The purpose of this study is to investigate the pros and cons of looping, while discovering its social and academic effects on student achievement. This was done by analyzing the standardized test scores in reading, language arts and math of a control group that did not loop and an experimental group that looped for one year. Results showed there was no significant difference in academic achievement between the group of students that looped and the students that did not loop in grades 4-5. There was statistical significance in the improvement of reading test scores from the students that looped. Although statistical significance was found in these scores, the effect size was very small; therefore generalizations regarding the benefits of looping are inappropriate.


(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is a green tea polyphenol that has several biological activities, including anti-cancer and anti-inflammation. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally-occurring polysaccharide widely used as a biomaterial for drug delivery and tissue engineering due to its viscoelastic, biocompatible and biodegradable properties. By conjugating HA with EGCG, the resulting HA-EGCG conjugate is expected to exhibit not only the inherent properties of HA but also the bioactivities of EGCG. Toward this end, we report the synthesis of an amine-functionalized EGCG as an intermediate compound for conjugation to HA. EGCG was reacted with 2,2-diethoxyethylamine (DA) under acidic conditions, forming ethylaminebridged EGCG dimers. The EGCG dimers comprised of four isomers which were characterized by HPLC, high-resolution mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. The amine-functionalized EGCG dimers were conjugated to hyaluronic acid (HA) through the formation of amide bonds. HA-EGCG conjugates demonstrated several bioactivities which were not present in unmodified HA, including resistance to hyaluronidase-mediated degradation, inhibition of cell growth and scavenging of radicals. The potential applications of HA-EGCG conjugates are discussed.


Various alloplastic injectable implants have been developed for soft tissue augmentation without surgery. Silicone is a polymer from a family of chemically related organo-silicone compounds that may exist in any state from a fluid to a solid. Injectable liquid silicone has been used for various cosmetic treatments, mainly for soft tissue augmentation, for example lip, cheek, breast, buttock, and penile. Liquid silicone has been implicated in variety of adverse inflammatory reactions, sometimes resulting in tissue destruction. We describe an adverse granulomatous reaction after the injection of liquid silicone for penile augmentation. Penile granuloma can occur as an adverse effect of penile enlargement with the injection of high viscosity solution, like silicone (siliconoma), paraffin (paraffinoma), vaseline or mineral oil. Penile granuloma is a rare case which needs an accurate management. We found 30-years old man that occurs 5 weeks after non medical injection of liquid silicone. Surgical management was done with an excision of the granuloma and round incision on the upper penile, except the urethral part. There were no complications following the treatment. Histopathology examination showed the appearance of silicone-like foreign body granuloma and fibrosis of the preputium. It is concluded that Injection liquid silicone for penile augmentation could cause adverse granulomatous. Surgical management can be done with an excision of the granuloma. Keywords : liquid silicone, penile granuloma, surgical excision.


Questions of musical accessibility are relevant to most musical contexts but what does this term mean, how do we make contact with music and how do we decide what music to listen to? In The Accessibility of Music Jochen Eisentraut argues that musical judgements are often based upon implicit attitudes to accessibility, which need to be identified and exposed. Surveying a range of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, aesthetics and cultural theory, Eisentraut investigates how and why music becomes accessible and the impact of accessibility on musical and social hierarchies. The book is structured around three major case studies: punk vs progressive rock, Vaughan Williams and his ideas on art and folk music, and Brazilian samba, both in situ and in a global context. These are used to reveal aspects of musical accessibility at work and serve as a springboard for discussions that challenge accepted ideas of musical value and meaning.


The NCAA Division I Manual is a very black-and-white ruling system that can easily be misunderstood or misinterpreted. To help increase understanding and illustrate some of the rules, this video project was created to cover four of the topics within the manual. The goal of the project was to present to administrators, coaches, and student-athletes at Division I institutions, some of the NCAA rules in a new, creative manner that helps understanding and retention of some of the current NCAA policies. The videos cover four topics: the safety exception, prospect visits, sports wagering, and social media. Each video covers some of the biggest points under each topic and illustrates those main points with examples to go along with the host's description of the bylaw being discussed. The goal of this project is to start a discussion that could lead to creating more videos in the same style.


Evolving robot morphologies implies the need for lifetime learning so that newborn robots can learn to manipulate their bodies. An individual's morphology will obviously combine traits of all its parents; it must adapt its own controller to suit its morphology, and cannot rely on the controller of any one parent to perform well without adaptation. This paper investigates the practicability and benefits of Lamarckian evolution in this setting. Implementing lifetime learning by means of on-line evolution, we first establish the suitability of an indirect encoding scheme that combines Compositional Pattern Producing Networks (CPPNs) and Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) as a relevant learner and controller for open-loop gait controllers. We then analyze a Lamarckian set-up and the effect of the parental genetic material on the early convergence to good locomotion performance.


This study ofAcademic Development in KwaZulu Natal is exploratory and seeks to answer 3 questions. What is Academic Development? Is any model or approach to Academic Development applicable or transferable to all Higher Education Institutions? What factors can be identified that facilitate the progress (or development) of Academic Development? These questions are answered on the basis of contextual analysis and locate Academic Development as a contextually influenced change process. It is argued that although Academic Development is not uniquely South Mrican, in South Mrica Academic Development has arisen from an historical context largely as a result of, and in response to, the impact of apartheid on education and the movement to counteract that impact within higher education. The position of Academic Development within in a wider context is indicated through the literature survey. In particular, attention is paid to the United States of America where cultural and racial diversity have impacted on higher education, and, because the South African higher education system is modelled on the United Kingdom, material from that country is also examined. In order to place the South African context in relation to these the development and consequent fragmentation of the tertiary sector through the apartheid era is outlined. At the time of embarking on the research very little work had been done on the broader perspectives of Academic Development. In view of this a grounded theory approach has been adopted and the research examines Academic Development in the tertiary institutions in a specific region in South Africa, KwaZulu Natal. This research was undertaken through a combination of survey and case study analysis. Within the case studies the data used included institutional documents, some in-house publications, group interviews in the form of report-back meetings and individual interviews. From the data analysis certain themes are identified and presented in a diagrammatic form. The first of these highlights the impact of the diversity in the tertiary context on the approach to issues of equity and quality which seem to have been the catalysts for the establishment of Academic Development. Another theme that emerged was an organic process of development evident with Academic Development that seems to be moving towards holistic notions ofcurriculum development and transformation of teaching and learning in higher education in South Africa. In drawing these themes together the role of change in higher education became the central focus. In view of the exploratory nature of the present study the, findings are offered as a way of opening up debate. In the conclusion Academic Development is defined as a process of innovation, stimulated by calls for equity, that points to a new line of enquiry in education. It is argued that it is not replicable and 9 guiding principles that contribute to the development of Academic Development are outlined. These principles include the role of various stakeholders in the process of change and emphasise the importance of a reflective, research-based holistic approach to the curriculum in higher education.


The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), the standards-setting body in genomics for healthcare, aims to accelerate biomedical advancement globally. We describe the differences between healthcare- and research-driven genomics, discuss the implications of global, population-scale collections of human data for research, and outline mission-critical considerations in ethics, regulation, technology, data protection, and society. We present a crude model for estimating the rate of healthcare-funded genomes worldwide that accounts for the preparedness of each country for genomics, and infers a progression of cancer-related sequencing over time. We estimate that over 60 million patients will have their genome sequenced in a healthcare context by 2025. This represents a large technical challenge for healthcare systems, and a huge opportunity for research. We identify eight major practical, principled arguments to support the position that virtual cohorts of 100 million people or more would have tangible research benefits.


This paper presents the NUBASE2016 evaluation that contains the recommended values for nuclear and decay properties of 3437 nuclides in their ground and excited isomeric (T1/2 ⩾ 100 ns) states. All nuclides for which any experimental information is known were considered. NUBASE2016 covers all data published by October 2016 in primary (journal articles) and secondary (mainly laboratory reports and conference proceedings) references, together with the corresponding bibliographical information. During the development of NUBASE2016, the data available in the 'Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File' (ENSDF) database were consulted and critically assessed for their validity and completeness. Furthermore, a large amount of new data and some older experimental results that were missing from ENSDF were compiled, evaluated and included in NUBASE2016. The atomic mass values were taken from the 'Atomic Mass Evaluation' (AME2016, second and third parts of the present issue). In cases where no experimental data were available for a particular nuclide, trends in the behavior of specific properties in neighboring nuclides (TNN) were examined. This approach allowed to estimate values for a range of properties that are labeled in NUBASE2016 as 'non-experimental' (flagged '#'). Evaluation procedures and policies used during the development of this database are presented, together with a detailed table of recommended values and their uncertainties. AMDC: http://amdc.impcas.ac.cn/ Contents The NUBASE2016 evaluation of nuclear properties Acrobat PDF (1.1 MB) Table I. The NUBASE2016 table of nuclear and decay properties Acrobat PDF (706 KB)


With a combination of engineering approaches and neurophysiological knowledge of the central nervous system, a new generation of medical devices is being developed to link groups of neurons with microelectronic systems. By doing this, researchers are acquiring fundamental knowledge of the mechanisms of disease and innovating treatments for disabilities in patients who have a failure of communication along neural pathways. A low-noise and low-power analog front-end circuit is one of the primary requirements for neural recording. The main function for the front-end amplifier is to provide gain over the bandwidth of neural signals and to reject undesired frequency components. The chip developed in this thesis is a field-programmable analog front-end amplifier consisting of 16 programmable channels with tunable frequency response. A capacitively coupled twostage amplifier is used. The first-stage amplifier is a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA), as it directly interfaces with the neural recording micro-electrodes; the second stage is a high gain and high swing amplifier. A MOS resistor in the feedback path is used to get tunable low-cut-off frequency and reject the dc offset voltage. Our design builds upon previous recording chips designed by two former graduate students in our lab. In our design, the circuits are optimized for low noise. Our simulations show the recording channel has a gain of 77.9 dB and input-referred noise of 6.95 μVrms (Root-Mean-Square voltage) over 750 Hz to 6.9 kHz. The chip is fabricated in AMS 0.35 μm CMOS technology for a total die area of 3 x 3 mm and Total Power Dissipation (TPD) of 2.9 mW. To verify the functionality and adherence to the design specifications it will be tested on Printed-Circuit-Board.


Structuring the Information Age provides insight into the largely unexplored evolution of information processing in the commercial sector and the underrated influence of corporate users in shaping the history of modern technology. JoAnne Yates examines how life insurance firms -- where good record-keeping and repeated use of massive amounts of data were crucial -- adopted and shaped information processing technology through most of the twentieth century. The book analyzes this process beginning with tabulating technology, the most immediate predecessor of the computer, and continuing through the 1970s with early computers. Yates elaborates two major themes: the reciprocal influence of information technology and its use, and the influence of past practices on the adoption and use of new technologies. In the 1950s, insurance industry leaders recognized that computers would enable them to integrate processes previously handled separately, but they also understood that they would have to change their ways of working profoundly to achieve this integration. When it came to choosing equipment and applications, most companies ultimately preferred a gradual, incremental migration to an immediate and radical transformation. In tracing this process, Yates shows that IBM's successful transition from tabulators to computers in part reflected that vendor's ability to provide large customers such as insurance companies with the necessary products to allow gradual change. In addition, this detailed industry case study helps explain information technology's so-called productivity paradox, showing that firms took roughly two decades to achieve the initial computerization and process integration that the industry set as objectives in the 1950s.


Abstract. Large uncertainties persist in estimates of soil–atmosphere exchange of important trace gases. One significant source of uncertainty is the combined effect of wind and pressure on these fluxes. Wind and pressure effects are mediated by surface topography: few surfaces are uniform and over scales of tenths of a metre to tens of metres, air pressure and wind speed at the ground surface may be very variable. In this paper we consider how such spatial variability in air pressure and wind speed affects fluxes of trace gases. We used a novel nested wind tunnel design comprising a toroidial wind tunnel, in which wind speed and pressure may be controlled, set within a larger, linear wind tunnel. The effects of both wind speed and pressure differentials on fluxes of CO2 and CH4 within three different ecosystems (forest, grassland, peat bog) were quantified. We find that trace gas fluxes are positively correlated with both wind speed and pressure differential near the surface boundary. We argue that wind speed is the better proxy for trace gas fluxes because of its stronger correlation and because wind speed is more easily measured and wind speed measurement methodology more easily standardized. Trace gas fluxes, whether into or out of the soil, increase with wind speed within the toroidal tunnel (+55 % flux per m s−1), while faster, localized surface winds that are external to the toroidal wind tunnel reduce trace gas fluxes (−13 % flux per m s−1). These results are consistent for both trace gases over all ecosystem soil types studied. Our findings support the need for a revised conceptualization of soil–atmosphere gas exchange. We propose a conceptual model of the soil profile that has a "mixed layer", with fluxes controlled by wind speed, wind duration, porosity, water table, and gas production and consumption.


This paper assesses feminist position-taking in the realm of capitalist book production through a close reading of four novels written by Joi Barrios for the Rosas series. The paper adopts, as a heuristic tool, a particular focus on masculine domination in order to analyze the construction of masculinity. The construction of the male textual subject is regarded as a significant moment in advancing the feminist challenge to patriarchal stereotypes reproduced in mainstream romance novels. Barrios' 'alternative feminist' romance novels demonstrate a symptomatic exposition of masculine domination through a defamiliarization of the domestic, an approach that is suggestive of a break with our embededness in the social world and the taken-for-granted notions about its givenness and order. However, Barrios' reluctance towards decisive ruptures in the representations of masculinity and femininity affirms the enduring effects of the masculine and feminine habitus and the structuring structure of masculine domination.


Musicologists and sociologists have long been interested in patterns of music consumption and their relation to socioeconomic status. In particular, the Omnivore Thesis examines the relationship between these variables and the diversity of music a person consumes. Using data from social media users of Last.fm and Twitter, we design and evaluate a measure that reasonably captures diversity of musical tastes. We use that measure to explore associations between musical diversity and variables that capture socioeconomic status, demographics, and personal traits such as openness and degree of interest in music (into-ness). Our musical diversity measure can provide a useful means for studies of musical preferences and consumption. Also, our study of the Omnivore Thesis provides insights that extend previous survey and interview-based studies.


A 4-kilobase and a 2-kilobase cDNA clone encoding a murine macrophage colony-stimulating factor have been isolated. Except for 2 amino acid residue differences, these two clones encode the same 520 amino acid residue protein, which is preceded by a 32-amino acid residue signal peptide. The two clones, whose molecular masses correspond to the two transcripts observed in murine L929 fibroblasts, contain 3' untranslated regions that are markedly different in sequence and length. Both clones can be expressed in COS cells and the recombinant protein is active in a mouse bone marrow colony assay.


Experiments have been performed in the Shallow Water Wave Basin of DHI (Horsholm, Denmark), on large arrays of up to 25 heaving point absorber type Wave Energy Converters (WECs), for a range of geometric layout configurations and wave conditions. WEC response and modifications of the wave field are measured to provide data for understanding WEC array interactions and to evaluate array interaction numerical models. Each WEC consists of a buoy with a diameter of 0.315 m and power take-off (PTO) is modeled by realizing friction based energy dissipation through damping of the WEC's motion. Wave gauges are located within and around the WEC array. Wave conditions studied include regular, polychromatic, long- and short-crested irregular waves. A rectilinear arrangement of WEC support structures is employed such that several array configurations can be studied. In this paper, the experimental arrangement and the obtained database are presented. Also, results for wave height attenuation downwave a rectilinear array of 25 heaving WECs are presented, for the case of irregular waves. Up to 16.3% and 18.1% (long-crested) and 11.2% and 18.1% (short-crested waves) reduction in significant wave height is observed downwave the WEC array, for the radiated wave field only and for the combination of incident-diffracted-radiated (perturbed) wave field, respectively. Using spectra at different locations within and around the array, the wave field modifications are presented and discussed.


This paper studies learning based on information obtained through social or professional networks. Building on the framework first proposed by DeGroot (1974), agents repeatedly update their beliefs by weighting the information acquired from their peers. The innovation lies in the introduction of dynamically updated weights. This allows agents to weight a contact with poor information little at first, but more later on, if that contact has in the meantime gathered better information from other, more knowledgeable agents. The main finding is that individuals' social influence will depend on both their popularity (as captured by eigenvector centrality) and their expertise (as captured by information precision) in a simple and intuitively appealing way. It is moreover shown that even completely uninformed agents can contribute to social learning, and that under some network structures, providing certain agents with better information could actually lead society to worse assessments. The paper also discusses how the relationship between expertise and popularity in a network affects the learning process.


Birch bark lace is Estonian needle lace. Structurally it resembles needle lace as it is known elsewhere in Europe. It uses the same stitches and there are similarities in the material used in the embroidery. However, the technology employed is unique in certain remarkable respects – it has adapted to local needs and possibilities. Whereas traditionally contour thread was tightened onto a strong textile, or in earlier times also onto parchment, in Estonia a strip of birch bark was used as a base material instead. Birch bark has many advantages as a base material: it was always available on farms and cost nothing; also, it was easy to process into a suitable size. While European lace makers were forced to cover a light-coloured base material with a dark textile or paper, the lower surface of the birch bark used for making lace was naturally darker and as such provided a suitable background for the white thread. Birch bark also gave this type of lace its name – birch bark lace. Birch bark lace is characterised by a simple geometric pattern. The joining of various motifs is not used in the birch bark lace technique. To the best of our knowledge, birch bark lace was embroidered in one piece between contour threads. Of the various lace stitches, birch bark lace uses the buttonhole stitch and twisted buttonhole stitch. The pattern is formed from the holes left between tight buttonhole stitches. Birch bark lace net differs from other birch bark laces for its net-like material of paired buttonhole stitches that could be decorated with running stitch embroidery. Ornaments are characterised by geometrical motifs that can be stitched with either white or red thread. The birch bark lace technique is not particularly well known in Estonia. No distinctive surveys have been published, but birch bark lace has been comparatively discussed alongside other lace techniques used in Estonia or introduced with a brief overview in descriptions of how to make national costumes. Hence, neither the region where it was once used nor its uses are known. The problem is that Estonian language literature has never given accounts of systematic instructions on how to use the technique. Therefore, there are few experts who are familiar with the techniques of making birch bark lace and who can distinguish objects in this technique from other museum textiles. Birch bark lace may, depending on the stitches used, be visually similar to crochet lace or filet lace. For this reason, it is possible that our museums hold more objects decorated with birch bark lace than we are currently aware. This article provides an overview of the objects decorated with birch bark lace identified in the collections of the Estonian National Museum and describes three birch bark lace techniques.


An analytical function for the imaginary part of the dielectic constant of microcrystalline silicon is proposed. The function consists of a sum of Lorentz oscillators with Gaussian broadening, and is based on literature data. The real part is numerically obtained by Kramers-Kronig integration. The physical significance of the results is discussed. It is shown that the choice of the minimization procedure may affect the spectral region (low or high absorption) where the accuracy of the fit is optimized. The impact on computed Transmittance data shows the limits of acceptability for the errors in the fit.


We present preliminary results from a deep (600 ks) Chandra observation of the hot interstellar medium of the nearby early-type galaxy Centaurus A. We find a surface brightness discontinuity in the gas ~3.5 kpc from the nucleus spanning a 120° arc. The temperature of the gas is 0.60 ± 0.05 keV (0.68 ± 0.10 keV) interior (exterior) to the discontinuity. The elemental abundance is poorly constrained by the spectral fits, but if the abundance is constant across the discontinuity, there is a factor of 2.3 ± 0.4 pressure jump across the discontinuity. This would imply that the gas is moving at 470 ± 100 km s−1, or Mach 1.0 ± 0.2 (1.2 ± 0.2) relative to the sound speed of the gas external (internal) to the discontinuity. Alternatively, pressure balance could be maintained if there is a large (factor of ~7) discontinuity in the elemental abundance. We suggest that the observed discontinuity is the result of nonhydrostatic motion of the gas core (i.e., sloshing) due to the recent merger. In this situation, both gas motions and abundance gradients are important in the visibility of the discontinuity. Cen A is in the late stages of merging with a small late-type galaxy, and a large discontinuity in density and abundance across a short distance demonstrates that the gas of the two galaxies remains poorly mixed, even several hundred million years after the merger. The pressure discontinuity may have had a profound influence on the temporal evolution of the kiloparsec-scale jet. The jet could have decollimated, crossing the discontinuity and thereby forming the northeast radio lobe.


The author's main concern in this research is to study the miracles of Alquran and psychology of religion. Several theories in this study are used to see the contents of the soul and the Alquran reading of the members of three majelis taklim located in Bogor Selatan District, Bogor City. This research uses qualitative method and adopts the psychology approach. The bibliographic data (primary books on the miracles of Alquran and psychology) and field (interview, questionnaire) are used to analyze the psychological miracles of the majelis taklim members. Academically, this study can complement the existing books that discuss the miracles of Alquran. In terms of the science of Alquran, this study affirms the existence of miracles in Alquran, and the psychological effects on the reader. While psychologically, this study wants to show that the holy book - in any religion - is very important to its adherents. In the end, this study would like to prove that the the members of majelis taklim who read and hear the Alquran will feel the peace and tranquility of the soul. Furthermore, reading and listening to the Alquran will not only gives peace to the soul, but can increase faith and implicate the conduct of worshipers such as prayers and infak. The results of this study show that after reading the Alquran, the members of majelis taklim feel the calm. But the implications for an increase in faith involving congregational prayer and infak very fluctuational (unstable). It can be introduced that one's faith can indeed increase and decrease (yazdâd wa yankus).


Open source software is changing the world of Information Technology. But making it work for your company is far more complicated than simply installing a copy of Linux. If you are serious about using open source to cut costs, accelerate development, and reduce vendor lock-in, you must institutionalize skills and create new ways of working. You must understand how open source is different from commercial software and what responsibilities and risks it brings. Open Source for the Enterprise is a sober guide to putting open source to work in the modern IT department. Open source software is software whose code is freely available to anyone who wants to change and redistribute it. New commercial support services, smaller licensing fees, increased collaboration, and a friendlier platform to sell products and services are just a few of the reasons open source is so attractive to IT departments. Some of the open source projects that are in current, widespread use in businesses large and small include Linux, FreeBSD, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, JBOSS, and Perl. These have been used to such great effect by Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, and major commercial and financial firms, that a wave of publicity has resulted in recent years, bordering on hype. Large vendors such as IBM, Novell, and Hewlett Packard have made open source a lynchpin of their offerings. Open source has entered a new area where it is being used as a marketing device, a collaborative software development methodology, and a business model. This book provides something far more valuable than either the cheerleading or the fear-mongering one hears about open source. The authors are Dan Woods, former CTO of TheStreet.com and a consultant and author of several books about IT, and Gautam Guliani, Director of Software Architecture at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions. Each has used open source software for some 15 years at IT departments large and small. They have collected the wisdom of a host of experts from IT departments, open source communities, and software companies. Open Source for the Enterprise provides a top to bottom view not only of the technology, but of the skills required to manage it and the organizational issues that must be addressed. Here are the sorts of questions answered in the book: Why is there a "productization gap" in most open source projects? How can the maturity of open source be evaluated? How can the ROI of open source be calculated? What skills are needed to use open source? What sorts of open source projects are appropriate for IT departments at the beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert levels? What questions need to be answered by an open source strategy? What policies for governance can be instituted to control the adoption of open source? What new commercial services can help manage the risks of open source? Do differences in open source licenses matter? How will using open source transform an IT department? Praise for Open Source for the Enterprise: "Open Source has become a strategic business issue; decisions on how and where to choose to use Open Source now have a major impact on the overall direction of IT abilities to support the business both with capabilities and by controlling costs. This is a new game and one generally not covered in existing books on Open Source which continue to assume that the readers are 'deep dive' technologists, Open Source for the Enterprise provides everyone from business managers to technologists with the balanced view that has been missing. Well worth the time to read, and also worth encouraging others in your enterprise to read as well." ----Andy Mulholland - Global CTO Capgemini "Open Source for the Enterprise is required reading for anyone working with or looking to adopt open source technologies in a corporate environment. Its practical, no-BS approach will make sure you're armed with the information you need to deploy applications successfully (as well as helping you know when to say "no"). If you're trying to sell open source to management, this book will give you the ammunition you need. If you're a manager trying to drive down cost using open source, this book will tell you what questions to ask your staff. In short, it's a clear, concise explanation of how to successfully leverage open source without making the big mistakes that can get you fired." ----Kevin Bedell - founding editor of LinuxWorld Magazine


This thesis has the twin purposes of (a) providing an historical
narrative of the evolution of social democratic, conservative and
liberal approaches to crime in Britain since the war, and (b) (in part
through this historical investigation) beginning to reconstruct the
social-democratic form of "socialist-criminology", in both its academic
and political versions, for present and future use.
The thesis is therefore organised in part as a chronological
investigation. Chapters One, Two, Three, Five and Six focus in part on
the general development of the crime debates in the 1940's, the middle
1950's, the early 1960's, the late 1960's to early 1970's, and the late
1970's respectively. But they also depart from a purely chronological
presentation in order to allow a more detailed interrogation of particular
topics in popular, political and academic debate. Thus, Chapter One
attempts to describe the general character of social democratic criminology
in the form it assumed in the 1940's, with an eye to its longer term
effects in the later post-war period. Chapter Two contains an analytical
essay on the responses of the different ideologies to Homicide and
Capital Punishment. Chapter Three departs from its narrative to examine
the re-emergence of the youth problem in the early 1960's as a major social
issue. Chapter Five devolves around an essay on the rapid development of
the major institutions of State power (particularly, social work, the
police and prisons) during the late 1960's and the early 1970's; and
Chapter Six, with its historical focus on the late 1970's, contains two
other essays: (a) on the rise of the radical Right and its critique of
criminal justice and social welfare systems, and (b) an analysis of the
relationship between Conservative and Social-democratic ideology and the
particular questions of the criminality of the powerful and so-called
organised crime.
Chapters Four and Seven depart from this form of presentation.
Chapter Four provides an account and a critique of social democratic
approaches to crimes against women and the criminality of women. Chapter
Seven is the programmatic conclusion to the critique of social democratic
criminology provided earlier: it is an attempted first move, in seriously
changed circumstances (at the end of the post-war boom), to sketch out the
elements of a reconstructed socialist criminology.


Purpose. The present study is aimed at investigating the diversity and ecology of mangrove litter inhabiting microarthropods with a view to assess their functional role in the nutrient cycling by way of decomposition of mangrove litters. Design/methodology/approach. Samplings were made at monthly intervals for the estimation of ecological parameters, recording fluctuation of population and community structure from the selected study site of Midnapore coast of West Bengal, India. Experimental laboratory studies were also undertaken for assessing the rate of insitu decomposition of selected mangrove plant, Avicennia officinalis (L) and phase wise occurrence of microarthropods in decomposing litter. Findings. A total of 44 species of microarthropods belonging to seven major taxonomic groups viz. Acarina (36.3%), Collembola (27.2%) Coleoptera (10%), Diptera (5.7%), Isopoda (5.1%), Hymenoptera (5%) and other associated litter inhabiting microarthropod fauna (10.6%), displayed distinct seasonal fluctuation with regard to their population density and community structure in relation to fluctuating major physico-chemical parameters. Maximum decomposition was found on twelve months (70%) and that of minimum (34%) was observed on three months. Maximum diversity and density of fauna were recorded during six months to nine months of decomposition. Originality/value. Litter inhabiting soil microarthropods play significant role in the energy flow and nutrient cycling in mangrove ecosystem by breaking leaves for the consumption thereby promote leaching and subsequently enhance biochemical alteration along with associated microbial population.


The literary influence of alchemy and hermeticism in the work of most medieval and early modern authors has been overlooked. Stanton Linden now provides the first comprehensive examination of this influence on English literature from the late Middle Ages through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing extensively on alchemical allusions as well as on the practical and theoretical background of the art and its pictorial tradition, Linden demonstrates the pervasiveness of interest in alchemy during this three-hundred-year period. Most writers -- including Langland, Gower, Barclay, Eramus, Sidney, Greene, Lyly, and Shakespeare -- were familiar with alchemy, and references to it appear in a wide range of genres. Yet the purposes it served in literature from Chaucer through Jonson were narrowly satirical. In literature of the seventeenth century, especially in the poetry of Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Milton, the functions of alchemy changed. Focusing on Bacon, Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Milton -- in addition to Jonson and Butler -- Linden demonstrates the emergence of new attitudes and innovative themes, motifs, images, and ideas. The use of alchemy to suggest spiritual growth and change, purification, regeneration, and millenarian ideas reflected important new emphases in alchemical, medical, and occultist writing. This new tradition did not continue, however, and Butler's return to satire was contextualized in the antagonism of the Royal Society and religious Latitudinarians to philosophical enthusiasm and the occult. Butler, like Shadwell and Swift, expanded the range of satirical victims to include experimental scientists as well as occult charlatans. The literary uses of alchemy thus reveal the changing intellectual milieus of three centuries.


This research is done on the context of luxurious hotels by developing brand equity dimensions and is done to know the antecedent and consequence , namely servicescape and revisit intention.To test the proposed research model, data were collected from 460 luxurious hotel consumers in Bali using a previously tested questionnaire with validity and reliability tests as a measurement model. As for hypothesis test, data is analyzed by using Structural equation modeling technique.Hypothesis testing results found that servicescape is an antecedent of brand equity and all its dimensions with the consequences of revisit intention. In addition, it is found that brand trust is the strongest factor formed by servicescape, while brand commitment is the strongest factor that will shape the revisit intention. Further research is suggested to see the difference in brand equity based on local and international luxurious hotel, and to analyze the impact of brand equity on word of mouth. From the research results, it is suggested that the hotel manager to work together with the interior design to design the servicescape that satisfy the consumer.This study develops the dimensions of brand equity in the context of a luxurious hotel modified from previous studies.


The Baltic Sea Region presents unique challenges for the 14 states of the catchment area. Although characterized by a great diversity of history, languages and culture there is a strong feeling of common heritage. The region is of increasing importance for the European Union. At the same time this regional sea is subject to intensive exploitation and ecological strain. Apart from man, nature and geography also add to the critical ecological situation. The legal regime is comparatively well developed. All states except Denmark have extended their territorial seas to 12 n.m. but in many narrow waters states left "high seas corridors" free in the interest of shipping lines of communication. The Danish straits represent an example of straits governed by long-standing international conventions. The elaborate system of continental shelf zones and exclusive economic zones has divided up the Baltic Sea among the nine riparian states. With a few exceptions in the Central and Eastern Baltic, mostly due to the needs of the three newly independent Baltic Republics, all maritime boundaries are settled. The regional conventions: Helsinki-Convention of 1974 on Environmental Protection, Baltic Fishing Convention of 1973 are gaining momentum or are being expanded in their scope of application. The "new" Helsinki-Convention of 1992 effectively covers all major sources of pollution. However, the fishing convention must be seen in a critical light with the constant problem of overfishing being unresolved although the institutionalization of co-operation in the fishing sector has been achieved. Together with existing legal instruments there is a network of some 15 fora at different levels of governments, regions, communities and NGOs contributing towards sustainable development.


It's widely accepted that our environment is in crisis. Less widely recognized is that three quarters of environmental damage is due to cities – the places where most of us live. As this powerful new book elucidates, global sustainability is therefore directly dependent on urban design. In Living Architecture, Living Cities Christopher Day and Julie Gwilliam move beyond the current emphasis on technological change. They argue that eco-technology allows us to continue broadly as before and only defers the impending disaster. In reality, most negative environmental impacts are due to how we live and the things we buy. Such personal choices often result from dissatisfaction with our surroundings. As perceived environment has a direct effect on attitudes and motivations, improving this can achieve more sustainable lifestyles more effectively than drastic building change – with its notorious performance-gap limitations. As it's in places that our inner feelings and material reality interact, perceived environment is place-based. Ultimately, however, as the root cause of unsustainability is attitude, real change requires moving from the current focus on buildings and technology to an emphasis on the non-material. Featuring over 400 high quality illustrations, this is essential reading for anyone who believes in the value and power of good design. Christopher Day's philosophy will continue to inspire students with an interest in sustainable architecture, urban planning and related fields.


Extracted from text ... BUSINESS
Tax departments should
be fully integrated
By KATHY THERSBY
TAX departments need to be fully
integrated in the decision-making
process of any company to reduce
unexpected tax liabilities that could
arise from transactions to which
they were never a party.
The theme of enhanced alignment
of business operations with
the tax function is a recurring
theme that underscored discussions
by delegates at the annual Ernst &
Young Africa Tax Conference in
Namibia late last year.
Sean Kruger, Ernst & Young
tax partner, pointed out that over
the years the tax function was seen
as a compliance function and ..


We project medium to long term trends in labour force participation and employment for selected low-participation EU countries (Italy, Spain, Ireland, Hungary and Greece), with Sweden as a benchmark, by means of a dynamic microsimulation model. By exploring alternative scenarios to our baseline forecasts and their implications for GDP growth, we find that the gap between male and female participation is mostly explained by (i) differences in the individual conditional behaviour of older female cohorts, (ii) inadequate family policies. In particular, our results show that the conditional behaviour of younger women in the low-participation countries is similar to that in Sweden. In a nutshell, what is needed is not a change of behaviour on the side of women but a change of mentality on the side of institutions and firms.


Galectins, soluble intracellular and extracellular beta-galactoside-binding proteins, are known to be involved in the progression and metastasis of various cancers, including prostate adenocarcinoma, but the detailed mechanism of their biological roles remains elusive. In the prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 and DU-145, galectin 3 (gal3) is present at normal levels, whereas in LNCaP, its expression is silenced. In LNCaP, the gal3 promoter was heavily methylated, whereas PC-3 or DU-145 cells showed negligible or no methylation in the gal3 promoter indicating a negative correlation between gal3 promoter methylation and its expression. On immunohistochemical analysis of normal and tumor prostate tissues, gal3 was found expressed both in nucleus and cytoplasm of benign prostatic hyperplasia, high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and stage I. The expression of the gal3 was found drastically downregulated in advanced stages and, interestingly, mostly in the cytoplasm. On methylation analysis, the gal3 promoter in stage II prostate adenocarcinoma (PCa) was found heavily methylated, whereas in stages III and IV, it was only lightly methylated. However, in stage I PCa, both heavy and light methylations were observed in the gal3 promoter. In normal and benign prostatic hyperplasia tissues, the gal3 promoter was almost unmethylated. The differential cytosine methylation in the gal3 promoter in stages I to IV PCa enabled us to develop and validate a methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction-based sensitive assay specific for stages I and II PCa. These stages are considered the critical stages for successful intervention, thus underscoring the significance of this diagnostic assay.


Due to their renowned great information processing and dissemination power, Health information systems (HIS) can readily avail past patient medical information across the continuum of care in order to facilitate ongoing treatment. However, a number of existing HIS are designed as vertical silos with no interoperability onuses and therefore, cannot exchange patient information. At the same time, there is limited knowledge about the intricacies and factors that surround HIS' interoperability implementations. This study therefore, employs an institutional lens perspective to investigate contextual factors influencing HIS' interoperability designing. Through this perspective, seven contextual factors were arrived at institutional autonomism, intended system goals, existing health-information-systems, national HIS implementation guidelines, interoperability standards, policy and resources in terms of money and labour. A further study implication is the use of institutional lens in making sense of the institutions' context of integration in order to discover salient factors that might influence health-information-systems' interoperability designing.


NY-ESO-1 is a tumor-specific shared antigen with distinctive immunogenicity. Both CD8+ T cells and class-switched Ab responses have been detected from patients with cancer. In this study, a CD4+ T cell line was generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a melanoma patient and was shown to recognize NY-ESO-1 peptides presented by HLA-DP4, a dominant MHC class II allele expressed in 43–70% of Caucasians. The ESO p157–170 peptide containing the core region of DP4-restricted T cell epitope was present in a number of tumor cell lines tested and found to be recognized by both CD4+ T cells as well as HLA-A2-restricted CD8+ T cells. Thus, the ESO p157–170 epitope represents a potential candidate for cancer vaccines aimed at generating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses. More importantly, 16 of 17 melanoma patients who developed Ab against NY-ESO-1 were found to be HLA-DP4-positive. CD4+ T cells specific for the NY-ESO-1 epitopes were generated from 5 of 6 melanoma patients with NY-ESO-1 Ab. In contrast, no specific DP4-restricted T cells were generated from two patients without detectable NY-ESO-1 Ab. These results suggested that NY-ESO-1-specific DP4-restricted CD4+ T cells were closely associated with NY-ESO-1 Ab observed in melanoma patients and might play an important role in providing help for activating B cells for NY-ESO-1-specific Ab production.


To meet the requirements of high quality of people's life, a remote healthcare service with Internet of things (IoTs) is developed in this paper. The proposed system includes microcomputer, physiological sensors and corresponding signal preprocessing circuit, and wireless transmitting module etc. Sensors are used to detect the various vital signals. The collected data is transmitted to mobile device using Bluetooth. The doctors get patient's physiological parameters through the GPRS which connects the mobile device and medical center. As a result, doctor can give diagnostic message to the patient without face to face. The detecting device is designed as a watch form which is wrist-worn enclosure, unobtrusive and low power consumption. An android mobile app is also designed to transmit data as well as display the collected data. The experiment validates the performance of the proposed system.


A component of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument system is the AIRS/Visible Near InfraRed (Vis/NIR) instrument. With a nadir ground resolution of 2.28 km and four channels, the Vis/NIR instrument provides diagnostic support to the infrared retrievals from the AIRS instrument and several research products, including surface solar flux studies. The AIRS Vis/NIR is composed of three narrowband (channel 1: 0.40-0.44 /spl mu/m; channel 2: 0.58-0.68 /spl mu/m, and channel 3: 0.71-0.92 /spl mu/m) and one broadband (channel 4: 0.49-0.94 /spl mu/m) channel, each a linear detector array of nine pixels. It is calibrated onboard with three tungsten lamps. Vicarious calibrations using ground targets of known reflectance and a cross-calibration with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) augment the onboard calibration. One of AIRS Vis/NIR's principal supporting functions is the detection of low clouds to flag these conditions for atmospheric temperature retrievals. Once clouds are detected, a cloud height index is obtained based on the ratio (channel 2 - channel 3)/channel 1 that is sensitive to the partitioning of water vapor absorption above and below clouds. The determination of the surface solar radiation flux is principally based on channel 4 broadband measurements and the well-established relationship between top-of-the atmosphere (broadband) radiance and the surface irradiance.


This study examines the relationship between second language vocabulary and learning in terms of productive vocabulary and learning style. Overall, second language learners tend to follow a predictable pattern when they acquire vocabulary. More common words are acquired before less frequent ones. However, individuals display idiosyncratic paths in lexical development. In this study learning style is examined in order to understand whether lexical developmental patterns can be associated with particular learning strengths and weaknesses. The central argument put forward in this thesis is that learning style can help to understand how L2 learners differ in their acquisition of lexis for productive use.
Learners were tested for a pre-disposition towards memory or analysis in learning style and their vocabulary was measured via written texts for lexical rarity and the extent to which learners avoid repetition (diversity). The main findings show that at low proficiency memory correlates with lexical rarity, but at higher proficiency and greater analysis there is less variability of function words. Lexical diversity, which is influenced by sentence structure, is more stable with learners who are strong in language analysis. Over time, analytical learners tended to gain rarer words. Individual lexical trajectories over several points in time highlight the variability and stability of lexical profiles in relation to memory and analysis. Task topic influences lexical rarity whereas diversity is relatively independent. There was no direct relationship found between holistic quality ratings of texts and quantitative measures of lexical frequency or diversity; however, the results suggest an indirect relationship with language analysis.
The discussion of the results brings to light the heterogeneous nature of L2 lexis and how this interacts with learning style. The results also lend support to a Dynamic Systems Theory of SLA (de Bot et al, 2007); in particular, how variability is a developmental phenomenon which helps us to understand how lexis is assembled in response to local task conditions in real time. The pedagogical implications of these findings are also discussed and recommendations are made to help learners notice and restructure their language.


The purpose of the current study was to explore potential differences in pre- and post-concussion performance on a computerized neurocognitive concussion test between African American and White high-school and collegiate student-athletes. A prospective case-control design was used to compare baseline and 2- and 7-day post-concussion computerized neurocognitive performance and symptoms between 48 White and 48 African American athletes matched for age, gender, and concussion history. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment Cognitive Test (ImPACT) version 2.0 (NeuroHealth System, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) computer software program was used to assess neurocognitive function (i.e., verbal and visual memory, motor processing speed, and reaction time) and concussion symptoms. Regardless of race/ethnicity, there were significant decrements in computerized neurocognitive performance and increased symptoms following a concussion for the entire sample. African Americans and Whites did not differ significantly on baseline or post-concussion verbal memory, visual memory, reaction time, and total reported symptoms. However, African American participants were 2.4× more likely to have at least one clinically significant cognitive decline on ImPACT at 7 days post-concussion and scored lower at 7 days post-concussion compared with baseline on processing speed than White participants. The authors concluded that the baseline ImPACT test was culturally equivalent and construct valid for use with these two racial/ethnic groups. However, in contrast, the findings support deleterious performance for the African American athletes compared with the White athletes on the ImPACT post-concussion evaluation that is of critical clinical relevance and warrants further research.


95% of all honey produced in Chile is exported as a bulk commodity. This means that more than 10,000 individual beekeepers from around the country are combining together their product, homogenizing it, irradiating it, and selling it to middlemen who sell it at a fluctuating world price. At the same time a terroir culture is developing around honey, meaning that increasingly consumers place value on the individual flavors and characteristics that make honey such a placebased olfactory experience. To investigate the theme of added-value in honeys, I use the case study of the O'Higgins region of central Chile. My qualitative methods complimented an ongoing project to quantify and certify the specific properties of the region's honeys. Specifically, I examined the possibility for api-tourism; a tourist route based on different honey types and consumer interactions with artisanal beekeepers in the rural countryside. I found that there is a strong possibility for success based on existing natural and cultural resources and stakeholder interest. The end result was a proposal for further action, including an interactive map and marketing concept for a regional honey brand. Katharine Shiffler La Ruta de la Miel


The federally listed Michaux's sumac (Rhus michauxii Sarg. [Anacardiaceae]) is one of the most endangered shrubs in the southeastern US. The endangered status of this fire-adapted species may be primarily attributed to fire suppression. Many hard-seeded plants in fire-adapted ecosystems can survive high temperatures and germinate in response to scarification caused by high fire temperatures. Unfortunately, little is known about the germination strategy of Michaux's sumac. Using seeds collected from Virginia Army National Guard, Maneuver Training Center, Fort Picket, that were subsequently manually scarified, we discovered that imbibition of intact seeds was prevented by endocarp impermeability. We then examined if dry heat, as an analogue for wildfire, could be used to break this physical dormancy. Replicated (n = 3) dry heat treatments applied at 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 °C (140, 176, 212, 248, and 284 °F) for 5 and 10 min durations, as well as a nontreated control, yielded no germination after 4 wk. All seeds were subsequently manually scarified. During the next 4 wk, a range of 47.8 ± 4.8 to 56.7 ± 12% germination was observed for scarified seeds of the 60 and 80 °C (at 5 and 10 min) treatment groups, not significantly different than the 61.6 ± 6.2% germination observed with scarified control seeds. Very low germination was observed when seeds were exposed to 100 °C for 5 min; all longer duration and higher treatment temperatures were lethal.


Phase dominance refers to the observation that the phase of the Fourier transform of an image carries more information than does the amplitude. We show that apparent counterexamples to phase dominance are not in fact counterexamples since the phase functions used are not independent of the true phase function. Phase dominance appears to be a general phenomenon.


Background: Delirium continues to be prevalent. Hence, ICU nurses are facing daunting challenges in providing timely and accurate delirium assessment.
 Aim: This study aimed to determine the barriers, perceptions, and delirium assessment practices of ICU nurses and explore which of selected participants' characteristics, assessment practices, delirium education, barriers, and perceptions are significantly associated with ICU nurses' frequency of assessing patients with delirium during an average 12 hours shift.
 Materials and Methods: This study is participated by 136 ICU nurses from two public tertiary hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Descriptive cross-sectional method was used in this survey using self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rho were used in analyzing the data.
 Results: The study has 75.5% response rate. Most of the participants acknowledged presence of ICU sedation protocol specifying frequency in delirium assessment. Delirium is assessed in varying frequencies during 12 hours shift. ICU nurses considered difficulty in interpreting intubated patients, complexity in using delirium assessment tools as top barriers. They preferred using patient's ability to follow commands in assessing delirium over other delirium assessment tools. Almost 40% never received delirium education.
 Conclusion: There are gaps in delirium assessment practices, perceptions, and education that can be managed. ICU nurses need educational interventions as well as support mechanisms to enhance their confidence and competencies in assessing delirium. Institution-based delirium assessment protocols needed to be revisited and appraised for its appropriateness and applicability in current times and determine if updating is needed.


Alluvium, which is composed of sand, rubble, stone and soil, is carried by stream and rivers into harbors, bays and dams. Transported alluvium is accumulated as the time went by at the bottom and causes decrease in depth level. Degirmendere watershed receives lasting and heavy precipitation. This precipitation occasionally causes overflowing of the Degirmendere Stream and therefore causes flood and heavy erosion. In this study, images belonging to the years 2000, 2003 and 2008 were determined using satellite. In this, alluvium resulting from the erosion is carried by the Degirmendere Stream into the Black Sea and discharged from the closer district into the harbor entrance of Degirmendere. This is done in comparison with previous years because of the Black Sea Coastal Road construction. Three dimensional map (shaded relief) showing submarine topography of Trabzon Harbor was made and compared with the map made in 2000 using the same method. In the conducted application, horizontal position data were determined with RTK GPS and also depths were measured with prepared mechanical sounding lead. A total of seven sections on the digital maps obtained with the sounding measurements conducted in the years of 2002 and 2009 were transected with the aim of investigating the transformation that is occurring in time. Transformation was examined by forming graphics from the transected sections. Increase was observed in depth values in the courses frequently used by heavy tonnage ships, but decrease in depth was determined in the area where small ships and boats existed. Key words:


Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is a simple and effective feature transformation technique that aims to improve discriminability by maximizing the ratio of the between-class variance to the within-class variance. However, LDA does not explicitly consider the sequential discriminative criterion which consists in directly reducing the errors of a speech recognizer. This paper proposes a simple extension of LDA that is called sequential LDA (sLDA) based on a sequential discriminative criterion computed from the Gaussian statistics, which are obtained from sequential maximum mutual information (MMI) training. Although the objective function of the proposed LDA can be regarded as a special case of various discriminative feature transformation techniques (for example, f-MPE or the bottom layer of a neural network), the transformation matrix can be obtained as the closed-form solution to a generalized eigenvalue problem, in contrast to the gradient-descent-based optimization methods usually used in these techniques. Experiments on large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese) and noisy speech recognition task (2nd CHiME challenge) show consistent improvements from standard LDA due to the sequential discriminative training. In addition, the proposed method, despite its simple and fast computation, improved the performance in combination with discriminative feature transformation (f-bMMI), perhaps by providing a good initialization to f-bMMI.


In the event of an emergency, the timely and appropriate first-aid operations provided by non-medical personnel at the scene of accident before the arrival of medical professionals are crucial to help minimize the frequency in accidental induced deaths and injuries. Thus, it is essential to provide the effective first-aid training to the public. College students are considered to be the ideal candidates due to their excellent learning ability, maturity as well as the strong adaptability. Not as in most advanced countries, little education on the first aid is currently offered in Chinese universities especially those non-medical institutes. To determine the feasibility of introducing the first-aid education into the school curriculum, here we reported the study on the efficacy of the one-day first-aid training at Wenzhou-Kean University (WKU), an American-Chinese joint education institute. The general survey was initially conducted among all the freshman (n = 620) students at WKU to identify their interests as well as demand for the first-aid education. Along with the one-day first aid workshop which included both the lecture and the operation sessions, the pre-post study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the workshop. The first-aid knowledge and skills as well as social awareness were judged before and after the training among the participants (Pre: n = 95; Post: n = 85). Results demonstrated that more than 95% of students appreciate the importance of first-aid training in universities indicating an extremely high demand. More than 40% students prefer to have the first-aid education as part of their curriculum. It also revealed that students lack professional knowledge towards the key first-aid skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The pre-post efficacy study suggested that participants' knowledge as well as skills have been significantly improved after the workshop. The correctness rate of objective questions for CPR was raised from 68.4% to almost 100%; For Heimlich method, the accuracy rate was elevated about 2.4 fold. We also surveyed the social awareness among the participants. The ratio of people who are willing to take a leading role in emergency rescue at the accidental site with the absence of medical professionals increased from 11.5% to 23.2%. To conclude, our study indicates that the one-day first-aid workshop not only significantly improved students' skills and knowledge, but also raised their social awareness. Therefore, there is an urgent need to implement first-aid education into the curriculum of WKU and other Chinese Universities.


Wireless sensor network technologies have gained significant popularity in home automation due to their scalability, system mobility, wireless connectivity, inexpensive and easy commissioning. Thread, a new wireless protocol aiming for home automation, is proposed by Google Nest and standardized by Thread Group.This thesis presents a thorough experimental evaluation of Thread wireless protocol with the hardware platform from NXP. The test plan, implementation, and analysis of the experiments is discussed in details, including signal coverage, unicast and multicast latency, reliability, and availability. Furthermore, a system level model considering the delay in different layers for the latency of Thread mesh network is presented, and validated by the experimental results. Finally, a friendly tool was developed for installers to estimate the latency of Thread mesh network.


Investigations into demand side reductions have been encouraged by the South African electricity utility, Eskom, in sectors with high electricity consumption, such as the cement industry. The South African cement industry is responsible for 5% of the electrical consumption for the mining and industrial sector. It has also been estimated that by 2020 this sector will be ranked fifth for energy savings potential. This paper investigates the potential of a load-shifting (altering energy use method) scheme to reduce evening peak loads and save electrical costs on a raw mill at a South African cement plant. A spread sheet-simulation was performed, which showed that six hours of load-shifting could be achieved, without adversely affecting production. This was corroborated by a pilot study where the load was successfully shifted for six hours over a week-long period. The specific raw mill would achieve a reduction in yearly electrical costs of 2% when employing this load-shifting strategy. The results, however, showed that cost-saving opportunities are highly dependent on the reliability of the mills and on the change in production demand. Therefore, load-shifting schemes have to be flexible on a daily basis to shift load whenever possible.


Plant names are the key to communicating and managing information about plants. This paper considers how providers of high quality technical plant name information can better meet the requirements non-botanical audiences who also rely on plant names for elements of their work. The International Plant Name Index, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families and The Plant List are used as examples to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of plant name resources from a non-expert user's perspective. The above resources can be thought of as botanists pushing data at audiences. Without closer engagement with users, however, there is a limit to their relevance and impact. The need to cover common names is a frequent criticism of existing resources. The Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS, www.kew.org/mpns ) is an example of how plant name resources can be adapted to better address the needs of a non-botanical audience. Some of the major challenges are outlined and solutions suggested.


AN INTEGRATED BEHAVIORAL MODEL OF HEALTHCARE UTLIZATION AMONG TRANSGENDER AND GENDER-NONCONFORMING ADULTS By Megan Elizabeth Sutter, M.S. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2017 Major Director: Paul B. Perrin, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology Transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in the United States experience significant marginalization due to stigma enacted at the structural, interpersonal, and individual levels. As a result, this population has reported increased behavioral and physical health needs, as well as unique barriers to healthcare. Moreover, TGNC individuals have reported greater experiences of childhood abuse compared to cisgender individuals. The cumulative experiences of stigma-related stressors and adverse childhood experiences put this population at risk for the development of mental and physical health problems, increasing need for health services. However, TGNC individuals have reported being denied medical care and postponing seeking care due to fear of discrimination, which may increase complications and severity of illness, and result in increased hospitalizations and healthcare costs. Utilizing the Andersen Behavioral Model of Health Services Use and Theory of Planned Behavior, the current study examined robust associations among stigma-related stressors, adverse childhood experiences, personal and physician-related enabling factors, mental, behavioral, and physical health needs, and healthcare utilization, intention, and delay among an online convenience sample of 109 TGNC adults in the United States. A series of multivariate and mediational analyses were conducted to determine the connections among predisposing factors, enabling resources, needs, health beliefs, and healthcare intention, delay, and behavior. Although predisposing factors were not directly associated with healthcare behavior, they were directly associated with healthcare delay. Moreover, mediation analyses indicated an indirect effect of victimization and adverse childhood events to decreased healthcare utilization and increased delay through mental health needs, internalized stigma, negative personal beliefs, perceived TGNC-inclusivity of healthcare providers, and finally, behavioral intention. Thus, the present study illuminated a possible cascade of detrimental effects that are initiated by stigmarelated stress and adverse childhood experiences through enabling resources, needs, and beliefs, that ultimately are associated with healthcare utilization intent, behavior, and delay. These findings highlight the need to address both TGNC individuals' timely use of care, and the quality of care they receive. It is imperative that future research takes a multi-level approach by creating and testing evidence-based interventions to improve both healthcare providers' competency, as well as for TGNC individuals' ability to coping with stressors.


Background: Influenza disease is one of the oldest medical problems, which is known to cause severe illness and high mortality rates, worldwide. In flu pandemics, medical and dental students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices are critical to save patients' life. Aims: To assess knowledge and attitude regarding swine flu among dental house surgeons in Belagavi city. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study conducted among dental surgeons of Belagavi city. Subjects and Methods: One hundred thirty-three participants were recruited in a convenient sampling cross-sectional survey. Pretested, self-reported questionnaire was used and results were analyzed applying fitting statistical tests. Statistical Analysis Used: Reliability of the questionnaire was checked using Cronbach's alpha which was found to be 78.4. Data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 software. Results: From the present study, it was seen that the participants do not have adequate knowledge regarding swine flu influenza. Conclusions: We concluded that dental house surgeons do not have sufficient knowledge about swine flu. It seems that traditional educational models are not efficient and government with other nongovernmental organizations should emphasize to advocate motivational education methods including health belief model and motivational interview at undergraduate levels. Younger students and dentists may have less motivation to change their attitude and behavior so that we can focus our interventions on these groups.


The objectives of this study were: a) to determine the anaerobic threshold (AnT) in soccer players with cerebral palsy and swimmers participant in the Sidney 2000 Paralympic Games and; b) to analyze the behavior of the AnT according to the class of the disabled athletes. 28 disabled athletes participated in the study: 11 soccer players with cerebral palsy (class: F36, F37 and F38) and 17 swimmers (14 men and three women) (class: S1 to S10 and B1). In soccer players, the AnT was determined by an incremental and intermittent protocol in a treadmill. The AnT was identified as the speed corresponding to 3.5 mM of blood lactate. In swimming, the AnT was determined by an incremental and intermittent protocol of 3 x 200 m. After each bout, there was blood collection, and by linear interpolation, the speed corresponding to 4 mM (AnT) was calculated. The maximal aerobic speed (Vamax) and the speed corresponding to the AnT presented a trend of improvement as of the class of the soccer player with cerebral palsy increased. However, the ratio between the speed of AnT/Vamax (approximately 80%) was similar between the classes. In swimming, the speed corresponding to 4 mM increased along with the class, indicating the limitation of functional capacity of the lowest class. However, the lactate concentrations in each percentage of maximal speed of 200 m was very similar between classes, and also that observed in able-bodied swimmers. It can be concluded that the class (and therefore the disability level) interferes in the aerobic functional capacity of disabled athletes. However, the blood lactate response to the submaximal exercise is similar between classes and also to the able-bodied athletes, suggesting the validity of the AnT for aerobic evaluation of swimmers and soccer players with cerebral palsy.


This paper discusses different schemes for providing Quality of Service (QoS) in cellular networks. Each scheme has its own algorithm to provide QoS and every scheme has its advantages and disadvantages. I have also dealt about an important aspect of QoS which is the Individual QoS (iQoS). iQoS measures the satisfaction rate per user and it is measured individually at each and every user terminal. Voice traffic is very delay sensitive and data traffic is loss sensitive. QoS schemes which try to incorporate both voice and data have to take into consideration this issue. I have also discussed the integration of WLAN/cellular networks in which the high data rate of the WLAN network and the high mobility of cellular networks are utilized effectively. Back to Raj Jain's Home Page


Objectives: This study aims to compare the extent of the spine curvatures in the sagittal plane during corrected sitting on a rehabilitation ball and during sitting on a chair without a backrest. Patients and methods: The study group consisted of 57 subjects (23 males, 34 females; mean age 24.7±2.3 years; range 20 to 32 years). The Moiré method was used to assess the body posture. The tests were conducted using the apparatus for computer assessment of the body posture MORA 4 Generation. The spine curvature was assessed in two positions: on a chair without a backrest and on a rehabilitation ball. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the depth of thoracic kyphosis in both positions (p=0.003). A greater depth of thoracic kyphosis was recorded in the sitting position on a chair (4.3±5.3°) than in the sitting position on a rehabilitation ball (0.3±7.0°). A statistically significant difference was observed between the values of GAMMA in two consecutive measurements (p=0.049). Higher values of this parameter were noted in the sitting position on a rehabilitation ball (33.8±22.6°) versus on a chair (26.5±22.8°). Conclusion: Sitting on a rehabilitation ball as a corrective and therapeutic exercise should be preceded by teaching the patient how to adopt the correct position. Then, rehabilitation balls can become an alternative to chairs.


ing and indexing Articles published in African Studies Review are indexed by CrossRef, EBSCO, Google Scholar, H.W. Wilson Humanities AbstractsTM; IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences; Microsoft Academic Search; MLA International Bibliography; ScopusTM; Social Science Electronic Publishing; the English Historical Review; Thomson-Reuters Social Science Citation Index/Arts and Humanities Citation Index/Journal Citation Report Permissions: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without permission in writing from Cambridge University Press. Policies, request forms and contacts are available at: cambridge.org/about-us/rights-permissions Permission to copy (for users in the USA) is available from Copyright Clearance Center http://www.copyright.com, email firstname.lastname@example.com. Reprints of individual articles may be ordered. For information on reprints, please contact Cambridge University Press. Postmaster: Send address changes in the USA, Canada, and Mexico to: African Studies Review, Cambridge University Press, Journals Fulfi llment Department, One Liberty Plaza, New York, NY 10006. Send address changes elsewhere to African Studies Review, Cambridge University Press, Journals Fulfi llment Department, University Printing House, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK. Cover: Cover design by Craig Malone. Cover image based on Bambara discharge-dyed mud cloth, from African Designs by Rebecca Jewell. A British Museum Pattern Book. London: British Museum Press, 1994, Plate 55. Used by permission. Printed in the United States of America African Studies Review The Journal of the African Studies Association


Interactions between number and space, exemplified by the SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect, are often taken as evidence for a privileged spatial representation of number. Naturally, research on the spatial representation of number has typically focused on spatial tasks. But in order to make inferences about numerical cognition more generally, one must take care to tease apart spatial mental representation from spatial action. The present study asked participants to judge the relative magnitude of numbers, and to respond by producing sounds of different pitches. There was a significant interaction between pitch and number magnitude, analogous to the interaction between space and number: participants were faster to produce "high" pitches in response to "high" numbers. Moreover, the strength of this effect was unrelated to the strength of the traditional SNARC. We argue that these results undermine the privileged status of space as a representational substrate for number.


We revise the inversion of acoustic travel times for the three-dimensional sound-speed structure below the solar NOAA Active Region 8243 of 1998 June. We benefit from recent progress in time-distance helioseismology that provides us with more reliable tools to infer subsurface solar properties. Among the improvements we implement here are the use of Born approximation-based travel-time sensitivity kernels that take into account finite-wavelength effects and thus are more accurate than the previously employed ray-path kernels, the inclusion of solar noise statistical properties in the inversion procedure through the noise covariance matrix, and the use of the actual variance of the noise in the temporal cross-covariances in the travel-time fitting procedure. Of these three improvements, the most significant is the application of the Born approximation to time-distance helioseismology. This puts the results of this discipline at the same level of confidence as those of global helioseismology based on inversion of normal-mode frequencies. Also, we compare inversion results based on ray-path and Born approximation kernels. We show that both approximations return a similar two-region structure for sunspots. However, the depth of inverted structures may be offset by 1 or 2 Mm, and the spatial resolution of the results is more accurately estimated with the more realistic Born sensitivity kernels. Finally, using artificial realizations of Doppler velocities of the quiet Sun, we are now able to estimate the statistical uncertainties of these inversion results.


A snapshot Image Mapping Spectrometer (IMS) with high sampling density is developed for hyperspectral microscopy, measuring a datacube of dimensions 285 × 285 × 60 (x, y, λ). The spatial resolution is ~0.45 µm with a FOV of 100 × 100 µm2. The measured spectrum is from 450 nm to 650 nm and is sampled by 60 spectral channels with average sampling interval ~3.3 nm. The channel's spectral resolution is ~8nm. The spectral imaging results demonstrate the potential of the IMS for real-time cellular fluorescence imaging.


Abstract. To study the influence of regional biomass burning emissions and secondary processes, ambient samples of fog and aerosol were collected in the Po Valley (Italy) during the 2013 Supersito field campaign. After the extent of fresh vs. aged biomass burning influence was estimated from proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometry (HR-ToF-AMS), two samples of fog water and two samples of PM1 aerosol were selected for ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) analysis. Molecular compositions indicated that the water-soluble organic matter was largely non-polymeric without clearly repeating units. The selected samples had an atypically large frequency of molecular formulas containing nitrogen and sulfur (not evident in the NMR composition) attributed to multifunctional organonitrates and organosulfates. Higher numbers of organonitrates were observed in aerosol, and higher numbers of organosulfates were observed in fog water. Consistent with the observation of an enhanced aromatic proton signature in the 1H-NMR analysis, the average molecular formula double-bond equivalents and carbon numbers were higher in the fresh biomass-burning-influenced samples. The average O : C and H : C values from FT-ICR MS were higher in the samples with an aged influence (O : C  =  0.50–0.58, and H : C  =  1.31–1.37) compared to those with fresh influence (O : C  =  0.43–0.48, and H : C  =  1.13–1.30). The aged fog had a large set of unique highly oxygenated CHO fragments in the HR-ToF-AMS, which reflects an enrichment of carboxylic acids and other compounds carrying acyl groups, highlighted by the NMR analysis. Fog compositions were more oxidized and SOA (secondary organic aerosol)-like than aerosols as indicated by their NMR measured acyl-to-alkoxyl ratios and the observed molecular formula similarity between the aged aerosol and fresh fog, implying that fog nuclei must be somewhat aged. Overall, functionalization with nitrate and sulfate moieties, in addition to aqueous oxidation, triggers an increase in the molecular complexity in this environment, which is apparent in the FT-ICR MS results. This study demonstrates the significance of the aqueous phase in transforming the molecular chemistry of atmospheric organic matter and contributing to secondary organic aerosol.


Pyrochlore materials in Bi2O3-ZnO-Ta2O5 ternary system were synthesized by solid-state reaction at 1050oC for 48 hours. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the material of composition Bi3Zn2Ta3O14 could be fully indexed on a cubic cell with a = 10.5437(9) A. A study on the phase formation mechanism indicated that Bi2O3 played an important role only in the initial stage of the formation of the pyrochlore phase. The subsolidus phase diagram of Bi2O3-ZnO-Ta2O5 in the region of the cubic pyrochlore has been determined at 1050oC. This phase forms a solid solution area that includes the ideal composition P, Bi3Zn2Ta3O14. Density measurement was used to identify the possible mechanism of solid solution formation. The solid solution area in the phase diagram can be described by the combination of two mechanisms: Bi3Zn2-xTa3O14-x and Bi3+yZn2Ta3-yO14-y, to yield the formula Bi3+yZn2-xTa3-yO14-x-y, -0.20 ≤ y ≤ 0.16 and 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.40. XRD in combination with neutron diffraction data were used for Rietveld Refinement for the elucidation of the crystal structure of selected materials. The results show that there is a degree of insensitivity of the refinement to certain changes in the cation content and the oxygen stoichiometry is refined to a value similar to the expected values.

Various possible sources of error and variation in permittivity measurements were investigated and the results showed that pellet density was the parameter that had the greatest effect on the determination of capacitance value. Optimisation of sintering conditions was carried out to obtain pellets with highest density and capacitance value. Cubic Bi3Zn2Ta3O14 (BZT) has e' of 58, dielectric loss (tan δ) of 0.0023 at 30oC and 1 MHz; temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) of -156 ppm/oC in the range of 30oC to 300oC at 1 MHz. Slight variations of permittivity and dielectric loss with compositions were observed in the solid solutions. Conductivities of the solid solutions are higher than that of BZT with activation energy, Ea, in the range of 1.55 – 1.67 eV. The structurally related monoclinic phase Bi2(Zn1/3Ta2/3)2O7 has e' of 62, tan δ of 0.0084 at 30oC and 1 MHz and TCC of +110 ppm/oC in the range of 30oC to 300oC at 1 MHz. The conductivity at 649oC is 6.68x10-6 ohm-1 cm-1 with Ea = 1.75 eV.

Chemical doping using divalent, tetravalent, trivalent, tetra/hexavalent and pentavalent cations was carried out in the search for better performance materials; only di-, tetra- and pentavalent dopants could be successfully introduced into BZT. Results show that permittivity and dielectric loss of di- and tetravalent doped solid solutions did not vary greatly with dopant concentration. On the other hand, ' and tan greatly increased or decreased with variations in composition for pentavalent doped materials. Conductivities of the doped materials are higher than that of Bi3Zn2Ta3O14 with Ea of 1.36 – 1.62 eV.
Elemental analysis using inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) confirmed the stoichiometric compositions of single phase materials. Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to identify functional groups of the materials and Raman spectroscopy was used as a complement to FTIR. Four absorption bands were observed in FTIR and Raman spectra which can be assigned to different bond stretching or bending modes. There is a correlation between the frequency of the absorption bands and dopant concentration in pentavalent doped materials. Thermal analysis showed no phase transition and weight loss in the temperature range of 35 to 1000oC. Scanning Electron Microscopy was performed to study the morphology of the materials. All the materials show grains of polyhedral shapes which are randomly distributed with visible open pores in the materials.


To achieve consistent solutions is an important goal in group decision making problems. However, the expression of preferences is often a very difficult task for the experts, specially in decision problems with a high number of alternatives and when experts use fuzzy preference relations to provide their opinions. This usually leads to situations where experts are not able to properly express all their preferences in a consistent way, that is, without contradiction. In this paper, to overcome this problem, we present a decision support system based on consistency criteria to aid experts to express their fuzzy preference relations in a more consistent way. The system works interactively with the expert by providing him/her recommendations on the preference values that he/she has not yet expressed. These recommendations are computed trying to maintain the expert's consistency level as high as possible.


1. Guidelines for Critical Thinking (Introduction). 2. Psychology and the Popular Press (How to Critically Read About Psychology). 3. Statistical Seduction (Statistics and Research). 4. Anatomy is Destiny--Or Is It? (Biological Bases of Behavior). 5. Is What You See What You Get? (Sensation and Perception). 6. Can Hypnosis Help Me Remember? (Altered States of Consciousness). 7. Conditioning and Advertising (Learning). 8. Biases in Memory (Memory). 9. IQ is Forever--Isn"t It? (Testing). 10. Understanding Your Own Motives (Motivation). 11. Evaluating Codependency. 12. Is Bibliotheraphy Helpful? 13. Social Influence Tactics (Social Psychology).


This thesis is based upon a case study of six higher education institutions (HEIs) and their 'framing' of commitment to widening participation. Using elements of Fairclough's (1995) critical discourse analysis, the thesis analyses the discursive strategies that the HEIs used to position their widening participation work in marketing literature and open day settings, as well as via policy documents and statements made by staff. Bernstein's (1990) notions of classification and framing are applied as a framework for understanding how widening participation work is presented as part of a 'whole institution' approach to marketing. The thesis argues that the discursive strategies of the pre-92 HEIs suggested a highly contingent approach to widening participation. Strong framing around standards and selectivity was coupled with weak framing of widening participation. The post-92 HEIs evidenced stronger framing of widening participation but this was positioned alongside a recruitment-oriented discourse of persuasion. Government policy appeared to have had a limited effect in terms of changing existing institutional cultures. It is recommended that the government enforce tighter regulation around widening participation work in HEIs; ensuring that widening participation is embedded into institutional structures and that marketing literature and open day settings reflect this more accessible ethos.


A highly original study that examines the central role played by women as mediums, healers, and believers during the golden age of spiritualism in the late Victorian era, "The Darkened Room" is more than a meditation on women mediums-it's an exploration of the era's gender relations. The hugely popular spiritualist movement, which maintained that women were uniquely qualified to commune with spirits of the dead, offered female mediums a new independence, authority, and potential to undermine conventional class and gender relations in the home and in society. Using previously unexamined sources and an innovative approach, Alex Owen invokes the Victorian world of darkened seance rooms, theatrical apparitions, and moving episodes of happiness lost and regained. She charts the struggles between spiritualists and the medical and legal establishments over the issue of female mediumship, and provides new insights into the gendered dynamics of Victorian society."


Introduction: There is practice variability in the treatment of patients with minor ischemic stroke with thrombolysis. We sought to determine which clinical factors physicians prioritize in thrombolysis decision-making for minor stroke using adaptive conjoint analysis. Methods: We conducted our conjoint analysis using the Potentially All Pairwise RanKings of all possible Alternatives methodology via the 1000Minds platform to design an online preference survey and circulated it to US physicians involved in stroke care. We evaluated 6 clinical attributes: language/speech deficits, motor deficits, other neurological deficits, history suggestive of increased risk of complication from thrombolysis, age, and premorbid disability. Survey participants were asked to choose between pairs of treatment scenarios with various clinical attributes; scenarios automatically adapted based on participants' prior responses. Preference weights representing the relative importance of each attribute were compared using unadjusted paired t tests. Statistical significance was set at α = .05. Results: Fifty-four participants completed the survey; 61% were vascular neurologists and 93% worked in academic centers. All neurological deficits were ranked higher than age, premorbid status, or potential contraindications to thrombolysis. Differences between each successive mean preference weight were significant: motor (31.7%, standard deviation [SD]: 9.5), language/speech (24.1%, SD: 9.6), other neurological deficits (16.6%, SD: 6.4), premorbid status (12.9%, SD: 6.6), age (10.1%, SD: 6.3), and potential thrombolysis contraindication (4.7%, SD: 4.4). Conclusion: In a conjoint analysis, surveyed US physicians in academic practice assigned greater weight to motor and speech/language deficits than other neurological deficits, patient age, relative contraindications to thrombolysis, and premorbid disability when deciding to thrombolyse patients with minor stroke.


This research explored the implementation of a technology-enhanced instructional model for interdisciplinary learning. The model was developed in a previous phase of this research via DBR in the context of higher-education. Our aim in the current phase was to extend the applicability of the model and refine its underlying design principles based on their implementation in three secondary schools. For this purpose, a research-practice partnership was established, which included researchers, practitioners from an educational non-governmental organization, school principals, and teachers. Three practitioner-teams, facilitated by one of the researchers, collaboratively designed their own technology-enhanced interdisciplinary learning environments, in which they adapted the instructional model. This paper presents a new type of principled practical knowledge (PPK) —enhanced principled instructional model— which was obtained by comparison between the practitioners' designs and the original, higher-education context design. The PPK broadened the partnership's understanding of ways to promote interdisciplinary learning. Furthermore, it has raised new perspectives that were not considered during the development of the model, thereby allowing deeper understanding of the notion of interdisciplinary learning. Thus, this study illustrates how the establishment of productive research-practice partnerships can serve as a powerful strategy for implementing and scaling educational innovations beyond the original DBR context.


This dissertation consists of three essays in empirical industrial organization. Chapter 1 introduces the three essays and describes their main results. In chapter 2, I examine consumer demand for variety. The consumption of a good typically creates satiation that diminishes the marginal utility of consuming more. This temporal satiation induces consumers to increase their stimulation level by seeking variety and therefore substitute towards other goods (substitutability across time) or other differentiated versions (products) of the good (substitutability across products). The literature on variety-seeking has developed along two strands, each focusing on only one type of substitutability. I specify a demand model that attempts to link these two strands of the literature. This issue is economically relevant because both types of substitutability are important for retailers and manufacturers in designing intertemporal price discrimination strategies. In chapter 3, which draws upon joint work with Peter Davis, we specify a new method of uncovering demand information from market level data on differentiated products. In particular, we propose a globally consistent continuous-choice demand model with distinct advantages over the models currently in use and describe the econometric techniques for its estimation. The proposed model combines key properties of both the discrete- and continuous-choice traditions: i) it is flexible in the sense of Diewert (1974), ii) it is globally consistent in the sense it can deal with entry and exit of products over time, and iii) incorporates a structural error term. In chapter 4, I examine market dominance and barriers to competition in financial trading venues. As of 1 November 2007, the Market in Financial Instruments Directive introduced venue competition in the European cash trading market. I argue that, although positive, the impact on the degree of actual competition may be limited due to two barriers to competition: i) direct network effects together with increasing returns to scale and ii) post-trading constraints.