Marketing communication plays a major role in influencing consumer purchases in new product categories. An important question about this communication is whether it plays an informative or a persuasive role over the life cycle of the new product category. We expect that consumers are not well informed about product quality in the early stages of the product life cycle but they become better informed over time. The informative role of marketing communication is likely to have a much larger effect with uninformed consumers than with consumers who are better informed. Therefore, we conjecture that marketing communication plays a predominantly informative role initially and a predominantly persuasive role later. We develop a structural model of demand that allows for the differential impact of informative and persuasive roles of marketing communication over time. In addition, we control for the possibility that product experience also contributes to learning in such categories. We estimate our model on market-level data for the prescription antihistamines category. In our model, physician learning about new antihistamines occurs through marketing communication (detailing and meetings/seminars), and experience (past prescriptions). Specifically, our model is a random coefficients discrete choice model that allows for category expansion. The model also incorporates a Bayesian learning process through which physicians learn about the efficacy of this new class of drugs. We estimate our model using a GMM-based methodology. We find that, on average, physicians are most sensitive to detailing relative to other promotional activities. However, more interestingly, we find evidence for both informative and persuasive effects of detailing on physicians' prescription behavior. In addition, we find that detailing plays a primarily informative role in the introductory phase (typically 6-14 months post introduction) but the persuasive role dominates later on. The finding that persuasive effects are significant may explain why firms continue to detail long after a drug is introduced. In terms of resource allocation for detailing over time, our results suggest that firms should follow a pattern of heavier detailing at the introduction phase followed by lower levels.


Objective: To compare Karydakis technique with Limberg flap procedure for sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus in terms of mean period of hospital stay and return to normal activity (mean number of days).
Study Design: Randomized controlled trial.
Place and Duration of Study: Surgery department, Military Hospital /Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Frontier Corps (FC) Hospital Quetta from July 2010 to July 2014.
Material and Methods: A total of 150 patients (75 patients in each group) were recruited in this study by consecutive non-probability sampling. In group-A Karydakis technique was used while in group-B Limberg flap procedure was done. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 and by applying t' test.
Results: Comparison of mean period of hospital stay shows mean hospital stay 2.93 ± 0.66 days in group-A and 3.97 ± 0.71 days in group-B (p=0.001). Similarly mean work loss was 13.13 ± 1.15 days in group-A and 15.53 ± 1.22 days in group-B. Significant difference was noted between two groups (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Karydakis technique, in treatment of pilonidal sinus disease is better in terms of short duration of hospital stay and less work loss. Karydakis procedure should be the preferred method in treatment of sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus.


Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are excellent devices for high-performance computing, system-on-chip realization, and rapid system prototyping. While FPGAs offer flexibility and performance, they continue to lag behind application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) performance and power consumption. As manufacturing technology improves and IC feature size decreases, FPGAs may further lag behind ASICs due to interconnection scalability issues. To improve FPGA scalability, this thesis proposes an architectural enhancement to improve global communications in large FPGAs, where chip-length programmable interconnects are slow. It is expected that this architectural enhancement, based on wire emulation techniques, can reduce chip-length communication latency and routing congestion. A prototype wire emulation system that uses FPGA self-reconfiguration as a non-traditional means of intra-FPGA communication is implemented and verified on a Xilinx Virtex-II XC2V1000 FPGA. Wire emulation benefits and impact to FPGA architecture are examined with quantitative and qualitative analysis.


Many invasive rodents have become established in the United States and its territories. The list of invasive species includes several species of rats (Rattus spp.), house mice (Mus musculus), nutria (Myocastor coypus), Gambian giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus), arctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus undulates), hoary marmots (Marmota caligata), voles (Microtus spp.), and deer mice (Peromyscus spp.). Some were introduced inadvertently (e.g., stowaways on ships or in cargo) while others were introduced purposefully (e.g., for the fur industry). Other less common reasons include rodents being put on islands as a source of food for people or introduced foxes and rodents put on islands to study rodent species interactions. In many cases, these rodents have caused serious damage to native flora and fauna, agriculture, and other resources and have resulted in disease introductions (e.g., Howald et al. 2007, Witmer and Proulx 2010, Witmer and Singleton 2010, Fall et al. 2011).


The paper deals with the reliability–based design optimization (RBDO) of concrete gravity dams subjected to earthquake load using subset simulation. The optimization problem is formulated such that the optimal shape of concrete gravity dam described by a number of variables is found by minimizing the total cost of concrete gravity dam for the given target reliability. In order to achieve this purpose, a framework is presented whereby subset simulation is integrated with a hybrid optimization method to solve the RBDO approach of concrete gravity dam. Subset simulation with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling is utilized to estimate accurately the failure probability of dams with a minimum number of samples. In this study, the concrete gravity dam is treated as a two–dimensional structure involving the material nonlinearity effects and dam–reservoir–foundation interaction. An efficient metamodel in conjunction with subset simulation–MCMC is provided to reduce the computational cost of dynamic analysis of dam–reservoir–foundation system. The results demonstrate that the RBDO approach is more appropriate than the deterministic optimum approach for the optimal shape design of concrete gravity dams.


In whose interests should a corporation be run? Over the last thirty years the field of 'stakeholder theory' has proposed a distinctive answer: a corporation should be run in the interests of all its primary stakeholders - including employees, customers, suppliers and financiers - without contradicting the ethical principles on which capitalism stands. This book offers a critique of this central claim. It argues that by applying the political concept of a 'social contract' to the corporation, stakeholder theory in fact undermines the principles on which a market economy is based. The argument builds upon an extensive review of the stakeholder literature and an analysis of its philosophical foundations, particularly concerning the social contract tradition of John Rawls and his predecessors. The book concludes by offering a qualified version of Milton Friedman's shareholder theory as a more justifiable account of the purpose of a corporation.


Lipoma is a rare tumor to be present in the parapharyngeal space. Clinical examination of tumors present in this region is difficult due to its Anatomical location. Modern radiological modalities are the investigation of choice to diagnose and access these tumors. We are reporting a case of large parapharyngeal space Lipoma mimicking parotid tumor. He was clinically asymptomatic and reported for cosmetic purpose only.


One of the main organizing principles in real-world social, information and technological networks is that of network communities, where sets of nodes organize into densely linked clusters. Even though detection of such communities is of great interest, understanding the structure communities in large networks remains relatively limited. Due to unavailability of labeled ground-truth data it is practically impossible to evaluate and compare different models and notions of communities on a large scale.
In this paper we identify 6 large social, collaboration, and information networks where nodes explicitly state their community memberships. We define ground-truth communities by using these explicit memberships. We then empirically study how such ground-truth communities emerge in networks and how they overlap. We observe some surprising phenomena. First, ground-truth communities contain high-degree hub nodes that reside in community overlaps and link to most of the members of the community. Second, the overlaps of communities are more densely connected than the non-overlapping parts of communities, in contrast to the conventional wisdom that community overlaps are more sparsely connected than the communities themselves.
Existing models of network communities do not capture dense community overlaps. We present the Community-Affiliation Graph Model (AGM), a conceptual model of network community structure, which reliably captures the overall structure of networks as well as the overlapping nature of network communities.


A low-cost bipedal walking robot kit with limited actuation and sensing capabilities was designed and built to achieve actively powered, passive dynamic walking locomotion over level ground. The walking system is composed of readily available parts and materials totaling less than $50 and can be assembled either from plans or pre-fabricated parts in less than a day. Indeed, the very first (and only) prototype was conceived and built in one day, and capable of walking within two more. In place of components utilized for the prototype shown and demonstrated, alternative parts and materials can be substituted and accommodated by relatively simple design changes, allowing this robot construction to be adapted to different resource availability, in some cases key to the success of research or education.


What are idiosyncratic shocks and how do people respond to them? This paper starts from the observation that idiosyncratic shocks are experienced at the individual level, but responses to shocks can encompass the whole household. Understanding and accurately modeling these responses is essential to the analysis of intra-household allocations, especially labor supply. Using longitudinal data from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) we exploit information about disability and health status to develop a life-cycle framework which rationalizes observed responses of household members to idiosyncratic shocks. Two puzzling findings associated to disability onset motivate our work: (1) the almost complete absence of 'added worker' effects within households and, (2) the fact that single agents' labor supply responses to disability shocks are larger and more persistent than those of married agents. We show that a first-pass, basic model of the household has predictions about dynamic labor supply responses which are at odds with these facts; despite such failure, we argue that these facts are consistent with optimal household behavior when we account for two simple mechanisms: the first mechanism relates to selection into and out of marriage, while the second hinges on insurance transfers taking place within households. We show that these mechanisms arise naturally when we allow for three features: a linkage between human capital accumulation and life-cycle labor supply, endogenous marriage contracts and the possibility of time transfers between partners. We also report evidence that the extended model with endogenous marriage contracts can fit divorce patterns observed in Canadian data, as well as correlations between disability prevalence and marital status, providing an ideal framework to study intra-household risk-sharing with limited commitment.


This article first provides a historical and detailed introduction to the image formation models for diluted pupils array and their densified versions called hypertelescopes . We propose in particular an original derivation showing that densification using a periscopic setting like in Michelson's 20 −  foot interferometer, or using inverted Galilean telescopes are fully equivalent. After a review based on previous reference studies (Tallon & Tallon-Bosc 1992; Labeyrie 1996; Aime 2008 and Aime et al. 2012), the introductory part ends with a tutorial section for simulating optical interferometric images produced by cophased arrays. We illustrate in details how the optical image formation model can be used to simulate hypertelescopes images, including sampling issues and their effects on the observed images. In a second part of the article, we address the issue of restoring hypertelescope images and present numerical illustrations obtained for classical (constrained Maximum Likelihood) methods. We also provide a detailed survey of more recent deconvolution methods based on sparse representations and of their spread in interferometric image reconstruction. The last part of the article is dedicated to two original and numerical studies. The first study shows by Monte Carlo simulations that the restoration quality achieved by constrained ML methods applied to photon limited images obtained from a diluted array on a square grid, or from a densified array (without spectral aliasing) on a grid, are essentially equivalent. The second study shows that it is possible to recover in hypertelescopes images quasi point sources that are not only far outside the clean field, but also superimposed on the replicas of other objects. This is true at least for the considered pupil array and in the limit of vanishing noise.


Background: Data regarding burden of illness borne by women affected with cancer of the cervix (CaCvx) has been largely anecdotal. This study aimed to evaluate disability and cost burden of the illness in northern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Cost of illness was determined using the bottom-up approach and involved estimating costs of managing various stages of the illness while disability adjusted life year (DALY) was estimated sing CaCvx survival data from northern Nigeria. Results: Overall cost of illness ranged from ₦191,338 ($524) to ₦1,001,298 ($2,743) for local to metastatic diseases, respectively. Of these, direct medical costs accounted for up to 75.4% while indirect costs accounted for up to 48% in different stages of the disease. Productivity losses ranged from 18.3% to 43.1%, while surgical, medical, and radiotherapies accounted for losses between 37.2% and 46%. Estimated DALY was 269 years/100,000 women with cost/DALY saved on treatment estimated at between $19 and $1,443 for different stages. At the discounted rate, it was estimated that it would be 16 to 902 times cheaper to screen for the disease than to treat (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Though burden of illness borne by women with CaCvx in northern Nigeria is similar to that borne by women in other developing countries, it is still too high; and the only panacea to this is institution of early screening programs and immunization. In addition, concerted effort is needed to ensure extension of health insurance coverage for cancer therapy and increase in availability of radiotherapy service as a means of reducing waiting times for treatment.


Abstract. A number of flux transfer events (FTEs) were observed between 09:00 and 12:00 UT on 11 February 2004, during southward and dawnward IMF, while the Cluster spacecraft array moved outbound through the northern, high-altitude cusp and dayside high-latitude boundary layer, and the Double Star TC-1 spacecraft was crossing the dayside low-latitude magnetopause into the magnetosheath south of the ecliptic plane. The Cluster array grazed the equatorial cusp boundary, observing reconnection-like mixing of magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma populations. In an adjacent interval, TC-1 sampled a series of sometimes none standard FTEs, but also with mixed magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma populations, near the magnetopause crossing and later showed additional (possibly turbulent) activity not characteristic of FTEs when it was situated deeper in the magnetosheath. The motion of these FTEs are analyzed in some detail to compare to simultaneous, poleward-moving plasma concentration enhancements recorded by EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) and "poleward-moving radar auroral forms" (PMRAFs) on the CUTLASS Finland and Kerguelen Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar measurements. Conjugate SuperDARN observations show a predominantly two-cell convection pattern in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The results are consistent with the expected motion of reconnected magnetic flux tubes, arising from a predominantly sub-solar reconnection site. Here, we are able to track north and south in closely adjacent intervals as well as to map to the corresponding ionospheric footprints of the implied flux tubes and demonstrate these are temporally correlated with clear ionospheric velocity enhancements, having northward (southward) and eastward (westward) convected flow components in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere. The durations of these enhancements might imply that the evolution time of the FTEs is about 18–22 min from their origin on magnetopause (at reconnection site) to their addition to the magnetotail lobe. However, the ionospheric response time in the Northern Hemisphere is about 2–4 min longer than the response time in the Southern Hemisphere.


Abstract. Emissions of halogenated very-short-lived substances (VSLSs) from the oceans contribute to the atmospheric halogen budget and affect tropospheric and stratospheric ozone. Here, we investigate the contribution of natural oceanic VSLS emissions to the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) and their transport into the free troposphere (FT) over the tropical West Pacific. The study concentrates on bromoform, dibromomethane and methyl iodide measured on ship and aircraft during the SHIVA (Stratospheric Ozone: Halogen Impacts in a Varying Atmosphere) campaign in the South China and Sulu seas in November 2011. Elevated oceanic concentrations for bromoform, dibromomethane and methyl iodide of on average 19.9, 5.0 and 3.8 pmol L−1, in particular close to Singapore and to the coast of Borneo, with high corresponding oceanic emissions of 1486, 405 and 433 pmol m−2 h−1 respectively, characterise this tropical region as a strong source of these compounds. Atmospheric mixing ratios in the MABL were unexpectedly relatively low with 2.08, 1.17 and 0.39 ppt for bromoform, dibromomethane and methyl iodide. We use meteorological and chemical ship and aircraft observations, FLEXPART trajectory calculations and source-loss estimates to identify the oceanic VSLS contribution to the MABL and to the FT. Our results show that the well-ventilated MABL and intense convection led to the low atmospheric mixing ratios in the MABL despite the high oceanic emissions. Up to 45 % of the accumulated bromoform in the FT above the region originates from the local South China Sea area, while dibromomethane is largely advected from distant source regions and the local ocean only contributes 20 %. The accumulated methyl iodide in the FT is higher than can be explained with local contributions. Possible reasons, uncertainties and consequences of our observations and model estimates are discussed.


The need for supporting dynamic real-time environments where changes in workloads occur frequently requires a scheduling framework that: (1) explicitly addresses overload conditions, (2) allows the system to achieve graceful degradation while guaranteeing the deadlines of the most critical tasks in the system, and (3) supports an efficient runtime selection mechanism capable of determining the load to be shed from the system to handle the overload. In this paper, we propose a novel scheduling framework for a real-time environment that experiences dynamic workload changes. This framework is capable of adjusting the system workload in incremental steps under overloaded conditions such that the most critical tasks in the system are always scheduled and the total value of the system is maximized. Each task has an assigned criticality value and consists of two parts, a mandatory part and an optional part. A timely answer is available after the mandatory part completes execution and its value may be improved by executing the entire optional part. The process of selecting tasks (mandatory or optional parts) to discard while maximizing the value of the system requires the exploration of a potentially large number of combinations. Since an optimal solution is too time-consuming to be computed online, an approximate algorithm is executed incrementally whenever the processor would otherwise be idle, progressively refining the quality of the solution. This scheme allows the scheduler to handle overloads with low cost while maximizing the use of the available resources and without jeopardizing the temporal constraints of the most critical tasks in the system. Simulation results show that few stages of the algorithm need to be executed for achieving a performance with near-optimal results.


This article examines the approach and relationship of the ICRC to International Criminal Law. It argues that the ICRC's position navigates between normative support, collusion and institutional restraint. The ICRC has shaped some of the foundations of contemporary criminal justice, through its early focus on the implementation of International Humanitarian Law (e.g., through implementation and prosecution of 'grave breaches) and its role as 'gentle modernizer' of the law. But it has at the same time kept a critical distance towards International Criminal Law. Its approach is marked by three cardinal principles: 'structural independence', 'strategic engagement' and 'systemic support'. It is grounded in the distinct roles of the ICRC ('guardianship', 'protection', advocacy and dissemination') and deeper structural challenges in the relationship between International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law. This contribution argues for a re-conceptualization of some of the existing approaches. It claims that it is unhelpful to theorize the relationship between the ICRC and International Criminal Courts and Tribunals (ICCTs) on the basis of the premise that International Humanitarian Law provides a set of 'primary rules' that are enforced through criminal institutions, or complemented by 'secondary rules' under International Criminal Law (e.g., war crimes law). It may be more appropriate to view the ICRC and ICCTs as part of a polycentric legal system that is built on a plurality of interactive normative structures and governed by certain checks and balances.


"Probably the most wide ranging and complete Linux device driver book I've read."--Alan Cox, Linux Guru and Key Kernel Developer"Very comprehensive and detailed, covering almost every single Linux device driver type."--Theodore Ts'o, First Linux Kernel Developer in North America and Chief Platform Strategist of the Linux FoundationThe Most Practical Guide to Writing Linux Device DriversLinux now offers an exceptionally robust environment for driver development: with today's kernels, what once required years of development time can be accomplished in days. In this practical, example-driven book, one of the world's most experienced Linux driver developers systematically demonstrates how to develop reliable Linux drivers for virtually any device. Essential Linux Device Drivers is for any programmer with a working knowledge of operating systems and C, including programmers who have never written drivers before. Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran focuses on the essentials, bringing together all the concepts and techniques you need, while avoiding topics that only matter in highly specialized situations. Venkateswaran begins by reviewing the Linux 2.6 kernel capabilities that are most relevant to driver developers. He introduces simple device classes; then turns to serial buses such as I2C and SPI; external buses such as PCMCIA, PCI, and USB; video, audio, block, network, and wireless device drivers; user-space drivers; and drivers for embedded Linuxi??one of today's fastest growing areas of Linux development. For each, Venkateswaran explains the technology, inspects relevant kernel source files, and walks through developing a complete example.· Addresses drivers discussed in no other book, including drivers for I2C, video, sound, PCMCIA, and different types of flash memory· Demystifies essential kernel services and facilities, including kernel threads and helper interfaces· Teaches polling, asynchronous notification, and I/O control· Introduces the Inter-Integrated Circuit Protocol for embedded Linux drivers· Covers multimedia device drivers using the Linux-Video subsystem and Linux-Audio framework· Shows how Linux implements support for wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, Infrared, WiFi, and cellular networking· Describes the entire driver development lifecycle, through debugging and maintenance· Includes reference appendixes covering Linux assembly, BIOS calls, and Seq files


The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) to simultaneously produce carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) has been achieved on carbon supported palladium (Pd/C) nanoparticles in an aqueous electrolyte. The synthesis gas product has a CO to H2 ratio between 0.5 and 1, which is in the desirable range for thermochemical synthesis of methanol and Fischer–Tropsch reactions using existing industrial processes. In situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy in both near-edge (XANES) and extended regions (EXAFS) and in situ X-ray diffraction show that Pd has transformed into β-phase palladium hydride (β-PdH) during the CO2RR. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that the binding energies of both adsorbed CO and H are significantly weakened on PdH than on Pd surfaces, and that these energies are potential descriptors to facilitate the search for more efficient electrocatalysts for syngas production through the CO2RR.


Theatres of the Real: a panel discussion with Tom Hunter, Sarah Pickering and Nigel Shafran about the redefinition of British documentary photography. The discussion will be moderated by David Chandler.

Theatres of the Real is a recently-published book featuring the wok of eight British-based artists (Sarah Dobai, Annabel Elgar, Tom Hunter, Sarah Pickering, Nigel Shafran, Clare Strand, Mitra Tabrizian and Danny Treacy) whose unconventional works extend and redefine a tradition of British documentary photography. Straddling the boundaries between fact and fiction, these images create a hallucinatory vision of contemporary Britain. Many of the photographs in this important and timely book involve situations staged for the cameras: sets have been constructed, actors dressed in costumes and narrative scenarios invented. Ranging from melodramatic reconstructions to small tales of everyday domestic life, these images portray the world as a stage set in which we play out our stories.

HOST welcomes photographers Tom Hunter, Sarah Pickering and Nigel Shafran to discuss their work in relation to the book and British documentary photography as a whole. The evening will be moderated by David Chandler, director of Photoworks.

Theatres of the Real is published by Photoworks and will be available to purchase and for signing on the night.

Tom Hunter currently lives and works in London. His work is often particular, but not exclusive, to the community of travellers he knows as neighbours and friends in East London. He has exhibited work both nationally and internationally, in solo and group shows and is also a Senior Research Fellow of the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London.
www.tomhunter.org

Sarah Pickering is a London based, British photographer who graduated from the Royal College of Art with a MA in Photography in 2005. She has exhibited internationally and in the UK where her work was part of How We Are: Photographing Britain, at Tate Britain, and is currently on show in the photography gallery of the V&A museum. Her work is featured in many publications including the Phaidon anthology on contemporary photography, Vitamin Ph, and has recently published her own monograph with Aperture.
www.sarahpickering.co.uk

Nigel Shafran first became known for radicalising fashion photography in the 1980's. His current work focuses on the still life details of everyday living-scenarios that are drawn from domestic spaces and the mundane world. Shafran's Charity Shops series is part of an ongoing exploration of this 'ordinary London'. The high production values of this work together with the artist's deep interest in the commonplace, has led to the creation of melancholic portraits of people and places.
www.nigelshafran.com


This paper analyses the case of the importation of foreign steam technology into Cuba in the course of the nineteenth century, and the experience of the migrant workers employed to operate it, in order to focus not on Cuba as an isolatable entity, but existing in the context of transnational networks that were involving the island in processes of globalisation. Rather than seeing these processes as the consequence of imperial designs, this was, at the outset, a 'sub-imperial' globalisation, operating independently, and implying liberation, from empire. The growth in Cuban sugar production from the end of the eighteenth century saw the emergence of a creole elite that sought the development of the island. The search for new technologies to enable improvements in sugar production necessarily took them beyond the restricted possibilities of the Spanish empire, to the industrial centres of the United States, Britain and France. They were assisted in this both by the migrant engineers that accompanied the new machinery, and also the often foreign-born merchants who enabled the island's involvement in the transnational commercial networks through which sugar was exported and industrial goods imported. Such tendencies made Spanish dominion over Cuba increasingly irrelevant, and helped fuel the emergence of an independent Cuban identity. However, the same globalising tendencies that were eroding Spanish empire were causing Cuba to fall into new forms of imperial domination. The increasing expense of the new steam technology led to a growing dependence upon investment from foreign merchant banks, which gradually assumed control over much of the island's production and trade. Despite some efforts to develop indigenous industry, Cuba remained dependent upon foreign technology. The same migrant engineers who had begun by assisting Cuban planters, took on the role of agents for foreign companies. Rather than contributing their skills, as one more group of migrants in a nation formed out of multiple migrations, these engineers asserted their foreign identity, and guarded their privileged position. They came to be seen as symbolic of the process by which Cuba shook off the Spanish yoke only to replace it with another.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of dietitians and dietetic students about food allergy in order to develop suggestions for educational activities. Materials and Methods: Dietitians and dietetics students were surveyed via a questionnaire aimed to document their knowledge about food allergy management. Results: Of the 150 questionnaires distributed, 122 valid questionnaires were returned. The response rate was 81.3%. Of all the respondents, 51.4% were working in a hospital. About sixty percent of respondents rated themselves 'moderate' for identifying some clinical manifestations of FA, developing elimination diets, providing avoidance education, managing the dietary needs of children with cows' milk allergy (CMA). Only 72.1% of respondents answered the questions about foods that can cause anaphylaxis correctly. About forty percent of respondents did not recognize that food allergens could be transmitted by means of tools used for service such as knives and spoons and thought that smoke of the cooking food does not cause allergy. About sixty percent of respondents also thought that touching the food never causes allergic reactions. Of all the respondents, only about 18.9% suggested amino acid based formulas for children with CMA, 23% suggested fully hydrolized formulas and 39.3% thought that lactose free formulas can be given to patients with CMA. Conclusion: This study revealed that there are some gaps in the knowledge of dietitians about food allergy. Dietitians should be given training on this subject and there should be a re-evaluation of health policies with a wider global perspective.


Hybrid solar cells, based on combinations of organic and inorganic semiconductors, constitute a promising avenue to harness solar energy by taking advantage of the strengths of both organic and inorganic materials. In this work, we report the first high-efficiency hybrid solar cell of its type comprising p-type silicon with an organic n-type C60 layer. High efficiencies based on the Si/C60 heterojunction were realized by utilizing an ultra-thin, doped and highly conductive C60 layer. Fabrication parameters were thoroughly investigated and critical factors for the efficient operation of this type of device were found to include the C60 thickness, doping of the C60 layer (using tetrabutyl ammonium iodide, TBAI), age-induced surface passivation and the incorporation of anti-reflection coatings (ARCs). From current density–voltage (J–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics, we have characterized the influence of C60 doping and device aging on the depletion region width and electrical parameters. An optimal power conversion efficiency of 8.43% was realized after 4 days of aging and TBAI treatment, with the application of a quarter-wave Sb2O3 ARC.


The control of surface roughness of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyethersulfone (PES), polysulfone (PS) and cellulose (CE) membranes was attempted by changing the rate of nonsolvent influx in the phase inversion process. PVDF and CE were chosen to represent membranes of high hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, respectively, while PES and PS were chosen to represent membranes of intermediate hydrophobicity/-philicity. The concentration of sodium chloride (NaCl) in the aqueous coagulation medium was increased from 0 to 1.9 mol/L to decrease the rate of nonsolvent (water) influx in the solvent/nonsolvent exchange process. As well, the effect of polymer concentration and solvent on the surface roughness was investigated with respect to PVDF and PES. It was observed that the membrane surface roughness increased and decreased, respectively, for the hydrophobic PVDF and hydrophilic CE membrane as the rate of nonsolvent influx was decreased. For the PES and PS membranes of intermediate hydrophilic/-philicity, no significant roughness change was observed. The surface roughness tended to increase as the solution viscosity decreased. It was also observed that the pattern wave length of the hydrophobic membrane did not change significantly while that of the hydrophilic membrane increased significantly as the solvent influx rate was reduced. This trend is predictable by considering the shrinking or swelling of the cast polymer solution during the solvent/nonsolvent exchange process.


Questions: 1. What are the spatial patterns of all trees, individual tree species, trees within particular height classes, all gaps and gaps with specific properties across the study site in broad-leaved deciduous forest at a range of scales? 2. Are patterns of the above features spatially associated? 3. Are these patterns indicative of gap creation mechanisms and phases of regeneration? Location: Frame Wood, New Forest, UK. Methods: Ripley's K-function analysis was applied to spatial information derived from airborne remotely sensed imagery to characterize the patterns of trees and gaps and to test for spatial interactions between these patterns. The patterns of trees and gaps with specific physical and spatial properties were analysed. Results: The pattern of all tree species combined was random for most scales; Quercus robur followed the same random pattern, while Fagus sylvatica and Betula pendula were clustered over most spatial scales. Large gaps (> 250 m 2 ) and larger trees (> 17.5 m) were randomly distributed, while smaller gaps and smaller trees were clustered. Significant spatial relationships were demonstrated between the patterns of different tree species and between trees within different size classes, as well as between the patterns of trees and gaps with specific properties. Conclusions: Small gap patterns and field evidence indicated that progressive gap enlargement is the most likely creation mechanism for large gaps (> 250 m2). Clustered patterns of younger individuals were indicative of patches of past regeneration. As a complement to field-based data, data derived from remotely sensed imagery provides spatially comprehensive information with which to further investigate woodland stand/community processes and gap dynamics.


We give an alternative and unified derivation of the general framework developed in the last few years for analyzing nonstationary time series. A different approach for handling the resulting variational problem numerically is introduced. We further expand the framework by employing adaptive finite element algorithms and ideas from information theory to solve the problem of finding the most adequate model based on a maximum-entropy ansatz, thereby reducing the number of underlying probabilistic assumptions. In addition, we formulate and prove the result establishing the link between the optimal parametrizations of the direct and the inverse problems and compare the introduced algorithm to standard approaches like Gaussian mixture models, hidden Markov models, artificial neural networks and local kernel methods. Furthermore, based on the introduced general framework, we show how to create new data analysis methods for specific practical applications. We demonstrate the application of the framework to data samples from toy models as well as to real-world problems such as biomolecular dynamics, DNA sequence analysis and financial applications.


An increasingly important use of computer graphics is to monitor such real-world processes as manufacturing plants, power plants, and refineries. As in many uses of computer graphics, the development of this application area has been programmer-intensive. As a consequence, system are being developed more slowly than is desired and they cost more than necessary. This article discusses some of the key issues and requirements involved in designing productivity tools for use in constructing monitoring systems. We have developed a prototype Process Visualization System (PVS) that allows nonprogrammers to construct graphics displays, and to establish relationships between these displays and changes in the data describing the process being monitored. With this system, customized, dynamically updated scenes can be created. The PVS allows users to construct symbols, to place them on the screen, and to connect them to data items from the monitored processes' database. Using this system frees the end-user from reliance on programmers, and allows the user to quickly display the data items of interest.


Increased c-Cbl associated protein (CAP) level in adipose tissue can facilitate glucose uptake via GLUT 4 in adipocytes. Increased level of CAP results from activation of PPARγ transcription factor. Biochanin A, soy isoflavonoid, is a PPARγ agonist. Present study was designed to investigate the influence of Biochanin A supplementation on CAP gene expression and insulin resistance. 12-week-old male Wistar rats were usedin this study.Type 2 diabetes mellitus was induced by intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin followed by Nicotinamide. Present study was designed in 8 groups of 5 animals. Biochanin A was supplemented for a month at 4 different doses: 1 and 5 mg/kg; intraperitoneal, 10 and 20 mg/kg; orally. Fasting blood glucose, serum insulin level and HOMA index were examined. CAP level in adipose tissue was tested by immunoblotting analysis. Findings of this study indicated that administration of Biochanin A at doses of 5mg/kg; intraperitoneal, and 20mg/kg; orally, could increase the expression of CAP in adipose tissue significantly. Additionally, insulin resistance improved and fasting blood glucose level decreased considerably. According to the results, increased expression of CAP in adipocytes can be associated with improvement of insulin resistance


Automatic audio-visual expression recognition can play an important role in communication services such as tele-health, VOIP calls and human-machine interaction. Accuracy of audio-visual expression recognition could benefit from the interplay between the two modalities. However, most audio-visual expression recognition systems, trained in ideal conditions, fail to generalize in real world scenarios where either the audio or visual modality could be missing due to a number of reasons such as limited bandwidth, interactors' orientation, caller initiated muting. This paper studies the performance of a state-of-the art transformer when one of the modalities is missing. We conduct ablation studies to evaluate the model in the absence of either modality. Further, we propose a strategy to randomly ablate visual inputs during training at the clip or frame level to mimic real world scenarios. Results conducted on in-the-wild data, indicate significant generalization in proposed models trained on missing cues, with gains up to 17% for frame level ablations, showing that these training strategies cope better with the loss of input modalities.


Typical security contests focus on breaking or mitigating the impact of buggy systems. We present the Build-it, Break-it, Fix-it (BIBIFI) contest, which aims to assess the ability to securely build software, not just break it. In BIBIFI, teams build specified software with the goal of maximizing correctness, performance, and security. The latter is tested when teams attempt to break other teams' submissions. Winners are chosen from among the best builders and the best breakers. BIBIFI was designed to be open-ended-teams can use any language, tool, process, etc. that they like. As such, contest outcomes shed light on factors that correlate with successfully building secure software and breaking insecure software. During 2015, we ran three contests involving a total of 116 teams and two different programming problems. Quantitative analysis from these contests found that the most efficient build-it submissions used C/C++, but submissions coded in other statically-typed languages were less likely to have a security flaw; build-it teams with diverse programming-language knowledge also produced more secure code. Shorter programs correlated with better scores. Break-it teams that were also successful build-it teams were significantly better at finding security bugs.


Drying a droplet of colloidal dispersion can result in complex pattern formation due to both development and deformation of a skin at the drop surface. The present study focuses on the drying process of droplets of colloidal dispersions in a confined geometry where direct observations of the skin thickness are allowed. During the drying process, a buckling process is followed by a single depression growth inside the drop. The deformation of the droplet is found to be generic and is studied for various colloidal dispersions. The final shape can be partly explained by simple energy analysis based on the competition between bending and stretching deformations. Particularly, the final shape enables us to determine precisely the critical thickness of the shell for buckling. This study allows us to validate theory in 2D droplets and apply it to the case of 3D droplets where the thickness is not accessible by direct observation.


ALEKSIEV, Y., 2008. A note on the timing of birth in Bulgarian White dairy goat. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 14: 476-479 The parturition timing pattern was investigated for a total of 153 does during two consecutive years. During the kidding time in February goats were monitored at an hourly interval throughout 24 hours of the day. Hourly frequencies of spontaneous live births showed a unimodal distribution with maximum kidding between 10:00 and 20:00 h (78.5% of the total). The peak of delivery was between 14:00 and 16:00 h (21.6% of the total birth), whereas the lowest incidences of kidding were observed between 04:00 and 06:00 h in the morning (0.7% of the total birth). There was not any detectable effect of the time of feeding on birth distribution. Frequency of kidding began to increase soon after the morning feeding and decreased sharply after the afternoon feeding. The results suggest that temporal distribution of births corresponding to circadian rhythm and that kidding was concentrated mainly during the daytime hours.


The present essay begins, in its first section, with a mention of the wealth of beautiful thoughts that Amoris Laetitia (AL) enriches us with, and of the wonderful core of the message of AL, the merciful love of God for every human being expressed in the words of Christ cited above. It then concentrates on a small portion of the assertions of AL, but which are likely to have the strongest effect and give cause for concern and sadness. The second part concerns the question who the couples in "irregular situations" are, to whom AL wants to grant access to the sacraments, and whether admitting them (without repentance and will to change their life) to sacramental absolution of sins and Eucharist is compatible with the Gospel, Church doctrine and human reason. Four fundamentally different answers that dominate the current discussion as to who these couples admitted to the sacraments are according to AL are discussed critically, to show that a clear statement about which of them is true and which are blatantly false, desperately is needed to avert chaos: No "irregular couples" at all? All "irregular couples"? Some, carefully examined, couples in irregular situations? "Irregular couples" who have not celebrated marriage in the Church but only entered a "marriage of conscience," which AL for the first time in the history of the Church permits and recognizes? Since the second reply authorizes any sacrilege and transforms the holy Temple of God into a temple of Satan, this reply cannot be the one the Pope intends to give. But as it is nonetheless proposed by high dignitaries in the Church and the Pope has remained silent about it, it seems necessary to break this silence and to reject this second blasphemous response in the sharpest possible terms. The third answer is most likely the one meant by Francis. It asserts that the couples admitted to the sacraments must be subjected to a thorough discernment in order to see whether they are so ignorant or blind for their sin that they, subjectively speaking, are not committing grave sin. One first objection to this view is that it makes the silent assumption that the adulterer or a murderer blind to his sin is innocent. This fails to recognize that often ethical value-blindness is rooted in evil acts and attitudes and the subject is responsible for his blindness such that he is even a worse sinner than the one who clearly knows his sin and recognizes his guilt. Another main objection to this solution is that any sorting out of "good people in irregular situations" of adultery, homosexual acts, etc., who are subjectively in the state of grace (despite of the fact that they live "objectively in serious sin"), is unachievable and wholly exceeds the capacity of the individual priest and of the affected couples. Distinguishing such pure soul-sinners who would not need repentance nor conversion to receive the sacraments, from "evil adulterers" and homosexuals, who can be admitted to the sacraments only after a repentance and conversion, leads to countless new problems that make this solution cause of chaos in the Church. While the fourth answer and the proposal of "marriages of conscience", in which the judgment of the individual could replace the Church tribunals in certain situations, is presented with great sympathy as a potentially truly charitable innovation and recognition of the dignity of the personal subject and of the legitimate rights of conscience by Pope Francis, the essay shows that also this humane and merciful-looking admission of couples in extraordinary situations to the sacraments and the recognition of their marriages as sacraments infringes against the teaching and tradition of the Church, as well as against rationally evident principles of Justice and the Good. Hence ultimately only the first reply that is that of the Polish bishops' Conference and was approved for them by the Pope on August 28-29, 2016, is left, which means Pope Francis effectively didn't change anything about the discipline of the sacraments for various reasons, one of them being absolutely cogent: that any other response deviates from the Gospels and Church teaching and tradition. The third part of the essay discusses a number of statements which would seem wrong, at least in their immediate sense, even heretical. It is chiefly on this doctrinal level that the radical break purported by Spaemann of AL with Church teaching and tradition occurs: a break with the teachings of the Gospel and the Church on the moral order, on intrinsically wrong and disorderly actions, on the divine commandments and our ability, with the help of grace, to comply with them; on the indissolubility of marriage and the sanctity of sacraments of the Eucharist and marriage, on the sacramental discipline and pastoral care of the Church, which derives from the word of God and the Church's 2000th tradition, on the threat of eternal damnation (hell) and the necessity of faith in Christ for eternal salvation. Since the relevant statements are contrary to most basic elements of the Church's doctrine, their abdication, and at least a revocation of their false senses, in which they will be understood by most readers, is directly requested from the Pope. The fourth part, using many examples from the history of the Church, shows the full compatibility with the Catholic tradition and teaching of appropriately and reverently proposed criticisms of utterances of bishops and the Pope, also when they come from lay people. The great gift of infallibility does not extend to all magisterial or public statements of the Pope, many of which are fallible. From St. Paul, Emperor Constantine, Athanasius, Saint Catherine of Siena up to the present, we find many cases in which such critical scrutiny of Church pronouncements, including those of non-infallible statements of the Pope, by laypersons or lesser magisterial authorities was of immense significance for the good of the Church. The essay addresses a dramatic appeal to the Pope for clarification and correction in theory and practice.


Mathematical achievement may impact on outcomes in later life; thus, identifying and improving key mathematical skills is a focus of a large body of educational research. Both additive reasoning, and knowledge of addition and subtraction facts, appear to predict later mathematical achievement. The current study explores the impact of a short intervention with a small group of year 7 and 8 students working at lower than expected academic levels. The current study is based on Cognitive Load Theory and research suggesting that counting strategies overload working memory. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify whether structured manipulatives improved the additive reasoning and, addition and subtraction fluency in a sample of ten participants. Participants attended after-school intervention sessions of 45 minutes for seven weeks. The intervention focused on teaching additive reasoning and fluency using structured manipulatives. Inferential statistical analysis showed a statistically significant mean improvement in participants' ability to answer simple addition and subtraction questions. Tests constructed to operationalise additive reasoning also showed statistically significant mean improvement. Participants answered diagnostic questions operationalising various aspects of additive reasoning. Individual differences in understanding of additive reasoning were observed, and the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction proved to be a challenging concept. Semi-structured interviews provided themes of valuing the intervention and the manipulatives used. Due to the size and design of this study, it is not possible to extrapolate findings to other learners. However, the study may provide directions for future research. Structured manipulatives may have a role to play in enabling learners to begin to learn additive relationships and further securing recall of addition and subtraction facts. Students at years 7 and 8 may still need considerable exposure to additive concepts; moreover, returning to manipulatives may develop this knowledge. Finally, the findings from the diagnostic questions help show the complexity of additive reasoning. Classroom practitioners may need to further develop their knowledge of additive reasoning, its importance, and the individual differences and misconceptions that learners hold in order to provide considered learning experiences.


ABSTRACT Serpent's tale in the Hittite world The Hittites' universe is divided into three layers. First the upper world; secondly the earthly world; then the underground world. Each of them corresponds to a different animal: the Eagle is situated at the highest part of the universe, the Bee represents the earth and the Snake belongs to the underground world. The universe is symbolized by a magic tree whose snake encircles its roots. Mythology relates the cosmic fight between the Snake called Illuyanka and the Storm God that reflects the celestial world. The snake which is gifted with an outstanding strength manages to defeat the Storm God who will take his revenge thanks to and through his daughter Inara, Goddess of the wild world or with the illegal son he had with a human. The text dates back to the times of the old Hittite period (16th cent. BC). A relief from Malatya that belongs to the 10th cent. reminds us of this cosmic fight. In this relief the Storm God can be seen killing a giant snake with his spear.


The role of a nurse educator is a vital component in the management process of teaching and learning development of students. Ensuring excellent wellbeing for nurse educators may lead to increased job satisfaction and work performance.

 The objective of this study was to develop a survey tool that measures the wellbeing of Filipino nurse educators working in four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

 Three-phase sequential approach was obtained. The investigation started with a qualitative investigation of 20 Filipino nurse educators based from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain followed by a development of survey tool measuring the Filipino nurse educator's wellbeing. The survey tool was distributed among 112 participants in Saudi Arabia. Data were analyzed and interpreted by means of a Colaizzi method for qualitative and descriptive statistics using SPSS for quantitative measures.

 All the themes emerged from the qualitative phase were discussed from the gathered review of literature and studies. Themes, contextual categories, and significant statements were used as survey constructs measuring the wellbeing of the participants. Moreover, a valid and reliable survey tool called 'Filipino Nurse Educator's Wellbeing Survey' (FNEWS) was developed and surveyed among the Filipino nurse educators in Saudi Arabia, revealing an 'acceptable' level of wellbeing.

 Knowing the level of wellbeing of nurse educators will be an effective way to provide the competency needed to address burnout, low job satisfaction, and compassion fatigue, thereby increasing the likelihood of safeguarding the welfare of the nurse educators.


Robert Putnam has recently published research showing that, in the United States, higher levels of ethnic diversity are associated with lower levels of social capital. Volunteering is a key indicator of social capital. Data from the 2006 Australian census show that, in Melbourne, migrants from non-English-speaking countries (NESCs) are less likely to have volunteered in the previous 12 months than are migrants from the main English-speaking-countries or people who were born in Australia. This association holds when income, time of arrival and English proficiency are controlled for. But in areas that are very ethnically diverse levels of volunteering are not only low for the NESC-born, they are also low for the Australia-born.


A version control system records changes to a file or set of files over time so that changes can be tracked and specific versions of a file can be recalled later. As such, it is an essential element of a reproducible workflow that deserves due consideration among the learning objectives of statistics courses. This paper describes experiences and implementation decisions of four contributing faculty who are teaching different courses at a variety of institutions. Each of these faculty have set version control as a learning objective and successfully integrated teaching Git into one or more statistics courses. The various approaches described in the paper span different implementation strategies to suit student background, course type, software choices, and assessment practices. By presenting a wide range of approaches to teaching Git, the paper aims to serve as a resource for statistics instructors teaching courses at any level within an undergraduate or graduate curriculum.


Parallel team strategy has been widely adopted by high-tech industries in knowledge creation. In this research, we study the design of organizational incentives, including a fixed wage payment and an additional reward structure, for the parallel team strategy. We consider two types of parallel teams—collaborative and non-collaborative parallel teams. Proposing and investigating two types of organizational reward policies (individual and aggregate) for both collaborative and noncollaborative parallel teams, we demonstrate the viability and characteristics of these policies and analyze the tradeoff between the number of parallel teams and their rewards. We show that collaboration in parallel teams is vital for obtaining maximal benefits. This research provides valuable insights for firms in employing parallel team strategy for knowledge creation.


This book presents groundbreaking robotic experiments on how and why spatial language evolves. It provides detailed explanations of the origins of spatial conceptualization strategies, spatial categories, landmark systems and spatial grammar by tracing the interplay of environmental conditions, communicative and cognitive pressures. The experiments discussed in this book go far beyond previous approaches in grounded language evolution. For the first time, agents can evolve not only particular lexical systems but also evolve complex conceptualization strategies underlying the emergence of category systems and compositional semantics. Moreover, many issues in cognitive science, ranging from perception and conceptualization to language processing, had to be dealt with to instantiate these experiments, so that this book contributes not only to the study of language evolution but to the investigation of the cognitive bases of spatial language as well.


This article explores how community-based organizations working in low-income residential neighborhoods of U.S. cities employ e-tools and social networking platforms to engage the youth. The authors interviewed representatives of community organizations that work with young adults from lower-income groups in Chicago to comprehend their actual usages and perceptions of electronic tools. These organizations facilitate a wide-range of initiatives including political and after-school education, gang-free spaces, crime intervention and prevention, and arts and media. They found that the organizations have internalized the idea of employing e-Engagement techniques to enhance communication with their constituents but use new technologies and social media in multiple ways. Many respondents posit that the presently available e-tools enable certain forms of civic engagement but require sustained resources. Also stressed is the roles of face-to-face communication, offline-meetings, and other traditional means of interaction to ensure the commitment and quality of effective engagement in this age of e-participations.


Abstract This article re-examines externalisation – direct migration control by Member States of the EU, within third states, i.e., States which are not members of the EU. The nature and extent of this control is considered. The instruments of externalisation examined are carrier sanctions and immigration liaison officers. State responsibility for these externalised migration controls is assessed. The jurisdiction of the ECtHR is the trigger for Member State responsibility. ECtHR jurisprudence has made it clear that it is the exercise of physical power and control over a person by the State, which is pivotal to deciding jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is engaged where the Court finds that physical power and control to have been 'effective'. This threshold of 'effective' control which has emerged from the Court's jurisprudence is a demanding hurdle. If State control is found to be 'effective', then the State is responsible for the full range of rights contained within the Convention. The question then stands whether or not the ECtHR can keep abreast with these controls which can lead to States evading jurisdiction and thus avoiding fundamental rights responsibilities. One possible interpretation of recent jurisprudence is that the ECtHR is moving toward a broader interpretation of jurisdiction. It is in this context that 'externalised' controls have come under renewed scrutiny. A prevailing opinion is that the ECtHR will be able to protect those asylum seekers who encounter externalised control. This article questions any such assumption. The author argues for an alternative reading of the jurisprudence of the ECtHR with regard to jurisdiction. The conclusion reached is that the hurdle of extraterritorial jurisdiction is so demanding that States avoid it despite exercising extensive control over migrants. It is asserted that despite this considerable control, examination by the ECtHR will result in a failure to satisfy the 'effective' control threshold. Responsibility can thus be avoided while extraterritorial control is retained. The control level held by the State is still capable of guaranteeing a denial of access to individuals in need of international protection. If jurisdiction is not engaged then this externalised migration control represents a divergence between State control and State responsibility. Taking the threshold for jurisdiction of the ECtHR as a starting point, the author suggests a distinction between externalisation on the one hand and the external dimension on the other. States, oftentimes with facilitation from the Union, pursue one of these two alternatives. Externalisation affords the State stronger and more direct control over the entry of the migrant into the territory of a Member State than the external dimension, where the control is indirect and weaker. This distinction allows for a refined understanding of externalisation and applies it to verifying Member State responsibility for externalised migration control.


The high request of the preoperative diagnosis for liver metastasis of cancer is the claimed factor in the surgical field. Many kinds of examinations; i. e, physical examination, liver function test of serum, liver biopsy, laparoscopy, roentogenological diagnosis and others were using for this purpose, but the diagnosis was unliable yet. Recently, the clinical application of radioisotope is remarkably advanced, and the scintiscanning is used as a standard tool for clinician. The advances of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and techniques is also evident. In this paper the investigations were carried out by combinating method of ultrasonic diagnosis with hepatoscintigram. The excellent point of this method is to improve the weak points each other of the hepatoscintigram and ultrasonic diagnosis. By means of hepatoscintigram every large space occupying lesion (more than 2-3cm in diameter) in liver can be seen but the depth and structure of the lesion can not be recognized, however the ultrasonic A-scope method is able to clarify the laters. Ultrasonic method is able to diagnose the character of the aimed occupying lesion, respectively. Generally, the continuous multiplying echo indicate the cancer tissue, the boundary wall echo is the cyst or abscess, and the gall stone is easily diagnosed at the same time. But the risk for over diagnosis is respective in two methods, the diagnosis by this combinating method must be carefull in considerations. Combinating method of ultrasonic A-scope with hepatoscintigram gave a good result for liver disease. But the nature of the echoes obtained various kind of livers tend to over-lap. Therefore it is difficult to remark the distinguished accuracy in all cases. The suitable frequency was 2.25MC and a barium titanate of 10mm in diameter was used. Now we are using the ultrasonic contact compound scope, Aloka SSD-10. In this paper some results and problems of this method were presented. The examination is carried out at the lower right chest wall or through the abdominal wall. Several normal human livers were examined first. Some echograms of them were shown. Details of the deep structure are shown when STC (Sensitivity Time Control) is on. But concerning intrahepatic structure, it demonstrates more clearly than when STC off. Some echo patterns of the metastatic liver cancers were shown. A patient who had alarge tumor at his upper right abdomen was examined. His echogram of liver is shown. There is a large tumor (4cm in diameter) at the deep region in liver and the back surface of liver is pressured backwards. But no malignant echo pattern is seen. In some cases of our examinations malignant tissues showed only the surface and bottom echoes. The result of operation actually showed the metastatic cancer of liver, corresponding with the echogram. This fact suggests there are various degrees of absorption of ultrasound among cancers.


Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 55 B. C.) is known primarily as the Roman author of the long didactic poem "De Rerum Natura" (On the Nature of Things). In it, he set out to explicate the universe, embracing and refuting ideas of the great Greek philosophers. Now available in paperback, this annotated scholarly edition of the Latin text of "De Rerum Natura" has long been hailed as one of the finest editions of this monumental work. It features an introduction to Lucretius s life and work by William Ellery Leonard, an introduction to and commentary on the poem by Stanley Barney Smith, the complete Latin text with detailed annotations, and an index of ancient sources."


We propose an index of population diversity based on people's birthplaces and decompose it into a size (share of immigrants) and a variety (diversity of immigrants) component. We show that birthplace diversity is largely uncorrelated with ethnic, linguistic or genetic diversity and that the diversity of immigrants relates positively to measures of economic prosperity. This holds especially for skilled immigrants in richer countries at intermediate levels of cultural proximity. We address endogeneity by specifying a pseudo-gravity model predicting the size and diversity of immigration. The results are robust across specifications and suggestive of skill-complementarities between immigrants and native workers.


Extracted from text ... 77
About books
Oor boeke
Bloody Hand! Wills and Crime
Ellison Kahn, Siber Ink, 2003, pp 182,
price R189.00, soft cover, illustrated
Professor Ellison Kahn is well known among South African lawyers. He taught
hundreds, if not thousands, of us during his marathon innings of 41 years between
1948 and 1989, first as a lecturer and later as a professor of law at the University
of the Witwatersrand. Others of us studied from, or consulted, one or more of the
many textbooks that flowed from his pen. In addition to many articles in books
and legal periodicals here and abroad, he is the author, co-author or editor of 14
books on ..


The Godless Constitution is a ringing rebuke to the religious right's attempts, fueled by misguided and inaccurate interpretations of American history, to dismantle the wall between church and state erected by the country's founders. The authors, both distinguished scholars, revisit the historical roots of American religious freedom, paying particular attention to such figures as John Locke, Roger Williams, and especially Thomas Jefferson, and examine the controversies, up to the present day, over the proper place of religion in our political life. With a new chapter that explores the role of religion in the public life of George W. Bush's America, The Godless Constitution offers a bracing return to the first principles of American governance.


The sage healers of ancient times were able to heal the heart of humanity, and thus prevent disease from arising. Today s doctors only know how to treat disease when it has already manifested in physical form, and don t know anymore how to work with the heart. This situation can be compared to the process of pruning tree branches while neglecting the tap root, or to working downstream without awareness of the properties of the wellspring. Is this not an ignorant way to go about the business of medicine? If you wish to bring about real healing, you must first and foremost treat a person s heart. You must bring the heart on the right path, so that it can be filled and sustained by a universal sense of truth. You must get it to a place where it can safely abandon all doubting and worrying and obsessing in senselessly looping patterns, where it can let go of any anxiety provoking imbalances, and where it is willing to surrender all "me, me, me" and all "this is his/her fault!" Try and awaken the heart to acknowledge and regret all the wrong that one has done, to lay down all selfish attachments, and to transform one s small and self-centered world for the glorious universe wherein we are all one, and wherein there is nothing to do but praise its existence. This is the master method of the enlightened physician—healing through the heart. Or, in different words from the ancient record: the enlightened doctor intervenes before physical disease manifests, while the average physician springs into action only after disease has become apparent. To treat before this stage, this is the terrain of healing the core—the heart; to treat afterwards, this is the realm of dietary therapy, herbal therapy, acupuncture, and moxibustion. Although there are these two types of therapeutic paths, there is really only one core law of healing: All disease comes from the heart.


This study extends previous empirical research on land preservation by considering an actual land preservation scheme, the agricultural land reserve in British Columbia, Canada. The reserve was established in 1973 to ensure that development did not occur on the province's most productive agricultural land. 'To ensure that local food production is maintained,' 'the economic importance of British Columbia's agricultural sector,' and 'to protect the environment' are the most important factors that underlie support for the reserve. Aggregate, provincewide willingness to pay to maintain the land reserve is substantial, with our most conservative estimate being Can$91.18 million per year.


An unconformable sedimentary succession deposited between c. 2130–1848 Ma on Archaean gneisses of the foreland of the Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian orogen includes a layer with coarse sand-sized silicate spherules. The layer is c. 1 m thick and consists mainly of coarse diagenetic dolomite. In addition to c. 18% spherules, the layer also contains 3% well-sorted, very fine quartzose sand and 6% larger intraclasts of chert and carbonate. The spherules were previously interpreted as microfossils (Vallenia sp.) because of their spheroidal shapes and inclusions of carbonaceous matter. The spherules are reinterpreted as replaced impact ejecta because they have shapes typical of splash-form microtektites, some contain possible examples of replaced skeletal spinel crystals, perlitic cracks and devitrification spherulites, and non-spherical particles with shapes and textures of typical glassy and scoriaceous volcanic ash are absent. The carbonaceous matter is attributed to hydrocarbons that migrated into the spherule layer from elsewhere in the sedimentary succession. The spherules were reworked after deposition, probably as a result of turbidity currents or storm- or impact-induced waves. Analysis of one spherule-bearing sample revealed only 0.02 ppb iridium, a value comparable with low iridium abundances in distal layers of other terrestrial impact ejecta. The spherules in South Greenland are the first distal impact ejecta recognized in mid-Precambrian strata. They represent a major impact because their aggregate thickness exceeds the thickest spherule accumulations reported from the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary layer. Given their loosely constrained age and the implied scale of the impact, the Ketilidian spherules could be distal ejecta from either the Vredefort, South Africa, (c. 2025 Ma) or Sudbury, Canada, (c. 1850 Ma) impacts.


European societies are becoming increasingly multicultural and ethnically diverse as a result of immigration. This change, however, is not properly reflected in the European mass media, neither in the portrayal nor in the representation of immigrants in the mainstream media. The aim of this paper is to analyse the newsmaking routines of mainstream newspapers and TV channels in six European countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland amd the United Kingdom) with a view to showing which factors mostly influence these routines. We analyse the impact of three factors on the making of migration-related news: (1) the news value of such news; (2) the role of newsmaking routines and in particular who selects what is published and why; and (3) the availability of alternative sources and the journalists' trust of different types of news sources. Our study shows that while migrant media follow the general rule that something negative has a higher news value, they are also bound up with additional challenges—notably that media do not cover migration as a topic regularly, that media outlets have a given "line" of coverage concerning migration and this contributes to shaping what kind of news are reported. Third, journalists are not always well networked with migrant sources to have access to them. While the rule of thumb "you have to talk to people who are directly involved" holds, not all journalists devote the necessary energy and time to present a balanced coverage of migration-related issues. For a full explanation of the methodology of the research project, please see the introduction in this themed section: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.740213.


Over the past decade Enterprise Architecture (EA) developed to a mature discipline that is widely applied in many organizations. EA departments are firmly established in large organizations helping various stakeholders in the business and the IT departments to get a better understanding of the complex interrelationships of business processes, information systems and IT infrastructure. Main goal of these initiatives is to manage to evolution of the EA. For this purpose enterprise architects document current and future states of the EA in repositories. Due to the complexity of organizations today many tool vendors provide software solutions for the management of these repositories. Tools for EA management support enterprise architects with the documentation, the generation of reports as well as the communication with stakeholders. The variety and the number of tools that are available for EA management on the market makes the selection of the right tool increasingly difficult for organizations. Next to well established tool vendors many smaller products are entering the market with niche products recently. In this study we investigate EA management tools with a scenario based approach. These scenarios are evaluated with a consistent information model of a fictitious organization. Every step of these scenarios is well described and documented with screenshots to help readers comprehend the capabilities of the tools. This information model as well as the scenarios are based on the our previous EA management tool survey that was published six years ago in 2008. Although minor criterias for the assessment have changed over the time, we experienced that the general scenarios are still valid today. Based on our previous EA management tool survey, we created an update with four new tools that were not investigated previously. The evaluation of each tool is categorized into two parts: One part deals with specific functionality, e.g. adapting the information model, supporting multiple users and collaborative work, creating visualizations of the application landscape, or usability. The second part analyzes the enterprise architecture management support of the tools, e.g. landscape management, project portfolio management, application architecture management, SOA transformation.


The reported experiment investigated whether an individual's habitual use of social stereotypes influenced the impact of the presentation of stereotype-disconfirming information on stereotype-based beliefs. Participants were first categorized as either high or low users of stereotypes using a diary task. They were then presented with stereotype-disconfirming information about members of a specific target group and subsequently evaluated a member of the group about which disconfirming information had been presented and a member of each of two other stereotyped groups about which no information had been presented. Relative to control participants, low users of stereotypes made less stereotype-based judgments only for the member of the target group about which disconfirming information had been received whilst high users showed a generalized reduction in their use of stereotype-based judgments across all the targets. These differences were not due to differential processing of the presented information; neither reading time nor memory measures differentiated between high and low users. Results are discussed in terms of both the use of stereotypes and stereotype change in general. ********** There is now a large body of literature demonstrating that the presentation of stereotype-disconfirming information about members of a target group can lead perceivers to rely less on stereotypes in evaluating both individual members of that target group and the target group, in comparison to perceivers who receive no disconfirming information (e.g., Johnston & Hewstone, 1992; Kunda & Oleson, 1997; Seta & Seta, 1993; Weber & Crocker, 1983). Attention has been paid to identifying those conditions under which such reduction in stereotype-based beliefs is most likely to occur, considering factors such as the dispersion of the disconfirming information across target exemplars (e.g., Johnston & Hewstone, 1992; Hewstone, Hassebrauck, Wirth, & Waenke, 2000), and the perceived homogeneity of the target group (e.g., Hewstone, Johnston & Aird, 1992). Somewhat surprisingly, however, little attention has been paid to individual differences amongst perceivers. The present research investigates whether differences in perceivers' overt use of stereotypes influences the impact of stereotype-disconfirming information on stereotype-based beliefs. Given the prevalence of strong social norms against the use of many social stereotypes (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986; Heinemann, Pellander, Vogelbusch, & Wojtek, 1981; Yzerbyt, Leyens & Schadron, 1997; Yzerbyt, Schadron, Leyens, & Rocher, 1994), their overt use by perceivers in evaluating others is a strong statement. Individuals who publicly express stereotypic beliefs often risk disapproval and sanctions from others (Adler, Starr, Chideya, Wright, Wingert, & Haac, 1990), although individuals do differ in the extent to which they agree that applying a stereotype to members of a target group is acceptable (Pressly & Devine, 1997). Greater understanding of why perceivers differ in their overt use of stereotypes is needed. The focus of the present research, however, is on the impact of differences in perceivers' use of stereotypes on their response to the presentation of stereotype disconfirming information about specific targets and their subsequent endorsement of stereotype-based beliefs. A non-stereotypic, or non-prejudiced, response may disguise different motivations to avoid stereotype use. It may reflect either compliance with, or internalization of, society's non-prejudiced values (Crosby, Bromley, & Saxe, 1980; Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991). Plant and Devine (1998) identified both internal and external sources of motivation to respond without prejudice. Internal sources of motivation derive from internalized and personally important non-prejudiced standards whilst external motivations derive from social pressures to comply with non-prejudiced norms. …


Nepal experienced disastrous earthquake events in 2015. The first one (magnitude of 7.8) with epicenter in Barpak, Gorkha district, occurred on 25 th April 2015, followed by another event (7.3 magnitude) on 12 th May 2015, with epicenter in 19 km south east of Kodari, Sindhupalchok district. Those earthquake events induced different types of geo-hazard and they are widely distributed and caused serious damages and losses. This paper discusses the types of geo-hazards induced by these Gorkha and Sindhupalchok earthquake events and the losses and damages from those events; and the future risk from those geo-hazards in Pharak area covering 305 km 2 in Solukhumbu district, Nepal. Satellite images of before and after the events were used to map landslide, debris flow, landslide dam and other geomorphic changes after earthquake. Information on the losses, damages and future risk were collected through focus group discussion, key informants' interview, observation, and measurement. A total of 79 landslides, 13 rock falls, 5 debris flow and one site of river damming were identified and mapped. The losses and damages included private and public buildings, cultivated land, crops and other infrastructure such as trails, canals for hydropower plant. The losses and damages associated with landslide and debris flow induced by earthquake is comparatively higher than the losses and damages from other geomorphic hazards such as rock fall and landslide dam and landslide dam outburst flood. The risk from those geo-hazards induced by earthquake is also high. Community mobilization with activities of regular monitoring of those hazards, skill development for rescue operation, design and implementation of mitigation measures are some of the efforts necessary for better management of disaster risk.


The development and use of any specific model depend on the availability of data
and the hydrological settings of a country. Because of data limitations (especially water
quality and land management data), the water quality models developed for Australian
catchments are lumped/semi-distributed conceptual models. Even within these modelling
frameworks, water quality component is empirical or generation rates-based. In this
context, developing an effective water quality management plan in the data-poor
conditions of Australia still remains as a major challenge for water catchment managers,
despite huge investment on river health improvement programs.
Physics-based distributed water quality models such as SWAT are most suitable
for agricultural non-point source pollution studies. However, because of high data
requirement and processing, the applications of these models are limited in many datapoor
catchments. In this study, relevant input data sources and analysis techniques were
addressed especially for sparsely available water quality data to assemble, and to
rigorously calibrate and validate the SWAT based Middle Yarra Water Quality Model
(MYWQM) for the case study area - Middle Yarra Catchment (MYC) of Victoria,
Australia. The regression based model LOADEST was used for estimating sediment, and
nutrient observed loads from monthly water quality grab sample data. The MYWQM was
then used to develop a water quality management plan for agricultural non-point source
pollution in the MYC.
In general, the MYWQM was found capable of predicting streamflow, sediment
and nutrient loads in the MYC. The model was also found effective for simulating
individual and integrated effects of several Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the
MYC. Moreover, the model showed that the in-stream processes if not considered can
result in incorrect estimates when simulating BMPs in the model. Overall, the
performance of the MYWQM on evaluating the BMPs in the MYC demonstrated that
data-intensive physics-based models can be applied in the data-poor conditions of
Australia.


Abstract In the case of a hypothetical severe accident in a nuclear power plant, iodine is one of the fission products of major importance. It may be present in various gaseous forms that could be released to the environment, impacting population health. In such a case, the amount released (the so-called "source term") has to be estimated in order to help the safety authorities protect the population from radiological consequences. This estimation is one of the main objectives of the Accident Source Term Evaluation Code (ASTEC) that is developed jointly by the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) and the German institute Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit. ASTEC is composed of various modules able to model the nuclear reactor behavior during an accident. One of these modules, named IODE, predicts iodine behavior in the reactor containment. It is able to model the kinetics of about 35 chemical reactions and mass transfer processes. IODE is validated against separate effect tests, semi-integral experiments, and integral experiments. This paper presents the experimental phenomena that would take place in reactor containment in the case of a severe accident. Then, IODE is used to model the experimental gaseous concentration of organic and inorganic iodine in the PHEBUS FPT-2 test carried out by IRSN. The comparison of experimental data and the modeling show a general good agreement for inorganic iodine even if some differences are evidenced. For organic iodides the modeling is not satisfying. These differences might be explained by the deficiencies of some models and by some assumptions that still have to be validated by dedicated experiments.


Availability Based Tariff (ABT) has been implemented in all the regional grids of India for improving grid discipline by frequency dependent pricing. Currently it is limited to short-term energy transactions between the beneficiary States and Central generating stations without the need for negotiations on price or quantum in real time. In the present scenario, Independent Power Producers (IPP), Captive Power Plants (CPP), small Distributed Generation (DG) like mini-turbine, fuel cell, etc., are not considered under ABT. DG units are normally modular in size and they can be placed close to consumers so as to reduce the T&D costs and losses. Hence, they need to be encouraged so as to meet the ever-increasing electricity demands of Indian power sector within the financial constraints. In this paper, impact of IPPs, CPPs and DGs on intra-State ABT is studied. This paper also proposes to study the impact of grid connected DG on network availability and reliability. The improvement in system reliability is studied after evaluating reliability indices like SAIFI, SAIDI, etc., with the inclusion of DG.


The Port of Everett is in the process of rebuilding and expanding its marine cargo facilities. Much of the Port's waterfront land and facilities were lost to the U.S. Navy Carrier Homeport construction and the Port of Everett has been striving to obtain maximum utilization from the remaining available deepwater sites. The diversity of need precluded construction of single-purpose berthing facilities. Existing at the Port of Everett is a 25-year-old bucket unloading system which dominates the major portion of a 214 meter finger pier. The finger pier is approaching the end of its useful life and the bucket unloader has been severely restricted in its production capacity by our attempt to conform to the current air-quality standards. The Port of Everett solicited invitations to design and build a rubber-tired, self-propelled vacuum-type alumina unloader, with potential capacity to unload cement. This system has been designed and manufactured by a Seattle, Washington company and is undergoing testing at this time.


This paper presents a novel and effective method of shape analysis and recognition based on skeleton and morphological structure. A series of preprocessing algorithms, smooth following and liberalization are introduced, and series of morphological structural points of image contour are extracted and merged. A series of basic shapes and a main shape of object image are described and segmented based on skeleton and morphological structure. Object shape is efficiently analyzed and recognized based on the extracted series of basic shapes and main shape. Comparing with other methods, the proposed method need not sample training set. Also, the new method can be used to analyze and recognize the shape structure of any shape, and there is no any requirement for the processed image data set. The new method can be used in image analysis, intelligent recognition, techniques, applications, systems and tools.


&NA; The relative importance of reduced arterial inflow versus reduced venous outflow in determining flap necrosis remains undefined, even though this is critically important in understanding the effects of pharmacologic agents on flap survival. By means of a rat bipedicled ventral island flap, the amount of random flap necrosis was examined in four experimental groups: (1) unilateral arteriovenous ligation (n = 19), (2) unilateral vein ligation (n = 20). (3) unilateral artery ligation (n = 20), and (4) alternate side vein and artery ligation (n = 18). No necrosis occurred on the side of the vein ligation in groups 2 and 4, indicating that independently reducing venous outflow does not cause flap necrosis. A predictable necrosis occurred ipsilateral to artery ligation in groups 1 (37.63 ± 17.34 percent), 3 (32.74 ± 17.32 percent), and 4 (15.70 ± 9.86 percent). These data indicate that the rat ventral island flap is more sensitive to a decrease in arterial inflow than to a decrease in venous outflow. This model may therefore be useful in clarifying the effect and determining the mechanism of action of pharmacologic agents that after flap survival.


Paediatric early warning systems (PES) detect trends of abnormality and indicate the need for care escalation, the extent of which depending on the value of score, for example, from nursing review to consultant input being required. Two broad systems exist: Trigger systems and early warning scores (PEWS). Trigger systems operate in an 'all or nothing' fashion as they activate an urgent clinical review when one of the trigger criteria is reported. PEWS systems assign an aggregated score according to the degree of physiological derangement and the presence or absence of other factors such as staff or carer concern and comorbidities of patients. Over a decade ago, a number of hospital serious case reviews into child deaths identified contributory factors being deficiencies in clinical assessment and the failure to act on deteriorating vital signs. In response, the UK National Patient Safety Agency, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, together with the UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health report 'Why Children Die' made recommendations for the use of early warning systems. The recommendations have been broadly implemented with the proportion of UK paediatric hospital units using PES rising from <25% in 2005 to 85% in 2012.1 During the same period, a proliferation in the types of PES have occurred since the introduction and validation of the Brighton score in …


One common way of conceptualising recent changes in university governance is by stating that the universities are being pushed towards a market-like setting where the uniqueness of each university's strategy and capacity for introducing organizational change is seen as necessary to improve the functioning of the university. We argue that the strategic functioning of the university is conditioned by the extent to which key decision makers, in the strategic decision-making process, share interpretations of the university's strategic advantages and hence have a coherent view of the strategic choices to be made. Our discussion is based on an analysis of a unique survey among principal decision makers at 26 universities in 8 countries in Europe.


The development of synthetic biology calls for accurate understanding of the critical functions that allow construction and operation of a living cell. Besides coding for ubiquitous structures, minimal genomes encode a wealth of functions that dissipate energy in an unanticipated way. Analysis of these functions shows that they are meant to manage information under conditions when discrimination of substrates in a noisy background is preferred over a simple recognition process. We show here that many of these functions, including transporters and the ribosome construction machinery, behave as would behave a material implementation of the information‐managing agent theorized by Maxwell almost 150 years ago and commonly known as Maxwell's demon (MxD). A core gene set encoding these functions belongs to the minimal genome required to allow the construction of an autonomous cell. These MxDs allow the cell to perform computations in an energy‐efficient way that is vastly better than our contemporary computers.


The growth in women's participation in the labor force has attracted attention to the gender differences in commuting behavior, and to their implications. This study analyses the relationship between individual commuting behavior and household responsibilities, with a focus on gender differences in that relationship. Using the Dutch Time Use Surveys for the years 2000 and 2005, we analyze the relationship between commuting time, and the time devoted to home production and childcare. To deal with reverse causality, we use Propenstity Score Matching techniques to obtain imputed data for individuals. After reverse causality is taken into account, we find that the effect of home production on commuting time for women is more than double the effect for men, while childcare time has an effect on women's commuting time behavior only. Our results explain why prior studies have found that women have shorter commutes than men, shedding light on the Household Responsibility Hypothesis (HRH).


Sensor network has a great potential in applications such as habitat monitoring, wildlife tracking, building surveillance, and military combat. The design of a sensor network system involves several important issues, including the sensing coverage, node-to-node or node-to-base-station communications, and the security in information gathering and relay by the sensors. In this paper, we show that the system performance on these aspects depends closely on how the sensors are deployed in the field, and on how the sensor locations can be adjusted after the initial deployment. For static sensor deployment, we investigate the hexagon and square lattice topology and analyze their impact on secure connectivity and sensing coverage. For advanced sensing devices that allow for location adjustment after deployment, we have established a new framework for coordinated updates of sensor locations. We propose two new sensor location updating algorithms, the VFSec and the Weighted Centroid algorithm, to jointly optimize sensing coverage and secure connectivity. Simulation results show that these new algorithms provide superior tradeoff over the existing approaches that do not take security into considerations.