DOI: 10.1355/ae23-2j The Origins of Development Economics: How Schools of Economic Thought Have Addressed Development? Edited by Jomo K.S. and Erik S. Reinert. London and New York: Zed Books, 2005. Pp. 165. The content of The Origin of Development Economics reflects the exacting labours of its editors, Jomo K.S. and Erik S. Reinert. The volume captures the long tradition of development economics and tries to link the early economics traditions with classical development economics from the 1940s onwards. It is shown that pre-Smithian economics has much in common with classical development economics. The book, thus, reviews the history of economic thought to highlight the developmental concerns in earlier economic discussions. It also talks about the second half of the twentieth century, when abstract and formal approaches displaced historically informed and institutionally nuanced discourses. The volume uses a good mix of theoretical and empirical analysis. The book should prove to be useful to both academics and policy-makers in opening up new ways of looking at economic development. The book contains eight different essays. The organizational principle of the volume is mainly chronological and flows from general to the practical. In the first three chapters of the book, Erik and Sophus Reinert offer fascinating surveys of mercantilism, the Italian tradition associated with its city-states, and the later German economic tradition. In mercantilism, it is argued that development economics originated during the Renaissance and the poor nations of Europe copied the economic structure of rich nations to force the inhabitants into activities that yielded a better standard of living. The Italian tradition focused on the developments of the 1600s and 1700s and favoured the role of the state in leading and co-ordinating economic transition and progress. It has been argued that England's penetration of world markets in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries occurred only with the help of royal charters as it gave certain privileges to specific sectors of the economy. As for the German economics tradition, it has always stressed on development economics in the sense that it focuses on technology and new knowledge, production, policies based on morality and on the context. Its approach always produced a theory where economic growth is both activity-specific and uneven. In the next chapter, Mushtaq Khan surveys the historical debate over capitalist transformation. He argues that as a precondition for efficient markets, development theories need a structure of stable property rights. Yet, property rights often fail to account for larger social transformation, which is necessary for further economic development. Hence, today, economists not only need to identify the institutions and interventions, but also need to understand the structure from which they arise. …


Surface tension, conductivity, and ultraviolet spectroscopic methods have been employed to study the dimensional fit molecular encapsulation of hydrazinophthalazine hydrochloride insight into the cavity of β-cyclodextrin in aqueous media. The equilibrium constant and 1:1 stoichiometry of the complex has been analyzed by surface tension (plot against reciprocal of concentration), and Job's plot (drawn from UV-vis data). The binding constants computed from the tensiometric and spectroscopic method were found to be 59.91 μM-1 and 12.02-96.58 μM-1, respectively, that return the comfort zone of the results. The noteworthy upshot has also come out from standard Gibbs energy for inclusion complex formation. The free energy for inclusion complex is negative and lower in magnitude than adsorption by 6.11 kJ mol-1. 1HNMR and SEM picture also certified the formation of the inclusion complex. The results demonstrated that the driving force for formation of the inclusion complex inside the bucket-like cavity of β-cyclodextrin was a combination of hydrophobic effect and reduction of the surface energy, while in adsorption is only hydrophilic effect.


PurposeThis study aims to identify antecedents to noncompliance behavior influenced by decision contexts where investments in time, effort and resources are devoted to a task – referred to as a task unlikely to be completed without violating the organization's information security policy (ISP).Design/methodology/approachAn empirical test of the suggested relationships in the proposed model was conducted through a field study using the survey method for data collection. Pre-tests, pre-study, main study and a follow-up study compose the frame of our methodology where more than 500 respondents are involved across different organizations.FindingsThe results confirm that the antecedents that explain the escalation of commitment behavior in terms of the effect of lost assets, such as time, effort and other resources, give us a new lens to understand noncompliance behavior; employees seem to escalate their commitments to the completion of their tasks at the expense of becoming noncompliant with ISP.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the key areas that requires further attention from this study is to better understand the role of risk perceptions on employee behavior when dealing with value conflicts. Depending on how risk-averse or risk seeking an employee is, the model showed no significant support in either case to influence their noncompliance behavior. The authors therefore argue that employees' noncompliance may be influenced by more powerful beliefs, such as self-justification and sunk costs.Practical implicationsThe results show that when employees are caught in tasks undergoing difficulties, they are more likely to increase noncompliance behavior. By understanding better how project obstacles result in such tasks, security managers can define new mechanisms to counter employees' shift from compliance to noncompliance.Social implicationsApart from encouraging compliance with enforcement mechanisms (using direct behavioral controls like sanctions or rewards), indirect behavior controls may also encourage compliance. The authors suggest that the ISPs should state that the organization would take positive actions toward task completion and help their employees to resolve their problems quickly.Originality/valueThis study is the first to tackle escalation of commitment theories and use antecedents that explain the effect of lost assets, such as time, effort and other resources can also explain noncompliance with ISP in terms of the value conflicts, where employees would often choose to forego compliance at the expense of finishing their tasks.


This paper explores the cycling between incarceration and homelessness among 18 women in Calgary, Alberta and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan employing community based research and arts-based research. Women who participated in the study highlighted the personal obstacles and societal barriers encountered before and after incarceration while identifying gaps in services. The objectives of the research were four fold: (1) to more fully understand the issues of homelessness and incarceration as it affects women, specifically Aboriginal women; (2) to work with women with lived experiences of homelessness and incarceration, community partners, and other collaborators to promote a greater understanding of these issues; (3) to provide recommendations and advocate for programming and policy changes to reduce the occurrence and harm associated with homelessness and incarceration for women; and (4) to effectively disseminate the findings to diverse audiences aimed at primary prevention strategies and improving services to reduce homelessness, recidivism, and other harms. Findings highlight the need for prevention and intervention supports for women living in poverty and the need to address the systemic and institutional racism and sexism that continue to deny women the right to a living income, safe and affordable housing, and human dignity.


Abstract The sporophyte of Hymenodon tenellus is newly described. Comparison of types and further specimens allows to clarify the identity in New Caledonia of Bryum daenikeri and Macromitrium serpens and assign them respectively to B. pancheri and M. tongense. Four new species of liverworts: Andrewsianthus chimbuensis, Lejeunea stenodentata, Plagiochila integrilobula and Radula lingulata and new localities of Mitthyridium flavum and Trichosteleum stigmosum are reported.


Prairie dogs and the grassland habitat in which they play a key ecological role have declined precipitously over the past two centuries. The current number of prairie dogs is believed to be less than 2 percent of the number encountered by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s, and only a fraction of grassland ecosystem remains. "Conservation of the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog" offers specific information to help scientists and managers develop rigorous plans for ensuring the long-term survival of the prairie dog and its habitat. With contributions from thirty leading biologists who are actively working to save prairie dogs, the book addresses a range of pivotal issues including the ecology and social behavior of prairie dogs; the prairie dog's role as a keystone species; factors that have led to drastic population declines; practical solutions for protecting the prairie dog and its grassland ecosystem; and concerns of farmers and ranchers who view prairie dogs as a nuisance and a threat to their livelihoods. Extensively illustrated with tables, figures, photos, and charts, and thoroughly referenced with more than 700 citations, the book is a unique and vital contribution for anyone concerned with prairie dogs, prairie dog conservation, or the conservation and management of grassland ecosystems.


Plastic rocks can creep, therefore the knowledge of the rheological properties of the drilled formations is an important element of the drilling process and when choosing borehole designs. These properties of plastic formations also influence the way in which appropriate drilling technology and drilling mud properties are selected. The article presents the effect of basic rheological parameters of salt from the Fore-Sudetic Monocline deposit on the drilling of boreholes in the mining area of KGHM Polska Miedź, which in the future can be used as a good drilling practice to improve the safety and efficiency of drilling. The process of drilling in plastic rocks may be hindered. Salt is a plastic rock and in the analyzed rock mass it is deposited at a considerable depth. The caprock exerts big loads on it, beside the temperature in the deposit intensifies the rheological properties of the rock. The creep process causes that the borehole contracts, therefore the knowledge about the rheological properties of the drilled rock is very important for establishing the safe time in which the well may remain uncased. The paper is devoted to the influence of basic rheological parameters of salt bed in the Fore-Sudetic Monocline on the process of drilling of a borehole in the area of KGHM Polska Miedź as these data can be used in drilling practice in the future.


In this paper, we formulate a mathematical model to study how tobacco smoking affects antiretroviral therapy. The model is based on the fact that smoking induces metabolism of ARVs and HIV patient addiction to smoking affects adherence to drugs. Equilibrium states and effective reproduction number $R_{ef}$ are computed. Conditions for equilibria stability are derived. The model shows that in the absence of tobacco smoking and HIV, disease free equilibrium is stable when $R_{ef} 1$. The analysis shows that tobacco smoking decreases the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy and this effect is critical when smoking induces metabolism of antiretroviral drugs by $30\%$ to $70\%$. Even if a HIV infected smoker remains adherent to therapy, still the effect of tobacco smoking on drugs' efficacy is inevitable. For management of HIV epidemic and its therapy, abstinence from smoking by HIV patients is recommended.


There is a growing body of literature recognizing the benefits of Open Data. However, many potential data providers are unwilling to publish their data and at the same time, data users are often faced with difficulties when attempting to use Open Data in practice. Despite various barriers in using and publishing Open Data still being present, studies which systematically collect and assess these barriers are rare. Based on this observation we present a review on prior literature on barriers and the results of an empirical study aimed at assessing both the users' and publishers' views on obstacles regarding Open Data adoption. We collected data with an online survey in Austria and internationally. Using a sample of 183 participants, we draw conclusions about the relative importance of the barriers reported in the literature. In comparison to a previous conference paper presented at the conference for E-Democracy and Open Government, this article includes new additional data from participants outside Austria, reports new analyses, and substantially extends the discussion of results and of possible strategies for the mitigation of Open Data barriers.


For many young people, the time between one's late teenage years and early twenties encompasses several important milestones, including graduating from high school, attending college, entering the workforce, and beginning to establish economic independence. However, 12.3 percent of young people in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 — 4.9 million young people in total — are neither in school nor working. These "disconnected" or "opportunity" youth face serious challenges to achieving success in the labor market and self-sufficiency in adulthood.
The Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) is intended to help reengage young people who have fallen off track, thereby reducing their risk of long-term economic hardship. The New York City Center for Economic Opportunity and the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development oversee the program and community-based provider organizations throughout the city deliver it. YAIP offers young people a 10- to 12-week paid internship, along with various other services, including job-readiness workshops and activities; individual support, counseling, and assessments; case management; and follow-up services.
MDRC is conducting a random assignment evaluation of YAIP to determine whether the program makes a difference in the lives of the young people it serves. The study is part of the larger Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration, sponsored by the Administration of Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. From July 2013 to March 2014, nearly 2,700 young people were assigned, at random, to either a program group, which was offered YAIP services, or to a control group, which was not offered those services. The study will measure outcomes for both groups over time to assess whether YAIP services led to better outcomes for the program group compared with the control group.
This is the first major report in the YAIP evaluation. It provides a detailed description of the YAIP model, assesses its implementation, and examines whether the program improved key outcomes during the first year after young people were enrolled in the study. Main findings include:
• Overall, YAIP was well-implemented. The program was delivered very similarly across providers with a high degree of fidelity to the program model as designed. Participation rates were high: over three-fourths of young people assigned to the program group worked in a subsidized internship and 86 percent of those young people completed the internship.
• Program group members were more likely than control group members to report receiving employment services, as well as advice or support and mentorship from staff members at an agency or organization. However, substantial numbers of control group members also reported receiving help in these areas.
• Program group members were more likely than the control group members to work in the year following random assignment, but the quarterly employment rates of the two groups converged after the YAIP internships ended. The program group also had higher earnings than the control group; while largest during the time when program group members were working in paid internships, impacts on earnings persisted throughout the follow-up period, suggesting that program group members may have obtained better jobs compared with their control group counterparts.
A report planned for release in 2018 will present YAIP's final impact results, with a longer-term follow-up of 30 months, as well as the results of a benefit-cost analysis.


Motivation: DnaSP is a software package for a comprehensive analysis of DNA polymorphism data. Version 5 implements a number of new features and analytical methods allowing extensive DNA polymorphism analyses on large datasets. Among other features, the newly implemented methods allow for: (i) analyses on multiple data files; (ii) haplotype phasing; (iii) analyses on insertion/deletion polymorphism data; (iv) visualizing sliding window results integrated with available genome annotations in the UCSC browser. Availability: Freely available to academic users from: http://www.ub.edu/dnasp Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com


The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is the compilation of national safety research that provides quantitative methods for analyzing highway safety. The HSM presents crash modification functions related to freeway work zone characteristics such as work zone duration and length. These crash modification functions were based on freeway work zones with high traffic volumes in California. When the HSM-referenced model was calibrated for Missouri, the value was 3.78, which is not ideal since it is significantly larger than 1. Therefore, new models were developed in this study using Missouri data to capture geographical, driver behavior, and other factors in the Midwest. Also, new models for expressway and rural two-lane work zones that barely were studied in the literature were developed. A large sample of 20,837 freeway, 8,993 expressway, and 64,476 rural two-lane work zones in Missouri was analyzed to derive 15 work zone crash prediction models. The most appropriate samples of 1,546 freeway, 1,189 expressway, and 6,095 rural two-lane work zones longer than 0.1 mile and with a duration of greater than 10 days were used to make eight, four, and three models, respectively. A challenging question for practitioners is always how to use crash prediction models to make the best estimation of work zone crash count. To solve this problem, a user-friendly software tool was developed in a spreadsheet format to predict work zone crashes based on work zone characteristics. This software selects the best model, estimates the work zone crashes by severity, and converts them to monetary values using standard crash estimates. This study also included a survey of departments of transportation (DOTs), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) representatives, and contractors to assess the current state of the practice regarding work zone safety. The survey results indicate that many agencies look at work zone safety informally using engineering judgment. Respondents indicated that they would like a tool that could help them to balance work zone safety across projects by looking at crashes and user costs.


AIM
To investigate the changing pattern of beta-catenin expression and its prognostic value in advanced colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS
Archival tumor samples were analyzed for beta-catenin using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 95 patients with advanced CRC.

RESULTS
Membranous beta-catenin expression was found in the normal colorectal epithelium. Almost 100% of CRC cases showed membranous and cytoplasmic expression, and 55 (58%) cases showed nuclear expression. In univariate (Kaplan-Meier) survival analysis, only the nuclear index (NI) was a significant predictor of disease free survival (DFS) (P = 0.023; n = 35), with a NI above the median associated with longer DFS (34.2 mo) than those with a NI below the median (15.5 mo) (P = 0.045, ANOVA). The other indices were not significant predictors of DFS, and none of the three tested indices (for membranous, cytoplasmic, or nuclear expression) predicted disease-specific survival (DSS). However, when dichotomized as positive or negative nuclear expression, the former was a significant predictor of more favorable DFS (P = 0.041) and DSS (P = 0.046).

CONCLUSION
Nuclear beta-catenin expression provides additional information in predicting patient outcome in advanced CRC.


Statement of the problem: One of the major challenges in the field of urban research is the lack of trust between policymakers and researchers. As a result of this challenge, while preventing researchers from the key decision-making and policy-making processes, inadequate resources are being allocated to the research sector. The main policymakers and manager's argument is that the work of the researchers is far from the realities of the implementation and practice. By creating a vicious cycle, this issue has led to the weakened and underdeveloped infrastructure and research capacities in faculties, and the theoretical and practical weaknesses of the applied research in various areas of urban management studies. The current study aims to analyze and study strategies for promoting the use of research in decisions made by Tehran urban management system. Purpose: This study aims at investigating and analyzing the current process of defining, implementing and leadership of urban research projects in the urban management system of the country. The main approach for this purpose is evidence-based policy-making which provide some solutions for improvement. Method: The research method in this study is "case study" and its type is "single instrumental case study". Having analyzed a wide range of research studies on the field of research utilization, this paper develops an analytical framework based on the "supply and demand" model. Then, using this analytical framework, the mechanism for defining, implementing, leading and extracting the results of research projects at the Tehran Urban Planning & Research Center is analyzed and eventually, it has become evident that the current mechanism needs specific strengthening interventions for demand sectors. Conclusion: This paper provides two main results. Firstly, an analytical framework for investigating and analyzing research organizations mechanism in the public sector. Secondly, a proposal to establish a structure entitled "Office for the Empowerment of Urban Management Research" in the current mechanism for managing applied research in Tehran Urban Management System. The specific mission of this structure is developing "policy capacity" and "institutional capacity".


We consider the Cauchy problem for the system ∂tui + divz(g(|u|)ui) = 0, i ∈ {1,…, k}, in m space dimensions and with g ∈ C3. When k ≥ 2 and m = 2, we show a wide choice of g's for which the bounded variation (BV) norm of admissible solutions can blow up, even when the initial data have arbitrarily small oscillation and arbitrarily small total variation, and are bounded away from the origin. When m ≥ 3, we show that this occurs whenever g is not constant, that is, unless the system reduces to k decoupled transport equations with constant coefficients.


The influence of biopolymer starch as corrosion inhibitor on 6061 Al-15 vol. pct. SiC(p) composite in 0.05M hydrochloric acid was studied by potentiodynamic
polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. The surface morphology was
studied using SEM, EDX, AFM and XRD techniques. The results showed that the inhibition efficiency of starch increased with increasing inhibitor concentrations and also with increase in temperatures. Starch acted as a mixed inhibitor and underwent chemical adsorption following Langmuir adsorption isotherm.


A study was carried out in the Teaching and Research Farm of Delta State University, Asaba Campus from August to December in 2005 and repeated between March and July, 2006 to evaluate the response of maize (Zea mays) to liquid organic fertilizer. The study was conducted using a split plot fitted into randomized complete block design. Liquid organic fertilizer was diluted at the rate of 60 ml of the product to 15 litres of water and applied to maize foliage, topsoil, foliage and topsoil at the rates of 5l/ha, 10l/ha, 151/ha, l8l/ha, 201/ha and 251/ha. The result obtained indicated a positive influence of liquid organic fertilizer on time of tasselling, time of silking and grain yield of maize. Liquid organic fertilizer significantly reduced the times of tasselling and silking, and increased grain yield of maize. Based on this study, it is recommended that 151/ha of liquid organic fertilizer which produced 5.6tha' in 2005 and 6.1tha' of dry grain yield 2006 be applied on the topsoil of maize plant with a view to maximally exploit the great economic potentials of the crop.


Internal mass transport limitations inside Fischer–Tropsch catalysts due to the slow diffusion of reactants in the liquid-filled pores may significantly alter the selectivity and achievable productivity. In this work, diffusive restrictions for planar catalyst layers were investigated by mathematical modeling and simulation. A one-dimensional model utilizing empirical kinetics, incorporating transport pores as an additional pathway for mass transport and taking into account heat production, allows for calculation of catalyst efficiency and productivity towards C5+ products. As diffusional mass transport leads to strong concentration gradients that impair selectivity, an optimum layer thickness with maximum C5+ productivity can be found. Additional transport pores enhance the mass transport but reduce the amount of active phase, which requires a trade-off by optimizing the fraction of transport pores and layer thickness. For reference conditions, the catalyst layer with an ideal amount of transport pores and ideal thickness exhibits a productivity that is about 47% higher than that for the best layer without transport pores. This improvement requires transport pores with diameters not larger than about 60 μm. While the improvement potential significantly depends on the effective diffusivities, the effect of heat generation was found to be negligible.


The problem of clustering large data sets has attracted a lot of current research.
The approaches taken are mainly based either on the more efficient implementation or
modification of existing methods or/and on the construction of clusters from a small
sub-sample of the data and then the assignment of all observations in those clusters.
The current paper focuses on the latter direction. An alternative supervised procedure
to create the clusters is proposed. For learning the clusters, the procedure is using
subsets of the data which are still constructed via sub-sampling but within partitions of
the observation space. The general applicability of the approach is discussed together
with tuning the parameters that it depends on to increase its ability. The procedure
is applied to clustering the navigation patterns in the msnbc.com database.


The Ohio State University Wind Ensemble musicians are the finest wind and percussion performers, both graduate and undergraduate, at the Ohio State University. These gifted young players will present an exciting program that displays their remarkable range of musical and dramatic capability. Youthful and dynamic, conductor Gary Lewis is in his premiere season as OSU director of bands. He comes to OSU from the University of Michigan, where he served as director of the Michigan Marching Band and as conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Contemporary Directions Ensemble. Professor Lewis is active as a guest conductor throughout the United States and is highly respected in the realm of both wind ensemble and orchestral conducting. Clarinet soloist Kathleen Gardiner, holds a prestigious Research and Graduate Council Fellowship and is a doctoral candidate at OSU. She was the first place winner of the International Clarinet Association solo competition in 1994 and the Eastman School of Music concerto competition in 1993. As a professional performer Ms. Gardiner serves as principal clarinet of the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra.


Sum-product networks (SPNs) are a new class of deep probabilistic models. SPNs can have unbounded treewidth but inference in them is always tractable. An SPN is either a univariate distribution, a product of SPNs over disjoint variables, or a weighted sum of SPNs over the same variables. We propose the first algorithm for learning the structure of SPNs that takes full advantage of their expressiveness. At each step, the algorithm attempts to divide the current variables into approximately independent subsets. If successful, it returns the product of recursive calls on the subsets; otherwise it returns the sum of recursive calls on subsets of similar instances from the current training set. A comprehensive empirical study shows that the learned SPNs are typically comparable to graphical models in likelihood but superior in inference speed and accuracy.


This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of motivation on staff retention at
NMB PLC. The main objective was to investigate the effectiveness of employee
motivation in NMB Pic and how to improve the motivation so as to reduce employee
turnover. The specific objectives were first to determine the level of employee
turnover in NMB Pic; secondly, to determine the causes for staff turnover; and
thirdly, to determine employees' opinion about the company. Research questions
that guided the study were: what is the level of employee turnover at NMB Pic?
What are the causes of employee turnover; what are employees' opinions about
NMB, structured questionnaires, face to face interview, telephone communication
questions and e-mail questions. Both primary and secondary data were collected.
Data collection was done by the researcher using structured questionnaires, face to
face interview, telephone communication questions and e-mail questions. Data
analysis was done using bivariate and multivariate techniques with the help of
statistical package for scientific sciences together with excel technique. Different
motivational theories were discussed to guide the study. The findings show that, low
salaries were the most motivating factor that affect employee turnover.


Although it is widely suspected that a leader's use of humor can have an enhancing effect on follower performance, relatively little empirical evidence has been gathered that clearly substantiates this belief (Duncan, Smeltzer, and Leap, 1990). Generally, scholarship devoted to the topic of humor in the workplace has been suggestive of how humor might impact group climate or organizational culture (Collinson, 1988; Holmes and Marra, 2002; Linstead, 1985; Lundberg, 1969; Robinson and Smith-Lovin, 2001) or build unit cohesion (Lennox-Terrion and Ashforth, 2002). In his early article, Malone (1980) argued that humor may contribute to enhancing both employee satisfaction and performance. Duncan (1982) linked humor to stimulating better communications as well as group cohesiveness, and linked these variables to better individual performance. In a later review of the literature on humor, Duncan et al. (1990) pointed to social psychological evidence of performance effects due to humor, as well as possible gender differences in response to humor. Additionally, Csikszentmihalyi (1996) provided support for the proposition that humor may stimulate creative thinking and innovation, while Ziv (1976) demonstrated that exposure to humor can enhance creativity in a laboratory setting. More recently, Cooper (2005) suggested that humor can be a type of ingratiatory behavior that can induce a favorable mood. In her conceptual framework for understanding humor as a form of ingratiation, Cooper linked humor to employee effectiveness. Christopher and Yan (2005), in a discussion of organizational culture, suggested that humor can also help to build interpersonal work relationships and, thereby, impact larger organizational outcomes. From a broader perspective, evidence reported by Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, and Staw (2005), George (1990, 1995), and Isen, Daubman, and Nowicki (1987) indicates that positive affect and mood are related to creativity and performance in a direct, linear fashion. In one of the few empirical studies of the role of humor in a particular organizational setting, Avolio, Howell, and Sosik (1999) assessed the attitudes and behaviors of 115 managerial leaders and their 322 subordinates in a large financial institution. Specifically, these researchers asked followers to describe their manager's leadership behavior (on dimensions of transformational, contingent reward, and laissez-faire leadership) and use of tension-reducing humor. Analyses of the dependent measures of subordinate and work-unit performance revealed that humor had both a positive main-effect and a moderator-effect when considered in conjunction with subordinate descriptions of leader behavior. Specifically, they found that transformational leadership was more positively related to unit performance for leaders who made high use of humor (relative to low use), and that contingent reward leadership and laissez-faire leadership (contrary to their predictions) were more negatively related to performance (at both unit and individual levels) for leaders who made high use of humor (relative to low use). It should perhaps be noted at this point that tension-reducing humor is also the focus of the present study. However, tension-reducing humor is only one of three major theoretical perspectives for understanding the role of humor: superiority, incongruity, and relief (or tension-reducing). Superiority theories of humor contend that humor originates in feelings of perceived superiority over another (Foot, 1986). Research on this form of humor has dealt with aggressive and disparaging aspects of humor. Incongruity theories focus on humor arising from the unanticipated discovery of an inconsistency (Berger, 1976). Relief theories, however, focus on laughter as providing a discharge for pent-up energy or tension (Berlyne, 1972; Giles et al., 1976). The Question of Context The import of this previous theory and research is that the use of humor by a leader can have a positive impact on follower job performance through a variety of social mechanisms. …


Advanced polymeric materials, such as ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) are used in lightweight body armour because of their combination of good impact resistance with light weight. However, a broader use of such materials is limited by the complexity and cost of the manufacturing processes and the lack of experimental data on their behaviour and failure evolution under high strain-rate loading conditions. The current study deals with an investigation of the internal heat generation during the tensile testing of UHWMPE and polymer nano-composite blends at various strain rates. A 3D finite element (FE) model of the tensile test is developed and validated with the experimental work. An elastic-plastic material model is used with adiabatic heat generation. The temperature and stresses obtained with the FE analysis are found to be in a good agreement with the experimental results for UHMWPE materials. The model can be used as a simple and cost effective tool to predict the thermo-mechanical behaviour of parts made from these materials under various loading conditions.


Although the effect of teaCher expectations on student performance has been well documented, little research has focused on the et-fact of teacher personality styles on student-teacher interactions. To investigate the effect of teachers' locus of control and their expectations of their own effectiveness on student success, 77 female college students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes were administered the Rotter Locus of Control Scale; subjects scoring in the upper and lower one third. of the distribution were then assigned to one of four treatment conditions: positive/negative studint expectation or positive/negative teacher expectation. They were then assigned as teachers in 4-,,contrived session in which each teacher taught a student confederate an eleven-word vocabulary list and administered a quiz: After the lesson, teachers rated their attitudes toward the student, the lesson, and their perfokmance. An analysis of the results showed that teachers in the positive student expectation group rated the student as having more ability than did those in the negative condition; and teachers in the positive teacher expectation condition thought they had significantly more ability than those in the negative teacher condition. Teachers in the positive teacher expectation condition also tended to rate their students more positively. Subjects with an internal locus of control were more susceptible to information about their students' competence than were subjects with an external locus of'control. Neither internal nor external locus of,control subjects showed any susceptibility to information about their own expected ability. (SL) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ***********************************************************************


Sediment cores from three sites along the east-coast of Sweden, north-western Baltic Proper, have been studied with respect to lithologies, geochemistry and diatom assemblages to trace and date early human impact with emphasis on nutrient discharge. The three sites Braviken, Himmerfjarden and Adfjarden, have been impacted to various degree during the last millennia by multiple stressors like excessive nutrient discharge and hazardous substances, leading to coastal hypoxia, eutrophication and pollution. These stressors are mainly caused by drivers in the drainage area as increased human population, changed land use and point sources as industries and a sewage treatment plant. Even though their detailed history differs, the results show similar general patterns for all three sites. We find no evidence in our data from the coastal zone supporting the hypothesis that the extensive areal distribution of hypoxia in the open Baltic Sea during the Medieval Climate Anomaly was caused by human impact. Timing of the onset of man-made eutrophication, as identified from δ15N and changes in diatom composition, differs between the three sites, reflecting the site specific geography and local environmental histories of these areas. The onset of eutrophication dates to ~1800 CE in Braviken and Himmerfjarden areas, and to ~1900 CE in the less urban area of Adfjarden. We conclude that the recorded environmental changes during the last centuries are unique in a thousand year perspective.


ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 15 INCREASINGLY A TOPIC OF GREAT CONCERN AND/OR academic interest for community activists and scholars in a number of countries. Within the last four years, for instance, international conferences on environmental justice have been held in Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and South Africa, [1] and a research group based in England studied access to environmental justice in seven cities in Africa and Asia (Harding, Anderson, and Jenkins, 1997). [2] In this article, definitions of environmental justice are discussed and the term is compared to environmental injustice, environmental equity, and environmental racism. The article also reviews, for the first time, selected activities that have been explicitly labeled as environmental justice initiatives by nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations, and/or governments in four countries -- Canada, Israel, the United States, and South Africa. Environmental Justice: Definition and Principles It is probably true that "examples of...social justice environmentalism can be found in every country on the planet, organized from the bottom up, linking community-based concerns to national and international political and economic contexts" (Johnston, 1994: 225). This article, however, discusses only organizations or initiatives that specifically define themselves as having an environmental justice emphasis. Environmental justice, as the term is used most frequently in the United States, focuses on the environmental problems (in terms of programs, policies, and/or activities) disproportionately faced by those with the least power. In the United States, these groups would be minority and low-income populations. [3] Although the term "environmental justice" is becoming a popular concept, the focus really is environmental injustice. The decision to use the term justice rather than injustice is interesting both legally and socially. "Environmental justice" pushes us to think about a negative situation by using a positive term. Equivalent concepts with the same positive ring are "environmental equity" or "human rights and the environment." Environmental injustice also has been called environmental racism. Environmental racism (Mohai and Bryant, 1992; Bullard, 1994a, 1994b; Westra and Wenz, 1995; Kraft and Scheberle, 1995) is a strong term chosen by some because they believe that racism frequently or always is the root of a problem. Their concern is perhaps that using "environmental justice" dilutes the central analysis of racism or could even prevent an analyst from mentioning the possibility of racism. Others prefer the term environmental justice because what may have been a racist decision at one time, for instance, may have been perpetuated for reasons other than racism. Because environmental problems often develop over a long period of time and are complicated, these analysts prefer to use the general term environmental justice and, when a specific situation warrants, the term environmental racism. Robert Bullard (1995: 4-8), Ware Professor of Sociology and Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, has written extensively about environmental justice. He has noted that: unequal environmental protection undermines three basic types of equity: procedural (rules, regulations, evaluation criteria, and enforcement are applied in a nondiscriminatory way); geographic (proximity to environmental hazards such as landfills, incinerators...), and social (role of sociological factors such as race, ethnicity, class, culture...in environmental decision-making). Bullard (1995:9-20) has advised governments that they will have to adopt five basic principles of environmental justice if they wish to end unequal environmental protection. The principles are: guarantee the right to environmental protection; eliminate environmental threats before harm occurs; shift the burden of proof from citizens having to show they have been harmed to potential polluters having to prove that their operations will not harm; assure that laws allow "disparate impact and statistical weight" rather than requiring proof of intent to discriminate; and put resources where "environmental and health problems are the greatest. …


EDUCARE journal will provide a peer-reviewed forum for the publication of thought-leadership articles, briefings, discussion, applied research, case and comparative studies, expert comment and analysis on the key issues surrounding the educational studies in general and its various aspects. Analysis will be practical and rigorous in nature. The EDUCARE journal, with Print ISSN 1979-7877, was firstly published on 17 August 2008, in the context to commemorate the Independence Day in Indonesia. Since issues of February 2009 to February 2016, EDUCARE journal was organized by the Lecturers of FKIP UMP (Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto) in Central Java; and published by Minda Masagi Press, as an academic publishing owned by ASPENSI (the Association of Indonesian Scholars of History Education) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The EDUCARE journal is published twice a year, i.e. every August and February. Bandung, Indonesia: February 27, 2017. Prof. Dr. Haji Endang Komara Secretary of Expert Board of ASPENSI (the Association of Indonesian Scholars of History Education) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.


Virtual reality, as the name implies, is implicitly evaluated by its ability to reproduce or imitate aspects of reality, particularly in ways that convince users that they are physically present in the virtual space. This approach to the medium, a form of immediacy, effaces the material reality of the medium and can obscure the ways through which a medium can offer new forms of knowledge. Virtual reality's realism is a construct, and by acknowledging this, creators can push the medium to more experimental and novel ends. The framework of embodied montage proposed in this thesis seeks to provide an expressive vocabulary and techniques for creating virtual reality work that accounts for the material aspects of the medium. Drawing on theoretical research from film and media theory, analyzing existing virtual reality work, and discussing the process of creating an original virtual reality work, I analyze the 3D capture and interaction design process. I offer the term machine vision perspective to describe the process of experiencing such images through virtual reality systems. This process provides a ground to experiment with embodied modes of thinking that are not possible with the human body situated in the real world. This makes embodied montage, a novel framework proposed by this thesis, possible. Embodied montage is the decoupling and recoupling of action and perception in virtual reality experiences in order to generate new meanings, similar to montage in film. Drawing on film theory, media history and cognitive science, this framework creates a territory for creative expression that challenges embodied cognitive structures and could effectively use the medium in ways that are distinguished from other media forms. Thesis Supervisors William Uricchio, Professor, Comparative Media Studies D. Fox Harrell, Professor, Comparative Media Studies


Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV, Benyvirus) is the causal agent of rhizomania disease. BNYVV and Beet soil-borne mosaic virus (BSBMV, Benyvirus) share high similarity in their genome organisation. These viruses as well as Beet virus Q (BVQ, Pomovirus) and Beet soil-borne virus (BSBV, Pomovirus) are vectored by the plasmodiophorid Polymyxa betae. BNYVV P25 protein has been reported to be associated with the development of rhizomania disease, thus being a virulence factor of the virus. Recently, resistance breaking isolates of BNYVV have been reported in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Additionally, BSBMV has been observed in USA in the fields where BNYVV is not present. In order to understand the dynamics of the viruses associated with rhizomania in the crop, sugar beet plants were baited with soils containing P. betae from USA, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Sweden. BNYVV, BSBMV, BVQ and BSBV were detected by RT-PCR from total RNA isolated from root tissue of the plants. P. betae was detected in samples from all the soils, as well as BSBV. BNYVV was detected in all the samples except for root samples growing in soils from USA, which only showed presence of BSBMV. BVQ was only detected in samples from German, Dutch and Swedish soils. Amino acid sequences of the 'tetrads' of the BNYVV P25 protein from isolates from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France were found to have the following amino acid sequences: AYHR, AYHR, AYPR and SYHG, respectively. These differences in the tetrad sequence of P25 might be associated with the resistance breaking events by the BNYVV isolates from the Dutch soil, which need further study.
Amplifications of full-length RNA 2 of BSBMV revealed the presence of additional RNA species. These species appeared to represent chimeric RNAs characterized by the presence of complete RNA 2 ORF for the coat protein in the 5'-terminus fused to the 3'-untranslated region of either RNA 3 or RNA 4. The presence and accumulation of chimeric RNAs were confirmed by qRT-PCR. Notably, the levels of chimeric RNAs were up to 20-fold higher as compared to accumulation of BSBMV RNA 2. The influence of the chimeric RNAs on the expression of viral symptoms and accumulation of BSBMV remains to be studied.


Abstract This work describes the development of potential multi-element slow-release fertilizers obtained by mechanochemical activation of mixtures of kaolinite and ammonium or potassium monohydrogen phosphates. Preliminary results of talc amorphization have also been included. The methodology consists of milling the materials in a high-energy ball mill, where the influence of rotation and time of milling were investigated. The samples were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TGA/DTA, SEM and MAS-NMR. The experimental results explain the slow-release behaviour of the amorphous nanostructured materials in aqueous suspensions, especially the MASNMR spectra, which showed the changes in the chemical environment of the elements analysed. The materials displayed slow-release behaviour for phosphates probably because the aluminium ions in the mineral structure interact more thoroughly with phosphate than potassium or ammonium. Nevertheless, in general, all of the nutrients were released slowly.


Background: The supramolecular organization of the collagen IV network containing α5 and α6 chains is unknown. Results: Sulfilimine-cross-linked α1-α5 and α2-α6 NC1 dimers compose the α121–565 hexamer. Conclusion: The α121-α565 network is formed by a heterotypic interaction between α121 and α565 protomers. Significance: Sulfilimine bonds cross-link all three collagen IV networks: α121, α345, and α121-α565 networks. Collagen IV is a family of 6 chains (α1-α6), that form triple-helical protomers that assemble into supramolecular networks. Two distinct networks with chain compositions of α121 and α345 have been established. These oligomerize into separate α121 and α345 networks by a homotypic interaction through their trimeric noncollagenous (NC1) domains, forming α121 and α345 NC1 hexamers, respectively. These are stabilized by novel sulfilimine (SN) cross-links, a covalent cross-link that forms between Met93 and Hyl211 at the trimer-trimer interface. A third network with a composition of α1256 has been proposed, but its supramolecular organization has not been established. In this study we investigated the supramolecular organization of this network by determining the chain identity of sulfilimine-cross-linked NC1 domains derived from the α1256 NC1 hexamer. High resolution mass spectrometry analyses of peptides revealed that sulfilimine bonds specifically cross-link α1 to α5 and α2 to α6 NC1 domains, thus providing the spatial orientation between interacting α121 and α565 trimers. Using this information, we constructed a three-dimensional homology model in which the α565 trimer shows a good chemical and structural complementarity to the α121 trimer. Our studies provide the first chemical evidence for an α565 protomer and its heterotypic interaction with the α121 protomer. Moreover, our findings, in conjunction with our previous studies, establish that the six collagen IV chains are organized into three canonical protomers α121, α345, and α565 forming three distinct networks: α121, α345, and α121-α565, each of which is stabilized by sulfilimine bonds between their C-terminal NC1 domains.


The Arctic is most sensitive to climate change and global warming. Just recently (winter 2017/2018), this region experienced its warmest winter on record. The rising temperatures have dramatic effects on the normally frozen ground – permafrost – which underlies twenty-four percent of the land area in the northern hemisphere. The permafrost thaws much deeper and rapid erosion of deep, ice-rich permafrost will increase. The Pleistocene deep permafrost (Yedoma) deposits are particularly prone to rapid degradation due to the loss of their high ice-contents upon thaw. Through this degradation, large amounts of previously stored frozen organic carbon will be exposed to microbial decomposition, resulting in the release of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. This emission in turn acts as a positive feedback to the climate system. So far, it is difficult to predict the rates of greenhouse gas emission because information on the decomposability of the organic matter is limited. As the organic matter is stored for millennia in the deep permafrost deposits, the radiocarbon (14C) analysis on CO2 can be used to trace the decomposition of ancient (permafrost derived) vs. recent organic matter sources.
The collection and processing of the respired CO2 for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analysis, however, is challenging and prone to contamination. Thus, during the progress of this thesis, we constructed a robust stainless-steel sampling device and refined a method for the collection of even small amounts (50 µg C) of CO2. This method is based on a CO2 sampling technique using a molecular sieve, which acts as an adsorbent. It has the advantage over other approaches (such as sampling in glass flasks) that CO2 can be concentrated from large air volumes.
The reliability of the 14CO2 results obtained with this molecular sieve cartridge (MSC) was evaluated in detailed tests of different procedures to clean the molecular sieve (zeolite type 13X) and for the adsorption and desorption of CO2 from the zeolite using a vacuum rig. Under laboratory conditions, the contamination of exogenous carbon was determined to be less than 2.0 µg C from fossil and around 3.0 µg C from modern sources. In addition, we evaluated the direct CO2 transfer from the MSC into the automatic graphitization equipment, AGE, with the subsequent 14C AMS analysis as graphite. This semi-automatic approach is promising as it resulted in a lower modern carbon contamination of only 1.5 µg C. In addition, this analyzing procedure can be performed autonomously. To collect CO2 released from soils or sediments, additional sampling equipment, such as respiration chambers or depth samples, connected to the MSC is needed. Including the sampling equipment, a modern contamination of 3.0–4.5 µg C was obtained. Overall, these results show that the contamination becomes insignificant for large sample sizes (>500 µg C) and should be considered for smaller amounts.
With this successfully tested MSC, it became possible to investigate the decomposition of the organic matter in thawing Pleistocene Yedoma deposits. On a Yedoma outcrop in the Lena River Delta, Northeast Siberia, we measured CO2 fluxes and their 14C signature to assess whether ancient (Yedoma derived) or younger C sources are preferentially respired. The CO2 released from the different sites is generally younger (2600–6500 yrs BP) than the bulk sediment (4000–31,000 yrs BP). Using isotopic mass balance calculations, we determined that up to 70% of the respired CO2 originates from ancient OM. These data show that thawing Yedoma organic matter can be rapidly decomposed, which introduces the ancient carbon into the active carbon cycle and thus increases the permafrost carbon feedback.


Health information technology has been experiencing significant developments in Portuguese primary health care centers and hospitals. However, electronic health records (EHRs), are usually only available to health care professionals. Patients, the co-owners of that health information, seldom have access to their own data. This can hamper the promotion of health literacy, patient empowerment and, consequently, the process of collaborative management. Additionally, patients' health information is scattered through the EHRs of several institutions and health care professionals - a complete and comprehensive health record is currently inexistent in Portugal.

Personal Health Records (PHRs) may be seen as a way of filling these gaps. While a clear definition and taxonomy are still under discussion, their usage has been increasing worldwide, as patients assume a more active role in their health. Initially, they were mostly seen as mere patient-controlled data repositories but, nowadays, they generally combine data, knowledge and software tools, therefore becoming invaluable to help patients manage their health, between and during clinical consultations. Not surprisingly, patients with chronic diseases have been found to be amongst the early adopters of this new technology.

The first-ever PHR in Portugal has been freely available on the web since May 2010. Its development results from the continuous collaboration between the Portuguese School of Public Health and the largest Telecommunication and Information Technology Company in the country.

Patient-centered design was employed to guide the development process of this internet-based, personally controlled, health information system. Furthermore, the "Research-based web design and usability guidelines" were followed throughout the entire project and several usability tests took place during the iterative process.

Various functionality classes were implemented in this PHR: entering, finding, sharing, viewing and analyzing data; longitudinal health tracking (with charts and graphs); alerts (e.g., out-of-range values) and reminders (e.g., scheduled appointments); decision-making; communication; and customization (e.g., security features, preferences).

For now, data can only be self-entered by patients, although future perspectives for development include the transferability of information between EHRs and PHRs, as well as the input of data from monitoring devices. This platform was designed to cover the following types of data: personal information, family health information, problem list, diagnoses, procedures, lab/imaging results, immunizations, allergies, medications, nutrition/diet, exercise, health measurements (e.g. blood pressure, weight) and personal comments/remarks. Furthermore, evidence-based information/education resources are available online, as well as links to credible health information sources.

The development of modules/applications for chronic diseases is also an ambition of this project. The first to be designed was a self-management tool for type 2 diabetes, based on its high prevalence in Portugal. Special features of this module include: automated feedback, goal setting, reminders for due exams (e.g. retinal screening), a cardiovascular risk calculator and disease-specific, evidence-based, contents for patient education.

Future perspectives for the project include further user-guided improvements on the platform, as well as the design of research studies to evaluate its performance. Research will also be conducted on the diabetes module of this PHR, to determine its potential value as a monitoring and self-management tool in type 2 diabetes. []


Abstract. Stratospheric ozone profiles are retrieved for the period 2002–2009 from SCIAMACHY measurements of limb-scattered solar radiation in the Hartley and Chappuis absorption bands of ozone. This data set is used to determine the chemical ozone losses in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar vortices by averaging the ozone in the vortex at a given potential temperature. The chemical ozone losses at isentropic levels between 450 K and 600 K are derived from the difference between observed ozone abundances and the ozone modelled taking diabatic cooling into account, but no chemical ozone loss. Chemical ozone losses of up to 30–40% between mid-January and the end of March inside the Arctic polar vortex are reported. Strong inter-annual variability of the Arctic ozone loss is observed, with the cold winters 2004/2005 and 2006/2007 showing chemical ozone losses inside the polar vortex at 475 K, where 1.7 ppmv and 1.4 ppmv of ozone were removed, respectively, over the period from 22 January to beginning of April and 0.9 ppmv and 1.2 ppmv, respectively, during February. For the winters of 2007/2008 and 2002/2003, ozone losses of about 0.8 ppmv and 0.4 ppmv, respectively are estimated at the 475 K isentropic level for the period from 22 January to beginning of April. Essentially no ozone losses were diagnosed for the relatively warm winters of 2003/2004 and 2005/2006. The maximum ozone loss in the SCIAMACHY data set was found in 2007 at the 600 K level and amounted to about 2.1 ppmv for the period between 22 January and the end of April. Enhanced losses close to this altitude were found in all investigated Arctic springs, in contrast to Antarctic spring. The inter-annual variability of ozone losses and PSC occurrence rates observed during Arctic spring is consistent with the known QBO effects on the Arctic polar vortex, with exception of the unusual Arctic winter 2008/2009. The maximum total ozone mass loss of about 25 million tons was found in the cold Arctic winter of 2004/2005 inside the polar vortex between the 450 K and 600 K isentropic levels from mid-January until the middle of March. The Antarctic vortex averaged ozone loss as well as the size of the polar vortex do not vary much from year to year. The total ozone mass loss inside the Antarctic polar vortex between the 450 K and 600 K isentropic levels is about 50–60 million tons and the vortex volume for this altitude range varies between about 150 and 300 km 3 for the period between mid-August and mid-November of every year studied, except for 2002. In 2002 a mid-winter major stratospheric warming occurred in the second half of September and the ozone mass loss was only about half of the value in the other years. However, inside the polar vortex we find chemical ozone losses at the 475 K isentropic level that are similar to those in all other years studied. At this isentropic level ozone losses of 70–90% between mid-August and mid-November or about 2.5 ppmv are observed every year. At isentropic levels above 500 K the chemical ozone losses were found to be larger in 2002 than in all other years studied. Comparisons of the vertical variation of ozone losses derived from SCIAMACHY observations with several independent techniques for the Arctic winter 2004/2005 show that the SCIAMACHY results fall in the middle of the range of previously published results for this winter. For other winters in both hemispheres – for which comparisons with other studies were possible – the SCIAMACHY results are consistent with the range of previously published results.


The film Cannibal Tours powerfully portrays the impact of tourism in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea through an array of host-guest encounters. Using text from the film as data, the present paper reveals new insights through a close analysis of the English subtitles given as translation for the Italian and German tourists. The subtitles are examined at three levels of equivalence to establish translation strategy and impact. The whole text is also be submitted to analysis using the critical discourse analysis (CDA) method. The findings have far-reaching implications on several levels. First, they are insightful for the study of tourism in developing destinations. Second, they confirm the significance of using visual data for research in the social sciences. Third, they demonstrate that translation in films can impact heavily on film meaning-making and viewer perception.


Diagnosis of the hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is important for treatment and prevention of further spread of the virus. Today, detection of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) is the method of choice for the screening and initial diagnosis of HBV. Genetic diversity and discovery of HBV variants with mutations in the immunological dominant region of HBsAg caused none reactivity in some diagnostic assays. Characterization of anti-HBs monoclonal antibodies lead to discovery of a unique monoclonal antibody revealing the true topology of the small s-protein. The knowledge of the antibody recognition spectra, lead to the development of a diagnostics assay showing for the first time detection of all HBsAg mutants based on three different epitope regions. The three epitope regions should in theory enable detection of all known HBsAg mutants, which was proven after testing HBsAg mutants in direct comparison to other diagnostic assay lacking complete mutant detection. The improved HBsAg screening assay permitted better and earlier diagnosis of HBV infections, leaving the diagnosed HBV patient for treatment. Today the main motivation for intervening in an on-going HBV infection is in case the liver is compromised. Depending on the status of the patient, antiviral therapy is started or in worse case when the liver stops to function, a liver transplantation is the final choice. Transplantation of the liver is preceded by antiviral therapy in combination with Hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) additions. In a quest for an alternative source for HBig we isolated and selected single-domain antibodies (VHHs) that recognize the major small s-protein of HBV. Testing of five VHH in an in-vitro neutralization experiment identified one VHH that could neutralize HBV comparable with good neutralizing anti-HBs reference antibodies. Pepscan analysis and amino acid substitution experiments suggested mutual recognition of the VHH of both the "a"-determinant and c-terminus of the s-protein, fixating the structure and preventing conformational changes needed during viral entry. Alternatively binding to a yet to be discovered HBV (co-) receptor is blocked by the VHH. Ab initio modeling of the dimer "a"-determinant sequence (aa100-155) with VHH S5 revealed a tempting structure that could explain our and published observations. Mainly the location of the cysteine residues in the newly found structure was striking, showing possible formation of inter and intra chain disulfide bridges. Separate analysed c-terminal hydrophobic region (155-226) showed structural homology with Arfaptin 2, a BAR domain protein. The homologous structure predicted importance of the region giving curvature to the aggregated s-proteins in the HBsAg particles. We conclude from the modelling data that the protruding spikes are dimers of the "a"-determinant with peripheral stabilized c-terminal s-protein fragments on the 3- and 5-fold axis.


Increasingly, the effectiveness of surrogate species as a management tool for reservation of biodiversity has been questioned. It has been established that mammal and bird distributions correspond to vegetation type, but for invertebrate species this is less clear. This assumption was tested by comparing the communities of species of two invertebrate taxa in forest litter, spiders and beetles with pitfall sampling. Sampling occurred in spring summer and autumn in the foothills of Mount Wellington in 2002 and 2003 within 6 different adjacent eucalypt forest types - Eucalyptus regnans forest (WRE), E. obliqua with broadleaf shrubs (WOB), E. obliqua dry forest (DOB), E. tenuiramis forest on sediments (DTE), E. amygdalina forest on mudstone (DAM) and E. pulchella forest (DPU).
The total number of beetles collected was 1726, representing 152 species from 28 families. Spiders totalled 1983 representing 204 species from 20 families. A third of these were juveniles and data were analysed separately with and without the juveniles. Forest type was a significant factor affecting distribution of spiders and beetles but was different for different forest types.
There was a significantly different spider community in wet WOB while communities in WRE and dry DOB overlapped suggesting change along a continuum from wet to dry forest. Species responsible were vagrant hunters from the families Corrinidae, Gnaphosidae, Lycosidae, Zodariidae, Zoridae and a Micropholcommatidae web builder. Beetles were also significantly different between dry E. tenuiramis (DTO) and E. amygdalina (DAM) and a wet WRE-WOB-DOB continuum was detected. Species responsible for this separation were Isopteron obscurum (Erichson, 1842): Tenebrionidae, Tetrabothrus claviger (Fauvel, 1878): Staphylinidae and some fungivores - Nemadini (Leiodidae), Scaphidium sp.: Staphylinidae, Thalycrodes australe (Germar, 1848): Nitidulae, and Acrotrichis sp.: Ptilidae. A total of 56 soil, topographic, ground cover, microclimate and vegetation variables were measured. Their significance for predicting the distributions of spiders and beetles better than vegetation alone was examined. Statistical analysis revealed environmental gradients along which beetles and spiders were dispersed. Beetles were distributed along a moisture and a ground cover gradient. Spiders were separated along a soil nutrient and a moisture/temperature gradient. These gradients varied among sites in the same forest type as well as among sites in different forest types, and explained some of the site scale variation in assemblages.
At a larger geographic scale, sampling at 36 sites grouped into 3 regions in southeastern Tasmania: Hobart, Levendale and Swansea, tested assemblage differences across a span of 157 km. Beta diversity was highest at the scale of 50 km. This is suggested as the maximum distance that should separate patches of the same forest type in order to capture maximum spatial variation in diversity of beetles and spiders across a vegetation based reserve mosaic. The research highlights the complexity of invertebrate interactions with forest type and environmental variables and indicates that simple prescriptions which can inform planning of reserves are not readily obtainable from examination of assemblages as a whole.


We investigate the problem of generating fast approximate answers to queries posed to large sparse binary data sets. We focus in particular on probabilistic model-based approaches to this problem and develop a number of techniques that are significantly more accurate than a baseline independence model. In particular, we introduce two techniques for building probabilistic models from frequent itemsets: the itemset maximum entropy model and the itemset inclusion-exclusion model. In the maximum entropy model, we treat itemsets as constraints on the distribution of the query variables and use the maximum entropy principle to build a joint probability model for the query attributes online. In the inclusion-exclusion model, itemsets and their frequencies are stored in a data structure, called an ADtree, that supports an efficient implementation of the inclusion-exclusion principle in order to answer the query. We empirically compare these two itemset-based models to direct querying of the original data, querying of samples of the original data, as well as other probabilistic models such as the independence model, the Chow-Liu tree model, and the Bernoulli mixture model. These models are able to handle high-dimensionality (hundreds or thousands of attributes), whereas most other work on this topic has focused on relatively low-dimensional OLAP problems. Experimental results on both simulated and real-world transaction data sets illustrate various fundamental trade offs between approximation error, model complexity, and the online time required to compute a query answer.


Supported MnO2-based nanomaterials were fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates using plasma enhanced-chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) between 100 °C and 400 °C, starting from a fluorinated Mn(ii) diamine diketonate precursor. Growth experiments yielded β-MnO2 with a hierarchical morphology tuneable from dendritic structures to quasi-1D nanosystems as a function of growth temperature, whose variation also enabled a concomitant tailoring of the system fluorine content, and of the optical absorption and band gap. Preliminary photocatalytic tests were aimed at the investigation of photoinduced hydrophilic (PH) and solid phase photocatalytic (PC) performances of the present nanomaterials, as well as at the photodegradation of Plasmocorinth B azo-dye aqueous solutions. The obtained findings highlighted an attractive system photoactivity even under visible light, finely tailored by fluorine content, morphological organization and optical properties of the prepared nanostructures. The results indicate that the synthesized MnO2 nanosystems have potential applications as advanced smart materials for anti-fogging/self-cleaning end uses and water purification.


This paper is a preliminary study exploring the obstacles faced by female entrepreneurs running beauty salons
in India. Newspapers and other media highlight the illegal activities that occur in the beauty industry, such as
solicitation and the use of unhygienic products in salons, whereas they fail to report about the legitimate
owners of beauty salons who are striving to run successful businesses. So far, there are hardly any studies that
have highlighted the issue of how bad publicity impacts Indian female entrepreneurs' businesses. Research
conducted for a PhD study revealed social castigation and misconceptions created in the minds of the public
through occasional reports in the press about the beauty salons of India. This research is part of a larger study
of 151 female entrepreneurs, of which four beauty salon owners expressed their concerns about bad publicity.
This paper also discusses the various allegations in media, as well as the concerns of female entrepreneurs in
the beauty industry. Such a qualitative analysis is expected to draw more attention to similar and in-depth
research in this area. This paper also makes policy recommendations in order to rectify such societal stigma
adversely affecting female entrepreneurs in India.


The vomeronasal organ of mammals is a specialized structure in the nose that deals with the detection of pheromones. Little is known how vomeronasal neurons react to natural stimuli and how they code their information for transmission to higher processing areas in the brain. Holy et al. simultaneously recorded from a large number of mouse vomeronasal neurons and found that these cells responded to highly diluted components found in the urine of mice. Many individual neurons were highly selective for either male or female urine. Their activation required the recruitment of an intracellular signaling cascade involving phospholipase C. Unlike most sensory neurons, vomeronasal neurons did not adapt when exposed to a stimulus for a long time. Holy, T.E., Dulac, C., and Meister, M. (2000) Responses of vomeronasal neurons to natural stimuli. Science 289:1569-1572. [Abstract] [Full Text]


Summary This paper discusses some of Martin Bell's major research contributions and introduces the seven essays written in honour of Martin who recently retired. The Introduction focuses on one of Martin's core areas of interest: learning and the development of technological capabilities in developing countries, illustrating Martin's profound and enduring influence on this field of study. The Introduction attempts to summarise the core of Martin's research on what we term 'dynamic learning' (to be contrasted with static, learning by doing) and shows the way Bell's thinking on this subject has had a significant impact on other related fields of study, including knowledge management, the knowledge‐based economy, the resourced‐based view of the firm, networks and industrial clusters, global value chain analysis, and research on foreign direct investment spillovers. The introduction refers to Martin's own published work and that of some of his many PhD students and colleagues who have followed in his footsteps. The Introduction also touches on Bell's contribution to policy thinking and policy making at the national and international levels. Finally, it uses the above to develop questions for future research on technological progress in developing economies, focusing especially on Asia. While this brief Introduction cannot capture the breadth or depth of Martin's intellectual and policy contributions, we hope to reveal Bell's towering influence on this field of study and the increasing impact of his research on other important academic fields concerned with technological and economic development, catching up and industrial innovation.


In this brief, a new optimal control method based on the energy equation of the controlled system is presented. The method proposed here defines a criteria function as the combination of the energy flow equation and the control-performance function, unlike the way the classical optimal control theory using it to define the performance measures. In this approach, the ideal characteristics of a physical system to be controlled are obtained by extremizing the criteria function. The optimal control law is attained by taking the inverse of the ideal characteristics function. The control law and the equations of motion constitute a closed loop to achieve the control process by using a ldquoself-solving characteristicrdquo of a closed-loop system. The method has been illustrated in the examples of an automobile with tires having complex dissipation and an underactuated underwater vehicle with a criteria function given in a complex form.


Does the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution incorporate the Bill of Rights contained in the first eight amendments? And how should an originalist answer that question? This paper focuses on the latter question-the issues of originalist theory that are raised by judicial and scholarly debates over what is called "incorporation." The inquiry proceeds in six parts. Part I answers the questions: "What is incorporation?" and "What is originalism?" Part II examines the theoretical framework for an investigation of incorporation that operates within the narrow confines of interpretation of the linguistic meaning text based on the assumption that the original meaning of the text is solely determined by the public meaning for ordinary citizens at the time of framing and ratification. Part III relaxes the assumption that "original meaning" is determined solely by the linguistic practices of the whole community and considers the possibility that the phrase "privileges or immunities" was a term of art with a technical meaning for those learned in the law. Part IV relaxes the assumption that the incorporation debate must be resolved solely by interpretation of linguistic meaning and considers the possibility that incorporation doctrine might be viewed as a construction of an under determinate constitutional text. Part V considers the implications of the possibility that the "privileges or immunities clause" instantiates what might be called a failure of constitutional communication, considering the possibility of a saving or mending construction of the clause. Part VI concludes.


Manganese bio-mineralization by oxidation is a costly but, still, widespread process among bacteria and fungi. While certain potential advantages of manganese oxidation have been suggested, to date there is no conclusive experimental evidence for, how and if this process impacts microbial fitness in the environment. Here we show how a model organism for manganese oxidation, Roseobacter sp. AzwK-3b, is growth-inhibited by nitrite, and that this inhibition is mitigated when manganese is added to the culture medium. We show that manganese-mediated mitigation of nitrite-inhibition is dependent on the culture inoculum size, with larger inocula being able to withstand higher concentrations of nitrite stress. Furthermore, the bio-mineralized manganese oxide (MnOX) forms granular precipitates in the culture, rather than sheaths around individual cells. These findings support the notion that MnOX is a shared community product that improves the cultures' survival against nitrite-stress. We show that the mechanistic basis of the MnOX effect involves both its ability to catalyze nitrite oxidation into (non-toxic) nitrate under physiological conditions, and its potential role in influencing redox chemistry around reactive oxygen species (ROS). Taken together, these results provide for the first direct evidence of improved microbial fitness by MnOX deposition in an ecological setting, i.e. mitigation of nitrite toxicity, and point to a key role of MnOX in handling stresses arising from ROS. These findings could be of general relevance for all organisms oxidizing manganese, allowing them to offset costs associated with extracellular bio-mineralization.


Over the past three decades or so, the field of immunology has advanced hugely with profound understandings on molecular regulation of immune cells and their contribution to various biological processes. The elaborative tools, in vitro assays, and refined animal models have favorably anticipated the immunomodulatory (immune suppression or activation) mechanisms elicited during the course of disease progression. The projected roles of immune cells are widely attributed to inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, defense against infections, repairing injuries and progression to cancer among others.


The current international crisis situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is having a strong psychological impact on our subjectivities. We are constantly threatened by the danger of i) being infected, ii) infecting other people, and (iii) by the loss of social relation. Departing from these premises, we here aim to investigate the psychological and neurodynamics of this complex phenomenon. First, we discuss about recent psychological and neuronal findings on fear and its disorders, related to an unbalanced intero-exteroceptive processing and emotional regulation. Secondly we move to the psychological and neuronal dynamics of self and others characterized by a temporo-spatial alignment with the world. Due to the neural overlap of emotion and self and the deep-reaching neuro-ecological layers of self, emotional feelings like fear and anxiety cannot be detached and dissociated from the world; they signify the world–brain relation, and, more specifically, our self-other relation. The deepest neuro-ecological and neuro-social layers of self are threatened by the loss of subjectivity, which is manifest in our loss of body and thus the fear of dying, and the loss of intersubjectivity that surfaces in our fear of infecting others, which reflect the intimate anchorage of the self with the world. In our opinion the pandemic of COVID-19 deeply affect our sense of self and its spatio-temporal neuronal dynamics providing the prerequisites for the manifestation of fear and existential anxiety, thus disrupting the brain-world relation with significant repercussions on our psyche and on our daily lives.


In Y-shaped passive linear array sonar (PLAS) systems composed of 3 sensor legs with consecutively missed detections in a full scan, the complex ghosts that occur due to bearing ambiguity seriously deteriorate the target tracking performance. A solution to the ghost problem is proposed which exploits the track information and geometrical relationship between each PLAS leg and the target. The region of possible ghost targets is first established by making use of the geometrical relationship of the PLAS with respect to the target. The ghost targets are then eliminated by means of the updated track information refined via a combination of 3-D assignment with gating and judicial track management. In the track management and gating procedure, we propose an optimal measurement selection criterion based on maximum joint probability data association (MJPDA), which combines both the soft and hard association techniques. The established tracks are updated by the Kalman filter with MJPDA and are terminated with a logic-based procedure. Representative simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Interview, January 15, 1997, with Vladimir B. Braginsky, experimental physicist, Moscow State University.

Recalls family background and childhood in the USSR during World War II. Matriculates at Moscow State University 1955, PhD 1959, joins faculty 1969. Work with Y. B. Zel'dovich on search for quarks and detection of gravitational radiation; work with Vitaly Ginzburg on detecting time dependence of gravitational constant. Comments on Andrei Sakharov. Joins Communist Party in Khrushchev era. Science hierarchy in the USSR. Constraints on foreign travel. Meets John A. Wheeler in 1968 at international conference; gives a talk on quantum measurement; invited to visit Princeton, Harvard, University of Maryland, and Caltech, 1970. Discusses Joseph Weber's gravitational-wave experiment. Admiration for Kip S. Thorne. Early impressions of LIGO project on visits to Caltech in 1981 and 1984. His group at Moscow State University becomes LIGO collaborator. Comments on 1962 work of M. E. Gerzenstein and V. I. Pustovoit in gravitational-wave detection. Visit from Thorne in Moscow, 1977, with invitation to join LIGO. Comments on R. W. P. Drever and Rainer Weiss; on disagreements between Drever and Rochus (Robbie) Vogt, LIGO director 1987-1994. Fairchild Scholar at Caltech, 1990; LIGO's technical difficulties; project's disarray. Expresses optimism re LIGO directorship of Barry Barish and potential improvements in LIGO sensitivity. His laboratory's work on mirror suspension.


While 'one world government' is not on the cards, the globalization of political life has progressed significantly over the last decades. Rather than adding to existing theoretical frameworks such as the realist picture of international anarchy or the English School's 'international society', this volume starts out from the idea of the world as one interconnected political system and explores ways and perspectives in which to analyse it as such. Subjects discussed include national sovereignty, law, public management, networks, economic governance, institutions and Europe. The contributors examine central aspects of this emerging global polity such as the role of law, of networks and of civil society. They discuss key theoretical and meta-theoretical questions on how to analyze and theorize the global polity, what drives it forward, and whether it can be democratized. Contributed to, and edited by renowned names in the field, the outstanding scholarship presented in this topical book provides an original contribution to the literature on globalization and global governance.


Ultrasonography is frequently used in neuromuscular research to examine muscle architecture and function. In particular, measures of muscle thickness and echo intensity are often utilized to assess muscle quantity and quality, respectively. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in vastus lateralis muscle thickness versus echo intensity across the lifespan. Ultrasound images were taken of eight boys (mean ± SD age = 12 ± 2 years), eight young men (age = 26 ± 3 years), and seven old men (age = 71 ± 4 years). Muscle thickness (cm) was defined as the distance between the deep and superficial aponeuroses. Echo intensity (au) was defined as the mean of the histogram using ImageJ's grayscale and rectangle functions. Separate one-way analyses of variance were used to examine mean differences among the age groups. There were no significant differences in muscle thickness (boys = 1.92 cm, young men = 2.13 cm, old men = 1.64 cm [F = 2.795, p = 0.085]). However, the analysis of echo intensity showed significant mean differences (boys = 68.1 au, young men = 47.5 au, old men = 65.5 au [F = 12.654, p < 0.001]). Tukey post hoc analyses demonstrated significantly lower echo intensity for the young men compared to both the boys and old men. Although additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings, echo intensity may be a more sensitive variable than muscle thickness for examining age-related differences in vastus lateralis muscle architecture.


More than a few observers of disaster research have charged that the field has developed in theoretical isolation from general sociology. Basically, they charge that students of disasters have not utilized established sociological concepts in their analyses and that the potentially beneficial cross polination that could occur between the subfield and the broader discipline has not materialized. For example, in a massive review of the field of disaster research, Mileti, Drabek and Haas conclude with this observation. "Existing studies on behavior in disaster have been conducted… as if no theory existed in the social sciences to provide a basis for the direction of inquiry… The continued heavy reliance on this method, once development of the area has been established to the extent of almost total exclusion of established theory, has been disaster of disaster research." (1975:146)


Object-oriented ontology offers a startlingly fresh way to think about causality that takes into account developments in physics since 1900. Causality, argues, Object Oriented Ontology (OOO), is aesthetic. In this book, Timothy Morton explores what it means to say that a thing has come into being, that it is persisting, and that it has ended. Drawing from examples in physics, biology, ecology, art, literature and music, Morton demonstrates the counterintuitive yet elegant explanatory power of OOO for thinking causality.


This conjecture postulates the existence of a field of particles in space that I'll call the temporal-inertial (TI) field, but will refer to simply as space or the field. This field provides a frame of reference for motion such that the motion of an object (sub-atomic particle, atom, clock, etc.) with respect to that field causes two effects. The velocity of an object with respect to the field causes time dilation for that object and the acceleration of an object with respect to the field causes the familiar inertial reaction force. It is argued that the successful functioning of the Global Positioning System requires that the Earth not move with respect to this TI field. This assertion demands that the TI field move with Earth and that the field must therefore be subject to gravity and orbit the Sun just as the Earth and planets. The response of the TI field to gravity requires particles of the field in the vicinity of Earth to accelerate toward the center of the Earth. As a result, gravitational time dilation and gravitational redshift in a reference frame within the field are caused by the velocity of the particles of this field relative to the reference frame, not directly by gravity itself. Lastly, it is argued that the gravitational force is mediated indirectly by the acceleration of the TI field relative to matter particles in the field. In response to the acceleration of the TI field by gravity, the field asserts a force on matter particles in the direction of the acceleration of the field relative to the matter particles, just as for the inertial force. Accordingly, matter particles are not directly subject to the gravitational force.


Laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) with multiple pulse excitation has been applied for the multielemental analysis of steel samples in the vacuum ultraviolet. The emission of the induced plasma was coupled into a Paschen-Runge spectrometer equipped with photomultipliers linked to high-speed multichannel signal electronics. Time-resolved signal evaluation yields a significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio for the plasma emission periods after a multi-pulse excitation. Reference materials for low-alloy steel grades were used to calibrate the measurements. The investigations concentrated on the light elements phosphorus, sulfur, and carbon using emission wavelengths in the range from 178.28 nm to 193.09 nm. For the first time, limits of detection below 10 μg/g were achieved for the light elements phosphorus, sulfur, and carbon using LIBS. With these results the basis is established for future on-line applications of LIBS in the steel industry.


In recent years, 'agencification' and 'autonomisation' seem to have emerged as the new orthodoxy in the reform of public administration, fuelling a lively academic debate on bureaucratic autonomy and political control - on whether these two phenomena are diametrically opposed or can co-exist alongside each other. Using as its empirical basis two case studies of revenue administrations in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, this cross-jurisdictional, interdisciplinary piece of research seeks to advance current understanding of bureaucratic autonomy on two fronts. First, it explores the under-researched issue of factors which may condition the exercise of bureaucratic discretion. Second, it is distinct from current works because of its comparative analysis of bureaucratic manoeuvrability within differing legal traditions and systems of government. Notwithstanding the cases' historical and cultural differences, findings revealed a number of common functional realities. The more influential macro-institutional constraints fed through to impact on internal operational functioning in areas such as the establishment of tax priorities and revenue targets. No support was found for the hypothesis that different legal traditions have a differential impact on bureaucratic functioning. In both jurisdictions, a detailed 'fussy' style of drafting revenue laws aims towards certainty and predictability, with no particular stakeholder biases. Legal drafting style may be a function of the specific policy area.


This essay deals with the essential elements of the rule of law concept that underlie present day legal research in the European Union (EU). What follows are some non-exhaustive elements of the rule of law concept analyzed in this essay: 1) access to justice and judicial review; 2) legal certainty; 3) proportionality; 4) equality and non-discrimination; and 5) transparency. This short essay is structured in the following manner. After defining the notion of rule of law, it explains some elements of the concept in a succinct manner and concludes with some final remarks.


It's not easy to recover from a big career disappointment such as getting fired or being passed over for a promotion. Many people sink into anger or denial, blaming situational factors or company politics. Though that's a natural response, it can also prevent them from breaking free of the destructive behaviors that may have derailed them in the first place. People who successfully rebound from career losses take a different approach: They do the hard work of figuring out why they lost, identifying which new paths they could take, and then seizing the right opportunity--whether that's a different role in the same organization, a move to a new company, or a shift to a new industry or career. Drawing on in-depth research and the authors' consulting experience, this article offers practical guidance for transforming anger and self-doubt over what seems like a failure into focused exploration and excitement about the fresh possibilities the situation presents. To gauge your ability to rebound from career setbacks, take the self-assessment at hbr.org/assessments/mirror-test.


In the business world, data is generally the most important asset of a company that must be protected. However, it must be made available to provide a wide variety of services, and so it can become the target of attacks by malicious users. Such attacks can involve eavesdropping the network or gaining unauthorized access, allowing such an attacker to access sensitive information. Secure protocols, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), are usually used to mitigate these attacks. Unfortunately, most implementations force applications to use digital certificates, which may not always be desirable due to trust or monetary issues. Furthermore, implementations are usually closed and cannot be extended to support other authentication methods. In this article a methodology is proposed to slightly modify closed implementations of the TLS protocol that only support digital certificates, so pre-shared keys are used to protect the communication between two entities instead. A performance assessment is carried out on a proof-of-concept to demonstrate its feasibility and performance.


Objective Physiological-based cord clamping (PBCC) led to a more stable cardiovascular adaptation and better oxygenation in preterm lambs, but in preterm infants, this approach has been challenging. Our aim was to assess the feasibility of PBCC, including patterns of oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate (HR) during stabilisation in preterm infants using a new purpose-built resuscitation table. Design Observational study. Setting Tertiary referral centre, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands. Patients Infants born below 35 weeks' gestational age. Interventions Infants were stabilised on a new purpose-built resuscitation table (Concord), provided with standard equipment needed for stabilisation. Cord clamping was performed when the infant was stable (HR >100 bpm, spontaneous breathing on continuous positive airway pressure with tidal volumes >4 mL/kg, SpO2 ≥25th percentile and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) <0.4). Results Thirty-seven preterm infants were included; mean (SD) gestational age of 30.9 (2.4) weeks, birth weight 1580 (519) g. PBCC was successful in 33 infants (89.2%) and resulted in median (IQR) cord clamping time of 4:23 (3:00–5:11) min after birth. There were no maternal or neonatal adverse events. In 26/37 infants, measurements were adequate for analysis. HR was 113 (81–143) and 144 (129–155) bpm at 1 min and 5 min after birth. SpO2 levels were 58%(49%–60%) and 91%(80%–96%)%), while median FiO2 given was 0.30 (0.30–0.31) and 0.31 (0.25–0.97), respectively. Conclusion PBCC in preterm infants using the Concord is feasible. HR remained stable, and SpO2 quickly increased with low levels of oxygen supply. Trial registration number NTR6095, results.


ABSTRACT Despite efforts made to improve communication, the Commission is still facing difficulties getting across its messages. Scholars have stressed how both structural and personal characteristics impede the Commission's ability to communicate. These obstacles are particularly troublesome in connection to crisis situations when the European Union receives the most media attention and scrutiny. At the national level, research has shown that political actors tend to increase their use of charismatic rhetoric during crisis events as a way of gaining and sustaining legitimacy and credibility. In this study we explore whether the same pattern can be seen at the European level by examining the European Commission during the financial and eurozone crisis. The main findings of the study demonstrate the opposite; that is, as the crisis got worse and as member states got increasingly engaged in its management, the Commission's rhetoric became less charismatic.