0 0 1 276 1576 Chapman University/GEMS:GabrieleEducMatlsSys 13 3 1849 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE Posternumber: 001 (Assigned by Journal editor) The Display/Pickup Paradigm for Social System Behavior Sue Gabriele email@example.com Public education, a wonderful creation of human society, is currently troubled by a cycle of increasing decline.  Ever-increasing demands leave educators less able to address their own student, school and district issues. So, school quality goes down, for a 19 + 1 = 18 effect.  That is: if school quality is 19, add a new demand (+1), school quality goes down to 18. Then, desperate new policies are mandated every year -– too quickly for schools to keep up.  Over three years, the process looks like 19 + 1 = 18 … 17 … 16. This poster explains this increasing decline as caused by [I] flawed practice in which the leader or supervisor 'installs' the new policy, program and tasks in the supervised.  This install practice is built on [II] flawed and conflicting assumptions. Namely, the flawed assumptions are that agency is in the supervisor, rather than the supervised.  Expert supervisors have observed the errors in this thinking and many have overcorrected for an emerging new paradigm that assumes agency in the supervised, rather than the supervisor.   The result is an either/or debate and conflict.  Clarification of agency, building on Boulding's Typology, yield s [III] corrected theory and improved assumptions.   Namely, cause/agency in learning and behavior is: dual & multiple , infinitely variable , and in everyone – learners and leaders. The result is a new unifying DISPLAY/PICKUP paradigm for education and management.  The supervisor's role is to be the agent of the DISPLAY of the agenda and subject matter.  The supervised are agents of PICKUP, each at their own rates, for their own purposes.  [IV] Corresponding practices are proposed, with the goal that [V] 19 + 1 = 20 … 21 … 22.


In a 1981 article, Kubat and Hoffmann-Nowotny inverted an underlying assumption in most migration theories: namely, the belief that people are essentially sedentary. Claiming that people are mobile by nature meant subscribing to yet another essentialism. However, despite its crudeness, their thesis does have analytical value in deconstructing the belief that people are free agents and highlighting that individual migrants decide whether or not to move within social and discursive constraints. This paper explores this issue by focusing on the Greek emigration that followed the country's economic crisis. It draws on 34 in-depth interviews with Greek migrants in Amsterdam and London, and data from a survey conducted in Greater London and the Netherlands. Recession and austerity in Greece has made migration a survival strategy for several people. However, there are many more, in less pressing need, also leaving the country who present their migration as something they were considering already long ago. Focusing on the latter category, the paper discusses how the crisis in Greece has altered everyday discourse on emigration and loosened up social constraints towards long distance mobility, ultimately altering the emigration environment in the country. It further suggests that emigration may be expected to continue irrespectively of the developments in terms of the Greek economy's performance.


Sulfonylureas are anti-diabetic medications that act by inhibiting pancreatic KATP channels composed of SUR1 and Kir6.2. The mechanism by which these drugs interact with and inhibit the channel has been extensively investigated, yet it remains unclear where the drug binding pocket resides. Here, we present a cryo-EM structure of the channel bound to a high-affinity sulfonylurea drug glibenclamide and ATP at 3.8Å resolution, which reveals in unprecedented details of the ATP and glibenclamide binding sites. Importantly, the structure shows for the first time that glibenclamide is lodged in the transmembrane bundle of the SUR1-ABC core connected to the first nucleotide binding domain near the inner leaflet of the lipid bilayer. Mutation of residues predicted to interact with glibenclamide in our model led to reduced sensitivity to glibenclamide. Our structure provides novel mechanistic insights of how sulfonylureas and ATP interact with the KATP channel complex to inhibit channel activity.


The Acoustic Emission (AE) technique has been shown as capable in detecting and locating fatigue crack damage in metallic structures. However there are significantly fewer studies investigating its potential for fatigue crack length estimation. Information on the extent of crack growth would enable prediction of the remaining useful life of a component using well established fracture mechanics principles. This would improve the prospects of AE for use in structural health monitoring applications where detection and monitoring of crack lengths is required. A new approach for deducing absolute crack length has been developed based on correlations between AE signals generated during fatigue crack growth and corresponding cyclic loads. An empirical model to generate crack length was derived using AE data generated during fatigue crack growth tests in 2 mm thick SEN aluminium 2014 T6 specimens subject to a tensile stress range of 52 MPa and an R ratio of 0.1. The model was validated using AE data generated in separate tests performed with a stress range of 27 MPa. The results showed that predictions of crack lengths over a range of 10 mm to 80 mm can be obtained with the mean of the normalised absolute errors ranging between 0.28 and 0.4.


Counterinsurgency (COIN) has made a comeback during the early 21-century since the majority of western countries have been involved in peace enforcement in the middle-east. Since its comeback the concept of COIN have been wildly debated but also undergone some chances since its early days, today the majority of COIN theories claims that the local population is the key to winning a COIN campaign. If you gain their trust the insurgency will lose their support and recruiting base, this is the reason why collateral damage resulting in in civilian deaths are contra-productive, it creates more insurgents. This is the incitement to further examine how civilian deaths occur and can be avoided during COIN campaigns. This essay studies the American COIN campaign in Iraq between 2004 and 2009 and aims to investigate whether there is a trilemma-like relationship between the key goals of COIN: protecting civilians, protecting one's own forces and neutralizing the enemy. Each different goal has been operationalized to something measurable – death statistics. The yearly death toll for coalition troops, Iraqi civilians and insurgents provide the empirical material necessary to answer the question if the main goals can be achieved at the same time or if it's impossible. The essay is broken down into two parts, the first examines whether an actual people-centric COIN strategy saves civilian lives or if it's all just in theory. The second part examines the relationship between the key goals. The result in this essay shows that a people-centric COIN strategy, as the one employed by General Petraeus in Iraq during operation Iraqi freedom, actually saves civilian lives. But it also establishes that the key goals can't be achieved at the same time and that each strategy will come with a consequence.


OF THESIS INVESTIGATION OF DRILLING PERFORMANCE IN CRYOGENIC DRILLING ON CFRP COMPOSITE LAMINATES In recent years, there has been a substantial growth in the application of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite materials in automobile and aerospace industries due to their superior properties such as lightweight, high strength, excellent corrosion resistance, and minimal fatigue concerns. The present study evaluates the drilling performance of woven carbon fiber reinforced plastics under both dry and cryogenic cooling conditions using uncoated solid carbide drill with a through-hole for coolant application. The effects of the cooling conditions and the cutting parameters on drilling performance in drilling CFRP were evaluated in terms of generated thrust force, torque, cutting edge radius, outer corner flank wear, hole quality (including surface roughness, diameter error, roundness, delamination, burr formation, sub-surface quality). Both cooling conditions and cutting parameters were found to influence the thrust force and torque at different levels. The thrust force and the torque are higher in cryogenic cooling under all cutting parameters. In most of the cases, cryogenic drilling gives better bore-hole quality with lower surface roughness, more accurate diameter, less burr generation, better sub-surface quality, etc. Also, the tool-wear rates measured in drilling shows that cryogenic drilling produces less tool-wear than dry drilling does.


Kinases play a role in many diseases including cancer, diabetes and infection diseases. Therefore, kinases are interesting drug targets. Inhibitors for some kinases are already in use as clinical drugs, however due to resistance and side effects, but also to target kinases related to diseases for which there is currently no treatment, research on the discovery of new classes of kinase inhibitors is imperative. To achieve this, not only new inhibitor classes need to be designed and synthesized, but also tools to profile kinases in physiological context and to determine the selectivity of inhibitors are required. The research in this thesis has focused on the development of more potent AKT1 and FLT3 kinase inhibitors and on the synthesis and application of new chemical tools for the profiling of kinases involved in various types of cancers and other diseases.In this thesis, new powerful tools and assays have been developed that unite the fields of synthetic chemistry, protein biochemistry and cell biology for the global analysis of kinase expression and function. The value of chemical profiling as a method for functional proteome analysis has been further highlighted by its application as a screen to evaluate the potency and selectivity of kinase inhibitors.


Electromigration (EM) is a phenomenon that occurs in metal conductor carrying high density electric current. EM causes voids and hillocks that may lead to open or short circuits in electronic devices. Avoiding these failures therefore is a major challenge in semiconductor device and packaging design and manufacturing, and it will become an even greater challenge for the semiconductor assembly and packaging industry as electronics components and interconnects get smaller and smaller. According to the assembly and packaging section of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductor (ITRS) developed in 2007 and 2009 [1] [2], EM was a near term threat for the interconnecting part of semiconductor, devices and packaging methods such as flip chip, and Ball Grid Array (BGA).

In the industry, EM-aware designs are mainly based on design rules that are derived from empirical laws which do not help understand complicated EM processes and therefore can't be used to carry out accurate predictions for EM failures of sophisticated components in varied environmental conditions. In this work, novel numerical modelling methods of EM in micro-electronics devices have been developed and the methods have been used to analyse EM process in a lead free solder thin film, and to optimize the design of electronic components in order to reduce the risk of EM relative failure.

EM is an atomic diffusion process that is driven by a high density electric current, but it is strongly affected by temperature and its gradient as well as stress distribution. In order to model EM accurately, the interacting electrical, thermal, and mechanical phenomena must all be solved simultaneously. In this work, a novel multi-physics modelling method has been proposed and developed to include all of the above mentioned physical phenomena using unstructured Finite Volume (FV) and Finite Element (FE) techniques. The methods have been implemented on the multi-physics software package PHYSICA. Comparing with existing methods, this fully coupled solution method is a significant improvement that will facilitate further development of electronics design and optimization tool as well as new research work that helps understand EM phenomenon. The developed models can be used to simulate the whole process of EM, predict voids initiation lifetime of electronics products or test specimens.

In today's electronics manufacturing, lead-free solder alloys are used as interconnect. As in copper or aluminium interconnect EM has become a threat to device reliability as current density increase in solder joints with diminishing sizes. In this work, computer simulation methods have been used to analyse the experimentally observed EM process in a thin film solder. The experiment was designed in such a way that effects of temperature and stress gradients can be avoided. The advantage of this experimental method is that the electric current effect is isolated which makes analysis and model validation easier.

In this work, the predicted voids locations are consistent with experimental results. In this work, numerical examples are given to illustrate how interconnect designs can be made more EM failure resistant. The ultimate aim of the research is to understand EM and to develop techniques that predict EM accurately so that EM-aware designs can be made easier.


Hillslope length is a fundamental attribute of landscapes, intrinsically linked to drainage density, landslide hazard, biogeochemical cycling and hillslope sediment transport. Existing methods to estimate catchment average hillslope lengths include inversion of drainage density or identification of a break in slope–area scaling, where the hillslope domain transitions into the fluvial domain. Here we implement a technique which models flow from point sources on hilltops across pixels in a digital elevation model (DEM), based on flow directions calculated using pixel aspect, until reaching the channel network, defined using recently developed channel extraction algorithms. Through comparisons between these measurement techniques, we show that estimating hillslope length from plots of topographic slope versus drainage area, or by inverting measures of drainage density, systematically underestimates hillslope length. In addition, hillslope lengths estimated by slope–area scaling breaks show large variations between catchments of similar morphology and area. We then use hillslope length–relief structure of landscapes to explore nature of sediment flux operating on a landscape. Distinct topographic forms are predicted for end‐member sediment flux laws which constrain sediment transport on hillslopes as being linearly or nonlinearly dependent on hillslope gradient. Because our method extracts hillslope profiles originating from every ridgetop pixel in a DEM, we show that the resulting population of hillslope length–relief measurements can be used to differentiate between linear and nonlinear sediment transport laws in soil mantled landscapes. We find that across a broad range of sites across the continental United States, topography is consistent with a sediment flux law in which transport is nonlinearly proportional to topographic gradient. © 2016 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.


A number of design challenges are associated with in-body devices, especially ingestible capsules, including selection of operation frequency and antenna design. Operation frequency, miniaturization, gain, and interference with the environment and the internal components of ingestible capsules are all challenging factors. In this work, we design and measure the performance of miniature antennas that can be included in ingestible capsules. The meandering pattern designs are implemented with a 433 MHz center frequency which is within one of the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bands. The antenna patterns are rolled into cylinders to reflect their configuration inside a capsule. The effects of different antenna design features, environmental dielectric changes, and the battery locations relative to the antenna traces are explored. We show that the optimized antenna can offer acceptable performance even when the center frequency shifts due to the modulation of the dielectric constant of the media and by the insertion of batteries. Both simulations and measurements provide insight into how the meandering antenna should be designed for the desired frequency that can be expanded to other ingestible and implantable systems.


Seed dormancy is defined as the failure of a viable seed to germinate under favorable conditions. In addition to having an adaptive role in nature by optimizing germination to the best suitable time, dormancy control is also important in crop plants. Seed dormancy is induced during seed maturation and can be released by after-ripening or stratification. The molecular mechanisms of the induction and the release of dormancy are largely unknown. In this project novel seed dormancy mutants involved in the release of dormancy by stratification or after-ripening were identified in mutagenesis screens. Several mutants that fail to germinate under such conditions and additional novel non-dormant mutants have been isolated, which provide promising genetic material for follow up studies. In addition, an in-depth molecular and biochemical characterization of a key dormancy gene, DELAY OF GERMINATION 1 (DOG1), was carried out. DOG1 is an alternatively spliced gene and encodes a protein of unknown function. Mutant alleles of DOG1 are completely non-dormant, indicating that DOG1 is absolutely required for seed dormancy induction. Promoter activity studies demonstrated that the DOG1 promoter drives seed-specific expression in the endosperm and the embryo. The cell-specific expression pattern was studied by additional in-situ hybridization experiments, which showed that DOG1 transcripts are localized in the vascular system and highly accumulated in the shoot apical meristem of the embryo. At the subcellular level, the DOG1 protein variants are mainly localized in the nucleus. Quantitative RT-PCR demonstrated that DOG1 is maximally expressed during seed maturation, 14-17 days after flowering, and that the relative abundance of each splicing variant changes during the final stages of seed maturation. In addition, it was shown that DOG1 expression and protein levels correlate with the degree of dormancy and that low temperatures during seed development cause an increase in DOG1 transcript levels and seed dormancy. The functionality of the different splicing variants was studied by transgenic complementation and overexpression approaches using the single splicing forms and a genomic sequence of the gene. Single splicing forms only induced dormancy when highly overexpressed, above a specific threshold. Below that threshold, a combination and probably also a specific ratio of the different splicing forms were required for dormancy function. DOG1 protein was only detected in the dormant overexpression lines, in which protein production probably outcompeted its degradation. These results strongly indicate that the function of DOG1 is determined by the presence and the ratio of all splicing forms, which is required to sustain protein stability.


BACKGROUND
In people who have had a stroke, upper limb paresis affects many activities of daily life. Reducing disability is therefore a major aim of rehabilitative interventions. Despite preserving or recovering movement ability after stroke, sometimes people do not fully realise this ability in their everyday activities. Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is an approach to stroke rehabilitation that involves the forced use and massed practice of the affected arm by restraining the unaffected arm. This has been proposed as a useful tool for recovering abilities in everyday activities.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the efficacy of CIMT, modified CIMT (mCIMT), or forced use (FU) for arm management in people with hemiparesis after stroke.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group trials register (last searched June 2015), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; The Cochrane Library Issue 1, 2015), MEDLINE (1966 to January 2015), EMBASE (1980 to January 2015), CINAHL (1982 to January 2015), and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro; January 2015).

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised control trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs comparing CIMT, mCIMT or FU with other rehabilitative techniques, or none.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
One author identified trials from the results of the electronic searches according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, three review authors independently assessed methodological quality and risk of bias, and extracted data. The primary outcome was disability.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 42 studies involving 1453 participants. The trials included participants who had some residual motor power of the paretic arm, the potential for further motor recovery and with limited pain or spasticity, but tended to use the limb little, if at all. The majority of studies were underpowered (median number of included participants was 29) and we cannot rule out small-trial bias. Eleven trials (344 participants) assessed disability immediately after the intervention, indicating a non-significant standard mean difference (SMD) 0.24 (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.05 to 0.52) favouring CIMT compared with conventional treatment. For the most frequently reported outcome, arm motor function (28 studies involving 858 participants), the SMD was 0.34 (95% CI 0.12 to 0.55) showing a significant effect (P value 0.004) in favour of CIMT. Three studies involving 125 participants explored disability after a few months of follow-up and found no significant difference, SMD -0.20 (95% CI -0.57 to 0.16) in favour of conventional treatment.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
CIMT is a multi-faceted intervention where restriction of the less affected limb is accompanied by increased exercise tailored to the person's capacity. We found that CIMT was associated with limited improvements in motor impairment and motor function, but that these benefits did not convincingly reduce disability. This differs from the result of our previous meta-analysis where there was a suggestion that CIMT might be superior to traditional rehabilitation. Information about the long-term effects of CIMT is scarce. Further trials studying the relationship between participant characteristics and improved outcomes are required.


Investors are increasingly showing interest in risk premia strategies across asset classes. Carry is one of the most studied premia. To successfully execute a risk premia strategy, it is important to have a detailed understanding of how individual premia returns are affected by macroeconomic conditions. The literature reports that carry strategies are commonly exposed to business cycle, liquidity and volatility risks; however, evidence of direct links has never been clearly established. We build on this research by directly measuring the macroeconomic characteristics of carry factor portfolios, namely real economic growth and inflation exposures. By pairing methodologies commonly used to derive fundamental characteristics of equity portfolios, we are able to identify macro linkages that have not been previously made evident. Our holdings-based and factor-mimicking portfolio analyses provide insights into the behavior of carry strategies across various asset classes. This approach can help investors build better carry portfolios by anticipating the payoff in different economic scenarios.


This research aimed to study the carcass characteristics of Kacang goats fed ration containing kapok seed meal (KSM) as a component of the concentrate. The experiment was conducted in two stages. The first stage was to find out the best variety of kapok that will be used in the second experiment; the second stage was to determine the benefits of KSM on carcass characteristics. Twenty-five, 8 months old Kacang goats with initial body weight of 11.71±1.08 kg, were used in this experiment. The animals were housed individually based on completely randomized design (CRD) with 5 treatments and 5 replications. The rations were based on forage:concentrate ratio of 50:50 dry matter basis. The ration contained concentrates, with increasing levels of KSM, i.e.: R0 (napier grass + concentrate: rice bran, coconut cake, corn, urea + 0% KSM); R5 (R0 + KSM 5%); R10 (R0 + KSM 10%); R15 (R0 + KSM 15%); and R20 (R0 + KSM 20%). Drinking water was provided ad libitum . The result of first stage showed that KSM variety of MH-1 would be used as a component of the concentrate on the second experiment. The increasing level of KSM in the rations had significant effect (P<0.05) on physical characteristics of the carcass, such as dressing percentage (44.35%), carcass length (54.006 cm), fleshing index (130.59 g/cm), plumpness of leg (87.48%), loin eye area (5.06 cm 2 ), and percentage of carcass meat (64.69%). It is concluded that MH-1 variety of KSM can be used as a feed component up to 20 % in the goat ration. Key words: carcass characteristics, Kacang goat, kapok seed meal (KSM)


This paper generalizes the experience of many years of using thermal vision in diagnosing isolated injuries of the peripheral nerves of the upper extremities and such injuries combined with fractures of the long tubular bones of the forearm after various intervals from the time of trauma and various degrees of impairment of their neural conductivity. Versions of the thermal pattern of vascular–metabolic reactions are studied in the autonomous innervation zones of the damaged nerves and in zones that are symmetrical to the contralateral extremity. A concept is proposed for the possibilities of thermal vision in objectivizing the adaptation–compensator response mechanisms of the damaged functional system.


Several strategies to form multicomponent films of functional polymers, with micron, submicron and nanometer structures, intended for plastic electronics and biotechnology are presented. These approaches are based on film deposition from polymer solution onto a rotating substrate (spin-casting), a method implemented already on manufacturing lines. Film structures are determined with compositional (nanometer) depth profiling and (submicron) imaging modes of dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry, near-field scanning optical microscopy (with submicron resolution) and scanning probe microscopy (revealing nanometer features). Self-organization of spin-cast polymer mixtures is discussed in detail, since it o®ers a one-step process to deposit and align simultaneously domains, rich in di®erent polymers, forming various device elements: (i) Surface segregation drives self-stratification of nanometer lamellae for solar cells and anisotropic conductors. (ii) Cohesion energy density controls morphological transition from lamellar (optimal for encapsulated transistors) to lateral structures (suggested for light emitting diodes with variable color). (iii) Selective adhesion to substrate microtemplates, patterned chemically, orders lateral structures for plastic circuitries. (iv) Submicron imprints of water droplets (breath figures) decorate selectively micron-sized domains, and can be used in devices with hierarchic structure. In addition, selective protein adsorption to regular polymer micropatterns, formed with soft lithography after spin-casting, suggests applications in protein chip technology. An approach to reduce lateral blend film structures to submicron scale is also presented, based on (annealed) films of multicomponent nanoparticles


When developing regional strategies, the effectiveness of energy solutions must be linked to the overall economic efficiency of regional development, since the targets for energy-efficient development may conflict with the objectives of the regional economy as a whole. In the article, the task of energy-efficient development of a region of the Russian Federation is reduced to the search for the agreed scenarios of the development of fuel and energy complex (FEC) and the regional economy. These scenarios allow achieving a maximum approximation to the stated goals for the set of energy and economic indicators. I have developed a model of the FEC of a region as a dynamic CGE-model. It is developed as a part of the general model of the socio-economic activity of a region. This model represents the interrelated processes of production, processing, transportation and the use of all types of fuel and energy resources in a region. I propose the forecasting methodology of balanced development of the economy and fuel and energy complex. This methodology provides iterative harmonization of forecasts for consumption and production of energy based on regional fuel and energy balance (FEB). At the same time, the FEB developed within the framework of the FEC model is a part of the overall product-sector balance of the economy, which plays the role of the "balance of balances†. It allows to simulate the interaction of FEC and the rest of the economy through inter-balance relations. Based on the developed methods and models, I have implemented the information technology of situation forecasting and strategic planning in the form of forecasting and analytical tool. This tool simulates the scenarios of energy-efficient development of the economy of the Samara region. As an example, the article presents the assessment of energy efficiency for an option of Samara region development according to the target scenario of Russia's Energy Strategy for the period up to 2035.


The study was undertaken to determine factors influencing adoption of cocoa technologies disseminated by Olam organization to cocoa farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data for the study were collected from thirty cocoa farmers (Olam's model farmers) through the use of structured interview schedule. Data were analyzed using mean, factor analysis and regression statistics. Results showed that planting of hybrid cocoa seedlings, use of agrochemicals/fungicides, pruning and fermentation were cocoa technologies adopted by farmers. The significant factors influencing adoption of cocoa technologies included age, educational level, household size, no of farm family assisting on the farm, management system adopted, involvement in social organization and source of labour. The result of the varimax rotation revealed that the major constraints to adoption of cocoa technologies were socio-cultural, literacy and financial problems. It was therefore recommended that existing farmers' organizations should be strengthened through regular meetings and training by Olam organization to enhance rapid dissemination and adoption of cocoa technologies. Key word: Adoption, cocoa technologies and Olam organization


Problem. While the Seventh-day Adventist Church has emphasized the importance of God's Word and is effective in teaching people how to search Scripture for doctrinal truth, many disciples are not spending significant time in Scripture or growing in relationship with God. This lack of formational Scripture reading is due to numerous challenges that can discourage people from spending time in God's Word. A primary challenge is that many people confess that they do not know how to read Scripture for relationship with God; they long to know how to read Scripture to hear from God and relevantly and meaningfully apply Scripture to their daily lives. This demonstrates a great opportunity in the church to further disciple people, teaching them how to abide in Jesus and His Word. This need has been seen in the Walla Walla University Church as many expressed a desire for deeper experiences in God's Word. Therefore, it became apparent that a resource was needed to disciple members in the practice of reflecting on Scripture. Methods An eight-week Scripture reflection curriculum was developed and two pilot groups conducted with the intent of discipling participants in abiding with Jesus and His Word. Because God and Scripture are relational and communal, the Scripture reflection curriculum was intentionally implemented in a small group context. The interplay of personal and communal Scripture reflection practice is characterized as significant and interdependent "sacred spaces" that lead to deepening faith formation. An experiential learning model was used to engage participants in relationship with other growing disciples. Each week a Scripture reflection practice was introduced, taught, and experienced both personally and communally. The emphasis of these practices was to savor small portions of Scripture until the Holy Spirit brings it to life in one's heart and mind. Time for discussion and prayer together was integral to the group process and community connection developed. After the conclusion of the two pilot groups, focus groups were conducted to assess the impact of the Scripture reflection practices, and the small group community experience in the lives of the participants. Results Nine women enrolled in the first pilot group and continued throughout the eightweek group. The second group included 10 members, both men and women. Assessing their own experiences in the pilot groups, members expressed various significant benefits from the Scripture reflection practices experienced that led to a deepening relationship with God and His Word. All members expressed appreciation for the small group community context, and felt that reading and experiencing Scripture together with other disciples was meaningful and resulted in a closer connection with one another. While it was hoped that there would be further implementation of these groups and curriculum, this project did not include a way to mentor and develop new leaders or additional groups. However, as demonstrated in the focus groups, a natural result of meaningful time in God's Word is the desire to share it with others. Subsequently, a member from one of the pilot groups started and led two additional Scripture reflection groups, utilizing the curriculum and material developed for this project. There are also plans in place for implementation of additional groups. Conclusions Jesus called his disciples into a faith-forming community, where they lived the spiritual life together, challenging and strengthening each other as they each grew in a deeper relationship with Jesus himself. This call continues today. Significant obstacles exist that threaten this ideal, and few resources are available to help disciples experience Scripture and the God of Scripture more deeply. However, this project demonstrated that meaningful spiritual growth can take place in the lives of individual disciples by spending time reflecting on Scripture rather than reading for information alone and when done within a supportive, spiritual community this leads to an on-going faith formation. As a result of this project process, it is evident that further implementation of the curriculum developed would be a beneficial discipleship resource in the local church.


In the run-up to the commencement of the Human Rights Act 1998 there was intensive speculation as to the impact of the Act on the Town and Country Planning system. The article examines what has been the impact so far. The decision of the Divisional Court in Alconbury at first indicated that Article 6 would require drastic changes to the procedures for determining planning applications and appeals. However, successive decisions of the House of Lords have made clear that, apart from the need to give reasons, at the most Article 6 means that the courts have the potential to look more closely at the fairness of decision-making by planning authorities. Articles 8 and 1 of the First Protocol have had more effect on substantive decision-making by planning authorities but the way the courts have applied the doctrine of proportionality has meant that, except in the case of the granting of injunctions, the courts tend to defer to the superior expertise of the planning authority.


This research addresses the use of a knowledge-based interface to provide the communication service of message translation. The focus of this research is on the technical feasibility of using a knowledge-based design to perform this service for programmable devices on the shop-floor. The uniqueness of this approach is in the use of a knowledge-based design for the software interface. This method of implementation is different from the procedural programming approach used in today's custom interfaces. This research asserts that use of a knowledge-based design will result in an interface system that is easier to construct and maintain than an interface based on the procedural programming.
Based on the proposed design, a prototype knowledge-based interface was developed. This prototype was successfully applied in four different applications. Each of these applications involved the translation of messages between the Manufacturing Message Format Standard (MMFS) messaging language and one of four device-specific languages selected for study. These languages represent devices of the type: programmable logic controllers, robots, and NC machines. The capability of the system to provide the translation service was demonstrated using simulated messaging for each device. The system was also adapted for connection with a robot. The resulting design of the interface revealed that the system does impose several restrictions on the messaging languages. These restrictions are expressed in the form of rules which specify if a messaging language is appropriate for use with the system. The requirements and limitations of the design were identified based on the adaptation of the system to each of the different languages. The benefits of the system and recommendations for future work are presented.


Housing subsidies for low income households are a central pillar of many welfare systems, but an expensive one. This paper investigates the consequences of an unusual policy aimed at reducing the burden of these subsidies by rationing tenants' use of space. Specifically, we study a policy introduced by the UK Government in 2013 which substantially cut housing benefits for tenants deemed to have a 'spare' bedroom – based on specific criteria related to household composition. Our study is the first to evaluate the impacts of the policy on its target group considering a range of outcomes. To do so, we use a difference-in-difference methodology that compares the observed behaviour of the treated households relative to a control group determined from the details of the policy rules. We find that – as expected – the treated group experienced losses to housing benefit and overall income. Although the policy was not successful in encouraging residential moves, it did incentivise people who moved to downsize – suggesting some success in terms of one of the policy goals, namely reducing 'underoccupancy' in the long run. We find no statistically significant effects on households' food consumption, savings or employment outcomes, despite the associated income reductions. Finally, we find some evidence of a reduction in self-reported satisfaction though this effect is not precisely estimated.


A companion volume to Making Democracy Work for Pro-poor Development, this paper was written as a background note for the Commonwealth Expert Group on Democracy and Development, and was key in clarifying some of the major themes to be deliberated by the Group, chaired by the current Prime Minister of India, Hon. Manmohan Singh. It is in four parts. The first part reviews the extent of poverty and outlines some of the particular challenges confronting democracies in the current historical situation. The second part discusses the links between conflict, poverty and development on the one hand and democracy and good governance on the other, and possible ways by which support may be provided to democracies in combating poverty. The third part discusses possible strategies for winning global support, and the role of the Commonwealth in mobilising such support. The fourth part provides a summary of issues for the consideration of the Expert Group.


In many ways, Strindberg's works are among the most paradoxical in modern literature. Violently misogynistic, they nevertheless reveal a man who worships Woman, cannot live without her, loathing her as Mistress but adoring her as Mother; almost brutal in the violence of their emotions, they are at the same time gentle in the irony of their humour; totally unorthodox in their theology, they are profoundly religious; even when most naturalistic (as in Froken Julie: Miss Julie), they are highly symbolic. The leading practitioner of naturalistic drama is also the father of the theatre of the absurd.
However unlike his works might appear to one another, and whatever the seeming contradictions and inconsistencies among the various ideas espoused and championed by Strindberg at different points in his career, his themes remained the same: his own life, the struggle for dominance between the sexes, psychological domination through the power of suggestion, the problem of the existence of evil and suffering in the world, and the influence of the supernatural on human life and history. And whatever his literary genre -- drama, poetry, novel, short story, satire, history, autobiography, scientific or philological treatise, political, philosophical, or religious essay -- these themes are expressed and developed through a rich and evocative symbolism drawn not only from the tribal treasury of archetypal images, but supplemented, shaped and refined by his own experience, imagination, and subconscious. An examination of his symbolism, then, will not only elucidate the works by making our interpretation of them surer, but should reveal a consistency and logical development in his writing not always apparent with other approaches.
Symbolism can be seen as a kind of shorthand: a way of enriching a text which, particularly in drama, poetry, and the short story, is often more or less severely constrained in terms of length: by drawing on universal or traditional symbols, the author can suggest levels of meaning, connections, and associations which extend his work beyond the limits imposed on it. In more extended literary genres, such as the novel, on the other hand, symbolism is often used only sparingly. Over the course of his career, an author also builds up a set of personal symbols, drawn from his experience, his reading, his interests, and, ultimately, his view of the world; his work cannot be fully understood without an awareness of these symbols. This study seeks to identify Strindberg's symbols, to search out their meanings, to relate them to each other, to the works in which they occur, and to the body of work as a whole, and to suggest, wherever possible, their sources.
The overwhelming tendency in Strindberg studies is to approach the works as biographical and/or psychological documents. His habits of working from living models (a practice he called vivisection), of fictionalizing his own experiences, and of meticulously documenting his life and his intellectual and spiritual development make this inevitable. This study does not ignore the author's biography (impossible in such an autobiographical writer), but seeks to place the emphasis elsewhere, on the more exclusively literary concern of meaning (as opposed to reference).
Strindberg always considered himself primarily a dramatist, and indeed it is almost exclusively as such that the non-Swedish world knows him. It is, therefore, with Strindberg's plays that this study is primarily concerned. He was, however, a prolific writer, covering most genres, and much of his non-dramatic writing expands upon, explains, or provides the source for, the symbolism of the plays. With two or three minor exceptions (noted in the text), I have therefore looked at all of Strindberg's published works; those not mentioned have been omitted because they do not contribute in any significant way to an understanding of his symbolism.
Preference has been given to the Swedish texts in the twenty-two volumes which have appeared so far in
the ongoing "National Edition" (Samlade verk: Collected Works); for works which have not yet appeared there, I have used, in the first instance Gunnar Brandell's Skrifter (Writings, the Swedish edition which Glasgow University Library possesses), and, for works that
appear in neither of those editions, John Landquist's monumental Samalade skrifter (Collected Writings). Although I have often consulted various English translations,
the translations of cited passages are my own, except where noted. Biblical quotations are cited from a variety of English translations, in an attempt to stay as close as possible to the Swedish wording cited by Strindberg; when it is a question of simply providing
a reference, I have preferred to cite The Jerusalem Bible. In a few instances, where no English translation could be found which corresponded satisfactorily to Strindberg's version (whether through an anomaly of the Swedish translation he used -- presumably the Karl XII
Bible -- or through his own deliberate or unconscious misquotation), I have translated the citation literally.
In quotations (and in their translations), underlined ellipses (...) are Strindberg's own; those not so distinguished (...) indicate an omission from the text. In a few instances, when scenes in the Swedish text are unnumbered, I have supplied numbers as an aid to locating cited passages in a translation.


Predicting the therapeutic outcome of photodynamic therapy (PDT) requires knowledge of the amount of cytoxic species generated. An implicit approach to assessing PDT efficacy has been proposed where changes in photosensitizer (PS) fluorescence during treatment are used to predict treatment outcome. To investigate this, in vitro experiments were performed in which Mat‐LyLu cells were incubated in meta‐tetra(hydroxyphenyl)chlorin (mTHPC) and then irradiated with 652 nm light. PS concentration, fluence rate and oxygenation were independently controlled and monitored during the treatment. Fluorescence of mTHPC was monitored during treatment and, at selected fluence levels, cell viability was determined using a colony‐formation assay. Singlet oxygen dose was calculated using four different models and was compared with cell survival. For the dose metric based on singlet oxygen–mediated PS photobleaching, a universal relationship between cell survival and singlet oxygen dose was found for all treatment parameters. Analysis of the concentration dependence of bleaching suggests that the lifetime of singlet oxygen within the cell is 0.05–0.25 μs. Generation of about 9 × 108 molecules of singlet oxygen per cell reduces the surviving fraction by 1/e.


Various factorization-based methods have been proposed to leverage second-order, or higher-order cross features for boosting the performance of predictive models. They generally enumerate all the cross features under a predefined maximum order, and then identify useful feature interactions through model training, which suffer from two drawbacks. First, they have to make a trade-off between the expressiveness of higher-order cross features and the computational cost, resulting in suboptimal predictions. Second, enumerating all the cross features, including irrelevant ones, may introduce noisy feature combinations that degrade model performance. In this work, we propose the Adaptive Factorization Network (AFN), a new model that learns arbitrary-order cross features adaptively from data. The core of AFN is a logarithmic transformation layer that converts the power of each feature in a feature combination into the coefficient to be learned. The experimental results on four real datasets demonstrate the superior predictive performance of AFN against the state-of-the-arts.


Recommender systems — systems that suggest to users in e-commerce sites items that might interest them — adopt a static view of the recommendation process and treat it as a prediction problem. In an earlier paper, we argued that it is more appropriate to view the problem of generating recommendations as a sequential decision problem and, consequently, that Markov decision processes (MDPs) provide a more appropriate model for recommender systems. MDPs introduce two benefits: they take into account the long-term effects of each recommendation, and they take into account the expected value of each recommendation. The use of MDPs in a commercial site raises three fundamental problems: providing an adequate initial model, updating this model online as new items (e.g., books) arrive, and coping with the enormous state-space of this model. In past work, we dealt with the first problem. In this paper we consider the second, and especially, the third problem, which is of greater concern to researchers in decision-theoretic planning. We show that although the model we consider has roughly 1011 states, we can quickly provide an approximate solution by utilizing its special structure. Our memory requirements – a serious concern for commercial online applications – are modest; and the overall resource requirements of our system are comparable to those of a well-known commercial recommender system that uses a simpler and less accurate model. Our system is one of a handful of deployed commercial recommender systems as well as one of a handful of MDP-based deployed systems. It has been running at www.mitos.co.il, a commercial online bookstore, since August, 2002.


We developed a quiz game that uses questions automatically generated from the Czech and English DBpedia. The game uses class membership and categorization to split DBpedia resources into domains of questions, such as persons or films. Difficulty of questions is estimated by using the indegree graph metric based on links between Wikipedia pages. Surface forms of the DBpedia resources including inbound link labels and select properties are used to remove potential spoilers from questions. We evaluate the relation of indegree to answer success rate and the contribution of semantic features for spoiler removal using online evaluation during game sessions with actual users. Our findings indicate that answer success rate correlates with indegree, but it has a stronger correlation with page views. The evaluation also suggests that additional surface forms improve spoiler detection.


A crystal chemical study was undertaken on a melanite crystal from the pyroclastic deposits of Colli Albani (Lazio, Italy), a Middle-Late Pleistocene volcanic complex belonging to the Roman Perpotassic Province. Previous investigations by electron-probe microanalysis and X-ray topographic methods have shown that melanite from Colli Albani is affected by both sector and concentric zoning. In the present study, we focus on the crystal chemistry of the sector zoning using a combination of Mossbauer spectroscopy, electron probe microanalysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. Electron probe microanalyses show the occurrence of minor chemical differences, especially in the Al and Ti content between non-equivalent {121} trapezohedron and {110} rhombic-dodecahedron growth sectors. Structural analyses are carried out on three crystals fragments taken from the (110), (011) and (121) sectors of the same macrocrystal. We find that the slight chemical difference between the growth sectors produce detectable effects on bond distances: the Y-O distance is significantly shorter and the Z-O distance greater in {121} than in the {110} sector. Two doublets are fitted to both RT and LNT Mossbauer spectra and assigned to octahedral Fe 3+ (∼ 93%) and to dodecahedral Fe 2+ (∼ 7%). As far as the crystal chemical behaviour is concerned, two kinds of heterovalent substitutions seem to affect the melanite structure, i.e. M 2+ (Y) + M 4+ (Y) ⟷ 2M 3+ (Y), morimotoite substitution, with M 2+ = Mg, Mn; M 3+ = Al, Fe; M 4+ = Ti, Zr, and Ti 4+ (Y) + Fe 3+ (Z) ⟷ Si 4+ (Z) + Al 3+ (Y), schorlomite substitution. The former occurs in both growth sectors, {121} and {110}, the latter only in the {121} sector. These results seem consistent with the more rapid growth of {121} sector according to a "layer by layer" mechanism, as revealed by the X-ray topographic investigation.


According to the Higher Education Academy (HEA),'Retention' in the UK refers to students remaining within one higher education (HE) institution and completing their programme of study within a specific timeframe' (Thomas, 2012). It is well known that a significant number of students consider withdrawing from their course and therefore institutions, departments and academic teams need to have a focus on improving academic and social interventions. Ulster is one of 13 UK institutions participating in the What Works? Student Retention and Success Change programme. The programme focuses on identifying and implementing approaches to improving student retention. There are multiple factors that can influence entry, transition and retention of students in higher education. "Pre-entry information and transitional support are identified as key factors that promote student success and retention". (Andrews et al. 2012). The Government Whitepaper 'Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System' highlights the importance of Higher Education in relation to social mobility through widening access. Consequently, the 'What Works?' programme seeks to analyse and evaluate best practice to ensure strong student retention in Higher Education, with a particular focus on students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Central to Ulster University's Student Retention and Success Change Programme is the need for meaningful staff student partnerships that engender a shared responsibility and which are underpinned by a positive student experience within a supportive learning environment. This programme is underpinned by Ulster's Learning and Teaching strategy 2014-18 which has an overarching aim "to provide students with high quality, challenging and rewarding learning experience…with the intention to enhance the student experience and promote student engagement and success". Contributing to this, the Ulster University Business School has been set an ambitious retention target of 94%. Whilst the Business School is among the best in Ulster in relation to retention there are some programmes which have high attrition rates. This is the case on the BSc International Hospitality Management and in 2012/13 more than a quarter of students on the programme withdrew. This was not an isolated instance and was fast becoming an established trend highlighting to the course team that there was a significant problem of attrition that required urgent attention. The programme of study is a vocational degree that engages learners in both classroom based learning as well as interacting with commercial hospitality in a training restaurant environment. Using a multi-faceted approach attrition rates significantly improved in 2013/14 with encouraging progress also to date in 2014/15. For a university with a widening access agenda, participation in What Works? has helped provide an institution wide focus on student retention. This presentation will share the success and challenges of developing and implementing more than 10 separate interventions as part of a retention strategy at course level. The seminar provides a demographic and criterion analysis of the students that withdrew from their programme of study in a two year period and the implications of these findings in both informing and developing a sustainable retention strategy for 2015/16 and beyond.


The gross domestic product (GDP) of Pakistan is deteriorating by power shortage. The floating PV (FPV) on lakes and dams can address this problem by generating energy at cheaper rates and reducing evaporation of water at the same time. The best location is selected by comparing the available solar resources, nearby load, storage of land, and performance parameters such as energy yield (EY), capacity factor (CF), levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and net present cost (NPC). The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) shows that the best location for the FPV in Pakistan is Chinna Creek in the megacity of Karachi. The global horizontal irradiance (GHI) in Chinna Creek is 6.1 kWh/m2/day, where land is scarce. This site can generate electrical energy by the FPV system at an energy yield of 2345 kWh/kW, which is 8.6% higher than the land-based PV (LBPV) system. The total national installed capacity (IC) of Pakistan in 2017 is 28 GW, while the analysis shows that Pakistan has capabilities of 190 GW IC in the form of FPV systems. A detailed analysis of the FPV system and its comparison with the LBPV is provided as a guideline for policymakers.


Background: Every year, 120,000 newborns die in Ethiopia. In 2005 a national Safe Motherhood Community-Based Survey was carried out on behalf of the Family Health Department to explore community practices surrounding newborn health and care seeking behavior. Objective: To explore and understand health seeking behavior, and identify the positive practices surrounding care of the newborn. Methods: In-depth interviews and focus group discussions regarding newborn care practices were conducted with mothers, older women, men with young children, health providers, religious leaders and elders across Ethiopia's 11 regions. Important findings: Tradition recommends mothers and their newborns to stay at home for 40 days. The principle behind the practice, facilitates the period of rest and repair, establishes breastfeeding and is justified on the grounds that the mother and newborn are vulnerable to malevolent spirits. Perceptions of the causes of newborn mortality and morbidity are consistent with those relating to biomedical causes. Many complained of lack of accessible health care that in event of emergencies. Therefore they have to rely on traditional medicine as it is easily accessed, readily acceptable. Conclusions: When families seek care for their newborns, remedies from  traditional healers are often preferred to skilled health workers because of cultural and religious beliefs, poor access to health facilities, (including distance and terrain) and financial barriers. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2010;24 Special Issue 1:110-114]


[Extract] Had he been on their case, one can imagine F.R. Leavis intoning `We will not reckon Bryce Courtenay a writer of historical fiction to appeal to adult minds if we think of Roy Bridges'. No Australian author of such fiction had so long a career as Bridges: it spanned just over four decades. His novels, but especially those to do with Van Diemen's Land in the convict era (and more narrowly during the Lieutenant-Governorship of George Arthur from 1824-36) are intelligent, mannered, iconoclastic, obsessive. The minatory, complex figure of Arthur is a central puzzle in most of these novels, whether he appears in person, or in remembrance, as a not-too-distant threat, or as the author of a penal system that, in Bridges's interpretation, became more severe than he intended. Bridges is also exercised by the question of how and why people came to Van Diemen's Land, by religious intolerance transported there, by the moral as well as the physical damage of convict punishment. At the core of a number of the novels is a family romance, whose essential story -- cast in the mode of melodrama -- is of a woman punished for past sexual adventuring by the reappearance of a son thought lost.


D-α-Tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and TPGS based conjugates have been widely researched for treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) cancer. Nevertheless, the influence of structural modification of TPGS on its properties and function requires further exploration. In this study, a hypothesis for the interaction between TPGS and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) at the molecular level has been proposed based on the existing limited knowledge of TPGS inhibition on P-gp. Two TPGS derivatives, TPGS–glycyrrhetinic acid conjugate (TGA) and TPGS–lactobionic acid conjugate (TLA), were synthesized. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were employed to investigate the P-gp inhibitory ability of TPGS and its derivatives and their inhibitory mechanism. Moreover, a systematic in vitro experiment was conducted to further confirm simulation results and evaluate antitumor effects. It was found that TLA and TGA displayed higher binding affinities with P-gp than TPGS, which was attributed to their properties of hydrophilicity and negative charge. Meanwhile, TPGS and its derivatives prevented the P-gp ATPase from hydrolyzing ATP by blocking the ATP binding sites, thereby inhibiting P-gp function. It was also found that the high hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB) of the polymer contributed to a significant MDR reversing effect. In addition, TLA and TGA could promote intercellular accumulation and noticeably enhance the cytotoxicity of DOX in HepG2 and HepG2/ADR cells compared to TPGS. This work may be an important step in understanding the structure–activity relationships (SARs) of TPGS and its derivatives, the roles of the three polymers in MDR reversal mechanisms and in designing promising excipients for reversing MDR. The results suggested that TLA and TGA can be used as potential P-gp inhibitors or nanocarriers in the field of drug delivery.


Over the past decades, the Arctic has gone through a period of transformation. These changes particularly impact the everyday life of its Indigenous inhabitants due to their location in high-risk environments, vulnerability and dependency on environmental conditions. Although these communities are used to adapt to changing circumstances, the governance in times of transformative changes differs because of the complexity of change. Furthermore, the Arctic is affected by (post-) colonial and global dynamics through international agreements addressing Indigenous rights, sustainable development and climate change framed as international norms. However, global arrangements have to be rooted in regional contexts, which puts political institutions at these levels in a central position. Sustainable development studies consider inclusive institutions as key for achieving global commons. In order to overcome gaps in our understanding of policy approaches regarding sustainable development in the Arctic, this paper addresses the key role of Indigenous institutions. Against this backdrop, the paper proposes a framework on the nexus of Indigenous peoples and sustainable development by focusing on the governance of transnational political Indigenous institutions. Following sustainable development studies, this framework adds to the field of inclusive governance the relevance of political identity and Indigenous knowledges as complementing factors for the analysis of Arctic Indigenous institutions. The developed framework is exemplarily applied to two institutions, the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the Saami Council, to allow initial insights into its applicability. The framework could further act as a theoretical basis for in-depth analyses and support the derivation of testable hypotheses on the (inter)relation of transformative changes and the governance of Indigenous institutions. Indigenous as key actors for in times of transformative changes for achieving global commons. The research design envisages a deductive approach that frames transformative changes as the independent variable and the governance of transnational Arctic Indigenous institutions as the dependent variable . The developed framework will exemplarily be applied to two transnational institutions, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) and the Saami Council. Thus, the allows first conclusions on the applicability of the framework. The framework should further act as a theoretical basis for future in-depth analyses and support deriving testable hypotheses on the (inter)relation of transformative change and governance.


Microfluidic cross-slot devices can generate wide regions of vorticity-free strong extensional flow near the stagnation point, resulting in large extensional deformation and orientation of the microstructure of complex fluids, with possible applications in extensional rheometry and hydrodynamic stretching of single cells or molecules. Standard cross-slot devices, with sharp or rounded corners, generate a flow field with a non-homogeneous extension rate that peaks at the stagnation point, but decays significantly with distance from the stagnation point. To circumvent this limitation, an optimized shape cross-slot extensional rheometer (OSCER) was designed numerically and shown to generate constant extension rate over a wide region of the in- and out-flowing symmetry planes [Haward et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 2012, 109, 128301]. Since the OSCER device was based on a 2D flow approximation, the practical implementation requires a large aspect ratio, which cannot be reproduced by standard soft-lithography techniques. Here, we propose a set of new designs for optimized cross-slot geometries, considering aspect ratios of order 1 and different lengths of the homogeneous inlet/outlet-flow regions. Micro-particle image velocimetry experiments were carried out in order to validate the flow kinematics, and the velocity profiles were found to be linear along the in- and outflow centrelines in good quantitative agreement with the numerical predictions.


This research examines how sociotechnical affordances shape interpretation of disclosure and social judgments on social networking sites. Drawing on the disclosure personalism framework, Study 1 revealed that information unavailability and relational basis underlay personalistic judgments about Facebook disclosures: Perceivers inferred greater message and relational intimacy from disclosures made privately than from those made publicly. Study 2 revealed that perceivers judged intimate disclosures shared publicly as less appropriate than intimate disclosures shared privately, and that perceived disclosure appropriateness accounted for the effects of public versus private contexts on reduced liking for a discloser. Taken together, the results show how sociotechnical affordances shape perceptions of disclosure and relationships, which has implications for understanding relational development and maintenance on SNS.


Reducing hospital readmissions has become a national priority for health care institutions. Telephone follow-up, a cost-effective intervention, has been used with varying degrees of success in reducing 30-day readmissions for heart failure (HF) patients. However, little is known about interventions directed toward HF patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The purpose of this project was to test the effect of telephone follow-up with SNF staff by an advanced practice nurse (APN) on 30-day readmission rates. A one-time call to SNF staff was made by the APN to review key components of HF management. Readmission rates for the intervention group (n = 24) were compared to the control group (n = 21). No significant difference was observed in readmission rates between the two groups. Further research is needed to establish the efficacy of telephone interventions in reducing rehospitalizations of HF patients discharged to SNFs. TELEPHONE FOLLOW-UP 3


Microblogs are increasingly used as communication channels for organisations and their related communities. In this work, we are interested in the effect of community on the resulting microblog language use. We analyse content from Twitter, examining tweets relating to two government organisations—one conducting scientific research, the other providing social services. We find that the two different communities have significant differences in style and language use, observing marked differences in formality and tone as measured by properties such as pronominal usage, orthographic convention, and use of Twitter features. We posit that these differences arise due to underlying differences in the communication goals of the two user groups. Tools working with Twitter, to extract and represent information, may therefore need different approaches in different domains.


Reinsurance: Actuarial and Statistical Aspects provides a survey of both the academic literature in the field as well as challenges appearing in reinsurance practice and puts the two in perspective. The book is written for researchers with an interest in reinsurance problems, for graduate students with a basic knowledge of probability and statistics as well as for reinsurance practitioners. The focus of the book is on modelling together with the statistical challenges that go along with it. The discussed statistical approaches are illustrated alongside six case studies of insurance loss data sets, ranging from MTPL over fire to storm and flood loss data. Some of the presented material also contains new results that have not yet been published in the research literature. An extensive bibliography provides readers with links for further study.


The genome sequence of Exophiala lecanii-corni, a melanized dimorphic fungus with the capability of degrading several volatile organic compounds, was sequenced using PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing to assist with understanding the molecular basis of its uncommon morphological and metabolic characteristics. The assembled draft genome is presented here. ABSTRACT The genome sequence of Exophiala lecanii-corni, a melanized dimorphic fungus with the capability of degrading several volatile organic compounds, was sequenced using PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing to assist with understanding the molecular basis of its uncommon morphological and metabolic characteristics. The assembled draft genome is presented here.


Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to carry out the additional assessment for "Rooster Combs Extract" (RCE) as a food ingredient in the context of Regulation (EC) No 258/97, taking into account the comments and objections of a scientific nature raised by Member States. Rooster combs extract results from a production process involving enzymatic hydrolysis of rooster combs and subsequent filtration, concentration and precipitation steps. The principle constituents of RCE are the glycosaminoglycans hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulphate A and dermatan sulphate. The applicant intends to add RCE to a number of dairy products with a recommended maximum intake of 80 mg RCE per portion and per day. The target population is the general population, with the exception of pregnant women, children and people with adverse reactions to sodium hyaluronate and/or avian protein. In the high intake scenario for "consumers only", the highest daily intake would occur in adults in Belgium (0.788 g). The highest intake scenario for "all subjects" was estimated for adolescents in Denmark (0.427 g/day). The Panel notes that no adverse effects were observed at the highest tested dose of 600 mg/kg bw per day in a 90-day oral toxicity study in rats. Considering the nature, the natural occurrence and previous consumption of RCE constituents, the Panel is of the opinion that the margin between the intended as well as the estimated maximum possible intake of RCE in relation to the highest dose administered to rats without adverse effects in a subchronic oral toxicity study is sufficient. The Panel concludes that the novel food ingredient, Rooster Comb Extract, is safe under the proposed uses and use levels. © European Food Safety Authority, 2013


Although numerous studies have been conducted in recent years on energy transitions, they have been predominately developed and applied in industrialised countries. It is, however, important to question the applicability of transition theories, as they are currently formulated, beyond OECD countries. This chapter analyses renewable energy transitions in Africa, using Nigeria as a case study, to elucidate the analytical and methodological challenges that sustainability transition studies are facing in developing countries, particularly rentier states. In doing so, the study employs the lens of the multi-level perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions a well-established theory that emphasises the role of "niches", "regimes", and "landscapes" in instituting transitions. Based on a detailed analysis of Nigeria, we argue for a more nuanced enquiry of the construct "regime" that better accounts for the rentier character of the state including the role of political elites and prevalent clientpatron relationships. As such, this study makes an important contribution to the further refinement and enrichment of the MLP by focusing on the political dimensions of energy transitions. 14783-osunmuyiwa-layout.indd 54 26/07/2017 10:22 3 The Case of Renewable Energy Transitions in Nigeria | 55


In recent years, demand for renewable energy has increased significantly. The development of devices utilizing clean energy such as solar, wind, geothermal, and fuel cells attracts more and more attention. Solar energy harvesting is developing fast and will play a more important role as a global energy source. One of the ways to capture solar energy is via photovoltaic power generation systems, which are connected to the grid through power inverters. Therefore, many companies are focusing on development of photovoltaic grid-tie inverters. Freescale offers digital signal controllers, the MC56F8xxx family, that are well suited to ongrid solar inverter designs.


1. The effect of arachidonic acid on kallikrein release was studied in an isolated rat kidney perfused with a modified Krebs-Henseleit solution. 2. Kallikrein activity was measured in both venous and urinary effluents, after DEAE-Sephadex chromatography with D-Val-Leu-Arg-p-nitroanilide as a substrate. 3. Arachidonic acid (AA) (30 nmol/ml) induced a threefold increase in kallikrein activity in the venous effluent (control = 131 ± 9 kallikrein amidase μ-units/ml vs AA = 411 ±49 kallikrein amidase μ-units/ml, P 4. The stimulatory effect of arachidonic acid on kallikrein release is mediated by prostaglandins, since it can be prevented by the addition of indomethacin (1 μg/ml). 5. Our results demonstrate that kallikrein is released by the perfused kidney into the renal venous effluent, and that this release can be hormonally regulated by a mechanism involving prostaglandin synthesis.


A nationwide assessment in Pakistan showed that the direct use of untreated wastewater for agriculture, particularly vegetable production, was common in most cities. The main reasons for this use were the absence of alternative water sources, the reliability of the wastewater supply, the nutrient value and the proximity to urban markets. It was estimated that 26% of the total domestic vegetable production of Pakistan was cultivated with wastewater. The importance of the wastewater was reflected in high water and land fees. Policy makers have to take the importance for local livelihoods and food security into account when making decisions regarding direct wastewater use.


Cognitive radio is a software-based technology that provides dynamical access to unused or underused spectrum bands and enables spectrum sharing without causing any disadvantage among users. The performance of the cognitive radio in wireless communication networks depends on the accurate and fast detection of spectrum gaps. The idea of Cognitive Radio is to share the spectrum between a so-called primary user and a so-called secondary user. The main objective of this spectrum management is to obtain a maximum rate of exploitation of the radio spectrum, for this cooperation between users is necessary. This paper provides a spectrum sensing approach using cooperation and competition to solve the spectrum allocation problem and thus ensure better management. The aim of spectrum detection is to detect spectrum gaps accurately and quickly. Therefore, the performance of cognitive radio networks largely depends on the spectrum sensing function. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Cultural Algorithm (CA) are proposed to increase spectrum detection performance in cognitive radio networks. The collaborative spectrum detection performance analysis of the proposed method was performed in Rayleigh fading channel in addition to the non-damped AWGN channel. As a result of simulation studies, it has been shown that a more effective perception can be made in cognitive radio networks by optimizing the threshold value expression from the historical data.


The Twite Carduelis flavirostris is classified as a red‐listed bird of conservation concern in the United Kingdom. Successful conservation initiatives will depend on an understanding of local movement patterns and natal philopatry as these will be important in determining how likely the species is to colonise new nesting areas. Natal philopatry was studied in twelve breeding colonies in the South Pennines Special Protection Area using an intensive colour‐ringing programme. Of twenty birds colour‐ringed as nestlings and relocated in a subsequent breeding season, half had returned to their natal colony. Seven had moved to adjacent colonies while the remaining three had moved up to 12.1 km away. Local movement patterns were studied by colour‐ringing birds at two feeding stations outside the breeding season. These birds did not necessarily breed in adjacent colonies in subsequent years but rather dispersed throughout the South Pennines. In the post‐breeding season, before winter migration, adults and first‐year birds moved extensively throughout the study area. During this time, certain key feeding sites were utilised by individuals from widely dispersed colonies. The observed pattern of natal dispersal and local movements within the South Pennines suggests that historical breeding sites can be recolonised if appropriate breeding conditions are restored.


The objective of this prospective-descriptive study is to investigate the alterations of the patient's life quality viewed from their psychosexual profile after they had a total abdominal hysterectomy. This study was conducted to 54 patients having myoma uterine and later underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy with one ovarium or two left behind. From a set of data collected by using SF-36 questioner, the patient's psychosexual profile after the total abdominal hysterectomy was evaluated. The research setting was the Department of Obstetric & Gynecology, Medical Faculty of Maranatha Christian University/Immanuel Hospital, Bandung. The data, which were collected from 1 July to 31 March 2007, show that most of the patients are 30-39 years old (66.7%); the percentage of the patients having 3 children is the highest (40.7%); most of the patient's education level is elementary school (55.5%); and the patient's social economic level is medium (44.4%). The result of the data evaluation shows that there is a tendency of life quality changes regarding the patient's psychosexual profile. It is concluded that the patient's psychosexual profile tends  to increase in the fourth month after the surgery and  keeps increasing until two moths later.


Systems of equations comprising cost functions and first‐order derivative equations are often used to estimate characteristics of production technologies. Unfortunately, many estimated systems violate the regularity conditions implied by economic theory. Sampling theory methods can be used to impose these conditions globally, but these methods destroy the flexibility properties of most functional forms. We demonstrate how Bayesian methods can be used to maintain flexibility by imposing regularity conditions locally. The Bayesian approach is used to estimate a system of cost and share equations for the merino wool‐growing sector. The effect of local imposition of monotonicity and concavity on the signs and magnitudes of elasticities is examined.


Abstract Idrialite from Skaggs Springs, Sonoma County, California, was studied by microbeam and bulk analyses; the former include micro X-ray diffraction (μ-XRD), electron microprobe (EMP), and micro Fourier transform infrared (μ-FTIR) spectroscopic analyses, and the latter include powder XRD analysis, thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and carbon isotope analysis. Careful observation under a stereo-microscope clearly disclosed that the examined sample is composed of yellow and brown parts. The yellow parts were identified as idrialite with high crystallinity, whereas the brown ones were confirmed as amorphous matter by μ-XRD. Furthermore, the μ-FTIR spectra revealed that the yellow and brown parts contain hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds, respectively. EMP analysis showed no chemical zoning and homogeneous distribution of S-bearing molecules in the yellow parts. TG-DTA disclosed that the present idrialite of the yellow part left no residue on heating up to 740 °C; this thermal behavior is similar to that of the other natural organic matter in liquid states such as petroleum and crude oil. The carbon isotopic composition was analyzed using an elemental-analyzer isotopic-ratio mass spectrometer (EA/IRMS). The δ13C value of the idrialite is -24.429 ± 0.090‰ (vs. V-PDB), which is akin to carbon isotopic compositions of the typical higher-plant triterpenoids contained in sedimentary organic matter. Both the yellow part (idrialite) and brown part (amorphous organic matter) occur on the coexisting minerals (opalline silica, metacinnabar, and siderite); the textural relationship indicates that the organic matter precipitated after crystallization of the associated minerals. Thus, it is suggested that the organic molecules were migrated by hydrothermal fluids and then separated into hydrophobic (idrialite) and hydrophilic (amorphous organic matter) molecules during the cooling process. Following the separation, idrialite was crystallized and then the amorphous organic matter was precipitated at the final stage of the hydrothermal activity.


AbstractThe Tunisian political crisis that started in July 2013 was resolved thanks to the National Dialogue hosted by the Quartet who were recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The ND was a collusive transaction that allowed Ennahdha to escape accountability for its political responsibility. Nevertheless, by resolving the crisis, it generated legitimacy. It also contributed significantly to the current configuration of alliances within the power circle by making possible the alliance between Ennahdha and Nidaa Tounes after the 2014 elections. The mechanisms of mutual recognition between Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes help ensure political stability by reinforcing the government's position. However, this alliance appears to be a source of delegitimation now that the government is facing many challenges (economic crisis, security crisis and disputed political decisions). The critical situation, particularly at the security level, challenges the idea of compromise and undermines the government's ability to make...


Objective: Plasmodium vivax infection has been recognized to be a cause of severe malaria in recent time. We report findings from a prospective observational study aimed at analyzing the clinical spectrum, complications, and outcome of patients infected with P. vivax malaria. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of Delhi over a period of 2 years. All adults hospitalized with P. vivax malaria, confirmed on peripheral smear and/or rapid diagnostic test, were included in the study. The cases were categorized into uncomplicated and severe malaria groups according to WHO criteria. The clinical and biochemical profile of cases in each group were compared for determining the predictors of severe malaria. Results: One hundred and fifty consecutive cases of P. vivax monoinfection were included in the study. All patients had fever, and 63 (42%) developed severe malaria, while 87 (58%) were uncomplicated. Vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, altered consciousness, cough with breathlessness, icterus, and hepatosplenomegaly were more frequent in severe malaria. Severe malaria was associated with severe thrombocytopenia, leucopenia, raised serum bilirubin, elevated serum creatinine, and prolonged prothrombin time. Jaundice (54 patients) was the most common complication, followed by acute respiratory distress syndrome, spontaneous bleeding, metabolic acidosis, shock, renal failure, and cerebral malaria. Multiple complications were observed in 17 (26.9%) cases of severe malaria. Overall mortality of 1.33% was recorded. However, case fatality of 40% was observed in cases with evidence of multiorgan dysfunction. Conclusion: P. vivax malaria has a varying clinical profile, from a relatively benign uncomplicated form to severe, even fatal disease. Certain clinical and laboratory parameters may serve as predictors of severe disease.


The Kite Aerial Photography - Hue project started with the intention from Mattias Ericsson and me Micael Norberg to work artistically on a jointly project with students from di erent art schools and from di erent cultures. We had an idea of building bridges both artistically and culturally. We traveled to Hue in Vietnam in order to explore new ways to collaborate and nd new artistic meth- ods. We wanted to use kites and send our cameras up in the air to make aerial pictures. We tried to nd a way to control events and by that also control our artistic outcome and understanding. But in the The Kite Aerial Photography project we had no control. The weather controlled our kites. The place and the language controlled what we knew and understood. What was left was to look into ourself and negate a compromise. The leftovers became documentations of an experience.And now I am looking back at those events, wondering what really happened. I am using words, trying to create an image of my memories and of my experience - hot air, smells and noise. Experi- ences I can't communicate fully in words. You as a viewer will never feel them and I will only remember them. We will also remember di erently. Every participant have their own image ofwhat happened during those days in Hue. The feeling of being di erent, not understanding and being an outsider made us all meet ourselves in di erent ways. We believed that language would build bridges of understanding, and maybe it did. But here we are now. A long time has passed since we returned from Hue. What we have left are images and memories. I remember smells and emotions and in this state between memory and fact a tension is created. A juxtaposition of con ict- ing feelings. I look at the photographs now with a new understanding. We tried to move out of our comfort-zone looking for the unseen, the enigma, where memory and re ection becomes a liminal state. I now realize that knowledge is not fact or truth, but a state that we can call "not knowing". A state which for me is the very basic for understanding, and by that becoming the very essence of art.


Background Maternal obesity is a growing public health issue. It is associated with pregnancy and birth complications and increased risk for childhood and long-term obesity. Interventions focusing on individual behaviour change have had a modest impact on clinical outcomes. There is increasing evidence that social networks are an important driver of obesity-related behaviours. The aim of this systematic review is to explore the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions that use social networks for weight management and to explore participants' experiences, and the process outcomes of these interventions. Methods MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane, CENTRAL and CINAHL databases were searched as well as reference lists of included studies. Eligibility criteria included: intervention studies with a comparator group and qualitative studies/process evaluations of the included intervention studies; pregnant or postnatal women (<2 years) with BMI >25 kg/m2; a lifestyle intervention with a social network component; and a gestational or postpartum weight outcome. Protocol papers were included to aid extraction of intervention components and behaviour change techniques (BCTs). Articles were screened by two independent reviewers. Data extraction is ongoing and studies will be assessed for quality and risk of bias. BCTs and social network functions are also being coded by two reviewers and will be summarised in tables. We will assess heterogeneity and, if possible, a random-effects meta-analysis and a priori specified subgroup analyses will be conducted. We will carry out a narrative synthesis. Results A total of 10 211 records were identified from databases with 73 full-text articles and another 25 identified from references screened. 30 articles (15 studies) were included. 8 potentially relevant studies are ongoing or results have not yet been published. Searches will be rerun before the final analyses. Preliminary findings are that the interventions are heterogeneous but most were group-based and delivered face-to-face. Interventions often advised on obtaining social support from existing social network (e.g. family), arranged support through created social networks (e.g. group of mothers) and a few directly involved the participants' partner in the intervention. None used social network data to accelerate behaviour change among participants. Conclusion Interventions often include social support from existing or created social networks as a BCT. There is a lack of interventions that purposefully utilise social network data. More qualitative research with participants and process evaluations are required. The findings of this review will be used to inform the development of a weight management intervention that mobilises social networks for behaviour change.


This Article critically examines recent debates about the bullying and harassment of gay teens. A string of suicides in the fall of 2010 yielded a wide range of legal reforms at both the state and federal levels. The accompanying debates, however, have largely employed one-dimensional accounts of the difficulties faced by gay teens, excluding more nuanced, complex and empowered accounts of teenage sexuality. Although many gay teens are certainly vulnerable to bullying and harassment, these entrenched narratives of innocence and vulnerability have been used to justify both strong protectionism — e.g., through questionable hate crimes prosecutions — and ubiquitous paternalism — e.g., through "anti-bullying" monitoring and reporting — while obscuring the sexual agency of gay teens. This Article will (1) track the persistent use of a gay teen innocence narrative in several legal and cultural contexts; (2) explore how recent anti-bullying efforts reify such innocence at the potential expense of gay teens' social and sexual agency; and (3) situate this filtering of gay teens' experiences within the broader context of the LGBT rights movement.


The objective of this study was to determine if 5-dog and 3-dog play groups had observable effects on-kennel arousal behavioral levels. This study was performed at the Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Iowa, located in Des Moines. A total of 36 dogs of mixed sex, breed, and age were observed. Two treatments were compared (1) 3-dog groups (n = 24) and (2) 5-dog groups (n = 12). All dogs included in this study had never been exposed to a play group before at the ARL-IA. Each dog was observed before play group (baseline) at 9 am and after play group (after) at 11 am respectively. Play sessions were held between 9 and10 am. Two dogs, one from each treatment, was removed for aggression issues and euthanized. Their data will not be presented. The observer watched one dog at a time, and stood in front of the kennel for 10 s, observing each dog and recording its behavior. Dogs allocated to both treatments during baseline all scored a recording level one, indicating a dog that was not displaying overt signs of behavioral anxiety in the kennel. When looking within categories, there were improvements within this category for in kennel behaviors between baseline and after. In the 5-dog play group, dogs displayed less barking (<30%) and jumping (<25%). The dogs in the 3-dog treatment showed improvements across all measures except for position in kennel, where no change was observed. In conclusion, both treatments showed improvement within recording level one for in-kennel behaviors and a decrease in in-kennel arousal levels post-play group. However, dogs displaying more severe in-kennel behavior(s) should be included in a future study to see if play groups improve in-kennel behavioral arousal levels resulting in improved adoptability and overall dog well-being.


Timor Island situates in the southeast end of Southeast Asia. The island accommodates many ethnic groups, which produce many diverse house types. As visiting East Timor in 2012 and Timor Island in 2014, we found the "Pair- House Type" widely spread over Timor Island. Uma Lulik (holy house), accommodating the ancestry soul, fireplace and elder's bed, and Uma Tidor (house for sleep), containing living, sleeping and working space, compose the pair-house. The research team visited 14 ethnic groups and their houses, some of which were measured and drawn into 3D models as back to Taiwan. Uma Tidors of each ethnic group are quite similar with rectangular volume and hip roof, however, one of the fourteen ethnic groups can build cylinder houses for Uma Tidor. Uma Luliks of different ethnic groups are diversified and special. One group of the Uma Luliks shows a rectangular or square volume sheltered by a hip roof. The other group of Uma Luliks presents a non-specific volume under a conical roof, that we called the "conical hut". Seven ethnic groups, Atoni, Weimua, Makassae, Mambai, Bunaq, Kemak and Bekais, have built "conical huts" for the use of Uma Lulik. People of the seven ethnic groups can construct a reasonable structural system to support the conical roof, and take good advantage of the space under the conical roof to meet their sacred needs and everyday life. "Conical Hut" may be regarded as the basic form of the house types adopted by the seven ethnic groups. It contains the basic spatial limits and the formal properties that the construction systems have to follow. Based on the concise rules of the basic form, people of each ethnic group use their talents, skills and building materials to generate variations of "conical hut", which are different in house scale, spatial layout, construction system and form. The "conical huts" contain the consistency that all the huts come from the basic form, meanwhile, they also present the diversification that each conical hut has differed. "Consistent but diversified", is one of the most interesting issues in typological study that we can observe in Timorese houses.


Astrocytes are key to neuronal trophic support, development, and synaptic signalling and plasticity. Astrocytes can detect synaptic events at tripartite synapses –a major site of bidirectional communication between neurones and astrocytes– and alter synaptic function by gliotransmitter release. This is reflected in basic research studies as well as neurodevelopmental disease models, where astrocyte-derived factors shape synapse structure and function. Despite the many roles of astrocytes in brain (patho-) physiology, the mechanisms that underlie release of gliotransmitters to affect astro-neuronal communication are poorly understood.
To investigate astrocytic signalling at synaptic interfaces and which molecules mediate astrocytic vesicle fusion, I developed a simple and economical protocol for growing more "in vivo-like" astrocyte monocultures. In comparison to other astrocyte monocultures, spontaneous Ca2+ signalling in astrocytes of my protocol was more similar to that of astrocytes co-cultured with neurones. Moreover, I observed distinct subcellular domains in which different Ca2+ event types occurred that were similar to those of astrocytes in slices and in vivo.
Using this culture protocol, I confirmed that astrocytes express several vesicle-associated proteins, two of which localised to two distinct vesicle populations that underwent recycling: Vamp2 and Syt7. Vamp2 was previously found in astrocytes, and cleaving Vamp2 by clostridial toxins blocks Ca2+-dependent glutamate release from astrocytes. Syt7, which is implicated in lysosomal secretion in different cell types (but also regulates synaptic vesicle replenishment), is a Ca2+ sensor with high Ca2+ affinity that has not yet been reported in astrocytes. The Ca2+ signalling patterns I observed in cultured astrocytes provide a context for Syt7-mediated vesicle fusion, which I further investigated using Syt7-/- mouse cultures: When co-cultured with Syt7-/- astrocytes, wild-type neurones had fewer synapses. Further, I showed that Syt7 and the synaptogenic factor Hevin are developmentally regulated and partially co-localise in cultured astrocytes. These data suggest that Syt7 may regulate vesicular Hevin release from astrocytes, which in turn shapes how neuronal circuits develop. Astrocytic exocytosis contributes to neurodevelopmental diseases, where aberrant astrocytic Hevin release has been implicated in epileptogenesis. Together, these data support that astrocytic Syt7 (and perhaps other Syts) may mediate the release of astrocytic factors that are important for brain development.