Despite high rates of gendered violence among youth, very few young women report these incidents to authority figures. This study moves the discussion from the question of why young women do not report them toward how violence is produced, maintained, and normalized among youth. The girls in this study often did not name what law, researchers, and educators commonly identify as sexual harassment and abuse. How then, do girls name and make sense of victimization? Exploring violence via the lens of compulsory heterosexuality highlights the relational dynamics at play in this naming process. Forensic interviews with youth revealed patterns of heteronormative scripts appropriated to make sense of everyday harassment, violence, coercion, and consent. Findings inform discussions about the links between dominant discourses and sexual subjectivities as we try to better understand why many regard violence a normal part of life.


ABSTRACT The global financial crisis has again shown that it is important to understand the emergence and measurement of risks in the banking sector. However, there is no consensus in the literature which risk proxy works best at the level of the individual bank. A commonly used measure in applied work is the Z-score, which might suffer from calculation issues given poor data quality. Motivated by the variety of bank risk proxies, our analysis reveals that nonperforming assets are a well-suited complement to the Z-score in studies of bank risk.


Impinging synthetic jets are considered as a potential solution for convective cooling, in applications that match their main characteristics (high local heat transfer rates, zero net mass flux, scalability, active control). Nevertheless the understanding of heat transfer to synthetic jets falls short of that available for steady jets. To address this, this paper uses detailed flow field measurements to help identify the main heat transfer mechanisms in impinging synthetic jets. Local heat transfer measurements have been performed for an impinging round synthetic jet at a range of Reynolds numbers between 1000 and 3000, nozzle to plate spacings between 4D and 16D and stroke lengths (L0 ) between 2D and 32D. The heat transfer results show evidence of distinct regimes in terms of L0 /D and L0 /H ratios. Based on appropriate scaling, four heat transfer regimes are identified which justifies a detailed study of the flow field characteristics. High speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been employed to measure the time-resolved velocity flow fields of the synthetic jet to identify the flow structures at selected L0 /H values corresponding to the identified heat transfer regimes. The flow measurements support the same regimes as identified from the heat transfer measurements and provide physical insight for the heat transfer behaviour.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


This book is intended for readers who are interested
in examining Chinese-speaking learners' differences
in the ability to comprehend certain self-embedded
multiply complex English sentences such as Peter
thinks that taking care of himself is necessary
surprises the cleaner. Three closely related
questions are addressed in the study: (i) what is
the relationship between Chinese learners'
educational level and their ability in complex
English sentence processing? (ii) what is the
relationship between working memory capacity
and educated Chinese learners' ability in complex
English sentence processing? (iii) is there a
correlation between educated Chinese learners's L1
proficiency and the ability in complex English
sentence processing? The research questions were
addressed by firstly providing some background
information, which was closely related to the
research questions; followed by four off-line and
three computer-administered self-paced reading
experiments.


A self-assembled Ni(cyclam)-BTC film was formed on ITO in an acidic solution. Ni(cyclam)-BTC exhibited an enhanced electro-catalytic property for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which was strongly relevant to the Ni(iii)/Ni(iv) redox reaction activated by the potential dynamic process. A possible formation mechanism of Ni(cyclam)-BTC by self-assembly on ITO was also proposed.


This purpose of this project is to design and manufacture a bicycle handlebar mounted case that will house Apple's iPhone 5 and a charging system that utilizes a charge from a generator hub in the front wheel of a bicycle. The charging system and software for this project will be developed by an Electrical Engineering Graduate student. The case and charging system must be a self-contained unit that is weatherproof and esthetically pleasing. It must allow the user to use all of the features of the iPhone 5 under a wide range of speeds. It must be adjustable between portrait and landscape orientations. The necessary components of the case, a liner, and handlebar mount were developed, designed, sourced and prototyped to create a functioning prototype using a variety of industrial and manufacturing engineering skills. The designed components were 3D modeled using SolidWorks Computer Aided Design software. These parts were then rapid prototyped using a Stratasys 3D printer. A liner was made by pouring silicone into a wax mold that was machined on a Hass MiniMill. Documents were produced that would aid in the manufacture of this case as a consumer product. A cost analysis was completed that compare multiple manufacturing options for a case, one an injection molded plastic case and the other a machined aluminum case. The breakeven point for these two processes was found to be 266 units with a cost per unit of $73. Many things were learned though the course of this project. Skills that were learned through many courses taken at Cal Poly were applied to a real problem and then used to solve the problem. Through research and with the guidance of peers and professors I was able to take this project from an idea to a functioning prototype. I learned how to look at the bigger picture when developing ideas and products and to explore all avenues for the best solution. In the future I would obtain more feedback from potential users and peers because they often can offer advice and solutions that may have been over looked. I would recommend that this idea and product be further developed into a consumer product.


Two-dimensional reflectivity of transverse-magnetic-like modes (Hx = 0) is considered. The modes are derived by means of the effective-index approximation. Mathematical expressions for the reflectivity and conversion coefficients are similar in form to those of transverse-electric-like modes, although the various functions and parameters in the equations are defined somewhat differently.


We propose a general method for measuring complex variables on a continuous, interval spectrum by combining supervised deep learning with the Constructing Measures approach to faceted Rasch item response theory (IRT). We decompose the target construct, hate speech in our case, into multiple constituent components that are labeled as ordinal survey items. Those survey responses are transformed via IRT into a debiased, continuous outcome measure. Our method estimates the survey interpretation bias of the human labelers and eliminates that influence on the generated continuous measure. We further estimate the response quality of each labeler using faceted IRT, allowing responses from low-quality labelers to be removed.
Our faceted Rasch scaling procedure integrates naturally with a multitask deep learning architecture for automated prediction on new data. The ratings on the theorized components of the target outcome are used as supervised, ordinal variables for the neural networks' internal concept learning. We test the use of an activation function (ordinal softmax) and loss function (ordinal cross-entropy) designed to exploit the structure of ordinal outcome variables. Our multitask architecture leads to a new form of model interpretation because each continuous prediction can be directly explained by the constituent components in the penultimate layer.
We demonstrate this new method on a dataset of 50,000 social media comments sourced from YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit and labeled by 11,000 U.S.-based Amazon Mechanical Turk workers to measure a continuous spectrum from hate speech to counterspeech. We evaluate Universal Sentence Encoders, BERT, and RoBERTa as language representation models for the comment text, and compare our predictive accuracy to Google Jigsaw's Perspective API models, showing significant improvement over this standard benchmark.


Structural steel components erected in real buildings include a wide range of artifacts. In this case, the word artifact is used to describe both defects and fasteners that create discontinuities in the steel such as notches, nicks, welds, powder actuated fasteners, self-drilling screws, repaired defects, and others. Although artifacts occur in real structures and their presence may affect the ductility of elements subjected to large inelastic strains, there is a dearth of experimental data on the seismic behavior of structural systems with artifacts. For instance, full-scale testing of moment resisting connections is expensive which makes it economically infeasible to experimentally examine the wide range of possible artifact types, artifact locations, and structural configurations. A framework has been developed for evaluating the effect of artifacts on special moment resisting frame (SMRF) plastic hinge regions using relatively economical coupon tests. Cyclic bend tests and monotonic tension tests on flat plate coupons that include artifacts are used to calibrate fracture parameters for different low cycle fatigue models such as the Cyclic Void Growth Model (CVGM), Stress-Weighted Damage Model (SWDM) and Cyclic Damage Plasticity Model (CDPM) which are then used in conjunction with finite element (FE) models to predict fracture initiation in fullscale SMRF connections. The framework is general and can be applied to many types of artifacts and seismic structural systems. Fracture propagation has been studied also using CDPM for fullscale tests using FE finite element software LS-DYNA. Alternatively, recommendations for future work is proposed for developing a new test setup, studying artifacts sensitivity to material thickness, and a method of demonstrating equivalence for the artifacts.


Driven by the expanding production of biofuels, the linkage between the agricultural and energy markets is evolving, and that has changed the market for agricultural commodities dramatically. These developments in agricultural markets consequently shifted the distribution of domestic grains and feeds and the utilization of shipping modes for these agricultural products. As the leading producer of corn, soybeans, and biofuels, Iowa is at the forefront of this shift. Because of the importance of maintaining an adequate state transportation system to accommodate the evolving patterns of grain and biofuel flows, it is important to have current information about grain flows from farms and country elevators to destination markets, along with the information about transportation modes utilized for the shipments. Information about biofuel distribution is also crucial for agricultural and transportation policymakers so that they can provide relevant assistance for this growing industry. This study is designed to meet these needs and to provide updated information on grain and biofuel flows in Iowa during the 2006 and 2007 marketing years.


We compared two sport-specific measures of competitive orientation, the Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ; Gill & Deeter, 1988) and the Competitive Orientation Inventory (COI; Vealey, 1986), and an alternative 4-item version of the COI. Male and female athletes and nonathletes at two small colleges completed questionnaire packets. Competitive-orientation scores were similar to those reported in previous research. The 4-item measure correlated with the COI, and neither of those measures correlated with the SOQ. As in previous studies, males scored higher than females on SOQ competitiveness and win orientation, and athletes scored higher than nonathletes on all SOQ scores. Our results suggest that the SOQ and COI do not assess the same competitive-orientation constructs. The SOQ assesses sport-specific achievement orientation; the COI assesses the relative importance of performance versus outcome. Our 4-item measure is comparable and provides a reasonable substitute for the more complex COI.


This study develops a composite measure of primary care experience, using the Commonwealth Fund's 2010 International Health Policy Survey (IHP), applied on eleven high income OECD countries, and based on user self-report. The multidimensional measure is composed of answers regarding specific primary care domains, including: accessibility, continuous care, coordination of care, and provider communication and cultural competence. The overall measure of primary care experience is tested and validated, including an exploration of population characteristics (e.g. sex, age, income, migration status, insurance type) that are associated with higher or lower assessments of the receipt of primary care. It explicitly assesses the influence of demographic, socioeconomic, health need, and health system variables, and includes important interaction terms between these variables. Based on the results, the measure's potential suitability for use in Latin America and the Caribbean is assessed. This includes commentary on possibilities for comparison between LAC and the OECD countries covered by the Commonwealth. The results suggest that it is possible to develop a composite measure of user primary care experience based on survey data. In general, the primary care measure developed performed relatively well in terms of discriminating between people who have good versus poor experiences with their health system.


Having been a minister in three different departments for a period of over nine years (1999–2008), during the Blair and, briefly, the Brown governments, I thought it might be useful to reflect on what ministers actually do, their functions and how they spend their days. In thinking about what I did as a minister, I have avoided going back to some of the classic constitutional texts on what ministers supposedly do, how they are accountable and such like. I am sure there is good literature on this from political scientists and constitutionalists, but I have avoided influencing my own views and approach by consulting these texts.


Objective Population screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) was introduced to Wales in October 2008. The aim of this study was to evaluate the early impact of screening on CRC services. Design Prospectively collected data from the Bowel Screening Wales (BSW) programme and the Welsh Bowel Cancer Audit (WBCA) were used to identify all screen-detected (SD) CRC diagnoses in Wales between April 2009 and March 2011. Data from the WBCA were used to calculate surgical outcomes. Results 444 SD cancers were registered during the study period representing 11% of all CRC diagnoses. There was a 9.9% increase in CRC incidence following the introduction of the BSW. SD patients presented with earlier stage disease; SD Dukes' A 35.1% vs 13.9% symptomatic patients (p<0.001) and SD Dukes' D 7.4% vs 21.8% symptomatic, (p<0.001). There were more colonic cancers among the SD population (p<0.001). The resection rate for SD cancers was 89%, significantly higher than symptomatic cancers (67.7%; p<0.0001). There was variability in the use of polypectomy as a definitive procedure to treat CRC between units. Overall laparoscopic resection was used in 52% of cases but with considerable interunit variability (0–92%). Conclusions The introduction of screening has increased the workload of the colorectal multidisciplinary teams in Wales. This has occurred through both an increase in case volume and the identification of more patients with early stage disease. There is considerable interunit variability in the use of techniques of local excision and rates of laparoscopic resection that need to be addressed.


Hildegard of Bingen and Musical Reception: The Modern Revival of a Medieval Composer , by Jennifer Bain. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. xiii, 235 pp.

A composer has surely "arrived" when not only her life and works are being studied but also her afterlife. In Hildegard of Bingen and Musical Reception Jennifer Bain asserts that, despite certain academic misgivings about the Hildegard "hype" among the "fandom" (p. 2), "in musicology, the Hildegard revival is in a sense complete" (p. 6). To cite just one example, the recent interdisciplinary Companion to Hildegard of Bingen (a companion of course in itself indicating her canonic status) synthesizes the research undertaken during and since the 1998 anniversary celebrations (another pointer toward Hildegard's unassailable position in European cultural history) and includes an overview of her reception, which historically has focused on her status as a saint and seer.1 Bain herself has written about the use of Hildegard's chants by the record industry,2 and her profound knowledge of the current popularity of the medieval composer is also apparent in the present book. Yet her overall aim is ultimately revisionist: she demonstrates that Hildegard was never really forgotten as a saint, visionary, founder of religious houses, and writer, and that she was rediscovered even as a composer long before the combined efforts of second-wave feminism and the record industry catapulted her music to global fame. In a beautifully common-sense definition of reception studies, Bain sets as her goal "to uncover …


Objectives: To examine the associations between indicators of socioeconomic position (SEP) and in Australian and British Study population: Women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH), born 1921-1926 and 1946-1951, and two cohorts of British women, the British Women's Heart and Health Study and the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, born at similar times (1920 to 1939 and 1946, respectively) and surveyed at similar ages to the ALSWH cohorts. Methods: Relative indices of inequality were derived for own and head of household occupational class, educational level attained and age at leaving school. Logistic regression was used to test the associations between these indicators of SEP and self-reported hysterectomy and/or oophorectomy. Results: Inverse associations between indicators of SEP and hysterectomy were found in both the Australian and British cohorts of women born in 1946 or later. There was also evidence of an inverse association between education and hysterectomy in the older Australian cohort. However, the associations in this older cohort were weaker than those found in the mid-aged Australian cohort. In the older British cohort, born in the 1920s and 1930s, little evidence of association between SEP in adulthood and hysterectomy was found. Conclusions: These results suggest that inverse associations between indicators of SEP and hysterectomy are stronger in younger than in older cohorts in both Australia and the UK. They provide further evidence of the dynamic nature of the association between indicators of SEP and hysterectomy.


Multiligament knee injuries are rare but potentially devastating. They require expeditious and thorough evaluation and treatment for best outcomes. Management consists of a careful history and physical examination, including a complete assessment of the neurovascular status with ankle-brachial indexes ± magnetic resonance angiography. Imaging should include plain radiographs, stress radiography as necessary, and possibly computed tomography scans if fracture is suspected. Magnetic resonance imaging is the modality of choice for evaluating the ligaments and soft tissues. Once evaluation is complete, the decision to proceed with surgery versus conservative management is made. We favor surgery in patients who are able to tolerate the procedure, are relatively high functioning, and are not obese. Surgery is performed at 10 to 14 days if repair is possible or it is delayed until at least 4 to 6 weeks from the time of injury if reconstructions are to be performed to minimize the risk of arthrofibrosis. We prefer allografts for our reconstructions rather than autografts to minimize morbidity and operative time. After surgery, patients may be anticoagulated with either aspirin or coumadin. With extensive, focused rehabilitation, patients can return to heavy labor and/or sports beginning at 9 to 12 months postoperatively.


Both nostalgia and melancholia have been portrayed as psychological inabilities or refusals to mourn, coming to denote a common failure to having adapted to situations of social and political change. Both concepts have been used to either condemn the conditions they diagnose, or, alternatively, to hail them for their emancipatory potential. In this regard, both nostalgia and melancholia have been used effectively, separately and alongside one another, as instruments for political critique. However, with this mutual opposition to mourning, melancholia and nostalgia have also been used in ways that make them almost interchangeable. In the absence of a detailed and direct comparison of these two concepts, this article explores the differences and overlaps between melancholia and nostalgia, as well as the different kinds of analyses of posttransition societies they enable. This is achieved through the juxtaposition of a particular regularity in post-apartheid South African popular culture, Afrikaner self-parody, which is characterized as melancholic, with what has frequently been called Ostalgie, nostalgia for the former German Democratic Republic.


The thesis aims to analyse how Social Services are organised and financed in Chile, with a special focus on the regional impact of social policies. In the first place, the study concentrates on describing the procedures and strategies that each social ministry or sector, (Health, Education, Housing, Social Security) has for financing its programmes. This makes possible for the first time in the Chilean case an intersectoral view of the organization of social services. In order to address this issue it was necessary to investigate the formal sectoral organization and its functions. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of the ministerial budgeting and planning procedures discussing its links and problems. The study also gauges the discretionary powers that the regional social services have; this was approached through the analysis of different models of decentralization and government functions. To obtain information in this area, interviews were undertaken with social sector planning and budgeting specialists. Since 1975, the Government has advocated a new "regionalization" policy, aimed at decentralising the power of national Government, eliminating regional inequalities, and reducing poverty. In the second place, therefore, the study analyses the patterns of the regional allocation of social expenditures testing its relation to regional well-being, urbanization and needs. To address this issue it was necessary to define some standard criteria to allocate the actual social expenditure figures. However, to obtain the social expenditure figures it was necessary to study the inter- and intra-ministerial transfers and price indexes. Estimates of regional social expenditures per capita are produced for the first time for Chile; they cast light on the present pattern of regional allocation of social expenditures. These figures are then compared with regional social indicators of need in order to determine the relationship between these variables. The results are presented and conclusions drawn.


This paper critically examines India's new Competition Act. I begin by examining the working of its predecessor, the 1969 Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act. Earlier studies, as well as a survey of recent cases undertaken for this paper, show that most cases under that Act involved consumer complaints and contractual disputes unrelated to competition. Very few cartels were prosecuted, the development of a rule of reason for vertical agreements was hamstrung by the legislature, and merger review was terminated in 1991. Thereafter, judgments increasingly tried to enforce "fair" business conduct "in the public interest," often protecting competitors rather than competition. India thus has little relevant experience for the many technical economic criteria in the Competition Act. Although the new Act has several positive features, it is riddled with loopholes that might condone hard-core cartels, predatory pricing, and potentially anticompetitive cross-border mergers, while it also perpetuates the earlier tendency to penalize "unfair" behavior with no bearing on competition. I argue that several institutional limitations will also impair the Act's effectiveness and conclude with a plea for capacity building and phased implementation.


This article focuses on the analysis of the main positions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania in the cases of intellectual property law. In the article three judgments and the positions of the Constitutional Court extracted therefrom are analysed. The Constitutional Court has formed several important positions with reference to intellectual property law regarding usage of property protection norms for the protection of intellectual property, requirements of application of compensation as an alternative to damages compensation and the calculation of criterions thereof as well as functional legal protection of trademarks. It should be noted that Article 23(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania has extended protection to property and, as the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has noted, the constitutional protection of property covers not only the protection of tangible, but also of intellectual property. In the same judgment, the Constitutional Court stated another important intellectual property related rule, namely that constitutionally established property protection rights have to be implemented regardless of whether a corresponding international treaty has not been ratified, as protection of authors' rights is granted under Articles 23 and 42(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. However, the second position stating that the rights of foreign subjects are to be implemented even though a corresponding international treaty has not been signed is to be criticised as by coming to such a conclusion the Constitutional Court has ignored the otherwise generally recognised principle of territoriality of intellectual property rights. In two other cases the Constitutional Court has made important statements relevant to intellectual property law. First of all, the Court stated that compensation instead of claiming actual damages is constitutional. By analysing the positions formulated by the Court, an indirect conclusion can be made to the effect that compensation instead of claiming actual damages is necessary in order to ensure effective protection of intellectual property rights. In other words, the purposes of compensation can be recognised: restoring (compensating) the infringed interests of the injured party; simplifying judicial proceedings, whereby faster proceedings (litigation) and easier substantiation is sought; and the preventive purpose (strong preventive effect). However, the Court's argument regarding the criterion of compensation calculation, saying that the damages incurred by the intellectual property rights owner depend on the sale value of the product concerned is criticisable, as it is rarely the case that the licence fee or profit acquired in the result of unauthorised use of intellectual property objects is calculated with reference to the final sale price of the product. Notwithstanding the arguably weak argument of the Court, the Court's position regarding the criterion of final sale price itself does not preclude the possibility of reaching a fair final decision. Finally, the Court acknowledged that trademark protection was limited to the economic functions of the trademark and the full protection thereof.


Over 800,000 people worldwide lost their lives to earthquakes in the last decade and on average 171 people die every day due to earthquake related damage to structures and buildings. Precisely understanding the effects ground motion has on manmade structures is crucial to making them earthquake resistant. This can only be achieved by the precise measurement, recording, and analysis of ground displacement trends during a seismic event.

Although there is a vast amount of recorded seismological data available, current technology and processing methods fail to represent accurate ground displacement over time as the considerable technological challenges have yet to be overcome.

Raw seismic data has so far been primarily acquired with instruments utilising geophone or accelerometer based sensors. These instruments produce prominent time domain displacement errors due to the various system and sensor inaccuracies, and due to non-linear response. Since accelerometers provide acceleration over time data: whilst geophones are velocimeters, and therefore provide velocity over time data; in order to derive true ground displacement over time, a double, or single numerical integration is required respectively. During this essential numerical integration processes of data from such sensors, even small in magnitude errors accumulate to yield rather large displacement trend offsets over a typical event recording period of 60 to 120 seconds. In addition, the numerical integration process itself poses considerable challenges due to the theoretically infinite number of samples and the accurate determination of initial conditions required for an exact mathematical result to be obtained. The latter, is currently performed by averaging an up to 60 second pre-event data trend stored on the instrument.

Most post-integration data from current instruments appears to contain low frequency drifts amongst other noise artefacts, and generally requires baseline correction algorithms in an attempt to correct for these effects. Such corrections, although helpful, only aid to minimise the perceived effects of an assumed and collective source of error, and hence are largely unable to tackle the individual error contribution of each element within the system. Since individual element contribution is of a dynamic nature, the validity of these algorithms is limited by the accuracy of the initial assumptions made about a specific set of data. Faced with such a multivariable and uncertain dynamic behaviour, where even mathematical system modelling is of inadequate long term accuracy, a solution that aims to directly minimise these errors at source, rather than attempt to correct them postacquisition, is of immense importance when it comes to the recording, analysis, and understanding of earthquakes.

This thesis describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a High Precision Active Gyro Stabilised (HPAGS) sensor unit of exceptional performance for the provision of highly accurate ground displacement data. Experimental results demonstrated that the device described herein, was able to diminish the inherent non-linear and environment-dependant effects of current sensors, and thus was able to provide highly improved time domain displacement data.


Force-free magnetic fields are important in many astrophysical settings. Determining the properties of such force-free fields—especially smoothness and stability properties—is crucial to understanding many key phenomena in astrophysical plasmas, for example, energy release processes that heat the plasma and lead to dynamic or explosive events. In the present work we discuss a serious limitation on the computation of force-free fields, within the context of a Lagrangian relaxation scheme that conserves magnetic flux and ∇ · B identically. This issue has the potential to invalidate the results produced by numerical force-free field solvers even for cases in which they appear to converge (at fixed grid resolution) to an equilibrium magnetic field. Error estimates are introduced to assess the quality of the calculated equilibrium. We go on to present an algorithm, based on rewriting the curl operation via Stokes' theorem, for calculating the current which holds great promise for improving dramatically the accuracy of the Lagrangian relaxation procedure.


Infections with the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) remain an important health issue. In Europe and Belgium, high numbers of new HIV diagnoses persist. Without the prospect of a cure for HIV within the coming years, prevention, early diagnosis, linkage and access to specialized care and treatment are cornerstones of the management of HIV. Effective HIV prevention has been prioritized since the beginning of the HIV epidemic. An approach with a high and sustainable impact is combination prevention. Combination prevention for HIV covers a set of prevention interventions involving three dimensions: biomedical, behavioral and structural.The general objective of this thesis was to improve HIV prevention across all three dimensions of the HIV combination prevention concept. In the different chapters, we presented projects that aimed to provide evidence on the effectiveness of innovative prevention activities on HIV prevention. On the biomedical dimension, testing has been highlighted as a prevention intervention. After having provided an overview of innovation and evolution of HIV testing activities in Europe in chapter two, we presented results of two consecutive HIV testing projects in Belgium in chapters three and four. Both projects used outreach approaches for sample collection. In the second project, we added a self-sampling approach allowing people to order a sampling kit via a website. We combined collection of blood and oral fluid samples with a test executed in the laboratory and delayed communication of HIV test results using cell phone messages (chapter three) and a secured website (chapter four). Although we aimed for innovation in both projects, safeguarding quality in all aspects of the HIV testing approach was fundamental. Both testing interventions were found to be effective as 2.9% and 2.2% of participants were newly diagnosed with HIV respectively. These proportions are higher than the consensus of 0.1% newly diagnosed participants as cut-off for cost-effectiveness in HIV testing projects.Regarding the behavioral dimension of HIV combination prevention, results from a survey research project were presented in chapter five. We observed a decline in sexual inactivity among a group of European men who have sex with men living with HIV since the introduction of antiretroviral treatment for HIV. This finding suggests a tendency towards normalization of the sex life of people living with HIV. This implies investment to support people living with HIV in their sexual health. In chapter six, we presented results from a project studying the effectiveness of a computer-assisted counselling intervention for safer sex for people living with HIV. This intervention was tested among a group of European men who have sex with men, and consisted of three individual counselling sessions with a trained counsellor using computer-assisted tools (including video clips and interactive slide shows) to increase condom use in sexual encounters. A significant increase in condom use was observed three months after completion of the intervention, providing evidence for short term effectiveness. This effect could not be sustained up to six months after completion. Booster sessions may yield a longer term effect.Structural prevention interventions aim to tackle circumstances that hinder people to practise safer sex, or make them vulnerable for HIV acquisition. In this light, identifying groups at risk for HIV acquisition may be considered as a structural prevention intervention. Using an online survey, we assessed the sexual health of a group of swingers, their risk for acquisition of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI), and testing experiences, as presented in chapter seven. Compared to the general population, swingers were sexually very active, and several risk factors for acquisition of HIV and STI were identified. Swingers were more likely to have been diagnosed with an STI. Although swingers found their way to existing structures for testing, strengthening these structures and providing alternative testing options should be considered.The different projects presented in chapters two to seven provided evidence on the effectiveness of a combination approach in HIV prevention. Turning this knowledge into practice is a key element to success of prevention. Therefore, a collaboration between policy makers, program officers, health care providers, researchers and communities is required to ensure access to qualitative support and functioning programs. Improving quality and functionality may also include innovation to find appealing ways of the delivery of services and programs. Computerized technologies may attract new users, and should receive attention in research and practice. Adapting prevention to new trends, their consequences and responses, is important in effective prevention. In chapter eight, effects and responses to pre-exposure prophylaxis, chemsex and couple testing were discussed.Combination prevention for HIV covers a range of interventions on a structural, behavioral and biomedical level. All three levels are necessary to achieve highly effective prevention. Securing rights of key populations to reduce stigma and discrimination, and safeguarding or improving access to services are crucial structural ambitions. Investment in the development and evaluation of effective behavioral interventions using appealing ways of program delivery is a challenge on the behavioral dimension. An important biomedical goal is to diagnose as many people living with HIV unaware of their status as possible by expanding HIV and STI testing approaches. Although testing for HIV is critical, linkage to care, and retention in care should be integrated in the evaluation of each testing approach. Optimizing linkage and retention requires qualitative HIV care. Quality is reflected in accessibility, and a team of professional health care providers with medical and psychological expertise who treat patients with an open and respectful attitude.


Aim: To compare the effects of Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin in combination with fenofibrate in patients with mixed Hyperlipidemia. Materials and Methods: It was an open label, randomized, parallel group, comparative, prospective clinical study. A total of 70 subjects diagnosed with mixed hyperlipidemia were screened and were randomly allocated into two groups of thirty each. Initial readings of lipid levels like TC, TG, HDL, LDL and VLDL for both the groups were taken as baseline values. Then, Group I received Tab Atorvastatin 10 mg + Fenofibrate 160 mg and Group II received Tab Rosuvastatin 10 mg+ Fenofibrate 160 mg once a day at night for 12 weeks. Patients were assessed after 12 weeks and their Lipid profile was done. Results: Patients who received a combination of atorvastatin with fenofibrate had a reduction of Total cholesterol by 39%, Triglycerides by 47%, LDL-C by 50% and VLDL-C by 35% respectively. In group treated with combination of rosuvastatin with fenofibrate there was a decrease in TC by 54%, TGs by 58%, LDL-C by 52% and VLDL-C by 56% respectively. At the same time, HDL-C levels were increased by 14% in the group treated with rosuvastatin with fenofibrate as compared to atorvastatin with fenofibrate treated group which increased the HDL-C levels by 6%. Conclusion: Both the treatment regimens significantly decreased TC, TG, LDL-C, VLDL-C, but the reduction was more and statistically significant in Rosuvastatin and fenofibrate combination group when compared with atorvastatin and fenofibrate treated group at the end of 12 weeks.


Background: "Open peer review" (OPR), despite being a major pillar of Open Science, has neither a standardized definition nor an agreed schema of its features and implementations. The literature reflects this, with numerous overlapping and contradictory definitions. While for some the term refers to peer review where the identities of both author and reviewer are disclosed to each other, for others it signifies systems where reviewer reports are published alongside articles. For others it signifies both of these conditions, and for yet others it describes systems where not only "invited experts" are able to comment. For still others, it includes a variety of combinations of these and other novel methods. Methods: Recognising the absence of a consensus view on what open peer review is, this article undertakes a systematic review of definitions of "open peer review" or "open review", to create a corpus of 122 definitions. These definitions are systematically analysed to build a coherent typology of the various innovations in peer review signified by the term, and hence provide the precise technical definition currently lacking. Results: This quantifiable data yields rich information on the range and extent of differing definitions over time and by broad subject area. Quantifying definitions in this way allows us to accurately portray exactly how ambiguously the phrase "open peer review" has been used thus far, for the literature offers 22 distinct configurations of seven traits, effectively meaning that there are 22 different definitions of OPR in the literature reviewed. Conclusions: I propose a pragmatic definition of open peer review as an umbrella term for a number of overlapping ways that peer review models can be adapted in line with the aims of Open Science, including making reviewer and author identities open, publishing review reports and enabling greater participation in the peer review process.


The practise of creating music for the recorded medium has been a fluid and constantly changing enterprise since its inception. Emergences of new studio technologies over the last fifty years have spurred new cultures, philosophies and approaches to music production and composition, ultimately seeing a merging of the once disparate roles of producer and composer.  It is this contemporary, technology-informed new role of producer-composer that brings with it discussion - for much of which there is no general consensus - over issues pertaining to perceived liveness, the producer-composer's control over the resulting sound, and most contentiously the use of music technology itself: its transparency and its legitimacy as substitutions for real instruments.  These are all fluid and complex issues and this paper does not attempt to provide answers for, nor take a definitive stance on them other than in the sharing of opinions formed from my own experiences in applying production as composition to the creative aspect of this project. In this paper I seek to share some of the current discussion regarding production-as-composition, in light of my own compositional experiment, which strives to create a simulation of real-performance via almost entirely artificial means within an idealised, hyper-musical sonic environment. By bringing together real musicians and virtual instruments within a recorded track and edited via music production technology, the experiment aimed to produce an illusion of liveness.


Recently, social media use has been rising among dental students and practitioners.The aim of this study was to investigate the usage, attitudes, and professionalism on social media among dental students and dentists in Saudi Arabia.This cross-sectional study investigated 779 dental students, interns, and dentists recruited from university hospitals and private clinics in three major cities (Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam), representing the eastern, central, and western regions of Saudi Arabia. Validated questionnaires were distributed to the participants asking about the use of social media for general purposes and professional purposes, attitudes on the social media, professionalism on social media, and the use of social media for marketing purposes. This study was ethically reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Dentistry Institutional Review Board, Umm Al-Qura University with application number (102-18).Among the participants, the social media platforms most frequently used on a weekly basis are WhatsApp (m = 6.13 days/week, SD = 2.10), Snapchat (m = 5.33, SD = 2.65), and Instagram (m = 4.63, SD = 2.84). LinkedIn was the least frequently used platform. The most common professional uses were to watch clinical procedures (80.49%), find new information (79.59%), learn from peers (61.1%), and communicate with patients (5.76%). Only 47.75% followed their university or workplace professionalism guidelines, and 31.74% do not have any professionalism guidelines for using social media. There were 28.75% of participants who had considered posting information/photos about a patient without the patient's permission, those who had criticized a dental colleague numbered 49.04%, and 59.69% had criticized a dental organization. However, only a few items had statistically significant differences between dental students and dentists.More stringent guidelines regarding proper conduct online should be implemented and included in the dental continuous education material.


The work of progressive English organisation The Kibbo Kift Kindred (1920-1932) is presented in an archive exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery from October 2015 - March 2016. Intellectual Barbarians: The Kibbo Kift Kindred explores the creative output of the group, whose idealistic ambitions for world peace were rooted in a shared appreciation of nature and handicraft. Part of the Whitechapel Gallery's programme of exhibitions curated from archives, the display features rarely seen prints, photographs, woodcarvings and clothing, and revisits the group's major exhibition at the Gallery in 1929. The Kibbo Kift Kindred was formed in 1920 by commercial artist, writer and pacifist John Hargrave after he became disillusioned with the perceived militaristic tendencies of the Boy Scout movement, of which he was a key figure. Hargrave's new group expressed a complex social, economic and spiritual philosophy based on naturalist principles and committed themselves to the creation of a new world. Their 1929 exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery was a means of spreading their ideas and philosophy to a wider public. A highly original mystical-medieval-modernist style was adopted across the creative practices of Kibbo Kift, from their insignia to their costumes and rituals. Activities such as hiking and camping were pivotal and were given spiritual importance, while the group's aesthetic drew heavily from ancient Egyptian, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Native American styles in craft, dress and language. The art of abstraction, advertising and experimental theatre were also key references. Kibbo Kift presents a forgotten moment in the history of British art and design but their futuristic vision continues to have resonance today. Unusually for the time, Kibbo Kift was open to all ages and genders and allowed men, women, boys and girls to camp together. Although relatively small in number, the group's notable members and supporters included suffragettes Emmeline Pethick Lawrence and Mary Neal, scientist Julian Huxley, social reformer Havelock Ellis, novelist H. G. Wells and surrealist photographer Angus McBean. This display takes as its starting point the major kibbo Kift Educational Exhibitionat the Whitechapel Gallery in the late-1920s, which showcased the group's ambitions and their remarkable body of visual art. Highlights include rarely-seen sculptures, designs for ceremonial dress, and photographs of the group taking part in rituals, parades and camping trips. Drawing from major public and private collections including The Museum of London and London School of Economics, the display offers a new interpretation of Kibbo Kift's unique vision for the present day and sheds light on the diversity of the Whitechapel Gallery's educational ethos in the early 20th century. The exhibition covered 50 square metres and attracted over 120,000 visitors. The exhibition was accompanied by three sold out events: a curator tour by Annebella Pollen and Nayia Yiakoumaki, a study day entitled 'Art, Politics and Magic', and a late night music and conversation event with Annebella Pollen and Judge Smith. The exhibition was also previewed and reviewed widely including in Time Out, by Jon Savage for The Guardian, by Tanya Harrod for Crafts, by Michael Rosen and Matthew Sweet for BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking, and by Gabriel Coxhead for Art in America.


BACKGROUND
In osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) a genetic defect in type I collagen results in multiple fractures with little or no trauma. Bisphosphonates are used to attempt to reduce these fractures.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness and safety of bisphosphonates in increasing bone mineral density (BMD), reducing fractures and improving clinical function in people with OI.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials Register comprising references identified from comprehensive electronic database searches, handsearches of journals and conference proceedings. We searched PubMed and major conference proceedings.Register last searched: August 2008.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing bisphosphonates to placebo, no treatment, or comparator interventions in all types of OI.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality.

MAIN RESULTS
Eight studies (403 participants) were included. Data for oral bisphosphonates versus placebo could not be aggregated. A significant difference favouring bisphosphonates in fracture risk reduction and number of fractures was noted in one trial. No differences were reported in the remaining three trials. Two trials reported data for spine BMD; one found significantly increased lumbar spine density z scores at 12 months and one reported a significant increase in lumbar spine BMD at 12, 24 and 36 months; both favouring bisphosphonates. For intravenous bisphosphonates versus placebo, aggregated data from two trials showed no significant difference for the number of participants with at least one fracture, RR 0.56 (95% CI 0.30 to 1.06). In the remaining trial no significant difference was noted in fracture incidence. For spine BMD, no significant difference was noted in the aggregated data from two trials, MD 9.96 (95%CI -2.51 to 22.43). In the remaining trial a significant difference in mean per cent change in spine BMD z score favoured intravenous bisphosphonates at 6 and 12 months. One trial compared oral versus intravenous bisphosphonates and found no differences in primary outcomes. Data describing growth, bone pain, and functional outcomes after bisphosphonate therapy were incomplete.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Evidence suggests oral or intravenous bisphosphonates increase BMD in children and adults with OI. These were not shown to be different in their ability to increase BMD; it is unclear whether either treatment decreases fractures. Additional studies may determine whether bisphosphonates improve clinical status (reduce fractures and pain; improve growth and functional mobility) in this population. Optimal method, duration of therapy and long-term safety of bisphosphonate therapy requires further investigation.


The growth responses to elevated CO2 found in experiments are highly variable and depend on other experimental parameters such as irrigation, fertilization, light regime, etc. As yet, the strength or even the sign of most interactions is all but impossible to predict from first principles. Experiments in ambient and CO2-enriched ambient air (+250 p.p.m.) have been conducted in specially adapted greenhouses (Solardomes) at Lancaster University for the past four seasons on Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.), wild cherry (Prunus avium L.), beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.). These experiments are reviewed together with other published studies on interactive effects of elevated CO2 and water and nutrient supply on physiological processes, in particular gas exchange, in tree species. It is often assumed that drought tolerance will increase in elevated CO2 because of a suppression of stomatal conductance and an increase in instantaneous water use efficiency. There is, however, some evidence that such effects could be more than offset in beech by CO2-induced increases in leaf area. It is tentatively suggested that in beech, drought tolerance could already have been reduced by the increase in atmospheric CO2 over the last century.


Active transpressional fault systems are typically associated with the development of broad zones of deformation and topographic development; however, the complex geometries typically associated with these systems often make it difficult to isolate the important boundary conditions that control transpressional orogenic growth. The Denali fault system is widely recognized as transpressional due to the presence of the Denali fault, a major, active, right-lateral fault, and subparallel zones of thrust faults and fault-related folding along both the north and south flanks of the Alaska Range. Measured Quaternary and Holocene slip rates exist for the Denali fault system and portions of the adjacent thrust system, but the partitioning of fault slip between contractional and translational components of this transpressional system has not been previously studied in detail. Exploiting the relatively simple geometry of the Denali fault, we analyze the style and distribution of active faulting within the Alaska Range to define patterns of strain accommodation and determine how contractional and translational strain is partitioned across the Denali fault system. As the trace of the Denali fault curves by ∼70° across central Alaska, the mean strike of the thrust system to the north remains subparallel to the Denali fault, while to the south, the few faults with known or suspected Quaternary offset are oblique to the Denali fault. This relationship suggests that as the Denali fault system accommodates local fault-parallel strike slip, it partitions the residual part of the regional NW-directed plate motion into NW-SE shortening south of the Denali fault and shortening perpendicular to the Denali fault to the north. The degree of slip partitioning is consistent with a balanced slip budget for the two primary faults that contribute displacement to the Denali fault system (the eastern Denali fault and Totschunda fault). The current obliquity of displacement south of the Denali fault is the result of the late Cenozoic development of the Totschunda fault, which provides a more direct connection for the transfer of strain from the Fairweather transform fault to the Denali fault system. The transmitted strain is partitioned into right-lateral slip on the Denali fault and into Denali fault-normal shortening that is accommodated by thrust faulting in the Alaska Range and distributed left-lateral slip faulting within interior Alaska to the north.


We consider the problem of recovering a low-rank matrix from its clipped observations. Clipping is conceivable in many scientific areas that obstructs statistical analyses. On the other hand, matrix completion (MC) methods can recover a low-rank matrix from various information deficits by using the principle of low-rank completion. However, the current theoretical guarantees for low-rank MC do not apply to clipped matrices, as the deficit depends on the underlying values. Therefore, the feasibility of clipped matrix completion (CMC) is not trivial. In this paper, we first provide a theoretical guarantee for the exact recovery of CMC by using a trace-norm minimization algorithm. Furthermore, we propose practical CMC algorithms by extending ordinary MC methods. Our extension is to use the squared hinge loss in place of the squared loss for reducing the penalty of overestimation on clipped entries. We also propose a novel regularization term tailored for CMC. It is a combination of two trace-norm terms, and we theoretically bound the recovery error under the regularization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods through experiments using both synthetic and benchmark data for recommendation systems.


The use of precast components in bridge bents can accelerate bridge construction, but their use in seismic systems is challenging. Such systems must have connections that are both easy to assemble on site, and have sufficient strength and ductility during earthquakes. A precast bridge bent beam-column connection that is suitable for rapid construction in seismic regions has been developed and tested. The connection features a small number of large (#18) vertical column bars grouted into large corrugated ducts embedded in the cap-beam. This combination provides speed and simplicity of erection, as well as generous construction tolerances. Lateral-load tests on the system showed that it has strength and ductility similar to those of a comparable cast-in-place connection, and that deliberate debonding of a short length of the bars has little effect on its seismic performance.


This project is aligned with examining the role of the education system and the foster care context on the learning experiences of young children in the classroom. This project is a study of the literature and research conducted on the life experiences, adverse effects of these experiences (such as attachment disorder), socioemotional development, and resiliency of foster care children. Furthermore, the project explores the literature on how the experiences of these foster children traverse contexts and impact the education setting. This study also outlines specific strategies and practices for teachers and school staff in order to promote students' resiliency, competency, behaviour management, and overall educational success and positive academic experience. These strategies resulted from a critical review of the literature and translated into the development of an informative handbook intended for teachers. The handbook developed in this study focuses on the understanding of the lives of foster care children, their histories, adverse experiences, socioemotional development, strategies to manage behaviour, unique needs, and encouraging their resiliency and success in school. To ensure the soundness of the handbook, 2 education liaisons at a Family and Child Services agency within Ontario and a former child and service social worker from Manitoba reviewed the first draft and provided comments on the validity of the content and the potential usability of the handbook for educators. Suggestions and comments provided by these experts were used to enhance the final product of the handbook. URI http://hdl.handle.net/10464/5165 Collections Education MRP Brock University | Copyright © 2006-2015 Contact Us | Send Feedback Foster Children in Education: Resource Handbook for Elementary Educators 


China's local government debt has risen dramatically bringing risks to China's fiscal sustainability and long term economic growth. Using urban construction investment bonds (UCIBs) issued by local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), we study how intergovernmental fiscal transfers impact the issuance of UCIBs under China's unitary currency system. Applying instrumental variable estimation, we find that special-purpose fiscal transfers per capita are positively associated with the issuance of UCIBs. A one-RMB increase in special-purpose fiscal transfers per capita is associated with an increase in the issuance of UCIBs per capita of 0.282 RMB, whereas regular fiscal transfers (including tax rebates and general fiscal transfers) do not affect the issuance of UCIBs. Furthermore, the effect of special-purpose fiscal transfers on the issuance of UCIBs mainly exists in inland cities rather than coastal cities. This imposes risks of "eurozonization" for the Chinese economy. We also find a deterioration of refinancing in terms of issuing more UCIBs.


The University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, in partnership with Special Olympics Europe Eurasia has conducted an evaluation of the Special Olympics Youth Unified Sports programme. Working in five countries across Europe this evaluation carried out over two hundred qualitative interviews and gathered data on fifty-five Unified teams. The evaluation examined the Unified model as a context wherein the increased social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities could be fostered. A primary aim was to identify the processes that promoted social inclusion within and in particular beyond Unified Sports.This report provides a detailed account of the findings of this evaluation. The report begins with an overview of the evaluation and provides a description of the Unified Sports programme before going on to state the aims and objectives of the study. A brief resume of the methods adopted in the course of this evaluation is then given. A detailed account of the project's methodology is contained in an accompanying report.


Despite Jesus' teaching regarding God and money, the paradox remains that churches need money to serve God. Ministers need salaries, bills must be paid, and benevolence programs require financing. By examining what the early Christian documents of the New Testament have to say about asking for money and the circumstances in which they did this, Jouette Bassler provokes reflection on the theological, ethical, and social dimensions of the practices of today's church. Suggestions for further reading and study questions complement each chapter and enhance the usefulness of this book.


Many environmental organisations rely on volunteers to provide important services that would otherwise not be provided by government. However, with the substantial growth in Australia's non-profit sector, the competition for volunteers has increased significantly. Non-profit organisations are implementing marketing strategies to convince potential volunteers that their particular cause is more worthy of an individual's valuable time than other leisure activities. Most studies of volunteers focus on individuals who are already involved; however, equally important is understanding those who have not previously volunteered but who stated their intention to do so in future. This study investigates this notion in the context of environmental volunteering. Through a survey of 1318 Australians, we identify that potential environmental volunteers differ from non-environmental volunteers in terms of having: (1) stronger pro-environmental attitudes; (2) different motivations for volunteering; and (3) differing personal values. Practically, findings can inform volunteer recruitment strategies to target individuals who already have a predisposition towards environmental volunteering, resulting in more efficient spend of limited marketing dollars. Promotions that align with the motivations and values of this group are more likely to resonate with them and prompt action, and have the potential to increase the overall number of volunteers for environmental causes.


A "systems thinking" (ST) approach generally recognises that international development processes are complex, inter-related, non-linear, and constantly changing. They involve many different types of actors, all with different levels of power. ST change methods try to mirror these qualities, and move away from more conventional project design and implementation that use simple linear input-output-impact project logic. Thus, this rapid literature review seeks to find out what are some examples of 'systems thinking' projects in international development. The aim of this rapid review is to provide concrete examples of how ST shows up in the project design and management processes that are typically used by people working in the international development sector. These include project management arrangements, evaluation indicators, results frameworks, budget allocations and procurement, country diagnostics, and the foundational analysis that informs project design. The examples found were mostly extracted from donor project documents. Different definitions of ST may emphasise different elements. An attempt was made to find a range of projects from different sectors, and to go beyond projects that exemplified "Market Systems Development" and "Adaptive Management," for which there are already repositories of project examples (see Further Resources).The inclusion of the projects in this review does not imply that they were successful, only that they contain some evidence of ST in them. Most of the projects identified have a further library of documents, including evaluations, that give more detailed information about their successes and failures.


Recent reduced-form econometric models of climate change impacts on agriculture assume climate is additive. This is reflected in climate regressors that are aggregated over several months that include the growing season. In this paper I develop a simple model to show how this assumption imposes implausible characteristics on the production technology that are in serious conflict with the agricultural sciences. I test this assumption using a crop yield model of US corn that accounts for variation in weather at various times of the growing season. Results strongly reject additivity and suggest that weather shocks such as extreme temperatures are particularly detrimental toward the middle of the season around flowering time, in agreement with the natural sciences. I discuss how the additivity assumption tends to underestimate the range of adaptation possibilities available to farmers, thus overstating projected climate change impacts on the sector.


Prefix Scan (or simply scan) is an operator that computes all the partial sums of a vector. A scan operation results in a vector where each element is the sum of the preceding elements in the original vector up to the corresponding position. Scan is a key operation in many relevant problems like sorting, lexical analysis, string comparison, image filtering among others. Although there are libraries that provide hand-parallelized implementations of the scan in CUDA and OpenCL, no automatic parallelization solution exists for this operator in OpenMP. This work proposes a new clause to OpenMP which enables the automatic synthesis of the parallel scan. By using the proposed clause a programmer can considerably reduce the complexity of designing scan based algorithms, thus allowing he/she to focus the attention on the problem and not on learning new parallel programming models or languages. Scan was designed in AClang (www.aclang.org), an open-source LLVM/Clang compiler framework that implements the recently released OpenMP 4.X Accelerator Programming Model. AClang automatically converts OpenMP 4.X annotated program regions to OpenCL. Experiments running a set of typical scan based algorithms on NVIDIA, Intel, and ARM GPUs reveal that the performance of the proposed OpenMP clause is equivalent to that achieved when using OpenCL library calls, with the advantage of a simpler programming complexity.


. The presence of gap junction coupling among neurons of the central nervous systems has been appreciated for some time now. In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest from the mathematical community in understanding the contribution of these direct electrical connections between cells to large-scale brain rhythms. Here we analyze a class of exactly soluble single neuron models, capable of producing realistic action potential shapes, that can be used as the basis for understanding dynamics at the network level. This work focuses on planar piece-wise linear models that can mimic the firing response of several different cell types. Under constant current injection the periodic response and phase response curve (PRC) is calculated in closed form. A simple formula for the stability of a periodic orbit is found using Floquet theory. From the calculated PRC and the periodic orbit a phase interaction function is constructed that allows the investigation of phase-locked network states using the theory of weakly coupled oscillators. For large networks with global gap junction connectivity we develop a theory of strong coupling instabilities of the homogeneous, synchronous and splay state. For a piece-wise linear caricature of the Morris–Lecar model, with oscillations arising from a homoclinic bifurcation, we show that large amplitude oscillations in the mean membrane potential are organized around such unstable orbits.


Rates of particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) accumulation, N2 and CO2 fixation, and NH4+ uptake were measured in cultures of Trichodesmium IMS101 growing on an artificial culture medium without added N substrates. Cultures exhibited a doubling time of about 4 d based on the accumulation of PON, POC, chlorophyll a, and cell number. Cell‐specific rates of N2 and CO2 fixation were highest during midday and during the initial stages of the growth cycle. Up to midlog phase, integrated estimates of CO2 fixation (based on short‐term 13CO2 uptake) closely tracked increases in POC. However, after day 8, estimates of C accumulation based on CO2 fixation exceeded observed POC increases. Within the error of the measurements, N2 fixation estimates (based on C2H2 reduction) also closely tracked, and could largely account for, PON increases over most of the experiment. N demand based on CO2 fixation also followed PON increases during early to midlog phase but diverged during late exponential phase and thereafter by greater than 100%. Estimates of short‐term C fixation rates during and after late exponential phase overestimate net growth of Trichodesmium IMS101, whereas estimates of N2 fixation rates approximated net growth. These observations may partially explain the disparity of estimates of growth in field populations based on 14CO2 fixation compared to N2 fixation. Ammonium accumulated in the culture medium during the experiment, and rates of NH4+ uptake were high throughout the day and over the whole growth cycle. Rates of NH4+ uptake generally exceeded N2 fixation. The turnover of N was therefore much greater than the net accumulation of N in biomass and implies a concurrent high rate of NH4+ release.


Pressure Ulcers, medically coined as 'decubitus ulcers' have been a major threat for rehabilitation of bed ridden patients for about a century, as these ulcers eventually leads to fatality. Managing the ulcer is very challenging so the best option being their prevention. There were two broad theories behind the etiology of its formation namely neurogenic and mechanical. Therefore intervention should also be neurogenic and mechanical. Neurogenic intervention is to prevent the chance of occurrence of stroke and other neurological pathologies while mechanical intervention is to prevent the accumulation of excess pressure under ulcer vulnerable regions. The skin over bony prominences are said to be pressure vulnerable regions. There were various technology developed to prevent the formation of ulcers. This paper will review existing technology and will add more on what is needed for early prevention.


Global offshore oil and gas (OOG) production is rapidly expanding to meet increasing energy demands. Since the offshore environment is sensitive, attention is increasingly devoted to environmental issues associated with OOG operations. An Environmental Management System (EMS) can be utilized to systematically manage all activities in OOG operations that give rise to environmental impacts. However, there is limited literature related to EMSs for OOG operations. This requires academics to examine common EMS frameworks and propose an EMS exclusively for OOG operations. This research was carried out to fill this gap. -- common EMS frameworks have the following limitations: (1) they are not very effective to convey and interpret sufficient information for decision-making; (2) there is no specified performance evaluation system to drive improvement; and (3) there is a burden of extensive documentation. Therefore, it is necessary to revise conventional EMS frameworks to overcome these limitations. The main aim of this study is to integrate Risk-Informed Decision-Making (RIDM) and Pollution Prevention (P2) paradigms within EMS, called Risk and Pollution Prevention focused Environmental Management System (RP2EMS). This framework also addresses the limitations of common EMS frameworks. Moreover, quantitative tools are developed to implement the proposed framework. The specific objectives of this research are: (1) development of an EMS framework; (2) development of a methodology to prioritize environmental issues; (3) development of a methodology for informed environmental decision-making; (4) development of a methodology for environmental performance evaluation; and (5) demonstration of developed methodologies through illustrative examples related to OOG operations. -- As a preferred approach for environmental protection, P2 is integrated into the conventional EMS framework. The risk informed decision-making is coupled with P2 in this framework. This integration can reduce the effort and costs that are needed to develop waste management systems. As the first step, pollution prevention and control options are identified for important environmental issues. For each option, a risk assessment is carried out. Based on the calculated risks and related attributes, the better options are selected using a suitable decision-making method. Implementation of the selected options requires the proper assignment of responsibility and good communication during operations. The framework provides guidance and a procedure for the execution of environmental management emphasizing P2. -- Identification and prioritization of the important environmental issues which are susceptible to causing significant negative impacts are necessary under the constraint of limited resources. This study proposes a hybrid approach using the fuzzy inference system (FIS) and fuzzy AHP for the prioritization of environmental issues in OOG operations. In this approach, a five-level hierarchy is developed. The highest level of the hierarchy corresponds to the goal - prioritization of the significance of environmental issues, and the lowest level corresponds to environmental issues, whereas intermediate levels correspond to major concerns (environmental risks) and sub-parameters of risk. The FIS is applied at the lower levels of the hierarchy to infer the major risk parameters. Subsequently, the scores representing the extent of risk are calculated. Fuzzy AHP is used at the higher levels to synthesize the Significance Scores that will help to prioritize environmental issues. -- To deal with the significant environmental issues, pollution prevention and other sustainable waste management options are investigated. The best options are selected using multi-criteria decision-making. This research proposes a game theoretical approach to solve multi-criteria conflict resolution problem under constrained and uncertain environments. Uncertainties in the quantification of imprecise data are expressed using rough numbers. A multi-criteria game is developed to model a decision problem in which three groups of decision-makers (i.e., operators, regulators and service engineers) are involved. There are three major categories of criteria: (1) costs, (2) environmental risks, and (3) technical feasibility. This game is solved using the generalized maximin solution concept. With the solution (i.e., optimal weights of the criteria), the rough numbers can be aggregated to an expected payoff for each alternative. Finally, the weights of the upper and lower limits of a rough number are employed to transform the expected payoff into a crisp score, based on which all alternatives are ranked to identify the best solution. -- Environmental performance evaluation (EPE) is an essential part of EMS. A method is developed to identify and define specific environmental performance indicators on a case-by-base basis, which consists of five steps: (1) describing environmental requirements; (2) determining favorable outcomes corresponding to the requirements; (3) identifying required activities of issues to achieve the outcomes; (4) searching for proper measures of the activities or issues; and (5) generating a list of key indicators. Based on these steps, a quality function deployment (QFD) approach is developed to determine key indicators and evaluate environmental performance. To handle uncertainties in QFD, the decision makers' evaluations are quantified using rough numbers. The output of the proposed approach is environmental performance indices. Using these indices, decision makers can determine whether an improved performance has been achieved through an EMS. -- This research provides an innovative EMS framework that integrates paradigms of P2 and risk-informed decision-making to systematically manage environmental issues in OOG operations. All the proposed approaches were validated through numerical examples.


This study explores the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities on American college campuses as well as the impact the involvement of minority faculty and staff persons has on this experience. Using a phenomenological case study method, this study interviewed participants at a small faith based liberal arts university in the Midwest. Ten individuals in total, comprised of students, faculty, and administrators, participated in this study. This study found significant themes regarding what forms of involvement minority faculty and staff practice. These practices included the creation of a safe space; accessibility; and advocacy and representation of minorities on campus. Significant themes relating to minority student benefits from such involvement also emerged. Students benefitted through, racial identity development (in racially matched pairs), increased sense of belonging, and greater responsibility to minority and campus communities. Higher education institutions should seek to equip, support, and acquire involved minority faculty and staff as minority students who encounter such involvement have an enhanced collegiate experience.


In the recent years, Real-time PCR technique introduced as a choice method for diagnosis of infectious diseases in many laboratories. During each cycle of the PCR reaction, this technique combines the polymerase chain reaction chemistry with the utilization of fluorescent reporter molecules for monitoring the production of amplification products. Therefore, the set of features including the high sensitivity and specificity, repeatable data and low contamination risk has made the Real-time PCR technology as an attractive alternative to conventional PCR. This technique is often used to quantify the level of gene expression. Since the whole Real-time PCR reaction is performed within a closed tube, the risk of contamination is reduced and eventually prevent false-positive results. The aim of present study was to provide a general overview on different types of Real-time PCR methods, their benefits and applications.
Keywords: Molecular diagnosis, Real-time PCR, Polymerase chain reaction, Fluorophore


Probabilistic programming is a powerful high-level paradigm for probabilistic modeling and inference. We present Odds, a small domain-specific language (DSL) for probabilistic programming, embedded in Scala. Odds provides first-class support for random variables and probabilistic choice, while reusing Scala's abstraction and modularity facilities for composing probabilistic computations and for executing deterministic program parts. Odds accurately represents possibly dependent random variables using a probability monad that models committed choice. This monadic representation of probabilistic models can be combined with a range of inference procedures. We present engines for exact inference, rejection sampling and importance sampling with look-ahead, but other types of solvers are conceivable as well. We evaluate Odds on several non-trivial probabilistic programs from the literature and we demonstrate how the basic probabilistic primitives can be used to build higher-level abstractions, such as rule-based logic programming facilities, using advanced Scala features.


Multi-scale geophysical studies were conducted in the central Skellefte district (CSD) in order to delineate the geometry of the upper crust (down to maximum ∼ 4.5 km depth) for prospecting volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralization. These geophysical investigations include potential field, resistivity/induced polarization (IP), reflection seismic and magnetotelluric (MT) data which were collected between 2009 and 2010. The interpretations were divided in two scales: (i) shallow (∼ 1.5 km) and (ii) deep (∼4.5 km). Physical properties of the rocks, including density, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity and chargeability, were also used to improve interpretations. The study result delineates the geometry of the upper crust in the CSD and new models were suggested based on new and joint geophysical interpretation which can benefit VMS prospecting in the area. The result also indicates that a strongly conductive zone detected by resistivity/IP data may have been missed using other geophysical data.


The given research paper presents an attempt to analyze the Caspian region from the point of view of its cross-border specifics. In contrast to the traditional understanding of the Caspian region as the region of heightened geopolitical significance the authors analyze its peculiarities and potential in the context of the cross-border cooperation dynamics. It is especially emphasized that the Caspian region may be considered as a cross-border region which, despite the substantial similarities is different from international transnational regions. The authors focus attention on a key contradiction of the Caspian region. On the one hand, national interests and foreign policy of the states-members of the Caspian region (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) have a national country and regional importance, since their implementation will form an effective regional security system. On the other hand, the Caspian region attracts the attention of the world powers, becoming a subject of their interest, as it is of great importance for world energy markets and has status of a transit zone between Europe and Asia. For Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan the Caspian status is combined with their most important characteristic of post-Soviet states shared long historical stage of development within the Soviet Union. The article distinguished and analyzed four main periods of establishment of cross-border cooperation in the Caspian region. The national specificity of modernization reforms in all the countries of the Caspian region have interrelations with further development of cross-border cooperation, the priority of that performs convergence of Caspian states on a number of strategic issues, including economic cooperation and security


Hydration is essential for life but clinical guidelines on hydration are lacking. Dietitians assess, diagnose and treat nutritional problems for individuals in the UK, ideally placing them to deliver on both acute clinical and preventative aspects of hydration care. The aim of this study was to identify key topics for a training intervention to promote incorporation of hydration care into dietetic practice. A review of literature identified key topics for a cross‐sectional online survey for UK dietitians, containing 18 items on hydration knowledge (n8), attitudes (n4) and practices (n6). Ninety‐seven dietitians completed the survey which prioritised topics for an educational intervention. Knowledge questions where the majority (蠅70%) of dietitians answered correctly were; impact of dehydration on performance tasks (94%), physical signs of dehydration (92%) and the definition of dehydration (76%). More than half of dietitians answered the following knowledge questions incorrectly; European Food Safety Authority fluid requirements for adults (60%), proportion of food and fluids contributing to fluid intakes in UK (65%), water content of the human body (55%). Attitudes towards hydration were favourable (14 ±1.3 out of 16) but self‐reported practice scores identified room for improvement (15 ±2.6 out of 24). In summary, acute clinical hydration knowledge questions scored highly. Hydration knowledge in relation to the general population and personal hydration practices could be identified as key target areas for education.


This paper proposes some discussions about group process and team management in a different paradigm than the classical theories. We recognize an important trajectory made by both strategies, groups and teams, acknowledged here as living systems in our postmodern society, and we were willing to understand why, at some point, teams were elected as "a group with better performance or development". Teams thrive in our zeitgeist in different ways since it is a strategy that affects almost the entire active working population. We can say there is a desire for having work made through teams nowadays, even for those who work from home or in virtual teams. On the other hand, groups have been used for social change in many ways. When well-known authors write "from groups to teams" it is possible to see a position taken within one perspective, mostly from Management. In different disciplines of Humanities, a group - thought as a social strategy - is not called a team - understood as an enterprise strategy - to build the results they are looking to achieve. To integrate often isolated areas of human, economic, social and sustainability knowledge, we propose to think different possibilities on how to understand what happen in group process, what a collective can produce for itself and for the environment. We based this paper in three bodies of knowledge. For didactic purposes we present them in a sequence, but they are like a web, composing each other as an integral systems approach. One body is Complex Thought of Edgar Morin as our method of research, especially as we explore three principles of complexity (dialogic, organizational recursion, and holographic) and the concepts of comprehension and explanation. Second, we discuss systems thinking properties applied to living systems (interaction, interdependence, autonomy and dependency, organization and self production). Third, we connect some thoughts based on the work of Deleuze and Guattari around rhizomic structures in organization development as a mode of knowledge, nonhierarchical or centered, and a possible understanding of a current model in our highly interconnected society - alliances in movement. We propose an exercise to think group process through these three lenses presented. We understand group processes as immaterial human capital with effects on the intra and interpersonal construction (SEMINOTTI, 2007), and seek more comprehension so that their effects converge towards the human development, integrating different dimensions of nature-life-work that cannot be isolated. To incorporate dialogic into dichotomy, organizational recursion into linearity, holographic into unity is a path that allows the expansion for the homo sapiens-demens-faber in other roles in life. We defend we are in an epoch when we can surpass this linear thought of "group then team". There is a political and economic implication to connect groups and teams, since team members are exposed to group process and sometimes they do not know how to deal with it. Also, if teams at work have access to group process we can prospect another level of right livelihood, self reflection and self production for its members, ergo, to our society. No matters which living system we are talking about, groups or teams, we are facing - hologramatically - concepts for the sake of a sustainable society with an ultimate desire of contributing to s ocial transformation. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE


Nowadays more and more embedded real-time applications use multithreading. The benefits of multithreading include better throughput, improved responsiveness, and ease of development. However, these benefits come with costs and pitfalls which are unacceptable for a typical hard real-time system. These costs are mainly caused by scheduling and context switching between threads. While different scheduling algorithms have been developed to improve the overall system performance, context switching still consumes lot of processor resources and presents a major overhead, especially for hard real-time applications. In this paper, we propose a new approach to improve the overall performance of embedded systems that use multithreading by moving the context switching component of the Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) to the processor hardware itself. This technique leads to savings of processor clock cycles used by context switching, which is a very important resource for a hard real-time embedded systems.


In this fieldbook we describe the most significative Geological and petrochemical features of the Sila and Castagna Alpine tectonic Units, belonging to the Northern Sector of the Calabria-Peloritani Arc (CPA). The Sila Unit is the uppermost Alpine thrust nappe in the Northern Sector of the Arc. It consists of the three different Variscan metamorphic complexes of Gariglione, Mandatoriccio and Bocchigliero, respectively medium-high-, medium-low- and low-grade, and by the late-Variscan plutonites of the Sila Batholith. The Longobucco sequence represents the Mesozoic sedimentary cover. The Castagna Unit, underlying the Sila Unit, consists of a Variscan epi-meso-metamorphic basement intruded by late-Variscan plutonites, both re-equilibrated in Alpine time. The field-trip includes 13 stops: the first covers the Gariglione metamorphic complex; the stops from the second to the eighth are devoted to the Sila Batholith; the ninth shows the Mandatoriccio and the tenth the Bocchigliero metamorphic complexes; the eleventh and the twelfth ones show the Castagna metamorphic and plutonic basement; lastly in the thirteenth stop, some tectonic contacts and structures of the Northern Sector, of the Arc are shown in the Corace tectonic window


Human identity recognition is an important yet under-addressed problem. Previous methods were strictly limited to high quality photographs, where the principal techniques heavily rely on body details such as face detection. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to address the novel problem of human identity recognition over a set of unordered low quality aerial images. Assuming a user was able to manually locate a target in some images of the set, we find the target in each other query image by implementing a weighted voter-candidate formulation. In the framework, every manually located target is a voter, and the set of humans in a query image are candidates. In order to locate the target, we detect and align blobs of voters and candidates. Consequently, we use PageRank to extract distinguishing regions, and then match multiple regions of a voter to multiple regions of a candidate using Earth Mover Distance (EMD). This generates a robust similarity measure between every voter-candidate pair. Finally, we identify the candidate with the highest weighted vote as the target. We tested our technique over several aerial image sets that we collected, along with publicly available sets, and have obtained promising results.


Abstract Supraventricular arrhythmias (SVAs), with the exception of atrial fibrillation, are a group of rapid, regular tachycardias that use the atria and/or the atrioventricular (AV) node as part of their arrhythmia mechanism. This chapter examines the different electrophysiological mechanisms behind the most common SVAs. Atrial flutter is the result of macrore-entry, confined to the atria. Atrial tachycardia is focal in origin, commonly from muscle sleeves within the pulmonary veins. AV nodal reciprocating tachycardia is the most common form of junctional re-entrant tachycardia. Accessory pathways give rise to the other form of junctional re-entrant tachycardia, AV reciprocating tachycardias. When associated with ventricular preexcitation it gives rise to Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Risk stratification for individuals with ventricular preexcitation may be attempted using non-invasive criteria. The different 12-lead ECG characteristics of each arrhythmia are described together with examples. The acute treatment of SVAs typically involves intravenous adenosine, which should terminate all arrhythmias that depend on the AV node (AVNRT and AVRT) and transiently unmark those that are confined to the atrium (atrial flutter and atrial tachycardia). Alternative acute and long-term pharmacological therapy is also discussed. Curative treatment with radiofrequency ablation is a realistic option for most SVAs. The procedure, outcomes and risks are explained.


In this work, a new and secure digital image scrambling algorithm for grayscale images is presented. The main goal of this algorithm is to change and reorder the positions of the pixel values of the grayscale images according to the rules of Conway's Game of Life. For this purpose, an image scrambling matrix is proposed. The proposed algorithm is mostly applied to known benchmark images of various sizes and histograms. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is applied to noisy and low-contrast images to evaluate the performance of the algorithm in consumer applications. The scrambling performance of the algorithm is examined through the evaluation of the correlation values between adjacent pixels in horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions and the gray difference degree between a pixel value and its neighbor pixel values of the plain and scrambled images. Furthermore, the performance of our algorithm is compared to various state-of-the-art methods. Additionally, in order to measure the reliability of the algorithm, we perform attack analyses such as damage and occlusion. Results show that the proposed algorithm is robust and ensures high security with a powerful scrambling performance. Finally, the proposed algorithm can be used in applications providing security of information, such as image encryption and watermarking.


The emergence of European powers on the world scene after the fifteenth century brought with it more than the subjugation of colonized peoples; it also brought an increase in the market for drugs, which until then had seen little distribution beyond their lands of origin. Growth in trade required goods for which there was demand, and drugs filled that role neatly. This book explores how Europeans introduced and used drugs in colonial contexts for the exploitation and placation of indigenous labor. Combining history and anthropology, it examines the role of drugs in trade and labor during the age of western colonial expansion. From considering the introduction of alcohol in the West African slave trade to the use of coca as a labor enhancer in the Andes, these original contributions examine both the encouragement of drug use by colonial powers and the extent to which local peoples' previous experience with psychoactive substances shaped their use of drugs introduced by Europeans. The authors show that drugs possessed characteristics that made them a particularly effective means for propagating trade or increasing the extent and intensity of labor. In the early stages of European expansion, drugs were introduced to draw people, quite literally, into relations of dependency with European trade partners. Over time, the drugs used to intensify the amount and duration of labor shifted from alcohol, opium, and marijuana which were used to overcome the drudgery and discomfort of physical labor to caffeine-based stimulants, which provided a more alert workforce. Valuable not only for its ethnographic detail but also for its broader insight into the nature of capitalist expansion, this collection reveals the surprising consistency of drug use in the colonial process. Drugs, Labor and Colonial Expansion is a book rich with cross-cultural insights that ranges widely across disciplines to provide a new and needed look at the colonial experience.


Attention to soil biodiversity and its importance for sustainable food production has markedly increased in recent years. In particular, the loss of soil biodiversity as a consequence of intensive agriculture, land degradation and climate change has raised concerns due to the expected negative impacts on ecosystem services, food security and human health. The result is a strong demand for 'nature-based' practices that stimulate soil biodiversity or beneficial soil organisms and enhance soil health. Here, we examine the origin of popular ideas on the role of soil biology in sustainable soil management, as well as their potential to address key global challenges related to agriculture. Three examples of such ideas are discussed: 1) a higher fungal:bacterial (F:B) biomass ratio favours soil carbon storage and nutrient conservation; (2) intensive agricultural practices lead to a decline in soil biodiversity with detrimental consequences for sustainable food production; (3) inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi reduces agriculture's dependency on synthetic fertilizers. Our analysis demonstrates how ecological theories, especially E.P. Odum's ( 1969) hypotheses on ecological succession, have inspired the promotion of agricultural practices and commercial products that are based on the mimicry of (soil biology in) natural ecosystems. Yet our reading of the scientific literature shows that popular claims on the importance of high F:B ratios, soil biodiversity and the inoculation with beneficial microbes for soil health and sustainable agricultural production cannot be generalized and require careful consideration of limitations and possible trade-offs. We argue that dichotomies and pitfalls associated with the normative use of nature as a metaphor for sustainability can be counterproductive given the urgency to achieve real solutions that sustain food production and natural resources. Finally, implications for soil ecology research and sustainable soil management in agriculture are discussed.