[1] We use an inverse method to estimate the global-scale pattern of the air-sea flux of natural CO2, i.e., the component of the CO2 flux due to the natural carbon cycle that already existed in preindustrial times, on the basis of ocean interior observations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and other tracers, from which we estimate DCgasex, i.e., the component of the observed DIC that is due to the gas exchange of natural CO2. We employ a suite of 10 different Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs) to quantify the error arising from uncertainties in the modeled transport required to link the interior ocean observations to the surface fluxes. The results from the contributing OGCMs are weighted using a model skill score based on a comparison of each model's simulated natural radiocarbon with observations. We find a pattern of air-sea flux of natural CO2 characterized by outgassing in the Southern Ocean between 44 S and 59 S, vigorous uptake at midlatitudes of both hemispheres, and strong outgassing in the tropics. In the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics, the inverse estimates generally agree closely with the natural CO2 flux results from forward simulations of coupled OGCM-biogeochemistry models undertaken as part of the second phase of the Ocean Carbon Model Intercomparison Project (OCMIP-2). The OCMIP-2 simulations find far less air-sea exchange than the inversion south of 20 S, but more recent forward OGCM studies are in better agreement with the inverse estimates in the Southern Hemisphere. The strong source and sink pattern south of 20 S was not apparent in an earlier inversion study, because the choice of region boundaries led to a partial cancellation of the sources and sinks. We show that the inversely estimated flux pattern is clearly traceable to gradients in the observed DCgasex, and that it is relatively insensitive to the choice of OGCM or potential biases in DCgasex. Our inverse estimates imply a southward interhemispheric transport of 0.31 ± 0.02 Pg C yr , most of which occurs in the Atlantic. This is considerably smaller than the 1 Pg C yr 1 of Northern Hemisphere uptake that has been inferred from atmospheric CO2 observations during the 1980s and 1990s, which supports the hypothesis of a Northern Hemisphere terrestrial sink.


In this work the development of a low-temperature scanning probe microscope and the investigation of thin insulating films at the atomic limit is presented. The scanning probe microscope has been designed in a modular way to provide large flexibility for the implementation of different types of measurements. The design provides high stability as well as a large field of view. In the present stage of development the instrument is used as a scanning tunneling microscope which has been used for all experiments presented. Two different systems of insulating films at the atomic limit have been investigated for the first time: KCl(100) on Cu(110) and KCl(100) on Cu(111). Depending on the deposition parameters KCl(100) on Cu(110) shows different types of growth. This includes step decoration and modification at low coverage as well as growth of islands with monolayer or bilayer height at higher coverage. The islands appear with a stripe structure in STM. In the case of bilayer islands atomic resolution was achieved and the stripe structure has been identified as an electronic Moiree-pattern caused by the incommensurable lattice constants of salt and copper. The growth is not perfect, hence it was possible to identify defects like grain boundaries and point defects. KCl(100) on Cu(111) has been shown to grow in large islands or closed layers. Similar to the bilayers on Cu(110) atomic resolution has been achieved. This system provides an interface state which is related to the Cu(111) surface state. The interface state shows nearly the same dispersion relation as the surface state of pristine copper but with a different onset energy. This dispersion relation is discussed in the framework of different dielectric layers on metal substrates. Different electronic structures have been observed for the salt islands on both substrates: field resonances and an intrinsic salt state. Both systems have been shown to be transparent for electron tunneling within their bandgap. The latter has been determined for salt bilayers on Cu(110). Compared to the case of pristine copper, the image states on the pristine copper surfaces are shifted to lower energies. This energy shift is discussed in detail. The growth of cobalt phthalocyanine on Cu(110) and Cu(111) at low coverage has been studied. In the case of Cu(111) the center of the molecule has been identified as the main scattering center.


We consider the problem of conducting large experimental campaigns in programming languages research. Most research efforts require a certain level of bookkeeping of results. This is manageable via quick, on-the-fly infrastructure implementations. However, it becomes a problem for large-scale testing initiatives, especially as the needs of the project evolve along the way. We look at how the Collective Knowledge generalized testing framework can help with such a project and its overall applicability and ease of use. The project in question is an OpenCL compiler testing campaign. We investigate how to use the Collective Knowledge framework to lead the experimental campaign, by providing storage and representation of test cases and their results. We also provide an initial implementation, publicly available.


Abstract Computer-aided detection is an integral part of medical image evaluation process because examination of each image takes a long time and generally experts' do not have enough time for the elimination of images with motion artifact (blurred images). Computer-aided detection is required for both increasing accuracy rate and saving experts' time. Large intestine does not have straight structure thus camera of the colonoscopy should be moved continuously to examine inside of the large intestine and this movement causes motion artifact on colonoscopy images. In this study, images were selected from open-source colonoscopy videos and obtained at Kayseri Training and Research Hospital. Totally 100 images were analyzed half of which were clear. Firstly, a modified version of histogram equalization was applied in the pre-processing step to all images in our dataset, and then, used Laplacian, wavelet transform (WT), and discrete cosine transform-based (DCT) approaches to extract features for the discrimination of images with no artifact (clear) and images with motion artifact. The Laplacian-based feature extraction method was used for the first time in the literature on colonoscopy images. The comparison between Laplacian-based features and previously used methods such as WT and DCT has been performed. In the classification phase of our study, support vector machines (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and k nearest neighbors (k-NN) were used as the classifiers. The results showed that Laplacian-based features were more successful in the detection of images with motion artifact when compared to popular methods used in the literature. As a result, a combination of features extracted using already existing approaches (WT and DCT) and the Laplacian-based methods reached 85% accuracy levels with SVM classification approach


IZA DP No. 15084 FEBRUARY 2022 Cumulative Climate Shocks and Migratory Flows: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa* We re-examine the effects of negative weather anomalies during the growing season on the decision to migrate in rural households in five sub-Saharan African countries. To this end we combine a multi-country household panel dataset with high-resolution gridded precipitation data. We find that while the effect of recent adverse weather shocks is on average modest, the cumulative effect of a persistent exposure to droughts over several years leads to a significant increase in the probability to migrate. The results show that more frequent adverse shocks can have more significant and long-lasting consequences in challenging economic environments. JEL Classification: O15, O13, Q54


What does it mean to say that it is "We the People" who "ordain and establish" a constitution? Who are those sovereign people, and how can they do so? Interweaving history and theory, constitutional scholar Chaihark Hahm and political theorist Sung Ho Kim attempt to answer these perennial questions by revisiting the constitutional politics of postwar Japan and Korea. Together, these experiences demonstrate the infeasibility of the conventional assumption that there is a clearly bounded sovereign "people" prior to constitution-making that stands apart from both outside infl uence and troubled historical legacies. The authors argue that "We the People" only emerges through a deeply transformative politics of constitutional founding and, as such, a democratic constitution and its putative author are mutually constitutive. Highly original and genuinely multidisciplinary, this book will be of interest to democratic theorists, scholars of comparative constitutionalism as well as observers of ongoing constitutional debates in Japan and Korea.


Ata-Kuh forest, a preserved area within Hyrcanian relict forests, with an area of 700 ha is located in north of Iran. Based on floristic studies from 2011 through 2012, 194 vascular plant species were identified belonging to 143 genera and 66 families. Among our samples, 24 taxa were endemic to Hyrcanian area. The largest families in the area were Rosaceae (10.3 %), Poaceae (9.7 %), Asteraceae (6.7 %), Fabaceae (5.6 %) and Lamiaceae (5.1 %). The genera represented by the greatest number of species were Rubus (8 species), Carex (7 species), Viola and Euphorbia (each with four species). Classification based on life form indicated that geophytes comprise the largest proportion of the plants in the studied area. From the chorological point of view, the largest proportion of the flora belonged to the Euro-Siberian elements (60 taxa, 31.1%). In this study, a comparison was performed between our results and other studies on the northern Iranian forests with respect to life forms and phytochoria. Psilotum nodum is reported here again from a new locality in North Iran, indicating the old Tertiary history of this forest.


Travel in Tokugawa Japan was officially controlled by bakufu and domainal authorities via an elaborate system of barriers, or sekisho, and travel permits; commoners, however, found ways to circumvent these barriers, frequently ignoring the laws designed to control their mobility, in this study, Constantine Vaporis challenges the notion that this system of travel regulations prevented widespread travel, maintaining instead that a "culture of movement" in Japan developed in the Tokugawa era. Using a combination of governmental documentation and travel literature, diaries, and wood-block prints, Vaporis examines the development of travel as recreation; he discusses the impact of pilgrimage and the institutionalization of alms-giving on the freedom of movement commoners enjoyed. By the end of the Tokugawa era, the popular nature of travel and a sophisticated system of roads were well established: Vaporis explores the reluctance of the bakufu to enforce its travel laws, and in doing so, beautifully evokes the character of the journey through Tokugawa Japan.


Alongside the social and economic reform of the 1980s, special education and inclusive education have been developing rapidly over the last three decades in China. Despite increasing research on the positive relationship between parental involvement and children's educational achievement, only a limited number of studies have begun to focus on how Chinese parents get involved in inclusive education in China. The aim of this research was to explore how a small group of Chinese hearing parents support their deaf children to be ready for and educated at mainstream schools in Beijing, China.

A qualitative research design combining constructivist grounded theory and autoethnography was applied to this study. Following the guidelines of Charmaz's grounded theory, intensive interviews were conducted with 10 Chinese hearing parents of deaf children in Beijing, China. All hearing parents were interviewed twice, resulting in 18 total interviews plus back-up interviews. Additionally, my own story of being a deaf person growing up and attending regular schools in Beijing, provided autoethnographic reflections on the data and codes.

The analysis of interview data has explored and developed a conceptual theory of parental involvement including three key categories: the effects of parental involvement, parental involvement strategies, and the barriers to parental involvement. Also, these findings showed that Chinese hearing parents' 'tried and tested' strategies for supporting their deaf child to be ready for and educated at mainstream schools and actively removing the barriers to their involvement.

In conclusion, the findings of this research discussed that these parents' attitudes towards deafness and inclusive education could influence their strategies in deaf diagnosis, early intervention, school settings and coaching their deaf child. And these findings suggested that this theoretical model of parental involvement could influence a deaf child's development in self-concept and deaf identity, contributing to the theories and practices of parental involvement and inclusive education for deaf children in China.


A survey of the descriptions of novel bacterial species published in the period 1996-2006 revealed that a large number of taxonomic descriptions are still based on one or a few strains. This situation determines that not only species descriptions, but also proposals to create higher ranks, are actually based on very few strains, which could produce a highly biased scenario. The encouragement to include a reasonable number of strains in species descriptions has been largely disregarded after its proposal, since acceptance of such descriptions relies mainly on editors' and reviewers' opinions. This observation and other considerations lead us to propose the creation of the status species proponenda (sp. pr.), as a compromise between the need for scientific description of biodiversity and exchange of data and the good taxonomic practice of including a sufficient number of strains in descriptions of species and higher taxonomic ranks.


Productivity, Wages, and Marriage: The Case of Major League Baseball Using a sample of professional baseball players from 1871–2007, this paper aims at analyzing a longstanding empirical observation that married men earn significantly more than their single counterparts holding all else equal (the "marriage premium"). Baseball is a unique case study because it has a long history of statistics collection and numerous direct measurements of productivity. Our results show that the marriage premium also holds for baseball players, where married players earn up to 16 percent more than those who are not married, even after controlling for selection. The results hold only for players in the top third of the ability distribution and post 1975 when changes in the rules that govern wage contracts allowed for players to be valued closer to their true market price. Nonetheless, there do not appear to be clear differences in productivity between married and nonmarried players. We discuss possible reasons why employers may discriminate in favor of married men. JEL Classification: J31, J44, J70


OBJECTIVE--To assess the value of transvaginal ultrasonography with colour blood flow imaging in detecting early ovarian cancer in women with a family history of the disease. DESIGN--Study of self referred symptomless women with a close relative who had developed the disease. Each woman was screened to detect persistent lesions and defined changes in ovarian volume. Morphological score and pulsatility index were recorded. SETTING--Ovarian screening clinic. SUBJECTS--1601 self referred women. INTERVENTIONS--Women with a positive screening result were recommended to have further investigations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Findings at surgery and histology of abnormal ovaries. Morphological score > or = 5 and pulsatility index < 1.0 at last scan. RESULTS--Women were aged 17 to 79 (mean 47) years; 959 (60%) were premenopausal, 469 (29%) were naturally postmenopausal, and 173 (11%) had had a hysterectomy. 157 women had a pedigree suggestive of the site specific ovarian cancer syndrome and 288 of multiple site cancers. 61 women had a positive screening result (3.8%, 95% confidence interval 2.9 to 4.9%), six of whom had primary ovarian cancer detected at surgery (five stage Ia, one stage III). Use of a high morphological score or a low pulsatility index increased the odds of finding ovarian cancer from 1:9 to about 2:5 (1:1 in the highest risk groups). Five interval cancers were reported (three ovarian and two peritoneal). Eight of the 11 cancers developed in women with pedigrees suggestive of inherited cancer. CONCLUSIONS--Transvaginal ultrasonography with colour flow imaging can effectively detect early ovarian cancer in women with a family history of the disease. The screening interval should be less than two years.


We design a compact triplexer based on two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal lattice
 photonic crystals (PCs). A folded directional coupler (FDC) is introduced in the
 triplexer beside the point-defect micro-cavities and line-defect waveguides. Because
 of the reflection feedback of the FDC, high channel drop efficiency can be realized
 and a compact size with the order of micrometers can be maintained. The proposed
 device is analyzed using the plane wave expansion method, and its transmission
 characteristics are calculated using the finite-difference time-domain method. The
 footprint of the triplexer is about 12×9 µm, and its extinction ratios are less than
 -20 dB for 1310 nm, approximately -20 dB for 1490 nm, and under -40 dB for 1550 nm,
 making it a potentially essential device in future fiber-to-the-home networks.


Water has a strong impact on the viscosity and the transition temperature of oxide glasses. It acts as a fluxing agent, reducing viscosity particularly in the glass transition range, and by that flattening the viscosity-temperature curve and decreasing the fragility of hydrous glass melts. This general behavior is found for silicate and borate as well as in borosilicate compositions. However, there is still a lack of data with respect to hydrous phosphate glasses. Here, we study the influence of structural water on the viscosity of Li2O-MgO-(Al2O3-)P2O5 glasses. The glasses were synthesized in an internally heated pressure vessel (IHPV) at a pressure of 0.5 GPa. The selected pressure allows for the synthesis of glass specimens with water contents of several wt.%. The viscosity measurements were carried out in the glass transition range, i.e. log η ≈ 10-13 (η in Pa s), using a sphere penetration viscometer. The measured data agree with glass transition temperatures measured by differential thermo analysis. First results further suggest that the fragility of the analyzed phosphates decreases with increasing water content.


Nurse knowledge and expertise in Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) laws are a prerequisite to meet emergency department practice laws and regulatory standards. The EMTALA is a federal law that requires anyone coming to an emergency department for care to be stabilized and treated, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Regulatory standard infractions resulting from an EMTALA violation complaint may include (1) penalties and/or fines, (2) future unannounced Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services surveys, (3) documented Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services deficiencies that require timely response, action plan, and audit for expected outcomes, (4) Medicare/Medicaid nonpayment for services, and (5) termination of a hospital's Medicare agreement. The consequences of EMTALA violations target physicians and hospitals; however, nurses are most often the first provider the patient encounters upon arrival to the emergency department. It is therefore essential that nurses maintain a proficient understanding of EMTALA laws, which requires special training, monitoring, periodic competency assessment strategies, and continuing education throughout their career. Furthermore, additional clinician education is needed on how to manage the complex expectations that are imposed on health care providers by regulatory policy. Doing this promotes safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, and efficient health care regulations from the beginning of one's introduction to the health care industry and throughout his or her career. This article seeks to (a) emphasize nursing staff's responsibility for EMTALA adherence, (b) identify the gaps among health care quality, safety, and nursing workforce competency standards that are imposed to meet the demands of EMTALA laws, and (c) provide recommendations for continuing education, monitoring, and periodic competency assessment strategies that may strengthen EMTALA compliance.


Students in the Physiotherapy Programme carried out a group project in their final year of studies. The objectives of the project were that the students learn and appreciate the process and activities involved in research, acquire deeper understanding of a topic in their professional interest, learn to work as a team, manage their own time, collaborate with others and produce a meaningful report. In the case of group work, usually the written report is assessed and the same mark is given to all members. Sometimes the supervisors' and group members' assessment of the members' involvement and participation in the project, oral presentation or viva voce contributes a small portion to the final grade of each student. This practice is limited to the assessment of the outcome of the group effort and does not reflect the process of learning by individual members. Portfolio assessment of learning involves the students themselves reflecting on and evaluating their learning and also allows teachers to evaluate individual students' learning in group tasks. In this paper, the implementation of the portfolio assessment, the criteria for the assessment of the portfolios and the students' opinions on the portfolio assessment are discussed.


One dimensional nanostructure materials such as nanowires have drawn many interests among the scientific community for a wide range of applications such as field-effect transistors [1], [2], inverters[3], light-emitting diode [1], lasers [4], nanosensors [5], [6], and photodetectors [7]... Comparing with the characterization of nanowire arrays, characterizing a single nanowire will definitely provide a better understanding on new nanowire properties due to simplified behaviors of devices. Although promising theories could be drawn from those results, fabrication of test structure for single nanowire measurements cannot be easily processed using standard microfabrication techniques. Therefore, electron beam lithography integrated with photolithography technique has been used to manipulate the connection; which provides I-V characteristics, of single horizontal nanowire with a specific device. Single Si nanowire characterization could be extended to various materials for further studies. In addition to single horizontal nanowire device, single vertical nanowire structure has been fabricated. Electron beam lithography technique is mainly used to pattern well-defined nanostructures where single ZnO nanowire is grown. Optical measurement, photoluminescence, is conducted to verify ZnO nanowires. This thesis also emphasizes on fabrication process to pattern various structures such as lines, rings, and circles with different sizes from 1um to sub 100nm... They could be potential candidate to create nanodisk antenna (rings), fishnet structure (lines), and base to grown single nanowire (circle).


Major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) genes are frequently used as a model for adaptive genetic diversity. Although associations between Mhc and disease resistance are frequently documented, little is known about the fitness consequences of Mhc variation in wild populations. Further, most work to date has involved testing associations between Mhc genotypes and fitness components. However, the functional diversity of the Mhc, and hence the mechanism by which selection on Mhc acts, depends on how genotypes map to the functional properties of Mhc molecules. Here, we test three hypotheses that relate Mhc diversity to fitness: (i) the maximal diversity hypothesis, (ii) the optimal diversity hypothesis and (iii) effect of specific Mhc types. We combine mark–recapture methods with analysis of long‐term breeding data to investigate the effects of Mhc class I functional diversity (Mhc supertypes) on individual fitness in a wild great tit (Parus major) population. We found that the presence of three different Mhc supertypes was associated with three different components of individual fitness: survival, annual recruitment and lifetime reproductive success (LRS). Great tits possessing Mhc supertype 3 experienced higher survival rates than those that did not, whereas individuals with Mhc supertype 6 experienced higher LRS and were more likely to recruit offspring each year. Conversely, great tits that possessed Mhc supertype 5 had reduced LRS. We found no evidence for a selective advantage of Mhc diversity, in terms of either maximal or optimal supertype diversity. Our results support the suggestion that specific Mhc types are an important determinant of individual fitness.


This research examines the role of critical reflection in learning theories and the relationship between Kolb's learning cycle and notions of the 'good' language learner, the deep approach to learning and autonomous learning in the context of adult, part-time, distance language learning. This group of learners is under-represented in the research literature. The research takes an exploratory-interpretative approach. Open University Language students had been invited by their tutors to use materials based on Kolb's learning cycle, designed to encourage critical reflection in order to enhance learning. In-depth interviews explored the experience of users and non-users. Course materials were examined for evidence of encouragement and support for critical reflection and autonomy. The research aimed to establish what OU language learners do to develop productive and receptive language skills and the extent to which they demonstrate capacities of critical reflection and autonomy. It examined the extent to which these capacities were developed via course materials and assignments and the impact of the style and pace of study. It considered whether these capacities could be enhanced by the project materials, as well as the influence of tutors' expectations and approaches. The majority of interviewees exhibited considerable functional activity except in writing skills. They demonstrated characteristics of the 'good' language learner, elements of a deep approach and features of autonomous learning. This contrasted with a surface approach to coursework and assignments, brought about by excessive workload and the controlled, anxiety-provoking nature of assessment. Analysis of assignments also suggested they were likely to evoke a surface approach. Course materials advocated reflection, self-assessment and self-evaluation, but did not support this via teaching or practice and offered few decision-making opportunities.Students exercised the capacity for critical reflection and autonomy to varying degrees. Those who had used the proj ect materials appeared more likely to make decisions about their learning, and set specific goals. The project materials were judged a straightforward framework for reflection. Tutors were positive about the materials but appeared to give little attention to critical reflection. Their concerns about time constraints and student workload may have confirmed student perceptions and discouraged use of the project materials. The research suggests broadening the notion of the 'good' language learner. It proposes more explicit development of learning strategies and the capacity for critical reflection within course materials and tutorials, and giving more attention to the nature and impact of assessment in order to foster 'active', deep, autonomous learning.


This study examines the relationships between land cover change and water quality change in three urbanizing watersheds in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States: Burnt Bridge Creek, Salmon Creek, and the Tualatin River. All three watersheds have had many of their water quality parameters exceeding Total Maximum Daily Loads as required by their state's environmental agencies in the past decades. By using the National Land Cover Datasets classified by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for 1992, 2001 and 2006 and water quality data for a period between 1991 and 2010, this paper aims to examine whether changes in land cover are causing changes in water quality at two different spatial scales at the sub-watershed scale and at a 100 meter riparian buffer scale. We used spatial regression models to identity the major determinants of changes in water temperature (WT), total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), and total phosphorus (TP) over time at different scales. The results show that each parameter reacts differently to land cover change depending on the scale of analysis. Both DO and WT showed significant relationships with land cover parameters on the watershed scale but not as much on the riparian buffer scale. TP shows significant relationships at the watershed scale, but TSS shows no significant relationships at the watershed scale. WT shows the only significant change in water quality over the past twenty years and is positively related to change in urban land cover. Topographic variables become significant in explaining the variations in WT and TP at the riparian scale. DO is mostly explained by mean slope for both 1992 and 2001 at both scales, but urban land cover became an important predictor in 2006 at both scales. Our analysis also suggested that there may be a potential lag between changes in land management and changes in water quality across different scales.


Recent months have seen a seeming escalation in the international threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a terrorist network that has taken Yemen as its regional base of operations. In light of recent attacks, and resulting embassy closures, Yemen is a rising priority in the Western-led War on Terror. However, this has resulted in a side-lining of other security threats in Yemen, which may cause serious challenges to the authority of the Yemeni Government. In reality, the role of AQAP has been heavily manipulated throughout Yemen's contemporary history: this was most evident during the 2011 Arab Spring, when both sides in the conflict claimed that Al Qaeda operatives were working with members of the other. Two years later, the true nature of the AQAP threat in Yemen is rarely questioned by external observers, yet remains largely shrouded in mystery. There is a need for more critical approaches to the AQAP challenges, which take the broader context of Yemeni security into account.


The innovation in graphics education lying ahead of us is not only a problem of arranging the contents or selecting the focal points. The divergent opinions are actually controversies about didactic problems with philosophical profundity. At the moment, the main direction of the world education reform is to reinforce the foundation and to develop the ability { despite the bright coloring of its outer appearance due to modern graphics technique. And the kernel of foundation and ability is intelligence. So, one should take care of the right balance between theory and practice, between the basic concepts of Descriptive Geometry in updated form and the design work with all the powerful tools available on the market. One of the basic problems is still the transformation between 2D and 3D and vice versa.


This thesis investigates the conflict of values that occurs in Bangladesh between NGOs and wider society. It examines the dynamics of BRAC, a large NGO, in order to illustrate the dissonance and inconsistencies in development discourse. Tension is evident in development, which is a multi-stranded process, in which each strand may complement or contradict the others. The process may also be understood in terms of the societal change that results from an attempted synthesis of the contradictory, clashing values of Western agency (individualism, equality, market, etc.) and Bangladeshi rural cultural life (community, hierarchy, subsistence, etc.).

Development processes, backed by strong finance, introduce Western ideas and theories to the South. NGOs subscribe to a global policy language in transforming these ideas into locally implementable programmes and projects, ignoring the diverse social, cultural and political settings in which they work. When villagers come into contact with these projects, they are pushed towards a sense of individualism, but instead of developing this individualism, they produce a new form of collectivism. In this hybrid environment, actors engaged in development adhere neither to the old values nor to new ones.

Projects aimed at modernization, itself, have undergone change from a blue-print approach to a process approach. In reality, top-down approaches are renamed but not reformed into bottom-up approaches. NGO projects targeting women, notably through micro-credit programmes, contribute to the rise of women-only organisations as well as matri-focal groups that constitute a challenge to male-dominated village associations. Micro-credit also polarises the traditional notions of money into moral and immoral money to produce new arenas of dispute. Overall, religious groups oppose such NGO interventions.

Conflict occurs within NGOs themselves. This is evident when BRAC, as an organisational entity, seek to accommodate to Western, Bengali and Islamic cultural traits which further generate conflict and are managed by a culture of fear or indulgence. Unless knowledge is shared by both parties there is the strong likelihood of increased conflict to the detriment of both NGOs and the local people.


OBJECTIVE
To establish a demographic approach to facilitate the comparison of husbandry success for deer species in zoos and to test for factors that influence the performance of deer species in captivity.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Data collected from 45,736 zoo-kept deer that comprised 31 species.

PROCEDURES
Data had been collected by the International Species Information System during the last 3 decades on zoo-kept deer around the world. The relative life expectancy (rLE) of a species (ie, mean life expectancy as a proportion of the maximum recorded life span for that species) was used to describe zoo populations. The rLE (values between 0 and 1) was used to reflect the husbandry success of a species.

RESULTS
A significant positive correlation was found between the rLE of a species and the percentage of grass in the natural diet of the species, suggesting that there are more problems in the husbandry of browsing than of grazing species. The 4 species for which a studbook (ie, record of the lineage of wild animals bred in captivity) was maintained had a high rLE, potentially indicating the positive effect of intensive breeding management.

CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The rLE facilitated the comparison of husbandry success for various species and may offer the possibility of correlating this quotient with other biological variables. Ultimately, identifying reasons for a low husbandry success in certain species may form the basis for further improvements of animal welfare in captivity.


We studied the immediate response of myocardial cells by continuous observation using confocal microscope against oxidation stress by extracellular photosensitization reaction using Talaporfin sodium for tachyarrhythmia treatment application. Immediate response in order from several seconds to several minutes is required for the arrhythmia treatment since operators should judge the therapeutic effect during the tachyarrhythmia ablation procedure. To understand the immediate response of myocardial cells, we measured the intracellular Ca2+ concentration using fluo-4 AM during and after the extracellular photosensitization reaction. Talaporfin sodium concentration was varied 10-30 μg/ml. A red diode laser of 663 nm in wavelength was irradiated under the microscope with the radiant exposure of 40 J/cm2 and irradiance of 0.29 W/cm2. We observed the fluorescence image of fluo-4 AM each 400 ms during until 10 min after the photosensitization reaction. The myocardial cell beatings were stopped about 2 s after the beginning of the laser irradiation. The blebs were formed with the Ca2+ inflow. The intracellular Ca2+ was re-decreased after the bleb formation and then the cell necrosis was induced. The cell lethality 10 min after the laser irradiation was less than bleb formation ratio. The time response of the cell necrosis was shortened with the photosensitizer concentration increasing and the minimum average value was 209 s in the case of the 30 μg/ml in photosensitizer concentration and 40 J/cm2 in the radiant exposure. We think this extracellular photosensitization reaction may be applicable to tachyarrhythmia treatment in terms of its immediate response.


An intermediate connector (IC) consisting of lithium (Li) doped 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BPhen)/Al/tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ)/1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylene-hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN) is developed for fabricating tandem white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs). An investigation of the charge generation and separation process in Bphen:Li/Al/F4-TCNQ/HAT-CN, which is carried out by analysis of the current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics, shows that the proposed IC structure is suitable as a connecting unit in tandem OLEDs. The tandem WOLED based on a silicon compound host material of 10-phenyl-2′-(triphenylsilyl)-10H-spiro [acridine-9,9′-fluorene] (SSTF) with the proposed IC structure exhibits a maximum current efficiency of 159.2 cd A−1 and a maximum power efficiency of 69.4 lm W−1. For application in large-area OLEDs, a 150 × 150 mm2 tandem lighting panel with maximum efficiencies of 231.8 cd A−1 and 52.9 lm W−1, correlated color temperature of 3000 K and Commission International de I'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.34, 0.45) is also demonstrated.


An important labor market trend is the rapid increase of the contingent workforce. Contingent workers are members of the workforce who do not perceive themselves as having an explicit or implicit contract for continuing employment. Under this definition, it is estimated that 6 million workers are classified as contingent. Researchers have discovered a pay gap between contingent and noncontingent workers. Hipple, in his 1998 study, argued that median earnings were $266 per week for contingent workers, compared with $444 for the noncontingents. The purpose of this project is to explore what causes this income differential by using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and multivariate regression analysis. It is hypothesized that this pay gap can be explained by differences between contingent and noncontingent workers such as hours worked, training received, occupation chosen, and discrimination. The principal finding suggests contingent workers have fewer opportunities for training and also do not realize the benefits of training compared with noncontingent workers.


Blood flow and net nutrient fluxes for portal-drained viscera (PDV) and liver (total splanchnic tissues) were measured at 19 and 9 d prepartum and at 11, 21, 33, and 83 d in milk (DIM) in 5 multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows. Cows were fed a grass silage-based gestation ration initially and a corn silage-based lactation ration peripartum and postpartum. Meals were fed at 8-h intervals and hourly (n = 8) measures of splanchnic metabolism were started before (0730 h and 0830 h) feeding at 0830 h. Dry matter intakes (DMI) at 19 and 9 d prepartum were not different. Metabolism changes measured from 19 to 9 d prepartum were lower arterial insulin and acetate, higher arterial nonesterified fatty acids and increased net liver removal of glycerol. After calving, PDV and liver blood flow and oxygen consumption more than doubled as DMI and milk yield increased, but 85 and 93% of the respective increases in PDV and liver blood flow at 83 DIM had occurred by 11 DIM. Therefore, factors additional to DMI must also contribute to increased blood flow in early lactation. Most postpartum changes in net PDV and liver metabolism could be attributed to increases in DMI and digestion or increased milk yield and tissue energy loss. Glucose release was increasingly greater than calculated requirements as DIM increased, presumably as tissue energy balance increased. Potential contributions of lactate, alanine, and glycerol to liver glucose synthesis were greatest at 11 DIM but decreased by 83 DIM. Excluding alanine, there was no evidence of an increased contribution of amino acids to liver glucose synthesis is required in early lactation. Increased net liver removal of propionate (69%), lactate (20%), alanine (8%), and glycerol (4%) can account for increased liver glucose release in transition cows from 9 d before to 11 d after calving.


Workflow solutions driven by data pipelining are increasingly becoming popular for accessing, aggregating and analyzing disparate data to make informed and intelligent decisions. Uses of workflow technologies which facilitate business intelligence (BI) improve productivity, decision making and research efficiency. In order to provide BI in a scientific or clinical based organization, it is imperative that the application or workflow technology must be compatible with multiple data types and formats, be able to analyze the data and make it available throughout the organization. We term this as Scientific Business Intelligence (SBI) and discuss how modeling, simulations and informatics software, integrated with open and standards-based scientific operating platform (SOP), can deliver scientifically-relevant BI solutions. We illustrate SBI with several examples encompassing all levels of users within an organization.


Plasmonic Ag nano-assemblies moving in a living cell were employed to visualize the spatiotemporal change of intracellular pH by surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Ag nano-assemblies were functionalized with 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (p-MBA) to monitor the variation of the surrounding pH. SERS spectra from the functionalized nano-assemblies that were transported in a cell were recorded to estimate the local pH on the pathways travelled by the nano-assemblies. 3D nanoparticle tracking and SERS measurements were simultaneously performed to trace the pH dynamics with a spatial accuracy of several tens of nanometers and a temporal resolution of 200 ms, which are sufficient to reveal pH changes associated with intracellular transportation. The pH trajectory of the functionalized nanoparticle can be used to visualize the dynamic change of the chemical environment caused by organelle interactions, such as endosomal trafficking and lysosomal fusion. This breakthrough creates a new paradigm for intracellular analysis using SERS and reveals new capability for rapid use of SERS in biological analysis.


Numerous research programs have developed over the last decade to improve the understanding of the causes, prevention and treatment of diabetes and its complications. Efficient synthesis of the data and information from these diverse sources is crucial to prioritize interventions and assemble resources for the implementation of public health programs. This book meets this need and builds on previous works to reflect the evolution of science related to diabetes public health. Through compelling evidence related to the current health and economic impact of diabetes, the book provides effective approaches to prevent and manage diabetes through the practice of public health. It combines state-of-the-art descriptions of risk factors and complications, effective and cost-effective approaches to prevention and treatment, translational research, and genomics to give a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis on diabetes public health. Critical review and synthesis of influential epidemiologic studies and consensus statements, expected future advances in trials and technologies, and public health information resources are also highlighted topics. With significant attention to diabetes control in the U.S. and North America, Diabetes Public Health should be required reading for public health practitioners and researchers, as well as anyone involved in health policy, administration and management. It will also be of interest to academics in the field of diabetes and other chronic diseases.


We exploit a unique dataset merging data on individual socio-economic characteristics and political participation in an Italian municipality to investigate the relationship between ethnic diversity in residential neighborhoods and individuals' propensity to vote. We document a sizable negative impact of diversity on overall electoral turnout which reflects differential effects at the individual level, depending on household equivalent income. Specifically, we show that ethnic heterogeneity in the neighborhood reduces the political participation of the poor, while it fosters that of the more affluent. These results highlight a potential democratic deficit stemming from reduced and unequal electoral turnout in increasingly ethnically heterogeneous neighborhoods.


"An economic analysis of fakes differs substantially from the legal and the art historic views which both tend to propose repressive policies against imitations. But there are large economic benefits from copying. In particular, the ""propagation effect"" yields utility to both consumers and creators of the original. In contrast, the harmful effects of fakes are small and are mitigated by emerging institutions (guarantees, sellers with reputation). The paper suggests ""art quotations"" (similar to academic quotations) as a beneficial solution to creators of originals and consumers. ""Art quotations"" are applicable to many art forms."


The goal of this thesis is to develop better practical methods for detecting common object classes in real world images. We present a family of object detectors that combine Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG), Local Binary Pattern (LBP) and Local Ternary Pattern (LTP) features with efficient Latent SVM classifiers and effective dimensionality reduction and sparsification schemes to give state-of-the-art performance on several important datasets including PASCAL VOC2006 and VOC2007, INRIA Person and ETHZ. The three main contributions are as follows. Firstly, we pioneer the use of Local Ternary Pattern features for object detection, showing that LTP gives better overall performance than HOG and LBP, because it captures both rich local texture and object shape information while being resistant to variations in lighting conditions. It thus works well both for classes that are recognized mainly by their structure and ones that are recognized mainly by their textures. We also show that HOG, LBP and LTP complement one another, so that an extended feature set that incorporates all three of them gives further improvements in performance. Secondly, in order to tackle the speed and memory usage problems associated with high-dimensional modern feature sets, we propose two effective dimensionality reduction techniques. The first, feature projection using Partial Least Squares, allows detectors to be trained more rapidly with negligible loss of accuracy and no loss of run time speed for linear detectors. The second, feature selection using SVM weight truncation, allows active feature sets to be reduced in size by almost an order of magnitude with little or no loss, and often a small gain, in detector accuracy. Despite its simplicity, this feature selection scheme outperforms all of the other sparsity enforcing methods that we have tested. Lastly, we describe work in progress on Local Quantized Patterns (LQP), a generalized form of local pattern features that uses lookup table based vector quantization to provide local pattern style pixel neighbourhood codings that have the speed of LBP/LTP and some of the flexibility and power of traditional visual word representations. Our experiments show that LQP outperforms all of the other feature sets tested including HOG, LBP and LTP.


OBJECTIVE--To locate fibronectin ultrastructurally in the most superficial layer of normal articular cartilage of rabbits, in order to clarify its role in joint physiology. METHODS--Articular cartilage was obtained from the femoral condyle of seven normal adult rabbits and prepared by a method that included tannic acid fixation. Polyclonal antibodies against rabbit fibronectin were used in an immunohistochemical electron microscopic study, without any enzymic digestion but with a pre-embedding method for the transmission electron microscopy. RESULTS--The cartilage surface was successfully preserved by tannic acid fixation. The most superficial layer in electron photomicrographs was approximately 200-300 nm thick, cell free, and appeared to have two parallel components: the more superficial lamina and the deeper lamina. Gold labelled fibronectin lined this layer in immunohistochemical electron photomicrographs. CONCLUSIONS--Fibronectin covering the surface of the articular cartilage may have a role in joint lubrication and protection of the cartilage by binding with the collagenous matrix and hyaluronic acid in synovial fluid. Chondroitin sulphates may act as a charge barrier in close relationship with the collagen fibrils in the deeper lamina. Significant alteration in these functions may be one of the first causal steps leading to destruction of the articular cartilage.


Many ancient studies have outlined the capacity of the hinterland of the Roman Frontier to feed the Army through the quick development of a new landscape of villas. At the contrary recent research focuses on the difficulties to supply the troops in several areas, namely in the Low Countries, because of their unfavorable ecology. This essay, based on the case of the French-German-Swiss excavations of Oedenburg (now partially published in French and German), will try to analyze the borderland farming in another unwelcoming environment.


The occurrence of radiolarian faunas in the upper part of the Chotec Limestone is discussed in terms of faunal composition, systematics and geological implications. The most common entactinid species are treated systematically. The occurrence of radiolarians in large numbers in the rock succession began approximately 2 meters below the onset of the black shale sedimentation (Kacak Member). The abrupt sedimentological change, commonly viewed as an event therefore does not coincide with the faunal turnover, leading to a radiolarian dominance well before the onset of black shale deposition.


Comment on Luhrmann, Tanya. 2012. When God talks back: Understanding the American Evangelical relationship with God. New York: Alfred E. Knopf.


The results of the recent 2018 general election (GE14) in Malaysia were exceptional. The ruling party – Barisan Nasional (BN) – was ousted from power after over six decades of authoritarian rule, by a new opposition coalition – the Pakatan Harapan (PH). In this historic election, BN lost all the federal states in Peninsular Malaysia except for the two less developed ones of Perlis and Pahang. BN was also defeated in Sabah for the second time since its dramatic recapture in 1995. However, these results are not as surprising if one looks at the outcome from its historical and developmental perspectives. The indication of the breakdown of the one-party dominant state of Malaysia can (at least) be traced back to 10 years ago – since the 2008 general election (GE12). BN then lost several parliamentary seats in the urban centres, even with a less unified opposition. It had also lost four states on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and had been fairly incompetent in reclaiming control over Selangor and Penang since that particular election. Five years later, in the 2013 general election (GE13), the results aggravated BN. It had lost its popular votes to the then opposition coalition – the Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The main objectives of this article, therefore, are twofold. First, it intends to shed light on the recent general elections through historical and developmental approaches by linking them to the electoral results, and political development in Malaysia, respective to GE12 and GE13. Second, it strives to make available for analysis the arguments on how the opposition pact managed to unseat BN in GE14. The analysis in this article is based on the data gathered by the author through a mixture of media studies, library research, and direct observation – as this author was one of the official observers appointed by the Election Commission of Malaysia for GE14. The main argument of this article on the breakthrough of PH to the federal government is that the opposition managed to reshape the multiparty electoral system to a "two-plus-one party system" from late 2016, which boosted the level of political competition between the two main parties in Malaysia – namely, BN and PH – in GE14. Four major factors have been identified as constituting the triumph of PH and the fall of BN in the election. These are: the existence of a credible representative and strong opposition, with the inclusion of Mahathir and two Malay/Bumiputra ("the natives") political parties; the rupture of the elites within the ruling regime; the presence of impactful issues surrounding Najib's administration; and, the advancement of information and communications technology as well as its impact on the emergence of a digital and much more participative society in Malaysia.


The contemporary electoral process is in many ways far more
complex than it used to be. This book focuses on the growing
involvement of non-party actors in the process of selecting
candidates and during the campaign itself.
These actors – interest groups, individual citizens, even certain
political institutions – operate in the campaign environment
independently of the parties and their candidates.
They are not seeking to attain public offi ce; nevertheless,
they interfere in the electoral process in growing numbers,
and with increasing intensity, for the most part seeking to
infl uence electoral outcomes to their advantage, but on
occasions also for less selfi sh reasons, such as increasing the
quality of the electoral process itself.
Encompassing a broad range of countries, including several
old democracies (the United States, Germany, Britain, Norway,
Denmark, Belgium, Israel, and others), but also one new
democracy (Romania), and combining extensive surveys
with detailed case studies of recent elections, the chapters
in this volume take stock of this new feature in the contemporary
electoral process, its origins, forms, and consequences.


New data regarding a positive association between smoking and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), especially the mucinous tumor type, has started to emerge. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between different measures of smoking exposures and subtypes of EOC in a large cohort of women from 10 European countries. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort is a multicenter prospective study initiated in 1992. The questionnaires included data about dietary, lifestyle, and health factors. Information about cigarette smoking was collected from individuals in all participating countries. We used Cox proportional hazard regression models to estimate hazard ratio (HR) of EOC overall and serous, mucinous, and endometroid histological subtypes, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) associated with different measures of smoking exposures adjusting for confounding variables. Altogether 836 incident EOC cases were identified among 326,831 women. The tumors were classified as 400 serous, 83 mucinous, 80 endometroid, 35 clear cell, and 238 unspecified. Compared with never smokers, current smokers had a significantly increased risk for mucinous tumors [HR = 1.85 (95% CI 1.08–3.16)] and those smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day had a doubling in risk [HR = 2.25(95% CI 1.26–4.03)] as did those who had smoked less than 15 pack‐years of cigarettes [HR = 2.18 (95% CI 1.07–4.43)]. The results from the EPIC study add further evidence that smoking increases risk of mucinous ovarian cancer and support the notion that the effect of smoking varies according to histological subtype.


Poorly designed charts are prevalent in reports, magazines, books and on the Web. Most of these charts are only available as bitmap images; without access to the underlying data it is prohibitively difficult for viewers to create more effective visual representations. In response we present ReVision, a system that automatically redesigns visualizations to improve graphical perception. Given a bitmap image of a chart as input, ReVision applies computer vision and machine learning techniques to identify the chart type (e.g., pie chart, bar chart, scatterplot, etc.). It then extracts the graphical marks and infers the underlying data. Using a corpus of images drawn from the web, ReVision achieves image classification accuracy of 96% across ten chart categories. It also accurately extracts marks from 79% of bar charts and 62% of pie charts, and from these charts it successfully extracts data from 71% of bar charts and 64% of pie charts. ReVision then applies perceptually-based design principles to populate an interactive gallery of redesigned charts. With this interface, users can view alternative chart designs and retarget content to different visual styles.


Interview in 1978 with Max Delbruck, professor of biology emeritus, begins with his recollections of growing up in an academic family in Berlin. Trained at Gottingen in the late 1920s as a theoretical physicist, he later switched to biology, inspired by Niels Bohr to investigate the applications of complementarity to biological phenomena. After postgraduate work at Bristol and Copenhagen, he returned to Berlin in 1932 to work for Lise Meitner and formed a "club" of theoretical physicists, biologists, and biochemists, who met for discussions at his mother's house. Recollections of the advent of the Nazis in 1933. In 1937 Delbruck left Berlin for Caltech on a Rockefeller Fellowship; he defends the decision of other German scientists, notably Heisenberg, to remain in Germany. At Caltech he began working in Drosophila genetics but quickly shifted to phage work with Emory Ellis. Moved to Vanderbilt University in 1940, where he remained for seven years; comments on Oswald Avery's identification of DNA as the "transforming principle." Recalls his association with Salvador Luria and summer phage group at Cold Spring Harbor in the 1940s; joint letter with Linus Pauling to Science in 1940 on intermolecular forces in biological processes; his reaction to 1945 publication of Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life? Returned to Caltech in 1947 as professor of biology; comments on activities of Biology Division under chairmen George W. Beadle and Ray Owen, and the psychobiology of Roger Sperry. Recalls 1953 Watson-Crick discovery of the structure of DNA; comments on Watson as director of Cold Spring Harbor and on The Double Helix. Comments on receiving (with Luria and Alfred Hershey) the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Recalls his later work on Phycomyces. The interview ends with Delbruck's overview of the history of German science and its travails under the Nazis, and recollections of his postwar visits there.


This paper studies the role played by caste, education and other social and economic attributes in arranged marriages among middle-class Indians. We use a unique data set on individuals who placed matrimonial advertisements in a major newspaper, the responses they received, how they ranked them, and the eventual matches. We estimate the preferences for caste, education, beauty, and other attributes. We then compute a set of stable matches, which we compare to the actual matches that we observe in the data. We find the stable matches to be quite similar to the actual matches, suggesting a relatively frictionless marriage market. One of our key empirical findings is that there is a very strong preference for within-caste marriage. However, because both sides of the market share this preference and because the groups are fairly homogeneous in terms of the distribution of other attributes, in equilibrium, the cost of wanting to marry within-caste is low. This allows caste to remain a persistent feature of the Indian marriage market.


Gustavsson [1999] finds that policies that promote international trade increase the size of a country's largest city relative to the country's total population, which is defined here as an increase in urban gigantism. In contrast, Ades and Glaeser [1995] report urban gigantism is reduced by freer political institutions and, with less confidence, more open trade. In light of Henderson's (2000) findings that excessive urban concentration inhibits economic growth, these conflicting results for the relationship between openness and urban gigantism (concentration), which are of great interest for the new economic geography, call for additional study. This study uses two measures of urban concentration and finds that lower international-trade costs are associated with lower primacy, but not with lower gigantism. Unlike Gustavsson, however, we find no evidence that lower trade costs increase gigantism.


This paper presents the first empirical analysis that demonstrates that juries differ from judges in awarding punitive damages. Our review of punitive damages awards of $100 million or more identified 63 such awards, of which juries made 95 percent. These jury awards are highly unpredictable and are not significantly correlated with compensatory damages. Using data on jury and bench verdicts from the Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1996, we find that juries are significantly more likely to award punitive damages than are judges and award higher levels of punitive damages. Jury awards are also less strongly related to compensatory damages. The differential effect of juries is most pronounced among the largest awards. Juries also tend to award higher levels of compensatory damages, which in turn boost the punitive damages award. The findings are robust with respect to controlling for self‐selection of jury or bench trial.


Set of six black and white portraits of a young girl, identified as Elenor Nielsen. She has on a light-colored v-neck top. Her hair is a short, curly bob with bangs. There are six different poses; four of them involve a wide-brimmed hat, a coat, or a bouquet of flowers. The other two poses feature Elenor simply smiling at the camera.


Open design is commonly seen to derive from the power of the Internet and its associated technologies to distribute the means of producing and reproducing data and content of all kinds – including product designs. Open design connects the generation and transmission of digital content to actual material production and physical embodiment – the making of tangible things. Open design therefore represents an opening-up of the means of production of our material culture – how we make things. This chapter considers products in the open design context more broadly, in relation to considerations of sustainability and practices of social and sustainable design. It takes a broad view of the term 'product'. Object-based designing is not necessarily the optimal way of addressing the 'wicked' problems we face as manifestations of the inherent unsustainability of our existing systems of production and consumption, and our current lifestyles and value systems. The open design context can be seen to extend beyond the current model of the creation of products via an expanded circle of participation, to include the expanded field of design represented by service design and social innovation. This chapter, therefore, considers not simply products in the open design context (in the form of new modes of doing product design) but also products of the open design context. It uses an expanded idea of product which includes any form of designed outcome, physical or non-physical, and an expanded idea of openness which goes beyond the internet- and digitally-enabled production of physical objects.


Starting from the electromagnetic theory, we derive an asymptotic formalism to investigate the behavior of perfectly conducting gratings used at small wavelengths to groove pitch ratios and near normal incidence. The theory is applied to study three classical types of profiles: sinusoidal, lamellar, and blazed gratings. Results are given for both −1 and −2 Littrow (or near Littrow) mounts. The accuracy of the theory and the limits of the domain where it applies are studied by the use of rigorous electromagnetic computations. The role of a finite conductivity of the surface is also investigated.


Efficient synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing algorithms are unable to exactly implement the aperture- and topography-dependent motion compensation due to the superposition of the synthetic apertures of several targets having different motion errors and potentially different topographic heights. Thus, during motion compensation, a reference level is assumed, resulting in residual phase errors that impact the focusing, geometric fidelity, and phase accuracy of the processed SAR images. This letter proposes a new short fast Fourier transform-based postprocessing methodology capable of efficient and precise compensation of these topography- and aperture-dependent residual phase errors. In addition to wide beamwidth (very high resolution) SAR systems, airborne repeat-pass interferometry especially benefits from this approach, as motion compensation can be significantly improved, especially in areas with high topographic changes. Repeat-pass interferometric data of the E-SAR system of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.


Variational modelling is the use of a variational structure of a problem to simplify the model or to find approximations of the solutions in a consistent way. In both cases the consistent use of the variational structure consists in restricting the relevant functionals to smaller sets and consider the Euler-Lagrange equation on the restricted set instead of on the original set. One type of restriction may be to specialise the set of phenomena. To find approximate solutions, parameterized manifolds of functions are used to restrict the functional; either low-dimensional manifolds of appropriate 'trial'-functions, or high-dimensional linear subspaces for numerical discretizations. In these notes another type of restriction will be discussed. We describe how typical problems for all-optical devices in integrated optics have to be considered on unbounded domains. The variational structure is then exploited to confine the problem to a finite domain by restriction to functions that satisfy, or approximate, the equations on the exterior domain. For a typical reflection problem this leads to boundary conditions that are 'transparent' for a-priorily unknown radiation and transmittance, but allow a prescribed influx of light into the structure.


Two years after the Middle East respiratory syndrome emerged, many scientific questions remain. Scientists are confident that camels play a key role in the spread of the virus, but they don9t know how it9s transmitted between the animals or how it jumps the species barrier to humans. An unusual collaboration of scientists from Qatar and the Netherlands has collected thousands of samples at Qatari farms, a camel market, and a slaughterhouse to address these issues. Now, they are coming up with their first answers.


In this paper we examine the current status of the science of ADHD from a theoretical point of view. While the field has reached the point at which a number of causal models have been proposed, it remains some distance away from demonstrating the viability of such models empirically. We identify a number of existing barriers and make proposals as to the best way for these to be overcome in future studies. These include the need to work across multiple levels of analysis in multidisciplinary teams; the need to recognize the existence of, and then model, causal heterogeneity; the need to integrate environmental and social processes into models of genetic and neurobiological influence; and the need to model developmental processes in a dynamic fashion. Such a model of science, although difficult to achieve, has the potential to provide the sort of framework for programmatic model-based research required if the power and sophistication of new neuroscience technologies are to be effectively exploited.


Introduction Most courtiers around the world, attempt to educate inmates in prison so that they will be something other than inmates during subsequent phases of their lives. Offenders come to prison with much less education than the general population. This lower education level did not compel these persons to commit crimes, but it is a factor in the criminal's decision-making process. It creates a context in which an individual sees limited options, and therefore, does not believe that he or she has much to lose. Also, lack of education often is associated with a lack of regard for self, manifested in limited respect for others and institutions. According to Johnson (2001), a number of studies confirmed that educational programs are directly responsible for recent rise in the dropout rate and the decrease in crimes because many of those who drop out of high school or fail to qualify for admission to college or university do not possess the skills necessary to compete for jobs. Statement of Problem In Saudi Arabia, there is a prison in each main city around the country provided with a number of classrooms and textbooks to provide a learning opportunity similar to the educational system applied outside prisons. Studying within whilst in prison is available for offenders who are interested to continue their education Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact email@example.com to request redistribution permission. During subsequent phases beside others duties. Since this educational system inside prisons follows the overall educational system in the regular school, the learning opportunity, however, is not available for all the prisons specially those who have not attended schools before. In addition, learning and training opportunities in prisons are limited to certain subjects such as religious sessions, self-development sessions, electricity skills sessions, plumbing skills sessions which teach the basic skills of such subjects. Although, there is a lot of learning and training programs provided by some governmental agencies, schools, and community colleges, the offenders are not allowed to attend such opportunities. Therefore, this study attempts to close the gap between the prisoners and outside society by bridging learning and training opportunities to prisons. Thus, this study attempts to explore the opportunities and difficulties for applying distance education system at prison by examining the offenders' attitudes toward using distance education delivery system during subsequent phases. The distance system should provide the inmates with learning and training opportunities held outside the prison which would include formal and informal education. Distance Education for Prisoners In the literature, one may find that distance education has been defined from different perspectives over the years. As found in Simonson (1997), distance education can be defined as the application of telecommunications and electronic devices which enables students and learners to receive instruction that originates from some distance location. Today, distance education has become a popular technique in educational environments and communities and more accessible for every educational environments including level from K-12 to higher education. In addition, distance education can become a solution for instructional problems outside educational environments such as prisons. …


Sponges are important ecological and functional components of coral reefs. Recently, a new hypothesis about the functional ecology of sponges in organic matter recycling pathways, the sponge‐loop hypothesis, in which dissolved and particulate organic matter is taken up by sponges and shunted to higher trophic levels as detritus, has been proposed and demonstrated for shallow (< 30 m) cryptic species. However, support for this hypothesis at mesophotic depths (∼ 30–150 m) is lacking. Here, we examined detritus production, a prerequisite of the sponge loop pathway, in a reciprocal transplant experiment, using Halisarca caerulea from water depths of 10 and 50 m. Detritus production was significantly lower in mesophotic sponges compared to shallow samples of H. caerulea. Additionally, detritus production rates in transplanted sponges moved in the direction of rates observed for resident conspecifics. The microbiome of these sponge populations was also significantly different between shallow and mesophotic depths, and the microbial communities of the transplanted sponges also shifted in the direction of their new depth in 10 d largely driven by changes in Oxyphotobacteria, Acidimicrobiia, Nitrososphaeria, Nitrospira, Deltaproteobacteria, and Dadabacteriia. This occurred in an environment where the availability of both dissolved and particulate trophic resources changed significantly across the shallow to mesophotic depth gradient where these sponge populations were found. These results suggest that changes in sponge detritus production are primarily driven by differential quality and quantity of trophic resources, as well as their utilization by the sponge host, and its microbiome, along the shallow to mesophotic depth gradient.


Excerpt] This book too is about class. It details the rise of class inequalities in the United States, and it offer portraits of the new labor movements that are arising in response. But is also about the sex of class. It is about the feminization of work and workers and the continued reluctance of those who study class and who rally on behalf of ameliorating class injustice to take sufficient notice of this fundamental revolution.


This publication sets out in general and highly accessible form most of the relevant legal principles applicable to evictions in South Africa. It contains no lengthy theoretical discussions or hypotheses, detailed case analyses or tedious referencing to secondary legal materials. Instead, the book presents the applicable statutory enactments and core judgments in a concise and focused manner. As a result, this publication will be of significant assistance to anyone involved in the reality of evictions, including many of those facing evictions. The style and format of the book further facilitate its ease of use.


OBJECTIVE
The influence of thyroid hormones upon renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is poorly understood. Under basal conditions, individuals belong to normal, low or high plasma renin activity (PRA) subjects. The study was designed to evaluate basal and poststimulatory PRA and serum aldosterone (Aldo) level in patients with hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism during therapy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We examined 73 women with hyperthyroidism, 27 women with hypothyroidism and 36 healthy controls. The patients were investigated before initiation of therapy and after attainment of euthyroid state. All subjects were investigated under basal conditions (normal-sodium diet) and after application of a low-sodium diet for three days and upright position for 3 hr. PRA, serum Aldo level, blood pressure, serum sodium, potassium and thyroid hormone levels were determined in all subjects. The subjects were classified as low PRA (<1.0 ng/ml/h), normal PRA (1.0-4.0 ng/ml/h) and high PRA (>4.0 ng/ml/h) individuals according to results obtained under basal conditions.

RESULTS
Relatively higher poststimulatory enhancement in PRA was found in patients with hyperthyroidism, especially those with low basal PRA, than in those with hypothyroidism. In women with thyroid dysfunctions poststimulatory increase in Aldo were relative lower than poststimulatory enhancement of PRA. After therapy these difference disappeared. The poststimulatory changes in PRA depended on the basal PRA.

CONCLUSIONS
Poststimulatory PRA is higher in hyperthyroid women, especially those with low basal PRA. In women with hypothyroidism, basal and poststimulatory PRA is low. Blood pressure and severity of thyroid dysfunction was found to be similar in the patients with low, normal or high basic PRA. In women with thyroid dysfunctions, serum Aldo level and its relative poststimulatory increments are inadequate to changes of PRA; it is suggested that the dissociation in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system occurs in hyperthyroid and hypothyroid women.


The main goal of current research is the effect of mental health of principals in Islamic Azad University of Tehran-East Branch on their job satisfaction. In order to reach goals of the research, theoretical basics and the research background inside and out of the country, were studied and then a set of theories, concepts, background, definitions and symptoms related to lack of mental health and job satisfaction. Then, the researcher has studied the job satisfaction by means of a mental questionnaire and a general health questionnaire consisting 30 four-choice questions. The statistical population of current research consists of all principals in Islamic Azad University of Tehran-East Branch whom some of them were selected as statistical sample. Data collected from questionnaires was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and also by using the inferential statistics. The results show that mental health of principals affects their job satisfaction. Also various components of mental health of principals are effective on their job satisfaction. Another side mental health and gender of principals have influence on their job satisfaction. Major of study and mental health of principals are effective on job satisfaction and education level and mental health of principals affect their job satisfaction are other result of this research as well.


61 ABSTRACT – The record of non-mammaliaformes eucynodonts from the Carnian-Norian Ischigualasto Formation is diverse and abundant, including a medium to large size herbivore and small carnivores. Here is described a new small eucynodont from the Ischigualasto Formation, on the basis of a partial skull. The new taxon is characterized by palatal process of the premaxilla extending posterior to the level of the fi rst postcanine; deep and large maxillary laterodorsal fossa that opens at the level of the root of the upper canine; and postorbital bar diverging posterolaterally at very low angle (35.6°) from the anteroposterior axis of the skull. Results from a phylogenetic analysis supports the new genus placement as a probainognathian eucynodont, more derived than Probainognathus Romer, and more closely related to Ecteninion Martinez, May & Forster and Trucidocynodon Oliveira, Soares & Schultz than to any other eucynodont. Ecteniniidae is proposed as a new clade including the new genus, Ecteninion and Trucidocynodon, and in the phylogenetic hypothesis represents the sister-group of Prozostrodontia (Prozostrodon Bonaparte & Barberena, Tritylodontidae and Mammaliaformes). Additionally, the new taxon from the Ischigualasto Formation shows that the Scaphonyx-ExaeretodonHerrerasaurus biozone has similar cynodont diversity than the supposedly contemporaneous Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone of Santa Maria 2 Sequence, in Southern Brazil.


In 2005, Ontario adopted the Mandatory Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act. Over the following decade, seven other provinces and one territory adopted largely identical legislation. While these statutes require health facilities to report gunshot wounds to the police, they are mostly silent on what purpose this reporting is intended to achieve and how police are to use the reports to achieve it. This paper analyzes the legislative history across these nine jurisdictions to identify these features. It demonstrates that the statutes embody an unresolved tension between the purposes of public health and safety, on the one hand, and law enforcement on the other. In particular, the legislative debates focus heavily on criminality and gang activity, anchored in the dubious assumption that victims of gunshot wounds are criminals. Both this assumption and the absence of epidemiological provisions undermine the purported purpose of public health and safety. The paper then sets out a series of amendments that would improve these statutes. At a minimum these would include explicit purpose and use provisions. To the extent that public health and safety is indeed an actual purpose, several other changes would also be appropriate.


Reaction between 4-nitro-1,2-diaminobenzene, phthalic anhydride and p-amino acetophenone yielded the starting compound N-(4-acetylphenyl)-4-(5-nitro-1H-benzmidazol-2-yl)-benzamide 1. The compound 1 on condensation with different aldehydes yielded the chalcones 2. Chalcone being a good synthon, reacted with variety of reagents like malononitrile and ammonium acetate, thiourea and hydroxylamine hydrochloride furnished the corresponding compounds i.e. cyanopyridines 3, thienopyrimidines 4 and isoxazoles 5. All the compounds have been characterized using elemental analyses, IR and NMR spectral data. All the compounds have been evaluated for their antimicrobial and antitubercular activity against different strains of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria and Mycobacterium smegmatis species and MIC values have also been determined.


Globalisation and competition from low-cost countries has pushed manufacturing firms towards offering services to remain competitive. However, increasing the service orientation of a manufacturing firm to find new ways of value (co-)creation has presented several challenges, such as the fact that services do not provide the expected revenues, and resistance from both the sales force and from customers towards services.The aim of this thesis is to understand challenges linked to increasing service orientation in manufacturing firms, by means of goods and service business logics. The thesis emphasises the three dimensions of business logics – value perspective, service business strategy, and service offering – and studies them empirically in service divisions in the pulp and paper industry and in the automotive industry.The findings show that firms with inconsistency between the three dimensions face certain challenges. Most often, the firms have a value perspective of goods business logic, but a service business strategy and a service offering of service business logic. Therefore, the most important and most difficult challenge to overcome in order to increase a manufacturing firm's service orientation is the employees' value perspective.Three service manoeuvres were key to overcoming this challenge: changing employees' mind-sets, starting to value services, and separating products and services. Although separating products and services could be assessed as a service manoeuvre consistent with goods business logic, it facilitated an increased service orientation. The fact that goods business logic manoeuvres led to a higher degree of service orientation, whereas service business logic manoeuvres did not always do so, is discussed as a service orientation paradox.


For over half a century, David Ignatow has crafted spare, plain, haunting poetry pf working life, urban images, and dark humor. The poetic heir of Whitman and William Carlos Williams, Ignatow is characteristically concerned with human mortality and human alienation in the world: the world as it is, defined by suffering and despair, yet at crucial times redeemed by cosmic vision and shared lives. His development as a poet is chronicled in Against the Evidence, title of the poem in part quoted above and meant by Ignatow as the metaphor for the whole body of his work. Where his previous collections have been organized thematically, Ignatow here arranges his poems according to the decade in which they were written returning each to its chronological order. Against the Evidence charts the evolution of his themes from the earliest origin in the Thirties to their present extraordinary manifestation in a variety of poetic forms and modes."


Background: In Pakistan, half of all pregnancies are unintended (4.2 million per year); out of which 2.2 million end in induced abortions. Almost 700,000 women seek medical treatment for post abortion complications every year. This necessitates access to quality Post-Abortion Care (PAC) services from skilled providers in Pakistan. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of Mid-Level Providers (MLPs) regarding PAC services in Sindh, Pakistan. Method: The study utilized a cross-sectional design. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 116 MLPs, including Nurse Midwives (NM), Lady Health Visitors (LHVs), and Community Midwives (CMWs) from different parts of Sindh. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19. Key Findings: The participants comprised 47% NMs, 35% LHVs, and 18% CMWs. The median age of the participants was 30 years. Nearly half of the participants (45%) worked in their own private practices. The remainder were almost evenly divided into those working in primary health care centres and those in secondary care hospitals. The mean score on the knowledge component was 8.9±2.2, from a maximum total of 16. Almost all (98%) the participants had heard about PAC. However, only 29% were aware of the need for a community and service provider partnership as a key element of PAC. Most (81%) of the participants knew about counseling compared with 54% who knew about Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) and 46% about misoprostol. The mean score on the attitude 21 Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM), Vol. 4, Iss. 1 [2017] Published by eCommons@AKU, 2017 component was 14.9±2.0, from a maximum total of 21. Various gaps were identified in the practices of MLPs regarding PAC counseling, referral linkages, and in addressing reproductive and health issues. Conclusion: The findings highlighted the need for providing comprehensive training and mentorship to the groups of midwives about PAC and building strong networks to enable improved referral processes. Moreover, it is crucial to expand this study at a national level to identify the gaps and to plan strategies to promote safe PAC services.


This study summarizes published information on the number of invertebrate species reported for the intertidal zone of rocky coasts and sandy beaches of the North Pacific of Costa Rica. In addition, we present new data on macrofaunal species richness for several locations. There is a wide variation in the number of species reported, with mollusks, crustaceans, and polychaetes as the major contributors. The number of species depends on the faunal group and the sampled effort carried out in the previous studies of the intertidal zones, and during 2012. The data show that, taking into account all components of the community values, a range of 29-172 species were obtained from the rocky intertidal, and 5-15 species for the sandy beaches. We found a similar mean value for species richness between protected and not protected areas, because in both cases the range of values is wide. It is urgent to manage unprotected locations with high species richness that are exposed to impacts from development of human populations. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 4): 63-84. Epub 2014 Diciembre 01.


Recent research supports the idea that children with ASD express less empathetic responding than typically developed children. However, limited studies have focused on the utilization of evidence-based practices to teach these skills. In this study, a multiple baseline design across three participants diagnosed with autism was implemented to assess the efficacy of digital comic strip conversations, which include answering comprehension questions and engaging in role-play, to teach verbal and non-verbal empathetic responding. Digital comic strips conversations were developed specifically for the study to depict three emotional domains: happiness or excitement, sadness or pain, and fear in a variety of social contexts. Both verbal and non-verbal empathetic responding were assessed concurrently within the same sessions. Moreover, two different five level rating scales were utilized to code the behavioral response. Upon the introduction of treatments, an increase of empathetic responding was recorded across all three participants, maintaining highest score according to rating scale for the majority of the data points throughout the intervention phase. However, the generalization phase of both verbal and non-verbal response conveyed inconsistent results across participants. Further research is needed to assess complementary treatment modalities as well as evaluating factors underlying generalization difficulties of skills for individuals with autism that are acquired in clinical practice.


In the Ozark Highlands of the USA (36-38° N, 91-95° W), annual application of poultry litter to pasture land is a routine waste management practice. The objective of this study was to measure the effect of site characteristics and poultry litter application on runoff and nutrient transport from grazed pasture and forest sites at different landscape positions. Sixteen pairs of 1 x 2 m plots were established on Nixa (loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Glossic Fragiudults) and Clarksville (loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Paleudults) cherty silt loams. One plot of each pair received 4.5 Mg ha -1 of poultry litter. Rainfall was simulated at 75 mm h -1 for 1 h (25-yr return period storm) one month after litter application. A composite runoff sample was analyzed for dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia N (NH 3 -N), nitrate N (NO 3 -N), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and total suspended solids (TSS). Poultry litter-treated plots had consistently higher concentrations of all water quality parameters tested compared to untreated plots. Concentration of DRP in runoff from untreated plots was linearly correlated with three soil P tests (0.35 < r 2 < 0.85). Soil P on litter-treated plots had little effect on runoff DRP, which averaged 2.20 mg L -1 . High variation in runoff resulted in only NO 3 -N showing significantly greater losses due to poultry litter treatment at two pasture sites. Results indicate that variation in runoff has a significant effect on nutrient transport from grazed pastures receiving poultry litter.


This paper discusses the evaluation of hydrodynamic variables in the presence of spontaneous fluctuations, such as in molecular simulations of fluid flows. The principal point is that hydrodynamic variables such as fluid velocity and temperature must be defined in terms of mechanical variables such as momentum and energy density). Because these relations are nonlinear and because fluctuations of mechanical variables are correlated, care must be taken to avoid introducing a bias when evaluating means, variances, and correlations of hydrodynamic variables. The unbiased estimates are formulated; some alternative, incorrect approaches are presented as cautionary warnings. The expressions are verified by numerical simulations, both at thermodynamic equilibrium and at a nonequilibrium steady state.


textabstractThe past twenty years have seen great progress in our knowledge of paediatric
pain. Especially our understanding of neonatal pain processing and neurobehavioral development
has much deepened. Today, the human central nervous system (CNS) is generally
acknowledged to be very immature at birth and to show great plasticity during the
first year of life. Andrews and Fitzgerald most clearly demonstrated the immaturity of the
CNS in humans, in that pain on the short-term decreased the pain threshold. However,
until now only few studies have evaluated the prolonged effects of neonatal pain exposure
in humans, and results are conflicting. .

In order to evaluate whether pain or tissue damage in early life will lead to hypersensitivity
persisting into childhood, we performed a cross-sectional study (Chapter
2). A total of 164 infants were included to determine if major surgery within the first 3
months of life increases pain sensitivity during subsequent surgery. Moreover, we wanted
to evaluate whether apart from subsequent surgery in the same dermatome, also
subsequent surgery in a different dermatome would alter pain sensitivity. All children received
standard intraoperative and postoperative pain management. Rescue analgesic
administration was guided by a treatment algorithm. Outcome measures to determine
differences in pain sensitivity were assessed by the intraoperative fentanyl intake and by
(nor)epinephrine plasma concentrations. Observational pain ratings from the COMFORT
behaviour scale and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), morphine intake and (nor)epinephrine
plasma concentrations, served to assess differences in postoperative pain sensitivity.
We found that only the infants previously operated upon in the same dermatome
needed more intraoperative fentanyl, had higher COMFORT and VAS scores, had greater
(nor)epinephrine plasma concentrations, and also needed more morphine than did infants
with no prior surgery. The children previous operated upon in another dermatome
only demonstrated higher postoperative analgesic requirements and norepinephrine
plasma concentrations in comparison with infants with no prior surgery. These preliminary
findings could indicate that neuroanatomical changes in the spinal and possibly
also supraspinal nervous system have developed as a result of neonatal surgery. We conclude
that the long-term consequences of surgery in early infancy are greatest in areas of
prior tissue damage, which may portend limited clinical but important neurobiological
differences.


Presented by the editors and more than ninety renowned experts on structural fat grafting, this extensively updated volume comprises their state-of-the-art experience and techniques on the use of autologous fat in many aspects of plastic surgery to correct, restore, and enhance patients' structural proportions and defects.Provides a strong foundation of the current Coleman technique of structural fat grafting, including available instrumentation, and the principles and basic concepts of fat injection.Comprehensive coverage on the biology underlying successful fat grafting, as well as excellent color illustrations of the step-by-step technique and descriptions of the effects of the aging process.This new edition contains the most current information on the regenerative potential of grafted fat as well as the long-term results of fat grafting, with updated cases demonstrating the staying power of transferred fat.A remarkable strength of this book is the purposeful inclusion of these worldwide contributors' many different approaches to harvesting, processing, and placing of lipoaspirate, with generous case examples of their results.Clinical applications for all parts of the body, from face and neck to breasts, and upper and lower extremities and genital areas reflect the wide utility of the procedure in reconstructive and aesthetic fields.A chapter on complications and the means to avoid them is given extensive coverage.


A protective effect of calcium on colorectal cancer, one of the most common malignancies in Western societies, has been supported primarily by results of in vitro animal studies. The present review summarizes the available epidemiological evidence for the association between calcium, vitamin D, and colorectal cancer. The overall results from over 20 published case-control and cohort studies suggest that calcium intake is not associated with a substantially lower risk of colorectal cancer. Findings from large prospective cohort studies, which should be least affected by methodological bias, have been notably consistent in finding weak and nonsignificant inverse associations. Whereas the relation between calcium and colon or colorectal cancer has been studied in numerous epidemiological studies, the role of vitamin D has only been addressed in a few of these investigations. The available results for vitamin D suggest that this micronutrient is inversely associated with risk but, given the scarcity of data, additional studies are needed to investigate this relation in more detail.


Housing renovation, in contrast to new construction projects, has to take good care of the tenants who are already living in the building. What are the theoretical and practical implications concerning the transformation from a technology-and-engineering-focused renovation approach to a more user-oriented one? What are the mechanisms of strategy change? Based on our case we argue that the mechanisms of strategy change are based on the interplay between external disturbance and internal renewal. External disturbance is the trigger of strategy change, but it does not, in itself, necessarily lead to strategy change, and particularly not for an innovative new strategy. The internal new competence is the source of changing from an old strategy to an innovative new strategy. The real estate industry needs to undergo a transformation from the rationalistic technology- and engineering-focused renovation model (TEF model) to a more inclusive approach. We suggest a user-oriented model (UO model) where user involvement is seen as integrated in the whole process of renovation.