Background: Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) is the preferred modality for follow-up of paediatric neurosurgery patients. Serial imaging, however, has the disadvantage of an ionising radiation burden, which may be mitigated using the 'as low as reasonably achievable' (ALARA) principle. Objectives: The primary objectives were to determine the radiation dose exposure in paediatric patients subjected to MDCT imaging following neurosurgery and to compare these values with references in current literature. Our secondary objective was to assess the relationship between radiation dose and clinical scenario. Method: Retrospective descriptive data were collected from all paediatric postsurgical patients ( n = 169) between the ages of 0 and 12 years who had their first followed-up scan in the year 2010 and were followed up for six months or less. Dose-length product (DLP) and current-time product were collected from the picture archiving and communication system. Demographic data including radiology reports were collected from the hospital information system. The effective doses (ED) were calculated from the corresponding DLP using age-adjusted conversion factors. For purposes of comparison with other studies, median dosimetric values were calculated and the children were grouped into three age ranges, namely younger than 3 years, 3–7 years and 8–12 years old. Results: The highest median radiation doses were noted in patients being followed-up for intracranial abscesses (1183 mGy cm) in the 8–12 year age group, most of whom were female. The lowest radiation doses were for intracranial shunt follow-ups (447 mGy cm). Median values for DLP, ED and current-time product (mAs) were comparable to reference doses in all three age groups. However, our study showed a much broader distribution of values with higher upper limits relative to reference values. Indications for follow-up included shunts ( n = 110; 65%), intracranial abscess ( n = 31; 18%), subdural haematoma ( n = 13; 8%) and tumour ( n = 6; 4%). Head trauma only accounted for 5% of the cases. Conclusion: The median radiation doses measured were comparable to values in literature and therefore deemed acceptable. The wider dose distributions of all three dosimetric parameters (DLP, ED and mAs) were attributed to inappropriate use of scan length and reference effective mAs. Adherence to recommended scan length protocols should be encouraged. Evaluation of the current use of reference effective mAs is needed and will require a separate study to determine the smallest value that can be used without compromising image quality. Further dose reductions could be achieved by omission of unenhanced scans in the follow-up of intracranial abscesses. It is recommended that diagnostic reference levels specific to South African clinical scenarios be developed to make local dosimetric audits more relevant.


We determined the C and N concentrations and isotopic compositions of sediments in the prism sampled during Ocean Drilling Program Legs 170 and 205 offshore Costa Rica, with the goals of evaluating sediment sources and extents of diagenesis and identifying any effects of infiltrating fluids on the sedimentary C and N. The sediments from Leg 170 Site 1040 contain 0.85–1.96 wt% total organic carbon (TOC) with Vienna Peedee belemnite (VPDB) δCVPDB from –26.3‰ to –22.5‰, and 832–2221 ppm total nitrogen (TN) with δNair from +3.5‰ to +6.6‰. Sediment TN concentrations and δ15N values show dramatic downhole increases within the uppermost 130 m of the section and more gradual downhole decreases from 130 meters below seafloor (mbsf) to the base of the decollement at ~370 mbsf. Concentrations and isotopic compositions of TOC are relatively uniform within the entire section, showing some minor perturbation within the decollement zone. In the uppermost 100 m, upsection increases in TN concentrations at constant TOC concentrations produce significant increases in atomic TOC/TN ratios from ~8 to ~18. Carbonate (calcite) contents in the wedge sediments are generally low ( . [Cited YYYYMM-DD] 2Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 31 Williams Drive, Lehigh University, Bethlehem PA 18015, USA. Correspondence author: email@example.com Initial receipt: 4 October 2005 Acceptance: 14 June 2006 Web publication: 25 September 2006 Ms 205SR-214 L. LI AND G.E. BEBOUT CARBON AND NITROGEN GEOCHEMISTRY OF WEDGE SEDIMENTS 2 for sediments from Leg 205 Sites 1254 and 1255 overlap well with C-N data for sediments from the same depth intervals obtained during Leg 170 at Site 1040. At Site 1040, effects of diagenesis on the sedimentary C and N reservoirs appear to be overwhelmed by larger variations in these reservoirs related to changes in paleoproductivity and sediment sources. Previously published 10Be data for the deformed wedge sediments indicate that the sediments are at least 3–4 Ma in age, and as with some major and trace element compositions (e.g., Ba concentrations), the C-N concentration data for the wedge sediments at Site 1040 show more similarity with data for the slope apron section at Site 1041 than with the Pliocene hemipelagic part of the incoming sediment section at Site 1039 (~120–140 mbsf). The deformed wedge sediments below 130 mbsf at Site 1040 are more similar in C-N concentrations to the younger Pleistocene hemipelagic section at Site 1039, but in addition to their differing major and trace element concentrations, they have C and N isotope compositions that indicate a terrestrial organic signature larger than that represented in the hemipelagic sediment section at Site 1039. It is not possible, based on the C-N data presented here, to distinguish between the differing proposed origins of the deformed wedge sediments below ~80 mbsf at Site 1040. Sediments in the fault zones and decollement show hints of differences in C-N concentrations and isotopic compositions relative to sediments away from these structures, indicating some possible effects of infiltrating fluids on the sedimentary C and N in these zones. However, for C and N concentrations and isotopic compositions, dilution by more locally derived pore waters probably obscured signatures of the passage of more deeply sourced fluids.


The number of citations a paper receives is the most commonly used measure of scientific impact. In this paper, we study not only the number but also the type of citations that 659 marketing articles generated. We discern five citation types: application, affirmation, negation, review and perfunctory mention (i.e., citing an article only indirectly without really using it). Prior literature in scientometrics recognizes that the former three types, on average, signal a higher level of scientific indebtedness than the latter two types. In our sample, these three types of citation represent only 15% of all citations. We also find different determinants of citation behavior across citation types. Across the 49 determinants we included, only 13 have the same effect across all citation types, of which only 5 are statistically significant across all citation types. For instance, we find a significant inverted U-effect of challenging commonly held beliefs on citations counts, but only for three of the citation types: affirmation, review and perfunctory mention. Our results encourage scientific stakeholders to move beyond mere citation counts to assess a paper's or a scholar's scientific contribution, as well as to devote greater attention to the citation process itself.


The goal of jointly providing fairness and efficiency in wireless networks can be seen as the problem of maximizing a given utility function. The main difficulty when solving this problem is that the capacity region of wireless networks is typically unknown and time-varying, which prevents the usage of traditional optimization tools. As a result, scheduling and congestion control algorithms are either too conservative because they under-estimate the capacity region, or suffer from congestion collapse because they over-estimate it. We propose a new adaptive congestion control algorithm, called Enhance & Explore (E&E). It maximizes the utility of the network without requiring any explicit characterization of the capacity region. E&E works above the MAC layer and is decoupled from the underlying scheduling mechanism. It provably converges to a state of optimal utility. We evaluate the performance of the algorithm in a WLAN setting, using both simulations and measurements on a real testbed composed of IEEE 802.11 wireless routers.


When a single hormone--such as the steroid hormone ecdysone in insects--can cause a metamorphic reorganization of the organism from a larva to a pupa or from the pupal stage to the adult form, accidental activation of its signaling could be a catastrophe. Varghese and Cohen present findings showing that a microRNA-mediated feedback loop appears to help form a reliable switch mechanism for activating ecdysone signaling. The authors noted that the Drosophila gene encoding the ecdysone receptor contains predicted binding sites for the microRNA miR-14. In transfected cells, expression of miR-14 inhibited expression of a reporter construct containing the ecdysone receptor promoter sequence. Mutant flies lacking miR-14 showed increased abundance of the ecdysone receptor, and some of the defects in miR-14 mutants were alleviated in flies in which one functional copy of the ecdysone receptor gene was removed. Thus, miR-14 appears to limit expression of the ecdysone receptor. Experiments with explanted larval fat bodies indicated that ecdysone increased the abundance of mRNA encoding the ecdysone receptor, an effect that was lost in cells depleted of the ecdysone receptor by RNAi (the primary transcript from the ecdysone receptor gene was not affected by the RNAi construct, so its abundance could be measured to estimate transcriptional activity of the gene). Furthermore, treatment of explants with ecdysone decreases the abundance of miR-14, again with a requirement for the ecdysone receptor. The authors interpret these findings in light of the dramatic all-or-none biological effects of ecdysone. The hormone itself participates in a positive feedback loop by promoting transcription of the ecdysone receptor gene. Expression of the ecdysone receptor gene is normally opposed by miR-14, but expression of miR-14 is also subject to repression by ecdysone signals. Thus, noise in the system--in the form of a transient increase in ecdysone receptor expression--may be buffered by the need to overcome miR-14-mediated repression of ecdysone signaling. A more sustained activation of ecdysone signaling that lasts long enough for the decay of existing miR-14 is expected to exceed this threshold and release full activation of the self-sustaining ecdysone transcriptional autoregulatory loop. J. Varghese, S. M. Cohen, MicroRNA miR-14 acts to modulate a positive autoregulatory loop controlling steroid hormone signaling in Drosophila. Genes Dev. 21, 2277-2282 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Abstract The International Maritime Organization's (IMO) International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) is a new chapter in the regulation of Arctic shipping. This international legal instrument can affect the interpretation and practice of national coastal State legislation under article 234, the Arctic exception in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Relying on documents from the IMO, this paper examines the negotiation of the relationship of these two instruments, investigating the question: how was it possible to agree on the Polar Code while avoiding a resolution of the deep conflict between Arctic coastal State jurisdiction and freedom of navigation? While early debates directly concerned article 234, the peculiarity of later discussions, which focused on savings clauses regulating relationships between instruments, was the lack of reference to this article's provisions. Agreement was possible due to indirect negotiation of this issue, through the use of second best arguments and analogies. It is submitted that precisely the lack of discussion and resolution of this issue allowed for the possibility of completing the Polar Code. This qualifies the Polar Code as an incompletely theorised agreement in deliberative theory.


The PAMELA satellite experiment was launched into low earth orbit on June 15th 2006. The combination of a permanent magnet silicon strip spectrometer, and a silicon-tungsten imaging calorimeter allows precision studies of the charged cosmic radiation to be conducted over a wide energy range (100 MeV - 200 GeV). A primary scientific goal is to search for dark matter particle annihilations by measuring the energy spectra of cosmic ray antiparticles. Latest results from the PAMELA experiment will be reviewed with a particular focus on cosmic ray antiprotons and positrons. The status of PAMELA measurements for other cosmic ray species will also be reviewed.


There is a need to provide bilingual assessments and reference data to identify those who struggle to acquire their heritage language (L1) or the language spoken in the country of residence (L2). However, bilingual assessments and data are still sparse. Therefore, the aim was to use a tablet application to screen receptive vocabulary in different languages and discuss this data in the context of lexical acquisition theories. Forty-four monolingual German, 15 bilingual German–Polish and 21 German–Turkish-speaking children aged between 3;5 (3 years and 5 months) and 6;1 were assessed. All children completed the German version of the Receptive Vocabulary Screener (RVS), a tablet application testing 20 nouns and 20 verbs, and two standardized vocabulary sub-tests. Additionally, the bilingual children completed the Turkish or Polish version of the RVS. Internal consistency showed that the RVS is a reliable tool for research purposes and validity was confirmed by significant and moderate to strong correlations with the two standardized vocabulary sub-tests. Monolingual children outperformed bilingual children when performance comparisons were solely based on the German items. However, group differences were not significant when total vocabulary was used, i.e. the number of words bilingual children named across both versions. For bilingual children, L1 and L2 scores did not differ, i.e. they showed a similar performance on the L1/L2 subtest. Paternal education, but not maternal education, was significantly correlated to vocabulary scores. Children with more translation equivalents, i.e. words they know in both languages, and with a higher level of language proficiency showed higher scores on the screener. The app provided a valuable opportunity to assess lexical knowledge across different languages. Results indicated that total vocabulary and translation equivalents must be considered to evaluate bilingual children's lexical knowledge.


Biomaterial implant manufacturers have used rough surfaces to ensure better biocompatibility, less rejection and better adaptation of implants in the body. Proper characterization of biological interactions aod biocompatibility of biomaterials requires a thorough understanding of surface complexity. Surface roughness has often been shown to be important in influencing biological reactions with the surface. Previous communications from our laboratory have described a dynamic active vision system (MVS camera) capable of measuring three-dimensional coordinates of titanium implant material suefaces. Fractal analysis, due to its straightforward relationship to texture, is used to characterize the degree of irregularity of a surface and is expressed over a range of scales with the variation method. Thia papec compares the fractal approach with the results of image analysis, tactile profilometry, and confocal micro&eopy. The data obtained in these studies show that surface fractal dimension, in particular, can be a valuable parameter to describe the complexity of surface of titanium implant


In her analysis of the diaries written by a number of Qajar notables and princes, the author suggests that although all of them are devoid of significant references to major political events of the time, they represent an invaluable historiographical source. Clearly, not all these diaries are of the same quality or historical significance. Some are simply records of hunting trips, nightly entertainments or routine daily individual encounters. Some, particularly those published after the death of their writers, have been either poorly edited or deliberately altered or doctored. However, in the tradition-bound Iranian society of the time, where acquisition and exercise of power essentially depended on interpersonal relationships, these diaries, believes the author, do provide a more or less accurate description of the royal court and its inner workings.
The author has basically concentrated on the vacillating relationship between the Shah, Qajar princes, courtiers and various notables, family relationships colored by ever-changing patterns of alliances in the royal court, the rivalry among the royal wives and their role in perpetual political intrigues, and the sale of limited and desirable government positions as a leverage for access to political power.
These diaries further confirm, according to the author, that the Qajar shahs were never quite free to exercise their power at will. Given the disperse nature of authority and competing bases of legitimacy, they were often quite restricted in their use of naked power.


Peatlands are a type of wetland characterized by the accumulation of organic matter, called peat, and are important carbon reservoirs. In areas with poor drainage, human-induced forest fires and logging can produce flooded conditions and organic matter accumulation, which generates an ecosystem called anthropogenic peatland. Productive management activities such as Sphagnum moss harvesting and livestock grazing take place there. Our hypothesis was that productive management has a strong impact on the aboveground C reservoir and increases the presence of exotic species. We established 44 sampling points in a 16-ha anthropogenic peatland on Chiloe Island, Chile, comparing productive and conservation types of managements. Carbon stocks, vegetation structure and composition variables were quantified. These variables were used to classify the ecosystem into microsites to analyze the different locations in the peatland. In addition, predictive models of aboveground carbon were created using Landsat 8 OLI and Pleiades images. The results revealed a carbon stock of 11.99 ± 0.77 kg C m−2, which is smaller than in natural peatlands, and showed a wide variability of conditions within the peatland itself. This variability, mainly expressed in aboveground carbon, produces microsites dominated by either shrubs, species of the genus Juncus or grasses. Productive management reduced accumulated carbon in the aboveground stock and in the woody debris. However, the strongest impact was found on the vegetation variables, with a decrease in total cover, cover of shrubs and herbaceous plants, and in vegetation height. There was also an increase in the richness and presence of exotic species. The spatial prediction of aboveground carbon yielded significant results using only spectral indices, showing also that the impact of productive management is not homogenous, being less intense in waterlogged areas. This study is the first to quantify carbon reservoirs in this type of ecosystem and to propose variables that can be used as indicators of the impact of human activities.


In the United States, the rate of price inflation falls in recessions. Turning this observation into a useful inflation forecasting equation is difficult because of multiple sources of time variation in the inflation process, including changes in Fed policy and credibility. We propose a tightly parameterized model in which the deviation of inflation from a stochastic trend (which we interpret as long-term expected inflation) reacts stably to a new gap measure, which we call the unemployment recession gap. The short-term response of inflation to an increase in this gap is stable, but the long-term response depends on the resilience, or anchoring, of trend inflation. Dynamic simulations (given the path of unemployment) match the paths of inflation during post-1960 downturns, including the current one.


Dialogic education is a relatively new force in educational theory and practice. Despite the variety of approaches to dialogic education, it nonetheless offers a coherent theory of education with implications not only for how education should be practiced but also for the purposes of education. Dialogic education takes place through dialogue which means opening up dialogic spaces in which different perspectives can clash or play together and new learning can occur. But dialogic education is not only education through dialogue, it is also education for dialogue, meaning that as a result of dialogic education learners become better at learning together with others through dialogue. The intellectual background of dialogic education theory goes back at least as far as Socrates and includes thinkers as varied as Freire, who saw dialogic education as a means of liberation from oppression, and Oakeshott, who understood education to be a process of engaging learners in their cultural inheritance, described as "the conversation of mankind." Bakhtin, an influential source for recent dialogic educational theory, argues that meaning requires the clash and interaction of multiple voices. There are a range of approaches to implementing dialogic education, varying in the extent to which they focus on teacher to student dialogue, small group dialogues, and whole class dialogues. All approaches include some idea of (1) a dialogic orientation toward the other, characterized by an openness to the possibility of learning, and (2) social norms that support productive dialogue. Published assessments of the impact of dialogic education in relation to general thinking skills, curriculum learning gains, and conceptual understanding have been positive. However, the assessment of dialogic education raises methodological issues, and new methodologies are being developed that align better with dialogic theory and with the idea of measuring increased dialogicity, or expanded "dialogic space." Assuming that dialogic education works to promote educational goals, various hypotheses have been suggested as to how it works, including some that focus on the co-construction of new meaning through explicit language use, others that focus more on changes in the identity of students, and others on changes in the possibilities of engagement afforded by the culture of classrooms. There are many issues and controversies raised by dialogic education. One issue is the extent to which dialogue as a goal is compatible with a curriculum that pre-specifies certain learning outcomes. Another is the extent to which teaching a set of social norms and practices promoting dialogue might be a kind of cultural imperialism that fails to recognize and value the culture of the students. These and other challenges to dialogic education are part of a lively and constructive debate in the field, which values a multiplicity of voices within the broader context of convergence on the value of teaching through dialogue and teaching for dialogue.


This is an introductory guide for students of music. Below you will find suggestions for locating articles, books, audio recordings, and more.


Background. nab-Paclitaxel in combination with gemcitabine has emerged as a new treatment option for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer (MPC), based on superiority over gemcitabine demonstrated in the phase III MPACT trial. Previously, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score and the presence of liver metastases were shown to be predictive of survival with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine treatment. This analysis sought to further explore the relationship between clinical characteristics and survival in the MPACT trial and to identify potential predictors of overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with MPC. Materials and Methods. Cox regression models adjusted for stratification factors and a stepwise multivariate analysis of prespecified baseline prognostic factors were performed. Results. Treatment effect was significantly associated with survival, with a similar magnitude of reduction in risk of death compared with the previously reported primary analysis. Treatment effect consistently favored nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine across the majority of the prespecified factors. In addition to KPS score and presence of liver metastases, age and number of metastatic sites were independent prognostic factors of overall and progressionfree survival. Baseline carbohydrate antigen 19-9 was not found to be an independent prognostic factor of survival in this analysis. Conclusion.The results of this analysis confirm broad utility of nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine for the treatment of MPC. In addition, these findings suggest that KPS score, presence of liver metastases, age, and number of metastatic sites are important predictors of survival that may be useful when making treatmentdecisions anddesigning futureclinical trials. The Oncologist 2015;20:143–150 Implications for Practice: In the pivotal phase III MPACT trial, nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine demonstrated improved survival comparedwith gemcitabine alone, a standard therapy for advanced pancreatic cancer.This analysis of the phase III study confirms the survival benefit of nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine across many prespecified prognostic factors and the broad utility of this regimen for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.


The overall objective of this paper is to report on the lessons learnt from applying Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in a well guided sediment yield modelling study. The study area is the upstream of Pangani River Basin (PRB), the Nyumba Ya Mungu (NYM) reservoir catchment, located in the North Eastern part of Tanzania. It should be noted that, previous modeling exercises in the region applied SWAT with pre- assumption that inter-rill or sheet erosion was the dominant erosion type. In contrast, in this study SWAT model application was guided by results of analysis of high temporal resolution of sediment flow data and hydro-meteorological data. The runoff component of the SWAT model was calibrated from six-years (i.e. 1977-1982) of historical daily streamflow data. The sediment component of the model was calibrated using one-year (1977-1988) daily sediment loads estimated from one hydrological year sampling programme (between March and November, 2005) rating curve. A long-term period over 37 years (i.e. 1969-2005) simulation results of the SWAT model was validated to downstream NYM reservoir sediment accumulation information. The SWAT model captured 56 percent of the variance (CE) and underestimated the observed daily sediment loads by 0.9 percent according to Total Mass Control (TMC) performance indices during a normal wet hydrological year, i.e., between November 1, 1977 and October 31, 1978, as the calibration period. SWAT model predicted satisfactorily the long-term sediment catchment yield with a relative error of 2.6 percent. Also, the model has identified erosion sources spatially and has replicated some erosion processes as determined in other studies and field observations in the PRB. This result suggests that for catchments where sheet erosion is dominant SWAT model may substitute the sediment-rating curve. However, the SWAT model could not capture the dynamics of sediment load delivery in some seasons to the catchment outlet.


Abstract
 A new species of Lejeuneaceae from montane cloud forest of Colombia and Costa Rica, Harpalejeunea scabra, is described and illustrated. The new species is characterized by the papillose dorsal leaf surface, a feature occurring in several related genera such as Lejeunea and Drepanolejeunea, but new to Harpalejeunea. Further diagnostic characters of H. scabra include the dorsal leaf margin with 1–3 teeth and the peculiar lobule with twinned apical teeth, free margin bordered by very narrow cells and aperture circular with the distal end of the apical margin adnate to the surface of the lobe. The new species somewhat resembles the enigmatic Drepanolejeunea navicularis Steph. from páramo of Colombia and Venezuela. The affinities of the two species are discussed.


Multimedia educational resources play an important role in education, particularly for distance learning environments. With the rapid growth of the multimedia web, large numbers of education articles video resources are increasingly being created by several different organizations. It is crucial to explore, share, reuse, and link these educational resources for better e-learning experiences. Most of the video resources are currently annotated in an isolated way, which means that they lack semantic connections. Thus, providing the facilities for annotating these video resources is highly demanded. These facilities create the semantic connections among video resources and allow their metadata to be understood globally. Adopting Linked Data technology, this paper introduces a video annotation and browser platform with two online tools: Annomation and SugarTube. Annomation enables users to semantically annotate video resources using vocabularies defined in the Linked Data cloud. SugarTube allows users to browse semantically linked educational video resources with enhanced web information from different online resources. In the prototype development, the platform uses existing video resources for education articles. The result of the initial development demonstrates the benefits of applying Linked Data technology in the aspects of reusability, scalability, and extensibility.


The Aga Khan University (AKU) is serving through eleven campuses spread across eight countries in three continents. It has a network of eleven libraries, although small in size, in five developing courtiers in three regions (South Asia, East Africa, and Europe). The university has recently implemented an Institutional Repository (IR) system to show-case the intellectual and scholarly output of the university. The selection of this system was done after a thorough study of available platforms, and in line with AKU vision and mission. The stakeholders were involved in decision making. After a careful evaluation of the teams involved, Digital Commons was selected as the AKU's IR. Digital Commons is a suite of tools and services that enable institutions to manage, display, and publish scholarship to the web in a highly visible online showcase. Besides having all features of a traditional IR, it also offers professional-grade publishing tools with a peer-review workflow. So the institutions can publish their journals, books, conference proceedings and other stuff using this platform. It also has an additional module through which the individual faculty and scholars of an institution can develop their profiles and populate them with their scholarly works. The purpose of this paper is to share our experience of implementing IR in our various campuses, from selection of the product to its marketing. A lot of steps were involved in implementing and populating the works. Information architecture, page setup, layout, branding, building communities, campuses and departments, content recruitment, policy making, copyright issues, measuring success were among the major milestones. This paper also reports some technical, technological, and content related issues that were faced during the implementation process. Some issues were known and expected but some were out of the mind. Some were manageable while some were beyond the control. Investigating copyright and acquiring copyright permissions from publishers and/or authors have been among the big challenges. Acquisition of content was also a test for AKU libraries' teams. With the implementation of this system, the AKU faculty was satisfied with the performance of the system and they were happy to see themselves globally visible in the field of research. In future, Aga Khan University is going to encourage graduate and undergraduate students to submit their research work online. The workflow will manage these research works from submission to publish on this platform. AKU is also planning to subscribe to an additional module of this system that will host faculty/researchers profile pages. Keyword: Institutional repositories; Digital libraries; Scholarly communication; Pakistan; Aga Khan University; Developing countries


Ice-sheet reconstructions for the last glacial maximum in northern Eurasia range from nearly complete coverage by a contiguous marine-based ice sheet to large unglaciated areas. Stratigraphic records from Yamal Peninsula, Russia, provide new insight on the eastern limit of the Eurasian ice sheet in the Kara Sea. Radiocarbon and infrared stimulated luminescence ages from coastal cliff sections date the emplacement of the Kara diamicton as older than ca. 40 ka, reflecting regional glaciation. Ice-wedge growth, peat accumulation, and eolian and fluvial deposition characterized the past ~40 k.y. and do not support coverage of Yamal Peninsula by an ice sheet or proximity to a glacier margin. Thus, the late Weichselian Eurasian ice sheet was largely confined to Barents Sea and its global sea-level contribution is reduced to ~7 m of sea-level equivalent.


In the Cuyuni river basin (Venezuela), artisanal gold mining has caused significant mercury pollution due to extensive use of Hg in Au amalgamation processes. High Hg concentrations up to 4.60 ?g/l were recorded in surface water samples (rivers, streams, mining ponds, springs), which are three orders of magnitude higher than normal worldwide background values (0.003?0.005 ?g/l). Furthermore, Hg contents in river water are two orders higher than the EPA guideline for aquatic life and the concentration in drinking water exceeds the WHO recommended value. The seasonal Hg variation in the Cuyuni river samples shows high loading rates during the raining period, which can be associated with high particulate and TOC contents caused by high run-off rate. Mercury concentration in edible fish tissue depends on the feeding habit, e.g. carnivorous species show higher Hg concentration (range 0.32?1.92 mg/kg) than herbivorous species (range 0.12?0.46 mg/kg). Carnivorous species present a high potential health risk to local populations since they exceed the established limit of 0.5 mg/kg for food (EU Regulations). Human health risk calculations based on WHO and EPA reference doses are presented.


Disparity‐through‐time analyses can be used to determine how morphological diversity changes in response to mass extinctions, or to investigate the drivers of morphological change. These analyses are routinely applied to palaeobiological datasets, yet, although there is much discussion about how to best calculate disparity, there has been little consideration of how taxa should be sub‐sampled through time. Standard practice is to group taxa into discrete time bins, often based on stratigraphic periods. However, this can introduce biases when bins are of unequal size, and implicitly assumes a punctuated model of evolution. In addition, many time bins may have few or no taxa, meaning that disparity cannot be calculated for the bin and making it harder to complete downstream analyses. Here we describe a different method to complement the disparity‐through‐time tool‐kit: time‐slicing. This method uses a time‐calibrated phylogenetic tree to sample disparity‐through‐time at any fixed point in time rather than binning taxa. It uses all available data (tips, nodes and branches) to increase the power of the analyses, specifies the implied model of evolution (punctuated or gradual), and is implemented in R. We test the time‐slicing method on four example datasets and compare its performance in common disparity‐through‐time analyses. We find that the way we time sub‐sample taxa can change our interpretations of the results of disparity‐through‐time analyses. We advise using multiple methods for time sub‐sampling taxa, rather than just time binning, to gain a better understanding disparity‐through‐time.


Organ-transplanted patients typically receive high amounts of immunosuppressive drugs (e.g., tacrolimus) as a mechanism to reduce their risk of organ rejection. However, due to the diabetogenic effect of these drugs, this practice exposes them to greater risk of New-Onset Diabetes After Trans-plant (NODAT), and hence, becoming insulin-dependent. This common conundrum of balancing the risk of organ rejection versus that of NODAT is further complicated due to various factors that create ambiguity in quantifying risks: (1) false-positive and false-negative errors of medical tests,(2) inevitable estimation errors when data sets are used, (3) variability among physicians' attitudes towards ambiguous outcomes, and (4) dynamic and patient risk-profile dependent progression of health conditions. To address these challenges, we propose an ambiguous partially observable Markov decision process (APOMDP) framework, where dynamic optimization with respect to a "cloud†of possible models allows us to make decisions that are robust to misspecifications of risks. We first provide various structural results that facilitate characterizing the optimal policy. Using a clinical data set, we then compare the optimal policy to the current practice as well as some other bench-marks, and discuss various implications for both policy makers and physicians. In particular, our results show that substantial improvements are achievable in two important dimensions: (a) the quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) of patients, and (b) medical expenditures.


China's One Belt One Road (OBOR), proposed in 2013, is an ambitious initiative that aims at enhancing connectivity and integrating economies across countries. This thesis, by tracing its mechanism at three different geographical scales---global, national, and local, analyzes its multidimensional impact at each scale. It shows that at a global scale, OBOR is in the form of competing narratives over its global impact and nature; at a national scale, OBOR is represented as economic corridors, aiming at improving infrastructures, increasing multilateral trade, integrating financial systems, and strengthening cultural ties; and at a local scale, OBOR exerts an impact on multiple landscapes of land port, an important node of transition along economic corridors.


Dear Colleagues On behalf of JAFIB we welcome you to 2016. Hope you had a productive and fruitful 2015 on the personal and professional fronts. We want to thank all the contributors whose efforts enhanced the value of JAFIB in its mission of quality education for healthcare professionals and patients alike. Several exciting inventions, discoveries, theories and hypothesis have marked 2015 in the AF world. Clearly the focus shifted from target specific therapies to a comprehensive systemic approach. The importance of risk factor modification in arresting the evolution of the disease processes is the evolving mantra. Earlier this month, the 20th Annual AF Symposium (Formerly Boston AF Symposium) concluded in Orlando over an exciting 3 day academic retreat. Special thanks to Dr. Jeremy Ruskin and co-directors for putting together a very important educational meeting that became synonymous with the progress we made in AF management. The 4rd International Symposium on Left Atrial Appendage (ISLAA 2015) is coming up next week in New York. JAFIB is proud to be the official journal of the meeting. With the recent approval of an LAA occlusion device by FDA with pending coverage decision from the CMS, this meeting reflects the collective interest in the field. Those of you who are still thinking it's time to spring to action and join us in NYC in spring! This edition of JAFIB has some exceptionally good original articles and reviews that we are sure you will enjoy. We wish you a happy New Year and a blessed 2016 in all your endeavors. Best regards Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy Andrea Natale


The aim of the article is to reveal the results of research of Lithuanian public servants motivation, which was conducted in early 2010 as an integral part of public servants motivation research conducted in 12 countries. The results of the research revealed, that a larger part of respondents were minded to participate in public life, sympathized to others and were prepared to sacrifice for them and welfare of the society. Not all respondents were certain, that the main purpose of their activity was serving for the good of the society. Goodwill, sympathy, a wish to help needy people, aspiration for justice were not strange to respondents, but they were not ready to suffer individual losses for this. Younger respondents and those whose work experience in public service was short, were less ready to compassionate others or to sacrifice for them. Although new methods and means (absorbed form the private sector) are applied in the public sector, the great responsibility, the duty to care for welfare of all society and public interest cannot be forgotten. These factors must be taken into account in the processes of public servants training and their socialization at work place. http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.10.1.234


Background: Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as stroke, seizures, dementia, and cognitive impairment. Berberine, a natural isoquinolne alkaloid, is reported to exhibit beneficial effect in various neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover astrocytes are proving critical for normal CNS function, and alterations in their activity and impaired oxidative stress could contribute to diabetes-related cognitive dysfunction. Metabolic and oxidative insults often cause rapid changes in glial cells. Key indicators of this response are increased synthesis of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as an astrocytic marker. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of berberine on glial reactivity of hippocampus in (STZ)-induced diabetes rats. Materials and Methods: Experimental groups included: The control, control berberine treated (100 mg/kg.8 weeks), diabetic and diabetic berberine treated (50,100 mg/kg for 8 weeks) groups. The effects of berberine on glial reactivity of hippocampus evaluated in (STZ)-induced diabetics rats, using GFAP immunohistochemistry test. Data were analyzed by using Prism-5, one way ANOVA and Tukey tests. Results: Eight weeks after diabetes induction we observed an increase in GFAP immune staining in the hippocampus of STZ-diabetic rats relative to levels in the control brains. In contrast, chronic treatment with berberine (50 and 100 mg/kg, p.o., once daily) lowered hyperglycemia, and prevents the up regulation of GFAP in brain of diabetic rats. Conclusion: the present study demonstrates treatment with berberine resulted in an obvious reduction of GFAP+ immunoreactive astrocytes in hippocampus of STZ -induced diabetic rats.


In spite of general reductions in government spending, the prime minister has found room in the government's budget to spend money on a major survey of what makes the British people happy. This will be used, in the prime minister's own words, to guide government policy towards improvement in general wellbeing rather than improvements in national income.But is it really true that government policy has always been orientated towards maximizing GDP? Is it true that wellbeing does not increase as income increases? Is it true that more equal societies are happier societies? Can we really improve wellbeing through workplace legislation? Is it right to orientate government policy towards the single aim of increasing aggregate wellbeing across society as a whole? These questions and many more are tackled by some of the leading intellectuals in the field. Overall, this monograph provides a substantial challenge to those who want to put the explicit pursuit of wellbeing at the heart of government policy.


This book speaks of the world and heavens from and in which the Fall takes place. By taking into consideration the pivotal role of sin and rebellion against heaven, this work surveys the historical facets of the Fall, tracing its various stages -- from the divine heavens to its entry into the mythical realms -- until its final station and the appearance of the modern world. The study continues by expounding on the various interpretations of man and the universe in the stages of the Fall and culminates by addressing the plight of contemporary man and the difficulties of the modern anthropological perspective.


Abstract The Washington State Department of Ecology conducted a large-scale ocean acidification (OA) study in greater Puget Sound to: (1) produce a marine carbon dioxide (CO2) system dataset capable of distinguishing between long-term anthropogenic changes and natural variability, (2) characterize how rivers and freshwater drive OA conditions in the region, and (3) understand the relative influence of cumulative anthropogenic forcing on regional OA conditions. Marine CO2 system data were collected monthly at 20 stations between October 2018 and February 2020. While additional data are still needed, the climate-level data collected thus far have uncovered novel insights into spatiotemporal distributions of and variability in the regional marine CO2 system, especially at low salinities in shallow, river-forced shelf regions. The data provide a strong foundation with which to continue monitoring OA conditions across the region. More importantly, this work represents the first successful long-term OA monitoring program undertaken at the state-level by a regulatory agency. Therefore, we offer the work described herein as a blueprint to help state and local scientists and environmental and natural resource managers develop, implement, and conduct long-term OA monitoring programs and studies in their own contexts and jurisdictions.


It is a trite law that Directors are under the fiduciary duties and to act in the best interest of the company. This fundamental principle has been embedded in s.132(1E) Malaysian Companies Act 1965 (CA 1965) which codifies the responsibility of a nominee Director. The nominee directorship status poses difficulty due to dual loyalty owed by the nominee Director to the company and nominator. This raises a dilemma to nominee Directors in discharging fiduciary duties. Nominee Directors are common in the Malaysian corporate landscape. Section 132(1E) statutorily stipulate that a Director who was appointed by virtue of his position as an employee of a company and a Director who was appointed by or as a representative of a shareholder, employer or debenture holder. Nominee Directors must act in the best interest of the company. Section 132(1E) states that the nominee Director shall act in the best interest of the company and in the event of any conflict between his duty to act in the best interest of the company and his duty to his nominator, the nominee Director shall not subordinate his duty to act in the best interest of the company to his duty to his nominator. In resolving the conflict of interests and duties on nominee Directors Malaysian courts may adopt the UK strict approach. Commencing 2011 UK gradually adopted the attenuated duty approach. Malaysia with her concentrated ownership economy would adopt the attenuated duty approach. This is to ensure Malaysian corporate economy is dynamic and competitive, the approach on nominee directorships must be well established.
Keywords: corporate governance, shareholders, nominee directors and directors' duties.


We introduce a simple and cheap method for phase-shifting Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FDOCT) that does not need additional devices and can easily be implemented. A small beam offset at the fast beam-scanning mirror introduces a causal phase shift, which can be used for B-scan-based complex image reconstruction. We derive the conditions for optimal conjugate suppression and demonstrate the method on human skin in vivo for spectrometer-based FDOCT operating at 1300 nm employing a handheld scanner.


In situ pigment and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) data from two distinct hydrographic regions of the western English Channel are used to explore the possible marine DOC contamination of the past satellite estimates of phytoplankton biomass. To compare with field measurements, the individual spectral contributions of DOC, pigments, and water to the total diffuse attenuation coefficient, Kpar, are summed on a quantum basis within stratified waters near Plymouth, England; and for the spectrally averaged diffuse attenuation coefficient, Kd, on an energy basis within tidally mixed waters near Roscofif, France. In addition, coastal zone color scanner (CZCS) images from 1979 to 1986 were used to compute DOC concentrations for comparison with in situ values. Our analysis suggests that almost 50% of the color signal of satellite-sensed pigments may be attributed to absorption by marine colored DOC (CDOC) within the English Channel. These results compare favorably to the in situ DOC measurements off Plymouth, but not to off-Roscoff measurements, suggesting that there may be more CDOC in the stratified waters and more nonabsorbing DOC in the tidally mixed waters.


A growing tide of nationalistic populism in Europe and the United States threatens the solidarity upon which the global health movement is based. The proposals of the U.S. President-elect threaten to undermine U.S. leadership on health, development, and the environment. This and monumental health threats such as antimicrobial resistance and climate change and persisting health inequities stand alongside historic opportunities opened by the Sustainable Development Goals. The priority that political leaders place on global health has never been greater — from the G7 and G20 to the World Health Organization and United Nations. This comes during major leadership transitions in the United Nations and World Health Organization, and the re-election of the World Bank's president.In this challenging landscape, the new global health leadership should prioritize global health security, including antimicrobial resistance, health system strengthening, and action on mass migration and climate change. To guide their actions, they will need to work as a team, leveraging WHO's technical competence and normative mandate to set health norms and standards, the UN's political clout, and the Bank's economic strength. Human rights, including principles of equality, participation, and accountability, should be their foremost guide, such as holding a UN special session on health inequities, enhancing civil society participation, and advancing the Framework Convention on Global Health. The need for predicable and innovative financing and high ethical standards to prevent conflicts of interest can further guide global health leaders.


Several studies demonstrate, that low level laser therapy /LLLT/ improve the prognosis on direct and indirect pulp capping /6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14/. Biostimulatory effect of laser irradiation represents a set of structural, biochemical and functional changes in living microorganisms /6/. The positive effect is due to unspecific stimulatory action of laser beam increase of colagen production, enzyme activity, microand lymph-circulation, fibroblast proliferation, decrease of local hypoxia, antiinflammatory effect and pain reduction /3, 4, 6, 8/. Especially strong stimulatory effect is determined by irradiation with monochromatic red and infrared light with 630-905 nm wavelength. The low level laser irradiation from red and near infrared light spectrum correspond exactly to relevant characteristic energy and absorbtion level in the respiratory chain. It acts directly on stimulating components of the so-called antenna pigments of the respiratory chain and manifest as an immediate effect cell vitalization by ATP mitochondrial production increase /3/. Biostimulatory effect of laser irradiation is determined by the magnitude of the absorbed light energy. Energy depth of penetration depends on many factors – wave length, optical and temperature characteristics, power, energy values, exposure time, wave shape, and optical characteristics of tissueabsorbtion and scattering coefficient /1, 2, 7, 16/. Each tissue because of their structural and biochemical diversity will have individual translucence for laser irradiation with different wavelength /2/.Greater oversight is typical of beam from red spectral area, and minimal suchof beam from blue spectral area /6/. As much translucenter tissue is, as minimal absorbtion and weaker biological effect of laser irradiation is. The cement is most transparent dental hard tissue, the second is dentin. Oversight of light energy through dentin is 0,2-0,8 %, and through enamel is 0,5-1,5 % /6/.


Topographically controlled fronts are small-scale phenomena caused by the interaction between currents and complex reef topography, resulting in zones of convergence and eddies where debris and organisms are accumulated. Rocas is the only atoll in the South Atlantic (3'511S, 33"49' W) and it is constructed predominantly by coralline red algae, vermetid gastropods and encrusting fora- rniniferans. The structure of meiobenthic and macrobenthic communities, particularly nematodes and polychaetes, over the sublittoral carbonate deposits was examined during May 1996. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed a gradual change in the meiobenthic and macrobenthic community structure from the windward to the leeward side of Rocas Atoll, which was significantly correlated with the measured environmental variables. The characteristics of the carbonate deposits, ranging from coarse sands to medium well-sorted sand, and their enrichment process towards the leeward, as shown by the organic content, suggest a strong linkage with the hydrodynamic regime. Even though both components of the benthos are influenced by this hydrodynamic heterogeneity, the meiobenthic and macrobenthic fauna over the sublittoral area of Rocas Atoll are affected in different ways. Changes in the hydrodynamic regime promote a sigmficant increase in diversity and density of the meiofauna, particularly nematodes, but the macrobenthos showed a more complex response, with a decreasing number of taxa and a variable abundance towards the leeward side. The results of this study suggest that the significant changes in the sediment characteristics and benthic community structure along the atoll may be a result of topographically controlled fronts.


OF DISSERTATION DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BIOLOGICAL NANOPORES AND THEIR APPLICATION FOR BIOSENSING AND DISEASE DETECTION Nanopore technology has recently emerged as a new real-time single molecule sensing method. The current dominant technologies, such as mass spectrometry and immunoassay, for protein analysis is still slow and complex, which can't meet the urgent need and fields of use. Development of a highly simple, portable and sensitive detection system for pathogen detection, disease diagnosis, and environmental monitoring is in great need. Membrane embedded Phi29 connector nanopore, the first protein nanopore coming from bacteriophage, was mainly focusing on DNA and RNA translocation in previous studies. Here, Phi29 connector nanopore was first time established for antibody detection by engineering Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule peptide as a probe. The results demonstrate that the specific antibody can be detected in presence of diluted serum or non-specific antibody. To enable detecting more different types of analytes with high sensitivity, developing new nanopore with various properties, such as size, charge, hydrophilic/hydrophobic and physical dimension, is needed. In this work, besides Phi29 nanopore, several new protein nanopores that derived from T3, T4, and SPP1 bacteriophages were developed. A shared property of three step conformational change among these portal channel has been discovered. Elucidating the sequence and oligomeric states of proteins and peptides is critical for understanding their biological functions. Here, SPP1 nanopore was used to characterize the translocation of TAT peptide with dimer and monomer forms. Translocation of the peptide was confirmed by optical single molecule imaging for the first time, and analyzed quantitatively. The dynamics of peptide oligomeric states were clearly differentiated based on their characteristic electronic signatures. Main challenge for probing protein structure, folding, detection and sequencing using nanopore is the ultra-fast translocation speed which normally beyond electronic detection limit. In this work, the peptides translocation was slowed in SPP1 nanopore by changing the charge shielding of the channel. A 500-fold reduction was observed for TAT peptide translocation. By using this method, arginine chain peptide as short as two arginine can be detected first time. Further improving the bandwidth may lead to single amino acid detection and has the potential for protein sequencing. Compared with protein nanopore, de novo designed nanopore can provide numerous advantages, such as tunable size and functionality, ease of construction, scale up and modification. In the final study, an RNA-based biomimetic nanopore was first time constructed. The insertion of RNA nanopore into lipid bilayer and cell membrane were characterized and translocation of short amino acids through RNA nanopore was detected. This new artificial nanopore has the potential to be used for sensing, disease diagnosis, and even protein sequencing.


Two studies were conducted to evaluate the growth performance of growing-finishing pigs in response to different ratios of cup waterers to pigs and different locations of the cup waterers within a pen under commercial conditions. In Exp. 1, 1,134 pigs (initial pen average BW of 35.7 ± 1.17 lb) were housed in pens that provided 6.85 ft2/pig and were used in a 113-d trial during summer months (May through September). Pens of pigs were blocked by location within the barn and allotted to treatments in a randomized complete block design. There were 14 replicate pens per treatment and 27 pigs per pen. Treatments consisted of 1, 2, or 3 cup waterers per pen, resulting in 27, 13.5, and 9 pigs per cup waterer, respectively. From d 0 to 45, increasing the number of cups per pen resulted in a quadratic increase (P < 0.05) in the percentage of days that cups needed to be cleaned in order to remove fecal material. From d 80 to 113, with more waterers per pen, there was a linear increase in days the waterers were cleaned (P < 0.05). For growth performance, there was no evidence of treatment effect from d 0 to 74 (P > 0.10); however, from d 74 to 114 and overall, increasing the number of cup waterers per pen resulted in a linear increase in average daily gain (ADG) and final BW (P < 0.05). Overall, there was no evidence of differences observed for average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed efficiency (F/G) (P > 0.10). In Exp. 2, 1,134 pigs (initial pen average BW of 34.7 ± 0.60 lb) were housed in pens that allowed 6.85 ft2 of space per pig and were used in a 126-d trial during winter months (October through February). Pens of pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 treatments in a randomized complete block design with location within the barn being the blocking factor. There were 14 replicates per treatment and 27 pigs per pen. Treatments consisted of a 1 cup waterer installed 42 in. from the feeder; 2 cup waterers installed 24 in. and 48 in. from one side of the feeder; and 2 cup waterers installed 24 in. from each side of the feeder. Overall, there was no evidence for differences among treatments regarding the percentage of waterers that needed to be cleaned (P > 0.10). For growth performance, no significant treatment effects were observed from d 0 to 70 (P > 0.10). From d 70 to 126 and overall, ADG was increased when pens were equipped with a 1 cup waterer located on each side of the feeder compared to pens with 2 cup waterers located on the same side of the feeder, with pens with 1 waterer intermediate (P < 0.10). However, there was no evidence for an overall treatment effect on ADFI, F/G, and final BW (P > 0.10). Results from this study indicate the optimal water cup to pig ratio changes as pigs increase in body weight. The linear improvement in growth performance as the number of drinking devices increased suggests water availability becomes more critical at heavier weight. Positioning of cup waterers within a pen is also an important factor to be taken into account, with a 1 cup waterer installed on either side of the feeder providing the highest growth rate. However, increasing the number of cups increased management associated with cleaning cups during summer months, but not during winter months. Further characterization of the interactions of cup waterer number, finishing pig weight, and cup waterer cleanliness on growth performance is needed.


The interest of small animal imaging has been primarily due to the recent advances in genetics with the need to perform longitudinal studies on mice or rat. Recent work has shown that single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of small animals can provide high spatial resolution with a high sensitivity where the addition of an X-ray CT system provides the lack of anatomical structures. In our group, we are developing a multi modality system combining X-ray, SPECT and PET imaging system. In this paper, we discuss the development of the SPECT component The key features of the system are i) four individual cameras arranged around the animal, ii) one pinhole aperture and 5 detector modules per camera, iii) a 28 mm focal length, and iii) pixellated scintillator arrays of 2.3/spl times/2.3/spl times/28 mm/sup 3/ VAP:Ce pixels coupled to 8/spl times/8 multi anode PMT. With the pinhole configuration, the axial field of view strongly depends on the axial size of the PMT which is 18.4 mm. In order to increase this field of view, an hybrid collimator made of parallel strip of tungsten is designed. This collimator leads to parallel collimation in the axial direction and pinhole collimation in the transverse direction. The intrinsic resolution of the system is measured to be 1.5 mm in both directions leading to a 1 mm spatial resolution in the center of the field of view using a 0.5 mm diameter pinhole aperture. The predicted absolute detection efficiency of the system is 34.9 cps/MBq and 12.9 cps/MBq for the pinhole and the hybrid collimation. As a conclusion, we propose a modular SPECT system with high spatial resolution combined with high sensitivity.


In 1994 the regulatory framework of water services in Italy was radically modified, by transforming a traditional publicly operated system, which relied heavily for investments on fiscal budgets, into a system made up of self-sustaining corporate enterprises regulated at arm9s length. After 19 years, the time has come to make an assessment of what has been achieved. This paper develops an original methodology, inspired by the concept of water sustainability, which tries to integrate economic, environmental and financial aspects within a unique framework. Our analysis discloses both allocative as well as distributive impacts of the reform, showing that it has been possible to generate some value for money while shifting the economic burden from taxpayers to service customers. However, improvements have been too slight and many signs are showing that it will be rather problematic to speed them up without undertaking a substantial restyling.


In order to be successful, new entrepreneurs must learn to know their tolerance for risk, the ways to grow a business, and how to adapt their organization's structure for success.  This study explores several relevant teaching methods for helping entrepreneurship students learn essential concepts and skills.  Recommended teaching techniques include: Using realistic risk assessments that include having students address what their personal consequences of failure might be, development of individual business plans to mimic the commitment and ownership experience by entrepreneurs, accessing advisors while creating their business plans, and simulating rapid growth and consolidation as a platform for learning key concepts of organizational structure, design and change practices.  The practical and vivid nature of these teaching techniques contributes to their potential for retention and use by students in their future entrepreneurial organizations.


The objective of this paper is to evaluate and summarize the diffusion of Last Planner in Finland in the past ten years. As Last Planner is a method to manage in a "lean manner", its implementation in to use has required and requires a somewhat painful change to the fashion of "command and control" management. The efficient and successful use of Last Planner requires understanding of the lean concept. The implementation is examined through analyzing pilot projects, education offerings and company policies from 2003 to 2011. The different mechanisms of spreading the idea and implementing the method are illustrated by mini cases. The research questions are: How has this "dance of change" of implementing Last Planner proceeded in Finland? What can be learnt? Where are we now? Are we at the tipping point? Companies have explored the use of LPS mostly in pilot projects. Some have adopted parts of it, some everything and quite a few nothing. The use of LPS spreads in companies both vertically and horizontally. The basic idea from training and education creates new innovations of use at sites. People who have realized the gains take the method from an organization to another as they change company. The findings from this evaluation of history show that Last Planner as a method can be adopted, but unless there is a understanding about the potential of Lean Construction as a production management model, the use of it seems to be a constant struggle. Our conclusions will contribute to the understanding of through which mechanisms spreading an innovation occur and how the practical implementation is realized in a lean construction context.


Rapid forest exploitations can cause forest degradation, and eventually may cause the global climate change, because of that, the balance of the forest sustainability must be kept as well. The implementation of silviculture system called Selective Cutting and Strip Planting System is one of several forest harvesting method that consider the importance of forest sustainability. Practically, the system has never been tested to the last cycle. So, it is necessary to conduct some evaluation to the method to assure its sustainability. Estimation of soil quality is one of several ways to evaluate the effectiveness of silviculture implementation on a forest area, Since the soil is one of the major factor that influencing the growth of vegetations, then its quality can be used as an indication of conservation of forest productivity.


NATURALIZED PANPSYCHISM: AN ALTERNATIVE TO FUNDAMENTALIST PHYSICALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM Earl Robert Cookson, B.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2012 A central problem in the mind-body debate is the generation problem: how consciousness occurs in a universe understood as primarily non-conscious. This problem is particularly bothersome for physicalists. I argue that the generation problem stems from a non-critical presupposition about the nature of reality, namely, that the mental is an exception in the universe, a non-fundamental property. I call this presupposition mental specialism. Despite the fact that mental specialism dogmatically ingrained in the debate, there has been little reason offered either to accept or reject it. And doing so would dissolve the generation problem. But rejecting mental specialism, though it would dissolve the generation problem, would mean accepting another anathema presupposition: panpsychism. The resistance to panpsychism stems from the perception that panpsychism runs counter to science, that it is based on dogmatic metaphysical (even transcendental) arguments, and that it entails doctrines that cannot be accepted by science, such as mysteriousness. This perception is misguided and here I argue that a naturalized panpsychism, one that does not run contrary to science in these ways, can be developed and defended. I argue that consciousness emerges from proto-consciousness, the fundamental property that is disposed to give rise to consciousness. Proto-consciousness is not an arbitrarily posited property; following an important contemporary approach in neuroscience (the integrated information account), I understand proto-consciousness as information. The thesis that consciousness emerges from proto-consciousness elicits a fatal problem with panpsychic theories, the combination problem. This problem is how to account for higher-order conscious properties emerging from proto-conscious properties. I solve the combination problem that by adopting Giuolio Tononi's Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness and demonstrating emerging higher-order conscious properties just is a system integrating information. Thus information is the fundamental property that, when integrated in a system such as a human being, is consciousness. Proto-consciousness is thus a natural property and the formulated panpsychic theory based upon information is a naturalized panpsychism.


Aims: Most staphylococci grown from blood cultures are contaminants. Since they are microscopically indistinguishable from non-contaminants, considerable time and resources may be spent following up all patients with positive blood cultures before the identification is made the following day. Since there is no formal guidance or standard available in this area, this report surveyed practice in our region. Methods: An interview was conducted by telephone, using a standardised questionnaire. Results were analysed using descriptive techniques. Results: The majority of microbiologists did not communicate all presumptive staphylococci but waited for identification in some cases. Conclusion: There is a range of practice in laboratories due to conflicting pressures: limited time, fear of criticism if results are not phoned, fear of causing confusion with provisional information and lack of clarity concerning what is "good practice." This survey concludes that a decision not to telephone every presumptive Staphylococcus in blood cultures on Day 1 is reasonable.


Palaeosols (fossil soils) are a major component of alluvial deposits in the geological record. Not only do these typically show considerable variations in their degrees of development within single formations, but they also exhibit highly complex stratigraphic relationships with one another. A simple quantitative approach to these variations is presented which provides a graphical means of assessing differences in soil (palaeosol) development within a sequence with calcic or petrocalcic horizons. To illustrate the approach, a range of palaeosols from the Siluro-Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) of Britain are characterized in terms of the likely frequency and magnitude of depositional events which occurred during their formation. In particular, two alluvial suites from the Manorbier area of South Wales are analysed using this approach. The technique should be widely applicable to other alluvial successions and provides a means of graphicallv presenting relationships between multiple palaeosols, although the wide range of rates of formation of calcic and petrocalcic horizons precludes their use to provide narrow estimates of deposition rates.


Although various kinds of organic molecules are known to occur in fossils and rocks, most soft tissue preservation in animals is attributed to melanin or porphyrins. Lipids are particularly stable over time—as diagenetically altered 'geolipids' or as major molecular constituents of kerogen or fossil 'geopolymers'—and may be expected to be preserved in certain vertebrate tissues. Here we analysed lipid residues from the uropygial gland of an early Eocene bird using pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectroscopy. We found a pattern of aliphatic molecules in the fossil gland that was distinct from the host oil shale sediment matrix and from feathers of the same fossil. The fossil gland contained abundant n-alkenes, n-alkanes and alkylbenzenes with chain lengths greater than 20, as well as functionalized long-chain aldehydes, ketones, alkylnitriles and alkylthiophenes that were not detected in host sediment or fossil feathers. By comparison with modern bird uropygial gland wax esters, we show that these molecular fossils are likely derived from endogenous wax ester fatty alcohols and fatty acids that survived initial decay and underwent early diagenetic geopolymerization. These data demonstrate the high fidelity preservation of the uropygial gland waxes and showcase the resilience of lipids over geologic time and their potential role in the exceptional preservation of lipid-rich tissues of macrofossils.


Abstract Active faults slip at different rates over the course of the seismic cycle: earthquake slip (c. 1 m s−1), interseismic creep (c. 10–100 mm year−1) and intermediate rate transients (e.g. afterslip and slow slip events). Studies of exhumed faults are sometimes able to identify seismic slip surfaces by the presence of frictional melts, and slow creep by textures diagnostic of rate-limited plastic processes. The Pasagshak Point Thrust preserves three distinct fault rock textures, which are mutually cross-cutting, and can be correlated to different strain rates. Ultrafine-grained black fault rocks, including pseudotachylyte, were formed during seismic slip on layers up to 30 cm thick. Well-organized S–C cataclasites 7–31 m thick were formed by slow creep, with pressure solution as a dominant, rate-limiting mechanism. These must have formed at strain rates consistent with long-term plate-boundary motion, but solution-creep healing acted to reduce porosity of the cataclasites and eventually restricted fluid connectivity such that creep by this mechanism could not continue. Disorganized, non-foliated, rounded clast cataclasites were formed at shear rates faster than solution creep and are interpreted as representing shear at intermediate strain rates. These could have formed during afterslip or delocalization of slip associated with an earthquake rupture. Supplementary material: Detailed map of Pasagshak Peninsula is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18493.


A recycling programme is one of the strategies implemented to avoid the risk on increasing number of domestic waste at national dumping sites. Numerous efforts and initiatives are carrying out by the government to reduce waste management cost burdened to national local authorities which yearly contributes about RM1 billion. There are many significant factors contribute to community behaviors towards this particular programmed. In general, it can be classified into two (i) behavioral factor and, (ii) community participation in recycling programmed. This research intends to understand the community behavior towards recycling programmed in the district of Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. A total of 383 respondents were selected in a random sampling within the municipality and major town in the district. The result of the study indentified that most of the respondents are not involved with recycling programmed in their locality. Therefore, the authorities should consider an integrated and holistic approach in order to reform the recycling programmed to the local context and facilitate to change the mentality among those communities.


Objective: to compare two groups of school age girls from different social strata were compared in terms of their perception and knowledge about breastfeeding. Methods: a structured questionnaire was applied to all 346 4th to 8th grade girls attending two schools, a private one, whose students belonged to the upper class (School A), and a public one, whose students belonged to the lower class (School B). Results: about 90% of the girls reported having been breastfed and more than 98% had seen a mother breastfeeding. Only 14% of girls from School A and 26% from School B (p=0.01) exclusively offered their breast or their breast and a bottle when playing with dolls. More than 80% of the girls stated that they would like to have a normal delivery and to breast-feed their child for more than 6 months, but 46% of the girls from School A and 32% from School B stated that they would be ashamed to breastfeed in public. About 90% of the girls considered human milk to be the best food for the baby, but only a small portion of them recognized other more specific advantages. Less than 1/3 would choose exclusive breastfeeding and about 60% would offer a pacifier to the baby. Conclusions: girls from both social strata are aware of the fact that breastfeeding is the best diet for a newborn baby, but are not aware of its specific advantages. Exclusive breastfeeding is not incorporated into the knowledge of most of these girls, since most of them consider offering water, tea, juices and a pacifier to be adequate practices. Teaching about breastfeeding at school should emphasize these concepts.


An increasing number of judges, legislators, and scholars, particularly in the United States, have wrongly come to believe that the commitment that standard-essential patents be licensed on "fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms" ("FRAND") was principally created to advance the interests of technology implementers, and have too often given a preference toward implementers' interests in interpreting FRAND. That premise has led American courts to take a categorically hostile view toward awarding injunctions against implementers who infringe valid standard-essential patents, fearing that the injunctive remedy would give innovators undue leverage. Indeed, American courts have been so unilaterally concerned with innovators' conduct that some have even allowed implementers to sue innovators simply for making an opening licensing offer that is later deemed "too high," even if the implementer refused to make any counteroffer at all. An implementer–centric view of FRAND has also caused several courts to conclude that innovators are not entitled to any share of the commercial benefits arising from the standardization of their technologies, and that all such benefits must go to implementers alone.
This Article argues that an implementer–centric view of FRAND's origins and purposes is false. FRAND is a contractual agreement that reflects a voluntary reciprocal exchange of benefits and obligations driven by the need to solve significant coordination problems in the face of otherwise prohibitive transaction costs. As part of that bargain, innovators agree to disclose their latest, confidential discoveries to standard–development organizations and to waive their injunction rights as to eventual patents on those discoveries, in exchange for contractual protection against "patent holdout" by implementers. Those implementers are then permitted to use standard–essential patents on the condition that they agree to pay fair and adequate royalties for that use, with the royalty amount to be set through mutual good faith negotiations.
Accordingly, this Article stresses that FRAND is not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as, a one-sided transfer from innovators to implementers. Rather, implementers too owe a significant duty to negotiate FRAND licenses in good faith—a duty that many courts have overlooked and underenforced. This Article demonstrates that implementers' good faith obligations are a critical component of the basic FRAND architecture and that enforcement of those obligations is strictly necessary to the continued development of innovation–driven standards.
This Article further observes that the FRAND bargain is not simply meant to give innovators a way to monetize their intellectual property. Rather, and perhaps more significantly, FRAND creates an agreed bargaining framework that allows implementers to access innovators' otherwise confidential discoveries—inventions so recent that they are not otherwise disclosed in patents or published applications. In this way, FRAND supplies a solution to an iteration of Kenneth Arrow's paradox of information, enabling the standards development effort to yield commercial benefits that would not exist absent innovators' voluntary participation. Stated otherwise, innovators agree to give implementers access—and a fair license—to their most groundbreaking technologies because innovators believe that implementers will reciprocally later agree to take a license in good faith for using those highly valuable innovations. This Article shows both theoretically and empirically that courts' failure to appreciate these aspects of the FRAND bargain, combined with their overreliance on liability rules (i.e., damages over injunctions) incentivizes the very patent holdout problem FRAND was intended to avoid. That "efficient infringement" outcome, in turn, has motivated innovators to reduce their participation in FRAND bargains, threatening to unravel a massive innovation–commercialization marketplace and its innumerable positive externalities for all parties.
To reverse these harms, this Article recommends that courts automatically issue an injunction where an implementer is found to infringe valid FRAND–committed patents that it did not attempt to license in good faith. This Article also recommends that a proper FRAND licensing rate should include some portion of the benefits achieved through standardization of the innovations in question.
More broadly, this Article suggests that courts, policymakers, and academic commentators have wrongly favored implementation over innovation—"things" over ideas—unwisely frustrating the emergence of an "ideas economy" that should rightly assign significant profits to upstream innovators and not to the low–margin manufacturing firms that specialize in turning those innovations into tangible products.


In this chapter, the boundary element method (BEM) is introduced for solving prob- lems of transport phenomena in porous media domains, which is an important topic in many engineering and scientific branches as well as in fields of practical interest. The main objective of the present work is to find a numerical solution of the governing set of equations written for fluid flow in porous media domains, representing conserva - tion of mass, momentum, and energy. The momentum equation is based on the mac roscopic Navier-Stokes equations and is coupled with the energy equation. In order to use BEM for the solution of the obtained set, the governing equations are transformed by the velocity-vorticity formulation, which separates the computational scheme into kinematic and kinetic computational parts. A combination of single- and sub-domain BEM is used to solve the obtained set of partial differential equations. Solution to a problem of natural convection in porous media saturated with pure fluid and nanofluid, respectively, for examples of 2D and 3D geometries, is shown. Results are compared to published work in order to estimate the accuracy of developed numerical algorithm. Based on the results, the applicability of the BEM for solving wide range of various problems is stated.


Preface. Acknowledgements. General Introduction. Biblical and Literary Criticism: A History of Interaction: Stephen Prickett. Literary Readings of the Bible: Trends in Modern Criticism: David Jasper. Part I:. The Creation (Genesis 1--2): John Milton, Paradise Lost. Book VII. Lines 205--216. "The Spacious Firmament on High": Joseph Addison. Biographia Literaria. Chapter XIII: S.T. Coleridge. Choruses from The Rock (VII): T.S. Eliot. D. H. Lawrence, "Let There be Light". The Magiciana s Nephew: C.S. Lewis. Part II:. "In the Beginning was the Word" (John 1:1--18): Justin Martyr, Apology. . Divine Sonnets. No. 4: John Donne. Lectures on Revealed Religion. : S. T.Coleridge. Faust, Part 1: Goethe. The Morgan Maggiore: Lord Byron. Collected Poems No. 1651 ("A Word Made Flesh is Seldom"): Emily Dickenson. "In the Beginning was the Three--pointed Star": Dylan Thomas. Of Grammatology: Jacques Derrida. Part III:. The Fall (Genesis 3:1--3):. The City of God. "Adam Lay in Bondage": St. Augustine. Paradise Lost, Book LX. Lines 655--792: John Milton. Earl of Rochester, "The Fall": John Wilmot. "The Tree of Knowledge": Abraham Cowley. Free Fall: William Golding. Part IV:. The Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:1--19): Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos, Haphtaroth and Rashia s Commentary. The City of God. 14th Century English Passion Play: Augustine. Religio Medici:Sir Thomas Browne. Tess of the Da Urbervilles: Thomas Hardy. Fear and Trembling: Soren Kierkegaard. Letter of 1921: Franx Kafka. "England, my England": D.H. Lawrence. "The Parable of the Old Man and the Young": Wilfrid Owen. Mimesis: Erich Auerbach. Part V:. Jacob and Esau (Genesis 27:15--35): The City of God: Augustine. John Donne, Holy Sonnets: John Donne. No. XI. Francis Quarles, "On Jacoba s Purchase". The Christian Year: John Keble. Joseph and his Brothers: Thomas Mann. Midnighta s Children: Salman Rushdie. Part VI:. Wrestling Jacob (Genesis 32:22--32): Izaak Walton, The Life of John Donne. . "Wrestling Jacob": Charles Wesley. "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel": Jones Very. "Carrion Comfort": Gerald Manley Hopkins. "A little east of Jordan", Collected Poems: Emily Dickenson. No. 59. "Weeping we hold him fast tonight": Christina Rossetti. "The Struggle with the Angel: Roland Barthes. Son of Laughter: Frederick Beuchner. Part VII: . David and Bathsheba (II Samuel 11:1--13): George Peele, The Love of King David and Fair Bathsabe. . The Prologue to Penitential Psalms: Sir Thomas Wyatt. Absalom and Achitophel: John Dryden. Far From the Madding Crowd: Thomas Hardy. The Scarlet Letter: Nathaniel Hawthorne. God Knows: Joseph Heller. Bathsheba: Torgny Lindgren. Part VIII: . "The Still Small Voice" (I Kings 19:8--13): Dante, The Divine Comedy (Purgatory). . "Living Flame of Love": St. John of the Cross. The Christian Year: John Keble. "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind": John Greenleaf Whittier. The Surrender of a Cockney: G. K. Chesterton. "A Successful Summer": David Schbert. Part IX:. The Lord is My Shepherd" (Psalm 23): Miles Coverdale, Psalm 23. . Psalm 23: Thomas Sternhold. Henry V: William Shakespeare. Psalm 23: George Herbert. Psalm 23: Richard Crashaw. The Pilgrima s Progress: John Bunyan. Psalm 23: Henry Williams Baker. God Knows: Joseph Heller. The Very Model of a Man: Howard Jacobson. "Psalms":. John Hollander. Part X:. "I am a Rose of Sharon" (The Song of Songs): Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love. . Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer. (Robinson Edition). "Colin Clout Comes Home Againe": Edmund Spenser. The Doctrine and Discipline of Dia vorce, The Reason of Church Government, Paradise Lost: John Milton. "The Garden": Andrew Marvell. "In the Glorious Assumption of Our Blessed Lady": Richard Crashaw. "The Reflexion": Edward Taylor. The Name of the Rose: Umberto Eco. Part XI:. The Nativity (Matthew 2:1--12, Luke 2:1--19): "I sing of a maiden". "Nativitie": John Donne. "Anagram": George Herbert. On the Morning of Christa s Nativity: John Milton. Charles Wesley, "Let Earth and Heaven Combine": Charles Wesley. "A Christmas Carol": S. T. Coleridge. "The Oxen": Thomas Hardy. "Ave Maria Gratia Plena": Oscar Wilde. "I saw a stable": Mary Elizabeth Coleridge. "Mary and Gabriel": Rupert Brooke. "The Journey of the Magi": T. S. Eliot. "The Annunciation": Edward Muir. Part XII: . "The Problem of the Parables" (Mark 4:1--20): Frank Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy. . Isaiah 6:9--13. The Gospel of Thomas. . The Rabbinic Parable (Midrash Wayyltra Rabbah) [Jerusalem, 1972]. The Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer. Sonnet XVII: John Milton. The Pilgrima s Progress: John Bunyan. . The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Christopher Smart. "The Sower": William Cowper. From Either/Or: Soren Kierkegaard. "A Grammariana s Funeral": Robert Browning. The Mayor of Casterbridge: Thomas Hardy. The Violent Bear it Away: Flannery Oa Connor. The Trial: Franz Kafka. Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings: Jorge Luis Borges. Part XIII:. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1--30): Genesis 24:10--14. The Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer. The Faerie Queen: Edmund Spenser. Silex Scintillans: Henry Vaughan. The Parables of Our Lord.:Christopher Smart. "I know where Wells grow": Emily Dickenson. Unto This Last: John Ruskin. Man and Superman: George Bernard Shaw. The Last Temptation: Nikos Kazantzakis. Jeshua: Moelwyn Merchant. Part XIV: . The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11--32). "The Parsona s Tale", from The Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer. "The Prodigal Son": John Newton. The Excursion ---- Lines 275--375: William Wordsworth. "A Prodigal Son": Christina Rossetti. "The Lake Isle of Innisfree: W. B. Yeats. "The Prodigal Son": Robert Bly. "The Prodigal": Elizabeth Bishop. The Return of the Prodigal Son: Henri J. M. Nouwen. Part XV:. The Crucifixion (Mark 15:33--39): The Dream of the Rood. . Stabat Mater Dolorosa. . The Wakefield Crucifixion. . Holy Sonnets, La Corona: John Donne. "Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ": Isaac Watts. Billy Budd, Sailor: Herman Melville. "At a Calvary near the Ancre": Wilfrid Owen. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: James Joyce. "Canticle for Good Friday": Geoffrey Hill. Goda s Gym: Divine Male Bodies of the Bible: Stephen D. Moore. Part XVI:. Jesus and Mary in the Garden (John 20:10--18):. The Apocryphal New Testament: M. R. James. The Prayers and Meditations: St. Anselm. . "Who so list to hount...": Sir Thomas Wyatt. "Mary Magdalena s Complaint at Christa s Death": Robert Southwell. Humphry Clinker: Tobais Smollett. D H Lawrence, St. Mawr: D. H. Lawrence. The Wild Girl: Michele Roberts. Part XVII:. The Conversion of St Paul (Acts of the Apostles 9:1--19): John Newton, "The Rebela s Surrender to Grace". Confessions of a Justified Sinner: James Hogg. Father and Son: Edmund Grosse. The Wreck of the Deutschland: G. M. Hopkins. The Hound of Heaven: Francis Thompson. Memoirs of the Blind: Jacques Derrida. Part XVIII:. Alpha and Omega (Revelation 21:1--18): Prudentius Aurelius Clemens, Cathemerinon. "In dulci jubilo". Paradise Lost: John Miltyon. The Pilgrima s Progress: John Bunyan. William Wordsworth, The Prelude: William Wordsworth. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte. "The Last Chantrey": Rudyard Kipling. Wallace Stevens, "An Ordinary Evening in New Haven": Wallace Stevens. W H Auden, "Victor": W. H. Auden. Everything That Rises Must Converge: Flannery Oa Connor. General Bibliography. Name Index.


As a candidate for European Union (EU) membership Cyprus represents a unique challenge for the Union. Unlike the other five Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) that are striving for EU membership in the next phase of expansion (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia), Cyprus carries with it a serious problem of the unsolved political conflict between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The status quo of division on the Island raises the question: Is the EU really determined to inherit the Cyprus problem by granting membership to the Greek part of the Island? Almost all signs coming from the EU institutions show that a solution is not a pre-condition for the EU membership of the Island. However, the EU emphasizes that it prefers a solution before the final membership accession of Cyprus. Although the EU is not an active and direct actor of the Cyprus negotiations, it changed the arithmetic of the Cyprus negotiations as a third party by offering a huge side payment - namely the EU membership for the Island. The EU, therefore, became an indirect mediator in Cyprus negotiations. In this paper, the author analyzes the potential that the EU has in contributing to the resolution of the Cyprus conflict as a third party. In that regard, what mediating role (if ever) should the EU play to facilitate a solution in the Island before the final accession? is the main question of this paper. First, the author provides a short background on the Cyprus conflict and the involvement of the EU in Cyprus conflict and negotiations. Second, the author analyses the track record of the EU as a third party in resolving external conflicts. Finally, the author evaluates the potential of the EU and the other third parties in playing the role of a mediator in Cyprus conflict. The analysis regarding the Cyprus conflict and negotiations in the paper is predominantly based on survey data conducted by the author on elites obtained from field research in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Belgium and the UK (1997-98) and updated data of similar interviews (2001). Here, the author utilizes game theory in explaining the strategic decisions of the disputed actors and the possible outcomes of the Cyprus negotiations. In addition, the author uses archival date regarding the EU involvement in external conflicts.


This thesis focuses on an investigation which aimed to explore how teachers interpret their roles and construct their professional identities in relation to school improvement and how they can be supported in their contributions in this respect. The initial research questions were set within a conceptual framework linking teacher professionalism and school improvement, in particular the symbiotic and reciprocal relationships between individuals and organisations which were illuminated by the concepts of agency and structuration. Research aims, questions and conceptual development were reflexively and iteratively modified, to encompass the significance of school context in influencing professional identity and agency and to explore intractable dilemmas arising in interpreting external and internal policy requirements in relation to personal values. The implications of narrative enquiry for validity were acknowledged, focusing on distilling the 'essence' of situated professional selves and identities through portraiture to explore these substantive themes.

The professional values, priorities and aspirations of six teachers were investigated through semi-structured interviews incorporating elicitation tools, and presented as a form of nested case study where individual portraits were set within the organisational landscapes of their two contrasting schools, based on evidence representing a range of perspectives. This involved navigating the methodological territory between narratives and portraits. Analysis is presented as an 'exhibition', with three 'galleries' exploring different themes emerging from the empirical evidence. This enabled comparisons to be made between the stance that teachers choose to take in relation to internally or externally driven change and their own motivations, aspirations and actions to achieve outcomes according with their personal values and concerns.

The research contributes new understandings in relation to how, within 'imposed', 'selected' and 'constructed' organisational environments (Bandura, 2001), teachers' professional identities are, to a greater or lesser extent, imposed or constructed. This in turn affects their agency in influencing their professional environments aligned with their personal professional values and aspirations. The empirical evidence therefore shows the significance of organisational cultures, leadership and individual agency, in influencing how professional environments and identities are constructed or imposed. A new model is derived from the empirical evidence and parallel conceptual development, contrasting complementary epistemological, ontological and agentic perspectives for schooling. This provides a framework for developing professional identity and professionality, in which individual agency is considered a vital dimension. Since teachers have a predominantly narrative understanding of reality, it is argued that narrative and visual approaches are key to such school improvement work. Making the agentic perspective visible and developmental supports key components of agency - intentionality, forethought, self-reactiveness and self-reflectiveness (ibid.). The resulting levels of engagement give grounds for optimism in supporting teachers' more powerful individual and collective agency, including working critically and strategically with systemic reform, contributing proactively to local initiatives for change and pursuing personal change agendas.


A common assumption in recommender systems (RS) is the existence of a best fixed recommendation strategy. Such strategy may be simple and work at the item level (e.g., in multi-armed bandit it is assumed one best fixed arm/item exists) or implement more sophisticated RS (e.g., the objective of A/B testing is to find the best fixed RS and execute it thereafter). We argue that this assumption is rarely verified in practice, as the recommendation process itself may impact the user's preferences. For instance, a user may get bored by a strategy, while she may gain interest again, if enough time passed since the last time that strategy was used. In this case, a better approach consists in alternating different solutions at the right frequency to fully exploit their potential. In this paper, we first cast the problem as a Markov decision process, where the rewards are a linear function of the recent history of actions, and we show that a policy considering the long-term influence of the recommendations may outperform both fixed-action and contextual greedy policies. We then introduce an extension of the UCRL algorithm ( L IN UCRL ) to effectively balance exploration and exploitation in an unknown environment, and we derive a regret bound that is independent of the number of states. Finally, we empirically validate the model assumptions and the algorithm in a number of realistic scenarios.


The emergence of state-level approval of cannabis for both medical and recreational use is likely to increase the already prevalent co-use of alcohol and cannabis (Yurasek et al., 2017) and raise many important health and social concerns (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). Cannabis research has lagged behind that of alcohol research, but important studies are emerging on the interactions between alcohol and cannabinoids. In this Virtual Issue, Cannabis and Alcohol: From Basic Science to Public Policy, we present nine leading-edge research publications spanning preclinical and epidemiological studies, as well as a critical review on the potential therapeutic use of cannabidiol (CBD) in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD) (Turna et al., 2019), which recently appeared in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.