This note describes a workshop on International Peace Mediation hosted by Dublin City University in 2010. The workshop was an output of the project "Mediating Peace Agreements: The Capacity of the European Union as Multi-track Mediator", funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was intended to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework of international peace mediation and facilitate lesson learning from past practice of mediation initiatives. It provided participants with an insight into how international peace mediation can be used effectively and successfully as a conflict resolution tool.


INTRODUCTION
Minimum floor price laws (MFPLs) are an emerging tobacco control policy that sets a minimum price below which a specific tobacco product cannot be sold. MFPLs target cheaper products and may disproportionately impact consumers choosing low price brands or using discounts to reduce prices. We developed a static microsimulation model for California, USA to project short-term effects of different MFPL options for a 20-stick pack of cigarettes on adult smoking behaviors.

METHODS
We simulated 300,000 individuals defined by race/ethnicity, sex, age, and poverty status. Smoking behaviors and cigarette prices were assigned based on demographic distributions in the 2014-2016 California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We drew 100 random samples (n=30,000), weighted to state-level California demographic characteristics. We simulated six MFPL options and modeled impacts on smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption, in general, and separately for those in households below or above 250% of the federal poverty level (FPL), assuming a price elasticity of -0.4.

RESULTS
Predicted changes in prices, prevalence, and consumption increased exponentially as the floor price increased from $7.00 to $9.50. Assuming 15% policy avoidance, projected increases in average cigarette prices ranged from $0.19 to $1.61. Decreases in smoking prevalence ranged from 0.05 to 0.43 percentage points, and decreases in average monthly cigarette consumption ranged from 1.4 to 12.3 cigarettes. Projected prices increased, and prevalence and consumption decreased, more among individuals in households below 250% FPL.

CONCLUSIONS
MFPLs are a promising tobacco control strategy with the potential to reduce socioeconomic disparities in cigarette smoking prevalence and consumption.


Abstract Syntactic rules allow a speaker to combine signals with existing meanings to create an infinite number of new meanings. Even though combinatory rules have also been found in some animal communication systems, they have never been clearly linked to concurrent changes in meaning. The present field experiment indicates that wild Diana monkeys, Cercopithecus diana, may comprehend the semantic changes caused by a combinatory rule present in the natural communication of another primate, the Campbell's monkey, C. campbelli. Campbell's males give acoustically distinct alarm calls to leopards, Panthera pardus, and crowned-hawk eagles, Stephanoaetus coronatus, and Diana monkeys respond to these calls with their own corresponding alarm calls. However, in less dangerous situations, Campbell's males emit a pair of low, resounding 'boom' calls before their alarm calls. Playbacks of boom-introduced Campbell's alarm calls no longer elicited alarm calls in Diana monkeys, indicating that the booms have affected the semantic specificity of the subsequent alarm calls. When the booms preceded the alarm calls of Diana monkeys, however, they were no longer effective as semantic modifiers, indicating that they are meaningful only in conjunction with Campbell's alarm calls. I discuss the implications of these findings for the evolution of syntactic abilities.


Stonecats (Noturus flavus, Rafinesque 1818) are designated as a Vermont statelisted endangered species because their known distribution is limited to two systems, the LaPlatte and Missisquoi rivers. The restricted distribution and lack of knowledge on abundance in either river is cause for concern in the continued survival of these populations. Based on the capture numbers and large size range of individuals, we predicted that the population in the LaPlatte River, which provides quality benthic habitat, is stable. However, the Missisquoi River population has the potential for increased intermittent mortalities from two sources, lampricide (3-trifluoromethyl-4nitrophenol) treatment every four years and dewatering during drought conditions. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 we captured, PIT tagged (> 90 mm total length), and VIE marked all Stonecats collected using backpack electrofishing and minnow traps in the LaPlatte and Missisquoi rivers. A total of 1252 were PIT tagged in the LaPlatte River and 125 in the Missisquoi River. First we estimated survival and seniority of Stonecats in the LaPlatte River, using the Pradel model in Program Mark, and derived an average annual lambda of 0.9826. The population estimates from the LaPlatte River were modeled in a population viability analysis (PVA). Few Stonecats were captured in the Missisquoi River, so we used the PVA model to estimate the extinction rates with increased intermittent mortalities on 4-, 6-, and 8-year cycles to predict the long-term viability of the population. With an initial number of 2000 individuals, the population became extinct 100% of the time with an increase in mortality of 0.1 on a 4-year cycle. Our results indicate that the LaPlatte River population is stable, but the Missisquoi River population, in the area affected by lampricide, is not. These results are informative for developing future management scenarios, however, our approach has uncertainty that can only be addressed through obtaining more data on the Missisquoi River population.


Many bioactive products from benthic invertebrates mediating ecological interactions have proved to reduce predation, but their mechanisms of action, and their molecular identities, are usually unknown. It was suggested, yet scarcely investigated, that nutritional quality interferes with defensive metabolites. This means that antifeedants would be less effective when combined with energetically rich prey, and that higher amounts of defensive compounds would be needed for predator avoidance. We evaluated the effects of five types of repellents obtained from Antarctic invertebrates, in combination with diets of different energetic values. The compounds came from soft corals, ascidians and hexactinellid sponges; they included wax esters, alkaloids, a meroterpenoid, a steroid, and the recently described organic acid, glassponsine. Feeding repellency was tested through preference assays by preparing diets (alginate pearls) combining different energetic content and inorganic material. Experimental diets contained various concentrations of each repellent product, and were offered along with control compound-free pearls, to the Antarctic omnivore amphipod Cheirimedon femoratus. Meridianin alkaloids were the most active repellents, and wax esters were the least active when combined with foods of distinct energetic content. Our data show that levels of repellency vary for each compound, and that they perform differently when mixed with distinct assay foods. The natural products that interacted the most with energetic content were those occurring in nature at higher concentrations. The bioactivity of the remaining metabolites tested was found to depend on a threshold concentration, enough to elicit feeding repellence, independently from nutritional quality.


For decades, particle physicists have yearned for physics beyond their tried-and-true standard model. Now, they are finding signs of something unexpected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's biggest atom smasher at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. The hints come not from the LHC's two large detectors, which have yielded no new particles since they bagged the last missing piece of the standard model, the Higgs boson, in 2012, but from a smaller detector, called LHCb. It precisely measures the decays of familiar particles, especially those called B mesons, each of which contains a massive particle called a bottom quark bound to a lighter type of antiquark. LHCb physicists reported their latest result 18 April in a talk at CERN, and the faint signal jibes with a half-dozen related clues that LHCb physicists have found that all seem to point to some new physics taking place within the roiling innards of a B meson. If it's not a mirage of statistical fluctuations, that new physics could include a new force-carrying particle called a Z' or exotic particles called leptoquarks.


In the process control industry, majority of control loops are based on ProportionalIntegral-Derivative (PID) controllers. The basic structure of the PID controllers makes it easy to regulate the process output. Design methods leading to an optimal and effective operation of the PID controllers are economically vital for process industries. Robust control has been a recent addition to the field of control engineering that primarily deals with obtaining system robustness in presences of uncertainties. In this thesis, a graphical design method for obtaining the entire range of PID controller gains that robustly stabilize a system in the presence of time delays and additive uncertainty is introduced. This design method primarily depends on the frequency response of the system, which can serve to reduce the complexities involved in plant modeling. The fact that time-delays and parametric uncertainties are almost always present in real time processes makes our controller design method very vital for process control. We have applied our design method to a DC motor model with a communication delay and a single area nonreheat steam generation unit. The results were satisfactory and robust stability was achieved for the perturbed plants.


Design management embodies managing design activities and this requires extensive information management and sharing. While some of these needs have been met partially by other existing management practices, BIM (building information modelling) which has become widely adopted in the AEC industry holds tools for supporting and improving design management practices through its functionalities and capabilities.
The aim of this dissertation is to study the impact of BIM implementation on design management in architectural SMES. Extensive literature reviews on BIM, its benefits, barriers to its implementation, design management problems, the design process and how it directly affects design management success were discussed and further supported using triangulation under the mixed method approach. Data collection instrument employed were, 4 semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire survey of 32 respondents from a sample of BIM users in small and medium practices in the UK
Study findings show that majority of the firms have an acceptable knowledge of BIM, and is being used occasionally regardless of project size. The most significant reasons for BIM implementation were enhanced visualization, secondly, improved quality of buildings and thirdly to remain competitive. Also the most significant benefits of BIM were improved collaboration and communication between stakeholders, improved design quality, and generation of accurate and consistent drawings resulting in significant time, reduced rework and finally cost.
Syntheses of study findings suggest that with BIM the practice of separate departmental systems and a culture that each function remains independent in all aspects including information storage, exchange reuse, and retrieval will gradually seize to exist as firms see the potential of BIM solving interface problems, and bridging the gap helping disciplines within the firm act as a whole that co-exist.
Despite these significant savings major barriers to its successful implementation were cost of training and software, lack of skilled personnel, compatibility problems and an unclear responsibility boundary between project parties.


Summary form only given. The current trend of using multiprocessor computers for server applications requires operating system adoptions for high performance. However, modifying large bodies of software is very costly and time-consuming, and the cost of porting an operating system to a multiprocessor might not be motivated by the potential performance benefits. We present a novel method, the application kernel approach, for adaption of an existing uniprocessor kernel to SMP hardware. Our approach considers the existing kernel as a "black box", to which no or small changes are made. Instead, the original kernel runs OS-services unmodified on one processor whereas the other processors execute applications on top of a small custom kernel. A prototype implementation illustrates that the approach can be realized with fairly small resources. We also present an initial performance evaluation where we show that the performance is good for user-bound applications.


In summary, our results demonstrate that recipient age and body weight profoundly influence the long-term renal allograft outcome in our rat model. Increased recipient age and body weights are detrimental to the graft, implicating the importance of recipient functional demand in the development of chronic allograft nephropathy. By contrast, donor kidney weight did not significantly affect the late allograft injury. Only in old recipients groups, increase in donor age is associated with the progression of chronic allograft nephropathy, suggesting that increased recipient functional demand may also augment the influence of donor- aging-related nephron loss in late allograft failure.

Nephron dose and immune response change with age. Thus, age is a potential risk factor for graft survival after kidney transplantation. The aim of the current study was to determine whether age-related differences are of importance for the long-term outcome after renal transplantation. Kidneys of Fisher (F344) rats were orthotopically transplanted into nephrectomized Lewis (LEW) rats. Kidneys were transplanted in donors and recipients of three age levels: young (Y: 8 weeks old), adult (A: 16 weeks old), and old (O: 40 weeks old). Rats were harvested 24 weeks after transplantation and functional, morphological, and molecular evaluations were performed. Recipient rather than donor age determined graft survival. No significant correlation was found between donor kidney weight at the day of transplantation and morphological results. Advanced recipient age was associated with reduced creatinine clearance, more severe histological injuries including extended glomerular sclerosis, interstitial fibrosis, vascular lesions, more pronounced cellular infiltration, as well as a higher expression of TGF-b, and PDGF A and B chain. However, while we observed no significant correlation between donor age or kidney weight at the day of transplantation and morphological results, there was a significant correlation between recipient body weight at the day of transplantation and allograft injury. Therefore, recipient age and weight affect chronic allograft nephropathy. Renal allografts may benefit from young recipient age but may deteriorate in old recipients, suggesting effects of recipient functional demand on long-term outcome.


Soluble di-iron monooxygenases (SDIMOs), especially group-5 SDIMOs (i.e., tetrahydrofuran and propane monooxygenases), are of significant interest due to their potential role in the initiation of 1,4-dioxane (dioxane) degradation. Functional gene array (i.e., GeoChip) analysis of Arctic groundwater exposed to dioxane since 1980s revealed that various dioxane-degrading SDIMO genes were widespread, and PCR-DGGE analysis showed that group-5 SDIMOs were present in every tested sample, including background groundwater with no known dioxane exposure history. A group-5 thmA-like gene was enriched (2.4-fold over background, p < 0.05) in source-zone samples with higher dioxane concentrations, suggesting selective pressure by dioxane. Microcosm assays with (14)C-labeled dioxane showed that the highest mineralization capacity (6.4 ± 0.1% (14)CO2 recovery during 15 days, representing over 60% of the amount degraded) corresponded to the source area, which was presumably more acclimated and contained a higher abundance of SDIMO genes. Dioxane mineralization ceased after 7 days and was resumed by adding acetate (0.24 mM) as an auxiliary substrate to replenish NADH, a key coenzyme for the functioning of monoxygenases. Acetylene inactivation tests further corroborated the vital role of monooxygenases in dioxane degradation. This is the first report of the prevalence of oxygenase genes that are likely involved in dioxane degradation and suggests their usefulness as biomarkers of dioxane natural attenuation.


Author: Marianne Paulsen Title: Perception of Competence in Male and Female Pilots: Between Group Differences Institution: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Degree: Master of Science in Human Factors and Systems Year: 2002 This study investigated the relationship between gender and competence as perceived by pilots. Scenarios were utilized that depicted an airline captain successfully landing an airplane amidst adverse conditions. Scenarios varied only by the gender of the Captain: male, female, or unspecified by variance of pilot name. Perceived effectiveness, competence, avoidance, blame, and attribution as depicted by the Captain's performance in the scenario were assessed by 30 male and 30 female certified flight instructors. Results showed that female flight instructors' ratings of avoidance ability and attribution for success differed from male flight instructors. Attribution for blame differences between scenario conditions was also found. No significant gender or scenario differences occurred for ratings of effectiveness or competence.


Abstract Hydrochemical investigations form an important part of the Nirex Site Characterization Programme at Sellafield. They support the development of a conceptual hydrogeological model of the area as it is now, are the main basis for reconstructing the palaeohydrogeological evolution of the area over the recent geological past (which will assist predictions of future evolution) and allow characterization of the baseline hydrochemical conditions in the potential repository rock volume. The deep hydrochemistry of the area of interest is dominated by its location on the margin of the East Irish Sea Basin. To the west of the potential repository zone, the influence of basinal brines has been a feature of the deep sedimentary rocks and the Borrowdale Volcanic Group (BVG) basement for a considerable period of geological time. The brines currently present are inferred to be the result of partial dissolution of Permo-Triassic halite by ancient (probably pre-Pleistocene) meteoric recharge. Within the BVG of the potential repository zone itself, stable isotopic data and estimates of recharge temperature (based on noble gas data) indicate a predominance of old meteoric recharge (probably Pleistocene). These groundwaters are moderately saline and of NaC1 type. Br/CI ratios suggest that a significant component of this salinity is derived from a putative saline groundwater within the Lake District basement further to the east. The BVG within the potential repository zone is overlain by a Permo-Triassic sedimentary sequence containing fresh groundwaters of Ca-HCO3 type, which are separated from the underlying saline groundwaters by a fairly sharp salinity transition near the base of the sedimentary formations and locally within the topmost part of the BVG.


The aims of this article are to describe the findings of the author over the last decade regarding traditional distance education which eventually became Open and Distance E-Learning (ODEL) at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) and secondly, the integration of Open Education Resources (OER) within ODEL. Up for debate in Perspectives in Education is the question whether ODEL and OER have not already stimulated a new constellation for higher education? After attending several international conferences of the International Organization for Open and Distance Education (lODE), the National Association for Open Distance Education of South Africa (NADEOSA), Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) as well as the South African Association for Research Development in Higher Education (SMRDHE), it became evident to the author that global trends forced a number of changes onto the South African higher education system.
Subsequently, the CUT also had to reconsider the role of distance education within the Free State and Northern Cape provinces where it operates. In 2004 for example, students enrolled for distance education countrywide already constituted between 4% and 32% at traditional face-to-face universities while for universities of technology the figure was only 4,74% (CHE, 2004:185-186). However, universities of technology since expanded tremendously in using ODEL.


Expression of intracellular metallothionein (MT) has been linked to cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (cDDP) resistance in human germ cell tumor cell lines. To determine whether exposure to cDDP would select for cells with increased MT expression, the MT content of the human teratocarcinoma cell line T7800 was measured after development of resistance to cDDP by exposure to progressively higher drug concentrations (6.25-25 microM). cDDP-resistant cells (T7800R) had significantly higher MT mRNA and MT protein, increased resistance to killing by cDDP and altered in vitro growth kinetics compared to parental T7800 cells. cDDP resistance in a variety of other human tumor cell lines correlated with MT content, with no significant difference in glutathione level. These data indicate that selection in vitro for cDDP resistance in human germ cell tumors coselects for cells with enhanced MT content. However, selected cells differed in characteristics other than MT content. They had a slower growth rate and, although the rank order of MT level in T7800, T7800R and other human tumor cell lines correlated very well with cDDP resistance, differences in the level of MT expression did not correspond with differences in the absolute level of cDDP resistance. These results suggest that increased MT expression is concomitant with increased cDDP resistance in a variety of human tumor cell lines. However, measured differences in MT levels may not accurately reflect the degree of cDDP resistance differences among those cells.


Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microbes with highly differentiated membrane systems. These organisms contain an outer membrane, plasma membrane, and an internal system of thylakoid membranes where the photosynthetic and respiratory machinery are found. This existence of compartmentalization and differentiation of membrane systems poses a number of challenges for cyanobacterial cells in terms of organization and distribution of proteins to the correct membrane system. Proteomics studies have long sought to identify the components of the different membrane systems in cyanobacteria, and to date about 450 different proteins have been attributed to either the plasma membrane or thylakoid membrane. Given the complexity of these membranes, many more proteins remain to be identified, and a comprehensive catalogue of plasma membrane and thylakoid membrane proteins is needed. Here we describe the identification of 635 differentially localized proteins in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 by quantitative iTRAQ isobaric labeling; of these, 459 proteins were localized to the plasma membrane and 176 were localized to the thylakoid membrane. Surprisingly, we found over 2.5 times the number of unique proteins identified in the plasma membrane compared with the thylakoid membrane. This suggests that the protein composition of the thylakoid membrane is more homogeneous than the plasma membrane, consistent with the role of the plasma membrane in diverse cellular processes including protein trafficking and nutrient import, compared with a more specialized role for the thylakoid membrane in cellular energetics. Thus, our data clearly define the two membrane systems with distinct functions. Overall, the protein compositions of the Synechocystis 6803 plasma membrane and thylakoid membrane are quite similar to that of the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli and thylakoid membrane of Arabidopsis chloroplasts, respectively. Synechocystis 6803 can therefore be described as a Gram-negative bacterium with an additional internal membrane system that fulfills the energetic requirements of the cell.


Growth rates of the major Caribbean reef framework-building coral Orbicella spp. decrease with increasing water depth and light attenuation. However, reliable, spatially distributed growth rates for corals deeper than 30 m are rare, and the combined influence of coral framework accretion, secondary framework accretion, and framework macroboring on net framework calcification in these habitats is poorly constrained. To better understand the growth limits and spatial variability of Orbicella-dominated mesophotic coral reef ecosystems, live platy samples of Orbicella franksi were collected at 3 upper mesophotic reef habitats with varying structural characteristics on the Puerto Rican Shelf, south of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Average mesophotic coral linear extension rates, determined by standard X-radiographic techniques and confirmed by stable isotopic analyses, were 0.80 ± 0.03 mm yr−1 (±SE), slower than previously recorded for Orbicella spp. at shallower US Virgin Island reefs. However, coral cover at 2 of the mesophotic reefs was considerably higher than at nearby shallow-water St. Thomas reefs, implying that fast coral growth rates are not necessarily needed to maintain Caribbean reefs with high coral cover and structural complexity. A probable reason for this is reduced bioerosion with depth. Rates of net coral framework calcification were significantly different between the neighboring mesophotic coral reef habitats, likely a result of the complex interplay between site variability in irradiance, nutrient availability, and other factors. Analysis also indicated that the influence of El Niño−Southern Oscillation on water circulation and salinity as well as on water clarity and nutrient distribution in the Caribbean is reflected in the annual variability of mesophotic O. franksi growth rates. Site differences in net coral framework calcification suggest a potential long-term mechanism for the production or maintenance of heterogeneous reef-scale geomorpho logy along broad-sloping carbonate shelves colonized with mesophotic coral reef systems.


Over the last decade, empirical studies analyzing macroeconomic conditions that may affect the size of government spending multipliers have flourished. Yet, in spite of their obvious public policy importance, little is known about public investment multipliers. In particular, the clear theoretical implication that public investment multipliers should be higher (lower) the lower (higher) is the initial stock of public capital has not, to the best of our knowledge, been tested. This paper tackles this empirical challenge and finds robust evidence in favor of the above hypothesis: countries with a low initial stock of public capital (as a proportion of GDP) have significantly higher public investment multipliers than countries with a high initial stock of public capital. This key finding seems robust to the sample (European countries, U.S. states, and Argentine provinces) and identification method (Blanchard-Perotti, forecast errors, and instrumental variables). Our results thus suggest that public investment in developing countries would carry high returns.


As has long been recognized, the contract of employment depends on the commodification of labour power. Notwithstanding debates amongst political theorists and trade union activists about whether individuals should be viewed as self-owners, and whether it is possible to sell one's capabilities without selling one's self, the law does treat labour power as a commodity. There has been little research on the ways in which the law does so, however, for the simple reason that self-ownership of one's laboring capacities is often taken as fact, as the starting premise for analysis, and treated as a necessary pre-condition for individual self-realization through contract. Moreover, proprietary and contractual forms of regulating work are often presented as diametrically opposed: a proprietary method of labour regulation is said to create a relationship of slavery, while contract is presented as an institution of choice. This paper argues that an analysis of labour power as property, and its relationship to contract, emphasizes that both contract and property are enmeshed in the legal regulation of waged employment. Examining the ways in which the courts have given shape to individuals' proprietary rights over their labour power, and have set the terms for its exchange, demonstrates that the limitations on employer's rights of control are not inherent to the contractual form. Instead, they often depend on wider social processes, such as production and labour processes, collective bargaining, and statutory regulation. Examining proprietary rights over labour power provides another window onto the malleability of the contractual form, and the degree to which political choices are made by courts and legislators in determining the terms of the employment contract.This paper therefore investigates the relationship between contract, and labour power as property. To do so the historical evolution of contractual limitations on employers' rights of control will be canvassed, and the ways in which these limitations are now fraying. In particular, the development of the managerial prerogative from a property to a contract-based interest is described, and the ways in which concepts of working-time have operated, in theory, to separate in law the commodification of labour power from the commodification of self. Finally, the paper concludes by examining the ways in which these limiting mechanisms are beginning to disappear, as collective bargaining protections dissipate and the statutory protections are rolled back.


Lithuanian independence (1918–1940), which lasted for twentytwo years, and its symbolic center, the provisional capital Kaunas, have been very important for the country's political, social, and cultural identity. In 1918, changes in the social, economic, and political status of an individual as well as transformations in the literary field followed the change of the political system. In what ways the relationship between the center and the periphery and the spheres of literary influences were altered by the new forms of life? Lithuania, the former geographic periphery of tsarist Russia, after the change of the political system became a geographical and cultural periphery of Europe. Nevertheless, political freedom provided an opportunity to use the dichotomy of center-periphery creatively. Lithuanian writers, who suddenly found themselves living in Europe with old cultural traditions, tried to overcome the insignificance of their own literature, its shallow themes and problems by "borrowing" ideas and ways to express them. In fact, the imitation was not mechanical, so the new influences enabled writers to expand significantly the themes and forms of Lithuanian literature.
The article examines the development of new cultural centers in independent Lithuania. It also discusses the avant-garde movement which emerged under the influence of Russian futurists and German expressionists. In addition, it focuses on individual authors, such as Antanas Vaičiulaitis, Kazys Binkis and Petras Cvirka, and the influence that affected their works.


A proposed working approach is delineated as a methodology for treating persons with complex traumagenic disorders. It provides a format and a system of treatment, in order to help reduce the symptom clusters which occur in people who have experienced a combination of childhood trauma, as well as adult trauma, whether as a result of exposure to natural disasters, combat or war. It is argued that traumagenic resolution therapy needs to occur first, before cognitive behavior therapy can be effective. In addition a systems approach is needed to assist the person within the context of their environment, and then tasks such as parenting and other relational interactions will greatly improve. Symptom reduction will then occur, and be maintained, as the feedback loop of positive behaviors is reinforced.


The rate of collection of Brownian particles under the influence of interaction forces between the collector surface and the particles is calculated by (a) incorporating the interaction forces in the rate constant of a virtual, first order, chemical reaction taking place on the surface of the collector, and by (b) solving the convective diffusion equation subject to that chemical reaction as a boundary condition. Several geometries (sphere, cylinder, rotating disc) are considered for the collector.An Arrhenius type equation is obtained for the apparent reaction rate constant. Equations for the apparent activation energy and for the frequency factor are established as functions of Hamaker's constant, ionic strength, surface potentials and particle radius.


Web-based ranking problems involve ordering different kinds of items in a list or grid to be displayed in mediums like a website or a mobile app. In most cases, there are multiple objectives or metrics like clicks, viral actions, job applications, advertising revenue and others that we want to balance. Constructing a serving algorithm that achieves the desired tradeoff among multiple objectives is challenging, especially for more than two objectives. In addition, it is often not possible to estimate such a serving scheme using offline data alone for non-stationary systems with frequent online interventions. We consider a large-scale online application where metrics for multiple objectives are continuously available and can be controlled in a desired fashion by changing certain control parameters in the ranking model. We assume that the desired balance of metrics is known from business considerations. Our approach models the balance criteria as a composite utility function via a Gaussian process over the space of control parameters. We show that obtaining a solution can be equated to finding the maximum of the Gaussian process, practically obtainable via Bayesian optimization. However, implementing such a scheme for large-scale applications is challenging. We provide a novel framework to do so and illustrate its efficacy in the context of LinkedIn Feed. In particular, we show the effectiveness of our method by using both offline simulations as well as promising online A/B testing results. At the time of writing this paper, the method described was fully deployed on the LinkedIn Feed.


Community supervision, whether in the form of probation or post-release supervision, is ordinarily framed as an alternative to incarceration. For this reason, legal reformers intent on reducing America's disproportionately high incarceration rates often urge lawmakers to expand the use of community supervision, confident that diverting offenders to the community will significantly reduce over-reliance on incarceration. Yet, on any given day, a significant percentage of new prisoners arrive at the prison gates not as a result of sentencing for a new crime, but because they have been revoked from probation or parole. It is therefore fair to say that in many cases community supervision is not an alternative to imprisonment, but only a delayed form of it. This Article examines the reasons why community supervision so often fails, and challenges popular assumptions about the role community supervision should play in efforts to reduce over-reliance on imprisonment. While probation and post-release supervision serve important purposes in many cases, they are often imposed on the wrong people, and executed in ways that predictably lead to revocation. To decrease the overuse of imprisonment, sentencing and correctional practices should therefore limit, rather than expand, the use of community supervision in three important ways. First, terms of community supervision should be imposed in fewer cases, with alternatives ranging from fines to unconditional discharge to short jail terms imposed instead. Second, conditions of probation and post-release supervision should be imposed sparingly, and only when they directly correspond to a risk of re-offense. Finally, terms of community supervision should be limited in duration, extending only long enough to facilitate a period of structured re-integration after sentencing or following a term of incarceration.


Recent research on solid oxide fuel cell technologies – a type of high temperature fuel cell – has resulted in the reduction of operating temperatures from around 1000°C to an intermediate range of 600-800°C. This reduction in temperature allows previously unviable materials to be investigated for use with this system. Interconnects, the component that separates the anode and cathode of adjacent fuel cells, benefit from this advancement as metals may now be utilized in place of the ceramic interconnects traditionally used in solid oxide fuel cell systems. In separating the anode and cathode, interconnects are necessarily subjected to what is known as dual atmosphere exposure: the exposure to the fuel, H2, on one side of the material and the oxidant, air, on the other side. These extreme operating conditions have unusual effects on materials. AISI 441 is one promising ferritic stainless steel alloy for use as an interconnect; however, under dual atmosphere exposure, AISI 441 sees accelerated and anomalous oxide growth, exceeding that of similar ferritic stainless steels. This study investigated the oxide and Laves phase precipitate evolution of AISI 441 subjected to various environments including single, dual, and vacuum environments at a temperature of 800°C. Additionally, the relationship between the precipitates and the oxide formation was observed. Analysis was performed with a variety of equipment including a field emission scanning electron microscope. In environments containing oxygen, the oxide thickness of AISI 441 was found to increase over time and saw accelerated oxide formation in the dual atmosphere test, corroborating previous research. This study went on to investigate the formation of Laves phase precipitate Fe2Nbin the microstructure of AISI 441 as a result of atmosphere. Laves phase materials are under research as hydrogen storage materials, suggesting the existence of these phases may facilitate hydrogen transport and storage in materials used as interconnects. Increased hydrogen transport could potentially explain the accelerated and anomalous oxidation of AISI 441 compared to other ferritic stainless steels. Over the time frames tested, the environments had no apparent effect on the Laves phase precipitation; further testing should investigate Laves phase precipitation between 0 and 1000 minutes.


In 2017, I published papers on Icelandic liberalism in this journal. The first part describes Iceland's liberal heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries. The second part treats the extensive liberal reforms of 1991–2004 and their critics, and the 2008 Icelandic bank collapse and anti-liberal narratives about it. The journal invited Professor Stefan Olafsson to respond, as he had been mentioned in my paper as a leading critic of the liberal reforms and a proponent of (what seems to me to be) an anti-liberal narrative on the bank collapse. His composition stands in need of some corrections and comments.


1. Review Section The editors of JLS have decided to replace the review section with a review essay section and announcements of new books, thereby achieving two objectives. Firstly, we hope to provide authors with the opportunity of developing their comments into comprehensive critiques of particular topics or fields of study. Secondly, we aim at rendering a service to our readers by reporting on the latest publications pertaining to literary theory. We envisage review essays in which one or more books on a specific subject will be discussed and which will, by implication, preferably constitute a reappraisal of some aspect of literary theory. Review essays should be the same length as articles to qualify as "overview articles" which, contrary to "ordinary" reviews can be considered for subsidy in terms of categories specified by the Department of National Education. Should review essays be accepted for publication in an accredited journal, they will qualify for subsidy after being subjected to the same selection process valid for all articles submitted to JLS. We invite contributions to the review essay section. If you need further information, please contact either the editors or the review editor. We hope to create a forum for debate and discussion on issues of a literary-theoretical nature and which have bearing on the present and future of literary studies in South Africa.


This book considers the geology between North and South America. It contributes to debate about the area's evolution, particularly that of the Caribbean. Prevailing understanding is that the Caribbean formed in the Pacific and was engulfed between the Americas as the latter drifted west. Accordingly, the Caribbean Plate comprises internal, Jurassic–Cretaceous oceanic rocks, thickened into a Cretaceous hotspot/plume plateau, with obducted ophiolites and Cretaceous–Palaeogene, subduction-related, intra-oceanic volcanic arc and metamorphosed arc/continental rocks exposed on its margins. An alternative interpretation is that the Caribbean evolved in place. It consists largely of continental crust, extended in the Triassic–Jurassic, which subsided below thick Jurassic–Cretaceous carbonate rocks and flood basalts, and Cenozoic carbonate and clastic rocks. After uplift of 'oceanic' and volcanic arc rocks onto (continental) margins, the interior foundered in the Middle Eocene. Papers range from regional overviews and discussions of Caribbean origins to aspects of local geology arranged in a circum-Caribbean tour and ending in the interior. They address tectonics, structure, geochronology, seismicity, igneous and metamorphic petrology, metamorphism, geochemistry, stratigraphy and palaeontology.


This study examines the efficiency of VIX option trading strategies that exploit the VIX futures roll and the often substantial VIX futures volatility premiums from January 2007 through March 2014. The study first assesses the related issue of whether VIX options typically are overpriced by examining long VIX option delta-hedged returns and demonstrates that average losses on front contract calls and puts over 5-business day horizons either are not statistically significant or are economically small. In light of the evidence that VIX option buyers on average do not overpay at all or by much for the limited risk associated with VIX options, the study then turns to whether long VIX option positions can be used to exploit the well-documented tendencies of VIX futures to rise and fall when the VIX futures curve is in backwardation and in contango, respectively, as well as the tendency of VIX futures to build in large ex-ante volatility premiums. The results demonstrate that these defined-risk strategies are highly profitable and offer attractive risk-reward tradeoffs. Moreover, the systematic tendencies of VIX futures have far more power for predicting attractive VIX option returns than the ex-ante volatility premiums built into VIX options. The study also shows that long VIX option strategies importantly benefit from a strong tailwind that owes to the tendency of VIX option implied volatilities to rise with increases in the actual volatilities of underlying VIX futures contracts, as VIX futures move toward settlement and their volatilities rise to the typically higher volatility of the VIX.


Hatchlings of clown loach (3.8 mm in total length, TL ) are pelagic. When reared at 26−28 °C, they become benthic 3 days after hatching (dah), when their swim bladder is inflated. The fin development sequence (pectorals , but the finfold persists until 25 − 26 mm TL (start of juvenile stage). Melanophores appear at 3 dah, they form a 5-bar pattern at 5 dah, then two bars (III and V) vanish progressively, producing at 26 mm TL the 3-bar pattern that is typical of adults. Throughout the ontogeny, the pigment pattern exhibits a structural regularity (bars spaced at regular intervals), which is interpreted in a functional perspective by reference to the maintaining of crypsis and signalling throughout. Exogenous feeding commences at 4 dah (5.5 mm TL ). Food intake (FI ) increases rapidly, from 6% wet body mass (WM ) at 5.5 mm TL to  >20% WM in fish  > 7 mm TL . Gut evacuation rate (R g ) increases with increasing meal size and fish size, as a result of gut coiling (from 8 to 15 mm TL ), and is highest at 11 mm TL (about 10% WM h-1 in fish feeding maximally). The allometric increase of FI and R g during the early larval stages is accompanied by increasing capacities for growth, so early sizes differences amplify rapidly during the ontogeny. Nevertheless, growth remains slow (mean of 0.4 mm TL day-1 from 4 to 29 dah; 0.9 mm TL day-1 for top growers). By contrast, unfed fish display long resistance to starvation (until 14−15 dah). The combination of slow growth and long resistance to starvation is discussed in respect to the reproductive phenology of the species, as the capacity of making metabolic economies prevails over fast growth for seasonal strategists spawning mainly at the start of the rainy season.


Abstract OpenKinoAI is an open source framework for postproduction of ultra-high definition video, which makes it possible to emulate professional multiclip editing techniques for the case of single-camera recordings. OpenKinoAI includes tools for uploading raw video footage of live performances on a remote web server; detecting, tracking, and recognizing the performers in the original material; reframing the raw video into a large choice of cinematographic rushes; editing the rushes into movies; and annotating rushes and movies for documentation purposes. OpenKinoAI is made available to promote research in multiclip video editing of ultra-high definition video and to allow performing artists and companies to use this research for archiving, documenting, and sharing their work online in an innovative fashion.


This report provides a brief overview of how the Endangered Species Act (ESA)1 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA)2 and their relevant regulations may apply to military training and readiness activities of the Department of Defense (DOD). Military activities may "take" protected creatures directly (e.g,. killing with ordnance during rifle, gunnery or assault drills), or might destroy habitat (e.g., artillery or bombing practices), even if these results are not the purpose of the activities. The applicability of the MBTA and ESA to military readiness activities has been controversial recently and legislation has been enacted in both the 107th and 108th Congresses on these topics.


Freedom of human mind, essential to intellectual progress, has been trampled unprecedentedly by the Christian Church, in human history. The despotism displayed by the Priest was unmatchable even to the absolutism, manifested by Alexander and the Caesar. In the middle Ages, when every other institution of society was awakening from slumber of superstitions and advancing towards Renaissance, the church had rooted its totalitarianism with such dexterity that it was unshakable. If it had been exponent of divinity instated of despicable activities, the history of human enlightenment would not have been checked by murk of cruelty, ignorance and usurpation. It is need of our time to wash out the blemish of rigidity, intolerance and fanaticism, thrust upon the face of Islam. To abolish brutality and inhumanity, engulfing the whole planet, it is inevitable to diagnose the origin of this viciousness. In this regard, the exploration of the divine revelation of Testaments may be helpful. It is conjectured that the perusal would be conducive to bring to lime light, the strings of havoc waged in the name of Sacerdotalism. The forces trying to defame Islam in itself have been the epitome of narrowness, dogmatism and bigotry.


Criminal procedure rights are widely understood both as individual constitutional guarantees and as conduct-regulating norms, enforcement of which guides the behavior of criminal justice actors. This regulatory dynamic of constitutional criminal procedure flows from both criminal and civil litigation, and as a consequence criminal procedure rights are shaped and adjudicated in recursive remedial regimes. Little notice has been paid, however, to the fact that the contours of criminal procedure rights are not consonant across the criminal and civil remedial regimes. Instead, courts in civil actions reshape criminal procedure doctrine in a manner that erects new, conflicting, and often more lenient conduct norms for law enforcement. This Article contends that this reformulation of recursively litigated rights is not accidental but rather flows from the role of remedial context in shaping constitutional doctrine - a role that is brought into complicated relief when adjudication of a right spans remedial realms. Drawing from emerging schools of thought in constitutional implementation scholarship, the Article provides a thick description of the problems of cross-remedial adjudication in criminal procedure, focusing in particular on how unprincipled or incoherent approaches undermine the regulatory force of constitutional criminal procedure. The Article then proposes and applies a framework of 'rights translation' to ameliorate these deficiencies. While rights translation in criminal procedure involves certain unique remedial and systemic dynamics, the model of adjudication developed in the Article promises to illuminate other cross-remedial arenas of constitutional adjudication.


Background: Pre cervical cancer screening is one of cervical cancer prevention strategies. Screening service in Finote Selam general hospital has been started since April 2016, however, there is no evidence on cervical cancer screening uptake in the study area. Thus determining screening uptake is essential for programme effectiveness.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess uptake of pre cervical cancer screening and associated factors among women aged 30-49 year in Finote Selam northwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 30, 2017- April 15.2017 among 1152 participants. A cluster sampling technique was used to requite the desired sample size. The data were enter Epi-Info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with the uptake of pre cervical cancer screening. Odds ratio with 95 % confidence interval was used to identify strength and direction of association between outcome and covariates.
Results: In this study a total of 1137 out of 1152 women aged 30-49 years were participated representing a response rate of 98.7%. The uptake of pre cervical cancer screening was 34(3%) with 95% CI 2-4.2.
In the final model of analysis women had ≥ 5 pregnancy history was 80% (AOR=0.2, 95%CI: 0.004-0.7) less likely than who hand no any history of pregnancy to had uptake of screening service. Participant with history of sexually transmitted disease 12 (AOR=12, 95% CI: 4.3-24)times more likely to uptake screening service as compared with who and no history of sexually transmitted disease. Women who had awareness on pre cervical cancer screening was 16(AOR=16, 95% CI: 1.5-18) times more likely to uptake screening service as compared who had no awareness.
Conclusion and recommendation: Uptake of pre cervical cancer screening is low in the study area. Women had history of pregnancy ≥ 5 negatively associated with uptake of screening and history of sexually transmitted disease, awareness on screening service and favorable attitude towards screening positively associated with uptake of pre cervical cancer screening. Providing information to the women about cervical cancer screening and service availability near they lived is warranted.


Quantitative X-ray powder diffraction analysis demonstrates that mixing Ti, Zr and Hf on the ionic site in the half-Heusler structure, which is a common strategy to lower the lattice thermal conductivity in this important class of thermoelectric materials, leads to multiphase behaviour. For example, nominal Ti0.5Zr0.5NiSn has a distribution of Ti1−xZrxNiSn compositions between 0.24 ≤ x ≤ 0.70. Similar variations are observed for Zr0.50Hf0.5NiSn and Ti0.5Hf0.5NiSn. Electron microscopy and elemental mapping demonstrate that the main compositional variations occur over micrometre length scales. The thermoelectric power factors of the mixed phase samples are improved compared to the single phase end-members (e.g. S2/ρ = 1.8 mW m−1 K−2 for Ti0.5Zr0.5NiSn, compared to S2/ρ = 1.5 mW m−1 K−2 for TiNiSn), demonstrating that the multiphase behaviour is not detrimental to electronic transport. Thermal conductivity measurements for Ti0.5Zr0.5NiSn0.95 suggest that the dominant reduction comes from Ti/Zr mass and size difference phonon scattering with the multiphase behaviour a secondary effect.


Automated cartographic generalization has been a challenging research field for over 30 years; nowadays thanks to the continuous research is becoming a concrete opportunity to increase the speed of map sets production and maintenance. As some National mapping agencies are working in this direction, in Italy automated cartographic generalization is still a research field, although recent researches show its applicability to the Italian data models for the production of maps. This paper illustrates how the production of cartography in Italy is organized and the situation of the research on generalization in the country. The paper reports the most interesting results of the research, especially those brought by the on-going CARGEN project, that testify how automated cartographic generalization could play a key role also in the Italian cartographic processes.


If a wireless sensor network (WSN) is integrated into the Internet as a part of the Internet of things (IoT), there will appear new security challenges, such as setup of a secure channel between a sensor node and an Internet host. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous online and offline signcryption scheme to secure communication between a sensor node and an Internet host. We prove that this scheme is indistinguishable against adaptive chosen ciphertext attacks under the bilinear Diffie-Hellman inversion problem and existential unforgeability against adaptive chosen messages attacks under the q-strong Diffie-Hellman problem in the random oracle model. Our scheme has the following advantages. First, it achieves confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation in a logical single step. Second, it allows a sensor node in an identity-based cryptography to send a message to an Internet host in a public key infrastructure. Third, it splits the signcryption into two phases: i) offline phase; and ii) online phase. In the offline phase, most heavy computations are done without the knowledge of a message. In the online phase, only light computations are done when a message is available. Our scheme is very suitable to provide security solution for integrating WSN into the IoT.


Prymnesium parvum is a harmful microalga which produces glycosylated ichthyotoxic metabolites called prymnesins. This thesis describes the synthesis of chemical tools to explore the biosynthesis and detection of prymnesins. Sugar-nucleotides proposed to be involved in the glycosylation of prymnesins were synthesised. UDP-α-ᴅ-galactofuranose was biosynthesised from chemosynthetic Galf-1-P
using galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase. GDP-α-ᴅ-arabinopyranose and GDP-β-ʟ- xylopyranose were proposed to be involved in the biogenesis of ʟ-xylofuranose, and were
stereoselectively synthesised by direct displacement of an acylated glycosyl bromide with GDP. Multiple reaction monitoring transitions for the NDP-sugars were recorded using porous graphitic carbon column based LC-MS, as standards for profiling algal cell extracts.
Prymnesins share a conserved terminal bis-alkyne, which may prove a useful biomarker. Bisalkyne standards were synthesised by Cadiot-Chodkiewicz coupling, and used to show that there was no appreciable difference in reactivity between terminal alkynes and bis-alkynes under CuAAC conditions. CuAAC based toxin detection shows potential; coupling of authentic prymnesins with 3-azido-7-hydroxycoumarin gave fluorescent species which were separable by TLC and visible under UV-light. Raman detection was also explored, but was dismissed due to fluorescent quenching by algal pigments.
Sugar-glycerol compounds inspired by prymnesin's glycosylated backbone were chemically synthesised. Neighbouring group participation was utilised to synthesise 1,2-trans glycosides. SnCl2 promoted glycosylation with furanosyl fluorides gave 1,2-cis furanosides with moderate stereocontrol, whilst TMSOTf promoted glycosylation with pyranosyl imidates gave 1,2-cis pyranosides with excellent stereocontrol. 1,2-trans Sugar-glycerol fragments gave NMR signals closer to prymnesin literature values than 1,2-cis fragments.
Two fragments of prymnesin-1 glycosylated with α-ʟ-arabinopyranose and α-ᴅ-ribofuranose were chemically synthesised. Possible CuAAC and carbodiimide conjugation of the fragments to a carrier protein for anti-prymnesin-1 antibody production was considered. Because the stereochemistry of the prymnesin backbones at this region is undefined, both the 2R- and 2S- glycerol isomers were synthesised. The separated isomers were distinguished by comparing NOESY NMR with computational models.


Abstract We performed microscopic observations and a statistical study of the number, size and shape distribution of clathrates in the GRIP (Greenland Ice Core Project) deep ice core, using 185 samples from a depth range of 1016–3014 m, spanning a period of 6 to >110 ka BP and encompassing the Holocene, Wisconsin and Eemian periods. The number concentration of the clathrates varied considerably with climatic changes. It was possible to detect the rapid climatic oscillations in the last glacial between 13 and 110 ka BP, the Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles, in the number-concentration profile of clathrates. The mean volume of clathrates is less clearly influenced by climatic factors, with a tendency towards greater volumes in warmer periods, but also a growth of clathrates with depth could be detected. This growth rate was calculated to be 3.1 × 10-12 cm3 a-1. The amount of gases captured in the clathrates is estimated to be significantly smaller than the total amount of air determined by gas-concentration measurements. This points to diffusion processes of atmospheric gases within the ice matrix.


In this Essay, Professor Levine briefly explores Dickerson v. United States, the important 2000 decision in which a divided United States Supreme Court held that the standard established in Miranda v. Arizona continues to govern the admissibility of confessions, notwithstanding a federal statute enacted subsequent to Miranda that provided an alternative standard. Levine addresses broader theoretical implications of the approaches adopted by the majority and dissenting opinions in Dickerson. Drawing a parallel to the interpretation of the Torah in Jewish legal theory, he proposes a comparative framework for analyzing the division between the majority and dissent over the concept and status of a "constitutional rule." This Essay finds a similar debate among medieval legal authorities over the status of a rule in the Jewish legal system that appears to function in a manner ordinarily reserved for legislation. Some authorities categorize the rule as rabbinic legislation, while others understand the rule as a biblical law with quasi-legislative characteristics. Taking the conceptual comparison a step further, Levine considers ways in which Jewish legal theory might elucidate the nature of the "constitutional rule" delineated in Miranda.


In June 2019, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Kanuszewski v. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, declined to answer whether Michigan's mandatory newborn screening program violated parents' fundamental rights to control the medical care of their children, as well as whether the screening constituted an unconstitutional infringement of their children's Fourth Amendment protections. As a matter of first impression, the Sixth Circuit dismissed these claims under the doctrine of qualified immunity, declining to exercise its discretion to answer the underlying constitutional claims. Although the Sixth Circuit correctly dismissed the defendants on qualified immunity grounds, it missed an opportunity to answer constitutional questions bearing on the effectiveness of Michigan's public health policy. This Comment argues that Michigan has not sufficiently narrowly tailored its mandatory newborn screening program to its purported goal of protecting the health and well-being of its newest citizens.


The accuracy of actigraphy for sleep staging is assumed to be poor, but examination is limited. This systematic review aimed to assess the performance of actigraphy in sleep stage classification for adults. A systematic search was performed using MEDLINE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Embase databases. We identified eight studies that compared sleep architecture estimates between wrist-worn actigraphy and polysomnography. Large heterogeneity was found with respect to how sleep stages were grouped and the choice of metrics used to evaluate performance. Quantitative synthesis was not possible, so we performed a narrative synthesis of the literature. From the limited number of studies, we found that actigraphy-based sleep staging had some ability to classify different sleep stages compared with polysomnography.


Substantial advances in breast imaging techniques, especially developments in digital mammography, have led to early detection of breast cancer. It is well-known that microcalcifications are present in approximately 55% of nonpalpable breast malignancies and are responsible for the detection of 85-90% of cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) through mammographic screening. We evaluated the types of associated lesions and the percentage of malignancy in BI-RADS 4A subcategory (low suspicion of malignancy), by performing a database review of stereotactic biopsies of microcalcifications categorized as BI-RADS 4A, between September 1999 and January 2011, which accounted for 21.4% of biopsied microcalcifications in a total of 159 women. Histological findings corresponded to benign lesions in 43.5%, high-risk lesions in 46.5%, and malignant tumors in 10%. Concerning the latter (16 biopsies), 81.3% were DCIS and 18.7% corresponded to infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC). The PPV of BI-RADS 4 A category was 13%, a value consistent with that described in the literature. Microcalcifications BI-RADS 4A exhibit low suspicion of malignancy, since they mostly correspond to benign lesions (90%). Subcategory 4A constitutes an important ancillary diagnostic tool for a more accurate assessment of lesions suspicious for malignancy; therefore, we strongly recommend its use.


Background: Development of ultra-short chemotherapy for tuberculosis (TB) is thwarted by drug-tolerant bacillary persistence and a lack of surrogate endpoints to predict outcome from early clinical studies. Characterising bacillary elimination amongst TB patients may provide important new information. Bacilli harbouring intra-cytoplasmic lipid bodies (LBs) may represent a drug-tolerant phenotype, responsible for delayed bacterial clearance.

Methods: Malawian adults with pulmonary TB were treated with standard 6 month therapy. Two quantitative sputum culture methods were used to model bacillary elimination during the first 2 months; serial sputum colony counting (SSCC) and time to positivity (TTP) in BACTEC MGIT broth. Fluorescence microscopy was used to assess the proportion of LB positive bacilli on sputum smears. Plasma concentrations of anti-TB drugs were assayed at day 14 or 21. Patients were followed until one year post-treatment. Outcomes were defined as favourable (stable cure) or unfavourable (failure/relapse). The effect of microbiological and pharmacological factors on outcome was assessed.

Results: 169 patients (59% with HIV co-infection) were recruited. Of 133 final outcomes, 15 (11%) were unfavourable. Partial likelihood non-linear mixed effects (NLME) modelling of SSCC data from 86 (64%) patients showed biphasic bacillary elimination; slow late-phase eradication of persisters was associated with unfavourable outcome (p=0.001). Linear mixed effects (LME) modelling of TTP data from 124 (93%) patients showed that a slower MGIT Bacillary Elimination Rate (MBER) was associated with unfavourable outcome (p=0.007). 28% (range 0-79%) of acid-fast bacilli in baseline sputum samples were LB positive. During the first month there was a trend towards higher LB counts in patients who went on to have unfavourable vs. favourable outcomes (p=0.085). Low plasma rifampicin and isoniazid concentrations were reported in 87% and 50% patients respectively. A lower isoniazid AUC(0-6hr) exposure was associated with unfavourable outcome (p=0.035).
Conclusions: The two main findings were:
1. Modelling of bacillary elimination during the first 2 months of TB therapy predicted long-term outcome. The MBER, in particular, could be calculated for 93% of patients and should be considered as a surrogate marker for early clinical trials.
2. The observation of a higher proportion of LB positive bacilli in later sputum samples from patients with unfavourable outcomes suggests that these may be drug-tolerant persister cells, with negative implications for treatment efficacy.


Abstract.
 In this study we focused on the dynamics of encrusting assemblages preserved on brachiopod hosts collected from upper Frasnian and lower Famennian deposits of the Central Devonian Field, Russia. Because the encrusted brachiopods come from deposits bracketing the Frasnian/Famennian (F/F) boundary, the results also shed some light on ecological differences in encrusting communities before and after the Frasnian—Famennian (F-F) event. To explore the diversity dynamics of encrusting assemblages, we analyzed more than 1300 brachiopod valves (substrates) from two localities. Taxon accumulation plots and shareholder quorumsubsampling (SQS) routines indicated that a reasonably small sample of brachiopod host valves (n=50) is sufficient to capture themajority of the encrusting genera recorded at a given site. The richness of encrusters per substrate declined simultaneously with the number of encrusting taxa in the lower Famennian, accompanied by a decrease in epibiont abundance, with a comparable decrease in mean encrustation intensity (percentage of bioclasts encrusted by one or more epibionts). Epibiont abundance and occupancy roughlymirror each other. Strikingly, few ecological characteristics are correlated with substrate size, possibly reflecting random settlement of larvae. Evenness, which is negatively correlated with substrate size, shows greater within-stage variability among samples than between Frasnian and Famennian intervals and may indicate the instability of early Famennian biocenoses following the faunal turnover. The occurrence distribution of encrusters points to nonrandomassociations and exclusions among several encrusting taxa. However, abundance and occupancy of microconchids remained relatively stable throughout the sampled time interval. The notable decline in abundance (∼60%) and relatively minor decline in diversity (∼30%) suggest jointly that encrusting communities experienced ecological collapse rather than a major mass extinction event. The differences between the upper Frasnian and lower Famennian encrusting assemblages may thus record a turnover associated with the F-F event.


This paper addresses the task of change detection from noisy multivariate time-series data. One major feature of our approach is to leverage directional statistics as the noise-robust signature of time-series data. To capture major patterns, we introduce a regularized maximum likelihood equation for the von Mises-Fisher distribution, which simultaneously learns directional statistics and sample weights to filter out unwanted samples contaminated by the noise. We show that the optimization problem is reduced to the trust region subproblem in a certain limit, where global optimality is guaranteed. To evaluate the amount of changes, we introduce a novel distance measure on the Stiefel manifold. The method is validated with real-world data from an ore mining system.


Context
Physical activity (PA) is associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels. Both are associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), but their joint association with ASCVD risk is unknown.

Objective
To examine the relationship between PA and 25(OH)D, and assess effect modification of 25(OH)D and PA with ASCVD.

Design
Cross-sectional and prospective study.

Setting
Community-dwelling cohort.

Participants
A total of 10,342 participants free of ASCVD, with moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA assessed (1987 to 1989) and categorized per American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines (recommended, intermediate, or poor).

Main Outcome Measures
Serum 25(OH)D levels (1990 to 1992) and ASCVD events (i.e., incident myocardial infarction, fatal coronary disease, or stroke) through 2013.

Results
Participants had mean age of 54 years, and were 57% women, 21% black, 30% 25(OH)D deficient [<20 ng/mL (<50 nmol/L)], and <40% meeting AHA-recommended PA. PA was linearly associated with 25(OH)D levels in whites. Whites meeting recommended PA were 37% less likely to have 25(OH)D deficiency [relative risk, 0.63 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56, 0.71)]; there was no significant association in blacks. Over 19.3 years of follow-up, 1800 incident ASCVD events occurred. Recommended PA was associated with reduced ASCVD risk [hazard ratio [HR], 0.78 (95% CI, 0.65, 0.93) and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.62, 0.93)] among participants with intermediate [20 to <30 ng/mL (50 to <75 nmol/L)] and optimal [≥30 ng/mL (≥75 nmol/L)] 25(OH)D, respectively, but not among those with deficient 25(OH)D (P for interaction = 0.04).

Conclusion
PA is linearly associated with higher 25(OH)D levels in whites. PA and 25(OH)D may have synergistic beneficial effects on ASCVD risk.


Abstract. The origin and classification of landforms denominated as "protalus ramparts" in the scientific literature is a problem that is far from being resolved. The main objective of this contribution is to support a permafrost-related definition of protalus ramparts. If we consider the Alpine framework, protalus ramparts are generally very rare landforms; by contrast, the Alpine periglacial belt is characterised by a large diffusion of talus slopes and talus rock glaciers. The investigations carried out in six sites of the Valais Alps (Switzerland) allow eight major "diagnostic criteria" to be presented that help to define protalus ramparts in Alpine environments and that support the permafrost-related genesis of most of them. The major source of controversy is related to the use of the term protalus rampart to designate both a nivo-gravitational landform (also called "pronival ramparts") and a permafrost-related landform. All the considerations presented here allow an active protalus rampart to be defined simply as a (small) active talus rock glacier.


Trademark merchandising is big business. One marketing consultant estimated the global market for licensing and marketing sports-related merchandise at $17 billion in 2001. With this much money at stake, it's no surprise that trademark holders demand royalties for use of their marks on shirts, key chains, jewelry, and related consumer products. After all, the value of these products comes largely from the allure of the trademarks, and it seems only fair to reward the party that created that value . . . doesn't it? It turns out that the answer is more complicated than this intuitive account would predict. Trademark law historically has existed primarily to protect against the consumer deception that occurs when one party attempts to pass off its products as those of another. From an economic and policy perspective, it is by no means obvious that trademark holders should have exclusive rights over the sale of products that use marks for their ornamental or intrinsic value, rather than as indicators of source or official sponsorship. Trademark law seeks to promote, rather than hinder, truthful competition in markets for products sought by consumers; if a trademark is the product, then giving one party exclusive rights over it runs in tension with the law's pro-competitive goals, frequently without any deception-related justification. On the other hand, there may be circumstances in which consumers expect that trademark holders sponsored or produced products bearing their mark, in which case use of the mark by others - even as a part of a product - might result in genuine confusion. Given these complexities, together with the economic interests at stake, one might expect that the law and practice of merchandising rights would be well-settled and reflect a considered balancing of the interests of trademark holders and their competitors. In reality, however, much of the multi-billion dollar industry of merchandise licensing has grown around a handful of cases from the 1970s and 1980s that established merchandising rights with little regard for the competing legal or policy concerns at stake. Those cases are far from settled law - indeed, at least as many decisions decline to give trademark owners the right to control sales of their trademarks as products. We think it is high time to revisit that case law and to reconsider the theoretical justifications for a merchandising right. That review provides little support for trademark owners' assumptions about merchandising. Doctrinally, the most broad-reaching merchandising cases - which presumed infringement based on the public recognition of the mark as a trademark - were simply wrong in their analysis of trademark infringement and have been specifically rejected by subsequent decisions. Philosophically, even a merchandising right that hinges on likelihood of confusion raises competition-related concerns that should affect courts' analysis of both the merits and appropriate remedies in merchandising cases. Perhaps most importantly, recent Supreme Court case law suggests that, if it had the opportunity to evaluate the merchandising theory (something it has never done), the Court would deny the existence of such a right. Further, the Court would be right to do so. When a trademark is sold, not as a source indicator, but as a desirable feature of a product, competition suffers - and consumers pay - if other sellers are shut out of the market for that feature.


Filaments and dendrites of silver have been formed by transfer of silver through a layer of silver halide which has been put in contact with a silver block at about 400°C. According to the scheme proposed for explanation of the observations, silver dissolves in the silver halide and migrates as interstitial ions, transfer occurring because of the existence of a concentration gradient. At the same time vacant anion sites are formed in the reaction at the interface of the block and the silver halide which permit the migration of halide ions toward the silver block. When the rate of silver migration is relatively slow, as with silver bromide or silver chloride, dendrites usually form by migration of silver on the silver already formed. When the silver transfer is fast, as with silver iodide, the migration process does not remove the silver quickly enough and the silver is extruded as long filaments.


This article recognizes a growing overlap in the literature between international mass claims processes ("IMCPS") and transitional justice claims processes ("TJCPs"), i.e. domestic reparations programs adopted by successor governments in the wake of mass atrocity. This convergence is reflected in a number of recent publications in both fields that promote the comparative analysis of IMCPs and TJCPs, which in turn, leads to the conclusion that the two processes share a number of analogous characteristics. Commentators tend to view these ostensibly shared traits as a natural source of "best practices" or "lessons" transferable between mass claims procedures in the international and domestic settings. Consequently, it is not uncommon in recent publications to find detailed analyses of individual IMCPs placed alongside TJCPs, often without more, implying that experiences should naturally translate from one process to the other. In this article, Professors Jason Palmer and Arturo Carrillo demonstrate how several of the assumptions underlying the increasing comparisons of IMCPs and TJCPs, as presented in the recent literature on mass claims processing and reparations for gross and systematic human rights violations, are flawed. Building on an in-depth study of seminal IMCP and TJCP experiences, Professor Palmer and Professor Carrillo conduct a comprehensive analysis of the two categories to provide answers to key questions in this regard: To what extent are IMCPs and TJCPs truly comparable? Which IMCP principles and precedents are most relevant to domestic reparations programs? Are there principles and precedents from the TJCP context that might nourish ongoing or future IMCP initiatives? And, of course, to what extent are IMCPs and TJCPs different? What is the nature of these differences, and what do they tell us about the underlying compatibility of the experiences and mechanisms contrasted? In answering these questions, the article exposes a number of inherent limitations to the comparison of IMCPs and TJCPs that to date have remained unaddressed. The article demonstrates that a number of basic IMCP characteristics apparently shared with TJCPs provide a dubious foundation for constructive comparison, including that central component of most mass claims processes: compensation. At the same time, the authors delineate more clearly a narrow but promising path of intriguing synergies, labeled "true parallels," establishing furthermore that such parallels represent avenues for potential cross-fertilization in both directions.


Objective: To compare the bond strength of porcelain to enamel and dentin preparations finished with either ultrasonic instruments or diamond burs, with or without acid etching. Materials and Methods: A total of 140 extracted bovine incisor teeth were divided into two groups, enamel and dentin. A split tooth model was employed: each tooth having a randomly allocated combination of diamond burs, ultrasonic instrument, etching, and no etching treatments on their labial surface. Lithium disilicate glass ceramic specimens were bonded to the prepared surfaces and tensile testing was carried out. Force was applied to failure, and linear mixed models were used to analyze the data. Results: Etching increased the bond strength of the dentin samples by 7.63 MPa (P < 0.001). When bonding to dentin, ultrasonic instrument preparation produced a 2.88 MPa greater bond strength compared to burs (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Ultrasonic preparation produced greater bond strengths compared to rotary instruments. Etching improved the bond strength of all preparations, with enamel having consistently greater bonding values than dentin.


There is more to being a scientist than completing a research project and communicating the results to one's peers and the general public. Scientists have a wide range of responsibilities both within the scientific community and within society as a whole. I have frequently urged my colleagues to participate in the political processes of environmental management and conservation. It is equally necessary for scientists to contribute to the mechanics of keeping the scientific community functional. Individuals need to take responsibility for organizing scientific meetings, administering scientific societies, reviewing grant applications, and publishing professional journals. Peer review of the work and research proposals of colleagues is a necessary contribution of time if the machinery of science is to function smoothly. As editor of this journal, I can assure you that not all scientists accept these responsibilities.


Spleen cells from scid mice produce high levels of IFN-gamma when exposed to either live tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii or a soluble parasite extract. Small numbers of parasites are sufficient to stimulate this response, which is also induced by cell-free supernatants of cultured tachyzoites. The parasite molecules responsible for triggering IFN-gamma production are heat-labile but resistant to freezing and thawing. Depletion of NK cells or adherent cells from the splenocyte population abolishes the response. Moreover, cultured bone marrow-derived NK cells are stimulated by Toxoplasma to produce IFN-gamma, but only when supplemented with adherent peritoneal washout or thioglycollate-induced exudate cells. Supernatants of macrophages preincubated with T. gondii extract also induce IFN-gamma synthesis by cultured NK cells. Addition of neutralizing mAb against TNF-alpha abolishes the IFN-gamma response of scid spleen cells exposed to the parasite or of NK cells incubated with supernatants of adherent cells stimulated with T. gondii extract. Moreover, splenic adherent cells produce low levels of TNF-alpha in response to the parasite. Nevertheless, TNF-alpha alone is not sufficient to trigger IFN-gamma production from purified NK cell populations. These findings provide the first example of the stimulation of T-independent IFN-gamma production by a protozoan. The ability of T. gondii to trigger this pathway may underlie its induction of strong IFN-gamma-dependent nonspecific and specific cell-mediated immunity.


In Canada, adolescent boys have been shown to have a higher high school dropout rate compared to girls. This situationis particularly evident in the country's second largest province by population, Quebec. The sport of Canadian footballhas recently gained in popularity in Quebec as many people believe that the sport can be used to promote both life skillsand student engagement. The present study's purpose was to document coaches' and students' perspectives on studentdevelopment through participation in high school football. Nine coaches and 18 students were interviewed throughindividual and focus group interviews and shared how they believe that students benefited personally and academicallyfrom playing high school football. Nevertheless, both coaches and students faced several challenges during the seasonthat influenced the benefits students gained from their participation in sport. Findings suggest that high school sport,and more specifically high school football, can facilitate the positive development of students. However, to effectivelypromote student engagement, coaches must continually put in place strategies that help maintain students' motivationtoward school.


Improving the performance of agent-based systems is a challenging problem requiring both system evaluation and appropriate modification of the agent's policy or controller. This dissertation presents work in this problem domain, focusing on the development of an on-line, real-time method for modeling the interaction dynamics between a situated agent and its environment. The methods and experimentation presented in this thesis aim to show that the evaluation of agent-environment interaction dynamics can be effective and efficient in improving the performance of agents in challenging problem domains.
The dissertation is first motivated both by an examination of how behavior-based control provides a rich substrate for the evaluation of interaction dynamics, and by the unifying experimental theme (mobile robot foraging). The majority of the dissertation focuses on on-line learning of augmented Markov models (AMMs), a novel version of semi-Markov processes. The approach utilizes AMMs to capture agent-environment interaction dynamics in terms of the history of behaviors executed while performing a task. These models provide the data that are used on-line and in real-time to evaluate the system and suggest task-dependent, performance-improving modifications to the agent's behavior. An AMM construction algorithm is presented that allows incremental generation with little computational overhead, making it feasible for on-line, real-time applications. The algorithm is able to represent non-first-order Markovian systems in first-order form by dynamically adjusting models through the use of higher-order statistics. This ability to represent higher-order Markovian characteristics provides the expressiveness to accommodate systems with rich interaction dynamics.
The on-line, real-time modeling approach using AMMs in conjunction with behavior-based control is demonstrated as effective in both stationary and non-stationary problem domains. Several challenging robotics applications are examined in the stationary domain (fault detection, affiliation determination, hierarchy restructuring) and the non-stationary domain (regime detection, reward maximization). The AMM-based evaluations used in these applications include statistical hypothesis tests and expectation calculations from Markov chain theory. Experimental results are presented for each of the methods and applications discussed. Finally, some of the statistical distribution issues involving AMMs and their utilization in this work are addressed through an empirical comparison with a non-parametric alternative.


Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) provides chemical information on the outermost molecular layers of sample surfaces without solvent extraction. In TOF-SIMS, a pulsed beam of high-energy ions (primary ions) is scanned over a selected analysis area on the sample. During the primary ion bombardment, neutral and charged particles (secondary ions) are released from the outermost molecular layers of the sample surface. Analysis of the secondary ions in a TOF analyser yields a mass spectral data set that allows the retrospective production of(1) ion images showing the spatial signal intensity distribution from selected ions over the analysis area; (2) mass spectra from the total analysis area; or (3) mass spectra from user-defined regions of interest inside the analysis area. In the so-called static SIMS regime, the primary ions are provided in very short pulses and the analysis is completed before the incoming primary ions damage a significant fraction of the surface. Static TOF-SIMS is therefore capable of providing molecularly specific secondary ions, and thus mass spectra with detailed organic information, which is not possible with other ('dynamic') SIMS techniques. In this chapter, we describe the principles of static TOF-SIMS instrumentation and data evaluation, review a number of relevant applications, and discuss the potential of this technique in the biogeosciences, with a focus on organic biomarker applications.


The utilization of tropical fruit biomass as feedstock for biorenewable resources is an attractive proposition due to its abundance and potential to reduce reliance on conventional sources as well as the overall economic gain to all stakeholders. This study aims to pave the way towards successful and viable utilization of this feedstock by exploring and examining key physical and chemical traits of durian biomass, a major tropical fruit crop in Malaysia. The study was divided into three main parts: identification of durian biomass moisture test method, characterization of physical and chemical properties of durian biomass for thermochemical conversion, and composting of durian biomass. In the first section, HORT 2 method was found to be the best available moisture content test and depending on the process optimization need, ground samples can provide the fastest accurate result, while cubed or whole samples provide easier handling but require adequate drying time and temperature. Durian biomass was found to be comparable to most biomass studied in the literature. Its low ash value and high calorific value, especially when compared to palm oil biomass which is currently used in co-firing plants, makes it an attractive option. For other thermochemical applications, high moisture and oxygen content in durian biomass requires drying and pretreatment for optimal processing. In the composting section, nutrient content observed from the analysis of the compost indicates that durian rind is suitable for greenhouse media application. However, pH conditioning, nutrient supplement, and particle size reduction are needed to amend and improve its quality.


This thesis considers the theoretical and experimental analysis of thin-walled box spine-beam bridges. Existing methods available for the analysis of spine-beam bridges have been reviewed, with special attention being paid to thin-walled box beam theories. A new approach combining the finite element technique and the thin-walled beamtheory, which is appropriate for design purposes, has been proposed. This approach is specially suitable for medium and long spans. It is intended to be a realistic and versatile method to be used during the preliminary analysis and design stage, when a full three-dimensional analysis is likely to be impractical. Special features related tothebending analysis of thin-walled members and the warping torsion theory of open and closed section members are summarized in the thesis. In addition, supplementary formulae for the calculation of the stress distributions and the thin-walled section properties are derived. The distortional effect on single-spined box beams subjected to torsion has been extended to a general form based on the principles of ordinary folded plate theory. A family of special one-dimensional sub-parametric elements has been developed. In addition to the usual truss and beam elements the family includes a general thin-walled box beam element which may be curved in space and may have a variable cross-section. Additional degrees of freedom have been included to account for the warping and distortion effects whichoccur in box beams. An inclined cable element with catenary action is included, and an approximate nonlinear process for the analysis of cablestayed bridges has been correlated with tests on an actual bridge structure. A finite element-grillage approach for the analysis of multibox structures with deformable sections has also been developed. The complete family of elements has been incorporated into a computer program called CUBAS. A supplementary program called PFRAN for calculating the distortional properties and the influence values of the equivalent Vierendeel frame has also been implemented. The accuracy of the results obtained is demonstrated by comparison with results obtained by other published methods. A series of model box beams were tested to •further substantiate the theoretical results. The model dimensions were chosen to highlight both warping and cross-sectional distortion effects. The degree of correlation obtained shows that the theoretical developments proposed in this thesis may be applied successfully to the analysis of box spine-beam bridges.


'Smart cities' as sociotechnical imaginaries have been enthusiastically embraced by urban planners and policymakers around the world. In 2014, the government of India launched its Smart Cities Mission ostensibly to create socially inclusive and sustainable cities. Aspiring to make their cities smart, and following guidelines provided by the national government, urban authorities from all corners of India submitted proposals to compete in a Smart City Challenge. If successful, they would receive financial and technical support from the national government, to carry out the proposed smart transformations. Focussing on the urban mobility aspects of one such proposal, submitted by New Town, Kolkata, we assess how democratically transformative was the collective process of imagining smart cities in India. A democratically transformative process not only imagines the benefits of smart transformations to be widely distributed across different sections of the city, but it is also participatory and articulated. A participatory process affords possibilities to the most marginalised citizens to engage and raise their diverging and dissenting voices. And an articulated process registers the voices of the most marginalised in the sociotechnical imaginary it produces. Our results indicate that while considerable efforts were made to engage with citizens in the making of the imaginary, the process remained highly uneven and technology-centric, shaped by 'globalised' aspirations of urban smartness and by the upper and middle classes, leaving behind the voices and needs of poor and marginalised citizens of Kolkata.


Information from routine and sentinel surveillance was used to monitor the HIV/AIDS epidemic in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between 1991 and 1997. Comparisons were made between data obtained from (1) sentinel surveillance for antenatal HIV infection, pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), and AIDS in a single health district and (2) province-wide sentinel surveillance for antenatal HIV infection, legally required notification of cases of PTB, and voluntary notification of AIDS cases. HIV prevalence among antenatal clinic attenders in the sentinel district rose rapidly and at similar rates to provincial figures: 4.2% vs 4.8% in 1992 to 25.9% vs 26.9% in 1997. PTB incidence increased four-fold in the sentinel district over the study period, whereas provincial PTB figures from passive surveillance fluctuated widely and showed no clear increase (Chi-square for trend 425.5, P ≤ 0.00001). AIDS incidence in the sentinel district increased dramatically while provincial data from the voluntary reporting system showed a less consistent and much slower rise (Chi-square for trend 9.07, P=0.003). Incidence of AIDS in 1997 was estimated as 437/105 in the sentinel district compared to 32/105 in the provincial figures. Routine disease notification and voluntary reporting systems are likely to underestimate the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in resource-poor settings. Sentinel surveillance at representative sites should be developed to validate or replace passive surveillance systems.


Audited financial statements along with supporting disclosures form the foundation of the firm-specific information set available to investors and regulators. In this paper, the authors discuss economics-based research focused on the properties of accounting systems and the surrounding institutional environment important to effective governance of firms. They provide a framework for understanding the operation of accounting information in an economy, discuss a broad range of important research findings, present a conceptual framework for characterizing and measuring corporate transparency at the country level, and isolate a number of future research possibilities.


Background The UK's Prime Minister's Dementia Challenge highlights the need to improve care for people with dementia. There is growing evidence that hospitalisation can often cause them harm, with increased mortality and morbidity. They can suffer increased disorientation and distress during hospital admissions, with over use of psychotropics and sedatives. However uptake of ACP discussions is often poor. Aim To improve end-of-life care and reduce hospitalisation for people with dementia through the GSF Dementia Care distance-learning training programme. The GSF Dementia Care Training interactive programme aims to: Increase awareness of dementia. Improve communication and Advance Care Planning/Best Interest discussions. Reduce inappropriate hospitalisation, with more dying in their usual place of residence. Improve pain management Methods The pilot study involving 50 learners from different settings is currently underway, using the GSF Virtual Learning Zone. Certifications is supported by Stafford University. The evaluation includes recording number of ACPs undertaken, rate of hospitalisation, use of pain assessment tools and illustrative case histories. Evaluations are being analysed, with results available by May 2013 Results It is hoped that the training programme will show improvements in the areas noted, particularly increased ACP and reduced hospitalisation rates, enabling more to live and die at home. Discussion These findings are in line with the UK's PM Challenge in dementia. Conclusion We hope to demonstrate the quantitative and qualitative improvements in care in increased uptake and implementation of ACP discussions in people with dementia.


Spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) is a popular form of treatment for back pain among other musculoskeletal disorders, and it has received increasing media attention. Yet, despite its popularity, SMT is surrounded by controversy, mainly in regards to issues of safety and efficacy. To better understand how the media portrays SMT, we explored the content of print newspapers in Canada, the US, and UK, including article framing, evidence of efficacy, risks and benefits, and the overall tone of the article in terms of whether or not the article was supporting, opposing or neutral about SMT. Results indicate that safety concerns and evidence for efficacy are rarely mentioned, but framing plays a large role in portrayals of SMT in each of the countries.


Extracted from text ... Number 53 - Part 1
M Graham and E Uliana*
Evidence of a value-growth phenomenon on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
*Department of Accounting, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, Republic of South Africa. The financial support of the Department of Accounting at
the University of Cape Town is gratefully acknowledged. We are also grateful for the suggestions made by Prof Geoff Everingham and the anonymous referees.
Email: email@example.com
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Early empirical evidence (see for example; Black, Jensen and Scholes, 1972; Fama, 1970; Fama and Macbeth, 1973) provided support for
the bases of finance theory, the ..