The risks and benefits of metformin use in patients with cirrhosis with diabetes are debated. Although data on a protective effect of metformin against liver cancer development have been reported, metformin is frequently discontinued once cirrhosis is diagnosed because of concerns about an increased risk of adverse effects of metformin in patients with liver impairment. This study investigated whether continuation of metformin after cirrhosis diagnosis improves survival of patients with diabetes. Diabetic patients diagnosed with cirrhosis between 2000 and 2010 who were on metformin at the time of cirrhosis diagnosis were identified (n = 250). Data were retrospectively abstracted from the medical record. Survival of patients who continued versus discontinued metformin after cirrhosis diagnosis was compared using the log‐rank test. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using Cox's proportional hazards analysis. Overall, 172 patients continued metformin whereas 78 discontinued metformin. Patients who continued metformin had a significantly longer median survival than those who discontinued metformin (11.8 vs. 5.6 years overall, P < 0.0001; 11.8 vs. 6.0 years for Child A patients, P = 0.006; and 7.7 vs. 3.5 years for Child B/C patients, P = 0.04, respectively). After adjusting for other variables, continuation of metformin remained an independent predictor of better survival, with an HR of 0.43 (95% CI: 0.24‐0.78; P = 0.005). No patients developed metformin‐associated lactic acidosis during follow‐up. Conclusion: Continuation of metformin after cirrhosis diagnosis reduced the risk of death by 57%. Metformin should therefore be continued in diabetic patients with cirrhosis if there is no specific contraindication. (Hepatology 2014;60:2007–2015)


In this article I discuss article usage in NPs with subjective and objective adjectival premodifiers. The main topic of the article is the tendency of semantically subjective adjectives to be used in indefinite NPs. This correlation is independent of the frequency of the adjective, and the uneven article distribution becomes even more skewed when an overt indicator of subjectivity, such as very or much, is introduced to the NP. I explain this tendency in terms of accessibility: subjective modifiers provide the speaker with a way of expressing a personal evaluation of the referent, and this evaluation is typically new information in discourse. Consequently, subjective premodifiers strongly favour indefinite NPs. By contrast, objective modifiers often encode information that is typical of the referent or else accessible from context or through world knowledge. Because the information expressed by the modifier is accessible, the accessibility of the discourse referent itself determines article choice, and the distribution of articles is more even. I also show that the connection between subjectivity and indefiniteness may provide the linguist with a useful tool in semantic disambiguation and diachronic research. Case studies of two polysemous -ing participles, moving and glowing, show that when used as a nominal premodifier, the subjective sense of the word (e.g. moving, 'emotionally touching') strongly favours indefinite NPs over definite NPs. We will also see that when a participle (outstanding) or a noun (key) develops a subjective sense and undergoes category change to adjective, the new sense is particularly often used in indefinite constructions, and the semantic change and gradual adjectivisation of the word is mirrored in the gradual increase in the use of indefinite NPs.


This paper examines Japanese foreign exchanges interventions from April 1991 to March 2001 based on newly disclosed official data. All the yen-selling (dollar-purchasing) interventions were carried out when the yen/dollar rate was below 125, while all the yen-purchasing (dollar-selling) interventions were carried out when the yen/dollar was above 125. The Japanese monetary authorities, by buying the dollar low and selling it high, have produced large profits, in terms of realized capital gains, unrealized capital gains, and carrying (interest rate differential) profits, from interventions during the ten years. Profits amounted to 9 trillion yen (2% of GDP) in 10 years. Interventions are found to be effective in the second half of the 1990s, when daily yen/dollar exchange rate changes were regressed on various factors including interventions. The US interventions in the 1990s were always accompanied by the Japanese interventions. The joint interventions were found to be 20-50 times more effective than the Japanese unilateral interventions. Japanese interventions were found to be prompted by rapid changes in the yen/dollar rate and the deviation from the long-run mean (say, 125 yen). The interventions in the second half were less predictable than the first half.


Magnesium is second only to oxygen in abundance among the rock-forming elements and is an important element in the oceans and in hydrological and biological systems. Differences in the relative abundances of its three stable isotopes, 24Mg (78.99%), 25Mg (10.00%), and 26Mg (11.01%), are expected as a result of physicochemical processes because of the large relative mass differences of 4 and 8% between 25Mg and 26Mg, and 24Mg, respectively. Although isotopes of Mg have been used for many years as tracers in artificially spiked systems (in which the abundance of one isotope is enriched) (Cary et al. 1990; Dombovari et al. 2000), reliable measurements of 25Mg/24Mg and 26Mg/24Mg in natural systems have been limited historically by the 1‰ (one part per thousand) reproducibility imparted by instrumental mass fractionation effects. In order to be useful for many geochemical and cosmochemical applications the isotope ratios of Mg must be resolved to ≤ 200 parts per million (ppm). As a result, with a few exceptions (e.g., Davis et al. 1990; Goswami et al. 1994; Russell et al. 1998), many past studies of Mg isotope ratios focused on detection of non-mass dependent, so-called "anomalous" Mg isotopic effects rather than on investigations of mass-dependent fractionation. The principle outcome of this focus was the discovery of radiogenic 26Mg (26Mg*) in primitive meteorites (Gray and Compston 1974; Lee and Papanastassiou 1974).

With the advent of multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma-source mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) it is now possible to measure 25Mg/24Mg and 26Mg/24Mg of Mg in solution with a reproducibility of 30 to 60 ppm or better (Galy et al. 2001). What is more, ultraviolet (UV) laser ablation combined with MC-ICPMS permits in situ …


This thesis examines the children of Kingston's poor during the middle decades of the nineteenth century by bringing together a number of inter-related themes which in many previous studies have been treated separately. Through applying partial reconstitution techniques to a wide range of source materials, various aspects of children's lives in poverty are analysed and given greater context and meaning. Rather than viewing the child simply as an element in workhouse history, or as a slum-dweller or in employment, this research, by studying individual childhood experiences, focuses on children as members of the wider community.
The research findings emphasise the value of a local study, as generalisations and received ideas can be tested against the practical experience of a market town during the mid- to later-
nineteenth century, when the country as a whole adjusted to rapid population growth and economic progress. The Kingston-upon-Thames Poor Law Union, the administrative and geographic locality for this research, developed from being broadly rural in the opening years of the study into an increasingly suburban and retailing area, whilst the surrounding villages varied in character, whether purely rural, river-focussed, or concerned with a local industry. Research into the lives of children living in poverty within this diverse locality offers an opportunity to consider and compare strategies, both formal and informal, to deal with child poverty in use throughout the country. The range of choices and decisions open to parents, officials, administrators and children themselves, plus the effect of differing local conditions, geography and employment, remind us that there can be no typical experience which can speak for the whole of England.
Within this thesis appear individual experiences of poverty, abandonment, overcrowded dwellings, disease, ill-treatment, and much suffering. Yet also highlighted are acts of benevolence, understanding, chance opportunities, and successful futures. Above all, the thesis has set out to rescue otherwise historically absent individuals from obscurity and give them a meaningful place in the historical record.


This paper is based on the outcome of a recent Research Libraries UK (RLUK) project that aimed to explore and understand the approaches employed by RLUK members for capturing and measuring the impact of activities based on special collections and archives. In today's constantly evolving information and scholarly environment, educational and cultural institutions, such as research libraries, are faced with a pressing demand to assess the value of their services and evidence their impact. As part of our goal to develop a better understanding of how research libraries respond to this demand, we collected and analysed case-study and survey data from across the RLUK membership that show the practices and methods of research libraries for increasing and assessing the impact of their collections and related services. As our results showed, research libraries increasingly employ audience-focused strategies and take advantage of the new possibilities offered by the digital age to enhance access to collections, reach a range of audience groups and achieve greater impact. However, a number of issues, such as the lack of structured methodologies to capture and evaluate the full reach of digital collections and resources or the long-term impact of collections, can make the process of measuring and evidencing value a challenging task for institutions. In this paper, we will present some of the key findings showing the pathways to impact followed by special collection and archive professionals in the UK and Ireland and reflect on the opportunities and challenges that the digital era presents for increasing and measuring this impact.


In the West, the varied body of texts and traditions known as Tantra for more than two centuries has had the capacity to scandalize and shock. For European colonizers, Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries of the Victorian era, Tantra was generally seen as the most degenerate and depraved example of the worst tendencies of the so-called 'Indian mind': a pathological mixture of sensuality and religion that prompted the decline of modern Hinduism. Yet for most contemporary New Age and popular writers, Tantra is celebrated as a much-needed affirmation of physical pleasure and sex: indeed as a 'cult of ecstasy' to counter the perceived hypocritical prudery of many Westerners. In recent years, Tantra has become the focus of a still larger cultural and political debate. In the eyes of many Hindus, much of the western literature on Tantra represents a form of neo-colonialism, which continues to portray India as an exotic, erotic, hyper-sexualized Orient. Which, then, is the 'real' Tantra? Focusing on one of the oldest and most important Tantric traditions, based in Assam, northeast India, Hugh B Urban shows that Tantra is less about optimal sexual pleasure than about harnessing the divine power of the goddess that flows alike through the cosmos, the human body and political society. In a fresh and vital contribution to the field, the author suggests that the 'real' meaning of Tantra lies in helping us rethink not just the history of Indian religions, but also our own modern obsessions with power, sex and the invidious legacies of cultural imperialism.


Since 1994, 130 municipalities have adopted living wage ordinances, which mandate that covered workers receive an hourly wage providing enough income to keep the individual above the poverty line. This study identifies what factors have lead to the proliferation of living wage laws across the United States while also determining what characteristics have prompted some municipalities to pass living wage ordinances while others have not. This research also considers the impact of living wages on municipalities that have adopted such laws. To further elucidate the issues associated with living wage ordinances, two cities—Baltimore and Los Angeles—are examined as case studies. Ultimately, this study concludes that municipalities that have adopted living wage laws share several characteristics and that living wage ordinances have provided significant benefits at relatively small costs. This article is available in Res Publica Journal of Undergraduate Research: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/respublica/vol12/iss1/4


Visual perception is periodic and structured in recurrent temporal frames. However, it is unclear whether these cycles simply reflect fluctuations of visual excitability, and/or organize perception into discrete moments of information integration in which two events falling within one frame are more likely to be perceived as causally linked. In 1981, Varela et al. probed temporal framing of perception by presenting two sequential flashes at a constant delay and found these flashes to be perceived as simultaneous or sequential depending on the phase of ongoing alpha (7-13Hz) oscillations. These results are still awaiting replication (VanRullen et al, 2014). We here tested periodicity of visual information integration in two behavioural experiments probing (i) simultaneity and (ii) apparent motion perception in double flash stimuli. We flashed two visual events either sequentially or simultaneously. In experiment 1, two dots were displayed in the left and right visual fields, while participants reported whether the events were perceived as sequential or simultaneous. In experiment 2, the two events consisted of random dot patterns that could be perceived as coherent motion, incoherent motion or glass patterns. These stimulus pairs were presented time-locked to a preceding sound (0-300ms delays), shown to reset the phase of visual brain oscillations (Romei et al., 2012). Spectro-temporal dynamics of behavioural time courses (hits) revealed periodicity in perception. Dots perceived as sequential (Group 1, n=19) and apparent motion perception (Group 2, n=19) showed identical, cyclic patterns in the 12Hz (alpha) frequency band (with a significant phase consistency across participants). In contrast, a cyclic pattern in the 4Hz (theta) band was observed in the control conditions (simultaneously presented stimuli), suggesting that the alpha cycles in visual perception go beyond reflecting fluctuations in visual excitability. These data suggest that perceptual frames in the alpha-band play a key role in spatio-temporal visual information integration. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To examine the relationships among pain, fatigue, insomnia, and gender while controlling for age, comorbidities, and stage of cancer in patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer within 56 days of receiving chemotherapy.

DESIGN
Secondary data analysis.

SETTING
Accrual from four sites: two clinical community oncology programs and two comprehensive cancer centers.

SAMPLE
80 patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer.

METHODS
Analysis from baseline observation of a randomized clinical intervention trial. Multinomial log-linear modeling was performed to explain the relationships among pain, fatigue, insomnia, and gender.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Pain, fatigue, insomnia, and gender.

FINDINGS
For all people with lung cancer, fatigue (97%) and pain (69%) were the most frequently occurring symptoms; insomnia occurred 51% of the time. A model containing all main effects (two-way interactions of pain and fatigue, pain and insomnia, and insomnia and gender; and the three-way interaction of pain, fatigue, and insomnia, along with three covariates [age, comorbidities, and stage of cancer]) was a good fit to the data. Parameter estimates indicated that a statistically significant effect from the model was the three-way interaction of pain, fatigue, and insomnia. Gender did not make a difference. Age, comorbidities, and stage of cancer were not significant covariates.

CONCLUSIONS
For people newly diagnosed with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy, multiple symptoms occur simultaneously rather than in isolation; a symptom cluster exists, consisting of pain, fatigue, and insomnia; and no relationship was found among gender, pain, fatigue, and insomnia.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
By understanding this symptom cluster, healthcare providers can target specific troublesome symptoms to optimize symptom management and achieve the delivery of high-quality cancer care.


This is the first in a series of articles that uses practical activities based on the expressive arts, such as music, song and dance, to develop young children's skills in the mathematics area of early learning.


The fine fraction (<50 μm; 'silt – clay') of regolith from an area dominated by thick (up to 120 m) transported regolith is shown to be a viable sampling medium for detecting bedrock and bedrock-hosted mineralization. A partial digest of the fine fraction of regolith reveals that elements which have migrated vertically from bedrock have become sequestered at a shallow depth in regolith. Nickel, Cr, Li, Mn, V, Co and Rb are useful in tracing the extent of different bedrock types, with Ni, Cr, V and Co particularly useful for identifying more mafic bedrock. Higher concentrations of Au (maximum 29 ppb; median 2 ppb; n = 835) are spatially related to either Archean greenstones or unconformity-related uranium – base metal – gold mineralization. Although some samples with anomalous Au concentrations are carbonate-rich, there is no consistent relationship between elevated Au concentrations and the carbonate content of regolith. Deionized water digestion of the <50-μm fraction of 50 samples correlates with aqua regia data for several elements (particularly Au, Ni), suggesting that some mineralization- or bedrock-related elements in the fine fraction of regolith are either labile or microparticulate.


Due to the wide application of advanced technology in education, many attitude scales have been developed to evaluate learners' attitudes toward educational tools. However, with the rapid development of emerging technologies, using blogs as one of the Web 2.0 tools is still in its infancy and few blog attitude scales have been developed yet. In view of this need, a lot of researchers like to design a new scale based on their conceptual and theoretical framework of their own study rather than using available scales. The present study reports the design and development of a blog attitude scale (BAS). The researchers developed a pool of items to capture the complexity of the blog attitude trait, selected 29 items in the content analysis, and assigned the scale comprising 29 items to 216 undergraduate students to explore the underlying structure of the BAS. In exploratory factor analysis, three factors were discovered: blog anxiety, blog desirability, and blog self-efficacy; 14 items were excluded. The extracted items were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis which lent further support to the BAS underpinning structure.


In November 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that about 98,000 patients die in U.S.A. as the result of medical errors in hospitals each year. This critical issue of medical errors and patient's safety has received much attention in the world. Many countries including the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, etc., have launched initiative programs to reduce medical errors and to improve patient's safety. In Taiwan the patient's safety program has started since February 2003 when a national patient's safety committee was established in the Department of Health (DOH), Executive Yuan, Taiwan. In November 2003, the National Health Research Institute (NHRI) of Taiwan has held a nationwide conference for health policy. The consensus how to reduce medical errors and to improve patient's safety was reached at this meeting.


This study compares and assesses the four Socialist leaders -- Victor L. Berger, Morris L. Hillquit, Eugene V. Debs, and Norman M. Thomas. By comparing the attitudes and ideas of these four Socialists towards socialism and Socialist theory, politics, factionalism, violence, labor and laboring men, farmers, prohibition, prostitution, women's rights, religion, immigration, racism, and pacifism some of the characteristics of these Socialists were exposed to a closer scrutiny. The information for this thesis was acquired principally by reading extensively in both primary and secondary materials in the field of socialism, especially biographies of and books written by the four Socialists. A brief biographical sketch of each of the four Socialists was given in the first two chapters. The subsequent chapters discussed and explored their ideas and opinions on the previously mentioned subjects. By comparing the four Socialists it was discovered that they were reformers and humanitarians, that they had some very serious disagreements, that they failed in the very critical areas of solving party factionalism and gaining political support, and that they were not as radical as they appeared to the public during their peak years from 1900 to 1920 or even subsequently. They were sincere, hardworking, dedicated men who believed in their cause, who did not believe in violence, and who had a basic concern for the well being of their fellow man.


The goal of this dissertation is to further understand the genetic architecture of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). We attempt to understand the functional significance of the gene synapse associated protein of 97KDa (SAP97) and identify a novel role for SAP97 in the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. SAP97 belongs to a family of scaffolding proteins, the membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs), that are highly enriched in the postsynaptic density of synapses and play an important role in organizing protein complexes necessary for synaptic development and plasticity. Large-scale genetic studies have implicated MAGUKs in neuropsychiatric disorders such as intellectual disability, ASD, and SCZ, but knockout mice have been impossible to study because the Sap97 null mice die soon after birth due to a craniofacial defect. In Chapter 2, we studied the transcriptomic and behavioral consequences of a viable, brain-specific conditional knockout of Sap97 (SAP97-cKO). RNA sequencing (RNAseq) from hippocampi from control and SAP97-cKO male animals identified 67 differentially expressed transcripts, which were specifically enriched for SCZ-related genes. Subjecting SAP97-cKO mice to a battery of behavioral tests revealed a subtle anxiety-like phenotype present in both male and female SAP97-cKO animals, as well as a mild male-specific cognitive deficit and female-specific motor learning deficit. Collectively, this work suggests that loss of Sap97 alters behavior, and may contribute to some of the endophenotypes present in SCZ. In Chapter 3, we discuss how the SAP97-cKO mouse may serve as a novel model system for interrogating aspects of the cellular and molecular defects underlying SCZ and other related neuropsychiatric disorders. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Neuroscience First Advisor Robert G. Kalb


The lack of availability of a home measurement device has resulted in the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who use respiratory muscle training not being able to conveniently assess their pulmonary situation. Some studies have shown that the respiratory muscle training to have beneficial effects with such patients if an adequate training stimulus is applied. The users would like to know how much improvement has occurred after they train. In this study, a portable Spirometer is described, which is implemented by a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). This system is able to detect the turbine flow and then send an RS232 signal to a communications port. The system consists of three parts, which are the flow measurement sensor device, the CPLD hardware circuit signal generator and the dynamic flow display interface for the software. The first sensor uses a photo diode to obtain the fan's rotational speed and calculate the flow volume. The signal generator counts the pulses and converts this into an RS232 signal data form that can be interpreted by a PC via a communications port. The display interface outputs the dynamic flow curve through a software interface. The device allows the user to obtain information on the pulmonary condition of their lungs. A future medical treatment trend is the use a PC-based internet links between the doctor and the patient that will allow diagnosis via video conferencing; it should be possible to combine the device described here with video conferencing, which will help the doctor assess the patient's condition at a distance and help to achieve effective diagnosis. The system is also implemented as a data download system via a mobile phone using Bluetooth for Spirometer to mobile phone communication.


Nowadays, network management has become difficult because of tremendous increase on IP traffic demands. At this point, a flexible and dynamic control mechanism is needed that diminishes the complexity of physical topology. Software Defined Networking (SDN), is one of the proposed next generation technologies to overcome this problem. SDN paradigm provides a simple management strategy for dummy switches in physical topology by moving their control logic to Control Plane. However, on one hand, network management becomes more scalable and flexible with this technology; on the other hand, there is an extra delay caused by OpenFlow switch architecture that should not be regarded according to Quality of Service (QoS) of a flow. This delay is arised from matching many header fields for many times while forwarding a flow in OpenFlow switch table pipeline. Therefore, we propose a novel OpenFlow switch architecture to lower temporal complexity by using Banyan Network model. The proposed model is able to forward a flow by less header matching and also protect dummy characteristic with an additional field called next table identifier. Flow forwarding in each pipeline of Banyan Network model is performed according to this next table identifier. Moreover, the advantages of Network on Chip (NOC) are also applied to OpenFlow forwarding mechanism by assigning a microcontroller to each flow table in each pipeline. Consequently, thanks to many pipelines that can serve the flows in parallel, the number of flows that are served per unit time is increased and the QoS of each flow is enhanced.


The statistics of natural images have attracted the attention of researchers in a variety of fields and have been used as a means to better understand the human visual system and its processes. A number of algorithms in computer graphics, vision and image processing take advantage of such statistical findings to create visually more plausible results. With this report we aim to review the state of the art in image statistics and discuss existing and potential applications within computer graphics and related areas.


Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) is a human-specific Gram-negative β-proteobacterium, recognized as the leading cause of bacterial meningitis globally. The meningococcus is a transient colonizer of human nasopharynx of approximately 10% of healthy subject; in particular circumstances it acquires invasive ability: penetrates the mucosal barrier, invades the bloodstream causing septicaemia and, in about half of bacteremic persons, N. meningitidis crosses the blood-brain barrier and invades the cerebrospinal fluid effecting fulminant meningitis. All the pathological consequences of meningococcal infection depend on the bacterium's ability to acquire nutrients for replication within the systemic circulation while at the same time avoiding exclusion by host innate immune mechanism. In vitro experimental data have been demonstrated that the L-glutamate ABC transporter GltT is essential for the survival of the meningococcus, microrganism naturally auxotrophs for L-glutamate. However, animal infection models are of great importance for a complete understanding of meningococcal disease. Several experimental model systems have been evaluated over the last decades, but no models was able to reproduce the characteristic pathological events of meningococcal disease. In the present work, it was developed a mouse model of meningococcal meningitis based on intracisternal inoculation of bacteria. Survival and clinical parameters of infected mice and microbiological and histological analysis of the brain have demonstrated the establishment of meningitis with features comparable to those of the disease in humans. When using low bacterial inocula, meningococcal replication in the brain was very efficient, with a 1,000-fold increase of viable counts in 18 h. Mouse passage was a key step to develop the model. Compared to laboratory strain, mouse-passaged meningococci were also found in the blood, spleens, and livers of infected mice. As glutamate uptake from the host has been implicated in meningococcal virulence, mice were infected intracisternally with an isogenic strain deficient in the ABC-type L-glutamate transporter GltT. Noticeably, the mutant was attenuated in virulence in mixed infections, indicating that wild-type bacteria outcompeted the GltT-deficient meningococci. The data show that the GltT transporter plays a role in meningitis and concomitant systemic infection, suggesting that meningococci may use L-glutamate as a nutrient source in the murine host. To assess whether the transporter GltT may represent a potential candidate for the development of new vaccines, protein components have been expressed and purified to obtain specific immune sera anti-GltT. Moreover, it has been shown that animals and patients suffering from bacterial meningitis present high levels of L-glutamate in cerebrospinal fluid. In the present work it was analyzed the possible therapeutic role of L-glutamate analogues and/or NMDA receptor antagonists on the replication and survival of the meningococcus and on reduction of neuronal damage.


Eritrea has a long history as a heavily militarized nation, dating back to its 30-year war for independence from Ethiopia. Militarization is a core component of Eritrean nationalism and state formation, which is arguably forged out of war but is also implicated in Eritrea's problematic human rights record. Following Eritrea's 1991 independence, the country was poised to democratize and liberalize. At that time, the country also began an intensive process of nation-building of which militarization was a central part. In 1995, Eritrea introduced the national service program. Eritrea's national/military service, which requires 6 months of military training and 12 months of free military or civil service for all Eritreans (male and female), initially enjoyed widespread public support although there were always concerns about harsh living and labor conditions. In 1998, a border war with Ethiopia broke out. At this time, those who had military training in national service were recalled. Although fighting ended in 2000, the border war deepened Eritrea's adherence to militarization as a key strategy of national defense, nation-building, and development. A condition of no-peace, no-war followed the border war. The long period of no-war, no-peace with Ethiopia allowed Eritrea's president, Isaias Afewerki, to consolidate his power, deepen authoritarian rule, and extend the national service program indefinitely. The indefinite extension of national service meant that conscripts were not demobilized and new recruits into national service could not be assured that they would ever be released. Due to the indefinite extension of military service, harsh conditions in the military, and extreme punishments for those who try to escape the military, Eritrea's national/military service requirement is at the center of concern about human rights and civil liberties in Eritrea. Militarization has since become fused with state control and punishment, leading to human rights and civil liberties violations and the mass flight of close to half a million Eritreans over the past decades. Despite the announcement in summer of 2018 that Eritrea and Ethiopia had finally agreed to peace, no one has been released from the military and Eritreans continue to flood out of the country to avoid national service conditions which have been equated with slavery.


Large-scale interconnection networks require fault-tolerant features as well as high performance. Since a large-scale network consists of huge number of independent routers, effective globally-optimum algorithms are required. We introduce a quasi-global control mechanism to solve the problem and propose Fault-Tolerant Cross-Line as a novel selection function of routing algorithm. The proposed method makes use of fault location information as well as congestion information so that it can properly control under both faulty and congested situations. Preliminary evaluation results show essential effectiveness of the proposed method.


This study was performed in order to determine the distance of isolation for the seed potato production from ware potato in three regions of Ardabil, Namin and Nir. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with five distances (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 meters from ware potato) and three replications with Super Elite (SE) class of Agria potato cultivar from ware potato as the source of infection studied by ELISA during 2014 and 2015. According to standard of Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Institute (SPCRI) number of 200 leaves and 200 tubers samples of each distance were collected and their virus in fection was by ELISA assay. Analysis of variance tuber yield showed that between regions, years and distances of isolation were significantly differences. In terms of tuber yield, between distances 500, 400 and 300 meters were not significantly difference and were in one group. With reducing of isolation distance from 500 meters to 100 meters from host of viral diseases vectors (edible potato of Agria cultivar) were decreased tuber yield from 44.328 ton per hectare to 39.828 ton per hectare (about 4.5 ton per hectare, or 10.15 percent). Average infection of Rhizoctonia fungal diseases of tuber in isolation distances and three regions were about 5 percent. In three regions and five isolation distances, tubers were without infection of vascular rot fungus diseases, without infection of bacterial diseases of blackleg and brown rot and without infection of potato moth pest.


This study was designed to explore the transactional relationship between young learners and diverse texts. Students' perceptions toward difference are shaped by prior, lived experiences, and books provide students with virtual experiences of diversity, which can lead to transformative possibilities. This study explored: (1) How can children's picture books about autism be used to create transformative opportunities in an elementary classroom, and (2) What types of responses do primary students have when transacting with children's picture books about autism? Through the use of a formative experiment methodology aligned with Rosenblatt's Transactional Theory of the Literary Work (1978), interventions involving (a) a teacher read aloud, (b) student journal writing, and (c) class discussion allowed second-grade students to transact both aesthetically and efferently with diverse texts about autism. Examination of student responses was a qualitative, iterative process that utilized the Constant Comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), and intervention data was triangulated with researcher field notes and pre and post-intervention student interviews. Analysis led to a deeper understanding of transactional response, including how (a) increasing awareness cultivates deeper connections with diverse texts, (b) prior perceptions and experiences influence evocation and response, and (c) diverse texts provide necessary virtual experiences with diversity. Student responses during transaction also revealed a process of growth in which students oscillated between various levels of introspection by (a) gaining awareness though an insightful view of diversity (developing understanding of difference/defining and explaining autism), (b) reflecting on similarities to gain an understanding of difference (journeying through the text), and (c) using texts as a reflexive tool and gateway toward acceptance (affirming care and responsibility). This study gives insight into how transacting with diverse texts can provide students with opportunities to explore diversity and increase their knowledge and understanding of difference in order to create a more accepting and


Southeast Asia plays a key role in the evolution of the eastern Tethys, which is characterized by accretion and amalgamation of numerous terranes since early Paleozoic. In the present study, an early Paleozoic granitoid sequence from the Kontum massif in the central Indochina block was investigated to reveal the early Paleozoic accretionary orogenesis of the eastern Tethys. Early Paleozoic Kontum granitoids include diorites and granites. Early Ordovician (485–473 Ma) Ben Giang diorites show high Mg#, Cr and Ni contents, and negative Nb-Ta and positive Pb anomalies as well as positive zircon ɛHf(t) values (+6.2 to +10), probably reflecting the melting of a metasomatized mantle wedge. Late Ordovician (457–453 Ma) Dien Binh hornblende-bearing diorites and granites exhibit low Mg#, Cr and Ni contents, and negative Nb-Ta and positive Pb anomalies as well as negative zircon ɛHf(t) values (−8.7 to −4.2), which is interpreted to reflect the reworking of ancient continental mafic crust during subduction. In contrast, the Silurian (422 Ma) Dai Loc muscovite-bearing granites are characterized by relatively high A/CNK and heavy rare earth element contents, and a negative Eu anomaly, corresponding to a typical S-type granite affinity. Their negative zircon ɛHf(t) values (−6.0 to +0.6) suggest that a petrogenesis linked to reworking of crustal sediments. In combination with the widespread occurrence of coeval high-pressure metamorphism, we suggest that an advancing accretionary orogenesis was responsible for the generation of the early Paleozoic magmatic arc in the Kontum massif. Such magmatic arc systems dominated the early Paleozoic evolution of the northern Gondwana margin during the subduction of the Proto-Tethys.


In this thesis, we present a paradigm for concurrency control protocols for distributed replicated databases. This paradigm presents a framework for both developing and analyzing concurrency control protocols, especially those that are designed to handle partitioning failures. Any concurrency control protocol that is an instance of the paradigm must be correct. We show that several known protocols are instances of this paradigm. Consequently, these seemingly unrelated protocols can now be compared and their understanding is simplified. We also present two new concurrency control protocols: the virtual partitions protocol and the accessibility thresholds protocol. Both protocols allow the reading and writing of data in spite of site and communication failures, even when these failures lead to network partitioning. In neither protocol is it ever necessary for a read operation to physically access more than one copy, which makes these protocols desirable for applications where efficient read operations are necessary. The accessibility thresholds protocol provides the database designer with much flexibility in trading off the cost of executing operations and the availability of data objects. Unlike previous protocols, the cost of executing operations on an object is separated from the read and write availability of that object.


Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women's voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In LEAN IN, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women's progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.


Brigadier General Richard C. "Rich" Gross is the US Army Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He attended the Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned in the US Army as a second lieutenant in the Infantry. He also attended the University of Virginia School of Law and the US Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. He holds a Master's degree in strategic studies from the US Army War College. Prior to his current position, he served as the Chief Legal Adviser for the Joint Special Operations Command, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), US Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and at US Central Command. The scope of application of international humanitarian law (IHL) is a deceptively simple concept; broadly speaking, it is where, when and to whom the IHL rules apply. Although this has always been a precondition for discussing IHL issues, the outer limits of the law's applicability remain unsettled. To open this issue on the nuances of the scope of the law's application, Brigadier General Gross gave the following interview providing the US perspective on the circumstances in which IHL applies, and the challenges that lie ahead in light of the ongoing evolution of the way war is waged.


The purpose of this study was to investigate ICT-related EFL teacher development in the context of Chinese national College English reform. Four aims were established. First, to examine the current situation in a specific institution from the perspectives of: 1) teachers' attitudes towards ICT use in the context of College English reform; 2) the integration of ICT in English classes; 3) provision of ICT support within current continuing professional development (CPD) programmes for EFL teachers. Second, to assess the suitability of the CPD policies and practices for EFL teachers as a way of supporting the national College English reform. Third, to identify key issues affecting the effective provision of CPO in relation to ICT for EFL teachers. Fourth, to suggest possible solutions to problems identified and directions for future research. The study employed a case study involving quantitative and qualitative methods in order to give an in-depth account of the process of implementation of the reform at particular point in time. The findings indicated that initially the majority of teachers had held positive attitudes towards ICT use in English teaching and the national reform, but their enthusiasm was waning in the light of inadequate support and training. The national reform had, however, stimulated the improvement of ICT competence of both teachers and students. At the same time, it had challenged EFL teachers to adapt to new teaching materials, student-centred classroom teaching and how to guide students in their autonomous learning. In terms of ICT-related CPD policies and practices, there existed a gap between the current policies in the provision of CPD and demand for this. Recommendations are made for future research and for improvements in policy and practice of ICT-related CPD for EFL teachers in China.


textabstractSince centuries, cannabis is used for recreational, spiritual and medicinal
purposes. Today, cannabis is one of the most commonly used illicit
substances, also among pregnant women. In the last decades, levels of
Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol in cannabis products have increased, and these
higher levels contributed to our interest for investigating the effects of
cannabis during pregnancy.
The study described in this thesis was embedded within the Generation R
Study, a prospective cohort study from foetal life onwards in a multiethnic
urban population. In this study, we examined the associations of
maternal cannabis use during pregnancy and several offspring outcomes.
In order to determine whether cannabis use affects children because of
intrauterine exposure, the possible influence of confounding factors
should be considered. Moreover, the direct biological effect of
intrauterine exposure was addressed by comparing the strength of the
associations between maternal and paternal cannabis use during
pregnancy and foetal growth using ultrasound measures. Additionally, to
determine whether exposure to cannabis has an intrauterine influence or
not, the timing of exposure was considered as well, i.e. the comparison
between maternal cannabis use only before pregnancy and during
pregnancy was made.
This manuscript described the determinants of maternal cannabis use
during pregnancy. Additionally, it discussed the agreement between
maternal self-report of cannabis use during pregnancy and the presence
of cannabis metabolites in urine. We addressed the association between
maternal and paternal cannabis use and foetal growth and foetal
redistribution observed using ultrasound measurements. Finally, this
thesis focuses on the relation between parental cannabis use and child
behavioural development and verbal and non-verbal cognitive
development.


Abstract. Model simulations of the last glacial maximum (21 ± 2 ka) with the ECHAM3 T42 atmosphere-only, ECHAM5-MPIOM T31 atmosphere-ocean coupled and ECHAM5 T106 atmosphere-only models are compared. The topography, land-sea mask and glacier distribution for the ECHAM5 simulations were taken from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project Phase II (PMIP2) data set while for ECHAM3 they were taken from PMIP1. The ECHAM5-MPIOM T31 model produced its own sea surface temperatures (SST) while the ECHAM5 T106 simulations were forced at the boundaries by this coupled model SSTs corrected from their present-day biases and the ECHAM3 T42 model was forced with prescribed SSTs provided by Climate/Long-Range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction project (CLIMAP). The SSTs in the ECHAM5-MPIOM simulation for the last glacial maximum (LGM) were much warmer in the northern Atlantic than those suggested by CLIMAP or Overview of Glacial Atlantic Ocean Mapping (GLAMAP) while the SSTs were cooler everywhere else. This had a clear effect on the temperatures over Europe, warmer for winters in western Europe and cooler for eastern Europe than the simulation with CLIMAP SSTs. Considerable differences in the general circulation patterns were found in the different simulations. A ridge over western Europe for the present climate during winter in the 500 hPa height field remains in both ECHAM5 simulations for the LGM, more so in the T106 version, while the ECHAM3 CLIMAP-SST simulation provided a trough which is consistent with cooler temperatures over western Europe. The zonal wind between 30° W and 10° E shows a southward shift of the polar and subtropical jets in the simulations for the LGM, least obvious in the ECHAM5 T31 one, and an extremely strong polar jet for the ECHAM3 CLIMAP-SST run. The latter can probably be assigned to the much stronger north-south gradient in the CLIMAP SSTs. The southward shift of the polar jet during the LGM is supported by palaeo-data. Cyclone tracks in winter represented by high precipitation are characterised over Europe for the present by a main branch from the British Isles to Norway and a secondary branch towards the Mediterranean Sea, observed and simulated. For the LGM the different models show very different solutions: the ECHAM3 CLIMAP-SST simulation shows just one track going eastward from the British Isles into central Europe, while the ECHAM5 T106 simulation still has two branches but during the LGM the main one goes to the Mediterranean Sea, with enhanced precipitation in the Levant. This agrees with an observed high stand of the Dead Sea during the LGM. For summer the ECHAM5 T106 simulation provides much more precipitation for the present over Europe than the other simulations, thus agreeing with estimates by the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP). Also during the LGM this model makes Europe less arid than the other simulations. In many respects the ECHAM5 T106 simulation for the present is more realistic than the ECHAM5 T31 coupled simulation and the older ECHAM3 T42 simulation, when comparing them with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis or the GPCP precipitation data. For validating the model data for the LGM, pollen, wood and charcoal analyses were compared with possible summer-green tree growth from model estimates using summer precipitation, minimum winter temperatures and growing degree days (above 5 °C). The ECHAM5 T106 simulation suggests for more sites with findings of palaeo-data, likely tree growth during the LGM than the other simulations, especially over western Europe. The clear message especially from the ECHAM5 T106 simulation is that warm-loving summer-green trees could have survived mainly in Spain but also in Greece in agreement with findings of pollen or charcoal. Southern Italy is also suggested but this could not be validated because of absence of palaeo-data. Previous climate simulations of the LGM have suggested less cold and more humid climate than that reconstructed from pollen findings. Our model results do agree more or less with those of other models but we do not find a contradiction with palaeo-data because we use the pollen data directly without an intermediate reconstruction of temperatures and precipitation from the pollen spectra.


In contemporary epistemology, recent attempts have been made to resist the notion of epistemic blame. This view, which I refer to as 'epistemic blame skepticism,' seems to challenge the notion of epistemic blame by reducing apparent cases of the phenomenon to examples of moral or practical blame. The purpose of this paper is to defend the notion of epistemic blame against a reductionist objection to epistemic blame, offered by Trent Dougherty in "Reducing Responsibility." This paper will object to Dougherty's position by examining an account in favour of epistemic blame and demonstrate concerns over the reductionist methodology employed by Dougherty to argue for his sceptical position.


Enterprises need corporate data quality management (DQM) that combines business-driven and technical perspectives to respond to strategic and operational challenges that demand high-quality corporate data. Hitherto, companies have assigned accountabilities for DQM mostly to IT departments. They have thereby ignored the organisational issues that are critical to the success of DQM. With data governance, however, companies implement corporate-wide accountabilities for DQM that encompass professionals from business and IT. This study examines a large organisation that has adopted an ad-hoc data governance model to manage its data. It was found that its DQM efforts were hampered mainly by the lack of clear roles and responsibilities and the lack of mandate to carry out data quality improvement initiatives. In order to promote effective DQM, this research identifies a data governance structure with the emphasis on collaboration between business and IT to support organisations.


Many machine learning solutions are framed as optimization problems which rely on good hyperparameters. Algorithms for tuning these hyperparameters usually assume access to exact solutions to the underlying learning problem, which is typically not practical. Here, we apply a recent dynamic accuracy derivative-free optimization method to hyperparameter tuning, which allows inexact evaluations of the learning problem while retaining convergence guarantees. We test the method on the problem of learning elastic net weights for a logistic classifier, and demonstrate its robustness and efficiency compared to a fixed accuracy approach. This demonstrates a promising approach for hyperparameter tuning, with both convergence guarantees and practical performance.


While the rational understanding on the therapeutic and preventive care of epidemic diseases have enriched our knowledge, recent outbreak of complicated infectious diseases have presented newest challenges towards humankind. It started from the beginning of 19th century when disease infection from unknown origin preferred its host as human and mass mortality altered the socio-economic strata of various corners of the globe. For instance, human being witnessed some newly emerged global burdens such as HIV, Ebola hemorrhage fever, Zika Virus, Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the last century. Nevertheless, drastic changes in the environment, mutations in genetic composition and increased population extend the chances for new disease emergence. The inception of biomedical research has brought new diagnosis and treatment options; however, the outbreaks are being surprised and caused by new strains or modified strains. Translational biomedicine is a new context in this regard and raised the hope in integrated approaches to develop new diagnostic and treatment methods. In this review, we have summarized timely information about recently reported disease pathologies, which have challenged the world with mass mortality, and discussed about the causative agents, possible treatment strategies and future perspective for respective diseases.


Introduction: Patient and nurse interaction in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) influences patient recovery, care and outcome [1-3]. In particular, it is imperative to build up a nurse-to-patient ratio system for ICU. However, most of evaluation systems are patient oriented, focusing on assessing the patient condition. The assumption made in these evaluation systems is that the sicker the patient, the higher nursing care provision is required. These systems are broad and may not easily differentiate patients needing more or less care. There is no standard method to consistently quantify patient and bedside nurse interaction. This paper presents a new Nurse Motion Tracking System (NMTS), which is developed to track and evaluate nursing motion at the patient bedside, aimed to quantify the time nurses spend on nursing activities.


Aston Business School Research Institute is the administrative centre for all research activities at Aston Business School. The School comprises more than 70 academic staff organised into thematic research groups along with a Doctoral Programme of more than 50 research students. Research is carried out in all of the major areas of business studies and a number of specialist fields. For further information contact:


As a result of the technical progress, processes have to be adjusted. On the one hand, the digital transformation is absolutely necessary for every organization to operate efficient and sustainable, on the other hand whose accomplishment is a tremendous challenge. The huge amount of personal data, which accrue in this context, is an additional difficulty.
Against the background of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), this thesis focuses on process management and ways of optimizing processes in a Human Resources Department. Beside the analysis of already existing structures and workflows, data management and especially the handling of personal data in an application process are examined. Both topics, the process management and the data protection are vitally important by itself, but it is necessary to implement the requirements of data protection within the appropriate position of a corresponding process. Relating to this, the thesis deals with the research question of what barriers may occur by a sustainable process integration and to which extend the GDPR prevent an unobstructed workflow within the Human Resources Department of the Handwerkskammer Koblenz. Additionally, answering the question of which subprocesses are convenient for a process automation is highly significant.
In scope of these questions Business Process Management is the solution. By means of the graphical representation standard, Business Process Model and Notation, a process model with the relevant activities, documents and responsibilities of the recruitment process is designed. Based on a target-actual comparison it becomes apparent, that standardized process steps with less exceptions and a large amount of information are basically convenient for automation respectively partial automation. After the different phases of the recruitment process are documented in detail, a Workflow-Management-System can ex-port the transformed models, so the involved employees just have to carry out a task list with assigned exercises. Against the background of the data protection regulations, access rights and maturities can be determined. Subsequently only authorized employees have admission to the personal data of applicants. Because of impending sanctions by violation against the GDPR, the implementation of the relevant legal foundations within the recruitment process is necessary and appropriate. Relating to the defined research questions, it appears that in principle not every activity is appropriate for a process automation. Especially unpredictable and on a wide range of factors depending subprocesses are unsuitable. Additionally, media discontinuities and redundant data input are obstacles to an enduring process integration. Nevertheless, a coherent consideration of the topics of business process management and the data protection regulations is required.


ABSTRACT A novel double-slit curved wall-jet (DS-CWJ) burner was proposed and utilized for flame synthesis. This burner was comprised of double curved wall-jet nozzles with coaxial slits; the inner slit was for the delivery of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) precursor while the outer one was to supply premixed fuel/air mixture of ethylene (C2H4) or propane (C3H8). This configuration enabled rapid mixing between the precursor and reactants along the curved surface and inside the recirculation zone of the burner. Particle growth of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and their phases was investigated with varying equivalence ratio and Reynolds number. Flow field and flame structure were measured using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) techniques, respectively. The nanoparticles were characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen adsorption Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) for surface area analysis. The flow field consisted of a wall-jet region leading to a recirculation zone, an interaction jet region, followed by a merged-jet region. The DS-CWJ burner revealed appreciable mixing characteristics between the precursor and combustion gases near the nozzle regions, with a slight increase in the axial velocity due to the precursor injection. The precursor supply had a negligible effect on the flame structure. The burner produced a reasonably uniform size (13–18 nm) nanoparticles with a high BET surface area (>100 m2/g). The phase of TiO2 nanoparticles was mainly dependent on the equivalence ratio and fuel type, which impact flame height, heat release rate, and high temperature residence time of the precursor vapor. For ethylene flames, the anatase content increased with the equivalence ratio, whereas it decreased in the case of propane flames. The synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited high crystallinity and the anatase phase was dominant at high equivalence ratios (ϕ > 1.6) for C2H4, and at low equivalence ratios (ϕ < 1.3) for the C3H8 flame.


This research was intended as a mixed methods case study of the initial effectiveness of one school system's Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). It was not until well into the study that it became clear the phenomenon at the root of the this research was actually the broader one of special education parental involvement in the schools, with the Rush County (a pseudonym) School System's Department of Special Education as the case study. Although phenomenological inquiry is primary, the mixed methods research design employed included both thematic development and verification based on data obtained by both qualitative and quantitative means. Quantitative data were collected annually from 2002 through 2005, using a statedeveloped survey instrument sent each spring to half of the families with children receiving special education services. The primary qualitative data were collected from nine individual interviews of PAC charter members. Observational notes, the researcher's field log, and archival documents from the PAC were also examined. The main quantitative findings were that the parents of special education students in Rush County return consistently positive responses when asked yes/no type questions about their children's educational programs. The only areas in which negative responses were more than 20 to 30% concern the parents' own participation in school system activities. The quantitative finding that special education parental involvement in the school system is limited was also one of the qualitative findings. These are the four phenomenological themes developed: vi • "It's all about the kids" (the parent as primary advocate), • "Our own little group" (parents' focus on special education), • "One person can't get it done" (being helped or hindered by a range of others), and • "Get them involved, and then we'll make them care" (the range of parental involvement in the school system). These findings were verified using member checking, peer examination and debriefing, and commentary from a group of university instructors and graduate students who regularly read transcripts with the goal of understanding the essence of each experience described. The main outcome of analyzing these themes was the realization that in public education (particularly special education), as others decrease in proximity to the child, their impact on that child also decreases. The PAC has become more than an advisory committee for the special education director; it is a support and advocacy group for special education parents as well. The discussion of findings explored the possibility that information sharing (support) is taking a primary role because the PAC investigated is still in its early years. The discussion also pointed out that the support, advisory, and advocacy functions of the PAC were all written into its charter from the start. To relate the main result of this research to theory and practice in public education: the parents provide the most support, then the child's teacher to a lesser degree. The parents' view is that the school system and community have very little to do with the day-to-day help the child receives, other than keeping a structure in place for education to occur. Parental involvement is a spectrum and the school system has to have vii methods in place (especially during students' transitions from one school to another) that allow parents to get involved to the levels with which they are comfortable. One way to do this is for school systems that do not already have special education PACs to organize them. A lesson learned from this study is that the PAC will need years to grow and become known and used in the school system and community. Although the move from school to work for special education students has no clear progression, this unfortunate finding can result in a positive outcome since it highlighted the need for public school systems to establish and use special education parent advisory committees as vehicles for home-school-community interaction. This research closes with a recommendation for a follow-up or longitudinal study of Rush County's Special Education PAC as well as for research that would include teachers, school administrators, and the parents of other than school-aged people with disabilities. A related study that specifically correlates parental involvement with outcomes for families could also complement this research.


Since the Adaptation Fund (AF) became operational in 2007, there has been a vivid discussion about equity and efficiency in how resources (predicted to be scarce) are governed and allocated. One complicating factor is that allocation is often discussed between countries rather than between sub-national causes and groups, and while this approach follows from the UNFCCC context, it is problematic because it ignores the fact that vulnerability is a locally contextualized phenomenon. This paper empirically analyses the portrayal of vulnerability and adaptation benefits in project proposals approved by the AF, and thereby comments on the normative principles of equity and efficiency when allocating funds to developing countries and their vulnerable communities. It does this by evaluating actual decisions made by the AF, which has been operating for some time. We qualitatively analyse all proposals approved as of December 2012 by the Fund's Board. First, we compare the ways that 'particular vulnerability' is justified or not, especially in light of the minimal guidance available. Second, we compare project proponent's statements (or lack thereof) on economic, social, and environmental benefits arising from the suggested projects, and who they would accrue to. Lessons learned with regard to allocation will also be important for the development of the Green Climate Fund, considering that resources are likely to be scarce for some time in comparison with predicted funding needs.


Abstract Mangroves are heavily threatened globally, with fuelwood harvesting and charcoal production a growing threat in low-income nations. However, the socio-ecological dynamics of mangroves are poorly understood, especially the roles of poverty and wealth in shaping resource use. This is particularly the case with Madagascar's mangroves, which contribute 2% of global mangrove cover. We report on the use of and threats to mangroves in the Bay of Assassins in south-west Madagascar. We document the production of sokay, a sea-shell based lime produced in mangrove wood kilns and used as a render on houses to improve their durability. Lime rendered houses are considered a status symbol. Growth in the use of lime is related to a rise in income in some households, which is partly a result of the increased commodification of marine products such as octopus, seaweed and sea cucumber. These products have experienced rapid commercialization over the last decade, with fishers now supplying global markets. We also document evidence of the emergence of larger-scale lime production. The growth of lime production has major ramifications for mangrove cover. We have observed a worrying development in mangrove harvesting patterns tied to lime production, where mangrove ecosystems are cleared instead of selectively cut. We consider the implications of our findings for broader debates about the relationship between conservation, poverty and natural resource use. We highlight research priorities and discuss the policy implications of our research, especially the need for the integrated management of ecosystems.


Arielle M. Pinzon PREJUDICE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS NON-RELIGIOUS INDIVIDUALS WITH THE INFLUENCES OF RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION 2007/08 Dr. Frank Epifanio and Dr. Roberta Dihoff Master of Arts in School Psychology The purpose of this study was to examine the connections between prejudice, and religiosity. Data was obtained by administering measures to 45 college students. The first measure was a set of vignettes (A and B) that involved a person who was described as "fairly religious", or "atheist", and a rating scale. The other measure was the Religious Orientation Scale Revised version (Gorsuch & McPherson, 1989). This was used to measure religiosity in terms of intrinsic of extrinsic. T-tests were run to determine the statistical differences between each group, as well as on specific adjectives. Correlation tests were run to determine whether religiosity was related to attitudes toward the individuals described in the vignettes. There was a statistically significant difference between group A and group B. There was also a statistically significant difference between the adjectives: "Spiritual": t(43)=5.458, p=.000, "Reliable": t(43)=2.490, p=.017 and "Honest": t(43)=2.117, p=.040. The following adjectives approached significance: "Moral": t(43)=1.958, p=.057, "Humble": t(43)=1.887, p=.066 and "Insightful": t(43)=1.774, p=.083. The participant's attitudes towards the individuals on the vignettes did not correlate to the scores on the ROS-R scale or subscales.


BACKGROUND
Older people not only consume more medication but they also represent a group at high risk for adverse effects such as injurious falls. This study examines the association between the medications most commonly prescribed to older people in Sweden and fall injuries.

METHODS
This is a population-based, matched, case-control study of 64 399 persons aged ≥ 65 years in Sweden admitted to hospital because of a fall injury between March 2006 and December 2009, and four controls per case matched by gender, date of birth and place of residence. The prevalence of the 20 most commonly prescribed medications was compiled for the 30-day period before the index date. The association between those medications and injurious falls was estimated with odds ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals using conditional logistic regression.

RESULTS
Ten of the top 20 most commonly prescribed medications, and in particular the three medications affecting the central nervous system (CNS), significantly increased the risk of fall injuries (highest for opioids and antidepressants) but not the seven cardiovascular ones, who had a protective effect (lowest for angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and selective calcium channel blockers).

CONCLUSIONS
The adverse effect of several commonly prescribed medications may seriously threaten their positive effects on the well-being and quality of life of older people. Their association with injurious falls is of particular concern as falls are prevalent and often leading to severe consequences. This needs to be acknowledged so physicians and patients can make informed decisions when prescribing and using them.


Abstract Many igneous rocks contain mineral assemblages that are not appropriate for application of common mineral equilibria or oxybarometers to estimate oxygen fugacity. Spinel-structured oxides, common minerals in many igneous rocks, typically contain sufficient V for XANES measurements, allowing use of the correlation between oxygen fugacity and V K pre-edge peak intensity. Here we report V pre-edge peak intensities for a wide range of spinels from source rocks ranging from terrestrial basalt to achondrites to oxidized chondrites. The XANES measurements are used to calculate oxygen fugacity from experimentally produced spinels of known fo2 ${f_{{{\rm{o}}_2}}}$ . We obtain values, in order of increasing fo2 ${f_{{{\rm{o}}_2}}}$ , from IW-3 for lodranites and acapulcoites, to diogenites, brachinites (near IW), ALH 84001, terrestrial basalt, hornblende-bearing R chondrite LAP 04840 (IW+1.6), and finally ranging up to IW+3.1 for CK chondrites (where the ΔIW logfo2 $\log {f_{{{\rm{o}}_2}}}$ of a sample relative to the logfo2 $\log {f_{{{\rm{o}}_2}}}$ of the IW buffer at specific T). To place the significance of these new measurements into context we then review the range of oxygen fugacities recorded in major achondrite groups, chondritic and primitive materials, and planetary materials. This range extends from IW-8 to IW+2. Several chondrite groups associated with aqueous alteration exhibit values that are slightly higher than this range, suggesting that water and oxidation may be linked. The range in planetary materials is even wider than that defined by meteorite groups. Earth and Mars exhibit values higher than IW+2, due to a critical role played by pressure. Pressure allows dissolution of volatiles into magmas, which can later cause oxidation or reduction during fractionation, cooling, and degassing. Fluid mobility, either in the sub-arc mantle and crust, or in regions of metasomatism, can generate values >IW+2, again suggesting an important link between water and oxidation. At the very least, Earth exhibits a higher range of oxidation than other planets and astromaterials due to the presence of an O-rich atmosphere, liquid water, and hydrated interior. New analytical techniques and sample suites will revolutionize our understanding of oxygen fugacity variation in the inner solar system, and the origin of our solar system in general.


Objective: Activating and amplifying γδΤ cells with Mycobacterium tuberculosis low molecular peptide antigen (Mtb-Ag), in order to investigate the expression of CD69 molecules on γδΤ cellular surface. Methods: Activate health human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) separately obtained, PBMCs were stimulated with Mtb-Ag and further isolate positive cells by immuno-magnetic beads selection, measure the proportion of γδΤ cells in the PBMCs by fluorescent monoclonal TCR γδΤ-PE staining and flow cytometry. Then, measure the expression of CD69 molecules in first stimulation and re-stimulation of γδΤ cells by γδ-PE/CD69FITC double staining. Results: The proportion of γδΤ cells were 4.9% in freshly isolated from PBMC, 69.2% after 10 days of Mtb-Ag activation, and 99.3% after immuno-magnetic beads selection. After 24 hours, the expression of CD69 molecules in γδΤ cells with initial Mtb-Ag stimulation arrived at peak at 75.2%. 6 hours later, in the second stimulation, it peaked at 72.0%. Conclusion: Mtb-Ag can specifically stimulate the proliferation of γδΤ cells in the PBMC. Both its initial and the second stimulation can specifically activate γδΤ cells.


Introduction: The aim of this study was anthropometric and physiological characterisation of male and female adventure racing athletes (ARs), and also to compare top and bottom finishers in the Adventure Racing World Championship (ARWC) 2006.Methods: The physiological profile was developed from oxygen uptake during submaximal and maximal exercise on treadmill, cycle- and kayakergometers. The characterisation study included 15 male and 9 female ARs. Additional anthropometric measurements were obtained from 128 participants in the ARWC.Results: The anthropometrics for male ARs were: [mean (95% confidence interval)] age 33 (32-34) years, height 180 (179-181) cm, body mass (BM) 79.4 (78.1-80.7) kg, body fat 17.1 (16.5-17.7) % of BM. Corresponding values for female ARs were: age 31 (30-32) years, height 165 (163-167) cm, BM 61.6 (59.8-63.4) kg, body fat 24.7 (23.6-25.8) % of BM. The men's peak oxygen uptakes were: running 5.02 (4.82-5.22), cycling 4.99 (4.80-5.18), and kayaking 4.05 (3.84-4.26) L/min. Corresponding values for the women were: running 3.26 (3.02-3.50), cycling 3.27 (3.05-3.47), and kayaking 2.59 (2.34-2.84) L/min. The characterized ARs had fractional utilisation in the order: running > cycling > kayaking (best trained in running), indicating that a shift in training regime in favour of kayak training could result in better overall performance. Top male finishers in the ARWC were taller, heavier, had a higher BMI and a trend towards higher body fat than bottom finishers, while there were no such differences among the women. The ARs display a distinct profile, in both anthropometric and physiological aspects, which differs from the specialist athletes'. The ARs have to balance a wide variety of demands, such as sufficient endogenous storage of fat and high ability to carry, against sustained ability to run and perform other BM related tasks.


One of NASA's key mission requirements is robust state estimation. Sensing, using a wide range of sensors and sensor fusion approaches, plays a central role in robust state estimation, and there is a need to diagnose sensor failure as well as component failure. Sensor validation techniques address this problem: given a vector of sensor readings, decide whether sensors have failed, therefore producing bad data. We take in this paper a probabilistic approach, using Bayesian networks, to diagnosis and sensor validation, and investigate several relevant but slightly different Bayesian network queries. We emphasize that onboard inference can be performed on a compiled model, giving fast and predictable execution times. Our results are illustrated using an electrical power system, and we show that a Bayesian network with over 400 nodes can be compiled into an arithmetic circuit that can correctly answer queries in less than 500 microseconds on average.


Psychologists and sociologists have considered the types of leadership and organizational power used to manage and even control employees, communities, and institutions (Raven, 1958). When such dynamics emerge in the comics read across the globe, even those authors caution their protagonists and superheroes to "use power for good not evil…;" yet after reading the articles for this edition, I recognize that the Covid-19 pandemic has re-exposed global power structures and differentials. These power structures have either been used for the good of the people, or for evil to exacerbate the harmful experiences felt by disenfranchised populations.


Cogar Corporation has announced A family of DTL/TTL compatible MOS Read/Write monolithic memories. The new memories are complete subsystems that combine logic and memory functions on a single printed circuit plug-in card. Each module on the card contains up to 2048 bits of memory. Signal buffers, word drivers, sense amplifiers and latches are also included on the same card. One clock generates the required logic timing sequence. The system is based on MOS technology for the storage arrays and bipolar technology for the interface electronics. It is designed to keep the input loading low and provide line driving capability at output.


In April 1986, a survey was conducted to provide information about the policies of local education authorities (LEAs) in the field of road safety education, and their associated activities related to those policies. A one page questionnaire was sent to the chief education officers of 121 LEAs throughout the United Kingdom and 97 (80 per cent) responded. Thirty four of the questionnaires had been completed by road safety officers (RSOs) and so were excluded from the analyses. The responses of the remaining 63 LEAs showed that specific policies for the teaching of road safety education in schools were essentially non existent, though a few LEAs had considered strategies for including it in subjects such as personal, social and health education (PSHE). There was no instance of an LEA being involved in organising courses for teachers in road safety education in conjunction with RSOs. The majority of LEAs reported some level of liaison with road safety agencies, particularly with RSOs, but the initiative had come from RSOs, not from the LEA. Over half of the responding LEAs (38) indicated that schools had links with road safety specialists outside the schools. The implications of these results are discussed in detail (A).


the island of Leyte in the Eastern Visayas takes a central position between the Philippine main islands of Luzon and Mindanao. It is characterized by the Leyte cordillera, which is part of the Philippine fault line. Within the Leyte cordillera, Mt. Pangasugan takes an exceptional role since it provides a catena from lowland forest remnants on its foothills to mossy forest on its summit at 1158 m a.s.l.. recently, Mt. Pangasugan has been identified as conservation priority area classified as of 'extremely high critical' level. Mt. Pangasugan has been the focus of comprehensive botanical studies within the last few years. We present the current status of the floristic assessment of the mountain and introduce the Visayas state University Herbarium, located at the foot of Mt. Pangasugan, where the majority of collected specimens are deposited. At present, the Herbarium houses c. 6100 specimens, 3000 of them originating from the primary forest of Mt. Pangasugan. based on the present status of specimen processing and identification they represent 115 families, and 418 genera of Angiosperms, 2 families, 2 genera, and 3 species of Gymnosperms, 27 families and 64 genera of Pteridophytes, and 3 classes, 38 genera and 51 species of bryophytes. the number of vascular plant species represented in the VsU Herbarium can safely be estimated at c. 800-1000. Given the small overall sampling area intensively studied so far these figures can be assumed as representing just a fraction of the total floristic richness of the area.


Abstract Wild rat pests in the environment cause crop and property damage and carry disease. Traditional methods of reducing populations of these pests involve poisons that can cause accidental exposures in other animals and humans. Fertility management with nonlethal chemicals would be an improved method of rat pest population control. Two chemicals known to target ovarian function in female rats are 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) and triptolide. Additionally, triptolide impairs spermatogenesis in males. A liquid bait containing no active ingredients (control), or containing triptolide (0.001%) and VCD (0.109%; active) was prepared to investigate the potential use of these agents for wild rat pest population control. Liquid bait was made available to male (n = 8 control; n = 8 active) and female (n = 8 control; n = 8 active) Sprague Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus) for oral consumption prior to breeding. Whereas, control bait-treated females produced normal-sized litters (10.0 ± 1.7 pups/litter), treated females delivered no pups. Wild Norway male (n = 20) and female (n = 20) rats (Rattus norvegicus) were trapped, individually housed, and one group given free access to control bait, one group to active bait. Following three cycles of treatment-matched mating pairs, females consuming control bait (control) produced normal litter sizes (9.73 ± 0.73 pups/litter). Females who had consumed active bait (treated) produced no litters on breeding cycles one and two; however, 2 of 10 females produced small litters on the third mating cycle. In a fourth breeding cycle, control females were crossmated with treated males, and treated females were crossmated with control males. In both groups, some dams produced litters, while others did not. The differences in response reflect a heterogeneity in return to cyclicity between females. These results suggest a potential approach to integrated pest management by compromising fertility, and could provide a novel alternative to traditional poisons for reducing populations of wild rat pests.


This paper analyzes the relationship between output, employment, and physical and R&D capital, for a sample of 133 large U.S. firms covering the years 1966 through 197. In the cross sectional dimension, there is a strong relationship between firm productivity and the level of its R&D invespments. In the time dimension, using deviations from fire means as obserrations and unconstrained estimation, this relationship bomes closa to vanishing. This may be due, in part, to the increase in collinearity between trend, physical capital, and R&D cap)tal in the within dimension, leaving little ildependent variability there. When the coefficients of the first two variables are constrained to reasonable values, the R&D coefficient is both sizeable and significant. The possibility of simultaneity between output and employment decisions in the short run is also investigated. Allowing for this via the use of a semi-reduced form equations system yields rather high estimates of the importance of R&D capital relative to physical capital. Our data do not allow us, however, to answer any detailed questions about the lag structure of the effects of R&D on productivity. These effects are apparently highly variable, both in timing and magnitude.


The management of radioactive wastes is a significant environmental issue facing the international nuclear community today. The current international consensus is for disposal of higher activity waste from a variety of sources in deep geological disposal facilities (GDFs). Hydraulic seals, often planned to consist of compacted bentonite-sand blocks, are an important part of the closure phase of a GDF. As such, an understanding of the hydro-mechanical (HM) behaviour of these seals, and the ability to model and predict their behaviour is fundamental to support many planned safety cases and licence applications. Bentonite is well suited for use as a hydraulic seal due to its high swelling capacity that enables it to swell into voids while maintaining a low permeability sealed barrier to advective flow, and to provide structural support by generating a swelling pressure on the excavation walls. The hydro-mechanical process of bentonite hydration is a highly non-linear problem. As such, coupled process models that are able to account for the strong inter-dependence of the hydraulic and mechanical processes are employed to simulate the behaviour of bentonite under repository conditions. This thesis reports the development of an HM coupled model in the open source finite element code OpenGeoSys (OGS), and its application to the simulation of a range of hydraulic seal test conditions. The developed model couples Richards' equation for unsaturated flow to a new strain dependent non-linear elastic mechanical model that incorporates a Lagrangian moving finite element mesh to inform the material non-linearity. Stress and volumetric dependent water retention behaviour are incorporated through the implementation of the Dueck suction concept extended to take into account non-recoverable strains during consolidation. A number of permeability functions are implemented and tested against experimental data. The mechanical model is extended to account for wetting-induced collapse behaviour by the definition of a failure curve derived from experimental results. Similar in definition to the Loading-Collapse curve in elasto-plastic models, this failure curve triggers the application of a source term to account for wetting-induced collapse. Coupling between the hydraulic and mechanical processes is achieved through the stress dependency of the water retention behaviour, the inclusion of a new coupling factor for the hydraulic contribution to the mechanical process, and the dependency of numerical convergence criteria on net mean stress. An explicit iterative calculation approach is employed. As a result, the hydraulic and mechanical moving meshes are decoupled to allow volumetric dependent parameters to be updated within process iterations. The model is calibrated and compared to experimental data from the SEALEX experiments conducted by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) at the Tournemire URL, France. The experimental programme comprises standardised laboratory tests, a 1/10 scale mock-up of a hydraulic seal with a uniform technological void, and a full scale in situ performance test with a non-uniform technological void due to its horizontal geometry. Using a model with 5 hydraulic parameters, 8 mechanical parameters with an experimentally defined failure curve, and one coupling parameter, the major trends of behaviour in all the SEALEX experiments can be recreated, including axial stress build up, water uptake, and final deformation. However, the elastic method employed leads to an over prediction of the rebound on loss of axial confinement in the 1/10 scale mock-up test. Simulations suggest that the non-symmetric technological void in the full scale performance test could have lasting effects on the development of heterogeneity in the hydraulic seal. The development of heterogeneity does not adversely affect the permeability with respect to the design criteria, but may have significant consequences for the development of a heterogeneous swelling pressure.


This paper will try to provide an overview on Jordan's special education programs for children with disabilities. Specifically, this paper will describe the emergence and development of special education services and the providers of these services within the context of Jordanian society. The key issues relevant to special teacher education, early childhood intervention, inclusive education and challenges faced by children with disabilities are also presented. The findings indicate that there are many challenges, including funding and support, inadequate instructional resources and techniques, shortage of pertinent knowledge and training, limited cooperation, and sparse data on children and youth with disabilities. This paper uses secondary data gathered from relevant reports, studies, and the understanding and experience of the author. Implications to improve the current special education practices for these students are discussed in this paper.


Abstract Existing industrial system / machinery availability depends highly on the form and the level of product support. Product support, which is also referred to as after sale service to the product, is important for the customer as well, because it assures the expected function of the product in its operational phase. Product support is affected by different factors, such as reliability and maintainability characteristics and the operating environment of the product. The forecasting of required product support and spare parts based on these factors is one approach for product life cycle cost optimization along with system availability maximization. This paper describes a method to estimate the spare part requirements based on an estimation of reliability of the existing product under the influence of the product-operating environment. Subsequently, in a case study, the management of the spare parts inventory based on the geographical location and required performance of the product will be addressed.


This article is the content of an invited talk given by the authors at the Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-96). The piece begins with a short history of the competition, then discusses the technical challenges and the political and cultural issues associated with bringing it off every year. We also cover the science and engineering involved with the robot tasks and the educational and commercial aspects of the competition. We finish with a discussion of the community formed by the organizers, participants, and the conference attendees. The original talk made liberal use of video clips and slide photographs; so, we have expanded the text and added photographs to make up for the lack of such media.


In this vivid ethnography of social movements in the barrios, or poor shantytowns, of Caracas, Sujatha Fernandes reveals a significant dimension of political life in Venezuela since President Hugo Chavez was elected. Fernandes traces the histories of the barrios, from the guerrilla insurgency, movements against displacement, and cultural resistance of the 1960s and 1970s, through the debt crisis of the early 1980s and the neoliberal reforms that followed, to the Chavez period. She weaves barrio residents' life stories into her account of movements for social and economic justice. Who Can Stop the Drums? demonstrates that the transformations under way in Venezuela are shaped by negotiations between the Chavez government and social movements with their own forms of historical memory, local organization, and consciousness.

Fernandes portrays everyday life and politics in the shantytowns of Caracas through accounts of community-based radio, barrio assemblies, and popular fiestas, and the many interviews she conducted with activists and government officials. Most of the barrio activists she presents are Chavez supporters. They see the leftist president as someone who understands their precarious lives and has made important changes to the state system to redistribute resources. Yet they must balance receiving state resources, which are necessary to fund their community-based projects, with their desire to retain a sense of agency. Fernandes locates the struggles of the urban poor within Venezuela's transition from neoliberalism to what she calls "post-neoliberalism." She contends that in contemporary Venezuela we find a hybrid state; while Chavez is actively challenging neoliberalism, the state remains subject to the constraints and logics of global capital.


Corporations have become the dominant organizational form in modern market economies, managing vast resources. Corporations are however associated with a number of governance problems. This dissertation deals with these corporate governance issues from an investment perspective. The dissertation comprises one introductory chapter and five, from each other independent, essays. These essays can be read independently, but are kept together by a corporate governance and investment theme. The essays mainly contribute to the empirical literature on corporate governance and investment behavior. In chapter 2 a measure of capital allocation, based on the acceleration principle, is estimated across 44 countries. Capital allocation is compared to ownership concentration and indicators of corporate governance. Support for the so-called economic entrenchment hypothesis is found, whereas the legal origin hypothesis is rejected. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 look at corporate governance and investment in Scandinavia, and Sweden in particular. Chapters 3 and 4 look into how ownership concentration affects firm investment performance. Performance is measured with marginal q. How dual-class shares affect this ownership-performance relationship is examined. Dual-class shares are, in chapter 4, found to reduce the so-called incentive effect and enhance the so-called entrenchment effect. The role of profit retentions for investment is examined in chapter 5. Scandinavian firms are found to rely on earning retentions to a higher degree than firms in other countries. Chapter 6 contains an analysis of how the quality of property rights and investor protection affect the cost of capital.


We present the results of a search for W-' boson decaying to electron-neutrino pairs in p (p) over bar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, using a data sample corresponding to 205 pb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab. We observe no evidence for this decay mode and set limits on the production cross section times branching fraction, assuming the neutrinos from W-' boson decays to be light. If we assume the manifest left-right symmetric model, we exclude a W-' boson with mass less than 788 GeV/c(2) at the 95% confidence level.


Word reading partly depends on the activation of sublexical letter clusters. Previous research has studied which types of letter clusters have psychological saliency, but less is known about cognitive mechanisms of letter string parsing. Here, we take advantage of the high degree of context-dependency of the Russian orthography to examine whether consonant–vowel (CV) clusters are treated as units in two stages of sublexical processing. In two experiments using a nonword reading task, we use two orthogonal manipulations: (a) insertion of a visual disruptor (#) to assess whether CV clusters are kept intact during the early visual parsing stage, and (b) presence of context-dependent grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs; e.g., л[а] → /l/; л[я] → /lj/), to assess whether CV clusters remain intact or are split during the print-to-speech conversion stage. The results suggest that although CV clusters are initially processed as perceptual units in the early visual parsing stage, letters and not CV clusters drive print-to-speech conversion.


We report here on recent collections of freshwater crabs from Antsiranana Province, northern Madagascar. The specimens belong to three species, one of which is new to science and is described here. This raises the number of species of freshwater crabs found in Madagascar to 17. All are endemic to the island and all belong to the Afrotropical family Potamonautidae Bott, 1970. The new species, Foza manonae sp. nov., is compared to other species in this genus, and an updated key is provided. It is distinguished from the other three congeners by characters of the male first gonopod, sternum, carapace, and cheliped. The conservation status of the Malagasy freshwater crab fauna is summarized and discussed in light of the new material reported on here belonging to two other species, Madagapotamon humberti Bott, 1965 and Foza ambohitra Cumberlidge & Meyer, 2009.


College students' perceptions of campus norms about alcohol use and the impact of these perceptions on personal alcohol abuse are examined with data (N = 17,592) from a nationwide survey of students at 140 colleges and universities. The student's particular collegiate environment accounted for only a small portion of the overall variation in perceptions of campus drinking norms. Within each campus context perceptions varied widely. More permissive perceptions of the norm were significantly associated with greater personal alcohol abuse even after controlling for personal attitudes, thus suggesting that perceiving a permissive environment encourages students to drink more heavily than they would otherwise based on their personal attitudes. The detrimental impact of perceiving more permissive drinking norms is greatest for students whose own attitudes about drinking are already permissive.