The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad understanding of the concept and process of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI). It provides a useful starting point for people aiming to invest human, financial, and other resources in innovations that improve the world. While we build on the best available scholarship, our academic contribution is primarily one of synthesis and simplification. Academic and practitioner readers who are savvy either in innovation and entrepreneurship or in sustainability will find it most useful, as a bridge between these two fields.Our ideal readers might include:• An entrepreneur wanting to understand sustainability as a business opportunity• A financier aiming to invest in an SOI to diversify the portfolio• A corporate R&D group seeking to integrate sustainability into its innovation process• A corporate strategy or venture capital group considering strategic investments in SOI• A corporate sustainability group looking to support top-line growth through innovation• A public agency willing to craft regulations and policies to spur SOI• Graduate students considering entry into any of these rolesOur goal is to provide the basis for a common language and understanding of the intersection between sustainability, technology and innovation, business, and regulation.The paper is divided in four parts. The first two parts give the reader an overview of the territory and characteristics of SOI, and the process through which it happens. Having identified both the stakes and challenges associated with SOI, the third part makes the case for building Centers of Excellence dedicated to increasing the success rate of SOI. Finally, the fourth part reflects on what dimensions and questions might be considered to evaluate SOIs in their early stages in order to guide improvements or select among different SOI proposals. Ultimately, we propose a high-level decision framework that can be the starting point for further research and refinement.


Background: There are approximately 12 million statin users in the United Kingdom. Reports of statin intolerance occurs between 7 and 29% of users, manifesting as muscle ache, fatigue or more seriously, muscle breakdown leading to myopathy. Creatine phosphokinase (CK) levels are used as a biomarker of statin-induced muscle damage. Nonadherence or discontinuation of therapy is a common result of intolerance and can result in negative cardiovascular disease-related outcomes. Aim: This thesis attempts to identify trends in record-linked medical data in a Scottish Caucasian cohort (GoDARTS) that best represent statin intolerance in order to study associated genetic factors. Methods: Prescribing trends such as switching or discontinuation of statin therapy were examined, and thresholds created to select true cases of intolerance. Information on CK levels was gathered from medical records and appropriate test results were utilized. Genotypic data was gathered for the variants and genetic regions of interest using a variety of methods including chip-based genotyping followed by imputation, TAQMAN genotyping, and exome sequencing. Subsequently hypothesis-based association analyses were conducted, including linear and logistic regressions, followed by meta-analyses, regional GWAS followed by a regional meta –analysis. Results: The phenotypes of statin intolerance were validated both internally and externally. Previously reported missense variants in LILRB5 (Asp247Gly) and CKM (Glu83Gly) were replicated and shown to be associated with CK levels irrespective of statin usage in the GoDARTS cohort and the clinical trial setting (JUPITER). Further, the CKM variant was also associated with inducibility of CK at times of tissue injury. The Asp247 genotype in LILRB5 was associated with increased risk of statin intolerance, and was replicated in associations with non-compliance to statin therapy and the development of myalgia in the JUPITER trial. The association with myalgia showed a stratified effect based on therapy (statin or placebo), with those on placebo showing the genotype effect. Further, the variant was also associated with increased risk of statin-induced myositis, cases of which had been clinically adjudicated and exome sequenced for the PREDICTION-ADR consortium. Further exploration of the LILR gene region showed an association with variants in LILRB2 (His20Arg and Val235Met) which were in strong LD with each other but were not in linkage with the variant in LILRB5. Stratified analysis revealed that the risk for carriers of the LILRB2 variants was increased depending on the genotype carried at the LILRB5 variant. Conclusions: This study characterizes novel genetic factors associated with statin intolerance impacting adherence. The findings point to the immunomodulatory effects of statins. The results suggest that true statin-induced myalgia and non-specific myalgia are distinct, with a possible role for the immune system in their development. The findings encourage further investigation into the immune-physiology of statin-induced muscle damage and identifies genetically susceptible groups who are more likely to be statin intolerant.


Abstract. Combustion of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) contained in ambient aerosol matter was explored using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). To ease identification of the particles of interest and to avoid or at least reduce interaction with simultaneously sampled inorganic oxides and salts, the approach used in this work differed in two ways from commonly applied procedures. First, rather than using a mixture of particles of vastly different sizes, as in PM10 or PM2.5, aerosol matter was collected in a 5-stage impactor. Second, the water soluble fraction of the collected matter was removed prior to analysis. Diesel soot particles, which appeared in the well-known form of chain-type aggregates, constituted the major fraction of EC. In contrast, OC containing particles were observed in a variety of shapes, including a sizable amount of bioaerosol matter appearing mostly in the size range above about 1 µm. During heating in ambient air for 1h, diesel soot particles were found to be stable up to 470°C, but complete combustion occurred in a narrow temperature interval between about 480 and 510°C. After diesel soot combustion, minute quantities of "ash" were observed in the form of aggregated tiny particles with sizes less than 10 nm. These particles could be due to elemental or oxidic contaminants of diesel soot. Combustion of OC was observed over a wide range of temperatures, from well below 200°C to at least 500°C. Incompletely burnt bioaerosol matter was still found after heating to 600°C. The results imply that the EC fraction in aerosol matter can be overestimated significantly if the contribution of OC to a thermogram is not well separated.


Does posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) differ in its presentation in old age to that in middle or young adulthood? Is it rarer in old age, due to spontaneous recovery or other reasons? These and other questions have been increasingly investigated in recent years starting from a point of almost non-existent systematic research (Hiskey, Luckie, Davies, & Brewin, 2008a; Lapp, Agbokou, & Ferreri, 2011; Owens, Baker, Kasckow, Ciesla, & Mohamed, 2005). However, research on the aftermath of World War II in Europe has contributed to these investigations (e.g. Bramsen, van der Ploeg, & Boers, 2006; Glaesmer, Gunzelmann, Braehler, Forstmeier, & Maercker, 2010; Spitzer et al., 2008). In this update we will provide some recent findings concerning the epidemiology of PTSD in the elderly, discuss age- differential symptom patterns, and report on the relationship between PTSD and age-related morbidity. We will also illustrate why knowledge on PTSD is important in gerontological care.


In 1921 's Rijks Museum van Natuurlijke Historie received from Jhr. W. C. VAN HEURN a collection of landmollusca, collected by him at about 1600 m. altitude in the Malabar Mounts, West Java. Amongst 19 Cyclophorus rafflesi (Brod. & Sow.), 38 Cyclophorus perdix f. zollingeri (Mouss.) and 1 Dyakia rumphii (v. d. Busch) there was one Cyclohelix. Now the truth is that of this genus no representative has been hitherto recorded from Java. KOBELT (Cyclophoridae in: Tierreich, 1902, p. 144—146) mentions the following species in all: crocatus (Born) = turbo (Chemn.), denselineatus (Pfr.), foliaceus (Chemn.) and nicobaricus Pfr. all from the Nicobar Islands and leai (Tryon) from the Andaman Islands. Afterwards FULTON described C. kibleri from Nias Id. (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) Vol. 19, 1907, p. 156, pl. 10, fig. 4). One is inclined to ask how it comes about that MORCH (Journ. de Conch. Vol. 20, 1872, p. 316) and KOBELT (Nachr. Blatt, Vol. 31, 1899, p. 134 and Tierreich 1902, p. 144) consider C. turbo identical with C. crocatus as the two species do not agree in the least either in shape or in colour, while moreover the habitat of crocatus is altogether unknown (cfr. PFEIFFER in Mart.-Chemn. N. Syst. Conch. Cab. Band I, Abt. 191, 1849, pl. 19, fig. 4, 5 with BORN, Test. Mus. Vindob. 1780, pl. 12, fig. 11 and 12). Thus it is clear that crocatus must be dropped from the synonymy of Cyclohelix turbo. In the second place KOBELT (Tierreich 1902, p. 144) omits the record of C. turbo from Sumatra 1) by SOWERBY (Thes. Conch. Vol. I, 1843, p. 116, pl. 25, fig. 102, 103) afterwards quoted by PFEIFFER (I.c. p. 141)


Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is one of the main important problems being combated today. Laboratory tank experiments were conducted to evaluate the use of industry waste to adsorb and control the mobilization of metals from contaminated acid mine water. The main physical conditions such as pH and treatment performance are displayed. The solution of acid mine were sampled from the sites and their concentrations of heavy metals were determined. Three types of industrial waste were used as low-cost adsorbent materials in the treatment process which are Ladle Furnace Slag (LFS), Fly Ash (FA) and Biomass Ash (BA). The materials were described by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), FESEM images and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). A comparative study between the removal efficiencies of heavy metals were evaluated. The results showed that about 78 to 99% removal efficiencies of metals were achieved from FA tank, 88 to 99% for LFS tank and 86 to 99% for BA tank. Tank experiment displays huge range of pH changes from acidity to nearly neutral phases when adsorbent was in contact with AMD. Remediation of AMD by using FA showed pH changes from pH 2.12 to 7.09, pH 7.3 for LFS and pH 6.8 for BA within 50 days of operation. From the removal rate, it is found that FA, LFS and BA have different efficiencies of heavy metal removing. The removal of heavy metals by using FA are more efficient to remove Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni and Zn. Meanwhile, LFS sample displayed as an effective adsorbent for treat Pb and Cd in acid mine drainage. The industrial waste used in this study increased and neutralized the pH to control AMD and improve water quality.


In this paper a novel composite imprinted material based on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) coated magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotubes was successfully synthesized using erythromycin as the template and methacrylic acid as the functional monomer. The magnetic carbon nanotube molecularly imprinted polymers (mag-MWCNTs-MIPs) were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometery (VSM) in detail. The results showed that a magnetic imprinted layer was coated steadily on the surface of the multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Experiments of adsorption dynamics, static adsorption and selective recognition were conducted to evaluate the adsorption performance. The results showed that the mag-MWCNTs-MIPs displayed rapid dynamic adsorption toward erythromycin, which only needed 30 min to achieve adsorption equilibrium with a maximum adsorption capacity of 31.07 mg g−1. The mag-MWCNTs-MIPs were applied, coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), to quickly enrich and detect erythromycin from fish tissue samples with recoveries of 82.7–88.5%. The mag-MWCNTs-MIPs can not only be collected and separated quickly and easily by an external magnet, but also have outstanding mechanical properties and specific recognition toward erythromycin.


Urban management in any context has a different economic, social and political structure, which is in harmony with the existing models of organization. In spite of these differences, in order to reach a sustainable urban development, several different conferences should be referred to. In the "Brundtland Commission 1987" about urban sustainable development these definitions have been given: "preservation and promotion of the quality level of city life. This consists of ecology, culture, politics, economies, and social participation. However, this development should in no case weigh on and create any problems for the future generations". In all the definitions of urban management and urban sustainable development and in any political context citizens' participation in decision making and insistence on social justice are mentioned. The aim of this article is a descriptive, analytic, and comparative study of different models of popular participation in different developed countries. Each of these countries has different social and political structure. However they all have the same aim which is the citizens' empowerment. To reach the ideal urban management model it is necessary to have a clear image of the place and participation of citizens in order to create a socially, economically and politically sustainable developed society.


An EPRSC 'Partnerships for Public Engagement' scheme 2010. FEC 122,545.56/UoR 10K
everything and nothing is a performance and workshop which engages the public creatively with mathematical concepts: the Poincare conjecture, the shape of the universe, topology, and the nature of infinity are explored through an original, thought provoking piece of music theatre. Jorge Luis Borges' short story 'The Library of Babel' and the aviator Amelia Earhart's attempt to circumnavigate the globe combine to communicate to audience key mathematical concepts of Poincare's conjecture. The project builds on a 2008 EPSRC early development project (EP/G001650/1) and is led by an interdisciplinary team the19thstep consisting of composer Dorothy Ker, sculptor Kate Allen and mathematician Marcus du Sautoy. everything and nothing has been devised by Dorothy Ker and Kate Allen, is performed by percussionist Chris Brannick, mezzo soprano Lucy Stevens and sound designer Kelcey Swain. The UK tour targets arts-going audiences, from the Green Man Festival to the British Science Festival. Each performance is accompanied with a workshop led by Topologist Katie Steckles. Alongside the performances and workshops is a website, http://www.everythingandnothingproject.com/
The Public engagement evaluation and monitoring for the project are carried out by evaluator Bea Jefferson. The project is significant in its timely relation to contemporary mathematics and arts-science themes delivering an extensive programme of public engagement.


The effects of natural antioxidants from raspberry and black currant seeds and modified atmosphere packaging on muesli oxidative stability measured by monitoring volatile lipid oxidation products were evaluated. The effectiveness toward lipid oxidation was investigated during 10 months storage at ambient temperature. Both ethanolic ex- tracts as well as nitrogen atmosphere influenced lipid oxidation rate in muesli measured by volatile compounds content. The most abundant lipid derived volatile compounds was hexanal. After storage, its concentration changed from 802 µg/kg to 9.8 mg/kg in muesli stored in air atmosphere, whereas in muesli stored in nitrogen atmosphere with raspberry seed extract addition it raised to 3.1 mg/kg. Although, both natural antioxidants rich in phenolic compounds, were effective towards lipid oxidation, the strongest inhibiting effect had modified atmosphere packaging. The addition of ethanolic extracts did not for- tify its positive effect. Total concentration of volatile compounds in muesli after 10 months of storage was 19.6 mg/kg when stored in air and 13.7 and 11.8 mg/kg when stored with raspberry and black currant seeds extract addition respectively, while 9.8 mg/kg when stored in nitrogen atmosphere without antioxidants, and 9.7 and 9.9 mg/kg when stored with antioxidants mentioned above.


Hydrothermal fluids obtain organic compounds through diverse pathways. In submarine systems organic compounds are already dissolved in seawater that is heated and transformed into hydrothermal fluids through water-rock reactions. Microbes inhabiting hydrothermal systems produce metabolites that enter the fluids, and cells can be carried into the reaction zones by circulating fluids and pyrolyzed. Analogous sources of organic compounds can be anticipated in continental systems with the possible addition of novel plant- and soil-derived organic compounds from the surface. In addition, hydrothermal systems possess large potentials for abiotic organic synthesis that may add a novel suite of compounds. When sedimentary rocks are present, ancient biogenic organic matter can be mobilized or transformed by hot fluids. These transformations accompany the generation of petroleum, coal, and other fossil fuels, suggesting that expectations for hydrothermal transformations can be built on those that occur in sedimentary basins. Likewise, some types of ore deposition are accompanied by transformations of organic compounds, and metal-organic complexes may be involved in enhancing the transport of metals in ore-forming and other crustal fluids. With these thoughts in mind, this review starts with an inventory of the types of organic compounds found in hydrothermal systems and some ways that hydrothermal organic compounds are transformed.

Methane can be generated biotically and abiotically from organic or inorganic reactants, and since it lacks a carbon-carbon bond, some researchers would not consider it to be an organic compound. Nevertheless, more data exist for methane in hydrothermal fluids than for any organic compound that fits the definition. Methane has been quantified in continental and submarine hydrothermal fluids, fumarolic gases associated with hydrothermal systems, oil-field brines, deep fluids in sedimentary basins and igneous basement rocks, fluids associated with active serpentinization, and fluid inclusions in minerals from ore deposits, sedimentary basins, and deep crustal settings (recent examples include: …


Different polymeric ionic liquids/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PILs/PVP) fiber membranes were prepared by electrospinning from the corresponding polymeric blends. Supramolecular interpolymeric interactions between PILs and PVP seem to define not only the solution properties but also the final morphology and performance of the mat-fibers. The fine tuning of the counter anion and the length of the alkyl chain allows modulating both their hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties and their morphology. In this way, it was possible to obtain materials with potential applications in different fields as highlighted by the promising results obtained for oil–water separation or for the synthesis and stabilization of AuNPs.


The work described in this thesis concerns the mathematical description of the characteristic oscillatory electrical behaviour of certain neurosecretory cells found in the hypothalamus of the mammalian brain. This study concentrates on those cells which secrete the hormone oxytocin. A model first described by Hodgkin and Huxley is used as a starting point for the derivation of a description comprising a system of coupled non-linear partial differential equations. The equations have been based wherever possible on experimental data relevant to the system being studied. Where this has not been possible, alternative models based on data from other, related systems have been used. The thesis starts with a discussion of the physiology of the system under study and presents some background material. The second chapter discusses the process of mathematical modelling of neurones and presents some of the relevant work in the area. The model due to Hodgkin and Huxley is significant and is discussed in detail. The research methodology is then outlined. Experimental procedures for recording the electrical behaviour of nerve cells and methods of recording selected ionic currents are the subject of chapter three. Chapter four presents a discussion of oscillatory behaviour in nerve cells at a general level and outlines the features necessary for a nerve cell to exhibit oscillation. The next three chapters discuss the characteristics of the different ionic currents involved and describe the author's derivation of models of these currents. Chapter Five presents the author's model of the sodium current, Chapter Six, the potassium currents and Chapter Seven, the calcium current. The experimental work undertaken and the results obtained are then presented and discussed.During the course of this study a number of computer programs were written and tested by the author. The program listings appear in the appendix. The thesis is significant and contributes to the body of knowledge in that no other mathematical model of the unique bursting behaviour of oxytocin-secreting cells exists as far as the author is aware.


The upper Dja series consists of carbonates and shales deposits that date 580 ± 150 Ma. Petrography and mineral
 chemistry studies helped to differentiate this series into many sequences including massive limestone layers with
 calcite (CaO3) contents of about 30 to 42%. In order to determine the subsurface distribution of these sequences, a
 geophysical prospection campaign was carried out in which a total of 24 vertical resistivity soundings were recorded
 over a surface area of 9 km2. The processing and interpretation of data using the IX1D and OpendTect modeling tools
 permitted the distinction of two massive limestone layers in the upper Dja series. The first layer of about 10 to 35 m
 thick and outcrop in few places is characterized by resistivity ranging between 1110 and 2377 Ωm, while the second
 layer located beyond 50 m deep is separated by a very conductive clay stone layer with a capped thickness of 15 to
 35 m. 3D modeling of the top and base of these formations indicates that, the whole Upper Dja series of about 190 m
 thick presents folded structure. These results can constitute a useful base of information in regards to a large scale
 economic study of the Upper Dja limestone series.


Life in Cold Blood offers a rare glimpse into the peculiar world of amphibians and reptiles, the first vertebrate creatures to venture forth from the primeval waters millions of years ago, yet which today include species that are the most at risk of extinction. Join acclaimed naturalist Sir David Attenborough as he travels to the far corners of the Earth to tell the epic story of these animals in this companion to the television series. Discover the secrets of their astounding success--and the profound implications of their uncertain future. Amphibians and reptiles once ruled the planet, and their descendants exhibit some of the most colorful variety and astounding behavior known to the animal kingdom. What are the origins of these creatures? How have they transformed themselves into the beautiful and bizarre forms found today? In this gorgeously illustrated book, Attenborough gets up close and personal with the living descendants of the first vertebrates ever to colonize the land, and through them traces the fascinating history of their pioneering ancestors. He explains the ways amphibians and reptiles have changed little from their prehistoric forebears while also demonstrating how they have adapted and evolved into diverse new forms, some of them beyond our wildest imaginings. And Attenborough raises awareness of the threats global warming and other man-made environmental changes pose to many of these creatures. Life in Cold Blood inspires a genuine sense of wonder about amphibians and reptiles and the marvels of the natural world around us.


We propose a mechanism for the promotion of high-standards in commercial Artificial Intelligence products, namely an association of companies which would regulate their own membership using a code of practice and the precedents set by previous cases. Membership would provide some assurance of quality. We argue the benefits of such a mechanism, and discuss some of the details including the proposal of a code of practice. This paper is intended as a vehicle for discussion rather than as the presentation of a definitive solution.


Planning is concerned with the automated solution of action sequencing problems described in declarative languages giving the action preconditions and effects. One important application area for such technology is the creation of new processes in Business Process Management (BPM), which is essential in an ever more dynamic business environment. A major obstacle for the application of Planning in this area lies in the modeling. Obtaining a suitable model to plan with - ideally a description in PDDL, the most commonly used planning language - is often prohibitively complicated and/or costly. Our core observation in this work is that this problem can be ameliorated by leveraging synergies with model-based software development. Our application at SAP, one of the leading vendors of enterprise software, demonstrates that even one-to-one model re-use is possible.

The model in question is called Status and Action Management (SAM). It describes the behavior of Business Objects (BO), i.e., large-scale data structures, at a level of abstraction corresponding to the language of business experts. SAM covers more than 400 kinds of BOs, each of which is described in terms of a set of status variables and how their values are required for, and affected by, processing steps (actions) that are atomic from a business perspective. SAM was developed by SAP as part of a major model-based software engineering effort. We show herein that one can use this same model for planning, thus obtaining a BPM planning application that incurs no modeling overhead at all.

We compile SAM into a variant of PDDL, and adapt an off-the-shelf planner to solve this kind of problem. Thanks to the resulting technology, business experts may create new processes simply by specifying the desired behavior in terms of status variable value changes: effectively, by describing the process in their own language.


Abstract. The structure and amplitude of the radiative contributions of the annual cycles in ozone and water vapour to the prominent annual cycle in temperatures in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) are considered. This is done initially through a seasonally evolving fixed dynamical heating (SEFDH) calculation. The annual cycle in ozone is found to drive significant temperature changes predominantly locally (in the vertical) and roughly in phase with the observed TTL annual cycle. In contrast, temperature changes driven by the annual cycle in water vapour are out of phase with the latter. The effects are weaker than those of ozone but still quantitatively significant, particularly near the cold point (100 to 90  hPa ) where there are substantial non-local effects from variations in water vapour in lower layers of the TTL. The combined radiative heating effect of the annual cycles in ozone and water vapour maximizes above the cold point and is one factor contributing to the vertical structure of the amplitude of the annual cycle in lower-stratospheric temperatures, which has a relatively localized maximum around 70  hPa . Other important factors are identified here: radiative damping timescales, which are shown to maximize over a deep layer centred on the cold point; the vertical structure of the dynamical heating; and non-radiative processes in the upper troposphere that are inferred to impose a strong constraint on tropical temperature perturbations below 130  hPa . The latitudinal structure of the radiative contributions to the annual cycle in temperatures is found to be substantially modified when the SEFDH assumption is relaxed and the dynamical response, as represented by a zonally symmetric calculation, is taken into account. The effect of the dynamical response is to reduce the strong latitudinal gradients and inter-hemispheric asymmetry seen in the purely radiative SEFDH temperature response, while leaving the 20° N–20° S average response relatively unchanged. The net contribution of the annual ozone and water vapour cycles to the peak-to-peak amplitude in the annual cycle of TTL temperatures is found to be around 35 % of the observed 8 K at 70 hPa, 40 % of 6 K at 90 hPa, and 45 % of 3 K at 100 hPa. The primary sensitivity of the calculated magnitude of the temperature response is identified as the assumed annual mean ozone mixing ratio in the TTL.


Abstract Previous research shows that low-income and first-generation college students are less likely to obtain the benefits associated with attending graduate school. No-loan programs, which typically administer financial aid through institutional grants, are designed to improve access and success among students from low-income backgrounds, but we know very little about the influence of no-loan programs after students enroll and eventually graduate from college. This study examines the impact of no-loan program participation on graduate school enrollment by leveraging a novel institutional dataset and applying regression discontinuity, difference-in-differences, and propensity score weighting approaches. Results indicate that no-loan program participation has a positive and relatively consistent impact on graduate school enrollment among low-income and first-generation students.


Abstract. A daytime underflight of CALIPSO with the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements was performed on 20 September 2012 in the Amazon region of Brazil, during the biomass burning season. The scene is dominated by a thin elevated layer (aerosol optical depth (AOD) 0.03 at 532 nm) and a moderately turbid boundary layer (AOD ~ 0.2 at 532 nm). The boundary layer is topped with small broken stratocumulus clouds. In this complex scene, a comparison of observations from the airborne and spaceborne lidars reveals a few discrepancies. The CALIPSO detection scheme tends to miss the elevated thin layer, and also shows several gaps (~ 30%) in the boundary layer. The small clouds are not correctly removed from the signals; this can cause the CALIPSO aerosol subtype to oscillate between smoke and polluted dust and may introduce distortion in the aerosol retrieval scheme. The magnitude of the average extinction coefficient estimated from CALIPSO Level 2 data in the boundary layer is as expected, when compared to the aircraft lidar and accounting for wavelength scaling. However, when the gaps in aerosol detection mentioned above are accounted for, we are left with an overall estimate of AOD for this particular scene that is of the order of two thirds of that determined with the airborne lidar.


Objective: The aim of this study was to assess prospectively the accuracy of measurement of liver fibrosis with real-time tissue elastography (RTE) in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. Methods: Two hundred and forty-five patients were prospectively enrolled. Nine image features were measured from strain images, and Liver Fibrosis Index (LFI) was calculated from these features. Fibrosis stage was diagnosed from pathological specimens obtained by ultrasound-guided biopsy. LFI and serological markers were compared with pathological diagnosis, and the diagnostic performance of RTE was compared. Results: LFI in stages F0-F1, F2, F3 and F4 was 1.58, 2.03, 2.40 and 2.86, respectively, demonstrating a stepwise increase with increasing severity of liver fibrosis (p < 0.001). LFI in F2 did not significantly differ from that in F3, whereas for all other combinations of stages, there were significant differences. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the LFI, platelet count, aspartate/alanine aminotransferase ratio, aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio, and FibroIndex for predicting F3 stage or higher (F0-F2 vs. F3-F4) was 0.865, 0.824, 0.708, 0.789 and 0.828, respectively. Conclusions: RTE is useful for diagnosis of liver fibrosis, regardless of stage, in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.


This research reports the preliminary results of a study based on the SOC (Soil Organic Carbon) fractionation in a pine forest soil (Pinus nigra). Hyperskeletic Albic Podzol soil (P113005, World Reference Base, 2014), described by the following sequence O-Ah-E-Bh-Bs-Cg, was investigated at Zoniën, Belgium. Total (TOC) and extractable (TEC) soil contents were determined by Italian official method of soil analysis. Different soil C fractions were also determined: Humic Acid Carbon (HAC) and Fulvic Acid Carbon (FAC). Not Humic Carbon (NHC) and Humin Carbon (Huc) fractions were obtained by difference. Along the mineral soil profile, therefore, were also tested some enzymatic activities, such as cellulase, xylanase, laccase and peroxidase, involved in the degradation of the main organic substance components, and dehydrogenase activity, like soil microbial biomass index. The results shows a differential TEC fractions distribution in the soil profile along three fronts of progress: (i) An E leaching horizon of TEC; Bh horizon (humic) of humic acids preferential accumulation, morphologically and analytically recognizable, in which humic are more insoluble that fulvic acids, and predominate over the latter; (ii) horizon Bs (spodic) in which fulvic acids are more soluble that humic acid, and predominate in their turn. All enzyme activities appear to be highest in the most superficial part of the mineral profile and decrease towards the deeper layers with different patterns. It is known that the enzymes production in a soil profile reflects the organic substrates availability, which in turn influences the density and the composition of the microbial population. The deeper soil horizons contain microbial communities adapted and specialized to their environment and, therefore, different from those present on the surface The results suggest that the fractionation technique of TEC is appropriate to interpret the podsolisation phenomenon that is the preferential distribution of the different fractions of the SOC. It can form the base study for evaluation of changes in some biological activity along soil profile.


Mentoring has potential for empowering professionals in areas of job satisfaction as well as career advancement. Specifically, mentoring has been shown to have a positive effect on motivation, performance, retention, commitment, reducing stereotypes, and reducing inequities in areas of corporate business as well as health care. Currently, no literature exists that examines the benefits of mentoring for therapeutic recreation practitioners. The purpose of this study was to identify the status of mentoring in therapeutic recreation and to examine the relationship between mentoring and perceptions of workplace attitudes and behaviors of TR practitioners. Using the conceptual framework of the Theory of Social Exchange, a questionnaire was sent to 1000 CTRSs. Results indicated that only 15% of the respondents received any mentorship, however, those who did showed more positive results in areas of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Implications for research as well as practice are identified.


ABSTRACT

In Lebanon, there is a common understanding and belief among many politicians and citizens, in equal measure, that Lebanon is a democratic country. This belief is not only restricted to those inside Lebanon, but also to be found in neighbouring Arab countries and among their people. In other words, Lebanon is believed to be a country that enjoys a relatively democratic political system, rule of law, and a vibrant civil society, compared to the rest of the region. However, this is for the most part a misunderstanding, and originates from most Lebanese people's view that a modest level of freedom should be considered democracy, and that a relatively unconstrained civil society means an effective civil society.

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse Lebanon's political system and establish a clearer picture about whether the democratic claim is real or just an illusion. In order to build this picture, I have concentrated on the internal and external obstacles that have impeded the evolution of the Lebanese political system. The first part of the thesis discusses whether or not the Lebanese political system shares any of the features of functioning democratic political systems and whether or not it is running in a modus which reflects democratic values. In later chapters, the thesis moves on to examine the internal and external factors that have hindered the state from becoming a sovereign, authoritative state and thus without the necessary foundations for becoming a democratic state.

The study will demonstrate that Lebanon suffers from the domination of a militant organisation within its borders which violates the country's sovereignty and disrupts the government and its institutions from functioning properly and being authoritative. Moreover, it will reveal that most citizens - a key element in any democracy - continue to feel subjugated, unable to make their voices heard, and without a say in the decision making process.

Moreover, it will be demonstrated that Lebanon suffers from several problems. Firstly and most importantly, it suffers from the lack of an effective state that imposes the rule of law on all of Lebanon's territory. Secondly and equally important, Lebanon suffers from missing a major component that constitutes an essential pillar for the state, and that is sovereignty. Thirdly, election results are not taken into consideration as the public's electoral choices are not respected, while instead powerful elite continues to rule the country illegally. These impediments and many others lead the study to conclude that the Lebanese political system currently remains far from being considered a democracy.


Much of the previous work on modulo scheduling has targeted numeric programs, in which, often, the majority of the loops are well-behaved loop-counter-based loops without early exits. In control-intensive non-numeric programs, the loops frequently have characteristics that make it more difficult to effectively apply modulo scheduling. These characteristics include multiple control flow paths, loops that are not based on a loop counter, and multiple exits. In these loops, the presence of unimportant paths with high resource usage or long dependence chains can penalize the important paths. A path that contains a hazard such as another nested loop can prohibit modulo scheduling of the loop. Control dependences can severely restrict the overlap of the blocks within and across iterations. This paper describes a set of methods that allow effective modulo scheduling of loops with multiple exits. The techniques include removal of control dependences to enable speculation, extensions to modulo variable expansion, and a new epilogue generation scheme. These methods can be used with superblock and hyperblock techniques to allow modulo scheduling of the selected paths of loops with arbitrary control flow. A case study is presented to show how these methods, combined with superblock techniques, enable module scheduling to be effectively applied to control-intensive non-numeric programs. Performance results for several SPEC CINT92 benchmarks and Unix utility programs are reported and demonstrate the applicability of modulo scheduling to this class of programs.


The paper investigates the association between individual characteristics and teacher job satisfaction in secondary education in Cyprus. It focuses on two individual characteristics commonly linked to job satisfaction in the literature, namely, gender and years of experience. A short version of a questionnaire previously employed by Dinham and Scott was administered to a sample of secondary school teachers. The use of factor analysis resulted in the identification of the following seven factors which represent different aspects of job satisfaction: school climate, key stakeholders, support and training, participation in school management, student/school progress, professional development and employment terms. Experienced teachers report significantly higher job satisfaction on two of the identified dimensions (key stakeholders and participation in school management). The differences between men and women are not significant on all dimensions of job satisfaction, pointing to the absence of a link between gender and job satisfaction.


New data from numerous detailed mass-spectrometric studies have detected triaromatic dinosteroids in Precambrian to Cenozoic rock samples. Triaromatic dinosteroids are organic geochemicals derived from dinosterols, compounds known in modern organisms to be the nearly exclusive widely occurring products of dinoflagellates. We observed the ubiquitous occurrence of these dinosteroids in 49 Late Triassic through Cretaceous marine source rocks and the absence of them in 13 Permian-Carboniferous source rocks synergistic with the dinoflagellate cyst record. However, finding dinosteroids in lower Paleozoic and Precambrian strata presents challenging results for molecular paleontologists, evolutionary biologists, palynologists, and especially for those concerned with the food web at various times of biological crisis. Other than the few species known as parasites and symbionts, many other dinoflagellate species are important as primary producers. The presence of Precambrian to Devonian triaromatic dinosteroids gives chemostratigraphic evidence of dinoflagellates (or other organisms with similar chemosynthetic capabilities) in rocks significantly older than the oldest undisputed dinoflagellate fossils (dinoflagellate cysts from the Middle Triassic, ∼ 240 Ma), and older than the putative Silurian ∼ 420 Ma) dinocyst, Arpylorus antiquus (Calandra) Sargent, from Tunisia. This systematic chemostratigraphic approach can shed light not only on lineages of dinoflagellates and their precursors, but potentially on many other lineages, especially bacteria, algae, plants, and possibly some metazoans.


We report a photoredox catalyzed α-amino C–H arylation reaction of highly substituted piperidine derivatives with electron deficient cyano(hetero)arenes. The scope and limitations of the reaction were explored, with piperidines bearing multiple substitution patterns providing the arylated products in good yields and with high diastereoselectivity. In order to probe the mechanism of the overall transformation, optical and fluorescent spectroscopic methods were used. By employing flash-quench transient absorption spectroscopy, we were able to observe electron transfer processes associated with radical formation beyond the initial excited state Ir(ppy)3 oxidation. Following the rapid and unselective C–H arylation reaction, a slower epimerization occurs to provide the high diastereomer ratio observed for a large majority of the products. Several stereoisomerically pure products were re-subjected to the reaction conditions, each of which converged to the experimentally observed diastereomer ratios. The observed distribution of diastereomers corresponds to a thermodynamic ratio of isomers based upon their calculated relative energies using density functional theory (DFT).


The coupling between a Co layer with in-plane easy axis of magnetization and a Ni layer with out-of-plane easy axis across a nonmagnetic Cu spacer layer was studied by layer-resolved magnetic imaging. Photoelectron emission microscopy and magnetic circular dichroism in soft x-ray absorption as the magnetic contrast mechanism were used for the domain imaging. Crossed, wedge-shaped epitaxial Co and Cu layers of 3.5\char21{}5.7 atomic monolayers (ML) Co and 2.5\char21{}4.1 ML Cu were deposited onto 15 ML Ni/Cu(001). The competition between ferromagnetic interlayer coupling and the magnetic uniaxial anisotropies of the two magnetic layers leads to a noncollinear magnetization configuration at Cu thicknesses above 3.1 ML. The Ni magnetization is thereby in a canted state, whereas the Co magnetization is nearly in plane. The canting angle of the Ni magnetization can be tuned between the surface normal and $\ensuremath{\approx}45\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ by adjusting the Cu thickness. At a Cu thickness of approximately 3.1 ML a transition to a collinear in-plane configuration at lower Cu thicknesses is observed. This can be explained by a phenomenological expression including the fourth-order anisotropy of the Ni layer.


This contribution purports to develop an Austinian speech act theory, in which the illocutionary act is described as the communicative move to the hearer that the speaker evaluates her present utterance as. In saying a performative or non-performative utterance, the speaker specifies or indicates the value of the communicative move in identifying herself as a particular addresser, the present hearer as a particular addressee, and the circumstances as a particular context. On the basis of this understanding, I examine different elements in terms of which the success or failure of performing an illocutionary act is determined, which indicate how illocutionary acts are situated in context


In this study, the effects of cooling time prior to reprocessing spent LWR fuel has on the reactor physics characteristics of a PWR fully loaded with homogeneously mixed U-Pu or U-TRU oxide (MOX) fuel is examined. A reactor physics analysis was completed using the CASM04e code. A void reactivity feedback coefficient analysis was also completed for an infinite lattice of fresh fuel assemblies. Some useful conclusions can be made regarding the effect that cooling time prior to reprocessing spent LWR fuel has on a closed homogeneous MOX fuel cycle. The computational analysis shows that it is more neutronically efficient to reprocess cooled spent fuel into homogeneous MOX fuel rods earlier rather than later as the fissile fuel content decreases with time. Also, the number of spent fuel rods needed to fabricate one MOX fuel rod increases as cooling time increases. In the case of TRU MOX fuel, with time, there is an economic tradeoff between fuel handling difficulty and higher throughput of fuel to be reprocessed. The void coefficient analysis shows that the void coefficient becomes progressively more restrictive on fuel Pu content with increasing spent fuel cooling time before reprocessing. (authors)


The ability to separate signal from noise, and reason with clean abstractions, is critical to intelligence. With this ability, humans can efficiently perform real world tasks without considering all possible nuisance factors.How can artificial agents do the same? What kind of information can agents safely discard as noises? In this work, we categorize information out in the wild into four types based on controllability and relation with reward, and formulate useful information as that which is both controllable and reward-relevant. This framework clarifies the kinds information removed by various prior work on representation learning in reinforcement learning (RL), and leads to our proposed approach of learning a Denoised MDP that explicitly factors out certain noise distractors. Extensive experiments on variants of DeepMind Control Suite and RoboDesk demonstrate superior performance of our denoised world model over using raw observations alone, and over prior works, across policy optimization control tasks as well as the non-control task of joint position regression.


Most Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) implementations choose fixed version and conflict management policies at design time. While eager HTM systems store transactional state in-place in memory and resolve conflicts when they are produced, lazy HTM systems buffer the transactional state in specialized hardware and defer the resolution of conflicts until commit time. Each scheme has its strengths and weaknesses, but, unfortunately, both approaches are too inflexible in the way they manage data versioning and transactional contention. Thus, fixed HTM systems may result in a significant performance opportunity loss when they execute complex transactional applications. In this paper, we present DynTM (Dynamically Adaptable HTM), the first fully-flexible HTM system that permits the simultaneous execution of transactions using complementary version and conflict management strategies. In the heart of DynTM is a novel coherence protocol that allows tracking conflicts among eager and lazy transactions. Both the eager and the lazy execution modes of DynTM exhibit very high performance compared to modern HTM systems. For example, the DynTM lazy execution mode implements local commits to improve on previous proposals. In addition, lazy transactions share the majority of hardware support with eager transactions, reducing substantially the hardware cost compared to other lazy HTM systems. By utilizing a simple predictor to decide the best execution mode for each transaction at runtime, DynTM obtains an average speedup of 34% over HTM systems that employ fixed version and conflict management policies.


The current study aims at exploring the common means that may improve organizational effectiveness by focusing on two main facets of organizational qualities: teacher commitment and job satisfaction. Data were collected from 841 randomly sampled teachers employed in 118 elementary schools in Israel. A quantitative questionnaire, which included scales measuring organizational and professional commitment, extrinsic and intrinsic satisfaction and organizational and job-related characteristics, was employed. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the single variable that predicted both types of commitment (organizational and professional) and both types of satisfaction (intrinsic and extrinsic) was teachers' perceptions of the fit between one's job demands and abilities. The second most influential predictor was principals' interaction with the teachers. Job-related characteristics had the least impact on teacher's professional commitment and extrinsic satisfaction. The finding, that perceived job fit predicted both commitment and job satisfaction, reinforces the importance of the assumption about the significance of best practice in recruitment and placement processes, which has long been known to be significant in determining professional conduct. Other implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations are provided to school principals.


OBJECTIVE
To systematically review the benefits and risks associated with the use of benzodiazepines to treat insomnia in adults.

DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry were searched for English-language articles published from 1966 to December 1998 that described randomized controlled trials of benzodiazepines for the treatment of insomnia. Key words included "benzodiazepines" (exploded), "randomized controlled trial" and "insomnia." Bibliographies of relevant articles were reviewed for additional studies and manufacturers of benzodiazepines were asked to submit additional randomized controlled trial reports not in the literature.

STUDY SELECTION
Articles were considered for the meta-analysis if they were randomized controlled trials involving patients with insomnia and compared a benzodiazepine with placebo or another active agent. Of the 89 trials originally identified, 45 met our criteria, representing a total of 2672 patients.

DATA EXTRACTION
Data were extracted regarding the participants, the setting, details of the intervention, the outcomes (including adverse effects) and the methodologic quality of the studies.

DATA SYNTHESIS
The meta-analyses of sleep records indicated that, when compared with placebo, benzodiazepines decreased sleep latency by 4.2 minutes (non-significant; 95% confidence interval (CI -0.7 to 9.2) and significantly increased total sleep duration by 61.8 minutes (95% CI 37.4 to 86.2). Patient-reported outcomes were more optimistic for sleep latency; those randomized to benzodiazepine treatment estimated a sleep latency decrease of 14.3 minutes (95% CI 10.6 to 18.0). Although more patients receiving benzodiazepine treatment reported adverse effects, especially daytime drowsiness and dizziness or light-headedness (common odds ratio 1.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.4), dropout rates for the benzodiazepine and placebo groups were similar. Cognitive function decline including memory impairment was reported in several of the studies. Zopiclone was not found to be superior to benzodiazepines on any of the outcome measures examined.

INTERPRETATION
The use of benzodiazepines in the treatment of insomnia is associated with an increase in sleep duration, but this is countered by a number of adverse effects. Additional studies evaluating the efficacy of nonpharmacological interventions would be valuable.


In a dynamically changing environment, the ability to capture regularities in our sensory input helps us generate predictions about future events. In most sensory systems, the basic finding is clear: Knowing when something will happen improves performance on it [Nobre, A. C., & van Ede, F. (2017). Anticipated moments: Temporal structure in attention. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19, 34–48, 2017]. We here examined the impact of temporal predictions on a less-explored modality: touch. Participants were instructed to detect a brief target embedded in an ongoing vibrotactile stimulus. Unbeknownst to them, the experiment had two timing conditions: In one part, the time of target onset was fixed and thus temporally predictable, whereas in the other, it could appear at a random time within the ongoing stimulation. We found a clear modulation of detection thresholds due to temporal predictability: Contrary to other sensory systems, detecting a predictable tactile target was worse relative to unpredictable targets. We discuss our findings within the framework of tactile suppression.


Women are surprisingly underrepresented in the chess world, representing less that 5% of registered tournament players worldwide and only 1% of the world's grand masters. In this paper it is argued that gender stereotypes are mainly responsible for the underperformance of women in chess. Forty-two male–female pairs, matched for ability, played two chess games via Internet. When players were unaware of the sex of opponent (control condition), females played approximately as well as males. When the gender stereotype was activated (experimental condition), women showed a drastic performance drop, but only when they were aware that they were playing against a male opponent. When they (falsely) believed to be playing against a woman, they performed as well as their male opponents. In addition, our findings suggest that women show lower chess-specific self-esteem and a weaker promotion focus, which are predictive of poorer chess performance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Type 2 diabetes is increasing among youth, with minority youth at highest risk. This preliminary study tested the feasibility of a school-based program to prevent type 2 diabetes in youth at risk. Forty-one participants (age 12.6 +/- 1.1 years; 63% female, 51% African American, 44% Hispanic, and 5% Caucasian) were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Both the experimental and control groups received nutrition education and exercise training. The experimental group also received coping skills training. Data collected included body mass index (BMI), insulin resistance, dietary intake (24-Hour Food Recall), self-efficacy (Health Behavior Questionnaire), activity (Revised Godin-Shepard Activity Survey), and parents' health promoting behaviors (Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile III). At baseline BMI ranged from 27 to 53 (M = 36.2 +/- 6.0), and 95% (n = 39) demonstrated insulin resistance or pre-diabetes on an oral glucose tolerance test. After 12 months, the experimental group showed trends in improved usual food choices (p = .1) and increased dietary knowledge (p = .3). They also demonstrated lower glucose (p = .07) and insulin levels (p = .2). Experimental group parents demonstrated improved health responsibility (p = .03), healthier nutrition choices (p = .05), improved stress management skills (p = .05), increased activity (p = .2), and increased spirituality (p = .2). Data suggest a school-based program tailored to multiethnic youth may prove successful in helping these youth increase activity, improve nutrition status, and stabilize glucose and insulin metabolism, and also may be effective in changing parent health behavior.


This paper examines the differences between the United States (U.S.) and European (EU27) freight railways. The inherent or structural factors influencing the railways modal share will be evaluated. It was found that nearly all of the disparity in modal share can be explained by structural or inherent differences, like the competitiveness of non-surface modes, shipment distances (both influenced by geography), and commodity mix (namely, coal). More striking are the differences in productivity, to move the same number of tons seven times, more trains are required in Europe compared with the U.S.. Operational revenues per ton-mile are around two times higher in Europe, while the operational expenses in the U.S. are four times lower than in Europe. It is argued that setting a goal for modal share similar to the U.S. is not realistic for the EU27. A key concern for European freight railways should be the reduction of operational costs, by increasing the trains' sizes. Distinct policy answers were given to the railroads' crisis in the post WWII years. Soon after 1980 when reforms were introduced in the U.S. there was a revival of the sector. The same has not happened in Europe, where questions regarding infrastructure financing or the coordination of network investments and operational needs remain.


Introduction This dissertation entails a homoeopathic proving of ivory from the male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) 30CH with a subsequent comparison to Lac Loxodonta africana. Objectives The primary objective of this proving was to determine the effects of homoeopathically prepared ivory from the male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) in a 30CH dilution and was achieved by administering the remedy to a group of healthy individuals (provers) who will document all symptoms that arise as a result of taking the remedy. These symptoms will be used to identify the therapeutic indications of homoeopathic ivory. With these specific indications being documented the remedy can then be utilized in the sick individual, that present with similar symptoms, to induce a cure. A further objective of this proving is to report any variation that may exist in the comparison of two remedies, namely Lac Loxodonta africana (milk derived from the African elephant) and the remedy used in this proving, ivory from the male African elephant (Loxodonta africana). Methodology The substance was triturated up until the 3CH and subsequently converted into a liquid potency to be potentised up until the 30CH. Granules were then impregnated with the 30CH liquid potency. Ten impregnated granules were then placed in each individual ii lactose powder sachets. A total of six powders were dispensed to the proving participants. The proving was conducted as a double blind placebo controlled study with a total of twenty-six (26) provers that met the inclusion criteria (Appendix A). The group was made up of both homoeopathic students as well as the general public of varying ages, race and gender. The total group was randomly divided into two groups, twenty (20) of which received the homoeopathic remedy, the remainder (6) received placebo. A full case history of each prover was taken before commencing the proving as well as on completion of the study. Each individual prover kept a journal, starting a week before the proving, which was continued while taking the remedy and ceased when all symptoms had abated. Once all provers had completed the proving, the information received from the provers through the journals from both groups was collated, assessed and analyzed. A comparison was then made between this proving and Lac Loxodonta africana to assess whether any similarities or differences were evident. The comparison was made on symptom similarities and rubric analysis. Results The proving of ivory from the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) revealed a variety of symptoms. A total of 32 systems were affected in the twenty provers who received the remedy. 716 symptoms were recorded, 83 of which were new symptoms. The systems that were predominately affected were the mind, head and extremities. Many symptoms were confirmed to be similar to those identified in the proving of Lac Loxodonta africana, though differences were also acknowledged.


Cooling towers are widely used across a range of industries and represent the largest reuse of water in industrial and commercial applications. While continually recycling water, cooling towers loose significant inventory through evaporation and blowdown. The local climate strongly affects the efficiency of a cooling tower and its water consumption. This paper discusses the performance of cooling towers in different climatic zone of the U.S. considering the seasonal variations of outdoor air temperature, wind speed and solar radiation. The analyses are carried out with the Sargent & Lundy's software suite UHS which simulates the transient heat and mass transfers occurring in cooling tower/basin systems.


When the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates binds, monetary policy cannot provide appropriate stimulus. We show that, in the standard New Keynesian model, tax policy can deliver such stimulus at no cost and in a time-consistent manner. There is no need to use inefficient policies such as wasteful public spending or future commitments to low interest rates. JEL classification: E31; E40; E52; E58; E62; E63


What do the philosophies of phenomenological scholars such as Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty tell us about education in South Africa? How can we use the philosophies of these scholars to develop the minds of our learners and students holistically? Drawing from Husserl's "lifeworld theory," Heidegger's notion of Dasein and Merleau-Ponty's "lived body theory," this paper argues for a shift towards a philosophy of "lived experience" in the classroom that views the "body," which is often dismissed in an educational setting, as an authentic, intelligible and privileged metaphysical object for learning. We argue that teaching should not promote a domain-specific epistemological ethos to open up new pathways to knowing and understanding the natural world, but instead should adopt a body-specific ethos that leads to a process of understanding our "true self," "true nature" or "true humanity." This means that education structured around preparing the masses for the corporate world should therefore not be our aim, but rather nurturing "body knowledge" that is already there.


Section 357(c) is readily avoidable by any well-advised section 351 transferor who can retain the amount of liabilities that would otherwise exceed the basis of the transferred assets, who has sufficient additional property to increase the transferred assets to a point at which the basis of those assets equals the transmitted liabilities, or who can borrow and transfer cash equal to the difference between the basis of the conveyed assets and the amount of the transmitted liabilities. In this context, a section 351 transferor who gives the transferee corporation a personal note equal to the difference between the basis of the transferred assets and the amount of the transmitted liabilities should escape the reach of section 357(c) as well. To treat the transferor otherwise would mean that section 357(c) would apply to a properly advised section 351 transferor only if that transferor lacked sufficient credit standing to borrow from a third party, a result that has no obvious rationale; but if the issuance of a transferor's personal note can avoid section 357(c), then section 357(c) is truly a trap for the unwary because it will apply only to a section 351 transferor who lacks professional advice or whose adviser fails to instruct the transferor to deliver the appropriate note to the controlled corporation.Section 357(c) is a punitive tax provision that affects only under-advised taxpayers. Although this may be good for the employment of attorneys and accountants, it is not good tax policy; furthermore, this article explains that section 357(c) fails to solve any problem that requires a solution with respect to section 351 exchanges. Indeed, Congress's failure in 1954 to give a clear explanation of its objective in enacting section 357(c) is now understandable. There was simply no persuasive purpose. Because of this lack of purpose for section 357(c), no desirable policy objective would be compromised by the provision's repeal. Instead, taxpayers who transfer assets to corporations in section 351 exchanges would be well-served by such a development.


Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), adhesion molecules, and receptors are needed in the process of cancer growth. This study aims to investigate the role of MMP-3, MMP-10, MMP-11, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two gastric carcinoma cases who underwent gastrectomy were included in the study. The cases were inspected with regard to the presence/absence of lymph node and distant metastases. The selected paraffin blocks were immunohistochemically stained with MMP 3, MMP 10, MMP 11, ICAM (CD 54), and VCAM (CD 106). Results: Most of the cases (n: 50, 94%) with gastric cancer manifested cytoplasmic staining with MMP-11. MMP-10 expression was found in 45 of 52 (86.5%), MMP-3 staining was determined in 43 (82.6%) of gastric carcinomas. Different areas of differentiation within the tumor showed differences in MMP expression in terms of intensity and extensiveness. ICAM-1 expression was found in 47 of 52 (90.4%) cases and with VCAM-1, 46/52 (88.5%) of gastric cancers manifested positive staining. Its expression was found to be higher in the nonmetastatic group both in intestinal and diffuse types. VCAM-1 was diffusely expressed in gastric cancers. However, we did not determine a significant correlation concerning differentiation and lymph node and distant metastasis. Conclusions: MMP-3, MMP-10, MMP-11, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1 are expressed in gastric cancers and are thought to be involved in tumor development. Levels of expression that decrease in parallel to decreasing differentiation in areas of differentiation within tumor corroborate the idea that they are related to tumor progression. Due to its relationship with metastasis, ICAM-1 expression in noncohesive cells supports the idea that ICAM-1 is a significant factor involved in metastasis development in gastric cancers. Decreased MMP-10 and MMP-11 expression in metastases suggest that these enzymes may also be linked to the metastatic potential of gastric cancers.


OBJECTIVES
It has been shown previously that IL-23R variants are associated with AS. We conducted an extended analysis in the UK population and a meta-analysis with the previously published studies, in order to refine these IL-23R associations with AS.

METHODS
The UK case-control study included 730 new cases and 1331 healthy controls. In the extended study, the 730 cases were combined with 1088 published cases. Allelic associations were analysed using contingency tables. In the meta-analysis, 3482 cases and 3150 controls from four different published studies and the new UK cases were combined. DerSimonian-Laird test was used to calculate random effects pooled odds ratios (ORs).

RESULTS
In the UK case-control study with new cases, four of the eight SNPs showed significant associations, whereas in the extended UK study, seven of the eight IL-23R SNPs showed significant associations (P < 0.05) with AS, maximal with rs11209032 (P < 10(-5), OR 1.3), when cases with IBD and/or psoriasis were excluded. The meta-analysis showed significant associations with all eight SNPs; the strongest associations were again seen not only with rs11209032 (P = 4.06 x 10(-9), OR approximately 1.2) but also with rs11209026 (P < 10(-10), OR approximately 0.6).

CONCLUSIONS
IL-23R polymorphisms are clearly associated with AS, but the primary causal association(s) is(are) still not established. These polymorphisms could contribute either increased or decreased susceptibility to AS; functional studies will be required for their full evaluation. Additionally, observed stronger associations with SNPs rs11209026 and rs11465804 upon exclusion of IBD and/or psoriasis cases may represent an independent association with AS.


Traditionally, UNIX operating systems have been equipped with monolithic network stack implementations, meaning all user processes have to cooperatively share a single networking subsystem. The introduction of the network stack cloning model enables the kernel to simultaneously maintain multiple independent and isolated network stack instances. Combined with forcible binding of user processes to individual network stacks, this concept can bring us a step closer to an efficient pseudo virtual machine functionality which opens new possibilities particularly in virtual hosting applications, as well as in other less obvious areas such as network simulation and advanced VPN provisioning. This article is focused on design, implementation and performance aspects of experimental clonable network stack support in the FreeBSD kernel.


The COVID-19 pandemic blighted all aspects of American life, but people in jails, prisons, and other detention sites experienced singular harm and neglect. Housing vulnerable detainee populations with elevated medical needs, these facilities were ticking time bombs. They were overcrowded, underfunded, unsanitary, insufficiently ventilated, and failed to meet even minimum health-and-safety standards. Every unit of national and sub-national government failed to prevent detainee communities from becoming pandemic epicenters, and judges were no exception. This Article takes the comprehensive look at the decisional law growing out of the COVID-19 detainee litigation, and situates the judicial response as part of a comprehensive institutional failure. We read hundreds of COVID-19 custody cases, and our analysis defines the decision-making by reference to three attributes: the substantive right asserted, the form of detention at issue, and the remedy sought. Several patterns emerged. Judges avoided constitutional holdings whenever they could, rejected requests for ongoing supervision, and resisted collective discharge—limiting such relief to vulnerable subpopulations. The most successful litigants were detainees in custody pending immigration proceedings, and the least successful were those convicted of crimes. We draw three conclusions that bear on subsequent pandemic responses—including vaccination efforts—and incarceration more generally. First, courts avoided robust relief by re-calibrating rights and remedies, particularly those relating to the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Second, court intervention was especially limited by the behavior of bureaucracies responsible for the detention function. Third, the judicial activity reflected entrenched assumptions about the danger and moral worth of prisoners that are widespread but difficult to defend. Before judges can effectively respond to pandemic risk, nonjudicial institutions will have to treat it differently than other health-and-safety threats, and judges will have to overcome their empirically dubious resistance to decarceration.


Since first becoming a major social issue in the 1980s, homelessness has been a racialized problem in the United States. Its disproportionate impact on Black Americans is primarily driven by structural racism and the limited housing and employment opportunities for Black Americans. The first major federal legislation to address the needs of the United States' homeless population—the Stewart B. McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 omitted the root causes of Black housing instability, thereby proving ineffective at mitigating Black homelessness. As a result, Black Americans remain disproportionately impacted today. In addition to being neglected by the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act, Black men and women experiencing homelessness are more likely to be discriminated against than any other racial group. For example, Black men are more likely to be arrested than anyone else, and Black women are the most likely to experience hyper-surveillance. This paper uses the Public Identity Framework to argue that in the 1980s, advocates and opponents of homeless legislation created two contradictory public personas to shape public discourse and policies for the homeless. A colorblind public persona was used to pass the McKinney–Vento Homeless Act; meanwhile, the public persona of the "underclass" was used to criminalize and shame the homeless. Both personas operated concurrently to create a dual public identity for the homeless that influenced policy and ultimately harmed Black people.


The study was designed to investigate the antiulcer activity of ethyl acetate extract of the fruits of Morinda citrifolia Linn (Rubiaceae) using different models of gastric and duodenal ulceration in rats. Gastric ulcers were induced by oral administration of ethanol, aspirin and by pyloric ligation and duodenal ulcers were induced by oral administration of cysteamine HCl. The extract was administered at a dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg orally 30 min prior to ulcer induction. Ranitidine (50 mg/kg) was used as a reference standard. The antiulcer activity was accessed by determining and comparing the ulcer index in the test group with that of the standard drug treated group. Gastric volume, total acid and free acid were estimated in the pylorus-ligated rats. M.citrifolia (400mg/kg) showed maximum inhibition of gastric acid, free acid and total acid to 53.54%, 52.55% and 30.30%, respectively. The ulcer index in the M.citrifolia treated animals was found to be significantly less in all the models compared to standard drug treated cases. The antiulcer activity of M.citrifolia was, however, less than that of ranitidine. The results suggest that M.citrifolia possesses significant antiulcer property which could be due to cytoprotective action of the drug or strengthening of gastric and duodenal mucosa with the enhancement of mucosal defence. Keywords: Morinda citrifolia; Antiulcer. © 2009 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved. DOI: 10.3329/jsr.v1i2.1625


Calcium governs the most versatile and universal signaling mechanism in living systems which includes contraction of the cardiac tissues, information processing in the brain, release of digestive enzymes by the liver etc. High blood calcium leads to various diseases and problems like chronic fatigue and tiredness, poor memory, atherosclerosis, muscle aches and cramps, bone pain, poor sex drive, osteoporosis and broken bones, kidney stones and heart rhythm problems such as atrial fibrillation. Various investigators have been made on study of calcium signaling in cardiac myocyte to understand its mechanisms. But most of existing investigators have mainly focused on study of calcium signaling in cardiac myocyte without paying attention on interdependence of calcium signaling and inositol−1; 4; 5 trisphosphate (IP3) signaling. In the present work, we have studied a mathematical model to understand the impact of source influx of calcium and maximum rate of production of IP3 on these coupled signaling processes. This study suggests that maximum rate of production of IP3 plays a more significant role in these coupled dynamics. Also, calcium and IP3 shows a beautiful coordination with each other, which explains the role of IP3 in calcium signaling in cardiac myocyte. Such studies will provide the better understanding of various factors involved in calcium signaling in cardiac myocyte, which as a result will be of great use to biomedical scientists for making protocols for various heart diseases.


Despite sustained debate and progress the evolving thing that is evidence based nursing or practice (EBP) continues to dangle a variety of conceptual and practical loose threads. Moreover, when we think about what is being asked of students and registered or licensed practitioners in terms of EBP, it is difficult not to concede that this 'ask' is in many instances quite large and, occasionally, it may be unachievable. EBP has and continues to improve patient, client and user care. Yet significant questions concerning its most basic elements remain unresolved and, if nurses are to contribute to the resolution or reconfiguration of these questions then, as a first step, we must acknowledge their existence.

From a range of international standpoints and perspectives, contributors to this book focus on aspects of EBP that require development. This focus is always robust and at times it is unashamedly provocative. Contributors challenge readers to engage with anomalies that surround the subject and readers are asked to consider the often precarious assumptions that underpin key aspects of EBP. While both conflict and concord are evident among the various offerings presented here, the book nonetheless creates and sustains a narrative that is bigger or more substantial than the sum of individual parts. And, across contributions, a self-assuredly critical stance towards EBP as currently practiced, conceptualized and taught coexists alongside respectful admiration for all who make it happen.

Exploring Evidence-based Practice: Debates and Challenges in Nursing should be considered essential reading for academics and postgraduate students with an interest in evidence-based practice and nursing research.


main functional blocks and their role in enabling intelligent closed-loop security operations. To illustrate how the INSPIRE-5Gplus framework can be applied as a zero-touch security management solution for 5G systems, the White Paper presents a representative set of advanced security use cases. The presented use cases cover different advanced security problems, including: (i) trustworthy composition of network slices using Blockchains (DLT) and secure deployment of E2E network slices in compliance with agreed SSLAs for automotive verticals; (ii) detection of network attacks over encrypted traffic in Service-Based Architectures; (iii) enforcement of E2E encryption policies while leveraging TEE to enable trustworthy execution of encryption-decryption operations; (iv) reactive and proactive protection of E2E network slices using, respectively, anomaly detection and Moving Target Defense mechanisms.


This thesis deals with the transformation of ethanol into acetonitrile. Two approaches are investigated: (a) the ammoxidation of ethanol to acetonitrile and (b) the amination of ethanol to acetonitrile. The reaction of ethanol ammoxidation to acetonitrile has been studied using several catalytic systems, such as vanadyl pyrophosphate, supported vanadium oxide, multimetal molibdates and antimonates. The main conclusions are: (I) The surface acidity must be very low, because acidity catalyzes several undesired reactions, such as the formation of ethylene, and of heavy compounds as well. (II) Supported vanadium oxide is the catalyst showing the best catalytic behaviour, but the role of the support is of crucial importance. (III) Both metal molybdates and antimonates show interesting catalytic behaviour, but are poorly active, and probably require harder conditions than those used with the V oxide-based catalysts. (IV) One key point in the reaction network is the rate of reaction between acetaldehyde (the first intermediate) and ammonia, compared to the parallel rates of acetaldehyde transformation into by-products (CO, CO2, HCN, heavy compounds).
Concerning the non-oxidative process, two possible strategies are investigated: (a) the ethanol ammonolysis to ethylamine coupled with ethylamine dehydrogenation, and (b) the direct non-reductive amination of ethanol to acetonitrile. Despite the good results obtained in each single step, the former reaction does not lead to good results in terms of yield to acetonitrile. The direct amination can be catalyzed with good acetonitrile yield over catalyst based on supported metal oxides. Strategies aimed at limiting catalyst deactivation have also been investigated.


This study focuses on the professional identity of a group of teacher educators in a Kenyan university. In order to improve student outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa, the quality of teaching and therefore the quality of teacher education (TE) needs to improve. Policy aspirations across the region call for a greater focus on the teaching and learning of skills, attitudes and values, with many making specific reference to learner-centred education (LCE); teachers need to change their practice, which means that teacher educators need to change as well. The study concludes that these pedagogic changes require a public consensus around the nature of knowledge about teaching, alongside conscious efforts to create opportunities for collaboration amongst teacher educators.

The context for the study is the Teacher Education in sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) programme of activities, run by The Open University alongside African partners, designed to support improvements in teaching and in teacher education. At the heart of the programme is a bank of Open Educational Resources (OERs). Experience gathered over the last ten years, suggests that achieving pedagogic change in teacher education is challenging; many will mediate the OERs for teachers, but do not see them as being relevant to their own practice. This study set about to determine why this is the case.

Working within a critical realist framework, the perceived agency of five teacher educators was investigated, alongside the nature of the social structures in the institution in which they work and the way in which the structures interact to constrain and empower agency, with respect to pedagogic change.

Analysis of data from documents, observations and interviews revealed a number of disconnections between theory and practice, and led to the identification for two underlying 'causal mechanisms' concerning the nature of knowledge about teaching and the importance of collaborative spaces. TESSA is identified as a causal mechanism that has not been fully activated in this institution. This has highlighted ways in which we can work more effectively with this professional group. The study has also demonstrated that critical realism can provide a robust theoretical framework for small-scale qualitative research.


It is widely claimed by a number of business and academic gurus that in order for organizations to have a lasting competitive advantage they will have to be knowledge driven. If knowledge is viewed as a resource that is critical to an organization's survival and success in the global market, then like any other resource it demands good management. However, the bulk of organizations still have not approached knowledge management (KM) activity formally or deliberately. The cause for this inattention could be that most organizations are still struggling to comprehend the KM concept. To ease the struggle, the fundamental issue of identifying salient characteristics of KM phenomena needs to be addressed. This article helps address this need by introducing a threefold descriptive framework that identifies and characterizes the main elements of KM phenomena and their relationships. The first component provides a generic description of an organization's knowledge resources. A second component introduces elemental knowledge manipulation activities an organization performs in dealing with those resources. The third component identifies major influences that impact an organization's conduct of KM. Results of a survey to assess the framework are reported. They indicate general satisfaction with the framework.


Environmental Risks and the Media explores the ways in which environmental risks, threats and hazards are represented, transformed and contested by the media. At a time when popular conceptions of the environment as a stable, natural world with which humanity interferes are being increasingly contested, the medias methods of encouraging audiences to think about environmental risks - from the BSE or 'mad cow' crisis to global climate change - are becoming more and more controversial.

Examining large-scale disasters, as well as 'everyday' hazards, the contributors consider the tensions between entertainment and information in media coverage of the environment. How do the media frame 'expert', 'counter-expert' and 'lay public' definitions of environmental risk? What role do environmental pressure groups like Greenpeace or 'eco-warriors' and 'green guerrillas' play in shaping what gets covered and how? Does the media emphasis on spectacular events at the expense of issue-sensitive reporting exacerbate the public tendency to overestimate sudden and violent risks and underestimate chronic long-term ones?


This research explore associations between driving offences of learner supervisory drivers and subsequent crashes as novice independent drivers in a prospective cohort of 20,822 drivers aged 17-24 in New South Wales, Australia, on their first independent driver licence. Information on demographics, primary supervisory drivers, and various risk factors was collected via an online questionnaire and subsequently linked to police-reported crashes two years later. Poisson regression determined that the unadjusted relative risk of crash was 1.35 (CI 1.14-1.60) for novices whose supervisors had offences, with this association remaining when adjusting for supervisor age, gender and relationship to the novice (RR=1.37, CI 1.16-1.63), but not when additionally controlling for novice driver demographics and characteristics (RR=1.50, CI 0.83-2.70). These findings suggest newly-licensed drivers previously supervised by drivers with recent traffic offences have a one-third higher risk of crashing. This risk is independent of the supervisor demographics, but mitigated by the young drivers' personal characteristics. Careful consideration should be given to policy developments regarding supervised driving requirements that rely heavily on parents to adopt this role.


Glen Stassen believes Christians should direct their energies toward finding a set of criteria and a model for a "just peace" instead of "just war." He bases his just peace theory on the new reality of our world, on recent biblical interpretation, and on the experiences of people who lived in the face of oppression and nuclear threat, and who--together with political scientists, Christian ethicists, and activists--fashioned realistic steps toward peacemaking.


The size and complexity of eukaryotic genomes require that specific mechanisms exist for ensuring both the stability as well as the accessibility of DNA. One such mechanism is the association of DNA with histones to form chromatin, the physiological substrate of gene expression. An important means by which histones impact transcriptional activity is through site-specific enzymatic modification of the amino terminal histone "tails", which can alter the spectrum of chromatin-associated proteins and hence transcriptional states. Among the known modifications of histones, lysine methylation has been proposed to represent a relatively stable mark which might mediate stable activation or repression, depending upon the site modified. The immune system provides an ideal system in which to test the physiological functions of particular chromatin-modifying activities, since proper lymphocyte development and function requires integration of multiple signals, both cell autonomous and receptor-mediated, with complex DNA recombination reactions which are unique to lymphocytes. We have exploited these features to explore the possible functions of histone 3, lysine 3 (H3K9) methylation in the immune system through conditional inactivation of the H3K9-specific methyltransferases G9a and GLP. These studies demonstrate that G9a is essential for B cell development in the mouse, but is dispensable for T cell development. The defect in B lymphopoiesis in the absence of G9a is caused by a block in development at the pro-B cell stage, corresponding to the onset of immunoglobulin heavy chain recombination. The overall normal behavior of G9a-deficient peripheral B cells argues in favor of the specificity of this effect. Furthermore, through analysis of G9a and GLP protein sequences, we have identified a novel mechanism by which chromatin-modifying complexes can be regulated. We find that both G9a and GLP contain conserved H3K9-like motifs, on which the main biochemical features of H3K9 itself are recapitulated. Considering both the sequence and functional conservation between these sites and histones, we term these motifs in nonhistone proteins "histone mimics". Our initial analysis indicates that many chromatinassociated proteins potentially contain H3K9-type histone mimics, and that this phenomenon is therefore likely to be a general one.


This study was set up to investigate the nutritional value and the optimum inclusion
level of several Iranian cottonseed meals i.e. var. Pak, Sahel and Akra (CSMP, CSMS,
and CSMA) as a substitute for soybean meal (SBM) in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus
mykiss) feed. Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) were calculated in experiment
1 by using an indigestible marker. At the end of this experiment, the ADCs of CSMP,
CSMS, CSMA and SBM were measured. Results showed that ADC values for most
nutrients of CSMP, CSMS, and CSMA were different from those of SBM and when
the varities were compared; ADC values for CSMP (62.7% from DM and 82.4% for
CP and 66.6% for crude fat) were higher than the two other CSM varieties i.e. CSMS
and CSMA. Three separate studies were carried out to investigate the nutritional value
of each Iranian cottonseed meal varieties ( CSM) as soybean meal substitute in quality
low cost rainbow trout feeds. Six formulated feeds consisting different substitution
levels (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100%) of SBM with CSMP, CSMS, and CSMA, respectively,
were fed to a total of 540 rainbow trout with initial mean body weight of 50 ± 5 g.
Fish were randomly stocked into eighteen 100 L. fiberglass tanks with 30 fish per tank
and 3 tanks per diet and fed to apparent satiation 3 times a day and 7 days per week for


Abstract Background: The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among women of reproductive age and children below the age of 15 years continues to increase, especially in the countries hardest hit by the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. Method: A qualitative method was used to determine perceptions. It involved four focus group discussions among antenatal clinic attendees in the 27 primary healthcare clinics in Qwa-Qwa, Free State province, South Africa. Results: Participants indicated good knowledge about the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme. Participants expressed fears that included stopping the treatment after delivery, the family neglecting the baby if the mother died, stigma, discrimination and domestic violence. The majority of the participants were happy with their relationship with the clinic staff. More than half of the participants expected negative reactions from family members if they followed the programme advice, because of the negative attitudes of their male partners and the elders' resistance to change, owing to their cultural beliefs. Participants agreed that the programme provided adequate knowledge about HIV, modes of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and how to prevent it. Conclusion: The high level of knowledge among the participants could be attributed to the counselling and health talk sessions offered by clinic staff.


This research builds upon a body of previous research on health informatics in developing countries. Early research on this area was motivated by a desire to understand the role of different health informatics applications for an effective and
efficient health care delivery in developing countries. These applications range from the use of medical expert systems for clinical diagnosis to epidemiological systems at the central level. None of these looked at health information systems at the district level, especially in relation to the information needs of district health staff.
Therefore, this research differs from earlier studies in three aspects. First, it looks at the planning and decision-making processes at the district level and how information support could play a crucial role in these processes. Second, it provides a critical evaluation of the existing vertical reporting systems, and through action-research demonstrates the use of an integrated health information system at the district level.
Third, it applies multiple perspectives to analyse the research findings in relation to information support for district health care planning and decision making. These three perspectives are the functional perspective, organisational perspective, and the political perspective.
To achieve this, the research:
• uses a systemic approach to examine the health care system in The Gambia;
• uses action-research to design, develop and implement an integrated district health information system in The Gambia;
• uses an interpretive evaluation framework to evaluate the impact of the system development efforts in this research;
• uses the theory of contextualism to reflect on the research findings over the three year period.
Various themes emerged during the research. These themes would be introduced here as the contributions to knowledge arising from the completion of this research project.
These include:
• a demonstration of the suitability of using a systemic approach for the design, development and implementation of an integrated information system for district health care planning and decision making;
• the development of a conceptual implementation framework suitable for the unique characteristics of developing countries;
• a manifestation of the implications of an integrated information system for management development, decentralisation, intersectoral coordination and community participation at the district level;
• suggestions for further work especially on the need to evaluate the socio-political impact of this research on the existing political and cultural structures in The Gambia.


This paper specifically develops the economic rationale for expanding and strengthening Ireland's freedom of information (FOI) laws. The first aim of the paper is to demonstrate that the fees regime does not lead to any cost recovery and is in fact likely to add to total administrative costs. The second of this paper is to comprehensively defeat the argument - which is aired from time to time - that Ireland's freedom of information law is 'expensive' or a luxury that could be dispensed with. The paper will illustrate how FOI has in all probability saved significant sums of money for the public. The third aim of the paper is to show that FOI is essential if Irish enterprises are to exploit the business potential of reusing public data, a market which has an estimated value of €83-€399 million per annum.