NO LONGER INVISIBLE !W.A.R.: Women Art Revolution: A (Formerly) Secret History By Lynn Hershman Leeson Zeitgeist Films/2010/83 mins. This "secret history" spans four decades of American women artists' struggles. Radicalized while at the University of California, Berkeley, Lynn Hershman Leeson began filming interviews in response to the social turmoil in which the Women's Liberation Movement was fomented alongside demonstrations against the Vietnam War, the rise of the Black Panthers Party, and the many public and political assassinations of the 1960s. Both heterosexual and lesbian feminists sought recognition as artists even as they sought parity in other aspects of society. !W.A.R. addresses what neither Sigmund Freud nor Carl Jung could resolve: what do women want? In Leeson's film, we see women artists aware that they are barred from male-oriented galleries. museums, and art historical and critical records--invisible within their own profession. But by 1970, feminist activities began to flourish, including Faith Ringgold's fictitious Women Art Students and Artists for Black Artists' Liberation, which challenged the hegemony of white male art stars. A sense of continuity can be gleaned only after many viewings of this film (aided by a chronology in the accompanying comic book); like a quilt or collage, it juxtaposes historic footage with recent interviews.(1) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Through dance, self-mutilation, nudity, alternate personae, and gender role-playing, performance art became subversive and offered freedom to explore the forbidden, as seen in the ideosyncratic performances of Howardena Pindell, Rachel Rosenthal, Martha Rosier, and Carolee Schneeman. Pathos of the body's vulnerability was heightened by the deaths of Hannah Wilke and Ana Mendieta. Wilke conscientiously shared the slow process of her dying as art, in contrast to Mendicta's sudden death eight months after her marriage to minimalist artist Carl Andre. Mendieta fell from their thirty-fourth floor apartment, which seemed a fulfillment of her prophetic art: female body-shaped depressions in the earth filled with blood or fire. Commenting on her own impending death from cancer, Wilke stated: "Exposing truth is like nudity." Howard Fox, Curator Emeritus at the Los Angeles Museum of Art, contrasts women's use of their bodies to the men's "content-less" color field and minimal paintings dominant in the 1970s and 1980s. Feminist performance art was about process rather than product. Judy Chicago's installation "The Dinner Party" (1974 79) presented a large triangular table set with formal place settings, the plates stylized female genitalia celebrating thirty-nine influential women in Western civilization. Unintentionally provoked male members of the House of Representatives passed a law prohibiting its exhibition in Washington, D.C., claiming it was pornography, not art. During the uproar, sympathetic Congressman Ron Dcllums observed that phallic-shaped rockets used by our military for slaughter are obscene, yet not prohibited. Through the teaching and curating of women's art by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Judy Chicago, Harmony Hammond, Amelia Jones, Arlene Raven, and Miriam Schapiro; the writing of pseudonymous critics Gay Abandon and Prudence Juris; and journals such as Heresies and Chrysalis, edited by groups of volunteers, feminist artists began to acquire validity, if not a history. Chicago was brought from Fresno State by Schapiro and her husband to Cal Arts. As a result, the two women opened Womanhouse in 1972 and, due to Raven and many others, the Woman's Building followed in 1973. Meanwhile, Schapiro, Joyce Kozloff, and other decorative artists founded the Pattern and Decoration Group in the early 1970s. Martha Wilson left California in 1976 to found Franklin Furnace on Franklin Street in New York's SoHo, as a venue for marginalized art, which is still strong today. …


We establish a new mechanism for self-propelled motion of droplets, in which ordering of the nanoscale step morphology by sublimation beneath the droplets themselves acts to drive them perpendicular and up the surface steps. The mechanism is demonstrated and explored for Ga droplets on GaP(111)B, using several experimental techniques allowing studies of the structure and dynamics from micrometers to the atomic scale. We argue that the simple assumptions underlying the propulsion mechanism make it relevant for a wide variety of materials systems.


The identification in transgenic mice of Hox gene DNA regulatory elements that can recapitulate certain aspects of the endogenous gene's expression pattern has proceeded with great success. However, perfect reproduction of the correct expression pattern is uncommon, even when large genomic fragments spanning neighboring genes are analyzed, suggesting that important regulatory regions may be located at large distances from the genes they control or that their specific context may be important. Currently, four groups of transcriptional regulators have been identified that have been shown to directly regulate Hox gene expression in the vertebrate embryo: retinoic acid receptors, Krox20, members of the Pbx/exd family, and the Hox genes themselves.


Information systems have been a well researched topic based on their development, implementation, effectiveness, success and, more recently, business-IT alignment. A literature review has revealed that one domain (i.e., the IS service quality and its measurement) has gained considerable prominence in the last one and a half decades, after the recognition of significance of IS service quality in measuring IS effectiveness. However, there are still only few studies which identify the critical factors influencing the IS service quality from an organizational perspective. In this paper, using Giddens' theory of structuration, we identify the factors affecting the IS service quality and organize them into a conceptual integrative analytical framework. After presenting the conceptual framework, we discuss a case study to explain how the framework can be used to improve the quality of IT services in an organization. The proposed framework will facilitate organizations to judge the present state of their IT ecosystem and guide them to improve their IT service quality.


Abstract. Through two numerical experiments, a 1-D vertical model called NEMO1D was used to investigate physical and numerical turbulent-mixing behaviour. The results show that all the turbulent closures tested (k+l from Blanke and Delecluse, 1993, and two equation models: generic length scale closures from Umlauf and Burchard, 2003) are able to correctly reproduce the classical test of Kato and Phillips (1969) under favourable numerical conditions while some solutions may diverge depending on the degradation of the spatial and time discretization. The performances of turbulence models were then compared with data measured over a 1-year period (mid-2010 to mid-2011) at the PAPA station, located in the North Pacific Ocean. The modelled temperature and salinity were in good agreement with the observations, with a maximum temperature error between −2 and 2 °C during the stratified period (June to October). However, the results also depend on the numerical conditions. The vertical RMSE varied, for different turbulent closures, from 0.1 to 0.3 °C during the stratified period and from 0.03 to 0.15 °C during the homogeneous period. This 1-D configuration at the PAPA station (called PAPA1D) is now available in NEMO as a reference configuration including the input files and atmospheric forcing set described in this paper. Thus, all the results described can be recovered by downloading and launching PAPA1D. The configuration is described on the NEMO site ( http://www.nemo-ocean.eu/Using-NEMO/Configurations/C1D_PAPA ). This package is a good starting point for further investigation of vertical processes.


The dissertation complements the existing literature at the intersection of intellectual property and private international law by providing new insights into cross-border enforcement of patent rights. It is a case study of one specific type of patent enforcement problems − problems associated with enforcement across national borders − and also a study of the impact that private international law mechanisms may have on substantive law. The dissertation shows that notwithstanding patent law territoriality, even under current substantive and procedural laws, patent cases arise in which cross-border enforcement is necessary. It explains why such cases exist and what kind of cross-border enforcement problems they generate; it also analyzes current proposals aimed at facilitating smoother recognition and enforcement abroad of decisions issued in such cases, and concludes that the proposals can function only if countries agree on deeper harmonization of patent laws. In the short-term, the U.S. may solve the problem by entering into bilateral or limited regional treaties on crossborder enforcement because the problem is, at least for now, geographically confined.In the long-term, countries should complement discussions on the proposals that will facilitate cross-border enforcement with a reopening of negotiations on creating a world patent or a regional patent. The dissertation is based on an empirical study of patent cases filed in the U.S. and Germany; it also draws on an extensive comparative study of the legislative and jurisprudential development of the patent laws of the two countries.


Planktonic foraminifera are a source of important geochemical, palaeoceanographic, and palaeontological data. However, many aspects of their ecology remain poorly understood, including whether or not gross morphology has an ecological function. Here, we measure the force needed to crush multiple planktonic foraminiferal morphotypes from modern core top and tow samples. We find significant differences in the resistance of different morphotypes to compressional force. Three species, Globorotalia tumida (biconvex, keeled), Menardella menardii (discoidal, keeled), Truncorotalia truncatulinoides (conical, keeled), require on average 59% more force (1.07 v. 0.47 N) to crush than the least resistant species (Orbulina universa and Trilobatus sacculifer) in core-top samples. Towed samples of pre-gametogenic individuals also show significant differences of the same magnitude (0.693 v. 0.53 N) between the conical (T. truncatulinoides) and globular/spherical morphologies (Globoconella inflata and O. universa). We hypothesize that the greater compressional strength of certain shapes confers a fitness advantage against predators and could contribute to the repeated, convergent evolution of keeled, conical and bi-convex forms in planktonic foraminifer lineages. Supplementary material: Raw data for all crushing experiments, wall thickness measurements, and results for all pair-wise Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3725236.v1


Academic journals are the backbone of scholarly communication and the preservation of knowledge. For years they have served as a record of progression and an archive of academic debate. They are the medium through which new discoveries become tenets of science, and burgeoning ideas develop into contemporary knowledge. Unfortunately, an increase in both production and distribution costs imposed by commercial publishers over the last decade, has begun to stifle the ideological purpose of journals. Too often libraries are finding themselves having to settle on a select number of journals that they can subscribe to because of these rises in costs. This leads to an obvious suppression of the natural flow of knowledge through academia. The processes behind the creation of an academic journal have yet to be standardised, and, as such, journals can subscribe to a variety of different approaches. Journals are most commonly comprised through peer review of potential articles, thus guaranteeing the academic validity of the final publication. However, this is a long and drawn out process for many organisations. New communication technologies have the capacity to make the interaction between editors, reviewers and authors more efficient, thus accelerating the objective of the dissemination of modern knowledge. The introduction of electronic journals has been seen as the solution to these problems. However, until now, there has been no standardised framework from which organisations can freely explore and develop this option. The following dissertation presents a generic and flexible model of the peer review process, and describes the design and implementation of such a framework. The system created provides a generic, open source solution to creating, managing and maintaining a peer-review academic electronic journal. Also included, is a review of the technological initiatives that have affected the area of electronic journal publication.


In 1984, Professor Ronald Gilson wrote Value Creation by Business Lawyers: Legal Skills and Asset Pricing when there were only a handful of transactional legal clinics offering pro bono business legal services to real clients. Professor Gilson offered insightful observations in that seminal article that have been useful to clinicians about the failure of law schools to teach the skills and judgments needed by business lawyers. He observed that law schools could cure this deficiency by teaching practice skills, and facilitating practice through partnerships between academics and practitioners. Due to the changing legal marketplace and the rise in technology-driven entrepreneurship in the last 30 years, the authors review Professor Gilson's observations, implementing, in part, the theoretical perspective in his seminal law review article as a platform for their analysis. This article analyzes how transactional legal clinics in law schools are responding to some of the reforms urged by Professor Gilson. Today, transactional legal clinics are facilitating partnerships between academics and practitioners not only in the academy, but also through partnerships with bar associations, law firms, and private lawyers. Additionally, this article examines transactional legal clinics nationwide 30 years after Professor Gilson's foundational work, which described business lawyers not as innate transaction costs to be endured, but as transaction cost engineers with the potential to create value in business deals. Despite a surge in transactional law clinics in the last three decades, there has not been a comprehensive examination of these clinics and the opportunities they create for educating law students to be business lawyers through the representation of actual clients in need of business legal services. The authors hope to fill a gap in the relevant business law scholarship and spark a robust conversation in the legal community about transactional clinic design trends and opportunities. Finally, this article is also a companion to Enriching the Law School Curriculum: The Rise of Transactional Legal Clinics in U.S. Law Schools and discusses areas of clinical transactional practice, models and funding, industry sectors represented, clients served, transactional lawyering models, and future opportunities. Given the surge in transactional clinics at American law schools, which now number more than 150, and emerging scholarship in the field, a comprehensive discussion and analysis of design trends and opportunities is timely.


BACKGROUND
Bardet Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a multisystem disorder characterised by obesity, polydactyly, intellectual disability and loss of vision due to a progressive retinopathy. Although typically a highly heterogeneous autosomal recessive disease, homozygosity for single mutation in BBS 10 has been identified in a significant number of affected individuals tested in South Africa (SA). Objectives. To delineate the ethnic distribution and clinical phenotype in a cohort of SA BBS patients with the K243IfsX15 mutation in BBS 10 and discuss the implications for genetic testing of and counselling for this disorder in SA.

METHOD
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study collating clinical and laboratory data retrospectively in a genetically homogenous subgroup of BBS patients from SA.

RESULTS
A total of 76 patients from 74 families were tested. Homozygosity for the K243IfsX15 BBS 10 mutation was found in 50 families (67%) and heterozygosity for the same mutation in an additional two affected individuals. With the exception of one patient of mixed ancestry, all were black South Africans from different language groups. This is in keeping with the observation that BBS is more common in this ethnic group compared with white and coloured patients in SA, first made by Prof. Beighton nearly 3 decades ago. A subset of 15 patients available for detailed phenotyping confirmed consistency with well-described features of the disorder, with some overlap with other ciliopathies. The onset of visual impairment was early in our cohort, before the age of 8 years, cognitive impairment was significant, and renal and cardiac abnormalities were infrequently encountered. Conclusion. The high frequency of homozygosity for a single mutation in an ethnic subset of the SA population is strongly suggestive of a founder effect. This has allowed establishment of a diagnostic test with a high yield in our local population. Better understanding of the phenotype will improve earlier recognition of the disorder to allow for appropriate intervention. Testing can confirm but not negate a clinical diagnosis, and can permit carrier and prenatal testing in informative families.


This paper is concerned with the problem of goodness-of-fit for curve registration, and more precisely for the shifted curve model, whose application field reaches from computer vision and road traffic prediction to medicine. We give bounds for the asymptotic minimax separation rate, when the functions in the alternative lie in Sobolev balls and the separation from the null hypothesis is measured by the l2-norm. We use the generalized likelihood ratio to build a nonadaptive procedure depending on a tuning parameter, which we choose in an optimal way according to the smoothness of the ambient space. Then, a Bonferroni procedure is applied to give an adaptive test over a range of Sobolev balls. Both achieve the asymptotic minimax separation rates, up to possible logarithmic factors.


The main aim of the research work is to present theoretical and experimental
approaches to the problem of fretting fatigue using 7075-T6 aluminum alloy as a
specimen and En24 steel as a pad. A literature review is carried out to explain the
contact mechanics of complete contact configuration for the fretting fatigue loading
condition. The literature review includes fretting fatigue crack initiation, crack
propagation and failure mechanisms and concludes with the different fretting fatigue
test facilities. A novel fretting fatigue test rig has been designed to measure and control
the critical parameters: normal load, frictional force and relative displacement at the
contact interface using a data acquisition facility. The crack initiation and propagation
data also recorded during the experiments to ascertain the crack behavior.
The fretting fatigue tests have been carried for the three cyclic axial stresses 290 MPa,
300 MPa and 325 MPa with normal stress 45 MPa, 60 MPa, 90 MPa. During the experiments the frictional force, Q is measured and plotted with the number of cycles.
The frictional force response increases rapidly during initial stage of experiments and
attains a steady state condition approximately after 100 cycles and dwells there until the
specimen fails. The frictional force versus axial load hysterias loops for different cycles
are drawn which shows that the contact zone experiences partial slip regime. The
Coulomb law is applied to determine the coefficient of friction which shows that higher
coefficient of friction is observed for the lower normal stress and decreases gradually
with an increases in normal stress. The crack propagation with dl/dN and Ak, growth
curves shows that considerable retardation in crack growth is observed for the higher
normal stress of 90 MPa with the three axial stresses which are caused by crack closure
due to high compressive normal load. The experimental observation of fretting fatigue
life results shows that increase in normal stress reduces the crack initiation cycles as
well as the total life to failure for that constant axial stress. The fatigue life reduces by
an average factor of 7.34, 12.46 and 17.48 respectively for the axial stress of 290 MPa
with the normal stress of 45 MPa, 60 MPa and 90 MPa. The similar behaviour is
observed for the other combinations fretting fatigue loading condition.
A theoretical model is developed using the asymptotic analysis to study the equivalence
of stress state at the pad edge for the complete contact of dissimilar materials with
Dundurs parameters a,p and at the root of the notch based on the order of stress
singularity, (A-1). The strain energy density criterion is applied to predict the crack
initiation angle using the order of stress singularity, (A-1). The crack initiation angle
compares well with the experimental angle values, which is obtained through the scanning electron microscope. A fretting fatigue life prediction model is developed
based on the strain energy density criterion in which a critical process zone size is used
to estimate crack initiation life and crack analogue model is used to determine the crack
propagation life. The critical process zone size is estimated using the notch analogy for
the fretting fatigue loading condition. The theoretically calculated crack initiation and
propagation lives compares well with the experimental results.


In this chapter, I establish to what extent we find ellipsis in discourse fragments such as answers to yes-no questions in EP adult grammar. I argue that some types of answers to yes-no questions in EP are cases of ellipsis and others are cases of deep anaphora in the sense of Hankamer and Sag (1976). e cases of ellipsis, more precisely VPE, are central in this dissertation. I therefore start by presenting some novel evidence in support of Matos' (1992) claim that EP has V-stranding VPE, which is a type of VPE that exists in Hebrew and Irish (Doron, 1999; McCloskey, 1991; Goldberg, 2005). Since, in EP, many sentences are ambiguous between VPE and null object or between VPE and null complement anaphora, I establish the difierences between these constructions. e discussion developed at that point sets the background for the discussion of the learnability problem posed by VPE in EP, as presented in Chapter 3. At the end of this chapter, I discuss the licensing and identification conditions on VPE in more detail. e discussion of the identifica-tion conditions on VPE, along the lines of Merchant (2001), asserts the notion of givenness as central to the understanding of ellipsis; it also defines to what extent ellipsis interacts with focus. Again, only in Chapter 3 I define the relevance of this discussion for the study of language acquisition.


Class Gym Neptune Beach, FL | Gym Near Me | CLASS UFC GYM ... The Crossword Solver found 21 answers to the Uranus or Neptune crossword clue. The Crossword Solver finds answers to American-style crosswords, British-style crosswords, general knowledge crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. Enter the answer length or the answer pattern to get better results. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues.


While it is common practice for health surveys to include an open-ended question asking for additional comments, the responses to these questions are often not analysed or used by researchers as data. The current project employed an automated semantic program to assess the useability and thematic content of the responses to an open-ended free response item included in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) surveys. The study examined the comments of three cohorts of women, born between 1973–78, 1946–51, and 1921–26, from Survey 1 (in 1996) and Survey 5 (in 2007–2009). Findings revealed important differences in the health status of responders compared to non-responders. Across all three cohorts, and at both time points, women who commented tended to have poorer physical health (except for women aged 82–87) and social functioning, experienced more life events, were less likely to be partnered, and (except for women aged 18–23 years) more likely to have higher levels of education, than women who did not comment. Results for mental health were mixed. The analysis revealed differences between cohorts as well as changes over time. The most common themes to emerge for the 1973–78 cohort were health, time, pregnant and work, for the 1946–51 cohort, the most common themes were health, life, time and work, while for the 1921–26 cohort, the most common themes were husband, health and family. The concepts and frequency of concepts changed from the first to the fifth survey. For women in the 1973–78 cohort, pregnant emerged as a prevalent theme, while eating disappeared. Among women in the 1946–51 cohort, cancer, operation and medication emerged as prevalent themes, while for women in the 1921–26 cohort, the concept children disappeared, while family emerged. This analysis suggests that free-text comments are a valuable data source, suitable for content, thematic and narrative analysis, particularly when collected over time.


The Zen approach to Project Management brings together sound wisdom, a nuts-and-bolts grasp of practicalities, and original insights. It's the Zen that's been missing in all too many of today's business books, and George Pitagorsky is the master we've needed. Daniel Goleman, author Social Intelligence. Projects are often more complex and stressful than they need to be. Far too many of them fail to meet expectations. There are far too many conflicts. There are too few moments of joy and too much anxiety. But there is hope. It is possible to remove the unnecessary stress and complexity. This book is about how to do just that. It links the essential principles and techniques of managing projects to a wisdom approach for working with complex, people-based activities. Project management becomes a metaphor for how we can live our lives and, if we follow the wisdom traditions, the way we live our lives becomes a metaphor for how to manage projects. The book guides readers in exploring how to: Remove unnecessary stress and complexity from your projects. Apply mindfulness and open mindedness to cut through the barriers to personal self-actualization. Manage expectations to ensure that people get what they need, when they need it and for the cost they expected to pay and that they accept what they get. Manage performance to cut through interpersonal and intrapersonal issues that get in the way of excellence. Break free of self-imposed barriers to creative thinking, conflict resolution and problem solving. Remain calm and energetic while being active and effective in the face of chaos, fear, resistance to change, unrealistic demands, conflict and the other aspects of project life that cause stress.


When Quest Turnaround Advisors was retained by the official Committee of Unsecured Creditors to maximize the value of the troubled assets of NTL Incorporated, they didn't fully realize the situation that lay ahead and neither did their creditors. With 92 subsidiaries, 18 companies, in 10 countries, it took clear cutting through a massive tangle of personnel and corporate issues before Quest principals saw the light. The creditors expected the world-and the turnaround specialists delivered. Their acclaimed effort, honored by the Turnaround Management Association with the 2004 award for the International Turnaround of the Year, provides an inside look at this challenging turnaround.


The relationship between democracy and civil society is not straight-forward. Angry crowds can stymie the functioning of the democratic process, institutions, and governance. Drawing on recent Indian examples, this article sets out a typology of civil society movements in order to assess their impact on Indian democracy. It shows how an active civil society can become an entry point by means of which new leaders and issues can find a place in the heart of India's noisy but effective democracy. On the whole, in India "rational" protest complements institutional participation, spreading the democratic message, empowering onetime outsiders, and making democracy more resilient.


Breadfruit from Samoa potentially host the Pacific fruit fly (Bactrocera xanthodes) and so their export to New Zealand requires a disinfestation treatment. Heat treatments by air (HAT) or water (HWT) are common fruit-fly disinfestation treatments for tropical crops. Two breadfruit cultivars – Puou and Ma'afala – were subjected to three heat treatments, HAT-1 (minimum 47.2oC for 20 min at core), HAT-2 (49.0oC for 100 min at core) and HWT (47.2oC for 20 min at core), and an untreated control was also included. Fruit were stored for one week at 15oC followed by three days at 25oC. Disorders observed were heat damage to the skin (blackening) and increased decay on the body and stem-end. Heat damage was at an acceptably low level following HAT-1 but was unacceptable following HAT-2 or HWT. Initial results suggest that a HAT can be tolerated, but the effect of ramp rate and the potential of using a two-step HWT system should be examined.


Understanding the impact of state sponsorship on the decision-making of violent non-state actors is among the more important issues to scholars of security studies. This article addresses the issue by examining the relationship between Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah. To preview its conclusions, there are two main perspectives to consider with regard to the terrorist group – state sponsor relationship. First, state support has a powerful, yet indirect effect on violent non-state actor decision-making by shaping the options available to groups' leaders.  Second, state sponsors can also directly leverage their aid to shape the strategic decisions of armed non-state actors, forcing their clients to either expand or restrict their activities. Because of inevitable lacunae and contradictions amongst published accounts, this study relies heavily upon primary sources and data collected during field research in Lebanon, including interviews with leaders from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Army, the United Nations' Peacekeeping Mission in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the rival Shia organization, Amal.


Brain injury at birth, most commonly caused by hypoxia and ischaemia lead to encephalopathy shortly after birth. The incidence has not changed in the last 40 years. The outcome in some neonates of permanent long-term brain injury remains a major problem in obstetrical and neonatal medicine. Despite significant changes in practice the incidence of cerebral palsy has not improved. We review the underlying pathology and highlight a possible cause which has been largely ignored until recently. Interfering with the transitional circulation by early cord clamping results in a 50% reduction in cardiac output and will exacerbate any ischaemic injury. For the infant who is already hypoxic, this could be critical. Solutions to a change in labour room practice to avoid this iatrogenic injury are provided.


This work aimed to analyse the main characteristics of the bathymetric and geographic distribution, population size structure and size at maturity of the continental slope caridean shrimps Pasiphaea sivado and Pasiphaea multidentata in the western Mediterranean, as well as to try to relate the patterns obtained with geomorphologic and hydrographic characteristics. The study area encompassed the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. In both species, marked differences in depth distribution, density, and population size structure were found between Algerian basin populations, particularly in the Alboran Sea, and those in the Catalano-Balearic basin. Both shrimps showed a shallower bathymetric range in the westernmost region of the Algerian basin than in the rest of geographic sectors, linked to the occurrence of upwelling areas on the northwestern edges of the Alboran Sea. Populations of P. sivado reached larger densities, sizes and maturity size in the Algerian basin. No recruitment of P. multidentata was detected in the Algerian basin, whereas it was present in the Catalano-Balearic basin. In both species, the window range of bottom temperature and salinity was larger in juveniles than in adults. These different distribution and population dynamics imply that ecological functioning of these species differs between the two geomorphological basins of the western Mediterranean Sea.


Purpose: Identifying the predisposing factors of the infectious keratitis results in understanding the underlying mechanisms of its expansion and severity that is essential for initiation of optimal empirical antimicrobial therapy. This study identified main predisposing factors of bacterial keratitis in a sample of Iranian population. Methods: Ninety patients with bacterial keratitis were prospectively enrolled. Demographic and clinical features were collected by a face to face interviewing as well as physical examination. Predisposing factors and final outcomes were analyzed. Results: Trauma was the most commonly identified predisposing factor (40.0%), followed by blepharitis and cataract surgery that were observed in 27.8% and 23.3% of patients, respectively. 5.6% of cases were associated with contact lens wear and 4.4% with prior herpetic keratitis. No significant differences were found in overall prevalence of predisposing factors of infectious keratitis between men and women. Fifty-three patients experienced corneal scar and 15.6% of them had corneal neovascularization. Moreover, graft of cornea was programmed in 11.1% of cases and 5.6% of them underwent conjunctival flap. Conclusion: Ocular trauma, followed by surgery and ocular surface diseases are the major predisposing factors for bacterial keratitis. Identification of the appropriate predisposing factors aids in early recognition and treatment of microbial keratitis.


Significant reductions in road trauma among young drivers could be achieved if they drove safer vehicles. Parents are likely to play a critical role in the access, timing of vehicle purchase, available budget, and vehicle choice for the young driver's first vehicle. However, little attention has been directed to understanding the most effective communication strategies to encourage young drivers and their parents to purchase and use safe vehicles. This study was undertaken to examine existing strategies in Australia and provide recommendations for improving communication initiatives. A two-staged study was undertaken including in-depth consultation with representatives from key road safety stakeholders groups to identify current initiatives, and development of conceptual model to identify current and potential improvements to communication strategies. The findings of the consultation phase showed that a sporadic and un-coordinated approach was used regarding the promotion of key messages for purchase and use of safe vehicles and there was some suggestion that the communication medium, content and message style may not reach the target audience in the most effective way. Stakeholder representatives were unanimous in the argument that parents play an integral role. A conceptual framework was developed, depicting key stakeholders in Australia and the various interactions across stakeholders. This was instrumental in identifying areas where effective communicative initiatives and resources could be considered to increase the purchase and use of safe vehicles, including development of a widespread and accessible website and inclusion of vehicle safety choices in young driver education and training programs. The results of the study suggest that a National Framework that co-ordinates government and non-government activities and initiatives aimed at encouraging the purchase and usage of safer vehicles by parents and young drivers should be developed. The methodology can be applied to other countries to develop similar communication campaigns. 0


Abstract A radially dependent, angular leakage correction was applied to a one-dimensional, multigroup neutron diffusion theory computer code to accurately model hemispherical geometry. This method allows the analyst to model hemispherical geometry, important in nuclear criticality safety analyses, with one-dimensional computer codes, which execute very quickly. Rapid turnaround times for scoping studies thus may be realized. This method uses an approach analogous to an axial leakage correction in a one-dimensional cylinder calculation. The two-dimensional Laplace operator was preserved in spherical geometry using a leakage correction proportional to 1/r2, which was folded into the one-dimensional spherical calculation on a mesh-by-mesh basis. Hemispherical geometry is of interest to criticality safety because of its similarity to piles of spilled fissile material and accumulations of fissile material in process containers. A hemisphere also provides a more realistic calculational model for spilled fissile material than does a sphere.


Geodynamic processes acting on the Earth's system continuously modify the redistribution of the Earth's mass. As a result, various inherent global physical parameters, including the gravitational field of the Earth and its variability, as well as the Earth's rotation rate and variations often observed in Length-Of-Day (LOD), are affected. The Earth's gravity field is described by a set of spherical harmonic functions derived from a combination of various satellite data as well as terrestrial observations. These functions act as proxy parameters that contribute towards our understanding of the dynamics of the Earth's system. One of the most important spherical harmonic coefficients of the gravity field of the Earth is the even zonal harmonic coefficient J 2 . This coefficient is used to describe the Earth's flattening due to mass distribution between the Earth's Equator and the polar regions, and is therefore a measure of the Earth oblateness. The J 2 coefficient exhibits spatial-temporal variations which are often correlated with LOD variations. The aim of this contribution is to use the fractal nature of J 2 and LOD to demonstrate that their variability is not characterized by well-defined scales (of time) that play dominant roles, but rather involve all scales equally. Characterizing the variability of J 2 and LOD using the fractal paradigm will enhance our understanding of the complex geophysical processes of the Earth system.


A total of 42 patients with advanced or recurrent carcinoma of the cervix, other than squamous cell carcinoma, were entered onto two phase II studies by the Gynecologic Oncology Group. Of 16 patients registered to receive piperazinedione at a dose of 9 mg/m2 iv every 3 weeks, two were inevaluable for response because of the lack of measurable disease. Of the remaining 14, two (14%) had complete response. Adverse effects were limited to myelosuppression, nausea and vomiting, and nephrotoxicity. Among 26 patients registered to receive cisplatin, three were deemed ineligible and three were inevaluable for the study. Of the remaining 20 patients, one (5%) had complete response and three (15%) had partial response. Primary adverse effects included myelosuppression, frequent nausea and vomiting, and nephrotoxicity. The most common histologic subtypes noted were adenocarcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma, and responses were noted among patients with each subtype on each drug. Both drugs appear to possess moderate activity against non-squamous carcinoma of the cervix.


In this study we examine whether a workplace can induce good or bad attitudes among its employees and whether any such ?workplace attitudes? affect economic outcomes. This study analyzes responses of thousands of employees working in nearly two hundred branches to the emp loyee opinion survey of a major US bank in 1994 and 1996. The results document the existence and persistence of a genuine workplace effect in how workers view their jobs and organizations. Employee attitudes differ significantly across branches in ways that cannot be explained by branches randomly drawing workers from a distribution of workers with different innate attitudes. Furthermore, newly hired workers adopt the favourable or unfavourable attitudes that the branches exhibited before they arrived. These workplace attitudes also have significant effects on economic outcomes. Branches with less favourable attitudes have higher turnover, lower levels of sales, and lower rates of sales growth than branches where workers have more favourable attitudes. Less favourable branch attitudes are also a significant predictor of subsequent branch closings. The study?s results show that there are happy and unhappy workplaces, as well as happy and unhappy workers, with very different patterns of turnover and productivity in these workplaces.


Two major challenges in networked control systems are the time-varying networked-induced delays and the packet losses. To alleviate these problems, this study presents a novel fuzzy sliding mode controller, where a fuzzy system is used to estimate the nonlinear dynamical system online, and the networked-induced delay is handled by Pade approximation. The problem of packet losses is handled by viewing them as large time-varying delays in the system. The sliding mode-based design procedure used ensures the stability and the robustness of the proposed controller in the presence of disturbances and time-varying networked-induced time delays. Using an appropriate Lyapunov function, it is proved that the tracking error converges to the neighborhood of zero asymptotically. Furthermore, since the adaptation laws of the parameters are derived by using of the Lyapunov function, these laws are also found to be stable. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy sliding mode controller is capable of controlling nonlinear dynamical systems over a network, which is subject to bounded external disturbances, time-varying network-induced delays, and packet losses with adequate performance.


In this paper we show that a phenomenon in animal learning theory (the outcome devaluation effect) for which there is dispute over whether explicit representations and symbolic reasoning is required for its performance, does not require such things. This is done using a reactive motivational model, previously inspired from ethological thought, to which some simple reinforcement learning rules are attached. An instantation of the model is used as the control system of an animat in a spatial computer simulation and it succeeds in learning the necessary parameters to allow the behaviour sequencing system to exhibit the phenomenon.


BACKGROUND Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is an unusual disease process characterized radiologically by ascites and infiltration of the peritoneum by multiple small tumor nodules. Both parietal and visceral peritoneum are involved by the multiple malignant tumor nodules. Computed tomography (CT) has been used to identify the anatomic pathology induced by the progression of this malignant process. AIM To identify and then describe unusual CT images in patients with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. Recognition of these unusual radiologic findings can cause the radiologist to be suspicious of this rare malignant process. METHODS In 100 patients who were to undergo definitive treatment of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, the findings on preoperative CT scans were catalogued. Many of these changes were repeatedly noted on the CT scans. Other pathologic CT images were less common. These unusual radiologic presentations were specially studied in this manuscript. RESULTS Eight unusual radiologic presentations of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma were selected for study. These unusual findings included a mass occurring within a Spigelian hernia, infiltration of the splenic parenchyma by spherical mesothelioma masses, infiltration of the lower mediastinum by tumor, a mesothelioma mass within a left inguinal canal, enlarged cardiophrenic angle lymph nodes, pleural plaques associated with the progression of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, splenic notches caused by disease surrounding the spleen, and a mass greater than 5 cm associated with the proximal jejunum and directly adjacent to the anatomic location of the Treitz ligament. CONCLUSION There are unusual radiologic presentations of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma that are important to recognize in order to accurately diagnose this disease by CT.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals' leadership approaches to teacher professional development arise from school banding and may impact upon teacher professional capital and student achievement.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study is situated within the context of school-based management, comprising reflective accounts of nine school principals selected by stratified sampling from a sample of 56 Hong Kong schools to represent Bands One, Two, and Three schools. The reflective accounts were triangulated with observations of teachers and analysis of school websites.

Findings

First, under school-based management, principals remain obliged to recognize the power of state-defined examinations in determining the schools' future priorities. Second, the exercise of school autonomy in response to this obligation varies, depending upon the competitive advantage schools have in the school banding system. Ideally, effective school-based management is dependent upon the principal's capacity to facilitate good instructional practices. However, principals need to adjust their leadership practices to school contextual demands. Third, adaptations to contexts result in the varied developments of teacher capacities in schools, corresponding with the types of principal leadership adopted.

Originality/value

While statistical studies have identified attributes of exemplary principal leadership, few studies have examined the qualitative reasons for the exemplification of these attributes, and the influence of the school context in shaping these attributes. Departing from assumptions that leadership attributes are intrinsic to individuals, this paper considers how principals contextualize leadership in teacher professional development to the schools' student academic achievement.


Chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer has long been used to help meet the increasing food demands in China, the top N fertilizer consumer in the world. Growing concerns have been raised on the impacts of N fertilizer uses on food security and climate change, which is lack of quantification. Here we use a carbon–nitrogen (C–N) coupled ecosystem model, to quantify the food benefit and climate consequence of agronomic N addition in China over the six decades from 1949 to 2008. Results show that N fertilizer-induced crop yield and soil C sequestration had reached their peaks, while nitrous oxide (N2O) emission continued rising as N was added. Since the early 2000s, stimulation of excessive N fertilizer uses to global climate warming through N2O emission was estimated to outweigh their climate benefit in increasing CO2 uptake. The net warming effect of N fertilizer uses, mainly centered in the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River Basin, with N2O emission completely counteracting or even exceeding, by more than a factor of 2, the CO2 sink. If we reduced the current N fertilizer level by 60% in 'over-fertilized' areas, N2O emission would substantially decrease without significantly influencing crop yield and soil C sequestration.


Received 4th, August, 2016, Received in revised form 5 th, September, 2016, Accepted 24th, October, 2016, Published online 28th, November, 2016 Engagement in meaningful leisure activities influence the quality of life of elderly people and improves life satisfaction. Leisure activities are important since childhood to old age as they define the life of an individual as well as the whole community. Old age is a period when people have more free time as compared to previous phases of life. Therefore the activities they involve in free time is very important to determine their quality of life. Present paper is aimed to explore the relationship between the leisure activities and quality of life of the elderly. This study is based on secondary data obtained from different available literature on leisure activities and quality of life of an ageing population. Several literatures on ageing reviewed and an effort was made to conceptualize the findings. The reviewed literature reveals a positive relation between leisure activities and quality of life amongst the elderly people. These activities rejuvenate the atmosphere, increase physical and mental capability, promote wellbeing, brain functioning and prevent memory loss. A quality life must include an optimal portion of leisure participation. Leisure activity participation ensures the expression of hidden potentialities, gain control over the environment, and identify components that are crucial to sustain a healthy and happy life. Therefore leisure education is needed to make all the elderly understand the importance of leisure activities.


More than 50 years ago a peculiar feature of averages was pointed out by Cohen and Nagel (1934, p. 449) in their well-known book on logic. Their example happened to be mortality from tuberculosis; Blacks in Richmond, Virginia, had a lower rate than Blacks in New York; Whites in Richmond had a lower rate than Whites in New York; yet the overall rate for Richmond was higher than that in New York. Many other examples of the paradox have subsequently been pointed out, and some general theory has been presented by Colin Blyth.

If this were only an arithmetical curiosity no one would care much about it, but in fact its very possibility is a troubling consideration for all numerical comparisons. If recognizing Blacks and Whites reverses the standing of New York and Richmond, how do we know that recognizing some further breakdown will not reverse the standing once again?

This paper presents a different paradox, but one that is also threatening to the drawing of conclusions from numerical data. To follow Cohen and Nagel's example but disregarding the distinction between Blacks and Whites, the arithmetic average mortality (expressed as a death rate) of Richmond and New York combined will always fall between the rate for New York and that for Richmond. The result of a linear averaging process cannot fall outside the units averaged.

This is no longer true when a non-linear form of average is used -- the present paper shows a hypothetical example for a harmonic mean. There are many questions that require non-linear averaging. One such is life expectancy, that is a weighted function of the usual (age-specific) rates, but the weighting is nonlinear. The authors came on this paradox in studying life expectancy for women in the Soviet Union as projected to the year 2020. All of the republics fall between 77.713 and 78.026, but the figure for the USSR comes out to 77.632.

This is not an error due to rounding; it is not due to Simpson's paradox that would result from internal heterogeneity in the several republics; it is due to the nonlinear weighting implicit in the calculation of the life expectancy.


Pinter & Martin Ltd. Paperback. Condition: New. 304 pages. Across the world mothers are urged to breastfeed, but in Western society many find this a difficult task. Those who stop can feel demoralized and unsure as to why such a desired, encouraged and biologically normal behavior can appear so challenging in reality. Breastfeeding Uncovered examines why this continues to happen, revealing how complex social and cultural messages work against new mothers, damaging the normal physiology of breastfeeding and making it seem unmanageable. Dr Brown removes the focus from the mother and instead urges society to rethink its attitude towards breastfeeding and mothering and instead to support, encourage and protect mothers to feed their babies. This book is for anyone who has ever struggled with breastfeeding, supported new mothers or just wondered what all the fuss is about. Most of all it is a must read for anyone who has ever thought a breastfeeding mother should cover up, or feed her baby elsewhere. This item ships from multiple locations. Your book may arrive from Roseburg,OR, La Vergne,TN. Paperback.


Viral NS1 protein is a nuclear, dimeric protein that is highly expressed in infected cells and has dsRNA-binding activity. The RNA-binding domain lies within the N-terminal portion of the protein. The NS1 RNA-binding domain forms a symmetric homodimer with a six-helical fold. Mutational analysis has demonstrated that dimer formation is crucial for RNA-binding. The basic residues are believed to make contact with the phosphate backbone of the RNA which is consistent with an observed lack of sequence specificity. Neither NS1 nor its bound RNA undergo any significant structural changes upon binding. The NS1 dimer spans the minor groove of canonical A-form dsRNA. The non-RNA binding portion of NS1 has been termed the effector domain and includes binding sites for host cell poly (A)-binding protein II (PABII) and the 30kDa subunit of cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF).


Records of the Tygerhoek Merino resource flock were used to estimate genetic, phenotypic and environmental parameters for subjectively assessed wool and conformation traits. The database consisted of records of 4 495 animals, the progeny of 449 sires and 1 831 dams born in the period 1989 to 2004. The pedigree records have been collected between 1969 and 2004. Direct heritability estimates (h²a) for subjective wool traits ranged from 0.15 for face cover score to 0.50 for woolly face score. Corresponding h²a for subjective conformation traits ranged from 0.13 for topline (TOPL) to 0.39 for total fold score (TOT). Maternal heritability estimates were all below 10% where applicable. The proportion of the total phenotypic variance due to the maternal permanent environment variance (c²pe) amounted to 5% for general head conformation (GEN). The genetic correlation between animal effects ranged from -0.70 to 0.21 where applicable. Among the subjective wool traits favourable genetic correlations (rg) were estimated between regularity of crimp (ROC) and wool colour (COL) (0.31), for wool quality (QUAL) with ROC (0.49) and COL (0.26) and between staple formation (STAPL) and belly and points (BANDP) (0.58). The relationships between ROC and STAPL (-0.49) and for QUAL with STAPL (-0.45) and BANDP (-0.20) were unfavourable. The noteworthy relationships among subjective conformation traits were those between the conformation of the hind legs and the conformation of the front legs (0.71) and of GEN and TOPL with TOT (-0.31 and -0.47 respectively). The rg of significance between subjective wool and conformation traits were variable in sign and magnitude. These results indicated the possibility to achieve sustained genetic improvement by selection for subjective wool and conformation traits in South African Merino sheep.


Medicinal plants contain bioactive compounds which are used for the treatment various ailments. Phytochemicals have been categorized in two categories, primary and secondary metabolites. Primary include chlorophyll, proteins, sugar and amino acids. Secondary constituents include terpenoids and alkaloids. The present study involves the phytochemical screening of endemic perennial medicinal herb Aquilegia nivalis which is reported from Kashmir Himalaya. The aerial parts and rhizomes of the selected medicinal plant were washed, air dried and then powdered for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Different extracts of aerial parts and rhizomes were used to find out the phytochemical constituents in the A. nivalis. The main objective of this work was to check the presence or absence of the phytochemical constituents and quantitative analysis of alkaloids, phenols and saponin in methanolic extracts of aerial parts and rhizomes of A. nivalis. The results of the phytochemical analysis of A. nivalis showed that the terpenoids, phlobatannins, flavonoids and alkaloids were present. The phytochemical analysis of medicinal plants is very important commercially and has great interest in pharmaceutical companies for the production of the new drugs for curing various diseases. It is expected that the important phytochemical constituents detected in A. nivalis found in Kashmir Himalaya may prove as important source of novel phytochemicals.


To date, research on new product pricing has predominantly been approached as a choice between market skimming and penetration pricing. Despite calls for research that addresses other complexities in new product pricing, empirical research responding to these calls remains scarce. This paper examines three managerial price-setting practices for new products, i.e., value-informed, competition-informed, and cost-informed pricing. By engaging in these practices, managers can develop and compare quantifications in order to attain an introduction price for the product. The authors draw on consumer price perception literature, Monroe's pricing discretion model, and numerical cognition literature to develop hypotheses about the impact of price-setting practices on new product market performance and price level. By studying the effects on market performance and price level, the paper provides insights that may help explain the growth of new products and address the problems of underpricing. The hypotheses are tested in a management survey of 144 production and service companies. The results indicate which pricing practices are superior for the achievement of either higher market performance or higher prices in specific product and market conditions. Whereas value-informed pricing has an unambiguous positive impact on relative price level and market performance, the results also suggest that in many cases engaging in value-informed pricing is not enough. The effects of cost-informed and competition-informed pricing may differ depending upon the objective (market performance or higher prices), product conditions (product advantage and relative product costs), and market condition (competitive intensity). Engaging in inappropriate pricing practices leads to a decline in new product performance. Moreover, bad pricing practices make the positive effect of product advantage on the outcome variables disappear. The latter finding suggests that companies can jeopardize their efforts and investments in the new product development process if they engage in the wrong price-setting practices. The findings imply that managers should consider different factors in new product pricing. First, when launching a new product, they should determine their explicit pricing objective, either stressing market performance or a higher price level. To determine the most appropriate pricing practices, however, they should next assess their situation in terms of product advantage, relative product costs, and competitive intensity. Together with the pricing objective, these conditions determine the best pricing practice. On a higher level, the findings imply that companies should invest in knowledge development in order to engage in the appropriate pricing practices for each product launch


The data on tillage systems are needed to identify appropriate tillage methods for managing the fragile
soils of the humid tropics to ensure sustained productivity. Hence, five tillage methods were compared as to
their effect on soil physical and chemical properties, leaf nutrient concentration, growth and yield of sweet
potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.). Tillage methods compared during 3 years on an Oxic Tropuldalf at Owo in the
forest-savanna transition zone of southwest Nigeria were manual clearing (MC), manual mounding (MM),
manual ridging (MR), row tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT). These were replicated three times in a
randomized complete block design. Tilled plots (manual mounding), (manual ridging), (row tillage) and
(conventional tillage) resulted in higher soil N, P, K and Ca and leaf N, P, K, Ca and Mg concentrations,
growth and yield of sweet potato compared with untilled (manual clearing) plot. The growth and yield were
in increasing order; manual clearing, row tillage, manual mounding, manual ridging and conventional tillage.
This was consistent with the decreasing order of bulk density and increasing order of porosity. Bulk density
and total porosity were negatively and positively correlated with yield, respectively. Compared with manual
clearing, manual mounding, manual ridging, row tillage and conventional tillage increased tuber weight by 64,
66, 45 and 92%, respectively. The highest yield was obtained with conventional tillage with the lowest soil
bulk density and highest porosity. It is concluded that sweet potato can be grown successfully on well tiled
soils of marginal fertility.


Following several tragic chemical accidents that have occurred in recent years, some directives concerning chemical process safety have been issued. The Seveso directive, for example, requires a precise description of the consequences of a possible chemical accident assuming a worst-case scenario. However, to build such scenarios and, hence, make chemical processes safe, profound knowledge of the kinetic and thermal parameters of the reactions in question is necessary. These parameters are usually determined by calorimetric methods. However, in the existing commercial calorimeters the characterization of fast, exothermal reactions raises several problems. Indeed, on the one hand, it is difficult to maintain the isothermal conditions required to determine the kinetics simply and precisely. On the other hand, the calorimeter should be able to measure the heat flow generated as soon as the reactants are brought into contact. It should be able to do this without the need for a period of thermal equilibration that would perturb the measurements, and without any limitations due to the mixing of the reactants. The aim of this work is to develop a calorimetric method that is particularly adapted to studying fast exothermal reactions. The proposed system combines a microreactor with a commercially available microcalorimeter. In the first part of this project a flexible technique for constructing microreactors was chosen. The technique had to be precise, reproducible and inexpensive. The geometry of the microreactor had to fit into the cavity of the commercially available microcalorimeter. The technique chosen was the silk-screen printing of a thick film dielectric. This method makes it possible to build quickly and at low cost numerous microreactors that can be regarded as disposables. The geometry of the reaction channel can be varied and can be adapted to the type of reaction. Once the microreactors were built, the degree of mixing obtained in the microchannels was estimated first by simulation and then by experiment. The flow in the reaction channel was found to be purely laminar and the mixing time corresponded to the time for radial diffusion. Due to the small size of the channels, the mixing time was found to be adequate and not limiting for the characterization of fast reactions. The microreactor was then inserted into the cavity of the commercial calorimeter. The resulting microsystem was calibrated using the neutralization reaction of sulphuric acid with NaOH. This system was further modified to optimize the thermal transfer between the reaction channel and the sensor of the microcalorimeter and to increase its thermal efficiency. Finally, an electrical preheating system of the incoming liquids was put in place and tested. Once the quality of the thermal signal had been optimized, kinetic studies of chemical reactions could be undertaken. First, a model reaction was studied in order to validate the results obtained with the microsystem and to avoid the risk of systematic errors. In the second stage, a previously unknown fast exothermal reaction was characterized. The heat flows measured during the reaction reached 160'000 W·kg-1 but the conditions, however, remained completely isothermal. The global kinetics of this reaction as well as its activation energy were determined.


We formulate a new variant of the index coding problem, where instead of demanding a specific message, clients are pliable, and are interested in receiving any t messages that they do not have. We term this problem pliable index coding or PICOD(t). We prove that, with this formulation, although some instances of the problem become simple, in general, the problem of finding the optimal linear code remains NP-hard. However, we show that it is possible to construct pliable index codes that are substantially smaller than index codes in many cases. If there are n clients, the server has m messages, and each client has a side information set of cardinality s ≤ m - t; we show that O(min{t log n, t + log2 n}) broadcast transmissions are sufficient to satisfy all the clients. For t = 1, this is an exponential improvement over the n messages required in index coding in the worst case (for m = n). In addition, for t ≫ log2 n, the number of broadcast transmissions required is only linearly dependent on t. We generalize the results to instances where the side information sets are not necessarily of equal cardinality. When m = O(nδ), for some constant δ > 0, we show that the codes of size O(min{t log2 n, t log n + log3n}) are sufficient in general. We also consider the scenario when the server only knows the cardinality of the side information sets of the clients and each client is interested in receiving any t messages that it does not have. We term this formulation oblivious pliable index coding or OB-PICOD(t). If the cardinalities of side information sets of all the clients is s (with s ≤ m - t), then we show that min{s + t, m - s} messages are both sufficient and necessary for linear codes. Finally, we develop efficient heuristic approximation algorithms for PICOD(t) and show through simulations on the random instances of PICOD(t) that they perform well in practice.


Editorial Critical care is a multidisciplinary and interprofessional specialty providing comprehensive care to patients in an acute life-threatening, but treatable condition.1 The aim is to prevent further physiological deterioration while the failing organ is treated. Patients admitted to a critical care unit normally need constant attention from specialist nursing and therapy staff at an appropriate ratio, continuous, uninterrupted physiological monitoring supervised by staff that are able to interpret and immediately act on the information, continuous clinical direction and care from a specialist consultant-led medical team trained and able to provide appropriate cover for each critical care unit, and artificial organ support and advanced therapies which are only safe to administer in the above environment. It is an important aspect of medical care within a hospital as it is an underpinning service without which a hospital would not be able to conduct most or all of its planned and unplanned activities. As such, critical care requires a very intensive input of human, physical, and financial resources.2 It occupies a proportionately large fraction of a hospital's estate and infrastructure for a small number of patients. The resources that are invested into a critical care bed should therefore be valued against the activities and care throughout the hospital that the availability of that bed allows to happen. Given that demand for critical care beds will continue to grow, providing more critical care beds is unlikely to work on its own since experience has shown that additional capacity is soon absorbed within routine provision.3 Attention must therefore be given to maximising the efficient and effective use of existing critical care beds, necessitating an ability to cope with peaks in demand. Historically the world over, the development of critical care units has been unplanned and haphazard and largely relied on the interest of local clinicians to drive development. However, there is now an eminent body of opinion that supports an alternative approach to critical care provision – namely through a managed Critical Care Network with an agenda of integrated working and the focus on facilitating safe quality care that is cost-effective and patient-focused for acutely and critically ill patients across the various constituent organisations of a healthcare system. The Critical Care Service in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has developed rapidly to address the increasing demand linked to the population growth in the State of Qatar with the aim of meeting the vision of the National Health Strategy (NHS). It is paralleled with HMC's vision to improve the delivery of critical care to patients and their families in a way that meets the highest international standards such as those set by the Joint Commission International by whom the Corporation has been accredited since 2007.4 For this reason, the organisation took the lead to perform a gap analysis with expert auditors from the United States of America and the United Kingdom who have experience in critical care service provision. The aim was to assess the Critical Care Service within HMC and identify potential short-term, medium-term, and long-term opportunities for improvement. This assessment focused on a very broad range of aspects such as: bed capacity, facilities and equipment, medical, nursing and allied healthcare staffing levels and their education, career development pathways, patient safety, quality metrics, clinical governance structure, clinical protocols and pathways, critical care outreach, and future planning for critical care at HMC. As a result of extensive review for the Critical Care Services at HMC, the Critical Care Network (CCNW) in the State of Qatar was established in 2014. It is a strategic and operational delivery network, which includes 12 hospitals across the country. The network functions through a combination of strategic programmes, working groups, and large multidisciplinary governance and professional development events. Through collaborative working with the leadership of the various facilities and critical care clinicians, the network reviews services and makes improvements where they are required, ensuring delivery of patient-focused care by appropriately educated and trained healthcare professionals as well as the appropriate utilisation of critical care beds for those patients who require such care. Detailed involvement and engagement from the clinical membership at every event and in the various working groups ensures that all decisions, reports, and improvement programmes are clinically-focused and benefit from a diversity of opinions that can be considered for implementation. All of this is carefully aligned to the requirements of the latest Qatar National Health Strategy.5 It aims to adopt evidence-based best practices to deliver the safest, most effective and most compassionate care to our critical care patients by setting the most appropriate care pathway to transform Critical Care Services across HMC hospitals. The key aims of the CCNW as stated in its Terms of Reference document are listed in Table 1.6 This enhances the quality and safety of patient care across HMC, promotes staff satisfaction, and improves customer service and patient outcome. The CCNW is structured in a way that involves all Critical Care Service stakeholders to maintain the stability and sustainability of delivering the best care to critically ill patients. The CCNW is steered by a multidisciplinary committee (Figure 1) that is empowered with the generative, managerial, and fiscal responsibilities to enable the required changes to take place. The committee oversees the HMC Critical Care Services through coordinating and standardising their activities and governance arrangements across the complete HMC healthcare system. It provides HMC clinical and managerial leadership at a corporate and local level, the opportunity to jointly develop critical care standards, policies, and operating procedures. In doing so, the CCNW decides on and implements recommendations on how to best plan and deliver critical care services using evidence-based practice set against the context of national and international practices. The HMC CCNW gives recommendations to various committees to improve the services in the following areas: 1. Defining the level of care and critical care core standards for HMC: The CCNW standardises critical care across the Corporation regardless of where it is being delivered. As such it develops the critical care core standards for the critical care units and gives recommendations regarding future critical care core facility planning within HMC. The CCNW helps the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) develop the National Critical Care Core Standards. 2. Quality and safety: The CCNW works collaboratively with HMC leaders to ensure a culture of quality is embedded within all critical care services delivered within HMC. There is a continuous evaluation process in place to measure the quality of care for high performance critical care which is the goal. This is based upon ongoing observations, robust data collection and analysis, and a change management strategy implemented as required. 3. Clinical pathways, guidelines, and protocols: The CCNW develops, according to international best practice, clinical care pathways, guidelines, and protocols that govern critical care units throughout HMC. Critical care clinical practice is audited against these standards, compared with the international benchmark, and updated as required to ensure currency of all patient care aspects. 4. Transfer and transportation of critically ill patients: The CCNW develops HMC-wide criteria for patient intramural, extramural, and international transfers, and sets standards of care during transportation in collaboration with the HMC Ambulance Service Transfer and Retrieval team. This includes HMC-wide bed management consideration with the senior consultants on call, review of the patient's condition and medical needs, and assessment of the mission associated risks and mitigating strategies. This involves significant planning on the part of the team, clear communication and handovers, and the use of checklists at several stages to ensure the provision of safe and efficient patient transfers. 5. Education: The CCNW develops educational plans and ensures corresponding courses accredited by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP) are designed and delivered to address the training needs of clinicians. The portfolio of courses is regularly reviewed to meet identified needs so clinicians always possess the appropriate knowledge and skills to manage critically ill patients. 6. Research and Critical Care Data Registry development: Being a key player in an Academic Health System, HMC fosters a relatively young but growing research environment4 of which the CCNW forms an integral part. Creating opportunities for epidemiological research and also fulfilling the needs for quality monitoring and benchmarking, the CCNW has enabled the creation of critical care data registries. Such registries provide a valuable source of information and have already been exploited at HMC to better understand the type of patients a service cares for and patient outcomes with respects various factors.7 The establishment of a CCNW at a corporate level (with membership from local leaders across HMC) has provided a level of oversight and leadership which has significantly contributed to optimizing and reshaping the way acutely ill patients are cared for. It has enabled the adoption of evidence-based best practices across the various critical care services of HMC as well as created a multidisciplinary forum for dialogue and collaboration. Innovative work focusing on providing effective, up-to-date, and patient-focused care are ongoing as well as HMC's pursuit of various international accreditation awards b


Abstract Nowhere does the need to appreciate a diverse range of different intercultural experiences appear more obvious than in the context of intercultural education. Yet, in times of neoliberal hegemony over educational politics and policies, less socioculturally dominant and often more colloquial funds of intercultural knowledge risk to suffer continued institutional marginalization and curricular obliteration. To counter such forms of symbolic violence and to create learning environments that value a wide range of processes of intercultural capital realization, intercultural education needs to overcome ideas of "bad habitus" and "good reflexivity", for they prematurely discredit the value of people's practical sense, while failing to problematize the sociocultural contingency of their reflexive capacities. In a critical appropriation of Bourdieu's conceptualization of human agency, the present article highlights the reconcilability of reflexivity and habitus, with a particular interest in processes of intercultural capital realization and the (unfulfilled) potential of intercultural education.


Can the young be held accountable for their crimes? At common law, juveniles were entitled to a presumption of incapacity, but were subject to criminal liability on an individualized basis: demonstrated malice supplied the want of years. In Graham v. Florida, the United States Supreme Court rejected this principle and held that juveniles categorically could not be sentenced to life without parole for crimes other than homicide. This Article argues that embedded in the Court's holding is a simplifying assumption about the relative maturity of juveniles and adults and a moral claim about the culpability of homicides and nonhomicides - both this assumption and this claim are demonstrably false in a nontrivial number of cases.This Article focuses on the facts of some of these cases. One cannot assess the culpability of particular defendants unless one considers, without artful euphemisms or convenient elisions, what they did. And what certain crimes reveal is that there are violent juvenile offenders - fortunately rare - who are at least as mature and culpable as the typical adult violent offender. The Article also considers lower court applications of Graham and finds, in many instances, marked skepticism. The Supreme Court's general theory of juvenile immaturity has failed to impress judges confronting particular cases. The Court's central claim about the relative culpability of adult and juvenile offenders originates from a failure to confront inconvenient facts and a belief that human nature is sufficiently captured by the three standard deviations that surround one's own experience in the world. Lower court judges have access to a wider data set in reaching contrary conclusions.


This paper argues that the collapse of stock prices in October 1929 generated temporary uncertainty about future income which caused consumers to forego purchases of durable and semidurable goods in late 1929 and much of 1930. Evidence that the stock market crash generated uncertainty is provided by the decline in confidence expressed by contemporary forecasters. Evidence that this uncertainty affected consumer behavior is provided by the fact that spending on consumer durables and semidurables declined immediately following the Great Crash and by the fact that there is a negative historical relationship between stock market variability and the production of consumer durables in the prewar era.


Abstract Controlling for imperfect detection is important for developing species distribution models (SDMs). Occupancy‐detection models based on the time needed to detect a species can be used to address this problem, but this is hindered when times to detection are not known precisely. Here, we extend the time‐to‐detection model to deal with detections recorded in time intervals and illustrate the method using a case study on stream fish distribution modeling. We collected electrofishing samples of six fish species across a Mediterranean watershed in Northeast Portugal. Based on a Bayesian hierarchical framework, we modeled the probability of water presence in stream channels, and the probability of species occupancy conditional on water presence, in relation to environmental and spatial variables. We also modeled time‐to‐first detection conditional on occupancy in relation to local factors, using modified interval‐censored exponential survival models. Posterior distributions of occupancy probabilities derived from the models were used to produce species distribution maps. Simulations indicated that the modified time‐to‐detection model provided unbiased parameter estimates despite interval‐censoring. There was a tendency for spatial variation in detection rates to be primarily influenced by depth and, to a lesser extent, stream width. Species occupancies were consistently affected by stream order, elevation, and annual precipitation. Bayesian P‐values and AUCs indicated that all models had adequate fit and high discrimination ability, respectively. Mapping of predicted occupancy probabilities showed widespread distribution by most species, but uncertainty was generally higher in tributaries and upper reaches. The interval‐censored time‐to‐detection model provides a practical solution to model occupancy‐detection when detections are recorded in time intervals. This modeling framework is useful for developing SDMs while controlling for variation in detection rates, as it uses simple data that can be readily collected by field ecologists.


EDITOR, - Harvey Marcovitch's review of failure to thrive was flawed in its failure to define the term satisfactorily.1 In the wider sense failure to thrive can be defined as the failure of a child to fulfil his or her potential in terms of physical, social, and emotional growth and development. In the somatic sense, the term failure to thrive is usually applied to infants and preschool children to denote a failure to gain weight at an appropriate rate. In other words, the child is thin; typically, head growth is preserved relative to linear growth, and linear growth is preserved relative to body weight.

By contrast, short stature simply means height below the third centile and makes no assumption about the normality or otherwise of the child. …


The present paper compares quantitative impacts of a free trade "program" of 1% price changes across simulations of general equilibrium models of countries and aggregates of skilled labor. These simulations of factor proportions and specific factors models illustrate two quantitative properties of competitive models of production and trade. First, factor intensity has a much stronger influence than factor substitution on the pattern of income redistribution due to price changes and foreign capital. Second, price changes associated with trade have a much stronger impact than foreign capital.


An eSOS (emergency Sanitation Operation System) Smart Toilet experimental prototype, aimed at improving the provision of safe sanitation in emergency settings, was field tested in a temporary settlement in Tacloban City, Philippines. The design, usage, and user acceptance of the toilet were all evaluated. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through interviews and questionnaires, supported by the research-team9s observations. The survey results indicated that 98% of users (both first-time users and those who tried it a few times) intended to use the toilet again. There were more features that the users liked than disliked. The in-built water supply and user-operated smart toilet features were liked, but the bad smell was disliked. User-operated smart features were an important factor in user acceptance although they were not the main incentives. Key recommendations are to improve the toilet9s design to address the odor and cleanliness issues, make handwashing more convenient, and lower the height of the toilet bowl.


We investigate the use of attentional neural network layers in order to learn a `behavior characterization' which can be used to drive novelty search and curiosity-based policies. The space is structured towards answering a particular distribution of questions, which are used in a supervised way to train the attentional neural network. We find that in a 2d exploration task, the structure of the space successfully encodes local sensory-motor contingencies such that even a greedy local `do the most novel action' policy with no reinforcement learning or evolution can explore the space quickly. We also apply this to a high/low number guessing game task, and find that guessing according to the learned attention profile performs active inference and can discover the correct number more quickly than an exact but passive approach.


Motivation: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a highly abundant class of non-coding RNA genes involved in cellular regulation and thus also diseases. Despite miRNAs being important disease factors, miRNA–disease associations remain low in number and of variable reliability. Furthermore, existing databases and prediction methods do not explicitly facilitate forming hypotheses about the possible molecular causes of the association, thereby making the path to experimental follow-up longer. Results: Here we present miRPD in which miRNA–Protein–Disease associations are explicitly inferred. Besides linking miRNAs to diseases, it directly suggests the underlying proteins involved, which can be used to form hypotheses that can be experimentally tested. The inference of miRNAs and diseases is made by coupling known and predicted miRNA–protein associations with protein–disease associations text mined from the literature. We present scoring schemes that allow us to rank miRNA–disease associations inferred from both curated and predicted miRNA targets by reliability and thereby to create high- and medium-confidence sets of associations. Analyzing these, we find statistically significant enrichment for proteins involved in pathways related to cancer and type I diabetes mellitus, suggesting either a literature bias or a genuine biological trend. We show by example how the associations can be used to extract proteins for disease hypothesis. Availability and implementation: All datasets, software and a searchable Web site are available at http://mirpd.jensenlab.org. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com


The exposure of location data constitutes a significant privacy risk to users as it can lead to de-anonymization, the inference of sensitive information, and even physical threats. In this paper we present LPAuditor, a tool that conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the privacy loss caused by publicly available location metadata. First, we demonstrate how our system can pinpoint users' key locations at an unprecedented granularity by identifying their actual postal addresses. Our experimental evaluation on Twitter data highlights the effectiveness of our techniques which outperform prior approaches by 18.9%-91.6% for homes and 8.7%-21.8% for workplaces. Next we present a novel exploration of automated private information inference that uncovers "sensitive" locations that users have visited (pertaining to health, religion, and sex/nightlife). We find that location metadata can provide additional context to tweets and thus lead to the exposure of private information that might not match the users' intentions.
We further explore the mismatch between user actions and information exposure and find that older versions of the official Twitter apps follow a privacy-invasive policy of including precise GPS coordinates in the metadata of tweets that users have geotagged at a coarse-grained level (e.g., city). The implications of this exposure are further exacerbated by our finding that users are considerably privacy-cautious in regards to exposing precise location data. When users can explicitly select what location data is published, there is a 94.6% reduction in tweets with GPS coordinates. As part of current efforts to give users more control over their data, LPAuditor can be adopted by major services and offered as an auditing tool that informs users about sensitive information they (indirectly) expose through location metadata.


Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in US women; 10-20% of which are triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes and have the poorest short-term prognosis. This is probably due to an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) that tumors undergo, de-differentiating into cancer stem cells. Epigenetic reprogramming is proposed to be required for malignant transformation and invasion, particularly in cells undergoing EMT transitions such as TNBC. Therefore, altering the epigenetic landscape in metastatic TNBC lines would provide researchers with a unique opportunity to sensitize tumors to treatment and induce apoptosis. Epigenetic research chiefly focuses on inhibitors of co-repressors histone deacetylase (HDACi) and DNA methyltransferases (DNMTi). Short chain fatty acids, have proven to be effective HDACi's, suggesting a possible role for other fats in epigenetic regulation. Research has shown that several omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), specifically docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22:6, n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5, n-3), inhibit tumorigenesis whereas the omega-6 PUFA linoleic acid (LA; 1C8:2, n-6) promotes neoplastic growth; supporting the association of elevated cancer incidence with n-6 PUFA dietary intake. We initiated studies to evaluate the impact of omega-3 fatty acids on tumor epigenetic pathways. Therefore we monitored epigenetic alterations in MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells in response to both omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs in a time and dose-dependent manner. DHA, EPA, and arachidonic acid (AA; 20:5, n-6) all elicit apoptosis in a similar manner, indicating that initiating apoptosis is not omega-6 or omega-3 specific. We now show that PUFA incorporation and the resulting attenuated metabolism are not sufficient to induce apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 TNBC at 3 and 12 hour timepoints. Additionally, plasma membrane integrity was not appreciably altered at 3 or 12 hour time points. These data, combined with a lack apoptosis at 12 hours, indicate that the level of intact PUFA in cell membranes does not initiate apoptosis. Moreover, mitochondrial membrane potential was universally diminished early and throughout the time course and, although not limiting, decreased ATP levels were observed at 12 hours (relative to vehicle control). Furthermore, activity of HDAC classes (I, IIa and IIb) were altered early at 3 and 48 hours, but typically punctuated with a recovery to basal levels noted at the 12 hour time point. Chromatin condensation was observable primarily in 12 and 48 hour time points, although it was noted in DHA and EPA treatments at 3 hours. Collectively, these data demonstrate that PUFA-mediated epigenetic changes occur on a time scale proceeding apoptotic induction, indicating that PUFAs may be useful as an epigenetically-targeted cancer therapeutic agent or adjuvant therapy. Citation Format: Amy M. Chattin, Mykelti O9Brien, Ronald S. Pardini. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) alter the epigenetic landscape in MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast carcinoma (TNBC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5374. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5374


On 15 April, I found myself thinking for the first time, "I wish I was a surgeon." As a second year internal medicine resident, I am training to be a diagnostician. If a patient's leg is red and swollen, I can differentiate between a clot and an infection. If a patient has abdominal pain, I can identify the culprit organ and determine if he needs medical or surgical intervention. If a patient has chest pain, I can decide if he is having a heart attack. But when disaster struck Boston on Monday afternoon and I saw a trauma victim point to a leg that had been ripped open, there was no diagnostic dilemma that needed my expertise. When the woman on the stretcher buckled over with pain lifted her hands for me to examine her, the third degree burns were explanation enough for her excruciating pain. And when the man with chest pain had a piece of shrapnel protruding from his chest, you didn't need me to tell you why he was in pain. As our emergency department was inundated with victims, I started to think these patients needed a trauma physician and not an internal medicine doctor.

As a third year medicine pediatrics resident, I spent the night before the marathon reviewing the basics of treating hyponatremia. I was working in the emergency department and anticipated an influx of patients requiring careful sodium repletion after drinking too much water during the race. When the announcement that two bombs had exploded in Copley crackled over the emergency radios, there was a brief moment of stunned …


BACKGROUND
The live attenuated BPZE1 vaccine candidate induces protection against B. pertussis and prevents nasal colonization in animal models. Here we report on the responses in humans receiving a single intranasal administration of BPZE1.

METHODS
We performed multiple assays to dissect the immune responses induced in humans (n=12) receiving BPZE1, with particular emphasis on the magnitude and characteristics of the antibody responses. Such responses were benchmarked to adolescents (n=12) receiving the complete vaccination program of the currently used acellular pertussis vaccine (aPV). Using immunoproteomics analysis, novel immunogenic B. pertussis antigens were identified.

RESULTS
All BPZE1 vaccinees showed robust B. pertussis-specific antibody responses with regard to significant increase in one or more of the parameters IgG, IgA and memory B cells to B. pertussis antigens. BPZE1-specific T cells showed a Th1 phenotype and the IgG exclusively consisted of IgG1 and IgG3. In contrast, all aPV vaccinees showed a Th2-biased response. Immunoproteomics profiling revealed that BPZE1 elicited broader and different antibody specificities to B. pertussis antigens as compared to the aPV that primarily induced antibodies to the vaccine antigens. Moreover, BPZE1 was superior at inducing opsonizing antibodies that stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in neutrophils and enhanced bactericidal function, which was in line with that antibodies against adenylate cyclase toxin were only elicited by BPZE1.

CONCLUSIONS
The breadth of the antibodies, the Th1-type cellular response and killing mechanisms elicited by BPZE1 may hold prospects of improving vaccine efficacy and protection against B. pertussis transmission.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02453048, NCT00870350FUNDING. ILiAD Biotechnologies, Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), Swedish Heart-lung Foundation.


Quick Response (QR) Codes helps us in encoding the data in an efficient manner. The data capacity is limited according to the various data formats used. For increasing the data capacity, data to be encoded can first be compressed using any of the data compression techniques. Then, the data can be encoded. This paper suggests a technique for data compression which in turn helped to increase the data capacity of QR Codes. Results are compared with the normal QR Codes to find the efficiency of the new technique of encoding followed by compression.


In this paper, we analyze and empirically evaluate Justice, a new approach to fair-share, deadline-aware job scheduling for resource-constrained cloud deployments managed by big data resource negotiators. Justice provides admission control, which leverages historical traces and job deadlines to guide and adapt resource allocation decisions to changing workload conditions. We evaluate Justice using different deadline types and production analytics workloads. We find that it outperforms extant allocators in terms of fair allocation, deadline satisfaction, and useful work. Keywords—cloud for IoT; scheduling; big-data; fairness;


The ERICA switch algorithm has been discussed extensively in TM group in the past However over the last two years the algorithm has been substantially modi ed This con tribution describes the current version of ERICA switch algorithm in complete detail The algorithm achieves both e ciency and fairness and exhibits a fast transient response The development of the algorithm is traced and the new approaches it uses to achieve its objectives are highlighted Several design and implementation aspects of the algorithm are examined In addition several enhancements to the algorithm are proposed and studied