This thesis describes a phytochemical investigation of four medicinal plants, namely, Agave attenuata (Agavaceae), Balanites maughamii (Balanitaceae), Astrotrichilia parvifolia (Meliaceae) and Combretumjragrans (Combretaceae). Investigations of A. attenuata and B. maughamii were undertaken as biological studies have shown that these plants possess anti-bilharzial properties. Schistosomiasis is an important public health issue in South Africa and attempts to deal with infected rural communities have forced scientists to focus their attention on snail control using plant molluscicides. A. attenuata yielded two glycosides, timosaponin A III (compound I) and 5a.-pregn-16-en-20one-3f3-0-tetrasaccharide (compound 11), while a coumarin, scopoletin (compound Ill) and a sterol, stigmasterol (compound IV) were isolated from B. maughamii A dammarane, shoreic acid (compound V) was isolated from A. parvifolia, this formed part of an ongoing investigation into the Meliaceae of Madagascar. Plants of the family Combretaceae are widespread in Africa and are used by traditional healers for a wide range of illnesses. The leaves and bark are used abundantly, however, the winged fruits are never eaten as they are highly toxic to animals and humans. The leaf surface is covered with epidermal scale-like trichomes through which acidic triterpenoid mixtures are secreted. Six lupane-type triterpenoids were isolated from C. jragrans, namely, ·lupeol (compound VI), lupenone (compound VII), lupeol 3f3-docosanoate (compound VIII), lupeol 3f3-eicosanoate (compound IX) hennadiol (compound X) and 30hydroxylupenone (compound XI). All the above compounds were isolated by column chromatography and the structures were elucidated by means ofNMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and infra red spectroscopy. CHAPTERl General Introduction 1.


Abstract Abstract Time series of annual runoff volumes and annual and seasonal flood peaks in Sweden were analysed. The study included a total of 61 discharge series, with emphasis on the period 1901–2002. Three wet decades stand out in the 20th century: the 1920s, 1980s and 1990s, with a runoff anomaly of +8%. The 1970s were very dry. In a short perspective, both runoff volumes and flood magnitude increased substantially between 1970 and 2002, but similar conditions were experienced in the 1920s. The linear regression line for the average runoff from all of Sweden increased by 5% over the past century, but the trend was not statistically significant. The runoff in the 19th century was in fact even higher than in recent decades, although temperatures were lower. Flood levels increased slightly more than annual runoff volumes in northern Sweden. However, flood peaks in old data are probably underestimated. The largest increase was consequently found in less reliable data series. It is therefore difficult to conclude that flood levels are actually increasing.


Medical expert and health advocate Dr. Paul A. Offit offers an impassioned and meticulously researched exposé of the alternative medicine industry.A half century ago, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, Chinese herbs, Christian exorcisms, dietary supplements, chiropractic manipulations, and ayurvedic remedies were considered on the fringe of medicine. Now these practices—known variably as alternative, complementary, holistic, or integrative medicine—have become mainstream, used by half of all Americans today seeking to burn fat, detoxify livers, shrink prostates, alleviate colds, stimulate brains, boost energy, reduce stress, enhance immunity, eliminate pain, prevent cancer, and enliven sex.But as Offit reveals, alternative medicine—an unregulated industry under no legal obligation to prove its claims or admit its risks—can actually be harmful to our health. Even though some popular therapies are remarkably helpful due to the placebo response, many of them are ineffective, expensive, and even deadly. In Do You Believe in Magic? he explains how megavitamins increase the risk of cancer and heart disease—a fact well known to scientists but virtually unknown to the public; dietary supplements have caused uncontrolled bleeding, heart failure, hallucinations, arrhythmias, seizures, coma, and death; acupuncture needles have pierced hearts, lungs, and livers, and transmitted viruses, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV; chiropractic manipulations have torn arteries.Dr. Offit debunks the treatments that don't work and explains why. He also takes on the media celebrities who promote alternative medicine, including Mehmet Oz, Suzanne Somers, and Jenny McCarthy. Using dramatic real-life stories, he separates the sense from the nonsense, showing why any therapy—alternative or traditional—should be scrutinized. As he advises us, "There's no such thing as alternative medicine. There's only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't."


Platform edge doors (PEDs) are used in metro stations to improve passenger safety and comfort, while step-free access with a minimum gap between the train and the platform is desirable on the grounds of accessibility. There is little research on the effect of PEDs on boarding and alighting time (BAT) and passenger behavior patterns. Many authors, however, have examined the impact of vertical and horizontal gaps in passengers' boarding and alighting. On the London Underground, there is always step-free access between the train and the platform when there are PEDs; but even at some platforms without PEDs, level access may be provided by platform humps. This study examined the combined effect of PEDs and level access on the boarding and alighting process. Two London Underground platforms, both with level access, one with PEDs and one without PEDs, were compared by analyzing bespoke video footage. The results showed that PEDs on their own had no overall negative impact on BAT and that, in most situations, they encouraged passengers to wait beside the doors. It was also found that demand (number of boarders, alighters, and passengers on the train) was a more important influence on BAT and passenger behaviors than was the presence of PEDs.


This thesis identifies four novel techniques of improving the performance of sentiment analysis of text systems. Thes include feature extraction and selection, enrichment of the document representation and exploitation of the ordinal structure of rating classes. The techniques were evaluated on four sentiment-rich corpora, using two well-known classifiers: Support Vector Machines and Na¨A±ve Bayes. This thesis proposes the Part-of-Speech Pattern Selector (PPS), which is a novel technique for automatically selecting Part-of-Speech (PoS) patterns. The PPS selects its patterns from a background dataset by use of a number of measures including Document Frequency, Information Gain, and the Chi-Squared Score. Extensive empirical results show that these patterns perform just as well as the manually selected ones. This has important implications in terms of both the cost and the time spent in manual pattern construction. The position of a phrase within a document is shown to have an influence on its sentiment orientation, and that document classification performance can be improved by weighting phrases in this regard. It is, however, also shown to be necessary to sample the distribution of sentiment rich phrases within documents of a given domain prior to adopting a phrase weighting criteria. A key factor in choosing a classifier for an Ordinal Sentiment Classification (OSC) problem is its ability to address ordinal inter-class similarities. Two types of classifiers are investigated: Those that can inherently solve multi-class problems, and those that decompose a multi-class problem into a sequence of binary problems. Empirical results showed the former to be more effective with regard to both mean squared error and classification time performances. Important features in an OSC problem are shown to distribute themselves across similar classes. Most feature selection techniques are ignorant of inter-class similarities and hence easily overlook such features. The Ordinal Smoothing Procedure (OSP), which augments inter-class similarities into the feature selection process, is introduced in this thesis. Empirical results show the OSP to have a positive effect on mean squared error performance.


Abstract We have built the first family of tagless interpretations for a higher-order typed object language in a typed metalanguage (Haskell or ML) that require no dependent types, generalized algebraic data types, or postprocessing to eliminate tags. The statically type-preserving interpretations include an evaluator, a compiler (or staged evaluator), a partial evaluator, and call-by-name and call-by-value continuation-passing style (CPS) transformers. Our principal technique is to encode de Bruijn or higher-order abstract syntax using combinator functions rather than data constructors. In other words, we represent object terms not in an initial algebra but using the coalgebraic structure of the λ-calculus. Our representation also simulates inductive maps from types to types, which are required for typed partial evaluation and CPS transformations. Our encoding of an object term abstracts uniformly over the family of ways to interpret it, yet statically assures that the interpreters never get stuck. This family of interpreters thus demonstrates again that it is useful to abstract over higher-kinded types.


This study aims to identify the biodiesel feedstock (cottonseed, sunflower, corn or soybean oil) in biodiesel/diesel blends using digital images and chemometric methods. For this purpose, colour histograms (extracted from digital images) coupled with supervised pattern recognition techniques: Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA), Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) and the Successive Projections Algorithm for variable selection associated with Linear Discriminant Analysis (SPA-LDA) were used. SPA-LDA coupled with intensity histograms provided better results by selecting 12 variables alone, achieving only one error of classification in the external validation (test) set. Thus, the proposed methodology presents a noteworthy eco-friendly approach for identifying the biodiesel feedstock in biodiesel/diesel blends using a simple, fast, inexpensive and non-destructive analytical tool.


This new 1:24,000-scale geologic map of the Vail West 7.5' quadrangle, as part of the USGS Western Colorado I-70 Corridor Cooperative Geologic Mapping Project, provides new interpretations of the stratigraphy, structure, and geologic hazards in the area on the southwest flank of the Gore Range. Bedrock strata include Miocene tuffaceous sedimentary rocks, Mesozoic and upper Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and undivided Early(?) Proterozoic metasedimentary and igneous rocks. Tuffaceous rocks are found in fault-tilted blocks. Only small outliers of the Dakota Sandstone, Morrison Formation, Entrada Sandstone, and Chinle Formation exist above the redbeds of the Permian-Pennsylvanian Maroon Formation and Pennsylvanian Minturn Formation, which were derived during erosion of the Ancestral Front Range east of the Gore fault zone. In the southwestern area of the map, the proximal Minturn facies change to distal Eagle Valley Formation and the Eagle Valley Evaporite basin facies. The Jacque Mountain Limestone Member, previously defined as the top of the Minturn Formation, cannot be traced to the facies change to the southwest. Abundant surficial deposits include Pinedale and Bull Lake Tills, periglacial deposits, earth-flow deposits, common diamicton deposits, common Quaternary landslide deposits, and an extensive, possibly late Pliocene landslide deposit. Landscaping has so extensively modified the land surface in the town of Vail that a modified land-surface unit was created to represent the surface unit. Laramide movement renewed activity along the Gore fault zone, producing a series of northwest-trending open anticlines and synclines in Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata, parallel to the trend of the fault zone. Tertiary down-to-the-northeast normal faults are evident and are parallel to similar faults in both the Gore Range and the Blue River valley to the northeast; presumably these are related to extensional deformation that occurred during formation of the northern end of the Rio Grande rift system in Colorado. In the southwestern part of the map area, a diapiric(?) exposure of the Eagle Valley Evaporite exists and chaotic faults and folds suggest extensive dissolution and collapse of overlying bedrock, indicating the presence of a geologic hazard. Quaternary landslides are common and indicate that landslide hazards are widespread in the area, particularly where old slide deposits are disturbed by construction. The late Pliocene(?) landslide that consists largely of a smectitic upper Morrison Formation matrix and boulders of Dakota Sandstone is readily reactivated. Debris flows are likely to invade low-standing areas within the towns of Vail and West Vail where tributaries of Gore Creek issue from the mountains on the north side of the valley.


TM modes guided by thin-film waveguides with one or more magnetooptic and anisotropic layers (i.e., substrate, film, and cover layers) have been studied with emphasis on its nonreciprocal characteristics. Our analysis shows that the nonreciprocity of TM modes is the result of nonreciprocal Goos-Haenchen phase shifts at the cover–film and/or film–substrate interfaces. Contributions to the nonreciprocity defined as (N+ − N−) from various regions are identified. Here N± are the effective indices of refraction of two counterpropagating modes. An accurate algebraic approximation for (N+ − N−) has been obtained to provide physical insight into the problem and facilitate numerical calculations. Guidelines for designing nonreciprocal TM mode phase shifters are also listed.


We propose an efficient construction of wavelet frames in any number of dimensions that are divergence-free. Our approach is based on applying the Leray projector, which is scale-invariant, to a standard wavelet frame. We prove that the projected wavelets retain the basic characteristics (decay rate and order of vanishing moments) of the initial wavelets. Since the Leray projector is also shift-invariant, it is defined as a Fourier multiplier, and our construction is implemented efficiently using the fast Fourier transform. In order to illustrate the practicality of the method, we present vector field denoising experiments.


Representations of the Holy Women at the Sepulchre are known in art from at least the fifth century, and on the religious stage from the tenth century onwards. Perhaps encouraged by its female patrons, who were often the highly-educated elite leaders of wealthy religious communities, this tradition's visual and theatrical representations moved ever closer to providing an emotional female counterpart, at the end of Christ's life, to the male-dominated visit of the three Kings, or 'wise men from the east', whose gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh heralded its beginning. Drawing on the tradition's theatrical as well as visual developments, this examination of the origins of quack images identifies their point of departure as the religious spice-purchasing scene, whose progression it traces on the religious stage from the tenth century, and in illuminated manuscripts from the eleventh century onwards.

Following their great twelfth-century iconographic flowering in Lombard, Provencal and Catalan narrative religious stone carvings, the theme of spice merchants, apothecaries and quacks reappeared in a secular context in medical manuscript illuminations. From the mid-fifteenth century onwards, they also feature in printed book illustrations and other prints offering an accessible repertoire of iconographic templates for artists. Here too, in the context of its connections with the religious stage, the quack theme carries strong religious and moralistic connotations. Throughout the early modern period, it continued its consolidation into what eventually became a significant category of seventeenth-century secular genre paintings. Here, these advances are traced by way of small quack scenes within larger pictures or compositional cycles, such as Giulio Romano's 'Theriac seller', 'The Haywain' by Hieronymus Bosch, or painted versions of 'Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple' by followers of Bosch. In this progression, the decisive impetus to independent secular genre compositions was provided by Lucas van Leyden's moralizing 'Toothdrawer' of 1523.


Geocomputation, with its necessary focus on software development and methods innovation, has enjoyed a close relationship with free and open source software communities. These extend from communities providing the numerical infrastructure for computation, such as BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms),through language communities around Python, Java and others, to communities supporting spatial data handling, especially the projects of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. This chapter surveys the stack of software components available for geocomputation from these sources, looking in most detail at the R language and environment, and how OSGeo projects have been interfaced with it. In addition, attention will be paid to open development models and community participation in software development. Since free and open source geospatial software has also achieved a successively greater presence in proprietary software as computational platforms evolve, the chapter will close with some indications of future trends in software component stacks, using Terralib as an example.


In developing countries village poultry keeping is regarded an important livelihood opportunity for the poor. To improve poultry systems, it is necessary to keep in mind a large number of local complexities. This study aimed to integrate participatory-, survey- and model-based approaches to socio-technical analysis and mutual farmer-researcher learning about constraints to and opportunities for village poultry development in Ethiopia. The study applied a combined technography and systems approach as an input in analyzing possibilities for poultry development in terms of context-mechanism-outcome. To this end it used as data collection methods individual and open-group interviews, a cross-sectional stratified random survey, farm-recording, a market survey, and village-poultry modelling. Feed-back workshops were organised to share between farmers and researchers the data collected through farm-recording and to learn about outcomes of simulation scenarios for identifying improvement options of village poultry systems. Village poultry significantly contributed to the livelihoods of poor households: economically as starter capital, as a means to recover from disasters, as an accessible protein source and for income and exchange purposes, and socio-culturally for mystical functions, hospitality and exchange of gifts to strengthen social relationships. Poor households used sharing arrangements to have access to poultry. Distance to markets influenced flock sizes and poultry marketing organization. Religious festival days were associated with increased poultry consumption and sales, and fasting periods with decreased consumption. Farm-recording was as a first entry point to learn about how farmers participate in research. It transpired that researchers needed to understand the religious and customary norms of the community and adjust the data collection tools and procedures to fit these norms. As a second entry point, farm recording information was presented back to farmers to validate the data and to discuss with farmers the reasons of variation between households. A third entry point for sharing between researchers and farmers was modelling and simulation. Information from literature was used for development of a village-poultry model. The study documented experiences of how the modelling process was used to engage farmers and researchers in joint learning about village poultry keeping. The present study has indicated that through the combination of multiple approaches and methods researchers can arrive at better understanding of constraints affecting farmers' reality. This implies more relevant problem definition and therefore a potentially more effective technology development process. The study confirms that village poultry research and development are not only about finding technical solutions but also involve addressing household livelihoods, and institutional and policy issues from a social science perspective.


This paper considers the general equilibrium relationship between exchange rates and global imbalances. It emphasizes that the exchange rate is not a primitive but an equilibrium price determined by the policy mix. It uses extensions of the two-country Obstfeld-Rogoff model to analyze the response of imbalances and real exchange rates to shocks. Finally, it analyzes the characteristics of episodes in which chronic current account surpluses (as opposed to deficits) come to an end.


ABSTRACT Despite the ubiquity of staff soft skills programmes, few studies have examined why and how academic and corporate services staff utilise these programmes for self-care/governance. This study reports on findings from an ethnography of soft skills learning and development programmes (LDPs) in a UK university, focusing on interviews with programme participants and facilitators. Results suggest that, as social worlds with neoliberal directives, LDPs promote various self-governance activities in the form of entrepreneurism and novel, corporate versions of self-care. Time on LDPs was seen as a chance to, 'put oneself first,' examine career options and cultivate sought-after attributes, including self-confidence and assertiveness. Social networking and performance management also emerged as significant issues. Career development was important for all participants; however, perceptions of how to realise this differed. Based on our findings, we propose three types of work-related performance – 'career nomad,' 'reluctant entrepreneur,' and 'course hopper' – constituting a typology for understanding social worlds inhabited by contemporary university professionals. Our study suggests that self-care 'technologies' have multiple, competing functions in continuing professional education. While LDPs can help professionals navigate paths through increasingly challenging organisations, their entrepreneurial ethos and content reflect the market interests they serve.


Nearest neighbour classifiers and related kernel methods often perform poorly in high dimensional problems because it is infeasible to include enough training samples to cover the class regions densely. In such cases, test samples often fall into gaps between training samples where the nearest neighbours are too distant to be good indicators of class membership. One solution is to project the data onto a discriminative lower dimensional subspace. We propose a gap-resistant nonparametric method for finding such subspaces: first the gaps are filled by building a convex model of the region spanned by each class - we test the affine and convex hulls and the bounding disk of the class training samples - then a set of highly discriminative directions is found by building and decomposing a scatter matrix of weighted displacement vectors from training examples to nearby rival class regions. The weights are chosen to focus attention on narrow margin cases while still allowing more diversity and hence more discriminability than the 1D linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) projection. Experimental results on several face and object recognition datasets show that the method finds effective projections, allowing simple classifiers such as nearest neighbours to work well in the low dimensional reduced space.


The ghrelin receptor (GRLN-R) was cloned in 1996 after the discovery that a series of synthetic growth hormone-releasing compounds (the growth hormone secretagogues) acted
through a receptor distinct from the growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor. In 1999 the endogenous ligand of the receptor, ghrelin, was discovered. As well as stimulating growth hormone release, ghrelin has been shown to be involved in many other processes such as appetite stimulation and the regulation of energy homeostasis, making the ghrelin/GRLN-R system an attractive pharmaceutical target for the treatment of disorders
such as growth hormone deficiency, cachexia and obesity. The GRLN-R displays a high level of ligand-independent (constitutive) activity and has been suggested to couple to
Gaq/11, Gai/o, Gas and Ga12/13 G protein pathways, although little is known about the signalling of ghrelin and the growth hormone secretagogues in all but the Gaq/11 pathway.
Two of the growth hormone secretagogues, GHRP-6 and L-692,429, have been described as 'ago-allosteric modulators' of the GRLN-R as, when co-administered with ghrelin,
GHRP-6 and L-692,429 were reported to act both as co-agonists (increasing the efficacy of the ghrelin response) and as negative or positive (respectively) regulators of the potency of ghrelin. This study sought to investigate the pharmacology of the GRLN-R through the
Gai/o pathway.

[35S]GTPyS binding assays were used to measure activation of the Gai/o pathway, demonstrating that GHRP-6, L-692,585 (a commercially available analogue of L-692,429)
and a third growth hormone secretagogues, MK-677, acted with higher efficacy than ghrelin. At least in the system tested, upon co-administration with ghrelin each of the
growth hormone secretagogues acted in a simple competitive fashion with ghrelin. Radioligand binding experiments showed that the dissociation kinetics of [His[125I]]-
ghrelin from the GRLN-R were not altered by co-administration of the growth hormone
secretagogues. Fitting data to a modified operational model of allosterism demonstrated that GHRP-6, L-692,585 and MK-677 were not ago-allosteric modulators of the GRLN-R
but simple orthosteric agonists.

In order to further examine the receptor-specific effects of ghrelin and the growth hormone
secretagogues, a Flp-In™ T-REx™ HEK293 cell line expressing the GRLN-R was constructed. [35S]GTPyS binding assays confirmed that the GRLN-R was constitutively
active through both the Gaq/11 and Gai/o pathways, demonstrated by an increase in [35S]GTPyS loading upon receptor expression which could be reduced by the administration of the GRLN-R inverse agonist SPA. Upon expression of the GRLN-R a considerable level of cell detachment was observed with the remaining cells appearing
rounded compared to parental HEK293 cells, an affect that appeared to be mediated by the constitutive activity of the receptor.

In contrast to the [35S]GTPyS assays used to measure activation of Gai/o, [35S]GTPyS assays
with a Gaq-immunoprecipitation step demonstrated that the growth hormone secretagogues acted with equal efficacies to that of ghrelin, demonstrating functional selectivity at the
GRLN-R. Intact cell assays were also used to measure Gaq/11 and Gai/o responses, however, a Gai/o-mediated response could not be measured in cAMP accumulation assays, suggesting that the GRLN-R could signal via activation of Gao but not Gai1-3. Although the activation of the Gas pathway by the GRLN-R remains controversial, in this study ghrelin and the growth secretagogues could evoke a Gas-mediated cAMP response (although L-692,585
acted with a lower efficacy than ghrelin).

Finally, two naturally occurring missense mutations of the GRLN-R (A204E in the second extracellular loop and I134T in the third transmembrane helix) were analysed to investigate
whether these mutations led to retention of the receptor within the endoplasmic reticulum and to investigate whether the mutations affected the ability of the GRLN-R to signal to the growth hormone secretagogues. The A204E mutation caused partial retention of the GRLN-R within the endoplasmic reticulum, whilst receptor that was transported to the plasma membrane did not display any measurable constitutive activity. In contrast, the
I134T mutation did not alter receptor localisation, nor did it have any effect on the constitutive or ligand-induced activation of the GRLN-R, however, it appeared to lower the
efficacy of the inverse agonist SPA.


Abstract Earthquake hypocenters within the subducting Juan de Fuca plate beneath Washington and northern Oregon are interpreted as showing that the direction of plate dip changes from northeast beneath the Puget Sound region to east-southeast beneath southwestern Washington. The shallowest hypocenters within the Juan de Fuca plate are between 30- to 40-km depth, and the distribution of these events strikes north-northeast from near the mouth of the Columbia River to the northern Olympic Mountains. The distribution of hypocenters between 40 to 50 km generally strikes parallel with the shallowest events, but shows a significant broadening beneath the eastern Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound. Events with depths greater than 50 km south of the 1965 Seattle earthquake ( m b = 6.5) strike north-northeast, approximately parallel with the shallower distributions; however, north of this event, the distribution of these deeper hypocenters strikes northwest. This change in the distribution of earthquake hypocenters reflects an upward arching of the Juan de Fuca plate plate beneath Puget Sound compared with the depth of the plate beneath southwestern Washington. The T axis calculated for the 1949 South Puget Sound earthquake ( M S = 7.1) is oriented to the southeast, and the 20° plunge of the T axis is in good agreement with the plate dip angle determined from the earthquake hypocenters. We conclude that the 1949 earthquake resulted at least in part from down-dip tensional forces within the subducting Juan de Fuca plate. One consequence of the change in the direction of plate dip is that volcanic front in Washington is everywhere perpendicular to the dip of the Juan de Fuca plate.


For a number of years, senior commanders, politicians and commentators have voiced their concerns that legal constraints are undermining the operational freedom of Britain's armed forces to an ever greater extent. Tighter legal regulation and the prospects of litigation are blamed for making soldiers increasingly risk-averse, corroding trust in the chain of command and weakening operational effectiveness. These concerns lay bare a substantial degree of unease about the role that law and legal processes play in an area as sensitive as the deployment of the military. However, whilst it is widely acknowledged that the progressive juridification of the British armed forces presents significant challenges, no consensus exists on the nature and true extent of its impact on military operations. The purpose of this paper is to revisit the juridification debate and refocus it with the aim of promoting a more nuanced understanding of the subject. Previous contributions to the debate have mischaracterized the nature of the problem and as a result have advocated policy options which are overly ambitious in some respects and too complacent in others. There are four aspects of the subject which would benefit from more differentiated treatment. First, the nature of the process: what exactly is juridification and what is driving it? Second, its impact on military operations: how and to what extent does juridification undermine operational effectiveness? Third, what strategic options are open to the Government to counter the negative effects of juridification? Fourth, what means and methods are available to put such a strategy into action? Since it is imperative to gain a better understanding of the nature of juridification if we are to develop realistic strategies for preserving the operational freedom and effectiveness of the armed forces, I will focus on the first and third of these questions in the present article. I will do so by concentrating on the role of international human rights law, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as it is developments in this area of law which have proved to be the most controversial for reasons which I will explore throughout this article. The article makes two main claims. First, the legal framework governing the activities of Britain's armed forces is multilayered and therefore more complex than has sometimes been admitted. It is therefore unrealistic to expect that the process of juridification can be arrested or even reversed. The military ethos can be safeguarded from legal constraints only by striking a balance between the competing legal and policy considerations involved. Maintaining such a balance calls for a constant and proactive effort on part of the armed forces and the Government. Second, the progressive extension of international human rights law to the armed forces, in particular to overseas military operations, presents significant challenges. It is a source of legal uncertainty and has demanded wide-ranging adjustments in the way the armed forces conduct their business. The impact of international human rights law on the law of armed conflict is of particular concern, as it threatens to tilt the balance between military and humanitarian considerations in favour of the latter. However, claims that human rights law is incompatible with the armed forces are exaggerated and unconvincing as a matter of law, fact and policy. The notion that the UK should designate the law of armed conflict as the relevant body of law to govern overseas operations paints too schematic a picture of the applicable law.


The properties of contrail cirrus clouds are retrieved through analysis of Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data for 21 cases of spreading linear contrails. For these cases, contrail cirrus enhanced the linear contrail coverage by factors of 2.4–7.6 depending on the contrail mask sensitivity. In dense air traffic areas, linear contrail detection sensitivity is apparently reduced when older contrails overlap and thus is likely diminished during the afternoon. The mean optical depths and effective particle sizes of the contrail cirrus were 2–3 times and 20% greater, respectively, than the corresponding values retrieved for the adjacent linear contrails. When contrails form below, in, or above existing cirrus clouds, the column cloud optical depth is increased and particle size is decreased. Thus, even without increased cirrus coverage, contrails will affect the radiation balance. These results should be valuable for refining model characterizations of contrail cirrus needed to fully assess the climate impacts of contrails.


Holocene dolomite forming in supratidal carbonate sediments of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, is precipitated from hypersaline fluids in which the Mg:Ca ratio is elevated by evaporation and gypsum precipitation. Kinetic effects and water-vapor exchange between the humid atmosphere and hypersaline brines limit the δ18O values of the brines to between +0.7‰ and +2.1‰ standard mean ocean water. The mean δ18O value of dolomite is +1.0‰ Peedee belemnite ( n = 8), which is lower than values of dolomite precipitated from hypersaline brines in less humid environments. Bonaire dolomite is also isotopically lighter than dolomites interpreted to have formed in normal marine waters and mixed marine and/or meteoric waters. Calculated fractionation between dolomite and calcite formed from Bonaire brines is between 1.5‰ and 3.5‰. The high end of this range is consistent with previously proposed mineralogic fractionations of 3‰ ±1‰ and 3.2‰ between dolomite and calcite.


A new formalism for the optimal control of quantum mechanical physical observables is presented. This approach is based on an analogous classical control technique reported previously [J. Botina, H. Rabitz, and N. Rahman, J. Chem. Phys. 102, 226 (1995)]. Quantum Lagrange multiplier functions are used to preserve a chosen subset of the observable dynamics of interest. As a result, a corresponding small set of Lagrange multipliers needs to be calculated and they are only a function of time. This is a considerable simplification over traditional quantum optimal control theory [S. Shi and H. Rabitz, Comp. Phys. Comm. 63, 71 (1991)]. The success of the new approach is based on taking advantage of the multiplicity of solutions to virtually any problem of quantum control to meet a physical objective. A family of such simplified formulations is introduced and numerically tested. Results are presented for these algorithms and compared with previous reported work on a model problem for selective unimolecular reacti...


Background: The aim of the study was to examine the practicability and implementation efficacy of an alcohol outpatient detoxification model and the concomitant 'motivational' psychotherapeutic approach. Method: This was an open prospective study to examine the implementation efficacy, practicability and medical safety of a novel psychotherapy-based, integrated outpatient detoxification model in alcohol-dependent patients. Patients were carefully screened for relevant neuropsychiatric disorders and other exclusion criteria and then seen on a daily outpatient basis for 5–7 days. Patients received psychotropic or other medication, if necessary (CIWA-A score >16). Beside management of withdrawal symptoms, psychotherapeutic interventions were conducted to motivate the patient for further alcohol therapy. Results: Of 557 patients screened 331 entered the program. For medical reasons 226 patients had to be admitted for inpatient detoxification, 122 patients in a special alcohol unit, 101 patients in a general hospital. 198 (60%) of the outpatients received psychotropic medication during treatment. 312 (94%) of these patients successfully completed treatment. 301 (91% of the initial sample) patients entered a consecutive 3-month motivational phase of a two-phase alcohol treatment program. 139 (46%) patients successfully completed the 1-year consecutive outpatient treatment. Conclusions: Outpatient detoxification, at least in a highly structured frame, can be considered as a safe and efficient therapeutic approach. The data of this study also indicate that psychotherapeutic interventions and motivation for further abstinence and treatment may work in alcohol-dependent patients on an outpatient basis. Further controlled trials are necessary to compare the effects of outpatient versus inpatient withdrawal.


If the history of journalism education has been a footnote to accounts of the profession's development, then the history of numeracy training for journalists must be considered a footnote to a footnote. Despite the universally acknowledged centrality of numbers to a clear understanding of the world, many journalism students and entrants are proudly number-phobic; it is even suggested that an aversion to maths is a key reason why some choose journalism as a career. This study traces the development of numeracy education for journalists in England. It is only with the incipient professionalisation of journalism from the mid-19th century that numeracy becomes problematic, partly because of the rise of mass education in the 1870s and partly because of the changing nature of news. Yet - drawing on manuals, biographies and personal accounts – it turns out it was as late as the 1940s before any systematic plan to counter the prevailing literary leanings of journalists was proposed, and a further 30 years before this took root in the academy. The picture today is mixed, with professional and accreditation bodies, industry-sponsored initiatives, non-journalism organisations and academic institutions all playing a part. The consequences of this are evident in misreported or under-reported news stories. The lack of a coherent approach to numeracy training, or even agreement as to what it should comprise, exposes a critical weakness in journalism's mission to explain.


Medical researchers are ethically and legally required to inform participants and get written permission before
 enrolling them into a human research project (Informed Consent). Accordingly, information and consent represent a
 complex procedure, and the participant concerned "must receive comprehensible oral and written information" (Swiss legislation:
 Human Research Act (HRA) Art. 16). A triangle of stakeholders is involved in the procedure: ethics committees that review and
 approve research projects and Informed Consent (IC) documents, medical researchers who produce the documents and
 discuss enrolment with patients, and patients who have to be informed comprehensibly. From a linguistic point of view, the
 question arises as to which perceptions of comprehensibility form the basis of the IC process and how shared language can be
 established considering the complex relationship between these stakeholders. This contribution presents findings from two
 perspectives (ethics committees and researchers) while considering the needs of all three stakeholders. Firstly, the
 conceptualisation of comprehensibility among three ethic committees is presented, and steps toward harmonisation are outlined.
 Secondly, limitations of how researchers conduct oral IC information are analysed, and the measures that were implemented to
 improve patient information are discussed. A transdisciplinary approach is key in establishing these solutions because they do not
 stem from linguistic analysis alone but have been developed in close collaboration with members of ethics committees and medical
 researchers. Thus, the project shows how the expertise of applied linguistics in cooperation with practitioners can deliver an
 important impact in both academic analysis and optimisation of professional procedures.


The recent financial crisis has led to a reduction in credit granted, a decreased volume of activity in international financial markets and an increase in risk-taking behaviour. Several rounds of banking reforms in China have aimed to improve the efficiency, enhance the financial stability and decrease the market power of Chinese banks. The aim of this study is to investigate whether an increase in the risk-taking behaviour of Chinese banks increases market power; we also examine whether efficiency improvement enhances Chinese banks' market power. Using data on 101 Chinese commercial banks over the period 2003-2011, our empirical results suggest that Chinese banks with higher volumes of non-traditional activities have lower market power, while the technical efficiency improvement of Chinese banks increases their market power. We find no significant evidence with regards to the impact of risk on market power. These results are highly recommended to bank managers and financial analysts.


Abstract. HARMONIE, a non-hydrostatic NWP model has a single column version which is used for testing and validation of physical parameterisations. Since January 2010, this single column model (SCM) has been run on a daily basis in the KNMI parameterisation testbed (KPT). In this testbed, the HARMONIE SCM is run with different options and the output is compared with a wide variety of observations and other participating SCMs as well as large-eddy simulations (LES) model output. The evaluation presented here makes use of the advanced observation site Cabauw in the Netherlands, with a focus on shallow convection, turbulence and cloud formation. The examples shown illustrate the potential of the daily monitoring and in-depth evaluation to detect and improve model deficiencies.


The aim of this paper is to present a new structure for switched-capacitor multilevel inverters (SCMLIs) which can generate a great number of voltage levels with optimum number of components for both symmetric and asymmetric values of dc-voltage sources. The proposed topology consists of a new switched-capacitor dc/dc converter (SCC) that has boost ability and can charge capacitors as self-balancing by using the proposed binary asymmetrical algorithm and series-parallel conversion of power supply. The proposed SCC unit is used in new configuration as a submultilevel inverter (SMLI) and then, these proposed SMLIs are cascaded together and create a new cascaded multilevel inverter (MLI) topology that is able to increase the number of output voltage levels remarkably without using any full H-bridge cell and also can pass the reverse current for inductive loads. In this case, two half-bridge modules besides two additional switches are employed in each of SMLI units instead of using a full H-bridge cell that contribute to reduce the number of involved components in the current path, value of blocked voltage, the variety of isolated dc-voltage sources, and as a result, the overall cost by less number of switches in comparison with other presented topologies. The validity of the proposed SCMLI has been carried out by several simulation and experimental results.


BACKGROUND
There are many inefficiencies related to oral chemotherapy (OC) laboratory monitoring and follow-up in the ambulatory clinic setting. Patients with cancer prescribed OC have a higher risk of adverse events when there is inconsistent laboratory test result reporting and follow-up from their oncology provider.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this article is to improve OC laboratory monitoring by identifying potential barriers and opportunities for reliable communication between patients and providers in the outpatient clinical setting.

METHODS
A literature review found 76 articles, of which 15 were selected for review. Six themes were synthesized and discussed.

FINDINGS
Healthcare systems use technology, standard pathways, and clear patient-provider communication following laboratory testing to ensure patient safety. Implementing and testing evidence-based solutions and structured frameworks to identify gaps in outpatient laboratory monitoring and follow-up can improve patient satisfaction and safety during OC treatment.


The Octopus Automated Perimeter was validated in a comparative study and found to offer many advantages in the assessment of the visual field. The visual evoked potential was investigated in an extensive study using a variety of stimulus parameters to simulate hemianopia and central visual field defects. The scalp topography was recorded topographically and a technique to compute the source derivation of the scalp potential was developed. This enabled clarification of the expected scalp distribution to half field stimulation using different electrode montages. The visual evoked potential following full field stimulation was found to be asymmetrical around the midline with a bias over the left occiput particularly when the foveal polar projections of the occipital cortex were preferentially stimulated. The half field response reflected the distribution asymmetry. Masking of the central 3° resulted in a response which was approximately symmetrical around the midline but there was no evidence of the PNP-complex. A method for visual field quantification was developed based on the neural representation of visual space (Drasdo and Peaston 1982) in an attempt to relate visual field depravation with the resultant visual evoked potentials. There was no form of simple, diffuse summation between the scalp potential and the cortical generators. It was, however, possible to quantify the degree of scalp potential attenuation for M-scaled full field stimuli. The results obtained from patients exhibiting pre-chiasmal lesions suggested that the PNP-complex is not scotomatous in nature but confirmed that it is most likely to be related to specific diseases (Harding and Crews 1982). There was a strong correlation between the percentage information loss of the visual field and the diagnostic value of the visual evoked potential in patients exhibiting chiasmal lesions.


The nutritive value of reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) was studied in two experiments. In the first year, effects of stage of growth at harvest and method of preservation on digestibility and nutritive value were studied using cattle. In the following year, effects of degree of maturity at harvest and level of feed intake on digestibility and nutritive value were investigated. Maximum ad libitum intake of each forage was determined with both cattle and sheep. First-cutting reed canarygrass was harvested the first week of June and conserved as hay. In the first year, it also was stored as haylage in a conventional tower silo. Twelve to 15 days later, a more mature first-cutting was harvested as hay. Forty days after each first-cutting, an aftermath (second year only) was harvested and conserved as hay. For uniformity, all hay was artificially dried with heat at a mean temperature of about 44 C. On a percentage basis, a delay in harvest of 12 to 15 days after the first week in June was accompanied by mean losses of 8% TDN, 15% net energy, and 34% digestible protein concentrations in the hay. A concurrent 20 and 24% loss in maximum dry matter intake was observed in cattle and sheep, respectively. Level of feed intake significantly affected nutritive value expressed as net energy per unit dry matter. Aftermaths and haylage generally were intermediate between the two first-cutting hays in digestibility, nutritive value, and maximum intake.


Much of the current neighborhood-based research uses variables aggregated on administrative boundaries such as zip codes, census tracts, and block groups. However, other methods using current technological advances in geographic sciences may broaden our ability to explore the spatial concentration of neighborhood factors affecting individuals and groups. This article builds on extant neighborhood-based research methods and proposes using a geographic information system (GIS) to explore a conceptually new method of defining neighborhood boundaries for social measurement. Geospatial factors are important in the formation of neighborhoods, and a GIS can be used to define neighborhood boundaries that account for the spatial factors influencing the natural flow and pattern of neighbor interactions. Georeferenced data from the 2000 U.S. census for a midwestern city are presented to elucidate the potential aggregation problems and theoretical arguments. Moran's I statistics show that administrative boundaries may not be valid aggregate measures of neighborhoods or their effects. KEY WORDS: geographic information system; measurement; neighborhood boundaries; neighborhood effects ********** The effects of place on social outcomes have long been an interest of social work research. Much of the current neighborhood-based research uses variables aggregated on administrative boundaries such as census tracts, block groups, and zip codes to explore phenomena occurring within these geospatially bound social networks (Coulton, 2005; Coulton, Cook, & Irwin, 2004; Coulton, Korbin, Chan, & Su, 2001; Coulton, Korbin, & Su, 1999; Dietz, 2002; Grannis, 1998, 2005; Mayer & Jencks, 1989; Raudenbush & Sampson, 1999; Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002; Sampson & Raudenbush, 1999). Census tract- and similar-level data have a place in social work research; however, novel methods using current technological advances in geographic sciences may broaden our ability to explore the spatial concentration of neighborhood factors affecting individuals and groups. BACKGROUND Neighborhoods are geographically bounded groupings of households and institutions connected through structures and processes (Coulton et al., 1999). Collective attributes of neighborhoods are important to measure because of their potential to elucidate how ecological factors moderate the effects of other variables or interventions. The homological problem, hence a problem of social measurement, inherent in this approach is the assumption that aggregate data based on administratively defined neighborhoods are an accurate and adequate representation of the "true" neighborhood (Coulton, 2005; Coulton et al., 2001, 2004; Sampson et al., 2002). Approaches that disregard how individuals themselves define the neighborhoods in which they live may introduce significant measurement error (Coulton et al., 2001). In addition, misspecified boundaries result in ambiguities that "have undermined the authenticity and statistical power of community studies and biased downward the estimates of community effects" (Coulton, 2005, p. 75). It is argued here that neighborhoods are more than a summary of attributes; they are collectives that grow out of and share an ecological context with certain geospatial boundaries. The literature on neighborhood effects points to the challenges of accurately defining neighborhood boundaries for social work research. Accurate specification of boundaries in research is necessary to meet the basic statistical and measurement principal of maximizing between-group variance and minimizing within-group variance. Inaccurately specified boundaries may lead to excessive variance within the groups (problematic heterogeneity), increased measurement error, and unreliable results. Limited between-group variance (problematic homogeneity) may show little differences across groups and yield spurious null results. …


Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. Detection of hard exudates is an important step for early diagnosis in eye diseases such as Macular Edema(ME). If hard exudates were segmented precisely, laser treatments can be applied more effective for patients by surgeons. The possibility of blindness is very high when the hard exudates are very close to Macula region or Optic disc. Therefore, fast and accurate segmentation is one of the most important factors in elimination of hard exudates. In this paper, a method is proposed for segmentation of hard exudates in retinal color image based on morphological operation. In the proposed method, the retinal images preprocessed and optic disc and the blood vessels identified primarily and then they eliminate from the image. Finally, the Hard Exudates (HEs) are segmented by mixture of morphological operation such as Top-hat, Bottom-hat and reconstruction operations. The proposed method was tested on DIARETDB1 database and 78.28% of sensitivity was obtained. Comparing to other recent automatic method available in the literature, our proposed method can obtain acceptable exudates detection result in term of sensitivity.


Processor Heatsink was defined as tool for absorb heat of computer processor in order to
optimize processor function and to make processor working under allowed temperature. In
principle, heatsink can transfer heat energy from processor to free air that it was lower
temperature than processor. This heat transfer heat energy has two process conduction and
convection. Fusion two process can be say with differential equation . With boundary condition
value from condition or situation fins then have solution . The similiarity of this q that used to
search a energy total of warm occur in the processor.
From the calculation result there are three kinds heatsink processor, Pentium 4 LGA Intel can
release warm with Watt, Pentium 4 2,66 Ghz can release warm with Watt and AMD Athlon 64 –
Bit can release warm with Watt. From the data is above can conclused that release warm. This
result AMD processor case become more fast hot.
From the calculation result of free warm energy in heatsink processor make from alumunium
material before modification is as big as Watt. Beside that, after modification with use a material
make of bronze material release the warm with Watt. So that the heatsink processor material made from alumunium to be able to release warm from heatsink processor that made bronze
material needs minimal three kinds addition. Better than to choose to be able to realease a warm
with maximal and keep on computer condition to maximal work.


Background: Currently, tamoxifen and raloxifene are the only FDA-approved and USPSTF recommended pharmacologic treatments for breast cancer chemoprevention in high-risk postmenopausal women. Despite their widely recognized efficacy at reducing the incidence of breast cancer, the risk of potentially significant adverse effects may limit patient allocation. Consequently, research on the efficacy of thirdgeneration aromatase inhibitors (AIs) as breast cancer preventives has emerged, especially since their value as adjuvant and combination therapy for breast cancer is well-established. The safety profile of anastrozole and exemestane potentially provide an appealing alternative to postmenopausal patients with a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Studies have successfully demonstrated the efficacy of AIs at reducing the incidence breast cancer, and further research will help to validate the FDA-approval of AIs for this indication. Methods: An exhaustive search of medical literature included MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL, and the National Institute of Health Clinical Trials using the key words: aromatase inhibitors, anastrozole, letrozole, exemestane, and chemoprevention. Relevant articles were critically appraised and GRADE was used for qualitative assessment. Results: An extensive literary search rendered 262 relevant articles from January 2000 to February 2014. After screening several articles, two randomized control trials met inclusion criteria. The NIH clinical trials site yielded 36 results, and one trial met inclusion criteria. The LIBER trial, listed under NCT00673335, is in Phase III with a predicted completion date of February 2017. Conclusion: Third generation AIs, such as anastrozole and exemestane, are very effective at reducing the incidence of invasive breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, and certain tumors in high-risk postmenopausal women. Although both AIs demonstrate adverse effects, their overall safety profiles may be more favorable than other pharmacologic chemoprevention alternatives. More research, larger scale studies, and a longer follow-up after concluding treatment will be valuable to the prospective FDAapproval of AIs in breast cancer prevention.


The Red Arch Formation is a continental red bed succession of uncertain age exposed on the northeast coast of Ireland. There are lithological similarities with the Old Red Sandstone of the Highland Border region, although unconformities within the succession, the presence of reworked aeolian sand grains and variations in the induration of the rocks have prompted earlier workers to suggest that the upper part of the succession may be Triassic in age. This paper reports palaeomagnetic results from the Red Arch Formation. The characteristic magnetizations (ChRMs) are exclusively of reversed polarity and the palaeomagnetic pole position for the sequence bears close comparison with other results from the Old Red Sandstone in Scotland and southern Britain. These poles are regarded as magnetic overprints formed during the Kiaman Superchron because they fall in the Permo‐Carboniferous segment of the apparent polar wander path. Sandstone dykes that cut the Red Arch Formation on a NNE–SSW and NNW–SSE trend have also been studied palaeomagnetically. The dykes show more steeply inclined ChRMs predominantly of normal polarity. The dykes are therefore interpreted to be post‐Kiaman in age, a conclusion consistent with our structural observations. The age of the dykes cannot be determined precisely because they have also been, at least partially, remagnetized. Lithological and regional geological considerations suggest the dykes are Triassic in age and formed in an extensional stress regime prior to the opening of the North Atlantic. They were remagnetized in Tertiary times, possibly associated with uplift and emplacement of the British Tertiary Igneous Province.


This study was carried out to identify testicular biometric data of native Egyptian buffalo-bulls through the determination of testicular parameters by using ultrasound examination of the testis and scrotum and determination of scrotal circumference of the life animal and morphometric data of the testis after slaughter of the bulls and their correlations with body weight at the different ages that will provide data base for the reproductive anatomy of the local Egyptian buffalo bull. The animals were divided into three groups (G1, G2 and G3) according to the age and the weight of the animals. All animals were examined with ultrasonography to determine the different parameters of the testis, epididymis and pampiniform plexus. After slaughter of the animals, the left and right testes were taken for morphometric and histological analysis. The results revealed significant (p˂0.05) variations between body weight and testicular parameters that included (Testicular Weight, Testicular Width, Testicular Circumference, Testicular Thickness and Testicular Length) as there was an increase in all parameters with the advancement in age and body weight. Histological analysis of G1 declared that only sertoli cells rested on basal lamina of seminiferous tubules and Gonocyt cells are predominant but there was no spermatogenic cells, no spermatocyte and no spermatid in the lumen of seminiferous tubules. In G2 group, there was replacement of Gonocyt cells with differentiated spermatogenic cell and spermatocyte in the lumen of seminiferous tubule but there was no spermatid. In G3 group, there were different stages of developmental spermatogenic cell clusters within the epithelium of seminiferous tubules (sertoli cells spermatogenia cells, different cells type of spermatocyte, and  round  spermatid as well as several threads like sperms were in the lumen of seminiferous tubules) that  indicate the early maturity of Egyptian  buffalo bull noticed at this age Statistical analysis revealed significant (p <0.05) changes in the testicular parameters with the advancement in the age and weight of the animals concluding that ultrasonographic imaging of the testis and epididymis of buffalo-bulls was given appreciable benefits in studying the developmental changes of the testes and epididymis of buffalo-bulls, so that ultrasound examination of testicular parameters is a good tool for prediction of the future fertility of buffalo-bulls.


Skin cancers are the most common malignancy and are especially common among light-skinned individuals in sun-exposed areas. While in many cases, a characteristic or classic appearance of the lesion is sufficient to make a definitive diagnosis, shave biopsy remains an important procedure when diagnosing many such raised lesions. Over the span of two months, a 66-year-old Caucasian male noted the appearance of a small, raised pruritic scaly lesion over his right upper chest. The differential diagnosis included both cancerous and benign lesions. During a 15-minute clinic visit, a simple shave biopsy was performed, and additionally, 10 small actinic keratoses on the patient's arms, legs, and back were treated with cryotherapy using liquid nitrogen. Later, a histologic examination of the biopsied lesion revealed a benign lichenoid keratosis. The patient was billed $10,187 for this outpatient experience.


The ring-tailed mongoose (Galidia elegans) represents one of the most widely distributed mongooses in Madagascar; however, we know little about the ecology of this seemingly ubiquitous species. Currently, G. elegans is divided into three recognized subspecies—G. e. elegans, G. e. dambrensis, and G. e. occidentalis—based on differences in pelage coloration between the distinct geographic locations. We used intraspecific DNA variation to describe the phylogenetic relationships among the described subspecies. Approximately 550 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA control region were analyzed from 19 G. elegans specimens representing all three subspecies sampled from across the species' geographic range. Sequence data from outgroup taxa were included for comparison. Examination of the recovered sequences revealed a strongly supported distinct genetic signature in the western region of the island, but remained inconclusive with respect to supporting the designation of the northern and eastern 'subspecies' for treatment as divergent intraspecific units for management.


This research explores the spatial practices of male prostitutes meeting gay male clients in
various urban environments in Bangkok, Thailand. The research focuses on the male
prostitutes' spatial practices in three meeting places: the streets around Saranrom park, the
gay go-go bars in Surawong's Boys' Town, and the representations of space in local gay
newsletters. Examining the male prostitutes' spatial practices through 'tactics', this research
suggests that male prostitutes use the meeting places differently as ways of responding to the
'strategies' of gay male clients. This research also suggests that the tactics of male
prostitutes can be examined by exploring the relationship between spatial practices and
subjectivities. By exploring how specific performative acts constitute male prostitutes'
subjectivities, this research suggests that male prostitutes 'perform' homosexuality.
This thesis draws upon Judith Butler's performativity theory as a discursive mode of
constituting subjects and Michel de Certeau's theoretical discussion, specifically spatial
practices of 'strategies' and 'tactics', as a means of differentiating between 'place' and
'space'. Methodologically, this research works in two directions: the first explores how the
spatial practices of male prostitution produce 'gay' subjectivities in the moment of sexual
encounter – arguing that male prostitutes actively reposition themselves as 'subjects' rather
than 'objects' through spatial and sexual practices; and the second examines the social and
sexual constitution of space – arguing that 'places' are produced as 'spaces' through the
practices and tactics of male prostitutes.
This research aims to make an original contribution to knowledge in four main ways. The
first is an exploration of the relationship between de Certeau's spatial theory of 'tactics' and
Butler's concept of 'performativity' as a constitution of subjectivity. The second is the use
of de Certeau and Butler's theories to explore three spaces of male prostitution in
contemporary Bangkok, Thailand, through observations drawn from interviews, accounts of
spatial experience, and discussions of various representations of space. The third is a
reconsideration of these theories of performativity and spatial practices in the light of the
specific conditions of the case studies in Bangkok. The fourth is the production of new
forms of cross-disciplinary knowledge to bring this discussion of tactics, performativity and
gay subjectivities in streets, go-go bars and magazines into architectural history and theory,
thereby producing new ways of understanding how spaces are produced through encounters
and looks.


Fracture prediction and modelling is one area where there is scope for significant technical advance. At present fractures are modelled either by modifying the bulk rock properties to take account of the fracture porosity and permeability, or using stochastically generated Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) models. Both methods tend to give a poor history match because the distribution, orientation, length and connectivity of fractures in the subsurface is not well constrained. We propose to improve the prediction of fluid flow in a fractured reservoir, by developing an algorithm to accurately model the key parameters of a fracture population (fracture density, fracture size distribution, and connectivity) based on the geomechanics of fracture nucleation and propagation, and using this to generate a mechanically-based DFN that more accurately represents the subsurface fracture geometry. We will use a preliminary version of this model to demonstrate some of the key geomechanical controls on fracture geometry, such as fracture propagation rate and strain anisotropy, and illustrate the different types of fracture network that can develop under different conditions.


In this paper I propose a class of measures of rank-order segregation, each of which may be used to measure segregation by a continuous (but not necessarily interval-scaled) variable, such as income. These rank-order segregation indices have several appealing features that remedy flaws in existing measures of income segregation. First, the measures are insensitive to rank-preserving changes in the income distribution. As a result, the measures are independent of the extent of income inequality and allow comparisons across place and time regardless of the units of income or differences in the cost of living. Second, the measures can be easily computed from either exact or categorical income data, and are largely insensitive to variation in how income is tabulated in Census data. Third, the measures satisfy a number of mathematical properties necessary or desirable in such indices. Fourth, the measures are easily adapted to account for spatial proximity. Finally, the indices can be interpreted in a variety of equivalent ways that illustrate their correspondence with standard notions of segregation. I illustrate the computation and interpretation of these measures using Census data from two U.S. cities: San Francisco, CA and Detroit, MI.


As humans, we self-regulate whenever we adapt our emotions and actions to situational requirements and to internalized social standards and norms. Self-regulation encompasses skills such as paying attention, inhibiting reflexive actions, and delaying gratification. We need self-regulation for navigating in the social world (e.g., when we inhibit revealing a secret, even though it is tempting to tell it), academic life (e.g., when we study for the test, even though we would prefer to watch our favorite TV show), and much more -- indeed, in every aspect of life. While both environmental and genetic factors have direct, long-lasting influences on an individual's ability to self-regulate, these factors also interact with each other in critical ways. On one hand, environmental factors such as parental attachment can shape the epigenetics and the expression of the individual genotype; on the other hand, gene variations may increase vulnerability to certain environmental pathogens. This book presents self-regulation as a crucial link between genetic predisposition, early experience, and later adult functioning in society. Individual chapters examine what self-regulation is, how it functions, how genetic and environmental factors influence its development, how it affects social and academic competence in childhood and adulthood, what pathologies can emerge if it is under-developed, and how it might be fostered in children. Part of the Human Brain Development Series, edited by Michael Posner, this book will appeal to developmental psychologists, developmental neuroscientists, educational psychologists, and educational practitioners interested in the link between brain sciences and education.


Learn essential techniques from data warehouse legend Bill Inmon on how to build the reporting environment your business needs now!Answers for many valuable business questions hide in text. How well can your existing reporting environment extract the necessary text from email, spreadsheets, and documents, and put it in a useful format for analytics and reporting? Transforming the traditional data warehouse into an efficient unstructured data warehouse requires additional skills from the analyst, architect, designer, and developer. This book will prepare you to successfully implement an unstructured data warehouse and, through clear explanations, examples, and case studies, you will learn new techniques and tips to successfully obtain and analyze text.Master these ten objectives:Build an unstructured data warehouse using the 11-step approachIntegrate text and describe it in terms of homogeneity, relevance, medium, volume, and structureOvercome challenges including blather, the Tower of Babel, and lack of natural relationshipsAvoid the Data Junkyard and combat the Spider's WebReuse techniques perfected in the traditional data warehouse and Data Warehouse 2.0,including iterative developmentApply essential techniques for textual Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) such as phrase recognition, stop word filtering, and synonym replacementDesign the Document Inventory system and link unstructured text to structured dataLeverage indexes for efficient text analysis and taxonomies for useful external categorizationManage large volumes of data using advanced techniques such as backward pointersEvaluate technology choices suitable for unstructured data processing, such as data warehouse appliancesThe following outline briefly describes each chapter's content:Chapter 1 defines unstructured data and explains why text is the main focus of this book.Chapter 2 addresses the challenges one faces when managing unstructured data.Chapter 3 discusses the DW 2.0 architecture, which leads into the role of the unstructured data warehouse. The unstructured data warehouse is defined and benefits are given. There are several features of the conventional data warehouse that can be leveraged for the unstructured data warehouse, including ETL processing, textual integration, and iterative development. Chapter 4 focuses on the heart of the unstructured data warehouse: Textual Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL).Chapter 5 describes the 11 steps required to develop the unstructured data warehouse.Chapter 6 describes how to inventory documents for maximum analysis value, as well as link the unstructured text to structured data for even greater value.Chapter 7 goes through each of the different types of indexes necessary to make text analysis efficient. Indexes range from simple indexes, which are fast to create and are good if the analyst really knows what needs to be analyzed before the indexing process begins, to complex combined indexes, which can be made up of any and all of the other kinds of indexes.Chapter 8 explains taxonomies and how they can be used within the unstructured data warehouse.Chapter 9 explains ways of coping with large amounts of unstructured data. Techniques such as keeping the unstructured data at its source and using backward pointers are discussed. The chapter explains why iterative development is so important.Chapter 10 focuses on challenges and some technology choices that are suitable for unstructured data processing. In addition, the data warehouse appliance is discussed.Chapters 11, 12, and 13 put all of the previously discussed techniques and approaches in context through three case studies.


Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in Iran and is the most common cancer in women both in the developed and the developing world. Living with breast cancer often involves making fundamental changes in life. The breast cancer illness trajectory may negatively affect various dimensions of the patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but may also vary greatly between individuals. The main aim of the present thesis was to investigate HRQoL and its determinants as well as to study coping abilities in women with breast cancer living in Iran in comparison with women without breast cancer before final diagnosis and 6 months later. Method: The thesis is based on four studies. The first two studies are methodological and include five self-rated psychometric instruments for the Persian language: Health Index (HI), Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale, Spirituality Perspective Scale (SPS), Brief Religious Coping (RCOPE) scale and SF-12 Health Survey version 2 (SF-12v2). The psychometric tests were given to a healthy sample of Iranian population (n=333). In the third study the five instruments were applied at the pre-diagnosis phase (T1) and 6 months later (T2) in a sample of women with breast cancer (n = 162) and in a control group of women seeking mammography who were subsequently diagnosed as not having breast cancer (n= 639). In the fourth study, using the same samples as in Study III (women with breast cancer and controls), the mediating effect of SOC was investigated. Results: Almost all hypotheses tested for validity were confirmed. An exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling for the SF-12v2 verified a two-factor structure (a physical component summary and a mental component summary) in accordance with the original factor structure. The reliability of the instruments as measured by internal consistency and intra-class correlations was satisfying. When compared with the control group, the Iranian women with breast cancer rated impaired physical functioning, fatigue and financial difficulties most prominent during the first 6 months after pre-diagnosis. At the same time, the patients with breast cancer improved their perception of global quality of life and emotional functioning. The most important predictors of the HRQoL dimensions were SOC followed by baseline ratings of the respective dimensions. Furthermore, SOC mediated the role of baseline values of HRQoL to follow-up HRQoL values after 6 months. The concept of SOC was a stronger predictor of HRQoL than religious coping and spirituality. Conclusion: The SOC, HI, SPS, Brief RCOPE and SF-12v2 were found to be psychometrically sound instruments, implying that they are suitable for use in health surveys in an Iranian population. When planning nursing care for women with breast cancer in Iran, it is important to integrate HRQoL measures early in the illness trajectory. Our findings suggest that focus should be on physical functioning, fatigue and financial difficulties. As in other cultures, the concept of SOC seems to be applicable to the Iranian context and thus should be considered in individual valuation of coping ability along with religious coping and spirituality.


Recently, adaptive graph convolutional network based traffic prediction methods, learning a latent graph structure from traffic data via various attention-based mechanisms, have achieved impressive performance. However, they are still limited to find a better description of spatial relationships between traffic conditions due to: (1) ignoring the prior of the observed topology of the road network; (2) neglecting the presence of negative spatial relationships; and (3) lacking investigation on uncertainty of the graph structure. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian Graph Convolutional Network (BGCN) framework to alleviate these issues. Under this framework, the graph structure is viewed as a random realization from a parametric generative model, and its posterior is inferred using the observed topology of the road network and traffic data. Specifically, the parametric generative model is comprised of two parts: (1) a constant adjacency matrix which discovers potential spatial relationships from the observed physical connections between roads using a Bayesian approach; (2) a learnable adjacency matrix that learns a global shared spatial correlations from traffic data in an end-to-end fashion and can model negative spatial correlations. The posterior of the graph structure is then approximated by performing Monte Carlo dropout on the parametric graph structure. We verify the effectiveness of our method on five real-world datasets, and the experimental results demonstrate that BGCN attains superior performance compared with state-of-the-art methods.


The historical establishment of medicine as a profession laid the foundation on which it claims dominance and authority over medical decision-making. Through scientific discoveries and a state-recognized monopoly over medical work, doctors were able to subdue patients during doctor/patient interactions and conceal specialized knowledge from the public. Ritualized doctor/patient interactions are characterized as expert physician decision-making for passive compliant patients. However, the democratization of information on the internet has disrupted the ritual interactions of doctors and patients by granting open access to specialized medical knowledge. Internet informed patients bring their own knowledge to clinical encounters and use it to be actively involved, redefining their traditional role in doctor/patient interactions. Doctors usually respond to internet informed patients in two ways based on the literature: they support and accept active informed patients as the new normal, referred to as ritual change; or, physicians reinforce traditional roles that restrict direct involvement of patients in medicine, referred to as ritual conflict. Responses reflect the ideological position of physicians regarding patient information seeking online and strategically work to embrace or refuse active patient behaviors. This research explores the historical evolution of the medical profession, the establishment of ritualized encounters, and the disruption of ritual interactions in the era of internet.


Background: Multimorbidity, the presence of two or more chronic conditions, affects over 60 % of patients in primary care. Due to its association with polypharmacy, the development of interventions to optimise medication management in patients with multimorbidity is a priority. The Behaviour Change Wheel is a new approach for applying behavioural theory to intervention development. Here, we describe how we have used results from a review of previous research, original research of our own and the Behaviour Change Wheel to develop an intervention to improve medication management in multimorbidity by general practitioners (GPs), within the overarching UK Medical Research Council guidance on complex interventions. Methods: Following the steps of the Behaviour Change Wheel, we sought behaviours associated with medication management in multimorbidity by conducting a systematic review and qualitative study with GPs. From the modifiable GP behaviours identified, we selected one and conducted a focused behavioural analysis to explain why GPs were or were not engaging in this behaviour. We used the behavioural analysis to determine the intervention functions, behavioural change techniques and implementation plan most likely to effect behavioural change. Results: We identified numerous modifiable GP behaviours in the systematic review and qualitative study, from which active medication review (rather than passive maintaining the status quo) was chosen as the target behaviour. Behavioural analysis revealed GPs ' capabilities, opportunities and motivations relating to active medication review. We combined the three intervention functions deemed most likely to effect behavioural change (enablement, environmental restructuring and incentivisation) to form the MultimorbiditY COllaborative Medication Review And DEcision Making (MY COMRADE) intervention. MY COMRADE primarily involves the technique of social support: two GPs review the medications prescribed to a complex multimorbid patient together. Four other behavioural change techniques are incorporated: restructuring the social environment, prompts/cues, action planning and self-incentives. Conclusions: This study is the first to use the Behaviour Change Wheel to develop an


Abstract. The Taiwan Water Resources Agency uses four techniques to monitor subsidence in Taiwan, namely data from leveling, global positioning system (GPS), multi-level compaction monitoring wells (MCMWs), and interferometry synthetic aperture radar (InSAR). Each data type has advantages and disadvantages and is suitable for different analysis tools. Only MCMW data provide compaction information at different depths in an aquifer system, thus they are adopted in this study. However, the cost of MCMW is high and the number of MCMW is relatively low. Leveling data are thus also adopted due to its high resolution and accuracy. MCMW data provide compaction information at different depths and the experimental data from the wells provide the physical properties. These data are suitable for a physical model. Leveling data have high monitoring density in spatial domain but lack in temporal domain due to the heavy field work. These data are suitable for a black- or grey-box model. Poroelastic theory, which is known to be more conscientious than Terzaghi's consolidation theory, is adopted in this study with the use of MCMW data. Grey theory, which is a widely used grey-box model, is adopted in this study with the use of leveling data. A fusion technique is developed to combine the subsidence predicted results from poroelastic and grey models to obtain a spatially and temporally connected two-dimensional subsidence distribution. The fusion model is successfully applied to subsidence predictions in Changhua, Yunlin, Tainan, and Kaohsiung of Taiwan and obtains good results. A good subsidence model can help the government to make the accurate strategies for land and groundwater resource management.


Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a promising cancer drug target due to its massive overexpression in multiple solid tumors and its critical role in the integration of signals that control proliferation, invasion, apoptosis, and metastasis. Previous FAK drug discovery and high-throughput screening have exclusively focused on the identification of inhibitors that target the kinase domain of FAK. Because FAK is both a kinase and scaffolding protein, the development of novel screening assays that detect inhibitors of FAK protein–protein interactions remains a critical need. In this report, we describe the development of a high-throughput fluorescence polarization (FP) screening assay that measures the interactions between FAK and paxillin, a focal adhesion–associated protein. We designed a tetramethylrhodamine (TAMRA)-tagged paxillin peptide based on the paxillin LD2 motif that binds to the focal adhesion targeting (FAT) domain with significant dynamic range, specificity, variability, stability, and a Z'-factor suitable for high-throughput screening. In addition, we performed a pilot screen of 1593 compounds using this FP assay, showing its feasibility for high-throughput drug screening. Finally, we identified three compounds that show dose-dependent competition of FAT–paxillin binding. This assay represents the first described high-throughput screening assay for FAK scaffold inhibitors and can accelerate drug discovery efforts for this promising drug target.


The realistic reconstruction of hair motion is challenging because of hair's complex occlusion, lack of a well-defined surface, and nonLambertian material. We present a system for passive capture of dynamic hair performances using a set of high-speed video cameras. Our key insight is that, while hair color is unlikely to match across multiple views, the response to oriented filters will. We combine a multi-scale version of this orientation-based matching metric with bilateral aggregation, a MRF-based stereo reconstruction technique, and algorithms for temporal tracking and de-noising. Our final output is a set of hair strands for each frame, grown according to the per-frame reconstructed rough geometry and orientation field. We demonstrate results for a number of hair styles ranging from smooth and ordered to curly and messy.


Action recognition in uncontrolled videos is a challenging task, where it is relatively hard to find the large amount of required training videos to model all the variations of the domain. This paper addresses this challenge and proposes a generic method for action recognition. The idea is to use images collected from the Web to learn representations of actions and leverage this knowledge to automatically annotate actions in videos. For this purpose, we first use an incremental image retrieval procedure to collect and clean up the necessary training set for building the human pose classifiers. Our approach is unsupervised in the sense that it requires no human intervention other than the text querying to an internet search engine. Its benefits are two-fold: 1) we can improve retrieval of action images, and 2) we can collect a large generic database of action poses, which can then be used in tagging videos. We present experimental evidence that using action images collected from the Web, annotating actions in the videos is possible. Additionally, we explore how the Web-based pose classifiers can be utilized in conjunction with limited labelled videos. We propose to use "ordered pose pairs" (OPP) for encoding the temporal ordering of poses in our action model, and show that considering the temporal ordering of pose pairs can increase the action recognition accuracy. We also show that by selecting the keyposes with the help of Web-based classifiers, the classification time can be reduced. Our experiments demonstrate that, with or without available video data, the pose models learned from the Web can improve the performance of the action recognition systems.


The effects of thermal trapped particles on the n=1 internal kink mode are studied using drift kinetic theory. Strong modifications of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) results are found, and marginal stability generally occurs at nonzero rotation frequency. For equal electron and ion temperatures, the trapped particles increase the marginal poloidal beta at q=1 substantially above the MHD value. For unequal electron and ion temperatures, the drift resonance with the hotter species becomes increasingly destabilizing and for sufficiently unequal temperatures, this leads to instability below the ideal‐MHD threshold. Treatment of trapped thermal particles requires consideration of the effects of an electrostatic potential. The potential is weakly stabilizing for the internal kink mode. Furthermore, finite beta couples unstable, nearly electrostatic, trapped particle modes to the internal kink mode. At high beta, thermal fluctuations of the trapped particle modes can lead to significant internal kink displacements.


India has one of the largest tractor industry in the world. However, the average tractor use in India is still lower by the world standard, and a huge disparity exists on its uses across states (regions) in the country. With a sharply declining trend in draft animal over the years increased use of farm tractors (and machinery) is inevitable in India now to increase crop productivity, sustain farm households' income, and rural economic growth. In this context, the objectives of this study are a) to analyze growth pattern of tractor uses across India during the last four decades, then b) to evaluate process, speed of diffusion, and ceiling of diffusion of tractors across various. The study analyze diffusion of four wheel tractors in India using the diffusion study framework of Griliches (1957). This has been done taking data on tractor use across 14 major states of India during the last four decades. The study finds that state-specific ceiling rate and slope of diffusion of tractors hugely vary across the 14 states of India. The empirical analyses show that tractor uses have expanded tremendously in India, specially after liberalization of its economy in early 1990s, and the simultaneous liberalization of the tractor industry polices. At all India level, the ceiling level tractor will be more than double the number of tractors now, and it will be achieved only in late 2050s. This suggest that tractor uses will continue to grow in India even in the coming few decades, with a more widespread adoption across the states and regions of the country.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of plantation thinning on various wood properties of Pinus brutia Ten. Tree samples were obtained from heavily and moderately thinned and unthinned 33–35 year-old plantations. Wood properties were examined in various wood zones including 16 annual rings after the first treatment. The results of this study showed that there was a significant relationship between thinning intensity and radial increment (1.30 m) for an individual tree. Thinning treatments increased annual ring width especially a few years after thinning. Heavy thinning treatments were especially effective in impacting mean ring width values at breast height. However, the percentage of late wood did not differ much between the samples. Based on the results of correlation analysis between ring width and late wood percentage there was no significant correlation identified. Mean wood density was not affected by the treatments. Also, no significant correlation was found between thinning and examined strength properties (MOR, MOE and compression strength parallel to grain). However, a relationship was found between wood density and all strength properties except for MOE. The current results suggest that thinning can produce improvements in ring width without any negative impacts on investigated wood properties. It is recommended that subsequent studies should be designed to understand genetic effects and maximize treatment effects.


Studies have shown that CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein beta (C/EBP beta) can stimulate adipogenesis in noncommitted fibroblasts by activating expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma). Other investigations have established a role for C/EBP alpha as well as PPARgamma in orchestrating the complex program of adipogenic gene expression during terminal preadipocyte differentiation. Consequently, it is important to identify factors regulating transcription of the C/ebp alpha gene. In this study, we demonstrated that inhibition of PPARgamma activity by exposure of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes to a potent and selective PPARgamma antagonist inhibits adipogenesis but also blocks the activation of C/EBP alpha expression at the onset of differentiation. Ectopic expression of C/EBP beta in Swiss 3T3 mouse fibroblasts (Swiss-LAP cells) induces PPARgamma expression without any significant enhancement of C/EBP alpha expression. Treatment of Swiss-LAP cells with a PPARgamma agonist induces adipogenesis, which includes activation of C/EBP alpha expression. To further establish a role for PPARgamma in regulating C/EBP alpha expression, we expressed C/EBP beta in PPARgamma-deficient mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs). The data show that C/EBP beta is capable of inducing PPARgamma in Ppar gamma+/- MEFs, which leads to activation of adipogenesis, including C/EBP alpha expression following exposure to a PPARgamma ligand. In contrast, C/EBP beta is not able to induce C/EBP alpha expression or adipogenesis in Ppar gamma-/- MEFs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis reveals that C/EBP beta is bound to the minimal promoter of the C/ebp alpha gene in association with HDAC1 in unstimulated Swiss-LAP cells. Exposure of the cells to a PPARgamma ligand dislodges HDAC1 from the proximal promoter of the C/ebp alpha gene, which involves degradation of HDAC1 in the 26 S proteasome. These data suggest that C/EBP beta activates a single unified pathway of adipogenesis involving its stimulation of PPARgamma expression, which then activates C/EBP alpha expression by dislodging HDAC1 from the promoter for degradation in the proteasome.


Edited with an introduction and notes by James T. Boulton. 'One of the greatest essays ever written on art.'- The Guardian Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is one of the most important works of aesthetics ever published. Whilst many writers have taken up their pen to write of "the beautiful", Burke's subject here was the quality he uniquely distinguished as "the sublime"-an all-consuming force beyond beauty that compelled terror as much as rapture in all who beheld it. It was an analysis that would go on to inspire some of the leading thinkers of the age, including Immanuel Kant and Denis Diderot. The Routledge Classics edition presents the authoritative text of the first critical edition of Burke's essay ever published, including a substantial critical and historical commentary. Edmund Burke (1729-1797). A politician, philosopher and orator, Burke lived during a turbulent time in world history, which saw revolutions in America and France that inspired his most famous work, Reflections on the Revolution in France.


The term Learning Styles as become widely recognised over the past two decades, and its application is extensive throughout Scandinavia in both schools and the business sector. There are increasing calls to culturally validate, contextualize, review and critically examine this pedagogical theory. This article reports, examines and compares the two existing dissertations in Scandinavia on Dunn's Learning Styles model. As the two theses are very different in character and approach, the research-related designs are also analyzed in the light of the achieved results. This article is based on an exploratory analysis and is reanalytical; in other words, the results are based on past research and our own analytical contributions. The findings in this article have emerged in the encounter between past research and our understanding of Learning Styles theory and its practical application, after a couple of years' distance from our basic research. With the help of a linguistic and discursive perspective, the distinction between the common approaches, qualitatively and qualitatively, can be minimized and an integrative approach to Learning Styles theory can be identified. Against this background there is a discussion on challenges and opportunities to using the Learning Styles theory in Scandinavia for development and review as well as in a cultural context. The findings in this article are that Dunn's Learning Styles model can be used practically and methodically in our school culture in relation to the individualization our governing documents stipulate. The model can furthermore be modified to incorporate in its definition both theoretical knowledge and practical skills that are difficult and new. A continuous review of the model, however, demands a broad, single methodological perspective.