This Article describes and theorizes the legal academy's denial of both class disadvantage and class migration, with particular attention to how those phenomena are manifest in relation to white faculty. The Article observes that a general disdain for poor and working-class whites evolves into the denial and distancing of class migrants, those who move into the professoriate from lower socioeconomic stations ("SES"). Further, the academy simultaneously discredits and disciplines these class migrants when they run afoul of narrow norms regarding credentials, scholarship, and culture. The author employs storytelling as methodology, drawing on her own experiences as a white class migrant to illustrate some of these phenomena.This Article, one in a series that takes up poor whites and the white working class as critical race projects, makes several theoretical contributions. First, it theorizes why white poverty, the white working class, and thus the phenomenon of white class migration, are so taboo among legal scholars. Closely related to this taboo are the reasons white class migrants are not viewed and valued as representing the diversity held so dear by the professoriate. Among other things, the Article begins the work of thinking about the phenomenon of white class migration as one that is as much about race as about class. It does so, however, in ways that go beyond Critical Race Theory's ("CRT") typical engagement with whiteness as monolithic abstraction. The Article suggests that the persistent race-vs.-class debate — regarding whether race or class is a bigger culprit in relation to various social problems and injustices — has proved an attractive distraction that has deterred robust scholarly engagement with many potent intersections of race with class, including that between white-skin privilege and socioeconomic disadvantage. Indeed, the academy is deterred from taking up just this intersection of whiteness with socioeconomic disadvantage for fear that doing so will detract from the very grave problems of racial disadvantage and racial discrimination experienced by nonwhites. Yet when we ignore class-based disadvantage — as when we ignore race-based disadvantage — we avoid an uncomfortable but critical conversation about authentic meritocracy. Ignoring the intersection of class disadvantage with white privilege also permits us to avoid confronting long-standing, intra-racial elite biases against poor and working-class whites.The second theoretical contribution of the Article — written for a collection about the persistence of gender discrimination in the academy — regards the ways in which gender mediates the white class migration experience in the context of legal academia. In particular, the author discusses three junctures when the intersection of gender and class have particular implications for academic careers. These are mentoring, physical appearance, and life partnerships.Finally, the author identifies several reasons why the legal academy needs the distinctive perspectives of class migrants. First, class migrants have become rarer among the professoriate in recent years because of heightened elitism in law faculty hiring during an era when low-income students are in shorter supply than ever in the prestigious colleges, universities, and law schools that bestow the requisite credentials. Second, the wider trend of diminishing upward mobility not only weighs on our national psyche, it has serious implications for our nation's economic well-being due to this failure to optimize raw human capital of all colors. This situation renders the perspectives and insights of all class migrants more valuable than ever because they have first-hand experience with the upward mobility journey that we should be fostering, and which we support in principle. Furthermore, class migrants can serve as role models and mentors for students in the midst of that process. Third, the author argues that poor and working-class whites are both key stakeholders and key informants in our quest for racial progress, although their perspectives are seldom heard in the academy. We rarely talk about low-SES whites; we talk to them even less frequently.One way to begin to draw in those particular white perspectives is through the inclusion of class migrants in the law professoriate. That inclusion should also endow future generations of lawyers with a greater class consciousness that will serve the interests of all races and ethnicities in wider society. In faculty composition as in myriad other contexts, the author implores us to move beyond the impasse of thinking we must address only racial disadvantage or only class disadvantage and to grapple with both at their myriad intersections.


In this paper we prove a strengthening of a theorem of Chang, Weinberger and Yu on obstructions to the existence of positive scalar curvature metrics on compact manifolds with boundary. They construct a relative index for the Dirac operator, which lives in a relative K-theory group, measuring the difference between the fundamental group of the boundary and of the full manifold. Whenever the Riemannian metric has product structure and positive scalar curvature near the boundary, one can define an absolute index of the Dirac operator taking value in the K-theory of the C*-algebra of fundamental group of the full manifold. This index depends on the metric near the boundary. We prove that the relative index of Chang, Weinberger and Yu is the image of this absolute index under the canonical map of K-theory groups. This has the immediate corollary that positive scalar curvature on the whole manifold implies vanishing of the relative index, giving a conceptual and direct proof of the vanishing theorem of Chang, Weinberger, and Yu. To take the fundamental groups of the manifold and its boundary into account requires working with maximal C* completions of the involved *-algebras. A significant part of this paper is devoted to foundational results regarding these completions.


In this paper we investigate the problem of localizing a mobile device based on readings from its sensors utilizing machine learning methodologies. We consider a real-world environment, collect a dense set of 3110 datapoints, and examine the performance of a substantial number of machine learning algorithms. We found algorithms that have a mean error as accurate as 0.76 meters, outperforming other indoor localization systems. We also propose a hybrid instance-based approach that results in a speed increase by a factor of ten with no loss of accuracy in a live deployment over standard instance-based methods. Further, we determine how less dense datasets affect accuracy, important for use in real-world environments. Finally, we demonstrate that these approaches are appropriate for real-world deployment by evaluating their performance in an online, in-motion experiment. The Learning Based Indoor Positioning System (LIPS) Android application source has been made available on the web.


In examining the relationship between Graphania mutans (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and perennial ryegrass infected with the fungal endophyte Acremonium lolii (Latch in press), the biology of G. mutans was investigated. Two types of larval development are identified: 'fast-track' larvae develop more rapidly through fewer instars and grow much larger than 'slow-track' larvae when reared on both artificial diet and perennial rye grass. The complexity of Graphania speciation is discussed. The presence of endophyte is shown to confer on perennial ryegrass resistance to G. mutans larvae in the laboratory, with strong antixenosis and possible antibiosis effects exhibited. Feeding preference tests show that neonate and sixth instar fast-track larvae significantly prefer excised endophyte-free ryegrass to endophyte-infected leaves. The effects of endophyte on the development of fast-track and slow-track larvae are to decrease larval weight, head capsule width, and the number of successful pupations. The same methods were used to determine the effects of peramine (an antifeedant compound for Argentine stem weevil extracted from endophyte-infected perennial ryegrass) on fast-track G. mutans larvae. Incorporated into artificial diet at lOppm, peramine has no affect on neonate and sixth instar larval feeding preference. Peramine does affect larval development, causing reduced larval weight, delayed pupation, and increased mortality. The role of peramine in endophyte-induced resistance, and the possible adaptive significance for perennial ryegrass of endophyte infection is considered. The interactions between G. mutans, endophyte and perennial ryegrass within the pasture ecosystem are discussed, and suggestions and hypotheses presented for future investigation. 11


Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) are found in boreal forests of Canada and Alaska and range southward into the contiguous United States. Much less is understood about lynx in their southern range compared to northern populations. Because lynx are currently listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act but have recently been recommended for delisting, information on their southern populations is important for lynx recovery, conservation, and management. We used non-invasive, genetic data collected during lynx snowtracking surveys from 2012-2017 to generate core-area estimates of abundance, trend and density in selected core areas of the Superior National Forest of Minnesota, USA. Lynx abundance estimates averaged 41.8 (SD=14.7, range=24-67) during 2012-2017 in the smaller core areas and averaged 52.3 (SD=8.3, range=43-59) during 2015-2017 in the larger core areas. We found no evidence Correspondence: Shannon Barber-Meyer, USGS, 1393 Hwy 169, Ely, Minnesota, 55731 USA. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com CWBM 2018: Volume 7, Number 1 Original Research ISSN: 1929–3100 BARBER-MEYER et al. 47 for a decrease or increase in abundance during either period. Lynx density estimates were approximately 7-10 times lower than densities of lynx in northern populations at the low of the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) population cycle. To our knowledge, our results are the first attempt to estimate abundance, trend and density of lynx in Minnesota using non-invasive genetic capture-mark-recapture. Estimates such as ours provide useful benchmarks for future comparisons by providing a context with which to assess 1) potential changes in forest management that may affect lynx recovery and conservation, and 2) possible effects of climate change on the depth, density, and duration of annual snow cover and correspondingly, potential effects on snowshoe hares as well.


To identify potentially important extracellular matrix adhesive molecules in neural crest cell migration, the possible role of vitronectin and its corresponding integrin receptors was examined in the adhesion and migration of avian neural crest cells in vitro. Adhesion and migration on vitronectin were comparable to those found on fibronectin and could be almost entirely abolished by antibodies against vitronectin and by RGD peptides. Immunoprecipitation and immunocytochemistry analyses revealed that neural crest cells expressed primarily the alpha V beta 1, alpha V beta 3 and alpha V beta 5 integrins as possible vitronectin receptors. Inhibition assays of cellular adhesion and migration with function-perturbing antibodies demonstrated that adhesion of neural crest cells to vitronectin was mediated essentially by one or more of the different alpha V integrins, with a possible preeminence of alpha V beta 1, whereas cell migration involved mostly the alpha V beta 3 and alpha V beta 5 integrins. Immunofluorescence labeling of cultured motile neural crest cells revealed that the alpha V integrins are differentially distributed on the cell surface. The beta 1 and alpha V subunits were both diffuse on the surface of cells and in focal adhesion sites in association with vinculin, talin and alpha-actinin, whereas the alpha V beta 3 and alpha V beta 5 integrins were essentially diffuse on the cell surface. Finally, vitronectin could be detected by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry in the early embryo during the ontogeny of the neural crest. It was in particular closely associated with the surface of migrating neural crest cells. In conclusion, our study indicates that neural crest cells can adhere to and migrate on vitronectin in vitro by an RGD-dependent mechanism involving at least the alpha V beta 1, alpha V beta 3 and alpha V beta 5 integrins and that these integrins may have specific roles in the control of cell adhesion and migration.


Secondary analysis of data on 41,330 children aged one to 11 from the Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES) carried out in 2018. The frequency of brushing and the use of toothpaste were reported according to the level of fluoride (no brushing, adequate, inadequate, did not show/did not use toothpaste, and illegible), according to socioeconomic and geographical variables. The evaluation showed that 7.8% of children did not brush their teeth; there were significant percentage differences (p <0.001) in the use of toothpaste with inadequate fluoride concentration between the extreme categories of the variables: age (12.3%), use of dental services (7.7%), educational level of the person responsible (20.4%), wealth index (17.8%), geographical domain (11.3%), and area of residence (9.1%). A considerable percentage of Peruvian children do not brush their teeth; in addition, a large number of children who brush use toothpastes with a fluoride content that has no preventive effect.


This paper blends the analytical framework of hydro-hegemony with a waterscape reading to explore the use and methods of control of the Upper Jordan River flows. Seen as a sub-component of the broader Lebanon-Israel-Syria political conflict, the struggles over water are interpreted through evidence from the colonial archives, key informant interviews, media pieces, and policy and academic literature. Extreme asymmetry in the use and control of the basin is found to be influenced by a number of issues that also shape the concept of 'international waterscapes': political borders, domestic pressures and competition, perceptions of water security, and other non-material factors active at multiple spatial scales. Israeli hydro-hegemony is found to be independent of its riparian position, and due in part to its greater capacity to exploit the flows. More significant are the repeated Israeli expressions of hard power which have supported a degree of (soft) 'reputational' power, and enable control over the flows without direct physical control of the territory they run through - which is referred to here as 'remote' control. The 2002 Lebanese challenge of the hegemony established shows that full consent has never been achieved, however, and suggests the maintenance of hydro-hegemony in this international waterscape relies on the reconstitution of reputational power.


This chapter draws on feminist critical discourse analysis to interrogate the 'glass ceiling' in Malaysian politics. Prior to GE14, women held only 10.8 per cent of parliamentary seats and 8.3 per cent of full ministerial posts. When presented with the opportunity to redress this gender gap, the winning alliance, Pakatan Harapan, failed to meet their election pledge to ensure that at least 30 per cent of policymakers are women. Presently, women constitute only 14.4 per cent and 19.2 per cent of legislators and full ministers respectively. This gender imbalance, however, did not meet much public criticism. It is this general acceptance of the status quo that is the focus of the present study. While research surrounding women's low political representation in Malaysia has focused on the structural and cultural factors that inhibit opportunities for women within their parties, this study examines tweets from the #30peratus Twitter campaign led by women's rights advocates to uncover the ideologies and discourses in the public sphere that justify hegemonic gender relations in Malaysian politics. The findings show that not only are patriarchal attitudes towards women politicians prevalent, but discourses endorsing patriarchal ideologies are often legitimised in terms of neoliberal and postfeminist discourses.


ABSTRACT Although mobility in and out of intimate relationships has become more common in later life, it has been a neglected issue in social gerontology. In this article, we ask what characterises the formation of new intimate relationships in later life, and whether there are any specific conditions that separate these from relationships in earlier stages of the lifecourse. On the basis of qualitative interviews with 28 persons aged 63–91 who have established a new intimate heterosexual relationship after the age of 60 or who are dating singles, we argue that time constitutes such a central structuring condition. We discuss and theorise two aspects of time – post-(re)productive free time and remaining time – which have an important formative power on new late-in-life relationships. We argue that together these aspects form a central existential structure of ageing in many Western societies – the paradoxical condition of having lots of available free time but little time left in life – which, besides influencing new late-in-life relationships, might also be relevant to other aspects of and choices in later life.


The need for evidence-based non-pharmacological community programs to improve care of older adults with dementia is self-evident, considering the sheer numbers of affected individuals; the emotional, physical, and financial toll on affected individuals and their caregivers; the impact on our health care system; and the growing availability of evidence regarding the potential for psychosocial interventions to enhance care and decrease costs. To address this need, the Administration on Aging has begun funding translation of evidence-based programs into community settings. Two programs, Reducing Disability in Alzheimer's Disease and STAR-Community Consultants (STAR-C), were selected by the Ohio Department of Aging (in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Association Chapters in Ohio) and the Oregon Department of Health Services (in partnership with Area Agencies on Aging and the Oregon Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association) to be implemented by their staff. Both programs are designed to improve care, enhance life quality, and reduce behavioral problems of persons with dementia and have demonstrated efficacy via randomized controlled trials. This article addresses the developmental and ongoing challenges encountered in the translation of these programs to inform other community-based organizations considering the translation of evidence-based programs and to assist researchers in making their work more germane to their community colleagues.


Super-resolution 3D imaging was achieved using newly synthesized photoactivatable quantum dot (PAQ dot) probes. Quantum dots were modified with a novel quencher system to make them photoactivatable. The unique properties of these PAQ dots enable single-fluorophore localization in three dimensions using a confocal microscopy optical sectioning method. Myosin and tropomyosin of rabbit myofibrilar bundles were specifically labeled with the newly synthesized PAQ dot. A sufficient number of single quantum dots were photoactivated, localized and reduced to their centroid and then reconstructed to a super-resolution image. The acquired super-resolution image shows a lateral and an axial sub-diffraction resolution and demonstrates ultrafine striations with widths less than 70 nm that are not evident by conventional confocal microscopy. The striations appear to be related to nebulin thin filament binding protein. This newly developed imaging system is cutting edge for its high resolution and localization as well its simplicity and convenience.


We find the asymptotic number of 2-orientations of quadrangulations with n inner faces, and of 3-
orientations of triangulations with n inner vertices. We also find the asymptotic number of prime
2-orientations (no separating quadrangle) and prime 3-orientations (no separating triangle). The
estimates we find are of the form c n^(-\alpha)
\gamma^ n, for suitable constants c, \alpha, \gamma, with \alpha = 4 for 2-orientations
and \alpha = 5 for 3-orientations. The proofs are based on singularity analysis of D-finite generating
functions, using the Fuchsian theory of complex linear differential equations.


The Philae lander provides a unique opportunity to investigate the internal structure of a comet nucleus, providing information about its formation and evolution in the early solar system. We present Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission (CONSERT) measurements of the interior of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. From the propagation time and form of the signals, the upper part of the "head" of 67P is fairly homogeneous on a spatial scale of tens of meters. CONSERT also reduced the size of the uncertainty of Philae's final landing site down to approximately 21 by 34 square meters. The average permittivity is about 1.27, suggesting that this region has a volumetric dust/ice ratio of 0.4 to 2.6 and a porosity of 75 to 85%. The dust component may be comparable to that of carbonaceous chondrites.


This paper introduces a simple and robust progressive global illumination algorithm based on photon mapping. Progressive photon mapping is a multi-pass algorithm where the first pass is ray tracing followed by any number of photon tracing passes. Each photon tracing pass results in an increasingly accurate global illumination solution that can be visualized in order to provide progressive feedback. Progressive photon mapping uses a new radiance estimate that converges to the correct radiance value as more photons are used. It is not necessary to store the full photon map, and unlike standard photon mapping it possible to compute a global illumination solution with any desired accuracy using a limited amount of memory. Compared with existing Monte Carlo ray tracing methods progressive photon mapping provides an efficient and robust alternative in the presence of complex light transport such as caustics and in particular reflections of caustics.


This paper discusses aspects of the intercultural communication processes involved in the quasi-legal presentation of claims to traditional land by Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory before the Aboriginal Land Commissioner. The findings are documented by means of selected extracts from the transcripts of proceedings. Although the proceedings took place predominantly in English, there was some use of interpreters, liberal use of words from Aboriginal languages, and even considerable usage of nonverbal gestures. Most of the Aboriginal witnesses spoke some form of non-standard English influenced by Kriol and traditional Australian languages. The most salient features of their non-standard English are described here. Aboriginal witnesses accommodated their language toward Standard English. Some of their non-standard utterances were clarified by others for the record. The court also accommodated somewhat to Aboriginal styles and forms of speech. Nevertheless there were numerous instances of communication failure, which had various specific causes but were not aided by the culturally alien general legal procedure of question-and-answer elicitation of information.


SSISM is the case of a missionary organization, founded by an upwardly mobile IT professional Pranjal Dubey, who leaves the trappings of a successful career to pursue what he felt was his life's calling, to make a difference to the community around his ancestral village, through providing better education to the youth. The case highlights the effort and evangelistic zeal of Pranjal as he battles multiple hurdles on a daily basis to try and make a difference at the grass root level. However, what clearly needs to be defined is how he can establish a viable business model, in the absence of which the organization is unlikely to achieve its vision. The case discusses the various challenges SSISM faces on multiple fronts including motivating people, ensuring quality of education, financing, and changing social mind-sets. It also addresses the issue of society's involvement and responsibility. From the perspective of Pranjal, the main protagonist, the case provides several rich pastures of discussion including, should he manifest a local or global perspective, and how should he sustain the movement, going forward? The case touches upon several processes that are fundamental in Strategy and entrepreneurship in terms of developing a sustainable business model for an entrepreneurial missionary organization. As an entrepreneurial missionary firm in its growth phase, SSISM needs to manage the fine balance between growth (current revenues, clients, etc.) and sustaining and disseminating its evangelistic vision.


Palm oil mill effluent (POME) and cow manure (CM) are excellent substrates for biogas production. Biogas production potentials from POME and CM as a single substrate were extensively researched by many researchers. In this work, the biogas potentials from POME and CM as a single substrate as well as co-substrates were investigated. In addition, the effect of removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile solids (VS) towards biogas production and its methane content were also investigated. Batch anaerobic digesters used for the digestion were operated at ambient temperature (28oC to 34°C) for 21 days. The digesters were operated at different mixing ratios. Maximum cumulative biogas yield and its methane content were obtained as 1875ml and 61.13%, respectively in the mixture containing 70: 30 (POME: CM). Co-digestion of 70% POME + 30% CM improved the removal efficiency up to 75% (COD) and 68% (VS). Biogas yield from digesters D3, D4 and D5 were improved by 21%, 162% and 110% v/v using the co-digestion as compared to the digestion of POME alone and 95%, 323% and 240% v/v as compared to the digestion of CM alone respectively. These results show that biogas and its methane content production can be enhanced efficiently through co-digestion process.


OBJECTIVE
To gain insight into factors affecting the rate of decline in placebo-treated subjects participating in Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials.

DATA SOURCES
Studies were identified through a MEDLINE search using a combination of 2 strategies. The first strategy searched for the term Alzhei-mer's disease and was restricted to those publications that reported a randomized controlled trial in human adults. A second strategy searched for the terms Alzheimer's disease and ADAS-Cog and restricted the results to human adults.

STUDY SELECTION
Studies were included if they reported results from a prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel group study and used the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) as a primary outcome measure and included patients with mild to moderately severe probable AD. A total of 69 trials were identified. Three studies were removed from the analysis because of anomalous results. Two data sets were analyzed: an "intent-to-treat" set (69 trials) and a "plausible" set (66 trials).

DATA EXTRACTION
Lead or senior author, year of publication, total and placebo sample size, the use of acetylcholinesterase, maximum and minimum Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score allowed, mean MMSE score and mean age at baseline, percentage of female subjects, number of investigational sites, investigational treatment, the number of treatment arms and study evaluations, study duration, percentage of patients with the genotype APOE epsilon4+, and the mean and SD of the change from baseline on the ADAS-Cog were recorded from each study and from the placebo-treated group specifically.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Linear regression models were used to explore the relationship between the date of publication and patient demographics. Multiple linear regression was used to explore the contributions of patient demographics and study design variables to the change from baseline score on the ADAS-Cog. Analyses suggest that patients enrolling in trials are progressively older and that trials are getting progressively longer. Other patient demographics and study design variables have not changed over time. The duration of a study was the most consistent predictor of decline in placebo-treated subjects. Increased number of investigational sites, increased number of evaluations, and milder dementia severity at baseline were associated with a loss of decline in placebo-treated subjects.

CONCLUSIONS
Study duration was the only variable that predicted decline consistently, whereas the number of evaluations, the number of sites, and baseline MMSE score are inversely proportional with decline and should be taken into account when planning future clinical trials.


Schistosomiasis is a common chronic helminthic infection of the liver that causes hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension,contributing to the death of over half a million people a year. Infusion of autologous bone marrow cells into patients with hepatic cirrhosis has been reported to ameliorate symptoms of portal hypertension and improve liver function, either by conversion of the infused mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to hepatocytes or by modulating of the hepatic fibrosis. Here,we have investigated the antifibrotic effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) using S. mansoni-induced liver fibrosis in mice, which causes an intense, stable fibrosis. MSCs derived from bone marrow of male mice were then infused intravenously into female mice that had received intraperitoneal injection of S.mansoni cercariae. Mice were divided into 4 groups: Untreated control; MSCs infusion only; Schistosomiasis only; and Schistosomiasis plus MSCs infusion. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and liver histopathology were evaluated. Expression of the collagen gene (type I),transforming growth factor (TGF-β), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP2), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP-1),stromal cell–derived factor–1(SDF-1) and its receptor (CXCR4) were analyzed. MSC infusion resulted in significant decrease in liver collagen and TGF-β gene expression in the Schistosomiasis mice. The ratio of MMP-2 to TIMP-1 expression increased. SDF-1 and CXCR4 mRNA expression also increased. There was overall improvement of liver histology and a statistically significant reduction of serum ALT level. MSCs infusion ameliorated S. mansoni-induced liver fibrosis, probably by modulating the relative expression of MMP and TIMP. The findings support the hypothesis that MSCs participate in liver regeneration and functional improvement by reducing liver fibrosis.


This paper investigates if the euro's effect on euro-area trade differs across trade sectors and across country pairs, and to what degree heterogeneity matters for estimating the aggregate euro effect. Time-varying latent variables, which are specific to each sector in each country pair, control for omitted trade costs and mismeasured resistance terms. Parameter heterogeneity and time-varying latent variables are both strongly supported by the data. Due to decreasing trade costs, aggregate exports within the euro area increase between 2000 and 2002 by 15 to 25 percent compared with aggregate exports between European economies which are not members of the euro area. Adjustment within individual sectors is rapid whereas aggregate adjustment is more spread out and gradual since different sectors adjust at distinct times.


This paper introduces the concept of hybrid operational space control, a method that unifies kinematic tracking of individual joints with an inverse dynamics task space controller for the remainder of the robot. The proposed control strategy allows for a hierarchical task decomposition while simultaneously regulating the inner forces between the contact points. At the same time it improves fast tracking for compliant systems by means of appropriate low level position controllers. Introducing StarlETH, a compliant quadrupedal robot, the applicability of the controller and the hardware is demonstrated in realtime simulations and hardware experiments. We perform static walking in challenging terrain and show how the controller can combine precise and fast position control with robust and compliant interaction with the environment.


Social feeling is understood as the foundation of civil society, an emotional connectivity that underlies pro-social action. These 'ordinary affects' are commonly expressed in the concept of empathy, a transpersonal state of emotional extensiveness. But this term was only introduced into Anglophone cultures in the first decade of the twentieth century, gaining purchase on social explanation over twenty years later. This essay examines competing understandings of social feeling in this period of transition, which resisted situating it in relation to those individual processes of perception, 'inner imitation' and projection that spoke of empathy's origin in aesthetic theory. By contrast, psychologists, sociologists and political theorists invoked an innate capacity for association and 'fellowship' - the 'gregarious' and 'herd' instincts - with altruism as the expression of that transindividual formation in externally directed action. In these models, emotional extensiveness was tangled up with questions of creaturely sociability, the dynamics of collectivity and mutual tenderness, moving beyond the problem of perceiving 'other minds' to imagine the inner states of others in their social embeddedness. Hence they speak to contemporary concerns with our capacity to respond to 'distant suffering', the everyday consolations of association and human presence, and the ability to effect social change.


This short essay, a part of the Howard Law Journal's symposium in honor of the contributions of the late Professor Andrew E. Taslitz, discusses the authors' experiences teaching the Star Trek Enrichment Series ("the Series") at the Howard University School of Law. The Series was a six-session, one semester, non-credit course designed to creatively use Star Trek as a teaching tool in the legal academy, with particular attention to the needs of first-year students.This essay discusses our aims for the Series. It then situates the Series (and this essay) within the literature on the use of Star Trek as a tool for post-secondary teaching. Finally it reflects on the specific contributions of our dear colleague Andrew Taslitz to the Series. We designed the Series to reinforce students' understanding of doctrine, to improve students' understanding of jurisprudence, and to draw larger connections between the law, culture, and society. We posit that this innovation, spurred by Professor Taslitz and combining all our talents, is an important and substantial contribution to the practice and the literature on teaching and learning.


The model of health care offerings via the Internet, generally known as "cybermedicine," may prove to be a significant advance in the provision of medical services. At present, however, cybermedicine presents many potential hazards to "cyberpatients" because it is virtually unregulated. This Note asserts the need for a revival of the corporate practice of medicine doctrine to address these dangers. The corporate practice of medicine doctrine prohibits corporations and other lay entities from employing physicians. This Note examines the various kinds of cybermedicine, describes the advantages and disadvantages flowing from the practice of medicine over the Internet, and advocates the application of the corporate practice of medicine doctrine to cybermedicine as an intermediate regulatory measure to stein the dangers and abuses that currently abound in cybermedicine.


Despite the large volume of face recognition datasets, there is a significant portion of subjects, of which the samples are insufficient and thus under-represented. Ignoring such significant portion results in insufficient training data. Training with under-represented data leads to biased classifiers in conventionally-trained deep networks. In this paper, we propose a center-based feature transfer framework to augment the feature space of under-represented subjects from the regular subjects that have sufficiently diverse samples. A Gaussian prior of the variance is assumed across all subjects and the variance from regular ones are transferred to the under-represented ones. This encourages the under-represented distribution to be closer to the regular distribution. Further, an alternating training regimen is proposed to simultaneously achieve less biased classifiers and a more discriminative feature representation. We conduct ablative study to mimic the under-represented datasets by varying the portion of under-represented classes on the MS-Celeb-1M dataset. Advantageous results on LFW, IJB-A and MS-Celeb-1M demonstrate the effectiveness of our feature transfer and training strategy, compared to both general baselines and state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, our feature transfer successfully presents smooth visual interpolation, which conducts disentanglement to preserve identity of a class while augmenting its feature space with non-identity variations such as pose and lighting.


Background: High values of specific leaf area (SLA) are generally associated with high maximal growth rates in resource-rich conditions, such as mesic climates and fertile soils. However, fire may complicate this relationship since its frequency varies with both climate and soil fertility, and fire frequency selects for regeneration strategies (resprouting versus seeding) that are not independent of resource-acquisition strategies. Shared ancestry is also expected to affect the distribution of resource-use and regeneration traits. Aims: We examined climate, soil, and fire as drivers of community-level variation in a key functional trait, SLA, in chaparral in California. Methods: We quantified the phylogenetic, functional, and environmental non-independence of key traits for 87 species in 115 plots. Results: Among species, SLA was higher in resprouters than seeders, although not after phylogeny correction. Among communities, mean SLA was lower in harsh interior climates, but in these climates it was higher on more fertile soils and on more recently burned sites; in mesic coastal climates, mean SLA was uniformly high despite variation in soil fertility and fire history. Conclusions: We conclude that because important correlations exist among both species traits and environmental filters, interpreting the functional and phylogenetic structure of communities may require an understanding of complex interactive effects.


Large and high quality user base is an important determinant of firm performance. Firms spend a great amount of resources in building referral programs to grow user base. Yet, substantial variations exist in the effectiveness of these referral programs with various incentive structures. We argue that the extent to which referral programs can grow user base depends on how existing users evaluate the cost and benefit of their referral behavior. Using a large-scale randomized field experiment with around one hundred thousand participants on one of the largest P2P lending platforms in China, we find that referral programs structured as self-benefit (egoistic) appeal or other-benefit (altruistic) appeal significantly reduce the number of new users brought by the existing users but new users from other-benefit appeal made more investment. Our study demonstrates that under certain circumstances, these referral programs structured as egoistic or altruistic incentive structure may backfire.


We propose a method to simulate the dynamics of spin-boson models with small crystals of trapped ions where the electronic degree of freedom of one ion is used to encode the spin while the collective vibrational degrees of freedom are employed to form an effective harmonic environment. The key idea of our approach is that a single damped mode can be used to provide a harmonic environment with Lorentzian spectral density. More complex spectral functions can be tailored by combining several individually damped modes. We propose to work with mixed-species crystals such that one species serves to encode the spin while the other species is used to cool the vibrational degrees of freedom to engineer the environment. The strength of the dissipation on the spin can be controlled by tuning the coupling between spin and vibrational degrees of freedom. In this way the dynamics of spin-boson models with macroscopic and non-Markovian environments can be simulated using only a few ions. We illustrate the approach by simulating an experiment with realistic parameters and show by computing quantitative measures that the dynamics is genuinely non-Markovian.


Santee Cooper annually published Fingertip Facts, which provides a snapshot of utility, including listings of leadership, comparative highlights, year in review, and description of their environmental stewardship.


Abstract: Calciphylaxis is a rare, painful, and life-threatening condition with a high mortality rate. Although the etiology of calciphylaxis is not well understood, it has been proposed that calcium deposition within and around subcutaneous vessels restricts blood flow chronically, thereby predisposing the patient to acute pannicular and dermal thrombosis. Given increasing recognition of the role of hypercoagulability in calciphylaxis, this retrospective cohort study sought to evaluate the presence of thromboses and dermal angioplasia in calciphylaxis. Moreover, we aimed to validate previous observations about the histopathology of calciphylaxis compared with skin biopsies from patients with end-stage renal disease but without calciphylaxis. After a meticulous clinical chart review, we assessed the corresponding skin biopsies for the presence of vessel calcification, thromboses, and dermal angioplasia in skin biopsies from patients with calciphylaxis (n = 57) and compared with those from patients with end-stage renal disease but without calciphylaxis (n = 26). Histopathologic findings were correlated with clinical features such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, or associated malignancy. Our results validated a prior observation that calciphylaxis was significantly more likely to show calcification of dermal vessels and diffuse dermal thrombi. This study reports the frequent finding of dermal angioplasia, a potential marker of chronic low-grade ischemia, as another frequent microscopic finding in calciphylaxis. Among cases of calciphylaxis, histopathologic changes in patients with chronic kidney disease were indistinguishable from those in patients without chronic kidney disease, thereby implying a final common pathogenic pathway in both uremic and nonuremic calciphylaxis. In future, larger, prospective studies may be useful in validating these findings.


We study the problem of learning a good set of policies, so that when combined together, they can solve a wide variety of unseen reinforcement learning tasks with no or very little new data. Specifically, we consider the framework of generalized policy evaluation and improvement, in which the rewards for all tasks of interest are assumed to be expressible as a linear combination of a fixed set of features. We show theoretically that, under certain assumptions, having access to a specific set of diverse policies, which we call a set of independent policies, can allow for instantaneously achieving high-level performance on all possible downstream tasks which are typically more complex than the ones on which the agent was trained. Based on this theoretical analysis, we propose a simple algorithm that iteratively constructs this set of policies. In addition to empirically validating our theoretical results, we compare our approach with recently proposed diverse policy set construction methods and show that, while others fail, our approach is able to build a behavior basis that enables instantaneous transfer to all possible downstream tasks. We also show empirically that having access to a set of independent policies can better bootstrap the learning process on downstream tasks where the new reward function cannot be described as a linear combination of the features. Finally, we demonstrate how this policy set can be useful in a lifelong reinforcement learning setting.


Contemporary democratic discourse places emphasis on accountability as the basis of power legitimacy and the scholarly literature across disciplines has reserved a special space for the media in that process, for better or for worse. But exactly who is held to account, when, how and by whom, remain troubling questions in the study of media, politics and power. Amidst displays of adversarial journalism without fear or favour, how far are powerful interests still able to control the agenda and manipulate outcomes?
The research undertaken here set out to interrogate the notion of media spectacle in a different way from which it has been commonly applied in critical media theory. In particular, its intimate association with sensationalism and tabloidisation threatens to obscure the role of spectacle in what are considered the mainstays of 'serious' or responsible news. The Sun might still be the most popular newspaper in Britain, and online news the fastest growing platform, but it is the serious news outlets of traditional media – public service broadcasting, broadsheets, weeklies etc – which remain by far the most credible sources of news and information. And it is credibility which holds the key to ideological power.
The research involved extensive analysis of archived television news programmes, supplemented by 50 interviews with a cross section of news producers and actors including journalists, news executives, politicians, campaigners, press officers, lawyers and civil servants. The core subject is terrestrial television news in the UK – a public service regulated platform with a longstanding reputation for high quality journalism.
My overall concern is not so much with scandal involving official misconduct or misdemeanour, but rather controversies that point to systemic institutional corruption of the kind that transcends individuals and party politics. These controversies are no longer rare exceptions in the contemporary newscape and their existence raises profound questions about the scope of accountability through the media. There has, however, been surprisingly little critical assessment of such coverage. This provided the overarching motivation for the research; a core premise being that only by examining those instances where mechanisms of accountability appear most far reaching, can we gain a new understanding of ideological power in the age of transparency.


The role played by donor agencies In improving living standards of families/households, groups and individuals in any country especially in arid and semi-arid areas cannot be underestimated. There has been a significant increase in activities from donor agencies such as Community-Based Organizations (CBO), Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) among others with regards to funding of various projects especially in arid and semiarid areas where the government has failed to deliver services to its people. However development projects, initiated and/or funded by these donor agencies, perform poorly and many become non-operational on termination of donor support. Despite this problem, no study has been done to establish the cause of the termination of these donor funded projects especially on withdrawal of donor support. This poses a gap that this study sought to fill through an investigation of the factors that affect the sustainability of the donor funded projects in arid and semi-arid areas in Kenya The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population included all the employees working with donor funded project in Marsabit Central District. Data was collected from the sampled respondents using questionnaires as the principal data collection instrument. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used to come up with a representative sample size. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to aid in generation of results. The data was presented in form of pie charts, Bar graphs and frequency tables, percentages and cross-tabulation among others. The study established that most donors funded project in Marsabit were unsustainable after the withdrawal of the donor funding. The key factors that were found to affect the sustainabilty of donor funded projects were manly the existing donor policies and the management systems adopted by the project. The study recommended that adoption of succession planning was necessary to ensure that the target beneficially and the stakeholders are well prepared to effectively run the projects after withdrawal of donor support.


Background: Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by the poliovirus which causes abnormalities in the nervous system, commonly affects children and can be prevented by immunization. Since March 27, 2014, Indonesia has been declared to be free of polio and anticipate the mutation of poliovirus type 2 (vaccine-derived polioviruses / VDPV). Indonesia will change the use of policy vaccines from triOPV to biOPV by erasing the P2 type before switching from OPV to IPV. Before the policy was implemented, it is needed to have research to determine the level of immunity of children against poliovirus and type of poliovirus which circulate in the area of OPV and IPV in Indonesia. Methods: The research study was conducted in five cities in five provinces in Indonesia in 2015. The serum was taken on 100 children between 12-59 months and feces were taken towards 150 children in the same age range. The examination of antibody titers in serum performed using the method of neutralization. Result: Research shows that in regions that apply OPV as routine immunization, about 94.5% of children had antibodies against poliovirus type 1, 96.8% against type 2 and 93.3% of type 3. In areas which implement IPV as routine immunization, children have gained 85% immunity against poliovirus type 1, 92% against type 2 and 93% of type 3. In the environments that implement OPV, poliovirus was found in feces specimens (0.5%) or the mixed waste (58%). All the circulating virus is a virus originated from Sabin vaccine which mostly comes from type 2 (85% of mixed waste and 60% of feces). Conclusion: From this study, it can be concluded that sabin polio virus is still circulating in the area which applies OPV as routine immunization and poliovirus type 2 is commonly found there. Immunity inflicted on children varies in each region. Children living in a regular immunization using OPV and IPV had immunity for about 85-90%.


Head tracking and pose estimation are usually considered as two sequential and separate problems: pose is estimated on the head patch provided by a tracking module. However, precision in head pose estimation is dependent on tracking accuracy which itself could benefit from the head orientation knowledge. Therefore, this work considers head tracking and pose estimation as two coupled problems in a probabilistic setting. Head pose models are learned and incorporated into a mixed-state particle filter framework for joint head tracking and pose estimation. Experimental results on real sequences show the effectiveness of the method in estimating more stable and accurate pose values.


Computational fluid dynamic (CFO) modelling has been applied to c)I;amine the operation of the prc-ozonation system at Wiggins Waterworks, operated by Umgeni Water in Durban, South Africa. Ozonation is employed in water treatment process primarily to achieve the oxidation of iron and manganese, the destruction of micro--organisms and the removal of taste and odour causing compounds. It also aids in the reduction of the colour of the final water, enhancement of algae removal and possible reduction of coagulant demand. A hydrodynamic model has been satisfactori ly verified by experimental tracer tests. The effect afthe gas injection was modelled by increasing the level of turbulence intensity at the ozone contactor inlet. The model prediction of the overall tracer response corresponded closely to the experimental results. The framework of ozone reaction modelling was subsequently established using values of rate constants from the literature. An accurate prediction of the ozone concentration profil e requires the application of the correct ozone kinetics involved. In raw waters, the depletion of ozone is influenced by the presence of natural organic matters (NOM). The observed ozone decay was found in good agreement using the pseudo first·order rate law. By measuring the total organic carbon (TOC) as a surrogate for NOM, the experimentally determined rate constants can be calculated to account for the effects of the ozone doses and the water qua li ty. The characterisation study also aimed to provide sufficient information on ozone depletion and to be operated easily, without the lengthy and costly analyses ofa detailed k.inetics study. The predicted profile of residual ozone concentration suggests the current operating strategy can be improved to optimise the ozone utilisation. The proposed monitoring point was suggested to be at the end of second companment where most ozone reactions have been completed. By coupling the transpon equations of the target compounds with their chemical reaction rates, the concentration profile of these compounds such as ozone can be predicted in order to assist the understanding of an operation and to attain beller interpretation of experimental results.


Exposing yeast to high osmolarity triggers activation of a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, enabling their survival by means of the transcriptional activation of osmoresponsive genes--a response coordinated by the MAPK Hog1. The mechanisms whereby Hog1 regulates gene expression, however, have not been fully elucidated. De Nadal et al. screened yeast for osmosensitive mutants and found that, like yeast lacking Hog1, yeast lacking Rpd3 (a histone deacetylase) or Sin3 (a protein that interacts with Rpd3) were sensitive to high osmolarity and showed impaired expression of Hog1-regulated genes in response to osmotic stress. Mutational analysis indicated that the ability of Rpd3 to mediate Hog1-induced transcriptional activation in a LexA-lacZ reporter system depended on its catalytic activity as a deacetylase. Hog1 coprecipitated with Rpd3 and Sin3 in vivo and bound to a Rpd3 fusion protein in vitro. The authors used chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis to show that osmotic stress led to Hog1- dependent association of Rpd3 and Sin3 with the promoter region of an osmoresponsive gene (HSP12), localized histone deacetylation, and Hog1- and Rpd3-dependent recruitment of RNA polymerase II. Thus, transcriptional activation mediated by Hog1 in response to osmotic stress appears to depend on Rpd3 recruitment and histone deacetylation. E. de Nadal, M. Zapater, P. M. Alepuz, L. Sumoy, G. Mas, F. Posas, The MAPK Hog1 recruits Rpd3 histone deacetylase to activate osmoresponsive genes. Nature 427, 370-374 (2004). [Online Journal]


Maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia has been thrust into the international spotlight due to its effects on international financial markets and, hence, the livelihood of many individuals around the world. Furthermore, the history of Somalia itself is one of continuous failed attempts at establishing stability in the country. While the recent piracy literature offers suggestions for intervention, they are in need of further elaboration and specification. Given these factors, the author provides an analysis of this pressing issue from a behavior analytic perspective. The issue of how and why a science of individual behavior is relevant to cultural issues will be addressed utilizing Kantor's interbehavioral system of cultural psychology, which precisely delineates the subject-matters of psychology from other sciences. As such, two specific interdisciplinary assessment- and-intervention plans are outlined that are fully integrated with recent behavior analytic research; one plan involves consultation with maritime academies while the other requires behavior analysts to immerse themselves in Somali culture. An explicitly scientific approach may be what is needed to combat maritime piracy in Somalia.


Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an essential land surface parameter for Earth surface process simulations and global change studies. The currently existing FVC products are mostly obtained from low or medium resolution remotely sensed data, while many applications require the fine spatial resolution FVC product. The availability of well-calibrated coverage of Landsat imagery over large areas offers an opportunity for the production of FVC at fine spatial resolution. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a general and reliable land surface FVC estimation algorithm for Landsat surface reflectance data under various land surface conditions. Two machine learning methods multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) model and back-propagation neural networks (BPNNs) were trained using samples from PROSPECT leaf optical properties model and the scattering by arbitrarily inclined leaves (SAIL) model simulations, which included Landsat reflectance and corresponding FVC values, and evaluated to choose the method which had better performance. Thereafter, the MARS model, which had better performance in the independent validation, was evaluated using ground FVC measurements from two case study areas. The direct validation of the FVC estimated using the proposed algorithm (Heihe: R2 = 0.8825, RMSE = 0.097; Chengde using Landsat 7 ETM+: R2 = 0.8571, RMSE = 0.078, Chengde using Landsat 8 OLI: R2 = 0.8598, RMSE = 0.078) showed the proposed method had good performance. Spatial-temporal assessment of the estimated FVC from Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI data confirmed the robustness and consistency of the proposed method. All these results indicated that the proposed algorithm could obtain satisfactory accuracy and had the potential for the production of high-quality FVC estimates from Landsat surface reflectance data.


The primary purpose of these guidelines is to assist those actively engaged in snake harvest and trade situations, who are faced with the need to implement monitoring and management. It is written for government wildlife managers, conservationists, professional scientists, and amateurs interested in ensuring the sustainable utilization of wildcaught snakes in commercial trade. This guidance for harvest monitoring may be particularly applicable in situations where implementing other monitoring strategies is not feasible. This publication is meant to be practical and offers a step-by-step guide to collecting data from wild-harvested snakes that is useful for the assessment of sustainability.


The high-enthalpy flow generated by hypersonic vehicles traveling within the Earth's atmosphere inherently delivers an elevated heat flux to the vehicle surface. In addition to conductive heating, the liberated energy generated by various exothermic chemical reactions occurring at the vehicle surface further augment the total heat load. Quantifying the rates at which these reactions take place is imperative and remains a significant challenge as developers attempt to design the next generation of thermal protection systems. This study focused on nitrogen recombination and carbon nitridation, as these reactions are ubiquitous to the most aggressive atmospheric re-entry trajectories in which carbon-based ablative heat shields are conventionally employed. The 30-kW inductively coupled plasma torch located within the Plasma Diagnostics and Test Laboratory at the University of Vermont was used to produce high-enthalpy nitrogen plasma flow, which sufficiently simulated the various in-flight heat flux processes. A combination of optical-based techniques, including spontaneous emission spectroscopy and laser induced fluorescence were utilized to study the free jet and the interaction of the flow with samples constructed from POCO graphite. Emission measurements within the free stream indicated that the nitrogen flow was in non-equilibrium due to the inverse predissociation of ground state nitrogen atoms into the BΠg(v=13) vibrational level of molecular nitrogen. The degree of non-equilibrium was quantified by determining the overpopulation of ground state nitrogen with respect to equilibrium and its effects were considered throughout the analysis. Results obtained through emission spectroscopy and laser induced fluorescence confirmed that the graphite material behaved as a catalytic surface that actively promoted nitrogen recombination. Additionally, the calculated carbon nitridation rate was several orders less efficient, although its effect on the sample surface erosion was evident in the sample mass loss measurements. Subsequently, an independent set of heat flux measurements performed over materials of varying catalycities further supported the data obtained with optical diagnostics. Furthermore, the heat flux results yielded the surface accommodation factor of graphite for the nitrogen recombination rate and indicated that the surface was slightly less than fully-accommodating.


This study investigated the demographic factors affecting utilization of Information and Communication Technologies by undergraduate students in Nigeria. The factors examined include gender, age, religion, marital status and type of university. The study adopted a survey design approach and the questionnaire was administered on 1000 students across various Nigerian universities. 500 students were from two federal universities while 500 were from two state universities. Data were analysed using descriptive (frequency distribution) and inferential (Chisquare, PPMC and t-test analysis) statistical tool. Findings showed that the male gender utilizes ICTs more than the female gender, students below age 20 use ICT more than those between ages 20 and 30 years, single students utilize ICT more than the married and traditional worshippers use ICT more than Muslims while the Christian use of ICT is the lowest. The groups that use ICT more consequently experience greater benefits in terms of productivity and profit.


This thesis is based on a worldwide overview (meta-analysis) of prospective observational studies of blood pressure and cholesterol, involving a centralised collection of data on over one million individuals from 59 studies, which I have co- ordinated since its inception. Analytically, the aim has been to develop and to use appropriate statistical techniques to assess the age- and sex-specific associations of usual blood pressure and of usual cholesterol with cause-specific mortality. Since the data set is uniquely large, and because appropriate methods of analysis (with full account taken of the time-dependent nature of the regression dilution bias) have been developed and used, these associations have been established more reliably. An integral part of the methodological element of the thesis has been to investigate the systematic underestimation of associations between risk factor and disease that are obtained when only a single baseline measurement is used to assess levels of such risk factors (the regression dilution bias). The extent of this bias has been investigated in each study that had repeat measurements of risk factors during follow-up. One particularly novel aspect has been the emphasis on, and methods developed to account for, the regression dilution bias in several studies simultaneously and in an appropriately time-dependent way. This thesis illustrates the extent to which random error and inappropriate statistical analysis lead to misleading conclusions concerning the importance of blood pressure and blood cholesterol, particularly in premature death. Only by studying adequate numbers of deaths (136,000 deaths among 1 million adults during 13 million person- years of follow-up) and by using appropriate statistical techniques - taking proper account of (a) the regression dilution bias; (b) the full range of blood pressure and cholesterol; (c) the opposing effects of HDL.and the remaining non-HDL cholesterol; and (d) age at death - did it become possible to provide reliable results on the true relationships between blood pressure, cholesterol fractions and vascular and other causes of death. These analyses have demonstrated reliably that, as causes of IHD death in early middle age, blood pressure and blood lipids are three to five times more important than suggested by inappropriate analyses, with no clinically relevant inverse associations with cancer or other non-vascular mortality (except, surprisingly, COPD).


This book examines the evolution of federal disaster relief policy, assesses problems with current policy, and provides an understanding of the issues likely to be involved in future deliberations about federal policy. While examining its formulation, May describes this policy making in two different political environments: the charged atmosphere immediately following the catastrophe and, secondly, the calm between catastrophes. Local, state, and federal government conflicts are illustrated in a case study of Mount St. Helens; intergovernmental partnerships in this arena are discussed in relation to other relief efforts. May stresses the political implications of disaster relief in his analysis of the electoral benefits and influence politicians derive from their attempts to influence federal disaster relief efforts. Finally he addresses the economic considerations and future directions for federal disaster relief policy. Three distinct policy approaches and their tradeoffs provide an overview of the options for future policy making.


Create amazing images easily and professionally with one of the best free photo editors available Overview Quick and simple tutorials designed to help you master Paint.NET in minutes Create photo edits that rival advanced photo software for free. Tutorials on advanced techniques written with simple instructions designed for readers with any level of computer knowledge In Detail Paint.NET is a free, reliable program that rivals the most expensive photo editing programs currently on the market.Paint.NET supports plugins, which add image adjustments, effects, and support for additional file types. They can be programmed using any .NET programming language, though they are most commonly written in C#. This book will teach you everything you need to know to edit and manipulate images. Written with very clear walkthroughs, hands-on tutorials,and amazing resources, this book will turn you into a photo wizard with Paint.NET. The book starts with simple tool-based tasks, introduces you to the workpane and then builds up to more complex areas taking a deep dive into the commonly-used features of Paint.NET. With this book, you will learn how to do everything from making simple adjustments to full artistic rendering with tools not available in any other program. Starting with the very basics of photo editing, you will gain an understanding of the basic principles of manipulating images. From layering to special effects, this book will give you all the knowledge you need to create images that leave a lasting impression. This book has everything you need to make amazing, artistic photos using completely free software. Filled with fun exercises and valuable information, you will learn how to master every tool and every effect in Paint.NET. Within minutes, you will be able to resize images, make adjustments to brightness and contrast, and apply color correction. By the end of this book, you will be working with layers and effects to create images that rival some of the most advised and expensive pieces of software. With simple exercises and information, this book will take you from absolute novice to an accomplished photo editor quickly and easily. What you will learn from this book Acquire Paint.NET for free, install it, and use it Get acquainted with the Paint.NET work area and all of its functions Become an expert in resizing and editing images Use built-in effects to change the look of your photos and images like a pro Work with layers to create amazing complex images Add plug-ins that will increase the functionality of Paint.NET Understand the tools within Paint.NET and how to use them to bend pixels to your will Approach This book follows a tutorial-based approach and is packed with examples in a compact and concise format. Who this book is written for If you have ever wanted to create photos and images that go beyond simple point and shoot results, then this book is for you. This book will help you create artistic images in ways that are only limited by your imagination. No prior knowledge of photo editing or editing software is required.


Over the past decade or so, there have been a large number of modelling approaches aimed at elucidating the most important mechanisms affecting the formation of new capillaries from parent blood vessels — a process known as angiogenesis. Most studies have focussed upon the way in which capillary sprouts are initiated and migrate in response to diffusible chemical stimuli supplied by hypoxic stromal cells and leukocytes in the contexts of solid tumour growth and wound healing. However, relatively few studies have examined the important role played by blood perfusion during angiogenesis and fewer still have explored the ways in which a dynamically evolving vascular bed architecture can affect the distribution of flow within it. From the perspective of solid tumour growth and, perhaps more importantly, its treatment (e.g. chemotherapy), it would clearly be of some benefit to understand this coupling between vascular structure and perfusion more fully. This paper focuses on the implications of such a coupling upon chemotherapeutic, anti-angiogenic, and anti-vascular treatments. In an extension to previous work by the authors, the issue of pericyte recruitment during vessel maturation is considered in order to study the effects of different anti-vascular and anti-angiogenic therapies from a more rigorous modelling standpoint. Pericytes are a prime target for new vascular disrupting agents (VDAs) currently in clinical trials. However, different compounds attack different components of the vascular network and the implications of targeting only certain elements of the capillary bed are not immediately clear. In light of these uncertainties, the effects of anti-angiogenic and anti-vascular drugs are re-examined by using an extended model that includes an interdependency between vessel remodelling potential and local pericyte density. Two- and three-dimensional simulation results are presented and suggest that it may be possible to identify a VDA-specific "plasticity window" (a time period corresponding to low pericyte density), within


Abstract The systematic modelling of dynamic spatial systems is a key requirement in a wide range of application areas such as commonsense cognitive robotics, computer-aided architecture design, and dynamic geographic information systems. We present Answer Set Programming Modulo Theories (ASPMT)(QS), a novel approach and fully implemented prototype for non-monotonic spatial reasoning — a crucial requirement within dynamic spatial systems — based on ASPMT. ASPMT(QS) consists of a (qualitative) spatial representation module (QS) and a method for turning tight ASPMT instances into Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) instances in order to compute stable models by means of SMT solvers. We formalise and implement concepts of default spatial reasoning and spatial frame axioms. Spatial reasoning is performed by encoding spatial relations as systems of polynomial constraints, and solving via SMT with the theory of real non-linear arithmetic. We empirically evaluate ASPMT(QS) in comparison with other contemporary spatial reasoning systems both within and outside the context of logic programming. ASPMT(QS) is currently the only existing system that is capable of reasoning about indirect spatial effects (i.e., addressing the ramification problem), and integrating geometric and QS information within a non-monotonic spatial reasoning context.


orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is emerging as
the leading technology for high data rates. The OFDM based on multicarrier
transmission that transforms a wideband channel into a group of thin-band
channels. The high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) considers the main
drawback factor in this system, so the companding technique modifies the
amplitude of OFDM signal to reduce this factor. The proposed A-law
companding technique has been implemented in intensity modulation/direct
detection optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (IM/DDOOFDM).
The proposed companding scheme guarantees the improved
performance in terms of bit error rate (BER) and quality factor (QF) while
reducing PAPR effectively and efficiently by modifying the amplitude of the
transmitted signals. Our results confirm that the suggested scheme exhibits a
good ability to reduce PAPR and a good BER performance based on the use the
A factor. At the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) of 10-
3, the PAPR value of our proposed scheme is about 4.4 dB lower than those of
un-companded signal at best control factor used of A at 87.6, accordingly the
QF is 2.5 dB and the BER is 6.2×10-3 at a distance 900km without any
equalization technique or training sequence or any channel estimation.


Abstract Taking as a point of departure José Gaos' claim, most likely directed to Phenomenology, that every true philosophy should produce a theory of what is sayable and what is unsayable, I try to circumscribe; from Phenomenology, and specifically from Husserl's analysis of linguistic expression in Ideas I, an essential unsayability ( or ineffability), as a precise limit of language. This limit is brought about by the generality of expression. After a brief historical review, and a exposition of José Vasconcelos' idea of an "inverted epojé'; as a way to avoid the generalizations of language, the limit between the sayable and the unsayable is found in the distinction between the noematic nucleus of an act and its full noema, which supports its individuality. As a corollary of this exposition, it is shown that what is ineffable is life itself, as it is concretely lived. On this basis, it is proposed a phenomenological critique of language, according to which a of language must be supported by a phenomenológy of life in its ineffable plenitude.


PURPOSE
Poisoning due to drugs is influenced to a large extent by the population's socioeconomic and cultural status. The purpose of our study was to determine and present the pattern of poisoning with kerosene in Princess Rahmat hospital, Irbid, Jordan, and to assess the effects of variables such as age, season, sex and agent on poisoning frequency in Princess Rahmat hospital, northern Jordan.

METHODS
This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed on 122 cases of poisoning with kerosene who were hospitalized in Princess Rahmat hospital, northern Jordan, during a six-year period from 1996 to 2001. The data collected include: age, sex, seasonal variation, material ingested, symptomatic or not on admission, time and place of ingestion, history of similar problem among the patient or his siblings, whether vomiting was induced by the parent before seeking medical help or not and the outcome regarding mortality and morbidity. Chi-square and values were considered for the statistical analysis.

RESULTS
In a 6-year prospective study of kerosene poisoning in children admitted to the Rahmat Hospital, between January 1996 and December 2001, a total of 122 children (under 11 years of age). Among the children 48 (39.3%) were girls and 74 (60.6%) were boys. Majority (80.1%) were below 2 years. The largest group of patients was admitted during the summer months. The most commonly observed symptoms were cough (67.2%), tachypnea (56.5%), fever (54.1%), and vomiting (27.8%). About one third of the patients showed signs of central nervous system (CNS) impairment, including drowsiness, restlessness, stupor, and convulsions.

CONCLUSIONS
1) There is a higher risk of kerosene poisoning during the hot months of the year; 2) the respiratory system is the main target organ affected; 3) pneumonia is in most cases interstitial and bilateral; 4) vomiting after hydrocarbon ingestion is related to the rate of development of pneumonia; 5) symptoms of CNS impairment were correlated with hypoxemia, pneumonia, and fever; and 6) CNS toxicity may occur without hypoxemia, concurrent pulmonary pathology, or other pathology.


Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827---1875) was an extraordinarily gifted sculptor--the greatest in 19th-century France before Rodin--and embodied the emotionally charged artistic climate of his era. The passionate Carpeaux comes alive in this handsome new publication. Carpeaux's wrenching representations of human forms, shown in beautiful color details and illustrations, echo his turbulent personal life, fraught with episodes of violence and fatal illness. The book covers the entire span of Carpeaux's career, and includes the masterpiece Ugolino and His Sons, newly discovered drawings, and a number of rarely seen or studied works. Previously unpublished letters between Carpeaux and his family and friends, a wealth of archival material, and the most detailed chronology of the artist's life ever published make this book the definitive resource on the artist and his creations.


Four different Hunter-Schreger Band (HSB) configurations were observed in the teeth of fossil and extant Perissodactyla. This variability exceeds that observed in Artiodactyla or Proboscidea. The four HSB configurations represent two different evolutionary pathways. Transverse HSB found in many mammalian taxa outside the Perissodactyla represents the most primitive HSB configuration. It occurs in several primitive perissodactyl families and is retained in Palaeotheriidae and extant Equidae. Curved HSB evolved from transverse HSB and occurs in Tapiridae, Helaletidae, and Lophiodontidae, as well as in Ancylopoda and Titanotheriomorpha. This likely indicates independent evolution of curved HSB in two or more lineages, but the number of instances of parallelism of this configuration is obscured by uncertainty in the relationships among these taxa and by a lack of data for some important basal taxa. A second evolutionary pathway leads from transverse HSB via compound HSB to vertical HSB. Compound HSB were detected in Hyrachyidae, Deperetellidae, and the early rhinocerotid Uintaceras. Vertical HSB configuration characterizes the molar dentition of other Rhinocerotidae, Hyracodontidae, Indricotheriidae, and Amynodontidae. Often, the incisors of rhinocerotids retain traces of compound HSB. Thus the HSB configuration reflects phylogenetic relationships to some degree. The selective value of the modified HSB configurations is interpreted functionally as a mechanism to reduce abrasion during mastication, assuming that the perpendicular intersection of prisms with the actual grinding surfaces resists wear better than prisms running parallel to the occlusal surface.


This thesis examines how knowledge management professionals use trust as a component in the creation of knowledge management systems, and what methods they use for building trust. Adopting a grounded theory approach, interviews with 8 knowledge management professionals active in different industries served as the base for an analysis that identified trust to be the single most important common factor in the data. The concept of trust used by the informants was identified as relating to the knowledge management system itself, rather than other users, employees or groups in an organisation. Building trust, the KM-professionals mainly focused on three methods: simple solutions, system superiority, and implementation security. Using these methods, the KM-professionals seek to ensure system trust by creating opportunities for users to obtain positive experiences of using the system, and thereby generate a foundation for a trust-based relationship between the user and the system.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death, yet primary prevention remains the best approach to reducing overall morbidity and mortality. Studies have shown that COX-2-derived PGE2 promotes CRC progression, and both nonselective COX inhibitors (NSAIDs) and selective COX-2 inhibitors (such as glucocorticoids) reduce the number and size of colonic adenomas. However, increased gastrointestinal side effects of NSAIDs and increased cardiovascular risks of selective COX-2 inhibitors limit their use in chemoprevention of CRC. We found that expression of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type II (11betaHSD2), which converts active glucocorticoids to inactive keto-forms, increased in human colonic and Apc+/min mouse intestinal adenomas and correlated with increased COX-2 expression and activity. Furthermore, pharmacologic inhibition or gene silencing of 11betaHSD2 inhibited COX-2-mediated PGE2 production in tumors and prevented adenoma formation, tumor growth, and metastasis in mice. Inhibition of 11betaHSD2 did not reduce systemic prostacyclin production or accelerate atherosclerosis in mice, thereby avoiding the major cardiovascular side effects seen with systemic COX-2 inhibitors. Therefore, 11betaHSD2 inhibition represents what we believe to be a novel approach for CRC chemoprevention and therapy by increasing tumor glucocorticoid activity, which in turn selectively blocks local COX-2 activity.


This comprehensive study documents the archaeological richness of the Iveragh Peninsula from the Stone Age to the end of the medieval period. The survey covers a broad range of archaeological field monuments, over 1,500 sites in all. The vast majority are previously unlisted and are described and categorized in separate chapters. Each chapter features a general introduction to the type of monument dealt with, giving an overview of the current state of knowledge of its origins, purpose and date. The descriptions of many of the sites and monuments are accompanied by drawings, plans, profiles, black-and-white photographs and colour plates, and will prove invaluable to anyone wishing to explore the legacy of man on the wild and rugged landscape of south Kerry.


Abstract Money is the default way in which intangible losses, such as pain and suffering, are currently valued and compensated in law courts. Economists have suggested that subjective well-being regressions can be used to guide compensation payouts for psychological distress following traumatic life events. We bring together studies from law, economic, psychology and medical journals to show that alleviating psychological distress through psychological therapy could be at least 32 times more cost effective than financial compensation. This result is not only important for law courts but has important implications for public health. Mental health is deteriorating across the world – improvements to mental health care might be a more efficient way to increase the health and happiness of our nations than pure income growth.


An Integrated Geophysical and Geologic Study of the Paleogene-age Volcanic Body and Possible Landslide Deposit on the South Slope of the Traverse Mountains, Utah John C. Hoopes Department of Geological Sciences Master of Science Development of homes, roads, and commercial buildings in northern Utah has grown significantly during the last several decades. Construction has expanded from the valley floor to higher elevations of benches, foothills, and other elevated regions of the Wasatch Mountain Front. Construction in the higher elevation areas are a concern due to potential for landslides, both new and reactivated. Landslides have been identified in this region and are dated as Pleistocene to historical in age. A possible landslide of about 0.5 km on the south slope of Traverse Mountain has been mapped by the Utah Geological Survey in 2005. Its surface exhibits hummocky topography and is comprised of Oligocene-age volcanic ash, block and ash flow tuffs, and andesite lava. Landslides along the Wasatch Mountain Front are complex features usually characterized by dense vegetation and poor outcrop and require a combination geological and geophysical methods to study their thickness, slope, lateral extent, and style of emplacement. Our study incorporates trenching, boreholes, and LiDAR aerial imagery. Unique to the study of landslides is our use of seismic reflection with a vibroseis source over the mapped landslide deposit. The seismic parameters of source, station spacing, and processing method provide a coherent, albeit low-resolution, image of the upper 500 m of the subsurface beneath the landslide. A major reflector boundary in our seismic profiles has an apparent dip of 4° to the south, approximately parallel with the surface topography. Its elevation and seismic character are indicative of a contact between the Oligocene-age volcanic rocks on top of a portion of the Pennsylvanian-age Bingham Mine Formation, a mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sequence. The reflector defines an asymmetric graben-like structure bounded by a north-northwest-trending normal fault system. Analysis of trenches, boreholes and local geology reveals a faulted, chaotic body of block and ash flow tuffs, surrounded by andesite lavas. Using LiDAR and surface geological reconnaissance, a possible toe or margin of a landslide has been interpreted in the north-west portion of the study area. The combination weakened block and ash flow tuffs and abundant clay production from this unit contribute to the likelihood of a coalescence of landslides in this mapped landslide area. The integration of LiDAR, trenching, boreholes and reflection seismology provides the range and resolution of data needed to assess the complex geology of landslides.


The City of Columbus, Georgia and the Columbus Water Works (CWW) instigated a combined sewer overflow (CS 0) control program to protect the Chattahoochee River against adverse impacts of wet weather discharges from the citys 16 CSO discharge points. The program was initiated in response to legislation passed by the Georgia State legislature in 1990, and a subsequent administrative order issued by the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Initial studies were undertaken to characterize the combined sewer system and area water quality, evaluate receiving waters, analyze rainfall records and assess the impact of CSOs on water quality standards (WQS). Following the characterization study, CWW performed a pilot study to assess the cost effectiveness of two technologies for treating the overflows to meet WQS: a conventional flow-through mix/contact chamber and a vortex separator. The vortex separator was determined to be the most effective means for removing floatables and gross solids from the discharges. The study also demonstrated that the vortex separator could be used as a contact vessel for disinfection thereby eliminating the need for a separate contact basin. A second study was performed with sponsorship from Water Environment Research Federation (WERF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CWW, engineers, municipalities and equipment suppliers. The second phase of the pilot program focused on environmentally friendly enhancements to the vortex separator such as ultra-violet light disinfection (UV), physical/chemical treatment, alternate disinfectants and dissolved air floatation (DAF).


Species richness estimators (SREs) frequently exhibit widely different results when applied to the same data set. The lack of information on the true species number in an area hampers assessment of the performance of competing SREs. Marine invertebrates have been studied for more than 150 years on Helgoland (North Sea), and a fairly complete species list exists for this assemblage, providing a good opportunity for such comparisons. We evaluated the performance of 12 SREs using data on intertidal marine invertebrates of Helgoland. The Ugland TS estimator provided the most accurate estimate of total richness, whereas MMF, Semilog, and Weibull produced a moderate underestimation. The other SREs seriously under‐ or overestimated total richness. Although the Ugland TS estimator accounts for changes of species abundance distributions encountered when area increases, most SREs assume a homogeneous distribution. Analysis of separate accumulation curves for rare, intermediate, and common species revealed that the curvature of the randomized empirical accumulation curve of all the species is determined primarily by the occurrence of rare species. Thus, the influence of rare species was assessed through simulations of the Ugland TS. Linear extrapolation will under‐ or overestimate total richness if the occupancy of rare species is unusually low or high, respectively. The true occupancy of rare species in the Helgoland intertidal is likely to be close to the optimal interval revealed by our simulations, which provide a general framework for assessing the suitability of SREs for a given data set and thus improve the selection process of the optimal method.


This paper examines the role played by vehicle models and their impact on the performance of sensor-based navigation systems for autonomous land vehicles. In a navigation system, information from internal and external vehicle sensors is combined to estimate the motion of the vehicle. However, while the issue of sensing and effects of sensor accuracy have been widely studied, there are few results or insights into the complementary role played by the vehicle model. This paper has two main contributions: a theoretical analysis of the role of the vehicle model in navigation system performance, and an empirical study of three models of increasing complexity, used in a navigation system for a conventional road vehicle. The theoretical analysis focuses on understanding the effect of estimation errors caused by approximations to the "true" vehicle model. It shows that while substantial performance improvements can be obtained from better vehicle modeling, there is, in general, no definitive "best" model for such complex nonlinear estimation problems. The empirical study shows that an appropriate choice of a higher order model can lead to significant improvements in the performance of the navigation system. However, the highest order model suffers from problems related to the observability of some of its parameters. We show how this problem can be overcome through the imposition of weak constraints.


William Kennedy's Quinn's Book, like Toni Morrison's Beloved, is an act of the historical imagination that encourages the reader to reconsider events in nineteenth-century America. Both works revive painful memories from the American past in order to provide the basis for new perspectives. Of his own Irish-American family's sense of that period, Kennedy commented in O Albany!, "if they remembered the anti-Irishness that prevailed in nineteenth-century America, they repressed it" (40). Examining how the novel resurrects that aspect of nineteenth-century Irish-American life and establishes a basis for reevaluating anti-Irishness through cultural comparisons with African American experience can enable readers to recognize how the novel reconstructs the history of the period to encourage a comparison between the experiences of two immigrant communities forced to America's shores. The illustration entitled "Tambo and Paddy Go To Town," pictured at right, introduces the final section of Quinn's Book (237) and stands as an emblem of the novel's bridge-building dynamic.(1) This pairing of a "stage Irishman" and a black-faced minstrel visually underscores the novel's challenge for the reader to explore comparisons between the stock types. Such comparisons can lead to recognizing similarities in the complex cultural identities that lie beneath. In that way the supplementary illustrations in the novel suggest thematic issues. For example, just as the reader puzzles over the significance of the disk-like object centered on the title page illustration and the riddle of whether the minstrel in the later illustration is a white man in blackface, so, throughout the novel, Quinn puzzles over "the mystery of the disk" (74) and over the mystery of the African American Joshua, about whom Quinn claims "I have never presumed to truly understand" (250). That final illustration reintroduces a linkage introduced early in the novel when the title Tambo and Paddy Go to Town is referred to as a music-hall "production bridging two genres: the minstrel show and the Irish frolic" (92).(1) How the text establishes such a "bridging" of the Irish-American and African American traditions is the focus of this essay. Within this historical novel that is presented as Quinn's autobiography, Quinn's reflections on Joshua's experience as an African American becomes central in widening his understanding of his own identity as an Irish American. The fiction of Quinn writing his autobiography provides the clearest basis for comparing the novel's technique with a major genre of the African American writing tradition. As Elizabeth Fox-Genovese has observed, "Autobiographies of black women, each of which is necessarily personal and unique, constitute a running commentary on the collective experience of black women in the United States" (161). Moreover, previous studies of African American autobiographies have asserted the applicability of insights about the genre to fiction: "Autobiography and fiction are simply different means of arriving at, or recognizing, the same truth: the manner in which and by which the African American makes and is made by his historical, political, and social condition in the United States of America" (Cudjoe 276-277). Morrison's and Kennedy's novels each create commentary on American history, though a critical difference results from Morrison's emphasis on the pain involved in the struggle to remember. Selwyn Cudjoe's comments on fiction and autobiography provide a partial frame for an approach to Kennedy's creation of an African American character. Other insights contained in Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s collection of contemporary criticism, Reading Black, Reading Feminist, provide the means for comparing the novels under discussion. In that collection, Hazel Carby writes of Jesse Fauset's attempt to create "a new relation to history" (80) for the black middle class, while Barbara Christian presents a perspective more directly applicable to Morrison's novel: "we have moved to excavate the past and restore to ourselves the words of many of our foremothers who were buried in the rumble of distorted history" (49). …


Interchange fees in card payments are a mechanism to balance costs and revenues between banks for the joint provision of payment services. However, such fees represent a relevant input cost used as a reference price for the final fee charged to the merchants, who may be reluctant to accept cards and induce the cardholder to withdraw cash. In this paper, we empirically verify for the first time the effect of the interchange fee on the decision to withdraw cash and compare it with that of paying with payment cards, considering a balanced panel data set of Italian issuing banks. Finally, results show that there is a positive correlation between the cash usage and the level of the interchange fees. Accordingly, regulation of the multilateral interchange fee level may be an effective tool in reducing cash payments at the point of sale, although there is no clear evidence that a zero interchange fee rate (or a close-to-zero rate) would be optimal.


Aim: The study aimed to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, use and impact of a workplace stretching program for preventing musculoskeletal disorders in perioperative staff. Method: This was a hybrid effectiveness–implementation study using mixed methods. Data was collected preand post-program to evaluate its impact on musculoskeletal disorders, discomfort, sick leave, incidents and compensation claims. A post-program survey and participant interviews were used to ascertain the programs acceptability, feasibility and use. Results: A total of 42 staff participated in the study. Following the program, there was a 60 per cent reduction in the odds of a musculoskeletal-related incident (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.1, 8.0 p = 0.01) when compared with the rest of the hospital. The odds of a workers compensation claim reduced by 50 per cent (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.1, 1.5, p = 0.8) and there was a 20 per cent decrease in the odds of a musculoskeletal disorder (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.1, 7.0, p = 0.8) or sick leave (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.1, 6.1, p = 0.8). There was no significant change in musculoskeletal discomfort scores preand post-program (+0.2, 95% CI -7.0, 7.3, p = 0.9). Greater than 70 per cent of participants felt that the program was acceptable and feasible with over 85 per cent agreeing that it was a good fit and matched department needs. Interviews with participants identified positive physical, psychological and cultural benefits. The most common shortcoming reported by staff was not having the opportunity to use the program enough. Conclusion: Given the positive results and the fact that the program requires minimal resources, it is recommended that other perioperative departments consider implementing a similar program to complement existing work health and safety initiatives.