Corporate Social Responsibility (CSI) is an issue with a growing business value in South Africa. The increasing emphasis on CSI is affecting the relationship between organisations and their various stakeholders, such as investors, customers, vendors, suppliers, employees, communities and government. The stakeholders of an organisation play a vital role in the process of CSI planning and execution. There is a need to communicate CSI activities to stakeholders, as well as to monitor the flow and role of communication within the CSI context. While it is generally agreed that companies need to manage their relationships and communication with their stakeholders, the way in which they choose to do so varies considerably. Challenges in communicating corporate social responsibility do exist – for example, communication channels that are used in CSI, scepticism towards company messages and potentially hostile reactions from the media, complex community engagement processes, diversity of the audience, misunderstanding with special interest groups such as employees and government regulations. The diverse information requirements of different stakeholder groups also present special communication challenges, and these requirements are examined in turn. Given this background, the purpose of this study is to investigate communication in CSI practice. This study seeks to understand communication challenges facing CSI and communication channels that are used in CSI. Lastly, this study offers recommended best practices that can be applied in CSR communication. Although CSI is gaining a role as a strategic business function, however the literature review presented in this paper shows that CSI communication is still an area to be explored. One of the arguments presented in the literature review originate from Maignan & Ferrell (2004:17) that "Businesses cannot hope to enjoy concrete benefits from CSR unless they intelligently communicate about their initiatives to relevant stakeholders". Communication challenges in CSI exist mainly in the process of transmission and receiving of messages from sender to receiver. The selection of the proper channels to disseminate information is also a challenge. These challenges arise mainly in rural and underdeveloped areas. In most instances, these communities lack infrastructure such as electricity and telecommunication which facilitate the dissemination of information. Commonly the communicator has to first do the necessary research in order to establish the most suitable medium for disseminating information to these communities. Illiteracy is also a major hurdle to communication in underdeveloped areas. This poses a challenge in that often messages have to be disseminated face to face, which can take time and requires expertise in communicating. The research method that was used to conduct this study is random sampling. A sample of thirteen organizations was drawn from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) database of medium to large businesses that are actively involved in CSR programmes in South Africa. The findings in this study reveal that South African organisations are engaged in serious efforts to communicate and pro-actively integrate CSI as a strategic business phenomenon. These findings are significant to communications and CSI practitioners who wish to communicate with their stakeholders in CSI implementation. These findings will also benefit corporate executives who wish to engage in CSI communication. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and community organisations that wish to engage in CSI activities with corporate organizations, can also benefit from this study. In summary, CSI has grown from an ideology to a business reality and is now acknowledged as an important dimension of modern business practice. It is important that organisation examine their CSI communication in the context of the ever-changing business environment.


The creation of free and open source software (FOSS) through social networks has been celebrated as one of the most interesting and inspiring developments of the information age. The main legal platform selected for facilitating this collaborative creation is the GNU General Public License (GPL). Software released under the GPL enables anyone to use, modify, and distribute the code. Yet, these rights are contingent upon virality: every copy or work based on the original code must also be subject to such terms and conditions. This article analyzes the interesting and intricate effects of virality on welfare: Virality increases motivations for parallel innovation, both in open source and in commercial code, inter alia by facilitating competition among networks and by preventing the appropriability of viral FOSS by commercial firms. At the same time, by almost closing the door on synergies between FOSS and commercial technologies, it limits cumulative innovation based on synergy and interoperability. As shown, FOSS creates an even stronger anti-commons tragedy than the patent regime. Virality's (non)regulation will thus determine the balance, as well as the connecting bridges, adopted by society between the two modes of production as well as between competition and synergy. While this issue arises in other contexts, the unique features of the software industry and of FOSS raise complex challenges. The article then analyzes market and legal responses to the GPL's virality. Such analysis is timely given that the viral GPL has become standard in many socially-produced FOSS projects.


A successful design of an interactive system requires a clear understanding of human-machine interaction. For the specification of such a system a precise consideration of the user's context during each step of the development process is therefore necessary. Moreover, a formal specification method for expressing interaction is highly desirable in order to achieve a precise and continuous specification process between the requirements and design stages. In this paper several of the environmental cues influencing the user during the interaction with a system are considered. These environmental cues are modelled using the concept of information resources. Interaction is described using these resources and formally specified by the notation of graph grammars in order to be able to reason about a system, to assess a system wrt important properties and, finally to achieve a continuous specification process between the requirements and design stages. This approach will be demonstrated by specifying a safety-critical system concerning the interaction between the pilot and the flight management system on the flight deck of an aircraft.


This paper reports on the many books on science and scientists. Different scientists have different personalities but the commonality they share is the sheer intellect and the creative insight into nature. Reading the books will bring us the much needed inspiration. After all success of science is always transcendental and it benefits mankind. Introduction Books on scientists particularly on physicists abound [1-7]. Clifford A. Pickover [1] in his book Archimedes To Hawking relates the laws of science and the great minds behind them. John Gribbin's The Scientists [2] narrated the history of science told through the lives of its greatest inventors. Another book by John Gribbin called The Fellowship [3] told the story of a scientific revolution brought about by William Gilbert, Francis Bacon, William Harvey, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton, among others. Recent discoveries from X-rays to Quarks was the book by Emilio Segre [4]. A History of Physics--From Clockwork to Crapshoot was written by Roger G. Newton [5]. David Ellyard's book Who Discovered What When [6] traces the growth of scientific ideas and knowledge since 1500. It spans disciplines like astronomy, palaeontology, chemistry, mathematics, geology, physics, biology and medicine, loan Jame's book Remarkable Physicists--From Galileo to Yukawa [7] was about the lives and works of 50 scientists who are the who's who of the scientific world. Table 1 shows the books mentioned and their publishers. Scientific Personalities Successful scientists come in all shapes and sizes and differing personalities. There is no case of one-size fits all. This makes it all the more interesting. What stands them apart from the ordinary mortals is the sheer intellect and the ability to see things in nature which others fail to see. In other words they have the so-called creative insight. Paul Dirac stands out among the scientists as one who is famously taciturn. Pickover [1] in his book pens "Dirac was revered as the "theorist with the purest soul ... because of Dirac's taciturn and solitary demeanour [and] because he maintained practically no interests outside physics and never feigned engagement with art, literature, music or politics". Dirac himself explained his taciturn tracing back to his childhood days when his strict father wanted communication in the house to be carried out only in French. Being poor in that language, Dirac resorted to not communicating at all and he bore a deep-seated resentment towards his authoritarian father. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1933 together with Werner Heisenberg, he invited only his mother for the ceremony purposely left out his father. Another physicist, also a Nobel laureate was however very talkative. Prince Louis de Broglie was described by his sister in the book by loan James [7] in the following manner. "This little brother had become a charming child, slender, svelte, with a small laughing face, eyes full of mischief, curled like a poodle ... His gaiety filled the house. He talked all the time even at the dinner table where the most severe injunctions of silence could not make him hold his tongue, so irresistible were his remarks". De Broglie, like Dirac, also lived up to a ripe old age--95 years old. Reading through these books on great scientists what strikes us most are the gems coming from the lives and history of these geniuses. There is one called "Einstein's Law" which says that if you want something named after you, be careful not to do anything else after your first big success ! It refers to Einstein's fruitless search for the holy-grail of physics--the so-called Theory of Everything. Einstein's pinnacle of success came in 1905 and 1915 with his Theory of Special Relativity and Theory of General Relativity respectively. Gems of Thoughts Maria Mitchell says that "Every formula which expresses a law to nature is a hymn of praise to God [ l ]. …


Post-treatment of mesoporous titanium dioxide films by TiCl4 solutions is commonly applied during the fabrication of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (ssDSCs), as this operation markedly improves the performance of the photovoltaic device. The effect of the post-treatement upon the charge carrier dynamics was scrutinized in ssDSC aiming at unraveling its mechanism. Kinetic studies carried out using femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, showed that a biphasic electron injection from the dye excited state is observed, for both treated and non-treated films, which kinetics is not significantly affected by the surface modification step. However, hole injection in the hole transport material (HTM) spiro-OMeTAD and charge recombination were found to be markedly slower in TiCl4-treated films. These findings are rationalized by a model describing the interaction at the interface between TiO2, the dye-sensitizer and spiro-OMeTAD. Rather than resulting from a modification of the energetics of the conduction band of the oxide, the effect of the TiCl4 post-treatment appears to be associated with a subtle change of the film morphology. Results emphasize the importance of controlling the contact at the heterojunction between the HTM and the sensitized semiconductor oxide network.


Savanna sites are idealized as exhibiting a demographic "bottleneck" physiognomy comprising a lower stratum of abundant resprouting persistent "juveniles" (albeit of indeterminate age), a mid‐stratum comprising relatively few released "saplings," and a canopy‐layer cohort of "adults." The magnitude and frequency of disturbance is considered to influence the critical transition from juvenile into adult phases. Under fire‐prone Australian savanna conditions, an extensive suite of both observational and manipulative studies have explored the responses of tree recruitment to fire disturbances. These studies oftentimes have produced seemingly highly disparate responses, particularly with respect to the differential responses of relatively fast‐growing eucalypts versus non‐eucalypts under different fire regime, and overstory competition, conditions. This study contrasts the responses of tree recruitment height classes to (1) the effects of total canopy removal from severe Cyclone Monica in 2006 over a subsequent 10‐yr period, (2) with observations from long‐term monitoring sites under relatively stable overstory conditions at Litchfield National Park over a six‐year period, (3) under ambient, frequent fire occurrence (mean > 0.5 fires/yr) at both locales including relatively severe late dry season fires. Recruitment at both study sites was represented mostly by resprouting, clonally reproducing juvenile trees 5 m height class, with negligible corresponding release of non‐eucalypts. At Litchfield plots, there was negligible release of both eucalypts and non‐eucalypts. In discussion, we contrast these results with findings from relevant regional studies. We contend that collective disparate observations feasibly can be reconciled as reflecting significant interactions between fire regime characteristics and variable site overstory competition effects, such that the rate of recruitment of fast‐growing savanna eucalypt individuals into the midstory is relatively independent of the fire regime, but is significantly regulated by resource competition interactions especially with the overstory, whereas recruitment of non‐eucalypts is relatively independent of overstory competitive effects, but is suppressed under fire regimes dominated by frequent, especially severe fires.


Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that protect them from degradation, end-to-end fusions, and fragility. In mammals, telomeres are composed of TTAGGG tandem repeats bound by a protein complex called shelterin, which has fundamental roles in the regulation of telomere protection and length. The telomeric repeat binding factor 1 (TERF1 or TRF1) is one of the components of shelterin and has been shown to be essential for telomere protection. Telomeric repeats can also be found throughout the genome, as Internal or Interstitial Telomeric Sequences (ITSs). Some of the components of shelterin have been described to bind to ITSs as well as other extra-telomeric regions, which in the case of RAP1 exert a key role in transcriptional regulation. Here, we set to address whether TRF1 can be found at extra-telomeric sites both under normal conditions and upon induction of telomere shortening. In particular, we performed a ChIP-sequencing technique to map TRF1 binding sites in MEFs wild-type and deficient for the telomerase RNA component (Terc−/−), with increasingly short telomeres. Our findings indicate that TRF1 is exclusively located at telomeres both under normal conditions, as well as under extreme telomere shortening. These results indicate that in mice not all members of shelterin have extra-telomeric roles as it was described for RAP1.


A collaborative inquiry into how to improve the well-being of children was run over six months, as a partnership between Liverpool Hope University and a local authority Children's Services. The collaborative inquiry was based on a living theory approach to action research in which practitioners became increasingly aware and reflective of their moment-by-moment practice. The Buddhist concept of mindfulness formed the basis of the practice, which Kabat-Zinn (1994, 4) describes as 'paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally'. Schön's notions of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action were then developed as enabling means of being mindful in each present moment.


This thesis studies the symmetries and phenomenologies of the massive vector fields of indefinite spin with both scalar and spin-one degrees of freedom and Elko. The investigation is conducted by using and extending the quantum field theory formalism developed by Wigner and Weinberg. In particular, we explore the possibility that the W^{\pm} and Z bosons have an additional scalar degree of freedom and show that Elko is a fermionic dark matter candidate. We show that the massive vector fields of indefinite spin are consistent with Poincare symmetry and have physically desirable properties that are absent for their pure spin-one counterpart. Using the new vector fields, the decay of the W^{\pm} and Z bosons to leptons at tree-level are in agreement with the Standard Model (SM) predictions. For higher order scattering amplitudes, the theory has better convergent behaviour than the intermediate vector boson model and the Fermi theory. Elko has the unusual property that it satisfies the Klein-Gordon but not the Dirac equation and has mass dimension one instead of three-half. We show that the Elko fields are local only along a preferred axis and that they violate Lorentz symmetry. Motivated by the results obtained by Ahluwalia and Horvath that the Elko spin-sums are covariant under very special relativity (VSR) transformations, we derive the VSR particle states and quantum fields. We show that the VSR particles can only interact with the SM particles through gravity and massive scalar particles thus making them and hence Elko dark matter candidates.


Due to the proliferation of object-oriented software development, UML software designs are ubiquitous. The creation of software designs already enjoys wide software support through CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) tools. However, there has been limited application of computer reasoning to software designs in other areas. Yet there is expert knowledge embedded in software design artefacts which could be useful if it were successfully retrieved. Thus, there is a need for automated support for expert knowledge retrieval from software design artefacts.

A software design is an abstract representation of a software product and, in the case of a class diagram, contains information about its structure. It is therefore possible to extract knowledge about a software application from its design. For a human expert an important aspect of a class diagram are the semantic tags associated with each composing element, as these provide a link to the concept each element represents. For implemented code, however, the semantic tags have no bearing. The focus of this research has been on the question of whether is it possible to retrieve knowledge from class diagrams in the absence of semantic information.

This thesis formulates an approach which combines case-based reasoning with graph matching to retrieve knowledge from class diagrams using only structural information. The practical applicability of this research has been demonstrated in the areas of cost estimation and plagiarism detection. It was shown that by applying case-based reasoning and graph matching to measure similarity between class diagrams it is possible to identify properties of an implementation not encoded within the actual diagram, such as the domain, programming language, quality and implementation cost.

An approach for increasing users' confidence in automatic class diagram matching by providing explanation is also presented. The findings show that the technique applied here can contribute to industry and academia alike in obtaining solutions from class diagrams where semantic information is lacking. The approach presented here, as well as its evaluation, were automated through the development of the UMLSimilator software tool.


Numerous task-specific variants of conditional generative adversarial networks have been developed for image completion. Yet, a serious limitation remains that all existing algorithms tend to fail when handling large-scale missing regions. To overcome this challenge, we propose a generic new approach that bridges the gap between image-conditional and recent modulated unconditional generative architectures via co-modulation of both conditional and stochastic style representations. Also, due to the lack of good quantitative metrics for image completion, we propose the new Paired/Unpaired Inception Discriminative Score (P-IDS/U-IDS), which robustly measures the perceptual fidelity of inpainted images compared to real images via linear separability in a feature space. Experiments demonstrate superior performance in terms of both quality and diversity over state-of-the-art methods in free-form image completion and easy generalization to image-to-image translation. Code is available at https://github.com/zsyzzsoft/co-mod-gan.


In my study, I explore a specific kind of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) event - the psytrance party to highlight the importance of social connectivity and the generation of a modern form of communitas (Turner, 1969, 1982).
Since the early 90s psytrance, and a related earlier style, Goa trance, have been understood as hedonist music cultures where participants seek to get into a trance-like state through all night dancing and psychedelic drugs consumption. Authors (Cole and Hannan, 1997; D'Andrea, 2007; Partridge, 2004; St John 2010a and 2010b; Saldanha, 2007) conflate this electronic dance music with spirituality and indigene rituals. In addition, they locate psytrance in a neo-psychedelic countercultural continuum with roots stretching back to the 1960s. Others locate the trance party events, driven by fast, hypnotic, beat-driven, largely instrumental music, as post sub cultural and neo-tribal, representing symbolic resistance to capitalism and neo liberalism.
My study is in partial agreement with these readings when applied to genre history, but questions their validity for contemporary practice. The data I collected at and around the 2008 Offworld festival demonstrates that participants found the psytrance experience enjoyable and enriching, despite an apparent lack of overt euphoria, spectacular transgression, or sustained hedonism. I suggest that my work adds to an existing body of literature on psytrance in its exploration of a dance music event as a liminal space, redolent with communitas, but one too which foregrounds mundane features, such as socialising and pleasure. In addition my work contributes to popular music studies and youth cultures research notably when related to field work methods and ethnographic approaches.
My inquiry harnesses a variety of fieldwork methods to argue for re-evaluation of the psytrance party. Attention in particular is paid to the event's many material elements and how they interact. They include site spaces, infrastructure, dancing, or 'chilling', bodies, DJs, sound systems, organisers and drugs. The study applies concepts developed in cultural anthropology such as communitas, in the new ethnography (Goodall, 1999; Marcus 1998) - reflexive researching and partial insiderness – and, lastly, the 'vibe' and the DJ-dancer relationship, which remain fundamental to electronic dance music cultures.


An agent is asked to assess a real-valued variable Y_{p} based on certain characteristics X_{p} = (X_{p}^{1},...,X_{p}^{m}), and on a database consisting (X_{i}^{1},...,X_{i}^{m},Y_{i}) for i = 1,...,n. A possible approach to combine past observations of X and Y with the current values of X to generate an assessment of Y is similarity-weighted averaging. It suggests that the predicted value of Y, Y_{p}^{s}, be the weighted average of all previously observed values Y_{i}, where the weight of Y_{i}, for every i =1,...,n, is the similarity between the vector X_{p}^{1},...,X_{p}^{m}, associated with Y_{p}, and the previously observed vector, X_{i}^{1},...,X_{i}^{m}. We axiomatize this rule. We assume that, given every database, a predictor has a ranking over possible values, and we show that certain reasonable conditions on these rankings imply that they are determined by the proximity to a similarity-weighted average for a certain similarity function. The axiomatization does not suggest a particular similarity function, or even a particular functional form of this function. We therefore proceed to suggest that the similarity function be estimated from past observations. We develop tools of statistical inference for parametric estimation of the similarity function, for the case of a continuous as well as a discrete variable. Finally, we discuss the relationship of the proposed method to other methods of estimation and prediction.


Distinguishing subpopulations in group behavioral experiments can reveal the impact of differences in genetic, pharmacological and life-histories on social interactions and decision-making. Here we describe Fluorescence Behavioral Imaging (FBI), a toolkit that uses transgenic fluorescence to discriminate subpopulations, imaging hardware that simultaneously records behavior and fluorescence expression, and open-source software for automated, high-accuracy determination of genetic identity. Using FBI, we measure courtship partner choice in genetically mixed groups of Drosophila.


Background and Purpose: The goal of this study is application of the proportional hazards model (PH) and accelerated failure time model (AFT), with consideration Weibull distribution, to determine the level of effectiveness of the factors affecting on the level of disease-free survival (DFS) of the patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Based on the retrospective descriptive studies, 377 female patients with primary breast cancer that had been treated at oncology section (Omid Hospital) in Mashhad, Iran, were considered for participation in the study . Results: The median was 2 years and 10 months (mean 2 years and 4 months, interquartile range 3 years and 7 months, range 1-2920 days or 8 years). The average age of patients was 49.2 ± 11.5 (range 25-80 years). The rate of DFS determined with 52.5%. Base on the result of PHs Weibull model, the risk of the metastasis after surgery in the patients with invasive tumors to the skin and chest and positive lymph node was more than 2 times [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.53; confidence interval (CI): 1.26, 5.06] and (HR = 2.37 CI: 1.42, 3.98), respectively. Hormone therapy after surgery decreases the risk of the metastasis to 0.63% (HR = 0.63; CI: 0.41, 0.95). In the AFT model, characteristic tumor decelerated ( γ < 1) the DFS time by a factor of 0.30 and 0.33, respectively. Furthermore, the hormonal therapy accelerated ( γ > 1) the DFS time by factor of 1.8. Conclusion: In this study, the PH and AFT assumption have been satisfied by data and characteristics tumor and the hormonal therapy decrease and increases time until recurrence, respectively.


This article reports on a longitudinal study of the development of formulaic sequences in 22 teenage Dutch learners of English in high and low input conditions (Dutch bilingual TTO and Gymnasium). Written samples of language were collected monthly over a period of 3 years and analyzed using a holistic, integrated approach to the identification of formulaic sequences (chunks). Our results have revealed different developmental tendencies in our low and high input groups, even though both started off with no significant differences in the overall number of chunks (p>.05) and with a comparable proportion of different chunk types. While low input learners developed a limited range of mostly grammatically-based chunks, high input learners show increase in a wide range of chunks types. These are more lexical, idiomatic, longer and more complex in structure, which is reflected in numerous overlaps and nested sequences. High input learners also show considerable increase in chunks which can be used to construct longer and more complex sentences. However, although the contrast between the two groups in the increase of chunks is striking (p=.001), clear individual differences in developmental paths have been detected. These will be explored in further studies.


For learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), character learning is frustrating. This research postulated that this difficulty may mainly come from a lack of semantic understanding of character-denoted meanings. Language theories support that when a learner's semantic meaning increases, the orthographic structures that represent the underlying meanings also improve. This study aimed to reveal CFL learners' cognitive abilities and processes in visual-semantic learning of Chinese characters. Particularly, this study investigated the process by which English-speaking adolescent CFL learners, at the beginning to intermediate level, made mental images of character-denoted meanings to visually encode and retrieve character forms. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from image making questionnaires, writing, and reading tests, after learning characters in three commonly-used teaching methods (i.e., English, pictorial, and verbal). The data were analyzed based on a triangulation of the literature from Neuro-Semantic Language Learning Theory, scientific findings in cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. The study found that participants' semantic abilities to understand character-denoted meanings emerged, but were still restricted in familiar orthographic forms. The use of the imagery strategy as a semantic ability predicted better performances, most evidently in writing; however, the ability in using the


Just when legislations are being put in place around the world to cope with cross-border insolvency (such as the implementation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency), the UK Privy Council in Cambridge Gas Transport Corporation v Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Navigator Holdings [2006] UKPC 26; [2006] 3 WLR 689 reminds us that the common law remains essential and is capable of development. In summary, the Privy Council held that the Isle of Man court, having recognised a US Chapter 11 proceeding, had a broad discretion to assist in the implementation of that Chapter 11 plan, notwithstanding that this involved the transfer of shares in an Isle of Man company. While the spirit of cooperation demonstrated by the Privy Council is commendable, its approach seems novel and may have significant implications for the management of cross-border insolvencies and for the general law. This commentary reviews the Privy Council's approach and contrasts it to an alternative approach adopted by the Canadian courts, in particular the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Re Cavell Insurance Company (23 May 2006).


Also available as an e-book The World Trade Organization ("WTO") resulted from globalization, through which national law provisions are internationalized and international norms are domesticated. The WTO does not permit reservation by its members who are obliged to ensure the compliance of their laws, policies and other measures. Once a member is found to have violated its obligations, it must rectify the non-compliance measures to avoid retaliation. The quasi-automatic approval procedure of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body has proved to be effective in ensuring the compliance by members and consistency of interpretation of the WTO Agreement. As the multilateral trade institution covers a wide range of sectors from trade in goods and services, and intellectual property to investment and the measures of the members include laws and regulations, administrative decisions and judicial rulings, the impacts of the WTO on the members' legal systems are hugely profound and long lasting. In some cases, for the purpose of joining the WTO, the legal systems of the members concerned have been through significant changes.


During the 1960s and early 1970s the Lebanese economy was characterized by low inflation, high growth, sizeable balance of payments surpluses and small public sector deficits, which made it a highly attractive business centre. During this period the country was described as the Switzerland or Paris of the East. This macroeconomic stability did not last long, however, as the economy subsequently underwent fundamental structural changes during most years after the mid 1970s. The aim of this paper is to identify the timing of major structural breaks in the Lebanese economy by applying the Zivot and Andrews (ZA) (1992) procedure, using annual time series data spanning the years from 1970 through 2003. The empirical results from the ZA model, which endogenously identifies the most significant structural breaks in each of the macroeconomic variables, clearly show that the null hypothesis of at least one unit root could be rejected for some of the variables under investigation. In other words, some of the variables, which contain a unit root based on the conventional unit root test, become stationary after taking into account the existence of potential structural breaks in the series . The results are statistically significant and the endogenous structural breaks identified using this methodology also coincides with periods of major economic shocks to the Lebanese economy. More specifically, most of the structural changes are associated with: the years of the Civil War in Lebanon, which started in 1975; the post 1982 era which started with the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982; the deep recession in 1983-84; and the adverse effects of the 1988-89 currency depreciation on inflation and the real economy.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize clinical and behavioral changes in calves following inoculation with Mycoplasma bovis and evaluate relationships between those changes and pulmonary disease.

ANIMALS
22 healthy Holstein steers.

PROCEDURES
20 calves were inoculated intranasally with < 10(8) CFU or > 10(9) CFU of M bovis. Calves were assigned a clinical illness score (CIS) on a scale of 1 through 4 twice daily on the basis of severity of cough, labored breathing, and lethargy. For each calf, distance traveled and time spent near the waterer, feed bunk, or shelter were determined via a remote location monitoring device. Calves were euthanized and necropsied 22 days after inoculation.

RESULTS
13 calves became clinically ill after challenge inoculation; 3 calves were euthanized within 20 days. Among all calves, consolidation was evident in 0% to 79.9% of the lungs; extent of lung consolidation did not differ between the challenge dose groups. Distance traveled and percentages of time spent in proximity to the feed bunk and shelter were associated with CIS; calves with more severe disease traveled less distance and spent less time at the feed bunk and more time in the shelter. Distance traveled by calves was negatively associated with extent of lung consolidation (< or ≥ 10% of lungs affected); this effect was modified by trial day.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Following inoculation with M bovis, calf behavior patterns were associated with both CIS and severity of pulmonary disease. Use of behavior monitoring systems may aid in recognition of respiratory tract disease in calves.


We conducted a study to investigate trust in and dependence upon robotic decision support among nurses and doctors on a labor and delivery floor. There is evidence that suggestions provided by embodied agents engender inappropriate degrees of trust and reliance among humans. This concern represents a critical barrier that must be addressed before fielding intelligent hospital service robots that take initiative to coordinate patient care. We conducted our experiment with nurses and physicians, and evaluated the subjects' levels of trust in and dependence upon high- and low-quality recommendations issued by robotic versus computer-based decision support. The decision support, generated through action-driven learning from expert demonstration, produced high-quality recommendations that were accepted by nurses and physicians at a compliance rate of 90%. Rates of Type I and Type II errors were comparable between robotic and computer-based decision support. Furthermore, embodiment appeared to benefit performance, as indicated by a higher degree of appropriate dependence after the quality of recommendations changed over the course of the experiment. These results support the notion that a robotic assistant may be able to safely and effectively assist with patient care. Finally, we conducted a pilot demonstration in which a robot-assisted resource nurses on a labor and delivery floor at a tertiary care center.


Explorations in Communication and History addresses the link between what we know and how we know it by tracking the intersection of communication and history. Asking how each discipline has enhanced and hindered our understanding of the other, the book considers what happens to what we know when disciplines engage.

Through a critical collection of essays written by top scholars in the field, the book addresses the engagement of communication and history as it applies to the study of technology, audiences and journalism. A comprehensive introduction by Barbie Zelizer contextualises these debates and makes a case for the importance of disciplinary engagement for teaching as well as research in media and cultural studies and each section has a brief introduction to contextualise the essays and highlight the issues they raise, making this an invaluable collection for students and scholars alike.


Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes have become promising tools for the investigation of thermal hydraulics in revolutionary reactor concepts in the last decade. In Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes calculations, the CFD codes (for example, the ANSYS CFX code used here) use turbulence modeling, wall functions, and other approaches. Therefore, the accuracy of CFD codes for water flow under supercritical conditions has to be examined. The first aim of this work is to investigate the effects of different material property definition methods on the numerical results obtained with CFX code. The second aim is to assess the accuracy of the conventional turbulence models (such as k-ε, k-ω, and SST) under supercritical water conditions. The results and comparison of three independent validations for supercritical water flow in vertical smooth-bore tubes with upward flow direction are presented in this paper. It is well known that the material properties strongly depend on the temperature and the pressure near and above the thermodynamic critical point. It is demonstrated that rather than analytical or discrete point methods, the IAPWS-IF97 material table best represents the strongly changing material properties. A nonaxialsymmetric effect on result fields was not found based on the three validations; therefore, a rotational periodic or two-dimensional grid approach is recommended for further validations of homogenously heated, vertically installed, smooth-bore straight tubes cooled by supercritical water. The calculation results have been compared with measurements, and the computational errors for the three validations were found to be in the ranges of 0 to 25%, 0 to 18%, and 2 to 40% for the Swenson, Yamagata, and Herkenrath experiments, respectively. The results of the three validations indicate the need to improve a turbulence model to take into account the buoyancy effect on the turbulence for thermal-hydraulic calculations of the supercritical water.


We discuss the problem of measuring the intensity and phase of a broadband continuum in a single shot, considering three possible methods, and perform preliminary measurements using one of them. Our measurements use transient-grating cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating (TG XFROG) with a third-order nonlinear medium, which currently can phase match over 300 nm simultaneously. We demonstrate this technique for a continuum generated in bulk fused silica that is 12.5 mm thick. Due to limited reference-pulse energy, we do not achieve a true single-shot measurement, instead averaging over approximately five shots. The retrieved trace and spectrum contain fine structure, and the retrieved temporal phase is mainly quadratic.


We study the driving forces behind the adoption of environmental innovations (EI) in the Italian industry over 2006-2008 through analyses of the new wave of Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data that covered for the first time environmental innovation adoptions. We investigate whether the first phase of EU ETS has exerted some effects on environmental innovations by using a very large sample of italian manufcturing firms. Estimates show that external forces and complementarity with other management practices are particularly relevant to increase the adoption of relatively new and radical technologies: relationships with other firms and institutions, local public funding, group membership are the key factors. The role of ETS on EI seems instead to be weak: it drives innovation if we compare ETS and non ETS firms, but the stringency itself does not matter, due to sector idiosyncratic factors and to the fact that stability of policy also matters.


The issue of the "native/non-native speaker's input source" occupies an important place in any EFL listening comprehension test. This study is meant to unveil whether listening to a native or non-native speaker (i.e., input source) and students' perceptions towards it affect the performance of upper-intermediate EFL learners in a listening test. For this purpose, an experimental design was used to compare the performance of two groups of learners on an EFL listening test. A test of 20 multiple choice items was administered to 66 EFL learners (31 male and 35 female), half of whom listened to a native speaker's voice while the other 33 test takers listened to a non-native speaker's voice. Moreover, a perception questionnaire considering students' perceptions towards using native or non-native input source in listening tests was utilized. The results of the study highlighted that the overall performance of the two groups differed significantly. That is, the listeners to the non-native input outperformed those who listened to a native speaker. Also, the results of the questionnaire revealed some noteworthy findings which indicate that students preferred the use of non-native input in listening tests. Moreover, considering gender as a moderator variable, a statistically significant main effect was found for gender; that is, gender does play a significant role as a moderator variable. In other words, female test takers performed better than males in both conditions. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.


Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is a connection-oriented protocol
that has a shared state between active endpoints. Some of this shared
state is vital for operation, but may be volatile in nature, such as
packet sequence numbers used on the L2TP Control Connection. When
failure of one side of a control connection occurs, a new control
connection is created and associated with the old connection by
exchanging information about the old connection. Such a mechanism is
not intended as a replacement for an active fail over with some
mirrored connection states, but as an aid for those parameters that
are particularly difficult to have immediately available. Protocol
extensions to L2TP defined in this document are intended to facilitate
state recovery, providing additional resiliency in an L2TP network,
and improving a remote system's layer 2 connectivity. [STANDARDS-
TRACK]


A Project Report by Kraemer Mary Pat, Submitted to the School of Business, USIU-A in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Science in Management and Organization Development


The Abelson non-receptor tyrosine kinases, c-Abl and Arg, are important regulators of cellular processes in cancer, inflammation, infection, and neuronal dynamics. Recent research on the role for these kinases in processes involving interactions with the cytoskeleton or signaling molecules, may lead to further insight into the pathogenesis of a variety of disorders, including chronic inflammatory diseases. In a mouse model for multiple sclerosis, we recently reported that Arg deficient mice develop T-cell mediated autoimmune neuro-inflammation with the same severity as littermate controls, but display a different B-cell phenotype upon immunization. Here we comment on these results and discuss the role for Arg in B-cell activation and homeostasis.


Deep learning approaches have made tremendous progress in the field of semantic segmentation over the past few years. However, most current approaches operate in the 2D image space. Direct semantic segmentation of unstructured 3D point clouds is still an open research problem. The recently proposed PointNet architecture presents an interesting step ahead in that it can operate on unstructured point clouds, achieving encouraging segmentation results. However, it subdivides the input points into a grid of blocks and processes each such block individually. In this paper, we investigate the question how such an architecture can be extended to incorporate larger-scale spatial context. We build upon PointNet and propose two extensions that enlarge the receptive field over the 3D scene. We evaluate the proposed strategies on challenging indoor and outdoor datasets and show improved results in both scenarios.


One of the principal projects of the Task on Environmental Quality Control and Management in IIASA's Resources and Environment Area is a case study of eutrophication management for Lake Balaton, Hungary. The case study is a collaborative project involving a number of scientists from several Hungarian institutions and IIASA.

As part of the case study, different lake ecological models and water quality management models are under development. The sediment and its interaction with the water is of major importance for the development of both types of model, since the sediment, as an internal nutrient source, influences the short-term dynamics of water quality and also the long-term ' changes. Consequently, acceptable knowledge on the behavior of the sediment is required for the calibration and validation of lake ecological models on one hand, and for the estimation of the new equilibrium of the lake and the renewal time following a load reduction on the other hand. This latter point is a major issue from the point of view of water quality management. This report is intended to serve as a background for handling both types of problem.


Energy loss represents a traditional key objective in the optimal operation and planning of electrical networks, and various estimation methods have been studied. In this study, two formulas are proposed for calculation of the loss factor (LSF) to improve the classical LSF method based on the minimum load factor (MLF) and the LF. The former is an approximate formula, whose accuracy is good enough for engineering calculations. While the latter is an empirical quadratic equation determined by the statistical analysis, which is more accurate to estimate losses. To conduct a complete feasibility study for project practices, a large amount of measurement data is used to calculate energy losses in a district of Guangdong using the classical LSF method and the improved LSF (ILSF) method. Results of statistical analyses indicate that the real data fall in the proposed three-dimensional region and the use of MLF can help improve accuracy in the energy losses estimation. The classical and ILSF methods are used to estimate the effect in loss reduction by inserting a distributed generation in a 43-bus distribution network, and the candidate bus can be identified effectively.


The optimal linear modulation approximation of any M-ary continuous-phase modulated (CPM) signal under the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) criterion is presented in this paper. With the introduction of the MMSE signal component, an M-ary CPM signal is exactly represented as the superposition of a finite number of MMSE incremental pulses, resulting in the novel switched linear modulation CPM signal models. Then, the MMSE incremental pulse is further decomposed into a finite number of MMSE pulse-amplitude modulated (PAM) pulses, so that an M-ary CPM signal is alternatively expressed as the superposition of a finite number of MMSE PAM components, similar to the Laurent representation. Advantageously, these MMSE PAM components are mutually independent for any modulation index. The optimal CPM signal approximation using lower order MMSE incremental pulses, or alternatively, using a small number of MMSE PAM pulses, is also made possible, since the approximation error is minimized in the MMSE sense. Finally, examples of the MMSE-optimal CPM signal approximation and its comparison with the Laurent approximation approach are given using raised-cosine frequency-pulse CPM schemes.


Inter-tidal macro-algae communities often exhibit consistent broad vertical distribution patterns of species. The factors that set the distribution limits of these patterns have long intrigued marine ecologists, and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this phenomenon; however, no general conclusion has yet been drawn. Of all the factors limiting the occurence and development of photosynthetic organisms in aquatic environments, light is the most crucial and variable, and its role in the zonation of intertidal macro-algae is an unresolved issue. This thesis addresses the problem of whether the characteristics of the underwater light field available to intertidal macro-algae could influence species distribution.
Semi-diurnal in situ measurements of the underwater light field were carried out at three sites on the south-west coast of England (United Kingdom)); the Hamble Estuary, Southampton Water and Swanage Bay. The tide is shown to significantly affect the water optical properties, and the tidal range and water transparency combine to produce important intensity and spectral fluctuations of the underwater light field available to intertidal macro-algae.
To circumvent the limitations of in situ field studies a mathematical model was developed to investigate the effect of tidal features on the availability of underwater light to intertidal macro-algae across the compete tidal cycle. The results reveal the importance of the range and phase of the tide, and identify two significant zones within the intertidal zone which might depict where certain macro-algae flourish.
Finally, the effect of vertical height of "transplanted" macro-algae in the intertidal zone and their pigment content was studies in situ. The results of this study were inconclusive but produce the foundation for future work.
This study demonstrated that intertidal macro-algae are subjected to major intensity and spectral fluctuations in underwater irradiance, and there are two major zones within the intertidal zone which could potentially affect the zonation of some species.


To the Editor: Mycobacterium arupense was identified in 2006 as a novel species within the M. terrae complex with close similarity to M. nonchromogenicum (1). Since then, 8 cases describing clinically notable disease have been published (2–8), including 5 cases of tenosynovitis. We report M. arupense tenosynovitis in an immunocompromised person who received the selective interleukin (IL) 1 β-inhibitor canakinumab.

In July 2014, a 62-year-old man sought treatment at the emergency department, Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago, Illinois, USA), after 1 week of pain and swelling in the right hand. During the previous 5 years, he had received multiple immunomodulatory drugs for treatment of natural killer cell deficiency, hyper–IL-6 syndrome, recurrent polychondritis, and Sweet syndrome. His medications were prednisone (42.5 mg/d), intravenous immunoglobulin (400 mg/kg monthly), and subcutaneous canakinumab (180 mg every 8 weeks, which began 3 weeks before onset of symptoms).

His first symptom was a tender red nodule on the right palm that increased in size and became extremely tender over the following week (Figure, panels A, B). He did not recall any trauma and denied fever or chills. No improvement was seen after he received oral linezolid for 5 days. A skin punch biopsy specimen showed a neutrophilic interstitial infiltrate with no granulomas; results of microbiological stains, including acid-fast bacilli, were negative, . His prednisone dosage was increased to 60 mg/d for suspected Sweet syndrome and, subsequently, to 80 mg/d when no improvement was observed after 2 weeks. A second dose of canakinumab was administered 8 weeks after the first. Shortly after, he was readmitted to the hospital with progression of edema and pain and signs consistent with carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger syndrome of the right index finger. Magnetic resonance imaging showed extensive tenosynovitis of the carpal tunnel flexor tendons and no bone erosions. Surgical release and tenosynovectomy of the carpal tunnel was performed; pathologic features demonstrated chronic inflammation of the synovium and absence of granulomas. Results of microbiological stains were negative.

Figure

Hands of a 62-year-old man in Chicago, Illinois, USA, who had Mycobacterium arupense tenosynovitis, at the time treatment was sought (panels A, B) and after 6 months of treatment (panels C, D).

M. arupense grew on Lowenstein-Jensen culture from the skin biopsy specimen after 35 days and from a synovium specimen after 22 days. No growth was observed on liquid culture media. Empiric treatment was started immediately after the first positive culture: clarithromycin (500 mg 2×/d), ethambutol (1,200 mg/d), and rifabutin (300 mg/d). Prednisone was decreased to 45 mg/d, and canakinumab was discontinued. Susceptibility testing confirmed the M. arupense strain's susceptibility to clarithromycin, ethambutol, and rifabutin (MICs 4.0) and to kanamycin (MIC >8.0). Clinical improvement occurred after 8 weeks of treatment; the condition resolved after 6 months (Figure, panels C, D). Treatment was continued for 12 months.

Five other cases of M. arupense tenosynovitis have been reported (2,4,5,7,8); all patients were immunocompetent or minimally immunocompromised (i.e., diabetes mellitus) (Technical Appendix). The hand was the site of infection in all cases, and 4 of 5 patients reported prior trauma to the affected area, which suggests that inoculation was the infection mechanism. In the case we describe, the disease appeared to progress much faster than in the immunocompetent patients (weeks vs. months to years). Acid-fast bacilli stain was negative in all of the cases where it was performed (2,7,8; this study), and growth on solid Lowenstein-Jensen stain or Middlebrook media was seen after a prolonged incubation time, ranging from 27 days to 2 months. Liquid culture media appears to be unreliable for the growth of M. arupense (8; this study).

A combination of tenosynovectomy and prolonged antimycobacterial treatment, guided by in vitro strain susceptibility, was used in all the reported cases; a positive outcome was achieved in 6–14 months. The strain susceptibility results we found are comparable with those in the previous cases, showing consistent susceptibility to clarithromycin, ethambutol, and rifabutin; variable susceptibility to linezolid, streptomycin, and amikacin; and resistance to rifampin and quinolones.

Two cases of M. arupense infection have been reported in immunosuppressed persons, both in HIV/AIDS patients (manifesting as pulmonary infection in 1 patient and disseminated disease in the other) (6). In our study, the immunocompromised patient with M. arupense tenosynovitis received canakinumab, a relatively new biologic agent with a prolonged selective IL-1 β-blockade. Even though the contribution of canakinumab in this case is confounded by concomitant immune deficiencies (natural killer cell deficiency, high-dose corticosteroids), the temporal association between initiation of canakinumab and the onset of symptoms raises concern of a possible association. Animal studies have shown that IL-1 plays a key role in host resistance to mycobacterial infections by regulating Th1/Th2 immune responses and inducing granuloma formation (9). Clinical trials and systematic reviews assessing the safety of IL-1 inhibitors, including anakinra, rilonacept, and canakinumab, have not shown that these drugs lead to an increased risk of tuberculosis or other mycobacterial infections (10). Nonetheless, our report provides increased evidence that M. arupense is an emerging cause of tenosynovitis and that it is potentially associated with immunosuppression.

Technical Appendix:
Clinical characteristics and microbiological and treatment characteristics of case-patients with Mycobacterium arupense tenosynovitis in published reports.

Click here to view.(209K, pdf)


Abstract. In June 2015 Leica Geosystems launched the first large format aerial mapping camera using CMOS sensor technology, the Leica DMC III. This paper describes the motivation to change from CCD sensor technology to CMOS for the development of this new aerial mapping camera. In 2002 the DMC first generation was developed by Z/I Imaging. It was the first large format digital frame sensor designed for mapping applications. In 2009 Z/I Imaging designed the DMC II which was the first digital aerial mapping camera using a single ultra large CCD sensor to avoid stitching of smaller CCDs. The DMC III is now the third generation of large format frame sensor developed by Z/I Imaging and Leica Geosystems for the DMC camera family. It is an evolution of the DMC II using the same system design with one large monolithic PAN sensor and four multi spectral camera heads for R,G, B and NIR. For the first time a 391 Megapixel large CMOS sensor had been used as PAN chromatic sensor, which is an industry record. Along with CMOS technology goes a range of technical benefits. The dynamic range of the CMOS sensor is approx. twice the range of a comparable CCD sensor and the signal to noise ratio is significantly better than with CCDs. Finally results from the first DMC III customer installations and test flights will be presented and compared with other CCD based aerial sensors.


The positive or negative effects that vertical agreements may have on intra-brand competition have always been object of debate between academics, in particular when the agreement sets a minimum resale price. The paper deals with this particular kind of vertical restraint, the so called minimum "resale price maintenance" (minimum RPM), which only recently has been considered as having also pro-competitive effects in the relevant market taken into consideration. With a decision of 2007 the U. S. Supreme Court overruled the per se condemnation of this practice contained in Dr. Miles, and for the first time it applied the rule of reason, in consideration of the potential pro-competitive effects of minimum RPM. In particular, the possible reduction of the risk of free riding is one of the most debated questions, surrounded by various uncertainties. In the EC law, Commission Regulation (EC) n. 2790/1999 reflects a new approach, based on the economical analysis of vertical restraints. The exemption contained in this Regulation applies to all vertical agreements, except those contained in a "black list", the so called "hard core restrictions". And minimum RPM falls into it. Both Regulation (EC) n. 2790/1999 and n. 1400/2000 will expire on May 2010, and therefore it is interesting to question on the possible future developments of the EC position towards minimum RPM: and the analysis of the recent case law of the Court of Justice doesn't furnish indications of a change of the EC approach in the same direction undertaken by the U. S. Supreme Court.


Poor access to haemodialysis facilities is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. This study investigated factors affecting revealed access to the haemodialysis facilities considering patients living in rural and urban areas without any haemodialysis facility (Group A) and those living urban areas with haemodialysis facilities (Group B). This study is based on selfreported Actual Access Time (AAT) to referred haemodialysis facilities and other information regarding travel to haemodialysis facilities from patients. All significant variables on univariate analysis were entered into a univariate general linear model in order to identify factors associated with AAT. Both spatial (driving time and distance) and non-spatial factors (sex, income level, caregivers, transportation mode, education level, ethnicity and personal vehicle ownership) influenced the revealed access identified in Group A. The non-spatial factors for Group B patients were the same as for Group A, but no spatial factor was identified in Group B. It was found that accessibility is strongly underestimated when driving time is chosen as accessibility measure to haemodialysis facilities. Analysis of revealed access determinants provides policymakers with an appropriate decision base for making appropriate decisions and finding solutions to decrease the access time for patients under haemodialysis therapy. Driving time alone is not a good proxy for measuring access to haemodialysis facilities as there are many other potential obstacles, such as women's special travel problems, poor other transportation possibilities, ethnicity disparities, low education levels, low caregiver status and low-income.


Linda Nochlin is one of the most prolific, intellectually accessible and innovative art historians of our time. Since the publication of her seminal 1971 essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, she has continued to assess the social and institutional structures that have influenced the work made by women artists, and their professional and historical status. While anthologies of Nochlins writing published to date have focused on specific subjects or periods, such as the 19th century, Women Artists brings together 29 essays in which she focuses on female artists and the key questions of womens roles and status in the arts. It includes both her major thematic texts and her monographic texts on major women artists, both historical and modern. An introduction by editor Maura Reilly provides an overview of Nochlins life and work and an analysis of her impact and continuing influence on younger scholars and students, and a specially commissioned interview with Nochlin investigates the status of women artists today. Women Artists will be indispensible to students and academics working in the fields of art history and historiography, gender and womens studies, cultural history and theory.


The performance in bobsledding is influenced by several factors. This study concentrated on influences of the environment and the bobsled crew on the final time of a bobsled run. The analysis was performed with data collected during the four-man competition at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. It was shown that the start order, the ice temperature, and the push time together explain about 50% of the variance in the performance (α=0.05). It is suggested that the existing rule concerning the start order in a heat be modified to guarantee a fair competition. Selected speed and turn time variables were shown to give an indication of the characteristics and the important sections of the bobsled track at Canada Olympic Park. It is speculated that the optimization of turn times is more important than the increase in speed in a turn.


Developing efficient and easily recyclable photocatalysts has drawn much attention. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of Ta3N5/Bi2MoO6 core–shell fiber-shaped heterojunctions as a kind of efficient and easily recyclable photocatalyst. Ta3N5 nanofibers have been prepared by an electrospinning–calcination–nitridation method, and then in situ growth of Bi2MoO6 on their surfaces is realized by a solvothermal method. The resulting Ta3N5/Bi2MoO6 heterojunctions are composed of porous Ta3N5 nanofibers (diameter: ∼200 nm) whose surfaces are decorated with Bi2MoO6 nanosheets (length: 100–200 nm; thickness: ∼15 nm). They exhibit remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activities for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and para-chlorophenol (4-CP) under visible light, compared with pure Bi2MoO6 or Ta3N5. In particular, the heterojunction with a Ta3N5/Bi2MoO6 molar ratio of 1/1 achieves the highest photodegradation efficiency of RhB (99.5%), which is about 1.85 times that (53.7%) of Bi2MoO6 and 1.66 times that (60.1%) of the mechanical mixture (49.8 wt% Bi2MoO6 + 50.2 wt% Ta3N5). The superior photocatalytic properties can be attributed to the efficient separation of photo-induced electron–hole pairs and the high BET surface area. The dominant active species are determined to be superoxide and the photogenerated holes. More importantly, the Ta3N5/Bi2MoO6 heterojunction can be easily recycled by simple sedimentation while maintaining good stability. This work offers more valuable insights into the design of efficient and easily recyclable photocatalysts for environmental remediation.


ABSTRACT STS and social movement scholars have shown the importance of 'getting undone science done' to advance the goals of social movements fighting environmental health injustice. The production and mobilization of counter-expertise, meaning the reliance on expertise, broadly construed, to contest regulatory decisions based on scientific knowledge, must be further analyzed by differentiating among types of expertise and strategies to mobilize them. In social mobilization against the unrestricted use of pesticides in Argentina, the affected community in Ituzaingó Anexo developed three types of expertise. The community first drew upon its own local knowledge of cases of illness and, as lay people, produced the first epidemiological map of this area. Then, they enrolled scientists and NGOs as allies to jointly learn about pesticide contamination as an explanation for illness. The enlisted scientists produced new knowledge by conducting environmental and epidemiological studies. Finally, sympathetic public health authorities, legal experts, and a district attorney designed a successful legal strategy to stop fumigations in that area and enforce local regulations. The case confirms the importance of producing undone science, and shows that its effectiveness can be explained by intertwined strategies deployed by a triad of lay/local, scientific, and legal experts to overcome the expertise barrier.


The Helicosporidia are a unique group of pathogens found in diverse invertebrate hosts. They have been considered to be either protozoa or fungi, but have remained incertae sedis since 1931. Following the isolation of a Helicosporidium sp. in Florida, we showed that the Helicosporidia are non-photosynthetic green algae. Phylogeny reconstruction inferred on several housekeeping genes (including actin and b-tubulin) consistently and stably grouped Helicosporidium sp. among member of Chlorophyta. Additionally, nuclear SSU rDNA phylogenies identified Helicosporidium as a sister taxa to another parasitic, non-photosynthetic algal genus: Prototheca (Chlorophyta, Trebouxiophyceae). Comparison of mitochondrial (cox3) and chloroplast (rrn16) genes confirmed that Helicosporidium and Prototheca have arisen from a common photosynthetic ancestor, and suggested that Helicosporidia contain Prototheca-like organelles, including a vestigial chloroplast (plastid). In an effort to better characterize the biology of Helicosporidium sp., a cDNA library has been constructed and expressed sequences tags (ESTs) have been generated. Most of these ESTs exhibited similarity with algal and plant genes. Significantly, the EST library provided with additional evidence that Helicosporidium sp. does have a plastid, as numerous nuclear-encoded, plastid-targeted genes were identified. Characterization of the plastid is currently underway: several chloroplast-like genes (rrn16, rrn23, tufA) have been cloned and their sequences are being used to isolate the entire plastid genome. Similar to the situation described in Prototheca, the Helicosporidium plastid may be reduced, as most of the genes involved in photosynthesis likely have been lost during the course of evolution.


A video-grounded dialogue system is required to understand both dialogue, which contains semantic dependencies from turn to turn, and video, which contains visual cues of spatial and temporal scene variations. Building such dialogue systems is a challenging problem, involving various reasoning types on both visual and language inputs. Existing benchmarks do not have enough annotations to thoroughly analyze dialogue systems and understand their capabilities and limitations in isolation. These benchmarks are also not explicitly designed to minimise biases that models can exploit without actual reasoning. To address these limitations, in this paper, we present DVD, a Diagnostic Dataset for Video-grounded Dialogue. The dataset is designed to contain minimal biases and has detailed annotations for the different types of reasoning over the spatio-temporal space of video. Dialogues are synthesized over multiple question turns, each of which is injected with a set of cross-turn semantic relationships. We use DVD to analyze existing approaches, providing interesting insights into their abilities and limitations. In total, DVD is built from 11k CATER synthetic videos and contains 10 instances of 10-round dialogues for each video, resulting in more than 100k dialogues and 1M question-answer pairs. Our code and dataset are publicly available.


Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Pathology and Surgery Vol 4, No 2, Summer 2015 Introduction: Head and neck sarcomas involve a group of rare malignant diseases with a high histological variability involving various anatomical sites that can lead to under-reporting of the true incidence of these neoplasms. This study aimed to epidemiologically investigate the occurrence of sarcomas of the head and neck within the past 20 years in Yazd, Iran (1994– 2014). Materials and methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective study, 16114 patient's records with malignant tumors were examined via the census method, which were available in the archives of 8 main treatment centers in Yazd, Iran within a 20-year period. Age, sex, occupation, habitat, type of sarcoma, tumor location and grade, metastasis, recurrence, and history of head and neck irradiation were recorded. Data were analyzed in SPSS software version 17. Results: Among 586 cases of sarcomas, 59 cases (10.06%) were identified with head and neck sarcomas. The mean age of the patients was 32.22 ± 8.31 years, of which 26 (44.01%) patients were males and 33 (55.9%) were females. Soft tissue sarcomas were noted in 41 cases (69.5%); rhabdomyosarcoma was the most common (27.1%). Eighteen (30.5%) patients had hard tissue sarcomas; osteosarcoma (15.3%) was the most common. Soft tissues of the head and neck were the most (49.20%) involved sites. Most sarcomas were low grade. In 5 patients (8.5%), metastases occurred to the head and neck, and the tumor relapsed in 16 patients (27.1%). Conclusion: The findings of the current study were inagreement with those of other reports referred to in different studies. This suggests that the epidemiology of head and neck sarcomas in Yazd, Iran is similar to other geographical regions.


Modern microprocessors get more and more susceptible to transient faults, e.g. caused by high-energetic particles due to high integration, clock frequencies, temperature and decreasing voltage supplies. A newer method to speed up contemporary processors at small space increase is simultaneous multithreading (SMT). With the introduction of SMT, instruction fetch- and issue policies gained importance. SMT processors are able to simultaneously fetch and issue instructions from multiple instruction streams. In this work, we focus on how dynamic bus arbitration and scheduling of hardware threads within the processors front-end can help to dynamically adjust fault coverage and performance. The novelties which help to reach this goal are: a multi-bus-scheduling scheme which can be used to tolerate permanent bus faults and single event disturbances (SEDs). The second novelty can be used in conjunction with the first: a dynamic fetch scheduling algorithm for a simultaneous multithreaded processor, leading to the introduction of dynamic multithreading. Dynamically multithreaded processors are able to switch between different SMT fetch policies, thus enabling a graceful degradation of the processors front-end


further useful guidance on advanced care planning. While we agree that there is much to be done from the 2009 Royal College of Physicians report, we have chosen to address the aspects of Mrs S's end-of-life care. In particular, we have focused on the synergies between the psychiatric staff and the local hospice. On one particular point we stated that people can express their wishes about preferred place of treatment in an advance decision. However, we never stated that an advance decision is always binding on the contrary, we said that Mrs S's was invalid. The debate raised around Burke v GMC is around providing treatment not in a patient's best interests and is not directly relevant to our paper. However, Dr Waite's final broader point that 'ascertaining how patients would like to be treated when they are unable to make decisions for themselves should be part of routine practice with all psychiatric patients' is welcomed.


Background
The male:female ratio at birth (M/F: male births divided by total births) is anticipated to approximate 0.515. The M/F in Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean has been noted to be higher than anticipated. This study analysed M/F in island populations available from a World Health Organization dataset.

Methods
The following islands were identified from the dataset as being sufficiently complete for analysis: Bahamas, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritius.

Results
There were 540 8629 live births available for analysis over the period 1960-2009 with an overall M/F of 0.5106 (95% CL 0.5101, 0.5110). There were no secular trends in M/F.

Conclusion
The M/F in these equatorial islands is lower than anticipated, and the reason for this is unknown.


In this talk I will give a brief account of the role of experience in the study of religion, from E. B. Tylor and Andrew Lang in the Nineteenth Century to so-called 'ontological turn' in the Twenty First Century. I propose a form of cognitive, empathetic engagement as an ethnographic method that is well suited to the study of religious experience. In essence this implies openness to the other, critical awareness of one's own perspective, and reluctance to move too quickly to explanation. It is consistent with aspects of phenomenological, dialogical and ontological ethnographic methods, as well as the anthropology of wonder, which has been used to bridge ethnographic and theological perspectives. I then use the study of the afterlife as an example of the 'common core' or 'experiential hypothesis' of religion, which brings us back to the key role of experience in the formation of religious ideas and practices. An account of the methodology of cognitive empathetic engagement can be found at:


Mobility and transportation are two of the leading indicators of economic growth of a society. As cities around the world grow rapidly and more people and modes compete for limited urban space to travel, there is an increasing need to understand how this space is used for transportation and how it can be managed to improve accessibility for everyone. In a recent paper, Daganzo and Geroliminis (2008) explored the connection between network structure and a network's Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) for urban neighborhoods with cars con-trolled by traffic signals and derived an analytical theory for the MFD using Variational Theory. Information needed to estimate this network MFD's are average network (total length of roads in lane-km, number of lanes, length of links), control (signal offsets, green phase and cycle time) and traffic (free flow speed, congested wave speed, jam density, capacity) characteristics. However in previous studies, Variational Theory has been applied only in cities with deterministic values of the above variables for the whole network and by ignoring the effect of turns. In our study we are aiming to generate an MFD for streets with variable link lengths and signal characteristics and understand the effect of variability for different cities and signal structures. Furthermore, this variability gives the opportunity to mimic the effect of turning movements and heterogeneity in drivers' behavior. This will be a key issue in planning the signal regimes such a way that maximizes the network capacity and/or the density range of the capacity.


Twentieth-century scholarship gave birth to two distinct and antagonistic traditions regarding the feuds that frequently occurred in the urbanized society of late medieval Flanders: that factionalism was rooted in the clashes within urban elites; or that it rose from the tensions that existed between different socio-economic layers of society. This article develops a perspective that integrates those older traditions through a synthetic discussion of the discourse on factionalism in late medieval sources and a reassessment of the distribution of wealth, power and honour in late medieval Flanders. It also connects the debate on urban factionalism to recent scholarship on the genesis of the princely state in the medieval Low Countries. The growing political influence of the Burgundian dynasty in urban factional conflict in Flanders is unmistakable, but the growth of state power probably did not lead directly to a decrease in private violence.


This thesis presents three studies on credit risk modelling. The first study compares the real default probabilities produced by three main structural models of default, Merton model, Longstaff and Schwartz model and Leland and Toft model, to the observed real default probabilities reported by Moody's for the BBB, BB and B rated bonds. We find that none of the models can accurately predict the default probabilities in all these cases. Merton as well as Leland and Toft models underpredict default probabilities. Longstaff and Schwartz model although it produces in some cases Expected Default Frequencies (EDFs) that are close to the observed ones, it tends to overestimate the default probabilities of riskier bonds as well as the default probabilities of bonds with the same rating but higher equity volatility. We also find that structural models tend to underestimate the default probabilities in early years. The second study examines whether information from equity markets, as summarized in the distance to default measure derived from a Merton-Moody's KMV (MKMV) model, provides useful additional information over accounting variables for predicting changes in bank credit ratings. Using a dataset of 98 equity listed banks from 1997 to 2004, we find that di~tance to default measure I has additional explanatory power for modeling current ratings, or predicting credit rating changes over a 6-month or l2-month horizon, but only for the smaller sized banks. We find no evidence that changes in distance-to-default have additional explanatory power for predicting rating categories, regardless of the size ofthe bank. The third study compares two proprietary models, Moody's KMV (MKMV) and BARRA models that use information from the equity and debt market respectively for the estimation of market implied ratings that can be updated continuously. We compare the empirical performance ofthese models in terms of their ability to predict in a timely fashion changes in credit quality by employing a sample of 4594 bonds issued by 447 firms from US for a period of3 years. We find that I?-either model provides a close mapping to observed ratings. Both however are useful for prediction of credit transitions.


This work presents new speed records for XMSS (RFC 8391) signature verification on embedded devices. For this we make use of a probabilistic method recently proposed by Perin, Zambonin, Martins, Custódio, and Martina (PZMCM) at ISCC 2018, that changes the XMSS signing algorithm to search for rapidly verifiable signatures. We improve the method, ensuring that the added signing cost for the search is independent of the message length. We provide a statistical analysis of the resulting verification speed and support it by experiments. We present a record setting RFC compatible implementation of XMSS verification on the ARM Cortex-M4. At a signing time of about one minute on a general purpose CPU, we create signatures that are verified about 1.44 times faster than traditionally generated signatures. Adding further well-known implementation optimizations to the verification algorithm we reduce verification time by over a factor two from 13.85 million to 6.56 million cycles. In contrast to previous works, we provide a detailed security analysis of the resulting signature scheme under classical and quantum attacks that justifies our selection of parameters. On the way, we fill a gap in the security analysis of XMSS as described in RFC 8391 proving that the modified message hashing in the RFC does indeed mitigate multi-target attacks. This was not shown before and might be of independent interest.


As the opioid crisis continues to claim lives throughout the U.S., tort litigants have faced challenges pursuing Purdue Pharma – one of the drug makers responsible for aggressively promoting OxyContin while downplaying the drug's addictive effects. Much of this litigation posture sought to recover billions in public health costs incurred responding to the crisis at federal, state and local levels. As the plaintiff class grew, Purdue Pharma petitioned for bankruptcy protection, at which point auditors discovered the entity's beneficial owners had caused it to wire billions in opioid profits into offshore accounts – placing them beyond the reach of litigants. These transactions reveal the limits of domestic financial reporting regulations and international regulatory bodies, like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), whose frameworks narrowly focus on intercepting proceeds of terrorism and money laundering.

Existing scholarship has not considered why the offshoring of opioid revenues remains legal in a regulatory landscape conceived to protect the common good. The soft-law system of norm-building responsible for building these frameworks would best fulfill its purpose by broadening its reach to include a wider sweep of capital mobility. The opioid crisis offers a useful context for exploring this claim. By devising a class of activity – described below as the Public Interest Transaction (PIT) – modified FATF rules would offer a principles-based alternative to the existing system's language and provide a pathway for intercepting a wider variety of capital mobility with an emphasis on profits derived from "high casualty" crises such as the opioid crises. By precluding language that targets other forms of publicly harmful transactions, existing norms will continue to undermine the public good in a transnational banking environment lacking more principles-based approaches to financial regulation. The timing and context of Purdue Pharma's wire transfers offer a useful laboratory for making these arguments.


The Franco-German couple has long been characterized by divergent trajectories on nuclear matters, and antagonist historical decisions still frame the current relationship. In France, the creation of a national deterrent led to a will to preserve independence, including vis-a-vis NATO, and to uphold the importance of deterrence to maintain security. In Germany, after a late decision to abandon national nuclear ambitions, nuclear weapons were mainly considered through the prism of NATO. Under the influence of major pacifist movements at the end of the Cold War, nuclear weapons became almost taboo. In recent years, however, the two partners have reconciled some of their views on this matter, which could enable them to act in tandem and become more influential in addressing contemporary challenges on strategic stability, arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament.


As daily social media usage grows, marketing through these platforms become increasingly important for public relations professionals. Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms, provides a new way to instantaneously reach millions of potential customers through the use of visuals. However, with limited knowledge of this new public relations tool, standing out and creating a successful presence for your business is difficult. This study is to explore how visual social media, specifically Instagram, can be used to increase consumer knowledge in the restaurant industry. Investigation of current literature regarding the topic and gathered opinions of industry professionals will provide data which will be analyzed to draw conclusions. These finding will help to understand the best practices in promoting restaurants on visual social media platforms.


This article reports the performance of an improved, newly developed, compact, low power, lifetime‐based optical sensor (optode) for measuring partial pressure of dissolved CO2 gas (pCO2) in natural waters. The results suggest that after preconditioning, these sensors are stable in water for time periods longer than 7 months. The wide dynamic range of about 0‐50000 µatm opens possibilities for numerous applications of which some are presented. In normal marine environments with pCO2 levels of 200‐1000 µatm, the best‐obtained precision was about ±2 µatm, and the absolute accuracy was between 2‐75 µatm, depending on the deployment and the quality of the collected reference water samples. One limitation is that these sensors will become irreversibly poisoned by H2S and should thus not be deployed in sulphidic environments.


The successful practice of interventional oncology (IO) requires familiarity with all cancer interventions, and the ability to recognize each of their strengths and weaknesses. Acquiring basic knowledge of all facets of the vast, ever-evolving cancer treatment paradigm enables greater understanding of how IO fits into the broad cancer management continuum.The first five chapters lay a solid foundation, detailing essentials of medical and surgical oncology and radiation, followed by interventional radiology cancer treatments and agents used in cancer chemotherapy. Twelve cancer-specific chapters cover tumor management and discussion of minimally invasive, imageguided tumor ablation techniques for each type of cancer, as well as IO for pain management and palliative care.Key HighlightsIO interventions for prevalent cancers such as colorectal, pancreatic, prostate, liver, bladder, breast, lung, and gynecologic and less common pathologies including neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and cholangiocarcinomaMore than 125 illustrations accompany succinct discussions of pathology, epidemiology, genetics, staging, treatment, outcomes, and IO options for each type of tumorAn overview of clinical trials provides a glimpse of future IO innovationsA road map to a successful IO career includes pearls gleaned from years of managing a thriving practiceThis definitive guide is a must-have for clinicians working in the field of vascular and interventional radiology. It provides interventional radiologists with the necessary building blocks, information, and techniques to thrive in this rapidly evolving specialty.


Objectives: The aim of this study is to report our 8-year experience in terms of the success rate of complete bladder buff resection procedures bladder cuff resection (BCR) and further oncological outcomes in patients under open extravesical BCR for the management of primary upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients with primary UTUC who undergone laparoscopic nephroureterectomy and open extravesical BCR in our center. Complete BCR procedures were not defined by any ureteral orifice remnant noted in postoperative cystoscopy surveillance. The rate of complete BCR procedures was calculated. Patients were divided into residual ureteral orifice group (RUO) and nonRUO group (NRUO) and the intravesical and local recurrences and distant metastasis were analyzed and compared across the two groups. Results: A total of 105 patients were reviewed. After operation, 67 of them (63.8%) had ipsilateral strict criteria of complete BCR procedures defined on cystoscopy. Shorter mean operative time was noted in the RUO group comparing to the NRUO group (145 ± 73 vs. 192 ± 107 min, P = 0.03). Bladder recurrence was significantly higher in the RUO group (RUO vs. NRUO: 59.7% vs. 26%, P = 0.001) during a median of 39.7 months follow-up. Most of the intravesical recurrences were superficial (94%) and more prone to be found near the RUO/scar in the RUO group rather than the NRUO group (59.7% vs. 26.3%, P = 0.04). The RUO group strongly predicted superficial intravesical recurrence (odds ratio: 4.04, 95% confidence interval: 1.57–10.37, P = 0.004). No significant difference was recorded in muscle invasive bladder tumor, local recurrence, contralateral urinary tract recurrence, or distal metastasis across the groups. Conclusions: Open extravesical BCR does not guarantee the complete removal of ipsilateral ureteral orifice. Increased risk of superficial intravesical recurrence is noted in patients with RUO.


Beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the present day, a wide range of performers and playwrights have contributed to Asian American experimental theater and performance. These works tend toward plot structures that break away from realist narratives or otherwise experiment with form and content. This includes avant-garde innovations, community-based initiatives that draw on the personal experiences of workshop participants, politicized performance art pieces, spoken word solos, multimedia works, and more. Many of these artistic categories overlap, even as the works produced may look extremely different from one another. There is likewise great ethnic and experiential diversity among the performing artists: some were born in the United States while others are immigrants, permanent residents, or Asian nationals who have produced substantial amounts of works in the United States. Several of these artists raise issues of race as a principal element in the creation of their performances, while for others it is a minor consideration, or perhaps not a consideration at all. Nevertheless, since all these artists are of Asian descent, racial perceptions still inform the production, reception, and interpretation of their work.


One of the key elements in optical wireless applications such as laser scanning and writing is beam steering. While beam steering can be done actively using mirrors or liquid crystals, we have taken a passive approach to steer a beam in two dimensions by wavelength tuning. Therefore, we have fabricated an integrated two-dimensional beam steerer using silicon-on-insulator. The beam width is around 4.0° and can be steered in a range of 15°×50° for a wavelength shift of 100 nm. The beam width and range can be further optimized by changing the grating structure and size of the component.


During the development of the nervous system, neurons migrate to their final location and extend neurites that navigate long distances in the extracellular environment to reach their synaptic targets. The proper functioning of the nervous system depends on correct connectivity, and mistakes in the wiring of the nervous system lead to brain abnormalities and mental illness. Growth cones are motile structures located at the tip of extending neurites that sense and respond to guidance cues encountered along the path toward their targets. Binding of these cues to receptors located on growth cone filopodia and lamellipodia triggers intracellular signaling pathways that regulate growth cone cytoskeletal dynamics. Although studies on extracellular cues and their effects on neuronal guidance are well documented, less is known about the intracellular signaling mechanisms that regulate growth cone motility. This dissertation focuses on two signaling pathways and describes how they might be involved in determining growth cone morphology during neuronal development. The specific aims of this work address: (1) the role of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI-3K) and its downstream signaling pathway in regulating growth cone motility, and (2) the effect of nitric oxide (NO) release from a single cell on growth cone morphology of neighboring neurons. This study employs defined neurons from the pond snail, Helisoma trivolvis, to demonstrate that inhibition of PI-3K induces a concomitant increase in filopodial length and a decrease in the rate at which neurites advance. These effects are mediated through the lipid and protein kinase activities of PI-3K, and filopodial elongation is due to an increase in the rate at which filopodia elongate and the time that individual filopodia spend extending. Additionally, this study demonstrates that NO release from a single cell can affect growth cone dynamics on neighboring neurons via soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), and that NO has a physiological effect up to a distance of 100 μm. Overall this study provides new information on cellular mechanisms regulating growth cone motility, and suggests a potential role of PI-3K and NO in neuronal pathfinding in vivo. INDEX WORDS: Growth cone, Filopodia, Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, Nitric oxide, Filamentous actin, Akt, RhoA activated kinase, MEK, Helisoma trivolvis SIGNALING MECHANISMS REGULATING NEURONAL GROWTH CONE DYNAMICS


In 1886, the explosion of Mount Tarawera resulted in the loss of 150 lives and the burial of the village of Te Wairoa, the base from which tourists had visited the Pink and White Terraces, a silicone-stained natural formation then advertised as one of the natural wonders of the world. Since 1931, the buried site has itself been a tourist attraction and Smith and Croy have argued that it serves as an example of "dark tourism". This paper uses a different methodology to argue that Lennon and Foley's original definition of dark tourism is precise, that the buried village of Te Wairoa does not meet that specification, but does support the model suggested by Sharpley, that the site's characteristics are those of grey tourism supply. However, the findings derived from a sample of over 600 respondents indicate that sites are complex packages of potential experiences, and are potentially multi-faceted in terms of the experiences they offer. It is also suggested that cultural components might play a role in the experience of what is "dark" about a site.


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/ejmed.2020.2.4.405 Vol 2 | Issue 4 | July 2020 1 Abstract — This review aims to discuss the advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and the role it now plays in surgery. The discussion outlines the many capabilities of AI in improving the way in which surgery is conducted and a critical review of new AI developments. Artificial intelligence now well established in several industries has now begun to make a change with significant improvements in the practice of medicine. The use of algorithms that allow advanced computers to have cognitive functions that simulate human thought and actions has given rise to image and speech recognition, and autonomous robots that can perform unsupervised tasks relying on vast databanks of information. A transition from traditional laparoscopic surgery to robotic surgery has already taken place. Artificial intelligence is now beginning to extend the capabilities of surgical robots to encompass autonomy, which will allow them to use information from their surroundings, recognize problems and implement the correct actions without the need for human intervention. Advances in computing capability, machine engineering and robotics and the ever improving development of smart algorithms is allowing growth of the application of AI at a rapid pace. These developments have resulted in the development of nanorobots that function on a scale of nanometers and have become the next generation system to be integrated with AI and surgery. The use of this technology has resulted in advances in neurosurgery, vascular surgery and oncology. The future of surgery, like other fields in medicine will be data driven with a significant input from technology. Artificial Intelligence is one advancement that will play a significant role.


Inflammatory and various non-inflammatory, but painful, disorders are frequently treated with anti-inflammatories. Although these medicines offer effective relief of pain and inflammation, the elderly patient is at particular risk of the adverse effects of these drugs, complicated by concomitant treatments and underlying medical conditions. While low-dose aspirin should be considered for all patients for the secondary prevention of a cardiovascular event, the use of other anti-inflammatory medicines, such as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and the selective COX-2 inhibitors, requires that health professionals take a careful history, so that they have the information needed to weigh up the risks and benefi ts of anti-infl ammatory therapy for individual patients.


In recent decades, an increasing number of countries have integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into their curricula for early childhood education and care (ECEC). In contrast to this trend, many ECEC professionals are still reluctant about the idea of teaching STEM to young children. A reason for this might be too little experience with and knowledge about STEM. One way to tackle this problem is to address STEM in ECEC teacher education in a way that is engaging, motivating, and practical, and shows ECEC student teachers appropriate ideas for how to teach STEM in a playful and child-centred way. This case study aims to present and analyse an innovative approach to ECEC teacher training. We let the student teachers build their own automata (toys that have mechanical moving parts) to promote a better understanding of STEM. The students were highly motivated, assessed the approach as exciting and relevant, and consequently could successfully reflect on STEM content and pedagogy.