Many risks and challenges are associated with large scale underground projects. Stability issues are typically related to high stresses around the opening. Excavations will change the existent stress regime in the ground, inducing tangential stresses around the periphery of the opening. Failure of the rock mass will occur if the induced stresses exceed the strength of the rock. In weak and deformable rocks, the process of failure may present as plastic deformation, better known as squeezing. Squeezing can be described as the time-dependent inward movement of the rock material towards the opening when subjected to tangential stress (Panthi, 2006). The squeezing phenomenon was reviewed in relation to the deformations experienced in the powerhouse cavern at the Neelum Jhelum HPP (NJHPP) in Pakistan. The cavern is constructed in fractured sandstone, with thin to thick layers of locally sheared siltstone and mudstone. The mean overburden is 430 m. Since constructions began in 2011, the deformations have been monitored progressively with convergence lines and extensometers. The highest deformation is seen for the middle sections, with up to 282 mm convergence of the walls. The objective of this study involves an evaluation of available methods for prediction and assessment of squeezing in large scale caverns. The deformation characteristics for the Neelum Jhelum HPP cavern are essential input for the analysis. Proper knowledge on the ground conditions and influencing factors are essential for a well-founded evaluation of the methods. The deformation data reveal a complex interplay of internal and external factors influencing the behavior of the rock. Weak and fractured rocks combined with the high overburden are the main cause for the high degree of squeezing. However, the variation in measured deformation is believed to be caused by the changing external factors. The two major influencing events accelerating the deformation was the excavation of the bulleted gate niches in the downstream wall (4 niches), and the excavation down to the bottom floor level. The intersecting and potentially water bearing shear zone may be the reason for the highest deformations observed for the middle sections. In this study, five methods are selected for the assessment of squeezing for five sections in the cavern. The empirical method by Goel (1994) and the Q-system are used for prediction of the occurrence of squeezing, along with the semi-analytical method by Hoek and Marinos (2000) without support pressure. Analysis of squeezing and required support pressure is investigated using Hoek and Marinos with support and with the CCM by Carranza-Torres and Fairhurst (2000). Extensive plastic analysis using the 2D finite element program Phase^{2} is included. Calibration of the stress conditions and rock mass deformability are an essential part of the numerical analysis. The deformation characteristics of a tunnel are less influenced by external factors, relative to the complexity involving a powerhouse cavern. The methods applied typically only consider stress conditions and rock mass quality and strength, and most have been developed for circular tunnels. The analysis of the deformations in the NJHPP cavern indicate that for a powerhouse cavern the complex excavation layout, large dimensions and excavation progress are major influencing factors. The effects of these are not properly considered by any of the selected methods. Consequently, special considerations are necessary for the analysis of squeezing in large caverns.


Abstract Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small membrane-bound vesicles of growing interest in vetetinary parasitology. The aim of the present report was to provide the first isolation, quantification and protein characterization of EVs from buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) sera infected with Theileria spp. Methods: Infected animals were identified through optical microscopy and PCR. EVs were isolated from buffalo sera by size-exclusion chromatography and characterized using western blotting analysis, nanoparticle tracking analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Subsequently, the proteins from isolated vesicles were characterized by mass spectrometry. Results: EVs from buffalo sera have shown sizes in the 124-140 nm range and 306 proteins were characterized. The protein-protein interaction analysis has evidenced biological processes and molecular function associated with signal transduction, binding, regulation of metabolic processes, transport, catalytic activity and response to acute stress. Five proteins have been shown to be differentially expressed between the control group and that infected with Theileria spp., all acting in the oxidative stress pathway. Conclusions: EVs from buffaloes infected with Theileria spp. were successfully isolated and characterized. This is an advance in the knowledge of host-parasite relationship that contributes to the understanding of host immune response and theileriosis evasion mechanisms. These findings may pave the way for searching new EVs candidate-markers for a better production of safe biological products derived from buffaloes.


Net energy systems are widely accepted and utilized throughout Europe. The main net energy systems used are the French INRA, the Dutch CVB and the Danish PPE. These energy systems are not widely accepted in the U.S. due to potential over estimation of the energy content of fat and fiber components of feedstuffs and differences in feeding practices, pig environment, and genetics. Therefore, our objective was to determine the operational net energy for maintenance requirement and the net energy content of soybean meal and glycerol in conditions that as closely as possible mimicked U.S. production systems. The average operational net energy for maintenance for three separate locations and two stages of growth was determined to be 156 kcal/kg BW 0.60 . The net energy content of commercial and low-oligosaccharide soybean meal was determined to be 1,634 and 1,990 kcal/kg, respectively, for growing pigs and 2,150 and 2,554 kcal/kg, respectively, for finishing pigs. The net energy for glycerol was determined to be 2,740 kcal/kg for growing pigs and 3,461 kcal/kg for finishing pigs.


A committee was formed consisting of both animal scientists and agricultural engineers to evaluate and update current ASAE standards. An intake minus retention model was developed to estimate nutrient excretion. This approach allows users (producers, engineers, etc.) to develop site specific information based on known variables such as protein or phosphorus content of diets and cattle performance. This approach illustrates the importance of nutrition on nutrient excretion in livestock operations. Our focus is for feedlot cattle and updates excretion of dry matter (DM or total solids), organic matter (OM or volatile solids), N, P, Ca, K, Na, Mg, S, Cu, Fe, Se, Zn, Mn, Co, and I. Based on survey data of 19 nutritionists that control formulation for approximately 50% of the cattle fed in the U.S., the average diet contains 13.3% crude protein (2.13% N) and 0.31% P. Based on performance of approximately 14 million cattle fed from 1996 to 2002, the "average" steer is fed 153 days. This steer weighs 338 kg at arrival, finishes at 554 kg, gains 1.42 kg per day and consumes 8.84 kg of DM each day. With the "average" diet concentrations and consumption amounts for feedlot steers fed in the U.S, we can accurately estimate nutrient intake. Retention of nutrients in the animal during growth is the other critical component to using an intake minus retention based model for excretion. Retention of nutrients was calculated from gains using the 1996 National Research Council Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle to calculate N, P, and Ca retention. Retention of other minerals was based on 10% of intake being retained when fed at requirements. Average excretion values for DM, OM, N, P, Ca, K, Na, Mg, S, Cu, Fe, Se, Zn, Mn, Co, and I expressed for the entire 153 day period or per finished steer are 270 kg, 220 kg, 24.8 kg, 3.2 kg, 7.8 kg, 9.2 kg, 1.8 kg, 2.7 kg, 2.4 kg, 19.4 g, 68.9 g, 0.27 g, 96.1 g, 49.1 g, 0.31 g, and 0.93 g, respectively. In some cases, the new values are much lower than current standards. For example, P excretion is 6.3 kg for the average steer weighing 446 kg (average live weight) fed 153 days based on the previous standard. The revised P excretion based on intake minus retention is 3.2 kg or 50.8% of the previous standard. The proposed excretion values should allow for more accurate planning and allow users to tailor excretion to site-specific situations by incorporating cattle performance, days on feed, weights, and nutrient content of diets. While the previous standard does not account for variation, considerable agreement was found between the current intake minus retention model for excretion and the previous standard. Excretion of DM, OM, P, and Ca were identical between the average excretion estimate using the current model and the previous standard for calves gaining 0.9 kg per day, weighing 295 kg.


We consider four methods for estimating response propensities: three traditional ones (linear, logistic, probit) and one more recent, a decision tree method. We show that some but not all the methods produce estimates that calibrate sample totals of auxiliary variables down to the response set totals. The downward calibration property reveals interesting relationships between estimated propensities, auxiliary variables, and true response probabilities. However, the property itself does not guarantee more accurate propensity estimation. Our simulation study shows that the accuracy of the estimation method depends primarily on the relationship nature between true response probabilities and auxiliary variables.


We report herein the synthesis and chromo-fluorogenic behaviour of a new probe 1 containing a boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) unit electronically connected with a dithia-dioxa-aza macrocycle. Acetonitrile and water–acetonitrile 95 : 5 v/v solutions of the probe showed an ICT band in the visible zone and are nearly non-emissive. When acetonitrile was used as a solvent, addition of Hg(II) and trivalent metal cations induced an hypsochromic shift of the absorption band and moderate emission enhancements. A highly selective response was obtained when using competitive media such as water–acetonitrile 95 : 5 v/v. In this case only Hg(II) induced a hypsochromic shift of the absorption band and a marked emission enhancement.


Fractal Analysis (FA) has been extensively used in medical field nowadays. Since its development in 1983, FA is capable of representing an estimation of morphological complexity including the brain structure. However, the application of FA in characterizing textual memorization brain structure is still lacking as compared to its application in detecting pathologies in the brain as well as measuring the impact of aging to the brain. Thus this study interested in characterizing the textual memorization brain structure using the FA, and analysed the information in grey scale features. During the first phase of the study, 60 participants were recruited, with 30 normal participants act as a control group and 30 subjects of Huffaz (person who memorize the Quran). Local ethical approval has been sought with ID No. IREC 654 dated 5th September 2016. In second phase, the participants (Huffaz and Non-Huffaz) were scanned under Magnetic Resonace Imaging in order to acquire their brain structural information. Those two phases mentioned earlier have been completed. In third phase, which is still ongoing, the images acquired will then undergo pre-processing steps before being subjected to analysis using FA. Upon completion of FA, the possible brain areas that have significant changes by textual memorization will be identified and modelled. It is expected that upon completion of this study, the established grayscale features that discriminate between Huffaz and Non-Huffaz can be formulated, enabling us to model Huffaz textual memorization brain structure by using FA. It is also hoped that this study will be able to specify the brain areas that specifically changed from the textual memorization.


Traditionally, industrial relations have been studied with relation to three fundamental theories: pluralism, unitarism and marxism. However, over the past decade there has been an increasing contribution to industrial relations emanating from the boundaries of other disciplines: principally economics, organizational behaviour and business strategy. Among economists, and to a lesser extent, business strategists, there has been a growing concern about the relationship between macro-economic performance across several countries and labour market institutions. This has manifested itself in discussion of how specific wage bargaining structures influence unemployment and inflation. In these discussions industrial relations specialists appear to lag behind their economist colleagues, tending to favour analysis of the intrinsic relations between employers and employees. An important advantage, however, of these studies in employee relations has been in their ability to explain the conduct of an industrial relations system. This has not led to any consensus and few of the studies conducted in the past decade have investigated the strategic behaviour of both employers and employees. None have attempted to examine the macroeconomic implications of behaviourial changes and wage bargaining. This thesis builds on work already in train in a number of disciplines: principally industrial relations, business strategy, organizational behaviour and labour economics. Cognisant of the work in these areas, the study develops a theory which explains how perceived and actual increases in international competition influence the choice which employers and employees make and which eventually shape their institutions. By departing from the traditional theoretical constructs used in industrial relations, our "new" theory provides a basis for cross-country comparisons of macro-economic effects of labour relations behaviour. From our theory we devise testable propositions and draw a wide variety of time series data over a period of some twenty years, from seventeen O.E.C.D. economies to test these. These data, which lend themselves to econometric analysis, are augmented by qualitative evidence from case studies. Findings support our theory. The thesis makes three distinct contributions. Firstly, it suggests a "new" theoretical approach to the study of industrial relations which combines work from several disciplines. In this regard, it contributes a theory which explains labour market changes by recourse to macro-economic performance. Secondly, it makes a contribution, albeit modest, to policy, suggesting that some current Western policies for labour relations are inadequate since they do not clearly show employers and employees the actual implications of macro-economic performance. Thirdly, the thesis highlights some of the shortcomings of econometric studies which focus on a relatively narrow set of variables at the exclusion of qualitative data which is difficult to quantify.


A system for monitoring the current situation of Data Archive Services (DAS) maturity in European countries was developed during the CESSDA Strengthening and Widening in (SaW 2016 and 2017) and further adapted in CESSDA Widening Activities 2018 (WA 2018) projects for continuous monitoring. An assessment of the existing national data sharing culture, the development of the social science sector and its production of high-quality research data, the funders' research data policy requirements, and the capacity and skills of national grassroots initiatives, provide a framework for understanding the current situation in different countries. Methods used in the projects, included desk research of  existing documents and a survey, combined with extensive interviews focused on the area of expertise of the informants (individuals from data services, research and decision makers' representatives from each country). The focus of the paper is the situation in 20 non-member CESSDA European countries with emerging and immature DAS initiatives. Results show that countries are slowly but persistently removing the key obstacles in establishing a DAS initiative in their respective countries. The remaining obstacles reside mainly outside the control of the data professional community – namely research funders slowly adopt data sharing policies and incentives for data sharing, including the provision of a sustainable DAS infrastructure, capable of supporting researchers with publishing and accessing research data. The results show that the lack of expertise and skills of DAS initiatives, their understanding of tools and services or organizational settings are not such an issue, as more mature DAS are organising training and mentorship activities. Detailed guidance in the DAS advocacy and planning was prepared in the framework of the above-mentioned pan-European and some past regional projects. The tools and framework of those activities will be referred to in the discussions as a resource that can be used in other countries and continents.


Scholarly Research for Musicians presents a range of research methods and techniques, incorporating both the common elements of traditional music research methodologies with innovative research strategies endemic to the fields of social science, education, and performance science. The author's collaborative and interdisciplinary approach reinforces the belief that research is most palpable and successful when accessed through a relevant and meaningful way of organizing thoughts and knowledge.

Drawing from over twenty years of classroom experience, the author organizes the text into five units: Common Bases, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Performance Science, and Review. Research is presented as an accessible process, one facilitated by brainstorming and question-asking, the systematic collection of information, and the analysis and synthesis of information—all with the aim to develop a succinct conceptual framework. In explicating this process, the author introduces traditional Western thought alongside contemporary and Eastern philosophy. Experts in the field of performance science explore novel approaches to studying the audience, incorporating various measuring devices and methods. In the final chapter, the author offers strategies for disseminating and publishing research reports.

Scholarly Research for Musicians demystifies the research process for musicians and music students alike, demonstrating the common principles of cohesive research plans. PowerPoint presentations are available to instructors, covering chapter discussion points in summary format. This text explores interdisciplinary methods that merge with and focus on the study of music while emphasizing concepts and materials relevant to all types of research.


Remote detection and characterization of laser beams propagating in maritime atmospheres is discussed. A model for off-axis scattered laser light based on Mie scattering from maritime aerosols is presented and compared with angle and time-resolved measurements from a pulsed laser source. We demonstrate that the direction of the source can be determined from the angle-resolved intensity and that the beam direction can be determined from arrival times of the scattered signals if the position of the laser source is known.


'Few, it seems to me, have driven their words with such passion' - "Guardian". How our earliest experiences can shape our destiny is the theme that runs like a thread of revelation through these extraordinary stories. They explore the roots of love, of murder and of racial conflict, from the child in "The Rockpile" who can never be forgiven by his God-fearing father for his illegitimacy to the loneliness of a young black girl in love with a white man who, she knows, will leave her in "Come Out of the Wilderness" and the horrifying story of the initiation of a racist as a man remembers his parents taking him to see the mutilation and murder of a black man in "Going to Meet the Man". In them Baldwin unlocks the concepts of history and prejudice and probes beneath the skin to the soul.


A 2D, square lattice, vectorial photonic crystal is formed by vectorial holography using an azo-dye-doped liquid-crystal material. Four coherent beams are interfered to generate a highly stable, switchable polarization holography structure. The formation of the vectorial lattice by the liquid-crystal molecular orientation is confirmed by diffraction pattern and polarization microscopy analysis. Simulations of the alignment and diffraction pattern are in good agreement with the experimental results. Polarization sensitive diffraction behavior is also consistent with the Kakichashvili model.


Macroeconomic uncertainty consists of three components: the unobservable, the heterogeneous and the "uncertain". We are unaware of exactly when economic agents perceive uncertainty and which type of uncertainty interests them. This paper introduces and outlines a way of conducting large-scale data searches on the Web. We create the EURQ index of "economic uncertainty related queries" for both the USA and Italy. We show that the EURQ encapsulates agents' need to gather more information during periods of uncertainty. This need either spontaneously arises in the case of macro-real and political uncertainty, or is induced by the media in the case of normative and financial uncertainty. This distinction is extremely important when trying to understand the immediate impact of fiscal policy uncertainty on economic variables, and how financial shocks can produce a significant short-term impact on economic activity. It is also helpful when trying to solve the identification and endogeneity issues encountered in the literature when assessing the role of uncertainty.


This study was undertaken to perform a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the tarsal bones of chinchillas using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) images and reveal biometric ratio of the bones and compare between sexes. For this purpose, a total of 12 adult chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera) of both sexes (six males and six females) were used. After anesthetizing the animals, MDCT images were obtained in DICOM format, and 3D reconstruction was performed on a computer using the Mimics 13.1 program. The volumes and surface areas of each of the bones that constitute the tarsus of the chinchilla were automatically measured by the program based on the 3D model. After all values of each tarsal bone were expressed as ratios with in tarsus, they were analyzed statistically to reveal differences between sexes. The results showed that there were statistical differences (P<0.05) in calcaneus, talus, central tarsal bone and tarsal bone IV in term of volume ratio and in central tarsal bone, tarsal bone I and tarsal bone IV in term of surface area ratio between sexes. It is considered that 3D tarsus models are useful in revealing anatomic structures and also in assisting clinical diagnosis and treatment.


Refining Permissible Abortion Regulations: Mandatory In-Person, Informed-Consent Meetings Held Constitutional, but Restriction on Number of Petitions by Minors for Judicial By-Pass of Parental-Consent Requirement Overturned - Cincinnati Women's Services, Inc. v. Taft1 - The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently held that a provision of Ohio's abortion statute limiting minors to only one petition for judicial bypass of the parental-consent requirement for an abortion was an unconstitutional undue burden, but upheld a provision requiring an in-person meeting with a physician at least twenty-four hours prior to receiving the abortion.2 Prior to 1998, Ohio law required that minor women receive the informed consent of a parent or guardian before receiving an abortion.3 The law, however, allowed minors to petition a juvenile court for a judicial bypass of the parental-consent requirement so that the court could decide whether the minor was "sufficiently mature and well enough informed to intelligently decide whether to have an abortion" or whether notification of her parents was not in her best interest.4 The law did not impose any limitations on the number of times a minor could petition a court for such a bypass.5 Additionally, Ohio law mandated that women seeking an abortion receive information about the procedure from a physician at least twenty-four hours prior to the abortion.6 The informed-consent provision required that "a physician [inform] the pregnant woman, verbally or by other nonwritten means of communication," about the procedure.7 The Ohio Attorney General interpreted this language to mean that videotaped or audiotaped physician statements would be adequate means of imparting the necessary information to those seeking abortions.8 In 1998, the Ohio General Assembly passed Ohio House Bill 421, which amended the judicial bypass and informed-consent provisions of Ohio's abortion regulations.9 First, the new law limited a minor woman to only one judicial bypass petition during the term of each pregnancy (the "Single-Petition Rule").10 The Single-Petition Rule entitled minor women to only "one bite at the apple" when petitioning for a judicial bypass to the parental-consent requirement.11 second, the amendment required that the informed-consent meeting take place in person (the "In-Person Rule").12 This provision served to undo the previous law's permission to allow the use of recorded materials for informed-consent purposes and required those seeking abortions to make an additional trip to a physician prior to the procedure. Cincinnati Women's Services, a healthcare provider that offers family planning services, and its medical director (hereinafter collectively "CWS"), brought a pre-enforcement facial attack against the Single-Petition and InPerson Rules, naming the Governor of Ohio and other government officials as defendants.13 CWS claimed that the provisions were "unconstitutionally vague and invalid under Supreme Court precedent."14 The Federal District Court for the District of Ohio upheld both provisions, noting that neither the Single-Petition nor the In-Person Rules created an undue burden on women seeking abortions.15 CWS appealed.16 The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals began its analysis by determining that the proper standard to apply to facial challenges of abortion restrictions is the "large-fraction test" set out in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. casey.17 The large-fraction test requires a reviewing court "to determine whether a large fraction of the women 'for whom the law is a restriction' will be 'deterred from procuring an abortion as surely as if the [government] has outlawed abortion in all cases.'"18 In other words, the court must construct a fraction, the denominator of which is the number of women affected by the law, and the numerator of which is the number of those affected women who, because of the restriction, are precluded from receiving an abortion. …


Abstract The British Association for the Advancement of Science sought to promote the understanding of science in various ways, principally by having annual meetings in different towns and cities throughout Britain and Ireland (and, from 1884, in Canada, South Africa and Australia). This paper considers how far the location of its meetings in different urban settings influenced the nature and reception of the association's activities in promoting science, from its foundation in 1831 to the later 1930s. Several themes concerning the production and reception of science – promoting, practising, writing and receiving – are examined in different urban contexts. We consider the ways in which towns were promoted as venues for and centres of science. We consider the role of local field sites, leading local practitioners and provincial institutions for science in attracting the association to different urban locations. The paper pays attention to excursions and to the evolution and content of the BAAS meeting handbook as a 'geographical' guide to the significance of the regional setting and to appropriate scientific venues. The paper considers the reception of BAAS meetings and explores how far the association's intentions for the promotion of science varied by location and by section within the BAAS. In examining these themes – the geographical setting of the association's meetings, the reception of association science in local civic and intellectual context and the importance of place to an understanding of what the BAAS did and how it was received – the paper extends existing knowledge of the association and contributes to recent work within the history of science which has emphasized the 'local' nature of science's making and reception and the mobility of scientific knowledge.


Cocaine users present numerous health problems, including infections with HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and syphilis, with higher prevalence rates than in the general population. Considering the marked reduction in the number of cocaine users that inject, especially in South America, the role of other factors should be carefully assessed in order to elucidate the dynamics of HBV and HCV infections and orient public health measures aimed at reducing the spread of these pathogens. Parenteral exposure is fundamental, as widely documented in the literature. Nevertheless, a substantial amount of these infections lack a history of parenteral exposure, and the role is unclear for factors like contamination with unsterilized material, shared use of equipment for sniffing or smoking cocaine, and unprotected sex. Recently in Argentina and Uruguay, consistent findings indicate that HBV is associated with transmission via unprotected sexual contact and that shared sniffing equipment is relevant in the spread of HCV among non-injecting cocaine users, with the latter featuring interactions through possible social networks with injecting cocaine users and/or persons living with HIV/AIDS. However, the epidemiology of these infections among cocaine users is still not completely clear, suggesting the need to extend beyond the individual risk model to include micro-social, macro-social, and structural approaches. From this perspective, we can list the following: (1) globalization: a shift from consumption by injecting users towards more numerous social groups represented by non-injecting users and the availability of cocaine and its byproducts on a continental scale; (2) inequalities: a disproportional contribution by socially vulnerable segments of the population to the spread of infections; (3) institutional weakness: modest interventions in prevention strategies, including risk reduction and the availability of immunization, counseling, and treatment; (4) social networks: intense interrelations between contacts potentially at risk, whether translated or not as actual risky interactions, exposing both an infected individual and one or more susceptible individuals; (5) rapid urbanization, resulting in urban settings with the intensification and increased potential of all the factors mentioned above, along with a widespread overload of the systems providing care to drug users (health, social assistance, and the penal system). Considering that the interconnectivity between globalization, urbanization, and the spread of infectious diseases is not new, as illustrated by the AIDS pandemic (one of the most striking examples of the convergence between population mobility, urbanization, and the inter-human interface), what is missing? The most commonly applied analytical models in public health limit our possibilities for inference on the determination of health behavior by multiple factors, probably interrelated, among the different levels of influence (individuals, social networks, neighborhoods, governments). Dynamic modeling as complex systems can be useful, allowing the adoption of a social epidemiological approach to health behavior and drug use, particularly providing an integrated model that permits incorporating factors at multiple levels of influence. Based on the reconciliation of different research methods and levels, answers will emerge that will foster more in-depth understanding of the dynamics of social networks and their multiple interconnections. Viral hepatitis and vulnerability among cocaine users in South America


The decision to protest is strategic: an individual's participation is a function of her beliefs about others' turnout. Models of protest often assume strategic complementarity; however, the challenge of collective action suggests strategic substitutability. We conduct the first field experiment directly manipulating individuals' beliefs about others' protest participation, in the context of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. We elicit university students' planned participation in an upcoming protest and their prior beliefs about others' participation, in an incentivized manner. One day before the protest, we randomly provide a subset of subjects with truthful information about others' protest plans, and elicit posterior beliefs about protest turnout, again in an incentivized manner. This allows us to identify the causal effects of positively and negatively updated beliefs about others' protest participation on subjects' turnout. We consistently find evidence of strategic substitutes. Analysis of control group subjects and survey evidence reinforce our experimental findings.


While aiming for cold adaptation, organisms living in sea ice use, among others, antifreeze proteins to shape the ice properties as needed. Some antifreeze proteins, such as found in the polar diatom Fragilariopsis cylindrus^1, can bind to certain ice crystal planes. In combination with the high growth anisotropy of the hexagonal ice crystal this binding results in a peculiar microstructure, which differs significantly from pure anorganic ice crystal growth. We present results from laboratory grown ice with and without antifreeze proteins using optical microscopy and crystal orientation measurements in order to characterize the microstructure caused by the Fragilariopsis cylindrus antifreeze protein.

^1 Bayer-Giraldi, M.; Weikusat, I.; Besir, H. Dieckmann, G. Characterization of an antifreeze protein from the polar diatom Fragilariopsis cylindrus and its relevance in sea ice. Cryobiology, 2011, 63, 210-219, doi:10.1016/j.cryobiol.2011.08.006


In brief outline, the methods of foundation design currently in use are presented. The importance of the soil survey as a preliminary to design is stressed as well as the identification and classification of soils. The C.B.R. test on soaked samples provides the principal design criteria and is so arranged as to enable an estimate to be made of the ultimate in situ C.B.R. of the constructed foundations. The wheel load design Curves used for design are based upon American practice, but test results are applied using judgment and experience of local factors. Unreliable design results have led to checking of designs using the resistance value and the group index methods of design. Special tests are used for decomposed materials and shales and for cement and lime stabilized soils for use in base courses. Further research is essential to develop locally applicable design data and to make the best use of local sources of foundation materials.


This report provides a summary introduction to some of the questions examined in the Brazilian Electoral Panel Study (BEPS) 2014 dataset. Following up on the 2010 Brazilian Electoral Panel Study, and taking advantage of the Brazilian 2014 presidential elections, a public opinion panel study was undertaken, comprising seven waves extending from May to November 2014. This document has two goals. The first is to familiarize those interested in using the data for their own analyses with the survey's technical approach and the dataset's subject matter. The second is to provide a preliminary dissemination of the survey's findings. These results are organized thematically around the topics covered in the questionnaire, consisting mostly of summary statistics, and the codebook provides further information on the design for the questionnaires and sample. The questionnaire also includes six controlled experiments.


This work aims at developing and validating a numerical air quality operational forecasting system that will be applied over Portugal. The CHIMERE model was chosen for the chemistry-transport simulation using the meteorological parameters supplied by the MM5 mesoscale meteorological model, forced by the AVN/NCEP global forecasts. An experiment of 48-hour real-time forecast simulations was performed, on a daily basis, during the four summer months of 2003. The numerical model system is then evaluated against hourly time series of basic meteorological variables and of ozone and NO2 concentrations, collected in several Portuguese monitoring stations included in meteorological and air quality network. Statistical skill scores are discussed and compared with previous studies. The results point this developed model system as a useful tool that can be used and implemented to anticipate pollution episodes, to local and regional air quality management and for population information purpose.


Distinguishing octane numbers of commercial gasoline is experimentally demonstrated by use of single split-ring resonator metamaterials functioning at terahertz frequencies. The differences in frequency-dependent absorption coefficients and refractive indices of various grades of gasoline lead to a modification in the surrounding dielectric environment and consequently the resonance properties of the planar metamaterials. This consequently enables a distinct frequency shift in the inductive-capacitive electric dipolar resonances. This paper reveals that such metamaterial arrays, as highly sensitive chemical sensors, have promising potential in petroleum industrial applications.


This paper presents a new hierarchical basis of arbitrary order for integral equations solved with the method of moments (MoM). The basis is derived from orthogonal Legendre polynomials which are modified to impose continuity of vector quantities between neighboring elements while maintaining most of their desirable features. Expressions are presented for wire, surface, and volume elements but emphasis is given to the surface elements. In this case, the new hierarchical basis leads to a near-orthogonal expansion of the unknown surface current and implicitly an orthogonal expansion of the surface charge. In addition, all higher order terms in the expansion have two vanishing moments. In contrast to existing formulations, these properties allow the use of very high-order basis functions without introducing ill-conditioning of the resulting MoM matrix. Numerical results confirm that the condition number of the MoM matrix obtained with this new basis is much lower than existing higher order interpolatory and hierarchical basis functions. As a consequence of the excellent condition numbers, we demonstrate that even very high-order MoM systems, e.g., tenth order, can be solved efficiently with an iterative solver in relatively few iterations.


The Lake Peten Itza is located in the multiple use zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve. It belongs to the subtropical moist forest (warm) life zone, and has very important flora and fauna diversities. Among the fish species, the white fish (Petenia splendida) is of high commercial value. The main goal of the present work was to clarify the taxonomic position of the two forms of the white fish in Peten (Guatemala), and to compare it with the Usumacinta (Mexico) form, based on the collected material from 1978 and 2006 (Usumacinta), and collections made during 2008 and 2009 in the Lake Peten Itza. Samples were obtained from 10 different locations in the lake. From the total of 57 fish specimens collected, 50 fish were selected (25 yellow form and 25 silver form); besides, 21 specimens from 10 locations of the Usumacinta river in Mexico, from the Fish Collection, FCB, UANL. A total of 36 morphometric and 16 meristic characteristics, were analyzed, and also coloration, habitat and fishing method. This study reports the P. splendida of the Lake Peten Itza with the following characteristics: the yellow form at a depth of 0.5-1.5m with dorsal fin XIV-(XV)-XVI/11-(12)-13, the silver form at a depth of 2-3m with dorsal fin XIV-(XV)-XVI/10-(12)-13, and the Usumacinta form with a dorsal fin XIV-(XV)- XV/12-(13)-13. The discrimination analysis demonstrates a differentiation among the three analyzed populations. Some of the characteristics are the ocular diameter, the anal source-pelvic source distance and the dorsal source-anal source distance. The geographic area studied has a high diversity of fish fauna along the watershed, and it is possible to observe the anthropogenic damage, due to the overexploitation based the unapplicability of the existent regulation and the urbanization. If this situation continues it could jeopardize the survival of this emblematic specie.


ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME: A SMALL BUSINESS DILEMMA The AIDS virus continues to infect tens of thousands and wreak havoc on untold lives throughout the world. The U.S. Public Health Service estimates that 54,000 Americans will die from AIDS in 1991. This is nearly as many as were killed in the entire Vietnam War (New York Times 1987, Philadelphia Inquirer 1987). A largely overlooked aspect of the disease is the potentially devastating effect on small businesses. The vast majority of literature in both popular and professional journals concentrates on the technical aspects of the disease and promotes compassion, support, and understanding for the victims. Those articles targeted toward AIDS in the workplace also reflect this orientations. There is a void in the literature concerning the impact of AIDS on small businesses. What type of problems will small business owners and managers encounter because of AIDS? What is the financial impact of these potential problems? Are small business owners aware of the dimensions of possible future problems associated with AIDS-infected employees? What actions toward formulating necessary policies to deal with the problem have businesses implemented? This article explores these and other questions concerning the impact of AIDS on small businesses. The article first presents an informative background on the disease itself. Second, AIDS in the business environment is discussed, and the potential problems for small businesses are presented. Third, a research study concerning the impact of AIDS on small businesses in the southeastern United States is presented. Last, a list of recommendations for small businesses is made. AIDS: THE DISEASE Medical researchers have thus far identified four HTLV viruses. One, HTLV III, is known to manifest itself in what we commonly consider as AIDS (which is usually referred to as HIV, for Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Medical prognosis is still out on HTLV IV, currently found only in Africa. AIDS is generally considered to be 100 percent fatal. However, unlike influenza and most infections, AIDS will not resolve itself by killing off the vulnerable and the elderly, as the young and healthy develop immunity to it. Moreover, AIDS is not self-limiting. It is a delusion to think that AIDS is confined to homosexual men and intravenous drug users. The AIDS population now includes individuals who were sexually active with gays or drug users, individuals who received blood transfusions before blood banks began testing for the virus, and a small group for whom transmission cannot be explained (Day 1988). There are also other populations at risk, such as health care workers. Society can reduce the transmission of the AIDS virus through behavior modification while scientists continue to search for a cure. Each new piece of information adds to what we know about the disease and helps define the potential for defining the population at risk and the mediums for transmission. Since 1979, the Center for Disease Control has modified the definition of AIDS at least three times, an indication that scientists keep discovering new and important information. There is considerable conflicting information published on the future prevalence of the disease, and the means of transmission. Estimates range from 73,000 diagnosed AIDS cases in 1991 by the National Center for Health Services Research and Health Care Technology Assessment to a forecast by Industry Week of 279,000 (Pascal 1987). Among forecasters there appears to be a vast difference in the assumptions concerning the transmission of the disease over the next several years. The Center for Disease Control and most Public Health officials have almost universally agreed that AIDS cannot be transmitted through casual contact. Their advertisements, for example, state there is no medical evidence that AIDS can be transmitted through contact with an infected food handler or through saliva. …


While peacebuilding is a long-term and complex endeavor, a cacophony of actors and agendas, together with a persistent tendency to focus on short-term needs at the expense of long-term priorities, stymie efforts to build lasting peace. Complex problems call for innovative and integrated interventions. The staples of post-conflict peacebuilding — including, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR), security sector reform (SSR), rule of law initiatives, and transitional justice mechanisms ranging from prosecutions to truth commissions — are meant to serve overlapping constituencies and common purposes. In practice, however, such initiatives have often operated on separate tracks, leading to redundancy, avoidable tensions, and lost opportunities. This article focuses on the special challenges that arise out of the need to develop more integrated approaches to DDR and transitional justice and argues that the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) must play a stronger role in bringing together this and other pieces of the post-conflict puzzle. Even though the possibility of tension between transitional justice mechanisms and DDR programs cannot be eliminated, careful attention to areas of overlap should be part of innovative and integrated approaches to post-conflict peacebuilding going forward in order to advance common goals. The gains of such an approach would be modest, but worthwhile.


Text-to-speech audio description has proven to be an accepted method to increase the output of this access service in several languages, such as English, Japanese, Polish, Spanish and Catalan – at least as an interim solution until more audio description is available with human narrators. In the light of China's need to make audio description more widely available, we propose text-to-speech audio description as a means to provide this access service both faster and more economically. This article describes and analyses the results of a reception study carried out in China to test the acceptance of text-tospeech audio description in comparison with standard human-voiced audio description. The study sample consisted of forty participants and was carried out using clips from a Chinese historical movie. With the exception of comprehension, the results show that natural voices score statistically higher than synthetic voices, which suggests that those with sight loss prefer human-voiced audio description. Yet, it cannot be stated that text-to-speech audio description is not accepted: more than half of the study participants not only see this as an interim alternative, but also as a welcome permanent solution if it means more audio described movies.


The study compared the ability of characteristics defined by an asthma survey (wheeze versus cough and asthma diagnosis versus no diagnosis) to predict later respiratory problems in a cohort of 108 schoolchildren who had reported either recent wheeze or recurrent cough in a 1987 asthma survey. The children recorded daily respiratory symptoms and peak flow from April 1989 until May 1990. The frequency and severity of lower respiratory symptom episodes and peak flow dips were compared in the wheeze and cough groups and in the diagnosed versus nondiagnosed children. The independent effects of initial wheeze, atopy, diagnosis and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) on the longitudinal outcome measures were assessed using multiple linear regression. Children with initial wheeze had more chronic symptoms and peak flow variability than those with cough alone, but wheeze had only a weak effect on frequency and severity of acute lower respiratory episodes. Children with both wheeze and atopy had more acute symptomatic episodes and more chronic symptoms than did the other children. Children with diagnosed asthma (versus no diagnosis) had significantly more frequent and severe lower respiratory exacerbations, more days symptomatic and greater peak flow variability. The predictive effects of diagnosis were independent of (and stronger than the effects of) wheeze, atopy and BHR, or combinations of these variables. The results suggest that among children who report respiratory symptoms, survey-reported wheeze on its own is a weaker marker of significant respiratory disease than is a doctor's diagnosis of asthma.


The function of incubation behaviour in birds is to maintain the eggs at the temperature required for embryo development and hatching. During incubation, single-sex incubators such as the domestic hen, leave their nests each day for a limited number of short periods (recesses) to carry out body maintenance activities. Most activity during a recess is food orientated. Incubation behaviour in the hen is maintained by increased concentrations of plasma prolactin and is normally terminated by the hatching of the eggs. At this time concentrations of plasma prolactin decrease. Hens sitting on infertile eggs will continue to incubate for 12 weeks or more, well beyond the normal 3-week incubation period. The aim of this study was to identify the factors responsible for the termination of prolonged incubation in the bantam hen, a form of the domestic hen in which broodiness can be readily induced. The possibility that prolonged incubation terminates because of an excessive loss in body weight was discounted because during a period of 10 weeks prolonged incubation body weight fell during the first 3-4 weeks and thereafter remained constant. The hypothesis investigated was that during prolonged incubation, a fall in the concentration of plasma prolactin results in a decrease in motivation to nest, which in turn predisposes the bird to nest desertion.
Concentrations of prolactin were measured in 10bantam hens incubating for ten weeks. During the first three weeks, the concentration of prolactin was higher than during weeks 8-10. An analysis of week-to-week changes in the concentrations of plasma prolactin showed that a significant decrease occurred between 4 and 5 weeks of incubation. An assessment was made of possible changes in the neural mechanisms controlling prolactin secretion during prolonged incubation. This involved the removal of nests for 48 hours from hens which had been incubating for 2 or 10 weeks. Nest removal caused concentrations of plasma prolactin to fall but after nest return, prolactin concentrations increased again in those birds which renested. The increase in prolactin in renesting birds which had been incubating for 10 weeks was less robust than in those which had been incubating for 2 weeks.
Changes in motivation to incubate during prolonged incubation were assessed in three ways. The first was indirect, and involved an analysis of behaviour, particularly during the first recess of the day. A direct assessment was made using an operant conditioning system in which the incubating hens were required to "work" for access to their nests by pushing through a weighted door. An additional assessment was made by comparing the readiness of hens at 2 and 10 weeks of incubation to renest after 48 hours nest-deprivation.
Behavioural analyses showed that during 10 weeks prolonged incubation, there was no change in the duration of the first recess of the day, although the birds began this recess earlier in the day during the course of extended incubation. A change in behaviours within the recess was observed from 5-6 weeks incubation onwards, with predominantly intense and dominant feeding behaviour progressively giving way to less intense feeding asssociated with foraging behaviours. Hens sitting on their nests showed no change in response to a threatening stimulus during prolonged incubation.
In the operant conditioning test, compared with 2-4 weeks of incubation, after 8-10 weeks incubation, the hens took longer to begin to pushing through the door, and increased the time spent pushing, to gain access to their nests. After 2 and 10 weeks incubation, 9 of 11 and 3 of 10 hens respectively, resumed incubation after 48 hours nest deprivation. Motivation to renest was found to depend on the functional activity of the neural system involved in prolactin release rather than concentrations of plasma prolactin at the time of testing.
It is suggested that after prolonged incubation a moderate decrease in circulating prolactin may be responsible for the resurgence of foraging-related behaviours which are typical of nonincubating birds. As these behaviours become established, they may result in an increase in the frequency of recesses which predisposes the hen to nest desertion. This suggestion assigns to prolactin a major role in the regulation of feeding-orientated behaviours. An analysis of changes
in plasma prolactin during incubation in birds with different diets and incubation strategies is consistent with this hypothesis.


Life is a process and journey whose end point is death. Without our personal values, we are undefined, fearful, and stressed. This theoretical and clinically-based paper provides an Integrity model perspective of living well and dying well. Evolving from Mowrer's (1953, 1964) work, the Integrity model (Lander & Nahon, 1992, 2005) examines the value structures within the multiple facets of life, and whether they provide a sense of meaning or a profound sense of meaninglessness for individuals in despair, including those facing end of life issues, or who are in the throes of death anxiety to the point of terror.


This study refers to secondary students working in a simulated virtual open laboratory environment using "Thermolab", following an innovative course on thermal phenomena, being engaged in a variety of activities, ranging from "structure lab" with a teacher-defined setup, to "student directed inquiry" with investigation characteristics. Students were working in pairs and data were collected by video and audio recording. The research question under investigation is: "how is the density of verbalization of students' knowledge affected by the type of activity they are engaged in an open virtual laboratory?" Analysis of students' actions and conversations, concerning five different laboratory sessions, is based on a method called CBAV (Category Based Analysis of Videotapes) according to which, the density of students' knowledge verbalization is related to specific lab-work contexts and can be used as a measure of the linking between theory and practice during lab-work. Our findings reveal that while experimenting in a virtual laboratory environment, our students create links between theory and practice, but these are more likely to occur while working in investigative type activities, rather than working with a teacher-defined setup.


Biological nitrogen elimination used to purify wastewater with high nitrogen contents can become a major cost factor, in particular when the wastewater in question contains only little amounts of biologically degradable carbon compounds. The use of new biological conversion methods and the application of compact operation technology, however, does allow us to save operation and investment costs. Currently, the focus of scientific interest is on deammonification, that is the direct conversion of ammonia into elementary nitrogen by autotrophic micro-organisms, because in contrast to conventional nitrification/denitrification this method requires considerably smaller amounts not only of carbon, but also of oxygen. Moreover, the use of compact biofilm technology makes it possible to considerably reduce the reaction tank volume. In the following we will present the operation results of both industrial plants and laboratory-scale units for the treatment of wastewater with high nitrogen loads, results which unequivocally show the favourable cost-effectiveness of the mentioned method combination and thus the economic viability inherent in the purposeful industrial utilisation of this technology.


Control and trust are recurring themes in the analysis of the management of International Joint Ventures (IJVs). Both issues (and their antecedents) have been analysed in isolation and in their relation with performance, though hardly any study exists which analyses them simultaneously in their interdependence. More importantly however, there are few, if any, studies that have empirically tested the existence and nature of the mechanisms that are assumed to link control and trust to performance. It is the purpose of this paper to empirically investigate these mechanisms in view of the interaction processes taking place between the JV partners. Analysing the interaction processes in the context of control, trust and performance is expected to provide a better understanding of the relationship between control, trust and performance. To this aim a concept of inter-firm interaction in IJVs is proposed. The empirical basis for this study consists of data gathered through a questionnaire survey among German and Chinese General Managers of German-Chinese Joint Ventures (GCJVs) in the People?s Republic of China carried out in 2000/01. Using Cluster-Analysis two JV types are derived, which allow for some first yet tentative inferences to be made regarding the complex interplay between control, trust, performance, and interaction in GCJVs.


This paper explores a new vision for urban and suburban transportation, termed Personalised Public Transportation, which builds upon recent trends in vehicle sharing, electric vehicles, mobile payments and cloud computing. The goal is to build on the best of the worlds of private and public transportation. Private transportation offers ownership, comfort and convenience, but is higher cost, and subject to externalities (traffic jams, pollution, etc.). Public transportation is efficient, cheaper and has lower energy/carbon footprint, but has a last-mile problem (access) and low spatio-temporal coverage in suburbia. We envisage a future model of leasing public transportation via a service similar to cell-phone services, where the user pays for convenience and sharing of a network. We describe the key design features inherent to this mobility model. The vehicular platform allows the entire fleet to be operated and managed via a cloud computing service in order to maximise convenience and minimise cost. An optimisation formulation to quantify the benefits of Personalised Public Transportation shows that it is a promising approach for transforming future generations of transportation into sustainable ecosystems.


Three new advanced biofuels have been produced from sesquiterpene feedstocks. Cedarwood oil, which is primarily composed of the sesquiterpenes thujopsene, α-cedrene, and β-cedrene, was hydrogenated to generate a fuel blend (HCWO) with a cetane number of 31 and a volumetric net heat of combustion (NHOC) more than 12% higher than conventional jet fuel. Hydrogenation under pressures ranging from 400 to 440 psi allowed for reduction of the double bond in thujopsene while keeping the cyclopropane ring intact. A single component high density fuel containing only hydrogenated α-cedrene (cedrane) was then prepared by dehydration and hydrogenation of α-cedrol, and found to have an even higher NHOC and lower viscosity than HCWO. Cedrane was then isomerized to 1-ethyl-3,5,7-trimethyladamantane (ETMA) and a mixture of other alkyl adamantanes. The adamantane mixture had a cetane number of 46 and a viscosity suitable for use in a conventional diesel engine. This work shows that sustainable multicyclic sesquiterpenes are versatile feedstocks to ultra-performance fuels that combine high densities with high cetane numbers.


The Federal Reserve's purchase of large quantities of assets from the private sector between November 2008 and September 2014, known as quantitative easing, resulted in the Fed's ownership of $1.77 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and $2.45 trillion of U.S. Treasury securities as of September 2017. In October 2017, the Fed began to reduce these holdings. This brief examines the plans to reduce these holdings and the impact these actions will have on the MBS market. The authors show that both MBS and Treasuries will run off less quickly than the targeted run-off amounts, and that under similar assumptions to what the Fed has used, there will still be about $1.18 trillion of MBS on its books when the Fed balance sheet normalizes. They also argue that the Fed may want to take advantage of its remaining reinvestment period to do some minor rebalancing. Moreover, the Fed can take additional action at no cost that will help launch the single government-sponsored enterprise security.


Calibration of the industrial pyrometers in the temperature range between 1 000 ◦C and 3 000 ◦C requires a blackbody cavity source which temperature is measured using a reference pyrometer. The use of such blackbody cavity source is imposed by the characteristics of the pyrometers to be calibrated, because of the large field-of-view (usually of the order of 10 mm to 30 mm), which is not compatible with the dimensions of the fixed points used to calibrate reference pyrometers. The reference pyrometer and the pyrometer under the calibration can also have very different spectral characteristics. The filter's transmission bandwidth of the reference pyrometer filter is generally of the order of 20 nm, but it can reach several hundred nanometers for the pyrometer under calibration. An unbiased comparison of the two instruments can be only obtained with a transfer blackbody cavity with emissivity equal to 1. The different spectral and spatial characteristics of the compared pyrometers require a determination of the effective emissivity of the cavity and a determination of the radial profile of surfaces intercepted by the field-of-view of pyrometers. The high temperature furnace Thermogauge HT-9500 LNE-Cnam has been characterized for use as a transfer cavity. For this, the longitudinal and radial gradients in the cavity have been measured by various methods. The effective emissivity of the cavity was calculated. An estimate of the corrections and uncertainties associated with non-unit emissivity are presented in this article.


The introduction of abortion legalisation in South Africa during 1997 gave rise to the need for preand postabortion counselling. Two dominant counselling groups came to the fore namely pro-choice and pro-life, reflecting the respective stances of society on abortion. In order to answer the following research questions: "What value-challenges do abortion counsellors experience, if any?' and "What ways have they found in negotiating these challenges?" A narrative conversation was used to come to an understanding of these research questions in practice. Research was undertaken with counsellors from both pro-life and pro-choice stances. The influence of capitalism, patriarchy and religion on role players confronted with making decisions on abortion was explored. Pro-choice counsellors negotiated their values in terms of forgiveness based on the unconditional forgiveness they would expect from God and pro-life counsellors in terms of God's forgiveness for the client, accepting her own responsibility for the consequences of the abortion.


Abstract. An increase in stratospheric aerosols caused by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Nabro (13.37° N, 41.70° E) on 12 June 2011 was detected by lidar at Tsukuba (36.05° N, 140.13° E) and Saga (33.24° N, 130.29° E) in Japan. The maximum backscattering ratios at a wavelength of 532 nm were 2.0 at 17.0 km on 10 July 2011 at Tsukuba and 3.6 at 18.2 km on 23 June 2011 at Saga. The maximum integrated backscattering coefficients (IBCs) at 532 nm above the first tropopause height were 4.18×10−4 sr−1 on 11 February 2012 at Tsukuba and 4.19×10−4 sr−1 on 23 June 2011 at Saga, respectively. A time series of lidar observational results at Tsukuba have also been reported from January 2008 through May 2012. Increases in stratospheric aerosols were observed after the volcanic eruptions of Mt. Kasatochi (52.18° N, 175.51° E) in August 2008 and Mt. Sarychev Peak (48.09° N, 153.20° E) in June 2009. The yearly averaged IBCs at Tsukuba were 2.54×10−4 sr−1, 2.48×10−4 sr−1, 2.45×10−4 sr−1, and 2.20×10−4 sr−1 for 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. These values were about twice the IBC background level (1.21×10−4 sr−1) from 1997 to 2001 at Tsukuba. We briefly discuss the influence of the increased aerosols on climate and the implications for analysis of satellite data.


A commercial epoxy, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A, was modified by two different routes. One was the addition of silica to produce epoxy composites. Three different silane coupling agents, glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxy silane (GPS), -methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy silane (MAMS) and 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxy silane (MPS), were used as silica-surface modifiers. The effects of silica content, together with the effects of chemical surface treatment of silica, were studied. The results indicate that epoxy composites with silica exhibit mechanical and tribological properties as well as curing kinetics different than the pure epoxy. The optimum silica content for improved mechanical and tribological properties (low friction coefficient and wear rate) was different for each type of silane coupling agent. An unequivocal correlation between good mechanical and improved tribological properties was not found. Activation energy of overall reactions was affected by the addition of silica modified with MAMS and MPS, but not with GPS. The second route was modification by fluorination. A new fluoro-epoxy oligomer was synthesized and incorporated into a commercial epoxy by a conventional blending method. The oligomer functioned as a catalyst in the curing of epoxy and polyamine. Thermal stability of the blends decreased slightly at a high oligomer content. Higher wear resistance, lower friction coefficient and higher toughness were found with increasing oligomer content; thus in this case there was a correlation between good mechanical and improved tribological properties. The results indicated that increasing toughness and formation of a transfer film contribute to improved tribological performances.


One may safely assume that two key natural and ecological factors have greatly influenced the land tenure system and agricultural production modes in Afghanistan, i.e., the vast expanses of arid land and the scarcity of water resources. The questions of land and water, therefore, have always been intertwined with various systems of land ownership and agricultural production in Afghanistan which range from government, and royal holdings, to religious endowments, private lands and the jointly held agricultural lands of ranchers and herders.
A number of sociologists, influenced by Marxist theories or superficial resemblance, have characterized Afghanistan's traditional system of land ownership as similar to the old European feudal formations. However, most observers believe that there is scant similarity between the two systems. For, there were no hierarchical feudal bonds in agricultural ownership and production in the Iranian plateau, specifically Afghanistan, or Iran, where the peasantry was by and large directly under the control of the monarch or his appointees. In fact, unlike the European feudal system that lent itself to the growth of capitalism, the Afghan's static and constraining land ownership has not been conducive to such a transformation.
Afghanistan, which has passed through two unsuccessful land reform measures, is still deeply mired in the interconnected problems of land, water and social progress. Similar dilemmas plague some other central Asian societies that, in an untimely and unnatural move, tried to leap from an agricultural stage to socialism, and with the disapperance of the Soviet empire have returned to the early phases of the 20th century.


This study sets out to understand repeated procrastinating behaviours which may become detrimental to effective teaching, learning and assessment. The five case studies were conducted in a local authority primary school over a period of two years when the children were in Key Stage 1, aged five, six and seven years. The focus of this study was the possible detrimental effects of procrastinating behaviours in curriculum learning, through assigned tasks. Behaviours were observed and interviews conducted to reach a understanding of the tasks from the child's perspective. The teacher's perspective of the behaviours within the wide context of the assigned task was interrogated through social constructivist theories of leaming. The communicative process, by which co-participants in a task come to understand that task, was examined in light of the observed procrastinating behaviours. Within this process the influence of pupil learning identities, the use of power and questioning were particularly salient. The case studies suggest, in keeping with the author's view, that procrastinating behaviours do have a detrimental effect on curriculum teaching, learning and assessment. It would appear that in the course of procrastinating, task objectives may be: ongoingly altered by the learners to confirm existing skills and knowledge, rejected by the learner in favour of alternative interests or progressively dfferentiated by the teacher in order to engage the learner, narrowing the opportunities for shared control of learning. It would seem that these behaviours have much to do with the active interpretation of tasks against the socio-cultural background of what passes as classroom knowledge and becomes classroom culture. It is likely that procrastinating behaviours may be reduced in conditions that allow learning to be 'scaffolded' in the social constructivist sense, that value discourse as a means of learning from each other and that share power and control of learning. The study proposes strategies which practitioners might find useful in identifying and reducing the incidence of procrastinating behaviours. These strategies are all concerned with the promotion of discourse in teaching, learning and assessment. They relate to task organisation and management, the construction of classroom culture and the learner's role in approaching tasks. Through each of the strategies, the community in which the learners find themselves, has a role to play. This proposes a shift from individualism and differentiation to teaching with the goal of full participation.


This report is intended to provide an indepth trade area analysis of Fessenden, North Dakota. Specific analyses included determining Fessenden's main and greater trade areas, identifying the demographic profile of Fessenden shoppers, examining important and less important services for patron shoppers of Fessenden, identifying neighboring cities that area shoppers patronize, determining distances area shoppers traveled to Fessenden, and listing popular newspapers and radio stations among area residents. Current trade area information for Fessenden was obtained from a statewide trade area survey conducted by the Department of Agricultural Economics at North Dakota State University in 1989. Recent trends (1980 to 1989) in Fessenden population, retail sales, per capita income, pull factors, and Wells County population and employment were identified and discussed. Fessenden's trade area population, retail sales, and pull factor, along with Wells County population, average annual employment, and per capita income have all decreased throughout the 1980s. Fessenden has experienced large decreases in its retail sales and pull factor; however, Fessenden was fortunate to experience a small population growth during a period when few North Dakota cities increased in population. Based on most economic measurements, Fessenden fared worse than other North Dakota cities with similar populations, and has fared similar to smaller competing trade centers. The economic situation found in Fessenden and Wells County is typical of the problems found in rural North Dakota communities in the 1980s. Fessenden's trade areas were broken down into main and greater trade areas. A main trade area (MTA) was defined as an area where 35 percent of the township residents purchase a majority of selected goods and services in one city. A greater trade area (GTA) was defined as the area beyond the MTA where some township residents purchase some selected goods and services in one city. Fessenden's MTA increased in size by two townships, compared to MTA boundaries determined in 1974. The typical household for survey respondents appears to be a middle-aged married couple, who have completed high school, have few children at home, are primarily employed in agriculture and professional/technical professions, and have resided in the area a large portion of their lives. Main trade area residents traveled an average of 7.9 and 7.2 miles to Fessenden to purchase selected convenience and specialty goods and services, respectively. Over half (61.4 percent) of the respondents who purchased 50 percent or more of convenience and specialty goods in Fessenden traveled between 6 to 15 miles to purchase the item. Fessenden appears to be capturing little of the potential market for most goods and services on the survey questionnaire. Fessenden's poor market capture can be partially explained by the close proximity of several larger competing trade centers and the relatively large decreases in its own retail activity in the 1980s. Fessenden does appear to be relatively important source for many of the survey goods and services for respondents shopping for those items in Fessenden. Harvey, Minot, Bismarck, New Rockford, Carrington, and Jamestown were the most popular cities for the purchase of nonagricultural goods and services by Fessenden MTA residents who did not purchase a majority of the good or service in Fessenden. Harvey and Carrington were popular for purchasing agricultural goods and services. Outshopping analysis revealed no substantial demographic or socioeconomic differences between Fessenden MTA residents purchasing 50 percent or more and those purchasing less than 50 percent of selected goods and services in Fessenden. Slight differences between groups were evident only in miles traveled. The Forum (Fargo) and The Minot Daily News were the most popular daily newspapers for both Fessenden MTA and GTA residents. The Harvey Herald was the most popular weekly newspaper for both Fessenden MTA and GTA residents. The most popular radio stations for Fessenden MTA residents included KFYR of Bismarck and KHND of Harvey. Fessenden has suffered from large decreases in its retail sales and pull factors during the 1980s, but appears to have increased its past trade area. Fessenden should remain an important trade center for residents in Wells County and the surrounding area.


Sensor data acquired from multiple sensors simultaneously is featuring increasingly in our evermore pervasive world. Buildings can be made smarter and more efficient, spaces more responsive to users. A fundamental building block towards smart spaces is the ability to understand who is present in a certain area. A ubiquitous way of detecting this is to exploit the unique vocal features as people interact with one another. As an example, consider audio features sampled during a meeting, yielding a noisy set of possible voiceprints. With a number of meetings and knowledge of participation (e.g. through a calendar or MAC address), can we learn to associate a specific identity with a particular voiceprint? Obviously enrolling users into a biometric database is time-consuming and not robust to vocal deviations over time. To address this problem, the standard approach is to perform a clustering step (e.g. of audio data) followed by a data association step, when identity-rich sensor data is available. In this paper we show that this approach is not robust to noise in either type of sensor stream; to tackle this issue we propose a novel algorithm that jointly optimises the clustering and association process yielding up to three times higher identification precision than approaches that execute these steps sequentially. We demonstrate the performance benefits of our approach in two case studies, one with acoustic and MAC datasets that we collected from meetings in a non-residential building, and another from an online dataset from recorded radio interviews.


Email is a key application used on smartphones. Even when the phone is in stand-by mode, users expect the phone to continue syncing with an email server to receive new mes-sages. Each such sync operation wakes up the smartphone for data reception and processing. In this paper, we show that this "cost of email sync" in stand-by mode constitutes a significant source of energy consumption, and thus reduces battery life. We quantify the power performance of different existing email clients on two smartphone platforms, An-droid and Windows Phone, and study the impact of system parameters such as email size, inbox size, and pull vs. push. Our results show that existing email clients do not handle email sync in an energy efficient way. This is because the underlying protocols and architectures are not designed for the specific needs of operating in stand-by mode. Based on our findings, we derive general design principles for energy-efficient event handling on smartphones, and apply these principles to the case of email sync and implement our techniques on commercial smartphones. Experimental results show that our techniques are able to significantly reduce energy cost of email sync by 49.9% on average with our experiment settings.


The implication that essential fatty acids (EFA) can affect immune response was based on the observation that EFA deficiency can accentuate or improve symptoms of certain autoimmune diseases in animals, and that supplementation of linoleic acid to animals reversed such effects. Furthermore, treatment of animals with cyclooxygenase inhibitors abrogated the effect of linoleic acid. Administration of cyclooxygenase inhibitors to animals enhanced both cell‐mediated and humoral immune responses. In vitro studies have shown that prostaglandin E (PGE) group inhibits both T and B lymphocyte functions; it is suggested that effects of EFA on immune response are, in part, mediated through eicosanoids. Growing evidence now suggests that the PGE group of prostaglandins can serve as a negative feedback modulator of immune response. However, in vitro effects of other cyclooxygenase‐derived products, such as PGI2 and thromboxane A2 (TXA2), have not been well established, perhaps because of their instability in aqueous media. Unlike the PGE group, some of lipoxygenase‐derived products of arachidonic acid have shown immunostimulatory effects, as assessed by lymphokine production in vitro. Whether such effects can be seen in vivo remains to be determined. Some lipoxygenase‐derived products with strong chemotatic action may indirectly influence immune response by modulating the population of antigen‐presenting macrophages in tissues. Thus, the net effect of eicosanoids synthesized in macrophages on modulating immune response may depend on relative amounts of cyclooxygenase‐derived products as compared with lipoxygenase‐derived products. Macrophages are the major source of eicosanoids among immunocompetent cells. The profile of eicosanoids, produced in vitro by macrophages, varies with type of stimuli and anatomical sites. It can also be affected by the fatty acid composition of tissue lipids, which in turn can be modified by the composition of dietary EFA. Whether manipulating dietary EFA can modulate immune response in normal humans and animals needs to be determined.— Hwang, D. Essential fatty acids and immune response. FASEB J. 3: 2052‐2061; 1989.


Background/Context Parent involvement in education is widely recognized as important, yet it remains weak in many communities. One important reason for this weakness is that urban schools have grown increasingly isolated from the families and communities they serve. Many of the same neighborhoods with families who are disconnected from public schools, however, often contain strong community-based organizations (CBOs) with deep roots in the lives of families. Many CBOs are beginning to collaborate with public schools, and these collaborations might potentially offer effective strategies to engage families more broadly and deeply in schools. Purpose This article presents a community-based relational approach to fostering parent engagement in schools. We investigated the efforts of CBOs to engage parents in schools in low-income urban communities. We argue that when CBOs are authentically rooted in community life, they can bring to schools a better understanding of the culture and assets of families, as well as resources that schools may lack. As go-betweens, they can build relational bridges between educators and parents and act as catalysts for change. Research Design Using case study methodology, we studied three notable school-community collaborations: the Logan Square Neighborhood Association in Chicago, Illinois; the Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles, California; and the Quitman Street Community School in Newark, New Jersey. Each case represents one of three types of collaboration identified in previous research: community service, community development and community organizing. Findings Although differences in context mattered, we found three common dimensions of parent engagement work across the cases. The three core elements of this community-based relational approach are (1) an emphasis on relationship building among parents and between parents and educators, (2) a focus on the leadership development of parents, and (3) an effort to bridge the gap in culture and power between parents and educators. We contrast this community-based approach with more traditional, school-centric, and individualistic approaches to parent involvement. Conclusions There are a number of lessons from this study for educators interested in broadening and deepening parent participation in schools. First, educators can benefit from taking a patient approach, building relationships over time. Second, schools may not be able to do parent engagement work alone; they can profit from the social capital expertise of community-based organizations. Finally, educators would benefit from understanding that communities bring different needs, aspirations, and desires to their children's education. If educators collaborate with community partners and help to develop parent leadership, they can form initiatives that meet the interests, values, and capacities of any particular school community.


Despite the widespread use of email, our knowledge regarding the consequences of email addiction is lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop an email addiction tendency scale to evaluate its correlation to behavior and brain structure. Following this, the validity and reliability of the developed scale was investigated. We used voxel-based morphometry, correlation, and univariate regression analysis to assess the relationships between email addiction tendency scores and regional gray and white matter volumes, depression, and nonverbal reasoning abilities in a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 1152; mean age, 20.69 ± 1.84 years). The content validity ratio, content validity index, principal component analysis, and confirmatory factorial analysis all showed that the email addiction tendency scale (EATS) has high validity. Additionally, the Cronbach's alpha internal consistency and split-half reliability coefficient showed that the EATS has high reliability. We found that email addiction tendency scores were significantly negatively correlated with nonverbal reasoning. We also observed that the email addiction tendency scores were significantly and positively correlated with depression symptom severity and gray matter volume of the left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPC) in subjects. These results indicate that email addiction tendency is associated with lower mental health outcomes and increased GMV in the left RLPC.


Real-time Interaction over the Internet (RTI2) is an Internet service that is required typically by remote experimentation applications. From a quality of service (QoS) point of view, RTI2 has constraints that differ from usual real-time multimedia services such as video streaming or video conferencing. The RTI2 QoS can be expressed by three values that represent the level of interaction, the dynamics rendering and the semantic content. The RTI2 metrics, derived from these values, are essential to successfully implement an end-to-end (E2E) control scheme that adapts the transmission parameters to the equivalent E2E infrastructure that encompass not only to the network state, but also to the server and client applications processing capabilities. A model of the end-to-end system is exploited to ensure a minimal transmission time for a given E2E system.


The split-field finite-difference time-domain (SF-FDTD) method for one-dimensionally periodic structures is extended to include the coefficient-tensor description of second- and third-order nonlinear-optical media. A set of nonlinear equations related to the split-field values of the electric field is established. An iterative fixed-point approach for solving the coupled nonlinear system of equations needed to update the electric field components in the SF-FDTD is then developed. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility dispersion is also considered by means of the Raman effect and its implementation in the SF-FDTD scheme. Different scenarios are considered in order to verify the reliability of the method for simulating second- and third-order nonlinear-optical media. First, second-harmonic generation and its efficiency are investigated in a homogeneous layer with and without the quasi-phase-matching technique. Second, the nonlinear dispersion is analyzed by means of the generation of solitons in Kerr media due to the Raman effect. Last, a set of binary phase gratings with nonlinear pillars is considered under oblique incidence. Here the nonlinear refractive index is generated by different physical mechanisms modeled with the nonscalar third-order susceptibility.


The purpose of this thesis is to interpret Michael Oakeshott as a critic of Enlightenment positions. In so doing, the author's ambition is to go some way to fulfilling the lacuna in Oakeshott studies by concentrating on his notion of philosophy. Having introduced my project of study in the opening chapter, I begin chapter two with an examination of philosophical modernism in order to allude to the Enlightenment positions concerned: foundationalism in philosophy, formalism in ethics and naturalism in history. In the following chapters I turn to cope with Oakeshott's reflection upon philosophical modernity, liberal ethics and positivist historiography respectively. It is my view that Oakeshott's critique of philosophisme and Rationalism expresses a sense of the crisis of philosophical modernity and throughout his intellectual career he has never altered his analysis of these two themes: philosophy as the persistent re-establishment of completeness by transcending abstractness, and the modes of experience as self-consistent worlds of discourse. To apply this philosophy, in his moral and political writings Oakeshott has re-established a balance against the Enlightenment ethical position: "the sovereignty of technique", "demonstrative moral truth", "the politics of faith", or "enterprise association", by revitalising the importance of "traditional knowledge", "conversationally traditional intimation", "the politics of scepticism" or "civil association". Oakeshott is not a doctrinal liberal any more than a dogmatic conservative, but a sceptical philosopher who is the victim of thought. Moreover, Oakeshott's contribution to history not only lies in his effort to transcend the Enlightenment historiographical position by separating the historical from the naturalised conception of History on which the so-called "scientific history" rests, but also in his idealistic solution for the "temporal dilemma in history" and the "epistemic tension in history" that have long bothered philosophers.


ATP-sensitive K+ channels (KATP channels) couple β-cell metabolism to electrical activity and thereby play an essential role in the control of insulin secretion. Gain-of-function mutations in Kir6.2 (KCNJ11), the pore-forming subunit of this channel, cause neonatal diabetes. We investigated the effect of the most common neonatal diabetes mutation (R201H) on β-cell electrical activity and insulin secretion by stable transfection in the INS-1 cell line. Expression was regulated by placing the gene under the control of a tetracycline promoter. Transfection with wild-type Kir6.2 had no effect on the ATP sensitivity of the KATP channel, whole-cell KATP current magnitude, or insulin secretion. However, induction of Kir6.2-R201H expression strongly reduced KATP channel ATP sensitivity (the half-maximal inhibitory concentration increased from ∼20 μmol/l to ∼2 mmol/l), and the metabolic substrate methyl succinate failed to close KATP channels or stimulate electrical activity and insulin secretion. Thus, these results directly demonstrate that Kir6.2 mutations prevent electrical activity and insulin release from INS-1 cells by increasing the KATP current and hyperpolarizing the β-cell membrane. This is consistent with the ability of the R201H mutation to cause neonatal diabetes in patients. The relationship between KATP current and the membrane potential reveals that very small changes in current amplitude are sufficient to prevent hormone secretion.


An all-glass bifurcation microfluidic chip for blood plasma separation was fabricated by a cost-effective glass molding process using an amorphous carbon (AC) mold, which in turn was fabricated by the carbonization of a replicated furan precursor. To compensate for the shrinkage during AC mold fabrication, an enlarged photoresist pattern master was designed, and an AC mold with a dimensional error of 2.9% was achieved; the dimensional error of the master pattern was 1.6%. In the glass molding process, a glass microchannel plate with negligible shape errors (~1.5%) compared to AC mold was replicated. Finally, an all-glass bifurcation microfluidic chip was realized by micro drilling and thermal fusion bonding processes. A separation efficiency of 74% was obtained using the fabricated all-glass bifurcation microfluidic chip.


Species distribution models (SDM) are commonly used to obtain hypotheses on either the realized or the potential distribution of species. The reliability and meaning of these hypotheses depends on the kind of absences included in the training data, the variables used as predictors and the methods employed to parameterize the models. Information about the absence of species from certain localities is usually lacking, so pseudo-absences are often incorporated to the training data. We explore the effect of using different kinds of pseudo-absences on SDM results. To do this, we use presence information on Aphodius bonvouloiri, a dung beetle species of well-known distribution. We incorporate different types of pseudo-absences to create different sets of training data that account for absences of methodological (i.e. false absences), contingent and environmental origin. We used these datasets to calibrate SDMs with GAMs as modelling technique and climatic variables as predictors, and compare these results with geographical representations of the potential and realized distribution of the species created independently. Our results confirm the importance of the kind of absences in determining the aspect of species distribution identified through SDM. Estimations of the potential distribution require absences located farther apart in the geographic and/or environmental space than estimations of the realized distribution. Methodological absences produce overall bad models, and absences that are too far from the presence points in either the environmental or the geographic space may not be informative, yielding important overestimations. GLMs and Artificial Neural Networks yielded similar results. Synthetic discrimination measures such as the Area Under the Receiver Characteristic Curve (AUC) must be interpreted with caution, as they can produce misleading comparative results. Instead, the joint examination of ommission and comission errors provides a better understanding of the reliability of SDM results.


The centipedes of the clade Epimorpha change slightly during post-embryonic growth but there is huge variation between species in the maximum body size. New specimens of the rarely collected Neotropical genus Dinogeophilus provide further evidence that this genus comprises the smallest species of the Epimorpha, with a recorded maximum length of 5.5 mm. Up to now Dinogeophilus has been invariantly classified in Geophi lidae but different sources of evidence (examination by SEM, cladistic evaluation of morphology, similarity and phylogenetic analysis of molecular data) agree on a very different phylogenetic hypothesis: Dinogeophilus is actually a derived lineage of Schendylidae, only distantly related to Geophilidae, and possibly belong to a mainly Neotropical subgroup of schendylids. A comparison of Dinogeophilus with the most closely related taxa suggests that body miniaturization was accompanied by possibly paedomorphic traits, including lower number of some multiple elements (antennal sensilla, processes on the mouth-parts, coxal organs) and shorter setae. Possibly associated with miniaturization are also a few novel features of Dinogeophilus, among which the unique subterminal denticles of the forcipules, suggesting a possible change in the feeding behaviour.


Education, child nutrition, adult health/nutrition, and labor mobility are critical factors in achieving recent sustained growth in factor productivity. To compare the contribution of these four human capital inputs, an expanded specification of the wage function is estimated from household (LSMS) surveys of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Specification tests assess whether the human capital inputs are exogenous, and instrumental variable techniques are used to estimate the wage function. Smaller panels from Côte d'Ivoire imply the magnitude of measurement error in the human capital inputs and provide more efficient instruments to estimate the wage equation. It is concluded that weight-forheight and height are endogenous, particularly prone to measurement error, and heterogeneous in their effects on wages. Overall returns to these four forms of human capital are similar within each country for men and women, but education and migration returns are higher in the more rapidly growing Côte d'Ivoire, and the wage effects of child nutrition proxied by height are greater in the poorer, more malnourished Ghana.


We report two occupationally acquired cases of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL): one accidental laboratory autoinoculation by contaminated needlestick while handling an ACL lesion sample, and one acquired during field studies on bird biology. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays of patient lesions were positive for Leishmania, subgenus Viannia. One isolate was obtained by culture (from patient 2 biopsy samples) and characterized as Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi through an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with species-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE). Patients were successfully treated with N-methyl-glucamine. These two cases highlight the potential risks of laboratory and field work and the need to comply with strict biosafety procedures in daily routines. The swab collection method, coupled with PCR detection, has greatly improved ACL laboratory diagnosis.


The transition of higher education institutions (HEIs) from a traditional role to a modern one has focused on the advancement of the innovative idea of sustainability in their functions. HEIs played their traditional role in promoting the disciplinary nature of teaching and research. The modern role of HEIs makes demands for not only knowledge to be promoted but also for the gap between academia and society to be bridged. This modern role is a fundamental principle of sustainability. Lack of understanding of the concept of sustainability causes hurdles in taking sustainable initiatives. The status of sustainability in Pakistan is in its infancy phase and poorly documented. It is due to the lack of conceptualizing sustainability that is underestimated and unexplored. This study explored how Pakistan Public Universities' (PPUs) academic administrators conceptualize sustainability, universities' role in promoting sustainability, and factors supporting or hindering sustainability. A qualitative approach was employed to conduct this study. Data were generated using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. A conceptual framework, comprising the role of universities, barriers and favourable factors to sustainability was used to analyse the data. Interviewees' responses and documents were meticulously transcribed, read, re-read and coded and findings were presented in thematic form based on the conceptual framework. The study found that academic administrators were aware of the subject of sustainability but faced more constraints than incentives to promote sustainability. The study also found that PPUs are transforming partially into modern role. The findings indicated lack of interest and commitment from top leadership in engaging stakeholders and creating supportive environment to understand sustainability. The findings point out a serious need for concerted efforts from relevant stakeholders to comprehend and embed sustainability in HEIs functions.