The emergence of stem cell research has undoubtedly brought a lot of hope to the medical field with the opportunities that regenerative medicine offers. Human embryonic stem cells can be manipulated to cure some of the most debilitating diseases of our times. The ability to transform somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells will ease the objections by some people towards the use of embryo derived stem cells. However, due to global differences of opinion on stem cell research, it is almost impossible to come up with standardised rules that will govern the research around the world. While there is rapid and continues progress in the field of stem cell research, Africa is lagging behind with respect to actively being involved in stem cell research, despite the fact that it stands to benefit greatly from the research. There are very few African countries that are actively involved in stem cell research. This review article examines the involvement of African countries in stem cell research. Some of the challenges that are affecting the progress of stem cell research in Africa are discussed. Because human embryonic stem cells are derived from human embryos, there are legislative frameworks that concern the rights of unborn embryos to life which have to be considered before undertaking research involving human derived embryos. This review discusses recommendations that can vigorously promote and expand stem cell research in Africa, especially in smaller and less scientifically active countries of the continent. In order to succeed in promoting stem cell research in Africa, there is a need to understand the ethical and moral issues that hinders the research. There is further need to enforce basic understanding of what stem cells are and how they function. Therefore, the general consensus is that to succeed in growing stem cell research in Africa, there is a need to first enhance education about stem cells among the ordinary people of the continent


The aim of this article is to conduct a comparative methodological essay of two estimators of ageperiod-cohort models: the conventional estimator obtained by the generalized linear restricted models (MLGR) and the so-called intrinsic estimator (EI). The objects are contributions of age, period and cohort effects to temporal changes in the progression probability to the 5th grade of elementary school for Brazilian women. The APC modeling is justified because age, period and cohort effects may significantly affect the probability of grade progression: age effects reflect both the minimal age of school entry and the trade-off between study and work; period effects are associated with different economical and political conjunctures, as well as with current educational policies; finally, cohort effects reflect social attributes unique to a group. Both are juxtaposed in terms of the efficiency, significance and parameter estimates. The results reveal the potentiality of the solution to the age-period-cohort model based on intrinsic estimator, which presents parameters with smaller variance than those estimated from generalized linear restricted models. Therefore, projections of grade progression probabilities based on the extrapolation of standard errors of the intrinsic estimator can be promising.


Attention and self-attention mechanisms, inspired by cognitive processes, are now central to state-of-the-art deep learning on sequential tasks. However, most recent progress hinges on heuristic approaches with limited understanding of attention's role in model optimization and computation, and rely on considerable memory and computational resources that scale poorly. In this work, we present a formal analysis of how self-attention affects gradient propagation in recurrent networks, and prove that it mitigates the problem of vanishing gradients when trying to capture long-term dependencies. Building on these results, we propose a relevancy screening mechanism, inspired by the cognitive process of memory consolidation, that allows for a scalable use of sparse self-attention with recurrence. While providing guarantees to avoid vanishing gradients, we use simple numerical experiments to demonstrate the tradeoffs in performance and computational resources by efficiently balancing attention and recurrence. Based on our results, we propose a concrete direction of research to improve scalability of attentive networks.


Background There is very little information about the relationship between welfare regimes and oral health inequalities. We compared socioeconomic inequalities in adults' oral health in five European welfare-state regimes: Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Bismarckian, Southern and Eastern. Methods Using data from the oral health module of the Eurobarometer 72.3 survey, we assessed inequalities in two self-reported oral health measures: no functional dentition (less than 20 natural teeth) and edentulousness (no natural teeth). Occupational social class, education and subjective social status (SSS) were included as socioeconomic position indicators. We estimated age-standardised prevalence rates, ORs, the Relative Index of Inequality (RII) and the Slope Index of Inequality (SII). Results The Scandinavian regime showed the lowest prevalence rates of the two oral health measures while the Eastern showed the highest. In all welfare regimes there was a general pattern of social gradients by occupational social class and education. Relative educational inequalities in no functional dentition were largest in the Scandinavian welfare regime (RII=3.81; 95% CI 2.68 to 5.42). The Scandinavian and Southern regimes showed the largest relative inequalities in edentulousness by occupation and education, respectively. There were larger absolute inequalities in no functional dentition in the Eastern regime by occupation (SII=42.16; 95% CI 31.42 to 52.89) and in the Southern by SSS (SII=27.92; 95% CI 17.36 to 38.47). Conclusions Oral health inequalities in adults exist in all welfare-state regimes, but contrary to what may be expected from theory, they are not smaller in the Scandinavian regime. Future work should examine the potential mechanisms linking welfare provision and oral health inequalities.


Mosaics hc;ve a language of their own. Whether they exhibit figurative or geometric drawings, mosaics help to regulate the flow of movement within a building and often correspond to the function of rooms. Figurative mosaics were meant to be admired and discussed by the pater familias and his guests, whilst geometric mosaics decorated passage areas that did not require waiting, such as corridors and service areas. Floor mosaics can offer valuable insights into the spatial organisation within a house. This paper considers the floor mosaics of the Roman domus in Rabat, Malta, and explores how their direction, decoration, and arrangement can help to gain a better understanding of the internal layout of the house.


In this thesis, we explore a combination of analog and digital holographic techniques to demonstrate high speed quantitative phase imaging (QPI) using low coherence (broad bandwidth) light sources. Off-axis digital holographic microscopy is inherently a coherent method of phase quantification and thus suffers from coherent noise. However, only one measurement is required to retrieve field information which gives an advantage in term of image acquisition speed. While incoherent methods of phase quantification remove the problem of coherent noise, they require acquiring several measurements which is sometimes not acceptable in the study of dynamical systems. Therefore, this thesis is an attempt to extend off-axis digital holographic microscopy from the coherent to the incoherent regime to maintain the benefit of high speed measurement capability of off-axis holography while reducing the coherent noise. First, we demonstrate that by using a suitable combination of holographic gratings, off-axis digital holographic microscopy can work with spectrally broadband illumination sources. Holographic gratings introduce a tilt in the coherence plane of one of the reference or object arms of an off-axis digital holographic microscope to expand the interference area to the whole field of view of the camera. Although QPI provides useful information in addition to state-of-the-art intensity-based microscopic imaging, its use has not permeated yet far beyond research laboratories. One potential reason is the need for a stand-alone dedicated microscope system, which is expensive and not back-compatible to the existing wide-field microscopes. In this Regard, the second part of this thesis explores an add-on camera module which can be attached to the camera port of any standard intensity microscope. The techniques developed to extend the off-axis DHM in the first part of the thesis will be used to demonstrate a proof-of-concept camera module which operates with broadband light sources. Overall, through the combination of analog and digital holography, the goal of this work is to extend full-field off-axis holography to incoherent regime to benefit from real-time speckle-free measurements, optical sectioning and realization of a digital holographic camera which can be placed in the image plane of a standard optical microscope.


In large-scale resource-constrained systems, such as wireless sensor networks, global objectives should be ideally achieved through inexpensive local interactions. A technique satisfying these requirements is information potentials, in which distributed functions disseminate information about the process monitored by the network. Information potentials are usually computed through local aggregation or gossiping. These methods however, do not consider the topological properties of the network, such as node density, which could be exploited to enhance the performance of the system. This paper proposes a novel aggregation method with which a potential becomes sensitive to the network topology. Our method introduces the notion of affinity spaces, which allow us to uncover the deep connections between the aggregation scope (the radius of the extended neighborhood whose information is aggregated) and the network's Laplacian (which captures the topology of the connectivity graph). Our study provides two additional contributions: (i) It characterizes the convergence of information potentials for static and dynamic networks. Our analysis captures the impact of key parameters, such as node density, time-varying information, as well as of the addition (or removal) of links and nodes. (ii) It shows that information potentials are decomposed into wave-like eigenfunctions that depend on the aggregation scope. This result has important implications, for example it prevents greedy routing techniques from getting stuck by eliminating local-maxima. Simulations and experimental evaluation show that our main findings hold under realistic conditions, with unstable links and message loss.


This paper looks at our new technological ability to determine genetic paternity, in the context of legal and social developments related to the family, and tries to come up with some guidelines for figuring out how to decide parentage in the modern era. Many claim that since DNA tests mean we can now easily tell who the genetic father is, we should make that man the legal father and release any other who might be playing that role from parental responsibility. However the trend in law over recent decades has been in the direction of reducing the role that biology plays in determining parentage, with the law giving increasing deference to existing social parenting relationships and to the intent to create such relationships as factors to take into account when parentage is contested. This paper assesses the importance of the genetic link to parenting, considers it in comparison to a variety of other factors relevant to parenting, and sets out some guiding principles for choosing among possible parents, principles designed to serve children's interests in stable, nurturing, parenting relationships.


The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the reliability of the Functional Reach Test in children 5 to 15 years of age; (2) to determine age-related functional reach values for children 5 to 15 years of age; and (3) to determine the effects of age, gender, height, weight, and arm length on functional reach. One hundred sixteen volunteers without disabilities, ranging in age from 5 to 15 years, were selected to participate in this study. Functional reach was assessed by having subjects extend their arms to 90 degrees and reach as far forward as they could without taking a step. Reach was recorded by noting the beginning and final position of the subject's extended arm parallel to a yard stick attached to the wall. A reliability study was performed with 15 subjects to determine interrater, intrarater, and test-retest reliability of the test procedure. Intraclass correlation coefficients (2, 1) showed interrater, intrarater, and test-retest reliability to be acceptable (r = 0.98, 0.83, and 0.75, respectively). In the descriptive study group of 116 subjects, mean reach values by age groups were determined. A stepwise regression showed age to account for 38% of the variance in functional reach. As physical therapists continue to develop balance assessment tools for the pediatrie population, the Functional Reach Test may be a useful tool.


This paper tells the story of the ephemeral and relatively fleeting use of Holyrood Park, Edinburgh between 1914 and 1919. The domestic life and training regime of the units who camped in the Park, in particular the 10th (Liverpool Scottish) King's Regiment (Liverpool), is described using contemporary documents and photographs. The practice trenches and anti-invasion defences in the south-east corner of the Park are described, along with the large First World War infantry training camp, rediscovered during the research, in the grounds of Duddingston House. The paper also considers the interaction between the soldiery and the city, within the constraints imposed by paucity of evidence – with individuals and with the city's civic life and its role in the war. Light is cast on socially conservative and morally judgemental views of the interaction between soldiers and young women – the 'khaki fever' of the early months of the war.


This study investigated the acoustic correlates of contrastive stress produced by individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) to learn more about their ability to modulate acoustic cues to mark contrastive stress. Speech materials from 10 individuals with PD and 10 gender- and age-matched neurologically healthy controls (HC) were recorded and analyzed. The four acoustic measures ( peak intensity , peak F0 , vowel duration , and acoustic vowel space area) of stressed and unstressed syllables were compared to determine which acoustic parameters are preferentially employed by each group to mark contrastive stress. The results indicated that individuals with PD exhibited significant changes in vowel duration and intensity of stressed/unstressed words to mark contrastive stress in similar ways to their HC counterparts. Unlike the HC group, individuals with PD did not demonstrate an expanded vowel space area (VSA) or employed changes in F0 to mark contrastive stress. Findings on which abilities are better preserved in the PD population for the purposes of marking contrastive stress add to our knowledge of prosodic deficits in this dysarthric population and can aid in the planning and executing of intervention services.


This essay was written for a special issue of the leading specialist academic journal, the Journal of Design History titled ' Do it Yourself" Democracy and Design', guest edited by Paul Atkinson, School of Art and Design, University of Huddersfield. Triggs' essay was one of five published in this Editorial-reviewed journal by established and respected design historians across the UK and USA.

'Scissors and Glue' is the first in-depth academic study of three influential British 1970s punk fanzines: Panache 1976-1992, Chainsaw 1977-1985 and Ripped & Torn 1976-1979. These fanzines are measured against a discussion of the seminal punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue (1976-1977), acknowledge by the punk community as the first punk DIY fanzine in Britain. The study is based upon a series of original interviews with fanzine producers and rare archive materials and holds significance in its attempt to recover from history an area of graphic design history that has largely been ignored. The study also critically examines the development of a graphic language of resistance and the way in which the very use of its DIY production methods reflected the promotion of politics and music of 1970s punk and DIY underground activity.

The journal accompanied an exhibition of works relating to the special issue curated by Atkinson that opened at the Design Centre, Barnsley and MoDA in London (2006) with plans to travel to New York (2008). The sponsored exhibition visually exemplified through artefacts each author's essay. Triggs' contribution was in the writing of the contextualising panel and the collection of the archive materials for the section on fanzines. The special issue was reviewed in the Saturday Guardian (15.04.06, p. 18) with the exhibition reviewed in a range of publications including the Yorkshire Post (6 May, 2006) and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (May/June 2006).


Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL) is fundamentally a missing label problem, in which the label Missing Not At Random (MNAR) problem is more realistic and challenging, compared to the widely-adopted yet naive Missing Completely At Random assumption where both labeled and unlabeled data share the same class distribution. Different from existing SSL solutions that overlook the role of"class"in causing the non-randomness, e.g., users are more likely to label popular classes, we explicitly incorporate"class"into SSL. Our method is three-fold: 1) We propose Class-Aware Propensity (CAP) that exploits the unlabeled data to train an improved classifier using the biased labeled data. 2) To encourage rare class training, whose model is low-recall but high-precision that discards too many pseudo-labeled data, we propose Class-Aware Imputation (CAI) that dynamically decreases (or increases) the pseudo-label assignment threshold for rare (or frequent) classes. 3) Overall, we integrate CAP and CAI into a Class-Aware Doubly Robust (CADR) estimator for training an unbiased SSL model. Under various MNAR settings and ablations, our method not only significantly outperforms existing baselines but also surpasses other label bias removal SSL methods. Please check our code at: https://github.com/JoyHuYY1412/CADR-FixMatch.


We introduce a new search strategy, in which the information retrieval (IR) query is inferred from eye movements measured when the user is reading text during an IR task. In training phase, we know the users' interest, that is, the relevance of training documents. We learn a predictor that produces a "query" given the eye movements; the target of learning is an "optimal" query that is computed based on the known relevance of the training documents. Assuming the predictor is universal with respect to the users' interests, it can also be applied to infer the implicit query when we have no prior knowledge of the users' interests. The result of an empirical study is that it is possible to learn the implicit query from a small set of read documents, such that relevance predictions for a large set of unseen documents are ranked significantly better than by random guessing.


Physical exposure assessment in monotonous repetitive work — the PRIM study. Scand J Work Environ Health 2001;27(1): 21—29. Objectives A program called the Project on Research and Intervention in Monotonous Work (PRIM) was initiated in 1994 as a prospective cohort study of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The group-based exposure assessment strategy, focusing on task-related exposure and used to obtain baseline measures of physical exposures, is reported in this paper. Methods Monotonous, repetitive worktasks were evaluated at 19 factories. Tasks with an estimated similarity in physical exposure were aggregated before 103 exposure groups were formed. Subjects from the exposure groups were randomly sampled for measurements, and task-related exposure levels were quantified by 43 single exposure items using a real-time video-based observation method that allowed computerized estimates of repetitiveness, body postures, force, and velocity. In combination with questionnaire-based data on task distribution, the duration of exposure was calculated at the individual level. The video-based observational method and the large number of exposure variables enabled the establishment of detailed quantitative exposure profiles in 103 task-based exposure groups. However, methodological problems associated with the use of grouped exposure assessment were revealed. Despite efforts to optimize group homogeneity, the within-group variance was larger than the between-group variance for several shoulder postural variables. A successful some the the of The large within-group variance in nonneutral shoulder postures may eventually require individual assessment or the inclusion of groups with maximal contrast in exposure or both.


This work verifies the instrumental characteristics of the CCD detector which is part of the UNI astronomical observatory. We measured the linearity of the CCD detector of the SBIG STXL6303E camera, along with the associated gain and readout noise. The linear response to the incident light of the detector is extremely linear (R2 =99.99%), its effective gain is 1.65 +/- 0.01 e-/ADU and its readout noise is 12.2 e-. These values are in agreement with the manufacturer. We confirm that this detector is extremely precise to make measurements for astronomical purposes.


This paper reports on a pilot project to explore the relationship between the imagined physical experience and the inner–personal aspects of a guided visualisation journey in relation to spiritual literacy for children aged 7–11. The project examined the use of auditory and aesthetic stimuli during a visualisation as a pre-linguistic trigger so the experience could be recalled, developed or enhanced through the stimuli alone. It used guided visualisations and reflective activities with eight pupils in two upper primary settings to examine whether this recollection of the imagined physical journey aided development of a personal, spiritual experience after the event, and whether the psychological expression of the imagined physical experience aided this in some way. It was recognised that the child's connection with the context could affect the depth, quality or even intensity of interpretation. Therefore, the project draws upon theories including psychosynthesis theory, which takes into account the uniqueness of the individual's life journey and therefore allows the children to make meaningful links within their schema.


Over the past 10 Ma, the high-relief landscapes of the Colorado Plateau–southern Rocky Mountains region have been shaped by erosional processes. Incision rates have increased in the southern Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River system has been superimposed across buried Laramide structures as it was integrated from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California, the modern Grand Canyon formed, and there has been widespread denudation of the Canyonlands region of the Colorado Plateau. We examine the spatial and temporal distribution of erosion and its associated isostatic rebound since 10 Ma. Erosion estimates come from apatite fission track (AFT) and apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) thermochronometric studies at 14 sites across the region, including recent AHe data with ages younger than 12 Ma, and from ca. 10 Ma 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dated basalt paleosurfaces at 55 locations on the perimeter of the Colorado Plateau and in the southern Rocky Mountains. Estimated eroded thickness is added to modern topography above numerous control points to reconstruct a 10 Ma paleosurface across the region (referenced to modern elevations); this also yields an eroded thickness volume. Erosion has been spatially variable since 10 Ma: we find widespread denudation with as much as 2 km of incision along rivers in the Canyonlands region of Utah, 1–1.5 km of incision along rivers exiting the Rocky Mountains onto the eastern piedmont since 6 Ma, ∼1 km removed across the high peaks of the southern Rocky Mountains since 10 Ma, and little net erosion in the Basin and Range. Post–10 Ma flexural isostatic response to the eroded volume is calculated using known variable elastic thickness. This rebound caused much of the Colorado Plateau region to undergo more than 800 m of rock uplift, exceeding 1 km in local areas in the Canyonlands and southwestern Colorado. The Lees Ferry and Glen Canyon areas have been isostatically uplifted >500 m relative to the eastern Grand Canyon and the Tavaputs Plateau has been isostatically uplifted 400 m relative to Browns Park. This differential rock uplift driven by erosional isostasy has created or accentuated many of the features of the modern landscape. This component of rock uplift is "removed" by adding the eroded thickness onto modern topography, then subtracting the calculated rebound. The resulting (pre-erosion and pre-rebound) map provides a model of the 10 Ma landscape, neglecting any tectonic uplift contribution to regional elevations. This model suggests the presence of internal drainages on the Colorado Plateau, that the elevation of the Green River Basin and the Tavaputs Plateau were subequivalent, allowing the Green River to flow southward, and shows high topography in the Rocky Mountains that mimicked modern topography, but with potentially lower relief. Future refinements of both the timing and magnitude of differential erosion and rebound models provide an avenue for improved models for Cenozoic landscape evolution of the region. This paper is an advance over previous studies that focused just on the Colorado Plateau. Here we evaluate isostatic response to erosion in an extended region that includes parts of the Basin and Range, Colorado Plateau, southern Rocky Mountains, and eastern piedmont of the Rocky Mountains. We find that erosion of the southern Rocky Mountains and eastern piedmont is comparable to that of the Colorado Plateau and that the flexural isostatic rebounds of all these regions are coupled and cannot be considered in isolation. Furthermore, we focus on the 10 Ma time frame, rather than the 30 or 70 Ma period of previous researchers, as the key time frame during which the modern landscape rapidly evolved. In addition, the use of AFT and AHe thermochronometric constraints on thicknesses and ages of now-eroded sediments has solved key problems that hampered previous erosion studies. Data and analyses of regional post–10 Ma differential erosion and its resulting differential isostatic rebound provide essential constraints for any viable models for landscape evolution in this classic region.


Recent deep learning and unsupervised feature learning systems that learn from unlabeled data have achieved high performance in benchmarks by using extremely large architectures with many features (hidden units) at each layer. Unfortunately, for such large architectures the number of parameters can grow quadratically in the width of the network, thus necessitating hand-coded "local receptive fields" that limit the number of connections from lower level features to higher ones (e.g., based on spatial locality). In this paper we propose a fast method to choose these connections that may be incorporated into a wide variety of unsupervised training methods. Specifically, we choose local receptive fields that group together those low-level features that are most similar to each other according to a pairwise similarity metric. This approach allows us to harness the advantages of local receptive fields (such as improved scalability, and reduced data requirements) when we do not know how to specify such receptive fields by hand or where our unsupervised training algorithm has no obvious generalization to a topographic setting. We produce results showing how this method allows us to use even simple unsupervised training algorithms to train successful multi-layered networks that achieve state-of-the-art results on CIFAR and STL datasets: 82.0% and 60.1% accuracy, respectively.


From 1980 through 1985, considerable progress was made across the Nation in reducing drunken driving and fatal automobile crashes. More than 400 chapters of local citizen groups concerned with reducing drunken driving were formed. New media coverage, measured in number of stories, increased fiftyfold from 1980 to 1984. More than 500 legislative reforms were passed. All States now have adopted a legal drinking age of 21. Many also adopted criminal and administrative per se laws and instituted penalty increases for drunken driving. By 1985, the total number of fatal crashes declined to 39,168, a decrease of 6,116, or 16 percent, from the 1980 level of 45,284. Single-vehicle fatal crashes occurring at night, those most likely to involve alcohol, declined by 20 percent, with 3,674 fewer crashes in 1985 than in 1980. Among teenage drivers, declines in fatal crashes were steeper: Fatal crashes decreased 26 percent, and single-vehicle night fatal crashes were down 34 percent. After 1984, however, the number of new citizen groups established and the number of stories appearing in the media began to decline. In 1986, after decreasing for several years, the number of fatal crashes rose 5 percent, and single-vehicle night fatal crashes rose 7 percent, up 1,060 from 1985. Among teenage drivers, the increase in single-vehicle night fatal crashes was even higher, up 17 percent. In 1987, single-vehicle night fatal crashes declined slightly but still remained higher than in 1983, 1984, or 1985. Legal changes, while helpful in reducing drunken driving crashes, may not be sufficient to achieve optimal long-term declines.To sustain the progress of the early 1980s, we need to:* Refocus community and media attention on the drunken driving problem. * Increase police enforcement and public support for enforcement of laws against drunken driving.* Heighten educational and enforcement efforts that target risky traffic behaviors more common among drunken drivers-particularly speeding and failure to wear seatbelts.* Develop educational efforts aimed at all segments of the population to increase informal social pressure to discourage drunken driving and riding in vehicles with drivers who are drunk.Traffic accidents remain the leading cause of death among persons ages I to 34; 52 percent of the 46,050 traffic fatalities in 1986 involved ad river or pedestrian who had been drinking. Without renewed attention to the problems posed by drunken driving, we may be unable to sustain the dramatic progress of the early 1980s.


Building on the recent macro finance literature, this paper develops an empirical term structure model in which investors' judgmental forecasts of macro variables play an important role. The model allows for a limited form of time-variation in the dynamics describing the behavior of short-term interest rates and macro variables. As a result, changes in economic forecasts over time reflect the influence of both economic shocks and perceived changes in economic structure. The latter, in particular, are shown to be important in explaining the evolution of the yield curve over time. An interest rate accounting framework based on the model is applied in parsing changes in long-term interest rates into portions associated with changes in term premiums and changes in expected future short-rates. The changes in expected future short rates are then further decomposed into portions attributable to changes in the expected future paths for inflation, the unemployment rate, and GDP growth and also to a fourth factor interpreted as changes in the "stance of monetary policy." The model results indicate that changes in long-term interest rates, on average, have been about equal parts changes in term premia and changes in expected future short rates. Changes in expected future short rates seem to be driven largely by changes in the stance of monetary policy and in the outlook for inflation while the estimated influence of changes in the outlook for the unemployment rate and GDP growth is more muted.


Low-income homeowners face financial and social constraints that are serious challenges to providing adequate maintenance. The fact of owning a property should lead to material progress, security and income opportunities to cope with poverty, however these benefits depend on the capacity of homeowners to keep the property in good condition, and also on the opportunities and support generated by the context and the institutions involved. If these conditions are not guaranteed, low income households are at risk of experiencing unsuccessful ownership processes that may perpetuate poverty conditions. In the case of multi-owned buildings, also known as condominiums, the tension between individual and collective needs also affects maintenance, and entails additional challenges in terms of organisation, social relations and the use of common property areas.

In Chile, subsidies and credit facilities, combined with the massive construction of low-cost housing, enabled low income groups to access homeownership, and social condominiums are a significant part of the affordable owner-occupied housing stock, however after decades of occupancy, this housing stock shows signs of deterioration and devaluation due to neglected maintenance. This situation is the result of a multi-causal problem involving the construction and architectural deficiencies of the dwellings provided, the financial and social constraints of the owners, problems of coexistence and cultural differences between residents of different backgrounds, and deteriorated internal organisations. The challenge of condominium maintenance in Chile is twofold. On the one hand, it includes the financial and social restrictions faced by homeowners that decrease their collective capacity to take care of building maintenance. On the other hand, it includes institutional limitations with regard to housing and condominium management in terms of regulations, institutions, and actors. Given the weak governmental support for maintenance practices and post-occupation process, third sector organisations are positioning themselves as alternatives that provide technical solutions and contribute to improving opportunities among deprived communities.

This thesis explores the role of Chilean third sector organisations as part of the solution to support homeowners in condominium improvement and management. The following research question is asked: what are effective and feasible strategies for third sector organisations to support Chilean low income homeowners in the management of social condominiums?. In order to answer the main question, key questions are organised into three main parts: conceptualisation, analysis and proposal. The general research design is based on case study analysis in order to expand the type and range of solutions, given the limited experience of the Chilean third sector in condominium management activities.

The first part, conceptualisation, presents the societal problem of low income homeownership through the lenses of condominium management and the specific situation of social condominiums in Santiago, Chile. The main findings are the identification of condominium management dimensions and interrelated challenges according to technical, organisational and sociocultural dimensions. Sociocultural problems related to knowledge, the culture of maintenance, trust and individualism were identified as important triggers for organisational and technical problems. The section ends with the development of an analytical framework to describe and evaluate interventions by third sector organisations in condominiums. The core of the framework is the intermediation that comprises the activities and the process developed by the organisation to improve management dimensions, and it is described through three overlapping roles: implementers, catalysts and partners. The framework also includes the concept of institutionalisation, which describes the relationship between the organisation and the institutional framework.

The second part, analysis, comprises the case study analysis of third sector organisations in housing management through one local case (Proyecto Propio, Chile) and two international cases (VVE-010, The Netherlands and SDV, Spain). The Chilean case study focuses on the improvement of deteriorated social condominiums in Santiago, and aims to identify the possibilities and limitations of a local practice. The case of VVE-010 explores the technical and organisational dimensions of condominium management and the role of the municipality in the maintenance of owner-occupied housing stock. The case of SDV explores the sociocultural and organisational dimensions of housing management and the role of civil society organisations in the management of their own neighbourhoods. Given that the practices respond to a particular context and specific community needs, this research follows a systematic process of lesson-drawing to ensure the adequate implementation of the learnings according to the characteristics of the Chilean context.

The third part, proposal, provides a synthesis by combining the lessons of the analysis with a set strategies (and their respective measures) to tackle the management challenges identified in the first part. Two type of strategies were defined by their goals: those aiming at intermediation (i.e. to improve management conditions) and those aiming at institutionalisation (i.e. improving the conditions under which the organisation intervenes). The goals are the following:

-To improve built environment conditions, levelling the physical conditions of condominiums

-To activate passive communities and promote leadership

-To provide training in condominium management

-To provide services for long-term administration and maintenance

-To promote better coexistence and reduce conflict

-To enhance organisational resources to intervene

-To improve the institutional capacity in relation to condominium management

The selection of, and priorities for, the application of the strategies were defined by two main variables related to the context, and to the organisation that carries them out, represented in two matrices that define the typologies of the initial situations and management approaches. The typology of the initial situation describes the problems in condominiums according to the management conditions, and municipal capacity in relation to condominium management. The typology of the management approach is defined by the combination of roles and the scope of the intervention, representing overlapping and complementary ways to intermediate in social condominiums. The strategies and the typologies were discussed with third sector organisations and municipalities in a validation process which evaluated the adequacy and relevance of the typologies, and the feasibility and effectiveness of the strategies. Whilst the initial situations are relevant to identify potential barriers and enablers for the intermediation (in relation to municipal capacity) and to prioritise the strategies (in relation to management conditions), the management approaches are relevant to expanding the potential of third sector participation in Chile by promoting specialisation according to the challenges identified.

Feasible and effective strategies with which third sector organisations can support low income homeowners in the management of social condominiums are multi-dimensional, so as to tackle the interrelated challenges. They are developed from the capacity of the third sector organisation as intermediary, meaning that they respond to catalyst and implementer roles to address management challenges at the condominium level by contributing to increase the community's capacities and level the built environment conditions. Given the social complexities of deprived neighbourhoods, integral interventions, but also trained organisations, are required. The partner role is therefore included to foster the specialisation of third sector organisations and collaboration between local public and private organisations.

Overall, the dissertation addresses the maintenance problem from the external action of third sector intermediaries in order to catalyse better management practices. The strategies altogether seek to achieve autonomous condominiums in which homeowners have the tools and the capacities to maintain an internal organisation, and have access to the professional services that allow them to provide adequate maintenance in the long-term, and manage the existing but limited resources efficiently.

The dissertation contributes to filling knowledge gaps regarding the concept of housing management in the Latin American context. It also proposes a problem-solving perspective by introducing the role of third sector intermediaries as one of the solutions, exploring different approaches and respective strategies to intermediate in the field of condominium management. The main limitations of the study are related to the specific applicability of the strategies to the Chilean context, but further developments are related to action research exploration, and an evaluation of the capacity of civil society organisations such as neighbourhood associations in the management of their own neighbourhoods.


Aim  In recent years evidence has accumulated that plant species are differentially sorted from regional assemblages into local assemblages along local-scale environmental gradients on the basis of their function and abiotic filtering. The favourability hypothesis in biogeography proposes that in climatically difficult regions abiotic filtering should produce a regional assemblage that is less functionally diverse than that expected given the species richness and the global pool of traits. Thus it seems likely that differential filtering of plant traits along local-scale gradients may scale up to explain the distribution, diversity and filtering of plant traits in regional-scale assemblages across continents. The present work aims to address this prediction.

Location  North and South America.

Methods  We combine a dataset comprising over 5.5 million georeferenced plant occurrence records with several large plant functional trait databases in order to: (1) quantify how several critical traits associated with plant performance and ecology vary across environmental gradients; and (2) provide the first test of whether the woody plants found within 1° and 5° map grid cells are more or less functionally diverse than expected, given their species richness, across broad gradients.

Results  The results show that, for many of the traits studied, the overall distribution of functional traits in tropical regions often exceeds the expectations of random sampling given the species richness. Conversely, temperate regions often had narrower functional trait distributions than their smaller species pools would suggest.

Main conclusion  The results show that the overall distribution of function does increase towards the equator, but the functional diversity within regional-scale tropical assemblages is higher than that expected given their species richness. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that abiotic filtering constrains the overall distribution of function in temperate assemblages, but tropical assemblages are not as tightly constrained.


Fault recovery is a key issue in modern data centers. In a fat tree topology, a single link failure can disconnect a set of end hosts from the rest of the network until updated routing information propagates to every network element in the topology. The time for re-convergence can be substantial, leaving hosts disconnected for long periods of time and significantly reducing the overall availability of the data center. Moreover, the message overhead of sending updated routing information to the entire topology may be unacceptable at scale. We present techniques to modify hierarchical data center topologies to enable switches to react to failures locally, thus reducing both the convergence time and the control overhead of failure recovery. We find that for a given network size, decreasing the convergence time for a topology results in a decrease to the topology's scalability (e.g. the number of hosts supported). On the other hand, for a fixed host count, a reduction in convergence time comes at the cost of additional network elements and links. We explore the tradeoffs between fault tolerance, scalability and network size, and we propose a range of modified multi-rooted tree topologies that provide significantly reduced convergence time while retaining much of the traditionally-defined fat tree's scalability.


The labyrinth seal is one of the most popular noncontact annular seals used in centrifugal compressors to improve machine efficiency by reducing the secondary flow leakage. Reducing the radial clearance Cr can effectively decrease the seal's leakage and therefore increase the machine efficiency. However, reducing Cr can also introduce undesired effects on the machine's vibration behaviors. This paper experimentally studies the impact of reducing Cr on the leakage and rotordynamic coefficients of a 16-tooth see-through labyrinth seal under wet-gas conditions. The test seal's inner diameter is 89.256 mm. Two rotors with different diameters are used to obtain two radial clearances (0.102 mm and 0.178 mm). Tests are carried out at a supply pressure of 62 bars, three speeds from 10 krpm to 20 krpm, three pressure ratios from 0.21 to 0.46, and six inlet liquid volume fractions (LVFs) from zero to 15%. The test fluid is a mixture comprised of air and silicon oil. Test results show that, for all pure-air and mainly air conditions, decreasing Cr decreases (as expected) the test seal's leakage mass flowrate. For all test cases, direct dynamic stiffness KΩ is negative, producing a negative centering force on the associated rotor. For inlet LVF ≤ 8%, the effects of decreasing Cr on KΩ are negligible. When inlet LVF = 12% and 15%, decreasing Cr increases KΩ (decreases the magnitude). In other words, when inlet LVF = 12% and 15%, decreasing Cr reduces the test seal's negative centering force on the rotor, and would increase the critical speeds of the rotor. The value of the effective damping Ceff near 0.5ω represents the seal's capability to suppress the rotor's potential whirling motion at about 0.5ω. For all pure-air and mainly air conditions, decreasing Cr generally increases the Ceff value near 0.5ω; i.e., decreasing Cr improves the test seal's stabilizing capability against the rotor's potential whirling motion at about 0.5ω.


Fourteen species of hermit crabs, belonging to 5 genera, were identified from 35 stations in Tampa Bay and adjacent continental shelf waters. Ninety-two samples were taken from the intertidal zone to 15 m with a variety of gear including dip nets, trawls, dredges, and hand collections using SCUBA. Pagurus maclaughlinae, Pagurus longicarpus, and Pagurus pollicaris were distributed throughout the bay. These species were often sympatric, and were commonly found in seagrass beds, sandy substrates, and sand/mud substrates, respectively. Clibanarius vittatus, Pagurusgymnodactylus, and Pagurus stimpsoni inhabited the higher salinity waters of the bay entrance. Paguristes sp., Paguristes hummi, Pagurus impressus and Petrochirus diogenes were collected from the lower bay to offshore on hard substrates and sand. Paguristes puncticeps, Paguristes sericeus and Pagurus carolinensis were collected only offshore on hard substrates. The latter species is reported from the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. Isocheles wurdemanni appears to be restricted to high energy beaches. An illustrated key as well as information on distribution, reproductive biology, taxonomic problems, symbionts, and coloration are presented.


Column splices can either be oriented in a side-by-side configuration or in an offset configuration. The purpose of this study is to examine experimentally the behavior of both splice orientations, and to present recommendations for their usage. Four column specimens were tested and evaluated. Each had a 36 in. x 18 in. (914.4 mm x 457.2 mm) cross-section, and the columns were 13 ft (3.96 m) tall, with both side-by-side and offset splices. In total, eight tests were performed considering the effects of the following variables: splice orientation, spacing between splices, and transverse reinforcement. Splice evaluations were based on bar stresses at failure, crack patterns, and modes of failure. Test results showed that offset splices consistently had higher bond strengths than side-by-side splices. If a splice is designed assuming an offset orientation, but constructed as a side-by-side splice, the bond strength may not be sufficient to develop the yield stress of the bars.


We describe the different types of models we used as part of an effort to inform policy-making aiming at the management of the Ningaloo coast in the Gascoyne region, Western Australia. This provides an overview of how these models interact, the different roles they cover, how they fit into a full decision making process and what we learnt about the stakeholders involved in our project via their use. When modelling is explicitly used to address socio-ecological issues, the key determinant of success is whether the models, their results and recommendations are taken up by stakeholders; such uptake in turn depends on addressing stakeholders' concerns, on engaging them in the project, on ensuring they feel ownership of the decision process at large, and that they understand and trust the modelling effort. This observation has guided our approach and has resulted in treating 'building a model' as the catalyst, rather than the final aim, of the process. In other words, extensive interactions in order to introduce, showcase, discuss and tune the model used for final decision making have represented both a requirement and an opportunity to ensure (i) model relevance, (ii) its acceptance, (iii) that all information available in the stakeholder team was accounted for and (iv) that stakeholders holding different levels of understanding of modelling, what it does and what it can provide to decision-making could develop an informed opinion on its use. To fulfil these roles we developed five broad classes of models: conceptual models, toy-models, single- system models, shuttle-models and a full-system model. In conceptual models the main drivers of a system are highlighted for subsequent representation as components of the full-system model. This usually results in a diagram summarising our understanding of how the system works. In toy-models a problem is simplified in such a way that only a handful of components are included. The purpose of these models is mostly educational: we want to understand how each component affects the problem and in order to achieve this, we temporarily renounce a satisfactory understanding of the overall problem. In single-system models we include a fairly detailed representation of a single component of the system (in our case recreational fishing and tourism); these models can be used to introduce stakeholders to modelling, provide temporary results from the study of a single activity, which will feed into the development of the final full-system model, or address sector-specific issues. In shuttle-models, we include the minimum number of processes we believe are crucial for a basic understanding of the overall problem. We know these models are still too simple for full system description, but they provide a sufficient understanding to enable us to contemplate, build and use the more complex models needed for full problem description. The term 'shuttle' refers to taking us from a minimum to a full description of the problem, a journey which is necessary both to developers in model definition and parameterisation and to stakeholders in the interpretation of the final full-system model results. Finally, the full-system model includes all information collected through the project and addresses all scenarios of stakeholders concern, and whose definition has been greatly eased by use of the 'simpler' models. As an example, a conceptual model may identify fishing and tourism as the main drivers of a region; a toy- model may describe how catches affect fish stocks; a single-system model may include the effect of gear, regulations and other processes affecting recreational fishing; a shuttle-model may include a simplified representation of the interaction between fishing, tourism, and infrastructure development on the overall health of the local ecosystem; this will gradually 'take' us to comprehend the 'full' model which may include tourism pressure, fish market values, climate effect, larger food-webs, etc.


Bio-chemical methods in wasteprocessing The mineral biotechnologies, the domain of which is primary raw material processing, are increasingly diversifying into some metallurgical areas. The presented results of the research carried out with metallurgical wastes from aluminium production, lead waste remaking and desulphurization zinc-ferrite-based sorbents regeneration prove the possibility of the use of bio-chemical methods. The results obtained and the proposed technologies applying bio-chemical processes enable a complex processing and use of waste sludge from aluminium production and the use of wastes from matte-based copper production for the production of hematite pigments. The use of microorganisms in the desulphurization sorbent regeneration processes allows to increase sorbent's efficiency and its repeated recycling.


Ceria materials doped by Gd and/or Pr were prepared by a precipitation route and calcined in air at 500 and 900 °C. The effects of doping and thermal treatment on the materials' surfaces were studied by X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopies. The redox properties were investigated using temperature-programmed reduction experiments in H2 and CH4 followed by temperature-programmed oxidation in O2. The catalytic properties of these materials in CH4/H2O reaction in the absence/presence of H2S were evaluated at 750 °C in a large excess of CH4 with respect to H2O. The materials were classified by order of reactivity as follows: CPO > CGPO > CeO2 > CGO, which can be primarily related to the surface area variation. Comparing the activity per m2 of various samples indicates that the catalytic activity is correlated with the Ce3+ concentration at the surface as measured by XPS. Gd-doped and undoped samples exhibit the highest surface Ce3+ concentration as well as the highest activity in SMR per m2, while Pr-doped samples are the least active (activity per m2) with the lowest surface Ce3+ concentrations. H2S has a sharp promoting effect on the catalytic behavior of ceria-based materials, improving the production of H2 by almost one order of magnitude.


Papaver bracteatum L, a species that accumulates high concentrations of the pharmacologically important alkaloid thebaine in its fruit capsules, has been identified as a potential new perennial crop in Tasmania, Australia. Previous attempts to establish the crop from seed in Tasmania have met with limited success, with slow and irregular emergence reported under field conditions and low flowering percentages in the year of planting. The recent availability of improved germplasm and advances in agronomic techniques associated with crop establishment has provided the impetus for a re-evaluation of P. bracteatum as a new horticultural crop. This project focussed on understanding aspects of the biology of P. bracteatum needed for the development of production strategies for the successful commercialisation of this crop in Tasmania, Australia.
Papaver bracteatum seeds displayed no physiological dormancy and germinated in both light and dark conditions. The optimum temperature range for the germination was found to be between 18o and 25oC, with lower and upper cardinal temperatures of 5oC and 35oC respectively. During storage, a decrease in germination viability of between 0.2% and 0.1% per week was recorded over a period of 100 weeks under 20˚C and ambient humidity conditions. Germination was found to be sensitive to water stress, with germination inhibited at water potentials of -0.1 and -0.3 MPa. It was concluded that sensitivity to water deficits may explain poor field emergence. Grading of seed-lots to retain the larger sized and denser seed fraction improved germination percentage and seedling vigour. During seed production, harvesting after the 70 DAFB resulted in the highest seed quality.
Seedlings required an extended period of juvenile growth before they became competent to flower. Plants were capable of initiating flowering 20 weeks after planting when grown under glasshouse conditions and approximately 30 weeks after planting when grown under shade house conditions. The transition from juvenile to mature stages was found to correspond to a fully expanded leaf number of approximately 17. Leaf morphological characteristics used as phase change indicators in other species were shown not to be applicable in P. bracteatum. Trichome distribution and density, leaf size and plant height, which was a measure of leaf erectness and leaf length, varied considerably with growing conditions and did not provide a consistent value at the phase change that could be used as an indicator.
Papaver bracteatum was shown to require a period of vernalisation to induce flowering. Results suggested that less than 4 weeks exposure to vernalising night temperatures can induce flowering that and adequate vernalisation may occur within a night temperature band of at least 5o to 10˚C. Observations also led to the conclusion that, unlike the annual opium poppy species P. somniferum, P. bracteatum does not have a daylength sensitive flowering response. Application of gibberellic acid to plants grown under marginally inductive conditions induced more rapid and more even flowering within the plant population. Knowledge of the flowering response in P. bracteatum was used to develop recommendations for planting time and production environment to ensure flowering and therefore high capsule yields in the season that the crop is planted.


The superconducting properties of multi-layered high temperature superconductors (HTS) result mainly from the CuO 2 planes, while the other structural components behave simply as charge reservoirs. Using these perfect-layered structures of HTS, arrays of mesas have been fabricated on the surfaces of Bi 2 Ss 2 CaCu 2 O 8 + δ (Bi2212) single crystals using hotolithography and argon ion beam etching techniques. These arrays have current-voltage (I-V) characteristics that consist of some branches corresponding to different intrinsic Josephson junctions in the mesas. The surface topography and heights of the mesas were examined with atomic force microscopy. Due to the small mesa area, conventional wire bonding techniques are not applicable. A novel method, point contact tunneling apparatus with a sharp Au tip, was used to obtain the I-V characteristics of the fabricated intrinsic Josephson junctions, below the critical temperature of Bi2212. Since the ultimate goal was to obtain an ordered group of mesas with small lateral dimensions, to eliminate heating effects during I-V measurements, we showed that submicron-sized mesas could be characterized by the new technique.


OBJECTIVE: Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), is a major global health problem. Patients with HIV can live normal lives with today's new treatment options. As the treatment is generally successful, the life expectancy of patients infected with HIV is rising. As a result, the economic burden of HIV treatment on health systems is set to increase. According to the Ministry of Health, there were more than 6000 HIV-positive patients in Turkey in 2013. The aim of this study was to determine the direct costs of HIV treatment in Turkey. METHOD: A retrospective data analysis was performed from the reimbursement agency perspective. Data for 252 patients at a university hospital in Ankara from 2001 to 2012 were used for the analysis. The average costs of treatment per HIV patient and the average costs per HIV patient, depending on the state of the patient's health, were calculated. The latter was determined according to the number of CD4 cells/ml, as defined by the CDC's classification system for HIV infection. The cost of treatment was calculated based on published reimbursement prices in 2013, per patient per year. RESULTS: The CD4 values of 25.3%, 29%, and 45.7% of the 252 patients were 300 cells/mm3, respectively. The treatment costs per patient per year for 2013 for those with CD4 values of 300+ cells/mm3 were $ 5,637.04, $ 2,211.54, and $ 2,182.35, respectively. The weighted average of the treatment cost per patient was $ 3,344.64 for 2013. CONCLUSION: This analysis is unique to Turkey and calculates the cost only of HIV treatment in Turkey. Lower CD4 values are associated with higher treatment costs. Appropriate HIV treatment is crucial for controlling CD4 values and lowering the treatment costs of HIV patients. These findings need to be considered by policy makers who may need to focus on HIV.


Domain-independent planning is a hard combinatorial problem. Taking into account plan quality makes the task even more dificult. This article introduces Planning by Rewriting (PbR), a new paradigm for efficient high-quality domain-independent planning. PbR exploits declarative plan-rewriting rules and efficient local search techniques to transform an easy-to-generate, but possibly suboptimal, initial plan into a high-quality plan. In addition to addressing the issues of planning efficiency and plan quality, this framework offers a new anytime planning algorithm. We have implemented this planner and applied it to several existing domains. The experimental results show that the PbR approach provides significant savings in planning effort while generating high-quality plans.


Since the September 11 attacks, courts have been reluctant to uphold the public's right to obtain government information through the Freedom of Information Act and the First Amendment right of access. Given the doctrinal and statutory confusion plaguing both FOIA and the First Amendment right of access since their inception, and the judiciary's historic tendency to defer to the Executive in matters implicating national security, recent appellate decisions rejecting right to know claims may seem unsurprising. But a closer reading of these cases reveals that the judiciary's failure to uphold the public's right to government transparency has been based on a fundamental lack of appreciation for and hostility to the right's very existence. These cases suggest that an enforceable right to know is unnecessary because the political process is adequate to force government disclosure. History amply demonstrates, however, the political process's incapacity to compel government disclosure, particularly when the nation is in a time of crisis and the government activities at issue concern noncitizens.


By directed mutagenesis, we constructed a set of seven TEM-1 derivatives containing single replacements in each one of the amino acids substituted in naturally occurring extended-spectrum TEM beta-lactamases. The exact contribution of each mutation to the resistance phenotype was determined. In addition, mutant enzyme production and stabilities were studied. Five of seven mutations determined to some extent variations in cephalosporin and/or monobactam activity. Dramatic changes in the hydrolysis of ceftazidime and aztreonam occurred when a serine was at position 164. Changes at positions 104, 238, and 240 showed more leaky variation in activity towards cephalosporins and aztreonam. Replacements at positions 237 and 265 caused no variation in susceptibility to cephalosporins. Interestingly, the change from Gln to Lys at position 39 found in TEM-2, classically considered a neutral change, slightly but consistently increased the MIC of ceftazidime and aztreonam. The in vitro construction of mutations appearing in naturally occurring TEM-beta-lactamases, studied in the same genetic context, may help to understand the evolution of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases.


CO2 emission of industrial facilities is a major cause of climate change that affects the ecosystems, human beings and environment. Capture, Transport and Storage of CO2 (CTSC) is a novel technology of mitigating the impacts of climate change. The uncertainties concerning long term reliability of CTSC technology give rise to the significance of risk assessment for CTSC activities. Since CTSC is a complex sociotechnical system, traditional risk assessment approaches are not appropriate for CTSC. Lessons learned of industrial accidents show that a combination of technical, organizational and human aspects of risk results in occurrence of accidents. Therefore, we recommend to develop an integrated risk analysis framework for CTSC chain. The framework is developed by modeling CTSC chain by system dynamics approach. System dynamics is a support for risk assessment that allows understanding the interactions of CTSC system's elements in the first step, and then study the behavior of the system over time both in normal operation mode and in case of a failure or deviance. In this paper, the methodology is explained in detail, and the application of the methodology for an integrated CTSC project is discussed.


It often is neither possible nor sensible to immediately correct the underlying macroeconomic disequilibria that a financial and economic crisis reveals. To cushion the process of adjustment a global financial safety net is needed: owned reserves, regional financing and borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. Since the Asian crisis of 1997/98 there has been an accumulation of owned reserves amongst emerging economies as a form of self-insurance, along with the development of regional financing arrangements. There are advantages and disadvantages of the various components of all these arrangements and reform needs to take these into account.


The main consideration in harbor master planning is to maximize the amount of time that the harbor can be used. The potential level of harbor utilization can be evaluated by analyzing vessel performance during harbor operations in terms of the range of imposed environmental conditions. The harbor utilization level is expressed statistically as the probable amount of time that the harbor can be used as planned. In this paper, a siting study for a towboat-barge harbor will be described. This example will demonstrate the use of harbor utilization statistics for a simplified case of a single-purpose harbor and a single design vessel. This scheme can be applied to more complex cases of multipurpose harbors used by a variety of vessels. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it outlines the basic concept of harbor utilization statistics and their value to harbor master planning. While it seems that studies of this type would have been undertaken in the past, at present no examples have been found by the authors among published literature. Secondly, considering the lack of published information, it is beneficial to record some practical experience regarding towboat and barge systems as design vessels.


"Essential reading for those in the biosciences, government and learned societies. It poses fundamental questions about undertaking science today" - Dr. Chris Langley, Aston University The objectives of the papers included in this NATO volume were to critically consider the science and technology policies necessary for defence against terrorism and other threats to security; to assess the priorities for governments, universities, national laboratories and industrial firms; to identify how governments and the science and technology community can most effectively work together to enhance our security; and to share the experiences of policy makers and policy analysts. The importance and relevance of this selection of papers to the policy community is reflected in the seniority of the contributors. These included Dr. Parney Albright who held the position of Assistant Secretary for Science & Technology at the US Department of Homeland Security as well as senior figures from the UK Home Office, UK Office of Science & Technology, the European Commission and NATO.


PURPOSE
The spotlight has recently been placed on managers' responsibility for patient-centred care as a result of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust failings. In previous research, clinicians reported that managers do not have an adequate structured plan for implementing patient-centred care. The purpose of this paper is to assess the perceptions of European hospital management with respect to factors affecting the implementation of a patient-centred approach.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
In total, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with hospital managers (n=10), expert country informants (n=2), patient organisations (n=2) and a user representative (n=1) from around Europe. Participants were purposively and snowball sampled. Interviews were analysed using framework analysis.

FINDINGS
Most participants felt that current levels of patient-centred care are inadequate, but accounted that there were a number of macro, meso and micro challenges they faced in implementing this approach. These included budget constraints, political and historical factors, the resistance of clinicians and other frontline staff. Organisational culture emerged as a central theme, shaped by these multi-level factors and influencing the way in which patient-centred care was borne out in the hospital. Participants proposed that the needs of patients might be better met through increasing advocacy by patient organisations and greater staff contact with patients.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE
This study is the first of its kind to obtain management views from around Europe. It offers an insight into different models of how patient-centred care is realised by management. It indicates that managers see the value of a patient-centred approach but that they feel restricted by a number of factors at multiple levels.


We have successfully prepared active subfragment-1 (S1) of an air-breathing teleost Channa gachua by digesting natural actomyosin (NAM) with chymotrypsin, instead of using myosin as the primary source. Conditions of preparation of acto-S1 were worked out following SDS-PAGE profiles of degradation of 200 kD MyHC to 130 kD and 94 kD products, corresponding respectively to myosin rod and S1, up to 1 hr of incubation with chymotrypsin at 15°C. The observed cleavage was accompanied by 250% activation of NAM-Ca2+-ATPase during early 30 min of digestion. Actin from acto-S1 (prepared by chymotrypsin digestion of NAM) was dissociated by Mg2+-ATP and ammonium sulfate fractionation. S1 of C. gachua prepared by this protocol had a heavy chain of 94 kD and a light chain of 19 kD. It possessed satisfactory levels of Ca2+ and K+- ATPase and Ka for dissociation of actin. The two most remarkable biochemical characteristics were : activity maxima at neutral pH and the exceptional thermostability of Ca2+ -ATPase, being the highest of any fish S1 reported so far.


Between 1947 and 1998, Dieter Roth made 524 prints, culminating in one of the richest and most diverse printmaking oeuvres ever. Many are unique prints, created by the inventive manipulation of the various stages in the printmaking process, achieving remarkable editions in which not one print is identical. The artist used all known - and some newly invented - printmaking techniques including woodcuts (relief printing), etching, engraving, aquatint (intaglio printing), lithography, offset (planographic printing), screenprinting (stencil printing), pressings (objects flattened by vertically extended pressure) and squashings (objects flattened by horizontally exerted pressure). Often various methods were combined. Roth's creativity and ingenuity pushed printmaking beyond all known borders. All his prints are reproduced here in full colour, and, in many cases, several examples of the unique prints are shown. A text by the curator Dirk Dobke and a text based on an interview with Richard Hamilton accompany the book.


There are many potential bioremediation approaches that may be suitable for prawn farms in Queensland. Although most share generally accepted bioremediation principles, advocacy for different methods tends to vary widely. This diversity of approach is particularly driven by the availability and knowledge of functional species at different localities around the world. In Australia, little is known about the abilities of many native species in this regard, and translocation and biosecurity issues prevent the use of exotic species that have shown potential in other countries.

Species selected must be tolerant of eutrophic conditions and ecological shifts, because prawn pond nutrient levels and pathways can vary with different assemblages of autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms. Generally, they would be included in a constructed ecosystem because of their functional contributions to nutrient cycling and uptake, and to create nutrient sinks in forms of harvestable biomass. Wide salinity, temperature and water quality tolerances are also valuable attributes for selected species due to the sometimes-pronounced effects of environmental extremes, and to provide over-wintering options and adequate safety margins in avoiding mass mortalities. To practically achieve these bioremediation polycultures on a large scale, and in concert with the operations of a prawn farm, methods involving seed production, stock management, and a range of other farm engineering and product handling systems need to be reliably achievable and economically viable.

Research funding provided by the Queensland Government through the Aquaculture Industry Development Initiative (AIDI) 2002-04 has enabled a number of technical studies into biological systems to treat prawn farm effluent for recirculation and improved environmental sustainability. AIDI bioremediation research in southern Queensland was based at the Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre (BIARC), and was conducted in conjunction with AIDI genetics and selection research, and a Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) funded program (Coast and Clean Seas Project No.717757). This report compilation provides a summary of some of the work conducted within these programs.


The respiratory properties of maternal, foetal and juvenile whole blood were studied in the ovoviviparous snake, Agkistrodon piscivorus . Haematocrit, haemoglobin concentration, O 2 capacity, Bohr effect and Hill coefficients were not significantly different in foetal and maternal blood and were similar to values previously reported from snakes. A significant difference in foetal-maternal blood P 50 (foetal 19.5, maternal 48.8) was found. Nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) levels were lower in foetal than in maternal and juvenile snakes. The foetal-maternal difference in P 50 and NTP levels disappeared soon after birth (juvenile P 50 45.5). Starch gel electrophoresis revealed no difference in foetal and maternal haemoglobins. We suggest that the foetal-maternal shift in blood oxygen affinity is modulated directly and/or indirectly by NTP levels. Note:


This thesis introduces a theoretical model for effective soccer coaching. The Analyze-Involve-Model (AIM) Soccer Coaching Process is a three phase, continuous, cyclical process that elite soccer coaches work within. Developed from an analysis of 10 qualitative interviews with elite men's soccer coaches and a review of sports coaching literature, the AIM Soccer Coaching Process is a generalized theoretical model that can be applied to all contextual levels. The three main phases include a situation analysis (Analyze), direct participant involvement (Involve), and behavior modeling (Model). The three phases are all interconnected and influence each of the other phases. Each phase has three interconnected underlying pillars that influence the phase. A comprehensive review of the sports coaching literature is first presented, followed by an overview of Grounded Theory, the research approach of this study. Development of the model, which includes an analysis of the interview data as well as quotations from the soccer coaches who participated in the study and an introduction to the model are included. Implications for further research, lessons learned, and the author's final thoughts conclude the thesis. Disciplines Organizational Behavior and Theory Comments Submitted to the Program of Organizational Dynamics in the Graduate Division of the School of Arts and Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania Advisor: Charline Russo This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/od_theses_msod/53 THE ANALYZE-INVOLVE-MODEL (AIM) SOCCER COACHING PROCESS


Intermolecular proton transfer in barbituric acid (BA) both in the gas phase and in the presence of water molecule was investigated using the B3LYP method with aug-cc-pVDZ basis set. The overall process involves keto-enol and lactam-lactim tautomerism that occurs. The most stable form of barbituric acid turns into the intermediates with three-step proton transfer at three different positions of the structure of this compound. Then, these intermediates become to the final products passing through two competing processes. In order to determine the priority of each competitive process, energy changes of all possible tautomeric forms were investigated along with the role of solvent molecules in multiple routes. Also, transposition in the proton transfer process makes changes in the electron transfer energy which was investigated both in the gas phase and in the presence of water molecules. Frequency calculations performed to characterize ground and transition states and calculation of zero point energies. Natural bond orbital analysis and topological property of electron density were investigated using natural bond orbital (NBO) and atoms in molecules (AIM) analysis. From the results, all proton transfer process in the gas phase and in the presence of the solvent molecule (water) is exothermic and non-spontaneous. In the gas phase and in the water assisted condition, the route 1b is kinetically more preferred. Despite the increase of the increase of ring resonance of stronger hydrogen bonds in the product compared to the reactant, the products are more unstable than the reactant. Therefore, the only factor can make the product unstable is the severe decrease of LP (N) →σ* (C-O) electron transfer energy.


We investigate the nature of a gravitational two-state system (G2S) in the simplest setup in Newtonian gravity. In a quantum description of matter a single motionless massive particle can in principle be in a superposition state of two spatially separated locations. This superposition state in gravity, or gravitational cat state, would lead to fluctuations in the Newtonian force exerted on a nearby test particle. The central quantity of importance for this inquiry is the energy density correlation. This corresponds to the noise kernel in stochastic gravity theory, evaluated in the weak field nonrelativistic limit. In this limit quantum fluctuations of the stress–energy tensor manifest as the fluctuations of the Newtonian force. We describe the properties of such a G2S system and present two ways of measuring the cat state for the Newtonian force, one by way of a classical probe, the other a quantum harmonic oscillator. Our findings include: (i) mass density fluctuations persist even in single particle systems, and they are of the same order of magnitude as the mean; (ii) a classical probe generically records a non-Markovian fluctuating force; (iii) a quantum probe interacting with the G2S system may undergo Rabi oscillations in a strong coupling regime. This simple prototypical gravitational quantum system could provide a robust testing ground to compare predictions from alternative quantum theories, since the results reported here are based on standard quantum mechanics and classical gravity.


Deed construction has been a perennial task for courts since the Statute of Uses accorded legal approval to written transfers of land in 1536. Unfortunately, two Texas cases, Luckel v. White and Jupiter Oil Co. v. Snow, may signal the rebirth of the dubious two-grant doctrine, which had seen its demise in Alford v. Krum. Under this theory, a multi-clause deed is construed as making separate grants of different types of interests in a particular tract of property or varying sizes of one interest at different times. The ramifications of the holdings in Luckel and Jupiter Oil expose the inappropriateness of resurrecting the two-grant doctrine. Ultimately, the two-grant doctrine is an arbitrary rule that tends to frustrate rather than elucidate the parties' intent in direct contravention of the consistent mandate that ascertaining intent is the primary goal of deed construction. At the earliest opportunity, the Texas Supreme Court should provide clarity by adopting the liberal Garrett v. Dils Co. approach and specific rules for harmonizing these deeds, and by expressly renouncing a rebirth of the two-grant doctrine.


Introduction: Among the main causes of maternal death, there is retroplacental hematoma (Retropl. H.) which requires, because of its brutality and its evolving unpredictability, emergency obstetrical care and preventive measures focused on the factors which determine its occurrence.
Objective: Study the factors related to the occurrence of Retropl. H. at the Departmental University Teaching Hospital of Borgou in 2016.
Methods: It was an observational, descriptive and analytical study of Case-control type using a prospective data collection over a period of 8 months from January 2016 to August 2016.
Results: Among the 141 involved in this study, there were 47 cases of retroplacental hematoma and 94 controls. The average age of cases was 29.38 ± 5.61 years and 29. 67 ± 5.34 years in controls. Retropl. H. prevalence was 3.51%. Maternal age (p=0.0000001); OR=2.30 CI 95%[1.90-2.79], parity p=0.00000037, OR 1.79 CI 95%[1.45-2.21]; intercurrent pathology such as preeclampsia (31.95% 95%), HBP (4.26%), p=0.010648 df=5 Chi2 =14.93; history of preeclampsia (p=0.0458), OR= 2.16, CI 95%[1.86-8.27], Retropl. H. (p=0.0002), OR 3.85 CI 95% [1.81-8.27] and the number of antenatal visits OR=3.33 CI 95%=[1.57; 7.05] p-value=0.0013 are related to the occurrence of Retropl H.
Conclusion: Retropl. H. is relatively frequent at CHUD (Departmental University Teaching Hospital). The factors associated with its occurrence are related to age, personal and family history of medical and obstetrical pathology.


The mastery approach to coaching is a cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to promote a mastery-involving motivational climate, shown in previous research to be related to lower anxiety in athletes. We tested the effects of this intervention on motivational climate and on changes in male and female athletes'cognitive and somatic performance anxiety over the course of a basketball season. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that the athletes in the intervention condition perceived their coaches as being more mastery-involving on the Motivational Climate Scale for Youth Sports when compared to athletes in an untreated control condition. Relative to athletes who played for untrained coaches, those who played for the trained coaches exhibited decreases on all subscales of the Sport Anxiety Scale-2 and on total anxiety score from preseason to late season. Control group athletes reported increases in anxiety over the season. The intervention had equally positive effects on boys and girls teams.


The mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are both involved in the apoptosis pathway, and release of calcium from the ER contributes to this process of cell death (see Mattson and Chan). ER calcium release is also involved in many nonpathological signaling processes, and Boehning et al. show that the interaction of cytochrome c (cyt c) released from mitochondria with the inositol trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) of the ER may be how the ER calcium release can reach pathologic levels. An interaction between cyt c and the IP3R was identified in a yeast two-hybrid screen, and these two proteins coimmunoprecipitated from cells treated with the broad-spectrum kinase inhibitor STS, which induces apoptosis. Furthermore, cell fractionation studies of cells treated with STS showed that cyt c accumulated in the ER fraction and was depleted from the mitochondrial fraction. Movement of cyt c to the ER fraction was not inhibited by exposure of the cells to caspase inhibitors, which suggests that translocation of cyt c occurred before caspase activation during apoptosis. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer assays indicated that cyt c and IP3Rs come into close association after induction of apoptosis with STS. IP3Rs are sensitive to calcium such that at concentrations in the nanomolar range (resting levels in a cell), calcium stimulates IP3R calcium release. In contrast, at higher micromolar concentrations of calcium, IP3R-induced calcium release is inhibited by calcium. Microsomal preparations exposed to cyt c and micromolar concentrations of calcium did not exhibit calcium-induced inhibition of IP3R calcium release. In vivo calcium imaging suggested that a spike in calcium precedes cyt c release from the mitochondria and then calcium levels remain elevated. Expression of the cyt c-binding domain of the IP3R acted as a dominant negative, preventing calcium oscillations and cyt c release in response to STS. Thus, release of small amounts of cyt c leads to an interaction with the IP3R on the ER, preventing calcium inhibition of ER calcium release. The resulting global increase in calcium triggers massive release of cyt c, which then acts in the positive feedback loop to maintain ER calcium release through the IP3Rs. M. P. Mattson, S. L. Chan, Calcium orchestrates apoptosis. Nat. Cell Biol. 5, 1041-1043 (2003). [Online Journal] D. Boehning, L. Patterson, L. Sadaghat, N. O. Blebova, T. Kurosaki, S. H. Snyder, Cytochrome c binds to inositol (1,4,5) trisphosphate receptors, amplifying calcium-dependent apoptosis. Nat. Cell Biol. 5, 1051-1061 (2003). [Online Journal]


Rich with archival detail and compelling characters, Life on Display uses the history of biological exhibitions to analyze museums' shifting roles in twentieth-century American science and society. Karen A. Rader and Victoria E. M. Cain chronicle profound changes in these exhibitions - and the institutions that housed them - between 1910 and 1990, ultimately offering new perspectives on the history of museums, science, and science education. Rader and Cain explain why science and natural history museums began to welcome new audiences between the 1900s and the 1920s and chronicle the turmoil that resulted from the introduction of new kinds of biological displays. They describe how these displays of life changed dramatically once again in the 1930s and 1940s, as museums negotiated changing, often conflicting interests of scientists, educators, and visitors. The authors then reveal how museum staffs, facing intense public and scientific scrutiny, experimented with wildly different definitions of life science and life science education from the 1950s through the 1980s. The book concludes with a discussion of the influence that corporate sponsorship and blockbuster economics wielded over science and natural history museums in the century's last decades. A vivid, entertaining study of the ways science and natural history museums shaped and were shaped by understandings of science and public education in the twentieth-century United States, Life on Display will appeal to historians, sociologists, and ethnographers of American science and culture, as well as museum practitioners and general readers.


The existence of an active compression on the frontal fold-and-thrust belt (FTB) of the NW Borneo Wedge is a long debate. Because of the absence of seismicity, the frontal FTB is traditionally considered as inactive and generally attributed to the thin-skin gravity-driven Baram Basin. However, there are some signs of convergence and compression (GPS velocities and horizontal stress field measured from borehole analysis) do exist between the NW Borneo area and Sunda Plate (Dangerous-Grounds). Revisited GPS data, combined with a rigorous structural study of the NW Borneo Wedge suggest that the recent compression recorded on the frontal FTB is the result of a crustal-scale gravity-driven mechanism, the orogenic collapse of the NW Borneo in the Sabah–northern Sarawak area since 1.9 Myr. These results provide a new understanding of the recent behaviour of the NW Borneo Wedge which can be included in a continuum of the wedge history.


MOODS (Multiple Objective Optimisation in Data and control path synthesis) is a synthesis system which provides the ability to automatically optimise a design from a behavioural to a structural VHDL description. This thesis details two sets of enhancements made to the original system to improve the overall quality of the final hardware implementations obtained, and expand the range of the accepted VHDL subset. Whereas the original MOODS considered each functional unit in the target module library to be a purely combinational logic block, the ?expanded modules? developed for this project provide a means of implementing sequential multi-cycle modules. These modules are defined as technology-independent templates, which are inline expanded into the internal design structure during synthesis. This enables inter-module optimisation to occur at the sub-module level, thus affording greater opportunities for unit sharing and module binding. The templates also facilitate the development of specialised interface modules. These enable the use of fixed timing I/O protocols for external interfacing, while maintaining maximum scheduling flexibility within the body of the behaviour. The second set of enhancements includes an improved implementation of behavioural VHDL as input to the system. This expands the previously limited subset to include such elements as signals, wait statements, concurrent processes, and functions and procedures. These are implemented according to the IEEE standard thereby preserving the computational effects of the VHDL simulation model. The final section of work involves the development and construction of an FPGA-based real-time audio-band spectrum analyser, synthesised within the MOODS environment. This design process provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of both MOODS and behavioural synthesis in general, serving as a firm foundation to guide future development of the system.


In this Letter, the beat frequency at rest of a ring laser gyroscope with nonlinear effects is discussed in detail. Even without an additional intensity-stabilizing system, the random nullshift bias induced by the Kerr effect is compensated by the phase shift associated with the stimulated Brillouin/Raman scattering. And the nonlinear stimulated scattering also serves as the gain mechanism of the gyroscope. And thus the influence of the fluctuation of the injected pump intensity on the beat frequency is eliminated.


Physical Internet (PI, π) is a novel concept aiming to render more economically, environmentally and socially efficient and sustainable the way physical objects are transported, handled, stored, realized, supplied and used throughout the world. It enables, among other webs, the Mobility Web which deals with moving physical objects within an interconnected set of unimodal and multimodal hubs, transits, ports, roads and ways. We want to develop and use holistic simulations to study and quantify the impact in terms of economical, environmental, and social efficiency and performance of evolving from the current system of freight transportation toward an open logistics web in France. This paper focuses on how the mobility web simulator supporting this study was designed and developed. The simulator produces large-scale simulations of mobility webs consisting of a large number of companies, sites and agents dealing with thousands of daily orders. It supports route and rail transportation modes, pallets and PI-containers for product shipping, different kinds of routing and shipping strategies, and various types of hubs.


The development and validation of a simple, rapid, precise and accurate RP-HPLC has been described for the simultaneous assessment and invitro dissolution of Olmesartan (OLM), Amlodipine (AML) and Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) in their combined dosage forms. Separation was performed on Inertsil ODS-3 column (C18, 150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using photodiode array (PDA) detection at 255 nm. The mobile phase consisted of phosphate buffer (pH 3.5) and acetonitrile, in a gradient program (time in minutes/acetonitrile %: 0.00/30, 1.00/30, 8.30/70 and 9.00/30) at a 1.3 ml min-1 flow rate. Analytes were perfectly resolved with retention times of 2.59, 4.99 and 7.48 min for OLM, AML, and HCTZ, respectively. Following the recommended procedure, linear calibration graphs extended for 0.20-28.00, 0.05-7.00 and 0.12-17.50 μg ml-1 with detection limits of 0.021, 0.002 and 0.012 μg m;-1 and quantitation limits of 0.063, 0.036 and 0.007 μg ml-1 for the assay and in-vitro drug release of OLM, AML and HCTZ, respectively. In-Vitro dissolution revealed that >96% of the labeled OLM, AML and HCTZ were released from their combined tablets within 20 min. The developed method was validated following the ICH guidelines regarding the system suitability, specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, and robustness.


Several instructional strategies are significantly related to student outcomes in science. Authentic instruction enables students to connect science topics learned in the classroom with real-world contexts and problems. Cooperative learning activities and homework assignments are also associated with science outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between classroom instructional activities and interest in a science career for students in Korea. Students included in this study were 5,125 students from Korea who participated in the TIMSS 2003 assessment. Several instructional strategies were examined and variance estimation procedures for complex sampling designs were employed. Students who expressed interest in a science career reported that they frequently related what they were learning in science to their dally lives. Similarly, students who frequently worked problems on their own and designed experiments or investigations also expressed interest in a science career. These results extend previous findings by examining a large national sample of students who were part of a comprehensive international assessment. ********** There is continuing interest in providing students with interesting and enriching instructional experiences in order to foster achievement outcomes and greater interest in a career in science. It has been noted that increased training in science disciplines is necessary for student preparation in many career options in the future (Maurer, 2000). There is expected to be considerable growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) positions over the next decade (Terrell, 2007). Consequently, the effects of several factors on student career choice have been explored. For instance, it was found that incorporating visitors who served as experts during middle-school science lessons resulted in increased student interest in a science career (Koszalka, Grabowski, & Darling, 2005). Research findings have also noted that science instruction and student beliefs are associated with interest in a science career (Wang & Staver, 2001). These initiatives emphasize the importance of classroom instructional experiences and real-world connections for increasing student interest in a science career. Several instructional strategies have been found to be significantly related to student outcomes in science. For instance, university outreach programs have been designed to provide instructional and research experiences for elementary and secondary school students in order to foster student interest in science careers (Doyle, 1999; Palacio-Cayetano, Kanowith-Klein, & Stevens, 1999). Such authentic instruction enables students to connect science topics learned in the classroom with real-world contexts and problems (Lee & Songer, 2003; Murphy, Lunn, & Jones, 2006). In addition, the use of cooperative learning strategies has been found to foster positive attitudes toward science for fifth-grade students (Yu, 1998). Further, homework activities have been used effectively to improve student achievement (Cooper & Valentine, 2001). Students in Japan who reported that they were frequently assigned homework also tended to earn significantly higher achievement test scores (House, 2004). Consequently, several instructional practices are used to improve achievement in science and interest in science careers and should be considered when assessing factors associated with student outcomes in science. A number of studies have focused on instructional strategies associated with the achievement of students in Korea (Ellinger & Beckham, 1997). Survey results from middle school and high school students in Korea indicated that they held positive attitudes about scientists and their work (Song & Kim, 1999). With respect to classroom instructional strategies used in Korea, it was noted that the use of cooperative learning activities was positively associated with student achievement and attitudes toward science (Chung & Son, 2000). …


Philip C. Wakeley, a pioneer research scientist for the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station in New Orleans, began his career in 1924. He had an illustrious career with the Southern Station, and his research became the basis for the reforestation of the South's devastated forests. Upon his retirement in 1964, he presented the Station a personal overview of his early research, station programs, and personalities of many early scientists. Never before published, this history presents an intriguing look at the development of forestry research in the South from the eyes of one of the Southern Station's most prominent scientists.