Relationship between hardness and flow stress in uniaxial compression is investigated for porous sintered metals. Hardness is defined here as the applied load divided by the surface area of the indentation. When the semi-angle α of the pyramidal indenter is 68 deg, i.e., the Vickers hardness indenter, the ratio of the hardness to the flow stress decreases with decreasing relative density ρ However, when α is 45 deg, the ratio is 2.7 regardless of the value of ρ. The ratio of the Brinell hardness to the flow stress decreases with decreasing ρ when the diameter ratio d/D of the impression to the spherical indenter is 0.4. When d/D is 0.8, the ratio is nearly constant regardless of ρ. The flow stress of sintered metals can, therefore, be estimated from the hardness measured by the pyramidal indenter with the semiangle of 45 deg or from the Brinell hardness at a diameter ratio of 0.8.


Arizona has experienced a trend toward increasing fiber micronaire values in recent years resulting in substantial discounts on fiber value. There is some evidence to suggest that irrigation termination management can impact fiber micronaire. Field studies were conducted in 2000 and 2001 at the University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center (MAC; 1,175 ft. elevation) and the Yuma Valley Agricultural Center (YVAC; 150 ft. elevation) to evaluate the effects of three dates of irrigation termination on the yield of several Upland cotton varieties. Three dates of irrigation termination (IT1, IT2, and IT3) were imposed based upon crop development. The earliest irrigation termination date, IT1 was made slightly ahead of an optimum date to provide sufficient soil-water such that bolls set at the end of the first fruiting cycle would not be water stressed and could be fully matured. Thus, the IT1 date was imposed to try to reduce overall micronaire. The second termination (IT2) date provided one additional irrigation over an optimal point for the first cycle fruit set and two irrigations beyond IT1. The final (IT3) date (later September) was staged so that soil moisture would be sufficient for the development of a full top-crop potential. Lint yield and micronaire results have consistently revealed significant differences among the IT treatments. The micronaire values were consistently less than 5.0 for the IT1 treatments. Micronaire and lint yield values increased with later IT dates.


In my thesis, I develop a framework based on John Rawls's Political Liberalism that addresses the question: how is it possible for democratic institutions and their decisions to be legitimate, given that (i) they are supposed to be governed by the "will of the people", but (ii) the people will disagree with each other about what political institutions ought to do about any given issue? Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson advance a deliberative democratic response to this question, which has served as the basis of governments' attempts to "strengthen democracy". They argue that political decisions are justified insofar as they are made in a process that allows citizens to exchange reasons that are respectful and moral. Furthermore, although a binding decision must be made at some point, it should be possible to revisit any decision after a period of time. I argue that while respectful public discourse about political issues may be desirable in some circumstances, this is inadequate as a basis for guiding and evaluating political decisions, in light of the reasonable disagreement that persists about what political institutions ought to do. Instead, I argue that the legitimacy of political institutions, or their obligatory force over citizens, depends on the extent to which reasonable citizens are sufficiently satisfied with the institutions that govern them, over time. Furthermore, I argue that other indicators besides deliberative democratic discourse may be used to assess how well institutions are meeting the standard of political justification that I develop.


BACKGROUND
Animal-assisted therapy improves physiological and psychosocial variables in healthy and hypertensive patients.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether a 12-minute hospital visit with a therapy dog improves hemodynamic measures, lowers neurohormone levels, and decreases state anxiety in patients with advanced heart failure.

METHODS
A 3-group randomized repeated-measures experimental design was used in 76 adults. Longitudinal analysis was used to model differences among the 3 groups at 3 times. One group received a 12-minute visit from a volunteer with a therapy dog; another group, a 12-minute visit from a volunteer; and the control group, usual care. Data were collected at baseline, at 8 minutes, and at 16 minutes.

RESULTS
Compared with controls, the volunteer-dog group had significantly greater decreases in systolic pulmonary artery pressure during (-4.32 mm Hg, P = .03) and after (-5.78 mm Hg, P = .001) and in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure during (-2.74 mm Hg, P = .01) and after (-4.31 mm Hg, P = .001) the intervention. Compared with the volunteer-only group, the volunteer-dog group had significantly greater decreases in epinephrine levels during (-15.86 pg/mL, P = .04) and after (-17.54 pg/mL, P = .04) and in norepinephrine levels during (-232.36 pg/mL, P = .02) and after (-240.14 pg/mL, P = .02) the intervention. After the intervention, the volunteer-dog group had the greatest decrease from baseline in state anxiety sum score compared with the volunteer-only (-6.65 units, P =.002) and the control groups (-9.13 units, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Animal-assisted therapy improves cardiopulmonary pressures, neurohormone levels, and anxiety in patients hospitalized with heart failure.


Web queries, credit card transactions, and medical records are examples of transaction data flowing in corporate data stores, and often revealing associations between individuals and sensitive information. The serial release of these data to partner institutions or data analysis centers in a nonaggregated form is a common situation. In this paper, we show that correlations among sensitive values associated to the same individuals in different releases can be easily used to violate users' privacy by adversaries observing multiple data releases, even if state-of-the-art privacy protection techniques are applied. We show how the above sequential background knowledge can be actually obtained by an adversary, and used to identify with high confidence the sensitive values of an individual. Our proposed defense algorithm is based on Jensen-Shannon divergence; experiments show its superiority with respect to other applicable solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that systematically investigates the role of sequential background knowledge in serial release of transaction data.


Since August 2000, the Wild fire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) has been generating half‐hourly fire hot spot analyses for the Western Hemisphere using GOES satellites to provide the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) with near‐real‐time fire products. These are used to generate smoke particle fluxes for aerosol transport forecasting to benefit the scientific, weather, and regulatory communities. In South America, fire hot‐spot analysis is shown to be adequate for generating real‐time smoke source functions for aerosol forecast models. We present smoke coverage and flux estimates based on the WF_ABBA and NAAPS products. Modeled fluxes of emissions for 2001–2002 are ∼25 + 10 Tg yr−1, similar to previous estimates. Correlations of optical depth with MODIS and AERONET show good agreement with observations. Comparisons of NAAPS aerosol fields with MODIS also show potential clear sky and other biases as smoke is transported into the Atlantic Ocean and the ITCZ.


Under the label of "the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics", the Chinese Government has made a firm commitment to economic reform, though still retaining tight political control. Thus, under conditions of liberal economic systems and autocratic rule, a new capitalist system is emerging in China; its top companies are managed by private entrepreneurs, government bodies or a combination of both.This book, presented in an easily accessible format, fills an important gap in the growing literature on China in the global economy and provides a research reference tool on China's top companies. It offers a comprehensive directory listing of the Top 100 corporations in China, thus enhancing the research potential on China for students, researchers and businesses. As a general reference guide to the Chinese economy, A Guide to the Top 100 Companies in China provides up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the top Chinese enterprises. Corporations from Hong Kong and Taiwan that conduct significant business in China are also included.


Written for professionals in financial services with responsibility for IT and risk management, Dimitris Chorafas surveys the methodology required and IT systems and structures to support it according to Basel II. The book is consistent with the risk management certification process of GARP, as well as the accounting rules of IFRS, based on research the author conducted with IASB. The author provides an in-depth discussion of the types of risk, stress analysis and the use of scenarios, mathematical models, and IT systems and infrastructure requirements. It is written in clear, straightforward style for financial industry executives to provide necessary information for risk control decisionmaking. It is consistent with GARP, IFRS and IASB risk management processes and procedures. It explains stress testing and its place in risk control.


Various destructive and nondestructive testing techniques have been used for testing the joint quality in adhesive bonding. Ultrasonic testing has proven to be one the most efficient methods for this purpose. Among the many different ultrasonic testing techniques, C-scan imaging seems to be the most efficient for testing adhesive joints. In this paper, new testing schemes are proposed for extraction of the required information from the ultrasonic signals acquired in a C-scan imaging process. Three different indices, which are based on the amplitudes of the ultrasonic radio frequency signals, are introduced. Compared to the gating and peak detection approach used in conventional ultrasonic C-scan imaging, these indices provide much more information about the quality of the bonding in an adhesive joint. Moreover, while only one side of the adhesive layer can be tested in conventional C-scan imaging, the new technique makes the testing of both sides of the adhesive possible with scanning performed on one side of the specimen. Furthermore, in the case of very thin samples, where the returned echoes are not separable and, hence, no C-scan images can be generated, the new technique works quite well. The capability of the proposed approach in providing C-scan images from a number of samples, some of which are considered not to be testable by conventional ultrasonic testing techniques, is demonstrated.


The effect of dietary crude protein (CP) and additives on odour flux from broiler litter was investigated using 180 day-old Ross 308 male chicks randomly allocated to five dietary treatments with three replications of 12 birds each. A 5×3 factorial arrangement of treatments was employed. Factors were: diet (low CP, high CP, high CP+antibiotic, high CP+probiotic, high CP+saponin) and age (15, 29, 35 days). Low CP (LCP) and high CP (HCP) diets differed in CP levels by 4.5-5%. The low CP diets were supplemented with L-valine, L-isoleucine, L-arginine, L-lysine, D,L-methionine and L-threonine. The antibiotic used was Zn Bacitracin, the probiotic was a blend of three Bacillus subtilis strains and the saponin came from a blend of Yucca and Quillaja. Odorants were measured from litter headspace using a flux hood and selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). Results were log tranformed and analysed by two-way ANOVA with repeated measures using JMP statistical software v.8, and means were separated by Tukey's HSD test at P<0.05.The results showed that LCP group produced lower flux of dimethyl amine, trimethyl amine, H2S, NH3 and phenol in litter compared to HCP group (P<0.05). Similarly, HCP+probiotic group produced lower flux of H2S (P<0.05) and HCP+saponin group produced lower flux of trimethylamine and phenol in litter compared to HCP group (P<0.05). The dietary treatments tended (P=0.065) to have higher flux of methanethiol in HCP group compared to others. There was a diet x age interaction for litter flux of diacetyl, acetoin, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methylbutanal, ethanethiol, propionic acid and hexane (P<0.05). Concentrations of diacetyl, acetoin, propionic acid and hexane in litter were higher from LCP group compared to all other treatments on d 35 (P<0.05) but not on days 15 and 29. Thus, the low CP diet, Bacillus subtilis based probiotic and Yucca/Quillaja based saponin were effective in reducing the emissions of some key odorants from broiler litter.


Internet retailing is one of the fast-growing business sectors in the UK, and this
sector is currently entering a more stable development stage. In this stage, the issue
of business strategy and performance measurement, often neglected during the
dotcom era, is gaining in importance. Although various studies have been done, the
investigation of this issue is limited. This study helps to fill this gap by investigating
performance measurement and business strategy of Internet retailing business, and their significance in enhancing business performance. A mail questionnaire was
used in a survey of UK Internet retailers. The questionnaire contained variables of
performance indicators, use of performance measurement, strategic orientation,
businessp erformance, and business profile. The survey produced 252 responses of
small-and-medium-sized internet retailers, defined as having less than £10 million of
annual online sales turnover. By factor analysis, strategic orientation can be treated
as having two dimensions:( 1) conservativeness, and (2) aggressiveness; business performance, two: (1) financial, and (2) operational; and performance measurement, one: the number of performance indicators measured. The findings show that UK
Internet retailers are likely to concentrate their performance measurement more on
financial, market-sales, and web-related indicators rather than customer and process.
After controlling for variations of business size, the empirical results reveal that (1)
more conservative retailers are likely to measure more performance indicators, (2)
retailers using more performance indicators are likely to have better operational
performance, and (3) less aggressiveness retailers tend to be associated with better
financial performance. This study has provided evidence that strategic orientation is associated with the financial aspect of business performance, and performance
measurement with the operational aspect of business performance. The results
provide useful insights for Internet retailing managers, especially concerning the
importance of performance measurement, and the choice of strategic orientation.
More importantly, this study opens up possibilities for further study of performance measurement and businesss strategy of internet retailing business


The effect of dissolved nitrogen on phase transformations and microstructural evolution in low-carbon high manganese silicon steel wire-rod was examined for varying nitrogen levels of 30, 70, and I OO ppm, while keeping the base composition constant, It was found that nitrogen suppresses the pearlite reaction start temperature by up to 30"C. A strong correlation was discovered between the nitrogen level and the formation of martensite-austenite microconstituent (MA phase). The possible mechanisms by which nitrogen causes the formation of MA phase are discussed. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that levels of nitrogen between 70 and 1 10ppm can have a significant effect on microstructure, such that up to approximately 10volo/o of MA phase is formed in these steels. Microstructural changes in titanium- microalioyed steels were also investigated-particularly changes in the development of the MA and pearlite phases. The pearlite content was up to double that found in a Ti-free alloy. Microalloying with titanium was found to be effective in completely eliminating


The district court's holdings dramatically expanded the fair use doctrine contrary to the express intent of Congress and inconsistent with existing precedent. TVEyes copies thousands of hours of entertainment, news, sports and other television programming twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week without permission or payment to authors and sells it to business subscribers for further copying and distribution at a fee of $500 per month. TVEyes and its amici attempt to excuse this copyright infringement by falsely characterizing the service as "media monitoring." (Id.) That characterization is wrong and does not justify the holdings below.
Congress thrice rejected requests to add media monitoring to the preamble of Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Instead, Congress enacted a limited alternative in Section 108, allowing libraries and nonprofit archives to engage in certain copying and archiving of works. By choosing not to include media monitoring among the enumerated examples in section 107, Congress struck the important balance between copyright holders' interests and the general public's interests in section 107. It is not the courts' role to legislate or bypass Congressional intent. For this reason alone, the district court's holdings that considered content-delivery features of TVEyes' service fair use must be reversed.
Moreover, any definition of TVEyes as a "media monitor" is a misnomer. TVEyes goes far beyond the media monitoring that was contemplated and rejected by Congress as potentially eligible for the fair use defense. At that time, a media monitoring service would give a client a short analog VHS tape that was hard to reproduce. Now, TVEyes provides subscribers unlimited digital content and encourages further distribution of works by its clients.
TVEyes likewise does not qualify for the more limited non-profit archival protections in Section 108 of the Copyright Act. TVEyes is an expensive, for profit, business-to-business service that copies and digitally distributes copyrighted content from every cable channel around the clock and therefore does not meet the either the threshold requirements of Section 108 or the specific requirements of the exceptions contained therein.
In addition, TVEyes' wholesale copying of thousands of hours of television programming does not fall within the contours of the fair use doctrine as consistently applied by this Court and others to media monitoring services. Nor do this Court's decisions in Author's Guild v. Google, Inc. (Google Books) and Author's Guild v. HathiTrust (Hathitrust) support the result reached below. Setting aside amici's views on those cases, TVEyes' service is wholly different from the services at issue in those cases. The service at issue in Google Books was a free service provided to the public for research purposes that incorporated measures intended to ensure that users could not obtain the full value from a work (whether that be the entire work or a key portion of a work like a travel guide or recipe book) via the search function. Likewise, Hathitrust involved a service displaying mere word search term results of copyrighted works. By contrast, TVEyes' service is designed to replace the original source of the work or licensed distributors of the work. The district court erred in determining otherwise and should be reversed.


FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL STUDIES OF CYTOCHROMES P450 BY RESONANCE RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY By Yilin Liu, B.Sc. Marquette University Cytochrome P450 is a broad class of heme monooxygenase enzymes which catalyze various oxidative transformations. There are two main kinds of mammalian P450s: steroidogenic and drug metabolizing P450s. The first project involves a steroidogenic P450, CYP17A1, occupying a central role in the biosynthesis of steroid hormones. It catalyzes hydroxylation reaction on pregnenolone and progesterone, generating 17OH-pregnenolone and 17OH-progesterone, presumably utilizing a "Compound I" species. However, these hydroxylated products can be further processed in a second oxidative cycle to cleave the C17–C20 bond to form dehydroepiandrosterone or androstenedione, respectively, a crucial step in androgen production. Interestingly, it is well known that cytochrome b5 is a key regulator of androgen synthesis, by a mechanism that is still not well understood. As the enzymes involved here are both membrane-bound, resonance Raman (rR) studies are performed on unique nanodisc-based dyads to investigate their interaction, including characterization of their ferric state and unstable dioxygen intermediates, the essential results supporting an electron transfer role of cyt b5. The second project is focused on a fusion enzyme called P450BM3, which possesses a covalently linked cytochrome P450 reductase. This fusion enzyme is clearly a good target for biotechnologically application. In the present work, rR studies focus on several biotechnologically important mutants of P450BM3, which have altered substrate selectivity, allowing metabolism of the human proton pump inhibitor, omeprazole, producing metabolites that precisely match those generated by human CYP2C19, thereby providing an inexpensive source of these precious materials that are needed for drug metabolism studies. Specifically, it is shown that binding of omeprazole to these BM3 mutants leads to differing degrees of high spin state conversion of the heme iron. Furthermore, the ferrous CO adduct were acquired to interrogate the effect of substrate binding on the distal pocket architecture. The third project involves the biotechnologically important peroxygenases. Specifically, rR studies are applied to CYP152L1 and CYP152L2 enzymes, which are able to convert fatty acids into industrially valuable terminal alkenes without requiring a complex reductase system. Herein, using chemical strategies to trap and isolate key reaction intermediates, rR spectroscopy is being employed to probe their structure and reactivity.


Injection of the human neurotropic polyomavirus, JCV, into neonatal hamsters causes tumors of glial origin. Previously, a rapidly proliferating cell line, HJC-15, which expresses high levels of the viral T-antigen, had been established from JCV-induced hamster glial tumors. In our analyses of the mechanisms involved in the control of glial cell proliferation in these tumor cells, we have focused our attention on E2F1, a DNA-binding transcription factor which modulates the activity of genes involved in the S-phase of the cell cycle. Here, we report the identification of a novel nucleo-protein complex that forms between select E2F1-binding sites and nuclear proteins from HJC-15 and normal hamster glial cells. In comparison to the previously characterized E2F1 complexes, this complex exhibited distinct mobility, binding and biochemical characteristics. This slower migrating complex also contained several unique Glial E2F1-associated proteins, (GEAP), which have a distinct molecular mass. Of particular, unlike the classical E2F1 whose DNA binding activity is increased during S-phase, the level GEAPs remained constant throughout the cell cycle. GEAPs appeared to confer an increased basal transcriptional activity of promoters containing select E2F1 sites in HJC-15 cells. Interestingly, the increased transcriptional activity modulated by GEAPs in HJC-15 cells was overcome by overexpression of E2F1 in these cells. These data point to the presence of novel members of the E2F family in hamster glial cells with the potential to regulate expression of S-phase specific genes in glial tumors obtained upon intracerebral injection of JCV. The importance of these findings in the pathogenesis of viral-induced tumors and the role of cell cycle regulatory proteins in brain tumor formation is discussed.


Changing social attitudes make it increasingly important that psychologists and their professional bodies pay attention to ethical issues. In Ireland, there has been an increasing number of complaints against psychologists, and the Psychological Society of Ireland recently revised its complaints procedures and is in the process of changing its code of ethics. This paper is the introduction to a special issue covering many issues of contemporary concern to psychologists; it reviews two long-standing questions: can psychological therapy be ethically neutral, and who is the client? It is concluded that psychologists should increase the importance of ethical issues in education and training, and that they should ensure that clients, whether individuals or organisations, are aware of the psychologist's professional ethics, have been fully appraised of all the options open to them, and have agreed to the contents of a written contract.


Purposes The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for the two-year survival after revascularization of critical limb ischemia. Methods Between 2008 and 2012, 142 patients underwent revascularization. A retrospective analysis was performed to measure the risk factor. Results A total 85 patients underwent surgical revascularization, 31 patients underwent endovascular therapy while 26 patients underwent hybrid therapy. By multivariate analysis, the following variables were considered to be risk factors: ejection fraction <50 % (HR, 3.14; 95% CI, 1.22–7.95; P = 0.02), serum albumin level <2.5 g/dL (HR, 3.45; 95% CI, 1.01–11.7; P = 0.04) and nonambulatory status (HR, 4.11; 95% CI, 1.79–9.70; P < 0.01). The two-year survival rate of the patients with no risk factors was 85.5%, while the patients with at least one risk factor had an unfavorable prognosis (one; 56.7%, two; 45.4%). Conclusions The nonambulatory status, serum albumin level <2.5 g/dL and ejection fraction <50% were the risk factors for the two-year mortality after revascularization in critical limb ischemia patients. These risk factors may be useful for the treatment strategy of critical limb ischemia patients.


The Yale/SMARTS optical-near-IR monitoring program has followed the variations in emission of the Fermi-LAT monitored blazars in the southern sky with closely spaced observations since 2008. We report the discovery of an optical-near-IR (OIR) outburst with no accompanying gamma-rays in the blazar PKS 0208-512, one of the targets of this program. While the source undergoes three outbursts of 1 mag or more at OIR wavelengths lasting for longer than 3 months during 2008-2011, only interval 1 and 3 have corresponding bright phases in GeV energies lasting longer than 1 month. The OIR outburst during interval 2 is comparable in brightness and temporal extent to the OIR flares during intervals 1 and 3 which do have gamma-ray counterparts. Gamma-ray and OIR variability are very well-correlated in most cases in the Fermi blazars and the lack of correlation in this case is anomalous. By analyzing the gamma-ray, OIR, and supporting multi-wavelength variability data in details, we speculate that the location of the outburst in the jet during interval 2 was closer to the black hole where the jet is more compact and the magnetic field strength is higher, and the bulk Lorentz factor of the material in the jet is smaller. These result in a much lower Compton dominance and no observable gamma-ray outburst during interval 2.


Product degradability, sustainability and low-toxicity are driving demand for the synthesis of biobased polymers and surfactants. Here we report the synthesis of novel surface active polymers using cyclic esters (D,L-lactide) and temperature sensitive polyols (D-sorbitol) as renewable building blocks. We highlight the modification of chain length and degree of branching to provide a route to tailoring the properties and application performance of these new compounds. High processing temperatures (≥180 °C) and harsh post-reaction treatments are often needed to remove residual monomer and catalysts and these can become barriers to creating materials based on renewable resources. Here we exploit supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a green solvent to overcome these challenges; significantly reducing reaction temperatures, targeting controlled molecular weights with narrow dispersities and reducing side-product formation. Additionally in the same pot, we can use supercritical extraction to purify the compounds and to efficiently remove unreacted reagents, which could be recovered and recycled. We believe that our approach to the production and purification of these novel branched poly(lactides) is a significant step towards the development of the next generation of biopolymers and green surfactants, combining both the use of bio-sourced raw materials and the potential to use sustainable, low energy processes and techniques.


With the popularization of television crime shows that focus heavily on forensic science, such as CSI and its spin-offs, concerns about a new threat to jury trials have emerged in recent years. Dubbed the "CSI effect," this phenomenon has reportedly come to influence the way jurors perceive forensic evidence at trials based on the way forensic evidence is presented on television. While the CSI effect has been the topic of much discussion throughout the popular press, the CSI effect has seldom been empirically tested. In this study, we present a selection of media accounts as well as criminological and legal literature that provides a review of the current state of the CSI effect. Additionally, we present the findings of a survey of 60 jurors from five malicious wounding cases on the influence of viewing CSI on jury decision-making. Using a logistic regression model, we found that belief in the accuracy of the scientific methods used on CSI was significantly related to juror verdicts.


Concrete which placed in an aggressive environment has a great chance to suffer from damage especially for concrete put in the marine environment. In this situation, damage process in concrete is mainly caused by chloride ingress. The chloride penetrates into the concrete by various mechanisms. For concrete submerged in seawater, the chloride solution penetrates into the concrete trough diffusion mechanism and cause damage over the time. However, in real life, reinforced concrete structure mostly placed in the partially saturated area and subjected to the repeated actions of the wetting and drying cycle. This condition makes the concrete structures more vulnerable to corrosion than structures in a fully saturated condition. Therefore, this study investigates the changes in concrete microstructures condition due to repeated actions of wetting and drying. The samples were exposed by 5% NaCl solution through the different configuration of wet and dry duration. The microstructural condition was observed by several methods such as XRF, SEM and EDX analysis. Major constituent phases of concrete and the differences in their distribution due to different duration of wet and dry were observed in this study. Finally, from the investigation, it was found that there were noticeable differences in chloride and magnesium percentage in the samples. This result acts as evidence that the duration of wet and dry can affect the formation of particular compounds such as chloroaluminate, quartz, brucite, and dolomite in the samples which plays roles in the damage process of concrete.


This essay is a response to Ian Ayres's, "Regulating Opt-Out: An Economic Theory of Altering Rules," 121 Yale L.J. 2032 (2012). Ayres identifies an important question: How does the law decide when parties have opted-out of a contractual default? Unfortunately, his article tells only half of the story about such altering rules. Ayres cares about rules designed to instruct parties on how to get the terms that they want. By focusing on such rules he ignores altering rules designed instead to interpret the nonlegal meaning of the parties' acts or agreement. This limited vision is characteristic of economic approaches to contract law. Valuable as they are for identifying the incentives, intended or unintended, that legal rules create, they tend to overlook other functions of contract law. The essay develops these points by applying the interpretation-construction distinction to Ayres's theory. It distinguishes between two categories of altering rules, "juristic" and "hermeneutic." Juristic altering rules are designed to help parties get the legal outcomes they want, though as Ayres points out, such rules also might attempt to slow parties with extra transaction costs. Hermeneutic altering rules condition legal change on the nonlegal meanings of what the parties say and do. Their application therefore requires a broader form of interpretation. The essay identifies the connections between each type of rule and more general principles and purposes of contract law. And it argues that attention to hermeneutic altering rules can fill in some of the gaps in Ayres's account, such as explaining why juristic altering rules often specify sufficient but non-necessary means of effecting a legal change.


This thesis was aimed at verifying the role of the superior colliculus (SC) in human spatial orienting. To do so, subjects performed two experimental tasks that have been shown to involve SC's activation in animals, that is a multisensory integration task (Experiment 1 and 2) and a visual target selection task (Experiment 3). To investigate this topic in humans, we took advantage of neurophysiological finding revealing that retinal S-cones do not send projections to the collicular and magnocellular pathway. In the Experiment 1, subjects performed a simple reaction-time task in which they were required to respond as quickly as possible to any sensory stimulus (visual, auditory or bimodal audio-visual). The visual stimulus could be an S-cone stimulus (invisible to the collicular and magnocellular pathway) or a long wavelength stimulus (visible to the SC). Results showed that when using S-cone stimuli, RTs distribution was simply explained by probability summation, indicating that the redundant auditory and visual channels are independent. Conversely, with red long-wavelength stimuli, visible to the SC, the RTs distribution was related to nonlinear neural summation, which constitutes evidence of integration of different sensory information.
We also demonstrate that when AV stimuli were presented at fixation, so that the spatial orienting component of the task was reduced, neural summation was possible regardless of stimulus color. Together, these findings provide support for a pivotal role of the SC in mediating multisensory spatial integration in humans, when behavior involves spatial orienting responses.
Since previous studies have shown an anatomical asymmetry of fibres projecting to the SC from the hemiretinas, the Experiment 2 was aimed at investigating temporo-nasal asymmetry in multisensory integration. To do so, subjects performed monocularly the same task shown in the Experiment 1. When spatially coincident audio-visual stimuli were visible to the SC (i.e. red stimuli), the RTE depended on a neural coactivation mechanism, suggesting an integration of multisensory information. When using stimuli invisible to the SC (i.e. purple stimuli), the RTE depended only on a simple statistical facilitation effect, in which the two sensory stimuli were processed by independent channels. Finally, we demonstrate that the multisensory integration effect was stronger for stimuli presented to the temporal hemifield than to the nasal hemifield. Taken together, these findings suggested that multisensory stimulation can be differentially effective depending on specific stimulus parameters.
The Experiment 3 was aimed at verifying the role of the SC in target selection by using a color-oddity search task, comprising stimuli either visible or invisible to the collicular and magnocellular pathways. Subjects were required to make a saccade toward a target that could be presented alone or with three distractors of another color (either S-cone or long-wavelength). When using S-cone distractors, invisible to the SC, localization errors were similar to those observed in the distractor-free condition. Conversely, with long-wavelength distractors, visible to the SC, saccadic localization error and variability were significantly greater than in either the distractor-free condition or the S-cone distractors condition. Our results clearly indicate that the SC plays a direct role in visual target selection in humans.
Overall, our results indicate that the SC plays an important role in mediating spatial orienting responses both when required covert (Experiments 1 and 2) and overt orienting (Experiment 3).


The Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (OSETI) is based on the premise that there are ETIs within our galaxy which are targeting star systems like our own with free-space beams. Upon these beams will ride attention- getting beacon signals and wideband data channels. Perhaps the wideband channels form part of a Galactic Information Superhighway, a Galactic Internet to which we are presently oblivious. The Columbus Optical SETI Observatory described in this paper is intended to be a prototype observatory which might lead to a new renaissance in both optical SETI and optical astronomy. It is hoped that the observatory design will be emulated by both the professional and amateur communities. The modern-day OSETI observatory is one that is more affordable than ever. With the aid of reasonably priced automatic telescopes, low-cost PCs, software and signal processing boards, Optical SETI can become accessible to all nations, professional scientific groups, amateur astronomy societies and even individuals.


A major part of the focus on human produced CO2 as the cause of global warming is the claimed increase in atmospheric levels from pre-industrial CO2 to the present. Ice cores provide the historic record and data collected at Mauna Loa the recent record. Both records are drastically modified to produce a smooth apparently continuous curve. This was apparently necessary to confirm the evidence from many 19 century measures that pre-industrial levels were approximately 270 ppm. These records were adjusted and selected, but a rigorous study of the data confirms that CO2 levels are generally higher and vary considerably both daily and annually.


The applicability of machine learning-based analysis in the field of biomedical field has been very beneficial in determining the biological mechanism and validation for a wide range of biological scenarios. This approach is also gaining momentum in various stem cells research activities, specifically for stem cells characterization and differentiation pattern. The adoption of similar computational approaches to study and assess biosafety and bioefficacy risks of stem cells for clinical application is the next progression. In particular where tumorigenicity has been one of the major concerns in stem cells therapy. There are many factors influencing tumorigenicity in stem cells which may be difficult to capture under conventional laboratory settings. In addition, given the possible multifactorial etiology of tumorigenicity, defining a one-size-fits-all strategy to test such risk in stem cells might not be feasible and may compromise stem cells safety and effectiveness in therapy. Given the increase in biological datasets (which is no longer limited to genomic data) and the advancement of health informatics powered by state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, there exists a potential for practical application in biosafety and bioefficacy of stem cells therapy. Here, we identified relevant machine learning approaches and suggested protocols intended for stem cells research focusing on the possibility of its usage for stem cells biosafety and bioefficacy assessment. Ultimately, generating models that may assist healthcare professionals to make a better-informed decision in stem cell therapy.


Comprehensive understanding of water and nutrient transport in the rhizosphere is important because water use is a major societal and environmental concern. Studying these processes has been slow, however, due to historical neglect of belowground research and the fact that soil is not transparent to many research tools. We investigated two independent and noninvasive methods that have the potential to expand our knowledge of root water uptake. The magnetic resonance imaging technique was used to simultaneously generate three‐ and two‐dimensional, high‐resolution images of a seedling's root system and the soil water content distribution in the rhizosphere of sandy soils. A quantitative measurement of soil moisture in the rhizosphere and specifically at the root–soil interface was applied, taking into account the cylindrical nature of roots and the radial water flow toward root surfaces. This protocol enabled a dynamic study of water depletion patterns around a single root as a result of root water uptake. In the second method, a pliable‐tip microtensiometer (PTMT) was introduced as a reliable tool to measure soil water pressure heads in a small volume of sandy soil. A set of PTMTs combined with a growth chamber, which allows roots to grow in a predetermined location, was used to measure the water status at the soil–root interface and in the bulk soil with time.


With the increased popularity of mobile multimedia services, efficient and robust video multicast strategies are of critical importance. Cooperative communications has been shown to improve the robustness and the data rates for point-to-point transmission. In this paper, a two-hop cooperative transmission scheme for multicast in infrastructure-based networks is used, where multiple relays forward the data simultaneously using randomized distributed space time codes (RDSTC). This randomized cooperative transmission is further integrated with layered video coding and packet level forward error correction (FEC) to enable efficient and robust video multicast. Three different schemes are proposed to find the system operating parameters based on the availability of the channel information at the source station: RDSTC with full channel information, RDSTC with limited channel information, and RDSTC with node count. The performance of these three schemes are compared with rate adaptive direct transmission and conventional multicast that does not use rate adaptation. The results show that while rate-adaptive direct transmission provides better video quality than conventional multicast, all three proposed randomized cooperative schemes outperform both strategies significantly as long as the network has enough nodes. Furthermore, the performance gap between RDSTC with full channel information and RDSTC with limited channel information or node count is relatively small, indicating the robustness of the proposed cooperative multicast system using RDSTC.


What values do undergraduates adopt and internalize as a result of their college experiences at a Catholic Jesuit college/university?  In an attempt to answer this question, the authors chose 21 exemplary graduates from 2000-2007 at a Catholic, Jesuit college in the northeastern part of the United States and conducted a ten question intensive interview with each of them.  After transcribing and coding the interviews, it was discovered that these graduates had a strong grasp of such Jesuit ideals as "men and women for others," "educating the whole person," " cura personalis ," and " magis, " but apparently a weaker grasp of the more recent Jesuit emphasis on diversity and social justice.  Faculty and members of the campus ministry staff had a strong influence on helping these graduates to develop a better sense of Jesuit values.  Campus ministry activities, service and immersion trips, and research with faculty helped those interviewed to learn and practice Jesuit values.


Correlations between liveweight gains and temperament during feedlotting (Voisinet et al., 1997) may be an indication that cattle of different temperament suffer different degrees of stress. This paper describes the effect of grouping into feedlot pens, cattle of good, poor and mixed (some good and some poor) temperament on blood parameters that are indicators of stress (Bennett et al., 1989).

Animal production for a consuming world : proceedings of 9th Congress of the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies [AAAP] and 23rd Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production [ASAP] and 17th Annual Symposium of the University of Sydney, Dairy Research Foundation, [DRF]. 2-7 July 2000, Sydney, Australia.


Southern pine beetle (SPB; Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman), a native insect that has historically affected pine ecosystems in the southeastern U.S., has recently expanded northward causing extensive tree mortality in pitch pine (Pinus rigida) and pitch pine-oak (Quercus spp.) forests across much of eastern Long Island, NY. Given the historic lack of SPB within these fire-dependent ecosystems, little is known regarding its impacts to forest composition, forest structure, or fuel loading. This study examined the short-term effects of SPB-induced tree mortality on the structure, composition, and fuel loading of pitch pine and pitch pine-oak communities to inform management recommendations and projections of future forest conditions and fire hazard. Overstory pine basal area declined following SPB infestation and infestation suppression management, particularly in pitch pine forests. These treatments did not impact the density or composition of seedlings and saplings, with hardwood species, including scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia), and black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), making up the majority of species in this layer and pine representing <6% of stems. Likelihood of herbivory was influenced partly by species, with pitch pine less likely to be browsed than white oak and scarlet oak. SPB infestation significantly increased the snag component of both forest types, which largely became downed coarse woody debris (CWD) following suppression management. Treatments did not significantly influence understory species assemblages. Understory communities in pitch pine stands were characterized by Vaccinium angustifolium prior to SPB or suppression management, with these disturbances leading to an increase in the diversity of understory communities. In contrast, infestation decreased variation in understory species assemblages in pine-oak forests and encouraged regeneration of pitch pine and scarlet oak, while suppression increased diversity largely through increases in disturbanceadapted species, such as Smilax rotundifolia. SPB infestation decreased the biomass of live fuels and subsequently increased loading of dead fuels in both forest cover types. Suppression management felled preexisting and SPB-generated snags, especially in pitch pine forests, transforming vertical fuels into horizontal CWD. Collectively, results indicate SPB could functionally eliminate pitch pine without additional management intervention to maintain this species. Suppression efforts to reduce SPB impacts may accelerate succession towards hardwood dominance, particularly in pine-oak stand, leading to dramatic shifts in forest conditions across the Long Island Pine Barrens. SPB and suppression management significantly increase dead fuel loading and felling of snags during suppression served to decrease the density of ladder fuels effectively decreasing the risk of crowning. However, heavy CWD loading may also promote volatile fire behavior. Therefore, forest managers must weigh the expected potential impacts of SPB relative to changes to fuel structure and composition generated by suppression management activities. Our results demonstrate short-term effects of SPB and suppression management. Given the limited experience with SPB in these forests and the results of this study, further research on fire behavior effects and patterns of stand development over the long-term are needed.


Abstract To assess the usefulness of morphologic characters in identifying deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), white-footed mice (P. leucopus) and cotton mice (P. gossypinus) in sympatry, cranial and external measurements were recorded for two groups of these rodents. Each group contained individuals of the three species. One assemblage represented known individuals (species identifications verified using electrophoretic techniques) and the other unknowns (species identification not verified; test group). With the known group, we developed a system of identification based on selected morphologic features. These features were used to determine the identification of individuals in the test group. Following identification, individuals identified in the test group were confirmed using electrophoretic procedures. Two characters (greatest length of skull and length of hindfoot) separated 100% and 91% of P. gossypinus in the known group and 94.6% and 98% in the test group, respectively. A single external metric (tail length/total length) correctly classified 95% of P. maniculatus in both the known and test groups. A suite of four cranial (greatest length of skull, length of nasal, post-palatal length and length of diastema) and one external character (length of tail) correctly classified all of the individuals in the initial group and 90%, 91% and 100% of P. maniculatus, P. leucopus and P. gossypinus, respectively, in the test group. We concluded that morphologic characters can be used to accurately detect species of Peromyscus in sympatry.


Growing peatlands are an important long-term carbon (C) sink and thus play a key role in the global C cycle. Vast surfaces of northern peatlands have been mined for peat and are currently abandoned. In these surfaces, secondary vegetation succession takes place, leading to Sphagnum- dominated communities. It is unclear if these regenerating cutover bogs accumulate C, and in particular if the successful re-establishment of Sphagnum mosses suffices to infer that the C sequestration function has been restored. We studied the vegetation and C dynamics in a cutover bog in the Swiss Jura Mountains at three stages of regeneration (A: 29 years of regeneration, B: 42 years, and C: 51 years - ages derived from tree rings counts) and estimated the Net Ecosystem Exchange


The Guidance Document is intended to provide guidance for notifiers and authorities in the context of the review of plant protection products (PPPs) and their active substances under Regulation (EC) 1107/2009. The scientific opinion on the science behind the development of a risk assessment of plant protection products on bees (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees) (EFSA Panel on Plant Protection Poducts and their Residues (PPR), 2012a) provided the scientific basis for the development of the Guidance Document. Specific Protection Goals were agreed in consultation with the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. The Guidance Document suggests a tiered risk assessment scheme with a simple and cost-effective first tier to more complex higher tier studies under field conditions. Each of the tiers will have to ensure that the appropriate level of protection is achieved.


Female imprisonment has increased significantly in recent years in Scotland and internationally. This briefing paper considers possible explanations for this increasing trend. The authors investigated whether the growth in female imprisonment is attributed to more women getting involved in crime, more serious crimes being committed by women or changes in prosecution and sentencing patterns. The analyses presented here focus on women only, and no comparisons with trends for male offenders were made.


Pervasive eye-based interaction refers to the vision of eye-based interaction becoming ubiquitously usable in everyday life, e. g. across multiple displays in the environment. While current head-mounted eye trackers work well for interaction with displays at similar distances, the scene camera often fails to cover both remote and close proximity displays, e. g. a public display on a wall and a handheld portable device. In this paper we describe an approach that allows for robust detection and gaze mapping across multiple such displays. Our approach uses an additional scene camera to extend the viewing and gaze mapping area of the eye tracker and automatically switches between both cameras depending on the display in view. Results from a pilot study show that our system achieves a similar gaze estimation accuracy to a single-camera system while at the same time increasing usability.


By the 1920s lobbying in the United States was so pervasive that many congressman and commentators feared that it was an "invisible government" unduly influencing legislation and distorting democracy. Of particular concern was a new style of lobbying that used recent psychological research and mass media to shape public opinion and motivate voters to pressure legislators to act in their favor. Many viewed "patriotic" societies as the most common — and most invidious — practitioners of these techniques. These groups, generally formed by small numbers of wealthy people, vociferously advocated for the American form of government which they defined as one with a very limited central government and strong states' rights. Consistent with this view, they claimed that many federal programs and policies were unconstitutional and opposed the high taxes that funded them.
This Article describes the 1935–1936 tax activities of two such organizations — the Sentinels of the Republic and the American Liberty League. These two groups helped delineate the parameters of politically-possible tax laws and policies. They did so by bombarding the public with a standard conservative message that high taxes endanger American democracy. Their method of conveying this message, however, was anything but standard. They flooded the mass media with often biased (mis)information that did not clearly specify the source of the information. Frequently they used entertaining, attention-catching gimmicks and rhetoric to do so.
Today, some conservative groups use similar methods to deliver similar messages with the same goal of shaping public opinion and actions. There are other similarities between then and now. First, the eras share many general conditions: economic uncertainty, divisive politics, and large social upheavals. In both eras the lobbying occur(ed) in the context of presidential elections in which actual results overturned widely held political expectations. In both eras tax legislation is/was a priority and very much contested. Additionally, in both periods, new forms of mass communications allowed wider and more effective dissemination of (mis)information. Back then it was radio and film; now it is the internet and social media. Then and now, individuals and groups more-or-less anonymously contribute(d) large sums of money to be used in often subtle or invisible ways to influence the public. Given these similarities, it is not surprising that in both eras concern about lobbying's deleterious effects on the democratic process increased.


Background: Preterm infants spend a considerable amount of time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)braving the overwhelming stimuli. The sick preterm infants are usually put on ventilator support for their respiratory problems. Ventilation is usually invasive and extremely stressful for these infants. Preterm infants, on ventilation especially on mechanical ventilation may manifest physiological instability. Disorganized sleep states, disruption of the behavioral states/organization and stress may also result in response to the external stimuli exerted due to use of ventilation. Proper positioning may help in providing the necessary supportive care required for these infants. Methodology: A randomized trial using crossover design will be conducted. A sample size of 30 preterm infants who are admitted to the NICU and who are placed on mechanical ventilation will be assessed for eligibility to be included in the study. The parent(s) of the preterm infants will be approached for informed proxy consent. To achieve an equal distribution of prone-then-supine (P-S) and the supinethen- prone (S-P) position sequence, permuted block randomization will be performed. After the preterm infants are recruited to the study, a study assistant, not involved in the outcome assessment will allocate the preterm infant(s) to either the supine or prone positions after the opening a sealed opaque envelope having the allocation sequence. Outcome measures (behavioral states/organization and stress responses) will be assessed at the baseline i.e., before providing a particular position, during the entire period of supine positioning and during the entire period of prone positioning.


VATs flourish in complex, clearly defined markets. New York discovered this when it converted its single-stage retail sales tax on hotel rooms, the Hotel Room Occupancy Tax (HROT), into a multi-stage European-style VAT. The HROT VAT-conversion demonstrates that (a) in a clearly defined market where (b) a single stage tax is imposed on (c) only part of a complex supply chain that (d) losses attributable to supply-chain-fragmentation can be remedied by moving to a multi-stage VAT. The Medical Devices Excise Tax (MDET) imposes as 2.3% excise tax on the sale by manufacturers, producers or importers of clearly identified medical devises under §4191 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The MDET is a single stage transaction tax levied on one segment of complex supply chain in a clearly defined market. The major difference between MDET and (the former) HROT is that MDET is a single-stage manufacturers tax and the HROT a single stage retail tax. The MDET and HROT simply reside at opposite ends of problematical supply chains. The MDET would benefit from being recast as a market-specific VAT. This paper explains why, and how this can be achieved. The Proposed Regulations represent a significant compromise in what Treasury perceived to be the major MTEC issue – how should the retail exemption be drafted? There are at least four other major issues that need to be resolved before regulations are finalized, but on this point there is a compromise. The four most troubling unanswered questions in the proposed regulations are: (1) Double taxation. Do the operation of the "further manufacturing" rules and the high incidence of kits, dual-purpose devices, and combination products in the medical device market create a situation where double taxation is likely? (2) Related party pricing. Will the traditional constructive price rules apply in the medical devices area? Given the high incidence of related party transactions in the medical device market, and the probability that structured transactions among related parties may be designed by taxpayers to reduce exposure to the MDET, this issue has high revenue impact for the government. (3) Title passage. How should the title passage rules of Chapter 32 be incorporated into the MDET? It seems unlikely that critical value added services and software will be reached if this rule remains in place for the MDET. (4) Objective valuation. Can the MDET depart from the objective valuation standard that is utilized in the manufacturers excise taxes of Chapter 32? Can subjective valuation be used instead?


Abstract. From the last decade, the multi-scale image segmentation is getting a particular interest and practically being used for object-based image analysis. In this study, we have addressed the issues on multi-scale image segmentation, especially, in improving the performances for validity of merging and variety of derived region's shape. Firstly, we have introduced constraints on the application of spectral criterion which could suppress excessive merging between dissimilar regions. Secondly, we have extended the evaluation for smoothness criterion by modifying the definition on the extent of the object, which was brought for controlling the shape's diversity. Thirdly, we have developed new shape criterion called aspect ratio. This criterion helps to improve the reproducibility on the shape of object to be matched to the actual objectives of interest. This criterion provides constraint on the aspect ratio in the bounding box of object by keeping properties controlled with conventional shape criteria. These improvements and extensions lead to more accurate, flexible, and diverse segmentation results according to the shape characteristics of the target of interest. Furthermore, we also investigated a technique for quantitative and automatic parameterization in multi-scale image segmentation. This approach is achieved by comparing segmentation result with training area specified in advance by considering the maximization of the average area in derived objects or satisfying the evaluation index called F-measure. Thus, it has been possible to automate the parameterization that suited the objectives especially in the view point of shape's reproducibility.


The United States and United Kingdom have different approaches to quarantine law that reflect each country's unique historical context and constitutional structure. Under the Tudors, England vested quarantine authority in the monarch, with its subsequent exercise conducted by the military. As the constitutional structure changed, the manner in which quarantine was given effect subtly shifted, leading to constitutional reforms. Authorities transferred first to the Privy Council and, subsequently, to Parliament, where commercial interests successfully lobbied them out of existence. By the end of the 19th Century, quarantine authorities had been pushed down to the local port authorities. In the United States, in contrast, the opposite trajectory took place: what began as an local port authority gradually evolved into state measures, which continued to emphasize the intensely local nature of the rules governing cordon sanitaire and maritime quarantine. Direct federal attack via the Commerce Clause, however, was avoided via the Spending Clause. Current arguments place the U.S. response to both pandemic disease and biological weapons within an Article II realm, giving rise to significant concerns about shifting constitutional norms.


Restitution following mass dispossession is often considered both ideal and impossible. Why? This article identifies two previously unnamed paradoxes that undermine the possibility of restitution. First, both dispossession and restitution depend on the social construction of rights-worthiness. Over time, people once considered unworthy of property rights 'become' worthy of them. However, time also corrodes the practicality and moral weight of restitution claims. By the time the dispossessed 'become' worthy of property rights, restitution claims are no longer practically or morally viable. This is the time-unworthiness paradox.Second, restitution claims are undermined by the concept of collective responsibility. People are sometimes dispossessed because collective responsibility is unjustly imposed on them for wrongs committed by a few members of a group. But restitution may require the dispossession of innocent current occupiers of land – thus imposing a type of collective responsibility on them. Therefore, restitution can be seen as committing the very wrong it purports to right. This is the collective responsibility paradox. Both paradoxes can be overcome, but only if we recognize the rights-worthiness of others before time fatally corrodes the viability of restitution. We must also draw a careful distinction between the imposition of collective rights-unworthiness, which results in the mass dispossession of others, and the voluntary acceptance of collective responsibility, which results in the restitution of others.After developing these ideas, the article examines them in the context of a particularly difficult and intractable case of dispossession and restitution. It draws upon interviews with restitution claimants whose stories reveal the paradoxes of restitution.


In the natural habitat of our ancestors, physical activity was not a preventive intervention but a matter of survival. In this hostile environment with scarce food and ubiquitous dangers, human genes were selected to optimize aerobic metabolic pathways and conserve energy for potential future famines.1 Cardiac and vascular functions were continuously challenged by intermittent bouts of high-intensity physical activity and adapted to meet the metabolic demands of the working skeletal muscle under these conditions. When speaking about molecular cardiovascular effects of exercise, we should keep in mind that most of the changes from baseline are probably a return to normal values. The statistical average of physical activity in Western societies is so much below the levels normal for our genetic background that sedentary lifestyle in combination with excess food intake has surpassed smoking as the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States.2 Physical activity has been shown to have beneficial effects on glucose metabolism, skeletal muscle function, ventilator muscle strength, bone stability, locomotor coordination, psychological well-being, and other organ functions. However, in the context of this review, we will focus entirely on important molecular effects on the cardiovascular system. The aim of this review is to provide a bird's-eye view on what is known and unknown about the physiological and biochemical mechanisms involved in mediating exercise-induced cardiovascular effects. The resulting map is surprisingly detailed in some areas (ie, endothelial function), whereas other areas, such as direct cardiac training effects in heart failure, are still incompletely understood. For practical purposes, we have decided to use primarily an anatomic approach to present key data on exercise effects on cardiac and vascular function. For the cardiac effects, the left ventricle and the cardiac valves will be described separately; for the vascular effects, we will follow the arterial vascular tree, addressing changes in the aorta, the large conduit arteries, the resistance vessels, and the microcirculation before turning our attention toward the venous and the pulmonary circulation (Figure 1). Cardiac Effects of Exercise


Woody plant cover and species composition play an important role in defining the type and function of savanna ecosystems. Approximately 2000 sites in the Kruger National Park (KNP) were surveyed by F.J. Venter over a period from 1985 to 1989, recording vegetation, soil and topological characteristics. At each of these sites (approximately 20 m × 20 m each), woody vegetation cover and species were recorded using a rapid, Braun-Blanquet classification for three height classes: shrub (0.75 m – 2.50 m), brush (2.50 m – 5.50 m) and tree (> 5.50 m). The objective of this study was to re-analyse the vegetation component of the field data, with a specific focus to provide a spatially explicit, height-differentiated, benchmark dataset in terms of species occurrence, species richness and structural canopy cover. Overall, 145 different woody species were recorded in the dataset out of the 458 species documented to occur in the park. The dataset describes a woody layer dominated by a relatively small number of widely occurring species, as 24 of the most common woody species accounted for all woody species found on over 80% of all sites. The less common woody species (101) were each recorded on 20 sites or less. Species richness varied from 12 to 1 species per site. Structural canopy cover averaged 9.34%, 8.16% and 2.89% for shrub, brush and tree cover, respectively. The dataset provides a useful benchmark for woody species distribution in KNP and can be used to explore woody species and height class distributions, as well as comparison with more recent or future woody vegetation surveys. Conservation implications: The results provided evidence that large-scale, woody vegetation surveys conducted along roads offer useful ecosystem level information. However, such an approach fails to pick up less common species. The data presented here provided a useful snapshot of KNP woody vegetation structure and composition and could provide excellent opportunities for spatio-temporal comparisons.


In September 2010, Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen (the Netherlands) started a 20-week international program titled GameOn! The object of this program is for students to develop serious games, that aim to help the youth become aware of social and/or health related issues. Since the start of GameOn! students have worked on a number of different projects, all related to education through the use of interactive media. Topics were malaria, hiv/aids and personal hygiene. In all these projects, specific knowledge about the target region, domain knowledge of the subject of the game, and the target group was brought in by specialists and local representatives . The lessons drawn, in development and production, from these projects are: 1. The importance of an agile game development method that allows for regular testing, feedback moments and changes. 2. The importance of a user/player centred design and the context of playful experiences. 3. Cultural awareness in game design and development: consider and adapt to the values and beliefs of the target audience. 4. Collaboration and co-creation with local representatives in game development adds to game acceptance. 5. A very positive attitude towards the use of computers in education in the targeted areas. Addressing and incorporating these aspects into projects may contribute in more effective and adequate (social) health games or, in a broader sense, more effective interactive media applications aimed at facilitating educational learning.


A group of 12 patients, previously submitted to atrial correction of the transposition of the great vessels, were studied through stress test with direct metabolimetry and Holter to assess aerobic functional capacity and its relationship with conduction disturbances. The results were compared with those obtained with a control group of 23 non athletic healthy children. All the patients showed amputation of their heart rates on effort, though this parameter and the oxygen consumption were normal at low work load levels. The VO2 at anaerobic threshold, the maximum VO2, and the maximum work load were also decreased in most of the patients. Holter studies demonstrated sick sinus syndrome in nine of them. Aerobic functional capacity was reduced in most of the patients with atrial correction of the transposition of the great vessels. The amputation of the heart rate on effort is a common finding though its relationship with the decrease of the aerobic functional capacity in these patients is limited. Finally, the stress test is probably more sensible than Holter for the detection of slight degrees of sinus disfunction.


One layer kenaf core particleboard was treated with one of the advanced fire retardants, Dricon® . The percentage of 8 % (w/w) and 12 % (w/w) of Dricon® were incorporated into three different board densities (350 kg/m3, 450 kg/m3 and 550 kg/m3) which were fabricated with three resin loadings (w/w) of urea formaldehyde (8%, 10% and 12%). Each of treated and untreated particleboard has been tested with blow torch and fire propagation tests. The fire propagation test was evaluated by using performance index (I), which indicates the level of heat release of the tested boards. Blow torch test resulted the decreasing of sample's weight loss of the Dricon®'s sample than the control samples. Fire propagation test indicated lower value of performances index or lower heat release of the treated samples compared with the untreated ones.


This book provides a concise but rigorous appraisal about the future of nuclear power and the presumed nuclear renaissance. It does so by assessing the technical, economic, environmental, political, and social risks related to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mills and mines to nuclear reactors and spent fuel storage facilities. In each case, the book argues that the costs of nuclear power significantly outweigh its benefits. It concludes by calling for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency as a better path towards an affordable, secure, and socially acceptable future.

The prospect of a global nuclear renaissance could change the way that energy is produced and used the world over. Sovacool takes a hard look at who would benefit — mostly energy companies and manufacturers — and who would suffer — mostly taxpayers, those living near nuclear facilities, and electricity customers. This book is a must-read for anyone even remotely concerned about a sustainable energy future, and also for those with a specific interest in modern nuclear power plants.


Abstract An investigation of GaN-HEMT based switching stages in hybrid switching amplifiers (HSA) for wide-bandwidth supply modulation of RF power amplifiers is presented. The HSA is designed for maximum 15 V supply voltage, 1 A supply current and 10 MHz bandwidth. GaN-HEMT switch designs with alternative gate drive circuitry are investigated with regard to power, efficiency and linearity under different load conditions using simulations and measurements of the fabricated circuits. The full HSA showed an efficiency of 49.7% for a WCDMA envelope. A modified switching stage with improved gate-drive circuitry shows 85% efficiency in a 15 V buck-converter test-circuit for a 10 V conversion at 1 MHz over a 15 Ω load.


We analyse the relationships between subjective wellbeing (SWB), wages and internal migration. Our study addresses whether people make (revealed preference) location decisions based on SWB and/or wage prospects. We present both a theoretical intertemporal location choice model and empirical analyses using the Australian longitudinal HILDA dataset. Our theory predicts considerable heterogeneity in location choices for individuals at different life stages depending on their individual characteristics, including their rate of time preference. We find a significant and sustained uplift in SWB for migrants, which holds across a range of sub-samples. By contrast, wage responses are muted albeit with heterogeneity across groups. Our theory and results show that migration decisions are considered within a life-cycle context. The estimated pronounced upturn in SWB for migrants substantiates the usefulness of SWB both as a concept for policy-makers to target and for researchers to incorporate in their studies.


The paper presents results of bend tests at elevated temperatures of aluminium alloy EN AC-44200 (AlSi12) based composite materials reinforced with aluminium oxide particles. The examined materials were manufactured by squeeze casting. Preforms made of Al 2 O 3 particles, with volumetric fraction 10, 20, 30 and 40 vol.% of particles joined with sodium silicate bridges were used as reinforcement. The preforms were characterised by open porosity ensuring proper infiltration with the EN AC-44200 (AlSi12) liquid alloy. The largest bending strength was found for the materials containing 40 vol.% of reinforcing ceramic particles, tested at ambient temperature. At increased test temperature, bending strength R g of composites decreased in average by 30 to 50 MPa per 100°C of temperature increase. Temperature increase did not significantly affect cracking of the materials. Cracks propagated mainly along the interfaces particle/matrix, with no effect of the particles falling-out from fracture surfaces. Direction of cracking can be affected by a small number of agglomerations of particles or of non-reacted binder. In the composites, the particles strongly restrict plastic deformation of the alloy, which leads to creation of brittle fractures. At elevated temperatures, however mainly at 200 and 300°C, larger numbers of broken, fragmented particles was observed in the vicinity of cracks. Fragmentation of particles occurred mainly at tensioned side of the bended specimens, in the materials with smaller fraction of Al 2 O 3 reinforcement, i.e. 10 and 20 vol.%.


•algebra. The research team includes two mathematics educators and a mathematician who collaborate to study the teaching approach and the issues it raises for teaching-learning at university level. We see university mathematics to constitute a community of practice in which the practitioners are those who do mathematics. Such a perspective draws sociohistorically on established practices in doing, learning and teaching mathematics within a university. The paper offers an interpretation of these theoretical perspectives in relation to a first year course on Linear Algebra. We look at how teaching is constructed within the particular setting, with a critical eye on the learners, on learning outcomes and on the tensions experienced by the lecturer in satisfying student needs and mathematical values.


Purpose: Although, a number of initiatives have been taken after the devastating Indian Ocean
tsunami to institutionalise Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), gaps still exist in the Sri Lankan local government sector. Even after 10 years, local governments are still struggling to overcome a number of challenges in relation to making resilience in the built environment. DRR has not yet been properly integrated into the local government system and as a result, pose a significant challenge. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to discover the hindrances for local governments in creating disaster resilient built environment within cities and to propose ways of overcoming the identified limitations.
Design/ methodology/ approach: Fifteen (15) semi-structured interviews were conducted among
experts from Sri Lanka who are involved in disaster management, local governments and built
environment fields of study. The interviews were conducted with the intention of gaining expert
knowledge pertaining to this field of study and the interviews were mainly designed to capture the current practices for; instigating disaster risk reduction initiatives within Sri Lanka, the role of local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environments, associated challenges and ways of overcoming challenges to ensure effective contribution to city resilience.
Findings: Primary data discovered 36 challenges along with some associated sub-challenges. The
challenges were categorised under eight main themes, legal framework; lack of adequate tools,
techniques and guidelines; human resource constraints; funding constraints; weaknesses in the internal systems and processes; weaknesses in the external systems; community engagement; and
other challenges. The paper analysed these challenges in detail and proposes a set of
recommendations to overcome the challenges to create disaster resilient built environments within cities.
Research limitations/ implications: The paper provides a descriptive analysis of how the Sri Lankan local government sector could overcome the underpinning challenges of contributing to disaster resilience in the built environment and no comparative studies were conducted with other tsunami affected regions. Furthermore, the paper analyses partial findings of a broader research, which was aimed at developing a framework to empower local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment.
Originality/ Value: The paper provides an extensive analysis of challenges faced by local
governments in contributing to resilience of its built environment and proposes how these
challenges could be overcome while making a worthwhile contribution to both theory and practise.
Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in policy and practice with respect to bringing
local governments into DRR.


Added sugar is sweetener added to foods during processing or preparation that offers no health benefits to the consumer. The mean U.S. intake of added sugar is ≈16% of total calories; at the highest level of consumption, this value exceeds 35%. In addition, 78% of added sugar typically consumed is refined from C4 plants (e.g., corn and sugar cane) and it follows that the δ13C value of these sweeteners is conspicuously high compared to carbohydrates derived from C3 plants. We first suggested in 2006 the potential for the δ13C of human tissues to indicate corn- and cane-sugar intake for use in a clinical setting. At present, self-reported dietary assessment methods are commonly used to measure added sugar intake, but are subject to underreporting, particularly for sugar-rich foods. If a carbon isotope technique could produce a quantitative indicator of dietary sugar intake, it would be invaluable to the prevention and clinical treatment of chronic diseases associated with excess sugar consumption. Research to date has focused upon testing the correlation between diet as characterized either by bulk food δ13C value or by food composition (e.g., added sugar intake quartile) and the δ13C values of human tissues. Analysis of hair, nail and red blood cells in modern humans with known diet has revealed associations between the δ13C value of bulk diet and the δ13C value of these tissues. With respect to added sugar, the δ13C values of blood serum and fingerstick blood have both been shown to be associated with added sugar intake, even after adjustment for meat intake. Researchers have attempted to isolate specific compounds in blood that are uniquely derived from dietary carbohydrates, such as direct endogenous carbohydrate sources (blood glucose) and specific non-essential amino acids (red blood cell alanine), and have seen strong correlations with added sugar intake. Recognized dietary confounders such as meat/animal products have been addressed using statistical adjustments and a dual-isotope analytical approach that invokes δ15N as a correction factor. Further controlled feeding studies and epidemiological surveys complete with Institutional Review Board approval are needed to establish the sensitivity of δ13C tissue assay as an objective biomarker for added sugar intake.


The first part of this thesis deals with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuel-fired power stations. The GHG emission estimation from fossil fuel power generation industry signifies that emissions from this industry can be significantly reduced by fuel switching and adaption of advanced power generation technologies. In the second part of the thesis, steady-state models of some of the advanced fossil fuel power generation technologies are presented. The impacts of various parameters on the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) overpotentials and outputs are investigated. The detail analyses of operation of the hybrid SOFC-gas turbine (GT) cycle when fuelled with methane and syngas demonstrate that the efficiencies of the cycles with and without anode exhaust recirculation are close, but the specific power of the former is much higher. The parametric analysis of the performance of the hybrid SOFC-GT cycle indicates that increasing the system operating pressure and SOFC operating temperature and fuel utilization factor improves cycle efficiency, but the effects of the increasing SOFC current density and turbine inlet temperature are not favourable. The analysis of the operation of the system when fuelled with a wide range of fuel types demonstrates that the hybrid SOFC-GT cycle efficiency can be between 59% and 75%, depending on the inlet fuel type. Then, the system performance is investigated when methane as a reference fuel is replaced with various species that can be found in the fuel, i.e., H₂, CO₂, CO, and N₂. The results point out that influence of various species can be significant and different for each case. The experimental and numerical analyses of a biodiesel fuelled micro gas turbine indicate that fuel switching from petrodiesel to biodiesel can influence operational parameters of the system. The modeling results of gas turbine-based power plants signify that relatively simple models can predict plant performance with acceptable accuracy. The unique feature of these models is that they are developed based on similar assumptions and run at similar conditions; therefore, their results can be compared. This work demonstrates that, although utilization of fossil fuels for power generation is inevitable, at least in the short- and mid-term future, it is possible and practical to carry out such utilization more efficiently and in an environmentally friendlier manner.


OBJECTIVE--To assess the clinical course of adult patients with corrected transposition of the great arteries without associated anomalies. DESIGN--All patients with corrected transposition of the great arteries without associated anomalies were reviewed with complete clinical and echocardiographic assessment. The complications were evaluated in each decade. SETTING--Tertiary centre with a specific unit dealing with "grown-up" adolescent and adult congenital heart disease, designated as a quaternary centre and a general hospital with a referral centre for "grown-up" congenital heart disease. PATIENTS--18 patients (nine male and nine female) aged 16-61 years followed for 1-30 years (mean 10 years). RESULTS--There were no deaths. Six patients had a worsening ability index during follow up. Complications were: (a) complete heart block in seven, three of whom required pacemaker insertion; (b) significant left atrioventricular valve regurgitation in 50%, appearing only in the third decade (12%), with increasing frequency thereafter. Infective endocarditis was responsible for increasing left atrioventricular valve regurgitation in only one patient; (c) supraventricular arrhythmia appeared in the fifth decade, and occurred in all patients over the age of 60 years. One patient aged 61 had recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia; and (d) congestive heart failure developed only after 50 years in 66%. One patient had severe left atrioventricular valve regurgitation; the function of the systemic ventricle was only moderately reduced in the other three. Three of the nine women had seven uneventful pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS--Patients with corrected transposition of the great arteries without associated defects may remain undiagnosed until adult life. Symptoms occur rarely before the fourth and fifth decades, when rhythm disturbance, left atrioventricular valve regurgitation, and moderately impaired systemic ventricular function cause congestive cardiac failure. The role of pacemaker insertion or surgery for left atrioventricular valve regurgitation needs further assessment.


Quantifying uncertainties of precipitation estimation, especially in extreme events, could benefit early warning of water-related hazards like flash floods and landslides. Rain gauges, weather radars, and satellites are three mainstream data sources used in measuring precipitation but have their own inherent advantages and deficiencies. With a focus on extremes, the overarching goal of this study is to cross-examine the similarities and differences of three state-of-the-art independent products (Muti-Radar Muti-Sensor Quantitative Precipitation Estimates, MRMS; National Center for Environmental Prediction gridded gauge-only hourly precipitation product, NCEP; Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM, IMERG), with both traditional metrics and the Multiplicative Triple Collection (MTC) method during Hurricane Harvey and multiple Tropical Cyclones. The results reveal that: (a) the consistency of cross-examination results against traditional metrics approves the applicability of MTC in extreme events; (b) the consistency of cross-events of MTC evaluation results also suggests its robustness across individual storms; (c) all products demonstrate their capacity of capturing the spatial and temporal variability of the storm structures while also magnifying respective inherent deficiencies; (d) NCEP and IMERG likely underestimate while MRMS overestimates the storm total accumulation, especially for the 500-year return Hurricane Harvey; (e) both NCEP and IMERG underestimate extreme rainrates (>= 90 mm/h) likely due to device insensitivity or saturation while MRMS maintains robust across the rainrate range; (g) all three show inherent deficiencies in capturing the storm core of Harvey possibly due to device malfunctions with the NCEP gauges, relative low spatiotemporal resolution of IMERG, and the unusual "hot" MRMS radar signals. Given the unknown ground reference assumption of MTC, this study suggests that MRMS has the best overall performance. The similarities, differences, advantages, and deficiencies revealed in this study could guide the users for emergency response and motivate the community not only to improve the respective sensor/algorithm but also innovate multidata merging methods for one best possible product, specifically suitable for extreme storm events.


This paper explores the transitions that a group of students, admitted from further education colleges as part of broader widening access initiative at a Scottish research-intensive university, made across the lifetime of their degrees. It investigates how they negotiate their learning careers beyond the first year, and how they (re)define their approaches to independent learning as they progress to the later years of their courses. Evidence is drawn from 20 students who were interviewed during each of their three or four years of study to provide a longitudinal account of their experiences of engagement and participation at the university. We draw attention to three ways in which the students made transitions across the course of their degrees: to increased knowledge of the conventions of academic writing; to enhanced critical skills; and to practical strategies to prioritise learning.


A three-species food chain model with stage-structure and harvesting is proposed and analyzed, at which the maturation delay is modeled as a distributed for each species, to allow for the possibility that individuals may take different amounts of time to mature. It is assumed in the model that immature predator (immature top predator) do not have the ability to feed on prey (predator), and the mature predator (mature top predator) do not feed on immature prey (immature predator). Mathematical analysis of the model with regard to positivity of solutions, permanence and global stability are analyzed. By using comparison arguments, some sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the permanence of the model. Also, by the mean of an iterative technique, we established sufficient conditions for the global attractivity of the boundary equilibria and the positive equilibrium.


Audio Branding is a concise, practical guide on the influential world of audio branding - what it is, why it's important, and how it can be used to enhance a brand. Consider the familiar tune of a branded ringtone, the bubbly sounds of Skype, and even the chosen sound bite for a branded car unlocking as the driver presses the key. How do these choices tie into a wider brand identity? Which emotions do they spark, and most importantly, how do these choices enhance brand association with the consumer?
 Audio Branding delivers fascinating insights into this burgeoning field of marketing, underpinned by practical step-by-step guidance and cutting-edge research to enhance brand loyalty through user experience. Written by authors who have contributed directly to the development of this field, the book contains an enlightening set of case studies, including companies such as Renault (a surprisingly emotional audio brand) Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (an warm, energetic audio brand), and Michelin (a globally coherent audio brand). Covering issues such as the dominance of audio-enabled devices and the phenomenon of continuous partial attention, Audio Branding demonstrates how brands can infuse sound into so many different aspects of their identity, building in a subtle longevity of brand presence through daily user experience.


In order to compare the detoxification capacities of two species of spiders, Linyphia triangularis and Pardosa prativaga were exposed to a commonly used pesticide, cypermethrin (a chlorinated pyrethroid). Two detoxification enzyme systems — glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) — were assayed as biomarkers. The two species of spiders have different life-styles and eat different food, and in our experiment were at different stages of their life-cycle. Therefore, differences in detoxification strategies could be expected. From our results, we suggest two different strategies. L. triangularis had a generally high basal level of GST, which could be further induced by exposure to cypermethrin. The basal activity of GSH-Px was relatively low, and no response to toxic exposure could be traced. Thus, this enzyme plays only a minor role in the detoxification process of cypermethrin in L. triangularis. In P. prativaga, a low basal GST activity was found. However, the basal level of GSH-Px was comparable to that of L. triangularis. A significant rise in GSH-Px activity (with t-butyl-hydroxyperoxide as substrate) was apparent 12 hours after exposure. This may indicate that P450 enzyme systems are involved in the cypermethrin metabolising process in P. prativaga. In addition, GSH-Px activity (with H2O2 as substrate) could be traced in P. prativaga but not in L. triangularis, indicating that a true peroxidase system is active in P. prativaga.


Despite the fact that the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") is overburdened and struggling to meet the needs of taxpayers, Congress continues to add to IRS responsibilities in areas that appear far removed from the agency's core revenue raising function. The Affordable Care Act ("ACA") is a commonly cited example of the non-revenue raising regulatory roles the IRS is increasingly asked to play, to the criticism of many. After providing an historical overview of the IRS's involvement in health care regulation, the article provides a partial defense of the expanded role that the IRS has been given as a result of the ACA. The article concludes that much of the IRS's involvement in health care regulation appears not only defensible, but efficient. For better or for worse, there is no better system for processing payments to or from a large number of taxpayers than the federal income tax system. Additionally, the use of excise taxes to shape taxpayer behavior appears to offer the best of both worlds: a powerful incentive that requires very few enforcement resources. The article concludes, however, that significant burden could be removed from the IRS by modifying or removing the IRS's substantive rulemaking authority with respect to health care matters, deferring instead to other federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, that have particular health policy expertise.


During viral infection, the accumulation of RNA replication intermediates or viral proteins imposes major stress on the host cell. In response, cellular stress pathways can rapidly impose defence mechanisms by shutting off the protein synthesis machinery, which viruses depend on, and triggering the accumulation of mRNAs into stress granules to limit the use of energy and nutrients. Because this threatens viral gene expression, viruses need to evade these pathways to propagate. Human norovirus is responsible for gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. Previously we showed that murine norovirus (MNV) regulates the activity of eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs). Here we examined how MNV interacts with the eIF2a signaling axis controlling translation and stress granules accumulation. We show that while MNV infection represses host cell translation, it results in the assembly of virus-specific granules rather than stress granules. Further mechanistic analyses revealed that eIF2a signaling is uncoupled from translational stalling. Moreover the interaction of the RNA-binding protein G3BP1 with viral factors together with a redistribution of its cellular interacting partners could explain norovirus evasion of stress granules assembly. These results identify novel strategies by which norovirus ensure efficient replication propagation by manipulating the host stress response.


Abstract The aim of this study was to describe motivating factors and barriers for older adults to adhere to group exercise in the local community aiming to prevent falls, and thereby gain knowledge about how health professionals can stimulate adherence. The motivation equation was used as a theoretical framework. Data were collected from individual semi-structured interviews (n = 10). The interviews were taped, transcribed, and thereafter analysed by using a descriptive content analysis consisting of four steps. The results showed that motivating factors to adhere to recommended exercise were perceived prospects of staying independent, maintaining current health status, and improving physical balance and the ability to walk. Barriers were reduced health status, lack of motivation, unpleasant experience during previous exercise group sessions, and environmental factors. All participants wanted information from health professionals on the benefit of exercise. Many considered individual variations in functional skills within each group as a disadvantage. The knowledge gained from this study suggests a greater involvement from all health professionals in motivating older adults to attend exercise groups. The results also suggest that physical therapists should be more aware of the importance of comparative levels of physical function when including participants in exercise groups.