Design thinking is gaining widespread attention in the practitioner and academic literature. Successful implementation has been documented, and its value shown in empirical studies. There is little examination, however, of how design thinking practices fit with other approaches from which firms might choose to frame and solve problems such as agile, lean startup, scientific method, Six Sigma, critical thinking, and systems thinking. By digging into the basic capabilities underlying design thinking, academic researchers might better understand problem framing and solving in general and provide insight for practitioners as to where alternative approaches might be applied.


Widespread use of minimally selective fish traps has contributed to the overfishing of Caribbean coral reefs. Traps typically target high-value fish such as groupers (Serranidae and Epi- nephelidae) and snappers (Lutjanidae), but they also have high bycatch of ecologically important herbivores (parrotfish (Scaridae) and surgeonfish (Acanthuridae)) and non-target species. One strat- egy for reducing this bycatch is to retrofit traps with rectangular escape gaps that allow juveniles and narrow-bodied species to escape; yet the effectiveness of these gaps has not been thoroughly tested. On the shallow reefs of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, I compared the catch of traditional Antillean chevron traps (the control) to the catch of traps with short escape gaps (20 × 2.5 cm), traps with tall escape gaps (40 × 2.5 cm), and traps with a panel of large aperture mesh. With data from 190 24-h trap sets, the mean number of fish caught was 11.84 in control traps, 4.88 in short gap traps, 4.43 in tall gap traps, and 0.34 in large mesh traps. Compared to controls, traps with short or tall gaps caught significantly fewer bycatch fish (-74 and -80% respectively), key herbivores (-58 and -50% respec- tively), and butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae; -90 and -98% respectively). The mean length of captured fish was significantly greater in gap traps because juveniles were able to escape via the gaps. Escape gaps reduce neither the catch of high-value fish, nor the total market value of the catch. Therefore, using escape gaps could make trap fishing more sustainable without reducing fishermen's revenues.


First Place Winner - 2012 IBPA Ben Franklin Awards "The review-style format and breadth of topics in this text make it an excellent choice for both residents and more experienced otolaryngologists who might want a quality pocket reference book." - Elena B. Willis, MD "Overall, this density of information in such a portable size makes Handbook of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery an excellent choice for those looking for a mobile reference...highly recommended." - MedicalScienceBooks.com "Every resident, fellow, and clinician, with patients in the vast field of head, neck and facial surgery will certainly enjoy this clinical guide - a wonderful contribution" - European Journal of Plastic Surgery Designed to fit in your lab coat pocket, Handbook of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery is both a comprehensive source of information and a conveniently portable clinical reference. The expert authors provide detailed yet concise coverage of the entire specialty, including otology, audiology, rhinology, laryngology, head and neck cancer, the thyroid and parathyroid, general otolaryngology, pediatric otolaryngology, facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, and more. Each chapter thoroughly addresses a different clinical problem, beginning with a list of key features and a section on epidemiology, followed by signs and symptoms, differential diagnoses, an explanation of how to conduct the physical exam, imaging, labs, treatment options, possible outcomes, and follow-up. Features * The most complete coverage of the field currently available anywhere: contains 160 chapters in seven sections plus3 handy appendices * Succinct outline format enables rapid reference in clinical situations * Numerous cross-references and an extensive index make finding needed information quick and easy * TNM staging data - reflecting the current AJCC/UICC standards - supplements all cancer-related chapters * Highly valuable appendices contain full color drawings of the cranial nerves, tips on when and how to perform emergency procedures, and more This user-friendly handbook is an essential resource for every resident, fellow, and clinician in otolaryngology - head and neck surgery, facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, and in any discipline that requires a solid understanding of otolaryngology-related issues.


Avoiding any harm, such as painful experiences, is an important ability for our physical and mental health. This avoidance behavior might be overactive under chronic pain, and the cortical and subcortical brain volumetry, which also often changes in chronic pain states, might be a significant correlate of this behavior. In the present study, we thus investigated the association between volumetric brain differences using 3 T structural magnetic resonance imaging and painversus pleasure-related approach-avoidance behavior using an Approach Avoidance Task in the laboratory in chronic back pain (N = 42; mean age: 51.34 years; 23 female) and healthy individuals (N = 43; mean age: 45.21 years; 15 female). We found significant differences in hippocampal, amygdala and accumbens volumes in patients compared to controls. The patients` hippocampal volume was significantly positively related to pain avoidance, the amygdala volume to positive approach, and the accumbens volume negatively to a bias to pain avoidance over positive approach. These associations were significantly moderated by pain symptom duration. Cortical structure may thus contribute to an overacting pain avoidance system in chronic back pain, and could, together with a reduction in approaching positive stimuli, be related to maladaptive choice and decision-making processes in chronic pain.


Context: Adolescents comprise one-fifth of India's total population. There is widespread ignorance associated with unprotected sex, contraceptives, among young people. As majority adolescents in slum areas have illiterate and ignorant family backgrounds; they are misguided by the myths. Hence providing sex education for them is the need of the hour. Aims: 1) To assess the knowledge and awareness of adolescents in an urban slum area regarding some aspects of reproductive health. 2) To assess the need of sex education among them. 3) To study the impact of sex education on their knowledge Material and Methods: An interventional study was done on 132 adolescents of urban slum area, selected by simple random sampling. Informed consent was obtained from the participants. Data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire prepared by literature search. Response of adolescents was recorded through questionnaires. A sensitization workshop was organized as intervention. The same questionnaire was given to them and the effect of intervention was assessed. Statistical analysis of data was done using percentage, proportion and appropriate tests of significance. Result and Conclusions: Only 31.06% adolescents had discussed the topic of reproductive health with some or other person and out of them friends were the major sources (39.2%) of information. Only 38.63% knew the hazards of teenage pregnancy which significantly rose to 89.4% after intervention workshop. The study concludes that the slum adolescents profoundly lack adequate knowledge of sexuality related matters. Even before intervention workshop, unmet need of reproductive health education was 59.1% and 93.93% was the felt need in the post test.


In 2001, 178 of the world's nations reached agreement on a treaty to combat global climate change brought on by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Despite the notable omission of the United States, representatives of the participants, and many newspapers around the world, expressed elation. Margot Wallström, the environment commissioner of the European Union, went so far as to declare, "Now we can go home and look our children in the eye and be proud of what we have done." In this article, I argue for two theses. First, the rhetoric and euphoria surrounding the 2001 deal is misplaced. This is not, as is often said, because the Kyoto agreement is too demanding but rather because it is much too weak. In particular, the Kyoto agreement does little to protect future generations. On the contrary, (at best) it seems to be a prudent wait-and-see policy for the present generation, narrowly defined. Hence, even those countries who have endorsed the Kyoto agreement should be wary of looking their children in the eye, and none should relish facing their children's children. Second, the failure of the Kyoto agreement can be explained in terms of the underlying structure of the problem. Climate change involves the intersection of a complex set of intergenerational and intragenerational collective action problems. This structure, and in particular its intergenerational aspect, has not been adequately appreciated. Yet until it is, we are doomed to an ineffectual environmental policy.


Design patterns offer flexible solutions to common problems in software development. Recent studies have shown that several design patterns involve crosscutting concerns. Unfortunately, object-oriented (OO) abstractions are often not able to modularize those crosscutting concerns, which in turn decrease the system reusability and maintainability. Hence, it is important verifying whether aspect-oriented approaches support improved modularization of crosscutting concerns relative to design patterns. Ideally, quantitative studies should be performed to compare OO and aspect-oriented implementations of classical patterns with respect to important software engineering attributes, such as coupling and cohesion. This paper presents a quantitative study that compares aspect-based and OO solutions for the 23 Gang-of-Four patterns. We have used stringent software engineering attributes as the assessment criteria. We have found that most aspect-oriented solutions improve separation of pattern-related concerns, although only 4 aspect-oriented implementations have exhibited significant reuse.


How much deference should courts afford executive branch interpretations of statutes and treaties? The question that has long engaged foreign relations scholars has found new salience as it has become apparent in recent years that the Supreme Court will neither abstain nor reliably defer to presidential judgment even in cases implicating national security. As the courts grapple with the scope of detention authority granted by Congress' 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or the limits on that authority under the Geneva Conventions, a number of scholars have embraced administrative law deference doctrines such as that in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council as a way of constraining newly vigorous judicial engagement with executive law interpretation. The courts may have some appropriate role in interpreting foreign relations law, the notion is, but Chevron at least requires that the courts accept any "reasonable" executive interpretation. Yet, as this Article contends, Chevron's promise for foreign relations law is elusive. The Chevron doctrine in administrative law has proven neither as stable nor as attuned to the executive's functional strengths and weaknesses as its foreign relations advocates imagine. More, Chevron poses a still unresolved challenge to formal understandings of the judicial power under Article III of the Constitution. If the executive enjoys substantial authority in statutory and treaty interpretation, what remains at the core of the courts' structural power to "say what the law is"? While administrative law scholars have long struggled with the question, it has received surprisingly scant attention in the contemporary foreign relations debate. This is an oversight. Understanding what power – and duty – the courts have to "say what the law is" is a necessary precursor to determining what interpretive relationship between the courts and the executive should come after the Court has rejected abstention or total deference. This Article introduces the formal dimension into questions of interpretation in foreign relations law. Concluding that predominant understandings of the judicial power of interpretation provide insufficient accounts of the Court's role in this realm, it begins the task of developing a supplemental understanding of formal judicial power for foreign relations law.


We present a theory of multi-attribute choice founded in the neuroscience of perception. According to our theory, valuation is formed through a series of pairwise, attribute-level comparisons implemented by (divisive) normalization — a normatively-grounded form of relative value coding observed across sensory modalities and in species ranging from honeybees to humans. As we demonstrate, "pairwise normalization" captures a broad range of behavioral regularities, including the compromise and asymmetric dominance effects, the diversification bias in allocation decisions, and majority-rule preference cycles (among several others). The model also offers a potential neurobiological foundation for Cobb-Douglas preferences and other classic microeconomic preference representations.


During the twentieth century, the port of Cape Town transformed itself from a town of some 150 000 to a city of 3 million. Before this period, different cultural traits of inmigrating and resident groups had mixed and produced new syncretic features that were passed on to the next generation. In the second half of this century, however, state policies imposed separation and unequal access to state resources among groups within this population. Accordingly, the identities of coloured, black and white – imposed as they have been by the state from above – could not but continue to carry meaning in the lives of Cape Town's residents and of those living in its hinterlands. Though rarely the primary identities of residents, these labels are widely acknowledged to be both shared and meaningful.


Much has been written about the forced removal of thousands of Cherokee Indians to present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s. Many of them died on the Trail of Tears. But until recently historians have largely ignored the tribal remnant that avoided removal and remained in North Carolina. John R. Finger shifts attention to the Eastern Band of Cherokees, descended from that remnant and now numbering almost ten thousand, most of whom live on a reservation adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cherokee Americans is, ironically, the first comprehensive account of the twentieth-century experience of a band that is known to and photographed by millions of tourists. This book is a sequel to The Eastern Band of Cherokees, 1819-1900 (1984) by John R. Finger, who is a professor of history at the University of Tennessee.


Power line communication (PLC) is a communications method where signals are carried across already existing power lines, rather than through other mediums such as optical fibers or radio waves. PLC has been a very important interdiscipline topic for power, communications, industrial, and automation engineers and researchers since the 1980s. Designing and planning optimized or standard PLC systems require information and data regarding signal attenuations, load variations, and communication performance for various locations of the world which have different power networks. In this study, PLC system is modeled by ABCD matrix and simulated via electronics workbench. In order to obtain data from Turkey's power lines, signal measurements at the frequencies of 50-200 kHz are carried out. The effects of load, frequency, line length, and the distribution transformers are examined. The properties of home appliances used in an average Turkish household are experimentally determined. System performance in terms of the bit error probability are calculated for FSK modulation.


The 2009 judgment by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg is seen by many as a watershed in the interpretation of the fundamental constitutional right of access to water. The Constitutional Court ruled that the right of access to sufficient water does not require that the state provide every person upon demand and without more with sufficient water. Nor does the obligation confer on any person a right to claim "sufficient water" from the state immediately. Reactions to the judgment have been consistently negative, with criticisms largely focusing on the Court's apparent lack of appreciation for the situation of the very poor. It is not easy, however, to overturn a decision of the Constitutional Court and South Africa will need to work within the constraints of the precedent for many years to come. It is suggested in this article that two subsequent, recent judgments (one of the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa, City of Cape Town v Strumpher, 2012, and one of the High Court in Zimbabwe, Mushoriwa v City of Harare, 2014) show how it might be possible for courts to avoid the Mazibuko precedent and yet give special attention to water-related rights. Both cases concerned spoliation applications in common law, but both were decided as though access to water supply and water-related rights allow a court to give weight to factors other than the traditional grounds for a spoliation order. It can be argued that in both cases the unlawfulness necessary for a spoliation order arose from a combination of dispossession and breach of rights in respect of a very particular and special kind of property. In the arid and potentially water-stressed Southern African region, and in the context of extreme and apparently increasing poverty, there will undoubtedly be more court cases to come involving access to water. Conclusions are drawn as to how the two judgments considered might offer a way to ameliorate the harsh effects of the Mazibuko judgment.


A fiber-optic sensor system for the distributed measurement of organic chemicals is presented in this paper. The system uses the technique of optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) and a polymerclad optical fiber that is sensitive to nonpolar substances. The location of the chemicals is attained by measuring the time delay between a short laser light pulse entering the fiber and a discrete change in the backscatter signal caused by the enrichment of the analyte in the fiber cladding. Chemical substances enriched in the cladding of the sensor fiber lead to changes in the OTDR response signal, because the light-guiding properties of the fiber are affected through the evanescent wave. The enrichment of an analyte with a higher refractive index than the fiber cladding, for example, will induce a light loss because of mode stripping. This light loss is followed by a step drop in the OTDR response signal. If the analyte penetrating into the fiber cladding absorbs the emitted laser light pulse, a step drop also occurs in the backscatter signal because of the light loss due to the absorption. A fluorescent substance in the fiber cladding leads to a characteristic peak in the OTDR response signal. The intensity of the different signals is correlated with the refractive index and the concentration of the analyte, the interaction length between analyte and sensing fiber, and the temperature, fiber diameter, and bend radius of the fiber.


Abstract. We performed a systematic intercomparison study of the chemistry and yields of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) generated from OH oxidation of a common set of gas-phase precursors in a Potential Aerosol Mass (PAM) continuous flow reactor and several environmental chambers. In the flow reactor, SOA precursors were oxidized using OH concentrations ranging from 2.0 × 108 to 2.2 × 1010 molec cm−3 over exposure times of 100 s. In the environmental chambers, precursors were oxidized using OH concentrations ranging from 2 × 106 to 2 × 107 molec cm−3 over exposure times of several hours. The OH concentration in the chamber experiments is close to that found in the atmosphere, but the integrated OH exposure in the flow reactor can simulate atmospheric exposure times of multiple days compared to chamber exposure times of only a day or so. In most cases, for a specific SOA type the most-oxidized chamber SOA and the least-oxidized flow reactor SOA have similar mass spectra, oxygen-to-carbon and hydrogen-to-carbon ratios, and carbon oxidation states at integrated OH exposures between approximately 1 × 1011 and 2 × 1011 molec cm−3 s, or about 1–2 days of equivalent atmospheric oxidation. This observation suggests that in the range of available OH exposure overlap for the flow reactor and chambers, SOA elemental composition as measured by an aerosol mass spectrometer is similar whether the precursor is exposed to low OH concentrations over long exposure times or high OH concentrations over short exposure times. This similarity in turn suggests that both in the flow reactor and in chambers, SOA chemical composition at low OH exposure is governed primarily by gas-phase OH oxidation of the precursors rather than heterogeneous oxidation of the condensed particles. In general, SOA yields measured in the flow reactor are lower than measured in chambers for the range of equivalent OH exposures that can be measured in both the flow reactor and chambers. The influence of sulfate seed particles on isoprene SOA yield measurements was examined in the flow reactor. The studies show that seed particles increase the yield of SOA produced in flow reactors by a factor of 3 to 5 and may also account in part for higher SOA yields obtained in the chambers, where seed particles are routinely used.


This study was commissioned by English Heritage and Cadw in 2007 to provide Government and its agencies at all spatial levels with a research programme to enable the socio-economic benefits of heritage in the National Parks to be recognised, measured and evaluated in an academically sound and rigorous way. The research, which was completed in October 2008, comprised an extensive scoping study involving a literature review combined with various forms of stakeholder consultation, including email and telephone surveys, face-to-face interviews and participatory workshops. The research programme was therefore a product of the existing evidence base, consultation with stakeholders at varying levels of governance and management and a gap analysis undertaken by the research team, which was led by Paul Courtney and included Peter Gaskell, Jane Mills and Julie Urquhart.


The function of the barrier pillar is to protect the mining panel in activity from the abutment load of adjacent mining panels that were mined. In the case of underground mines in Santa Catarina State, the barrier pillar has functioned to protect the main entries of the mine against pillar failure from old mining panels. The objective of this paper is to verify the application of the empirical method to design barrier pillars as proposed by Peng (1986), using numerical simulation following the mining geometry of the coal mines in Santa Catarina State. Two-dimensional numerical models were built taking into account the geometry of the main entries and mining panels for different overburden thickness, and considering the geomechanical properties for the rock mass that forms the roof-pillar-floor system for the Bonito coal vein. The results of the simulations showed that the empirical method to determine the barrier pillar width is valid for the studied coal vein and considered mine geometry. Neither did the pillar at the main entry become overstressed due to adjacent mine panels, nor did the roof present any failure due to stress redistribution.


This thesis presents a stereo coding architecture for the ITU-T G.719 fullband mono codec. G.719 is suitable for teleconferencing applications with a competitive audio quality for speech and audio signals that are encoded at 32, 48 and 64 kbps. The proposed stereo architecture comprises parametric stereo coding where the spatial properties of the stereo channels are modeled with the use of parameters, which are encoded and transmitted to the decoder together with an encoded downmix of the stereo channels. The stereo architecture has been implemented in MATLAB with an external mono coding using a floating point ANSI-C implementation of the ITU-T G.719 codec. Two parametric stereo models have been implemented in a framework operating in the complex-valued Modified Discrete Fourier Transform (MDFT) domain. The first model is based on the inter-channel cues that represent level differences, time differences and coherences between the stereo channels. The cues approximate the corresponding interaural cues that characterize our localization of sound in space. The second model is based on the Karhunen-Loeve Transform (KLT) with the associated rotation angles, the inter-channel time differences and the residual scaling parameters. An improved MDFT domain extraction of the inter-channel time difference between the stereo channels has been used for both stereo models. The extracted stereo parameters have been non-uniformly quantized based on the spatial accuracy and the frequency dependency of the human auditory system. The data rate of the stereo parameters has been estimated for each model to around 4 kbps. As a result G.719 has been used as a core codec at 44 and 60 kbps in order to subjectively evaluate the performance of the fullband stereo codec at 48 and 64 kbps. In the comparison with G.719 dual mono coding, i.e. independent mono coding of the stereo channels, the evaluation showed a higher performance of the proposed stereo models for complex clean and reverberant speech signals. However, no consistent gain of the parametric stereo coding was revealed for noisy speech, mixed content and music signals. In addition, the first stereo model showed consistently a slightly higher performance than the second model in the subjective evaluation but with no significant difference. The results revealed a high potential for parametric stereo coding using the ITU-T G.719 codec. In comparison to the existing stereo codecs 3GPP AMR-WB+ and 3GPP eAAC+ the average performance was better at the equal bitrate of 48 kbps.


I. What Is Confucianism? (1) The title of this essay is based on the hypothesis that Boston Confucianism is an emerging sub-set of the general modern revival of the Confucian Way now known as New Confucianism, broadly conceived. Before entering into any discussion of the philosophical and intellectual content of Boston Confucianism, a definition of the nature and scope of Confucianism in general and New Confucianism in particular is necessary. As the Confucian revival that began in the early twentieth century continues to gain strength and develops into new strains and currents of the New Confucian movement, the question of definition of terms is neither an innocent nor an idle question. As any intellectual historian knows, those who define and "own" the terms of discourse set the ground rules for who is considered inside or outside the circumscribed group. The very definition of Confucianism per se is a contested issue. My strategy will be to begin with a discussion of the struggle to define Confucianism in terms of modern comparative scholarship and then prescind to more circumscribed definitions of such terms as "New Confucianism" and "Boston Confucianism." These terminological discussions of the origins and meanings of the definition of Confucianism are a fascinating place for discovering how contemporary scholars view the study of religion and philosophy. Or, as Master Kong taught so long ago, it is important to rectify terms wherever and whenever possible for the common good. II. Cross-Cultural Comparison and Hermeneutics The very task of defining what we mean by such terms as "Confucianism," "Neo-Confucianism," and now "New Confucianism," much less the wonderful cross-cultural hybrid of "Boston Confucianism," is a difficult and complicated undertaking. There is almost endless debate on whether or not it is possible to define such a protean set of transnational traditions encompassed by the English term "Confucianism." It is even suggested, from time to time, that no one in traditional East Asia ever thought of himself or herself as Confucian. While I appreciate the point about the gap between what modern Western scholars (2) stipulate as Confucian, I think, for instance, that scholars such as Mengzi, Xunzi, Zhu Xi (1130-1200), and his student Chen Chun (1159-1223) had an excellent idea about who they were as Confucians or Ru as they would have defined themselves over against other Chinese thinkers such as Yang Zhu, Mozi, and, later, Buddhists or Daoists. In any event, I find the answer to this question given by Kong Zigao (312-262 B.C.E.) of the Kong clan highly useful: "Prince Pingyuan said: 'From where is the term "Confucian" derived?' [Kong] Zigao answered: 'It is derived from the idea of the combination of the various exquisite virtues, and conjoining of the six arts, such that whether in action or repose he never loses the core of the Way.'" (3) At least one early Kong master had an excellent idea of the nature and definition of the patrimony of his clan. This prolegomenon concerning getting clear about definitions is a necessary task if we are to overcome the tendency, so elegantly described by Zhang Longxi in Mighty Opposites, (4) of forcing the Orient and Occident into false dichotomies or needless misunderstandings. Zhang argues that what is needed is not more theory that shows how China is the opposite of things European but, rather, where the real differences lie between the two cultures. He would like the community of comparative scholars to move from a dichotomous stance to one that recognizes difference instead of simplistic contradictories. Zhang is one of a growing group of comparative theorists who argue that there is a possibility for understanding between and among cultures even where there is a great deal of "otherness" to be found. Although Zhang does not posit an essentialist reading of world culture, he is convinced that it is possible for people to exchange meaningful ideas across cultural divides, but he knows it is no easy task. …


Over the past 40 years ambient air quality in Brussels improved significantly. This was especially true for sulfur dioxide, lead, nitrogen monoxide, carbon monoxide, benzene and Benzo a pyrene. With respect to the air quality objectives imposed by the most recent European directive on air quality, 2008/50/EC, two major problems remain: nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulates (PM10 and PM2.5). Although the air quality objectives are met at several measuring sites in Brussels, a thorough analysis of data shows that it will be impossible to become fully compliant, in due time, in all of the different urban environments. A comparison of the average concentration levels in the Brussels Capital Region with those in the surrounding regions, the interpretation of the average daily and weekly concentration profiles and some special observations (e.g. car free Sundays) make clear that drastic emission reductions will be needed if compliance is to be assured solely by measures on the local scale.


CONTEXT
Acute viral hepatitis (AVH) is a major public health problem and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality.

AIM
The aim of the present study is to determine the prevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis D virus (HDV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV) as causes of AVH in a tertiary care hospital of North India.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN
Blood samples and clinical information was collected from cases of AVH referred to the Grade I viral diagnostic laboratory over a 1-year period.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Samples were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen, anti-HCV total antibodies, anti-HAV immunoglobulin M (IgM) and anti-HEV IgM by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. PCR for nucleic acid detection of HBV and HCV was also carried out. Those positive for HBV infection were tested for anti-HDV antibodies.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED
Fisher's exact test was used and a P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

RESULTS
Of the 267 viral hepatitis cases, 62 (23.22%) patients presented as acute hepatic failure. HAV (26.96%) was identified as the most common cause of acute hepatitis followed by HEV (17.97%), HBV (16.10%) and HCV (11.98%). Co-infections with more than one virus were present in 34 cases; HAV-HEV co-infection being the most common. HEV was the most important cause of acute hepatic failure followed by co-infection with HAV and HEV. An indication towards epidemiological shift of HAV infection from children to adults with a rise in HAV prevalence was seen.

CONCLUSIONS
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report indicating epidemiological shift of HAV in Uttar Pradesh.


The observation of 236 MeV muon neutrinos from kaon-decay-at-rest (KDAR) originating in the core of the Sun would provide a unique signature of dark matter annihilation. Since excellent angle and energy reconstruction are necessary to detect this monoenergetic, directional neutrino flux, DUNE with its vast volume and reconstruction capabilities, is a promising candidate for a KDAR neutrino search. In this work, we evaluate the proposed KDAR neutrino search strategies by realistically modeling both neutrino-nucleus interactions and the response of DUNE. We find that, although reconstruction of the neutrino energy and direction is difficult with current techniques in the relevant energy range, the superb energy resolution, angular resolution, and particle identification offered by DUNE can still permit great signal/background discrimination. Moreover, there are non-standard scenarios in which searches at DUNE for KDAR in the Sun can probe dark matter interactions.


There are a hundred reasons to love the JCI and I have loved it truly, madly, and deeply for the last nine years. Alas, I'll have to learn to love the Journal from afar, as tomorrow marks my last official day as Executive Editor. To quote Chaucer, "There is an end to everything, to good things as well."


In this paper we present the nonlinear optical characterization of Au/Pd nanoparticles in
order to obtain the nonlinear refractive indices using the Z-scan technique. The experiments
were performed using a 514 nm laser beam Ar +, with 14Hz of modulation frequency, as
excitation source. By using a lens the excitation beam was focused to a small spot and the
sample was moved across the focal region along the z axis by a motorized translation
stage. Seven samples with different concentration ratio of Au/Pd nanoparticles were
prepared by simultaneous reduction of gold and palladium ions in presence of poly (Nvinyl-
2-pirrolidone) (PVP) using ethanol as a reducing agent. In this work, we report the
application of the Z-scan technique, to generate optical transmission of laser light as a
function of the z position for solutions containing bimetallic nanoparticles of Au (core) / Pd
(shell) with average sizes ranging from 3 to 5 nm. The magnitude of the obtained
nonlinear refractive index was in the order of 10-7 to 10-8 cm 2/W. Our results show that the
nonlinear refractive index has a nonlinear behavior when the (Au/Pd) ratio was increased.


The Greek Coastal System (GCS) has attracted the interest of researchers in the past and still offers many opportunities for research. Brief literature review and background information on the GCS is provided. As the GCS market matures, new technological and network demands evolve. On the basis of a small-scale private R&D project, some basic attributes of hub-and-spoke operations, involving existing vessels and innovatively designed high-speed passenger vessels, are discussed. The paper focuses on network and marketing issues, and aims to trigger further discussion on this issue of special interest.


The use of the term "Electronic Publishing" transcends any notions of the paperless office and of a purely electronic transfer and dissemination of information over networks. It now encompasses all computer-assisted methods for the production of documents and includes the imaging of a document on paper as one of the options to be provided by an integrated processing scheme. Electronic publishing draws heavily on techniques from computer science and information technology but technical, legal, financial and organisational problems have to be overcome before it can replace traditional publication mechanisms. These problems are illustrated with reference to the publication arrangements for the journal `Electronic Publishing Origination, Dissemination and Design'. The authors of this paper are the co-editors of this journal, which appears in traditional form and relies on a wide variety of support from electronic technologies in the pre-publication phase.


In 2008 Dave Bidini accompanies Team Canada to the Homeless World Cup in Melbourne, Australia. As he watches team members play and shares their disappointments, frustrations, joys, and triumphs, he comes to care deeply about the players-45-year-old Billy, who is a former addict; the quick-footed 24-year-old Moroccan immigrant Juventus, who refuses to talk about his past; and most of all, the endearing teenaged Krystal, who carries a photograph of her long-dead mother and dreams of a better life. Bidini gets to know the other teams at the World Cup and describes the games themselves, culminating in the final between Canada and Malawi and a chance for the talented Krystal to join a soccer team in Holland. Bidini also begins to understand what this tournament means to people. He sees firsthand the power of sport to transform the lives of those on the edge-how the decision to play this game can mean the difference between survival or heading down a road of addiction, poverty, or crime. "Home and Away" offers a powerful look at the poor and dispossessed, from the barrios of Mexico City and the shanties of West Africa to the streets of North America and Europe, and illuminates the renewed meaning that these homeless players find in the beautiful game.


This thesis examined the efficacy of various sampling and detection methods used for environmental monitoring of Listeria species on wooden surfaces used for cheese aging. Government agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommend enrichment methods coupled with use of environmental sponges and swabs. Our study compared efficacy of sponge swabs manufactured by 3MTM and World Bioproducts. There is a lack of research validating the best performing swab type and enrichment method combination that is sensitive when used on rough, porous surfaces. The sensitivity of these environmental sampling tools and methods are critical considerations to effectively monitor the presence of Listeria species on wooden boards used during aging of artisan cheese. Seasoned spruce wooden shelves, cut into 100cm2 replicates, were spot inoculated with varying concentrations of Listeria species inocula, the Listeria species strains consisted of two L. monocytogenes strains and a Green Florescence Protein (GFP) expressing strain of L. innocua. The inoculated wooden surface was swabbed with three environmental sampling sponge/swab formats (World Bioproducts© EZ ReachTM environmental swabs (WBEZ) with HiCap (WBHC) and Dey-Engley (WBDE) neutralizing broths; and 3MTM environmental swabs (3MTM) with Dey-Engley neutralizing broth). Enumeration methods were used to determine the low target limits of detection. Once the low target concentrations were identified, five enrichment methods consisting of 3MTM Listeria Environmental Plate, FDA, Dual Enrichment, modified USDA, and modified FDA were challenged against low concentrations of Listeria species inocula (0.01 cfu/cm2, 0.1 cfu/cm2, 1 cfu/cm2) and the three environmental sponge swab formats. Performance of the swab formats was assessed by collection of naturally contaminated environmental samples (n=405) from dairy farm environments, swabbing where wooden surfaces existed, and analyzed using the most effective enrichment methods found from previous experiments. Lastly, the wooden surfaces and sponge swabs were observed under a Florescent Microscope using GFP L. innocua to visually determine how each sponge material of the 3MTM and World Bioproducts recovered the inocula. When wood surfaces were inoculated at high concentration levels of Listeria spp., all swab formats performed equally for detecting Listeria. Success of positive recovery at low concentrations was variable, where enrichment methods and swabs were not dependent on each other. The swab format that worked best for detecting low levels of Listeria species was the WBDE sponge swab. The WBDE swab also performed the best in dairy farm environmental sampling. The m-USDA enrichment method was found to be most effective in recovery and repair of low and potentially injured Listeria spp. Wooden surfaces are rough and porous and should be taken into consideration when creating an environmental sampling plan for these food contact surfaces. All swabs and methods performed with only slight variation, but the variation could be significant when monitoring wooden shelves with low level contamination of Listeria species. Artisan cheesemakers who use wooden shelves during the aging of their cheese, should ensure use of the most sensitive detection method


Constructions of home, family and community as ways of belonging have been ongoing discourses in New Zealand. This thesis examines constructions of home and family in works of fiction by four contemporary New Zealand authors: Alice Tawhai, Charlotte Grimshaw, Witi Ihimaera and Damien Wilkins. It asks how the main sociological characteristics of the period are presented and performed through fiction. Through these characters and their situations these authors expose the social fantasy of contemporary New Zealand society: that of individual reflexive opportunity. The twentieth century has seen a changing social fabric with loosening of bonds and the increase of individualism. The New Zealand way of life is changing, with increasing interconnectedness of the world through globalisation. Neo-liberal ideology, itself a response to globalising effects, has exacerbated social fragmentation and income disparity. Neoliberalism, a retreat of the state from both financial control and support of individuals, presumes a logic of market-forces and rational choice based on the maximisation of opportunity. This has implications for the individual's sense of self and ways of belonging as the New Zealand subject is increasingly premised on personal responsibility. This thesis looks at the economic and sociological analyses of neoliberalism and asks if they are confirmed in the fiction.


In periodic scheduling jobs arrive regularly and have to be executed on one or several machines or processors. An enormous amount of literature has been published on this topic, e.g. the founding work of Liu & Layland [LL73] is among the top cited computer science papers, according to Citeseer database. The majority of these papers is mainly concerned about practical applications and several important theoretical questions remained unsolved. Let S be a set of periodic tasks, where each task τ ∈ S releases a job of running time c(τ) and relative deadline d(τ) at each integer multiple of its period p(τ). In the single-processor scheduling one considers rules like Earliest-Deadline-First (EDF) or Rate-monotonic (RM) scheduling, that determine the order, in which the jobs have to be processed. The principal question here is to predict, whether such a schedule is feasible, i.e. whether all jobs are finished before their individual deadlines. It was well-known that to validate the feasibility of an EDF-schedule, one has to evaluate the condition But the complexity status of this test remained unknown, despite of many heuristic approaches in the literature. We prove that testing this condition is coNP-hard even in special cases, answering an open question of Baruah & Pruhs [BP09]. For a static-priority schedule of implicit-deadline tasks, i.e. d(τ) = p(τ), it is known that the jobs of a task τ will meet their deadlines if and only if there exists a fix-point r ∈ [0,p(τ)] of the equation where the sum ranges over all tasks with priority higher than τ . We settle the complexity status of this problem by proving its NP-hardness, even if one asks for modest approximations. Both results are achieved by bridging the more practically oriented area of Real-time scheduling and the field of algorithmic number theory. In fact, the intractability follows by a chain of reductions to simultaneous Diophantine approximation (SDA), which is a classical problem in the geometry of numbers and deals with finding a small denominator Q ∈ {1,…,N}, that yields a good approximation to a given vector of rational numbers α ∈ Qn, i.e. maxi=1,…,n |Qαi - ⎡Qαi⎦| ≤ e. We strengthen existing hardness results for SDA such that they admit intractability results also for a directed version, where the goal is to find a Q ∈ {1,…,N} with maxi=1,…,n(⎡Qαi⎤ - Qαi) ≤ e. We show that this problem remains NP-hard if one asks for an approximation that may exceed the bound N by a factor of nO(1/loglogn) and the error bound e by 2nO(1). As an application we are able to answer an open question of Conforti et al. [CSW08] negatively by obtaining NP-hardness for the problem of optimizing a linear function over a mixing set {(s,y ∈ R≥0 × Zn | s + aiyi ≥ bi ∀i = 1,…, n}. Furthermore we obtain that, regardless to the used ‖ · ‖p-norm, the problem of finding a shortest positive vector in a lattice is not approximable within a factor of nO(1/loglogn), unless NP = P. For scheduling constrained-deadline tasks (i.e. d(τ) ≤ p(τ)) with a static-priority policy one possibly needs machines, which are a factor f > 1 faster than it is needed for the EDF policy. Baruah & Burns [BB08] sandwiched this factor between 1.5 and 2. We pinpoint this value to f = 1/Ω ≈ 1.76 by characterizing the properties of task systems, which attain this value. Here, Ω ≈ 0.56 is a well known constant from complex calculus, defined as real root of x · ex = 1. We further consider a multiprocessor setting, where a given set of tasks has to be assigned to machines, such that each partition is RM-schedulable and the number of occupied processors is minimized. For the popular case that the tasks are equipped with implicit-deadlines, i.e. d(τ) = p(τ), we develop new algorithms as well as intractability results: We state an asymptotic PTAS under resource augmentation. This is achieved by two concepts: First we derive that using a merging and clustering procedure, the instance can be modified, such that the utilization of tasks is lowerbounded by a constant, without excluding near-optimal solutions. Secondly, we introduce a relaxed notion of feasibility, which yields a drastic reduction of complexity and admits to compute solutions via dynamic programming. We introduce a simple First-Fit-like heuristic and obtain that this algorithm behaves nearly optimal on average, by proving that the expected waste is upperbounded by O(n3/4(log n)3/8), if the instance of n tasks is generated randomly. Here, we assume that the utilization values c(τ)/p(τ) of the tasks are drawn uniformly at random from [0, 1]. We state a new approximation algorithm with a running time of O(n3), which can be sketched as follows: Create a graph with the tasks being the nodes and insert edges, if both incident tasks can be scheduled together on a processor. Then define suitable vertex costs and compute a min-cost matching, where the costs are the sum of edge costs plus the vertex costs of not covered nodes. From such a matching solution we can then extract a feasible multiprocessor schedule. The approximation ratio of this algorithm can be proven to tend to 3/2, improving over the previously best known ratio of 7/4 [BLOS95]. We consider a column-based linear programming relaxation for this multiprocessor scheduling problem and derive that the asymptotic integrality gap is located between 4/3 ≈ 1.33 and 1 + ln(2) ≈ 1.69. We disprove the existence of an asymptotic FPTAS, which yields that the problem is strictly harder to approximate than its special case of Bin Packing.


This paper aims at discussing the advantages of a methodology design grounded on a concept-based approach to Terminology applied to the most prominent scenario of current Higher Education: blended learning. Terminology is a discipline that aims at representing, describing and defining specialized knowledge through language, putting order into our universe (Nuopponen, 2011). Concepts, as elements of the structure of knowledge (Sager, 1990) emerge as a complex research object. Can they be found in language? A concept-based approach to Terminology implies a clear-cut view of the role of language in terminological work: though language is postulated as being a fundamental tool to grasp, describe and organize knowledge, an isomorphic relationship between language and knowledge cannot be taken for granted. In other words, the foundational premise of a concept-based approach is that there is no one-to-one correspondence between atomic elements of knowledge and atomic elements of linguistic expression. This is why a methodological approach to Terminology merely based upon specialized text research is regarded as biased (Costa, 2013). As a consequence, we argue that interactional strategies between terminologist and domain expert deserve particular research attention. To our mind, the key to concept-based terminological work is to carry out a concept analysis of data gathered from a specialised text corpora combined with an elicitation process of the tacit knowledge and concept-oriented discursive negotiation. Following such view, we put forward a methodology to answer the question: how is blended learning defined in the Post-Bologna scenario? Even though there are numerous high-quality models and practical descriptions for its implementation (similarly to other concepts related to distance learning), the need to understand, demarcate and harmonize the concept of blended learning against the current Higher Education background results from the premise that the theoretical reflection on this concept is still insufficient. Therefore, we believe it is vital to understand blended learning as the new normal in Higher Education (Norberg et al., 2011), or a negotiable third way (Peres, 2011; Norberg & Jahnke, 2014). Our methodological model is built in three phases: (1) exploratory phase in the area/ object of the study; (2) conceptual analysis phase of discourse and textual documents; (3) modeling and result validation phase. We support the thesis that the experimental nature of this approach discloses productivity in a cyclical sequence between the discursive and textual analysis with conceptual objectives, collaborative interaction and introspection. In other words, even though the nature of this study does not allow for a generalization (apart from a dual relation in the mediation between the terminologist and the specialist), we advocate the relevance of an action-reflection procedure, both introspective and collaborative, one in which the terminologist will become a conceptualizer, a decision-maker and an interventionist.


The gut and brain form the gut-brain axis through bidirectional nervous, endocrine, and immune communications. Changes in one of the organs will affect the other organs. Disorders in the composition and quantity of gut microorganisms can affect both the enteric nervous system and the central nervous system (CNS), thereby indicating the existence of a microbiota-gut-brain axis. Due to the intricate interactions between the gut and the brain, gut symbiotic microorganisms are closely associated with various CNS diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis. In this paper, we will review the latest advances of studies on the correlation between gut microorganisms and CNS functions & diseases.


The use of a chemometric method, partial least squares (PLS) regression and the infrared technique, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) was developed for the quantification of minerals in synthetic mixtures and sandstone rocks. Particular emphasis was directed towards quantifying swelling clays since the proportion of swelling minerals present in a reservoir rock influence the composition of fluids injected into the rock to enhance oil recovery. In the first study, the capability of PLS with DRIFTS was demonstrated when low quantities of swelling mineral, smectite, were determined in synthetic mixtures with the non-swelling mineral, kaolinite, and an additional mineral, calcite. A substantial improvement in the detection limit of smectite was found using this method since lower quantities could be determined (with a maximum error of 3.8 wt%) than had been determined by previous workers using a peak fitting technique. An initial investigation of seven different types of sandstone rocks was carried out by visual inspection of XRD traces of powder and rock samples. In this work mineralogical heterogeneity was found along the length of the different sandstone cores investigated. Ideally a representative sample would be one collected from a of ball milled sample of a large portion of a core. The main programme of research was the development of a PLS model consisting of eleven mineral components, to resemble the composition of a real sandstone. This PLS model was used for the quantification of components in synthetic mineral mixtures using their DRIFTS spectra. The maximum error for predicting all the components was +/-2.8 wt%. This was in the same order as errors reported by other workers for quantification of minerals using XRD.The same PLS model was used to quantify components in seven different types of sandstone and the results have been compared with studies by independent investigators using different techniques. The PLS model predicted components in the sandstones which contained relatively high concentrations of feldspars and clays, accurately, with all components predicted within +/-2.8 wt%. PLS model was optimized in order to obtain more accurate quantification of components in the sandstones, in particular for the "cleaner" sandstones, i.e. those which contained low concentrations of feldspars and clays. Some improvement in accuracy was found. The PLS model developed in this thesis, however, was most accurate for prediction of components in sandstones which contained higher concentrations of feldspars and clays.


The Indo-Pacific sea anemone, Boloceroides mcmurrichi, swims by coordinated lashing of tentacles and can cast off tentacles by autotomy. A predator of Boloceroides, the aeolid Berghia major, causes the anemone to detach its pedal disc and swim away after brief contact with the tentacles, a response apparently due to a chemical substance in the aeolid. Berghia generally attacks the anemone by making a lunge into the midst of the tentacles. Any tentacles seized by the aeolid autotomize, so that the anemone is not held by the aeolid when it begins to swim. Thus these two adaptations, swimming and autotomy, while not preventing predation, keep it to levels easily countered by regeneration. In electrophysiological studies on Boloceroides, the pulses assocated with the conduction systems in other anemones (NN, SS1 and SS2) were not detected. The following identifiable pulses were consistently recorded: (i) tentacle burst pulses (TBP) from isolated and intact tentacles correlated with tentacle flexions; (ii) flexion trigger pulses (FTP) recorded from oral disc and intact tentacles correlated with coordinated tentacle flexions; (iii) swimming trigger pulses (STP) recorded from the pedal disc, preceding bouts of swimming in response to the aeolid, B. major, and to mechanical and electrical stimuli; (iv) swimming arrest pulses (SAP) recorded from the pedal disc and appearing towards the end of bouts of swimming and followed almost at once by their cessation; (v) through-conduction pulses (TCP) recorded from the oral disc as a result of electrical stimuli on the column. The contrast between these pulses and those in other sea anemones probably reflects differences in the structure and mode of life of the anemone in question. A high degree of local autonomy of conduction systems is indicated. The pulses so far detected in Boloceroides reflect the behavioural capacities and the special adaptations of this atypical anemone, but pulses associated with overall coordination remain to be discovered.


As a number of recent studies suggest applications of networked computers in education have very inconsistent results ranging from success stories to complete failures. Literally, thousands of e-learning projects have been carried out that greatly differ in their outcomes. Until now, however, there is no systematic or a standardized way of planning, comparing and evaluating e-learning projects, their outcomes, and their effectiveness. Therefore, the main objective of this research was an investigation of possible approaches to systematic planning, development and evaluation of e-learning initiatives and their corresponding e-learning projects. The result of this work is a multidimensional model of e-learning Indicators that are defined as the important concepts and factors that are used to communicate information about the level of e-learning and used to make management decisions when planning e-learning strategy. The lack of knowledge of the learner audience as well as of the factors influencing that audience and e-learning projects overall results in failing to provide satisfactory support in the decision making process. In order to address this issue, an approach dealing with e-learning indicators is proposed. Having a standardised guide of e-learning indicators accepted by the scientific community enables comparison and evaluation of different initiatives regarding e-learning in a standardised manner. The proposed E-learning Indicators Methodology enables successful planning, comparison and evaluation of different e-learning projects. It represents an empirical methodology that gives concrete results expressed through numbers that could be analysed and later used to compare and conclude its e-learning efficiency. A practical value of this approach was analyzed in the realized comparative analyses of two different institutions using different LMS tools: Angel and Moodle focusing on comparison and evaluation of e-learning indicators of these two e-learning projects. With the application of this methodology in e-learning projects it is more likely to achieve better results and higher efficiency as well as higher Return on Investment-ROI.


The phenyl sulfide bridged Zirconocene complex [(C5H5)Cl2ZrC5H4CH2(C6H4-p)]2S has been synthesized by treating the dilithium salts of the phenyl sulfide bridged cyclopentadienyl ligand with two equivalents of C5H5ZrCl3(DME) and characterized by 1HMNR and elemental analysis. Homogenous ethylene polymerization by this complex has been conducted systematically in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO). The influence of the molar ratio [MAO]/[Cat], the catalyst concentration, time and temperature have been studied in detail. The highest catalytic activity of 1 is up to 13.78×105 g PE/mol•Cat•h. Higher temperature is favorable for increasing the catalytic activity for 1. High temperature gel permeation chromatography (HT-GPC) proves the production of polyethylene with a broad molecular weight distribution (MWD), which is reached 6.02.


Empowered by the advancement of high-throughput bio technologies, recent research on body-fluid proteomes has led to the discoveries of numerous novel disease biomarkers and therapeutic drugs. In the meantime, a tremendous progress in disclosing the body-fluid proteomes was made, resulting in a collection of over 15 000 different proteins detected in major human body fluids. However, common challenges remain with current proteomics technologies about how to effectively handle the large variety of protein modifications in those fluids. To this end, computational effort utilizing statistical and machine-learning approaches has shown early successes in identifying biomarker proteins in specific human diseases. In this article, we first summarized the experimental progresses using a combination of conventional and high-throughput technologies, along with the major discoveries, and focused on current research status of 16 types of body-fluid proteins. Next, the emerging computational work on protein prediction based on support vector machine, ranking algorithm, and protein–protein interaction network were also surveyed, followed by algorithm and application discussion. At last, we discuss additional critical concerns about these topics and close the review by providing future perspectives especially toward the realization of clinical disease biomarker discovery.


Online social networks have been typically created for convenience--so they haven't been built from the ground up with security in mind. They often have confusing privacy settings and are susceptible to various kinds of attacks that exploit users' trust and privacy. In this article, the authors discuss security pitfalls in today's social networks, briefly introducing common attack methods. They implemented a proof-of-concept Facebook app, which is actually a harmless malware that uses common attack methods to demonstrate the vulnerability of online social networks. Although today's online social networks commonly offer users a variety of security settings, users tend to trust the information obtained from online social networks regardless of the settings. This kind of user mentality can be more crucial than technical aspects in determining the level of security in online social networks.


A short cist discovered during ploughing at Knappach Toll on Balbridie Farm, Aberdeenshire (NGR: NO 7369 9595) held the remains of an adult accompanied by a Beaker, fragments of a copper awl and 11 struck flints. Little survived of the skeleton except for cranial fragments, but these indicate that the person had been placed with the head to the west, with the artefacts also at that end. While the sex of the person is indeterminate, with the single surviving sexual dimorphic trait suggesting a male, the position of the body and the presence of the awl are more usually indicative of a female. Radiocarbon dating shows that the person died between 3775±35 years BP (SUERC-30852) and 2330–2040 cal BC (95.4% probability). Stable isotope analysis indicates that he or she grew up on basalt geology, like that of the region, or on chalk. Residue analysis of the Beaker has established that it had held ruminant animal fat such as butter or milk, probably for some time, and some of the flint pieces had been lightly used. The composition and constituents of the burial suggest links between north-east Scotland and East Yorkshire. They also evoke the cultural practices that were spreading across eastern Britain in the later 3rd millennium BC through the mechanisms of cultural transmission and migration.


This study aimed to describe the values of Minangkabau culture in the novel Cinta di Kota Serambi of Irzen Hawer work, which includes the value system of kinship between people and the value of human relationships. This research is a qualitative research with descriptive method that is content analysis. Sources of this study is novel Cinta di Kota Serambi of Hawer Irzen work. Data was collected through the steps: (1) read and understand the novel, (2) marking the Minangkabau cultural values are reflected in the novel, (3) inventory data, and (4) to classify the data. Based on the results of this study revealed that (1) the value of kinship systems are discussed in the novel is found in only three of the eight types of kinship, ibu jo anak relationship, bapak jo anak and mamak jo kamanakan. Kinship already well established between ibu jo anak and bapak jo anak, but the relationship mamak jo kamanakan looks bad relationships, quarrels and disputes, (2) the value of relationships among humans in the novel is discussed among peers, students with teachers, between cousins, and landlady with men.


Test automation can decrease release cycle time for software systems compared to manual test execution. Manual test execution is also considered inefficient and error-prone. However, few companies have gotten far within the field of test automation. This thesis investigates how testing and test automation is conducted in a test consulting setting. It has been recognized that low test process maturity is common in customer projects and this has led to equally low system testability and stability. The study started with a literature survey which summarized the current state within the field of automated testing. This was followed by a consulting case study. In the case study it was investigated how the identified test process maturity problems affect the test consulting services. The consulting automated testing strategy (CATS) been developed to meet the current identified challenges in the domain. Customer guidelines which aim to increase the test process maturity in the customer organization have also been developed as a support to the strategy. Furthermore, the study has included both industrial and academic validation which has been conducted through interviews with consultant practitioners and researchers.


Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is Microsoft's programming model for building workflow-enabled applications in the Windows operating system. It includes a namespace, a workflow engine, and design tools that can be used with Visual Studio .NET. Workflow is an extremely important type of application that has been difficult to build on the Microsoft platform. Workflow Foundation is a major element of the .NET Framework 3.0 platform that enables application developers to build these types of applications. i¾ In Building Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation: State Machine and Rules-Driven Workflows , author, MVP, speaker, and leading consultant Michael Stiefel introduces readers to the two of the basic Windows Workflow foundation patterns. The other parts of this series include Basics of Windows Workflow Foundation Advanced Workflow Features Extended Workflow Example i¾


We report on the source Gaia 17bpi and identify it as a new, ongoing FU Ori–type outburst, associated with a young stellar object. The optical light curve from Gaia exhibited a 3.5 mag rise with the source appearing to plateau in mid-/late 2018. Mid-infrared observations from NEOWISE also show a >3 mag rise that occurred in two stages, with the second one coincident with the optical brightening, and the first one preceding the optical brightening by ∼1.5 yr. We model the outburst as having started between October and December of 2014. This wavelength-dependent aspect of young star accretion-driven outbursts has never been documented before. Both the mid-infrared and the optical colors of the object become bluer as the outburst proceeds. Optical spectroscopic characteristics in the outburst phase include: a GK-type absorption spectrum, strong wind/outflow in, e.g., Mgb, NaD, Hα, K i, O i, and Ca ii profiles, and detection of Li i 6707 Å. The infrared spectrum in the outburst phase is similar to that of an M-type spectrum, notably exhibiting prominent H2O and 12CO (2–0) bandhead absorption in the K band, and likely He i wind in the Y band. The new FU Ori source Gaia 17bpi is associated with a little-studied dark cloud in the galactic plane, located at a distance of 1.27 kpc.


Pragmatically, the natural and diversified uniqueness of human beings calls for diversified human resource endowment among humanity. These human resources need to be guided, directed, tapped and utilized. It may be obvious as it may be ridiculous that most people do not understand themselves and their innate potentialities and viability. Every human being has a cart load of inertia resource wealth. These inertia resource wealth possessed by individuals especially among the developing human beings need to be propped up by giving right guidance, right direction and right mentoring.


We report a novel approach for non-contact simultaneous determination of the hot carrier diffusion coefficient (D) and interface thermal resistance (R) of sub-10 nm virgin mechanically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets on c-Si. The effect of hot carrier diffusion in heat conduction by photon excitation, diffusion, and recombination is identified by varying the heating spot size from 0.294 μm to 1.14 μm (radius) and probing the local temperature rise using Raman spectroscopy. R is determined as 4.46-7.66 × 10-8 K m2 W-1, indicating excellent contact between MoS2 and c-Si. D is determined to be 1.18, 1.07, 1.20 and 1.62 cm2 s-1 for 3.6 nm, 5.4 nm, 8.4 nm, and 9.0 nm thick MoS2 samples, showing little dependence on the thickness. The hot carrier diffusion length (LD) can be determined without knowledge of the hot carrier's life-time. The four samples LD is determined as 0.344 (3.6 nm), 0.327 (5.4 nm), 0.346 (8.4 nm), and 0.402 μm (9.0 nm). Unlike previous methods that are implemented by making electrical contact and applying an electric field for D measurement, our technique has the advantage of being truly non-contact and non-invasive, and is able to characterize the electron diffusion behavior of virgin 2D materials. Also it points out that hot carrier diffusion needs to be taken into serious consideration in Raman-based thermal property characterization of 2D materials, especially under very tightly focused laser heating whose spot size is comparable to the hot carrier diffusion length.


Early Modern English shows some incidence of misagreement between a singular verb and a plural subject. A corpus of 15th century London chronicles was searched in order to investigate the origins of this phenomenon, and whether it should be handled in structural terms. It was found that misagreement almost always arose with a postfinite subject, and co-occurred in texts allowing null impersonal subjects. It is analysed as agreement with a singular expletive subject, overt or null, existing as an option alongside the option of regular number agreement. A preverbal subject contained no expletive element, hence number agreement was regular. The structural position of the postverbal subject was found to be irrelevant: three postfinite subject configurations were identified, in all of which agreement was optional. It is further noted that an increase in the phenomenon occurred during the 15th century for which a dialect contact explanation is proposed.


Host-symbiont associations and the outcome of symbioses may vary over host ontogeny. I examined how changes in crayfish size can influence their associations with ectosymbiotic branchiobdellidan worms and the consequences of these associations for both the host and the symbiont. In the New River, the dominant worm species shifts from Cambarincola philadelphicus to Cambarincola ingens as crayfish (Cambarus bartonii) increase in size. I evaluated whether this shift had effects on different size classes of crayfish, how the worms responded to different sized crayfish and what mechanisms promoted the shift. In a lab experiment, small and large crayfish were stocked with either C. philadelphicus or C. ingens. I monitored crayfish growth, worm numbers and worm reproduction. Neither worm species had an effect on small crayfish but both increased the growth of large crayfish. Cambarincola philadelphicus exhibited greater fitness on small crayfish while C. ingens fitness was greater on large crayfish. A subsequent lab experiment demonstrated that intraguild predation by C. ingens was responsible for the decline in C. philadelphicus on large crayfish. My results demonstrate that the outcome of the crayfish-branchiobdellidan association changes over crayfish ontogeny. Further, host regulation and intraguild predation by C. ingens determine ectosymbiont succession in this mutualism.


The national system of education shall solve one of the most difficult and most important social and human issues – the education and training of the young generation, of the labour hand. The system of education appears as a subsystem of the national educational system and of the society. That is why it appears the urgency of the artificial unrestriction of the university educational subsystem by the economy system. Economy's vision of the university's education subsystem must respond in these conditions to the following questions: What services and under what form should give the university at a time? Who should provide these services? What methods and strategies will be addressed and who will be the beneficiaries of these services?


Background: Genetic factors associated with cancer have been widely investigated and several polymorphisms have been connected with breast cancer. Breast cancer (BC) can be considered one of the most popular reasons of death among women. BC, likewise, is the second cause of death in Iran. The present research aims at determining the frequency of the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) gene polymorphism in patients with breast cancer. Methods: The FGFR family is one of the tyrosine kinase receptors containing 4 members, whose pathway is activated in many tumors. We assessed, for the first time, these polymorphisms and their consequences on the breast cancer risk association in an Iranian sporadic population-based case-control study including 126 patients with breast cancer and 160 controls using a PCR-RFLP-based assay. Results: The analyses of the experimental and control groups indicated that homozygote genotype FGFR4 Gly/Gly has the highest frequency in experimental and control groups (30.4% and 18.9%). The main genotype FGFR4 Gly/Gly risk factors in our population were: ArgGly /GlyGly, OR = 2.359, 95% CI = 0.208 - 4.621, P = 0.001; ArgArg /ArgGly, OR = 0.412, 95% CI = 0.082 - 0.547, P = 0.078, ArgArg /GlyGly, OR = 0.076, 95% CI = 0.030 - 0.189, P = 0.26. Conclusions: A significant association was observed between breast cancer risk and FGFR4 GlyGly and ArgGly polymorphism.


Medicalization is the process by which aspects of the human condition, formerly considered nonmedical, are brought within the medical realm. Medical sociologists have asserted that medicalization is a prevalent contemporary sociocultural phenomenon that is actively promoted by pharmaceutical company marketing strategies and that has widespread negative societal effects. Medicalization has not been investigated from a business, marketing management, or macromarketing perspective. One of the principal implications of the medicalization thesis is that pharmaceutical marketing frequently acts to reduce human welfare. The central purposes of this article are to explain what evidence and argumentation has been deployed in medical sociology to implicate marketing practices in medicalization and to argue for the relevance of medicalization to the field of macromarketing. Medicalization is an intellectually robust concept of potential use when conducting macromarketing investigations into ethical and quality-of-life (QOL) aspects of the health care industries and quality of death and dying issues.


The study of human behaviour from an interactional perspective places emphasis on contextual aspects, deals with the interactions of individuals with one another in their environment and is less focussed on an intra psychic view of man. Criminal activity can also be seen as a way in which man interacts with his environment. Criminality can therefore not be isolated from the context in which it occurs.
In the South African context there presently seems to be an increase in criminal activity, a problem with law enforcement and a possible inability of correctional facilities to effectively engage in the rehabilitation of people who commit criminal acts, especially acts of extreme violence, for example murder, rape, and serial murder. Current knowledge of the complexity of criminal behaviour appears to be lacking. The interactional approach seems to be one which may bring an understanding of the phenomenon of criminal behaviour, the meaning of criminal interaction and the complexity of the contexts in which such criminal acts occur.


In the article a problem of Explores the role of art in the formation of man. Traced the genesis of the human species: Homo sapiens, Virtual, Gentle. Noted that today in shaping the role of human crucial role have modern information and communication technologies. The Arts play a large role in the expression of inner thoughts and beauty in my life. From dance and music to abstract art our concept of life is shown through the various ways in which we interpret it. We use the Arts as a means of touching that part of us that we cannot reach with Physical Science, Social Science, or any of the Humanities. The arts allow us to be as specific or as abstract as we please. It helps us become closer to ourselves and to others around us. Though there has been a lot of confusion as to what the true definition of "good art" is, how we show others what is going on in our minds and inner souls cannot be judged, graded, criticized or revised by anyone other than ourselves. The arts play a valued role in creating cultures and developing and documenting civilizations. The arts teach us how to communicate through creative expression. Show us how to understand human experiences, past and present. Prepare us to adapt to and respect the ways others think, work, and express themselves. Music, singing, dancing, poetry, and sketching are just a few of the different forms of art that I use to express myself in a way that I enjoy. Because each art discipline appeals to different senses and expresses itself through different media, each adds a special richness to the learning environment. Arts help people Learn to identify, appreciate, and participate in the traditional and non-traditional art forms of their own communities and the communities of others. Art teaches us how to be imaginative, creative, and reflective. Different art forms help us develop the verbal and nonverbal abilities necessary for lifelong learning. The intellectual demands of the arts help us develop problem-solving abilities and such powerful thinking skills as analyzing and evaluating. Numerous studies point toward a consistent and positive comparison between concrete education in the arts and student achievement in other subjects. A program in arts education would engage students in a process that helps them develop the self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation necessary for success in life. Most important, the arts should be experienced and studied for their own true value


Japan's security policy has changed dramatically in recent years. The country balances harder against China, and its armed forces are increasingly autonomous from their American counterparts. What explains Japan's growing autonomy and balancing tendency after decades of relative apathy? I argue that this new strategic orientation results from unprecedented doubts about the effectiveness of its traditional security policy amidst an unstable China–U.S.–Japan triangular relationship. Tokyo is increasingly uncertain about American security commitments in the face of a more assertive China. As both the alliance with the United States and the accommodation of China are becoming unsuitable strategies for guaranteeing national security, Japan reverts to a more autonomous and resolute posture. Japan's new security policy will have important consequences for the triangular relationship.


Objective An exploratory study to investigate general practitioners' (GPs') views and experiences of consulting with young people (aged 12–19 years) presenting with emotional distress in general practice. Design A qualitative study using grounded theory and situational analysis. Empirical data were generated through in-depth interviews based on a topic guide developed from the literature, and augmented with a series of situational maps. Continuous field notes and theoretical memos were recorded during data collection and analysis. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method of grounded theory. There were three levels of analysis. The first level developed the open codes and is presented here. Setting 18 general practices located in the north east of England. The practices recruited included rural, urban and mixed populations of patients who were predominantly living in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Participants 19 GPs (10 women) aged between 29 and 59 years participated. The modal age range was 40–49 years. Theoretical sampling was used to guide recruitment and continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Results The overarching finding was that anxiety about practice dominated clinical consultations involving young people presenting with emotional distress. GPs responded differently to anxiety and to related uncertainties about professional practice, independent of GP age or gender. Anxiety occurred in the consultation, at an external level, across disciplinary boundaries, in relation to communication with young people and secondary to the complexity of presentations. Conclusions Adolescent emotional distress presents professional challenges to GPs who feel ill-equipped and inadequately prepared to address early need. Medical education needs to prepare doctors better. More research is needed to look at what factors facilitate or prohibit greater GP engagement with emotionally distressed young people.


In this thesis, I explore the ways in which women negotiate their own forms of power in the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a branch of Swaminarayan Hinduism. The study draws from research in primary sources, scholarly sources, and from fieldwork in Atlanta, GA where the Swaminarayan community has grown tremendously in recent decades, and the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (BAPS) has become the southeast region's leading temple. In Swaminarayan temples, men and women practice strict gender segregation and conduct their own separate and parallel programs in temple life. The saints and the Guru of the BAPS tradition are male only, however, and practice a strict form of celibacy that does not allow them to touch, speak to, or look at women. Therefore, women do not have the same access to religious specialists as do men. Regardless, women are often characterized as more religious than men, inherently faithful, and better devotees. While I find it difficult to substantiate the argument of equality, so too do I find difficulty in the argument of women's marginality. I argue in my thesis that separate gender roles in Swaminarayan religion, even when not equal, do not necessarily marginalize or subjugate women. The question of equality between religious roles of women and men is more complicated than one gender acting as super ordinate and another acting as subordinate. My research looks at the ways women can and do assert power in the Swaminarayan tradition through their own initiatives and from their own spaces.


Daily contact with cats is an important risk factor for human campylobacteriosis. The main goal of this study was to investigate the virulence genes and antibiotic resistances of C. jejuni isolated from the stools of cats brought to Erciyes University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Training and Research Hospital Clinics. In the study, feces taken from different breeds and ages (1 month to 9 years) of 200 (116 female, 84 male) cats were examined between May 2017 and April 2018. Campylobacter spp. isolates were identified at genus and species level using genus specific multiplex PCR (mPCR), and the existence of iam, cadF, cdtA, flaA, ceuE, cdtC, cdtB and virB11 genes were found by PCR. The antimicrobial resistance and multidrug resitance (MDR) of the isolates were determined by disc diffusion test. By means of Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus Polymerase Chain Reaction (ERIC-PCR), the genetic relativeness of the isolates were revealed. In this study, 41 (20.5%) of 200 stool samples were shown to be positive for Campylobacter spp. in the isolation of Campylobacter spp. from stool samples. In the positive samples, 14 of 22 (63.6%) were from diarhoeic cats and 27 of 178 (15.1%) were non-diarhoeic cats. Also, in total 71 Campylobacter spp. suspicious isolates were recovered from the 41 positive samples obtained. Phenotypic tests and PCR revealed that 65 isolates (20 from diarrhoeic and 45 from non-diarhoeic cat isolates) were identified as C. jejuni. The differences in isolation rate in relation to sex or age were not statistically significant (P>0.05). In terms of virulence genes, all C. jejuni isolates harbored at least five virulence genes. All isolates were positive for the cadF, cdtC and ceuE genes, respectively. C. jejuni isolates contained iam, cadF, cdtA, flaA, ceuE, cdtC, cdtB and virB11, at the rate of 19 (29.2%), 65 (100%), 64 (98.4), 54 (83%), 65 (100%), 65 (100%), 64 (98.4%) and 22 (33.8%) respectively. Moreover, cdtA and cdtB toxin genes were found in most of the isolates analysed. All C. jejuni isolates were susceptible to amoxicillin clavulanic acid. The highest resistances of the isolates were found as follows; 64 (98.4%), 63 (96.9%), 62 (95.3%) for ciprofloxacin (CIP), trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole (SXT), nalidixic acid (NA) antibiotics, respectively. Multiple resistance of isolates was detected in the present study. Sixty-one (93.8%) out of 65 isolates were resistant to three or more antibiotics, and the highest resistance levels to three and seven antimicrobials were observed in 23.1% and 15.3% of the isolates respectively. In the study, C. jejuni isolates were resistant to most antibiotics currently used, and had extraordinary virulence traits in cats which may constitute a non-negligible risk for public health.


Screening of a human embryonic lung fibroblast cDNA expression library with antiphosphotyrosine antibodies led to isolation of a novel protein kinase. A clone, designated A6, contained a 3-kb cDNA insert with a predicted open reading frame of 350 amino acids. DNA sequence analysis failed to reveal any detectable similarity with previously known genes, and the predicted A6 protein lacked any of the motifs commonly conserved in the catalytic domains of protein kinases. However, the bacterially expressed beta-galactosidase-A6 fusion protein demonstrated both tyrosine and serine phosphorylation in an in vitro kinase assay and phosphorylated exogenous substrates including myelin basic protein specifically on tyrosine residues. The enzyme also displayed biochemical properties analogous to those of other protein tyrosine kinases. The A6 gene was found to be expressed widely at the transcript level in normal tissues and was evolutionarily conserved. Thus, A6 represents a novel tyrosine kinase which is highly divergent from previously described members of this important class of regulatory molecules.


The overall goal of this dissertation is to advance the understanding of learning and teaching Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) in a carefully designed computer assisted learning environment for the junior high school level. This thesis, presented as a collection of papers, documents and analyzes three dimensions of students' activity, their evolving conceptions, their interactions, and their adoption of points of view. The theoretical framework informing the analysis of students' learning assumes that competence in a new and complex domain, such as statistics, involves more than particular set of skills, strategies, or knowledge. Following Resnick (1988), the framework includes viewing competence of a domain as adopting the habits, language and dispositions of interpretation and sense making (enculturation). Firstly, I analyze at a very fine level of detail the ways in which a pair of students began to make sense of data and data representations, as well as the process of adopting and exercising the habits and points of view that are common among EDA experts. The focus is on the ways they started to develop global views of data and their representations on the basis of their previous knowledge and different kinds of local observations. I examine how knowledge was gradually constructed through complex cognitive and sociocognitive processes, which included their interactions with each other, the teacher, the materials and the computerized tool. I analyze the ways in which the same 'pieces' of students' prior knowledge which seemed to hinder progress, ultimately became the support for the construction of new meanings. Of special interest were the teacher's interventions, which though short and not necessarily directive had catalytic effects, can be characterized in general as interesting instances of appropriation. Secondly, through the analysis of students' 'research projects', I suggest an initial framework of student reasoning in the domain of EDA with an emphasis on handling data representations. I then use written assessments to characterize student sense making of statistics after the end of their experience with the curriculum. Finally, I analyze the interrelationships between curriculum design and research in order to characterize the nature of the instructional activities, including the role and impact of computerized tools, which have the potential to promote meaningful learning of EDA. The research methodology is mainly qualitative in nature with some quantitative aspects. The subjects for this study were seventh grade students (13-year-old) of mixed ability from the experimental classrooms that used the curriculum. The analysis is based on: 1) focused and detailed data on one pair of students, which were videotaped at almost all stages of their learning statistics; 2) classroom data that was gathered in three experimental classes; and 3) summative assessment data that consist of students' 'research projects', written assessments, students' evaluations, and teacher's


We report on seismic and petrological data that provide new constraints on the geological evolution of the Amerasia Basin. A seismic reflection transect across the Makarov Basin, located between the Mendeleev and Lomonosov Ridges, shows a complete undisturbed sedimentary section of Mesozoic/Cenozoic age. In contrast to the Mendeleev Ridge, the margin of the Lomonosov Ridge is wide and shows horst and graben structures. We suggest that the Mendeleev Ridge is most likely volcanic in origin and support this finding with a 40Ar/39Ar isotopic age for a tholeiitic basalt sampled from the central Alpha/Mendeleev Ridge. Seismic reflection data for the Makarov Basin show no evidence of compressional features, consistent with the Lomonosov Ridge moving as a microplate in the Cenozoic. We propose that the Amerasia Basin moved as a single tectonic plate during the opening of the Eurasia Basin.


In this paper, a distributed algorithm for adaptive task allocation and adaptable partitioning of a swarm into different work-groups is proposed and used in a swarm of underwater robots. The algorithm is based on local interactions of agents and is inspired by honeybee age-polyethism. It is adaptive to changes in the swarm size (workforce) and relative demands (workload) for different tasks and it limits the number of switchings of agents between different tasks enabling specialization of agents. The preliminary version of the algorithm was introduced previously. Here a fully decentralized version of the algorithm is proposed that improves the previous version by removing the need for global information. The algorithm is successfully implemented in swarms of physically-embodied underwater robots while the swarm size and the demands for the tasks change over the course of the experiments.


Abstract. Emissions from major point sources are badly represented by classical Eulerian models. An overestimation of the horizontal plume dilution, a bad representation of the vertical diffusion as well as an incorrect estimate of the chemical reaction rates are the main limitations of such models in the vicinity of major point sources. The plume-in-grid method is a multiscale modeling technique that couples a local-scale Gaussian puff model with an Eulerian model in order to better represent these emissions. We present the plume-in-grid model developed in the air quality modeling system Polyphemus, with full gaseous chemistry. The model is evaluated on the metropolitan Ile-de-France region, during six months (summer 2001). The subgrid-scale treatment is used for 89 major point sources, a selection based on the emission rates of NOx and SO2. Results with and without the subgrid treatment of point emissions are compared, and their performance by comparison to the observations on measurement stations is assessed. A sensitivity study is also carried out, on several local-scale parameters as well as on the vertical diffusion within the urban area. Primary pollutants are shown to be the most impacted by the plume-in-grid treatment. SO2 is the most impacted pollutant, since the point sources account for an important part of the total SO2 emissions, whereas NOx emissions are mostly due to traffic. The spatial impact of the subgrid treatment is localized in the vicinity of the sources, especially for reactive species (NOx and O3). Ozone is mostly sensitive to the time step between two puff emissions which influences the in-plume chemical reactions, whereas the almost-passive species SO2 is more sensitive to the injection time, which determines the duration of the subgrid-scale treatment. Future developments include an extension to handle aerosol chemistry, and an application to the modeling of line sources in order to use the subgrid treatment with road emissions. The latter is expected to lead to more striking results, due to the importance of traffic emissions for the pollutants of interest.


This document describes the Home Networking Control Protocol (HNCP),
an extensible configuration protocol, and a set of requirements for
home network devices. HNCP is described as a profile of and extension
to the Distributed Node Consensus Protocol (DNCP). HNCP enables
discovery of network borders, automated configuration of addresses,
name resolution, service discovery, and the use of any routing
protocol that supports routing based on both the source and
destination address.


The review-and-analytical article deals with the interrelation between demographic transition and national security. The focus is on the countries of the former Soviet Union. It proves that along with two traditional approaches of population policy, i.e. prevention and overcoming of negative consequences of demographic transition, measures of adjustment to demographic change are acquiring increasing importance.


In the last 10 years sport psychology expanded its applicability in a variety of fields which have helped to address some of the challenges related to high level performance and sport competition. When we talk about performance in its wider sense, sport psychology is able to help develop a better understanding on how strategies can be adopted in improving general human performance levels. This includes increasing the knowledge of key concepts such as motivation, self-confidence and resilience. Furthermore performance in its wider sense helps in the understanding of the impact of stress and arousal and how these can affect both positively and negatively performance levels including appreciating individual differences as well as dynamics between groups of individuals. In this paper performance rather than solely be related to the field of competitive or professional sport has been discussed in people with ASCs and aims to explore how by adopting a positive psychological model in the formulation of individual assessments and subsequent interventions have led to improvement in individual skills, participation, engagement and ultimately quality of life. Positive psychological principles, such as the role of wellbeing and wellness, the PERMA Model has increased our understanding of human potentials, performance and wellbeing. The aim of this paper is to present and reflect on the applicability and benefits of adopting sport psychology models, the PERMA model and positive psychological principles in special education and care settings with the presentation and discussion of their theoretical and some practical implementation in two case studies.


The role played by women owned Small-scale enterprises in Kenya cannot be overemphasized. Women enterprises have long dominated the informal sector of the Kenyan economy. This study was unique in this sector since it was concerned with an area that has not been thoroughly investigated, that is, street women food vendors. The main purpose of the study was to investigate and analyse the constraints to the growth of street women food vendors in Nakuru Town. The study reviewed Sessional papers, development plans, and various studies that were carried out on small and micro enterprises. The study used a scientific approach in data collection and analysis. A descriptive survey research design was employed in this study. The target population was street women food vendors in Nakuru Town. Simple random sampling technique was applied in the study. This was to ensure that the respondents had equal chance of being selected in the study. The population size was two hundred and twenty three street women food vendors in Nakuru Town. Questionnaires were the main instrument of data collection. For data analysis, percentages, frequency distribution tables and likert scale were used.


Photoexposed area involvement in acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis is uncommon and has rarely been described in literature. We report a case of photodistributed Sweets syndrome in a middle aged lady who responded to symptomatic treatment with NSAID and systemic antibiotic. Sweets syndrome is an uncommon inflammatory disorder characterized by the abrupt appearance of painful, oedematous and erythematous papules and plaques or nodules on the skin. Fever and leukocytosis frequently accompany cutaneous lesions. Our patient presented with fever and abrupt onset of painful erythematous plaques over exposed parts of the body.