Purpose: Whilst early progressive mobilization is known to be safe and beneficial for patients in an intensive care unit (ICU), barriers still exist to its implementation. As part of a broader quality improvement project that had the overall aim of increasing the frequency of mobilization in our ICU, we conducted a survey of ICU staff to investigate their perceptions of the barriers to the early progressive mobilization of ICU patients. Method: A prospective survey of ICU staff in an Australian, tertiary care, public hospital ICU was undertaken. A total of 93 medical, nursing, and physiotherapy staff participated. A purpose-designed survey that investigated staff perceptions of the barriers to the early progressive mobilization of ICU patients was developed. The survey predominantly comprised closed statements requiring responses using a visual analogue scale. Barriers to early progressive mobilization were separated into three sections: patient-related, institutional-related, and other barriers. Results: Patient-related barriers were generally perceived as having the greatest influence on the mobilization of ICU patients, followed closely by institutional-related barriers. The factors that were perceived as most frequently preventing mobilization were hemodynamic instability, reduced level of consciousness, sedation, agitation, impending medical procedure, staff availability, and time constraints. Conclusions: ICU staff perceived that barriers to the early progressive mobilization of ICU patients were multifactorial and most frequently involved patients' medical condition and resource limitations.


A profound and deeply personal collection of essays by renowned psychologist Carl Rogers The late Carl Rogers, founder of the humanistic psychology movement and father of client-centered therapy, based his life's work on his fundamental belief in the human potential for growth. "A Way of Being" was written in the early 1980s, near the end of Carl Rogers's career, and serves as a coda to his classic "On Becoming a Person." More philosophical than his earlier writings, it traces his professional and personal development and ends with a prophetic call for a more humane future."


The urban misdemeanor process employs a wide variety of informal aggregations. Order maintenance police arrest large numbers of people based on neighborhood and group generalizations. Prosecutors and public defenders negotiate entire classes of minor plea bargains quickly and generically, and the vast majority of defendants plead guilty without scrutiny of their cases. Urban courts process hundreds of cases en masse. At each stage, the pressure to aggregate weakens and sometimes eliminates individuated scrutiny of defendants and the evidence in their cases; people are largely evaluated, convicted, and punished by category and based on institutional habit. This wholesale process of creating criminal convictions in the aggregate is in deep tension with core precepts of criminal law, most fundamentally the idea that criminal guilt is an individuated concept reflecting the defendant's personal culpability. This Article traces the influence of different sorts of aggregation through each step of the urban misdemeanor process, demonstrating how that process has effectively abandoned the individuated model of guilt and lost many of the essential characteristics of a "criminal" system of legal judgment. It then explores civil scholarship's insights into the substantive power that informal aggregations can exert over liability rules and outcomes, in particular how mass settlement scenarios can effectively create no fault liability regimes with high risks of fraud. The Article concludes that the misdemeanor system as it currently stands should be reconceptualized as not entirely criminal in nature.


On the basis of a brief reconstruction of the causes and impacts of the euro crisis, this paper explores, counterfactually and hypothetically, whether the new euro regime, insisting on fiscal austerity and supply-side reforms, could have prevented the rise of the crisis or is able to deal with its disastrous economic and social impact. A comparison with the likely impact of transfer-based Keynesian reflation suggests that, in both cases, economic success is uncertain, while both approaches are likely to produce severely negative side-effects. In light of such dismal policy choices, attempts to politicize European election campaigns are more likely to provoke unmanageable policy conflict than to overcome the input-oriented, democratic deficit of European economic governance.


This article investigates whether expectations about discourse genre influence the process and products of text comprehension. Ss read texts either with a literary story or with a news story as the purported genre. Subsequently, they verified statements pertaining to the texts. Two experiments demonstrated that Ss reading under a literary perspective had longer reading times, better memory for surface information, and a poorer memory for situational information than those reading under a news perspective. Regression analyses of reading times produced findings that were consistent with the memory data. The results support the notion that readers differentially allocate their processing resources according to their expectations about the genre of a text


Nurse scheduling is a complex combinatorial optimization problem. With increasing healthcare costs, and a shortage of trained staff it is becoming increasingly important for hospital management to make good operational decisions. A major element of hospital expenditure is staff cost. In order to help Kajang Hospital to make decisions about staffing and work scheduling, a simulation model was created to analyse the impact of alternate work schedules and investigate the optimum balance between the staffing levels of the ward and the ability to achieve good quality schedules. In this paper, we extend our novel approach to solve the nurse scheduling problem by transforming it through Information Granulation. This approach satisfies the rules of a typical hospital environment based on a real data set benchmark problem from Kajang Hospital. Generating good work schedules has a great influence on nurses` working condition which is strongly related to the level of a quality health care. Domain transformation is an approach to solving complex problems that relies on well-justified simplification of the original problem. Solution of such a simplified problem and subsequent refinement of this solution to compensate for the simplifications introduced in the first step. Compared to conventional methods, our approach involves judicious grouping (information granulation) of shifts types' that transforms the original problem into a smaller solution domain. Later these schedules from the smaller problem domain are converted back into the original problem domain by taking into account the constraints that could not be represented in the smaller domain. An Integer Programming (IP) is formulated to solve the transformed scheduling problem by expending the branch and bound algorithm. We have used the GNU Octave, open source mathematical modelling and simulation software for Windows to solve this problem. Results from simulations on real data problem sets for a typical hospital in Malaysia shows that this algorithm facilitated computation of feasible schedules in a short time with non-critical constraints being satisfied to a large degree. The resulting solutions facilitated cost benefit analysis of different staffing levels.


As part of the UCLA Law Review's Symposium on The Safeguards of Our Constitutional Republic, this Article argues that it is a mistake to fixate on courts as the core safeguard in the modern administrative state. So much of administrative law happens without courts. Put differently, federal agencies regulate us in many meaningful, and sometimes frightening, ways that either evade judicial review entirely or are at least substantially insulated from such review. This Article surveys the phenomenon. It sketches out seven categories of such agency action, drawing on examples from both the Obama and Trump Administrations and highlighting some of the relevant scholarship. The Article concludes with a few observations concerning the implications of administrative law without courts for administrative law theory and doctrine and a call for more scholarly attention.


The article focuses on the differences in political participation among post-communist countries. First, it explores the variation in the level of political participation among post-communist states. Second, it deals with the differences in the determinants that account for political participation in individual countries. The second objective is met by introducing a three-dimensional explanatory model of political participation: individual resources, motivations, and social networks. In an empirical analysis political participation in nine post-communist countries is examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2004. Results show that the countries under study vary in the level of political participation both at the aggregate and individual levels. The most active citizens are in the former East Germany and Slovakia. Polish and Hungarian citizens participate in politics the least. Further, two modes of political participation – protest activity and contacting – are identified and used as dependent variables in further analysis. In the second part of the article, the explanatory model is tested against data from individual countries. The analysis shows that there is a difference in the factors that account for political participation in various post-communist countries. Generally, the three-level model of political participation works best in Hungary, Bulgaria, and East Germany. It explains very little variation in Russia and Poland.


Concerns about changes in the quality of the maturing British spruce resource (principally stiffness) have raised doubts about maintaining strength grading pass-rates. Acoustic (or stress wave) instruments provide a non-destructive measurement of stiffness and are increasingly used to classify/segregate forests, trees and logs. A fundamental assumption in the use of acoustic instruments is that of constant density, yet there is little understanding of density variation within the British spruce resource. Understanding this variation is essential for understanding the accuracy of acoustic instruments, which can affect how and when they should be used. The extent of variation in density was determined experimentally from a range of sites with contrasting silviculture and environments, and trees within-site were chosen to reflect the extremes of growth rate. Variation within tree (important for log resonance measurement) was found to depend both on dominance class (i.e. relative diameter) and height within the tree. The density in the outer part of a tree (important for standing tree time of flight measurement) was found to vary with dominance class, distance in from the bark and season. Mean green density profiles of the outer part of the tree show that density ceases to be constant between dominance classes after 10 mm
in from the bark. The effect of this variation could not be quantified because the propagation behaviour of the stress wave within a tree is not fully understood. An examination of wave propagation showed that it did not conform to
behaviour as described in the literature and interaction with both density variation within the tree and with the tree's boundaries is likely to affect the accuracy of this technique. The utilisation of these instruments was also examined within a sawmill simulation study, to provide an alternative to simply
diverting low stiffness logs to lower value, non-structural products. Exploiting the predictable within-tree stiffness variation and adjusting cutting patterns to avoid the lower stiffness core of lower stiffness logs allowed production of
consistently higher stiffness battens. A reduction in twist and knot severity was also observed, but not at significant levels until the juvenile zone (first ten years) was completely excluded. All batten properties improved with increasing
cambial age (number of growth rings from the pith). Alternative cutting patterns had no effect on the recoverable batten volume from within a log and showed considerable potential to improve value to sawmills.


OBJECTIVE
Stent-graft repair may emerge as a first-line therapy for acute complicated type B dissection(C-TBD), while debate continues over thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for uncomplicated type B aortic dissection (U-TBD). Aggressive medical therapy, which confers a 1-year survival rate of 80-90%, is deemed appropriate for most of these patients. However, it is reported that aortic complications occur in ≤ 50% patients within 5 years after surgery. Subgroups of patients with U-TBD may benefit from early stent-graft placement, but identification of these patients remains difficult. Therefore, we assessed the predictors of chronic aortic events associated with U-TBD.

METHODS
Between January 2001 and April 2012, 49 patients diagnosed with communicating U-TBD without aneurysm formation were admitted to our hospital. These patients were divided into 2 groups:group AC (n=25) with chronic aortic complications (aneurysm formation, aortic diameter expansion of 5 mm/0.5 year, re-dissection, and rupture) and group NC (n=24)with no aortic complications. We assessed and compared patient profiles and imaging findings between the 2 groups.

RESULTS
Aortic diameter ≥ 40 mm was more often seen in group AC than in group NC (p=0.018). In addition, intimal tear in the distal arch was more often seen in group AC than in group NC ( p=0.002). Initial aortic diameter was significantly larger in group AC than in group NC (p=0.004). There was no significant difference in the length of communicating false lumen between the 2 groups ( p=0.107).

CONCLUSIONS
Early endovascular intervention may be appropriate for U-TBD in cases displaying an initial aortic diameter ≥ 40 mm and an initial tear in the distal arch. It is expected that randomized studies, including ADSOAB study (a study on the efficacy of endovascular grafting in uncomplicated acute dissection of the descending aorta.), will resolve the limitations of our retrospective study.


This book draws on ideas from philosophical logic, computational logic, multi-agent systems, and game theory to offer a comprehensive account of logic and games viewed in two complementary ways. It examines the logic of games: the development of sophisticated modern dynamic logics that model information flow, communication, and interactive structures in games. It also examines logic as games: the idea that logical activities of reasoning and many related tasks can be viewed in the form of games. In doing so, the book takes up the "intelligent interaction" of agents engaging in competitive or cooperative activities and examines the patterns of strategic behavior that arise. It develops modern logical systems that can analyze information-driven changes in players' knowledge and beliefs, and introduces the "Theory of Play" that emerges from the combination of logic and game theory. This results in a new view of logic itself as an interactive rational activity based on reasoning, perception, and communication that has particular relevance for games. Logic in Games, based on a course taught by the author at Stanford University, the University of Amsterdam, and elsewhere, can be used in advanced seminars and as a resource for researchers.


Denis de Rougement, in his classic opus Love in the Western World argues that the West was unique in its paradoxical modeling of the relationship between passionate love and marriage; "Since its origins in the twelfth century passionate love was constituted in hostility to marriage." This articles explores this hypothesis by comparing the French legend of Tristan of Yseult and the Russian legend of Peter and Fevronia of Murom. The contrast between the two stories can be analyzed in terms of the tension between Eros and Agape, between a fatal/passionate love in which the individual defies society - narrowing it down to the point of one irreducible and a companionate love, which embeds the individual in an ever-widening network of community made up of friends, relations, descendants. The article concludes on Anna Karenina. There Tolstoy presents a new variation on the theme of passion love and marriage - a synthesis demonstrating the effects of Westernization on traditional Russian culture, and one much clo...


Two research questions guided this study: (1) Which barriers to daily life are faced by undocumented Latina mothers in Kentucky; and (2) What resources and strategies do they employ to navigate these barriers? Extant research reviewed has characterized this segment of the population as highly stressed victims of multiple levels of subjugation. Ten undocumented immigrant mothers from Guatemala and Mexico residing in Kentucky were interviewed for this phenomenological study and their responses analyzed using the frameworks of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. As predicted, themes of family separation, difficulties to be able to work, and living without health insurance emerged as major barriers to daily life. However, findings also included themes of personal growth, ingenuity, and positive attitudes to life in the


Volume I: Molecules and Cells This volume is the first to lay down a solid foundation for the study of biological organisation at the molecular level using a theoretical approach. Physiological phenomena are explained with mathematical principles, building up a novel theory for biological integration. The volume describes the relationship between the structure of biological macromolecules and the molecular mechanisms of the functioning organism: the regulatory role through inhibition and competition and the catalytic role. It takes issue with the major problem of molecular self organisation of biological systems from a general standpoint as well as from the point of view of information theory. The example used is the DNA replication-translation apparatus of a cell. There is an apparent evolution towards a greater complexity, which comes through an increase in the degree of self organisation and a greater stability in the organism which is studied in detail. The volume finishes with the organisation at the cellular level and the central problem of cell differentiation and its relationships with the physiological functions of the cell, emphasising the concepts of cell morphogenesis, growth, division and cell differentiation. Volume II: Tissues and Organs In the same way that Volume I studied the molecular basis of biological organisation, Volume II looks at the cellular and tissue organisation within the discipline of traditional physiology. In addition to addressing the problem of cell-to-cell transfer, the first step in the study of tissues, it provides a mathematical model for all the major physiological functions. The cell and its environment is discussed, with brief descriptions of the plasma membrane and cell junctions. The trans-membrane transport is explained using the thermodynamic theory. The carrier concept and its influence on the calculation of membrane potential is developed as is the Goldman equation and various current theories of membrane excitability. Energy metabolism and digestive function, are covered looking closely at muscular contraction, heat transfer and the respiratory and renal apparatus. Mechanical and electrophysiological aspects of the cardiovascular system are discussed and special attention is paid to the important metabolic phenomena of microcirculation. The concepts of non-symmetry and non-locality are also introduced and the reader is pointed to several useful appendices covering fundamental flow equations, elements of tensor calculus and polar and cylindrical co-ordinate systems. Volume III: Organisation and Regulation The aim of the third and final volume in this set is to demonstrate the fundamental role of the hierarchical functional organization in the process of control and regulation of the whole organism. Here too the author has concentrated on the methodologies that are likely to lead to a general formalization of current physiological knowledge. The endocrine and nervous systems are discussed, the former in terms of certain molecular mechanisms of hormonal action with several hormonal axes being considered. The latter is studied through several theories concerning neurons, interneuronal relationships and neuronal networks. Here, perhaps more than elsewhere, the notion of underlying functional organization is very useful. The integrated regulation of an organism is charted, looking at the four major physiological functions: digestion, respiration, blood circulation and renal function. The volume also points the reader to the expected development of these ideas in the future, investigating the principle of vital coherence and showing that the organism is a highly stable integrated entity in which all the functions are closely related.


In the multi-armed bandit literature, the multibandit best-arm identification problem consists of determining each best arm in a number of disjoint groups of arms, with as few total arm pulls as possible. In this paper, we introduce a variant of the multi-bandit problem with overlapping groups, and present two algorithms for this problem based on successive elimination and lower/upper confidence bounds (LUCB). We bound the number of total arm pulls required for high-probability best-arm identification in every group, and we complement these bounds with a near-matching algorithm-independent lower bound.


This paper examines the relative sensitivity of CEO compensation of both acquiring and acquired firms in the top 30 U.S. largest corporate acquisitions in each year for the period of 2003 to 2012. We find that total compensation and bonus granted to executive compensation for acquired companies, not acquiring companies, are significantly related to the amount of acquisition deal even after the size and firm performance are controlled for. Both acquiring and acquired CEOs are found to make the significantly higher compensation than the matched sample firms in the same industry and calendar year. We also find that executives with higher managerial power, as measured by a lower salary-based compensation mix, prior to a corporate acquisition are more likely to receive a higher executive pay in the year of acquisition. The association between executive compensation and managerial power seems to be stronger for acquired firms than for acquiring firms in corporate acquisition. Overall, our findings suggest that corporate acquisition has higher impacts on executive compensation for acquired firm CEOs than for acquiring firm CEOs.


Ethylene–(vinyl alcohol) (EVOH)/organo-modified montmorillonite clay (OMMT) composites were prepared using commercial OMMTs with two different organo-modifiers. The first one has polar groups, which interact with EVOH chains, whereas the second one is non-polar. Composites with a high weight percentage of OMMT were prepared by melt-extrusion in a twin-screw extruder. Films were prepared in a cast-film line in order to evaluate the tensile and fracture parameters. The morphology of the EVOH/OMMT composites was characterized using wide-angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy, complemented by image analysis. The mechanical properties were evaluated using uniaxial tensile tests; the fracture behaviour was analysed using the essential work of fracture (EWF) method. Results show differences in composite morphologies and crystalline fraction, depending on the content and the nature of the organo-modifier. The mechanical and fracture behaviours are strongly influenced by those parameters, which act in opposite senses. The EWF method is shown to be a useful tool for the analysis of the structure–properties relationships of these composites


The field of educational administration (EA) is characterized by loose scholarly boundaries that enable the permeation of new sorts of knowledge, resulting in some intellectual confusion. The purpose of this article is to probe into the kind of knowledge base in the field that every new scholar should know and read in order to become an expert in the EA field, one who contributes to its knowledge production and academic programs. What is the basic knowledge every emergent scholar in the EA field should be familiar with, regardless of his/her main discipline? In other words, I wonder what sort of knowledge a new field member whose education is in business administration, psychology of organizations, or sociology of education should acquire in order to be competent enough to teach in EA programs or supervise PhD students in this field. My rejoinder is built on the following steps.
 Emergent EA scholars should realize that the connections between input-process and output are weak in the instructional aspects of the school organization. Emergent scholars trained in another discipline may continue teaching and analyzing educational administration from theoretical and conceptual perspectives that are alien to the basic characteristics of the school organization. Emergent scholars should not only know how to apply models such as transformational and participative leadership to educational institutions, but also comprehend the distinctive meanings of these models in schools. Emergent scholars should be familiar with models that seem to be particular to educational organization such as moral leadership, shared leadership, leadership for social justice, and distributed leadership.


Hyaluronic acid (HA)-based (sub)micron hydrogel particles were synthesized by crosslinking virgin HA with divinyl sulfone (DVS) in sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) reverse micelle systems under basic conditions. Experimental parameters including HA molecular weight, solution concentration, and reaction time were systematically varied in order to obtain well defined hydrogel particles. The use of a cosurfactant, 1-heptanol (1-HP), had a profound effect on the reaction kinetics and the particle morphology. The resulting particles exhibit negative charges on their surfaces. In vitro biocompatibility study indicates that these particles do not cause severe death to the cultured fibroblasts. These HA-based hydrogel particles are promising candidates for use in drug delivery.


Accompanying the legitimization process of the carioca samba during the first three decades of the 20th Century, the author investigates how this rhythm gradually has gone from black ghettos to a national sphere. Such process was conflicting and ambiguous for being attached to Brazil's social recognition of black people. Therefore, if the rhythm was the same, its meaning and usage were diverse. The elites' esthetic sensitivity split during the period of time that referred to tath popular music, which has provoked an oscillation between recognition and rejection. This double perspective is related to one of the intellectuals' and governors' great dilemmas concerning the constitution of a political body in the First Republic. If, on one hand, the social Darwinist criteria were obstacles preventing the incorporation of black people in the public sphere, on the other, the black cultural traditions - set aside as a sign of "decadence" - had already become a national exponent. Finally, it is investigated how this dilemma showed no results in attempting to create a popular symbolization during the First Republic towards its political legitimacy.


Abstract Background One of the most commonly cited rationales for inclusive education is to enable the development of quality relationships with typically developing peers. Relatively few researchers have examined the features of the range of relationships that children with developmental disability form in inclusive school settings. Method Interviews were conducted with 25 children with developmental disability, aged 5 and 12 years, their 3 closest peers, and parents and teachers to examine 6 types of relationships. Results Behaviours associated with general friendship and acquaintance were the most commonly reported. Few dyads reported high rates of behaviour associated with special treatment, helping, ignoring, or intimate best friend relationships. Conclusions The relationships of the majority of dyads were characterised by friendship or acceptance, but evidence of more intimate relationships was limited. An important direction for future research is the examination of ways to encourage more intimate relationships.


This document presents the details of the inorganic and organic analysis that was performed on samples from the headspace of Hanford waste tank 241-U-111. The results described were obtained to support the safety and toxicological evaluations. A summary of the results for the inorganic and organic analytes is included, as well as, a detailed description of the results which appears in the text.


The recommendation to establish a Youth Guarantee was adopted by the Council in April 2013 in response to unprecedented levels of youth unemployment, which reached 23.5 per cent in Europe at the end of 2012, rising to more than 50 per cent in some countries. The European Youth Guarantee is a commitment by Member States to ensure that all young people receive a good offer of apprenticeship, training, continued education or employment that is suited to their abilities and experience within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education. The Youth Guarantee is one of the most innovative labour market policies of recent years, and has received strong social support. Indeed, it arrived at a moment when an urgent and radical response was needed to address the detrimental long-lasting consequences of long-term unemployment, such as permanent future income losses, skills erosion and the increased risk of discouragement and inactivity. The aim of this article is to examine the main features of this programme, with a special focus on the factors that are key to its success, namely: early intervention, identification of the right target groups, good institutional frameworks, high quality programmes and sufficient resources. In particular, we assess the extent to which these factors are embedded into the various implementation plans published by the European countries in question. Our analysis shows that although the majority of implementation plans include the recommended combination of capacity building and employment intermediation measures, as well as the creation of adequate institutional frameworks, countries' allocation of resources for the programmes as reported in their implementation plans is not sufficient to match the recommendations. In fact, this article estimates that the gap accumulated by countries analysed that reported less than what is recommended to achieve the desired objective of reducing youth unemployment, amounts to 7.3 billion euros (PPP).


Passive ocean color images have provided a sustained synoptic view of the distribution of ocean optical properties and color and biogeochemical parameters for the past twenty-plus years. These images have revolutionized our view of the ocean. Remote sensing of ocean color has relied on measurements of the radiance emerging at the top of the atmosphere, thus neglecting the polarization and the vertical components. Ocean color remote sensing utilizes the intensity and spectral variation of visible light scattered upward from beneath the ocean surface to derive concentrations of biogeochemical constituents and inherent optical properties within the ocean surface layer. However these measurements have some limitations. Specifically, the measured property is a only weighted-integrated values over from a relatively shallow depth, the measurements provide no information during the night and retrieval are compromised by clouds, absorbing aerosols and low Sun zenithal angles. In addition, ocaen color data provide limited information on the morphology and size distribution of marine particles. Major advances in our understanding of global ocean ecosystems will require measurements from new technologies, specifically lidar and polarimetry. These new techniques have been widely used for atmospheric applications but have not had as much as interest from the ocean color community. This is due to many factors including limited access to in-situ instruments and/or space-borne sensors and lack of attention in university courses and ocean science summer schools curricula. However, lidar and polarimetry technology will provide an complement to standard ocean color products by providing depth-resolved values of attenuation and scattering parameters and additional information about particles morphology and chemical composition. This review aims at presenting the basics of these techniques, examples of applications and at advocating for the development of in-situ and space-borne sensors. Recommendations are provided on actions that would foster the embrace of lidar and polarimetry as powerful remote sensing tools by the ocean science community.


OBJECTIVES
We compared childbirth-related outcomes for Medicaid recipients who received prenatal education and childbirth support from trained doulas with outcomes from a national sample of similar women and estimated potential cost savings.

METHODS
We calculated descriptive statistics for Medicaid-funded births nationally (from the 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample; n = 279,008) and births supported by doula care (n = 1079) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2010 to 2012; used multivariate regression to estimate impacts of doula care; and modeled potential cost savings associated with reductions in cesarean delivery for doula-supported births.

RESULTS
The cesarean rate was 22.3% among doula-supported births and 31.5% among Medicaid beneficiaries nationally. The corresponding preterm birth rates were 6.1% and 7.3%, respectively. After control for clinical and sociodemographic factors, odds of cesarean delivery were 40.9% lower for doula-supported births (adjusted odds ratio = 0.59; P < .001). Potential cost savings to Medicaid programs associated with such cesarean rate reductions are substantial but depend on states' reimbursement rates, birth volume, and current cesarean rates.

CONCLUSIONS
State Medicaid programs should consider offering coverage for birth doulas to realize potential cost savings associated with reduced cesarean rates.


The focus of this study was to examine the experiences of two past participants of an athletespecific drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Researchers have discussed the vulnerability of an athlete population and prevalence of substance use among athletes (e.g., Turrisi, Mastroleo, Mallett, Larimer, & Kilmer, 2007; Martens, Watson, Royland, & Beck, 2005). Some rehabilitation programs and specific approaches to treating substance abuse in athletes have started to emerge and are beginning to be discussed in the literature (Donahue et al., 2014). However, there remains a gap in the research of studies examining the experiences of these athletes who have been going through such programs. The present study aimed to understand the benefits and pitfalls of this specific athlete rehabilitation program. Higher order themes that emerged were overall benefits of attending this program, recommendations of what could improve, and the lessons that were learned throughout the program. Lower order themes for benefits included: athlete culture, improved performance, and a new relationship with substances; lower order themes for room for improvement were: missed opportunities, staff and participants, and analytical data; and the lower order themes for lessons learned included a new way of life and awareness. The study also has implications for what may be important for future providers and program designers to consider when tailoring substance abuse treatment to athletes.


Late adolescence is a critical time in the formation of a young person's sense of self with studies pointing to the senior secondary drama classroom as a generative space for this to occur. What is not yet clear is the importance of context, and particularly the powerful forces of neoliberal times, in shaping and potentially delimiting young people's explorations of gender and life trajectories. More specifically, through the texts students study and the characters they embody, personality and desires are moulded by capital in ways hidden from individual control.

Drawing on 15 drama teachers and 13 of their post compulsory students from government, Catholic and independent schools in Western Australia from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, this dissertation examines the formation of identity/ies in the context of students' embodiment of characters from proscribed texts in the senior secondary drama classroom and asks: how does the embodiment of characters in texts in year 12 drama empower and constrain adolescent becomings in contemporary times? Year 12 is the final year of schooling for students in Australia. Framed through a critical, post-humanist ethnographic methodology, the theories of Butler, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari are utilised to examine how these forces and "becoming," as a process of change and resistance, interact to create something new. Second, embodiment is considered through a neoliberal culture of competitive performativity, with gender considered third. Fourth, drama education and creativity are highlighted and linked in generative ways, with consideration then given to the ways that the contemporary zeitgeist impacts on drama education itself in uncertain times.

The study contributes to our understanding of neoliberal education systems, whilst focusing specifically on adolescent becomings in drama. The research revealed evidence of a culture of performativity in Western Australian drama education. This is manifest in fewer subject choices offered in schools that limit drama's availability, "data-driven" curriculum implementation, mechanisms of surveillance of teachers, and deleterious effects on students and teachers in schools from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds. Nevertheless, despite a pervasive culture of performative neoliberalism, teachers and students find creative lines of flight from normative educational structures and gender binaries in the safe and open space of the drama classroom.


Abstract New York by 1850 was the leading U.S. city in population, trade, industry, and culture. Its many public musical offerings took place in the evenings, requiring women to have escorts for safety and respectability, and limiting their attendance opportunities. Beginning in 1847 with the New York Philharmonic9s opening of daytime rehearsals to women, matinee performances gradually proliferated, extending women9s access to opera, concert, and musical theater and transforming audiences from male to mainly female by century9s end. The process increased women9s access to public spaces for music, changed theaters from male clubs to women-friendly venues, and furthered the education of women as amateur musicians and of those newly empowered to become professionals. Freedom to attend musical events became part of the growing consumer culture, which also brought women out of the home. These profound changes took place in the context of the first American women9s movement, 1848––1920. While of far less significance than the vote or control of their own resources, matinees brought women out of domestic confinement to freer access to the public life of the city. That in turn encouraged women to imagine, and some to achieve, public lives.


We obtained spectroscopic observations of Pluto and Charon recorded on August 12, 2001 with NIRSPEC (Keck I) spanning 2.8 to 3.7 microns with a sub-Earth longitude of 198 degrees. These data have a spectral resolution of 350 and a signal-to-noise ratio of 5 to 25 per spectral element. In the past year, we have added the ability to model spectra with Hapke's formalism for 2-layer surfaces. We find that a geographic mixture of 20 percent pure methane and 80 percent methane diluted in nitrogen fits the Keck data from 2.8 to 3.6 microns. While Doute et al. (1999, Icarus 142, 421) found an areal component of 12 percent fine-grained nitrogen ice was consistent with Pluto's spectrum from 1.4 to 2.5 micron, we find a three-sigma upper limit of 6 percent fine-grained nitrogen ice based on the dark albedo of Pluto's 3.3-micron methane feature. We expanded our wavelength coverage by including shorter wavelength spectroscopy recorded with SpeX on the IRTF at a similar sub-Earth longitude (July 16-17, 2002). The 3.3-micron methane feature is considerably darker than the methane bands around 2.35 microns. It is not possible to simultaneously fit both these features using only combinations of pure methane, methane diluted in nitrogen and pure nitrogen, but we find a much improved fit by including a 20 percent areal fraction of tholin (Khare et al. 1984, Icarus 60, 127). This may not be a unique solution; other species (which we have not yet modeled) may also improve the fit. Future work will include modeling other laboratory tholins and water ice. This work was supported by NASA's Planetary Astronomy Program NAG5-12516 and the NSF Life in Extreme Enviroments Program AST-0085614.


The constant progress of medical science has made it necessary to specialize on various fields. There are now many new disciplines in internal medicine and surgery. However, some beliefs continue with little change despite this specialization. A good example to these is considering allergy first in patients with significant eosinophilia or high IgE levels. In this article, we discuss the differential diagnosis of high IgE levels with information on the causes, when it should be investigated, and the relevant clinical findings and evaluations.


This thesis is a study of audio technology community discourse and its historical features. I contend that the audio technology domain is fundamentally exclusive and hierarchically stratified, based on discursively inscribed prerequisites to participation and enunciation, notably a hegemonic masculine performance, gear fetishism and the articulation of technical knowledge. I show that communities organised around audio technology, socially construct and perpetuate these features as components of their respective discourses. I expose all three elements to be rooted in culturally embedded gender stereotypes, dating back to a nineteenth century dichotomy of public and private space.
I present a deconstruction of the complex discursive performances of masculinity and offer opportunities for privileged masculine recordists to critically reflect upon their dominance and homogeneity within the domain as an original contribution to knowledge. In this endeavour, I investigate the emergence and development of exclusive tropes as components of audio technology culture, and demonstrate how they continue to be perpetuated in the face of both social and technological developments that offer possibilities to destratify the community hierarchy and enunciative function.
My methodology is based on a comparative discourse analysis of industry and academic texts, as well as the communities that surround and influence the construction of modern audio technology discourse. Case studies are conducted of two leading industry publications: Tape Op and Sound On Sound, and supplemented by an exploration of Women's Audio Mission. I combine these sources with interview material gathered from relevant industry professionals. In doing so, I observe how the audio technology community has maintained barriers to participation, often in the face of technological progress that offers supposed opportunities for democratisation. My work presents an argument against this notion, exposing the supposed democratisation as an illusion of accessibility and thus as mere massification.


We study the joint distribution of descents and inverse descents over the set of permutations of $n$ letters. Gessel conjectured that the two-variable generating function of this distribution can be expanded in a given basis with nonnegative integer coefficients. We investigate the action of the Eulerian operators that give the recurrence for these generating functions. As a result we devise a recurrence for the coefficients in question but are unable to settle the conjecture. We examine generalizations of the conjecture and obtain a type $B$ analog of the recurrence satisfied by the two-variable generating function. We also exhibit some connections to cyclic descents and cyclic inverse descents. Finally, we propose a combinatorial model for the joint distribution of descents and inverse descents in terms of statistics on inversion sequences.


© Simon Bell and Stephen Morse, 2008. All rights reserved.Praise for the first edition: 'This book should be of interest to anyone interested in sustainable development, and especially sustainability indicators. Bell and Morse easily succeed in exposing the fundamental paradoxes of these concepts and, more importantly, they offer us a way forward. Readers … will find their practical recommendations for those attempting to do sustainability analysis in the field most welcome, which is also the book's greatest strength.' Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 'This book makes a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of using indicators for sustainability. It introduces systems ideas and a range of tools and techniques that have the potential to broaden and deepen our understanding of a whole range of complex situations. Well worth a closer look.' Christine Blackmore, Open University 'This is a book that explores new ways of thinking about how to measure sustainability… It offers stimulating food for thought for environmental educators and researchers.' Environmental Education Research 'This book tells me, as an SI 'practitioner', where I have been and why, and more importantly how I should be thinking in order to effectively present to and empower the local community in the years ahead.' David Ellis, Principal Pollution Monitoring Officer, Norwich City Council 'A practical guide to the development of sustainability indicators which offers a systemic and participative way to use them at local scale. Our preliminary results are highly positive and the approach is applicable in many contexts.' Elisabeth Coudert, Programme Officer Prospective and Regional Development, Blue Plan The groundbreaking first edition of Sustainability Indicators reviewed the development and value of sustainability indicators and discussed the advantage of taking a holistic and qualitative approach rather than focusing on strictly quantitative measures. In the new edition the authors bring the literature up to date and show that the basic requirement for a systemic approach is now well grounded in the evidence. They examine the origins and development of Systemic Sustainability Analysis (SSA) as a theoretical approach to sustainability which has been developed in practice in a number of countries on an array of projects since the first edition. They look at how SSA has evolved into the practical approaches of Systemic Prospective Sustainability Analysis (SPSA) and IMAGINE, and, in particular, how a wide range of participatory methodologies have been adopted over the years. They also provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of projects that undertake work in the general field of sustainable development.


BACKGROUND
Surgery is occasionally necessary in patients with congenital coagulation disorders. Major surgery for patients with haemophilia was not being done in India until recently. This paper reports the experience of a single referral centre.

METHODS
The data of 52 patients who were operated upon were collected from the hospital records retrospectively between 1984 and 1986 and prospectively thereafter. They included the surgical procedure performed, replacement therapy used and complications encountered.

RESULTS
Fifty-nine procedures were performed of which 26 were major, 30 minor and 3 were diagnostic angiograms. Blood components produced in the hospital blood bank were commonly used for replacement and primary haemostasis was achieved in all patients. Delayed bleeding due to inadequate factor levels occurred in 12 procedures and was controlled by increasing the factor replacement. One patient died of suspected acute myocardial ischaemia.

CONCLUSION
In India surgical procedures can be safely performed in patients with congenital coagulation disorders.


In this paper we present a novel method for non-linear shape optimization of 3d objects given by their surface representation. Our method takes advantage of the fact that various shape properties of interest give rise to underdetermined design spaces implying the existence of many good solutions. Our algorithm exploits this by performing iterative projections of the problem to local subspaces where it can be solved much more efficiently using standard numerical routines. We demonstrate how this approach can be utilized for various shape optimization tasks using different shape parameterizations. In particular, we show how to efficiently optimize natural frequencies, mass properties, as well as the structural yield strength of a solid body. Our method is flexible, easy to implement, and very fast.


Information Visualization (InfoVis) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) have strong ties with each other. Visualization supports the human cognitive system by providing interactive and meaningful images of the underlying data. On the other side, the HCI domain cares about the usability of the designed visualization from the human perspectives. Thus, designing a visualization system requires considering many factors in order to achieve the desired functionality and the system usability. Achieving these goals will help these people in understanding the inside behavior of complex data sets in less time.

Graphs are widely used data structures to represent the relations between the data elements in complex applications. Due to the diversity of this data type, graphs have been applied in numerous information visualization applications (e.g., state transition diagrams, social networks, etc.). Therefore, many graph layout algorithms have been proposed in the literature to help in visualizing this rich data type. Some of these algorithms are used to visualize large graphs, while others handle the medium sized graphs. Regardless of the graph size, the resulting layout should be understandable from the users' perspective and at the same time it should fulfill a list of aesthetic criteria to increase the representation readability. Respecting these two principles leads to produce a resulting graph visualization that helps the users in understanding and exploring the complex behavior of critical systems.

In this thesis, we utilize the graph visualization techniques in modeling the structural and behavioral aspects of embedded systems. Furthermore, we focus on evaluating the resulting representations from the users' perspectives.

The core contribution of this thesis is a framework, called ESSAVis (Embedded Systems Safety Aspect Visualizer). This framework visualizes not only some of the safety aspects (e.g. CFT models) of embedded systems, but also helps the engineers and experts in analyzing the system safety critical situations. For this, the framework provides a 2Dplus3D environment in which the 2D represents the graph representation of the abstract data about the safety aspects of the underlying embedded system while the 3D represents the underlying system 3D model. Both views are integrated smoothly together in the 3D world fashion. In order to check the effectiveness and feasibility of the framework and its sub-components, we conducted many studies with real end users as well as with general users. Results of the main study that targeted the overall ESSAVis framework show high acceptance ratio and higher accuracy with better performance using the provided visual support of the framework.

The ESSAVis framework has been designed to be compatible with different 3D technologies. This enabled us to use the 3D stereoscopic depth of such technologies to encode nodes attributes in node-link diagrams. In this regard, we conducted an evaluation study to measure the usability of the stereoscopic depth cue approach, called the stereoscopic highlighting technique, against other selected visual cues (i.e., color, shape, and sizes). Based on the results, the thesis proposes the Reflection Layer extension to the stereoscopic highlighting technique, which was also evaluated from the users' perspectives. Additionally, we present a new technique, called ExpanD (Expand in Depth), that utilizes the depth cue to show the structural relations between different levels of details in node-link diagrams. Results of this part opens a promising direction of the research in which visualization designers can get benefits from the richness of the 3D technologies in visualizing abstract data in the information visualization domain.

Finally, this thesis proposes the application of the ESSAVis frame- work as a visual tool in the educational training process of engineers for understanding the complex concepts. In this regard, we conducted an evaluation study with computer engineering students in which we used the visual representations produced by ESSAVis to teach the principle of the fault detection and the failure scenarios in embedded systems. Our work opens the directions to investigate many challenges about the design of visualization for educational purposes.


Clustered data, multiple observations collected on the same experimental unit, is common in epidemiological studies. Bivariate outcome data is often the result of interest in two correlated response variables. An efficient method is presented for dealing with bivariate outcomes when one outcome is continuous and the other is a count using a simple transformation to handle over-dispersed Poisson data. A multilevel analysis was performed on data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) with body mass index (BMI) and the number of cigarettes smoked per day (NCS) as responses. Results show that these random effects models yield misleading results in cases where the data is not transformed.


Each paper should commence with an accurate and informative abstract, written as a single paragraph. It should be complete in itself and intelligible without reference to the text or figures, and should not exceed 250 words. Tables. Tables should be reduced to the simplest form, and should not duplicate information in the text or figures. They should be typed on separate pages, one page for each Table, at the end of the article and carry headings describing their content. Illustrations. The original illustrations should accompany the submitted typescript. Text figures, line drawings, computer-generated figures and graphs should be of sufficient size and quality to allow for reduction by half or two-thirds. Half-tone photographs are acceptable where they clearly contribute to the text. All figures should be numbered and legends should be provided. Note that authors will be charged 350 GBP for the publication of colour figures. Authors from countries entitled to free journal access through HINARI will be exempt from these charges. References. References should be based on the numbered (Vancouver) system. When an article has more than ten authors, only the names of the first three should be given followed by et al.; give abbreviated journal titles and conform to the following styles: Goel V, Cheema SK, Agellon LB, Ooraikul B & Basu TK (1999) Dietary rhubabrb (Rheum rhaponticum) stalk fibre stimulates cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase gene expression and bile acid excretion in cholesterol-fed C57BL/6J mice. Br J Nutr 81, 65–71. Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Marchie A, et al. (2003) The effect of combining plant sterols, soy protein, viscous fibres, and almonds in treating hypercholesterolemia. Metabolism 52, 1478–1483. Brandtzaeg P (2003) Role of local immunity and breast-feeding in mucosal homoeostasis and defence against infections. In Nutrition and Immune Function, pp. 273–320 [PC Calder, CJ Field and HS Gill, editors]. Wallingford, Oxon: CAB International. Stock M & Rothwell NJ (1982) Obesity and Leanness: Basic Aspects. London: John Libbey. Citations should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text using superscript Arabic numerals in parentheses, e.g. 'The conceptual difficulty of this approach has recently been highlighted(1,2–4). If a reference is cited more than once the same number should be used each time. Referees. Authors are asked to submit the names of up to four scientists who would be well-qualified to review the paper; however, no more than one such reviewer will be used. The email addresses and institutions of the named reviewers should be given. Proofs. PDF page proofs will be emailed to authors for checking, and should be returned within 3 days (by fax or Express mail) to the BJN Production Editor, Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK; fax +44 1223 325802, email firstname.lastname@example.com Typescripts. The British Journal of Nutrition operates an on-line submission and reviewing system (eJournalPress). Authors should submit to the following address: http://bjn.msubmit.net/ If any difficulties are encountered please contact the Publications Office (details above) immediately. Professor Philip Calder Editor-in-Chief British Journal of Nutrition The Nutrition Society 10 Cambridge Court 210 Shepherds Bush Road London W6 7NJ UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7605 6555 Fax: +44 20 7602 1756 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com British Journal of Nutrition Directions to Contributors Concise Version (Revised August 2007) British Journal of Nutrition, published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Nutrition Society 2011© British Journal of Nutrition An International Journal of Nutritional Science Volume 105, 2011 ISSN: 0007-1145 Aims and Scope The British Journal of Nutrition is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing original papers, review articles, short communications and technical notes on human and clinical nutrition, animal nutrition and basic science as applied to nutrition. Correspondence is encouraged in a Nutrition Discussion Forum. The Journal recognizes the multidisciplinary nature of nutritional science and encourages the submission of material from all of the specialities involved in research and clinical practice. The Journal also publishes supplements on topics of particular interest. The British Journal of Nutrition is published twice monthly by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society. The British Journal of Nutrition is available online to subscribers at journals.cambridge.org/bjn Tables of contents and abstracts are available free at the same website.


Constructs of human-animal relational theory (HART) were investigated to determine how those constructs manifested in animal-assisted therapy in counseling (AAT-C) from the perspectives of 6 participants (2 counselors, females, ages 28 and 32, both non-Hispanic and White; 2 clients, male and female, ages 55 and 23, respectively, both non-Hispanic and White; and, 2 therapy animals, canines, Labrador retriever and spaniel mix, ages 4 and 5, respectively). Using constructivist-grounded theory, a research team analyzed qualitative data from observations, interviews, and field notes. From the iterative process of multiphasic coding and constant comparison, these findings emerged: (a) consistency between Chandler's (in press) constructs and participants' experiences of AAT-C, (b) more meaningful therapeutic impacts for clients from client-initiated human-animal relational processes (HARPs) than counselor-initiated HARPs, (c) development of rich definitions and descriptions of Chandler's constructs, and (d) descriptions of interactive experiences of AAT-C and client resistance in the context of HART. Clinicians and educators in the field of AAT can apply the processes, practices, and principles from this study in their work to enhance positive therapeutic impacts for clients. As Chandler's constructs were supported in this study, AAT authors and researchers can solve a glaring problem of inconsistent terminology in the AAT literature by using those constructs in future studies and publications as operationalized nomenclature for standardized AAT interventions.


The fpr gene, which encodes a ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase, is known to participate in the reversible redox reactions between NADP+/NADPH and electron carriers, such as ferredoxin or flavodoxin. The role of Fpr and its regulatory protein, FinR, in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 on the oxidative and osmotic stress responses has already been characterized [Lee at al. (2006). Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 339, 1246-1254]. In the genome of P. putida KT2440, another Fpr homolog (FprB) has a 35.3% amino acid identity with Fpr. The fprB gene was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The diaphorase activity assay was conducted using purified FprB to identify the function of FprB. In contrast to the fpr gene, the induction of fprB was not affected by oxidative stress agents, such as paraquat, menadione, H2O2 and t-butyl hydroperoxide. However, a higher level of fprB induction was observed under osmotic stress. Targeted disruption of fprB by homologous recombination resulted in a growth defect under high osmotic conditions. Recovery of oxidatively damaged aconitase activity was faster for the fprB mutant than for the fpr mutant, yet still slower than that for the wild type. Therefore, these data suggest that the catalytic function of FprB may have evolved to augment the function of Fpr in P. putida KT2440.


The purpose of this written report of my thesis is to discuss the visual element presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Fine Arts degree.  The objects in this visual presentation address our habits of mindless consumption by referencing the decorative style of the medieval feasting table while the idea of sustainable use and ecological stability is presented through the cohabitation of native and introduced species.  The plant and animal forms in this presentation are linked to the idea of consumption through the reference of traditional food vessels and are presented not as static objects but as vital beings.  This combination suggests a landscape of coexistence between our agricultural practices and regional organisms which will plant a seed of change in the mind of the viewer.


Brain metabolic mapping techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), can provide information about the functional interactions within entire neural systems. With the large quantity of data that can accumulate from a mapping study, a network analysis, which makes sense of the complex interactions among neural elements, is necessary. A network analysis was performed on data obtained from a PET study that examined both the changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and interregional correlations among human cortical areas during performance of an object vision (face matching) and spatial vision (dot- location matching) task. Brain areas for the network were selected based on regions showing significant rCBF or interregional correlations between tasks. Anterior temporal and frontal lobe regions were added to the network using a principal components analysis. Interactions among selected regions were quantified with structural equation modeling. In the structural equation models, connections between brain areas were based on known neuroanatomy and the interregional correlations were used to calculate path coefficients representing the magnitude of the influence of each directional path. The combination of the anatomical network and interregional correlations created a functional network for each task. The functional network for the right hemisphere showed that in the object vision task, dominant path influences were among occipitotemporal areas, while in the spatial vision task, occipitoparietal interactions were stronger. The network for the spatial vision task also had a strong feedback path from area 46 to occipital cortex, an effect that was absent in the object vision task. There were strong interactions between dorsal and ventral pathways in both networks. Functional networks for the left hemisphere did not differ between tasks. Networks for the interhemispheric interactions showed that the dominant pathway in the right hemisphere also had stronger effects on homologous left hemisphere areas and are consistent with a hypothesis that intrahemispheric interactions were greater in the right hemisphere in both tasks, and that these influences were transmitted callosally to the left hemisphere.


A complete characterization is given of the effects of homogeneous and inhomogeneous gain broadening on the mode-locking dynamics and stability of a laser operating simultaneously at N frequency channels. Using a low-dimensional model for the wavelength-division multiplexing interactions of the governing cubic-quintic master mode-locking equation, the interplay of the gain dynamics can be completely classified. This gives a simple way to characterize the laser performance and the parameter regimes under which stable multifrequency operation can be achieved. The analysis shows that a small amount of inhomogeneous gain broadening is critical for the multifrequency operation. The model further provides a simple framework for understanding the stability of mode-locked pulses at multiple frequencies, thus contributing to the characterization of the increasingly important and timely technology of dual-frequency and multifrequency mode-locked laser cavities.


The European Medicine Agency's draft policy on the publication of clinical trial data for consultation (POLICY/0070, EMA/240810/2013) is causing quite a stir. The draft policy provides for the publication of large parts of the clinical study reports included in a common technical document submission, along with the accompanying summary documents and overview. The varied stakeholders (pharmaceutical companies, patients) will have different opinions on the draft. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, a major representative of the pharmaceutical industry, have been particularly critical. While greater transparency is to be welcomed, inappropriate analyses of the data causing unwarranted public alarm and identification of anonymised information remain major concerns.


The key to many approaches to reason about pointer based data structures is the availability of a decision procedure to automatically discharge proof obligations in a theory encompassing data, pointers, and the reachability relation induced by pointers. So far, only approximate solutions have been proposed which abstract either the data or the reachability component. Indeed, such approximations cause a lack of precision in the verification techniques where the decision procedures are exploited. In this paper, we consider the pointer-based data structure of singly-linked lists and define a theory of linked lists (TLL). The theory is expressive since it is capable of precisely expressing both data and reachability constraints, while ensuring decidability. Furthermore, its decidability problem is NP-complete. We also design a practical decision procedure for TLL which can be combined with a wide range of available decision procedures for theories in first order logic


Interest in behavioral economics has grown in recent years, stimulated largely by accumulating evidence that the standard model of consumer decision making provides an inadequate, positive description of human behavior. Behavioral models are increasingly finding their way into policy evaluation, which inevitably involves welfare analysis. No consensus concerning the appropriate standards and criteria for behavioral welfare analysis has emerged yet.

This paper summarizes our effort to develop a unified framework for behavioral welfare economics (for a detailed discussion see Bernheim and Rangel 2007) — one that can be viewed as a natural extension of standard welfare economics. Standard welfare analysis is based on choice, not on utility or preferences. In its simplest form, it instructs the planner to respect the choices an individual would make for himself. The guiding normative principle is an extension of the libertarian deference to freedom of choice, which takes the view that it is better to give a person the thing he would choose for himself rather than something that someone else would choose for him.

We show that it is possible to extend the standard choice-theoretic approach to welfare analysis to situations where individuals make inconsistent choices, which are prevalent in behavioral economics.


Most existing works on routing for video transmission over multihop wireless networks only focus on how to satisfy the network-oriented quality-of-service (QoS), such as through put, delay, and packet loss rate rather than application-oriented QoS such as the user-perceived video quality. Although there are some research efforts which use application-centric video quality as the routing metric, they either calculate the video quality based on some predefined rate-distortion function or model without considering the impact of video coding and decoding (including error concealment) on routing, or use exhaustive search or heuristic methods to find the optimal path, leading to high computational complexity and/or suboptimal solutions. In this paper, we propose an application-centric routing framework for real-time video transmission in multihop wireless networks, where expected video distortion is adopted as the routing metric. The major contributions of this paper are: 1) the development of an efficient routing algorithm with the routing metric expressed in terms of the expected video distortion and being calculated on-the-fly, and 2) the development of a quality-driven cross-layer optimization framework to enhance the flexibility and robustness of routing by the joint optimization of routing path selection and video coding, thereby maximizing the user-perceived video quality under a given video playback delay constraint. Both theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed quality-driven application-centric routing approach can achieve a superior performance over existing network-centric routing approaches.


The increasing demand for wireless video-based interactive and multimedia data services explains why 60-GHz millimeter-wave wireless system is a promising candidate to provide multi-gigabit-per-second wireless services. While attempting to generate and transmit 60 GHz signals in a wireless system cost effectively and increase the spectral efficiency to facilitate multi-gigabit-per-second services, this work reviews three radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems based on optical frequency multiplication (up to 6 times) to reduce the bandwidth requirement of optical transmitters. Additionally, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals with multi-level modulation formats (16 QAM) are utilized to achieve an ultrahigh data rate of 28 Gbps within the 7-GHz license-free band and compensate for an uneven frequency response of 60-GHz RoF systems. Negligible power penalty following 25-km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) transmission is observed, capable of significantly extending the service range to various applications within a building or campus.


Abstract A neurological method for assessment of nasal cavity homologies in extant archosaurs is extended to lambeosaurine hadrosaurids (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) to test functional hypotheses associated with their hypertrophied nasal passages and highly derived cranial crests. The olfactory system and associated cranial nerve pathways that have consistent relationships to soft tissue divisions of the nasal cavity are reconstructed in lambeosaurines on the basis of new paleoneurological data and a comparative phylogenetic approach. The new model of the lambeosaurine olfactory system and nasal cavity shows that a significant portion of nasal cavity proper was located outside the crest cavities and that the primary olfactory region was located rostromedial to the orbits. All available data indicate that the evolutionary hypertrophy of the nasal cavity occurred predominantly within the non-olfactory nasal vestibule, and that crest development was not causally associated with olfaction. The high level of interspecific and ontogenetic variation in crest shape and nasal vestibule development in lambeosaurine dinosaurs is most consistent with proposed behavioral functions, notably acoustic resonance for intraspecific communication. Despite significant modification to the nasal cavity within Archosauria and its extreme hypertrophy and supraorbital development in Lambeosaurinae, the neural olfactory system and the olfactory region of the nasal cavity proper retain their plesiomorphic positions and associations, suggesting that this system is highly conserved in vertebrate evolution.


Frequently, in architecture and in other professions, a results-oriented approach to design truncates the creative process. Architecture is a man-made intervention, ultimately involving a fair bit of destruction in order to eventually arrive in a state of hopefully coherent grace in the lives of its users and the built or natural context (Clark 2000, 10). It is unacceptable to proceed hastily into such complex territory-without a degree of rigor and process-driven creativity commensurate with the gravity of creating large scale, realityaltering, life-affecting structures. A process-driven inquiry requires many hours of experiment, revision, and meandering about that may initially have no relevance to any project at hand. It is time spent playing that produces creative designers, and it is creativity that we profess to provide for people. The designer that only picks up a pencil while on the clock, and walks past a stack of Legos without any urge at all to pick a few up and toy with them has lost his or her way. A re-introduction of play in the processes of designers, architects, and other creative professionals is vital to our continued place as contributors in the interest of a better world. This study seeks to illuminate the non-linear, to give play a respected spot as a design strategy. Play leads to better ideas, and toys lead to play. This will be a chronicling of one person's journey, through a play based design process, in order that we may better understand how play fits into an inquisitive and productive design methodology.


Abstract Application of Oxford Nanopore Technologies' long-read sequencing platform to transcriptomic analysis is increasing in popularity. However, such analysis can be challenging due to the high sequence error and small library sizes, which decreases quantification accuracy and reduces power for statistical testing. Here, we report the analysis of two nanopore RNA-seq datasets with the goal of obtaining gene- and isoform-level differential expression information. A dataset of synthetic, spliced, spike-in RNAs ('sequins') as well as a mouse neural stem cell dataset from samples with a null mutation of the epigenetic regulator Smchd1 was analysed using a mix of long-read specific tools for preprocessing together with established short-read RNA-seq methods for downstream analysis. We used limma-voom to perform differential gene expression analysis, and the novel FLAMES pipeline to perform isoform identification and quantification, followed by DRIMSeq and limma-diffSplice (with stageR) to perform differential transcript usage analysis. We compared results from the sequins dataset to the ground truth, and results of the mouse dataset to a previous short-read study on equivalent samples. Overall, our work shows that transcriptomic analysis of long-read nanopore data using long-read specific preprocessing methods together with short-read differential expression methods and software that are already in wide use can yield meaningful results.


Prosecutors, whom we trust to carry out the demanding and essential business of presenting the People's case against alleged law-breakers, are free to commit misconduct with impunity. They suffer no disciplinary repercussions for their misdeeds. The only adverse consequence facing an erring prosecutor is the extremely rare prospect of having a conviction overturned due to his misconduct. Even then the prosecutor will not be subject to any sanction: no citation for contempt, no suspension of license, no civil liability, no fine, not so much as a censure.In an earlier article entitled The Prosecutor Prince, I proposed the creation of an independent commission empowered to investigate claims of alleged prosecutorial misconduct, and mete out discipline should the claims be warranted. As set forth in that article, the commission would be modeled after California's Judicial Panel, which has proven effective in dealing with instances of judicial misconduct.The purpose of this current article is not to once again make the case that prosecutorial misconduct is prevalent and represents a stain on the American justice system — that purpose has been thoroughly accomplished in the earlier article and by countless others. The two-fold purpose of this article is to revise the earlier proposal to make it more fiscally and politically viable, and to use the findings from our recently completed twenty-five-year survey of prosecutorial misconduct as support for the revised proposal.


A miniaturized, endoscopically deliverable thermal cautery probe for cauterizing internal vessels. The probe is applied to tissues cold, and a large number of electric heating pulses of equal energy are then applied to an internal heating element in the probe. The probe has an internal heating element in direct thermal contact with an active heat-transfer portion that has a low heat capacity to insure quick heating and subsequent cooling, thereby adequately coagulating tissue while minimizing heat penetration and resulting tissue damage. The electrical power applied to the probe is continuously measured and is terminated when the energy delivered reaches a preset value. The number of such pulses applied to the probe (and hence the total energy delivered) may be preset while the duration of the period during which the pulses were applied is displayed. Alternatively, the duration of the period during which such pulses are applied to the probe may be preset while the number of pulses applied (and hence the total energy delivered) is displayed. The heating element for the probe is a controlled breakdown diode which has a breakdown voltage that is a function of its temperature so that the temperature can be controlled. The heating element has a resistance of greater than 0.5 ohm to provide adequate power dissipation with relatively low currents. A washing fluid, preferably flowing along the outside of the probe toward its tip, cleans blood from the tissue to be coagulated to make the source of blood more readily visible.


Along the banks of China's longest river, the Yangtze, the water is rising. As the river floods, over a million villagers settled in the surrounding valley are being forced to relocate their homes hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of miles away. Yet this is not a natural occurrence, like the Yangtze's great floods that killed hundreds of thousands in 1931 and 1954. The rising level of the Yangtze, or Chiang Jiang as the Chinese call it, is a deliberate consequence of the Three Gorges Dam Project, one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken. Rising 600 feet into the sky and stretching 1.5 miles across the Yangtze River, the monolithic dam is expected to power 26 turbines and generate 85 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year--the equivalent of 18 nuclear power plants--making it the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. Work on the enormous dam began in 1993 and is expected to be completed in 2009. Four generators are already active, with two more planned by 2004, but this tremendous power comes at a price. The vast Yangtze River Valley, responsible for almost half of China's gross industrial and agricultural output and home to more than a third of its 1.3 billion people, is being transformed forever. Proponents of the Three Gorges Dam, most notably the Chinese government, claim that, like the Great Wall of China, the Three Gorges will become the Great Dam of China--a symbol of human achievement and a source of national pride. Aside from the symbolic merits of the dam, which would be hard-pressed to justify its US$25 billion pricetag, supporters argue that the dam's primary benefits will be its vast electricity generation potential and its ability to protect the surrounding regions from the uncontrolled flooding of the Yangtze River, which has claimed more than one million lives in the past century. Furthermore, the dam's engineers claim that the 350 mile-long reservoir created by the dam will enable large, 10,000-ton ocean-going vessels to travel deep into China's interior, significantly expanding the commercial potential within China's industrial and agricultural heartland and transforming the populous inland city of Chongqing into the largest inland seaport in the world. Thus, the dam's defenders maintain that despite the astronomical costs of the dam, the long-term benefits will more than make up the difference. Yet not everyone would agree. Ask one of the 1.2 million people, mostly farmers, who are being forcibly relocated from the Yangtze River Valley to towns and cities across China, for their opinion of the Three Gorges Dam, and you are likely to hear a different answer than the official party line. …


Accurate identification of failures in photovoltaic (PV) systems, which can result in energy loss or even serious safety issues, is crucial for ensuring reliability of the installations and the guaranteed lifetime output. The scope of this paper is to present the development of failure detection routines (FDRs) that operate on acquired data-sets of grid-connected PV systems in order to diagnose the occurrence of failures. The developed FDRs comprise of a failure detection and classification stage. Specifically, the failure detection stage was based on a comparative statistical approach between the measured and simulated electrical measurements. In parallel, fuzzy logic inference was performed in order to analyse the failure pattern and classify accurately the occurred fault. The fuzzy rule based classification system (FRBCS) models were constructed for each failure through a supervisory learning process, trained with continuous samples split in a 70:30 % train and test set approach of acquired data-sets which included the feature patterns exhibited during normal and faulty operation. The results obtained by emulating three failure patterns (partial shading, inverter shutdown and bypass diode failure), showed that the developed FDRs were capable of detecting accurately the faults upon their occurrence by signifying detectable discrepancies through the daily statistical comparisons of the measured and simulated electrical parameters. Finally, the developed classification models showed high accuracy of classifying each failure occurrence within the test set used for benchmarking. Specifically, the success rate obtained with the FRBCS models was 100 %, 96.9 % and 96.53 %, when classifying the inverter shutdown failure, bypass diode fault and partial shading, respectively.


Structural default models, starting with Merton, 1974, specify that default occurs when the value of the firm falls and hits a boundary that is a function of the firm's debt liabilities. This means that default probability, and therefore the credit spread on the firm's short-term debt, will be very close to zero when firm value is well above the barrier. But short-term spreads in the real world are not zero. In reduced-form models, default follows a random process that may hit at any time. This allows positive short-term spreads, but the cause of default is no longer modeled. In this article, Giesecke and Goldberg offer a hybrid approach, in which default occurs when firm value hits a barrier, but investors are uncertain about exactly where the barrier is. This is a very plausible assumption for real-world debt markets and it leads to a model with very plausible properties, including a connection between the value of the firm's assets relative to its debt obligations, and positive credit spreads even at the shortest maturities. Examples drawn from recent experience of several firms illustrate the differences between their model and earlier structural approaches.


Objective Study associations between three measures of alcohol consumption (recent, typical/habitual, binging), semen quality and serum reproductive hormones. Design Cross-sectional population based study. Setting and participants 1221 young Danish men, aged 18–28 years were recruited when they attended a compulsory medical examination to determine their fitness for military service from 2008 to 2012. Total alcohol consumption: (1) in the week preceding (habitual/typical) the visit (recent alcohol intake), (2) in a typical week and (3) frequency of 'binge drinking' (consuming more than 5 units/day)) in the past 30 days was estimated. Main outcome measures Semen quality (volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, and percentages of motile and morphologically normal spermatozoa) and serum concentration of reproductive hormones (follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, oestradiol, free testosterone and inhibin B). Results Sperm concentration, total sperm count and percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology were negatively associated with increasing habitual alcohol intake. This association was observed in men reporting at least 5 units in a typical week but was most pronounced for men with a typical intake of more than 25 units/week. Men with a typical weekly intake above 40 units had a 33% (95% CI 11% to 59%) reduction in sperm concentration compared to men with an intake of 1–5 units/week. A significant increase in serum free testosterone with increasing alcohol consumption the week preceding the visit was found. Binging was not independently associated with semen quality. Conclusions Our study suggests that even modest habitual alcohol consumption of more than 5 units per week had adverse effects on semen quality although most pronounced associations were seen in men who consumed more than 25 units per week. Alcohol consumption was also linked to changes in testosterone and SHBG levels. Young men should be advised to avoid habitual alcohol intake.


It is generally observed that the condition of rail tracks degrades rapidly over time
until and unless effective maintenance is carried out. In the rail industry, rail
maintenance actions are usually reactive, which means that maintenance is carried
out after a defect has been identified. Unfortunately, this approach can lead to
general safety concerns and may result in costly maintenance. Predictive
maintenance, which aims to predict the future behaviour of track degradation based
on the analysis of already recorded data, can be used to identify defects in advance,
thus providing a solution for the above safety and cost concerns.
Two important questions for which answers are sought in predictive maintenance
of rail track are: where does the fault occur and when. The aim of the research
presented in this thesis is to develop a novel predictive rail track degradation model
that answers the above questions. The proposed model consists of an alignment
component for effective alignment of data and a degradation component for
understanding rail track degradation based on rail profile and track geometry
parametric analysis.
The thesis takes an incremental approach to data alignment proposing three
different algorithms namely, distance alignment, fixed window based alignment
and parameter based alignment. It is proven that the latter approach provides the
most accurate data alignment algorithm.
The degradation component of the proposed model is based on a comprehensive
multivariate and univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, parameters of a base
file i.e. a file consisting of parameters belonging to the same segment of the rail
track at a given time of measurement are predicted using all other parameters of the
same file. In univariate analysis, every parameter of a given base file is predicted,
temporally, from the corresponding parameters in the previous base files. Such
contribution analysis manifests the level to which each parameter contributes in
predicting other parameters and over time. Subsequent to univariate and
iii
multivariate analysis the predictive errors are thresholded into either exceedences
i.e. they exceed the threshold line, needing immediate maintenance, or normal i.e.
they are below the threshold line, needing no immediate maintenance.
The research presented in this thesis shows that in multivariate analysis, rail profile
parameters were predicted with 97% prediction accuracy below threshold, whereas
track geometry parameters were predicted with 99% prediction accuracy below
threshold. Both univariate and multivariate analysis will serve as the basis in
monitoring track conditions and thus finding track degradation problems. This will
greatly aid in planning predictive track degradation by providing an objective
means of evaluating track conditions and hence the over all life of the rail track will
increase.


The focus of this study is the Dakotas' recent land use transitions from grass to corn and soybean cultivation. Recent literature has extensively characterized these land use changes and related concerns. However, formal analyses to understand the factors underlying these conversions are lacking. We study the role of Dakotas' ethanol plants in these land use changes. We construct a spatially delineated dataset and implement a Difference-in-Difference (DID) model in conjunction with Propensity Score Matching to estimate the impact of a corn-based ethanol plant on nearby corn-acres. We hold the advent of an ethanol plant to be the treatment and estimate the treatment effects for each ethanol plant based on the parallel paths assumption that is standard for the DID methods. We find that effects vary by ethanol plants and so we view as inappropriate the single point estimates for all ethanol plants in a region that are usually provided in the literature. Surprisingly, we find insignificant positive, and significant but negative ethanol plant impacts on local corn-acres. Negative estimates are hard to reconcile with the economic incentives due to ethanol plants. We also find intensified corn production and reduced corn-soy rotations due to the ethanol plants. Furthermore, based on placebo tests and pre-treatment trends in corn acres, we find that the identifying parallel paths assumption of the standard DID model does not hold. We incorporate differentiated trends into the DID framework through more flexible assumptions. To validate the flexible assumptions due to differentiated trends, we implement a spatial placebo and find that estimating identified localized treatment effects in this study is challenging. The estimated treatment effects are identified for only two out of the four ethanol plants in North Dakota. The identified treatment effects on local corn acreage are found to be positive for one plant and negative for the other. In light of economic incentives provided by the establishment of an ethanol plant, the negative treatment effect is puzzling.


The central idea of the Web of Data is to interlink data items using RDF links. However, in practice most data sources are not sufficiently interlinked with related data sources. The Silk Link Discovery Framework addresses this problem by providing tools to generate links between data items based on user-provided link specifications. It can be used by data publishers to generate links between data sets as well as by Linked Data consumers to augment Web data with additional RDF links. In this poster we present the Silk Link Discovery Framework and report on two usage examples in which we employed Silk to generate links between two data sets about movies as well as to find duplicate persons in a stream of data items that is crawled from the Web.


This study was conducted on sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) biodegradation.
Bacteria capable of utilizing SDS as a sole source of carbon were isolated from water
samples exposed with surfactants. Enrichment culture yielded several isolates
capable of metabolizing SDS. Of these, Isolate S11 was selected for further studies
based on its biodegradative capability as determined using methylene blue active
substance (MBAS) assay. The isolate was identified as Klebsiella sp. using
BiologTM identification system and was confirmed using 16S rRNA molecular
phylogenetic analysis. Isolate S11 exhibited optimum growth at 37 °C in media
containing high SDS concentrations (up to 1.0 g/L SDS), and is able to degrade 99%
of 1.0 g/L SDS in 3 days. It requires minimal nitrogen source as low as 0.5 mg/L
ammonium sulphate for optimum growth consistent with the Klebsiella genus ability
to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Partially purified alkylsulphatase from S11 showed
optimum enzyme activity at 80°C and at pH 8 using Tris-HCl buffer when tested
using MBAS assay. The apparent Km and apparent Vmax of the SDS-degrading
enzyme were determined to be 0.232 mM and 1.391 μmol per minute per mg protein respectively. The enzyme was found to be stable at room temperature for 50 days in
Tris-HCl buffer at pH 7.5.


Tubo-ovarian abscess (TOA) and hydrosalpinx are complications, though uncommon, of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Both TOA and hydrosalpinx can lead to significant morbidity and, rarely, mortality, and both necessitate treatment to reduce short- and long-term complications. Risk factors of TOA include younger age, multiple sexual partners, nonuse of barrier contraception, and a history of PID.1 The clinical manifestations of TOA are similar to PID—lower abdominal pain, fever, chills, and vaginal discharge, with the addition of pelvic mass noted on examination or imaging. Women with TOA present with fever and chills (50%), nausea (26%), vaginal discharge (28%), abnormal vaginal bleeding (21%), and acute lower abdominal pain (89%).2

Women with a presentation consistent with TOA should be evaluated with a complete history; pelvic examination; laboratory testing for complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein; cervical testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia; and pregnancy testing to guide antimicrobial therapy.3 In severe cases, TOA can rupture and leak, causing sepsis. This increases mortality and requires emergent surgical intervention.

The most useful diagnostic imaging studies include transvaginal ultrasonography and computed tomography. Compared with ultrasonography, computed tomography has increased sensitivity to detect thick-walled, rim-enhancing adnexal masses, pyosalpinx, and mesenteric stranding, as well as changes suggestive of ruptured TOA.1 On computed tomography scan with contrast, a hydrosalpinx is visualized as a dilated, fluid-filled fallopian tube without rim enhancement (Figures 1 and and22).

Figure 1.

Axial-view computed tomography scan of the abdomen and pelvis. The long arrow indicates left-sided hydrosalpinx. The short arrow indicates the associated tubo-ovarian abscess.

Figure 2.

Cross-sectional computed tomography scan of the abdomen and pelvis. The arrow indicates the left-sided tubo-ovarian abscess.

Although TOA is a complication of PID, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis are infrequently isolated from abscess fluid. Instead, these organisms weaken normal host defenses, facilitating invasion and infection of the upper genital tract by the lower genital tract flora.1 Treatment for TOA includes inpatient admission for intravenous antibiotics to target polymicrobial organisms likely to produce TOA—Escherichia coli, aerobic streptococci, Prevotella, Bacterioides fragilis, and Peptostreptococcus.3 Cephamycin or cefotetan and doxycycline or gentamicin and clindamycin are preferred, although local antibiotic resistance patterns should be considered.4 Transition to oral antibiotics (clindamycin or metronidazole with doxycycline) can usually be initiated within 24 hours to 48 hours of clinical improvement to complete the 14-day treatment course.4 The majority of small abscesses (< 9 cm in diameter) resolve with antibiotic therapy alone.1

The aim of therapeutic management is to be as noninvasive as possible. However, if this approach fails to yield clinical improvement within 3 days, reassessment of the antibiotic regimen, with consideration for laparoscopy, laparotomy, adnexectomy, hysterectomy, or image-guided abscess drainage is necessary.3,4 Because of its association with shorter hospitalization and improved pain control, image-guided percutaneous abscess drainage is an attractive alternative to surgical intervention in the management of TOA.3 The clinician should inform, evaluate, test, and treat the patient's sexual partners.


Income differences arise from many sources. While some kinds of inequality, caused by effort differences, might be associated with faster economic growth, other kinds, arising from unequal opportunities for investment, might be detrimental to economic progress. This study uses two new metadata sets, consisting of 118 household surveys and 134 Demographic and Health Surveys, to revisit the question of whether inequality is associated with economic growth and, in particular, to examine whether inequality of opportunity -- driven by circumstances at birth -- has a negative effect on subsequent growth. The results are suggestive but not robust: while overall income inequality is generally negatively associated with growth in the household survey sample, we find no evidence that this is due to the component associated with unequal opportunities. In the Demographic and Health Surveys sample, both overall wealth inequality and inequality of opportunity have a negative effect on growth in some of the preferred specifications, but the results are not robust to relatively minor changes. On balance, although the results are suggestive of a negative association between inequality and growth, the data do not permit robust conclusions as to whether inequality of opportunity is bad for growth.