Immune Therapy Could Treat Leukemias, Autoimmune Diseases, Transplant Rejection In studies with mice, treatment with a new monoclonal antibody that targets immune system B cells has shown considerable promise for treating leukemias, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, according to immunologists at Duke University Medical Center. B cells are the immune system's "arms factories," producing antibodies that target invading microbes for destruction. Abnormal B cell proliferation causes such leukemias as multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and such autoimmune diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The researchers, led by Professor and Chair of Immunology Thomas Tedder, Ph.D., reported their findings in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Oct. 10, 2005. Other co-authors of the paper were Norhito Yazawa, Yasuhito Hamaguchi and Jonathan Poe in Tedder's laboratory. The research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are those created to target a specific protein. In their studies, the Duke researchers used mAbs targeting a protein called CD19 that is found on the surface of B cells. As their experimental animal models, they used mice that had been genetically altered to produce a human version of the CD19 protein on their B cells. Their studies demonstrated that CD19 mAbs did tag B cells containing that protein, and that these B cells were then destroyed by the immune system. When the researchers administered the CD19 mAbs to the mice, they found that it greatly depleted mature B cells, as well as precursor and immature B cells in the animals. The depletion of precursor and immature B cells is important because aberrant versions of such cells cause a number of leukemias and other malignancies where new therapies are needed, said Tedder. And, they found that giving the mice CD19 mAbs, along with a mAb that targets another B cell protein, CD20, resulted in additive effects on B cell depletion. A CD20 mAb is now marketed as Rituximab. Importantly, the researchers found that the CD19 mAb treatment dramatically depleted growth of malignant B cell tumors in the animals. In ten mice transplanted with malignant B cell lymphomas, the CD19 mAb treatment prevented the appearance of circulating and tissue tumor cells for up to seven weeks in all the animals. In contrast, all untreated mice died from their tumors by three weeks. "We were actually quite shocked at how effectively CD19 mAb-treatments prevented malignant B cell expansion," said Tedder. "Treatment of such tumors in mouse models is extraordinarily difficult." Finally, when the researchers measured the effects of CD19 mAb treatment on blood levels of antibodies produced by B cells, they found a significant reduction in circulating antibody levels as well as B cell mediated "humoral immune responses" in the animals, including reductions in autoantibodies of the type produced in autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection. According to Tedder, the results of the CD19 mAb animal studies warrant rapid advance to clinical trials for treatment of B cell leukemias and other malignancies that derive from early B cell precursors and perhaps antibody-producing B cells. The CD19 mAbs may show broader effectiveness than Rituximab, he said, because CD20 is expressed only by mature B cells, in contrast to CD19, which is expressed by both mature and immature B cells and by antibody-producing cells. Tedder noted that in general such immunotherapies are likely to produce far fewer side effects than current chemotherapies —which can produce secondary malignancies, sterility and growth retardation in children who take them for leukemias. In particular, the researchers' finding that the treatment greatly depletes B cells in the peritoneum -- a major source of autoantibody-producing cells in mice -- could make it an effective treatment for autoimmune diseases such as lupus, said Tedder. "In addition, this treatment could greatly aid transplant patients who require multiple organ transplants because they develop a humoral antibody response to their transplanted organs, or they already have preformed antibodies that prevent them from accepting some donor grafts." In contrast to the potentially benign nature of the CD19 mAb treatment for such patients, current therapy involves removing the spleen and giving such patients chemotherapeutic treatment and plasmapheresis to remove antibodies from the blood. Tedder and his Duke colleagues are now developing plans for clinical trials at Duke of the CD19 mAbs in leukemias as well as autoimmune diseases. Also, a company that he founded, Cellective Therapeutics, Inc., will be further developing the therapy.


A very significant form of company activity determining its development and even survival is innovation activity. Raising capital for the implementation of innovation is an important but not the only factor in the introduction of innovation. Characteristics of innovation, and in particular the risk of failure, make for a significant difficulty in obtaining external financing, particularly from third parties, which is an obstacle to their development and implementation. The subject of discussion in the article is the hybrid formula mezzanine type of financing innovative projects implemented both in start-up companies and in already well established companies. The purpose of the article is to discuss the possibilities and to perform an analysis of the practices followed by mezzanine funds in Poland in respect to the innovation activities of Polish companies. Research presented in the article was conducted on the basis of information on investments performed by mezzanine funds in Poland.
Of particular importance for the innovativeness of the economy is to have companies from the SME sector, and therefore we also carried out research in this group. Innovations are often initiated in special purpose companies, start-up, etc., that operate in the SME sector. Therefore, the financing of innovation cannot be ignored as a thread of innovation in SMEs. The study involved interviews in several companies in the sector. The study concerned the possibilities of financing innovation involving mezzanine, knowledge of hybrid forms of financing, preparedness for hybrid financing. Studies are not representative, but are rather sounding a view to clarify any further research. Hypothesis: mezzanine financing, utilizing its specific benefits, is increasingly used to finance the gap in the financing of innovation, in particular special purpose companies in the SME sector. So the hypothesis raises two strands of research. The first concerned the financing of innovation as seen from the mezzanine fund. The second concerns the willingness of enterprises to use this form of financing. The first part of the article is devoted to the embeddedness of mezzanine financing. For that purpose, the specific innovation feature decisive to the possibility of external financing was indicated. Various investment strategies of Private Equity Funds on a global scale were presented in a way intended to highlight the meaning and characteristics of mezzanine financing. Also, on the basis of statistical data, the potential market for innovation financing in Poland was indicated. Subsequently the essence of mezzanine type financing and its potential to support development and innovation was presented. Upon this background, an analysis of the possibilities for financing innovation in startups and established companies was conducted. Also, examples of mezzanine financing that took place in Poland in recent years were presented. The article, therefore, is constructed in the form of deductive-inductive analysis.
The conducted research leads to the conclusion that there is a gradual development of mezzanine financing in Poland. The transactions are also diverse as to the industry sector and the size of the investment. There is also a noticeable lowering of the minimum quota of individual investments, which means that the popularity of this form of financing could increase. What needs to be noticed, however, is that mezzanine funds focus their activity on companies in good financial condition, which do not have the credit capacity for the implementation of all their development projects. They have the characteristics of a mature organization. So they have: a strategy, experienced management, good cash flow, good market position and growth potential.


PROBLEMS
Boxer that take part on contests regularly are characterized by high strains on the locomotor system. Especially the area of shoulder girdle and neck can be overused by the fighting posture and standard techniques, that are often associated with non-physiological patterns.

METHODS
Of 11 young boxers (age 14.6 +/- 0.6 years; 7.3 +/- 0.6 training units per week) and a control group (CG) of 52 male pupils (age 15.4 +/- 0.4 years) the static of head, shoulder girdle, and pelvis was detected by somatoscopy. Additionally, cyclical rotations of the cervical spine were measured using the 3-d-motion recording system CMS70 (Zebris, Germany) and the active range of motion was analysed.

RESULTS
In comparison to the CG, head and shoulder of the boxers were ventralised more often (p < 0.01). Furthermore, highly significant group differences in the bilateral position of the shoulder heights and the iliac crests were detected in the frontal plane. On average, the active maximal rotation of the boxers was decreased by 17.8 degrees (p = 0.006; d = 0.800).

DISCUSSION
Our study was able to detect significant differences in the analysed functional parameters of the locomotor system that may be explained by boxing specific strains and which are prerequisites of optimal performance. As long-term pathologic effects can not be excluded, adequate compensational exercises should be integrated in the training.


Initial-value problems for the generalized Burgers equation (GBE) ut+u betaux+lambdaualpha =(delta/2)uxx are discussed for the single hump type of initial data both continuous and discontinuous. The numerical solution is carried to the self-similar ``intermediate asymptotic'' regime when the solution is given analytically by the self-similar form. The nonlinear (transformed) ordinary differential equations (ODE's) describing the self-similar form are generalizations of a class discussed by Euler and PainlevA© and quoted by Kamke. These ODE's are new, and it is postulated that they characterize GBE's in the same manner as the Painlev equations categorize the Kortweg-de Vries (KdV) type. A connection problem for some related ODE's satisfying proper asymptotic conditions at x=±[infinity], is solved. The range of amplitude parameter is found for which the solution of the connection problem exists. The other solutions of the above GBE, which display several interesting features such as peaking, breaking, and a long shelf on the left for negative values of the damping coefficient lambda, are also discussed. The results are compared with those holding for the modified KdV equation with damping. Journal of Mathematical Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.


An experiment was executed at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh to observe the performance of two exotic edible fig cultivars in Bangladesh. Indian and Egyptian fig cultivars are exploited on the experiment. Both of the fig cultivars performed very well in the climatic condition of Bangladesh. Egyptian fig provide 68.3 fruit/plant, fruit length (49.2 mm) and diameter (50.2 mm), fruit weight (46.2 g) and brix (13.1%). On the other hand, Indian fig provided 103.0 fruit/plant, fruit length (37.6 mm) and diameter (41.2 mm), fruit weight (35.8g) and brix (10.7%). So, it is possible to cultivate fig in Bangladesh.


ABSTRACT A shape classification of sand particles according to thickness is obtained by sieving a sediment sample through a nest of several screens with slotted openings, the widths of which are smaller in each subjacent screen. The sample is first sieved through a pair of round-holed screens, the openings of which are nearly the same. This produces a subsample narrowly limited in particle size. It is shown that the shape distribution in the sediment fraction obtained through use of the round-holed screens is unbiased. The distributions of particle thickness in the individual slotted screen fractions are shown to be bell-shaped, skewed depending on location relative to the modal class, and overlapping to a degree that is predictable. In using the method, slotted screen fraction weights are converted to number of particles per fraction. These particles are distributed keeping the areas trader the individual distributions proportional to the corresponding number of particles. The numbers of particles per standard class interval of particle thickness are summed over the different distributions to yield the desired distribution of relative particle thickness for the sample.


Leptin is a small protein hormone that controls satiety and is produced by adipocytes. Obese people have increased levels of circulating leptin. Excessive leptin levels cause a break down in the control of leptin signaling pathways leading to increased angiogenesis, proliferation, cell migration, invasion, and anti-apoptotic events. Obesity and leptin signaling have been linked to cancer progression. Literature shows that LPrA2 is an effective leptin antagonist as it decreases proliferation of breast cancer cells in vitro. This project compares the effectiveness of LPrA2 like compounds in breast cancer cellline MDA-MB-468 (M-468 BCs). We hypothesize that the new peptide antagonists have shorter sequences than LPrA2 and could be more advantageous inhibitors of leptin signaling in BCs than the original LPrA2. During this study, we first tested toxicity of LPrA2 like peptides in MCF10A cell-line. Then we tested the effectiveness to inhibit leptin induce S-phase in BCs and compared them to LPrA2. M-468 BCs were treated with various compounds for 48 hours. Cell cycle staging was determined using a cellometer. Our results show that two of the new peptide antagonists were more effective in S-phase inhibition than LPrA2. We also expect that a combination of the new peptide antagonist and chemotherapy drug will inhibit proliferation in vitro. This study could lead to the development of future studies that test the efficacy of C6 and C8 using an in vivo mouse model.


Genetic and home chaos influences in early childhood have been independently associated with externalizing problems, characterized by inattentive, hyperactive, and aggressive behaviors. However, the Behavioral Genetics approach indicates that genetic and environmental influences, although independently effective, interact to produce behavior throughout development. Thus, this thesis uses two samples, the Early Growth and Development study (EGDS), n= 564, and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), n= 8,952, and two genetically-sensitive approaches, a parent-child adoption approach and a polygenic scoring approach, to examine how genetic influences and home chaos interact in early childhood (age 3-4) to predict externalizing problems later in childhood (age 7). Results indicate that, although home chaos is correlated with later externalizing problems, the effect is reduced in the context of earlier externalizing, possibly suggesting that home chaos is most salient for concurrent, not later, externalizing problems. In addition, genetic influences were not predictive of externalizing problems in either study, nor was the interaction of home chaos and genetic influences. This pattern of results suggests that, although home chaos may be an important factor for concurrent externalizing problems, other factors, e.g., parenting style and prenatal risk, may be more salient than home chaos, especially in interaction with genetic effects. Further, failure to find genetic influence in this thesis suggest that accounting for the broad scope of genetic influences on complex traits like externalizing and the specific genetic risk for individual externalizing phenotypes is important in attempts to find genetic influence and interaction.


The thesis considers the construction tender price index, an important area of
construction economics, and models are developed to fit the trends in this index.
Between 1980 and 1987, the UK Building Cost Index produced by the Building Cost
Information Service increased at an annual rate of 6.3% compared with Tender Price
Index 3.3% and Retail Price Index at 6.7% per annum. This significant disparity
between Tender Price and Building Cost Index is unexpected in view of the attributed
importance of input prices in the tender price formation. This suggests that other
factors apart from input prices may be responsible for the trends in building prices
generally. The thesis reviews the pricing strategies of construction contractors leading
to the conclusion that macroeconomic factors are equally important.
A univariate analysis of 24 potential indicators of tender price trends identified some
variables of importance. An analysis is described of these variables using the OLS
system of regression analysis. Single structural equation model of construction tender
price level is developed which offer structural explanation of the movements in the
index. Indicators of construction price (in real terms) produced by the structural
equation were found to be unemployment level, real interest rate, manufacturing
profitability, number of registered construction firms, oil crisis, building cost index,
construction productivity and construction work stoppages.
A Reduced-form model of construction price is developed that utilises simultaneous
equation models comprising construction demand, supply and equilibrium models -
the reduced-form models being generally regarded as having better predictive power
than structural equations. The model is validated by comparing its accuracy with
forecasts produced by two leading organisations in U.K. The out-of-sample forecast
errors of the reduced-form model are 2.78, 3.58, 4.28 and 5.59 RMSE percent over
0, 1, 2 and 3 quarter forecast horizons respectively, which are better than the Building
Cost Information Service (3.32, 5.29, 7.57 and 9.96 RMSE percent) and Davis,
Langdon and Everest (3.21, 5.01, 7.16 and 10.41 RMSE percent).


I Hagemann on the Emigre Economist What were the contributions of Jewish scholars to the development of American economics? What role did emigre economists play in the process of developing mathematical economics? These were the key questions Henry Spiegel asked at the end of his life. Indeed, Spiegel was one of a large number of European refugees who arrived in the United States between 1933 and the end of World War II, mainly but not exclusively from Nazi Germany and Austria. When he analyzed and assessed the various contributions by eminent Jewish intellectuals and refugee scholars to the subdisciplines of economics for the Jewish-American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia (Spiegel, 1992), the new ideas and different traditions that the Jewish scholars brought into the social structures that existed before their arrival, especially the merging with the American tradition, inspired Spiegel to return to his roots. Henry William Spiegel was born in Berlin, Germany, on October 13, 1911. Despite the financial setbacks connected to the early death of his parents, in 1930 he graduated from the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium, where he received a classical humanities education. After this, he studied law at the Universities of Heidelberg and Cologne, and attended the University of Berlin, where he received the Doctor of Laws degree in 1933. The anti-Jewish Nazi administration denied Spiegel his appointment as a lawyer, although he did pass the first state examination. For some time he made a living as a journalist, publishing, for example, two long newspaper stories on war economics and the debate about nationalization of the munitions industry in the Neue Zuercher Zeitung (July 8, 1936, and August 21-22, 1936). That same year he emigrated to the United States. Nearly two thirds of the 330 emigre economists addressed in Hagemann's and Krohn's research project (1998) ended up in the United States. Spiegel was a member of the cohort of emigre scholars who got their first academic training at German or Austrian universities but were still young enough and flexible enough to start all over again and obtain a second one in their new countries, typically the United States or the United Kingdom. Members of this group, including economists such as Richard A. Musgrave (born 1910), Sir Hans Singer (born 1910) and Wolfgang F. Stolper (born 1912), sometimes humorously refer to the fact that they have been "Emigrationsgewinner," meaning that despite all privations and problems of emigration - they were benefitting from "crossing traditions." Musgrave (1996, 1997) demonstrated how the German writers in the Finanzwisseschaft tradition benefitted from a broader perspective compared with the Anglo-Saxon public finance tradition. The English tradition developed as an integral part of standard economics and shared both its analytic rigor and its natural law bias. In Germany, the Anglo-Saxon approach was afforded a much less hospitable treatment than Finanzwissenschaft. The historical and administrative slant of the Fianzwissenschaft approach enjoyed high standing among the several branches of economics. Development economics emerged as a new economics subdiscipline at the end of World War II. This development can be identified with the migration and resettlement of the emigre economists who made the most important contributions. Whereas only ten out of one hundred listed in Blaug's (1985) Great Economists Since Keynes came from Germany and Austria (all emigrated in the 1930s),(1) the percentage of emigre scholars among the pioneers of economic development is three times higher. Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan (1902-1985) and Kurt Mandelbaum (Martin since 1947; 1904-1995) can be regarded as the "founding fathers." Albert O. Hirschman, H. W. Singer, Paul Streeten, and many others all made eminent contributions. This field was a virtual magnet for doctoral research during the 1950s. Whereas the full story still has to be written, there are at least two reasons for this high concentration. …


Do class action and other high profile lawsuits change corporate social behavior and create corporate social responsibility? While the answer is decidedly mixed, the litigation literature focuses on measures of legal compliance. Yet compliance is only one piece of the puzzle. In addition to choosing a compliance strategy, corporate actors can also deploy extra-legal behavior to respond to high profile litigation. This extra-legal behavior, by which I mean action taken in the shadow of the law, deserves additional scrutiny. Many have written about how litigation or regulation or the threat thereof can spark self regulation, but corporations manage a large toolbox of extra-legal tools of which self regulation is only one. This article identifies and investigates a different extra-legal response- the white wash. To take up this challenge of theorizing corporations' extra-legal toolbox, this paper begins by briefly explaining the interaction of reputation and corporate wrongdoing. I then provide a multi-element definition of an extra-legal white wash. As no uniform definition of "washing" yet exists, this article offers a useful focal point to unite the disparate studies across disciplines and substantive legal areas. In order to explore the underpinnings of a specific type of a white wash, this article highlights Wal-Mart's response to the Dukes class action litigation as a potential example of an extra-legal white wash. This includes a critical look at some recently undertaken policies and practices in the areas of hiring, promotion, and women's issues more generally. Finally, this paper addresses the normative implications of extra-legal white washing. If one believes an underlying grievance is legitimate, then extra-legal white washing seems inherently problematic. When such extra-legal white washing ultimately succeeds in changing the conversation, the hypocrisy may constitute an additional, though non-legally cognizable, harm to the aggrieved. Notwithstanding these very real harms, this paper also identifies some conditions under which normatively desirable extra-legal white washing is possible and may even grow to address the underlying grievances. The paper concludes by noting the role law has to play in not only instigating extra-legal white washes, but in regulating them as well. It speaks to the larger potential of and need for access to robust substantive law to identify and remedy grievances.


Much of today's public debate concerning Swedish school is about poor results and what steps and political actions should be taken to improve them. The Education Act sets clear requirements for systematic quality assurance at all levels of the school system. Some research and development in recent years has been conducted on school level. However, few studies have addressed the owner's responsibility concerning interpretation and organization of the systematic quality work. Schools Inspectorate's reports points to significant weaknesses in quality work at a large number of schools as well as municipalities/ school-owners. The owner's quality work – when it works - should be a prerequisite for schools to continuously improve their performance and quality "with established experience and on scientific basis ". I have therefore in this paper chosen to study quality work at owner level.Another interesting perspective in context of the public school debate, is about the question to which degree the political level currently "owns" the school debate concerning issues that in the first place is not politically goal-related but are implementation issues that are probably best performed and managed by professionals and supported in school research.Previous studies have also highlighted the problem of the dual responsibility between central and local government in which local governments (under the Local Government Act) sometimes come into conflict with the objectives of the national curriculum . There are also significant differences in size between Swedish municipalities/school-owners that compromise the statutory right to "equal education" for all students in Sweden.My findings in this paper shows an interesting correlation between organized quality work at owner level, and a long term development of school results. The paper also identifies previously highlighted problems concerning unclear roles and lack of confidence as critical factors for organizing a professional quality work that provides long term results.


The business world has moved from using trademarks — simple symbols identifying products — to brands — rich symbols that feed business strategy. At the same time, networked and empowered consumers are using brands, brand language, and branding strategies to make decisions about what they purchase, express preferences about how corporations conduct their business, and call for changes in corporate practices. These changes are the future of commerce. But trademark law has not kept pace with either.This Article argues that because brands are governed by trademark law, the full realization of brands as information resources is hindered. Current trademark law is blinkered and confused, and consequently fails to manage all the interests at stake in the modern business environment. This failure flows from a core misunderstanding: trademark law has not grasped that it is managing brands, not trademarks. To address this shortcoming, this Article develops a new theory of trademarks: brand theory. This theory explains riddles within current trademark doctrine and provides the foundation for a new normative approach to trademarks. It expands the current information-based understanding of trademarks to embrace the possibility that trademarks can be true information resources for all stakeholders in a brand — corporations, consumers, and communities — rather than vessels for only one side's views. In short, a brand theory of trademarks offers the opportunity to bring trademark law into the information age.


One of the biggest challenges in compiling a dictionary of a minority language is managing the large quantity of lexical data. Decisions about the format and content of the dictionary or the orthography typically evolve over the years that such projects usually take. This results in inconsistencies between older and newer entries. Revising the data for publication as a dictionary introduces further inconsistencies as does having multiple contributors and/or editors. Proofreading a lexical database takes a great deal of time and the richer its structure the more this is the case. The tools described in this presentation significantly reduce this effort. Tools developed for checking the consistency of the lexical database in the Iu Mien—Chinese—English dictionary project have proven extremely helpful. Two basic approaches are used: 1) use of a program written to check for likely errors that scans the lexical database and produces an error report that is used by a lexicographer to make appropriate corrections. 2) outputting the lexical data in alternate forms that make it easier for the lexicographer to spot problem areas. These alternative forms include the reverse indexes and views structured according to semantic domains. The Iu Mien—Chinese—English dictionary project, like many minority language dictionary projects, uses SIL's Toolbox software. It is very flexible software but its capabilities to enforce consistency are quite limited. Some parts of the approach described here are specific to MDF (Multi-Dictionary Formatter) lexical databases in Toolbox but will be equally useful for other MDF databases. Other parts are specific to each of the three languages involved but will be useful for non-Toolbox lexical databases. Every dictionary is unique and this applies not only to content of the entries but also the decisions about how entries should be arranged to suit the languages involved. Other decisions about the structure are likely to be made differently even in other dictionaries of the same languages. It is the way that each dictionary combines themes that are found in many dictionaries that makes them unique, e.g. to be root based or not, to have include subentries. Therefore our approach is to use a toolkit based approach to curating lexical databases. This allows checking techniques to be mixed and matched to suit the unique aspects of a lexical project. The checking software is written in Python and relies on the toolbox module in NLTK (The Natural Language Toolkit http://nltk.sourceforge.net).


Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) perform health promotion as part of routine practice. In addition, the regulating body for chiropractic educational institutions has a standard in place on the teaching of this subject matter in all accredited colleges. The largest chiropractic professional organization in the U.S. (the American Chiropractic Association) and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges also have position statements supportive of prevention and health promotion as part of practice. However, very little is known as to whether practicing chiropractors have the aptitude, willingness, competence or the infrastructure to appropriately address primary preventive issues with patients. Additionally, little is known regarding attitudes and beliefs among DC's in different regions of the country and whether demographic and cultural norms will affect the ability to meet the accrediting agency's charge.
This study applies the Ecological Theory of health promotion to design a survey of attitudes, beliefs and practices of chiropractors in Alabama. Results indicate that although some health promotion practices are performed, many recommended screenings or procedures are not. In addition, though most clinicians agreed that public health measures should be a part of practice, in many cases they reported they did not perform them routinely. Further education and investigation are needed as to how chiropractors can be more involved in prevention and promotion of health as part of routine practice, including removal of actual and perceived barriers to this practice.


The U.S. government subsidizes retirement saving through 401(k) plans with $61.4 billion in tax expenditures annually, but the question of whether these tax incentives are effective in increasing saving remains unanswered. Using longitudinal U.S. Social Security Administration data on tax-deferred earnings linked to the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the project examines whether the "catch-up provision," which was enacted in 2001 and allows workers over age 50 to contribute more to their 401(k) plans, has been effective in increasing earnings deferrals. Compared with similar workers under age 50, the study finds that contributions increased by $540 more among age-50-plus individuals who had approached the 401(k) tax-deferral limits prior to turning 50, suggesting that the older individuals respond to the expanded tax incentives. For this group, the elasticity of retirement savings to the tax incentive is quite high: a one-dollar increase in the tax-deferred limit leads to an immediate 49-cent increase in 401(k) contributions.


We can predict how an object would look if we were to see it from different viewpoints by imagining its rotation. This essential human ability, called mental rotation (MR), guides individuals' actions by constantly updating their environmental consequences. It is, however, still under debate whether the way in which our brain accomplishes this operation is dete r mined by the type of stimulus or rather by a mental strategy. Here we present neuropsychological evidence sustaining the view that what matters is the type of strategy adopted in MR. Thus, independently of the type of stimulus, patients with left hemisphere lesions showed a selective deficit in MR as a consequence of their manual activity, whereas patients with right hemisphere lesions were found impaired in MR by means of a visual strategy. We conclude that MR is achieved by recruiting different strategies, implicitly triggered or prompted at will, each sustained by a unilateral brain network.


The article presents the results of a numerical analysis of the flow conditions in the air distribution element in a combined refrigerator and freezer. A numerical analysis was carried out using the boundary conditions identified through an experiment. The article includes an analysis of the impact of the mesh type and the used turbulence models on the profile of the air flow velocity in the outlet openings of the used distribution element. The required ratio of the volumetric flow rates of the air absorbed by the fan, for the smaller to the larger outlet openings, should be 1:2.2. This air distribution ratio was monitored using three turbulence models: the SST model, the k -  model and the RNG model, and two types of elements: tetrahedron and hexahedron, or combinations thereof. The obtained results were used as the basis for a modification of the geometry of the distribution element itself, and a concurrent modification of the size of the gap between the impeller and the internal space of the


White matter fibers connect and transfer information among various gray matter regions of the brain. Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DMRI) allows in-vivo estimation of fiber orientations. From the estimated orientations, a 3D curve representation of the trajectory of fibers can be reconstructed in a process known as tractography. Automatic classification of these \tracts" into classes of anatomically known fiber bundles is a very important problem in neuroimage computing. In this thesis, three automatic fiber classification methods are proposed. The first two are based on combining neuroanatomical priors with density-based clustering. The first method includes brainstem heuristics but the second is more general and can be applied to any fiber pathway in the brain. Further, the second method introduces a novel fiber representation, Neighborhood Resolved Fiber Orientation Distribution(NRFOD), that represents a tract as a set of histograms that encode the distribution of fiber orientations in its neighborhood. The third method utilizes the NRFOD representation to directly map a tract to a probability estimate for each bundle class in a supervised classification framework. A practical training and validation set creation methodology is proposed. Additionally, the thesis includes statistical significance tests to investigate whether the structural change between pre-operative and post-operative fiber bundles after a tumor resection operation are related to the change in patient's cognitive performance scores. To this end, a fiber bundle to fiber bundle registration method and various quantitative measures of the structural change are proposed. We present results over DMRI data with clinical evaluations of 30 patients with brainstem tumors.


Insect metamorphosis is relatively easy to explain at a superficial level, but a deep understanding of the concept reveals a complex array of interrelationships, most importantly those that address evolution. This is significant because, in biology, evolution is considered to be a central theme. Participants for this study were selected from grades 5, 7, 9, and 11 according to low, middle, or high achievement levels in their science classes, and to scores on a national achievement test. The research incorporated a three-level response strategy in order to ascertain more completely students' knowledge of insect metamorphosis, and to better suggest how that knowledge could give insight into their understanding of evolution. First, a series of scientifically accurate line drawings depicting grasshopper and butterfly metamorphic stages probed understanding of basic concepts. Second, concept circle diagrams identified and explored students' concept clusters involving insect metamorphosis. Third, clinical interviews involving direct observation of insect metamorphosis in. vivo assessed the degree of integration of two clusters of insect metamorphosis concepts; metamorphic and evolutionary. In formulating this study's research questions, the theoretical bases of prescientific conceptions and meaningful learning, as well as histories of science and entomological literature were accessed. Specific questions addressed by this research were: (1) What major alternative conceptions do students hold concerning insect metamorphosis?; (2) How does students' understanding of insect metamorphosis change across grade levels?; (3) Are students able to give evolutionary explanations for insect metamorphosis? The major alternative conceptions of public school students taking part in this study about insect metamorphosis fell into five major categories: visual stage recognition, stage terminology, characteristics of stages, factors influencing insect metamorphosis, and types of metamorphosis. No increase in student understanding of insect metamorphosis across grade levels was evidenced from the stage picture data. The concept circle diagram data, however, showed an increase in understanding from grade five to grade eleven. The vast majority of the students were unable to give an evolutionary explanation for insect metamorphosis. Findings suggest that direct entomological experiences may increase pupils' understanding of both insect metamorphosis and evolution.


3D perception of object shapes from RGB image input is fundamental towards semantic scene understanding, grounding image-based perception in our spatially 3dimensional real-world environments. To achieve a mapping between image views of objects and 3D shapes, we leverage CAD model priors from existing large-scale databases, and propose a novel approach towards constructing a joint embedding space between 2D images and 3D CAD models in a patch-wise fashion – establishing correspondences between patches of an image view of an object and patches of CAD geometry. This enables part similarity reasoning for retrieving similar CADs to a new image view without exact matches in the database. Our patch embedding provides more robust CAD retrieval for shape estimation in our end-to-end estimation of CAD model shape and pose for detected objects in a single input image. Experiments on in-the-wild, complex imagery from ScanNet show that our approach is more robust than state of the art in real-world scenarios without any exact CAD matches.


Compressing a small quantity of powder to shape a tablet has been finished trillions of times through myriad pharmaceutical companies. Technical innovations in tablet compression machinery have progressed manufacturing fees to the factor where more than 500,000 drugs in step with hour are viable. Forte capsules were crafted for sublingual, buccal, rectal, and vaginal healing use. Launch of the energetic drug element may also variety from a few seconds for hastily disintegrating tablets to approximately 24 hours for controlled or sustained launch products as they transit the complete length of the gastrointestinal machine. in addition, compressed drugs can be meant to be used in analytical or diagnostic packages, or dissolved in drinks previous to ingestion. As we attempt to deliver gold standard first-class compressed pill merchandise, attention can be focused on activities achieved previous to the compression step, at some point of the compression operation itself, and additionally on the performance characteristics required of the drugs after their creation. in preference to speak the activities so as of prevalence, we will perceive the goals, discuss the final effects intended, and then paintings backward to establish the intermediate steps wished to complete with the dreams intended.


Mending, re-design, and altering are alternatives for prolonging the use period of clothing. It is a common assumption that nobody mends clothing anymore in Western societies. This paper studies Norwegian consumers' clothing mending and making practices. We ask how common the different mending and making activities are, has this changed during the past several years, who are the clothing menders and makers, and further, are these practices related to consumers' environmental opinions? We build on three quantitative surveys in Norway from 2010, 2011, and 2017. Many consumers do mend their clothing at least occasionally, especially the simpler tasks, such as sewing on a button and fixing an unravelled seam. Women and the elderly are more active in making and mending, whereas the young are bit more likely to make something new out of old clothing. The mending activities were correlated with respondents' environmental opinions. Mending clothes is more common than is usually assumed. Knowledge of current practices and barriers for clothing mending enables us to recommend measures that can potentially increase the use time of clothing. These results can be beneficial in clothing design, home economics, and crafts education as well as understanding consumer behavior and making policies that aim at environmental improvements within clothing consumption.


Recent critics of Elizabeth Stoddard's The Morgesons (1862) inevitably take note of the scars that mark Cassandra Morgeson's cheek. These scars, most critics claim, are symbolic of Cassandra's burgeoning sexuality, as it is evidenced in her passionate, yet unconsummated, relationship with her married cousin, Charles. The carriage accident in which Charles dies puts an abrupt end to the adulterous relationship, but also results in the scars that figure so prominently in Cassandra's sense of self throughout the remainder of the novel. At the very least, critics see the scars as "an emblem of the encounter" with Charles (Matlack 290). Sybil Weir claims that Cassandra's scars "signify her victory over a society which proclaimed women sexual imbediles and which would automatically condemn Cassandra for loving adulterously" (435). Weir points out that Cassandra's scars, "the visible evidence of her sexual past," become part of her fiance's attraction to her (435). Susan K. Harris adds that Cassandra's "scars ultima tely aid rather than hinder her in finding a husband and signify her discovery of her own capabilities" (163). Despite these affirmative interpretations of Cassandra's scars, the marked female body is not always read as a consistently positive symbol in The Morgesons. Tattooed on the arm with the initials of her lover, Cassandra's friend, Helen, has been interpreted as a woman eager to be possessed by a man. For example, Sandra A. Zagarell notes that "Helen exhibits the yearning to be defined through a man which had marked Cassandra's own ambivalent attraction to Charles, for Helen has tattooed her fiance's initials onto her wrist" (50). Many other critics ignore the issue of Helen's tattoo, apparently regarding it as irrelevant to the rest of the novel. However, critics who dismiss the theme of tattooing overlook an essential element of The Morgesons: Cassandra's assertion that her scars are a form of tattoo. Taking this assertion as my point of departure, I propose that the female body has been misread in The Morgesons. With an understanding of the history of tattooing and the radical textual potential of tattoos, we can recognize in Stoddard's use of the marked female body a more thorough exploration of female sexuality, identity, and agency in mid-nineteenth-century America. Positioned within a history of tattooing in the United States, Stoddard's decision to "tattoo" her female characters appears remarkable. Due to the popularity of travel narratives during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, most Americans were aware of the practice of tattooing, as well as the fact that women in indigenous cultures were frequently tattooed. The description of tattoos became commonplace in travel writing beginning with the posthumous publication of the journals of Captain James Cook in 1784. Cook is said to have introduced the word "tattoo" into the English language, from a Polynesian word meaning "striking" or "beating." Cook is also known for having returned from the South Pacific with Omai, a tattooed islander who was exhibited throughout England until his return home in 1776 (Bogdan 297). Similar exhibitions of tattooed indigenous people were staged in American museums and freak shows throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. White men with tattoos--usually men who had been sailors--began exhibiting themselves in the United States in the 1840s. During the Civil War, soldiers and sailors procured the services of traveling tattoo artists such as Martin Hildebrandt (Sanders 16). Yet other than a brief fad among the upper classes in both England and America, Western white women did not, in general, participate in the phenomenon. It was not until the 1880s that the infamous "tattooed lady" became a regular feature of the American subculture of fairs and carnivals: Nora Hildebrandt, the daughter of Martin Hildebrandt and the first known tattooed lady, appeared in 1882, twenty years after the publication of The Morgesons (Mifflin 10). …


The Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) is a new teacher rated instrument to assess psychopathic personality traits in children. This is the first study to test the psychometric properties of the Dutch CPTI. Teachers completed the CPTI for 287 3- to 7-year old-children. Results from confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed 3-factor structure of the CPTI. The CPTI total score and three factor scores were internally consistent and showed the expected correlations with external criterion measures that have been linked to psychopathic personality, including conduct problems, proactive and reactive aggression, and temperament. This study also provides novel evidence that CPTI factor scores were positively related to an alternative measure of callous-unemotional traits, thereby supporting the criterion validity of the CPTI scores. In conclusion, this study replicates and extends prior tests of the CPTI in Sweden and suggests that the Dutch version of the CPTI holds promise as a teacher rated tool for assessing psychopathic traits in childhood.


Statistics has been recognised as one of the most anxiety-provoking subjects to learn in the higher education context. Educators have continuously endeavoured to find ways to integrate digital technologies and innovative pedagogies in the classroom to eliminate the fear of statistics. The purpose of this study is to systematically identify students' perspective of using cooperative learning in a flipped statistics classroom by utilising Q-methodology, which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Forty-five students who had participated in a 16 week course were interviewed and asked to rank 30 statements according to their relative importance. Three distinctly different factors that represented groups of participants with similar views were extracted. All groups identified cooperative learning as an effective instructional strategy in flipped classrooms. It is concluded that students' concerns were reflected in these multiple perspectives; therefore, individual levels of support should be provided.


Measuring the per-flow traffic in large networks is very challenging due to the high performance requirements. In addition to that, if traffic is measured at multiple points in the network at the same time, it becomes necessary to merge the observations in order to obtain network-wide statistics. When doing so, packets must be accounted for only once, even if they traverse more than one measurement point. Today's standard technique, sampling-based traffic accounting, results in large approximation errors. Here, we describe an approach named Distributed Probabilistic Counting (DPC). DPC is based on a probabilistic data representation. It provides accurate traffic statistics at very low per-packet effort, and is able to merge measurement from multiple network locations while counting each distinct packet only once.


Introduction: Poroscopy is a method of identification in which the characteristics of sweat pores are compared from different aspects. These pore openings are present along the friction ridges found on the distal end of digits, palms and soles in the hands and feet. Materials amd Methods: This study enrolled 100 Iranian males from the Fars family who resided in Khorasan Razavi Province. The average age of participants was 20 years. Pictures of their finger tips and tri-linear A positions of both hands were taken using a Dino-Lite-313 puls and Dino-capture software. Then circle areas of 80l16-5l12 mm2 were considered in all pictures and the numbers of pore ducts of the sweat glands that occurred in these given areas were counted. The results were analyzed by Minitab Statistical Software. The finger and palm printing method was used in order to complete the sampling process. The size, number, position and relative distance of the pores on the fingers and toes were examined in detail. Results: Evaluation of the qualitative results and comparison with the findings of other studies showed morphological variety within the sweat pores of the Fars family of the Iranian population. Conclusion: The variance in morphology and density of these pore canals can probably represent a foundation for classifying humans or applying the same in biological anthropology.


Introduction. Endometriosis with different stages of severity affects approximately 5% of women. It can involve the ovaries, the pelvic peritoneum, the pouch of Douglas (POD), the rectum, the rectosigmoid junction, the rectovaginal septum (RVS), the uterosacral ligaments (USL), the vagina and the bladder. The ultrasound evaluation is the firsthand method to detect ovarian endometriosis, but recently it has proven its value in the diagnosis of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). Materials and method. We have evaluated the medical database and international guides regarding ultrasound examination of DIE. Results. Recent data prove that the purpose of ultrasound examination of a woman suspected of endometriosis is to explain the main symptoms, to identify the lesions and to evaluate the grade of severity before choosing the appropiate conservatory or surgical means of therapy. Using transvaginal ultrasound as the first means of diagnosis, the examiner must first evaluate the uterus and adnexa. Ovarian endometriomas are frequently associated with other endometriosis-specific lesions such as adhesions and DIE. The second step is to look for "soft markers" and to test the mobility of the ovaries. The presence of these signs increases the chance that DIE and adhesions are to be found. By applying pressure between the uterus and ovaries, one can test whether the ovaries are fixed to the uterosacral ligaments, medially or laterally to adjacent structures. The third step is the evaluation of the pouch of Douglass using the sliding sign. The fourth and final step is to search for DIE nodules in the anterior and posterior compartments of the pelvis. Conclusions. Transvaginal ultrasound is the firsthand method of evaluating patients with ovarian endometriosis and DIE. The prediction of severe forms of DIE, as well as the obliteration of the pouch of Douglas are essential in planning a multidisciplinary surgical approach.


Erica Burman's book Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (DDP), which appeared in first edition in 1994 and in second edition in 2008, critically appraises mainstream approaches to child development, using feminist and post-structuralist theory. In the book, Burman (1994, 2008a) examines the historical contingencies and cultural assumptions that form the conditions of possibility for the establishment of various developmental psychology approaches. She shows how these approaches constitute powerful discursive resources in regulating women and families, in marginalising working class and ethnic minority people, normalising western, middle class family forms, and in pathologising mothers. Burman asks us in DDP to consider several themes in developmental psychology, including: (1) the tools of measurement, the 'methods', we use to produce research objects and subjects; (2) the way that the tools of developmental psychology produce subjects and objects (the kind of 'child' and 'mother' and 'human'
that is constituted in this research); and (3) why developmental psychology has become so preoccupied with the facilitating mother as the focus of much developmental inquiry. What does this preoccupation with 'good' and 'bad' mothering (or sometimes 'parenting') do? What kind of family and what kind of reading of individuals and of human development does it produce? These questions are taken up in a range of ways in the papers featured in this special issue.


Understanding how individuals use key resources is critical for effective conservation of a population. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska is the most important postbreeding staging area for shorebirds in the subarctic North Pacific, yet little is known about movements of shorebirds there during the postbreeding period. To address this information gap, we studied residency times and patterns of movement of 17 adult and 17 juvenile radio-marked Dunlin (Calidris alpina) on the YKD between early August and early October 2005. Throughout this postbreeding period, during which Dunlin were molting, most birds were relocated within a 130 km radius of their capture site on the YKD, but three birds were relocated more than 600 km to the south at estuaries along the Alaska Peninsula. On average, juvenile Dunlin were relocated farther away from the banding site (median relocation distance = 36.3 km) than adult Dunlin (median relocation distance = 8.8 km). Post-capture, minimum lengths of stay by Dunlin on the YKD were not significantly different between juveniles (median = 19 days) and adults (median = 23 days), with some birds staging for more than 50 days. Body mass at time of capture was the best single variable explaining length of stay on the YKD, with average length of stay decreasing by 2.5 days per additional gram of body mass at time of capture. Conservation efforts for postbreeding shorebirds should consider patterns of resource use that may differ not only by age cohort but also by individual condition.


Electronic learning or E-learning is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It is used interchangeably in so many contexts that it is critical to be clear what one means when one speaks of 'e-Education'. In many respects, it is commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology (ALT), which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies.


The purpose of this essay is to rethink the meaning of modernity through an examination of Maruyama's defense of modernity during the "Overcoming of Modernity" Debate in Japan in 1942. I will initially propose that Maruyama understood the opponents of modernity as ultra-nationalists who were merely defending an ideological justification for Japan's war. However, Maruyama defined "modern thinking" (kindaiteki shii) in terms of personal autonomy. His understanding of modernity as a mental attitude led to his failure to consider the technological aspect of this debate. After considering the various intellectual positions on this issue, I shall argue that a democratic control of technology must be presupposed in Maruyama's defense of modernity.


We propose a new approach to weighting initial parameter misfits in a least squares opti- mization problem for linear parameter estimation. Parameter misfit weights are found by solving an optimization problem which ensures the penalty function has the properties of a � 2 random variable with n degrees of freedom, where n is the number of data. This approach differs from others in that weights found by the proposed algorithm vary along a diagonal matrix rather than remain con- stant. In addition, it is assumed that data and parameters ar e random, but not necessarily normally distributed. The proposed algorithm successfully solved three benchmark problems, one with discontinuous solutions. Solutions from a more idealized discontinuous problem show that the algorithm can suc- cessfully weight initial parameter misfits even though the t wo-norm typically smoothes solutions. For all test problems sample solutions show that results from the proposed algorithm can be better than those found using the L-curve and generalized cross-validation. In the cases where the param- eter estimates are not as accurate, their corresponding sta ndard deviations or error bounds correctly identify their uncertainty.


Investment strategies of buying and holding recently spun off companies and their parents have received significant attention from the investment community in the recent past. Despite their popularity, the existing evidence on the attractiveness of spin-offs appears piecemeal. In this paper, we examine in detail stock price performance of spin-offs and their parents on a comprehensive sample that covers the last 36 years. We show that excess returns are indeed positive for both subsidiary and parent companies over almost all holding periods considered. For subsidiaries, the results appear both economically and statistically significant after various adjustments for risk. This evidence is consistent with investors earning an above normal rate of return by investing in recently spun off subsidiaries. For parents, however, after correcting for one very large positive outlier, returns are not statically or economically different from zero.


Background In the past years there has been a rapid growth in the internationalization of several industries. This has not left the market for higher educational institutions unaffected as students now are more mobile and willing to move further away from home to study at a desired university. In this increasingly competitive market, branding can be a main tool for universities to differentiate themselves and gain competitive advantage. Still, research on university branding is scarce and the concept of university branding remains relatively unexplored. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to explore how a university can build its brand. The study will take on the organization's perspective with the aim to gather valuable information and insights on which activities the university indulges in to build their brand and spread its awareness. Method A single case study on Jönköping University has been conducted. The nature of the study is qualitative, and data were collected from semi-structured in-depth interviews with eight individuals currently employed at Jönköping University. To gain an overall understanding, and receive diverse point of views, the sample consisted of employees working at the four different faculties of the university. Findings The main findings of this study are that a university can build its brand through the use of digital and printed media as well as human interactions. Furthermore, the university has two main target audiences that require different types of branding, which are students and partner companies.


During the last thirty years the level of interest in Complexity Science has been constantly increasing. Combining the opportunity offered by the findings of the Complexity Science with the framework of the multi-disciplinary debate on the meaning and use of diagrams, we propose a design methodology to help designers support their interventions in complex environments. The structural features analysis of Complex Systems has been our key point to outline this methodology to offer designers a new mindfulness in the use of design tools. This methodology is based on five phases: analysing, representing, pinpointing, timing and telling. It provides a theoretical framework that incorporates many tools suggesting a different use of them with a special attention to improve the designer's consciousness of the system he is designing in. When design is addressing complexity, diagrams could become generative tools that can be used to produce metadata relevant to the design process.


A "third wave" of environmental policy has recently emerged that emphasizes information provision as an integral part of the risk mitigation strategy. While theory suggests information programs may correct market failures and improve welfare, the empirical effectiveness of these programs remains largely undetermined. We show that mandatory information disclosure programs in the electricity industry achieve stated policy goals. We that the average proportion of fossil fuels decreases and the average proportion of clean increases in response to disclosure programs. However, the programs also produce unintended consequences. Customer composition and pre-existing fuel mix significantly affect program response, suggesting that effective information disclosure policies may not be efficient.


The ability of organisms to adapt their foraging behaviour to spatial variations in food availability and habitat quality is crucial to maximize energy intake and hence fitness. Under ideal conditions, habitat selection should result in a spatial distribution of individuals such that their fitness (energy reserves or condition) is roughly equal across habitats of varying quality. Using 11 yr of field data on Atlantic cod Gadus morhua distribution along the Greenland shelf, we investigated the foraging behaviour and life history of cod in heterogeneous environments. We combined information on energy reserves of cod with spatially resolved diet composition data to de rive a measure of habitat quality and heterogeneity. Energy reserves in individual fish were best explained by the particular area they inhabited, whereas growth, population density, food quantity and interannual effects were of minor importance. Condition differed on relatively small spatial scales, at which cod would be capable of redistributing in favour of high-quality habitats. Our results indicate that particular areas may persistently allow higher fitness by sustaining highconditioned individuals but suggest that replenishment of well-conditioned individuals in these high-quality habitats may take longer than expected. We conclude that cod exhibited limited scope in its behavioural response to spatial variation of habitat quality, leading to persistent spatiotemporal differences in energy reserves. Current climate change and fishing activities alter ecosystems and affect habitat heterogeneity, and the adaptive responsiveness of species to such changes in habitat quality is important in natural resource management.


This paper draws upon baseline evidence compiled for the FP7 Project "INstitutional Transformation for Effecting Gender Equality in Research" (INTEGER) in three very different research and higher education institutions. Despite institutional commitments towards gender equality, there is an under-representation of women at full professorship (Grade A) and equivalent positions. Furthermore, women and men are unequally represented on key committees and other decision-making bodies. INTEGER's task is to address these and other imbalances through the adoption of Transformational Gender Action Plans (TGAPs). These T-GAPs involve: increasing the visibility and leadership potential of women academics/researchers; monitoring and gender proofing of recruitment/retention and promotion policies and practices; ensuring gender balance on decision-making bodies/committees; providing mentoring programmes and training in gender awareness to overcome unconscious bias at all levels of the institution; setting targets for high level appointments; and promoting gender equality as a core value contributing to research excellence. The T-GAP process is informed by international good practice through peer mentoring with research institutions in the UK/EU and USA and alignment with the Athena SWAN Charter and equivalent award holders. In addition, an external evaluation team assesses progress and impacts of the T-GAPs in each organisation. The paper presents common and different approaches of designing institutional transformation, strategies for building alliances in the institution for effective implementation of the T-GAPs and how the processes can be evaluated.


Background and aims Bleeding from gastric varices is often severe and difficult to manage. Endoscopic injection of gastric varices with cyanoacrylate is effective in prevention of rebleeding. The efficacy of β-blockers in secondary prophylaxis of gastric variceal bleed has not been well studied. A comparison of the efficacy of β-blocker treatment and cyanoacrylate injection for the prevention of gastric variceal rebleeding was carried out. Methods Patients with gastro-oesophageal varices type 2 (GOV2) with eradicated oesophageal varices or isolated gastric varices type 1 (IGV1) who had bled from gastric varices were randomised to cyanoacrylate injection (n=33) or β-blocker treatment (n=34). Baseline and follow-up upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurements were performed. Primary end points were gastric variceal rebleeding or death. Results The probability of gastric variceal rebleeding rate in the cyanoacrylate group was significantly lower than in the β-blocker group (15% vs 55%, p=0.004) and the mortality rate was lower (3% vs 25%, p=0.026) during a median follow-up of 26 months. The median baseline and follow-up HVPG in the cyanoacrylate group were 15 (10–23) and 17 (11–24) mm Hg (p=0.001) and for the β-blocker group 14 (11–24) and 13 (8–25) mm Hg (p=0.003). While no patient showed reduction of HVPG in the cyanoacrylate group, in the β-blocker group 12 of 28 (42%) patients were responders, of which 5 (41% of responders) bled. On multivariate analysis, treatment method, portal hypertensive gastropathy and size of the gastric varix >20 mm independently correlated with gastric variceal rebleeding. Gastric variceal rebleeding independently correlated with mortality. Conclusions Cyanoacrylate injection is more effective than β-blocker treatment for the prevention of gastric variceal rebleeding and improving survival. Clinical trial number NCT00888784.


This paper investigates the role of violent civil conflicts during the process of democratization for the quality of emerging democracies, and in particular, the protection of civil (political and economic) liberties. A simple theory in which different groups may engage in violent conflict in order to become the ruler predicts a crucial role of the democratization scenario. A peaceful democratization leads to democracies with a high degree of civil liberties, reflecting a social contract according to which all groups are politically represented and the rulers deliberately abstain from wasteful rent extraction. A transition to democracy under a violent conflict is less likely to lead to a system with a high degree of civil liberties. Empirical evidence from the third wave of democratization based on a difference-in-difference methodology supports the theoretical predictions. The findings suggest that violent conflicts during the democratic transition have persistent negative effects on the quality of the emerging democracies.


Several physical seismic models of simple wedges were built to assess amplitude effects commonly associated with the classic 'Widess' wedge. Rather than producing simple tuning associated with thin beds, 2D marine zero-offset seismic surveys over these physical models showed a surprising number of high-amplitude dipping events corresponding to multiples and multimode events associated with the wedge. Finitedifference exploding reflector models, using numerical versions of the same wedge velocity models, were generated to assist in the identification of these events. Amplitudes of the top-wedge and base-wedge reflections show additional complexities not observed in simple acoustic seismic models of the wedges. Migration of the physical model data was accomplished using 2D poststack Kirchhoff time and depth migration. The multiples and multimode events degrade the quality of the migrated image; removal of these events prior to migration was accomplished using f-k filtering. This study suggests that mixed-mode multiples can be significant, high-amplitude events in data recorded in the presence of high-velocity rocks with a wedge-like geometry.


Combining insights from sociology and geography, we examine how professionals organize professional relations, beyond the boundaries of their professional groups and through the process of mapmaking. We take the Netherlands as our case study. Here, between 2009 and 2015, the Ministry of Health initiated a program that stimulated professionals to develop alternative organizational formats for the provision of integrated primary care. Two of the funded projects used mapping techniques in order to give direction to such integrated organizational formats. Based on the literature, we develop and deploy an analytical framework that aims to capture: (1) how professionals shaped interprofessional relations through mapmaking; and (2) what the organizational consequences were of the maps developed. We reveal how professionals differentiated between elements during the mapmaking process. We furthermore demonstrate how such differentiations shaped the developed maps in particular ways. This, in turn, influenced whether and how these maps gave direction to new organizational formats. We close this article with three points that scholars need to take into account when studying mapmaking in order to gain processual and dynamic insight into the organization of professional practice.


It is usually assumed that peremptory norms have only a "limiting effect" with respect to the State of Necessity defence ("Necessity"), as characterized by article 25 of the International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility ("ILC's Articles"). Indeed, Necessity cannot be invoked to justify a violation of a peremptory norm of international law. This article contends that this assumption reflects an incomplete understanding of the impact of peremptory norms on the development of public international law. Specifically, we argue that peremptory norms have not only a limiting effect, but also what we call an "excusing effect," when the essential interests invoked by a State in support of Necessity are enshrined in peremptory norms. This excusing effect has three main consequences, which we explore in more detail in what follows. First, States' ability to contractually set aside the public international law defence of Necessity in a bilateral investment treaty ("BIT") is considerably restricted. Second, the conditions that a State must meet to avail itself of Necessity must be adjusted to take into account the nature of the interests at stake. Third, the preceding two consequences together suggest the existence of a specific form of Necessity. These consequences are explored in light of the recent decisions rendered in two ICSID cases.


Brazil, India, and China have been emerged as the new markets for multinational corporations (MNCs).The opportunities for Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in other emerging markets are infinite, but before a MNC decides to invest, there are some questions that they should be asked by themselves about IT infrastructure, cultural issues, distribution networks and business model. With considering the large middle class, vast resources, privatization and economic reforms, these countries now offer a great deal of investment opportunities. This paper has quantitative analysis that studies the difference between local market from cultural issues and IT infrastructure of these emerging markets from the prospect for investing American companies in the countries. For Distinguishing between low, medium and high IT infrastructure of the countries, we used the number of fixed line, mobile phone subscribers and internet users. According to the results, Brazil is the best choice for American multinational firms from local market and IT infrastructure point of view, India is lowest class and China is the middle class emerging market between these host countries.


Abstract Magnetite nanoparticles have become a promising material for scientific research. Among numerous technologies of their synthesis, co-precipitation seems to be the most convenient, less time-consuming and cheap method which produces fine and pure iron oxide particles applicable to environmental issues. The aim of the work was to investigate how the co-precipitation synthesis parameters, such as temperature and base volume, influence the magnetite nanoparticles ability to separate heavy metal ions. The synthesis were conducted at nine combinations of different ammonia volumes - 8 cm3, 10 cm3, 15 cm3 and temperatures - 30°C, 60°C, 90°C for each ammonia volume. Iron oxides synthesized at each combination were examined as an adsorbent of seven heavy metals: Cr(VI), Pb(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II) and Cd(II). The representative sample of magnetite was characterized using XRD, SEM and BET methods. It was observed that more effective sorbent for majority of ions was produced at 30°C using 10 cm3 of ammonia. The characterization of the sample produced at these reaction conditions indicate that pure magnetite with an average crystallite size of 23.2 nm was obtained (XRD), the nanosized crystallites in the sample were agglomerated (SEM) and the specific surface area of the aggregates was estimated to be 55.64 m2·g-1 (BET). The general conclusion of the work is the evidence that magnetite nanoparticles have the ability to adsorb heavy metal ions from the aqueous solutions. The effectiveness of the process depends on many factors such as kind of heavy metal ion or the synthesis parameters of the sorbent.


During the execution of an inter-organizational business-to-business (B2B) collaboration, a collaborating party may drop out for technical reasons or for business reasons. In such a case, the leaving party must be replaced, at runtime, by a new party. Ideally, the new party can pick up where the old party left off. Currently, algorithms exist that can help with the runtime selection of the new party in order to incorporate it in the collaboration. Also, several studies have investigated the theoretical foundations of dynamic business process changes within a single enterprise. However, very few attempts have been made which can help a new party in a collaboration to pick up where the old party left off. Designing such techniques constitutes a challenge due to each party's autonomy and to privacy policies that emerge in the context of a collaboration. This PhD dissertation aims to address this challenge by providing an overview of the components, algorithms, operations and techniques that are necessary to enable a party in a collaboration to be replaced by another party at runtime. Accordingly, this dissertation consists of the following three research activities. Firstly, it presents a descriptive reference architecture for Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) that facilitates switching parties in inter-organizational collaborations. This reference architecture, called BPMS-RA, has been designed based on a systematic literature survey of existing BPMS architectures. The main purpose of the development of BPMS-RA is twofold: (i) it can be employed as an architectural template for developing a new BPMS by offering two distinct levels of aggregation for the components that comprise a BPMS architecture, and (ii) it enables the analysis and comparison of existing BPMS in terms of their functionalities. Secondly, it introduces a strategy for adapting an inter-organizational collaboration when a global view on the collaboration exists. In this strategy we assume that it is possible to have a central party, called the global controller, that can observe all communication and be the intermediary between all collaborating parties when one party is replaced by another. In this case there is also a model that describes all communications, which is called the choreography model. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a set of algorithms, operations and techniques (such as rollback and compensation) that facilitate the party switch in the case where a global controller and a choreography model exist. Finally, it describes a strategy for adapting an inter-organizational collaboration when a global view on the collaboration does not exist. In this strategy we assume that there is no global controller in a collaboration and no choreography model of the collaboration. The main challenge in this case is to capture the choreography model by relating the past communications among the collaborating parties that belong to the same thread of collaboration. This challenge is also known as the correlation challenge. This study addresses this challenge by introducing a new process discovery algorithm, called the correlation miner, that facilitates discovery when events (i.e., messages) are not associated with a case identifier. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of these studies, we have developed prototype tools that implement our solutions and we evaluated them in a practical setting. Additional experiments were performed on both synthetic and real-world process models in order to determine the extent to which our proposed solutions are applicable.


The objective of this paper is the construction of an Essential Object Model for Information Systems. This model is derived from the organization workflows representing the business processes and follows rules described by the methodology proposed. To achieve the desired results, the methodology proposes two phases: process specification, to produce the business model, and generation of the Essential Object Model based on the business model obtained before. The leading threads of this methodology are: requirement elicitation and specification based on business model knowledge and information flow; tool background, use of common methods, and RUP-based development. The end result is a conceptual Essential Object Model with application flow and control separated from application logics.


This paper investigates how Social Sciences teachers, upon completion, perceive their capability to transfer transformatory learnings gained on an initial in-service Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme (2013-2014) at the School of Education, The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Using a phenomenological approach, experiences of 14 teachers from various disciplines within the social sciences were investigated through semi-structured interviews in two concurrent focus group sessions. The research questions investigated what learnings on the programme they perceived as transformatory and what were their perceptions on transferring transformatory learnings in their schools. Findings revealed that the main transformatory learnings on the programme occurred through an expansion of pedagogical content knowledge, becoming a reflective practitioner, sharing a community of practice, and sharpening their professional identity. In the transfer of transformatory learnings,, participants declared an enhanced pedagogical practice, a piquing of interest, a feeling of empowerment and other factors that facilitated the learnings. They mentioned certain barriers to implementation such as the emphasis their schools placed on teaching to the test and the challenge of access to educational technology.


Computer modeling of room acoustics is a useful tool in the design of acoustically sensitive spaces and an important outcome from these programs is auralizations. This study examined the perceived changes in realism and source width when listening to multi-channel auralizations compared to single channel auralizations for both solo instruments and a full orchestra. The first experiment, which examined subjective judgments of auralizations made from solo instruments, showed that perceived realism increased as the number of channels was increased from one to four to thirteen, while the relationship between source width and number of channels was less clear. In the second experiment, an orchestra was auralized in four different ways: individual instrumental sections with (i) one channel each and (ii) five channels each; and the entire orchestra emanating from (iii) a single omni-directional source and (iv) a surface source. Listeners' judgments comparing all of the auralizations showed improved perceived realism with the multiple sources (i, ii) compared to the surface source, and wider source width with the multiple sources compared to the single omni-directional source. No improvement in either realism or source width was found as the number of channels was increased from one to five for the individual sources.


PURPOSE
We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of percutaneous transhepatic removal of bile duct stones in children.

METHODS
The study included 12 pediatric patients (4 males, 8 females; age range, 1-16 years; mean age, 6.6 years) who underwent percutaneous transhepatic removal of bile duct stones between September 2007 and December 2015. Demographic data, patient symptoms, indications for interventions, technical and clinical outcomes of the procedure, and complications were retrospectively evaluated.

RESULTS
Of 12 children, five children with cholelithiasis underwent cholecystectomy subsequently. The overall technical and clinical success rate was 100%. One patient had cholangitis as a complication during the follow-up and was treated medically.

CONCLUSION
Percutaneous transhepatic removal of bile duct stones is a safe and effective method for the treatment of children with biliary stone disease. It is a feasible alternative when the endoscopic procedure is unavailable or fails.


The Australian legend worked as a romantic myth of survival, a foundational grand narrative that legitimised white Australian belonging to the land. The construction of an identity based on the bush ethos and on those values and characteristics recognised as quintessentially Australian helped in the creation of an imagined community. This myth carried a racist underpinning which limited the typical Australian to the category 'white'. Drawing on Foucault 18s discourse analysis I argue that the legend is a discourse, grounded in an untheorised whiteness which defines Australianness. The national identity was modelled on the exclusion of the 'other' from any sense of belonging because Australianness was simply a substitute for whiteness. This exclusion worked on two levels; while it ensured cohesion among whites against a common enemy, it also provided a sense of belonging that could not be questioned because the 'real' Australians, the indigenous people as the common enemy, were left out of a definition of Australianness. Over time this discourse evolved slightly, altering its characteristics, but maintaining its power position and ensuring that its core whiteness remained unaltered. Despite the current claim of a multicultural nation, in fact, the legend is still central to Australian identity and still constitutes the defining characteristic of Australianness. Thus even in a multicultural context where 'white' Australians claim to be just one category among others, they are the ones who define the 'rules' that govern who belongs and who may be granted recognition. In this thesis the evolution of the Australian legend is analysed through readings of key literary texts. While before Federation literature was the major instrument for the construction of the legend and a sense of national identity through an uncritical celebration of the foundational myth, later writing engaged in a critique of the legend and the discourses constructed around it. Contemporary white authors have exposed the discourses of terra nullius and the violence at the foundation of the nation, thus deconstructing the legend. However, their critique is still influenced by their privileged white perspective so that even in their dismantling of the legend there is an implicit celebration of it. It is only when indigenous authors challenge the legend that we find a more radical challenge to the legend and the discourse of whiteness which underpin it. Even then, as argued in this thesis, the legend permeates Australian life and continues to play a role in one 18s understanding of 'Australianness'.


In this paper research about dynamic scripting and the top culling difficulty scaling enhancement in the game Neverwinter Nights is investigated. A comparison between both a static and a dynamic opponent is made. The human opinion about dynamic scripting is also highlighted. To get an understanding of what the players think about and how they approach an opponent, two experiments were made. One where tests are made on a static opponent and a dynamic opponent, then a second where differences in behavior of the dynamic opponent using top culling and an ordinary dynamic opponent are analyzed. Results from the first test shows the static opponent is more preferable whereas the dynamic opponent using top culling is preferred in the second experiment. Since comparing the two experiments the results are ambiguous. The conclusion is that further investigation is needed in order to answer the question if human players prefer static or dynamic opponents when playing computer games.


A novel multimode resonator is proposed, containing five resonant modes that are incorporated in the passband forming. The structure is based on a dielectric substrate suspended in a metallic case that allows solving the problem of electromagnetic compatibility. Due to features of the resonator's structure, several higher modes do not excite that significantly improves the performance of the filter's stopband. The resonator advantages are proved on the bandpass filter (3.1…10.6 GHz) with a small overall size (0.19λ0 × 0.11λ0 × 0.11λ0) and a good stopband performance (first spurious band locates at 29 GHz and suppression is 70 dB).


BACKGROUND: The recombinant hepatitis B vaccine provides immunity in approximately 95% of all cases, but there is a certain percentage which responds insufficiently. The purpose of this work consists of assessing the factors which are linked to an inadequate immune response. METHODS: This is an observational, analytical study in which a retrospective follow-up is made of a group of subjects vaccinated to prevent against hepatitis B (HBV). The variables of interest of the health care personnel meeting the requirements to be included in this study in Health Care District No. 9 of the Autonomous Region of Valencia (No. 827) were gathered. Following vaccination, the titration of surface antibodies (antiHB's) was determined for checking the response, levels of over 10m UI/ml being considered to provide protection. RESULTS: An adequate serum changeover was achieved in 94.4% of those vaccinated. The low-degree or zero response to the vaccine was significantly linked independently to variables such as male gender, age, the body mass index (BMI) and the habit of smoking. Drinking alcohol and the levels of GPT, although they did not react significantly with the response to the vaccine, were possibly misleading factors. CONCLUSION: The immunogenicity of this vaccine is satisfactory. It is important to quantify the levels of antiHB's, especially when factors predicting a poor response are involved. Therefore, it is possible to identify those which require a booster shot and those showing no response, hence avoiding situations involving a false sense of being protected against HBV.


This poster paper reports on a model-based framework for software quality assurance for cardiac pacemakers developed in Simulink and described in [Chen/Diciolla/Kwiatkowska/Mereacre - Information&Computation, 2013]. A novel hybrid heart model is proposed that is suitable for quantitative verification of pacemakers.
The heart model is formulated at the level of cardiac cells, can be adapted to patient data, and incorporates stochasticity. We validate the model by demonstrating that its composition with a pacemaker model can be used to check safety properties by means of approximate probabilistic verification.


In order to identify the specific molecular mechanisms involved in neurosecretion, we investigated the mechanism of action of tetanus toxin, a potent presynaptic neurotoxin, in the rat adrenal pheochromocytoma PC12 cell line. It has recently been reported that tetanus toxin is a potent inhibitor of the release of depolarization- evoked 3H-acetylcholine (ACh) from nerve growth factor-differentiated PC12 cells (Sandberg et al., 1989a). In PC12 cells, as in many neural tissue preparations, cGMP accumulation in intact cells increased 6- to 17-fold when stimulated with veratridine (200 microM), carbachol (1 mM), Ba2+ (2 mM), or K+ (30 mM). Preincubation of the cells with tetanus toxin inhibits this accumulation by greater than 95%. The toxin dose-inhibition curves for 3H-ACh release and cGMP accumulation are similar, with half-maximal doses of tetanus toxin seen at approximately 5 nM. The time courses for the development of the effects of tetanus on 3H-ACh release and on cGMP accumulation were also similar. Protocols which elevated intracellular cGMP levels reversed the action of the toxin. For example, evoked ACh release was restored in intoxicated PC12 cells by a 15 min exposure to 100 microM 8-bromo-cGMP. The half-maximal dose was observed at 50 microM nucleotide. Examination of the nucleotide specificity revealed that only cyclic guanine analogs were effective in reversing the effects of tetanus toxin. These results suggested that the inhibition of depolarization-evoked cGMP accumulation is causally related to the action of tetanus toxin on neurosecretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In the current mobile network architecture, network traffic between user equipment (UE) and services deployed on the public cloud is tromboned towards the anchor point which could lead to network congestion. Deploying services closer to the UE, for example near the eNodeB, is a potential solution. The services are deployed on small scale data centers connected to, or collocated with the eNodeB, called 'eNodeB-Cloud' (eNBC). Mobility of UEs presents a challenge for deploying services in an eNBC. When the UE is handed over from one eNodeB to another, seamless migration of UE context between the service instances running in different eNBCs needs to be ensured. In this paper, we propose a Platform as a Service framework to enable UE context migration between eNBCs. The architecture consists of handover signaling mechanism, TCP session migration technology, context transfer protocol and a set of APIs towards the service. An evaluation of the prototype implementation shows that on an average the time taken to migrate a UE context between two eNBCs is in the order of 12 ms, which is within the limit of handover interruption time between two eNodeBs.


Pharmaceutical manufacturers' use of prescription brand-name drugs coupons and vouchers to subsidize patients' cost-sharing obligations such as co-pays has increased. The co-pays are used by managed care organizations (MCOs) to give their plan members an appreciation of drug costs as well as to offer incentives to use available equivalent generic alternatives due to lower co-pays. With higher tiered co-pays for brand-name drugs being offset by coupons, little is known about MCO representatives' perceptions about use of co-pay subsidy coupons for brand-name prescription drugs.

The objective of this study was to assess health plan managers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) perceptions on the use of prescription drug co-pay subsidy coupons. An online survey instrument was used to collect data. A convenience sample of 834 MCO representatives was selected from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) membership directory. A total of 122 surveys were returned of which 105 were usable surveys, giving a response rate of 13.7%. A five-point, 11-item Likert scale ranging from 1 through 5, (1 = 'Strong Disagree' and 5 = 'Strongly Agree') was used to measure respondents'perceptions. Some items referred to coupons used to get co-pay discounts repeatedly over a year (i.e., long-term
use coupons) while some items referred to coupons distributed for trial purposes (i.e., short-term use coupons). Of the 105 respondents, 42 (40%) "agreed," while 58 (55.2%) "strongly agreed" that co-pay subsidy coupons encouraged non-preferred brand-name drugs over preferred brand-name
drugs. A total of 78 respondents (74.3%) reported that brand-name drug coupons undermined tiered formulary structure. Sixty respondents (57.1%) "strongly agreed" that short-term use coupons increased plan sponsor's costs and 72 respondents (68.6%) "agreed" that sponsor cost increased with long-term use coupons. A total of 42 (40%) reported to "strongly agree" that short-term use coupons should be eliminated whereas 49 (46.7%) respondents reported "strongly agreed" that long-term use coupons should be eliminated.

In summary, MCO representatives believe that brand-name drug utilization is increasing due to prescription drug incentives such as coupons which undermines their formulary controls and in turn, increases health care costs.


Low charge carrier mobility is one key factor limiting the performance and applicability of devices based on organic semiconductors. Theoretical studies on mobility using the kinetic Monte Carlo or master equation are mainly based on a Gaussian energetic disorder and regular cubic lattices. The dependence of mobility on the electric field, temperature and charge carrier density is well studied for the Gaussian disorder model. In this work, we investigate the influence of spatially correlated site energies and spatial disorder in the lattice sites on the mobility using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. Our analysis is based on both a regular cubic and a non-cubic Voronoi lattice. The latter is used to include spatial disorder in order to study its influence on the mobility for amorphous organic materials. Our results show that charge carrier mobility is strongly influenced by correlations in the site energies. Strong correlations even invert the field dependence of the mobility as observed experimentally in semi-crystalline polymers such as P3HT. Evaluation of local currents between localized states reveals the formation of current filaments with increasing correlation. Furthermore, the influence of the electric field and the energy landscape on the transport energy is studied by evaluation of active sites. A strong correlation between the transport energy, filaments in the local currents and the charge carrier mobility is observed. Our studies on the spatial disorder model do not indicate an inversion of the field dependence as observed by other researchers. The negative field-dependence in semi-crystalline materials may be explained by a higher correlation in the site energies as shown in a strongly correlated energetic landscape.


This paper is one of the first to investigate the sectoral dimension/perspective of FDI spillovers. It examines empirically the heterogeneous technology effects and efficiency gains of FDI across economic sectors in Egypt between 1990 and 2007. The results reveal many aspects of the aggregation bias of cross-country studies. In aggregate, inflows of FDI have no significant impact upon growth in Egypt; instead, growth is driven by government investment. The disaggregated analysis however, reveals that FDI has distinct sector-specific effects on the Egyptian economy that derive exclusively from investment in the Telecommunication & Information Technology. FDI in Services however, generates negative growth effects. The sectoral growth effects of FDI also depend upon the region of origin. Although the growth impact of FDI in Telecommunications from both the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and Western economies is positive, the finding is primarily driven by investment from the latter nations. Further, there is some evidence to support the view that FDI into the Manufacturing & Petroleum sector from the MENA region has adverse growth effects. There is also limited evidence to suggest that 'market-seeking' Western (European and US) capital flows into the Services sector have conspicuous 'crowding-out' effects.