Background Despite the success of rotavirus vaccines over the last decade, rotavirus remains a leading cause of severe diarrheal disease among young children. Further progress in reducing the burden of disease is inhibited, in part, by vaccine underperformance in certain settings. Early trials suggested that oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV), when administered concomitantly with rotavirus vaccine, reduces rotavirus seroconversion rates after the first rotavirus dose with modest or nonsignificant interference after completion of the full rotavirus vaccine course. Our study aimed to identify a range of individual-level characteristics, including concomitant receipt of OPV, that affect rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity in high- and low-child-mortality settings, controlling for individual- and country-level factors. Our central hypothesis was that OPV administered concomitantly with rotavirus vaccine reduced rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity. Methods and findings Pooled, individual-level data from GlaxoSmithKline's Phase II and III clinical trials of the monovalent rotavirus vaccine (RV1), Rotarix, were analyzed, including 7,280 vaccinated infants (5–17 weeks of age at first vaccine dose) from 22 trials and 33 countries/territories (5 countries/territories with high, 13 with moderately low, and 15 with very low child mortality). Two standard markers for immune response were examined including antirotavirus immunoglobulin A (IgA) seroconversion (defined as the appearance of serum antirotavirus IgA antibodies in subjects initially seronegative) and serum antirotavirus IgA titer, both collected approximately 4–12 weeks after administration of the last rotavirus vaccine dose. Mixed-effect logistic regression and mixed-effect linear regression of log-transformed data were used to identify individual- and country-level predictors of seroconversion (dichotomous) and antibody titer (continuous), respectively. Infants in high-child-mortality settings had lower odds of seroconverting compared with infants in low-child-mortality settings (odds ratio [OR] = 0.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.43–0.53, p < 0.001). Similarly, among those who seroconverted, infants in high-child-mortality settings had lower IgA titers compared with infants in low-child-mortality settings (mean difference [β] = 0.83, 95% CI 0.77–0.90, p < 0.001). Infants who received OPV concomitantly with both their first and their second doses of rotavirus vaccine had 0.63 times the odds of seroconverting (OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.47–0.84, p = 0.002) compared with infants who received OPV but not concomitantly with either dose. In contrast, among infants who seroconverted, OPV concomitantly administered with both the first and second rotavirus vaccine doses was found to be positively associated with antirotavirus IgA titer (β = 1.28, 95% CI 1.07–1.53, p = 0.009). Our findings may have some limitations in terms of generalizability to routine use of rotavirus vaccine because the analysis was limited to healthy infants receiving RV1 in clinical trial settings. Conclusions Our findings suggest that OPV given concomitantly with RV1 was a substantial contributor to reduced antirotavirus IgA seroconversion, and this interference was apparent after the second vaccine dose of RV1, as with the original clinical trials that our reanalysis is based on. However, our findings do suggest that the forthcoming withdrawal of OPV from the infant immunization schedule globally has the potential to improve RV1 performance.


BACKGROUND
In Drosophila, the early secretory apparatus comprises discrete paired Golgi stacks in close proximity to exit sites from the endoplasmic reticulum (tER sites), thus forming tER-Golgi units. Although many components involved in secretion have been identified, the structural components sustaining its organisation are less known. Here we set out to identify novel ER resident proteins involved in the of tER-Golgi unit organisation.

RESULTS
To do so, we designed a novel screening strategy combining a bioinformatics pre-selection with an RNAi screen. We first selected 156 proteins exhibiting known or related ER retention/retrieval signals from a list of proteins predicted to have a signal sequence. We then performed a microscopy-based primary and confirmation RNAi screen in Drosophila S2 cells directly scoring the organisation of the tER-Golgi units. We identified 49 hits, most of which leading to an increased number of smaller tER-Golgi units (MG for "more and smaller Golgi") upon depletion. 16 of them were validated and characterised, showing that this phenotype was not due to an inhibition in secretion, a block in G2, or ER stress. Interestingly, the MG phenotype was often accompanied by an increase in the cell volume. Out of 6 proteins, 4 were localised to the ER.

CONCLUSIONS
This work has identified novel proteins involved in the organisation of the Drosophila early secretory pathway. It contributes to the effort of assigning protein functions to gene annotation in the secretory pathway, and analysis of the MG hits revealed an enrichment of ER proteins. These results suggest a link between ER localisation, aspects of cell metabolism and tER-Golgi structural organisation.


We present a system for creating object models from RGB-D views acquired autonomously by a mobile robot. We create high-quality textured meshes of the objects by approximating the underlying geometry with a Poisson surface. Our system employs two optimization steps, first registering the views spatially based on image features, and second aligning the RGB images to maximize photometric consistency with respect to the reconstructed mesh. We show that the resulting models can be used robustly for recognition by training a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) on images rendered from the reconstructed meshes. We perform experiments on data collected autonomously by a mobile robot both in controlled and uncontrolled scenarios. We compare quantitatively and qualitatively to previous work to validate our approach.


A high average power, OPO based system has been developed for the purpose of generating output in the 2 - 5 µm mid-IR band. The system uses a cw diode array - pumped, Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) as the pump source and two tandem OPOs for wavelength conversion to the mid-IR. A Type II degenerate KTP OPO was used to convert the pump beam to 2.13 µm and a Type I near degenerate zinc germanium phosphite (ZGP) OPO was used to generate broadband radiation in the 3.7 - 4.1 and 4.4 - 4.8 µm wavelength range.


Informants are not always trustworthy or knowledgeable. Therefore, it is no surprise that every language has means to indicate how the speaker acquired a piece of information, as well as means to indicate how certain the speaker is about the information he is describing. The former are often called expressions of evidentiality and the latter are called expressions of certainty. Currently, however, little is known about how and when children acquire those expressions, and how acquisition of those expressions interacts with conceptual understanding of information source and trustworthiness of informants. The aim of this chapter is to shed some light on the issues by looking into cross-linguistic differences and similarities in acquisition of grammaticalized expressions of certainty and evidentiality.


In recent months, different groups—pundits, politicians, and even an FCC Commissioner—have discussed resurrecting the nowdefunct Fairness Doctrine and applying it to Internet communication. This iBrief responds to the novel application of the Doctrine to the Internet in three parts. First, this iBrief will review the history and legal rationale that supported the Fairness Doctrine, with a particular emphasis on emerging technologies. Second, this iBrief applies these legal arguments to the evolving structure of the Internet. Third, this iBrief will consider what we can learn about Net Neutrality through an analogy to the Fairness Doctrine. This iBrief concludes that, while the Fairness Doctrine is not appropriate to use on the Internet in its present form, the arguments for the Doctrine could affect the debate surrounding Net Neutrality, depending on how the Obama Administration implements Net Neutrality.


In the beginning of the business, family management model is proper for the development of the business. But with the expansion of the scale of the family business, its defects such as the single property right, the vague boundary of the internal property right, the reserve space of the flow property right, the closing of the property right, and so on, not only cause the gradual increase of external profit, but also make the requirement of changing the property right institution more intensive. This article,from the nature and the characteristics of the family management, analyzes the property right features of our country's family business and the inducement of changing the property right institution, and puts forward the countermeasures of innovating the property right institution of family business.


Extracted from text ... Law of persons /PERSONEREG
Access by natural father of illegiti-
mate child ? attitude of child ? I v S
2000 2 SA 993 (C)
The applicant and the respondent had
been married in accordance with the
Islamic law.
Three children (aged 14, 17
and 20 respectively) were born from
their marriage.
When the marriage was
dissolved, the parties had concluded an
agreement in terms of which the appli-
cant had access rights on alternative
weekends and alternative school holi-
days.
The applicant exercised irregular
access to the children since the separa-
tion and access terminated in October
1998.
The applicant applied for an order ..


Phosphorite concretions, fish debris, quartz, rock fragments and minor amounts of molluscs occur along the eastern edge of a diatomaceous mud belt off the coast of SW Africa (Namibia). The concretions consist of light- and dark-coloured coprolites and dreikanters, predominantly of pebble and granule size; and irregular, tabular, and oval to spherical particles that predominante in the granule to very coarse sand fractions. Only the dark-coloured concretions were analysed geochemically, and these consist of francolite with minor amounts of Si, Al, Fe and K. The most abundant trace elements present are Sr, Zn, Ba and Th. The interstitial fluids of the diatomaceous mud are supersaturated in phosphate along the landward flank of the mud belt, and this causes slow precipitation of apatite on diatom frustules. Concurrently, the fluids enhance the elimination or replacement of allogenic impurities from the concretions through diagenesis. Adsorption of phosphate by slow-settling mica–illite is a possible mechanism by which the phosphate concentration of the interstitial fluids is raised.


This paper investigates non-finite verbal constituents that qualify as modal non-finite relatives in Romanian, French, and Italian. We show that these constructions are reduced relatives based on the relativization of the object. The analysis extends to reduced relatives in general, and argues for a different head edge in these clauses: i.e., PredP versus CP (as assumed in the literature); the Pred head attracts the closest active nominal, which is not Case-marked. Consequently, Romance modal non-finite relatives qualify as passive structures dominated by a functional head that selects a non-finite (deficient) TP in Western Romance and a vP in Romanian. We extend this analysis to tough- constructions; crucially, the difference between predicative and argumental infinitives in Romance is that between full and reduced clauses: the former have a subject position and an EPP-feature satisfied (qualifying as strong phases), whereas raising, object-gap infinitives do not have these properties, and behave as weak phases.


As offshore industry goes to deeper waters, vortex induced vibrations (VIV) becomes an increasingly challenging factor in riser design. However, VIV is still not fully understood. This thesis studies the hydrodynamic forces and motions of a flexible cylinder subjected to VIV in order to improve the existing empirical VIV prediction tools. The first part of the thesis presents a variety of methods to identify hydrodynamic forces by analyzing measured accelerations and/or bending strains from VIV experiments with flexible beams. Such analyses are needed since direct force measurements on slender beams are not feasible. Once the hydrodynamic forces are found, force coefficients for use in empirical models for predicting VIV can be calculated. This is discussed in the second part of the thesis. Results from analyses with the new set of coefficients show a significant improvement compared to the use of coefficients found from other sources. The last part of the thesis focuses on the phase angle between IL and CF motions at discrete positions on a flexible beam. This parameter is essential for the understanding of interaction between IL and CF response. It is shown that the phase angle is controlled by certain parameters like reduced velocity, how the actual mode is influenced by bending stiffness and tension, and also impact from standing and traveling waves on the global response.


Standard statistic n-gram language models play a critical and indispensable role in automatic speech recognition (ASR) applications. Though helpful to ASR, it suffers from a practical problem when lacking sufficient in-domain training data that come from same or similar sources as the task text. In order to improve language model performance, various datasets need to be used to supplement the in-domain training data. This thesis investigates effective approaches to language modeling for telehealth which consists of doctor-patient conversation speech in medical specialty domain. Efforts were made to collect and analyze various datasets for training as well as to find a method for modeling target language. By effectively defining word classes, and by combining class and word trigram language models trained separately from in-domain and out-of-domain datasets, large improvements were achieved in perplexity reduction over a baseline word trigram language model that simply interpolates word trigram models trained from different data sources.


John Calvin - Verbi Divini Minister
Ministering the Word of God was a first priority for John Calvin. Through researching his frequent references to the ministry in his sermons and Bible commentaries, it was possible to arrive at a better understanding of his views on the office of pastor and teacher (pastor et doctor). Although the ministry is no imperium, the people of God should honour the servants of Christ on the ground of the dignity of their Master. The ministry is a servitude, but not without authority, so that by it the glory of God may excel among his people and in the world. This is also the ultimate goal of the minister's preaching, and to this end it should be clear and to the point. This article particularly pursues Calvin's views on the requirements for a sound proclamation of the Gospel. It is argued that Calvin's particular consideration of the broader context of a biblical passage in his exegesis points to the fact that he had already established the sound hermeneutic rule of ascertaining the intention of the author and the understanding of the first readers to get to the true meaning. Thus, in his preaching the application of Biblical truths was topical and to the point.


The International Conference on Green Chemistry and Sustainable Engineering (www.greenchemse.com) is a joint C3i/Polythechnic Institute of Portalegre (Portalegre, Portugal) and Extremadura University (Spain) promotion. This event has the objective of creating an international forum of academics, researchers and scientists to discuss worldwide results and proposals regarding to the most sound issues related to environmentally friendly and sustainable chemical processes. It will be held in Barcelona (Spain) from 29 to 31 July 2014. This event will include the participation of renowned keynote speakers, oral presentations, posters sessions and technical conferences related to its subjects (green chemistry, education to a greener environment, new green businesses safer and greener innovations, designing of greener processes etc.) and some touristic and cultural events and visits. The whole content of the presented papers and conferences will be published in the Proceedings e-book. Those communications considered of having enough quality can be submitted for publication in International Journals, such as Green Processing and Synthesis. Those works which cannot be published in any of the congress journals, will be published in a special book of the International Conference on Green Chemistry and Sustainable Development, after the congress has finished. The congress will also have a space for companies and/or institutions to present their products, services, innovations and research results. If you or your company are interested in participating at this exhibition, please contact the technical secretary (www.greenchemse.com). Finally, owing the importance of these subjects for the world environmental sustainability and human development, on behalf of the Organizing Committee we would like to invite all the scientific community to take part in this conference.


Building on a long tradition of effective pedagogy and comprehensive coverage, The Cosmic Perspective, Sixth Edition provides the most engaging and up-to-date introduction to astronomy for non-science majors. The text provides a wealth of features to help enhance student skill building, including new Visual Skills Check end-of-chapter questions that provide an opportunity for students to test their visual interpretation skills, new Cosmic Context Figures that help students synthesize key concepts and processes, and a new comprehensive visual overview of scale to help students explore the scale of time and space. The Sixth Edition has also been fully updated to include the latest astronomical observations, research, and theoretical developments. The text is supported by the most robust package of instructor. Two volumes of this text are also available: *The Cosmic Perspective: The Solar System, Sixth Edition (includes Chapters 1-13, 24)*The Cosmic Perspective: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology, Sixth Edition (includes Chapters 1-6, S2-S4, 14-24)


We report on a sib pair of Indian origin presenting with intellectual disability, dysmorphism, and macrocephaly. Exome sequencing revealed a homozygous splice site HERC1 mutation in both probands. Functional analysis revealed use of an alternate splice site resulting in formation of a downstream stop codon and nonsense mediated decay. In the light of recent reports of HERC1 mutations in two families with a similar phenotypic presentation, this report reiterates the pathogenic nature and clinical consequences of HERC1 disruption. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The assignment of seats to specialized standing committees is a most consequential choice in legislative contexts. Distributive theories of legislative organization suggest that electoral incentives to cultivate personal votes result in the self-selection of legislators to committees best suited to please their constituents and, thus, to secure reelection. However, these theories discard the partisan basis of European parliaments and therefore fail to adequately assess the politics of committee assignments in these particular contexts. This article aims to explore the significance of distributive theories for the German case in differentiated ways and on the basis of a new and rich data set including statistical data for five legislative terms (1983, 1987, 1998, 2005, and 2009). It argues that in partisan assemblies, political parties might develop an interest in distributive politics themselves and might assign distinct types of legislators to distinct committees to seek personal votes contingent upon distinct electoral incentives. Particularly, we argue that Germany's mixed proportional system provides incentives to parties to assign legislators with profound local roots to district committees best suited to please geographic constituents.


Despite compelling evidence that glial cells could crucially regulate neural network activity, the vast majority of available neural simulators ignores the possible contribution of glia to neuronal physiology. Here, we show how to model glial physiology and neuron-glia interactions in the Brian 2 simulator. Brian 2 offers facilities to explicitly describe any model in mathematical terms with limited and simple simulator-specific syntax, automatically generating high-performance code from the user-provided descriptions. The flexibility of this approach allows us to model not only networks of neurons, but also individual glial cells, electrical coupling of glial cells, and the interaction between glial cells and synapses. We therefore conclude that Brian 2 provides an ideal platform to efficiently simulate glial physiology, and specifically, the influence of astrocytes on neural activity.


We introduce the simultaneous model for cake cutting (the fair allocation of a divisible good), in which agents simultaneously send messages containing a sketch of their preferences over the cake. We show that this model enables the computation of divisions that satisfy proportionality -- a popular fairness notion -- using a protocol that circumvents a standard lower bound via parallel information elicitation. Cake divisions satisfying another prominent fairness notion, envy-freeness, are impossible to compute in the simultaneous model, but admit arbitrarily good approximations.


In the application of controlled source electromagnetics for reservoir monitoring on land, repeatability errors in the source will mask the time-lapse signal due to hydrocarbon production when recording surface data close to the source. We demonstrate that at larger distances, the airwave will still provide sufficient illumination of the target. The primary airwave diffuses downward into the earth and then is scattered back to the surface. The time-lapse difference of its recorded signal reveals the outline on the surface of the resistivity changes in a hydrocarbon reservoir under production. However, repeatability errors in the primary airwave can destroy the signal-to-noise ratio of the time-lapse data. We present a simple and effective method to remove the primary airwave from the data, which we call partial airwave removal. For a homogeneous half space and a delta-function type of source, the surface expression of the airwave does not depend on frequency. For this reason, the primary airwave can be subtracted from the data using recordings at two frequencies, one low enough with a skin depth of the order of the reservoir depth that is sensitive to the reservoir, the other high enough to only sense the near surface. The method does not affect secondary airwave components created by signals that have propagated through the earth and returned to the surface. We show that the method provides a direct indicator of production-related time-lapse changes in the reservoir. We illustrate this for several models, including a general 3D heterogeneous model and one with strong surface topography, for situations where survey repeatability errors are large.


Open Educational Resources (OER) are characterised by being available in the public domain under an open license, typically Creative Commons, so they can be copied, redistributed and reworked. The literature shows OER to be under-recognised in TESOL but the argument in this discussion paper is that the coronavirus provides an opportunity for OER to be integrated into the university curriculum. This is not simply because OER are free of cost, although this is not an insignificant advantage in an industry often under severe financial constraints, especially in a period of severe disruption as witnessed with the coronavirus. Of more significance are claims that the adoption of OER can enhance pedagogy. Three case studies are used to demonstrate the value of OER in coronavirus-affected university settings. The first is a personal scenario while the second and third are putative constructions of OER use. My own case study is of using OER to create an observation procedure to support instructors transitioning to online teaching. In the second study, OER are used to teach faculty how to write grant proposals. In the third, OER are a source for student oral presentations. This leads to reflection on the claims made for OER as regards pedagogy and the challenges they face The conclusion is that the impact of OER remains potential until the research base is fuller but at the very least the coronavirus represents a testing ground for raising awareness of and experimenting with OER.


The appearance of Chingiz Aitmatov's I dol' she veka dl itsia den' (The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years) in December 1980 created a major literary sensation in Moscow. There was something in the novel for everyone, and reviews in the Soviet Union. the Western press. and in emigre periodicals were overwhelmingly positive. Soviet critics especially welcomed the novel for its timely appearance after a serious discussion about the crisis of the genre "novel" in contemporary Soviet letters. As such Aitmatov's novel was singled out as the work pointing the way Soviet literature should go in the 1980s.


We provide causal evidence of the impact of the Brexit referendum vote on hate crime in the United Kingdom (UK). Using various data sources, including unique data collected from the UK Police Forces by Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and various estimation methods (difference-in-differences, event-study analysis and synthetic control methods), we find that the Brexit referendum led to an increase in hate crime by around 15-25%. This effect was concentrated in the first quarter after the referendum and was larger in areas that voted to leave the European Union (EU). We also provide evidence against the hypotheses that this was due to victims' greater willingness to report crimes or due to changes in police behaviour and perceptions of the victims. We also present suggestive evidence that the media and social media played a small but significant role in the increase in hate crime.


Staff Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about using monoclonal antibodies to treat or prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2 Many companies and researchers are rushing to design and test this type of treatment, which proved effective in combating Ebola last year See all of our News coverage of the pandemic here, and all of our Research and Editorials here And Karen Holl, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, joins Sarah to discuss the proper planning of tree-planting campaigns It turns out that just putting a tree in the ground is not enough to stop climate change and reforest the planet


With the rise of behavioral economics, there is now much greater realism in the description of human decision making. This paper explores and integrates important behavioral economic understandings concerning how our mind works with respect to economic decision making. From scholars like Herbert Simon, Daniel Kahneman and George Loewenstein we have learned that people have limited cognitive capacity to deal with the complexity of the real world, make many cognitive errors, and often make poor decisions when strong negative emotions are aroused. Also, our minds in decision making are too often oriented to seeking what we want or desire, not what is really good for us. There is also some good news. We can learn how to avoid error and become more skilled, good enough decision makers. Gerd Gigerenzer has explained how successful decision makers typically use heuristics in the face of complexity. To illustrate the above, this paper provides analyses of food-related decision making related to the obesity social problem. To counter decision-making deficiencies, people can raise their decision making capacities by making a variety of investments in intangible human capital. Another important implication is that decision-making deficiencies contribute to businesses' internal inefficiencies (X-inefficiencies). Thus, decision-making deficiencies imply below potential national productivity.


In this paper we describe an improved sample-preparation technique for applying confocal laser scanning microscopy to image the void space of porous geological media, particularly various kinds of carbonate rocks with significant microporosity. We have improved the existing sample-preparation technique for confocal imaging by introducing a positive-pressure application step. This additional step helps to force the fluorescent-doped epoxy mixture inside the submicron pores (the microporosity) which make up a significant fraction of the total porosity of the carbonate rocks being characterized using confocal laser scanning microscopy. We also provide additional technical details and discuss practical aspects important to consider when imaging carbonate rock samples using this technique.


The internationally renowned Muong Phang Cultural and Historical Site is located in the Dien Bien Phu region, northwestern Vietnam, and has received special attention from the public because of its great biodiversity. This site has a large forest area and other habitats including lakes, streams, rivers and paddyfield. These habitats would be ideal homes for bats and other biological taxa. However, in general, the wildlife of the Muong Phang Cultural and Historical Site receives little attention from scientists and authorities. Between 2014 and 2016, we conducted  series of surveys for bats in Muong Phang. Bat capture and sound recordings were the main procedure to obtain materials and data necessary for the assessment of diversity and conservation status. The results of the surveys this time revealed that there are 19 species of bats belonging to 7 genera, 5 families in the study area. Of these, a Myotis sp. is different from all the previously recorded Myotis bats from Vietnam, and, a Rhinolophus sp. is different from every described species of the family Rhinolophidae. This paper provides the first records of bats from Muong Phang with remarks on their taxonomy and conservation status. Citation: Dao Nhan Loi, Vu Dinh Thong, 2017. First records of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from Muong Phang cultural and historical site, Dien Bien province, Northwestern Vietnam. Tap chi Sinh hoc, 39(3): 296-302. DOI: 10.15625/0866-7160/v39n3.10641. *Corresponding author: email@example.com. Received 29 August 2017, accepted 10 September 2017


Introduction: Repairing of fractured heat cured denture base is a clinically significant measure, either as a temporary or permanent treatment. Many attempts were conducted to increase the strength of the repaired material by reinforcing with various composite fillers. Objective: The aim of this study was the use of nano-aluminum silicate fillers for improving some properties of cold cure acrylic resin that is used in repairing fracture heat cure denture base material. Material and methods: Total 4 groups of specimens were prepared for testing the surface roughness and the surface hardness. The 1st group of specimens was constructed from heat cured acrylic, 2nd group of specimens was constructed from cold cured acrylic only, while the 3rd and the 4th group were constructed from cold cure acrylic reinforced with 3% and 5% nano-aluminum silicate composite fillers. The mode of failure was examined with the aid of a light microscope. Statistical analysis of data was performed using SPSS version 24. Results: In the results, the addition of filler to cold cure acrylic resin increases the transverse strength mean value and these value increases as the concentration of fillers compared with unreinforced cold cure groups. Regarding the impact strength, there is a significant decrease in the mean value of the reinforced groups. Meanwhile, there was a statistically none significance among the tested group for surface roughness, hardness and impact strength. Conclusion: Addition of salinated aluminum silicate nanofillers (3%, 5%) to cold cured acrylic resin improves the transverse strength of material without changing other properties when tested as a repair material for heat cure acrylic resin.


Blueberries are one of the most popular fruits worldwide. Blueberries' health benefits have fueled this popularity, and today, blueberries can be found in products ranging from nutritional supplements to pet food. This 4-page fact sheet covers the processing methods such as freezing or drying that transform fresh blueberries into ingredients that can be used in other products. Written by Ruiqi Li and Liwei Gu, and published by the UF Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, June 2015.


The economic development of the Pacific Rim, largely export driven, is pushing countries located there into the economic mainstream and creating new industrial "tigers." China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia come immediately to mind, but even underdeveloped countries such as Vietnam have enormous potential. On February 3, 1994, President Clinton lifted the trade embargo imposed against Vietnam. Although the United States has not yet normalized relations with Vietnam, this executive action permits U.S. companies and citizens to engage fully in trade and investment activities with Vietnam. I. Introduction Until recently, little was written about Vietnam's potential for economic growth. The withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Vietnam in 1975 and Vietnam's embrace of the Soviet Bloc cast Vietnam into the backwaters of economic development for many years. With the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc, Vietnam has once again turned to the West and opened its doors to foreign investment. In 1986, Vietnam initiated doi moi, an ambitious program of economic reform. The key features of this program were: (1) dismantling the collective farm system and returning the land to family farming, (2) removing price controls, (3) promoting the private sector, (4) devaluing the currency, (5) demobilizing the army and reducing subsidies to state enterprises, (6) revising interest rates to fight inflation, and (7) encouraging foreign investment.(1) As a result of these reforms, Vietnam has been successful in attracting foreign investment, despite the economic embargo imposed by the United States until this year. The reasons for the attractiveness of Vietnam to foreign investors are easy to understand. With a population of 71 million people, Vietnam is one of the larger markets in the Far East outside of China. In addition, it has a well educated labor force and the lowest wage rates of any country in the region. Vietnam has a literacy rate of eighty-eight percent compared with seventy-four percent in China and ninety-five percent in the United States.(2) For these reasons, Vietnam's potential has not been lost on foreign investors, and more than 150 U.S. companies have been licensed to open offices in Vietnam by the Vietnamese government. Vietnam is clearly poised for economic recovery as soon as sufficient investments are made in much needed infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, power systems, and telecommunications. Indeed many see Vietnam as the last remaining investment "frontier" in the world. Until recently, the United States held the key to Vietnam's economic development by vetoing loans from the World Bank and other multilateral lenders. On July 2, 1993, however, President Clinton agreed to withdraw U.S. opposition to World Bank lending. Since then, then, World Bank and other multilateral lenders have embarked on an ambitious loan program to help Vietnam regain its economic footing.(3) The current legal situation in Vietnam remains complicated for U.S. companies. First, trade and investment with Vietnam have only recently been forced of the embargo. Until relations with Vietnam are fully normalized and the United States grants Vietnam most-favored nation status, exports to the United States from Vietnam will be subject to high customs duties (in range of forty to fifty percent for most products). In addition, trade finance support programs provided by U.S. government agencies must also await normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam. Second, the laws in Vietnam are in the developmental stage. Although foreign investment is clearly encouraged at every level of the government, the laws consist in large part of general legal principles that provide little specific guidance as to permissible and impermissible activities. Therefore, the economic risks are high, and potential investors in Vietnam are seeking economic rewards commensurate with these risks. …


The Web and the technologies that revolve around it are on a rapid rise. As the use and utilization of Web grows broader, so does the dependency on Web technologies. If a web site aims to survive and mature, in a world where 10.000 web sites per day are published, the web designer/developer must assess the factors associated with Web site success during the development process. While a web site's long-term success is dependant on many factors, this thesis's focus is on its initial development which consists of three interconnected factors; usability, design and responsiveness provided with infrastructure. Usability, design and responsiveness provided with infrastructure are the three primary factors needed to establish a quality and complex web site. While each factor has its own priorities and requirements, they are all dependant on each other. Establishing a balance between these factors are key to success. This thesis will discuss how to utilize the three factors to create a successfull web site. The concluded information will be used with the aid of research on carpooling, to create "TravelBuddy", a closed-community carpooling system prototype. The thesis will also discuss the development process in association with Web site success factors and planned future work.


Aim: To assess the association between maternal dental anxiety and its effect on the oral health status of their child, in Murad nagar –An institutional cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Among the randomly selected 200 mother-child pairs, a cross-sectional study was done. The children of 2–5 years were selected for the study. A five-level Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS), Hindi edition, was used to assess dental anxiety among the mothers. Clinical examination of the wards was finished by using a modified gingival record and WHO dentition status (2013). The SPSS software version 20 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Approximately, 61% of the children were males, and 39% were females. The modified gingival index (MGI) score was high, if there should arise an occurrence of high MDAS values. The mean MGI score was most astounding in phobic class of MDAS and least in the not anxious classification. The MGI score expanded on increment in maternal anxiety. Dental caries expanded in kids, if there should be an occurrence of high maternal dental uneasiness. The MDAS demonstrated a critical association with clinical oral health results of the child. The children whose mothers were "extremely anxious" (phobic) had the highest mean decayed, missing, or filled teeth. Conclusion: Maternal dental anxiety significantly affects the oral health status of their ward.


Background: Chronic diseases are illnesses or health conditions that are persistent and have long-term effects on the physical status of the human body. The manifestation of a chronic disease is the result of coexistence of multiple chronic diseases. Especially, the chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a representative chronic syndrome of multifactorial affair, characterized by a gradual progression. Methods: This study considered 81 patients with CKD and investigated the correlation between the disease and the patients' demographics, anamnesis, and clinical presentation, as well as the potential relationship between the disease and other illnesses. Results: A signifiant number of diseases can lead to the manifestation of CKD, and notably, many of them are idiopathic. However, despite the rapid development in medical science and pharmaceutical technology and a plethora of research trials, there is a lack of ability to identify and analyze the causes and pathophysiologic mechanisms that are responsible for the manifestation of CKD. Conclusions : This retrospective study investigates the factors that may play a role in the manifestation of CKD through the knowledge and research of both conventional medicine and homeopathy.


Hashing has been widely used for approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search in big data applications because of its low storage cost and fast retrieval speed. The goal of hashing is to map the data points from the original space into a binary-code space where the similarity (neighborhood structure) in the original space is preserved. By directly exploiting the similarity to guide the hashing code learning procedure, graph hashing has attracted much attention. However, most existing graph hashing methods cannot achieve satisfactory performance in real applications due to the high complexity for graph modeling. In this paper, we propose a novel method, called scalable graph hashing with feature transformation (SGH), for large-scale graph hashing. Through feature transformation, we can effectively approximate the whole graph without explicitly computing the similarity graph matrix, based on which a sequential learning method is proposed to learn the hash functions in a bitwise manner. Experiments on two datasets with one million data points show that our SGH method can outperform the state-of-the-art methods in terms of both accuracy and scalability.


the call for more research funding in CVD to meet the growing challenge of demographics and cardiometabolic trends, ESC President Professor Fausto Pinto said at yesterday's Inaugural Session. Despite recent improvements in mortality and morbidity, CVD still claims more than 4 million deaths per year in Europe, with an annual cost to the European economy of some €200 billion. Research reported recently in the EHJ suggests that by 2030 40% of people in Europe will suffer from some form of CVD. 'So we have a real paradox,' said Professor Pinto. 'On the one hand we're achieving better treatment results in reducing mortality and morbidity. But on the other, prevalence is increasing because of greater elderly populations and lifestyle factors.' Advances such as ICDs or primary PCI have played a fundamental role in increasing life expectancy for CVD patients, he said, 'but such progress is under threat from declining investment in CVD research'. Although CVD is the most common cause of death in the EU, it received less than €1 billion for research over three years compared to €2.5 billion for cancer. 'There is a need for more balanced distribution of research money,' said Professor Pinto. 'Through our national societies we are stressing the need to support research in CVD.' He also called for a shorter time needed for new drugs and devices to reach the market, which currently varies widely throughout European countries. Outlining ESC activities, Professor Pinto highlighted the ESC's new Atlas of Cardiology, produced by the European Heart Agency with help from national cardiac societies, to provide information on the way cardiology is practised across 40 different countries in Europe. 'The idea is to provide reliable and robust information that allows us to make informed decisions and identify some of the gaps,' explained Professor Pinto. The Atlas will be introduced here in London to ESC national cardiac societies and other ESC constituent bodies. The ESC has been working on a strategic plan previewing the next five years of the organisation, which has redefined the membership concept. 'Members of national cardiac societies don't always appreciate that they are automatically members of the ESC,' said Professor Pinto. 'We want to increase their sense of membership by introducing a new category of professional membership, which provides many of the perks of fellowship at a reduced fee.' Professor Pinto paid tribute to this year's ESC Gold Medallists, Keith Fox, Richard Popp and Michel Haissaguerre. 'We are honouring three outstanding cardiologists who have made significant contributions in ischemic heart disease, cardiac imaging, and atrial fibrillation ablation,' he said. Speaking of this year's ESC Congress, Professor Geneviève Derumeaux, Chairperson of the Congress Programme Committee, outlined several innovations in the programme. These include an emphasis on the 'Heart Team' approach to patient management, and several 'Advances in Science' sessions which include an overview lecture to place research in context. A growing need for more research funding in CVD


Exposure assessment is a poorly understood component of the science of epidemiology. The relationship between exposure to chemicals and ill-health outcomes is often calculated using crude exposure measures such as ever/never exposed or duration. When investigating subtle effects, exposures need to be characterized much more fully in terms of intensity, frequency, duration and route. While occupational exposures tend to be much greater than those experienced from the wider environment there is a need to remember that, for many chemicals, exposure can occur occupationally, environmentally and through consumer use of products containing the material of interest. Inhalation exposure has generally been the traditional focus for most epidemiological investigations but there is now growing awareness of the importance of the dermal and ingested routes of contact and internalization. Quantification of the exposure also needs to be related to a biological mechanism of action and exposure metrics need to be selected accordingly. Occupational exposures can generally be measured using simple well-validated techniques. Environmental exposures require much more sensitive instruments and are more difficult to assess. Exposure modelling, particularly for the environmental fate of chemicals has undergone many recent developments and Monte Carlo techniques can be used to characterize model uncertainty and variability. This approach to exposure assessment can now be used in the setting of the wider environment and will enable a far better understanding of the relationship between exposure and disease.


Most prisoners in the United States are counted where they are incarcerated for the purposes of legislative redistricting. This practice—which critics label "prison gerrymandering"—inflates the representation of mostly white, rural prison host communities at the expense of the urban and minority communities from which prisoners disproportionately hail. A battle to reform the practice has intensified in recent years, with federal courts on the front lines; the first federal court to invalidate a prison gerrymander did so in 2016, invoking the Equal Protection Clause's one-person, one-vote principle, and a division of authority has since emerged. As things stand, courts can expect a wave of these claims after the 2020 Census, but they are divided and ill equipped to resolve them. This Note undertakes an in-depth analysis of one-person, one-vote challenges to prison gerrymanders and is the first scholarly work to analyze this emerging body of law. It argues that the Equal Protection Clause does limit prison gerrymandering, advocating a novel approach for adjudicating these claims—one that looks principally to community ties (or the absence thereof) between prisoners and the localities that house them. It considers the impact of the Supreme Court's recent landmark decision in Evenwel v. Abbott and other key precedents. It also discusses relevant voting rights scholarship that courts have thus far overlooked. Ultimately, this Note aims to shed light on an underexamined constitutional right—the right to equal representation, as opposed to an equal vote—and to provide courts and litigants with the tools they need to effectively tackle prison gerrymandering claims going forward. * J.D., Stanford Law School, 2016. The author thanks Michelle Wilde Anderson, Pamela Karlan, Norman Spaulding, and Justin Weinstein-Tull for their guidance and encouragement; Sam Byker and Minh Nguyen-Dang for their helpful feedback; and the many editors of the Stanford Law Review who had a hand in selecting this Note and whipping it into shape—especially Shannon Grammel, Sean Janda, Erica Sollazzo, Matt A. Getz, Sarah Clark, Heather Hughes, Lauren Gorodetsky, Kevin Soter, and James Xi for their keen edits on multiple drafts. The Emerging Constitutional Law of Prison Gerrymandering 69 STAN. L. REV. 1473 (2017) 1474 Table of


This study explores the hedging effectiveness of oil and gold assets in Pakistani stock market. We incorporate three multivariate GARCH models for hedging potential of oil and gold assets in stock market of Pakistan. The DCC model is found fitted among others for empirical analysis. The empirical results indicate that the asymmetric effect is positive (negative) providing that negative shocks tend to increase (decrease) volatility in future more than positive shocks of the same magnitude for stock market and oil (gold). During the Global Financial Crisis 2007-2009, the study finds a positive trend in correlations between oil-stock pair suggesting a lack of portfolio diversi cation bene t of oil when added in stock portfolio. However, a more prominent negative trend in correlations between gold-stock pair shows that gold proves a potential safe haven asset for stocks in Pakistan. The results also reveal that investors must adjust their hedging position in oil and gold assets for their portfolio of stocks across the study period, as the optimal hedge ratios for stock-oil/gold pairs are dynamic in nature. Overall, the average negative values of hedging efffectiveness indicate that unhedged portfolio performs better than the hedged ones. These results contain implications for different stakeholders including policymakers, portfolio managers, domestic and international investors.


This paper argues that the discourse on the rule of law is of particular significance in Asia, partly because the rule of law is, rightly or wrongly, perceived to be more objective or less disturbing than discourses on human rights or democracy, and partly because it is perceived to be an essential condition for economic development. While there are considerable ambiguities about the concept, this is not a reason to dismiss its importance. The paper then develops the core content of the rule of law, with the absence of arbitrary powers as a central theme. Although the rule of law has gained an increasing acceptance among Asian states, many Asian states focus only on the enactment of legislation, whereas the implementation of the law and the availability of remedy are usually ignored. In particular, there is an absence of an independent judiciary, which, it is argued, is essential to the rule of law whatever the legal or political system is. It argues that the judiciary stands between the state and its people, and the legitimacy of the judiciary lies not in popular ballots but in its transparency, its rationality, its fairness and its independence. The paper then reviews the concept of the rule of law as advocated in the recent 4th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party where the rule of law was adopted, for the first time, as the theme of the conference, and argues that despite the emphasis on party leadership, the effort to improve and strengthen the judiciary is a positive step that may have greater impact than it is generally expected. The paper then explores the different perceptions of the rule of law in Hong Kong and China, and examines, in the context of One Country, Two Systems, the implications of two decisions of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal that have ended up in an interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the PRC. The interaction of the two systems highlights in particular the awkward position of legislative interpretation by a state organ in the development of the rule of law. The paper then turns to Hong Kong, exploring the relations between the rule of law and civil disobedience in the context of the recent Umbrella Movement. Finally, the paper returns to the core issue of constitutional review and the legitimacy of judicial review, and argues that it is possible to have the rule of law in an evolving democracy.


"This edited volume addresses journalism education as a central component of journalistic professionalization, making it necessary to understand what is a crucial period in most future journalists' lives. Nowadays, journalism scholars are realizing the need for more sustained, in-depth and critical studies of why students embark on such degrees, how they develop their professional views and practices at universities, how the educational curricula of journalism programs match the needs of the labor market, and also, what the news industry thinks about journalism courses and their graduates. This volume addresses all of these important questions in-depth, with admirable attention to different elements that may explain all these issues.The comparative perspective of looking at the Nordic countries breaks new ground considering the paucity of comparative studies on journalism education in specific media systems. The authors that take part of this book employ an array of quantitative and qualitative approaches to study the field of journalism education, providing a rich account that, no doubt, will be essential reading for students, researchers, the media industry, policy-makers and all people interested in journalism education and professionalization."


There are perhaps many good arguments for Iowa maintaining its "first in the nation" status, in terms of the presidential nomination process. The strongest, however, would seem to be an argument that it is representative of the nation as a whole. That is, somehow, Iowa is a microcosm of the national political forces, faithfully mirroring the relevant electoral structures and choices of the macro-stage. This belief is certainly held by some. Palo Alto County, in northwestern Iowa, has long been considered a presidential bellwether, faithfully voting with the winning candidate in a series beginning in 1916. But as media worthy as that fact might be, it seems most likely a product of chance, for its heavily rural, northern European-descended population make it far from demographically representative of contemporary America (Lewis-Beck and Rice 1992, 4–6). A similar charge is commonly made today against the state as a whole, by political commentators across the land. But is it true? Is Iowa really unrepresentative? That is the question we seek to answer.


Prominent scholars have suggested that the major reason why constitutional decision making departs from the wording of enacted constitutional clauses more often than statutory decision making departs from the wording of enacted statutory clauses is that the U.S. Constitution has a large share of broadly worded clauses, such that constitutional text under-determines constitutional interpretation. I suspect that two other factors do more to account for the observed difference. One is the greater role of judicial precedent in constitutional interpretation, which results largely from the mere fact that the U.S. Code is orders of magnitude more extensive and more prolix than the U.S. Constitution and therefore gives rise to many more questions of first impression. The other is that constitutional cases are more apt than statutory cases to make judges feel that there is something big to lose from a decision that is unfortunate on its merits. The desire to avoid deeply unfortunate results is a major driver of a decision maker's willingness to buck preexisting authority, including the authority of enacted texts. Put another way, judges depart from texts when the cost of adhering to those texts is high. And the propensity of American legal practice to make the highest-stakes issues into issues of constitutional law means that the costs of unfortunate decisions are liable to skew high in constitutional contexts.


The state of the law in the United States is complicated by the fact that the de minimis doctrine is, and has been a muddled doctrine. Copyright law and patent law allow future authors and inventors to build upon the works of previous rights holders. In the patent world, the new work must be a non-obvious improvement on the original patent. In copyright, the key is that the secondary user cannot take a substantial portion of the prior author's copyrightable expression. There is no infringement without substantial similarity. By definition, a de minimis taking is the polar opposite of substantial similarity. Nonetheless, the courts do not provide a clear guideline as to when a taking advances beyond de minimis to a substantial taking. This creates a significant challenge for those who are in the creative industries and may have opportunity to use copyrighted works in the process of creating new works. For example, filmmakers and documentary producers are often unsure of what they can and cannot use in an incidental manner in the background of their films. When courts look at the de minimis question, they focus on whether the alleged taking was too much of the existing work as well as whether the taking was of protected or unprotected elements of the existing work. As to the question of how much is too much, it is a matter of degree. As we see in copyright law, there are times that the application of the statute will be affected by the actual classification of the work that is allegedly being infringed. Of course, the digital sampling issue specifically revolves around sound recordings. Two major cases in different circuits have undertaken the question of whether a quantitatively insignificant digital sample of a sound recording could avoid copyright infringement liability by claiming a de minimis defense. The sixth and ninth circuits have come to divergent conclusions on this question. But this is much more than an issue of a circuit split digital sampling, and more specifically the legal treatment it receives is a global issue. Over the years, digital samples have been used in a myriad of ways. Some examples include the rapid fire multiple-sample collages that were popularized by the likes of Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee; the short distinctive samples used as musical punctuation by Teddy Riley; the extensive samples used as the loop for entire songs by producers like Sean Combs; and the use of short sampled segments manipulated by pitch and key to create musical soundscapes for popular songs. In some cases, it is clear that the underlying work is a significant element in the new song. However, in other cases, the amount used is extremely short, or the sample has been transformed in such a significant way as to be unrecognizable. This article looks at the development of the law, in the United States and around the globe as it responds to the increased use of digital samples in recorded music. Ultimately, the suggested approach is one where the use of sound recordings is treated similarly to the use of musical motifs in songs, i.e., if the use is de minimis, it should be classified as an exception to copyright infringement or considered a fair use. On the other hand, if the use is one that is recognizable by the lay observer, one that would negatively affect the market of the original, and one that does not survive the scrutiny of fair use analysis, then the use should require a license from the copyright owners.


Social question and answer sites (SQAs) are increasingly popular knowledge sharing platforms. In this paper, we outline how an SQA site functions as a social learning community. The success of an SQA site depends not only on effectively organizing and delivering information, but also on whether it can provide the cues needed by community members to successfully learn to be productive contributors. We explore this learning process in four different SQAs that utilize the Stack Exchange platform: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Seasoned Advice (cooking), Database Administrators, and Android Enthusiasts. Using longitudinal fixed effects models, we examine whether users learn to be better question askers over time, and how user interface features and community norms affect the cultivation of this critical skill. The study offers design implications by highlighting factors that help users develop into literate and productive community contributors in social platforms.


More than 1 million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, and nearly 390,000 more in 2016, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East and North Africa. European leaders have often accommodated the migrants with admirable generosity, even while facing stiff political opposition. Yet, if developed countries focus only on immediate domestic impacts of mass migration, they will miss a critical point: When thousands of people, including many researchers, leave their home countries, the exodus perpetuates instability in those countries and damages prospects for future development.


International Framework Agreements (IFAs) have become an increasingly important tool for the international solidarity of workers. Global Union Federations (GUFs) may convince Transnational Corporations (TNCs) together with the home country unions of these TNCs to recognise their responsibilities over the labour rights in other countries within their supply chains. Inditex1 IFA has taken a step further and Spanish textile corporation Inditex has agreed to recognise local unions as their official partners in their supply chain. IFAs are non-binding agreements signed between monopolistic TNCs and GUFs. They present new opportunities for the global labour movement to intensify solidarity. Global Unions apply pressure over TNCs via organising, campaigning and negotiating to sign IFAs which would suggest a base for continuous negotiations with
TNCs and an opportunity to overcome the shortcomings of voluntary one sided Code of Conducts (Hammer, 2005). Inditex IFA is one of the first IFAs in the textile sector and was developed through protocols that could empower local unions to play a more active role in monitoring the application of the IFA. The training program to be explained in this article was the first example of such a project prescribing that an agreement signed in Spain could impact on workers in Turkish unions.


Roman rural landscapes have long been associated with villas, that generally were regarded as its central feature; studies of Roman landscapes were consequently often limited to a villa and its immediate vicinity. This bias in most historical and archaeological research is now increasingly being redressed, mainly by intensive archaeological surveying. The resulting large numbers of small rural sites in particular point to a much more varied Roman countryside with considerably more complex organisation. Concentrating on the rural landscape outside the villas, therefore, the peasantry and their relations with the rural elite are the central issues in a case study of a small valley in Roman northern Etruria.


THE earlier classical treatises on aerodynamics concerned themselves with the properties of incompressible fluids. The theory developed on this basis gave an excellent theoretical background to the aeronautical engineer and made possible a scientific approach to the problems of aircraft flight. With the steady increase of aircraft speed, however, it soon became evident that the theory would have to be extended to take compressibility into account. One important result, brought out by Glauert's analysis, was the modification of the flow pattern with increasing Mach number. A more striking divergence of compressible from incompressible flow, first encountered at near sonic speeds, is the occurrence of shock waves. A shock wave, in the specialized aeronautical sense, is a pressure impulse travelling through the flow causing a sudden transition from supersonic to subsonic speeds (normal to the wave front) with an attendant increase in pressure and temperature. A brief statement of this sort, however, is of little or no value in giving an idea of the physical nature of the phenomenon. A considerable amount of attention is now focused on the repercussions of shock waves on aeroplane design. It is far easier to understand these design trends if one has a good grasp of the fundamentals underlying the problem. This article sets out to give a brief survey of these fundamentals. It is not easy also to give a complete physical picture of a shock wave but at least a discussion of their formation, propagation, etc. goes a long way towards clarifying one's ideas.


Acceptance of knowledge as strategic resource and increased interest towards Knowledge Management (KM) is guiding the way towards knowledge era. Rhetoric nature of knowledge, knowledge work and knowledge worker strongly demand for KM. Many countries had already adopted their knowledge goals and few still need the consideration. Among knowledge intensive organizations (KIOs) Think Tanks (TT) are unique being policy research intensive organizations. Think Tanks could serve as a bridge between state and society and their performance will have impact on both. Complex policy making process increases the challenge of measuring the influence of TT and knowledge management will strengthen them to meet the challenge.
Pakistani TTs can build right national image which is highly ignored. Pakistani TTs, apparently unaware of KM, are not only having treasure of Knowledge Resources (KR) but also using KM to enhance their organizational performance (OP). KRs are found more important for them to perform than material resources. Their knowledge capital (KC) highly depends on their human and social capital. Moreover cultural values and norms, multiple languages, knowledgeable leadership and national spirit have impact on OP. They take dual credit of having impact on governmental policies-macro level and people's perception-micro level.
KM-OP relationship is of current interest in the relevant literature and practice. Complex multi- dimensional nature of KM demands for concept clarity and surety. Literature mostly presents the link for specified dimension and explicit KM programs but silent on its cohesive view. Knowledge and its management are independent of any explicit definition and implementation. Literature and practice provides several example of KM failure because some specified dimension of it was selected and attempted for implementation. KM aligned with Organizational Strategy (OS) will underpin suitable processes, functions, methodology, technology, behaviour and structure in reference to strategic resource knowledge to achieve OP.


INTRODUCTION: The snoring is characterized as the sound vibration of the soft tissues of the pharynx, due to difficulty is that the air as it passes through the upper airway with partial obstruction. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of physiotherapeutic intervention in adult apnea, attended clinic school at the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul). METHOD: It is an explanatory research, quantitative and almost experimental. In the first phase the sample was composed of 7 persons residing in the city of Tubarao and the second phase 3 participants were part of physiotherapeutic intervention. The data were treated with descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), inferential (Wilcoxon test with p 25 had higher excessive daytime sleepiness and quality of life was lower in individuals with higher score on the scale. The results before and after physiotherapeutic intervention, described in the second phase, 2 subjects decreased the score on the scale of Epworth and 1 increased, there was an increase in scores of SF36-related quality of life, 2 individuals increased BMI and 1 reduced and all participants decreased the circumference of the neck and head of protrusion. CONCLUSION: The physiotherapy can provide good results in the treatment of snoring, contributing to the reduction of excessive daytime sleepiness and better life quality.


In situ vaccination with low doses of TLR ligands and anti-OX40 antibodies can cure widespread cancers in preclinical models. Deliver locally, act globally Mobilizing endogenous T cells to fight tumors is the goal of many immunotherapies. Sagiv-Barfi et al. investigated a combination therapy in multiple types of mouse cancer models that could provide sustainable antitumor immunity. Specifically, they combined intratumoral delivery of a TLR9 ligand with OX40 activation to ramp up T cell responses. This dual immunotherapy led to shrinkage of distant tumors and long-term survival of the animals, even in a stringent spontaneous tumor model. Both of these stimuli are in clinical trials as single agents and could likely be combined at great benefit for cancer patients. It has recently become apparent that the immune system can cure cancer. In some of these strategies, the antigen targets are preidentified and therapies are custom-made against these targets. In others, antibodies are used to remove the brakes of the immune system, allowing preexisting T cells to attack cancer cells. We have used another noncustomized approach called in situ vaccination. Immunoenhancing agents are injected locally into one site of tumor, thereby triggering a T cell immune response locally that then attacks cancer throughout the body. We have used a screening strategy in which the same syngeneic tumor is implanted at two separate sites in the body. One tumor is then injected with the test agents, and the resulting immune response is detected by the regression of the distant, untreated tumor. Using this assay, the combination of unmethylated CG–enriched oligodeoxynucleotide (CpG)—a Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) ligand—and anti-OX40 antibody provided the most impressive results. TLRs are components of the innate immune system that recognize molecular patterns on pathogens. Low doses of CpG injected into a tumor induce the expression of OX40 on CD4+ T cells in the microenvironment in mouse or human tumors. An agonistic anti-OX40 antibody can then trigger a T cell immune response, which is specific to the antigens of the injected tumor. Remarkably, this combination of a TLR ligand and an anti-OX40 antibody can cure multiple types of cancer and prevent spontaneous genetically driven cancers.


Twenty-first-century learners have expectations that are not met within the current model of higher education. With the introduction of online learning, the anytime/anywhere mantra taken up by many postsecondary institutions was a first step to meeting learner needs for flexibility; however, the choice and determination of delivery mode still resides with the institution and course instructors. Recently, the massive open online course (MOOC) movement has been introduced as an undeniable force in higher education, and the authors argue that it is distracting leadership from focusing on alternative options for supporting the needs of learners who demand both personalization and real access to learning opportunities. The key element to the MOOC movement is its openness that enables student access to education. In this article, the authors present the multi-access learning framework that envelops the MOOC phenomenon and merges course access modes enabling student choice and agency. The authors report results from a pilot study on one type of multi-access course, where students were able to choose their mode of access. In this case, remote students accessed the course via webcam and joined their on-campus classmates and instructor who were together face-to-face. Implications for multi-access learning in relation to the MOOC movement are discussed.


Proteins are translocated into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of cells in an unfolded state, and acquire their native conformation in the ER lumen after signal peptide cleavage. ER-associated degradation (ERAD) of folding-incompetent protein chains is mediated by the protein complexes residing in the ER membrane. We study the architecture and function of one of these, the HRD complex assembled around the E3 ubiquitin ligase Hrd1. The recognition of ERAD substrates is linked to the maturation of their carbohydrate structures. The HRD complex-associated lectin Yos9 is involved in ERAD substrate recognition by binding carbohydrates through its mannose-6-phosphate receptor homology (MRH) domain. We have determined the crystal structure of a central domain of Yos9, adjacent to the MRH domain, which was previously annotated as interaction region with the HRD subunit Hrd3 (Hanna et al., 2012). We find that this domain does not support Hrd3 association which we map to the N-terminal half of Yos9 instead. In contrast, the domain has a function in Yos9 dimerization as seen in the crystal structure, in various solution experiments and as supported by mutagenesis of dimer interface residues. The dimerization of the ER-luminal Yos9, in conjunction with studies of the cytosolic domain of the HRD component Usa1 (Horn et al., 2009) and other biochemical data thus supports a model of a HRD complex that exists and functions as a dimer or a higher multimer. The delivery of ubiquitinated ERAD substrates to the proteasome is mediated by the cytosolic AAA ATPase Cdc48 (p97 in mammalian cells). The p97 (VCP) serves a wide variety of cellular functions in addition to its role in ERAD, including organelle membrane fusion, mitosis, DNA repair, and apoptosis. These different functions are linked to the binding of adaptor proteins to p97, many of which contain ubiquitin regulatory X (UBX) domains. One of these adaptors, ASPL (alveolar soft part sarcoma locus), uses a substantially extended UBX domain for binding to the N domain of p97 where a lariat-like, mostly α-helical extension wraps around one subunit of p97. By this binding ASPL triggers the dissociation of functional p97 hexamers leading to partial inactivation of the AAA ATPase. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the structural basis for adaptor protein-induced inactivation by hexamer dissociation of p97 and, indeed, any AAA ATPase has been demonstrated. This observation has far reaching implications for AAA ATPase-regulated processes.


Surplus is operating results formed by the enterprise in a certain period, are often used to measure the performance of the enterprise, is the core part of the financial report of listed enterprises' surplus. China's market-oriented reform has not really completed. Some industries and market fields have barriers to entry, especially for some non-state-owned enterprises, which have no access to these industries that lead to serious monopoly behavior and weak competition. In this background, this paper began to research for the influence of the product market competition on the quality of the surplus information system. Existing studies have confirmed that the surplus information quality closely related to the company's accounting institutional design, microscopic governance structure and external governance environment. This study tried to further deepen the explanation of surplus information quality for enterprises. When the level of competition is in a low degree, the company may hide profitable business division or take surplus management or other technical means, to create an opaque information environment hidden the real financial performance from competitors and the public. This paper hoped to design a study model, and to conclude two dimensions of product market competition, which are industry concentration and industry homogeneity through literature review. Then further research impacts on the core competition for enterprises.


Introduction Vascular screening programs have been gaining popularity in recent years; however, most programs accept all patients willing to participate. This study was designed to determine the yield of disease when screening examinations are limited to those most at risk, to stratify the amount of disease present in the at-risk population, and to establish which patients might benefit most from vascular screening. Materials and Methods Patients enrolled in a community outreach program for seniors 55 years of age and older were asked to participate in a free vascular screening. Screenings consisted of completion of a questionnaire, physical examination, limited carotid artery evaluation for stenosis, aorta evaluation for detection of aneurysm, and ankle/brachial index (ABI) calculation to detect peripheral vascular disease. Findings were grouped into "Normal," "Mild disease," and "Significant disease." Findings were then compared with the following controllable risk factors: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease (CAD), or smoking history. Results Between May 16 and October 17, 2007, 357 participants' (75 male, 157 female, mean age 72.9 years) results were analyzed. Overall, 140 participants (43%) had some form of vascular disease ("mild" and "significant" categories combined). Of 324 eligible participants, carotid findings showed 199 normal (61%), 104 mild (32%), and 21 significant (7%) results. Aorta findings showed 296 normal (91%), 25 mild (8%), and 3 significant (1%) results. ABI findings showed 278 normal (86%), 18 mild (6%), and 28 significant (8%) results. In participants with three or more risk factors, there was a greater probability that carotid (p = 0.0022) and peripheral vascular disease (p = 0.0003) would be detected; however, there was no predictive value for aortic aneurysm (p = 0.5). Conclusion Vascular screening programs focusing on the at-risk population may reduce unnecessary testing compared with programs evaluating all patients willing to participate.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between dividends and family involvement as well as corporate governance characteristics among Turkish public firms.

Design/methodology/approach
Using panel data on Turkish firms listed on the Borsa Istanbul 100 index for 2006–2014, three models are estimated. For the first two models, where the dependent variables are the dividend payout ratio and dividend yield, respectively, tobit regressions are run. The last model, which employs a dividend dummy as the dependent variable, is estimated with logistic regression.

Findings
There is a positive and concave relationship between family ownership and dividends. The existence of a family chairman reduces dividends. There is a positive association between board size and dividends and this relationship is weaker for firms with higher levels of family ownership. Finally, the ratio of independent directors on the board is negatively associated with dividends.

Practical implications
The findings imply that firms with substantial family ownership and active family participation in management are more likely to send a negative signal to minority shareholders by paying lower dividends. In addition, minority shareholders should pay attention to the board structure of firms in which they invest.

Originality/value
This study is one of the few to analyze the nonlinear relationship between family ownership and dividend payments as well as the role of family management in a developing country. Second, it investigates the role of board characteristics in explaining dividend payment decisions.


INTRODUCTON
Oral health is fundamental to overall health. Poor oral health is largely preventable but unacceptable inequalities exist, particularly for people in rural areas. The issues are complex. Rural populations are characterised by lower rates of health insurance, higher rates of poverty, less water fluoridation, fewer dentists and oral health specialists, and greater distances to access care. These factors inter-relate with educational, attitudinal, and system-level issues. An important area of enquiry is whether and how national oral health policies address causes and solutions for poor rural oral health. The purpose of this study was to examine a series of government policies on oral health to (i) determine the extent to which such policies addressed rural oral health issues, and (ii) identify enabling assumptions in policy language about problems and solutions regarding rural communities.

METHODS
Eight current oral health policies were identified from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Validated content and critical discourse analyses were used to document and explore the concepts in these policy documents, with a particular focus on the frequency with which rural oral health was mentioned, and the enabling assumptions in policy language about rural communities.

RESULTS
Seventy-three concepts relating to oral health were identified from the textual analysis of the eight policy documents. The rural concept addressing oral health issues occurred in only 2% of all policies and was notably absent from the oral health policies of countries with substantial rural populations. It occurred most frequently in the policy documents from Australia and Scotland, less so in the policy documents from Canada, Wales, and New Zealand, and not at all in the oral health policies from the US, England, and Northern Ireland. Thus, the oral health needs of rural communities were generally not the focus of, nor included in, the oral health policy documents in this study. When the language of concepts related to rural oral health was examined, the qualitative analysis identified four discourse themes related to both causality and solutions. These ranked discourse themes focused on service models, workforce issues, social determinants of health, and prevention. None of the policies addressed the structural economic determinants of unequal rural oral health, nor did they specifically assert the rights of children in rural communities to equitable oral health care.

CONCLUSIONS
This study documented the limited focus on rural oral health that existed in national oral health policies from eight different English-speaking countries. It supports the need for an increased focus on rural oral health issues in oral health policies, particularly as increased oral health is clearly associated with increased general health. It speaks to the critical importance of periodic analysis of the content of oral health policies to ensure that issues of inequality are addressed. Further, it reinforces the need for research findings about effective oral health care to be translated into practice in the development of practical and financially viable policies to make access to oral health care more equitable, particularly for people living in rural and remote areas.


Abstract In numerous 15th and 16th century Fightbooks several sets of teachings appear alongside the glosses of Liechtenauer's Epitome on armoured fighting and fighting on horseback (Harnischfechten and Rossfechten) often enough to be considered auctoritas on these subjects. However, their authorship from various witnesses are attributed to different authorial figures - Andreas Liegnitzer, Martin Hundsfeld, Jud Lew. From 1452 until 1570, a number of diverse teachings are ascribed to them or faithfully reproduced without attribution: the most widely copied include the entitled Shortened sword for armoured hand and Shortened sword from the four guards, sword and buckler, dagger, wrestling and fighting on horseback. By a comparative analysis of existing witnesses, and by establishing the filiation tree of the related sources, we attempt to determine their original authorship. The analysis also yields additional conclusions regarding the influence of these authorial figures on other texts, proposes the filiation tree of the examined witnesses and presents the attempted study as a model for further research.


Recent laboratory experiments showed that at conditions resembling those near the tropopause region, small ice particles can be coated by a liquid H 2 SO 4 /H 2 O over-layer formed after the freezing of diluted sulfuric acid/water aerosol drops. Here, idealized radiative transfer tests are conducted to evaluate the impact that such an over-layer would have on the radiative effects produced by sub-visible cirrus clouds (SVCs). Spherical particle shape is assumed to keep the problem tractable. The calculations show that the over-layer increases both the shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) cloud radiative effects (CRE), but the impact is small: ~0.02 W m −2 , or even less, for the total (LW+SW) CRE at the top of the atmosphere. For the smallest ice particles, for which the over-layer is thickest, the fractional change in CRE can, however, reach ~20% for the SW CRE and over 50% for the LW CRE. The dependence of LW and SW CRE on particle size is also studied in the paper. Calculations for spherical and spheroidal uncoated ice particles show that even for high, optically thin cirrus, the total CRE can be negative, if the diameter of the particles is smaller than about 3–4 μm. Apart from the SVCs, this result could be relevant for contrail cirrus clouds, which are believed to consist of large numbers of very small ice particles.


Every year about half a million women die from complications of pregnancy, parturition and puerperium, most of which are preventable. The purpose of this thesis was to chart the distribution and decline in maternal mortality in Sweden between 1751 and 1980, and furthermore to characterize positive (predisposing) factors and negative (protective) factors of maternal mortality. Maternal mortality declined from 900 to 6.6 per 100,000 live births in these 230 years. Maternal deaths accounted for 10070 of all female deaths in the reproductive ages between 1781 and 1785, but only 0.2.0/0 between 1976 and 1980. However, in the 19th century 40-450/0 of the female deaths in the most active childbearing ages were maternal deaths. The children left motherless had an extremely high mortality. Indirect maternal deaths and puerperal sepsis accounted for the bulk of maternal deaths in the rural areas. Only a minority of maternal deaths occurred in lying-in hospitals. Midwifery services in rural areas and antiseptic techniques were most effective in preventing maternal deaths during the late 19th century. The changing distribution ofage and parity amongst the parturients had a definite impact on the mortality decline, enhanced by time, contributing to 500/0 of the mortality decline over the last 15 years. The expontential decline of cause-specific mortality and case fatality rates during the last 40 years is furthermore explained by the emergence ofmodern medicine - antibiotics, antenatal and obstetric care. The earlier serious problem of illegal abortions was eradicated by legislation and changes in hospital practice. The maternal mortality decline has levelled out during the 1970s, the relative importance of embolism as a cause of death is increasing. Advanced age and intercurrent disease are the most difficult risk factors to overcome. To conclude, this study indicates that the reason why maternal mortality has declined faster than otherhealth indices is that the major part of the maternal deaths can be prevented by medical technology, including family planning, antenatal and obstetric care. This experience should be of interest to developing countries where high rates of maternal mortality prevails.


Objective:  The  purpose  of  this  study  was  to  describe  restaurant  waiter  and  manager  perceptions of  local  foods  with  regard  to  customer  inquiries,  personal  values,  barriers  of  local  foods, ingredient  source,  waiter  training,  and  personal  definitions  of  local  food. Methods:  A  cross-‐sectional  study  design  was  used  to  collect  data  from  restaurant  managers, chefs,  and  wait  staff  at  local  food  promoting  restaurants  (LFPR)  in  an  urban  county  in  central New  York  State.  The  study  design  involved  questionnaires  consisting  of  close-‐ended  and  open-‐ ended  questions  about  local  foods.  Questions  regarding  local  food  perceptions,  motivations, customer  inquiries,  training,  source,  and  barriers  to  local  foods  were  asked  of  the  wait  staff. Managers  and/or  chefs  were  asked  questions  regarding  the  source  and  amount  of  their ingredients,  training  methods,  and  barriers  to  local  foods. Participants:  The  participants  were  27  managers,  chefs,  or  wait  staff  from  eight  restaurants  in central  New  York  restaurants  that  claim  to  explicitly  use  local  foods  on  their  menus  or  promote them  in  their  advertisements.  The  study  focuses  on  restaurants  promoting  local  foods  on  their menus  or  in  advertisements.  Four  participants  answered  survey  questions  through  face-‐to-‐face interviews.  The  remaining  23  participants  completed  a  paper  version  of  the  questionnaire. Results:  The  most  frequently  mentioned  motivators  for  serving  local  food  on  the  menu  included supporting  the  local  economy  (83%)  and  reducing  environmental  impact  (59%).  Wait  staff reported  most  commonly  asked  customer  questions  related  to  the  origin  menu  items.  Training on  local  foods  ranged  from  no  training  to  taste  testing  dishes  to  bus  trips  to  local  farms.  The most  wait  staff  (63%)  indicated  that  "most  of  the  menu  items"  contain  local  ingredients,  yet most  managers  or  chefs  (75%)  stated  that  half  of  their  ingredients  or  less  came  from  local sources.  More  than  half  (61%)  of  wait  staff  indicated  feeling  "very  confident"  in  addressing customers'  questions  about  local  food.  Four  wait  staff  respondents  (29%)  were  accurate  in identifying  the  sources  of  the  restaurant's  ingredients.  No  significance  was  found  between accuracy  and  confidence  level  in  addressing  questions  about  local  foods.  The  greatest  barrier  to sourcing  local  food  was  the  inconsistent  supply  of  local  foods,  which  was  reported  by  100%  of chefs  and  65%  of  wait  staff. Conclusions:  Local  food  promoting  restaurants  have  the  potential  to  be  innovators  in  the  local food  movement  through  communicating  local  food  benefits  and  messages  via  the  wait  staff. Increased  adoption  of  local  food  consumption  may  potentially  enhance  the  development  of  a more  sustainable  food  system.  Restaurant  wait  staff  may  have  a  false  sense  of  confidence  in addressing  customer  questions  about  local  foods.  This  suggests  that  more  training  on  local  foods should  be  emphasized  in  the  restaurant.  The  results  of  this  research  point  to  a  need  for  further studies  to  investigate  how  the  customer  interprets  information  provided  by  the  wait  staff  about local  foods.  Further,  additional  studies  should  look  into  the  true  source  of  ingredients  on  LFPR menus.


Objective: By using a simulated client approach, we aimed to assess the management of acute diarrhea in adults at community pharmacies in Quetta City, Pakistan. Methods: This was a cross sectional, simulated client study. The study was carried out in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, Pakistan. Community pharmacies located in the urban region with more than 100 clients per day were targeted for data collection. The simulated client presented himself at the community pharmacies seeking treatment for acute diarrhea with a pre-planned discussion protocol. SPSS v 21.0 was use for data analysis. Based on the objectives of the study, data was described descriptively as frequencies and percentages. Results: A total of 185 pharmacies qualified for the study as per inclusion criteria but data was available from 155 CPs (83.7%). The average working hours for the CPs were fourteen while qualified pharmacist was only present in fifteen (9.6%) of the pharmacies. The consultation time at the pharmacies ranged from 1-4 mins with a mean of 2.37±0.535 mins. Tablet metronidazole was the most frequent medicine dispensed (78.1%) at the CPs. Dimenhydrinate was dispensed (41.3%) followed by Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and tablet domperidone (35.5 and 25.8%) respectively. Minimum cost of medicine dispensed ranged from 10 Pakistan Rupees (PKR) i.e. (0.086 USD) to 960 PKR i.e. (8.30 USD). Conclusion: The management of acute diarrhea failed to meet the standard anti-diarrheal treatment as proposed by the guidelines. Therefore, a substantial improvement of pharmacy practice at the community pharmacies is urgently needed. Key words: Acute Diarrheal Management, Community Pharmacies, Quetta, Simulated Client Study,


The area of Medical Qualification in Life Support training is being constantly improved. However, many problems still have to be faced in the training sessions. During these sessions the students or physicians can repetitively practice patient care procedures in simulated scenarios using anatomical manikins, especially designed for this type of training. Current manikins have several resources incorporated to allow and facilitate qualified training, such as pulse, arrhythmia and auscultation simulator. However, some deficiencies have been detected in the existing LS training structure. For example: automatic feedback to the students in consequence of their actions on the manikin, images like facial expressions and body injuries, and their combination with sounds that represent the clinical state of the patient. The main goal of the ARLIST project is to qualify the traditional training environment currently used for LS training, introducing image and sound resources into the training manikins. Thought these features we can simulate some aspects such as facial expressions, skin color changes and scratches and skin injuries through image projection over the manikin body, and also play sounds like cries of pain or groans of an injured man.


Summary Tropical forests are critical for protecting global biodiversity and carbon stores. While forest degradation and fragmentation cause negative impacts on trees, many woody lianas benefit, with associated negative effects on carbon storage. Here, we focus on the key question of how abiotic environmental changes resulting from tropical forest fragmentation mediate the allocation of carbon into trees and lianas. We focus on the globally threatened Brazilian Atlantic Forest, in forest fragments spanning 13–23 442 ha in area and at fragment edges and interiors. Within each fragment, we established two transects: one at the edge and one in the interior. Each transect consisted of ten 10 × 10 m plots spaced at 20 m intervals. Within each plot, we sampled living trees with diameter ≥4·8 cm at 1·3 m above ground, living lianas with diameter ≥1·6 cm at 10 cm above ground, and several microclimatic and soil variables. Fragmentation changed a broad suite of abiotic environmental conditions recognized as being associated with forest carbon stocks: edges and smaller fragments were hotter, windier, and less humid, with more fertile and less acid soils at edges. Tree carbon stocks were thus higher in forest interiors than at edges, and were positively related to fragment size in interiors, but were not impacted by fragment size at edges. Trees and lianas showed different responses to fragmentation: in interiors of small fragments, tree carbon stocks declined whereas liana carbon stocks increased; and at edges, tree carbon stocks were not affected by fragment size, whereas liana carbon stocks were highest in smaller fragments. These patterns were strongly related to changes in abiotic environmental conditions. We conclude that the abiotic changes across the fragmentation gradient, rather than liana proliferation, were more likely to reduce tree carbon stocks. Cutting of lianas is frequently promoted for restoring forest carbon in human-modified tropical forests. However, this approach may not be effective for restoring forest carbon stocks in fragmented forests.


This volume looks at the life and works of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932), arguably Bengal's earliest and boldest feminist, revered as a crusader for the emancipation and advancement of women, in particular Bengali Muslim women. Through her spirited writings and her activism, Rokeya challenged the two pillars of patriarchy – hierarchical family structures and religious dogma. She demanded that the 'family' be restructured on the basis of gender equality. A devout Muslim, she asked that women be recognised as human beings in their own right within practices of Islam.
Born into an orthodox Muslim family, for Rokeya, the most vital way in which women could empower themselves was through education. The Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in Kolkata, started by Rokeya in 1911, still stands as an enduring testament to that belief.
This collection of biographical and critical essays places Rokeya within the socio-cultural and historical context of her times to better appreciate her literary and social contributions in the face of the formidable challenges she faced as a Bengali Muslim woman. The essays also aim to understand why the extraordinary vision she had, not just for women but for an ideal, more gender-just society, continues to be as radical, powerful and relevant today, almost a century after her death.
This volume will be a valuable asset to students and scholars of women's and gender studies, as also of South Asian literature and culture.


Due to degradation effects, electric vehicle batteries (EVBs) have a lifetime of approximately ten years in electric vehicles (EVs). Recycling EVBs is inefficient and ecologically undesirable if the batteries can be repurposed to second life scenarios. Decision support systems (DSSs) can be implemented to identify the best second life scenario for which to repurpose individual batteries. However, the properties of EVBs as used products can cause information asymmetries that challenge or even disrupt the market for used EVBs. Providing value-added services with used EVBs is one strategy to mitigate the information asymmetry. Guided by seven design principles, we develop and demonstrate a vertical software prototype for configuring energy storage solutions (ESSs), consisting of used EVBs and value-added services. Core of the system is an item-based collaborative filtering recommender system. The prototype can serve as a blueprint for a class of information systems to repurpose other used goods as customer solutions.