-A novel adaptive and distributed fair scheduling (ADFS) scheme for wireless sensor networks is shown through hardware implementation. In contrast to simulation, hardware evaluation provides valuable feedback to protocol and hardware development process. The proposed protocol focuses on quality-of-service (QoS) issues to address flow prioritization. Thus, when nodes access a shared channel, the proposed ADFS allocates the channel bandwidth proportionally to the weight, or priority, of the packet flows. Moreover, ADFS allows for dynamic allocation of network resources with little added overhead. Weights are initially assigned using user specified QoS criteria. These weights are subsequently updated as a function of delay, enqueued packets, flow arrival rate, and the previous packet weight. The back-off interval is also altered using the weight update equation. The weight update and the back-off interval selection ensure that global fairness is attained even with variable service rates. The algorithm is implemented using UMR/SLU motes for an industrial monitoring application. Results the hardware implementation demonstrates improved performance in terms of fairness index, flow rate, and delay.


One of the distinguishing features of the services industry is the high emphasis on people interacting with other people and serving customers rather than transforming physical goods like in the traditional manufacturing processes. It is evident that analysis of such interactions is an essential aspect of designing effective and efficient services delivery. In this work we focus on learning individual and team behavior of different people or agents of a service organization by studying the patterns and outcomes of historical interactions. For each past interaction, we assume that only the list of participants and an outcome indicating the overall effectiveness of the interaction are known. Note that this offers limited information on the mutual (pairwise) compatibility of different participants. We develop the notion of service interaction networks which is an abstraction of the historical data and allows one to cast practical problems in a formal setting. We identify the unique characteristics of analyzing service interaction networks when compared to traditional analyses considered in social network analysis and establish a need for new modeling and algorithmic techniques for such networks. On the algorithmic front, we develop new algorithms to infer attributes of agents individually and in team settings. Our first algorithm is based on a novel modification to the eigen-vector based centrality for ranking the agents and the second algorithm is an iterative update technique that can be applied for subsets of agents as well. One of the challenges of conducting research in this setting is the sensitive and proprietary nature of the data. Therefore, there is a need for a realistic simulator for studying service interaction networks. We present the initial version of our simulator that is geared to capture several characteristics of service interaction networks that arise in real-life.


University strategic plans emphasise the essential nature of partnerships at national and international levels. Along with establishing collaborative research partnerships, providing professional development to key stakeholders is considered a crucial activity for making and sustaining partnerships. Utilising knowledge from professional development in Australian contexts can be managed creatively for making connections internationally. Indeed, knowledge transfer is a cornerstone for the globalisation of education and needs to occur as a multiplex dialogue between participating countries. This paper presents a qualitative study
around the Mentoring for Effective Teaching (MET) program, its growth and development
nationally (e.g., scope and impact) along with insights into making connections within the Asia-Pacific region. At a national level, we outline how to facilitate a program though relationship building and face-to-face implementation of professional learning.
Internationally, we highlight how to mould and shape Australian professional learning for the
Asia-Pacific region, particularly with regard to facilitating fluid interactions within environments outside of Australia. The contexts for the study include a university in Hong Kong and another university in the Philippines. In this presentation, examples will be
provided from the MET program to demonstrate contextual differences and similarities for implementation in Australian and Asian contexts. For instance, determining strategies for mentoring pedagogical knowledge can elicit viewpoints that align between cultures (e.g., use of specific teaching and questioning strategies) and also present alternative ideas as a result of cultural differences. We have learnt about having a structured program that draws on the research yet has sufficient flexibility to cater for cultures and contexts. With openmindedness, facilitating professional learning can become a two-way knowledge transfer, where learnings from other cultures and contexts can be refined for advancing programs in Australia.


In this study I examine some uses of connectives, and in particular co-ordinate conjunction, from a critical discourse perspective; these uses, in my view, cannot find a satisfactory explanation within current frameworks. It is suggested that we need to identify a conceptual level at which connectives function as hypo-textual signals, activating systematic law-like conditional statements (IF-THEN), which form default specifications of consistent structured knowledge frames. I argue that an account of connectives at the conceptual level of their function that does not take into consideration such tightly structured background schemata, representing both general knowledge and ideologies, cannot afford any generality. As a result, ?deviant? or ?subversive? uses of these connectives can neither be identified as such nor find an adequately general explication within existing accounts, whereas in the proposed framework such uses find a ready explanation of sufficient generality. This framework lies at the intersection of disciplines: Linguistic pragmatics (empirical pragmatics, critical discourse analysis), on the one hand, and cognitive science, on the other. Consequently, this proposal, too, can be regarded as a plea for crossing boundaries and joining forces.


Set in a real organisational setting, this study examines the challenges of implementing environmentally sustainable behaviour in healthcare. It evaluates the success of a real energy saving behaviour change intervention, based on social marketing principles, which targeted the employees of two National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. It also explores the intervention benefits for three key stakeholders: the organisation/hospitals, hospital employees and patients. A rich secondary dataset containing actual workplace behaviour measures (collected via observations) and self-reported data from employee interviews and patient questionnaires is used for this purpose. The intervention encouraged three employee energy saving actions (called TLC actions): (1) T urn off machines, (2) L ights out when not needed, and (3) C lose doors when possible; which led to energy savings and carbon reduction for the two hospitals. Hospital employees reported a greater level of work efficiency as a result of engaging in TLC actions, which increased the (cid:212)quiet time(cid:213) periods in both hospitals. Indirectly, employees(cid:213) TLC actions also improved patients(cid:213) quality of sleep (which in turn is positively associated with greater patient hospital experience satisfaction). These findings shed light on the benefits of social marketing interventions targeting energy saving behaviour change for multiple stakeholders in healthcare organisations. They also illustrate connections between environmental sustainability and social and political pillars of corporate social responsibility. Additionally, organisational culture was highlighted as a key challenge in changing practices. To encourage long-term sustainable behaviour, this study recommends a pre-intervention assessment of infrastructure and equipment, the communication of expected benefits to motivate higher involvement of employees, the need for internal green champions and the dissemination of post-intervention feedback on various energy saving and patient indicators.


ABSTRACT Reducing sedentary behaviour or sitting is a new public health focus. Emerging research has, however, found that sedentary activities may be associated with health and mental health benefits for older adults. This article reports findings of the qualitative arm of a feasibility trial to reduce sedentary behaviour among patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). From interviews (n = 21) conducted prior to the intervention we identified three themes: (i) participants sat to enable them to perform activities, such as housework, (ii) sitting, such as watching TV or fishing, was experienced as enjoyable and (iii) the most ill participants experienced sitting in terms of sadness, as the only thing they could do. Our observations draw attention to three issues. First, our participants did not always sit out of choice, they had to rest between activities and sat due to breathlessness and mournfulness. Second, the intrinsic value of enjoyment associated with sedentary activities comes into sharp relief in the context of progressive chronic disease, which makes it increasingly difficult to enjoy any activity or life. Third, trials, predicated on trying out a pre-defined solution, are particularly challenging for mixed methods qualitative research seeking to trouble categories, such as choice, health and enjoyment. In conclusion, we concur with research that has highlighted that sedentary activities may also have benefits; however, we would make a stronger case for appreciating alternative values, such as enjoyment of life, rather than just health, when appropriate, in research and in practice.


In a globalized business environment, it should come as no surprise that corporations conducting business activities in multiple national jurisdictions may need to place their experienced, high-level managerial and executive personnel and workers with highly specialized talents, in offices located in countries other than the ones where they were originally employed. Congress created the L-1 visa program in 1970 in order to facilitate this exact type of international intracompany employee transfer-and since then, the program has been used by multi-national companies with offices in the United States to temporarily transfer foreign employees to work in their U.S offices, subsidiaries, and affiliates.Under current law, before transferring an employee from abroad, multi-national companies are not required to prove or attest that there are no adequately qualified U.S. workers available to fill the positions that are eventually awarded to L-1 visa beneficiaries. Is this appropriate? Are L-1 employees coming to the United States to complement U.S. workers, or to replace and displace them? If so, do U.S. workers deserve some degree of protection? Some other visa categories require companies that petition for temporary work visas to attest that no U.S. worker will be displaced or have their wages or working conditions adversely affected by the new temporary worker. Should these or other additional safeguards be part of the L-visa program for the benefit of U.S. workers and the labor market? This paper seeks to address these questions based on analysis of available data, research and literature.


The calcium binding epidermal growth factor-like (cbEGF) 12-13 domain pair from human fibrillin-1 was the focus of studies for this dissertation. Various nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques were employed to analyse the calcium binding, structural and dynamic properties of this pair, and to assess the effects of a disease-causing mutation. Fibrillin-1 is a mosaic protein composed mainly of 43 cbEGF domains arranged as multiple, tandem repeats, and mutations within fibrillin-1 have been linked to Marfan syndrome (MFS). 66% of MFS-causing mutations identified thus far are localised to cbEGF domains, emphasising that the native properties of these domains are critical to the functional integrity of this protein. The cbEGF 12-13 pair is found within the longest run of cbEGFs in fibrillin-1, and many mutations that cluster in this region are associated with the severe, neonatal form of MFS. It is thought that this region may be important for fibrillin-1 assembly into 10- 12nm connective tissue microfibrils. Calcium binding studies of cbEGF 12-13 demonstrated that cbEGF 13 contains the highest affinity site thus far investigated from human fibrillin-1. Comparison with previous results showed that fibrillin-1 cbEGF calcium binding affinity can be significantly modulated by the type of domain which is linked to its N-terminus, and also highlighted the high affinity of the "neonatal" region. The NMR solution structure of cbEGF 12-13 is a near-linear, rod-like arrangement of two cbEGF domains, with both exhibiting secondary structure characteristic of this domain type. The rod-like arrangement is stabilised by calcium binding by cbEGF 13 and by hydrophobic interdomain packing interactions. This observation supports the hypothesis that all Class I EGF/cbEGF-cbEGF pairs, characterised by a single linker residue, possess this rod-like structure. The structure also exhibits additional packing interactions to those previously observed for cbEGF32- 33 from fibrillin-1, which may explain the higher calcium binding affinity of cbEGF13. A model of cbEGF 11-15, created based on structural data for cbEGF 12-13 and a model of cbEGF32-36, has highlighted a potential protein binding interface, which encompasses all known neonatal MFS mutations, as well as a flexible, unstructured loop region of cbEGF 12. Backbone dynamics data confirmed the extended structure of cbEGF 12-13. These data, combined with previous data for cbEGF32-33, highlighted a potential dynamics signature for Class I cbEGF domain pairs. Comparison of data for these pairs also suggested that, in addition to the role of calcium in stabilising rigidity on the picoto millisecond time-scale, calcium affinity may play a key role in determining the anisotropy of cbEGF pairs. Possible dynamic explanations for the variation in calcium binding affinity of cbEGF domains from human fibrillin-1 were also noted. The Gl 127S mutation located in cbEGF 13 of fibrillin-1 causes a mild variant of MFS. NMR studies of the G1127S cbEGF12-13 mutant pair showed that cbEGF12 may chaperone folding of mutant cbEGF 13, an effect most likely mediated through interdomain packing interactions. These studies have also shown that the effects of this mutation are localised to cbEGF13, suggesting that a "partial" MFS phenotype is the result of altered structural, dynamic and/or calcium binding properties of this domain.


The contours of Turkey's climate policy have remained almost intact over the past two decades. Being an Annex I party without any mitigation commitments, Turkey maintains a peculiar position under UNFCCC. Subsequent to 12 years of delay in signing both the Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, Turkey had the highest rate of increase in greenhouse gas emissions among the Annex I countries with 110.4% upsurge in the period 1990 and 2013. Yet with the new climate regime now in place, the country's mitigation pledges fall short of expectations both in terms of realistic projections and its ambition to step up in the post‐2020 period. Climate policies in Turkey, an EU candidate and OECD founding member with a growing economy, remain under‐investigated. Although the country has a wide range of policies and institutions in place, it shows limited progress in addressing climate change. Based on evidence from the literature, we observe that climate policies operationalize in Turkey insofar as they do not directly confront developmental ambitions, leaving policy diffusion with limited success. To provide a historic overview, we focus on climate policy development, actors, processes, and contemporary trends. Evidence shows that these are highly ridden with the politics of special circumstances: a notion that Turkey employs to refrain from bindings commitments. In order to go beyond special circumstances discourse, we argue the need for a bold policy shift in Turkey, a country subject to adverse impacts of climate change and high‐carbon lock‐in risk due to development policy preferences. WIREs Clim Change 2016, 7:448–460. doi: 10.1002/wcc.390


In the Sahel, social protection policies related to food security play a crucial role in improving the well-being of the population. Organizations working on food security in the region (farmer organizations as well as consumer organizations) can benefit from examining these policies and the concrete measures introduced, which can help to facilitate the design of response strategies and local development measures in crisis situations. This report examines the functioning of the boutiques temoin network in Burkina Faso, a social protection measure which seeks to improve access to food. It notes some of the impacts of this measure on farmers, traders and local food reserves. Boutiques temoin could be seen as complementary to other social protection measures with targeted beneficiaries; however, the lack of legal precision describing them suggests that the programme is also guided by political interests and is not part of a coordinated strategy. The report suggests further investigation of the impact that the measure could have on grain producers and traders, in order to avoid adverse effects on the cereal sector. It invites the Burkina Faso government to review the effectiveness of the boutiques temoin programme and the resources allocated to it; to consider establishing selection criteria for the target population; to strengthen the links between the national reserves and small producers, as well as between the national reserves and local food reserves.


PURPOSE
Arthralgia is an adverse class effect of aromatase inhibitors (AIs). To date, its exact mechanism remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in clinical rheumatologic features and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of hands and wrists in AI and tamoxifen users.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This is a prospective single-center study including 17 consecutive postmenopausal patients with early breast cancer receiving either tamoxifen (n = 5) or an AI (n = 12). At baseline and after 6 months, patients filled in a rheumatologic history questionnaire and a rheumatologic examination including a grip strength test was done. At the same time points, MRI of both hands and wrists was performed. The primary end point was tenosynovial changes from baseline on MRI. Secondary end points were changes from baseline for morning stiffness, grip strength, and intra-articular fluid on MRI. Wilcoxon signed ranks was used to test changes from baseline and the Spearman correlation coefficient to assess the association between rheumatologic and MRI changes from baseline.

RESULTS
At 6 months, patients on AI had a decrease in grip strength (P = .0049) and an increase in tenosynovial changes (P = .0010). The decrease in grip strength correlated well with the tenosynovial changes on MRI (P = .0074). Only minor changes were seen in patients on tamoxifen. AI users reported worsening of morning stiffness and showed an increase in intra-articular fluid on MRI.

CONCLUSION
The functional impairment of hands in the AI-associated arthralgia syndrome is characterized by tenosynovial changes on MRI correlating with a significant decrease in hand grip strength.


Gammaherpesviruses are associated with a number of diseases including lymphomas and other malignancies. Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) constitutes the most amenable animal model for this family of pathogens. However experimental characterisation of gammaherpesvirus gene expression, at either the protein or RNA level, lags behind that of other, better-studied alpha and beta herpesviruses. A differential display system and 2 independent array systems have been developed, with the aim of characterising MHV-68 gene expression profiles and providing experimental supplement to a genome that is chiefly annotated by homology. Furthermore, the 3 technologies are compared in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, with respect to these goals. The MHV-68 transcriptome is presented through a lytic infection in vitro, both as quantitative measures of transcript abundance, and as part of a hierarchical cluster analysis. Functional predictions have been made for various genes based on co-expression with better characterised genes. Each gene has also been categorised as being expressed with kinetics by blocking de novo protein synthesis and viral DNA replication. This fundamental characterisation furthers the development of this model and provides an experimental basis for continued investigation of gammaherpesvirus pathology.


This study uses data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to evaluate differences in employment outcomes for academic scientists by gender. A decomposition of estimated salary differences shows that over time, gender salary differences can partly be explained by differences in observable characteristics for faculty at the assistant and associate ranks. Substantial gender salary differences for full professors are not explained by observable characteristics. Probit and duration model estimates indicate gender differences in the probability of promotion, making it less likely for women to be promoted to tenure. Between 1973 and 1997, very little changed in terms of gender salary and promotion differences for academics in science. After evaluating potential explanations, the author concludes that gender discrimination similar to that observed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology accounts for unexplained gender disparities.


This paper deals with the investigation and analysis of two Ambursen dams located in the upper Midwest. These investigations revealed that the original design contained significant defects, which in some cases, result in low factors of safety. These design defects include a lack of reinforcing steel in the corbel area of the buttresses and in the buttresses themselves. The paper describes the analysis of these conditions and methods used to strengthen the structural components. The paper also discusses stability analyses for an Ambursen dam and the use of piezometers to verify uplift conditions.


Research on sexual maturity, spawning and fecundity of Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) in various parts of the Northwest Atlantic, and on the resultant length-weight effects, was carried out incidentally during 1946-67 in conjunction with investigations which were directed toward other demersal species. Sexual maturity in females began at a relatively small size (43 ern) off Labrador and northeastern Newfoundland, in contrast to a much larger size (58 cm) in the St. Pierre Bank and southern Grand Bank areas, with the size on the northern Grand Bank (49 cm) being intermediate. In other areas from the Scotian Shelf to West Greenland, the sizes at first maturity were similar to or smaller than 43 cm. Maximal lengths of wolffish were considerably greater in areas where sexual maturity occurred at larger sizes than in areas where it occurred at much smaller sizes. Trends in weight of ovaries and sizes of eggs throughout the year indicated that spawning was mainly in the autumn. However, a wolffish (apparently A. lupus) egg cluster, with some eggs hatched, was found on the southern Grand Bank in April 1960. Fecundity increased exponentially with fish length, the average number of eggs being 2,440 at 40 cm and 35,320 at 120 cm. Length-weight relationships (log-log regressions) indicated that average weights by calendar quarter typically ranged from lowest to highest in October-December, January-March, April-June and July-September. The low values in October-December were attributed to fasting and change of teeth which occur during the spawning period, followed by resumption of feeding and consequent increase in weight-at-Iength to highest values in July-September.


Written by one of the world's leading international lawyers, this is the new and updated edition of Jan Klabber's landmark textbook. International law can be defined as 'the rules governing the legal relationship between nations and states', but in reality it is much more complex, with political, diplomatic and socio-economic factors shaping the law and its application. This refreshingly clear, concise textbook encourages students to view international law as a dynamic system of organizing the world. Bringing international law back to its first principles, the book is organised around four questions: where does it come from? To whom does it apply? How does it resolve conflict? And what does it say? Building on these questions with both academic rigour and clarity of expression, Professor Klabbers breathes life and energy into the subject. Footnotes point students to the wider academic debate while chapter introductions and final remarks reinforce learning. The second edition has been updated throughout, with particular attention to recent judicial decisions, and features new sections on sovereign debt relief, the prompt release of vessels, and the Antarctic.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are master regulators of gene activity documented to play central roles in fruit ripening in model plant species, yet little is known of their roles in Lycium barbarum L. fruits. In this study, miRNA levels in L. barbarum fruit samples at four developmental stages, were assayed using Illumina HiSeqTM2000. This revealed the presence of 50 novel miRNAs and 38 known miRNAs in L. barbarum fruits. Of the novel miRNAs, 36 were specific to L. barbarum fruits compared with L. chinense. A number of stage-specific miRNAs were identified and GO terms were assigned to 194 unigenes targeted by miRNAs. The majority of GO terms of unigenes targeted by differentially expressed miRNAs are "intracellular organelle," "binding," "metabolic process," "pigmentation," and "biological regulation." Enriched KEGG analysis indicated that nucleotide excision repair and ubiquitin mediated proteolysis were over-represented during the initial stage of ripening, with ABC transporters and sulfur metabolism pathways active during the middle stages and ABC transporters and spliceosome enriched in the final stages of ripening. Several miRNAs and their targets serving as potential regulators in L. barbarum fruit ripening were identified using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The miRNA-target interactions were predicted for L. barbarum ripening regulators including miR156/157 with LbCNR and LbWRKY8, and miR171 with LbGRAS. Additionally, regulatory interactions potentially controlling fruit quality and nutritional value via sugar and secondary metabolite accumulation were identified. These include miR156 targeting of fructokinase and 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase and miR164 targeting of beta-fructofuranosidase. In sum, valuable information revealed by small RNA sequencing in this study will provide a solid foundation for uncovering the miRNA-mediated mechanism of fruit ripening and quality in this nutritional food.


Extreme river flows can lead to inundation of floodplains, with consequent impacts for society, the environment and the economy. Flood risk estimates rely on river flow records, hence a good understanding of the patterns in river flow, and, in particular, in extreme river flow, is important to improve estimation of risk. In Scotland, a number of studies suggest a West to East rainfall gradient and increased variability in rainfall and river flow.
This thesis presents and develops a number of statistical methods for analysis of different aspects of extreme river flows, namely the variability, temporal trend, seasonality and spatial dependence. The methods are applied to a large data set, provided by SEPA, of daily river flow records from 119 gauging stations across Scotland. The records range in length from 10 up to 80 years and are characterized by non-stationarity and long-range dependence.

Examination of non-stationarity is done using wavelets. The results revealed significant changes in the variability of the seasonal pattern over the last 40 years, with periods of high and low variability associated with flood-rich and flood-poor periods respectively. Results from a wavelet coherency analysis suggest significant influence of large scale climatic indices (NAO, AMO) on river flow.

A quantile regression model is then developed based on an additive regression framework using P-splines, where the parameters are fitted via weighted least squares. The proposed model includes a trend and seasonal component, estimated using the back-fitting algorithm. Incorporation of covariates and extension to higher dimension data sets is straightforward. The model is applied to a set of eight Scottish rivers to estimate the trend and seasonality in the 95th quantile of river flow. The results suggest differences in the long term trend between the East and the West and a more variable seasonal pattern in the East.

Two different approaches are then considered for modelling spatial extremes. The first approach consists of a conditional probability model and concentrates on small subsets of rivers. Then a spatial quantile regression model is developed, extending the temporal quantile model above to estimate a spatial surface using the tensor product of the marginal B-spline bases. Residual spatial correlation using a Gaussian correlation function is incorporated into standard error estimation. Results from the 95th quantile fitted for individual months suggest changes in the spatial pattern of extreme river flow over time. The extension of the spatial quantile model to build a fully spatio-temporal model is briefly outlined and the main statistical issues identified.


According to logical positivism, so the story goes, metaphysical questions are meaningless, since they do not admit of empirical confirmation or refutation. However, the logical positivists did not in fact reject as meaningless all questions about for example, the structure of space and time. Rather, key figures such as Reichenbach and Schlick believed that scientific theories often presupposed a conceptual framework that was not itself empirically testable, but which was required for the theory as a whole to be empirically testable. For example, the theory of Special Relativity relies upon the simultaneity convention introduced by Einstein that assumes that the one-way speed of light is the same in all directions of space. Hence, the logical positivists accepted an a priori component to physical theories. However, they denied that this a priori component is necessarily true. Whereas for Kant, metaphysics is the a priori science of the necessary structure of rational thought about reality (rather than about things in themselves), the logical positivists were forced by the history of science to accept that the a priori structure of theories could change. Hence, they defended a notion of what Michael Friedman (1999) calls the 'relativised' or the 'constitutive' a priori. Carnap and Reichenbach held that such an a priori framework was conventional, whereas Schlick seems to have been more of a realist and held that the overall relative simplicity of different theories could count as evidence for their truth, notwithstanding the fact that some parts of them are not directly testable. All this is part of the story of how the verification principle came to be abandoned, and how logical positivism transmuted into logical empiricism.


Although initiating public policy is sometimes a difficult task, the overriding challenge is the institutional willpower to see through policy decisions. As a major factor behind successful public policy determinations in the Western world, institutional willpower is absolutely necessary if the developing world is to gain an equal degree of functionality and relevance in the implementation of public policy decisions. Educational policy is a crucial example. Since the colonial dispensation, the characteristic zeal with which Nigerians yearn for education has accounted for various policy initiatives by the Government, which regards education as an instrument par excellence for effective national development (NPE, 2008). Despite this heavy focus placed on education, the troublesome implementation of policy decisions remains one of the most contentious issues dominating the education sector. The implementation of the 'Universal Primary Education' policy, introduced in 1976, was engulfed by chaos during its execution, which invariably left many school-age children behind (Omoyale, 1998; Denga, 2000; Bolaji, 2004, 2014). The subsequent arrival in 1999 of the democratic dispensation witnessed the launch of a new scheme that came to be known as 'Universal Basic Education' (UBE). It is over a decade now since this new program was implemented, yet there has been little demonstrated achievement (Bolaji, 2014). Drawing on insight from recent investigations into the effectiveness of the Universal Basic Education Policy implementation, this paper seeks to offer answers to the question of why policy regularly fails in Africa, with particular reference to Nigeria.


In this investigation, we developed a methodology for inclusion of fire protection and used a methodological approach for fire risk assessment. Present practice of fire risk assessment and prevention measures in the Republic of Serbia is not systematic. To develop a methodological approach of fire risk assessment, a modified matrix for fire risk factors was set up that combines the implementation of modified Delphi and checklist methods into a risk matrix based on the Allgemeine Unfall Versicherungs Anstalt and Berufs Genossenschaften methods. An efficient and rapid fire risk assessment was enabled by the application of our fire protection project solution software of SAFOFP. The results of the investigation were validated by the concrete timber warehouse case study. This fire risk assessment method is applicable to other branches of industry as well as other places aside from Republic of Serbia where the study was conducted.


Improving energy efficiency of mass storage systems has become an important and pressing research issue in large HPC centers and data centers. New energy conservation techniques in storage systems constantly spring up; however, there is a lack of systematic and uniform way of accurately evaluating energy-efficient storage systems and objectively comparing a wide range of energy-saving techniques. This research presents a new integrated scheme, called TRACER, for evaluating energyefficiency of mass storage systems and judging energy-saving techniques. The TRACER scheme consists of a toolkit used to measure energy efficiency of storage systems as well as performance and energy metrics. In addition, TRACER contains a novel and accurate workload-control module to acquire power varying with workload modes and I/O load intensity. The workload generator in TRACER facilitates a block-level trace replay mechanism. The main goal of the workload-control module is to select a certain percentage (e.g., anywhere from 10% to 100%) of trace entries from a real-world I/O trace file uniformly and to replay filtered trace entries to reach any level of I/O load intensity. TRACER is experimentally validated on a general RAID5 enterprise disk array. Our experiments demonstrate that energy-efficient mass storage systems can be accurately evaluated on full scales by TRACER. We applied TRACER to investigate impacts of workload modes and load intensity on energy-efficiency of storage devices. This work shows that TRACER can enable storage system developers to evaluate energy efficiency designs for storage systems.


The Valencian Community is located in the Spanish Mediterranean area. At present the whole Spanish Mediterranean is living through a process greatly accelerated by urban development. This process is generated, fundamentally, by the demand for housing by the population of Europe's central and northern areas in a situation of global economy. These processes suppose an irreversible transformation of the territory which is not always justified. The dysfunctions produced in these processes forced the regional Valencian government to reform, in depth, all the legislation in matters dictating new laws: Soil for non urbanize Law of 2004, Law of regional planning and protection of the landscape of 2004 and Urban development Valencian Law of 2005. This legislative wide and extensive set introduces in to urban development planning the whole set of procedures orientated to the environmental sustainability. The regulation establishes novel measurements as, amongst others, the indicators of sustainability, the quotas of sustainability to pay when the sustainability limits are exceeded, the Fund of Territorial Equity, the programs and projects for the sustainability and the quality of life, the transfer to the administration of an equal surface magnitude of natural reserve as that of any new urbanization, and the obligation of landscape studies. In spite of all this it continues without approaching an administrative reform that generates a system of management that really guarantees the protection of the natural resources in the short and long term. The present text analyzes the innovative elements that interfere for the sustainability of the urban development planning and it also indicates the still not solved aspects.


Background: Kidney transplantation is the best treatment for end stage kidney disease. The allograft allocation system considers immunological factors and time in waiting list, but not the age of donors or recipients, in spite that both have prognostic relevance. Aim: To study the fairness of the allograft allocation system considering the age of donors and recipients. Material and methods: Based in the age distribution of donors and waiting list of patients for kidney transplantation, we constructed probability functions for receiving a graft as an allocation system based on age changes from a strict to a more lax criteria. Finally, we compared our model with the real transplants performed during 2012. Results: The probability distribution for receiving a kidney transplantation is displaced to the right compared with the age distribution of graft donors. This gap increases as the procuring hospitals enlist progressively older graft candidates without accepting older donors in parallel. An allocation system that maintains age parity between donors and recipients is fairer that other that allows lax criteria for the same allocation. This phenomenon is attenuated if the procurement acceptance criterion allows older donors. Conclusions: It is necessary to reduce the gap between donor and recipient ages for kidney transplantation to improve the fairness of the graft allocation system.


In this paper, we present a methodology for the size optimization of an external magnetic system made of arc-shaped permanent magnets (ASMs). This magnetic system is able to remotely actuate a drug-release module embedded in a prototype of a capsule robot. The optimization of the magnetic system is carried out by using an accurate analytical model that is valid for any arbitrary dimensions of the ASMs. By using this analytical model, we perform parametric studies and conduct a statistical analysis [analysis of variance (ANOVA)] to investigate efficient ways to distribute the volume of the ASMs so that the dimensions and volume of the magnetic system are minimized while optimal flux densities and magnetic torques are obtained to actuate the drug delivery system (DDS). The ANOVA results, at 5% significance level, indicate that changes in the angular width followed by changes in the length of the ASMs have the highest impact on the magnetic linkage. Furthermore, our experimental results, which are in agreement with the analytical results, show that the size optimization of the magnetic system is effective for the actuation of the DDS in capsule robots.


Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a vascular disease affecting lower limbs, which is going to become a demanding challenge because of the aging of the population. Despite advances in endovascular therapies, CLI is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Patients without direct revascularization options have the worst outcomes. To date, 25%–40% of CLI patients are not candidates for surgical or endovascular approaches, ultimately facing the possibility of a major amputation. This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of autologous bone marrow (BM) transplantation performed in "no‐option" patients, in terms of restoring blood perfusion by collateral flow and limb salvage. A multicenter, prospective, not‐controlled phase II study for no‐option CLI patients was performed. Patients were subjected to intra‐arterial infusion of autologous bone marrow and followed for 12 months after the treatment. Variation of blood perfusion parameters, evaluated by laser Doppler flowmetry or transcutaneous oximetry, was set as the primary endpoint at 12 months after treatment and amputation‐free survival as the secondary endpoint. Sixty patients were enrolled and treated with BM transplantation, showing improvement in objective and subjective measures of perfusion. Furthermore, survival analysis demonstrated improved amputation‐free survival rates (75.2%) at 12 months after the treatment. This study provides further evidence that autologous bone marrow transplantation is well tolerated by CLI patients without adverse effects, demonstrating trends toward improvement in perfusion and reduced amputation rate, confirming the feasibility and safety of the procedure.


nanoparticles have become one of the most commonly used nanomaterials in consumer products because of their effective antimicrobial properties and low toxicity toward mammalian cells. In the area of water purification, today nanoparticles are widely used for detection and removal of chemical and biological substances. Therefore by the growing use of nanoparticles, further research is certainly needed to study the behavior of them. In this study, the antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of colloidal nanosilver (average size: 40±10 nm) on the growth, cellular respiration and biofilm formation of pathogenic strains and the isolates from the cooling water of Isfahan Oil Refinery (A1 and A2) were compared with biocide E-265 which generally used in this refinery by microtiterplate method. The results showed that different concentration of biocide E-265 had no significant effects on the bacterial growth and even at 20 and 40 ppm showed 100% increase in the biofilm formation of the isolate A1. Also it is detected that low concentration of nanosilver (1-2 ppm) showed unique antibacterial and antibiofilm activities and can be suggested as a suitable biocide for the recirculating water systems.


We recall from previous work a model-independent framework of computational complexity theory. Notably for the present paper, the framework allows formalization of the issues of precision that present themselves when one considers physical, error-prone (especially analogue rather than digital) computational systems. We take as a case study the ray-tracing problem, a Turing-machine-incomputable problem that can, in apparent violation of the Church-Turing thesis, nonetheless be said to be solved by certain optical computers; however, we apply the framework of complexity theory so as to formalize the intuition that the purported super-Turing power of these computers in fact vanishes once precision is properly considered.


Abstract. Himalayan glaciers are being extensively debated in scientific and public forums, as changes in their distribution can significantly affect the availability of water in many rivers originating in the region. The distribution of glaciers can be influenced by mass balance, and most of the glaciers located in the Pir Panjal and Greater Himalayan mountain ranges are losing mass at the rate of almost a meter per year. The Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) has also shifted upward by 400 m in the last two decades. This upward migration of ELA and the loss in mass could have been influenced by changes in temperature, precipitation and by the deposition of black carbon in the accumulation area of glaciers. The deposition of black carbon can reduce the albedo of snow in the accumulation area leading to faster melting of snow and causing more negative mass balance. In this investigation, a change in reflectance in the accumulation area of the Baspa basin is analysed for the year 2009, as the region has experienced extensive forest fires along with northern Indian biomass burning. The investigation has shown that: (1) The number of forest fires in the summer of 2009 was substantially higher than in any other year between 2001 and 2010; (2) the drop in reflectance in the visible region from April to May in the accumulation area was significantly higher in the year 2009 than in any other year from 2000 to 2012; (3) the temperature of the region was substantially lower than the freezing point during the active fire period of 2009, indicating the small influence of liquid water and grain size; (4) the drop in reflectance was observed only in the visible region, indicating role of contamination; (5) in the visible region, a mean drop in reflectance of 21± 5% was observed during the active fire period in the accumulation area. At some places, the drop was as high as 50 ± 5%. This can only be explained by the deposition of black carbon. The study suggests that a change in snow albedo in the accumulation area due to the deposition of black carbon from anthropogenic and natural causes can influence the mass balance of the glaciers in the Baspa basin, Himachal Pradesh, India.


Morphological analyses of the attachment apparatus (clamps and central hooks) of Paradiplozoon homoion (Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1959) (Diplozoinae, Monogenea) parasitising gills of Gobio gobio (L.) showed a high percentage of abnormally developed parasite specimens. Four different localities in the Vlára River basin, Czech Republic, were investigated for the presence of such abnormal individuals. The highest percentage of abnormalities in the attachment apparatus (over 39%) was recorded in the Vlára River, at Bohuslavice. This study provides a comprehensive classification of these abnormalities with 7 types of abnormalities described and illustrated. Abnormalities of parts of the attachment apparatus that form in the later stage of ontogenetic development were the most frequent, the most frequent types of abnormalities being clamps with abnormal sclerites, and combinations of abnormalities. Abnormalities of the central hooks were also found in our material. The abnormalities found in diplozoids are probably connected with environmental pollution; however, this point requires further investigation.


Investigations into the mechanisms of spennatogenesis, sperm matura tion and fertilization provide the basis of our understanding of male re productive physiology. Since in recent years molecular and cellular en docrinology has provided particularly important contributions to our knowledge, the European Workshops on Molecular and Celluar Endo crinology of the Testis, held regularly during even years since 1980, have become a prominent forum for researchers in the field to discuss recent findings and exchange new ideas. The most recent of these Testis Workshops, the 7th, was held on May 5 - 10, 1992 at Castle Elmau in the Bavarian Alps. The main lectures of this Workshops form the core of this book. In order to provide a broader view of the current status of male re production research, this volume also contains the proceedings of the Schering Foundation Workshop on "Basic Mechanisms of Reproduc tion and Male Fertility Control" which was held in Berlin on October 31 to November 2, 1991. The topics of the two meetings were planned to complement each other. By combining the proceedings of both workshops, it became possible to produce a book that covers a wide spectrum of current highlights in male reproduction research and pro vides the reader with an up-to-date review of the field. The timeliness of the book is emphasized by the fact that it was al ready available when the 7th European Testis Workshop took place."


Demand modelling has a great impact on the outcome of hydraulic simulations of water distribution systems. Its stochastic nature has to be considered in order to obtain more reliable results. A stochastic approach, based on a mixed probability distribution, able to model residential water demand has been implemented in Python. This distribution considers both the event of null and not null water demand and allows to estimate the statistical parameters, solely on the number of supplied users and on the related average demand pattern. This approach is well suited to be used in hydraulic simulation workflows (e.g. using the EPANET toolkit) and a Python implementation could encourage a more refined demand characterization also in non-scientific environments.


SGR J1550–5418 (previously known as AXP 1E 1547.0–5408 or PSR J1550–5418) went into three active bursting episodes in 2008 October and in 2009 January and March, emitting hundreds of typical soft gamma repeater bursts in soft gamma rays. The second episode was especially intense, and our untriggered burst search on Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) data (8–1000 keV) revealed ∼450 bursts emitted over 24 hr during the peak of this activity. Using the GBM data, we identified a ∼150 s long enhanced persistent emission during 2009 January 22 that exhibited intriguing timing and spectral properties: (1) clear pulsations up to ∼110 keV at the spin period of the neutron star (P ∼ 2.07 s, the fastest of all magnetars); (2) an additional (to a power-law) blackbody component required for the enhanced emission spectra with kT ∼ 17 keV; and (3) pulsed fraction that is strongly energy dependent and highest in the 50–74 keV energy band. A total isotropic-equivalent energy emitted during this enhanced emission is estimated to be 2.9 × 1040(D/5 kpc)2 erg. The estimated area of the blackbody emitting region of ≈0.046(D/5 kpc)2 km2 (roughly a few ×10−5 of the neutron star area) is the smallest "hot spot" ever measured for a magnetar and most likely corresponds to the size of magnetically confined plasma near the neutron star surface.


The objectives of this study were 1) to know the objective of teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen, 2) to know the topic covered in teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen, 3) to know the technique of teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen, 4) to know the technique of evaluation used in teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen.
In this study, the writer used descriptive research because it described the implementation of teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen. Moreover, the writer took the English
teacher in the secondary year students at SMA Islam Kepanjen as the research subject.
Meanwhile, the research instruments that were used by the writer to collect data are interview and observation. The writer used semistructured interview, because in addition
to the questions that had been prepared before, the researcher would also asked for the questions during the interview about the implementation of teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen.
Based on the research finding, some conclusions can be drawn. First, the objectives of teaching speaking at SMA Islam Kepanjen were: 1) to achieve how to speak English
commonly well by giving some texts, 2) to understand about the topics that they learn, 3) to develop the words of the texts by their own understanding, 4) to practice by their own language about the objects of the texts that they learn. The second was the topics of teaching speaking in SMA Islam Kepanjen. The topics were: "Greeting", "Expressing", "Telling a short story". The teacher thought that "Telling a short story" is the most interesting, because the topic will be able to give knowledge about English widely. Then, the third was the techniques of teaching speaking. Those are: drilling, give some texts,
give an example, and practice. The teacher thought that the drilling is the most affective, because he said that language was habit and we had to make it as a habit. The last was the techniques of evaluation in teaching speaking. The English teacher in SMA Islam Kepanjen used the techniques of evaluation to evaluate the students' ability objectively.
Then, to evaluate the students' affective domain, the teacher used students' attendance, and students' attitudes. And in cognitive domain, the teacher used some tests to evaluate the students' intellectual ability. The teacher did not use psychomotor domain to evaluate the students because he did not need this domain to evaluate their students in teaching speaking.


The aim of this study was to determine the composition and content of phenolic compounds in ethanol extracts of eight different cultivars of American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) fruit using spectrophotometric and UPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis and to evaluate the antioxidant activity in vitro of these extracts. The highest total amount of phenolic compounds evaluated via Folin–Ciocalteu spectrophotometry was detected in American cranberry fruit samples of the 'Bain' clone, and the highest total amount of flavonoids was found in samples of the 'Drever' and 'Baiwfay' cultivars. The highest total amount of the individual phenolic compounds (519.53 ± 25.12 mg/g DW) identified and quantitatively evaluated via chromatography was detected in samples of the 'Searles' cranberry cultivar. In the studied cranberry samples, the predominant phenolic compounds were hyperoside, quercetin, and procyanidin A2, while the amounts of other compounds were significantly lower. HCA and PCA revealed that 'Woolman', 'Holliston', 'Pilgrim, and 'Searles' fruit samples had different quantitative content of phenolic compounds from other cranberry cultivars. Meanwhile, fruit of 'Baiwfay', 'Drever', 'Bain', and 'Bergman' were similar in their phytochemical profile.


Long term ocean cruisers are self defined as people who have accepted, adopted or chosen a cruising lifestyle, who live aboard their own sailing vessels, have independent means, are self sufficient and have been away from their port of departure for an extended period of time. As a group, cruisers, constitute a subculture (Macbeth, 1985).

Why do people choose to adopt a cruising lifestyle? Using the principles of grounded theory analysis, this study found that cruisers were motivated by a variety of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations as well as by their social background and status in society. Cruisers were motivated by a need to escape the pressures and constraints of their home society as well as to pursue a lifestyle which offered freedom and a sense of personal control, a need to add some adventure or challenge to their lives or to fulfil a dream. They were also motivated by relationship commitments and a desire to travel and experience new cultures, people and settings. Their age, gender, family life cycle stage, education, income and former lifestyle pursuits also motivated them. In setting about and maintaining the fulfilment of their motivations, cruisers exhibited personal agency in their choice to move from a life in the centre of mainstream western societies to one in the margins.

Overall, cruisers were found to be social actors who exhibit agency and self governance in decision making as to whether or not to maintain a sense of 'connectivity' with and without various social settings. Cruisers' responses to feelings of anomie and alienation in their home societies, to their feelings of under or non-actualisation at the individual level, and to their need for belonging with a partner activated these people to make choices and decisions regarding the negotiation and direction of their own social realities. Based on the cruisers who participated in this study, such agency and self governance can be described as 'empowered connectivity'. Empowered connectivity is the action of exhibiting agency in order to achieve connectivity with the space in which an individual currently finds her or himself. It can be both a holding on to and a letting go of connections. Empowered connectivity is not a 'theory' per se, but rather a generic representation of a process that accounts for 'plurality, multiplicity and difference'(Tong 1989) in the actions of both women and men as they negotiate the spaces they choose to occupy.

Moreover, this study informed by the interpretive social sciences paradigm and, a 'feminist methodology' enabled an indepth understanding of cruising women's experiences to be counterpointed against cruising men's experiences. Subsequently, cruising women became subjects in their own right rather than 'other'. Further, the interpretive social sciences paradigm and 'feminist methodology' emphasised the need for tourism research, in particular, to use both ernic and etic perspectives in data collection and analysis.

This ethnographic study of cruisers was conducted between 1985 and 1999 on the eastern seaboard of Australia. The study involved participant observation, semi-structured indepth interviews and self-completion questionnaires relating to socio demographics, vessel inventories, budgets and touristic experiences.


We present a new method that enables users of the federal government's flagship energy policy model (NEMS) to dynamically estimate the direct energy expenditure impacts of climate policy across U.S. household incomes and census regions. Our approach combines NEMS output with detailed household expenditure data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, improving on static methods that assess policy impacts by assuming household energy demand remains unchanged under emissions pricing scenarios. To illustrate our method, we evaluate a recent carbon fee-and-dividend proposal introduced in the U.S. Senate, the Climate Protection Act of 2013 (S. 332). Our analysis indicates this bill, if enacted, would have cut CO2 emissions from energy by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 at a gross cost of less than 0.5% of GDP, while offering rebates sufficient to offset increased direct energy expenditures for typical households making less than $120,000 per year and average households in all regions of the United States.


Landmarks are important features of spatial cognition. Landmarks are naturally included in human route descriptions and in the past algorithms were developed to select the most salient landmarks at decision points and automatically incorporate them in route instructions. Moreover, it was shown that human route descriptions contain a significant amount of orientation information and that these orientation information support the acquisition of survey knowledge. Thus, there is a need to extend the landmarks selection in order to automatically select orientation information. In this work we present an algorithm for the computational selection of route dependent orientation information, which extends previous algorithms and includes a salience evaluation of orientation information for any location along the route. We implemented the algorithm and demonstrate the functionality on the basis of OpenStreetMap data.


Background & objectives: Since the 2006 massive outbreaks, chikungunya (CHIK) is a major public health concern in India. The aim of this study was to assess envelope specific immune responses in patients with chikungunya infection. Methods: This study included 46 hospitalized patients with chikungunya virus infection (encephalitis, n=22, other systemic involvement, OSI, n=12, classical, n=12) and six controls from Ahmedabad city, Gujarat, India. T cell responses and the levels of Th1, pro/ anti-inflammatory cytokines against the CHIK virus envelope antigens were assessed by lymphocyte proliferation assay and by cytometric bead array in flow cytometry, respectively. Results: Lymphoproliferative response was uniform among the patients. Comparisons of cytokines revealed significantly higher levels of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-5 in encephalitis, OSI and classical patients versus controls. The levels of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α were higher in classical patients categories compared to the controls. Interferon (IFN)-γ levels were lower in encephalitis patients versus control. Interpretation & conclusions: Our findings showed recognition of T cell epitopes on the envelope region of chikungunya virus by all patient categories. Lower level of IFN-γ may be associated with the severity of disease in these patients.


This purpose of this study is to determine level of employees' job satisfaction and to investigate effect of gender on employees' job satisfaction. Important factors that have an impact on job satisfaction are supervision, relationship with co-workers, present pay, nature of work, and opportunities for promotion. Data for this study was collected from employees of three private airline companies in Iran. Descriptive analysis performed to determine level of employees' job satisfaction. In addition, independent-sample t-test was utilized to empirically test relationship between employees' job satisfaction and their gender. Findings suggest that employees are moderately satisfied with their job and there is no significant difference between male and female employees' job satisfaction.


Due to its geographic isolation, Chile is a biogeographic island which harbors a high percentage of endemism. More than 50% of the native vascular flora is endemic and more than 60% lives in Central Chile, included in the Chilean Biodiversity Hotspot. Endemic are species with a geographic distribution restricted to a single area and could be espe‐ cially vulnerable. For these reasons, updated lists of endemic species are necessary. Based on a databases, the study of specimens from two Chilean herbaria and the avail‐ able literature, we present an updated list of grasses endemic to Chile indicating for each taxon the scientific accepted name, common names, type, life cycle, flowering period, distribution, conservation status, bibliographic references and representative specimen. Seventy-one species (19.9% of the native grass species) were classified as endemic. Most species occur along the Chilean hotspot of biodiversity, mainly in the Mediterranean region of the hotspot. One species ( Podophorus bromoides ) is extinct, three species are criti‐ cally endangered, two species are endangered, one species is vulnerable, and one species is near threatened. The conservation status of most species (89%) needs to be evaluated. Most of the threatened species are endemic to the Juan Fernández Archipelago.


We compare the performance of three most accepted reagents for organic matter removal: hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCI) and disodium peroxodisulfate (Na 2 S 2 O 8 ). Removal of organic matter from soil is mostly incomplete with the efficiency of removal depending on reaction conditions and sample properties. Generally, NaOCI and Na 2 S 2 O 8 are more effective in organic C removal than H 2 O 2 . Alkaline conditions and additives favoring dispersion and/or desorption of organic matter, such as sodium pyrophosphate, seem to be crucial for C removal. Pyrophosphate and additives for pH control (bicarbonate) may irreversibly adsorb to mineral surfaces. In soils with a large proportion of organic matter bound to the mineral matrix, for example subsoils, or rich in clay-sized minerals (Fe oxides, poorly crystalline Fe and Al phases, expandable phyllosilicates), C removal can be little irrespective of the reagents used. Residual organic C seems to seems to represent largely refractory organic matter, and comprises mainly pyrogenic materials and aliphatic compounds. If protected by close association with minerals, other organic constituents such as low-molecular weight carboxylic acids, lignin-derived and N-containing compounds may escape chemical destruction. For determination of mineral phase properties, treatment with H 2 O 2 should be avoided since it may promote organic-assisted dissolution of poorly crystalline minerals at low pH, disintegration of expandable clay minerals, and transformation of vermiculite into mica-like products due to NH + 4 fixation. Sodium hypochlorite and Na 2 S 2 O 8 are less harmful for minerals than H 2 O 2 . While the NaOCI procedure (pH 9.5) may dissolve Al hydroxides, alkaline conditions favor the precipitation of metals released upon destruction of organic matter. Prolonged heating to >40°C during any treatment may transform poorly crystalline minerals into more crystalline ones. Sodium hypochlorite can be used at 25°C, thus preventing heat-induced mineral alteration.


«Asbestos in fresh water fish of a pond in Milan. Where is it coming from?». Introduction: Cement-based material containing asbestos was found in the water of a pond in the city of Milan, Italy, where recreational fishing activities take place. Some fishes are in 'no-kill' fishing areas, others are caught and consumed. Objective: To verify the presence of asbestos in water, sediments and some fish species living in the pond. To verify the presence of asbestos in fish feed and to test fish exposure by ingestion. Methods: Samples of water, sediments, fish feed and fish species have been collected and the presence of asbestos fibers has been ascertained in the different matrices. Results: No traces of asbestos were found in water. Instead, the asbestos content in sediments was beyond regulatory limits. Asbestos was detected also in benthic fish species, and in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that does not reproduce in the pond but must be restocked periodically through aquaculture. In the meat of the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) 36,000,000 fibers/100 g of wet cloth have been found. Values up to 15,000,000 ff/100 g of wet cloth have been detected in the rainbow trout. Asbestos has also been found in animal feeds, in particular crocidolite fibers and asbestos tremolite bundles. Conclusions: Benthic fish species have likely been contaminated by their close contact with the polluted bottom of the pond. Instead, the presence of asbestos in the trout is probably linked to a previous contamination during farming, since this fish spend a brief period of time in the water of the pond. Asbestos distribution and concentration exclude a risk for public health; however, some values of asbestos found in fish meat deserve attention. Accordingly, precautionary indications have been given to the Municipality of Milan and to the fishermen association. A larger scale monitoring of water, food and animal feed is worth performing to better assess exposure by ingestion.


This publication explores the productive ground between the imaginative potential of the architectural project and its everyday experience. The central essays question the ways in which space is experienced and how theoretical innovation does not always translate so easily to everyday use. The catalogue goes beyond the surface rhetoric of the early post-war architectural project – and any 'utopian' aspirations that might be associated with it – opening up the tensions between an 'image' of the post-war environment and its actual 'use'. concrete thoughts – modern architecture and contemporary art also contains essays on each of the three featured artists, Rut Blees Luxemburg, Toby Paterson and Jane & Louise Wilson. The artists have all engaged with spatial themes in the urban landscape of early post-war Britain. This was a period in which many architectural projects were marked by an ambitious sense of potential, possibility and innovation, yet the actual built projects proved somewhat more complex and problematic in practice.


Despite an increased level of
females' participation in sports, the media coverage is still very low and
inadvertently the use of female athletes as product endorsers has received
limited attention. The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical insight
into the frequency and nature of portrayals of female athlete endorsers in UK
Sports Magazine by replicating Grau et al (2007)'s earlier study carried out in
USA over ten years ago. Results of the content analysis indicate that females
are seldomly featured as brand endorsers, female in team sports and from black
ethnic minority group are less likely to be featured as brand endorsers. The
study offers theoretical knowledge and practical implication for managers to
ensure female athletes are well positioned and given the opportunity to be
commercially viable.


A large gap exists between mathematics education research and brain-learning research and classroom instructional practice. The researchers conducted an ex post facto study on the implementation of a research-based Algebra I curriculum built around high-cognitive demand tasks and student performance in Algebra I. Two groups of students were selected for the study. One group enrolled in Algebra I course that followed a typical textbook-driven curriculum and the second group enrolled in a course that followed a research-based curriculum with high-level tasks. The researcher used propensity score matching and multilevel modeling to compare the effects of the two curricula to determine whether student growth occurred. No significant difference existed in student performance between the traditional and research-based curricula. Additionally, African American and Hispanic student performance decreased and White student performance increased Grade 8 to Grade 9.


Data is worthless without knowing what the data represents, and you need metadata to efficiently manage large data sets. As computing power becomes cheaper and more data is derived, metadata becomes more important than ever. Today researcher are setting more experimental scientific workflows than before. As a result a lot of steps leading to the implementation are skipped. The leading steps usu- ally included documenting the work, which is not a central part of the more experimental approach. Since documenting is no longer a natural part of the scientific workflow, and the workflow might be changing a lot though its lifetime, many data products are lacking documentation. Since the way the scientist work have changed, we feel the way they document their work need to change. Currently there is no metadata system that retrieves metadata di- rectly from the scientific process without having the researcher having to change his code or in other ways manually set up the system to handle the workflow. This thesis suggest ways to automate the metadata retrieval, and shows how two of these techniques can be implemented. Automatic linage and metadata retrieval will help the researchers document the process a data product have gone though. My implementation shows how to retrieve linage and metadata by instrumenting Interactive Data Language scripts, and how to re- trieve linage from shell script by looking at the system calls made by the executable. The implementation discussed in this paper is intended to be a client for the Earth System Science Server, a metadata system for earth science data.


There is shown a possibility to use the internal crystallisation method, which was developed earlier as a base for crystallisation of oxide fibres in a molybdenum matrix, to produce silicide/molybdenum fibrous composites. A series of the experiments resulted in obtaining composites with Mo3Si-based fibres and molybdenum alloy matrix. Composite specimens obtained have microstructures typical for fibrous composites with a strong fibre/matrix interface bonding. Some peculiarities are arisen as a result of the particular fibre/matrix system under consideration. The composites are characterised by high creep resistance at temperatures up to 1400°C and sufficiently high fracture toughness at room temperature. The results obtained show ways of designing new metal matrix composites for very high temperature use.


Abstract In cultivating a Western inclination toward Eastern wisdom, it is important to seek the foundations that sustain traditional practices toward such end. In a secularised and modern world view, the tendency has been to extract and abstract foundational practices such as mindfulness meditation and contemplation within an objectivist or scientistic prejudice. While leading to interesting results, it cannot ascertain a wisdom that is quantified and decontextualised. In response, contextual effort in postmodern pedagogical literature—while well placed—is often marred with confusions concerning Eastern and metaphysical foundations. As a result, one is led away from the very wisdom being qualified; furthermore, conceptual and theoretical paradoxes arise and consequently elude those that formulate them. Thus, in feeling secure in response to a particular 'yáng' world view of modernity, many postmodern criticisms suffer an exclusively 'yīn' character. For us, imbalance in any direction forfeits the path Eastern education approaches wisdom. In our conceptual analysis, we contextualise that modernity was never too yáng, but too yáng-in-yīn. Therefore, what is missing in pedagogical theory is not the yīn element, as presumed by postmodern critique, but the yáng element, in continual balance with the yīn, and vice versa.


Kenneth S. Lynn's biography of Hemingway states that behind "The Killers" lay some obvious influences: Hemingway's firsthand acquaintance with petty criminals in Kansas City, his close observation of the men entering the back room in the Venice Cafe, and the steady attention he paid in the 20s to journalistic accounts, in European as well as in American newspapers, of the blood-drenched careers of Chicago hoodlums. (112). Behind the story also is Hemingway's acquaintance by 1926 with vaudeville and with the idea of vaudeville. The connection has long been noted: in 1959, Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren mentioned the "vaudeville team" of Max and Al, and the "gag" and "dialogue" that remind the reader of their "unreal and theatrical quality."(1) The essay is, however, only the briefest of sketches on the subject. By the mid-1920s, entertainment had become part of visual and literary art. Music hall scores echoed in the work of T. S. Eliot; the lyrics of Broadway hits were reprinted in the pages of E Scott Fitzgerald; and revues and Follies were described in fascinating detail in the essays of Edmund Wilson. The expression "the seven lively arts," coined by Gilbert Seldes, was meant to include comics, dancers, and Krazy Kat - and to displace such bourgeois delights as grand opera. It was the fate of one of those lively arts, vaudeville, to wax and wane with modernism. To be useful to Hemingway as a subject in 1926, two things had had to happen to vaudeville: the first was its permeation of the social world, the second its recognition by the intellectual world. We know that the first of these happened because from W. C. Fields to Eddie Cantor and even to Ed Sullivan, vaudevillians not only dominated the Palace and the Ziegfeld Follies - hence the imagination of much of New York - but also went on to radio and the movies. The second happening was a consequence of the first. A brief chronology: in 1922, vaudeville became "The Great American Art" for the New Republic, in which Mary Cass Canfield wrote that it need not apologize for comparisons with Robinson and Frost, Masters and Sandburg. In fact, she thought it held its own with the work of Mark Twain as a kind of artistic reaction to our native social repressiveness: Grotesque or not, vaudeville represents a throwing away of self-consciousness, of Plymouth Rock caution, devoutly to be wished for. Here we countenance the extreme, we encourage idiosyncrasy. The dancer or comedian is, sometimes literally, egged on to develop originality; he is adored, never crucified for difference. Miss Fannie Brice and Sir Harry Lauder are examples of vaudeville performers who have been hailed, joyfully and rightfully, as vessels containing the sacred fire, and who have been encouraged into self-emphasis by their audiences. . . . (225) Equally important was the fact of universal intellectual acceptance: Darius Milhaud, George Auric and the others write ballets and symphonies in which may be heard the irresponsible "cancan" of ragtime. John Alden Carpenter, perhaps the most vivid talent among our own composers, will occasionally shift from cooly subtle disharmonies, illustrating poetic or lyric subjects, to write a Krazy Kat Ballet. (226) Vaudeville was for the intellectual world equal to other forms of artistic composition. And it seemed to gain meaning when it was compared to the modes of modernism. Throughout 1923, Edmund Wilson produced a barrage of pieces on vaudeville ideas and personalities, and on the meaning of dance, jazz, comic scripts, and revues. He identified some of the leading comics and mimes, among them Bert Savoy, Johnny Hudgins, and Bert Williams. He speculated on the satire of vaudeville and especially on its urban modernist meanings. Wilson thought that the Ziegfeld Follies were inherently part of his and Fitzgerald's literary world: Among those green peacocks and gilded panels, in the luxurious haze of the New Amsterdam, there is realized a glittering vision which rises straight out of the soul of New York. …


Following Hurricane Betsy, the Disaster rsearch Center undertook an
intensive study of some of the organizational responses in the New Orleans
area. From the data gathered in field work, a working paper was prepared
several years later. This was never publicly circulated beyond DRC because
it was intended to be but the first of two or three other extensive case
studies which were to be part of a comparative analysis of community organizational
response to major disaster. For a variety of reasons the other
case studies were never written. However, the New Orleans case study, even
at the present time, still is one of the more detailed ones existing in
disaster literature. It is, therefore, now being published in more public
form, so disaster researchers and historians will have easier access to the
material. The present version is almost identical to the original working
paper except for some minor editing and limited bibliographical updating. As
such, time reference to the organizations and actions described in the monograph
refer to the year 1965 when the hurricane hit Louisiana. Structure
and function of such groups as local Red Cross chapters and civil defense
have changed somewhat in the ensuing decade.


The overall effectiveness of finite element methods may be limited by solutions that lack smoothness on a relatively small subset of the domain. In particular, standard least squares finite methods applied to problems with singular solutions may exhibit slow convergence, or in some cases, may fail to converge. By enhancing the norm used in the least squares functional with weight functions chosen according to a coarse-scale approximation, it is possible to recover near-optimal convergence rates without relying on exotic finite element spaces or specialized meshing strategies. In this paper we describe an adaptive algorithm where appropriate weight functions are generated from a coarse-scale approximate solution. Several numerical tests, both linear and nonlinear, illustrate the robustness of the adaptively weighted approach compared with the analogous standard L2 least squares finite element approach.


An assessment of charge plasma (CP) based biosensing between junction less (JL) and conventional devices for label-free electrical identification of analytes, especially DNA, has been examined here in detail. The impact of variations of charge analytes immobilized inside the nanogap cavity over the drain current, energy band profile, electron concentration, and sensitivity evaluated in dry atmospheric conditions. Here, the shifts into threshold potential for both JL-MOSFET and conventional-MOSFET based biosensor architecture have been utilized, like the sensing factor, to identify the existence of analytes while they immobilized inside the nanogap cavity in the channel section. The design of the recommended model with the complete numerical analysis has been executed utilizing the ATLAS device simulation software.


Background Hospitalised patients whose inpatient teams rotate off service experience increased mortality related to end-of-rotation care transitions, yet standardised handoff practices are lacking. Objective Develop and implement a multidisciplinary patient-centred handoff intervention to improve outcomes for patients who are critically ill during end-of-rotation transitions. Design, setting and participants Single-centre, controlled pilot study of medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients whose resident team was undergoing end-of-rotation transition at a university hospital from June 2017 to February 2018. Intervention A 4-item intervention was implemented over two study periods. Intervention 1 included: (1) in-person bedside handoff between teams rotating off and on service, (2) handoff checklist, (3) nursing involvement in handoff, and (4) 30 min education session. Intervention 2 included the additional option to conduct bedside handoff via videoconferencing. Main outcome measures Implementation was measured by repeated clinician surveys and direct observation. Patient outcomes included length of stay (LOS; ICU and hospital) and mortality (ICU, hospital and 30 days). Clinician perceptions were modelled over time using per cent positive responses in logistic regression. Patient outcomes were compared with matched control 'transition' patients from 1 year prior to implementation of the intervention. Results Among 270 transition patients, 46.3% were female with a mean age of 55.9 years. Mechanical ventilation (64.1%) and in-hospital death (27.6%) rates were prevalent. Despite high implementation rates—handoff participation (93.8%), checklist utilisation (75.0%), videoconferencing (62.5%), nursing involvement (75.0%)—the intervention did not significantly improve LOS or mortality. Multidisciplinary survey data revealed significant improvement in acceptability by nursing staff, while satisfaction significantly declined for resident physicians. Conclusions In this controlled pilot study, a structured ICU end-of-rotation care transition strategy was feasible to implement with high fidelity. While mortality and LOS were not affected in a pilot study with limited power, the pragmatic strategy of this intervention holds promise for future trials.


Systematic reviews of existing evidence show promising effects of community health worker (CHW) programs as a strategy to improve child survival, but also highlight challenges faced by CHW programs, including insufficient incentives to deliver timely and appropriate services. We assessed the effect of an incentivized community health delivery program in Uganda on all-cause under-five mortality. A cluster-randomized controlled trial, embedded within the scale-up of a new community health delivery program, was undertaken in 214 clusters in 10 districts in Uganda. In the intervention clusters micro entrepreneur-based community health promoters (CHPs) were deployed over a three-year period (2011-2013). On average 38 households were surveyed in each cluster at the end of 2013, for a total sample size of 8,119 households. The primary study outcome was all-cause under-five mortality (U5MR). U5MR was reduced by 27% (adjusted RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58-0.93).


For most people, the forensic sciences are something reported on the news when a crime is solved through DNA evidence, or used as a plot twist for television shows. But behind the crime-scene tape and the doors of the morgue is a world never seen by the public. Now famed pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden and award-winning writer Marion Roach take readers into the laboratory, above the autopsy table, onto the witness stand and out in the field to show how advances in forensic science can solve crucial questions in a criminal case, often with startling accuracy. Baden and Roach reveal how a key clue to the killer of Nicole Brown Simpson was lost when her body was moved to the morgue, and why the JonBenet Ramsey case can never be solved. They show how no clue is too small to be analyzed and no case too old to be reopened. Full of behind-the-scenes drama and surprising revelations, Dead Reckoning is a fascinating look at how forensic science is changing the way we convict the guilty and free the innocent.


Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on information technology and information systems. Today dynamic environment requires the ability of prompt change detection and consequently rapid response to those resulting changes. Services offered to enterprises must of course be tailored to user needs and flexible enough to respond to changes in the environment. Prompt response to changes and the appropriate degree of company's flexibility can be adequately provided by information technology and information systems.
IT departments assume the role of service providers for different business units, processes or business functions. To be able to provide constant availability of services and deliver them when the user requests them it is necessary to provide not only software but also organizational processes. To ensure business processes, IT departments can use recommendations that have been already approved. One of these proven recommendations is ITIL.
ITIL is the most widely adopted approach for IT Service Management in the world. It provides a practical, no-nonsense framework for identifying, planning, delivering and supporting IT services to the business.
The objective of the thesis is to show how to implement customer support using ITIL recommendations. Thesis is divided into two parts, namely the theory part (in which to lay the theoretical frames of ITIL recommendations) and practical part (which is shown how these processes should be implemented).


Chapter 1: Getting Started with Access 2007. An Introduction to Access. Start and Exit Access. Create a Blank Database. Close a Database. Create a Database Using a Template. Open a Database File. Understanding the Access 2007 Interface. Change the Navigation Pane View. Open and Close an Object. View an Object. Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Data. Enter New Records. Navigate between Records. Edit Records. Attach Files to Records. Open, Save, and Remove File Attachments. Insert an OLE Object. Open, Edit, and Remove OLE Objects. Enter Data in a Multivalued Field. Delete Records. Resize Datasheet Columns and Rows. Sort Records. Display Summary Statistics. Print a Datasheet or Form. Chapter 3: Working with Tables. Plan Effective Tables. Create a Table from a Template. Save a Table. Create a Table in Datasheet View. Create a Table by Copying Another Table's Structure. Create a SharePoint List. Create a Table in Design View. Understanding Primary and Composite Keys. Set the Primary or Composite Key. Rename a Table. Delete a Table. Chapter 4: Working with Fields. Open a Table in Design View. Rearrange Fields. Insert and Delete Fields. Understanding Data Types. Change a Field's Data Type. Understanding Field Properties. Understanding Field Sizes. Change a Field Size. Set a Field's Format. Set a Field Caption. Set a Default Value. Make a Field Required. Index a Field. Apply Smart Tags. Create an Input Mask. Create a Validation Rule. Create a Record-Level Validation Rule. Chapter 5: Working with Relationships and Lookups. Understanding Relationships. Create a Relationship between Two Tables. Edit a Relationship. Remove a Relationship. Arrange the Relationships Window. Print a Relationship Report. View Object Dependencies. Document the Database. Understanding Lookups. Create a Table for Use As a Field Lookup. Create a Field Lookup Based on a Table. Create a Field Lookup with Values That You Specify. Set Up a Multivalued Field. Chapter 6: Finding and Filtering Data. Understanding Find and Replace. Find Data Using Find and Replace. Replace Data Using Find and Replace. Filter to Show Only Blank or Nonblank Entries. Filter by Selection. Filter for Multiple Values. Using Text Filters. Filter by Form. Save a Filter As a Query. Chapter 7: Creating Simple Queries. Understanding Queries. Create a Query with the Simple Query Wizard. Start a New Query in Query Design View. Insert, Arrange, and Remove Query Fields. Set Field Sorting. Add an Alias to a Query Field. Understanding Criteria. Filter a Query for a Specific Value. Specify a Range of Values. Specify a List of Values. Hide a Field in the Query Results. Combine Criteria. Limit the Records Returned. Chapter 8: Creating More Complex Queries. Understanding Summary Queries. Create a Summary Query with the Simple Query Wizard. Create a Summary Query in Query Design View. Understanding Calculated Fields. Create a Calculated Field. Understanding Action Queries. Run a Make Table Query. Run a Delete Query. Run an Append Query. Run an Update Query. Prompt the User for a Parameter. Understanding Parameter Syntax. Chapter 9: Creating Forms. Understanding Forms. Create and Save a Form. Create a Form with the Form Wizard. Create a Form in Layout View. Create a Form in Design View. Delete a Field from Design View. Arrange Fields on a Form. Group Fields Together. Define the Tab Order on a Form. Chapter 10: Modifying and Formatting Forms. Display the Header and Footer. Size Sections of a Form. Select Sections of a Form. Add a Form Title. Apply an AutoFormat Preset. Apply an AutoFormat Style. Create an AutoFormat Style by Example. Adjust Internal Margins and Padding. Add a Label. Format Label Text. Change the Background Color. Add a Hyperlink. Add a Tabbed Section. Insert a Logo or Image. Set Conditional Formatting. Chapter 11: Creating and Formatting Reports. Understanding Report Views. Create a Simple Report. AutoFormat a Report. Preview and Print a Report. Create a Report with the Report Wizard. Create a Report in Layout View. Set the Page Size and Orientation. Change the Report Layout Type. Set Page Margins. Set Control Margins and Padding. Format Report Text. Size and Align Report Fields. Insert a Page Numbering Code. Chapter 12: Grouping and Summarizing Data. Understanding Grouping and Summarizing. Group Report Results. Sort Report Results. Count Records. Add an Aggregate Function. Summarize a Datasheet with a PivotTable. Add Aggregate Functions to a PivotTable. Group and Ungroup PivotTable Content. Clear a PivotTable Grid. Switch a PivotTable to a PivotChart. Chapter 13: Creating Mailing Labels and Charts. Create Labels. Add a Field to an Existing Line. Add a Field to a Label As a Separate Line. Color the Label Background. Color the Label Text. Apply Font Formatting to Label Text. Export Labels to Word. Open a PivotChart View. Create a PivotChart. Group Data in a PivotChart. Change the PivotChart Type. Change Chart Colors. Chapter 14: Working with External Data. Import an Excel Worksheet. Link to an Excel Worksheet. Manage Linked Tables. Import a Table from Another Access Database. Import Data from a Delimited Text File. Export Data to Excel. Export Data as HTML. Export Data to a Plain Text File. Save Import or Export Specifications. Using Saved Import or Export Specifications. Chapter 15: Maintaining a Database. Set a Trusted Location. Save in a Previous Version Format. Convert to the Access 2007 Format. Back Up a Database. Document a Database. Compact and Repair a Database. Password-Protect a Database.


The current generation of web annotation technologies use a set of keying techniques, often based on the Document Object Model (DOM) for representing HTML content, that link an annotation to its target content. However, when the DOM structure changes, for any reason, or browser rendering engines parse the underlying source differently, annotations can be orphaned and incorrectly re-attached. This article explores the preservation strategies that are required to ensure the longevity of scholarly annotations that use such technologies. These recommendations range from the social changes needed for the perception of annotations as first-class scholarly objects through to the technological changes and infrastructures that are needed for the preservation of such objects. It concludes with a series of recommendations for changes in practice and infrastructure that work towards the digital preservation of DOM-node-keyed scholarly web annotations.


This paper reports on the digital writing practices of a Grade Three primary school student as he used an iPad to plan, produce and share digital texts. The case study acknowledges that writing is undergoing a period of great change in many classrooms and works to show how a student author has interpreted and produced digital texts with new technologies. In particular, the specific practices, digital materials and literacy concepts will be explicated through analyses of two digital texts created by this author. This focus acknowledges the ways texts can be planned, produced and shared using multiple modes and media. These social practices and the wider learning opportunities afforded through the flexible and recursive ways students produce text have yet to be fully explored. This paper also extends current understandings about digital writing practices through its examination of the connections between and among multiple apps as an author crafts digital text.


This article investigates the question of whether environmental audits carried out by corporations can be used as evidence against them in criminal prosecutions for environmental offences, or whether this would infringe the privilege against self-incrimination. The approach to this question in Australia, Canada and the United States is considered with a view to suggesting an appropriate approach for South Africa, where this issue has not yet been considered. The suggested approach, based on the Oregon statute, is to provide for voluntary environmental audits to be privileged (subject to certain exceptions) whereas those audits required by legislation are to be made available to the state, but to be privileged in criminal proceedings.


The behavior of immature Common Murres (Uria aalge) two to seven years of age was studied at a colony in southeastern Scotland during two breeding seasons. Immatures tended to arrive progressively earlier in the season as they aged, and were seen at the colony more frequently. Timing of final departure from the colony did not vary between cohorts. Within a day, five-year-old birds spent longer at the colony in the early part of the breeding season compared to later. Immature Common Murres seen at the colony in previous breeding seasons arrived earlier, were seen more often, and were more likely to attempt to breed than birds of the same age that had not been seen before. Overall, recruits invested almost triple the amount of time in colony attendance in the prelaying period than nonrecruits of the same age. Among birds of the same age seen in both 1990 and 1991, those arriving earlier and seen more often in 1990 were more likely to attempt to breed in 1991. The great majority of birds attending "clubs" on intertidal rocks were two- or three-year-olds. Some two- and three-year-olds, and almost all older immatures, were found on ledges above the breeding area of the colony. Three-year-olds that showed a shift in the course of a season between attending at sea rocks and attending on or above the colony almost all shifted from sea rocks to on or above the colony. Older immatures visited fewer breeding subcolonies within a season compared to younger birds. However, most immatures attending areas/ledges on or above breeding ledges were sedentary, visiting only one subcolony. We recorded 69% of immatures in 1990 and 64% in 1991 primarily attending their natal subcolony. Also, 57% of birds breeding for the first time recruited to their natal subcolonies. These frequencies were greatly in excess of those expected if birds were dispersing randomly. Age did not affect the liklihood of attending the natal subcolony, but in one cohort immatures seen in previous season(s) were significantly more likely to attend their natal subcolony than birds not seen previously.


Background: Elderly people within the society face plenty of physical & medical problems which make them more at risk of deconditioning & confined to their home and a few of them are impaired mobility, falls, impaired cognition, incontinence, etc. Out of this, falls are common & complex geriatric syndrome. Falls and poor bone health are major causes of disability and accidental home deaths in the older population.
Aim: To study the effect of Tai chi exercises versus Pilates on dynamic balance and Gait in elderly.
Methodology: A comparative study was conducted on 36 elderly subjects. Subjects were selected according to inclusion criteria & exclusion criteria. The pre assessment was taken before intervention & post assessment was taken after intervention by using TUG, Tinetti Balance Assessment Tool and Cadence. Participants were randomly divided into two groups with n=18 in each group. Group A received Tai chi exercise while Group B received Pilates exercise. The treatment was given for 6 weeks ,3 days/week. Statistical analysis was carried out using paired & unpaired t test.
Results: Tai chi & Pilates exercise was effective on improving dynamic balance and Gait in elderly. on intergroup comparison using unpaired t test, there was no significant difference between effect of Tai chi & Pilates exercises (TUG p value =0.1739), (Tinetti p value =0.3378), (Cadence p value=0.3433) which implies both exercises were equally effective on improving dynamic balance & gait in elderly.
Conclusion: Tai chi & Pilates were equally effective on improving dynamic balance & gait in elderly, except both could not improve walking velocity as gait improves in qualitatively manner.

Key words: Tai chi , Pilates, TUG, Tinetti, Cadence. .


The chaotic nature of the radio frequency medium of 802.11 wireless networks makes it problematic to obtain accurate and precise repetition of performance tests and measurements. Environmental variables that deeply influence link performance must be addressed before throughput testing can be accurately measured across various devices. An RF shielded room with anechoic foam provides the most ideal environment for throughput tests compared to either an RF shielded room without foam or an "open air" laboratory. Location within the RF shielded room with anechoic foam has a negligible effect on performance, but using a rubber mat under a device can reduce reflections, producing an optimal environment for throughput testing.