The Upper Harlem Electrification Project consists of a 28 mile extension of 700 V. D. C. under-running third (current carrying contact) rail electrification from North White Plains, New York to Brewster, New York for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad. Included in the project were the construction of 10 new electric traction power substations, installation of current carrying contact, or third rail, construction of a signal power conversion facility, rehabilitation of existing railroad signal and communications systems, construction of a new power distribution line, construction of new high level passenger station platforms and installation of a new signal system. Other aspects of the project included installation of a computerized power supervisory system, installation of protective relaying, coordination with local utilities, the purchase of electrical apparatus and substation landscaping.


This research explores the links between social exclusion, car dependence and public policies for members of non-motorized households who are potentially socially excluded. It is at the crossroads of urban sociology, public policy and transport geography. Comparing urban areas in North America and Europe, it comprises two case studies: Quebec City in Canada and Strasbourg in France. Using a mixed methods approach, I combine qualitative and quantitative research tools to examine how the interactions of various policies, levels of car dependence, urban planning and land use affect mobility-related social exclusion with special attention to gender-based differences. The analysis is based on official origin-destination survey data from both urban areas, semi-directed interviews within non-motorized households and with public servants, and policy documents. I find that the factors causing non-motorized households to feel socially excluded are similar on both sides of the Atlantic. Mobility-related social exclusion can be associated with the fact of having to find an alternative to the car in order to reach certain destinations. Relying on the bus is often experienced as inconvenient, linked to long waiting times, having to leave early during evening outings and making detours instead of using a direct route. Such feelings made many of the study participants feel excluded. Participants who felt socially excluded commonly mentioned feeling left out of the political process and not listened to during public consultations. Some participants also felt excluded for not having a driver's licence, especially in France. Non-motorized households revealed that aggressive behaviour by motorists or their refusal to share the road with alternative mobility users were a further factor leading to social exclusion. Finally, judgmental comments by others who literally could not understand how they could live without a car - or who thought they didn't have one because of drunk driving or poverty - was also associated with social exclusion in my sample. The study participants often felt that owning a car had negative repercussions on their independence, as it comes with financial burdens, including car payments, vehicle repairs and maintenance. They reported feeling liberated from such burdens, as well as from logistical grievances like finding a parking spot or moving the car during snow removal, thus presenting a point of view not often explored in the literature. The public servants considered that some of the population was car-dependent, which made the implementation of restrictive measures on the car challenging. When discussing policy solutions, the main challenge brought up by civil servants were urban sprawl and political aspects related to urban planning. The policies in place to address transport and social exclusion contained three distinct sets of discourses. They either discussed social aspects, legal aspects, or mobility and land planning aspects. Each level of government had its own different focus, but car dependence per se was almost completely absent from policy documents, and most causes of mobility-related social exclusion were not addressed.


Carbapenem-hydrolyzing β-lactamases can be metallo-β-lactamases (7), expanded-spectrum oxacillinases (8), or Ambler class A enzymes (1, 2, 4, 6, 9-12). The class A KPC β-lactamases hydrolyze all β-lactams except for cephamycins and have been rarely reported in studies of enterobacterial species (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Salmonella enterica, Enterobacter sp.) found in New England and the mid-Atlantic region of the United States; when they are reported, they are found to come from New York City hospitals in particular (2, 4, 6, 9-12). We report here a K. pneumoniae isolate from Paris that produced β-lactamase KPC-2.

An 80-year-old man with a 5-year history of prostatic carcinoma and metastasis was admitted in February 2005 at the Cochin hospital in Paris for acute urine retention in the right nephrostomy. The bilateral nephrostomy was performed in December 2004 at a New York City hospital. No hospitalization or antibiotic treatment is known to have taken place during the period between the patient's stay in New York and his emergency hospitalization in Paris. K. pneumoniae YC was isolated from urine and blood cultures and, according to disk diffusion susceptibility testing, was resistant or of intermediate susceptibility to all antibiotics except colistin and fosfomycin (3). No other K. pneumoniae isolates with similar antibiotic resistance patterns were recovered from the Cochin hospital during this same period of time.

The MICs of β-lactams (3) for K. pneumoniae YC confirmed the disk diffusion results, with the MICs of expanded-spectrum cephalosporins and carbapenems being only slightly modified after the addition of clavulanic acid (Table (Table1).1). A crude β-lactamase extract of that isolate had significant imipenem hydrolysis activity (0.37 μmol of imipenem/min/mg of total protein) (5, 8).

TABLE 1.

MICs of β-lactams for K. pneumoniae YC, the transconjugant strain, and the reference strain

Plasmid analysis detected two plasmids of >100 kb and ca. 75 kb in isolate YC. Using ampicillin (100 μg/ml) and sodium azide (100 μg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich, Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France) as selective agents and sodium azide-resistant Escherichia coli J53 as the recipient strain, the ca.-75-kb plasmid was self-conjugative and conferred β-lactam resistance patterns for E. coli transconjugants similar with respect to the MICs obtained, except for those for cefoxitin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and aztreonam, which were lower than those for the parental strain (Table (Table1).1). A β-lactamase extract from a transconjugant culture subjected to analytical isoelectric focusing (8) identified two β-lactamases with pI values of 5.4 and 6.8. Using primers for the detection of Ambler class A and class B β-lactamase genes (7, 8), PCR experiments followed by sequencing identified a β-lactamase gene coding for the carbapenemase KPC-2 (pI 6.8) and the narrow-spectrum TEM-1 (pI 5.4), which were also identified from K. pneumoniae YC.

Then, by the use of a series of successive PCR primers, the 2.8-kb surrounding sequences of the blaKPC-2 gene were found to be identical to those surrounding the same blaKPC-2 gene from a Salmonella isolate from Maryland (6).

This report identified a carbapenem-hydrolyzing β-lactamase KPC in France that likely resulted from an intercontinental transfer of the KPC producer from the United States. Up to the time of this discovery, plasmid-mediated KPC enzymes had been a unique feature of the United States, whereas most other broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance genes have been reported in the United States after their initial discoveries elsewhere. The identification of KPC enzymes is worrisome, since they hydrolyze expanded-spectrum cephalosporins and carbapenems and thus could jeopardize therapy for serious infections caused by major nosocomial pathogens. In addition, their detection, based on careful interpretation of reduced carbapenem susceptibility in Enterobacteriaceae, remains difficult.


Purpose. People seek for meaning in their work and lives. Researchers have recently conceptualized the experience of meaning at work under the construct workplace spirituality, which describes people's experience of both their work and their workplaces from a spiritual perspective. Recent research in organizations has found a relationship between the spirituality of the leaders and the workplace spirituality of the work units. Christians often expect their churches to be spiritual workplaces where work will bring a sense of deep spiritual well-being and meaning. Pastors are spiritual leaders in their congregations. However, it is unclear if the practices associated with positive workplace spirituality in non-religious organizations apply to churches. Little is known about the workplace spirituality of churches and its association with the leadership practices of pastors. This study was designed to fill that gap. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between lead ministers' leadership practices and the sense of workplace spirituality experienced by members in churches selected at random across North America. Method. In the participating churches, leadership practices of the lead ministers were measured using a leadership questionnaire (the Leadership Practices Inventory by Kouzes and Posner), and workplace spirituality dimensions of selected members were measured using a workplace spirituality questionnaire. Regression analysis and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) were used to analyze the gathered data. Results. Pastors report using the leadership practices of challenging the process, encouraging the heart, and inspiring a shared vision fairly often. Average weekly attendance had a positive relationship with the challenging and vision practices. There were differences (at p < .05) in leadership practices between pastors of Catholic and Protestant churches, pastors of theologically conservative and liberal churches, and male and female pastors. Members report experiencing high levels of workplace spirituality. There were differences of how members experienced their work (at p < .05) between members who practice their faith consistently and inconsistently, older and younger members, male and female members, Catholic and Protestant members, and theologically conservative and liberal members. The study found statistically significant relationships (at p < .05) between leadership practices and workplace spirituality, and between the other minister and church variables (such as length of time in ministry and size of church) and workplace spirituality. It also found statistically significant cross-level relationships (at p < .05)between the leadership practices and other member variables (such as age, gender, and Catholic) in relation to workplace spirituality. Conclusion. Lead ministers report using the leadership practices of encouraging the heart, inspiring a shared vision, and challenging the process to a degree that is very similar to leaders in non-religious organizations.Church members reported very high levels of workplace spirituality. The leadership practices of encouraging the heart and inspiring a shared vision had positive correlations with workplace spirituality; the leadership practice of challenging the process had a negative one.


Despite a significant increase in the number of women in the legal profession, women continue to be disproportionately represented in the lower echelons. It is apparent that the liberal progressivist thesis, which avers that the asymmetry will be remedied through numerosity, cannot be sustained. Structural theories of discrimination may be invoked to explain the gender differential, but it is argued that such theories are inadequate. The key to the conundrum lies in the social construction of femininity and masculinity through what are termed the 'fictive feminine' and the 'imagined masculine.' Drawing on qualitative research conducted for Dissonance and Distrust Women in the Legal Profession (Oxford University Press, 1996), the paper considers the ways in which the gender boundary is maintained so that the masculine remains the norm and the feminine the `other' for legal practice. It is argued that mechanisms emphasising the sexed body of the woman lawyer, including eroticisation, abjection, and motherhood, continue to reproduce conventional notions of the feminine and to diminish the authority of women as legal knowers in subtle ways.


Recent developments in nonadiabatic dynamics enabled ab inito simulations of complex ultrafast processes in the condensed phase. These advances have opened new avenues in the study of many photophysical and photochemical reactions triggered by the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. In particular, theoretical investigations can be combined with the most sophisticated femtosecond experimental techniques to guide the interpretation of measured time-resolved observables. At the same time, the availability of experimental data at high (spatial and time) resolution offers a unique opportunity for the benchmarking and the improvement of those theoretical models used to describe complex molecular systems in their natural environment. The established synergy between theory and experiments can produce a better understanding of new ultrafast physical and chemical processes at atomistic scale resolution. Furthermore, reliable ab inito molecular dynamics simulations can already be successfully employed as predictive tools to guide new experiments as well as the design of novel and better performing materials. In this paper, I will give a concise account on the state of the art of molecular dynamics simulations of complex molecular systems in their excited states. The principal aim of this approach is the description of a given system of interest under the most realistic ambient conditions including all environmental effects that influence experiments, for instance, the interaction with the solvent and with external time-dependent electric fields, temperature, and pressure. To this end, time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is among the most efficient and accurate methods for the representation of the electronic dynamics, while trajectory surface hopping gives a valuable representation of the nuclear quantum dynamics in the excited states (including nonadiabatic effects). Concerning the environment and its effects on the dynamics, the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach has the advantage of providing an atomistic (even though approximated) description of the solvent molecules, which is crucial for the characterization of all ultrafast relaxation phenomena that depend on the geometrical arrangement at the interface between a molecule and the solvent, for example, the hydrogen bond network. After a short description of the TDDFT-based implementation of Ehrenfest and trajectory surface hopping dynamics, I will present applications in different domains of molecular chemistry and physics: the analysis and the understanding of (time-resolved) X-ray absorption spectra, the interpretation of the ultrafast relaxation dynamics of photoexcited dyes in solution, and the design of specific laser pulses (capable of inducing desired chemical reactions) using local control theory.


A 28 year old woman sees her general practitioner after experiencing what sounds like a convulsion without any apparent provoking factor. Over the past month she has also had "blank spells" during which her husband noticed her to be unresponsive. Her general practitioner suspects she may have developed focal epilepsy and refers her to an epilepsy specialist. The specialist elicits from the patient and her husband additional features in the history that are highly compatible with seizures arising from the temporal lobe (lip smacking, ipsilateral motor automatism, and contralateral dystonia) and confirms the diagnosis by finding focal epileptiform discharges on electroencephalography and cortical dysplasia in the left temporal lobe on brain imaging. To prevent further seizures the specialist advises treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The patient is reluctant to start treatment because she has read that AEDs have many adverse effects, could interact with her oral contraception, and are harmful for babies. She wonders if there are newer AEDs that for her might be better than the traditional ones.

Epilepsy is resistant to drug treatment in a third of patients.1 Driven by this high prevalence of drug resistance, 12 agents have been developed to treat adult epilepsy since the late 1980s. These are often referred to collectively as the "newer" antiepileptic drugs—that is, newer than the established drugs, such as phenobarbital, phenytoin, carbamazepine, sodium valproate, and several benzodiazepines, with phenobarbital having been around for 100 years.2 In this article we will review the clinical use of (in chronological order of approval in the United Kingdom) lamotrigine, gabapentin, topiramate, oxcarbazepine, levetiracetam, pregabalin, zonisamide, and lacosamide (table 1⇓). We will not discuss the other newer AEDs tiagabine and vigabatrin because they are rarely used for focal epilepsy in adults (owing to efficacy and safety concerns respectively) or eslicarbazepine acetate …


Nonmyeloablative host conditioning regimens have been used in clinical allogeneic bone marrow and hematopoietic progenitor transplantation to effectively treat lymphohematopoietic tumors and reduce early toxicity. However, severe graftversus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major problem. The goal of the current study was to determine whether specific subsets of cells in allogeneic bone marrow transplants can effectively treat the BCL1 B-cell lymphoma in nonmyeloab lated BALB/c mouse hosts given a single dose of sublethal (450 cGy) total body irradiation, without inducing severe GVHD. The experimental results show that high doses of whole bone marrow cells from major histocompatiblity complex (MHC)-mismatched donors eliminate both normal and malignant host-type lymphohematopoietic cells without causing injury to nonlymphohematopoietic host tissues. The CD8 1T-cell antigen receptor– ab1 (TCRab1) T cells within the marrow transplants mediated the killing of the tumor cells via both perforinand FasLdependent pathways. Cells present in marrow transplants from either CD8 2/2 or TCRa2/2 donors failed to eliminate malig nant and normal host lymphohematopoietic cells. Addition of small numbers of blood mononuclear cells to the marrow inoculum caused lethal GVHD. Thus, the resident allogeneic bone marrow CD8 1 TCRab1 T cells had the unique capacity to eliminate the host lymphohematopoietic cells without nonlymphohematopoietic tissue injury. (Blood. 2001;97: 3458-3465)


Content Distribution Systems (CDS) are those designed to efficiently deliver (to interested parties) a variety of contents. CDS may be classified in two groups. The first group (moderated) comprises the set of systems in which contents are checked against their descriptions before being published. The second group (non-moderated) is the set of systems without any kind of moderation. Since descriptions are of paramount importance to enable users to find contents, non-moderated CDS are clearly vulnerable to malicious interferences and susceptible to content pollution. Furthermore, colluding attackers may flood the system with imprecise metadata and turn the system into a useless content distribution platform. To protect the system from massive malicious behaviors and provide better Qualityof-Experience (QoE) to users, this paper presents a novel conservative strategy to mitigate collusion attacks in non-moderated CDS. The rationale behind this simple, yet very effective strategy, is to delay user's actions and randomly authorize them. Results indicate that this "artificial delay" reduces the effect of attackers in the system and, hence, increases user's QoE.


This study involved residents of RT 02 and RT 03, Tulusrejo sub-district. The setting of this study was one of the government's target residence related to the project of Community-Based City and Residence Planning or Penataan Lingkungan Pemukiman Berbasis Komunitas (PLPBK), which success depended on society's participation. Social bonds that result from long-term social interaction and life journey create emotional feeling upon their residences (Hummon, 1990). The place where people live and do their daily activities has certain deep meaning for them (Kyle et al, 2004), which at the same time affects the social psychological domain called place attachment (Lewicka, 2011). Thus, it was necessary to create strong social bonds and strengthen residents' place attachment feeling for the success of the PLPBK program. In this study, social network mapping was analyzed using the Social Network Analysis (SNA). Meanwhile, to explain residents' perception on their residence, Multidimensional Scaling was used. The result of this study exhibits that some social groups were formed upon certain similarities and membership of a certain organization. Besides, social groups were also formed by similar community attachment. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 5, Issue-1: 46-50


The concrete–bentonite interface has been studied under the geochemical conditions expected in a repository for high-level radioactive waste. The alkaline conditions emanating from concrete will modify the mineralogy, pH and cation exchange properties of bentonite. The reactive transport geochemical model CrunchFlow was used to simulate column experiments with cement mortar in contact with compacted bentonite carried out at laboratory scale for a period of one year at 25 °C and 120 °C. The thermodynamic data and compositional properties of the minerals involved have been selected and adapted where necessary. An important improvement, compared with previous work, is the inclusion of an extended formula for montmorillonite in the database that fits the experimentally determined composition of FEBEX bentonite, and this allowed to tie the exchangeable cations specifically to this mineral phase. Kinetic rate laws have been selected and evaluated at both temperatures to predict the system behaviour at long timescales (105 years). Results predict the precipitation of hydroxides, zeolites, secondary clay minerals and cement hydration phases in bentonite with different distributions as a function of time and temperature. The predicted alteration produced at long timescales is not very significant under the boundary conditions of the modelling. The expected extension of significant mineralogical changes in the bentonite barrier is in the order of a few centimetres from the concrete interface, leaving the bulk of the bentonite unchanged in its barrier function.


(Abstract) In this thesis, the optical communication systems for millimeter-scale sensing and communication devises known as " Smart Dust " are described and analyzed. A smart dust element is a self-contained sensing and communication system that can be combine d into roughly a cubic-millimeter mote to perform integrated, massively distributed sensor networks. The suitable passive optical and fiber-optic communication systems will be selected for the further performance design and analysis based on the requirements for implementing these systems. Based on the communication link designs of the free-space passive optical and fiber-optic communication systems, the simulations for link performance will be performed.


Loco-regional recurrence after radical primary treatment of oral cancer is associated with poor prognosis and major patient and carer distress. The patient's psychosocial response to recurrence is underreported in the literature. This is one of the few papers to address in detail this stage in a patient's cancer journey. Qualitative methodology was used. Patients were recruited over a 13-month period. Analysis of recorded transcripts from 9 patients suggested that their illness experience and psychological response to diagnosis were multifaceted. Six key themes were identified, which were subdivided into 23 categories. Themes included emotional reactions, reevaluation, active coping strategies, life changes, support, and improvement in relationships. Emotional reactions ranged from shock and devastation, to fear and uncertainty, to hopelessness, to shame, to denial. Not all reactions were negative, and more positive experiences such as newfound openness and improvement in relationships were expressed. There is heightened emotional vulnerability, and this leads to potentially difficult management issues among clinicians and members of the multidisciplinary team. Extreme sensitivity is required by all the individuals involved in providing healthcare at this acute time of patient and carer distress.


This paper presents the database and decision support instrument in measuring public organizations intended to stimulate innovation. This tool can be used to help public organizations in Thailand self-assessment and manage the indicators' structure for performance assessment. Following a brief outline of a model for assessing performance including innovation capability. The process of user requirement and gathering database for assessment questions is discussed. It is demonstrated that the propose system is a flexible tool capable of handling different types of data in self-assessment and external assessment. The framework can be managed uncertain data, and providing a wide range of information including scores, performance diversity.


Background Demand for air travel is growing rapidly. Shortfalls in capacity and other constraints on the efficiency of airports and aircraft operations have negatively impacted the environment. The need to enhance efficiency without increase in emissions, within finite airspace and airport resources while still ensuring high levels of safety, has grown considerably. This feasibility study is the first initiative for co-operation between air navigation service providers (ANSP), airports, airline companies and industry.


Saying goodbye to a beloved colleague and friend is always difficult. A short essay cannot possibly do justice to Professor Steven Gey's many achievements and fine attributes. Instead, I would like to share two of the important lessons Steve taught me over the course of his four-year struggle with ALS. In short, the first lesson is that you are what you do. Steve exemplified this lesson by choosing every day to be someone who helped other people understand more. Some of the more humbling ways he accomplished this include his willingness to turn his house into a constitutional law salon and his creative use of his voice, toes, and finally his brain waves to type articles. His daily decisions showed us that teachers teach and writers write. The second lesson is that expression matters. Professor Gey spent a substantial amount of his intellectual energy articulating and defending an expansive vision of free speech under the First Amendment. Unsurprisingly, he felt that expression, in all its many forms, forms the essence of what it is to be human. One of ALS's cruelest symptoms is the way it robs its victims of the ability to communicate. But Steve never lost his faith in the importance of expression and fought tenaciously to participate in the world of ideas. He used art to fortify himself. It provided him the strength to begin yet another day in which he would choose to do the best he could with the condition he was forced to accept. Yet even now that he has physically departed, his true voice, as captured in his innumerable articles and speeches, remains as undiminished as ever. Florida State University College of Law and his many friends and family members all lost something great when Steve passed away. But the mark of a truly wonderful teacher is that his students will continue to live his lessons and pass them on to others. In the provocative words of one of Steve's favorite philosophers, Jean Paul Sartre. "One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet, life is there, finished; the line is drawn, and it must all be added up. You are nothing other than your life." To a life deliberately and thoughtfully well lived, I honor you.


Taste and smell sensation loses after head traumas are generally traced together and one or several of the tastes like sweet, hot, acid and salty can decrease or change. The lesions occured after the trauma causes decrease at sharpness of smell and taste sensations and sense distortion beside. These are taste disorders lige ageusia, dysgeusia, cacogeusia, phantogeusia, heterogeusia and smell disorders like hyposmia, anosmia, dysosmia, cacosmia, phantosmia and heterosmia. In this report, the full taste sensation loss without smell loss seen in a young adult, who fell from second floor was issued. The patient who had no taste sense for two months partially recruited spontaniously. The interesting feature of this case is the isolated taste sense loss without olfactory findings.


Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management and effectively improves the performance of organizations in various industries. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Information technology is an important enabler of collaborative supply chain management. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management from legacy systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) into the newly developed advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) and e-commerce solutions. However, these systems do not provide sufficient support to achieve collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology and multi-agent system (MAS) have received a great potential in supporting transparency in information flows of business networks and modeling of the dynamic supply chain for collaborative supply chain planning and execution. This paper explores the similarities between multi-agent system and supply chain system to justify the use of multi-agent technology as an appropriate approach to support supply chain collaboration. In addition, the framework of the multi-agent-based collaborative supply chain management system will be presented.


Dementia is chronic progressive neurodegenerative syndrome characterised by a decline in memory and at least one other cognitive function, resulting in loss of social independence. The word dementia is derived from the Latin words de ("out of") and mens ("the mind"), but is now defined as a brain disorder that includes memory loss, deficits in cognition (thinking, planning and organising abilities), a decline in emotional control or motivation, and changes in social behaviour (such as increased irritation, apathy or problems interacting with other people). The dementias are a family of diseases defined in clinical terms, and the understanding of the dementia subcategories continues to evolve as the fields of imaging and neuropathology supply new levels of detail. About 40 years ago dementias were only classified as cortical or subcortical, while today a far more accurate classification exists of the different types of dementia.


There has been an increasing number of food borne outbreaks occurring in beef burger. However, there has been limited number of publications investigate on pathogenic bacteria in beef burgers in Malaysia. The objective of this study was to identify pathogenic bacteria in beef burgers locally manufactured in Malaysia. Bacteria were isolated from three samples of beef burger from different Malaysian manufacturer. The samples were cultured on MacConkey Agar and Mannitol Salt Agar to differentiate between Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Morphological studies were done to identify the colony characteristics of the bacteria. Eight out of 24 strains of bacteria were selected for biochemical tests (API 20E and API for staph). The strains were identified as S. auricularis, S. hominis, S. schleiferi, S. haemolyticus, Shigella sonne~ Enterobader sakazakil, Salmonella spp., and Pseudomonas oryzihabitans. The samples were screened for antibiotic resistance using antimicrobial susceptibility test. Every strain showed different resistance pattern since antimicrobial resistance quickly developed as a natural effect of the ability of bacteria to adapt antimicrobial agents. Molecular Identification was carried out to further reconfirm the Identity of the bacteria strain by amplification of 16s rRNA gene. DNA sequencing showed that one of the strains was belong to Enterobader spp. As a conclusion, there Is a possibility of Identifying pathogenic bacteria in beef burger isolated from local manufacturers. v UMS UNIVEASITI MALAYSIA SABAH


This paper investigates trends in collective bargaining and worker representation in Germany from 2000 to 2008. It seeks to update and widen earlier analyses pointing to a decline in collective bargaining, while providing more information on the dual system as a whole. Using data from the IAB Employment Panel and the German Employment Register, we report evidence of a systematic and continuing erosion of the dual system. Not unnaturally the decline is led by developments in western Germany. Arguably, the path of erosion will continue until rough and ready convergence is reached with eastern Germany. Expressed differently, if the process of decentralization underpinning these developments once was 'regulated' it no longer appears to be so.


Background Home fortification with micronutrient powder has been shown to be a low-cost, feasible, and effective approach to address micronutrient deficiencies. A large-scale program distributing micronutrient powder to approximately 50,000 refugees was implemented at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Uptake of the micronutrient powder at distribution points dropped nearly 70%, from 99% to a low of 30%, and remained at 45% to 52% despite increased social marketing efforts. Objective To identify factors at the distal and proximal levels leading to the low uptake of micronutrient powder through a qualitative inquiry. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with community leaders, stakeholders, implementing partners, and beneficiaries. Direct observations of food preparation and child feeding were conducted. Focus group discussions were employed to examine perceptions and practices of beneficiaries regarding micronutrient powder use. Results Superficial formative research and lack of interagency coordination led to insufficient social marketing prior to the program. In addition, community health workers were inadequately trained. This resulted in inadequate communication regarding the health benefits and use of micronutrient powder to the beneficiaries. Reliance on personal experiences with micronutrient powder and issues with its packaging, in part, led to confusion and deleterious rumors, resulting in decreased uptake of micronutrient powder at distribution points. Conclusions A successful micronutrient powder program requires careful design, with emphasis on conducting thorough formative research, ensuring the involvement and commitment of all stakeholders from the outset, investigating the role of cultural factors, and ensuring provision of sufficient, adequate, and timely information to the beneficiaries.


China's adoption of copyright has been problematic. Between the Confucian emphasis on sharing cultural materials and a more politically motivated treatment in both Imperial and Maoist periods, there has been little basis for the Western intellectual property rights approach favored by the West and pushed in international trade agreements. Some scholars have questioned whether Western property rights approaches are appropriate for all cultures, and have suggested that Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems can offer an alternative approach. Delays in the implementation of copyright procedures and processes in China, particularly in the electronic media provide an opportunity to develop new approaches. China has an opportunity to consider how DRM systems and approaches could be developed to enable an alternative approach to intellectual property rights consistent with traditional cultural values. This article considers how China could implement DRM approaches within the international copyright structure that could maximize social value and acceptance.


In this paper the work study of spatter generation during CO2 welding process of sheet metal product is carried out. The cargo of a truck is consider as example of sheet metal product. Cargo of a truck is a load carrying member consists of three main components i.e. left & right side panel, box floor assembly and tail gate panel. This sheet metal cargo of a truck include CO2 welding process. CO2 welding is welding with shielding gas utilizes the heat of an electric arc established between a continuously feed wire and the work piece. During this process the wire melts and the weld metal is transferred to the work piece. CO2 is mainly used as shielding gas which is why the process is known as CO2 welding. CO2 welding offers advantages as higher efficiency, lower welding cost, and better economy. CO2 welding has a measure disadvantage of spatter generation during welding operation. These spatters generated during CO2 welding operation on finished sheet metal cargo part fall onto the surface and harmfully affect finishing of surface. There are various process and techniques suggested by various publishers to reduce spatter generation but it is almost impossible to completely eliminate it. So this research work proposes suitable technique to neglect the effect of spatter on finished sheet metal cargo part. Keywords— CO2 welding, Spatter generation, Sheet metal product, Improvement of finishing, Car manufacturing.


The RAW file format is the uncompressed data file captured by a digital camera's electronic sensor. When your camera saves an image in RAW format, settings like white balance, sharpening, contrast and saturation are not applied to the image but are saved instead in a separate header. Because RAW files remain virtually untouched by in-camera processing, they are essentially the digital equivalent to exposed but undeveloped film. This makes RAW an increasingly popular format with amateur and professional digital photographers, because it affords greater flexibility and control during the editing process-if you know how to work with RAW files. Most digital camera manufacturers supply their own software for converting RAW data, as do some third party vendors. Increasingly, however, the RAW converter of choice is a plug-in included in the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, the most popular and widely-used digital image editing tool in the world. Adobe Photoshop CS2 is emerging as the best place to edit RAW images, and the best way to master this new format is with Photoshop CS2 RAW. An important book dedicated to working with RAW in Photoshop, this comprehensive guide features a unique design that helps readers grasp the subject through visual instruction and prompts. The entire RAW process is explored, from shooting to using the Adobe plug-in converter and new Bridge navigation software. The primary focus of Photoshop RAW is, as the title suggests, Photoshop editing technique: automating RAW workflow, correcting exposures, extending exposure range, manipulating grayscale and working with the new DNG (Digital Negative) open standard that Adobe supports. Presented by photographer Mikkel Aaland, a pioneer of digital photography and author of eight books, including O'Reilly's Photoshop for the Web and the award-winning Shooting Digital, Photoshop CS2 RAW investigates and instructs in an accessible visual style. Required reading for professionals and dedicated photo hobbyists alike.


Stakeholder demands and the introduction of the 'triple bottom line' as a means of reporting corporate performance, make it critical that South African companies assess why they should undertake corporate responsibility initiatives. This exploratory study (part two of a two-part study) investigated the issues that are being or should be addressed by companies under the banner of corporate responsibility and the reasons for this. The views of a convenience snowball sample of consultants, academics and practitioners of corporate responsibility, was gained by means of a Delphi technique. Content analysis was employed to categorise the views into themes. The findings indicate the need for corporate responsibility action in the areas of ecology, the environment, health and well-being, building human capital and in the encouragement of economic development. Cost benefit and defensive arguments dominate the case for corporate responsibility. There is little indication that organisations have identified the opportunity of corporate responsibility initiatives to increase innovation and organisational learning and its contribution to risk management. Recommendations are made regarding the assessment of investment in this area.


What a person remembers from a young age is greatly influenced by many factors. Being able to revisit memories through photographs, videos, and narratives is seen to enhance what one remembers, and how much one remembers. However, people do not usually realize that because of this we become more susceptible to the creation of false memories. False memories are memories for events that did not actually occur. Another less obvious but more common type of false memory is a memory for an event that did occur but the memory is not our own. Photographs and videos instill the images in our minds and the narratives that accompany them give an explanation to the event exhibited. False memories are for the most part harmless and by being able to share memories with loved ones they can create a feeling of belongingness. Unfortunately, false memories can also be purposefully instilled in order to create false eyewitness testimonies.
Childhood memories are some of the most precious memories a person has. These memories are often of significant events in one's life; for example: birthdays, holidays, vacations, family excursions, etc. The list goes on and is unique to everyone's personal experiences. Unfortunately, childhood memories can be easily forgotten as time passes. This is why people feel so compelled to take pictures of special events so that they can keep their memories safe. Many studies such as the fake photo study by Strange, Hayne, & Garry (2008) use interviews to see how much of an event is remembered when looking at a photograph, real or doctored. Repeatedly looking at photos and hearing about the event can easily lead to the creation of a false memory. Along with all of these pictures are narratives. Narratives or stories are usually but not only told by older relatives to revisit these special memories. Family stories used to be the most common way to recall special events and are still very popular today.
However, it seems that nowadays taking pictures and recording videos are more and more accessible to everyone. As technology advances, our memory seems to become less important to the recollection of special childhood moments. Most cell phones are able to both take pictures and record videos. With this being said I think it is important to ask the question: do photographs, videos and narratives have an impact on our memory? And more importantly do they create false memories? Each recollection aid (photosgraphs, videos, and narratives) have their own unique impact on the creation of false memories. Through research, I will explore how the both separately and cumulatively impact our memory.


Netflix was among a small group of Silicon Valley companies to emerge from the technology bubble of the late 1990s a clear winner in terms of growth, market share, and profitability. That Netflix was able not only to prevail over this competition but also to thrive was largely attributable to the culture of freedom and responsibility inculcated by founder Reed Hastings. To foster this culture, the company adopted a series of unique employment practices that were meant to attract, retain, and motivate the type of employee that Netflix valued. Among these practices was a compensation system with several unconventional features. Whereas most companies provided compensation packages with a predetermined mix of cash and equity-based awards, Netflix turned the model on its head and allowed employees to request their own mix. Management was interested in finding out whether this practice supported or detracted from the company's main objectives for its employees.


We present the results of the aerosol measurements carried out over the Aegean Sea during the Photochemical Activity and Solar Ultraviolet Radiation campaign held in Greece during June 1996. Simultaneous observations performed with a lidar and a double-monochromator spectrophotometer allowed us to retrieve the optical depth, the Angström coefficient, and the backscatter-to-extinction ratio. The Sun photometric data can be used to improve quantitative aerosol measurements by lidar in the Planetary Boundary Layer. Systematic errors could arise otherwise, because the value of the backscatter-to-extinction ratio has to be supplied. Instead this ratio can be retrieved experimentally by use of an iterative solution of the lidar equation.


Spatial variability in snow accumulation and melt owing to topographic effects on solar radiation, snow drifting, air temperature and precipitation is important in determining the timing of snowmelt releases. Precipitation and temperature effects related to topography affect snowpack variability at large scales and are generally included in models of hydrology in mountainous terrain. The effects of spatial variability in drifting and solar input are generally included only in distributed models at small scales. Previous research has demonstrated that snowpack patterns are not well reproduced when topography and drifting are ignored, implying that larger scale representations that ignore drifting could be in error. Detailed measurements of the spatial distribution of snow water equivalence within a small, intensively studied, 26-ha watershed were used to validate a spatially distributed snowmelt model. These observations and model output were then compared to basin-averaged snowmelt rates from a single-point representation of the basin, a two-region representation that captures some of the variability in drifting and aspect and a model with distributed terrain but uniform drift. The model comparisons demonstrate that the lumped, single-point representation and distributed terrain with uniform drift both yielded poor simulations of the basin-averaged surface water input rate. The two-point representation was a slight improvement, but the late season melt required for the observed stream-flow was not simulated because the deepest drifts were not represented. These results imply that representing the effects of subgrid variability of snow drifting is equally or more important than representing subgrid variability in solar radiation.


To assess potential effects of seed limitation, characteristics of invader species and characteristics of established plant communities on recruitment success, we conducted a split-plot experiment factorially combining three weeding treatments corresponding to increasing successional age (regular weeding < cessation of weeding after three years < never weeded since sowing) with two seed limitation treatments (control vs sowing a seed mixture of all experimental species = internal invaders) in experimental grasslands varying in species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16) and in functional group richness and composition (1, 2, 3, 4 functional groups: presence/absence of legumes x grasses x tall herbs x small herbs). Seed addition increased internal invader seedling densities and the probability of successful colonization per species. Legumes,
tall herbs and species with large and long-lived seeds or a requirement for specific vectors for pollination and dispersal benefited from seed addition most. The number of successfully established internal invader species was highest in plots with low initial species richness and in the regularly weeded treatments and lowest in plots with high initial species richness and in the never weeded treatments, indicating decreased recruitment with increased successional age. Resident plant communities with legumes had mostly negative (legume and small- and tall-herb internal invaders, external invaders) or neutral (grass invaders) effects on seedling density and colonization probability of invader species whereas resident communities with grasses had positive effects on the colonization probability of invader species except grasses themselves. These results show that seed limitation, invader characteristics, and community characteristics all can affect recruitment success in predictable ways, suggesting non-random community assembly during succession starting from different initial species pools.


The displacement method was employed to modify the surface of micron Al on which a layer of Ni nanoparticles were coated. NH4F acted as a key that enabled the displacement reaction occurring in neutral solution. PEG600 prevented Al from being corroded by water and restricted the overgrowth of Ni nanoparticles. Other parameters, such as NH4F and NiCl2·6H2O concentrations, were determined by experiment and discussion to be 0.2 mol·L-1 and 1.17 g·L-1, respectively. The fabricated Al/Ni bimetallic nanocomposites were corroded by hydrochloric acid solution and alkaline NaOH solution to investigate its corrosion characteristics. After being etched by the acidic solution, micron Al cores were eroded and Ni shells remained. However, the Ni shells broke into fragments after the Al cores were dissolved in the alkaline solution.


In this paper, we considered the relationship between individual memories and collective memories by examining the acts of mourning the mobilized student-workers who were killed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. More specifically, we considered the relationship between individual acts of mourning the deceased and collective memory of not only the level of Japanese society as a whole but also, returning to Halbwachs' arguments, of small-scale social groups such as families and schools by looking at materials published by the classmates and bereaved family members of Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Daiichi Junior High School, Hiroshima City Daiichi Women's High School, and the Hiroshima Prefectural Association of the Victimized Mobilized StudentWorkers. The differences in character between a group formed to conduct memorial services at the school level and a group lobbying for honoring by the state, and the differences in the relationship with the deceased between bereaved family members and classmates, are reflected in the shape of the acts of mourning. There is an interrelationship between collective memories and individual acts of mourning the dead in small-scale groups. At the same time, bearing in mind the commonality visible between groups in the shape of acts of mourning, we can conclude that the collective memory of Japanese society provide an even larger context to the shape of acts of mourning.


Executive summary Clinical decision-making tools can be considered in two broad categories – those designed to be used by clinicians and those designed to promote shared decision making with the clinician and patient together. The potential effect of computerised clinical decision support systems (CDSS) on variations in practice is not well understood, and CDSS are currently not a recommended means of improving evidence-based practice, or patient outcomes, since the mechanisms of success and failure are not well defined and the potential impact on workflows and adverse events are poorly evaluated. Despite numerous randomised controlled trials, there is poor quality evidence for the effect of CDSS on processes of care and patient outcomes. There is moderate-high quality evidence for the role of patient decision aids in preference-sensitive and shared decision making contexts. Recommendations for Commonwealth action: Develop and implement CDSS standards, and ensure they align with evidence-based guidelines. Exercise caution over broader implementation of CDSS until their strengths and weaknesses are better understood. Encourage the development and implementation of shared decision-making tools for preference-sensitive decisions. Show leadership in the development of provider and consumer awareness and training, which should be developed alongside the tools themselves.


Introduction: The purpose of the present study is the perioperative and early postoperative assessment of geriatric patients (age>70 years) who underwent hip arthroplasty following intertrochanteric fractures and patients who had failure after PFN (Proksimal Femoral Nail) and then underwent hip arthroplasty.
Methods: Of the 62 patients with osteoporosis (BMD<-2.5) and unstable pertrochanteric fracture between April 2012 and February 2017, 44 patients who had primary hip arthroplasty following fracture and 18 patients who had hip arthroplasty following PFN failure were included in the present study. Duration of operation, blood loss parameters, intraoperative and early postoperative complications, Harris hip scores, and Parker mobility scores were evaluated.
Results: Increased intraoperative (trochanter major fracture and death) and early postoperative complications (infection, long-term stay in the hospital), longer operation durations, and increased blood loss were observed in the group that underwent hip arthroplasty after fixation.
Conclusions: Cementless hip prosthesis after fixation failure in patients with unstable intertrochanteric fractures is an effective salvage procedure for this age group. It was concluded that the complication rates were not within the acceptable limits in arthroplasty after PFN and that it would be appropriate to re-evaluate PFN indications.


In a line of L5178Y lymphoblasts resistant to methotrexate (MTX) by virtue of a permeability defect, there is a marked decrease in the membrane transport of MTX, aminopterin, and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. Influx is depressed by 93, 92, and 96%, respectively, as compared to MTX-sensitive cells when the extracellular levels are 1 µm. This is compatible with a common defect in a high-affinity transport carrier mechanism shared by these three folate compounds. Conversely, however, adsorption of MTX to the surface of resistant cells is slightly increased. Uptake of 3H following exposure of these cells to [3H]folic acid is comparable in both resistant and sensitive lines, supporting the concept that influx of folic acid is mediated largely by a process independent of the MTX-tetrahydrofolate cofactor carrier. In addition to the quantitative differences in the rates of transport of 4-amino antifolates and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, there are important differences in the characteristics of transport of these substances in these two cell lines. The Q 27–37°'s for MTX influx in MTX-sensitive and -resistant cells are 6.4 and 1.4, respectively. While influx is markedly inhibited by p -chloromercuriphenylsulfonic acid and 5-formyltetrahydrofolate in MTX-sensitive cells, only a small component of influx in resistant cells (∼25%) is inhibited by these agents. Transstimulation of MTX influx can be demonstrated in both cell lines but to a much lesser extent in resistant L5178Y cells. Sodium azide stimulates MTX influx in sensitive cells but has no effect on influx in resistant cells. However, this metabolic poison augments net uptake of MTX in both cell lines. Net accumulation of exchangeable MTX is markedly reduced in resistant cells, but differences in influx and net transport between resistant and sensitive cells decrease as extracellular MTX is increased, indicating the utility of high extracellular MTX levels in generating free intracellular drug as an approach to overcoming the permeability defect. These data suggest that the bulk of transport of antifolates and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in resistant cells occurs by a process distinct from the MTX-tetrahydrofolate cofactor carrier system. The MTX-tetrahydrofolate cofactor transport carriers in MTX-resistant cells have undergone a marked reduction in affinity for their substrate, or else the major portion of these carriers have been deleted or are not operational. The observation that azide enhances net MTX uptake in resistant as well as sensitive L5178Y cells along with findings in other studies that the net uptake of folic acid is enhanced by azide raises the possibility that the effects of metabolic inhibitors on net transport of MTX and folic acid may be mediated, at least in part, by inhibition of a common exit process.


In recent years, the innovation of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) has completely changed the face of wireless communication system. Especially, the concept of MIMO is evolved to fulfill the demand of multimedia services. However, challenges have risen to the system provider for maintaining the quality of service (QoS) and reliability of MIMO system. Additionally, very recently, cooperative communication has been proposed in order to face and deal with the shortcomings of MIMO system. In cooperative communication, the addition of relay between source and destination enhances the QoS and reliability of wireless system. The main purpose of this paper is to derive the closed form analytical expressions of symbol error rate (SER) of M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) for MIMO decode-and forward (DF) relay system. Besides, SER derivation is based on moment generating function (MGF) of the overall system. In our case, we only deal with a downlink MIMO DF relay system. Here, we consider an $n_t$-antenna at the source $S$, an $n_r$-antenna at the relay $R$ and an $n_d$-antenna at the destination $D$, where the propagated signal from the source passes through keyhole and correlated channel. Further, the same orthogonal space time block codes (OSTBC) is applied to source-destination, source-relay and relay-destination link to exploit the maximal diversity gain. Furthermore, we analyze the effects of MPSK modulation on MIMO DF system under different values of correlation coefficient by combining the different antenna pairs at different nodes. Beside this, we compare keyhole and no keyhole MIMO relay systems with fix value of correlation coefficient and antenna pairs. With the use of cooperative scheme, effects of keyhole on MIMO DF architecture can be minimized to certain level. Eventually, our simulation analysis excellently matches with analytical results, which is sufficient to validate our work.


Applying differentiable programming techniques and machine learning algorithms to foreign programs requires developers to either rewrite their code in a machine learning framework, or otherwise provide derivatives of the foreign code. This paper presents Enzyme, a high-performance automatic differentiation (AD) compiler plugin for the LLVM compiler framework capable of synthesizing gradients of statically analyzable programs expressed in the LLVM intermediate representation (IR). Enzyme synthesizes gradients for programs written in any language whose compiler targets LLVM IR including C, C++, Fortran, Julia, Rust, Swift, MLIR, etc., thereby providing native AD capabilities in these languages. Unlike traditional source-to-source and operator-overloading tools, Enzyme performs AD on optimized IR. On a machine-learning focused benchmark suite including Microsoft's ADBench, AD on optimized IR achieves a geometric mean speedup of 4.5x over AD on IR before optimization allowing Enzyme to achieve state-of-the-art performance. Packaging Enzyme for PyTorch and TensorFlow provides convenient access to gradients of foreign code with state-of-the art performance, enabling foreign code to be directly incorporated into existing machine learning workflows.


Field experiments on asymmetric commons are performed in villages in Thailand and Colombia. These experiments resemble social dilemmas in irrigation games such as the contribution to the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure and extraction of water. The data from 32 groups do present some stylized facts but cannot be explained by traditional models of decision making. A decision theoretic agent-based model is constructed which include a trembling hand, other regarding preferences and learning. This model is calibrated on the experimental data.


Background Effective anti-inflammatory treatment with tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) inhibitors may have favourable effects on the lipid profile. Available evidence is derived from short-term studies, and it is not clear whether TNFα inhibitors have a similar effect on the lipid profile in responders and non-responders to the treatment. Objectives To investigate the effect of long-term etanercept treatment on the lipid profile in a large sample of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), stratified for European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response. Methods Between 2004 and 2008, 292 consecutive patients with active RA (DAS28 >3.2) and a new etanercept prescription were included in an observational cohort. Clinical response variables and lipid samples were collected at baseline and after 4 months and 1 year of etanercept treatment. Generalised estimating equation analyses were used to investigate the longitudinal course of lipid levels in relation to clinical response variables. Results According to the EULAR response criteria, 76% of the patients were good or moderate responders at 4 months, and 85% of the remainder at 1 year. Significant changes in apoA-I (increased by 3.5% (p=0.002) at 4 months and 3.1% (p=0.005) at 1 year) and apoB/apoA-I ratio (decreased by 6.2% (p<0.001) at 4 months and 3.6% (p=0.025) at 1 year) were observed in EULAR responders. No significant differences were observed in EULAR non-responders at all time points. Conclusions Treatment with etanercept resulted in a significant and sustained decrease in the apoB/apoA-I ratio in patients with good or moderate EULAR response. This may have a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular risk in patients with RA.


Without much public notice, health care is entering a crisis. The events of 11 September and the Enron collapse have made that crisis more imminent, serious, and even more likely to come on the American public and politicians unnoticed. September 11 gave the economy another major hit, led to a military build up that will consume whatever budget surplus there might have been, and drew whatever political and public attention exists away from domestic issues. Nevertheless, we should attend to health care reform. There will soon be a major crisis, and we need to be ready with a reasonable policy for politicians who will suddenly find themselves in need of answers. Consider four descriptive and five prescriptive propositions that lead to the outlines of a politically palatable and ethically justifiable strategy. 1) No one is happy with the current health care system. Doctors and patients hate the encroachment on their choice, feel they have no control over their health plan, and trust no one. Managed care organizations and employers feel that doctors and patients have unrealistic demands, are unwilling to confront the need to cut costs, and are unwilling to be held accountable; managed care is asked to do the impossible to simultaneously improve quality and keep costs down. 2) Health care costs are going up and will continue to go up in the foreseeable future. Whatever savings there were in the 1990s from managed care, they are gone, and they will not return. With pharmaceuticals rising at 20 to 30 percent per year, and hospitals and doctors demanding more money, premiums are heading up at double digit rates with no end in sight. 3) The number of uninsured Americans is going up and the range of health benefits for those who are insured is going down. Increases in unemployment and increases in health care premiums mean more people will lose their health insurance. Decreases in corporate profits mean that those still insured will have skimpier benefit packages and bear more of the premium price with higher copayments. 4) Pressure on state budgets will also mean close looks at Medicaid budgets. As the economy declines, state coffers shrink. Coincidentally, rises in unemployment and health care costs will increase Medicaid expenditures, further squeezing state budgets and crowding out other vital state programs, including education and infrastructure improvements. This is the crisis. But we have been here before. This was almost exactly the situation in the early 1990s, except that then managed care had the potential to constrain costs. And yet, as we all know, health care reform failed. In part, it failed because Clinton spectacularly misplayed the politics of health care reform, and in part because employers embraced managed care--and abandoned Clinton's plan--on the premise that managed care was a more certain path to controlling costs. What better proof is there that everyone makes big--multibillion dollar--mistakes? But we can learn five key lessons from that stunning and tragic failure that might help develop universal health care coverage. 5) The big hurdle for health care reform is not ethics or economics but politics. Ethics supports universal coverage. Both ethics and economics urge the need for cost constraint. But even when everyone agrees that there is a problem, that is no guarantee they all--or even a majority of them--will support the same solution. The key is to provide a solution that both liberals and conservatives can endorse, making it harder for any single interest group to kill it. 6) Retain a private health care delivery system. "Harry and Louise" ads proved that the health care insurance industry is strong and can torpedo almost any reform package that tries to eliminate it. After all, its survival is at stake, and the industry has nothing to lose in such a life-and-death struggle. …


Evolution of slab geometry beneath the North Island, New Zealand, has been investigated using a combination of published arc-type volcanic ages and earthquake locations in the subducting Pacific plate. Arc-front volcanoes migrated SE by 150 km in the last 8 myr subparallel to the present active arc. Migration of the arc is interpreted to mainly reflect slab rollback along the Tonga–Kermadec subduction system changing to fixed hinge slab steepening beneath the central North Island. The strike of the Pacific plate beneath the North Island, imaged by Benioff zone seismicity (50–200 km) and positive mantle velocity anomalies (200–600 km), is parallel to the NE–SW trend of arc-front volcanism. Arc parallelism since 16 Ma indicates that the strike of the subducting plate beneath the North Island was constant over this time interval, in contrast to clockwise vertical-axis rotations of ≥50° of the overriding plate over the same period along the eastern and southern Hikurangi margin. Acceleration of arc-front migration rates (from c. 4 to c. 18 mm a−1), eruption of high-Mg# andesites, increasing eruption frequency and size, and uplift of the overriding plate indicate an increase in the hydration, temperature and size of the mantle wedge beneath the central North Island from c. 7 Ma.


The vertical jump is an essential skill used in a volleyball match but the information on the principal muscles used is incomplete. The present study aimed to identify the major muscles used in vertical jump by employing the principal component analysis (PCA) and the analysis of area under the curve (AUC). Ten elite female volleyball players (NV) and 10 female sedentary controls (SC) participated in this study. Each subject performed 2 jumping styles: squat jump and vertical stop jump. Electrical activities from thirteen muscles in the arm, trunk, and leg were recorded with electromyography (EMG). EMG data were processed using PCA and AUC methods, and the major muscles were identified by the first mode of PCA and the highest AUC. Our results showed that the PCA method was more sensitive than the AUC method for classifying the group differences in major muscles during jumping. Distinct activation of the erector spinae may explain the better performance in the NV compared to the SC, who preferentially used other trunk muscles in jumping. Our observation indicates that the PCA method is an appropriate analytical tool to differentiate the major muscles used in jumping between elite athletes and sedentary controls. This finding provides important information for designing training programmes especially for vertical jumps in sports.


The long-term sustainable provision of new and high quality maintained road stock is vitally important, especially in times of economic constraint such as Europe is currently experiencing. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is one method of financing such large-scale, capital intensive projects. An important aspect of this form of financing projects is that the risks are borne not only by the sponsors but are shared by different types of investors such as equity holders, debt providers, and quasi-equity investors. Consequently, a comprehensive and heuristic risk management process is essential for the success of the project. The proposition made within this paper is that the PFI mechanism provides a Value-for-Money and effective mechanism to achieve this. The structure of this PFI finance and investment on a particular road project therefore enables all project stakeholders to take a long-term perspective. This long-term perspective is reflected in the mechanism of a case study of UK – Class A trunk roads which are examined in detail. This paper presents a novel solution to a modern dilemma.


Interpreting officials are rarely documented in standard histories of imperialChina; civilian interpreters are even harder to trace. Surprisingly, however,Japanese monk Ennin's (794‒864) diary of his China sojourn (838–847) containsthirty-eight references to Sillan interpreters. It is a significant firsthandarchive that throws light on Sillan interpreters and interpreting in first-millenniumEast Asia. Based on a close reading of this diary, I attempt to clarifythe idiosyncratic title of "Sillan interpreters." Using quantitative and qualitativeanalyses, I outline finer categories of these interpreters, which in turn addressquestions pertaining to their identities and roles. This chapter demonstrates thevalue of textual analysis in empirically pursuing the definitions of "interpreter"at a particular place and time.


Certain ionic liquids have recently been developed as effective solvents for biomass pretreatment, but their adoption has been limited due to availability, production costs, and inhibitory effects on conventional enzymes and microorganisms. We describe here a novel class of ionic liquids based on di-carboxylic acids that have high pretreatment efficiency and are compatible with both commercial enzyme mixtures and microbial fermentation host organisms. This system takes advantage of the two ionization states of di-carboxylic acids to switch from a basic solution that pretreats biomass effectively to an acidic solution with conditions favorable for cellulases and back again for the next round of pretreatment. Lab-scale reactions show 90% conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars using commercial enzyme mixtures in a one-pot process. We then demonstrate E. coli fermentation of the resulting crude hydrolysate to produce isopentenol without removal of the ionic liquid or inhibitors prior to fermentation. This new process yields high biomass conversion and eliminates several technical and economic problems associated with current ionic liquid-based processes. Our preliminary techno-economic analysis (TEA) suggests biorefineries designed to use these switchable ILs can reduce the minimum selling price (MSP) of their biofuel by more than $1 gal−1 relative to biorefineries utilizing traditional ILs (e.g., [C2C1Im][OAc]) that have been shown to be very effective at pretreatment but inhibit downstream saccharification and fermentation processes, requiring extensive washing of the pretreated biomass.


The use of multiple antennas has been recognized as a key technology to significantly improve the spectral efficiency of next-generation, multiuser wireless communication networks. In multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks, the spatial degrees of freedom offered by multiple antennas can be advantageously exploited to enhance the system capacity, by scheduling multiple users simultaneously by means of spatial division multiple access (SDMA). A linear increase in throughput, proportional to the number of transmit antennas, can be achieved even by using linear precoding strategies if combined with efficiently designed scheduling protocols. However, these promising gains come under the often unrealistic assumption of close-to-perfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). Therefore, at the heart of the downlink resource allocation problem lies that of feedback acquisition. In this thesis, we focus on linear beamforming techniques relying on low-rate partial CSIT. Several methods that allow the base station (BS) to live well even with coarse, limited channel knowledge are identified. One first key idea is based on splitting the design between the scheduling and the final beam design stages, thus taking profit from the fact the number of users to be served at each scheduling slot is much smaller than the total number of active users. This two-stage approach is applied to a scenario in which random beamforming (RBF) is exploited to identify good, spatially separable, users in the first stage. In the second stage, several refinement strategies, including beam power control and beam selection, are proposed, offering various feedback reduction and significant sum rate gains, even in sparse network settings (low to moderate number of users). In channels that exhibit some form of correlation, either in temporal or in spatial domain, we point out that significant useful information for the SDMA scheduler lies hidden in the channel structure. We show how memory-based RBF can exploit channel redundancy in order to achieve throughput close to that of optimum unitary beamforming with full CSIT for slow time-varying channels. In spatially correlated channels, long-term statistical CSIT, which can be easily obtained with negligible per-slot or no feedback overhead, reveals information about the mean spatial separability of users. A maximum likelihood (ML) channel estimation framework is proposed, which effectively combines slowly varying statistical CSIT with instantaneous low-rate channel quality information (CQI). User selection and beamforming techniques suitable for such settings are also proposed. It is demonstrated that in systems with reasonably limited angle spread at the BS, feeding back a single scalar CQI parameter per user is sufficient to perform SDMA scheduling and beamforming with near optimum performance. Limited feedback strategies utilizing vector quantization codebooks are also investigated. In particular, the problem of efficient, sum-rate maximizing CQI design is addressed and several scalar feedback metrics are proposed. These metrics are built upon inter-user interference bounds and can be interpreted as reliable estimates of the received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the receiver side. It is shown that scalar CQI feedback combined with channel directional information (CDI), zero-forcing beamforming, and greedy user selection algorithms can achieve a significant fraction of the capacity of the full CSIT case by exploiting multiuser diversity. An efficient technique that provides the BS the flexibility to switch from multiuser (SDMA) to single-user (TDMA) transmission is provided, exhibiting linear sum-rate growth at any range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Further feedback compression can be achieved if the CSIT information utilized by the scheduler is represented by ranking-based feedback. We show that an integer value is often sufficient in order to identify users with favorable channel conditions. In parallel, it equalizes the channel access probability in networks where users' channels are not necessarily identically distributed and mobile terminals experience unequal average SNRs due to different distances from the BS and the corresponding different path losses (near-far effects).


The agricultural sectors of the former centrally planned economies, including Bulgaria were in a state of economic crises in the period after socialist governments fell. The former system disappeared almost overnight while new market structures had not yet emerged. The outcome of this transition shocks was a sharp decline in both agricultural output and the sector's GDP in the early 1990s. Some countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) recovered from this initial decline much faster. The principle reason for the difference appears to be the more resolute adherence of CEE governments to reform policies throughout their economies. The purpose of this study is to get more knowledge about the structure and possibilities of Bulgarian agriculture after the transition period and last but not least, about the effects of the EU CAP on the Bulgarian economy and farmers.That is why were made some interviews, and besides, it was carried out a questionnaire survey in order to get a picture about how farmers act in a new environment called the Common Agricultural Policy of EU. For collecting information, as well as confirming or rejecting the investigation hypotheses chi-square analysis was applied.


Purpose To explore the role of the physiotherapist as viewed by physiotherapy academics and undergraduate physiotherapy students. The intention is to gain an insight into the future scope of the physiotherapy profession. Methods The study had an exploratory qualitative design, which was undertaken from an interpretive paradigm. A purposive sample was used to recruit participants to two focus groups. One focus group was with academic staff, the second was with 3rd year BSc (Hons) undergraduate physiotherapy students. All participants were recruited from a university in England in 2016. Both focus groups were carried out by the same researcher (SH). Each focus group interview lasted 50-70 minutes and were digitally recorded. An interview schedule was used to guide the interviews. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results Six participants were recruited to the academic focus group; four were female. Their experience of working in academia ranged from 2 to 23 years. Seven students were recruited to the second focus group; five were female. Three themes were identified and were common to both groups: 'philosophy of practice', 'changing role', 'tension between cultures'. Conclusion 'Philosophy of practice': The underpinning philosophy of practice was identified which included transferrable skills, wellbeing, and holistic care. 'Changing role': A changing role of the physiotherapist was identified. This included a need to incorporate health economics in healthcare provision; and an extended role with a public health focus. Participants perceived the role was being shaped by changes in the Health Service, which was shaped being shaped by the UK government's ideology. 'Tension between cultures' were highlighted by both groups. This included: university and clinical practice; the market-place and practice; and current practice and the vision for the future. Implications The physiotherapy profession is ideally placed to lead the way in revolutionising the management of chronic conditions. By understanding how the profession sees itself can ensure the profession is fit for the future. From this the profession can create a vision for the future that may involve a radical change in practice, including the capacity to take on the role of public health promoters.


A proposed method of automated, precise alignment of a ground-based astronomical telescope would eliminate the need for initial manual alignment. The method, based on automated identification of known stars and other celestial objects in the telescope field of view, would also eliminate the need for an initial estimate of the aiming direction. The method does not require any equipment other than a digital imaging device such as a charge-coupled-device digital imaging camera and control computers of the telescope and camera, all of which are standard components in professional astronomical telescope systems and in high-end amateur astronomical telescope systems. The method could be implemented in software running in the telescope or camera control computer or in an external computer communicating with the telescope pointing mount and camera control computers. The image in the telescope field of view would be captured by the digital imaging device and digitized and then, according to the method, would be processed by a variant of any of several previously published star-identification algorithms. In simplified terms, such an algorithm determines criteria such as brightnesses and relative angles or distances between stars in the digital image and matches those criteria with stars in a database. Once such a match was found, the celestial coordinates of the identified objects in the image and the pixel coordinates of the object would be used to precisely determine the line of sight of the telescope in celestial coordinates. Although the method does not require an initial estimate of the aiming direction, such an estimate (or ancillary information from which such an estimate can be calculated) could be used to accelerate the automated precise alignment process by limiting the search space to a small portion of the celestial-object database. Even if all that is known are the geographic coordinates of the telescope and the time, portions of the sky known not to be visible from that location at that time could be excluded from the search. Once the celestial coordinates of two different lines of sight have been determined precisely as outlined above, the telescope would be automatically initialized and aligned for subsequent automated pointing and tracking. Thereafter, during tracking, the alignment process as described thus far could be repeated as often as desired to update the alignment: At each update, the celestial coordinates of the current line of sight would be communicated to the telescope control computer to maintain or restore the precise alignment of the telescope drive axes. Because the line-ofsight directions determined by this method would be based on direct observation of celestial objects having known coordinates, they would be more accurate than are the line-of-sight directions determined by prior methods that involve intermediate measurements (e.g., drive-shaft-angle measurements), which introduce drive-train and axis-misalignment errors. This work was done by Mark Whorton of Marshall Space Flight Center. This invention is owned by NASA, and a patent application has been filed. For further information, contact Sammy Nabors, MSFC Commercialization Assistance Lead, at firstname.lastname@example.com. Refer to MFS-31968-1. Aligning Astronomical Teles copes via Identification of Stars The alignment process would be completely automatic. Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama


Restitution scholars are almost unanimous in rejecting the term quasi-contract. This essay challenges this view. It first shows that many debates among restitution scholars are in fact debates about the boundaries of consent-based liability. This point serves as introduction to the main thesis advanced in this essay, which is that the idea of quasi-contract, which is supposed to cover cases in which the parties would have made a contract if conditions allowed them to do so, helps understands and explain the doctrine better than the conclusory language of unjust enrichment. The essay concludes by situating the argument within the growing literature on the normative foundations of restitution. It argues that quasi-contractual liability should be understood not as part unjust enrichment, but as a different basis of liability that can help us see what liability for unjust enrichment might be: liability grounded in notions of fairness.


Loans to non-financial enterprises are the main source of banks' losses. Analyses of banks' losses on corporate loans are therefore important in the assessment of financial stability. This paper presents Norges Bank's framework for estimating losses on corporate loans built up from microdata for each firm and loan in each bank. Losses are estimated using a stepwise process. First, we estimate revenue developments at industry level and simulate the effect on firms' future financial statements. This is then used to project firms' bankruptcy probabilities using Norges Bank's bankruptcy probability model (KOSMO). Finally, the bankruptcy probabilities are linked to data on banks' exposures and credit losses are estimated. The estimates will be included in Norges Bank's assessment of vulnerabilities and risks in the Norwegian banking system. In addition to being included in a general risk assessment, the framework can be used in stress testing and in the assessment of new areas of risk, such as climate risk.


This article discusses the semantic-pragmatic developments of three adverbs from the semantic field of veracity, verily , truly and really . They share a number of truth-assessing functions in present-day discourse but show significant differences in terms of frequency and in their individual range of semantic-pragmatic meanings. Our aim is to explore the hypothesis that the selected forms have undergone a double "meaning extension" involving both pragmaticalization and grammaticalization patterns, respectively acquiring more pragmatic meanings of subjective emphasis, and more grammaticalized uses as intensifiers. Results are based on detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of corpus data drawn from the Helsinki Corpus and Corpus of English Dialogues 1560–1760, and indicate that each form is influenced by individual semantic source contexts and meanings.


The calculation of the electronic structure of large systems by methods based on density functional theory has recently gained a central role in molecular simulations. However, the extensive study of quantities like excited states and related properties is still out of reach due to high computational costs. We present a new implementation of a hybrid method, the Gaussian and Augmented-Plane-Wave (GAPW) method, where the electronic density is partitioned in hard and soft contributions. The former are local terms naturally expanded in a Gaussian basis, whereas the soft contributions are expanded in plane-waves by using a low energy cutoff, without loss in accuracy, even for all-electron calculations. For the calculation of excitation energies a recently developed, time-dependent density functional response theory (TD-DFRT) technique is joined with the GAPW procedure. We demonstrate the accuracy of the method by comparison with standard quantum chemistry calculations for a set of small molecules. To highlight the performance and efficiency of GAPW we show calculations on systems with several thousands of basis functions.


This study deals with the syntactic (non-)derivational relationship of English dative alternation (DA) –double object constructions (DOCs) and to/for-datives–, as seen in the spontaneous production of English-Spanish bilinguals when compared to English monolinguals. While a chronological progression and a difference in use between the two English DA constructions could suggest a syntactic-derivational relationship between DOCs and to/for-datives, a fairly similar emergence and a possibly similar rate of use could point to the two constructions not displaying a syntactic-derivational status. We also explore whether English-Spanish bilinguals show divergent developmental paths when compared to English monolinguals. To address these issues, we analyze data from nine English-Spanish bilingual children and twelve English monolingual children, along with the adults interacting with them. The analysis shows that both DA structures emerge at a similar age, which suggests they are not syntactically derived from one another. Despite these differences, the later onset and the lower incidence of to/for-datives could be associated with the case and theta role mediated properties of prepositions as well as with the frequency of exposure to DA in the adults' speech. As no differences appear between bilinguals and monolinguals, transfer from Spanish does not seem to be an issue.


Many thousands of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are used worldwide and disposed in the environment after use. Several removal methodologies have been proposed but clear improvements in effectiveness and efficiency are needed. In this work, new hybrid photocatalytic nanomaterials were obtained through sensitization of titanate nanotubes (TNT) and nanowires (TNW) with ethylenediamine (EDAmine). The prepared materials, NTNT and NTNW respectively, were morphologically, structurally, and optically characterized by XRD, TEM, DRS and XPS. No modifications in the structure and morphology were detected after EDAmine incorporation. However, an increase in the visible light absorption and in the point of zero charge was observed. The application of these novel hybrid nanomaterials in the catalytic photodegradation of emergent pollutants was studied. Terephthalic acid was used as a probe for hydroxyl radical photocatalytic production evaluation. The highest catalytic activity was achieved by the NTNT sample. The photocatalytic ability of the hybrid materials for the degradation of psychoactive substances, caffeine and theophylline, and for phenol removal was evaluated and the secondary products identified. After 60 min under UV-vis radiation, the NTNT sample was the best catalyst, achieving 98% photodegradation efficiency for phenol and theophylline and 60% for caffeine (20 ppm solutions). A mechanism for charge transfer in irradiated NTNT is proposed and discussed.


Flooding in the urban areas of Sub-Sahara Africa continues to destroy urban infrastructure and affect livelihoods. Flooded houses, impassable roads, blocked drainage channels, increased incidence of malaria and diarrheal diseases, and disrupted livelihoods are challenges facing about 1.5 million inhabitants in the suburban areas of Dakar, Senegal. Addressing them by building the resilience of the vulnerable populations to flooding was the aim of the Live with Water project.


Federalism, when it has not been ignored altogether in normative political theory, has typically been analyzed in terms that fail to match the institution as it exists in the world. Federations are made up of provinces that are too few, too large, too rigid, too constitutionally entrenched, and too tied to ethnocultural identity to match theories based on competitive federalism, Tiebout sorting, democratic self-government, or subsidiarity. A relatively neglected tradition in liberal thought, based on a separation of loyalties and identifiable in Montesquieu, Publius, Constant, Tocqueville, and Acton, however, holds more promise. If the purpose of federalism is to compensate for worrisome tendencies toward centralization, then it is desirable that the provinces large enough to have political power be stable and entrenched and be able to engender loyalty from their citizens, such as the loyalty felt to ethnoculturally specific provinces. Separation of loyalty theories and the bulwark theories of which they are a subset match up with federalism as it exists in the world.


In this paper, we review our progress on carrier-depletion-based silicon modulator. The lateral and the interdigitated PN junctions are optimized and then compared systematically. The comparison helps us to choose a proper doping pattern for 40 Gbit/s modulation with MZ structure and travelling wave electrode. Ring modulators with both doping patterns are able to work at 10 Gbit/s with 0.5 Vpp driving voltage. We also reduce the size of ring modulator by utilizing an asymmetrical waveguide.


In our comparison of marriage arrangements and wedding celebrations during the first and the second intifada in Palestine, we focus on "political marriages" wherein the political activism and affiliation of the marital partners are of considerable importance. During the first intifada, political engagement became a major consideration in choice of marriage partner in some settings, and conventional boundaries of religion and class were transgressed. Simultaneously, marriage celebrations were transformed, whereby a widespread culture of austerity and mourning made weddings far more simple and inexpensive, as well as signaling solidarity and resistance. In the second intifada, marriage arrangements and wedding celebrations are very different. The changed political climate, with the hope and popular participation of the first intifada turned into the despair and exclusions of the second, transformed political engagement from a positive into a largely negative qualification. The material side of marriage has again become more important, public displays of consumption acceptable, and celebrations more expensive. These shifts are shaped by the effects of the post-Oslo transition, as well as by the warlike conditions on the ground. Although these conditions, from Israeli army intrusions to physical barriers to marriage, are more insecure and dangerous than in the earlier intifada, they function largely as external threats to the shaping of wedding arrangements and ceremonies, rather than generating internal transformations.


Wireless sensor networks consist of small, inexpensive devices which interact with the environment, communicate with each other, and perform distributed computations in order to monitor spatio-temporal phenomena. These devices are ideally suited for a variety of applications including object tracking, environmental monitoring, and homeland security. At present, sensor network technologies do not provide off-the-shelf solutions to users who lack low-level network programming experience. Because of limited resources, ad hoc deployments, and volatile wireless communication links, the development of distributed applications require the combination of both application and system-level logic. Programming frameworks and middleware for traditional distributed computing are not suitable for many of these problems due to the resource constraints and interactions with the physical world. To address these challenges we have developed OASiS, a programming framework that provides abstractions for object-centric, ambient-aware, service-oriented sensor network applications. OASiS uses a well-defined model of computation based on globally asynchronous locally synchronous dataflow, and is complemented by a user-friendly modeling environment. Applications are realized as graphs of modular services and executed in response to the detection of physical phenomena. We have also implemented a suite of middleware services that support OASiS to provide a layer of abstraction shielding the low-level system complexities. A tracking application is used to illustrate the features of OASiS. Our results demonstrate the feasibility and the benefits of a service-oriented programming framework for composing and deploying applications in resource-constrained sensor networks.


The North Sea shallow waters of the eastern English Channel are recurrently affected by the high algal spring bloom of the Prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis spp. When the bloom has run its course, foam accumulations resulting from the release of mucilaginous polysaccharides can be observed both on the sea surface and on beaches. Four beach sites, 2 that were affected and 2 that were not, were sampled from April to December 2001 and from April to August 2001 respectively. The physical and chemical conditions of the sediment, as well as the macrofauna associated with it, were assessed in the Canche Bay before, during and after the phytodetritus sedimentation period. Phaeocystis spp.-derived material significantly changed the grain-size distribution in accumulation areas as shown by the resulting fine-particle input (>60%) observed. Due to the rapid decomposition of decaying colonies, organic content increased in the sediments towards the end of the bloom, marked by a single peak on sands or strong, persistent enrichment on muds. As a result of this increase in organic matter, oxygen flux increased over time. In the low-energy silty environment, severe anoxic conditions rapidly occurred whereas on areas subject to tidal or wind-induced turbu- lence, superficial residual crusts resulting from drying foam prevented oxygen diffusion into sandy sediment. At the impacted sites, all macrobenthic taxa were affected, and both the number of species and their densities were simultaneously reduced. Sandy assemblages showed a better recovery, starting in July, due to more suitable environmental conditions, while on muddy assemblages full recovery had still not occurred by the end of the year. Spring recruit mortality was partly responsible for the lack of faunal recovery, which was mainly dependant on the migration of adults from the surrounding area.


New-borns can step when supported for about 70–80% of their own body weight. Gravity-related sensorimotor information might be an important factor in developing the ability to walk independently. We explored how body weight support alters motor control in toddlers during the first independent steps and in toddlers with about half a year of walking experience. Sixteen different typically developing children were assessed during (un)supported walking on a running treadmill. Electromyography of 18–24 bilateral leg and back muscles and vertical ground reaction forces were recorded. Strides were grouped into four levels of body weight support ranging from no (<10%), low (10–35%), medium (35–55%), and high (55–95%) support. We constructed muscle synergies and muscle networks and assessed differences between levels of support and between groups. In both groups, muscle activities could be described by four synergies. As expected, the mean activity decreased with body weight support around foot strikes. The younger first-steps group showed changes in the temporal pattern of the synergies when supported for more than 35% of their body weight. In this group, the muscle network was dense with several interlimb connections. Apparently, the ability to process gravity-related information is not fully developed at the onset of independent walking causing motor control to be fairly disperse. Synergy-specific sensitivity for unloading implies distinct neural mechanisms underlying (the emergence of) these synergies.