The chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel disrupts microtubule dynamics causing mitotic arrest, which leads to cell death. However, in paclitaxel-resistant tumor cells, treatment with paclitaxel induces abnormal progression through prophase resulting in a multimininucleated phenotype. Multimininucleation and subsequent polyploidization have been correlated with paclitaxel resistance. Paclitaxel treatment of HeLa cells resulted in cell death via typical activation of the apoptotic machinery, whereas treatment of the relative paclitaxel-resistant prostate cancer cell line PC-3 induced an attenuated caspase activation and multimininucleation. The multimininucleated phenotype could be mimicked in HeLa cells treated with paclitaxel and benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-fmk), a peptide caspase inhibitor. Interestingly, we observed no discernible difference in the pattern of cdc-2 kinase activation or phosphorylation of bcl-2-like proteins in PC-3 and HeLa cells treated with paclitaxel, which demonstrated that these molecules could not be used as indicators for the degree of caspase activation. In this study, we establish a connection between relative paclitaxel resistance, caspase attenuation/inhibition, and the multimininucleated phenotype.


Both vacancy and transformation of existing buildings are of all ages. However the last few years the market is changed into a so called replacement market. The office stock in use is fairly stable, there is no demand for expansion. So the new buildings are mainly built to replace the old stock. This construction of new real estate leads to oversupply and so we can speak of a buyer's market. An increasing proportion of this supply is outdated and will be difficult to rent without any adjustments, even with a strong economic recovery. In order to prevent extended vacancy, it is necessary that a substantial portion of the outdated stock on the market will be removed. (Voordt & Geraedts, 2007) This imbalance can be explained due the fact that the labor force stops growing, the "new way of working" is gaining popularity and the surface area per workplace per employee decreases. (Besselaar, 2011) Transformation of existing offices is a sustainable way of addressing vacancy; either through residential conversion or within use adaption. The solution for vacancy can be different for each case because not every property is vacant for the same reason. Transformation of vacant offices is related to multiple factors and actors with many conflicting interests, involvment or investments, which results in a complicated process. But the most important part is that transformation only makes sense when the new function(s) provide in need. The supply must match demand, in terms of characteristics and location of building. This research gives an overview of the most important factors and barriers that influence the transformation potential of vacant offices into housing for young people, from both supply and demand side. The results of this research form the input for a support tool which allows an investor to make a substantiated financial feasibility study in a quick way at an early stage of the transformation process.


0 0 1 91 517 brightspot strategy 9 3 605 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE Learning spaces are mission-critical for colleges and universities. Yet institutions lack a commonly accepted set of standards for learning spaces, lack a way to measure space performance through a third-party certification, and lack a substantive way to compare their spaces to peer and aspirant institutions. Inspired by the success of environmental building rating systems like LEED, this paper makes the case for a Learning Space Performance Rating System and describes the development of such as system – currently in its early stages – so as to enlist broader interest and support in the initiative.


Once the world took its first proverbial bite into Apple Inc. in the late 1970s, people liked what they tasted and wanted more. Today, they still cannot get enough of Apple, a company that has little to do with fruit, although with every technology product or service it releases conveys the fresh, healthy, appetising image that inspired the company from its origin. Apple, which started out in personal computers and over the years has branched out to revolutionise newer industries such as mobile phones and music devices, is a shining example of a company with exceptional leadership, marketing, and research and development, and which has been remarkably successful at managing its relationships with suppliers, partners, customers, the media and even hackers over the years. This paper will introduce the stunning case of the single most important turnaround in Silicon Valley and go in detail how it achieved tremendous success by overtaking Microsoft. The company was not always so successful in the past, but it learned valuable lessons from the years when it experienced a downturn and other challenges. As the world's most valuable technology company, a new king of technology today, Apple and its products are more appetising than ever.


This work offers two strategies to raise the prediction accuracy of Vector Autoregressive (VAR) Models. The first strategy is to improve the Minnesota prior, which is frequently used for Bayesian VAR models. The improvement is achieved in two ways. First, the variance-covariance matrix of regression disturbances is treated as unknown and random to incorporate parameter uncertainty. Second, the prior variance-covariance matrix of regression coefficients is constructed as a function of the variance-covariance matrix of disturbances, in order to account for dependencies between different equations. Since different prior specifications unavoidably lead to different models, and forecasting capability of any such model is often limited, the second strategy is to build an optimal prediction pool of models by using the conventional log predictive score function. The effectiveness of the proposed strategies is examined for one-step-ahead, multi-4-step-ahead, and single-4-step-ahead predictions through two exercises. One exercise is predicting national output, inflation, and interest rate in the United States, and the other is predicting state tax revenue and personal income in Iowa. The empirical results indicate that a properly selected prior can improve the prediction performance of a BVAR model, and that a real-time optimal prediction pool can outperform a single best constituent model alone.


Abstract Application of electron diffraction (ED) to poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) crystallized isothermally from the melt at 260°C has permitted determination of the α-and β-form unit cells. While the α-form lattice parameters and cell agree well with those proposed in the literature, a different cell is proposed for the β-form (monoclinic, P21/n11 space group; 4 chains, with a = 1.304 nm, b = 0.926 nm, c = 1.300 nm, α = 131.47°, β = γ = 90°, ρ = 1.368 g/cm3). The β-form crystals were large, resembling hedrites (axialites). A number of different, single-zone ED patterns from at least one additional two-chain unit cell (γ) were found, indicating a large degree of PEN polymorphism. The γ unit cell has not yet been determined. Nascent melt-polymerized samples were also examined, giving rise to both β-and γ-type patterns. The γ-patterns arise from extended-chain single crystals of variable thickness.


A Novel Method for Finding Small Highly Discriminant Gene Sets. (August 2003) Jason H. Gardner, B.S., University of Washington Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Erchin Serpedin In a normal microarray classification problem there will be many genes, on the order of thousands, and few samples, on the order of tens. This necessitates a massive feature space reduction before classification can take place. While much time and effort has gone into evaluating and comparing the performance of different classifiers, less thought has been spent on the problem of efficient feature space reduction. There are in the microarray classification literature several widely used heuristic feature reduction algorithms that will indeed find small feature subsets to classify over. These methods work in a broad sense but we find that they often require too much computation, find overly large gene sets or are not properly generalizable. Therefore, we believe that a systematic study of feature reduction, as it is related to microarray classification, is in order. In this thesis we review current feature space reduction algorithms and propose a new, mixed model algorithm. This mixed-modified algorithm uses the best aspects of the filter algorithms and the best aspects of the wrapper algorithms to find very small yet highly discriminant gene sets. We also discuss methods to evaluate alternate, ambiguous gene sets. Applying our new mixed model algorithm to several published datasets we find that our new algorithm outperforms current gene finding methods.


Wildlife exploitation is encumbered with uncertainty. To ensure sustainability of wildlife populations managers must understand the consequences of, and account for, uncertainty in their decisions. This is most pertinent if the goal is to optimise or maximise the harvest or take. Uncertainty can be separated into four main categories: environmental variation, partial management control, structural uncertainty (e.g., density dependence) and partial observability. This thesis examines the first three categories in the context of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and parera (grey duck, A. superciliosa) harvest in New Zealand, and specifically addresses sustainable and maximum annual mallard harvest. A simple heuristic harvest model is proposed to represent a population subject to a seasonal annual harvest. The heuristic model is then converted into a series of quantitative models that can be used to predict the effect of regulations on hunter behaviour (partial management control). Specifically, how regulations may affect hunter effort (hours hunted) and the consequences of hunter effort on, harvest rates, survival, and productivity. Survival and productivity were further evaluated as a function of post-harvest population size (structural uncertainty). Harvest rate, survival, and productivity data were derived from 22,500 (1,024 recaptures; 3100 recoveries) mallard and parera banded from 1997 to 2009 in the Eastern and Hawke's Bay Fish and Game Regions and a telemetry study of 46 mallard in the Eastern Region. Harvest data and reporting rate estimates were derived from a randomised hunter survey over the study period. In the Eastern Region hunter effort explained changes in survival better than any of the other candidate models ( 851 . 0 = i w ). In the Hawke's Bay changes in survival was explained by changes in season length ( 334 . 0 = i w ), hunter effort ( 739 . 0 = ∆ c QAIC ; 231 . 0 = i w ), and spring temperature in the year of banding (SpcT) ( 53 . 1 . 0 = ∆ c QAIC ; 155 . 0 = i w ). Correlation of harvest rates and effort approached significance (P=0.053) in the Eastern Region for adults only while in the Hawke's Bay data there was no relationship. This was assumed a consequence of reporting rate confounding harvest rate estimates as correlation between hunter effort and harvest was good in both Eastern (R=0.85, t(10)=5.3193, P<0.001) and Hawke's Bay (R=0.76, t(8) = 3.3878, P = 0.0095). A deterministic model was developed (from the quantitative models), to maximise annual harvest subject to the criteria that harvest should not compromise the ability to maximise the following season's harvest. The performance of the quantitative models was validated using a partially stochastic model to simulate harvest. Harvest simulations were used to predict 2010 (outside of the study period) harvest (41,549 mallard and parera; SE=3,552) in the Eastern Fish and Game Region. Simulations predicted harvest accurately (42,045; SE=1,992). Simulations indicated that mallard harvest was not sustainable over a 10 year period when juvenile female: adult female ratios 8 . 0 ≤ when constrained by Eastern Regions regulation set (season length 30 to 71 days). When productivity increased ( 95 . 0 ≥ juvenile female: adult female) long term harvest was viable under the most relaxed season constraint (71 days). This has important implications when managing breeding habitat. It was proposed that managing populations within similar climate zones would reduce environmental uncertainty. Survival of mallard and parera were analyzed using a set of linear climate covariate models fitted to data from 91,500 mallard and parera banded throughout New Zealand (1969–2009). Climate explained changes in survival better than or was comparable to the alternate candidate models in 11 of 17 data sets. The quantitative models in this thesis provide a platform for Fish and Game managers to initiate an adaptive management approach to mallard and parera harvest management in New Zealand. Should Fish and Game wish to review current mallard and parera management areas, establishing management units on homogenous climate zones would contribute to creating a good management system. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank my supervisor, Doug Armstrong who had to read multiple drafts of this thesis from beginning to end! New Zealand Fish and Game for their contribution towards my study fees. Eastern Fish and Game Council who provided the opportunity, and Eastern staff who assisted with the banding and unselfishly covered for me in my quest to get this thesis finished. To David Klee from Auckland Waikato Fish and Game who collaborated with me on the telemetry work. I would like to thank Wildlife Service, Acclimatisation Societies, and Staff at Hawke's Bay Fish and Game who helped with, and undertook, banding in other regions. To the late Rod Cossie who facilitated access to the Department of Conservation banding records. Richard Barker who took time out to tutor me in Program MARK, and assist with many of my inane questions. I would also like to thank Richard for his support and assistance with statistical problems over the years but most importantly for his humour. I would like to make special mention of Murray Williams for his encouragement to write this thesis but more importantly for his inspiration and mentoring over the years. To my parents who have always shown support and encouragement. Most importantly I would like to thank my wife Karen for her eternal optimism, unwavering support, and encouragement, and to Joshua and Emma who missed out on weekends with their dad while I wrote this thesis. Table of


The quantification of everyday life, also known as self-tracking, is an increasingly popular activity. Forbes' technology enthusiast Ewan Spence claimed that 2014 was "the year of wearable technology". In that year, Google, Android, and Intel, all released new wearable self-tracking devices. Two years later the fast food chain McDonald's offered free "Step-It" self-trackers in children's meals. These devices count calorie consumption, steps walked, stairs climbed, social activities, and more. Problematically, these emergent wearable self-tracking devices are routinely framed as ways to manage, optimise, and enhance, the self. This is evident in commercial scenarios as well as in academic discourses. Whilst this nascent topic is yet to be explored in critical depth there is already a particular habit of thought being established. These studies focus analytically on the functionalist accuracy of devices, as well as the effects of the collisions between human-and-device. In this way, they are limited to what is possible with self-tracking, and what is potential — such as the creative, speculative, transgressive, anti-traditional, etc. — is backgrounded. Philosophically, through the meta-mechanics of design, self-tracking can be rearticulated as an everyday creative practice. In doing so, new philosophical potentials, material relations, and political agonisms, are foregrounded and the creative potentials of difference-making gain greater potency.


Quadrature-phase squeezing by optical parametric amplification in an arbitrary photonic crystal was studied by use of a perturbation theory based on a Green function formalism. It is shown that the perturbative calculation can be performed to an infinite order. The result shows that quadrature-phase squeezing is enhanced by small group velocities of electromagnetic eigenmodes that are easily achieved in two- and three-dimensional photonic crystals.


Two medicinal plants, Curcuma longa (turmeric) and Nigella sativa (black cumin), have generated growing interest for their therapeutic antiinflammatory action. We hypothesize that commercially available topical C. longa and N. sativa cream (Dermacumin cream®) will significantly decrease both the Feline Dermatitis Extent (FDE) and Severity Index (SI) and the pruritus scores after 3 weeks of twice-daily treatment of feline head and neck dermatitis. Ten client-owned cats with feline head and neck dermatitis which had received no previous treatment. FDE and SI scores gradually decreased on days 7 (P<0.001) and 28 (P<0.0001) compared to day 0. Similarly, decreased Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores were detected on days 7 and 28 (P<0.0001). Cats receiving the herbal cream for 3 weeks all had significantly decreased FDE and SI scores, from 171.8 to 0 (P<0.0001), and VAS scores from 6.3 to 0 (P<0.0001). A positively elevated correlation (r=0.62, P<0.001) between FDE and SI and VAS scores for each case through evaluation period was revealed. The present study supports a potential benefit of topical herbal medicine against feline head and neck dermatitis.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have made significant advances on several fundamental inference tasks. As a result, there is a surge of interest in using these models for making potentially important decisions in high-regret applications. However, despite GNNs' impressive performance, it has been observed that carefully crafted perturbations on graph structures (or nodes attributes) lead them to make wrong predictions. Presence of these adversarial examples raises serious security concerns. Most of the existing robust GNN design/training methods are only applicable to white-box settings where model parameters are known and gradient based methods can be used by performing convex relaxation of the discrete graph domain. More importantly, these methods are not efficient and scalable which make them infeasible in time sensitive tasks and massive graph datasets. To overcome these limitations, we propose a general framework which leverages the greedy search algorithms and zeroth-order methods to obtain robust GNNs in a generic and an efficient manner. On several applications, we show that the proposed techniques are significantly less computationally expensive and, in some cases, more robust than the state-of-the-art methods making them suitable to large-scale problems which were out of the reach of traditional robust training methods.


The zooxanthellate sea anemone Aiptasia pulchella is found throughout the tropical and subtropical oceans of the Indo-Pacific and is easily maintained in aquaria, posing potential suitability as a standard tropical marine test organism for use in ecotoxicology. To gain an understanding of the sensitivity of A. pulchella to trace metals, 96-h static-renewal toxicity tests were conducted. Values of 96-h LC50 between 946 and 1196 µg L–1 were estimated for cadmium, between 595 and 1146 µg L–1 for zinc, 8060 and 12 352 µg L–1 for lead and 2209 and 5751 µg L–1 for nickel. In addition, preliminary assessment of rapid tentacle retraction was made. Six-hour EC50 values of 355 and 979 µg L–1 for cadmium, between 384 and 493 µg L–1 for zinc, between 2340 and 2584 µg L–1 for nickel, and 2610 µg L–1 for lead, were estimated for 'severe' tentacle retraction. Cobalt concentrations up to 1547 µg L–1 caused extreme zooxanthellae loss, but no more than 10% mortality and no rapid 'severe' tentacle retraction. The present study has provided important baseline information, enabling comparison of the acute sensitivity of A. pulchella to trace metals with other marine invertebrates, and guiding the development of sublethal endpoints.


In the rat hippocampal formation, degeneration of CA4-derived afferent fibers provokes the growth of mossy fiber collaterals into the fascia dentata. These aberrant fibers subsequently form granule cell-granule cell synapses. The hippocampal slice preparation was employed to determine whether these recurrent connections are electrophysiologically functional. Hippocampal slices were prepared 12 to 21 days after the bilateral destruction of CA4 neurons with either intracerebroventricular or intravenous kainic acid (KA). In slices from control rats, antidromic stimulation of the mossy fibers elicited a single population spike in the granular layer of the fascia dentata. In contrast, when slices from some KA-treated rats were similarly tested, antidromic stimulation elicited multiple population spikes. This effect was not reproduced by blocking inhibitory transmission with bicuculline methiodide. Slices from other KA-treated rats fired a single population spike, but an antidromic conditioning volley increased the amplitude of a subsequent antidromic population spike by 5 to 15%. In slices from control rats, on the other hand, an antidromic conditioning volley always either decreased or failed to alter the amplitude of an antidromic test response. Superfusion with Ca2+-free medium containing 3.8 mM Mg2+ reversibly abolished all effects of KA administration. Abnormal responses to antidromic stimulation correlated with the loss of CA4 neurons and the growth of supragranular mossy fiber collaterals in the same animals. These results suggest that supragranular mossy fiber collateral sprouts form a functional recurrent excitatory circuit. These aberrant connections may further compromise hippocampal function already disrupted by neuronal degeneration, such as by facilitating seizure activity.


This paper presents a new heuristic device for the analysis of educational policy. Through an examination of the Evaluative State and the work of Brian Fay, the paper considers the way in which educational policy is subject to rational and linear forms of policy action and implementation. To counter this, positioning theory is deployed to consider the way in which we are produced both by discourse and the language of the 'moment' in discursive acts. Using the work of Gee, the paper contends that policy texts and policy Discourse 'themselves form policy, that is, they position policy-explanation and policy-framing within the bounds of the institution and so give policy form'. Problematically, such mechanisms may succumb to the 'death of subject' and accordingly I offer a third method by which we might conceive of education policy: the discursively produced position call. Subsequently, I propose a tri-partite theory for the examination and understanding of policy: policy-explaining, the production of policy texts; policy-framing, the ways in which all can be positioned by texts and Discourse to produce the meanings imbued upon policy; and, policy-forming, the impact of moment-by-moment conversational acts for their production of the policy text itself, that is, the ways in which policy is locally formed rather than locally mediated.


e-Learning, defined as the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for supporting the educational process, has motivated Tanzania to apply ICT in its education systems. Tanzanian secondary schools which are geographically and socially isolated face a number of problems, including a way to get learning materials. The impact of these problems is poor performance in National Examinations. This poor performance however is most noted in science and mathematics. The problem in get- ting learning materials can be reduced by employing ICT. This research developed an interactive e-learning management system (e-LMS) to be used by Tanzanian secondary schools. Tanzania Secondary Schools e-Learning (TanSSe-L) system is the name adopted for an interactive e-LMS developed. The re- search is aimed at supporting teaching and learning functions by allowing for the creation and storage of learning materials, making them available, easily accessed and sharable by students from different secondary schools in Tanzania. It is a context- driven research work of knowledge production in a specific context for application. Initially, the research work focused on two selected pilot schools; Kibaha Secondary School and Wali-ul-Asr Girls' Seminary in Kibaha town, Pwani region. Features of the TanSSe-L system represent the standard form of any secondary school registered by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. The development of the TanSSe-L system made use of software engineering discipline. The research used Unified Modelling Language (UML) and integrated Object-Orient- ed System Analysis and Design (OOSA&D) and Model Driven Architecture (MDA) to address the System Development Life Cycle (SLDC) in a systemic way. UML design class diagram (DCD) is a Platform Independent Model (PIM) that was transformed into a Platform Specific Model (PSM) in MDA for implementation. Implementation made use of open source LMS to help generate a timely solution to TanSSe-L system development. In this specific context, focus group discussion as inspired by action re- search methodology was used. The research evolved into a triple helix process in close cooperation with other stakeholders. Finally, it is considered that replication and mirroring will make learning materials highly available to end-users.


INTRODUCTION
Heritability is a statistical measure, expressing the proportion of phenotypic variance that is explained by the genetic variance. Heritability of a given trait can vary in time and may differ between populations, which is inter alia associated with interactions and correlations between genotype and environment or population-specific differences. Therefore, heritability measures are modulated by both genetic and environmental factors. Twin studies constitute one of the methods used to determine contributions of genes and environment to a given trait. However, studies of this type suffer from some methodological limitations and require certain conditions to be satisfied; both these factors were analyzed in the present study.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The studied material, including 1,263 pairs of male and female twins (among them 424 pairs of monozygotic twins and 839 pairs of dizygotic twins), born between the 22nd and 41st week of gestation, was collected at the Department of Perinatology and Gynecology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, between 2002 and 2009. We analyzed the variance of six somatic traits. The contribution of genetic factors to the phenotypic variance of the studied twin population was estimated on the basis of the two heritability measures.

RESULTS
Failure to meet the assumption of additivity of genetic and environmental effects probably is the cause of high values of heritability coefficients documented in our study. Analyzing the phenotypic variance of a trait, one cannot ignore the role of genotype-environment interactions and covariance, as these are their effects which increase the genetic variance and related coefficients of heritability. Therefore, it can be concluded that the genotypic component of the phenotypic variance of the trait is potentiated by the effects of various environmental factors.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study confirmed that the critical remarks regarding the methodology of heritability estimation are fully justified. Consequently, the heritability indices of somatic traits should be considered only a provisional measure of genetic polymorphism, expressing an estimated relative contribution of genotypic variance to the phenotypic variance of a given trait.


It is becoming increasingly clear that, due to political realities and budgetary constraints, the IRS is going to have to attempt to enforce the tax laws by doing more with less. Current enforcement efforts have yielded a tax gap (i.e., the difference between the amount of taxes that should be paid and the amount that are collected) of roughly $450 billion annually. Faced with this task, one of the steps that the IRS has recently taken is to try to improve the quality in services performed by paid tax preparers, a group that historically has been subject to little IRS regulation or monitoring but that continues to play an increasingly important role in the tax system.Although the IRS's recent efforts to better regulate paid preparers is a good step in improving the quality of tax services, its current structure as a mandatory regulatory regime causes it to miss a number of compliance oriented advantages that could be achieved through a voluntary system of tax preparer regulation in which tax preparers could choose to seek certifications indicating whether they had a positive track record of compliance.This paper explores in detail for the first time in the literature how preparer regulation could achieve significantly more compliance gains if it were structured as a voluntary system designed to create a market that rewards tax compliance. Under a voluntary compliance certification regime with appropriately structured participation incentives aimed both at paid preparers and their clients, paid tax preparers are not simply mandated to achieve a minimal level of competence; they are instead provided with competitive advantages in the marketplace for achieving higher levels of compliance than preparers who have poor compliance track records. As a result, preparers are more likely to choose to pursue higher levels of compliance in order to obtain and maintain a certification. In addition, many taxpayers are more likely to seek out compliance certified preparers because of the benefits associated with relying on advice and filing tax returns prepared by compliance certified preparers. This piece seeks to lay the framework for how such a voluntary compliance certification program would work and to discuss the benefits of such a system that are currently not being realized through the IRS's current regulation of paid preparers.


Since the 1950s the existence of natural hybrids between shortleaf pine and loblolly pine has been recognized and reported in the literature. In a range-wide study of isoenzyme diversity in shortleaf pine, we found 16 percent of the trees from western populations were hybrids, based on the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) locus. In stands thought to be pure shortleaf pine in west central Arkansas (Mt. Ida), we found 15 percent of the trees were hybrid. As a follow-up study to confi rm or discount these results, we sampled native stands across Montgomery County, Arkansas, including the Mt. Ida area. These stands were mixed loblolly pine and shortleaf pine in the southeast part of the county and pure shortleaf pine in the northwest corner. In these stands we again found (1) a relatively high percentage of hybrid trees (14 percent); (2) hybrids in shortleaf pine stands beyond the natural range of loblolly pine; (3) introgression occurring in both directions; and (4) the IDH locus a reliable marker for species and hybrid determination. We are now engaged in a range-wide study of both loblolly pine and shortleaf pine to examine the cause and consequences of natural hybridization between these two species.


This article bridges work on media technologies and affect theories through an analysis of how users appropriate playlists on Spotify. Our study draws on 30 interviews with users of music streaming services in Costa Rica and an analysis of their accounts on these platforms. We discuss how users create playlists as a means to cultivate affect. The notion of cultivation stresses the dynamic and ritual work involved in producing, capturing, and exploring moods and emotions. We argue that playlists work as "genres"—fusions of musical substance, sociotechnological assemblages, and sociomaterial practices—to respond to the exigencies of affect. This helps turning the platform into an obligatory intermediary in the establishment of a utilitarian relationship between users and music. We draw on Berlant's notion of "intimate public" to analyze how playlists form the basis of collective experiences that serve Spotify's political-economic project. As material embodiments of cultivated affect, playlists offer a promise of identification and belonging to "intimate publics" formed by strangers through the specific bonds between music, technology, and affect they enact (as genres). Our analysis concludes with a discussion of the implications of our study for rethinking the relationship between technology, affect, and genre.


When his widowed father - once a high court judge and always a formidable figure - drifted into vagueness if not dementia, the writer Adam Mars-Jones took responsibility for his care. Intimately trapped in the London flat where the family had always lived, the two men entered an oblique new stage in their relationship.

In the aftermath of an unlooked-for intimacy, Mars-Jones has written a book devoted to particular emotions and events. Kid Gloves is a highly entertaining book about (among other things) families, the legal profession, and the vexed question of Welsh identity. It is necessarily also a book about the writer himself - and the implausible, long-delayed moment, some years before, when he told his sexually conservative father about his own orientation, taking the homophobic bull by the horns. The supporting cast includes Ian Fleming, the Moors Murderers, Jacqueline Bisset and Gilbert O'Sullivan, the singer-songwriter whose trademark look kept long shorts from their rightful place on the fashion pages for so many years.


Eastern Christianity is pluralistic. How might exchanges among Christians in geographic areas where different expressions of Christianity developed in the ancient Near and Middle East have been determining factors in the evolution of specific Churches? Encounters among Christians during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages resulted in fertile adaptations and enrichments leading, through mutations and cross-influences, to the emergence of new identities. Such interculturality provides a response to the challenges of the dominating Byzantine, Persian, and Arabic cultures, as expressed through intellectual currents, artistic influences, and constructions of traditions.
The selected articles presented, several updated by their authors, have marked the field of Eastern Christian studies in recent decades. The comparative approach enables the reader to better grasp the exceptional impact of the cultural contacts among Christians in the East. This volume aims to be a useful tool by offering a synthesis of the research investigations and methodological approaches on Eastern Christianity as a crossroads of cultures.


India had been witnessing an unprecedented growth since 1990 in its economy. Consequently, the job opportunity in India had also evidenced a positive growth. The year 2000-2005 had been quite promising in terms of high employment growth rate in India. While the service sector, particularly the IT/ITES sector had registered a massive employment growth rate since the year 1999 till 2008 and even today growth of job opportunities is tremendous. With soaring demand of online shopping, social media and cloud computing more than ever before, the demand for professionals in the IT/ITES domain are getting phenomenal day by day and becoming competitive. Moreover, the estimate projects the market size of Indian IT industry to grow at a rate of 12-14% for FY2016-17 in constant currency terms. The sector is also expected to triple its current annual revenue to reach US$ 350 billion by FY 2025 (IT and ITES Industry in India, 2017). Subsequently, with opportunity and growth in the sector few daunting challenges have also emerged which calls for immediate attention with special reference to high attrition rate in the job segment of IT/ITES companies. An average of more than 30% of employees in midlevel positions at tech startups and e-commerce firms quit their jobs every year, according to human resource (HR) consultants and industry executives (Sapam, 2015). Moreover, attrition rate is found to be higher in firms where business models are rapidly changing. Attrition rate in IT/ITES sector had been registered to be approximately 28% in March 2011 which is considered to be the highest among other employment sectors in India. Retaining the employees despite providing high pay and competitive environment is becoming a challenge and a high-cost affair for companies. Thus, the present research work aims at proposing strategies to retain employees in the company and indirectly control on costs which accrue due to attrition. Eventually, factors responsible for attrition would be identified, followed by finding cause and effect relationship to evolve the best-fit strategies for retention which indirectly control associated cost implications and challenges for companies in this sector. Aus. J. Acc. Eco. Fin. Vol  3(2),  October 2017, P 76-84


Fungal dermatological conditions are caused by a group of fungi called dermatophytes. They cause infections in almost all parts of the body. The most common cause of skin infections are dermatophytes and opportunistic fungi. Dermatophytoes are not life threatening but they affect the quality of life of the patients as they can cause depression, lack of self confidence and isolation incase of deep lesions. In Kenya the prevalence and distribution of the infections as well as the common dermatological agents are not known. The predisposing factors of these infections are also not well studied in Kenya. The main objective of this study was to isolate and identify fungal dermatological agents from clinical samples from patients presenting with suspected fungal skin infection in Thika District Hospital. The study also examined the possible predisposing factors to fungal infections in patients attending Thika District hospital. Clinical samples from 126 patients were subjected to Potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation and culture. The KOH digested specimens and fungal colonies were examined and identified macroscopically and microscopically. Patients completed questionnaires to record information on age, gender, site of infection, residence, level of education and occupation. The obtained results were analyzed by SPSS 12 software. The average age of the patients was 15.5 years and the ratio of male to female was 1.7:1. The highest isolation was from the scalp 56(44.4%) others were trunk 35(27.8%), hands 31(24.6%), neck 26 20.6%), feet 14 (11.1%) and face 9(7.1%). Out of 126 samples 107(84.9%) were KOH positive and 106(84.1%) were culture positive. Trichophyton spp. had the highest isolation of 67(62.6%), with T. verrucosum being the most common 21(16.3%) followed by T. sudanenses and T. mentagrophytes each at 12 (9.3%). The other fungal organisms isolated were yeast 26(24.3%), Epidermophyton spp. 3(2.8%), Microsporum spp. 3 (2.8%) and others that were non-dermatophyte were 8(7.5%). There was statistical association between isolation from hands, scalp and neck infection. The p-values were 0.04, 0.02 and 0.012 respectively. The association of gender, residence, age, occupation, knowledge of infection, education and infection was not statistically significant and the Pvalues were 1.0, 0.81, 0.64, 0.26, 0.36 and 0.11 respectively. The isolation rate of fungal infection was 84.1 % indicating that dermatophytosis in Thika District Hospital is a major cause of morbidity warranting intervention. This study recommends routine mycological investigations in both adults and children with suspected mycoses for better management of dermatological conditions in Thika District Hospital.


During the academic year 2014/15 a multi-disciplinary group of eleven undergraduate studentsfrom Belfast School of Art worked with the Northern Ireland Office, Belfast and the Office ofPublic Works, Dublin to select artworks from their respective public art collections for a groupshow which would tour to four venues throughout the island of Ireland from September 2015-January 2016. The students had complete control of the shows theme, selection of artworks,catalogue design and its content. They worked with the curators and staff in each of the twogovernment's departments to understand more thoroughly the role of public art collections andgain a richer understanding of contemporary curatorial practices. A key component of the projectwas the students' examination of the role of the artist within society.The project was designed to encourage and support the students to become active agents intheir learning experience. The changing higher education landscape has seen the evolutionof learning and teaching activities, where the learning spaces created for students need notbe bound by physical or time constraints. How spaces are shaped, re-shaped, used and reusedcan be transformative to learning. Technological advancements have made possiblehybrid models of interactive learning; promoting access, collaboration, sustainability andglobal awareness. While student engagement with public bodies is nothing new within highereducation, this project aimed to innovate a new approach to the delivery of writing andcritical analysis skills, in a format that was inclusive and equitable for all learners.


Objectives Over-the-counter (OTC) pharmacy medicines are considered relatively safe in contrast to prescribed and illicit substances, but their abuse and addiction potential is increasingly recognised. Those affected represent a hard to reach group, with little known about their experiences. Study objectives were to describe the experiences and views of those self-reporting OTC medicine abuse, and why medicines were taken, how they were obtained and associated treatment and support sought. Design Qualitative study using in-depth mainly telephone interviews. Participants A purposive sample of 25 adults, aged 20–60s, 13 women. Setting UK, via two internet support groups. Results Individuals considered themselves 'addicted', but socially and economically active and different from illicit substance misusers. They blamed themselves for losing control over their medicine use, which usually began for genuine medical reasons and not experimentation and was often linked to the cessation of, or ongoing, medical prescribing. Codeine, in compound analgesics, was the main medicine implicated with three distinct dose ranges emerging with decongestant and sedative antihistamine abuse also being reported. Subsequent use was for the 'buzz' or similar effects of the opiate, which was obtained unproblematically by having lists of pharmacies to visit and occasionally using internet suppliers. Perceived withdrawal symptoms were described for all three dose ranges, and work and health problems were reported with higher doses. Mixed views about different treatment and support options emerged with standard drug treatment services being considered inappropriate for OTC medicines and concerns that this 'hidden addiction' was recorded in medical notes. Most supported the continued availability of OTC medicines with appropriate addiction warnings. Conclusions Greater awareness of the addiction potential of OTC medicines is needed for the public, pharmacists and medical prescribers, along with appropriate communication about, and reviews of, treatment and support options, for this distinct group.


The paper assessed agricultural production systems from a sustainability perspective defined in terms of relatively homogeneous agro-ecological zones of Africa, using the framework of a production function. Data used were drawn from FAOSTAT, the National Centre for Atmospheric Research and World Bank Indicators respectively for the period 1961-2009. The data were separated into three sub periods, namely: entire period (1961-2009), the pre-Structural Adjustment Period (SAP) reform period (1961-1985) and the post SAP reform period (1986-2009). This was necessitated by the need to examine whether production systems may have been shifted out of the overall trajectory of system evolution by shocks e.g. policy (SAP) among others. To investigate whether there has been a degradation of the quality of the natural resource base across the diverse agro-ecological zones; the estimated TFP trends were related to changes in selected resource quality variables over time. The results showed that the Northern and Southern agro-ecological zones had non-negative trends in TFP, indicating sustainability of production systems. However, the result indicated that the policy instrument (structural adjustment programme) may have shifted farming or production systems out of the overall trajectory of system evolution in three out of the five agro-ecological zones studied which showed negative TFP trends. A degradation of resource quality over time was noted during the pre-SAP reform period, but was maintained during the post-SAP period.


Digital provenance is meta-data that describes the ancestry or history of a digital object. Most work on provenance focuses on how provenance increases the value of data to consumers. However, provenance is also valuable to storage providers. For example, provenance can provide hints on access patterns, detect anomalous behavior, and provide enhanced user search capabilities. As the next generation storage providers, cloud vendors are in the unique position to capitalize on this opportunity to incorporate provenance as a fundamental storage system primitive. To date, cloud offerings have not yet done so. We provide motivation for providers to treat provenance as first class data in the cloud and based on our experience with provenance in a local storage system, suggest a set of requirements that make provenance feasible and attractive.


Abstract Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) is a type of intracranial haemorrhage following head impact, with high mortality rates. Bridging vein (BV) rupture is a major cause of ASDH, which is why a biofidelic representation of BVs in finite element (FE) head models is essential for the successful prediction of ASDH. We investigated the mechanical behavior of BVs in the KTH FE head model. First, a sensitivity study quantified the effect of loading conditions and mechanical properties on BV strain. It was found that the peak rotational velocity and acceleration and pulse duration have a pronounced effect on the BV strains. Both Young's modulus and diameter are also negatively correlated with the BV strains. A normalized multiple linear regression model using Young's modulus, outer diameter and peak rotational velocity to predict the BV strain yields an adjusted -value of 0.81. Secondly, cadaver head impact experiments were simulated with varying sets of mechanical properties, upon which the amount of successful BV rupture predictions was evaluated. The success rate fluctuated between 67 and 75%. To further increase the predictive capability of FE head models w.r.t. BV rupture, future work should be directed towards improvement of the BV representation, both geometrically and mechanically.


The LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(R) NXT 2.0 set offers hundreds of building elements, programming software, and powerful electronics that you can use to create amazing robots. But where do you begin? This eagerly awaited second edition of the bestselling Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide is your key to designing, building, and programming robots with the NXT 2.0 set. You'll learn practical building techniques, like how to build sturdy structures and use gears, and gain a solid understanding of the set's NXT-G programming language. A series of projects new to this edition offers step-by-step instructions for building and programming six robots, each of which can be built with just one NXT 2.0 set, including: *Inventor-Bot, a fast, simple, modular vehicle with treads *Sentry-Bot, a robot guard that shoots balls at intruders *Table-Bot, a vehicle that uses its antennae to avoid falling off a tabletop *The Jeep, a four-wheeled vehicle that avoids obstacles and follows lines *The Lizard, a large walking robot that uses the color sensor to detect and respond to different colored balls *The Printer, a stationary robot that uses a pen or marker to draw letters, words, and shapes on paper Additional resources include the Piece Library, which contains basic information on the more than 80 types of LEGO pieces in the NXT 2. 0 set, and the Quick Reference, which lists the 34 types of standard programming blocks. So go ahead. Grab your NXT 2.0 set, fire up your imagination, and see what you can invent with The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Inventor's Guide.


This large volume presents the results of the first stage of the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR)-University of Sydney field research in the highland region of Mamasani, south-western Iran. This comprised test soundings at Tol-e Nurabad and Tol-e Spid, and a regional survey of the Dasht-e Rostam-e Yek and Do plains. The research was conducted over two six-week seasons in 2003, with a subsequent one-month study season in 2004.


Abstract We present the longest record of surface afterslip on a continental strike‐slip fault for the 2004 M  6.0 Parkfield, California, earthquake, from which we can derive critical information about the duration and predictability of afterslip relevant to urban displacement hazard applications. Surface slip associated with this event occurred entirely postseismically along the interseismically creeping (0.6–1.5  cm/yr) main trace of the San Andreas fault. Using the first year of afterslip data, the program AFTER correctly predicted the cumulative surface afterslip (maximum ∼35  cm) eventually attained. By 1 yr postearthquake, observed afterslip had accumulated to only ∼74% of its modeled final value u f in units of length. The 6‐yr data suggested final slip would be reached everywhere by ∼6–12  yrs. Parkfield's afterslip lasted much longer (∼6–12  yrs) than afterslip following a 2014 M  6.0 event in Napa, California, where no interseismic creep was known, and its afterslip neared completion (∼97% of u f ) by 1 yr. The uncertainty in u f for the Napa event fell to ≤2  cm in only three months, versus in 2 yrs for the Parkfield event, mostly because duration of the power‐law stage of afterslip at Parkfield is much longer, ∼1000 (493–1666) days versus ∼100 (35–421) days for Napa. Because the urban Hayward fault near San Francisco, California, like the Parkfield section, exhibits interseismic creep in a similar geological regime, significant afterslip might last for up to a decade following an anticipated M ≥6.7 earthquake, potentially delaying postearthquake recovery. Electronic Supplement: Tables of afterslip observations and coefficients for computing afterslip.


The author analyses queer elements in the work and biography of Krystian Lupa. Owing to the director's unique philosophy and distinctive aesthetic, this is a subject that has not previously been researched. Godlewski analyses selected topics in the director's productions as well as some of his remarks on eroticism, politics and homosexuality. The author notes that queer aspects in Lupa's work are usually bereft of direct references to the socio-political reality, and that what was once revolutionary may today seem reactionary.


Error Correction Models (ECMs) have proved a popular organizing principle in applied econometrics, despite the lack of consensus as to exactly what constitutes their defining characteristic, and the rather limited role that has been given to economic theory by their proponents. This paper uses a historical survey of the evolution of ECMs to explain the alternative specifications and interpretations and proceeds to examine their implications for estimation. The various approaches are illustrated for wage equations by application to U.K. labor market data 1855-1987. We demonstrate that error correction models impose strong and testable nonlinear restrictions on dynamic econometric equations, and that they do not obviate the need for modeling the process of expectations formation. With the exception of a few special cases, both the nonlinear restrictions and the modeling of expectations have been ignored by those who have treated ECMs as merely reparameterizations of dynamic linear regression models or vector autoregressions. Copyright 1991 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd


Oriented, single-crystalline, one-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanostructures would be most desirable for providing fascinating properties and features, such as high electron mobility or quantum confinement effects, high specific surface area, and even high mechanical strength, but achieving these structures has been limited by the availability of synthetic techniques. In this study, a concept for precisely controlling the morphology of 1D TiO2 nanostructures by tuning the hydrolysis rate of titanium precursors is proposed. Based on this innovation, oriented 1D rutile TiO2 nanostructure arrays with continually adjustable morphologies, from nanorods (NRODs) to nanoribbons (NRIBs), and then nanowires (NWs), as well as the transient state morphologies, were successfully synthesized. The proposed method is a significant finding in terms of controlling the morphology of the 1D TiO2 nano-architectures, which leads to significant changes in their band structures. It is worth noting that the synthesized rutile NRIBs and NWs have a comparable bandgap and conduction band edge height to those of the anatase phase, which in turn enhances their photochemical activity. In photovoltaic performance tests, the photoanode constructed from the oriented NRIB arrays possesses not only a high surface area for sufficient dye loading and better light scattering in the visible light range than for the other morphologies, but also a wider bandgap and higher conduction band edge, with more than 200% improvement in power conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) compared with NROD morphology.


Clusters in document streams, such as online news articles, can be induced by their textual contents, as well as by the temporal dynamics of their arriving patterns. Can we leverage both sources of information to obtain a better clustering of the documents, and distill information that is not possible to extract using contents only? In this paper, we propose a novel random process, referred to as the Dirichlet-Hawkes process, to take into account both information in a unified framework. A distinctive feature of the proposed model is that the preferential attachment of items to clusters according to cluster sizes, present in Dirichlet processes, is now driven according to the intensities of cluster-wise self-exciting temporal point processes, the Hawkes processes. This new model establishes a previously unexplored connection between Bayesian Nonparametrics and temporal Point Processes, which makes the number of clusters grow to accommodate the increasing complexity of online streaming contents, while at the same time adapts to the ever changing dynamics of the respective continuous arrival time. We conducted large-scale experiments on both synthetic and real world news articles, and show that Dirichlet-Hawkes processes can recover both meaningful topics and temporal dynamics, which leads to better predictive performance in terms of content perplexity and arrival time of future documents.


Ethnofederalism is too readily dismissed as a solution for accommodating territorially concentrated minorities within a state. This contribution demonstrates that although there are real concerns when these groups are not included within central decision making institutions or have their autonomy threatened by the centre, territorial autonomy for these groups increases rather than decreases their affinity with the central state. It is therefore a solution that should not be dismissed out of hand, although care needs to be taken when groups are intermixed and non-territorial autonomy may be necessary in


Observed and unobserved regional determinants of FDI inflows: micro level analysis of the food industry firms in Russia The development of Russian food industry is strategically important. Theoretically, the foreign capital inflow will help to renovate, modernize it and increase the productivity. But is it also interesting for foreign investors? What do foreign companies take into account when they invest in Russian food industry enterprises? Could it be special aspects of regional development (observed or unobserved) or only firm level data matters? Does the institutional environment in Russian regions significantly stimulate the inflow of foreign direct investment in Russian food industry enterprises or is the investor interested only in the size of a market? Two samples for 2009 and 2012 years of correspondingly about 5000 and about 7000 food industry companies of different subindustries from different Russian regions are analyzed to give the answer to these questions. The main idea of this investigation is to determine significant regional factors which effect the distribution of the FDI or to show that these items are not important for foreign investors. Russia has more than 80 regions and all of them are highly heterogeneous in terms of climate, geographical characteristics, level of economic and institutional development, industrial specialization, etc. Moreover, enterprises of different industries and subindustrues are different. In this research we take into account these facts investigating a hierarchical structure of the FDI distribution levels. This research consists of several parts: the theoretical part with hypotheses and the overview of the background and the empirical part with testing whether different regional characteristics like the infrastructure, taxation and the regulations in the region and in the neighboring ones play an important role. Spatial effects of these factors and of the economic development are also of our interest. The estimation of a multilevel binary model with spatial effects of analyzed factors gives the idea for the possible solution on the problem discovered above. The comparison of the results for two samples for different years and the investigation of dynamics also are taken into consideration. Keywords: foreign direct investment; food industry enterprises in Russia; Russian regions; multilevel binary model; spatial effects. JEL classification: C21; C25; D92; L66; O18; R12.


Macrocycles have a number of inherent advantages that improve their prospects for achieving oral bioavailability, even when their physical properties lie outside the traditional Rule-of-5 chemistry space. This chapter provides an overview of these advantages, with particular attention given to the potential for macrocycles to adopt three-dimensional conformations that overcome barriers to permeability. An overview of the relationship between physical properties and oral bioavailability is given along with a more detail description of permeability, including recent developments in using fundamental physics to predict passive permeability. A variety of orally bioavailable macrocycles is described, including both natural products and compounds discovered through medicinal chemistry. In addition, some structure property relationships are described, which were identified during the process of optimizing these macrocycles.


ObjectivesCurrently available materials for vascular- and heart valve prostheses carry drawbacks, including the requirement of strong anticoagulants, moderate durability, and the inapplicability for endovascular treatment. Dyneema Purity® fibers are made from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, are very thin, strong, flexible and resistant to fatigue and abrasion. This material might be attractive for use in vascular- and valvular surgery. In this study the hemocompatibility of yarn-composed patches of Dyneema Purity® fibers was assessed.MethodsThree methods were used to compare the hemocompatibility of yarn-composed patches of Dyneema Purity® fibers with 5 clinically used yarn-composed andmembrane-based patches. First, patches were perfused with human blood in a perfusion chamber, thereafter adhered red blood cells and platelets were assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Second, the platelet activation caused by patches was tested using fluorescence-activated cell sorting assay at 1, 3, 6, 24, and 48 hours. Third, various coagulation parameters activated by patches were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsPerfusion experiment showed no differences between patches of Dyneema Purity® fibers and control patches for single platelet and red blood cell adherence. Less platelet aggregation was visible on Dyneema Purity®, compared with one yarn-composed patch, and aggregates were equal compared with the other 4 controls. The platelet activation experiment showed no differences for Dyneema Purity® and other yarn-composed patches. Compared with membranebased patches, there was more platelet activation at 1 hour and 24 hours, but no significant difference at 48 hours. The coagulation activation experiment showed comparable coagulation activation on all patches.ConclusionPatches of Dyneema Purity® fibers are noninferior to the used control patches in terms of red blood cell- and platelet adhesion and platelet- and coagulation activation. Therefore, this material may be attractive for use in cardiovascular applications.


We consider the two mainstream cosmological models that can be derived from the two physical theories that are the best verified by experiments: general relativity and quantum mechanics, though they are incompatible and a major challenge in physics is to find how to reconcile them. The first model is the block universe, which is considered today as the best way to represent our space-time, if we accept all consequences of general relativity, which seem to imply in particular that our future is already realized and cannot change. The second is the Everett multiverse model, whose most popular interpretation is that it contains all alternative possibilities to conduct our life at our human level (with as many copies of our individual consciousness). Our purpose in this article is to show that the incompatibility between the two mainstream theories could be solved in its global principle via a cybernetical conception of time, through which the block universe would be made flexible. For this purpose, we show that the 6 extra dimensions of space-time we introduced in a previous paper (Guillemant 2018) could be used to coordinate space-time from its outside, so as to make it evolve in the cybernetical time from a 4D structure to any other one belonging to a 10D multiverse. We propose this coordination to be modeled thanks to a 3 layers neural network toy model, using two additional layers corresponding to the necessity to parametrize the choices of paths and destinations so as to restore determinism. The main interest of this approach is to maintain the possibility of a relative free will in our universe.


The paper reports on the variations in organic matter digestibility (OMD), organic matter intake (OMI), digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) and nitrogen (N) balances of 40 pearl millet stover fed to sheep ad libitum and investigated relationships between these in vivo variables and morphological, chemical and in vitro stover quality traits. Highly significant differences (P<0.0001) were observed for all in vivo variables. Plant height and stem diameter were consistently significantly (at least P=0.0002) inversely related to OMD, OMI, DOMI and N balance. Except for OMD (P=0.16) stover nitrogen content was significantly (at least P=0.0005) positively related to OMI, DOMI and N balance. The fiber constituents neutral (NDF) and acid (ADF) detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were consistently inversely related to OMD, OMI, DOMI and N balance. (at least P=0.0005). Stover in vitro digestibility, metabolizable energy content and extent and rate of in vitro gas production were highly positively (at least P<0.0009) related to the in vivo variables while lag and half time of in vitro gas production were negatively associated (at least P=0.0004) with the in vivo variables. Combined morphological, chemical and in vitro variables in stepwise multiple regressions accounted for 70 to 84%% of the variations observed in the in vivo variables. Application of stringent cross validation procedures reduced the variation in OMD, OMI, DOMI and N balance accounted for by the combined morphological, chemical and in vitro variables mostly moderately to 71, 49, 79 and 76%, respectively. Relatively simple traits can predict stover quality in breeding programs for dual-purpose pearl millet cultivars


The assessment of child sexual abuse has largely been ignored by behavior analysts, although behavior analytic theory and methodology, if applied, likely would advance the field. Three classic cases demonstrate historic errors that might have been avoided, had a behaviorally based approach been employed. Functional analytic interpretations are provided for phenomena that have been explored in a representative sample of studies that, though empirical, do not appear in the behavioral literature. Specific recommendations for practice, and a call for greater involvement of behavior analysis, are presented. Keywords: Child sexual abuse; behavioral assessment; behavior analysis, behavioral assessment of child sexual abuse. ********** When considering the assessment of child sexual abuse, one may ask, "What are the characteristics of a behavioral approach that make it suited to the task?" The natural science of behavior analysis and the philosophy of behaviorism appear to be well suited to address the assessment of child sexual abuse--especially when examined in contrast to the practices and philosophies that have been heavily relied upon up to now. To make this latter point clear it is helpful to briefly review several high-profile cases. (See Ceci & Bruck, 1995, for more extensive presentations of the cases.) They demonstrate what may occur when a non-scientific approach is applied to the assessment of sexual abuse in young children, specifically to those aged six and under. In reviewing the following cases it is important to remember that the majority of reports of child sexual abuse are true. Estimates of false accusations range from 5% to 35% (Bruck, Ceci & Hembrook, 1998). For example, in a Denver study of 576 reports in a single year it was found that 53% were "indicated" (likely true), 24% contained insufficient information on which to make a true/untrue decision, and 23% were "unfounded" (clearly untrue). Within the last group about three-fourths were thought to have been made in good faith, with the remainder thought to have been knowingly false (Jones & McGraw, 1987). Studies in Michigan looked at true and false allegations of child sexual abuse in divorce cases. One review of 169 cases found that 33% were "unlikely" to be true, based upon Child Protective Services and the court appointed evaluators' opinions, while another review of 215 cases found that 20% were "unlikely" based on extensive (a mean of 62 hours) multi-disciplinary investigation (Faller, 2001). Thus, the parallel imperatives of child protection and fair treatment of the accused mandate a scientific skepticism about the methods by which reports of child sexual abuse are assessed. Wee Care Nursery School Kelly Michales was a staff member at the Wee Care Nursery School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where she was accused of sexual abuse of numerous children. The accusations began when a 4-year-old was having his temperature taken rectally by his doctor and said, "Her takes my temperature." The child's mother contacted Child Protective Services and the boy was then interviewed by an examiner who used anatomically detailed dolls. The child disclosed that Michales had also molested two other boys, although when they were interviewed they denied it. At that point the school's staff sent letters to all parents advising them of the disclosures and had a social worker make a presentation to the parents. Many parents, convinced that the allegations were true, placed their children in therapy. Following many interviews by various professionals (therapists, prosecutors, and mental health professionals hired by the prosecution), twenty children accused Michales of molestation. Many of the accusations seemed incredible, such as that Michales had penetrated them with a sword, smeared peanut butter all over their bodies and licked it off, and had done all of these things at the school although it was open and accessible by parents and staff at all times. …


Some scientists keep experimental records on sticky notes. Some groups maintain ordering information in the head of a single technician. But for researchers looking for more stable, searchable, and sharable records, digital options such as electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) and laboratory information management systems (LIMS) are readily available. Scientists can start with a simple online notebook or choose a complete lab management package to track the entire lifecycle of their projects. Read the Feature (Full-Text HTML) Read the Feature (PDF) Read New Products (PDF)


Argos is a secreted molecule with an atypical EGF motif. It was recently shown to function as an inhibitor of the signaling triggered by the Drosophila EGF receptor (DER). In this work, we determine the contribution of Argos to the establishment of cell fates in the embryonic ventral ectoderm. Graded activation of DER is essential for patterning the ventral ectoderm. argos mutant embryos show expansion of ventral cell fates suggesting hyperactivation of the DER pathway. In the embryonic ventral ectoderm, argos is expressed in the ventralmost row of cells. We show that argos expression in the ventral ectoderm is induced by the DER pathway: argos is not expressed in DER mutant embryos, while it is ectopically expressed in the entire ventral ectoderm following ubiquitous activation of the DER pathway. argos expression appears to be triggered directly by the DER pathway, since induction can also be observed in cell culture, following activation of DER by its ligand, Spitz. Argos therefore functions in a sequential manner, to restrict the duration and level of DER signaling. This type of inhibitory feedback loop may represent a general paradigm for signaling pathways inducing diverse cell fates within a population of non-committed cells.


Using the STEBI-B tool in a pre/post-test setting is common in educational research when measuring the influence of course work on the science teaching selfefficacy of preservice elementary teachers. This study was the first to use the STEBI-B in conjunction with a self-reflective tool to evaluate the influence of a required science content course on the science teaching self-efficacy of 54 preservice elementary teachers. Concurrent collection of three sets of data happened at the beginning and at the end of an Inquiry into Earth & Space Science course designed for preservice elementary teachers. The self-reflective instrument measured science-teaching self-efficacy from a quantitative standpoint by having the participant rate their confidence towards teaching science on a scale from 1-10. The participants also provided a justification for their rating, which provided the qualitative data for this study. The mixed method design of this study captured the results from the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data. The results of the quantitative analysis found that although both the STEBI-B and the QUAN-SR instruments showed significant increases (p < .001 for both) in the preservice teacher's science teaching self-efficacy from beginning to end of the test period the correlation of these data showed mixed results. There was little correlation between the normalized gains of the STEBI-B and the normalized gains of the QUANSR data for all 54 participants, r = .260. There was, however, a large correlation between the STEBI-B scores versus the quantitative self-reflective scores for two of the demographic groups, the participants who were juniors and the participants who had taken two previous science content courses, r = .806 and r = .716 respectively. These two groups represented the more experienced preservice teachers in the study making their understanding of self-efficacy more comprehensive. Because of their robust understanding of self-efficacy, their quantitative self-reflective scores supported their STEBI-B scores. The conclusion drawn from these results was that the STEBI-B instrument might do a better job of measuring the science-teaching self-efficacy level of the more experienced preservice teacher. In analyzing the qualitative self-reflective data of the 54 participants, I used a constant comparative analysis. Qualitative responses by the participant indicated what factors the preservice teacher had identified as influencing their science teaching selfefficacy. The five categories of factors that emerged from the data were Cognitive Knowledge, Experience as a Student, Emotional State, Experience as a Teacher and Outside Factors. These five categories tie in closely with the six sources of self-efficacy discovered by Bandura (1977) and Palmer (2006). The fact that the Experiences as a Teacher Category was the least cited category in this study was of concern from a science educator's standpoint. The factors in this category, according to previous research (Bandura, 1977; Palmer, 2006), should be the most influential factors in predicting self-efficacy. For them to be the least important means the science content coursework has room to improve its influence on science teaching self-efficacy by including activities that give preservice teachers more experience teaching. In light of these results, this research suggests that all science content courses required for preservice elementary teachers should include a teaching component. This would give the preservice teachers a more robust learning experience in turn increasing their science teaching self-efficacy to a larger degree. ANALYSIS OF THE STEBI-B INSTRUMENT AS IT IS USED TO PREDICT THE SCIENCE TEACHING SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS OF PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts


In the past several years, two-dimensional black phosphorus (BP) has captured the research community's interest because of its unique electronic, photonic, and mechanical properties. Remarkable efforts have been made regarding the synthesis, fundamental understanding, and applications of BP in the fields of nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, and optoelectronics. In this review, we summarize the recent developments in the study of BP, which covers the state-of-the-art synthesis methods for preparing single-layer or few-layer BP, the recent advances in characterizing its electronic, optical and mechanical properties, and the reported functional devices utilizing such properties. Finally we discuss the existing challenges in developing BP-based nanoelectronics and optoelectronics, and describe the prospects for future BP-related research.


Relevance: The volume, range and pace of change within Healthcare across the current millennium has been largely driven by government policies that increasingly seek to embed the involvement of patients, service-users, carers and the public (People with Experience (PWE), in decisions to inform the provision of individualised care. The level of complexity within professionals' practice makes close collaboration with PWE a necessity in the education of pre-registration healthcare physiotherapists to promote the development of optimal clinical decision making skills in the delivery of safe, effective, and efficient person-centred care.
Purpose: This article reports on the development of a series of facilitated workshops within two pre-registration physiotherapy programmes framed by an adapted participatory learning model, underpinned by the concepts of complexity science, in an attempt gain some understanding of the facilitation of learning that is person-centred and collaborative in nature.
Approach: Connections between individuals, environments, experiences are non-linear and uncertain. Within the context of person-centred physiotherapy the development of PWE involvement within the curriculum for physiotherapy has involved collaborations in identifying PWE, workshop design, student engagement, workshop delivery, evaluation, dissemination and networks. To facilitate learning there is a need to stimulate pertubance within a system, a system believed to be best represented through a Participatory Learning Model (Jones et al, 2009) based on a collaborative approach that provides a theoretical framework in the development of the PWE workshops, presenting a process that is cyclical and continuous in nature.
Evaluation: Evaluation is pluralistic in nature. Feedback is sought from students, PWE and the workshop facilitators, seeking to gain insights of meaning and understanding for all participants. Whilst appreciating the impossibility of an objective understanding, there is a distinct possibility of developing understanding through personal involvement and acknowledging the implications of that involvement, of participation.
Outcomes: Key themes associated with emergent learning:
● the importance of building trust and being genuine in physiotherapy practice
● the value of physiotherapy - physiotherapy does work and is valued!
● the limitations of health service provision. This was quite a surprise to a number of students in terms of the bureaucratic 'maize' that some people had to negotiate to access services and the level of isolation experienced at times
● the coherence between organisational systems and the lives of individuals, when 'things' did work well.
Conclusions: The participatory learning model offers a structure to organise a learning process in a manner that is not only conceptually appealing but also of practical use. The model would seem to have the potential for transfer to broader areas of professional education. In embracing participation and complexity 'don't be afraid to start', and 'learn from doing' are key messages of encouragement. However, it is important to think about any training needs across organisations and individuals, to find and nurture relationships, and to be creative and also have clarity of purpose.
Impact and Implications: Creating learning opportunities that are meaningful for all participants and gain insights of the lived experience of physiotherapy practice.


Abstract A platform for experimenting with population-based design exploration algorithms is presented, called Dexen. The platform has been developed in order to address the needs of two distinct groups of users loosely labeled as researchers and designers. Whereas the researchers group focuses on creating and testing customized toolkits, the designers group focuses on applying these toolkits in the design process. A platform is required that is scalable and extensible: scalable to allow computationally demanding population-based exploration algorithms to be executed on distributed hardware within reasonable time frames, and extensible to allow researchers to easily implement their own customized toolkits consisting of specialized algorithms and user interfaces. In order to address these requirements, a three-tier client–server system architecture has been used that separates data storage, domain logic, and presentation. This separation allows customized toolkits to be created for Dexen without requiring any changes to the data or logic tiers. In the logic tier, Dexen uses a programming model in which tasks only communicate through data objects stored in a key-value database. The paper ends with a case study experiment that uses a multicriteria evolutionary algorithm toolkit to explore alternative configurations for the massing and façade design of a large residential development. The parametric models for developing and evaluating design variants are described in detail. A population of design variants are evolved, a number of which are selected for further analysis. The case study demonstrates how evolutionary exploration methods can be applied to a complex design scenario without requiring any scripting.


We present a probabilistic framework that uses a bone sensor and air microphone to perform speech enhancement for robust speech recognition. The system exploits advantages of both sensors: the noise resistance of the bone sensor, and the linearity of the air microphone. In this paper we describe the general properties of the bone sensor relative to conventional air sensors. We propose a model capable of adapting to the noise conditions, and evaluate performance using a commercial speech recognition system. We demonstrate considerable improvements in recognition – from a baseline of 57% up to nearly 80% word accuracy – for four subjects on a difficult condition with background speaker interference.


High fractions of carbides are favourable for high hardness but the possible presence of graphite for very high carbon contents may have the opposite effect. Limited modifications of the chemical composition may correct the microstructures to achieve the demanded properties. This was studied for three ternary alloys based on nickel and three other ones based on iron, all rich in carbon, by modifying their chromium contents (from 30wt.% Cr to new values comprised between 20 and 37wt.%). Preliminary thermodynamic calculations were first performed to explore the possible microstructures, and to select several chromium contents potentially allowing either to promote graphite, or on the contrary to avoid it, or to enhance the carbide fraction at constant carbon content. Second, alloys with the chromium contents selected above were really elaborated by foundry. Metallography samples were prepared and the as-cast microstructures observed. As in the first part of this work concerning cobalt alloys, the calculated and metallography results were compared to the ones previously obtained for the analogous nickel and iron containing 30wt.%Cr. Adding 4.5 and 7% of chromium to the graphite-rich nickel alloysNi-30Cr-4.5C andNi-30Cr-5.0C respectively, induces a significant decrease in graphite fraction while subtracting 4.5 %Cr to the graphite-free Ni-30Cr-3.0C is not sufficient to make graphite appear but it decreases the carbideÂ's quantity. Removing 10.3% Cr and 3.9%Cr to the Fe- 30Cr-4.0C ant the Fe-30Cr-5.0C respectively, decreases the mass fraction of carbides but does not promote the appearance of graphite. In contrast adding 2.6%Cr to the Fe-3Cr-5.0C induces only a small increase in carbide quantity.


Wildfires can lead to severe environmental consequences by releasing large amounts of particulate matter (PM) and precursors of ozone (Sandberg et al., 1999; Riebau and Fox, 2001). The Southeast has the most burned area among various U.S. regions (Stanturf et al., 2002) and has regionally some of the highest levels of PM and ozone in the nation. Fires have been found to be an important contributor (Zheng et al. 2002). On the other hand, smoke particles from wildfires are one of the atmospheric anthropogenic aerosol sources. They can affect global and regional radiation and climate (e.g., Penner et al. 1992, Liu 2005a).


We analyze differences in labor productivity between Israel and a group of small OECD countries. We assume a more general human capital production function and calibrate it using PIAAC surveys, which examine the literacy and numeracy skills of the adult population in the OECD countries. Whereas Israel has more years of schooling, its population has lower measured skills. Using development accounting exercise, we show that once years of schooling and numeracy skills are taken into account, differences in accumulated factors explain more than three-quarters of the gap. This is against a split of 60-40 between accumulated factors and total factor productivity, when these skills are ignored. Additionally, using panel data on 13 OECD countries we show strong positive correlation between physical and human capital per worker at the industry level. A causal interpretation of our estimates implies that closing the gap in skills will indirectly close 18 percent of the gap in physical capital.


This volume presents a synthesis of research in cognitive linguistics and the psychology of language. It highlights the tension between "linguists' grammars", which are influenced by considerations of economy and elegance, and "speakers' grammars", which are messy and less than fully general.


Purpose. The purpose of this research is to develop a practical ideal model for processing municipal land development applications for Texas cities, looking specifically at how best the public can be involved in the process while maintaining efficiency. Methodology. To achieve this purpose, the literature will be reviewed to establish the basic elements that are required to develop the ideal model. Based on the findings of the literature, a survey will be administered to gauge the views and opinions of practicing city planners on how those elements should be utilized. Finally, those views and opinions will be compiled into a practical ideal model or "best practice", which Texas cities can use to better process land development applications. Results. Overall, the research indicates that the public is best able to participate in the planning and development process through elected and appointed groups such as the city council, planning and zoning commissions, and zoning board of adjustment; while the city staff is best able to approve applications quickly and efficiently. Thus, the amount of decision-making authority each group should have in the processing of applications depends on the legal requirements and the technicality of the development project. Conclusion. The ideal model indicates that the amount of time and public participation an application should go through depends on how conceptual it is. Applications to approve the concept of development projects should be reviewed publicly by groups such as the City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission while applications that are more technical and less conceptual should only be reviewed administratively by the municipality"s staff of professional planners for compliance with the already approved concept.


The learning mechanisms and factors that influenced the choice and performance of women in technological and non-technological Micro and Small Scale Entrepreneurship (MSSE) in Southwestern Nigeria were studied. This was with a view to recommending policy measures that could enhance the participation and performance of women in technological businesses. Primary data were collected from 210 micro and small scale enterprises owned by women using structured questionnaire and the Raosoft sample size calculator based on the normal distribution statistical method. Secondary data were also used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for data analysis. The study revealed that learning mechanisms such as television, trade fairs and community outreach programmes significantly influenced the choice of technological ventures. Factors such as educational background, prior training in venture, role model, socio-cultural factor, and age also influenced the choice of ventures. Furthermore, the performance of the businesses and respondents were significantly influenced by variables such as business premise status, retraining opportunities, systematic planning and monitoring among others. The study concluded that the greatest motivation for women in non-technological ventures was unemployment while for technological ventures was personal interest. Personal Entrepreneurial Characteristics enhanced the women's performance. Recommendations were made towards boosting the choice and performance of the women especially in technological ventures.


We present a simple neural rendering architecture that helps variational autoencoders (VAEs) learn disentangled representations. Instead of the deconvolutional network typically used in the decoder of VAEs, we tile (broadcast) the latent vector across space, concatenate fixed X- and Y-"coordinate" channels, and apply a fully convolutional network with 1x1 stride. This provides an architectural prior for dissociating positional from non-positional features in the latent distribution of VAEs, yet without providing any explicit supervision to this effect. We show that this architecture, which we term the Spatial Broadcast decoder, improves disentangling, reconstruction accuracy, and generalization to held-out regions in data space. It provides a particularly dramatic benefit when applied to datasets with small objects. We also emphasize a method for visualizing learned latent spaces that helped us diagnose our models and may prove useful for others aiming to assess data representations. Finally, we show the Spatial Broadcast Decoder is complementary to state-of-the-art (SOTA) disentangling techniques and when incorporated improves their performance.


Previous research has shown that minority grievances can contribute significantly to violent conflict. However, it appears that grievances do not inevitably induce religious and other minorities to engage in protest or rebellion. Moreover, relative deprivation may explain conflict but not necessarily violent conflict. Contributing to research on these questions, this paper explores the conditions under which the grievances of religious minorities lead to non-violent or violent protest. Using a motive-opportunity framework, we assume that members of religious minorities who feel discriminated against must be willing and able to engage in peaceful and violent forms of protest - and that certain conditions are required for grievances to result in peaceful or violent dissent. We test this proposition by comparing the Jewish and Muslim communities in Canada. Our findings indicate that relative economic and political deprivation may create concrete grievances that in combination with origin-based value incompatibilities can explain differences in behaviour in reaction to these grievances.


Many popular techniques for determining a securities firm's value-at-risk are based upon the calculation of the historical volatility of returns to the assets that comprise the portfolio and of the correlations between them. One such approach is the JP Morgan RiskMetrics methodology using Markowitz portfolio theory. An implicit assumption underlying this methodology is that the volatilities and correlations are constant throughout the sample period and, in particular, that they are not systematically related to one another. However, it has been suggested in a number of studies that the correlation between markets increases when the individual volatilities are high. This paper demonstrates that this type of relationship between correlation and volatility can lead to a downward bias in the estimated value-at-risk, and proposes a number of pragmatic approaches that risk managers might adopt for dealing with this issue.


The web of gender has caught up with the global vocabulary. Gender has become one of the contemporary vocabularies of globalization such as liberalization, commercialization, liberal democracy etc.
The paper examined the conceptual clarification of gender, conflict and human security in order to expose the semantic and theoretical confusion associated with the subject matter.

The UNDP dimensions to human security were adopted to examine the inadequacies and challenges arising from gender disparity that result into human security dilemmas in Nigeria. The paper also argued that gender and conflict in Nigeria can only be perceived within the pre-conflict situation paradigm. Some examples of this human insecurity were drawn from the Urhobo society in the Niger Delta to buttress the inadequacies of human security in Nigeria; strategies were proffered to tackle these challenges.

The paper concluded that once the strategies are critically looked into and steps are taken to implement them, certain prospects will accrue to gender human security network in Nigeria. Gender and Behaviour Vol. 5 (2) 2007: pp. 1421-1433


This thesis is concerned with multigraphs and their complexity which is defined and quantified by the distribution of edge multiplicities. Two random multigraph models are considered. The first model is random stub matching (RSM) where the edges are formed by randomly coupling pairs of stubs according to a fixed stub multiplicity sequence. The second model is obtained by independent edge assignments (IEA) according to a common probability distribution over the edge sites. Two different methods for obtaining an approximate IEA model from an RSM model are also presented.In Paper I, multigraphs are analyzed with respect to structure and complexity by using entropy and joint information. The main results include formulae for numbers of graphs of different kinds and their complexity. The local and global structure of multigraphs under RSM are analyzed in Paper II. The distribution of multigraphs under RSM is shown to depend on a single complexity statistic. The distributions under RSM and IEA are used for calculations of moments and entropies, and for comparisons by information divergence. The main results include new formulae for local edge probabilities and probability approximation for simplicity of an RSM multigraph. In Paper III, statistical tests of a simple or composite IEA hypothesis are performed using goodness-of-fit measures. The results indicate that even for very small number of edges, the null distributions of the test statistics under IEA have distributions that are well approximated by their asymptotic χ2-distributions. Paper IV contains the multigraph algorithms that are used for numerical calculations in Papers I-III.


Postneonatal mortality SIR-The article "Why did postperinatal mortality rates fall in the 1970s?", 1986, 40, 228-31, by Sunderland, Gardner, and Gordon, is an important contribution. The strong relation between the fall in the birth rate and the death rate from infections during the postperinatal period confirms the clinical impressions of many doctors. A similar analysis of postneonatal mortality rates and birth rates during the period 1968-82 in the City of Nottingham shows a statistically significant correlation (p< 0 05) between the two measurements.' This was the period when discussion about family planning became much more open, culminating in the acceptance of responsibility for family planning services by the NHS. It seems reasonable to assume that a smaller number of more planned children were better looked after, especially by their parents, and also by health professionals. Although many factors have played a part in the fall in mortality in both cities, it seems that some factors have been overemphasised, for example, the impact of birth scoring systems, whereas the real hero(in)es may well have been the unsung workers of the family planning service. The article goes on to describe the need for an objective method of identifying deprived, high risk children and communities, and states that "statistical scoring systems provide that objectivity". This is not


A proposed method of surgical repair of fractured bones would incorporate recent and future advances in the art of composite materials. The composite materials used in this method would be biocompatible and at least partly bioabsorbable: that is, during the healing process following surgery, they would be wholly or at least partly absorbed into the bones and other tissues in which they were implanted. Relative to the traditional method, the proposed method would involve less surgery, pose less of a risk of infection, provide for better transfer of loads across fracture sites, and thereby promote better healing while reducing the need for immobilization by casts and other external devices. One requirement that both the traditional and proposed methods must satisfy is to fix the multiple segments of a broken bone in the correct relative positions. Mechanical fixing techniques used in the traditional method include the use of plates spanning the fracture site and secured to the bone by screws, serving of wire along the bone across the fracture site, insertion of metallic intramedullary rods through the hollow portion of the fractured bone, and/or inserting transverse rods through the bone, muscle, and skin to stabilize the fractured members. After the bone heals, a second surgical operation is needed to remove the mechanical fixture(s). In the proposed method, there would be no need for a second surgical operation. The proposed method is based partly on the observation that in the fabrication of a structural member, it is generally more efficient and reliable to use multiple small fasteners to transfer load across a joint than to use a single or smaller number of larger fasteners, provided that the stress fields of neighboring small fasteners do not overlap or interact. Also, multiple smaller fasteners are more reliable than are larger and fewer fasteners. However, there is a trade-off between structural efficiency and the cost of insertion time and materials. The proposed method is further based partly on the conjecture that through-the-thickness reinforcements could be excellent for fixing bone segments for surgical repair. The through-the-thickness reinforcements would superficially resemble nails in both form and function. Denoted small-diameter rods (SDRs) to distinguish them from other narrow rods, these reinforcements would be shot or otherwise inserted through adjacent segments of fractured bone to fix them in their correct relative positions (see figure). Shot insertion would be effected by use an applicator that would amount to a miniaturized and highly refined version of the pneumatic guns often used in carpentry to drive nails and brads. The applicator, envisioned to be about the size of a ball-point-pen, would be driven by pressurized carbon dioxide. To further promote stabilization of the segments, layers of bone glue could be applied to the fracture surfaces prior to insertion of the SDRs. The bone glue could be therapeutically loaded with chemicals to promote growth of bone and fight infection