A number of distinct subfields within conflict resolution share foundational theories and emerge from similar understandings of social conflict. One of the most influential of these theories assumes that conflict environments give rise to 'otherizing' dynamics between competing groups. This theory assumes that conflict occurs between and further reifies identity groups. It follows from this theory that conflict resolution practice, and particularly that within the subfield of peacebuilding, must undermine dyadic 'in-group/out-group' conflict through processes of reconciliation and transitional justice. However, the theorized dynamic does not always pertain. In Sierra Leone the truth and reconciliation commission was tasked with fostering reconciliation between the perpetrators and victims of wartime violence. This article describes, however, how former combatants in Sierra Leone are described by many as brothers and friends, as opposed to hated members of a collective 'other'. These findings attest to a distinct lack of 'otherizing' dynamics and demand a reconsideration of peacebuilding practices after what are often considered 'new wars' or 'postmodern conflicts' in sub-Saharan Africa. The article argues that some contemporary conflicts might best be considered post-identity because they are based less on national, racial, religious, or ethnic identity than on circumstance, need, and opportunity. In addition, after post-identity conflicts truth commissions may create new competing identities, such as those between victims and perpetrators. In such cases the applied conflict resolution interventions must emerge from new conflict resolution theory which can adequately understand contemporary conflict dynamics and begin to develop non-identity focused interventions.


Abstract Objective Research has shown that there is a large variety of different motives underlying why people eat what they eat, which can be assessed with The Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS). The present study investigates the consistency and measurement invariance of the fifteen basic motives included in TEMS in countries with greatly differing eating environments. Design The fifteen-factor structure of TEMS (brief version: forty-six items) was tested in confirmatory factor analyses. Setting An online survey was conducted. Subjects US-American, Indian and German adults (total N 749) took part. Results Despite the complexity of the model, fit indices indicated a reasonable model fit (for the total sample: χ 2/df=4·03; standardized root-mean-squared residual (SRMR)=0·063; root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0·064 (95 % CI 0·062, 0·066)). Only the comparative fit index (CFI) was below the recommended threshold (for the total sample: CFI=0·84). Altogether, 181 out of 184 item loadings were above the recommended threshold of 0·30. Furthermore, the factorial structure of TEMS was invariant across countries with respect to factor configuration and factor loadings (configural v. metric invariance model: ΔCFI=0·009; ΔRMSEA=0·001; ΔSRMR=0·001). Moreover, forty-three out of forty-six items showed invariant intercepts across countries. Conclusions The fifteen-factor structure of TEMS was, in general, confirmed across countries despite marked differences in eating environments. Moreover, latent means of fourteen out of fifteen motive factors can be compared across countries in future studies. This is a first step towards determining generalizability of the fifteen basic eating motives of TEMS across eating environments.


This paper examines the contextualization of the Jesus story by Ghanaian Christians. It approaches it through the analysis and evaluation of inherent ideas in their songs, sermons and practices that reflect their interpretation of the Christian experience in relation to primal religion and culture, and the Bible. The results show that Ghanaian Christians do not play down the ubiquity of evil in the world. Nonetheless, they see in Jesus Christ the incomparable, victorious Saviour who has made it possible for believers to overcome the evils of this world. Accordingly, they insist that in Christ believers can enjoy "full" and "complete" salvation in every area of life.


"In every individual," wrote Dostoevsky in From the House of the Dead, "there is a spark of the Divine." It should be the aim of every obituary to convey this spark to a reader who has never known the subject. Yet how rarely is this achieved; instead the writer falls back on prolixity, cliche, and a curriculum vitae. There is little idea of this subject's uniqueness, of how things would have been different had he or she never lived.

This is not to sneer at obituary writers or at what they produce. They have an exceptionally difficult task, and the reasons for their failure are self evident. Almost inevitably inexperienced writers confronted with an emotional task and a short deadline, they find that they knew the subject far less well than they thought. And almost inevitably they then turn to and follow published obituaries which, instead of conveying uniqueness, have relied on sentiments more appropriate to a 19th century tombstone than to a 20th century journal.

Whether conventional or justified, however, condolences for relatives are best put into a personal letter.1 Like other features in the journal, the BMJ's obituaries are primarily for readers who want their attention held in the same way as elsewhere and, as recent correspondence has confirmed,2 read them avidly. Nevertheless, for some time the editor has been faced with a paradox: whereas non-obituaries undergo rigorous peer review and have a high rejection rate, until recently obituaries did not, and most of them were published with only shortening. Given the continuing large increase in the number of doctors, the inevitable happened, with a heavy backlog of accumulated obituaries, some of them relating to doctors who had died several months previously.

What is the solution to the "problem" of the obituaries? To apply the drastic …


To enhance student engagement in Environmental Science enlightening articles and applicable case studies were integrated in the science content. For each unit students read articles, responded to essential questions, and participated in an online discussion forum with their peers. This study focused on the benefit of online collaboration to promote independence in learning, engagement in the content, self-direction and communication among ninth grade students.


Ion insertion into electrode materials can be used to store energy in battery applications. In this thesis, photoelectron spectroscopic and x-ray absorption spectroscopic methods have been used to study the change of the electronic structure of host materials during electrochemical ion insertion. Specifically, the properties of ion insertion into nanoporous TiO2 were studied. It is demonstrated that the insertion of Li ions results in a reduction of the Ti4+ sites in TiO2 to Ti3+ sites close to the inserted Li ion. The intensity of the Ti3+ is directly correlated to the number of inserted electrons. It is also shown that the two phases resulting from moderate insertion can be detected by studying the electronic structure of inserted Li ions and the behavior observed can be correlated with electrochemical measurements. Insertion of ions into tungsten oxides is a potential candidate for smart window and display applications. Ion insertion into these materials was, also studied with electron spectroscopic methods. The insertion of H+ reduces W6+ to W5+ and further insertion results in a reduction to W4+. Cyclic voltammerty shows two reduction peaks where the first peak implies reduction of W6+ to W5+ and the second peak can be associated with further reduction to W4+.During the first charge/discharge cycles of a battery based on graphite anodes a solid electrolyte interface layer is formed on the electrode surface. This layer consumes some of the charge carrying Li ions, hence decreases the capacity of the battery. A careful characterization of this layer has been performed to aid in the further development of this type of battery.


Anthropogenically driven climate change will rapidly become Earth's dominant transformative influence in the coming decades. The oceanic biological pump—the complex suite of processes that results in the transfer of particulate and dissolved organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean—constitutes the main mechanism for removing CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering carbon at depth on submillennium time scales. Variations in the efficacy of the biological pump and the strength of the deep ocean carbon sink, which is larger than all other bioactive carbon reservoirs, regulate Earth's climate and have been implicated in past glacial-interglacial cycles. The numerous biological, chemical, and physical processes involved in the biological pump are inextricably linked and heterogeneous over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, and they influence virtually the entire ocean ecosystem. Thus, the functioning of the oceanic biological pump is not only relevant to the modulation of Earth's climate but also constitutes the basis for marine biodiversity and key food resources that support the human population. Our understanding of the biological pump is far from complete. Moreover, how the biological pump and the deep ocean carbon sink will respond to the rapid and ongoing anthropogenic changes to our planet—including warming, acidification, and deoxygenation of ocean waters—remains highly uncertain. To understand and quantify present-day and future changes in biological pump processes requires sustained global observations coupled with extensive modeling studies supported by international scientific coordination and funding


The 2006 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program Interim Guidance provides explicit guidelines to program effectiveness assessment and benchmarking by calling for a quantification of benefits, as well as disbenefits, resulting from emission reduction strategies for project selection and evaluation. The objective of this study is to develop a methodology that combines academic and practitioner experiences within a theoretical framework that truly captures consumers' price responsiveness to diverse transportation options by embracing the most relevant trade-offs faced under income, modal price and availability constraints. The development of the theoretical model leads to the design and implementation of TRIMMS (Trip Reduction Impacts for Mobility Management Strategies), a practitioner oriented sketch planning tool. TRIMMS permits program managers and funding agencies like the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to make informed decisions on where to spend finite transportation dollars based on a full range of benefits and costs. The approach is consistent with other benefit to cost analyses. Its accuracy and the perceived fairness are critical when significant funds are at stake. The model allows some regions to use local data or opt to use defaults from national research findings, select the benefits and costs of interest, and calculate the costs and benefits of a given program. A step by step introduction to the program, its capabilities, and a set of working examples to guide the user through the process of evaluation is included in the report. A key strength of this model is its wide range of benefits and costs that can be selected for the analysis. The model's flexibility and robustness allows it to be adopted by agencies throughout the country. Future research could seek to enhance the model to include more of the internal benefits to employers (e.g., changes in worker productivity, reduction in overhead, changes in employee retention, etc.). A byproduct of this research effort that goes beyond the initial project objectives is the development of a structured approach to evaluate the impact of soft programs. Compared to the currently available soft program evaluation methods, the approach developed in this report provides a less heuristic method of estimation resulting in statistically robust mode share impact predictions. Another future area of analysis would be the refinement of such models to provide a standardized approach to soft program impact assessment.


This work comprises an investigation about basic Quantum Mechanics (QM) teaching in the high school. The organization of the concepts does not follow a historical line. The Path Integrals method of Feynman has been adopted as a Reference Conceptual Structure that is an alternative to the canonical formalism. We have designed a didactic sequence for teaching the basic ideas of Quantum Mechanics according to our theoretical frame (Otero, 2006), eluding the mathematical formalism and using simulation software. In the first part of this work we show our proposal for teach the quantum character of the electrons. At the end, we present the outlines of an approach the quantum character of the light with students of the secondary school, where also we use Feynman's technique as the most universal explanation of the light.


The Newtonian regime of a recent nonlocal extension of general relativity is investigated. Nonlocality is introduced via a scalar ``constitutive'' kernel in a special case of the translational gauge theory of gravitation, namely, the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity. In this theory, the nonlocal aspect of gravity simulates dark matter. A nonlocal and nonlinear generalization of Poisson's equation of Newtonian gravitation is presented. The implications of nonlocality for the gravitational physics in the solar system are briefly studied.


STATs (signal transducers and activators of transcription) efficiently carry information from cell surface cytokine receptors (which cause STAT phosphorylation) to the nucleus (where STATs work as transcriptional activators). Yuan et al. (see the Perspective by O'Shea et al.) report that Stat3 is also regulated by acetylation of a specific lysine residue. Stat3 is associated with the transcriptional coactivators CBP and p300, which have histone acetyltransferase activity and can modify Stat3 in vitro. Acetylation of the key lysine residue appears to be required for dimerization of Stat3 and for transcriptional activation of genes in cells treated with the cytokine oncostatin M. Cells expressing a mutant form of Stat3 that is not acetylated were insensitive to gene regulation and growth promotion by oncostatin M. Z.-l. Yuan, Y.-j. Guan, D. Chatterjee, Y. E. Chin, Stat3 dimerization regulated by reversible acetylation of a single lysine residue. Science 307, 269-273 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. J. O'Shea, Y. Kanno, X. Chen, D. E. Levy, Stat acetylation—a key facet of cytokine signaling? Science 307, 217-218 (2005). [Summary] [Full Text]


»Reflexivitat und seine Grenzen bei der Untersuchung sozialer Ungleichheit«. This article argues that while great strides have been made in understanding the socially constructed nature of much empirical (qualitative)
data, the challenge this presents to notions of "objective" social science, and
therefore the requirement for all researchers to undertake reflexive work,
there are limits to such undertakings. Against a vital social requirement for individuals to act reflexively in analysing their own positioning and privilege, I
want to caution against placing too much emphasis on the emancipatory possibilities for researchers of being reflexive in data collection and analysis in the
study of social inequalities. Using reflections from Matthew Desmond's work
on evictions in the US, the article argues that while personally and socially imperative, reflexivity's central role must remain as a methodological guard
against errors emerging from positioning and difference.


Background and aims Ulcerative colitis (UC) associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is usually clinically mild. The aim of the study was to assess whether there is an association between severity of PSC and activity of UC, comparing the course of UC in patients with PSC not needing liver transplantation (LT) and those eventually transplanted. Methods Between 1990 and 2009, 96 consecutive patients with PSC/UC were seen in the authors' institution. Data were evaluated from a database regarding UC activity (median follow-up 144 months). Follow-up was censored at time of LT or last clinical review. Results Patients with PSC/UC were divided into two groups: 46 did not need LT (no-LT) and 50 were transplanted (LT). There were no significant differences concerning duration of UC or PSC and extent of UC. The LT group had significantly (p=0.002) more clinically quiescent UC compared with the no-LT group. The LT group had fewer UC flare-ups (p=0.04) and required fewer steroid courses (p=0.025) with shorter duration (p=0.022) and less use of azathioprine (p=0.003). There was an increased need for surgery in the no-LT group (p=0.006). Colon carcinoma and high grade dysplasia were more frequent in the no-LT group (p=0.004). The no-LT group had increased inflammation in the colonic mucosa at histology (p=0.011), but without visual difference at colonoscopy. Conclusions Clinically progressive PSC requiring LT is associated with a milder course of UC (reduced disease activity and less use of steroids, azathioprine and surgery). This is paralleled by less histological activity and reduced incidence of dysplasia and colon carcinoma.


Component-based adaptation is a novel approach for adapting applications to the limited availability of resources such as bandwidth and power in mobile environments. Component-based adaptation works by calling on the run-time APIs that modern component-based applications export. Because source code modification is not necessary, even proprietary applications such as productivity tools from Microsoft's Office suite can be adapted. Moreover, new adaptive behavior can be added to applications long after they have been deployed. Even if source code is available, development time for implementing adaptation is much reduced.
In addition, the ease with which adaptations can be implemented in this framework has enabled me to explore new avenues in adaptation. First, I have developed the first adaptive system to support document editing and collaboration over bandwidth limited links. The key insight gathered from this work is that support for adaptation is orthogonal to concurrency and consistency mechanisms, and therefore can be integrated easily in existing systems. Second, I have developed a hierarchical adaptive transmission scheduler to support coordinated multi-application adaptation.
I have demonstrated the effectiveness of component-based adaptation by implementing a system called Puppeteer, which has allowed me to adapt widely deployed applications, such as productivity tools from Microsoft's Office suite and Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice suite. Although the APIs of these applications impose some limitations, I have been able to implement a wide range of adaptation policies for reading, editing, and collaboration, with modest implementation effort and good performance results.


This paper documents and evaluates the process of trade reforms in Latin America from the mid-1980s until 1993. It provides an analytical and historical discussion of the consequences of industrial policies in the region, from the early 1950s when import-substitution ideas were supported by the Economic Commission for Latin America to the 1990s when liberal regimes were embraced. A careful distinction is made between policies based on strict import substitution and policies that combine high and uneven import tariffs with export promotion. Additionally, the role of supporting policies to assure the success of trade liberalization is assessed. Important questions related to the sequencing of economic reform are discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on the proper sequencing of stabilization and trade reform policies. The extent of trade reform in Latin America is also discussed. The analysis concentrates on the evolution of productivity and exports, and it deals with several countries' experiences. The role of real exchange rates in the trade liberalization process is studied, and the recent trend towards appreciation observed in many countries in the region is scrutinized. Finally the paper contains an analysis of the recent attempts at reviving regional integration agreements, and of the consequences of the completion of GATT for Latin American nations.


The study focuses on "entrepreneurship education: an imperative tools for economic diversification", its purpose is to ascertain the effect of entrepreneurship education as an imperative tool for economic diversification in a mono-sector economy. The objectives of the study are: to determine if the quality of entrepreneurship education given to students is enough to make them successful entrepreneur, to find out if the environment is conducive enough to make entrepreneurship education good enough for a long lasting diversification measure and to ascertain if entrepreneurship education is actually a tool for diversification of our economy. The research questions are: is the quality of entrepreneurship education given to students enough to make them successful entrepreneur?, how conducive enough is the environment to make entrepreneurship education good enough for a long lasting economic diversification measure?  is entrepreneurship education actually a tool for diversification of our economy? A survey research design was adopted for the study; a structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collections. The questionnaire was administered on 60 randomly selected students in the five (5) schools in Adeyemi College of Education. The statistical tool used for analysis was mean and standard deviation, to ascertain the difference in responses. Four rating scale was used in eliciting level of response: Strongly Agreed (SA), Agreed (A), Disagreed (D) and Strongly Disagreed (SD). From the findings some recommendations were made they are: that entrepreneurship education should be sponsored by the government to make it a worthwhile project, that entrepreneurship education curriculum should not be theory oriented but practical, that financial empowerment should be incorporated into the entrepreneurship package to serve as a takeoff fund for the beneficiaries. Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, economic diversification, mono-sector economy


This thesis proposes a composite framework for the evaluation of the environmental impact of tourism development on host destinations. In this study, the environmental impact of tourism is considered as a social-ecological phenomenon that can be categorized into the two aspects of natural and social-cultural impacts. Ecotourism is introduced as a type of sustainable tourism in that its policies and principles for development are based on conservation of environmental heritage (including natural and cultural heritage) via engagement of local people and communities in the tourism development process. The proposed composite framework arises from the integration of an ecological and a cultural framework for the sustainable development of tourism. This framework places the conservation of natural resources as the main ecological outcome for eco-tourism. The proposed framework uses the ecological footprint (EF) of the main tourism activities and services (including transportation, food and accommodation services) as the ecological indicator for evaluation of ecotourism development to ensure it is ecologically compatible. Ecological footprint (EF) is a way of measuring environmental impact. It assumes that everything needed for living, including all energy, goods and services can be obtained from land, and that any wastes produced can be absorbed by land (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996:9). Because land productivity varies considerably around the world the average global productivity is the normal measure, and this is called global hectares (gha). The ecological footprint of a product or activity produced/ consumed and conducted by a defined group of people can be measured through the following equation:  EF (gha) = Lifecycle energy use of a given group of people (product and activity pro-duced or conducted) Gigajoules (GJ) / carrying capacity of the Earth (GJ/gha).  The above equation determines the area required to produce resources and to absorb pollutants like carbon dioxide generated in the lifecycle energy use of the product or activity through using fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Through using an ecological perspective, this thesis views culture as a system that links a group of people or a community to their surroundings through their use of local mate-rials and energies, and the production and consumption of products from these. The proposed framework determines the main cultural outcomes for ecotourism development such as conservation of heritage and making the host people aware of their cultural values. In addition, it introduces related activities such as social events, conservation of heritage and producing and consuming local products as contributive activities for achieving the outcomes stated above. Furthermore it investigates and refines a number of indicators that can be used as tools for evaluation of the cultural footprint of the development of ecotourism. Within these, local gross domestic product (GDP) as a social-economic indicator arising from tourism activities is also considered. This thesis concludes by presenting a case study of 'The Otago Central Rail Trail' (OCRT) as an example of ecotourism. The OCRT was introduced in the New Zealand Tourism Strategy (NZTS) for 2015 as a successful model for community-based development of sustainable tourism. The investigation reviews the impacts of the OCRT on natural and cultural heritage by using the framework developed in the thesis and its related ecological and cultural indicators. Through using the proposed holistic framework and the model for sustainable development of ecotourism, this thesis finds that, influenced by the development of the OCRT, many cultural heritage items including 60 bridges, 3 tunnels, and 78 buildings (used as OCRT accommodation services) have been refurbished. The restoration of this heritage can be considered as a policy that contributes to awareness of OCRT residents of their cultural heritage and identity. Likewise, as a part of the educational process related to ecotourism, this also makes an opportunity for OCRT visitors to learn about the cultural values of their host people. As shown in Table 5.84, in 2011, the total EF of 11,788 OCRT visitors including the EFs of the four categories of transportation, food, accommodation and activities is 1,617 gha (0.138 gha /visitor). In comparison with the EF of 0.03 gha/ visitor for sustainable tourism (see Table 5.86), the overshoot portion of the EF of the OCRT is equivalent to (0.138 – 0.03) 0.108 gha/ visitor. Likewise the total overshoot EF of 11,788 OCRT visitors is (11,788 visitors × 0.108 gha) 1,273 gha (see Table 5.86). This overshoot EF of the OCRT indicates that although the project has already been considered as a successful sustainable tourism project, still needs to reduce its total EF by 1,273 gha to be environmentally sustainable. As determined in Chapter 5 (see Table 5.88), the overshoot portion of the OCRT is calculated as 127,310.4 GJ/year. Since the costs to generate 1 GJ of overshoot energy use through using renewable energy sources (in this case wind + solar) is NZ$ 19.8, consequently the total cost to generate the overshoot energy use of the OCRT through using the latter systems (wind + solar) is equivalent to (127,310.4 GJ × NZ$ 19.8) NZ$ 2,720,746. Table 5.90 shows that in 2011, the total GDP of the OCRT is NZ$ 6,245,289 This means the total cost that must be spent to generate the overshoot portion of the OCRT energy use in a sustainable way (NZ$ 2,720,746) is 43.6% of its total GDP (NZ$ 6,245,289). Consequently the sustainable portion of the GDP (GDPs) of the OCRT is (NZ$ 6,245,289 – NZ$ 2, 720,746) NZ$ 3,524,543. The results of this thesis demonstrate that using local products (e.g. home prepared foods) as a sustainable cultural behavior not only contributes to the ability of the host destinations located along the OCRT (such as Naseby and Cromwell, used as further case studies) to present their cultural products, but also contributes to reduce the environmental impacts and increase the economic outcomes of the OCRT. For example, producing 17% (13,346.4 kg) of the total of 65165.05 kg consumed food as home prepared food reduces by 5.5% the ecological footprint related to the food consumed by OCRT visitors. As determined in Chapters 5 and 6, in three case studies, producing home prepared food contributes in a sustainable way to the increasing of the economic outcomes by about NZ$3.5 / kg of food produced. This thesis indicates that in all three case studies, using refurbished buildings as accommodation services, which is considered as an activity that contributes to preserving the cultural identity of the host destinations also contributes to reducing of environmental impacts and increasing the economic outcomes related to OCRT. For example in OCRT using 12.9% of bed space as refurbished buildings reduces by14.5% (7.3gha) the total 50.5 gha ecological footprint of accommodation services compared with when all accommodation buildings are assumed as new buildings. Chapters 5 and 6 determine that in OCRT using 21,378 m2 of refurbished buildings as accommodation services (12.9% of total bed spaces) increases by 5% the sustainable portion of GDP related to accommodation services. In Naseby also using refurbished buildings as accommodation services has the same sustainable ecological, cultural and economic outcomes as for the OCRT as a whole. The framework indicates the use of open air areas as being a cultural-ecological indicator for evaluation of architecture as being sustainable. Through using the framework, it is determined that using open air areas including balconies and verandas as part of OCRT accommodation buildings exerts environmentally friendly influences on the host destination. For instance in OCRT using 387 square meters of veranda and balcony as part of the 80,356m2 accommodation buildings decreases by 1.5% the total ecological footprint (50.5gha) of buildings used as accommodation services in OCRT. The thesis results demonstrate that an architecture that will contribute to sustainable development through ecotourism has a cultural footprint area in which the architecture contributes to the host societies knowing and preserving their cultural identity, capitals and heritages. Simultaneously, it contributes to reducing the environmental impacts and increasing the economic outcomes of the host societies through ecotourism. This thesis determines that since all ecological, cultural and economic characteristics of sustainable architecture are linked together, a strategy to develop sustainable architecture is successful when it considers the linkage between all of these profiles and influences that they exert on each other.


An evaluation for objectively assessing the target detectability in night vision color fusion images is proposed. On the assumption that target detectability could be modeled as the perceptual color variation between the target and its optimal sensitive background region, we propose an objective target detectability metric in CIELAB color space defined by four color information features: target luminance, region perceptual luminance variation in human vision system, region hue difference, and region chroma difference. Experimental results show that this proposed metric is perceptually meaningful because it corresponds well with subjective evaluation.


Nine healthy adult Indigenous Sheep of Malaysia (ISM) of
which four were rumen fistulated were allowed to graze on a
hactare of pure stands of Brachiaria decumbens. The animals
developed signs of photosensitization, jaundice, and even death
within three to four weeks. Occasionally signs pertaining to
nervous dysfunction and submandibular edema were also observed. By
the end of the ninth week there were no survivors. Their serum
AST, GLDH, BUN, creatinire, bilirubin (total and direct) rose
prcgressively thru:ghout the entire period of study. There was evidence of neutroIililic leucocytosis with the absence of toxic
neutrophi is and the absence of haemolyticcris is in the
intoxicated animals.
Rumina l stasis occurred approximately three weeks postgrazirg.
The gross, histolcgical and ultrastructural charges in
the livers and kidneys indicated presence of necrosis and
degeneration.
Three healthy adult rumen fistulated Australian Milking Zebu
(ALT) bulls fed decumbens for nine weeks did not develop any
evidence of toxicosis either clinically or clinicopathologically
as that seen in the sheep.


Adaptive indexing is a promising alternative to classical ofine index optimization. Under adaptive indexing, index creation and re-organization take place automatically and incrementally as a side-eect of query execution. Adaptive indexing implementations optimize the index's structure by progressively rewriting it until it converges to a single idealized form such as a sorted array or B-Tree. However, the ideal representation changes over time: An adaptive index that is initially optimal for one workload becomes suboptimal as the workload's characteristics change. In this paper we generalize adaptive indexing, adding the ability to adjust the layout and behavior of the index to workload changes even after convergence. This radical justin-time data structure approach to index construction and maintenance allows for indexes that dynamically adapt to changing workloads. Even with this generality, specialization is still possible. A just-in-time data structure emulates classical adaptive indexing schemes when appropriate, while also being able to adopt a hybrid stance tailored to a specic workload. We show that our approach is feasible and enables indexes that quickly pivot between dierent behaviors.


We introduce a coarse-grained model, which allows us to understand the self-assembly behavior of complex chemical compounds on solid surfaces. It has been shown that such a simplified approach can be used for various molecular architectures, such as tetratopic, V-shape and linear molecules. Moreover, different directions of interparticle interactions, as well as the size of the interaction zone have been taken into account. In such a way we can estimate the influence of the shape of the molecule and the direction of the interparticle interactions on the formation of various molecular networks. By avoiding the full-atom representation and complexity of chemical interactions, our coarse-grained model is able to reproduce experimental data. It follows from this that the shape of the molecules and the directional interactions between them are the driving force for the self-assembly phenomena investigated in the course of the study. In our opinion the method presented here can be very helpful for the design of supramolecular networks and can give insight for the preparation of experimental studies.


Studying water governance at multiple levels can link national or regional objectives with local development priorities. Improving water governance requires rethinking water issues through multiple perspectives, and strategic uses of cooperative partnerships and deliberative processes. Understanding community-based water governance (CBWG) has a critical role to play in constructing a broad pluralistic approach to successful water governance, which starts from the lowest level of local water users' groups; and involves networks and linkages across different levels. This paper takes an empirical focus on CBWG processes and outcomes under China's powerful enforcement of integrated water resources management (IWRM). It shows that CBWG combined with poorly developed policies and lack of multi-level cooperation can reinforce destructive practices in collective forms which are more dangerous, costly and difficult to detect. It concludes that communities have an important role to play in global water governance especially in constructing localized and polycentric frameworks for successful water governance, however community-based water governance per se like market-based or centralized governance as a panacea is insufficient. Approaches are needed that enable in-depth understanding of multi-level institutions in polycentric policy development and implementation, whilst incorporating flexibility to account for physical, socio-economic and political specificities.


This paper discusses the application of behavioral methods to functional skills training in the adult with severe brain damage. Four cases are described demonstrating the effectiveness of this type of intervention in teaching washing and dressing skills. Three patients had deficits arising from traumatic brain injury and one had continuing problems following herpes simplex encephalitis. Theoretical issues in adapting behavioral methods to the needs of such patients who have severe disorders of memory, attention, and motivation are discussed.


The integration of new knowledge into clinical practice continues to lag behind discovery. The use of Free Open Access Medical education (FOAM) has disrupted communication between emergency physicians, making it easy for practicing clinicians to interact with colleagues from around the world to discuss the latest and highest impact research. FOAM has the potential to decrease the knowledge translation gap, but the concerns raised about its growing influence are 1) research that is translated too quickly may cause harm if its findings are incorrect; 2) there is little editorial oversight of online material; and 3) eminent online individuals may develop an outsized influence on clinical practice. We propose that new types of scholars are emerging to moderate the changing landscape of knowledge translation: 1) critical clinicians who critically appraise research in the same way that lay reviewers critique restaurants; 2) translational teachers adept with these new technologies who will work with researchers to disseminate their findings effectively; and 3) interactive investigators who engage with clinicians to ensure that their findings resonate and are applied at the bedside. The development of these scholars could build on the promise of evidence-based medicine by enhancing the appraisal and translation of research in practice.


Probate records are ubiquitous. Virtually every American county has records of estates of the dead. These records contain rich source material for any study of American legal and social history. They have a lot to tell us about family life, about the economy, about love and death and every aspect of life in America. Yet very few scholars have tried to tap these records. There are very few empirical studies that use as their main source probate records, probably no more than a dozen or so, and even fewer in California. This research note is a modest attempt to add to the stock of knowledge, and to document some basic facts about the probate system at work in one place and at one time (San Bernardino, California, 1964). We analyze 513 probate records - both intestate and testate proceedings - of decedents who died in 1964 and whose probate proceedings took place in San Bernardino County, California. Part I of this article provides a brief historical background on San Bernardino County and the state of probate law in California in the 1960s. Part II then describes the research methodology: the sample, the data collection process, and the typical testate and intestate files. Part III outlines the findings of this research, both with respect to intestate and testate proceedings, followed by some concluding remarks.


Violent incidents in the workplace which negatively affect employees' health and safety present an important problem of health and safety at work. This study aimed to determine the effects of the violence prevention climate on employees' job satisfaction and stress by determining how they perceive the dimensions of the violence climate. The participants in this study were 240 employees in various sectors (health, service, etc.) in Turkey. The study used the 18 item Violence Prevention Climate scale developed by Kessler et al (2008) translated into Turkish. The mean age of the participants was 32.3 ± 9.53, mean working years 9.1 ± 8.02. According to the correlation analysis results, the violence prevention climate dimensions of policies, practices and pressure for unsafe practices were found to have a positive significant relationship with job satisfaction. A significant negative correlation was determined between policies and practices and depression. A significant negative correlation was determined between practices and stress. The stepwise regression analysis results determined a significant relationship between pressure and job satisfaction. The stepwise regression analysis results also determined a significant relationship between the dimension of practices and depression. However, the established regression model was found not to be statistically significant in terms of stress and anxiety dependent variables.


Public beliefs about the best way to respond to crime change over time, and have been doing so at a rapid pace in recent years. After more than forty years of ever more severe penal policies, the punitive sentiment that fueled the growth of mass incarceration in the United States appears to be softening. Across the country, prison growth has slowed and, in some places, has even reversed. Many new laws and policies have enabled this change. The most prominent of these implement or reflect what have been called "evidence-based practices" designed to reduce prison populations and their associated fiscal and human costs. These practices "which broadly include the use of actuarial risk assessment tools, the development of deterrence-based sanctioning programs, and the adoption of new supervision techniques" are based on criminological research about "what works" to reduce convicted individuals' odds of committing future crimes. Because evidence-based practices focus on reducing crime and recidivism, they are usually promoted as progressive tools for making the criminal justice system more humane. And while many have the potential to do just that, evidence-based practices are not inherently benign with respect to their effect on mass incarceration and the breadth of the penal state. In their reliance on aggregate data and classification, many such practices have as much in common with the "new penology" that enabled mass incarceration as with the neorehabilitationism they are ordinarily thought to represent. Without denying the contribution that such practices are making to current reform efforts, this Article seeks to highlight the unintended ways in which evidence-based tools could be used to expand, rather than reduce, state correctional control over justice-involved individuals. It explains what evidence-based practices are, why they have gained traction, and how they fit into existing paradigms for understanding the role of the criminal justice system in the lives of those subject to its control. Finally, it calls on policymakers and practitioners to implement these practices in ways that ensure they are used to improve the quality and fairness of the criminal justice system and not to reinforce the institutional constructs that have sustained the growth of the penal state.


Libraries have enjoyed a long and colorful history in their efforts to deliver information services to patrons outside the library. Since librarysupport is an integral part of quality education and a vital service that should be available to all students whether on-campus or off-campus, librarians have sought to provide services to distance learners that are equivalent to those available to on-campus learners. This aspiration is grounded in the philosophical frameworks of the Canadian Library Association's Guidelines for Library Support of Distance and Distributed Learning in Canada and the Association of College and Research Libraries Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services, which recognized that distance learners frequently do not have direct access to the full range of library services and materials. In this situation, the goal of equity makes it necessary that librarians provide services that are more "personalized" – tailored to the needs of the online learners – than those provided on campus. This paper tackles several issues on online library support such as: access to library resources and services, the interaction of library to its users and other information providers and how these library resources and services can be delivered to online learners. In addition, the experience of the UP Open University library was described through its mission-vision, collection status, infrastructure, online services and delivery in the light of points mentioned.


This article extends a lineage of research that reveals possibilities by which indigenous and ethnic communities have appropriated media technologies to serve their own cultural, political and social visions. This article focuses on networked and database-driven 'new' media and information systems, and the possibilities and potentialities these hold within cultural scenarios. A case is presented that has focused on Native communities within the United States. Through this case study, I present a methodology, process and analysis of the means by which information systems can enable culturally and community-focused goals.


A discussion of the interactive operator user interface developed for the Gemini 8-m Telescopes is presented. Topics include the use of a layered synthesized view of the area of interest on the sky, a data driven approach to the control of the subsystems, and an adaptive view on the health of those subsystems. The synthesized view utilizes information from pre-existing databases; guide, wavefront and scientific detector image data; as well as operating and performance limits. This information is presented to the user in layers, with each layer containing an observer, subsystem or other logically oriented view. The ability to control which layers are presented, as well as which parameters are directly modifiable is vested in both the user and the configuration software. Implementing this above a data driven control interface encourages the use of observing templates. Exhaustive parameter control with parallel realization in the lower level mechanisms results in fast, fine grained and repeatable control. Combining the major control interfaces, each with a different view of the desired behavior, error in behavior, and possible corrections allows the operator to spend more time optimizing observations, rather than setting up equipment. Maximizing time with quality light falling on the science detectors is a primary goal.


Coherent addition of fiber lasers coupled with an intracavity fiber coupler is reported. Almost a single output is obtained from one of the fiber ports, which one can switch simply by unbalancing the losses in the ports. We show that the constructive supermodes, each of which has a single output in a different port, build up automatically because of the dense longitudinal-mode, length-unbalanced laser array with unbalanced port loss. High addition efficiencies of 93.6% for two fiber lasers and 95.6% for four fiber lasers have been obtained.


Expression of CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) homologous protein (CHOP) is induced during endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which is related to apoptosis in several cell types. CHOP null mice have been exhibited to decrease bone formation. However, a study of transgenic mice overexpressing CHOP in the bone microenvironment showed that CHOP overexpression impairs the osteoblastic function leading to osteopenia. The regulatory role of CHOP in bone formation is controversial and still remains to be clarified. Here, we investigated the alterations in bone microstructure of CHOP knockout (Chop−/−) mice and tested the gender difference of CHOP deficiency in susceptibility to osteopenia. Adult female and male mice (WT) and Chop−/− mice were used. The microcomputed tomography (µCT) analysis in trabecular bone and cortical bone of tibia was determined. Trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV), trabecular number, and bone mineral density (BMD) in tibia are markedly decreased in both male and female Chop−/− mice compared to the control WT mice. Unexpectedly, the BMD and BV/TV in trabecular bone of tibia in female Chop−/− mice were significantly lower than in male Chop−/− mice. The similar results could also be observed in the cortical bone of tibia in Chop−/− mice. This gender difference was also observed in the decreased capacity of osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow cells isolated from Chop−/− mice. These results indicated that ER stress‐related CHOP signaling might play an important role in the bone formation in a mouse model, especially in females. There is the gender difference of CHOP deficiency in susceptibility to osteopenia. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res


Across the country, American mosques are struggling with dwindling attendance and/or stagnancy. The causes generally come back to four interconnected points: a lack of governing principles, the politics of control by personalities, little focus on social integration, and a scarcity of properly trained and empowered imams. The imam, the community's leading inspirational motivating force, is governed by scripture and both supported as well as held accountable by a community rooted in scriptural values. These values are a broad realm of massive differences subject to an array of cultures that can be a cause for division. Given this reality, Muslims must establish a mission, vision, and core value system for a clear cohesive divinely guided community. This system must prioritize the community's relevant needs with a strong focus on the big picture of Islam as it relates to the broader society. The administrative management of mosques should support their imam to lead them accordingly.


In this paper, both a sliding mode controller (SMC) and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller are designed for a multi-degrees-of-freedom structure, which has an active mass damper (AMD) to suppress earthquakeor wind-induced vibration. Since the model might have uncertainties and/or parameter changes, a SMC has been included because of its robust character and performance. The structural system has five degrees of freedom and has been simulated against an initial displacement of the first floor. At the end of the paper, we present the time histories of the first floor, top floor, and AMD displacements, the control voltage and frequency response of the uncontrolled, PID controlled, and sliding mode controlled structures, and we discuss the results.


Agricultural production is threatened by different invasive species, as their damage results in a serious loss of income. The aim of the research was the assessment of the swarming dynamics and damage of the western corn rootworm (WCR) adults and larvae. The experiment was carried out in monoculture fertilization long-term experiments and three maize hybrids compared for their reaction against WCR adult and larval damage under non-infested plots at different nitrogen levels. Differences among the hybrids have a lower effect on the damage of corn rootworm adults and larvae than the amount of applied nitrogen. The phosphorus-potassium are optimal levels, while nitrogen ranges from 0 to 300 kg and no nutrient supply took place in the control plots for 30 years. The number of adults located and feeding on the styles of the female flower recorded and the damage caused on the roots by larvae ranked on a modified Iowa scale. Nitrogen fertilization resulted in a change in the silking time. The lowest root damage observed in the case of the high nutrient treatment with an Iowa value of 3.18. The coincidence of the nourishment of adults and the egg-laying time with silking is a potential threat in terms of fertility. Based on the results, it found that the extent of root damage can be reduced through the optimal selection of the time and dose of nutrient supply, primarily that of nitrogen. In general, both larvae and adults can cause severe yield loss, but the method of control against them is different. The coincidence of the nourishment of adults and the egg-laying time with silking is a potential threat in terms of fertility.


Chlamydia is the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease in the United States, with over 4 million new infections presenting each year. The disease presents disproportionate problems for women who are generally asymptomatic; chlamydia is more difficult to diagnose in women than men. Untreated infections in women evolve into serious reproductive tract sequelae, including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and neonatal complications. The bright side to this epidemic is that these sequelae are preventable. Chlamydia is both treatable and easily cured when it is detected. A national mailed survey of NPs was conducted to ascertain current chlamydia knowledge levels and clinical practices with female patients. Survey findings indicate that NPs are fairly knowledgeable about the infection and NP clinical practices are generally consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for chlamydia diagnostics and treatment. However, the survey identified NP deficits in screening and treatment practices for pregnant women. These findings are disturbing given the serious risks associated with failure to promptly diagnose and treat prenatal infections. The survey highlights the need for continuing professional education about chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections.


The northern Mergui Basin (Andaman Sea) contains east-northeast–west-southwest– to northeast-southwest–striking normal fault–bound basins, and north-northwest–south-southeast–trending strike-slip faults. The two largest strike-slip faults (Manora and Mergui) pass into extensional or transtensional basins at their tips, consistent with dextral offset. The faults provide examples of early stage pull-apart basin development at fault tips instead of the more common model for development at releasing bends. Offset of isochron markers for the Ranong Formation indicate that ∼8 km of dextral offset has occurred along the Mergui fault and 4.5 km of dextral offset has occurred on the Manora fault. The strike-slip faults and associated extensional faults formed relatively late for the history of the entire Mergui Basin during the Early Miocene. The northern part of the Mergui Basin developed after a phase of west-northwest-east-southeast extension during the Oligocene in the Mergui Basin to the south, indicating a rotation in the extension direction toward the north-northwest–south-southeast with time. The basin is part of a major transtensional system involving the Sumatra, West Andaman, and Sagaing faults that accommodated the northern motion of western Myanmar as India moved north relative to Southeast Asia. Fault activity in the northern Mergui Basin decreased significantly when the broad zone of Early Miocene transtension became focused on the Alcock and Sewell Rises during the Middle Miocene, and the West Andaman and Sagaing faults began to develop and interacted in a large pull-apart geometry with the Shan Scarp Fault, and later (Late Miocene or Pliocene) with the Sagaing Fault.


Like a radio, the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway exhibits both frequency and amplitude modulation. Understanding the dynamic range in which the extracellular signal–regulated protein kinase (ERK) pathway functions to stimulate cell proliferation would aid in the rational development of cancer therapies targeting this pathway. Albeck et al. quantitatively analyzed the activation of the ERK pathway by epidermal growth factor (EGF) by monitoring pathway activity in both live and fixed individual cells. Whereas the phosphorylation of ERK and of Rb (a protein associated with entry into the S phase of the cell cycle) exhibited a bimodal response to increasing EGF concentrations, other outputs, such as the abundance of Fra-1, exhibited a graded response. Live-cell imaging of an ERK fluorescent reporter showed that ERK activity was pulsatile and that the frequency and duration of the pulses increased with increasing EGF concentration. Time-lapse analysis of paired cells showed that the cell in the pair that entered mitosis first exhibited longer pulses, greater frequency of pulses, and an increased fraction of time spent with ERK in the active state, suggesting that frequency of the ERK signal regulates proliferation. Live- and fixed-cell analysis indicated that inhibition of the pathway at the level of the receptor resulted in a reduction in the frequency of ERK activity, whereas inhibition of the kinase upstream of ERK (MEK) resulted in a reduction in the amplitude of the ERK signal. Simulations from models of the regulation of Fra-1 by ERK and experimentation indicated that under saturating EGF concentrations, the pathway must be inhibited more than 85% to see an effect on proliferation. J. G. Albeck, G. B. Mills, J. S. Brugge, Frequency-modulated pulses of ERK activity transmit quantitative proliferation signals. Mol. Cell 49, 249–261(2013). [PubMed]


We present primal-dual coding, a photography technique that enables direct fine-grain control over which light paths contribute to a photo. We achieve this by projecting a sequence of patterns onto the scene while the sensor is exposed to light. At the same time, a second sequence of patterns, derived from the first and applied in lockstep, modulates the light received at individual sensor pixels. We show that photography in this regime is equivalent to a matrix probing operation in which the elements of the scene's transport matrix are individually re-scaled and then mapped to the photo. This makes it possible to directly acquire photos in which specific light transport paths have been blocked, attenuated or enhanced. We show captured photos for several scenes with challenging light transport effects, including specular inter-reflections, caustics, diffuse inter-reflections and volumetric scattering. A key feature of primal-dual coding is that it operates almost exclusively in the optical domain: our results consist of directly-acquired, unprocessed RAW photos or differences between them.


HVDC technologies are widely acknowledged as one of solutions for the interconnection of renewable energy resources with the main electric power grid. The application of the latest modular multi-level converter (MMC) makes power conversion much more efficient. Due to the relatively low impedance in a DC system, DC fault currents may rise to an extremely high level in a short period of time, which can be very dangerous for HVDC converters. To improve the sustainability and security of electricity transmission, protection solutions for HVDC systems are being developed. Nevertheless, they have various drawbacks on fault signal detection and timely clearance. This paper proposes a protection method that provides a fast and reliable solution addressing those drawbacks. A protection algorithm based on travelling wave simulation and analysis is proposed to detect abrupt transient signals. The algorithm shows high efficiency, reliability, selectivity and has low sampling frequency requirements. The proposed protection method has been validated through a cyber-physical simulation platform, developed using a real-time digital simulator (RTDS) and IEC 61850 communication links. The obtained results show that the proposed method has good potential for practical applications.


Two mechanisms proposed to control dinoflagellate blooms — parasitism by eukaryotes (e.g. Amoebophrya sp.) and grazing by microzooplankton — have been explored through previous laboratory and field studies but lack quantitative assessment. We modelled the relative effect of these mechanisms. We used literature values to embed an Anderson-May host-microparasite model into a microbial food web model (nano- and microphytoplankton, nano- and microzooplankton, a toxic di- noflagellate, a dinoflagellate parasite). Three scenarios were examined to simulate the introduction of a toxic dinoflagellate and its parasite into an environment: (1) a food web, including autotrophic nano- and microplankton, heterotrophic flagellates, and ciliates; (2) as for Case 1 but with a toxic dinoflagel- late; (3) as for Case 2 but with a dinoparasite. This mimics observations in a French estuary, where a toxic dinoflagellate began blooming in 1988; since 1998, blooms appear to have become regulated, and numerous parasitic infections by Amoebophrya sp. occurred from 2004 to 2006. After supporting parasite control of dinoflagellate blooms, we assessed the effects of observed ranges of key variables associated with the parasite and other components of the food web on parasite control of the dinofla- gellate population. Population dynamics were examined over 50 d. In Case 1, all taxa had 10 to 20 d blooms. In Case 2, the toxic dinoflagellate population dynamics mimicked that of the microphyto- plankton, and this dinoflagellate was reduced in numbers but not extirpated by microzooplankton grazing. In Case 3 population blooms occurred, and the parasite virtually eliminated the dinoflagellate over ~10 d. Sensitivity analysis indicated that our assessment was robust. We propose that the decline in toxic dinoflagellates in the French estuary may have been due to an introduced dinoparasite. In general, we suggest that parasites may have greater impact on toxic dinoflagellate blooms than micro- zooplankton grazers; the parasites have the potential to eliminate the toxic dinoflagellates. We recom- mend that such parasites be incorporated into more complex food web models.


Improper utilization of ranges and their destruction have always constituted a major concern of policymakers and planners of the natural resource sector in Iran. In this article, an attempt has been made to use the aggregate index of productivity of factors of production and to present a suitable econometric model for determining the economically correct size of range management projects in the ranges of the province of Mazandaran and to specify factors influencing this size. In this study, the economically suitable size of pasture units was estimated to be 165 hectares, which is much smaller than the size of rangeland turned over to those engaged in range management in the province of Mazandaran. Moreover, results obtained showed that the number of livestock kept in ranges exceeds the economically desirable number. In other words, the suitable balance is not maintained between the size of the range and the number of Livestock kept on it. For this very reason an increase in the size of the range unit managed by each range manager and a reduction in the number of livestock kept on it constitute effective measures in increasing the productivity of ranges and in preventing farther destruction of rangeland, and it is recommended that. These measures are carried out meticulously.


The aim of this report is to investigate and analyse whether active teachers are using local historical points of interests in their teaching of history, as well as the benefits and disadvantages the teachers consider themselves to find in regards to this method of teaching. Furthermore, local historical points of interests and their ability in order to affect the historical consciousness as well as the use of history among the students, will be reported. The method that has been used for the purpose of this study, is a qualitative investigation, of which eight teachers in history have been interviewed at schools in the municipalities of Vaxjo and Karlskrona. The findings of the study indicates, that the teachers as a matter of fact use local historical points of interest on a regular basis in their teaching of history, with city tours and museum visits being used as the foremost methods. Several teachers find the use of local historical points of interest as positive, as well as the value of a varied education in a new environment.However, the teachers consider the disadvantages regarding this method of teaching to be the short matter of time alongside with the coast of travel. Above all, educational methods such as museum visits often have a tendency to take longer time due to the aspects of both planning and implementation, causing difficulties in the schools at the present time. Moreover, a result regarding students' conditions with reference to their development in history consciousnesses as well as use of history is reported. The teachers do consider the use of local historical points of interest to be useful in order to encourage the students' use of history and history consciousness.


Objectives. To examine the impact of the Preferred Drugs Initiative (PDI), an Irish health policy aimed at reducing prescribing variation. Design. Interrupted time series spanning 2012 to 2015. Setting. Health Service Executive pharmacy claims data for General Medical Services (GMS) patients, approximately 40% of the Irish population. Participants. Prescribers issuing preferred drug group items to GMS adults before and after PDI guidelines. Primary Outcome. The percentage coverage of PDI medications within each drug class per calendar quarter per prescriber. Methods. Latent curve models with structured residuals (LCM-SRs) were used to model coverage of the preferred drugs over time. The number of GMS adults receiving medication and the percentage who were 65 years and older at the start of the study were included as covariates. Results. In the quarter following PDI guidelines, coverage of the preferred drugs increased most in absolute terms for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) (1.50% [SE 0.15], P < 0.001) and selective and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) (1.17% [SE 0.26], P < 0.001). Variation between prescribers remained relatively unchanged and increased for urology medications. Prescribers who increased coverage of the preferred PPI also increased coverage of the preferred statin immediately following guidelines (correlation 0.47 [SE 0.13], P < 0.001). Where guidelines were disseminated simultaneously, coverage of one preferred drug did not significantly predict coverage of the other preferred drug in the next calendar quarter. Prescribing of preferred drugs was not moderated by prescriber-level factors. Conclusions. Modest changes in prescribing of the preferred drugs have been observed over the course of the PDI. However, the guidelines have had little impact in reducing variation between prescribers. Further strategies may be necessary to reduce variation in clinical practice and enhance patient care.


Abstract. Rapid advance of location acquisition technologies boosts the generation of trajectory data, which track the traces of moving objects. A trajectory is typically represented by a sequence of timestamped geographical locations. Data visualization is an efficient means to represent distributions and structures of datasets and reveal hidden patterns in the data. In this paper, we explore a cloud model-based method for the generation of stylized renderings of trajectory data. The artistic visualizations of the proposed method do not have the goal to allow for data mining tasks or others but instead show the aesthetic effect of the traces of moving objects in a distorted manner. The techniques used to create the images of traces of moving objects include the uncertain line using extended cloud model, stroke-based rendering of geolocation in varying styles, and stylistic shading with aesthetic effects for print or electronic displays, as well as various parameters to be further personalized. The influence of different parameters on the aesthetic qualities of various painted images is investigated, including step size, types of strokes, colour modes, and quantitative comparisons using four aesthetic measures are also involved into the experiment. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method is with advantages of uncertainty, simplicity and effectiveness, and it would inspire professional graphic designers and amateur users who may be interested in playful and creative exploration of artistic visualization of trajectory data.


Factors leading to rise of prices of agricultural products mainly include tension of supply-demand relationship, promotion of production cost and circulation cost, and speculation of Refugee Capital (Hot Money). Factors leading to low price and difficult sales of agricultural products mainly include asymmetry of supply-demand information, lack of risk management tools for prices of agricultural products and decentralized and small-scaled operation of farmers. On the basis of these factors, this paper presents following countermeasures and suggestions for stabilizing prices of agricultural products: firstly, building long-effect mechanism for production and sales of agricultural products; secondly, expand the production and increase supply of agricultural products; thirdly, control the rising range of production cost for agricultural products; fourthly, enhance organization level of farmers; fifthly, promote innovation and development of risk management tools for prices of agricultural products.


In Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, the Supreme Court confirmed that there is no heckler's veto under the government speech doctrine. When speaking, the government has the right to speak for itself and to select the views that it wants to express. But the Court acknowledged that sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the government is actually speaking. Specialty license plates have proven to be one of those difficult situations, raising novel and important First Amendment issues. Six circuits have reached four separate conclusions regarding the status of messages on specialty license plates. Three circuits have held that specialty plates are private speech, one that they are government speech, and another that specialty plates are hybrid speech. Yet another circuit has held that the issue is non-justifiable under the Tax Injunction Act. And the uncertainty continues as North Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma currently confront litigation over their license plates — litigation that will determine whether States or third parties have the right to select the messages on specialty license plates. This paper explores the Court's "recently minted" government speech doctrine in the context of specialty plates. In particular, it analyzes the circumstances under which a State can adopt one message (Save the Sea Turtles) while refusing to authorize opposing viewpoints (Kill the Sea Turtles). To date, the majority of circuits has applied a literal speaker test, which looks to see if a reasonable observer would view specialty plates as government or private speech. Under that test, specialty plates are private speech, and any restrictions on the content of such plates must be reasonable and viewpoint neutral, even if a State disagrees with that message. The paper contends that a careful review of Summum, which was decided after all but one of the circuit court decisions, shows that the majority interpretation is wrong. The literal speaker test is inconsistent with the "control" test set out in Summum and Johanns. Under the Court's new test for government speech, many specialty license plate programs are government speech, and third parties cannot force States to promulgate messages with which they disagree. If a state has a "Save the Sea Turtles" plate to promote conservation and the protection of its wildlife, it cannot be forced to offer a "Kill the Sea Turtles." And the same holds true for more controversial messages such as Choose Life in North Carolina as well as Texas's ban on plates containing divisive images such as a Confederate flag. Thus, this paper concludes that Summum marks a significant development in the Court's free speech jurisprudence, one that affirms the States' ability to control the messages on their specialty license plates as well as their other expressive activity.


Hybridoma-secreting monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I) were produced by the fusion of spleen cells from immunized BALB/c mice with F/O myeloma cells. The 25 MAbs with the highest antibody titer against CFA/I, as determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, were studied for specificity and the capacity to agglutinate CFA/I-carrying bacteria. Most of the MAbs agglutinated a majority of 16 CFA/I-positive strains tested but not any of a number of CFA-deficient mutants or strains carrying other colonization factors (CFA/II and CFA/IV). One MAb that agglutinated all the CFA/I-positive strains and one MAb that did not agglutinate any of these strains were compared for their reactivities with different preparations of CFA/I. Whereas both MAbs bound to or could be inhibited by isolated CFA/I fimbriae as well as the subunit protein, only the agglutinating MAb bound to CFA/I, as expressed on whole bacteria. The nonagglutinating MAb, on the other hand, bound considerably better than the agglutinating MAb to a peptide corresponding to the 46 N-terminal amino acid residues of the CFA/I subunit protein. These results suggest that the two MAbs are directed against different epitopes on CFA/I.


The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether specialisation has increased in European Union countries, and to determine whether specialisation patterns are consistent with trade theories. I present evidence of increasing specialisation in European Union countries between 1968 and 1990. I identify which industries have increased in geographical concentration and show that the characteristics of these industries are consistent with what is predicted by trade theories. The industries with increasing geographical concentration are characterised by high scale economies and high proportions of intermediate goods in production, providing support for the new trade theories and the economic geography theories.


The aim of this literature review, conducted as part of the START project, is to deepen the understanding of transitions across ECEC settings – and between these and CSE settings – by critically analysing the findings of empirical studies carried out in EU Member States over the last decade. In conducting this review, a systematic approach has been adopted in order to provide a comprehensive overview of existing research: both English language studies and studies written in the languages spoken in the countries participating to the project (Italian, Dutch and Slovenian) were included. Compared to literature reviews previously published on this topic (Dockett & Perry, 2013; Peters, 2010), the added value of the literature review conducted within the START project is the specific focus on EU-based research and the inclusion of studies published within edited books and monographies. Up to date, existing reviews on transition practices and approaches have included mostly findings derived from the analysis of publications retrieved through international research databases or indexed journals. This might imply that the findings derived from studies published within monographs, edited books and national scientific journals – which are the most typical forms of research dissemination in the EU landscape – tend to be overlooked and left at the margin of mainstream international debates. By shedding light on the findings derived from such publication sources, this literature review offers valuable insights in terms of investigating the multiple understandings and approaches underlying transition practices across a variety of policy contexts, educational systems and pedagogical traditions typical of EU Member States.


CONTEXT
The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) published the Smoking Cessation: Clinical Practice Guideline in 1996. Based on the results of meta-analyses and expert opinion, the guideline identifies efficacious interventions for primary care clinicians and smoking cessation specialty providers.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the cost-effectiveness of clinical recommendations in AHCPR's guideline.

DESIGN
The guideline's 15 recommended smoking cessation interventions were analyzed to determine their relative cost-effectiveness. Then, using decision probabilities, the interventions were combined into a global model of the guideline's overall cost-effectiveness.

PATIENTS
The analysis assumes that primary care clinicians screen all presenting adults for smoking status and advise and motivate all smokers to quit during the course of a routine office visit or hospitalization. Smoking cessation interventions are provided to 75% of US smokers 18 years and older who are assumed to be willing to make a quit attempt during a year's time.

INTERVENTION
Three counseling interventions for primary care clinicians and 2 counseling interventions for smoking cessation specialists were modeled with and without transdermal nicotine and nicotine gum.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Cost (1995 dollars) per life-year or quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) saved, at a discount of 3%.

RESULTS
The guideline would cost $6.3 billion to implement in its first year. As a result, society could expect to gain 1.7 million new quitters at an average cost of $3779 per quitter, $2587 per life-year saved, and $1915 for every QALY saved. Costs per QALY saved ranged from $1108 to $4542, with more intensive interventions being more cost-effective. Group intensive cessation counseling exhibited the lowest cost per QALY saved, but only 5% of smokers appear willing to undertake this type of intervention.

CONCLUSIONS
Compared with other preventive interventions, smoking cessation is extremely cost-effective. The more intensive the intervention, the lower the cost per QALY saved, which suggests that greater spending on interventions yields more net benefit. While all these clinically delivered interventions seem a reasonable societal investment, those involving more intensive counseling and the nicotine patch as adjuvant therapy are particularly meritorious.


The number of unmanned aerial system (UAS) applications for supporting rescue forces is growing in recent years. Nevertheless, the analysis of sensed information and control of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) creates an enormous psychological and emotional load for the involved humans especially in critical and hectic situations. The introduced research project EffFeu (Efficient Operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Industrial Firefighters) especially focuses on a holistic integration of UAS in the daily work of industrial firefighters. This is done by enabling autonomous mission-guided control on top of the presented overall system architecture, goal-oriented high-level task control, comprehensive localisation process combining several approaches to enable the transition from and to GNSS-supported and GNSS-denied environments, as well as a deep-learning based object recognition of relevant entities. This work describes the concepts, current stage, and first evaluation results of the research project.


Mobile edge computing is a new cloud computing paradigm, which makes use of small-sized edge clouds to provide real-time services to users. These mobile edge-clouds (MECs) are located in close proximity to users, thus enabling users to seamlessly access applications running on MECs. Due to the co-existence of the core (centralized) cloud, users, and one or multiple layers of MECs, an important problem is to decide where (on which computational entity) to place different components of an application. This problem, known as the application or workload placement problem, is notoriously hard, and therefore, heuristic algorithms without performance guarantees are generally employed in common practice, which may unknowingly suffer from poor performance as compared with the optimal solution. In this paper, we address the application placement problem and focus on developing algorithms with provable performance bounds. We model the user application as an application graph and the physical computing system as a physical graph, with resource demands/availabilities annotated on these graphs. We first consider the placement of a linear application graph and propose an algorithm for finding its optimal solution. Using this result, we then generalize the formulation and obtain online approximation algorithms with polynomial-logarithmic (poly-log) competitive ratio for tree application graph placement. We jointly consider node and link assignment, and incorporate multiple types of computational resources at nodes.


Spaces for civil society participation within intergovernmental negotiations on sustainability have multiplied since the 1992 Earth Summit. Such participatory spaces are often uncritically accepted as a remedy for an assumed democratic deficit of intergovernmental policymaking. I argue, however, that civil society's capacity to democratize global sustainability governance is constrained by the limited influence of these spaces on policymaking. The article explores the relationship between the format of participatory spaces and their influence on the negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals. It finds that civil society is more likely to influence within informal and exclusive participatory spaces, and when these spaces are provided early in the negotiating process, at international and national level. This reveals a democracy–influence paradox, as the actors with the capacities to engage repeatedly and informally with negotiators are seldom those that are most representative of global civil society.


Depending on the autonomy level, safety assessment leads to different functional safety requirements for advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous driving functions. To provide the necessary guarantees, technical safety requirements are derived that support the safety case by means of appropriate system architectures. These build on safety mechanisms: Technical solutions responsible for maintaining the intended functionality (fail-operational) or transition to a safe state in the presence of hardware and software faults (fail-safe). As the choice and implementation of such safety mechanisms are critical decisions with a high impact on the overall architecture, their early validation is crucial for an efficient engineering process. However, analytical safety analysis techniques applied to date support only coarse time models and do not provide explicit guidance for considering systemic real-time properties of closed-loop systems. Therefore, we propose a simulation-based fault injection framework to identify problematic emerging temporal behaviors such as instability. In contrast to existing solutions, we leverage the Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) standard for black-box co-simulation to overcome intellectual property concerns in distributed automotive supply chains and to account for heterogeneous tool landscapes. By considering the allocation of software units to processing elements as well as the communication infrastructure, our contribution allows for the injection and propagation of faults affecting a vehicle's software and its electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture, which is crucial for the assessment of safety mechanisms. Experimental results obtained by applying the approach to an industry-oriented use case indicate its validity and low overhead.


This paper studies intercollegiate athletics in the context of the theory of cartels. Some point to the explicit attempts by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to restrict output and payments for factors of production as evidence of cartel behavior. Others argue that such limits enhance product quality by preserving amateurism. I find that the NCAA's compensation limits on athletes lead to high levels of rents from the entertainment revenues produced by the athletes, a finding consistent with the cartel interpretation. The athletes producing these rents are disproportionately African-American, while the beneficiaries are primarily white. The rents are typically spent on facilities, nonrevenue sports, and, possibly, head coaches' salaries. Big-time football and men's basketball programs earn accounting profits, although the athletic departments in which they reside make accounting losses on average. However, there is some evidence, albeit not unanimous, that sports generate alumni contributions, state appropriations, and additional student applications. But, arms race considerations suggest that there may be some societal gains to the aggregate limitation of spending on college athletics.


This paper aims to characterize the discursive construction of two Chilean presidential candidates of 2017 on education, from an intersubjective, multimodal and critical perspective, which integrates the multimodal discourse analysis, the appraisal model, and the critical discourse studies. The methodology is qualitative. The corpus is made up of the programs and television networks of the two Chilean presidential candidates. The analysis was developed in two stages, one descriptive and the other interpretive-integrative. After the analysis, the results showed that the construction of meanings is carried out through intersemiotic evaluative prosodies, in which predominate appreciations, and to a lesser extent, judgments and affects. These evaluative prosodies shape strategies of legitimization and delegitimization: discredit and concealment in Piñera and alignment in Guillier. In this way, Piñera perpetuates the status quo of market logic in education, while Guillier uses the macro-strategy of transforming that status quo. The use of perpetuation macrostrategies by Piñera, has had profound social implications in Chilean society since the discursive construction of the aforementioned politician responds to a neoliberal model that is characterized by the application of the principles that come from private companies that enter in tension with inclusive education as they encourage selection and segregation rather than inclusion.


Even if many of the ASEAN Member States (AMS) had geographical indication protection prior to the TRIPS Agreement and before joining the WTO through unfair competition, consumer protection, and food standards or even appellation of origin, adhesion to the WTO was for many ASEAN countries the occasion to adopt new legal protection schemes for geographical indications, following pressure from the more developed nations in WTO's accession. ASEAN countries are also involved in numerous regional and bilateral free trade agreements (RTAs and FTAs), and have implemented a wide range of initiatives for the protection of geographical indications. ASEAN, thus, became one of the most active geographical indication protected areas in the world. This research provides an overview these issues. Chapter I begins with a brief background to the protection for geographical indications in ASEAN countries and a comparative analysis of ASEAN countries domestic laws. Chapter II describes possibilities for adopting a more interoperable approach to protections for geographical indicators in ASEAN. Finally, Chapter III focuses on the possible ways to facilitate the registration and protection of geographical indications in the ASEAN region.


Decreasing the system volume for optoelectronic (OE) planar systems is achieved by advancing computer-aided design of OE multichip modules (MCM's). It is shown that in order to minimize the volume in an OE MCM, it is necessary to minimize the maximum interconnect distance. To achieve this, we have developed placement algorithms based on the constraints of a given irregular interconnect pattern. Results are given for a twin-butterfly network for two general physical models: a transmissive MCM and a reflective MCM. We then show three different types of hologram design that can be used to implement the interconnect array. These elements are for reconstruction in the near field and are fabricated by direct-write electron-beam lithography. Both simulated and experimental reconstructions are demonstrated.


Females of many species experience costs associated with mating. Seminal products, including nuptial gifts, may mitigate these mating costs or exacerbate them. For example, nuptial gifts derived from male accessory glands may transfer nutrition or potentially harmful seminal proteins to females. In this study, we assay the costs of multiple mating and the consumption of seminal products in a ladybird beetle. We compared longevity in females mated singly or multiply, while allowing or preventing spermatophore consumption at each mating. In order to distinguish a cost of mating per se from a cost of elevated reproduction, we prevented reproduction by using nutrient-stressed females. Mating singly or multiply had no effect on female longevity, nor did spermatophore feeding influence longevity. The results imply, first, that intermediate mating rates do not directly harm females, though females may experience other indirect costs of mating (e.g. reduced foraging efficiency) or costs of reproduction; and second, that spermatophores transfer neither food nor directly harmful substances to female ladybirds.


This article analyzes the influence of the Italian colony who immigrated to Peru from the colonial era to the mid-twentieth century. It deals with the mutual influence observed in the social, economic and political fields through various institutions and companies that Italian immigrants or their descendants founded, and which allowed the transmission of numerous cultural aspects between the two nations.


The aim of the Pollution Reduction Options Network (PRONET) project is to facilitate exchange and evaluation of interventions on environment and health exposure reduction measures on a regional level, and promote implementation of successful initiatives in other regions of Europe. This project will focus on the exchange of useful practices in two key areas in environmental health policy:(1) the reduction of transport-related health hazards (air pollution and noise) and (2) the improvement of the indoor environment by reducing indoor exposure to environmental health hazards. The collection of measures on reducing indoor exposure is done by means of a call for case studies among a large group of stakeholders in Europe and through literature search. The final results of PRONET include: (1) a platform to aid exchange of useful information and practical experience in improving indoor environment and transport and (2) a searchable database with good practice examples in reducing exposure to indoor environment pollutants and transport-related examples. The total of potentially relevant publications found was 636, of which 48% were related to biological agents, 25% to physical and 21% to chemical factors in the indoor environment.


Multi-look processing is a well-known technique actively used in the SAR research community. In the paper, a method is described for the extraction of the ground moving targets parameters from a sequence of SAR look images obtained with a single-antenna SAR. The method calls for the automatic road extraction from the multi-look SAR images. The proposed road detection and location algorithm is based on the Canny edge detector and the histograms of image gradient directions. The estimated road coordinates are used for unambiguous evaluation of the moving targets parameters, namely the velocity components and the coordinates.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To assess patient retention of initial training on completion of self-administration of a prolonged course of intravenous therapy.

BACKGROUND
Outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy is being used increasingly in the UK, and patients requiring prolonged antibiotic courses may be trained to self-administer therapy.

DESIGN
Prospective clinical evaluation.

METHODS
Patients self-administering parenteral antibiotic therapy through the Sheffield outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy service were assessed when nearing completion of therapy for correct technique in five key areas of proficiency using a scoring system.

RESULTS
Twenty-nine patients and nine carers were reassessed, at a median interval of 35 days after completion of the initial training package. Of these, 35 of 38 were fully competent in all areas. Three patients showed incomplete retention of their initial training. All made errors relating to use of sterile technique.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall retention of training was excellent, and this supports earlier reports that patient-administered outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy is as safe as nurse-administered therapy. However, this study highlighted a small number of patients or carers who were not fully competent at maintaining sterile technique, and as a result, the protocol for training patients has been altered.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
In this study, we assess patients' ability to maintain safe self-administration of therapy over a period of time. Patients are increasingly involved and engaged in their own health care, and this study provides a novel approach to assessing their competence in practical procedures.


We propose an improved design of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with ultra broadband-flattened dispersion and ultra-low confinement loss in the telecommunication window. The design is considerably suitable for the generation of wideband supercontinuum spectrum. Numerical results reveal that the proposed PCF structure possesses a low dispersion of 0+-1.5 ps/(nm.km) in the wavelengths ranging from 1.134 to 1.805 \mum (approximately 700-nm bandwidth) with a confinement loss of less than 10?8 dB/km. In addition, a nonlinear coefficient greater than 11.47 (W.km)?1 and a dispersion slope of as low as 0.005694 ps/(nm2.km) are obtained at 1.55-?m wavelength. Moreover, a symmetric flat supercontinuum spectrum with a 10-dB bandwidth of 190 nm is achieved in a 3-m-long fiber, verifying the excellent optical features of the innovative PCF.


We present a novel unsupervised data analysis method, Multi-feature Information Bottleneck (MfIB), which is an extension of the Information Bottleneck (IB). In comparison with the original IB, the proposed MfIB method can analyze the data simultaneously from multiple feature variables, which characterize the data from multiple cues. To verify the effectiveness of MfIB, we apply the corresponding MfIB algorithm to unsupervised image categorization. In our experiments, by taking into account multiple types of features, such as local shape, color and texture, the MfIB algorithm is found to be consistently superior to the original IB algorithm which takes only one source of features into consideration. Besides, the performance of MfIB algorithm is also superior to the state-of-the-art unsupervised image categorization methods.


The frequency comb of an optical resonator is a naturally large set of exquisitely well defined quantum systems, such as in the broadband mode-locked lasers which have redefined time/frequency metrology and ultraprecise measurements in recent years. High coherence can therefore be expected in the quantum version of the frequency comb, in which nonlinear interactions couple different cavity modes, as can be modeled by different forms of graph states. We show that is possible to thereby generate states of interest to quantum metrology and computing, such as multipartite entangled cluster and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states.