The objective of the study is to perform scientiometrics analysis of the published literature related to NIPAH Virus globally using the Web of Science database, for the period 1999-2018 and to compare the results with two earlier studies. The analysis was based on the quantification by the type of publications, year, citations, geographical productivity, keywords, most preferred journals, leading publications, mapping of authors, priority research areas and productive institutes. There were 1301 Nipah articles with 64% research articles, 38849 citations, country USA with more productive authors, 'Nipah virus' the commonly used keyword, 'Journal of Virology' as preferred journal, Wang LF as productive author of a research group, Infectious diseases as the priority research area and the most productive institute as Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia. The main findings of the two earlier studies agree with the current study. The recently reported outbreaks in Kerala and Siliguri would increase the research database and alert among the Indian researchers.


On behalf of AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association), I am pleased to submit these comments in response to the above-referenced request for comments. AMIA is the professional home for biomedical and health informatics and is dedicated to the development and application of informatics in support of patient care, public health, teaching, research, administration, and related policy. AMIA seeks to enhance health and healthcare delivery through the transformative use of information and communications technology.


Michigan's Proposal A fits within the broad school finance equalization movement. First implemented in 1995, 1 the reform stemmed from concerns about inequities in property tax burdens and expenditures and radically changed the financing of public schools. The primary source of funding shifted from local property taxes to state sales taxes and finance became highly centralized at the state level. A modified foundation system replaced district power equalization as the mechanism for distributing basic aid to school districts. Under the foundation system, spending per pupil was sharply increased in previously low spending districts and was essentially frozen for higher spending districts. This paper describes the nature of these changes, the shortterm results, and the tensions that are likely to foster future change. We also briefly touch on the school choice and accountability reforms that Michigan implemented at approximately the same time as school finance reform.


Case 1 70 year old man presented with acute myelo-monocytic leukemia diagnosed in June 2009. He demonstrated no response to standard 7+3, nor high dose AraC. He remains in remission from his acute leukemia 4 years from his diagnosis, as long has he remains on the dandelion root tea, which was started immediately after chemotherapy. If he takes less than three cups / day of the DRT, his peripheral blood monocytes start to rise. 1 Repeat testing demonstrates chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Case 2 Sixty year old female with acute myelomonoctyic leukemia possibly progressing from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. She underwent induction chemotherapy with 7+3. Her day 28 marrow showed no evidence of remission. She then underwent re-induction with high dose Ara-C at 3 gm/ m2 x 6 doses. She did receive neupogen support, and on day 28, her peripheral blood white blood count was 60 x 10 9 /L with monocytes of 3.0 x 10 9 /L and blasts 1.2 x 10 9 /L. Repeat bone marrow biopsy identified chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). She stopped the neupogen and started dandelion root tea, three cups per day. She is now 5 months from her initial diagnosis and remains in complete hematological response: WBC 4.2/ Hgb 127 / Platelet 182/ Neutophils 2.6 / Monocytes 0.8. Other Cases We have had other possible cases that may support the efficacy of this product in refractory hematological malignancies. In one case of CMML-2 a 76 year old man did receive azacytadine for the duration of his treatment, as well as DRT. He finally succumbed to his disease at 30 months after his diagnosis. We previously presented an elderly female that used only DRT to treat her CMML and experienced a hematological remission for 3 months prior to relapse. Her initial WBC was 130,000 x 10 9 /L. 3 Another case of acute myeloid leukemia, who, because of co-morbidities was not a candidate for more aggressive options, relapsed from her M2- acute myeloid leukemia in November 2010. She was treated with low dose AraC, and then dandelion root tea. Although she remained transfusion dependent, she only developed peripheral blasts when she was unable to find the DRT for one month. She continues on the DRT at 15 month from relapse of her acute leukemia. 3 We have a phase 1 clinical trial open at our centre investigating a novel formulation of dandelion root extract in refractory hematological malignancies. We plan to study the molecular pathways previously described in CMML including TET2 , CBL , NRAS, KRAS, JAK2 and RUNX1. http://www.ontario.canadiancancertrials.ca/trial/Default.aspx?dsEndecaNav=Ro%3A0%2CNs%3AP_TrialStatus_sort_en%7C101%7C-1%7C%2CNrc%3Aid-30-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-130-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-131-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-132-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-619-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-620-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-621-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-622-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-4294965875-dynrank-disabled%2CN%3A4294952782T 118: 4288 2. Kohlmann A, Grossmann V, et al. Next Generation Sequencing of Technology Reveals a Characteristic Pattern of Molecular Mutations in 72.8% of Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia by Detecting Frequent alterations in TET2, CBL, RAS, and RUNX1. JCO (28) 2009. 3. Ng W, Hamm C. Can Dandelions Cure? Schulich School of Medicine Research Day, 2009 Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Phosphorus cycling in the ocean is influenced by biological and geochemical processes that are reflected in the oxygen isotope signature of dissolved inorganic phosphate (Pi). Extending the Pi oxygen isotope record from the water column into the seabed is difficult due to low Pi concentrations and small amounts of marine porewaters available for analysis. We obtained porewater profiles of Pi oxygen isotopes using a refined protocol based on the original micro‐extraction designed by Colman (2002). This refined and customized method allows the conversion of ultra‐low quantities (0.5 – 1 µmol) of porewater Pi to silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) for routine analysis by mass spectrometry. A combination of magnesium hydroxide co‐precipitation with ion exchange resin treatment steps is used to remove dissolved organic matter, anions, and cations from the sample before precipitating Ag3PO4. Samples as low as 200 µg were analyzed in a continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometer setup. Tests with external and laboratory internal standards validated the preservation of the original phosphate oxygen isotope signature (δ18OP) during micro extraction. Porewater data on δ18OP has been obtained from two sediment cores of the Moroccan margin. The δ18OP values are in a range of +19.49 to +27.30‰. We apply a simple isotope mass balance model to disentangle processes contributing to benthic P cycling and find evidence for Pi regeneration outbalancing microbial demand in the upper sediment layers. This highlights the great potential of using δ18OP to study microbial processes in the subseafloor and at the sediment water interface.


Investigating teachers' beliefs about and self-reported practices in early literacy teaching." PhD has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Teaching and Learning at the May 2015 graduation. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my husband and my family for all of their love and support. iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the following: (a) What is the nature of Kindergarten and First grade teachers' beliefs and self-reported practices regarding early literacy learning and teaching?; (b) What is the relationship between Kindergarten and First grade teachers' beliefs and self-reported early literacy teaching practices?; and (c) How do teachers' educational backgrounds and professional development experiences explain the relationship between their beliefs and practices in early literacy learning and teaching? Three instruments were administered to the participants in this study. The Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (Deford, 1979), hereafter known as the TORP, was used to measure teachers' pedagogical beliefs about the teaching and learning of reading. The Preschool used to measure teachers' self-reported literacy instructional practices. A survey questionnaire I designed was used to obtain descriptive information about the participants in this study. Data were collected from forty-seven in-service Kindergarten and First grade teachers. The results of the TORP data from this study indicated that 6% of the participants represented the decoding perspective, 92% represented the skills perspective and 2% represented the wholistic perspective. Correlation scores from the PLPC regarding teachers' beliefs and practices show there was no significant correlation between teachers' beliefs and self-reported practices in the classroom. Additionally, the findings showed there is a relationship between teachers' educational backgrounds and the reading literacy practices teachers view as important or essential in the early grades such as understanding the meaning of words, recognizing basic sight words, understanding concepts of print, and identifying the elements of a story. iv PUBLIC ABSTRACT This study examines Kindergarten and First grade teachers' beliefs and practices regarding early literacy. Additionally, this study explores the relationship between Kindergarten and First grade teachers' beliefs, practices, and professional development experiences. The study's findings may be used by teachers, principals, teacher education faculty, and policymakers to facilitate a deeper understanding of the relationship between teachers' beliefs and their instructional practices in the classroom.


The economic concepts presented in FUNDAMENTAL OF MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS, 9e, show students how to use common sense to understand business and solve managerial problems without calculus. This innovative text helps students develop and sharpen their economic intuition--an invaluable skill that helps students, as future managers, decide which products to produce, costs to consider, and prices to charge, as well as the best hiring policy and the most effective style of organization. With its unique integrative approach, the text presents the firm as a cohesive, unified organization and demonstrates that important business decisions are interdisciplinary. A basic valuation model is constructed and used as the underlying economic model of the firm; each topic is then related to an element of the value maximization model--a process that shows how management integrates accounting, finance, marketing, personnel, and production functions. The text also provides an intuitive guide to marginal analysis and basic economic relations. Once students grasp the importance of marginal revenue and marginal costs, the process of economic optimization becomes intuitively obvious. In addition, a wide variety of examples and simple numerical problems vividly illustrate the application of managerial economics to a vast assortment of practical situations. By studying the material in FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS, 9e, those seeking to further their business careers learn how to more effectively collect, organize, and analyze information. They gain powerful tools that can help them become more successful--and satisfied--in their careers.


This manuscript develops a model that incorporates income shifting into investments by U.S. multinationals in their foreign subsidiaries. The model demonstrates that, while there is always an incentive to shift income into the U.S. from high foreign tax rate subsidiaries, income shifting out of the U.S. to low tax rate countries occurs only when the required rate of return on foreign investments is low (repatriations are unlikely), i.e., it is not always optimal to shift to low-tax-rate countries. It also shows that the optimal amount of shifting relates to the interplay of costs and the tax rate differential. We apply the model to examine a setting where cross-sectional costs of income shifting likely vary based on the extent to which a firm is engaged in electronic commerce. Electronic commerce potentially alleviates costs by making it easier for firms to strategically locate sales among foreign jurisdictions, and to shift sales between domestic and foreign locations to benefit from the relative taxation of the two. Consistent with our theory, we find firms in industries with high levels of e-commerce have lower cash effective tax rates, and this effect is magnified for firms that are less likely to have taxable repatriations.


Background. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) in nontransplant patients. We evaluated the association between Lp-PLA2, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) assessed by 3D intravascular ultrasound, and incidence of cardiac adverse events in heart transplant recipients. Materials and Methods. Fasting blood samples were obtained and stored from a cross-section of 112 cardiac transplant recipients attending the Mayo cardiac transplant clinic in 2000 to 2001, mean of 4.7 years after transplant. Lp-PLA2 was measured in plasma aliquots using an enzyme-linked immunoassay. Fifty-six of these patients subsequently underwent two 3D intravascular ultrasound studies in 2004 to 2006 12 months apart. Cardiovascular (CV) events included percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤45% secondary to CAV and CV death. Results. High Lp-PLA2 level was associated with increase in plaque volume (r=0.43, P=0.0026) and percent plaque volume (r=0.45, P=0.0004). The association remained significant after adjusting for clinical and lipid variables. During follow-up of 5.1±1.6 years, 24 CV adverse events occurred in 15 of 112 (13%) heart transplant patients. Lp-PLA2 level>236 ng/mL (higher tertile) identified a subgroup of patients having a 2.4-fold increase of relative risk for combined endpoint of CV events (percutaneous coronary intervention, CABG, LVEF<45%, and CV death; 95% CI 1.16–5.19, P=0.012) compared with patients with Lp-PLA2≤236 ng/mL. Conclusions. Lp-PLA2 is independently associated with progression of CAV and predicts a higher incidence of CV events and CV death in transplant patients. This finding supports the concept that systemic inflammation is an important mediator of CAV. Lp-PLA2 may be a useful marker for risk of CAV and a therapeutic target in posttransplant patients.


We present a new hybrid algorithm for local search in distributed combinatorial optimization. This method is a mix between classical local search methods in which nodes take decisions based only on local information, and full inference methods that guarantee completeness. In general, classical inference methods are time and space exponential in a parameter of the graph called the induced width, thus they may be infeasible for dense problems. On the other hand, local search methods suffer from the fact that the nodes take myopic decisions based only on local information available to them, and thus can easily get stuck in local optima. Their advantage is that they require linear memory, and in many cases provide good solutions with a small amount of effort. We propose a hybrid method that combines the advantages of both these approaches. This method is a utility propagation algorithm controlled by a parameter maxDim which specifies the maximal allowable amount of inference. The maximal space requirements are exponential in this parameter. In the dense parts of the problem, where the required amount of inference exceeds this limit, the algorithm executes a local search procedure guided by as much inference as allowed by maxDim. This hybrid can be seen as a large neighborhood search, where exponential neighborhoods are rigorously determined according to problem structure, and polynomial efforts are spent for their complete exploration at each local search step. The algorithm explores independent parts of the problem simultaneously and asynchronously, and then combines the results, all in a distributed fashion. We show the efficiency of this approach with experimental results from the distributed meeting scheduling domain.


Before internet was invented, there were invented numerous networks that helped American businesses in multiple savings. First of, they didn't spend money on buying printers or scanners for the computers they possessed, meaning that the money spent before on buying hundreds of them, now was saved and used to buy a few of printers and scanners. How was this done? This worked by binding the entire computers of a floor to a single network. Second, the factor mostly taken into account is the energy saving and various abuses. Imagine the enormous amount of electricity that hundreds of printers and scanners would spend  and how much energy tens of them would spend, moreover  just think about how much these devices would be used in offices, where nobody is looking, for personal interests. American business, as the most creative one and the strongest was bothered by only one thing . This was the misuse of secret corporation information. These abuses occurred when the data had to be printed and transferred to corporate subsidiaries around the world. During the transfer the data could also be lost or damaged (intentionally or unintentionally) and then the corporation would suffer losses (the data were transferred via floppy discs, or they were printed in hard copies). The solution for these problems came from the US military that had invented the internet earlier and after having consumed it for its own needs, decided to put it up for American businesses. The internet has developed its own services such as : www, ftp, e-mail, and buying and selling though internet (e-commerce). Nowadays, information exchanges with corporate branches are not made roughly, but electronically in real time. Additionally, this made it possible for a new category of web designers to be created and they created a powerful web-site through which some businesses created virtual shops and they started earning more money than they used to, in their physical stores. This American development started penetrating in other countries as well. In Kosovo and Albania the situation has not changed in terms of doing business through internet. An important reason might be that Kosovo is not admitted to third party service for payments paypal.com, as well as in the world's largest virtual store Amazon.Inc. But the first steps have already been taken.


Knowledge is a primary strategic asset impacting on business growth. It significantly affects the accumulation of other strategic resources. It is in turn influenced by learning processes generated by the fulfilment of management routines aimed to exploit and coordinate different assets. Assessing knowledge is critical to support policy makers in balancing trade-offs related to different alternatives in business growth management. Several approaches have been suggested by the business literature and practice to assess knowledge; also the System dynamics method has been applied to this issue. This paper tries to contribute to the research debate in this domain by focusing the concept of Intellectual Capital (IC) and exploring cause-and-effect relationships underlying its dynamics and business growth. Such relationships are embodied in an Interactive Learning Environment (ILE) that has been tailored to the context of service firms, where knowledge plays a crucial role for the firm success and continuity. In particular, the generic structure of the ILE has been applied to a telecom mobile service provider and to an insurance company. The first context has offered the basis for the application of the ILE into an educational setting, while the second one provided the arena where a business application was developed. Main key-issues underlying model development and the ILE application are discussed in the paper, and some significant outcomes from simulations are commented.


This paper examines the ways in which fiction and historical fact are combined in Michael Ondaatje's novel, Anil's Ghost (2000), which set against the backdrop of the civil war in Sri Lanka. Kokkola argues that the novel foregrounds the contested nature of truth by questioning its value in the context of such a complex conflict. Ondaatje undermines the possibility of truth existing independently of circumstance by dismissing forensic science's claim to be a neutral method of obtaining fact. Instead, the contingent nature of truthfulness is recognised and the only truth which is valued is that which leads to healing and reconciliation.


It is always hazardous to write about the future. To date (December 2015), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is in statu nascendi. Without knowing the definite content of the EU-US investment agreement, my paper speculates about the future of TTIP and its impact on public land policies. These policies commonly comprise the creation and definition of property rights, of expropriation as a legitimate regulatory purpose and consequence of bona fide regulation, property valuation, and land use planning instruments. According to the road map of the European Commission, 2016 will be the year when TTIP sees the light of the day, supposed that the national parliaments of all Member States agree with the final text of the treaty (ratification procedure). The (secret) negotiations started in July 2013. In 2015, TTIP will dominate the controversial debate particularly in these two states. Former Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann and the German Minister of Economy and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, are prominent opponents of TTIP at the current stage of negotiation. The results are treated as a secret by the European Commission. Faymann and Gabriel criticize TTIP because of the supposed downsizing of environmental, health and food standards and the overemphasis of investor-to state-dispute-settlement beside the national courts. The German and Austrian debate is led by the domestic angst of investor-state dispute settlement and the establishment of "arbitral tribunals" beside the domestic legislation and cognizance.


IMPORTANCE
Concussion and subconcussive impacts have been associated with short-term disrupted cognitive performance in collegiate athletes, but there are limited data on their long-term neuroanatomic and cognitive consequences.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationships of concussion history and years of football experience with hippocampal volume and cognitive performance in collegiate football athletes.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Cross-sectional study conducted between June 2011 and August 2013 at a US psychiatric research institute specializing in neuroimaging among collegiate football players with a history of clinician-diagnosed concussion (n = 25), collegiate football players without a history of concussion (n = 25), and non-football-playing, age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls (n = 25).

EXPOSURES
History of clinician-diagnosed concussion and years of football experience.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
High-resolution anatomical magnetic resonance imaging was used to quantify brain volumes. Baseline scores on a computerized concussion-related cognitive battery were used for cognitive assessment in athletes.

RESULTS
Players with and without a history of concussion had smaller hippocampal volumes relative to healthy control participants (with concussion: t48 = 7.58; P < .001; mean difference, 1788 μL; 95% CI, 1317-2258 μL; without concussion: t48 = 4.35; P < .001, mean difference, 1027 μL; 95% CI, 556-1498 μL). Players with a history of concussion had smaller hippocampal volumes than players without concussion (t48 = 3.15; P < .001; mean difference, 761 μL; 95% CI, 280-1242 μL). In both athlete groups, there was a statistically significant inverse relationship between left hippocampal volume and number of years of football played (t46 = -3.62; P < .001; coefficient = -43.54; 95% CI, -67.66 to -19.41). Behavioral testing demonstrated no differences between athletes with and without a concussion history on 5 cognitive measures but did show an inverse correlation between years of playing football and reaction time (ρ42 = -0.43; 95% CI, -0.46 to -0.40; P = .005).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Among a group of collegiate football athletes, there was a significant inverse relationship of concussion and years of football played with hippocampal volume. Years of football experience also correlated with slower reaction time. Further research is needed to determine the temporal relationships of these findings.


SUMMARY: Spontaneous ICH is a devastating condition and is associated with significant mortality in the acute phase due to ongoing hemorrhage and hematoma expansion. A growing body of evidence suggests that there may be considerable utility in performing noninvasive vascular imaging during the acute-to-early phase of ICH. CTA has become widely available and is sensitive and specific for detecting vascular causes of secondary ICH such as aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, dural arteriovenous fistulas, intracranial dissections, and neoplasm. CT venography can also diagnose dural sinus thrombosis presenting as hemorrhagic infarction. Recent data from stroke populations demonstrate a relatively low risk to patients when contrast is administered in the absence of a known serum creatinine. Detection of acute contrast extravasation within the hematoma ("spot sign") with CT angiography is predictive of subsequent hematoma expansion and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Risk stratification based on acute CTA can inform and expedite decision-making regarding intensive care unit admission, blood pressure control, correction of coagulopathy, and neurosurgical consultation. Noninvasive vascular imaging should be considered as an important component of the initial diagnostic work-up for patients presenting with acute ICH.


Although removal of lead paint hazards from at-risk houses remains the primary means of preventing elevated blood lead among young children, reduction of risk through nutritional factors has also been of interest. In this study we evaluated the effect of nutrient intake on blood lead levels by analyzing whether the intakes of certain dietary components a) were associated with blood lead levels independent of lead exposure or b) modified the effect of lead exposure on blood lead. Subjects were 205 children from low-income families who were approximately 1 year of age and living in old, urban houses. The data collected for each child included blood lead level, nutritional status, and amount of lead exposure, which was assessed from samples of household dust. Multiple linear regression analyses showed a statistically significant positive association between lead exposure and blood lead. Statistically significant positive associations were found between blood lead and total fat as well as blood lead and saturated fat, independent of lead exposure and age of the child. Regression modeling and stratified analysis showed that mean blood lead increased with increasing lead exposure as well as with increasing caloric intake, suggesting that caloric intake modifies the association between lead exposure and blood lead. The findings from this study, if replicated in other studies, support a dietary intervention to reduce the amount of total calories, total fat, and saturated fat among children 1 year of age at risk for lead exposure, while maintaining adequate intake of these dietary components. Our results also reinforce recommendations that removal of lead paint hazards from at-risk houses should be the primary means of preventing lead exposure.


This text describes the causal connections between microstructure, service properties and areas of application of all important steel grades. The properties of any material are determined by its microstructure and the chemical composition of its micro constituents. Steel is a metallic material characterized by the great number of microstructure types which can be systematically produced by alloying with many other elements, by hot and cold forming, and by heat treatment with a wide range of time-temperature characteristics. The service properties can be economically matched according to the intended processing and application purposes. This text, the second of two-volumes is intended for all producers and users of steel. Its sets out basic principles for steel research and development aimed at creating steel grades that combine new service properties.


Purpose: Current published data on therapeutic leukapheresis in hyperleucocytic AML does not define the impact on survival from this procedure. Between 1992 and 1999 we saw 146 patients with newly-diagnosed AML (APL excluded) and an initial WBC count >50 × 109/L of whom 71 underwent leukapheresis at the discretion of their treating doctors. We compared outcome (early mortality, CR, and overall survival) rates in the patients who were and were not pheresed. After accounting for covariates relevant to these outcomes, including age, performance status, and cytogenetics, there was evidence (p=.006) that pheresis reduced 2-week mortality rate and a suggestion (p=.06) that this resulted in a higher CR rate. However there was no evidence that pheresis lengthened longer-term or overall survival; if anything the suggestion was the converse (p=.06). These data may reflect the fact that the patients chosen to have pheresis were prognostically unfavorable as defined by variables that were not captured in our data set, since the alternative explanation i.e. that pheresis per se shortens overall survival seems less likely. Whether the above justifies the use of pheresis in the absence of evidence from a randomized trial is doubtful, but it seems likely that any long-term benefit to be derived from this procedure must await further advances in anti-leukemia therapy.


This paper explores the impact of local government policies and urban plans on home-based workers. It presents recent national data on the size and composition of home-based work in developing countries as well as findings from two recent field studies of urban home-based workers in several Asian cities/countries. The research findings highlight that homes often double as workplaces, especially for women workers, and that slums are domains of significant economic activities. Reflecting these twin facts, as well as the demands of home-based workers, the paper makes the case that city governments and urban planners need to integrate home-based workers and their livelihood activities into local economic development plans. It also argues that city governments need to extend basic infrastructure to the homes-cum-workplaces of home-based workers, as well as transport services to the settlements where they live and work. The paper provides some promising examples of where and how this has been done, largely in response to effective advocacy by organizations of home-based workers.


Vision is dynamic. After their onset, visual stimuli undergo a complex cascade of processes before awareness is reached. Even after more than a century of research, the timing of these processes is still largely unknown. In particular, how the brain determines what visual features belong together and therefore have to be integrated remains an enigma. Previously, it was found that the processing of stimuli significantly outlasts its actual presentation. Such stimulus persistence is the basis for feature integration over time. Here, I show that – contrary to what is often assumed – simple visual features are integrated over a surprisingly long period of time before awareness is reached. Further, I show that this integration is mandatory and human observers have no access to the original simple visual features.


We present a twofold analysis in the domain of sex–related homicides. Police profilers often help in criminal investigation of high profile cases, but empirical evidence in the domain is incomplete. We therefore at first apply a structural learning approach and secondly, try explicitly to predict the age of an unknown offender from information obtained from the crime scene. We apply graphical modelling to obtain a factorisation of the probability function which governs the domain. This factorisation allows us to infer dependencies and independencies between the variables and therefore describes the domain. We apply several structure learning algorithms for Bayesian Networks and combine them to a final graphical model. In the second part, we compare several prediction techniques concerning their error rate in predicting the offender's age. The graphical model broadly presents a distinction between an offender and a situation driven crime. A situation driven crime may be characterised by an offender lacking preparation and typically attacking a known victim in familiar surroundings. The offender tends to apply blunt force to gain control over the victim and does not show a high level of forensic awareness. In contrast offender driven crimes may be identified by the high level of forensic awareness demonstrated by the offender and the sophisticated measures applied to control the victim. Furthermore the graphical model indicates that these offenders are more likely to attack an unknown victim in unfamiliar surroundings and prepare their attack. Applying several prediction techniques to the date results in a significant decrease in the root mean square error, if compared with a simple baseline model. However the actual performance of the best model, namely the lasso, is still not applicable in criminal investigation, as it its average error of 8 years is too high.


Meaningful information sharing between the sensors of a wireless sensor network (WSN) necessitates node localization, especially if the information to be shared is the location itself, such as in warehousing and information logistics. Trilateration and multilateration positioning methods can be employed in two-dimensional and three-dimensional space respectively. These methods use distance measurements and analyt- ically estimate the target location; they suffer from decreased accuracy and computational complexity especially in the three-dimensional case. Iterative optimization methods, such as gradient descent (GD), offer an attractive alternative and enable moving target tracking as well. This chapter focuses on positioning in three dimensions using time-of-arrival (TOA) distance measurements between the target and a number of anchor nodes. For centralized localization, a GD-based algorithm is presented for local- ization of moving sensors in a WSN. Our proposed algorithm is based on systematically replacing anchor nodes to avoid local minima positions which result from the moving target deviating from the convex hull of the anchors. We also propose a GD-based distributed algorithm to localize a fixed target by allowing gossip between anchor nodes. Promising results are obtained in the presence of noise and link failures compared to centralized localization. Convergence factor issues are discussed, and future work is outlined.


Alfalfa (Medicago sp.) is the most important perennial forage crop in the USA. The cultivars currently grown commercially are based on a limited and intermixed set of germplasm. Our objective was to survey the genetic variation in leaf and stem quality in the crop by analyzing the core collection of the U.S. alfalfa plant introductions. The 200 plant introductions of the core were planted at Rosemount, MN, in 1991 and 190 entries were sampled at flowering in 1992. Sixty-one entries were re-sampled in 1993. Leaf and stem tissues were analyzed separately for crude protein, neutral and acid detergent fiber (NDF and ADF, respectively), acid detergent lignin, in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD), and ficin degradable CP (FDCP). Additionally, stems were analyzed for cellulose concentration and enzymatic degradability, 24- and 96-h in vitro NDF digestibility (IVNDFD), and lignin composition. For all forage quality traits, significant variation was found among the plant introductions. Concentration of NDF varied widely for leaves among entries, but relatively little variation occurred in stem NDF. The opposite trend occurred for IVDMD which varied more in stem material than leaves. This result was attributed to the high degree of variation in stem IVNDFD among the plant introductions. Stem FDCP was among the more variable traits measured. Quality traits of four contemporary check cultivars included in the trial were never as high or low as the extremes observed among the plant introductions. Significant sampling year effects were observed for most quality traits, but year x entry interactions were minimal. Concentration of NDF and IVDMD had significant negative correlations between leaf and stem values. In general, if leaf or stem quality was high, then the quality of the other plant part was low although this correlation was not large. Significant variation in forage quality traits exists in the U.S. alfalfa germplasm collection that could be used to improve the quality of commercial cultivars.


The aim of this paper is to study the water quality indices and their classifications for irrigation use at many stations along the Euphrates River inside the Iraqi lands and to try to correlate the results with the satellite image analyses for the purpose of making a colored model for the Euphrates that can be used to predict the quality classifications of the river for irrigation use at any point along the river. The Bhargava method was used to calculate the water quality index for irrigation use at sixteen stations along the river from its entrance to the Iraqi land at Al-Qaim in Anbar governorate to its union with the Tigris River at Qurna in Basrah governorate. Coordinates of the sixteen stations of the Euphrates River were projected at the mosaic of Iraq satellite image which was taken from LANDSAT satellite for bands 1, 2 and 3. It was noticed that there was a strong negative correlation between the water quality index and the digital numbers at band 2 for the mosaic satellite image. A regression model was built between the water quality index at December, 2009 and the digital number at band 2 so as to build a colored model which was used to predict a water quality classification for irrigation use at any point along the river.


Refined Soybean Oil (RSBO) was freshly obtained before adding any additive from a local Vegetable Oil factory in Owo, Ondo- State, Nigeria. Ripped peels of banana and plantain were removed from their fruits, cut, sun dried, ground, sieved and separately extracted with methanol. The methanol extracts were dosed at varying concentrations (0.02%-0. 10%) into RSBO. RSBO containing 0.02% and 0.04% of citric acid (CA) were also set up for comparison. The stability effects of methanol extracts and citric acid of RSBO were evaluated by monitoring the Free Fatty Acid (FFA), Acid Value (AV) and Peroxide Value (PV) of the oil sample monthly for a period of six months. The results indicated that RSBO containing both extracts (0.02%-0. 10%) and citric acid were more oxidatively stable than RSBO that contained no additive. Oil samples containing 0.08%-0. 10% banana peel extract, 0.08% plantain peel extract and citric acid (0.02%-0.10%) were more hydrolytically stable than oil sample that contained no additive. Plantain peel extract in RSBO competed more favourably with citric acid than banana peel extract in terms of oxidative stability of RSBO. The plantain peel extract had higher antioxidative activity than banana peel extract against oxidative deterioration of RSBO. Both extracts had optimal performance against oxidative rancidity of RSBO at 0.06% concentration.


British artist Edmund Clark is Ikon's artist-in-residence (2014–2018) at Europe's only entirely therapeutic prison, HMP Grendon, in Buckinghamshire. This exhibition is the culmination of his residency, comprising photography, video and installation.

Established in 1962, HMP Grendon requires inmates to accept responsibility for their offence. Within the prison environment they can exercise a degree of control over the day-to-day running of their lives, making a commitment to intensive group therapy and democratic decision-making, whilst holding each other to account. Evidence shows that Grendon has delivered lower levels of violence in prison and reduced instances of reoffence after release.

Clark, an artist with a longstanding interest in incarceration and its effects, has worked with inmates, prison officers and therapeutic staff, immersed himself in the prison routines and taken part in wing community meetings, a key element of life at Grendon.

Clark's work is shaped by his engagement with issues of censorship, security and control. He cannot make images that reveal the identity of the prisoners or details of the security infrastructure and so his response has been to create work that explores ideas of visibility, representation, trauma and self-image. These themes influence how prisoners and the criminal justice system are perceived by the public, politicians and media and are above all central to the experience of the men and staff engaged in the therapeutic process at Grendon.

Presented in partnership with HMP Grendon and the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.


The paper presents a methodology for real-time structural health monitoring and geophysical applications. The key elements of the system are a high performance MIMO RADAR sensor, an optical camera and a dedicated set of software algorithms encompassing interferometry, tomography and photogrammetry. The MIMO Radar sensor proposed in this work, provides an extremely high sensitivity to displacements making the system able to react to tiny deformations (up to tens of microns) with a time scale which spans from milliseconds to hours. The MIMO feature of the system makes the system capable of providing a set of two-dimensional images of the observed scene, each mapped on the azimuth-range directions with noticeably resolution in both the dimensions and with an outstanding repetition rate. The back-scattered energy, which is distributed in the 3D space, is projected on a 2D plane, where each pixel has as coordinates the Line-Of-Sight distance and the crossrange azimuthal angle. At the same time, the high performing processing unit allows to sense the observed scene with remarkable refresh periods (up to milliseconds), thus opening the way for combined static and dynamic structural health monitoring. Thanks to the smart TX/RX antenna array layout, the MIMO data can be processed through a tomographic approach to reconstruct the threedimensional map of the observed scene. This 3D point cloud is then accurately mapped on a 2D digital optical image through photogrammetric techniques, allowing for easy and straightforward interpretations of the measurements. Once the three-dimensional image is reconstructed, a 'repeat-pass' interferometric approach is exploited to provide the user of the system with high frequency threedimensional motion/vibration estimation of each point of the reconstructed image. At this stage, the methodology leverages consolidated atmospheric correction algorithms to provide reliable displacement and vibration measurements. Keywords—Interferometry, MIMO RADAR, SAR, tomography.


Parallel simulation of systems offers the benefit of increased speed of execution, but requires the system model to be partitioned to enable numerical tasks to be performed concurrently. Hydraulic systems are characterised by a transport delay in the pipelines connecting physical components, which is due to the propagation of waves at the speed of sound through the fluid medium. The transmission delay allows component models to be decoupled for the current time step, enabling a parallel solution; the inputs to each component model are delayed outputs from connected models. This paper describes a simulation environment suitable for the simulation of hydraulic system performance, using the transmission line modelling approach for the pipelines, decoupling the component models in a hydraulic circuit simulation. Computationally efficient models for cavitation and friction are developed and evaluated. In addition, partitioning strategies for parallel operation are outlined, although these have yet to be implemented


South Africa has seen a recent increase in the number of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) maintained in reserves and parks and managed in free contact, where they may spend a significant amount of time in close proximity to humans. This study investigates how individual elephants choose to initiate interactions with humans by examining whether interaction types and frequencies vary both between elephants and with regards to the category of human involved in the interaction. Observations were made on a herd of seven captive African elephants frequently exposed to elephant handlers (guides), volunteers (who carry out general observations for the park's research unit), and tourists. The elephants differed in the frequencies with which they initiated interactions with each category of human and in the types of behaviors they used to initiate interactions. However, all of the elephants interacted most frequently with guides. Certain individual elephants showed preferences in interacting with specific guides, indicating particular elephant-guide bonds. This study provides evidence for elephant-handler bonds as well as information on the extent of interactions between humans and African elephants managed in free contact.


are used in about 2 percent of total U.S. electricity generation and are expected to produce only 2.8 percent by 2020. The use of renewable energy and forecasts of its growth are low because the cost of renewable energy–fired electricity is greater than that of its main competitor, combined-cycle natural gas. Few analysts believe that this will change any time soon. Renewable energy sources are also capital intensive compared with combined-cycle natural gas. In deregulated electricity markets, investors lack any guarantee that capital costs will be recovered from customers. Accordingly, investors favor technologies that have higher marginal but lower capital costs, such as combined-cycle natural gas. Advocates of renewable energy argue that the demand for renewables would rise if conventionally generated electricity were priced to reflect its pollution costs. But a reasonable interpretation of the evidence suggests that the additional cost of further pollution reduction would exceed the additional health benefits. Even if current regulatory costs are insufficiently reflective of true environmental costs, "getting prices right" will not significantly affect consumer choices of fuel. For example, reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide by 75 percent below 1997 levels would increase electricity prices by only about 1 percent, too little to trigger a shift from coal or natural gas to renewable energy. Cracking down on greenhouse gas emissions to comply with the Kyoto Protocol would provide economic help for renewable energy technologies, but such initiatives would result in only a 7 percent market share for renewable energy and a 43 percent increase in electricity prices in return for benefits that are still very uncertain. Evaluating the Case for Renewable Energy Is Government Support Warranted?


A mathematical theory will be given about the phenomena, which occur if on a coastal area groynes are constructed. In former similar theories ( [1] , [2], [3] , [4], [5] ) the coast was schematised by one coastline. In the following theory it is presented by two lines, one line representing the beach and the other one the inshore. The theory is based upon the following assumptions- 1° the littoral drift along beach and inshore is linear dependent of the angle of wave incidence and therefore of the direction of the line of beach and inshore respectively; 2 the transport perpendicular to the coast depends on the steepness of the profile. If the distance between the line of the beach and the line of the inshore is less than a certain equilibrium distance, the profile is too steep and there is an offshore transport. In the opposite case there is an onshore transport. The relation between offshore transport and distance between the mentioned lines is linearised. Some results are shown in fig. 8, 9 and 13. It is found, dat the influence of a groyne system is threefold: they reflect short-period beach processes on the adjacent areas, they retard erosion and they give a lee-side scour. But the theory only gives one aspect: influence of diffraction and of currents is not yet taken into account.


Extracted from text ... S
Social identity
challenges facing leaders (Part II)
52 Management Today February 2006
"In order to utilise all talent and potential effectively, leaders have to South
Africanise through building an organisational culture of inclusivity where all
people feel they are heard, seen and respected and where all perceive similar
levels of opportunities to grow."
Prof Lize Booysen is professor of
leadership at the Unisa School of
Business Leadership. She delivered her
inaugural address recently and this
series of articles is taken from that
presentation.This is the second article in
the two part series.
In the first part of this ..


We combine experiments, large scale simulations and continuum models to study the emergence of coherent structures in a suspension of magnetically driven microrollers sedimented near a floor. Collective hydrodynamic effects are predominant in this system, leading to strong density-velocity coupling. We characterize a uniform suspension and show that density waves propagate freely in all directions in a dispersive fashion. When sharp density gradients are introduced in the suspension, we observe the formation of a shock. Unlike Burgers' shock-like structures observed in other active and driven confined hydrodynamic systems, the shock front in our system has a well-defined finite width and moves rapidly compared to the mean suspension velocity. We introduce a continuum model demonstrating that the finite width of the front is due to far-field nonlocal hydrodynamic interactions and governed by a geometric parameter: the average particle height above the floor.


Pluto orbits the Sun at a mean distance of 39.5 AU (astronomical units; 1 AU is the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun), with an orbital period of 248 Earth years. Its orbit is just eccentric enough to cross that of Neptune. They never collide thanks to a 2:3 mean-motion resonance: Pluto completes two orbits of the Sun for every three by Neptune. The Pluto system consists of Pluto and its large satellite Charon, plus four small satellites: Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Pluto and Charon are spherical bodies, with diameters of 2,377 and 1,212 km, respectively. They are tidally locked to one another such that each spins about its axis with the same 6.39-day period as their mutual orbit about their common barycenter. Pluto's surface is dominated by frozen volatiles nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. Their vapor pressure supports an atmosphere with multiple layers of photochemical hazes. Pluto's equator is marked by a belt of dark red maculae, where the photochemical haze has accumulated over time. Some regions are ancient and cratered, while others are geologically active via processes including sublimation and condensation, glaciation, and eruption of material from the subsurface. The surfaces of the satellites are dominated by water ice. Charon has dark red polar stains produced from chemistry fed by Pluto's escaping atmosphere.
 The existence of a planet beyond Neptune had been postulated by Percival Lowell and William Pickering in the early 20th century to account for supposed clustering in comet aphelia and perturbations of the orbit of Uranus. Both lines of evidence turned out to be spurious, but they motivated a series of searches that culminated in Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto in 1930 at the observatory Lowell had founded in Arizona. Over subsequent decades, basic facts about Pluto were hard-won through application of technological advances in astronomical instrumentation. During the progression from photographic plates through photoelectric photometers to digital array detectors, space-based telescopes, and ultimately, direct exploration by robotic spacecraft, each revealed more about Pluto. A key breakthrough came in 1978 with the discovery of Charon by Christy and Harrington. Charon's orbit revealed the mass of the system. Observations of stellar occultations constrained the sizes of Pluto and Charon and enabled the detection of Pluto's atmosphere in 1988. Spectroscopic instruments revealed Pluto's volatile ices. In a series of mutual events from 1985 through 1990, Pluto and Charon alternated in passing in front of the other as seen from Earth. Observations of these events provided additional constraints on their sizes and albedo patterns and revealed their distinct compositions. The Hubble Space Telescope's vantage above Earth's atmosphere enabled further mapping of Pluto's albedo patterns and the discovery of the small satellites. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew through the system in 2015. Its instruments mapped the diversity and compositions of geological features on Pluto and Charon and provided detailed information on Pluto's atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.


A series of imidazo[1,2-a] pyrazine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for antioxidant activity based on the recently reported active colenterazine derivatives. The substitutions have been introduced at C2 C3, C8 positions of imidazo [1,2-a] pyrazine framework. All the compounds were screened for their in vitro antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal, activities. Compounds 4c, 4f, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f, 5h and 6b, displayed promising free radical scavenging activity and were found to be effective antioxidant when compared with standard ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Subsequently the effect of C2 C3, C8 substituents on the antioxidant activity has been investigated. The SAR reveals that amination at C8 position improves the activity. The above new chemical entities are screened for cytotoxicity on HeLa and MCF7 cancer cell lines. But they have not exhibited any cancer activity against cervical and breast cancer cell lines on human cancer cell lines at 10 μg/mL concentration. The series of compounds were also evaluated for their antimicrobial activity. Compounds 4f, 4a, 5g, 6b, and 6c display pronounced antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus at 100 μg/mL concentration. Compounds 5h, 6b, 4f, 6c showed excellent zone of inhibition against both fungi Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger at 50 μg/mL compared to the reference drugs. Compound 5h was found to be a good antioxidant as well as good antifungal agent. The low cytotoxicity of the title compounds can stand as good antioxidant and antimicrobial agents.


In a world of globalization, the marketing of places has grown in importance as countries, regions and individual destinations such as cities compete with one another to attract investment and visitors. With Romania becoming a European Union country since 2007, marketing itself as a country with identity and personality is of crucial importance when considering competition. In order to compete effectively, it is essential to identify the critical success factors and ensure these are incorporated into one's strategic planning. Place and destination marketing indicate that image and identity play an important role in differentiating between similar alternatives. This paper is focussing on action undertaken so far by both Romania and Bucharest, presenting experts opinion and comments on results, assessing the stage and situation as it is at present.


This report is intended as a quick introduction to the OpenCL framework and the aim is to facilitate a smooth transfer into the use OpenCL C for developers with previous GPGPU experience. The purpose of OpenCL is to allow for developers to use all compute resources available on a heterogeneous hardware platform. As well as being an introduction to OpenCL, the report also presents an overview of AMD GPU hardware, covering both the VLIW5/4 architectures and the upcoming Graphics-CoreNext architecture which is to form the basis of AMDs future generation GPUs that are to be as capable at compute as they are at graphics. To conclude the presentation of OpenCL as a language for compute, a matrix-matrix multiplication example is devised and optimized for the VLIW4, Tesla and Fermi architectures. The performance is measured as a function of both matrix and work-group size and results are discussed. Where applicable, the equivalent CUDA implementation is tested for comparison. GPUlab DTU Informatics 16th March 2012


This study investigated the accessibility and use of Internet services in Nigerian private university system. The survey method was used for the study and data were collected with questionnaire from 240 respondents. Data were analyzed using frequency count and percentage. the findings are that: majority of the staff and students do not have access to the Internet as a result of ineffectiveness of the institution's Internet facility; cybercafes and personal laptops are their main Internet access points; Internet use is motivated by lack of materials in the library and the convenience of Internet use; staff and students use the Internet to gather materials to supplement course work, assignments, online examinations and distant education. The study recommended that: the library and the ICT laboratory should be provided with high speed Internet facilities, followed by networking of staff offices and lecture halls; contingency plan, security measures and user training should be put in place.


Real time network monitoring for intrusions is offered by various host and network based intrusion detection systems. These systems largely use signature or pattern matching techniques at the core and thus are ineffective in detecting unknown anomalous activities. In this paper, we apply signal processing techniques in intrusion detection systems, and develop and implement a framework, called Waveman, for real time wavelet-based analysis of network traffic anomalies. Then, we use two metrics, namely percentage deviation and entropy, to evaluate the performance of various wavelet functions on detecting different types of anomalies like denial of service (DoS) attacks and portscans. Our evaluation results show that Coiflet and Paul wavelets perform better than other wavelets in detecting most anomalies considered in this work


To cope with the increasing complexities of environmental challenges, innovative models of governance that are capable of greater fl exibility, speed and adaptability have emerged. Following international trends, new collaborative partnerships varying greatly in form and purpose have developed over the last 15 years. The Western Cape Province, world renowned for the Cape Floristic Region and one of the world's 25 most threatened biodiversity hotspots, has also experienced a proliferation of 'collaboratives'. In an effort to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of building social capital and institutional capacity in these types of governance settings, this article focuses on the evolution of one of the more successful of these new forms – the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve – from an organisational learning perspective before refl ecting on the question of whether the concepts of social capital and organisational learning are useful to explain its apparent success. Although the fi ndings are inconclusive, a suffi cient number of pointers have emerged from the exploration of the case study to warrant further research on the role of social learning and social capital as explanations of why particular collaboratives seem to be more successful in achieving desirable outcomes than others.


Metaphors are devices that people employ for both poetic purposes and rhetorical elaboration and belong to the realm of extraordinary language. Metaphors are used to connect abstract ideas and information to more concrete experiences, thus making these experiences more familiar and easier to understand. Moreover, metaphors are more than symbolic intellectual processes; they influence the conceptual understanding of our experiences and help define our everyday realities. For education, there is an important and relevant practical connection between the metaphors that teachers employ and their beliefs about teaching and classroom practices. This stems from the notion that metaphors guide one's mental framework. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the metaphors influencing teachers in gifted education, this study specifically asked teachers to describe both their metaphors concerning gifted students as well as those influencing their teaching. In this study, nine different themes were identified. This research demonstrates a clear connection between reported metaphors and how gifted students receive their education from teachers. Participants' answers demonstrate a strong connection between their metaphors and their classroom practices. However, strict adherence to one's root metaphor increases the chance for dogmatism in the classroom and can lead to potentially incoherent classroom differentiation and a potential disconnect between classroom practices and the actual pedagogical needs of the gifted learner.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine, through the lens of the buying center concept, a theorized link between organizational buying behavior (OBB) and a national culture of collectivism, large power distance, particularism and a wasta practice.

Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology was used to gain better understanding of OBB in an under-researched business environment of the Arabian Gulf. The data come from 41 organizational practitioners who reported on the industrial buying processes in their organizations with reference to the buying center framework.

Findings
The study developed a model of the buying center for the emerging markets governed by socio-political institutions.

Research limitations/implications
The data were obtained only from one culturally specific world region.

Practical implications
To attain efficacious results in culturally distant business environments, industrial marketers should complement home country experience with a thorough understanding of how national cultures affect the dynamics of OBB.

Originality/value
The study updates the conceptualization of the buying center's organizational actors (OAs) for business contexts beyond traditional, mature markets. It reveals the typology of decisional influencers, introduces and defines the role of advisers and clarifies the role of the gatekeeping bureaucracy and differing perceptions thereof by OAs.


PURPOSE
Elesclomol, an investigational first-in-class compound, induces oxidative stress, triggers mitochondrial-induced apoptosis in cancer cells, and shows synergy with taxanes in tumor models. Following completion of a phase II trial of elesclomol in combination with paclitaxel that met its primary end point of progression-free survival (PFS), this randomized, double-blind, controlled phase III study was conducted to confirm the efficacy and tolerability of elesclomol in combination with paclitaxel versus paclitaxel alone in patients with advanced melanoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with stage IV chemotherapy-naive melanoma (n = 651) were randomly assigned 1:1 to paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) either alone or in combination with elesclomol 213 mg/m(2) administered weekly for 3 weeks of a 4-week cycle. Patients were stratified by prior systemic treatment, M1 subclass, and baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. The primary end point was PFS.

RESULTS
The study did not achieve its PFS end point (hazard ratio, 0.89; P = .23). The study was stopped when an early overall survival data analysis indicated an imbalance in total deaths favoring paclitaxel, predominantly in patients with high LDH levels. A prospectively defined subgroup analysis revealed a statistically significant improvement in median PFS for the combination in patients with normal baseline LDH.

CONCLUSION
The addition of elesclomol to paclitaxel did not significantly improve PFS in unselected patients with advanced melanoma. The association between baseline LDH and clinical outcomes suggests that LDH may be a predictive factor for treatment with this combination, consistent with recent findings on the association between elesclomol anticancer activity and cellular metabolic state.


The significant amount of energy stored in a large high-field superconducting magnet can be sufficient to destroy the coil in the event of an unprotected quench. For magnets based on high-temperature superconductors (HTSs), such as Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox (Bi2212) and YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO), quench protection is particularly challenging due to slow normal zone propagation. A previous computational study showed that the quench behavior of HTS magnets is significantly improved if the turn-to-turn electrical insulation is thermally conducting, enhancing 3-D normal zone propagation. Here, a new doped-titania electrical insulation with high thermal conductivity is evaluated. The thermal conductivity of the insulation is measured at cryogenic temperatures, and its chemical compatibility with Bi2212 round wires is determined. Thin layers of the insulation are deposited onto the surface of Bi2212 and YBCO wires, which are then wound into small coils to study the quench behavior. Results show that the critical current and homogeneity of Bi2212 coils are improved relative to coils reacted with mullite insulation. Relative to similar coils with conventional insulation (mullite for Bi2212 and Kapton for YBCO), the turn-to-turn quench propagation is increased by a factor of 2.8 in Bi2212 coils at 4.2 K and self-field and by a factor of 2.5 in YBCO coils at 4.2 K and 5 T. These results indicate that doped-titania insulation may significantly improve Bi2212 and YBCO coils. Increased normal zone propagation velocity enhances quench detection and quench protection, and the thinness of the insulation relative to the most common alternatives increases the magnet winding pack current density and reduces the coil specific heat.


On January 17, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm Incorporated based on a "monopoly broth" or course of conduct theory for alleged monopoly maintenance in certain narrowly defined baseband processor markets. The vote to file the complaint was 2-1 over the dissent of now-Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, who described it as "an enforcement action based on a flawed legal theory (including a standalone Section 5 count) that lacks economic and evidentiary support, that was brought on the eve of a new presidential administration, and that, by its mere issuance, will undermine U.S. intellectual property rights in Asia and worldwide."
In a jurisdiction on the other side of the globe, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) had issued an administrative decision against Qualcomm on December 28, 2016, concluding that the company employed an "unfair business model" with respect to the licensing of its 2G (CDMA), 3G (WCDMA), and 4G (LTE) standard-essential patents (SEPs) and the sale of its baseband processors, and imposed global portfolio-wide remedies and a fine of KRW 1.03 trillion (approx. US $853 million).
This article provides a legal and economic comparative analysis of the FTC's complaint and the KFTC's decision, highlighting the fundamental differences between the two and setting forth some of the main economic and legal problems with each. As an initial matter, it is important to bear in mind that the FTC's complaint is not a decision, but rather a set of allegations filed in court to initiate the court's resolution of the issues. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has stated that it will appeal the KFTC's administrative decision, and has requested a stay from the Seoul Central District Court.
With respect to the substantive allegations, there are some similarities in the two cases but the main theories of harm differ significantly. For example, the KFTC concluded that Qualcomm possesses dominance in 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies: "As SEPs cannot be replaced by other technologies, a SEP holder gains complete monopolistic power by holding even a single SEP," while the FTC limited its market power allegations to CDMA baseband processors and premium LTE baseband processors. Unlike the KFTC's decision, the FTC's complaint contains no allegation that Qualcomm engaged in unlawful tying or bundling by licensing on a portfolio bases, nor does the FTC allege that Qualcomm violated U.S. antitrust laws by allegedly requiring royalty-free cross-licenses.
To the extent that any other competition agency is relying upon the FTC's complaint to state a theory of harm with respect to SEP licensing practices, it would be well advised to read the complaint carefully. If a foreign agency is seeking FTC endorsement of any particular theory, it would be wise to reserve judgment until at least the appointment of new FTC Commissioners and, if the agency does not then withdraw the complaint, until the court has ruled on the FTC's ambiguous and highly controversial theories of harm.


Courage, Adventure, Steadfast Love From a little house set deep in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, across Indian territory and into the Dakotas, Laura's family moved westward right along the frontier. Their true-life saga, beloved by countless millions of TV viewers and readers of the bestselling Little House books, is one of spirit and devotion in the face of bitter-cold winters, wilderness trails, and heartbreaking personal tragedy. Here, for the first time, and drawing on her own unpublished memoirs is the endlessly fascinating full account of Laura's life -- from her earliest years through her enduring marriage to Almanzo Wilder, the "farmer boy" of her stories.


Model Predictive Control (MPC), the dominant advanced control approach in industry over the past twenty-five years, is presented comprehensively in this unique book. With a simple, unified approach, and with attention to real-time implementation, it covers predictive control theory including the stability, feasibility, and robustness of MPC controllers. The theory of explicit MPC, where the nonlinear optimal feedback controller can be calculated efficiently, is presented in the context of linear systems with linear constraints, switched linear systems, and, more generally, linear hybrid systems. Drawing upon years of practical experience and using numerous examples and illustrative applications, the authors discuss the techniques required to design predictive control laws, including algorithms for polyhedral manipulations, mathematical and multiparametric programming and how to validate the theoretical properties and to implement predictive control policies. The most important algorithms feature in an accompanying free online MATLAB toolbox, which allows easy access to sample solutions. Predictive Control for Linear and Hybrid Systems is an ideal reference for graduate, postgraduate and advanced control practitioners interested in theory and/or implementation aspects of predictive control.


Empirical evidence suggests that prices are sticky with respect to cost changes. Moreover, prices respond more rapidly to cost increases than to cost decreases. We develop a search theoretic model which is consistent with this evidence and allows for additional testable predictions. Our results are based on the assumption that buyers do not observe the sellers' costs, but know that cost changes are positively correlated across sellers. In equilibrium, a change in price is likely to induce consumer search, which explains sticky prices. Moreover, the signal conveyed by a price decrease is different from the signal conveyed by a price increase, which explains asymmetry in price adjustment.


Design: The study was a cross sectional study. Objective: The study was conducted to find out the reproductive health profile of ever married muslim women of reproductive age (18-45years) and to find out their health seeking behavior. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among ever-muslim married women of reproductive age group of urban slum area of Raichur. Data were collected by face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. Data was entered in a excel spreadsheet and analyzed by using SPSS software. Results: A total of 82 Muslim ever-married women were interviewed. Majority of the women were literate, 63(76.8%).Most of them 58 (70.7%) were house wives and majority 55 (67.1%) of women belonged to a nuclear family and 51 (62.2%) women had a per capita income per month of Rs. 200 to 1100.50(61.0%) of women had family size less than or equal to 5.44 (53.7%) were married at 16-19 years of age and 8 (9.8%) women married between 12-15 years of age which is below legal age of marriage. In this study, maximum total numbers of births were 3-4 and majority of women 34(41.5%) had a birth interval of 1 year and 19.5% women had no birth interval. Most of the women didn't use any spacing method till they completed family. Nearly 57(69.5%) of women reported having some kind of gynecological symptoms. Among all symptomatic women, 43.9% women did not seek care for their reproductive health problems as they considered their problems were not serious enough to seek care. Conclusion: Delaying marriage and delaying first pregnancy in adolescents will reduce the pregnancy and child bearing related complications and will help in improving their educational status and thereby improving scope for their empowerment. Reproductive health profile was worse among the women. Emphasis has to be laid on education on planning, spacing children, contraceptive options, safe abortions, RTI/STI. There is a preference for male child in the community. It is essential to promote a positive image of the girl child. Reproductive health profile and health seeking behavior among muslim women of urban slum of Raichur, Karnataka Anju Ade 1 , Revati S 2 , Arun Kulkarni 3 Original Article Department of Community Medicine, Navodaya Medical College, Raichur, Karnataka. 1Associate Professor. 2Assistant Professor. 3Professor www.ijrhs.com


In a recent manuscript (arXiv:1208.5046) Peter Sorensen claims that XENON100's upper limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections for WIMP masses below 10 GeV "may be understated by one order of magnitude or more". Having performed a similar, though more detailed analysis prior to the submission of our new result (arXiv:1207.5988), we do not confirm these findings. We point out the rationale for not considering the described effect in our final analysis and list several potential problems with his study.


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being employed in a rapidly increasing number of applications in mining, including the emerging area of mapping underground void spaces such as stopes, which are otherwise inaccessible to humans, automated ground vehicles and survey technologies. Void mapping can provide both visual rock surface and 3D structural information about stopes, supporting more effective planning of ongoing blast designs. Underground stope mapping by UAVs, however, involves overcoming a number of engineering challenges to allow flights beyond operator line-of-sight where there is no global positioning system (GPS), natural or artificial light, or existing communications infrastructure.
This paper describes the construction of a UAV sensor suite that uses sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) data to create a rough 3D model of the underground UAV operational environment in real time to provide operators with high situational awareness for beyond line-of-sight operations. The system also provides a backup when dust obscures visual sensors to provide situation awareness and a coarser, but still informative, 3D model of the underground space.
Typically, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems have superseded SONAR sensors for similar applications. LIDAR is much more accurate than SONAR, but has several disadvantages. SONAR sensor data is sparse, and therefore much easier to process in real time on-board the UAV than LIDAR. The SONAR sensor hardware is also lighter than current LIDAR systems, which is of importance regarding the constrained payload capacity of UAVs. However, the most important factor that makes SONAR stand out in this application is its ability to operate in dusty or smoke-filled environments.
The UAV system was tested both above and below-ground using a predefined path with check point locations for the UAV to follow. Due to the lack of GPS, survey points in combination with photogrammetry allowed the UAV's location to be estimated. This allowed the system to be tested to determine how accurate the SONAR data is in comparison with 3D modelling via photogrammetry of images from a separate digital single-lens reflex camera.
Comparing the shape of void surfaces determined by photogrammetry with that determined by SONAR provides quantifiable accuracy when the photogrammetry models are used as ground truth data. Aboveground and underground pilot studies have determined that SONAR sensors provide acceptable accuracy compared with modelling via photogrammetry, sufficient to provide effective situational awareness for human operation of the UAV beyond line-of-sight.


It has been held that the total solar deflection of light could only be derived correctly by Einstein's general theory of relativity. This paper provides a new classical derivation for the total gravitational deflection of light as a photon passes by the Sun. Newton, Cavendish, Einstein and others discussed or calculated how gravity may bend the paths of light. In particular, von Soldner published an incomplete classical derivation to predict a solar deflection that was half of the later observed value, since he assumed a light wave was deflected by a stationary Sun. Einstein's earliest derivation used his equivalence principle of a homogeneous gravity field and a constant dynamical acceleration, which predicted half of the observed solar deflection angle, because he was then unaware of all the first-order space-time contributions. Einstein's general relativity theory predicted the full solar deflection. Assuming the photon has a mass via Einstein's mass-energy equation, this classical derivation uses Newton's mechanical laws and his law of gravitation for the photon's and the Sun's hyperbolic paths about their mutual barycenter. Both the Sun and photon deflect each other about their barycenter with an infinite lever. This Newtonian derivation obtains the prediction of 1.75 against the celestial sphere for the full gravitational deflection of light relative to the Sun.


This doctoral thesis responds to the need for greater understanding of small businesses and their inherent unique problem-types. Integral to the investigation is the theme that for governments to effectively influence small business, a sound understanding of the factors they are seeking to influence is essential. Moreover, the study, in its recognition of the many shortcomings in management research and, in particular that the research methods and approaches adopted often fail to give adequate understanding of issues under study, attempts to develop an innovative and creative research approach. The aim thus being to produce, not only advances in small business management knowledge from the standpoints of government policy makers and `lq recipient small business, but also insights into future potential research method for the continued development of that knowledge. The origins of the methodology lay in the non-acceptance of traditional philosophical positions in epistemology and ontology, with a philosophical standpoint of internal realism underpinning the research. Internal realism presents the basis for the potential co-existence of qualitative and quantitative research strategy and underlines the crucial contributory role of research method in provision of ultimate factual status of the assertions of research findings. The concept of epistemological bootstrapping is thus used to develop a `lq partial research framework to foothold case study research, thereby avoiding limitations of objectivism and brute inductivism. The major insights and issues highlighted by the `lq bootstrap, guide the researcher around the participant case studies. A novel attempt at contextualist (linked multi-level and processual) analysis was attempted in the major in-depth case study, with two further cases playing a support role and contributing to a balanced emphasis of empirical research within the context of time constraints inherent within part-time research.


The beginning of the tracing indicates a DDD mode programming with both atrial and ventricular pacing which seem efficient at 60 bpm (with best visible atrial activity seen after the first beat), and during six beats. The 7th spike is an atrial one, not followed by a ventricular activity, neither paced nor spontaneous. The last three beats of the tracing now represent atrial spikes followed by spontaneous QRS complexes, suggesting the presence of an intrinsic ventricular activity. This behaviour is more suggestive of an AAI mode programming. One can note that the QRS morphology is a RBBB paced QRS suggesting a possible left ventricular origin for the ventricular lead. The course of the ventricular lead through a permeable foramen ovale was excluded by the post-operative chest X-ray. Finally this RBBB morphology may be explained by the position of the recording electrode on the chest during the surface-ECG. 1/ It is then impossible to confirm the presence of an intermittent ventricular pacing dysfunction as one would expect to see a ventricular spike not followed by a paced ventricular complex. 2/ The paced atrial activity is difficult to see on the tracing, and may be best visible after the first spike. This is often the case, and requires an amplification on the ECG recording to better visualize them. One can argue about the absence of efficient capture after the 6th atrial spike, but a spontaneous atrial activity seems visible before the spike, and may explain that the atria are now in an absolute refractory period. 3/ There is no dysfunction. The tracing is a normal recording of a switching mode from a DDD to an AAI mode. The SafeR algorithm has been designed to avoid any useless and deleterious ventricular pacing. The pacemaker is programmed to switch from an AAI to a DDD mode in case of : 2 consecutive blocked P waves; 3 blocked P waves out of 12 beats; 7 long PR intervals. This is a unique tracing of switching mode from a DDD programming to an AAI programming with normal AV conduction and spontaneous QRS complexes, which allows a single blocked P wave (the 7th complex). This switching occurs every hundred beat, or every morning at 8 AM. 4/ The absence of ventricular spike after an atrial spike, may be due to an inhibition on the ventricular lead. However, a protection system exists to avoid this inhibition. It is defined as the presence of a ventricular safety window which would then occur 100 mec after the atrial pacing spike. This is not the case here.


Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals For many IT organizations, todays greatest challenge is to drive more value, efficiency, and utilization from data centers. Virtualization is the best way to meet this challenge. Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals brings together the comprehensive knowledge Cisco professionals need to apply virtualization throughout their data center environments. Leading data center expert Gustavo A. A. Santana thoroughly explores all components of an end-to-end data center virtualization solution, including networking, storage, servers, operating systems, application optimization, and security. Rather than focusing on a single product or technology, he explores product capabilities as interoperable design tools that can be combined and integrated with other solutions, including VMware vSphere. With the authors guidance, youll learn how to define and implement highly-efficient architectures for new, expanded, or retrofit data center projects. By doing so, you can deliver agile application provisioning without purchasing unnecessary infrastructure, and establish a strong foundation for new cloud computing and IT-as-a-service initiatives. Throughout, Santana illuminates key theoretical concepts through realistic use cases, real-world designs, illustrative configuration examples, and verification outputs. Appendixes provide valuable reference information, including relevant Cisco data center products and CLI principles for IOS and NX-OS. With this approach, Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals will be an indispensable resource for anyone preparing for the CCNA Data Center, CCNP Data Center, or CCIE Data Center certification exams. Gustavo A. A. Santana, CCIENo. 8806, is a Cisco Technical Solutions Architect working in enterprise and service provider data center projects that require deep integration across technology areas such as networking, application optimization, storage, and servers. He has more than 15 years of data center experience, and has led and coordinated a team of specialized Cisco engineers in Brazil. He holds two CCIE certifications (Routing & Switching and Storage Networking), and is a VMware Certified Professional (VCP) and SNIA Certified Storage Networking Expert (SCSN-E). A frequent speaker at Cisco and data center industry events, he blogs on data center virtualization at gustavoaasantana.net. Learn how virtualization can transform and improve traditional data center network topologies Understand the key characteristics and value of each data center virtualization technology Walk through key decisions, and transform choices into architecture Smoothly migrate existing data centers toward greater virtualization Burst silos that have traditionally made data centers inefficient Master foundational technologies such as VLANs, VRF, and virtual contexts Use virtual PortChannel and FabricPath to overcome the limits of STP Optimize cabling and network management with fabric extender (FEX) virtualized chassis Extend Layer 2 domains to distant data center sites using MPLS and Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) Use VSANs to overcome Fibre Channel fabric challenges Improve SAN data protection, environment isolation, and scalability Consolidate I/O through Data Center Bridging and FCoE Use virtualization to radically simplify server environments Create server profiles that streamline bare metal server provisioning Transcend the rack through virtualized networking based on Nexus 1000V and VM-FEX Leverage opportunities to deploy virtual network services more efficiently Evolve data center virtualization toward full-fledged private clouds -Reviews - The variety of material that Gustavo covers in this work would appeal to anyone responsible for Data Centers today. His grasp of virtualization technologies and ability to relate it in both technical and non-technical terms makes for compelling reading. This is not your ordinary tech manual. Through use of relatable visual cues, Gustavo provides information that is easily recalled on the subject of virtualization, reaching across Subject Matter Expertise domains. Whether you consider yourself well-versed or a novice on the topic, working in large or small environments, this work will provide a clear understanding of the diverse subject of virtualization. -- Bill Dufresne, CCIE 4375, Distinguished Systems Engineer, Cisco (Americas) ..this book is an essential reference and will be valuable asset for potential candidates pursuing their Cisco Data Center certifications. I am confident that in reading this book, individuals will inevitably gain extensive knowledge and hands-on experience during their certification preparations. If youre looking for a truly comprehensive guide to virtualization, this is the one! -- Yusuf Bhaiji, Senior Manager, Expert Certifications (CCIE, CCDE, CCAr), [email protected] When one first looks at those classic Cisco Data Center blueprints, it is very common to become distracted with the overwhelming number of pieces and linkages. By creating a solid theoretical foundation and providing rich sets of companion examples to illustrate each concept, Gustavos book brings hope back to IT Professionals from different areas of expertise. Apparently complex topics are demystified and the insertion of products, mechanisms, protocols and technologies in the overall Data Center Architecture is clearly explained, thus enabling you to achieve robust designs and successful deployments. A must read... Definitely! -- Alexandre M. S. P. Moraes, Consulting Systems Engineer Author of Cisco Firewalls


From analysis of the primary sequence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein, we have identified three separable regions based on hydrophobicity and clustering of basic amino acids within the protein. Comparison with capsid proteins of related pesti- and flaviviruses suggested that HCV core has a unique central domain (domain 2). Previous findings have revealed that core protein can associate with lipid droplets which are intracellular storage sites for triacylglycerols and cholesterol esters. Confocal analysis of variant forms lacking regions of core indicated that most residues within the unique region are necessary for association of the protein with lipid droplets. A segment within domain 2 (from residues 125 to 144) also was required for stability of the protein and a polypeptide lacking these sequences was degraded apparently by the proteasome. In cells depleted of lipid droplets, core protein remained located in the cytoplasm. Moreover, cleavage of the protein at the maturation site and stability were not affected by inability to bind to lipid droplets.


Based on the well-known results of classical potential theory, viz. the limit and jump relations for layer integrals, a numerically viable and efficient multiscale method of approximating the disturbing potential from gravity anomalies is established on regular surfaces, i.e., on telluroids of ellipsoidal or even more structured geometric shape. The essential idea is to use scale dependent regularizations of the layer potentials occurring in the integral formulation of the linearized Molodensky problem to introduce scaling functions and wavelets on the telluroid.As an application of our multiscale approach some numerical examples are presented on an ellipsoidal telluroid.


We consider internet service providers? incentives to zero-rate, i.e. do not count towards data allowances, the consumption of certain services, in the absence of payments from content providers. In a general model with various types of network effects, service substitutes or complements, monopoly and duopoly, we show that ISPs adopt zero-rating and that it increases consumer surplus and total welfare if network effects are strong enough. Capacity investment increases (decreases) with network effects if services are complements (substitutes). Under competition, the decision to zero-rate depends the residual network effect, which includes the impacts of spillovers and brand differentiation.


Large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) by foreign interests is a major driver of agrarian change in the productive regions of Africa. Rural communities across Southwest Cameroon are experiencing a range of political conflicts resulting from LSLA, in which commercial interests are threatening local land-use practices and access to land. This paper shows that the struggle to maintain or redefine livelihoods generates tension between inward competition for and outward contestation of claims to land. In Nguti Subdivision, the scene of protests against a particular agribusiness company, there is continued debate over ideas about, interests in, and perceptions of land and tenure. The authors show how top-down land acquisition marginalises land users, leading to conflicts within communities and with the companies involved, and conclude that for an agro-project to succeed and avoid major conflicts, dominance by elite interests must give way to a more inclusive process.


Bok choy (Brassica chinensis L.) is a temperate vegetable grown in the cool highland areas of Malaysia. In June 2010, vegetable growing areas of the Cameron Highlands, located in Pahang State, Malaysia, were surveyed for the prevalence of anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum species. Diseased samples were randomly collected from 12 infested fields. Anthracnose incidence on bok choy varied from 8 to 36% in different nursery fields. Disease symptoms initially appeared as small water-soaked spots scattered on the leaf petioles of young plants. As these spots increased in size, they developed irregular round spots that turned to sunken grayish brown lesions surrounded by brownish borders. When the lesions were numerous, leaves collapsed. Pale buff to salmon conidial mass and acervuli were observed on well-developed lesions. The acervuli diameter varied in size from 198 to 486 μm, averaging 278.5 μm. Morphological and cultural characteristics of the fungus were examined on potato dextrose agar incubated for 7 days at 25 ± 2°C under constant fluorescent light. Vegetative mycelia were hyaline, septate, branched, and 2 to 7 μm in diameter. The color of the fungal colonies was grayish brown. Conidia were hyaline, aseptate, falcate, apices acute, and 21.8 to 28.5 × 2.6 to 3.4 mm. Setae were pale brown to dark brown, 75 to 155 μm long, base cylindrical, and tapering towards the acute tip. Appressoria were solitary or in dense groups, light to dark brown, entire edge to lobed, roundish to clavate, 6.5 to 14 × 5.8 to 8.6 μm, averaging 9.2 × 6.8 μm, and had a L/W ratio of 1.35. Based on the keys outlined by Mordue 1971 (2) and Sutton 1980 (3), the characteristics of this fungus corresponded to Colletotrichum capsici. Sequence analysis of the ITS-rDNA obtained from the Malaysian strain CCM3 (GenBank Accession No. JQ685746) using primers ITS5 and ITS4 (1) when aligned with deposited sequences from GenBank revealed 99 to 100% sequence identity with C. capsici strains (DQ286158, JQ685754, DQ286156, GQ936210, and GQ369594). A representative strain CCM3 was used for pathogenicity testing. Four non-infected detached leaves of 2-week-old B. chinensis were surface-sterilized and inoculated by placing 10 μl of conidial suspension (106 conidia ml-1) using either the wound/drop or non-wound/drop method, and distilled water was used as a control (1). Leaves were incubated at 25°C, 98% RH. The experiment was repeated twice. Five days after inoculation, typical anthracnose symptoms with acervuli formation appeared on the surface of tissues inoculated with the spore suspension, but not on the water controls. A fungus with the characteristics of C. capsici was recovered from the lesions on the inoculated leaves. Anthracnose caused by C. capsici has been reported on different vegetable crops, but not on bok choy (3). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C. capsici causing anthracnose on bok choy in Malaysia. References: (1) R. Ford et al. Aust. Plant Pathol. 33:559, 2004. (2) J. E. M. Mordue. CMI Description of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. Commonwealth Mycol. Inst., Kew, UK. 1971. (3) B. C. Sutton. The Genus Glomerella and its anamorph Colletotrichum. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, 1992. (4) P. P. Than et al. Plant Pathol. 57:562, 2008.


International students come from various backgrounds, academic ability, English fluency, and knowledge of American and academic culture. Through a series of student surveys and interviews with both students and international education professionals, this capstone attempts to meet the need that international students are expressing at Worcester State University (WSU). One way international educators can attempt to fill this gap is through building a First-Year Experience (FYE) program that is uniquely for international students. The FYE will start as a series of workshops called International Student & Scholar Workshop Series. The workshops will cover the areas students said they were lacking in support, which include finding on-campus jobs, applying for scholarships, getting social support, and having more resources to comfortably integrate into WSU's community. The second component of the FYE is the Student Social Hour hosted by the International Programs Office. The social hours are important because international students expressed difficulty meeting other international and American students. Social hour sessions will be geared towards helping students improve their English skills, inviting different clubs and organizations on campus to come mingle with international students, and other related activities. This part of the program is designed to help bridge the gap international students feel when trying to make American friends and find a niche in Worcester State's community. The foundation for a future First-Year Experience program will address the explicit needs of international students at WSU and utilize on-campus resources. FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE 2