. Chapter 6 We compared the optimal assessed VV interval measured by means of the PEAarea method to the optimal VV int erval determined by LV dP/dtmax. During CRT implantation in 15 patients, we simultaneously assessed LV dP/dtmax and the area under the PEA curve during AV scanning at different VV intervals. In 9 of the 12 responders, the optimal pacing configuration identified by the PEAarea method was in agreement with the greatest LV dP/dtmax. Chapter 7 The clinical use of pressure-volume loop analyses during CRT implantations was evaluated to assess the optimal lead position in 29 chronically RV-paced patients. Single-side LV pacing and biventricular pacing showed a significant improvement in LV function indices compared to baseline. Substantial inter- and intra-individual differences in LV function between different left-sided pacing sites were seen. In 42% of patients an alternative LV-lead position was chosen by guidance of the highest SW. Chapter 8 Forty heart failure patients with chronic RV apical pacing, decreased LV ejection fraction or dyssynchrony were included. During implantation, at th e optimal LV lead position, SW (37%), LV ejection fraction (16%), cardiac output (29%), and LV dP/dtmax (11%) increased significantly during biventricular pacing compared to baseline. During follow-up, VO2 max, Quality of Life Score, NYHA class and echocardiographic parameters improved significantly during CRT.


There is a shortage of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in this country. This shortage is due, in part, to the limited number of openings in graduate programs and the increased need for SLPs as their scope of practice widens, the autism rate grows, and the population ages. Schools are feeling this shortage the most. There are several reasons school districts have a hard time attracting and retaining SLPs. This paper will offer possible solutions to attract more candidates to the field including expanding graduate school options. It will also address options to fill positions such as using teletherapy services or speech-language assistants. School speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are typically licensed by a health board in the state in which they are employed, are sometimes also licensed by their state's Department of Education, are usually certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, and hold Master's degrees in communicative disorders. While there are 257 academic institutions that grant Master's degrees, there is a still a nationwide shortage of qualified SLPs, with New York, California, Illinois, Florida and Texas having the greatest unmet need (Wolfgang, 2011). In 10 years time, there is predicted to be a 27% increase in job openings and employment for SLPs is expected to grow faster than the average for all other occupations (Edgar & Rosa-Lugo, 2007). This scarcity of SLPs in a nationwide concern because most SLPs are employed in school settings, and when schools cannot employ enough qualified individuals the students' needs either go unmet, or students are served by untrained persons. Addressing the Shortage of Speech-Language Pathologists in School Settings


The migration from desktop applications to Web-based services is scattering personal data across a myriad of Web sites, such as Google, Flickr, YouTube, and Amazon S3. This dispersal poses new challenges for users, making it more difficult for them to: (1) organize, search, and archive their data, much of which is now hosted by Web sites; (2) create heterogeneous, multi-Web-service object collections and share them in a protected way; and (3) manipulate their data with standard applications or scripts.
 In this paper, we show that a Web-service interface supporting standardized naming, protection, and object-access services can solve these problems and can greatly simplify the creation of a new generation of object-management services for the Web. We describe the implementation of Menagerie, a proof-of-concept prototype that provides these services for Web-based applications. At a high level, Menagerie creates an integrated file and object system from heterogeneous, personal Web-service objects dispersed across the Internet. We present several object-management applications we developed on Menagerie to show the practicality and benefits of our approach.


Contemporary theories of justice have only recently begun to pay attention to the international and global contexts, and their implications. In a global framework, it is now also necessary to give a fresh look at the old issue of family and justice. It is first of all the real situation of «transnational» families that has to be taken into consideration. Such families challenge traditional models in order to meet their own, new subsistence needs. Nowadays, as a matter of fact, millions of women travel and migrate alone to find jobs in the ever-expanding market of the personal services and care sector. Thus, it may happen that family members grow up and live in two or more different countries, fragmented, so to speak, and separated from each others most of the time. For these female migrant workers, new and old issues arise, as they move toward new ways of seeking a balance between their old family ties and the obligations of their novel employment forms. Some of these issues are: gender equity, the tension between equality of opportunity, and work, and family ties, the new character of old class, gender and ethnic inequalities, and so on. As the line between «rich» and «poor» countries is being re-drawn, both care labour commodification and its ethnic, gender and class redistribution change accordingly, and take on new, unpredicted forms, which we try to analyse.


Soil changes associated with forest harvesting, differing utilization levels, and post-harvest prescribed burning were determined using an empirical study to investigate the long-term impacts on soil physical and chemical properties at Coram Experimental Forest in northwestern Montana. In 1974, two replications of three regeneration cuttings (shelterwood, group selection, and clearcut) were installed. In addition, four residue management regimes (high utilization with no burning, medium with no burning, medium with broadcast burning, and low with broadcast burning) were implemented (~74, 63, 65, and 54% wood removal, respectively). Thirty-eight years after harvesting, changes were evaluated in mineral soil and forest floor physical and chemical properties (organic matter [OM], C, N, Ca, K, and Mg pools, soil bulk density, and pH) and in coarse woody debris levels. There were no differences in soil pH and bulk density across all regeneration cuttings and residue treatments, probably due to the minimal soil effects associated with the forest harvesting operations that were used (hand felling and cable yarding). Comparisons between harvest and burning and the control indicate no statistical differences in OM, C, and N contents. Minor differences in extractable cation pools were noted in several comparisons among the treatments; these may be attributed to litter inputs from the differing vegetation compositions of overstory and shrub layers rather than nutrient changes within the mineral soil itself. At this moist-cool forest, intensive biomass utilization, with or without broadcast burning, had few long-term impacts on soil properties of soil C, OM, and nutrients.


One woman learned on the eve of her Roman Catholic wedding. One man as he was studying for the priesthood. Madeleine Albright famously learned from the Washington Post when she was named Secretary of State. "What is it like to find out you are not who you thought you were?" asks Barbara Kessel in this compelling volume, based on interviews with over 160 people who were raised as non-Jews only to learn at some point in their lives that they are of Jewish descent. With humor, candor, and deep emotion, Kessel's subjects discuss the emotional upheaval of refashioning their self-image and, for many, coming to terms with deliberate deception on the part of parents and family. Responses to the discovery of a Jewish heritage ranged from outright rejection to wholehearted embrace. For many, Kessel reports, the discovery of Jewish roots confirmed long-held suspicions or even, more mysteriously, conformed to a long-felt attraction toward Judaism. For some crypto-Jews in the southwest United States (descendants of Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition), the only clues to their heritage are certain practices and traditions handed down through the generations, whose significance may be long since lost. In Poland and other parts of eastern Europe, many Jews who were adopted as infants to save them from the Holocaust are now learning of their heritage through the deathbed confessions of their adoptive parents. The varied responses of these disparate people to a similar experience, presented in their own words, offer compelling insights into the nature of self-knowledge. Whether they had always suspected or were taken by surprise, Kessel's respondents report that confirmation of their Jewishheritage affected their sense of self and of their place in the world in profound ways. Fascinating, poignant, and often very funny, Suddenly Jewish speaks to crucial issues of identity, selfhood, and spiritual community.


Measurement of Carbonyl sulphide is very crucial to estimate the sulfur budget and is used as a tracer for the carbon cycle. Its simultaneous consumption with CO2 during photosynthesis by plant uptake makes it an ideal candidate for the partitioning of photosynthesis from respiration. This research provides the first ground-based abundance of OCS from a high-resolution Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer over Addis Ababa (9o1'N, 38o76'E, an altitude of 2443 m.a.s.l.). We used PROFFIT95 to retrieve the vertical profile, average tropospheric and stratospheric mixing ratios, and column amount from the solar absorption spectra of OCS. Analysis of random and systematic error to retrieval shows that the total error contribution due to atmospheric and auxiliary parameters is less than 10%. The tropospheric and stratospheric average VMR in our site is 0.488 ppbv and 0.230 ppbv, respectively, with deviation from the global mean by 2.4% for tropospheric mixing ratio. The hourly variation of OCS particularly on 14, March 2010 shows slight accession from mid-morning to noon and reduction in the afternoon with a change in VMR of 0.019 ppbv. The tropospheric volume mixing ratio (in the unit of parts per billion by volume) and total column amount time series result from May 2009 to April 2010 show seasonal variation with maximum (0.60) in May and June, and minimum (0.37) in December and January. The total column amount reaches up to 8.5X1019 molecules/m2. The correlation between stratospheric tropopause level and the accession of stratospheric OCS level during hot season worth detail investigation to understand the variation of OCS besides taking long term measurement for trend analysis.


Esports is an organised form of video games played competitively. The esports industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with global audiences estimated at the hundreds of millions. One of the most popular esports formats is the Multi-Player Online Battle Arena (MOBA), which sees two teams of players competing. In MOBAs and other team-based games, individual players take on different roles or functions to help achieve victory for their team. MOBA characters can be played in different ways to align with team roles. However, most current esports analytics systems do not separate the data, such that each role is analysed separately. This is a problem because it is difficult to evaluate the performance of different roles with the same metrics. For example in football goals scored is a great metric for striker performance, but a poor one for goalkeeper performance. Using Dota 2 as a case study, we propose a method using ensemble clustering to classify and label individual roles for each hero in Dota 2. Rather than focusing on pre-existing roles defined by expert knowledge, we allow unsupervised learning to identify roles which each hero can play in an unbiased way. This work enables the separation of historical data for each hero, enabling a more accurate analysis to be performed by analytical tools.


Decision to Migrate is mostly a choice - except in compelling circumstances of conflict and insecurity - and therefore needs to be examined in terms of its economic outcomes. This paper deals with migration decisions to urban areas that are backed by economic rationale and attempts to understand gains accruing to individuals from migration, in terms of poverty outcomes. The analysis is based on the 55th round survey data on Employment - Unemployment Survey 1999-2000 (EUS) provided by the National Sample Survey Organisation. We undertake a broad descriptive socio-economic profiling of the migrant households in urban India and explore the dynamics of poverty among interstate as well as intrastate migrants to urban destinations. Further, we evaluate the impact of migration on the economic status of migrants by analysing the characteristic of `duration since migration'. Considering migration as a transition, this exercise makes a broad comparison of change in economic status of migrants at the destination as against the origin. The analysis reveals that migrants disadvantaged in terms of caste, education and residence earn poorer returns to migration. While returns to migration have proved to be positive with increased duration at the destination, the characteristic endowment like education and social group identity seem to make a further difference.


A means and protocol is presented to send information on the Bell Channel to achieve the effect of superluminal signalling. The method is to use detection of a photon entangled state as one binary digit and either of the collapsed states as the complement digit - this is the protocol. The means to affect this detection is by use of an interferometer set-up able to resolve two interfering pathways corresponding to the two polarization states of the photon. To achieve interference of the horizontal and vertical components Faraday rotators are used to bring both components into diagonal polarization, this operation is unitary. Modulation is caused by the remote signaller collapsing one aspect of the photon wavefunction; a physically secure channel sending information superluminally results. A preliminary discussion into the clash and the hopeful resolution with Relativity theory is presented - it is noteworthy that at the instant of transmission between the two stations that there is no transfer of mass-energy to instigate communication but the transmission of a quantum state - pure information only.


Partner country selection is one of the key elements of development policy. It lies at the centre of the development policy decision-making of donor countries and institutions, and plays a significant role in shaping the patterns of official development assistance (ODA) allocation. The existing literature on ODA allocation has either a focus on how it should be (normatively) organised, on which determinants are (ex post) responsible for aid flows by using regression analysis looking for causal relationships, or stands somewhere between them. We argue that there is a gap in the literature in terms of analysing whether the actual flows of ODA reflect donors' stated intentions in partner country selection. It is the aim of this paper to analyse the partner country selection approaches of selected members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) during the last years, their principles in development policy-making and how their approach is reflected in the formulae applied. The European Union, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, which roughly share 70 per cent of the total ODA flows by all DAC donors, were chosen as case studies. In a descriptive analysis, we consider how aid allocation is organised by each donor, focusing on primary institutions/agencies, decision-making processes, and the principles/basic formulae applied in selecting partner countries. A map of the donors in terms of their intentions and allocation/actual flows is drawn. While principles are considered to shape intentions, interests and other confounding factors affect actual flows. In addition, the donors are compared by looking at three aspects of their approaches: firstly, whether donors are strategically-motivated (that is, whether they have security concerns, foreign policy and economic interests as the main motivation in their partner country selection) or follow development-oriented approaches (focusing on recipient-needs); secondly, whether they follow an explicitly stated agenda; and, thirdly, whether intentions are consistent with the actual ODA flows. Looking at these aspects, we suggest that 1) not every donor follows a clear approach in partner country selection; 2) actual ODA flows do not always reflect the stated intentions; and 3) most of the time, donors follow a mixture of development-oriented and strategic approaches.


The Kripke/Wittgenstein paradox and Goodman's riddle of induction can be construed as problems of multiple redescription, where the relevant sceptical challenge is to provide factual grounds justifying the description we favour. A choice of description or predicate, in turn, is tantamount to the choice of a curve over a set of data, a choice apparently governed by implicitly operating constraints on the relevant space of possibilities. Armed with this analysis of the two paradoxes, several realist solutions of Kripke's paradox are examined that appeal to dispositions or other non-occurrent properties. It is found that all neglect crucial epistemological issues: the entities typically appealed to are not observational and must be inferred on the basis of observed entities or events; yet, the relevant sceptical challenge concerns precisely the factual basis on which this inference is made and the constraints operating on it. All disposition ascriptions, the thesis goes on to argue, contain elements of idealization. To ward off the danger of vacuity resulting from the fact that any disposition ascription is true under just the right ideal conditions, dispositional theories need to specify limits on legitimate forms of idealization. This is best done by construing disposition ascriptions as forms of (implicit) curve-fitting, I argue, where the "data" is not necessarily numeric, and the "curve" fitted not necessarily graphic. This brings us full circle: Goodman's and Kripke's problems are problems concerning curve-fitting, and the solutions for it appeal to entities the postulation of which is the result of curve-fitting. The way to break the circle must come from a methodology governing the xidealizations, or inferences to the best idealization, that are a part of curve-fitting. The thesis closes with an argument for why natural science cannot be expected to be of much help in this domain, given the ubiquity of idealization.Epistemology & Methodology


Some years ago I treated a child, aged 3 years, who suffered from a severe case of anorexia nervosa. She had reached a serious state of depletion and weakness from her self imposed starvation, refusing all food and regurgitating that fed to her by gavage. She finally accepted a banana, with the result that other food was taken in a more or less normal amount within forty-eight hours. There was a complete relapse when the banana was withheld, and food was taken normally only with bananas. This experiment was repeated to test the validity of the observation, always with the same result, until a time came when her appetite was normal whether bananas were included in the diet or not. The action was such as is attributed to a hormone. It was natural, therefore, to test bananas in a case of celiac disease where anorexia was a prominent symptom. Celiac


As trains become longer, heavier and quicker, ballast shows signs of distress and degradation, leading to deterioration of the track geometry. Appropriate stabilisation techniques using artificial inclusions such as polymeric geosynthetics and energy-absorbing shock mats are needed to improve track stability and longevity. Large-scale laboratory tests at University of Wollongong revealed that the geogrids with an optimum aperture governed the effectiveness of the reinforcement mechanism. The use of shock mats was influenced by their placement position and the type of subgrade (e.g. estuarine soil, rock etc.). In these studies, different types of geosynthetics and shock mats were placed beneath the ballast embankment constructed on varying subgrade conditions. Traffic induced stresses, ballast breakage, transient and permanent deformations of the substructure were routinely monitored using precise instrumentation schemes. The findings from the Bulli Study verified that the discarded aggregates could be reused in track construction, if reinforced with geogrids with appropriate apertures. The results of the Singleton Study also showed that geogrids could significantly reduce track deformation especially when subgrade was soft. In contrast, shock mats were more effective in reducing ballast degradation when placed above a concrete deck (i.e. rail bridges).


The journal of College Counseling (JCC) began its life in 1995 with the appointment of a founding editor and its 1st editorial board. The 1st semiannual issue of the journal was published in spring 1998, and the journal has continued to be published twice each year since then. This article presents an analysis and discussion of the content of the first 15 issues of JCC. Implications and recommendations for the future of the journal are discussed.


We contribute to combinatorics and algorithmics of words by introducing new types of periodicities in words. A tiling period of a word w is partial word u such that w can be decomposed into several disjoint parallel copies of u, e.g. a ⋄ b is a tiling period of aabb. We investigate properties of tiling periodicities and design an algorithm working in O(n log(n) log log(n)) time which finds a tiling period of minimal size, the number of such periods and their compact representation. The combinatorics of tiling periods differs significantly from that for classical full periods, for example unlike the classical case the same word can have many different primitive tiling periods. We consider also a related new type of periods called in the paper multi-periods. As a side product of the paper we solve an open problem posted by T. Harju.


Computer systems now run drastically different workloads than they did two decades ago. The enormous advances in hardware power, such as processor speed, memory and storage capacity, and network bandwidth, enable them to run new kinds as well as a large number of applications simultaneously. Software technologies, such as garbage collection and multi-threading, also reshape applications and their behaviors, introducing more challenges to system resource management.
However, existing general-purpose operating systems do not provide adequate support for these modern applications. These operating systems were designed over two decades ago, when garbage-collected applications were not prevalent and users interacted with systems using consoles and command lines, rather than graphical user interfaces. As a result, they fail to allow necessary coordinations among resource management components to ensure consistent performance guarantees. For example, garbage-collected applications cannot adjust themselves to maintain high throughput under dynamic memory pressure, simply because existing virtual memory managers do not collect and expose enough information to them. Furthermore, despite the increasing demand of supporting co-existing interactive applications in desktop environment, resource managers (especially memory and disk I/O) mostly focus on optimizing throughput. They each work independently, ignoring the response time requirements that the CPU scheduler attempts to satisfy. Consequently, pressure on any of these resources can significantly degrade application responsiveness.
In order to deliver robust performance to these modern applications, an operating system has to coordinate its resource managers (e.g., CPU, memory, and disk I/O), as well as cooperate with resource managers in the user space, such as the garbage collector and the thread manger. To support garbage-collected applications, we present CRAMM, a system that enables them to predict an appropriate heap size using information supplied by the underlying operating system, allowing them to maintain high throughput in the face of changing memory pressure. To support highly interactive workloads, we present Redline, a system that manages CPU, memory, and disk I/O in an integrated manner. It uses lightweight specifications to drive CPU scheduling and to coordinate memory and disk I/O management to serve the needs of interactive applications. Such coordination enables it to maintain responsiveness in the face of extreme resource contention, without sacrificing resource utilization. We also show that Redline can be used to support response time sensitive multi-threaded server applications.
Our experiences and extensive experiments show that we can coordinate resource managers, both inside and outside the operating system, efficiently without destroying the modularity of the existing system. Such coordination prevents resource managers from working at cross purposes, and dramatically improve the performance of applications when facing heavy resource contention, sometimes by orders of magnitude.


Despite clinical success rates over 85%, persistent anatomic defects after rotator cuff repair are common and depend on the size of the tear repaired. The etiology of delayed or failed tendon to bone healing is multifactorial and biologic augmentation of a rotator cuff repair would be clinically desirable. Autogenous platelets contain many growth factors and are critical in the physiology of bone, soft tissue, and wound healing. Growth factors present in platelets include TGF-B, FGF, PDGF, EGF, and VEGF. Centrifugation techniques have been developed to create platelet rich plasma (PRP). These PRP preparations are designed to concentrate platelets and the growth factors they provide. PRP has been used to augment healing in various animal models as well as clinical situations in humans. This review examines the potential of using PRP to augment rotator cuff repair.


We report triple wavelength demultiplexers adopting a thin-film filter (TFF) and a waveguide Bragg grating as a reflector for low-cost integrated optical triplexer transceivers deployed for the triple play service-based fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks. In the proposed demultiplexers, 1310- and 1550-nm lights were designed to be divided after passing the planar lightwave circuit-based directional coupler by half-cycle and full-cycle coupling actions, respectively. The 1490-nm light was reflected by a TFF or Bragg grating. The losses of the demultiplexers were less than 2.0 dB at all ports. The average crosstalk among the three lights for the demultiplexers was about -20 dB or better. Through a single reflector, the demultiplexer structures are significantly simplified, and cost is reduced. The proposed triple wavelength demultiplexers provide cost-effective and high-performance solutions for FTTH network systems


This paper outlines the use of a Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA) in a logic design course that introduces students to design through an authentic client-driven problem. The MEA involved creating a model of a traffic signal controller for an intersection of a U.S. highway and a county road near the university. Students were given background information on traffic signal controllers and actual traffic flow data for the intersection and were then asked to analyze the data, transform the problem to the digital design space, and create a state diagram for a traffic signal controller that would be effective for the given intersection. The results using the MEA in the course were very encouraging. All seven groups in the class created valid traffic signal controller state diagrams and six of the seven groups were able to create working implementations in a programmable logic device. In addition, on the course's final exam, a similar modeling problem was included and the students who participated in the MEA scored higher on the problem than last year's students that did not have the MEA experience.


This paper describes an application of ANSYS Probabilistic Design System (PDS) as a superior method to efficiently identify the relative influences of random input variables on fatigue stress and to optimize the chosen random input variable to achieve the desired reliability. The axial oil-hole of a connecting rod in a reciprocating air conditioning compressor acts as a stress raiser and can lead to early fatigue failures. A parametric 3-D finite element model of the connecting rod with a hollow wrist pin was developed to study the fatigue stress. Contact elements were placed between the rod and the pin. The service stresses were simulated by pushing the pin against the connecting rod. A high predicted fatigue stress at an observed failure origin verified the model. A probabilistic analysis was carried out with three independent random input variables: the wrist pin bearing ID, the wrist pin OD and the hollow wrist pin bore ID. A macro file was created by a computer program to relocate selected nodes, by which the dimensions defined by the random input variables were automatically adjusted during each analysis loop. The maximum fatigue stress at the failure location was the random output parameter. This random output parameter was explicitly related to the random input variables using the Response Surface Method. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the wrist pin hollow ID had the most effect on the fatigue stress. Additional PDS runs were performed to optimize the pin ID and tolerance based on the estimated probabilities of failure using the Monte Carlo simulated cumulative distributions of the maximum fatigue stress. The analysis showed that the fatigue failures could be eliminated by reducing the wrist pin hollow ID, which was also the most cost effective fix.


Epidemics of flu, gastro and head lice aside, the school environment is generally a safe one. School authorities take care to select appropriate teaching staff. They establish procedures for the supervision of playgrounds, fire and emergency evacuation, and the conduct of sporting and other outdoor events. These procedures ensure that many potential accidents are prevented: science experiments are conducted with care; fights are broken up before anyone gets hurt; classrooms are emptied before fumes or smoke can overwhelm; swimming pools are protected by shade cloth. Occasionally, however, injuries do occur. Many of these injuries are the result of nothing more than unfortunate and unavoidable accidents anaong boisterous youths. A smaller number result from the intentional torts of third parties, especially assaults and batteries. This article considers recent developments in the law regarding cases where a teacher's tortious conduct injures a student. In particular, it compares two decisions of the New South Wales and Queensland Courts of Appeal, and examines their reasoning in light of relevant High court decisions.


A fouling index (FI) was introduced as a novel approach to investigate natural organic matter (NOM) fouling behavior in a low pressure membrane ultrafiltration process. Humic acid (HA), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and sodium alginate (SA), were used in the experiments. According to FI values, fouling was caused by NOM in two steps: a fast fouling process followed by a slow one. FI of the fast stage (FIF) was much greater than that of the slow one (FIS), showing the initial interaction would play a significant role in the fouling process over a short time. The results of mass balance suggested that a small fraction of DOC was responsible for membrane fouling caused by adsorption. Furthermore, both hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction between NOM and the membrane determined the fouling behavior. Only a portion of foulants was removed after hydraulic washing. The sequence of NOM causing irreversible fouling was BSA > HA > SA, and the sequence of irreversible fouling after alkaline cleaning was SA > BSA > HA. The variations of FI values were consistent with the results of mass balances and flux recovery, which confirmed the FI was a simple and effective tool to describe the membrane fouling process.


Banks' reluctance to repair their balance sheets, combined with deposit insurance and regulatory forbearance in recognizing greater risks and losses, can lead to solvency problems that look like liquidity (bank-run) crises. Regulatory forbearance incentivizes banks to both retain risky loans and reject new good opportunities. With sufficient regulatory forbearance, partially-insured banks act exactly as if they are fully insured. Stress tests certify that uninsured creditors will be paid, not solvency, and have ambiguous effects on the efficiency of investment.


We describe the design, construction, and operation of an ion beam assisted deposition source for molecular beam epitaxy in ultrahigh vacuum. At a typical deposition rate of a monolayer per minute, the source may be operated in each of five modes: using self-ions from the vapor, self-ion plus noble gas ions from an additional gas inlet, both pulsed or continuous, or with complete suppression of ions. The source is based on electron bombardment heating of a metal rod or a crucible while the ions generated from the vapor are focused electrostatically onto the sample. Additional ions may be extracted from a noble gas stream injected into the ionization region. Examples for each of the different modes are given for Co deposition onto Cu(111), a system known to resist layer-by-layer growth.


New Zealand is a world leader in the use of Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) to manage fisheries. Although the use of an ITQ system is not unique to New Zealand, no other country has used this system to the same extent as New Zealand. This has meant that, internationally, a lot of interest has been placed on how our system works and the level of success it has achieved. Generally, the New Zealand system is considered to be a success story, yet the system has changed a number of times since its inception in 1986. Despite the level of interest in New Zealand's unique ITQ system, the current literature is unable to provide a complete account of the historic and current regulations surrounding it. This paper addresses this gap by documenting how the Quota Management System (QMS) functions and the changes it has undergone since its introduction. Reviewing these changes facilitates a deeper understanding of the system itself, as well as providing insight into its potential limitations.


© 2021 Indian Journal of Ophthalmology | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.


Humanity faces a formidable challenge in deciding how to respond to global
environmental issues, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. This thesis
explores the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in this context. I start in Part I by
highlighting the problems with conventional CBA, which include its treatment of
the future, and its approach to aggregating costs and benefits across individuals.
The rest of the thesis comprises empirical investigations of these two issues.
In Part II, I carry out the first rigorous statistical analysis of the economic
scenarios developed by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, which
have been criticised as being implausible relative to the historical data. I show that
for two of the three regions considered, the criticisms are unfounded, but for the
other, the IPCC scenarios are considerably more optimistic than is suggested by
the data. In addition, I show that economic growth is poorly described by an
exponential function, undermining conventional approaches to discounting. Next,
I use data on global and national Ecological Footprints to consider whether
environmental limits will prevent future economic growth. I find that previous
studies using this data have been biased towards pessimism by ignoring
technological progress, and I present two novel analyses that incorporate it. I find
no evidence that future economic growth will necessarily result in increasing
global Ecological Footprint.
In Part III, I carry out a partial CBA of a biodiversity conservation project to
protect the Ranomafana-Andringitra forest corridor in south-eastern Madagascar. I
begin by investigating the linkages between economic growth, urbanisation, and
forest cover change and then develop projections of deforestation and species
extinction. I show that the local opportunity costs of conservation are likely to be
positively linked to its biological urgency, and hence its global benefits. Although
the benefits of conservation strongly outweigh the costs in monetary terms, when
corrected for the diminishing marginal utility of income, the net present value of
the project is strongly negative. Therefore unless compensation is complete and
efficient, conservation will reduce social welfare, due to the extreme poverty in
the region. Because complete compensation is difficult to achieve, these results
call into question the present emphasis on directing conservation efforts towards
low-income countries.
The thesis shows that the simplifications inherent in conventional CBA can
produce misleading results when applied to complex global environmental issues.
In particular, assuming that compensation will be complete and costless could
encourage decision-makers to adopt projects that are seriously detrimental to
social welfare. CBA cannot be both value-free and decisive. I therefore outline a
generalised CBA approach that is capable of incorporating important societal
value judgments.


This paper examines the existing forms of "IT Project Controls", used in system implementations, their suitability and effectiveness and suggests a redefinition of the conventional role of "Project Controls" from isolated project activities concerned mainly with project schedule, deviations and cost variances to an integral part of the Risks and Quality Management components of the Project-Risk Model adopted by IPRM Methodology that is being developed through the research program. The investigation is based on a survey of a number of major system implementations in Oil & Gas, Utilities and Manufacturing industries, focusing on information related to management's perception and use of 'Controls' and their possible impacts on project delivery outcomes. The survey also targets specific project risk information relevant to further investigation of the relationship between control and system risk profile at any point of time during the project life.


This research was conducted to examine the correlation between depression and hopelessness levels in mothers of disabled children between the ages 5 and 7. A total of 126 mothers of children with disabilities was used in the study. They were obtained from the nursery schools of the First Education Schools of the Ministry of Education or from private schools. In this study the Beck Depression Scale (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961), Beck Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Lester, & Trexler, 1974) and a General Information Form (Ceylan & Aral, 2005) were used for statistical analyses. The findings suggested a significant correlation between the depression and hopelessness levels of mothers of disabled children ( p < .01).


The fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene has been shown to be associated with obesity in different populations. However, this association in the Chinese population has been controversial. We evaluated the association of the FTO rs9939609 gene polymorphism with the risk of overweight and obesity in Chinese children and adolescents in a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and two electronic Chinese databases (CBM, CNKI). Two authors screened abstracts, full-texts, and extracted data according to the prespecified inclusion criteria. A modified STREGA score was used for quality assessment. A random-effects and fixed-effects model was used to conduct the measure the association between FTO gene and obesity. Ten studies including 12,879 participants were included. The FTO rs9939609 gene polymorphism was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of obesity or overweight in Han Chinese children and adolescents (P < 0.05), but absent in the Zhuang and Hazakh Chinese population (P > 0.05). The pooled OR for the codominant genetic model between AA and TT was 1.79 (95% confidence interval: 1.34–2.39, P < 0.0001). Allele A carriers were at greater risk of obesity and overweight compared to noncarriers. Screening for FTO rs9939609 gene polymorphism might help to identify adolescents at risk of developing obesity and consider appropriate prevention strategies.


The indications for the concentrated extract product (CEP) of Wu Lin San (WLS) are urethritis, cystitis, and gonorrhea. In clinical settings, WLS is combined with other CEPs used. However, there are no prescribed guidelines of CEPs in Taiwan. In this study, we would establish the CEP-prescribed applications of WLS for cystitis according to the clinical prescription patterns and ancient traditional medicine books. The prescription patterns of WLS were analyzed from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan for the period from 2000 to 2015. The results show that WLS was most frequently prescribed for cystitis (17.12% of a total prescriptions), and its prescribed dosage was 3∼5 g per day. Among them, 62.53% were for patients >40 years, and 72.45% were for women. Moreover, prescription patterns of WLS for cystitis were divided into 4 types: Type 1, WLS combined with Pa Cheng San (PCS) and Ti Tang Tang (29.75%); Type 2, WLS combined with PCS and dandelion (13.89%); Type 3, WLS combined with PCS and Tao Ho Cheng Chi Tang (6.63%); and Type 4, WLS combined with PCS (2.75%). According to lectures, review revealed the following principles of WLS application. WLS only should be adopted for simple heat strangury, while Type 4 should be applied for excess heat and dampness strangury. For patients with heat strangury coupled with an early-stage blood amassment pattern in lower jiao (abdomen), Type 3 could be administered. Type 2 should be used for heat strangury accompanied by dampness toxicity with infection. By contrast, Type 1 should be applied to patients with severe blood stasis. The application principles of WLS with other CEPs could serve as a reference for cystitis treatment in clinical settings.


There is a growing need to reduce the use of fossil fuels for energy. A twofold reason exists for this: firstly these resources are finite; secondly the utilisation of these resources releases greenhouse gases which are known to contribute towards climate change. The rise in global population and energy use per person is adding to the unsustainable use of fossil fuels. There is the potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption in the South West of England. The region's abundant natural resources could be used to reduce the overreliance on energy from fossil fuels. A key natural and renewable resource within the region is the availability of biomass. Bioenergy is a form of energy, derived from biomass. Bioenergy has the capability to displace the use of fossil fuels. Additionally, it has the potential to reduce the effect of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide during the biomass production period. It has the possibility of being integrated into existing infrastructure and is one of the few renewable technologies which can satisfy an array of end-use energy requirements. This thesis highlights a unique method of assessing the potential of bioenergy in the South West of England using a multi appraisal technique. The initial assessment within this thesis has examined the resource availability of bioenergy based on biomass feedstock. Whilst quantifying the overall availability, constraints have been examined to determine the realisable potential of biomass as an energy source. The analysis has then assessed the drivers and barriers of bioenergy development within the region and contextualised this for the UK in general. Following the selection of a single bioenergy pathway (biogas production from anaerobic digestion), the technology has been assessed using a multi appraisal methodology. This methodology has involved the use of net-energy analysis, environmental life cycle assessment and financial investment assessments. The thesis demonstrates that the region has a notable resource availability of biomass. However, a number of barriers to development have been found which could impede the utilisation of this energy source. The selected bioenergy pathway of biogas from anaerobic digestion was found to eliminate some of these barriers. Assessing the potential of biogas using multi appraisal techniques highlighted that this pathway could, in some cases, offer positive environmental, energy and financial benefits.


This case study demonstrates the design suggested for modern court technology systems. The design and implementation of the new system prepares the court to serve the public and law enforcement needs continuity of essential court functions when the need arises. Lessons learned from natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and acts of terror have greatly influenced the resiliency and security of the new system. Consideration of multiple factors including: loss of power, domicile, security, and any potential disruption of service continuity will also be explored.


In 1995, a new project Modeling Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in Europe and Northern Asia (LUC) was established at IIASA with the objective of analyzing the spatial characteristics, temporal dynamics, and environmental consequences of land-use and land-cover changes that have occurred in Europe and Northern Asia over the period 1900 to 1990 as a result of a range of socio-economic and biogeophysical driving forces. The analysis will then be used to project plausible future changes in land use and land cover for the period 1990 to 2050 under different assumptions of future demographic, economic, technological, social and political development. The study region, Europe and Northern Asia, has been selected because of its diversity in social, economic and political organization, the rapid changes in recent history, and the significant implications for current and future land-use and land-cover change.

Land-cover change is driven by a multitude of processes. Natural processes, such as vegetation dynamics, involve alterations in cover due to natural changes in climate and soils. However, changes of land cover driven by anthropogenic forcing are currently the most important and most rapid of all changes (Turner et al. 1990). Therefore, any sound effort to project the future state of land cover must consider the determinants of human requirements and activities, e.g., demand for land-based products such as food, fiber and fuel, or use of land for recreation.

In the past, major land-cover conversions have occurred as a consequence of deforestation to convert land for crop and livestock production; removal of wood for fuel and timber; conversion of wetlands to agricultural and other uses; conversion of land for habitation, infrastructure and industry; and conversion of land for mineral extraction (Turner et al. 1993). These human-induced conversions of land cover, particularly during the past two centuries, have resulted in a net release of CO2 to the atmosphere, changes in the characteristics of land surfaces (e.g., albedo and roughness), and decreased biodiversity.

More subtle processes, termed land-cover modifications, affect the character of the land cover without changing its overall classification. For instance, land-cover degradation through erosion, overgrazing, desertification, salinization and acidification, is currently considered a major environmental problem. Although the effects of land-cover modifications may be small at local scales, their aggregate impact may be considerable. For example, use of fertilizers locally has no significance for atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. However, when practiced frequently in many locations, nitrogen fertilizer can make a significant contribution to emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) globally.

The implementation of a comprehensive land-use change model poses a number of methodological challenges. These include the complexity of the issues involved and the large number of interacting agents and factors; the nonlinear interactions between prices, the supply of and the demand for land-based commodities and resources; the importance of intertemporal aspects; the intricacy of biogeophysical feedbacks; and the essential role of uncertainty in the overall evaluation of strategies.

The interaction mechanisms between biophysical cycles and economic processes have mainly been studied in dynamic simulation models that follow recursive chains of causation, where the past and present events determine what will happen tomorrow. Not surprisingly, many of these studies have led to dramatic predictions, basically because the agents whose behavior is described within the model are themselves assumed to be unable to predict at all. By contrast, in micro-economics it is usually assumed that agents do have the capacity to make informed predictions and to plan so as to avoid the probability of disaster in the future. However, even full information and rationality of individual choice are not always sufficient to avoid disaster. The coordination mechanisms that prevail among economic agents often tend to be of decisive importance.

The aim of this paper is to summarize the LUC project approach and to extend our earlier writings on modeling of land-use and land-cover change dynamics. We discuss the adequacy and applicability of welfare analysis as a conceptual framework for the LUC project at IIASA. We recognize from the outset the complexity of socio-economic and environmental driving forces and the fundamental uncertainties involved in their spatial and temporal interactions (and outcomes). Unlike physical particles, economic agents have the ability to anticipate, and they possess the freedom to change their behavior. This inherent unpredictability, in particular the multiplicity of possible outcomes, calls for a normative approach, and for comparative policy analysis rather than exact prediction. Therefore, we adopt an approach that enables the explicit representation of various policy measures, thus providing a means to search for "better futures", i.e., for trajectories of future development that may alleviate environmental stresses while improving human welfare.


DNA is generally regarded as the basic building block of life itself. In the most fundamental sense, DNA is nothing more than a chemical compound, albeit a very complex and peculiar one. DNA is an information-carrying molecule. The specific sequence of base pairs contained in a DNA molecule carries with it genetic information, and encodes for the creation of particular proteins. When taken as a whole, the DNA contained in a single human cell is a complete blueprint and instruction manual for the creation of that human being. In this article we discuss myriad current and developing ways in which people are utilizing DNA to store or convey information of all kinds. For example, researchers have encoded the contents of a whole book in DNA, demonstrating the potential of DNA as a way of storing and transmitting information. In a different vein, some artists have begun to create living organisms with altered DNA as works of art. Hence, DNA is a medium for the communication of ideas. Because of the ability of DNA to store and convey information, its regulation must necessarily raise concerns associated with the First Amendment's prohibition against the abridgment of freedom of speech. New and developing technologies, and the contemporary and future social practices they will engender, necessitate the renewal of an approach towards First Amendment coverage that takes into account the purposes and values incarnated in the Free Speech Clause of the Constitution. This article proposes and applies a framework for analysis in the context of contemporary social practices that involve the manipulation of DNA, as a case study from which we can hope to gain valuable insights regarding First Amendment doctrine in general.


In recent years the use of rabbits and chinchillas as experimental model both in human and veterinary medicine and as pets is gaining ground detriment to the carnivores. Moreover, major human intervention in their diet, leading to the artificiality of a major part of the food, justifies the acquisition of specific morphological knowledge to each organ. Changing the composition of nutrients increases the risk of many digestive disorders, especially digestive organs themselves. The aim of this study is achieving morphological and topographic description of the first important component of post diaphragmatic digestive tract - the stomach. We used 10 rabbits and 10 chinchillas. The subjects were clinically healthy and of different weights and ages. Gross dissection was perform in all subjects. In both species the stomach is simple. The transition from the esophageal mucosa to the gastric mucosa is clearly marked. The gastro esophageal sphincter is very visible, placed in the middle of the small curvature. The distal esophageal mucosa has a serrated pattern, making a strong gastro esophageal sphincter. In rabbit, the stomach shows thin walls with well individualized cardia and pilor orifices. The fornix is visible, located dorsal of the cardia orifice. Before the pyloric opening a narrow segment is visible - the pyloric antrum (Antrum pyloricum). The pylorus is mostly compressed by the duodenum and the left lobe of the liver. The gastric mucosa presents itself as a glandular type on its entire surface. At chinchillas, the stomach is oriented transversally and lies mainly caudal to the rib cage, slightly left deviated. The angular notch is sharpest and the dorsal region of the stomach is at the same level with the pylorus. The gastric folds are much more obvious in the stomach body than in the juxtacardial region. Both in rabits and chinchillas, the stomach present numerous similarities regarding the topography, divisions, pattern and relationships with adjacent organs. Significant differences exist in the mucosa, and the presence of an individualized fornix and a well-developed pyloric antrum in rabbits, compared with chinchilla.


The number of persons with disabilities accessing e-government is growing, although this growth has not come without issues. Although some countries have legal protection to ensure equal access to web sites, including e-government sites, the mere presence of a law does not guarantee compliance. This research examines the accessibility of e-government web sites for 12 developing and developed countries. The research found that there were serious accessibility issues for all e-government sites, even those whose governments claimed adherence to accessibility standards or legislation. The results show a variety of accessibility problems with the sites, but most issues were centered on a minority of specific industry checkpoint errors, such as lack of providing alternate text for images. It is suggested that Web developers implement design recommendation provided in industry standards to improve the accessibility rankings of their sites and provide more open sites to people with disabilities.


Abstract. The use of curriculum-based measures for the purpose of school-wide screening and progress monitoring of reading within school reform processes has been discussed extensively in the literature over the past several years. Little has been done, however, in terms of evaluating the predictive bias of these measures across ethnic groups, particularly with the American Indian student. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive validity of oral reading fluency on a state measure of adequate yearly progress between White and American Indian third-grade students. The results suggested oral reading fluency is a robust predictor of reading comprehension across both cohorts, although significant differences were noted within the separate predictive models. Discussion regarding the implications of these findings within school-based decision making is undertaken.


Advection of Pacific water to the inland seas is through a number of straits bordering the archipelago. Movement of water was demonstrated by temperature-salinity diagrams plotted for a number of stations situated along the various passages. As water from the Pacific flowed through the straits its characteristic T-S profile was modified as it mixed with waters of different properties. This was best seen along the San Bernardino-Verde Island transect where strong surface flow during the NE monsoon resulted in separation of profiles at the surface indicating dilution as water moved away from the source. For deeper water, the erosion of the subsurface salinity minimum and maximum representing the core of the intermediate waters showed transport. These waters were restricted by shallow sill along the eastern coast of the country and limited to a depth of 441m by the sill across the Mindoro Strait.


We show that, with k-set consensus, any number of processes can emulate k state machines of which at least one progresses. This generalizes the celebrated universality of consensus which enables to build a state machine that always progresses. Besides some interesting extensions and even potential "practical" applications, theoretically, a fundamental ramification of our main result, derived by considering the state machines to be interacting read-write threads, is a flagpole to the thesis that distributed computing is all about wait-freedom. We indeed show that the set of tasks that are read-write solvable "k-concurrently" , i.e., when concurrency goes below k, is the same set of tasks that are read-write solvable with k-set consensus.


ABSTRACT Feedback is an essential formative assessment practice that has the potential to influence student learning and achievement positively. Providing effective feedback, however, is a challenging task for teachers. Especially beginning teachers struggle with the provision of information that supports students in developing and improving their competences. Learning to provide feedback thus is an important aspect of teacher education. The present exploratory study investigates pre-service chemistry teachers' practices regarding the judgement of students' level of achievement and the provision of feedback in the context of the control-of-variables strategy. A sample of N = 40 bachelor and master students at Kiel University judged students' written artefacts and provided feedback with the aim to support students in their progression towards the learning goals. The quality of the feedback was coded with respect to its correct judgement of the students' current levels of achievement and the support it provided regarding next steps in learning. The results show that only a few of the pre-service teachers could correctly judge students' current levels of achievement and provide feedback that is expected to be effective. Overall, the findings indicate a need for more research in this field and a need for the implementation of formative assessment practices as a topic in pre-service teacher education.


EU law is vitally important to the computer and information technology industries as it regulates the ways in which these industries may operate within the EU. It is submitted that the application of the European Union (EU) directive to software should not be determined by the technical and commercial peculiarities of software, as technology changes too fast to make it practical to have legal liability depend on such technicalities. Furthermore, it makes no difference to the victims whether software was acquired in the form of a standard package or custom made software, or whether it is tangible or not, they are only aware of the damage it caused.


New social groups such as janissaries, artisans, madrasa students, and 'middle-class' bureaucrats have gradually increased their visibility in the social, cultural, and literary landscape of early modern Ottoman Istanbul. Scholars have discussed this new visibility, among others, by observing official regulations, contemporary Ottoman chronicles and travel accounts, artistic and architectural transformation, diversification of literary genres, and the socio-economic background of their writers. In this article, I offer another modest and intimate first-hand source for elucidating the habitus of these new urban agents: visual and written notes on the manuscripts of popular storybooks dating from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Thanks to these notes on hundreds of manuscripts, we learn about political standings, literary tastes, codes of identity formation, the ways of self-depiction, social networks, and emotions of Ottoman individuals. By focusing in particular on the notes and doodles of Janissaries on popular heroic narratives, I argue that the gesture of taking notes and drawing symbols on a manuscript is a way of taking a stance against the political, religious, and literary authorities.


We present RDF On the Go, a full-fledged RDF storage and SPARQL query processor for mobile devices. Implemented by adapting the widely used Jena and ARQ Semantic Web Toolkit and query engine, it uses Berkeley DB for storing the RDF data, R-Trees for indexing spatial data indexing and a query processor that supports both standard and spatial queries.

By storing and querying RDF data locally at the user's mobile device, RDF On the Go contributes to improving scalability, decreasing transmission costs, and controlling access to user's personal information. It also enables the development of a next generation of mobile applications. RDF On the Go is available for the Android platform and can be downloaded at http://rdfonthego.googlecode.com/.


We developed a mathematical model to simulate the bending and creasing behavior of paper-like sheets. This model permits interactive deformation of a surface remaining isometric to a plane rectangular sheet. It exhibits some important characteristics of paper behavior, such as the appearance of creases for some shapes of the boundary. Accurately simulating the detailed behavior of paper creases would involve several complex tasks, like employing mechanical shell modeling with possible boundary layer phenomena and studying the dynamics of buckling, or considering paper's plasticity. We do not discuss these difficult problems, instead simply analyzing the creasing phenomenon as a transition between two kinds of applicable surfaces.<<ETX>>


BACKGROUND
Current government policy is directed towards reducing inequalities in health. General practice is increasingly the focus for health care provision in the United Kingdom and it is therefore important to understand the relationship between socioeconomic factors and health at the general practice level. A deprivation measure was used for the area in which the practice is located and two key priority areas were focused upon: mental health and heart disease.

AIM
To explore the relationship between area deprivation and the prevalence of treated heart disease and mental illness in England and Wales.

DESIGN OF STUDY
Analysis of data from medical records from practices contributing to the General Practice Research Database.

SETTING
A total of 211 practices located in England and Wales.

METHOD
The data from the practices were used to examine deprivation differentials in treated disease prevalence rates.

RESULTS
There are strong deprivation gradients (highest prevalence in the most deprived category) for treated depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, coronary heart disease and non-insulin-treated diabetes. In general the deprivation differentials are wider in the middle of the age range. Women aged 35 to 64 years in the most deprived areas had rates of treated coronary heart disease two to three times those in the least deprived areas. Men aged 25 to 44 years in the most deprived areas had rates of treated depression 50% higher than those in the least deprived areas.

CONCLUSIONS
This study has identified wide deprivation differentials in the prevalence of treated mental illness and heart disease. If all of England and Wales experienced the rates of the least deprived fifth of the population then the number of people being treated for depression, anxiety, and coronary heart disease would fall by 10%, 16%, and 11% respectively.


Pangasius djambal (Patin) is a consummable freshwater fish that native from Indonesia, spreading across Sumatera and Borneo. It is one of the most favored fish among all, commercially valuable, rapidly cultivated, and potential as an export commodity. Patin requires source of energy that comes from feed for growth and survival. Propolis, the resins that collected by honeybees from various plants, is one ingredient that can be mixed with fish feed. It has been widely used as a growth improver agent, hepatoprotector and immunostimulant for fish due to its many biological and pharmacological properties. The objective of this research was to observe the effect of propolis extract supplementation on the survival of Patin. Five levels viz 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 gr/kg of propolis extract supplementation were prepared and tested against basal diet, which was used as a control. Each diet was fed to three replicated groups, containing 10 fish each group of patin (Initial mean weight of 0.93±0 g), at a rate of 3% body weight everyday. The results showed that the number of survival of any groups of Patin was not affected by any various levels of propolis extract supplementation.


Obtaining Worst Case Execution Time (WCET) is essential for systems with timing requirement. This is because the violation of such requirement may lead to catastrophic results in safety critical systems. WCET can be acquired through static or dynamic analyses. With static analysis, it is less obvious to observe the timing behaviors of the analyzed system during its actual execution. While dynamic analysis, such as measuring execution times, lacks of theoretical foundation to ensure the specified properties. It is essential to perform the static and dynamic analyses for the same hardware configuration to have consistent results and meaningful feedback. It is equally essential to have both analysis perform on the same analysis framework for the same reason. In this paper, we are presenting an approach of dynamic analysis through the use of a framework, named OSIM, which integrates the processor simulator and input-stimuli generator. OSIM is based on OTAWA, a static timing analysis framework, and is able to give feedback to OTAWA for the refinements of the static analysis.


Hoover Dam, located on the Arizona-Nevada border and damming the Colorado River, is a well-known and often-visited place. The meanings people assign to such a structure articulate key environmental, economic and technological ideologies. An exploration of those meanings is important for understanding the forces that shape public perception and environmental policy. Specifically, this essay examines the official rhetoric of Hoover Dam from an ecofeminist perspective. Through a critical reading of the educational displays, films, plaques and other texts as well as the physical structure of the dam itself, three rhetorical strategies used in the dam's official presentation are identified. First, the Bureau of Reclamation presents the Colorado River as a chaotic, feminine entity in need of masculine control. Second, the river's rhetorical status as an Other encourages audiences to identify with the subject position of nature's master and thereby participate in the pleasures such an identity offers. Third, the Bureau uses the prevalent "common sense" of Native Americans as environmentally sensitive in combination with an "historical" Native American voice to establish the dam as both environmentally sound and a logical step in humanity's progress toward economic development and dominion over nature.


Although equine facilitated programs have gained in popularity over the last decade, virtually nothing is known about the causal effects of equine facilitated interventions on human development and well-being. Researchers conducted a randomized trial to determine the effects of an 11-week equine facilitated learning program on the activity of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis of fifth through eighth graders through salivary cortisol levels. Children (N = 131) referred by school counselors and recruited from the community were randomly assigned to either an experimental (N = 53) or waitlisted condition (N = 60). Six samples of salivary cortisol were collected in participants' own home over two consecutive days at pretest, and another set of six samples were collected at posttest in both groups of children. Children in the experimental group who participated in a series of once-weekly, 90-minute sessions of equine facilitated activities had lower afternoon cortisol levels (F(1, 112) = 8.56,
 p
 = .017;
 d
 = .48) and lower total cortisol concentration per waking hour (F(1, 112) = 11.12,
 p
 = .017,
 d
 = .46) at posttest, compared to waitlisted children. Multivariate regression analyses showed that program effects were independent from baseline levels of child cortisol, child gender, age, and referral status.


The study sought to investigate selected parental factors that affect the academic achievement of grade six pupils in Kisumu City in Kenya. The study used a causal comparative research design. Two research instruments were used; questionnaires were administered to the grade six pupils and their parents. Document analysis was also used to determine the pupils' academic performance. These were then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The investigation targeted both public and private primary schools in the city, selected pupils of grade 6, and their parents. Out of the 115 schools in Kisumu City, a total of 12 public schools and 8 private schools were selected using stratified sampling technique. Four hundred (400) pupils of grade six and 400 parents were selected to participate in the research. The findings revealed that socio-economic status, parental level of education, family size, family type and parental involvement affect the academic performance of pupils.


This paper describes a hybrid connectionist-symbolic system that implements a mechanism for consciousness. A comparison is made between the performance of the system both with and without consciousness. It is shown that the global broadcast element of consciousness does increase learning rates significantly. A description is given relating both how this effect occurs and why the effect is produced.


A Creative Tension is a fresh look at the foreign policy roles of Congress and the president by one of the most astute congressional practitioners of foreign policy of recent decades, former U.S. representative and chairman of the House International Relations Committee Lee H. Hamilton. With an insider's perspective based on thirty-four years in Congress, Hamilton elucidates current domestic and international pressures influencing U.S. foreign policy, strengths and weaknesses in the foreign policy process, and ways to improve the performance of the president and Congress. A Creative Tension argues persuasively and elegantly that better consultation between the executive and legislative branches is the most effective way to strengthen American foreign policy. A Creative Tension is the most extensive analysis of the congressional and presidential roles in foreign policy by a former member of Congress. Hamilton explores the topic in an original, stimulating, and accessible manner by deftly mixing incisive commentary with illuminating personal reflections. The book includes timely and important recommendations for improving the ability of Congress and the president to develop a foreign policy that meets the challenges and opportunities of a post-September 11 world. It should be of interest to foreign policy makers, scholars and students of American politics, and the general public.Wilson Forum


MBJB Claim Management System is developed to provide an online platform for MBJB staff to manage the claim
activities. By changing the current manual claim method to computerised system, the effectiveness and efficiency
of claim process have been improved, for instances this system can quicken the approval process as well as allow
applicants to check the status of claim application, minimizes human errors in calculation and provides several
type of claim report. By putting the system online, there is no more problems of time and distance. Iterative Model
which each iterative are mini-waterfall is applied to develop this project. Furthermore, Model-View-Controller
(MVC) architecture is also used for developing this project. Hence, laravel framework is used. Data dictionary is
produced for better understanding on system database. Several user interfaces are created to visualise the actual
system environment. Last but not least, Hypertext pre-processor (PHP), Javascript, jQuery and MySQL are used
during system development. As a conclusion, MBJB Claim Management system can replace the existing manual
claim management as well as bring benefits to staff MBJB.


Evaluation of dietary diversity scores to assess nutrient  adequacy among rural Kenya women S. A. Ngala Abstract Background: The major cause of micronutrient deficiencies are low intake due to monotonous diets, especially among women of child bearing age.  Dietary diversity score has been found to be a good proxy indicator for micronutrient adequacy. However, there are still outstanding methodological questions related to seasonal effects,  food intake methods, selection of foods and the cut-off for estimating the prevalence of acceptable nutrient adequacy. This thesis evaluated the performance of a simple dietary diversity score for assessing nutrient adequacy in the diets of rural women in Kenya. Methods: The study was conducted in Mbooni Division, Makueni District, Kenya among non-pregnant, non-lactating women of reproductive age having a child between  2-5 years.  Food consumption data was collected by 3 non-consecutive 24hour-recalls and a qualitative 24hour-recall in pre-harvest (period 1, October 2007, n=73) and post-harvest (period 2, April 2008, n=203) seasons. Dietary diversity scores (DDS) were derived based on 10 and 13 food groups with minimum intake threshold per food group of 0 and 15 g respectively.  Mean probability of adequacy (MPA) was calculated based on intake of 11 micronutrients. Results: The d ietary diversity score (DDS) and mean probability of adequacy (MPA) were significantly but moderately associated in both seasons (r=0.40 and r=0.38 period 1 and 2) and the association was independent of season (p=0.45). The DDS from a qualitative  24 hour recall (DDSql)  showed little agreement with quantitative 24 hour recall (DDSqn) with a mean difference (DDSqn-DDSql) of -0.51±1.46 (Period 1) and -0.58±1.43 (period 2), with lower correlation between MPA and DDS for DDSql (r=0.14 and 0.19 in period 1 and 2, p>0.05) compared to DDSqn (r=0.40 and 0.54 in period 1 and 2, p Conclusion: A dietary diversity score can be used as a simple proxy for micronutrient adequacy, independent of season. The dietary diversity score derived from qualitative free-listing 24-hour recall formed a poor indicator, needing further refinement to improve its performance. The informative food-based score performs moderately better  in predicting nutrient adequacy, but its advantages do not outway those of the food group-based scores, and the latter is therefore preferred. The Minimum Dietary Diversity score for Women, formed a good  indicator to predict nutrient adequacy, but using the cutoff of 5 or more food groups resulted in an overestimation of prevalence of adequate intake in our resource poor population.


A systematic analysis of wave acthities and blocking in the Northern Hemisphere winter is performed with the daily 500 mb height fields for the 1956-1991 period and the monthly sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for the 1970-1991 period. The power spectra in the wavenumber-frequency do main are partitioned into westward propagating, eastward propagating and standing variances. Regional indices are used to classify the seasonal circu lation into fou r categories of circulation patterns according to the domi nant blocking activities or the season: Pacific blocking, Atlantic blocking, double blocking, and no blocking. The distinctions among categories of blocking are characterized in the standing, westward propagating and east ward propagating variances. The distinctions are also renected in the ki netic energy and nonlinear wave-wave interactions of the planetary-scale and the synoptic-scale waves. A com)l-Ositc study of dominant circulation patterns is also presented in this study. The results show that the wave-wave interaction of the plan etary-scale and the synoptic-scale waves plays a crucial role in the forma tion and maintenance of Pacific blocking, and that Atlantic blocking and double blocking might be forced and maintained by baroclinic processes.


In England and Wales, religious education (RE) in non-faith schools has gradually changed from Christian education to the study of many religions and philosophies. However, the core values of RE have continued to be related to concerns about social cohesion and the building of shared values. The article briefly discusses changes in RE since 1944 and then considers attitudes to RE among a group of year 11 pupils (age 15–16) in one large multicultural comprehensive school, collected through questionnaires and group discussions. The subject name had been changed from RE to Religious Studies (RS) in 2004. The focus here is on pupils' ideas of 'the perfect RS pupil'; used as a means to access their understandings of the subject's aims and their teachers' expectations. The most popular responses were that the ideal pupil would be knowledgeable about religions and be tolerant and empathetic. This is in accord with the current social and political agenda for RE but lays it open to criticism that tolerance becomes an end in itself encouraging indifference to religions rather than a critical, evaluative perspective.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize restraint use among children brought to an inner-city hospital by private car or taxicab.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional survey and direct observation of a convenience sample.

SETTING
Main entrance and clinic entrance of a large urban public hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Direct observation was made on 352 children brought by 257 vehicles. One hundred seventy-seven parents or caretakers responded to questionnaires for 240 children.

INTERVENTION
None.

MEASURES AND MAIN RESULTS
Of the 352 children who were directly observed, 256 (73%) arrived by taxicabs and 96 (27%) by private cars. Thirty-three of 352 (9%) children were observed to be appropriately restrained. Children brought by taxicabs were significantly less likely to be restrained than children brought by private cars (1% vs 31%, P < 0.001). Caretakers reported that seat belts were available in 46 of 54 (85%) private cars, compared to 38 of 88 (43%) taxicabs (P < 0.01). Twenty percent of caretakers who came by taxicabs did not check for seat belts.

CONCLUSION
Taxicabs, which are exempt from the New York State's mandatory seat belt law, are a common mode of transportation for children in the inner city. While the overall use of child restraints in the study sample is low, it is particularly low for children in taxicabs. The low rate may be related to both the decreased availability of seat belts and the lack of the mandatory seat belt law for taxicabs. Strategies should be sought to improve child restraint availability in taxicabs and mandate seat belt use.


Skyrmions with multiple helicity or topology in centrosymmetric crystals are intriguing magnetic-domain objects due to their diverse dynamics under external stimuli. Here we illustrate how the two key gradients of magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) and spin reorientation transition (SRT) affect the skyrmion formation and topology by Cu substitution in the biskyrmion-host MnNiGa alloy. The MCA and SRT are simultaneously tuned in a large scope, while the original high Curie temperature (${T}_{C}$) is retained. Detailed neutron-scattering studies revealed the construction of a noncollinear canted magnetic structure below the SRT temperature (${T}_{\mathrm{SR}}$), which effectively correlates the SRT with the evolution of the MCA, as well as the exchange interaction. The Cu substitution raises the ${T}_{\mathrm{SR}}$ to merge with the ${T}_{\mathrm{C}}$, and meanwhile, reduces the $c$-axis anisotropy. Lorentz transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of stacked biskyrmions from above room temperature to lower temperatures in $\mathrm{MnN}{\mathrm{i}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{u}}_{x}\mathrm{Ga}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(x=0--0.3)$ in the presence of proper MCA. Micromagnetic simulations further confirmed the great effect of uniaxial anisotropy on the stabilization of biskyrmions. Our work has helped clarify the evolution of magnetic structures and their correlation to the SRT, providing an account of the effect of MCA and exchange interaction on the biskyrmion formation.


Part 1: The literature review details studies investigating pain in adults with intellectual disabilities: prevalence of pain, understanding and descriptions of pain and methods to enhance these, and unreported pains. The review highlights that adults with intellectual disabilities experience pains associated with a variety of health complaints, but often these are not reported and only identified by investigative procedures. The review also highlights shortcomings in the abilities of caregivers and professionals in recognising and acting in order to relieve pain. Part 2: The empirical paper reports on an exploratory qualitative study of the experiences and understandings of pain in adults with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, and the meaning given to pain. Analysis highlights the difficulties adults with intellectual disabilities experience in understanding pain and having an appropriate language to communicate about pain. Analysis also revealed that caregivers possess knowledge and to recognise and manage pain and have clear perceptions of the pain experience in the people they care for. The findings are discussed with reference to prior research, scientific and professional implications and potential future directions. Part 3: The critical appraisal discusses the research topic and how the researchers' understanding of pain in adults with intellectual disabilities changed. It then addresses conceptual and methodological issues that arose whilst conducting the research, and evaluates the limitations of the research. Finally it highlights implications for clinical practice, whilst offering suggestions for future research directions.


This paper discusses the main issues associated with integrating electrode controlled droplet motion using electro wetting on dielectric (EWOD) with IC foundry technology. The motivation behind this approach is based upon the desire to increase the number of control electrodes, which requires the implementation of on-chip line-column microelectronics. Increasing the number of electrodes is attractive as it provides the opportunity to finely adjust droplet size, and also increases the number of droplets that can be individually moved simultaneously. The tradeoffs associated with minimising the drive voltage by appropriate choice of dielectric thickness, strength and permittivity, are discussed and examples presented of systems with the ability to move liquid droplets using voltages between 27 and 70V. A small electrode array has been designed using transistors with high voltage shields using a 100V CMOS process. This circuitry has been fabricated and can successfully apply 90V to the electrodes. The paper presents the considerations related to the chip design and the issues associated with EWOD post-processing and the microfluidic packaging requirements.


A small group founded Amnesty International in 1961 to translate human rights principles into action. "Diplomacy of Conscience" provides a rich account of how the organization pioneered a combination of popular pressure and expert knowledge to advance global human rights. To an extent unmatched by predecessors and copied by successors, Amnesty International has employed worldwide publicity campaigns based on fact-finding and moral pressure to urge governments to improve human rights practices. Less well known is Amnesty International's significant impact on international law. It has helped forge the international community's repertoire of official responses to the most severe human rights violations, supplementing moral concern with expertise and conceptual vision."Diplomacy of Conscience" traces Amnesty International's efforts to strengthen both popular human rights awareness and international law against torture, disappearances, and political killings. Drawing on primary interviews and archival research, Ann Marie Clark posits that Amnesty International's strenuously cultivated objectivity gave the group political independence and allowed it to be critical of all governments violating human rights. Its capacity to investigate abuses and interpret them according to international standards helped it foster consistency and coherence in new human rights law. Generalizing from this study, Clark builds a theory of the autonomous role of nongovernmental actors in the emergence of international norms pitting moral imperatives against state sovereignty. Her work is of substantial historical and theoretical relevance to those interested in how norms take shape in international society, as well as anyone studying the increasing visibility of nongovernmental organizations on the international scene.


Recently, social commerce has attracted the attention from both academics and practitioners and became a significant emerging research area. In this paper, bibliometric analysis has been applied to identify the characteristics and the developments of social commerce research. Based on the definition, we conduct a systematic review of social commerce research by synthesizing 1900 publications published between 2003 and 2018 in Web of Science. The 1900 publications cover 4033 authors, 724 journals, 79 countries or territories, and 1648 institutions. Furthermore,'Computers in Human Behavior' is the key journal publishing on social commerce research, and the USA, China and England are the countries that dominate the publication production. It can be concluded that there is much collaborative research in the social commerce domain as multi-authored publications make up the majority of all publications. In addition, three main research areas can be distinguished based on LLR (log-likelihood ratio): (1) the development trend of social commerce, (2) the relationship between customers and vendors, and (3) consumer trust in the context of social shopping. We believe that this review can provide some guidelines for future research.


Background: The accurate prediction of where faults are likely to occur in code can help direct test effort, reduce costs, and improve the quality of software. Objective: We investigate how the context of models, the independent variables used, and the modeling techniques applied influence the performance of fault prediction models. Method: We used a systematic literature review to identify 208 fault prediction studies published from January 2000 to December 2010. We synthesize the quantitative and qualitative results of 36 studies which report sufficient contextual and methodological information according to the criteria we develop and apply. Results: The models that perform well tend to be based on simple modeling techniques such as Naive Bayes or Logistic Regression. Combinations of independent variables have been used by models that perform well. Feature selection has been applied to these combinations when models are performing particularly well. Conclusion: The methodology used to build models seems to be influential to predictive performance. Although there are a set of fault prediction studies in which confidence is possible, more studies are needed that use a reliable methodology and which report their context, methodology, and performance comprehensively.


This paper analyzes the signal quality achievable with a novel system architecture for low-power small cell remote units with integrated millimeter-wave wireless backhaul. The data signal on the backhaul link uses the same 3GPP compliant signal as with the access link serving the users. In contrast to existing systems, the small cell remote unit (RU) only consists of a simple frequency conversion from backhaul to access frequencies based on the self-heterodyning mixing concept with suppressed local oscillator (LO) signal. Therefore, it omits the LO source and greatly reduces power consumption and hardware complexity. Its sufficient linearity and phase noise performance at 60GHz was proven with measurements of an LTE signal easily meeting the 3GPP ACLR and EVM requirements, even with varying LO suppression levels on the backhaul link. Moreover, the required frequency stability of the access signal is demonstrated even when using a very unstable LO source.


Beach-seine fishing is a technique that has been used for thousands of years. With the advent of plastic monofilament and mosquito netting, a modern-day beach-seine is, ostensibly, one of the most destructive and non-selective fishing gears. As beach-seines are hauled-in from shore, intertidal seagrass beds are often damaged, which play an important role in providing food and shelter to juvenile fishes. In the Bay of Ranobe the technique often employed by newly-established unskilled fishermen is beach-seining. This research used a combination of ecological and socioeconomic assessments to determine and describe the relative importance and impact of the beach-seine fishery for the Bay of Ranobe area. The findings of this research indicated that beach-seine techniques were used predominantly by migrant people from tribes that were not traditionally reliant on sustenance fishing. The analysis of the beach-seine catch showed to be mostly juvenile fishes. Anecdotal evidence suggests overall catches have been declining in the Bay of Ranobe due to heavy fishing pressure. Targeting juvenile fishes may exacerbate the problem and significantly impair fish stock recovery. An understanding of the socioeconomic importance and ecological impact of beach-seining activities will provide governmental and non-governmental organizations with the necessary information to develop mitigation strategies and help with ensuring the long-term stability of fish stocks in the Bay of Ranobe. I dedicate this thesis to my parents,


The characiform fish Astyanaxmexicanus comes in two forms, a surface-dwelling morph which lives in the rivers of North and Central America and a blind, depigmented cave-dwelling morph which inhabits caves in Mexico. In recent years, this species has arguably become among the most influential model system for the study of evolutionary development and genomics in cave biology. While recent articles have analysed in great detail Astyanax genetics, development, physiology, phylogeny and behaviour, there have been comparatively few recent studies concerning its ecology and in particular its biogeography. Mitchell et al. (1977) reported the species inhabiting 29 caves in the Sierra de El Abra region. Despite the elapsing of over 40 years and the latest surge of interest in the model, not a single new cave locality had been described for the species. We describe here a new and 30th cave locality, Chiquitita Cave, inhabited by troglomorphic A.mexicanus. Their morphology, eye histology, 16S rRNA DNA sequence, and smelling capabilities are analysed. This cave represents the southernmost extension for the cave morph's habitat within the Sierra de El Abra. Its name, Chiquitita Cave (Tiny Cave), was chosen in reference to a potential hydrologic connection to "Chica Cave" (small cave), which is among the most studied populations of Astyanax.


ABSTRACT As global urbanisation continues to increase, we need to understand how urban environments contribute to maintenance of public health across different geographic regions. Current public health and environmental psychology research to this end is geographically constrained, deficient in direct cross-cultural comparisons between populations. This exploratory study applies a standardised analysis framework to health and wellbeing metrics of cities in the UK, Sweden, Estonia, Kenya and Thailand. This allows for comparison between geographically diverse cities to understand their role on citizens' health. We assessed demographics, subjective stress and wellbeing, relationships between green and public spaces and features of the local environment on health in 659 adult participants across six study locations. The results indicate regional differences in stress and wellbeing and show correlations with living close to, and engaging with, green and/or public spaces. Issues regarding noise, air pollution and traffic congestion were reported as having an impact on personal wellbeing. We discuss the impact that diverse properties of green space may have had, as well as cross-cultural considerations between the impacts of the local environments. This exploratory research provides a base for future cross-cultural research using mixed-methods and multi-disciplinary approaches to explore socio-economic and infrastructure dimensions of urban spaces and their impact on health and wellbeing.


Background and objectives: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare disease characterized by recurrent swelling attacks affecting almost every part of the body. So far, no reliable predictors for the clinical course have been identified. Here we evaluated the clinical situation of HAE patients in Germany and also aimed to analyze the role of body mass index (BMI) in disease severity.
Patients and methods: A survey among German HAE patients was done. The questions were related to the patients' history, symptoms, and treatment. Groups with high and low BMI as well as different treatment modalities were compared.
Results: 61 patients were included. Fatigue proved the most frequent prodrome (37.7%), followed by psychiatric symptoms and skin changes. Swelling attacks predominantly affected the gastrointestinal tract, extremities and the head and neck region. About 60% of patients had at least monthly attacks. In most cases, first diagnosis was established by a dermatologist, followed by an ENT specialist and a general practitioner. Appropriate acute and prophylactic therapy reduced the number of days of sick leave by 81.3%. There was a tendency for a higher attack frequency in obese patients (BMI >30), but no statistically significant correlations could be established.
Conclusions: The majority of patients in this German cohort was provided state-of-the-art treatment, which lead to improved outcomes. Further studies assessing individual factors reflecting the disease severity like trigger factors or biomarkers may be considered.