Simulation of propositional content does not sufficiently explain real-life linguistic activity, even for action-related language. In addition, how we get from propositional content to implicit and inferential meaning needs to be explained. Indeed, simulative understanding is immediate, automatic and reflex-like while an explicit interpretative act, even if not always needed, is still a part of many linguistic activities. The aim of this paper is to present the hypothesis that speaking is a complex ability realized by means of at least two different mechanisms that are likely developed at different and consecutive steps of cognitive and linguistic development. The first mechanism has a neural explanation grounded in the notion of embodied simulation. The second implies socio-cognitive skills such as Theory of Mind. In order to fully develop the second mechanism, a symbolic communication and interaction with a cultural community are needed. This hypothesis will be tested by looking at the acquisition of linguistic negation.


International Law for the Environment is a comprehensive exposition of contemporary international environmental law and the governance institutions that implement it. Part I sets out the drivers of threats to the planet's air, water and social support systems, the philosophical, economic, and scientific foundations of the legal responses to these threats, and the customary and treaty-based legal regimes that have emerged. These regimes are placed in the context of general international law. Part II introduces the students to the major treaty-based regimes such as those addressing transboundary air and water pollution, the control of pollutants which deplete the ozone layer, global climate change, the protection of oceans and polar regions, the disposal of hazardous wastes outside the country of origin, the protection and allocation of fresh waters and the restoration of degraded aquatic ecosystems, and the conservation of biological diversity. Also addressed is the linkage between agricultural production and the environment. Part III examines the integration of environmental considerations into international regimes such as human rights and environmental justice, international trade law and the financing of sustainable development. Environmental governance is discussed in Part IV, together with material on international environmental institutions and the international legal system. Throughout the book the incorporation of international environmental law principles and treaty obligations into national judicial decisions and legislation is stressed.


We conducted wide and deep simultaneous JHKs-band imaging polarimetry of the ρ Ophiuchi cloud complex. Aperture polarimetry in the JHKs band was conducted for 2136 sources in all three bands, of which 322 sources have significant polarizations in all the JHKs bands and have been used for a discussion of the core magnetic fields. There is a positive correlation between degrees of polarization and H − Ks color up to H − Ks ≈ 3.5. The magnetic field structures in the core region are revealed up to at least AV ≈ 47 mag and are unambiguously defined in each sub-region (core) of Oph-A, Oph-B, Oph-C, Oph-E, Oph-F, and Oph-AC. Their directions, degrees of polarization, and polarization efficiencies differ but their changes are gradual; thus, the magnetic fields appear to be connected from core to core, rather than as a simple overlap of the different cloud core components. Comparing our results with the large-scale field structures obtained from previous optical polarimetric studies, we suggest that the magnetic field structures in the core were distorted by the cluster formation in this region, which may have been induced by shock compression due to wind/radiation from the Scorpius–Centaurus association.


Purpose: This article seeks to investigate the leadership challenges in international schools in one region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It particularly examines the dissonance between the more liberal approaches to education prevalent in international schools and the conservative nature of those observed in the Saudi context, unveiling the challenges that this posed for school leaders. Research Methodology: In view of the sensitive and complex nature of the study, it was designed as an exploratory study located within qualitative paradigm, using interviewing for data generation. Individual, semistructured interviews were undertaken with 10 senior leaders from five international schools located in Al-Ahsa Governorate in KSA. Findings: The study highlighted a number of complex challenges faced by international school leaders in KSA mainly linked to issues such as sex segregation, Saudization, and parental expectations. The study also unveiled two coping strategies developed by school leaders—namely, compliance and circumvention. Implications for Research and Practice: The findings of this interesting study will have implications for both research and practice. By venturing into this underexplored and sensitive area, the study not only seeks to develop an empirical picture of leadership practices and challenges in international schools in KSA but also stresses the need for further research to gain insight into cross-cultural complexities. Moreover, highlighting the impact of cultural dissonance on leadership practices will be useful for both the practicing and the future leaders of international schools not only in KSA but in other parts of the world too.


The past centuries have been characterized with some of the worst forms of conflicts and violence in many parts of the world. Most of these conflicts lead to the disruption in the way of life of people and reverses developmental progress made by states. In almost all cases, access to land and land tenure may be altered in one way or the other. After the conflict ceases or reduces, states find themselves in different situations. In addition, people may normally be forced to return to their homes as they are unable to get permanent residence in host countries or areas.

This study sets out to explore the changes in land tenure that occur as a result of violent conflicts and efforts made by governments to address such changes. The study focused on providing logical explanations to the barriers people face in accessing land and land tenure security in post conflict settings. Using the case of Rwanda, the study tried to draw lessons on the role land contributed to shaping the genocide and how the Rwandan land tenure system was changed as a result of conflicts. Furthermore, the study reviewed the efforts made by the Rwandese government in trying to improve the land tenure system as well as promoting people's land rights in post conflict Rwanda.

The findings of the study reveal that even after land reforms and programmes have been implemented after the genocide or conflicts, some of the land related issues that can be considered as root causes of the conflict have not been addressed. In communities that are mostly dependant on land, which are the focus of this research, a lot of females and youth may remain without a base on which to rebuild their livelihood strategies. This leaves women, girls and youths unable to access a share of their husband or fathers estate. Development or humanitarian actors can play a role in ensuring that grievances over land before and after conflicts are addressed.

Post conflict land reforms should provide an opportunity to deal with challenges related to land that existed before the conflict, those that emerged from the conflict and after peace has been reached.


U.S. corporations employ 5.5 million people abroad and sent 30 per cent more American expatriates overseas in 1994 than in the previous year. How a company selects and manages the people who will run their operations overseas and how it adjusts domestically to capitalize on the lessons it learns in the global village have a profound effect on its success as an organization. "Capitalizing on the Global Workforce" is the only book of its kind to examine the array of international human resource issues faced by organizations and expatriates. It introduces the Windham International Cultural Model, a guide to understanding how culture affects the way people behave and think, and provides a cultural context for the practical aspects of deploying, selecting and compensating expatriates for maximum success. "Capitalizing on the Global Workforce" includes the most up-to-date information on: staffing issues such as selection, preparation, compensation and benefits; understanding the impact of culture on international business; preparing people to be culturally fluent; and supporting expatriate families to ensure their success.


Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork across the Himalayan borders of Nepal and India, I revisit disciplinary debates about ethnicity. I focus on the expressive production of ethnic consciousness among members of the Thangmi (Thami) community in a context of high cross-border mobility. I argue that ethnicity is the result not only of the prerogatives of state control or market forces but also of a ritual process through which identity itself is produced as a sacred object that binds together diverse members of the collectivity. Thangmi participation in a range of ritualized actions demonstrates how mobility across national borders yields a high level of self-consciousness about the efficacy of each form of action as well as of the frames within which action unfolds. Ethnicity may be understood simultaneously as a historically contingent process and a wellspring of affectively real cultural content, enabling us to make better sense—in both scholarly and political terms—of emergent ethnic claims in South Asia and beyond.


Autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are critical to current and future military, civil, and commercial operations. Despite their importance, no previous textbook has accessibly introduced UAVs to students in the engineering, computer, and science disciplines--until now. Small Unmanned Aircraft provides a concise but comprehensive description of the key concepts and technologies underlying the dynamics, control, and guidance of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft, and enables all students with an introductory-level background in controls or robotics to enter this exciting and important area. The authors explore the essential underlying physics and sensors of UAV problems, including low-level autopilot for stability and higher-level autopilot functions of path planning. The textbook leads the student from rigid-body dynamics through aerodynamics, stability augmentation, and state estimation using onboard sensors, to maneuvering through obstacles. To facilitate understanding, the authors have replaced traditional homework assignments with a simulation project using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Students begin by modeling rigid-body dynamics, then add aerodynamics and sensor models. They develop low-level autopilot code, extended Kalman filters for state estimation, path-following routines, and high-level path-planning algorithms. The final chapter of the book focuses on UAV guidance using machine vision. Designed for advanced undergraduate or graduate students in engineering or the sciences, this book offers a bridge to the aerodynamics and control of UAV flight.


The increasing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) technology has greatly influenced the production mode and life quality of humans. Simultaneously, the security issues of such technology have become a focus of attention. There are many aspects of IoT security issues. In this paper, we propose a framework to solve the problem of network intrusion detection in IoT. First, an intrusion detection dataset named UNSW-NB15 is selected as the research object. Then, the dataset is preprocessed and the feature selection job is accomplished to obtain a suitable subset. After the above steps are completed, a Bayesian model is built according to the K2 structure learning algorithm. The parameters are obtained through the Maximum Likelihood Estimation algorithm. Finally, the testing dataset is inputted for classification. The simulation results show that the system can detect the anomaly intrusion effectively.


Pharmacovigilance resembles a sunshade to portray the procedures for checking and assessing ADRs and it is a key segment of successful medication direction frameworks, clinical practice and general well-being programs. The quantity of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) reported brought about an expansion in the volume of information took care of, and to comprehend the pharmacovigilance, an abnormal state of skill is required to quickly recognize medicate chances and also to shield the item against a wrong expulsion. The current worldwide system of pharmacovigilance focuses, facilitated by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre, would be reinforced by an autonomous arrangement of audit. This would consider belligerent and essential medication security issues that can possibly influence general wellbeing unfavorably past national limits. As of late, pharmacovigilance has been limited, mostly to distinguish unfavorable medication occasions that were already either obscure or inadequately caught on. Pharmacovigilance is a critical and essential piece of clinical research and nowadays it is developing in numerous nations. Today numerous pharmacovigilance focuses are working for medication wellbeing observing in this worldwide pitch, in any case, at the turn of the thousand years pharmacovigilance confronts significant difficulties in part of better security and checking of medicines. In this survey we will talk about medication security, overall pharmacovigilance focuses and their part, advantages and difficulties of pharmacovigilance and its future thought in social insurance segments.


This paper relates the style of 16th century Flemish paintings by Goossen van der Weyden (GvdW) to the style of preliminary sketches or underpaintings made prior to executing the painting. Van der Weyden made underpaintings in markedly different styles for reasons as yet not understood by art historians. The analysis presented here starts from a classification of the underpaintings into four distinct styles by experts in art history. Analysis of the painted surfaces by a combination of wavelet analysis, hidden Markov trees and boosting algorithms can distinguish the four underpainting styles with greater than 90% cross-validation accuracy. On a subsequent blind test this classifier provided insight into the hypothesis by art historians that different patches of the finished painting were executed by different hands.


The US3 gene of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is expressed at immediate-early (IE) times in permissive HF cells, but not in nonpermissive rodent cells, and encodes several proteins that have been reported to have regulatory characteristics, although they are dispensable for growth in cell culture. Both spliced and unspliced forms of US3 IE transcripts are associated with the second of only two known large and complex upstream enhancer domains within the 229-kb HCMV genome, which we refer to as the IES cis-acting control region. Only the 260-bp proximal segment (from -313 to -55) of the 600-bp IES control domain, which contains multicopy NF-kappaB binding sites, proved to be necessary to transfer both high basal expression plus phorbol ester- and okadaic acid-inducible characteristics to heterologous promoters in transient assays in U-937 and K-562 cells. However, the IES control region contains a distinctive 280-bp distal domain, characterized by the presence of seven interspersed repeats of a 10-bp TGTCGCGACA palindromic consensus motif that encompasses a NruI site. This far upstream Nru repeat region (from -596 to -314) imparted up to 20-fold down-regulation effects onto strong basal heterologous promoters as well as onto the IES enhancer plus minimal promoter region in both U-937 and K-562 cells. Functional Nru repressor elements (NREs) could not be generated by multimerizing either the palindromic (P) Nru motifs alone or adjacent degenerate interrupted (I Nru motifs alone. However, multimerized forms of the combined P plus I elements reconstituted the full 20-fold cis-acting down-regulation phenotype of the intact NRE domain. The P and I forms of the Nru elements each bound independently and specifically to related cellular DNA-binding factors to form differently migrating A or B complexes, respectively, whereas the combined P plus I elements bound cooperatively to both the A and B complexes with high affinity. Interestingly, nuclear extracts from U-937, K-562, HeLa, and Vero cells all formed both the A and B NRE binding factor complexes, whereas those from HF cells produced only A complexes, and Raji, HL60, and BALB/c 3T3 cells lacked both types of binding factor complexes. The core pentameric CGACA and CGATA half sites present in both the P and I Nru motifs are related to recently described Drosophila chromosomal insulator binding sites. Therefore, in addition to its cis-repression or silencer characteristics, the NRE domain appears likely to act to shield adjacent segments of the viral genome from the chromatin-reorganizing effects of the IES-inducible enhancer. We speculate that differential expression and regulation of the IES enhancer-controlled US3 protein, either in concert with or separately from the major IE (MIE) enhancer-controlled IE1 and IE2 transactivator proteins, may play a critical role in determining HCMV permissiveness in some cell types and perhaps also in the establishment of or reactivation from latency.


Within this chapter it is argued that there is a significant relationship between entrepreneurship and cultural specificity. The key to initiating the process of entrepreneurship lies within the individual members of society, and the degree to which a spirit of enterprise exists, or can be initiated. In this respect Kirzner (1979) believes the source to be within the human spirit, which will flourish in response to uncertainty and competition. This enterprising spirit is described in inspirational terms by Gilder (1971, p. 258) as: The spirit of enterprise wells up from the wisdom of ages and the history (of the West) and infuses the most modern of technological adventures. It joins the old and new frontiers. It asserts a firm hierarchy of values and demands a hard discipline. It requires a life of labor and listening, aspiration and courage. But it is the source of all we are and can become, the saving grace of democratic politics and free men, the hope of the poor and the obligation of the fortunate, the redemption of an oppressed and desperate world. The key question is, what triggers the release of this invaluable enterprising spirit, which leads to the initiation of entrepreneurship? This paper seeks to make a small contribution towards an explanation by focusing on one aspect - the relationship of certain cultural and societal factors to the initiation of entrepreneurship. At the same time it is recognised that non-cultural and contextual factors will undoubtedly play a significant role in shaping entrepreneurial behaviour and action.


Renal involvement in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Proteinuria is common in patients with SCD and is a risk factor for future development of renal failure. We sought to identify risk factors, if any, associated with proteinuria in adult Saudi patients with SCD. We studied 67 patients with SCD followed-up at the King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All patients underwent 24-hour urine collection to measure creatinine clearance and to quantify proteinuria. In addition, blood was examined for evaluation of hematological and biochemical parameters. Clinical information was gathered from review of the patients' charts. A urine protein level of more than 0.150 grams/24 hours was considered abnormal. Urine protein was correlated with various clinical and laboratory parameters. Thirty-one males and 36 females were evaluated. The mean age of the cohort was 23.8 (± 7.2) years. Twenty-seven patients (40.3%) had proteinuria of more than 0.150 grams/24 hours. The study group had a mean hemoglobin level of 8.5 (± 2.8) g/dL and mean fetal hemoglobin (HbF) level of 14.4% (± 7.3%). Majority of the patients (61) had hemoglobin SS genotype and six patients had S-ß⁰ thalassemia. None of the parameters evaluated correlated with proteinuria although there was a borderline association with older age and higher systolic blood pressure (P = 0.073 and 0.061 respectively). Hydroxyurea use for more than a year was not beneficial. In conclusion, our study suggests that proteinuria in adult Saudi patients is not associated with any clear identifiable risk factors.


Providers, operators and customers understand that the concept of an IT service offers a beneficial abstraction from actual IT operations, effectively encapsulating the provisioning of the service. Yet, IT services are in fact provided by installations composed of very large numbers of managed elements. Hence, management of a service implies the management of the multitude of elements and sub-services upon which the service relies. The mapping of a service's attributes onto resources to "make the service visible" is as much of a challenge as the execution of service management actions (i.e. actions directed at a service) on the underlying infrastructure. Even today, practical solutions to these issues are scarce. In this paper, we propose a methodology for the synthesis of service attributes to create the foundation for a service management information base. We present a declarative language suitable for the representation of service attributes in dependence of management attributes of the provisioning infrastructure. In addition, we discuss a service monitoring architecture driven by service attribute specifications.


Signal shapes for the on-line formation of iodine from iodate, iodide and hydrogen ion in a single-channel manifold using large-volume slug and large-volume time-based injections have been determined using visible spectrophotometry. These large injection volume studies were made first as a means of understanding the shapes of normal and reverse flow injection signals obtained at more conventional injection volumes (10–100 µl). The signal shapes at large injection volumes were determined for the six possible combinations of the reagents in the two solutions serving as carrier stream and injectate so that one solution contained two reagents and the other solution one or two reagents. Each combination of reagents represents two complementary systems in which the roles of each solution as carrier stream and injectate are reversed. At these large injection volumes each signal consisted of two independent peaks caused by dispersion at the front and rear boundaries of the injected bolus. The signals obtained for the time-based injections for complementary systems were identical in shape and height except that the front peak of one system was identical with the rear peak of its complementary system and vice versa. Clearly, at such large injection volumes the terms normal flow injection (nFl) and reverse flow injection (rFl) have no real meaning, the shape of each independent peak being determined by the composition and relative positions of the two solutions forming the boundary at which the peak is formed. For slug injections, similar shapes were observed but the peak heights were affected markedly by the greater dispersion at the rear boundary which travels further than the front boundary. This comparison of the signals obtained with slug and time-based injections, despite different flow-rates being used for the two modes of injection, clearly shows the effect of the unequal dispersion at the two boundaries in the slug injection method. Examination of the signals obtained with time-based injection, however, clearly indicates that the solution compositions, and their relative positions in the flow stream, also affect the shapes and relative heights of the front and rear peaks. The shapes of all these signals are illustrated. The effect of reducing the slug injection volume stepwise from 2 ml to 100 µl was studied for the IO3–l– < H+ and H+ < IO3–l– systems (< denotes the direction of the boundary shape). This indicated that the shapes and heights of the single peaks observed in the rFl and nFl formation of iodine carried out at the more conventional lower injection volumes are determined by dispersion at the rear and front boundaries of the bolus, respectively. Hence, as the two peaks observed in a large-volume injection merged as the injection volume was decreased, the major peak predominated and became the observed signal. The use of a much smaller injection volume was necessary in rFl than in nFl in order to obtain a single peak.


The orderly and effective operation of our national system of government was intended to depend to an exceptional degree upon certain norms of cooperation among its competing branches. The strength of those norms is essential to securing the primary political asset that our government design was intended to help realize: an especially robust form of democratic legitimacy. From this standpoint, it is constitutionally worrisome that norms critical to inter-branch cooperation are coming under heedless assault. To illustrate the problem, this article revisits four critical episodes that have involved destabilizing and antidemocratic initiatives, each undertaken by a branch of the national government while in the control of the current, very conservative generation of Republican party leadership: the Iran-Contra affair, the government shutdown of 1995, the impeachment of President Clinton, and the Senate stonewalling of President Clinton's judicial nominations. The repeated willingness of the Republican Party's most conservative elements to engage in such initiatives is not rooted in political conservatism per-se. It reflects rather the narrowing social and ideological base of the Republican Party, and is consistent with a contempt for democratic pluralism that characterizes the constitutional outlook of leading Republican legal theorists. Unless matters are improved, the United States may otherwise be headed towards a new political equilibrium that does considerable violence to America's modern practice of democratic legitimacy.


Abstract Influence and the opportunity to have one's voice heard are fundamental rights valid for all people, including also children and youths. Despite this, research shows that young people's voices have received less attention and young people have no influence in many contexts in which they find themselves (Evans, 2007; Fundberg, 2009; Redelius, 2005). In Sweden, the emphasis on influence can be linked to the fact that the sport club activities of the Swedish state are seen as an important arena for the civic education of young people (The Swedish Sports Confederation, 2005, 2011). The aim of this study is to explore young coaches and their opportunities to influence in the Swedish sport clubs with focus on what the youths themselves say about influence and power. We use Bourdieus' theories on social fields to bring to light which youths are chosen to be leaders and their possibilities to influence. The results show that for young coaches to have influence, both their habitus and capital are required to 'match' the social context into which they are entering. One way of maintaining power is not to change the accepted way of working, which excludes the young coaches from challenging in the battle for positions.


This exploratory, qualitative study utilizing the grounded theory approach addressed the research question of what are the factors Christian teachers feel, believe, and/or understand are meaningful and motivating to their decision to continue teaching in a Christian school? This focus on human capital retention in the Christian school was necessary due to a concern for teachers leaving the profession within the first few years of their careers, thus lowering the quality of education provided. The teachers participating in the study shared their feelings, thoughts, stories, and experiences through the use of in-depth interviews. The resulting analysis provided the opportunity for six core categories to be formed resulting in two major themes. The first major theme of a desire for personal fulfillment of the teachers to be motivated to continue teaching is seen in their (a) need to belong and feel connected, (b) need to provide direction and guidance for the students, their colleagues, and the administration, and ultimately to fulfill a (c) need for a feeling of accomplishment and contribution. The second major theme which emerged during the data collection and analysis was that of a desire for spiritual fulfillment. There was a deep sense the spiritual needs and desires of the teachers were the ultimate reason for teaching specifically in a Christian school. The desire for spiritual fulfillment can be seen through the shared experiences, stories, attitudes, and feelings of the teachers. The three primary concepts flowing from this theme are (d) a need to feel whole and complete, (e) a need to openly practice one's faith, and (f) a need to be obedient to God's call on the teacher's life. This preliminary framework toward a theory of faithfulness begins to offer an explanation of the phenomenon of the Christian school teachers' experiences and why they are faithful to teaching in a Christian school.


Current-generation Massively Multiplayer Online Games MMOG, such as World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and Second Life are mainly built on distributed client-server architectures with server allocation based on sharding, static geographical partitioning, dynamic micro-cell scheme, or optimal server for placing a virtual region according to the geographical dispersion of players. This paper reviews various approaches on data replication and region partitioning. Management of areas of interest field of vision is discussed, which reduces processing load dramatically by updating players only with those events that occur within their area of interest. This can be managed either through static geographical partitioning on the basis of the assumption that players in one region do not see/interact with players in other regions, or behavioural modelling based on players' behaviours. The authors investigate data storage and synchronisation methods for MMOG databases, mainly on relational databases. Several attempts of peer to peer P2P architectures and protocols for MMOGs are reviewed, and critical issues such as cheat prevention on P2P MMOGs are highlighted.


EDITOR—Holt-Oram syndrome (HOS) is a developmental disorder characterised by malformations of the radial ray of the forelimb and by congenital heart disease. The syndrome shows a marked variability in phenotype, with radial ray defects ranging from minor thumb abnormality through to severe reduction defect or phocomelia. The cardiac manifestations of HOS are similarly varied, and patients can present with a variety of structural heart abnormalities, atrial septal defects (ASDs) and ventricular septal defects (VSDs) being the most common, or conduction defects evident on ECG profiles. Previous studies have shown no correlation between the severity of a patient's cardiac and skeletal abnormalities. Intrafamilial variation can be wide. HOS shows autosomal dominant inheritance and mutations in the T box transcription factor gene (TBX5) have been shown previously to be responsible for this disorder. 4 There is also evidence for genetic heterogeneity. The mechanism by which mutations in TBX5 cause a dominant phenotype is not understood at present, and it is anticipated that knowledge of the type of mutations causing HOS may shed light on this. Knowledge of a large number of mutations and the relation of a person's genotype to phenotype is also useful for genetic counselling. In the face of a growing demand for a molecular diagnostic test for HOS, it is also helpful to have a quantitative estimate of the ability of current methods to detect mutations in TBX5. Twenty five cases with a clinical diagnosis of Holt-Oram syndrome have been tested for this study, bringing to 47 the total number of cases studied by us. Minimal diagnostic criteria were as described previously: bilateral radial ray defect, plus either cardiac abnormality or family history of cardiac abnormality. Cases were referred by a variety of clinicians and underwent full clinical assessment including x ray, electrocardiography (ECG), and echocardiography. Information regarding the clinical features of these patients came from the referring doctor. The patients represented both sporadic (8) and familial (17) cases of Holt-Oram syndrome. Mutational analysis was carried out using SSCP methods initially, followed by fluorescence sequencing of exons showing a non-standard SSCP banding pattern. The methods used were described in Li et al. Since that study, further analysis of the genomic structure of TBX5 has recognised that the previously reported exon B is in fact two exons. Extensive resequencing of both genomic and cDNA forms of TBX5 has also been undertaken, leading to revisions in the previously reported TBX5 sequence (the new sequence has accession number AF221714). This sequence is the same across the coding region as that produced by others. Of 17 new familial cases tested, eight showed linkage to chromosome 12 and the other families were too small to assess linkage. Table 1 shows that five mutations were identified in familial cases. Only one of these families was suYciently large to show meaningful linkage to chromosome 12q markers. Of eight new sporadic cases studied, three have yielded mutations. Thus, in the 34 familial cases studied by us, eight mutations have been identified, and six mutations have been identified in 13 sporadic cases. The precise natures of all the new mutations identified are detailed in table 2. The clinical features of HOS in all 47 cases are consistent with the previously described phenotype and show the wide spectrum of cardiac and skeletal abnormalities in this syndrome (see Bruneau et al for details of the complexity of cardiac abnormalities in HOS patients). Most patients show at least one defect of cardiac septation (an atrial or ventricular septal defect, or atrioventricular block) and abnormalities of the thumb. Radial hypoplasias and aplasias are present in sporadic cases PpHs, H20s, H22s, and H16s and in the familial cases H6f and Ghf, although not in every aVected member. Twenty five non-translocation mutations have been reported, including those presented here. These mutations are of 19 distinct types, with six mutations being identical to previously described forms identified in unrelated subjects (this paper and Basson et al). Of the 19 distinct non-translocation, disease causing mutations in TBX5 currently known, five are truncations, five amino acid substitutions, three splice site changes, and six reading frame shifts. We have observed a significant diVerence in the proportion of cases in which a mutation was detected in our group of sporadic cases as opposed to our group of familial cases. Forty six percent (6/13) of sporadic cases studied in our laboratory have yielded mutations by SSCP screening, whereas only 24% (8/34) of familial cases have done so. The overall mutation detection rate of 30% may be low for a variety of reasons. An inadequate mutation detection method would explain these results, yet the system in use by us is a standard one used on a variety of projects, all of which produce detection rates nearer the theoretical level for these techniques (approximately 95%). The largest PCR product used in the present analysis is only 326 bp long, well within the size acceptable for this kind of analysis. Mutation detection is also fully repeatable in our hands. There are four other possible explanations for this low mutation detection rate: (1) clinical misdiagnosis in our patients, (2) genetic heterogeneity of Holt-Oram syndrome, (3) the presence of mutations in the untranslated and promoter regions of TBX5, which have not been tested in this analysis, and (4) deletion of whole exons of TBX5, which would not be recognised by SSCP.


Liquid crystals play an important role in biology because the combination of order and mobility is a basic requirement for self-organisation and structure formation in living systems. Cholesteric liquid crystals are omnipresent in living matter under both in vivo and in vitro conditions and address the major types of molecules essential to life. In the animal and plant kingdoms, the cholesteric structure is a recurring design, suggesting a convergent evolution to an optimised left-handed helix. Herein, we review the recent advances in the cholesteric organisation of DNA, chromatin, chitin, cellulose, collagen, viruses, silk and cholesterol ester deposition in atherosclerosis. Cholesteric structures can be found in bacteriophages, archaea, eukaryotes, bacterial nucleoids, chromosomes of unicellular algae, sperm nuclei of many vertebrates, cuticles of crustaceans and insects, bone, tendon, cornea, fish scales and scutes, cuttlebone and squid pens, plant cell walls, virus suspensions, silk produced by spiders and silkworms, and arterial wall lesions. This article specifically aims at describing the consequences of the cholesteric geometry in living matter, which are far from being fully defined and understood, and discusses various perspectives. The roles and functions of biological cholesteric liquid crystals include maximisation of packing efficiency, morphogenesis, mechanical stability, optical information, radiation protection and evolution pressure.


Independence and Accountability in State Judicial Selection THE PEOPLE'S COURTS: PURSUING JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN AMERICA. By Jed Handelsman Shugerman. Cambridge, Massachussets: Harvard University Press, 2012. 400 pages. $35.00.Although in designing governing institutions American state constitution makers have deviated from various arrangements in place in the U.S. Constitution, state-level departures have been nowhere more extensive or important than regarding judicial selection. Some states follow the federal approach in vesting the power of appointing judges in the governor, generally with a requirement of legislative confirmation.1 In a couple of states the legislature makes the appointments.2 In other states, in a method first adopted in the 1830s, judges are chosen in partisan elections. 3 A number of states hold nonpartisan elections, an approach that gained favor in the 1910s.4 The most recent innovation, dating back to the 1940s and now used in some form in twenty-five states, is the merit plan. Under such plans, the governor makes the initial selection, generally working from nominees forwarded by a selection commission, and once on the bench, the judge stands for retention elections at periodic intervals.5 By the early twenty-first century, nearly ninety percent of state judges are subject to popular election in some fashion.6Given that "almost no one else in the world has ever experimented with the popular election of judges," Jed Handelsman Shugerman poses the following question in The People's Courts: Pursuing Judicial Independence in America: "Why have Americans adopted such a strange practice, when almost no one else has done so before or after?"7 In prior articles, scholars have traced the origin of particular selection systems, especially partisan elections and merit plans.8 But Shugerman provides "the first comprehensive, archival study of state judicial selection over American history" 9 and considers the individuals, interests, and ideas responsible for changes over time. In doing so, he draws on an impressive array of sources, making particularly good use, among other archival records, of extensive debates in state constitutional conventions in the mid-nineteenth century as well as several relevant twentieth-century conventions.Conceived as "a work of legal history and political history" and "also a history of an idea,"10 Shugerman's book makes his principal argument that the development of state judicial selection can be viewed as "the story of the ongoing American pursuit of judicial independence-and the changing understandings of what judicial independence means." 11 As he argues: "Interest group politics, economics, and specific events drive these stories of judicial design at each stage, yet at the same time, ideas mattered. The idea of judicial independence has been surprisingly resilient and popular throughout American history."12 In contrast with conventional accounts that treat the evolving design of state judicial selection systems as the product of shifting support for the competing goals of judicial accountability and independence, with judicial elections understood as securing accountability,13 Shugerman emphasizes the predominant concern with independence and maintains that "[j]udicial independence has long been the rallying cry in favor of judicial elections in their varying forms."14This review proceeds in two parts. First, I summarize Shugerman's account of the three major developments in state judicial selection: the midnineteenth century adoption of partisan elections, the Progressive Era turn to nonpartisan elections, and the mid-twentieth-century rise and spread of merit selection. Second, I assess his principal argument that the history of state judicial selection is best understood through the analytical framework of judicial independence. Although helpful in understanding certain historical moments, especially the adoption of partisan elections and the rise of merit selection, a predominant concern with judicial independence may be less helpful in understanding contemporary debates, especially in comparison with standard accounts that stress the strong degree of support for accountability alongside independence. …


It has been discussed that over-parameterized deep neural networks (DNNs) trained using stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with smaller batch sizes generalize better compared with those trained with larger batch sizes. Additionally, model parameters found by small batch size SGD tend to be in flatter regions. We extend these empirical observations and experimentally show that both large learning rate and small batch size contribute towards SGD finding flatter minima that generalize well. Conversely, we find that small learning rates and large batch sizes lead to sharper minima that correlate with poor generalization in DNNs.


This paper looks into the issue of accessibility of the capital market for the ultra poor by analyzing the extent of borrowing, their sources and uses of loan. One-fourth had access to any capital sources, and only about 5% received credit from any institutional sources. The landless, female-headed households, households depending only on female income, the wage-employed and the destitutes got less access to any kind of loan. On the other hand, access to loan had increased with increasing land. It was also higher for the households headed by male and for those depending only on male income. Endowment and personal networking with creditors were very important in getting access to any credit sources. Average interest rate paid for credit borrowed, irrespective of sources, was 17.92%. Nearly one-fifth of the total loan obtained from different sources was interest free. A maximum of 150% interest was also charged in Comilla and Jamalpur regions. Institutional loans were mostly used for investment and informal loan for crisis coping. The landless, female-headed households, wageemployed group and the destitutes, in most cases, borrowed to meet their emergencies and paid higher interest rate. Eighty-seven percent loan in Rangpur region were spent for crisis coping whereas in Camilla and Jamalpur a significant proportion of the loan was used for productive purposes.


A phase pre-emphasis technique used in an all-optical sampling orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (AOS-OFDM) system is proposed and demonstrated. With the application of this technique, 50-Gb/s AOS-OFDM data are successfully transmitted over 20-km uncompensated single-mode fiber (SMF) with real-time direct-detection. The constructive interference effect between symbols is decreased with this technique.


Present-day distributed plate deformation is being mapped and simulated in great detail, largely based on satellite observations. In contrast, the modelling of and data assimilation into deforming plate models for the geological past is still in its infancy. The recently released GPLates2.0 (www.gplates.org) software provides a framework for building plate models including diffuse deformation. Here we present an application example for the Eurekan orogeny, a Paleogene tectonic event driven by sea floor spreading in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, resulting in compression between NW Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. The complexity of the region has prompted the development of countless tectonic models over the last 100 years. Our new tectonic model incorporates a variety of geological field and geophysical observations to model rigid and diffuse plate deformation in this region. Compression driven by Greenland's northward motion contemporaneous with sea floor spreading in the Labrador Sea, shortens Ellesmere Island in a "fan" like pattern, creating a series of thrust faults. Our model incorporates two phases of tectonic events during the orogeny from ∼63-35 Ma. Phase one from ∼63 to 55 Ma incorporates ∼85 km of Paleocene extension between Ellesmere Island and Devon Island with extension of ∼20 km between Axel Heiberg Island and Ellesmere Island and ∼85 km of left-lateral strike-slip along the Nares Strait/Judge Daly Fault System, matching a range of 50-100 km indicated by the offset of marker beds, facies contacts, and platform margins between the conjugate Greenland and Ellesmere Island margins. Phase two from 55 to 35 Ma captures ∼30 km of east-west shortening and ∼200 km of north-south shortening from Ellesmere Island to the Canadian Arctic Island margins. Our model extends the boundaries of the Eurekan Orogeny northward, considering its effect on the Lomonosov Ridge, Morris Jessup Rise, and the Yermak Plateau , favouring a model in which the Lomonosov Ridge moves attached to the Pearya Terrane. This model illustrates that key regional geological and geophysical observations are compatible with the relative motions of Greenland and North America constrained by marine magnetic anomaly and fracture zone identifications. This deforming plate model offers a platform and base model for future research.


In the Digital Era, being part of the digital society is no longer an option particularly for those living in the urban areas. Caught by the e-wave and the onslaught of sophisticated information and communication technologies (ICT), most urbanites are e-savvy unlike those living in rural locations, particularly the indigenous groups. Is there a need for simple, rural folks to embrace digital literacy and be e-inclusive? Hence, the objective of the study is to assess the level of literacy and computer literacy amongst the indigenous people or natives living in a rural area of Perak, Malaysia. Cross-sectional research design with purposive sampling was employed and the instrument used was a survey form. The findings revealed that 30.8% of the respondents were illiterate and only 5.2% who were computer literate thus, substantiating the myth of digital inclusion among the minorities. With the government's transformation plan to have connected citizens through broadband access, the dilemma was the motivation for this research and inherently, substantiated. Although native minorities in Perak, Malaysia formed the sample size for this study, the implications provide justification for policy analysis on socio-technological inclusion among other disadvantaged groups as culture remains strongly ingrained in their every day existence. However, with time, the new generation may revolutionize the outlook of the indigenous group towards modernity and ICT. A change champion together with a positive, political environment would retard the myth and rhetoricism in promoting e-access for social inclusion and citizen development.


We demonstrated extraordinary THz transmission through ring apertures on a metal film. Transmission of 60% was obtained with an aperture-to-area ratio of only 1.4%. We show that the high transmission can be suppressed by over 18 dB with a thin layer of free carriers in the silicon substrate underneath the metal film. This result suggests that CMOS-compatible terahertz modulators can be built by controlling the carrier density near the aperture.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the early development stages of International New Ventures (INVs). Specifically, the authors explore how INVs acquire and leverage four kinds of capital – strategic, managerial, financial and social – to recognise a foreign opportunity, begin the pre-foreign entry activities, and finally start the INV.

Design/methodology/approach
A stage-based, multidimensional framework was used to investigate how INVs acquire and use the four capitals throughout the internationalisation process. Drawing on four case studies of high-tech INVs, this study tracks their development in three stages: foreign opportunity, pre-foreign operation and post-foreign operation.

Findings
Results indicate INVs build advantages and internationalisation activities occur before formal operations begin. INVs deliberately orchestrate certain kinds of capital contingent to the specific internationalisation stage. Further, the authors find that not all types of capital are equally important throughout the internationalisation process: INVs identify foreign opportunities when endowed with managerial and social capital; INVs source a majority of their managerial and financial capitals externally before internationalising; and INVs only contribute all four capitals simultaneously after internationalising.

Research limitations/implications
Findings contribute to knowledge about the development of INVs pre-internationalisation and pre-founding. The study is limited to a comparative sample of INVs, which impacts the generalisability. However, the findings provide a starting point for investigating similar effects using more representative samples.

Practical implications
Entrepreneurs can be proactive in networking activities to allow them greater opportunity to interact with potential resource providers dependent on the stage of internationalisation.

Originality/value
This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship literature with qualitative evidence of the micro-level processes of internationalisation. Very few studies investigate the early, pre-internationalisation and pre-foundation, development stages of INVs.


Foliar-applied urea nitrogen (N) has potential to become an important component in fertilizer programs for citrus in Florida and other citrus growing areas as it can reduce nitrate leaching into ground water. We evaluated seasonal absorption characteristics of three urea formulations, Triazone-urea, liquid urea, and spray grade urea by citrus leaves that were from 2 weeks to 6 months old. The effect of leaf age on 15 N absorption by N-deficient and N-sufficient leaves, together with urea absorption over an eight-week period were studied using greenhouse-grown and field-grown plants. All foliar N applications were based on a recommended rate of 34 kg N/ha in 469 L of water. In the field studies, leaf N was increased similarly by the three urea formulations one week after three weekly applications. Young leaves (0.25 month and 1 month old) absorbed a greater percentage of N than the older leaves (3 month and 6 month old). Epicuticular wax concentration increased and 15 N absorption declined with leaf age. Nitrogen deficient leaves (1.80% N) had greater wax concentration and lower N absorption than N sufficient leaves (2.60% N). Four to 8 weeks after urea applications, Triazone-urea sprayed leaves had significantly greater leaf N concentration than leaves sprayed with liquid urea or nonsprayed control leaves. The greenhouse studies revealed that the 15 N absorption was greater through abaxial leaf surfaces than through adaxial surfaces regardless of leaf N level and application time. Applying foliar 15 N-urea during night (2000 HR to 2200 HR) resulted in greater absorption of 15 N than in the morning (0800 HR to 1000 HR) or afternoon (1200 HR to 1400 HR). It is clear that maximum N absorption from foliar urea sprays occurred at night through the abaxial surfaces of young leaves with sufficient N. Triazone-urea acted as a slow-release N source that could be exploited in supplying N over an extended period of time.


Abstract Stable oxygen isotope analysis of siderite and dinosaur tooth enamel phosphate from the Campanian–Maastrichtian Prince Creek Formation, Alaska, USA, are analysed to determine the palaeohydrology of the ancient Colville Basin north of the Ancestral Brooks Range. δ18O of freshwater siderites relative to V-PDB ranges between −14.86 and −16.21‰. Dinosaur tooth enamel δ18O from three different sites (Kikak–Tegoseak, Pediomys Point, Liscomb) range between +3.9‰ and +10.2.0‰. δ18Ometeoric water are calculated from δ18Osiderite that formed at seasonal temperatures ranging from −2 to 14.5 °C, with a mean annual temperature of 6.3 °C. At 6.3 °C, the δ18Ow calculated from siderite ranged between −22.23 and −20.89‰ V-SMOW. Ingested water compositions are estimated from dinosaur teeth assuming body temperatures of 37 °C and local relative humidity of 77.5%, resulting in values ranging from −28.7 to −20.4‰ V-SMOW, suggesting consumption of meteoric water and orographically depleted runoff from the Brooks Range. The ranges in calculated δ18Ometeoric water are compatible between the two proxies, and are mutually corroborating evidence of extremely 18O-depleted precipitation at high latitudes during the Late Cretaceous relative to those generated using general circulation models. This depletion is proposed to result from increased rainout effects from an intensified hydrological cycle, which probably played a role in sustaining polar warmth. Supplementary material: Parameters used for generation of equations compared to Kohn (1996) can be found at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18642


Neural networks (NNs) have been successfully applied to solve a variety of application problems involving classification and function approximation. Although backpropagation NNs generally predict better than decision trees do for pattern classification problems, they are often regarded as black boxes, i.e., their predictions cannot be explained as those of decision trees. In many applications, it is desirable to extract knowledge from trained NNs for the users to gain a better understanding of how the networks solve the problems. An algorithm is proposed and implemented to extract symbolic rules for medical diagnosis problem. Empirical study on three benchmarks classification problems, such as breast cancer, diabetes, and lenses demonstrates that the proposed algorithm generates high quality rules from NNs comparable with other methods in terms of number of rules, average number of conditions for a rule, and predictive accuracy.


During sepsis and critical illness, a systemic inflammatory response can significantly produce reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, which can damage host tissues. Usually, several different antioxidant defences protect host cells from these reactive species. One of the important antioxidant defences is glutathione, a tripeptide synthesised from the precursor amino acids cysteine, glutamate and glycine. The aim of this study was to measure glutathione synthesis in vivo, using deuterated glycine as a tracer.
Firstly, a new method for analysis of glutathione and glycine using both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) was developed. The derivatives of both compounds were measured in a single chromatographic analysis, and the method was compatible with both GC-MS and GC-IRMS, and capable of measuring low carbon-13 or deuterium enrichment of glutathione in 50μl of erythrocytes.
Erythrocyte glutathione synthesis was measured, using GC-IRMS, in critically ill infants and children who had been infused with deuterated glycine. Glutathione fractional synthesis rate (FSR) was not statistically different between septic and non-septic patients.
In order to determine whether glutamine is able to increase GSH synthesis by acting as a glutamate precursor, erythrocyte GSH synthesis was measured using GC-IRMS in septic infants and children randomised to receive glutamine dipeptide or placebo. There was no significant difference in glutathione FSR between those given glutamine and those given placebo. Intestinal glutathione depletion is known to occur following intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion injury. I measured glutathione synthesis in a rat model of intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion injury, and found that hypothermic rats with ischaemia-reperfusion injury had a higher intestinal glutathione synthesis than normothermic rats, providing a potential mechanism by which hypothermia may maintain intestinal glutathione levels.
In conclusion, the newly developed method of glutathione analysis using GC-IRMS was useful for compound specific isotope analysis of biological samples.


This work discusses the accuracies of geophysical model functions (GMFs) for retrieval of sea surface wind speed from satellite-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images in Japanese coastal waters characterized by short fetches and variable atmospheric stability conditions. In situ observations from two validation sites, Hiratsuka and Shirahama, are used for comparison of the retrieved sea surface wind speeds using CMOD (C-band model)4, CMOD_IFR2, CMOD5 and CMOD5.N. Of all the geophysical model functions (GMFs), the latest C-band GMF, CMOD5.N, has the smallest bias and root mean square error at both sites. All of the GMFs exhibit a negative bias in the retrieved wind speed. In order to understand the reason for this bias, all SAR-retrieved wind speeds are separated into two categories: onshore wind (blowing from sea to land) and offshore wind (blowing from land to sea). Only offshore winds were found to exhibit the large negative bias, and short fetches from the coastline may be a possible reason for this. Moreover, it is clarified that in both the unstable and stable conditions, CMOD5.N has atmospheric stability effectiveness, and can keep the same accuracy with CMOD5 in the neutral condition. In short, at the moment, CMOD5.N is thought to be the most promising GMF for the SAR wind speed retrieval with the atmospheric stability correction in Japanese coastal waters, although there is ample room for future improvement for the effect from short fetch.


This book details the fraught dynamics of rural life in the arid periphery of southeastern Morocco. The book considers whether agrarian livelihoods can survive in the context of globalized capitalism and proposes a new way of thinking about agrarian practice, politics, and land in North Africa and the Middle East. The book questions many of the assumptions underlying movements for land and food sovereignty, theories of the commons, and environmental governance. Global market forces, government disinvestment, political marginalization, and climate change are putting unprecedented pressures on contemporary rural life. At the same time, rural peoples are defying their exclusion by forging new economic and political possibilities. In southern Morocco, the vibrancy of rural life was sustained by creative and often contested efforts to sustain communal governance, especially of land, as a basis for agrarian livelihoods and a changing wage labor economy. The book follows these diverse strategies ethnographically to show how land became a site for conflicts over community, political authority, and social hierarchy. The book makes the provocative argument that land enclosures can be an essential part of communal governance and the fight for autonomy against intrusive state power and historical inequalities.


We consider the problem of signal recovery on graphs. Graphs model data with complex structure as signals on a graph. Graph signal recovery recovers one or multiple smooth graph signals from noisy, corrupted, or incomplete measurements. We formulate graph signal recovery as an optimization problem, for which we provide a general solution through the alternating direction methods of multipliers. We show how signal inpainting, matrix completion, robust principal component analysis, and anomaly detection all relate to graph signal recovery and provide corresponding specific solutions and theoretical analysis. We validate the proposed methods on real-world recovery problems, including online blog classification, bridge condition identification, temperature estimation, recommender system for jokes, and expert opinion combination of online blog classification.


Current concepts of chemokine receptor (CKR) association with Th1 and Th2 cell polarization and effector function have largely ignored the diverse nature of effector and memory T cells in vivo. Here, we systematically investigated the association of 11 CKRs, singly or in combination, with CD4 T cell polarization. We show that Th1, Th2, Th0, and nonpolarized T cells in blood and tissue can express any of the CKRs studied but that each CKR defines a characteristic pool of polarized and nonpolarized CD4 T cells. Certain combinations of CKRs define populations that are markedly enriched in major subsets of Th1 versus Th2 cells. For example, although Th0, Th1, and Th2 cells are each found among blood CD4 T cells coordinately expressing CXCR3 and CCR4, Th1 but not Th2 cells can be CXCR3(+)CCR4(-), and Th2 but only rare Th1 cells are CCR4(+)CXCR3(-). Contrary to recent reports, although CCR7(-) cells contain a higher frequency of polarized CD4 T cells, most Th1 and Th2 effector cells are CCR7(+) and thus may be capable of lymphoid organ homing. Interestingly, Th1-associated CKRs show little or no preference for Th1 cells except when they are coexpressed with CXCR3. We conclude that the combinatorial expression of CKRs, which allow tissue- and subset-dependent targeting of effector cells during chemotactic navigation, defines physiologically significant subsets of polarized and nonpolarized T cells.


The recent debate regarding the possible involvement of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in humans has been intense due to the conflicting results from different studies and the unclear origin of the XMRV virus. In this study, we have addressed this issue by screening 47 pairs of monozygotic twins discordant for CFS using a sensitive PCR assay. The results are clearly negative for all samples. This is consistent with studies showing no evidence for the involvement of XMRV in CFS and supports the possibility that previous positive studies could be caused by laboratory artifacts.

 Key words: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), idiopathic chronic fatigue, infectious disease, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), monozygotic twins


Grasslands represent 39%–50% of U.S. airport properties, and a recent management framework recommended exploiting both antipredator behaviours and food resources in airport grasslands to curb use by birds considered hazardous to aviation safety. We evaluated framework predictions empirically by exposing unsated and sated brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) to visually obstructive (∼13-cm vegetation height; tall), higher-risk plots versus unobstructive (<8 cm vegetation height; short) plots, and relative to prey resources. We predicted that 1) unsated birds (unfed since the previous day) would be present in greater numbers and forage more in short than tall vegetation plots 24 h post-mowing because of invertebrate flush resulting from mowing; 2) unsated birds would show increasing numbers and foraging in tall plots >24 h post-mowing because of decreasing food abundance and availability in short plots; and 3) sated birds would be present in greater numbers and forage more in short vegetation overall, because vigilance needs would exceed that of food needs. We evaluated effects of visual obstruction (a metric correlated with both vegetation height and insect density) on behaviours within plots via generalized linear mixed models. Unsated cowbirds showed nearly equal numbers in tall and short plots (X [SE] individuals using tall plots: 9.5 [5.1]; short plots: 9.8 [5.1], P = 1.00, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test), and foraged nearly equally in both plots 24 h post-mowing (tall plots: 6.9 [4.7] individuals; short plots: 6.6 [4.1] individuals, P = 0.94). Prey availability was likely enhanced within short plots within 24 h of mowing, but possibly in adjacent tall plots as well. Over the course of the experiments (8–9 days) unsated cowbirds showed no difference in numbers between plots (tall plots: 8.2 [4.9] individuals; short plots: 11.4 [4.9] individuals, P = 0.13), but foraged more in short plots (tall plots: 4.4 [3.8] individuals; short plots: 7.8 [4.2] individuals, P = 0.01); visual obstruction was significantly and negatively correlated with foraging in tall plots. Sated cowbirds selected for short plots (use of tall plots: 5.9 [4.2] individuals; short plots: 11.7 [4.6] individuals, P < 0.01; foraging in tall plots: 4.1 [3.3] individuals; short plots: 8.2 [4.6] individuals, P < 0.01). Our findings support recommendations for use of visually obstructive vegetation in combination with proactive control of food resources to reduce use of airport grasslands by birds that struct select against visually ob


Amplification of surface plasmon polaritons in planar metal-dielectric structure through stimulated emission is investigated using leakage-radiation microscopy configuration. The gain medium is a thin polymethylmethacrylate layer doped with lead-sulphide nanocrystals emitting at near-infrared wavelengths. We demonstrate an optical gain of ~200 cm(-1) for the mode under consideration, which corresponds to ~32% compensation of SPP loss.


Fair distributive measures require good knowledge about the rich. To evaluate the extent to which persons are rich because they live in families of a specific composition I test three hypothesis about the inequalities between the rich and the non-rich that relate the better situation of the rich to: 1.a particular demographic structure (fertility levels, position in the life course, etc.); 2. a higher use of the available labor (workforce participation and employment rates, length of work shift); 3.to the occupation of better positions in the labor market (higher remuneration). The test of hypotheses is based on a decomposition of the per capita income of the families, using data from the Brazilian National Household Sample Surveys (PNADs) of 1997, 1998, and 1999. The results suggest that the existence of a rich elite in the country is explained mostly by inequalities in workers' remuneration rather than by the demographic profile of the population or by the participation and employment rates for workers of the families.


The Babcock & Wilcox Company used Mn-Mo-Ni automatic submerged-arc welds with the Linde 80 flux type for the fabrication of 14 currently operating PWR reactor vessels. Due to the fact that the weld wire was copper-coated (high copper content) and that they have low upper-shelf toughness properties, the welds are limiting with respect to pressurized thermal shock analysis. The welds (reactor vessel, surveillance, and nozzle dropouts) were exposed to stress relief times (postweld heat treatment) ranging from 10–53 h between 593°C (1100°F) and 621°C (1150°F). In analyzing recently acquired master curve reference temperature data (ASTM E1921), it was discovered that there is a stress relief time effect on the transition temperature. The stress relief time effect can be seen in the drop weight TNDT data, but its effect is less clear in the 41 J (30ft-lb) Charpy impact data. In addition, the stress relief time has an effect on yield stress. The stress relief time may have an effect on the irradiation embrittlement of the welds, but the trend is not conclusive. Since there is an effect of stress relief time on the initial transition temperature, it is felt that it is important to test surveillance welds with similar stress relief times as the vessel welds that are being evaluated. Surveillance welds with longer stress relief times can be used to conservatively represent the vessel welds.


European cinema between World Wars I and II was renowned for its remarkable attention to detail and visual effects in set design. Visionary designers such as Vincent Korda and Alfred Junge extended their influence across national film industries in Paris, London, and Berlin, transforming the studio system into one of permeable artistic communities. For the first time, Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination provides a comparative study of European film set design in the late 1920s and 1930s. Based on a wealth of drawings, film stills, and archival documents from the period, this volume illuminates the emerging significance of transnational artistic collaboration in light of developments in Britain, France, and Germany. A comprehensive analysis of the practices, styles, and function of interwar cinematic production design, Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination offers new insight into the period's remarkable achievements and influence on subsequent generations.


Multiphysics modeling permits a detailed investigation of complex physical interactions and heterogeneous performance in multiple electro-active layers of a large-format Li-ion cell. For this purpose, a novel 3D multiphysics model with high computational efficiency was developed to investigate detailed multiphysics heterogeneity in different layers of a large-format pouch cell at various discharge rates. This model has spatial distribution and temporal evolution of local electric current density, solid lithium concentration and temperature distributions in different electro-active layers, based on a real pouch cell geometry. Other than previous models, we resolve the discharge processes at various discharge C-rates, analyzing internal inhomogeneity based on multiple electro-active layers of a large-format pouch cell. The results reveal that the strong inhomogeneity in multiple layers at a high C-rate is caused by the large heat generation and poor heat dissipation in the direction through the cell thickness. The thermal inhomogeneity also strongly interacts with the local electrochemical and electric performance in the investigated cell.


The purpose of research is the role of customer satisfaction, complaint, trust switching cost and corporate image of the effect to customer loyalty. Data was obtained from 200 customer CDMA phone users TelkomFlexy-Trendy Card (PT Telkom) in Surakarta. The data was analyzed by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The result is complaint is negative significantly influence to customer satisfaction and corporate image. Customer satisfaction is significantly influence to trust, switching cost and corporate image. Trust, switching cost and corporate image is signicantly influence to customer loyalty. But customer satisfaction is not significantly influence to customer loyalty. Keywords: Customer loyalty, Complaint, Customer satisfaction, Trust, Switching cost, Corporate image.


Indentifying pollutants that pose a potential hazard indoors is an important first step to reducing risks. We reviewed key published studies reporting measurements of chemical pollutants in residences. Summary results were compiled and used to calculate representative mid-range and upper-bound concentrations relevant to chronic exposures for over 300 pollutants and peak concentrations relevant to acute exposures for a few episodic activity-associated pollutants. For the over 100 pollutants with available criterions, the measured concentrations are compared to available chronic and acute health-hazard standards and guidelines. Fifteen pollutants are identified as potential chronic or acute health hazards for many homes. A subset of pollutants are identified as priority chemical pollutants and suggestions are made for effectively reducing indoor concentrations.


Purpose: Tamarindus indica is a plant that is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of cold, fever, stomach disorder, diarrhea and jaundice and as skin cleanser. To evaluate the scientific basis for the use of the plant, the antimicrobial activities of extracts of the stem bark and leaves were evaluated against some common gram negative and gram positive bacteria and fungi. The study also investigated the chemical constituents of the plant and the effect of temperature and pH on its antimicrobial activity.

Methods: The phytochemical constituents of the dried powdered plant parts were extracted using aqueous and organic solvents (acetone and ethanol). The antimicrobial activity of the concentrated extracts was evaluated by determination of the diameter of zone of inhibition against both gram negative and gram positive bacteria and fungi using the paper disc diffusion method.

Results: Results of the phytochemical studies revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, sesquiterpenes, alkaloids and phlobatamins and the extracts were active against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The activity of the plant extracts were not affected when treated at different temperature ranges (4 o C, 30 o C, 60 o C and 100 o C), but was reduced at alkaline pH. Studies on the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extracts on the test organisms showed that the lowest MIC and the MBC were demonstrated against Salmonella paratyphi, Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella typhi and the highest MIC and MBC was exhibited against Staphylococcus aureus .

Conclusions: Tamarindus indica has broad spectrum antibacterial activity and a potential source of new classes of antibiotics that could be useful for infectious disease chemotherapy and control. Keywords : Tamarindus indica , Antimicrobial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration, chemotherapy, infectious disease. > Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research Vol. 5 (2) 2006: pp. 597-603


Concise equations for improvements in computational efficiency on dynamics of rotor systems are presented. Two coordinate ordering methods are introduced in the element equations of motion. One is in the real domain and the other is in the complex domain. The two coordinate ordering algorithms lead to compact element matrices. A station numbering technique is also proposed for the system equations during the assembly process. The proposed numbering technique can minimize the matrix bandwidth, the memory storage and can increase the computational efficiency. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the benefit of the proposed algorithms.


Echo is a generic ecosystem model in which evolving agents are situated in a resource-limited environment. The Echo model is described, and the behavior of Echo is evaluated on two well-studied measures of ecological diversity: relative species abundance and the species-area scaling relation. In simulation experiments, these measures are used to compare the behavior of Echo with that of a neutral model, in which selection on agent genotypes is random. These simulations show that the evolutionary component of Echo makes a significant contribution to its behavior and that Echo shows good qualitative agreement with naturally occurring species abundance distributions and species-area scaling relations.


Aims: To detect the significance of coronary artery disease in the patients, who are suspected, was assumed to be one of the advantages of 2D STE, as a novel non-invasive imaging modality with acceptable accuracy. Methods: In this study, 216 patients who were suspected to have coronary artery disease and candidate for coronary angiography, underwent rest two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D STE) and negative global systolic longitudinal strain was evaluated. Results: Negative global systolic left ventricular longitudinal strain under 18% in rest 2D-STE was significantly prevalent in patients with significant CAD in coronary angiography (P value<0.0001). Our results revealed sensitivity of 91.1%, specificity of 63.0%, positive predictive value of 80.4%, negative predictive value of 81.0% and accuracy of 80.5% for rest 2D-STE in detection of significant CAD. Conclusion: Here in we showed that rest Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography could be a sensitive but nonspecific imaging modality to determine significant coronary artery disease. Future studies with large size will reveal more detailed findings. (www.actabiomedica.it)


Worldwide there are different systems for providing pharmacy services. Most countries have some element of state assistance,
either for all patients or selected groups such as children, and some private provisions. Medicines are financed either through cost
sharing or full private. The role of the private services is therefore much more significant. Nationally, there is a mismatch between
the numbers of pharmacists and where are they worked, and the demand for pharmacy services. The position is exacerbated locally
where in some areas of poor; there is a real need for pharmacy services, which is not being met and where pharmacists have little
spare capacity. Various changes within the health-care system require serious attention be given to the pharmacy human resources
need. In order to stem the brain drain of pharmacists, it is, however, necessary to have accurate information regarding the reasons
that make the pharmacists emigrate to the private sector. Such knowledge is an essential in making of informed decisions regarding
the retention of qualified, skilled pharmacists in the public sector for long time. There are currently 3000 pharmacists registered
with the Sudan Medical Council of whom only 10% are working with the government. The pharmacist: population ratio indicates
there is one pharmacist for every 11,433 inhabitants in Sudan, compared to the World Health Organisation (WHO) average for
industrialised countries of one pharmacist for 2,300 inhabitants. The situation is particularly problematic in the Southern states
where there is no pharmacist at all. The distribution of pharmacists indicates the majority are concentrated in Khartoum state.
When population figures are taken into consideration all states except Khartoum and Gezira states are under served compared to
the WHO average. This mal-distribution requires serious action as majority of the population is served in the public sector. This
study reveals the low incentives, poor working conditions, job dissatisfaction and lack of professional development programmes
as main reasons for the immigration to the private-sector. The objective of this communication is to highlight and provide an
overview of the reasons that lead to the immigration of the public sector pharmacists to the private-sector in Sudan. The survey
has been carried out in September 2014. Data gathered by the questionnaires were analysed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) version 12.0 for windows. The result have been evaluated and tabulated in this study. The data presented in this
theme can be considered as nucleus information for executing research and development for pharmacists and pharmacy. More
measures must be introduced to attract pharmacists into the public sector. The emerging crisis in pharmacy human resources
requires significant additional effort to gather knowledge and dependable data that can inform reasonable, effective, and coordinated
responses from government, industry, and professional associations.


Paddy, the staple food of South India, occupies about an area of 38 million hectares in India [1, 1987]. Being a semi-aquatic plant, its water requirements are many times more than most of the other food crops, thus requiring careful water management. The commonly used irrigation method for paddy is the pondin system, in which the quantity of water used is greater and hence, water use efficiency is less. In order to increase the water use efficiency, it was contemplated to irrigate paddy based on the moisture content of the soil (non-ponding) thus overruling the need for continuous ponding system. A large volume of domestic sewage is generated from the campus and laboratories of Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. This sewage is treated in an oxidation pond and the treated effluent is allowed to flow into a neighbouring village. In order to find a reuse for the treated effluent it was envisaged that treated effluent could be used for irrigating paddy.


Objective: To identify and characterize socio-economic inequalities in professionally administered topical fluoride treatment to schoolchildren. Methods: One thousand six hundred and forty-four schoolchildren [6 to 13 years of age, mean 9.06 ± 2.02; years 50.9% boys] were included in a cross-sectional study. Using questionnaires directed to mothers/guardians, we collected sociodemographic, socio-economic and dental variables. The dependent variable was at least one professional application of topical fluoride by a dentist in the previous year. Dentists in Mexico carry out the scope of clinical care traditionally assigned to dental hygienists in the United States of America (USA) and Canada. A multivariate logistic regression model was generated. Results: The prevalence of fluoride application was 11.5 % (95% CI = 9.9, 13.0). In the multivariate model, the odds of having a topical fluoride application was higher in children who reported brushing teeth more often (OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.22, 2.15) and in children from families with better socio-economic position (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.50). Conclusions: The experience of having fluoride administered by a dentist in the previous year was low overall in this sample of Mexican children. The results of the study suggest certain socio-economic inequalities. Strategies aimed at eliminating such inequalities across the socioeconomic spectrum are necessary if this population group is to follow recommended frequency schedules for topical fluoride applications.


High quality digital images have become pervasive in modern scientific and everyday life — in areas from photography to astronomy, CCTV, microscopy, and medical imaging. However there are always limits to the quality of these images due to uncertainty and imprecision in the measurement systems. Modern signal processing methods offer the promise of overcoming some of these problems by post-processing these blurred and noisy images. In this thesis, novel methods using nonstationary statistical models are developed for the removal of blurs from out of focus and other types of degraded photographic images. The work tackles the fundamental problem blind image deconvolution (BID); its goal is to restore a sharp image from a blurred observation when the blur itself is completely unknown. This is a "doubly ill-posed" problem — extreme lack of information must be countered by strong prior constraints about sensible types of solution. In this work, the hierarchical Bayesian methodology is used as a robust and versatile framework to impart the required prior knowledge. The thesis is arranged in two parts. In the first part, the BID problem is reviewed, along with techniques and models for its solution. Observation models are developed, with an emphasis on photographic restoration, concluding with a discussion of how these are reduced to the common linear spatially-invariant (LSI) convolutional model. Classical methods for the solution of ill-posed problems are summarised to provide a foundation for the main theoretical ideas that will be used under the Bayesian framework. This is followed by an in-depth review and discussion of the various prior image and blur models appearing in the literature, and then their applications to solving the problem with both Bayesian and non-Bayesian techniques. The second part covers novel restoration methods, making use of the theory presented in Part I. Firstly, two new nonstationary image models are presented. The first models local variance in the image, and the second extends this with locally adaptive non-causal autoregressive (AR) texture estimation and local mean components. These models allow for recovery of image details including edges and texture, whilst preserving smooth regions. Most existing methods do not model the boundary conditions correctly for deblurring of natural photographs, and a Chapter is devoted to exploring Bayesian solutions to this topic. Due to the complexity of the models used and the problem itself, there are many challenges which must be overcome for tractable inference. Using the new models, three different inference strategies are investigated: firstly using the Bayesian maximum marginalised a posteriori (MMAP) method with deterministic optimisation; proceeding with the stochastic methods of variational Bayesian (VB) distribution approximation, and simulation of the posterior distribution using the Gibbs sampler. Of these, we find the Gibbs sampler to be the most effective way to deal with a variety of different types of unknown blurs. Along the way, details are given of the numerical strategies developed to give accurate results and to accelerate performance. Finally, the thesis demonstrates state-of-the-art results in blind restoration of synthetic and real degraded images, such as recovering details in out of focus photographs.


A hundred years ago, a doctor had no way to look within the body of a patient other than to slice it open. That changed radically at the turn of the century, with the discovery of X-rays. X-ray and other forms of diagnostic imaging technology developed slowly but steadily from then until the 1970s, at which point a revolution occurred. Made possible largely by the availability of powerful but inexpensive computers, the rapid and widespread adoption of computed tomography (CT) and, a decade later, of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) greatly expanded the power of clinical imaging, and even changed the ways in which physicians view and think about the human body. This unique guide explains how the principal imaging devices work and how they help physicians save lives. It gives readers a grasp of the major medical technologies that might come to play important roles in their lives, and it provides succinct, easy-to-understand, and reliable explanations for those who wish to explore the issues of the associated benefits, costs, and risks in an informed manner. In nonspecialized language, Looking Within discusses how X-ray, fluoroscopic, CT, MRI, positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound, and other medical pictures are created, and explores the essential roles they play in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. It should be of interest to patients and their friends and loved ones, and to those who are simply curious about this vitally important, exciting, and cutting-edge branch of medicine. Its brief but clear descriptions of how these essential tools work should also be of value to health care providers in supporting and educating their patients.


Healthcare organizational stability rests on organizational commitment. This study adds to the literature that demonstrates the mediating effects of empowerment on organizational commitment in a long understudied population of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) employed full time. Organizational commitment encourages extra role behaviors, paramount in times of decreasing resources such as that facing all sectors of national health care. A 45-item work environment survey was distributed to all registered LPNs employed full time in one state (N = 5486) and 1164 (21%) responded. Data revealed that empowerment is associated with LPN organizational commitment and mediates effects of organizational conflict and trust on commitment to the organization. Further empowerment and organizational climate, especially organizational conflict and trust, matter to full-time LPNs. Results contribute to initial knowledge about linkages to organizational commitment among lower educated and less skilled nurses and have implications for managers in healthcare settings who employ full-time LPNs. LPNs may be more highly valued by scholars in nursing if LPN-sensitive research shows their continued value and cost effectiveness for specific and important organizational outcomes, especially in light of the growing geriatric population that will require increasingly chronic and routine care. As bedside RNs become more highly educated, they may increasingly disdain employment that involves the repetitive, low-risk patient care that LPNs currently provide. There is a real need to better understand the current work environment of those employees responsible for delivering low-risk repetitive healthcare to chronically ill and elderly patients. LPNs are key among those.


Context. According to Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, there is an increase of 19% in residential burglary crimes in Sweden over the last decade and only 5% of the total crimes reported were actually solved by the law enforcement agencies. In order to solve these cases quickly and efficiently, the law enforcement agencies has to look into the possible linked serial crimes. Many studies have suggested to link crimes based on Modus Operendi and other characteristic. Sometimes crimes which are not possible to travel spatially with in the reported times but have similar Modus Operendi are also grouped as linked crimes. Investigating such crimes could possibly waste the resources of the law enforcement agencies.Objectives. In this study, we investigate the possibility of the usage of travel distance and travel duration between different crime locations while linking the residential burglary crimes. A filtering method has been designed and implemented for filtering the unlinked crimes from the estimated linked crimes by utilizing the distance and duration values.Methods. The objectives in this study are satisfied by conducting an experiment. The travel distance and travel duration values are obtained from various online direction services. The filtering method was first validated on ground truth represented by known linked crime series and then it was used to filter out crimes from the estimated linked crimes.Results. The filtering method had removed a total of 4% unlinked crimes from the estimated linked crime series when the travel mode is considered as driving. Whereas it had removed a total of 23% unlinked crimes from the estimated linked crime series when the travel mode is considered as walking. Also it was found that a burglar can take an average of 900 seconds (15 minutes) for committing a burglary.Conclusions. From this study it is evident that the usage of spatial and temporal values in linking residential burglaries gives effective crime links in a series. Also, the usage of Google Maps for getting distance and duration values can increase the overall performance of the filtering method in linking crimes.


This essay examines the history of econometrics through a case study of the Phillips curve, that is, econometric modeling of the trade-off between inflation and unemployment. It focuses on a number of questions: What econometric tools did modelers choose to use in modeling the Phillips curve? How did their choices shape the ways that they obtained, interpreted, and theorized the empirical evidence? How did the concerns and problems they encountered feed back into the development of econometrics? This study reveals that much of the interaction between econometrics and economics involved modelers making certain trade-offs between theory and data, and their different positions generated disputes, factions, and confusion. It also reveals that the history of econometric modeling of the Phillips curve mirrors the evolving process of how the Cowles structural modeling paradigm has become consolidated, challenged, reformed, or abandoned.


Empirical studies show that female workers are under-represented in highest hierarchical positions of companies, which is known as the glass-ceiling effect. In this study we investigate the relationship between social networks and the glass-ceiling effect. Specifically, we develop an equilibrium search and matching model where job ladders consist of three hierarchical levels and social networks are generated endogenously. Male and female workers move up in the hierarchical ladder via job-to-job transitions between firms and internal promotions within firms. They also accumulate experience which is a necessary requirement for applying to jobs in the highest hierarchical level. Open vacancies can be filled by formal matching of applicants to jobs or by referrals, which implies that senior workers recommend their social contacts for the job. Social networks exhibit gender homophily, which reflects the fact that social ties are more likely to be formed between workers of the same gender. In a setting when female workers are the minority, there are too few female contacts in the social networks of their male colleagues. This disadvantage implies that female workers are refereed less often for the jobs and under-represented in senior hierarchical positions of firms. We show that referrals via homophilous social networks can explain part of the total wage gap stemming from the glass-ceiling effect in Germany (6:4%). This mechanism is amplified by more hierarchical firm structures, stronger clustering of social networks, and earlier promotion times.


In the post-9/11 world, governments are using the threat of terrorism to justify tightening national security and restricting basic human rights. This timely book addresses the implications of this trend, revealing human rights inequities from nation to nation and the consequences of these inequities worldwide. Inspired by the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Andrew Fagan considers the nature of the state, national identity, and citizenship. His comprehensive and succinct text explores judicial violations and legal restrictions that permit state-sponsored torture, indefinite detention, capital punishment, and police brutality. Vividly illustrated with colorful maps and charts, "The Atlas of Human Rights" charts both the progress and limitation of free expression and media censorship. It displays the areas that are beset with wars, conflict, migration, and genocide; details the geographic status of sexual freedom, racism, religious freedom, and the rights of the disabled; and, focuses on women's rights, sex slavery, and the rights of the child. As intolerance threatens diversity on a global scale, "The Atlas of Human Rights" serves as a crucial intervention to preserving and extending freedom.


Though wind turbines and windmills have been used for centuries, the application of aerodynamics technology to improve reliability and reduce costs of wind-generated energy has only been pursued in earnest for the past 40 years. Today, wind energy is mainly used to generate electricity. Wind is a renewable energy source. Power production from wind turbines is affected by certain conditions: wind speed, turbine speed, turbulence and the changes of wind direction. These conditions are not always optimal and have negative effects on most turbines. The present turbine is supposed to be less affected by these conditions because the blades combine a rotating movement around each own axis and around the nacelle's one. Due to this combination of movements, flow around this turbine can be more highly unsteady, because of great blade stagger angles. The turbine has a rotor with three straight blades of symmetrical airfoil. Paper presents unsteady simulations that have been performed for one wind velocity, and different initial blades stagger angles. The influence of interaction of blades is studied for one specific constant rotational speed among the four rotational speeds that have been studied.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify patient and program delivery characteristics associated with engagement and weight loss in a Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) implemented in an urban hospital system. Methods Patient and program delivery data were collected between July 2015 and December 2017. DPP eligibility was determined based on age, body mass index (BMI), and hemoglobin A1C data via the electronic health record. Engagement was measured at 3 levels: ≤3 sessions, 4 to 8 sessions, and ≥9 sessions. Weight was measured at each DPP session. Results Among the eligible patients (N = 31 524), referrals and engagement were lower in men than women, in Spanish speakers than English speakers, in younger (18-34 years) and middle-aged (35-54 years) than older adults, and in patients receiving Medicaid than other patients. Referral and engagement were higher in patients with higher BMIs and those prescribed ≥5 medications. Current smokers were less frequently engaged. Prior health care provider contact was associated with higher engagement. Overall, 28% of DPP participants achieved ≥5% weight loss; younger and middle-aged patients and those who gained weight in the prior 2 years were less likely to lose weight. Conclusion This assessment identified characteristics of patients with lower levels of referral and engagement. The DPP staff may need to increase outreach to address barriers to referral and during all points of engagement among men, younger patients, and Spanish speakers. Future research is needed to increase understanding with regard to why referrals and engagement are lower among these groups.