ALTHOUGH WOMEN HAVE LONG HAD an influential impact on healthcare, the top executive roles in healthcare have generally eluded women. This problem is beginning to receive more attention as healthcare is undergoing cataclysmic change. The transformational leadership skills of women are needed in healthcare more than ever, and understanding the reasons for this dearth of women in the boardroom and executive suite will be important for addressing this leadership gap. Hearing the stories of women who have advanced to CEO positions is also important for change, and feature authors Teri Fontenot and Alyson Pitman Giles provide enlightening insights by sharing their unique journeys to the top. Gender stereotypes about leadership continue to have an impact in the workplace (Eagly and Carli 2007). Women are often seen as nurturers and rarely as leaders. The stereotype of a strong, commanding, and male leader still influences decisions about placement in leadership positions. This discrimination can be very subtle and hard to recognize. Ironically, according to Fontenot, traits traditionally viewed as feminine are the ones "that are vital for today's successful healthcare leader." Valian's (1998) work on how gender schemas professionally disadvantage women illuminates why the advancement of women has been so slow. Valian contends that a set of implicit or nonconscious hypotheses about sex differences plays a central role in shaping the professional lives of men and women. The most pressing consequence of such bias is that men are consistently overrated while women are underrated. These small advantages and disadvantages accumulate and result in large disparities over time in salary, promotion, and prestige. Although many women and men express egalitarian beliefs, they are often unaware of how these unconscious gender schemas are a factor in judging leadership performance. THE BUSINESS CASE FOR GENDER DIVERSITY The direct connection between gender diversity and enhanced organizational performance (McKinsey Global 2010) leads to a compelling business case for promoting women, but there remains a pronounced lack of gender diversity within executive leadership in healthcare. The availability of women qualified for leadership roles in healthcare is a unique strength of the field, particularly when one considers the transformational leadership abilities of women leaders. However, the field's efforts at transformation may be hindered by the lack of optimal inclusion of women on executive teams. Gender-diverse teams have greater access to the depth and breadth of skills and experiences necessary to increase organizational effectiveness, improve financial performance, and enhance collective impact. Diversity among the top ranks of leadership therefore increases an organization's capacity for transformation. The ability to forge a new leadership style that enhances the performance of executive teams will ultimately produce collective transformational change that is both progressive and sustained. Women and Transformational Leadership Why have women accomplished so much and achieved superior results in the face of such obstacles? Women seem to have a leadership advantage based on their natural proclivity toward a transformational leadership style. Transformational leaders gain trust and confidence and build shared vision by serving as role models. They provide inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation and rely on individualized consideration. Transformational leadership attributes are more closely aligned with traditionally female characteristics, such as an interpersonally oriented, participatory style. There is a strong correlation between transformational leadership and organizational effectiveness, and research demonstrates that leaders who develop a transformational style also produce greater financial success (Barsh, Cranston, and Lewis 2009). As Fontenot notes, "these soft skills are getting hard results. …


Emphasis on positivity in organizations in increasing, but the importance and credibility of a positive approach to change—exemplified by positive organizational scholarship—remains controversial. More empirical evidence is needed showing that positive practices in organizations produce desirable changes in organizational effectiveness. Two studies—one in financial services and one in the health care industry—are reported, which investigate the link between positive practices and indicators of organizational effectiveness. A positive practices instrument is developed, and evidence is found that positive practices do, in fact, predict organizational performance. More important, improvement in positive practices predicts improvements in certain indicators of effectiveness over time. The results are explained by the inherent amplifying, buffering, and heliotropic effects of positivity in human systems.


Transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE/TEE) in cardiac patients is now almost routine. Its use in cardiac monitoring has also extended to include critically ill patients for non-cardiac surgery and the intensive care setting. Specific accreditation is required prior to practice of TOE/TEE involving a written examination and a documented logbook of experience. This book has been specifically designed to help candidates pass the written exam and has been structured around the syllabus. Providing a summary of all relevant information, this is an invaluable study aid. Lists of further reading material are provided with every topic, including guidelines and safety, cardiomyopathies, heart disease, haemodynamic calculations and many more. Each chapter ends with a series of exam-style questions for self-assessment. An extremely useful book for trainee anaesthetists, intensivists, trainee cardiologists and cardiac surgeons.


World Class Design by implication can best be achieved by adopting world class methods. ICED conferences continue to disseminate methodologies to help make designers and design teams more effective and efficient. At ICED 95 we introduced our PAKTS model (Figure 1.) which identified the total educational needs of young engineering designers [Robotham 1995]. The five key elements of the model are Processes, Attitudes, Knowledge, Tools and Skills. Of these elements, the least developed in terms of methodologies is that of "Attitude". This paper will give further consideration to this element and identify the qualities that a designer must develop to be world class. These qualities would include: professionalism, ownership, responsibility, team player, discipline, tenacity, self-reliance, and self-learner. We would hope that this paper will form the basis of a "Design with Attitude" method, that would sit alongside all other world class methods, because we firmly believe that World Class Design cannot be achieved without the designer adopting a "Design with Attitude" approach.


The creation of a thesaurus de novo is always a daunting task, especially in such a multidisciplinary field as health care informatics. This thesaurus had its roots in a historical collection at the University of Missouri-Columbia where the literature of the field has been collected since the 1970s. However, not only is informatics a multidisciplinary field, but it is also a rapidly evolving field, Thus, the need to be current balanced the historical perspective of the early collection. Generally, we have chosen to use the current term when the same concept has changed its nomenclature and, by and large, have concentrated on recent literature as the source for the data which resulted in the thesaurus.


Never in American history has an outspoken freethinker gained so much widespread attention as Robert Green Ingersoll. One of the greatest orators in American history, Ingersoll traveled across the country entrancing audiences with his astonishing speaking skills, quick wit, and genuine concern for humanity. Despite the religiosity of his audiences, Ingersoll's ability as an orator allowed him to speak freely about his nonbelief at a time when it was usually dangerous to do so. Some Christians like to think they have a monopoly on virtue and that nonbelievers must be tempted by sin, so Ingersoll debunked this misconception with logic in his speeches and impeccable behavior in his personal affairs. Ingersoll became famous for uncovering the inconsistencies and dangers of religion; however, he also devoted considerable efforts to outlining his own secular philosophy. This article is available in Constructing the Past: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol14/iss1/13


FROM SIXTEENTH CENTURY metaphysical views of language to the modern concerns of structuralism, semiology and generative semantics, philosophers and linguists have sought in vain for a simple relation of words to objects, of sentences and propositions to situations and states of affairs. The linguistic philosopher's stone has been the nature of the correspondence, the isomorphism of word and world. The tendency - which we shall call 'linguistic essentialism' or 'correspondence theories of meaning' -still exists in implicit form at the roots of much linguistic thinking. But in philosophy the spectre was put to rest by Ludwig Wittgenstein in the studies which led to Philosophical Investigations and which rejected the most sophisticated form of linguistic essentialism -logical atomism- which, in turn, had received its fullest realisation in the earlier Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Yet in those disciplines which deal with linguistic formations but which also take for granted the work which language performs, the essentialist doctrine remains latent. Literary criticism is a case in point. The purpose of this paper is to show this and to suggest how criticism might benefit from (a} making literary language itself an object of study (as opposed to language's manifestation as a text), thereby being able to (b) reject its implicit acceptance of the essentialism paradigm, (c) replacing that acceptance, as the later Wittgenstein did, with what will be called a 'praxiological' view, and (d) looking at texts in this light. The story of Wittgenstein's shift from logic to praxiology is the story of a potential shift in the paradigm of literary criticism.

In what follows we shall ask: 'What is the essentialist view of language and meaning as it is found in the early Wittgenstein?'; 'How is it uncovered in the work of one literary critic, F.R. Leavis?'; 'What is the critique of essentialism that Wittgenstein performed in the Investigations?'; and 'How does this critique lend itself to the methodology of literary criticism?'.


Problem-based learning (PBL) is at the heart of teaching at Maastricht University and at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS). It is a student-centred approach to learning: students encounter problems that contextualise a learning process that emphasises the importance of self-directed, collaborative and constructive learning. But there is theory and there is practice. 12 years ago, Jos Moust, Henk van Berkel and Henk Schmidt published an article entitled 'Signs of erosion: Reflections on three decades of problem-based learning at Maastricht University'. They give an excellent overview of the original premises of PBL, but also of the challenges to implement PBL. Based on our experience, and taking into account the aforementioned article, we believe that there are at least three key PBL challenges that we should discuss at FASoS.


This article argues that waste management and recycling have become regional or international issues; they can no longer be considered only in a national context. The regionalization or internationalization of waste and recycling issues is caused in large part by the steady advance of economic integration, especially increasing trade and investment flows resulting from trade and investment liberalization. Just as economic integration has separated the location of consumption from the location of most efficient production, it has also separated the most efficient and effective location of recycling from the location of production and consumption. This makes it difficult to operate domestically oriented recycling schemes, as demonstrated by the case of Japan. Therefore, national policies, although still important, are now insufficient, and this article will propose policy recommendations to address this, including the development of national recycling systems and capacity linked to regional recycling zones, regionally coordinated extended producers responsibility, and regional certification schemes for recyclers and traders.


We compared several large marine ecosystems in terms of species numbers of fishes, sea birds, marine mammals, and cephalopods. We examined how these numbers were distributed by trophic level, from herbivores to top predators. We created group-specific trophic signatures as plots of number of species by trophic level, and used these to identify similarities and discrepancies between taxonomic groups and ecosystems. Preliminary results suggested that trophic signatures are similar for ecosystems previously known to share major features, and different for dissimilar ecosystems. In the Mediterranean, as well as in the other large marine ecosystems, fish clearly dominate the predatory trophic levels above 3.0. Preliminary signatures for cephalopods, marine mammals, and sea birds in the Mediterranean and in the North Sea indicate that these groups are restricted to trophic levels above 3.0, and are represented by many fewer species than are predatory fish. Notably, cephalopods are the only invertebrates present at higher trophic levels (>= 4). Invertebrates other than cephalopods are restricted to trophic levels below 3, with very few exceptions. Trophic signatures appear to be useful tools for better understanding of the roles that different groups of organisms play in different ecosystems. We also applied free-scale network theory to analyse the food web created by trophic links of fishes. Our preliminary results indicated that Mediterranean fishes are, on average, only two trophic links away from each other.


Cognitive radio arises as a hot research issue in wireless communications recently, attributed to its capability of enhancing spectral efficiency and catering for the growing demand for bandwidth. As a good embodiment of cognitive radio's unique feature, i.e. making use of every bit spectral resource, spectrum sensing plays a vital role in the implementation of cognitive radio. To alleviate negative effect on cooperative spectrum sensing brought by bit errors, we introduce a novel concept, i.e. Optimum Detection Location (ODL) and present two algorithms of different computational complexity for locating ODL, together with an ODL-Based cooperative spectrum sensing scheme, with the motivation to exploit the gain derived from geographic advantages and multiuser diversity. Numerical and simulation results both demonstrate that our proposed spectrum sensing scheme can significantly improve the sensing performance in the case of reporting channel with bit errors.


Four bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars were evaluated for yield (total weight of marketable fruit) performance over 41 environments as combinations of 3 years, three planting dates, and seven locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Cultural practices, including trickle irrigation and double rows planted on black- plastic-covered beds, were uniform across all environments, except for fertilization, which was adjusted at each location based on soil tests. Comparing production over 3 years between the mountain location and the Coastal Plain location in North Carolina, yields were lower on the Coastal Plain. Spring plantings provided higher yields than summer plantings at both locations. Yield increases were obtained from hybrid cultivars over that of the open-pollinated (OP) standard ('Keystone Resistant Giant #3' (KRG#3)) in the summer planting in the mountains compared to the Tidewater Coastal Plain. Across the three-state region, hybrid cultivar yields were higher than those of the OP cultivar for the second spring planting date in 1986 and 1987. Although the hybrid yields were higher than that of the OP standard, the hybrid 'Skipper' yielded less than the other hybrids ('Gator Belle' and 'Hybelle'). 'Gator Belle' generally out-yielded 'Hybelle' at all locations, except in Fletcher, N.C. This difference may be related to the relative sensitivity of these two cultivars to temperature extremes, rather than soil or geographic factors, because there was a tendency for 'Hybelle' yields to exceed 'Gator Belle' in the earliest planting date. Based on the reliability index, the chance of outperforming KRG#3 (the standard) was 85% for 'Hybelle', 80% for 'Gator Belle', but only 67% for 'Skipper'.


Three field experiments were carried out in organic winter wheat in three consecutive years (exp. 1, 2005-06; exp. 2, 2006-07; exp. 3, 2007-08) in central Italy (42°57' N - 12°22' E, 165 m a.s.l.) in order to evaluate the efficacy against weeds and the effects on winter wheat of two main mechanical weed control strategies: 1) spring tine harrowing used at three different application times (1 passage at T1; 2 passages at the time T1; 1 passage at T1 followed by 1 passage at T1 + 14 days) in the crop sowed at narrow (traditional) row spacing (0.15 m) and 2) split-hoeing and finger-weeder, alone and combined at T1, in the crop sowed at wider row spacing (0.30 m). At the time T1 winter wheat was at tillering and weeds were at the cotyledons-2 true leaves growth stage. The experimental design was a split-plot with four replicates. Six weeks after mechanical treatments, weed ground cover (%) was rated visually using the Braun–Blanquet cover-abundance scale; weeds on three squares (0.6 x 0.5 m each one) per plot were collected, counted, weighed, dried in oven at 105 °C to determine weed density and weed above-ground dry biomass. At harvest, wheat ears density, grain yield, weight of 1000 seeds and hectolitre weight were recorded. Total weed flora was quite different in the three experiments. The main weed species were: Polygonum aviculare L. (exp. 1 and 2), Fallopia convolvulus (L.) A. Love (exp. 1 and 3), Stachys annua (L.) L. (exp. 1), Anagallis arvensis L. (exp. 2), Papaver rhoeas L. (exp.3), Veronica hederifolia L. (exp. 3). In the winter wheat sowed at narrow rows, 2 passages with spring-tine harrowing at the same time seems to be the best option in order to reconcile a good efficacy with the feasibility of treatment. In wider rows spacing the best weed control was obtained by splithoeing alone or combined with finger-weeder. The grain yield, on average 10% higher in narrow rows, the lower costs and the good selectivity of spring-tine harrowing treatments seems to suggest the adoption of narrow rows spacing in wheat in organic and low-input farming systems.


The transition towards sub-mmWave frequencies offer tremendous potential due to the abundantly available RF bandwidth, reduced form-factor of the passives like on-chip antennas, and better lateral and range resolution (as a consequence of high bandwidth). At frequencies below 100 GHz, the limited bandwidth puts an upper limit on the maximum data-rate for communication systems, and it also limits the range resolution for FMCW RADAR systems. Hence, operation towards sub-mmWave frequencies provides an alternative in mitigating the limitations of the existing wireless systems at low frequencies. It also opens the possibility for new applications like high-resolution imaging for security and non-destructive testing, and material identification and characterization. The traditional optical techniques for signal generation and detection at sub-mmWave frequencies are bulky and expensive. The low integration density of III-V based electronic systems limits its scalability, especially for mass volume applications. The recent advancements in silicon process technologies have made it a viable low-cost alternative as compared to III-V based compound semiconductors. A significant advantage of silicon technologies is the high integration density. This allows the implementation of the digital and baseband electronics in the same chip resulting in a compact, and single-chip solution. This gives silicon-based systems a significant edge over the III-V semiconductors in terms of economies of scale. This thesis addresses the various circuit design challenges and system level considerations for the realization of a fully-integrated Tx and Rx chipset towards
sub-mmWave frequencies in SiGe BiCMOS technologies. The first part of the thesis is focused on the challenges at the individual circuit building blocks of the RF front-end. The challenges associated with the implementation of wideband amplifiers with high gain and output power at frequencies close to fmax/2 are addressed here. The limited output power of power amplifiers (PAs) limits the maximum range of wireless links, and is one of the significant impediments. In this thesis, the special considerations for loadline matching of PAs towards sub-mmWave frequencies are presented, and power combination techniques for PAs are explored for high power generation. Another key challenge addressed here is the implementation of a high-power wideband tunable local oscillator (LO) source operating at the fundamental frequency with low dc-power consumption. This is one of the key aspects in giving the chipset a generic attribute, which makes it suited for applications requiring a fixed (communication) or a wideband tunable LO (FMCW RADAR, imaging, material characterization). In terms of output power, bandwidth and figure-of-merit (FoM) at the individual building-block level, the results presented in this thesis are beyond the current state-of-the-art in silicon technologies and are comparable to implementations in III-V technologies. Based on the circuit building-blocks presented in the first part, a generic wideband fully integrated direct-conversion 240 GHz quadrature Tx and Rx chipset is implemented and presented in the second part of the thesis. The focus here is on the integration of wideband on-chip antennas designed to be used with an external replaceable silicon lens for high directivity. The chip-lens assembly is mounted on a low-cost PCB material (Rogers 4350B) for an overall compact form-factor. The on-chip antenna and chip-lens assembly is done in a collaborative teamwork and leverages the expertise of our research group in low-cost packaging. For wideband IF matching, stepped impedance microstrip-line based low-pass filters are implemented on the PCB. The packaged chipset was used to demonstrate a high data-rate communication system at 240 GHz over a wireless link of 70 cm. For QPSK and BPSK modulation schemes, the maximum measured data-rates using this chipset are 24 Gbps and 25 Gbps respectively. At the time of writing this thesis, this is the highest data-rate reported in the literature for fully integrated wireless systems above 200 GHz in silicon technologies. A different version of this chipset is used for the demonstration of a monostatic FMCW RADAR system operating in the 210-270 GHz frequency range, and it uses identical circuit building blocks. This proves the generic attribute of this implementation. Hence, the results from this work provide a holistic foundation towards mitigating the challenges at the circuit and system level for the realization of compact, low-cost and fully integrated silicon-based systems for emerging applications towards sub-mmWave frequencies.


Economists and economic historians want to know how much better life is today than in the past. Fifty years ago economic historians found surprisingly small gains from 19th century US railroads, while more recently economists have found relatively large gains from electricity, computers and cell phones. In each case the implicit or explicit assumption is that researchers were measuring the value of a new good to society. In this paper we use the same techniques to find the value to society of making existing goods cheaper. Henry Ford did not invent the car, and the inventors of mechanised cotton spinning in the industrial revolution invented no new product. But both made existing products dramatically cheaper, bringing them into the reach of many more consumers. That in turn has potentially large welfare effects. We find that the consumer surplus of Henry Ford's production line was around 2% by 1923, 15 years after Ford began to implement the moving assembly line, while the mechanisation of cotton spinning was worth around 6% by 1820, 34 years after its initial invention. Both are large: of the same order of magnitude as consumer expenditure on these items, and as large or larger than the value of the internet to consumers. On the social savings measure traditionally used by economic historians, these process innovations were worth 15% and 18% respectively, making them more important than railroads. Our results remind us that process innovations can be at least as important for welfare and productivity as the invention of new products.


Decision making is a critical element in the field of medicine that can lead to life-or-death outcomes, yet it is an element fraught with complex and conflicting variables, diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainties, patient preferences and values, and costs. Together, decisions made by physicians, patients, insurers, and policymakers determine the quality of health care, quality that depends inherently on counterbalancing risks and benefits and competing objectives such as maximizing life expectancy versus optimizing quality of life or quality of care versus economic realities. Broadly speaking, concepts in medical decision making (MDM) may be divided into two major categories: prescriptive and descriptive. Work in the area of prescriptive MDM investigates how medical decisions should be done using complicated analyses and algorithms to determine cost-effectiveness measures, prediction methods, and so on. In contrast, descriptive MDM studies how decisions actually are made involving human judgment, biases, social influences, patient factors, and so on. "The Encyclopedia of Medical Decision Making" gives a gentle introduction to both categories, revealing how medical and healthcare decisions are actually made - and constrained - and how physician, healthcare management, and patient decision making can be improved to optimize health outcomes. It discusses very general issues that span many aspects of MDM, including bioethics; health policy and economics; disaster simulation modeling; medical informatics; the psychology of decision making; shared and team medical decision making; social, moral, and religious factors; end-of-life decision making; assessing patient preference and patient adherence; and more. It incorporates both quantity and quality of life in optimizing a medical decision. It considers characteristics of the decision maker and how those characteristics influence their decisions. It presents outcome measures to judge the quality or impact of a medical decision. It examines some of the more commonly encountered biostatistical methods used in prescriptive decision making. It provides utility assessment techniques that facilitate quantitative medical decision making. It addresses the many different assumption perspectives the decision maker might choose from when trying to optimize a decision. It offers mechanisms for defining MDM algorithms.


This study is concerned with the rate of tympanic membrane perforation following the surgical removal of ventilation tubes. Consideration for inclusion in the study was given to all patients who had ventilation tubes surgically removed between 1982 and 1991 at The Hospital for Sick Children. All patients included in the study were followed for a minimum period of six months. The patients ranged in age from two to 13 years old, with a mean age of 4.7 years. Our study followed 203 ears which met the entry criteria. It was found that there were 21 (10.3%) documented perforations within this study group.


Tungsten carbide/oxide particles have been prepared by the gel precipitation of tungstic acid in the presence of an organic gelling agent [10% ammonium poly(acrylic acid) in water, supplied by Ciba Specialty Chemicals]. The feed solution; a homogeneous mixture of sodium tungstate and ammonium poly(acrylic acid) in water, was dropped from a 1-mm jet into hydrochloric acid saturated hexanol/concentrated hydrochloric acid to give particles of a mixture of tungstic acid and poly(acrylic acid), which, after drying in air at 100 degrees C and heating to 900 degrees C in argon for 2 h, followed by heating in carbon dioxide for a further 2 h and cooling, gives a mixture of WO, WC, and a trace of NaxWO3, with the carbon for the formation of WC being provided by the thermal carbonization of poly(acrylic acid). The pyrolyzed product is friable and easily broken down in a pestle and mortar to a fine powder or by ultrasonics, in water, to form a stable colloid. The temperature of carbide formation by this process is significantly lower (900 degrees C) than that reported for the commercial preparation of tungsten carbide, typically > 1400 degrees C. In addition, the need for prolonged grinding of the constituents is obviated because the reacting moieties are already in intimate contact on a molecular basis. X-ray diffraction, particle sizing, transmission electron microscopy, surface area, and pore size distribution studies have been carried out, and possible uses are suggested. A flow diagram for the process is described.


This thesis explored the ability of two trait EI subscales [Emotional recognition and expression (ERE), and Emotional control (EC)] to explain significant amounts of unique variance in health variables. It asked first, whether the relationship between trait EI and health was mediated by coping, social support or unhealthy behaviours; and second, whether the harmful effect of stressor exposure on health was moderated by trait EI subscales. The thesis focussed on two specific components of EI to aid understanding of how specific elements of trait EI influence health, cross sectional and longitudinal designs were used; both objective (salivary cortisol) and subjective (life event inventory) measures of stress were used; personality, gender and age were considered as control variables wherever the predictive power of EI was explored, and health was explored as a multidimensional construct. Additionally, the selected trait EI measure [the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT; Palmer & Stough, 2001)],was well matched to the ability EI model proposed by Mayer & Salovey (1997) and did not include correlates of trait EI such as facets personality. Original contribution to knowledge are; first, the longitudinal investigation of trait EI subscales and health; and second, the exploration in a naturalistic setting of the capacity of trait EI subscales to explain significant variance in cortisol reactivity, when personality, gender and age were controlled.

Results revealed neither ERE nor EC could explain significant amounts of variance in health variables (cross-sectionally or longitudinally), or in cortisol reactivity. However both ERE and EC were found to moderate the relationship between life event stressor exposure and health status. Moderational analyses revealed that, under a high frequency of stressful events, health was worse when EI subscales were low. In combination the results of these studies suggest that trait EI subscales ERE and EC are predictive of health only under high stress conditions. This finding is contradictory to the findings of recent meta analysis (Martins, Ramalho & Morin, in press), and discussion suggests that the discrepancy may be because past studies have used trait EI measures with content wider than the ability EI model (such as personality and happiness), which increased predictive power but reduced theoretical understanding.


Objectives The developing world is faced with a high burden of infectious disease and insufficient physicians to address these problems. The alternative model of medical training that characterizes Cuban social medicine has been credited with the major successes of Cuba's health system, but the possibility of applying this model to other developing countries has not been well studied. In Timor-Leste, physicians newly trained in Cuba in social medicine are returning to practice in the individual patient-focused health care system of Timor-Leste. Although the 1,000 newly graduated physicians expected to enter the Timorese national health system in the coming few years will help fill the current gap in human resources in health, the different approach to health problems afforded by their social medicine training may also present novel challenges. Methods The study design employed mixed methods, administering a quantitative questionnaire and performing qualitative semi-structured interviews with all 18 members of the first class of Timorese graduates of the Latin America School of Medicine in Cuba as well as with key informants in the Timorese medical community. Results Recent graduates demonstrated a social medicine directed approach to conceptualizing and addressing health issues, including strong public health skills with an emphasis on societal-level determinants of health. In addition, all respondents referred to a humanistic motivation to practice medicine, a service-oriented work ethos and a desire to work from within the community. Conclusions The integration of social medicine-trained physicians into the Timorese medical system may produce physicians who put a greater focus on societal-level, public health interventions and who share a humanistic ideology to practice medicine. That approach is relevant for the health problems of Timor-Leste and may in addition provide some resistance to brain drain.


The continuous dynamical system approach to deep learning is explored in order to devise alternative frameworks for training algorithms. Training is recast as a control problem and this allows us to formulate necessary optimality conditions in continuous time using the Pontryagin's maximum principle (PMP). A modification of the method of successive approximations is then used to solve the PMP, giving rise to an alternative training algorithm for deep learning. This approach has the advantage that rigorous error estimates and convergence results can be established. We also show that it may avoid some pitfalls of gradient-based methods, such as slow convergence on flat landscapes near saddle points. Furthermore, we demonstrate that it obtains favorable initial convergence rate per-iteration, provided Hamiltonian maximization can be efficiently carried out - a step which is still in need of improvement. Overall, the approach opens up new avenues to attack problems associated with deep learning, such as trapping in slow manifolds and inapplicability of gradient-based methods for discrete trainable variables.


Background Middle turbinate lateralization, adhesions, and inflammation are causes of suboptimal sinus patency following surgery. A bioabsorbable drug-eluting stent has been developed to maintain sinus patency while providing controlled steroid delivery to the sinus mucosa. The aim of this study was to characterize the in vivo drug delivery efficacy and tolerance of this stent in a rabbit model. Methods Bioabsorbable stents coated with mometasone furoate were placed bilaterally in the maxillary sinuses of 31 rabbits via dorsal maxillary sinusotomy. Animals were sacrificed between 5 days and 18 weeks postoperatively. Efficacy was assessed by measuring tissue concentrations of steroid in maxillary sinus and nasal mucosa and by measurement of plasma steroid concentrations. Tolerance was assessed by histological evaluation of the sinus mucosa at different time points. Results Therapeutic mucosal drug concentrations were attained in a time-dependent fashion (range 175–28,189 ng/g). Plasma drug concentrations were generally near or below the lower limit of quantification (15 pg/mL). Histopathological examination of the mucosa showed no differences in the reaction to steroid-coated stents versus nondrug-coated control stents, with inflammation, epithelial ulceration, and bony reaction ranging from none to mild at all time points. Microscopic fungal hyphae were noted in a small proportion of both treatment and control sinuses, without evidence of associated adverse tissue reaction. Conclusions In a rabbit model, mometasone-coated bioabsorbable stents are able to provide local steroid delivery with negligible systemic absorption. Corticosteroid-eluting stents may prove useful following endoscopic sinus surgery in maintaining sinus patency and reducing inflammation.


The Landscape and Environment programme was one of the first strategic research programmes to be launched by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) soon after it acquired its royal charter in 2005. In 2010, programme Director Stephen Daniels was awarded an 'Impact Fellowship' to continue his Directorship of the programme for a further year (supported by a Coordinator and Research Fellow), with the aim of consolidating the work completed under the five year programme (2005-2010), focussing particularly on enhancing the transformative impact of programme research both on the research field and outside academia. This statement by the Research Fellow places the Impact Fellowship within the context of the growing research impact agenda, before reviewing the activities of the project which used research on landscape and environment as a framework for demonstrating the value and impact of arts and humanities research more widely. The opportunities and challenges provided by the Impact Fellowship and other funding initiatives of its type, for both academics and external partner organisations are also explored.


It is well known that the most active period for brain development and acquisition of native language phonology occurs within the first year of life. For children who continue to speak their native language, early phonological representations may create the framework for the acquisition of more complex language abilities. However, internationally-adopted (IA) children discontinue their birth language when they begin to acquire their adopted language and, thus, exposure to and use of the language that gave rise to these native language representations is not maintained. In this chapter, we discuss neuro-cognitive evidence for the loss of elements of adoptees' birth language. The implications of the fate of the birth language are considered in the context of typical developmental processes that occur during the earliest stages of language acquisition. In particular, we consider the impact of early experiences with the birth language on second language development and processing in adoptees and in language learners in general.


Nanoclusters just by adding CO The most closely packed surfaces of transition metals are usually stable under vacuum, but during catalytic reactions, energetic changes that result from adsorbing molecules could change the surface structure. Eren et al. present an extreme example for carbon monoxide (CO) adsorption on the (111) surface of copper at very low partial pressures. The surface decomposed into small nanoclusters (most containing 3 or 19 atoms). The surface was more reactive than the original and, for example, could dissociate adsorbed water at room temperature. Science, this issue p. 475 The Cu(111) surface decomposes into nanoclusters under CO at pressures in the Torr range at room temperature. The (111) surface of copper (Cu), its most compact and lowest energy surface, became unstable when exposed to carbon monoxide (CO) gas. Scanning tunneling microscopy revealed that at room temperature in the pressure range 0.1 to 100 Torr, the surface decomposed into clusters decorated by CO molecules attached to edge atoms. Between 0.2 and a few Torr CO, the clusters became mobile in the scale of minutes. Density functional theory showed that the energy gain from CO binding to low-coordinated Cu atoms and the weakening of binding of Cu to neighboring atoms help drive this process. Particularly for softer metals, the optimal balance of these two effects occurs near reaction conditions. Cluster formation activated the surface for water dissociation, an important step in the water-gas shift reaction.


In recent years, plasmonic hydrogen sensing schemes using complex hybrid Pd@Au nanostructures have attracted significant attention. However, so far, most studies have focused on investigating the sensing performance of nanosensor geometries where the constituent materials are laterally coupled. In contrast to such planar hybrid systems, which often require complex multi-step fabrication approaches, sensing devices where the materials are stacked directly on top of each other can be fabricated in a single lithography step, enabling straightforward high-throughput processing. Here, we demonstrate a novel hydrogen sensing scheme which incorporates complex hybrid plasmonic nanostructures consisting of stacked gold and palladium nanodisks. In particular, we study the influence of stacking order and geometry, experimentally and numerically, to find an optimal arrangement for a hydrogen sensor device. With an optimized sensing geometry – a stack of gold as lower and palladium as upper disk – we obtain spectral shifts as large as 30 nm at 4 vol.% H2, which is a strong improvement compared to previous indirect sensing designs. Our samples yield large absorption and scattering signals and are fabricated by low-cost hole-mask colloidal lithography and therefore yield sample sizes over areas of 1 cm2.


This paper is the second part of a two-part paper which introduces a general schema theory for genetic programming (GP) with subtree-swapping crossover (Part I (Poli and McPhee, 2003)). Like other recent GP schema theory results, the theory gives an exact formulation (rather than a lower bound) for the expected number of instances of a schema at the next generation. The theory is based on a Cartesian node reference system, introduced in Part I, and on the notion of a variable-arity hyperschema, introduced here, which generalises previous definitions of a schema. The theory includes two main theorems describing the propagation of GP schemata: a microscopic and a macroscopic schema theorem. The microscopic version is applicable to crossover operators which replace a subtree in one parent with a subtree from the other parent to produce the offspring. Therefore, this theorem is applicable to Koza's GP crossover with and without uniform selection of the crossover points, as well as one-point crossover, size-fair crossover, strongly-typed GP crossover, context-preserving crossover and many others. The macroscopic version is applicable to crossover operators in which the probability of selecting any two crossover points in the parents depends only on the parents' size and shape. In the paper we provide examples, we show how the theory can be specialised to specific crossover operators and we illustrate how it can be used to derive other general results. These include an exact definition of effective fitness and a size-evolution equation for GP with subtree-swapping crossover.


Composed in 10th and 11th century ce, the Shāhnāmeh (The Book of the Kings) contains Iranian ancient history since the first king, Gayumart/Kayumars, up to the end of Sasanian era. One reason behind its popularity is the poet's method and art in describing and explaining ancient religious elements in such a way that it does not cause religious bias among Zoroastrians and Muslims. This article shows that Ferdowsi has employed various methods to read religious issues of ancient Iran in the light of the social, cultural, and religious spirit of his own time. In his epic narratives, Ferdowsi paid serious attention to contemporary beliefs and social conditions, and this can account for the popularity of the Shāhnāmeh and its lasting influence.


The ability to transfer in reinforcement learning is key towards building an agent of general artificial intelligence. In this paper, we consider the problem of learning to simultaneously transfer across both environments and tasks, probably more importantly, by learning from only sparse (environment, task) pairs out of all the possible combinations. We propose a novel compositional neural network architecture which depicts a meta rule for composing policies from environment and task embeddings. Notably, one of the main challenges is to learn the embeddings jointly with the meta rule. We further propose new training methods to disentangle the embeddings, making them both distinctive signatures of the environments and tasks and effective building blocks for composing the policies. Experiments on GridWorld and THOR, of which the agent takes as input an egocentric view, show that our approach gives rise to high success rates on all the (environment, task) pairs after learning from only 40% of them.


Xist (X-inactive specific transcript), a prototype long non-coding RNA, is essential for establishing X chromosome inactivation (XCI) in early embryos. However, its role in maintaining XCI in soma is unclear. When Xist was conditionally deleted in somatic cells from the inactive X (Xi ), only rare and sporadic gene reactivation could be detected. We carried out high-resolution RNA allelotyping by padlock SNP capture on a panel of wild type and mutant mouse cell lines. We confirm that low level (~4%) gene reactivation occurs along Xi, but the pattern is not sporadic. A gene with its upstream region enriched for SINEs (a class of retrotransposon transcribed by RNA polymerase III) is prone to be reactivated. Intriguingly, Pol III transcription from non-coding regions is largely independent of Xist-mediated transcriptional silencing. Pol III inhibition alters chromatin looping and impairs XCI suggesting a role of Pol III transcription in regulating chromatin architecture. In the second project of my graduate research, plasmid fusion constructs of mH2A and miniSOG were established. miniSOG catalyzes polymerization of diaminobenzidine (DAB) which is osmiophilic. Therefore miniSOG can be used to label protein targets in live cells for downstream electron microscope (EM) studies. macroH2A (mH2A) is a histone variant enriched on Xi. One mH2AminiSOG fusion construct successfully labeled Xi for fluorescent microscopy and photo-oxidation (DAB polymerization). It is ready to be used as the EM tag for future studies on the chromatin structures of the Barr body.


M. Assad Elnidani* Jay E. Aronson** The multiperiod assignment problem is an important specialization of the three dimensional assignment problem, which is a generalization of the classical (two dimensional) assignment problem. This model describes the optimization problem of assigning people to activities (jobs) over several time periods. In the most general case, there is a cost assigning a person to an activity in each time period, and a cost of transferring a person from one activity in each period to another activity in the following period. The number of time periods is not restricted to equal the number of persons and activities. We present an integer, multiperiod, multicommodity network flow model formulation of the multiperiod assignment problem. we develop a specialized branch and bound algorithm that exploits the multicommodity structure of the model. We report favorable computational results of an implementation of the algorithm, and compare them to those of a commercial mixed-integer, linear programming code.


Innovation has become a key element of the economic growth of highly developed countries. Moreover, it is an undisputed fact that Switzerland needs to strengthen its efforts at innovation. This has become clear, among
other things in the message of the Federal Council, the Swiss government, which emphasises the promotion of education, research and technology for the years 2004 to 2007. Speedy implementation of technological and scientific potentials into innovative products and services is one of the primordial requirements to be competitive in the marketplace and, hence, to secure jobs. Primarily, this is a challenge to entrepreneurs. It is more demanding to launch into activities with innovative products and services, and greater risks are involved, than in the rationalisation of existing productions. Nevertheless, although entrepreneurial skills and qualities are at the fore with regard to successful innovative processes, the influence of the state with its framework should not be overlooked. It is well worth examining and reconsidering these factors from time to time.Comparing the Swiss innovation system with those of other countries can be a highly profitable exercise.


Silica alumina supported Mo@Pt overlayer catalysts were prepared via the directed deposition technique and evaluated for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of guaiacol and anisole. As predicted computationally, Mo@Pt overlayers showed reduced heats of hydrogen and carbon monoxide adsorption via chemisorption. The decreased activity of Mo@Pt overlayer catalysts for the ethylene hydrogenation descriptor reaction also suggested decreased hydrogen adsorption strength compared to a Pt only catalyst. H2-TPR results demonstrated the close interaction between Pt and Mo species for Mo@Pt overlayer catalysts and the enhanced reducibility of the molybdenum oxides via deposition of Pt to Mo. Mo@Pt overlayer catalysts showed significantly improved guaiacol and anisole hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) activity compared to the monometallic Pt and Mo catalysts. For the guaiacol HDO reaction at 350 °C, the Mo@Pt double deposition (DD) showed the highest HDO turnover frequency (TOF), twice as high as that of Pt and Mo catalysts. For the Mo@Pt DD catalyst, the selectivity to benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) could reach up to 80% for HDO of guaiacol and anisole at high contact time compared to 43% for HDO of anisole over the Pt catalyst.


Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), manifested as a primary cause of skin infections, was invasive among healthy adults and children with clinical, epidemiologic, and bacteriologic characteristics distinct from healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) resulting in increased length of hospitalization, healthcare costs and increased mortality. Nonetheless, vancomycin 1 was considered as the standard therapy. However, the limitations of vancomycin 1 application in clinical practice were represented by a progressive increase in Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA) Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC), drug-related toxicity, and the lack of an oral formulation. Vancomycin 1 might be inferior to beta-lactams for bacteremia treatment because of Methicillin Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) in children. Vancomycin 1, a glycopeptide antibiotic, was first isolated in 1953 as a natural occurring antimicrobial agent produced by soil bacterium Amycolatopsis orientalis. Vancomycin 1 was approved for use in 1958 as a common antibiotic in treating rapidly growing penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus species. However, this antibiotic was not a primary choice of the treatment owing to its poor oral bioavailability and its various adverse effects. The evolution of Pseudomembranous enterocolitis, coupled with the spread of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), led to the re-emergence of positive bacteria that were resistant to less-toxic agents. In addition, vancomycin 1 was used in patients who were intolerant or allergic to beta-lactams. This review encapsulates the strategies for the clinical management of MRSA.


Molecular assemblies can have highly heterogeneous dynamics within the cell, but the limitations of conventional fluorescence microscopy can mask nanometer-scale features. We have developed a novel, broadly applicable, fluorescent labeling and imaging protocol, called Single-molecule Recovery After Photobleaching (SRAP), which allowed us to reveal the heterogeneous dynamics of the eisosome, a multi-protein structure on the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane in fungi. By fluorescently labeling only a small fraction of cellular Pil1p, the core eisosome BAR domain protein in fission yeast, we visualized whole eisosomes and, after photobleaching, recorded the binding of individual Pil1p molecules with ~20 nm precision. Further analysis of these dynamic structures and comparison to computer simulations allowed us to show that Pil1p exchange is spatially heterogeneous, supporting a new model of the eisosome as a dynamic filament. Abbreviations used BAR Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs domain FRAP Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching mEGFP monomeric Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein SiR647 silicon-rhodamine 647 TIRF Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence


The universal primer three-primer approach can dramatically reduce the cost when genotyping the microsatellites. One former research reported four universal primers that can be used in singleplex and multiplex genotyping. In this study, we proposed an alternative suite of universal primers with four dyes for genotyping 8–12 loci in one single run. This multiplex method was tested on Tetranychus truncatus. Published microsatellite loci of T. kanzawai, Frankliniella occidentalis and Nilaparvata lugens were modified as needed and also tested. The robustness of the method was confirmed by comparing with singleplex using multiple fluorophores and genotyping two populations of T. truncatus. This method showed lower signal strength than the singleplex three-primer system, but it was still sufficient to determine the fragment length. The cost of such a project can be reduced dramatically when many loci of different species are involved. In this way, laboratories performing population genetic analyses or studying several different species may benefit from the use of this cost-effective protocol.


This article examines career transitions in creative industries that involve geographical relocation from large metropolitan creative cities to small, remote and marginal urbanities. Drawing on 31 in-depth interviews with freelancers who have relocated to peripheral Southern European locales, the article explores the ways in which creative workers make sense of and justify their career transitions away from the metropolis, while reassessing reflexively over their lifespan the shifting meaning of their career success. We propose the adoption of Nussbaum's capability approach in the study of such career transitions as a means of strengthening current theorizing about the role played by urban contexts in individual conceptualizations of career success and meaningful professional identities. Applying this analytical lens, we tease out the ways in which our informants perceived the influence exerted by different urban contexts on their capacity to enact a set of capabilities for the attainment of well-being and quality of life at different stages in their careers while striving to preserve a stable professional identity as creative workers. We argue that a good life evaluation, which includes a reflexive and comprehensive reassessment of the capabilities to live life well while pursuing a creative career, underlies creative workers' shifting interpretations of geographical career transition that contravene conventional measures of career upward mobility, development and growth.


We have grown accustomed to performing elaborate queries on textual data, e.g. via online search engines, file system managers and word processors. In the past decade, retrieval methods that also work on non-textual data have become mainstream (e.g. face recognition software). Sadly, these developments have so far not caught on for data mining within geometrical data, e.g. 3D meshes generated in the course of architectural work. Specifically during data exchange, such a search functionality would be handy, as it often happens that geometry is exported but object identity is lost think, for example, of generative geometry or exported BIM data. In this paper, we present an example of such a search functionality, based on angular search. Our method is inspired by regular expressions, a string matching technique commonly employed for matching substrings.


OBJECTIVE
Air diplacement plethysmography (ADP) has become increasingly popular to assess body composition in children. The aim of this study was to compare ADP with deuterium dilution and to investigate the effect of using child-specific prediction equations to correct raw body volume from ADP for thoracic gas volume (TGV) and body surface area (BSA).

METHODS
Thirty-seven healthy Dutch children (17 girls, 20 boys) aged 10-13 years were recruited. Body volume was measured using the Bod Pod. Both adult and child-specific prediction equations were used to correct raw body volume from the Bod Pod for TGV and BSA. Total body water (TBW) was assessed using deuterium dilution. Child-specific densities and hydration fractions of fat-free mass were used to convert body volume and TBW to percentage fat mass (%FM). Correlation and agreement between methods was assessed using linear regression analysis and Bland-Altman plots.

RESULTS
Despite a high correlation between the Bod Pod and deuterium dilution (R=0.91, p <0.001), a significant difference was found between %FM obtained using the Bod Pod and deuterium dilution (p <0.001), regardless of the equation used to correct raw body volume for TGV and BSA. Bland-Altman plots showed a systematic bias towards a smaller difference between techniques at higher %FM.

CONCLUSION
Significant differences in %FM were found between both methods. Given the underlying assumptions to translate body volume or TBW to %FM, it is recommended to use a 3- or 4-compartment model when assessing body composition in children.


Periodic lattices of strongly scattering objects coupled to active media are of central importance in applied nanophotonics, serving as light-emitting metasurfaces of tailored emission properties and promising an attractive platform for testing novel physical concepts and realization of unprecedented light-shaping functions. We provide an overview of the semianalytical Green function method with Ewald lattice summation applied to the investigation of surface lattice resonances in periodic arrays of resonant nanoscatterers with gain and loss. This theory is meant as a minimal model for plasmonic lattices and metasurfaces with gain: minimal in complexity, yet sufficiently rich to be a self-consistent, fully retarded multiple scattering model. It enables to include the electromagnetic interactions between electric and/or magnetic point dipoles of arbitrary orientation and arrangement, taking into account retardation and tensorial nature of these interactions and including radiation damping. It gives access to the far-field observables (reflection/transmission), as well as to the photonic band structure of guided modes. At the same time, it does not violate the optical theorem, as opposed to the commonly used tight-binding or quasi-static models. After extending the lattice Green function formalism to include gain and loss in the unit cell, we demonstrate the effects of parity-time (PT) symmetry breaking in active-lossy plasmonic arrays: the emergence of exceptional points, nontrivial topology of photonic bands, diverging effective unit-cell polarizability, and spin polarization in the PT-broken phase.


We report for the first time the development of a distance-based paper sensor for a simple, inexpensive, instrument-free, and portable determination of chloride ions. Our analysis reaction is based on the oxidative etching of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to form AgCl in the presence of Cl- and H2O2. H2O2 reacts with AgNPs in the channel of the paper device and Cl- in the sample forming a white precipitate (AgCl) where the white color band length is proportional to the Cl- concentration. Quantification of Cl- is achieved by measuring the length of the white color band using a ruler printed on the side of the channel. Under optimal conditions, the distance-based paper sensor was characterized by a working range of 25-1000 mg L-1 (R2 = 0.9954) and the naked eye detection limit (LOD) was 2 mg L-1 (0.08 μg). Our sensor was found to be reproducible with a relative standard deviation of less than 4.51% (n = 10). The levels of Cl- in real water samples measured using our proposed device were within the error of the values measured using traditional tests but without the need for any external instrumentation. Therefore, our proposed method presents acceptable accuracy, precision, and high selectivity for point of need monitoring of Cl- in real water samples.


Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to document the relationship between intellectual capital disclosure and analyst following for biotechnology firms listed at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange during the period between 2001 and 2010. Design/methodology/approach: Intellectual capital disclosure was computed from financial statements, while analyst following data was retrieved from I/B/E/S. Findings: The results show that analysts are more likely to follow firms with high intellectual capital disclosure. This finding is consistent with the fact that analysts wish to follow those firms for which they have more information. Our results also show that intellectual capital disclosure related to employees and strategic statements are the most important disclosures for analysts. Research limitations/implications: More relevant methods, such as survey or interviews with management, may be used to improve the information content of intellectual capital disclosure. Analysts, probably, deduce intellectual capital of a firm from interaction with management rather than financial statements. Practical implications: Firms in biotechnology sector can improve their information environment by disclosing more information regarding their intellectual capital in financial statements. Originality/value: Our findings shed light on the importance of intellectual capital in biotechnology sector for analysts.


Social network analysis (SNA) has become a mature scientific field over the last 50 years and is now an area with massive commercial appeal and renewed research interest. In this paper, we argue that new methods for collecting social nework strucuture, and the shift in scale of these networks, introduces a greater degree of imprecision that requires rethinking on how SNA techniques can be applied. We discuss a new area in data management, probabilistic databases, whose main research goal is to provide tools to manage and manipulate imprecise or uncertain data. We outline the application building blocks necessary to build a large scale social networking application and the extent to which current research in probabilisitc databases addresses these challenges.


ABSTRACT The orphan nuclear receptor steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) is a critical developmental regulator in the urogenital ridge, because mice targeted for disruption of the SF-1 gene lack adrenal glands and gonads. SF-1 was recently shown to interact with DAX-1, another orphan receptor whose tissue distribution overlaps that of SF-1. Naturally occurring loss-of-function mutations of the DAX-1 gene cause the human disorder X-linked adrenal hypoplasia congenita (AHC), which resembles the phenotype of SF-1-deficient mice. Paradoxically, however, DAX-1 represses the transcriptional activity of SF-1, and AHC mutants of DAX-1 lose repression function. To further investigate these findings, we characterized the interaction between SF-1 and DAX-1 and found that their interaction indeed occurs through a repressive domain within the carboxy terminus of SF-1. Furthermore, we demonstrate that DAX-1 recruits the nuclear receptor corepressor N-CoR to SF-1, whereas naturally occurring AHC mutations of DAX-1 permit the SF-1–DAX-1 interaction, but markedly diminish corepressor recruitment. Finally, the interaction between DAX-1 and N-CoR shares similarities with that of the nuclear receptor RevErb and N-CoR, because the related corepressor SMRT was not efficiently recruited by DAX-1. Therefore, DAX-1 can serve as an adapter molecule that recruits nuclear receptor corepressors to DNA-bound nuclear receptors like SF-1, thereby extending the range of corepressor action.


Field studies in polluted areas over the last decade have observed large formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) that is often poorly captured by models. Four parameterizations for urban secondary organic aerosol (SOA), frequently used in 3D models, are evaluated using a box model representing the Los Angeles Region during the CalNex 2010 field campaign. The model SOA formed only from the oxidation of VOCs (V-SOA) is insufficient to explain the observed SOA, even with parameterizations with multi-generation oxidation that produce much higher yields than have been observed in chamber experiments, or with increased yields to their upper limit estimates accounting for recently reported losses of vapors to chamber walls. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (WRF-CMAQ) model (v.5.0.1) underestimates the observed SOA mass by a factor of 25, which is consistent with many previous model-measurement comparisons for pre-2007 anthropogenic SOA modules in urban areas. Including SOA from primary semi-volatile and intermediate volatility organic compounds (P-S/IVOCs) improves model/measurement agreement for mass concentration. The results from 3 parameterizations show large differences and are not well constrained, underscoring the current uncertainties in this area. Our results strongly suggest that other precursors besides VOCs, such as P-S/IVOCs, are needed to explain the observed SOA concentrations in Pasadena. All the recent parameterizations overpredict urban SOA formation at long photochemical ages (~3 days). Reducing IVOC emissions by one-half in the model to better match recent IVOC measurements improves SOA predictions at these long photochemical ages. Measured polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalenes) contribute 0.7% of the modeled SOA mass. The amounts of SOA mass from diesel vehicles, gasoline vehicles, and cooking emissions are estimated to be 16 – 27%, 35 – 61%, and 19 – 35%, respectively, consistent with the observed fossil fraction of urban SOA, 71(±3)%. In-basin biogenic VOCs are predicted to contribute only a few percent to SOA, while there is likely a substantial contribution from regional biogenic SOA to the OA background. The percentage of SOA from diesel vehicle emissions is consistent with previous studies of the weekly cycle. However, the modeling work presented here suggests a strong anthropogenic source of modern carbon in SOA, due to cooking emissions, which was not accounted for in those previous studies, and which is higher on weekends. A simple two-parameter model successfully predicts SOA concentration, and the optimal parameter combination is very similar to that for Mexico City. This approach provides a computationally inexpensive method for predicting urban SOA. An Oxidation Flow Reactor (OFR) was also deployed during CalNex. The reactor achieved equivalent atmospheric aging from hours up to several weeks. Enhancement of OA from aging showed a maximum net SOA production between 0.8–6 days of aging with net OA mass loss beyond 2 weeks. Reactor SOA mass peaked at night, in the absence of ambient photochemistry and correlated with trimethylbenzene concentrations. Reactor SOA formation was inversely correlated with ambient SOA and Ox, which along with the short-lived VOC correlation, indicates the importance of relatively reactive (OH ~0.3 day) SOA precursors in the LA-Basin. Evolution of the elemental composition in the reactor was similar to trends observed in the atmosphere (O:C vs. H:C slope ~ -0.65). The ratio of OA in the reactor output to excess CO (CO, ambient CO above regional background) vs. photochemical age is similar to previous studies at low to moderate ages and also extends to higher ages where OA loss dominates. A comparison of urban SOA formation in this study with a similar study of vehicle SOA in a tunnel supports the dominance of vehicle emissions in urban SOA. Pre-2007 SOA models underpredict SOA formation by an order of magnitude, while a more recent model performs better but overpredicts at higher ages.


Forest certification is widely seen as an important component of strategies for conserving the world"s forests. During the 1990s concern about the loss of biodiversity in logged forests was a key driver behind the emergence of forest certification. It was thought that by adhering to strict standards, production forests could help protecting biodiversity. Forest certification was introduced more than 15 years ago and since then more than 300 million hectares of forests have been certified under a variety of schemes. But does it work? Tropenbos International (TBI) now presents the results of a literature study evaluating the effects of forest certification on the biodiversity of temperate, boreal, and tropical forests. This publication addresses the effects of forest certification on biodiversity by discussing what biodiversity is, how it is measured, what sustainable forest management is, and by analyzing the available scientific literature on the effects of forest management activities and certification on biodiversity.


The author discusses express cubes, k-ary n-cube interconnection networks augmented by express channels that provide a short path for nonlocal messages. An express cube combines the logarithmic diameter of a multistage network with the wire-efficiency and ability to exploit locality of a low-dimensional mesh network. The insertion of express channels reduces the network diameter and thus the distance component of network latency. Wire length is increased, allowing networks to operate with latencies that approach the physical speed-of-light limitation rather than being limited by node delays. Express channels increase wire bisection in a manner that allows the bisection to be controlled independently of the choice of radix, dimension, and channel width. By increasing wire bisection to saturate the available wiring media, throughput can be substantially increased. With an express cube both latency and throughput are wire-limited and within a small factor of the physical limit on performance. >


This book presents a fresh exploration of happiness through the ideas of the ancient Greek philosophers. It introduces readers to the main currents of Greek ethical thought (Socratic living, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, Stoicism, Cynicism) and takes a close look at characters such as Socrates, Diogenes and Alexander the Great. Yet Happiness and Greek Ethical Thought is much more than just a casual stroll through ancient thinking. It attempts to show how certain common themes in Greek thought are essential for living a happy life in any age. The author maintains that, in many respects, the Greek integrative ideal, contrary to the hedonistic individualism that many pluralistic societies at least implicitly advocate, is a much richer alternative that warrants honest reconsideration today.


Everyone knows about Avocados... but did you know that Avocado Seeds are full of great health benefits? Avocado Seeds have more antioxidants than most fruits and veggies on the market and polyphenols like green tea, plus they are full of more soluble fiber than just about any other food. — Wow! In fact Avocado Seed has 70% of the antioxidants found in the whole Avocado and Avocado Seed Oil is also full of antioxidants, lowers cholesterol and helps fight off disease and studies show that Avocado Seed has more soluble fiber than oatmeal and just about any other food. Avocado Seed helps to prevent cardiovascular disease, lower cholesterol and prevent strokes. Avocado Seed are great for inflammation of the GI tract and diarrhea too! In fact in South America Avocado Seeds are used for dysentery and other GI tract problems. Avocado Seeds has lots of phenolic compounds that help to prevent gastric ulcers and prevent bacterial and viral diseases. Avocado Seed contains a flavonol that prevents tumor growth... in fact studies with rats with cancer given Avocado Seed powder looks promising. Avocado Seeds boost your immune system and keep you from coming down with debilitating diseases. Keeping your immune system high, because antioxidants keep free radicals at bay... and slows the aging process. Avocado Seeds seems to have a good anti-inflammatory ability and thus helps with arthritis and other joint diseases. Avocado Seed Oil has been shown in studies to increase collagen in your skin thus helping to keep your skin looking young and wrinkle free. Avocado Seed Oil will make your hair shiny and help get rid of dry dead skin.


This article examines livelihood diversification strategies of rural households using survey data from the Himalayas. We present and explore an analytical framework that yields different activity choices as optimal solutions to a simple utility maximization problem. By classifying the range of activities of rural households into a few distinct categories based on their profitability and by considering portfolios of farm and nonfarm activities, we provide novel insights into diversification behaviour of rural households. The evidence shows that while the poor are mainly agricultural labourers and work in the low-return non-farm sector, the better-off diversify in high-return nonfarm activities. As expected, we find strong evidence that education plays a major role in accessing more remunerative non-farm employment. A somewhat less intuitive finding is that larger household size is associated with higher probability of diversification into the high-return non-farm sector. The finding that the farm size is not a constraint to diversification in lucrative non-farm employment is also surprising. Geographical location plays a role in diversification behaviour of rural households indicating the importance of local context.


A series of experiments was conducted with the view of obtaining baseline information
on the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on Tasmanian Oak for the purpose of improving
the quality of the seasoned structural timber product. Tasmanian Oak is the marketing
name for a triad of Tasmanian-grown eucalypt species (E. delegatensis, E. obliqua, and E.
regnans). Incubation of freshly-milled timber in aqueous PEG solutions prior to
seasoning follows on from investigations in northern hemispheric timber species such as
hoop pine and spruce in the middle of the 20th Century.
PEG penetrates freshly sawn Tasmanian Oak in a manner which is considerate of
incubation time, temperature, PEG molecular weight/size and timber density.
Histological examination indicated that PEG penetrated completely throughout the
structure of the wood substance in three orientations (transverse, radial and tangential).
During air-drying of PEG soaked timber, further migration of PEG into Tasmanian Oak is
negligible. The rate of moisture content loss in Tasmanian Oak was shown to be retarded
by PEG pre-treatment although the ability to prevent moisture loss was not concomitant
with dimensional stability. An investigation to explain the change in rate of moisture loss
examined effects on the thermodynamic property, water activity. Results indicated that a
change in solution water activity could partly expain changes in the rate of moisture
content loss, but more research is required to better divine this relationship.
Shrinkage in Tasmanian Oak was reduced after treatment with aqueous PEG 400
solutions at or above 30% (v/v), with a greater percentage reduction in tangential
shrinkage compared to reduction in radial shrinkage. This is significant as backsawn (a.k.a. flatsawn) timber, with its broader tangential face, was in particular focus. The
reduction in shrinkage was consistent with PEG concentration in the incubating medium.
A decrease in the formation of drying defect, such as surface and internal checking
accompanied the improvement in keeping sawn dimensions.
Backsawn Tasmanian Oak obtained from young trees (less than 20 years) from plantation
resource presents a challenging profile for commercial timber drying and will become
more prevalent as the logging of old-growth forests is phased out. Timber seasoners may
be faced with options of longer drying times or lower yields due to drying defect unless a
method can be developed to provide added protection to the sawn timber product during
drying. At this stage, pre-treatment of Tasmanian Oak with PEG shows the hallmarks of
providing a solution to this emerging dilemma.


Ability to use information and communication technologies (ICT) is an imperative for effective participation in todays digital age. Schools worldwide are responding to the need to provide young people with that ability. But how effective are they in this regard? The IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) responded to this question by studying the extent to which young people have developed computer and information literacy (CIL), which is defined as the ability to use computers to investigate, create and communicate with others at home, school, the workplace and in society.The study was conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and builds on a series of earlier IEA studies focusing on ICT in education.Data were gathered from almost 60,000 Grade 8 students in more than 3,300 schools from 21 education systems. This information was augmented by data from almost 35,000 teachers in those schools and by contextual data collected from school ICT-coordinators, school principals and the ICILS national research centers.The IEA ICILS team systematically investigated differences among the participating countries in students CIL outcomes, how participating countries were providing CIL-related education and how confident teachers were in using ICT in their pedagogical practice. The team also explored differences within and across countries with respect to relationships between CIL education outcomes and student characteristics and school contexts.In general, the study findings presented in this international report challenge the notion of young people as digital natives with a self-developed capacity to use digital technology. The large variations in CIL proficiency within and across the ICILS countries suggest it is naive to expect young people to develop CIL in the absence of coherent learning programs. Findings also indicate that system- and school-level planning needs to focus on increasing teacher expertise in using ICT for pedagogical purposes if such programs are to have the desired effect.The report furthermore presents an empirically derived scale and description of CIL learning that educational stakeholders can reference when deliberating about CIL education and use to monitor change in CIL over time.


Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an important role in normal physiological functions and pathological processes. They are involved in normal skin functions as well as in the aging, healing, embryonic development, reproduction, and inflammatory responses of skin. Previous studies report that both high MMP-1 and MMP-2 activities were found in the skin of patients with dermatitis, and large amounts of MMP-9 have been reported to be accumulated in unhealed wounds. Interleukin-8 (IL-8), a C-X-C chemokine, may mediate neutrophil recruitment and activation and is involved in various inflammatory skin diseases. In this study, eleven Chinese herbal medicines were analyzed for their potential as anti-inflammatory agents using human fibroblast WS-1 cell lines. The results indicate MMP-1 and -9, but not MMP-2, were induced by TNF-α treatment in WS-1 cells. However, when WS-1 cells were pre-treated with eleven Chinese herbal medicines before TNF-α stimulation, all these herbal medicines suppressed TNF-α-stimulated MMP-1 activity in WS-1 cells as analyzed by casein zymography. In addition, the suppression of MMP-9 activity was also observed when WS-1 cells were treated with either Paeonia suffruticosa, Scutellaria baicalensis, Saposhnikovia divaricata, Dioscorea opposita, Rubus chingii, or Salvia miltiorrhiza. Of which, R. chingii significantly inhibited IL-8 secretion induced by TNF-α treatment as well. These results revealed that some novel components present in these Chinese herbal medicines may be used for the treatment of inflammatory responses in skin cells.


A photoinjector, PHIN (PHotoINjector), has been realized at CERN by a joint effort of several institutes within the European Coordinated Accelerator Research in Europe program. The test facility has been installed and commissioned at CERN with the aim to demonstrate the beam parameters needed for the CLIC Test Facility 3 (CTF3). This beam is unique with respect to its long bunch train and high average charge per bunch requirements. The nominal beam for CTF3 consists of 1908 bunches each having a 2.33 nC charge and a bunch frequency of 1.5 GHz. Thus, a total charge of similar to 4.4 mu C has to be extracted and accelerated. The stability of the intensity and the beam parameters along this exceptionally high average current train is crucial for the correct functioning of the CLIC drive beam scheme. Consequently, extensive time-resolved measurements of the transverse and longitudinal beam parameters have been developed, optimized, and performed. The shot-to-shot intensity stability has been studied in detail for the electron and the laser beams, simultaneously. The PHIN photoinjector has been commissioned between 2008 and 2010 during intermittent operations. This paper reports on the obtained results in order to demonstrate the feasibility and the stability of the required beam parameters.


This paper presents an alternative explanation of the gender pay gap resting on a simple Hotelling-style duopsony model of the labour market. Since there are only two employers, equally productive women and men have to commute and face travel cost to do so. We assume that some women have higher travel cost, e.g., due to more domestic responsibilities. Employers exploit that women on average are less inclined to commute and offer lower wages to all women. Since women's firm-level labour supply is for this reason less wage-elastic, this model is in line with Robinson's explanation of wage discrimination.


We detail in this paper an integral approach in order to cope with the computation of flows of a compressible fluid in a physical domain containing many small obstacles. The basic methodology and the main ingredients used in schemes are provided, together with some exact solutions that are used to benchmark the integral approach. The latter is compared to the reference solution that accounts for all obstacles through standard wall-boundary conditions. Numerical results are also shown to be more accurate than the standard well-balanced approach. This work is actually the sequel of paper [1] that investigates the computation of compressible flows in variable cross-section ducts.


Some of the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) continuous, steel, welded plate girder bridges have developed web cracking in the negative moment regions at the diaphragm connection plates. The cracks are due to out-of-plane bending of the web near the top flange of the girder. The out-of-plane bending occurs in the "web-gap," which is the portion of the girder web between (1) the top of the fillet welds attaching the diaphragm connection plate to the web and (2) the fillet welds attaching the flange to the web. A literature search indicated that four retrofit techniques have been suggested by other researchers to prevent or control this type of cracking: (1) drilling holes at crack tip locations, (2) increasing the web gap length, (3) providing rigid attachment between the connection plate and the tension flange, and (4) removing the diaphragms. To eliminate the problem in new bridges, current AASHTO Specifications require a positive attachment between the connection plate and the top (tension) flange. Applying this requirement to existing bridges is expensive and difficult. The Iowa DOT has relied primarily on the hole-drilling technique to prevent crack extension once cracking has occurred; however, the literature indicates that hole-drilling alone may not be entirely effective in preventing crack extension. The objective of this research was to investigate experimentally a method proposed by the Iowa DOT to prevent cracking at the diaphragm/plate girder connection in steel bridges with Xtype or K-type diaphragms. The method consists of loosening the bolts at some connections between the diaphragm diagonals and the connection plates. The experimental investigation of the method included selecting and testing five bridges: three with X-type diaphragms and two with K-type diaphragms. During 1996 and 1997, these bridges were instrumented using strain gages and displacement transducers to obtain the response at various locations (web gaps, diaphragm elements, and girder flanges and webs) before and after implementing the method. Bridges were subjected to loaded test trucks traveling in different lanes with speeds varying from crawl speed to 65 mph (104 km/h) to determine the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results of the study show that the effect of out-of-plane loading was confined to widths of approximately 4 inches (100 mm) on either side of the connection plates. Further, they demonstrate that the stresses in gaps with drilled holes were higher than those in gaps without cracks, implying that the drilling hole technique is not sufficient to prevent crack extension. The behavior of the web gaps in X-type diaphragm bridges was greatly enhanced by the proposed method as the stress range and out-of-plane distortion were reduced by at least 42% at the exterior girders. For bridges with K-type diaphragms, a similar trend was obtained. However, the stress range increased in one of the web gaps after implementing the proposed method. Other design aspects (wind, stability of compression flange, and lateral distribution of loads) must be considered when deciding whether to adopt the proposed method. Considering the results of this investigation, the proposed method can be implemented for X-type diaphragm bridges. Further research is recommended for K-type diaphragm bridges.


Paul R. Cheesman and Millie F. Cheesman, Ancient American Indians: Their Origins, Civilizations and Old World Connections. Bountiful, UT: Horizon, 1991. 273 pp. $18.95. Reviewed by Martin Raish Several years ago I attended a presentation that consisted of pairs of slides juxtaposing objects from the Old World with similar ones from the New. The point was to show so many Old/New World correspondences that those in attendance could see for themselves that people had sailed across the oceans in ancient times and had influenced the cultures of the Americas. One pair of images that I especially remember matched the mask of Agamemnon from the royal tomb in Mycenae with an example of Mixtec jewelry from Oaxaca, Mexico. But while many in the audience were ohhing and ahhing at the apparent resemblances-bmh were, after all, gold facesI was pondering their equally notable differences. For example, the first was nearly life-size, portrayed a real person, and was fashioned from a single lump of gold, while the latter was only three inches tall, was an image of the god Xipe Totec, and was made by the lost-wax casting process. This sort of slipshod "scholarship"-that shines light on only those bits of information that suppon the argument at hand while ignoring everything else-has always annoyed me. So when I saw these same two objects on the cover of this book I knew that I was in for a disappointing experience. I was right. This is really two books in one. The fIrst is a travel guide to major archaeological sites in North America, designed to "acquaint the reader with some of the more prominent" of these places and with some contemporary Native American groups. Although well-intended, it is poorly balanced in its coverage of the various sites. All are supposedly "major," but the space devoted to "Anasazi Valley"-a privately owned site near St. George, Utah-seems excessive when notable places such as Canyon de Chelley and Hovenweep are not mentioned at all. Similarly, this seems an inappropriate context to discuss controversial and poorly documented objects such as stone tablets with engravings "similar to Maya pictoglyphs (sic]," or with the Ten Commandments inscribed around the face of a man named "Mose" (~Moses). 22 REVIEW OF BOOKS ON lHE BOOK OF MORMON 4 (1992.) The second half of the book consists of about fifty pairs of photographs. each showing one object from the Old World and one from the New: arches, fertility goddesses, seals, pan pipes, gold masks (of course). pyramids. and so fonh. According to the dust jacket, the intent of this arrangement is to "clearly show the strong cultural links between the two areas." A few of the photo pairs are indeed intriguing, such as the "mudra" gestures from China and Copan. But the majority are so generalweaving, post-and-lintel construction, fish hooks, metates, and similar items that are common to hundreds of cultures-that they offer little real evidence of OldlNew World connections. My major complaint, however, is that the photographs are poorly identified and are accompanied by virtually no additional descriptive or explanatory text. For example, the "ziggurat pyramid" of Djoser at Saqqara is compared to the "ziggurat pyramid" (which is not really a "ziggurat" pyramid) at Chichen ltd, apparently because their outward shapes are similar. But the only reference to these is a vague statement that, "as we consider Old and New World temples and burial practices, we immediately see the parallels between their ancient temples" (p. 217). No mention is made of their differences, such as the fact that one has stairs on all four sides and a temple on top, while the other has neither. On the other hand several items are memioned very briefly in the text-the sweet potato, phallic symbols, coinsbut are not accompanied by visual evidence. Notable is the case of the Bat Creek Stone, described as "an unimpeachable archaeological find, certainly strengthening the Diffusionist theory," but not pictured. The failure to link the text and the images into a coherent whole not only makes this pan of the book less enjoyable to read, but more difficult to study. The book's usefulness is even further diminished by the absence of an index. For example, the authors compiled a list of "Cultural Parallels-Old and New Worlds" that includes many interesting items (although cxldly. it omits chiasmus, which is discussed in the text). Some are so general (e.g., ponery, burials, motifs) that I can only assume that the authors are referring to a particular (but unspecified) type of these things. Others are so distinctive that their mere presence (in both continents?) must be significant (e.g., maize, avocado. "Olmec helmet"). But it is nearly impossible to follow up on any of these ideas without an index. CHEESMAN AND CHEESMAN. ANCIFNf AMERICAN INDIANS (RAISH) 23 The bibliography is of little help, either. For one thing, it is out of date. It contains about eighty-five references, but only three are more recent than 1980, and all these are works by Latter-day Saint writers. It is also incomplete, fOT although some of the entries duplicate those found in the chapter notes, others do not, so a reader must be (dis)content with whatever bits of bibliography he or she can mine. For example, the authors cite a fascinating story of "an old Indian chief' who said that "their God created the heavens and the eanh and all things that in them are." The footnote directs one to a citation of an MIA manual written by Sidney B. Sperry in 1937. This is certainly neither an easily accessible nor particularly reliable source, but the only other hint is a sentence that begins, "In his history of the Indian of the Mississippi Du Pratz says ... " Unfortunately there is no entry for this author in the bibliography, so once again the serious student is left frustrated. (Does this refer to "A History of louisiana ... " by Le Page du Pratz, the eighteenth-century French writer? We may never know.) This book does contain some valid information and offers a few interesting comments on Native American cultures. But it also has too many ill-founded conjectures and poorly documented sources and is flawed in its physical arrangement. ] cannot recommend it, either for the casual reader, who will be unwittingly misled, or the serious student, who will be unable to use it for further enlightenment. Much of the material appears in Cheesman's other books (often in clearer photographs), and what few new items are given here are hardly worth the effon to pursue.


This work addresses the task of integrating reflectarray antennas on thin-film solar cell panels, as a means to save real estate, weight or cost of platforms, such as satellites or transportable autonomous antenna systems. Reflectarray unit cell families, having large phase range, high optical transparency and low microwave loss, are designed to preserve their efficiency in terms of solar cell and reflectarray antenna efficiency. Because there is a trade-off between the optical transparency and microwave surface conductivity of a conductor, both standard copper and transparent conductors were considered here. The results obtained at the unit cell level demonstrate, for the first time, the feasibility of integrating reflectarray on a thin-film solar cell, preserving good performance in terms of both solar cell and reflectarray efficiency. For instance, using copper, measurement at X-band demonstrates a phase range larger than 270 ° with an average microwave loss of 0.25 dB and average optical transparency in the visible spectrum of 85%. Using transparent conductor contributes to better average transparency (90%) at the cost of increase in microwave loss (2.45 dB).


The recent financial crisis has jeopardized the retirement savings of twenty-seven million Americans who depend on public pension funds, leading to cuts in benefits, increased employee contributions, job losses, and the rollback of legal rights like collective bargaining. This Article examines ways in which public pension funds invest against the economic interests of their own participants and beneficiaries, and the legal implications of these investments. In particular, the Article focuses on the use of public pensions to fund privatization of public employee jobs. Under the ascendant — and flawed — interpretation of the fiduciary duty of loyalty, public pension trustees owe their allegiance to the fund itself, rather than to the fund's participants and beneficiaries, notwithstanding the fact that the duty of loyalty commands trustees to invest "solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries" according to ERISA and similar state pension codes. I argue that this "fund-first" view distorts the duty of loyalty and turns the role of trustee on its head, leading to investments that undermine, rather than enhance, the economic interests of public employees. I turn to ERISA, trust law, agency law, and corporate law to argue that public pension trustees should consider the impact of the funds' investments on the jobs and job security of the funds' participants and beneficiaries, where relevant. I also adduce evidence that these controversial investments are widespread. I propose that public pension funds be governed by a "member-first" view of fiduciary duty focused on the economic interests of public employees in their retirement funds, which go beyond maximizing return to the funds. I argue that this view is more faithful to the original purpose of the duty of loyalty than is the fund-first view. I suggest ways to implement the member-first view, discuss potential extensions beyond the jobs impact of investments, and assess the proposed reform's practical effects.


This article considers the so-called war on boys through a critical examination of the way boys and young men have been represented in what might be termed the male role model discourse in policy and media debates in the UK. Critical engagement with academic literatures that explore the male role model response to what has become known as the problem of boys, predominantly in education and in welfare settings, reveals that contemporary policy solutions continue to be premised on outdated theoretical foundations that reflect simplistic understandings of gender and gender relations. In this article we advocate policy solutions that acknowledge the complexity and diversity of boys' and young men's experiences and that do not simplistically reduce their problems to the notion of a crisis in masculinity.


The intention of this paper is to show a reflexive study about knowledge representation through maps in virtual learning environments (VLE). The aim of this research is to investigate how maps can be used to build information networks, contribute to the collective building of knowledge, and facilitate research and pedagogical mediation in VLEs. For this purpose, the specialization post-graduation online course "Software Use in Qualitative Research" was analyzed. During this analysis, I discuss meaningful learning through maps built using the mapping software Nestor Web Cartographer, CMap tools and Compendium. I then present some important aspects about how maps can contribute to online content design, tutoring diagnostic and assessment applications.


A multicenter prospective study has been designed to determine whether participation in an exercise program which produces a significant training effect will affect the recurrence rate in men who have survived an initial myocardial infarction. The control group consists of subjects who participate in a program involving low intensity activities designed to avoid a significant training effect. The subjects will be followed for a period of 4 years and a reduction of 50 per cent in the risk of recurrence will be considered clinically significant. The criteria for entry, the method of allocation, the structure of the exercise program and method of assessing cardiorespiratory fitness are described.