In many educational materials, it is recognized that the broader social conditions in which teachers live and work, and personal and professional factors in life, experience, beliefs and practices. The teacher is inseparable from each other, and there are often tensions between these things that impact a greater or lesser degree of sense of self or the teacher's identity. If identity is a key factor affecting teachers' intentions, effectiveness, motivation, commitment, satisfaction and job performance, then investigate the positive and negative influences of the contexts in which these occur and the consequences for practice, is essential. Although notions of personal identity are much used in educational research and theory, critical engagement with individual teachers' cognitive and emotion has been relatively rare. An interest in raising and maintaining teaching standards, especially in the context of centralized reforms, is likely to destabilize long-term beliefs and practices. This paper addresses the issue of teacher identities in Vietnam context by studying together the nature of the relationships between social structures and individual institutions; between the notions of a social construction, and therefore, depending and always being redone, 'self', and a 'self' with dispositions, attitudes and behavioral responses which are durable and relatively stable; and between cognitive and emotional identities. Based on current literatures of research papers and findings which studying variations in teacher work and life and the impact of them to students. It finds that identity is neither intrinsically nor fragmented, as previous literature suggests. Instead, the teacher identity may be more, or less, stable and more or less fragmented at different times and in different ways according to a number of lives, career and situation factors.


In this paper, we outline a solution to the problem that teachers for students in heterogeneous EFL classrooms need to provide lessons that enable language acquisition at different levels (here: stages of the PT Hierarchy). Therefore, we describe a learner- and learning-centred application of Processability Theory (henceforth PT; Pienemann 1998 and 2005) which covers a teaching unit that combines a communicative teaching approach with Second Language Acquisition diagnosis in order to foster L2 acquisition of individual learners in heterogeneous EFL classrooms. The focus here will be on how teachers can cope with heterogeneity in the classroom by offering suitable teaching units. We show how a combination of Task-based Language Teaching (e.g. Ellis 2003; Eckerth & Siepmann 2008) and PT provide the necessary theoretical framework for this teaching unit. Furthermore, Rapid Profile and the Diagnostic Task Cycle (Kesler 2008) are used within this overall framework for the teaching unit presented in this paper. This diagnostic approach should be seen as conceptual since it can be applied to various classroom settings. In the example presented here, students read a novel suitable for teenagers and produce Podcasts and thereby record natural communication in the classroom. This learner output delivers precise knowledge about second language development of each learner in a classroom. On this basis, the teacher can offer developmentally moderated treatment (e.g. Kesler 2008) and developmentally moderated focus on form (Di Biase 2008) to individual learners in heterogeneous EFL classrooms.


Researchers have stressed the importance of assessing counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) which represent one of the most serious problems facing today's organizations. This study investigated the psychometric properties of CWB checklist in an Italian sample of 856 workers (52.5% women), ranging in age from 17 to 66 years. Through a cross-validation approach results confirmed the twofactor structure of this scale. The two main facets of CWB, CWB toward organization and CWB toward people, resulted correlated but separable. In fact, an alternative model positing a single primary factor underlying the two facets was not supported vis a vis the empirical data. Moreover, the two CWB facets showed up with a different pattern of correlations among different work stressors. While these two facets seems to have a common root, they are by the way undoubtedly diverse, and this difference is of important relevance for practical and theoretical purposes.


Objects in the world can be arranged into a hierarchy based on their semantic meaning (e.g. organism - animal - feline - cat). What about defining a hierarchy based on the visual appearance of objects? This paper investigates ways to automatically discover a hierarchical structure for the visual world from a collection of unlabeled images. Previous approaches for unsupervised object and scene discovery focused on partitioning the visual data into a set of non-overlapping classes of equal granularity. In this work, we propose to group visual objects using a multi-layer hierarchy tree that is based on common visual elements. This is achieved by adapting to the visual domain the generative hierarchical latent Dirichlet allocation (hLDA) model previously used for unsupervised discovery of topic hierarchies in text. Images are modeled using quantized local image regions as analogues to words in text. Employing the multiple segmentation framework of Russell et al. [22], we show that meaningful object hierarchies, together with object segmentations, can be automatically learned from unlabeled and unsegmented image collections without supervision. We demonstrate improved object classification and localization performance using hLDA over the previous non-hierarchical method on the MSRC dataset [33].


Humiliation has a powerful presence in Shakespeare's tragedies and late plays. With an unusual ability to reform and redeem, humiliation is not employed in these plays as one might expect. Cast in a form much influenced by the Protestant theology of Shakespeare's England, the humiliation that falls upon some of Shakespeare's most prominent characters is one that offers great hope and clarity. Drawn from the theology of three prominent Protestant Reformers, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Richard Hooker, humiliation in Shakespeare's Hamlet serves to save the fragile queen and her sinister new husband from certain damnation. In The Tempest Prospero is humiliated in like fashion. This experience results in a more-than-magical reformation that turns the island into a place of reconciliation. King Lear's humiliation cures his faulty vision, allowing him to recognize a true love that pursues him with great passion and sacrifice. In Henry VIII the great Cardinal is averted from certain damnation, humiliation drawing him from a life of violence and manipulation. The jealous tyrants in The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, and Othello are powerfully humiliated. This humiliation allows Leontes, Posthumus, and Othello to be released from their fearful bondage, at last made capable of seeing the true love of their wives.This thesis casts significant new light upon how much Shakespeare was influenced by the Protestant Reformation. Through a detailed examination of the use of theological language and concepts in the plays examined, this thesis argues that Reformation theology affords a powerful lens through which to read the journeys of the protagonists in Shakespearean tragedy and late plays. This powerful lens of Reformation theology brings to focus the way in which Shakespeare transforms, with great mastery, the humiliation of a man into the redemption of a soul.


Wastewater disposal linked to earthquakes The number of earthquakes is increasing in regions with active unconventional oil and gas wells, where water pumped at high pressure breaks open rock containing natural gas, leaving behind wastewater in need of disposing. Keranen et al. show that the steep rise in earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA, is likely caused by fluid migration from wastewater disposal wells. Twenty percent of the earthquakes in the central United States could be attributed to just four of the wells. Injected fluids in high-volume wells triggered earthquakes over 30 km away. Science, this issue p. 448 The recent surge in central U.S. seismicity is likely attributable to injection of wastewater at a small number of wells. Unconventional oil and gas production provides a rapidly growing energy source; however, high-production states in the United States, such as Oklahoma, face sharply rising numbers of earthquakes. Subsurface pressure data required to unequivocally link earthquakes to wastewater injection are rarely accessible. Here we use seismicity and hydrogeological models to show that fluid migration from high-rate disposal wells in Oklahoma is potentially responsible for the largest swarm. Earthquake hypocenters occur within disposal formations and upper basement, between 2- and 5-kilometer depth. The modeled fluid pressure perturbation propagates throughout the same depth range and tracks earthquakes to distances of 35 kilometers, with a triggering threshold of ~0.07 megapascals. Although thousands of disposal wells operate aseismically, four of the highest-rate wells are capable of inducing 20% of 2008 to 2013 central U.S. seismicity.


House hunting is one of the most important activities for many families in
Australia and worldwide, which also involves difficult decisions to make.
Currently, the process of hunting for a house requires looking and inspecting
individual houses with or without the guide of a real estate agent. This is a
time consuming process, and even though, the house hunters may still miss
out the ideal home they dream of. This project demonstrated a method where
Geographic Information System (GIS) technique can be used to help house
hunters to identify and choose their dream home.
GIS is a powerful set of tools for capturing, organising, retrieving at will,
analysing and presenting spatially referenced data from the real world for a
particular set of purposes. This technology is ideal for the application of
location-based services, such as the property listing and selling in the real
estate industry. In this project, a user-friendly GIS program was developed to
manipulate the property listing for sale geographically, to display the property
listing in relation to other social and environmental features including
topography, transportation, schools and/or shopping centres, and to provide
tools for the house hunters to search and inspect properties and make
choices without the need of getting into the houses. Even though open house
inspection is still required before a final decision is made, these inspections
can be limited to only a small number of houses, making the process of house
hunting faster and also reducing the danger of missing out the ideal house for
the hunter. Compared to the conventional way of getting a property list and
inspecting them one by one, the GIS based property searching and inspection
tools are proved to be more efficient and less time consuming.
The project demonstrated that GIS provides powerful tools in assisting the
house hunters searching for houses and make informed and intelligent
decisions. The GIS program developed in this project can be easily used by
the real estate practitioners in property selling or renting, which will improve
their business efficiency.


Since its inception, the central dilemmas of transitional justice have often been framed in stark dichotomies, encapsulated most notably in the phrase: 'peace versus justice'. This phrase has been widely used to describe the extent to which elites in states undergoing transitions from mass violence may face political, military, and economic pressures to compromise justice in order to obtain peace. Where amnesty laws have been enacted as part of negotiated peace deals they are often perceived as embodying such compromises as they can serve to shield the signatories of peace agreements and their supporters from criminal prosecutions. Although in a small number of cases, such amnesty or immunity agreements may be granted provisionally, more commonly, they are intended to create a permanent barrier to the pursuit of trials for past crimes, where such trials would arguably risk destabilising the fragile political transition. As a result, amnesty laws to shield offenders from criminal sanctions are commonly viewed as the antithesis of trials. At first blush, this perception of amnesty laws as a once-only political pact to close the door on the past is understandable. However, as this paper will argue, closer inspection reveals that transitional states rarely face a binary choice between amnesty and justice, but rather may undergo a continual process of re-negotiation of the balance between impunity and accountability as the transition evolves. Indeed, during political transitions countries rarely follow a linear path towards justice. Instead, the salience of calls for amnesty or trials often wax and wane depending on the changing political circumstances and the relevance of practical concerns such as the passage of time, the degradation of evidence and the mortality of victims, witnesses and perpetrators. This paper will explore some of these relationships by focusing on how trials and amnesties have been sequenced within transitional states. Drawing upon fieldwork conducted by the author in Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uganda, South Africa and Uruguay, together with the experiences of amnesties in Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste, the paper will detail how trials have been launched in the shadow of pre-existing amnesties, and conversely, how demands for amnesty may continue or reignite following prosecutions by national or international courts. In this way, the paper seeks to highlight that neither trials nor amnesty laws definitively close the door on the past and instead many societies continue to revisit and adapt their processes in response to changing political contexts. In some contexts, this may result in highly complex sequencing arrangements. By exploring these complexities, this paper will highlight two key findings: firstly, that even where trials are pursued, demands for amnesty or immunity may continue to be made. Although in some cases, these demands may seek to undermine transitional justice agendas, in other instances, they could seek to respond to the problems faced by over-burdened criminal justice institutions by incentivising offender testimony or encouraging offender participation in alternative accountability mechanisms. The second finding is that the more egregious forms of amnesty that offer unconditional impunity for serious human rights violations may not be fully sustainable in the longer-term, and may instead face judicial challenges to narrow their scope or invalidate them entirely. The implications of these two findings point towards the development of more nuanced approaches to amnesty laws that incorporate elements of accountability and may even coexist with some form of criminal prosecutions. The final section of this paper will explore how such coexistence can be written into the text of the amnesty laws.


Title of Document: TRIBOLOGY OF MICROBALL BEARING MEMS Brendan Michael Hanrahan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Directed By: Professor Reza Ghodssi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute for Systems Research This dissertation explores the fundamental tribology of microfabricated rolling bearings for future micro-machines. It is hypothesized that adhesion, rather than elastic hysteresis, dominates the rolling friction and wear for these systems, a feature that is unique to the micro-scale. To test this hypothesis, specific studies in contact area and surface energy have been performed. Silicon microturbines supported on thrust bearings packed with 285 μm and 500 μm diameter stainless steel balls have undergone spin-down friction testing over a load and speed range of 10-100mN and 500-10,000 rpm, respectively. A positive correlation between calculated contact area and measured friction torque was observed, supporting the adhesion-dominated hysteresis hypothesis. Vapor phase lubrication has been integrated within the microturbine testing scheme in a controlled and characterized manner. Vapor-phase molecules allowed for specifically addressing adhesive energy without changing other system properties. A 61% reduction of friction torque was observed with the utilization of 18% relative humidity water vapor lubrication. Additionally, the relationship between friction torque and normal load was shown to follow an adhesion-based trend, highlighting the effect of adhesion and further confirming the adhesion-dominant hypothesis. The wear mechanisms have been studied for a microfabricated ball bearing platform that includes silicon and thin-film coated silicon raceway/steel ball materials systems. Adhesion of ball material, found to be the primary wear mechanism, is universally present in all tested materials systems. Volumetric adhesive wear rates are observed between 4x10 -4 μm 3 /mN•rev and 4x10 -5 μm 3 /mN•rev were determined by surface mapping techniques and suggest a selflimiting process. This work also demonstrates the utilization of an Off-The-Shelf (OTS) MEMS accelerometer to confirm a hypothesized ball bearing instability regime which encouraged the design of new bearing geometries, as well as to perform in situ diagnostics of a high-performance rotary MEMS device. Finally, the development of a 3D fabrication technique with the potential of significantly improving the performance of micro-scale rotary structures is described. The process was used to create uniform, smooth, curved surfaces. Micro-scale ball bearings are then able to be utilized in high-speed regimes where load can be accommodated both axially and radially, allowing for new, high-speed applications. A comprehensive exploration of the fundamental tribology of microball bearing MEMS has been performed, including specific experiments on friction, wear, lubrication, dynamics, and geometrical optimization. Future devices utilizing microball bearings will be engineered and optimized based on the results of this dissertation. TRIBOLOGY OF MICROBALL BEARING MEMS


The mapping of the human genome is of fundamental importance, but only the beginning of a full understanding of the relation between genes and the various external and internal factors that modify their expression. The epilepsies and psychiatric disorders are two groups of diseases for which both nature and nurture play pathogenetic roles. A deeper understanding of the interplay between these two aspects is a prerequisite for new and better treatments. To understand this complex interplay we need to know more about the plasticity of the central nervous system, the processes that generate and modify normal neuronal development and activity, the genetic basis for inborn disorders and factors which may trigger an abnormal gene expression. A full understanding also implies a detailed knowledge of all the steps from gene activation to the ®nal pathological condition. The many steps and mechanisms involved are potential targets of new drugs. The plasticity of the nervous system is much more remarkable than thought of just a few years ago. A better knowledge of the factors involved in facilitating and inhibiting regeneration may give hopes for new treatments after injuries to the central nervous system. Even more fascinating is the possible use of modi®ed stem cells to compensate for the loss of neurons in different kinds of neurodegeneration. A better understanding of the genetic processes involved will most likely make it possible to interfere in a speci®c way. The understanding of the genetic changes leading to pathological function in excitability or behavior can be explored in animal models. Only a few of these changes, however, may be directly related to human disease. The animal data have to be compared with data from humans. This is dif®cult, as only a few of the actual diseases are monogenetic and dominant. Thus, the majority of epilepsies and psychiatric disorders seems to involve both multiple genes and many external and internal factors. The variation in the relation between genotype and phenotype illustrates this complexity. External factors include environmental stressors in relation to psychiatric disorders and head trauma and febrile seizures in relation to epilepsy. Hormones are probably the most important internal factors in ̄uencing both the development and the function of the central nervous system. Thus, alterations in hormones are important both in relation to pathogenesis and symptomatology of epilepsy and psychiatric disorders. The full mapping of the genome will make possible a more direct approach for drug design aimed at interfering with gene expression or even modifying speci®c genes. It is most likely that many other drugs targets will be identi®ed both in epilepsy and psychiatry after mapping the genome. Even before that goal is achieved, however, the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms will be useful in optimizing drug treatment with respect to ef®cacy and side effects. In addition, the usefulness of ``old'' drugs may well be increased by a better insight in their mechanisms of action and by a better understanding of pathogenesis and pathophysiology in general. The balance between nature and nurture may never be fully explored. However, the mapping of the genome is ``the end of the beginning'' of a much more detailed understanding of the epilepsies and psychiatric disorders. The promising future is new treatment strategies and better care for patients. This Supplement presents a set of papers from the meeting ``Nature and Nurture in Epilepsy and Psychiatry ± Implications for New Treatment Strategies'' in Oslo, Norway June/July, 2000. We thank the authors for their effort in writing these papers and Glaxo Wellcome for supporting the publication.


This paper aims to conduct a historical and conceptual review of authorship in television production, taking auteur theory applied to the television media as a reference. For this purpose, the qualitative methodology has been used to carry out a bibliographic and documentary analysis of the author concept in the film and television industry. Despite the collaborative nature of television production, the results obtained suggest the importance of the TV series executive producer's individual authorship during this process, who is also known as the "showrunner". They are ultimately responsible for the project's production, applying a creative and personal style to their entire work. The authorship, influenced by the television channel and the audience, promotes the consideration of fiction TV series as a quality cultural product, which affects its promotional strategies.


This paper is dedicated to studying the following question: Is it always possible to injectively assign the weights 1, ..., |E(G)| to the edges of any given graph G (with no component isomorphic to K2) so that every two adjacent vertices of G get distinguished by their sums of incident weights? One may see this question as a combination of the well-known 1-2-3 Conjecture and the Antimagic Labelling Conjecture.

Throughout this paper, we exhibit evidence that this question might be true. Benefiting from the investigations on the Antimagic Labelling Conjecture, we first point out that several classes of graphs, such as regular graphs, indeed admit such assignments. We then show that trees also do, answering a recent conjecture of Arumugam, Premalatha, Baca and Semanicova-Feňovcikova. Towards a general answer to the question above, we then prove that claimed assignments can be constructed for any graph, provided we are allowed to use some number of additional edge weights. For some classes of sparse graphs, namely 2-degenerate graphs and graphs with maximum average degree 3, we show that only a small (constant) number of such additional weights suffices.


textabstractOn August 10, 2018, DISCOtech (Development of International Scholarship Collaboration Opportunities and the techniques) was organized for the third consecutive time as an annually recurring social event at the AOM annual meeting. DISCOtech aims to grow global entrepreneurship scholars. Globalizing entrepreneurship research has the potential to enhance its scientific rigor and practical utility. Cross-national collaborations encourage scholars to critically reflect on the historical and social embeddedness of their topics and concepts, the applicability of their methods across situations, and the cross‐national generalizability of their findings. DISCOtech aims to empower scholars to connect to individuals from other countries and to develop broad collaborations that cross national, methodological and disciplinary boundaries. In order to reach this goal, DISCOtech provides scholars the opportunity to meet face‐to-face in an informal setting and to share ideas, expertise and experience.


We prospectively investigated the evolution of proteinuria in 52 type I diabetics over 7.8 ± 0.3 (mean ± SE) yr and in 61 type II diabetics over 6.4 ± 0.3 yr. Measurements of renal protein clearance were performed serially, and the time course of proteinuria was classified in each subject based on a threshold albumin clearance of 11 nl/s, equivalent to a urinary albumin excretion rate of 30 μg/min. The classification based on this threshold yielded four distinct patterns of albuminuria: minimal, intermittent, progressing, and established. These patterns occurred in both type I and type II diabetics independently of the duration of follow-up. This study has identified a pattern of intermittent microalbuminuria that is also associated with transient elevations of transferrin and IgG clearances. The relationship of clinical and biochemical parameters to proteinuria patterns was evaluated. No relationship was detected between proteinuria patterns and glycemic control in either type I or type II diabetics. In type I but not type II diabetics, established proteinuria was associated with higher systolic blood pressure and decreased creatinine clearance. The phase of intermittent proteinuria detected in this study may represent a reversible stage in the development of diabetic nephropathy, but the factors that trigger the transition to progressing proteinuria remain obscure.


TCI data collection for Mississippi's Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 Tourism Economic Impact Report are presented within the context of an initial effort to secure estimated new construction and expansion/renovation of Tourism-related business projects with public and private sources for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2004. The estimated $440.8 million in FY 2004 TCI included $213 million in new or expanded state-licensed casino development from hotels, restaurants, equipment, etc. Other investments covered the gamut from airports to zoos. Tourism factors were assigned to businesses/projects along the lines of factors used for estimated sales; e.g., museums, restaurants, retail establishments, among others.


Most parents with below-poverty incomes who are raising minor children are married. The failure of many policy elites to recognize the extent of marital poverty covers up the profound economic struggles of millions of married parents. This paper concludes that to reduce marital poverty and hardship — and increase economic security for families of all types — policy makers need to expand and strengthen labor market institutions as well as universal systems of social protection against economic risks, and make quality child care and early education a birthright for all children.


A recent article (Stanton and Sejnowski 1989) on long-term synaptic depression in the hippocampus has reopened the issue of the computational efficiency of particular synaptic learning rules (Hebb 1949; Palm 1988a; Morris and Willshaw 1989) homosynaptic versus heterosynaptic and monotonic versus nonmonotonic changes in synaptic efficacy. We have addressed these questions by calculating and maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio, a measure of the potential fidelity of recall, in a class of associative matrix memories. Up to a multiplicative constant, there are three optimal rules, each providing for synaptic depression such that positive and negative changes in synaptic efficacy balance out. For one rule, which is found to be the Stent-Singer rule (Stent 1973; Rauschecker and Singer 1979), the depression is purely heterosynaptic; for another (Stanton and Sejnowski 1989), the depression is purely homosynaptic; for the third, which is a generalization of the first two, and has a higher signal-to-noise ratio, it is both heterosynaptic and homosynaptic. The third rule takes the form of a covariance rule (Sejnowski 1977a,b) and includes, as a special case, the prescription due to Hopfield (1982) and others (Willshaw 1971; Kohonen 1972).


Based on the insistence that both charge potential energy and neutrino are truly existence, the only way to satisfy the both is that the whole β-decay include two steps. The first step is the neutron divided/decayed into a proton and a fast heavy electron where the charge potential energy had been included. Then, second step (second decay), the fast heavy electron divided/decayed into a common electron (round a nucleus) and a neutrino when arrived and acted with matter. In a word, the neutrino comes from the decay of heavy electron and carrying most of the kinetic energy the fast heavy electron provided.


ABSTRACTEyewitness identification evidence has long been recognized for its tendency toward unreliability and its susceptibility to suggestion. At the core of eyewitness identification is the ability to recognize unfamiliar faces-a memory process that can be distorted by factors intrinsic to the nature of memory as well as by extrinsic suggestive identification procedures, such as lineups. Because the guilt or innocence of a criminal defendant is often at stake in cases where eyewitness identification is at issue, this potential for distortion is particularly worrisome. In fact, this concern is borne out in statistical data about wrongful convictions in the United States, showing that mistaken identifications are the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the country.Eyewitness identification evidence possesses a unique combination of factors that distinguishes it from other types of evidence: not only is it prone to unreliability, but it also has a strong influence on the jury. Further, it is not susceptible to the traditional protections of the adversarial system, such as confrontation and cross-examination. These features set eyewitness identification testimony apart from other types of evidence, warranting special attention by courts. The United States Supreme Court has long recognized the particularly sensitive nature of eyewitness identification testimony in a line of cases in which it found that an identification procedure has the potential to be so unnecessarily suggestive, and thus unreliable, that it violates a defendant's due process rights. However, the current rule only affords protection to cases in which law enforcement officers orchestrated an unnecessarily suggestive procedure, disregarding the equally strong potential for unreliable identifications stemming from situations without any improper police behavior or any suggestive behavior at all.This Comment argues that the Court's current framework for approaching the problem of eyewitness identification testimony is too narrow and under- inclusive. This Comment proposes that courts should look to Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals s heightened evidentiary standard for admitting expert scientific evidence, with its focus on reliability, as a guide for admitting eyewitness identification testimony. Then, this Comment proposes a new framework for admitting eyewitness identification testimony, which, like the Daubert standard, would be centered on a reliability assessment that is based on factors known to affect the accuracy of eyewitness identification.INTRODUCTIONHuman memory, while remarkable in many ways, does not operate like a video camera. On the contrary, what people remember is greatly influenced- and often distorted-by interactions between the mind and its surroundings. Nowhere is the potential fallibility inherent in human memory more glaring than in the courtroom, where eyewitnesses regularly testify to the identity of a criminal defendant based on their memory of a culprit's face.Through efforts such as the Innocence Project,1 the potential for mistaken eyewitness identification has become evident.2 In fact, the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States is mistaken eyewitness identification;3 staggeringly, more than 75% of innocent prisoners exonerated by DNA evidence were found guilty at least in part on the basis of mistaken eyewitness identifications.4 This statistic highlights the miscarriage of justice that can occur if an eyewitness makes a mistaken identification: not only is an innocent person imprisoned, but the true perpetrator of the crime also escapes justice.As efforts such as the Innocence Project suggest, mistaken eyewitness identifications frustrate the truth-seeking goals of the justice system. Courts have attempted to improve identification procedures, such as lineups, to prevent mistaken identifications; however, courts must also address eyewitness identification mistakes that arise not only from procedural problems in control of the justice system, but also from the imperfect nature of memory itself. …


A new class of methods for solving systems of nonlinear equations is introduced. The main idea is to build a linear model using a population of previous iterates. Contrarily to classical secant methods, where exact interpolation is used, we prefer a least squares approach to calibrate the linear model. We propose an explicit control of the numerical stability of the method. We show that our approach can lead to an update formula. In that case, we prove the local convergence of the corresponding quasi-Newton method. Finally, computational comparisons with classical methods highlight a significant improvement in terms of robustness and number of function evaluations. We also present preliminary numerical tests showing the robust behavior of our methods in the presence of noise.


Mobile communication networks connect much of the world's population. The security of users' calls, SMSs, and mobile data depends on the guarantees provided by the Authenticated Key Exchange protocols used. For the next-generation network (5G), the 3GPP group has standardized the 5G AKA protocol for this purpose. We provide the first comprehensive formal model of a protocol from the AKA family: 5GAKA.We also extract precise requirements from the 3GPP standards defining 5G and we identify missing security goals. Using the security protocol verification tool Tamarin, we conduct a full, systematic, security evaluation of the model with respect to the 5G security goals. Our automated analysis identifies the minimal security assumptions required for each security goal and we find that some critical security goals are not met, except under additional assumptions missing from the standard. Finally, we make explicit recommendations with provably secure fixes for the attacks and weaknesses we found.


Milling is a mechanical process which consist of the relative movement between feeding the work-piece and rotating the multitooth cutter, to remove material from the work-piece. Milling is used in industry for the manufacturing of mechanical components. During a operation static and dynamic effects can lead to undesared states, such as stick slip friction and forced and self-excited oscillations ). These oscillations, also called chatter oscillation, can culminate in non-smooth work-piece surface, inaccurate dimensions and excessive tool wear. The regenerative effect is the most widely recognized which causes chatter. Spindle speed selection or modulation and absorbers vibrations are the main solutions to supress chatter without reduce the productivity . But, the difficulties to introduce these techniques and the increasing competence lead to use intelligent techniques to evaluate process parameters, such as, time requeriments, programmed cutting parameters, machine tool selection and/or cuting tools selection .
The present document covers some aspects of the mentioned. First, an analytical guidance for description, detection and suppresion of chatter in milling system is given. Then, an expert system is proposed to select an adequate tool, among the available set, and cutting paramaters according to productivity, power compsumsion or availavility, and robustly stability against posible perturbations in the cutting parameters requeriments. The expert system suply an informatic tool to obtain cutting conditions independently of the machine operator, and it is also intended to be programmed by them. Once the cutting parameters has been selected, a control strategy is required. Thus, control of milling operations, and especially the adaptive control, has an extensive research in manufacture literature, since they reduce costs, save time and in general, protect the machine. Model reference adaptive control strategy is developed to program at Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC). A fractional order hold is proposed to discretize the modelled continuous system of the milling machine. The extra degree of freedom, , allow the programmer tuned this parameter to a better system response behavior, in comparison with a zero order hold typically used in literature.


Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine whether obesity in adolescence is related to the quality of the early maternal–child relationship. Methods: We analyzed data from 977 of 1364 participants in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Child attachment security and maternal sensitivity were assessed by observing mother–child interaction at 15, 24, and 36 months of age. A maternal–child relationship quality score was constructed as the number of times across the 3 ages that the child was either insecurely attached or experienced low maternal sensitivity. Adolescent obesity was defined as a measured BMI ≥95th percentile at age 15 years. Results: Poor-quality maternal–child relationships (score: ≥3) were experienced by 24.7% of children compared with 22.0% who, at all 3 ages, were neither insecurely attached nor exposed to low maternal sensitivity (score: 0). The prevalence of adolescent obesity was 26.1%, 15.5%, 12.1%, and 13.0% for those with risk scores of ≥3, 2, 1, and 0, respectively. After adjustment for gender and birth weight, the odds (95% confidence interval) of adolescent obesity was 2.45 (1.49–4.04) times higher in those with the poorest quality early maternal–child relationships (score: ≥3) compared with those with the highest quality (score: 0). Low maternal sensitivity was more strongly associated with obesity than insecure attachment. Conclusions: Poor quality of the early maternal–child relationship was associated with a higher prevalence of adolescent obesity. Interventions aimed at improving the quality of maternal–child interactions should consider assessing effects on children's weight and examining potential mechanisms involving stress response and emotion regulation.


We present herein an experimental screening study that assesses how partially replacing Pb in methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite films with nine different alternative, divalent metal species, B′ = {Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Sn, Sr, and Zn}, influences photovoltaic performance and optical properties. Our findings indicate the perovskite film is tolerant to most of the considered homovalent metal species with lead–cobalt compositions yielding the highest power conversion efficiencies when less than 6% of the Pb2+ ions are replaced. Through subsequent materials characterisation, we demonstrate for the first time that partially substituting Pb2+ at the B-sites of the perovskite lattice is not restricted to Group IV elements but is also possible with at least Co2+. Moreover, adjusting the molar ratio of Pb:Co in the mixed-metal perovskite affords new opportunities to tailor the material properties while maintaining stabilised device efficiencies above 16% in optimised solar cells. Specifically, crystallographic analysis reveals that Co2+ incorporates into the perovskite lattice and increasing its concentration can mediate a crystal structure transition from the cubic to tetragonal phase at room-temperature. Likewise, Co2+ substitution continually modifies the perovskite work function and band edge energies without either changing the band gap or electronically doping the intrinsic material. By leveraging this orthogonal dimension of electronic tunability, we achieve remarkably high open-circuit voltages up to 1.08 V with an inverted device architecture by shifting the perovskite into a more favourable energetic alignment with the PEDOT:PSS hole transport material.


Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to compare plantar peak pressure and time to peak pressure during normal walking between women with genu recurvatum (GR) and healthy subjects. Material and Methods: 10 women with genu recurvatum and 11 healthy women participated in this study. The knee angle was measured by goniometer. Plantar pressure was measured using emed platform during barefoot walking. After dividing plantar area into 10 masks, peak pressure values and time to peak pressure were calculated. Repeated measure and MANOVA were used for statistical analysis. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Subjects with GR had significantly lower peak pressure values at the lateral heel (p=0.02), medial heel (p=0.04) and midfoot (p=0.02) masks of the right foot; and also at the lateral midfoot (p=0.02) and 3 4 and 5 toes (p=0.04) masks of the left foot, compared to the healthy women. Also, we found higher values for time to peak pressure at the masks of the lateral heel (p=0.0001), medial heel (p=0.0001) and midfoot (p=0.01) of the right foot and at the masks of medial (0=0.03) and lateral heel (p=0.03) of the left foot in the subjects with GR, compared to healthy women. Conclusion: GR abnormality can change peak plantar pressure during walking by changing the alignment of ground reaction force. These changes may affect the function of the lower limb muscles and alter the gait pattern. So, assessment of plantar pressure distribution is recommended for planning and evaluation of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs in the patients with GR.


The Informational Component Enric Vallduv Supervisor: Ellen F. Prince Even though the relevance of non-truth-conditional notions like `topic' and `focus' in sentence structure and interpretation has long been recognized, there is little agreement on the exact nature of these notions and their role in a model of linguistic competence. Following the information-packaging approach (Chafe 1976, Prince 1986), this study argues that these notions are primitive elements in the informational component of language. This component, informatics, is responsible for the articulation of sentences qua information, where information is de ned as that part of propositional content which constitutes a contribution of knowledge to the hearer's knowledge-store. Informational primitives combine into four possible distinct information-packaging instructions, which direct hearers to retrieve the information of a sentence and enter it into their knowledge-store in a speci c way. After a discussion of previous approaches to the informational articulation of the sentence, a hierarchical articulation is proposed: sentences are divided into the focus, which is the only information of the sentence, and the ground, which speci es how that information ts in the hearer's knowledge-store. The ground is further divided into the link, which denotes an address in the hearer's knowledge-store under which s/he is instructed to enter the information, and the tail, which provides further directions on how the information must be entered under a given address. Empirical support for this representation of information packaging comes especially from the surface encoding of instructions in Catalan, which is then contrasted with that of English. Using a multistratal syntactic theory, it is then proposed that information packaging is structurally and purely represented at the abstract level of IS, which acts as an interface with informatics. Finally, in order to further argue for informatics as an autonomous linguistic component, some proposals that attempt to include informational notions under logical semantics are reviewed and countered. This study is an e ort to gain insight into one subdomain of pragmatics by integrating it into the larger process of language understanding. This is done by giving otherwise elusive informational notions a speci c role in the component responsible for the entry of information into the hearer's knowledge-store. v


Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is a technique in Artificial Intelligence where a new problem is solved by making use of the solution to a similar past problem situation. People naturally solve problems in this way, without even thinking about it. For example, an occupational therapist (OT) that assesses the needs of a new disabled person may be reminded of a previous person in terms of their disabilities. He may or may not decide to recommend the same devices based on the outcome of an earlier (disabled) person. Case-based reasoning makes use of a collection of past problem-solving experiences thus enabling users to exploit the information of others successes and failures to solve their own problem(s). This project has developed a CBR tool to assist in matching SmartHouse technology to the needs of the elderly and people with disabilities. The tool makes suggestions of SmartHouse devices that could assist with given impairments. SmartHouse past problem-solving textual reports have been used to obtain knowledge for the CBR system. Creating a case-based reasoning system from textual sources is challenging because it requires that the text be interpreted in a meaningful way in order to create cases that are effective in problem-solving and to be able to reasonably interpret queries. Effective case retrieval and query interpretation is only possible if a domain-specific conceptual model is available and if the different meanings that a word can take can be recognised in the text. Approaches based on methods in information retrieval require large amounts of data and typically result in knowledge-poor representations. The costs become prohibitive if an expert is engaged to manually craft cases or hand tag documents for learning. Furthermore, hierarchically structured case representations are preferred to flat-structured ones for problem-solving because they allow for comparison at different levels of specificity thus resulting in more effective retrieval than flat structured cases. This project has developed SmartCAT-T, a tool that creates knowledge-rich hierarchically structured cases from semi-structured textual reports. SmartCAT-T highlights important phrases in the textual SmartHouse problem-solving reports and uses the phrases to create a conceptual model of the domain. The model then becomes a standard structure onto which each semi-structured SmartHouse report is mapped in order to obtain the correspondingly structured case. SmartCAT-T also relies on an unsupervised methodology that recognises word synonyms in text. The methodology is used to create a uniform vocabulary for the textual reports and the resulting harmonised text is used to create the standard conceptual model of the domain. The technique is also employed in query interpretation during problem solving. SmartCAT-T does not require large sets of tagged data for learning, and the concepts in the conceptual model are interpretable, allowing for expert refinement of knowledge. Evaluation results show that the created cases contain knowledge that is useful for problem solving. An improvement in results is also observed when the text and queries are harmonised. A further evaluation highlights a high potential for the techniques developed in this research to be useful in domains other than SmartHouse. All this has been implemented in the Smarter case-based reasoning system.


The Rock Baller is a sample acquisition tool that improves sample retention. The basic elements of the Rock Baller are the tool rotation axis, the hub, the two jaws, and the cutting blades, which are located on each of the jaws. The entire device rotates about the tool rotation axis, which is aligned parallel to the nominal normal direction of the parent rock surface. Both jaws also rotate about the jaw axis, which is perpendicular to the tool rotation axis, at a rate much slower than the rotation about the tool rotation axis. This movement gradually closes the jaws into a nearly continuous hemispherical shell that encloses the sample as it is cut from the parent rock. When required the jaws are opened to release the sample. The hemispherical cutting method eliminates the sample retention problems associated with existing sample acquisition methods that employ conventional cylindrical cutting. The resulting samples are hemispherical, or nearly hemispherical, and as a result the aspect ratio (sample depth relative to sample radius) is essentially fixed. This fixed sample aspect ratio may be considered a drawback of the Rock Baller method, as samples with a higher aspect ratio (more depth, less width) may be considered more scientifically valuable because such samples would allow for a broader inspection of the geological record. This aspect ratio issue can be ameliorated if the Rock Baller is paired with a device similar to the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) used on the Mars Exploration Rovers. The RAT could be used to first grind into the surface of the parent rock, after which the Rock Baller would extract a sample from a depth inside the rock that would not have been possible without first using the RAT. Other potential applications for this technology include medical applications such as the removal of tissue samples or tumors from the body, particularly during endoscopic, laparoscopic, or thoracoscopic surgeries.


Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) contains complex tissue-specific components that work in concert to promote tissue repair and constructive remodeling and has been used experimentally and clinically to accelerate epithelial wound repair, leading us to hypothesize that lung-derived ECM could mitigate acute lung injury. To explore the therapeutic potential of ECM for noninvasive delivery to the lung, we decellularized and solubilized porcine lung ECM, then characterized the composition, concentration, particle size and stability of the preparation. The ECM preparation at 3.2 mg/mL with average particle size <3 μm was tested in vitro on human A549 lung epithelial cells exposed to 95% O2 for 24 hours, and in vivo by tracheal instillation or nebulization into the lungs of rats exposed intermittently or continuously to 90% O2 for a cumulative 72 hours. Our results showed that the preparation was enriched in collagen, reduced in glycosaminoglycans, and contained various bioactive molecules. Particle size was concentration-dependent. Compared to the respective controls treated with cell culture medium in vitro or saline in vivo, ECM inhalation normalized cell survival and alveolar morphology, and reduced hyperoxia-induced apoptosis and oxidative damage. This proof-of-concept study established the methodology, feasibility and therapeutic potential of exogenous solubilized ECM for pulmonary cytoprotection, possibly as an adjunct or potentiator of conventional therapy.


Sustainable agriculture implies the use of products and practices that sustain production, protect the environment, ensure economic viability, and maintain rural community viability. Disagreement exists as to whether or not the products and practices of modern biotechnology support agricultural sustainability. The purpose of this study was to determine (1) the views of college students enrolled in a sustainable agriculture course related to the acceptability of biotechnology products and practices in sustainable agricultural systems and (2) if their views changed after completing the course. Repeated course exposure to the concepts of sustainability, as well as brief overviews of biotechnology-related topics, provided students with a chance to express their views as they completed homework and exams and participated in discussions. Students completed survey instruments at the beginning and end of the course that assessed their understanding and/or perceptions. In general, students thought that biotechnology products and practices were beneficial to agriculture's sustainability efforts. They supported the use of genetically modified crops, and they did not believe that the products of biotechnology contributed appreciably to food allergy problems or environmental toxin levels. They believed that genetically engineered plants contributed to ecosystem health and sustainability. Students less comfortable with biotechnology noted problems with the decline in biodiversity, safety and reliability, patents, consumer acceptance issues, as well as other environmental, societal, and economic concerns. At the beginning of the course, students' responses bordered between a neutral view and rejection of any linkage between genetically engineered soybean usage and increasing environmental toxin levels, as well as linkages between genetically modified food and increasing prevalence of food allergies. They rejected both of those potential linkages at the end of the course. Students were neutral initially about organic farms as fully sustainable enterprises, but they rejected that notion later.


Numerous studies have shown warning coloration to facilitate the discrimination of edible and inedible prey. However, inedible insect species may possess cryptic coloration as well. It has been shown that some other visual features (especially characteristic body shape) are sufficient for the recognition of some insect taxa (e.g. ladybirds, ants, wasps). We tested the ability of wild-caught great tits (Parus major) to discriminate between the identically coloured edible (roach – Blaptica dubia) and the inedible (firebug – Pyrrhocoris apterus) as prey according to subtle peripheral visual traits (shape of legs and antennae, body posture, and means of locomotion). Both prey species were offered either simultaneously or alternately. The ability of the birds to learn was tested by means of fourteen trial repetitions in two sessions. In general, great tits were not able to learn to discriminate between firebugs and roaches by subtle shape cues alone during the two sessions. However, multivariate analysis of individual bird behaviour showed that they adopted one of three different attitudes to the presented prey. Most of the birds never attacked any or always attacked both prey. In addition, a small proportion of the birds was able to discriminate between the two prey types and attacked only roaches. Nevertheless, firebugs survived most of the attacks, which suggests that in case of chemically protected prey, the evolution of conspicuous coloration is not always the best/only option.


This paper formulates an evaluating model for the technology needs of Taiwan's high-tech industries. Since it has scarce natural resources and a limited domestic market, Taiwan's economic development strategy is lead mainly by the technology intensive industries and the expansion of an export-oriented market. However, as industry in Taiwan is composed of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), which lack the resources to carry out independent research and development (R&D), the government has supported non-profit research institutes to develop generic or key technologies, so as to help the industries develop successfully. This evaluating model may be utilised by the government-supported research institutes, which can, during the development process, help the industries reach their production objectives. This model is based on three stages analysis of product vehicles, analysis of technology developmental targets and the planning of developmental technology. Taiwan's semiconductor industry technology selection is the case study we will use to illustrate the model.


IMPORTANCE
With cure rates of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) exceeding 85%, there is a need to mitigate treatment toxicities that can compromise quality of life, including peripheral neuropathy from vincristine treatment.

OBJECTIVE
To identify genetic germline variants associated with the occurrence or severity of vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy in children with ALL.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Genome-wide association study of patients in 1 of 2 prospective clinical trials for childhood ALL that included treatment with 36 to 39 doses of vincristine. Genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis and vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy were assessed in 321 patients from whom DNA was available: 222 patients (median age, 6.0 years; range, 0.1-18.8 years) enrolled in 1994-1998 in the St Jude Children's Research Hospital protocol Total XIIIB with toxic effects follow-up through January 2001, and 99 patients (median age, 11.4 years; range, 3.0-23.8 years) enrolled in 2007-2010 in the Children's Oncology Group (COG) protocol AALL0433 with toxic effects follow-up through May 2011. Human leukemia cells and induced pluripotent stem cell neurons were used to assess the effects of lower CEP72 expression on vincristine sensitivity.

EXPOSURE
Treatment with vincristine at a dose of 1.5 or 2.0 mg/m2.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy was assessed at clinic visits using National Cancer Institute criteria and prospectively graded as mild (grade 1), moderate (grade 2), serious/disabling (grade 3), or life threatening (grade 4).

RESULTS
Grade 2 to 4 vincristine-induced neuropathy during continuation therapy occurred in 28.8% of patients (64/222) in the St Jude cohort and in 22.2% (22/99) in the COG cohort. A SNP in the promoter region of the CEP72 gene, which encodes a centrosomal protein involved in microtubule formation, had a significant association with vincristine neuropathy (meta-analysis P = 6.3×10(-9)). This SNP had a minor allele frequency of 37% (235/642), with 50 of 321 patients (16%; 95% CI, 11.6%-19.5%) homozygous for the risk allele (TT at rs924607). Among patients with the high-risk CEP72 genotype (TT at rs924607), 28 of 50 (56%; 95% CI, 41.2%-70.0%) developed at least 1 episode of grade 2 to 4 neuropathy, a higher rate than in patients with the CEP72 CC or CT genotypes (58/271 patients [21.4%; 95% CI, 16.9%-26.7%]; P = 2.4×10(-6)). The severity of neuropathy was greater in patients homozygous for the TT genotype compared with patients with the CC or CT genotype (2.4-fold by Poisson regression [P<.0001] and 2.7-fold based on mean grade of neuropathy: 1.23 [95% CI, 0.74-1.72] vs 0.45 [95% CI, 0.3-0.6]; P = .004 by t test). Reducing CEP72 expression in human neurons and leukemia cells increased their sensitivity to vincristine.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
In this preliminary study of children with ALL, an inherited polymorphism in the promoter region of CEP72 was associated with increased risk and severity of vincristine-related peripheral neuropathy. If replicated in additional populations, this finding may provide a basis for safer dosing of this widely prescribed anticancer agent.


Abstract. Deep neural networks (DNNs) in intelligent point cloud processing have achieved remarkable progress in recent years. Most existing methods and models were adopted on either outdoor or indoor scenes while very few previous studies were conducted in GNSS-denied environments. In this paper, we carried out a comparative study in semantic segmentation outputs using different DNNs in an underground parking lot dataset. Manually labeled indoor point cloud data were trained and tested using 7 different DNNs (e.g. PointNet, KPConv, FPConv, BAAF-Net, etc.). Our experiments demonstrated how well different DNNs perform in GNSS-denied environments with performance assessments in mIoU, Mean Accuracy (mAcc), Overall Accuracy (OA), as well as visualization outputs. The main contribution of this comparative study is to compare state-of-the-art DNN algorithms' performance in semantic segmentation directly on the raw indoor mobile laser scanning (iMLS) data from a GNSS-denied underground parking lot and evaluate the effectiveness and potentials of different DNNs in underground 3D taskings. Draw upon that, which current algorithms are optimal and how future work in GNSS-denied environments can be inspired and implemented would be discussed.


Inflammatory bowel disease is a risk factor for colorectal cancer initiation and development. In this study, the effects of American ginseng on chemically induced colitis and colon carcinogenesis were evaluated using an azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) mouse model. During the acute phase on day 15, the oral administration of ginseng (15 and 30 mg/kg/day) significantly suppressed AOM/DSS–induced colitis, as demonstrated by the disease activity index and colon tissue histology. During the chronic phase in week 13, AOM/DSS–induced tumor multiplicity was significantly suppressed by ginseng. Ginseng significantly attenuated the increase of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL1α, IL1β, IL6, G-CSF, and GM-CSF. Serum metabolomics data in the PCA plots showed good separation between the AOM/DSS model and ginseng-treated mice, and the most important endogenous metabolite changes were identified. The 16S rRNA data showed that after AOM/DSS, the microbiome community in the model group was obviously changed, and ginseng inhibited these changes. Fecal metabolomics analysis supported these findings. In conclusion, oral ginseng significantly decreased AOM/DSS–induced colitis and colon carcinogenesis by inhibiting inflammatory cytokines and restoring the metabolomics and microbiota profiles accordingly. Selective endogenous small molecules could be used as biomarkers to elucidate the effects of ginseng treatment. Cancer Prev Res; 9(10); 803–11. ©2016 AACR.


The Evolution of Microenterprise Strategies in the United States Brigit Duggan Akpinar Forty years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson put into motion legislation designed to strike a blow at the causes and consequences of poverty. Although newer strategies aimed at poverty reduction have been developed over the intervening years, it is easy to conclude from observing newspaper headlines that poverty continues to be a pressing problem. Microenterprise is one of the more recent poverty alleviation strategies. As a strategy, microenterprise has emerged only recently in the United States, following the example of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Initially, in suit with the model of the Grameen Bank, microenterprise programs focused on the provision of credit. Over time, however, American microenterprise programs have adapted and evolved, shifting their focus away from credit to training and technical assistance. This paper performs first-order and second-order analyses in an attempt to understand how the microenterprise model has evolved in the United States. The firstorder analysis will examine the economic, social and political contexts that constrain credit oriented microenterprise strategies. The second-order analysis will examine these contexts with regard to the process of diffusion of innovations. The first-order analysis will reveal the contexts within the United States that have precluded the widespread adoption of the original strategy, while the second-order analysis will reveal how context constrains or facilitates the process of diffusion.


Incidents at sea between warships and military aircraft often involve more than provocative actions – they may be aggressive and can sometimes result in death and destruction. In view of the low threshold of a resort to armed force by one State against another that would bring an international armed conflict into existence, it is rather difficult to determine whether incidents at sea remain below that threshold. Similar, albeit less difficult problems arise with regard to forceful measures taken by States against foreign merchant vessels. Here it is important to clearly distinguish between law enforcement at sea and the exercise of belligerent rights.


We studied life history characteristics of the Hong Kong/Pearl River Estuary population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis ), based on data from 120 specimens stranded between 1995 and 2009, 40 individuals biopsied at sea, and a long-term (14+ yr) photo-identification study. Ages were determined for 112 specimens by thin-sectioning teeth and counting growth layer groups. Estimated length at birth was 101 cm. Longevity was at least 38 yr, and there was little difference in growth patterns of males and females. Growth was described by a Bayesian two-phase Gompertz model; asymptotic length was reached at 249 cm. The tooth pulp cavity filled at an average of 18.5 yr of age. Physical maturity was reached at between 14 and 17 yr of age, apparently a few years after attainment of sexual maturity. Maximum lengths and weights of about 268 cm and 240 kg were attained. Females appear to lose all their spots by 30 yr, although males may retain some spotting throughout life. Calving occurred throughout the year, with a broad peak from March to June. Of 60 females monitored at sea for >14 yr of the study, none were documented to have more than three calves, suggestive of low reproductive output or low calf survival.


Solute transport in unsaturated porous media can be viewed as a coupled phenomenon with water and heat transport, together with mechanical behaviour of media. In this paper, solute transport is formulated mathematically considering heat and water flow in deformable porous media. Advection, dispersion and diffusion of chemical species in the liquid phase are considered. Convection and conduction for heat flow is taken into account. Water flow is considered in both vapour and liquid phases. Equilibrium equation, energy conservation, mass conservation and linear momentum for water, gas and solute are written and solved simultaneously using finite element method. The developed model is validated by solving some examples and comparing results with the results of experimental observation.


Due to the fact that grid networks are non-proprietary systems, resource allocation mechanisms must cope with fluctuations in resource availability to guarantee the QoS requirements of the applications. Mechanisms are classified either as reactive mechanisms, which react to the fluctuations in run time, or as proactive mechanisms, which try to infer the occurrence of fluctuations in resource availability. This paper presents a study that evaluates the performance of these two different mechanisms in order to compare their advantages. Besides, a new mechanism, integrating the main characteristics of these mechanisms, is proposed. It produces makespan lower than those given by the other two mechanisms.


Rapidly rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations are driving acidification in parallel with warming of the oceans. Future ocean acidification scenarios have the potential to impact coral growth and associated reef function, although reports suggest such affects could be reduced in adjacent seagrass habitats as a result of physio-chemical buffering. To-date, it remains unknown whether these habitats can actually support the metabolic function of a diverse range of corals. Similarly, whether mangroves provide the same ecological buffering service remains unclear. We examine whether reef-associated habitat sites (seagrass and mangroves) can act as potential refugia to future climate change by maintaining favorable chemical conditions (elevated pH and aragonite saturation state relative to the open-ocean), but by also assessing whether the metabolic function (photosynthesis, respiration and calcification) of important reef-building corals are sustained. We investigated three sites in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and consistently observed that seagrass beds experience an overall elevation in mean pH (8.15 ± 0.01) relative to the adjacent outer-reef (8.12 ± 0.03), but with periods of high and low pH. Corals in the seagrass habitats either sustained calcification or experienced an average reduction of 17.0 ± 6.1 % relative to the outer-reef. In contrast, mangrove habitats were characterized by a low mean pH (8.04 ± 0.01) and a relatively moderate pH range. Corals within mangrove-dominated habitats were thus pre-conditioned to low pH but with significant suppression to calcification (70.0 ± 7.3 % reduction relative to the outer-reef). Both habitats also experienced more variable temperatures (diel range up to 2.5°C) relative to the outer-reef (diel range less than 0.7°C), which did not correspond with changes in calcification rates. Here we report, for the first time, the biological costs for corals living in reef-associated habitats and characterize the environmental services these habitats may play in potentially mitigating the local effects of future ocean acidification.


The Ultimate Guide for Designing and Governing Web Service Contracts For Web services to succeed as part of SOA, they require balanced, effective technical contracts that enable services to be evolved and repeatedly reused for years to come. Now, a team of industry experts presents the first end-to-end guide to designing and governing Web service contracts. Writing for developers, architects, governance specialists, and other IT professionals, the authors cover the following areas: Understanding Web Service Contract Technologies Initial chapters and ongoing supplementary content help even the most inexperienced professional get up to speed on how all of the different technologies and design considerations relate to the creation of Web service contracts. For example, a visual anatomy of a Web service contract documented from logical and physical perspectives is provided, along with a chapter dedicated to describing namespaces in plain English. The book is further equipped with numerous case study examples and many illustrations. Fundamental and Advanced WSDL Tutorial coverage of WSDL 1.1 and 2.0 and detailed descriptions of their differences is followed by numerous advanced WSDL topics and design techniques, including extreme loose coupling, modularization options, use of extensibility elements, asynchrony, message dispatch, service instance identification, non-SOAP HTTP binding, and WS-BPEL extensions. Also explained is how WSDL definitions are shaped by key SOA design patterns. Fundamental and Advanced XML Schema XML Schema basics are covered within the context of Web services and SOA, after which advanced XML Schema chapters delve into a variety of specialized message design considerations and techniques, including the use of wildcards, reusability of schemas and schema fragments, type inheritance and composition, CRUD-style message design, and combining industry and custom schemas. Fundamental and Advanced WS-Policy Topics, such as Policy Expression Structure, Composite Policies, Operator Composition Rules, and Policy Attachment establish a foundation upon which more advanced topics, such as policy reusability and centralization, nested, parameterized, and ignorable assertions are covered, along with an exploration of creating concurrent policy-enabled contracts and designing custom policy assertions and vocabularies. Fundamental Message Design with SOAPA broad range of message design-related topics are covered, including SOAP message structures, SOAP nodes and roles, SOAP faults, designing custom SOAP headers and working with industry-standard SOAP headers. Advanced Message Design with WS-Addressing The art of message design is taken to a new level with in-depth descriptions of WS-Addressing endpoint references (EPRs) and MAP headers and an exploration of how they are applied via SOA design patterns. Also covered are WSDL binding considerations, related MEP rules, WS-Addressing policy assertions, and detailed coverage of how WS-Addressing relates to SOAP Action values. Advanced Message Design with MTOM, and SwA Developing SOAP messages capable of transporting large documents or binary content is explored with a documentation of the MTOM packaging and serialization framework (including MTOM-related policy assertions), together with the SOAP with Attachments (SwA) standard and the related WS-I Attachments Profile. Versioning Techniques and Strategies Fundamental versioning theory starts off a series of chapters that dive into a variety of versioning techniques based on proven SOA design patterns including backward and forward compatibility, version identification strategies, service termination, policy versioning, validation by projection, concurrency control, partial understanding, and versioning with and without wildcards. Web Service Contracts and SOA The constant focus of this book is on the design and versioning of Web service contracts in support of SOA and service-orientation. Relevant SOA design principles and design patterns are periodically discussed to demonstrate how specific Web service technologies can be applied and further optimized. Furthermore, several of the advanced chapters provide expert techniques for designing Web service contracts while taking SOA governance considerations into account. About the Web Sites www.soabooks.com supplements this book with a variety of resources, including a diagram symbol legend, glossary, supplementary articles, and source code available for download. www.soaspecs.com provides further support by establishing a descriptive portal to XML and Web services specifications referenced in all of Erls Service-Oriented Architecture books. Foreword Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Case Study Background Part I: Fundamental Service Contract Design Chapter 3: SOA Fundamentals and Web Service Contracts Chapter 4: Anatomy of a Web Service Contract Chapter 5: A Plain English Guide to Namespaces Chapter 6: Fundamental XML Schema: Types and Message Structure Basics Chapter 7: Fundamental WSDL Part I: Abstract Description Design Chapter 8: Fundamental WSDL Part II: Concrete Description Design Chapter 9: Fundamental WSDL 2.0: New Features, and Design Options Chapter 10: Fundamental WS-Policy: Expression, Assertion, and Attachment Chapter 11: Fundamental Message Design: SOAP Envelope Structure, and Header Block Processing Part II: Advanced Service Contract Design Chapter 12: Advanced XML Schema Part I: Message Flexibility, and Type Inheritance and Composition Chapter 13: Advanced XML Schema Part II: Reusability, Derived Types, and Relational Design Chapter 14: Advanced WSDL Part I: Modularization, Extensibility, MEPs, and Asynchrony Chapter 15: Advanced WSDL Part II: Message Dispatch, Service Instance Identification, and Non-SOAP HTTP Binding Chapter 16: Advanced WS-Policy Part I: Policy Centralization and Nested, Parameterized, and Ignorable Assertions Chapter 17: Advanced WS-Policy Part II: Custom Policy Assertion Design, Runtime Representation, and Compatibility Chapter 18: Advanced Message Design Part I: WS-Addressing Vocabularies Chapter 19: Advanced Message Design Part II: WS-Addressing Rules and Design Techniques Part III: Service Contract Versioning Chapter 20: Versioning Fundamentals Chapter 21: Versioning WSDL Definitions Chapter 22: Versioning Message Schemas Chapter 23: Advanced Versioning Part IV: Appendices Appendix A: Case Study Conclusion Appendix B: A Comparison of Web Services and REST Services Appendix C: How Technology Standards are Developed Appendix D: Alphabetical Pseudo Schema Reference Appendix E: SOA Design Patterns Related to This Book


The South African women emancipation policy statement and gender equality are critical tools established by government to eradicate poverty among entrepreneurs operating in small business. Khula was established to act as a financial wholesaler to emerging entrepreneurs who needed finance to start and grow businesses. The Small Enterprise Development Agency was established to provide training needs to small business operators. Lack of finance is a major stumbling block to women entrepreneurs reaching their full economic potential in South Africa. Financial collaterals are barriers for women operating in SMMEs in Tshwane. The objective of the study was to investigate the financial barriers facing women entrepreneurs in Tshwane when starting or growing businesses. In order to achieve the results a structured questionnaire and interviews were used as method of collecting data. A sample of 300 women operating SMMEs in six townships of the Tshwane metropolitan area was analysed per a quota of 50 businesses per township. The results indicate that women entrepreneurs lack the financial collateral that is demanded by financial institutions when applying for finance to start or grow their business.


ABSTRACT Population-based studies on Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization are scarce. We examined the prevalence, resistance, and molecular diversity of S. aureus in the general population in Northeast Germany. Nasal swabs were obtained from 3,891 adults in the large-scale population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-TREND). Isolates were characterized using spa genotyping, as well as antibiotic resistance and virulence gene profiling. We observed an S. aureus prevalence of 27.2%. Nasal S. aureus carriage was associated with male sex and inversely correlated with age. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) accounted for 0.95% of the colonizing S. aureus strains. MRSA carriage was associated with frequent visits to hospitals, nursing homes, or retirement homes within the previous 24 months. All MRSA strains were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Most MRSA isolates belonged to the pandemic European hospital-acquired MRSA sequence type 22 (HA-MRSA-ST22) lineage. We also detected one livestock-associated MRSA ST398 (LA-MRSA-ST398) isolate, as well as six livestock-associated methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (LA-MSSA) isolates (clonal complex 1 [CC1], CC97, and CC398). spa typing revealed a diverse but also highly clonal S. aureus population structure. We identified a total of 357 spa types, which were grouped into 30 CCs or sequence types. The major seven CCs (CC30, CC45, CC15, CC8, CC7, CC22, and CC25) included 75% of all isolates. Virulence gene patterns were strongly linked to the clonal background. In conclusion, MSSA and MRSA prevalences and the molecular diversity of S. aureus in Northeast Germany are consistent with those of other European countries. The detection of HA-MRSA and LA-MRSA within the general population indicates possible transmission from hospitals and livestock, respectively, and should be closely monitored.


Introduction Conventional endoscopic duct clearance may not be possible in up to 10%–15% of common bile duct stones (CBDS). Sphincterotomy and biliary drainage by endoprosthesis have for many years been the mainstay of management in irretrievable stones. Recent years have seen the advent of sphincteroplasty or cholangioscopically-guided electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) permitting duct clearance in majority of cases. However, when bile duct clearance is not possible, options include long-term stenting followed by elective stent exchange (ESE) 6–12 monthly or permanent stent insertion (PSI) in selected cases, but it is not clear which management strategy among ESE and PSI is preferable. Methods and aims A retrospective review of all patients in Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who underwent plastic stent insertion for biliary access for difficult CBDS from January 2006 to December 2011 was undertaken. Adult patients with irretrievable CBDS who had plastic stent insertions throughout the follow-up period were included. Patients who underwent PSI and ESE annually were retrospectively reviewed to determine the long-term outcomes. A detailed systematic review was also performed, examining the outcomes of CBDS managed with stents. Results During the study period, 674 patients underwent 1769 biliary-stent-related procedures; of which, 246 patients met our inclusion criteria. 201 patients had subsequent duct clearance. 45 patients were, therefore, included in the final analysis, 28 of whom underwent annual ESEs and 17 PSIs. Patients in the PSI group had higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores compared with the ESE group. In the PSI group, 9/17 patients presented acutely with blocked stents, 5 of whom presented within 12 months. 2/9 patients were severely ill and died within a fortnight following the repeat endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). In the ESE group, 4/28 patients had duct clearance in subsequent ERCPs, 1/28 patient presented with a blocked stent, and no biliary-related deaths were observed. The mean numbers of ERCPs performed were 0.52 and 1.95 in the PSI and ESE groups, respectively. Conclusions Over 50% of patients treated with long-term stenting re-presented acutely with stent blockage, though many of these were before 12 months, meaning planned stent exchange would not have affected the outcome. Duct clearance using all possible modalities is the preferred option, but where not possible, management with biliary stenting either with elective exchange or permanent stenting remains a possibility for carefully selected patients, though maybe best suited to those with limited life expectancy.


Abstract Fifteen coal mine drainage waters from the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures of Derbyshire and Yorkshire have been compared hydrochemically with other iron-rich waters from spoil tips, natural springs and lead mine soughs in the area. The coal mine waters typically contained several tens of mg/l iron, with a range from 0.1 to 101 mg/l, and sulphate from 60 to over 1000 mg/l. The waters are undersaturated with respect to siderite. There is a strong linear correlation between iron and sulphate indicating that pyrite weathering is the dominant source of these parameters, although iron appears to be preferentially removed by precipitation or adsorption within the mines. The pH values of coal mine water are typically c. 6, although one water has a pH of 3.6, contains some 17 mg/l aluminium and lacks the saturation relative to gibbsite and kaolinite present in the other waters. The coal mine waters may be net acidic or net alkaline: there is some evidence to suggest that the former are typically derived from unsaturated, underdrained (i.e. drained from underneath the workings) shallow workings and the latter from saturated, overflowing workings. The spoil tip waters are neutral to alkaline and saline. A possible explanation for this is the leaching of residual pore-water brines from the deep (several hundred metres) mined strata. The spoil tip leachates are poor in iron, which may be retained as iron hydroxides, sulphates or even siderite within the spoil.


Abstract: Radiolarian discoveries indicate that deep-marine conditions prevailed in central Tibet from the early Middle Jurassic until well into the Early Cretaceous (late Hauterivian–early Aptian; 131–121 Ma) and help to constrain the temporal extent of oceanic conditions along the Bangong–Nujiang suture. These new fossils occur in chert or siliceous mudstone blocks associated with the Lagkor Tso ophiolitic mélange. Basin inversion associated with closure of Mesotethys between the Qiangtang and Lhasa terranes was accompanied by mélange formation and predated regionally widespread deposition of overlying shallow-marine late Aptian–Albian orbitolinid limestones.


George Washington Carver National Monument (GWCA) is a 97 ha historic site in southwest Missouri. Park managers are responsible for management of more than 90 ha of grassland and woodland. There have been several efforts to develop a long-term monitoring program to support cultural and historical interpretation programs at GWCA. My study is a cooperative project to develop Integrated Vegetation Management Recommendations (IVMR) for GWCA that includes input from multiple agencies and stakeholders. Park staff will use three alternatives as a guide for monitoring and management. A key aspect of the plan is the use of Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models and presence/absence surveys for four prairie indicator species (Henslow's sparrow, ornate box turtle, northern bobwhite quail, and prairie vole) to evaluate 53 314-m circular plots for existing prairie structure. In 2009 and 2010 I found there were areas of mixed quality across the prairie units, and management recommendations were provided to GWCA to address limiting habitat characteristics (scores <0.50) from HSI data. In addition to the IVMR, two additional products were provided for GWCA. I compiled and evaluated prairie management practices since 1981 in the George Washington Carver National Monument Prairie Restoration Management Review. I also created a guidebook for using HSI models at GWCA, allowing park staff to prescribe applicable management techniques based on ranges of HSI scores. GWCA staff will be trained to implement an adaptive approach to management based on this project's habitat evaluation procedures.


This paper argues that questions about "religious freedom" must be subordinated to the fundamental principle of the liberty of the Church, libertas Ecclesiae. The First Amendment's agnosticism with respect to the liberty of the Church is not ultimately normative. Catholics and others who merely seek religious "accommodation," as with the HHS mandate, for example, are agents of a status quo that illegitimately has comfortable self-preservation as its highest value. It is Catholic doctrine that "creation was for the sake of the Church," not for the sake of, say, religious freedom. The paper argues that the contingent constitution of the state must conform itself to the given constitution of the Church. It is a matter of divine right that the purpose of creation itself be respected in law. The Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae (1965), requires, as Catholic doctrine always has, that the state promote acts of true religion -- not merely "freedom" -- as part of its duty to promote the common goods, both natural and supernatural. While it would be a gross injustice to force a person to embrace the Catholic religion, the Catholic religion is entitled to be the religion of the state in a Catholic society. Pace the views of many contemporary Catholics, Catholic doctrine does not bless settling for constitutional agnosticism.


Character displacement is commonly observed when species occur in secondary contact zones and traits related to resource competition or reproduction diverge in sympatry. However, few studies have considered the factors determining and delimiting the direction of character evolution in this context. We studied displacement in advertisement calls in two species of hylid frogs from allopatric and sympatric populations, both of which call with similar frequencies but differ substantially in temporal parameters. We found asymmetrical character displacement in sympatry, as only Scinax madeirae (but not S. fuscomarginatus ) repeatedly showed displacement. Instead of diverging in already existing differences in temporal characters, S. madeirae showed character displacement for frequency-related characters. We explored possible reasons for this specific pattern concerning the displaced characters and tested if socio-functional constraints in specific call parameters are responsible for the shift of only spectral parameters in that species. Finally, we argue that the simultaneous action of ecological and reproductive character displacement, or alternatively, a short-term behavioral response for the same reason (avoidance of hybridization) could explain the pattern. The present study identifies a set of new hypotheses that will stimulate future research on mechanisms of mate recognition and behavioral responses.


The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has created new opportunities for health and human services programs to integrate eligibility determination, enrollment, and retention. Using two large microsimulation models?the Transfer Income Model, Version 3, and the Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model?we find considerable overlaps between expanded eligibility for health coverage and current receipt of human services benefits, particularly with Earned Income Tax Credits, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In an appendix, we identify specific data sharing strategies that seek to increase participation, lower administrative costs, and prevent errors.


Abstract This study investigates Melbourne's status as an Olympic city. Beginning with its successful hosting of the 1956 'Friendly Games', Melbourne has subsequently established a vibrant Olympic legacy. This has included the development of world-class sports facilities, especially in the Olympic Park precinct, with the focal point being the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The city has also created Olympic connections via the National Sports Museum, the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia and the Victorian Olympic Council. In addition, Melbourne has earned itself the mantle of Australia's sporting capital by way of hosting numerous major national and international sporting events. The paper systematically outlines the historical context for Melbourne's Olympic legacy and by doing so highlights the rivalry and strained relationship that has always existed with Sydney, Australia's largest city and the host of the 2000 Olympic Games.


Although vector graphics offer a number of benefits, conventional vector painting programs offer only limited support for the traditional painting metaphor. We propose a new algorithm that translates a user's mouse motion into a triangle mesh representation. This triangle mesh can then be composited onto a canvas containing an existing mesh representation of earlier strokes. This representation allows the algorithm to render solid colors and linear gradients. It also enables painting at any resolution. This paradigm allows artists to create complex, multi-scale drawings with gradients and sharp features while avoiding pixel sampling artifacts.


The aim of the study was to synthesize fragranced dyes and application of these dyes to cotton fabric. β-cyclodextrin was grafted to heterobifunctional reactive dyes and the cavity of the cyclodextrine was utilized for loading various fragrances in it. The modified dyes were characterized by FTIR and UV/VIS spectroscopy. The fragranced dyes were used for dyeing of cotton fabrics. The treated samples were subjected to number of washing cycles as well as exposure to sunlight for prolonged time to study the fragrance retention on the fabric. The extent of attachment of the modified dye and colour strength developed on cotton fabric were determined. Olfactometrical analysis of the dyed fabric was conducted to have an idea of perfume retention onto the fabric.


• Courses in the 1000s are primarily introductory undergraduate courses • Those in the 2000s to 4000s are upper-division undergraduate courses that can also be taken for graduate credit with permission and additional work • Those in the 6000s and 8000s are for master's, doctoral, and professional-level students • The 6000s are open to advanced undergraduate students with approval of the instructor and the dean or advising office


In this paper, we study a power domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme for cognitive cooperative radio networks (CCRNs). In the proposed scheme, a secondary transmitter communicates with two secondary users (SUs) by allocating transmit powers inversely proportional to the channel power gains on the links to the respective SUs. A decode-and-forward (DF) secondary relay is deployed which decodes the superimposed signals associated with the two SUs. Then, power domain NOMA is used to forward the signals from the relay to the two SUs based on the channel power gains on the corresponding two links. Mathematical expressions for the outage probability and ergodic capacity of each SU and the overall power domain NOMA CCRN are derived. Numerical results are provided to reveal the impact of the power allocation coefficients at the secondary transmitter and secondary relay, the interference power threshold at the primary receiver, and the normalized distances of the SUs on the outage probability and ergodic capacity of each SU and the whole NOMA system.


CHAPTER 1:Saving, Investment, Financial Integration and FDI in Central Europe (Magorzata Jakubiak) Evidence on domestic savings and investments in industrialised countries indicates that capital markets are not perfectly integrated. On the contrary, various measures of financial integration prove that capital has become highly mobile. This paper presents theoretical explanations for this fact, data on the European Union "Northern" and "Southern" states and estimations of the saving-investment relation for some emerging Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). It was found that domestic investments in Poland, Hungary, Estonia, and the Czech Republic have been partly financed by FDI inflows in recent years. A similar situation was taking place in the so-called "Southern" Europe in the 1980s. There has been a geographical shift in FDI inflows from Southern EU countries to more developed CEECs in the mid-1990s. It seems possible that fast growing FDI inflows in Poland and in Estonia could hamper the future growth of saving rate. CHEPATER 2: The Interactions between Private Savings and Governments Budget Deficits (Joanna Siwinska) This paper attempts to assess the influence of government budget deficit on private saving rate, with special emphasis on Poland and other transition economies. The theoretical predictions concerning the direct impact of budget actions on private savings are given by the Ricardian-Barro Equivalence Theorem and the Neo-classical view. Existing empirical research on the correctness of the Ricardian versus the Classical view is largely inconclusive. A simple empirical analysis for Poland indicates, that in years 1991.1997 there was no strong Ricardian-type relationship between the government net lending and private savings. There is however a possibility of the existence of a weak form of Ricardian Equivalence in Poland, when one assumes, that the social security is treated differently than the rest of government net lending, and therefore social security balance is excluded form government budget balance. However, much longer time series is needed to draw any strong conclusions. CHAPTER 3: Influence of Interest Rates on Credits and Deposits of Non-financial Sector in Poland (Pawe3 Kaczorowski, Tomasz Tokarski) The main purpose of this paper is to analyse factors that influence the magnitude ofcredits and deposits held by households and enterprises. The analysis is performed for the period 1994.1998 using quarterly time-series data. The magnitude of credits and deposits was initially supposed to depend on GDP, real interest rate, real exchange rate, and M2/H ratio (explaining the development of banking sector in Poland). Authors conclude that the growth rate of zloty denominated deposits held both by households and by enterprises is positively correlated with real interest rate, and that this relation is stronger in the case of households. It can be said that the development of banking sector in Poland influences the growth of credits and deposits held by households, but it does not affect the behaviour of firms. It seems that GDP influences the growth rate of deposits, while it has no effect on the demand for credits in Poland. A change in the real interest rate matters only for corporate actions.


This paper is part of the "Southern cone countries multicentric study of primary healthcare: healthcare models, health system integration and intersectoral relations in urban contexts in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay". Its scope is to contextualize, describe and analyze the current state of the PHC strategy in Argentina and its potential for transforming the fragmented and segmented health system. The data-gathering methodology was review of the literature, study of documents, interviews with key informants and workshop discussions with stakeholders of the system. The dimensions of the data analysis were: (1) stewardship capability; (2) PHC financing; (3) provision, human resources and comprehensiveness; (4) integration and continuity. The transversal analytical categories in all the dimensions were the segmentation and fragmentation of governance and the health system. For this reason, the dynamics and actions of the social actors involved in the healthcare system and their position in relation to PHC were analyzed. The paper contains a theoretical introduction on the scope of current definitions of PHC and the description of the social, economic, political and epidemiological context of healthcare policies in Argentina. PHC based on the proposed dimensions is then analyzed.