Introduction: Falling is a common problem among the elderly. Falling indoors and outdoors is highly prevalent among the Iranian elderly. Therefore, identification of the contributing factors at home and their modification can reduce falls and subsequent injuries in the elderly. The goal of this study was to identify the elderly at risk of fall, using the 'Home Falls and Accident Screening Tool' (HOME FAST), and to determine the reliability of this tool. Method: Sixty old people were selected from five geographical regions of Tehran through the Local Town Councils. Participants were aged 60 to 65 years, and HOME FAST was used to assess inter rater and test- retest reliability. Results: Test-retest reliability in the study showed that agreement between the items of the Persian version of HOME FAST was over 0.8, which is a very good reliability. The agreement between the domains was 0.65-1.00, indicative of moderate to high reliability. Moreover, the Inter rater reliability of the items was over 0.8, which is also very good. The correlation of each item between the domains was 0.01-1.00, which shows poor to high reliability. Discussion: This study showed that the reliability of the Persian version of HOME FAST is high. This tool can therefore be used as an appropriate screening tool by professionals to take necessary preventive measures for the Iranian elderly population.


Voice conversion enables generation of a desired speaker's voice from audio recordings of another speaker. In this paper, we focus on a music application and describe the first steps towards generating voices of music celebrities using conventional voice conversion techniques. Specifically, rap singing transformations from English to Spanish are performed using parallel training material in English. Weighted codebook mapping based voice conversion with two different alignment methods and temporal smoothing of the transformation filter are employed. The first aligner uses a HMM trained for each source recording to force-align the corresponding target recording. The second aligner employs speaker-independent HMMs trained from a large number of speakers. Additionally, a smoothing step is devised to reduce discontinuities and to improve performance. The results of subjective evaluations indicate that both aligners perform equivalently well. The proposed smoothing technique improves both similarity to target singer and quality significantly regardless of the alignment method.


This thesis reports on an international multiple-case study on innovation in upper secondary schools. A total of four secondary schools are studied: two in Norway and two in Germany. A mixed method with quantitative and qualitative parts is applied. The quantitative part consists of a survey of relevant teachers at the case schools. The qualitative part includes the study of school documents and secondary literature as well as visits to the schools and interviews with key personnel. All subjects and participants are anonymised. The study aims to portray innovative practices in schools and to identify reasons why some initiatives for change are more successful than others. It turns out that innovation processes in schools are often complicated and lengthy; many things that can hinder the implementation and continuation of an innovation. This work is valuable to anyone who is interested in school development, either people who want to develop schools or those a ected by school development.


Humans spend more time in or on the water than ever before. We love the beach. But for many people, getting in the water provokes a moment's hesitation. Shark attacks are big news events and although the risk of shark attack on humans is incredibly low, the fact remains that human lives are lost to sharks every year.

Shark Attacks explores the tension between risk to humans and the need to conserve sharks and protect the important ecological roles they play in our marine environments. Marine biologist Blake Chapman presents scientific information about shark biology, movement patterns and feeding behaviour. She discusses the role of fear in the way we think about sharks and the influence of the media on public perceptions. Moving first-hand accounts describe the deep and polarising psychological impacts of shark attacks from a range of perspectives.

This book is an education in thinking through these emotive events and will help readers to navigate the controversial issues around mitigating shark attacks while conserving the sharks themselves.


The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of our approach for modeling enterprise web applications (EWA), which is use case driven and uses UML as the modeling language. Our approach delivers a conceptual, logical model of the application, which consists of three packages. Packages were chosen to model three logical level concerns: presentation, business, and data management logic. Our approach uses the principle of separation of concerns, in that our package partition was made with the goal of isolating as many changes, which are commonly made in EWAs, as possible within a single package. In this paper, we focus on the business logic concern, and only give a brief overview of the preliminary techniques used to model the other two concerns. Also, we propose to model each concern with different views. Finally, we briefly discuss how our proposed logical model is mapped to process and deployment models to give a complete model of EWAs.


When digital imaging and image processing methods are applied to clinical diagnostic
and prognostic needs, the methods can be seen to increase human understanding and
provide objective measurements. Most current clinical applications are limited to
providing subjective information to healthcare professionals rather than providing
objective measures. This Thesis provides detail of methods and systems that have been
developed both for objective and subjective microscopy applications. A system
framework is presented that provides a base for the development of microscopy imaging
systems. This practical framework is based on currently available hardware and
developed with standard software development tools. Image processing methods are
applied to counter optical limitations of the bright field microscope, automating the
system and allowing for unsupervised image capture and analysis.
Current literature provides evidence that 3D visualisation has provided increased
insight and application in many clinical areas. There have been recent advancements in
the use of 3D visualisation for the study of soft tissue structures, but its clinical
application within histology remains limited. Methods and applications have been
researched and further developed which allow for the 3D reconstruction and
visualisation of soft tissue structures using microtomed serial histological sections
specimens. A system has been developed suitable for this need is presented giving
considerations to image capture, data registration and 3D visualisation, requirements.
The developed system has been used to explore and increase 3D insight on clinical
samples.
The area of automated objective image quantification of microscope slides
presents the allure of providing objective methods replacing existing objective and
subjective methods, increasing accuracy and rsducinq manual burden. One such
existing objective test is DNA Image Ploidy which seeks to characterise cancer by the
measurement of DNA content within individual cell nuclei, an accepted but manually
burdensome method. The main novelty of the work completed lies in the development of
an automated system for DNA Image Ploidy measurement, combining methods for
automatic specimen focus, segmentation, parametric extraction and the implementation
of an automated cell type classification system.
A consideration for any clinical image processing system is the correct sampling
of the tissue under study. VVhile the image capture requirements for both objective
systems and subjective systems are similar there is also an important link between the
3D structures of the tissue. 3D understanding can aid in decisions regarding the
sampling criteria of objective tests for as although many tests are completed in the 2D
realm the clinical samples are 3D objects. Cancers such as Prostate and Breast cancer
are known to be multi-focal, with areas of seeming physically, independent areas of
disease within a single site. It is not possible to understand the true 3D nature of the
samples using 2D micro-tomed sections in isolation from each other. The 3D systems
described in this report provide a platform of the exploration of the true multi focal nature
of disease soft tissue structures allowing for the sampling criteria of objective tests such
as DNA Image Ploidy to be correctly set.
For the Automated DNA Image Ploidy and the 3D reconstruction and
visualisation systems, clinical review has been completed to test the increased insights
provided. Datasets which have been reconstructed from microtomed serial sections and
visualised with the developed 3D system area presented. For the automated DNA Image
Ploidy system, the developed system is compared with the existing manual method to
qualify the quality of data capture, operational speed and correctness of nuclei
classification.
Conclusions are presented for the work that has been completed and discussion
given as to future areas of research that could be undertaken, extending the areas of
study, increasing both clinical insight and practical application.


1. We investigate the evolutionary responses to harvesting in ungulates using a state-dependent, stochastic, density-dependent individual-based model of red deer Cervus elaphus (L.) females subject to different harvesting regimes. 2. The population's mean weight at first reproduction shifts towards light weights as harvesting increases, and its distribution changes from a single peak distribution under very low or high harvest rates, to a bimodal distribution under intermediate harvest rates. 3. These results suggest that, consistent with previous studies on aquatic species, harvesting-induced mortality may drive adaptive responses in ungulates by reducing the fitness benefits from adult survival and growth in favour of early and lightweight reproduction. 4. Selective harvesting for heavy animals has no additional effect on the evolutionarily stable strategy, suggesting that harvest rate is more important than the degree of selectivity in driving adaptive responses. However, selective harvesting of light females is positively associated with maturation weights even higher than those of a nonharvested population, probably due to the reduction in the fitness value of the offspring. 5. The average number of weight at maturation strategies in the population declines but the total number of strategies across all simulations increases with harvest rate, suggesting that harvesting-induced selection on weight at maturity overcomes the increase in strategy diversity expected from density-dependent release. 6. Yield initially increases with harvesting due to enhanced productivity of light females experiencing density-dependent release. However, it crashes under intense harvesting resulting in a population skewed to light, young and, therefore, less reproductive animals.


Gustavo Artigas (Mexico), Lottie Child (UK), Marc Herbst (US), Tushar Joag (India), Jakob Kolding (Denmark), Kasia Krakowiak (Poland), George Henry Longly (UK), Marta Marce (UK/Spain), Nils Norman (UK), Dan Shipsides (UK).Games & Theory brings together the work of international contemporary artists who share interests in play, sports and gaming. With works shown in, on and around Nils Norman's play architecture, viewers are encouraged to become active participants in the exhibition and climb, crawl and experience the gallery in new ways. Taking its cue from Situationist ideologies, Games & Theory explores the radical potential of play as a form of resistance and expression of freedom.Dan Shipsides's free-climbing performances turn buildings into rock faces, demonstrating a physical engagement with our surroundings.


Student motivation and engagement are essential ingredients to academic success. Although the relationship is clear, the challenge is finding what pedagogical methods and context motivates students and engages them to a point where they become active participants in the learning process. An effective approach to discovering what will motivate and engage students is to focus on student's interests, goals, aspirations, and values. With a better understanding of students it is possible to develop an effective learning environment or activity that is embraced by students, leads them to a deeper level of learning, and entices them to become lifelong learners. This approach was the starting point in the development of an online artificial intelligence or "chatbot" named Anne G. Neering (EnGiNeering). The chatbot is a computer program delivered on course websites that serves as a text based conversational agent. The purpose of this interactive online learning environment is to encourage students to think reflectively on course fundamentals. Although providing students with access to a complex artificial intelligence focused on course fundamentals is a valuable byproduct, the greatest value lies in the student motivation and engagement associated with development of the knowledge base. Student involvement in the process of building Anne's knowledge base has proven to be instructional and fun. The knowledge base is built from individual and cooperative student interactions. As part of assigned coursework students formulate questions based on their perceptions of course fundamentals and attempt to provide responses that are consistent with their own knowledge and in a way that other students would relate to and clearly understand. An evaluation mode uses student interaction to assess the accuracy of student responses and provides an interesting environment for open ended student interaction on course concepts. The development and assessment of the knowledge base is primarily the work of students but is somewhat hidden from the users. The "chatbot" is currently being tested by four engineering professors and one business professor with seven undergraduate courses. The paper outlines the response of students to this learner centered environment and its impact on student motivation, engagement, and ultimately academic success. The success of this learning environment is also explained in terms of its relationship to the four dimensions of the HPL learning environments and the STAR Legacy cycle.


The optical systems with distributed/sparse apertures have a number of distinctive features in comparison with the systems with monolithic ones. Among them the possible existence of zero-value regions of the optical transfer function (OTF) and the existence of a beam combination system which forms a combined image in a common focal plane. Using the fast-convergent gradient methods for nonlinear constrained optimization, the first feature can result in a suspension of a calculation process if an intermediate solution falls into a zero-value region of the OTF. The second feature gives rise to introducing of some optical errors influencing the quality of the combined image due to the limited accuracy of a beam combination control system. In this thesis, the possibility of applying a gradient optimization method to optimize the distributed/sparse optical aperture configuration is shown. An appropriate approach based on approximation of the step pupil functions with zero-value regions by continuously differentiable functions with non zero-value regions is proposed. This method is demonstrated using examples of circular and annular subapertures. Further, the influence of the residual random image alignment (IA) and optical path difference (OPD) errors of the beam combination system on the OTF is investigated. On the basis of the Fraunhofer approach to the Kirchhoff diffraction theory, an analytical expression showing the dependence of an instantaneous OTF on the IA and OPD errors is derived. Using the Gaussian probability distributions for the random errors, an analytical expression determining an average OTF (AOTF) depending on statistical parameters of the errors is obtained. The calculation results permit to produce the necessary requirements to the accuracy of the beam combination control system. Finally, possible optimization variants utilizing the step pupil function approximation and the AOTF conception are presented. They use a gradient constrained optimization method with objective functions depending on a signal-to-noise ratio which is expressed in terms of the optimized parameters, in particular, the parameters of the aperture configuration, the effective focal length, and the geometrical parameters of a charge coupled device. Presented results show optimal solutions of the considered optimization problems for the distributed apertures consisting of two and three annular subapertures.


It is expected that a microgrid (MG) can supply its local loads independently; however the load and generation intermittency may lead an MG to experience overloading. This problem can be mitigated by coupling the overloaded MG to another neighboring MG that has surplus power. It is a challenge to select a suitable MG within a distribution network composed of several islanded MGs, to be coupled to the overloaded MG. This paper presents a new decision-making-based method to select the suitable alternative. This selection is based on different criteria including the available surplus power, reliability, supply security, power loss, electricity cost and CO2 emissions in the alternative MGs. Moreover, the frequency and voltage deviation in the system of coupled MGs are considered in the selection. The performance of the developed method is evaluated within a cloud theory-based probabilistic analysis in MATLAB.


Management goals to improve the recovery of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) stocks at risk of extinction include increasing the proportion of postspawning fish that survive and spawn again. To be successful, postspawning steelhead (kelts) migrating downstream to the ocean must prepare physiologically and physically for a seawater transition. We sampled blood, gill filaments, and evaluated the external condition of migrating kelts from an ESA-listed population in the Snake/Columbia River system over two consecutive years to evaluate their physiological readiness for transition to seawater. We chose attributes often considered as measures of preparation for seawater in juveniles, including gill Na+,K+ ATPase activity, plasma electrolytes and hormones to consider factors related to external condition, size and sex. We found kelts in good external condition had plasma profiles similar to downstream-migrating smolts. In addition, we found more than 80% of kelts ranked in good external condition had smolt-like body silvering. We compared measures from migrating kelts with samples obtained from hatchery fish at the time of spawning to confirm that Na+, K+ ATPase activity in kelts was significantly elevated over spawning fish. We found significant differences in gill Na+, K+ ATPase activity in migrating kelts between the years of sampling, but little indication of influence of fish condition. We conclude that the postspawning steelhead sampled exhibited a suite of behaviours, condition and physiology characteristic of fish prepared for successful transition to a seawater environment.


Purpose Hypomagnesemia is an adverse reaction associated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting monoclonal antibodies. Of the 2 EGFR antibodies approved by the US Food and Drug Administration—cetuximab and panitumumab—cetuximab-induced hypomagnesemia has been extensively characterized but panitumumab-induced hypomagnesemia has not. Methods In this retrospective study, the clinical course of hypomagnesemia is described in three 64- to 68-year-old men who received panitumumab monotherapy or panitumumab-plus-irinotecan therapy for colorectal cancer for 8 to 21 weeks. Results The onset of hypomagnesemia was variable, ranging from 1 week to 10 weeks following the initiation of panitumumab. Magnesium levels did not normalize until 4 to 8 weeks after discontinuation of the agent. Of the patients in the study, 2 had new onset of grade 3 hypomagnesemia 1 to 3 weeks after panitumumab was discontinued. Management was magnesium sulfate 2 g infusion weekly and magnesium oxide 1,200 mg oral repletion daily. With severe hypomagnesemia (grade 3 and higher) or significant diarrhea (grade 3 and higher), a daily infusion of magnesium sulfate 2 or 4 g was administered. Conclusion When administering panitumumab therapy, magnesium levels should be monitored from the initiation of the agent to at least 8 weeks following cessation. Hypomagnesemia usually can be managed with magnesium sulfate 2 to 4 g infusion weekly and magnesium oxide 1,200 mg oral repletion daily. Future research is warranted to identify simple and efficient strategies for monitoring and treating EGFR blockade with monoclonal antibody-associated hypomagnesemia.


Background:Although clinical evaluations and neurocognitive assessments are commonly used to evaluate the extent of and recovery from concussion, brain bioenergetics could provide a more quantitative marker. The neurometabolic response to a concussion is thought to increase neuronal energy consumption and thus the demand for nucleoside triphosphate (NTP). Objective:We investigated the possible disruption in high-energy metabolism within the prefrontal cortex of college athletes who had either had a concussion within the past 6 months (n=14) or had never had a concussion (n=13). We hypothesized that concussed athletes would have imbalanced brain bioenergetics resulting from increased NTP consumption, and these biochemical changes would correspond to impaired cognitive abilities. Methods:We used phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify high-energy phosphates. We performed the neuroimaging in conjunction with neurocognitive assessments targeting prefrontal cortex-mediated tasks. Results:Our results revealed significantly lower &ggr;-NTP levels in the athletes after concussion. Although the concussed and non-concussed participants performed similarly in neurocognitive assessments, lower levels of &ggr;-NTP were associated with worse scores on neurocognitive tasks. Conclusions:Our results support the concept of increased energy demand in the prefrontal cortex of a concussed brain, and we found that while neurocognitive assessments appear normal, brain energetics may be abnormal. A longitudinal study could help establish brain NTP levels as a biomarker to aid in diagnosis and to assess recovery in concussed patients.


Abstract When designing a family planning (FP) strategy, decision‐makers can choose from a wide range of interventions designed to expand access to and develop demand for FP. However, not all interventions will have the same impact on increasing modern contraceptive prevalence (mCP). Understanding the existing evidence is critical to planning successful and cost‐effective programs. The Impact Matrix is the first comprehensive summary of the impact of a full range of FP interventions on increasing mCP using a single comparable metric. It was developed through an extensive literature review with input from the wider FP community, and includes 138 impact factors highlighting the range of effectiveness observed across categories and subcategories of FP interventions. The Impact Matrix is central to the FP Goals model, used to project scenarios of mCP growth that help decision‐makers set realistic goals and prioritize investments. Development of the Impact Matrix, evidence gaps identified, and the contribution to FP Goals are discussed.


In this research, operational problems at vehicle inspection centres (VIC) are explored
and investigated. Simulation is used in this new application area to improve operational
effectiveness at the VIC. In particular, simulation is used to gain insights, model the
interactions of operational activities and experiment with specific operational policies.
Critical input random variables corresponding to service times and arrival patterns are
modelled based upon empirical data collected at the VIC. Modelling the arrival process
involves a thorough analysis of separate patterns of arrival for scheduled and non-
scheduled vehicles at a typical VIC. Developing the most appropriate of several ideas,
we generate methods for simulating typical streams of arrivals at the VIC. For non-
scheduled arrivals, we adopt distinct beta distributions for morning and afternoon
activities. For scheduled arrivals, this research demonstrates that customer punctuality
varies according to planned appointment times, which leads to an adaptive model for
customer punctuality that takes account of these appointment times. Specifically, we
construct generalised beta distributions with parameters that evolve over time.
In this research, we integrate the design of experiments within our simulation model. In
particular, we propose a fractional factorial design matrix to replace traditional ways of
planning simulation experiments. Further work involves incorporating blocking into our
design matrix, which reduces the experimental size and provides a useful backup
support feature for our VIC simulation. The proposed design matrix is then used in the
output analysis along with other statistical methods, to determine factors that contribute
significantly to specific performance measures. In this study, general linear models that
link the control factors and the performance measures are developed.
A major contribution of this research is its impact on simulation modelling, which helps
us to characterize more realistic arrival patterns for customers compared with previous
research techniques. Additionally, aspects of our research that include experimental
design enrich the literature on simulation and modelling particularly in the application
of simulation to service shop problems.


This study presents an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to objectively select the best temperature sensor from among different alternative sensors in a certain industrial application. The underlying decision method based on AHP methodology, ranks temperature sensors with different features with a score resulting from the synthesis of relative preferences of each alternative with respect to the others at different levels considering independent evaluation criteria and sub-criteria. At each level, relative preferences of each candidate alternative with respect to the upper immediate level are calculated from pair- wise comparisons among the candidate alternative sensors with respect to a selected application. Pair-wise comparison matrices are compiled based on views of experts in this field. Seven alternative sensors were considered: the thermocouple, the thermister, the resistance temperature detector (RTD), the bimetallic strip thermometer, the mercury-in-glass thermometer, the optical disappearing filament pyrometer, and the liquid crystal display semi conductor thermometer (LCD). Three industrial applications were also considered: Automotives, Chemical Processes, and Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning. A case study is conducted which involves selecting the best sensor for an automotive catalytic converter. The thermocouple is found to be the most preferred sensor for this application with the largest score of 0.37849, the second ranked sensor is the RTD with a score of 0.34589, and the least preferred sensor is the thermister with a score of 0.27560. To test the robustness of the proposed work, a sensitivity analysis was conducted in which variations in the relative preferences of the alternative sensors against sub-criteria and criteria were employed.


Workflow Support System(WSS) is an information system intended to manage the cooperative work following a workflow description aiming at improvement of organizational function. To archive the goal, WSS tries to manage people's work, it also have to be considered that the working people have various condition such as work time and skill level. This research proposes to use simulation of WSS to evaluate it. An agent-based approach is adopted to consider the effect of various people's work condition to the performance of WSS. A simulation tool is developed, and simulation of an example model is shown.


This thesis focuses on the use of biomolecular assemblies for creating materials with novel properties. Several aspects of biomimetic materials have been investigated, from fundamental studies on membrane shaping molecules to the integration of biomolecules with inorganic materials.Triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) are mathematically defined surfaces that partition space and present a large surface area in a confined space. These surfaces have analogues in many physical systems. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can form intricate structures and it acts as a replica for the wing scales of the butterfly C. rubi, which is characterized by electron microscopy and reflectometry. It was shown to contain a photonic crystal and an analogue to a TPMS. These photonic crystals have been replicated in silica and titania, leading to blue scales with replication on the nanometer scale. Replicas analyzed with left and right handed polarized light are shown be optically active.A macroporous hollow core particle was synthesized using a double templating method where a swollen block copolymer was utilized to create polyhedral nanofoam. Emulsified oil was used as a secondary template which gave hollow spheres with thin porous walls. The resulting material had a high porosity and low thermal conductivity.The areas of inorganic materials and functional biomolecules were combined to create a functional nanoporous endoskeleton. The membrane protein ATP synthase were incorporated in liposomes which were deposited on nanoporous silica spheres creating a tight and functional membrane. Using confocal microscopy, it was possible to follow the transport of Na+ through the membrane.Yop1p is a membrane protein responsible for shaping the ER. The protein was purified and reconstituted into liposomes of three different sizes. The vesicles in the 10-20 nm size range resulted in tubular structures. Thus, it was shown that Yop1p acts as a stabilizer of high curvature structures.


This thesis marks the first biography of the evolution of the bra from a designer and patternmaker's perspective. Although the bra has a very long history, it only became a truly iconic garment in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. To some extent this transformation was driven by rapid social and economic changes, but the evolution of this highly technical garment is also inextricably linked to developments in technology which have led to improvements in materials, design and manufacture. Initially these developments were related to designing a three-dimensional product from a two-dimensional flat patternmaking process, but more recently the advent of the moulded bra has offered opportunities to create a seamless three-dimensional garment without the need to construct a flat pattern, and this has enabled both increased design possibilities and raised the prospect of a better fitting product. Through an investigation of the origins of underwear in general, and the bra in particular, this thesis reviews secondary source historical data to chart major changes in design, patternmaking, and technology from the first recorded uses of underwear to the current challenges facing bra designers and patternmakers in an increasingly globalised industry. This historical review culminates in the identification of two distinctly diverging trends in current bra design and manufacture, both of which face significant challenges in terms of training new designers and producing better sizing and fitting protocols. The two primary source studies which emanate from this historical review contribute new knowledge to each of these diverging directions in bra design. The first study provides an entirely new approach to the teaching, and subsequent current commercial practice of flat patternmaking for what many regard as the 'traditional' cut-and-sewn variety of bra. This study culminates in a new way of producing, learning and teaching the art of flat patternmaking, enabling underwear design graduates to leave university with the core skills they need to survive in a fast moving global industry. The second major study investigates the salient challenge of providing an excellent fit for both major types of bra across globally diverse and perhaps ethnically different body types. Consequently, it employs cutting-edge threedimensional body scanning technology to demonstrate how the design, sizing, and 2 fitting of both cut-and-sewn and moulded varieties of garment might be significantly improved in the future. Both primary source data studies therefore stand at the beginning of the future evolution of the most technically complex garment in human history, the not so humble bra.


Existing studies of the Vietnam War have been written mostly from an American perspective, using western sources, and viewing the conflict through western eyes. This book, based on extensive original research, including Vietnamese, Chinese and former Soviet sources, presents a history of the war from the perspective of the Vietnamese communists. It charts relations with Moscow and Beijing, showing how the involvement of the two major communist powers changed over time, and how the Vietnamese, despite their huge dependence on the Chinese and the Soviets, were most definitely in charge of their own decision making. Overall, it provides an important corrective to the many one-sided studies of the war, and presents a very interesting new perspective.


A huge number of diabetic patients require multi-daily subcutaneous insulin injections in order to maintain normal blood glucose level. This treatment option is painful and leads to low patient compliance. In view of this, oral administration has been actively investigated over the past two decades. For an effective delivery, the oral formulation needs to protect insulin against degradation along the gastrointestinal tract and to improve insulin uptake through the intestinal wall to the bloodstream. Poly(methacrylic acid) grafted with poly(ethylene glycol) (P(MAA-g-EG)), a pH-responsive hydrogel, is by far one of the most efficacious oral insulin delivery systems. Insulin is loaded into P(MAA-g-EG) microparticle at neutral pH, followed by an acidic collapse of the microparticle with interpolymer complexation to entrap the loaded insulin. At low pH in the stomach, the collapsed microparticle protects the entrapped insulin from enzymatic degradation. On the other hand, at neutral pH in the intestine, the microparticle swells and releases its insulin content. It should, however, be noted that only about 10% of the administered insulin can get into the bloodstream. Previous studies reported that about 40% of the loaded insulin iv leaked out at low pH environment because the pores in the collapsed microparticles are still too large so that the entrapped insulin could diffuse out. Herein, the utilization of gold nanoparticles as nanoplugs to reversibly block the surface pores of the collapsed microparticles was investigated. The gold nanoparticles were surface functionalized with insulin (AuNP−insulin) and the size of this conjugate was designed to match with that of the collapsed pore. Experimental results showed that the amount of insulin leakage with acidic treatment was reduced from 26% to 14% in insulin-loaded P(MAA-g-EG) microparticles without and with AuNP−insulin nanoplugs, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that 62% of the loaded insulin was expelled from the microparticles during the acidic collapse step. In other words, the loading efficiency was only 38%. When AuNP−insulin conjugate was used to plug the surface pores of the P(MAA-g-EG) microparticles prior to the collapse process, the loading efficiency was increased to 70%. Antigenic study with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on pepsin-containing simulated gastric fluid treatment of the insulin-loaded P(MAA-g-EG) microparticles confirmed that the enzyme could not get into the pores and degrade the entrapped insulin. Therefore, with the higher loading efficiency and less leakage, the plugged microparticles would be a more efficient carrier in delivering insulin to the small intestine, where absorption to bloodstream takes place. Surprisingly, the release of insulin and the AuNP−insulin conjugate from the plugged microparticle at neutral pH was found to have strong dependence on phosphate ion concentration. v The release efficiency in phosphate-buffered saline (i.e., 1× PBS) containing 5.7 mM phosphate ions was 19% while that in sodium phosphate buffer containing 0.1 M phosphate ions was 43%. Besides insulin, the AuNP−insulin conjugate was released to the sodium phosphate buffer, but was kept within the microparticles in 1× PBS. The P(MAA-g-EG)−AuNP hybrid carrier developed in this study would contribute to the further improvement of the efficacy of oral protein drug delivery.


Adipose tissue is a source for regenerative medicine applications contains mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). One of the unique features of MSCs is their trans-differentiation property. Identification of MSCs is accepted by their CD105, CD90 and CD73 markers expression. In lipo aspirate from buttocks and abdominal adipose tissue, these markers were previously shown. In adipose tissue surrounding the vas deferens, we investigated CD105, CD73 and CD90 markers expression. Adipose tissue surrounding the vas deferens was obtained from eight patients who attended to Urology department. Paraffin sections were prepared from adipose tissue after routine histological process. Haematoxylineosin, Toluidine blue and CD105, CD73, CD90 immuno-stainings were performed to the paraffin sections. The strongest expression belonged to CD105, followed by CD90 and finally CD73 which was weakly expressed. Stromal cells derived from the adipose tissue surrounding the vas deferens with similar properties like liposuctioned adipose tissue based on the expression of mesenchymal stem cells markers were reviewed.


Context. Determining the source regions of meteorites is one of the major goals of current research in planetary science. Whereas asteroid observations are currently unable to pinpoint the source regions of most meteorite classes, observations of meteors with camera networks and the subsequent recovery of the meteorite may help make progress on this question. The main caveat of such an approach, however, is that the recovery rate of meteorite falls is low (<20%), implying that the meteoritic analogues of at least 80% of the observed falls remain unknown.

Aims. Spectroscopic observations of incoming bolides may have the potential to mitigate this problem by classifying the incoming meteoritic material.

Methods. To probe the use of spectroscopy to determine the meteoritic analogues of incoming bolides, we collected emission spectra in the visible range (320–880 nm) of five meteorite types (H, L, LL, CM, and eucrite) acquired in atmospheric entry-like conditions in a plasma wind tunnel at the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart (Germany). A detailed spectral analysis including a systematic line identification and mass ratio determinations (Mg/Fe, Na/Fe) was subsequently performed on all spectra.

Results. It appears that spectroscopy, via a simple line identification, allows us to distinguish the three main meteorite classes (chondrites, achondrites and irons) but it does not have the potential to distinguish for example an H chondrite from a CM chondrite.

Conclusions. The source location within the main belt of the different meteorite classes (H, L, LL, CM, CI, etc.) should continue to be investigated via fireball observation networks. Spectroscopy of incoming bolides only marginally helps precisely classify the incoming material (iron meteorites only). To reach a statistically significant sample of recovered meteorites along with accurate orbits (>100) within a reasonable time frame (10–20 years), the optimal solution may be the spatial extension of existing fireball observation networks.


Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are currently flying in specific and segregated airspaces, separated from regular aircraft. Nevertheless, to be widely used in the future, UAS will need to be deployed in the same airspace as regular aircraft. However, their unmanned and automated features make this goal very difficult to certify. Indeed, it is necessary to validate the different parts of the UAS (operating system, communication system or even payload depending on their application) in order to be compliant with the whole airspace certification process. This paper deals with new model driven development approaches that are inherited from existing aerospace and aeronautical systems and that could be useful for the certification of UAS design. In this paper we demonstrate how a model driven design can improve UAS system robustness. A case study is introduced and focuses on the main advantages for UAS design environment: modularity and reusability.


In the inner plexiform layer, amacrine cells receive glutamatergic input from bipolar cells. Glutamate can depolarize amacrine cells by activation of ionotropic glutamate receptors or mediate potentially more diverse changes via activation of G protein-coupled metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5). Here, we asked whether selective activation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 is linked to modulation of the voltage-gated Ca2+ channels expressed by cultured GABAergic amacrine cells. To address this, we performed whole-cell voltage clamp experiments, primarily in the perforated-patch configuration. We found that agonists selective for mGluR5, including (RS)-2-chloro-5-hydroxyphenylglycine (CHPG), enhanced the amplitude of the voltage-dependent Ca2+ current. The voltage-dependent Ca2+ current and CHPG-dependent current enhancement were blocked by nifedipine, indicating that L-type Ca2+ channels, specifically, were being modulated. We have previously shown that activation of mGluR5 produces Ca2+ elevations in cultured amacrine cells (Sosa et al., 2002). Loading the cells with 5 mM BAPTA inhibited the mGluR5-dependent enhancement, suggesting that the cytosolic Ca2+ elevations are required for modulation of the current. Although activation of mGluR5 is typically linked to activation of protein kinase C, we found that direct activation of this kinase leads to inhibition of the Ca2+ current, indicating that stimulation of this enzyme is not responsible for the mGluR5-dependent enhancement. Interestingly, direct stimulation of protein kinase A produced an enhancement of the Ca2+ current similar to that observed with activation of mGluR5. Thus, activation of mGluR5 may modulate the L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ current in these GABAergic amacrine cells via activation of protein kinase A, possibly via direct activation of a Ca2+-dependent adenylate cyclase.


In this paper we consider the problem of constructing a coordinate system in a sensor network where location information is not available. To this purpose we introduce the Virtual Coordinate assignment protocol (VCap) which defines a virtual coordinate system based on hop distances. As compared to other approaches, VCap is simple and have very little requirements in terms of communication and memory overheads. We compare by simulations the performances of greedy routing using our virtual coordinate system with the one using the physical coordinates. Results show that the virtual coordinate system can be used to efficently support geographic routing.


Surface coating of membranes may be a promising option to control biofilm development and biofouling impact on membrane performance of spiral-wound reverse osmosis (RO) systems. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of an amphiphilic copolymer coating on biofilm formation and biofouling control. The coating was composed of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and perfluorodecyl acrylate (PFA), respectively. Commercial RO membranes were coated with HEMA-PFA copolymer film. Long and short term biofouling studies with coated and uncoated membranes and feed spacer were performed using membrane fouling simulators (MFSs) operated in parallel, fed with water containing nutrients. For the long-term studies pressure drop development in time was monitored and after eight days the MFSs were opened and the accumulated biofilm on the membrane and spacer sheets was quantified and characterized. The presence of the membrane coating was determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results showed that the amphiphilic coating (i) delayed biofouling (a lower pressure drop increase by a factor of 3 and a lower accumulated active biomass amount by a factor of 6), (ii) influenced the biofilm composition (23% lower polysaccharides and 132% higher protein content) and (iii) was still completely present on the membrane at the end of the biofouling study, showing that the coating was strongly attached to the membrane surface. Using coated membranes and feed spacers in combination with advanced cleaning strategies may be a suitable way to control biofouling.


This paper will explore two issues relating to black identity in four Australian feature films in which Aborigines play an important role. The issues to be considered are, first, how do the white English and Australian makers of these films construct Aboriginal identity, and second,,.what is the ideological significance of this construction for blacks within the framework of Australian society? For black people, questions of identity and cultural image are not just matters of artistic concern. They are political questions insofar as definitions and perceptions of identity influence race and power relations. As Eve Fesl points out, white Australia has used race defamation to justify a range of attacks on and disruptive policies towards Aboriginal people. Race defamation includes derogatory stereotypes and abusive and contemptuous language, based on the ideology that the Aboriginal race, like other black races, is intellectually and culturally deficient, innately inferior to the dynamic and sophisticated Caucasian race and peoples, but having the possibility of being "civilised," "christianised" or "trained."' The majority of Aborigines, like the majority of blacks in most of the countries of the African diaspora, are still in the desperate, oppressed situation born of colonial conquest and racism. Far more than any other group in Australia, they experience poverty and discrimination in employment and education, health, housing, the legal system and the media, in spite of the attempts of white liberalism to construct for them a safety net of welfare handouts.2 Growing up black in the British colonial Caribbean in the 1950s and 60s, I experienced the same racial and cultural defamation, and political oppression of Caribbean people, but it was not until I was an adult that I understood these things. I gradually became aware of what constituted Anglo-Saxon cultural contempt and how this could engender the psychologically brutual outcomes of apathy, hopelessness or aggressiveness in black people.3 Now, living in Australia, I am experiencing an educational and cultural system which in my view still perpetrates Eurocentric and racist stereotypes of black-white relationships through textbooks and curricula, literature, and cinema and other media.4 An important question is whether Aboriginal suffering at the hands of white policy has left them in the psychologically victimised situation of a colonised people "in whose soul an inferiority complex has been created by the death and burial of its local cultural originality.5 Acccounts by Aborigines of their search to redefine their experience and to reclaim their cultural identity6 suggest that they too are psychological victims striving to find the way to challenge and overcome their oppression. Since cinema vividly expresses and powerfully influences social perception, an understanding of its construction of Aboriginality within inter-racial relationships can play an important part in this challenge. For blacks, penetrating dominant white definitions of the inter-racial situation is vital to that self-knowledge which is the basis of changing their situation. It was not until the 1950s that there was a focus on Aboriginal characters in conventional feature films (as opposed to documentary and ethnographic films). Before this, feature films showed Aborigines only as incidental figures bestowing "Australianness" to the landscape of outback dramas.7 My paper will explore how four films represent certain aspects of the colonial white assault on black identity and cultural image, arguing that they reflect the contradictory discourse of white liberalism which is capable of condemning and at the same time perpetuating racism and racist stereotypes in one and the same artistic mode. The four feature films chosen for analysis illustrate two ways which the dominant culture has used in depicting its interaction with the group which it subordinated. The first way, adopted by Ralph Smart's film Bitter Springs (1950) and Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout (1971)8, is to focus upon the story of the whites, who react to Aboriginal people as incidents in their lives. …


Oxygen diffusion in soilless culture systems in Mediterranean climate conditions is often quite low, especially in summer. This fact is seldom taken into account even though it could lead to plant development constraints, as for instance scarce root development or certain nutrient uptake deficits. A study of a rose crop in a soilless recirculating system with oxifertigation and nightly oxygen supply has been carried out to determine whether there is a cause-effect relationship between the production and
growth increase in soilless culture systems which have been supplied with oxygen and
the plant metabolism optimization due to the absorption of different nutrients. One and
two years old cv. Red Corvette plants were planted in containers with two substrates
(perlite B6 and A13). They were grown with or without diurnal oxifertirrigation and
with or without night oxygenation in a 2x2x2 factorial experiment. A robot automatically controlled fertirrigation, lixiviated disinfection, nutrient solution recomposition from lixiviates, watering and fertilize. Nutrient solution was continuously
held with oxygen over saturation. Night oxygen supply was done directly into the
substrate by sequent pulsations. Nutrient content on leaves and petioles were
determined using: ion-sensible electrode (nitrogen); Bray-Kurtz colorimetric method
following by a spectrophotometer (λ=660nm) (phosphorus); flame photometry (potassium) and atomic spectroscopy analysis (iron, calcium and magnesium). Differences in foliar mineral contents were observed between two produced fluxes: Moreover, calcium and magnesium leaf content was also higher in plants grown in A13 perlite substrate. Foliar nutrient's content in oxifertigation treatments were only different in potassium and calcium. They were significative upper in diurnal
oxifertigation plants. Significative differences did not appear either in the rest of elements or night oxygen supply conditions. Calcium foliar content increase with diurnal oxifertigation treatment ant this happens with any of the nocturnal treatments. Increase in potassium foliar content in oxifertigation treatment is bigger with nocturnal oxygen supply in B6 substrate, possible because of its long woody life with important nutrient's stocks and its harvest time (earlier phases of flower development).


This work is concerned with the applications of Isham's group-theoretic quantisation programme to simple systems which involve central extensions of some symmetry group. Of particular interest are those systems with a 'Wess-Zumino'-like term in their actions where other nontrivial modifications are necessary. In Chapters 1 and 2, a review of the necessary tools used in this work as well as outlines of the group-theoretic quantisation programme are given to facilitate a smooth discussion in the latter chapters. The programme is first exemplified by the normal quantum mechanics on R". This example also involves central extensions but of a slightly different nature from those which arise from systems with a 'Wess-Zumino'-like term. Chapter 3 forms the core of the whole work. The discussions there provide the basis for further examples. It is concerned with the group-theoretic quantisation of the system of a particle moving on the two-torus in a constant magnetic field with quantised flux. The case without the magnetic field is also given for comparison. The canonical group for the case with the magnetic field is required to be the central extension of the universal cover of the canonical group for the case without the magnetic field. These results are then generalised to the corresponding systems on the n-torus. Chapter 4 is a digression from the main topic of quantisation and central extensions to the discussions of a-models with Wess-Zumino term. The main purpose of this chapter is to provide a parallel between these σ-models and the systems of a particle moving in a magnetic field (as in Chapter 3). The general construction of a Wess-Zumino term is given along with the discussion of an Abelian gauge symmetry that the term provides for the σ-models. The a-models can be interpreted as systems of a 'particle' moving on an infinite-dimensional configuration space in a background 'functional magnetic field'. This interpretation is further reinforced by the discussions of Noether's theorem and topological effects.


Protein kinase B (PKB)/Akt can promote cell survival in part by blocking apoptosis that is initiated when cytochrome c is released from mitochondria. This effect is also true of the antiapoptotic factors Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. However, Gottlob et al. report that Akt may act through control of the activity of hexokinase, a glycolytic enzyme that localizes to the mitochondria. Hexokinase also associates with voltage-dependent anion channels (VDACs in the mitochondria, whose closure precedes cytochrome c release. Akt activity increased hexokinase activity and inhibited VDAC closure in rat cells. In the absence of glucose, Akt failed to protect cells from apoptosis. Overexpression of either Akt or hexokinase inhibited cytochrome c release. The authors propose that Akt links glucose metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation to VDAC dynamics by affecting hexokinase activity, but it is not yet clear if hexokinase is a direct substrate of Akt. K. Gottlob, N. Majewski, S. Kennedy, E. Kandel, R. B. Robey, N. Hay, Inhibition of early apoptotic events by Akt/PKB is dependent on the first committed step of glycolysis and mitochondrial hexokinase. Genes Dev. 15, 1406-1418 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


To understand the emergence and re-emergence pattern of American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL), the clinical and epidemiological profiles and the spatial distribution of the disease were evaluated between 2001 and 2006 in an endemic area located in the Rio Doce valley in the north-eastern part of the Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The number of reported cases increased from six in the first year to 111 in the last year during this period. Disease cases predominated in the urban area (75.9%) and affected males and females equally in all age groups. The transmission of ATL occurred within dwellings and the surrounding areas, with the largest number of reported cases originating from poor areas, particularly those located on the margins of the Rio Doce lacking suitable sanitary infrastructure. Diagnosis was based on clinical criteria and the Montenegro skin test, with most patients (93.8%) exhibiting the cutaneous form of ATL. First-line treatment involved administration of pentavalent antimonial drugs (99.1%), and these provided a cure for > 75% of patients. The prevalence of ATL varied between 11.38 and 15.99 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which is high in comparison with the national average. Urgent measures, including improved means of diagnosis at the local health units, education of schoolchildren and motivation of the general population, are required to decrease transmission and control the disease.


By David Norton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-77140-4 (cloth), 0-521-77807-7 (paper). Pp. xii + 455. $85.00 (doth), $35.00 (paper). David Norton's A History of the English Bible as Literature is a revised and condensed version of his compendious two-volume series published in 1993. Norton's arrangement of his subject's 700-year history is literary-historical, and his methodology toward the English Bible as literature is genetic-critical. He traces the changes that have occurred to the scriptural canon and the ongoing effect that various translations of the Bible have had on English literary culture. Much of the history of the King James Bible (KJB) entails trying to define its power. Has the effect of the English Bible been spiritual, or was it merely poetic? Or are the two ultimately separable? The evolution of the English Bible from sacred text to literary classic rivaled only by William Shakespeare began in the movement for vernacular bibles that split Christendom. To the early Church, steeped in the sacred languages of Hebrew, Greek, and later Latin, translation was heresy: it separated biblical content from the languages in which God was presumed to have spoken to humankind. More of historical necessity than theological accuracy, the Latin of the Vulgate was for a millennium the intermediary between sacred languages and the vernacular. The central issue during the 300-year war over a vernacular English Bible was ownership of content, a struggle that endures in related areas of literature today. The Roman Church's argument against translation was that the laity was not qualified to interpret God's Word, which needed the mediation of a learned clergy. On the side of a vernacular Bible were those like William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, who felt that the Roman clergy hindered the layperson's religious experience. The question at hand was ownership, but the question was not to be solved ultimately by the production of vernacular bibles. To solve the question of spiritual ownership, the Bible needed to be viewed as literature in the language of those who read it. According to Norton's chronology, the evolution of the Bible from inspired Word of God to literary classic moved forward by large figures in religion and literature. The earliest such interventionists in the dialectical struggle between the Bible as sacred text and the Bible as English literature were John Wycliff and Tyndale, the latter figuring as father of English biblical translation and martyr to the cause of wresting God's Word from the possession of the Roman Church. Although they championed a vernacular Bible, neither Wycliff nor Tyndale accepted the Bible's literary nature, which they regarded as a secular maculation on biblical purity. Perceived similarities between the English and the Semitic mind, however, permitted translation, since English as a language could bear, translators felt, the truths contained in the Bible without diminishing them. So strong was the perceived similarity among English, Greek, and Hebrew that English was regarded as superior in its power to capture the Bible's religious truths without Latinate loan-words and back-formations. Sir John Cheke, Professor of Greek at Cambridge, was among those who wanted to purge English of outside influences and "inkhorn" terres in order to increase the expressive similarity among English, Hebrew, and Greek. The early work of Wycliff, Tyndale, and Coverdale was incorporated into the Geneva Bible (1560), which Shakespeare himself read, one of the "great Bibles" that provided a theological and literary platform for development of the KJB (1611). On the Continent the translators of the Catholic Rheims-Douai Bible (1582 [New Testament], 1609 [Old Testament]) gave painstaking attention to literary matters, but those considerations placed further obstacles between the content of Scripture and the language of the common English speaker. …


Generating and evaluating alternative hypotheses is an essential component of scientific discovery. Evidence from cognitive psychology shows that testing multiple hypotheses, unfortunately, is not effective unless subjects state the hypotheses explicitly. The presence of multiple hypotheses facilitates the efficient elimination of incorrect hypotheses because it makes the possibility of disconfirmation more salient. Although several computational models of scientific discovery have included the generation and evaluation of multiple hypotheses, most of these approaches have not focused on multiple hypotheses. Therefore, further research needs to examine systematically the conditions under which multiple hypotheses are effective.


This study aims to analyze the management of the Specific Allocation Fund (DAK). The three largest DAK-recipient sectors are the focus of the study : education, health, and roads infrastructure. The study sample areas are four districts. This paper was compiled based on the results of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with various stakeholders as well as analysis of DAK policy and secondary data. The main objective of DAK is to reduce interregional inequalities in public services. We came across policies in dire need of national uniformity but that still allow variation on some aspects. Conversely, we found some enforced national uniformity in policies that should have provided rooms for variations to accommodate regional specific conditions. In practice, regional governments have become passive recipients of DAK grants. The attitudes of regional government towards the DAK allocation process indicate a general feeling that the central government is not transparent. Furthermore, it is evident that coordination and communication surrounding DAK management between agencies are still limited. Based on the above findings, we recommend a new paradigm where the central government is suggested to decentralize the authority for the allocation, coordination, and monitoring of district/city use of DAK to provincial governments.


Background: Managing diversity dynamics in academic or clinical settings for men in nursing has unique challenges resulting from their minority status within the profession. Purpose: Share challenges and lessons learned identified by male scholars in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholars pr ogram and suggest strategies for creating positive organizations promoting inclusive excellen c . Methods: Multiple strategies including informal mentored di scussions and peer-to-peer dialogue throughout the program as well as formal online sur veys of scholars and National Advisory Committee members, and review of scholar progress r ports were analyzed as part of the comprehensive evaluation plan of the program Discussion: Diversity dynamic issues include concerns with neg ative stereotyping, microaggression, gender intelligence, and differenc es in communication and leadership styles. Conclusions: Male Nurse Faculty Scholars report experiencing bo th opportunities and challenges residing in a predominately female-peopl ed rofession. This article attempts to raise awareness and suggest strategies to manage diversit y dynamics in service of promoting the development of a culture of health that values dive rsity and inclusive excellence for both men and women in academic, research and practice contex ts.


This article will examine the extent to which the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) should play a role in the adjudication of public law disputes in Hong Kong. It will consider possible usages of the ICESCR as a source of constitutional rights, as an aid to constitutional and statutory interpretation, and its potential influence on development of the common law. Despite not being directly incorporated into domestic legislation, it will be argued that the ICESCR enjoys constitutional status under the Basic Law. The view that the ICESCR is merely 'progressive' or 'aspirational' will also be challenged as a mischaracterization of the legal nature of the covenant, which unduly hinders its enforcement in Hong Kong courts.


Lars Hallberg is preparing for a meeting with the executive management of Sandvik Tooling, a world leader in metal cutting tools. The purpose of the meeting is to review the Coromant Recycling Concept (CRC), a global recycling program for Coromant, the leading brand of Sandvik Tooling. The case is an opportunity to evaluate a global recycling program, including its value to the company from business and environmental perspective, the match between the reverse and forward supply chain as well as decisions regarding keeping recycling in house or outsourcing it.


There is likely no methodological question of greater importance to constitutional law than whether adjudication should be based on the original meaning of the Constitution's text, or instead reflect an evolving understanding in light of felt experience. Little effort, however, has been made to test empirically the claim of originalists that their methodology offers an effective vehicle for constitutional adjudication. This study is the first to assess the extent to which original meaning, in practice, proves able to resolve constitutional litigation. To do so, it examines Fourth Amendment jurisprudence during the career of a self-proclaimed originalist, Justice Antonin Scalia. Cases involving the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on "unreasonable searches and seizures" were selected because stare decisis poses no apparent obstacle to the use of originalism in this area of constitutional law, and because the Fourth Amendment is typical of the kind of constitutional text likely to generate litigation. The study found that originalism played a small role in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence during the study period; less than 14% of the opinions of the Court addressing a disputed question of Fourth Amendment law during Justice Scalia's service were originalist. Despite Justice Scalia's professed commitment to originalism, he voted on originalist grounds in only 18.63% of cases. The Court's other professed originalist, Justice Clarence Thomas, voted on originalist grounds in only 15.71% of cases. If anything, this study's coding methodology likely overstates the prevalence of originalism during the study period. Voting patterns were not markedly different for justices who do not profess fealty to originalism. These results appear to reflect not a lack of commitment to originalism on the part of Members of the Court or the effects of nonoriginalist precedent, but rather the difficulty in applying original meaning in contemporary constitutional adjudication. This difficulty is likely generalizable to other areas of constitutional law, and casts doubt on the utility of originalism as an adjudicative methodology.


40 or 50 families control the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their interests range from banking to property, from shipping to sugar, from vice to gambling. 13 of the 50 richest families in the world are in South East Asia yet they are largely unknown outside confined business circles. Often this is because they control the press and television as well as everything else. How do they do it? What are their secrets? And is it good news or bad for the places where they operate? Joe Studwell explosively lifts the lid on a world of staggering secrecy and shows that the little most people know is almost entirely wrong.


Human parechoviruses (HPeVs), a poorly studied genus within the Picornaviridae family, are classified into 19 genotypes of which HPeV1 and HPeV3 are the most often detected. HPeV1 VP1 C terminus contains an arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) motif and has been shown to depend on the host cell surface αV integrins (αV ITGs) and heparan sulfate (HS) for entry. HPeV3 lacks this motif and the receptors remain unknown. HPeVs can be detected in patient nasopharyngeal and stool samples, and infection is presumed to occur after respiratory or gastro-intestinal transmission. HPeV pathogenesis is poorly understood as there are no animal models and previous studies have been conducted in immortalized monolayer cell cultures which do not adequately represent the characteristics of human tissues. To bridge this gap, we determined the polarity of infection, replication kinetics, and cell tropism of HPeV1 and HPeV3 in the well-differentiated human airway epithelial (HAE) model. We found the HAE cultures to be permissive for HPeVs. Both HPeV genotypes infected the HAE preferentially from the basolateral surface while the progeny virus was shed toward the apical side. Confocal microscopy revealed the target cell type to be the p63+ basal cells for both viruses, αV ITG and HS blocking had no effect on the replication of either virus, and transcriptional profiling suggested that HPeV3 infection induced stronger immune activation than HPeV1. Genotype-specific host responses may contribute to the differences in pathogenesis and clinical outcomes associated with HPeV1 and HPeV3.


Proximal junctional failure (PJF) is considered to be one of the most serious complications after correction surgery with a long construct for adult spinal deformity. Proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) was first defined as an angle between the lower endplate of the uppermost instrumented vertebra (UIV) and the upper endplate of UIV+2 of 10 degrees or greater, and at least 10 degrees greater than the preoperative measurement. Although PJK has been found to cause no significant clinical symptoms, PJF is regarded as a pathology associated with a fracture of UIV or UIV+1, posterior osseoligamentous disruption, or a pullout of instrumentation at the UIV, and may require revision surgery. The incidence of PJK or PJF is influenced by a variety of factors including the pathology of the deformity, surgical procedures and spinal construct, status of osteoporosis, prophylactic procedures, and the follow-up period. Therefore, the reported incidences of PJK vary widely, from 7.7% to 56%, whereas those of PJF vary widely, from 1.4% to 35%.


Recent events in India have brought a fresh focus on the appropriate regulatory stance towards micro-finance. In this paper, we review facts and recent experience about Indian microfinance. We analyse the puzzles of financial regulation in this field from first principles, and argue that the mainstream mechanisms of consumer protection and micro-prudential regulation need to be modified owing to joint-liability groups. From this perspective, we suggest regulatory strategies that need to be adopted for dealing with micro-credit and financial distribution that focuses on the poor. This analysis and conceptual framework also helps analyse the two policy responses till date, the Malegam report and the draft Microfinance Bill, 2011.


Behavior change is more effective and lasting when patients are autonomously motivated. To examine this idea, we identified 184 independent data sets from studies that utilized self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) in health care and health promotion contexts. A meta-analysis evaluated relations between the SDT-based constructs of practitioner support for patient autonomy and patients' experience of psychological need satisfaction, as well as relations between these SDT constructs and indices of mental and physical health. Results showed the expected relations among the SDT variables, as well as positive relations of psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation to beneficial health outcomes. Several variables (e.g., participants' age, study design) were tested as potential moderators when effect sizes were heterogeneous. Finally, we used path analyses of the meta-analyzed correlations to test the interrelations among the SDT variables. Results suggested that SDT is a viable conceptual framework to study antecedents and outcomes of motivation for health-related behaviors.


The present invention relates to new compositions of matter and articles of manufacture comprising SWNTs as nanometer scale conducting rods dispersed in an electrically-insulating matrix. These compositions of matter have novel and useful electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties including applications in antennas, electromagnetic and electro-optic devices, and high-toughness materials. Other compositions of matter and articles of manufacture are disclosed including polymer-coated and polymer wrapped single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs), small ropes of polymer-coated and polymer-wrapped SWNTs and materials comprising same. This composition provides one embodiment of the SWNT conducting-rod composite mentioned above, and also enables creation of high-concentration suspensions of SWNTs and compatibilization of SWNTs with polymeric matrices in composite materials. This solubilization and compatibilization, in turn, enables chemical manipulation of SWNT and production of composite fibers, films, and solids comprising SWNTs.


It only matters how it is obtained and how it is employed – the dangers and chances of money in the New Testament This article examines statements about money and other forms of material wealth in the New Testament. After a general survey of the surprisingly many occurrences of money, coins, wealth or property and the contexts in which they appear, the article describes the spiritual dangers involved in the desire for and use of money as addressed by various New Testament books. A further section is devoted to an often neglected aspect, namely the positive chances of money rightly used that are also mentioned. Money, otherwise also called mammon , can be used to support those in need and to further the kingdom of God and even to express spiritual truths and bonds. This is followed by a summary of New Testament statements on obtaining money legitimately and using it properly. A final section reflects on the way how Christians today are to use the means that have been entrusted to them.


Hydrogen bonds (HBs) play an essential role in the structure and catalytic action of enzymes, but a complete understanding of HBs in proteins challenges the resolution of modern structural (i.e., X-ray diffraction) techniques and mandates computationally demanding electronic structure methods from correlated wavefunction theory for predictive accuracy. Numerous amino acid sidechains contain functional groups (e.g., hydroxyls in Ser/Thr or Tyr and amides in Asn/Gln) that can act as either HB acceptors or donors (HBA/HBD) and even form simultaneous, ambifunctional HB interactions. To understand the relative energetic benefit of each interaction, we characterize the potential energy surfaces of representative model systems with accurate coupled cluster theory calculations. To reveal the relationship of these energetics to the balance of these interactions in proteins, we curate a set of 4000 HBs, of which >500 are ambifunctional HBs, in high-resolution protein structures. We show that our model systems accurately predict the favored HB structural properties. Differences are apparent in HBA/HBD preference for aromatic Tyr versus aliphatic Ser/Thr hydroxyls because Tyr forms significantly stronger O–H⋯O HBs than N–H⋯O HBs in contrast to comparable strengths of the two for Ser/Thr. Despite this residue-specific distinction, all models of residue pairs indicate an energetic benefit for simultaneous HBA and HBD interactions in an ambifunctional HB. Although the stabilization is less than the additive maximum due both to geometric constraints and many-body electronic effects, a wide range of ambifunctional HB geometries are more favorable than any single HB interaction.


Purpose: To describe the dietary behaviors among patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus(T2DM) in Indonesia. Method: Sixty patients with T2DM who met the inclusion criteria were selected from fourvillages of the Banda Raya Community Health Centre in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Patients'dietary behaviors were measured by the Self-Management Dietary Behaviors Questionnaire(SMDBQ). The SMDBQ was modified from the previous study with adequate reliability(Chronbach's alpha was .82). Result: The subjects who participated in this study were middle aged adults (53 years). Morethan half of the subjects in this study were female (76.7%). All of the subjects were Muslim.More than one-third had an education level of senior high school (38.3%). The majority of thesubjects had no experiences with any previous educational program or counseling programrelated to dietary behaviors (86.7%). The results showed a moderate level of dietary behaviorsof patients with T2DM in Aceh, Indonesia. Conclusions: The dietary behaviors among Type 2 diabetic patients in Aceh, Indonesia wereat a moderate level. Regarding dietary behaviors scales, almost all items were at a moderatelevel. However, recognizing and consuming the amount of calorie needs was at a low level.Further research is needed in terms of dietary self-management by using an interventionapproach to improve the dietary behaviors of diabetic patients. Key words: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, dietary behaviors.


The phrase, 'political obligation', is far more popular in English than in other European languages. Whether this may be due to historical circumstances, or to a peculiar bent of the English mind, is a fascinating question; but it is not the one which I propose to discuss here today. I am mentioning it only to explain the choice of my subject, a subject which would probably sound rather uncommon to an Italian audience, but which, I am sure, has a familiar ring to English ears. My subject, I would like to emphasise, is the nature of political obligation; my approach will be analytical rather than historical; and indeed, let me say at once that this lecture is a kind of examen de conscience in which I am myself involved, since I feel personally responsible for having introduced the phrase into my own native language, and for having used it during a life-time as if its meaning were self-evident, without ever raising the questions which I want to raise today.


What are the ingredients of robust, elegant, flexible, and maintainable software architecture? Beautiful Architecture answers this question through a collection of intriguing essays from more than a dozen of today's leading software designers and architects. In each essay, contributors present a notable software architecture, and analyze what makes it innovative and ideal for its purpose. Some of the engineers in this book reveal how they developed a specific project, including decisions they faced and tradeoffs they made. Others take a step back to investigate how certain architectural aspects have influenced computing as a whole. With this book, you'll discover: How Facebook's architecture is the basis for a data-centric application ecosystem The effect of Xen's well-designed architecture on the way operating systems evolve How community processes within the KDE project help software architectures evolve from rough sketches to beautiful systems How creeping featurism has helped GNU Emacs gain unanticipated functionality The magic behind the Jikes RVM self-optimizable, self-hosting runtime Design choices and building blocks that made Tandem the choice platform in high-availability environments for over two decades Differences and similarities between object-oriented and functional architectural views How architectures can affect the software's evolution and the developers' engagement Go behind the scenes to learn what it takes to design elegant software architecture, and how it can shape the way you approach your own projects, with Beautiful Architecture.


Hawai'i's Ferns and Fern Allies is the first comprehensive survey of Hawai'i's ferns to be published in more than 100 years. The book covers endemic, indigenous, and naturalized ferns and fern allies (including rare and endangered taxa), providing dichotomous keys, basionyms and synonyms, technical descriptions and distributions, a glossary, and statistical information. The author addresses unresolved taxonomic problems and offers suggestions for future research. He includes information from Hawaiian folklore and mythology, describes uses of ferns by native Hawaiians, and updates Hawaiian common names. More than 100 line drawings illustrate all 222 species, varieties, and forms, and some hybrids. The volume is based on extensive field-work, studies of herbarium collections worldwide, and consultations with preridologists, local ecologists, and collectors. It provides the much-needed scientific basis for a new, worldwide appreciation of Hawaiian ferns and fern allies and for major efforts to protect and conserve them. This well-researched and highly readable book will be enthusiastically received by amateur and professional naturalists, fern enthusiasts, and professional botanists.


This study focuses on the role of community development programmes in poverty alleviation in ONELGA, Rivers State. The study was induced by the level of poverty prevalence among the rural dwellers in ONELGA community despite the abundance of natural resources, complimented by the efforts made by the government to improve the living condition of the people in the rural areas. It was geared toward finding out whether implementation of community based projects in the area has had any significant improvement in the lives and standard of living of people in ONELGA. Data collected from this survey research was from two strata using stratified method where 500 respondents were selected through multistage and snowball sampling method. The questionnaire was also used and administered; the data collected was analyzed through simple percentage and represented in charts. The study found that effective implementation of community based programmes has capacity to impact positively on the lives of ONELGA people. It was then recommended that government should embark on more community development programmes to reduce the level of poverty in the rural areas and to help in funding and completion of community development projects to improve the living conditions of the rural people in ONELGA.


Recent research in biology has discovered that a large portion of genes that are responsible for core biological functions are conserved in most or all living cells. This has initiated development of, and emphasizes the importance of, common annotation facilities for biological knowledge, as features and functions of an unknown gene can be related to or inferred from those of a similar and well-studied gene. The gene ontology (`GO'), a collection of three ontologies each defining a specialization hierarchy of biological terms, has been an extraordinary focus of this effort. This paper describes GOBASE, a publicly-available graph database for query and visualization of GO information. There are existing browsers for visualizing GO information, but GOBASE provides a more powerful interface, allowing both interactive query and interactive annotation of GO terms with other data sources. We focus on how GOBASE achieves interactive annotation and query and its tight interactions with backend databases


We study the motion of charged particles in large-scale velocity shears that are produced in the interaction of magnetized plasma winds and plasma obstacles. The purpose of the analysis is to account for the observation of strongly energetic contaminant ions in the region of interaction of the solar wind with plane-tary/cometary non-magnetic ionospheric obstacles (Venus, Mars, comets). The convective electric field set up by the streaming plasma is incorporated to the equation of motion of ions born in a velocity shear. Neglecting collisions and the back reaction of the contaminant particles on the wind, the trajectories of the particles are computed as a function of the shear properties as well as of the mass of the ions and the magnetic field configuration. For a linear dependence of the wind velocity across the shear, the problem is solved analytically and we find that the particle velocity can have either a purely oscillatory behavior or grow exponentially with time depending on the value of a dimensionless parameter proportional to the product of the velocity gradient and the cyclotron frequency of the ion trajectories. In the latter case a strong acceleration of the contaminant ions can be achieved. Adopting magnetic field and flow properties appropriate for cometary and planetary environments, we explore the potential importance of the mechanism discussed to explain the presence of superthermal ions and filamentary structures in such regions.


Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship of drinking water fluoride levels with children′s intelligence quotient (IQ). Materials and Methods: Water was collected from initially identified endemic fluoride regions according to the geological research of Government of India. Fluoride concentration of the water was assessed by utilizing fluoride ion selective electrode, Orion 9609BN, and categorized on the basis of fluoride concentration into low, medium, and high-fluoride regions, i.e., Virajpet (low fluoride level < 1.2 ppm), Banavara (Medium fluoride level 1.2-2 ppm), and Mastihalli (High fluoride levels > 3 ppm). Government school from all three villages were selected randomly and IQ levels were assessed by using Raven′s Standard Progressive Matrices. This test was conducted on each child in the study sample. Results: A significant inverse relationship was found between the fluoride concentration in drinking water and IQ (r value = −0.204; P < 0.000). It was observed that IQ level was negatively correlated with fluoride concentration in drinking water. Conclusion: It is concluded that IQ level was negatively correlated with fluoride level in drinking water. Factors that might affect children′s IQ need to be considered, and it is necessary to devise solutions for preventing the harmful effects of excessive intake of fluoride ion to the body.


markdownabstractAt the intersection of strategic management and applied psychology research, this dissertation focuses on motivation as a main driver of strategic preferences and behaviors in organizations. It explains micro level drivers of managers' preferences in trade-offs related to responding the uncertainties of emerging technologies through a motivation lens, and further combines a capability lens with motivation to investigate the preference of the manager for the delay in investment on an emerging technology. It also explains the exploratory behavior of front-line employees in generating ideas for new business in response to a motivating intervention via stretch goals. The findings are as follows:
__1)__ Manager's orientation toward search, risk-taking, and experimentation is shaped not only by their own motivational systems rooted in their characters, but also by the fit between their motivational systems and the motivational cues in the organization as well as the complexity of the decision-making situation, while there is an asymmetry in response to opposing motivational cues.
__2)__ Stretch goals indeed foster exploratory behaviors to fuel innovation processes in organization, by increasing participation of employees in idea generation for new business opportunities although they may not be as effective in increasing the effort of those employees who have been participating. When it comes to performance outcomes, the difficulty and novelty of stretch goals make individuals less sensitive to the results of their efforts. As such, the paradoxical nature of stretch goals, results in to both intended and unintended performance outcomes. They seem to be more effective for the individuals who are already able to discern the good ideas from the bad based on their experience and seniority.
__3)__ The tradeoffs managers see in early versus late investment in an emerging technology is directly and indirectly affected by their perception of the gap between current capabilities of the firm and what is requires to be successful in the emerging technology. However, it is the motivational cue in the context that interferes with this perception and shapes the final judgements of the managers.


The present study was made to classify recent techno-centered tendency in which was observed some neNsT qualities. Seven hundred & eighty computer operators were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate techno-centered stress. The questionnaire consisted of 23 questions which were rnade of 7 new questions added to 16 questions of our previous study. Of 780 subjects, 571 responded. Among them, 118 subjects, who had been operating cornputers for more than a year and were evaluated to have high techno-centered tendency by the questions of our previous study, were selected. Each question of the questionnaire was given the following point according to the answers : Yes == 1, Unknown=O.5, No=O. Factor analysis was condu ¢ ted to classify the questions. With the factor scores, further analysis was conducted by cluster analysis. As the resu!t of factor analysis, the following 6 categories were obtained (cumulative proportion : 60%, eigenvalue : factoT 1=2.89, factor 2=1.98, factor3=1.62, factor 4=1,48, factor 5r1.25, factor 6=1.17) : I Addiction to associating with other people in computer environment, II Difficulty in retuming to daily environment frem cemputer environment, III Absorption in operating computers, IV Lack of interest in anything except computers, V Extreme requirernent of rationality, VI Lack of cooperative nature. Cluster analysis showed that I and II were similar and that the cluster of I&II was similar to VI. It was also shown that III and IV were similar and that the cluster of III&IV was sirnilar to V. Categories II -・-・VI shows qualities which have been identified to clescribe techno-centered tendency. It is indicated that those categories are the main factors to describe techno-centered tendency. Category I shows a new quality and it is suggested that I is identified as a new factor to describe techno-centered tendency. Kby woJ!IS : technostress tendency, multi-variate analysis, classification Received May 28, 1998 ; accepted November 27, 1998 ' Advanced Research Center for Human Science, Waseda University, Advanced Research Center for Science and Engineering, ditto, 3-・4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan bME・ 1999 t#6A ・n 39k ij 5 -ly' 349 Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine NII-Electronic Library Service apar ユ se oclety f sychosomatlc edlclr ユ 團 麕 現代社会 に お け るテ クノ依存症傾向の 類型化の 試み


The purpose of this study was to investigate cognitive learning style-based reading program on the achievement of Jordanian freshmen English majors. The subjects of the study consisted of 104 freshmen English majors enrolled for Reading Skills 1 in Tafila Technical University in Jordan in the fall semester 2007/2008. Students' learning styles, analytic and global learning styles, are identified based on Felder and Soloman (2006). The subjects were divided into two groups and were alternatively exposed to their matching and mismatching analytic and global styles. The instructional programs contained 12 reading passages. The activities that followed these passages were developed in two ways: one for the analytic style students, and the other for the global style students. The reading achievement test was administered twice, at the beginning and at the end of the program, for measuring the students' achievement before and after the experiment. The two-way ANOVA test was performed to measure the interaction effect between the instructional strategy and the cognitive learning style on students' achievement. The results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in the students' mean scores on the reading achievement test between the analytic learning style group and the global learning style group due to the instructional strategy or the learning style. However, the only factor that affected students' achievement and motivation for reading in English was the interaction between the instructional strategy and the cognitive learning style. In light of these findings, the researcher offered recommendations for further research and for EFL reading educators.


The notion of ever-expanding economic growth has been promoted so relentlessly that "growth" is now entrenched as the natural objective of collective human effort. The public has been convinced that growth is the natural solution to virtually all social problems—poverty, debt, unemployment, and even the environmental degradation caused by the determined pursuit of growth. Meanwhile, warnings by scientists that we live on a finite planet that cannot sustain infinite economic expansion are ignored or even scorned. In Collision Course, Kerryn Higgs examines how society's commitment to growth has marginalized scientific findings on the limits of growth, casting them as bogus predictions of imminent doom. Higgs tells how in 1972, The Limits to Growth —written by MIT researchers Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William Behrens III—found that unimpeded economic growth was likely to collide with the realities of a finite planet within a century. Although the book's arguments received positive responses initially, before long the dominant narrative of growth as panacea took over. Higgs explores the resistance to ideas about limits, tracing the propagandizing of "free enterprise," the elevation of growth as the central objective of policy makers, the celebration of "the magic of the market," and the ever-widening influence of corporate-funded think tanks—a parallel academic universe dedicated to the dissemination of neoliberal principles and to the denial of health and environmental dangers from the effects of tobacco to global warming. More than forty years after The Limits to Growth , the idea that growth is essential continues to hold sway, despite the mounting evidence of its costs—climate destabilization, pollution, intensification of gross global inequalities, and depletion of the resources on which the modern economic edifice depends.


In contrast to many scientific disciplines embracing the vision of a uniform global distributed infrastructure to support their activities, ubiquitous computing is currently characterized by an extremely diverse set of infrastructure platforms. Such heterogeneity makes conducting large-scale wide-area experiments extremely difficult - most researchers choose instead to construct their own ubiquitous computing environment within which they can run their experiments. This heterogeneity makes the basic vision of ubiquitous computing difficult to realize because interworking between components at different sites isn't possible. One suggestion is that grid technologies will make an ideal starting point for developing future infrastructure support for ubiquitous computing, facilitating the deployment of ubiquitous computing technologies.


Two cases of powder aspiration are reported. A 7 1/2-month-old girl showed a classical course with an asymptomatic period of 3-4 hours, then severe respiratory distress developed. Acute respiratory insufficiency made tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation necessary for 10 days. Complications included insufficient alveolar ventilation, atelectasis, pneumothorax, and superinfection. But the baby recovered with some residual radiological changes in the lungs. A 13-month-old boy was treated immediately after massive powder aspiration by tracheal intubation and bronchial wash-out. The postoperative course was unevetful and no respiratory distress developed. Powder aspiration leads to severe bronchiolar obstruction with a delay of several hours and has a high mortality rate. The best results in treatment are obtained by immediate intubation and bronchial wash-out, even in the absence of respiratory symptoms. Artifical ventilation may be necessary with the special problem of overcoming very high airway resistance. Corticosteroids and bronchodilators may be helpful.


Turning the table on Henri Lefebvre's argument that the structure of everyday life is closely associated with the non-accumulative routing of cyclical or immanent time whereas it lags behind the forward-moving linear or transcendent time, I argue that cyclical and linear time are in fact intertwined in lived reality and popular imagination. This suggests that the ebb and flow of time cannot be grasped in rigidly binary terms such as the opposition of cyclical and linear time. Interrogating popular arts like the entextualised slogans painted on the mobile bodies of commercial minibus-taxis (danfos) and tricycles (keke napeps) in Nigeria's – and in fact, sub-Saharan Africa's – most populous city, I argue that the interaction of these seemingly conflicting representations of time affects and ultimately shapes the grounds of our meaning(lessness), (in)security and being-in-the-city. At these interfaces and interstices of conflicting notions of time, and in the interchange between familiar and unfamiliar termini, a powerful sense of unknown (or future) time can emerge, which in turn reinforces the need for a more experimental re-positioning and re-orientation in everyday urban life.