Byline: T. Sathyanarayana Rao, B. Praveena, K. Jagannatha Rao For every eight seconds, a Baby Boomer turns 60 in the world. By 2015, nearly 15% of our population will be over 65 years of age. This is increasing and expected to increase geriatric population burden in health and financial sector in every country. We have limited geriatric healthcare and care giving facilities and this is the essential need due to changing social and financial spheres in our lives. Research on aging and aging processes leads the way to a greater understanding of all age-related diseases.[sup] [1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6] It has the potential to improve public health to a far greater extent than science that examines only one disease at a time. Research on aging also provides the hope and the promise for everyone to live healthier, longer lives, less susceptible to disease and disability. Aging research is likely to be the least expensive path to preventing and curing many diseases of aging. Studying aging requires two complementary approaches: studying the components of disease that are related to aging and studying the underlying mechanisms of aging and how they regulate the processes in our bodies.[sup] [7],[8] In USA, for 28 years, the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) has been at the forefront of this revolutionary approach to the science of healthier aging. AFAR has played a major role in providing and advancing knowledge of aging and mechanisms of age-related diseases by providing grants to more than 2,600 talented scientists. There is an urgent need in India too to have advanced research in aging related to Indian situation. We don't have any cross sectional study either on healthy aging or age related neurological disorders and their burden in India. Government of India need to play a significant role in funding geriatric research. Americans are living longer than ever, according to the latest life expectancy statistics. But American men still aren't living as long as American women. The average life expectancy for men in the US is now roughly 75 years. For women, it's more than 80. Exactly why men are shorter-lived than women isn't entirely clear. Even in infancy, boys run a higher risk of dying than girls, and researchers aren't sure why. Research, however, does suggest that a leading reason for the "longevity gap" between men and women is that men don't take care of themselves as well as women do. Surveys have found, for example, that women are much more likely to have a regular healthcare provider, and to see him or her within the course of the year, than men are. Men are also more likely to engage in "risky" behavior - like smoking and drinking heavily then women. The greatest health asset for geriatric population is spending time and doing things with other people, of all ages, which can help keep them mentally, physically and emotionally fit. It can also give brain a boost and lift the mood. They need to volunteer, or join community or other groups and get involved in activities they enjoy. But in the current situation is not so satisfactory for our aged. In India, there is an urgent need to develop models to keep geriatric populations active through out life. We need to provide a comprehensive plan on post retirement healthy and active living.[sup] [9],[10],[11] Unhealthy aging is a risk factor for geriatric mental disorders. The failure in normal healthy aging leads to mental disorders in aged population. Bipolar disorder (BD) is a major geriatric mental health problem and affects about 1% of the population and causes severe neuropsychological impairments and is implicated in functional impairment. What is meant by normal aging and healthy aging and what are the triggering risk factors for geriatric mental health problems are the major puzzling issues. We need to understand biology of aging properly. Biological changes during aging include neuropeptide (involved in memory and emotion), calcium balance, hormones like oxytocin, neural networks, metal homeostasis, and genetic instability and related gene expression changes. …


The problem of discovering regions that support particular functionalities in an urban setting has been approached in literature using two general methodologies: top-down, encoding expert knowledge on urban planning and design and discovering regions that conform to that knowledge; and bottom-up, using data to train machine learning models, which can discover similar regions. Both methodologies face limitations, with knowledge-based approaches being criticized for scalability and transferability issues and data-driven approaches for lacking interpretability and depending heavily on data quality. To mitigate these disadvantages, we propose a novel framework that fuses a knowledge-based approach using design patterns and a data-driven approach using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling in three different ways: Functional regions discovered using either approach are evaluated against each other to identify cases of significant agreement or disagreement; knowledge from patterns is used to adjust topic probabilities in the learning model; and topic probabilities are used to adjust pattern-based results. The proposed methodologies are demonstrated through the use case of identifying shopping-related regions in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Results show that the combination of pattern-based discovery and topic modeling extraction helps uncover discrepancies between the two approaches and smooth inaccuracies caused by the limitations of each approach.


This publication surveys the life's work of an artist who arrived in Australia in the early 1950s having already undertaken art studies in Germany, England and Scotland. She had also travelled to America to witness, first hand, post-war developments in the New York art world. The extravagantly illustrated book, with wonderful photographs by Mark Strizic, John Gollings, Jacqui Henshaw, Robin Whittle and others, attempts to document the majority of the artist's sculptures and works on paper produced over her decades in this country. Included for special consideration in the text are sections on King's major public commissions such as Forward Surge at the Victorian Arts Centre and Rings of Saturn at Heide Museum of Modern Art. By concentrating on the artist's entire career, from art school studies in the 1930s to works produced as recently as 2014, this book is intended to be a singularly comprehensive coverage of the artist's iconographic and stylistic development and a record of this 98 year-old's creative life dedicated to the art of sculpture.


In the vasculature, multiple members of the TRP-superfamily of non-selective cation channels (NSCCs) are expressed. These channels mediate diverse non-voltage-gated Ca2+-entry pathways and functions, which involve both vascular myocytes and communicating endothelial cells. Here, we provide an overview of recent progress in this area of research and discuss several specific examples of the important roles of vascular TRP channels in calcium signalling and electrophysiological responses. We especially focus on the recently discovered signal transduction mechanisms involving formation of specific complexes between TRP proteins and other better studied proteins that regulate cell calcium homeostasis, such as voltage-gated calcium channels and ryanodine receptors. Finally, we provide an overview of the progress in our understanding of TRPM8, which is known as the principal neuronal cold receptor, expression, localisation and function in the vasculature. We conclude that this channel is likely involved in complex thermal behaviour of blood vessels, better understanding of which is relevant to hypothermic and cardiovascular surgery conditions, therefore further research in this area is needed.


The presented thesis deals with the 2D-3D pose estimation problem. Pose estimation means to estimate the relative position and orientation of a 3D object with respect to a reference camera system. The main focus concentrates on the geometric modeling and application of the pose problem. To deal with the different geometric spaces (Euclidean, affine and projective ones), a homogeneous model for conformal geometry is applied in the geometric algebra framework. It allows for a compact and linear modeling of the pose scenario. In the chosen embedding of the pose problem, a rigid body motion is represented as an orthogonal transformation whose parameters can be estimated efficiently in the corresponding Lie algebra. In addition, the chosen algebraic embedding allows the modeling of extended features derived from sphere concepts in contrast to point concepts used in classical vector calculus. For pose estimation, 3D object models are further treated two-fold, feature based and free-form based: While the feature based pose scenarios provide constraint equations to link different image and object entities, the free-form approach for pose estimation is achieved by applying extracted image silhouettes from objects on 3D free-form contours modeled by 3D Fourier descriptors. In conformal geometric algebra an extended scenario is derived, which deals beside point features with higher-order features such as lines, planes, circles, spheres, kinematic chains or cycloidal curves. This scenario is extended to general free-form contours by interpreting contours generated with 3D Fourier descriptors as n-times nested cycloidal curves. The introduced method for shape modeling links signal theory, geometry and kinematics and is applied advantageously for 2D-3D silhouette based free-form pose estimation. The experiments show the real-time capability and noise stability of the algorithms. Experiments of a running navigation system with visual self-localization are also presented.


Astrocytes play a crucial role in maintaining neuronal function and monitoring their activity. According to neuronal activity maps, the body is represented topographically in the somatosensory cortex. In rats, neighboring cortical areas receive forelimb (FL) and hindlimb (HL) sensory inputs. Whether astrocytic activity is also restricted to the cortical area receiving the respective peripheral sensory inputs is not known. Using wide field optical imaging we measured changes in the concentration of astrocytic calcium within the FL and HL sensorimotor cortex in response to peripheral sensory inputs. Mapping the calcium signals upon electrical stimulation of the forepaw and hindpaw we found activity largely restricted to the FL and HL area, respectively. In comparison to neuronal activity the time course of the astrocytic calcium activity was considerably slower. The signal took 6 s to peak after the onset of a 2 Hz and 2 s long electrical stimulation of the hindpaw and 8 s for a 4 s stimulation. The astrocytic signals were delayed relative to cerebral blood flow measured using laser speckle imaging. The intensity of both the astrocytic and neuronal signals in the HL sensorimotor cortex declined with increase in stimulation frequency. Moreover, blocking neuronal input by tetrodotoxin abolished astrocytic calcium signals. We suggest that the topographical representation of the body is not only true for cortical neurons but also for astrocytes. The maps and the frequency‐dependent activations reflect strong reciprocal neuroglial communication and provide a new experimental approach to explore the role of astrocytes in health and disease. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


An approach to generate the tunable fractional vector curvilinear beams (VCBs) was proposed. The scheme is based on the vector optical field generator (VOFG) system, where the two orthogonal polarized scalar curvilinear beams (SCBs) are generated to be the base vector components, and coaxially superposed by a Ronchi grating. We design a new phase distribution with several loops of 0 to π in order to generate more dark gaps. The phase distribution becomes nonuniform by varying the phase variation rate and the positions of the dark gaps are changed. Using the different parameters of the curves, the fractional VCBs with different shapes are achieved. The two orthogonal polarized SCBs with the opposite topological charges are modulated to perform the beam conversion by a phase-only computer-generated hologram (CGH). Our experimental results comply with the theory and the radial opening of the dark gaps may have some applications for guiding and transporting particles.


Metallocene catalyzed linear low density polyethylene (m-LLDPE) is a new generation of olefin copolymer. Based on the more recently developed metallocene-type catalysts, m-LLDPE can be synthesized with exactly controlled short chain branches and stereo-regular microstructure. The unique properties of these polymers have led to their applications in many areas. As a result, it is important to have a good understanding of the oxidation mechanism of m-LLDPE during melt processing in order to develop more effective stabilisation systems and continue to increase the performance of the material. The primary objectives of this work were, firstly, to investigate the oxidative degradation mechanisms of m-LLDPE polymers having different comonomer (I-octene) content during melt processing. Secondly, to examine the effectiveness of some commercial antioxidants on the stabilisation of m-LLDPE melt. A Ziegler-polymerized LLDPE (z-LLDPE) based on the same comonomer was chosen and processed under the same conditions for comparison with the metallocene polymers. The LLDPE polymers were processed using an internal mixer (torque rheometer, TR) and a co-rotating twin-screw extruder (TSE). The effects of processing variables (time, temperature) on the rheological (MI, MWD, rheometry) and molecular (unsaturation type and content, carbonyl compounds, chain branching) characteristics of the processed polymers were examined. It was found that the catalyst type (metallocene or Ziegler) and comonomer content of the polymers have great impact on their oxidative degradation behavior (crosslinking or chain scission) during melt processing. The metallocene polymers mainly underwent chain scission at lower temperature (<220°C) but crosslinking became predominant at higher temperature for both TR and TSE processed polymers. Generally, the more comonomers the m-LLDPE contains, a larger extent of chain scission can be expected. In contrast, crosslinking reactions were shown to be always dominant in the case of the Ziegler LLDPE. Furthermore, it is clear that the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of all LLDPE became broader after processing and tended generally to be broader at elevated temperatures and more extrusion passes. So, it can be concluded that crosslinking and chain scission are temperature dependent and occur simultaneously as competing reactions during melt processing. Vinyl is considered to be the most important unsaturated group leading to polymer crosslinking as its concentration in all the LLDPE decreased after processing. Carbonyl compounds were produced during LLDPE melt processing and ketones were shown to be the most imp0l1ant carbonyl-containing products in all processed polymers. The carbonyl concentration generally increased with temperature and extrusion passes, and the higher carbonyl content fonned in processed z-LLDPE and m-LLDPE polymers having higher comonomer content indicates their higher susceptibility of oxidative degradation. Hindered phenol and lactone antioxidants were shown to be effective in the stabilization of m-LLDPE melt when they were singly used in TSE extrusion. The combination of hindered phenol and phosphite has synergistic effect on m-LLDPE stabilization and the phenol-phosphite-Iactone mixture imparted the polymers with good stability during extrusion, especially for m-LLDPE with higher comonomer content.


Most of the patients with asthma are found to be successfully treated with conventional therapy. However, there are a small proportion of asthmatic patients who fail to respond to corticosteroids even at high doses or with supplementary therapy. In addition, even high doses of corticosteroids have a minimal effect on the inexorable decline in lung function in COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and only a small effect in reducing exacerbations. Corticosteroid-insensitivity therefore presents a profound management problem. Corticosteroids act through a cytosolic receptor [GR (glucocorticoid receptor)], which is activated and translocates to the nucleus. Once in the nucleus, it either binds to DNA and switches on the expression of anti-inflammatory genes or represses the activity of distinct signalling pathways such as NF-kappaB (nuclear factor kappaB), AP-1 (activator protein-1) or MAPKs (mitogen-activated protein kinases). This latter step requires the recruitment of co-repressor molecules. A failure to respond to corticosteroids may therefore result from lack of binding to GR, reduced GR expression, lack of co-repressor activity or enhanced activation of inflammatory pathways. These events can be modulated by oxidative stress or high levels of inflammatory cytokines, which may lead to a reduced clinical outcome. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of GR action, and inaction, may lead to the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs or reverse the relative corticosteroid-insensitivity that is characteristic of these diseases.


The use of mobile handheld devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and tablet computers, within the workplace is expanding rapidly. These devices are no longer viewed as coveted gadgets for early technology adopters, but instead have become indispensable tools that offer competitive business advantages for the mobile workforce. While providing productivity benefits, the ability of these devices to store and transmit corporate information through both wired and wireless networks poses potential risks to an organization's security. This paper describes a framework for managing user privileges on handheld devices. The approach is aimed at assisting enterprise security officers in administering and enforcing group and individual security policies for PDAs, and helping constrain users to comply automatically with their organization's security policy. Details of a proof-of-concept implementation of the framework are also provided.


This thesis offers a new model of early phase entrepreneurial development which places the central emphasis on the learning and development of the founder and the consequences for the team dynamics amongst the co-founders; in contrast to conventional approaches that stress the correct application of methods or techniques derived from financial or management theory. The research was conducted through the application of grounded theory method and other supporting mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. The research draws upon my own direct coaching and mentoring work with different samples of early phase entrepreneurs. One outcome from the research is a new psychometric instrument that is now in use at fifteen universities in the UK and several technology accelerators in the UK and Hong Kong. The instrument identifies and differentiates between three distinct elements derived from motivational theory: Mindset, relational preferences and work style. My research suggests that it is these aspects have a determining influence on the way the entrepreneur conceived and develops their venture. The research was conducted by making transcriptions of recorded mentoring and coaching sessions. I created a database of codes and categories and then developed a model based on this data. Built into the project was a strong emphasis on the development and testing of the model with users. My thesis shows that entrepreneurs do not follow a single course or method, but adapt between different profiles depending on and their own mindset and how they decide to evolve their venture. This thesis highlights the need for entrepreneurs to develop the necessary agility to develop the necessary skills and behaviors or work effectively in collaboration with others. This lays the basis for a learning approach that is quite different from the classical linear "life cycle model" prevalent in the Silicon Valley model. This research contributes to the rapidly developing eco-system of microbusinesses and provides a set of practical learning tools for early phase entrepreneurs.


Full-scale testing of vehicles is notoriously difficult and expensive. Invariably only a small range of vehicle configurations and soil conditions can be explored and it is difficult to ensure consistency and uniformity of terrain. Scale-model testing may provide a more versatile and cost-effective method for exploring the behaviour of off-road vehicles. This paper describes some of the simple rules which have to be observed when modelling vehicle operations on soil and presents results from three case studies of scale-model tests on tracked vehicles and earth anchors carried out in soil bins at The Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) in the United Kingdom. The results are shown to correlate well with theoretical predictions of full-scale performance and with empirical predictions based on full-scale trials.


The current work investigates the problem of objectlevel relevance assessment prediction, taking into account the user's captured gaze signal (behaviour) and following the Deep Learning (DL) paradigm. Human gaze, as a sub-conscious response, is influenced from several factors related to the human mental activity. Several studies have so far proposed methodologies based on the use of gaze statistical modeling and naive classifiers for assessing images or image patches as relevant or not to the user's interests. Nevertheless, the outstanding majority of literature approaches only relied so far on the use of handcrafted features and relative simple classification schemes. On the contrary, the current work focuses on the use of DL schemes that will enable the modeling of complex patterns in the captured gaze signal and the subsequent derivation of corresponding discriminant features. Novel contributions of this study include: a) the introduction of a large-scale annotated gaze dataset, suitable for training DL models, b) a novel method for gaze modeling, capable of handling gaze sensor errors, and c) a DL based method, able to capture gaze patterns for assessing image objects as relevant or non-relevant, with respect to the user's preferences. Extensive experiments demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method, taking also into consideration key factors related to the human gaze behaviour.


The Korean genre of sanjo is today one of the most popular genres of traditional music, taught in schools and universities within Korea, and a staple of national and international performance tours. Sanjo comprises a set of related pieces for solo melodic instrument and drum. A number of 'schools' (ryu) are recognized, each based on the performance style of a master musician, usually a musician from an earlier generation. Sanjo was first devised for the kayagum 12-stringed plucked long zither and is now played on all major Korean instruments. The solo melodic instrument is accompanied by a drum. The two Sino-Korean characters that comprise the term 'sanjo' can be translated as 'scattered melodies', but such a translation hardly does justice to the complexity of sanjo: each piece, played in entirety, can last for an hour, although in concerts players will often choose segments from this long piece to fit a specified time frame.

Amongst contemporary performers, Chaesuk Lee has done much to develop our understanding of sanjo. In her career, she has combined scholarly research with performing. One of the first students of the Seoul National University programme in kugak, Korean traditional music, the first female professor of kugak in Korea, and today the only female music scholar in the Korean National Academy of Arts, she worked with the most senior master musicians of kayagum sanjo, chief amongst them Kim Chukp'a (1911-1989). Kim was the grandaughter of the putative founder of sanjo, Kim Ch'angjo. Kim Chukp'a had been a celebrated performer in her youth, but she retired as a professional musician in the early 1930s when she married her first husband.

This volume explores, records, notates and documents the Kim Chukp'a school of kayagum sanjo. It is the result of collaboration between Chaesuk Lee, the ethnomusicologist Keith Howard and the composer and musicologist Nicholas Casswell. Two audio CDs accompany the book, one featuring Lee playing Kim's complete sanjo, and the second, a 'bonus' CD of a second sanjo for the six-stringed zither, komun'go, played by Kim Sunok.


Purpose: To report two cases of orbitofrontal cholesterol granuloma, which is a rare progressive destructive disease Case reports: We report two patients with orbitofrontal cholesterol granuloma; a 50-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman; both with progressive proptosis due to a cystic lesion in the superior part of the orbit with frontal bone erosion and intracranial extension. The second case had a previous incomplete surgery 5 years before and presented with recurrent orbital tumor. We performed orbitotomy and cyst evacuation for both cases, which resulted in complete resolution without any complications. At last follow-up (2 and 6 years after operations respectively), no recurrence was observed. Conclusion: We presented the clinical and para-clinical manifestations and surgical results. Complete resolution of symptoms without any recurrence was observed after surgery.


About the book: We all recognize a text as having some sort of unity, but in what exactly does that unity consist? The 27 contributions collected in this volume derive from the 13th Euro-International Systemic Functional Workshop held at the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, at Brest in France, and they attempt in different ways to answer at least part of this complex question. In order to do so, they use analytical techniques inspired by Systemic Functional Linguistics. In this theoretical framework, one of the strands of meaning is the textual metafunction, which Michael Halliday has called the 'enabling' metafunction in that it is the strand of meaning which makes a series of clauses into a text. It includes thematic structure, information structure and cohesion, and all three are considered here. Some of the contributions consider them in relation to specific genres, such as emails, medical discharge notices or scientific abstracts; some do so in relation to literary texts. Many concern English, but Portuguese, French and Danish are also considered. Recent research on text has gone beyond the verbal to consider the contribution played by visual or other non-verbal aspects of communication. This is the case of several of these contributions. This volume thus constitutes a significant contribution to current studies on the nature of text.


We present a novel distributed range-free technique called ExPLoIT for estimating geographical location of sensor nodes in mobile sensor networks. ExPLoIT is the first positioning technique that exploits location information at regular nodes in addition to using seeds. The key idea is the notion of confidence that a node has in its location estimate which can be used by other nodes for localization. Using Monte Carlo integration, a node estimates its current location and confidence based on its past location and the location information it receives from its neighbors. Node mobility is exploited to transitively localize the network. Our extensive simulation study shows that our proposal outperforms three other state-of-the-art range-free localization techniques under a wide range of conditions. The strength of ExPLoIT is that it is robust to irregular radio propagation, arbitrary seed and node density, and stochastic seed and node mobility; no special hardware is necessary at sensor nodes.


The Latin lingual and cultural image of HOME selected aspectsThe authors of the article use research tools typical of cognitive ethnolinguistics in order to reconstruct the Latin lingual and cultural image of HOME domus romana. As a material base, they use predominantly the following language data: system-based etymology and different meanings ascribed to the Latin lexeme domus, synonyms and antonyms, collocations, etc. and text-based texts that are examples of the artistic and professional discourse. On the basis of the analysis carried out they separate the basic dimensions of the Roman HOME conceptualization, such as: physical home as a place, structure, social familia romana, functional and cultural whose common ground is the idea of residence. Bearing in mind the complexity of the gathered language material the authors separate the following base profiles for the representation of HOME: material home as a structure, patriarchal home as a family seat, institutional home as a seat for public institutions, and finally cultural axiological and sacred — home as a treasury with values and a place of religious adoration. Understanding of the concept of HOME in ancient times described in this article allows the authors to portray the conceptualization of this phenomenon as a multidimensional reality relating to various aspects of ancient Romans' lives.


Weakly nonlinear interactions among equatorial waves have been explored in this paper using the adiabatic version of the equatorial � -plane primitive equations in isobaric coordinates. Assuming rigid lid vertical boundary conditions, the conditions imposed at the surface and at the top of the troposphere were expanded in a Taylor series around two isobaric surfaces in an approach similar to that used in the theory of surface–gravity waves in deep water and capillary–gravity waves. By adopting the asymptotic method of multiple time scales, the equatorial Rossby, mixed Rossby–gravity, inertio-gravity, and Kelvin waves, as well as their vertical structures, were obtained as leading-order solutions. These waves were shown to interact resonantly in a triad configuration at the O(�) approximation. The resonant triads whose wave components satisfy a resonance condition for their vertical structures were found to have the most significant interactions, although this condition is not excluding, unlike the resonant conditions for the zonal wavenumbers and meridional modes. Thus, the analysis has focused on such resonant triads. In general, it was found that for these resonant triads satisfying the resonance condition in the vertical direction, the wave with the highest absolute frequency always acts as an energy source (or sink) for the remaining triad components, as usually occurs in several other physical problems in fluid dynamics. In addition, the zonally symmetric geostrophic modes act as catalyst modes for the energy exchanges between two dispersive waves in a resonant triad. The integration of the reduced asymptotic equations for a single resonant triad shows that, for the initial mode amplitudes characterizing realistic magnitudes of atmospheric flow perturbations, the modes in general exchange energy on low-frequency (intraseasonal and/or even longer) time scales, with the interaction period being dependent upon the initial mode amplitudes. Potential future applications of the present theory to the real atmosphere with the inclusion of diabatic forcing, dissipation, and a more realistic background state are also discussed.


All of the different types of stomach epithelial cells are known to be derived from a single progenitor cell in each gland. Similarly, cancers develop from single cells, based on data from clonality analysis in C3H/HeN ↔ BALB/c chimeric mice. Using gastric and intestinal epithelial cell markers, intestinal metaplasia (IM) can be divided into two major types: a gastric and intestinal (GI) mixed type, and a solely intestinal (I) type. Ectopic expression of Cdx genes and down‐regulation of Sox2 in isolated single GI mixed IM glands suggests abnormal differentiation of stem cells that can produce both gastric (G) and I type cells. Similarly, phenotypic expression of gastric cancer cells of each histological type can be clearly classified into G and I type epithelial cells. The heterogeneity of phenotypic expression of gastric cancer cells in individual cancers is assumed to reflect this intrinsic potential for differentiation in two directions. Gastric cancers at early stages, independent of the histological type, mainly consist of G type cells, and phenotypic shift from G to I type expression is clearly observed with progression. The data thus suggest IM may not be a preneoplastic change in gastric carcinoma, but rather that cells of the I type may appear independently in the gastric mucosa in IM and in gastric cancers. Intestinalization of gastric mucosa and cancer cells may represent a kind of homeotic transformation. Whether disturbance of the regulation of Sox2 and Cdx genes may be of importance to the biological behavior of gastric cancers should therefore be clarified in future studies. (Cancer Sci 2003; 94: 135–141)


War-torn veterans have had limited support when combating symptoms of PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Historically, PTSD was viewed as a weakness. Only recently has it gained attention as a health priority for veterans. This scholarly project provides an algorithmic resource to help providers discern and assess whether a veteran is suffering from PTSD. This paper will go on to define what PTSD symptoms are, and what care options there are for veterans suffering from PTSD. One specific option explored is animal therapy as a way for a veteran suffering from PTSD to better manage his or her symptoms.


Abstract. This study tests the paleomagnetic and proxy-data based Mid- to Upper Pleistocene sediment deposition history of Lake El'gygytgyn by applying different approaches of luminescence dating techniques on sediment cores taken from the centre of the 175 m deep lake. For dating polymineral and quartz fine grains (4–11 μm grain size range) were extracted from nine different levels from the upper 28 m of sediment cores 5011-1A and 5011-1B. According to the independent age model, the lowest sample from 27.8–27.9 m below lake bottom level correlates to the Brunhes-Matuyama (B/M) reversal. Polymineral sub-samples were analysed by infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and post-IR IRSL measured at 290 °C (pIRIR290) using single aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) sequences. SAR protocols were further applied to measure the blue light optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermally-transferred OSL (TT-OSL) of fine-grained quartz supplemented by a multiple aliquot approach. Neither low temperature IRSL measurements at 50 °C nor any OSL dating approach on quartz yielded reliable results. Deconvolution of their dose response curves revealed a pseudo-increase of the dose response curves and explains the observed underestimation. The pIRIR protocol applied to polymineral fine grains was the only luminescence technique able to provide dating results of acceptable accuracy up to ca. 700 ka when correlated to the existing proxy-data and paleomagnetic based age record. We present the potential and limits of the different dating techniques and a correlation of pIRIR290 results with the proxy-data based age model.


Between 1946 and 1987, Crawford Productions was a major independent Melbourne producer of radio and television drama, and innovative musical and educational programs. Led by orchestra conductor Hector Crawford, his sister Dorothy Crawford and her son Ian Crawford, Crawford Productions, or simply Crawfords, was influential in developing an 'Australian consciousness and identity' through its many successful programs. This dissertation explores several elements of Hector Crawford's quest to create an 'Australian consciousness', including the opportunities he provided for many singers and artists through live musical radio programs. I argue that Dorothy Crawford's production skills were pivotal throughout this process as well as during the formative years of television. Hector lobbied against the dominance of American television programs and in support of Australian dramatic television content which, I argue, added greatly to a public awareness that television was not portraying Australia's national traditions and culture. I contend that this awareness helps explain why Crawfords' television drama series such as Homicide (1964) and Division 4 (1969) were so readily accepted by national audiences. Through employee oral history accounts I demonstrate how Crawfords engendered a collegiate training environment with a 'get the job done whatever the cost' attitude. The ensuing employment, training and career opportunities benefited the entire television and film industry and contributed to an evolving 'Australian consciousness'. This dissertation also examines the rationale behind Melbourne's third commercial television licence being granted to Ansett Transport Industries and why Crawfords' bid failed. In response to the existing literature, I argue that the Federal Government was not biased towards Ansett as a 'business friend'. While Hector Crawford has often been described as the 'Father of Australian Television', I argue that his entrepreneurial and business skills alone may have been ineffectual without the contributions of family members and senior staff. I contend that 'The Family of Australian Television' is a more accurate epitaph.


Identifying and Characterizing Yeast PAS Kinase 1 Substrates Reveals Regulation of Mitochondrial and Cell Growth Pathways Desiree DeMille Department of Microbiology & Molecular Biology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Glucose allocation is an important cellular process that is misregulated in the interrelated diseases obesity, diabetes and cancer. Cells have evolved critical mechanisms for regulating glucose allocation, one of which is sensory protein kinases. PAS kinase is a key sensory protein kinase that regulates glucose allocation in yeast, mice and man; and is a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer. Despite its importance, the molecular mechanisms of PAS kinase function are largely unknown. Through large-scale protein-interaction studies, we have identified 93 novel binding partners for PAS kinase which help to expand its role in glucose allocation as well as suggest novel roles for PAS kinase including mitochondrial metabolism, cell growth/division, protein modification, stress tolerance, and gene/protein expression. From a subset of these binding partners, we identified 5 in vitro substrates of PAS kinase namely Mot3, Utr1, Zds1, Cbf1 and Pbp1. Additionally, we have further characterized Pbp1 and Cbf1 as PAS kinase substrates through both in vitro and in vivo evidence as well as phenotypic analysis. Evidence is provided for the PAS kinasedependent phosphorylation and activation of Pbp1, which in turn inhibits cell proliferation through the sequestration of TORC1. In contract, PAS kinase-dependent phosphorylation of Cbf1 inhibits its activity, decreasing cellular respiration. This work elucidates novel molecular mechanisms behind PAS kinase function in both mitochondrial and cell growth pathways in eukaryotic cells, increasing our understanding of the regulation of central metabolism.


The third book in the wildly romantic Gabriel's Inferno series by Sylvain Reynard, following on from Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture. Professor Gabriel Emerson has left his position at the University of Toronto to embark on a new life with his beloved Julianne. Together, he's confident that they can face any challenge. But Julianne's graduate program threatens Gabriel's plans for their life together, as the pressures of being a student become all consuming. When she is given the honour of presenting an academic lecture at Oxford, several individuals from their past appear, including an old nemesis intent on humiliating Julia and exposing one of Gabriel's darkest secrets. In an effort to confront his remaining demons, Gabriel begins a quest to discover more about his biological parents - a search that has startling repercussions for himself and for Julianne. Sylvain Reynard is a Canadian writer with an interest in Renaissance art and culture and an inordinate attachment to the city of Florence. Sylvain's previous novels in this series, Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture, are also published by Penguin.


At the core of terms such as "inclusion," "civic engagement," "social participation," and "social justice"—terms that this special issue is built around—are political concepts that have been plumbed deeply by political theorists. Two concepts that underwrite much of this terminology are community and justice, both robustly debated within political theory. It is the premise of this article that exploring those debates—definitions of justice and community put forward and argued—and proposing specific versions of those core concepts will provide a defensible basis for research deploying these terms and a practical raison d'état for the institutions of library and information science. Defensible constructs of community and justice with affinities to the field are particularly important in the current political era.


Atmospheric transport models are used to constrain sources and sinks of carbon dioxide by requiring that the modeled spatial and temporal concentration patterns are consistent with the observations. Serious obstacles to this approach are the sparsity of sampling sites and the lack of temporal continuity among observations at different locations. A procedure is presented that attempts to extend the knowledge gained during a limited period of measurements beyond the period itself resulting in records containing measurement data and extrapolated and interpolated values. From limited measurements we can define trace gas climatologies that describe average seasonal cycles, trends, and changes in trends at individual sampling sites. A comparison of the site climatologies with a reference defined over a much longer period of time constitutes the framework used in the development of the data extension procedure. Two extension methods are described. The benchmark trend method uses a deseasonalized long-term trend from a single site as a reference to individual site climatologies. The latitude reference method utilizes measurements from many sites in constructing a reference to the climatologies. Both methods are evaluated and the advantages and limitations of each are discussed. Data extension is not based on any atmospheric models but entirely on the data themselves. The methods described here are relatively straightforward and reproducible and result in extended records that are model independent. The cooperative air sampling network maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, provides a test bed for the development of the data extension method; we intend to integrate and extend CO2 measurement records from other laboratories providing a globally consistent atmospheric CO2 database to the modeling community.


Recent information systems research has studied various aspects of virtual teams. However, the foundations and theoretical development of virtual team research remain unclear. We propose that an important way to move forward is to accelerate the process of theorizing and theory appropriation. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the current state of the art of theory application and development in virtual team research. We identify the frequency, pattern of use, and ontological basis of 25 virtual team-relevant theories. A researcher's tool kit is presented to promote future theory application and appropriation. The tool kit consists of a descriptive and analytical database of theories relevant for virtual team research. We also present a framework for appropriating virtual team theories based on seven criteria. A detailed example demonstrates the application of the theory appropriation framework. The article contributes to the literature by presenting the state of the art of theory use in virtual team research and by providing a framework for appropriating reference-discipline theories.


Perceived environmental problems of nuclear fuel fabrication, use and treatment limit the acceptability of nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. This applies to nuclear fuel processing and reprocessing but contamination also occurs at source via run-offs from current and historic mining activities. The price of uranium (U3O8) in the1990s was US$10/lb but is currently US$ 58/lb, peaking in 2007 at US$135/lb. With the potential global expansion of nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels the market and strategic values of U will rise. A new biotechnology was demonstrated for efficient recovery of U from minewaters as pure hydrogen uranyl phosphate (HUP) but an economic assessment (discounting the value of U) showed that the limitation as a waste treatment process was the cost of the phosphate feed supplement which contained 1 mol/mol phosphate. We describe the use of phytic acid (inositol phosphate; 6 mol phosphate/mol), a ubiquitous plant waste, to support the removal of uranium as HUP by an immobilised cell reactor and shift the focus from away bioremediation to value product manufacturing from wastes, and resource efficiency.


ABSTRACT The present study is a replication of the Creating Lasting Family Connections Fatherhood Program (CLFCFP) using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). CLFCFP has been shown in prior studies to have a positive impact on relationship skills and recidivism using weaker quasi-experimental designs (McKiernan et al., 2013). Survey data on relationship skills and recidivism data came from 280 men in prison reentry. Findings for relationship skills were replicated in this RCT, suggesting CLFCFP participants had larger sustained improvements in relationship skills. Policy changes occurring shortly before the study possibly serve as an explanation for our inability to replicate recidivism findings.


The purpose of this study is to examine the healing strategies employed by the inhabitants of Egypt during the Roman period, from the late first century BC to the fourth century AD, in order to explore how Egyptian, Greek and Roman customs and traditions interacted within the province. Thus this study aims to make an original contribution to the history of medicine, by offering a detailed examination of the healing strategies (of which 'rational' medicine was only one) utilised by the inhabitants of one particular region of the Mediterranean during a key phase in its history, a region, moreover, which by virtue of the survival of papyrological evidence offers a unique opportunity for study. Its interdisciplinary approach, which integrates ancient literary, documentary, archaeological and scientific evidence, presents a new approach to understanding healing strategies in Roman provincial culture. It refines the study of healing within Roman provincial culture, identifies diagnostic features of healing in material culture and offers a more contextualised reading of ancient medical literary and documentary papyri and archaeological evidence. This study differs from previous attempts to examine healing in Roman Egypt in that it tries, as far as possible, to encompass the full spectrum of healing strategies available to the inhabitants of the province. The first part of this study comprises two chapters and focuses on the practitioners of healing strategies, both 'professional' and 'amateur'. Chapter 2 examines those areas of ancient medicine that have traditionally been neglected or summarily dismissed by scholars: 'domestic' and 'folk' medicine with particular emphasis on the extent to which the specific natural environment of any given location affects healing strategies. Chapter Three examines the nature and frequency of eye diseases and injuries suffered by the inhabitants of Roman Egypt. Chapter Four examines the nature and frequency of the fevers suffered by the inhabitants of Roman Egypt, focusing first on the disease malaria, which is attested by papyrological, archaeological and palaeopathological evidence as having been suffered throughout Egypt. Chapter Five examines the dangers that the animal species of Egypt could pose to the inhabitants of the province, focusing particularly upon snakes, scorpions, crocodiles and lions, as attested by papyrological and epigraphic evidence such as private letters, mummy labels and epitaph inscriptions. The concluding chapter underlines the importance for a study of the healing strategies utilised in any province of the Roman Empire (or indeed any region in the ancient world) of taking into account the historical, geographical, cultural and social context of the location in question.


The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical outcomes with a newly developed non-aluminum chloride-containing injection-type retraction material (Korlex-GR(superscript ®)) in terms of gingival retraction, gingival recession, and patient comfort and also to compare it with 2 other commercial retraction materials (Ultrapak 1(superscript ®), a medicated retraction cord, and Expasyl(superscript ®), an injection-type retraction material containing 15% aluminum chloride). These 3 materials were randomly applied to 3 unprepared maxillary incisors of 8 periodontally healthy young individuals. Impressions were made with polyvinyl siloxane impression material before retraction, immediately after retraction, and 14 days after retraction. The duplicated stone models were subjected to a 3-D laser scanning device to estimate the width of the retracted sulcus and gingival recession. In order to evaluate pain during gingival retraction, subjects were asked to rank the pain experienced during retraction on a scale of 1 to 4, immediately after each material was applied. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to determine the width of the retracted sulcus, the amount of gingival recession, and pain caused by each material. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine any significant differences among the 3 materials, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for multiple comparisons. The results showed an increase in the sulcus width after retraction by all 3 materials (p<0.05), but no statistical difference was noted among these materials. Significant gingival recession was also observed for all test materials after retraction (p<0.05). However, when the 3 materials were compared, the medicated cord seemed to produce significantly more gingival recession than the other 2 injection-type materials (p<0.05). With regards to pain during retraction, the medicated cord was also significantly more painful than the injection types (p<0.05). The above observations indicate that the non-aluminum chloride-containing injection-type retraction material is as good for gingival retraction as the other 2 materials but produces less pain and limits injury to the gingival tissue during the procedure. It is therefore recommended for clinical use.


Pancreatoblastoma is a rare pancreatic tumor in children. Its biologic behavior is aggressive with frequent local invasion, recurrence, and metastasis , for which there has been no standard treatment regimen. A 13-year old Japanese girl had pancreatoblastoma arising from the pancreas head and body and invading the portal vein. The tumor was resected with pancreaticoduodenectomy combined with reconstruction of the portal and splenic vein using native left common iliac vein graft, followed by chemotherapy. The tumor recurred in the liver and periportal lymph node but was treated with surgical resection and chemotherapy followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. The reconstructed portal vein has been patent with no sign of stricture for 3.5 years after the first operation. She has been well with a second complete remission for 10 months. Complete surgical resection has been considered for long-term survival of patients with pancreatoblastoma. Portal venous involvement is not a contraindication of surgical resection of pancreatic tumors and may be aggressively treated by pancreaticoduodenectomy with portal venous reconstruction using a venous conduit. Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation has been used in only two other pediatric cases in the literature for treating pancreatoblastoma. Although our follow-up period is short, aggressive surgical and chemotherapeutic regimen may hold therapeutic promise for managing advanced or relapsed pancreatoblastoma in children.


Mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been found to be present in several types of tumours including tumours of the large bowel. However, their role in cancer development and prognosis is still to be resolved. We used 2838 cases from a large Scottish colorectal cancer (CRC) case-control study to examine whether inherited genetic variation at the mtDNA influenced all-cause and CRC-specific mortality. We examined 140 tagging mtDNA variants including nine haplotypes commonly found in European populations. After applying three Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, age and sex, three single nucleotide polymorphisms, two located in the 12S ribosomal RNA region (G752A and G1440A) and one in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 2 region (ND2) region (G4770A), were statistically significantly associated with all-cause (Model I P-values: 0.0001, 0.002 and 0.002, respectively) and CRC-specific mortality (Model I P-values: 5 x 10(-5), 0.0003 and 0.0006, respectively). The H and U haplogroups were associated with an increased and decreased CRC risk, respectively, but with P-values of borderline significance and only after AJCC stage adjustment. In conclusion, the findings of the current study suggest a link between three common mtDNA variants and CRC prognosis. These findings are interesting and consistent with other biological knowledge but need to be confirmed through replication in independent cohorts.


Hypoxic blackout, also called underwater blackout syndrome, is a distinct and preventable cause of drowning. The sudden and unexpected death of a young, fit swimmer or diver, almost always male, necessitates the consideration of a differential diagnosis which includes four syndromes—preexistent cardiac dis- ease, electrical conduction abnormalities, epilepsy, and hypoxic blackout. The pathophysiology of hypoxic blackout (overriding the carbon dioxide sensor by presubmersion hyperventilation) may be induced by autonomic conflict between cold shock diving reflexes in certain predisposed individuals. Death occurs in both public and private swimming pools and in the sea, and case series include those training for underwater hockey, synchronized swimming, free diving, and playful submersion endurance challenges. The sole preventive stratagem is advocacy for awareness of risks, suitably targeted to "at risk" groups.


Regression Testing is a very influential activity for controlling the quality of a software product, and it accounts for a large percentage of the costs of software. Here, we are going to implement new prioritization techniques that incorporate a clustering approach and utilize code coverage, code complexity and history faults as well to increase the effectiveness of the prioritization. Preliminary come within reach to investigating the relationships in enormous data in software repositories. In this, we are making an allowance for clustering approach to help improve test case prioritization. Results show that test case prioritization that utilizes a clustering approach can improve the effectiveness of test case prioritization techniques. Clustering approach can increase the effectiveness of test case prioritization techniques. Our research will be an attempt to test its validity means to test the prioritization techniques with the i ncrement of efficiency as well as effectiveness.


We study the dynamic mechanism design problem of a seller who repeatedly sells independent items to a buyer with private values. In this setting, the seller could potentially extract the entire buyer surplus by running efficient auctions and charging an upfront participation fee at the beginning of the horizon. In some markets, such as internet advertising, participation fees are not practical since buyers expect to inspect items before purchasing them. This motivates us to study the design of dynamic mechanisms under successively more stringent requirements that capture the implicit business constraints of these markets. We first consider a periodic individual rationality constraint, which limits the mechanism to charge at most the buyer's value in each period. While this prevents large upfront participation fees, the seller can still design mechanisms that spread a participation fee across the first few auctions. These mechanisms have the unappealing feature that they provide close-to-zero buyer utility in earlier auctions in exchange for higher utility in later auctions. To address this problem, we introduce a {martingale utility constraint, which imposes the requirement that from the perspective of the buyer, the next item's expected utility is equal to the present one's. Our main result is providing a dynamic auction satisfying martingale utility and periodic individual rationality whose loss in profit with respect to first-best (full extraction of buyer surplus) is optimal up to polylogarithmic factors. The proposed mechanism is a dynamic two-tier auction with a hard floor and a soft floor that allocates the item whenever the buyer's bid is above the hard floor and charges the minimum of the bid and the soft floor.


Sociology is an established academic discipline but there has been continuing debate over its status as a science and the nature of its subject matter. This led to the emergence of a phenomenological sociology and to critiques of positivist sociology. This critical reappraisal of the relevance of Marxian analysis for a science of society shows how these developments within sociology have had their counterpart in Marxism. The author analyses the status of Marx's work and the Marxist 'tradition' in sociology. He focuses upon those concerns which are common to both Marxian analysis and sociology - the question of subjectivity; the nature of social reality; and the dialectical relationship of the 'doing' or practice of a science of society to the social world within which such social analyses are situated. Originally published in 1976.


Research on customer loyalty in services has regained interest among academics and practitioners alike because of economic value that international service providers can gain across different cultures due to recent developments in communications technology. International service providers have a wider variety of communication channels to use to approach their customers, but they need a better understanding of how their customer loyalty is formed across different cultures. In this conceptual paper, the authors aim to model determinants of customer loyalty and put forward propositions to be empirically tested in further studies. The originality of the paper manifests itself in the theoretical model proposed, which clearly delineates determinants of customer loyalty (i.e., marketing communication channels, perceived service quality and customer satisfaction) and emphasises the importance of strategic decisions about communication channel options to match customer preferences to predict combined effects of customer loyalty across different cultural contexts.


Despite much advances in both general and targeted Social Network Services (SNS) and Location-Based Social Networks (LBSN), there is currently a void in literatures on SNS that form temporary social networks to address specific problems and employ intelligent classification of members and coordination of tasks toward goal oriented action. In this position paper, we present Genetic Location-Based Social Networks (G-LBSN) which is a new concept in social networking where temporary social networks, to address specific problems, are formed. Unique characteristics of G-LBSN include: (a) formation of temporary social networks (each network has a life time which spans from its inception until the problem is solved); (b) classification of members based on their proximity to given locations, their contribution to the solution, and their availability; (c) assignment of tasks to selected members; and (d) coordination and supervision of members activities and the progress toward a solution.


Non treated Copper-loaded effluents disposed in water-bodies can cause severe damage in biota, so its removal before discharge is required. The aim of this work was to study the interaction of free and immobilised Pseudomonas veronii 2E with Copper, together with the design of biotreatment systems. Free cell sorption kinetics showed a 24 h-maximal retention of 0.330 mmol/g biomass, from 1 mM copper at 32 °C. Sorption isotherms revealed a specific maximal retention capacity 0.523 mmol/g. Optimal sorption achieved with biomass immobilised on vegetable sponge was 71.4% at 24 h. A reactor with recirculation and 3 continuous reactors in series were designed, obtaining final sorption of 78.3 and 56.0% at 9 and 1 days respectively. Copper desorption using hydrochloric acid was evaluated in both reactors. This work presents alternatives of applicable biotreatments of copper-loaded effluents, characterized by a combination of metal removal and recovery with low cost.


The focus of this paper concerns the ethical and political use of information, using the World Economic Forum's argument for the management of misinformation that if left out of control can lead to digital wildfires. Using examples from Social Media and the online reporting of Hurricane Sandy in 2009 I will demonstrate how information is misinterpreted and repurposed. This will be juxtaposed against the Chattr project as an example to demonstrate how a research project addressed issues of personal data sharing. This will be discussed in context with the ethical considerations of researching within an academic institution and compared against the Conversnitch project conducted outside of the ethical constraints of an academic institution. Specifically, I will look at the ethics and privacy of the use of the physical space to highlight ethical decisions that have repercussions in a digital public space.


This paper empirically examines the relationship between oil consumption, nuclear energy consumption, oil price and economic growth in four emerging economies (Russia, China, South Korea, and India) over the period from 1965 to 2010. Applying a modified version of the granger causality test developed by Toda and Yamamoto, we find that the level of world crude oil prices (WTI) plays a crucial role in determining the economic growth in the investigated countries. The results suggest that there is a unidirectional causality running from real GDP to oil consumption in China and South Korea, while bidirectional relationship between oil consumption and real GDP growth appears in India. Furthermore, the results propose that while nuclear energy stimulates economic growth in both South Korea and India, the rapid increase in China economic growth requires additional usage of nuclear energy.


This is a groundbreaking work edited by Germano Celant in collaboration with the artist and her New York studio that enriches our knowledge of Louise Bourgeois. Louise Bourgeois, who has produced art since the 1930s, began in the 1990s to use her clothes and the clothes of her loved ones as components in her sculptures and drawings. It is as much a reincarnation of her past and her childhood as a confirmation of her relationship with memory. Her visual approach to fabrics transforms decorative accessories into emotional and personal references which, especially in her Cells and later in her drawings, create representations of a tormented and at the same time powerful womanhood. Further development of the artists work began in 2002: exploiting the iridescent colours and formal structural properties of pieces of her clothing, she created "The Fabric Drawings", astonishing works alternating between floral figurative pieces and chromatic abstractions. This set of images is collected here in its entirety for the first time, constituting the closest thing yet to a general catalogue.


Previous economic analysis of brucellosis control
in
Mongolia
provided
a
basis for
further research. It was observed that there
was a
long tradition
of
brucellosis
control
in Mongolia but little knowledge on
its
effect on the
spread
of
disease.
This thesis
addressed this gap and analysed the
relationship
between
stated surveillance policy,
the brucellosis prevalence in animals, and the
brucellosis incidence in
humans.
The
aim was to contribute to better understanding of the
brucellosis
surveillance policies
applied in Mongolia and their effectiveness, and to
draw
conclusions
and recommendations for control of brucellosis.
Four aims were formulated providing steps
for investigating the
research
question.
The first two aims focused on (i) the
establishment
of the
epidemiological
patterns
of brucellosis in Mongolia over the time
period
1966 to
2002,
and
on
(ii) the
provision of a historical overview of the
different
strategies
applied to the
control
of
brucellosis in Mongolia over the same time
period.
The third
aim
was to
assess the
interactions between the spread
of
brucellosis
and
the
surveillance
strategies,
and
finally the forth aim was to issue recommendations
about
future
surveillance
policies
for brucellosis.
It was found that the published figures reflected
the
Brucellosis
abortus
incidence in
the population that could be serologically
tested.
However, the
population
at
risk
(herders) with the main burden of
disease,
and
suffering
from
Brucellosis
melitensis,
was underdiagnosed and not treated properly,
additionally, the
immunisation
cam-
paigns in small ruminants did not reach
the
critical
vaccination
level for
eradication.
Therefore, the diagnosis and treatment of
Brucellosis
melitensis
in humans has to
be
assured at Soum (district) level. The current
immunisation
campaign
has to
be
monitored and evaluated, and the knowledge of
brucellosis in
humans
has to
be
recognised by policy makers, physicians and general
population.


The radical uncertainty that refugees face because of war, flight and exile often dramatically shapes their participation in society. Violent conflict and human rights abuses are not just disproportionately experienced by, but can also create, political subjects. Such life events can transform the motivations, sense of responsibility and political actions of individuals with refugee backgrounds. In this article, we explore the links between civil–political engagement and the life stories of such individuals, analysing our empirical data through themes in the work of Hannah Arendt. We make three central points. First, we highlight the possibility of refugees as 'vanguard', playing a leading role in the struggle against dark times. Second, we illustrate the importance of expanding the idea of 'the political' through Arendt's understanding of political action as narrative. And, third, we explore the political freedom and hope that stem from the possibility of 'new beginnings'.


In medicine, it seems that technology and pharmacology are inspiring each other with the same synergism as computer hardware and software. As example of this, the survival of smaller and smaller babies has steadily been increasing over the past few decades. Very low birth weight (below 1500g) has had to be redefined to include extremely low birth weight (below 1000g), and severe prematurity (below 32 weeks) to include extreme prematurity (below 28 weeks).


For a long time, the legal regime applicable to State compensation for Services of General Economic Interest ("SGEIs") was a source of uncertainty under State aid law. It is only in its Altmark judgment that the Court of Justice of the EU ("CJEU") brought clarity on the matter by setting out the conditions under which SGEI compensation escapes State aid scrutiny. Drawing on the clarifications brought by the Altmark judgment, the European Commission ("Commission") adopted in 2005 a so-called "SGEI Package". It consisted of two documents, a Decision and a Framework, which detailed the conditions under which SGEI compensation would constitute compatible State aid. The 2005 SGEI Package, which has been applied extensively by the Commission, expired in November 2011. To anticipate this, the Commission engaged in a wide consultation process on the revision of the Package. As a result, a draft Package was published in September 2011 and after additional comments were made by various stakeholders, the Commission adopted the final version of the Package in December 2011. The new Package includes three documents, a Communication, a Decision and a Framework. The Communication clarifies the Altmark conditions. When the SGEI compensation meets these conditions, it does not constitute State aid and does not need to be notified to the Commission. When the SGEI compensation does not meet the Altmark conditions, the analysis turns to the Decision and the Framework. In the Decision, the Commission describes certain types of SGEI compensation that are regarded as compatible with Article 106(2) TFEU and exempt from the requirement of prior notification. If the conditions set in the Decision are not met, the State aid measure is subject to the prior notification requirement, but it can still be declared compatible with the internal market if it meets the criteria spelled out in a third document: the EU Framework. The Framework is perhaps the most contentious document in the Package. It has received both praise and criticism from stakeholders. Among the conditions that the Framework introduces for the compatibility of SGEI compensation with the internal market, some are not of a strictly economic nature as they relate to the existence of a genuine SGEI and the act by which it has been entrusted. For the sake of convenience, these are thus referred to as the "procedural" conditions. However, the most important condition, to which the largest part of the Framework is dedicated, is economic in nature in that it provides a methodology to determine whether the amount of compensation paid by the State exceeds what is necessary to cover the net cost of discharging the SGEI (including a reasonable profit). In this regard, the context of the financial crisis in which this Framework was developed is important. As Commissioner Almunia put it in one of his speeches, the Commission has to respond to the challenges created by the depleted state of "public coffers almost everywhere in Europe" and the "deep cuts into public services and the welfare state" by ensuring that public money earmarked for such services is spent wisely and efficiently. Finally, the Framework foresees that an SGEI entrustment can sometimes generate serious distortions of competition, in which case the Commission can impose additional requirements to declare it compatible with the internal market.Against this background, this paper is structured as follows. Section II reviews the procedural conditions and places particular emphasis on the problems of linking State aid with the application of public procurement rules. Section III discusses in detail the economic condition that the SGEI provider should not be overcompensated. Section IV explores the additional requirements imposed when the SGEI entrustment seriously distorts competition. Section V concludes. It is submitted that the 2011's SGEI Framework is in many ways a remarkable document for which the Commission should be commended. A number of provisions contained in the Framework give, however, rise to uncertainty in particular regarding the application of the "net avoided cost" methodology to assess the absence of overcompensation for SGEIs. In addition, linking public procurement with State aid control can lead to important practical difficulties, which will be discussed below. On the other hand, the emphasis placed by the Framework on efficiency is particularly welcome, especially at a time where public money is scarce given the imperative of fiscal discipline. As every new set of rules, the Framework should be applied with flexibility so as not to penalize SGEI providers. These undertakings should neither be advantaged not penalized as if Member States expect them to deliver quality public services they must be viable in the long-run.


Light is the main information about the interstellar medium accessible on Earth. Based on this information one can conclude on the composition of the region where the light
originates from, as well as on its history. The requirement for this is that it is possible to identify the different absorption and emission features in the spectrum and assign
them to certain molecules, atoms or ions. To enable the identification of the different species, precise spectroscopic investigations of the species in the laboratory are necessary.

In this work a new spectroscopic method is presented, which can be used to record pure rotational spectra of mass selected, cold, stored molecular ions. It is based on the
idea of state specific attachment of helium atoms to the stored molecular ions. The new technique has been made possible through the development and recent completion
of two new 22-pole ion trap instruments in the work group of Laboratory Astrophysics at the University of Cologne. These new instruments have the advantage to reach
temperatures as low as 4K compared to the 10K of the predecessor instrument. These low temperatures enable the ternary attachment of helium atoms to the stored molecular
ions and by this make it possible to develop this new method for pure rotational spectroscopy.

According to this, this work is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the new FELion experiment that was build and characterized in the first part of the thesis.
FELion is a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap apparatus, allowing to generate, mass select, store and cool down, and analyze molecular ions. The different components of the
instrument, e.g. the Storage Ion Source for generating the ions or the first quadrupole mass filter, are described and characterized in this part. Besides this also the newly
developed control and data acquisitions system is introduced. With this instrument the measurements presented in the second part of the work were performed.
The second part deals with the new action spectroscopic method of state-selective helium attachment to the stored molecular ions. For a deeper analysis of the new
technique the systems of CD+ and helium and HCO+ and helium are investigated in detail. Analytical and numerical models of the process are presented and compared to experimental results. The results of these investigations point to a seemingly very general applicability of the new method to a wide class of molecular ions.

In the final part of the thesis measurements of the rotational spectrum of l-C3H+ are presented. These measurements have to be high-lighted, since it was possible for the first time in the laboratory to unambiguously measure four low-lying rotational transitions
of l-C3H+. These measurements (Brunken et al. ApJL 783, L4 (2014)) enabled the reliable identification of so
far unidentified emision lines observed in several regions of the interstellar medium (Pety et al. Astron. Astrophys. 548, A68 (2012), McGuire et al. The Astrophysical Journal 774, 56 (2013) and McGuire et al. The Astrophysical Journal 783, 36 (2014)).


Physical activity in youth declines with age, which may be due in part to decreased sports participation. However, few studies include perspectives from parents/coaches as well as players when examining reasons for participation and dropout from organized sports such as soccer. PURPOSE: To describe and compare soccer-related attitudes and intention to re-enroll among parents/legal guardians, coaches, and players at a youth soccer program in Central Texas. METHODS: Parents (n=152), coaches (n=55), and players (n=28) completed an online survey in November-December 2018. Participants were eligible if they 1) coached and/or had children aged 10-17 years who played soccer or 2) were aged 10-17 years and played soccer at the youth soccer program during the September–November 2018 season. Parent and coach surveys (20-items) examined motivation for youth participation in soccer. The player survey (20items) examined commitment and continued involvement in soccer. All participants were asked demographics. In addition, youth and parents were asked about intentions to re-enroll. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, were used to compare parent and coach responses. RESULTS: Parents (61% female) and coaches (87% male) were predominantly White (64% and 78%, respectively), with 43% of coaches having coached soccer for ≥4 years. Players (Mage=11.8 years) were predominantly male (57%), with 71% having played soccer for ≥3 years. A majority of players (86%) intended to re-enroll in next season, with 25% agreeing that they feel they must keep playing although they think about quitting, and 43% agreeing that people would be disappointed if they stopped playing soccer. Fourteen percent of parents and 8% of coaches did not intend to re-enroll their child. Further, there were significant differences between parents and coaches on items regarding expectations for coaches. Twenty-six percent of coaches versus 45% of parents agreed that coaches should make all training and game decisions (p=0.032), and 33% of coaches versus 61% of parents agreed that it should be clear to anyone watching that the coach is in control (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Few adolescents meet physical activity guidelines. Therefore, parent, coach, and player opinions are all important considerations when examining attitudes related to sports participation. Differences between these groups regarding expectations and motivation for participating should be further examined as potential reasons for dropout in order to help maintain physical activity levels in youth.


Obstetricians frequently diagnose thrombocytopenia in pregnant women because platelet counts are included with automated complete blood cell counts obtained during routine prenatal screening (). Although most U.S. health care providers are trained using U.S. Conventional Units, most scientists, journals, and countries use Système International (SI) units. The laboratory results reported in U.S. Conventional Units can be converted to SI Units or vice versa by using a conversion factor. Given the conversion factor is 1.0, when converting from 10/μL to 10/L the platelet "count" does not seemingly change. Thrombocytopenia, defined as a platelet count of less than 150 × 10/L, is common and occurs in 7-12% of pregnancies at the time of delivery (). Thrombocytopenia can result from a variety of physiologic or pathologic conditions, several of which are unique to pregnancy. Some causes of thrombocytopenia are serious medical disorders that have the potential for maternal and fetal morbidity. In contrast, other conditions, such as gestational thrombocytopenia, are benign and pose no maternal or fetal risks. Because of the increased recognition of maternal and fetal thrombocytopenia, there are numerous controversies about obstetric management of this condition. Clinicians must weigh the risks of maternal and fetal bleeding complications against the costs and morbidity of diagnostic tests and invasive interventions. This Practice Bulletin is a targeted revision to reflect limited changes to information about new estimates for thrombocytopenia in pregnancy and the risk of recurrence of fetal-neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia in subsequent pregnancies, and to provide new information on the level of thrombocytopenia that permits regional anesthesia.


Innocents on the Ice is based on the author's experience and writings as part of a U.S. Navy-supported scientific expedition to establish Ellsworth Station on the Filchner Ice Shelf. This expedition, undertaken from November 1956 to early 1958, coincided with the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958)which initiated the "scientific age" in Antarctica. Behrendt describes the stress of experiencing the dark Antarctic winter of 1957, during which intense personal conflicts arose at the most isolated of the seven U.S. Antarctic stations. The tension was unrelieved by contact with the outside world, since there was no mail for the 9 civilians and 30 Navy men living beneath the snow and only occasional radio contact was made with families for a year. The author also describes his explorations with four others of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf system during the following summers of 1957-1958. Along the hazardous 1300-mile oversnow traverse in two Sno-Cats, the field party measured ice thickness and snow accumulation as part of an international effort to determine the balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, and they also made the first geological observations of the spectacular Dufek Massif in the then unexplored Pensacola Mountains. Finally, Behrendt draws upon his 40 years of continual participation in Antarctic research to explain the changes in scientific activities and environmental awareness in Antarctica today.


The current estimate of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool in the northern permafrost region of 1672 Petagrams (Pg) C is much larger than previously reported and needs to be incorporated in global soil carbon (C) inventories. The Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (NCSCD), extended to include the range 0–300 cm, is now available online for wider use by the scientific community. An important future aim is to provide quantitative uncertainty ranges for C pool estimates. Recent studies have greatly improved understanding of the regional patterns, landscape distribution and vertical (soil horizon) partitioning of the permafrost C pool in the upper 3 m of soils. However, the deeper C pools in unconsolidated Quaternary deposits need to be better constrained. A general lability classification of the permafrost C pool should be developed to address potential C release upon thaw. The permafrost C pool and its dynamics are beginning to be incorporated into Earth System models, although key periglacial processes such as thermokarst still need to be properly represented to obtain a better quantification of the full permafrost C feedback on global climate change. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The feasibility of two types of all-telluride integrated optics devices being able to single-mode guiding of light in the spectral ranges [6-11 µm] and [10-20 µm], respectively, has been demonstrated. The so-called "rib" waveguides show a several micron thick Te82Ge18 film deposited onto a Te75Ge15Ga10 bulk glass substrate by thermal co-evaporation and further etched by reactive ion etching in CHF3/O2/Ar atmosphere. The obtained structures were proved to behave as channel waveguides with a satisfactory confinement of light in the whole spectral ranges. These results allowed validation of our technological solution for the fabrication of micro-components for spatial interferometry.


Background We aimed to investigate the association of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) through a meta-analysis. Material/Methods The case-control studies that investigated the association between RA and serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were retrieved strictly according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The statistical analysis was performed using STATA statistical software (Version 12.0, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). Results Fourteen studies were enrolled in our meta-analysis, with a total of 890 patients with RA and 441 healthy people as the controls. The results of this meta-analysis revealed that the serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels of RA patients were significantly higher than in the controls, and this difference was statistically significant (IL-6: SMD=2.40, 95% CI=1.57~3.24, P<0.001; TNF-α: SMD=1.93, 95% CI=1.23~2.64, P<0.001). According to ethnic subgroup analysis, the serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels of RA patients were also significantly higher compared with the controls in Asians and Caucasians (IL-6: Asians: SMD=3.64, 95% CI=2.16~5.12, P<0.001; Caucasians: SMD=0.75, 95% CI=0.47~1.02, P<0.001; TNF-α: Asians: SMD=2.74, 95%CI=1.58~3.91, P<0.001; Caucasians: SMD=0.81, 95% CI=0.50~1.11, P<0.001). Conclusions IL-6 and TNF-α may play crucial roles in the activity and severity of RA.


This paper proposes a framework for structure-based feature extraction in basketball zone-defense strategies. Firstly, a graphical representation for key-frames extracted from zone-defense video clips is introduced, where each key-frame is expressed in terms of a zone-defense graph, representing the positions of defenders and the ball. Secondly, defense-lines are defined and extracted from zone-defense graphs for each zone-defense strategy, based on which, a 10- dimentional feature vector with respect to the defense-lines is introduced to characterize the structure relationships. Experiments have been conducted for basketball zone-defense strategy detection on both simulated and real-life basketball zone-defense video database, which demonstrate the validation and practicability of such a structure based feature characterization, and, in particular, its robustness with respect to the disturbance of local transformation of subprime nodes in the graphs.


Introduction: The present study aims to find the effect of instruction of negative marking in a self-coded MCQ examination on the performance of students in the subject of Pharmacology with respect to the raw score, correct score and negative score.
Material and methods: This longitudinal study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, Rural Medical College, Loni. The Second MBBS students were exposed to a self-coded MCQ test twice by surprise. The first test (T1) was given without instructions of negative marking, while during the second test (T2) instructions for negative marking were given. The parameters of the raw score, negative score, corrected score and number of students who did not attempt respective MCQs were calculated. The number of students passing with modified Minimum Passing Level was calculated was compared with conventional Minimum Passing Level.
Results: Sixty-seven students participated in the study. There was a statistically significant decrease in the raw score in the T2, while the increase in the negative score when compared with T1. The number of non-attempted questions was increased in T2. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of students passed with respect to raw score in T1 and T2, while no such difference was seen with respect to Negative score and Corrected score.
Conclusion: The Corrected score and Negative score are not affected by the minimum passing level, indicating a better parameter of scoring than the raw score. Hence, the use of Negative score or Corrected score should be encouraged than the use of conventional Raw score.
Keywords: Minimum Passing Level, Negative Marking, MCQ, Corrected score, Pharmacology, Formative assessment, surprise test, self-coded test.


Data analysis frequently involves the extraction (i.e. recognition) of parts that are important at the expense of parts that are deemed unimportant. Many mathematical perspectives exist for performing these separations, however no single technique is a panacea as the de nition of signal and noise depends on the purpose of the analysis. For data that can be considered a sampling of a smooth function with added `well-behaved' noise, linear techniques tend to work well. When large impulses or discontinuities are present, a non-linear approach becomes necessary. The LULU operators, composed using the simplest rank selectors, are non-linear operators that are comparable to the well-known median smoothers, but are computationally e cient and allow a conceptually simple description of behaviour. De ned using compositions of di erent order LULU operators, the discrete pulse transform (dpt) allows the interpretation of sequences in terms of pulses of di erent scales: thereby creating a multi-resolution analysis. These techniques are very di erent from those of standard linear analysis, which renders intuitions regarding their behaviour somewhat undependable. The LULU perspective and analysis tools are investigated with a strong emphasis on practical applications. The LULU smoothers are known to separate signal and noise efciently: they are idempotent and co-idempotent. Sequences are smoothed by mapping them into smoothness classes; which is achieved by the removal, in a consistent manner, of block-pulses. Furthermore, these operators preserve local trend (i.e. they are fully trend preserving). Di erences in interpretation with respect to Fourier and Wavelet decompositions are also discussed. The dpt is de ned, its implications are investigated, and a linear time algorithm is discussed. The dpt is found to allow a multi-resolution measure of roughness. Practical sequence processing through the reconstruction of modi ed pulses is possible; in some cases still maintaining a consistent multi-resolution interpretation. Extensions to two-dimensions is discussed, and a technique for the estimation of standard deviation of a random distribution is presented. These tools have been found to be e ective in the analysis and processing of sequences and images. The LULU tools are an useful alternative to standard analysis methods. The operators are found to be robust in the presence of impulsive and more `well-behaved' noise. They allow the fast design and deployment of specialized detection and processing algorithms, and are possibly very useful in creating automated data analysis solutions.


Summary Renal grafts from NHBDs result in long-term function that does not compromise current clinical standards and therefore make the NHBD a viable way to expand the donor pool. Several programs around the world are beginning to use NHBD livers in clinical transplantation; thus, there is certain to be a surge of reports appearing in the literature in the near future. It appears from available data to date that NHBD livers retrieved in a controlled fashion from category 3 donors may offer a safe source for more organs. Further research and clinical experience with NHBD transplantation for both kidney and liver should help define reproducible and acceptable methods. However, until an alternative source of organs becomes available, the NHBD represents an increasingly important means to alleviate the growing demand for transplant organs.


Situated opposite the mouth of the Orinoco River, western Trinidad has long been considered an entrepot to mainland South America. Trinidad's geographic position—seen as strategic by various imperial governments—led to many heterogeneous peoples from across the region and globe settling or being relocated there. The calm waters around the Gulf of Paria on the western fringes of Trinidad induced settlers to construct a harbour, Port of Spain, around which the modern capital has been formed. From its colonial roots into the postcolonial era, western Trinidad therefore has played an especial part in the shaping of the island's literature. Viewed from one perspective, western Trinidad might be deemed as narrating the heart of the modern state's national literature. Alternatively, the political threats posed around San Fernando in Trinidad's southwest in the 1930s and from within the capital in the 1970s present a different picture of western Trinidad—one in which the fractures of Trinidad and Tobago's projected nationalism are prevalent.

While sugar remains a dominant narrative in Caribbean literary studies, this book offers a unique literary perspective on matters too often perceived as the sole preserve of sociological, anthropological or geographical studies. The legacy of the oil industry and the development of the suburban commuter belt of East-West Corridor, therefore, form considerable discursive nodes, alongside other key Trinidadian sites, such as Woodford Square, colonial houses and the urban yards of Port of Spain. This study places works by well-known authors such as V. S. Naipaul and Samuel Selvon, alongside writing by Michel Maxwell Philip, Marcella Fanny Wilkins, E. L. Joseph, Earl Lovelace, Ismith Khan, Monique Roffey, Arthur Calder-Marshall, Zenga Longmore and the largely neglected novelist, Yseult Bridges, who is almost entirely forgotten today. Using fiction, calypso, history, memoir, legal accounts, poetry, essays and journalism, this study opens with an analysis of Trinidad's nineteenth century literature and offers twentieth century and more contemporary readings of the island in successive chapters. Chapters are roughly arranged in chronological order around particular sites and topoi, while literature from a variety of authors of British, Caribbean, Irish and Jewish descent is represented.


In this thesis, a new technique named buffer-aided relaying is studied to enhance the performance of wireless relaying networks. In particular, the transmission strategies that can improve diversity gain, maximize the system throughput and reduce the information delay are investigated. First, we apply the buffer-aided relaying scheme into a space-shift-keying (SSK) based relaying system and propose a novel link adaptation method. The average symbol-error performance of the proposed link adaptation scheme is investigated and it is shown that the proposed scheme can achieve a diversity order of 2. In addition, the delay of the information packets at the relay node (RN) is investigated and two link adaptation schemes with reduced delay are proposed. It is shown that by jointly considering the buffer state, the proposed link adaptation schemes can achieve a relative small packet delay at the expense of a little performance loss. Subsequently, a buffer-state based relay selection scheme is proposed for a bufferaided multiple RNs system to reduce the average delay. Different from the existing relay selection schemes which select the RNs only based on the channel quality, our proposed relay selection scheme selects a RN based on both the channel quality and the buffer state of the RNs. The outage probability of the proposed relay selection scheme is obtained in a closed-form expression and it is shown that the proposed relay ii selection scheme can outperform the existing relay selection schemes. In addition, analytical results also show that our proposed relay selection scheme has lower average packet delay as compared with the existing buffer-aided relay selection schemes. Moreover, the application of the buffer-aided relaying scheme in a wireless-powered relaying system is also investigated. By assuming that the RNs of the system have no embedded power supply and are charged by the radio frequency (RF) signal transmitted by a power beacon (PB), a joint node-and-mode selection scheme is proposed. For the general system setup, some analytical results are obtained which provide useful insights in finding the optimal joint node-and-mode selection scheme. Following this, theoretical analysis is conducted for two specific systems, namely the single RN system and the multiple RNs system with a symmetric channel. For these system setups, the system throughput is obtained in closed-form expressions. Numerical results show that the system throughput can be improved by using the proposed transmission schemes. Finally, we extend the buffer model into a wireless-powered cooperative communication network (WPCCN) and treat the battery of the SN as an energy queue. Based on this model, we investigate the long-term throughput of two proposed block-wise cooperative protocols, namely the block-wise harvest-and-transmit (BW-HaT) protocol and the block-wise mode adaptation (BW-MA) protocol. For the BW-HaT protocol, the throughput expression is obtained in closed form. For the BW-MA protocol, the optimal mode adaptation method that maximizes the throughput of the system is presented and the maximum throughput is given for different system setups. It is shown that the proposed transmission schemes can significantly increase the system throughput.


This is a high impact journal published by Annual Reviews, Inc., a nonprofit scientific publisher established in 1929 to promote the advancement of the sciences through critical reviews. Covering all areas of psychology research and practice, the Annual Review of Psychology is planned by a rotating committee of eight distinguished psychologists who invite qualified authors to contribute reviews of significant developments in the discipline.


Qualitative research has never been a popular research design within Malaysian academics and research environment. Understanding the convention and fundamentals of conducting a qualitative research is important as it offers a different approach and generates a range of information of different quality from the quantitative approach. The compilation of the five articles included in this book
has been carefully selected so that this book of reading represents different issues and problems that may arise when conducting a qualitative research. This book provides a good description of the research processes and issues that may also be encountered by other researchers especially those that are novice in qualitative research. The readings of the different research compiled in this book will hopefully contribute to the growing field of qualitative research as a research design among
educators, researchers and professionals in Malaysia.


This study aims to investigate the prospective associations between fruit and vegetable (FV) intakes and their polyphenol content with subsequent sleep duration in UK women. In this study, 13,958 women with ~4 years of follow-up in the UK Women's Cohort Study were included in the analyses. FV intakes were assessed at baseline using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and average hours of sleep per day were self-reported in follow-up. Polyphenol intake was calculated by matching FV items from the FFQ with the Phenol-Explorer database. Linear regression models, adjusting for confounders, were used for the analyses. Consuming an additional portion of apples, kiwi, oranges, pineapple, and 100% pure juice were associated with shorter sleep. Similarly, an additional portion of cabbage, celery, aubergine, olives, and peppers were inversely associated with sleep duration. An additional gram of total polyphenols was associated with shorter sleep by 18 min (99% CI −31 to −4, p < 0.001). FV consumption and total polyphenol content were inversely associated with sleep duration; however, effect sizes were small, and polyphenol classes from FV intakes were not associated with sleep duration. Future intervention studies considering the time of FV consumption in relation to sleep are needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms.