A study was undertaken to investigate the distribution of biosurfactant producing and crude oil degrading bacteria in the oil contaminated environment. This research revealed that hydrocarbon contaminated sites are the potent sources for oil degraders. Among 32 oil degrading bacteria isolated from ten different oil contaminated sites of gasoline and diesel fuel stations, 80% exhibited biosurfactant production. The quantity and emulsification activity of the biosurfactants varied. Pseudomonas sp. DS10-129 produced a maximum of 7.5 +/- 0.4 g/l of biosurfactant with a corresponding reduction in surface tension from 68 mN/m to 29.4 +/- 0.7 mN/m at 84 h incubation. The isolates Micrococcus sp. GS2-22, Bacillus sp. DS6-86, Corynebacterium sp. GS5-66, Flavobacterium sp. DS5-73, Pseudomonas sp. DS10-129, Pseudomonas sp. DS9-119 and Acinetobacter sp. DS5-74 emulsified xylene, benzene, n-hexane, Bombay High crude oil, kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel and olive oil. The first five of the above isolates had the highest emulsification activity and crude oil degradation ability and were selected for the preparation of a mixed bacterial consortium, which was also an efficient biosurfactant producing oil emulsifying and degrading culture. During this study, biosurfactant production and emulsification activity were detected in Moraxella sp., Flavobacterium sp. and in a mixed bacterial consortium, which have not been reported before.


This paper deals with distributed matrix multiplication. Each player owns only one row of both matrices and

wishes to learn about one distinct row of the product matrix, without revealing its input to the other players.

We first improve on a weighted average protocol, in order to securely compute a dot-product with a

quadratic volume of communications and linear number of rounds. We also propose a protocol with five communication

rounds, using a Paillier-like underlying homomorphic public key cryptosystem, which is secure in

the semi-honest model or secure with high probability in the malicious adversary model. Using ProVerif, a

cryptographic protocol verification tool, we are able to check the security of the protocol and provide a countermeasure

for each attack found by the tool. We also give a randomization method to avoid collusion attacks.

As an application, we show that this protocol enables a distributed and secure evaluation of trust relationships

in a network, for a large class of trust evaluation schemes.


Despite significant evidence of 'political budget cycles' affecting public expenditure, studies of the impact of elections on tax collection have reached mixed conclusions. Drawing on significantly improved government revenue data, this paper finds, contrary to earlier research, that when we focus on all executive elections in developing countries there is no significant effect on levels of tax collection. Instead, the impact of elections on tax collection is conditional on elections being competitive, with competitive elections resulting in a negative impact on pre-election tax collection, split relatively evenly between direct and indirect taxes. The magnitude of the effect is large, reaching as much as 0.5 per cent of GDP in some specifications, and has important implications for understanding the incentive effects of elections and the connections between elections and effective governance.


Currently, one of the major limitations in cell biology is maintaining differentiated cell phenotype. Biological matrices are commonly used for culturing and maintaining primary and pluripotent stem cell derived hepatocytes. While biological matrices are useful, they permit short term culture of hepatocytes, limiting their widespread application. We have attempted to overcome the limitations using a synthetic polymer coating. Polymers represent one of the broadest classes of biomaterials and possess a wide range of mechanical, physical and chemical properties, which can be fine-tuned for purpose. Importantly, such materials can be scaled to quality assured standards and display batch-to-batch consistency. This is essential if cells are to be expanded for high through-put screening in the pharmaceutical testing industry or for cellular based therapy. Polyurethanes (PUs) are one group of materials that have shown promise in cell culture. Our recent progress in optimizing a polyurethane coated surface, for long-term culture of human hepatocytes displaying stable phenotype, is presented and discussed.


Nation branding is an emerging concept with increased practical activity but fairly limited theory. Politicians engage actively in branding practices for their countries. Why do governments utilize certain branding strategies and ignore others? How have politicians come to perceive nation branding as a successful foreign policy strategy? This article seeks to examine the political aspect of nation branding and clarify the concept as a subset of international relations, and more specifically, its connection to public diplomacy. Finally, the article analyzes the case of Greece and the current branding campaign pursued by its government. What has Greece done in the past to enhance its brand and how is it going to resuscitate its image? Is nation branding a phenomenon that increases during a crisis? Through analyzing the Greek government's policy choices, the article will assess the degree to which branding is one function of a nation's image enhancement.


In February of 2008 I had the pleasure of attending a colloquium at the University of British Columbia (UBC), hosted by the School of Library, Archival & Information Studies that featured the archivist for the Grateful Dead, David Lemieux. In front of a packed house of SLAIS students, music students, and various UBC faculty members, including a few department heads, David, a self-proclaimed Dead Head, talked for over an hour about how he landed his dream job and what he has done for and with the Grateful Dead since he was hired in 1999. As an archival student, and someone with a real love of the history of Rock 'n' Roll, David's story was completely inspiring. My second exposure to David came on the 14 October 2008 when he came to talk to my Management of Audiovisual and Non-Textual Archives class. He showed us some examples of his work including The Grateful Dead Movie, which was originally produced by Jerry Garcia, who passed away in 1995. In addition to these two presentations, I had the opportunity to meet with David to talk about his career over the course of an afternoon in Victoria, B.C. (1) I was interested in discovering what a Rock 'n' Roll archivist does and the skills one would need to archive Rock 'n' Roll. David's path to his dream job started in his late teens when he committed to being a Dead Head fulltime by following the Grateful Dead all over the United States, Canada and Europe. (2) After doing this for about four years, he decided to dedicate himself to education and in eight years he completed degrees in history from Carleton University in Ottawa, film studies and production from Concordia University in Montreal, and a master's degree in film archiving from East Anglia in Norwich, England. (3) In 1998 as part of the requirements for his degree from East Anglia, David had the opportunity to do one of his two internships at Library & Archives Canada with Canadian film preservationist Bill O'Farrell at the Gatineau Preservation Center. (4) David considers Bill, referred to by some as the archiving godfather of Canadian film preservation, a mentor and it is obvious that Bill imparted a great deal of his knowledge and passion for preservation upon David. (5) David's second internship was completed at the British Columbia Provincial Archives in Victoria where he was caring for their collection of Canadian film, audio and video. (6) In 1998 David decided to contact the Grateful Dead to find out how they archived their visual material, in what was primarily a commercial audio archive. (7) Dick Latvala, the Dead's audio archivist, who is considered to be the first in-house Rock 'n' Roll archivist, called David two months later and invited him to come to San Francisco and see the "Vault." (8) David took Dick up on the offer and flew to San Francisco. (9) While Dick had catalogued the audio collection and had been making sure that it was in good condition, David wondered who was taking care of the 3,000 moving image items on video, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of feet of 16mm film. (10) Upon meeting the Dead's producer John Cutler, David pointed out that if something was not done about the Dead's 3/4" video tapes that they would deteriorate beyond repair within five years. (11) A month after returning home from the trip, David wrote both Dick and John letters thanking them for the experience. In John's letter he said that, if they ever decided they needed an archivist to take care of the moving image material, he would be more than happy to help. (12) One week later, John Cutler called David and said that he had been thinking about what David had said about the 3/4" video tapes and agreed. (13) By showing his expertise and obviously conveying his knowledge of content and passion for the Dead's moving image material, David had impressed John and made him realize that action had to be taken. (14) John said that the video needed to be catalogued and after that a preservation plan would be devised; but first they had to know what was there. …


Abstract. Several methods currently exist to quantitatively reconstruct palaeoclimatic variables from fossil botanical data. Of these, probability density function (PDF)-based methods have proven valuable as they can be applied to a wide range of plant assemblages. Most commonly applied to fossil pollen data, their performance, however, can be limited by the taxonomic resolution of the pollen data, as many species may belong to a given pollen type. Consequently, the climate information associated with different species cannot always be precisely identified, resulting in less-accurate reconstructions. This can become particularly problematic in regions of high biodiversity. In this paper, we propose a novel PDF-based method that takes into account the different climatic requirements of each species constituting the broader pollen type. PDFs are fitted in two successive steps, with parametric PDFs fitted first for each species and then a combination of those individual species PDFs into a broader single PDF to represent the pollen type as a unit. A climate value for the pollen assemblage is estimated from the likelihood function obtained after the multiplication of the pollen-type PDFs, with each being weighted according to its pollen percentage. To test its performance, we have applied the method to southern Africa as a regional case study and reconstructed a suite of climatic variables (e.g. winter and summer temperature and precipitation, mean annual aridity, rainfall seasonality). The reconstructions are shown to be accurate for both temperature and precipitation. Predictable exceptions were areas that experience conditions at the extremes of the regional climatic spectra. Importantly, the accuracy of the reconstructed values is independent of the vegetation type where the method is applied or the number of species used. The method used in this study is publicly available in a software package entitled CREST (Climate REconstruction SofTware) and will provide the opportunity to reconstruct quantitative estimates of climatic variables even in areas with high geographical and botanical diversity.


Contemporary research investigating academic help-seeking behavior (HSB) is predominantly K-12 in focus. Few studies have examined HSB within an undergraduate engineering context. Primary efforts are quantitative which, due to typical engineering demographics, limits the voice of minority constituents. The purpose of this research is to develop a rich, empirical understanding of engineering students' lived experiences of HSB ensuring the perspective of underrepresented groups. Self-efficacy (SE) and self-theory of intelligence (STOI) were examined as inputs into HSB. This qualitative research is based on interviews of students' perceptions and constantcomparative techniques drawn from grounded theory. A multi-approach sampling method was used to ensure varied experiences, equal gender, and ethnic diversity. Results indicate a diversity of themes related to SE and STOI as influencers to the metacognitive action of helpseeking resulting in internal conflict during a recursive HSB decision process. Additionally, results emerge casting HSB as a must-learned skill for engineering students. Gender and ethnic concerns are discussed.


IMPORTANCE
When clinicians work with symptoms of infection, they can put patients and colleagues at risk. Little is known about the reasons why attending physicians and advanced practice clinicians (APCs) work while sick.

OBJECTIVE
To identify a comprehensive understanding of the reasons why attending physicians and APCs work while sick.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
We performed a mixed-methods analysis of a cross-sectional, anonymous survey administered from January 15 through March 20, 2014, in a large children's hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Data were analyzed from April 1 through June 1, 2014. The survey was administered to 459 attending physicians and 470 APCs, including certified registered nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwives.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Self-reported frequency of working while experiencing symptoms of infection, perceived importance of various factors that encourage working while sick, and free-text comments written in response to open-ended questions.

RESULTS
Of those surveyed, we received responses from 280 attending physicians (61.0%) and 256 APCs (54.5%). Most of the respondents (504 [95.3%]) believed that working while sick put patients at risk. Despite this belief, 446 respondents (83.1%) reported working sick at least 1 time in the past year, and 50 (9.3%) reported working while sick at least 5 times. Respondents would work with significant symptoms, including diarrhea (161 [30.0%]), fever (86 [16.0%]), and acute onset of significant respiratory symptoms (299 [55.6%]). Physicians were more likely to report working with each of these symptoms than APCs (109 [38.9%] vs 51 [19.9%], 61 [21.8%] vs 25 [9.8%], and 168 [60.0%] vs 130 [50.8%], respectively [P < .05]). Reasons deemed important in deciding to work while sick included not wanting to let colleagues down (521 [98.7%]), staffing concerns (505 [94.9%]), not wanting to let patients down (494 [92.5%]), fear of ostracism by colleagues (342 [64.0%]), and concern about continuity of care (337 [63.8%]). Systematic qualitative analysis of free-text comments from 316 respondents revealed additional reasons why attending physicians and APCs work while sick, including extreme difficulty finding coverage (205 [64.9%]), a strong cultural norm to come to work unless remarkably ill (193 [61.1%]), and ambiguity about what constitutes "too sick to work" (180 [57.0%]).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Attending physicians and APCs frequently work while sick despite recognizing that this choice puts patients at risk. The decision to work sick is shaped by systems-level and sociocultural factors. Multimodal interventions are needed to reduce the frequency of this behavior.


System-level power management has become a key technique to render modern wireless communication devices economically viable. Despite their relatively large impact on the system energy consumption, power management for radios has been limited to shutdown-based schemes, while processors have benefited from superior techniques based on dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). However, similar scaling approaches that trade-off energy versus performance are also available for radios. To utilize these in radio power management, existing packet scheduling policies have to be thoroughly rethought to make them energy-aware, essentially opening a whole new set of challenges the same way the introduction of DVS did to CPU task scheduling. We use one specific scaling technique, dynamic modulation scaling (DMS), as a vehicle to outline these challenges, and to introduce the intricacies caused by the nonpreemptive nature of packet scheduling and the time-varying wireless channel.


The successful development, production and commercial launch of a stream of new and/or modified products has become one of the key factors in creating competitive advantage. Rapidly reducing development lead times and product life cycles, coupled with the shift from mass production to mass customisation are all increasing the pressure on product development activities and processes. This is leading companies to adopt a 'right first time' philosophy together with the constant review and improvement of their new product environment. New product development (NPD) performance needs to be constantly measured and action taken to improve current performance. Improvements to NPD activities and processes can be radical or incremental. They can be based on the review of past performance or the comparison of successful and less successful products. Benchmarking against the best practice in other companies can be used to advantage. Intuition also has its place. If you are interested in all or any of these improvement methodologies, this workbook is for you. The workbook provides information and a structured framework that allows a company to tailor NPD performance measurement and improvement methodologies to their particular circumstances. Part I introduces relevant 'theory' relating to NPD trends, strategy and performance evaluation and improvement. Part II covers the practical application of NPD strategy and performance evaluation/improvement using action based flow-charts ('animated' versions of the flow-charts are included on the CD-ROM). Part III covers the use of a structured NPD assessment tool and methodology presented in paper and CD-ROM formats. Relevant case studies and useful contacts and addresses are also included. It includes a questionnaire to enable companies to appraise their current perfomance and highlight areas to be improved.


Despite the frequent rhetoric celebrating the generalist judge, do judges really believe in the generalist ideal? This Article empirically tests this question by examining opinion assignments in the federal courts of appeals from 1995-2005. It reveals that opinion specialization is a regular part of circuit court practice, and that a significant number of judges indeed specialize in specific subject areas. The Article then assesses the desirability of opinion specialization. Far from being a mere loophole, opinion specialization turns out to be an important development in judicial practice that promises to increase judicial expertise without incurring many of the costs commonly associated with specialized courts.


This paper evaluates the production and income effects from the adoption of one popular agro-environmental measure, which concerns buffer strips along field edges, on a representative sample of crop farms in Belgium taken from the Farm Accountancy Data Network database. We represent the economic behaviour of each crop farm with a profit-maximisation programming model that embeds an estimated ex-ante flexible cost function. We calibrate the simulation model using the Positive Mathematical Programming approach. Accounting for farm and regional heterogeneity, simulation results show how crop farms may respond differently to incentives for the agroenvironmental measure. Results demonstrate that economic incentives can be an effective mechanism for encouraging uptake of agro-environmental measures and that impacts of agro-environmental measures can vary by farm and region, depending on agronomic conditions and the environmental potential for agro-environmental measure activity.


Manufacturing in Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) faces severe competitive stresses as it integrates into the global economy. It is not, on the whole, coping well. Though it was the first region in the developing world - in the post-war era - to liberalize on international trade and investment flows and had the most advanced industrial base, it failed to tap fully the opportunities offered. As a result, it has steadily fallen behind the most competitive economies in the developing world, the Tigers of East Asia. What is behind LAC's under-performance? The dominant view in the region puts emphasis on the legacy of import substitution, macroeconomic mismanagement and on a costly business environment. Although important, these factors do not seem to tell the whole story. The heavy emphasis on government failures has led policymakers to overlook key market failures that stand on the way to sustained productivity growth, increasing technological capability and greater competitiveness. This paper can be seen as a first step to redress the balance of the policy debate and focus on benchmarking competitive performance and capabilities in the 1990s in LAC and East Asia, letting the comparisons speak for themselves. While it is known in the region that its recent industrial record has been poor, the dimensions are not well analyzed or understood. This benchmarking exercise, using a simple framework to measure performance and capabilities, should prove instructive to policy analysis.


We have developed a psycho-sensorial therapy that we call Multisensorial mediation treatment (SMMS). When dealing with severe forms of anorexia, in which patients seriously abuse their body, we had the idea of offering a particular psychotherapeutic space, in surroundings that are pleasing to the senses, allowing the patient to assume a regressive position that fosters access to childhood memories and archaic psycho-affective impressions. This therapeutic space uses olfactory stimulation by scents chosen during an aromatherapy workshop, combining them with warm enveloping of the body, relaxing music and a dimly lit room. The purpose of this treatment is to help the anorexic patient revisit both pleasant and traumatic childhood memories and build a sense of psycho-corporal security which had been lacking until then, within a containing setting.


Abstract This article assesses the recent use of contractarian strategies for the justification of cosmopolitan distributive principles. It deals in particular with the cosmopolitan critique of political membership and tries to reject the claim that political communities are arbitrary for the scope of global justice. By focusing on the circumstances of justice, the nature of the parties, the veil of ignorance, and the sense of justice, the article tries to show that the cosmopolitan critique of political membership modifies the contractarian premises in a way that is both unwarranted and unnecessary. While failing to establish principles of global distributive justice, existing cosmopolitan adaptations of the social contract device simply weaken the method's justificatory potential.


The objective of this research is to increase the understanding of the ecopreneurial actions. A single qualitative case study is used to investigate an environmental hybrid firm in implementing institutional logic to develop household waste ecopreneurship in Surakarta City. In addition, the data were analyzed using an interactive model which consisted of data reduction, data presentation, drawing conclusions, and verification. The research findings showed that the ecopreneur is implementing dual logics, combining ecological and economic logics into one business perspective. The commitment to dual logic implies on the ecopreneurial firm and how the hybrid firm deal with the complexity within and outside the organization. The ecopreneur also works actively to improve their circumstances, in terms of affecting the field to better prioritize the ecological logic by raising public engagement and developing eco-innovation product. Ecopreneur's commitment in dual logic was implemented in some business's strategy such as production, technology, human resources, marketing, and finance. Keywords: binstitutional logic, hybrid firm, ecopreneurship, household waste


In 2014 the Essex Autonomy Project undertook a six month project, funded by the AHRC, to provide technical advice to the UK Ministry of Justice on the question of whether the Mental Capacity Act is compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Over the course of the project, the EAP research team organised a series of public policy roundtables, hosted by the Ministry of Justice, and which brought together leading experts to discuss and debate the issues. A one-day public conference was held at the Institute for Government in July. In September 2014, the EAP research team submitted its findings to the Ministry of Justice.


The pharmacokinetics of the Cl 10 anti-carcinoembryonic antigen an tibody radiolabeled with '"In via a novel benzylisothiocyanate derivative of diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid have been determined in 12 pa tients. The chelator was attached to the protein via a thiourea bond and in such a way that all 5 carboxymethyl arms were presumably able to participate in chelation. Patients with known or suspected colorectal carcinoma received between 5 and 20 mg of the IgG antibody labeled with5 niCi of '"In. Individual organ radioactivity levels werequantitated, and serum and urine samples were analyzed, principally by size exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Total urinary excre tion averaged 0.18% of the injected dose/h with large patient to patient variation. At early times postadministration (<8 h) the predominant radiolabeled species in urine was free diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid most probably administered as a small radiocontaminant in the injectate. Thereafter, radioactivity in urine was primarily present as a low molecular weight catabolic product. Analysis of serum by size exclusion HPLC occasionally showed 3 radioactivity peaks, 2 of which are due to circu lating immune complexes and labeled antibody. The third peak is of low molecular weight and is due to one or more products of antibody catabolism. Transchelation of '"In to circulating transferrin was observed but at modest levels. Quantitation of organ radioactivity showed that 18 ±4 (SI ))'/•;of the injected dose was in the liver at 1 day postadministration and 1.4 ±1.1 and 1.2 ±0.9% was in the spleen and in both kidneys, respectively, at this time. The mean half-life for clearance of total injected radioactivity was fitted to a single exponential and was found to be 34 h (SD, 14 li: .V= M)and that for antibody alone, assessed by size exclusion HPLC analysis of serum samples, was calculated to be 22 h (SD, Xli; V = 10). Neither of these values nor organ radioactivity levels were affected by antibody-loading dose.


This thesis describes the synthetic approaches undertaken to generate various substituted 1,2,3-triazoles and a small group of bis alkyne-containing compounds, followed by their attempted application in an asymmetric 'click' reaction. The first chapter gives an outline to the importance of desymmetrization within organic synthesis, providing examples of the types of stereoselective reactions found within the
literature. Attention is then focused on the field of 'click' chemistry, specifically the copper-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), its mechanistic studies and recent applications.
Chapter two contains the results and discussion of the project and begins with the application of the CuAAC reaction to produce a simple 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole from its two coupling partners, an azide and an alkyne, in near quantitative yields. The 1,4-disubstituted triazole is then transformed to its corresponding triazolium salt, with the longer alkyl chains only giving 40-45% product. They are then reacted with
potassium tert-butoxide to generate the 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole in yields of 83% or above. The reaction steps were optimised to give a standard procedure for the conversion of 1,4- to 1,5-triazoles, with a small series of test reactions giving overall yields of up to 90%.
The second section of the results and discussion chapter centres on the development of meso bis-alkynes which were to be used in the evaluation of an asymmetric 'click' reaction. A number of synthetic approaches to these compounds are described, with most falling short of their final target compound, and either needing further work or a
redesign of the target compound itself. One target compound, meso-1,2-bis-(prop2-yn-1-ol)benzene 29, was synthesised and a series of further meso bis-alkynes produced by various additions to the propargylic alcohol. Evaluation of the asymmetric 'click' reaction using this group of compounds under a wide selection of reaction conditions gave no successful results, all returning only starting material. Chapter two concludes with a brief summary of future work.
Finally, chapter 3 contains full experimental details for the synthetic studies carried out in the preceding chapters.


Purpose
Improved management of commercial property at risk from flooding may result from well-targeted advice from built environment (BE) professionals, such as surveyors, valuers and project managers. However, research indicates that the role of these professionals in providing such advice is currently limited for a variety of reasons. This paper aims to investigate the (perceived and real) barriers and opportunities for providing such advice in a number of international locations. In particular, the research sought greater understanding of the link between regulation and guidance; perceived roles and capacity; and training and education needs.

Design/methodology/approach
To cover different international settings, an illustrative case study approach was adopted within the selected countries (Australia, UK, USA, China and Germany). This involved a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews of BE professionals with experience of advising on commercial properties at risk of flooding. Due to the specific nature of these interviews, a purposive sampling approach was implemented, leading to a sample of 72 interviews across the five international locations.

Findings
Perceived barriers were linked to regulatory issues, a shortage of suitably experienced professionals, a lack of formal guidance and insurance requirements. BE professionals defined their roles differently in each case study in relation to these factors and stressed the need for closer collaboration among the various disciplines and indeed the other key stakeholders (i.e. insurers, loss adjusters and contractors). A shortage of knowledgeable experts caused by a lack of formal training, and education was a common challenge highlighted in all locations.

Originality/value
The research is unique in providing an international perspective on issues affecting BE professionals in providing robust and impartial advice on commercial property at risk of flooding. While acknowledging the existence of local flood conditions, regulatory frameworks and insurance regimes, the results indicate some recurring themes, indicating a lack of general flood risk education and training across all five case study countries. Learning across case studies coupled with appropriate policy development could contribute toward improved skills development and more consistent integration of BE professionals within future flood risk management practice, policy and strategy.


Muddling through isn't working. This commentary argues that troubled eurozone nations should simultaneously open restructuring talks while continuing to service their debts normally. Germany, France and other core eurozone nations would have to stand ready to recapitalise the banks most exposed to the restructured debt. The ECB would then stabilise the banking system and the EFSF would stabilise sovereign debt. This big bang could be prepared in a weekend; the market already seems to be pricing it in.


The aim of the prospective studies in this thesis was to identify factors relating to intentions to have a smear test as part of the national screening programme in the UK and actual uptake of this test. A second aim was to assess the sufficiency and efficacy of social cognition models in predicting these intentions and behaviour. Nearly 2,000 women died from cervical cancer in 1992 in the UK and a further 23,000 were affected by the disease, indicating that cervical cancer is a significant public health problem. It has been shown that screening can prevent death from this cancer and also it has been observed that the majority of women dying from cervical cancer have never been screened. Exploring how women behave in relation to cervical screening is therefore essential for identifying factors which may be used to ultimately increase uptake. Study 1 was based largely on the Health Belief Model (Becker, 1974). One hundred and eighty-three women (28 per cent response rate) completed a questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics; knowledge of, and attitudes towards, cervical cancer and cervical screening; and intention to attend for screening in the future. One hundred and fifty of these women subsequently attended for a smear test and 33 did not. It was found that intentions were predicted by perceptions of the costs and benefits of screening and whether women had ever had a smear test. The best predictors of uptake of screening were an intention to attend for screening and the woman having a current sexual partner. The second study attempted to extend and replicate the results of study 1. This study repeated the measures used to assess the Health Belief Model and also included measures based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). One hundred and forty-two women participated in the study (59 per cent response rate), completing questionnaires before being invited to attend for screening. Seventy-two women subsequently had a smear test. Consistent with study 1, intentions were predicted by ever having had a smear test and having a positive overall attitude to attendance for screening. Years of education and frequency of contact with a GP also significantly added to the prediction of intentions to be screened. No individual variable contributed to the variance explained in behaviour. Beliefs derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour accounted for considerably more variance in intentions than those derived from the Health Belief Model. The results of the studies indicate that the models used do not provide a complete explanation of influences on women's behaviour, accounting for relatively little of the variance in uptake of screening. This calls into question their efficacy in this behavioural domain. Suggestions for improvements to the models are given along with practical implications for increasing uptake of cervical screening.


Abstract Multiphase flow occurs in almost all oil and gas wells and production installations. The past three decades have seen intense efforts to develop empirical correlations and modelling tools to improve the ability to predict multiphase-flow behaviour with greater accuracy. The empirical approach typically involves flowing fluids at carefully measured flow rates through a pipe, observing the flow pattern, and measuring liquid holdup and pressure drop. Using the measured data, empirical correlations are developed for predicting flow patterns, liquid holdup, and friction factor, and a pressure gradient equation is developed that uses these empirical correlations. In its operations on Al-Khalij field, which is operated under a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Qatar Petroleum (QP), Total E&P Qatar experience multiphase flow in main production lines, with a resulting pressure loss which has to be accurately predicted. As part of the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), Total Research Centre - Qatar (TRC-Q) has research collaborations with different partners. In this work, we present the results of a joint research project between the Petroleum Engineering program at Texas A&M University in Qatar and the Smart Metering Project team from TRC-Q. A literature review of available multiphase flow correlations has been performed first. Secondly, limitations and range of applicability of these correlations were evaluated. We then identified the most applicable correlation to specific conditions of a pipeline in Qatar's Al-Khalij field. This included gas-oil-water flow in a large-diameter multi-kilometre-long pipeline which passes through a hilly terrain (slightly deviated from horizontal). Our Analyses show that Beggs and Brill set of equations estimates pressure gradient with the least error among other correlations for these conditions. To improve the correlation's accuracy, we divided the pipeline into several segments with an optimum length to minimize the error and ensure computation efficiency. We developed a code to implement this correlation to simulate the multiphase flow inside the pipe. We could obtain pressure and phase flow rates along the pipeline. Also, a sensitivity analysis of some key parameters was performed. The model provided good agreement with measured pressure at the end of the pipeline.


Despite a vast theoretical literature on contagious behavior of investors, little is known about its empirical evidence in a real financial crisis setting. This paper examines evidence for contagious runs in money market funds during the 2008 financial crisis, drawing on a rich data set tracking U.S. money market funds' daily flows and their enrollment statuses in the Treasury Department's Temporary Guarantee Program (TGP). Evaluating the positive externality effect from a peer fund's enrollment in the TGP on non-enrolled funds, we show that panic-driven runs were contagious across funds. We find that funds' stability due to their enrollment in the guarantee program spilled over and enhanced daily flows to a non-enrolled fund by $1.8 million (compared to already-enrolled funds). Moreover, we find that retail investors were less likely than institutional investors to return to prime money market funds even after enrollment in the guarantee program, implying that the latter benefited more from the government backstop. Results are germane to policies seeking to rebuild investor confidence in times of financial crisis and reduce the chance of future contagion in this industry.


Strings and sequences are ubiquitous in many areas of data analysis. However, only few learning methods can be directly applied to this form of data. We present Sally, a tool for embedding strings in vector spaces that allows for applying a wide range of learning methods to string data. Sally implements a generalized form of the bag-of-words model, where strings are mapped to a vector space that is spanned by a set of string features, such as words or n-grams of words. The implementation of Sally builds on efficient string algorithms and enables processing millions of strings and features. The tool supports several data formats and is capable of interfacing with common learning environments, such as Weka, Shogun, Matlab, or Pylab. Sally has been successfully applied for learning with natural language text, DNA sequences and monitored program behavior.


ABSTRACT

The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened
for signature on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (the Rio "Earth
Summit") and entered into force on 29 December 1993. The
Convention is the only international instrument
comprehensively addressing biological diversity. The
Convention's three objectives are the conservation of
biological diversity, the sustainable use of its
components and the fair and equitable sharing of benefit
sharing from the utilisation of genetic resources.
After six years of negotiation, the Nagoya Protocol
on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable
Sharing of Benefit sharing from their Utilization to the
Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted at the
tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties on 29
October 2010, in Nagoya, Japan.
The Protocol significantly advances the Convention's
third objective by providinga strong basis for greater
legal certainty and transparency for both providersand
users of genetic resources. Specific obligations to
support compliance withdomestic legislation or regulatory
requirements of the Party providing geneticresources and
contractual obligations reflected in mutually agreed
terms are a significant innovation of the Protocol. These
compliance provisions as well asprovisions establishing
more predictable conditions for access to genetic
resourceswill contribute to ensuring the sharing of
benefits when genetic resources leave aParty providing
genetic resources. In addition, the Protocol's provisions
on accessto traditional knowledge held by indigenous and
local communities when it isassociated with genetic
resources will strengthen the ability of these
communities to benefit from the use of their knowledge,
innovations and practices.
Keywords : Biodiversity, convention, local
communities, protocol, sharing benefit, sustainable
development, traditional knowledge.


Pulse compression technique combines the high energy characteristic of a longer pulse width with the high resolution characteristic of a narrower pulse width. The major aspects that are considered for a pulse compression technique are signal to sidelobe ratio (SSR), noise and Doppler shift performances. The traditional algorithms like autocorrelation function (ACF), recursive least square (RLS) algorithm, multilayer perceptron (MLP), radial basis function (RBF) and recurrent neural network (RNN) have been applied for pulse compression and their performances have also been studied. This paper presents a new approach for pulse compression using recurrent radial Basis function (RRBF) neural network. 13 and 35-bit Barker codes are taken as input to RRBF network for pulse compression and the results are compared with MLP, RNN and RBF network based pulse compression schemes. The analysis of simulation results reveals that RRBF yields higher SSR, improved noise performance, better Doppler tolerance and hence more robust for pulse radar detection compared to the other techniques.


Knowledge sharing visibility is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing. This is especially true in IT-based knowledge sharing. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design IT-based Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) to support high knowledge sharing visibility. This paper examines the impact of knowledge management technology functions (e.g., tracking, knowledge storing) on knowledge sharing visibility through qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with participants in a Chinese company. Impact and implications of use for their existing KMS are examined. Results encourage applied statistical, tracking, knowledge distribution and knowledge storing functions for monitoring explicit knowledge sharing, and suggest integration of knowledge maps with communication tools (e.g., instant messenger) to support visibility for implicit knowledge sharing. Extension to use of web 2.0 technologies (e.g., weblogs) in KMS is also explored.


Although phenological matching between two and three trophic interactions has received some attention, it has largely been disregarded in explaining the lack of strong cascade dynamics in terrestrial systems. We studied the response of the specialist seed predator, Paroxyna plantaginis (Tephritidae) and associated generalist parasitoids (Chalcidoidea) to controlled fertilisation of individuals of naturally growing Tripolium vulgare (Asteraceae) on four island populations (Skeppsvik Archipelago, Sweden). We consistently found evidence of nutrient limitation: fertilised plants increased their biomass, produced more capitula (the oviposition units for tephritid flies), were more at risk of attack by the tephritids, and puparia were heavier in fertilised plants. During some parts of the season tephritids became more heavily parasitized, supporting the presence of cascade dynamics, however net parasitism over season decreased in response to nutrient addition. We found no evidence that capitulum size complicated parasitoid access to the tephritids, however the extended bud production prolonged the flowering season. Thus, tephritids utilized the surplus production of capitula throughout the entire season, while parasitoids did not expand their oviposition time window accordingly. Implications for top down regulation and cascade dynamics in the system are discussed.


Forward guidance is one of the policy tools that a central bank can implement if it seeks to provide additional monetary stimulus when it is operating at the effective lower bound (ELB) on interest rates. It became more widely used during and after the global financial crisis. This paper reviews the international experience, based on the six central banks that have used forward guidance when operating at the ELB, in order to assess its effectiveness and the potential risks associated with its implementation. We distinguish between three distinct types of forward guidance (qualitative, time contingent and state contingent) and discuss the channels through which forward guidance operates. Overall, we find that forward guidance can be an effective tool at the ELB when clearly communicated and perceived as credible. Though evidence from the literature is somewhat mixed—since the specific effects vary across economies, episodes and type of guidance—it has generally been found to be effective in (1) lowering expectations of the future path of policy rates, (2) improving the predictability of short-term yields over the near term and (3) changing the sensitivity of financial variables to economic news. However, as with other monetary policy tools, the benefits of forward guidance need to be weighed against the costs. Those costs are mainly associated with potential loss of credibility and increased financial stability risks. Moreover, the international experience with forward guidance under conditions of negative ELBs and interest rates is limited to date.


The important role that women play in the management of wat er resources has been recognized in various parts of the world. This is because they play a significant role in accessing water for various uses such as washing, cooking, watering of crops and livestock rearing. Their effective participation in water manag ement is however influenced by existing policy, institutional and legal frameworks. In this study, the various policies that enhance women's participation in water resources management in Kajiado County of Kenya were evaluated from the perspective of relev ance, value and limitations. This was done with a view to suggesting practical measures to ensure the women's important and critical roles are properly captured in the proposed policies on water resources management in the County and elsewhere in the count ry. The findings show that although the existing policies, legal and institutional frameworks are fairly comprehensive in addressing women's roles in the management of water resources, the policies do not, however, directly and adequately address women's i ssues and concerns in water resources management in the County .


Harnessing energy from clean and sustainable resources is of crucial importance to our planet. Several attempts through different technologies have been pursued to achieve efficient and sustainable energy production systems. However, having systems with a high energy harvesting efficiency and at the same time low energy production cost are challenging with the existing technologies. In this research, several novel structures based on electrically small particles are proposed for harvesting the microwave and infrared energy efficiently. First, a proof of concept demonstrates a metamaterial unit cell's ability to harness the ambient electromagnetic energy. A split-ring resonator (SRR) representing the metamaterial unit cell is designed at a microwave frequency (5.8 GHz) and then fabricated by using printed circuit board technology to prove this concept. A bow-tie antenna, operating at the above frequency, is also designed to show the power efficiency improvement achieved by utilizing the SRR. More than 37% of power efficiency is achieved using SRRsbased structure compared to the 13% of the bow-tie antenna. A new efficiency term is also proposed to take into account the size reduction and efficiency advancement resulting from SRR structures. To this end, two comparable arrays of SRRs and bow-tie antennas are made. Power efficiency of 63.2% and 15.3% for the SRRs and bow-tie arrays, respectively, are achieved. Another structure composed of an ensemble of electrically small resonators for harvesting microwave energy is presented. A flower-like structure composed of four electrically small SRRs arranged in a cruciate pattern, each with a maximum dimension of less than λo/10, is shown to achieve more than 43% microwave-to-alternating current (AC) conversion efficiency at 5.67 GHz. Evenand odd-mode currents are realized in the proposed harvester to improve the efficiency and concurrently reduce the dielectric loss in the substrate. An experimental validation is conducted to prove the harvesting capability. To extend the work to operate at the far-infrared regime, a novel structure based on electrically small resonators is proposed for harvesting the infrared energy and yielding more than 80% harvesting efficiency. The dispersion effects of the dielectric and conductor materials of the resonators are taken into account by applying the Drude model. A new scheme to channel the infrared waves from an array of SRRs is proposed, whereby a wide-bandwidth collector is utilized by employing this new channeling concept. With the same pattern of the flower-like harvester operating in microwave regime, a new structure composed of electrically small SRRs, each of whose greatest length is less than λo/21, is proven to achieve more than 85% of power harvesting efficiency at 0.348 THz. Furthermore, the infrared energy harvesters are fabricated using nano-fabrication tools. At last, the infrared harvesters are experimentally validated with the numerical findings using THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS).


We propose a new scheme for multiple antenna transmission in the context of spread-spectrum signaling. The new scheme consists of using shifted Gold sequences to modulate independent information on the multiple antennas. We show that this strategy of using multiphase spreading (MPS) on different antennas greatly improves the throughput over currently known spread-spectrum multiple-antenna methods. We also find the optimal power allocation strategy among multiple transmit antennas for a fixed rate of channel state information, which might be provided via a feedback link, at the transmitter. We demonstrate the differences in optimal power distribution for maximizing capacity and minimizing probability of outage. When the transmission from the two antennas uses orthogonal spreading, we find that optimizing the power does not give much gain over the equal power transmission. However, when the transmissions are not orthogonal as in the case of MPS, then allocating power to maximize throughput gives considerable gain over equal power transmission. We also consider the effect of imperfections in the feedback channel on the optimal power allocation and show that our power allocation scheme is robust to feedback errors.


elcome to the 14th IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR2015)! In 2003 and 2007, the 2nd ISMAR and the 6th ISMAR were held in Tokyo and Nara, respectively. Now with ISMAR2015, it is the third time that ISMAR is hosted in Japan. ISMAR2015 is being held at Fukuoka City, from September 29th to October 3rd, 2015. Fukuoka City is one of the most populated cities in Japan (currently, 1.5 million people are living in Fukuoka) and the largest city in Kyushu Island. Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan, located at the southwestern part of the country. The first day, Sept. 29th, S&T workshops and tutorials of ISMAR2015 is taken place at Fukuoka Sunpalace Hotel and Hall, which is followed by reception held at Fukuoka City Museum, in which MASH'D workshop is also held on the day. From the second day, Sept. 30th, main conference of ISMAR2015 for three days is held at Fukuoka International Congress Center, where two workshops and related events are also held after the main conference on the last day of ISMAR2015, October 3rd. We are really happy to have the excellent program in the main conference, consist of oral presentations, poster presentations including extended posters, and demo presentations. Since one of the most important aspect of AR/MR is interactivity, we have prepared huge spaces and time for a number of demo and poster presentations so that all participants can enjoy to share the interactive presentations and extensive discussions. Following to the previous ISMARs, we also have the tracking competition in ISMAR2015. The tracking competition is organized by SIG-MR with the cooperation by IEICE-PRMU, one of the biggest academic group for computer vision and pattern recognition in Japan. We are also happy to welcome three distinguished keynote speakers. Prof. Gudrun Klinker, one of the most contributing person to ISMAR, will give a talk on Ubiquitous Augmented Reality. Julian Oliver, a New Zealander, Critical Engineer and artist based in Berlin, will make an Introduction to Critical Engineering. Masahiko Inami, one of the most creative VR researcher, will show superhuman sports, on which he has recently founded an academy. Such an excellent quality event as ISMAR cannot take place without the help of a lot of people who take responsibility for some parts of the event. We would like to express our cordial thanks to the members of program committees who reviewed and selected this impressive collection of oral/poster/demo presentations representing the state of the art in AR/MR, and to the authors for the high quality of their works presented. We also express our gratitude to the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Fukuoka City, and the sponsors of private companies for their financial support. Last but not least, we would like to thank all the members of the organizing committee and the local arrangements committee for their devoted support, and for spending huge hours preparing ISMAR2015. W


In Indigenous North American film Native Americans tell their own stories and thereby challenge a range of political and historical contradictions, including egregious misrepresentations by Hollywood. Although Indians in film have long been studied, especially as characters in Hollywood westerns, Indian film itself has received relatively little scholarly attention. In Imagic Moments Lee Schweninger offers a much-needed corrective, examining films in which the major inspiration, the source material, and the acting are essentially Native. Schweninger looks at a selection of mostly narrative fiction films from the United States and Canada and places them in historical and generic contexts. Exploring films such as Powwow Highway, Smoke Signals, and Skins , he argues that in and of themselves these films constitute and in fact emphatically demonstrate forms of resistance and stories of survival as they talk back to Hollywood. Self-representation itself can be seen as a valid form of resistance and as an aspect of a cinema of sovereignty in which the Indigenous peoples represented are the same people who engage in the filming and who control the camera. Despite their low budgets and often nonprofessional acting, Indigenous films succeed in being all the more engaging in their own right and are indicative of the complexity, vibrancy, and survival of myriad contemporary Native cultures.


The End of Chidyerano. A History of Food and Everyday Life in Malawi, 1860-2004. By Elias C. Mandate. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 2004. Pp. xiv, 346. $139.95 cloth, $29.95 paper. This well-documented historical and thorough ethnographic account of food and culture in Malawi's Tchiri Valley argues that the inhabitants of this region have always lived on the edge of subsistence; experiencing oases of plenty with deserts of famine. Whereas seasonal hunger (njala) is expected and occurs yearly, famine (chaola, which translates to "rotten hunger") has occurred just twice, because people spread their risks, by planting and harvesting foods from different environmental zones and sharing non-staple foods selectively. Previous analysts, for their own ideological purposes, have hypothesized either (deterioration from) a pre-capitalist "golden age" or relentless "crisis." Both miss the true historical dynamics, which combine "time's cycle" (seasonal oscillations) with "time's arrow"1 (cumulative and irreversible change). As a native-speaker who was able to interview surviving generations in their own idiom, and as a Western-trained historian, the author finds no "end of chidyerano" (sharing the "communal meal"); only never-ending oases of plenty coexistent with deserts of famine. Supporting his case are exhaustive citations from archival literature, travelers' and political accounts, previous historical analyses, and his own recent ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys. Part I reconstructs the very different political circumstances surrounding the famines of 1862-63 and 192223, and in the process critically assesses historical research methods. Part II is an agricultural treasure, specifying what cropping and additional livelihood strategies farmers have used, under varying ecological and political circumstances, to balance their needs and desires for food security and cash. Part III provides an instructive case history of cotton, rationalizing why it never became a more dominant export crop; not only were its chemical inputs costly, but its labor demands interfered with food production. The last two chapters-which consider "The Logic of the Peasant Garden" in all its diversity and "The Daily Meal" with its extensive seasonal, geographic, and personal variants-each stand on their own, and could serve as readings for courses in African history, society, culture, or food studies. The dietary chapter, in particular, demonstrates how consumption strategies of food sharing complement diverse production strategies, and what discretion women have over household food resources. …


Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and leading cause of cancer mortality among females in Gaza. Most cases are diagnosed at late stage. Survival rates are persistently low in contrast to improved rates worldwide. Our study examined awareness, knowledge, attitude, practice and access to breast healthcare among both health professionals and women in Gaza. Methods: In May and June 2014, using convenience and representative sampling, 100 health professionals from medical, surgical and obstetrics-gynecology completed a survey on basic knowledge of breast cancer, attitudes and practices. Structured interviews were conducted with 100 women 30 years and older across all districts and socioeconomic backgrounds. Women were interviewed about basic knowledge of breast cancer, self-exam, attitude and practice when a breast problem encountered, access, and barriers. Data was analyzed using excel to find frequency distributions. Results: The health professional surveys showed: Only 15% offer breast exam to their patients, 13% believe mammography can cause cancer, 48% do not know that radiotherapy is not available in Gaza, 4% believe cancer breast is contagious. Health professionals expressed the need for standardized protocols and guidelines. Only 25% of surveyed women reported practice of self-examination, 87% had never had a mammogram or had been offered a breast exam, 26% think mammogram can cause cancer. However 80% were positive about seeking healthcare when needed. Most women accepted screening if affordable and were interested in receiving information about breast care. Conclusion: Knowledge gaps in breast healthcare exist among healthcare professionals and women in Gaza strip. Awareness sessions, capacity building and specialized training of healthcare professionals are needed to improve quality of breast healthcare in Gaza. Increasing utility of mammography among women with access to multidisciplinary breast care may improve survival rate, particularly because most women in Gaza are keen on seeking medical care when needed.


Learning of user preferences has become a core issue in AI research. For example, recent studies investigate learning of Conditional Preference Networks (CP-nets) from partial information. To assess the optimality of learning algorithms as well as to better understand the combinatorial structure of CP-net classes, it is helpful to calculate certain learning-theoretic information complexity parameters. This paper provides theoretical justification for exact values (or in some cases bounds) of some of the most central information complexity parameters, namely the VC dimension, the (recursive) teaching dimension, the self-directed learning complexity, and the optimal mistake bound, for classes of acyclic CP-nets. We further provide an algorithm that learns tree-structured CP-nets from membership queries. Using our results on complexity parameters, we can assess the optimality of our algorithm as well as that of another query learning algorithm for acyclic CP-nets presented in the literature.


A new algorithm for isotonic regression is presented based on recursively partitioning the solution space. We develop efficient methods for each partitioning subproblem through an equivalent representation as a network flow problem, and prove that this sequence of partitions converges to the global solution. These network flow problems can further be decomposed in order to solve very large problems. Success of isotonic regression in prediction and our algorithm's favorable computational properties are demonstrated through simulated examples as large as 2 x 105 variables and 107 constraints.


This dissertation is composed of two essays. In the first essay, we investigate whether contagion during a financial crisis is associated with a market liquidity contagion. We employ two market liquidity measures, i.e. turnover ratio and trading volume. We adopt the correlation approach to test for contagion during the Thai crisis, the Hong Kong crisis, the Russian crisis, and the Brazilian crisis. Evidence of market liquidity contagion is mostly found during the Hong Kong crisis and the Russian crisis. Our results are not sensitive to the two measures used, and also to the heteroskedasticity-corrected technique. We also do not find much support for the notion that market liquidity level is lower during a crisis period, as predicted by the contagion literature. However, we do find some evidence of higher variability of market liquidity during a crisis, especially during the Hong Kong crisis and the Russian crisis. In the second essay, we examine the relation between market liquidity and stock returns in the Malaysian stock market (KLSE), and whether this relation is altered by capital control measures implemented by the Malaysian government in September 1998. Our findings indicate that the state of market liquidity measures pre- and post-capital controls are consistent with the financial market de-liberalization implications. In particular, the average means are lower for turnover ratio and turnover-volatility ratio post-capital controls. On the cross-sectional relation between liquidity and stock returns on KLSE, we find that turnover ratio and turnover-volatility ratio are negatively and significantly related to stock returns. On the effect of capital controls on the relation, we find significant shifts (i.e. higher) in the slopes of both turnover ratio and turnover-volatility ratio coefficients post-capital controls. Therefore, our study provides support for the critics of capital controls regarding the unfavorable impact of capital controls on market liquidity and its relation with stock returns on KLSE.


ABSTRACT This paper asserts that the Second Law of Thermodynamics (SLT) despite holding true in all laboratory tests heretofore conducted, cannot, by itself, explain the hierarchical universe. By examination of the existing evidence, the view will be supported that the exact opposite of the SLT is as natural as the SLT itself. This view, or principle, is called the Second Law of Systems (SLS), namely, that things tend to become more and more orderly if they are left to themselves. The theoretical and practical implications of accepting the SLS and establishing its coexistence with the SLT are evidently tremendous. The exclusive acceptance of the SLT has given scientific thought a pessimistic cast which will no longer prevail if the SLS is valid. Moreover, studying the complicated mechanisms giving rise to SLS could lead to the building of systems with similar properties, that is bring about systems exhibiting true self-adaptive properties.


Civil infrastructure industry is under constant pressure to upgrade the existing concrete structures, which have deteriorated due to corrosion. In a reinforced concrete (RC) bridge and building system, columns are the most important structural components. Thus, the performance of the entire building/bridge relies heavily on the performance of the columns. The majority of columns are non-circular in cross-section and are subjected to a combination of axial compression and bending loads. In this research, an innovative hybrid strengthening technique is developed for the strengthening of RC square columns using near-surface mounting (NSM) of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates and external bonding (EB) of CFRP fabrics. The overall objective of this study is to establish axial compression (P) – bending (M) interaction behaviour for square RC columns.
The experimental program is carried out in two phases. Phase I involves testing undamaged RC columns and the phase II involves testing of severely damaged RC columns. In phase I, thirty-two RC columns are tested. Out of thirty-two specimens, eight specimens are tested under each loading series namely (i) pure axial compression (e/h=0), (ii) high axial compression with low bending (e/h=0.15), (iii) low axial compression with high bending (e/h=0.63) and (iv) pure bending (e/h=∞). For each loading combinations, four different specimen series are tested which includes (i) two control columns, (ii) two columns strengthened using NSM technique, (iii) two columns strengthened using EB technique and (iv) two columns strengthened using hybrid FRP technique. Phase II consists of testing eighteen columns. First, all the eighteen columns are severely damaged till failure in three different loading series (six specimens each) namely (i) pure compression (e/h=0), (ii) low axial compression with high bending (e/h=0.63) and (iii) pure bending (e/h=∞). After severe damage, all the specimens are repaired using high strength cement grout (HSCG). Out of six specimens, two specimens represent the control repaired with HSCG, two specimens repaired with HSCG and strengthened using NSM technique and two specimens repaired with HSCG and strengthened using hybrid FRP technique.
Experimental results reveal that NSM strengthened RC members had significant strength improvement when subjected to predominant bending behaviour. However, the ductility was completely lost, and the NSM strengthened specimens underwent debonding failure. Strengthening with only EB technique was found to be effective under compression and showed only a marginal strength improvement under combined compression and bending loads due to strain gradient effect. Hybrid FRP strengthening significantly improved the strength, stiffness, and ductility of columns under all combinations of axial compression and bending loads. Moreover, hybrid strengthening was able to completely restore the peak strength and ductility of severely damaged RC columns. NSM strengthening restored the original capacity of severely damaged columns under eccentric compression and pure bending load combinations.
The axial compression and bending (P-M) interaction diagram was developed analytically using the strain compatibility procedure for both undamaged and severely damaged RC columns. The analytical predictions exhibited a close correlation with the test results under all combinations of P and M. Also, a nonlinear three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses are carried out using the software FEMAP and MASA. The validated FE modelling approach was used for performing a detailed parametric investigation for understanding the effect of concrete strength and different FRP reinforcement ratios. Parametric studies from the analytical and FE analyses indicated that the optimum hybrid CFRP ratio could be with a CFRP laminate ratio of 0.7% confined using two layers of CFRP wrapping.


Living with dialysis treatment means disturbance and adjustment in one's life and it is important for health care professionals to share persons' personal understanding and experiences in order to provide good nephrology nursing care. A comprehensive understanding is lacking of the experiences persons with end-stage-renal-disease have of automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) and of the conditions influencing these experiences. The thesis consists of two studies, where the first is an integrative literature review of scientific articles with the aim to describe every day life with APD treatment. The review showed that patients on APD had significantly more time for work, family, and social activities as compared to continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Mental health was found to be better in APD than compared to patients on CAPD. Findings even suggested that the use of APD to treat elderly patients was effective. Not one study was found from the APD patient's perspective. The second study is an empirical part where six adults volunteered to be interviewed for their lived experiences of APD treatment. Using the latent content analysis the result is presented out of the themes; choice of dialysis modality, transfer to automated peritoneal dialysis, effects on daily living on dialysis, living and everyday life on dialysis, and thoughts about future. The implications for nursing research are discussed with focus on nursing empowering the chronically ill to maintain and improve the quality of life. Maximizing the individual's power resources facilitates the individual's ability to cope with chronic illness.


The early differentiation of the Earth and terrestrial planets resulted in the formation of metallic cores surrounded by silicate mantles. In the past, models of core formation were typically built on experimentally based constraints from the geochemical behaviour of siderophile and chalcophile elements in combination with their geo- and cosmochemical abundances. As core-mantle differentiations occur by physical separation of core forming metal and proto-mantle silicate phases insights from textural equilibria of the most likely coexisting phases, i.e. metallic liquid, molten and/or solid silicates, have to be combined with geochemical constraints to derive models for core formation scenarios. In the present study textural equilibria of iron sulphide liquids in partly molten silicate aggregates were studied at various pressures, and the influence of silicate melt fraction as well as sulphide melt fraction on the two-phase dihedral angles and three-phase interfacial angles of the coexisting phases were investigated. In combination with literature data, the results of the present study do not support models of core formation that are based on separation of reduced metallic (Fe–Ni–S–O) melts from partially molten silicate or on separation of these liquid metals from solid silicate. Efficient core formation by a percolation mechanism seems only feasible when conditions are very oxidizing or a large fraction of silicate partial melt or a completely molten silicate is present. These findings fit perfectly to the requirements of the multi-stage model of heterogeneous accretion described by Rubie et al . (2011) with (1) an initial accretion (60–70% of the Earth's mass) from highly-reduced (oxygen-poor) material, (2) a final accretion (30–40% of the Earth's mass) from more oxidised material, and (3) a late-stage disequilibrium where differentiated impactor cores (only a few percent of the Earth's mass) fail to re-equilibrate completely with the Earth's mantle silicate as they segregate to the Earth's proto-core.


There appears to be considerable confusion among the bar and on the bench as to when a plaintiff may or may not file a lawsuit challenging the facial constitutionality of a law. Many practitioners and judges have come to the erroneous conclusion that facial challenges to the validity of laws must be filed within a certain time frame after the challenged law is enacted, or risk being barred by the statute of limitations. This error - which springs largely from a confusion with regulatory takings law - has not only led courts to dismiss valid facial arguments as timely, but has also led them to take the mistaken position that statutes of limitations do not apply at all to First Amendment cases, or to misconstrue past cases in which laws were found facially invalid as being as-applied challenges. Worst of all, many practitioners are under the misimpression that a facial challenge is time barred one or two years after the challenged statute is enacted. This is not correct.This article attempts to separate out the different conceptual categories whose overlap has led to such mistakes. In brief, the facial/as-applied distinction has nothing to do with the accrual or the ripeness of a cause of action. Because the accrual date of facial and as-applied challenges are identical (with some specific exceptions), mere enactment is rarely if ever the moment when a facial challenge accrues. The distinction between facial and as-applied challenges is a way of characterizing the merits of a constitutional challenge, but it has no relation to jurisdictional questions such as accrual, ripeness, or statutes of limitations. A plaintiff may challenge a law's validity at any time with the limitations period after that law has injured her, whether she chooses to argue that the law is facially unconstitutional or only unconstitutional as applied in her case.


Many college students do well in theories, but they seldom have internship opportunities and do not put emphasis on practical aspects of their study, so theory and practice can not be well combined. To truly help students gain comprehensive capabilities conforming to the needs of contemporary society, we must build school-enterprise cooperation management mechanism and create new school-enterprise cooperation operating model. Moreover, we must put this new mechanism into practice and do more exploration in order to strengthen the cooperation.


This thesis focuses on private information dissemination and its impacts on financial markets. Specifically, we study issues arising when there are skilled individuals able to extract anticipative information about future prices. The first model considers a continuous time economy that is populated by informed and uninformed investors as well as active unskilled investors, and investigates the existence of noisy rational expectations equilibria and their properties. Equilibria are derived in closed form and their properties analyzed. Informed trading is found to reduce price volatility. The second model is based on the idea that besides exploiting their private information for trading purposes, informed agents might want to offer wealth management services to uninformed investors in exchange for a fee. A market for active funds emerges, and the process of anticipative information dissemination is endogenized. In this chapter, heterogenous risk averse investors can invest in the active fund. Low risk tolerance investors are found to be strictly better off with the active fund. Fund size is not a reliable indicator of managerial skill. The market reacts to the manager's increasing risk-taking behavior by reducing the volatility and risk premium. vi


This review explores the mechanisms through which environmental responsibility influences firm performance. We identify several mechanisms related to stakeholders — customers, employees, investors, government, non-governmental organization, and executives. We try to identify trends both in the importance of different mechanisms in our knowledge about them. We find that recent literature put increasing emphasis on the role of employees as driver of corporate environmental responsibility. The literature also argues that socially responsible investments are becoming more and more mainstream. Finally, we argue that interaction between stakeholders is an important driver of environmental responsibility, with the interaction of NGOs and consumers as an important example.


on Finnmarksvidda. The faults appear as well defined, often linear steps in the otherwise smooth till cover. Northeast of the lake of Iejav'ri the fault crosscuts glaciofluvial deposits, indicating that at !east one section of the fault is of Holocene age. The maximum observed displacement is 7 metres. The western block is depressed. Electromagnetic (VLF ) measurements indicate locally a southeasterly dip, which implies that sections of the Stuoragurra Fault are reverse or low angle thrusts. Older fracture zones in the area were identified by interpreting aeromagnetic data. This interpretation map yields distinct sets of dislocations whose main directions are 30"W, 5°E and 42,"E. It is concluded that the Late Quatemary faults partly coincide with the older fault zones, but that Late Quatemary fracturing outside these zones also occurs locally. The recent seismicity occurs along an elongate duster oriented NE-SW, about parallel to the neotectonic structures. This indicates that the mechanisms which produced the faulting are possibly still active. It is concluded that stress associated with spreading at the Mohns, Knipovich and Nansen Ridges, viscous drag force at the base of the lithosphere and colliding resistance along the southem border of the Eurasian plate are likely to be important contributors to the mechanism generating faults. The release of these stresses could, however, be related to the deglaciation period.


Star formation often occurs within or nearby stellar clusters. Irradiation by nearby massive stars can photoevaporate protoplanetary disks around young stars (so-called proplyds) which raises questions regarding the ability of planet formation to take place in these environments. We investigate the two-dimensional physical and chemical structure of a protoplanetary disk surrounding a low-mass (T Tauri) star which is irradiated by a nearby massive O-type star to determine the survivability and observability of molecules in proplyds. Compared with an isolated star–disk system, the gas temperature ranges from a factor of a few (in the disk midplane) to around two orders of magnitude (in the disk surface) higher in the irradiated disk. Although the UV flux in the outer disk, in particular, is several orders of magnitude higher, the surface density of the disk is sufficient for effective shielding of the disk midplane so that the disk remains predominantly molecular in nature. We also find that non-volatile molecules, such as HCN and H2O, are able to freeze out onto dust grains in the disk midplane so that the formation of icy planetesimals, e.g., comets, may also be possible in proplyds. We have calculated the molecular line emission from the disk assuming LTE and determined that multiple transitions of atomic carbon, CO (and isotopologues, 13CO and C18O), HCO+, CN, and HCN may be observable with ALMA, allowing characterization of the gas column density, temperature, and optical depth in proplyds at the distance of Orion (≈400 pc).


In 2001, the CRAPEL ran an experimental course in both English and Spanish for French-speaking adult beginners. This course, which was aimed at learners wishing to study two languages without having to follow two separate courses, was based on an integrated approach to the teaching-learning of two target languages: same communicative aims, same activities and tasks and types of materials were selected for each language, with a view to optimising the effects of learning strategies and developing plurilingual competence. First, results confirm the practical feasibility of this project as regards teaching and learning and its effectiveness in terms of outcome. However, several additional questions need to be dealt with. After presenting the didactical and pedagogical approach and its characteristics in language didactics in France, the study focuses on the language contacts and learning strategies learners develop during the experiment, as well as their repercussions for the development of such a competence.


Abstract This paper proposes a multiple-membership generalized linear mixed model for ranking college football teams using only their win/loss records. The model results in an intractable, high-dimensional integral due to the random effects structure and nonlinear link function. We use recent data sets to explore the effect of the choice of integral approximation and other modeling assumptions on the rankings. Varying the modeling assumptions sometimes leads to changes in the team rankings that could affect bowl assignments.


Abstract. A new retrieval scheme for cloud optical thickness, effective radius, and thermodynamic phase was developed for ground-based measurements of cloud shortwave solar spectral transmittance. Fifteen parameters were derived to quantify spectral variations in shortwave transmittance due to absorption and scattering of liquid water and ice clouds, manifested by shifts in spectral slopes, curvatures, maxima, and minima. To retrieve cloud optical thickness and effective particle radius, a weighted least square fit that matched the modeled parameters was applied. The measurements for this analysis were made with the ground-based Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer in Boulder, Colorado, between May 2012 and January 2013. We compared the cloud optical thickness and effective radius from the new retrieval to two other retrieval methods. By using multiple spectral features, we find a closer fit (with a root mean square difference over the entire spectra of 3.1% for a liquid water cloud and 5.9% for an ice cloud) between measured and modeled spectra compared to two other retrieval methods which diverge by a root mean square of up to 6.4% for a liquid water cloud and 22.5% for an ice cloud. The new retrieval introduced here has an average uncertainty in effective radius (± 1.2 μm) smaller by factor of at least 2.5 than two other methods when applied to an ice cloud.


This paper investigates three indefinite constructions in Persian: simple (ye-NP), complex (ye-NP-i), and antidefinite (NP-i). It shows that simple indefinites with the determiner ye carry an at-issue existence implication ( | NP | ≥ 1), similar to their English counterpart with the indefinite determiner a(n) . Complex indefinites with both ye and -i introduce an antisingleton implication ( | NP | > 1), similar to Spanish indefinites with algun . Antidefinites with only the clitic -i are a novel category which trigger a projective non-uniqueness implication ( | NP | = 1). The paper provides a compositional account in which the antisingleton implication of complex indefinites is derived from the existence implication of the determiner " ye"  and the non-uniqueness implication of the clitic " -i" . The predictions of this account as well as the pragmatic effects of complex indefinites such as ignorance, indifference, free choice, and domain widening implications are discussed.


Navigation in natural environments is computationally difficult: Location errors from motion estimation noise accumulate over time, while landmarks can be spatially extended and often look alike, thus providing ambiguous data. The brain contains a number of spatially tuned neurons coding for various navigational variables, but current models do not explain how these circuits could implement navigational computations that involve non-trivial spatial reasoning. We show, using a function-first approach, that neural circuits trained to efficiently solve spatial reasoning problems with performance on par with sequential probabilistic strategies reproduce some key properties of hippocampal coding, including heterogeneous tuning, conjunctive tuning, and low-dimensional dynamics. In addition, the models predict the emergence of tuning to key latent variables that are neither present in the input data nor trained as the end result of the task, and exhibit a spontaneous dynamical reconfiguration of tuning across time during a task as the computational demands evolve, reminiscent of some of the more complex dynamics observed in the hippocampus including a switch between location and displacement coding modes. These results provide a new functional framework for understanding the rich phenomenology and potential capabilities of navigation codes in the hippocampus and associated brain areas.


The humble Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) produces two potent alkaloids, vinblastine and vincristine, which are used to treat various cancers. The little plant's mighty biosynthetic feat involves more than 30 chemical steps. Now, researchers have provided the first complete picture of the alkaloids' synthesis (Science 2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aat4100). A decades-long mystery centered on how the periwinkle transforms stemmadenine acetate into tabersonine and catharanthine, which ultimately couple to make the cancer-fighting compounds. Vincent Courdavault at the University of Tours and Sarah E. O'Connor at the John Innes Centre used gene-silencing experiments to show that the periwinkle lost its ability to make tabersonine and catharanthine without four crucial enzymes: precondylocarpine acetate synthase (PAS), dihydroprecondylocarpine synthase, tabersonine synthase, and catharanthine synthase. In principle, these enzymes could be expressed in a bacterium or yeast to help produce the anticanc...


Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood Is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East, by Quil Lawrence. New York: Walker & Co. 2008. xvi + 322 pages. Maps. Photos. Key events to p. 331. Notes to p. 350. Sel. bibl. to p. 354. Acknowl. to p. 356. Index to p. 366. $25.95. Reviewed by Henri J. Barkey Quil Lawrence, a reporter for the BBC/ PRI's The World program, provides an almost personal account of the Iraqi Kurds' struggle since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. Lawrence, who spent the better part of the last seven years reporting from Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan in particular, has not only closely observed developments on the ground but also has had a great deal of access to many of the struggle's protagonists. He describes the continuous and yet contradictory aspects of Kurdish politics: the burning desire for independence tempered by the pragmatic realization that as Kurds they stand a better chance of obtaining both security and prosperity as part of a democratic and federal state of Iraq. The contradictions do not end with the national vision. Lawrence also points to the tension between the desire for democratic politics in Kurdistan and the stranglehold the traditional Kurdish political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Masoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Jalal Talabani, have over the economy and the polity. Similarly, tensions simmer beneath the surface of the Kurdish administration that contradict the image of harmony and efficiency that the KDP and the PUK try to exude. Still, the Kurds are no different from any other ethnic group or nation that has experienced the ups and downs and growing pains of coming of age. No such group has ever attained its goals without divisions and contradictions. Lawrence's book is an account of the difficulties and opportunities that stand before the Kurds. The complexities of Iraq, the impact of the invasion, the miscalculations that haunted the subsequent occupation, and the regional dynamics all conspire to make Kurdish decision-making an enormous task. Lawrence details all the developments with a good eye for the surrounding tableau. He provides the reader with analysis and heretofore unknown anecdotes that help illustrate his points. Starting with the American role, one that never seems to have a real fix or anchor when it comes to the Kurds, everyone it seems is involved in complicated efforts at trying to project the future of Iraq. The Kurdish-American relationship goes through all the gyrations, from when Kurdish representatives are kept waiting at the US State Department entrance in 1991 by an official who did not have the courage to cancel a meeting with them, to the decision to deploy two Kurdish brigades to bolster the American "surge" in 2007. …


Background: Mental health problems are common in England, and new medications potentially offer equal or greater efficacy with increased patient safety and fewer side-effects. Objective: To examine the use of psychotropic medications in primary care, in particular the use of more modern drug therapies. Subjects and setting: Using routinely collected computer data from 12 general practices with a combined list size of 117 000. Method: We collected anonymised data from general practice computer systems using MIQUEST (Morbidity Information Query and Export Syntax - a Department of Health-sponsored data extraction tool). Data were aggregated, cleaned and processed using an established methodology, then imported into a statistical package for analysis. Results: The use of psychotropic medication increased with age. Over one-third (35%) of women and one-quarter (23.8%) of men of the study population aged over 85 years were prescribed at least one psychotropic medication in the last year (P < 0.001). At all ages, women are twice as likely to be prescribed psychotropic medication, though no more likely to be prescribed multiple therapies. One-quarter of those with a diagnosis of severe and enduring mental illness (SMI) were not taking any psychotropic medication. Over half of those with SMI on medication are taking more than one medication. The proportion of people prescribed atypical anti-psychotics has risen from 30% to 50%, with a corresponding fall in the use of older anti-psychotics. Twenty-one percent of females have been prescribed antidepressants, 14% in the last year. In contrast to anti-psychotics, the proportion of people prescribed more modern antidepressants has increased slightly. Conclusions: Females and older people are much more likely to receive psychotropic medications. Further research is needed to explore why the pattern of prescribing differs from what is known about the pattern of mental health problems. © 2006 Radcliffe Publishing.


Abstract We present new evidence for sector collapses of the South Soufrière Hills (SSH) edifice, Montserrat during the mid-Pleistocene. High-resolution geophysical data provide evidence for sector collapse, producing an approximately 1 km3 submarine collapse deposit to the south of SSH. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses of submarine deposits sampled by sediment cores suggest that they were formed by large multi-stage flank failures of the subaerial SSH edifice into the sea. This work identifies two distinct geochemical suites within the SSH succession on the basis of trace-element and Pb-isotope compositions. Volcaniclastic turbidites in the cores preserve these chemically heterogeneous rock suites. However, the subaerial chemostratigraphy is reversed within the submarine sediment cores. Sedimentological analysis suggests that the edifice failures produced high-concentration turbidites and that the collapses occurred in multiple stages, with an interval of at least 2 ka between the first and second failure. Detailed field and petrographical observations, coupled with SEM image analysis, shows that the SSH volcanic products preserve a complex record of magmatic activity. This activity consisted of episodic explosive eruptions of andesitic pumice, probably triggered by mafic magmatic pulses and followed by eruptions of poorly vesiculated basaltic scoria, and basaltic lava flows. Supplementary material: All geochemical data tables, including locations for all subaerial and submarine samples are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18709.


Lack of transparency and accountability in the planning practice allow for misuse and abuse of the planning system to serve the interests of the more powerful and influential groups, including those entrusted with the powers of planning. The outcomes of a non-inclusive, non-transparent and insensitive planning include: insecurity of land tenure rights and subsequently investments in land; poverty; informal land subdivision and building; unplanned spatial growth and endless conflicts in land development. These are detrimental to the residents and erode their trust and confidence in the government. It takes an organized, informed, confident and courageous group of residents or community to reject the non-inclusive form of planning and cause adoption of inclusive and collaborative planning that allows them space in the planning process. The achievement of such an organized group ? a turn towards democratic planning practice ? leads to a conclusion that informed, organized, confident and courageous civil society is a pillar of democracy. This book therefore argues that ineffective planning results, among other things, from defective land policy and legislation, and planning inability to recognize and make use of opportunities for shaping the built environment.


LANDIS PRO predicts forest composition and structure changes incorporating species-, stand-, and landscape-scales processes at regional scales. Species-scale processes include tree growth, establishment, and mortality. Stand-scale processes contain density- and size-related resource competition that regulates self-thinning and seedling establishment. Landscapescale processes include seed dispersal and disturbances. LANDIS PRO is designed to be compatible with forest inventory data, thus extensive inventory data can be directly utilized to initialize and calibrate model parameters before predicting future forest changes. LANDIS PRO allows for exploring the effects of disturbances, management, climate change, and modeling the spread of invasive species. We demonstrate that LANDIS PRO successfully predicts forest successional trajectories and stand development patterns in the Central Hardwood Forest region in U.S.


Innovations in communication technologies have had a profound impact on health. Over the decades, new communication tools have sometimes prompted fears that they will produce sociological and psychological distress, and have a negative impact on various aspects of health. Critics claim that innovation may disrupt the social order and degrade the health of communities due to anxiety. On the other hand, advocates of new technologies have pointed out that innovation supports progress in society, saves time and money, and improves health. This paper reviews responses to new communication technologies over the centuries, and how resistance to them, or cultural lag, has sometimes delayed their impact on health. As evidence accumulates that the benefits of a new technology outweigh the harms, innovations in health communication become part of standard practice. To ensure that emerging communication technologies provide the most benefit to the most people we recommend that purveyors of health information on any channel or platform be held accountable to standards that are ethical, scientific, and evidence-based.


We describe an efficient mix-net. Its efficiency is based on a novel method, double encryption. We use a variant of "repetitive robustness", introduced by Jakobsson, to achieve robustness.

The notion of double encryption enables us to avoid the large number of proofs of knowledge required in most mix-net constructions. For a large number n of senders each mix-center in our mix-net computes approximately 25n exponentiations in real time, which also gives the approximate execution time of the mix-net.

Thus, our mix-net is faster than any known mix-net and the first mix-net in which the number of exponentiations computed by a mix-center is essentially independent of the number of mix-centers.

Currently there exist no security proofs of our construction, but we describe the underlying ideas of the design.


Microcystic adnexal carcinoma is an uncommon, locally aggressive eccrine sweat gland tumor that is easily confused with benign adnexal tumors and has a high rate of recurrence after incorrect treatment. The present study was aimed at increasing awareness on the importance of knowing and properly managing this disease among plastic surgeons by using Mohs micrographic surgery. A literature review from 1982 to January 2014 and a prospective case study of a microcystic adnexal carcinoma treated with Mohs micrographic surgery, at the plastic surgery clinic of Felício Rocho Hospital in March 2011, were performed. First described in 1982, microcystic adnexal carcinoma now has at least 700 cases reported in the international literature. The case reported herein was treated with Mohs micrographic surgery, including a 3-year follow-up without recurrence. In conclusion, Mohs micrographic surgery is an excellent therapeutic tool to preserve vital tissues and ensure a reduced recurrence rate. ■ ABSTRACT


Background/Aims: Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) released from enterochromaffin (EC) cells in gastric mucosa inhibits gastric acidity by increasing the gastric mucus secretion. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of aqueous extract of Aegle marmelos (AM) ripe fruit pulp (250 mg/kg body weight) on mean ulcer index (MUI), EC cells, 5-HT content, and adherent mucosal thickness of ulcerated gastric tissue in adult albino rats. Material and Methods: Ulceration was induced by using aspirin (500 mg/kg, p.o.), cerebellar nodular lesion and applying cold-restraint stress. Results: In all cases increased MUI in gastric tissue along with decreased EC cell count was observed with concomitant decrease of 5-HT content and adherent mucosal thickness (P < 0.05). Pretreatment with AM for 14 days decreased MUI, increased EC cell count, and 5-HT content as well as adherent mucosal thickness in all ulcerated group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: AM produces gastric mucosal protection mediated by increased EC cell count and 5-HT levels.