The twentieth edition of the Heritage Foundation's popular survey of economic liberty This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Index of Economic Freedom. With its user friendly format and straight-forward analysis, readers can track up to two decades of advancement in economic freedom, prosperity, and opportunity. The Index covers 10 freedoms – from property rights to entrepreneurship – in 186 countries. The United Kingdom's economic freedom score is 74.9, making its economy the 14th freest in the 2014 Index. Its score is essentially the same as last year, with modest improvements in government spending, labor freedom, monetary freedom, and trade freedom offset by deteriorations in business freedom, freedom from corruption, and fiscal freedom. The U.K. is ranked 5th out of 43 countries in the Europe region. Over the 20-year history of the Index, the U.K.'s economic freedom has declined by 3 points, the second worst performance among advanced economies. Despite notable improvements in trade freedom and investment freedom, the overall gain has been offset by combined declines in the management of public finance and regulatory efficiency. Britain's economy has been consistently rated one of the world's 20 freest. However, since 2006, when it reached its highest economic freedom score ever, the U.K. has been largely on a path of declining economic freedom. Expansionary public spending has generated significant budgetary pressure. With government debt over 90 percent of the size of the economy, underlying economic fundamentals generally remain weak.


We present direct constraints on the CO luminosity function at high redshift and the resulting cosmic evolution of the molecular gas density, (z), based on a blind molecular line scan in the Hubble Deep Field North (HDF-N) using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Our line scan of the entire 3 mm window (79–115 GHz) covers a cosmic volume of ∼7000 Mpc3, and redshift ranges z < 0.45, 1.01 < z < 1.89 and z > 2. We use the rich multiwavelength and spectroscopic database of the HDF-N to derive some of the best constraints on CO luminosities in high redshift galaxies to date. We combine the blind CO detections in our molecular line scan (presented in a companion paper) with stacked CO limits from galaxies with available spectroscopic redshifts (slit or mask spectroscopy from Keck and grism spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope) to give first blind constraints on high-z CO luminosity functions and the cosmic evolution of the H2 mass density (z) out to redshifts z ∼ 3. A comparison to empirical predictions of (z) shows that the securely detected sources in our molecular line scan already provide significant contributions to the predicted (z) in the redshift bins 〈z〉 ∼ 1.5 and 〈z〉 ∼ 2.7. Accounting for galaxies with CO luminosities that are not probed by our observations results in cosmic molecular gas densities (z) that are higher than current predictions. We note, however, that the current uncertainties (in particular the luminosity limits, number of detections, as well as cosmic volume probed) are significant, a situation that is about to change with the emerging ALMA observatory.


Attainment of goals without consideration for the needs of stakeholders remains the focus of leaders. Ethical leadership (EL) studies' focus on leaders' perspectives represented a research gap that necessitated this study. Followers are the least researched among stakeholders; thus, this study explored EL from their viewpoints. Stakeholder theory, social learning theory, eudaimonia, and utilitarianism were the conceptual frameworks that guided this study. Twenty participants drawn from followers in a public organization in New Jersey were questioned about their experiences and expectations of EL using open-ended interview questions. Participants with shared experiences were selected based on convenience, snowball, and criterion sampling strategies. With the use of the transcendental phenomenological design, the data collected were analyzed with the Stevick–Colaizzi–Keen method and the two-cycle analysis. Knowledge, exemplarity, and democratic decision making were themes of EL that are relevant to followers. Other themes found in this study, including communication, stakeholders' well-being, impartiality, honesty, relationship building, responsibility, and humility, concur with extant literature and suggest consistency in the phenomenon. The potential social change implications of this study are an innovative and cooperative work environment, organizational success, and enhanced corporate social responsibility. Organizations and societies may benefit from the inculcation and development of EL in the family, society, tertiary institutions, and organizations through training, mentoring, and the development of an ethical culture.


Primarily self taught, Sheila has been a professional artist for over 23 years. Her interest lies in obscure areas of the environment as seen on the periphery of daily vision. Sheila works in oil, painting both Plein Air and in the studio, preferring large panels. Using dynamic brushstrokes and saturated colour, she captures the friction and play of texture and temperature where surface planes meet, challenging the eye to look deeper, to see beyond the obvious, to become aware of those areas of nature necessary to existence, to see beauty in the mundane. Her work has a strong organic feel to it, indicative of the natural landscape she paints. Foremost she is known for the energy she pours into each work to capture the chaotic vibrancy of mother earth. An elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, the Ontario Society of Artists and a senior signature member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Sheila's work has been featured in magazines, on television and is included in private and corporate collections around the world. She is represented by various galleries throughout Canada and participates in select exhibitions throughout the year.


This research is aimed towards purifying clay from Indah Permai for ceramic membrane use. Conventional methods produce larger than 5 I¼m kaolin which is not tailored for ceramic membrane use due to the presence of inconsistent particle size and agglomerates. On the other hand, the presence of iron oxides in the raw clay creates a barrier in the pore structure of ceramic membrane. Therefore, particle size reduction and chemical extraction were performed to refine the clay particles. Probe-type ultrasonic technique was found to give the best results. Approximately 90% of its particle size is less than 5 pm. Larger agglomerates were also not found. The ultrasonic treated clay particles were further processed using oxalic acid to remove iron oxides. The reaction parameters such as concentration, pH and temperature were optimized. The optimum conditions required were acid concentration 0.2M, pH 2.5 and temperature 55°C. The corresponding iron oxides removal was 12.55%. 881 cmâ�»Â¹ was not observed in the FTIR spectrum, representing structural iron component was removed from Al-Fe-OH bond. The technological characterizations have shown that the purified clay is predominantly kaolinite, indicating that it can be used as a starting material for fabrication of ceramic membrane support.


We study the implications of incarceration for the earnings and employment of different groups, characterized by their race, gender, and education. Our hidden Markov model distinguishes between first-time and repeat incarceration, along with other persistent and transitory nonemployment and earnings risks, and accounts for nonresponse bias. We estimate the model using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), one of the few panel datasets that includes incarcerated individuals. The consequences of incarceration are enormous: First-time incarceration reduces expected lifetime earnings by 39% (59%) and employment by 8 (13) years for black (white) men with a high school degree. Conversely, nonemployment and adverse earnings shocks increase expected years in jail. Among less-educated men, differences in incarceration and nonemployment can explain a significant portion of the black-white gap in lifetime earnings—44% of the gap for high school graduates and 52% of the gap for high school dropouts.


Cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a gradient-recalled, retrospectively gated, fast-scan technique that depicts laminar flowing blood as bright signal and has been proposed as a useful method for determination of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patency. Therefore, we performed a blinded prospective study to assess the value of cine MRI determination of CABG patency in 20 patients with 45 CABG proximal anastomoses who were undergoing repeat angiography. Ten normal subjects served as controls to define normal intrathoracic vascular patterns. There were 21 left anterior descending (LAD) grafts, of which four were left internal mammary (LIMA), 12 left circumflex (Cx), and 12 right coronary (RCA) grafts. After localizing spin-echo coronal images were obtained, multiple axial multislice interleaved cine MRI acquisitions, each consisting of two to four 5-10-mm-thick slices at eight to 24 frames per cardiac cycle, were obtained from the superior main pulmonary artery to the inferior left ventricle. Each acquisition took 5-8 minutes with a subsequent 5-10 minutes of computer image reconstruction. Total study time per patient was 50-75 minutes. Known to cine MRI interpreters were the original surgical CABG insertions but not the angiographic findings. A graft was called patent if a bright graft flow signal, not corresponding to a normal vessel, was identified on multiple frames at multiple levels abutting the great vessels or epicardial surface of the heart. Angiographically, there were 33 patent grafts, of which 29 were identified as patent by cine MRI (sensitivity, 88%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The transcriptional feedback loop that controls the fundamental daily rhythm of biological organisms has proven to be more intricate than expected. Now Lee et al. show that the fungus Neurospora joins the fruit fly and mouse in having two interlocked feedback loops at the core of the circadian clock. The clock component frequency has a positive effect on another clock component, white collar-1 and -2 levels, in addition to its previously described inhibitory effect on its own transcription. This extension of the two-loop pattern to a fungus indicates the generality of this organization. Lee, K., Loros, J.J., and Dunlap, J.C. (2000) Interconnected feedback loops in the Neurospora circadian system. Science 289: 107-110. [Abstract] [Full Text]


The LabEx DRIIHM is a research network that gathers together 13 Human-Environment Observatories (OHM) focused on anthropogenically modified socio-ecosystems in France and worldwide. Within the open science context, a Research Data Infrastructure (RDI) was implemented brick by brick to describe, visualize, and disseminate multidisciplinary long-tail datasets produced by the DRIIHM community. The RDI contains both tools and standards at the network scale, and specific tools at the individual observatory scale. This paper describes the building blocks of the RDI and analyses its strengths and challenges on the basis of engineer feedback and user surveys. Recommendations for improving the RDI, better measuring its effectiveness, and enhancing open science awareness, have been formalized for the SO-DRIIHM project that will start in 2020. Cross-disciplinary approaches using DataViz tools have emerged already, and these enrich the way in which scientific information is disseminated, and could raise new scientific issues.


The paper focuses on discursive strategies that are used by authors of history textbooks to construct Belarusian collective memory of Chernobyl disaster within the more general narrative framework of the historical legacy of "perestroika". Discourse and narrative analysis of the relevant chapters of five secondary school and nine university textbooks of the time period between 1995 and 2011 has revealed two distinct discursive strategies within a common narrative framework. First, the "organicist" discourse positions Chernobyl disaster as a threat to the Belarusian gene pool and thus invokes the sociobiological version of ethnic nationalism within biopower and biopolitics discourse. This strategy emphasizes the preserver of collective memory as a passive sufferer. The second, opposing strategy presents the Chernobyl disaster as one of the initial conditions, rather than the consequence of the preceding historical period, and offers a role of active struggler. Both strategies construct collective memories of tragedy as a form of historical continuity. Keywords: Chernobyl disaster, perestroika, Belarus, discourse, narrative, biopolitics, collective memory.


Youth criminal justice has been an ongoing narrative in Canada from the late 19th century which has interacted with the questions of the role of young people and appropriate punishments from the beginning. This project discusses those questions as a Foucauldian genealogy and considers how youth punishment is justified in Canada. Beginning with the work of John Joseph Kelso and the child saving movement from the late 19th century, the narrative of youth justice in Canada carries through the conversation surrounding the Juvenile Delinquents Act, the Young Offenders Act, and the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Through the public and federal debates, themes of hope and futurity, responsibilisation, and differing understandings of youth in society are constructed, which this project seeks to develop and explore.


Contaminant vapor (gas) plumes emanating from liquid sources migrate easily in the unsaturated zone. Heavy vapors preferentially migrate downward due to their greater density and thus pose a potential threat to underlying aquifers. Large‐scale column experiments and numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the density‐driven migration of carbon disulfide (CS2) vapor. Carbon disulfide, among others used to manufacture viscous rayon, is an industrial, non‐polar solvent. It is highly volatile and characterized by a very high density (1.6) relative to air when in a gaseous state. The experiments were conducted in large, vertical columns (i.d. = 0.109 m) of 4‐m length packed with a dry porous medium. Different types of glass beads were used to investigate the sensitivity of migration to permeability. The porous medium was kept dry to avoid partitioning effects into pore water. Gas samples were taken along the column throughout the experiment to quantify time and space dependent vapor migration. The experiments characterized the migration behavior of a heavy CS2 vapor plume injected in the middle of the column. The vapor plume steadily migrated downward dependent on the total mass of injected CS2 and permeability. The setup of the experiment was reproduced in a 1‐D, two‐phase, two‐component, isothermal, numerical model. Simulation results were compared with data from the vapor migration experiments. The results of the numerical model satisfactorily reproduced the migration behavior observed in the experiments but suggested slightly higher velocities than those observed. Thus the research presented improves the understanding of density driven, advective migration of a heavy contaminant vapor in a dry porous medium at a large scale. It provides valuable experimental data not only for future research but particularly for the transfer to field situations.


If more children from low-income families graduated from college, income inequality would fall and economic opportunity would increase. A major barrier to a college education for students from low-income families is that they are poorly prepared to do college work. Since the War on Poverty of the 1960s, the federal government has funded several programs to help prepare disadvantaged students to succeed in college. Evaluations show that these programs are at best only modestly successful. We propose to consolidate these programs into a single grant program, require that funded programs be backed by rigorous evidence, and give the Department of Education the authority and funding to plan a coordinated set of research and demonstration programs to develop and rigorously test several approaches to college preparation.


This thesis examines the passage of the Act which decriminalised suicide in England and Wales in 1961. Although often listed with other reforms of the period under the label "permissive", empirical evidence reveals this to be a serious misreading of what the Suicide Act was actually designed to accomplish. This thesis argues that, far from the decriminalisation being a relinquishing of state control over a deviant behaviour, the Suicide Act - which was a government, not a Private Member's Bill - stands as an unusually explicit example of a transfer of responsibility for control of a deviant behaviour from criminal justice to medical jurisdiction in the interests of establishing more effective control. Further, the thesis argues that the passage was only possible because of a unique and short-lived conjunction of structure and agency. The long positivist trend towards re-defining deviancy as a medical, not a moral, matter was at its peak in the late 1950s, at a time when the upheavals of war and unprecedented affluence had created a climate conducive to social change. However these conditions, while necessary, were not sufficient to effect the passage of the Act. Suicide law reform was not a matter of popular concern and the profound moral and religious implications of suicide itself made it the kind of sensitive subject governments generally leave to private members. Drawing on cabinet and government papers now available, and on interviews with key participants in the passage of the Act, this thesis seeks to demonstrate that suicide would not have been decriminalised without the actions of three very specific human agents, and at the same time to show how these actions were shaped by, and their success dependent upon, structural elements that both constrained and guided them.


Abstract: Politics of crime prevention refers to the steering of social processes in order to control and reduce the amount of crime. In many western democracies the academic discourse has exceeded beyond the conventional argumentation of "general prevention" by deterrence and threat of sanctions, and now focuses on situational approaches to "design out" crime and on communal and participatory crime prevention practices, which finally lead to a cooperation of various political and social organisations in so-called "crime prevention partnerships". This shift from a policy of punishment of offenders to the control of crime in societies with an increasing demand for security is also apparent in Austria. But has this shift entailed a change incrime prevention practices in the police? Has the Police in Vienna as the traditional guarantor for public safety adapted its control-policy adequately to the public demand? This research project particularly focuses on police-work beyond the core strategies of rapid response to emergency calls and reactive investigation of crime, and looks at pro-active service delivery for public safety. The quality of practical crime prevention work of the Vienna police will be evaluated with regard to the prevalent international discussion of crime prevention strategies.;


An attempt was made to explain deviations of measured Reynolds-shear stresses from the linear distribution and measured velocity ū from the log-law in decelerating flows. Starting from the Reynolds equations, this investigation shows that the momentum flux ρū driven by a nonzero wall-normal velocity plays an important role for these deviations. The term ρū , similar to the Reynolds stress, should not be neglected in the momentum equation, therefore. Theoretical and experimental studies evidence the existence of an upward velocity component in decelerating flows. It was confirmed that the classical log-law is applicable if and only if the wall-normal velocity is zero, and the wake-function is caused by an up-flow. The relation between the wake-strength and the wall-normal velocity was also established. The model developed produces reasonable agreement with measured velocity profiles available in the literature.


Since the publication of his first monograph, "Anchoring, " New York-based architect Steven Holl has continued to gain international prominence. Pursuing a thoroughly independent course, Holl is one of the most important and dynamic architects practicing today. "Intertwining" takes up where the best-selling "Anchoring" left off, presenting comprehensive and anxiously-awaited material on Holl's projects from 1988 to the present. "Intertwining" contains over twenty projects, including Makuhari Housing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Cranbrook Institute of Science, Fukuoka Housing, Stretto House, Frankfurt Block, Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University, Amsterdam Mainfold Hybrid Building, and many more. Extensive illustrations photographs, plans, drawing, models complement the descriptive text. Architect's Statement "In the first book of our projects we emphasized 'Anchoring' the deliberate development of each architectural project from its particular site and program. "In this second collection of works called "Intertwining, " the aim is to enlarge the argument for particular architecture that intertwines: idea, phenomena, and site. An individual idea drives the design for each project in a unique way of realizing a building and its site. The phenomenal experience of light, overlapping perspectives of space, material textures, or sound; the phenomenology of architecture is worth a reflection in advance of particular sites and ideas that are clarified in each project description." Steven Holl, Architect"


This article discusses the Eisenhower administration's policy toward Eastern Europe in the years leading up to the 1956 Hungarian revolution. The article first considers the broader context of U.S. Cold War strategy in Eastern Europe, including policies of economic warfare and psychological warfare, as well as covert operations and military supplies. It then examines U.S. policy toward Hungary, particularly during the events of October-November 1956, when the Eisenhower administration had to decide how to respond to the uprising. The article brings to light the Eisenhower administration's dual policy toward Hungarya policy that attempted, on the one hand, to strike a negotiated settlement with the Soviet Union, and, on the other hand, to promote instability within the Soviet bloc. An analysis of these contradictory approaches sheds broader light on the dynamics of U.S. foreign policy in the 1950s.


Objectives Gestational and chronological age may have an impact on myocardial function. We studied the longitudinal changes of the atrioventricular tissue Doppler velocities in premature infants through the neonatal transitional period and at expected term and explored the reproducibility of the measurements. Design Prospective, observational and longitudinal cohort study. Setting Two-centre study, from a secondary and a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. Participants 55 infants (29 males) with gestational age 31–35 weeks and birth weight 1127–2836 grams. Primary and secondary outcome measures Pulsed-wave atrioventricular left, septum and right ventricular annulus tissue Doppler systolic (S′), early diastolic (E′) and late diastolic (A′) velocities measured by repeated echocardiographic examinations days 1, 2 and 3 and at expected term. Results All velocities increased significantly from the neonatal period to expected term (p<0.001). We found a significant correlation between gestational age and right-sided S′, E′ and A′ on day 1 (Pearson correlation 0.32–0.46, p<0.05), for S′ in all three walls and septal E′ and A′ on day 2 (Pearson correlation 0.27–0.49, p<0.05). There was a moderate linear correlation between left ventricle end-diastolic length and septal and right S′ at term and for septal E′ and A′ at day 1 (Pearson correlation 0.30–0.56, p<0.05). We found no correlation between heart rate and tissue Doppler velocities when controlling for the effect of fusion. Continuous positive airway pressure showed moderate effect where as persistence of the ductus arteriosus showed no effect on the tissue Doppler velocities. The E′/A′ relationship was consistently reversed throughout the study with frequently fused diastolic tissue velocity signals. Conclusions Pulsed-wave atrioventricular annulus tissue Doppler velocities were related to gestational age, postnatal age and ventricular size. Right ventricle velocities showed more pronounced increase with postnatal maturation than left ventricle velocities. The degree of E′/A′ fusion influenced the diastolic tissue Doppler velocities and should be reported if present.


In this paper, we investigate the problem of discovering both direct and indirect discrimination from the historical data, and removing the discriminatory effects before the data is used for predictive analysis (e.g., building classifiers). The main drawback of existing methods is that they cannot distinguish the part of influence that is really caused by discrimination from all correlated influences. In our approach, we make use of the causal network to capture the causal structure of the data. Then we model direct and indirect discrimination as the path-specific effects, which accurately identify the two types of discrimination as the causal effects transmitted along different paths in the network. Based on that, we propose an effective algorithm for discovering direct and indirect discrimination, as well as an algorithm for precisely removing both types of discrimination while retaining good data utility. Experiments using the real dataset show the effectiveness of our approaches.


The decanting of acid mine drainage (AMD) from the Western Basin on the Witwatersrand in late 2010 raised concerns about AMD risks in other gold, coal and copper mining areas of South Africa. Field spectroscopy and the use of vegetation indices could offer an affordable and easy means of monitoring the impact of mine water and/or AMD on vegetation. The impact of raw and treated mine water or contaminated soil on wetland vegetation often manifests in growth inhibition and reduction of foliar pigments and nutrient levels. Surveying the impact on wetland vegetation or underlying soils can be difficult and expensive considering the cost of laboratory analysis of samples. The potential of field spectroscopy for detecting the impact of mine water on wetland vegetation was examined by assessing (1) whether there was a significant difference in leaf spectra between sites receiving mine water and a non-impacted control site and (2) whether there was a gradation of vegetation condition downstream from the decanting site. Two vegetation indices were derived from portable field spectrometer-measured spectra of five green leaves of Phragmites australis - the chlorophyll red edge position (REP) and the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) - for two dormant (winter) and peak growth (summer) seasons in 2011-2012. Mean REP and NDVI values were significantly (p<0.05) lower for affected sites compared to the control site for both seasons and years. The range of REP values for young green leaves in winter for affected sites was 695-720 nm compared to the narrower range of 705-721 nm for the control site. The mean REP values for young green leaves in winter was 708 nm for the affected sites compared to 716 nm for the control site. The downstream gradation, however, fluctuated for REP and NDVI over the study period. We conclude that field spectroscopy shows potential to serve as a relatively quick and affordable means to assess the condition and health of vegetation affected by AMD.


The purpose of this article is to investigate the connection between cultural traditions and house form which, according to scholars, is in danger of being lost, and so contribute to the revival of critical interest in such a connection. This paper does not intend to focus on the exploration of the relation between culture as a way of life and the spatial form of the house. Instead, the main objective of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of vernacular architecture in a precise context: this study will be focusing on the architectural form of vernacular houses built in Brisbane in the post WWII period by first generation Italian migrants, namely upon the way the house's structure, materials and construction technique, decorative feature on the facade, were influenced by migrants' cultural traditions.


In October 2015 Hurricane Patricia stormed through the eastern Pacific, taking its place as the strongest hurricane in recorded history when its intensity reached a record breaking 185 kt (1 kt = 0.51 m s−1). Operational models and the National Hurricane Center's official forecast failed to predict Patricia's unprecedented intensification, provoking questions as to whether such an extreme event can actually be forecast. This study reports on the successful simulation of Patricia using a state-of-the-art high-resolution numerical weather prediction model. It was found that high model resolution (Δx ≤ 1 km), vortex initialization, and the parameterization of dissipative heating were key factors in realistically simulating Patricia's intensity evolution. The simulation was used to investigate Patricia's environment in terms of sea surface temperature, vertical wind shear, and humidity, under the premise that a simulation able to capture Patricia's peak intensity would also accurately represent Patricia's environment. Compared with a climatology derived from the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme dataset, sea surface temperature ranked in the 99th percentile and environmental vertical wind shear in the 83rd percentile (ordered from high to low). However, humidity ranked more moderately. Ensemble forecasts indicate that Patricia had relatively high predictability in comparison to other well-studied rapid intensification cases such as 2010's Hurricane Earl. The results from this study imply that high-resolution models are in principle able to predict the intensity of extreme hurricanes like Patricia.


Introduction: Patients undergoing orthopedic surgery are at high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the prophylactic practices are suboptimal. We aim to investigate the risk of VTE, the appropriateness of VTE prophylaxis and its associated factors in patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Gia Dinh People's Hospital. Data was collected from medical records of patients aged ≥18 years undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery between March 1st 2020 and June 30th 2020. VTE risk was stratified using the Caprini Risk Assessment Model, contraindications to anticoagulation and the appropriateness of thromboprophylaxis were evaluated according to current guidelines. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with the appropriateness of VTE prophylaxis.

Results: A total of 217 patients was included (median age 54, 57.6% male). There were 80.2% of patients at risk of VTE. Overall rate of appropriate VTE prophylaxis was 35.0%. Patients with age ≥41, BMI >25 kg/m2, surgical duration >45 minutes, plaster cast or screw splint were less likely to receive appropriate VTE prophylaxis; patients with hospital stay >4 days after surgery got more chances to have proper VTE prophylaxis (p <0.05).

Conclusions: The majority of patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery were at risk of VTE, but the rate of appropriate VTE prophylaxis was low. Factors associated with the appropriateness of VTE prophylaxis were age, BMI, surgical duration, plaster cast or screw splint, and length of hospital stay after surgery. Interventions are needed to improve the appropriateness of VTE prophylaxis.


ABSTRACT Nucleotide excision repair factor 4 (NEF4) is required for repair of nontranscribed DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Rad7 and the Snf2/Swi2-related ATPase Rad16 are NEF4 subunits. We report previously unrecognized similarity between Rad7 and F-box proteins. Rad16 contains a RING domain embedded within its ATPase domain, and the presence of these motifs in NEF4 suggested that NEF4 functions as both an ATPase and an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Mutational analysis provides strong support for this model. The Rad16 ATPase is important for NEF4 function in vivo, and genetic analysis uncovered new interactions between NEF4 and Rad23, a repair factor that links repair to proteasome function. Elc1 is the yeast homologue of a mammalian E3 subunit, and it is a novel component of NEF4. Moreover, the E2s Ubc9 and Ubc13 were linked to the NEF4 repair pathway by genetic criteria. Mutations in NEF4 or Ubc13 result in elevated levels of the DNA damage recognition protein Rad4 and an increase in ubiquitylated species of Rad23. As Rad23 also controls Rad4 levels, these results suggest a complex system for globally regulating repair activity in vivo by controlling turnover of Rad4.


The Glitch is a six-part television series first aired on the Australian public broadcast network, the ABC, in July 2015. My interest is in ways that the series reflects certain aspects of Australian culture and history and, in particular, how inclusive the series has been in representing Indigenous Australian ways of seeing this history. The Glitch — set in a fictional Australian outback town where a number of residents who have lived and died there return from the dead — holds great potential for critiquing the cultural and perceptual frameworks that have created what popular culture often describes as 'quintessential Australianness.' Narrative genres that have a particular relevance in framing Australian identity within a postcolonial context are also important to my examination. They provide a way to explore the aesthetics of identity in the play between reality and unreality where an Australian Gothic sense of the uncanny is contrasted with the subversive way Magic Realism places the extraordinary within the same realm of the possible as the ordinary everyday event. This aligns with contemporary analyses of Australian Indigenous narratives where Indigenous perceptions of reality question a Western hegemonic view of what is magic and what is real and highlights the cultural origins of both. It is the mix of the mysterious and the mundane and the play between reality and fantasy that has enormous potential in The Glitch. However, as I also discovered, maintaining the magic and the real in such a delicate and continuous balance is no easy task.


Validation and verification of numerical experiments require data with which to compare the results. In particular, hybrid methods that involve grid interfaces between multiple numerical solutions on submerged boundaries or at the free surface require volumetric measurements for validation. In this study, two methods to obtain a comprehensive data set including volumetric three dimensional, three component (3D3C) fluid velocities, free surface profiles and drag force are compared for accuracy and economy. For the first method, a NACA 0012 surface piercing foil is evaluated at Froude numbers 0.19, 0.37 and 0.55. Velocity measurements are obtained using Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) with the interrogation plane parallel to the chord line of the foil . Free surface profiles are obtained using a GoPro camera positioned to observe the intersection of the free surface and the laser sheet. Force data is obtained through a load cell mounted on the tow carriage. The second method positions the SPIV interrogation plane perpendicular to the chord of the foil such that the volume is sliced transversely while the foil passes through the plane in time. Surface elevations for this method are again measured with a GoPro, mounted to capture the intersection of the laser sheet and the free surface. The transverse method is examined at Froude number 0.37. Results are presented based on the flow field statistics and the fundamental features of the data sets are compared using dynamic mode decomposition. Comparison between the two methods are made qualitatively, as well as quantitatively using RMSE and Dynamic Mode Decomposition. The difference between the two methods is less than 10% RMSE.


In this chapter, we discuss the influence of the processing methods on the content of phenolic compounds in fruits and vegetables. The intake of fruits and vegetables based‐foods are associated with delayed aging and a decreased risk of chronic disease development. Fruits and vegetables can be consumed in natura, but the highest amounts are ingested after some processing methods, such as cooking procedures or sanitizing methods. These methods are directly methods are directly related to alteration on the phenolic content. In addition, the postharvest conditions may modify several phytochemical substances. Phenolic compounds are referred to as phytochemicals found in a large number of foods and beverages. The relative high diversity of these molecules produced by plants must be taken into account when methods of preparation are employed to obtain industrial or homemade products. Phenolic compounds comprise one (phenolic acids) or more (polyphenols) aromatic rings with attached hydroxyl groups in their structures. Their antioxidant capacities are related to these hydroxyl groups and phenolic rings. Despite the antioxidant activity, they have many other beneficial effects on human health. However, before attributing health benefits to these compounds, absorption, distribution, and metabolism of each phenolic compound in the body are important points that should be considered.


We study the drag force experienced by an object slowly moving at constant velocity through a 2D granular material consisting of bidisperse disks. The drag force is dominated by force chain structures in the bulk of the system, thus showing strong fluctuations. We consider the effect of three important control parameters for the system: the packing fraction, the drag velocity and the size of the tracer particle. We find that the mean drag force increases as a power-law (exponent of 1.5) in the reduced packing fraction, (γ − γ c)/γ c , as γ passes through a critical packing fraction, γ c. By comparison, the mean drag grows slowly (basically logarithmic) with the drag velocity, showing a weak rate-dependence. We also find that the mean drag force depends non-linearly on the diameter, a of the tracer particle when a is comparable to the surrounding particles' size. However, the system nevertheless exhibits strong statistical invariance in the sense that many physical quantities collapse onto a single curve under appropriate scaling: force distributions P(f) collapse with appropriate scaling by the mean force, the power spectra P(ω) collapse when scaled by the drag velocity, and the avalanche size and duration distributions collapse when scaled by the mean avalanche size and duration. We also show that the system can be understood using simple failure models, which repro-1 duce many experimental observations. These observations include: a power law variation of the spectrum with frequency characterized by an exponent α = −2, exponential distributions for both the avalanche size and duration, and an exponential fall-off at large forces for the force distributions. These experimental data and simulations indicate that fluctuations in the drag force seem to be associated with the force chain formation and breaking in the system. Moreover, our simulations suggest that the logarithmic increase of the mean drag force with rate can be accounted for if slow relaxation of the force chain networks is included.


Ludwig von Mises considered immediate overconsumption essential to the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT); Friedrich Hayek never agreed. Examining this disagreement, Roger Garrison concluded that Hayek's exposition of ABCT (a stages-of-production framing without immediate overconsumption) lacked logical integrity. Garrison's ABCT stages-of-production model, that incorporates immediate overconsumption as an essential component, has long been, and remains, the theory's standard exposition. Unfortunately, immediate overconsumption has been rendered empirically untenable as evidence that makes it increasingly clear that consumption is sticky has emerged. By reframing ABCT in terms of the full structure-of-capital, rather than only the stages-of-production, we bring about a reconciliation of Hayek, Mises, Joseph Schumpeter and the empirical literature indicating that consumption is sticky.


Locally produced rice cultivars in Kenya have poor culinary qualities therefore, urban consumers prefer imported rice. The imported rice is expensive and unaffordable to the rural poor. Therefore, improving the culinary qualities of the local rice cultivars will increase their consumption and competitiveness in the local market. The objective of this study was to determine the physico-chemical and cooking quality of crosses between japonica and indica rice. Seven F2.3 families were selected from segregating populations and evaluated for two seasons. The physical quality parameters determined were grain length grain shape while the chemical and cooking qualities were alkali spreading value, gelatinization temperature, gel consistency, aroma, and cooking time. The data for the grain quality was subjected to analysis of variance using GENSTAT 15th edition. The results showed that the F2.3 families of NERICA 4 x MWUR 4, NERICA 4 x NERICA 1 and NERICA 10 x KUCHUM exhibited slender grain shape while NERICA 4 x MWUR 4, NERICA 4 x NERICA 1 and WAB-56-104 x NERICA 4 had soft cooked texture and recorded low gelatinization temperatures of 55 to 69oC and cooked fast in 22.3 to 23.3 minutes. The F2.3 families of WAB-56-104 x NERICA 4, NERICA 4 x MWUR 4, MWUR 4 x NERICA 4 and CG 14 x NERICA 10 had mild aroma while NERICA 4 x NERICA 1, NERICA 13 x K45 and NERICA 10 x KUCHUM were non-aromatic. Therefore, the F2.3 families of MWUR 4 x NERICA 4, NERICA 4 x NERICA 1 and WAB-56-104 x NERICA 4 had better cooking and physico-chemical quality. However, the check variety Basmati 370 was outstanding for physical grain quality and aroma compared to the non-Basmati rice genotypes suggesting that Basmati 370 has implication for future breeding. The negative and positive correlations among the grain quality traits indicated that efforts aimed at selecting rice varieties with improved cooking qualities should warrant the consideration of the physico-chemical properties of rice grain. Thus there is need to advance these F2.3 families to F6 or F7 in order to ascertain their culinary qualities.


Background: The hippocampus, a vital center for learning and memory, is extremely vulnerable to neurological diseases. Several reports of cognitive and memory impairment have been published in patients with Multiple sclerosis (MS). The prevalence of MS is highest where environmental supply of vitamin D is low. In the present study spatial working memory and reference memory after treatment with vitamin D3was assessed in an experimental model of MS. Methods: For demyelination induction, 2μl lysolecithin was injected streotaxically into the CA1 area of hippocampus in male rat. Animals treated with vitamin D3, received 5μg/kg vitamin D3 for 14 and 21 days post lesion with intraperitoneal injection. Histological assessments of the demyelination process were done with specific myelin staining. The spatial working memory and reference memory were investigated by radial arm maze. Results: Administration of lysolecithin as the inducer of MS disease caused demyelination and impairment of spatial working and reference memory at days 14 and 21 post lesion in lysolecithin treated animals. While the administration of vitamin D3 for 14 and 21 days caused improvement of spatial working and reference memory compared to the group receiving lysolecithin alone. Conclusion: It seems that treatment with vitamin D3 is able to prevent spatial working memory and reference memory reduction in an experimental model of MS. However, evaluation of beneficial effects of vitamin D3 on the spatial memory in MS patients requires much more extensive clinical studies.


Children with disabilities are more vulnerable to violence, as well as more likely to experience psychosocial problems in situations of armed conflict than children with no disabilities. All children who live in conflict affected areas have the same rights to psychosocial support, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the case of disabled children, additionally the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, children with disabilities are often overlooked in psychosocial programmes. In this article, the authors examine the reasons behind this observed exclusion and suggest ways to increase the participation of children with disabilities.


Summary 1. Wood density is considered a key functional trait influencing the growth and survival of woody plants and has been shown to be related to a slow–fast rate-of-living continuum. Wood density is, however, an emergent trait arising from several vascular properties of wood, including the diameter and frequency of xylem conduits. 2. We aimed to test the hypotheses that there is a set of inter-related trade-offs linked to the different functions of wood, that these trade-offs have direct consequences for tree growth and survival and that these trade-offs underlie the observed correlations between wood density and demographic rates. We evaluated the covariation between xylem anatomical traits among woody species of New Zealand and whether that covariation had the potential to constrain variation in wood density and demographic rates. 3. Several xylem traits were strongly correlated with each other, but wood density was not correlated with any of them. We also found no significant relationships between wood density and growth or mortality rate. Instead, growth was strongly related to xylem traits associated with hydraulic capacity (conduit diameter and a conductivity index) and to maximum height, whereas mortality rate was strongly correlated only with maximum height. The diameter and frequency of conduits exhibited a significant negative relationship, suggesting a trade-off, which restricted variation in wood density and growth rate, but not mortality rate. 4. Our results suggest, for woody species in New Zealand, that growth rate is more closely linked to xylem traits determining hydraulic conductance, rather than wood density. We also found no evidence that denser woods conferred higher survival, or that risk of cavitation caused by wide conduits increased mortality. 5. In summary, we found little support for the idea that wood density is a good proxy for position along a fast–slow rate-of-living continuum. Instead, the strong, negative relationship between vessel diameter and frequency may constrain the realized diversity of demographic niches of tree species in New Zealand. Trade-offs in function therefore have the potential to shape functional diversity and ecology of forest communities by linking selection on structure and function to population-level dynamics.


Ruth (Volume 7 in the Anchor Bible Commentary series), a tale of human kindness and just dealing far beyond the norm, contains elements that for centuries have been the subject of debate. With a sprightly translation and a commentary rich in informed speculation, Professor Campbell considers the questions of layman and scholar alike. Finding no overt mighty acts, the layman asks, "Why was Ruth included in the Bible at all? Where is God?" Professor Campbell shows that God is not only present throughout but is indeed the moving force behind all the developments of the story. Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz each act as God to each other, by taking extraordinary responsibility and performing extraordinary acts of kindness. And it is God who is responsible for the series of coincidences on which the plot hinges. The scholar's questions deal with such matters as purpose, date, and genre. Professor Campbell's research into ancient customs and linguistics suggests to him that Ruth is a historical novelette, entertaining and instructive, composed not long after the reign of King David, during the time of Solomon or within the subsequent century. Professor Campbell demonstrates the storyteller's skill with sensitive analysis of form, pacing, and wordplay. By delving into word origins and nuances he shows how convincingly the characters are developed. One instance: Naomi and Boaz use obsolescent language, emphasizing the generation gap between them and Ruth. In addition, the illustrations help the reader understand unfamiliar elements of the story-the setting, the agricultural seasons and harvesting, the clothing of the times, the city gate where elders and interested villagers gather to make sure that all is done in a just and godly way.


Aim: To investigate potential association between administration of corticosteroids, antibiotics, probiotics, proton pump inhibitors, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), statins and metformin and outcome in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with nivolumab. Patients and Methods: A total of 224 patients with advanced NSCLC treated at nine comprehensive cancer centers were analyzed in this national retrospective study. Survival statistics were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier method and Cox analysis. Results: Only corticosteroid use had a significant negative effect on the objective response rate. In the univariate analysis, there was no significant effect of the studied concomitant medications on the efficacy of nivolumab. In a subsequent multifactorial analysis, a possible positive effect of the concomitant use of NSAID at the initiation of nivolumab treatment was revealed. Conclusion: The results of the present retrospective exploratory analysis underscore the importance of knowing the exact type of concomitant medication, the route of administration, the dose of medication, and the region of the ongoing study. The present data indicated a significantly higher rate of progression in patients treated with corticosteroids and the possible positive effect of NSAID use at the initiation of nivolumab treatment.


We investigated the influence of recurrent epileptic seizures on the arachidonic acid (AA) cascade in platelets and brain microvessels, using [(14)C]AA as a tracer substrate and chromatographic determination. The recurrent epileptic seizures of male Wistar rats were induced every second day with 3-aminopyridine (3-AP, 25 mg/kg ip) for two weeks. In the chronic 3-AP model, the earlier epileptic insults resulted in a decreased incidence of limbic seizures and higher survival rate at later administration of 3-AP. After 3-AP treatment, the formation of lipoxygenase products was unchanged, but the total amount of cyclooxygenase (COX) metabolites was decreased both in platelets and brain microvessels. The reduction in COX-mediated eicosanoid synthesis after recurrent seizures was due to the decreased synthesis of vasodilator and vasoconstrictor COX metabolites. In platelets, the 3-AP-treatment reduced the synthesis of vasodilator prostacyclin (PGI(2)), prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) and 12-L-hydroxy-5,8,10-heptadecatrienoic acid (12-HHT), while the synthesis of prostaglandin D(2) (PGD(2)) remained unchanged. In isolated brain capillaries, the PGD(2), PGE(2) and 12-HHT synthesis was decreased after recurrent seizures. As for the vasoconstrictor COX metabolites, both platelets and brain microvessels synthesized significantly lesser amount of prostaglandin F(2alpha) (PGF(2alpha)) and thromboxane A(2) (TxA(2)) upon 3-AP administration. Our results indicate that platelets and isolated brain capillaries synthesize significantly lesser amount of COX metabolites after chronic 3-AP treatment. The decreased conversion of AA into different COX products may play a role in the neuroprotective/preconditional adaptation of the brain against subsequent seizures.


"I've done everything in the theatre except marry a property man," Fanny Brice once boasted. "I've acted for Belasco and I've laid 'em out in the rows at the Palace. I've doubled as an alligator; I've worked for the Shuberts; and I've been joined to Billy Rose in the holy bonds. I've painted the house boards and I've sold tickets and I've been fired by George M. Cohan. I've played in London before the king and in Oil City before miners with lanterns in their caps." Fanny Brice was indeed show business personified, and in this luminous volume, Herbert G. Goldman, acclaimed biographer of Al Jolson, illuminates the life of the woman who inspired the spectacularly successful Broadway show and movie Funny Girl, the vehicle that catapulted Barbra Streisand to super stardom. In a work that is both glorious biography and captivating theatre history, Goldman illuminates both Fanny's remarkable career on stage and radio--ranging from her first triumph as "Sadie Salome" to her long run as radio's "Baby Snooks"--and her less-than-triumphant personal life. He reveals a woman who was a curious mix of elegance and earthiness, of high and low class, a lady who lived like a duchess but cursed like a sailor. She was probably the greatest comedienne the American stage has ever known as well as our first truly great torch singer, the star of some of the most memorable Ziegfeld Follies in the 1910s and 1920s, and Goldman covers her theatrical career and theatre world in vivid detail. But her personal life, as Goldman shows, was less successful. The great love of her life, the gangster Nick Arnstein, was dashing, handsome, sophisticated, but at bottom, a loser who failed at everything from running a shirt hospital to manufacturing fire extinguishers, and who spent a good part of their marriage either hiding out, awaiting trial, or in prison. Her first marriage was over almost as soon as it was consummated, and her third and last marriage, to Billy Rose, the "Bantam Barnum," ended acrimoniously when Rose left her for swimmer Eleanor Holm. As she herself remarked, "I never liked the men I loved, and I never loved the men I liked." Through it all, she remained unaffected, intelligent, independent, and, above all, honest. Goldman's biography of Al Jolson has been hailed by critics, fellow biographers, and entertainers alike. Steve Allen called it "an amazing job of research" and added "Goldman's book brings Jolson back to life indeed." The Philadelphia Inquirer said it was "the most comprehensive biography to date," and Ronald J. Fields wrote that "Goldman has captured not only the wonderful feel of Al Jolson but the heartbeat of his time." Now, with Fanny Brice, Goldman provides an equally accomplished portrait of the greatest woman entertainer of that illustrious era, a volume that will delight every lover of the stage.


As South Africa is situated on the sea route between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, maritime power in the Indian Ocean and maritime power projection into the Indian Ocean Region is a consistent theme in South African history. During the Cold War, South Africa aligned itself with the West and shared the defence responsibility of the Cape Sea Route with Britain. As a result of Apartheid South Africa became politically isolated during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. After the political transition of 1994, international relations normalised and South Africa became involved in Africa and the Indian Ocean.


This unique Companion provides a comprehensive overview and critical evaluation of existing conceptualizations and new developments in innovation research. It draws on multiple perspectives of innovation, knowledge and creativity from economics, geography, history, management, political science and sociology. The Companion brings together leading scholars to reflect upon innovation as a concept (Part I), innovation and institutions (Part II), innovation and creativity (Part III), innovation, networking and communities (Part IV), innovation in permanent spatial settings (Part V), innovation in temporary, virtual and open settings (Part VI), innovation, entrepreneurship and market making (Part VII), and the governance and management of innovation (Part VIII).


Vilhelm Ekelund (1880-1949) was a rare bird in the Swedish literary landscape of the 20th century. After a brilliant and productive career as a poet at the turn of the century, he suddenly abandoned the art of poetry and, for the rest of his life, preferred to express himself in prose. His essays and aphorisms – he was never really tempted by the writing of fiction – became more and more esoteric and opaque as the years passed. Written in a somewhat archaic style, and with antique references and quotations prominently featured, the texts puzzled his contemporaries – and they still have the ability to intrigue the readers of today. Faiza Guene (born in 1985) is a young, contemporary French writer, whose literary works to a large extent deal with the intercultural experiences of North African immigrants in French society. Her texts contain many elements of oral language, which is still a rather unusual feature in French literature, and she has been recognized for her ability to reproduce modern street-slang in her prose. Both authors are thus well-known for their highly individual and distinctive literary styles. This paper seeks to investigate what happens when the texts are translated into a foreign language and transferred to another cultural context. What occurs when Ekelund's hermetic – and indeed "highbrow" – aphorisms are translated into French? And what happens when Guene's street-wise French is transferred to Swedish? The corpus of the study consists of Guene's first two novels (Kiffe kiffe demain, 2004 and Du reve pour les oufs, 2006) and their Swedish translations (Kiffe kiffe imorgon, 2006 and Drommar for darar, 2008), as well as Ekelund's aphorisms that were published in a large number of volumes during the first half of the 20th century and the French selection of translations Le moment supreme. Textes choisis et traduits par Benjamin Stassen (1990). The theoretical framework includes works published in the fields of translation studies, stylistics and sociolinguistics (focusing on lexicology in Swedish slang and in French argot). The paper is thus cross- or intercultural in more than one respect. Not only are "highbrow" literature and "lowbrow" literature examined, but two languages and two cultural spheres – the Swedish and the French – are also studied and contrasted. One of the conclusions of the study is that the target language texts to some degree are subject to normalization (see, for instance, Baker 1996 or Tegelberg 2001) – or, to use another word, standardization (cf. Toury 1995) – i.e. they are situated somewhere between the (original) "highbrow" style of Ekelund and the (original) "lowbrow" style of Guene.


DISCUSSION frequently mentions a dependence on literary forms.2 Heavily plotted, these early films abound in framing devices, flashbacks, obtrusive voice-overs, and other narrative pyrotechnics. Bergman's dependence on a conspicuous narrative apparatus is evident not only in the earliest adaptations of plays and novels, which understandably retain a literary feel, but also even more markedly in his original scripts of the late forties and fifties with a proliferation of narrative layering around his core stories. The formal excess of these films creates rich narrative tensions that not only foreground the astoriness" of the story, but more importantly direct attention to the fundamental conditions of narrativity. Although the metafilmic framing devices function as disclaimers distancing the viewer from the fiction, the frames themselves seem to be under scrutiny as well. A second commonplace of Bergman scholarship is that he is preoccupied with metaphysics. References to God's silence begin early on as tangential observations in the so-called "crisis films" and eventually assume more prominence in films such as Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal, 1957) and the films of the first trilogy. After this point Bergman proclaimed himself to be through with the unproductive metaphysical "puffings and blowings."3 The trilogy films may jettison more than metaphysical obsessions, however. In her article, "Images and Words in Ingmar Bergman's


In the spring of 1944, a group of prominent US opinion makers launched a campaign aimed at convincing the American public of the need for a harsh peace for Germany. By exploring the dynamics of this campaign, which revolved around the activities of the Writers' War Board and the Society for the Prevention of World War III, this article focuses on an episode that has generally been neglected in the historiography of US post-war plans for Germany. It also adds a new dimension to the literature on the domestic mood in the US during the crucial period between the end of World War II and the onset of the Cold War, by first demonstrating how these anti-German spokesmen worked successfully to generate a hardening of popular opinion during 1944 and 1945, before charting how they found it increasingly difficult to sustain their campaign during 1946 and 1947. This failure was not simply a product of the natural cooling of popular passions or even the emergence of the Cold War. It also stemmed from the lobby's inability to sustain the networks it had created during World War II, not to mention its tendency to overreach and oversell at key moments.


Of the legal systems of the former three High Commission Territories in Southern Africa, that of Lesotho lies in between that of Swaziland with its strict dualism and that of Botswana which, though still dualist, shows overt signs of developing into a unified system. Of the three countries, Lesotho has by far the most involved set of internal conflict rules which, unlike the position in Botswana and Swaziland, have, for the most part, been formulated by the superior courts. On the other hand, of the three countries Lesotho has progressed farthest in the direction of a unified court structure. This is of the greatest importance as history elsewhere has shown that a unified judiciary leads towards unification of law. However, unification is not something which should, or indeed could, be forced upon the public. It is a long-term endeavour which depends for its successful outcome upon a carefully planned law reform programme which seeks community participation and support.


I examine first how radical political economy (RPE) has evolved over the last five decades, as the overall political climate in the United States has shifted increasingly to the right. I explore how this political shift, as well as new developments within mainstream economics, have altered the focus of much of RPE and the activities of many of its practitioners. I then offer suggestions to radical political economists as to the future orientation of RPE.


For the manufacturing of customized products, systems require easier and better adaptivity of the production plant especially in terms of the control software. In recent research projects, a skill-based architecture has been introduced and presented within an industrial demonstrator proposing the required adaptivity. Within this work, the skill-based architecture is compared to a more traditional component-based hierarchical approach to identify strength and weakness of this approach, which then enables further improvements of the skill-based architecture. The flexibility of control software can not directly be measured. Therefore execution time, modularity, readability, and reusability considering the impact of component exchanges are used as evaluation criteria. Modularity and reusability are measured by the number of needed Function Blocks (FBs) and that can also be used for other systems respectively. To evaluate readability three derived metrics from the basic Halstead Metric are used. The comparison shows that the skill-based architecture is more complex but much more flexible than the more traditional component-based hierarchical approach.


Australian Tropical Rain Forest Plants: Trees, Shrubs and Vines is an interactive identification and information system for 2154 species of trees, shrubs and vines of northern Australian rain forests. Building on the second edition, it includes the species in northern Australia, from Broome in Western Australia to Townsville in Queensland, with additional species and many new photographs. This powerful identification tool provides an easy to use and simple means of naming a rain forest plant using whatever information is available. By selecting characters from the plant (or specimen), and responding to a series of choices, the user is able to achieve identification via a process of elimination. A total of 154 characters, covering the morphology - habit, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, buds and seedlings - and some geographic and ecological information ensure reliability of the key is high. Interpretation of the character information is assisted with help notes and images featuring colour or line drawings. A comprehensive information system for each species includes common name, the formal scientific name together with nomenclatural synonyms, geographic and ecological information, distinguishing features and natural history notes. The descriptions are combined with high quality colour images for most species, leaf X-ray images and a map showing natural distribution.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper describes the challenges involved in teaching hospitality management students to develop an international strategic plan for establishing a hotel in a foreign country. The uniqueness of this pedagogical study is that it shows the importance of integrating managerial accounting concepts in developing a strategic plan. A practice-oriented simulation was utilized in an MBA global strategy course at an international hospitality institute located in Switzerland. Students from various cultures gained experience from working in functional teams such as general management, marketing, accounting and finance, operations, human resources, and legal and public relations while focusing on a common goal. Another aspect of this study is that it documents the exploration of co-teaching a course by faculty with different areas of expertise. Keywords: Managerial accounting, Hospitality industry, International strategic plan, Co-teaching, Power Distance OVERVIEW This article discusses the trial and subsequent assessment of co-teaching global strategic planning; namely developing a plan for establishing a hotel in a foreign country in the MBA capstone global strategy course offered to a multinational student body at a hospitality institute in Switzerland. One of the purposes of this exercise was to help students realize the importance of managerial accounting concepts in strategic decision making and the integration of these concepts into other functional areas such as marketing, human resources, operations, and general management, specifically for the hospitality industry. Current literature regarding management education and training emphasizes flexibility, critical thinking, analytical interpretations of volumes of data, and adaptability to complex and challenging environments. Sharpening these skills while working in diverse teams toward a common goal is critical for successful strategy. In the study, four student teams were formed from a pool of forty-six MBA students; each group was divided into sub-groups by functional departments. Two faculty members, one with expertise in the hospitality industry and one with an international management and accounting background, shared the teaching over a nine-week period. The facilitation of the development of a strategic plan was the focus of the final week of the course, in an intensive format. Results and feedback from students regarding the experience is presented later. Opportunities for further improvements in the pedagogical method and future research are identified. The paper is divided into eight sections: 1) learning objectives, 2) literature review, 3) history and evolution of the hotel strategic plan, 4) implementation of the plan in the classroom, 5) results and feedback from students, 6) discussion, 7) lessons learned, and 8) conclusion and implications for future improvements and research. The paper is not written to provide a detailed lesson plan on the integration of accounting concepts into a strategic plan, but it illustrates one attempt to integrate managerial accounting into other areas of a plan. The references section lists textbooks that may help in the discourse of these concepts. LEARNING OBJECTIVES The learning objectives of were for students to experience the importance of: 1. collaboration and synergy between various areas of expertise in developing a global strategic plan for a hotel; 2. integration of managerial accounting and finance concepts to other functional areas of a strategic plan; 3. practical choices made in international business because of cultural, socio-political and economic differences; and 4. challenges of globalization for the hospitality industry, specifically for entering foreign markets. LITERATURE REVIEW The design of this pedagogical study was based on two main themes. The first theme is the retooling of the much criticized traditional business pedagogy, i. …


Introduction: From Boston to Tehran One of the defining features of Hawthorne's fiction is its interpretive ambiguity. The American's equivocal use of symbol and narrative voice, his partiality to "veils" and "twice-telling," have come to epitomize the enigmatic character of his novels and tales. Scholars continue to exposit the "instability" of Hawthorne's signs and symbols, marveling at the "indeterminacy" of his allusive prose. One of the most celebrated novels of nineteenth-century America--The Scarlet Letter--exemplifies well this penchant for ambiguity, refusing as it does to provide its readers with a stable explication of its eponymous "emblem." (1) While such hermeneutic complexity serves to endow Hawthorne's fiction with a rich potency, it also serves to problematize attempts to render his canon into other languages. One of the primary tasks of translation is to convey with precision the meaning of a given source, to render faithfully the significance of a textual original. (2) In approaching Hawthornean fiction, however, translators are confronted with narrative and symbolic ambiguity which seems to resist definitive rendition. How are translators to convey the precise meaning of a source text which itself evades semantic precision? Is the "undecidable" quality of Hawthorne's ambiguous prose communicable through other linguistic mediums? These inherent difficulties of Hawthornean translation are exacerbated when attempting to render his prose for readers whose culture, history and language differ sharply from the culture, history and language of Hawthorne's original Anglo-American readers. As his fiction is regularly grounded within a distinctly American setting, as it customarily grapples with a distinctly American heritage, Hawthorne's novels and tales necessarily pose a unique challenge for translators whose target audiences may be wholly unfamiliar with the locales, customs, rites and records of New England. When rendering Hawthorne for non-European readers, translators are furthermore challenged to express his ambiguous prose through languages which do not share the syntactic, stylistic, or even script, conventions common to nineteenth-century American English--languages which have developed according to entirely different cultural, religious and aesthetic standards. It is just such a predicament which confronts translators who seek to introduce Hawthorne's works into the vernacular languages of the modern Middle East. And yet, despite the translatory obstacles, we nevertheless find that considerable attention has been devoted to rendering Hawthorne's fiction within the Muslim world. Editions of The Scarlet Letter, for example, have now appeared in Cairo, Istanbul, and Tehran, granting Arabic, Turkish, and Persian readers access to Hawthorne's most recognized novel. (3) These Middle Eastern editions embody tangible confrontations with the interpretive complexities of Hawthornean prose, serving to exemplify both the difficulties of translating his signature ambiguity, as well as the difficulties of transporting American Romance into non-American lands and languages. Among the Hawthornean translations which have been produced for Muslim readers, it is Simin Daneshvar's Persian rendition of The Scarlet Letter that most prominently invites our attention. Originally published in 1955, this translation is distinguished not only by having merited a second edition in 1990, but by originating from one of the most celebrated Iranian writers of the twentieth century. (4) Recognized as the first female Persian novelist, Simin Daneshvar "arguably remains the most famous of all Iranian women authors ever published," renowned in particular for authoring the most widely sold novel in Iranian literary history--her 1969 Savushun. (5) The present study will be concerned not with Daneshvar's own fiction, but rather with her reception of Hawthorne's, exploring some of the tensions, negotiations and redactions stimulated by this cross-cultural encounter between celebrated novelists. …


Purpose: The adoptive transfer of lymphocytes genetically modified to express tumor reactive T-cell receptors (TCR) can mediate tumor regression. Some tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) recognize somatic mutations expressed only in the patient's tumors, and evidence suggests that clinically effective TILs target tumor-specific neoantigens. Here we attempted to isolate neoantigen-reactive TCRs as a prelude to the treatment of patients with autologous T cells genetically modified to express such TCRs. Experimental Design: Mutations expressed by tumors were identified using whole-exome and RNA sequencing. Tandem minigene (TMG) constructs encoding 12–24 mutated gene products were synthesized, each encoding the mutated amino acid flanked by 12 amino acids of the normal protein sequence. TILs were cultured with autologous dendritic cells (DC) transfected with in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNAs encoding TMGs and were evaluated for IFNγ secretion and CD137 expression. Neoantigen-reactive T cells were enriched from TILs by sorting for CD137+ CD8+ T cells and expanded in vitro. Dominant TCR α and β chains were identified in the enriched populations using a combination of 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends, deep sequencing of genomic DNA, PairSeq analysis, and single-cell RT-PCR analysis. Human PBL retrovirally transduced to express the TCRs were evaluated for recognition of relevant neoantigens. Results: We identified 27 TCRs from 6 patients that recognized 14 neoantigens expressed by autologous tumor cells. Conclusions: This strategy provides the means to generate T cells expressing neoantigen-reactive TCRs for use in future adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy trials for patients with cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 23(10); 2491–505. ©2016 AACR.


The purpose of this project was to investigate incorporating discussion groups and problem solving in a pharmaceutical dosage forms course in order to demonstrate the important underlying basic pharmaceutical sciences related to the use of dosage forms in pharmacy practice. Students were divided into sections and each section was divided into two subgroups. There were seven discussion topics ranging from teamwork process to the use of specific dosage forms in the provision of pharmaceutical care. Second-year students volunteered as discussion facilitators. Students completed a pre-discussion assignment and maintained a discussion notebook. The subgroups were asked to discuss, present and summarize concepts on the specific topic to the entire sections. Facilitators (faculty members, graduate teaching assistants and second-year professional student volunteers) were provided with a guide to ensure consistency within all the discussion groups. Student group responses were collected, summarized and provided to the students to enable them to prepare for the examinations. Students reported they liked the group discussions which focused on problem solving related to specific dosage forms, as the sessions emphasized the importance of basic pharmaceutical concepts to pharmacy practice. Students also liked the discussion summaries since it demonstrated the diversity of approaches to solve problems and focused their learning efforts. Second-year students as discussion facilitators provided a means for first year students to work with upper classmen and as an additional link to pharmacy practice.


OBJECTIVE
Schizophrenia may involve the two cerebral hemispheres differentially. This study was conducted to determine whether left and right hippocampal neuronal size, shape, and orientation are normally asymmetrical or asymmetrically affected in schizophrenia.

METHOD
The authors examined postmortem tissue from the left and right hippocampus of 17 normal individuals and 14 individuals with schizophrenia. They measured the size, shape, and variability in orientation of pyramidal neurons in hippocampal subfields CA1-CA4 and the subiculum in computer images of 10-micron coronal sections stained with cresyl violet.

RESULTS
Both neuronal size and shape showed significant effects of diagnosis and a three-way interaction between diagnosis, hemisphere, and subfield. Neurons of the schizophrenic subjects were smaller than those of the normal subjects in the left CA1, left CA2, and right CA3 subfields; their shape differed from that of the normal subjects in the left CA1, left subiculum, and right CA3 subfields. There were no group differences in variability of neuronal orientation, but neurons in the CA3 genu in the schizophrenic subjects were less variable on the right than on the left. In the normal subjects, except for larger neurons in the left than in the right CA2 subfield and some left-right differences in variability of neuronal orientation, no statistically significant asymmetries were observed.

CONCLUSIONS
The data confirm that hippocampal neuronal size is decreased in schizophrenia and reveal that the shape of neurons is altered, supporting the view that hippocampal cytoarchitectural abnormalities may be part of the cerebral substrate of schizophrenia. They also provide further evidence that the abnormalities are localized and lateralized.


Chilean author Roberto Bolano (1953-2003) has achieved considerable critical and commercial success among a global English readership. Breaking into the US market, which has an important mediating role for the international circulation of texts, is a rare feat for a non-Anglophone author and requires some explanation. This paper looks at the rise of Bolano in terms of major theories on world literature. We find that his success fits into a combination of explanatory models (Casanova, Moretti, Thomsen), but it also reveals interesting mismatches and problematic aspects that show a need to update existing theories. Our analysis, which focuses on the treatment of Bolano in the American market, shows a great need for transnational forms of analysis across linguistic barriers.


Kenya has been going through a period of political reform from 1991 when section 2A of the constitution that had made Kenya a de jure one party state was repealed. The reform followed a prolonged struggle by citizens both within and without the country. Their call for democracy was one that, post the fall of the Berlin wall, was embraced by western countries. Via diplomatic pressure and conditionality on aid, western donors played an important role in the repeal of section 2a, the return of multi-party elections and in the creation and reform of a number of political institutions and offices. In the main these changes were pushed by the donors and though supported by the opposition in Kenya they did not rise organically from the struggle over political power in Kenya. In this paper, we argue that although these reforms led to a heightened awareness of the ills of the political class, they failed to actually hold members of this class accountable for their transgressions. We argue that these institutions presupposed the existence of an electorate with an effective set of identities that belonged to the larger Kenyan nation. This broader construct of society did not exist. A history of economic and political inequality from the inception of modern Kenya had resulted in a divided population that was unable to exercise this mandate, and could ultimately discipline politicians when they failed. In actuality, since the politics was not based on broader Kenyan national interests but rather narrower personal interests construed as ethno-nationalist, the political class was not accountable to the larger Kenyan constituency. JEL Categories: O, P16, Z13


RNA-Seq studies require a sufficient read depth to detect biologically important genes. Sequencing below this threshold will reduce statistical power while sequencing above will provide only marginal improvements in power and incur unnecessary sequencing costs. Although existing methodologies can help assess whether there is sufficient read depth, they are unable to guide how many additional reads should be sequenced to reach this threshold. We provide a new method called superSeq that models the relationship between statistical power and read depth. We apply the superSeq framework to 393 RNA-Seq experiments (1,021 total contrasts) in the Expression Atlas and find the model accurately predicts the increase in statistical power gained by increasing the read depth. Based on our analysis, we find that most published studies (> 70%) are undersequenced, i.e., their statistical power can be improved by increasing the sequencing read depth. In addition, the extent of saturation is highly dependent on statistical methodology: only 9.5%, 29.5%, and 26.6% of contrasts are saturated when using DESeq2, edgeR, and limma, respectively. Finally, we also find that there is no clear minimum per-transcript read depth to guarantee saturation for an entire technology. Therefore, our framework not only delineates key differences among methods and their impact on determining saturation, but will also be needed even as technology improves and the read depth of experiments increases. Researchers can thus use superSeq to calculate the read depth to achieve required statistical power while avoiding unnecessary sequencing costs.


Many tendencies in social perceivers' judgments about individuals and groups can be integrated in terms of the premise that perceivers rely on implicit theories of agency acquired from cultural traditions. Whereas American culture primarily conceptualizes agency as a property of individual persons, other cultures conceptualize agency primarily in terms of collectives such as groups or nonhuman actors such as deities or fate. Cultural conceptions of agency exist in public forms (discourses, texts, and institutions) and private forms (perceivers' knowledge structures), and the more prominent the public representations of a specific conception in a society, the more chronically accessible it will be in perceivers' minds. We review evidence for these claims by contrasting North American and Chinese cultures. From this integrative model of social perception as mediated by agency conceptions, we draw insights for research on implicit theories and research on culture. What implicit theory research gains is a better grasp on the content, origins, and variation of the knowledge structures central to social perception. What cultural psychology gains is a middle-range model of the mechanism underlying cultural influence on dispositional attribution, which yields precise predictions about the domain specificity and dynamics of cultural differences.


Speed has been widely identified as a leading factor in crash occurrence and severity. On rural networks, a key problem is speeding where vehicles transition from a high speed to low speed environment. Research has identified ruralurban gateway/threshold treatments as a speed reducing measure in transition zones. Gateways include the use of signs, road markings and lane narrowing to lower vehicle speeds and improve road safety. Although gateways have been used extensively, e.g. UK and New Zealand, there has been no comprehensive evaluation on their effectiveness in Australia or New Zealand. The main objective of this research was to assess the changes in crash frequency and severity attributable to the implementation of gateways over time. The study involved a before and after comparison of crashes at treatment sites after gateways were installed compared to the general trend at similar sites across New Zealand over the same period. The study was designed as a non-equivalent quasi-experiment using 102 treated and 62 control sites. The results showed that gateways, particularly pinch point gateways, were effective in lowering crashes at rural urban transition zones in the New Zealand context.


The performance overhead associated with changing tasks (the "switch cost") usually diminishes when the task is specified in advance but is rarely eliminated by preparation. A popular account of the "residual" (asymptotic) switch cost is that it reflects "task-set inertia": carry-over of task-set parameters from the preceding trial(s). New evidence for a component of "task-set inertia" comes from eye-tracking, where the location associated with the previously (but no longer) relevant task is fixated preferentially over other irrelevant locations, even when preparation intervals are generous. Might such limits in overcoming task-set inertia in general, and "attentional inertia" in particular, result from suboptimal scheduling of preparation when the time available is outside one's control? In the present study, the stimulus comprised 3 digits located at the points of an invisible triangle, preceded by a central verbal cue specifying which of 3 classification tasks to perform, each consistently applied to just 1 digit location. The digits were presented only when fixation moved away from the cue, thus giving the participant control over preparation time. In contrast to our previous research with experimenter-determined preparation intervals, we found no sign of attentional inertia for the long preparation intervals. Self-paced preparation reduced but did not eliminate the performance switch cost—leaving a clear residual component in both reaction time and error rates. That the scheduling of preparation accounts for some, but not all, components of the residual switch cost, challenges existing accounts of the switch cost, even those which distinguish between preparatory and poststimulus reconfiguration processes.


Summary 1. Agricultural developments over recent decades have had significant negative effects on wildlife. Modern European agriculture faces many further developments in technology, finances and climate. A framework for predicting the consequences of these developments and for informing management that mitigates previous depredation of wildlife is essential. 2. Field trials, monitoring and experimental approaches are all invaluable tools for predicting the consequences of proposed agricultural practices. However, such trials are time-consuming and expensive, with limited spatial and temporal scope. Increasingly, it is recognized that predictive modelling using computer simulations is essential for assessing the likely impacts of novel management practices. 3. Many agricultural developments are likely to have impacts on the availability of food for farmland wildlife. In this paper, we review modelling techniques that are available for predicting the consequences of changing food supplies for farmland birds, a group already shown to be sensitive to agricultural management. 4. We focus on two broad types of simulation modelling: phenomenological approaches (using aggregative responses or full population models), and behavioural depletion models (including daily ration and functional response approaches). We assess the strengths and weaknesses of each, particularly with regard to available data. 5. We conclude that given the constraints on current information, daily ration models probably represent the most useful form of simulation modelling for farmland birds. Few phenomenological population models link demography explicitly to food supply and collecting data on these links should be a priority of autecological studies. More empirical data on aggregative and functional responses is needed to identify the generality of these functions, and to confront uncertainties in their use. 6. Synthesis and applications. Modelling techniques available for predicting the consequences of changing food supply for farmland birds have largely outstripped the availability of data required to parameterize them. We recommend the best available techniques given current constraints on data. Predictive models of biodiversity response should be more widely used when considering proposals for agricultural developments or agri-environment schemes. Models will provide a basis for selecting between competing proposals, whilst their widespread usage will both permit more frequent model validation and aid in model development.


Voluntary organisations - including charities, self-help groups and other community organisations - make significant contributions to social, economic and political life. Their impact can be local, national and international. Recent years have seen increasing recognition of these contributions from all tiers of government, the media and the community at large. Over the same period there has been parallel growth in the availability of information on the financial position of voluntary organisations, and the scope and scale of paid and unpaid workers' efforts. Yet there is relatively little data on the voluntary sector's actual performance. Does the sector use its resources effectively and efficiently? Does it address the needs and promote the welfare of vunerable individuals and disadvantaged communities? How successfully does it pursue other aims and causes?


Background & Objective: Drug abuse causes severe gastrointestinal, neurological problems and dependency. For maintenance therapy of opiate addiction, long-acting opioids like methadone are used. Since incorrect use of methadone, leads to serious complications, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of methadone. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was done with a sample size of 151 patients in addiction treatment centers Fasa Shariati Hospital, during 6 months. After reviewing the cases of patients who were taking methadone for drug rehabilitation and completed their demographic information, check list of questions about the different effects of methadone was completed for each patient. The data was statistically analyzed by Mann-Whitney test. Results: The average age of participants in the scheme was 31.71. The results showed that the most common side effects of methadone, is gastrointestinal complications (77.5 percent). In addition, between the effects and duration of methadone there is a significant relationship. However, other effects were not associated with duration of use. Conclusion: According to the results, the need for continuous follow-up of patients undergoing methadone treatment for drug complications and such findings can even be transferred to the relevant authorities, in order to add assessment side effects of treatment is necessary in the case of defined. The patients' need to medication may cause endurance of bothersome symptoms. While it can affect their quality of life.


The "Big Bend" of the San Andreas fault in the western Transverse Ranges of southern California is a left stepping flexure in the dextral fault system and has long been recognized as a zone of relatively high transpression compared to adjacent regions. The Lockwood Valley region, just south of the Big Bend, underwent a profound change in early Pliocene time (∼5 Ma) from basin deposition to contraction, accompanied by widespread folding and thrusting. This change followed the recently determined initiation of opening of the northern Gulf of California and movement along the southern San Andreas fault at about 6.1 Ma, with the concomitant formation of the Big Bend. Lockwood Valley occupies a 6‐km‐wide, fault‐bounded structural basin in which converging blocks of Paleoproterozoic and Cretaceous crystalline basement and upper Oligocene and lower Miocene sedimentary rocks (Plush Ranch Formation) were thrust over Miocene and Pliocene basin‐fill sedimentary rocks (in ascending order, Caliente Formation, Lockwood Clay, and Quatal Formation). All the pre‐Quatal sedimentary rocks and most of the Pliocene Quatal Formation were deposited during a mid‐Tertiary period of regional transtension in a crustal block that underwent little clockwise vertical‐axis rotation as compared to crustal blocks to the south. Ensuing Pliocene and Quaternary transpression in the Big Bend region began during deposition of the poorly dated Quatal Formation and was marked by four converging thrust systems, which decreased the areal extent of the sedimentary basin and formed the present Lockwood Valley structural basin. None of the thrusts appears presently active. Estimated shortening across the center of the basin was about 30 percent. The formerly defined eastern Big Pine fault, now interpreted to be two separate, oppositely directed, contractional reverse or thrust faults, marks the northwestern structural boundary of Lockwood Valley. The complex geometry of the Lockwood Valley basin is similar to other Tertiary structural basins in southern California, such those that underlie Cuyama Valley, the Ridge basin, and the east Ventura basin.


Background: HIV infection is associated with increased susceptibility to common pathogens, which may trigger chronic antigenic stimulation and hyperactivation of B cells, events known to precede the development of AIDS-associated non-Hodgkin lymphoma (AIDS-NHL). Methods: To explore whether cumulative exposure to infectious agents contributes to AIDS-NHL risk, we tested sera from 199 AIDS-NHL patients (pre-NHL, average lead time 3.9 years) and 199 matched HIV-infected controls from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, for anti-IgG responses to 18 pathogens using multiplex serology. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using conditional logistic regression models. Results: We found no association between cumulative exposure to infectious agents and AIDS-NHL risk (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.91 to 1.12). However, seropositivity for trichodysplasia spinulosa polyomavirus (TSPyV), defined as presence of antibodies to TSPyV capsid protein VP1, was significantly associated with a 1.6-fold increase in AIDS-NHL risk (OR 1.62, 95% CI: 1.02 to 2.57). High Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) anti-VCA p18 antibody levels closer to the time of AIDS-NHL diagnosis (<4 years) were associated with a 2.6-fold increase in AIDS-NHL risk (OR 2.59, 95% CI: 1.17 to 5.74). In addition, high EBV anti-EBNA-1 and anti-ZEBRA antibody levels were associated with 2.1-fold (OR 0.47, 95% CI: 0.26 to 0.85) and 1.6-fold (OR 0.57, 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.93) decreased risk of AIDS-NHL, respectively. Conclusions: Our results do not support the hypothesis that cumulative exposure to infectious agents contributes to AIDS-NHL development. However, the observed associations with respect to TSPyV seropositivity and EBV antigen antibody levels offer additional insights into the pathogenesis of AIDS-NHL.


Recent research has suggested that a link may exist between school breakfast club attendance and improvements in children's social relationships, cognition, academic performance and nutritional status. Although it has been suggested that breakfast club attendance might help to smooth the transition between home and school in the morning, very little research attention has been paid to the potential impact of breakfast club attendance on children's behaviour. The current study employed an observational method to investigate whether children's behaviour altered across the duration of the breakfast club session. The behaviour of two-hundred-andthirty-two children, aged between seven and eleven years, was observed during the first and last five minutes of seventy-five breakfast club sessions. All children consumed a breakfast meal upon entering breakfast club. Analysis revealed that the perceived level of classroom noise, the number of incidents of negative social interaction and children's level of excitability decreased significantly across the breakfast club session, while the number of incidents of positive social interaction significantly increased. The current findings provide support for previous anecdotal evidence, which suggests that breakfast club attendance might aide children's transition from home to school. Further research is now required to investigate whether improvements in children's behaviour across breakfast club sessions are a result of breakfast consumption or due to children spending time in a structured school environment.